The Discovery

A/N: If you're reading this, that means my revised (and MUCH more exciting) version of Chapter 1 is up. Congratulations! For anyone who's read my story before, this chapter's got a big new event in it, so read on! For any new people, welcome. And to everyone, hope you like it!

For all my readers, this story's very OC-based. If you want one of your OCs in here, please read all the stuff I've got so far and PM me. I'll see what I can do.

Another thing, this story's got some preeeeetty dark stuff in it. There's death *gasp* and violence, etc. NOT exactly a happy-fun-time thing, but this is what I'm into!

Finally, to anyone who's worried about this, YEP, this fic's got girls (only one in these first couple chapters), and, eventually, romance, although that's never going to be the focus of the story.

Disclaimer: In case you were wondering… I don't own Pokémon. Wish I did though, I'd be filthy rich!

And, without further ado, The Straight and Arrow!

It had been the most normal day in the world, no doubt about it.

A seemingly regular man stood on the roof of a seemingly regular 17-story building in the middle of illustrious Perimore City as the wind blew through his short brown hair. Looking out into the afternoon sun, the thuggish man spit over the side of the building. He wore seemingly regular clothes, nothing special, just a T-shirt, hoodie, and jeans; he had to be the most casual CEO in the business.

This was his daily think time. A time to clear his mind while surveying the expansive cityscape. He had to have it, or he knew he'd go crazy. Some said he already was. But that wasn't true. He just had… rather violent mood swings sometimes.

To his right perched a relaxed Salamence. The dragon Pokémon shook its head in the wind and flapped its huge wings. It blinked once and shuffled its heavy feet as it gazed into the distance.

The two had been standing there peacefully for about half an hour when a woman with bright red hair and a lab coat burst through the metal double doors that led to the roof. As he spun around, the man's hair immediately stood on end. This was not a woman whose visits he enjoyed very much.

"Sir? Mr. Lewis, sir?" She was a woman, not more than 35, with a clipboard practically attached to her right hand. A Pokémon scientist, as the man recalled. What was her name again? God, he hated her. Why couldn't she just leave him alone? "I need to talk to you," she persisted, "it's important."

"What?" Mr. Lewis was in no mood to be disturbed, but this lady wouldn't go away, not now, not ever.

"Well, I guess it's really more of a question. I already think I know the answer, but…" The woman hesitated for a couple seconds before going on. She was not comfortable confronting the man who stood before her. If she was right about him… it wasn't a good thing. "Sir… Have you been threatening people with your Pokémon?" His reaction was evident immediately as the man's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Quickly, she added, "I-I only ask because, in one of my visions, I saw… Well, it was you. You were making some deal with a man in a black suit, I couldn't see him very well… And he seemed to shake his head a lot, like he wasn't going along with it." The man's shoulders tensed up visibly as she continued. "Well, then all of a sudden you had your Jolteon out with you. And you yelled at the man to do what you said. He cowered in the corner but gave in…" A pause as the man before her grew more and more nervous. "…That's it," she breathed. "Is it… Is it true?"

How can she possibly know that?! thought the man, anger welling up inside of him. Everyone knew Professor Dumas (oh, that's her name!) was crazy. She thought she had these "psychic visions" or whatever… But that kind of crap wasn't real… Was it? How did the entire island not write her off as insane? Even so, as much as he hated to admit it, Mr. Lewis knew this vision was spot on.

But what could he do about it? She would expose him as a criminal and destroy the company he had spent years to build. No, he decided. I can't let that happen. Rage filled him more and more, and he quickly grew uncontrollable. I'll have to… kill her. She can't walk off of this roof knowing things like that! For the first time in his life, a horrifying idea stuck him, and he smiled evilly. Not a second later, the command was on his lips.

"Salamence, flamethrower!" he screeched, eyes boring into his partner's.

The Pokémon looked back at him, confused. On what? it wondered. There weren't any other Pokémon around, and they were on top of a building.

It looked like the professor hadn't figured it out yet, either. Her face was equally as puzzled.

One gesture from the man's eyes told Salamence all it needed to know. At first it shot Mr. Lewis a horrified look, but the man's furious eyes told the Salamence to obey or else.

"Do it!" yelled Mr. Lewis. He was a completely different person now. Nostrils flaring and eyes full of malice, this was not the same man that had stood in his spot only moments ago, staring out peacefully at the occasional flock of Pidgey.

Finally, Professor Dumas' face registered recognition. He's not… He can't… All of a sudden she was too terrified to form even coherent thoughts. But it was too late. Salamence had decided to follow its orders.

At that moment, a bright red flame shot out from Salamence's mouth, straight toward the woman, and though she was now running, the blaze caught her in the back and she collapsed right away, on fire.

There were no shrieks, no cries for help. Instead, Alice Dumas was having her final vision.

Without thinking, the now viciously angry man jumped on Salamence's back. He was still aware enough to know they had to get the hell out of there, and fast. Never mind the body, he thought. No one will guess that it was a Pokémon. "Fly, Salamence! Take us far away from here!"

With that, Salamence charged towards the edge, flapping its enormous wings and taking off at breakneck speed. It zipped past building after building, trying to forget what it had just done.

