Well, I wasn't expecting such a lack of reviews in the span of a few weeks. But thanks for favoriting this story, EpicNinja621. Anyway, with this chapter, I'm introducing our protagonist. Or perhaps I should say, reintroducing him. Well, here goes nothing.

Chapter One

Last Day at Cerulean High.

Three months later

"Trey! Get up! You're going to be late!"

At the sound of his mother's voice, sixteen-year-old Trey Shio shot up, the book that had been covering his face the whole night before plummeting to the ground beside the inflatable mattress he'd been sleeping on for the past two days.

"I'm up," the boy called, neither knowing nor caring whether she heard him.

He picked up the book, carefully slipped a black bookmark between the pages he remembered leaving off on and dashed toward his closet.

Within minutes, he was dressed in a white shirt with blue horizontal stripes, black cargo shorts with an accent of red on the cuffs and near the pockets, blue and white shoes and, for the finishing touch, a black hat that he had only received about a year before, from…

But he didn't think further on it. He didn't like to, anyway.

Placing it securely on his thick, dirty blond hair, Trey made a quick sprint toward the stairs.

As his descent finished, he found his mother in the kitchen pouring coffee into her favorite yellow mug.

"And I thought you'd be excited for the last day of school," she commented.

Trey scoffed.

"Yeah," he remarked, "I'm totally excited to leave behind everything I know.

His mother sighed.

"I know this past year has been rough, but Alola isn't as bad as you think."

Trey looked toward the door.

"Just because you liked it there as a kid, doesn't mean I will."

His mother placed a hand on his shoulder.

"In any case, I didn't expect you to oversleep. What were you doing all night?"

Trey just gave her a look that said, "I think you know already."

"You stayed up late reading again, didn't you?"

"Yeah," he responded, sleepily.

His mother chuckled. "Is it any good?"

Grinning, he nodded.

"What was it again?" she asked.

"Well, it's the one about…"

But before he could continue, he heard a quiet meow coming from below him.

He looked down and saw…

"Meowth! Alright I'm going!"

And he was out the door faster than a bullet.

Cerulean High wasn't the only high school in the city. It was the biggest, certainly. Others included Waterlily High and Cascade Prep, the latter of which was their rival school. This school, however, had the best swim team in Cerulean City, and in the entire Kanto Region for that matter.

How long had it been since he'd joined it? A year? Two? It didn't matter. It seemed like only yesterday. For a boy who had virtually no friends, he was respected very well, being the best swimmer on the team.

The only thing that stopped him from being outright popular was the fact that he preferred books to people or even Pokémon for that matter.

Not to say that he didn't like either, of course. He did have a few friends, after all. (Okay, one. But one's better than none.)

As for Pokémon, well, to be honest, even though he had bonded with his mother's Meowth he didn't quite see the appeal.

Just send out these weird creatures that shoot fire, ice, water or whatever have them battle each other? Not exactly my idea of a good time, he thought thinking of his book back home.

But every now and then, he would hear of his classmates' exploits taking on the various Gyms around Kanto. Even Sean, his best and only friend since elementary school, told him about a year before he had gotten as far as the Indigo Plateau. He almost would have beaten the league if that last member of the Elite Four didn't take him by surprise.

Trey probably would have gone on journey with a Pokémon himself a few months ago. He even had his starter picked out: Squirtle. He had been making plans, but… well, he never could have foreseen that one day he would wake up to his mother crying in the living room and that he would be spending the rest of his life with only one parent.

Since then, if he wasn't withdrawn from the world before, his father's death certainly did the trick.

From that point on, he channeled his grief into other things. Namely, reading, swimming, schoolwork. He probably would have found a way to be content with that.

Then came the day that his mother told him she'd gotten a new job. Far away. In a region he'd only read about in books, magazines and on a website or two.

The job itself paid well enough, but he didn't think that was why she took it. Actually, he knew why. The grief was just too much for her. And maybe it was for him too.

Even so, he didn't want to leave. Especially his school.

Any other teenager probably would have been thrilled at the thought of leaving behind their school for a new life in a far away, exotic region.

But to Trey, it was like a second home to him.

And both this home and the one he normally spent most of his time in, he would soon leave for life that, as of yet, was unknown to him.

