Author's Note: I don't own Pokemon, blah blah blah, don't sue me.
So you probably know me from Ambition and while I definitely plan on continuing that story, I recently got this idea and it just wouldn't leave. I really hate the arrogant prodigy trope seen in anime/manga and wondered what a more self-conscious prodigy might look like? And then this happened, haha.
Also special shout-out to Cordylion and SilverBlader and my awesome friends for helping with the details to get this off the ground! You guys are awesome.
Pen scratched against paper as Soren jotted down numbers in his notebook. He crossed them out almost as quickly as he wrote them and repeated the fairly complex formula again a second time. He sighed and ran his hand through his messy red hair. The numbers didn't quite look right the second time.
Not that they looked correct the first time either. He jotted the equation down one last time before adding the figures together one last time.
He drew a check mark beside the completed equation and smirked in satisfaction.
Soren clicked his pen anxiously and muttered a few barely distinguishable words under his breath, reading a paragraph from the sheet of paper. "Egg groups…genetic compatibilities."
Before he could start to try to write something even remotely resembling the answer, the lights on the chandelier above the dining room table lit up and flash blinded him. Soren grunted and glared over at the light switch.
"What are you doing?" A woman only a few years older than Soren stood by the light switch with an incredulous look on her face.
"I wanted to brush up on a few things," he explained. "Probability and the equations on genetics, mostly. Printed a few sample questions regarding genetics."
The woman smacked her forehead and ran her hands through her long red hair. "I should have guessed..." she murmured. "Soren, get some sleep!"
She turned the light off to force his hand into going to bed only for the teenage boy to turn on the flashlight on his PokeNav. The woman sighed. He was definitely starting to drive her nuts.
"Just a few more minutes!" Soren hissed, using the flashlight on his PokeNav to see.
Soren jotted a few lines down before freezing up and gritting his teeth. He couldn't even remember what he was going to write. He had an answer along with the correct equation but had forgotten it due to interruption.
Or was that even the right equation to begin with? He wasn't entirely sure now.
He snatched a book from the pile of encyclopedias, and scientific journals next to him, skimming through the material until settling on a particular page before writing down another equation.
"I thought I told you to get some sleep two hours ago? You are still up?" she scolded, running her hands through her long red locks in exasperation. "It's eleven at night! You don't need to be studying."
Soren grabbed another book from the stack and opened it up in front of himself to write down a few more things. "If I fail tomorrow, it's not going to be because I didn't study enough."
"You. Need. Sleep." she growled, annunciating every single word individually to add emphasis.
"I. Need. To. Study." he retorted, mimicking the tone and emphasis of each word.
Soren stared down his opponent – determined red eyes meeting equally determined black eyes.
The woman's eyes softened. "Look, I know the trainer aptitude test can be stressful; but if you take the thing while only partially awake, you'll definitely fail it. You need some sleep, Soren." she insisted.
Soren folded his arms but reluctantly conceded the point by getting up from his seat.
She was right – something he definitely hated. The absolute last thing he needed was to be too exhausted to think coherently during the test.
He willed himself away from the table and meandered down the hallway towards a flight of stairs, quashing every urge inside him to run back over to the table to read and write more notes.
"You win," he grumbled. He paused and looked back to his sister. "It's just that I just don't feel ready and can't shake the feeling I'm going to mess up, you know?"
The older girl gave him a sympathetic look. "If it's any consolation, you studied for this more than I did." she laughed. "I'm sure you'll do great, you're a natural – a future phenom."
"Phenom?" he whispered under his breath. The word left a bitter taste in his mouth. In fact, all her praise left him feeling worse than ever.
Phenom? Prodigy? Everyone used them all the time but what did they even mean? He was talented? He was a natural? All it did was add more expectations and more pressure. If he didn't succeed when he had put in so much prep time when his sister hadn't, what would that say about him? What sort of talent would fail after putting in so much hard work? What would people think of him then? Now he had to succeed, everyone was expecting it from him.
