**IMPORTANT MESSAGE**:
I have not given up on Romance Dawn nor Maverick Mecha Online. They will be updated soon, I promise. Truth be told, time passed by really quickly for me and I didn't realize that it had been several months since I'd updated either of them. The following chapter of Romance Dawn involves a short battle scene and I've been having trouble writing it. Maverick Mecha Online will have an updated chapter 1 and 2 because they were long and I'd like to re-word a few things in the story. I think MaChaOn will be updated first, but I won't abandon either one of them.
Thank you for your patience,
-Jae
Heya everyone! To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Pokemon, I've decided to release the first chapter of Pokemon: Past and Futureon this site! To be honest, I actually started this story several years ago. It went through some major revamps though so I'm very excited to see what the responses will be. Just a quick note that there will be some crossovers from the Pokemon Adventures manga (if you haven't read it yet, go do so, it's amazing!) and many characters will make a reappearance from several different branches of the main series.
My first Pokemon game was Pokemon Diamond (Sinnoh Sluts? Sinnoh Sinners? What's our team name?) and it was actually my younger sister who played the game more than me. Alas, I entered high school and my hikikomori tendencies kicked in (just kidding) and now I have every main game that's been released. I tend to play Fire Emblem a bit more now that I'm older but I'll always buy the newest Pokemon games.
I'll shut up now. Ladies and gentleman, Pokemon: Past and Future!
"I don't get it," Satoshi murmured. "What's the point of this?"
Rei gave him a small, understanding smile. "You can't always be happy."
"Huh?"
"Don't you get why Candentia is in the shape of a scale?" She asked him. "It's to weigh things out. If you're always happy, then it's not really 'happiness' anymore. If everyone was beautiful, then 'beauty' would lose its meaning. Things have to have opposites to them, to balance them out. That's why Trutina Harbour is at the centre of the ocean. By deciding which way to go first, you tip the scale with your weight–and how much impact you make determines how much the scale will shift."
Satoshi leaned against the rails of the ferry, gazing at the blue and green horizon in front of him. He pulled down his red cap tightly, smiling with anticipation.
"We're finally here, Pikachu. Thanks for helping me for the past seven years," he whispered warmly to his partner. The small electric-type Pokemon squealed in response, giving Satoshi a kind smile.
Everyone on board the St. James seemed to be extra nervous as the ship grew closer and closer to the dock of Candentia Island. It had taken him seven years to finally reach this island—an amazing feat for a boy who was barely seventeen. Only those with all eight badges from a hundred different regions could enter this region. Not only that, but every five years, champions from every region approved by the Global Pokemon League (GPL) would return to Candentia to battle against promising trainers who dreamed of becoming the next Pokemon Master.
Satoshi recalled many of the rivals whom he'd met over his journey. He knew for a fact that some were already on this island, but most were still getting their final few badges. Many had failed as well. Brock and Misty, for example, couldn't take too much time out of their gyms to collect eight-hundred badges. Shinji from Unova had also restarted his entire journey from his hometown because he'd failed his evaluation, even with eight-hundred badges.
Entering Candentia was a nit-picky process. Not only did it require the massive amount of badges, but it required trainers to demonstrate their battling abilities through a series of trials set by the GPL. And if this wasn't enough, trainers had to complete at least fifty PokeDex's and receive three letters of recommendation by a certain list of renowned Professors as well.
The island had also asked trainers to only bring one Pokemon that had not reached its final stages of evolution yet, for a reason he didn't quite understand. But Satoshi felt okay with it. After all, Pikachu refused to evolve right from the first few years when he was just starting off.
"Pika-pi!" The Pokemon cried, pointing to the dock. Indeed, the ferry had now entered a shipyard. It was bigger and grander than any other ones he'd ever seen. Crowds of people milled about at the harbour, and it actually looked nicer than how the rumours described this place.
Hell. He heard people say. Some trainers enter that island and never get off because they weren't able to beat a single champion. And even if they do end up succeeding, the Pokemon Master has never been beaten before—not since the last one anyways, but he's been around for at least a decade!
