Author's Note: Hi! Oh man, thank you guys SO much for those reviews! They made my day! I love how I'm getting a response to this fic!

Hey, if anybody wants a character in this fic, just give me a basic profile including anypokemon they have!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Pokemon related. I own my characters, and the Lochbay Region.

Chapter One: Test Date

One week later, Nell Delecruz sat in the same uncomfortable desk. She had taken her cousin's advice and didn't bother to think about the test that was to come. Now that it was here, she wished that she had bothered to think about it. True, it was only a personality test, but this one would almost decide her fate. How could people be so cruel? Nell believed that a trainer should be able to choose his or her own Pokemon instead of trusting a Professor to do it for them. Who were Professors anyway? And what made them think that they held supreme authority over everyone else?

Nell glanced up at the front of the room, where Nariko was standing with a thick pile of paper in her hands. She seemed nervous for her students. Even when she spoke, there was a tremble in her voice that wasn't normally there. Nell knew that she had a slight fear of public speaking, but there was really no need to be this nervous. After all, it wasn't her future on the line.

Professor Nariko began to hand out the tests. Unlike Nell, everybody else in the class seemed utterly excited about this feat. When the blonde woman placed a test on her desk, Nell began to feel sick to her stomach. She had been tempted to stay home from school today, but if she had done that, she wouldn't be getting her first Pokemon. Her mother said it was from too much worrying. Nell said it was from last night's broccoli.

Standing back at the front of the class, Professor Nariko said, "Okay class, flip over you papers and begin!"

There was a loud 'whoopee' from the students, followed by a ruffle of papers. Hands shaking, Nell nervously flipped over the five-page test. Reading it over, she noticed that it was incredibly detailed. The first questions were simple enough, like 'What is your favourite colour?' and 'What is your favourite season?'

It made sense that 'What is your favourite Pokemon?' wasn't on there. If it was, Nell would have definitely answered 'Mantine'. It was a dream of hers to own such a Pokemon. Maybe she liked Mantines because of their massive size, as Nell herself was short for her age. Or maybe it was because of their overall cuteness. What Nell knew was that she adored water Pokemon. She hoped and prayed that she would be blessed with the honour of owning one. Nell had it all planned out. Her and her Pokemon would be best friends.

As Nell continued to ponder about the many water Pokemon in the world, she never realized how fast the test's questions were going by. Soon enough, she found that she was on the last question. She stared at it.

The question read, 'From the list below, what personality trait best describes you? CHOOSE ONLY ONE.' Nell read the words in her head five times. She blinked and looked up to the front, hoping to catch her cousin's eye. When she didn't, she returned her eyes to the paper, and started twirling her pencil in her hand. How would she answer this one? The rest of the questions turned out to be really simple. This was the one that she needed to follow her heart with. She knew that she could always lie and try to guess which one would be most suiting for a Mantine, but found that wouldn't be morally right.

Releasing a slight moan, Nell closed her eyes and marked off a box. She hoped that she didn't just make the worst decision of her life.

A young boy lay in the sand of Whitevale Beach, his long teal hair blowing in the breeze. This was his favourite hobby- just lazing around on the beach. It was hard to think that in an hour's time he would have a Pokemon lying there beside him. He had to admit- that personality test had been intense. He couldn't decide if he should lie or not. It was strict tradition that every trainer in his family must start out with a grass-type Pokemon, and he didn't want to break that.

In his right hand, he grabbed a handful of white sand and held it out in front of him. He closed his eyes, wished for the best, and opened his fist, releasing the sand. The boy wouldn't let anybody know- he was too cool- but he really was worried about this test. His worry wasn't just for his though; it was for his best friend, Nell, too. He was one of the few people who had actually seen both sides of the girl. She was just so unpredictable, even he- who had known her all his life- had no idea what she was going to choose. It was obvious that their classmates would guess that Nell would answer the questions like the shy girl that she was, but the boy had his doubts.

