"And now, yes, and now we will begin the first preliminary round! If you'll all follow, yes, follow the proctors through into the next room, you will be assigned numbers at random, yes at random, to determine the order you will compete in!"

No sooner had the final word left the announcer's lips; the crowds immediately surged forward, catching me and the others unexpectedly in its movement. The various official looking proctors began ushering us into an adjoining room, their voices still managing to soar above the excited high-pitched chatter. The next room was of a similar size and setup, with several tables at the end of the room, each with an official seated behind it. However, I didn't get a chance to scrutinize anything any further as immediately, we were cajoled into lines and the announcer's booming voice began ringing in our ears.

"You will undertake the first preliminary, yes, you will undertake the first preliminary in groups of ten trainers at a time, and you will draw numbers, yes, draw numbers to determine your position!"

I zoned out at this point as the buzz of conversation from all the surrounding trainers was succeeding in even drowning out the excited booming of the announcer. One part of me was telling me to try and listen out for the instructions so I would know what I was doing, but another part was telling me that it was only throwing Pokeballs at moving targets, how difficult could that be?

"Once you get your, yes, once you get your number, please go and stand next to the corresponding number card at the other side of the room,"

As we lined up and slowly moved forward, I turned my head to the other side of the room out of interest and saw a huge collection of score cards set out on the floor. I squinted, trying to count them, but it was impossible to make out the numbers written on them. The only thing I could identify was that there were five rows of these cards on the floor.

"Sienna, your turn," I heard someone say behind me as the line thinned unexpectedly. Before I knew what was happening, someone had dug me in the back, pushing me forward towards one of the sign-up desks.

Nervously I gave my name, and was handed a small circle of paper pulled from what looked suspiciously like a fishbowl on the edge of the desk. I glanced at it, seeing the number 37 staring back at me in thick black ink. After being directed towards the number cards littering the floor, I shot a nervous look back at the rest of my friends, all still squashed in line. As I left, Jasmine approached the sign up desk, looking wholly unbothered, like the whole thing was a simple walk in the park.

"Number thirty-seven… number thirty-seven…" I mused to myself, threading myself in and out of the numbered cards littering the floor. I was one of the first trainers to take their position, so I had an eagle-eye view of the few trainers that already stood in their positions. The blonde haired girl with the long purple dress was standing stoically near the front, and another girl, right at the back also caught my eye. She looked young, with a rounded, baby face, chestnut hair pulled back into childish pigtails with folds of a white and red dress billowing around her short stature. She stood right at the end of the final line, and as I glanced at the number next to her, realised that the numbers went all the way up to fifty exactly…

"Fifty competitors…" the number sounded strangely huge as I considered it. "That's a lot of trainers… so that means thirty of us won't even make it to the battle stages… That's less than a fifty percent chance of qualifying…"

I took my position nervously next to the numbered card 37 and waited, only somewhat patiently. Slowly, the lines began to fill up. Jasmine took a front line position, number three, meaning she would be one of the first to compete. Elliot took a place in the mid-twenties, while Nikki also ended up in the front line at what I assumed was number nine. Scott ended up behind me, somewhere in the late forties, while Bailey took position number thirty-one, and waved at me eagerly from down the line. I swallowed nervously as the positions slowly filled.

The two positions to my left and right were some of the last to be filled. Both however, were filled by young men. The one to my left had messy brown hair, a freckled face and a nonchalant, carefree expression, his hands casually buried in the deep pockets of a pair of well-worn cargo pants. The boy to my right however was a completely different. Thick locks of blonde hair fell over his face, and his confident, self-assured body language made me automatically shrink away from him. The deep set frown and the billowing cloak he was wearing didn't help my nerves either. A lump the size of a walnut formed in my throat that quickly became impossible to swallow down.

"There are a lot of… colourful people here…" I thought to myself, my mind touching on all the trainers I had seen today. I thought of shy Melinda, the charmer that was Crow, the mysterious blonde haired girl with the probing stare, the cocky boy with the bandaged arms, the girl with the midnight blue hair and the vicious Mightyena, the girl all in purple, blue and green, and finally that childish little soul with the chestnut pigtails I had seen earlier… I felt an inexplicable shudder go down my spine. The atmosphere was tight and tense here… I didn't like it much at all.

