This story takes place in the Orre Region, 3 years after the events in Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. Cipher is believed to have been completely destroyed and the entire region is beginning to see more signs of wild Pokemon. The releases of these are going to be sporadic, but I will try my best to not let a ludicrous amount of time pass between chapters
Disclaimer: I've seen these too. I do not own Pokemon; my story is merely basing itself off of a game that I loved growing up (and still do to this day)
If you have any suggestions, opinions, or anything else, I would really love you to PM me about it or submit a review!
Chapter 1: The Cable Snaps
I awoke to my alarm buzzing on my phone. Still face-down in my bed, I blindly ran my hand across my nightstand. After a couple of seconds, I found my phone, and pressed the power button a couple of times. By now, I mustered the energy to flip onto my back and stared at the ceiling fan spinning above me.
A small amount of light shone through my window, as it was still early morning. It was an early morning ritual for me, to look at the ceiling fan and realize how completely unenthusiastic I was about having to do Battle SIMs again. It's not that they were particularly difficult or anything, but the Pokemon that battled in them felt very artificial. Right when I would feel more immersed in the battle and try to encourage the Pokemon that I was using, I'd feel stupid as the "Pokemon" would not respond in any way. It would eventually end up the same way, too; my lack of motivation would lead to me losing the battle, and I would have to convince the instructor that I "wasn't ready for something this challenging".
It worked well at first, but backfired later when my parents heard about how terribly I was doing in practices. As a result I had to wake up extra early to log in more training time. I wanted to be direct with the instructor, and tell him that the Battle SIMs sucked, but it was pretty much the closest thing to Pokemon that I could get on the island. After over two years of simulation training, and a month with private lessons, I had made a pitiful amount of progress.
After about five minutes of looking up at the fan, I got out of bed. Checking the time on my phone revealed that it was 5:45 AM. I walked over to my dresser and changed into the usual. Tan shorts that went down to the knees, a simple black T-shirt, and a grey and black long sleeve shirt over it. Stepping over to the right of the dresser, I looked at myself in the mirror; my black hair was disheveled, spiking in every which direction as it always did, the lighting was nicer this morning too, as my hazel eyes shined back at me through my reflection. Satisfied with how I looked, I threw some black sneakers on and quietly made my way to the front door (I had no interest in eating breakfast and my parents were still asleep). I grabbed my bag on the way out, making sure to fill it with random things to snack on later.
After closing the door behind me, I chucked courtesy out the window and broke into a sprint as I made my way towards the simulation building. I figured that running a bit would make the whole day seem less depressing than it was going to be.
Keeping a jogging pace to account for my lackluster stamina, I arrived at the Battle SIM building just after 6AM. To make sure that I would be getting the best education in battles, my parents went the extra mile and paid for private lessons with a middle-aged man by the name of Salvator. He wore the standard Battle SIM outfit, consisting of a blue jacket and brown cargo pants, except that he earned the right to wear a brown duster (I had no idea why these facilities had to have such ugly fashion trends). His face was a tad wrinkled, but the extreme handlebar mustache -which extended to the sides of his face just below the ears- and slicked back hair
seemed to be a poor attempt at making him appear younger. Instead, he ended up looking like a rejected Yugioh villain.
I entered the simulation center. Given the early hour at which I was scheduled, the main lobby was devoid of people, except Janice (the attendant lady), who was busy getting the routine morning emails out of the way. I waved to her as I passed by.
"Same room as always, I assume?" I asked
The older woman smiled.
"You have a funny way of making small talk with me, sweetie." she replied. "But yes, he's
in Room 4 as always. Try and at least pretend to be excited this time. Salvator tells me he worked especially hard on these ones."
The parting comment makes me nervous, but I have learned at this point that the most important thing right now is keeping my spirits high. If they deflate this early, they I would surely disappoint.
I was forced to stare right at him when I reached the appropriate simulation room. He looked at me with his small eyes (too bad he couldn't fit glasses over the massive moustache) and then looked away again...just the usual.
"I...I...I'm sorry...w-whatever it is..." I told him, although through the heavy breathing and my head down with my hands on my knees, it came out like panting
Salvator took another long sigh and ran his fingers through his inhuman moustache. This was a telltale sign that a lecture was coming my way.
"Attendance is not the issue, Hakins," he began. "Almost a month of my career has been wasted."
