It's raining. Again.
Good.
My home is near the center of our village, where a fountain flows in the town square, tossing luminescent water brightly into the air. It is the only thing that makes our town special. After all, why would anyone want to come to a dead, isolated village made entirely out of the same, dusty tan bricks high up in the mountains?
Exactly. They wouldn't. Which is why the only outsiders we ever get in the town are those passing through on their way inland from the port that's on the other side of the mountain. Nobody ever stays for long. It's better that way. It's best not to get too attached to the people here, or the place itself. Once it's too late, you'll realize that no one here really has a heart, or cares much about anything. It's just a connector town. That's all that this town, or I, will ever be. A stepping stone to something, or someone, greater.
I turn from the window and try to focus on finishing my packing. I won't need a lot: dress clothes, pajamas, and two sets of regular traveling clothes, as well as toiletries and other assorted objects that I've decided to bring with me for one reason or another. I try to limit the amount of items I pack, since I don't plan on stopping back home unless absolutely necessary.
Have you ever been on a journey? I hear it's exciting, unexplainable, and life-altering. I need all three of those things right now, so guess what I'm about to do?
Wow, how'd you know?!
When my bag is packed, I shoulder it and head downstairs, my shoes squeaking against the thin wooden boards of the staircase that my mother has never bothered to fix up in all her years of remodeling and cleaning.
Said mother is waiting for me at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee in her hands and an unread newspaper laying in front of her. She eyes me, and her hands clutch the mug a little tighter.
"Did you wash your face and brush your teeth?" she asks suspiciously, eyes flicking up to my slightly messy, uncombed hair.
"Yes," I respond, brushing past her reproachful gaze. Yet another reason why I can't wait to leave this house: people will actually believe me when I say something instead of assuming that because I'm a teenager, or because I'm me, everything I say is somehow false.
My mother turns to face me as I busy myself at the sink, trying to come up with a way to leave a quickly as possible without completely shattering her already shredded heart.
"So you're really going then?" she asks me, and I nod, still facing away from her.
I can only see the blank wall above the sink, but I know that she's fighting back tears.
"I'll miss you, you know." With this comes another round of little sniffs and quick eye rubs.
I turn to face her, and don't respond, mostly because I am itching to get onto the Mono-Rail. I do my best to look sad that I'll be leaving her for who-knows-how-long and don't plan on coming back for a solid five years minimum.
"You'll keep in touch, right? Don't be like Charlie." She looks at me hopefully. She really thinks I like this place, doesn't she?
Charlie is my oldest brother. He has a tendency to not respond to people's attempts at contact, partially because he's so busy with college, but partially because he dislikes our mother as much as I do.
"Don't worry Mom. I'll be fine." I shift uncomfortably, eyeing the door.
She gives a huge sniff. "I know, honey," she starts, and then bursts into tears, embracing me in a choking hug and bawling into my shoulder.
I awkwardly pat her on the back, and then pull back before she gets any worse. She sits herself down at the table and starts crying even harder into her tissues.
I take this as a cue to leave.
"Well, bye," I say to her, which makes her cry even harder, but I step outside before she can get any worse, or I can hear any of her pathetic sniveling.
The air outside is crisp and refreshing, but I barely note it. The only thing that is on my mind is getting away from this lethargic town and family that has trapped me for fifteen years.
My life has been one dull event after another, and this journey will be the end of that.
My name is Cole Escapade, and this is my story.
I'm not going to talk about my family any more. I don't like my mom, my dad died, Charlie hasn't talked to me in three years, and my other brother is…renegade. That's all you need to know, and that's all I'm telling you. Kapeesh? End of story.
The Mono-Rail station is just a few blocks from my house. The tracks run like veins throughout the province of Camelot, where I live, which makes transportation easy, except that the fee to ride is crazy expensive. As is most everything else in Nocturna, the largest region in the world.
Nocturna is different from other regions. Most notable of these differences is that there are four provinces and a capital city, since it's so big. They each have gyms and contests in them and each of them has a different language, culture, government, and specialties. Each contributes something different for the whole region to share, whether it's electricity in Galapagos, technology and science in Camelot, cultural heritage and activities in Hyrule, education in Hogwarts, or a central government in The Capitol, Rivendell.
Anyway, I'm boring myself with details and I sound like a textbook.
I reach the Mono-Rail station in plenty of time. I really wasn't concerned about catching the rail; it was more that I just wanted to get away from the house before my mother decided she wanted to have a photoshoot with the two of us to have something to remember me by. Goodness knows I took everything I own from that house. I'm not coming back, and I think she knows that.
