Chapter One

The rain beat down as Fluffy and I huddled under a jagged overhang. Lightening streaked across the sky and Fluffy yelped. "I can put you back in the Pokeball," I said. Fluffy growled.

The wind howled against the rocks but I could hear something else. Fluffy cocked her head and whined. "You hear it too?" I asked. Fluffy yipped and backed further into our small shelter. It was clear that she wouldn't be going back into the rain.

It was probably a Pokemon. I wasn't on a trail that existed on any map.

The noise was becoming weaker. Could I ignore it? What if it wasn't a distress call, but a hunting call? My PokeNav said that there were only low level Pokemon in the area, mostly Oddish, Budew, and Sunflora. It wasn't always right. In this terrain, it could be a Gogoat. That would be a pain to deal with without Fluffy's help.

I had just decided to ignore the sound when Fluffy's nose nudged my jacket. She wanted me to go investigate. I sighed. Trusting her judgment had gotten me this far—I wouldn't be alive without her.

I pulled my hat on tight and made sure that I had my Pokeball, just in case.

I was completely drenched after a few steps. Fluffy stayed huddled in the alcove, watching as I tried to pinpoint the sound. Bushes and rocks were everywhere, inviting me to trip over them. The ground was uneven and the grass was slick with the rain. At least I still had my military boots, otherwise I could have easily tumbled all the way down the mountain.

The sound was gone. My flashlight struggled to illuminate anything through the thick rain. Lightening flashed across the sky and I saw the hint of something up ahead to my right. If that wasn't what I was looking for, I was turning back. I was going to catch a cold if I messed around any longer.

First I saw the white shoe splattered with mud, then I realized it was connected to a long leg. Attached to that leg was a body sprawled face-down on the ground. The long ponytail told me it was probably a girl. Was she dead? I looked around but there were no Pokemon in sight. Did she come here without one? Was she attacked by something?

I wasn't going to get any answers from staring at her. First I needed to see if she was alive, which a quick check of her pulse confirmed. I turned her over gently. She didn't open her eyes, but she let out another weak moan of pain.

I realized she had a big gash on her head. I found a Pokeball on her hip. I released it—there was no need for me to take on this job if someone else could.

A Goldeen emerged. A fainted one, at that. I recalled it. I sat the girl up and realized she had almost a dozen Pokeballs in her pocket. Was she some kind of rich girl? I was immediately aware of the lone Pokeball in my posession. I had no idea how I would get more. If she was just out cold, what would be the harm of letting her sleep it off in the rain?

I was lifting her before the thought had even finished. She was a pretty girl—there was no way I had the balls to leave her there. Hopefully I would get some kind of reward, though I knew it was more likely I'd be blamed of some kind of inappropriate conduct. I was supposed to be on the run. The second I popped up on a facial recognition scanner I would be toast, which is why I had escaped to the middle of nowhere.

I carried her back to the shelter all the same. I'd deal with her when she woke up. She looked far from military or police, so as long as I could help her on her way everything should be fine. Fluffy barked in excitement as I realized I wouldn't be able to fit under the overhang with both Fluffy and the girl. She would pout about it later, but I recalled Fluffy to her Pokeball and set the girl so that my pack was under her head.

I sighed as lightening struck again. It was going to be a long night.

I didn't sleep a wink, but the girl woke just after dawn. The rain had slowed to a drizzle and I was watching a Budew emerge from its shelter when the girl let out a scream.

"Are you okay?" I asked as she scrambled to get away from me. Her last memory had to have been falling down or hurting herself on the hillside, so why was she acting like I was some kind of predator?

"Who are you?"

I'd prepared all night for this question. "My name is Max. I got caught in the storm and found you out cold."

The girl nodded slowly. She was pretty even if she was caked in mud. Her long black hair went nearly to her waist. Her face was round and had a youthful glow—I guessed that she was still in school. "I was looking for a Sunflora for my mother. She loves them, you see. But then I came across a Gloom and a whole herd of Oddish and they knocked out my Goldie."

