Chapter 1 "Pokémon"
It was night-time at Slateport City. The sea breeze was cold yet very refreshing. A 19-year old girl with light-brown hair is leaning against the railings looking over the sea near the entrance to the beach. Beside her was a red chicken-like Pokémon that had his back against the railings and his eyes closed.
"The coordinators this year were really good weren't they Blaziken?", she asks her Pokémon who only hums in agreement. "Makes me miss the old days travelling around Hoenn. I wonder how the others are doing?". Her mind starts to wander when all of the sudden she was blasted by a torrent of water. Her Blaziken slightly moved away from her when this happened.
She could only stand there shocked by the event before she heard a familiar laugh behind her. She turns around to see a light-blue Pokémon a fin on its head and two black fins for its tail. Beside the Pokémon was a raven-haired boy, a few years younger than her, and glares daggers at him.
"REALLY MAX?! REALLY?!"she screams at her little brother.
"HAHAHAH, sorry, I couldn't help it. You looked too serious, and I'm not used to seeing you too serious like that, May." Max says wiping a few tears from his eyes. He turns to his Pokémon before saying, "Good job Marshtomp, return." , then returning his Pokémon in its Poké ball. "And I'm sure you have some spare clothing back at the hotel."
May continues to glare at his brother, "Well of course I do but do you really expect me to walk in the lobby soaking wet? How do you think the people in there would react?"
"Well, I can tell them that you fell in the water because I pushed you over the railings. Anyways, what were you thinking about that's got you in that mood?" Max asks.
May sighs before turning her gaze back to the ocean, "I just can't help to wonder how the others are doing. It's been a while since the whole group has been hasn't it?" May senses her brother move beside her and looks over the ocean as well.
"Well let see. Ash is happy being the Viridian Gym Leader. Gary continued his grandfather's works and is now the one helping out new trainers start their journey. Misty is still Cerulean City's Gym Leader. Brock is a licensed Pokémon Doctor. Tracey is helping him out too being Professor Samuel Oak's assistant and all. Then there's Dawn who's a well-known top coordinator in the Sinnoh. Iris actually took up the role of being Opelucid City's Gym Leader. And Cilan, who is now managing one of the restaurants they own along with his brothers." Max enumerates.
May could only stare at her brother, shocked that he knew all this information. He knew how Dawn was because they were both coordinators, as well as Gary's because who wouldn't broadcast it when a famous professor passes away. Especially Ash's because the guy was so enthusiastic about it that he called everyone on the opening of the gym. But she didn't knew the ones about Brock, Iris and Cilan.
"How in the world do know all that?!" she almost screams at her brother, almost.
"Well... Unlike you, I actually keep in touch with all of them rather than just a few ones." May looks at Max sheepishly.
"Well I'm busy running a school here!" May huffs back. You see, May became the Top Coordinator for 5 consecutive years, her father, Norman the Petalburg City's Gym Leader, surprised her when he told her than he had a small building beside the gym built for May saying that winning for 5 consecutive years was no easy task that maybe she could teach other aspiring Coordinators on what they need to learn in contests. The mayor of the city approved Norman's idea glad that he could play a great role in the lives of other people.
"Whatever." Max says as he ignores his sister. Suddenly, one of Max's Poké Balls opens revealing a Pokémon with green hair that curls down the sides of its head and a lower body resembling a slim gown.
"Huh? What's wrong Gardevoir?" Max asks worriedly although still surprised with her sudden appearance.
"Voirr..." Gardevoir then points towards the beach. Max and May both looked at what Gardevoir was pointing at. At the shoreline they could see a body, unmoving, almost as if it's lifeless.
"I-i-is that a body?!" May says slightly scared. Blaziken was alerted by the scared tone of his trainer's voice.
"I think it is. Come on May, we have to see if they're okay. Let's go Gardevoir." Max runs down to the beach towards the body, Gardevoir in tow.
"H-hey! Wait up!" May runs after her little brother along with her Blaziken.
Once they reached the body, May asks Blaziken to pull the body towards the dry part of the beach. Upon closer inspection, they realized it was a boy. He had short dark-brown hair and he look younger than Max, though they both found his clothing rather strange. He was wearing a white long-sleeved top that reaches mid- thigh with small diamonds along the hems of the shirt and black colored pants that appear to be made out of silk.
"Is he royalty or something? Are these real diamonds?" May inspects the gems on the clothing.
"Really May? We find an unconscious body here at the beach and all you can think of are gems?" Max raises a brow at his sister.
"What? I can't help it. I guess we should take him to the center and see if Nurse Joy can do something about him. Blaziken can you please carry him?" May asks her Pokémon who nods before picking up the unconscious boy.
"Alright let's go." Max agrees before they all went to the town's Pokémon Center.
They enter the Pokémon Center looking immediately for Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy, who was working on some papers at the counter, was shocked when the pair entered the center along with a Blaziken and a Gardevoir. She immediately went over to the two and called for Blissey who was tending to some Pokémon in the recovery room.
