Chapter 1

I'd be lying if I said that I knew he was special when I first met him.

There wasn't a chill that went down my spine, or a shock that I felt when I saw him. He was just another visitor to the Aquacorde Town Library.

Of course, I hadn't seen him before then; most people who came to the library were regulars. The old man who lived several blocks away, the kids who came for children hour, the occasional teen visitor. My first thought upon seeing him was that he was a tourist.

Then again, he didn't really look like a tourist. He wore a long brown coat and a newsboy cap. His hair beneath the cap was a deep blue, and it jutted out behind his head. His eyes were red. If anything, he looked like he came down from Lumiose City; his fashion seemed to suggest as much.

He was staring at the bookshelf, lost in thought. As an assistant librarian (and because I needed something to do), I took this as a sign that he could use help and walked over to him. "Hi. Can I help you?"

He looked at me, and for the briefest moment, an expression of shock appeared on his face. But it faded just as quickly, and he shook his head. "No thanks."

I was baffled. "Is- is there something wrong?"

"No. Sorry, I mistook you for someone else." And with that, he pulled out a book from the shelf and went to the couch to read it.

I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I went back to the front desk to continue reading my own book. We didn't speak again until he left.

He was practically a resident during the next few days. He would arrive at nine and stay until three, engrossed in some book or another. Those days were very slow, and as a result I found myself becoming more and more curious as to whom he was. However, everything he did seemed standoffish, so I hesitated to ask him directly. Instead, I just snuck glances at him from my desk and over my shoulder when I was reshelving books.

It was on the third day when I had just put away some books that coincidentally happened to be right next to him that I decided to take a glance at the large book he was reading.

It was about geography in the Kalos region. He was on a page discussing the area around Lumiose City-

The book closed with a loud snap. I leapt about a foot or two in the air.

"You can stop spying on me now," he said.

"S-sorry," I muttered. I started walking back to the desk. Good job sneaking around. You've done it now, I thought.

"Why?"

I turned around. "Huh?"

The book was still closed, and he was looking at me. "Why were you spying on me?"

It took me so off-guard, I struggled to find words. "I, uh…"

He waited, tapping his fingers on the book.

My tongue loosened. "I guess it was because I haven't seen you around here before. Most of the people who come here are regulars."

"Right." He opened the book and continued to read it.

I stood there for a few seconds, feeling awkward, and was about to walk back to the desk when he spoke again. "If I tell you more about myself, will you stop staring at me so much?"

I felt my face flush. "I, um..."

He put the book down. "I'm not from around here. I'm just passing through on my way to Lumiose. I'll be leaving again soon. I'm from someplace far away. Does that about cover it?"

"I… sure." I was silent for a moment. "Do… you want me to tell you about myself? So we'll be even?"

His attention had already returned to the book. "You don't have to," he said.

"It's no problem," I replied.

"No, you really don't have to. I can already tell that you're a Trainer working as an assistant librarian."

The statement hit me like a sucker punch. "I- what? How- how did you-"

His eyes didn't leave the book as he spoke. "The signs are everywhere. Your hands and forearms are covered in scars and burn marks. That could point to a Trainer or Ranger, or a chef. When I closed the book earlier-" My eyebrows shot up. "-Your first reaction was to reach for your belt-or rather, where your belt would be. That narrows it down to a Ranger or Trainer. Since Trainers are more common than Rangers, that was my guess." He paused. "Did I get it right?"

I was impressed. "Yeah," I replied, then hesitated. "Well, not quite. It's ex-Trainer now." The words left a bitter taste in my mouth.

His eyes flashed up briefly. "Ah."

There was a long silence.

Finally, I smiled weakly at him. "Well, thanks for indulging me. I'll stop bothering you now."

He gave the smallest of nods.

I went back to the front desk.

He wasn't really wrong. Up until late last year, I was a Trainer. But then, one thing led to another, and now I was working at a library in Aquacorde Town. That was the easiest way to think of it, anyway.

"I never caught your name."

I started and looked up.

He was standing by the front desk, obviously about to leave.

