Prologue

"I heard he just lost another Pokemon!"

"That can't be right. Who went down?!"

"It's his salamence!"

"Pffft, no way. His salamence can mega evolve, there is no chance that he lost his ace that quickly."

Caleb pushed his rounded glasses back up, his expression an odd mixture of worry, confidence and hope as he made his declaration. This was the furthest away from the front of the class he'd been his entire life, and while it would've been an exhilarating new experience in any other circumstance, he was focused on bigger things today. Namely, the stories coming from their chief informant and class slacker, Jonathan Dandelion.

Jonathan had been gathering intel since the last class ended, and he'd snuck back into class halfway through to relay what he'd learned. Rumor had it that some of the upperclassmen had smuggled phones into school today to watch the battle of the decade, and Jonathan was close with some of them. He was the best source they had, and one of the reasons Caleb was here all the way in the back.

"You think the Champ cares? Mega evolution or not, it makes no difference to someone like him. Man has nerves of steel!"

Despite the effort to keep their voices down, the participants of this covert discussion found their excited whispers join every other hushed conversation in the small classroom, assimilating into the deafening din that the professor was shaking his head at. He knew they were all regarding the same subject, and the professor's sigh was lost amid the cacophony of voices as set his laser pointer down. There were only a few minutes left anyway.

"Caleb, you're cool with us coming, right?" His messy brown hair fell over his glasses as he turned in the direction of the voice. Sitting to his right was Jenny and her entourage. He'd been hearing this question since the day started. Caleb's house was right next to school, and he had a big TV. Everyone wanted to be there. He just hoped his parents didn't mind the entire class coming home.

"O-Of course!" His toothy grin was met by similar grins from the group before they went back to speculating excitedly among themselves.

"You really should stop letting everyone come, Cal." Familiar muffled laughter made him turn once again to face his best friend, Billie, sitting in front of him.

"Hey, don't discourage the dude - he needs all the friends he can get!" Jonathan chuckled and slapped him on the back, dislodging Caleb's glasses as he lurched forward.

Billie did nothing to hide her disdain for Jonathan. "Hopefully none like you."

"Please, I don't just dish out all my information to just anyone."

"It's alright, Billie. People should get to see the Champ get beat live!" Caleb beamed at his friend. She shook her head and was about to retort when the sound everyone was waiting for rang loud and clear over the din of whispers: The school bell.

For a moment, all sound died out.

It lasted for about a second before chaos erupted within the school as students flooded out of the classrooms, stampeding through the halls to get out and get to the nearest screen, everyone hungry for news of the battle unfolding. Caleb led the pack, adrenaline and excitement pushing him to run faster than he'd ever run before.

"Mom, I'm home! AndIbroughtsomefriendswithme!" As he leapt through the doorway and headed for the living room TV, his mother could only blink in shock and step out of the way as more than a dozen children squeezed through the hallway behind Caleb.

Chatter and protests filled the air as the kids squeezed into the couch and pushed each other around to get a view of the TV, but all the noise was extinguished as Caleb switched to the right channel and the voice of world-renowned commentator Martin Smith blared to life.

"Both trainers are down to their last Pokemon after what has been a fiercely competitive match. Samuel Stone stares down Zack Lance, both trainers with determined yet tired eyes… Mega Salamence versus Mega Metagross. It all comes down to this, folks!"

The tension in the room was electric as the camera zoomed in on the two titans. Salamence's crimson wings flared against Metagross's metallic sheen, both Pokémon battered but unyielding.

"Neither trainer needs to speak, for they know, just as we do, that this is their spectacular finale. One final push, and the victor will be determined. But who will make that first mo- Huh? What's this?"

The living room erupted with confused murmurs as the broadcast glitched and buzzed, throwing up static and obscuring the view of the two powerful pokemon staring each other down. Squinting, Caleb could make out translucent pink walls rising to surround the two trainers and their pokemon, boxing them in.

"We-" static "- technical difficulties -" static.

"What's going on?" Caleb could hear Billie ask him something, but he wasn't paying attention to her words. His eyes quivered as he saw something on the screen.

"Terribly sorry about interrupting this little fight." That wasn't the voice of Martin Smith, nor that of his co-commentator, Allen Tyler. No, this voice was something else entirely - something that set off alarms in Caleb's head with every word spoken.

"This one owes us more than you know," the voice continued, syrupy and confident. "And we thought it would be best to pick him up when he couldn't fight back as well as he usually does~"

The static cleared up. Samuel Stone, the silver-haired champion lay crumpled next to his unconscious metagross, his nose broken and bleeding. Masked figures in white cloaks lined the force-field surrounding the trainers, their guns trained on the fleeing audience.

At the center of it all stood a figure dressed in white robes with golden trim. Her heeled boot pressed down on Salamence's head as she held Zack up by the front of his shirt, his hazel eyes struggling to stay open.

"So, Dragon Guardian…" the woman purred, tilting her head as if addressing an old friend. "The whole world is watching. We have you outnumbered ten to one. Do you have anything to say?"

Caleb's living room was silent. No one moved. No one breathed. Even his mother stood frozen, her eyes glued to the screen. They had little idea as to what was going on, except that things had gotten really bad. Yet they found themselves unable to tear themselves away from what was unfolding at the Ever Grande Conference.

Zack's lips curled into a bitter smile as blood dripped from his tousled brown hair.

"I like those odds."