Awakening

Geki awoke from a troubling dream of explosions and looked down at his shirt. He was sweating terribly and smelled awful. He got out of bed and fumbled around his room, looking for a new shirt. Great way to start my 18th birthday. He hit the light switch. The generators began humming as the lights flickered on.

"Hey, turn those off!" Kiko grumbled as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "C'mon Geki, it's six o'clock in the morning. Go back to bed."

Geki laughed as he pulled on a new shirt. "Oh come on, Kiko. Not even you know what time it actually is anymore. We've been down here for 5 years since those nukes have gone off upstairs. I doubt you know when your birthday is anymore."

Kiko scoffed at him. "My birthday is on the 6th of June, 2006. I'm 15 years old. I will be turning 16, and will learn about becoming a Pokemon Soldier, in two weeks. And I haven't touched my watch once since we got down here those five years ago." She looked at Geki and boasted a proud face. "Speaking of Pokemon Soldiers, you have to enlist today, right?"

The aura of the room, their home for the past 3 years since their father's mysterious death, became solemn and stern. Geki sighed, "Yes. Then I'll be leaving with the rest of the people who turned 18 in May in two weeks... Right on the 6th of June. Yeah, Kik. Thats when I go to boot camp. Right on your birthday..."

He looked over at his sister. Kiko was trying to fight back tears. She finally failed to contain them and began sobbing. "Please don't leave. The overseer has enough Soldiers already, why does he still have this draft going? It's not fair! When you're gone, who is going to support me until I turn 18? Oh wait, they don't let women do jobs as Pokemon Soldiers. They don't even let us buy things that aren't on our list of necessities at the PokeMart. As if trying to buy a Pokeball for self defense is illegal, they refuse to teach us girls how to catch and befriend the Pokemon!" She hugged her brother tightly. Her tears were soaking into his new shirt.

Geki sighed. "I don't have to leave for two weeks, Kiko. Don't worry. I'll think of something. Let's go back to bed. I got a long day ahead of me." He flipped the light switch off and climbed back into the bed across the room from his sister.

He couldn't sleep though. He was contemplating the dream he had. I really hope that was just a dream, and not some screwed up premonition. He tossed and turned for three hours before a knock on the door dragged him out of bed. He opened the door and rubbed his eyes. A burly marine was standing in front of him, a rifle slung across his back and three pokeballs strapped to his waist.

"Executive order 9524Alpha73November has been given by the overseer. As of today, all vault citizens who turn 18 will enlist on their 18th Birthday for a position as Pokemon Soldier. I'm Colonel Dmitri Robinson. Nice to meet you. Come with me." The Colonel grabbed Geki's wrist and took him out of the room. He took him to their meeting place they planned out 2 years ago, a place where they couldn't be surveilled or recorded. "Ok, now that I got all that official BS out of the way, how are you doing kid?"

Geki smiled. "You had me worried there. I'm doing pretty good. Did you get the stuff?" Colonel Robinson set a box down in front of him and opened the lid. The box contained a handgun, three pokeballs, and six potions. "Nice. Are these pokeballs owned?"

Dmitri shook his head. "These are empty. I went ahead and got your starter pokemon though." He pulled out another box. It contained a blue, a red, and a green pokeball. "The blue one is an Oshawott. He's a little feisty and doesn't like change. The red one is a Tepig. He loves to destroy everything. The green one is a Snivy. He's calm, but when in danger can prove to be very powerful. Oshawott is a water type, his final evolution stays as a water type though. Tepig is a fire type, but his final evolution is a fire-fighting type. This Snivy was bred from mine and Alisha's. Pick one for you and one for Kiko. Then, we'll escape."

Geki looked at the three pokeballs. Kiko is more important than me, and Dmitri will hold on to whatever Pokemon I request him to give to her until she turns 18. He placed his hand over the blue pokeball that contained Oshawott. He hesitated and shook his head. "I know how strong your Serperior is, so I'm interested in seeing what her offspring can do. I choose Snivy. I'll take good care of him." He grabbed the green pokeball and grinned. "Well, consider me armed."

Colonel Robinson shook his head. "You aren't armed. If you use that Snivy here, the rest of the marines will shoot you dead and strip that pokeball from you." He presented Geki a pistol and a magazine. "The current magazine is empty. To reload, hit the button below the trigger. That will release the current magazine from the lock position, allowing you to pull it free of the gun. Load the fully loaded magazine in until it clicks in place. Slide the top part of the weapon back until you know a round is in the chamber. It only has a grip safety, so put pressure on the grip. Aim down your sights, and fire. There, you just took a crash course on how to kill." Geki grabbed hold of the pistol, but Dmitri refused to let go of it yet. "Just because you have the power to kill doesn't mean you go around shooting everyone who stole your lunch money, you hear?"

Geki gulped and nodded his head. "I'll only use it if someone is threatening my life, how does that sound?"

Dmitri shook his head once more. "When I was stationed on the frontlines in Kanto, we were always told 'Don't fire unless fired upon.' Because civillians were present. Guess what happened? Everytime we went out on patrol, one of our guys would always get killed before we were clear to engage. After losing half the battalion, my fireteam finally decided we weren't going to wait to get shot at, we were going to assess the hostile threats and take them out before they could fire a shot. Use it when you expect a threat, not when the threat is already clear and present, standing over you, and ready to put a bullet in your brain."

Geki nodded his head again. "Okay, shall we get going and leave this 'unleavable' place?" Dmitri nodded his head, gave Geki a few pistol magazines, and opened the door.

Kiko was outside the door with a furious look on her face "What's this I hear about you leaving this 'unleavable place'? I understand the fact that you would have been forced to leave in two weeks, but do you really think you can just abandon your little sister and try to survive out there? You are insane and selfish. Why do you even want to see the wasteland of the White Forest? There is nothing there but death, destruction, and deadly Pokemon that can kill you with one attack!"

Geki sighed and mentally kicked himself. He should have known his nosy little sister would eavesdrop. He scratched the back of his head. "Dmitri, leave the Oshawott for Kiko. Kiko, I'm leaving Whitetree Hollow for your benefit. There is more out there than war and death, and we can befriend those wild Pokemon. That's my goal. Befriend the wild Pokemon so we can all once again live with them with mutual respect. Just like ten years ago."

Ten years ago meaning before Team Plasma and Ghetsis failed at controlling the world's ten mightiest Pokemon and sent the world into turmoil. The regions of the Earth began competing for control over the ten Pokemon, and as conflicts erupted, the ten pokemon went into hiding in each region. There were six in Unova: Kyurem, an ice-dragon from prehistoric times. Reshiram, the fire-dragon of truth. Zekrom, the thunder-dragon of ideals. Latios, the blue male psychic-dragon. and Latias, the red female psychic dragon. Stories from jet pilots coming back from patrols and missions outside the vault about seeing the pair of psychic-dragons screaming by their fighters as they were at their maximum speed. The pilots claimed they could never catch up to the pair, and that they could go twice the speed of the Su-47s they all flew. Then there was the head of all of them: the only Arcanine capable of putting the others in their place. Rumor had it the legendary canine was breeding with other Arcanine somewhere in the wastelands of Unova.

Geki grinned. I will befriend these six legends, and when I do, I will be able to put an end to this apocalypse.