On the day of the testing, Roy had to come over at three in the morning so we could be there by six at night. In the car Johnny immediately fell back asleep on my shoulder. Roy convinced me to go back to sleep too, when he said I would need my energy for the test. I woke up four hours later around seven when the car was swerving.

An involuntary noise escaped my throat, "Ack. Roy what are you doing?"

"Me? What are you doing?"

"Huh?"

"You were screaming your head off! Scared the heck out of me."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"S'okay, just please don't do that again. What were you dreaming of?"

I looked down at Johnny, still asleep, and tried to remember. It was pretty fuzzy. Something about the information book, "Can't remember." I picked up the case to make sure everything was still inside it. Yup, all there. Mark's signature tucked back between the maps.

"Have a sandwich," He said and threw one back at me from the cooler in the front.

"Thanks," I looked out at the sunrise, "Sure is beautiful."

Johnny woke up a half hour later and started quizzing me on Pokémon numbers again. When we were done with that he worked on his case, which he was only a fourth of the way done with, and I went back to studying on my own.

And finally, around 5 o'clock, we reached New York City.

Roy alerted it to us, "Guys. Look at the skyline."

Johnny looked up from his game, something he hadn't done in a while, "Cool!"

We spent the rest of the hour oohing and aahing at the giant buildings and diverse people. It's not like we hadn't seen a city before though; We went to Chicago a few years ago.

But when that hour ended we had arrived at the testing station. It was a gigantic square building made of glass and white metal. At the front there were stairs that let up to five sets of double doors. Each had someone official standing next to it and a line of people in front of it. Roy and Johnny walked me to the one in the middle.

"Afterward do you guys want to go see… New York stuff?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun." Said Roy.

Some man walking up and down the lines, trying to keep them straight started yelling, "Only testers in these lines, everyone else, leave!"

We focused our attention back to each other, "Why don't you two go explore while I'm testing?"

"I was thinking I'd nap while your testing."

"That's a good idea," Said Johnny, "You must be tired, getting up so early."

He gave one short laugh and messed up Johnny's hair, "We'll go wait in the car. Good luck Skye!"

"Good luck," Johnny echoed.

"Bye!" And they ran off. I waited a minute, then started talking to an older blond girl in front of me, "Hi, what's your name?"

"I'm Lori. And you?"

"Skye."

"Hi Skye! Where are you from?"

"I live in a suburb near Chicago."

"Wow, that's far. So people really have come from across the country. I live in Manhattan. Do you think you're ready?"

"I'd better be. I've done nothing but get ready. Every game is 100% finished."

"That's good. The kid in front of me said he only finished three games. He thinks they're not going to check."

"Are you kidding me? Why wouldn't they?"

"I don't know."

As we passed through the doors, the man next to them checked to make sure that we had our cases and, to my dismay, that our permission forms were "out and ready". Inside the back wall was about 20 feet from the doors, but it very long from left to right and on either side there were huge elevator doors that periodically opened and filled with kids. Lining the back wall was a long counter with five doors and five people behind it. They all took a kid's case, did something with it behind the desk, handed it back then directed them to either one of the doors or an elevator. The kid in front of Lori was starting to bounce on his toes.

"Lori, do you think all the workers here are from the Region?"

"No idea," The man that was keeping the lines straight, walked passed, "Excuse me?"

"Yes miss?"

"Is everyone here from the Region."

"Yup, everyone except the testers."

"Thank you," She looked at me.

"Cool!" I squealed.

The boy in front of Lori had gotten to the front and by now he looked really pale. We both watched.

"Can I see your case?" The lady behind the desk asked. He lifted it up then lowered it back down, "No, may I have it for a moment?"

"Do you really need it?"

The lady looked sadly at the boy, realizing what was going on, "Yes," He handed it over and she plugged it into something. She sighed. "I'm sorry, you haven't finished all of the games. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"No, NO! Please!"

"Little boy, I'll have to call security." Unfortunately she did have to, because the boy decided to try to jump over to the counter. The man from earlier came around and practically had to drag him from the building.

Lori walked up and handed the lady her case and then the permission form, "Everything seems to be in order here, go through this door to be tested."

