Utopia's POV

I sighed and let my hand fall back to my side. I stared after Tim and wondered how Jamie had upset him so easily. I glanced back at my sole female friend from the competition. She and Clara were not going to the final ten; I was the last girl… the last girl that could break Skyla's male-dominated gym. It was all up to me now…

"What's eating Tim? He's usually grumpy, but now he seems more… I dunno, reactive." Malcolm observed at my side.

I shrugged. "Something Jamie said to him really irked him I guess. Something about a vow and a Simon person…" I pounded my fist in my left palm and mused, "So Jamie and Tim did sort of know of each other then. She said that she told his father to send him here…" Another small mystery about Tim was solved… sorta… but why was he sent here? Didn't he like Skyla enough to join on his own free will? I couldn't help that I was so curious about a secretive person. It was almost like he was feeding my curiosity by being vague.

Malcolm shrugged. "All that soothsayer told me was to be like a supporting cast to you two. I mean, what's up with that? There's got to be something wrong with that. You and I both know that I'm more of a leader than you and Tim combined."

I nodded. "You do seem like a leader kind of person… And Jamie reminded me that I'm an ideal society… and that I will find myself in this competition, if not with this weird thing that she sees coming up in the future or something. But then again, I don't believe that anyone can see the future." I had to give Tim some credit; he solved the whole 'you are Utopia' riddle (and called me stupid for not seeing it as well).

I almost couldn't believe that she knew that I was still unsure of myself and what career I would want in the future. Was she serious? Was I really going to discover who I was? But then again her predicting seemed too vague and accurate at the same time. Unless she was some sort of future-seeing person or Pokémon, there was no way her words could be true… and yet I wanted them to be…

"Hey, you're spacey again." Malcolm observed and I blushed in embarrassment. The red-head shrugged and asked, "Tim seems to do it too. I'm just wondering if it's just an only child thing or if you're contagious…"

"Hey!" I felt a strange mix of annoyance and amusement. "I'm not contagious and it's not an only-child thing. I just think a lot and sometimes I forget about the things around me…" I protested. So what, I thought a lot. That means I was smart, right?

I sighed at Malcolm and he responded by flashing me a friendly grin. I then turned back to the dispersing group of trainers that were cut from the competition. I suddenly felt over-privileged, like a rich kid in a ghetto. I had made it but the others didn't. And Bob, a friendly and talkative tinker, wasn't going to join the Top Ten.

I walked over to Gregor and Bob still giving each other their goodbyes. I gave Bob a sad smile and said, "It was nice meeting you Bob."

The grease monkey grinned back and offered his dirty hand for a shake. "Same here, and congrats. Watch out after my friend, ok?" Bob cackled.

Gregor smiled slightly. "Whatever, Bob. I'm the one watching out after you. Have a great trip to Opelucid. If you find any new Pokémon give me a buzz." The hero-nerd scoffed back playfully.

Bob took his hand back from his intended shake and shouldered his large backpack. "Yeah. I'm going to fly there on my awesome Skarmory thing. And once you guys are done with the contest, why don't you join us at Opelucid?" he took out a gritty-looking Pokéball and waited for my answer.

I inwardly dreaded going anywhere near a dragon-type gym with a dragon-type gym leader roaming the streets. Sure I heard it was a nice place, one side of it completely modernized and the other preserved from its founding days. But it wasn't like I was going to fight the gym leader… "Sure, I'll give you a call then?" I said as confidently as I could when it came to dragons.

Bob the builder nodded and said to Gregor, "You can give Utopia my number, ok pal?" he called out the metal bird Pokémon and jumped on its stainless steel back. "Until later, Allons-y!" he called and commanded his bird to fly northward to the modern and ancient city.

"What's allons-y mean?" Malcolm muttered over my shoulder.

I shrugged. "I have no idea…"

Gregor said simply, "It's French for 'let's go' but Bob uses it like 'goodbye'. It's an inside joke for us."

I nodded and said, "So, I guess it's just you left of your trio of friends? I think that you'll do great, Gregor… You're certainly the smartest one here."

The hero-nerd grinned back. "Thanks, Utopia."

…

Once that was all done, the last ten of us sat around the table and all of our attention was focused on Skyla. Well, all of us except for Tim (or Timothy), who seemed like he was in a terrible mood. I shrugged inwardly and continued to wait on Skyla.

The red-haired Gym Leader smiled casually and said, "So, I'll let you guys dig into some food. Then I want to hear about each and every one of you people. Go on, eat something."

