Prologue
Welcome To
The Shadows
What defines life? Is it the people you meet?
The choices you make, aka the way you live it? How do you know how you’re
supposed to live your life? Because I know a lot of people who want to tell me
how to do it. But how do they know? Did they seek for the answer? Look for the
wizard who could tell you? Or did they conjure up their own ideas and attempt
to force it upon others? The latter, I’m sure. Not because I don’t believe in
that wizard, but because I know people.
Of
course, I’m not claiming to be better. But heaven forbid if I did, the world
would implode. That is, at least, the way most people think. Everyone thinks
they’re better than everyone else, but if you say it then…I’m sure you can
imagine. If you don’t think you’re better than everybody, then I bet you can
name at least one person you know
you’re better than. If you still don’t, then I hate to break it to you…You
think you’re better than the people who think they’re better than other people.
That
was deep.
Well,
that’s a taste of what occupies my mind when I’m sitting in class. I can’t help
the fact my mind wanders when I’m in boring situations. If I’m not thinking
about something that isn’t schoolwork, then I’m probably dozing off. It’s not
as though I don’t care about Pokémon, I do; very much so. It’s just I don’t do
the whole class, homework, test thing. That’s way too tedious for my liking.
Looking
towards my left and out the large window, I noticed it was raining. The drops
rolled down the window, some of them rolling past into unknown realms. Looking
farther I saw the ocean; the dark blue waves splashing harshly on the boulders
lining the far side of Sunyshore. They looked like they were trying to devour
them.
Even
further sat a fishing boat caught in the storm. Luckily, unlike some Sunyshore
rainstorms, it wasn’t that big of a deal; the boat was safe. Around the boat,
the waves looked much calmer. Not like big mouths eating a giant rock. They
looked completely free. Free of any responsibility or…Anything, really.
Considering I’m talking about water.
“Volkner,
are you even paying attention?” Birdbrain asked.
Trying
my best appalled person impression, I looked at her and said: “Why, yes, Miss Karp.”
Birdbrain
pursed her lips and gave me her famous death glare. “You better be. Exams are
coming up.” She turned back to the chalkboard and continued her squawking.
Someone
elbowed my side, and I looked to my right. My brother, Fyn, leaned closer to
me. “Do you have to make Miss Karp
mad every day?”
“Yes,
Little Bro, I do. I think of it as my personal daily mission, and now it’s completed.”
I grinned at him as he shook his head and held back a smile. Yeah, I was in
Trainer School with my younger brother.
Like I said, the class, homework, test thing wasn’t my style…Tests just made me nervous and I bombed. Although,
you don’t even need schooling to be a trainer. That’s a lie parents convince
you of. Really, I could become a trainer. Thus, under circumstances I couldn’t
control and didn’t like; I was stuck
with ten-through-thirteen-year-olds every day until I can pass the exams. And
I, being the mature age of fifteen, was forced to deal with it. But this time
around, I wasn’t going to bomb. Nope. Fyn wouldn’t graduate from TS before me. It’s not going to happen. I thought over
and over.
Getting
a surge of confidence, I focused on the chalkboard ahead. “…That’s compatible
with most Flying Types, but not all.” Birdbrain wrote ‘Flying’ under ‘Egg
Type.’ “Tangled Feet is a rare Ability, however. This was originally found with
a Pidgey and then found in a Chatot.” She wrote ‘Tangled Feet’ under ‘Ability.’
“Keen Eye is a common Ability, it’s found in large hunting Flying Types as well
as a few very smart small hunters. Hoothoot, for example.”
Okay,
that was enough of that. I turned my gaze back to the window and to the ocean.
The rain had stopped and the ocean turned back to its clear teal color.
The
dismissal bell rang, and I sprang up out of my desk. Miss Karp taught two classes,
the first class and the last class. Thankfully, this was the last class of the
day and I was free from the prison called school. Ignoring Birdbrain as best I
could, I grabbed my mostly empty backpack and scurried for the door. She was
still giving out the homework assignment, and her voice went up to a yell as I
passed her. Her mistake was that she wasn’t yelling a threat to me, only the
homework. Why would I listen to that?
Barging
through the classroom door, sprinting down the hallway, and opening the
double-doors the lead to the happy sunbeams welcoming me back outside was my
semi-daily routine. And, despite what it may seem like, it was rewarding. Beach weather, even though it’s all I’ve ever known,
made me happy. Since I lived in Sinnoh’s biggest and most popular beach town;
that was a good thing.
One of
the downsides of living in Sunyshore was the tourists. What made that even
worse was the fact tourist season was all year round. Wintertime for us was
nothing. The only difference being that natives didn’t go swimming during
winter; even then the beaches are full with tourists soaking up the sun. Busy
city life, what are you gonna do?