Satoshi made his way down the stairs of the ferry, heart thumping with excitement. This was it—this was the place where his dreams would finally be fulfilled!
Most trainers eventually gave up their dreams to become the Master, but Satoshi was determined to be different. This was his life. He didn't have anything else to fight for. If he died trying, at least he wouldn't pass hating or regretting his choices. But losing was rarely on his mind—he came to win, after all.
"Hey!" He heard a voice shout once he was on land. A tall, lanky teenager with bright red hair and a small goatee called him over. "Ya new to Candentia? Why don't we do a one on one battle?"
Satoshi grinned in confidence. "Fine by me! You ready for our first battle, partner?"
"Pika!" His Pokemon squealed with conviction, bursts of static crackling against its body.
"Go, Totodile!" The trainer yelled, releasing his partner.
The Big Jaw Pokemon lauched itself towards Satoshi's Pikachu the moment it left the Pokeball, causing it to fly back to Satoshi's side with a full-powered body slam.
We have the type advantage though, and Pikachu's level is probably much higher than this Totodile's. He told himself. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
The yellow mouse stood up immediately, collecting the necessary amount of energy required for the powerful attack. Letting out a loud cry, a powerful blast of thunder shook the ground, smell of smoke rising in the air.
"All right!" He grinned, jumping in the air. "Pikachu, good—"
The trainer smirked. "Not yet."
When the smoke from Pikachu's attack had cleared, Satoshi realized that Totodile wasn't anywhere to be found. Both the trainer and the Pokemon looked around, searching for a ball of blue. His eyes suddenly stopped in front of a small hole in the ground.
Oh no… He realized. "Pikachu, RUN!"
"No ways am I letting you get away!" The trainer cried. "Totodile, DIG!"
The small crocodile burst out from the ground and hit Pikachu straight on its gut, sending it flying to the sky. Satoshi could only watch in horror as his friend cried out in pain.
"Use Blizzard!"
A gust of cold wind threw the electric Pokemon back to the floor, where its impact made a small crater on the ground. It whimpered in pain but stood up bravely, nevertheless. This was far from the hardest battle it'd ever faced. It couldn't give up.
"It's okay, Pikachu," Satoshi assured his partner. "Once you've caught your breath use Volt Tackle!"
The mouse Pokemon exhaled, calming itself down. Then, a determined look flashed in his eyes before it started to charge at full speed, its eyes only on Totodile.
"Don't panic!" He cried. "Dodge it!"
Satoshi smirked. "We've countered the weaknesses of Volt Tackle years ago! Pikachu, keep chasing it!"
Almost miraculously, Pikachu forced itself to take a sharp turn and continued to head straight for Totodile, whose eyes widened in surprise. Once it was close enough, Pikachu slammed its body to the small crocodile, and sent it flying backwards to its trainer's stomach, who also fell over.
"Toto… dile…" it whimpered weakly, passing out and indicating that Pikachu had won the battle.
"All right!" Satoshi cheered. "We did it, Pikachu! We won our first battle in Candentia!"
The lanky teenager stood up with his fainted Totodile in his arms, smiling apologetically. "You did well, Totodile. Take a good rest."
After retrieving his Pokemon, he went up to Satoshi and extended a hand, smiling. "That was a great match. Thank you."
Satoshi shook it happily, grinning. "It was. Your Totodile was incredible."
"Same goes to your buddy," said the trainer, patting the electric-type Pokemon. "Well, I'm off now. Good luck on your journey, and maybe I'll see you around."
He unlocked his bike from a rack and pedalled away to the Pokemon Centre, which was only a few blocks up front. By this time, the sun had started to set and most people on the St. James had left the harbour in search for adventure.
He glanced at Pikachu who was starting to heal its smaller wounds, an ability that it'd acquired during the last seven years of training. Even though the small mouse refused to evolve into a Raichu, its stats had far surpassed the normal maxed cap for an average Pikachu.
