Alex and Houndoom headed down the hallway and finally made it to their dorm room. Opening the door, it appeared that they were the first to arrive. [i]Lucky me.[/i] Alex shut the door behind him and proceeded to walk in. The dorm was actually quite nice: a kitchen, a small living room, and (to Alex's disappointment) all five beds were in the same room. Alex took the bed on the right, closest to the door. Dropping his stuff at the foot of the bed, he laid back and sighed. Houndoom hopped up next to him and laid down beside him. Alex put his arm around his dearest friend and stared up at the ceiling.

"Well, day one and we've already made a name for ourselves." he told Houndoom. Houndoom's tail thumped once in response. He didn't much care what the other trainers thought of him, but as long as they all didn't like him, he could use that to get some extra battling practice in. "After all," he said with a self-scorning smile, "no one can resist trying to put a jerk in his place, even when they're hopelessly outmatched." Houndoom smiled; that's exactly how he and his beloved trainer had met.

Alex continued to lie there for several minutes, stroking Houndoom absently while he took a rare opportunity to relax. After a while, he finally sat back up and slid out of bed, Houndoom following loyally. "Come on," he told Houndoom. "We've got several hours before our next class. Let's take the opportunity and train." Houndoom nodded, and the two of them headed for the door. Just as Alex was reaching for the handle, however, the door flew open, slamming him squarely in the forehead.

"AGH!"