Okay people, we have ourselves our first chapter and I'm happy with the length—it's not too short and not too long either. I'm very happy with the turn out for the SYOC and glad with the characters I got. I apologize to the people who didn't get their character their first time around but with the nature of this SYOC, it was only expected that most submitters would have to try at least twice just to get a character in and I appreciate you all being patient with me. I hope you all enjoy the story and I won't be doing what I usually do in my stories which is mention which characters are by who because you can see that all on my profile. Anyways, on with the story!
Chapter 1: Billiards
Adam's shoes clicked against the stone path as he landed on the walkway leading from the top of the waterfall roaring in the background to the entrance of the Pokemon League. His purple orbs gazed upon the magnificent castle that towered over him imposing its authority and divinity on the land. Ten years prior, he would have been quivering with fear in front of it but walking up to the building several hundred times made the piece of architecture less intimidating.
Adam felt Staraptor pecking lightly at his silver hair, which somehow defied gravity and stood up without hair gel, making the young man laugh as he pushed the large bird away, knowing well what he wanted. He reached into his pants pocket and brought out a red Pokeblock before feeding it to his Pokemon.
"Eat up, pal. You definitely deserve it for the trip over here." He rubbed the neck of the gray bird, earning a blissful hum from him. "Alright, back into the ball you go." Adam brought out Staraptor's Poke Ball, returning the majestic bird into his home. He then made his way into the castle before him and upon entry was met with the warm lobby. Straight ahead lay the door that only Elite Four members, the Champion, and trainers with eight badges could pass through. To his right was a blue counter that separated the rest of the lobby from shelves stocked with medicine, status healers, and other useful items. To his left was another counter but this one was red and behind it was a healing machine, a desktop, and a pink-haired young woman.
Upon seeing him, the woman smiled and said, "Good morning Adam."
"Good morning" he responded politely as he walked towards the door at the end of the room.
This Nurse Joy was in much better condition than her cousin at the base of the mountain—mostly because she had only been at the center for about an hour. "Did you visit my cousin?" she asked, with hope in her voice.
Adam chuckled as he continued on his way to the door in front of him, "Yeah, I dropped off a Thermos with her favorite coffee in it."
She placed her hands on her hips, "Oh really? And where's mine?"
As he showed the guards his I.D., he responded, "Still in the shop waiting to be made."
He went through the door while the pink-haired nurse laughed and yelled out, "Jerk! I better get one tomorrow!"
Adam found himself in a dark hallway that was modelled with a net-like design of flashing lights that ran away from him. On either side of him was a door that blended in with the walls, floor, and ceiling and many trainers would completely overlook them. Adam, on the other hand, turned to his left and took out a set of keys to unlock the door. He walked through it and continued on, making a right, and stopping at the fifth door to his right. A dark mahogany door stood in front of him and to the side of it was a tag that read, "Office of Adam Stone." The young man inserted a key into the lock on the knob and opened it to reveal an office with walls painted light green in color.
He closed the door behind him and turned around to find a rigid mahogany desk with two chairs facing away from him and a comfortable leather chain on the other side. There were shelves on the walls containing books and souvenirs. A flat screen television hung next to the door, used to watch matches of other Elite Four members or news and other programs while Adam was on his lunch break.
Adam made his way behind the desk, placing his laptop bag next to the stack of manila folders sitting on it. In front of him was a desktop which was provided by the League, a telephone, a Girafarig bobble head, and a pencil holder stocks with pencils, pens, and highlighters. Once he was settled in, he turned the computer on and the first thing he did was check his personal email, looking through the countless inconvenient messages that contained get-rich-quick schemes, invitations to dating websites, and offers for new credit cards. Finding nothing important, he decided to check his professional email finding a list of updates like the remodeling of the second floor men's restroom and the notice of challengers trekking through Victory Road, alerting the Elite Four members to prepare themselves for battle.
Adam heard a few knocks at the door and announced, "Come in," as he continued looking at his computer screen. The wooden door opened to reveal a tall young man with unusual green hair combed to the side. His skin was slightly tanned and he had large brown eyes that held a youthful vitality in them. His outfit was rather strange, considering he was in the Pokemon League Castle, consisting of a green collared jersey with a number four on the back in white, white soccer shorts, a pair of green running shoes, and long white socks. He had a green sweatband on his left wrist with a single white stripe going around it and a colorful jewel in the center. Adam could see the sweat glistening from the young man's face.
Upon seeing his friend, Adam smiled and stood up to clasp hands with him. "How was your morning run, Moises?"
The green-haired youth invited himself to sit down in one of the chairs as he huffed, "Pretty good…I got twenty laps around the island and then a few sets of jumping jacks. Did you just get here?"
"I've been here for about ten minutes."
