Thread: Hopeful - Hopeless

Hopeful/Hopeless


This story follows the journeys of two boys, Nick and Nate, as they attempt at success in the pokemon world. Each chapter will switch between the boys perspective. This is my first at many things, my first fan-fic as well as my first attempt at writing a first person narrative, so any and all reviews both good and bad are gladly accepted. I wrote the prolog in third person to set things up, just thought I'd say, so no one thinks I can't tell the difference. Enjoy.

Prolog

An audible moan came from Nate's throat as he hung up his Xtransceiver. The last thing he wanted to do was babysit some wet behind the ears trainer. It didn't help that he hated the person who he had to look after. He clenched his fist as he thought about it.

"I must be some sort of idiot," he said aloud already regretting his decision to ignore the call he had just hung up on. He cracked his knuckles and punched a few keys on the PC and Professor Juniper's face appeared on screen.

"Well hello, Nate," the professor said with an all too cheerful expression. "What can I do for you today? Need someone switched?"

Nate growled again, "Yeah I'm flying in tomorrow," he paused, "apparently..." he added.

"I know who you're after then," the professor said with a bright smile. "You know the drill!" Indeed Nate did know the drill. He placed one of the six pokeballs into the machine and it lit up then was immediately replaced with an ultra ball that contained a different pokemon.

"Thanks professor," Nate said as he hung up and exited the pokemon center. The automated doors of the pokemon center closed behind him and he was greeted by the bright sunny city of Nimbasa. The Ferris wheel reflected the early morning sunlight intensely and Nate shielded his eyes from the intrusive light. "Almost forgot," Nate said to himself as he buried his hand into the bag that hung from his shoulder down to his waist and retrieved a pair of dark sunglasses. "Well since I've got till tomorrow..." he smirked, "might as well have some fun..."

Chapter 1 - A Starting Effort

"Nick!"

*SLAM*

"Oh dear, what happened?" a familiar voice called out from what felt like a long ways away.

"He wouldn't wake up so I yelled at him and he hit is head on the ceiling." another voice said with a sigh.

"It wouldn't happen if he'd just sleep in his bed like a normal person."

"Good luck trying to tell him that."

"SOMEONE BRING A BANDAGE THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE!" I called out with my eyes clenched tight fearful to gaze at the warm wet liquid that I felt on my head and hands.

"Nick calm down. Sheesh you're such a baby. I'm worried you still aren't ready for your journey."

I immediately recognized the voice of my older sister and I blinked open my eyes expecting to be traumatized covered in my own blood, but to my surprise what I was covered in was not blood, but what it was, was probably much worse. I was covered in egg yolk. I shook like a dog would covering the room with the thick yellow and white goop.

I looked desperately at my sister and my eyes teared up, "Is... Is... This..."

"Yep," she said, "I warned you sleeping with that pokemon egg would turn out like this."

"It... It didn't even get a chance to live!" I called out, "Why?! HOW?!"

"Geez get a grip."

I looked up at her and was about to ask how cruel could she be, but I noticed she was holding an empty carton of eggs in one hand and my pokemon egg in the other.

I made a dive for the egg and held it tight, "Watch out or you really will break it."

I jumped down from the bookshelf in which I'd spent the night, only trying a little to make my sister lose her balance and fall to the floor. She had to get a chair to reach me every time I slept up there so there was always that possibility that I could make her fall, but unfortunately not today.

I wandered into the bathroom and flipped on the light to reveal myself in the mirror, my long black hair coated in a thick layer of egg yolk. I let the water from the facet flow over my head trying to dislodge the slimy substance and bits of egg shell that my sister had carelessly allowed to become tangled in my hair.

It took about ten minutes to get the remnants off of me. I re-admired myself in the mirror as I retrieved my glasses from the table by the sink placing them gently on my face.

"Hurry up or breakfast will get cold," my sister said walking in on me as I finished up my morning ritual by brushing my teeth.

