The university prided itself on having some of the best battling practice arenas in the world. They had at least 6 different fields. Each housed in a room that could duplicate weather conditions, field type, etc. The prestigious Landorus practice grounds this time of year were always packed with 3rd years practicing. They knew that they had to prepare for what was to come. They had to go beyond their ordinary skills. They had worked for three years and were almost at the point of becoming a gym leader. But they had to beat their mentors. That's why training now was so critical. In fact one of the rooms had been reserved by Nick Baldwin and Marcus.

The practice arena was set up in a rocky terrain with a few water holes. This accommodated both nick and Marcus. Neither had that much of an advantage over the other. In terms of Pokémon, nick had sent out Jet his beloved Floatzel. Marcus had sent out Titan the stalwart Golurk. The Pokémon looked like they had taken a pounding. There were scratches on the Golurk's armor. Jet meanwhile had bruises and was breathing heavy. Whoever landed the next hit was going to win the contest.

"Jet, use AquaJet!" Nick baldwin called. Nick was of course wearing his lucky black polo. It wasn't unusual to see nick in a polo, but this one in particular was his lucky one. He claimed he never lost a battle in this polo. Of course Chelsea and Marcus had serious doubts about the validity of the statement. In fact Chelsea swore she saw Nick lose in that polo before.

His floatzel nodded, "Floatzel!" She was covered in water and leapt into the air. The Floatzel streaked towards the Golurk at a near light speed. Nick knew that they couldn't outhit Titan, but they could outspeed them. This was what jet was really good at. She had speed and power. That's why nick was so reliant on her. "Titan can't move as quick as Jet. This move is going to land and I'll take down Marcus.", nick smirked. He had outsmarted his friend, again.

On the other side of the field, Marcus remained stoic. The unusualness of being so composed during a battle would have usually raised some eyebrows. However Marcus was always this calm in or out of battle. This was not to say that he wasn't as passionate of a battler as say a Chelsea or any of his peers. In fact he was internally yelling and screaming. But he refused to show anyone his true thoughts. He had done that once during a battle and swore he would never do that again.

"Titan use heavy slam." The giant mechanical ghost Pokémon nodded. The creature charged right at the oncoming aqua jet from Jet. The Golurk's body started to glow as it continued its charge. This was a sort of kamikaze run by the Pokémon. Jet and Titan collided in the center of the arena. The impact shaking the ground beneath the two trainers. Dust covered the arena obstructing the view of both Marcus and Nick. There seemed to be a collective pained cry from both Pokémon.

As the dust settled, Nick and Marcus squinted to see the results. What they saw was total carnage. The Golurk's armor was even more dented than before. It laid in a heap. The floatzel was bruised all around her body and laying on top of the golurk. Both Pokémon were clearly knocked out. As nick pulled out his dive ball, he frowned. If Jet couldn't even beat Marcus' best Pokémon with his best mom how could he stand a chance against a instructor? Nick had to get stronger. Sure he had a year to really prepare, but that wasn't enough time. Not if he wanted to win and become a gym leader himself.

"Hey Nick, I have a new Pokémon I want to test out. Should we try that next?", Marcus reached towards his belt. Nick was curious about this. But he would never turn the chance to battle. Afterall he had a newly acquired Pokémon that he wanted to test out himself.

"Ok Marcus. I have a Pokémon I want to test out as well. So let's get to it.", nick reached for his newest Pokémon. He had just caught the Pokémon while he was fishing. It was pretty strong in battle so he thought that this might be the secret weapon he needed to make it to his ultimate goal. Nick threw his dive ball and released his newest Pokémon.

"Chinchou?", the fish like Pokémon looked around not used to these surroundings. Marcus flashed a smile while looking at the Chinchou. Marcus was impressed.

"A Chinchou, huh? I have to say Nick I wasn't expecting you to use this Pokémon. But it's smart."

"Yep, I was looking for either this or a Lanturn. Luckily I caught Joules here. Her ability takes away any electric attacks. Just in case you were thinking of using an electric attack.", Nick smirked. He knew that his beloved water Pokémon were susceptible to electric attacks. But Joules prevented that from occurring.

"But I my own little ace up my sleeve.", and with that Marcus threw out his ultra ball. Nick's eyes lit up when he saw what kind of ball it was that Marcus was using. "An ultra ball? This is probably a tough one.", he mumbled.

Out of the ultra ball came a small dragon Pokémon. "Dreepy?", the mon said as it looked around at the arena and stared at the Chinchou across from her. The dragon had a small airplane/bomber shaped head. Nick's jaw dropped as he realized what kind of Pokémon Marcus had. So that is why the ultra ball was used. Dreepy's were incredibly tough to catch. The fact that Marcus had caught it was impressive.

"This is Spyro. Yes I named her after the video game dragon. Don't criticize.", Nick tried hard not to laugh at his friend. Afterall it was a funny name for a Pokémon. Though he figured that Joules was not that better of a name. He covered his mouth trying not to laugh.

"Alright nick enough laughing. Let's get to the battle."

Nick's would be response was interrupted by a loud bang on the door to the practice arena. Nick and Marcus looked at each other in utter confusion. Marcus had rented the practice arena and even the outside marker above the door had said occupied. There was no way that someone was that rude and inconsiderate. The banging had persisted which caused nick and Marcus to withdraw their Pokémon. They were beyond pissed. Marcus reached for the door to see who was at the door.

"You dicks! Here you are practicing when we have to go to the ceremony!"