"Well then," said Satoshi. "Shall we get going now? We should see if the Pokemon Centre has a room for us that we can borrow for the night."
The mouse Pokemon nodded in agreement and climbed onto Satoshi's shoulder, pointing forwards at the direction of the town square.
Right when he was about to take a step forwards, a girl appeared from the shadows, crossing her arms with an amused expression. Upon inspecting her, Satoshi saw that she had silver-white hair and electric blue eyes, wearing a black shirt, navy-blue baseball jacket overtop, green army shorts, black knee-socks, and a white cap that was placed backwards. She seemed a bit shorter than him, and he was 5'8".
"Looks like somebody decided to grow up," she smiled. "It's been a while, Satoshi-kun."
The trainer recognized her striking blue eyes. "Mirai!" He cried, running up to the girl. "I almost didn't recognize you! How long has it been? Eight years?"
The girl, Mirai, smacked the back of his head in annoyance. "Did life start for you at the age of nine or something? It's been ten years, smart one. And how could you not recognize me? We just video called each other last week!"
Satoshi chuckled sheepishly. "Well you looked different than the last time I saw you! You're wearing… casual clothes. And I thought you would've left by now. I'm a bit late, aren't I?"
Mirai grinned. "Yeah, but I know you too well. Guess who anticipated that you weren't going to be on time? Me. It's okay though—I had fun beating up the scrubs here that thought they could fight me."
"I see that foul mouth hasn't changed…" Satoshi sweatdropped. Even though they were only seven when they last saw each other, Mirai was famous for having a potty mouth, courtesy of her famous older sister who was ten years older than her, Kako.
Mirai eyed the yellow mouse with interest. "Eh… so this is your partner, huh? Very cute."
She stroked Pikachu's cheeks warmly, never taking her eyes off of his Pokemon. It squealed with happiness at her touch though, so Satoshi ignored the unsettling gaze. Mirai felt different from the kid he'd last seen ten years ago… perhaps it was just because she looked more mature than the last time he saw her.
"So, why did you offer to travel with me?" Satoshi asked. "You're a lot more experienced than I am—wouldn't I just get in your way?"
Mirai smacked him again on the back, laughing loudly. "Don't worry about it! Besides, I'll explain everything to you tonight. Candentia has a lot of rules that trainers have to find out on their own, and you end up wasting a lot of time because of it. As a veteran, I felt obligated to help you out."
"Fine by me if you're willing to help," He said. "So, what do I need to know?"
Mirai looked at Satoshi in surprise and burst out into laughter. "Still eager as always. Glad you haven't changed, Satoshi."
She reached into her back pocket and tossed a small, mechanical device to him. "It's a PokeDex for the Candentia Region. You won't need it much to track down Pokemon though, rather, it's more for keeping all of your data stored in one place."
Satoshi turned it on, and a hologram picture of him flashed out, showcasing his identity. It included his name, age, hometown, current Pokemon, and a bunch of 0's with question marks beside it.
"What's this?"
Mirai peered closer to his hologram. "Oh, those are stats you can unlock as you learn more about Candentia. I could tell you want the first question mark means though—it shows you how many champions you've defeated."
"So like… a data sheet?" He asked, confused. "Why would I need to keep track of that?"
The girl smirked, shaking her head. "Trust me, it gets confusing and you'll be glad to have this around."
The two started to walk along the harbour, down to the Pokemon Centre ahead. Mirai shoved her hands in the pockets of her jacket, looking thoughtful.
"Where to begin…" she whispered. "Okay, first of all, how'd you do on your evaluation?"
Satoshi shrugged. "Pretty good. I passed all of them but I had trouble during the double battle. It was hard to team up with someone that I'd never worked with before. I did alright on the other battles though."
"They were testing you on your teamwork," said Mirai. "Not just your relationship with your Pokemon but rather, how well you can work with trainers. Most people have troubles in that evaluation. What was your score?"
Satoshi looked up and thought for a second. "Uh… seventy-two."