That's right, I forgot to wear my nametag. I cleared my throat. "Ebony. Ebony Fortmirth."

He blinked. "Ebony? That's an interesting name."

I shrugged. "And… what's yours?"

"Thomas."

I waited.

"Just Thomas."

"You… don't have a last name?"

"No. Don't need one." He left.

The silence that followed was a puzzled one.

I didn't see him after that until afternoon on the fourth day that he was there. This time, however, it wasn't in the library.

I had just gotten back from my shift at the library when my cousin, who I was staying with in Aquacorde, gave me a package to deliver to the Potions shop in the square. I had tried to get out of it, much to her confusion, but in the end I accepted the errand.

The square was fairly busy; today was Market Day, which meant that stalls were set up around the square. Still, it didn't take me too long to find the shop. Once I arrived, I spent about ten minutes standing outside it, just trying to steel my nerves. Look, it isn't even technically a Poké Mart. It just sells potions. There's no reason to be afraid. Why are you so afraid? I inhaled deeply, but my nerves didn't steady. I decided that it wasn't likely that I would stop being nervous, so I briskly walked inside.

The Potions store wasn't very crowded. There were only two other customers besides me, perusing the shelves. What a small place, I thought to myself.

The clerk of the store smiled and waved at me. "Hello! Welcome! What can I do for you?"

I smiled back, walked up and put the package on the counter. "I just came to drop off this."

He lifted the package up and studied it. "Ah! This is from Lily. Thanks! Hey, are you that cousin that I've heard about?"

Uh oh. I plastered a smile on my face. "Yes, hi."

"Cool! I don't think I've seen you around here before. Are you a Trainer?"

I was struggling to find the words to answer him when the doors burst open and a man walked in. He shouldered past me and slammed a hand down on the counter. "Hey. The Full Restores you sold me don't work. I want a refund."

The clerk squinted at him, confused. "I-I'm sorry, but I don't think I've actually served you, at least not today. When did-"

"It wasn't you, it was the lady. Now I want my refund."

The clerk blinked, then nodded. "You mean Tiffany. She's out right now. You say the Full Restores didn't work? May I see them?"

The man pulled a packet of six Full Restores out of his jacket and shoved it into the clerk's hands. "See for yourself."

The clerk turned away from the man. I heard him testing each of the bottles. He turned back around. "It looks like you're right." He placed the Full Restores on the counter, a puzzled look on his face. "I'd be glad to give you a refund, sir, but first I need to see your receipt."

The man's eyes hardened. "I left it at home."

The clerk splayed his hands. "Well, I'm sorry, sir, but unless you give me a receipt, I can't give you a refund."

The man grumbled, picked up the packet, and stormed out of the shop.

The clerk turned to me. "I'm sorry about that interruption. We're not usually so busy. What were you saying?"

"I, um-"

The doors swung open again, and this time it was Thomas who walked in. He snatched an item off the shelf and quickly strode up to the counter.

The clerk gave a bewildered smile. "Hello, sir! How can I help-"

Thomas cut him off. "I'd like these Full Restores. Right now, please."

"Um, sure. I should warn you, though, we've had a customer complain that-"

"Just let me buy them. Time is of the essence."

The clerk shot me an uneasy glance and rang up his purchase. "If you're sure, sir. That'll be 18,000."

My eyebrows went up. 18,000 wasn't a small price.

Thomas swiped his ID through the card reader.

"Here's your receipt."

"Thanks." Thomas took them and walked out.

The clerk whistled and shook his head. "All these interruptions! I don't usually get so many customers so quickly."

I was deep in thought. There's something kind of weird about this. I have no idea what, though.

"-You say hi to Lily for me?"

I started. "Huh?"

"You're going back, right? Could you say hi to Lily for me?"

I smiled. "Sure!"

I left the Potions Shop.

This experience had been eventful, but in a way I hadn't expected.

Imagine my surprise when Lily and I ended up in the square again about an hour later. Apparently, she had forgotten to include a message with the package, so she decided to deliver it personally. Even though I was pretty tired, I didn't really want to stay at the house by myself, so I went with her.