I held in a snort. Goldie was no better than Fluffy.

"Oh!" The girl reached to her hip and released the Goldeen. The Pokemon was awake now but I could see the bruises laced across its small body, likely from a nasty slew of Vine Whips. "Do you have any Potions?"

"No," I lied. I had three and no way of getting more. The Goldeen would live without my help. "Why would you come to an area with Grass Pokemon with only a Goldeen?"

"Goldeen is really strong! She'll be a Seaking in no time!"

This girl was surprisingly peppy for someone who had spend the night soaking wet on the ground. "I'm sure. Still, you need to be more careful." Grass Pokemon were among the least threatening, true, but an angry Oddish could easily strangle her with its vines. "Where did you come from?"

"I live just down in the valley." She looked at me as she let down her hair and attempted to comb through it. "Thank you for saving me, I guess. Where's your Pokemon?"

"Ah, right." I grabbed Fluffy's ball. "She hates being cooped up so don't be startled if she growls." I released her into a flurry of barking. The barking stopped when she noticed the Goldeen sitting quietly beside the girl.

"Goldeen," the fish Pokemon said. Fluffy stuck her nose up close and Goldie unleased a small spurt of water. Fuffy jumped back and growled, looking to me for a signal to attack.

"Calm down," I said, standing up slowly. My knees popped from sitting so long. I had a small amount of rations left in my bag but I didn't want to eat it in front of this girl and have to share. "There's no settlement in this valley according to my maps."

"It isn't a settlement, just us. Papa doesn't like people very much."

"I don't blame him." I stretched and looked around. Little mounds of green moved to and fro as the sun started to break through the clouds. By midday this area would be teeming with Pokemon, though nothing Fluffy couldn't scare off. I looked to the girl. "You must have been hurt to pass out like that. Do you remember what happened?"

"I was running away from the Gloom and I tripped on something. I must have hit my head."

"We should get you to a doctor. Your Goldeen, too."

The girl nodded and recalled her injured Pokemon. "Thank you for being so kind. There are people who would have left me out here to die, or worse."

"If you know that, why are you out here alone?"

The girl shrugged and stood slowly, wincing at some unseen pain. Dried blood still covered her forehead from her fall. "I'm always alone." She looked down at Fluffy. "She isn't your only Pokemon, is she?"

"She is."

"But you're like, old. You're a Pokemon trainer, right? I mean, you dress like one."

I forced a smile. I was only twenty. "I got a late start."

"Is she your lottery Pokemon?"

"Yes," I lied.

"You got lucky. My lottery Pokemon was a Bonsly. Can you believe that? He just sits in the garden all day. He barely was able to help me catch Goldie."

"How many Pokemon do you have?"

"Just two, Woody and Goldie."

I hid a smile. "Not everyone names their Pokemon, you know."

The girl looked at me like I'd suggested eating her Goldeen. "They're our friends and teammates. Every trainer knows that. If you don't name them it's like they're just tools."

"I know." Half of my class in basic training hadn't named their Pokemon. I hadn't named Pichu, either. Maybe if I had my father wouldn't have taken him the very day he'd evolved.

"Oh, by the way, my name is Aurora." The girl pointed west. "My house is that way. I'm sure Mama and Papa are worried about me. When we get back you can have a bath and some food, okay?"

I nodded. "Lead the way. Let me know if you need a break."

We walked in silence as the morning dried and the sun rose higher in the sky. Fluffy growled the same time I saw a flash of something in the sky. "Get down!" I said, pulling Aurora into a bush. Whatever I'd seen had been big. It could be any number of things, only a few of which Fluffy could handle.

The Pokemon had spotted us. I watched as the shadow swooped down, identifying it as a Skarmory. I breathed a sigh of relief—Fluffy would likely be able to scare it off.

"Silver!" Aurora exclaimed, jumping up. The Skarmory circled a few times before landing. It stood the same height as Aurora and nuzzled her with his beak.

"So you know each other?" I asked, extracting myself from the bush. Fluffy stayed by my side, hair standing up with a glare aimed at the giant bird.

