And here it is, my new story about Calem's adventure in Sinnoh. No, it's not a high school AU, I promise.

Since there are plenty of characters from that region, I recommend reading this fic if you're familiar with both Pokemon X/Y and Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. I've also made Calem a little less shy than in previous fics... since he won't be around his Kalos friends as often.

"What a great day to do… I'm not sure what, but I'll think of something."

It seemed like today was going to be just another typical day in Calem's life… Little did the boy from Vaniville Town know that the Holo Caster call he was about to receive would make this day anything but normal.

Hearing the device's signature ringtone, he promptly picked his Holo Caster up to play the message. The hologram displayed was the standard non-descript figure that indicated an audio-only call.

"Yo, little dude!" drawled a man's voice. "We got ourselves a situation, and we want you to get your skinny arse over to the Looker Bureau ASAP! Got it?" The hologram vanished when the message had finished, and Calem groaned; his plans for the day disrupted now. What did they need his "skinny ass" – the correct way to pronounce it, Calem firmly believed – for anyway?

If Calem had to name one person who could do anything better than he, one name came to mind faster than anything: Emma, the girl who had been living in Lumiose City as a homeless orphan for most of her life, given ad education and a place to live by that Looker detective. However, her true strength came from the Expansion Suit she owned, an invention of Dr. Xerosic of Team Flare (before the team's downfall) that increased its wearer's physical capabilities severalfold. If Calem had his own suit like that, there would be no question that he could keep up with that girl.

But of course, he didn't. The Expansion Suit was one of a kind after all, so he wondered, why in the world would the Looker Bureau gang ask him for his help when Emma could do the job with much less time and effort?

%%%

"Emma's gone, mate."

When Calem had made it to the Looker Bureau in Lumiose City, he saw the building inhabited only by the three punks who assisted Emma with the more mundane tasks of keeping the cities safe; there was no sign of the orphan girl or Mimi, her Espurr companion.

"Where'd she go?" Calem asked.

"Sinnoh region," replied one of the punk girls as she worked at her fingernails with an iron file; sitting at a desk facing the wall, she didn't even turn her head to face the boy as she spoke.

Calem hadn't expected an answer like that. "What was she doing there?" While he had certainly heard of Sinnoh before, beyond knowing about Mt. Coronet, the region's most notable geographic feature, his Sinnoh-based knowledge was vestigial at best.

"Check it." Calem yelped in surprise when an opened envelope was tossed his way, and he pulled out the letter folded inside, reading the neatly-written message.

"Hello to my dear Emma,
If I may take a moment of your time… I write to you from the Sinnoh region, where I am currently all done with my International Police work. For the first time in many weeks, I am very much relaxed and at ease!
I have enclosed for you a ticket to travel there. Please visit with me, if only briefly, for it has been so very long since we have talked in person.
I will be waiting to see you in Jubilife City. Have you heard about the new school that had opened there? Such a place had not existed when I had visited Sinnoh previously! As a detective, it piques my curiosity… I can only hope you will come to visit so that you may see it with me.

-Looker"

The writing seemed to be the only aspect of Looker's letter that attempted any form of professionalism; the rest of the paper was covered with little stickers of various Pokémon, and drawn below the message in colored pencils was a simplistic doodle of two figures that just might have intended to be Looker and Emma, wobbly lines for big smiles on both their faces.

Calem handed the letter back to the one man of the punk trio. "That doesn't sound so bad."

"You don't understand, mate," explained the punk man. "We got this letter two months ago… or was it three? But either way, Emma's been gone longer than we expected, that's for true. We even tried calling her, but she didn't pick up or nothin' every time!"

"Ohh… That's weird." That certainly put things in perspective; why would Emma be staying in Sinnoh for so long without at least notifying someone back in Kalos? What if something had happened to her? Surely Looker would not allow something terrible to befall the child he took into his care… right?

The punk man then handed Calem an empty suitcase. "And since you're Emma's best bud – besides her Pokémon, anyway – we want you to pop into Sinnoh for a bit to make sure she's sittin' pretty! Pretty clever plan, innit?"

A frown of skepticism found its way to Calem's face; being shipped off overseas seemed like the least efficient solution to their dilemma… but the boy still couldn't help but worry for Emma's safety; Expansion Suit or no, she was his friend – and she made for a worthy rival in the ways of Pokémon training and battling.

Other than that, there lingered a small part of him that wanted to see this Sinnoh region for himself.

"So when are we leaving then?" the boy asked.

The punk snorted, like Calem had just told the funniest joke he had ever heard.

"We? We ain't goin' nowheres. But you're gettin' on that plane tomorrow."

The punk girl at the desk explained their decision. "Hey, some dude's gotta keep an eye on this place. Then someone's gotta keep an eye on that dude."

Calem pouted. "But that's only two people…"

The punk guy added. "Third dude gets the snacks! Speaking of, spare some dough, guv? I'm gettin' us some chips and soda."

%%%

That night, Calem and his friends met at the café in Aquacorde Town, where he decided to tell them about what was happening the next day.

