Hey guys: it's chapter four! Let's get started!
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A figure was sitting in a tree, watching proceedings. He was the watcher and he liked to think of himself as an engineer of fates. He wore a plain, brown robe with a rope belt and a hood. It was very similar to a humble monk's outfit, and he liked it. It was easy to maintain and warm in the cold parts of Hoenn where he made his home.
…Except he wasn't at home, now. The watcher was down near Oldale town, keeping tabs on his latest project. Of course, even without him, fate would have the intended few do their part, but it would be shabby and take longer; why let a stream naturally carve its way to a village, when one could build aqueducts and pipes?
The watcher had seen the two men argue, and then the boy appear and defeat them. This child was gifted; and his aura was strong. Perhaps he would be one of the lucky ones…
And now a girl, the boy's twin, was arriving. The watcher knew this girl: she had defeated the Poocheana and saved another boy. Her aura was also strong. Slowly but surely, the pieces of fate, these children, were being drawn together; almost magnetically.
The watcher smiled, and knew he had been successful here.
--
Rohan pulled the earphones of his ipod from his ears.
"-so can you see why I'm so angry!?" Kerensa finished her rant.
"…Totally, Sorry sis." He muttered. He knew what she had been ranting about, but he didn't care. He was going to become the Champion of Hoenn and his sister was just slowing him down.
"Anyway" Kerensa took a few breaths and calmed down "Mum wants you back home, so we'd better go now; it's already sunset."
"Yeah, fine. I need a rest after all this training." Rohan muttered.
"Don't get me started again…" she warned.
"Oh yeah, by the way: we'd better be careful. I just battled these two guys, and they were threatening to kill me and stuff." Rohan declared as they began to walk towards Oldale.
"What!? Why'd you battle guys like that?" Kerensa gasped.
"You gotta stand up to criminals; you can't let them think they own the place." Rohan replied, as though she were stupid.
"I can't believe you'd do something as idiotic as that. Even by your standards, that's just…" Kerensa was winding up for a rant again. Rohan wandered on ahead, ignoring her cries of: 'wait up, I'm not done yet' and put the earphones in again.
--
They stopped in the Oldale Pokemon center, and then headed back through the woods to Littleroot town.
"I'm off to sleep." Rohan muttered, shambling up the stairs like his Zombi, and Kerensa sighed and settled down in the armchair before the Television. She was going to turn it on when she realized just how tired she was.
"Maybe just a little sleep" she muttered, releasing Mudkip to stretch his legs whilst she napped.
--
It was getting dark and the watcher had left the two confirmed pieces of the puzzle, to search for other possible candidates. More were needed, to shield his chosen if nothing else. The watcher sat upon a bench in Oldale town and closed his eyes. A ring of pure light glowed around his form for a moment then it shattered into dozens of shards. These shot off in all different directions, sniffing like hounds for prominent auras. Moments later, the watcher felt something tugging at his soul. Then it was two, three, four different sources. He had found several 'friends' and minders for the chosen ones. He stood, there was a sound like a twig snapping and he was gone. With his passage, the mists that engulfed the town began to lift.
--
The first was a boy. The watcher felt he was vaguely familiar, and realized that he was the victim of the Poocheana attack the previous day. It was more than that; his aura was strange. Most auras are like a little cloud, glimpses of the future, present and past of the bearer. Ones who are intended for special purposes have more prominent auras, but all auras have one thing in common: They have an end; a hint at how the person's life will end.
But this boy Stan, his aura was blurred and distorted towards the end of his life. Something terrible would happen to him, the watcher guessed. Some deaths are too twisted to even show on the aura.
Stan and his pokemon were currently resting in a Pokemon Center in Petalberg town; west of Oldale. The watcher appeared outside the center. It was dark and no-one noticed him, not that they'd do anything if they had: Humans nature meant that they were likely to shun or deny anything unusual they saw. And seeing a monk appear in a puff of fog outside a pokemon center was not a normal thing.
The watcher entered the Pokemon center, and walked to the counter. Nurse joy looked up at him, a slightly bemused expression on her face, but she was respectful, nonetheless.
"What can I do for you, father?" she asked, pushing a lock of pink hair from her face.