"And already at work? How about we hit the lounge and play pool for a bit?"
Adam couldn't help but smile at Moises' impatience as he responded, "Alright, but only for a little bit and then you've got to get your paperwork done. I saw the stack of papers Melissa had for you yesterday."
Moises sighed, "Okay, okay. Let's go already!"
Adam and Moises entered the employee lounge which was rather large to accommodate not only the Elite Four members and Champion, but also the nurses, store clerks, technicians, administration, security, and any other employee of the League, even the ones who didn't work inside the castle for when they came by for a visit. Inside were tables, lounge chairs, couches, a billiards table, two flat screen televisions—on corners of the room diagonally opposite of each other—and a couple vending machines.
When the young men arrived, there were only a few employees watching the news or getting something from the vending machine so they felt free to grab a couple cue sticks and the billiard balls. "Alright, set it up" Adam said as he walked over to a vending machine and inserted one hundred Poke Dollars for a can of lemonade.
"I don't know how to do it" Moises whined.
"I already showed you how to set them up" Adam responded as he took the can out of the machine and opened it. When he returned to the table, he found Moises looking back and forth between the billiard balls in his hands with a few already inside the triangular rack. Adam rolled his eyes and scoot him over, taking over the task. As he placed them in the order his father taught him, Adam explained, "You put a solid in front and then alternate around the edge so that we can get variety when we break it. The eight-ball goes in the center and voila!"
Moises nodded, "Nice, nice…so are you going to break?"
Adam chuckled as he took his blazer off and placed it on a nearby chair, "You might be eighteen now but you're still such a kid." He positioned himself over the table, steadying his cue stick as he pushed and pulled before finally striking the cue ball with great force and scattering the bundle of billiard balls, sending a couple striped balls into two of the pockets. "And that's how you do it. You taking notes?" Adam joked. Moises played along, nodding and pretending to take notes with an imaginary pen on an imaginary notepad. Adam chuckled before asking, "Are you excited for your first challengers?"
Moises nodded, "Yeah, but I'm a little nervous too. What if too many people get passed me? Grass-types do have the most weaknesses out of any other typing. Or worse, what if I forget what to say?!"
Adam knocked the striped red ball into one of the pockets and then shook his head, "You'll do fine. I mean, if any of the rest of us didn't think you'd do well, Kaleo would be back from her latest excursion by now."
"I guess you're right. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't good, right?" he asked while rubbing one finger underneath his nose.
Adam smiled and shook his head as he sank the striped blue ball in a hole. He then heard something on the television that caught his attention. He turned around to watch the news cast going on. The screen showed a man in his mid-fifties speaking into a microphone, "These youngsters with their weird fashion sense just came into my store and I thought for sure they were going to rob all of the jewelry they could get their grimy hands on but they only got about four gems and left. I'm glad to be alive and able to go home to my wife today."
The voice of a female news anchor could be heard, "Well chief of Canalave City's police department and Gym Leader of the local gym, Trent Greene, has begun his investigation on the case."
The screen cut to an interview with a policeman whose standard blue uniform was personalized with a black fedora and trench coat. "My team is currently investigating the robbery, examining what was stolen because there was clearly a target which at the moment is not clear but we will get answers and we will find these criminals and bring them to justice."
"I know I feel safe with Officer Greene on the case" the anchorwoman joked.
"Is that so?" the male anchor asked with a grin as he placed his elbow on the table in front of them.
Adam turned around and set up his next shot. "That's crazy, huh?" Moises asked as his dark brown eyes made their way over to the billiards table in front of him.
"I'm sure Trent will get to the bottom of this. The guy's good. He's got a record for arresting each and every criminal in Canalave, making it one of the safest cities in Sinnoh."
"Wow, really? How long's he been a gym leader?"
"About seven years. We used to be tied for strongest gym leader back when I was in charge of the Pastoria City Gym."
"Oh crap, really? Is he really that strong?"
"I'd argue that he's the strongest gym leader in Sinnoh now but a lot of the others are close behind."
"Mr. Stone…" Adam turned around to find a beautiful young woman with long dark brown hair that was tied into a single braid and fell along her back. She wore professional clothing consisting of a light blue dress shirt, black skirt, and black heels with a golden bracelet on her right wrist.
"Yes Melissa?"
"There's someone here who'd like to see you. The guards won't allow her in on account of her not having any badges to present them but says she has something important to talk to you about."
Adam pondered who could possibly be here to see him before asking, "Did she say what her name was?"
"I believe it was Helena Stone."
"…" Adam remained quiet, gritting his teeth. He regained his composure and gave Melissa a gentle smile before responding, "Thank you for letting me know. Please tell her to leave."
