I posted this a year ago but things got in the way and I couldn't commit. Well, now I can.

I also posted this a week ago but it was deleted because I put my author's notes in a separate chapter. No comment.

I rated this M for the references to drugs and the strong violence and graphic imagery throughout this story.

Of course, I don't own the world of pokémon as much as I wish that was possible, so credit goes to those who do.

I'm using OCs, as I don't think the characters from the anime would last long in this story. Maybe some. Constructive criticism is very welcome.

Hope you enjoy.

Chapter One: Worse

An incessant beeping hounded Tommy as he entered his dark apartment. He flung his bag onto the couch, causing a mound of laundry on the arm to teeter, and plonked himself at his desk. A button flashed red on the keyboard, twinging the shadows with a fiery glow. Squinting, he slammed the button with one hand and shielded his eyes with the other. The videophone monitor shone to life and a familiar, wizened face appeared.

"Oh, good. You're home," Professor Ercus said, abandoning the typical pacing of his laboratory. He half-stumbled as he took a seat at his desk. "I was really beginning to worry."

Tommy caught the grave concern in the professor's voice and didn't attribute it to his late return home.

"Is everything okay, Professor?"

"Sure, sure. Well, no. Not really."

Tommy's worry snapped to suspicion. A smile flickered at the corner of his mouth and his blue eyes narrowed as he leaned back in his chair. "You're stalling. What have you done this time?"

"My dear boy, I am a professor and you will not—"

"You're right, that was rude of me," Tommy interrupted, holding his hands up in a defensive gesture. "What I meant to ask was, what terrible situation have you accidentally found yourself in now, which you will almost definitely require me to take the fall for?"

Tommy expected the professor's pale lips to curve into a smile. He expected deep wrinkles to form around his eyes, the way they always did whenever he joked around. But his mentor barely reacted at all. A cold shiver crept along Tommy's spine, and then the professor spoke, his voice anxious. "Have you been able to watch the news?"

Tommy's jaw dropped open as he lurched forward, causing his chair to slide back. "You were on the news? What did you do?"

"No, I didn't mean that!" the professor backtracked, shaking his head. He then paused to take a prolonged breath. When he finally spoke, Tommy noticed his voice had gained a sombre, mournful quality that had a way of slowing down time. "There has been another incident. The details are unclear, but I suspect another battle has gotten out of hand. Fourth time this month, you know. Eleven humans and two pokémon killed. Three people injured."

Tommy sagged into his chair and groaned. "It's getting worse."

"More frequent, too," the professor added, much to Tommy's dismay. "And what with the ceremony being tomorrow, I can only understand why the council is in uproar. Our job is hard enough and quite frankly this couldn't have happened at a worse time. Alleviating the public's tension tomorrow won't be easy. Issuing pokémon licences to new trainers isn't a logical move to make at a time like this."

"Aw, don't say that," Tommy grumbled, his shoulders flinching. "The council can't interfere now. This is so unfair! Only a decade ago trainers received their first pokémon at the age of ten—and they could carry six of them!"

"People are dying, Tommy," Professor Ercus said. "Over twenty casualties in a month, for goodness sake. A decade ago, that was unheard of."

Tommy's stomach knotted with guilt. He made a mental note to kick himself later for being so self-centred. He dropped his gaze from the professor, unable to maintain eye contact, but after a moment of silence he looked back up, his eyes alive with passion. His voice had a way of becoming low, velvet-smooth and highlighting the absolute sincerity in every word. "I'm sorry, Professor, really. I'm just excited about getting my pokémon tomorrow. I've waited my whole life for this . . . but I can't stand to see what is becoming of Celadon City. Every day I see arguments breaking out. Protests. Fights, even. Too many people are unable to control the resentment they feel towards pokémon."

"Can we blame them?" The professor asked, shrugging. "Some of them have lost family members. Others have found their house or business in ruins. It's a lot of anger for anyone to control, and usually in such circumstances an easy target takes the brunt. They're looking to place the blame on someone, and while the ones responsible for these fatalities are unknown, who else to point the finger at than pokémon themselves?"

Tommy managed to stop his eyes from widening in horror but failed to keep the revulsion from seeping into his voice. "It sounds like you agree with them."

"I will never accept that pokémon are at fault," Professor Ercus assured him. "I'm merely saying that I understand how they reached this standpoint."

Tommy relaxed a little, satisfied with the professor's response. "How mad is the council? What have they been saying?"

"That is the reason I needed to speak to you tonight," he said, his voice falling to a lower register. "I've noticed the council gathering in secret all week. Since the ceremony is tomorrow, I can only guess that is what the fuss is over. I'm unable to say for sure because, well, the thing is . . . they stopped inviting me to meetings."

"What!" Tommy growled, his hands gripping onto the armrests of his chair. "Why would they just cut you out like that?"

"I believe they are planning to do something drastic," the professor confessed. "And as much as I hate to admit it, drastic might be exactly what Celadon City needs right now."

The pile of clothes finally slipped off the couch and crashed to the floor, but Tommy was too invested in the conversation to take notice. He opened his mouth to speak but faltered before his mouth could form a single word. He hung his head, crushed.

"I need to ask you something," Professor Ercus said. The added gravity in his tone made Tommy look up and almost forget that his greatest dream was crashing down around him. "Could you promise to meet me in the lab before the ceremony?"

Tommy sensed that the professor's distress was deeply rooted in this strange demand. Did he know more than he was letting on?

His suspicions were confirmed when the professor suddenly became unable to look at him. He fiddled with a loose button on his lab coat as he spoke. "I want to see what I can dig up about the council's plan of action beforehand. We can go to the ceremony right after."

Tommy recalled the professor's peculiar habit of following people around and hearing more than one set of ears should. If he hadn't been feeling a sickening, plummeting sensation in the pit of his stomach, he might have been slightly amused. "Okay, sure. See you tomorrow."

They exchanged weak smiles before ending the video call. Tommy's slid off his face the moment the monitor turned black and his apartment fell into absolute darkness.

He staggered to bed, kicked off his boots and then threw himself onto the mattress, not bothering to get under the covers. He felt a ferocious battle of two emotions both fighting to dominate his thoughts. One was a jolt of excitement that rushed through his entire being, because the very next day he was going to obtain a pokémon, his oldest and greatest desire. The second was fear and apprehension due to the prospect of the council interfering with the ceremony, and the growing fury of those who had been affected by the life-claiming pokémon battles.

The latter loomed over him like a storm cloud, casting a shadow over his joy.