"This is Papa's Silver. He must have sent him out to look for me." Silver lowered his head and allowed Aurora to climb on his back. So much for getting me some food and a warm bath.

"Be more careful next time you go out," I said. "You're likely to meet someone worse than me." I gave her a little wave. She raised an eyebrow.

"You're coming with me, right? You have to be hungry."

"I don't think I can keep up."

Aurora laughed. "Silver isn't a baby. He can carry much heavier loads. Hop on."

Silver looked at me the same way I imagined her father would see me. Trash. Suspicious. No good. Her father was probably some woodcutter who secluded himself in the forest. I didn't blame him, what with the constant lies and bullshit that lay in the cities.

"Come on, Fluffy." I recalled her with a sigh, ignoring her whine of protest, and got on Silver behind Aurora. He was about as comfortable as he looked.

"Hold on," Aurora said a second before Silver launched into the sky. I grabbed a scale and tried to remember how to breathe—this was my first time flying.

"I think I'm going to be sick," I said as the ground fell father and farther away. The air rushed past and chilled me to the core, whipping past my ears so that I couldn't hear anything else. I looked back at the path I'd come from. How had I made it that far? The training location where my death was to be staged had to be miles behind. Had it really been only five days since then?

A few Taillows flew up to join us and Silver drove them off with a loud caw. I noticed that we were getting closer to the ground again, which made sense. Aurora couldn't have wandered too far from home.

I had imagined a little shack in the woods, maybe a cute cottage with a big garden. What I saw us approaching was a giant mansion, one that could easily fit four or five of my childhood homes. My first impression of the girl had been right—she was rich. I wondered how much I'd be able to steal before I left.

Silver landed with surprising grace and alerted the household to our arrival with an ear-shattering screech. "I hate when he does that," Aurora said, rubbing her ears.

I couldn't formulate a reply. This mansion was ridiculous. An Ambipom swung from window to window cleaning the glass, barely taking note of us, and I could see a flash of a Gardevoir passing by one of the windows like a dead maiden in a horror story. The front door opened and an older gentleman followed by a ginormous Stoutland came running out.

"Darling!"

"Papa!"

The father and daughter ran towards each other and hugged. I stayed beside Silver, not sure what I should be doing. Who were these people? I had imagined a small county family welcoming me in for a night under a roof and a hot meal… didn't rich people have different standards of kindness? With my luck my face was on a 24/7 broadcast of wanted criminals.

"Darling I've been so worried about you! Your mother hasn't been able to sleep. Where have you been? I told you not to leave without one of my Pokemon!"

Aurora pulled back and pouted. "I'm not a little kid anymore. I don't need your Pokemon."

"You didn't even take Woody. I know you don't think he's strong but that's because you don't ever train him!"

"I know." Aurora pouted.

Silver let out a soft caw. Aurora's father glanced over. I watched his expression change from happiness that his daughter had return to pride in his Pokemon to distrust to the man standing before him.

"Who is this?" her father asked, his voice cold as ice. He was a big man, not very tall but with a sizable gut and a red face partially covered with a bushy brown mustache.

"Papa, this is the man who saved me. His name is Max. I might be dead if he hadn't found me."

The man's face transformed into a smile once more. "Max! Thank you for saving my daughter." The man came and caught me in a giant bear hug, nearly lifting my feet off the ground. "We are in your debt. Please, why don't you come in and get changed into some clean clothes? Excuse my manners, we don't often see visitors around here."

"I was just passing through and found Aurora out in the storm. I don't mean to intrude."

"You're not intruding. Come on in!" Aurora said, running in without a glance back. The Stoutland followed her in happily, leaving me alone with Silver and her father.

"Max, you can call me Dr. Nova. Please, come inside. Lunch should be almost ready."

"Thank you, Dr. Nova. Do you mind if I release my Pokemon? She hates being cooped up."

"Of course, of course. We'll get her some food as well."

I let Fluffy out to surprising silence. She glanced at Silver and then Dr. Nova. "Relax, girl."

