Pokémaniacal~!

Prologue

Ran's eyes flickered as they got used to the dull light of morning; his house was still and quiet so he knew his sister and mother wouldn't be at home. He rose under his covers and pulled the blankets away as he stuck each leg over the side of his bed, stretching and yawning and wiping the sleep from his eyes. He knew today was just going to be another do-as-you-please day for him, as it was every day. The annoyance of school no longer remained in his thoughts, along with the effort to get a job; he had no obligations whatsoever, and life always seemed to feel void and pointless.

Ran sat at his computer desk and turned the monitor on before rising again to get a fresh glass of water from the kitchen. He ran the tap and felt its temperature, all the while thinking hard about his near future. He filled his glass and returned to his room, placing his drink to the right of the monitor as he'd always done.

After several minutes of updating his F******k status and checking through his e-mail inbox, Ran closed all his programs and fiercely stood to gather clothes from his dresser before heading for the bathroom to shower. All he could think about was how he wanted to change his life for the better, but he just couldn't come up with a practical way to do it.

He could work at the I****g up the road, a twenty minute walk, but he didn't want to have to deal with the gas pumps and people who left without paying. Which ruled out the gas station closer to his dad's house as well. There were the many fast-food restaurants along the upper road, a thirty minute to an hour walk, but he really, really didn't want to deal with food or large crowds. And that killed his chance at the W***y's, T** H****n's, and S****y near his dad's house, as well as the movie theatre just a forty-five minute walk up the hill.

Ran wasn't a bad kid; he never got into fights or argued with adults or most peers. He used to get good marks in school as long as he put in the effort to achieve them. After a while, however, that too became pointless. To Ran, society's version of life was simply a four-act play that society itself didn't realize it was performing: Act I: Birth (without choice); Act II: Learn (to work); Act III: Work (to live); and Act IV: Die. It was a cycle that Ran reluctantly had to be a part of, and he wanted out. There had to be another way to make a living!

After his shower, Ran put on his favourite boxer-shorts, ankle-socks, dark-grey t-shirt with long black sleeves and thumb holes, and his best pair of dark blue jeans. For a kid with "no life," Ran liked to feel well-dressed. He brushed his dark brown hair this way and that with his fingers and searched his room for his favourite chain necklace.

Today, he thought, I'm gunna find something more out there. I have to. I can't keep living like this!

He found his backpack from under his bed and opened it up, removed the many books and paper contents, threw in a couple of ready-made water bottles and found some granola bars to put inside the smaller pockets. He made some sandwiches and grabbed a package of salted crackers and tossed them into the bag as well. Grabbing his wallet from his top dresser drawer, he looked inside and completely emptied it, save for his picture I.D. and a picture of his best friend, Norah, and tucked it into the back pocket of his pants.

Ran tossed his pack beside the front door and looked for his camouflage jacket in the coat closet and put on his dark brown shoes. He looked around and finally thought he was ready to go for at least a day. He picked up his bag and headed out the door, made sure it was locked behind him, and started down the road.

Only twenty minutes had passed by the time he'd reached a large, wooden playground and considered changing his mind. What chance do I have of finding some new, life-altering thing in a day? he thought. Being almost eighteen, surely he wouldn't have found anything by wandering around his neighborhood in search of great motivation. He sat down at a table and looked up at the clear, blue sky while he ate a peanut butter sandwich.

There was nothing out there. Nothing at all. There couldn't be. His interests were limited and unique, an odd assortment of activities. He wasn't like anybody else and he knew it from the beginning. Nobody wanted to believe him when he said that he was different, and all they ever said back was "everybody's different." He knew that no one was the same as any other person: that's common knowledge. But he also knew that society has an average quota, and he was one of the lucky people to be as far away from the "norm" as possible. He hated anything normal or relatively close to the status quo.

In Ran's mom's town, everyone was either rich, good-looking, or both. In the inner city where his dad lived, everyone was poor, ugly, or completely average with the rare, potentially good-looking person. He didn't like it in either place and always felt like he didn't belong, even though it's where he was born.

He shook his head free of thought and decided to go on instinct. The children of the school to which the playground belonged were still in their classes, so Ran decided to take advantage of the time to play around on the large castle-like wooden structure. He did all he could think of on the monkey bars and didn't much like the slides, and after a while he grabbed his bag and went over to the swing set. He set it next to a post and began to swing, higher and higher, until the only thing he could feel was the wind in his face and hair and the chains chafing his hands.

When he had reached the maximum height the swing would allow, Ran looked out over the playground and admired its magnitude. The second time he reached the peak, he noticed something moving under the castle in the dungeon-like tunnels beneath. He slowed his swing and eventually walked over to the structure, bag in hand, and peered between the cracks in the boards. A quick shadow passed over the crack, and Ran stepped backward before going around the wall and bending down to slowly walk under the woodwork. It was like a miniature maze built on top of mulch; there were many blind spots due to the shape of the walls. He sat on a horizontal tire-swing that was built into the ceiling and looked up, through a small tunnel of tires at a bright blue sky that remained dormant. A small black shadow whizzed over the top, and Ran let out a small gasp. He ran out from under the structure and bolted up the wooden stairs to where the opening of the tire tunnel was. He looked around, even down the nearby slide and found nothing. He peered down into the tires and stuck his head deep within.

"Hello?" he asked with a declining tone, trying to get the shadow's attention.

Suddenly he felt a tiny shove on his backside.

"Ahh!" he shouted. The push was just enough to send him falling into the tunnel, backpack and all.