"Okay," She took back her case, "Thank you. Goodbye Skye"

"Goodbye," The door closed, "Lori."

"Your case please," I handed it over, "Okay you've followed all the rules. Your permission form please," I handed it over, "Hmmm, this signature doesn't seem to belong to either of your parents," She said looking at her computer.

My heart stopped. I imagined being dragged out by security like that other kid, not that I would make any trouble though, "That's my brother's. He's an adult. My par-"

"Oh, well, that's okay then. In the Region anyway. Just give me a moment to check that what you say is true. What's his name?"

"Mark Maggis."

"Well according to an Illinois database, Mark Maggis is indeed twenty-seven and has a younger sister Skye," I could tell she was bending the rules a bit. She handed me back my things, "Please go to the elevator on your right and proceed to floor five."

"Thank you!" I practically ran to the elevator, my heart rate going back down and elation blooming in my brain.

It was a normal sized elevator but it had 14 kids crammed inside it after I got in. Squished up against the wall, I couldn't see what the floors looked like, but one kid got off on the second and three more on the fourth. The doors pulled open again and I wriggled forward.

The room filled the entire floor of the building, except the space the elevator took up and there seemed to be two or three hundred kids, each sitting at a desk, taking a test.

There was another worker sitting at the front of the room, behind a teacher's desk reading a book. I said "I'm Skye," with question in my voice. He checked something off a list, presumably my name, as he pointed at several giant stacks of papers on the corner of his desk. I picked a paper up to find it was stapled to about 20 more. I took a mechanical pencil from the giant jar on the next to them and went and sat in one of the desks in the middle of the room, to take the test.

The new arrivals kept coming, rotating from one elevator to the other. The room eventually filled up with the exact same number of people as the desks. At eight thirty they started leaving. By nine, I was finished. I walked up and dropped the test off on the side of the desk opposite where I picked it up.

As I waited for the elevator I looked around and realized there were only a few people left taking the test and there were only two others in the elevator with me as I went back down. One was sobbing on the shoulder of the other who was, I'm guessing, a complete stranger and was trying to comfort him, though awkwardly.

The mood in the lobby was gloomy. There were a lot of kids sitting against the walls, waiting for rides. One boy was gibbering into his phone, "I totally messed everything up- I didn't study enough."

I walked to where Roy parked the car to find him snoozing in the back, splayed across the row of seats. Johnny was in the front, pretending to drive, sound effects and all. I knocked on the window and he jumped. His face broke into a grin as he saw mine. He unlocked the doors and I sat in the passengers seat.

"How do you think you did?"

"I think all that studying paid off."

"You were in there a long time." He looked at his DS, "It's nine o'clock! We don't have time to see New York."

"Hmmm," I took out my phone and called Brianna, "Hey Brianna."

"Yeah?"

"Have Mom and Dad come home?"

"No, Mark's here. Why?"

"Well, I was just checking. We haven't left New York and I don't think Roy would be able to stay awake at the wheel tonight anyway, so we're going to stay somewhere here tonight."

"Oh, yeah. You had to take that test thing."

"Right. And do me a favor. If Mom and Dad do happen to come home, tell them we're at a sleepover."

"Sure."

"Thanks a lot. Bye."

"Bye," I hung up.

"Yes!" Exclaimed Johnny.

"Don't get excited. I can only afford a cheap motel… Hey Roy," I nudged him, "Wake up."

He sat up groggily, "Hey," He blinked, "How'd it go?"

"It went well," I said smiling, "All the answers came easily."

"Great!" He high-fived me, "Where do you two want to go?"

Johnny, quick to answer, said, "Lets go somewhere for ice cream!"

"Okay." He started looking for an ice cream store in some New York pamphlet he found in a gas station.

"Roy, we don't really have time to drive home tonight and I'm guessing you still want more sleep anyway, so how about we stay in a Super 8 or something?"

"You sure your parents won't notice?"

"They won't be home for a while."

"Okay, sounds good to me." He looked up from the page, "All the ice cream places are pretty far away. Except one…"

"We could have just stayed home," I said trying to act irritable but not succeeding, as I was submersed in our shared kitchen sink. Johnny and I had only ever gotten halfway done on our own, but with Roy-.

"Come on, I wanted to see if it tasted any different here. Roy, stop eating it all."

