Chapter 2: Awakening and Greetings to the Life of a Trainer

Have you ever had those dreams that feel so real, that when you wake up the next day and remember the dream, you can't make out if it actually happened or not?

As an example, after having fallen unconscious, I had a strange dream that felt more like a memory, yet at the same time, it wasn't. In the dream, I could feel, smell, see everything around me as if I had actually experienced it, and yet, I know that it never happened, at least not for me.

I remember being in some tall grass, and by tall, I mean it stood over my head as I ran through it, trying to get away from… something.

My chest hurt as I had been running, and all four of my feet were sore. However, as the ears atop my head twitched from a noise somewhere behind me, I knew that what I was running from was still somewhere behind me.

Taking a deep breath and gathering the last of my energy, I rushed forward once more, knowing I wasn't too far from my home. Once there, my mother would protect me, and then we would both be safe once more.

Finally, as my chest burned and I thought I would collapse from sheer exhaustion, I exited the grass, with a small clearing in front of a cave revealed to me. Nobody but my family knew of this cave, however, as it had been hidden by the surrounding trees and grass for years, and was nowhere near any of the human paths.

I rushed into the cave, calling out for my mother with the last of my breath. Right before I woke up, I saw two eyes staring at me through the darkness. The eyes were a familiar light blue, yet at the same time I had never seen them before.

"These are not your memories to see." A female voice echoed through my mind. The eyes widened sudden as the voice shouted "BEGONE!".

And then I was plunged from the memories, or dream, or whatever it was, as I suddenly woke up.

~Line Break~

I sat up suddenly, gasping for breath at having woken up so quickly. As my heart raced, I stared down at my legs, trying to gather my thoughts.

"What was with that strange dream?" I thought to myself. I had never experienced a dream so...lifelike before, as if it was a memory and not a dream.

"That was a memory of mine." The familiar voice of the Zorua said in my head. I flinched when they spoke, having momentarily forgotten my current situation. As I remembered everything that occured, they continued to speak.

"I hope you do not see my memories on a regular basis, but seeing as we are trapped together for possibly the rest of our lives, we might as well get used to one another. Now, before we try talking more, maybe we should focus on why we're suddenly in a building."

When the Zorua mentioned this, I looked up, realizing they were right. I was now inside a building, a wooden one with dark and light colored wood making up the interior. Looking around, I could see I was on a makeshift bed made of blankets that was right next to a window and the front door.

Looking at the interior of the building revealed a small kitchen area, a small upper area that could be reached via ladder, a few small bookshelves, a massive fish tank, and finally, a stairwell that seemed to lead downstairs.

Right as I looked at the stairs leading down, I could hear footsteps heading up them. Or at least, I thought I did. It took a minute for them to get to the top of the stairs, and as I wondered if they just had a ton of stairs, I realised my new hidden ears were probably for more than just show.

As the figure reached the top of the stairs, I realised I knew who this was, and where I was. When they turned the corner of the stairs and faced me, I saw a large genuine smile on the face of the man before me.

Standing taller than me with tanned skin, a lab coat, bright green shoes, grey shorts, no shirt, a white hat with a rainbow on it, and a goatee that grey from his chin under his long sunglasses, was the Professor of the Alola region, Professor Kukui.

"How do you already know this man?" Zorua asked, but I ignored them for the time being as Kukui stood in front of me and did the signature Alola greeting.

"Alola! Glad to see you're awake! When I found you passed out on the beach near my lab earlier, I had grown quite worried, especially since you're the second one to do that now!" Kukui grinned down at me. "Oh, I nearly forgot! My name's Professor Kukui, pokemon professor of the Alola region!"

I smiled sheepishly at the professor, a tad unsure how to feel. After all, even though he seemed like a nice guy, and he had always been nice in the games, I had just been through a lot, and wasn't feeling very trusting of others at the moment.

Still, I decided to hold out my hand, which the Professor shook. "My name's Jack." I told him, though coughed afterwards, with my throat being severely dehydrated.

When I was done coughing into my hand, I looked up to see the Professor holding out a bottle of water that he had gotten from...somewhere. I thanked him, and eagerly gulped down the water as he proceeded to speak.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Jack. Wish we could have met differently, but I'm always willing to help those that need it!" I was halfway done with the water bottle by this point, as the Professor suddenly held an uncertain expression upon his face. "Now, I don't mean to be rude, but why do you have a Zorua's ears and tail?"

I spat out the water that was in my mouth, almost choking on it for a second, before reaching atop my head and looking behind me. Sure enough, my illusion had ended, probably when I had fallen unconscious on the beach.

