Sweet Dreams
It was late in the evening in New Bark Town. The town which usually buzzed like the inside of a combee hive was sound asleep. Total darkness enveloped the area save for one house. One light shone bright like the shining beacon of a lighthouse. The source of the light came from the top window of the Reus residents. Sixteen year old Harvey sat hunched over his desk, hands on his head holding back his night black hair as he studied the contents of the book in front of him.
"Ok… so using Rain Dance increases the power of water type moves however it also increases the accuracy of Thunder," I said to myself as I read my book. I let out a huge yawn and stretched my hands over my head allowing the hair that was being held back to fall over my eyes.
Damn it I really need to get a haircut tomorrow, I thought to myself as I looked for an elastic band to hold back my hair. After two minutes of looking for the band I gave up.
Might as well go to bed now, I've learnt everything I possibly could and I want to be fresh for the test tomorrow morning. I switched the light for my room off and slowly stumbled my way across my room to my bed in the pitch dark.
I wonder what Pokémon the exam will pair me up with tomorrow, I thought to myself as I stared out the window next to my bed. I'll be happy with any Pokémon I get, except a rattata I'd rather become an accountant than own a rattata, I thought as I drifted into a deep slumber.
"Where am I, what is this place?" I asked myself as I took in my surroundings. I couldn't see anything it was pitched black, it was as if I had lost my eyesight. I brought my hand closer and closer to my face and until I could just make out the outline of my hand.
"Well I haven't gone blind" I said to myself as I strolled through the pitch black environment. "Can't say I've ever had a dream like this before," I commented as I continued to walk in a straight line.
"That's because you're not dreaming" replied a deep voice.
"Who said that?" I asked turning my head from side to side trying to identify where the voice was coming from.
"Who am I? Well that's nothing for you to worry about for now Harvey," the deep slick voice replied.
"How do you know, who I am? Wait I'm dreaming this is a figment of my imagination of course you know who I am" I replied cooley, but then why does this place feel so real I thought to myself as I looked up towards the sky.
I can feel something, it's huge and it's circling me like a sharpedo I thought as I felt a huge pressure pressing against my mind. How is that even possible what is this thing.
"Believe me, don't believe it is none of my concern at the moment," The voice replied to me as it watched me frantically turning around trying to find where the voice was coming from. "I come to you to congratulate you," the voice continued.
"Congratulate me, for what?" I asked as I stared directly into the direction that the voice came from.
"I have chosen you to represent me for a certain upcoming event" answered the voice as he stopped moving and stared directly at me. "For now that is all you have to know, from this point forth you must prove to me that you are worthy to represent me and help save the earth"
"Wait what! What's going to happen to the earth, what event I don't understand?" I questioned the voice as I moved towards the source of the voice. "ANSWER ME!" I yelled at the voice.
I woke up with a start covered in sweat. A dream it was just a dream I thought to myself. I turned and looked at my alarm clock the digits read seven am. I better get out of bed and get ready for the test. Harvey got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. He stripped his pajamas and got into the shower.
What was up with that dream, I've never ever had a dream like that before. I wonder if it was something I ate last night or it could just be the anxiety I had for the test today, yeah it was probably the anxiety, I reasoned with myself as I stood underneath the boiling water from the shower.
Harvey got out of the shower and walked back into his room he looked through his cupboard looking for something to wear. Okay so I'll wear my dark blue jeans, my white t-shirt with a pokeball on it and my letterman jacket with the cream sleeves and blue body with a gold stripe going down the body.
I put on the clothes and inspected myself in the mirror. Yeah I look awesome I thought as I dusted off my jacket. Harvey made his way downstairs, as he walked down he caught a whiff of the delicious smell of his mom's homemade pancakes. He entered the kitchen to find his mom behind the stove making pancakes.
If anyone ever saw my mom and me together you would never guess that they were related. Where I had golden brown skin like a pancake and black hair with brown eyes mom had skin as white as snow, with emerald green eyes and blonde hair.
"Morning mom" I greeted as I approached her and gave her a hug.
