I started this story a long time ago, and the earlier chapters were horrible. I'm uploading them here anyway because I couldn't be bothered rewriting them. Enjoy the crappiness.

Prologue

I looked at my reflection in the mirror and grinned. "Lookin' good, Will," I said to myself, admiring my appearance. The boy in the mirror smirked back at me. He had dark green eyes and reddish-coloured hair that refused to lie flat. I didn't care. It only enhanced my already fantastic appearance anyway, in my opinion. This boy grinning out of the mirror also seemed to have great taste in clothes. He was dressed in a black vest with gold buttons over a dark green t-shirt, and black jeans with gold flames around the ankles. A gold chain hung from his neck, ready to clip on a PokéBall. "Yep. You are one good looking guy."

"WILL!"

I came back to earth abruptly, back from the glamorous room in which I wished I had been standing. I was in fact in my own tiny bedroom. The dull white ceiling was cracked and filthy. There was even mildew from leaks in the roof on the walls and ceiling. The stupid builders hadn't even bothered to put in carpet or polish the rotting floorboards. The only good thing about my room was the full-length mirror, which I spent most of my time in front of. I put on my best expression of offended dignity, checked in the mirror to see that it looked right and began to walk down the stairs.

"WIIIILL!"

"Coming, mum," I called wearily. As I stepped out my door, one of my little sisters crashed into me and ran underneath my legs, screaming at something. My other little sister came out of somewhere crying loudly, her finger oozing blood - probably a paper cut or something stupid like that. My dad hollered at her to shut up. What I did to land myself in a family like this, I don't know. But I have never been able to shake the feeling I don't belong here. They're just too...dysfunctional. I should live in a big glamorous city like Saffron with a movie-star mum and a Pokémon master dad.

As soon as my mother's lined face came into view she began yelling at me. "You arrogant little boy, you've spent THREE HOURS up there admiring your own stupid reflection!"

I wasn't sure which part of her sentence offended me most; 'arrogant', 'little boy', or 'your own stupid reflection'. While I was trying to come up with a dignified remark to disprove all three, she shouted, "THREE HOURS! Will, how are you going to get that Charmander you wanted so much if you're two hours late?!" She seemed to be running out of steam, so I took the opportunity to retort.

"For one, mother, I am not arrogant. Secondly, I am not a little boy. I'm sixteen years old now, which is evidently not something you were aware of, me being unimportant to you. And finally..." Hang on. Two hours late?! "TWO HOURS LATE?! You stupid woman, how come you didn't tell me?!?!"

"I did," she said tiredly. "I've spent the last two hours calling you. You're just too absorbed in yourself to notice anything else going on in the world."

As I stormed out the door, I thought furiously, Of course I am. It's my own life. Who else but me matters?