TenYears Old

"What do you mean we're moving?" The little boy's golden-yellow eyes fill with shock and take over his entire face. "I don't wanna move. You told me I could go on a pokemon journey before too long!"

He received a pat on his head from his sister. She ran her fingers through his night colored hair and let out a small breath. "I know, Damien. You can go on one once we get to Alola. There's a league there you can challenge."

The little boy shook his sister's hand off his head and ran over to his bed, where he sat down, crossed his arms and legs. "We can't leave. You did your journey here, Anna!"

"That was thirteen years ago. Things have changed." Anna turned her attention towards the television and eyed it. This was the right decision. "I got offered a job in Alola, one I can't pass." That was partially true. She could have passed if she wanted to, but it was better this way. Safer.

"Well then you go and I'll do my journey here!" Tears started pricking in those golden eyes. Anna couldn't turn away. "I don't want to leave. Mom and Dad are here. Nicki is here..."

The sister made her way to the edge of the bed and sat next to her brother. Two years ago there was a fire. Nicki was their fourteen year old sister. She was playing with her magmar inside the house. There was a broken pipe, causing a gas leak. No one had noticed it. As soon as the fire type let out an ember the whole house burst into flames. The only reason Anna and Damien were safe was because she had taken Damien for a ride on her bastiodon in the park. They could hear the explosion, though they couldn't immediately see the flames. Anna had recalled her bastiodon and took her little brother's hand in hers. When she saw it was their house that had burst into flames Anna turned her brother away so he couldn't see. Could an eight year old comprehend what happened? She sent out her bastiodon once again, as well as her lopunny and pachirisu. Her voice shook with every word. "Take Damien back to the park. Watch him until I go get him." Her pokemon understood the severity of the situation. Once they rounded the corner Anna fell to her knees. Tears fell from her eyes She could see the firemen working diligently to put out the fire, but she could tell no one had survived. Nothing would come out of that tragedy.

Anna swore to herself that day nothing would happen to her little brother. He was the only family she had left. When rumors surfaced that Team Galactic was growing in power once again, Anna became uneasy. She became terrified when she heard they were kidnapping young children and trainers. It was a rumor. There was no proof they were doing such things, but Anna had to be cautious. Team Skull in the Alola region was much less of a threat. There were no horrible blizzards that caused the deaths of dozens of trainers each year. There was warm weather and a large variety of pokemon. Some of the best trainers in the world came from Alola, and many more went there to train. Anna liked the idea of going to Alola because her brother would be much safer there.

It still broke her heart to see him cry, though. "I got you a present," she said quietly. Damien sniffed and looked up at his sister. His eyes were still red rimmed but the steady stream of tears had stopped. She opened her bag and pulled out a sizable rock and placed it in the young boy's hands. A small smile spread across Damien's face as he inspected it.

"Is this-?"

Anna nodded. "I went to the mines. I didn't stop until I found you a fossil of your own. That's what dad did for me and my partner. I thought it would be fitting for me to do the same for you."

Damien placed the fossil carefully on the bed beside him before giving Anna a hug. "Thank you."

Anna placed a kiss on the top of her brother's head. "You're welcome." Anna let out a sigh. "I'm not selling our house. Oreburgh is where we grew up, Damien. We'll come back and visit. We will still see our friends."

"We're moving because of Team Galactic, huh?"

This took Anna by surprise. "What?"

"I see you watching the news. You get tense every time they're brought up. They warn us to stay away from strangers even more now in school. People on the street talk about them. It didn't take me long to put it together."

Anna would forget how much of a genius her brother was, sometimes. He was perceptive for his age. Even before the accident he was quiet. The only one he'd talk to after was Anna. She knew that he was quiet, but she also knew he saw, heard and experienced everything around him. "You know me too well, little brother." She ruffled his hair and grabbed a small bundle of money out of her bag and gave it to him. "The museum is open for another hour. If you hurry you can get your pokemon restored."

"Okay!" There was finally some light back in his eyes. "Do you know what kind it is?"

Anna nodded. "Yup, but I'm not telling you. You'll just have to go see for yourself."

