Disclaimer:
Fortunately, I don't own Pokémon. If I did own Pokémon, the innocence, characters, and plotlines of the Pokémon anime and games would have been destroyed. Particularly Ash. Btw, what are those zigzag lines on his cheeks doing there?
Author's Pre-Story Note:
First of all, this story is set in game-verse.
Secondly, I haven't written Pokémon fanfiction, let alone fanfiction, in a very, very long time. So forgive me for any mistakes that I happen to word-vomit out, because that's literally what I consider this story, a first draft that I can write anything that comes to mind without any tedious editing or teachers insisting that I write in the "right" way. Basically, my word-vomit.
Hopefully, you'll find my word-vomit enjoyable though, since I plan on enlightening everyone with life lessons through the eyes of pubescent teenage boy. Umm, it'll probably be better than it sounds. Maybe.
Now on with the word-vomit!
"Boy. Brown hair. Brown eyes. 13 years old. About 5'1''. Seen him?" inquired a little girl in a pure white dress.
Okay, so my sister and I were lost in these blasted woods for about FOUR hours without a hint of civilization, and then this girl comes out of flipping nowhere like a ninja (except she's dressed nothing like a ninja) asking me if I saw her stupid friend?
Just as I was about to retort with an eloquent response involving the waste of Camerupt, I made a very, very bad decision. I looked at the girl a bit more closely.
"Err…" I managed to choke out before staring like a Deerling in headlights. So much for the eloquent response.
She was startling. Not only was she wearing a bright white dress that seemed to blind everything within a 10-foot radius (including my eyes), but she strangely reminded me of a diamond: sharp, distinct, and clear-cut. Her dark hair severely contrasted with the brightness of her attire, and it was half tied up in the back with a hair ribbon the exact same shade as everything else she was wearing (which wasn't helping things visually, if you know what I mean). Although I guessed her age at around 12 years old, she had a mature air about her, kind of like royalty. And yet, none of those features seemed to matter as much as her piercing blue eyes, which seemed to bore into the very depths of my soul, searching for the answer to her pressing question.
"Umm…" I tried again to formulate a coherent response. Apparently, my speaking skills were broken. Add that to the blindness and I was practically a mute Brock.
Luckily, before it could get any more awkward, my sister came rambling out of a bush.
"I THINK I FOUND A WAY OUT!" Amber screamed excitedly.
Scratch that, she definitely made it more awkward.
Deeming that I was probably brain-dead, the girl wasted no time in asking my sister the same question.
"Boy. Brown hair. Brown eyes. 13 years old. About 5'1''. Seen him?"
Amber blinked. And she… stopped speaking.
Alright, whoever makes my sister stop speaking for more than 10 seconds deserves my sincere congratulations. I believe she's been perpetually talking since birth, and her incapability to do the most natural thing in the universe for her suddenly made my response, or rather lack of it, normal.
We stared at the girl for a good 3 minutes.
Finally, the little lady flipped her brunette hair with impatience. I guess dealing with two wide-eyed, open-mouthed teenagers wasn't exactly the most productive way of finding her (boy?)friend. After a small sigh and a quick adjustment of her white (of course) hair ribbon, she departed just as swiftly as she came.
After a long pause, my sister recovered first. "My eyesight has been reduced by at least 5 points by that one girl."
I nodded in agreement. The shock still hadn't left me.
"As I was saying, I THINK I FOUND A WAY OUT!" she squealed again, hurting my ears for the second time. Now I was mute, blind, and deaf. What luck.
Amber and I were in the Johto region, on our way to the notorious Tower of Trials, a Pokémon Trainer's toughest challenge since defeating the Champion. Or more accurately, two Champions. You needed to triumph over at least two Pokémon Leagues to even gain entry into the Tower in the first place. The Tower had seventeen levels, each level housing a master of a specific type or specialty of Pokémon. The difference in skill between each master was said to be as thin as a sheet of paper, and these masters were widely respected in all regions. Whoever defeated these masters was named a true Pokémon Master, and there were only three people in history who had ever made it to the top. And I was gonna be one of them. Right after I made it out of this damned forest.
"There's this path that doubles back on itself, see?" my sister said while pointing enthusiastically to the map, which might have been upside down. "And there's this hidden passage near this one tree, and the rest of the way, we have to follow this star."
"I think that's the compass rose." I stated blatantly.
"Well," she looked a bit perplexed before she continued on, "we still have to follow it, in any case. And then there's the tunnel…"
Before I could hear any more of my sister's brilliant plan to exit this maze paradox incarnation of hell, we were joyously interrupted by a young boy.
"Hey, could you help me find my girlfriend? She's brunette, blue-eyed, and wears really white clothes that are bright enough to blind things without eyes?"
I couldn't have said it better myself.
"We saw her a couple of minutes ago," I voiced, "but unfortunately, we were too, umm, blinded to see exactly where she went."
The boy nodded understandingly, and I turned to my sister to continue our conversation on whether the tunnel was in existence. Except our conversation didn't really continue. Amber was too busy gaping at the guy who just graced our presence.
