POKEMON A.R.

			  ------------------------
			  The Hidden Nation Series
			  ------------------------

			      Walkin' Trouble

				 (PROLOUGE)

				   PART 1


	This story is an honest attempt to explain A LOT of stuff we see
in the series about Team Rocket's Jesse/James... it actually fits REAL
well. Why, we even explain the boy in the picture Jesse had in the
"Ditto's Mysterious Mansion" episode, Jesse's attitude towards guys,
why Jesse and James are 'just friends', and James' affection for roses!
We've made everything as accurate to the series as possible so even the
informational sticklers'll love this fic!... we had to add two new
characters to do it, but it still works!

And if ya don't love it... well, we tried!

=========================================================================


Time: August, 1990 Place: Sunny Town, Democratic Republic
----------------------------------------------------------

	"Isn't this just peachy?" asked Tyler, looking out over the
water.

	The sun was beginning to set, and the orange sky cast an almost
cascading glow over the entire bay... until, of course, it was
interrupted by work crews near the shore's edge. The city of Sunny Town
had begun a major project to connect itself with the city just across
the bay, and workers had begun to lay a base for the bridge that was
planned. It wouldn't have been so bad, the boy decided, if they hadn't
begun laying foundations near where he would often come to swim as to
beat the crowd at the local public pool.

	"Well?" his companion asked, "what are we going to do now?"

	Tyler turned and looked at her. "Go home and grumble over the new
liberal spending policy on city improvements and on 'progress'-'s effect
on traditional values as a whole." he said, "Since, other than that, I
have no idea just what *to* do."

	Jackii looked at her friend. His brown hair was somewhat being
blown over his even deeper brown eyes by the wind coming off of the bay.
He seemed ridged and lost in thought. "We can form a kid protest or
something." she suggested, trying to bring him out of his malaise.

	"Oh yeah," he said, "2 local kids protest new bridge! Swimming
more important than pokŽmon says one, influx of new pokŽmon health items
to and from each city too high a price on skinny dipping says other."

	"I DON'T SKINNY DIP!" Jackii yelled, trying to hit him.

	"You're right," he said, joking as he dodged, "but I do... and
they just don't let you do that at the local pool."

	Jackii laughed at him as she began to walk back.

	Tyler watched as she went, her black hair tussling in the wind,
and interesting contrast to her pearl white skin. She was beautiful...
not that a 11 year old boy hell bent on adventure noticed things like
that. What he did notice, however, was that the sky was getting dark,
and that meant it was time to head back home.

	"I hate to ditch ya," he told his friend, "but if I'm not back by
seven they'll keep me on grounds for a week."

	Jackii nodded, noticing Tyler' anxiousness. "See you tomorrow?"
she said.

	"Of course!" he said. "It's an orphanage, not a prison!"

	He walked her back to the paved path, then waved good-bye as he
ran back, cutting through alleys and parks alike. He made it in ten
minutes before his appointed time, waving to the headmaster as he came
in.

	"Cutting it close?" she asked.

	"I made it!" he protested, "20 minutes before meals and half and
hour before bathing and hitting the sack..."

	She just smiled at him.

	"You always get me on that..." he said, realizing she was jerking
his chain.

	She took his coat and hung it up for him. "I can't help it," she
said, as she joked, "I need to torment at least one of you a day, it's a
city ordinance."

	"I had enough of the city today." he said in a huff, putting his
shoes by the door and then putting his house slippers on.

	"The Bridge?" she asked, already knowing the cause of Tyler's
disdain seeing as she had to listen to his various complaints over the
past few weeks.

	"It's not fair Ms. H!" he exploded, "They can ship this stuff by
boat... or something! The pokŽmon'll survive. A lot of people use that
part of the bay besides me. They're ruining the localized fishing,
shipping, and boating industries all in one swoop. And on top of it,
there are pokŽmon being displaced from their homes in the bay because of
this. I mean, just because the pokŽmon in the bay are wild, does that
mean they're any less important than a trainer's pokŽmon?"

