Prologue Part 1
I had always been a follower, I could never understand why. I never really questioned authority, nor did I ever have more than a few words to put into just about anything. It was kind of ironic really, considering my "occupation". People always told me that I needed to stand up for my opinions; that I gave up too easily. I never really paid much attention to them though. I realize now that it's too late that they were right. Maybe if I had been more adamant about my opinion, she would still be with me...
Perhaps I should explain a little bit more. My story began back when I was a young boy. I wasn't exactly what you would call average. I had always been very bright for my age, I managed to pull ahead of my class and skip through a grade when I was only seven years old. My teachers told me that my brain was more advanced than most others, that I made connections that others did not. Unfortunately for me, my father wanted to take advantage of this.
My dad tested me in every way possible. He began to take the teaching into his own hands. Even at my current age, I could tell that there was an ulterior motive, though I could never quite figure out what it was. It became clear exactly what he wanted from me on my twelfth birthday when he placed me in The Advanced Training School.
I understood immediately. Through my whole childhood, he had been training me to predict other people's moves, to be tactical in all decisions. On the rare occasion that I would get a break from my "schooling" I had a choice of two options for fun; watching the Pokemon Battle Network, or playing advanced chess.
Like the obedient little boy I was, I listened to his instructions and went to the school. But what he didn't realize is that he had taught me too well. I now realized that he was only using me. The prize money for beating a league champion was outrageously large, more than enough to keep you and your family made for generations. I knew how greedy my father was, and that he would ultimately betray me for any money I earned. So I decided right then and there that the first change I got, I would blind side him first.
I continued to play the act of the good son; secretly cursing him for thinking he could control my life. I went to the school as he wished. At first, I had only intended to endure it until the chance I was looking for presented itself. But then, something strange happened. I actually began to enjoy my classes! My old school only taught the basic subjects, excluding a small class on pokemon safety. But this, this was different. For once in my life, I was actually enjoying myself.
I quickly became an addict to my classes, staying after school as much as possible to interact with the pokemon and learn more about them. I blazed through my classes with flying colors, quickly becoming an expert at everything the teachers threw at me. Once again, my teachers began taking special notice of me. There was one teacher in particular that noticed something about me that no one else could seem to see.
It was on my fourth year, just past my sixteenth birthday that it happened. I was sitting under a large oak tree outside of the school, as I did often after classes were finished. I was simply relaxing, although dreading having to go back home to the fake smile of that pretentious prick. I had nearly dosed off when I heard some one slowly approaching me. I opened one eye in half interested but I was rather shocked to se who stood before me. There standing before me was my pokemon-interactions professor, Oak.
I hurriedly pushed myself off the ground and dusted off my jeans.
"Good afternoon Professor Oak." I said calmly.
"Good afternoon Jason."
"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing out here?" I asked with a hint of apprehension in my voice.
"Cutting straight to the chase I see!" He gave a warm chuckle. "I like that. Well, I've noticed an interesting quality about you in class."
"Oh really? What would that be?" I asked, assuming this would be like any other lecture a teacher gives.
"Well do you recall when I brought in the riolu puppy to class?"
"Of course I do. You wanted to see how people would interact with especially rare species."
"I'm sure you also remember that you were given an 'A' on the assignment then."
"Yes I do. But that wasn't a real assignment, I'm sure you gave 'A's to everyone else as well."
"That's where you're wrong Jason." An eyebrow rose at hearing this. "Besides you, the highest grade given in this assignment was a 'C'."
My eyes widened in shock. "Are you serious?" I asked in utter disbelief.
"Yes I am. And I'm not just talking about your class period, no one in the whole school scored as high as you. That's when I began taking special notice of you, that was about three months ago."
"But sir, I don't understand. What does all of this mean?"
"I suppose I'll explain in a bit more detail. During this assignment, each student was to sit with the riolu pup for 3 minutes, I watch during this time to gage the interactions. Most people just sat and stared at the pokemon it disbelief for the time. You, however, treated it like you would any other pokemon. You talked with it, played with it, and generally seemed to be having a good time. It even whined at you when you left. This got me thinking, so I went and talked with your other professors. After seeing you in class I wasn't shocked to learn that you are excelling in every other class that you are in as well. A couple of the professors told me that they are running out of work to give you because you're going through it so quickly!"
I did my best to make myself look less shocked before speaking again.
"I'm guessing you didn't come out here just to tell me all of this?"
Oak smirked. "That's very intuitive of you; I can see I've made the right decision."
"What decision?" I asked, sounding a bit more interested than I intended to.
"I'm going to present a unique opportunity to you." He took a deep breath before continuing, "How would you like to take the Final Battle Exam?"
I was taken aback by this. The Final Battle Exam, as it's same suggests, is the final exam before graduating. There's no way he could let a sophomore take it.
"By the look on your face I'd say you don't believe me. But I assure you I am serious. If you except this offer and pass the exam, you will officially graduate from this school."
I couldn't believe my luck. I was obviously grinning as I thought about this opportunity. If I accepted this offer, all I would have to do to graduate would be to win a single pokemon battle. After that, I could abandon my father, and he wouldn't even know what happened. However, a frown made its way onto my face as I thought of a very large obstacle in this plan.
"Sir, to participate in the FBE, you have to have a pokemon that was acquired in the previous test, and to do that you have to have a dex acquired in the one before."
A smirk appeared on Oak's face as he pulled out a small red tablet and a blue on yellow pokeball from his pocket.
