Author's note – When first and last names are given in this story they will appear in the traditional Japanese style – last name then first name. Please don't let this confuse you.

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Part #6 – Initiation

Kira led the group to a small building that had vine growing up the sides of it. When they entered, they saw that the only thing there was a spiral staircase that went downward in the middle of the room. At the bottom was a tunnel that seemed to have branches that went off in many different directions along the main path they were on. Much to the newcomers surprise, a dugtrio popped out of the earthen floor of the tunnel as they walked along it and spoke to Kira, who said "good evening to you as well" with a smile and nod. She did not stop as she led them through several tunnels before they arrived at one that ended in a doorway.

Simply waving her hand over the access panel, the door's locks opened and she led them into a long, rather sterile-looking hallway. There were few doors along the hall. Outside one near the end of the hallway, shortly before a set of spiral stairs that led upward, was a man that seemed to be waiting on them. The middle-aged, brown haired man wore a black uniform, a few gold aglets on his left shoulder, was smiled at them.

"Lady Kira," he said, bowing deeply.

"Eisen, this is Satoshi, Kasumi, and Takeshi." She gestured to each of the people behind her then turned back to the man. "And this is Miya Eisen. He is the head of security here on Umute. You will be taking your oath of secrecy from him before I allow you to go any further into the labs. Afterwards, you will be taken to the places I believe you will be most suited to work, though you may change if you don't like your assignments."

"Ichibei and Yuko are waiting for us to start," Eisen said, bowing again.

"Very well."

Kira smiled at her head of security when he opened the door for her then entered, the others following her. The room was vast, big enough for several hundred people to fit in comfortably. The ceiling was at least twenty feet high. There were no furnishings in the room except a table on the far side of the room which had a closed laptop on top of it. Two people stood by the table. One was a black haired, very mature looking younger man with a serious look wearing a purple shirt and blue jeans. The other was a blue-haired woman wearing a lab coat and glasses, her hair up in a bun and looking slightly older than Eisen who seemed a lot kinder than the man she stood next to. While the woman smiled at the newcomers and bowed to Kira as everyone else had done, the man simply nodded to them all.

"This is Miyake Ichibei. He is the head of the breeding center here." Kira gestured to the man. "And this is Hagimoto Yuko, head of the water pokèmon center." She gestured to the woman, who seemed to be beaming at Kasumi. "They will be the witnesses for your taking your oaths. Now, Shigeru, Eisen, I will let you tend to this. I must be on my way."

Shigeru and Eisen nodded and Shigeru went to the small table while Eisen left behind Kira to fetch something. Shigeru opened the laptop that was on the table and punched a few keys. He then looked up at the three newcomers. "Please release all your pokèmon."

"Even my gyarados," Kasumi asked, not knowing how it would react to being inside, even if the room was huge.

"Yes." Shigeru nodded. "Everything should be fine, Kasumi."

Reluctantly, she released her gyarados and other pokèmon, just as Satoshi and Takeshi did. Fourteen various pokèmon were now scattered around the room. They all were very quiet, looking around. All their attention was on Shigeru, but he just smiled at them all for a moment before turning to his old rival.

"The first thing that you must do, being on Umute, is to name each of your pokèmon."

"Name them?" Satoshi had known of several people that had given their pokèmon nicknames but had never thought of doing it himself. "Why?"

"They do have their own names. How would you like it if someone called you 'human' all the time," Ichibei said, his arms folded across this chest so he looked rather intimidating.

"You also need to name the ones in the labs that gramps sent over. You will be taken to see those pokèmon shortly." Shigeru looked at the pikachu that was on Satoshi's shoulder. "If you don't know how to name your pokèmon, we can just use the name they already have."

Satoshi looked confused. "Already…have…?"

"Satoshi, you're hopeless. All pokèmon parents give their children a name just as our parents gave us a name." Shigeru sighed, still looking at the pikachu. "What do you want your name to be?"