I jumped as all of a sudden the announcer's voice boomed above us again. "And now, yes, and now, could the trainers with numbers one to ten, yes with numbers one to ten, please make their way outside for the first challenge!"

"Good luck Nikki and Jasmine…" I murmured to myself as the first line broke away from the rest of us and headed outside. I saw Nikki wringing her hands together nervously, biting her lip furiously, her already pale face whitening further. Even Jasmine was frowning slightly, her hands pulling at a strand of long blonde hair, a tell-tale nervous trait of hers. I let out a quick sigh, wondering if they were going to be okay. I then cast a glance at the overhead clock, now showing the time slowly creeping up to ten o'clock. I murmured and shifted positions in my space. I couldn't help but wonder how long it would take for all the preliminaries to be over.

With nothing else to do, I glanced to my left, and suddenly caught the eye of the boy standing there at. To my shock, he shot me a smile and I blinked in surprise, before shakily managing to return it.

"Hopefully these preliminaries won't take too long, huh?" He asked, his tone of voice light and conversational, a smile breaking out on his freckled face. "I really just want to get into the battling!"

I nodded, my mouth suddenly going dry. I was suddenly painfully aware that I had spoken to more strangers in the past two hours than I had in the past year. I was surprised at how friendly some of these people were; especially considering this was a massive competition after all. "Me too," I eventually managed to croak in return.

"Only twenty out of the fifty competitors here can make it to the battles, though…" he said, turning his head in a pondering look. "That's less than half of us… It's gonna be tough. I heard this is the first year they've had to do something like this. You know, the preliminaries,"

I nodded.

"I came all the way from Mahogany Town for this, you know?" the boy continued, shifting the weight of the dark blue backpack he carried on his shoulders as he spoke. "I'd hate to have come all this way for nothing,"

"Yeah, that'd be a pain…"

The boy smiled. "Where are you from?"

"Pallet Town."

"Kanto, huh?" he sounded impressed. "And Pallet Town as well? Lot of famous people come from Pallet Town…"

"Don't I know it," I said with a short laugh. It was kind of ironic. A lot of people who rose to fame or glory in recent years had originally came from Pallet Town. Even me, who, albeit secretly, had a hand with saving the world once, came from Pallet Town. As this peculiar thought hit me, I was suddenly aware of a pair of probing eyes coming to rest on me. The cloaked boy to my right was staring, making no secret of the fact he was listening in to the conversation I was having either.

"Name's Luca Hollingsworth," the freckle faced boy suddenly said, holding out a hand.

"Sienna Volbeda," I said, shaking his hand briefly.

"Kinda weird to think we're competition, yet we're acting so nice to one another, don't you think?" he said, with another cheery laugh.

"Yeah, funny how that works." I smiled,

"There are a lot of strong trainers entering this year." Luca then said, casting his blue eyes around the forty remaining people. "We can't even tell who they are just by looking at them either…"

I nodded, echoing his concerns. You really couldn't tell just from appearances which of these trainers were the rumoured strong trainers, and which ones were novices, or even rookies. For all I knew, that scary looking cloaked boy next to me could be a total amateur. However, somehow I seriously doubted it…

"So, Sienna, right?" Luca suddenly ventured. "Are you one of these strong trainers I keep hearing so much about?"

"Huh?" I faltered. "I… I'm not sure…"

"Ah, you should've said yes." He said with a slight smile. "Intimidate your competition, even if you are bluffing. Psychology, you know?"

"Uhh…"

"So, what Pokemon do you have on you just now?"

I managed to pull myself together enough to quip back "That's for me to know and you to find out,"

He smiled delightedly. "That's better. "

Luca and I talked for quite some time while we waited for our line to be called out for the first preliminary. Elliot kept turning around to smile at me from the other end of the room, but he was also engaged in conversation with his two neighbours: a young man of about 6 foot tall with shoulder length blue hair, and another boy with messy brown hair and square-set glasses. Bailey was also happily chattering away to one of his neighbours, a young woman with silvery white hair tied back in a tight ponytail.

Luca had quite a lot to say for himself, and I was so wrapped up in the conversation he had engaged me in that I almost didn't even notice the second line of trainers, which included Elliot, being instructed to go outside for the first challenge. My heart leapt a little. It would soon be my turn. I wonder how well Nikki and Jasmine had fared, and how Elliot would be getting on.

