Chapter 1
~~ It was 3 in the morning, but Adam Grey couldn't sleep. He was sprawled out on his bed, and was dead tired, but he was too excited to close his eyes. His first day at the academy was the next day, and for a 13 year old boy, it was the most exciting moment of his life. He had heard all the stories about what would happen. Once he arrived, he would get his first Pokemon, and he would learn how to become a Pokemon Trainer. He gently tossed a pokeball up into the air and caught it. The final time he threw it, it hit the ceiling and it popped open and fell back, hitting him in the face. He flinched and sat up, rubbing his nose. A voice called out from the other room.
"Adam? What are you doing in there? You've got a big day tomorrow!"
Adam sighed and laid back on his bed.
"I know mom. I was just about to get to sleep."
When she didn't respond, Adam resumed tossing the pokeball up in the air. He was going to make sure tomorrow was a great day.
~~ Morning light streamed into Adam's eyes as he slowly opened them. His first sight that morning was the face of a little girl, staring into his eyes, her own eyes not blinking once. Adam screamed and moved to push her away, but she backed up, making him roll off the bed. The little girl knelt down next to him.
"Mom told me to wake you up." she said innocently.
Adam groaned and got himself off the floor. Suddenly, he stopped and looked at her.
"Katie, what day is it?"
"It's Monday big brother."
"Monday? I'm gonna be late for the first day at the academy!"
He pushed his little sister out of his room and quickly changed into the uniform the academy had sent to him. He then bolted out of the room and was just about to run out the door when his mother stopped him.
"Where are you going honey?" she asked.
"I've gotta go! I'm gonna be late!"
His mother laughed and shook her head.
"I had Katie wake you up early Adam. You've still got an hour to get to the academy."
Adam sighed with relief and sat down on the couch. His little sister had already gotten into the room and turned on the TV, where the local news was doing a story on the academy. Their mother set two bowls of oatmeal down at the table in front of the kids, which Katie immediately attacked. Adam ate a few spoonfuls, then sat back.
"What's wrong? Are you nervous about today?" his mother asked. She smiled and sat down next to him. "I remember my first day of the academy."
Adam looked up at his mother in surprise.
"You went to Pokemon Academy?"
"That's right honey. I wanted to see if I could become a trainer, but it turns out that fighting with pokemon wasn't exactly what I was cut out to do. I was assigned a pokemon the day I arrived, and we've been inseparable ever since."
She looked down at her Persian that was curled up on the rug in the center of the room, snoring deeply.
"All I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't get stressed out. You'll have a great time and I'm sure you're going to become an excellent trainer."
"What about me momma?" Katie asked in her high pitched voice.
"You've got a couple of years before you're going to the academy."
Katie sighed and sunk deeper into the couch. Adam finished his breakfast and rose from the couch, grabbing his duffel back that had the academy's emblem on it.
"I'm gonna get going. I kind of want to get there early and look around."
"Good idea honey. Your bikes out front as usual. Remember not to talk to anybody you don't know and don't wander into the tall grass!"
"Thanks mom, see you later!"
~~ Adam was out of breath as he neared the Academy, just outside the outskirts of Saffron City. He could see the large building on the horizon, and he pedaled faster to reach it, but as he started down a hill, his bike chain loosened, then popped off, bouncing off the back tire. He gasped as his pedals spun out of control. He lifted his feet and tried desperately to stay on, but he hit a rock and went flying over the handlebars and down a ravine, landing in a patch of grass.
He groaned and got to his feet. He looked down and saw a large rip in the left knee of his uniform pants, along with various patches of dirt all over the rest of the uniform. He examined his bike and saw that the front tire and the chain were missing, while the back tire was bent out of shape. He looked for an easier way up the ravine than simply dragging his bike up, but there didn't appear to be an alternate route. He made up his mind that he would leave his bike here and come back after the day was done. He started to climb up the side of the rocky terrain, but a noise from behind made him stop in his tracks. He slowly turned to see that he was face to face with a Houndour. It looked like any other Houndour, except that it had a scar under its right eye, like it had recently been in a fight. It wasn't growling and didn't seem be scared or angry, but for Adam, it was a different story.
"E-easy boy."
There was nowhere for Adam to run, even if he wanted to. The small pokemon approached him and sniffed his arm. When it was apparent that there was no immediate danger, Adam reached out and ran his hand over the top of its head. The Houndour responded by jumping into the boy's lap and licking his face.
