Author note: Melissa Oetke is the only character based on a real person. My freshman Spanish teacher Profesora Oetke.

The room behind the door was small. There was maroon wall paper and green carpet. It had a 3-person couch on the right wall and on the left there were plants and a table. Covering the whole back wall was a desk. Sitting behind it, reading a magazine, was a soft looking woman with short brown hair that sort of curved in on her head. The magazine said Pokémon discoverer.

She looked up when I came in "Oh" she exclaimed and hurriedly hid the magazine before I could get a good look at the cover, "Did you pass?" She asked slightly flustered.

"Yes I did."

"Okay come here." Once I was in front of the desk, she put a case on it. It had a white stripe wrapped around the bottom, but the rest of it was covered in tiny pictures of Pokémon like in the video games. "You will need to fill out this form" she handed me a pencil and clipboard. "You may sit over there," She pointed to the couch and I went and sat on it.

It was four pages long, and just asking about basic information like name and address and stuff, but I had to sign a few agreements. One said that I couldn't use cheats on any of the games.

When I handed it back to her, she put a pad of ink in front of me. "Please press your hands into this." I did so, "Now press onto this page." She put a blank page in front of me.

"What do you need my handprints for?" I asked.

"The gaming system is specially made to play every handheld Pokémon game. It is also made to constantly scan whoever is playing it at the time to make sure that the person who passed is the only person who is playing it."

"Okay," I pressed my hands down. "What's your name?"

"My name is Melissa Oetke," She looked down at the forms, "And I see your's is Skye."

"Yeah…" I hesitated, not knowing asking this was off limits, "Please tell me what the Pokémon Region is like."

She sighed and started to scan the papers, "I'm really not supposed to tell anyone anything, but… It is very much like your part of the world, except there's more nature, better technology, and we have Pokémon."

It was my turn to sigh, "I've always wondered what real Pokémon look like. I know they must look something like what they are in the video games, but they have to have fur and scales and stuff, right?" She nodded, "If I were to go there, seeing what they really look like: that would be one of the best things about being there."

She opened the case and plugged a cord into something, "I'm loading your handprints into the console." She looked at me strangely and asked, "What would another best thing be?"

"Understanding how Pokémon think, if they think more like humans or animals."

"With those kinds of questions you'd make a good Pokémon scientist."

"Thanks, I can't get my hopes up though, it probably won't happen."

"Probably," She gripped a device that was shaped like a price tag scanner, then she slowly slid the end around the white strip at the bottom of the case and it left a strange assortment of squares in its path. She continued until she came back to where she'd started.

"What's that for?" I asked.

"It holds all the information on the form."

"Oh, so it's like a bar code?"

She looked confused, "Is that the thing companies have to put on video game cases before they sent them over here?" I nodded, "Yes." She handed me the case.

"It was nice meeting you, Ms. Oetke."

"It was nice meeting you too, Skye."

/\\\\\\

They were right outside the back door when I came out; we started walking home.

"Skye! Skye! Let me see it! Let me see it!" Said Johnny.

"What, the case?" I held it up for them to see.

"That's so cool! Mine is just plain yellow."

"It's bright yellow." I said.

"Mine is blue," said Tony.

"Did they take your hand prints too?" I asked.

"No they didn't. They took your's?"

"Yeah, then they loaded it into the handheld to make sure I'm the only one that play's my games, so don't you guys touch it. Oh, Tony call your parents and see if you can spend the night."

"We won't touch it," said Tony, "And good idea." He took out his phone.

"Skye, This. Is. So. Cool! Let's stay up all night starting our games. I can't wait to see the look on Brianna's face."

"That will be sweet. Oh shoot, I never asked when I need to beat the games by, or what I need to do when that time comes." I said in a panic."

"Relax Skye, they'll probably call you or something, did you give them your phone number… or something?" Said Tony.

"That was number sixteen on the form."

"Then they should call you. And my mom said yes."

"Cool. Hey, there's Pizza Hut; let's get some to bring home."

We got in line, it was unusually long, all the losers from the station must have come here afterwards.

"Hey look," said Johnny, "The guy that's in front of us is the guy who gave us his lunch. Hey mister," he said to him, "You must be really hungry."

"What? Oh it's you," He said, irritated. "Yes, I'm hungry, why wouldn't I be? You took all I had to eat for seven hours."

"Thank you for that," Said Johnny. "You want to share pizza? We'll pay."

"Er, thanks," He said a bit less unhappily.

"So how old are you?"

"I'll be 18 in about a month"

"You're just barely within the age limit from the top and I'm barely in it from the bottom, funny. Did you buy a limited addition case?"

"Yes, but I left mine in my car."

"You have a car? What kind is it?"

The guy seemed to like Johnny more as the conversation continued. When we got to the front, we got an extra large cheese pizza with extra cheese and cheese-filled crust and a booth in the back so as not to be disturbed.

"So what's your name?" Asked Johnny.

"My name's Roy. Did you guy's get limited editions too? Mine's green."