Sighing, I looked up at the Professor. "It's a bit of a story, one that just happened before I fell unconscious on your beach." I then proceeded to tell Kukui what had happened to me, at least, everything about Rook and experiment. I kept out certain details, such as the Zorua in my head, and how I had almost killed Rook and left him to die.

While I was speaking, Kukui had sat down, and a serious expression had overcome his face as he looked deep in thought. Finally, having finished, Kukui nodded, got up, and walked away.

I sat there silently for the moment, unsure of how to react. I had never seen the Professor look so serious in the games, and I was honestly concerned about what was going to happen next.

"What do you mean by "games"? And why did you tell the strange man so much? For all you know, he could be working against us, and is just trying to earn your trust."

Shaking my head and wondering how I ended up being fused with the most paranoid Zorua in the world, Kukui approached me again, still looking serious. "I just finished making a few calls. My team is going to begin doing research on this Rook and his experiments, to see if we can do anything to help you. Meanwhile, the police are going to visit the ruins you mentioned, though I doubt they'll find anything from the fire you caused."

Kukui sounded a bit disappointed, making me look downwards and unconsciously make my ears go down. Kukui noticed this and shook his head. "Look, I don't blame you for what you did. You went through something nobody should have ever gone through, and wanted a form of revenge. Sure, we could have probably gathered something from Rook's research, but what's done is done, and there's no going back on the past."

I nodded, and my ears went back up as Kukui held a had down to me. I smiled and took it as he helped me up to my feet. I wobbled a bit, my legs feeling a bit like jelly, but managed to hold steady.

"So, let's try to focus on something else for the time being while they investigate. You said you came to Melemele so you could register as a trainer, correct?" Kukui asked, and I was a bit thankful for the subject change.

"That's right." I nodded. "I've always wanted to be a trainer, but never had the chance to before." As I explained this, I felt like I could hear a light growl come from Zorua, but ignored it.

Kukui smiled at this. "Well then, I won't hold you back from going to the school! It's not too far from here, and if you really know your stuff, you could be done within a couple of hours! However, you'll need a pokemon with you to do some of the tests. You don't happen to have one, do you?" He asked.

I was about to say no, but then remembered the pokeball I had snagged from the basement of the lab. Pulling it out, I looked down at it. "I do, but it's not really mine. I took it from the cubby where my clothes were. It was owned by someone named Sara who...didn't make it."

Kukui looked saddened for a moment as I stared down at the ball, before taking my hand and wrapping it around the ball. I looked up at him as he explained. "Well, if Sara was a trainer, then I'm sure she would want her pokemon to be strong and stay happy, right? Think you'll be able to do that?"

I looked at Kukui, then back down at the pokeball, before mildly smiling. "Yeah, I think I can."

"Alright then. Go ahead and release them, and let's find out what pokemon is in there." Kukui said, backing up so we had plenty of space to work with.

Thinking back to the games, I pressed the button on the pokeball, causing it to enlarge. Then, hitting it again, I threw it forwards, in which it opened up and released a line of white light, before shooting back towards me so quickly I had no time to react before it hit me in the head, knocking me down to the ground.

As Zorua laughed and Kukui mentioned how I needed to work on my catch, I rubbed my head as I sat up. Looking forwards, I was surprised at the sight of the pokemon sitting and looking confused in front of me, as they were an actual starter pokemon.

"Where am I?" The small, yellow, white and red fox pokemon in front of me asked in the small high pitched voice of a girl. "Where's Sara? Who are you people?" The Fennekin asked.

Kukui looked as surprised as I was. "Wow, a Fennekin! I've never had the opportunity to actually see one in person yet. Sara must have been from the Kalos region. I'll be sure to mention that to the police later."

The Fennekin looked extremely worried at the Professor's comment. "Police? Why? Is Sara okay?! Where is my trainer?!" She frantically asked, turning back and forth from the Professor and me.

"Sara is gone." I said sadly to the Fennekin, making her stop as her head shot towards me. "I'm sorry, but there were this crazy person, who wanted to experiment on others for his personal gain. Sara was taken by him and….she died. I'm sorry for your loss."

The Fennekin looked confused as I talked to her, but her confusion turned quickly to that of sadness as she began to cry and sob on the ground. Kukui and I watched for a moment as she did so, or maybe Kukui was just watching what I would do next.

I edged my way to the Fennekin slowly, before kneeling down and hugging her. She didn't notice, however, as she continued to cry into my jacket. "I know it's tough, losing someone you love." I said. "So take all the time you need."

