Chapter 1

A Nightmare is Born

Azer sat at his desk. He stared down at the pile of work he had yet to do. There were papers all over his desk, and all of them needed to be read by tomorrow. He grunted.

He popped open his laptop and checked his email. He nearly missed the email at first glance, but there it was: his response from Professor Rowan. He could hardly believe it.

He opened the email and excitedly read its content aloud.

"Dear Azer, I'm very excited to inform you that after reviewing your application, I have chosen you to be my new assistant. You begin work this Monday. Be at my lab at Sandgem Town at 9:00 AM and your schooling will begin. I'm looking forward to working with you. Regards, Professor Rowan. P.S. Please bring your Munchlax, I'm anxious to get a look at him!"

Azer jumped up and opened Munchlax's ball.

"NOM!! WE GOT IT!"

Nom seemed unenthusiastic. In fact, he seemed quite tired. He climbed onto Azer's bed and began to nap. Azer laughed and rolled his eyes. He was so excited.

"I have to pack!"

He realized this was absurd, but needed some sort outlet for his enthusiasm.

Even though Azer lived at the University, he didn't keep much there. He knew he was going to land the apprenticeship, even if his parents didn't believe in him. The semester had barely gotten started and Azer was already packing up. He wondered if he would get his money back, but it didn't matter.

Then it him.

"I have to call Vax!"

He grabbed his phone and punched in his best friend's numbers. He sat on his bed while he waited for Vax to pick up. The phone continued to ring.

"Dammit, Vax! Pick up your phone!"

It was as if Vax had heard his command.

"What do you want? I'm very busy!" Barked Vax.

There was an awkward pause. Suddenly they both burst out in laughter. Azer was relieved to hear his voice. He hadn't seen Vax since he moved into his dormitory three weeks prior.

Azer stopped laughing first and initiated conversation.

"Vax, you won't believe what happened! Do you remem..." Azer was saying when Vax interrupted him.

"Me first," said Vax, "I got my first badge!"

Azer sat down on his bed. He was at a bit of a loss for what to say.

"Really, Vax? You beat Roark?" Azer questioned in disbelief.

Vax was beaming. "Yep! I was just about to call you actually. We must've finished fighting about ten or fifteen minutes ago. It was so epic, dude! was amazing! Oh wait! I caught a new pokemon! I managed to get a Krabby! I'm going to train him until he becomes a Kingler! Oh and then..." Vax was practically out of breath when Azer interrupted him.

"VAX! When's it going to be my turn to talk?" Azer was getting a bit impatient.

"Oh," remarked Vax, "I'm sorry. What was your news?" Vax finally stopped bragging.

Azer cleared his throat. "Professor Rowan wants me to be his new assistant!"

There was silence.

"Vax, are you there?" Azer thought he might have been disconnected.

"Yeah, sorry, I just fell over! That's incredible! Congratulations! I knew you'd get it! When are you leaving the University?" Vax sounded very excited.

"I have to start on Monday, so I've actually gotta get all my stuff together today. I still have to call my parents. You know they won't be happy..." Azer said begrudgingly.

"Who gives a flying 'Karp? This is a great opportunity! I'm coming to Goldenrod you can tell me all about it then! Alright, buddy? I gotta go! It was great hearing from you! See ya this weekend!" Vax said as he hung up

Azer closed the phone and chuckled. Vax was nothing like him, he was wild, untamable, and eclectic. Azer was very disciplined, on the other hand.

They had known each other since they were born and had lived next door to each other until they were twelve. This was when Azer's father had accepted a radio job in Goldenrod City in Johto. The day that Azer moved from Eterna City was the saddest day of his life. The two thought their friendship would fall apart, but that changed when Vax applied to a private school in Johto, in a small town just north of Goldenrod City. Azer applied there as soon as he found out that Vax got in, and he was accepted too.