"Kaapi."

"Raimei?"

Satoshi looked shocked as his pikachu nodded, making a happy noise. Shigeru understood what the pokèmon was saying?

"Alright." He typed that into the computer then looked back at Satoshi, who was still looking quite shocked. He ignored it. "Would you like me to figure out what names they already have or would you like to give them one of your own choosing?"

"I've never been good at thinking of nicknames for my pokèmon, that's sort of why I never named them."

Shigeru gave a slightly bored sigh then went about asking each of the pokèmon what their name was and confirming it aloud then typed it into the computer. He confirmed it solely for the sake of the trainers so they could know what their pokèmon wanted to be call…not to see if he was right. After spending the past several years on Umute with Kira he had learned the pokèmon's simple languages quite fluently. After all, all their languages had the same basic structure, which was how all pokèmon understood each other. Once one language was known, it was not that difficult to learn the rest.

Once all the pokèmon's names were stated, he typed a few more things in the laptop and closed it. "Now, with that done, you must all understand that the pokèmon's name should be used when addressing it from now on."

"If I can remember," Takeshi said, laughing slightly. Though, he fell silent when he saw Ichibei glaring at him.

By then Eisen had returned, standing by the table. He had a small wooden box, which was inlaid with gold, in his hand. When Shigeru nodded to him, he walked up to Satoshi. "Repeat after me: I, Satoshi, having come to Umute of my own will…"

"I, Satoshi, having come to Umute of my own will …"

"…promise to protect this island and the pokèmon and people that reside here…"

"…promise to protect this island and the pokèmon and people that reside here…"

"…I promise to keep outsiders from knowing the location of the island and will not bring any unapproved outsiders to the island under any circumstances…"

"…I promise to keep outsiders from knowing the location of the island and will not bring any unapproved outsiders to the island under any circumstances…"

"…All secrets revealed to me in relation to this island must remain a secret and I will not tell anyone those secrets, upon pain of death."

The three newcomers just stared at Eisen for a long moment in silence. Finally, Satoshi finished his oath. "…All secrets revealed to me in relation to this island must remain a secret and I will not tell anyone those secrets," he swallowed hard, "upon pain of death."

The head of security nodded. He opened the box and pulled out a small pin. It was shaped like a pair of wings and was very well detailed. It was golden with silver highlights on the tip of each feather. He pinned it to Satoshi's jacket. Satoshi then noticed that everyone else there was wearing one, too. "You are to wear this at all times while on the island. It is the symbol you have taken your oath."

After Satoshi nodded, Eisen went to Kasumi then to Takeshi. Each of them said the same oath. They, too, were given the pins. The last words of the oath, though – "upon pain of death" – lingered with them. They knew it was completely serious. Once he was finished, Eisen turned to Shigeru and nodded.

"Now," Shigeru picked up the laptop, looking ready to leave, "you will be shown to your areas and any questions you have about the island will be answered. Satoshi, you will be going with Eisen. Takeshi, with Ichibei. Kasumi, you'll be with Yuko." He nodded to them all. "I will leave now, as I have my own duties to attend to."

When he left, all the pokèmon were returned to their pokèballs. Takeshi reluctantly followed Ichibei, who was still looking as serious as he had when they had first entered. Kasumi, though, was chatting happily with Yuko about the water pokèmon center. Eisen smiled at Satoshi, who still seemed a little shaken from the last words of the oath.

"You ready?"

The young man nodded to the head of security. "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Good, then let's get started."

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Just as a reminder in case you forgot or to clarify –

Satoshi - Ash

Shigeru - Gary

Kasumi - Misty

Takeshi - Brock

Raimei means "Thunder"

All traditional pokèmon and characters are copyrighted to Nintendo/GAME FREAK/Creatures (and any others I've forgotten) from 1996-2006. Author's created pokèmon and characters, though, are copyrighted Sati.