	It was a total mess. Pocket monsters had been around ever since
mankind could remember. Generally called pokŽmon for short, these
creatures lived almost all over the earth, and whenever it was that that
first human set out and actually tamed a pokŽmon, it had been discovered
through trial and error that pokŽmon could be trained to fight for a
person far more effectively than other animals, and even some humans.
Eventually, people began to dedicate themselves to raising and training
these pokŽmon as a livelihood. These original pokŽmon trainers joined the
ranks of shoguns and knights to fight wars during the Middle Ages;
medicines created from pokŽmon were used to fight off diseases; and
pokŽmon even helped to explore, discover, and found the original colonies
of the United States; indeed, pokŽmon had played an integral part in the
world's history, helping unite the countries of Japan, the United States,
Canada, Mexico, Australia, Mongolia, and almost half of what was once
Russia into the Democratic Republic back in late 1800's through their
unwillingness to fight in the wars between these powers and the
persuasion they had on their trainers to sue for peace. This example of a
'world unity' led to cooperation and the establishment of the current
government and the acceptance of America's republican model, allowing for
a great amount of peace and a greater respect for all life. In fact,
until the recent war between the Democratic Republic and the Social
Confederation there had been no real fighting between any major world
powers. And thanks to pokŽmon, even these wars weren't really all that
bloody. Because of the nature of the pokŽmon and their abilities, many
military vehicles and even missiles were almost useless and ergo not
implemented. Without such destructive power at their disposal and 'most'
pokŽmon's unwillingness to actually kill a human even when their master
demanded it, most soldiers lived to go home... at least until this war.
Over the past 15 years hundreds of thousands had been killed... but this
recent combat had only been the exception to prove the rule.

	PokŽmon had also played vital roles in fending off starvation in
other parts of the world by using their special abilities to help build
water reservoirs and irrigation ditches, allowing for more farmland and
more food output. In fact, they were so good at this form of work that
even private trainers began to get their pokŽmon to do minor construction
work. All in all, pokŽmon had been a major boon[benefit] to the world as
a whole.

	Added to this were the social lessons they taught their trainers
during the time they were raised. Trainers, at least those who got the
message, learned to care for and respect their pokŽmon. They learned the
value of hard work and the rewards it gained them. PokŽmon made great
companions and were loved by almost everyone across the world.

	It was this love of pokŽmon and the government's gratitude for
their role in history that led to the efforts that were made to ensure
their continuing survival. Great pains were taken to keep pokŽmon's homes
intact; cities were constructed to be as far apart as possible;
populations were moved from Japan's mainland to the former Canada and the
U.S., allowing for more of the island's natural lands to be preserved for
these creatures in that part of the world; and laws were set in effect to
protect pokŽmon, ergo the forming of the PokŽmon League.

	The PokŽmon League was set up a few decades ago, providing a set
of rules for civilian pokŽmon training. It outlined approved pokŽmon
attacks and created guidelines for pokŽbattles. It also made a standard
for judging how good a pokŽmon was and how skillful its trainer had been
in raising it. It also set up various pokŽcenters for the care of pokŽmon
and had done studies as to the nature of pokŽmon to better help them. It
had also invented the pokŽball and a teleportation system to transfer from
one pokŽcenter to another. All in all, the government had worked hard to
help pokŽmon, and it had meant sacrifices... but Tyler felt this recent
activity was getting ridiculous.

	"It's about more than pokŽmon, unfortunately," said Ms. Harmon,
bringing Tyler's mind out of his mood, "it's just that pokŽmon are easy
to rally behind as a cause and the Doves exploit the pokŽmon's image for
their own gains. Sunny Town's economy NEEDS the cheaper goods and jobs
that bridge represents, not to mention the toll fees. And with the bridge
MAJOR industries can move in... meaning MORE money. And lets face it, the
government simply WILL NOT endorse that much industrialization unless
it's for a major cause like the welfare of pokŽmon. And even all that's
beside the point... I KNOW I've taught you and the others about the
pork of politics during school lessons... now that the mayor has control
of those kinds of funds she'll milk it as long as she can. And knowing her
and her Dove slant, it'll take years for that thing to get done."