Their friendship survived four years of private high school. When it came time for college, Vax knew he wouldn't go. He told Azer that he was going to enroll as a trainer in the Pokemon League and make it on his own. Azer wanted to do the same, but his parents forced him to go to Pallet Town University, the school started by Professor Samuel Oak.

Azer's parents told him that he could leave on one condition: he had to go right to work. Professor Rowan's offer would be more than enough to satisfy Azer's parents.

Azer plopped down onto his bed next to Nom. He really wanted to be a Trainer, like Vax. He had a perfectly good start pokemon and knew more than enough about Training. But he knew the opportunity to work with Rowan was once-in-a-lifetime, and he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity.

He did his homework about the job. He knew a little bit about the previous lab assistant. He even met her when he went for his interview. Her name was Dawn. Well, now it was Professor Dawn. He knew she was starting a Pokemon League Research Lab at the Indigo Plateau in Kanto. She had worked with the professor for a very long time and was sad that she was leaving but even she knew that it was time to go.

Dawn had contacted him after the interview and said she was very impressed with him and was hoping he would get the position. Azer knew that he should write her.

"I'll do it when I get home."

He woke up Nom. Nom yawned.

"Hey Nom, are you hungry?"

Azer said the magic word. Nom immediately sat up and opened his eyes.

"I thought so. I'm gonna head down to the cafeteria, do you want to come or should I bring your food back to you?"

Nom laid back down and shut his eyes.

"Doggy bag it is..." Azer said as he put his shoes on.

When he bent over to grab his left shoe, something strange happened. He shut his eyes and there was a purple line in his vision. It was directly centered and it appeared to be on fire, sort of. Azer tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't. He felt a rush of air blow from behind him.

Suddenly he was suspended in front of the purple tear, unable to move. He opened his eyes and saw only the purple tear. A shadowy figure appeared in front of the tear. The figure appeared to be on fire as well. The figure had deep purple eyes. It reached out to Azer.

"Destiny." It rasped. It's voice was an enigma. It was completely gender neutral. It was monotone. It was almost a whisper.

The figure moved forward and touched Azer.

"Your destiny...Your part...Your role is soon to come."

There was an incredible surge of heat. Suddenly Azer was above a city. He thought it was Goldenrod City, but there was no way to tell. Almost all the buildings had been reduced to rubble. There was fire everywhere.

Azer tried to scream, but couldn't. He looked up. The sky was black with purple lightning ripping through it.

Another surge of heat enveloped Azer. Suddenly he was in what looked like the ruins of an ancient temple. The sky was still black with the purple lightning streaking across it. There was an altar that was covered in black and purple cloths. Behind the altar was a staircase stretching into the sky. It was golden, and stuck out in the surrounding environment like a sore thumb.

Suddenly there were footsteps behind him. He turned to see who had entered. It was Vax. His clothes were dirty and torn. His hair was long and messy and he had a long scar on his right cheek.

He walked up past the altar. Azer tried to call out to him, but his voiced was silenced. Vax removed the cloths from the altar, revealing a magnificent golden altar with a beautiful engraving on the front. The engraving was of a swirling blue and pink vortex and in the center of the vortex, there was a pokemon. Azer edged towards the pokemon when Vax started running towards the staircase. Azer chased after him.

Vax ran up the staircase with Azer in tow. The ran for what seemed like hours. When they finally reached the top, Azer was exhausted. Vax showed the same signs of exhaustion. Azer turned around and saw that the ruined temple was no more than twenty-five feet away.

Suddenly, Vax cried out.

"I'm here to put an end to this. FACE ME!" Screamed Vax.

Azer couldn't be sure whom he was talking to exactly. Suddenly a voice boomed out from in front of him.

"You can't stop me now. It's too late." The voice echoed. Then the person burst out in laughter.

Vax held his ground. A purple light burst forth from the other side of the space they were in, illuminating a great hall with what seemed like an infinite amount of columns. At the other end, Vax's mystery person's silhouette was unveiled. His eyes glowed a deep purple.

