Chapter 1: Welcome to the Nova League
The boat pulled into the port around 7:30 p.m. About time, too. It had been three weeks since the ferry left from Snowpoint City in Sinnoh and, as much as I love the sea breeze and the sound of the ocean, three weeks waiting for what was going to be the most difficult challenge of my life on a boat was just unsettling. I really couldn't enjoy the cruise as much as I could have because of the sheer anticipation of what lied ahead.
"Only the top 1000 trainers in the world not ranked as a gym leader or elite 4 member are selected to partake in the Nova League. Congratulations, you have been chosen. " That is what the letter that invited me to the Nova League read when I first opened it up. I had never even thought of myself as a truly outstanding trainer, let alone one of the top 1000 worldwide. I guess my Unova league challenge must have really impressed the people who selected me. I decided to test myself and my Pokémon by taking on this new league challenge. I figured, why not? It'll be fun.
After the boat pulled in, I was finally able to get off the boat with the 36 other people that I had come with on the ship, the S.S. Snover. I walked off the bridge with my small amount of luggage, we were told to pack only about a week's worth of clothes and that we will have food and toiletries provided for us. The first thing I did was get into a long check-in line in order to register myself for the league.
"Your letter, please." said a short man in a raspy, almost frog-like voice.
I took out my letter and handed it to him. The man inspected it thoroughly, stamped it with a seal of approval, and gave it back to me. He then told me to register twelve of my Pokémon in the system at the next gate. Twelve? Crap, I only had six on me.
It turned out that, as I went to register, the rules were the same as a normal league challenge: we could only have six Pokémon with us. I learned that the other six were to be used as backups in case something happened to our Pokémon. I registered Staraptor, Bisharp, Ampharos, Gardevoir, Garchomp and Blaziken as my main six. I then thought long and hard about which six to use as my backups. I eventually decided to use Lapras, Gengar, Reuniclus, Luxray, Donphan, and Ninjask as my backups. It wasn't an easy decision, but based on how well I knew my Pokémon, I figured these twelve were best suited for the rigorous challenge ahead. When I finished registering my twelve Pokémon, the short man came and handed me a badge case. I looked at the badge case and inspected it very carefully. It was much bulkier than the standard badge case. I opened it up and saw a lot more than eight spots for badges. Seventeen, to be precise. Seventeen badges. That would be one for each Pokémon type there is. Crap.
When I was completely done with registration, I obtained a new trainer card. This one had my picture (a bad one at that) with my six main Pokémon on top and my six alternates on the bottom placed against an orange and black flame design. My name was in the top left corner and my home region was in the left corner. The back had the same design and it had a bar that was used if I ever needed to swipe the card. I took and inspected my trainer card as I began my way down a dimly lit hallway. I followed the hallway until I came to a huge stadium.
The stadium was larger than any other stadium I had ever seen. There was 360⁰ seating and It appeared to be able to seat about 100,000 people, more if people weren't concerned with comfort. The center of the arena, the battle area, had the standard poké ball logo, but it appeared as if it could open up to allow access to something. On the far side, furthest away from me, at least, a large mass of people were gathered. I made my way over to this crowd to see what was going on.
As I got close, I could see a man with short, clean-cut black hair and a black suit on. He wore dark sunglasses and a black bowtie. He was on a raised platform so that he could stand above the rest of the people. In his hand, he held a microphone. However, the man just stood there with very good posture and waited, never once moving the microphone towards his mouth.
After about an hour, one last person, a girl in a biker like outfit, came in. When she had finally found her place amongst the crowd, the man on the platform moved the microphone to his mouth and began to speak for the first time.
"I'm glad to see that every single one of the 1000 hand-picked trainers have shown up." he said. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tom, and I will be your MC for the final round of the tournament, when and if you make it there!" Tom exclaimed.
"But before any of that, I also need to explain the rules for the Nova League to all of you. First rule: You must find and defeat all seventeen area leaders of this league. Upon defeat, each leader will hand out an new, unique badge to you that is different from the badges of other leagues and conferences. If you lose, you are disqualified, there are no rematches in the Nova League."
Well, crap. It took me so many tries to defeat several gym leaders during my travels. I remember I even had to face Claire of Blackthorn City about four times before finally winning the badge. And then I faced Tate and Liza of Mossdeep City a total of seven times… I hope I won't have to repeat something like that ever again.
"Second: we will randomly select which area you go to. That area has the leader at a certain place within it. You must find a defeat this leader to earn your badge. You will have one week to do this for each area."
Okay, so there wouldn't be the obvious gym in the middle of a city or town. This made it more of a challenge. I did like the concept of the Hide and Seek method of going up against the gym leaders, but I was still worried about how I would beat seventeen area leaders all on my first try.
"Third: The consequences of cheating a very severe. Save yourself the trouble, and just don't do it."
That rule was very understandable. I remember that they caught the person who initially beat me in my Unova Conference challenge cheating. He had bribed the ref of our match to be in his favor. When this was discovered, he was disqualified, and took his place in the finals.
"And finally: You have registered twelve of your Pokémon. You should know this from hearing it at the check-in counter, but I will repeat it. You can only use the six you have registered for your main team, the other six are strictly for emergencies, such as one of your Pokémon becoming unable to fight further in the league. "
Four rules? Four basic rules? That was it? Wow, okay, this wasn't as much to internalize as I thought it would be. The only problem would have to be the no rematch part. That part had me very nervous, but I was determined not to lose to any of these area leaders. Not a single one of them.
"Now…" Tom said "If you will all please get in ten even lines, we will assign you to one of seventeen regions. And remember, the Nova League is like nothing any of you have ever faced. It is designed for only the top of the top trainers. The area leaders are all prodigies of their specific type. So, be warned trainers, what lies ahead is a challenge beyond any you have and ever will face. You may prevail, you may not. You may discover something about yourselves through this challenge. Something shocking or something you would have never known otherwise."
As Tom walked off the stage after his disturbing last message to us, the mass of 1000 people began to evenly distribute themselves into ten lines. I got in the very back of the ninth line. I was incredibly nervous as the line moved closer to where we would be assigned an area. I had finally made it to the front of the line. I swiped my trainer card and then the name of the area I was assigned to appeared on a screen.
Nova Castle
"Looks like you're 'outta luck kid" said the man at running the assignment gate.
"Wh-Why!" I stuttered.
"That there region is run by 'ol Draco." Said the man. "And he ain't no pushover either. I know they says that all them leaders are 'sposed to be on the same level, but I heard that ol' Draco went an' outclassed them all. He runs a team of them Dragon types, and those there dragons are mighty tough. Not easy to beat. Even the Ice region leader can't go an' beat 'ol Draco at his game."
As I stepped out of the arena, I looked to the west and saw a huge, golden castle with a large stone wall around it. That was my destination. I nervously walked toward it, the words of the man still head, haunting me as I began my hopeless journey.
Well, here is the first chapter. I hope to have the second one up soon, and trust me, this chapter may not have had much action in it, but now that I've introduced the basic concepts for the story, expect the action to pick up. Be on the look out for Chapter 2 "The Wall"