	Tyler only groaned as he bowed goodbye, turned about, and went up
the stairs. He just wasn't going to win on this or anything else.

	"Ms. H?" he asked cautiously before he went up all the way.

	"Yes?" she said, turning.

	"I was wondering..." he said, "it's still ok if I go with Jackii
to the park tomorrow, right?"

	"You know the rules," Ms. Harmon said, "other than you staying
close, I have no problem with it."


				* * *


The next day
------------

	After a quick rice cake with raspberry jam breakfast the next
morning, Tyler made his way out of the orphanage and past the grounds to
the local park's entrance. And, sure enough, Jackii was there waiting
for him.

	"Think we'll see much action today Ms. Wipple?" he asked, doing
his TV anchor put-on voice.

	"You know it Mr. Trawets," Jackii said, countering with her own
put-on voice.

	The action they were referring to was the pokŽring in the center
of the park. Almost totally replacing the areas people once played chess,
there were 3 sections where fully sanctioned pokŽbattles occurred.

	PokŽbattles were basically just a fight between 2 pokŽmon
trainers using their pokŽmon to do the fighting. The rules the PokŽmon
League had set up almost ensured no pokŽmon could ever die or sustain
serious injury, and trainer and pokŽmon alike enjoyed the combat.

	On hand to keep things in check, as always, was Nurse Anna with
her assistant nurse-in-training, Ms. Joy.

	"How's it shaping up Joy?" Jackii asked, stepping up next to her.

	Joy turned and smiled. "Hi you two!" she said as she brushed away
some of her red hair from her face, "It sure looks busy today! We have 22
matches signed up so far, and it's only ten o'clock! We're going to have
the first set of battles in a few minutes, so get ready."

	"There isn't an empty bench left here!" Tyler exclaimed after
taking a look around, "what's the deal?"

	Joy smiled at the young duo. "There's a lot happening actually."
she said, "There's going to be a contest in three months or so and every
trainer in the city is training extra hard for it. That, and some of
these challengers don't have the money necessary to pay the 1,000-yen
entree fee, so they hope to win it here."

	"The prize must be pretty big to pay that much of a fee." Jackii
said, semi-amazed.

	"First prize is a full scholarship to PokŽmon Technical." Joy
said happily, "Is that big enough for you two?"

	"What's that?" Tyler asked.

	"It's a school devoted totally to the study of pokŽmon. Not only
that, but it's fully sanctioned by the PokŽmon League and, upon
completion, students become members of the PokŽmon League without needing
to collect any badges." Joy began, "It's been closed to the public for
years now, and attendance is usually reserved for family members of gym
leaders and upper league members... but now the school is set to start
additional classes fall of next year, and this time they're open to the
public."

	"Shee-ah..." managed Tyler.

	"Why such a big prize?" Jackii asked, "This isn't exactly a large
town."

	"Well," Joy explained, "the war with the Social Confederation is
almost over except for hammering out of some details and getting the rest
of the troops home, and everyone just wants to move on and rebuild or
build bigger. The mayor figured that a contest may get everyone's mind
off of the war and inspire some city growth and the local PokŽmon League
representatives agreed with her and pled her case to the League's
magistrate."

	"Wow..." said Jackii. By the way she was staring into space, her
eyes lit up, Tyler figured she was either planning to enter the contest
or beg her parents to let her go to the school when it reopened with the
new classes. Either way, he already saw her pulling the school's first
public valedictorian.

	Tyler might have entered... but the orphanage forbade him leaving
city limits and seeing as they had been kind enough to let him wander
inside the town he decided not to make trouble... unfortunately, there
were no pokŽmon worth catching in the city... and the cheapest pokŽmon in
the pet stores, a grass type Bulbasaur, was 5000 yen! Tyler only had
4,500 so far (he had so little, of course, because of the money he had
spent on gifts for Jackii and some of the more depressed kids at the
orphanage during their birthdays, Christmas, and after adoption days when
they weren't picked), and that had taken him two summers worth of odd
jobs to earn just that.

	And on top of that, although he could've afforded to enter,
seeing as he had no pokŽmon nor could afford or catch one, he was up a
creek so to speak.