The train pulls into the station at seven forty. It is a high-speed train that is reserved for people going to work in other provinces, or on the other side of the one they're in, and kids going to school. The high-speed Mono-Rails are a lot more expensive to maintain and to build, so there are less of them. They do go extremely fast though, and they can transport people a hundred fifty miles in ten minutes. They're also free, since Nocturna wants to encourage people to go to school and to work. That's also part of the reason why the regular Mono-Rails cost so much.
Damn, I sound like a textbook again.
I am going to Professor Redwood's. Professor Redwood is the leading pokémon professor in the region. His focus is studying pokémon types. He is also the professor that gives out starter pokémon to fifteen-year-olds who are beginning their journeys. His lab is based in Rivendell, so that is where I have to head if I want to begin my journey, but I don't expect to stay there for very long. I know exactly where I want to head as soon as I have my starters.
When the Mono-Rail pulls into Shire Station in eastern Rivendell, I am the first person off the train. I signed up for the 8:10 time slot at the lab, which is the second earliest available. Some girl signed up for the first one before me, which I'm still surprised at. I signed up for a time slot as soon as I could, which makes me wonder how badly she wants to start her journey.
The Redwood Laboratory is quite a ways from the station, so I take a gondola there. It is made of polished black wood that has a chipping paint job. Most of the gondolas I see passing by me are a little rundown. I guess that gondola maintenance isn't a priority for Rivendell.
He drops me off in front of two huge wrought-iron gates that are locked together with a padlock in the shape of a pokéball that is divided into eighteen sections. There are three people standing in front of the gate. Two of them are talking to each other in the friendly way that complete strangers do when they first meet each other. The other one, a girl with bright red hair that I slightly recognize, is leaning against a tree, playing her 3DS with a sullen expression.
Even though she seems like she doesn't want to talk to anyone, I approach her and smile. "Hi," I start, but I am immediately cut off by her screaming.
At first, I think that she is screaming at me, but then I realize that her face is glued to the screen of her device.
She stops screaming and makes a choking sound, then collapses down against the tree, sobbing and clutching the 3DS to her heart.
The two other students glance our way. I give them a small, forced smile.
"Umm, are you okay?" I ask, trying to look over the screen and see what she is playing.
She yelps and snaps shut the screen. "Don't you dare..." she growls, then buries her head in her hands and screams again.
At this point, I am thoroughly creeped out, so I start to edge away.
The girl looks up at me one last time, her eyes a burning green. They seem to stare right into my thoughts. "JUST GIVE HIM BACK HIS SOUL." Then she fiddles for a second with the controls, pops out the cartridge and places both the game and the system into her bag, clasping it shut. She then looks up and observes her surroundings politely, as if nothing had happened.
I am kind of scared right now.
Fortunately, I am spared having to react to her when the gates opening on their own. The two other students and I watch as they silently glide back, then clang to a stop all by themselves.
"Cassandra Garynite."
A static-y voice crackles through a speakerphone on the brick wall near the gates.
The ginger girl nods at me, then does a sort of skip-walk through the gates. As soon as she has passed through them, they clang shut behind her, leaving the three of us to watch as she walks down the long dirt path that leads straight to the Redwood Research Laboratory.
It is another ten minutes before the gates silently open again, and the speakerphone crackles on once more.
"Cole Escapade."
I take a deep breath and start down the path, hearing the gate latch shut behind me. The garden that the path winds through is very pretty up close, and the sweet aroma that the flowers give off wafts lazily through the air. Bellossom play near a pond, and sunflora bask in a flower bed, taking in the morning light. Everything is alive and new, but it doesn't really make me feel any better. I'll only be happy once I'm on the train out of Rivendell, and on my way to...well, we'll get to that when we get to that.
I step inside the lab, and am immediately met by a blast of air-conditioning and a blond woman in a pressed blue dress. She is holding a tablet and has an earpiece in her ear, chattering rapidly to whoever is on the other end.
"...and make sure that the sensors are calibrated. Sylveon is very sensitive." She turns to me. "Hello, you must be Cole. Right this way!" Her high-heels click smartly as she leads me down a clean white hallway with no adornments and white panels that layer the walls. At the end of the hallway, she swipes a card through a reader next to a plain white door and taps in a pin code. The door buzzes, and she pulls it open, leading me into a large room that is broken into sections with frosted glass walls that create large cubicles of sort. The woman leads me through the maze of offices and labs, swipes her card through another reader, and opens a second door for me, leading into a small office.
The walls, floor, and ceiling are all the same bright white panels as the hallways. An extremely messy desk is positioned in the far corner of the room, an old Macintosh computer resting on the old wood. In the middle of the room is a hexagonal dais with pulsing blue lines that wrap around the perimeter, forming a rough pokéball. The rest of the room is filled with stacks of paper, folders, and books. A man with frazzled bright red hair is shuffling through papers on his desk, and jumps when the lady opens the door.