Footsteps became audible from behind him, so he whipped his head around. Running towards him was his best friend, bare feet and all.

"Merick, please tell me that I didn't just make the worst decision of my life!" Nell said, panting. She had gone home to change out of her school uniform after the test, and was now wearing a yellow tank top and a knee-length brown skirt. Merick looked down at his own attire, which consisted of a lot less material- a pair of black board shorts.

"What are you going on about?" Merick joked. Given that the sun was at its afternoon high, he flipped down his sunglasses so that they covered his light blue eyes.

Nell punched her friend in the arm and sat down beside him. "Oh har har. You know, you could have a little bit more sympathy for me!"

"Why do you need sympathy? Or is it more than that? Oh, I know, you just want my attention!" Merick smirked at the girl, whose mouth was open wide. "What are you trying to do, catch a Ledyba?"

"Eww! You know I don't like bug Pokemon! Well…except for Surskit! They're water Pokemon."

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me that. I could never forget you obsession with water Pokemon…No matter how much I wanted to!" Merick laughed.

Fixing the boy a glare, Nell retorted, "Yeah, well you're the same, buster. Except you're all, 'I need to get a grass Pokemon, or I'll dishonor my family!' Boo-hoo-hoo. Do you even like grass Pokemon? No, I didn't think so."

"Hey, let's just face it. We're two weird kids in a messed up world." Merick grinned, recline further back on his elbows.

"True dat."

"You know…you really don't sound cool when you say that."

"I know. I just do it to bug ya." Nell said before winking.

"So…What did you put down for that last question?" Merick asked, turning his head to look at his friend. She had her eyes staring down at the sand, a sad expression on her face. Surely she was questioning if she had made the right choice. Merick didn't know what the big deal was. He had confidence in her and knew that she could handle anything. Though he wouldn't blame her for being disappointed if she didn't receive a water Pokemon. However, there was a feeling deep inside them both that told them that she would- just as they both knew he would get his grass Pokemon…but that feeling wasn't as strong.

"…Fun." Nell whispered.

"Really? Well it's true you know. You are fun…just not around other people!"

"Would you stop teasing me? What did you put down mister? I hope you put down peculiar, because the only other thing suiting for you would be MEAN." The girl faked a pout and once again punched her friend in the arm.

"Never mind 'fun' if you never wanted to lie you could have put 'violent'! You know, I think your cousin put it on the test just for you! Remember when you broke a few of my ribs that one time? Not to mention that you gave me a black eye… That was painful!"

It was true. Two years ago the duo was at a neighborhood party when they were offered to play with some of Nariko's Pokemon. Being a professor, Nariko naturally had many Pokemon, and had decided to bring only four to the party: A Snorunt, a Spheal, a Mawile, and a Gulpin. The kids had decided to each pick two Pokemon and have a fake battle. Nell had sided with the Spheal- who happened to be very aggressive- and the Mawile, whereas Merick had chosen the Snorunt and the Gulpin. It was more like he was stuck with them because he let Nell choose first. While the two of them pretended to battle, Nell started to get fed up with Merick constantly 'winning'. At first she thought that she would sick the Spheal on him, because it could cause some damage. That was until she realized that that would be cruel. Instead, she opted to have the Pokemon cause a distraction while she would sneak up behind him. While the Pokemon started fighting, Nell had tackled her friend from behind. The Pokemon stopped fighting and went over to their 'master', who was tickling Merick to death. Merick, who now had Nell and two Pokemon on him, felt like he was about to faint- and he did. The doctors said it was from lack of air to the lungs. Aside from that, he thought he was fine.

It wasn't until two days later that he found out he had actually gotten hurt. It was needless to say that Nell's plan didn't exactly work out the way she had hoped.

"Hey! That was funny!"

"Why did those Pokemon listen to you anyway? Mine just stood there like lumps! They wouldn't even defend me!" Merick pondered.

