THE SAME SKY

Part II of Chance

By Carissa Ward

"You training in your pajamas?"

I blushed as I realized that I was indeed still wearing them. And with a twinge I also remembered that I had forgotten everything else I was going to bring. I turned toward the two people here with us and found I recognized one. "Hello Ms. Oetke. What are you doing here?"

The other winner stood up, "Wait," went up to the younger one, "You're the lady who was at the testing station.

Seemingly nervous, she glanced toward Ms. Oetke, who smiled, "Yes. The people that you met working at the winners' testing stations were to be chosen to greet you and… watch out for you in the Region. See Prof. Oetke is a scientist and I wanted to be a scientist. I'm her apprentice now."

"Good for you," I said.

"Thanks."

"It's good to see you again, Skye," said Prof. Oetke, "This is Jan Richmond. Let's get down to business. If you two would like to change your names now is the time to do it."

I spoke first, "I would like to keep my name the same… Well, maybe I should change my last name...?"

"You think on that," said Prof. Oetke, "And you?"

"I would like to change my name to Xavier Thames."

"Okay," she looked displeased, "But are you certain you don't want to keep your first name?"

"I'm sure. Xavier is cool." I got a better look at him. He was a good two feet taller than me and thicker. He had sandy hair and eyes of a similar color.

She sighed and took out… I don't know what it was. It looked like a white tablet. She took out something like a DS stylus and wrote on the touch screen, "Skye?"

"I think I'll change my last name to Aspen."

"Oh, so you truly want to be a scientist?"

"I'm not really sure. Does that mean I can't have a tree name? I didn't know that was actually such a big thing… I mean… Your name…"

"There has actually been a tree named after me but you're right, it doesn't really matter. Look at Jan. So, you want Aspen to be your last name?"

"Yes."

She wrote it down, "Okay then. Have you two brought anything?" Xavier took off his backpack, "And be sure to empty your pockets."

I looked in my breast pocket to find the picture of Roy, Johnny and I. I must have put it in there last night before I went to bed. If anything, this is what I wanted to have with me most, "Can I bring this?"

"Wait a second," said Jan.

A man came from a door off to the side. He took Xavier's backpack, looked at my picture, said, "It's fine," and walked out.

"He'll be looking through your backpack in another room," the Professor told Xavier. She then walked to a large bin I hadn't noticed. She pulled out two stacks of clothes and handed one to each of us, "These are your traveling outfits. There are rooms you can change in over there," she pointed down a hallway to the right.

When we got back there were two backpacks on the coffee table, a pile of Xavier's things, and his old backpack.

"Was I picked just for the color scheme?" I asked the Professor, while Xavier laughed as he looked down at his own clothes. I was wearing a light blue tank top and sneakers. The shorts and jacket were black, and so were the fingerless gloves. Xavier was wearing jeans, a gray t-shirt and an olive green jacket and hat with a Poké Ball design on it. He was wearing it backwards, "Did you decide on the clothes?"

"I picked yours. Jan did Xavier's. I thought the black would complement your hair."

"Well thank you. I've always wanted gloves like these."

"What're those?" asked Xavier indicating the backpacks.

"Your backpacks. They contain all the basic things you'll need on your journeys, including a few meals, a sleeping bag, a map and one potion," we smiled, "Here are your trainer belts," they handed us each a big, thick, black belt with 5 empty, shrunken Poké Balls, already clipped to it. We put them on, "And here are your Pokédexes," she gave us each a red Pokédex that looked exactly like the one from the first season, "They have several functions. As well as being a Pokédex, it has PokéGear apps, a camera, plant encyclopedia, it's your identification, and it can scan a Pokémon and give information about it. It has other helpful information as well. Please start packing your things Xavier."

"Okay," while he did that I packed my jacket and Pjs.

