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Phoenix Vanguard: Thanks! :)

The Altrox: No worries; I'm planning to make some alterations to the storyline. Thanks for reviewing!

Now, I'm writing in a strange sort of perspective, so if I make any mistakes with the perspective (using the wrong tense of a verb, for example), please notify me! I'm pretty accustomed to this style already, which is why I'm using it, but I do make mistakes occasionally.

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 1

"Salamence, Earthquake!" I yell.

The dragon, ruby and sapphire scales glittering in the light of the desert sun, rears onto its back legs. There is a pause before it slams its front legs into the ground, but when it does, cracks immediately appear in the dry earth, twisting towards our foe - the ground rumbles alarmingly, cracking and fissuring beneath the weight of the steel monster we're battling.

The Metagross collapses to the ground but manages to lift itself back up with no little effort. It promptly folds its legs under its body, using its natural magnetic properties and power to lift itself into the air, where it hovers, showing it won't be injured by another Earthquake. It opens its mouth slowly, spitting out a glob of toxic sludge at Salamence. The dragon tries to leap out of the way, but to no avail; the purple goo splashes against its side. Roaring in pain, it lowers its neck to stare its enemy in the eyes, fanning its crescent-shaped red wings. I smile. "Brick Break!"

Salamence pushes off from the ground with a thrust from its muscular legs, soaring into the air with a few flaps of its crimson wings. Another shot of sludge just clips its tail, and it hovers there for a moment, both front legs glowing bright red, before it abruptly descends towards Metagross. The metal beast is frantically shooting sludge at this point - it splatters against Salamence's scales, but the dragon somehow manages to keep its wings free of the mess, and it keeps flying. Not slowing its speed even slightly, it makes short work of the last few feet of air leading up to its foe, and slams both glowing front legs into the creature's head.

Metagross makes a metallic screeching sound in protest as the weight of the dragon's legs slams it into the ground. It attempts to struggle back up again, but the energy has left its limbs; the light behind its eyes flickers out and it falls to the earth with a thud where it lays, inanimate.

There is a pause before the colosseum, the Pokémon, and the trainers all dissolve. I am left standing in the blackness as glowing blue-green lights flicker before my eyes, and I quickly lift my hands up, pulling the virtual reality goggles from my face.

The real world shimmers into being.

"Nice job, Michael," someone says. I turn and immediately notice who is speaking; it's one of my friends at the lab, Stefan, standing nearby. As usual, he's got a lazy grin on his face, the kind worn by people who are content with doing nothing for an entire day, which is basically what he does as a lab assistant. "You're getting much better. You handled that Salamence like it was your own Eevee. Speaking of which - maybe you should think about training some new Pokémon, hmm?"

I snort. "Maybe," I reply. Every single time I use the sim battle machine - and I kid you not - he says nearly the exact same thing. It's becoming routine, and I don't know if that's why he keeps it up, or if there's another reason.

"Anyway," he says, "your mom and Professor Krane were looking for you a few minutes ago, but I didn't want to drag you out of your battle."

"Oh?" I ask. This is new; usually they come to me in person at extremely inopportune times, like when I'm doing homework or planning to take a trip to the woods to train Prince, my Eevee. "Okay, I'll go find them." I'm pretty sure I know where they are, at least. "Thanks."

"No problem," Stefan responds. "Maybe I'll try out the battle sim while you're gone."

Now, not to be mean, but Stefan isn't the best trainer. He's got one Pokémon, something called a Patrat; it's from Unova, and unlike Unova, you have to fill out absolutely zero permits to get one over to Orre. Usually, when you take foreign Pokémon into a different region, the officials freak out because, if you release them or they simply escape, they can end up mating and you'll have invasive species, which nobody wants. Therefore, you have to sign forms, and lots of them. In Orre, there are no wild Pokémon. You're more likely to receive a medal for introducing a population of wild Pokémon then even risk getting arrested.

He only has the Patrat because his relatives live in Unova, and it was a fifteenth birthday present - he's around seventeen now, and it's still a Patrat. That alone should be enough to show that he doesn't really know how to train, or doesn't care enough to; like I've mentioned, he's perfectly content with sitting down and doing nothing.

Instead of telling him that using the battle sim is probably not the best idea, however, I nod and smile. "Sounds good. Well, I'll be back later," I add, and head out of the room, crossing the hallway and heading into the office where I'm assuming my mother and Professor Krane are. This assumption turns out to be correct. Krane is behind the desk and my mother is facing me with the usual business-like expression on her face.

"Hello, Michael," she says, her voice friendly but stiff. "Have you finished training? Did you come to pay a visit to Professor Krane?"

Before I can reply, Krane laughs. "You don't need to be so formal all the time, Lily, especially not with your son!"

"But…" she trails off, looking rather downtrodden.

"So, Mike," Krane continues, using my nickname; only my sister and Professor Krane use this short version of my name, and I'm not sure exactly why it's only them out of all the lab assistants. I do know my mother prefers to call me Michael because that name was given to me by my father, and that's sort of her way of remembering him. "I hear you've been doing well with the battle sim - the people that watch the matches say your skills are improving greatly."

