*Luck is kinda sorta with you*

"One-two-three-five-eight!" You groan as someone else gets the Pokémon. Given that the only careers of any note in this universe seem to involve Pokémon (trainer, gym leader, professor, crazy leader of a group of criminals/terrorists), this pretty much means that you're going nowhere fast.

The ceremony ends with the valedictorian giving a short speech, then that 'throwing your hat' thing, and it's off to Professor Oak's lab for the choosing of Pokémon. You, of course, aren't going. You get up, and are starting to leave the hall, when the speakers crackle back on.

“Sorry for the surprise, but it turns out that one of our entrants shouldn’t have been in the competition in the first place, as he flunked two years ago. His Scyther has been returned to the draw, and we’ll be drawing our final winner of the day...”

You, like everyone else in the crowd, turn, pause for a second, and run back to your seat.

“And the winner is...”

You cross every finger and toe.

“One!”

You cross them harder.

“One!”

A+B, A+B, A+B, you think.

“Five!”

You ignore the groans all around you, focusing on trying to build up as much luck as possible.

“Eight!”

Almost there...

“Three!”

Yes! You got your Pokémon! You run up to the stage and tentatively accept the Pokéball...