Genre: Adventure, Mystery, and Friendship

This is a general audience story.

Prologue: Starting Today, I am a Pokémon Trainer

Dragon Spiral Tower (Top Floor) - Pokémon Black and White

In the Pokémon desert region known as Orre, there was a secret base hidden in a canyon. That base was home to Team Snagem, a group of thieves that went around the region stealing Pokémon from their trainers. They did this by using snag machines, which were originally big orange rectangular machines with arms that shot out PokéBalls, turning them into Snag Balls in the process in order to snag Pokémon.

Inside the hideout, a teenage boy was standing in the office of the Snagem leader, Gozap. The boy and a few other Snagem members had come back from a failed mission of snagging a Pokémon. Of course, this wasn't the first time the boy had failed a mission. Normally, Gonzap would be mildly annoyed whenever the boy came back, not having completed the task he was assigned to. This time, however, he was furious.

"DARN IT!" Gonzap yelled angrily as he slammed his fist on the desk. "So you just let her go? You fool! You're a Snagger, and Snaggers SNAG Pokémon! They do NOT let them escape!"

"I'm sorry sir, I just couldn't do it." The boy replied.

"You've had the kid right where you wanted her; you could have easily snagged that Teddiursa!" Gonzap continued, "And you just let them get away!"

"But she's just an innocent child." The boy said. "She looked so scared I…I just couldn't bring myself to take her Pokémon away."

"No excuses, Wes!" Gonzap shouted. "I'm going to have to ask you to hand in your snag machine."

Wes didn't say another word. He simply took the portable snag machine off his arm and put it on Gonzap's desk.

"Now if you screw this up again, then you're going to have to hand in your Pokémon as well." Gonzap said.

"Ahhh" Wes gasped. "No...not my Pokémon, anything but that."

"Then you better start training them, quick." Gonzap commanded. "I've heard that your Pokémon have been getting more and more soft on the battlefield. If you don't toughen them up soon, then they'll have to be taken away."

"Yes...sir," Wes sadly replied as he slowly walked out of the room.

17-year old Wes had been working for Team Snagem ever sense he was a child. He was the cool-looking guy with an awesome blue trench coat, silver goggles, a white stripe that went across his face, and he had sandy hair.

Wes walked down the hallway to his room, feeling angry and scared at the thought of having his Pokémon taken away from him. Some Snagem members standing in the hallway saw him walk by, and they laughed and pointed at him too while making snarky comments.

"Man, the boss really let you have it this time huh?"

"Ooooo, the Snagger doesn't have the snag machine anymore."

"Look, a Snagem member who can't even snag a child's Pokémon."

"If he loses his Pokémon he'll be left with nothing."

Wes simply ignored them. He was in a tough situation, but he wasn't about to let a few mean comments from any other Snagem members get to him.

Lavender Town - Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee

Wes was now in his room looking out the window at the desert. It was almost night time as the sun started to go down. As Wes stared at the sky, he started to reminisce his time with Team Snagem.

Wes lost his parents years ago in a tragic event. Gonzap found the boy not long after and took him under his wing. At the time, Wes was an inexperienced Pokémon Trainer, having only trained with his dad once before the tragedy. So the Snagem leader worked with the young 8-year old, teaching him the basics of Pokémon battling, the types of Pokémon, their abilities, which attacks worked well against whatever type he was up against, everything he needed to know. Gonzap also taught Wes how to use the snag machines so that he would be able to snag Pokémon once he was out in the field.

5 years later, Wes started going on missions with the other Snagem members at the age of 13. Back then, Team Snagem's objective was stealing Pokémon from awful Trainers that abused and neglected them. When their mission was done, they either kept the Pokémon they stole to take care of themselves, or released them into the wild. This brought happiness to Wes as he felt like he was making a difference, rescuing the Pokémon from such cruel people. But that happiness would only last a long time.

In recent years, Team Snagem had taken a turn for the worst when they begun to steal Pokémon from innocent trainers. Wes didn't know why that was. They didn't do anything wrong. Those people were taking good care of their Pokémon.

In any case, Wes still went along with completing his objectives, opting to only target those that abused their Pokémon; doing his best to avoid snagging from the innocent.

Unfortunately, that wasn't always the case.

Wes sat down on his bed as he thought back to their last objective. Yesterday, a Snagger stole a Togetic from an innocent man. The day before that, another Snagger stole a Sunflora from a lady that ran a flower shop in Agate Village. Today, Wes's mission was to snag a Teddiursa from a young girl. The mission took place in Phenec City. The other Snagem members, Wakin, Biden, and Agrev, chased the girl through the city and then outside the entrance. Wes was given the chance to snag the Teddiusrsa, but seeing the girl looking so frightened and scared; the tears in her eyes, it made him have second thoughts. In the end, he just couldn't do it, and he let them go, much to the shock and anger of his comrades.

Wes grabbed two PokéBalls from his trench coat and summoned his Pokémon, Espeon, and Umbreon. Espeon was the pretty purple cat-like Sun Pokémon with a small shiny red gem on her head, and she was a Psychic type. Umbreon was the Moonlight Pokémon with glowing yellow rings on his black body, and he was a Dark type.

"Listen, my boss says that I have to train you guys. I've been failing our missions lately and he's threatened to take you away if I fail him again." Wes told them.

Espeon and Umbreon let out fearful cries. Wes could see that they were scared. He knew that his Pokémon didn't want to be separated from their Trainer either.

"Don't worry," Wes said with a smile. "I would never let anything happen to you guys. I promise you that everything will be okay."

