I couldnt breathe. Water was filling my lungs to the brim. The light was slowly fading as I kept descending into the sea, waves pushing the water out of my lungs only to fill them up again.

I failed my mission.

You failed yourself.

My family...

Dead.

My friends...

Dead.

The whole world.

All dead.

It cant be true...

It is.

I tried to move my arms, legs, torso, anything. It was no use. My entire body was shutting down, desperately rushing what little oxygen I had to my brain.

There's no point in trying.

An overwhelming sense of fear swept over me. I didnt want to die. Not yet...

You're going to die.

No, please...

You're going to die.
Everyone is going to die.
it is all your fault.
All your fault.
All your fault.

All of the whispers in my mind began to overlap, giving me a headache. I closed my eyes, allowing my conscious to slip away and letting myself be dragged into a swirl of old memories.

Chapter 1: Humble Beginnings

I woke up to the alarm clock blaring in my ear. I always hated that thing, but today was a different day. The day I've been waiting for for seven years. I reached to the nightstand to hit the snooze button. When I couldnt find it, I rolled over to look at it.

9:06?!

Oh god, I'm gonna be late!

I jumped out of bed, practically flew down the stairs, ran to the front door and opened it-

"Samantha! Where do you think you're going?"

I turned around to see my dad sitting at the dining table with a newspaper and a cup of coffee. He was looking at me like I was a madman. I then realized I was still in my pajamas, but I didn't care.

"I'm going to be late for the big event!"

"The trainer orientation doesnt start for two hours."

What? But my clock said... wait. I couldn't find the snooze button on it... and it was a bit lopsided... I heard laughing coming from upstairs.

"Michael!"

My little brother came down the stairs laughing.

"I can't believe you didnt notice it!" He giggled.

"Michael, you little brat!" I yelled, running towards him. He ran around the table shouting "Can't touch me! Can't touch me!" I was just about to catch him when Dad picked both of us up.

"Would you two stop joking around so early in the morning? Your mother is still asleep."

"He started it!" I shouted.

"She was about to hurt me," He said, sticking his tongue out.

"Samantha, please don't hurt him over things like this."

"Bu-"

"And Michael, don't mess with your sister on her big day."

"She deserved it," He pouted.

Dad put us down and went back to his newspaper. Michael stuck his tongue out at me, so I smacked him on the back of his head.

"Samantha!"

"Sorry, dad."

I went to the bathroom and took a 30 minute shower, brushed my black hair, then got dressed. I glanced at myself in the mirror, then decided to make a mental checklist. Light blue shorts, white T-shirt, white and blue sneakers, blue watch, and large blue bag. All checked and accounted for. It wasn't a flashy outfit, but I'm not exactly a fashionista.

I went into the kitchen and saw my mother hugging dad at the table, crying into his shoulder. When she saw me, she instantly hugged me and wept into my shoulder. I patted her back.

"It's okay mom," I said, "I'll call you once I reach Nuvema Town."

"You better," She hugged me tighter, "And visit us. We'll miss you, Sammy."

"Mom... I told you not to call me that..." She pinched both of my cheeks; I could still see a tear moving down her face.

"Oh, yes... I forgot. Well, you better get going. Wouldn't want to be late for the start of your big journey!"

"I love you, mom."

"I love you too baby. Now get going," She smiled. I nodded and ran out the door.

It was a long trip from Castelia City to Nuvema Town. I didn't want to be late, so I ran across Skyarrow bridge, but had to walk the rest of the way due to my sore leg muscles. By the time I arrived at Juniper's pokemon lab, there was already a large crowd of people waiting at the enterance.

As I walked up to the crowd, I realized that I never took which pokemon I wanted into consideration. Maybe a water type... I'm not too fond of the fire types...Or fire in general. A water type would be nice. I made a mental note to reach for the Oshawott when I got picked. If I got picked.

"Attention everyone!" A voice called out, silencing the crowd. Professor Juniper was standing in front of the door to the lab. "Thank you all for being on time! I apologize for the extra three years of waiting. Due to the vast majority of your parents complaining about you wandering around Unova at such a young age, I had to bump the eligible age up to 13. Since the number of young trainers has dropped because of this, I came up with a way to make it up. come inside, children." She walked inside while everyone followed.

No picking three trainers this time? I wondered what she had in store for us.

"Here, kiddies!" She beckoned us over to a large hi-tech table. Everyone gathered around the table with confused looks on their faces. No one had a clue to what was going on.

"This is a very special year, kids. This year, I will be handing out more than three starters."

"But... How?" A young boy asked, in shock.

"Good question," She said, "I called around the other regions. You know, Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. Luckily, their trainer orientations didn't start for a long while. So..." She pushed something under the table and 15 pokeballs came out. Everyone gasped.

"They gave me their spares! There are now five fire types, five water types, and five grass types. Everone gets to pick! There's only one catch. They arent labeled, so what you pick is what you get. Go ahead!" She backed away from the table.

Everyone glanced at the table, then began to grab the pokeball I glanced at was grabbed by another person; soon there was only one left. I grabbed it and held it close to my chest.

Please be an Oshawott...

I opened the pokeball. Red light shined out and directed itself into a beam, revealing...

"Mudkip!" The small hyper pokemon began to run around my feet, repeatedly crying out its name. I tried to pick it up, but instead I ended up falling on my face. Mudkip then sat on my back.

"Mudkip."

"Well... At least you're a water type..." I said, slowly getting up.

"Mudkip!"

"Uh. Can I hold you...?"

It shook its head, not only proving it understood me, but it possibly didn't like me. That, or it didn't like being touched.

"Pokemon may be defiant during the first couple days," Professor Juniper said, "But just give them time, they'll warm up to you. Since you all possibly are not sure about how pokemon battles work, I want you to stay in Nuvema Town for a while. Not that long, just a day or two. The locals were nice enough to let you stay in their houses, so don't abuse their kindness. I want you all to spend the rest of the day getting to know your new partner. Tomorrow, we will go over the basics."

I finally grabbed my Mudkip and gave it a good look. It blinked its beady eyes and headbutted me.

"Ahh!" I dropped it and rubbed my sore forehead.

"Mudkip!"

I had a bad feeling it was going to be a long day...