"Wow, the Sinnoh region!" Shauna squealed. "I wonder what kind of Pokémon they have there. Can I come, Cal? Can I, can I, pretty pleeeease with sprinkles and whipped cream on top?"

"Sure," Calem answered. "If you can fit in my suitcase."

For the sake of getting what she wanted, the brown-haired girl accepted the rhetorical challenge, opening Calem's suitcase and trying in vain to sit inside it while folding the open suitcase shut.

"Darn it, I can't fit… maybe if I dumped some of these old clothes out…" Shauna mumbled to herself as she continued in her futile endeavor.

"I read in my encyclopedia that the Sinnoh region was where the first Global Trade Station was constructed," Trevor told the group. "Now that trading Pokémon with people across the world has become a significantly more widespread and convenient process, I am curious to know what has become of the building."

Tierno had been poking at his ear with his finger while the orange-haired boy had been speaking, and interjected after he noticed nobody else was talking. "Sinnoh?! Oh man, do they really have dancing contests there? Also, one time my uncle went there and he brought me back an Old Gateau! It smelled kinda funky, but tasted pretty awesome! So bring me back some if you see any, okay?"

Calem was starting to find all this attention a little overwhelming, on top of worrying about the actual trip.

"Uh… Oh, is that the time? Sorry, guys… I'll miss you. Bye!" He swiped his suitcase from under Shauna's body, and ran home as fast as he could.

"Gee, Cal sure seems excited about leaving tomorrow," remarked Shauna as he stood to her feet, brushing the dust off of her shorts.

Tierno nodded. "Someone should tell Serena about this when she comes back… Not it!"

"Not it!" Shauna echoed the statement not more than a second later; Trevor on the other hand was not quite as punctual.

"Not i- ohh, man…" he whined, "I'm never fast enough…"

%%%

Despite having received a good night's rest, Calem was barely awake the next day, and being escorted to the airport and pushed through all the preparations for his flight, with his luggage in tow, felt like some hazy dream; if not for the assistance from the Looker Bureau punks, he would have most certainly missed his plane by at least an hour.

He was considerably better rested by the time the inter-regional flight had come to a stop, the plane landing in the unfamiliar territory of the Sinnoh region. With a quiet yawn, Calem stepped off the plane, finding himself in the tranquil but developed Jubilife City, a city that reminded the Kalos boy of his region's own Lumiose City, is somewhat on a smaller and less culture-influenced scale. Now that he had arrived to the last known whereabouts of Emma before she had seemingly disappeared, Calem looked around, searching for any possible leads.

He noticed that a fair percentage of his fellow tourists from the plane ride were filing in a line towards the center of the city, which appeared to be the site of an impossibly huge school grounds. Were Calem to guess, he would probably say that this was the building that Looker was referring to in his letter to Emma… but why was everyone gawking at what lay beyond the closed gates, like some wonderful tourist attraction was harbored away there?

"Well shucks, boy, ain't this what you came here for in the first place?" a rather dandy-looking man in a suit answered the question Calem had asked. "Today's the day that this school is holding their semester-ly entrance exams!"

"Entrance exams?!" Calem gasped; he had been drawn to this site entirely by accident, and for a moment he figured that he had no time to waste on enrolling in this school, until he considered the possibility that Emma herself had taken an interest in the facility after coming to the region, and she was currently studying there right now. If that was the case, why didn't Emma tell anyone about her decision? Did something happen to her? The boy had no time to ponder as the gates screeched, parting to let in the sea of newcomers, from both within the region and overseas.

"Welcome, trainers of Pokémon, to Jubilife School of Pokémon and Trainers!" proclaimed a voice, its speaker obscured to Calem from behind a wall of people. "By appearing before myself and these premises, you have expressed your desire to learn of the secrets of this school. If you are unprepared to commit yourself to the ways of the academy, you are to leave immediately!"

Surprisingly, only one person out of the several took that offer; an old lady slowly walked away, wooden cane in hand. Despite his doubts, Calem remained in place – this place was as good a starting point to search for Emma as any, and he had nothing to lose from enrolling.

"So you remaining truly wish to become superior Pokémon trainers," continued the unseen speaker. "However! Desire and commitment alone do not a truly strong trainer make. If you wish to draw from the strength that this institute's teachings bestow, you must first prove the strength you already possess!"

Calem then heard something happening, and by standing on his tiptoes to peer above the shortest of the crowd, he saw that several many traffic cones had emerged from the grounds leading to the skyscraper at the far end of the campus; they formed a winding, racetrack-like path to the skyscraper's entrance.

"It's a race!" Calem spoke out loud, and he felt some relief. A contest of speed would be one where he had a slight advantage, using his secret weapon – the roller skates he always brought with him. Furtively, the boy crouched down and strapped them to his boots.

On his tiptoes, Calem could see who had been speaking; it was a tan-skinned boy who looked to be almost his age, with silver hair tied in a small braid so as not to get in the way of his smugly smirking face, and he was wearing a charcoal-black version of the archetypical school uniform Calem had seen in his favorite cartoons and comics.

The silver-haired boy gestured to the track before them. "To prove you are fit to wear the school's uniform, you will race to the finish, and aim to finish within the top 30 places."