The two Pokémon jumped on his bed beside him and Wes petted them both. Espeon and Umbreon were Wes's first Pokémon, given to him by his father on his 5th birthday. They were Eevee back then and his parents had helped him take good care of them ever since. The Eevee were right there beside Wes when his parents died, and Gonzap had helped Wes train them so that they could be stronger and useful on the field. By the time Wes turned 12, they evolved into Espeon and Umbreon. The two had helped Wes on the Snagem missions over the years. Of course, they shared the same sentiment with their Trainer about the changes with Team Snagem, often hesitating to battle during the missions.

Wes continued petting Espeon and Umbreon as they were snuggled up beside him. Those two Pokémon were his best friends, and he wasn't gonna let Gonzap take them away.

About 3 hours later, after taking a nap, Wes was walking down the hall to the training room. As he passed by Gonzap's room, something made him stop. He saw that Gonzap's door was just slightly open and he heard voices coming from that room. Curiously, Wes peeked in the doorway and he saw that Gonzap was speaking to a mysterious person on a screen monitor. He couldn't tell who that person was though, as the person's silhouette on the monitor was black.

Villains of a Sort - Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix

"The Pokémon that we've caught are all set sir." Gonzap said. "Aipom, Ledian, Vibrava, Miltank, Sunflora, and Togetic. They are all in their cages and they'll be sent to the laboratory shortly."

"Excellent" The mysterious man said. "What about the Teddiursa I asked for?"

"Unfortunately, one of my men was unable to capture the Teddiursa. He instead took pity on it and let it go." Gonzap explained.

"No matter." The mysterious men replied calmly. "It's all going according to plan. For 3 years, these weak, pathetic Pokémon have been converted into strong, powerful Shadow Pokémon. Their hearts have been artificially closed, giving them immense power, capable of killing Pokémon and their trainers, too. They have lost all their emotions, becoming the perfect fighting machines."

Wes could not believe what he was hearing.

The mysterious man continued, "Thanks to you, the Cipher organization will soon have control over the Orre region." He gave an evil chuckle. "And the Realgam Tower will be the perfect place where we will rule it all."

"Yeah, but the Realgam Tower is still not finished though. Construction won't be done for another 3 months." Gonzap said.

"Yes, I am aware of this." The man responded. "Until then, we will continue sending the Shadow Pokémon to the contestants who win the battles at the Pyrite Colosseum. It will be worth the wait. First, we'll take over Orre, and then the world!"

(No...it can't be. Pokémon that will attack Trainers...and kill them?) Wes thought. (So...this is what's been happening to the Pokémon we've been stealing? Was the same thing going to happen to Espeon and Umbreon if I failed again? This is wrong, this is all wrong.)

Wes took a few steps back. Then he quickly ran down the hall all the way back to his room. The minute he got there, he slammed the door shut, panting. The conversation that Wes heard had shocked him greatly. Up until now, he didn't know that Team Snagem was working for Cipher. But this might've explained why they were stealing Pokémon from everyone and not just the people mistreating them. And now he just learned that the Pokémon were sent to a far away lab where they were turned into stone cold fighting machines, capable of killing people.

Wes took a deep breath and let it out. The boy now knew what he had to do.

Sanctuary - Paper Mario

"That's it, I've had it with this!" Wes declared. "If they think they're going to use Pokémon for evil purposes like this then they are sorely mistaken. I won't let them do this anymore."

Wes stood in front of the window looking out at the stars in the night sky. Placing his hand on his chest, he declared this.

"Enough is enough; starting today, I am no longer a Snagger. I am a Pokémon Trainer, a REAL one!"

Wes took out his PokéBalls and summoned Espeon and Umbreon once more.

"Alright guys listen up, it's time to say goodbye to this place," He told them.

"Umbre?" His Umbreon asked.

Wes continued, "It turns out that Team Snagem is working for an organization called 'Cipher,' and the Pokémon we've been snagging are being turned into Shadow Pokémon. I don't know who's behind it all, but we've got to stop it before it's too late."

Espeon and Umbreon looked surprised; they glanced at each other and then back at Wes as he smiled at them.

"Don't worry, I have a plan..."

Seth steals the Snag Machine - Pokémon Colosseum

The next morning in the hideout, the Snagem members were going about their business until...

KA-BOOM

There was an explosion coming from the bottom floor of the hideout.

"What was that?!" One of the members asked.

Inside the demolished room were Wes (now wearing his googles over his eyes) and Umbreon. Wes had just used a bomb to blow up the wall from outside so he and Umbreon could get inside. Wes scanned the area and found the portable snag machine mounted on the metal mannequin.

"There it is." He said as he went over and took the machine.

He then went on to plant another bomb on one of the older snag machine models.

"Hey, Wes has the snag machine! Let's get him!" A Snagger shouted when he saw this.

"Time to go, Umbreon!" Wes and Umbreon ran outside as Gonzap and many other members ran out after him. The two headed for Wes's awesome motorcycle that consisted of a big massive engine at the front, a single wheel in the back and a sidecar. Espeon was there, waiting for them. Wes and Umbreon jumped on and they all made their escape. As they did, Wes took out a small remote and pressed the button. Just like that, the rest of the Snagem hideout exploded.

"WAHOOOO!" Wes raised his fist high in the air as he cheered. "Goodbye Snagem, hello freedom!"

"Espeon! Espeon!"

"Umbreoooon!"

Espeon and Umbreon let out happy cries, excited for their newfound freedom.

Gonzap and the Snagem members were outside, and all they could do now was watch as Wes and his Pokémon rode out of the canyon and off into the desert.

The muscular man gritted his teeth and angrily muttered, "Wes...I will find you, and you will pay for this."

This is where our story begins.

To be continued...