Chapter 2: Gatekeeper

It's a strange feeling knowing you are the only living thing walking down the well-worn roads of route 203. Some may consider it a tranquil and humbling experience, but for me it was the opposite. I was utterly frightened by the silence around me, and found myself singing or humming to myself to keep myself from breaking down. As I walked I noticed campsites along the edges of the road some with the campfires still alight, but I lacked the stomach to approach any of them.

It was a dumb decision. Thought it was still early fall the night was chilly and walking around nearly naked didn't help on top of that I could feel my physical stamina waning—I needed to rest. I had stopped at a stream earlier to quench my thirst and wash my face and noticed that my fingertips and toes were beginning to numb and slightly blue. It seemed that I would perish at the hands of nature rather than my hunter.

Truth be told, I never expected my journey to take such a turn on its first day, and I still found it difficult to take it all in. I felt drained emotionally too. My thoughts were a mess and there were only two things that were clear to me. First was that my body seemed to be walking forward on its own. Second was the feeling of a total loss of control.

The sun was finally beginning to creep over Mt. Coronet its golden rays illuminated the snow being blown off by the harsh mountaintop winds. But more importantly cast light and the faintest sense of warmth on me. I rubbed my shoulders and looked ahead and thought that I might just make it out alive.

After another hour or two of walking I could hear movement ahead. Being startled more than anything I dove into the bushes nearby to hide from whatever it was. I remained their still and looked ahead. I could see a small man—an extremely small man walking down the path. He held his chin high and his chest puffed out. As he passed by I noticed that he was wearing the dress of the Sinnoh National Guard, but a smattering of ribbons and medals on his breast caught my attention. Judging by the sheer number he seemed to be quite highly ranked.

I let out a deep breath. I was finally saved.

Before I stepped out of the bushes a thought occurred to me. Wouldn't it be suspicious if I was the only person to survive? I mean, literally nothing else was walking these routes last night and to see a trainer wearing boxers on the first day of his adventure somehow emerging scatheless would provide grounds for an investigation.

As these thoughts crossed my mind the person had already passed by and I was left on my own again. It seemed I had no choice but to get through this on my own. Once I got into Oreburgh I would be safe. I could just make up a story about any which direction I came from. Got mugged by a bunch of punks or something of the sort.

After the person was far enough away I began to move again. This time staying off the path and in the woods so that I would be harder to see. The sun kept rising higher and higher and I felt more energized and alive.

Surprisingly I hadn't seen any other members of the Guard, nor their pokemon. Which as a citizen of Sinnoh was concerning as the response time was rather slow. If I made it into Oreburgh I planned to tip off some hungry journalist on this to make a quick penny. After all I had to recuperate the loss of my wallet.

The trees around me began to thin out and before I knew it I could see the Oreburgh Gate before me. I ducked behind a rather thick palm tree next to me as I observed what lay ahead.

It was anything but normal. A spontaneous military headquarters had sprung up. Vehicles, pokemon, and soldiers were bustling between the various metallic buildings that were built to provide temporary facilities to the Guard. It was an impressive sight to know that they somehow managed to build all of this in the few hours they had been notified of the incident.

"Great, now I have to sneak past this somehow," I mumbled to myself.

"That would be tough especially if they have even a single well trained pokemon."

"That's right, I need another way."

"Hmmm, maybe a psychic type could teleport you across?"

That could work I thought.

At that I felt a tingling sensation from the base of my skull quickly spread across my body and before I could turn around a brilliant flash of white blinded me momentarily. Next I opened my eyes I was staring down the barrel of a gun at a man wearing the outfit of the Guard and flanked by the imposing physique of a rhypherior.

I quickly glanced around and noticed other soldiers circled around me with their guns trained at me. My legs trembled and gave away beneath me as I fell backwards and into a tree. And then the tree moved as it stepped away from me, I quickly turned around and saw the same palm tree from earlier except I now realized it was an exeggutor facing away from me.

"Ahh, it seems our teleportation didn't quite work," a voice spoke out from on top the exeggutor. I looked up and saw the small man from earlier grinning down at me. "Well, its not like we had something to hide now did we?"

I tried to speak but the sight of all these men and pokemon trained to kill left me pale, trembling, and utterly speechless. I was a fool to think that I would even have a chance at evading the Guard, in all likelihood they had noticed me far before I had even thought they would be investigating the incident from last night. They were simply in a different tier than any other people I had encountered in my life.

My mouth opened to speak up but nothing came out. Quite frankly this was the first time I had ever seen a gun in real life. Regulations in Sinnoh were extremely strict, practically only the Guard had access to guns. Even crime syndicates such as Team Galactic would be hard pressed to get their hands on even a pea shooter.