Damien smiled and picked up the rock, gently placing it in his backpack. This was his future partner. "I'll be back before dinner," he said.

"Don't talk to strangers."

Damien simply gave a solemn nod. Anna knew he wouldn't talk to strangers, but she still worried.

The young boy walked down the sidewalk. It was concrete paved, but covered in a thick layer of mud and dirt, so the gray slabs only peaked through occasionally. People stared at him as he walked. Before the accident it was because of his eyes. No one had ever seen anything like them. He didn't mind the attention then. Now people stared at him in pity. The explosion was the worst thing people had seen in town in decades. He could hear their whispers, pitying him and Anna, saying they were far too young to have to deal with this. Damien learned to tune these whispers out. He did the same today, thinking about what kind of pokemon could possibly be inside the fossil.

Everyone in school wanted a fossil pokemon of their own. They were rare in the mines, and having one was a sort of status symbol. You were cool if you had one. Most people got a geodude, zubat, machop, or, if they were lucky, onix or ponyta. Damien stayed away from those with the fire horse. He was afraid of fire type pokemon ever since that day. He did a good job hiding his fear. Not even Anna suspected his fear of fire.

What kind of fossils had they learned about in school? Old Amber contained Aerodactyl, but he was given a rock, so that ruled that out. The fossil itself was fairy smooth, a spherical shape. He ruled out the possibility of getting a lileep, anorith, archen, tyrunt, amaura, or, his favorite, omanyte. He was kinda of sad about not getting the blue shelled pokemon. Anyone who had one of those became extra popular at school. He really hoped he didn't have a dome fossil...

He entered the museum, seeing a pair of desks at the front. One has a sign that said "Welcome" with the prices of tickets for admissions, and the other had a sign about fossil restoration. Damien walked up to the latter. No one was there but there was a bell with a note taped next to it, telling Damien to ring for assistance. He did, and a man came out wearing a lab coat.

"Can I help you?" Damien said nothing, but pulled the fossil out of his backpack, placing it on the desk. "Alright then. Wait here." Damien noticed the man seemed annoyed with everything, but he did his job efficiently, coming back after five minutes with a pokeball. "Here you go, kid."

Damien smiled and took the pokeball, leaving the museum through the doors he came in. He walked until he reached a bench near the park and he let the pokemon out. He smiled at the sight before him. "So you're my partner, huh? Cranidos. I rather like that."

Twenty-Three Years Old

Damien sighed as he looked at the mass of land from his seat on the boat. The boat was crowded and he felt himself get uneasy by the amount of people crowding to the window to get a look at the island ahead of them. "Home sweet Alola, huh?" he muttered quietly to himself. He didn't hate Alola, not by any stretch of the imagination, but he never felt like he belonged here. Damien just felt like he stood out. Everyone had dark skin, thick, wavy, dark brown or black hair and dark eyes. He was pale, in comparison. His black hair was straight with little texture. His eyes were bright. He was lucky Alolan's were such nice people. They took him in, treated them like one of their own. His sister even talked to one of the kahuna's and he was able to take the Island Challenge. He had fun and liked it here, but the only place he could truly call home was Sinnoh.

"Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?" Damien was taken out of his thoughts by a young woman. She had long blonde hair and big blue eyes, tanned skin, a smile that could blind someone. She was pretty. Damien shook his head and moved his bag to the floor. "My name is Brooke." Brooke held out a hand for him to shake. "What about you?"

Damien looked at the outstretched hand and took it after a moment. "Damien."

"Nice to meet you, Damien. Are you here on vacation or...?"

He shook his head. "I live here."

Brooke smiled. "That's cool! It's my first visiting. I have always wanted to come. Alola is listed as one of the best vacation spots in the world. I'm a travel blogger. Well, me and Meowth are. I head there is a variety of Meowth here that are dark type. Is that true?" Damien nodded, growing less and less interested in the girl's words with each one she spoke. She was nice, but Damien could tell she was flirting by the way she flipped her hair and batted her eyes between every statement. "Maybe you could show me around?" Her hand had creeped up. Her slender hand grabbed onto the top of his arm. Damien politely moved away.

