Chapter One
It was nearing midnight. Weary from the day's work, Dr James Glennon hesitated outside the private office he had spent the better part of half an hour trying to find in the bowels of the Solomon Research facility. The building was constructed like a maze, with four floors of interlocking corridors. If he didn't know better, Glennon would swear the corridors and floors rearranged themselves in the dead of night just to confuse the people working there.
Perhaps that was why his boss liked this institute so much, he thought. He always did seem like a man who enjoyed confusing people. While Glennon had never experienced any personal interaction with the man he worked for, his reputation as one of the most intelligent men Sinnoh had ever produced had well preceded him. Whispers among his colleagues had the boss pinned as volatile and unpredictable and someone who should not be crossed under any circumstances.
His hand hovered in mid-air by the door as he tried to steady his nerves. While it was true that the boss was an intimidatingly smart man with more degrees than some people had had hot dinners, a degenerative disease and a host of illnesses in his later life had left him crippled and, if you were to believe the rumours, highly mentally unstable.
His knuckles rapped on the door almost like they possessed a will of their own. A thin voice, so weak that Glennon almost missed it, bid him to enter. He slipped in and found the room entirely drenched in darkness. Not even able to see a hand in front of his face, he only dared take a few steps forward in fear of falling or walking into something.
"Sir?" His voice sounded pathetically shaky and he cringed, hoping he wasn't coming across as too nervous. "It's… it's, uh… it's Glennon from the technical department."
The reply was slow in coming, so much so that Glennon stammered out his statement again in the worry that his boss had not heard him. The boss's reply was weak and rasping, like it could be swallowed up by the stagnant air and entirely consumed. "What do you want?"
"I'm here to give a progress report, uh… sir," he replied as smartly as he could.
The boss grunted impatiently and Glennon quickly launched into the speech he had spent most of the past ten minutes rehearsing in his head. "Well, sir, I've received word from one of the Directors. I'm happy to report that everything has been taken care of, sir. The letters have all been sent out."
"Every one?"
"Yes, sir. Over three hundred sent out to the six regions you specified. It is possible we could expect responses as early as the day after tomorrow."
"Excellent."
A mechanical whirring broke the uneasy silence and after a moment, the large drapes covering the farthest away window fell away and revealed the night sky. The moon was nothing more than a delicate sliver hanging lazily in a flawless sky, like it was suspended on a puppet string. It shone a gentle light onto the cluttered floor and Glennon noticed various books and papers strewn everywhere. A rattling noise caught his attention and Glennon managed to pick out the shape of the wheelchair his boss depended on for his everyday movement. He manoeuvred himself towards the window, which was so big it encompassed most of the wall, and came to a stop.
"Glennon, was it?"
Glennon jumped at the unexpected address. "Uh… yes, sir."
"Come here."
Glennon obediently moved closer. Too reluctant to make eye contact, he simply stood by the boss's hunched over figure. "Yes, sir?"
"It's a beautiful view, Glennon. Isn't it?"
"Yes, sir. Quite beautiful." Glennon replied, trying to ignore the feeling that his boss had just given him a statement as opposed to asking a question.
The boss was right though. The view was stunning. The Solomon Research Institute had been built snugly into the base of a large, balding cliff and from their position on its top floor, they had the perfect seat for gazing at the many beaches they overlooked. Glennon had often felt that the island would make an ideal backdrop for a modest resort area. Thankfully for the research staff of Callosum Inc., Solomon Island was almost entirely undisturbed by tourists. The island had long since faded into obscurity after the closure of its only other attraction.
The Solomon Island Battle Zone had once been hailed as a true test of a Pokémon trainer's strength, intuition and endurance, had been condemned and closed after a string of fatal accidents. Now it lay overrun and forgotten. To this day, it remained almost impenetrable; fenced off from the Institute and the rest of the island by a protective alcove of high cliffs. Its expansive and varied terrain could prove troublesome for even the most experienced of trainers. Several rivers snaked down from a mountainous zone towards the far west that culminated into a huge lake that sat neatly in the centre of it all. Rumours had once been rampant about a live volcano hidden somewhere among the mountains but no-one had ever found any evidence of it. On the eastern side of the island was a punishing desert frequently ravaged by unpredictable sandstorms. Shells of old ruins were sometimes reported in the distance on a clear day, but no-one knew exactly what they used to be.