"Morning sweetey. You ready for your big day?" Mom asked as she moved a pancake from the pan to the stack of pancakes on a plate next to her.
"I think so I've studied really hard for this exam." I replied as I grabbed the stack of pancakes and walked towards the dining room table.
"I'm so glad that they've changed the way people become Pokémon trainers. Back in my day all you had to do was be twelve and go to your local Pokémon centre and get your starter" Mom explained as she followed me towards the dining room table.
That's right mom was alive back when they had the old rules, I thought as I attempted to shove an entire a pancake into my mouth.
I swallowed my pancake and chased it down with some orange juice "Why did they change the system mom?" I asked her once I was done swallowing.
"Well you see the league came to the realization that twelve isn't exactly a good age to send out children to try to travel across a country. They weren't emotionally or physically ready. So they bumped up the age from twelve to sixteen to become a Pokémon trainer or coordinator" Mom explained. "However that only solved one of their problems" she continued.
"What was the other problem?" I asked.
"Well you see every year the league was getting thousands of children wanting to become trainers and coordinators and only a handful of them managed to get eight badges or four ribbons required of them. So there was a surplus of trainers every year and not enough of them were becoming doctors or lawyers or engineers they just kept trying to get enough badges or ribbons when they clearly weren't good enough" she stopped to take a sip of tea as she watched her son listening intently. "So that's when the league devised the exam that all hopeful trainers and coordinators must take in order to become official trainers or coordinators." She concluded as she took another sip of her tea.
I finished of my fifth pancake as I contemplated what mom had just said. "So when did they change the starter Pokémon system?" asked Harvey as he picked up his sixth pancake.
"Well let's see I think it was around ten years ago when they changed the system" Harvey's mom said as she rotated her cup.
"Why"
"I think they just wanted more variety or something I'm not really sure you may need to ask your father when you see him." She said as she grabbed her first pancake. "Oh look at the time you better hurry over to Professor Elm's lab" she said as she stared at the clock.
"Alright I better get going then" I said as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Wait, wait!" Mom shouted.
"What"
"Look at your hair it is such a mess go comb it before you leave" mom said as she inspected my long hair.
I rolling my eyes at her and replied "But moooooooom"
Mom looked at me with a stern face and pointed her finger to my room upstairs "Go comb your hair"
I raced up the stairs nearly stumbling and falling on one of the steps and entered my bathroom. I grabbed my brown comb and tried to work it threw my mangled hair. "ow ow ow ow" I moaned in pain as I tried to work the knots out of my hair. After five painful minutes I gave up trying to remove all the knots from my hair. I'll just get a haircut after the exam I thought to myself. Instead I removed my grey beanie from my closet and worked my hair into it.
"Happy Mom" I asked with a smug smile on my face.
She looked at me with her motherly smile "Yes you look very handsome in that outfit"
I blushed "You're just saying that cause I'm your son"
She replied still smiling "Yes it is my duty as your mother to give you self esteem, however I'm actually telling the truth"
I walked up to my mom and gave her a huge ursaring hug "Thanks mom"
"Now go or else you're going to be late and good luck" mom said
I grabbed my maroon satchel as I walked through the front door I shouted "Thanks mom I'll see you later"
I took in a deep breath of fresh air as I closed the door behind me, the weather outside was overcast and the grey clouds overhead looked like they were about to burst any second. I looked at the watch on my wrist. Shit better hurry up or I'll be late for registration. I broke into a sprint as I navigated my way to Elm's lab. I arrived there in a few short minutes Barely broke a sweat, I congratulated myself. I entered the lab to the sound of teenagers all chatting to one another. Wow looks like every sixteen year old in New Bark is here today. The lab had been emptied of all lab equipment, instead of complicated lab devices there were desks and chairs set up taking up two thirds of the room, at the front was a large table set up where the students were lining up.
I maneuvered my way to the front of the lab and lined up with the rest of the students. Many students were already seated. I guess they got here early for registration. I waved and said hi to my fellow class mates as I waited in line. I turned my head around trying to find any hint of my friends. Where are they?