Melissa was taken aback, not expecting him to deny the guest especially since to her knowledge, they were most likely related on account of them sharing the same last name. "A-are you sure, Mr. St—"
He nodded and walked past her, announcing to Moises, "I should be getting back to work. I'll see you later Moi." He gave him a single wave without looking back and exited the lounge. Moises and Melissa watched the exit as if he was still there before looking at each other in confusion. The administration officer took her leave and Moises looked back at the billiards table to find only solid colored balls, the cue ball, and the eight-ball.
A large eagle Pokemon swooped down onto the stone path that led into the Pokemon League Castle and allowed his rider to dismount—his dark brown ponytail swinging from side to side before stabilizing. The rider was a young man, nineteen years of age, who stood at a proud six feet. His skin was well tanned and his eyes were green in coloration.
"Who needs Waterfall when we can just fly over it, right Braviary?" he asked with a confident grin on his face. The bird Pokemon squawked in agreement. "Right! Back in the ball you go. Hopefully there'll be a Pokemon Center inside because that cave was brutal!" He returned the large bird into his Poke Ball before proceeding on the path—his cowboy boots clicking on the hard stone beneath them.
As he approached the glass doors, he saw a figure walking towards him from inside and the doors parted to reveal a beautiful young lady with long silver hair, tied into a low ponytail that reached her mid-back. He took a second to get a good look at her, noticing firstly, her dark violet eyes and smooth cream skin, complimented by the small traces of blush and mascara. Her clothing suggested a very professional and high-end job seeing as how she wore a white cowl neck cable knit sweater over from what he could tell of the fabric showing around her neck, a silk plum dress shirt, and a pair of tight black slacks. Her dark violet heels clicked against the ground which barely made the five foot two woman stand and at five foot five. A string of purple gems hung from each ear and an elegant silver watch claimed her right wrist.
The young lady's violet orbs snapped towards the trainer, with a mixture of annoyance and exhaustion, making him look straight ahead to avoid her glare. As she continued down, he turned around to get a view from behind, enjoying it before feeling someone brush past him violently. As he was about to tell this person off, he noticed something preventing him from doing that—the large professionally dressed man standing before him could easily send him to the hospital and was most-likely the young lady's body guard. Deciding to spare himself any pain, the young trainer quickly entered the castle.
As soon as he walked through the double doors, he found another trainer with strange hair—the right was black and the left was white—showing the guards his Pokedex and was eager to do the same but not before healing his Pokemon. Once that was done, he made his way over to the guards who looked at his Pokedex which held his trainer information and the number of badges he had.
"Well, Conway Williams, it seems you've earned all eight badges, but another trainer just entered so you'll have to wait for him to be finished with the first Elite Four."
Conway slumped his shoulders and went to go take a seat with his arms crossed as he looked up at one of the televisions to find what was most likely one of the Elite Four member's rooms. Inside, was a young man with unusual green hair standing in what seemed to be the end of a soccer field.
The guard looked at the eighteen year old and handed him his Pokedex back, "Well, Yin Kasuhiro, it seems you've earned all eight badges. There are currently no trainers battling Mr. Garcia so you may enter." Yin looked at the guard with his silver eyes as he nodded while maintaining a cold expression and proceeding.
He found himself in a hallway with a grid going along the walls, roof, and ceiling and white lights traveled along the hallway. He started walking, following the lights, trying to think of what type of Pokemon the first Elite Four would specialize in, coming to the conclusion that it must be Electric on account of the lights. Yin reached a white light at the end of the corridor and found himself in a large room with light green walls, a set of bleachers full of fans on either side of the turf field which had the outline in white with the design of a soccer field. There were bright lights coming from above, shining down on the field and on the other side was the entrance to another hall way. The wall around it was painted to resemble a goal and he looked back to find his side styled similarly, realizing that the hallway was modelled like the net.
The only thing that stood between Yin and the next hallway was the green-haired youth who stood with his arms cross, his right foot on a soccer ball, and an energetic smile on his face.
Alright, how does this go? Moises thought to himself. He started speaking, "Welcome challenger! I am Moises of the Elit—"
He was interrupted by Yin who raised a hand, telling him to stop. "Let's skip the introductions and get straight to the battle."
Moises was taken aback with a look of confusion on his face, not expecting a challenger to speak to him like that. He then smiled and said, "Aw to the hell of it! Let's get on with it then!" He reached for one of the Poke Balls which were clipped to his shorts at the waist and threw it out. "Let's go, Torterra! Choose your Pokemon." Yin nodded and tossed out a Poke Ball to begin his challenge against his first Elite Four member.
And the battle is on! Who will win? Challenger Yin or Elite Four Member Moises? Find out on the next chapter! Also, let me know what you think of the characters so far and to the creators of the OCs I showed in this chapter, let me know of what you think of your characters in particular. Legacy, out!