	Joy waved them goodbye and went to judge one section while Jackii
and Tyler made their way to separate sections to find seats (a practice
they started when people started to think they were a couple) and watch
some of the local talent show off their pokŽmon.

	Tyler sat at section one, and watched as Nurse Anna stood up on
her podium. There, she checked a clip board, called out 2 names, and
allowed a couple of neighborhood kids into the ring. She assigned them
their positions and backed away to allow them to pokŽbattle. As soon as
Anna had gotten clear, the two went at it.

	"Rattata, go!" the first one, Jacen (if he recalled the name from
the roster sheet) said.

	"Nidoran, go!" said the second.

	The two pokŽmon emerged from the pokŽballs in streams off light,
the shapeless energy indeed forming into the two pokŽmon named.

	The Nidoran, a male by the looks, attacked the Rattata with a
Scratch attack.

	The Rattata took the hit, righted itself up, and then countered
using a Tackle.

	The Nidoran, taking the order's its trainer yelled at it,
recovered from the attack and used a Poison sting attack.

	The first trainer then pulled his Rattata back, then pulled out
another pokŽball and summoned a Poliwag. No sooner had it come out,
however, the Nidoran used a Tackle attack and knocked it senseless. Jacen
pulled his pokŽmon back angrily, as he summoned his Oddish.

	The second Trainer, whom Jacen yelled at, calling him Arlan, had
his Nidoran use another Scratch attack on this new pokŽmon... but it
missed. The Oddish used Sleep powder and the Nidoran was out.

	Jacen seemed overtly happy with himself as Arlan summoned another
pokŽmon, a Pidgey. The Oddish again attempted Sleep powder under Jacen's
command, but Arlan's Pidgey countered with a Gust attack. The attack not
only hurt the Oddish, but caused the Sleep powder attack to back fire on
the Oddish.

	Out of pokŽmon, Jacen had to forfeit and Arlan won the match.

	It had ended quickly, partly because Jacen had been trounced, and
part because there was only 3 on 3 pokŽbattling in this section of the
park. As the other sections' pokŽbattles continued, Jacen had to give
Arlan 376 yen and head back to the pokŽcenter to heal his defeated
pokŽmon--

	Or at least he should have.

	Tyler noticed that, after paying Arlan his winnings, Jacen went
in the opposite direction. He *should've* gone to the pokŽcenter,
considering it was really the only place to get them treated quickly and
for free (and cheaply, considering the cost for the 'Revive' and
'Restore' items), and that there were no facilities in the park nearby.

	Tyler followed Jacen across an almost picturesque grass covered
hill and then traced him to an area behind a clump of trees, where he
heard him yelling. As Tyler came closer to where Jacen had gone, he found
that Jacen had brought out Poliwag and wasn't being all too kind.

	"You stupid pokŽmon!" he yelled, "What good are you? HUH?!"

	The Poliwag trembled. "Poly... wag?" it said.

	"Exactly!" he yelled, "No good freaking good whatsoever!!! Why,
I outta leave you here and let some car run you over, or have some
Growlithe eat you... or... or..."

	"Hey! Hello there!" Tyler called nonchalantly, hoping to help the
pokŽmon but not incur the trainers wrath. Even battle worn pokŽmon could
trounce a human by themselves, and Jacen had two others beside Poliwag.

	"Ya? What is it?" Jacen countered.

	"That's what I came to find out." said Tyler, "I heard yelling
and-"

	"Just a dumb pokŽmon," said Jacen, "this *thing* lost me over 300
yen!"

	Tyler wanted to yell it was his fault as a trainer, but Jacen
didn't seem to have any animosity towards him. "So what are you going to
do?" he asked.

	Jacen snapped his attention back to Tyler. "Throw it in the bay
probably."

	Tyler saw the Poliwag visibly tremble... Tyler didn't blame it.
Without a trainer, a Poliwag would die trying to get to another body of
water.... and with the winter coming and the fact the only part of the
bay that was suitable for pokŽmon was filled with wild Tentacools and
Goldeens. It was common knowledge that wild pokŽmon were jealous of
trained pokŽmon, and would attack without provocation; combining all the
factors the conclusion was the same: the poor thing had no chance.

