Episode One: Trials and Temptations

One word. Pokémon. Surrounds my home, Tokyo, Japan. This isn't new, I suppose. My home is one of the most well known for its grand obsession for it. It's everywhere now; T.V., Internet, Ads, EVERYWHERE! I don't really mind, myself…I actually like it. I am a Pokémon trainer myself. However, it's not like the real series. Where Pokémon roam free in the wild, no. Here, the only close 'contact' with a Pokémon is either by a card, hologram, plushy, or figurine. If they we're actually real, that person would be lying because all of that is just a myth…Right? Well, not exactly…let me tell you my story.

"Ms. Sakuranbo! Please pay attention!" Ms. Fuji demands.

"Oh!" Bay jumps at the call.

"Stop doodling and pay attention!" Ms. Fuji screams.

Bay stands up and bows. Her extremely long dark-brown hair covers her entire face as she bows. "I'm sorry." She apologizes. The class giggles at Bay's embarrassment.

"Okay, Ms. Sakuranbo, please read page 24." Ms. Fuji addresses.

Frustrated she breaths in slowly and changes her voice to a sugar coated sound. "Yes, Ms. Fuji. And the dog left to his house…"


"Ugh! I hate Ms. Fuji!" Bay exclaims.

"Don't worry I mean, you didn't fall asleep like last time." Freya reassures.

"I was about to though!" Bay angrily replies.

"Oh, sorry. Hey! What's that over there?" Freya points at the big crowd.

"Another battle!" Bay says with high spirits.

"You're welcome." Freya shrugs as Bay dashes towards the big crowd.

"Charmander! Use Flamethrower!" One of the students called out.

"Oshawott! Use Water Gun!" Another student called out as he slammed his cards on the hologram disk.

The other kids cheered them on. "Charmander! Dodge!" The opposing student continues.

"Oshawott! Quick attack!" The student demands.

The hologram of Oshawott defeats Charmander.

It's amazing how these Pokémon are so realistic-like, Bay thinks in amazement.

"The Charmander is unable to battle! Oshawott wins!" The student referee announces.

The other kids cheer the other student on. The holograms disappear.

"Now it's my turn!" Bay challenges the winner.

"Okay then, cutie. It's on." He smiles.

"Um…okay?" Bay says awkwardly.

"Oshawott, come out!" The student commands as he slams the card onto his hologram disk.

"Piplup! Come out!" Bay commands as she slams her Piplup card onto her hologram disk. The battle has begun.

"Oshawott! Use Water Gun!" The student began.

"Piplup! Dodge it quickly!" Bay orders.

The Piplup hologram nods at Bay's order and swiftly dodges.

"Oshawott! Razor Shell!" The student commands.

The Oshawott hologram obediently does the attack.

"Piplup! Dodge and use Attract!" Bay commands.

"What?" The student questions.

The Piplup hologram dodges Oshawott and uses Attract. The Oshawott is under the Attract attack.

"Piplup! Peck as much as you can!" Bay commands.

The Piplup hologram dashes and Pecks Oshawott, while he's under the Attract attack. Persistently, Piplup defeats Oshawott.

"Oshawott is unable to battle! Piplup wins!" The student referee announces.

"You're not bad, cutie." The losing student flirts.

"I know, too bad we can't do a re-match." Bay says confidently.

The school bell rings.

"Next time, cutie." The student leaves.

"Yes! Freya! Did you see me there?" Bay says excitedly.

"Yes, yes. Let's go to class, Winner." Freya smiles kindly.


"Man, I'm glad school's over." Bay stretches as she walks with Freya towards the shoe lockers.

"Yeah, I wonder if that guy likes you." Freya mentions, talking about the student that Bay won against.

"Psshh, too bad. He's out of my league." Bay comments. She pushes her long hair back and squats down to her shoe locker. She opens it and sees a bright yellow sticky note paper on top of one of her shoes. She picks it up curiously and studies it carefully.

"Oooh, probably that boy wants to confess to you." Freya teases.

