Beginnings of a Master
Prologue
We were strangers, on a crazy adventure.
Never dreaming, how our dreams would come true
Now here we stand, unafraid of the future,
At the Beginning with you.
Life is a road that I want to keep going,
Love is a river I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road, now and forever
A wonderful journey
I'll be there when the world stops turning,
I'll be there when the storm is through,
In the end I want to be standing,
At the Beginning with you
Knew there was somebody somewhere,
A little help in the dark.
Now I know my dream will live on, I've been waiting so long,
Nothin's gonna tear us apart!
Richard Marx and Donna Lewis,
At the Beginning with You
The sun flashed over the hills, bathing the buildings of Latios Town with golden rays. Southern Island was famous for its sunrises, but this one was truly brilliant.
And sneaking quietly out of his front door, making a bee-line for the letterbox was a young, fourteen-year old named Sam. Sam was the average height for a boy of his age, a bit light perhaps, but still average. As he looked back to see if anyone was following him, some strands of reddish-brown hair fell into his blue eyes. His blew his fringe out of the way impatiently. When it fell back into his eyes again, he flicked his head as he pulled the local newspaper from the letterbox. Just as quietly, he snuck back to the house, and instead of entering the front door, he went to the right, around the side of the house and through a window.
When he was inside the room, he sighed with relief, clutching the newspaper as if it were the only thing that would ever save his life.
"That would be mine. But thank you for bringing it to me." A small, childish voice rang out through the room, sounding like it had been magnified ten times due to the silence.
Sam swung around, his eyes widening in shock as his eyebrows suddenly had the danger of disappearing into his hairline.
With natural instincts, he held the newspaper up out of the reach of his little brother, six years his junior. His brother, Josh, ran past, intending to snatch the newspaper while Sam had been surprised. When he discovered he had missed it, he wheeled around and started running again. A pillow suddenly flew off of Sam's bed and attached itself to Josh's face. Suddenly deprived of his sight, Josh ran past, missing Sam by a considerable distance. When the pillow fell off of Josh's face, a startled look appeared on his face as he ran into the wall.
Sam winced, then looked away, sending the newspaper to the top of his wardrobe.
Sam had VERY minor psychic powers. He could only lift light things; at most he could lift one small T.V, and even then, only for a minute or so. And doing just that made him tired.
He had inherited his powers from his father, who had them from his father, who had it from his mother. His father, the Gym Leader of Latios Town excelled in the six main types of Pokemon, that is, grass, fire, water, lightning, fighting and psychic, had been disappointed that Sam didn't have stronger powers.
What's going on in there? A sudden voice broke into both Sam's and Josh's minds. His Dad's voices, even his mental voice, sounded groggy this early in the morning. Sam's and Josh's parent's bedroom had been past the wall that Josh had hit. And his parent's didn't like being woken up.
Josh is trying to steal some of my stuff! Sam called back mentally. While he couldn't open a mind-link to other psychics, he could talk back if they were the ones that opened it.
A flare of awareness suddenly woke in Sam's mental vision. His little sister, Manessah, more commonly known as Nassy, had woken up. Out of the five children, Nassy was the strongest psychic. When she was a baby, she had been capable of opening mind-links. The crying had driven Sam and Ani, Sam's big sister, to the brink of killing something, because when they had checked Nassy, she was fine. It took a year for Sam's Dad to realize that Nassy was crying mentally. But that was three years ago, since then, Ani had gone on a Pokemon Journey by winning a competition in the local paper. A competition that was run worldwide annually. The same competition that had woken Sam at the brink of dawn to get the newspaper, the newspaper that Josh had ripped up every year since Ani had gone. By doing that, he had stopped Sam from entering.
Josh, leave your brother alone or I'll teleport you to the deepest cave that I can remember. Brett threatened, sounding pathetic as he struggled to be more than half awake.
Josh crossed his arms and sat on the floor, sticking out his lower lip in his traditional pose of sulking. Suddenly a hidden force lifted him into the air and scooted him towards the door. When Brett discover that the door was shut due to the banging noise, he made Josh freeze in the air.
Sam pulled a face and twisted his hand. The doorknob turned, opening the door. When Sam made a swiping motion, the door flew open and Josh was taken from the room by the power of Brett's mind. Another swiping motion shut the door and locked the lock.
Now that he was safe, Sam sighed and clicked his fingers. When he had the newspaper in his hand, he collapsed on the bed, suddenly tired and dizzy.
With a quick throw of his hand, Sam threw the newspaper back on top of the wardrobe, and then fell asleep.