Malcolm stood to his feet first, but the jogger and pilot people were taking up food first. I joined Malcolm in the line and in no time the ten of us plus Skyla were eating the buffet food. Malcolm had his plate stuffed with layers of food as usual while my plate was divided in three to avoid the foods mixing. I had the pudding and Oran Berries once again, complemented by some barbequed fowl of some sort. Then again so many foods are over-processed that what I was eating could have been made artificially. I didn't really care since it tasted good and if it was made artificially, then no Pokémon were killed for me to eat.

And there I go again about food…

"So, I'll start with myself." Skyla said once she finished a bite of some sort of pasta and we were all at the table again. "I'm Skyla, I'm twenty five years old, and I'm from Mistralton. My Pokémon are Swanna, Unfezant, and Swoobat and I've been a gym leader for three years so far. And my favorite color is blue." She smiled and addressed all of us, "now I want all of you to say some basic facts about yourself and even a few random facts you might like to add, like the fact that flying planes has been in my family for at least three generations. I want a name, age, badge number (as in badges you have won), Pokémon team, and hometown, then maybe your favorite color or Pokémon." She pointed to the dreadlocked guy and said, "You first."

The dancer person swallowed his last mouthful and said, "I'm Guy Fellow, and I just want to say that I'll become a famous trainer that can dance as he fights. Anyways, I'm from Nimbasa, and I'm seventeen years old… what else? Oh yeah, I've got five badges and my Pokémon are Woobat, Emolga, Sawsbuck, and Pansear."

The next person in line was Malcolm. The red-head said with a flourish, "I'm Malcolm Kwester, cousin of the Kwester trio if you like. I'm seventeen as well and I've earned seven badges during my two years of training. I have a Darmanitan, Conkeldurr, Braviary, and a Cottonee as my team. My hometown is Accumula town and… I don't know… I like all Pokémon and all colors. I'm very honored to be this far in the competition."

So Malcolm had seven badges? SEVEN? I had been training for one year as of today and I had only earned three. Even the Guy Fellow person had five badges. I felt like an underachiever compared to them. I noticed that all eyes were turned to me and I stammered, "Oh, right… I'm Utopia Fletcher and I just turned sixteen today, as you all know already… thanks again for the presents… Oh sorry, I don't mean to be so…" I cleared my throat and completed the list as fast as I could while my face flushed. "I have three badges, I'm from Lacunosa Town, and My Pokémon team is Palpitoad, Sundaz-I-mean-Larvesta, Vullaby and Stunfisk… And I'm the only girl left in the competition…" Great, I had to state the obvious… I stared at my lap and tried to make my face cool down.

Tim gave me a critical look and said in a flat voice, "Timothy Feldman (call me Tim), nineteen, two badges, Yamask, Archen, Cryogonal, and Sigilyth, Icirrus."

I jumped up from my embarrassment in surprise. He was nineteen and only had two badges? Suddenly I didn't feel like I was that far behind.

Skyla nodded, "So, where did you get your badges from, Tim?"

He replied quickly, "I have a Jet and Quake badge."

Skyla frowned. "Strange, why don't I remember battling you before?"

Tim shrugged. "I was using a different Pokémon, a Carcosta. My father lent it to me."

"I would have sworn you had a different hair color…" the Gym Leader shrugged and looked at Gregor. "Ok, you next."

I eyed Tim again. Then again, black hair didn't seem to be a natural hair color on his pale skin. Was he really a blonde? I kind of snickered at the thought of seeing a blonde Tim. But still… and what was a Carcosta again? And why did he only have the badges on the western side of Unova (except the Freeze badge from Brycen)?

The hero-nerd smiled and said, "Thanks, Leader Skyla. I'm Gregor Niles from Driftveil City. This actually is my first gym challenge and it's not going to be my last. I want to be a Gym Leader, thanks to Clay, and I'm going to put everything I can into this. Anyways, I'm sixteen years old and I have six badges, just the Freeze and Legend badge left. My team is six strong; Throh, Purrlion, Tranquill, Gothorita, Bearartic, and Fraxure. I can't say that I have a favorite Pokémon species, but my Fraxure and Gothorita are the best Pokémon a trainer could want."

I shuddered to think Gregor had a Fraxure as one of his favorite team mates… if I ever had to battle him I might faint at the sight of the dragon, and that would be very embarrassing! And Gregor was my age and had six badges… maybe Tim and I were the ones behind. And yet it didn't make much sense. Tim was way stronger than me with his Pokémon. He beat Malcolm, who had seven badges. How did that work?