"We did," Said Johnny motioning to Tony and himself, "But Skye got a testing case," He said proudly.

"Really? Can I see it?" I held it up for him to see. "Nice. Well, good luck."

"Thanks, but the odds are still like 100,000 to 1 or something."

"What are the Squares-," He was interrupted because at that moment someone jumped over his head, grabbed my testing case and continued jumping over tables, heading toward the exit.

"Hey!" Yelled Roy and he started chasing after him. The person who took it had jumped off the nearest table to the door, which had been opened moments ago by a teenage couple, but Roy caught him by the collar of his shirt before he touched the ground. The thief was well built but was terrified being in the grasp of someone twice his size.

Tony was calling the police on his cell phone; Johnny and I were running up to the thief. "Noooo! Let me go. Let me go! I just wanted to go to the Pokémon Region." He whined. I had to yank hard to get my case out of his grasp.

Tony was done on the phone and had rolled over to us, "The police will be here in a few minutes… Skye, I don't think we should tell anyone you have a testing case. If you make it public, people will only want to take it, like this guy."

I moved the case behind me and backed against a wall, "You're right, we should tell the police not to put this in the news," I looked around at everyone staring at us, "Or at least not to say our names."

The police came, we told them what happened, asked our little favor, and they took the thief away.

"Thank you again Roy." I said, "Would you like to come over to our house for a while?"

"Sounds good," He said, "I'll drive."

/\\\\\\

We got home at 9 o'clock to find my two older brothers (actually both older than Roy) Tyler and Mark on the couch watching football. I waved the box of food in front of them, "We brought Pi-" Mark grabbed the box, "-zza." They were now stuffing their faces with the five pieces left in the box, racing to see who would have to have only two. "You're welcome."

"Mmurr mmoo." They mumbled

Tyler gulped, "Who's that."

"This is Roy, we met him at a Pokémon testing station today… none of us won."

"A real shock, Skyjack," one of them said, the other said, "You still playing that?"

"Whatever, let's go to the basement."

Our basement isn't one of those old dusty damp basements, and it really wasn't a sacrifice to come down here to watch Pokémon, because Johnny and I used this place as our bedroom. It was the size of the whole first floor, It had a ceiling, two windows, was carpeted, and painted and it had seven of those chairs that looked like a half circle, all were different colors. Our parents bought those at a garage sale. And, the best part, it had a mini fridge.

When Roy saw the bunk beds to the left of the stairs, he said, "Cool place, is this your room?"

"It's ours," said Johnny, "Skye, I know we agreed not to tell anyone that you won but we can at least tell our family."

"But should we really tell Brianna?' I asked.

"Oh yeah."

"You're probably right," Said Tony, "But this isn't the kind of thing you can keep a secret for long, she'll find out eventually."

"Well, for now let's not tell her about it." I said. "Okay, let's look at what's inside our cases."

"You aren't holding me back." We sat in a circle on the carpet and opened them.

Every inch of Roy, Tony and Johnny's cases were covered in pockets holding forty multiple colored games, and each one was a Pokémon game that had been out over the years. Even Pokémon pinball was in there and a few others I had never heard of before. They were made for all different kinds of gaming systems. There were DS chips, game packs, and some made for Game Boy Color. The only place not covered in games was the center of the bottom lid of the case. Strapped in on that part was the gaming system. They all matched the color of the case holding them, it was double screen, but the screens were slightly larger than a DSi XL and, unlike any other system, it had three slots.

My gaming system had pictures on it like my case. Its buttons were metallic looking, but slightly squishy when I touched them. The only other difference was that there was a red hardcover book inside my case, about 8 by 8 inches. It was thick and said "Information" on it.

The boys were talking excitedly about all their games but I was just staring at that book, wondering what it held. They noticed after a minute and looked over the top of my case.

"Read it Skye."

"Okay:

INTRODUCTION

In the Pokémon Region, children must pass a small course before allowed to go on a Pokémon Journey. That course's test will be only a section of the Exam that will determine if you will be chosen to go to the Pokémon Region. You will be tested on our history, basic information, and Pokémon biology. You also need to know the name of every Pokémon and their evolutions. Regarding each Pokémon's number you only need to know their general area on the PokéDex (is it in the 50's or 60's etc.). The information needed to study these and other useful things to know are in this book. At the end of this book, there are two pullout study guides to help with the main subjects. Pokémon numbers is a subject too broad to put into a study guide and can easily be studied with family, friends and the PokéDex in this book. One study guide should be used as a practice exam (though it will be very different from the actual exam). The actual exam is written answer, not multiple choice. The last section of the test will be on personality.

Good luck to you

Wow." I finished.

"Skye," Said Tony. "I really think you shouldn't put yourself through the trouble. They're gonna end up picking the two with the best scores and there's gonna be some genius that'll just look at the book and know all the answers."