Soren climbed up the stairs and made his way into the guest bedroom before collapsing on the bed. His mind raced as he stared at the ceiling.
For years he dreamt of this moment. He was finally getting the opportunity to create his own path and ultimately step out of the shadow of his sister yet, he felt so unprepared.
Would he score well enough on the aptitude test to even qualify for a trainer's license? Had he worked hard enough? Was he ready?
Anyone could score high in practice tests where answers were at your fingertips; but applying that knowledge with a timer and with the knowledge that too many mistakes could change your future prospects drastically lingering in the back of one's mind was something entirely different.
Soren sighed as he squeezed his eyes shut tight and forced himself to ignore the doubts and fears in his mind. The Rustboro Academy awaited him in the morning and he needed sleep to face the test that awaited him. He had a chance to prove himself tomorrow.
Soren lifted the paper plate in front of him on the kitchen counter, making sure the aluminum foil covered the edges of the plate to trap the heat in.
He wasn't entirely sure the pancakes would even be warm by the time Skylar woke up, but if nothing else they would be there for her to warm up. It was the least he could do to thank his sister for letting him stay at her place so he didn't have to pay for a hotel or travel all the way from Oldale to Rustboro.
That and putting up with his more problematic tendencies. His yearning for perfection would likely be the undoing of him and everyone else.
He jotted a few words down on a note to thank her for all her support and that he'd catch up with her after his exam.
Soren did one last check to make sure everything in the kitchen was spotless before heading out into the foyer and out the door. He squinted for a moment. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, although once he got to the street it became easier to see thanks to the streetlights.
Rustboro was much bigger than what he'd grown accustomed to in Oldale and its neighborhoods far different than where he grew up. The homes were built closer together and were far more modern than the minimalistic, traditional houses in Oldale made merely for practicality.
He also couldn't help but notice a lack of uniformity. There was often a vast disparity from block to block in the conditions of people's homes.
An indication of wealth? Or maybe the Devon Corporation hadn't finished the housing projects they started?
Whatever the case, some families fixed up their homes or built additions onto them while others families' homes looked somewhat rundown or incomplete like renovations or the build wasn't complete yet.
Beyond just the housing, the city itself was far busier. It was a bit of a shock to go from rural community with only a few family owned shops and very little foot traffic to the sensory overload of a big city.
Shoppers rushed in and out of stores in pursuit of the next deal, children gawked in front of storefronts to eye the wares in the windows, and scores of commuters filled the streets all of whom were likely headed to their jobs.
Twenty minutes of jogging and navigating through large crowds and he finally arrived at his destination.
Rustboro Academy was larger than he expected even after seeing the campus online. Pictures never did a place justice. It lacked the depth and scope one got from seeing a place in person. It also did not convey the beauty of the architecture.
Rustboro Academy's stone buildings seemed to take a page from Kanto architecture and reminded him a bit of what he saw from pictures of Rota.
Cobblestone paths; tall brick buildings with steeples; lots of ornate stained glass. Now that he thought of it, it was closer in nature to that of Galar or even Kalos than Kanto.
He'd have to look up Rota at some point to see where they got their architectural influences.
Soren pushed the thoughts of architecture aside, turning his attention to a nearby campus directory.
They had split the students into groups and while he knew the spot he was supposed to be for his test, knowing how to get there was a different story.
He skimmed over the map in search of the classroom number where his exams were to be held. From the looks of it, Classroom 215 was located at the east wing of the campus which meant he definitely had some more walking to do. There seemed to be a lot of hallways and many classrooms between him and his destination.
It didn't take him long to find the classroom since each classroom of the campus was ordered by number.
Soren took a seat at one of the available desks and watched as other aspiring trainers entered and followed suit. He did a quick head count. There were far more people than he thought there would be. His class alone had twenty-three people taking the aptitude test, not including himself.