The girl bobbed her head in understanding. "That's a pretty average score.
"Why? What'd you get?"
Mirai smirked arrogantly. "Ninety-four."
"What?!" He cried out, feeling shocked. "Then how is a seventy-two average?!"
"It's pretty average for most trainers as far as I know. I was just one of the luckier ones," she explained, shrugging.
Satoshi slumped over, feeling dejected. "It seems like you've gotten stronger as well.."
"I have. But it's not enough here."
Satoshi looked at the girl with curiosity. When they were younger, Mirai was the tomboyish, next-door girl who would always get into trouble. When she left for her journey, everyone worried for her safety. There'd be letters from her, but only several times per year, and most of them didn't really say anything except that she was doing alright. It surprised everyone in Masara Town when she offered to team up with Satoshi to introduce him to the Candentia region.
And not only that. A decade of no real communication would've made things awkward for anyone else, but Mirai seemed quite content with it, and Satoshi could feel that she'd matured. Still the same potty-mouthed, troublesome trainer, but also more talented and more… confident.
Mirai snapped her fingers in front of him. "Helloooooo? You've been staring at me for quite some time now."
The boy blinked and scratched his head sheepishly. "Sorry—I just remembered my mom telling me that you had a spare change of clothes for me."
The two entered the orange PokeCentre building and lined up behind the counter where a group of excited trainers were waiting for Nurse Joy. Mirai opened her brown messenger bag and handed a black package to Satoshi.
"I thought it'd be nice to have a theme going," she smiled. "Everyone joining our team will have the same jacket as the one I'm wearing right now."
When Satoshi opened the bag he found khaki pants, red sneakers, black t-shirt, and the same baseball jacket that Mirai was currently wearing. There was also a red and white cap and black fingerless gloves.
"There's a set of rules for Candentia I'd like to go through with you before we start our journey anywhere. Lots of trainers are thrown into this region with nothing, and only after losing the first few times do they realize that there's actually a set of hidden requirements. That's what I spent my first year doing—pretty much looking for whatever information I could find," Mirai explained, taking the room key from Nurse Joy.
The two headed down the hall to a spare room. There were two twin-sized beds on opposite ends, a T.V, a sink, and a table. Mirai tossed her messenger bag onto a bed, leaving the other one for Satoshi to claim.
She rummaged through her pockets and got out a crinkled piece of paper which she spread out carefully on the small table, along with a red marker.
"Is this... what the island actually looks like?" Satoshi asked, widening his eyes. The map before him was a picture of Candentia, and he realized that it looked like a scale. It had a long body with two thin strips of land on either side. Instead of plates for the scales, however, there were two triangular masses of land that looked like it was hanging off the beams.
"This is Trutina Harbour, where we're currently at right now," Mirai explained, circling the foot of the scale. "Now, I found something really peculiar the first time I started my journey, and it's how the gyms are divided into. Have you ever noticed that legendary Pokemon generally come in duos or trios?"
"Yeah," Satoshi nodded. "There would be the Mew and Mewtwo duo, or the Lugia and Ho-Oh duo. There's also the Legendary Birds and the Legendary Beasts. Oh, but there's also legendary Pokemon that aren't in a duo or trio, like Celebi or Victini, right?"
Mirai grinned. "Looks like someone's been doing their homework. You're right, and that's exactly how the gyms are divided. You see, each gym is represented by a legendary Pokemon, but if the legendary Pokemon that a leader is representing is part of a duo, one will be represented by the left side of the island, and the other is represented by the right side of the island."
"So like... if I represented Mew, my gym could be on the left triangle of the scale and if you represented Mewtwo, you would be on the right island."
"Right," she nodded. And if you're part of a trio or none at all, the third Pokemon lies in the middle of the scale."
Satoshi groaned and slumped onto a bed. "Why is it so confusing? And why do I need to know this?"
Mirai threw her pen at his face. "It's all important information that I spent my time on so listen carefully! Anyways, this is the most peculiar part of the island–the gym leader representing that island can call forth that legendary Pokemon to battle if he or she desires."
