'Represents pokemon speech'

Ch. 2: The New Goal

The air was thick with tension and anticipation. A line of Team Galactic troops were standing in between Dawn and Markus's houses and beside the troops were two other kids, Twinleaf was pretty small afterall. One was nervous and timid, his wire-framed glasses sliding down his nose as he tried hard not to look at any of the men standing next to him. His mousy brown hair falling repeatedly over his eyes, it was a wonder whether he could see at all. The other looked determined, almost daring the troops to do something to him. His blonde hair in a buzz cut and his icy blue eyes looked sharply at the men. Bryce couldn't help but notice that the man next to him had his hand a little too close to his pokeball.

As Bryce stepped outside, the two men standing outside his door grinned maliciously at him. They escorted him to the line and the troops marched them towards the lake. The men began to talk among themselves, obviously at ease while the children nervously eyed the lake before them. Even the blonde looked a bit uneasy. Bryce leaned over to the blonde and whispered,

"What did Uncle Markus say about this Brandon?" The boy identified as Brandon shrugged at him.

"All he said was they were going to see if we're good enough."

Bryce cocked an eyebrow, "Good enough for what?"

But before the question was answered, one of the men spoke up. "You two, quiet over there! We're here." As they walked underneath the overgrowth of trees, Bryce saw that this was indeed true. Before them was a red-headed woman with a stern look on her face. In her hand she held a silver briefcase. A golden G was imprinted on her chest.

A man stood next to her, his face just as serious as well as forlorn. He wore a long white lab coat, almost as white as his beard and mustache that was the most noticeable feature on his face. He had two rectangular devices in one hand, but before Bryce could ask what they were for, the woman started to speak.

"Good morning you little whelps, I am Commander Mars, but you shall address me as Mars, the Supreme Commander of Recruits. Today, you lucky bunch have the honor to choose a Team Galactic pokemon," She held out her briefcase as she said this and opened it, three pokeballs were inside.

"Yeah," Bryce heard a man said to the others around him. "The one's too weak for us to keep." At this, the line of men roared with laughter until Mars shot them all a look. They all fell into silence.

'This is someone I do not want to mess with' Bryce thought to himself before Mars continued her speech.

"As you've probably been told, now that you are of age, we shall test your skills as a trainer. The best of the three of you will have the immediate honor of becoming a member of Team Galactic!" She gives a large toothy grin at this, a grin which Bryce could immediately tell, was forced as though it was a line she'd rehearsed for a play.

"Now we will call you up, one by one to pick a pokemon and the test will commence." She pulled out a clipboard and looked down the row of names, "Edwin Flint!" The brown-haired little boy with the glasses walked up and looked through the pokeballs. "But, how do I know-?"

Mars suddenly snarled at the boy, shouting at the top of her lungs, "I said pick a pokemon!" Edwin jumped at the sudden outburst, snatched one and ran to the back of the line while the rest of the troops laughed at the little boy's fear. Rage boiled up into Bryce's chest despite himself and he could see Brandon was so angry he was shaking.

Mars looked back down at the clipboard. "Bryce Wright!" Bryce's rage immediately drained away, replaced by a nervous feeling. As he walked up, he could feel her demanding presence that made him look down at his feet rather than in the eyes. Word of the commander trio's power was legendary. He quickly walked up, took a pokeball and fell back in line. As soon as he fell back in line, Brandon walked up with anger written on his face. Mars looked at him coolly, "Did I call you whelp?"

Brandon frowned at her, "No Supreme Commander, but I'm the last one in line. My name is Brandon Gerard, look it up." And before she could say anything else, he snatched his pokeball from the suitcase and stood back in line. At this Bryce felt an overwhelming pride to be Brandon's friend, they knew each other their whole lives but he'd never seen him do anything so bold.

Commander Mars looked like she wanted to spring on him but she was interrupted by the man next to her. Through all that had happened, Bryce had forgotten he was there and by the surprise on the other boys' faces, the feeling was apparently mutual. "Now Mars I do believe that's enough!" He insisted, a look of disdain on his face. He looks to the line of boys with something somewhat of a smile. "I am Professor Rowan, a pokemon researcher and my goal is to learn the mysteries of evolution."

Brandon raised his hand and spoke before he said anything. "Yeah, Professor, we already know you remember?" Bryce laughed, surprising himself in such a tense situation but Edwin looked confused.

