Author's note: This is my first story on this site. It may not be brilliant as of yet, but I hope to grow my skills as a writer through CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and practise. Any review is welcome, but unnecessary flaming will be ignored. :)

WARNING: This story is not going to be your typical "kid friendly" theme. It touches on more darker themes that some may find offensive. Things such as; swearing, blood, gore, war, death and more. You have been warned.

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon in any way, shape or form. I have no intension to make money out of this story. It is merely for entertainment purposes. I do, however, own the plot and the characters in this.

...Enjoy. :P

...

One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching.

Anonymous

...

It's easier than one may think to die.

I know that many would argue with me for saying it, but it isn't the horrible, agonizing terror that people make it out to be. Human nature is to survive, but when there are no options left to escape death, you just have to learn to accept it and make do with what time you have left.

After all, the moment you are born, you are dying. It's a fate that we must all face at one point or another. Some must face it sooner than others, and some may not fear as much as another person way fear it, but it's still something that humanity has not yet learnt how to escape. It is something that we will probably never learn to escape. As pessimistic as this may sound, it's better that way. Death is, after all, just the next step in life. An end to a cycle and a beginning of another. If we were to find a way to stop it, then what's the point of life to begin with? Without death, how can there possibly be life?

I remember when I died. The memory of it is clear, unlike the rest of my life. I remember the pain in my limbs, the ache in my chest, the feeling of helplessness. I remember lying awake, barely able to keep my eyes open to watch my parents as they talked to me. I remember their words, but that's hardly important at this point. Mostly it consisted of begging. They had begged me not to die. That is something that I, as well as any other person on the face of that planet, could not prevent. I was already on the edge of life at that point, being slowly pushed closer and closer to my fate at every second ticked by. It wasn't a wish I could just grant for them. I was gone, and they already knew that.

Still, I appreciated not being left alone in my final moments. I was a lucky one, to die surrounded by the ones I loved - my family. Even if I couldn't summon enough energy to reply to them, I still took their kind words to heart and clung onto them stubbornly, even after death.

I don't remember much of my life. Though what I do remember are only happy memories. Gathering what is left of the fractured and scattered pieces of my memory, I have concluded that I was never an abused child and I never suffered unfairly at any point in my life. My parents were always caring, loving, and always as a parent should be to their child, a guardian. My life was average. Normal. Just like any other fourteen-year-old boy should live. I wasn't hard done by, but I was nothing special either. I just... existed.

When I died, I was plunged into darkness. It was like being thrown into a dream of sorts, except I was completely aware of everything around me and what I was doing. I was thrown into a void of smothering darkness with nothing more than my body and mind.

At the time I couldn't find myself to be terribly afraid. After all, it was painless. I had been suffering from the end effects of an infection for too long. Why should I care about darkness if it wasn't causing me any pain? Though, it would be a lie if I said I wasn't slightly anxious. I had been separated from my family by the thin wall between life and dead, and on top of that, I was stuck in a strange place with no explanation at all. It made me uneasy.

For a long time I just floated silently, staring blankly into the empty void before me. I had found the lack of pain refreshing and calming, and I didn't care about much else. It wasn't until I finally decided that floating around and doing nothing wasn't exactly a very productive activity to be doing at that point, did I discover that moving was near impossible.

I wasn't just surrounded by darkness, I was encased in it.

It was around that time that a inkling of fear started to swell in my chest. Mostly because I had come to the conclusion that this was death. Just a empty sea of blackness. If I couldn't move, then I would be stuck like that for the rest of eternity. No family. No friends. No existence. Nothing.

Or, at least, that's what I believed at the time anyway.

After what felt like hours, while it could have only been minutes, a voice finally broke the eerie ring of silence. It was like a knife slicing through butter, and it had startled me, but I still managed to listen eagerly to every word this anonymous voice in the dark told me anyway.

"Your soul" they had said, "it is calming."

It wasn't much, but it was the first thing I had heard when I entered that realm of blackness, and I clung to that single voice with my mind as tightly as possible.

It could have been my own consciousness creating a voice for me to help feed the social areas of my mind that were clearly starved for attention at that point, but I couldn't find myself caring. I was just happy to hear something other than my own breathing and I didn't mind responding to a voice that I couldn't put a face to.

"My soul?" I repeated, questioning tone lacing my words.

"It is... white."

Maybe more important questions should have been running through my mind, but I couldn't help but wonder about the voice. It sounded like it could be either gender. If male, he had a very gentle and light voice. If female, her voice was slightly deeper than most other women. It was something I couldn't exactly put my finger on, and that bothered me for some reason.

So, the next question I asked was something completely pointless and irrelevant.