Much to his surprise, while the students poured in from the hallway, no teachers to preside over the exam seemed to follow them.
He tapped his foot on the floor impatiently. They were running late, if his PokeNav was any indication.
Fortunately, they wouldn't have to wait very long. The exam proctors – an old, gray-haired man and his young twenty-something brunette assistant – bounded into the room and snatched up some yellow folders from off the desk at the front of the classroom.
The proctors moved up and down the rows of desks to hand out the tests.
"Sorry for the delay, we're a little shorthanded today," the man apologized, still gasping for breath from his long sprint.
"Exams in classroom 110 ran a bit long and had to rush here for this one." the woman interjected.
"Thanks," Soren whispered to the old man as passed his desk and handed him one of the folders containing a small stack of papers held together with a single staple at the upper corner of the page.
"Starting now, you have ninety minutes to complete the test. Good luck." the proctors instructed once everyone had received their test.
Soren pulled the test from the folder and gave the papers a quick once over.
At least from what he could tell from first glance, the first page of questions looked fairly easy if only because of how much he studied. Egg groups were something he studied recently and was still fresh in his mind while Hoenn region geography and history were his best subjects.
Question by question, he jotted down answers.
It didn't take long to get through the entire first page and a half due to it being on subjects in his wheelhouse. Even the questions he was unsure on, the multiple choice answers helped him to deduce the correct answer by sheer process of elimination.
Unfortunately, from the looks of it the second half of page two and page three would be trickier since they appeared to pertain to biology and physics.
Fortunately, many of them appeared to be multiple choice and most of the tricky formulas were those he was familiar with. Apparently, staying up to get the equation formulas right had paid off after all.
While it took him a bit longer to navigate than he would have liked, he managed a decent pace and managed to make it to the remaining material relatively quickly.
Unfortunately, it seemed they had saved the hardest material for the last pages.
The four essay questions – especially the ones on explaining biology like the pyro, cyro, hydro, and electric organs – were substantially harder than even the biology and physics questions.
The longer he spent on the problematic essay questions, the more worried he became about his answers. He had lots of detail but it felt incredibly messy. If proper presentation counted for anything, he was toast because his loose descriptions weren't going to score any style points with how jumbled they were.
He didn't question it and certainly didn't revise it. Continually rewriting and overthinking tended to only make things worse for him. Not that the temptation wasn't there.
Sixty minutes into the allotted hour and a half and he determined he was finally finished. Everything had been answered, although he took a couple extra minutes to go over all the non-essay questions to make sure he answered them correctly. After a short proofread, Soren scooted his chair out from the desk he was sitting at. He slid the test back inside the folder and got up to turn in his finished test.
"Thank you, we will call you when we post your exam scores with the rest of the participants' scores," the older teacher whispered.
Soren nodded as he set his folder inside a tray and headed for the door. He peered over his shoulder at the folder containing his finished test and sighed. The entire situation felt weird. On one hand, he felt a nagging doubt threatening to pull him into despair while also feeling a tremendous sense of pride over putting forth his best effort. He just hoped his best would be enough.
Soren poked at the food in his bowl, moving the remaining rice and vegetables from side to side with his chopsticks. The red-head frowned. The food tasted like ash in his mouth and he couldn't bring himself to eat another bite. While the food tasted good – his Chahan was practically restaurant quality – the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach made it hard to enjoy anything.
His mind was racing worse than ever with numerous thoughts ranging from what he could have written instead of how he answered the essay questions on the test to the impact on the start of his journey his final grade could have.
Soren gagged. The stress was just about to make him throw up.
He clenched his fists and took a deep breath, forcing the thoughts aside only to glance down at his PokeNav. One look led to two until he ended up checking his PokeNav every two minutes in hopes of some notification that his results were finally available.
"You look tense."
Soren looked up from his bowl to see a girl standing on the other side of the table, her black eyes fixed on him with concern. "Just thinking, I guess."
"Awfully serious for just thinking," she snickered. "People that are just thinking don't look like that."
