Shifters: Chapter One; Enter Kai!
As far as appearances go, nothing seemed special about Kai Lane. Standing at 6"1' with brown hair, blue eyes and a slight cold, he was just another face in the crowd that cold, winters morning, standing outside Professor Rowan's Lab. Today was the big day, the day that they would finally begin their pokémon journey.
This day had been a long wait for the entire year group, and as the date approached, it had consumed the minds of every sixteen year old in the region of Sinnoh. At least, almost every sixteen year old.
Kai stood in the line with his friends, seemingly mirroring the excitement of everyone in the room- and it was true, he had been looking forward to this day, though not with the same fervour as his classmates. Even as he took pleasure in the knowledge that by the end of the day he would have a partner that would join him on the most important journey of his life, he had to sigh, thinking about all the difficulties that would arise with his having a pokémon.
Since his fourteenth birthday, Kai had known he was different. Different to his parents, different to his classmates, different to everyone else he had ever known in his life.
Absent-mindedly, Kai scratched at the small mark on his neck that set him apart. This mark had separated him from the rest of the world, from his peers and family and changed his life, for the better or for the worse.
In days past they had called them Shifters, or any number of derogatory terms, and had hunted down and killed them by the dozens, reducing the population of Shifters down almost to extinction. In more modern and accepting times, the few Shifters that cropped up from time to time in families where the blood ran strong, usually led normal, peaceful lives, albeit lives occasionally interrupted by the less accepting of the population and their hatred for all things out of the ordinary.
The recessive nature of the 'Shifter Gene' meant that, in many cases Shifters are born to normal, human adults and lead their lives unknowingly, without the knowledge that, at some stage in their life, the mark would show itself and the Shifter would receive their heritage- the ability to change form, to become a pokémon.
Kai had been fortunate in the timing of his mark, his parents had been out of town on a second honeymoon when his mark had appeared. The first change had been both physical and mental agony, his body on fire as waves of pain washed over him and he passed out. Upon awakening, the shock of finding himself in the body of a pokémon, a Ninetails, had been so great that he had very nearly fainted again.
Over the next two years, Kai had hidden his ability from the world, both for his parents' sakes and his own; he had not been ready to announce himself as a Shifter. Today though, he stood in line to receive his first pokémon, begin his new life as a trainer, and show the world what he truly was.
"Kai, it's your turn now" Professor Rowan said, as the last trainer to be called forward walked off, a grin on his face and a pokeball in his hand. "I'm sure we have just the pokemon for you".