The avian titan Ho-oh once took pity upon a trio of pokemon, trapped in a burning tower. The pokemon had gotten lost, and when the lightning struck the tower they were unable to find their way out. Flames blazed around them, and wooden beams fell in piles of molten ash, blocking their paths.

Vaporeon, the oldest, thought he could get them out of there with his water type abilities. But the scorching heat dried his skin and evaporated his energy, leaving him weak.

Jolteon, the middle sibling, thought he could get them out with his lightning quick speed. He bolted and dashed around, desperately searching for a way out through the flames. But all of their paths were blocked.

And Flareon, the youngest, sat and wept, for he knew that his fiery nature would only worsen their situation, only hurting his brothers. He stood in front of them, to shield them from the heat, but even he was weakening in the blaze.

The fire began to consume them, but suddenly the flames turned silver, giving off a soft cool glow instead of their raging inferno. "I have seen your struggle," said the voice of Ho-oh. The three pokemon bowed instantly, knowing that it was only due to the mercy of the titan that they had been saved. "Now, with this gift of an extended life, I give you yet another."

And Ho-oh appeared to them then, in his rainbow majesty. He bestowed on them a sacred fire, engulfing each of them and changing their forms. To them, he spoke:

"You, Vaporeon, the protective one, shall become Suicune, guardian of the lakes. You will protect and purify the waters of the land, eliminating defilers in all corners of your reign."

"You, Jolteon, faster than lightning, shall become Raiku, bringer of storms. You shall demand others to respect and honor nature, and through its might you will remind them of the destruction it may wrought."

"And you, Flareon, kind yet fierce, shall become Entei, lord of volcanoes and lava. From your power to destroy, you will also create. Bring islands from the sea with your mighty roar, and cleanse the land of its sins."

And so, from the ashes, merged the three legendary dogs of nature, and out they went into the world, to bring balance upon it and remind human kind of the delicate balance of nature that must be preserved.

Cam awoke on the day of the exam early, too nervous to stay asleep. The past week had been a blur of hard work and anxiety, as around every corner she waited for Isaiah to make a move on her. But he had done nothing, and in the act of doing nothing, it almost made things worse. She wished he would just get it over with, but he liked the psychological aspect of making her guess. He knew exactly what he was doing to her.

She shook her head, sitting up quietly in bed. She couldn't let that get to her today, of all days. Today was to be one of the most important days of her life. She pulled on her favorite pair of pants, strapped on her pair of boots with the soft worn soles, checked carefully to make sure her breasts were tightly bound, and made her way out into the courtyard.

The test had three parts. There was a mental exam, a cumulative final of what they had learned from the start of their training three years ago. Then there was a physical exam, in which they would run in timed increments, lift weights, and spar. And then, there was a pokemon battle. This was something they had hardly touched on, and was mostly to gauge each private's natural ability to work with a pokemon.

She calmly stretched in the morning chill, warming her muscles, until she noticed her classmates waking up. Together, they headed to the mess hall, a feast prepared for them as was tradition on exam day. She ate with her usual group; Jake, Taylor, and Faust, each of them quieter than normal, which was quite the feat for Faust anyway. He hardly spoke in the first place. Today he said not a word.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Isaiah whispering to some of his little friends, pointing in her direction and snickering. This normally would have worried her immensely, but this had been his demeanor for the last week or so. It was nothing new. And so, despite the aire of the room, Cam felt good. She was confident in her abilities, and knew the mental exam would boost that confidence even more.

And she was right. There couldn't have been an easier test for her. It was as if the material she had studied had come directly from the test questions. She was the first one to finish by a mile, and had extra time to go outside and warm up for the physical exam.

She placed somewhere in the middle for the timed run. This was something she had expected though. She had only hoped to not place last, or close to last, and she had easily achieved that goal. Later she found that out of 86 students, she got 28th place. Closer to first than last, and this was a silent victory in her mind.

Even in sparring she did better than she had hoped. She won her first match, and lost her second. But she was glad, she had only been shooting to win one of them, knowing it was a long shot that she might win both. So she gave 110% in her first fight, to assure the win. But after she won, she was completely exhausted, and was easily defeated in her second match. She took a short break before moving on to the rest of the events, careful not to overexert herself like that again.

She placed similarly in the other trials. Weightlifting she was 37th place, and in the obstacle course she placed 19th. This was probably because she was smaller than a lot of the other privates, and could squeeze more easily through sections that they likely couldn't.

Jake of course was making top marks. He didn't get first place until the obstacle course, and Cam was among the first to congratulate him. "That's what we've been working for!" she said, running up right to him after crossing the finish line.

He grinned, slapping her on the back. "I knew it was going to be this one," he said, less out of breath than she was, since he had been done for nearly a minute longer than Cam. "I felt it! After getting second in the timed run, I wasn't going to let anyone beat me!"

Cam grinned, nodding, and watching with Jake for Faust and Taylor to cross the line. Both of them did within the next minute, and they began to clear out of the courtyard towards the mess hall once more, buzzing with excitement.

