Chapter 1: Blake and Hugh
Drew woke face down in his papers, his arms and hands mottled black with ink. The candle he had lit the previous night was barely aflame, wax had melted down the sides like tears, and the wick had been reduced to smoking cinders, filling the room with the smell of ash. He pushed it to one side as he gathered up his papers in a heap, stacking them in a orderly pile besides him. The book that he had been translating sat at the head of the table, Sinnoh; A tale of Time and Space. It was a laborious old tome, the pages as wrinkled and yellowed as Drew's skin. They were illustrated with strange symbols and devices, markings that were all but unknown to the world three centuries hence. Few people remained who had the knowledge and skill to read them, and fewer still the patience for such meticulous and diligent work. He rose, awkwardly shuffling towards the window to pull open the shutters, his eyes teared as they adjusted to the bright sunlight that shone through and he turned his back, collapsing back into his seat. For three whole weeks he had laboured day and night to unravel the secrets that the book's pages held, his body seemed to be failing him, deteriorating with every passing breath. His eyes and mind remained as sharp as in his youth though, and for that he was thankful. He did not fear death, but he feared he might not complete his last assignment. He feared failure, but above all he feared his master. He feared Cyrus.
The lesson was already ten minutes into progression when Blake burst into the classroom. The entire room seemed to intake a breath as the students glanced up nervously at their teacher, Professor Raymond. "I..I.." Stammered the young lad. "I'm sorry I'm late sir!" He wore the school's standard uniform, a white shirt and black trousers. Only instead of black shoes like the rest of the class, he wore white sneakers, paired with a blue snapback pulled sideways over his head.
"Hat," Professor Raymond said simply. Blake pulled it off his head, unveiling a short mess of unkempt golden hair. He tossed the cap towards the teacher, who picked it out the air, placing it under his desk. "What was it this time?" he asked. "A stampede of Tauros, a gang of Zangoose, or perhaps you got caught by an Alakazam's Hypnosis?"
"No, no, and I don't think so," Blake replied. "Just slept in." The Professor raised his thick brown brows. "Sir," he added quickly.
"Well please join us." Professor Raymond crossed his burly arms as Blake dashed towards the back of the classroom, pulling up a chair next to his best friend Hugh. "Also," the teacher added as he collapsed into his seat. "Next time I suggest you slip into something a little more appropriate for class."
"Like a coma," Hugh whispered, flashing him a grin.
Blake tried to keep a straight face as he met Professor Raymond's stare. "Yes sir," he told him amiably.
"So what was it really?" Hugh asked quietly as Blake pulled his textbook out his rucksack.
"I Just slept in, honest."
Hugh stared back at him, his deep blue eyes sparkling with mirth. "Fine," he said. "I suppose it is hard to find anything exciting when I'm not around."
"Exciting?" Blake asked with a wry smile. "So that's what they call it." He shuffled through his book as Professor Raymond turned around from the whiteboard where he was writing. He began to copy down the teachers words, The regional Berries of Sinnoh and their numerous uses..
"Well what else would it be called?"
"Hmm," said Blake, feigning bewilderment. Since he and Hugh had become friends, Blake had joined him on more than a couple of his "adventures." They seemed to involve something either incredibly dangerous, daring, or just downright stupid, although usually a combination of all three. Like the time Hugh had smeared him with honey and made him run through the woods to attract an Ursaring for the school's photograph competition. The resulting shot had been so blurry that they didn't even bother to enter it. "But on the good side" as Hugh had pointed out, Blake had probably set a new land speed record.
"The Sitrus berry," Professor Raymond droned on. "Will restore a small portion of a Pokémon's health, it is recognized by the distinctive golden color, orange spots, and jagged texture."
"Sitrus berry," Blake muttered absent mindedly as he scribbled the details down. "Golden, orange spots, jagged texture, got it."
"Sir?" A girl asked at the front of class.
"Yes?" the teacher replied, pausing.
"Can people eat Sitrus berries?"
"Excellent question!" He said, clapping his huge hands together. Hugh and Blake glanced at each other, grinning. They both found great amusement in how animated Professor Raymond seemed to get about berries. "It can be eaten raw, but I wouldn't recommend it. Excessive consumption can lead to stomach pains and nausea. More often that not you'll find it cooked as either Poffin's or Pokébread.
"Excessive consumption," Hugh echoed quietly, grinning. "I think old Raymundo's has been excessively consuming something, I'm not entirely convinced it's berries though."
"Yeah, but I bet it grows in the woods," Blake replied, stifling a laugh behind his hand. He flicked to the front of his notebook, finding Monday's schedule. 9:00am: Regional studies: 10:15am: morning break. 10:30am: Maths. 11:30am: English. 12:30pm Dinner. 1:30pm: Pokémon studies. 3.30pm: Trainer studies. "Six whole hours until trainer studies," he said to Hugh with a resigned sigh.