Dr. Nova laughed. "Those military Pokemon are always something special."

"She was my lottery Pokemon."

Dr. Nova raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Well, no matter. Let's go inside. I'm sure lunch should be ready soon and we can't have you coming to the table covered in mud."

I was shown to my own wing to change into clean clothes and get settled. Dr. Nova made it clear that I would be spending the night and I had no energy to fight him as I hadn't slept the night before. I wanted to fall into my bed—a giant plush mattress with four gilded posts under a gauzy gold canopy—right after my bath—a claw-footed tub, also gilded, with soap that smelled like roses and made my skin feel like a newborn's—but I was told by the maid that I was expected for lunch. The maid. I had to find out where they kept their supplies before I left.

Fluffy was suspiciously quiet the whole time. I didn't like it. She was never this quiet. Was she not used to being around this many Pokemon? The mansion was crawling with them, highlighting the wealth of this mysterious Dr. Nova. What if he worked for the government? Maybe, as I sat buttoning up this ridiculously soft shirt, the people who tried to kill me were racing here to try again.

I glanced at the window. I was on the second floor, an easy enough drop. I managed to open the window and look down. The gardens were below me, along with a half dozen or so captive wild Roselia milling to and fro. I could survive that fall and then I'd just need to navigate through the garden maze, which would take me out behind the mansion. I had just decided to recall Fluffy and jump when Aurora burst into my room.

"What's taking you so long? You must be starving!" she said. She came to join me by the window and looked down. "We can look at the gardens later. Come eat!"

I allowed myself to be pulled along. Fluffy followed with her head down. I had to get out of here. Something wasn't right.

"Max, so nice of you to join us," Dr. Nova said when we reached the dining hall. I was lucky Aurora had come to guide me otherwise I could have been wandering the mansion for hours. "We weren't expecting visitors so I do hope you'll excuse our plain fare."

The table was covered in a spread that I imagined the Elite Four would dine on each night. I took a seat and a moment later the Gardevoir I'd seen earlier entered the room pushing a middle-aged woman in a wheelchair.

"Mama, this is Max. Max, this is Mama."

I bowed to be polite. I hadn't expected her to be handicapped. "You may call me Celest. Thank you so very much for saving our daughter."

I smiled. "I don't know if you can call it saving. I have a hunch she would have been fine even if I hadn't shown up. She's a strong girl."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," Celest said, laughing. It was clear where Aurora got her beauty from. Celest had creases at her eyes and mouth, evidencing that she loved to smile, and her black hair was peppered with gray streaks. Her eyes were a striking blue, in contrast to Aurora's dull brown. Aurora had her father's eyes. "I do wish she'd stop sneaking out on these adventures of hers. She just doesn't understand how dangerous the world can be."

"I understand, Mama. Do you think I'm going to stay here forever?"

"What's wrong with how things are here? You have everything you could ever want," Dr. Nova said. I observed the conversation as I took a bite of the dish nearest to me. I had to contain a moan—this was possibly the best food I'd ever eaten. I looked over to were the Pokemon food had been set on the outside of the room. Fluffy too seemed to be enjoying the luxurious cuisine.

"Everything but friends," Aurora said. She rolled her eyes and looked at me. "Max is a Pokemon trainer. Why can't I go with him? He's strong."

"He only has one Pokemon," Dr. Nova said. He glanced my way. "Where is it that you're headed, anyways? We don't normally see people come through here. I deliberately built this place out of the way."

"Jillning Town," I said, naming the first city that came to mind. It was somewhere around here, though hardly my destination. "I think I lost my way looking for a Gogoat. I hear there was one in the area."

"You heard wrong, I believe. Gogoats stay north of the mountains, they're nowhere near us."

I put on a smile. "Well, I guess I'm more lost that I thought."

Celest smiled back. "Don't worry about it. We'll take care of you, it's the least we can do for helping our precious Aurora. I don't know what we would have done if she hadn't come back."

"Oh, I was fine, Mama. I just ran into some angry Oddish. That's all."

"What were you doing all the way out there with only Goldie?"