The Fennekin continued to sob into my jacket as I picked her up, and then turned to Kukui. "She'll probably be like this for a bit. You mind if I sit down with her for a few minutes?"

"Not at all." Kukui said, shaking his head. "You give her all the time she needs. But before you do so, I have a question. Were you able to understand this Fennekin just now?" He asked.

I looked at him, confused as I nodded. "Why, is that not normal?"

Kukui nodded. "Normally, people can't understand other Pokemon. Sure, a few stronger psychic types can use their powers to talk to people telepathically, but normally most pokemon can't be understood. Must be another effect of your...transformation, I suppose."

I thought about this as I went and sat down, wondering what it would be like to be one of the only people who was able to understand pokemon. "I suppose not everything about what happened to me is so bad." I thought as I petted the Fennekin who was beginning to calm down. "Sure, I'm scarred for life and will never forgive Rook for what he did, but at least there's some upsides."

After about ten minutes of petting the emotionally distraught Fennekin, she turned her head towards me. "So...so you can understand me?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I can. I was another of the sick bastard's test subjects, and he fused me with a Zorua." I said, pointing to my ears. "One of the effects of it appears to have made me able to understand pokemon apparently."

The Fennekin looked at my leg as she spoke. "I was wondering why your scent was strange. You have some of the smell of a Zorua, and some of a human, but you don't really have either scent as well."

"Huh, well that's a strange little fact I'll have to remember." I thought. "Apparently to pokemon, I smell like a Zorua mixed with a human."

Looking back up at me, the Fennekin asked, "Why did you save me, but not Sara?" She asked.

My faced turned morose as I explained. "When I escaped, Sara was already...gone." That was a light way to say it. Thinking back, none of the complete humans I saw were female, meaning Sara had been one of the deceased mutations I had seen. "But then as I was escaping, I found your ball, and I didn't want you to die in the fire that had started."

"A part of me wishes you had." The Fennekin whispered. "That way I could still be with Sara…" She then looked up at me and gave the smallest fraction of a smile. "But...thank you for saving me."

I smiled back. "No problem. My name's Jack." I said, holding out my hand.

"Ember." She said, putting her small paw in my hand, before laughing lightly. "Sara wasn't good with names, and named me after the only fire attack I knew when she got me."

"I like it." I said, petting her atop her head. "Now, I know this might be sudden, but would you like to come with me on an adventure?" I asked.

Ember looked up at me confused, before I explained. "I'm about to become a trainer here in Alola, and I need a partner before I can start. However, if you don't want to go on a journey so soon, you can always stay here with Kukui, or even be released into the wild if you want…"

"I'll do it." Ember said. "I'll go with you. Sara wanted to be a trainer as well, that way we could both get stronger together. Even though she is gone, I know she'd want me to move on." She said, though the last part was whispered as she stared at the ground.

I kneeled down and hugged Ember, who embraced the hug this time. "Thank you Ember. I know this is hard for you, but I'll do my best to be the best trainer possible for you."

Standing up, I pulled out the pokeball. "Now, do you want to go back into your ball, or do you want to stay out for a little while?"

"I'd like to stay out for now, thank you." I nodded at this as I put the ball away into one of my jacket pockets.

Turning around, I walked over to Kukui, who had made some food while Ember and I had talked. Holding out a plate, I thanked him as I took it and began eating.

"So, how did things turn out with the Fennekin?" Kukui asked.

"Alright. She'll probably be distraught for a while, but Ember here has decided to join me on my journey."

Kukui grinned at this. "That's great to hear! We'll go head out to the trainer school once we're done with lunch."

And so we ate lunch, with Kukui even pulling out a bowl of pokemon food for Ember, who graciously took it.

As we ate, Kukui began telling me what to expect from the school. Apparently, I would have to battle several weak trainers, just like in the game, but I'd also have to answer a questionnaire over several key points about being a trainer.

Most of it I would understand, such as type advantages and what stones caused which evolutions in pokemon, but some I would need to learn about while at the school before taking the test. These questions were more about how to live as a trainer, such as what supplies to buy, where to set up camps, and how much money to ask for when winning a battle, and how much to fork over when you lose.

Honestly, most of it was common sense, and I felt like I could answer all of the questions I would be given quite easily. After all, small children were able to pass this test, so it wasn't like I had much to worry about.

Once we were done, we decided to head out. With Ember at my side and Kukui in front of me, we were ready to head out. However…

"Hey Jack, do you think you'll be able to do anything about your ears and tail?" He asked. "I'm fine with it, since I understand what you went through, but some people might take your look the wrong way and react unpleasantly."