Satoshi immediately sat up, widening his eyes. "Are you kidding me? So like, a gym leader can be like 'Come, Darkrai!' and that Pokemon will just magically appear and fight? Is it even possible to win?"
The trainer grinned. "That's the point. The Pokemon Master should be exactly what it sounds like–a Pokemon Master. The Global Pokemon League doesn't want some random wannabe who won by chance to be the ultimate trainer. They're making sure that you have what it takes to create eternal bonds with your Pokemon, and be talented enough to train them up to the point where you can defeat legendaries if you really stick your mind to it. Not only that, but it makes sure that you're not a trainer who specializes in just one type of Pokemon. You'll have to know Pokemon inside and out, and you'll have to have acquired all sorts of talents in not only battling style, but to quickly make strong bonds too."
No wonder they called this island a living hell... Satoshi thought. "Okay, and how do we get started? I only have one Pokemon with me right now."
Mirai eyed the mouse Pokemon from the corner of her eyes. "That's the first step. Candentia wants people to create brand new bonds so you'll have to make a roster of your own during your first few months here. You know how you could bring one Pokemon along from your previous journey? It's so that you won't be completely lost from the start. They want every person to have a chance, at the very least."
"What about the rule of no Pokemon in their final stages of evolution?" Satoshi asked. "That seemed even weirder than the one Pokemon rule."
Mirai 'tsk'ed, wagging a finger. "Easy. By preventing Pokemon that are in their final stage of evolution, it makes sure that the Pokemon being brought into Candentia weren't lifelong partners. You've seemed to have found a loophole though."
"Yeah," Satoshi smiled, glad that Pikachu never evolved. "I guess it makes sense. They'll let you have one Pokemon you have an alright bond with, but they want you to strengthen it more."
Satoshi looked up. "Now that you mention it, who's your partner?"
Mirai smirked and whipped out a Pokemon from her pocket, releasing a familiar blue Pokemon.
"A Riolu!" exclaimed Satoshi, analyzing it with his new Pokedex.
"The first time I failed, I decided to make a new roster," Mirai admitted. "I felt like crap and took a walk outside when I saw that this little one had been abandoned. Seemed to me like a trainer had abandoned it."
"That's horrible," Satoshi whispered. "Poor thing."
Mirai shook her head. "People like you and me are the less-common ones. I sent all of my Pokemon from my previous rosters back to Masara town, or I gave them to others that I trusted if the Pokemon agreed to it. Most people are so obsessed with making the perfect roster of Pokemon that weak Pokemon get released back into the wild."
"Why?" Satoshi asked. "Is there a rule saying that you can only have a certain number in your PC box?"
"Kind of," said Mirai. "When you challenge a gym, the maximum number of Pokemon you can take with you is eight.."
"Like any other gym."
"But most people want to focus on just training eight really good Pokemon, instead of hundreds of mediocre ones. If a Pokemon was originally powerful but as it evolved it started to lag behind the other members of its roster, the trainer will most likely give up on that Pokemon and will just hunt for a better one. Most Pokemon are just trapped in PC boxes. This one was luckier–its trainer cared about him enough to release it back into the wild."
Satoshi raised an eyebrow. "Wait–wouldn't you also want to have an all-powerful roster? Why pick the Riolu up if you can tell that it's been abandoned for its lack of strength?"
The trainer laughed boisterously, bending down to pick her Pokemon up. "That's a stupid question! You know the answer to that, Satoshi-kun."
She brought it up to her eye level and gazed at it softly. "He's my partner. With real thoughts and real emotions. Pokemon aren't just numbers to be scanned to tell you what their growth rates are. And if you're a good trainer like Candentia expects you to be, then you should have no problems training your Pokemon until they break those barriers."
Mirai called her Pokemon back and shrugged. "My Riolu will do fine. I trust it."