All of a sudden I felt the air being forced out my lungs as two strong arms crushed my ribs forcing the air out of my lungs.
"You ready for today Harvs?" my assailant asked.
Gasping for breath I managed to put a sentence together "Yes….put…me…..down….please" I pleaded.
My assailant put me down and released me as air rushed back into my lungs I turned around and placed one hand on my assailant's shoulder to steady myself "Must…. you do that… every time Clark?" I asked in between breaths.
"Yes, yes I do" Clark replied with a huge grin on his face.
I turned to look at my best friend in the world. Clark is huge for a sixteen year old he looks more like the human teen version of a machamp. He has blonde hair that has been cut with an undercut and slicked back hair on top, this is complemented by his blue eyes that give him that typical beach boy look. However despite his huge menacing look Clark was one of the most down to earth people I knew he was always willing to help out others. Clark and I had been best friends for years ever since he defended me from a bully in kindergarten. I guess it was his nature of helping people that lead him to rescuing me that day. Ever since that day we have been the best of friends we knew everything about one another.
As we waited in line we chatted about the upcoming test and the latest stories happening around the world. "Did you see on TV last night the Chaos Control Corporation finally apprehended Archie and Maxie" Clark asked as we approached the front of the line for registration.
"Yeah it's amazing they've nearly caught all the criminal organization leaders" I replied as we reached the front of the line.
At the front of the line behind the desk was the town's local Nurse Joy "ID please" she asked with a bright smile. "Harvey, yes you'll be sitting in the row right at the back in the second desk right after the one in the corner you should find your name on your desk" Nurse Joy explained as she confirmed with a huge black book in front of her.
"Thank you" I replied
"Oh and good luck" Nurse Joy said
"Thank you" I repeated with a smile as said as I took back my ID back from her. I waited a few minutes for Clark to finish with his registration.
When Clark finished he walked up to me with a smile "Dude guess what….I'm sitting in front of you" Clark said without giving me time to even guess.
"Awesome but I'm not letting you cheat of me like that one time in math" I said to him as we walked to our desks.
"Come on that was one time and I really didn't want to fail" he replied with a pout.
"Hey have you seen bloom and gloom yet?" I asked Clark as I turned my head around looking for our other two friends.
Clark turned his head around also looking for bloom and gloom his extra height gave him a better vantage point for looking over the crowd of people. "Found them and you won't believe where they're seated." Clark said as he pointed to the corner of the room where we were also seated.
We approached the corner of the room to find our two friends bloom and gloom also known as Alex and Zoey. Alex was seated in her desk looking as bored as ever and Zoey was sitting on her desk and appeared to be lively explaining something to Alex.
Alex had black hair, blue eyes and pale skin her most distinguishing feature was her few strands of hair that she died a turquoise blue, her hair came down to just below her shoulder and she allowed the one side of her hair with the blue streak to cover her one eye. She wore a short black frilly skirt that came down three quarters of her thigh and black leggings, she wore a matching black sweater that hung off the one shoulder which revealed her black bra strap on her shoulder. Alex was the poster girl for emo-punk girls everywhere.
In contrast to Alex who was all dark and brooding Zoey was a ray of sunshine. She is always smiling and laughing her clothing reflected her bright personality. Today she was wearing a white and red stripped t-shirt with a pink mini skirt. Her long blonde curly hair was brought around her head so that it all lay on her right shoulder. This fully showed off her ear piercings, one diamond pink stud in her earlobe and three rod piercing going through the round part of her ear at the top.
These two girls were complete opposites of one another yet they were both the best of friends. One was always happy and smiling while the other hardly ever smiled and was always depressing. They were always found together leading them to their infamous nicknames bloom and gloom.
"…and that is why I'm going to be the best coordinator ever" Zoey concluded as we heard the end of her explanation as we approached her and Alex.
"Hey girls" Clark greeted as he hugged Zoey and Alex.
"You girls ready for today?" I asked as greeted Zoey and Alex with hugs.
