Bright beams of light suddenly shine in my face, and I squint against their powerful glow. I turn to my perfect team - my companions, my family - and my heart soars to see their proud, confident, and weary faces smile back at me.
"Alright, team!" I grin at them encouragingly. "This is the big finale! One last stop until the hall of fame! You guys have been absolutely amazing - and I know Caitlyn packed a pretty powerful punch, but still we pulled through! I am so proud of you guys!"
My pokémon party whooped and cheered in their different cries. Pansage gave me a cheesy grin and a thumbs-up, Audino waved her ears, Mienshao adopted his favourite tai-fu mode, Emolga jumped into the air and swooped around Drifloon, and Oshaa my Samurott roared with determination.
"Hello there, Challenger! What's taking you so long?" A big booming voice suddenly calls out behind me. I turn around, and see the silhouette of the reigning Champion standing against the floodlights.
I quickly rummage in my bag, and my pokémon gather around eagerly as I whip out Potions, Full Restores, Leppa berries and Elixirs. I gently tug some stray leaves from Pansage's head, and give one to each of my pokémon. Finally, I turn towards the Champion.
"About time!" She calls out. "Well done for getting this far! I sense your strong bond with your pokémon. Now give me a battle that you can be proud of!"
Adrenaline rushing through my veins, I climb the remaining steps towards the platform. The lights get brighter, and I can hear the cheers and whistles of the crowds below. A chant starts up: "Bren-dan! Bren-dan! Bren-dan!" and I vaguely wonder how these people could've known my name, but before I knew it, I'd reached the platform, ready to behold the Champion-
I blearily open my eyes, and let the waves of crushing disappointment wash over me as I stare at my bedroom ceiling. A poster of Cynthia, the reigning Champion of the Elite Four in the Sinnoh region, and her pokémon, Spiritomb, stare back at me.
The cheers and applause came from the Nimbasa fashion show, playing live through the TV downstairs. The chanting of the crowd was my mother, yelling my name up the stairs.
"Brendan! You've got visitors. I'm sending up Arcanine and Audino to help you."
"Okay," I reply, wearily, as the lolloping thud of Arcanine coming up the stairs becomes louder. He pauses before entering my room, pushing the door open carefully with his nose.
"Good morning, Arcanine," I say, and his mouth hangs open in a slobbery grin. Audino sits on his head, barely noticeable as a pink and cream blob amongst Arcanine's mane. She chirps at me, and hops off onto my bed.
"Good morning to you too, Audino," I say, and she chirps happily in reply.
Arcanine can barely fit in my room. Of course, when we were younger and he was a Growlithe, he fit in perfectly - until one day, Growlithe discovered the box of pretty rocks that I'd received as a get-well present, from the kind professor who lived across from us. I kept them on my desk, but one day he hopped up and knocked the box over, and voila - Growlithe played with the Fire Stone, and Growlithe evolved. I sure had a shock when I went up to my room next.
Arcanine knows to be careful in my room. I don't have anything too fragile lying about, or anything of much interest for that matter - not after my accident - but as Audino hops about preparing my clothes, Arcanine curls up carefully in the middle of the carpet, tucking in his paws and purring like some huge, extremely hairy, fire-breathing kitty-cat.
My room consists of my desk - scattered across it are a few papers, potions, pokéballs and stones. My old bed hugs the far wall. My favourite thing about my room though, is all the posters and maps of different things within the Sinnoh region. Not an inch of my bedroom wall can be seen, due to being covered by so much paper.
I want to visit Sinnoh when I'm older. I love reading about it - Solaceon Town, Mount Coronet, Snowpoint City; and of course, the Elite Four and the gym leaders. The Sinnoh League's Champion, Cynthia, is someone I look up to; as well as Electric-type user Volkner. Of course, I'd need a helper to get to Sinnoh, but what better helpers are there than our pokémon?
Audino chirps. I sigh; pushing my legs out of bed and shoving my imagination to one side. I lean forward as Audino pulls my shirt over my head, and pats my new pants, her way of telling me to stand up.
Some find it odd that it's a pokémon who helps me get dressed in the morning, but after ten or so years, I've gotten used to it. Audino is now my full-time carer, and without her I wouldn't be able to do anything.
As Audino wraps my hands in supportive bandages, I realise that in a few months, the anniversary of my accident would come around.
I sigh again, and Audino pats my face with a pink trotter, telling me to cheer up. It's nearly been ten years - ten years that my arms have been paralysed, destroying every hope and every dream I've ever had of becoming a full-fledged Pokémon Trainer.
Anyway, enough of thinking about that. It was about time I went to see who my visitor was.