And that was just the usual. The simulations were conducted by sitting down in a chair very similar to the reclining ones at the dentist. A headset was attached to the front of the seat, and all I had to do was put it on and take a deep breath. The rest of the morning was occupied by the three battle SIMs that Salvator had set up for me. After each one ended in complete failure time and time again, I could see that something was on Salvator's mind. After failing over a dozen times, I couldn't take the silence.
"Salvator. If you have something terrible to say to me, please say it. It's not helping my focus in these tests when I can feel you glaring at me. Lay it on me!" I replied, wanting to get the SIMs over with as soon as possible.
Salvator tapped his fingers lightly against his chin for a moment, and then suddenly turned to face me. This sudden movement made me step back a bit. This was unusual behavior, even for Salvator: something was definitely different this time.
"Tell me, why do arrive on time for these lessons?" he asked
"I heard that correctly, right?" I replied, completely taken aback by the question.
"I can guarantee that you heard the question in its entirety." he assured me
"Okay, um..." It was hard to me to respond with the massive moustache man towering
well over half a foot over me. After a deep breath, I continued.
"Well, I do it because I'm supposed to, and so that I don't waste your time and be rude in
the process." I replied. Salvator turned away from me again, and started pacing around the large SIM room.
"So, when you come here on time every day and make me arrange a simulation specifically catered to your skills, or to be frank lack thereof, and fail time and time again..." Salvator took a moment to rub his eyes, and at this point I was standing up and seized the opportunity to respond
"Sir, I try my hardest, I really do! But it's just that-"
"No Hakins, you don't try at all!" his response was loud enough to make me stop what I was saying.
"Look, I am not blind. I've observed you during the simulations, and I have reached two very different conclusions. Either you are incapable of commanding a Pokemon in battle due to your lack of concentration and quickness to concede," After saying this, he raised one hand up and made a thumbs down, and continued pacing.
"The other conclusion is that you possess a powerful fighting spirit as a Pokemon trainer, and your desire to bond with Pokemon comes with a genuine care for their well being and emotions." At saying this, he made a thumbs-up with his other free arm.
I was seriously debating what to say next. If I told him the truth, that I wanted to bond with Pokemon and saw no use to the classes, then he would surely let my parents know, and I would be unable to convince them that I was ready to be a Pokemon trainer. If I lied, then I would be stuck in beginner's classes for another year and lose the small amount of faith that Salvator still had in me. Choosing my words carefully, I spoke.
"Sir, I want to become closer with Pokemon. I want to explore Orre and befriend wild Pokemon and the people that are also in search of them. It's just that-" I could already feel myself getting emotional.
Salvator stopped pacing and brought two chairs over, motioning for me to sit down in one of them. I gladly sat down, so that I was now directly across from the instructor. We sat there in silence for a few moments.
"Hakins, we are on the verge of actually making progress." Salvator said, clenching his fists and breaking the silence. "Normally, I would encourage my students to only share what they were comfortable with, but please do not let a chair stop this breakthrough. Or would you rather not become what you are telling me you want to?"
"Okay...alright," I replied, taking a deep breath.
I had never shared these thoughts out loud before, and the idea of saying what I was about to say to a man who had spent his life involved in Simulation Battling was nerve wracking. Still, it was now or never.
"It's just that I cannot see the value of these Battle Simulations. I know that you strongly disagree with that statement, but please do not interrupt." Salvator only nodded in response.
"These simulations," I continued. "Although perfectly recreating what I think two Pokemon battling would be like, don't do a full battle justice. When my father used to tell me about his experiences as a Pokemon trainer, he would always stress that a bond between people and Pokemon can be strong enough to defy odds and disprove what is normally certain. I believe that encouragement is just as important as strength, and that Pokemon should not be treated like...like..."
"Tools for battle," Salvator added, once again running his right hand along his moustache.
I nodded, glad that my point was making sense to the SIM Master.
"Yeah...I just think that there is so much more to the world of Pokemon than battling." Salvator looked away for a moment, and then stood up from his chair.
"Hakins, I believe that simulations will not be of use to you in your journey to understand
Pokemon. Therefore, I am to assume that you are a person of action." Salvator said, walking over to one of the file cabinets that existed in the room.
From it, he pulled out two round balls, making sure to blow the dust off of them. He made his way back over to me, and tossed one of the balls at me. I caught it, and took a look.
"Salvator? Is this..." I trailed off, ready to be stunned if my guess was correct. The Pokemon in the simulations were already out and ready to battle, so I had never seen one up close before.
"Yes, Hakins," Salvator said, cracking a small smile. "These are Poke Balls, with Pokemon contained within. You and I are having a Pokemon Battle; no simulations and no more excuses."