Tommy and his friends got to the stadium around 12:45; there was no way any of them were ever going to be late to a class. Both Professor Hemlock and Professor Larkspur seemed like they meant business and Tommy never wanted to test his luck with either of them.

This time the doors leading to the stands were unlocked so Tommy and his friends went inside the stadium and found seats. Most of the students they had seen in the amphitheater had already found seats and were waiting for class to begin; it seemed that no one else wanted to be late either.

“I’m nervous,” Jon said. It was the first time he had sounded serious all day. “Do you think that we’re going to start fighting already? Ugh, you’re so lucky you already have your own Pokémon, Aubrey. I’m not looking forward to having to use a rental.”

“Yeah,” Darius agreed. “It’s a big advantage that you get to start training and forming a bond with your own Pokémon already.”

“Hey, speaking of,” Tommy started. “Do you have your own Pokémon already, Nessa? You never told us.”

“Well, you guys never asked me,” Nessa said, smiling at each of them. She reached into her bag and pulled out a belt which she cinched around her waist with the practiced hands of someone who had done the maneuver hundreds of times. Clipped to her belt were 2 custom Pokéballs, each of which were blue and white with beautiful wave patterns rippling across their surfaces.

“You already have two Pokémon? What the fuck?” Aubrey complained. She frowned at Nessa, “Dammit, I was hoping to be one of the strongest trainers here! How do you already have two Pokémon?”

Nessa laughed. “Aubrey, I have no doubt that you will make a great trainer. Besides, of my two Pokémon, only one of them is currently fit for battle. Everyone tells me I may never get the chance to battle with the second one, but I’ll prove all of them wrong; I’ll raise her to be the strongest ever!”

“What Pokémon do you have?” Darius asked her excitedly. "Can we see them?"

“I think that I’m going to keep them both a surprise too, just in case I have to fight Aubrey,” Nessa threw a playful wink in Aubrey’s direction.

Aubrey frowned at Nessa and told her, “I kind of get the feeling you’re one of the few people here that I currently don’t want to go up against in a battle.”

“Yeah, no offense Nessa, but who exactly are you?” Jon asked. “I mean you’re one of the few transfer students that this school has ever accepted and you already have two Pokémon of your own. You seem like you’re kind of a big deal.”

She gave them a half-hearted smile and turned her gaze away towards the pitch.

“Maybe I used to be,” she spoke somberly. No one felt comfortable prying any further even though Tommy really wanted to know what Nessa meant. The last few minutes before one o’clock passed in comfortable silence and Tommy perked up when a pair of glass doors at center field opened up.

“Here comes Professor Larkspur,” Tommy said. “I guess it must be time to get started.”

Professor Larkspur walked out onto the pitch after exiting through the referee door where his offices must have been located. His lab coat remained unbuttoned, his vicious scar and hardened muscles displayed with pride, as he made his way slowly towards midfield. He came to a stop and addressed the expectant students through an announcer’s headset that he had donned.

“Good afternoon to the remaining 294 students. Quite a few of your peers have already either been expelled or chosen to withdraw from the course to pursue other goals. To those of you remaining, may I congratulate you on having the courage and fortitude to take the first step towards your future as a trainer.”

“Tomorrow will begin our preliminary battle tournament which will occur throughout the remainder of this week. You will be assigned your first opponent tomorrow when you arrive at Professor Hemlock’s class. The first set of preliminary rankings will be posted at the end of the week and your new rankings will update automatically after every subsequent match you participate in. May I remind you that the ten lowest ranking students will be expelled at the end of every month - be sure you are always aware of your rank and that you are not one of those ten.

“Beginning next week, after everyone has participated in one battle and you all have received your preliminary ranking, you will be free to challenge and receive challenges from your peers. You may issue a challenge to anyone as long as their rank is not more than ten ranks above yours, however, you may only issue one challenge at a time. If you are successful in your battle you win their rank, and if you are unsuccessful you drop ranks equal to the difference between your rankings.”

“If you are higher ranked and receive a challenge from a lower ranked student you must accept it. If you win, you advance ranks equal to half the difference between your rank and the rank of the person who challenged you, as long as you are not currently ranked within the top 15 students.”