"Do you think they'll let us use pokemon from the choosing?" Taylor asked, speculating. He was panting hard, holding his arms above his head.

"Probably not," gasped Faust, brushing his sweaty long hair from his eyes. "From what I've heard, they usually let you battle with well trained, high level pokemon, so they can truly gauge your battle style, undeterred by the battling level of the pokemon itself."

Jake pointed a thumb over at Faust. "Yeah, what he said." The four of them laughed together, feeling as if they were walking on air with excitement for the coming battles.

Cam was especially excited. She knew that the others had battled pokemon before, as young kids, but she never had. Before she ran away from home, she had worked alongside her mother as a healer, with pokemon that are hardly used for battle at all. Chansey, bellossom, and miltank were those she worked most closely with. So she was quite experienced with healers and healing moves, but not so much with damage dealers. This, she knew, put her at a slight disadvantage.

She shook her head. That was the wrong mentality. All she could hope to do was her best, and she planned on it.

The instructors had set up the courtyard during lunch into a series of small battlefields, 14 in total. This allowed 28 students to battle at once.

"Each student," spoke Sergeant Ulsyr, standing in front of the mob of students. Everyone was silent, tense with anticipation. "Will participate in at least four battles. Some of you may participate in more, but only your best four will count towards your score." Words buzzed throughout the crowd, a whisper that rose and fell like a wave. "You have each been assigned two random pokemon by your quartermaster." Each of the four dorms had a quartermaster who managed the living quarters. They also were the ones who got to know the students and their personalities the best.

"These pokemon are fully evolved, well trained, and ready to go. There are a total of 36 different pokemon that might be given to you; two of each type are represented. Your battle partners have also been carefully chosen. You will battle one person with a significant type advantage, one person with a significant type disadvantage, and two even matches. Does that make sense?" Someone in the crowd of students hooted loudly, and everyone started cheering. The excitement was palpable. "Excellent."

The quartermasters came around then and passed out little labeled bags with pokemon capsules in them. "Once you have your pokemon, we will be giving you all 30 minutes or so to get to know your temporary friends. After that, we will start the battles. The first group of battlers will be…" And he began listing off student's names. Cam listened carefully for her name, and heard it right at the end.

"Cameron Rokswing, and Kyle Patterson!" roared Ulsyr over the noise of the excited crowd. Some students had already received their pokemon and were releasing them, multiplying the noise level immensely. After she heard her name, she tuned out everything else, searching for her quartermaster with anticipation.

"Cam!"

She ran head-first into Ike, her dorm's quartermaster. "Watch out there, bud," he said, pushing a small bag into her hands. "Here, be more careful, please." Shaking his head, Ike headed the other direction, searching for the rest of the students he had left.

She didn't realize how badly her hands were trembling until she tried to untie the string to open the small, leather bag she had been given. It felt like she was going to drop it, even though the rough material was easy to hold on to. Finally, she undid the knot, and shook out the capsules into her hands. They were small, each slightly smaller than the size of her fist, and they were silvery-grey in color. They were perfectly spherical, with a small button on one side to release the clamp and let the pokemon out.

Of course, she had seen people use the capsules before. A magical crystal was built into the inside of each, specially made to harness the essence of a pokemon. The crystal bathed the pokemon in light, absorbing their essences for later use. When released, light emerges from the capsules, forming into the pokemon exactly as it was before. It was truly remarkable technology.

Cam wasted no time. "Come on," she breathed, pushing the button on one of her capsules to let the pokemon out. Silvery light poured from the capsule, forming into a pokemon that Cam had only ever read about.

A green creature with a bouquet of roses solidified in front of her. "Roh," it said, bowing to her and dipping its head. What appeared to be a crown of snow white hair, when viewed from above, turned out to be a large rose crowning its head. It stood up straight, looking around and blinking in the sunlight.

"Roserade," whispered Cam to herself. The rose pokemon stood just slightly shorter than she was, and looked healthy and ready to fight. She stuck her hand out towards the grass type, who looked at it incredulously. "I'm excited to be fighting with you," she said, nervous. The pokemon smiled, sticking out its bouquet, the flowers spreading apart to reveal a tiny green hand. Cam grinned as they shook hands.

"Well, let's check out the other one then," she said, fingers crossed that she would have a good type combination. She pressed the other button, letting out another flood of light.

This time, the light was expanding, until it swirled around to reveal a large white cloud. Cam furrowed her brow, confused, peering into the cloud. Suddenly, a large blue head popped out of the cloud, beak smiling. "Altaria!" it cried, announcing itself.

"Ah!" cried Cam, startled and tripping backwards. She fell on her backside, instantly embarrassed.

"Tair…" frowned Altaria, spreading its wings to envelope Cam. Instantly, the private felt at ease and… warm.

"A healer," she sighed, snuggling with the bird pokemon's soft cotton wings. It lifted its wing as she held on, helping her to her feet. Roserade looked on, smirking to itself.