"I wanted to catch you a Sunflora."Aurora pouted. "I didn't see a single one."

"Oh, honey, you shouldn't have put yourself in danger for that. If I wanted a Sunflora I could just have your father catch me one."

Dr. Nova cleared his throat. "I'm glad you're back safe and sound all the same. Why don't you focus on eating before the food gets cold? Then I'd like to give Max a tour of the place."

"I can give him a tour," Aurora said.

Dr. Nova shook his head. "You've already missed your morning lessons, I won't have you miss your afternoon ones as well."

Aurora groaned. "But we never have visitors. Can't I just miss lessons once?"

"Absolutely not! Now eat up. You'll need your energy for your math lessons."

"Max, I feel like you aren't being entirely truthful with me," Dr. Nova said after the table had been cleared and the ladies had left the room. He turned to me with a frown. "I understand that you may feel like you can't trust just anyone you come across, and I get that, I do. But I have a feeling you aren't who you say you are."

I swallowed hard, aware that Fluffy had started napping in the corner of the room. Did this mean there was no danger or could her food had been drugged? "Sir?"

"Don't look so startled. Come with me, will you? We'll start our tour in the basement."

I didn't like the sound of that. "I'm actually feeling quite tired, perhaps I could return to my room?"

Dr. Nova smiled and released a Pokemon from a ball without a word. A Lucario came out, wearing the same steely expression Silver had worn. "Why don't you come to the basement with me?" I glanced to Fluffy. "Don't worry about her. I put some sedatives in her food. She'll be asleep until this evening, at least."

This wasn't good. With Lucario's speed and strength there would be no escaping. Was he taking me to the basement to kill me? Was he actually with the government? Did I come this far just to die in some rich man's hideaway?

Unhappily, I allowed Dr. Nova to guide me to the basement. I should have expected this. My life was never fair. I never came out on top. Anything good was taken from me in an instant. I remembered how jealous all my friends were when I had been the first to get a Pokemon. Five was the youngest age one could sign up for the Pokemon lottery and my father had signed me up on my birthday. The other kids in my town didn't sign up until age nine or ten, but by then Pichu was gone.

"You have a lot of Pokemon," I said as I descended the stairs. Lucario's heavy breathing was on my neck. He wouldn't just have the Pokemon punch through me, right? Not when I was wearing his fancy clothes.

"I am a lucky man. Lucky to have the family I have, and to be able to live in peace out here in the countryside." The stairs ended with a locked door. Dr. Nova pushed passed me and opened it with a key. "You understand then why I would do nothing to stop anyone who threatened that peace."

"I think you have the wrong idea about me. I'm just-"

"A fugitive on the run?" Dr. Nova turned to me with blank eyes. "Shut up and follow me, and I may let you live."

I bit my tongue. The room we entered was full of computers and gadgets—the stuff a normal person like me could never dream of affording. Whatever this guy did for a living, he did it well.

I could feel my new shirt sticking to my back from the sweat. So, he knew I was a fugitive? I was pretty much screwed, wasn't I?

"You know, in the old days everyone wanted to be a Pokemon trainer. Gym battles were tests of skill, sanctioned matches where your Pokemon couldn't be killed. The Elite Four were meant to be challenged. Trainers were encouraged to become the best. You could catch as many Pokemon as you wanted—there were no zones or catch restrictions."

"I've heard rumors like that before."

"They aren't rumors." We stopped in front of a giant monitor. Without a word, Lucario pushed me down into the seat. Dr. Nova turned the monitor on, revealing a picture of my face next to the words Kill on sight. "It seems you pissed off the wrong person."

"Sir?" I looked around. I didn't see a gun. Would he kill me later? Outside, maybe? Or was that Lucario's job?

"I've had access to the military's database since before Aurora could walk. I just happened to see that there was a threat to the order in the area and then, what do you know, my daughter shows up with a criminal in tow, saying he saved her life."

I chose to remain quiet. What could I say?