	"Hey listen," Tyler said, pulling into his pants pocket, "this
thing cost you, what? 300-something yen, right?"

	"Ya..." Jacen replied, losing his anger and replacing it with
interest, "So what?"

	"Well, I got 500 yen." Tyler said, pulling out the money "It's
half of what you need for that contest. You give me the Poliwag and it's
pokŽball, and you can have-"

	Jacen handed him the Poliwag's pokŽball and grabbed the money
before Tyler could finish his sentence.

	As soon as Jacen left (which was quick, probably because he
didn't want Tyler to reconsider, he decided) Tyler looked down at the
Poliwag and sighed.

	"Well," he said, "I guess I can give you to Joy... she can
arrange for you to go back somewhere you belong... wherever that is."

	"POLY!... Poliwag!" the pokŽmon protested, "Poly-poly!... waaag!"

	"You mean..." Tyler tried to grasp... "You *want* to go to the
bay?!"

	With a look of disgust of it's face, the Poliwag propelled itself
with it's tail and jumped onto Tyler's head.

	"POLY!" it said, jumping up and down on his head each time it
spoke, "POLY!-POLY!-POLY!-POLY!-POLY!-POLY!-POLY!-POLY!-POLY!-POLY!-
POLY!-POLY!-POLY!-POLY!-POLY!"

	Tyler fell over and the Poliwag sat at his side.

	"Oooohkaaaay," Tyler said, rubbing his head, "Lemme try again...
you want-"

	"Pooooolllllllyyyyy...." it said expectantly... hoping he got the
point.

	"You want me to take you back to Jacen?!" he said more confused.

	Poliwag beat on his head for another 5 minutes, then they tried
it again.

	"You..." Tyler began, beaten to a pulp, "want me to KEEP you?"

	"POLY-Y!" said the pokŽmon happily, as it jumped up and down.

	"Ok..." said Tyler, somewhat punch-drunk. Well, this was
unexpected... he hadn't intended to actually KEEP the little water
pokŽmon... still, this was good. He'd always wanted a pokŽmon... and even
though he couldn't take it out of the city to catch more pokŽmon, he
could at least train it... at least when he came out of traction... owie!
Still... he at least had some time when his school lessons at the
orphanage were out and Jackii had to take her flute lessons.

	He ordered the Poliwag into it's pokŽball, and Tyler went back to
the park to see what Jackii was up to.


				* * *


	"That was some battle then." said Tyler, commenting on the story
Jackii just told him.

	Jackii nodded, smiling. "I'll say." she... well... said, "And
that one you saw sounded good. But you left something out."

	"Oh?" Tyler said, nervously.

	"I don't know what it is," she said, "but you've been holding
back. I've known you too well and for too long for you to fool me."

	"You're right," he said, swinging his legs while shifting on the
stone wall he and his friend sat on, "I got something."

	"Really?" said Jackii, her voice filled with curiosity, "Can I
see it?"

	"No," he said with a smile, "not until you're older and mature
enough to handle something of this magnitude."

	Jackii's face went dark with annoyance as she knocked him off of
the wall.

	"But!-" said Tyler, his head in the dirt with his rear-end in
the air, "you *can* see this!"

	Tyler quickly righted himself and pulled out the pokŽball Poliwag
was in.

	"PokŽball," said Tyler, throwing it out onto the ground in front
of the wall, "GO!"

	The pokŽball cracked opened at it's hinge and in a blur of purple
energy the released Poliwag materialized.

	"Poliwag!" the pokŽmon said happily.

	"You got a pokŽmon?!" exclaimed Jackii, "But... but how?!"

	"First off, the 'butt' joke is over, try to keep up. Second,"
Tyler said as Jackii hopped off of the wall obviously annoyed, "remember
that guy in the match I told you about, the one that lost?"

	"That's *his* Poliwag?" she asked, surprised.

