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Every good story needs a protagonist. Ours happens to be sleeping at the moment. Before we're interrupted by the sound of his alarm clock, allow me to tell you, the reader, a bit about him. Enter Cody Alexander Kwan, a 17-year-old male of mixed descent living with his mother in Los Angeles, California. He stands 6'3" and weighs in at an even 200 pounds. Not bad, considering he's a wide receiver for his high school varsity football team. No, he's not a star, and he, like the rest of the team, is usually in the quarterback's shadow most of the time, but he's happy with his position. Not strangely enough, he's also single. His friends do tell him that he should spike his jet-black hair if he wants to get the ladies, but our soon-to-be hero prefers to keep it brushed. One of his friends, who you'll meet a little later, has a crush on him. Unfortunately for Cody, this friend happens to be a guy. Poor him. One thing that is strange is that Cody always carries around a pencil. No, it's not just to be prepared. For him, this pencil was special. Not given-to-him special, mind you. More like fell-on-it-and-it-stabbed-him-in-the-arm special. At any rate, he never leaves anywhere without it. Considers it lucky, he does. Back to the present. Right now, Cody's sleeping because his team just won the championship game the previous night, and he had gone out partying afterwards. No, Cody didn't pass out and need to be carried home. Think about it for a minute: would he still be on the team if he had?
Now, the thing you don't know is that Cody's alarm has already gotten off twice (Great invention, that Snooze button, don't you think?). Today is the last day of school for Cody, and he's going to be a bit rushed if he doesn't get up soon. Let's watch.
"Cody! Get out of bed! If you're late today, I'm not making you any chicken noodle soup tonight!" Mrs. Kwan shouted up the stairs to her son's bedroom door. And yes, you read that correct; chicken noodle soup. Cody was a well built, strong, tough-guy manly man, like one might expect from a football player, but to him, nothing beat his mother's chicken noodle soup. This was a weekly tradition for him and his mother; they had soup together every Monday night. One can tell that what I have just told you is true, because at those words, Cody's bedroom door flew open.
"I'm up, I'm up! For crying out loud, today's the last day! Can't a guy get some sleep around here?" Cody yelled down to his mother. He looked at the clock. The time was 7:30. Finals started in half an hour. After thinking for a minute or so, he decided it best to clean himself up before leaving, and remove the smell of football, among other things. He grabbed a change of clothes from a chair nearby and headed into the bathroom. "I can already tell that today just isn't going to be my day," Cody grumbled as he turned on the water for his shower. As it turns out, Cody wasn't far off in his prediction; hot water was almost non-existent. "Oh, this is just great," Cody thought. "How am I supposed to take a shower in this? Gotta leave, though... aww, skip it." Cody quickly removed his clothing, clenched his teeth, and jumped into the icy shower.
Twenty minutes later, a clean and dressed Cody was walking out the door. He didn't have long to get to school, so his mom allowed him to take her car. This was a rare occurrence; Cody's mom was a firm believer that if you want something (in Cody's case, a vehicle), you should have to purchase it with your own money. Cody literally jumped into the driver's seat of the pink convertible, fired up the ignition, and slammed his foot into the gas pedal.
Now, wouldn't it be great if Cody had forgotten to put the car in reverse, and upon connecting his foot with the pedal, sent his mom's car into the wall? Well, had the car not already been facing the correct direction, that's exactly what would have happened. Cody sped onto the street, and with a squeal of tires, left for school.
It's amazing that not only did Cody not get pulled over by a cop, he found time to stop and buy a donut. With just two minutes to spare, and after doing a less-than-perfect parking job, Cody ran like his life depended on it to his first class. With the door in sight and a smile on his face because of the fact that he would be eating his beloved chicken noodle soup twelve hours from then, he burst into the classroom and took his seat. "Yes! Made it!" Cody thought to himself. He breathed a sigh of relief as the 8:00 bell rang. And then it hit him.
He had forgotten his lucky pencil. The color drained from his face, and he just sat there, staring at nothing. Unfortunately, he failed to notice that he was staring directly at the girl next to him – right at her sizable chest. After being brought back to reality by a slap to the face, courtesy of the neighbor girl, Cody sat there with a mopey look on his face.