Two hours later, 23rd of the Month of Moltres, A.P.W>
When Sam opened his eyes, he discovered Josh climbing on furniture, aiming for the wardrobe. The clutter around Sam's room lay testament that he had been doing so for quite some time. Currently Josh was balanced on a pillow which was perched on Sam's desk.
Luckily Josh hadn't noticed that Sam was awake yet. With a quick jerk of his head, Sam sent the pillow out from under Josh. Josh, obeying the laws of gravity did a forward flip and fell, straight into Sam's wastebasket.
Somehow, by doing that, he had managed to pin his arms under him, thus crushing any hopes of escaping.
Sam took one look at him, astonished, and then slowly, as if it were a Magcargo coming out of its shell a grin appeared on Sam's face. Within a few seconds, he had burst out laughing.
Josh gave Sam a glare. If looks could kill, Sam would be deader than the zombie Pokemon Dredo.
"Get me out of here!" Josh whined, beating his legs against the side of the wastebasket.
"No. You got yourself stuck in there, you can get yourself out." Sam said, raising an eyebrow at the ridiculous picture that Josh made.
Sam left Josh there, gathering up writing utensils and a large book. When he had gotten everything, he snatched up a Poke-Nav from beside his bed and summoned the newspaper to his hand. With that, he jumped out the window and headed for his Secret Base, made for him the last time his sister had passed through Southern Island.
Sam's Secret Base>
Sam looked around the base, finally relaxing. This was the one place he could come to without having the fear of his little brother coming after him. People could only enter another person's Secret Base if they were personally shown where it was or told where it was by the owner. If they weren't, then the Base was sealed, hidden from view.
Whenever there was a sale for Secret Base items in a town she visited, Ani usually bought one and sent it to Sam, who either left it in the computer or set it up.
So far he had a mahogany desk set up, a large Lapras Doll he could lay on, a couple of sofas, and a few dolls. Not many though.
Sam instantly walked over to the desk and sighed as he sank into the comfy seat. Then he unrolled the newspaper and opened it to the entry form for the contest.
Every year, a randomly chosen region was picked to host the competition. Then two professors, along with the chosen region's professor had to bring three Pokemon from their regions and one more was supplied by the International League. This year the Dictioy region had been chosen. It's professor, Professor Willow, Professor Elder, the Professor for the Antarctic region of Forenzis and Southern Islands own Professor, Professor Rowan had been given the task of instructing new trainers.
Professor Rowan was renowned for his knowledge in Pokemon Legends. As Sam looked at the topic for the paper, he discovered it was just that; Pokemon Legends. And Sam's favourite Pokemon was a legendary!
Are you going to be home for dinner? Brett's voice suddenly came into Sam's head, making his hand jerk and putting a long line over the page. Sam screwed up his eyes, and then got the rubber.
Well? Are you or not?
No! Sam thought back furiously. He was being interrupted and he was getting annoyed. The lead in Sam's pencil suddenly snapped. Sam grimaced at the pencil. It had happened often at school. Some of the teachers he had hated STILL couldn't work out why their pens had exploded when they yelled at him.
Fine. Your mother will send up Hotspot and Cestrer with food then. And she wants Cestrer back UNDENTED. Cestrer was Sam's Mum's Castform. Cestrer liked every other member of the family, except for Sam. On rainy days, Cestrer went with the kids to school because he could make a dry patch around him. But when Sam held him, he sucked in the field, leaving Sam soaking wet and Cestrer snickering.
Aaaw. But what if he attacks me? Sam asked. It was a perfectly legitimate question. Cestrer had cast several Powder Snows, Embers and Thundershock at Sam before.
Hotspot was better. A Combusken; she was mainly a heater in the winter. The weather outside made her sleepy, and when she slept she gave out a large amount of heat.
Well, don't retaliate. With that, Brett cut off the connection. Sam scowled at the Pikachu Doll on his desk. And then he shrugged. He went back working on the paper, until he heard the rustling of leaves that announced the arrival of the two Pokemon.A sniff of his nose made his stomach rumble. His Mum had gotten Hotspot to carry the food in a microwavable container. Cestrer had only come in case Sam stayed the night and it rained the next day. Apart from that, he was there to torment Sam.
An hour later, once he had eaten, given the two Pokemon food and gotten his seat comfortable again, Sam sat down to finish the essay he was writing. Finally! Sam thought. He had finally finished his essay. A quick glance of the clock made him yelp. The application had to be posted by 9:00 pm!