"Shut up." Bay nudges Freya. She opens it and reads it.

"What does it say?" Freya asks curiously.

"It says…If you're seeking the truth; Go to P-0." Bay tells Freya.

"Definitely, the boy." Freya giggles.

"I doubt it, I think it would be something…I don't know cool. Let's go check it out." Bay says enthusiastically, she smiles and looks at Freya with her shining aqua eyes.

"Please?" Bay begs.

Freya shakes her head and smiles back at Bay. "You can't really do anything without me, can't you?"

"Nope, now lets go!" Bay hurriedly puts on her shoes and drags Freya towards the P building.

"P-0…P-0…where is P-0?" Bay looks around the halls.

"I don't know Bay, these halls look abandoned." Freya notices the cow webs and the dust bunnies rolling around the dusty hallway floor.

"Nothing with a little window cleaner and mop can fix," Bay reassures.

Some spider webs get caught on Freya's uniform. She quickly removes it, in disgust. Bay looks back and giggles at Freya's girly action.

Bay then walks up towards a dusty dark brown door, with a little plaque that says 'P-0'.

"This must be it!" Bay looks back at Freya.

Freya sighs in relief. "I don't know about this Bay, we might get in trouble or meet with some weirdos." Freya says frightfully.

"Don't worry, I've earned black belt in karate and tae-kwon-do when I was 12, I think I can handle a few weirdoes." Bay says as she pats Freya's head.

Bay turns around and reaches for the doorknob, but Freya stops her. Freya shakes her head and her long deep red hair swishes left to right. "No Bay. I don't want you get hurt." Freya says with worry.

"I'll be fine, watch," Bay says reassuringly as she opens the door slowly. She looks around the dark room. She puts her right hand to the wall and turns the light switch on. She looks around and notices a Pokeball on the floor. "Oh…a Pokeball, cute." She smiles as she picks it up.

"Bay! Are you okay!" Freya calls out.

"Yeah, I'm fine. No one's here. For a while." Bay notices the wooden shelves thickened with dust. She walks toward some burgundy colored drapes on a wall. "Hmm…this place needs some light." Bay opens them and sees a beautiful clear bright sky. "Weird…," Bay murmurs to herself.

"What's wrong, Bay?" Freya asks.

"Well…so it seems there's a painting behind these drapes, because outside the sun is already setting," Bay explains. "But…it looks so real I could just put my hand through it…" Bay puts down her school bag and reaches over into the painting. Her hand then does go through. Bay gasps. "Did you see that?" Bay turns to Freya.

"Yes I did! Now, please let's get out of here!" Freya drags Bay.

"Wait! I want to see something!" Bay nudges out of Freya's grasp and dashes inside the portal. Freya gasps and puts her bag down. She then goes towards the portal and gets sucked in.

Silence…

Beautiful colors flashes into Bay's eyes, she feels the rush of the portal consuming her. With fright she immediately closes them. A few milliseconds pass, and she's in a dark abyss…falling.

Suddenly, Bay opens her eyes and looks at the beautiful, cloudless sky. She gets up and notices she was on top on bright green grass. She looks around her surroundings and only sees the bright green plains go over the horizon. She some bushes and trees are at the distance. She walks towards it and sees a Donphan roaming by. She gasps and notices that it isn't one of the roaming holograms that were so popular at Japan. "This isn't real, I must be dreaming. I can't be…I…I have to look for Freya." Bay walks in the opposite direction, and finds Freya waking up from the intense portal ride.

"Freya!" Bay calls out.

Freya yawns and stretches as she hears Bay. "Bay?" Freya mumbles. She looks towards Bay's direction and runs towards her and hugs her.

"Whoa, we got new outfits," Freya points out, excitedly.

Bay giggles. "Yeah, I guess we got a makeover." She joked.

"So I suppose we can't go back home, right?" Freya comments.

"Freya, we're not in Japan anymore. We're in the Pokémon world, now." Bay tells Freya as she grabs hold of her shoulder.

And that's where the journey begins now.