"I wish everyone wouldn't drown my children with such praise all the time," my mother sighs. "They're going to become spoiled rotten if this goes on."

Krane chuckles. "I'm sure they won't. They're wonderful kids, and they're intelligent enough not to take things for granted."

Mom takes a moment to digest this praise, and then she turns to me. "Anyways, Michael, have you seen your sister lately?"

Crap. Well, I'm not sure exactly why she thinks I have, seeing that I've been training most of the day using the battle sim, but I guess it never hurts to ask. "Uh…no," I tell her. "Has she run off again?"

"I think so; I haven't seen her at all since breakfast." You might expect a mother to be worried about the fact her daughter is missing, but Jovi - that's my sister's name - goes missing with depressing regularity, and most of the time it's on purpose. At this point, whenever it happens, we take it in stride and go look for her. I suggested attaching a tracking device to her hair - I don't know where she got her hairstyle, but on top of her head are two spears of hair with circles on the tops, a perfect place for hiding a chip - but my mother would have none of it.

"So, I suppose you want me to go find her?" I ask, scowling. It's not that I really had plans to do anything else today; the problem lies with the fact that this is the third time this week she's gone missing, and it's only Thursday. I'm getting tired of looking for her.

Mom ignores my disgruntled expression and smiles at me instead. "That would be a great help; I've got a load of work to do. Thanks, Michael."

Krane gives me a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry we have to ask you to do this, Mike, but this project is finally on the verge of coming together. It's taken five long years, but we're almost done, and we need your mother's knowledge to put all the pieces into their proper places. I've left a P*DA in your room, though; consider it a thank you for putting up with this." He barks out a short laugh. "Go check it out. It's a pretty useful little tool; it can do a lot of things, including sending e-mail. I'm sure you'll find it's a big help, and I don't think you'll have any trouble figuring it out."

This is why Professor Krane is my favorite out of all the people who are not related to me here. "Thank you, Professor," I respond enthusiastically, my feet already moving me in the direction of my room. He chuckles and goes back to talking with my mom.

To the average visitor, the lab is nearly impossible to figure out. There are two separate buildings and an overabundance of rooms; I still get lost now and then, and I've been here for around five years. The one place I always know how to get to is my room, and it only takes me a minute to reach it - when I do, I immediately notice the mechanical object now resting on my bedside table.

I grab it and quickly find the power switch. When I press it, about four metal pieces shift to reveal two circular screens, one larger then the other. A moment later, it beeps, and the glowing white icon of an envelope appears in the top left corner of the screen. An e-mail already? I tap the icon and the message pops up, filling the larger of the screens.

Michael -

If you're reading this, you've obtained the P*DA. Before you go crazy testing out its many features, I thought you could use a little help in your hunt for Jovi. So, here's your 'hint' - Adon was playing hide-and-seek with her. He might know something about where she's gotten off to. Why not have a chat with him?

- Krane

Well, that's a lot of help - now I have to go play hide-and-seek. Frowning at the P*DA, I tuck it safely into my pocket, setting it to sleep mode in case I get another email. I have no doubt Jovi's off exploring somewhere that's not near the lab, so I grab a few potions from my bedside drawer and stuff them into the pouch at my hip in case any battles are involved.

With that, I step out of my room and make my way into the hallway. There are several people wandering around the corridors, most of which are carrying pieces of machinery, likely for use in making the Purify Chamber or the Snag Machine; our two pet projects at the moment. I fall into step behind the only lab assistant whose name I remember, a man called Ryan, in the hopes he's seen Adon recently.

I tap him on the shoulder to get his attention, and he nearly drops the stuff he's holding. With a muffled curse, he whirls around, and the sight of me does nothing to keep him from getting irritated - did I mention he doesn't really like me much, ever since Prince and I beat his Ralts five times in a row? "What, Michael?" he asks waspishly.

I keep my face as innocent as I can make it. "Do you know where Adon is?"

"No, I don't," he hisses through his teeth and resumes walking towards the elevator. Maybe he doesn't actually know, or maybe he just wants to spite me - it doesn't matter, however, because another lab assistant hears me and is more then happy to answer.

"I saw him downstairs, running around and muttering something about hiding," the assistant says, furrowing her brow as I look at her. "I don't know what he was doing, but that's where he was…"

Adon has never been good at hiding. "Thanks," I tell her, and then follow Ryan into the elevator. The ride to the upper floor is spent in stony silence as he ignores me, and as soon as the door opens he walks off as fast as he can while still carrying what appears to be an assortment of wrenches and computer chips in his arms.