"Professor Redwood, the second student here for a starter. I have sent notes concerning his selection process to your personal email." She taps her tablet. "They should be read before you start. Good luck!" The lady smiles at me, then walks out of the room and closes the door behind her.
Professor Redwood gives me a quick smile, then steps over to the computer and clicks around for a moment. I jump as a printer on a stack of books that I didn't notice before beeps to life and spits out a single sheet of paper. The professor snatches up the sheet and reads it over quickly, pausing for a moment at the last line. Then he tosses it haphazardly onto a random pile of paper and turns to me, speaking for the first time.
"Hey Cole. I'm Professor Redwood." The Professor reaches over the dais and shakes my hand. "Here's how this process is going to work. As you know, on the last day of school you took a test. That test determined the top three pokémon that would best fit your personality. You will now be able to choose a starter pokémon out of the three results. However, you are a special case. The email I just read said that you were to be given the option of four pokémon, and you are allowed pick two of those instead of one. This is quite an anomaly, so I would pick wisely if I were you. Here are your four options."
The middle of the hexagonal dais pops open at Redwood's touch and deposits a pokéball on the table. I wonder briefly why I am allowed to pick two instead of one, but excitement gets the better of me, and I snatch up the pokéball, quickly releasing it.
"Snubbull! Snub, snub!"
The pink fairy pokémon growls menacingly at me as it appears in a flash of white light. I reach down and pat its head, and to my relief, it breaks into a smile and nuzzles my hand.
I look the little pokémon up and down. It's cute, but I don't want to make a decision yet. "What's the next option?"I ask, looking back up.
Redwood smirks a little, and taps the side of the dais. A second pokéball shoots up and lands on the table.
I pick up the sphere, and out flashes a mareep.
It stares at me with huge, complacent eyes. The blue bulb on its tail droops a little bit, then the mareep turns its back on me and starts waddling around the room in search of food.
I bit my lip, considering my options so far, then reach over and tap the side of the dais. The third pokéball appears. I toss it into the air.
"Seedot!" the little acorn calls as it hits the table and starts waddling around.
I don't spend too much time looking at it. Once again, it's cute, but I don't think I want it. Calling up the fourth and final pokéball, I cross my fingers and release it.
"Rufflet!" The eaglet pops out and immediately swoops down at me. I give a little yelp and duck, quickly turning around to see the pokémon land on a stack of papers and stare at me protectively.
Professor Redwood looks at me, a weird expression on his face, like he was trying to peer into my mind. "Well? Which ones do you want?"
It takes me absolutely no time at all to pick. "Rufflet and Snubbull," I say, not being able to contain a grin. I have waited too long for this to not be excited. The mareep would have been cool, but they are fairly common in Nocturna. I can catch one another time, and the seedot just wasn't very desirable.
Professor Redwood smiles at me, returning all four pokémon to their pokéballs and handing me the two I chose as well as a sleek black pokédex. "Good choices. Our predictions said you would choose those."
I wonder briefly how they predicted which pokémon I was going to choose, but it didn't worry me for very long.
Professor Redwood types something into the computer, and in no time the blond woman in the blue dress comes in the room and leads me down a different hallway. She swipes me into a chemical testing room, and unlocks a back door that opens up to a path that leads down to a waterway, where a gondola is tethered to the sidewalk. A new, but just as muscular gondolier is snoozing at the prow.
I take a step out into the sunlight and hear the heavy door slam shut behind me. Looking around, I see the orange-haired girl from before leaning against the wall. A dratini is slung around her neck like a scarf, and her hair is pulled back, revealing a pale, freckled face that compliments her outfit. She is fiddling with her new pokédex. I realize now where I've seen her before: school. I have never spoken to her, but I know that she is a pretty good battler.
I take a deep breath and start over toward her. Little did I know that our lives would soon be very tightly intertwined.
A/N: Hello everyone, thanks for taking the time to read this! It means a lot to us, and we've worked really hard to make sure that you get the best story you can. If you would like more information on the story, make sure to head over to the Nocturna Wiki. It has all sorts of information on the world and characters, and it's updated frequently. The link is in our bio.
The story will be written in four different perspectives, with me writing two and Malon writing two. For the first four chapters, however, the story will be two perspectives only.
Also, please share this with your friends! It means a lot to us that you have read this, and since we've spent so much time on it, we'd love it for as many people to read it as possible! If you prefer to read the story on a different site, we also have the story up on Wattpad, Archive of Our Own, and Tumblr. The links for those will be available at the end of each chapter, starting with Chapter Two.
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Signing off,
RareSnover (and Malon Garynite)