Amanda was the worst of the worst. I glared her down as intensely as I could as I followed her into the kitchen for breakfast. Mother had prepared the most elaborate breakfast feast for my farewell present before I headed out on my pokemon journey. I know she was trying to make up for the way she broke my heart every year for 6 years on my birthday since I was ten when she said I wasn't mature enough to go on my journey, but I harbor no hard feelings cause today's the day! I start my journey today!

Maybe I spoke too soon. I think even though I don't harbor any ill feelings toward my mother I should start. For what should she place before me to eat first? You guessed it. Eggs.

I glared over at Amanda first and then Mom. "Why?"

Amanda smirked to herself, "Think of it as a hug."

"I will, thanks," I said as sarcastically as I could. Just then the pidgey in clock alarm popped out and called signalling the next hour has begun and signalling me to keep calm. I'll be getting my starter from professor Juniper in about a half-hour, so I can keep things under wraps till then. And who says I'm not mature.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Amanda exclaimed, ruining my imaginings of accepting the Unova League 1st place trophy.

"You forgot what? To put snakes in my backpack before I leave?"

"No, but you can't leave yet till he gets here."

"You don't have to worry about that," Mom broke in on our conversation, "He's been outside for the past five minutes."

I got up and opened the door that leads out from the kitchen to the yard and before my eyes a black three-headed dragon stared down at me and growled. I took a step back and saw who my mother and sister were refering to. The rider of the dragon was leaned against one of the three heads and yawned at the sight of me.

"You coming or what?" he said as he pushed up his sunglasses to rest on the top of his head.

"NATE!"

He slid his sunglasses back down and pulled a yellow and black pokeball from his bag. He reached up with the ball and tapped it on one of the dragon's heads and in a flash of red light the dragon receeded inside the ball and he fell to the ground and landed on his feet calmly.

"Wow what was that one?!"

He disregarded my question and walked over to Amanda. "Only as far as Striaton City," he told her.

"Alright I guess I can't really ask for anymore than that."

I was severely confused but Nate turned around and started walking away. "Hey! You even going to wish me luck on my journey?"

Amanda touched my shoulder, "Why would he? He'll be right there."

"Wait..." I processed this information but drew a blank.

By the look on Amanda's face I could tell she knew I had no clue of what was happening because she facepalmed, "I asked him to travel with you so you don't get yourself eaten by a pack of wild houndoom or something equally preposterous like that, knowing you."

Nate turned around already about a half mile away and shouted back, "I will leave you behind if you can't keep up!"

He wasn't happy. I could tell that much. He always been easily irritable, but I thought it best not to upset him anymore so I took off after him waving good-bye to my mother and demented sister only to stop about half way between them and Nate to run back to the house after my backpack and pokemon egg that I'd forgotten on the kitchen table.

It wasn't long before we arrived at Professor Juniper's laboratory. Nate opened the door to the lab and ushered be inside, the first act of common decency he'd shone me since leaving home.

"Welcome back Nate, and this must be Nick," a voice from behind me said in a cheerful tone which startled me at first. I turned and saw the tall brown haired woman dressed in a white lab coat who greeted me with a smile. "If you'd follow me, we'll get started."


I'm pretty proud of it myself, but I'd love to get your opinions. Also I'm planning to upload a new installment every Friday (hopefully) at least till the end of August, but we'll see how that goes.

Here we go. Chapter two is up. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2 - Oshawatt I chose you... no wait Snivy... scratch that Tepig... can I have a few more minutes?

This is supposed to be the easiest part of the journey. All you have to do is walk in, grab one of three pokemon, and the professor takes care of the rest. It's that simple. But of course, when it comes to Nick nothing is simple. Since the moment the professor introduced herself, his mouth has been like a waterfall of questions that just keeps pouring out. 'How many types of pokemon are there? Are there possibly undiscovered pokemon? Do you know where I might find some?' Just basic beginner questions, but for Arceus sake the kid is 16 years old! The least he could have done was study the basics at any point in the six years he hasn't been able to travel!

Deep cleansing breaths, I had to tell myself. We'll be leaving any minute now.

"If you'll just follow me into this room," Professor Juniper instructed Nick, "and you can choose your starter."