I was speechless. Last time Tony was the one that kept me going. If he really didn't think I should waste my time…

"I think you should go for it Skye," It was Roy. "If you'll try, I'll help you study and stuff because you can't tell your family."

"I'll help too Skye," said Johnny, "And I think you should try."

"Well maybe I'm wrong," Said Tony.

"Okay then. I'm doing this, slight chance or not." They smiled at me. "What should I do first? Play the games, look at the study guides, or read the book?"

"I took a studying class once," Said Roy, "Reading the book before the games will help you get them done faster. As for the study guide knowing the questions before the reading will help you focus on finding the answers."

"Good call on the doing the games last. But I'm going to read the book a few times anyway, so I'll read it first, then look at the study guide, read it again, and last the games."

"And we'll start by playing the games," Said Tony and we laughed.

Johnny started with one of the new games called opal; Tony and Roy started with the earliest releases: Red and Blue.

I started with the table of contents.

Introduction…...4

Table Of Contents…...6

Dates and Other Information.…..…...7

Journey Options …...9

Basic Knowledge..…..…...40

Journey Course Test….…...100

Pokémon Region History and Geography…...122

Pokémon Biology….…...165

PokéDex…...175

Glossary…...356

Index…...367

Pullouts…...379

Ugh.

Roy crashed on some chair cushions. He really shouldn't have slept over, but my parents wouldn't care. They all fell asleep around 12:30. Johnny with his game still on (I saved and turned it off for him). Johnny's on the lower bunk and Tony's on the air mattress we kept for him in our large closet to the underneath the staircase, which is where I decided to keep the testing case. Right now, it's four and I'm still reading the Journey Options section. It wasn't hard, but it wasn't easy; Apparently 10 year olds were supposed to be able to read it. The test is on March 1st, about 5 months from now... I could be ready by then. It's supposed to be in the… North Western part of San Francisco. Roy could drive me… Parents busy… Other Information… Never come… Back…

"Skye. Hey Skye, Wake up."

"Sleep," I murmured.

"Mom made breakfast before she left."

"I'm up," I sat up straight and was rewarded with a face full of ceiling.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said dizzily and flopped back down again.

"Help me wake up Tony." It took an anvil to wake that guy up.

I went down the ladder and saw that Roy was already up and playing his Blue version while sitting in the blue chair. Johnny and I flipped Tony over, opened his eyes and blew on them. This was the only surefire way to get him up. However, this time it worked to well, he sat up fast enough so that when his forehead hit my nose it started bleeding.

"Oh man," I said.

"Double whammy," Said Roy, "I'll get a paper towel."

"Well, the test said you're able to take pain." Said Tony, "Sorry Skye."

"It's okay." I said as Roy handed me a paper towel, "Thanks. What did mom make Johnny?"

"French toast."

"Nice! What time is it?" I glanced at the clock. "Eight. Were probably the only ones up, but let's take precautions. I want three slices."

"Four," Said Tony.

"Six," Well when you're 6 foot 10 you had to eat a lot.

"I want three, I'll get them."

"Thanks Johnny." I said and I went to get milk from the mini fridge.

Tony retrieved the information book from the top bunk, "If memory serves you were the last one awake before I fell asleep. How far did you get?"

"I got to page… Forty two."

"Dang. How late did you stay up?"

"4:00, I think."

"Do ya like waffles - yeah we like waffles - do ya like pancakes - yeah we like pancakes - do ya like French toast - yeah we like French toast- do do dodo can't wait to get a mouthful - waffles!" Johnny came downstairs singing the Waffles song holding a big plate of French toast.

We ate our share and went back to what we were doing last night. I was reading in the yellow chair, Johnny was playing Opal in the white one, Tony was sitting in the red chair, and Roy was back in the blue.

After an hour we heard footsteps on the stairs, I pushed my case under the bed, grabbed a book cover off my shelf, and got it on just before Brianna turned to look at us.

"Hey you were the girl that cut in line at the station yesterday," Said Roy.

"It's not like I was going to wait 7 hours, and if I did end up winning, they would've had to let me in anyway"

"They would never let anyone as horrible as you in, Brianna," I said.

"Says you." She said in her most annoying voice.

"There's a personality section at the end of the big exam you have to take to win."

"And how would you know that?"

"Brianna, there is a new invention out. It's called the internet, have you heard of it?"

"Fine then. Who are you?" She directed at Roy.

"I'm Roy."

"And what are you doing here?"

"I'm playing a game."

"Oh," She said all huffy, "Fine! Never mind, I'm going to eat French toast." And she stomped out.

"If there's any left," Said Johnny.

"You fat pigs, you ate them all!" We heard Brianna yell at our brothers, and we giggled.

"What'd she come down here for?" asked Roy

"Beats me." I said.

By the time 10:00 came around, I had just finished Journey Options. "Roy thanks for the advice but I'm going to start the games now."

"Too boring?"

"Partly, but I think it's going to take me longer to get the games finished, and I'll leave at least a month for me to study."

"That sounds like an okay plan to me, but it's up to you."