Ms. Richmond continued, "You've both been given 3,000 Pokés. Don't get excited that's worth about 30 American dollars. If you need any more money you'll have to earn it. People ask trainers to do odd jobs all the time; requests are posted on Pokémon Center bulletin boards. Any money you have now or in an account or at home will be put in to a savings account until you're eighteen, this is supposed to be a new start for you. Your room, though it shouldn't be used often, is in Pro- our lab. All your things will be shipped over and stored in it. And also, when they're picked up, a video phone will be given to your families."

"… Is that it?" I asked.

"Just about. Are you done Xavier?"

"Yup."

"Let's go then," said Ms. Oetke. We walked down another hallway leading to the back of the building.

"Is this all the building's for?" asked Xavier.

"It's where the people working this event have been staying. What is left of us will be leaving today with you two."

"Are we leaving on that boat?"

"Yes… Here it is." We'd gotten to another set of glass doors. On the other side of them was a dock and lined up next to it was the biggest boat I'd ever seen, not that I'd seen many boats. Painted on the side of it was 'S.S. Anne.' We went outside and walked up a flight of stairs leading to the deck. There were four people clustered around a shaded table but that was it. Prof. Oetke and Jan led us inside and down a flight of stairs and a long white hallway to-

"This is your cabin," said Jan, "The boat ride is about three days long."

"And here are your Pokémon." They each handed us an enlarged Poké Ball, "They were chosen for you based on part of the personality section of the test. I'm sorry you won't get to experience the tradition of picking one of the three main types. Also, we request that you do not open them until the skyline is out of sight."

"Can do," said Xavier.

"Sure," I agreed.

"Good-bye now. And good luck," said Jan.

"Huh?"

"We'll see you when you make it to the lab," said Prof. Oetke. Then they turned around and walked away. Xavier and I stammered good-byes after them and went into the cabin.

The whole western wall was a window, giving us a full view of the building. There was a couch lining the north wall, a TV hanging on the side with the door, and on the south wall was a bunk bed. I sat down on the couch with my Poké Ball still in hand.

"So, how old are you?" I asked.

"Just turned- I'm Fourteen. You?"

"Thirteen."

"Wow. I found it hard to believe you were ten."

Now I was annoyed with this boy. I could handle the smart-alecy comment about my pajamas, which I'd wonderfully gotten to take with me, but he should know better than to make fun of someone's height.

"Um… Sorry," he realized he had crossed a line, "So what type are you hoping your Pokémon is?"

"Well," still annoyed, "I'm betting it going to be one of the three main types. I'm hoping it's water, because…" I didn't want to tell him I couldn't swim, give him more ammo, "What do you want?"

"I really want fire, cause, ya know, it's so powerful."

I noticed the building outside getting smaller, "Hey we've left the dock!"

Suddenly, a loudspeaker that I had not noticed before came on, "Hello victors, this is the captain speaking. If you would like to watch the Non Pokémon Populous (NPP) Regions' broadcast of you entering the main building, please turn on the television now and change it to channel nine. I would also like to request that you do not leave the cabin or deck."

"They videotaped that?" I said.

Xavier looked around for a remote and found one on the side table. He pressed the power button. On the screen came Nurse Natalie who was standing in front of a green screen that showed the front of the building, "Hello," she said, "You are about to see the victors at their final stop before leaving for the Pokémon Region. Here comes fourteen year old Xavier Thames, his father, and younger sister Sophie." Nurse Natalie stepped out of the screen.

Xavier and his family were shown walking away from a mini van and toward the doors. The little girl looked proud but his father looked sad.

"Hey, she's the girl Johnny was playing with at the Pokémon Center in New York!" For some reason he wouldn't meet my gaze.

"What a coincidence," then he went to staring intently at his family.

His father's low, resonant voice filled the room, "You do your best. Make us proud."

"I will. Goodbye dad. Goodbye Sophie." He bent down, gave her a hug and went inside. His family got back into their minivan and drove away.

Nurse Natalie came back on the screen, "And our female victor is thirteen year old Skye Aspen. Here she is with her brother Johnny and family friend Roy." She stepped off the screen.

