Disclaimer: Pokémon belongs to Game Freak, The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, and it's other copyright holders. Only the plot and the main OC character, Kaloi, are mine.
It's a beautiful day, or so i'm told. But do i really have a place in it? That's the question I have asked myself every day since i've moved to this godforsaken town. It's been eight whole years since that day and the only thing i've come close to calling a "friend" is my 3DS and the creatures called Pocket Monsters. Pokémon for short. The device bounces in the pocket of my dark blue jeans as i trudge along the path to school.
Before I go any further here, you should probably know that my name is Kaloi Neurengard Catalaya. It's super odd, but I like it's uniqueness despite the fact that people like to call me "Kallie" or "Katty." Personally, I would rather be called "Alloy." Anyways, I'm a warm-blooded, reclusive male that stands at a nice six feet tall; however, i'm a bit of a beanpole, since i'm quite skinny and I don't have much by way of muscle or mass. I'm 19 years old and I'm almost done with the hell that is high school. I'm also easily recognizable due to the fact that I'm always wearing some sort of light jacket, my auburn hair - that is obviously dyed from a dark brown - is always kept in a neat ponytail, and a gleaming stud earring in each earlobe: Red on the right and blue on the left. They're to go with my eyes to complete the elemental triangle as mine are green as the grass. Though it's hard to tell, since my glasses kind of hide that fact; although, it could also be due to the fact that I never really look people in the eye. Hard to tell.
I let out a yawn as i push in the doors to the school and head to the office. Thankfully, i had gone into the Post-Seconday program that exists here and am able to take college courses in place of regular classes so i get to come in late and leave early. Now normally I don't really interact with the people here at my school too much, be they students or faculty, but today I actually chatted with the office staff before I walked over to the Choir room. I had reason to be happy today. Once the day was over, we were officially done with school until graduation day. Then after that the special plans kicked in.
What those plans were, i had yet to be told. All i knew was that it involved a plane ride, which was something that I had never before experienced, but yet had always wanted to do. So as the minutes, then the hours, then the days slowly dragged on by, I got more and more excited, but the nervousness also grew. I was diving off into the unknown. I had packed all of my necessities and my "necessities," aka my handheld video games that i would be playing on my trip when I had the time to do so.
I stood at the gate, waiting for my flight to be called when my parents walked up to say their goodbyes.
"You have fun now, Kaloi." My mom said with a smile. "Be nice to your sister and try not to give her too much grief."
My jaw dropped. I was going to see my sister? "Whoa, whoa whoa! Hold up!" I sputter in disbelief. "I'm going to see Nanami?! Why didn't you tell me?"
"It would have ruined the surprise." Dad chuckled in response. "Besides, Nami didn't want us to tell you even now. Though now you had smother her even more with your built-up excitement."
"Oooh definitely! This is going to be the best vacation ever!" I fist pumped the air. "Score!"
There was a ding after that and a voice over the intercom stated that my flight was now beginning to board, so i rushed over to the entrance after throwing a quick hug on my parents so i could get on as soon as humanly possible. Some people glared at me like i was some unruly child with ADHD problems and i was off my meds or something, but at that moment i didn't care at all. Normally i would have challenged them or returned their glares with my own or just muttered to myself about how asshole-ish they were being, but it didn't matter as we were soon loaded onto the plane and getting ready to taxi onto the runway. I decided on the aisle seat, since the plane apparently only had two rows of seats on each side, and also because the guy who was to sit next to me asked for the window. I preferred to have the aisle seat anyways, as the lighting was more preferable for gameplay.
I grabbed my 3DS from my carry-on and made sure that it was on airplane mode, so as to not screw over anything communication-wise from the plane to the watchtower and whatnot before putting it into my jacket pocket. I couldn't have it out and running while the pilot did the takeoff procedures. A beep sounded as the pilot introduced himself over the intercom and there were clicking noises all around as the rest of the passengers and I buckled our seat belts in accordance to the sign that had lit. Takeoff only took a few minutes, and when it was over, I pulled my gaming device from my pocket and powered it up to play probably my favorite game out of the entirety of the series it was from: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky.
I had just completely wiped my game to start fresh, having beaten it as a Riolu with my Charmander partner, and i wanted to play again through the story. I took my time through the quiz, carefully considering each question and the possible answers i could give. At the end, it "read my aura" and gave me the answer of orange. Then it quickly rattled all the numbers in it's processor and spat out a result i never actually expected: Cyndaquil.