"YES! THIS IS THE MOMENT I'VE WAITED FOR"

The professor was startled by his sudden outburst, but I, on the other hand, had been expecting it since the moment we'd arrived at the lab. The room she'd led us into was very familiar to me because I'd been inside on a number of occasions. There was a glass panel door that led out to a field where other trainer's currently unused pokemon were able to exercise and play outside. Quite a number of my very own pokemon were in the yard at this very second.
Next to the door was a desk with a large computer which Professor Juniper used to register new trainers into the Unova league, like she was about to do with Nick. Finally the last most notable piece of equipment in the room was the housing container for the starter pokemon. It was basically just a flashy monitoring device with a large glass dome over top three ordinary pokeballs and a monitor below the dome with general medical statistics for the three pokemon inside, like heart rate, blood pressure, and so on. I'm pretty sure it's main purpose, however, is to look good. There really isn't any reason to keep track of such things on completely healthy pokemon who spend most of their time in pokeballs anyway.

I glanced over at Nick and to my un-surprise he was practically drooling over the container.

"As a new trainer starting his journey in Unova you have the choice of," Professor Juniper pressed a button on the device and a holographic image of the pokemon inside the closest pokeball appeared, "Oshawatt," she said as the blue otter pokemon's image appeared. She pressed an ajacent button and the pokeballs in the dome rotated so a different pokeball was in front. "Tepig," and the image of the fire pig pokemon appeared on screen replacing Oshawatts. "Or," the professor hit the button again and the screen revealed the final pokemon, "Snivy."

Now if Nick hadn't been salivating before, he definitely was now. He'd placed his hands on the dome and was rotating the pokeballs in the machine to reveal them all again.

He'd stared at the screen for well over ten minutes and just kept rotating them. "Wipe your mouth and pick one already," I was losing my patience with him.

"This is an important decision, I wanna make the right choice!" he yelled back and continued to stare. After a few minutes he spoke again, "Can I see them outside this thing?" he asked Professor Juniper.

"Of course," the professor said faking a smile. I could see she was getting a little frustrated with him too. She opened the glass dome and took the three pokeballs from inside and opened them all and the three pokemon that were on screen appeared in the flesh in front of him.

Nick squatted down closer to the pokemon and began looking them each over, but this being Nick he couldn't do that normally like a regular person. He begun making strange growling and clicking noises with is throat and teeth as he admired them, obviously intimidating to the pokemon and making me embaressed to be in the same room as such a nut-job.

Suddenly, he stopped making the noises and turned back to look at me. Please Arceus strike me down now, I can't stand this kid!

"Which one did you start out with?"

"None of them," I responded, hoping he'd just pick already. "First off, I'm not originally from Unova, which you're well aware. Second, I already had a pokemon before I started my journey so I didn't take a typical starter."

"Oh," he sounded sort of disheartened for a second, but immediately resumed his natural obnoxious tone as he picked up Tepig and held it out in his hands directly in front of his face. Tepig's reflection shone in Nick's glasses as he announced to the world apparently at the volume his voice rose to, "I CHOOSE YOU!"

I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the Tepig. There are infinitely more competent trainers out there and Tepig was unfortunate enough to get Nick.

Professor Juniper handed Nick Tepig's pokeball along with his pokedex and five empty pokeballs. Nick took the pokedex in hand and admired it a minute before he said the most idiotic thing he's said all day. "What's this thing? Do I need this for something?"

I almost could hear a blood vessel in my brain explode. "IT'S YOUR POKEDEX YOU MORON! THAT DEVICE COULD SAVE COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE SINCE YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T UNDERSTAND THE BASIC CONCEPTS! IF I WERE YOU, I'D STUDY THAT LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT BECAUSE IT PROBABLY DOES!" I would have yelled more but I was gritting my teeth together so hard it may have split a tooth.

Both Nick and Professor Juniper were taken aback by my outburst, so I excused myself and went to wait outside. I leaned against the fence surrounding the lab as I waited for Professor Juniper to finish up registering Nick for the Unova league, a process that takes about ten seconds, so naturally fifteen minutes later Nick emerged from the lab with that stupid grin on his face.

"Can we go now? I'd like to make it to Accumula Town before next year," I said in the most sarcastic voice I could manage.

