This place… was my world.
Toy trains lie scattered on their sides, worn and colorless like bodies drained of blood. The green haired man remembers small, clumsy hands dragging the trains across his room as he imagined flying azure skies with the Dragon, liberating innocent Pokémon from the tyranny of mankind. A hero; in his childish mind, he would become a hero whose legendary stories would be passed down generation to generation.
A lump grows in his throat and he can't swallow it. His world, a lie.
When I was little, I was abandoned deep in the woods… Then, one day, a man appeared, claiming to be my father. That was… Ghetsis.
A man as imposing as a tower stood before the skinny green haired boy and his gang of young, starved Pokémon. Standing in a ray of twilight that cut through the trees, with his long golden hair and blood red eyes, the tall man seemed like a God.
The Devil, maybe.
"Who are you?" the boy said in his native language—a language whose words were rough against his throat and made his tongue curl uncomfortably, unlike the fluid language of Pokémon.
"My name is Ghetsis." His voice was silky and his cadence unnatural. "And you are my son."
The zorua that stood in front of the boy protectively snarled. He's lying, I remember our papa! Papa abandoned us here!
The boy took the small gray fox into his lap and hugged it tightly. The zorua cuddled with the green haired boy but kept its watchful, piercing eyes on Ghetsis. The woobat and darmanitan surrounded the boy, like guards protecting their king.
"I am your real father," Ghetsis said. "I am your true papa, my boy. That other man… he was a bad man who took you away from me when you were a baby."
"You're… one of the good guys?"
"Yes. Now I would like to take you home."
"But I am home," the boy said, gesturing at the trees and his friends.
"Your rightful home is a castle with subjects who long for your return, my boy."
"A castle?" The boy's blue eyes lit up. A castle would have food for his friends and him. Food that could make their bulging ribs and bleeding gums disappear. And a castle would be warm. Last winter was brutal, which had killed two of his friends…
Ghetsis gave the boy an answer every child fantasized about. "A castle," the tall man said, "because you are destined to become king of the world."
To be continued.