The sun never really shined in the Alternia region. Maybe it did, but you'd never know if you lived there. The day's sky is a vast, gray emptiness, devoid of any characteristic features aside from its gray hue. Storms were a common and expected occurrence. All in all, it's a pretty shitty place weather-wise. Definitely not a place where one would want to live every day of their useless existence. Sadly, there are many Alternians who call this land their home. It's not like they could leave if they wanted to. The whole continent was an island, and no one had any means of getting off. So, they trudged along, heads hung low.
Education was not high on the priority scale for most of these Alternian youth; they all spent their days striving towards being a Pokémon Master. Every kid's dream was to stand atop the Golden Pillar, signifying the Alternian Pokémon Champion. Not only did it bring eternal fame and glory, but also a one-way ticket out of this hell-hole they called home. If you won, you were on to bigger and better things, fighting your way to the top on the world stage. Of course, there has never been an Alternian Pokémon Champion, considering this is the first year Alternia actually had real gyms, but that's what the children assumed would happen. Before this, the countryside was ravaged by rival Pokémon gangs struggling for superiority. Battles would break out in every place you could imagine, and several you couldn't. The huddled masses of terrified youth fled the major cities to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
Today is the day. The Alternian government saw the opportunity for profit in this Pokémon business, and decided to fuel the youth's proverbial fire by providing any aspiring trainer with their first Pokémon regardless of age. Think of the money they could make selling Potions and Poke Balls to these hapless kids. They also jacked up the prices to exorbitant rates, just to make sure they'd get every last bang for their buck. Nevertheless, children and teenagers lined up for miles to fork over their hard-earned money to these shady shopkeeps for the pricey potions.
That day, Eridan Ampora stumbled into the Alternia Government Complex for a murder permit. It's not illegal if you have a permit. He saw all the juveniles in line and thought "Hey, a lot of people are going to die pretty soon I guess. Better get in line fuckin' quick." So, he did. Things hadn't been easy on the scarved one recently. Kicked out of his house, he wandered aimlessly through the rocky shoreline. The beach had always been his true home, but it certainly was not the best place to sleep. Sand finds its way into every crevice and contour of your body. "Things wouldn't be so fucking bad, if I had someone to talk to." He declared aloud. Over the few weeks he'd been marooned as a vagrant, he picked up the quirk of narrating his every move.
The Alternia Government Complex , or the AGC as it is colloquially referred to, was a large, dark building with high arching doorways and large windows. It almost resembled some sort of religious building, appropriate for this occasion, because the government was about to become most of these kids' new god, raining gifts of new Pokémon onto the masses. Inside the building, there was a spirit of quiet anticipation haunting the atmosphere. Not a soul would dare speak inside the building, to do so would be to court death, but damn was it tempting. None spoke.
Eridan entered the building confused and distressed. There were the sickest grins etched in to the faces of the crowd. Ivory teeth shone in the dimly lit halls. Their dark eyes darted from one dim edge of the chamber to the next so fast that all one could see were the yellow sclera behind their pupils. The creeping suspicion that he was not in the murder branch of the AGC set in quickly. He dared not speak, you know courting death and whatnot, but he was desperate not to waste away in this seemingly infinite line of creepy smiling faces. At least, not without an explanation. He scanned the place for some sort of clue. Then his eyes met a beaming Sollux Captor's glasses. The world-class hacker extraordinaire walked down the long hall with pep in his step, almost on the verge of skipping. But of course, he wouldn't do that. Skipping is forbidden in Alternian society. Through a series of strange head and hand gestures, Eridan tried to ask why he was so goddamn happy. Sollux responded with a simple head nod towards the door. He'd meet him outside.
The line slowly but surely dwindled away, killing several hours in the process. Though many hours were brutally slaughtered, Eridan was quite certain he was not in the murder branch anymore. The silence bothered Eridan, but thank god that he was used to it, or he would have been culled. He finally reached the front of the line. In front of him, a black curtain hung. Next to the black curtain, a well-built, broad-shouldered android emblazoned with a certain familiar magenta symbol stood guard. Realization hit Eridan in waves. He may be walking to his doom. Resigned, he stepped into the black curtain.
The room was pitch black, but by the way his footsteps echoed in the distance, he could tell he was in a huge room. A loud voice booms.
"State your name."
"Eridan Ampora."
"Present ID Badge."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out an inconspicuous plastic square with his name, age, and blood caste inscribed on it. Eridan held out the ID above his head, where a scanner quickly swiped it. A small LED monitor lit up, with a loading screen and a caption that read "Processing…" on it. As soon as the scanner finished, the room became illuminated and revealed a giant roulette wheel. All of the pieces were marked with numbers ranging from one to thirty. Then, Eridan noticed a familiar silhouette, sitting in the room's one dark corner. Eridan didn't need any introduction. Neither did she of him. They were all too well acquainted with one another. He'd killed her once, and certainly wanted to once again.
"Hello, Eridan." She spoke in somber sort of tone, trying to hide her certain surprise. "Didn't think I'd see you again, certainly not this soon."
"Fef," He replied.
"Now I have a title, Eridan. Please refer to me as the Queen of Alternia. I've waited all my life to attain that title and cod damnit, I will be referred to as such." She added with a small chuckle at the end. Her incessant laughing bothered Eridan to no end. It seems a lot of things do that to him now.
"I see you're still using those cod awful fish puns." Eridan said, trying to hold back a devious smirk.
"Hey! That's my fish shtick!" Feferi retorted. "And they're not awful. You should be eel-ated that you are allowed in my presence!" More giggles ensue. "So… what are you doing here? You want to step up to the wheel and spin for your Pokémon or what?"
"Ah. So that's what all this fuckin' commotion is about. Sure. What the hell? Why not?"
With that he stepped up to the wheel, grabbed the lever, and pulled it as hard as his fish-man arms could. The wheel spun and spun, like wheels are wont to do. Eridan staggered. The wheel's incessant spinning caused him a bad case of dizziness. As the world spun, his eyes rattled in his head. He collected his footing and stood tall, awaiting the final ceasing of the wheel. It almost seemed surreal to him. His former moirail and unrequited matesprit, back from the dead, ruling his world as a queen was just too much for him to process. The tawdry, tacky neon lights on the wheel almost made the whole world seem like a carnival. A rather morbid carnival, I might add.
Though the two were alone in the room, he could feel millions of eyes on him as the wheel decelerated. Slow, slower, slowest, stopped. The wheel had come to a grinding halt at the number seventeen. A guard robot slowly hands Queen Feferi an envelope. God, it feels like an award ceremony.
"Whale, whale, whale, look what we have here! I think you're going to like this one Eridan! You get a Poliwag!"
"Poli-what?"
"Poliwag, silly! Guards, bring Mr. Ampora his Poliwag." On her command, the androids brought Eridan a small slimy blue ball with two little eyes, a tail, and a big swirl on its chest. They put it in his hands carefully, as to not hurt the poor thing being bestowed on Eridan. He gave it a puzzling look.
"What do I do with it?" He asked accusatorily.
"You battle with other people's Pokémon. If you're really good at this, which I doubt, you'll make it all the way to the Alternian Pokémon League! Isn't that great?"
"Guess that does sound pretty cool. Thanks, Fef."
"Queen!" She vehemently insisted.
"Yeah, whatever Fef, see you later or somefin." Eridan said as he left, proud to get the last fish pun out before things ended. It was good to see someone he knew. Now to go see what Sollux is doing.
END OF CHAPTER 1