"Not yet. I wanna have a battle!"

I rubbed my eyes with my thumb and index finger. How long is that going to take?

"Who in the world do you plan to battle? We haven't gone anywhere yet."

"I wanna battle you!" he said sounding convinced he'd stand a chance.

"You're aware of how horribly I'd mop the floor with you, right? I've made champion in not just one, two, but three separate regions."

"I don't care I still wanna battle you."

I know he's too stubborn to back down. There's no way of talking him out of it so I've got no choice but to completely humiliate him. "Fine. I'll give you five free moves, after that I'll give you another chance to back down. If you don't, you better hope you can run fast enough to the pokemon center to keep your Tepig alive."


Well that's it for Chapter two. Chapter three should be up next Friday.

Chapter 3 - Wha'dcha expect?

Ok, just like the Professor showed me. I pressed the button in the middle of the pokeball and it expanded to full size. "Alright Tepig! So me your stuff!" I threw the pokeball containing Tepig out in front of me and it popped open and before my eyes Tepig appeared. "Hope you know I'm feelin' invincible right now!"

I couldn't quite hear Nate's response but to me it sounded like, "we'll fix that."

"This is our first battle Tepig. Fight hard!" Tepig called out it's name in response and flames shot out from it's snout.

"It doesn't matter how hard you fight. It's pointless if you don't know your own limits," Nate instructed me as he pulled out a pokeball from his bag, but his pokeball was different than Tepig's. It looked damaged. It had a groove cut deep into the red part which was the top of the pokeball. "This is what happened to my starter," he called out as he threw the ball into the air above him.

From the pokeball emerged a dragon more terrifying than the one he'd flown to my house on. It was a blue serpent like dragon with white whiskers and blood red eyes. It's cry echoed throughout the surrounding hills and shook the ground causing some of Professor Juniper's aides to come to the windows of the lab and observe our battle that was about to get underway.

"What in the name of all that is holy is that thing and where can I get one?"

"This is the prime example of the hard work and dedication it takes to become the best of the best," he told me. "This is perfect time to start learning to use that pokedex of yours."

Oh yeah, that thing. I pulled out the pokedex and slid it open. It had a convenient analyze button that I could just point at the pokemon I want to look up and it would open up the entry. "Just like this right?"

The pokedex responded to me, "Gyrados," the machine's robotic voice said, "this Pokémon has a vicious temperament, so use extreme caution. Its fangs can crush stones and its scales are harder than steel."

"Yikes, maybe this was a bad idea."

Nate taunted me, "Giving up already? What happened to all that confidence from a second ago?"

"I'm not giving up on anything! Tepig..." pause for dramatic affect. "HYPER BEAM!" I pointed at Gyrados and smiled devilishly. Nothing's stopping me on my way to the top!

I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME TEPIG. I SAID HYPER BEAM!"

Nate signed, "That counts as one."

"BUT TEPIG ISN'T ATTACKING!"

"Of course it isn't. It can't use hyper beam you moron."

"But I see plenty of people use that move in tournaments all the time!"

"Look up Tepig's moves in your pokedex before I have Gyrados tear your arms off."

How can he say something like that so casually? Ok, Ok. Tepig's moves. The pokedex brought up a moves menu and I selected Tepig.

"Alright let's try again," I said mostly to myself but for Tepig's benefit as well. "Tepig..." pause for dramatic affect again, "TACKLE!"

All of a sudden Tepig nodded and sprung into action. Going at a dead sprint toward Gyrados and leaping as high as it could ramming it's body as hard as it could against it's foe. However, even with all it's effort, it merely bounced harmlessly off Gyrados's tough hide. Gyrados roared at Tepig and I felt it was doing the same thing to Tepig as Nate was to me, taunting it.

"That's two," Nate called out to me again.

I gotta make these next attacks count. What else we got?

"Tepig, TAILWHIP!"

Tepig's curly tail brushed harmlessly across Gyrados. I couldn't help but pull one of my sister's manuvers and slapped the palm of my hand to my face. "WHAT WAS THAT? YOU CALL THAT AN ATTACK!"