"I don't"

The professor looked at the spectacled boy and laughed gruffly. "Oh of course, you must be that young lad who came from the Johto region! A pleasure to meet you m'boy!"

Mars clears her throat, obviously not content when she's not the center of attention.

"Now that you have received your pokemon, we shall commence the test. May the designated men step forward?" She boomed in a voice that was obviously not a question, but an order. Three men hastily stepped forward, pokeball in hand.

"Whelps spread out!" Mars cried out in a dramatic fashion. "The boys took their places in various areas as the men stood in front of each of them. As one stood in front of Brandon, another man pushed him out of the way and said, "Let me deal with this one" Bryce recognized him as the man that fingering his pokeball earlier.

"May the test commence!" Mars cried out. The men threw their pokeballs on cue and beams of red light shot out from them. "Go!" They all cried simultaneously. Each beam taking the shape of,

"Oh great," Bryce grumbled. "A team of Lumiere's"

The boys threw their pokeballs out in front of them. "Go, whatever you are!" Cried Bryce at a lame attempt at humor. The beam took the form of a small turtle with a sprout on his head. The turtle had a brown shell on its back and a hooked upper lip. The man laughed in front of him. "A Turtwig huh? Bad luck kid" He pointed his finger directly at it and shouted towards the Stunky, "Stunky, Smokescreen then Night Slash!" The Stunky turned around and raised its tail, a black cloudy gas emerged from it shrouding Bryce's vision. Before he could react, it came out of nowhere, rapidly slashing at the Turtwig then disappearing into the smoke. Bryce tried to think, "Ok, what did I study about Turtwig?... They're Grass types... They know Scratch? No that's Chimchar.. Oh! Tackle Turtwig!" The small turtle suddenly charged blindly into the smoke, unable to see where it was going, all it succeeded in was tripping over a rock. The man, in the midst of the smoke just laughed. "Not too good at this are you kid? Fury Swipes!" The skunk pokemon appeared once more and started slashing at the pokemon, Turtwig went flying backwards at the assault, fell hard on the ground, and was still.

The man laughed cruelly at the poor pokemon. "Looks like I won't be calling you a Galactic commander any time soon!" His Stunky grinned at him in the same manner as his master. "Yeah that's a shame," Bryce said under his breath. He sighed and returned the turtle into its pokeball. He looked around to see how the others had done. As he had predicted, Edwin had failed, his Piplup staring at the sky while the forlorn trainer leaned over him. But to his surprise, Brandon stood triumphantly over a fallen Stunky, his Chimchar doing a dance next to him. The man returned his Stunky grinding his teeth. But while Brandon's face glowed with pride, Bryce could feel his face fall from despair.

"Brandon! No! We talked about this!" But Mars had already noticed Brandon's victory. "Congratulations kid, you're now a Team Galactic Grunt!" The triumphant look in Brandon's eyes faded at these words, "What? But, I….My dad….Team Galactic?" A look of shock was evident in his eyes, this too was soon replaced by fear. His Chimchar, oblivious to what was going on continued his dance next to his trainer. 'Chi-i-imcha-ar! Chi-i-imcha-ar!'

Professor Rowan sighed and handed Edwin and Bryce the rectangular devices. "These are Pokedexes, I would like you two to gather data on pokemon as you start your journey as Pokemon Trainers or Coordinators, or whatever you might become. As you pass through Sandgem Town, please allow me to view what pokemon you've seen at your leisure." He pats Bryce on the shoulder. "I'm sorry about Brandon" But Bryce barely registered anything he'd said, his vision was blurred by tears. He had hoped to go on his journey with his best friend by his side, it would have been more bearable, but the opportunity had been yanked away from him.

Brandon still grasping for any kind of hope feebly asked, "What about mine?" Mars laughed wickedly. "A grunt for Team Galactic has no need for a pokedex! We don't need to learn about pokemon, all you need to know, is that you take the valuable pokemon, and get rid of the weak ones." She looks at Edwin and Bryce, "Hence your pokemon" She laughs and with that, she starts to leave, the men marching behind her as two of the others fall behind and grab Brandon by the arms. Chimchar, noticing his trainer leaving, leaps onto his shoulder and waves to Rowan, Edwin and Bryce, still oblivious to what was going on as he was led away and in a matter of seconds, he was gone, a large blue reptilian pokemon with gigantic flat red wings was called to take them away.

Bryce's shoulders shook as he sobbed over the loss of his good friend, he felt a hand on his shoulder but he didn't care who it belonged to, it no longer mattered.