An
upside, however, is that there are plenty of things to do. Almost always you
can bet someone you know is at the beach, and if not there’s a whole city worth
of shops and restaurants. That was all First Level, of course.
Sunyshore
is made up of two levels: First Level, being…On the ground, where the beaches,
schools, marketplace, things of the like are located. Second Level was made of
glass pathways that were first constructed for easy access to the rocky
mountain that stood on one side of town. The mountain is where most of the
houses in town are, including mine. The pathways consist of the lighthouse,
more homes, and a few random things like Mom and Pop stores.
That
made home. I’ve been causing trouble around here my entire life. Only ever been
to Pastoria twice before, mainly for a family getaway. Otherwise, I’ve been
stuck to Sunyshore. Not as though I’m complaining, apparently everyone wants to
live in Sunyshore. Unless you live in Sunyshore, then you couldn’t care less.
Funny how that works. The same goes with the beaches; apparently they’re the
most beautiful beaches in Sinnoh—because the sand is perfectly creamy, the
seashells don’t break easily, the ocean is actually blue as opposed to
green—but I don’t care. People describe them as the most breathtaking thing in
the world, but if you look at the same thing forever, it loses its luster. And
these beaches don’t have any more luster in them for me.
As I
wandered down Main Street towards Long Beach, or otherwise known as Main Beach,
a gust of wind blew by. It reminded everyone that a nasty storm had just
happened, even though you couldn’t see the remains anywhere in the sky. It was
a mystery how that happened so quickly. I made it to the beach, and I walked to
about the middle. There was a Volball net and a group of people playing a game.
Volball was a sport that involved a net and a Voltorb. The Voltorb would be the
ball. Your object is to get the Voltorb on the other side of the net, hoping it
would hit the ground. Sometimes the opposing team would hit the Pokémon back
over to your side, and your goal was to make sure it didn’t touch the ground
and to get it back over the net. It sounds a bit repetitive, I know, and it
is…But what makes it exciting is that sometimes Voltorb will use Spark and
shock the crap out of you. Yes, it’s just as hilarious as it sounds.
“Volkner!”
My friend Trifler waved at me from the other side of the net. I returned the
wave and grinned. Calling a timeout he ran off the court and up to me. “Hey,
joining the game?”
“Of
course, give me a second.” He nodded and went back to the net. I shed my
t-shirt and kicked off my old sneakers along with my socks. Sighing, I looked
towards the group of Volball players. A few saw me looking and waved me over,
so I jogged on the ‘court.’
“Volk
will serve,” said Sheila. She smiled at me whimsically and I took the Pokémon
from her. The Pokémon, appropriately nicknamed Spike, made an excited noise. My
heart started to pick up speed and I bounced on my toes. I looked at my
teammates: Sheila, Kaman, Marine, Darly, and Mace. I knew them quite well, this
whole dozen (Including myself) would meet up a lot to hang out and play. They
were a good team, but the best one was definitely Trifler, and he was my
opponent.
“Let’s
do this!” I yelled, and served Spike.
Afterwards,
we sat on the beach. The sun had just started to set on us as we sat where the
waves rolled in and out hastily. We all laughed and made small group talk until
it got silent, then one person said he had to leave and everyone else decided
to, too. I grabbed my stuff and started back into town. Trifler ran up beside
me and elbowed me in the ribs.
“Going
to see Rayne?” He questioned. I looked at him, he grinned and raised his
eyebrows.
“First
of all, you look stupid. Second of all, I see Rayne every day. Why’s it always
a surprise to you?”
“It’s
not a surprise, in fact it’s the
opposite of that. She’s your best friend, I get it. Give her a kiss for me,
will you?”
I
matched his grin and pushed him over, “and you’re eating sand, I get it.” I
smirked at him for a moment and then quickly helped him up. At first he glared at
me, then we started laughing.
“Whatever,
man.” He chuckled. “Just tell Rayne I said hi, okay? And that she should come
hang out. She’s been such a loner.”
“Well
her dad died, what do you expect?” I asked, getting mildly agitated.
“Yeah,
a year ago. She’s had her time to
grieve and whatever, now she needs to get back to normal.”
Nodding,
I said: “I agree, but I’ll let her do that on her own. She needs to do what she
needs to do. Especially with the stress her mom’s giving her about contests and
everything.”
“Definitely.