I roll my eyes at his retreating figure and then move out of the elevator. The doors to the rooms are always left open to keep fresh air circulating around the building, and when I find a door that's closed it quickly raises my suspicions. I lift my ID card from where it rests on my neck - I wear it in the form of a necklace, along with several keys - and insert it into the scanner. The device considers my ID and then decides to accept it with a mechanical beep; the door slides open to reveal a plain-looking room with scientific equipment scattered across the single table pressed against one of the walls. It's not the equipment I'm interested in, though; it's the man under the table, pressed flat to the floor.

I walk over to him and nudge him with my shoe. He yelps, startled, and jerks his head up so fast he hits it on the table. When he notices me, he frowns. "What did you do that for?" he asks, rubbing the top of his skull.

"Sorry," I apologize, squatting down to examine him with amusement. "I'm looking for Jovi, and I hear you were playing hide-and-seek with her. Do you know where she might have gone?"

He scowls. "We're supposed to be playing hide-and-seek, but I guess she forgot. Maybe she's gone off to Dr. Kaminko's manor; she's been spending a lot of time there lately, or so she tells me. It's a big, weird-looking house southeast of here. No way in hell you'll miss it."

"Thanks for the directions," I say wryly.

He ignores my sarcasm. "Just go find her and bring her back soon, Michael. My back is really starting to hurt." As if to accent his point, he reaches back and rubs his spine with a look of suffering on his face, which I have to work not to laugh at.

"Of course," I say with another roll of my eyes, and march out the door, only glancing back once to observe Adon with his face pressed against the carpet again. You'd think he'd take advantage of the fact it's going to take me a while to find Jovi and get out of that cramped space and stretch a bit, but no. I don't bother to close the door again as I leave, but that will probably make him harder to find. Nobody looks in obvious places, and a closed door is anything but obvious. An open door? Not so much.

As I step into the hallway, I am intercepted by a lab worker. I recognize this one as someone who's watched my sim battle matches - if I'm not mistaken, his name is Henry - and he greets me by latching onto my arm.

"Henry, cut it out," I tell him. "I need to go find Jovi, and I don't have time for whatever this is."

He ignores my protests. "You can find her in just a minute. You need to see this news report right now - it's crazy." And with that, he drags me off to a nearby room that I instantly recognize as the lounge. There are several tables and several workers sitting at them with mugs of coffee nearby; I can tell it's coffee from the smell in the room. They're not drinking any of it now, however; their eyes are fixed on the TV and they're watching what appears to be ONBS News.

"Authorities have still failed to find any trace of the cargo ship S.S. Libra since its mysterious disappearance off the coast of Gateon Port only days earlier. There have been no reports of flotsam that may have indicated the sinking or wreck of the ship, and authorities are mystified as to how it managed to vanish without a trace. Numerous Pokémon were on board the ship at the time of its departure, and concern is rising over their welfare," the woman on screen - Ancha - announces.

As soon as the last word leaves her lips, everyone in the room starts talking about this piece of news. Their voices meld together and I can't really hear any specific words until Henry pipes up. "Isn't that weird? A cargo ship full of Pokémon, just disappearing without a trace…it's kind of a little hard to believe…" He trails off, glancing at the Psyduck and Quagsire milling about in the corner of the room, probably thinking about the Pokémon that were lost.

"Uh, Henry? Could you let go of my arm?" I ask.

"Oh, yeah," he replies, releasing it almost immediately. "Sorry!"

I don't bother replying, since he immediately starts mumbling to himself about something or other; instead, I walk out of the room and half-close the door behind me, because it's pretty loud in there.

I take the elevator downstairs and head outside. It's late afternoon, and the weather's nice; the sky is bright blue with only a few wisps of cloud, certainly not enough to obscure the blazing sun. There are people standing around the yard, training with their Pokémon, and I spot Stefan racing his Patrat from one end of the field to another. He's probably on another one of his training crazes; every so often, he gets really serious about training for about three days and then stops completely. There's also a dark-haired girl standing next to her Meowth, watching it sharpen its claws on a tree trunk, and a blue-haired boy training his Pineco by having it ram repeatedly into the trunk of a pine tree, causing pine needles and pinecones to fall from the branches like rain. For a moment, I toy with the idea of releasing Prince and letting him play around for a bit, but something tells me he'll get time outside of his Poke Ball soon, not to mention I need to get Jovi back home before dark. So instead, I go to get my scooter.

Now, I know what you're thinking: why am I expecting to get anywhere quickly on a scooter? The answer is, my scooter is not the scooter you're probably thinking of; it's gas-powered, and is a bit like a motorcycle, except with less danger and a much lower top speed of around twenty-five miles an hour. Also, it has a GPS that Krane installed so I know where I'm going. A word to the wise - don't ride it while it's raining. Bad idea.

I find it where I left it - chained to the bike rack. That's usually the safest place for it, as the bike rack has rainproof shields built in. Unclipping a key from my necklace, I unlock the padlock keeping the scooter in place, and then take the vehicle's key itself from around my neck. I insert the key into the scooter - the engine purrs to life and I tap the pedal lightly with my foot, steering the vehicle in a half-circle. When it's facing the woods, I push the pedal down all the way, and accelerate onto the road.