Stacy sat on the end of her bed flipping through the pages of her Pokemon manual, trying to decide on which pokemon should be selected for the Routes of the Isle of Thor.

"Hmmmm" she thought aloud, "not Miltank, they're quite powerful so a beginner trainer wouldn't fare so well against them even if they were level five."

She flipped a few more pages. "Certainly not Onix!" she gasped, hurriedly skimming a few more pages.

"Sentret" she read. Stacy stopped to ponder over this one. In her homeland of Johto, Sentret was one of the first pokemon which she had encountered after receiving her Chikorita from Prof. Elm.

Holding up her pokeball, Stacy summoned Bloom out onto the bed next to her. "What do you think Bloom?" Stacy asked, turning the book towards the grass type for a better look.

"Chikorii!" Bloom exclaimed, nodding her approval.

"That's one down then," Stacy sighed as she wrote this decision down in her notebook.

Leigh threw the training ball against the wall again.

He sat with his back to the edge of his bed, throwing the ball against the wall opposite him repeatedly, catching it as it bounced back to him.

"Why did I loose Hydride?" he moaned to the Wartortle sat at the desk. "I was sure to win with such a powerful pokemon as Tauros…. Not that you couldn't handle it of course." He added with a faint smile.

Wartortle appeared to ignore him as he leafed through the pokemon manual which Leigh should've been examining.

The first update was to be announced tomorrow, and each trainer would have to submit their lists of pokemon to be introduced to their designated Route after breakfast.

So far, Leigh hadn't even chosen one. Then again, his presentation would be last as he had to select for Route D. Now though, he was replaying his match with Dannyl over and over in his mind, trying to see what he had done wrong.

The young trainer's thoughts of battle strategies were torn away from him by a violent banging on his door.

"Wonder who that could be." Leigh said as he crossed the room to answer the door.

"Leigh O'Brien!" Honey Virae screamed at him as the door cracked open. "What the hll do you think you are doing at this hour?"

Leigh jumped back, startled by the girl's anger. "What time is it?" he asked she her stare hardened.

"It's, like, you know, nine thirty!"

"Uh huh," Leigh responded while holding in a laugh. "I suppose I better let you get your beauty sleep then?" he added sheepishly.

"What the fck is that supposed to mean?" she yelled in his face.

Leigh had obviously hit a nerve. "uh, nothing, its just it isn't exactly late yet and we don't have a curfew…."

Honey looked fit to burst as she span around and headed down the hall. "When I come back, I expect you to have finished!" she announced as she disappeared.

"We-urd" Leigh said to himself as he turned back into the room.

Honey stalked outside. She hadn't really wanted to snap at Leigh but this project was seriously stressing her out and she didn't want to disappoint the Proffessor.

For as long as she could remember, she was the best at everything she did and she would not let this opportunity to be discovered by Contest halls everywhere and become a personnel trainer slip by.

Her designated Route was Route C so she would be giving her presentation third in the morning. That did NOT mean that she could slack off.

Not really paying attention to where she was going, Honey found herself staring up at the Research Stadium where she had been only hours before.

"Might as well, since I'm here." she said to herself as she pushed through the doors.

"Dennis?" Honey called "hey! Dennis!"

The bumbling Aide practically fell out of the door to his office, holding a pokeball in one hand and a screwdriver in another.

"Miss Virae!" he welcomed her "what can I do for you at this hour?"

"I'd like to inspect some pokemon please!"

"Right you are!" Dennis replied, stuffing his hands into his pockets to show her to a storage room.

"What level pokemon would you like to battle?" the Aide asked.

"Battle?" Honey looked surprised "I only want to inspect them for releasing." She mumbled.

"Ah, but battling is the best proof of adequacy when it comes to this sort of thing."

Honey nodded her agreement. "Ok then, show me to the level five pokemon and ill call you when I'm ready to use the battle field."

"Right you are Miss Virae!" Dennis smiled as he lead her to a room and ushered her inside before returning to his office.

When she was alone, Honey went about selecting the pokeballs for testing. She was limited to three pokemon on Route C and she did not want to mess up.

Fumbling in her pocket, Honey pulled out her own little guide which she had bought at the Red Lab Docks. Skipping forward to the gym leader pages, she examined the leader of gym 2.

Jim Morris used strictly flying type pokemon.

Honey considered this. Since this was the first Isle, new trainers would need all the help they could get if they were to win any gym badges and she knew just how to give them that help.

