5 years later…
The sun had set over Postwick and the moon was beginning to peep over the horizon. By this point, everything was smothered with darkness, the only clearly noticeable features of the village now being the vaguely discernible buildings that dotted the landscape.
It was nights like these that pleased Kevin greatly. Ever since he had died and become a Ghost-type, he had found himself fascinated by the nights, spending hours that should have been spent sleeping on reading and playing video games. That said, he still had a typical human wake cycle, which meant that there would be a lot of mornings that would start with him struggling to make it out the door. He considered it worth it, but his mother never appreciated it, especially when she would come in on one of his checkups to see him under the duvets trying to read through his copy of "Craziest Facts about Pokemon" using a searchlight under the cover of his duvet. These occasions were rare, however, and he had a talent for hiding this from his mother, a surprising fact considering how overprotective she was.
He loved his mother of course, but ever since he had died, she had become….extremely overprotective of him. She didn't let him go out too far without adult supervision, and when he went out to play, Roselia would go out as well, telling him that he can't touch this, or that she would be telling his mother if he went remotely near the gate. Now that wasn't fun! Even during the nights, his mother had installed an alarm system so that he left the house, they would go off, something which he could attest to after the last time he tried to explore during the night. Then there was the fact that at least earlier on, she would check up on him the last thing at night and first thing in the morning, although she was beginning to have a more hands-off approach to him now that he was due to begin his Pokemon journey.
He did appreciate her, however, especially since she had believed that just because he had become a Phantump didn't mean that he could abandon his learning and made him continue his education at school, which after some annoyance, he came to appreciate. Besides, not only was she able to get him to continue his education, but she was able to improve his communication beyond body language by teaching him to use the PECS system. Now, if he had wanted something, he would just have to flash the card to do it. It was somewhat limiting of course (he still remembered the Croconaw incident) but it was better than nothing.
But enough about him. For now, though, he had decided to watch some Pokemon matches on Poketube to prepare himself for the start of his Pokemon journey tomorrow. The unfortunate pain of the matter was that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't write English. He could understand the language quite clearly but no matter what he wrote, it just came out as incomprehensible doodles. Thankfully, his mother had been a godsend, helping him to download the needed apps so that he didn't have to search for as much stuff online, helping him to subscribe to several channels, and saving any videos that he liked.
Humming to himself, he opened one of the videos that his mother had saved for him the other day. It was the last time that Raihan challenged Champion Leon for the title of Pokemon Champion of the Galar Region. The beginning was probably the slowest part of the match, however, considering the fact that it started with Leon giving a talk about Pokemon, and then Chairman Rose making an entire speech about himself. Kevin quickly fast-forwarded through it, groaning occasionally when he stopped it and realized that they were still talking. He hadn't opened the video to listen to people talk about stuff he already knew, after all!
Eventually, he fast-forwarded to the best part of the match – Champion Leon vs Raihan.
Overawed, Kevin watched as Raihan sent out his ace – a Duralurdon. It stared straight ahead, its expression unreadable. In response, Kevin saw Leon take out his ace as well – the Famous Charizard. He watched in excitement as the two rivals squared off each other.
"So, Ferrum, we meet again," said Charizard to his opponent, although Kevin knew that his trainer would not have understood this.
"That is correct, Mateo." Replied Ferrum, cracking their knuckles. "and I suppose you're looking forward to this match as well."
"Indeed. I have spent our time since our last match wisely, and…" with this, Charizard spread out his wings, like a Braviary preparing to attack its prey. "I am excited to see how much you've grown since our last match as well."
Then, Kevin watched as Leon returned Mateo, and began the process known as Dynamaxing, his Pokeball enhancing in size from the energy pouring from Leon's Dynamax Band. Then, Mateo was sent back out, now a giant flaming beast that was the size of a stadium, and…
Then, he felt his phone being yanked out of his hands.
Looking up, he saw the annoyed-looking face of his mother staring down at him.
He should have known.
"MUMMM!" he shouted.
This however came out as a "PHANTUUMMMMPPP!"
"Kevin, why are you on your phone at this time of night." His mother replied sternly, staring down at him with a look that could laser through walls.
Groaning, Kevin went over to the personal folder of cards which he tried to carry at all times and pulled one out with a very annoyed-looking pouty face. Then, he pulled out the card to show that he didn't feel sleepy, which showed an X over a person in bed. His mother sighed.
"Kevin, I know that you're excited to become a Pokemon trainer tomorrow, but you need to rest. You'll be cranky tomorrow otherwise. I mean, what if you fell asleep in the middle of the road and get eaten alive by wild Mightyenas!"
Kevin just once again pointed to the two cards. She sighed.
"Listen, just quit playing on your phone and go to sleep, alright. If you do, I'll make you that special breakfast that you always enjoyed, okay"
Kevin thought about it for a moment, then sighed, knowing that he had been beaten. Returning his "Pouty Frown" card, he took out another card, this time showing her his "Going to Sleep", which, barring the notable absence of the X, looked the same as his "Not Going to Sleep" card.
"Alright then." said his mother as she went in with a tightening hug.
"Love you so much. I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she smothered him in kisses.
Kevin tried to free himself from the hug, but gave in and let the siege of kisses and hugs overtake him. When his mother did let him go, he floated up to the bedroom and gave a long "PHANNNNTTUUUUMMMPPP" to let his mother know that he had gone up to bed. Afterward, he turned out the lights and tried to go to sleep.