"That noticeable?" Soren sighed.
"I don't think you could look more nervous if you tried. I'm guessing you took the aptitude test too?"
Soren tilted his head. "Yeah, how'd you know?"
"I mean, that anxious look kinda gives it away."
Soren shook his head. "Fair enough, waiting for the results has me on pins and needles." he chuckled, forcing a smile.
The girl nodded. "That's understandable. Mind if I sit here? All the other tables are taken."
Soren shook his head. "Go ahead,"
The girl flashed him a grin and set her bowl of mushroom Chahan on the table. "Thanks," she replied, throwing her legs over the bench and sitting down at the table.
He shrugged. "Sure, no problem,"
"I guess I should introduce myself – I'm Kei," she said, giving him a friendly wave.
"Soren," the red-head replied with a halfhearted wave.
Kei grabbed the chopsticks in the bowl and took a bit of fried rice. "If it's any consolation, I think we're all nervous. My mind's in overdrive wondering if I could have done something differently and second guessing my answers," she replied. "See this white hair? It's not natural, it's actually from the stress."
"Then I definitely must be in trouble too. Probably even shaving years off my life." Soren chuckled. "Do we know how long it takes for the scores to be calculated?"
"I'll put it this way, you shouldn't hold your breath. I took it this morning and still have yet to see my results. They said I would get the results in an hour, but I get the impression it's going to be a long wait for the test results to be posted. I've been waiting two hours."
"Figures,"
"They're just keeping us on our toes, it's more fun that way," Kei laughed.
"Fun? I don't think our definition of fun is the same."
Kei grinned. "So tell me Soren, forgive me for prying, but what do you plan on doing once you get your license?" she asked, changing the topic to something more positive and downing another bite between sentences. "Gyms, contests, you have to have some kind of goal, right?"
"I'm thinking about challenging the Ever Grande Conference." Soren replied. "I'm interested in becoming a trainer."
"Trainer, huh? Any reason for that?"
Soren shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess because I'm sort of good at this type of thing?"
Kei gave him a perplexed look. "Sort of good? What kind of skill is sort of good?" she replied only to wince afterwards upon realizing how harsh she sounded. "Sorry, just…"
"It's fine," Soren interrupted. "I just say that because there's no real way to know if you're good until after the aptitude test, right?"
Kei frowned. "I guess that's one way of looking at it,"
"How about you?"
"My goals are…complex," Kei began, pausing momentarily to gather her thoughts before continuing. "I'd like to become a researcher, if not a professor; but without a scholarship a university education is expensive. I figured I could save up some money by challenging the gyms and try to net a solid figure by gunning for some sort of league job to pay for the tuition and certification."
"Solid plan, but a lot of hard work,"
Kei shrugged. "All things worth it in life involve hard work. Take the aptitude test for instance – I mean, you know how much work goes into it, right? Constant cramming, memorization, and if you're like me, you probably did some practice writing."
Soren laughed. "Round the clock prep,"
Kei smirked. "Yeah, but in the end it's worth it, right?"
"Yeah, especially when you know that trainers that score higher on the aptitude test get more opportunities."
"See, you get it!"
"I put in a lot of time preparing for this."
"Then you've been worrying for nothing!"
"I guess, but…" Soren muttered.
"But what? As important as it is to place well, there's not a huge difference in reward once you hit 85 percent or higher. Pretty much anyone that scores 85 percent and up is eligible to get a starter from Birch. Visit Professor Birch and you are pretty much set." Kei interjected, cutting him off.
"Still, a good grade expands your options for a starter,"
"I mean, people like to tout how people that score 90 percent and above get Pokemon from world renowned breeders; but it doesn't really mean much."
Kei stopped for a moment to take another bite of rice.
"It's not like Birch gives out Zigzagoon and Taillow unless you score a hundred percent on the aptitude test."
"Never really thought of it like that."
"Feel better now knowing that?"