"Well, if you can't speak there's no point wasting our time. Take him to the Commander, Ace." With that I felt the familiar tingling sensation from before except this time I was lifted into the air as my body turned stiff. I was locked in place by some psychic power. I tried my best to move but it was to no avail. It simply felt like I had lost control over my body.

The exeggutor began to waddle towards one of the buildings deeper in camp. We walked by other soldiers who glanced at me suspiciously as well as other extremely powerful pokemon. Everyone looked on edge and the air was filled with tension. Turning a corner, we walked into one of the buildings. Rather I floated harmlessly through but the exeggutor was too tall to fit through the doors. It made what I could only guess was a sad sigh as it stood outside patiently.

The whole room was very chromatic in its design. Bright and slick furniture lay around the room, and white lights from above made the whole place seem a little too bright. I glanced nervously around but couldn't figure out the purpose of the room.

A few minutes had passed before a wall in front of me slid to the side revealing a person behind. A woman with brown hair and green eyes confidently walked up to me. Her hair was pulled back in a neat bun. She wore a white lab coat with a loosely fitted green t-shirt underneath that hung just below her collarbone. Her features were sharp and straight a contrast to her smooth skin.

Eyeing me over she sneered and took her lab coat off as she threw it at me. Like myself it became enveloped in psychic energy and it was pulled over me and buttoned up, presumably to cover up my indecency.

"Sorry," I managed to mumble as the psychic force around my face began to relax. I expected some sort of question or comment from her but she kept staring straight at me as if she were trying to figure something out. After a long pause she let out a frustrated sigh and exclaimed, "I can't believe they want to waste my time with a runt like you!" with that she stormed back towards the door where she came from.

I blinked as I tried to figure out what was going on. I waited for her to come back to see if this was an attempt to get a reaction out of me but minutes passed and nothing happened. I strained my ears and heard movement outside but nothing seemed to be coming in this direction. I was simply just hung up in the air.

The brightness of the room began to hurt my eyes and I closed them as I thought about my next tip to the journalist: the Guard is suffering an organizational crisis. As I began to relax I noticed the pleasant smell of cherry blossoms. I opened my eyes and sniffed at the air, it seemed to be coming from the lab coat.

"So our hard ass has a feminine side huh," I muttered softly to myself. I looked down to myself and noticed I was still clutching on to the dusk ball in its reduced form. I tried to tighten my grip on the ball and for a second it felt like I did. I looked around both cautiously and excitedly before I tried to move my hand. Thought it took a lot of effort I could definitely feel my hand moving. After a few minutes of desperately fighting the psychic power I was able to raise my arm a few centimeters higher in the air.

The door in front of me opened again and the Commander stepped out holding a bag in her hand. She looked at me with disgust and spoke up, "I thought I told you to get rid of this monkey. Get someone to call his parents to pick him up before he gets homesick."

Ace seemed to shuffle a bit on his feet, seemingly used to the Commander's demands, before he began to move me towards the door. Moments before I was pulled out of the door I saw the Commander's eyes narrow before she commanded Ace to stop. She walked right up to me and gave me a piercing glare.

"You worked up quite a sweat. Bad family life?" she taunted, "or maybe it's this?" with that she reached for the dusk ball in my hand and pried it out without any effort. In truth, it was both but she didn't need to know that.

She rolled the ball in her hand as her bright eyes took in all the details. She cast a quick glance up at me and took a step backwards. She rose a pensive eyebrow and asked, "did you pick this ball up somewhere?"

"No, it's mine."

"Looks like its seen more years than you've been wasting everyone's time."

"Someone gave it to me."

"Seems people will do anything to get rid of an annoying kid these days."

My face was beginning to turn red from her constant insults and I was growing less interested in trying to talk my way out and keener on giving her a taste of her medicine.

"So, are you going to do anything to get rid of me or do you plan on keeping me around?"

She looked at me for a second before she continued, "I like feisty guys but don't get me wrong you're a bit too young. So, I'll be throwing you out with the trash in a few minutes," with that she gestured at the bag she was holding.

"Didn't think a girl that used cherry blossom perfume would be the one to take the trash out herself," I grinned at her.

Her composure broke and I could see her cheeks flush red as she looked down for a moment. She recovered quickly, "well you do look like the type to go around sniffing a woman's clothes." She smiled as she walked past me, "I'll throw out the trash and then we can talk."