Irritated and slightly curious, I glanced back at the boy, who was now climbing a tree. He fit the description stated by the girl earlier, but "description" might have been a stretch. Charming and slightly good-looking, at least for a 13 year old, this guy had a mischievous aura, and his shining eyes seemed to hint at a hidden prank unknown to ignorant passerby. His clothes matched his chestnut brown hair, and he brought to mind a younger brother, if I had a younger brother that is. I had the urge to simultaneously ruffle his hair and beat him up.
"I'm here, Stone."
"WHOA!" I screamed in a tone that was way too high pitched to be acceptable for a 15-year-old male to use. The girl in white had somehow teleported to the base of the tree that the guy was climbing, and at my noise, they both looked toward my increasingly embarrassed face.
The guy, Stone, examined my face a bit more as he descended, and now it was his turn to be surprised. "You look like exactly like…"
The girl interrupted, "He's not. Ages are different. Eyes as well."
I quickly became conscious of my gray eyes, which Amber would have described as "the magnificent color of the full moon amidst the darkest of night." She had a matching pair.
Knowing my sister, she couldn't stay silent for long. "The guy you're referring to is probably our stepbrother. He's kinda famous."
"Yeah," Stone laughed, "I met him."
"As did I," stated the girl in white.
My fists clenched as my sister kept on talking avidly about my older stepbrother. According to everyone in the Pokémon world, I looked exactly like him, and also according to everyone in the Pokémon world, he was amazing. I couldn't object, because as a trainer, he was one of the best. Amber and I had admired him more than anyone, but five years ago, he abandoned us and went missing. He's the primary reason I wanted to challenge the Tower, because he was one of the three that made it to the very top. However, his challenge was incomplete. Before he could battle the master at the highest level, he disappeared, and no one has seen him since. I am going to finish what he could not, and exceed his greatness. Then, I'll force him out of hiding and demand an explanation for those five years. And no explanation will be forgiven.
As I fumed alone, a strong wind suddenly swept over the entire forest, and a crackling noise seemed to come from above our heads.
"Electricity!" Amber shrieked. She hid behind my back and seemed to shrink into a mere shadow of her normally confident 16-year-old self. Electricity is the one thing Amber absolutely cannot stand.
A hoverboard slowly declined near our vicinity, and I could see Stone shielding the girl in white from the massive gusts of air resulting from its descent. This hoverboard looked nothing like the safe, city hoverboards I was used to. It seemed to be alive, crackling with electricity every couple of seconds and threatening to shock anyone that got in its way. What was more dangerous, however, was the guy languidly lounging on the hoverboard.
Every fiber of my being was yelling at me to run away and never look back. While the girl in white seemed to startle people and Stone seemed to fascinate, this guy practically screamed "DEADLY" in every possible way. It wasn't so much his yellow and black outfit or his spiky blond hairdo, but it was the wild look his eye that made me feel like he was the hunter, and I the prey. An Ampharos was standing directly beside him, and usually, that would've made me laugh out loud. A happy Ampharos with such a dangerous trainer? What a combination! But this Ampharos had a long scar running over its right eye and a permanent scowl on its face, making it not a laughing matter.
"Zach, how lovely to see you! You're looking as cheerful as ever," Stone cheekily joked, as if this was an everyday occurrence. I ogled at him like he was crazy. Did he want to get killed?
"Cut the crap, Stone," Zach growled. Ampharos sparked slightly to show its agreement. "Lucy and you need to be at the Tower NOW. You both have challengers."
Wait, these two were masters of the Tower?!
As the girl in whi- I mean, Lucy, hopped onto the flying hazard like it was no big deal, Zach adjusted his burning gaze at me. My sister, who was still shivering behind my back, began to shiver even harder, as if this guy was her fear personified.
"Who are these people?"
Stone replied with a loud "Oh!" as he realized that he forgot to ask for our names.
"This is Amber. And my name is Gray." I figured that my sister wasn't going to answer anytime soon, so I introduced the both of us.
Stone smiled so as to offset Zach's murderous glare. "Are you guys challenging the Tower?" he asked.
"I am. She's not."
I flinched when I saw Zach's grimace.
"Bet?" he called out to the other two. "He won't make it past one level."
Stone chivalrously declared, "I bet at least six levels. He doesn't look that weak."
Lucy seemed indifferent to the conversation for the most part, but she studied me for a couple of seconds and made a prompt judgment. "Sixteen."
Zach jolted out of his seat, and Stone looked at me in awe.
"You've got to be kidding!" Zach yelped. "The last time you said that was for…"
He trailed off as Lucy indicated the affirmative with a small head nod.
"You're lucky, kid," he yelled over the ear-splitting volume of his hoverboard readying for takeoff. "She's usually right."
Stone jumped onto the hoverboard at the last minute, and they flew off into the evening sky. Behind me, Amber finally relaxed.
"Okay," she chirped, back to her usual self, albeit a bit shaken. "Now we've got to find that tunnel."
SHIT. We forgot to ask for directions.