The wheelchair bound man twitched his lips in what should have been a smile as he gazed out at the distant Battle Zone. "Too bad. It looks like rain," he commented idly, despite the fact the sky was unblemished and clear.
"…sir?" Glennon questioned, frowning.
The man chuckled. "Nothing. Nothing at all."
Glennon shifted from foot-to-foot. "Well, sir… If there's nothing else?"
"Yes, yes, you run along and attend to your duties, Glennon. But before you go, please call the Callosum Directors to my office. We have some details to finalise."
"Yes, sir. Right away, sir."
Glennon hurried away and left the wheelchair bound man alone. By the time the Callosum Directors came to the office, dark clouds had swept across the sky and a light scattering of rain began to fall across the entire of Solomon Island. He listened to its steady downpour and smiled.
The letter came for her that morning.
At first, it lay abandoned on the mat along with a rent invoice, several bills, a pamphlet from some company she had never heard of boldly claiming it could 'save you hundreds on your car and home insurance!' and the monthly appeal from the Pokémon Protection Agency for donations and volunteers. The stack of letters wasn't an unusual thing. Normally, the mail would lie unopened for weeks until the pile resembled something like the Lumiose City phonebook, leaving her no choice but to reluctantly sift through them.
This morning, however, she was alerted to the mail's arrival by an incessant chiming from the front door. Her Chimecho hovered above the pile of letters, waggling his long tail and crying for attention as she stumbled, bleary-eyed, from her bedroom.
"What you got there, Beau?" she mumbled sleepily.
"Chime-Chime!" he trilled, indicating a thick white envelope lying neatly on top of the pile.
There was something different about this letter; not like the usual nonsense that was rammed through the door. For starters, her name was written as Rebecca Taylor and not simply Becky like most people called her, it had been printed in careful sloping black ink and had been stamped with a Sinnoh postmark. She picked it up and for a brief moment, the faint smell of seaweed baking in hot air tickled her nostrils.
She clumsily edged the envelope open and unfolded the letter.
"Dear Trainer,
Congratulations! You have been selected to attend the illustrious and exclusive "Pokémon Training and You: What Happens Next?" seminar to be held on Solomon Island in the Sinnoh Region.
This event is tailored to give trainers who have been successful in their Pokémon training career advice and assistance in their future. Recent research from Goldenrod University has claimed that 37% of Pokémon trainers never achieve more than an entry level job after concluding their training career and only 11% choose a Pokémon related profession in later life. The people of Callosum Inc. and Pokémon Training and You! want to change this.
We aim to provide you with the opportunity to meet others in the same situation and teach you how to transfer the experiences and skills you have amassed in your years as Pokémon trainers into the real world. Should you choose to attend this event, you will benefit from the wisdom of our guest speakers, which included current and ex-Champions, Gym Leaders and Battle Frontier winners. These guest speakers will deliver a series of exciting and informative lectures and workshops on what can await you after a successful Pokémon training career.
The itinerary is as follows:
09:00 AM: Registration and welcome
09:15 AM: Introductory lecture from the President of "Pokémon Training and You!"
10:00 AM: "After the Elite Four: What You Need to Know" - Lecture from current Kalos League Champion Diantha.
10:30 AM: Mid-morning break
11:00 AM: "Pokémon and Politics" – A guest lecture from the chair of the Pokémon Protection Agency
11:45 AM: "Going into Gym Leading?" – Lecture delivered by ex-Gym leader Byron of Canalave City.
12:30 PM: Lunch break
13:30 PM: Workshop – Are my Pokémon training skills transferable to the real world?
15:00 PM: "Finding Frontier Fame" – Lecture from ex-Battle Frontier Champions
15:45 PM: "Pokémon and Psychology" – Guest lecture from Professor H. A. Goldberg, PhD.