Keyword being tried here.
No matter how much he turned and tossed in his sleep, he couldn't fall into that glorious void of unconsciousness. He couldn't help it – his heart was beating so rapidly in excitement.
After a while of this, he decided to try the ancient method of getting to sleep. Counting Mareep. He began counting.
One Mareep, two Mareep, three Mareep…
This continued until he had made it to 100 Mareep. Afterward, he opened his eyes and decided to check the time. It did feel like forever counting all those darn Mareep after all. Eyes still bleary, he glanced over at his digital clock.
10:00 PM.
Drat.
Sighing, he collapsed his head back onto his bed.
He was never going to fall asleep at this rate.
Just then, there was a loud knocking sound on his window.
Strange, Kevin thought as he got out of bed, and floated to the window to open it.
There at the window was a purple balloon-like Pokemon with a cross on its face and a tuft of cloud-like hair on its head. Immediately, Kevin recognized the Pokemon.
Drifloon.
This was surprising to Kevin for several reasons. One was that Drifloon wasn't native to this place, with any sightings tending to be that of the passing herd migrations which occurred from time to time. The second was that it was on its own. According to his "Great Encyclopedia of Pokemon", Drifloon usually floated along in groups, with it being incredibly rare that Drifloons were seen on their own. Usually, that meant that its entire herd had left them, or accidentally forgot them, or worse…
Just to double-check, Kevin took a glance out of the window.
Yup, no other Drifloons insight.
As he turned his gaze back to Drifloon, he could see that it was visibly panicking, its eyes having visibly shrunk and profusely sweating.
Yup, not a good sign.
"Excuse me," it asked in a high-pitched masculine-sounding voice. "But have you seen my flock?"
Kevin titled his head. "Flock?"
The Drifloon nodded. "See, last night, we had hunkered down as per usual as part of our annual migration from Sinnoh to Galar. When I woke up, however, they had all gone!"
The Drifloon started to sob and pace back and forth.
"What am I going to do? What am I going to do?!"
"Calm down there!" said Kevin, stopping him before he weaken himself from overexertion. "Apologies, but I haven't seen these other Drifloon. Maybe if you could go further up, you'll come across them."
The Drifloon nodded in response, although it looked dejected. "Thanks anyway…"
It began to float away.
Kevin felt sorry for it, however. Being separated from his family like that can be heartbreaking. He knew it. He had almost gone through it himself.
He grabbed the Drifloon's arm.
"Wait, Drifloon!"
The Drifloon turned to face him in surprise.
"How about I try and help you. Stay with me tonight, and I will follow you as far as the Professor's Lab tomorrow. Maybe we'll find some evidence whilst we're up there."
The Drifloon tilted his head in confusion. "Come with me? But don't you have to stay he-"
"Yeah, but I'm going on a Pokemon journey tomorrow so I will be heading up there afterward anyway."
"A Pokemon journey? For is it for?"
"Me."
The Drifloon was silent for a few seconds, making Kevin think that he was going to laugh at him for the seemingly naïve ideals of a Pokemon, like his fellow students at his former school,l or the native Pokemon of Route 1. This turned out not to be the case, however.
"Really? Wow, I think that's cool. I hope you do good."
This took the Phantump aback. "Umm…thank you…."
Regardless, the Drifloon anxiously looked towards the horizon where Kevin had pointed him. "I'm beginning to worry that they will gain too much ground whilst I'm staying here though…"
"Doubt it." Said Kevin. "They'll be asleep by now so they won't get too far. As long as we begin moving at daybreak, we should be fine. Besides…" Kevin returned to his bed, pulling back the duvet on the other side of it. "You don't want to be looking for them exhausted."
The Drifloon glanced over the horizon one last time before entering Kevin's room and taking up his offer, cuddling into the bed to put the duvet on himself. "Thanks for the offer! So anyway… what's your name now that I'm here…"
"Kevin. What's yours?"
"Ah, my name, as given to me by my elders, is Loneliness." Replied the Drifloon bluntly, tightening his duvets around himself.
"Loneliness? Isn't it a bit…uh…."
"Morose? Yeah, we all have names like that in our flock. For instance, my sister is called Despair. I think it helps strike into the hearts of our prey."
"Fair enough. It's not a bad name though…"
Loneliness blushed from the comment. "Why thank you!"
"You're welcome," replied Kevin as he cuddled up into bed himself, tightening up his duvets as well. For some reason, he felt comforted in the fact that, even though he was unlikely to fall asleep tonight, there was someone else with him in that very room.
So now we have our first proper team member, Loneliness the Drifloon. For the intentions of this fanfic, he's intended to be the starter Pokemon. It should be noted however that in Kevin's excitement and concern, he forgot one crucial thing - that his mother may not take kindly to a Pokemon of Drifloon's reputation...
So, anyway, now that I'm hearing, might as well answer some of your questions…
Guest: Thank you for your concerns, as well as your deep analysis of my chapter. I do intend to answer them in the following chapters. Hopefully, this chapter at least goes some way to showing Catherine's new overprotectiveness. As well, I do intend to do some worldbuilding regarding the Pokemon League in the following chapters.
As for the rest, thank you for the complements.