"Because I'm cool and you aren't. Why else?" Nell stated conceitedly. She glanced down at the watch on her wrist. "Um…I think she should get going. We have to be at the lab in, like, fifteen minutes."

"WHAT! Do you expect me to go dressed like this!" Merick shouted, gesturing at his bare chest. Not that Nell was looking or anything- she had already started heading towards the path, laughing.

Once again, Nariko found herself standing in front of a classroom of ten-year-olds. No longer in their formal school uniforms, the kids seemed more relaxed- and more giddy- than usual. In fact, they hadn't yet noticed their teacher standing in front of the class and resumed talking to their friends. Nariko watched as her younger cousin spoke to the same boy as last week. She had always found that boy rather particular- long hair that would be more suiting if it was black instead of teal. That wasn't the only thing off about him though. His typical school day normally consisted of sitting in the back of the room, doing work and not talking. Now this was odd for a ten-year-old in Whitevale Beach. Most kids were outgoing, but then again, Nell wasn't like that in public either. Nariko hadn't a clue that the two kids had been best friends all their life- which was odd, seeing as Nariko was always over at Nell's place. Mr. and Mrs. Delecruz were like second parents to the professor.

Five minutes later, Nariko was forced to clear her throat to get the kids' attention. They looked up at her like they always did.

"Now, I am going to call you up alphabetically to give you your Pokemon. Are you ready?" She asked the students, who all- including Nell and Merick- nodded eagerly. "Okay, Sarah Appleton, come on up."

A young girl with long blonde hair approached the front of the room. Nell watched her and remembered how much she hated the girl. The blonde was just too chirpy for Nell's likes. Sarah stood in front of Nariko as the woman handed her a red and white pokeball and a compact square gadget, which was assumed to be a pokedex. Sarah bounced perkily out of the room and Nariko continued.

"Kevin Broderick." Just as Sarah had, the brunette boy received his pokeball from Nariko and left the room. Nell's cousin continued to read off names. Six students later, she said, "Nell Delecruz."

Nell walked over to her nervously. It was the moment of truth. Had she made a mistake? Or hadn't she?

Nariko gave her cousin an encouraging smile. Of course she knew what Pokemon her little cousin was about to receive- she was the one who scored the tests. Frankly, she had been surprised when she saw the way that Nell had answered the last- and most important- question.

Nell took the small pokeball and pokedex from her cousin's hands, and, after receiving a 'good luck', left the room. Upon entering the hall, she felt the urge to release the life form from the object in her hand, but she had promised Merick that she would wait for him. She never broke promises.

As Merick's last name was Locke, it had taken him awhile to get out of the school. When he did finally get out, Nell was sitting up in a stubby palm tree, waiting. She threw the small ball up and down, and called her friend over.

Some students were still standing around the front of the school, showing their Pokemon off to their classmates. Sarah Appleton had received an impressive looking Oddish, and Kevin a Doduo. Watching them with their new friends made Nell slightly jealous, but she knew in time that she would meet her own.

"Nell…" Merick whined, "I can't climb! Get down here!"

Nell looked down at her friend skeptically. "Yeah, right. Getting a little excited there Locke?"

Somehow, Nell managed to land the ten foot jump down the palm tree. With a 'aha!', she approached Merick with a smirk on her face.

"You ready for this?" He asked, and Nell nodded. "Okay then, on three. One…two…three!"

Both kids threw their pokeballs in the air, and were engulfed in a red glow. In seconds, two forms took shape in front of them.

Nell, who had her eyes closed, heard nothing from Merick, who was no longer beside her. She heard him take two steps forward.

"Oh…my…Nell, open your eyes!"

The girl complied, and gasped.

"What!"

Yep, I think this will be a good time to end the chapter :) Don't worry, I'll most likely update again this weekend. Just first I have to dig up enough will to update Saddy Rocks sweatdrop

Oh, and don't ask how somebody sits in a palm tree. I don't even know if thats possible!

Like always,

Read and Review!