"What are you?...Are you female or male?" I asked into the emptiness, trying to turn my head to search for anything I could stare at other than darkness.

"I am neither male nor female" they replied calmly, "call me whatever you please."

"Well then... what's your name?" I questioned.

"Call me whatever you please" the voice repeated, "I have been called many things and have long since forgotten my true name."

"Fine..." I sighed, "then answer me this; where am I?"

The voice had chosen to be somewhat foreboding and ominous, but I hadn't really cared a great deal. All that mattered, from my perspective, was finding out what was going on and if things were truly meant to end this way.

Unfortunately for me, the voice was annoyingly avoidant as it was secretive.

"Your name" they asked, "what is it?"

"My name?" I repeated, frowning to myself in confusion, "my name is..."

But that's the thing. I didn't, and still don't, remember my name. For some reason, the fact that I had no memories of my identity or history didn't register in my mind until I was actually questioned about it. When I finally drew the conclusion that all my memories had been wiped clear, I felt a small flicker of both shock and anger.

"You have no memory of your past, do you?" the voice asked calmly, and the shimmer of anger quickly overpowered the shock.

"You did this!" I accused loudly, straining every muscle in my body to move and find the owner of the voice in order to glare at them, but to no prevail, "you're the reason I'm here! You're the reason I have no memories! What did you do to me!?"

"Fate has decided this, not I" they replied bluntly, "it is something that you yourself must overcome. I am simply here to act as a guide and nothing more, young one."

"Then what?" I had shouted back, "tell me what I need to do! Tell me why this is happening and what I need to do to fix it!"

"This is not something that can be fixed, for there is nothing wrong with it. You have come to the end of one life, and you are starting another one. It is a second chance to prove yourself worthy of your seperiors, since we have concluded your previous chance was unfairly cut short and you deserve another" they explained, "you asked where this is..."

The voice fell into a moment of silence, dragging out the needless tension between the two of us before they finally decided to give me the answer I was searching for.

"This place... it is not the end" the voice finally admitted to me, "it is simply the passing of two worlds. It is the end to some extent, yes, but not in the way that you believe. It is a gate, a rest point, a waiting room."

I almost laughed at the last example, even if it wasn't meant to really be all that amusing.

"It is the end of one journey, and the beginning of another" the mysterious voice finally concluded, "you have finished one life, and now you must continue through to another life. You have spent too long hidden in the shadows casted by those greater then you. This time you have a purpose, a destiny, something to achieve that will effect the way the world works and the beings that live on it."

Although the voice showed no hints of some form of joke, I couldn't help but fight the urge to roll my eyes at the cliche sort of plot being set up right before my very eyes.

Someone with little to no purpose or importance suddenly being thrown into a situation where the world 'rests on their shoulders' and they are suddenly needed by those around them. They go from a nobody to a somebody, and it's always done so smoothly, so easily, as if they never were not needed in the first place. To go from a loser to a hero is something that you only ever see in the movies or in books. Things like that just don't happen in real life, and the mere fact that it was happening to me was completely laughable.

I wasn't weak, but nor was I strong. I was smart enough to survive, but I wasn't a genius by any means. I was ordinary, plain, and I had no real purpose other than to survive. Even that I didn't succeed in doing for too long.

How could I possibly be one of those 'heroes' you so often hear about?

"You doubt this" the voice stated calmly.

"Yes, in fact, I do" I replied, "I won't go as far as to say there are no such things as heroes, because I know that many people do things that most of us wouldn't even dream of in order to help another... but that doesn't mean I believe in a single person having the power to 'change the world', as you put it. There is no such thing as destiny... or fate for that matter. Things like that just don't happen in real life."

When they didn't respond for a while, I thought I had won. My argument sounded solid to me, and I didn't believe they had anything more to say to me. It sounded like I had beaten them with a few short words, and while I was still stuck floating in darkness with no purpose at all other than to stare dumbly in front of my face, I felt proud of myself for beating a random voice that came to me through the blackness.

Looking back on it, it sounds kind of stupid.

"Your nature..." the voice spoke up after about a minute of silence, "what a strange nature..."

"My nature?" I echoed, feeling stupid for believing that I defeated the voice into silence and not quite understanding why they persisted on jumping topics so many times without giving me a concrete response, "what nature?"

"You are... bold" it replied.

"Not particularly" I frowned, confused by the voice's conclusion.

"A white soul and a bold nature" they continued, ignoring me completely, "what a strange combination for a hero such as yourself."

I wanted to argue back, saying that I wasn't the hero it said I was, but they didn't leave any room for me to argue and continued.