Time ticked on, and before I knew it though, we were told to leave for outside. Nervously, we made our way outside into the fresh air again, into the giant grounds of the academy, and were faced with what I honestly likened to a collection of shooting ranges, almost like the kind you would see at a funfair or a carnival. Ten individual ranges had been set up, and the targets, strangely shaped like the silhouette of a Pidgey, were moving almost impossibly fast and erratically across the rails of the range.

"That looks tough," I heard a familiar voice to my left say, and as I turned to it, saw Bailey and the young woman with the silver white hair approaching me.

"Bailey," I said in surprise, turning to him.

"Hey, Sienna." He said, shooting me a light-hearted smile. "Looks kinda tough, this whole thing, doesn't it?"

"One of your friends?" Luca inquired politely.

"Bailey is," I said, indicating the boy, before nervously looking at the silver haired girl. "I, umm, don't know you though…"

"Celeste," the young silver haired woman said, offering her hand. She had a soft, musical, almost whimsical voice. "Celeste Archos,"

Introductions were made, and the strange party of four we had somehow accumulated stood to the side as the final preparations were made. Celeste was a calm, soft-spoken girl with a cheerful easiness to her, chattering away to Luca, Bailey and myself like she'd known us all our life. I found myself enjoying the company of all the people I had met today. It was getting harder and harder to remember they were my competition…

However, the fact that I was, after all, entered into a competition was very quickly remembered, as we were suddenly directed to the ranges. I was separated from Celeste, Bailey and Luca as I was ushered towards my range. They quickly bade me good luck, and I wished them the same. I genuinely did. I know that that may sound strange. Wishing people I had never met good luck for a competition I knew I wanted to win? Sounds mad, I know. But all the same… I liked those people. I wanted them to do well.

I weighed the Pokeball like capsules I was supposed to be throwing at the moving targets gingerly in my hands as I took my place. They were of the exact same size as a regular Pokeball, even the exact same design, but when I tried the release mechanism or the minimise function, nothing happened. The Pokeball also felt peculiarly weighted, a strange heaviness echoing through my hand. I tossed it up and down in my hands experimentally, finding gravity acted on it quicker than regular Pokeballs. It was only a subtle difference, but I knew it could have the potential to upset proceedings quite easily, securing the difference between a hit, and a miss, effortlessly.

"Here are, yes, here are your instructions!" the announcer boomed, making me jump and almost drop the capsule I was holding on my foot. "The targets will appear in regular intervals at first, but then will become steadily more, yes, steadily more irregular! They will be slow at first, yes, slow at first, but then will get faster and faster. Now, here is the important bit, yes here is the important bit! If you hesitate at a target and allow it to get away, that will also count as a miss! Remember that if you miss ten targets, you will be disqualified!"

"He loves that word disqualified, doesn't he…?" I muttered to myself, while glancing at Luca to my left. He looked entranced by the capsules, same as I had been. I looked to my left, and saw the cloaked boy standing idly, a rather bored look on his face, staring at the announcer, as if willing him to just start the preliminary and get on with it. A shock of nerves hit me. The competition was officially starting.

"Competitors, take your stance…"

I gripped the first capsule in my hand tightly, a cold sweat erupting all over my body.

"Get set…"

My body tensed up, the only movement coming from my trembling hands.

"And GO!"

I expected that as soon as the announcer shouted "Go!" that everything would descend into chaos, with the targets immediately flying across the shooting ranges, but it didn't. For a long time, nothing happened, and I stood there tensely, my body like a coiled spring, waiting for something, anything, to happen. I heard angered mutterings coming from down the ranks as every single range in the vicinity stubbornly remained empty.

And then, after almost a full minute of waiting, a target suddenly shot up in the middle of the range. I let out a cry of surprise, and automatically hurled the capsule I was holding at the target without even attempting to aim. To my surprise, it sailed straight through the air and hit the target dead on. I blinked in surprise as it retracted, while shocked shouts and ferocious expletives erupted all around me.

I didn't even have time to contemplate what had just happened before another target appeared. The first had been stationary, but this one was moving, albeit slowly. I lunged for a spare capsule, took careful aim and threw it. This one also hit dead on.