"Hey Cody! Why so down? It's the last day of school! You look like you just got hit by a truck," said a voice from behind. Cody turned to find Tara Williams, someone he had known since childhood. They were friends, it was true; neither one had any interest in taking it any further, which didn't help Cody's bachelor status.
"I forgot my lucky pencil at home this morning," Cody explained.
"Oh come on. Don't worry about it. It's just a pencil. Here – take one of mine. I've got five. You might say that I've over-prepared," Tara said. She extended a hand that contained one of five bright green pencils, pre-sharpened. Cody stared at it for a minute, and then slowly took it.
"Thanks... it's not the same, though. I mean, I've had that pencil ever since the beginning of senior year. It's gotten me through so many tests it's not even funny, and now, with one day left, I'm stupid enough to leave it at home. I'm gonna bomb this exam. I can't believe –"
"Cody! Test is out! Shut up and get to work!" Mr. Menya, the teacher said.
"Sorry, Mr. Menya," Cody apologized. Trying not to mourn too much over the absence of his pencil, Cody gathered his thoughts, picked up the pencil that was lent to him, and began to write.

Meanwhile, in the skies of Hoenn, two men in different-colored robes looked into a large blue cauldron-like thing, which had shown them the events that had transpired this morning. "Look at him. What a fool. He can't even remember a simple task as being prepared for an intelligence questionnaire of some kind. How is he supposed to be the one who'll be the next Master?" one said, dressed in red. "Hey, don't ask me. The pot doesn't lie. If this kid is what the pot shows, then he'll be the next Master," the other retorted, clad in blue. "But look! Do you recognize anywhere that you've seen so far? This boy isn't from around here. I'd be willing to bet any amount of money that he's never even heard of a Pokémon. Just one look at a Poochyena would send him running. I can see it now. Are you absolutely sure that this kid is the next Master?" the first one said. These two men were what you would call overseers of Hoenn; their job was to check and see if anyone would be the one person to hold the title of "Master", which denoted that they were a master Trainer of Pokémon of all kinds. Since this one person doesn't appear every day, one might say that they were bored quite often, but that isn't important. The important part is that, unbeknownst to him, Cody had been chosen by destiny to be a Master. "Hey! We're not exactly helpless. Surely we can do some inter-worldly travel," the second one reassured. "How hard can it be?" "Well, maybe you're right, but I'd like to see how he does on these questionnaires of his. If he is truly going to be the next Master, I would certainly hope he is knowledgeable of his own world."

Flash back to Cody's world, three hours later, and we find that he has since participated in the graduation ceremony, and is talking with Tara along with two other people. One of them is Joe Collins, the friend I told you about earlier; the other, Charlie Baker, is the quarterback. "Hey, you guys want to go and play some football later?" Charlie inquired. "I'm in if you guys are," Tara replied. Though she was a girl, she was a tomboy in all aspects of the word, and frequently joined the men for a rousing game of tackle football. She was no pushover, either. Those who thought otherwise were usually corrected via a tackle to the ground. "I'm not sure," Joe answered. "Football's not really my thing." "Come on, it'll be fun," Charlie said. "Besides, we need a fourth person, and you don't want it to be uneven teams, do you? You're playing. Cody? You're in, too, right?"
Cody looked at his watch. Chicken noodle soup time wasn't for a few more hours. "I guess I'll play. I have plenty of time, and I need to get all this excitement out. Don't cry when I plow you into the dirt, Tara, okay?" he joked.
"Oh, okay," Tara retorted. "Just make sure you don't cry when you can't catch me when I run for a touchdown!"
And with a playful shove, Tara ran towards the empty field. "Hey! That's unnecessary roughness!" Cody shouted as he ran after her. Joe and Charlie looked towards them.
"Don't leave us!" Joe shouted as he ran, not wanting to be left behind. Charlie followed, laughing to himself.
As the four of them gathered for the game, our friends in Hoenn looked on. The one in red was still a bit skeptical about Cody's abilities, and the blue one was still attempting to change his mind. Mostly because he was getting quite irritated with the red one's complaining, but also because he had faith in Cody.
"Did you see?" the blue one pointed out. "Did you not see the grand ceremony that his people have performed to celebrate the intelligence those young people possess? Surely he is worthy."
