"See you all tomorrow." As Mr. Adams finished his lesson, Alex sighed and rose to his feet, taking a quick moment to stretch and ignore all the looks he got from other classmates. [i]Excellent,[/i] he thought, [i]it's finally over. And to make things even better, our first assignment is to [b]battle[/b] somebody.[/i] Alex was almost disappointed now that he and Max didn't share a dorm.

Almost.

Houndoom quickly stood to follow Alex as the two of them made their way to the exit, determinedly keeping their eyes from meeting anyone else's. Alex wanted only to head for his dorm room, pick a good bed, drop off his stuff, and leave before anyone else showed up.