"It definitely puts stuff in perspective," Soren replied.
"I was always told to set realistic goals. If you aim for perfection, you'll likely miss and frustrate yourself because nothing is ever perfect. But if you do your best and aim for improvement afterwards, you are setting a more realistic goal and more realistic expectations for yourself."
"Realistic goals, huh?" Soren whispered under his breath, pondering his own expectations. What had he been expecting the last few days? To score a perfect hundred percent and consider everything else a failure? It felt ignorant in hindsight. "That's very good advice, I appreciate it."
"To be honest, it's what I've had to remind myself of the entire morning…so I thought it might help you as well."
"I still appreciate it. It's easy to lose perspective on these sorts of things."
"Any time, glad I could help!"
Kei's PokeNav chimed abruptly, prompting her to look down at the blue watch and tap the touchscreen. "Looks like they've got the results posted for my group,"
Soren raised an eyebrow. "About time, better not keep them waiting then."
Kei nodded. "Hope you score high on your aptitude test. With any luck hopefully we'll both will end up qualifying to get starters from Birch and find our concern was for nothing."
Soren flashed a thumbs up. "Thanks, good luck,"
The red-head smiled. He couldn't help but feel a bit lighter, like a load was lifted from his shoulders. Maybe the anxiety wasn't entirely gone, but he felt much better about the situation once given clarity and perspective.
Kei was right. Perfection was unobtainable. There was no such thing as perfect. There was always something to improve on, some way to grow, and some lessons to be learned.
He studied hard and did his absolute best on the aptitude test. What really mattered was the determination and hard work put into his studies. Besides, one didn't need to be perfect when being very good would suffice.
Soren felt his stomach rumble, reminding him he still hadn't finished lunch. He picked up his chopsticks and finished off the last few bites of rice and vegetables remaining in his bowl. It felt good not to have his stomach in a knot and to have his appetite return.
Soren walked through the hallway, passing the same set of lockers and classrooms once more. While he wasn't anxious, he couldn't stand sitting on the hard cafeteria benches anymore.
He had to get the circulation flowing in his body and wake himself up. He had practically been falling asleep at the cafeteria table from the inactivity. In fact, his legs had fallen asleep.
Instead of sitting, Soren opted to walk the hallways of the Rustboro Academy campus – over and over and over again. Not like he had much else to do, although at least he could count the walk towards his daily workout so keep on his daily routine.
He checked his PokeNav. Nine laps, including the extra time taken during the eighth lap to walk the outdoor sidewalks around the campus, had taken him around ninety minutes.
He stopped at a drinking fountain in the hallway to get a quick drink of water and refresh himself after the long walk before checking his PokeNav again for any notifications regarding the test.
While he hadn't gotten any updates regarding the scores, he tapped on the message icon to open a text he apparently received but hadn't noticed from Skylar.
He must have forgotten to turn the alerts back on when he put the device on silent for the duration of his test.
Thanks for breakfast! Good luck, phenom in the making, and ace this thing.
Soren typed out a response to the message only to be interrupted by a message that popped up and covered the screen.
Classroom 215's aptitude test scores have been posted, report to classroom 215 to see your grades.
Soren's eyes widened. The moment he was waiting for finally arrived. The red-head scrambled down the hallway, running across the campus like a madman.
Judging by many of the other aspiring trainers following suit either by sprinting off towards another part of campus or following him, he certainly wasn't the only person who got the text and his group wasn't the only one to have their grades processed.
Seven minutes of full sprint, dodging students running in the opposite direction, and hearing the occasional scolding from teachers of the academy, Soren finally arrived back at classroom 115.
His peers huddled around a bulletin board just outside the classroom.
Soren pushed through the small crowd to get his own peek at the board where the exam scores were posted, taking a few elbows to ribs and earning a few death glares in the process. He scanned over the list of names briefly in search of his own only for his eyes to widen once he found his name.
Soren Nakajima–94%