"Max, is it?" He asked, looking at the screen that showed my name to be Alex Sands. He did a little typing and pulled up a picture of my father. Or at least, it looked like my father, but he was older than the last time I'd seen him. "Max, I happen to know your father."

"Kill him instead," I said without thinking. The bastard. He left me and my mother to fend for ourselves. What kind of father would do such a thing? To steal his own son's only Pokemon?

Dr. Nova laughed. "I see there is no love lost between you. I suppose you know that you have a kill order because of the connection?"

"I had assumed."

"Your father is considered a terrorist by the state. He's wiped out two gyms and raided many military outposts across the map. He's one of the most wanted men in the region but somehow he keeps slipping away."

"Lucky him."

"I think you may have the wrong idea about me. You see, I don't work for the government. Or the military."

I turned to look at him. "You're not?"

"No. You see, I'm but a simple businessman. I invented the technology that allows the government to track how many Pokemon are caught in a region. The software, the hardware, it was all me."

I scoffed. So it was because of him that the government could control the people so easily. Pokemon were power, so who had the Pokemon had the power. You were limited to one Pokemon per region but each region was separated by dangerous wilds. Each catch was automatically logged into the global database linked to the PokeNav system. If you caught a second Pokemon within a region or tried to fudge the numbers in any way you would be sent to jail and all your Pokemon would be confiscated. Permanently.

"I know what you're thinking, but I didn't have a choice. Celest..." Dr. Nova pinched his nose and shook his head. "I'll just show you." He opened a file and pulled up a video. It was footage from a gym. He hit play and I watched as a Venasaur sent a nasty Petal Dance at a Greninja.

The battle was fierce. I found my eyes glued to the screen. I'd never seen such mastery of Pokemon. Both sides were amazing, countering and dodging and using the whole terrain to their advantage.

The camera angle changed and I saw Aurora standing beside a Leafeon. But no, it wasn't Aurora. This woman was taller and had blue eyes. It was Celest, before whatever accident had befallen her.

Dr. Nova paused the video. "I can never bare to watch the rest."

"The rest?"

"Do you recognize that gym?"

"I've never been inside a gym before, sir."

Dr. Nova sighed. "It was the Tarrian City Gym, the last Gym before the Elite Four. Celest was convinced that she was going to win it all, to become the Pokemon Champion who would free everyone from this oppressive reign of terror. I was at work that day, overseeing the manufacturing of a new Pokeball, when a man dressed in black came to inform me that my wife was in the hospital, her Pokemon were dead, and that if I ever wanted her to be allowed out of her bed that I would need to help them. And so I did."

I stayed quiet. Why was he telling me all of this? Was he going to kill me or not?

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, as if reading my mind. "Aurora has always had the best luck. It seems to me that your only choices in life are to fight to overthrow the government that would have you killed or to lay down and give up and hide until you die of old age."

"That seems about right."

"Well, it's time to make your choice." Dr. Nova turned and pulled out a device from a cabinet. "As things stand, there isn't a city you'll be able to walk into without sirens going off. You won't be able to enter sanctioned battles, to earn money, or to buy anything from a store. Anything you try to do by the name of Alex Sands will send you straight to prison, where you will be executed for treason."

"So what are my choices?"

"Remain as Alex Sands and leave here tomorrow with as much food as you can carry, no strings attached, or allow me to give you a new identity."

"A new identity?"

"New to you, at least."

"And you'll just give it to me?"

Dr. Nova set his strange devise down before turning my chair so that I was looking directly at him. "This isn't free charity. I expect you to work for me. I expect you to share any intel you gather. I expect you to keep yourself out of trouble, and to keep my family out of trouble. I expect you to train your hardest to be the kind of Pokemon trainer who may some day be a Pokemon Master, the kind of Pokemon Master who can tear down this world and rebuild it to what it should be so that my daughter may know the joy and freedom of setting off into the world to follow her dream. And if you can't do all that, I ask that you walk away now. If you don't have what it takes, I'll find someone else to carry this burden."

"And if I take your deal?"

Dr. Nova smiled. "You're going to need more than a military-issue Growlith to get you to the finish line."