Vax charged towards the other person. The stranger stuck out his hand and Vax froze in his place. Vax was then levitated towards the stranger.

"Let me see your eyes, Vax." The voice commanded.

Azer ran to Vax. He tried to pull Vax down, but couldn't touch him. He fell to the ground. He tried to look at the other person, but couldn't see their face, only the leering purple eyes.

"I shall miss you, Vax." Said the stranger. His tone made the statement seem counterfeit.

"I'm sorry..." Vax said with tears swelling in his eyes.

The figure seemed to shudder when Vax said that.

"Not to me you aren't! You're sorry for the pathetic soul inside" The stranger's voice boomed.

"Let me see that soul one last time." Vax barely managed to say that through his tears.

The figure stepped forward. Azer screamed when he saw the stranger.

It was Azer, or so it seemed. He was dressed in black robes. There were veins protruding from his skin and they were all purple. His hair was jet black and down past his shoulders. His eyes were glowing purple.

Suddenly, the purple stopped glowing, and the dream Azer's real eyes were in their place.

"Vax, I'm sorry. I..." Dream Azer's eyes erupted in purple.

Dream Azer spoke again, but this time there was sadness in his voice.

"Goodbye." Dream Azer whispered. Then he cackled.

"PATHETIC!" Dream Azer boomed.

Suddenly Vax exploded with a burst of purple sparks.

The real Azer screamed in terror. Then Dream Azer finally recognized the real Azer.

"I AM YOUR DESTINY!" Screamed the Dream Azer.

Suddenly Azer opened his eyes. He was on his floor and there was a huge bump on his head. It was pitch black in the room. He opened his phone. The light from the phone shot pain through his head. It was 9:51 PM. He had been unconscious for almost eight hours. He had a missed call from home on his phone.

"Nom!"

Azer jumped up, but immediately regretted it. His head throbbed.

"Whoa!"

He was light-headed and dizzy. Nom was still sleeping in Azer's bed. Azer poked him.

"I'm sorry buddy, are you still hungry?" Azer felt really badly. He knew Nom was hungry.

Nom ignored his poke. Azer picked him up.

"Oh my, you are getting heavy." He grabbed his keys and his jacket. He was carrying Nom like a child. He was going to miss being able to do that. Nom was about three months old, so he only weighed about forty pounds. By eight months, he expected Nom to weigh over a hundred pounds.

He paused in the threshold of the door. He guessed that he just hit his head and had a very bad dream while he was unconscious. This theory was beginning to settle with him when he saw something new in his room: a hole in the wall.

It was no bigger than a soda can, but it was new nonetheless. Azer put Nom back on the bed and grabbed his flashlight. He laid on the floor and shined the flashlight in the hole. He blinked as he did this and saw the purple tear. He gasped and dropped the flashlight.

He took a few deep breaths and picked up his flashlight. He shined it into the hole again. This time there was no purple tear, but there was something in the hole. It looked like a ring.

Azer grabbed a hangar and bent it straight. He stuck the hangar in the hole and snagged the ring. He examined his find.

It was a beautiful ring. The stone inside was purple with a ring of some black material around it. There were markings all over the ring in a foreign tongue. Azer took out the chain he wore around his neck. Already on the chain was a pokeball medallion that had a picture of him and Vax holding Nom and Evo, right after they had been born.

They were birthday gifts, because their birthdays were on the same day, from their friend Glynn. Her father was a breeder and she had him breed those two pokemon just for them as an eighteenth birthday present.

Azer undid the chain and put the ring on there as well. He would show this to Vax once he saw him. He was hesitant to tell him about the dream, but knew he eventually would.

Nom woke up on the bed and started making noises.

"Alright, fine, I'm coming, jeez!" Azer got up, although he did it slower this time.

He walked over to the bed and picked up Nom. He left the room. He was going to treat and himself and Nom to a delicious dinner. After all, he had something to celebrate.