“Therefore you may have one challenge issued to someone higher ranked, and one challenge pending from a lower rank at once. You may not have more than 2 battles scheduled at a time.”

“If one of your scheduled battles is cancelled due to your opponent being expelled or for any other reason, it will count as a win for the remaining student. This means you would take your opponent’s rank if they were ranked higher than you, or your rank would be promoted half the difference of your levels if you were ranked higher than them.”

“You must compete in 3 battles per month at a minimum, however, you may choose to compete in more. The 3 students who have competed in the most battles at the end of the month will receive a prize, regardless of their rank. If you do not compete in at least 3 battles per month you will be expelled.

“We will have various other types of battles - double battles and tag team battles - but those will be scheduled later in the year. We will discuss the rules for those formats once we reach that point.”

“Our preliminary tournament that begins tomorrow will be a one on one tournament. There are currently 4 students that have caught 3 Pokémon; they will be ranked 1-4 and will not be participating in this tournament. Everyone else will be participating to receive their first ranking.”

“Finally to those of you that do not yet have one Pokémon, you will want to try to capture one as soon as possible. You are at a heavy disadvantage because you will be using a rental Pokémon that you cannot keep. The further along in the year you wait to capture your first Pokémon, the less time you will have to bond with them and battle with them.”

Professor Larkspur pointed up towards the big screen that was hanging above midfield. A list of Pokémon was now being displayed for all of the students to see.

“Displayed on this screen is a list of the six available rental Pokémon,” Professor Larkspur continued. “They are all fairly balanced, with positives and negatives. To those of you currently without your own Pokémon, please select one of the six that are listed so that we professors may prepare for tomorrow. When you have made your selection be sure to inform any of our receptionists in the main office before you leave school for the day. You will of course be expelled from the course if you fail to make a selection before the end of the day.”

“If you are battling with your own personal Pokémon you need not select a rental and may select one of your own Pokémon for your use in the tournament. For those of you with more than one Pokémon, choose wisely.”

“To those of you renting a Pokémon you will not fight any trainer who has selected the same Pokémon that you have. This means that in the event that a multitude of students select the same rental, it will become unavailable to students who wait until the end of the day to make a selection.”

“Before you are dismissed let me remind you that any unsanctioned battle is grounds for suspension and, most likely, expulsion. There are cameras placed all over the stadium,” he said as he pointed to the ceilings and walls. “All battles will be recorded and made available to you so that you may rewatch your fights, the fights of your friends, or the fights of people you are scheduled to have a match against as the year progresses.”

“It is now 1:30 so you are dismissed. Use the rest of the afternoon to prepare for tomorrow. Be sure that you are on time.”

He promptly left through the door leading to the professors’ offices.

“By the Mother, I hope that someone took notes,” Jon mumbled.

Tommy eagerly looked up at the display of rental Pokémon; his choices were: Vulpix, Petilil, Tympole, Riolu, Solosis, Alolan Meowth.

“Well the choices aren’t horrible,” Jon said. “I sort of figured they would be sticking us with Rattata or Pidgey. What are you guys thinking about choosing?”

“I’m not too sure,” said Tommy. “I feel that a lot of students will probably pick Vulpix which means a good amount of students will probably pick Tympole as well. I think I’m leaning towards picking something in the Fighting, Dark, Psychic triangle; hopefully that will help me stick out more to Professor Larkspur.”

“Grass, Fire, and Water are more basic types though,” Nessa told him. “As a new trainer they might be easier for you to handle. Just something to think about.”

“That’s true,” Darius said. “I wonder, if we have a rental Pokémon, are we assigned to fight other students that have rental Pokémon as well? Or could we be matched up against someone who’s already caught their own Pokémon?”

“Since Larkspur didn’t say I bet we might have to go up against students who have their own Pokémon,” Jon grumbled. He looked over at Aubrey who was smiling wickedly at him.