I glanced at a small overhead screen that was above my head. It told me my complete time was just under thirty seconds, with two hits and no misses out of twenty thus far. However, as I glanced at a nearby competitor, I noticed a full ten seconds added onto their time. I winced. Two targets in and they had already missed one…

I couldn't focus on what the others were doing as the third target suddenly sprung up from nowhere. Again, I managed to hit this one reasonably fast, keeping my score perfect and my overall time fairly low. This continued for the next ten targets, which ranged from being practically stationary, to moving moderately fast. I hit every target given to me with little difficulty. My heart soared with every target I hit. With thirteen targets hit already, there was no way I could be disqualified from the first preliminary! All I had to do now was keep my overall time down! Dare I say that it this was actually easy?

And then came the fourteenth target.

It inched slowly across the rail, so anticipating another slow movement; I took my time in aiming the capsule. However, just as I threw the ball, the target's speed intensified, suddenly speeding up and completely sailing past my thrown projectile. My mouth hung open as the capsule I had thrown dropped uselessly to the ground.

I couldn't even think on it too much, as another target, this one moving at a frightening speed, suddenly dashed across the rail. Instantly, I had a thought and I aimed another ball just ahead of the target's path, instead of shooting directly at it. However, disaster struck once again. The target suddenly juddered to a halt, before moving backwards the way it had just came, evading my throw easily.

I swore. Repeatedly.

The sixteenth target was much the same, but at least this time, I hit it, if only just, the capsule skimming the edge of the target, but still knocking it down. The seventeenth was a hopeless miss, as the target moved erratically back and forth across a small area of the railings. The eighteenth shot across the railing in an almost undetectable blur, meaning I couldn't even aim, let alone attempt to throw the capsule. The nineteenth was a repeat of this, dare I say it, going even faster than the one previous. And finally, the twentieth, although it moved comparably slower than its predecessors, was also a miss, but for a completely different reason. My frustrations at the previous misses got the better of me, and as soon as I saw the target, merely hurled the ball, throwing all caution to the wind. The ball veered completely off course, sailing straight above the target and almost colliding with a nosy proctor coming to investigate the scores.

I grimaced as I stood up to straighten my body. I had hit only fourteen out of the twenty offered targets, giving me a full minute's penalty onto a time of four minutes and twenty-three seconds, giving me a total time of five minutes twenty three. I had no idea if that was good or not compared to the scores of any other competitors, as no sooner had my game concluded, I was directed away into another room of the academy. I didn't even have a chance to reconvene with Luca, Bailey or the Celeste girl that was following him around.

I did however meet up again with Elliot, Nikki and Jasmine as I entered the comparably cosier room of the academy we were instructed to sit in, decked out with comfortable seats and a table of refreshments. I grabbed a glass of orange juice before threading my way into the crowd and taking a seat with my two friends.

"How'd you guys get on?" I inquired, sitting down heavily next to them.

"Jasmine did really well!" Nikki gushed at once. "She got sixteen targets!"

"Sixteen!" I repeated shrilly, after taking a long draught of juice.

Jasmine smiled. "What can I say; I've got good hand-eye co-ordination!"

"I only got eleven…" Nikki said nervously. "I was so close to failing but I managed to catch the last target. Just."

"I got fourteen," I said, crossing my legs and leaning back in the chair.

"Fifteen," Elliot said with a satisfied nod.

"I heard anything within the range of twelve to fourteen is the average score," Nikki suddenly interjected.

"Looks like we're all just about safe, then…" I said. "So long as Bailey and Scott do okay…"

"I got thirteen!" a cheerful voice said above us, and we turned around to be faced with Bailey, cheesily on cue as always, but minus Celeste. He collapsed into a chair next to Jasmine, shooting her a good natured smile. "Well done everybody,"

"Just gotta wait for Scott now," Nikki pointed out, her face painted with worry. I smiled. The last person any of us had to worry about was her little brother.