Now don't get me wrong here, I love that little Fire Mouse Pokémon to death, seeing it is my favorite of the Generation II Johto Starters (or Generation IV depending on whether we're talking the original Gold, Silver, Crystal for the Game Boy Color or the HeartGold and SoulSilver DS remakes), but it was just not a result i expected to get. But hey, what the hell, right? Gotta pick my partner now. Riolu? Nah, just basically did that. Pikachu? Cliché. Meowth or Munchlax? Bo-ring! Then my eye caught onto Shinx. That would work quite well. It's different from Pikachu and has, for some unknown reason, a unique feel to it even though everyone else has probably played the combo to death and back. So with a grin on my face, I selected Shinx, christened it "Magnalu," and off we went.
Nostalgia flooded my veins as I watched the beginning cutscenes, though feelings of sadness echoed through as well just knowing the reasons why and what was yet to come. Then the whole tutorial dungeon and kicking the hell out of Koffing and Zubat to get back the Relic Fragment had me so engrossed that i didn't notice that the sky turned black with a storm that had popped up. That whole world held inside that small cartridge held my entire attention. I had even brought a set of headphones to immerse myself in the music.
Of course, something else was happening at the same time that I was oblivious to. Someone had gotten up and pulled a knife on one of the attendants and forced them to let them into the cockpit. He had apparently just pulled out a gun when the plane suddenly lurched from storm turbulence, naturally causing him to fall back and clench his hand, thereby squeezing the trigger.. The weapon went off and the bullet put a hole in a window, causing rapid depressurization. I had looked up after the lurch to find out what was going on when i saw the commotion. Hastily closing my game, i grabbed onto the oxygen mask that dropped in front of my face and put it on before rebuckeling and preparing for an impact i hoped wouldn't arrive. The screams of terror from the other passengers and the loud crying of the couple babies I had seen were deafening. The man surged up with a roar after the pilot stabilized the plane's path and leveled it out and threw his knife at the pilot's head. If there hadn't been any screaming, a dull thud would have been heard as the knife struck home, making the pilot slump dead in his seat and pushing the wheel up and forward to send the plane into a nosedive. The screaming intensified as the trainee copilot, who knew what to do to fix the problem, was seemingly too terrified to do anything. A few terrifyingly slow intense minutes later, everything went black, though not before the sound of shredding steel coursed through my ears and heat filled my face.
After a moment, a soft glow of light shone above me and i could hear some sort of commotion. Nothing at all like what I last remembered. Curious, i opened my clenched eyes to find myself in a cabin of sorts like you would see on a cruise ship, or rather, the cruise ship set they used to film the TV show The Love Boat.
"What in the hell...?" I ponder aloud as i sit up in the bed i was in. My clothes were still intact and everything was as if I was still alive. My face didn't even feel burned when I reached up to check. "Did I survive the plane crash?" I thought to myself.
"If youse is wondering what's goin' on sirrah," a weirdly accented voice softly said. "Youse best be a-followin' me."
There was an old man with a walking stick waiting at a door after I whipped around to see who was talking. He was dressed all in white and had a stern countenance. He did put off a feeling that he was not to be disobeyed however, so I quickly stood up and followed him onto the main deck. Suprisingly, there were hundreds of people here, probably thousands! I opened my mouth to speak, but found that I couldn't do so. The old man gave me a look that begot silence anyways, so i continued to follow him until he stopped at a particular gangplank on the starboard side of the ship.
"Now then, sirrah, youse best be goin' down thissun." The old man spoke. "Cap's done n' pushhad the order 'e 'as." Before I could step foot on the gangplank, his entire demenor changed as he stood straighter than ever. He smiled, revealing some broken and missing teeth, but there was a kindness that wasn't there before. And he spoke again, this time without an accent.
"Young Kaloi, this ship is meerly a gateway, if you will. From the world you call home to others. Some would call this reincarnation. You have a chance of a lifetime here as you are being offered a second chance. Each gangplank leads to a different path, with most choosing just to move on to the next life in heaven, but I have a feeling you'll prefer this one here. It is ultimately your choice."
At this address, i finally found the ability to speak: "Wh-who are you?"
The old gentleman simply smiled back and stayed silent before slouching a bit and resuming his stern visage. It was then that I knew that whoever it was that I had spoken to was nothing like I had ever known, but yet had a familiarity all the same. I simply nodded to the man and stepped onto the gangplank, and before i took my fourh step down, darkness enveloped me once again.
The wind that gently blew across my face was my wakeup call, but someone was shaking me and telling me to wake up.
"Hey, c'mon guy, wake up!"
"Who...? Who's there...?"
"Ya can't stay here and lay around all day y'know!"
"Hmm...whoever that is, they're right. I'll never find out anything if I don't get up."
I opened my eyes slightly, before squeezing them shut again for a moment. That sunlight was blinding! A shadow suddenly blocked out the light and I opened my eyes again to come face-to-face with something i knew, but had only ever seen in dreams: a freaking Shinx.