"Okay, I'm done anyway. Do you guys know that the only Pokémon Center in the US is in New York? Of course it's just a store though."

"Really?" Said Johnny surprised, "How come we don't know about it?"

"I dunno, it was in the pamphlet."

"Can we go?"

"It's probably closed now. We'll go in the morning before we leave. Check please."

Later that night, with Johnny sleeping next to me in bed and Roy snoring it up on the couch a few feet away, I was awake and staring at the map of the whole Region. Surely, with all those people at the station who thought they did badly I could have done a good enough job to win. And with that thought I drifted off.

"WHEEEEE!" Johnny ran toward the doors of the Pokémon Center with me right behind him.

They had everything in there! They had piles of different card packs, stacked up liked canned goods at a supermarket, there were clothes, plush toys, books, movies, food! And all the games. There was a separate room for playing the card games and a room with TV's set up to play games on.

As I was looking though the clothing section Roy came up behind me, "Look, I found some Pokémon brand Pocky."

I turned around, "What's Pocky?"

"I think it's a popular candy in Japan. I'm going to go buy it. Are you looking for something?"

"Yeah, actually, I was looking for those cool fingerless gloves they always wear in the shows and games." Johnny ran past still, yelling, "Wheee!" Roy grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and I said, "Calm down, you're going to break something."

"Igunnagetallthecardsandtheni'-"

Roy let him go, "He'll slow down on his own eventually. What was it you were looking for again, fingerless gloves?"

"Like the ones Ash wears on the TV show."

He bent down and read one of the shelf stickers, "I think this is where they'd be but there aren't anymore."

"Aww… I think I'll get some of that Pocky too."

At the front desk was a pink haired lady, behind me, Roy asked, "Are you-?"

"No I'm not really from the Region. Geeze, I've been asked that non stop for the past three days. I guess it's what I deserve trying to play the part. I'm hoping when all the testers leave, it will stop."

"Was a primary testing station held here?" I asked.

"Yes, on the second and third floor, where we do the birthdays."

Roy and I went and sat down at one of the card game tables to eat our Pocky and watch people play. Johnny with one of his new decks started playing this one little girl even younger than him, he lost. Then he started bragging to her about how much of his case he had beaten.

"So what, my brother's got a testing case and he's beaten the whole thing. He took the test yesterday."

"Well, so did my sister." And then they went off on a foray of competitions."

"Ahh, young love," Roy joked.

I cracked up, "Of course-," I stopped abruptly and turned in my seat to look over my shoulder.

"Something wrong?" Asked Roy and he turned to look too.

"Nothing," I went back to my Pocky, "It felt like someone was looking at me is all."

Three days later, the three of us and Brianna were watching the news on the couch in the living room. In order to fit Johnny Had to sit in Roy's lap. Brianna happened to have her cat on her lap as well, and I had a life sized Delibird beanie baby I got from the Pokémon Center in mine. Roy had slept over the night we got back, to exhausted to drive anymore.

"Back to you Jean,"

"Thank you Ted for that astonishing information on the Pocky recall. Up next how the escaped Flamingos from the Lincoln park zoo were captured and after that the winners of the Pokémon contest will be announced." A McRib commercial came on.

"Wow Skye!" Said Johnny hopping off of Roy, "I can't believe we're finally going to find out!"

"Neither can I." A few minutes later, "I really hate flamingos right now."

And finally the same nurse Joy we saw on the original announcement came on the screen. "Hi, I'm Nurse Natalie from the Pokémon Region. We'd like to thank everyone that participated in the contest, but we all know there can only be two winners," I squeezed a handful of Delibird's hair, accidentally grabbing part of Snuffles fretful tail. It hissed. "Drum roll please… And the winners are ten year old Allan Yankovitch and fifteen year old Lori McDonald!" Their pictures came on the screen. Allan was a tiny Asian boy and Lori really was the Lori who had been standing in front of me in line at the testing station. "The leaving date is March 15th You will get letters in the mail with more information."

Roy turned off the TV, "Skye…"

"I'm glad. I met Lori at the final testing station. She was really nice." I hurried out of the room and down to the basement and like before hid under the covers of my bed. This time they didn't come after me.