I watched as Roy swung me up into the air and we said our goodbyes. I watched myself whisper to Johnny that I would find a way to get him to the Region. Thankfully whatever microphone they used couldn't pick that up. After Roy pushed me inside the building Nurse Natalie came back on the screen.

"Congratulations to the victors and good luck on your Journey." The Nurse left the screen and then the regular reporters came back on. Xavier switched it off.

"Why weren't your parents there?"

"They were busy."

"Too busy for that? Really?"

"They were in New Zealand! And I hadn't given them any warning." I don't know why I was being so defensive. Anyway, subject change, "Do you think they've decided which… Ya know, Region within the Region we're going to? Will we pick it ourselves?" I asked Xavier.

"Let's look at the map." We pulled them out. At the top it said Tenkimaguro.

"This is the one with King Damien, right?"

"Think so. Let's ask the Pokédex about it."

"Will it know anything?"

"I dunno."

I took out my Pokédex and opened it, "Where's the power button?"

"I think it's the blue one." I pressed it.

"Hello, I am a Pokédex given to you by the renowned Prof. Oetke. How may I be of service?"

"Umm," I couldn't find a keyboard.

"I am voice activated."

"Cool!" Exclaimed Xavier, "What can you tell us about the Tenkimaguro Region?"

"I contain approximately 11.84 Gigabytes of information on the Tenkimaguro Region. Do you need specifics?"

"Could you tell us the most important stuff," I said, "Pokémon trainers should know?"

It loaded for a while, as if it was having a hard time processing my vague request, "The weather in the Tenkimaguro Region is controlled by Pokémon. Therefore it is very erratic and arbitrary, though temperature below freezing levels is usually only seen in fixed areas. There is a variety of terrain. Deserts, forests, mountains, glaciers, etc. There are several islands surrounding it. Like most Regions it has eight official gyms."

"Wait," I said. I got out the map and a pencil I found in one of the front pockets, "Which towns have a gym?" I circled the towns as it listed them."

"SturoStone, Bellice, Bikiary town, Kennelworth, Rugglebruggy City, Jacamar Island, Telsing City, and Twixtin Town. Once you have beaten all the gyms you are qualifiable for entry in Trune's tournament, held in Hiver City."

"… Thank you," I turned it off, "That is one advanced piece of machinery. I thought the shows just exaggerated."

"Guess not. Hey, let's look at our stuff." So we looked in our bags to find a small spray bottle. It was purple and about the size of a mini water bottle.

"This must be a potion," I said. We pulled out the lunch bags and inside there were several of those weird rice things that they always showed on the TV show. There were also a ton of berries from the video games, "Neat! I think this one's an Oran berry. Let's ask the Pokédex." I didn't even have to turn it on.

"The Oran berry, restores 10 HP." It showed a picture of it on the screen. "The Mago berry, restores 12.5% HP but confuses Pokémon that dislike sweet food. The Razz, the Ganlon, and the Cornn berry. All are safe for human consumption." It stopped.

I looked through the bags some more. There was a small blue journal and a little bag of toiletries. The sleeping bag was thin, probably to make extra room in the backpack. Hopefully it would still be warm. The 3,000 Pokés came in one 1,000 bill, two 500 coins and ten 100 coins. As I recall from the Information Book, aside from that, there are 50 coins, 5,000 and 10,000 bills.

"Look the Skyline is almost out of site!"

I looked out and saw that it was true. We had been so absorbed with all of our discoveries we hadn't bothered to look out the window. I held up my Poké Ball, that I had not let go of this whole time, and again attempted to look through it like you could in the manga. But no dice.

"We have to battle, after we've met our Pokémon."

"Don't you remember what happened at the beginning of Black and White? We shouldn't battle indoors."

"… We can battle on the deck."

"Okay."

"But no wussing out!"

"Got it," I rolled my eyes internally.