"I wish to book a room, if you have one free." He said. His voice was deep and the Nurse could've sworn there had been two or three people speaking at the same time, such was the strange accent he bore.
"…Of course we have a room." The woman gave him a key, which he took with a black-gloved hand. Thanking the night-nurse, the watcher wandered up the stairs. Not once did he remove his hood, but he did not need his eyes to see. His mind told him much more than his sight ever could.
As he reached the landing with the rooms on it, the strange man casually placed the key on a table to his right: it had simply been a ruse to get to the trainer sleeping quarters and he would not need it.
He sensed the presence of Stan coming from the room to his left, and stepped up to the mahogany door. One leather-gloved hand closed on the handle, and there was a click, before he even turned it. Then he opened the newly-unlocked door.
Stan lay, asleep on a bed opposite the entrance. The watcher approached the sheet-wrapped boy, and concentrated a moment. Sweat beaded his hidden brow, and then it was done: a sliver of golden light, like a wisp of smoke, drifted from his hand and into the lad's head.
"Sleep well, because everything changes tomorrow…" he whispered, before turning and leaving.
--
There was another in Petalberg city. Another boy, around two years older than Stan, lived in a house on the other side of the city. Even though it was night time, this boy was outside. He was not a trainer, the watcher could tell without even looking into his mind. This boy was just an average citizen. He was sitting, dejectedly in front of the gym, his breath escaping in clouds of white into the freezing night air.
"Hello Laurie." The watcher's voice was colder, and it made him jump
"Who the hell are you?" he snapped, looking up at the hooded stranger. The watcher held his hands up in mock surrender.
"I am merely an old trainer, looking upon the youth of today. Tell me child, why do you not have any pokemon?"
There was something calming in the strange man's voice, Laurie relaxed, involuntarily. He was tall, and thin. His high cheekbones were pinched, as though he were ill. Though there was nothing particularly ailing him, the watcher knew that being confined to this place, when he was meant for bigger things, was taking its toll on him. He had blue eyes, which were dull and bored at the moment, and short, wispy blonde hair. He wore a cargo jacket with several pockets, on top of a plain black t-shirt. He also wore grey jeans and trainers.
"I would like nothing more in this world, but my mother says that I am too weak to be a trainer. She is concerned that the lifestyle, all the journeys and loosing, would make me get ill."
His eyes were downcast. The watcher sat down too.
"I remember when I was your age, no-one thought I could cut it as a trainer." He sighed "But I proved them wrong: I became pretty good (in all modesty)."
"There's nothing I can do, she's made up her mind. Instead, I'm going to stay with my Uncle in Verdanturf Town…" he seemed miserable as he said this last sentence.
"Verdanturf!?" the watcher exclaimed, patting the teenager on the shoulder (and subtly releasing a small spray of golden dust, which faded into him) "But that's such a long way! What if you're attacked by wild pokemon?"
"We're taking the safe route there, along the main roads."
"That'll take days! If you just went straight there with a pokemon to protect you, you'd get there in 24 hours!"
"That's…true" Laurie mused to himself.
"Well then!" the watcher beamed "you should get one to protect you."
"…I've never caught a wild pokemon before…"
The watcher thought for a moment, then realized where they were.
"…oh: of course! The gym leader here is the son of an old friend of mine. He's a nice enough lad, and if you ask him when it opens tomorrow, I'm sure he'll help!"
Laurie looked up, eyes bright as electricity.
"Really?" he asked.
"Of course! Now go home and get some sleep!" the watcher ordered "You've got a big day tomorrow!"
Laurie looked over at the gym.
"I don't know how to thank you, I-" he began, but when he looked back, the watcher was gone, and the seat beside him was empty.
--
The watcher knew there would be others: people who would find their way into the 'retinue' of the chosen ones, rivals and foes that would help or hinder them. The future was uncertain and the edges were blurred, but the mists were beginning to clear. He could see fire and darkness, and death, but alongside that, there was unity and order. A choice would be made. But of that choice, the watcher had no control. All he could do was influence the ones who would make the choice. Even then, nothing was certain. Would damnation claim the world, or would it be united against the threat which would present itself?
The watcher wandered off to the west, towards the sea.
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So what did you think? Who is this mysterious Watcher? What does he want? Does he love Marmite?
All will become clear soon.