Once Cam was back on her feet, she looked her duo over. "So… are you a girl?" she asked Roserade, who instantly got offended. He puffed out his chest, pounding it with one flowered hand.

"Okay okay, sorry sorry," Cam apologized to the clearly offended flower pokemon. Roserade nodded his head sharply, as if to say "you should be."

"Altair!" hummed Altaria, bobbing her head.

"You're the girl then?" Cam asked cautiously. She had been told that they would receive one male and one female pokemon to battle with, but she wanted to tread lightly, not offending her new pokemon in case they made a mistake.

But Altaria nodded, very excited. She spread her wings, showing off her impressive wing span. I wonder if she can use fly, wondered Cam. Then, she frowned, realizing that she didn't know any of their moves.

Uh-oh. She looked around, the first round of battles already well underway. She wouldn't be going until the second round, so she had some time to figure out her pokemon's moves, an advantage she wasn't going to waste.

"So… what kinds of moves can you use?" she asked, a bit skeptical. The two pokemon looked at her and blinked. "You know… fighting stuff?" They continued to stare. Cam sighed, frustrated. "Attacks!"

That word meant something to them, as they looked at each other, nodding. Altaria chirped and whistled loudly, bobbing her head as if to music. "You can… you can use sing?" Cam asked, feeling stupid. Altaria nodded, cawing. Then, she shook her body, giant pieces of cloudy cotton showering the ground around them. "And… cotton spore?" asked Cam. Another nod.

Roserade gestured up at the sky. "Er… rain dance?" Cam asked. The pokemon rolled his eyes, turning and pointing directly at the sun. "Oh! Sunny day!" He nodded, exacerbated.

"So… can you also use synthesis? And solarbeam?" asked Cam, applying her knowledge of moves that were better in the sunlight. Roserade nodded, feeling a bit better that she at least knew that much. "And probably something poison too, since that's part of your typing…" But Cam didn't have enough time to think. The battles were already wrapping up.

"Cameron Rokswing! Kyle Patterson!" Ulsyr called from afar, and Cam snapped her head around.

"Oh! Let's go!" She turned and began jogging towards the battlefield he was standing beside. Other students were filing out, going to watch their other friends battle. Cam took her place on the far end of the battlefield, kneeling to tie her shoe. Her pokemon stood beside her, nervous for what was to come.

Faust, Jake, and Taylor approached her from the side, each with smiles on their faces, and sweat on their brows. "Cam!" called Jake, and she turned, smiling when she saw him.

"Hey!" She stood, adjusting her shirt and pants with anxiety. "How did it go!"

"We all won," Taylor said smugly. "The first two matches are even, neither pokemon's type matchups giving an advantage or a disadvantage. You'll be fine."

"I hope so," Cam said, more to herself than anything. She peered around them. "Where are your pokemon?"

"Resting," said Faust. "They gave us potions to use, and then suggested we put them away until our next battles." He looked over at Cam's pokemon. "I guess you got skipped the first round?"

"Yeah," she said, watching the others walking around them returning their pokemon to their capsules. "There aren't enough fields for everyone to battle at once."

"Well good," said Jake, grinning. "Then we'll be here to watch you the whole time!"

Cam smiled, it was a relief to have her friends cheering her on. "What pokemon did you guys get?" she asked, curious, killing time as she waited for her battle to officially begin.

"Arbok and Houndoom," Faust said, flipping his hair out of his eyes, which were wide with excitement and adrenaline.

"Jolteon and Aggron," Taylor boasted.

"And I got Gardevoir and Kabutops," Jake finished. "The battles were all pushovers for us," he bragged. They each puffed their chests out.

"Sure," chided Cam, rolling her eyes. Testosterone, ugh.

"This second round of battles is about to begin!" roared Ulsyr. People began frantically scrambling to their positions. Across from her, one of her peers, Kyle, stepped into his box.

"Good luck," Jake said, placing a hand on her shoulder in solidarity. She nodded, suppressing the need to blush. He thinks I'm a boy, she reminded herself.

"The battles are double battles, for the sake of time," Ulsyr called to the battlers that he was overseeing. Pokemon began filing their way onto the field.

Cameron peered at Kyle's pokemon, which were taking their place opposite her own. He had a raichu, standing on the left side of the battlefield. For a moment, she was concerned, for Altaria was a flying type. But then she remembered that she was also a dragon type, and therefore nullified the electric advantage.

His other pokemon was a normal type; a persian. She breathed a small sigh of relief. Maybe this will be as easy as they said.

Altaria and Roserade looked back at her, and she tried to smile towards them with confidence. It came out as little more than a nervous grin, and they began to look slightly worried.

That's not the way I want this to start out, she thought, panicked. She knew from class that pokemon can feel the demeanor of their trainer, and the trainer's attitude could significantly alter the outcome of a battle. "We can do this!" she called to them, trying to sound confident. She couldn't tell if it had changed anything, because right after she shouted to them…

"Let the battles begin!"