"Your new body will be an interesting one to pick..." the voice continued, "bold, like the strong spirit of a fighter, yet pure, like the untainted innocence of a child. This will be a difficult choice indeed..."

"You're mad" I stated simply, but again, I was ignored.

"You do not suit the calmness of a water type, nor do you suit the elegance of a grass type" the voice said matter-of-factly, "you do not have the characteristics of a fire type, nor the wit of a psychic type."

I wasn't entirely sure if the voice was insulting me or not, so I kept my mouth shut and listened intently as they listed my flaws.

"You're not as cunning as a dark type should be, and not as hardy as a rock type" they listed, "nor are you as down to earth as a ground type, or as open minded as a flying type..."

"Anything else you want to add?" I grunted, annoyed.

"I am not insulting you, child" they replied, "I am simply trying to decide what body you would suit best."

"Fine... but at least tell me what's with this 'type' stuff?" I asked, attempting to shift into a more comfortable position once again, but failing.

I had learnt very quickly that the darkness I was encased in acted a lot like a sort of super glue would act. It clung to every fiber of my being and kept me locked in place. I was even unable to turn my head to the side, and that annoyed me greatly at the time. I felt trapped, confused and frustrated, and the voice really wasn't helping my foul mood either. It only added my fuel to the already burning fire.

"You will learn" the voice said simply, "it is very important, so you will learn quickly."

"Learn what?" I sighed, annoyance inching up to another level, "why can't you just tell me now and get it over with? Why do I need to learn later?"

"Because to know everything would be dangerous" they explained patiently, "you must learn everything over time. You cannot enter a world with information already. That is why your memory has been wiped out of your previous life. The human mind can only hold so much information."

"Can't I at least keep my name?" I asked.

"You can not" the voice told me, "you are persistent. Persistent like a fighter, bold like a fighter. You... I have decided your type."

"Okay then, fine, tell me, what's my type?" I sighed, not knowing what else to say.

"You will be... a fighting type" they declared, as if I knew what they were talking about, "you have the spirit of a fighter, and then determination of one too. You are strong willed, brave even, and you take things are they come. You are adaptable, hardy to some extent. You are a fighter... a hero."

"I'm not-" I hissed, but I was cut off when they continued.

"It is time. Your type has been decided, as has your nature. You are a bold fighting type, and you will change the world, whether you believe it or not" they told me, "the choices you make will ultimately change people's lives for better or for worse... whichever the case is entirely up to you and your decisions."

"I still have no idea what you're talking about" I grunted.

"Move forward and step through the door" they instructed.

"Move..." I echoed, "how am I meant to do that? I can't even turn my head around to see you!"

"You cannot see me, human. For I, as you have already come to the conclusion of, am nothing more than a voice in your head" they replied, "you have been suspended in darkness for far too long as it is... destiny awaits! Go towards it!"

I attempted to grumble some form of cunning response back at him about destiny and heroes being nothing but entertainment in a children's story book, but found myself suddenly falling forward and all my witty responses hit a dead end and ran dry.

It was a strange feeling, like the glue suddenly melted away and left me standing in the middle of the air, but I didn't rush to the ground like I would have if this were real life. It was almost like I was stuck inside some form of sticky substance, and it was slowly letting me drop downwards and further into the pit of endless darkness. I could move again, but my limbs were restricted and stiff, and I still found it difficult to turn my head in any direction.

After about a minute I was able to take a step forward. Like I said, the action was stiff and hard to direct, but I managed anyway. Though it was a bit strange stepping onto something that didn't exist. I was literally walking on darkness, and that disturbed me more than it should have.

I tried to speak, to ask the voice just what I was meant to be doing, but no sound came out. I spoke, but my words never made it to my ears. It was almost as if the darkness was snatching up any sound that left my lips before it could be heard. My identity had officially been taken from me. No memories, no family, no friends, no voice. I was nothing but a trapped soul stuck in a sea of darkness and a voice that never really gave me any clear answers.

I had no idea what I was meant to be doing, so I walked. It was painstakingly slow and awkward, but I managed to take a few steps before I noticed something in the distance standing out brilliantly against the darkness.

It appeared to be a door. Or, it appeared to be in the shape of a door. It was a square of light that warmed the air and glowed white against the blackness. It could have been dangerous, but I would rather take my chances walking towards a mysterious door then hanging around in the dark world I had woken up in. So, without any further questions in mind, I headed for the light.

Each step was frustrating. It was like being encased in honey, or like walking up a flowing river. It was slow, tiring and awkward, but I pushed on until I neared the light. When I finally arrived, walking became less of a chore and I was able to move much more freely then before.

I had reached out slowly, finger tips brushing against the light, and not unlike how I had died, everything went white.