"What's wrong?" Nurse Joy immediately asks.
"Nurse Joy, we found this boy by the beach, can you please check if he's okay? We're worried about him." Max explains.
"Alright, give me a minute." Nurse Joy leaves for a few minutes before coming back with Blissey along with a wheeled stretcher. "Okay, set him here and we'll take him to the infirmary and check him over."
May then tells Blaziken to do what Nurse Joy said. Once done, Nurse Joy then leaves then asks the pair stay in the mean time in the waiting room. They returned their Pokémon to their respective Poké Balls before going to the waiting room.
Once there Max sits down thinking about the boy they found. He suddenly feels a tap on his shoulder and he looks up at his sister.
"Max, I'm going back to the hotel to change clothes. My clothes are still wet from your stunts earlier." May says and only receives a nod before she exits the center.
Max meanwhile is in deep thought because it's not every day you find an unconscious person with your very own eyes.
'And his clothing, I haven't seen it from anything. I mean everyone I know has their own sense in clothing but... May might be right. Maybe he is royalty or something.' Max was so deep in his own thoughts he didn't even see his sister come back and sit beside him.
They were both worried about the boy and at the same time curious as who he is. After an hour of waiting, Nurse Joy returns to them with a tired smile.
"He's going to be okay. Aside from skin abrasions on his arms which I think was caused by the rocks in the sand, he's going to heal. Though I am bothered by something...", Nurse Joy's smile turns into a frown, "... We have checked all his vital signs as well as other things. It seems that even with his vitals being okay along with his brain activity, he shows no signs of waking up."
"Can we go see him?" May asks.
"Of course, come on follow me." They follow Nurse Joy into a room. Nurse Joy then speaks up, "We've decided to give him a separate room due to the delicateness of his own condition. Oh and here are his clothes. We decided to give him normal clothes because his clothes we're rather... too sophisticated looking to be seen by civilians." She says handing the boy's clothes to Max. The siblings can see that the boy was given a dark-blue shirt.
"Thank you Nurse Joy." Max says.
"It seems you both do not know the identity of this boy correct?" Nurse Joy asks.
"Unfortunately, no. Like we said, we just found him unconscious on the beach like he was just left there." May says as she contemplates on what to do. They don't know who the boy was and that worried the siblings because it would mean no one would look after him.
Then suddenly Max had an idea, "May! What if we take care of him at least until he wakes up? At least by that time we can find out who he is and contact any relatives of his."
"That would be a fine idea but I think you both need to talk to your parents about this." Nurse Joy suggests.
"I'm sure they would understand the situation." May looks at her brother.
"Go on for now both of you. It's already late, he'll be safe here trust me. And after all, you plan still plan talking to your parents." Nurse Joy tells them.
"Alright Nurse Joy, we'll come back tomorrow." May says as they all leave the room and the pair leaves the center.
That night, the siblings called their parents and just like May said, they understood the situation, even going as to saying they would help in the recovery of the boy. The next few days, they we're contacting their friends and explained to them about the boy and despite their busy schedules, they promised they would visit as soon as they can.
For the next few weeks, the Pokémon Center of Slateport City had a lot of visitors that were checking the condition of only one person. Nurse Joy informed that the boy was showing signs of waking up but once it would seem he would wake up, all those signs vanish immediately.
May and Max showed their friends the clothes that the boy wore when they found him. Immediately, Cilan inspected it with awe. He told them that the gems in the clothes were real and of high quality at that. The siblings were surprised Cilan knew about this kind of things. Dawn was actually surprised at the silk fabric of the pants because she has never seen anything of such quality. With this information, they were now curious on the boy's identity more than ever.
One day, exactly two months and a week, while May was reviewing the performances of her students, she received a call that she never thought would hear.
May was watching a video of a student of hers who was using a Azurill.
"Oh wow, her control of her Azurill's Bubble attack is really good.", Suddenly the phone in her room started ringing. She paused the video before she went to answer the phone.
"Hello, this is May of the Petalburg Coordinator School. How can I help you?" May talks over the receiver.
"Hello? This is Nurse Joy of Slateport City. I have some wonderful news for you. The boy you've brought in here a few months ago... He had just woken up a few hours ago!" Nurse Joy exclaims in over the phone.
"WHAT?! NO NEVER MIND, I'M ON MY WAY! MAAAAAAAX!" May calls for his brother after putting the phone down. On their way to Slateport City, May instructed Max to contact their friends and tell them the news.
Once they got there, Nurse Joy accompanied them to the door.
"Oh before you go in, I have to remind you he had just woken up. Don't startle him too much okay?" Nurse Joy asks before she opens the door to let the two in.
"Don't worry Nurse Joy we won't." Max whispers towards her.
Once they entered the figure they were used to seeing lying down and sleeping was now sitting up on the bed and wide awake. The boy was looking out the window when the two went in but shifted his gaze towards the door when he heard it open.