"Shouldn't be too long," Elliot had to raise his voice as the chatter suddenly erupted around us again. "They're setting it up for the last lot already, look…"

I glanced out one of the large windows and surely enough I saw the proctors resetting the ranges and ushering the final few stragglers from the last round back inside. As I glanced around the forty or so other unfamiliar faces, wondering if I could catch sight of the few people I was on first name basis with, I noticed Crow, sprawled back in a seat at the other end of the room. He smiled, tipped his blue hat to me once again, and then continued to engage the nervous looking girl in the purple fitting jacket he was sitting next to in enthusiastic conversation.

"Everyone here is so nice," I found myself saying, thinking of Luca, and Crow and Melinda. "It's difficult to remember they're all competition…"

"You're forgetting Sienna; technically we're all in competition with each other." Jasmine pointed out.

"Oh my God…" I said, turning my face to Jasmine. "That didn't… that didn't even occur to me! What if we end up battling each other?"

"We do our best, regardless of the opponent." Elliot said, taking a thoughtful mouthful of his juice. "If we don't do our best against our opponents, friends or otherwise, that's not fair on you, or the opponents."

"True…" I said softly.

There was a moment's silence. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that previously. What was going to happen if I ended up battling someone like Nikki or Bailey? They weren't experienced trainers, or even confident battlers… I didn't know if I'd feel right having to go all out against them… And as for battling Elliot or Scott… I knew that I likely wouldn't stand a chance against either of them. Jasmine was more of a grey area. Personally, I felt she was of the same calibre as me, but then again, I didn't know. I hadn't seen Nikki battle in a long time, and as for Bailey, he could easily surprise me. And considering all the problems I was having with battling lately, could I even put up a fight against them…? Against any of them? They were my friends… Yes, I knew their weaknesses and shortcomings, but I also knew just how skilled and strong they could be too…

Time passed almost intolerably slowly for the final group of people to undertake the first preliminary, and we didn't even get a chance to reconvene with Scott when they finished, as we were ushered back outside for the results to be announced.

"And here, yes, here are the results for the first preliminary!" the announcer boomed, his jolly voice already beginning to grate on my nerves. "In pole position, with the only perfect score, yes the only perfect score of twenty out of twenty is competitor number thirty six! Jade Black!"

"Competitor number thirty-six!" I thought in shock as shocked murmurings erupted around me. "But that was… that was the guy next to me!"

And sure enough, right at the head of the group, the cloaked blonde haired boy that had stood next to me, slowly nodded his head at his mention from the announcer, lapping up the praise that was then heaped on him. I blinked slowly.

"Jade Black…" I heard Elliot say from next to me. "That's a name to look out for…"

"Just because someone does well in the preliminaries doesn't mean they're going to be a good battler…" Scott interjected, sounding a little irritated. I then found out that Scott had hit nineteen of the targets, and had missed out on the last one by a miss of barely a centimetre. I grimaced. For Scott, anything less than perfection was not acceptable.

"True, true…"

"And now, for the sad news, yes, the sad news…" the announcer continued. "Unfortunately, yes unfortunately, we have a few disqualifications to report."

A murmur of worry spread through the crowds.

"So, competitors twenty-five, eighteen, twelve and seven, you have all missed too many targets, and have thereby been disqualified."

As the four disqualified competitors silently trudged out, the announcer cleared his throat again. "Now begins the second preliminary, the Pokemon first aid round. Please everyone make your way back inside where you will be directed to the next room."

We dutifully followed the people back inside, where we were led into a completely different room, with what looked like thirty work stations set up across the polished floors.

"Please, everyone take a number, yes take a number, and find the corresponding work bench,"

After lining up for another five minutes or so, and pulling out a numbered square from the proffered bowl, I opened it up to see the number thirty-two staring back at me. I sighed. I seemed to be attracting the thirties today. I wished the others good luck, before seeking out the work station with number '32' on it.

I was surprised when I realised that each work station was divided into two parts, each one with a different number. As I settled myself behind work station 32, it became obvious. We'd be working across from someone else. I swallowed. I wondered who would be there working opposite me at bench number 33. At that point, I prayed it would be someone nice, or someone that I had already met, and preferably not that Jade Black person I had been standing next to earlier. He intimidated me more than I cared to admit…

As I waited, I consulted what lay in front of me. Three identical unlabelled bottles stood to the left of the work station, leaving a sizeable gap on the table for what I could only assume would be the space to work on the injured Ratatta. I investigated the bottles, finding them to be full of liquid. It came to me. These were the Revive, Full Heal and Super Potion. But they were unlabelled… How was I supposed to administer medicine if I didn't even know which one was which!