The square was even more crowded when we got there. It took a little while to get through all the people. I looked around to see if I could spot Thomas, just out of curiosity, but I didn't see him. Why did he buy those Full Restores, anyway? For some reason, he doesn't seem like a Trainer. Oh, well. I wasn't as good at figuring things out about people as he seemed to be.

When we got inside the shop, it was a woman at the counter. She put down the book she was reading and waved at us. "Hey, Lily! Rob said you brought us a package earlier. How are you?"

Lily smiled back. "Hello! I just forgot to tell you that the dried Cheri Berries might upset your Bunnelby's throat, so you should be careful when feeding them to him."

The female clerk- Tiffany, I guessed- nodded. "Thanks! I'll be sure to relay the-"

The doors burst open, yet again, and the man from earlier came up to the counter. "Hey. I'm here to return these Full Restores." The man slapped them on the counter. "They don't work."

Tiffany looked at it. "Are you sure they don't?"

"Yeah."

"Well, let me just test them." Tiffany turned around.

Lily turned to me. "Well, shall we go back to the house?"

"No," I replied, keeping a wary eye on the man. "You go ahead. I'll stay here."

Lily looked at me in surprise, then shrugged. "Fair enough. I'll see you back at the house." She left.

Tiffany turned back around, having tested the Full Restore. "That's weird. Well, I'd be happy to give you a refund if you could just show me the receipt."

This time, the man pulled the receipt out of his coat. He put it on the counter.

Tiffany picked it up. "Great! Well-"

Suddenly, Thomas melted out of the shadows and came up to the counter. "Don't do it. It's a scam."

The man glared at him. "What're you talking about?"

"That Full Restore is a knockoff, if a convincing one. Look. You can see the lines in the plastic. It's not the same quality."

The female clerk hesitantly picked up the Full Restore and examined it. "I see," she said. She sounded a little embarrassed, possibly at not knowing.

The man's eyes narrowed. His body seemed to tense.

"I'm also willing to bet that it's full of a cheap water solution. And that the receipt isn't even yours."

"What the hell? Why don't you mind your own damn business?" The man was getting angrier.

Thomas ignored him. He turned to the female clerk. "Excuse me, but what's the name on the receipt?"

Tiffany looked down at the receipt. "It just says Thomas," she replied.

Thomas pulled out his ID. "Thomas. At your service."

The female clerk looked between the ID and the receipt. "The ID numbers match," she said, her voice taking on a sharp edge.

The man bolted out the door, knocking off a few items from the shelf.

The female clerk sighed and shook her head. "Wow. I hadn't expected someone to try and scam us. Full Restores aren't exactly our cheapest item, but still…" She looked at Thomas. "How did you know about this? Besides seeing the lines in the plastic and such."

Thomas raised an eyebrow. "I saw him topping them off at the fountain in the square before he went into your shop. I guessed he was trying to make a return. He didn't seem to be successful the first time, so I guessed that he would try again later, when it was a different clerk up front."

Tiffany nodded, clearly impressed. "And the receipt?"

"I 'lost' it. Lucky him."

Tiffany grinned. "Well, thank you so much for your help! If there's anything we can do for you-"

"Actually, there is."

"Oh, really?"

Thomas pulled the Full Restore packet from out of his coat. "Could I please make a return? I really have no use for all of these."

Tiffany laughed and started making the return.

I had been silent this whole time- a quiet observer. I realized just how awkward it was when Thomas turned to look at me. I cleared my throat. "That was… pretty amazing."

He turned away. "Thanks."

If he's trying to be less mysterious, he's failing, I thought. I didn't say anything else, though.

Tiffany finished the return. "Have a great day! You're our hero!"

He nodded and left.

As soon as he was gone, however, I became aware that something was off. Wait. Did he really just "guess" that the guy was making a return? How did he know the guy needed a receipt? I shrugged it off. He'd known somehow.

Once I left the shop, I realized that all the events of today had startled away the fear I'd had earlier. I laughed.