We couldn't say anymore. The anticipation of meeting our first, our own, Pokémon was overwhelming. Five minutes later the skyline was gone. We stood up.

"You want to go first?" He asked. He looked scared all of a sudden. Nervous.

"Okay," He backed up a bit. I was nervous as well but elated. I held it in front of my face, pressed the button, and it opened. A white light glowed in a patch on the floor beneath my hand. In seconds it morphed into a Pokémon.

"Grrrrowe! Growe lithe!" He sounded like dog able to talk. On the floor in front of me was an orange dog with several black stripes, and puffy cream-colored fur on his tummy, tail and on top of his head. He looked up with gigantic brown eyes. He was half as tall as me so when I sat down in front of him we were face to face. He licked my nose.

I giggled, "Hello Growlithe," I rubbed him briskly with both hands. I fell over when he jumped on me and continued to lick my face. He was a lot warmer than most dogs. I messed with his ears.

"Growlithe's the best!" Exclaimed Xavier, "You're so lucky."

"I know I am," I was grinning from ear to ear, "Now you see your Pokémon."

"Yeah," Xavier held his Poké Ball away from him and pressed the button with the same hand holding it. It opened and the glowing white mass formed in the air in front of his face. A Hoppip appeared. He was a floating red-pink sphere with two tiny legs, two tiny arms, one tiny tail, and two leaf-like appendages sprouting from the top of his head.

I thought Xavier would be disappointed, with his attitude so far, but he was elated. With a big grin on his face he held out his hand for Hoppip to land on. He saw my expression at his and covered it up, "I guess it's an okay Pokémon."

"Haawp," He said looking sad.

"No no! I think you're awesome."

I took out my Pokédex, "What is the entry for Growlithe?"

"Extremely loyal, Growlithe will remain motionless until permitted/ordered by its trainer."

"Anything else?"

"Growlithe is a very trustworthy, friendly and brave Pokémon. It will fiercely protect its trainer and territory even when faced against bigger and stronger foes. Growlithe has an amazing sense of smell. Once it has smelled something it will never forget the scent. It can even use its sense of smell to determine the emotions of other beings. They are often used as police dogs and live in-"

"Thank you. Can you… Scan him? For-" Immediately the information showed up on the screen, "Great! He is on level five, knows Bite and Roar, has 32 HP, full right now, has a hardy nature, likes to relax, and has the ability flash fire. How does it know all that?"

"Primarily I have an X-ray scanner built to sense brain tissue, which is-"

"Thank you."

"You don't have to say thank you to it, it's a machine."

"How else can I say to stop… talking..."

"Mmhmm," He took out his own Pokédex, "What's Hoppip's entry?"

"A Hoppip's body is so light that to prevent being blown away…"

Despite everything I'd never given much thought to what my first Pokémon would be. But, like Xavier said, it couldn't get much better than a Growlithe. Right now he was sniffing my hair. I wonder if I could find some toy for him play with. Oh, Xavier was talking.

"-Mischievous, is on level 10 right now and has the attacks Splash, Synthesis, Tail Whip, and Tackle."

"But that's double Growlithe's level!"

"Well, if I remember correctly, that's the level that Hoppip learns its first offensive attack."

"Correct."

"Hey, only talk if I ask… That would be good," We were both having a little trouble figuring out how to act towards the Pokédex.

"I would know how hard it is to train a Pokémon without an offensive attack," I said, "I was a Ralts fanatic. And I can't imagine trying to train one without another Pokémon. How Wally did it I'll never know," I joked.

"Heh, yeah. Thankfully they wouldn't make it that hard for a new trainer. But, in the real world you can train Pokémon without batting. It's still the best way though."

"So how 'bout we have that battle now?"

"Well, umm, I don't want to… ruin the moment."

"Please, let's do it, just like in the games," He bounced on the balls of his feat nervously, "Oh, come on, Hoppip is five levels higher than Growlithe, and he doesn't even have any fire attacks."

