The Gems of Hoenn Chapter 1: Sour Dreams are Made of This, a pokémon fanfic

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A severe thunderstorm struck late at night.

In one house, Kamon tossed and turned in his bed. He had a lot of trouble falling asleep. Maybe it was because the bed frame had been packed up, leaving only a mattress and sheets.

Nearly everything in his house at Goldenrod City was boxed up for moving to Hoenn. School was just out. Kamon stayed with Professor Elm in New Bark Town while his family stayed at Goldenrod.

Images rushed into his subconscious mind.

The images were very fuzzy. Kamon couldn't tell what most of them showed, but it appeared to be raining as severely as it was now. One of them included an unknown man looking fiercely at him.

Kamon gasped as he awoke, breathing heavily and flipping the light switch.

Thump...

Kamon froze. He was worried that someone may be trying to break in.

Thump...

Rattling could be heard at the window. Kamon went closer to get a better look. The man had a hood, so Kamon couldn't identify him. Worriedly, he opened the window.

"Thanks, Silver." The man lifted his hood. It turned out to be just Duncan Caliduct, also known as "Gold", much to Kamon's (aka "Silver") relief. "It's wet out there."

Kamon and Duncan both remembered how a year ago they, along with Duncan's sister Crystal, had been involved in Team Rocket's plan to find Kamon's father, in other words, their former leader.

"Why did you come here?" asked Kamon.

"Well, I didn't want to be alone in my room."

Kamon, however, decided that he wanted to get on with his life. He had some doubts, however, due to the dream he just had. Or was it a memory of his childhood? Kamon then realized that he didn't remember anything before age six... nothing but a blank slate. He never even went to school like other kids.

With that in his mind, Kamon rested on his bed, with Duncan next to him. Before Duncan and Crystal, Kamon didn't have any real friends except for his pet Persian, Axel, who was still back at home.

The farthest Kamon could remember was being in the old house in Viridian Forest. His mother passed away when he was nine. Kamon also had significant mental illness; he was unable to speak or understand simple things until he first met Duncan and Crystal two years ago. When his father disappeared, Kamon wandered into Viridian City and had been arrested for shoplifting food from a store. When the police found that Kamon was mentally ill, they remanded him to Saffron City Sanitarium, where he had gotten treatment until his uncle took him home.

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The alarm clock turned on automatically. "...If this is your wake-up call, wake up!"

The room was messy. Glass soda bottles and popcorn bags littered the desk around a twenty-inch iMac with a speaker set. Rock posters splashed the walls.

Tabitha Ventosia dashed out of bed. The bedspread was topaz-yellow shading. He pulled on a pair of jeans, gelled his mullet, and ran down the hall to the kitchen.

"Hey, Uncle Surge! Just a week before me and Courtney get out of probation!"

Lt. Surge, Tabitha's uncle and the Gym Leader of Vermilion City, said gratefully, "You're so happy. You've got Courtney, and you don't ever want to leave her."

"Nope, we don't!" Tabitha replied happily as he bit into a salami sandwich. "We're going to apply for college today. See ya soon!" He then ran out the window.

"Hey! Walk!"

But Tabitha had already gone.

---

Courtney Ramalio checked the calendar. "Just a week before probation expires!" The plan was for her to go to Kanto University in the fall.

"Hey, Courtney!" Agatha exclaimed. "Aren't ya supposed to be in school?"

"School?" Courtney asked, dumbfounded. "Granny, it's summer, and I'm twenty-one. I don't go to school anymore. But I am going to apply for college. Tabitha too!"

"How ya going to pay for it?"

"Uh... well..." The doorbell rang. "I'll get it. Hi, Tabby!"

"Hey, Courtney! We've gotta find money for college!"

"I know! Granny told me that. What are we going to do?"

"Let's go look for a job that can get us scholarships for the whole four years!"

"Well, then we should get started now." Courtney ran out and into Tabitha's convertible. "Bye, Granny! See you later!"

---

At Duncan and Crystal's house, pancakes were being served. The Caliducts were also moving to Hoenn.

"We're making them for Duncan's birthday," said Lisa gratefully.

"Fifteen years old," added Roger.

Duncan poured a few drops of maple syrup on his pancakes.

Crystal sprinkled small pieces of assorted fruit on hers.

Kamon then realized something. Between his arrival at Goldenrod and his mother's death (to be exact, between ages nine and sixteen), his birthday was never celebrated.

He still couldn't get that image out of his mind, though.

"I remember last year, you got me that PokeGear. Too bad Team Rocket permanently destroyed it." Duncan still remembered that time when Team Rocket captured him and Crystal in Radio Tower.

Kamon didn't seem to do anything.

"Silver, are you all right?" asked Crystal.

Kamon snapped back to reality. "I'm fine." But he still had that man in his head. Then again, it was probably just a bad dream, and he had to just continue on with his life, including moving to Hoenn.