	"No," said Tyler, "it's *my* Poliwag. I found that guy yelling
himself hoarse at this poor little thing after he trained it wrong and
it, naturally, got clobbered. He was shifting the blame to this little
fella so I stepped in... one thing led to another... and, well, I bought
it for 500 yen."

	"Oh Tyler..." Jackii said, looking at Tyler in a way he couldn't
identify, "but you've been saving that for a Bulbasaur for over a year."

	"It's only money," he said, trying not to sound too
ticked/disappointed that he was out money worth weeks of work, "and
besides, no one deserves to be treated that way. And it's obvious pokŽmon
are smarter than cows and stuff, they're intelligent, almost like us."

	"So," Jackii asked nonchalantly, "then what happened 'oh savior
of the pokŽmon'?"

	"Well," Tyler said, "I went to see what you were up to, saw you
were into the match you were watching, and decided to take Poliwag to the
pokŽcenter. One of Anna's assistants was there and he fixed this little
guy up. Then I came back here and found you sitting here 'looking' for
me."

	"So what are you going to do?" Jackii asked.

  	"I'm going to train Poliwag." Tyler said, "I figured I could do
it using the time after my school lessons and while you were taking your
music classes to learn to play the flute. I don't know if I'll be a
PokŽmon Master or anything, but I figure I can at least have some fun
here at the park when they have those cashless matches. That, and maybe
if Poliwag and I can get good enough together, I could finally find a
way to make some extra cash with my new pal's help."

	"Poly-wag?" the little water pokŽmon said, questioningly.

	"And just how do you intend to make any money off of a pokŽmon
who can't win a battle..." Jackii began, but then say the look on
Poliwag's face, and added "yet."

	"Oddly enough," said Tyler, "I already got a plan."

	"I'd like to see that--" Jackii began.

	"Uh-oh..." said Tyler as he looked up at the clock through a bank
window across the street, "I'd love to tell ya but-"

	"What?" asked Jackii.

	"Not now!" said Tyler as he ordered Poliwag back into it's
pokŽball, "I lost all track of time and I gotta get back for lunch!"

	Tyler waved Jackii goodbye as he ran for all he was worth.

	Jackii just sighed as Tyler disappeared over the hill leading back
to the orphanage grounds.


				* * *


	"Wahoo!" yelled Tyler as he spun on the pillar by the
orphanage's entrance through the doorframe. He kicked his shoes off
neatly to the side and slid all the way down the hall into the dining
cafeteria. He managed to take a seat just as lunch was about to start.
After getting his food and quickly praying over it, he wolfed it down and
deposited his dishes to the side.

	He made his way to his room when-

	"What's the rush?" Ms. Harmon asked him from behind.

	"Just getting my work for class." he said, keeping the pokŽball,
now in it's smaller, pocket mode, in his inner jacket.

	"Listen Tyler," Ms. Harmon began, stopping him in his tracks,
"when I let you into my advanced classes, I didn't think you'd take
advantage like this."

	"What?!" Tyler said, turning about to face her.

	"Recently," she said, "you've been taking time you should be
doing your work and running off with that girl and I'm afraid your grades
may suffer as a result."

	"But I'm still getting A's on all my tests!" he protested, "and I
haven't been late once! And look, my work is all done!"

	He went into his floor chest and handed her a stack of papers.

	She stood there, looking them over.

	"These are the assignments scheduled for the next few weeks..."
she said, amazed.

	"Uh..." Tyler stammered, not having intended to have handed her
so much.

	"Tyler," Ms. Harmon said angrily, "will you tell me just what's
going on here?"

	"Well..." he began, "you give us the assignments for the next few
weeks and I do them all the next day so I can spend my free time doing
odd jobs around town."

	She looked at him, fire in her eyes. After a long moment, she
broke the angry silence and finally spoke.

	"Come with me." she said simply as she grabbed him angrily by the
collar and dragged him to her office.

	There, she sat him down at a desk to the side and searched around
in one of her filing cabinets. After a few minutes of rustling, she pulled
out a test booklet, answer sheet, and 2 pencils from the holder on her
desk.

	"I assume you know how to take one of these." she said, handing
him the testing utensils.