"Can we at least wait until tomorrow?"

"Okay, then we battle."

Another voice came on the loudspeaker, "Hello, this is the kitchen staff," There was kitchen noise clattering in the background, "Would you and your Pokémon like something to eat? There is an intercom button next to the door."

Xavier went over and pressed it, "That would be nice. What do you have?"

"The dinner we're serving tonight is beet hoven, grubmüller, rice balls, and skevlabyka."

"What exactly are those things?" I asked, "Well, except the rice balls."

"Beet hoven is hoven with beets, they look kind of like an Oddish-"

"What is hoven?"

"… Hoven. I don't quite know how to explain that."

"The other things then. What were they? Gubmoller?"

"Grub-mew-ller. And it's tofu, I think."

"The other one?"

"Vegetable medley. Is that all to your liking?"

"Yeah," Said Xavier.

"Well send two dinners down there then along with two servings of Pokémon food."

"Thank you," I said but Xavier had already taken his hand off the button.

The dinners were delivered by a nice man wearing a Hawaiian shirt. We decided to eat in the cabin, which was fine for the Pokémon. Xavier threw the food pellets, which looked like thick Tootsie rolls, up for Hoppip to catch in the air. He didn't seem to like the floor too much. When we were done, and still hadn't figured out what hoven was, we went to bed. The Pokémon were back in their balls, shrunken down, and at his insistence Xavier got the top bunk. Two hours after his snoring started I drifted off as well.

We awoke to the sound of seagulls cawing. Wait, no, that's not right. I sat up and found myself on the floor. Good thing I wasn't on the top bunk. A flock of Wingull and Peliper were close outside the window. Leaning against it I stared at them intently. I could see each individual feather of the Wingull nearest to me. Flapping its rapidly it turned its head in my direction and opened its giant beak, "Gall!"

"Xavier, Xavier, get up! Look!"

He sat up, "What's going on?"

"Look outside."

He jumped out of bed and stood next to me, "Wow."

"I know, right?"

In a few minutes the flock had passed out of sight, "Hey, someone left us breakfast."

Behind us on the table was a big plate of rice balls, toast and Nanab berries, according to the Pokédex. We let out our Pokémon and shared it with them. As Growlithe was attacking toast under the bed I asked, "You ready for that battle?"

"After breakfast."

"Well duh."

So 'after breakfast' we took our Pokémon out onto the deck. The four people from yesterday were there again, playing cards. The deck was pretty empty aside from a few tables and crates. I stood facing away from the front of the boat and Xavier stood facing me. Growlithe was sitting by my feet and Hoppip was floating around Xavier's head. I kneeled down so I was level with him, "Are you ready for our first battle?"

"Growlithe!"

Both Pokémon went forward and the card players started watching. Seeing how Roar only switched the defending Pokémon with one in the party, I only had Bite to work with. They were only a few feet away now, Hoppip several feet above him.

"Jump and use Bite!" He made it, but it didn't hit very well.

"Tail Whip!" If I remember correctly, Tail Whip lowers defense.

"Do it again!" This time it missed entirely.

"Tail Whip!"

"Bite!"

"Tail Whip!"

It went on like this for quite some time. After a while we eventually got enough hits in so that Hoppip's HP was in the red. I had been scanning with the Pokédex the whole time.

"Come on Growlithe! Just one more good bite!"

"Use Synthesis!"

"No!" But there was nothing I could do as we watched Hoppip gain back all (it was very sunny out) the HP we'd worked so hard to chip away, "Hurry, Bite before he finishes!"

"Use Tackle!" Hoppip flew around to Growlithe's back after he'd jumped, and got a direct hit. Growlithe's HP bar on the Pokédex went straight to zero. All of those Tail Whips had done the trick.

I ran up to him lying unconscious on the ground. I used the potion in my backpack, giving back twenty HP, "You okay boy?"

"Growe," He said weakly, he was still exhausted.