"So you'll accept my offer then?"
A/N: This is the first part of a 2 part prologue. I feel bad about spreading the prologue over two chapters but it is necessary. I hope to update every 1-2 weeks but there are no guarantees.
Perhaps I should explain a little bit more. My story began back when I was a young boy. I wasn't exactly what you would call average. I had always been very bright for my age, I managed to pull ahead of my class and skip through a grade when I was only seven years old. My teachers told me that my brain was more advanced than most others, that I made connections that others did not. Unfortunately for me, my father wanted to take advantage of this.
My dad tested me in every way possible. He began to take the teaching into his own hands. Even at my current age, I could tell that there was an ulterior motive, though I could never quite figure out what it was. It became clear exactly what he wanted from me on my twelfth birthday when he placed me in The Advanced Training School.
I understood immediately. Through my whole childhood, he had been training me to predict other people's moves, to be tactical in all decisions. On the rare occasion that I would get a break from my "schooling" I had a choice of two options for fun; watching the Pokemon Battle Network, or playing advanced chess.
Like the obedient little boy I was, I listened to his instructions and went to the school. But what he didn't realize is that he had taught me too well. I now realized that he was only using me. The prize money for beating a league champion was outrageously large, more than enough to keep you and your family made for generations. I knew how greedy my father was, and that he would ultimately betray me for any money I earned. So I decided right then and there that the first change I got, I would blind side him first.
I continued to play the act of the good son; secretly cursing him for thinking he could control my life. I went to the school as he wished. At first, I had only intended to endure it until the chance I was looking for presented itself. But then, something strange happened. I actually began to enjoy my classes! My old school only taught the basic subjects, excluding a small class on pokemon safety. But this, this was different. For once in my life, I was actually enjoying myself.
I quickly became an addict to my classes, staying after school as much as possible to interact with the pokemon and learn more about them. I blazed through my classes with flying colors, quickly becoming an expert at everything the teachers threw at me. Once again, my teachers began taking special notice of me. There was one teacher in particular that noticed something about me that no one else could seem to see.
It was on my fourth year, just past my sixteenth birthday that it happened. I was sitting under a large oak tree outside of the school, as I did often after classes were finished. I was simply relaxing, although dreading having to go back home to the fake smile of that pretentious prick. I had nearly dosed off when I heard some one slowly approaching me. I opened one eye in half interested but I was rather shocked to se who stood before me. There standing before me was my pokemon-interactions professor, Oak.
I hurriedly pushed myself off the ground and dusted off my jeans.
"Good afternoon Professor Oak." I said calmly.
"Good afternoon Jason."
"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing out here?" I asked with a hint of apprehension in my voice.
"Cutting straight to the chase I see!" He gave a warm chuckle. "I like that. Well, I've noticed an interesting quality about you in class."
"Oh really? What would that be?" I asked, assuming this would be like any other lecture a teacher gives.
"Well do you recall when I brought in the riolu puppy to class?"
"Of course I do. You wanted to see how people would interact with especially rare species."
"I'm sure you also remember that you were given an 'A' on the assignment then."
"Yes I do. But that wasn't a real assignment, I'm sure you gave 'A's to everyone else as well."
"That's where you're wrong Jason." An eyebrow rose at hearing this. "Besides you, the highest grade given in this assignment was a 'C'."
My eyes widened in shock. "Are you serious?" I asked in utter disbelief.
"Yes I am. And I'm not just talking about your class period, no one in the whole school scored as high as you. That's when I began taking special notice of you, that was about three months ago."
"But sir, I don't understand. What does all of this mean?"
"I suppose I'll explain in a bit more detail. During this assignment, each student was to sit with the riolu pup for 3 minutes, I watch during this time to gage the interactions. Most people just sat and stared at the pokemon it disbelief for the time. You, however, treated it like you would any other pokemon. You talked with it, played with it, and generally seemed to be having a good time. It even whined at you when you left. This got me thinking, so I went and talked with your other professors. After seeing you in class I wasn't shocked to learn that you are excelling in every other class that you are in as well. A couple of the professors told me that they are running out of work to give you because you're going through it so quickly!"
I did my best to make myself look less shocked before speaking again.
"I'm guessing you didn't come out here just to tell me all of this?"
Oak smirked. "That's very intuitive of you; I can see I've made the right decision."
"What decision?" I asked, sounding a bit more interested than I intended to.
"I'm going to present a unique opportunity to you." He took a deep breath before continuing, "How would you like to take the Final Battle Exam?"
I was taken aback by this. The Final Battle Exam, as it's same suggests, is the final exam before graduating. There's no way he could let a sophomore take it.
"By the look on your face I'd say you don't believe me. But I assure you I am serious. If you except this offer and pass the exam, you will officially graduate from this school."
I couldn't believe my luck. I was obviously grinning as I thought about this opportunity. If I accepted this offer, all I would have to do to graduate would be to win a single pokemon battle. After that, I could abandon my father, and he wouldn't even know what happened. However, a frown made its way onto my face as I thought of a very large obstacle in this plan.
"Sir, to participate in the FBE, you have to have a pokemon that was acquired in the previous test, and to do that you have to have a dex acquired in the one before."
A smirk appeared on Oak's face as he pulled out a small red tablet and a blue on yellow pokeball from his pocket.
"So you'll accept my offer then?"
A/N: This is the first part of a 2 part prologue. I feel bad about spreading the prologue over two chapters but it is necessary. I hope to update every 1-2 weeks but there are no guarantees.