Zoey lit up at the question and answered still with a huge smile on her face "You betcha I've only slept like seven hours this week I've watched so many trainer battles and contests and read every book cover to cover I'm so gonna ace this exam" she concluded still smiling brightly.
"You know no one from New Bark town has passed the exam in eight years so the odds aren't exactly in our favor Zoe" Alex said looking bored to death as her hand propped up her head so she could look at us.
"Must you always kill the vibe Lex? We're all nervous already" I asked Alex. She responded with a shrug of her shoulders. Zoe unsurprisingly had already forgotten Alex's words and was chewing Clark's ear of by listing her top ten cutest Pokémon.
BANG! Before I could continue my conversation with Alex there was a loud noise as the front doors were pushed with such force that they slammed into the walls. "Sup bitches the future champ is here, ladies single file please no uglies or fatties please" came a loud boastful voice as a large teen walked through the door.
"Fuck what is Luke doing here?" Alex muttered to us as we watched Luke stroll to the registration desk. "He's barely passing High school, how does he expect to pass the trainer exam"
I shrugged my shoulders as we watched look attempt to flirt with Nurse Joy. Luke was the local school bully, the same bully that Clark rescued me from all those years ago. He looked similar to Clark except for his hair, which was dyed a blood red. Luke had died his hair red in order to look like the former champion Lance, apparently he was some distant relative of his a fact that he loved to boast about.
"Well at least we'll have the satisfaction of seeing him fail one last time" I said with a smirk on my face.
Suddenly the intercom system crackled to life and a timid voice emerged from the speakers "Can everyone please take their seats we are about to begin" the voice commanded.
The four of us embraced for a group hug although Alex seemed less enthusiastic about the hug then the rest of us as she was dragged into it by Zoey. We wished each other good luck as we took our seats. I was seated next to Alex, with Clark in front of me and Zoey next to him, as the four of us formed a square at the back of the room.
Professor Elm emerged from a room near the front with a mike in his hands. He wore his huge rimmed glasses and the classic professor lab coat. "Welcome to all of you fifty hopefuls to this year's first trainer exam. Before we begin I need to go over a few things with you. Firstly if you are caught cheating you will be banned from taking this exam ever again. As you probably all ready know the test will be split into two sections theory and a practical. You will write theory first in this hall and do the practical later on today. Do you understand me?" the professor asked pausing as he watched heads bopping up and down nodding. "Good ok next, I know that we've been having a dry spell here in New Bark for eight years but I have been monitoring a lot of you here for many years and I believe that this year our dry spell will finally be broken." He was rewarded with a huge amount of cheering and clapping from the audience which put a smile on the old professor's face. "And I have a sneaking suspicion that someone sitting in this room will become the next champion of Kanto and Jhoto and will become the second champion to come from New Bark since our first champion Ethan gold" The professor exclaimed raising both his hands in the air. If the professor thought the cheering previously was loud this was ear drum shattering as everybody lost their minds as they saw how much belief their professor had in them. "So good luck everyone and do New Bark proud" he signed off as his assistants begun handing out the exams.
Let's do this I am ready, I've studied so hard I'm going to complete this test and finally become a professional Pokémon trainer, I thought as my friends and I all looked at each other and made a silent pledge to pass this exam and start our Pokémon journey together.
Authors' Note:
Alright new story, I know there was minimum Pokémon in this chapter but that'll change soon. I know I still haven't given any explanations about the corporations but all will be revealed in time, and by time I mean hopefully next chapter I really want to flesh out this world quickly so we can get to the battling and journey part of the story.
If you have any questions feel free to leave them in a review or pm. This will be an oc accepting story just go to my profile and fill in the template to donate an oc.
BTW the mysterious Pokemon is not Darkrai just because it was pitch black and invading his dreams does not make it Darkrai, so there's one Pokemon you can cross off the list.
Finally I am looking for a beta so if anyone is interested please let me know.
Thanks for reading please leave a review (or don't your choice) I happily accept criticism as I want to become a better writer.
Bye till next time.