I saw him one last time the next day in the library, where he popped in briefly near the end of my shift. He went searching through the shelves at a lightning pace, finally stopped at what he was looking for, and then pulled it out. He strode up to the counter and placed the book in front of me. "I'd like to check this out."

I blinked, startled at his quickness. "Um, sure." I scanned the book for him.

He picked it up. "Thank you." He paused. "It was nice meeting you." He left.

I stood there, stunned. This man just excels at confusing me. My shift ended in a few minutes. I briefly considered following him, then realized that it would be kind of crazy. His business is his business. I shouldn't really try to interfere. Still, there was an odd twinge in my stomach. I felt like I was missing something by not going. I shook away the feeling and started reading my book again.

After my shift, I went back to the house, where Lily was undoubtedly working. We lived in a nice cottage with a Berry Farm a short distance from town. Lily worked as a Berry Farmer, and would sell her Berries to the supermarket every Friday. She also sometimes gave them as gifts to her friends and members of the community. I had thought, when my Mom and Dad sent me here, that I would be helping Lily with her work, but she said she didn't need the help. So I ended up becoming an assistant librarian instead.

I had been here for about a month already. It was startling to me how long it had been.

Lily saw me as I came up the path to the house. "Hi. How did things go today?" She was working on the Oran Berry plants. Her clothing was dirty from the work.

"It was fine." I paused. "Hey, um…"

"Huh?" She stood up and looked at me.

"Have you ever seen a young man with blue hair and red eyes? Looks just a few years older than me?"

Lily looked surprised. "Well, that's an interesting question." Her brow furrowed. Then she snapped her fingers. "You mean that guy with the coat and the hat! Yeah, I've seen him here and there. Why do you ask?"

I shook my head. I didn't know exactly why I was asking. "I don't know. He's spent a lot of time at the library lately. I was just curious."

Lily's face spread into a grin. "Ebony Fortmirth, are you finally meeting someone? Good for you!"

I gave her a look. "It's not like that. He's just… odd. That's why I asked. Besides, I'm pretty sure he's leaving soon."

Lily scooped up some fertilizer and started patting it around the Oran Trees' bases. "Well, even if it's not 'like that,' I'm glad you're actually talking to someone. You've already spent a month here, and you haven't exactly talked to anyone else."

I grimaced. "Yeah. I know."

Lily wiped her hands on her clothes. "So… why haven't you?" She looked up at me with sad eyes.

This conversation was getting uncomfortable. I threw up my hands. "I don't know. It's a small town, there's not exactly many people I have something in common with."

"Well, you could talk about-" Lily started to say, but then quickly shut her mouth.

A silence followed.

"I don't really want to talk to anyone about battling, Lily," I wearily replied.

"I know." Lily went to the water pump and started washing off her hands. "Go on inside. I'll make dinner."

I complied.

After about a half hour, we had dinner. It was quiet and awkward; I was still feeling gloomy after our earlier conversation. I could tell Lily was trying to cheer me up, but I couldn't seem to. I finished my dinner and started to go to my room.

"Ebony?"

I turned around. "Yeah?"

"About what I said earlier…"

I sighed. "What about it?"

"It's okay that you're still recovering. I can understand. I just hope that you don't completely isolate yourself in the process." She smiled. "People can help."

It took me a moment to respond. "I understand." I smiled. "Good night, Lily."

"Good night, Ebony."

I went into my room and closed the door.

Everything that she said made perfect sense.

I knew that.

And I couldn't stand it.

I sighed and took off my shoes.

The last few hours of my day were spent entertaining myself on the Internet. Once I was confident that I had sufficiently purged most of the unpleasant thoughts from my mind, I went to bed. Still, there were remnants of the thoughts that swirled around in my mind before I went to sleep.

Bright lights. Cheering. The smell of smoke. Purple fire. The blue thing hurtling toward me. I couldn't move. I couldn't move. I couldn't-

I woke up, a soundless scream dying in my throat. I coughed. My throat was dry. I cleared it. I should've known it would happen again tonight, what with the conversation I had with Lily. I got out of bed and went to the kitchen for a glass of water.