“Well since you won’t know the Pokémon of students who aren’t renting one, it’s best not to worry about it.” Nessa told the three boys confidently. “Just plan for what you know. I bet a good portion of the students here probably don’t have their own Pokémon yet so they’ll probably be using rental Pokémon. If it were me I would choose a rental assuming that you’re going to be fighting someone else who is also using a rental.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right Nessa.” Jon told her. “I’m not going to overthink it. I’m just going to pick Tympole because I don’t think many students here will pick Petilil.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this but I actually agree with you,” Darius said to Jon. “It looks like some students are already leaving, maybe we should head to reception to register? Just to make sure they don’t run out of Tympole like Professor Larkspur said.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Jon agreed. “Tommy, are you coming with us?”

Tommy shook his head. “No I haven’t made my decision yet, you guys go on ahead. I’m going to think about it a bit more.”

“I’ll go with you guys.” Aubrey said excitedly. “I want to watch Jon make his final selection and seal his own doom. Nessa are you coming?”

“I’ll stay with Tommy and help him pick,” Nessa laughed. “And don’t listen to her, Jon. Go with what your gut is telling you to do.”

“Suit yourself then. We’ll meet you two in the rec center later once Tommy registers,” Aubrey grabbed Darius and Jon excitedly and pulled them back towards the entrance. “Let’s go boys.”

The three of them headed through the doors, back into the main lobby of the stadium. Once Tommy realized he was alone with Nessa his stomach started turning and doing flips.

“Thank you for staying and helping me,” Tommy told her. He hoped he wasn’t about to make an idiot of himself or say something stupid.

“It’s no trouble,” she said, smiling at him. She readjusted herself in the cramped arena seats so she could sit sideways and face him, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. “Tell me what’s going through your head?”

That I can’t believe I’m sitting and talking with such a beautiful girl.

“Nothing,” he said, cursing his own cowardice.

If only I could say out loud what I’m thinking in my head.

“It must be nice having your own Pokémon and not having to make this decision,” He said to her. “I really hope I can catch a Pokémon for myself soon. Though who knows, maybe I won’t be able to be a trainer at all.”

“Why do you say that?” Nessa asked. “If it’s what you want to do then just go for it and believe in yourself.”

“Well I think I mentioned my family owns a ranch where we raise Pokémon.” He said to her expectantly.

She nodded her head and smiled, “You did mention it earlier, yes. I’d love to visit and see the Pokémon that your family has raised.”

That would be amazing.

“Yeah I would like that too. Darius is the only one who has been out, and even he’s only visited once before. Maybe the 5 of us could all have a study session or something; this year seems like it’s going to be incredibly difficult,” he told her.

The smile she was wearing vanished from her face and he wondered if he said something that he shouldn’t have. Maybe she didn’t really want to visit and was just being polite? Most people thought ranch life wasn’t very spectacular.

“Um, anyway,” he continued, a little less confidently now. “My parents have been raising me to take over the ranch, especially since my dad is starting to get a bad back. I don’t think my mom is too happy that both my sister and I are attending this school. She doesn’t want me to be a trainer I don’t think. I actually think it took my dad a lot of convincing to get Mom’s permission to enroll me here.”

“My dad has this way with Pokémon, it’s really incredible to see him work,” Tommy said as he smiled and looked out over the arena. “I think he used to be a trainer; that’s the only explanation I can think of as to why I’m enrolled here. He never talks about his days as a trainer though so I can’t be sure. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking anyway.”

“If you want to be a trainer then you’ll make it happen,” she told him while nodding her head. “You just have to make your mom see it too. Just talk to her and let her know. She’ll support you, that’s what moms are for.”

“If you really think so,” Tommy hesitated. He wished he had half the confidence that Nessa seemed to already have in him.

“Plus, if your dad has a way with Pokémon then so do you. It’s in your blood,” she told him. She was smiling again and it took everything Tommy had to maintain eye contact with her and not blush and look away.

“Thank you,” he told her. “I think I know who I want to pick. Hopefully I can make it work.”

“I’m sure you will,” she said. “Let’s go register then, come on.”

He followed her out through the door and found himself reflecting on what Jon had said earlier. Nessa seemed like she had all the answers and should already be a totally certified trainer. Hopefully she would open up more when she was ready.

The two of them left the stadium together to go to the reception hall and Tommy could only hope that he wasn't about to seal his own doom as Aubrey had put it.