"That's three," Nate oh so helpfully reminded me again.

"What's left?" I skimmed the pokedex entry for Tepig once more, "This looks promising. Tepig, EMBER!"

All of a sudden Tepig reared back and from his snout shot tiny sparks of flame that hit Gyrados square in the chest. That had to have done something!

However, Gyrados once again just shook off the attack as if there hadn't been one.

"No way, what is that thing made of?"

I gotta think of something quick. Wait a minute, Nate didn't say anything this time. Maybe I'm on to something this time. Look for a weak point. Come on, something, anything. Nate crossed his arms at me, maybe I've been standing here too long. There's gotta be a weak spot somewhere!

"Well... Here goes nothing. TEPIG EMBER, AND AIM AT GYRADOS'S EYES!"

Tepig reared up again and shot out the flames with pinpoint accuracy, "Yes right where I wanted it!" The collision between the ember and Gyrados cause the immersion of dark smoke that shrouded it's head from view. "BULLSEYE! HOW DO YA LIKE THAT!" I thought about sticking my tongue out at him, but decided against it. Best not rub it in.

"I'm not so bad now am I?"

Nate didn't move. He didn't react. He just kept standing there with his arms crossed.

What's with him? I won. Didn't I?

After a minute he spoke, "I'd suggest withdrawing Tepig now."

Why? I don't get it, what's he going on about?

But then I saw what he was talking about. The smoke cleared around Gyrados's face and Nate's smirk turned the blood in my veins to ice.

"Five."

Unscathed! Not even a blink!

Desperation filled my mind. "AGAIN! DO IT AGAIN!"

Tepig rose to strike again, but Nate was going to have no part of it. "Gyrados, extinguish this nuisance." In the blink of an eye Gyrados enveloped it's tail in water and brought it down upon Tepig. The crashing waves left by Gyrados's tail smothered out Tepig's wails of pain and washed it up at my feet.

"TEPIG!" The little guy twitched slightly and a small puff of smoke escaped his snout.

"I warned you of the consequences. I told you to withdraw. Know your pokemon's limits. Don't fight an unwinnable battle, or your pokemon will suffer..." he paused briefly, "They'll suffer the consequences of YOUR mistakes."

The way he said that last part... Makes me think... He was made aware of the consequences the hard way too.

I look down at Tepig as he lay in my arms, soaking wet and whimpering. "I'm so sorry Tepig..."

Tepig's fine. Or not. Who knows? Find out next week!

Chapter 4 - Ruin

Maybe I went just a bit too far, I thought as I stared out across the water that ran alongside route one. The sun was dropping low in the sky and the vibrant red and orange hues reflected magnificently off the calm and clear waters. I glanced over to my right where Nick sat at the edge of the water clutching Tepig in his arms. He looked like he was crying, but I couldn't tell because his long black hair got in the way of his face.

I looked down at the water, and my reflection stared back. I spit into my reflection and the water rippled, distorting my image. Another reason I dislike Nick was because of how similar we look. Similar facial features and hair color made us look almost like brothers. My hair was shorter and my eyes were azure blue, while his hair got in his face and his eyes were a pale gray, but there wasn't too much distinguishing the two of us in our appearance besides that and the fact that Nick wore glasses. I hated it. That I could be confused with this loser!

Get over it, I scolded myself. I looked back over at Nick who hadn't spoken a word to me since our battle. "You just going to sit there and beat yourself up, or are you going to do something?"

Nick didn't look up and I thought he was just going to ignore me, but he did respond, "What should I be doing..." he said in a low and defeated tone.

"Well we can start by healing Tepig," I told him as I opened my bag and pulled out a spray-bottle of liquid. I stepped over to where Nick sat and crouched down next to him. "Let me see him." Nick did not move so I had to lift Tepig from his arms myself. I twisted the nozzle on the bottle and sprayed the liquid on Tepig.

It took a minute for the medicine to take affect, but Tepig's eyes shot open and he hopped out of my arms and trotted over to where Nick sat. Just like Tepig, it seemed almost as if Nick had been given medicine. He sat up straighter and looked down at Tepig in amazement.