As I panicked over this, and the announcer was dealing with some technical difficulties regarding his microphone, a girl suddenly appeared opposite me. I blinked in surprise as she stepped up opposite me and consulted the number. The first thing I noticed about her was her bright red hair, not a natural auburn shade like mine, but a brilliant, eye-catching bright red. Obviously dyed, and ostentatious as it was, seemed to complement her thin, pale figure, and dark blue eyes, even if it clashed somewhat violently with her vibrant blue shorts, red tank top and neon yellow rucksack.

She dumped her yellow rucksack down with a flourish and approached the desk confidently, slamming her hands down firmly on the wood, before eyeing me suspiciously. She raised one eyebrow at me, before demanding "What are you staring at?"

"N-nothing!" I said, flustered.

"Hmph," she muttered, suddenly producing a bottle of water from seemingly nowhere and taking a long draught from it. "You shouldn't stare. It's rude."

Her tone of voice didn't hold any traces of unpleasantness or maliciousness; she spoke calmly and officially, as if merely stating fact. However, I still had to bite my tongue to stop myself from snipping back with my own snappy retort. Instead, I simply nodded and directed my eyes towards the work desk again.

"So, what's your name then?"

"Huh?" I looked up again, confused.

"We're gonna be waiting a while," she remarked, jerking her head in the direction of the announcer still struggling with the technical stuff, the short spikes of her cropped hair bobbing along with her. "Might as well talk. Nothing else to do."

I blinked slowly.

"So, your name?"

Despite myself, I couldn't stop myself from saying "Well, I always thought it was polite to offer your own name before asking for someone else's."

Her lips curled into a frown, but she seemed to bite back whatever it was she wanted to say. "Selphiline Laney. But you can call me Selphie,"

My head swum with the effort of trying to retain the unusual name in my head. I was glad she offered the relatively normal Selphie in substitute. The amount of new names I was having to remember was starting to get the better of me.

"So I believe it's your turn now?"

"Indeed," I said with a short smile. "Sienna. Sienna Volbeda."

"That's an unusual last name," she stated, crossing her arms firmly.

"Dutch." I remarked. "On my paternal grandfather's side,"

"Good for you." She deadpanned, before casting a harassed look towards the announcer, still flapping and fussing over the microphone. "Ugh, I'm so bored… What's so difficult about setting up a microphone?"

I shook my head in response, and looked up to the sky as if for guidance, grimacing slightly. I wasn't even halfway through the preliminaries and I was already in despair. I just prayed that things would get easier and that somehow I, and the rest of my friends, would sail through the preliminaries with flying colours and make it to the battle rounds without any trouble.

So why did I still have that unexplainable creepy-crawly feeling that told me that that certainly wouldn't be the case…?

Author's Note

Well, here's the update! Sorry it took so long, this arc, although fun to write, is so difficult!

Every OC has now been referenced or introduced. Every OC, I guarantee you, will get screen time next chapter! Promise!

Here is the list of OC's that have been accepted (and their owners):

Robyn Collier (me)
Zack Hennessy (me)
Luca Hollingsworth (Aeroga)
Sam (PKMNTrainerSam)
Chaison Coffman (Chaison)
Hikaru Brown (Hikaru-Pichu)
Melinda Hughes (KR Diva)
Alicia Nakamura (TwewyReaperGirl)
Natsuki Ikebana (roxiepluto)
Celeste Archos (WarriorSwift)
Grey Thomas (Brave Soul RMS)
Jade Black (Zoeten)
Selphiline "Selphie" Laney (Sunbean)
Crow Arabesque (Shadow of Eckhart)
Evan Gerald Garfunkel (Something Dictionary Related)

Thanks to everyone who read, and reviewed. Special thanks go to ShadowSerenity 57, WOWFan123, Hikaru-Pichu, WildCroconaw, WarriorSwift, Sunbean, FindMe215, ArchXDeath, roxiepluto, TwewyReaperGirl, Manser77, Brave Sould RMS and Shadow of Eckhart.

So, please keep reading and reviewing! Thanks guys! Until next time!