"What if we tie?" asked a little girl from someplace in the crowd.

"There are no ties! We measure each finishing time very carefully!" answered the schoolboy. "All participants failing to make the quota will not be permitted to enter the premises, until the next entrance exam… unless of course, this marks your third failed attempt, in which case you will be permanently banned from all future entrance exams!"

A few heads away, Calem saw a blond boy in a striped shirt, wiping the sweat of his brow with the scarf he wore. "Oh geez… this is my last chance! I gotta get in this time, or that's it!" he muttered to himself, shuffling nervously on his feet.

"Now, trainers, to the starting line!" shouted the silver-haired schoolboy, and at his words, the throng of prospective school entrants lined up at the racetrack.

"On your marks… get set…"

Calem crouched down, holding his breath.

"Go!"

Calem reacted just promptly enough to get a tiny head-start from launching forward with his roller skates, before the other stampeding entrants quickly caught up. For the first two minutes, the Kalos boy maintained his pace by skating, managing to keep up with even the more physically fit entrants; it all seemed pretty straightforward… perhaps too straightforward.

These suspicions were undeniably confirmed when Calem saw a crafty one of the bunch attempt to cheat by jumping over the traffic cones to take a major shortcut. In mid-jump, the cones beneath him fired bolts of electricity from their tips, making the cheater fall down as he was blasted with the shocking attack, stunned and quickly left in the dust by the other racers. Before long, some of the weaker entrants were slowing down, starved of air and coated in their sweat; Calem didn't have time to worry about his competition though, and just focused on keeping the rhythm of kicking his legs to maintain momentum on his wheels.

Suddenly, a Pokémon dropped from out of nowhere; it was none other than Abomasnow, a burly white Ice and Grass-type Pokémon that began to exhale a stream of icy breath upon the ground around it, coating the nearby track in a layer of slippery ice that spelled trouble for the racers as their feet failed to properly grip the frictionless surface; even Calem on his skates was slowed considerably by the sudden hazard, and was beginning to be overtaken by more and more racers.

"Out of the way, Slowpoke!"

Thud!

Something at high speed collided with Calem from behind – or rather, someone, making the Kalos boy fall over.

He turned around to see who the culprit was… it was that twitchy blond boy in the green scarf!

Without wasting any more time, Calem rose to his feet and prepared to dash back into the fray.

"Wait! I need some help, Slowpoke!" the blond boy called out, gripping his ankle with both hands as he writhed in pain on the icy ground.

For a second, Calem felt like ignoring the injured stranger; that boy had greatly slowed him down due to his cluminess, but Calem remembered that this was his third and final try to enter the school, and couldn't handle the guilt of leaving the boy to fail.

Besides, there was still a chance to make it.

"Okay, get on my back," Calem said, helping the stranger up to carry him piggyback-style before they took off again.

Calem panted a bit as he managed to gain on the faster racers; skating was considerably more strenuous when carrying the weight of two.

"Now I know how Tierno's skates feel," he thought to himself.

It looked like Abomasnow was gone by the time Calem had made it to the final stretch of the race, and using what strength he had, he pushed on, carrying the blond boy with him.

"Dude, I think we're gonna make it!" he said. "I owe ya big time, don't I, Slowpoke?"

Breathing deeply and shaking the beads of sweat away from his face, the brown haired boy replied quickly, "The name's Calem- I mean Cal! Cal."

"I'm Barry," the boy in the scarf responded in kind. "I'm from Twinleaf Town! I wanted to come to this school so I could-"

Barry was interrupted by a crashing tremor that almost knocked Calem off of his feet; Abomasnow had dropped down from above again, standing between them and the finish line. The icy Pokémon began to form big snowballs in its pointy-clawed hands, tossing them at the two boys. Though it didn't throw far enough, the clumps of snow crumbled as they hit the ground, leaving a carpet of thick powdery snow that Calem couldn't skate over; the wheels of his roller skates could not at all negotiate the yielding terrain.

With no other choice, he trudged along the snowy track with broad strides, still straining from Barry's added weight. Racers were passing by them now, unfazed by Abomasnow's assault and passing the finish line. The odds were narrowing, but Calem couldn't give up… not when Emma was still missing.

With one final effort, Calem flopped over as he managed to reach the finish line, landing on his belly while Barry rolled off of him. Gasping for breath, they sat back up as a man wearing a hard hat and glasses walked up to them. Like the silver-haired boy, he too was wearing a school uniform.

"I'm sorry, boys," he said while adjusting his glasses, "but I'm afraid you were unlucky enough to place 31st and 32nd. Therefore, you have failed the entrance exam. Better luck next time…" He then took notice of Barry, having recognized him from the previous exams. "As for you, Barry, I believe this was your third attempt at the exam? That is very unfortunate indeed…"

"You gotta be kidding me!" Barry snapped back, jumping to his feet. "Well, I'm not going anywhere until you gimme one of those uniforms! I'll fine you if I have to! Come at me!"

Meanwhile, Calem was glaring at Barry with an unbelievable amount of resentment; the boy from Twinleaf Town had been faking his injury all along, and had just cost him a place in the school.