Chelsea Gibbs did not like fancy dresses. She preferred a solid top or a nice blouse to a dress. Only for special occasions did she wear a dress and heels. This was one of those occasions. She worse a teasing red dress that took her from a solid 8 to a perfect 10. Her hair, which she usually kept up in a ponytail, was now down. The only thing that scared off guys from approaching her was the scowl she was wearing. Nick and Marcus trudged behind her with their heads hung.

"I come over to your guys' apartment fully expecting you to be dressed and ready to go to the ceremony. Instead I find the apartment empty. Not a trace of both of you. I find you guys fucking around with your Pokémon. Don't you care about your futures? This is where we find out if we got the mentors that we wanted. Now you aren't even dressed. Well I guess that's how you'll just have to show up. We don't have time to go back to the apartment and change."

"Chels, it's just a meet and greet where we find out who we have to fight at the end. I don't get what the big idea is.", Chelsea and Marcus had jokingly nicknamed Nick loudmouth whenever he opened his mouth and promptly put his foot in his mouth. This was one of those times.

"Oh no.", Marcus could feel it coming and braced for impact.

Chelsea stopped in place. She faced nick and got in his face. Her green eyes seemed to pierce straight to nick's core. They judged him and seemed to glisten with pure anger. Nick had only this look once before. It was in their 1st year in the program. He had never wanted to see it again. Now that he had inserted his foot into his mouth about the ceremony, Chelsea was beyond pissed.

"Doesn't matter?! Doesn't matter?! Ok Mr. call my best friend in near tears because I don't know who to pick for my mentor. Didn't you basically storm into my apartment last week and confess all your doubts to me about failing this year? Didn't we have a good talk about it?"

Nick hung his head in shame. He had no retort for Chelsea. The brunette smiled triumphantly having effectively emasculated her best friend. She patted him on the head and turned to Marcus. She still had that scowl and look in her eyes.

"You have something to say too?", Marcus shook his head emphatically. He didn't want what happened to nick to happen to him. Chelsea turned around and motioned for both of them to follow her. Nick walked as if he had been in a heavy weight fight and had lost. Marcus nudged him in the side. A smirk on his face.

"Bro, she totally destroyed you."

"Shut up."

"Oh tough talk from someone who just got destroyed in public. Don't make me call Chelsea on you."

"What are you two cocks talking about?", Chelsea looked over her should which instantly quieted the two friends. Marcus and nick just shook their heads and hung them. Chelsea then turned her gaze ahead of her. They were getting closer and closer to where the ceremony was going to be held. The mentor-mentee ceremony was more of a meet and greet rather than a ceremony. The professors and the want to be gym leaders would all be in the grand ballroom of the main hall. Here the students would finally learn who their mentors would be.

"Hey Chels, who do you want as your mentor?", nick asked trying to get back on her good side. The brunette gave nick the side eye as they continued towards the ceremony.

"I put Flannery as my number one choice.", nick and Marcus looked at each other. That made perfect sense since from a personality point of view. They were both fun loving and competitive. It made sense as to why Chelsea would want Flannery as her mentor. Though from a practical perspective choosing Flannery made little sense. She was new to the institute and would probably not offer a lot of advice.

"What about you, Marcus?", Chelsea asked completely ignoring Nick. Even though they were best friends, Chelsea loved ignoring Nick whenever she was angry with him. This was something he had quickly become accustomed to.

"I hope I get Sabrina.", this caused Nick and Chelsea to stop in their place. Sabrina had the distinction of being the only instructor to have never lost to a mentee. They knew that Marcus was bold, but this seemed like a ridiculous move. Marcus gave both his friends a quizzical look.

"What?"

"Are you nuts? Sabrina? Bro, she hasn't lost a fight yet. I know that you want to be a ghost type gym leader, but this is crazy.", there was a sense of worry in Nick's voice. Nick had envisioned that Marcus and Chelsea would join nick in defeating their mentors. That way they could all become gym leaders together. Maybe even in the same region. But if Marcus was going to challenge Sabrina then that dream was effectively dead on arrival.

"Yeah that's really stupid. I know you're a ghost type trainer, but she's come across ghost type trainers before. She beat them. Marcus, are you sure. This doesn't seem smart.", even Chelsea seemed worried about Marcus' decision. Messing with Sabrina wasn't a good choice. Her friend, Sam, had challenged Sabrina last year and lost. Gianna didn't want that to happen to Marcus.

Marcus just shrugged. He had confidence in his own abilities even if his friends did not. "Oh ye of little faith. I know I will beat her. I have a few tricks up my sleeve." Marcus had a air of confidence about him. He had studied Sabrina and had figured she was his best shot at being the best gym leader possible. It was a gamble, but one he was sure would pay off.

"I chose Peony as my mentor in case anyone wants to know.", nick offered up meekly.

Chelsea shot Nick a look. "No one cares, jackass.", she then flipped her hair as she turned around. Nick hung his head in shame. Usually he would have tried to comeback if it was anyone else busting his balls, but Chelsea was different. For all his bravado, Chelsea always got the better of Nick when matching wits.

The group walked a few more feet until they got in front of another gothic building. This one was different than the others. Instead of the bleak grey and warn out exterior, this building was all white. It was the most eloquent building on campus. The white stone was pristine. There were no wear and tear on the building. It looked almost brand new despite it being the oldest building on campus. This was the Main Hall. This was where they would find out who their mentors would be. The people that they would spend the next year with. The ones that would teach them the tricks of the trade. And the one they would ultimately have to beat. Marcus, Chelsea, and nick all looked at each other. They took a collective breath as they stepped forward into their futures.