DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon, would like to, but I don't. I own the character names and plot idea in this fanfic. Thank you for choosing.
Pokémon
Paths to Victory.
Chapter One.
The Invitation.
Clouds leapt aside, rain bounced off it; nothing could stop the invisible stream of information as it flew through the air. It was relentless curving around one of the skyscrapers in its way. Below, cycling through the city on a bike was an 18 year old boy with a black helmet. As he raced on, he was unaware of the beam slamming into his pocket, traveling into his cell phone's deepest reaches.
"Ahh!" Deyna exclaimed as his cell phone went off. It vibrated then played its tune. The familiar music of the Pokémon theme filled the air. It played a short second, and then was silent as the boy moved to the side of the road to check it.
A girl biked past him as he pulled out the small Nokia pay-as-you-go phone.
'One Unread message' filled the L.E.D screen.
He pressed 'Read' and waited the short second for the message to pop up.
'Congratulations Mr. Deyna Domony. You have been chosen by the PEA to test a new virtual reality experience. Please, do not reply to this message. If you accept this invitation please come South City Deliverance Airport at 12pm. Thank you.'
Deyna reread the message twice before looking at the three letters. PEA. Who was that? He pocketed his cell phone and started down the road again. A new experience? He was totally clueless…
He arrived home and looked to the clock. If he accepted this, he'd need to go soon. He grabbed a coin and took a breath. If heads he'd go, if tails he'd stay. He sighed and flipped it, letting it hit the floor to lock his choice.
In the airport a stage was set up in the main hall way. Deyna stood amongst 50 people all of who he guessed received the same message. He ran over suddenly to the girl who passed him earlier.
"Lyri!" He called to her.
She turned and waved at him. "Deyna! Oh wow! You got the message too?"
They shared a hug as Deyna laughed. "Yeah, any idea what it's about?"
Lyri shook her head. "No, not a clue."
Just then a BANG filled the air as the security grates fell in front of the airport doors. A simple man walked onto the stage and up to the microphone.
"Welcome welcome!" He said. "I am Jacques Dana!"
He smiled and continued. "I know you all are wondering why you were called here. But first, let me tell you what you all have in common. You all are avid Pokémon lovers!"
A silence fell. All eyes were on this man.
"I'm the president of PEA. Better know as the Pokémon Experiment Agency. We are prepared to offer you and 50 other kids from 1000 numerous cities around the globe a chance to catch and raise Pokémon as your own!"
A gasp sounded through the area.
"All of you are accepted to join; there are only a few things I will warn you about at this time."
The place fell quiet again.
"You will have to fend for yourself in this world. You could thirst, you could starve, you could get sick and die somewhere on the road, you could be robbed of not only your money but also your Pokémon. You could very well be murdered. You could get lost in a forest and never return. This is the only catch of the world. This is not a game, it is real life. You treat your Pokémon badly in this world and I guarantee they will treat you badly too. This is real. You will bleed, you will probably get burned. You could die."
The man's last three words hung around the room. 'You could die'. Deyna gulped and could swear he felt Lyri squeeze his hand. She did grab it at the beginning of the man's speech but now she gripped it hard. He gripped back to show he was there if she was scared.
There was a bang as the security grail on one of the doors lifted.
"If you do not want to participate in this, please, leave now." Jacques continued.
There was a small commotion as Deyna felt a lot of the people in the room head for the exit. He felt Lyri move close to him.
"If you go, I'll go." She whispered.
He turned to look to her eyes. "Lyri… are you sure? I might not be able to protect you…"
She nodded. "I'm sure…"
The grail banged on the ground again after a few minutes. Jacques looked around at the remaining number.
"Good. About what…25 left…eh?" Jacques nodded. "Right. Okay. Your next instructions are to go home and pack, only pack what you feel you need. Unless you have something digital that holds pictures, I advise you to leave pictures behind. Leave all your money and credit cards, only bring an ID. School IDs work, as well as driving permits and licenses."
The doors banged open again.
"If you haven't changed your mind, come back to this airport in 3 hours."
Deyna sighed deeply as he turned to leave, Lyri still holding his hand.
"Deyna…" She said softly.
He looked at her. "Yes?"
"I'll see you later…" She kissed his cheek then ran off, leaving him quite stunned. He sighed, and put his hands into his pocket and left.
3 pm. 19 teenagers filled the small airport. Four obviously gave into fear. Lyri and Deyna stood together, the first two to return back. Jacques stood at the front of the line to the entrance of the gates in the airport.
"Listen up!" He yelled.
Everyone fell quiet.
"Who here is new to space travel?"
One or two hands rose up.
"I need to know from you two, or anyone else too shy to raise their hands, or anything who wants it, if they want the sleep regulator turned on during the seven hour trip to the Planet."
"Planet?" Someone asked.
Jacques nodded. "Yes. We at PEA call it Pokémon planet. On it we have constructed every town you should be familiar with. We have cloned every Pokémon, more then a million times, except for a very few. Trust me. You will love this planet."
There was a ding as the doors behind Jacques opened. And the man spoke once more.
"Down this corridor is the ship that will take you to the planet...find a seat and await further instructions."
Everyone nodded as he stepped aside. Deyna stepped into the dark hallway, followed closely by Lyri. Before long they emerged inside a softly lit room with rows of seat…there were 10 rows all with 5 seats…2 on the sides of the ship one in the middle… Lyri pointed to the 3rd row. Deyna nodded walking over and sitting close to the side. Lyri sat by him and looked around. They were quickly followed by the remaining 17 teenagers and Jacques. He walked to the front of the shuttle room to address everyone.
"If you bring down your tray-tables you'll noticed a touch screen computer." He said. "Please fill out the appropriate information using the built in keyboard. As you finish you will receive 8 items from the machine that is built into the chair. All of you who stopped by and requested to be put the sleep regulators have 15 minutes to complete the screen, it should take only 9 or 10. When you finish place your items away and slip on the masks. For those who did not want the regulators on, we will leave in 20 minutes. If you change your mind and want to use the regulator half-way through the trip, just place on the mask and press the button on the side of the screen,"
The man smiled. "I thank you all for participating in this experiment… I shall see you in 7 hours."
The man left into a door in the front of the area.
Deyna sat there, looking at the screen in front of him.
'Type Name' it read.
Shrugging he typed in his name and hit enter. The screen flashed once and new phrase appeared.
'Age'
Simple enough. He entered in, again a flash as new words appeared.
'Traveling Partner'
For this he glanced over at Lyri. "Hey…what'd you put for this?"
She glanced over and shrugged. "I don't know what to put, I'm stuck there too."
"Well…let's put each other down"
Lyri nodded, typing in his first and last name as Deyna did the same. The next questions were odd, asking favorite number out of 1-75, favorite color, and element. When it was finally done the machine pinged. A slot next to the screen opened up and 5 pokéball slipped out. He took them out as the screen flashed with new words.
'Please do NOT open the marked ball during the shuttle trip. Thank you.'
The machine pinged again as another ball came out. It was marked with a cross on it over the maximizing button. He pocketed the extra five as he took the marked one. Then something popped out of a slot. A pokédex… He took this and grinned. It was true. One more thing popped out a small rectangular container marked, 'badges'.
He glanced over at Lyri who was holding the same things.
"Wow…" She whispered. "This is really real..."