"Yes, but..." the red one began.
"But what! What else is there? If you're really that unsure, why don't we just kidnap him and drag him through time and space and throw a Pokémon at him? 'Here, take this and save the world,' you'd say. He would probably freak out and stab you with that green pencil. Oh yes, that would certainly get you far, wouldn't it?" the blue one roared with sarcasm.
"You know what? That doesn't sound like a bad idea. Why not go and do it? I think that that would be the optimal method. I mean, just think about it for a second. Do you have any other ideas?"
"Uh... no, not really. I wasn't really serious, I was just –"
"Then it's settled. I'm off to sunny California. Are you coming with me?"
"I think I'd better. Knowing you, you'll probably try to shrink his head or blow up a house, acting like you're so powerful."
"Have it your way." The red one summoned a stool from the nearby air, and used it to boost himself into the pot. He was submerged in the liquid and was gone. The blue one followed suit.
"Touchdown!" Tara yelled. "What's the score now? Forty-eight to six, our favor?" She giggled. She basked in her own personal satisfaction that she and Joe were beating Cody and Charlie, two of the best football players in the city. Quite shameful, really. Well, maybe not. I told you Tara was good.
"You're only winning because we're letting you! Isn't that right, Cody?"
"That's right. All we need to do is try and you'll be eating dirt before you can say 'penalty'."
"Well, it's our turn to kick to you, and it's coming right to you, Mr. Kwan. You had best be prepared," Tara said. As she took her place, Charlie and Cody jogged to the other side of the makeshift field, and saw this as an opportunity to discuss their game plan.
"Dude... we're getting spanked by a girl and a gay man," Charlie said. "Yeah we are," Cody agreed. After a second, he turned and pointed at the sky. "Look! Up there!"
Charlie did as he was told. "What? Where? I don't see anything."
"You must have missed it," Cody said. "Captain Obvious flew by."
"Ha ha. You're a real scream," Charlie remarked. As they took their places by the end zone, they turned towards Tara to find that she was already holding up two fingers, which signaled that she was ready. Our robed men appeared overhead just as Tara was getting ready to kick.
"And... Stop!" the red one said. Instantly, things slowed to a halt. Leaves that were blowing in the gentle wind suddenly stopped. Birds were trapped mid-flight. The four friends were stopped in place, Tara in mid- kick.
"We need to get that one over there alone," the blue one said, pointing at Cody. "and I've got an idea. All it takes is a few words," he said, waving his hands over the ball. After mumbling for a minute or so, the ball glowed for a second, which told him that his enchantment had been a success. "All right. Our work is done here. Now all we need to do is take a spot near where the ball will land and snatch this guy when he goes to get it."
"You sure have this all planned out," the blue one said as the two hid deep in the woods. As they entered, the red one snapped his fingers, and time started back up again, just as Tara's foot connected with the ball. It sailed high into the air, much to the surprise of the boys, who were just stricken with awe. So much so, in fact, that neither of them made an attempt to catch it, which might explain why they were losing so badly. They simply stared at the ball fly over their heads and land in the trees behind them. Even after landing, they looked at the woods, then each other, and then at Tara, who was just as dumbfounded as they were. She was the first to come back to reality, and shouted at the boys at the other end of the field.
"Hey Cody! I said that it was coming to you! What's your problem, anyway! Go get the ball so we can do it again!"
Tara's shouting snapped Cody and Charlie out of their stupor. "Uh... yeah, sure, whatever," Cody said, not really thinking as he ran into the trees.
"Here he comes," the blue one said.
"Quiet, or he'll hear you!" the red one snapped. "Wait until he gets closer, then grab him. You hold him and I'll get us back home."
"Okay."
Cody searched the trees and couldn't find the football for the life of him, but then he thought he saw a glow from the corner of his eye. Sure enough, this was a little bit of afterglow from the spell that had been placed on the ball, but Cody did not know this. He simply saw the ball and went to fetch it. As he got close, the two robed men made their attack.
"Go! Get him!" the red one ordered. The one in blue ran and jumped head first into Cody's gut, knocking him to the ground. He then sat on Cody and held his arms down, allowing the red one to teleport the three of them back to Hoenn.

End Chapter One.