"Yeah, I know they could, and I really don't want that to happen. Give me a moment."

Concentrating, I thought back to when I first hid my new body parts, and tried to focus on my old shape. However, it took me a few minutes this time instead of almost instantly like last time. I didn't think too much on this however, and was just glad I was able to look normal once more.

Kukui looked at me impressed, while Ember looked confused for a moment before swatting at my invisible tail just to make sure it was still there.

"Wow, I'm impressed." Kukui said. "You definitely have Zorua's abilities, that's for certain. Now come on, let's get you to the school so you can get registered as a trainer."

I agreed, and with that, the three of us left Kukui's lab, and began our walk towards school from the Hau'oli outskirts.

Contrary to the games, there was a lot more houses around as we exited from the beach, thankfully with us having not run into any wild pokemon as we did so. The area where your trainer's home was located was much more lively, with several other houses creating a neighborhood of sorts. The same paths were still there as they were in the games, they were just more spread out than before.

As I looked around the houses, one in particular caught my eye. It was the home of where you would begin in the games, though by now it looked a bit different, with no more cluttered moving in boxes around the house.

Kukui noticed my staring, before speaking up. "So you've heard about the home of our champion, huh? Yeah, looks too normal to be the residence of the Alolan Champion, but they insisted that they didn't want anything to really change."

Placing his hands over his head and leaning against them, Kukui seemed to be recalling happy memories as we continued to walk. "Yep, it's been about seven years now since Moon moved in with her mother. I was the Professor back then as well, and introduced them to being a trainer as well. In only a year, they managed to become our first champion, and has only lost the title once in all those years, which she won back only a week after."

I was impressed with what Kukui was telling me. After all, defending the title of champion for seven years is quite the impressive feat, especially since she's only lost once.

It also gave me more information about the world around me. Apparently, it had been seven years since the events of pokemon sun and moon, though I still didn't know which legendary Cosmog had become, though since people were walking about during the day, my bet was Solgaleo.

I was also able to determine that Moon would be eighteen at this point, placing her two years younger than me. However, that didn't really matter, but what did matter was that she had seven years of experience. Even if I was to create my perfect team just like in the games, I wasn't sure how I'd do against somebody with that much experience.

Finally, after having walked for a good twenty minutes, we arrived in front of the trainer school. It was almost exactly how it was depicted in the games, standing three stories tall and being very long. To the right of the entrance was a battle field, where two young trainers were currently battling.

I stared at the battle, along with Kukui once we had entered, but not because it was impressive, but because of what was actually occurring. I face palmed, wondering how this could ever actually happen while Kukui laughed and shook his head.

In front of us were to youngsters, one with a Metapod, and the other with a Magikarp. You might already be able to guess what was happening from there…

"Magikarp, splash that Metapod away!"

"Metapod, crush the Magikarp with harden!"

"Use splash!"

"Use harden!"

"Splash!"

"Harden!"

"How did anyone ever let a battle like this come to be?" I asked Kukui, who laughed as we made our way to the entrance to the pokemon trainer's school.

Before we made our way inside, Kukui suddenly stopped, looking as if he had forgotten something. "Ah, wait, give me a second Jack." He said, before pulling out a red rectangle from his lab coat pocket and handed it to me.

"Sorry I only have the old version of the pokedex on me, but Rotom dexs are a bit high in demand and hard to come across. I had this spare though, and it should work just fine for you."

"It's fine. I'm just happy that I have a pokedex at all!" I told the professor, grinning down at the pokedex, which appeared to be the same type as in the X and Y games, meaning I could make calls, check the map, check my pokemon's stats, and of course, check through the information of any pokemon I come across.

Opening it up, I found that I wasn't able to access the dex or stat options yet, as they were currently locked. Looking at Kukui in confusion, he explained.

"You'll have to get your trainer's learning card first." he explained. "That will unlock the current options until you complete all the tests here. Then, you'll need to get Ember's pokeball registered to yourself, and finally, complete all the school's tests. When you have, you'll be given your trainer id which will unlock the dex for you with no problems."

I nodded, and thanked Kukui as we headed inside. We were greeted by the lady working at the front desk, who asked why we were visiting. Kukui proceeded to explain that I was here for my trainer's test.

The front desk worker nodded, before pulling out a clipboard that had a piece of paper on it. "Just fill out that form, and while you take the written desk, I'll print out your learning card. Just fill everything out, then bring it back to me and head upstairs to the second floor, first door on the right."