All of a sudden he was talking to me again, "What was that?! What did you do?" He took Tepig back up in his arms and hugged him.

I held the empty bottle out to him. "Full restore. Not much these things can't fix. I thought I'd stock up on 'em before the trip because I knew you'd fail at this pretty hard core."

Nick took the empty bottle in his hand, "I can't believe it," he paused as if he was deep in thought, "You actually did something considerate and nice for me!"

"Don't be stupid, I stocked up on them for my own benefit. These things may cost a small fortune but if it gets us to Striaton City within a day or two it will be worth it. Whatever it takes to get rid of you."

Nick returned to normal for the most part. He returned Tepig to his pokeball and stood up straight. Before I could react, Nick took off in a dead sprint. "I'm not going to let you beat me again!" he called back to me in his usual cheerful voice.

"You're going the wrong way," I called back. "Accumula Town is this way."

Nick turned around and ran the opposite direction back at me. "I knew that!"

I stuck my foot out in front of him as he ran by causing him to trip and fall. "Take a look around. It's too late now," I told him directing his attention to the setting sun. "If you hadn't taken up so much time getting started we could have made it there already, but since you took so long you're going to have to set up camp and set off again tomorrow."

"Why? It's barely sundown. And besides, what's so bad about traveling in the dark?"

"Beginning trainers shouldn't go wandering of in the dark. You'll only end up hurting yourself."

"Fine, where should we set up camp?"

"I don't care where you set up camp, just don't go running off in the night so I can find you again."

"Wait, what do you mean 'so I can find you again?' Where are you going?"

"You don't expect me to hold your hand while you do everything, do you? I'm flying to Accumula Town where I can sleep in a hotel." I pulled the ultra ball from my bag, released Hydreigon, and hopped on it's back.

"HEY WAIT A MINUTE! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST FLY ME TOO!"

"That's not how this works. This is your journey. Deal with it." Without another word Hydreigon took to the sky, leaving Nick stranded on the ground.

The evening breeze felt cool and refreshing after such a regrettable day. I couldn't tell if it was being back in the air again or finally getting away from Nick that felt so good, but at this point I couldn't care less. The sparkling lights from Accumula Town lured me, like a snorlax to a freshly ripened oran berry tree, and I couldn't stop myself from pushing Hydreigon to fly faster. Before I knew it I was landing in town and on my way to the nearest hotel.

I had given up sleeping in the pokemon center, like most trainers, after about two years and I'd earned plenty of prize money from competing and winning various tournaments. I've found that it's much more private and room service is provided. The place I'd be staying in tonight was no five-star resort but it was infinitely better than what Nick would be sleeping in tonight, which brought a natural smirk to my face as I turned the key in the lock and the door to my room opened. I took a couple steps and threw myself onto the bed and the world around me slowly faded to black.

I was awoken to the sound of a pidove hitting the window. I sat up and saw that the pidove was dazed on the balcony, so I slid open the glass sliding door that led out to the balcony and assisted it in it's takeoff. Leaning against the railing, I looked out at Accumula Town and watched the people below go about their day. About a block away from the hotel, I saw a gathering of excited people outside of a building which had a large glass window.

"Interesting," I said to myself, as I turned and re-entered my room. I took a shower then gathered up my gear and headed downstairs to return my room key.

I was headed back to Nick unfortunately. On my way out of town I glanced over and saw the crowd of excited people again, still peering into the glass window. Curiosity got the better of me and I wandered over to the group and looked into the window as well. Inside was a TV displaying the news.

"What's the big deal?" I asked an elderly gentleman.

"You haven't heard. Archeologists just discovered an almost perfectly preserved ancient ruin, and you're not going to guess where."

"Where?"

"Underwater! Just off the coast of Undella Town! It's unbelievable how close too!"

I looked back over at the television and it cut to some footage taken by a diver. The murky waters made it hard to make out but then a flashlight shone on the building under the water.

It can't be... The structure, these designs... Looks like Nick's going to have to continue on for a while without me. This is something I can't ignore.

That does it for chapter four. What's got Nate so spooked? Find out in two weeks because next week we're back to Nick.