"Sorry, I can't. I came back here to train for the Kanto League."

Brooke's eyes sparkled. "You're going to Kanto? That's where I'm from!" She dug in her bag and pulled out a piece of paper and pen, quickly scribbling some numbers onto it. "Call me when you get there. I can help you find your way around."

Damien looked at the number and put it in his pocket. "Sure." He had no intention of doing so. Brooke was nice but he wasn't interested. Girls had been paying him more attention recently, he noticed, ever since he won the Unova League a month and a half ago. He defeated the champion and was offered the position, but turned it down. There was more he wanted to do than battle.

After ten minutes the boat docked and all the passengers filed off. Damien grabbed his bag and shuffled out. He had another boat to catch tomorrow morning to take him to Ula'ula island. He was just going to stay in the Heahea City Pokemon Center until then. He walked on the sidewalk, avoiding the tourists, keeping his head down when he started to hear yelling. A crowd was starting to form around the Pokemon Center. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Damien made his way toward the cause of the commotion.

There were two people, a young man and woman, both too beautiful to be engaged in a fight outside a Pokemon Center. The guy had brown hair, light brown, almost blonde, with eyes blue like the sky. He wore a pale blue button down tucked into a pair of blue jeans. He had a gray vest that somehow made him seem casual and sophisticated at the same time. The girl had brown hair as well, but it was darker in color, like milk chocolate and fell in waves down her back, reaching her waist. She wore a maroon skirt and a black blouse tucked in with a pair of white leggings and black boots. She didn't look like she belonged here. Damien felt like he knew them, though. They looked vaguely familiar, but he didn't recognize them for their looks. It was their mannerisms, the way they interacted with one another. It was like seeing childhood friends fighting. He was compelled to go over to them. "What's going on here?"

The two look startled to see someone interrupting their argument. They each had a pokeball in their hand. A battle was about to break out. "Why do you care?" the girl asked.

Damien shrugged. "If you're going to battle then take it somewhere else. You're making a scene."

The guy lowered his voice so the crowd couldn't hear what he was saying. "I saw her take someone's pokemon."

Damien looked at the girl, noticing seven pokeballs. "Give it back." He grabbed one of his own pokeballs, teaming up with the guy. He was against unfair battles, two on one, but if the circumstances call for it then he will do whatever it takes.

She let out a smile. "What happened to taking the battle somewhere else?"

Damien released the pokemon, letting a huge garchomp stand in front of them. "Give the pokemon you stole back." The onlookers backed away from the scene, seeing the huge dragon with the mega stone hanging from a chain on its neck. "I'm not going to ask again."

Taking a cue from his battle partner, the other guy let out a pokemon as well, an altaria, also with a mega stone. In the back of his head Damien realized where he knew the guy from. He battled him six years ago in the Sinnoh League. That felt incomplete, though. He was familiar even then.

The girl put her hands in the air in surrender. "I'm powerful, but not stupid. If you want the pokemon back so much then fine." She tossed the pokemon to the guy next to Damien. "If I were you I'd look into the trainer I took it from, though." She tossed her hair over her shoulder. "You wouldn't be so quick to battle me then." The two of them returned their pokemon to their balls.

She started to walk away. Damien kept his eyes on her, suddenly remembering where he'd seen her face as well. A few years ago he investigated Team Galactic, always having an interest in them because they were the reason he had to move from Sinnoh. He recognized her as one of their admins, Commander Venus.

Damien felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see it was the guy. "Thanks. I'll look into the trainer. If anything happens I'll take the pokemon to an officer or professor."

Damien nodded. "Welcome."

He walked away, feeling incomplete. What was going on? He wanted to know more about those two. Why did he feel like he knew them so well? He continued walking until he came to a bench in a small park. He sat down and watched the sky. Sunset. He supposed it was pretty. He watched it sink into the sky, watching in silence as the small stars came out and littered the sky when he suddenly felt very strange. A yellow light started floating towards him. "What?" He watched it get closer and closer, not moving, until it finally engulfed him.