"Why don't you take a rest in your Poké Ball," I returned him.

"Good game Skye." He held out his hand, I shook it.

"Good game Xavier."

"Now, about the prize money."

"Really?" I said incredulously. Giving prize money, according to the Information Book was not done often in private battles, contrary to the video games. And when it was, it was always agreed on before hand.

"Just 200 Pokés."

"Fine," And I dished out two100 coins.

He started walking back to the cabin with Hoppip sitting on his head, "You coming?"

Amazed that he would act so jovial toward me after he took my money, it took me a minute to answer, "I'll stay here for a bit," I sat down on one of the crates close to the front of the boat.

The card players gave me dirty looks as I walked by. I guess that was a bad move too. I'm not doing a good job being a cool bad boy. Either that or she's just not responding well to it. Maybe she would like me better the way I was before. That's never worked though. I have to keep cool and indifferent but I have to make sure I'm not being mean.

I don't want her to hate me but if I do something to make up for asking for prize money I could lose the image I'm trying to make.

I'm still hoping Xavier will grow on me. It hasn't yet.

I lay on the crate for about an hour watching the clouds. I wanted badly to let Growlithe out of his Poké Ball but I knew he needed his rest. So I walked over to the card players.

"Hello. I'm Skye"

"We know," Responded a pleasant man with citrine hair, "I am Prof. Cypress."

"I'm Darnell."

"French."

"Prof. Scott."

"So, what game are you playing?" I asked.

"9-down," Answered French, "Would you like to play?"

"Thanks but I don't know how."

"It's a pretty popular game where we're going," He wiggled his eyebrows comically, "We could teach you."

"Oh," I said a little taken aback, "Thank you."

He motioned for me to sit down next to him and I did. He explained the rules to me. Basically you each started out with nine cards and if you lost all of them in the pile, you lost, but the process of loosing cards was long and complicated. The last person with cards won. They started a new game with me included.

"Why were you guys in America?"

Prof. Cypress answered, "Well, Scott and I, we were scientists working in the preliminary stations. You're really lucky you got Prof. Oetke. She's one of the most talented and renown researchers in the Region. And that Jan is lucky that she was allowed to work at a station. Not too many non-scientists were allowed. Most of us were sent back, to continue with our own work. But we stayed as volunteers. After the winners were picked only two scientists would be needed for the project at all."

"America's pretty neat," Said Prof. Scott, "Aside from the fact that the people aren't very nice," He paused, "Well, that's not quite right," He continued, "They're just not as… hospitable."

Darnell Spoke, "The testing looked for people who would be similar in that respect."

"I'm a little surprised that Xavier passed the personality section."

"… He didn't seem all that pleasant. I would know, I helped write it."

"Really? That's awesome."

"Not really. Tedious work. Something you might find interesting though, is that it was also supposed to make sure that the two winners got along. Has that been the case?"

"…I guess."

"I hope so. Otherwise I didn't do a very good job."

We went on playing and talking about the two different regions until it actually got dark. I got up and stretched.

"I should probably get back to the cabin. Will you four be out here tomorrow?"

"Actually," Said Prof. Cypress, "I spoke with some people earlier and there is a good chance that we'll be landing in the morning. You should probably get ready tonight," French was snickering and the others shot him dirty looks, "There's a bathroom a few doors down from your cabin."

"… Thank you and I'll do that. It was nice meeting you all! Maybe I'll see you in the Region."

"I hope so," "I'm sure." Then they chorused a good-bye and I went back inside.

The cabin was empty and I didn't have anything to get ready, it was all still in the bag. I grabbed it and went looking for the bathroom. Cypress spoke only the truth; the ladies locker room was just down the hall, with a men's room across from it. I could hear Xavier's botched version of the Zelda theme song from inside.

When I got back to the cabin Xavier was already snoring. Already in my cloud pajamas I walked over to the bed and found, on my pillow, a super potion.