The sound of the water filling the glass was oddly loud in the dark house. That's one thing I still can't get used to, I thought as I gulped down the glass of water. Everything was so quiet in the country. After living in the city for most of my life, I'd gotten used to the background noises; Pokémon crying out at strangers, cars, people walking outside. I'd gotten so used to it that I didn't notice it until it was gone. It was kind of soothing and unsettling at the same time. It was weird.

I set the now empty glass down on the counter and looked out the window.

And that's when I saw the fire.

A jet of fire was spewing into the sky from behind the next hill.

Purple fire.

Like in my dreams.

I staggered backward in shock. I took deep breaths to calm myself. Is someone training their Pokémon in the middle of the night? That must be what it is, I thought.

Still, there was something weird about it. The jet of fire was swerving back and forth, as if the source of it was moving. It wasn't continuous, either; it stopped and started in varying spurts.

I felt a deep sense of foreboding. If it's practice, why aren't they aiming at a target? And why is it continuing? If anything, it seemed more like a signal. A distress signal?

I sighed and pondered whether or not I should go. If it is a distress signal, I should probably see what it is. But I might not be able to do much, since I don't have any Pokémon. Still, it would be betterto at least be a witness to whatever was happening instead of someone who did nothing. Fighting back the fear that erupted in me, I went back to my room. I quickly pulled on a pair of jeans, a jacket, and my shoes and socks. I grabbed my bag and, after a moment of thought, also took the pocketknife lying on my desk. After that, I made my way to the back door, quietly opened and closed it, locked it, and set out for the source of the fire.

It didn't take me too long to find it.

Right behind the hill, where the river curved south, was a dark shape splashing and struggling in the river. It looked bigger than me- not quite the size of a car, but close.

I approached it slowly, with my hands out of my pockets.

It stopped struggling and lay very, very still.

It was hard for me to determine the shape of the Pokémon in the darkness- I belatedly realized that I'd forgotten to bring a flashlight- so I couldn't really tell what it was. I knelt down next to it. "Hi. Don't worry; I'm here to help. Just hold still."

It didn't respond. I hadn't really expected it to. I looked more closely at it. Even when I was close to it, it was impossible for me to tell what it was; something about its wet form made it hard to look at. I rubbed my eyes and stopped focusing on its form. I saw wires crisscrossing over its body. An entire net was trapping the Pokémon in the shallow river.

I touched the wires. I recognized the material and design. This is a high quality dragon-catching net. The design seemed slightly modified, though. I shook my head. "Wow. You must have made some tough enemies. Either that, or someone really wanted to catch you." I paused. "But then, why just leave you out here?"

The Pokémon let out an impatient grunt.

"I know, I'm sorry. Let's see…" I traced the wires with my fingers. "There's supposed to be a way to disable the net, a button you push to retract the wires." I was talking to myself more than I was talking to it. After a while, I found the button, and I pressed it.

The net released and retracted swiftly. The Pokémon shifted with a groan.

"There you go-"

Suddenly, the Pokémon lunged toward me. I flinched back, only to feel its wet face bump my forehead. Then an incredible gust of wind blasted me to the ground.

When I opened my eyes, the Pokémon was nowhere to be seen. I looked up at the sky, hoping to see if it flew away, but I couldn't spot it.

I sat on the muddy ground and laughed. Holy crap. That just happened. Okay. Slowly, I stood up. My clothes were a mess. Sheesh. I don't think I have to worry about insomnia now, with that excitement. I turned and walked back to the house.

Once I had changed out of my messy clothes and gotten into bed, however, I realized it was hard for me to sleep. What was that Pokémon? Who would modify a dragon net like that? What happened there? Eventually, though, my eyelids closed, and I slept.

It wasn't until much later that I really understood what happened that night.

The next two weeks were pretty boring in comparison. I enjoyed my books, and I enjoyed Lily's company, but every day was pretty much the same.

That is, until my parents' fateful phone call on the last night of that second week. They thought that I wasn't really being active enough, and that I was too likely to become depressed again. And, as they had done many times before, they made a decision for me.

I was to move to Lumiose City.

And it was there that my adventure would truly begin.