I suddenly remembered a phrase he had said while telling me about how Luke died, "…but even so I couldn't bring myself to train Pokémon after Luke died and became one…" And Luke had died a few years ago, which meant that… did Tim have a break in his training to help Luke? Was that the reason he was so experienced and yet had so few badges?

I groaned silently as I realized that once again I was way too curious about Tim. In fact, my daydreaming had cost me a couple people talking about themselves. Landorus, now I'll have to somehow come up with an excuse for not catching their names later.

"Still spacey as before, Utopia? I guess you still haven't changed." A familiar voice broke my thoughts.

I snapped to attention and looked around the table. Since when was there someone that knew me? I was in this contest alone, just me and the new friends I made. I zeroed in on the guy who had spoken, a familiar looking person I had identified as the guitarist. "Um… yeah… I'm sorry, I don't recognize you…" I felt my face getting red again. Oh these moments of telling someone that you forgot them… I hate them so much.

"Landorus, Utopia, you have a bad memory. It's me, your pal Ouri from Lacunosa." The green-haired guy with a beanie on his head said with a grin.

My memories arranged themselves and I face-palmed for not recognizing him sooner. How could I forget my pal from Lacunosa? It had been at least six years since I had seen him last! We had been pen pals for a while after I moved, but that had stopped. "Ouri Greene! How could I forget? I'm so sorry… Hey, how's things been going? You still live by the clock over there?" I said happily. I couldn't have been happier to find a person who I knew from a while ago. He shared my fear of dragons, along with his pretended allergy of Pokémon just to make me feel better. "And what in Landorus' name brought you to Mistralton?"

Skyla smiled. "You two know each other then?"

Ouri, my green haired friend, nodded. "Utopia moved away six years ago and it's really cool to see her here. I came because I wanted a gym badge and heard that this was going on, so I joined it. I guess she had the same idea. We're both from Lacunosa Town and it's such a coincidence that we are in this same contest and in the top ten. What can I say, I think Lacunosa raises up some great trainers."

"Yeah! Man, it's great to see you again Ouri…." I mumbled. He used most of the same expressions I used when I was still ten years old. Actually the 'Landorus' curse was his idea and we used it together. We were chummy alright. Why didn't I recognize him sooner? Maybe it was because now we were both sixteen and we had changed a lot in six years, not to mention puberty.

I sat back in my chair and stared at my childhood friend. "We should catch up after dinner, alright?" I could swear Tim was giving me a glare from the corner of his eye. Then again, when was Tim not glaring?

Ouri continued with his general information. "Well, as you can tell my name is Ouri Greene from Lacunosa, friend of spacey Utopia over there. I'm sixteen and I have about five badges on me. My team is Galvantula, Scraggy, Escavalier, and Swanna. Oh yeah, and Klang. Gotta prepare myself you know. Klang's really great for protection if you know what I mean." Ouri winked at me, letting me know that it was probably to combat Kyurem if we ever had to encounter it. After all, ice was weak against steel-type.

"I've never thought of Klang to be good protection. I usually think along the lines of a Darmanitan or Stoutland for that. But if it works, then good for you." Malcolm said with a show of Pokémon knowledge. Malcolm did exceedingly know things about Pokémon, and even had that all memorized. He wasn't the smartest, but he had things going for him.

"So what was your starter Pokémon?" I asked Ouri.

"Actually it was Joltik who grew into Galvantula. He's a strong little bug." Ouri said with a grin.

"Ok, next up." Skyla continued the circle so that all of the top ten trainers could get their say within dinner time.

The next guy, the pilot-looking person, said, "I'm Pavel Rostami of Mistralton. I've been training to be in Skyla's gym now for several years. I'm eighteen years old with eight Unovian badges. My team is composed of Bouffalant, Ruflet, Vullaby, Unfezant, and Swoobat." He seemed to clack his shoes together as a military person would.

He was really into being a Gym trainer! I could almost feel my enthusiasm for trying to win this going down the drain. This Pavel guy was way more dedicated to winning and bird Pokémon. How did I stand a chance? My fighting instincts were pretty much aligned with my outlook on life as well; I already saw my fight lost.

The last guy was up. This was the goofy-looking harlequin. He gave a mock bow and said, "My name is Albertus Lahti, Albert for short. I'm from Nimbasa as well, though I was in partial employment at Castelia Gym. You know, I wanted to get out and see other gyms… Anyways, I'm twenty years old, I think the oldest of you, second to Tim over there." He pointed to Tim's sour face with a goofy grin. "And my Pokémon are versatile, I have a Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Victini…" he stopped and laughed at himself. "Whoops, sorry, that's not my team!"