"Right. Rock on half three. What have we got next?"
"Maths, with Mrs Clack." Blake cursed, she was the strictest teacher in the school. Even Hugh feared her wrath and tried not to entice it. Too much. Maths was Blake and Hugh's least favorite lesson, with Trainer studies being their favorite. Up until their final year the students would attend a general Working Life class but during their final year they were allowed to choose one of three classes on top of it; Ranger studies, coordinator studies or trainer studies. They had both chosen the latter. Blake had always wanted to be a trainer. His brother Kevin who was the oldest was a ranger training in the Almia region. Meanwhile His sister Ellie was a coordinator, she had moved to Hoenn for a while.
When Blake had been younger and his brother and sister's goals had become apparent, his parents had told him jokingly he would have to become a trainer so they could have one of each in the family, a promise he was happy to fulfill. Being a trainer had been his only dream ever since he had seen his first Pokémon battle on television. He still remembered it as clear as glass. The dazzling attacks exploding in a thousand different colors, the Pokémon roaring as they collided into each other in great clouds of dust. The excitement and enthusiasm in their trainer's voices as they shouted their commands.
"Ow!" he cried suddenly as Hugh jabbed him in the ribs with a bony elbow. "What was that for?" he asked, Hugh motioned to the front of the class and he looked up.
Professor Raymond was staring right at him. "It seems even that extra ten minutes sleep didn't suffice," he observed dryly.
"Right, I'm sorry sir, I was daydreaming."
"Oh? Somewhere nice I hope?"
Blake beamed. "Somewhere great."
The students waded through the forest, Blake and Hugh were at the front, full of it. While a gang of the girls had fallen to the back, their short skirts and heels were ill suited to the forest, especially the occasional tangle of thorns or vines they had to scramble through. Hugh glanced back at them, shooting them a roguish grin. "You'd think we were going on a night out," he said.
Blake laughed. "Still, I'm not complaining."
"Oh me neither," Hugh tossed the Pokéball he held into the air, catching it again. It was a modified version of the Safari ball that the school supplied for trainer studies. Fairly ineffective for capturing anything more substantial than the occasional Oddish or Caterpie, the teachers would take any Pokémon the students caught, and either release them or keep them for a few classes. "Where's Mr H got too?" Hugh asked.
Blake glanced around, shrugging. "He's probably swinging around on some vines somewhere."
"Yeah or pissing up a tree." Hugh added, both of them chuckling. Suddenly there was a rustling noise straight ahead, Blake quickly crouched, grabbing Hugh's arm and pulling him down too.
"What is that?" Blake hissed.
"I don't know, here." Hugh passed him a Pokéball, they both started to edge silently towards the tree's, when suddenly it burst out. It was the teacher, Mr Harold. Or at least his huge belly emerged first, and the rest seemed to follow a few short moments later. "Boys! Boys!" he said, laughing. "How do you expect to catch Pokémon making that racket?"
"We don't," Hugh told him. He motioned back to the girls who had managed to fall behind even further. "I doubt there's be a Pokémon around for miles. Unless they like the sound of gossip, and the smell of cheap perfume."
The Professor chuckled, his great moustache quivering with every motion "Don't let them discourage you lads! I'm still impressed with your captures last week. A Kakuna and a Sentret is no mean feat!"
"The Kakuna was just dangling there like a Christmas bauble," Blake replied. "It would of been harder not to hit it, and that Sentret was just plain stupid, it ran straight into a tree."
The teacher roared with amusement again, patting his oddly shaped reddened nose. "Don't we all walk into tree's from time to time?" Hugh and Blake glanced at each other with a look that said they didn't. "I'll make great trainers of you both." He clapped them on their shoulders. "Listen boys, why don't you two go scout ahead while I go check on the other students, ey?" He gave them a wink, turning around and waddling off. "I expect nothing less than a Dialga and Palkia next time I see you both!" he shouted over his shoulder. "Don't get lost!"
"Free reign it looks like." Hugh grabbed Blake's arm, leading him off to the right through some thorny shrubbery. "Listen, there could be all sorts in this wood; Eevee. Treecko. Sneasel. We've got to bag something good."
"You're leaving out the dangerous ones; Pinsir. Heracross. Ursaring" Blake said the last one with particular venom. "Besides even if we do catch something good it'll be back in here within a week."
"Come on man!" Hugh thumped him on the shoulder. "Think of the honor. Think of the glory. Hell, think of the girls!"
Blake rubbed his shoulder. "Fine, but if I even so much as catch a whiff of Ursaring piss I'm gone like a flash."
"Come on man, we've been in this place a hundred times. What can go wrong?"
"Yeah," Blake muttered under his breath. "What indeed?"