Alright well, I’ll catch you later.” Trifler waved and continued down Main, I
hung a left and went straight down the center of town towards Back Beach, the
small beach that sat at the back of town. No one ever went there. So it was
nicknamed Dirty Beach, Black Beach, No Man’s Beach, or simply, and most
popularly, Rock Beach. Since that beach met Sunyshore’s mountain and boulders
filled the shore.
The
boulders were a plus, though. Or at least I thought so. The girl perched on
one, drawing away on her notepad—sketchpad,
as she would correct me—agreed. Boulders were, in fact, a plus. That girl
was Rayne, one of the only brunettes in Sunyshore; and my best friend. And by
best friend, I mean the only person who keeps me sane.
“Hey.”
I hopped up on the boulder next to her.
“Hey,”
she replied quickly; too transfixed on her sketchpad and piece of charcoal to
speak to me, apparently. She was sketching the sunset.
“Another
sunset? Don’t you think you’ve got enough of those?” I smirked.
“It’s
different every day, Volkner.” Annoyance filled her tone, and it made me smirk
larger as I stared at her face. Her dark eyes took everything in carefully as
she drew and her lips meshed together in-thought. Freckles dotted her cheeks,
she hated them but I loved them. It made her different from every other
blonde-haired, blue-eyed, wannabe girl in this town. “You’re staring again.”
She muttered.
“I
just can’t help it.”
“Shut
up.” She rolled her eyes dramatically then cut them at me. She picked her
sketchpad up and cocked her head at it, examining her work. Drawing was Rayne’s
thing, to say the least. Sometimes she’d even paint something, but drawing was
what she was into. She had sketchpads upon sketchpads scattered about her room,
and filled every margin of every book she owned with doodles. She explained it
as a tick. She had to do it, or she’d
go crazy. And I believed her, especially because I’ve hardly ever seen her not
drawing.
“You
like it?” She asked, holding up her drawing proudly. Whenever she spoke about
her work, a new, refining tone came about her. It was a different her; the real
her.
“Eh, it’s
alright.” I grimaced, then she shoved me so hard I fell off the boulder.
Jumping up, I grinned, “hey! I’m kidding!” She laughed, and I copied. Then I
grabbed her arm and pulled her off the rock, both of us falling on the sand.
“Volkner
Parley!” She exclaimed, holding back a laugh, “treating a lady in such ways? What would your mother think?”
“You’re
right, malady,” I bowed and gave her my hand, she took it and I yanked her up. “Better?”
She nodded, and we laughed again. She collected her things that had fallen,
then perched back on the rock.
“I wish
I could draw a moving picture.” She stated randomly.
“Why?” I
chuckled.
“Because,
when I finish drawing the sunset…It keeps moving. I want my drawings to keep
moving, I want to continually capture life.”
“Well
you better get on that, huh?”
She
slightly smiled and gave me a look. “You’re just so encouraging, how’d I
ever end up with a friend as great as you?”
“I ask
myself that every day. How did you
get so darn lucky?”
“Says
Mister I-Don’t-Brush-My-Hair.” Rayne muttered.
“Ouch. Someone is sassy today.” I touched my
messy yellow hair, “and it’s a style!”
“Lazy Pokémon
style, maybe.”
Gasping,
I shouted, “just crush my hopes and dreams, it’s all good! And even worse…My style. What’s with the insults?!”
Rayne
laughed and leaned her head on my shoulder. “Whatever, Boulder Brain.”
“Yeah…Can
we forget the nickname I acquired when I was a young, handsome lad?” I pleaded.
“Not a
chance, young, handsome lad.”
Having
gotten that name quite a few years earlier, it was hard for me to shake it.
When Rayne and I met, she was sitting on a boulder in Rock Beach, drawing, as
usual, and I approached the rock. She said hello, and I got so nervous talking
to a girl, that I tripped and slammed my forehead on the boulder and had a
concussion and headache for the next four days. But during that time Rayne and
her mom brought over cookies, and I gained a great friend.
“Hilarious.”
“I
know,” Rayne looked up at me and I grinned at her, then we just sat there for a
while, completely silent as we watched the sunset.
*******
They
had just told me the news. The news.
How did this happen? Why did this
happen? It didn’t make any logical sense. Suddenly, my life all came crashing
into my skull. You could probably say I was ignorant to think I could go my
entire life without bad things creeping in like an evil, demonic bug. But I
never thought that way. Now…I felt hopeless. It seemed like there was nowhere
to look; nowhere to turn to. I felt like a zombie.
What was life? Not being able to help
it, those unwanted thoughts rolled into my mind. However, I was glad they came,
because I realized: Life was a moving picture, a perfectly captured moment, a
perfectly drawn and put together piece of art. That was life.
And
like the waves to the boulders on shore, it was trying to devour me.