I nodded, before taking the clipboard and sitting in a nearby chair. Grabbing the pen on the clipboard, I went to fill out the basic information. However, after filling out my name, age and gender, I ran into a problem I hadn't thought of before.

The form was asking for my home address, emergency family contact information, and needed parental permission of some way, shape or form.

As I stared at the form, uncertain of how to answer it, I didn't notice Kukui watching me and seeing my current issue. Walking up and sitting down beside me, Kukui tapped my shoulder to get my attention.

"Jack, I know this might be a difficult question for you, but where's your family currently?" He asked. "I know you said you were on Akala island before everything happened, but nothing before that. And judging from your clothing, which I'm surprised you haven't sweat to death in yet with our weather, you're not from around here either."

I nodded at this last part, thinking about my family. I was surprised I hadn't even thought about them since everything had begun. Sure, we hadn't really talked in a while, but we were still a normal family that cared for one another. What was happening to my sister, mother and father? How had they reacted when they found out about my death?

"It's...complicated." I explained. "They're still alive, but….well, it's a long story and a bit hard to explain."

"There's no need to explain anything." Kukui said. "Here, pass me the clipboard."

I did so, a tad confused at what he was doing. I watched as Kukui filled in his address, along with his number. Finally, he crossed off family permission and wrote "Professor recommendation" in its place, before handing it back to me.

Staring at the board, I looked back up at the Professor as he got up and turned to the door. "My word means a lot around here, so be sure to get that license the first try, okay?" He asked.

I was shocked. Ever since I had met him, Kukui had shown me more kindness than anyone else ever had before. Smiling, I nodded. "Thank you Professor." I said, meaning it.

"Please, call me Kukui." He said, before walking out the door.

Standing there for a moment, processing that Kukui thought of me now like a friend, I wore my smile to the front desk as I handed the information to the front desk worker.

She took it, before looking it over. An expression of surprise crossed her face as she read about Kukui's recommendation, but as she looked up to look at me again, I had already gone upstairs to take my test.

~Line Break~

As several scientists and police officers later searched through the rubble of the burnt building, two sets of eyes watched from a small island not too far away. One was a large, built bald man with a scar across the right side of his face, looking on with no expression on his face.

The other was a stocky man, now forced to sit down as he could no longer move his large legs. He looked on at the officers in anger.

"Look at what that brat did to my lab, after everything I did! He has the strength of one of the most powerful illusion pokemon, and instead of being grateful, he severs my spine and destroys my lab!"

Rubbing his face, Rook looked over to his partner. "Not only that, but the person I sold him to is quite upset about his escape. If we don't get him back ourselves within a week, they'll be coming after us, and it won't matter where we run then."

Motioning towards his partner, Rook was soon hoisted up onto the back of a heavily scarred Salamence. "We must find Jack soon, and when we do, I'll teach him his place under me before we give him away. Now come, we don't need the police spotting us and causing more time to be wasted."

~Line Break~

"I'm telling you, I haven't seen someone so eager to be a trainer since you two came into my lab all those years ago!" Kukui spoke into his phone, which was currently in a three way call with two other participants. "Sure he's a bit older than most trainers when they start, but I'm certain he'll give both of you a run for your money."

"I'm quite eager to meet this Jack." A female voice spoke through the phone, sounding caring though serious. "With how you're ranting about him Professor, I might just take a break for a day just to meet him."

"I would love to meet him to!" An eager young man spoke through the phone. "I could teach him several battle techniques, and which malasadas are best for which pokemon! We should totally plan out a day where we can meet up and do this!"

Kukui chuckled at their enthusiasm, neither of the two having really changed that much in all the years he had known them. "Well, Jack's staying here with me until he's ready to start the island challenge, and even once he gets his trainer's license, he'll still have to go up to to old Hala to get his challenge tag."

"I'd like to talk to Hala about that then, but I'll have to meet this Jack first before I do. I want to see if he really is everything you're saying Professor, though I've never doubted you."

Kukui sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Kukui? Calling me Professor makes me sound like some kind of old geezer that can't tell if a person is a boy or a girl."

The girl laughed, meanwhile the guy spoke up excitedly. "Well, if you plan out tomorrow to have the day off, we can both meet up with Kukui tomorrow! Then, we can meet Jack, battle him, get his challenge tag, then have celebratory malasada!"

Kukui chuckled, and agreed. Tomorrow would surely be quite the adventure for Jack, though he still had to pass his trainer's test first.