A sudden beeping noise surprised both of them, and Adam reached into his pocket and retrieved his cell phone. The sound was his alarm, signifying that he had 10 minutes to get to the academy. Adam quickly got to his feet, retrieved his duffel bag, and gently pushed the Houndour away, attempting once again to climb up the ravine. Once he reached the road, he stopped to rest, putting his hands on his knees. He ran down the road and reached the doors of the academy just as the bell rang. He entered the building and looked around. He saw a large mass of students, some younger than him, some older, but all were heading towards the auditorium. Adam followed suit.
~~ "Alright students, settle down." The loud booming voice of the headmaster was unmistakable. "For some of you, this is your first day here. For others, you are returning to continue your studies into pokemon training."
As he spoke, Adam looked around for somewhere to sit. There was a group of older teens sitting next to each other, and groups of younger ones sitting together. In fact, the only table that seemed to be available was occupied by a girl and boy about his age, and another boy who looked to be a bit older. He cautiously approached the table and sat down next to the younger boy. There was no talking between them, they all listened to headmaster as he finished his speech.
"…so let's all make this year another great one. You're dismissed students."
All of the students rose and made their way out of the auditorium, but Adam, confused, got swept away with the crowd until he was pushed out into the hallway. He stood around and examined his schedule, looking for what he had to do first. A tap on his shoulder made him turn around, and saw the girl he had sat across from. She smiled and extended her hand in greeting.
"You must be new here. I'm Meghan."
Adam shook her hand and returned the smile.
"I'm Adam. Is it really that easy to tell that I'm new?"
Meghan laughed.
"Well if you knew the rules than you wouldn't have showed up with your uniform looking like that."
Adam looked down, suddenly remembering his tattered clothes.
"Oh jeez. Am I gonna get in trouble for this?"
"Probably, unless we can find you a new uniform. Here, come with me."
Meghan looked up the stairs and called out to the younger boy who had been at the table with them. He pushed his way back through the crowd and approached them.
"Hey Meg, what's up?"
"Hey Donnie. This is Adam." she motioned to him and Donnie waved. "Adam, Donnie."
Adam nodded to the other boy, who turned to Meghan.
"Adam has a bit of a…problem…with his uniform. You have a spare right?"
Donnie looked Adam up and down and raised an eyebrow.
"Um…yeah. I guess I could spare my extra. He looks like he's about the same size as me. Come with me."
Donnie and Meghan led Adam up two flights of stairs, then down a hallway. Along the walls were several doors that looked like they led into rooms for students. They stopped at a door with a sign on it that had the name Donald Morgan on the top, and an empty spot below it, like another name could go there. Donnie opened the door and headed inside, waving goodbye to Meghan who went into her room across the way.
Once Adam entered, Donnie shut the door behind them and went over to his closet, retrieving a uniform from inside and handing it to him.
"Here, this should fit you. You can change in the bathroom."
Adam was looking around the room. It was small, but not too small. There were two identical beds, two identical desks, and two identical dressers. It looked like Donnie had recently had a roommate.
"You'd better hurry up if you want to get to the Assignment Ceremony on time." Donnie said, sitting on his bed.
Adam realized he was right, then went into the bathroom to change.
~~ Twenty minutes later, Adam had gotten to the auditorium again, where a mass of students Adam's age stood in a line in front of the stage. A long table was set up on the stage, with pokeballs neatly lined up on top. The headmaster, along with everyone else in the room, seemed to stare at him as he joined up at the end of the line. Once he was there, the man started his speech.
"Welcome, new trainers! Today marks the first day of the greatest journey of your lives! Today you will receive your first pokemon!"
The auditorium broke out into applause and cheers, and the headmaster lifted his hands to calm the crowd.
"Settle down students. You've got a long way to go before your facing the Pokemon League Champions. Now, you all took an evaluation this morning when you arrived, and using those answers, we will determine which pokemon you will receive as your partner."
Adam's heart fell. An evaluation? When did this happen? It must have been just before he arrived.
"You'll be called up in alphabetical order by last name and will receive your pokemon. Please do not release them from their pokeballs until you are out of the auditorium. When you have received your pokemon, return to your rooms until your first class begins."
As the headmaster called students up to the stage, Adam got progressively more nervous. After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the G's.
"Jackie Garrison! Mason Gaynon! Samantha Fredricks!"
Adam felt like he would faint. The headmaster had gone right over his name. It was like he didn't exist. He backed out of the line-up, bumping into someone behind him. He turned to see a middle aged woman staring him down. She was wearing a name tag that stated her name was Mrs. Gregory.