The man on its back was thinking very different thoughts. His rage was subsiding, and now his thoughts were rational again. Still, there was one thing he couldn't deny, one thing that scared him to death: what he had done just now was the most fun he'd ever had. There had been nothing that thrilled him that much in his entire life. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if… just every so often… he let off steam like this? Could that really hurt anything?

As the evil man flew away, Alice was just waking up from her vision. And boy, had it been an important one. As soon as she could feel, though, she was in intense pain. Flames still licked her body, and she knew there wasn't much time left. She had to write her vision down, somehow, some way, before her time was up.

Then it hit her. Her clipboard! It was lying a couple feet away with her trusty pen. With the last ounces of her strength, she crawled over to them, even as her life oozed out of her. She lifted the pen carefully and scrawled her final message as well as she could. It took her less than a minute.

And then, Alice Dumas collapsed on the rooftop. Forgotten. Alone. Dead.

Ten Years Later

Caleb Faraday stared out a small hole into a magnificent blue ocean feeling more than a little uneasy. He was on board a large ship, and every time it rocked on the nighttime waves, Caleb's stomach lurched a little more.

It wasn't just that making Caleb feel nervous. The ship was headed straight for an island that seemed like it would never come. It was some sort of expedition… Caleb didn't know the details. All he knew was that his dad was a… well, he was a "something-ologist," and part of his job was to explore uncharted territory. So he had brought a couple of colleagues along to help… Blah, blah, blah, thought Caleb. The truth was, all Caleb cared about was that his friends were there. Ah, his friends. He glanced around the dark, moonlit room where all three of them were staying.

Caleb's eyes came to rest on the sleeping body of Luke Pierce. Luke had been Caleb's best friend for as long as he could remember. Usually, Luke couldn't shut up when he was around Caleb, or anyone else for that matter. Even in his sleep, Luke was snoring loudly with his mouth open, his short, brown hair matted against the pillow. Caleb couldn't stop a smile from creeping over his face as he rolled his eyes at his friend.

And then there was Blake Holloway, the sleeping lump in the other bed. Blake turned in his sleep, knocking his and Luke's glasses off of the nightstand with a klink. He and Caleb went way back, too, but Blake was very different from Luke. Blake was a serious guy who always tried to make the right decision. Even so, Caleb knew those green eyes could burn through you if Blake was angry, which is why no one ever got Blake angry. Asleep in his bed, though, Blake was peaceful as he could be.

Caleb looked back out the small porthole at the unchanging ocean. He was still nervous about the exploration. His friends had both come to these things before, and this was his first time. An island of mystery… he thought. Nah, it'll probably be boring. After all, we're only here because our dads made us come. At least his two best friends would be there.

Finally, Caleb's eyelids drooped and he slid down under the covers. As he slipped into a deep sleep, Caleb could have had no idea what was about to happen. He couldn't have known the safest thing for him to do would be to abandon ship and swim home. He couldn't have known all the danger that awaited them. It would have to wait until the morning.

On the island, a thug and his watchman partner strolled along a balcony atop a lighthouse.

"It's a ship! It's really there!" The watchman, the smaller of the two, stared off into the water, incredulous. Caleb's ship was barely visible in the dark blue waters, and it only stood out because of the pale moonlight. The watchman turned back to the roguish man beside him. "Well, we certainly can't have any visitors, isn't that right, boss?" said the watchman. He smiled a sinister smile, and they paused to watch the ship pull ever closer to the night-fallen land.

The thug that walked beside him kept his stone-cold face. "That's right," he said, in a voice that could only be described as evil. "We don't want any interruptions."

"In the whole time we've been here, have we had anyone come from the outside world?" asked the watchman, trying to remember.

"No. Never. This'll be… fun, then, won't it?"

"Of course it will. I'll deal with this easily, sir." The watchman reached to his belt to reveal a Pokéball, and drew it up to his hand menacingly. He tossed the ball in front of them, and a Magmar landed on the balcony beside them in a flash of bright, white light. It roared an ominous roar, which brought a laugh from the two men. The unusual red-and-orange pattern on this Pokémon was intricate and odd, and it responded to the laughter with a chortle of its own.

"Not quite yet," warned the taller, more robust man, his face returning to that awful menacing glare. "Let them arrive first. I want to see who they are. You don't see any other ships?"

"No, sir. Just the one." The watchman scanned the view from the sea town, and saw nothing but water and that one ship in the distance, but approaching, closer by the minute.

The taller man hesitated. "Well, still, alert some of your men. We don't want any infiltration. This private world is perfect, private, as it is."

"That's because we're in charge," mused the watchman, "and that's not going to change any time soon." A foreboding smile was only response from the villain beside him.

"Shine the light toward them and reel them in." commanded the rogue after a period of silence. "It won't take long to deal with them."

"Yes, sir! Come, Magmar, we've got work to do. Rest well, sir, I've got everything under control." The watchman left to obey the leader, black cloak flying behind him, and his Magmar followed loyally. As the two walked away, the remaining man surveyed everything in view of the lighthouse, and smiled that it was all under his infallible command.

A/N: And that's the end of Chapter 1. What do you think? Got a minute? R&R please! Also, if you're reading this after 10/19/2012, I'm officially back to writing again. And it all gets better from here, so be prepared for mind-blowing battles and other fantastic stuff.

As always, thanks for reading!