By some miracle, he'd made it in before the late bell.

The bright blue of the school walls always felt soothing to him, but now he looked at it knowing that today would be the last day he would ever lay his eyes on it. The same color that dominated the walls, also covered the lockers. And they had the same saddening effect.

"I never thought I'd miss these things," he said to himself, touching his gently.

"Hey!" a familiar voice shouted behind him.

He turned around to see…

"Hey, Sean."

Sean Masuda was about an inch shorter than Trey, with green eyes, brown hair and could always be seen wearing a blue headband with a pokéball insignia in the center.

Indeed, Trey had never seen him remove it except during swim meets. And even then, he suspected it of being under a swim cap.

"Don't, 'Hey, Sean,' me. Where were you?"

"I overslept," Trey answered, honestly.

"Not that, last night! I was waiting for you for two hours!"

Trey shrugged his shoulders.

"What are you talking about?"

"Remember when I said Taylor Nomura was throwing a party for the team because we won the last meet of the season? The party you said you'd go to?"

Trey swallowed so hard he could have sworn he'd taken in more air than he needed to.

"That was last night?" he laughed nervously.

"No, it was a month ago. Of course, it was last night!"

Trey sighed. "Sorry. I guess I just forgot."

"Yeah. That's what you said about Cynthia Miyamoto's birthday that we got invited to. And the time I told you about the grand opening of the new pool we had to go to."

He turned to open his locker.

"I'm sorry," Trey said. "But you know parties aren't really my thing."

"I know that. But that party was a total bust because you didn't show up. You know you can't throw a party for a team without its star player!"

As both locker doors swung open, Trey could hear the familiar beeping of a smartphone coming from the one to his immediate left.

Looking back at his friend, Sean opened up a picture on his phone, showing it to him.

The picture in question was obviously of the party he had bailed on.

Instead of dancing, eating, or even talking many of the guests were holding up signs that said things like, "Goodbye, Trey!" or "We'll miss U!"

There was even a banner over the stage that said, "Good luck in Alola!"

A pang of guilt stabbed at Trey's heart.

"It wasn't just a victory party. It was going away party, too."

He turned off the phone, making the screen go dark.

"Sean…" he began.

"Today's the last day we see each other for… well, a while. I thought you'd at least want to go to your own party."

"That was Taylor's party, not mine."

"Yours, Taylor's, it doesn't make a difference. Every time we need you for something that isn't swimming related, you flake out."

"You didn't really need me for this," Trey pointed out.

Sean scoffed. "Tell that to Taylor. When he found out you weren't coming, he decided to not invite me or anyone else on the team to anything else for the rest of the year. And I really wanted to go to his seventeenth birthday party."

He turned around.

"What were you doing last night, anyway?"

"Uh…" Trey droned. "I guess I was so focused on my book I forgot that party was even happening."

Sean let out a small laugh. "Figures. Something big happens and you'd rather read. It's fourth grade all over again."

"Hey! I participated in that play, remember?"

"You played a tree."

"Well, you played a Chansey!"

"Don't even remind me of that."

Trey laughed, Sean joining in.

It seemed amazing how they could get into these arguments and then make up at the drop of a hat. But Trey could still feel that his friend was a little mad.

"I really am sorry," he apologized again.

"No big deal," Sean reassured him, slightly.

"It's not like I didn't expect you to bail on me. I know how you get with books."

"Well," Trey said. "What can I say? Every time I open one, it's like I'm in a different world."

"I can definitely believe that. Just don't forget, you live in this one, man."

"Well tomorrow, I won't even live in this region anymore. So, I don't think it makes much of a difference."

The bell rang, and just like that, the two made toward their first classes, Chemistry for Sean, Region History for Trey.

How he would face the people he'd disappointed the night before, he'd never know.

Well. This chapter was shorter than the prologue. But I included a few new elements completely foreign to the games. I hope you like Trey's personality so far and the problems I designed for his life. Him being on a swim team was an idea I've contemplated for a while. Since he's from Cerulean City, I think it fits. The bibliophile aspect of his personality is a trait I have myself. As for problems, well, I thought social anxiety was a crippling enough problem for him to learn to overcome. Sorry about the lack of Pokémon in this chapter, by the way. I promise I will have plenty in the chapters to come.

Read and review!