Electric and rock types.

She giggled at her own cleverness. No-one would have thought of selecting pokemon to best the local gym leaders.

Collecting up some choice pokeballs, Honey sought out Dennis to prepare the battle ground.

Dannyl al Dere was not a happy bunny.

Fine, he had won his battle against that pathetic loser of a trainer but his mood had not lifted afterwards. The whole point of battling was to experience a challenge.

He quickly scribbled down the last pokemon which he would choose for release on route B and flipped his trainer manual closed.

Leaning back, Dannyl almost fell from his chair as the speakers ran out:

ATTENTION, RESEARCH STADIUM HAS BEEN ACTIVATED. REPEAT, RESEARCH STADIUM HAS BEEN ACTIVATED

With a smirk, Dannyl rose from his chair and darted for the corridor, hoping that there were other trainers around.

Stepping out of his door, Dannyl locked eyes with Leigh who had also left is room in a hurry and both ran out of the building towards the stadium.

Stacy sat on her bed contemplating her last choice.

So far, she had crossed out several selections and had actually only decided on two of her three choices.

Sentret and Rattata were the selected pokemon so far and, not so surprisingly, were two of the first pokemon which trainers in Johto could battle when they first started.

Stacy's reasons for her choice were probably not the best reasons. Next to each, the young trainer had written: "Easy to beat. Beginner opponents in another established region."

True, she wasn't lying, but her reasons weren't really good enough…. Were they?

Deciding that it was a good enough reason, Stacy began to write down the last pokemon from the beginning regions of Johto. Pidgey.

ATTENTION, RESEARCH STADIUM HAS BEEN ACTIVATED. REPEAT, RESEARCH STADIUM HAS BEEN ACTIVATED

Stacy almost had a heart attack. It was going to be difficult to get used to this!

As she leapt for the door to follow the pounding footsteps outside, she slipped on something hard on the floor and crashed heavily against her desk.

Rubbing a bruised knee, Stacy looked about to find the source of her clumsiness.

A small black remote lay on the ground.

Intrigued, Stacy picked it up and pressed the button marked: POWER.

A whirring sound was heard then a compartment opened in the ceiling and a large flat screen TV dropped down.

Propping her self on the bed, Stacy saw that the image shown on the TV was of the battle field in the Research Stadium. Honey was slowly rising up on a battle platform while Dennis stood on the other.

Giggling to herself, Stacy turned up the volume.

"Don't worry about any strategies Honey," Dennis was calling from the other side of the field. "These pokemon battle as though they were wild so I won't be controlling them."

"OK" Honey replied. "Let's start with the Geodude."

As the rock pokemon emerged, Honey released a pokemon from one of her borrowed pokeballs.

A Squirtle emerged on her side of the field.

For the purposes of this test, Honey had taken the three starting pokemon from red lab at level 8 and the desired route pokemon at level 5.

"Bubble attack!" Honey ordered.

The Squirtle fired a barrage of the hard spheres through the air to pelt into the Geodude for a super effective hit.

The Geodude recoiled but soon doubled back and tackled the Squirtle.

Smiling to herself, Honey made the next move and the battle continued.

…………………..

"Scratch it again Charmander!" Honey was getting desperate now. The fire type did not know any super effective moves like bubble or leech seed so was not faring so well against the Geodude. In fact, despite its level adavantage, the Charmander was losing.

"Enough!" Honey called.

The Geodude was hastily recalled by Dennis at her command and the next test specimen was prepared.

A Pikachu was the new target and the Charmander got underway immediately with an ember.

Honey grinned and continued to battle.

……………………

Leigh and Dannyl bustled through the doors into the stadium just as the Pikachu fell for the third time, this time defeated by the Bulbasaur.

The notes on the Pokemon's levels and statuses were displayed on a large electronic board pitched above the battle ground.

Seeing the level difference, Dannyl spoke up. "Isn't it kind of pointless battling pokemon when there is a clear level advantage?" he sneered at Honey as she began to descend from her platform.

"Not when performing research that means something!" Honey snapped back.

"Just because you're a useless trainer" Dannyl whispered under his breath.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" Honey screamed, her face right in Dannyl's.

"He said you were a useless trainer!" Leigh smiled.

"Right, lets see if you think so after I battle you!" Honey spat as she turned back to Dennis "Amphibious battlefield please" she said in a sickly-sweet voice.