Satoshi blinked a few times in surprise. When the two were younger, they would pretend to battle with Okido-sensei's Pokemon. Neither of them were very good at it due to the lack of experience, but if there was one thing he recalled, it was the fact that Mirai hated weak Pokemon as much as she hated losing. Even before she even stepped out of Masara Town, she took her starter Pokemon and trained with it relentlessly and evolved it before taking on the first gym.
If Candentia region was great enough that it could change an arrogant, stubborn trainer, Satoshi couldn't wait to see what it had in store for him.
"My first starter was Pikachu," said Satoshi. "What was yours again? I don't remember anymore."
"Growlithe."
"Growlithe?" Satoshi asked. "That's a starter Pokemon in Masara Town?"
Mirai shrugged. "It's just like your Pikachu. Okido-sensei told me that it had a nasty temper but I could try taming it if I wanted to. It looked the most badass and toughest out of all the starters so I tried... and failed miserably. Now he's my best friend though."
"That reminds me!" she exclaimed. "There's a rumour going around that if you can beat a certain number of champions, you're allowed to bring more of your old Pokemon back. I'm not sure if it's true though–I never got that far."
Satoshi stroked Pikachu's yellow fur slowly, deep in thought. "This place has more rules than what I expected. But..."
He put his cap on backwards and gave Mirai a confident grin. "I'm excited. I can't wait to see what the rest of Candentia has to offer."
Mirai scoffed softly enough so Satoshi wouldn't notice. You won't be excited much longer. She thought cryptically. And Cantentia wants to see what you have to offer to them.
"By the way," said Satoshi. "I heard that teams are really popular here. Are there benefits to that? Are you part of a team that you're going to take me to?"
"I won't explain battle mechanics until tomorrow because this is already enough information," said Mirai. "What I will tell you though is that people will be joining us, but a bit later. Okido-sensei and I have begun to make a roster already. You know some of these people."
"Who?"
Mirai turned her Pokedex on and scrolled through her emails on the hologram. "For the girls... one of them is Sora, do you remember her?"
Satoshi looked up, trying to think. "I... recognize the name. Not the girl though."
"For now she's the only confirmed female who will join us, but we'll have a few others for sure. As for the boys, you know all of them. Their names are: Shigeru, Shinji, and Hiroshi."
Satoshi leaped beside her. "What?!" he cried. "How even–"
"Don't yell at me, yell at Okido-sensei. He's the one putting people in our party."
"So it's just you and me so far?"
Mirai nodded. "My data tells me that Shigeru-san is most likely on his last 100 badges, along with Hiroshi-san. As for Shinji-san, he failed his GPL test once so he's training a bit more and will take a re-test soon."
Satoshi slumped back onto his head, feeling dejected. It felt great knowing that he was the first out of his rivals to reach the island, but their personalities weren't exactly ones that got along well, except for Hiroshi.
"Rest well today," said Mirai, opening her back to grab her toiletries. "Because it'll only get harder from today."
And that concludes chapter one! I understand that it's a pretty dry chapter, just loaded with information. It only explained the basic mechanisms of Candentia, but it took me around 5000 words to do so! I'll explain battle mechanics tomorrow, which is even worse, but don't worry too much about memorizing everything. The characters will remind you from time to time.
Nothing has really been said about who Mirai is or what Satoshi has done so far, but it'll all come in due time.
One major flaw I found from this story though are the names. First of all, I watched everything with subtitles, thus the names also being in Japanese. Satoshi is Ash, in case you didn't know already.
The biggest problem is how alike everyone's names are. Satoshi and Hiroshi? Shinji and Shigeru? Even I get confused sometimes. They won't come in for a long time but hopefully I'll find a way to completely differentiate all four of them.
Hiroshi is Ritchie, Shinji is Paul, and Shigeru is Gary. I might add more, but it's very unlikely.
This is also a massive story (when do my stories not reach the 100,000+ mark though?) because it has four different storylines connecting to one.
I'm also trying to find a way to add the characters from Pokemon Adventures in, so stay tuned!
-Jae