It better not be because owning a Kyurem would give me a heart-attack! I thought angrily. I could guess that Ouri, my fellow Lacunosa resident, understood that you do not ever, ever joke around with something like Kyurem!

"I meant to say that my team members are Alomomola, Dwebble, Maractus, Excadrill, and Sigilyth. I have to say it's pretty interesting that the two oldest here have desert Pokémon." Albertus shot Tim another grin, which was only returned with a glare. "Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to mention that I have all eight badges… had them for a while now."

Skyla nodded. "So, looks like the youngest here is Dan at fifteen and the oldest is Albert at twenty. That's a pretty good range; the teenaged years. And you all come from different towns and have different teams. Now that I know some basic information about you, a can go ahead and start testing you." The red-headed leader leaned back in her chair and said, "From now on there will be no elimination rounds. You are now free to leave when you feel like giving up. Now that the flippant competitors are gone, I can push you to your physical limits more." She looked at us in turn and asked in her creepy way, "Are you scared now? Things will only be uphill from now on."

I gulped and felt the seeds of woe and fear take root. Everything had been bearable until now. What if I didn't have a chance? Pavel the pilot was way more experienced; heck he even had all eight badges! What did I have against him?

But that was my only strength, my only motivation. I wasn't experienced and I was a girl. That put me at a disadvantage, but if I pulled through, it would be an even greater accomplishment. I was an under-lilipup! I even had melodrama on my side! Ok, maybe not to the extent of melodrama, but everyone loved an under-lilipup, right?

"I'm ready!" the strange harlequin said with a cackle.

Skyla shrugged. "Ok, I haven't scared any of you yet, but I can promise I will have you wondering about if you really wanted this or not. Ok, tonight I will assign you a partner and a gym trainer you will start out with. You'll learn from each of them tomorrow which is a Friday. I'll have to give you guys a break on Sunday…" she paused and seemed to be planning ahead. She snapped out of it and said, "Oh, and since our group is smaller, I can reserve you ten rooms in this Pokémon Center."

I nearly jumped out of my seat. We finally get to sleep in the Pokémon Center rooms? Hallelujah! "Sweet!" I couldn't help saying.

"Ok, so after I assign you partners, you can go and retrieve your stuff from the hanger. Besides, the days are getting shorter and I don't want frosted wings on my planes. I need the hanger for better purposes now." Skyla said with a wave of her hand.

"Before you pair us off, I would request to be partnered with Utopia."

I jumped and gave the speaker, Tim, my weirdest stare possible. Ok, since when did that happen? I thought he still loathed me and wouldn't hesitate to order his Archen to attack me. "Say wha?"

Skyla did seem surprised and slightly amused. "And why is that, Tim?"

The black-haired guy kept his gaze away from me as he replied, "I can't tolerate anyone else here." He said it so seriously… I was impressed at his lack of emotion. But still, why me? I secretly wanted to be partnered with Malcolm or Ouri since they were nice and friendly to me.

The Leader looked at me and asked, "It's fine with me. I was going to put you two together anyways… Are you ok with that, Utopia?"

I hid my confusion and said calmly, "Sure, I can tolerate him as well…" I should have mentioned that we were sort of friends, but Tim always seemed allergic to the word 'friend'. I nodded and tried to add in a more positive way, "We can work together as partners." At least I think so… I mentally added.

Skyla shrugged. "It's done then, Utopia Fletcher and Timothy Feldman. Your first Gym trainer will be Brady. You'll get a text tomorrow morning to find him. Ok, I'm letting each team chose their group name, so discuss that tonight and tell me by texting Cliff.

"Next team will be Ouri Greene and Guy Fellow. You two will report to Arnold.

"Team three will be Dan Aviv and Pavel Rostami and your reporting trainer will be Ted.

"Team four will be led by Cliff and the members are Malcolm Kwester and Archie Graham.

"Team five will be Gregor Niles and Albertus Lahti will start with Chase." She looked around the table and said, "I chose you in pairs that I thought would complement the other. Smarts go with enthusiasm and that stuff. Now would be a great time to meet with your partner, get to know them, agree on a team name, and the like. You are dismissed."

A/N: You might want to reference this chapter quite a bit since I'm introducing six new characters. I'm even going to be using this chapter for reference in the future.

Anyways, please review, I like hearing from readers. And thanks so much for the support of this story so far. Thank you very much :)