He saw two figures, a boy and a girl, enter though both looked older than him. His eyes followed them until they took their place beside his bed.
"Hello there, my name is May, and this is Max my younger brother." May says as she also gestures towards Max.
"We found you by the seashore one night then we took you here and you were asleep for two months or so." Max explains towards the boy. "So what's your name?"
Instead of responding, the boy closed his eyes and looked like he was thinking hard. The siblings became worried of this and thought he will not tell them anything. Then he opened his hazel eyes and looked towards the two before speaking.
"My name is Toshi." Toshi introduces himself. May was shocked as she didn't expect such a deep voice from the boy.
"Okay Toshi. Well where did you come from? From what region are you?" Max asks.
Again the boy closes his eyes but once he opens them again, he only shakes his head.
"Oh. I see, well do you at least remember anything?" Max asks again.
The boy could only shake his head and look at his lap. "I don't remember anything. Every time I try, only my name keeps coming out."
The siblings stared at each other with worries in their eyes.
"Hey Toshi, if you don't mind we're going to leave you here for a while. We'll be back, don't worry; we'll just wait for our other friends to get here. Our friends we're also looking after you while you were asleep." May says as she gestures for Max to follow her. She receives a nod in response before they left the room and went directly to Nurse Joy.
"Oh hello you two. Did you find out anything about the boy?" Nurse Joy asks.
"Well, his name is Toshi but aside from that, he can't seem to remember anything." Max looks at Nurse Joy with worry.
"Oh my, the poor kid." Nurse joy says.
"Max, I'm going to do something for a bit. Can you please wait for our friends to get here and don't let any of them to the room till I get back, okay?" May tells her brother before leaving.
'What is she planning?' he thought.
Then their friends started arriving.
"Is it true? He's awake?" Misty asks.
"Oh I am so excited to talk to him. I wonder which region he came from." Dawn exclaimed.
"I wonder if he knows how to battle." Ash says ,with Pikachu on his left shoulder, but gets hit in the head courtesy of Gary. "Stop thinking about battling for once Ashy-boy, sheesh."
Then May enters the center and proceeds to the group.
"May! There you are! Where do you go? No... wrong question. What did you do?" Max raising a sceptical eyebrow towards his sister.
"I'll tell you later, for now let's go meet our new friend shall we?" May says as she starts walking towards the room.
Toshi's attention was shifted to the door when he heard many voices from the other side. Then the door opens and May enter first, followed by Max, followed by eight new faces.
They all took their place around his bed but no one speaking because the they were shocked and happy that the boy was awake.
"So... what's your name?" Dawn asks.
Toshi looks at the dark-blue haired girl, "My name is Toshi." He replies.
"Toshi? Well that's a unique name. I'm Dawn. The orange haired one over here is Misty. Next to her is Iris, then the green haired one is Cilan." Then Dawn gestures to her other side. "Here we have Brock, next to him is Tracy, the Gary, and the one with the Pikachu on his shoulder is Ash."
Toshi looks at them then stares at the yellow rodent creature. He stares at it and Pikachu stares back. Everyone was starting to get uncomfortable with the silent staring contest between the two, even Ash.
"What is that?" Toshi suddenly asks pointing at Pikachu.
The question shocked them all.
"This is Pikachu, he's a Pokémon and has been with me since I was ten." Ash says.
"Pokémon? What's that?" Toshi asks again and once again, the question shocked all of them.
"You don't know what Pokémon are?" Iris asks and she receives a no in reply.
"Well allow me to at least give you a general perspective. Pokémons are creatures like Pikachu here. They all come in different forms, shapes and sizes. We humans live with Pokémon side by side and we both grow together as friends and partners." Gary explains.
"I never thought I'd see the day when Gary would be so punctual." Misty snickers which she earns a glare from Gary that she shrugs off.
Toshi stares at Pikachu again. This time Ash got an idea. He lifts Pikachu off his shoulder and sets him on Toshi's lap. Pikachu stares at Ash silently asking what he should do. Ash just gestures towards Pikachu and he immediately understands what to do. Toshi however was not moving at all as he continues to stare at the yellow Pokémon.
Pikachu then puts his hand on Toshi's arm. Toshi visibly relaxes and his eyes soften. Then Pikachu climbs up and rests on Toshi's shoulders before nuzzling his face on Toshi's cheeks.
An intense unknown emotion filled Toshi's chest. He slowly moved his arms and slowly embraced Pikachu. He hugs Pikachu like there's no tomorrow. He doesn't notice the tears that were flowing from his eyes and the laughter he's emitting.
Everyone looked at Toshi, amazed as he continued to hug Pikachu while crying and laughing at the same time.
Soon enough everyone joined in the random laughter and the once thick atmosphere in the room was lifted off in an instant.
Well, this is it. The first official chapter of my first book. Got a bit teary-eyed in the end of the chapter. Review if there questions, clarifications, things I need to change (i.e. grammar) or simply just want to say something. See you all in the next chapter!
~RinRinRinHoshizora~