	He nodded; after all, he took one of these tests every year to
pass onto the next grade level.

	She sat down at her desk. "You have an hour," she said, "now
begin."

	As Tyler took the test booklet and the answer sheet, he looked at
the clock. As the seconds began to tick, Tyler began to read the first
question, wondering why *he* was the one always getting messed with.


				* * *

1 week later
------------

	It had been a week since the test. Confined to the orphanage,
Tyler had taken to doing his chores around the orphanage and training
Poliwag. During trainer, Tyler and Poliwag got along better and learned
to work together effectively, but Poliwag seemed to be kinda slow moving.
By Tyler's judgement, Poliwag seemed to have trouble walking due to the
fact it was a tadpole type pocket monster more adept to swimming than
running.

	So he set to work. He'd trained hard to teach the pokŽmon to
walk, then run, and now, he was trying to get it's speed up. By his
reasoning, since most Poliwag's trainers neglected to try to increase
it's speed in favor of just evolving it into a Polywhirl and giving it a
new set of legs, that he'd have a surprise for anyone he'd battle...

	This morning, just as he was beginning to start with Poliwag on
running trials again, Tyler was called to Ms. Harmon's office by one of
the fellow charges[orphans].

	"Is there a problem?" he asked when he got there. He was sat down
when Ms. Harmon bid him so, nervously watching a man in a blue suit stare
at him as he did.

	"No Tyler," Ms. Harmon answered, "nothing except that I owe you a
very big apology."

	"About...?" Tyler asked, shifting in his seat.

	"I thought you lied to me when you said you'd done all that work
in such a short time." she said, "I had brought you in to take that
proficiency skills test to get it graded... kind of a 'if you have
someone else do your work you'll never learn anything' type deal and
scare you with a low grade."

	"Aaaand?" Tyler said, worried about where this conversation was
going.

	"Young man..." the man in the blue suit began.

	"Old man," Tyler said back, then pointing to Ms. Harmon said,
"Ms. Harmon... now we're introduced. Nice to meet you; can I go now?"

	The man just looked at him, not the least bit amused, before
resuming.

	"Did you really take this test in an hour?" he asked out flatly.

	"Fifty five minutes actually sir." Tyler replied, not wanting to
get the suited man upset incase he wanted accuracy, "Ms. H gave me an
hour but I finished early."

	"Tyler is it?" the man said, "Do you know how much you scored?"

	"Uhh..." Tyler said, "101% cus of extra credit maybe?"

	"No," the man said, "you got 71-93% in all the categories placing
you in the top 10th percentile."

	"Uh, excuse me," Tyler asked as his legs shook nervously, "I hate
to pry but just what test did I take?"

	"You took a general equivalency test, or G.E.D. for short," he
said, "You scored college levels in everything except math-"

	"The 71%!" Tyler said, getting it.

	"Yes..." the man said, confirming it on the clipboard he held,
"Anyway, when I heard that and 11 year old had taken this test with such
ease and far below the normal time, I felt the need to investigate."

	"I know," Tyler said, "public educational standards are just down
in the toilet. Sad isn't it? Something has to be done. You know, there's
a certain bridge the city could stop building, the money of which could
be put in a nice school voucher program-"

	"Uh, actually..." the man began, a sweatdrop forming on his head.

	"I tried." said Tyler, with a comical shrug.

	"Uh, yes!" the man said, recovering, "and for trying so hard on
the test, and from the evidence I've seen here, I'm giving you this."

	Tyler took the piece of paper the man handed him. "This is?" he
asked.

	"It's your diploma," he said, "you have officially graduated high
school. You should be very proud of yourself."

	"A diploma of graduation based on public school standards
something to be proud of?" Tyler said unabashed, "And what cognitive
reality did you say you were from?"

	The man only stared, not getting the implied insult in the
statement.

	However, before he could, Ms. Harmon quickly rushed him out with
a series of 'thank you's' and sent him out.

	Tyler stared at the paper, then at Ms. Harmon.

	"Does this mean I get to skip your classes now?" he asked.

	Ms. Harmon only shook her head and sighed at him.

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