"Going somewhere?" she asked.
Adam managed to tell her his situation, and she sighed and led him out of the auditorium. Once they were in the hall she resumed the talk.
"So you were late this morning because your bike broke and you fell down a ravine?"
Adam nodded, then stared at the ground.
"You realize that we're only authorized to assign pokemon to those students who complete the exam right?"
Adam shook his head and remained silent.
"I'm sorry young man, but there's nothing we can do. You'll have to come back next year. It's too late to complete an exam now."
The boy looked up with shock on his face.
"B-but I've been looking forward to this for years!"
Someone cleared their throat behind them, causing them to look towards the source. The headmaster stood in the doorway, watching them.
"Hello sir." Mrs. Gregory said calmly. "I was just telling this student the penalty for not completing an exam."
The headmaster approached and stopped in front of Adam.
"Why didn't you complete your exam young man?"
Adam recounted his story to the headmaster, who listened intently until he was finished.
"Well Mrs. Gregory, it is true that we cannot issue him another exam. We can however, give him a different kind of test to determine if he's ready."
"Sir, we haven't given that test in over two decades. You can't seriously be thinking that-"
"Has it really been that long? Well, I think it's about time we give it another try then."
Adam's hopes began to lift, and it was at this point that he realized that there were students watching them from the auditorium and the stairwell, and were talking amongst themselves.
"Alright Mr…what is your name boy?" the headmaster asked.
"Adam, sir. Adam Grey."
"Well then Mr. Grey, we'll see if you can pass our backup test tomorrow morning in the fields behind the school."
Adam nodded, and as the headmaster turned to leave, he called out to him.
"Sir! I don't have a place to stay tonight!"
The headmaster turned around and thought for a minute. Mrs. Gregory spoke up again.
"Sir, you know that we're overcrowded as it is. How are we going to find this boy a room on such short notice?"
"He can stay with me." someone called from the crowd.
Adam turned to see Donnie push his way through the crowd on the stairwell. The headmaster turned back to the teacher and smirked.
"It's settled then. See you tomorrow morning Adam."
"Thank you sir!" Adam said excitedly as the headmaster walked back into the auditorium.
Once he left, the crowds in the hall started to thin out, and Adam went with Donnie back up to their room.
~~ "…and this is your bed. Any questions?" Donnie asked as he finished the short tour of the room.
Adam shook his head and fell onto his new bed. There was a knock on the door and Donnie went to answer it. Meghan was on the other side of the door when Donnie opened it.
"Hey guys, I heard what happened. This is pretty exciting you know Adam. The backup test hasn't been given in over two decades!"
"I heard." Adam laughed.
Meghan walked over and sat next to Adam on his bed, Donnie sitting on his across from them.
"I'm glad that we're going to be neighbors Adam, I'm sure we're going to get along great."
Adam turned to Meghan and Donnie and asked them a question.
"So you guys have been here for about a month right?"
They nodded.
"Which Pokemon did you guys get?"
Donnie reached into his pocket and pulled out a miniscule pokeball. He pressed the button on the front and it grew to a normal size. One more press of the button and a bright light shown from the ball and materialized into a tiny brown bird. It turned its head from side to side, looking around the room.
"I got a Pidgey. I'm really not sure how they use those tests to determine what Pokemon you get." Donnie said.
His Pidgey lept up onto his bed next to him and nuzzled into his lap. Meghan unclipped her own pokeball from the belt on her shorts and released her pokemon, a tiny Dratini that curled up under her feet as soon as it was out of the ball. Meghan smiled and helped it into the bed.
"You don't mind if she's up here do you?" Meghan asked.
"Not at all." Adam replied. "You guys got some really cool Pokemon. Do you have any idea what that backup test is about?"
Meghan shook her head.
"Nobody knows about it. In fact, everyone thought it was a legend. It hasn't been performed in something like 24 years."
Adam gulped deeply, and Meghan put her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sure it'll be fine. You should get some rest though, just in case."
Adam agreed, and Dratini curled up on Meghan's shoulders as she left the room. Pidgey jumped to the corner of the room and pecked at a dish filled with food on the ground. Adam had laid on his bed, and it wasn't long before he fell asleep.
~~ Author's Note: This was a completely different story than the one I'm used to, but I've been wanting to do something like this for a while. Let me know what you think, good or bad, and thanks for reading!