16:30 PM: "How Pokémon Training Got Me the Job of My Dreams" – Lecture delivered by Miss J. Laughton whose Pokémon training skills ensured her a top job in Moore and More Industries, Kanto's top manufacturer of luxury trainer goods.
17:00 PM: Concluding words.
Should you wish to attend this event, please complete the personal information slip on the second page of this document and post it directly to the address shown by no later than Friday 17th May, 2019. Directions and further information will be arranged once your attendance slip has been received.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Kind regards,
President T. Jackson of Pokémon Training and You!
Professor H. A. Goldberg and the staff of Callosum Inc.
Initially, she yawned her way through the letter and skimmed over the majority of the words. Her first instinct was to scrunch it up into a ball and collapse back into bed for a few more hours. However, when she went to stuff it into the bin, Beau made such an unholy racket in protest that she decided against it. The instincts of a Psychic Pokémon should never be ignored, that much she was certain of. It was only that knowledge that made her sit down at the kitchen table with a cup of milky coffee and the letter to read it again.
With the benefits of caffeine, the letter began to make sense. In fact, the more she read it, the more she was intrigued by it. An event scheduled just for Pokémon trainers to teach them how to use their skills for what most people called the 'real world', a place most Pokémon trainers didn't concern themselves with. Pokémon trainers lived in a perpetual bubble most of the time, she felt. Often, they forgot things like taxes and jobs even existed. Pokémon training was as worthwhile a venture as ever, but it simply wasn't practical to depend on it as a vocation for the rest of your life.
She stared at the names of the events sponsors. She recognised T. Jackson of "Pokémon Training and You!". He was pretty much a household name. As the head of the largest and most successful Pokémon corporation known to man, barely a day went by when he wasn't on the television for interviews or to plug the various trainer guides he had written over the years. The name Professor H. A. Goldberg was unfamiliar to her so she wasted no time in pulling up an internet search on him. She found several psychological journal articles dating back to the late nineties about the effect of Pokémon companionship on wound healing, but nothing that would hint as to why he was involved in an event like that one.
She left it at that and read the letter over again. There was one event that caught her eye. "Going into Gym Leading?" delivered by ex-Gym Leader Byron. Gym Leading was always something she had deliberated over as she got older. She was the first to admit that there was precious little to do after getting bored of the same old routine of beating Gym circuits and leagues. Unless you were a fanatic, most Pokémon trainers either faded into obscurity, got married or went back to the grind of school or work after a few years. None of those options suited her. Becoming a Gym Leader was almost a guarantee of being able to support yourself and any family and partners that came along, while still maintaining a lifestyle and passion.
She signed the back of the slip in her messy scrawl.
"Name – Becky Taylor
Date of Birth – 4th February, 1998.
Place of Residence – Azalea Town, Johto.
Trainer Accolades – Beaten Johto, Hoenn, Kanto and Sinnoh Gym Circuits. Johto Battle Frontier Champion 2017-2018.
RSVP – Yes."
And for a few days, she forgot all about it.
Author's Note
Well, this is an eventuality I never saw coming xP
That's right! I'm back! After my relationship with my boyfriend broke down over Christmas, I found I needed a creative outlet. That, and I have a 9,000 word creative writing dissertation to do in April so I needed to be nudged back into the habit of writing routinely and consistently. I figured a good way to get me back into that habit would be fanfiction =)
I decided against continuing along with my other fanfictions as my writing style has been influenced somewhat and I wouldn't feel right continuing an old project as the difference would be glaringly obvious xP So instead, I'm here with this new fic. I expect it to be a lot darker than things I've written. It's likely going to be gory and dark and will have a fair amount of character death. So yeah; wee bit different from what you're used to with me xP
I'm not altogether sure I still have any relevance in the Pokemon community any more and I can't really guarantee regular updates because of university crap, but if you're willing to give this a read and follow along with it, I'd be seriously grateful =)
Thank you all so much =)