I sighed. It was a small victory but everything mattered. She seemed much more amiable than before and willing to listen to me. Now the question was, what would I tell her? There wasn't any harm in telling her the truth, in fact it would be best for everyone in Sinnoh if I did. But it would cost me, who knows where they would take me and what they would use me for as that would make me a rare subject and a valuable resource for the Guard. Whatever happened last night will probably be breaking headlines across the world, and the Guard will have to settle matters quickly to save face.

"You can let him go on one of the chairs, Ace" the Commander spoke as she returned and sat down at a table. Ace gently lowered me onto a chair and then released the psychic force. Suddenly weight returned to my body and I felt awkward, and stiff all over. I stretched around in my seat and met eyes with the Commander.

"I'm Commander Lucia of the Sinnoh National Guard. As you are surely aware, something strange happened in route 203 last night. We aren't sure as to the cause but the aftermath is clear. Every living thing pokemon, human, and even plants have been killed without a single mark of battle. In a situation where even seasoned trainers perished, its hard to think that an individual, especially one as green as you, would come out unscathed. If you wouldn't mind, an explanation is in order."

I was taken aback by her sudden formality and quickly gathered my thoughts. I didn't want the hunter to rampage through Sinnoh but I also valued my own freedom. It wasn't a tip I was giving to a journalist then after all.

"I'll admit that last night was the first of my journey, and I wouldn't say I came out unscathed," I glanced at her and she seemed to be taking notes. "I caught a zigzagoon while I was out and it… didn't make it," my voice had trailed off naturally but it seemed to have the right effect. "To be honest all I remember is the fluttering of wings overhead—and laughter? I'm not sure what was going on because I was diving in a small lake by some hills. When I got out everything was still, I returned to my camp and that's when I realized something awful had happened."

"And why did you try to avoid the Guard when you were hiding by the treeline?"

"I didn't want to get involved in something I didn't understand," I almost laughed as I said that. "To be honest, I just consider myself lucky to survive."

"Fair enough," she closed her notepad and set it down in front of her. Now I just needed to convince her to let me go. Before I could bring up the topic she set the dusk ball on the table, "Now tell me what's in this."

I froze.

I wasn't prepared for this. Hell, I had no clue what was in the ball! My best guess was that it was a dark pokemon, judging from its interaction with the psychic field I was in. But pokeballs don't normally take on the properties of its resident pokemon. That must have been what tipped her off. My mind raced for a possible answer before my mouth opened on its own, "I don't know."

She raised an eyebrow and leaned forward. My feet were on hot coals but I couldn't stop myself from noticing her perfume again.

"My grandfather gave it to me a few years ago. I've never been able to open it, it's more of a memento than anything really."

"I would like to run some tests on it, if that's fine with you."

"I mean I don't feel that welcome in this base so I'd like to be on my way quickly."

"Shouldn't take too long, and you can watch if you promise not to interfere with anything."

Backed into a corned I had no option but to agree, "I'll promise as long as you can promise me a meal."

"Sounds good," she smirked and reached for the dusk ball and walked into the back room and gestured for me to follow.

What happened next is beyond me to explain, but simply put she ran various tests scratched her head and then ran more tests. I was given a hot meal which I wolfed down while I watched. The results were indicating that it was a regular dusk ball. The Commander chipped pieces of the ball off for later inspection and when she put the ball in a PC, the ball showed up as empty. There was no pokemon. Frustrated she ran more tests, she had Ace use psychic on the ball all the way from the door but it behaved like an ordinary ball.

Then her eyes shifted to me, but no matter what tests she ran the results were the same. An ordinary boy.

Defeated after nearly a day's worth of hard work she led me outside. Ace had seemingly wandered off somewhere and the sun seemed to have set long ago. It was slightly unsettling to be out during the night but the presence of the Guard soothed my anxiety, they were the strongest trainers in Sinnoh. The Commander led me to the Oreburgh Gate and turned to face me.

"For the life of me I can't tell anything special about you. I'm surprised you managed to live as long as you have let alone last night. I'm willing to write it off as mere luck but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth. Go on you're free to go and you can keep the coat."

She grabbed my hand and put the dusk ball in it. I felt a chill go down my spine as the cold metal rested in my palm. Her long fingers brushed my open hand as she pulled her hand away, they were surprisingly soft for a military woman.

I turned to go, more than nervous of traveling alone through the cave to Oreburgh, especially after finding out the dusk ball was empty. Not wanting to lose face I craned my head back and called out, "Thanks for everything Lucy!"

The Commander's face immediately flushed a much deeper red than before. "Ace, lets teleport our friend into the city, I heard he was quite fond of diving at night."

Before the look of horror could set into my face I was already gone.