NOTE: If you want the original, please go here. I would rather you DIDN'T on the whole, but if you want to spoiler yourself as to what happens (until it gets to the end of my previous endeavours!), I can't really stop you I guess.
NOTE 2: INCOMING WALL OF TEXT-LIKE OBJECT! CAUTION IS ADVISED WHEN VIEWING THE SUBJECT DIRECTLY. Seriously, if you don't like walls of text and such explaining stuff, skip to the next bolded caps line to get to the start of the story.
Chapter History:
Prologue: This post (eventually)
Chapter 1 - And so it begins...
Chapter 2 - The Journey Unfolds...
Chapter 3 - Reunion at the Pine City Gym!
Chapter 4 - Old Rivalries Remain Strong…
So, some of you might be wondering wth is going on here. Allow me to explain.
I started writing this fic over 2 years ago now (December 07). I originally did so because the Writing Corner at the time was a terrible mess of rubbish fics + PMJ's standalone one. Me being me, and becoming friends with PMJ at the time, I decided I would a) fix this and show people how it's done, b) start writing to do another thing that PMJ liked to do, and c) prove to myself I maintained at least some of my high school english skills.
So that was great and all, I came up with this idea from various inspirations and went along with it. Things were a little... slow at first (I almost had to ask friends nicely to read it and tell me what they thought, lol), but soon enough people were reading and I was enjoying writing for once.
But things got a little difficult. The idea I made was far, FAR larger than I expected it to be. Even at the last chapter I did, it's not even halfway done - that's over 70k words (lol I had the wrong number at first, but oh well, it's a lot ;P), 23 chapters + a prologue, and it's not even halfway through my original idea. Time became an issue, inspiration was scarce, and like most good things on pokébeach my fic slowly slipped into the background.
However, with the recent advent of Moneyking's fanfic as the subject of the Writer's Haven (which uses characters from this fic), questions were raised as to what my characters said in his intro (since it was "deliberately" unclear, being based on events I didn't even get to in my fic), I kinda felt bad that he wasn't able to go into what went on since he (and the rest of you) didn't know... so I looked to restart writing the fic.
However, my last update was 7 months ago. Seven months. Like, sheesh that's a long time. Even my dedicated readers will have forgotten most of this fic by now, and that is rather unfortunate... as to truly appreciate this story it is my belief that you need to keep in mind the many questions that arise as it is being told.
SO!
Rather than jumping straight in and giving a brand new chapter, I am instead going to do us all a favour (myself included) and rewrite the original story a little bit. By doing this, I get to both refresh mine (and your) memory about the events of the fic, and the mysteries (LOL TITLE PUN) it conceals, and I get to work on some of the problems that are painfully noticeable upon rereading. The major one being the lack of complete description in many areas... to the point where many of my characters lack even simple clothing details! I wasn't really thinking of this at the time of starting the fic, but the more I read through it the more I see how utterly vague much of it is. There's a difference between leaving interpretation up to the reader and being lazy as a writer, and I definitely sat on the latter end of the line all too much.
One place I did more than good enough in as a whole however is my battle scenes. They themselves will not be fundamentally changed or added upon (just fixed if I spot major errors). I'll stress again that this isn't a total rewrite - it's simply a repost with additional detail in places that need it (as well as a second grammar check etc, but don't expect that to be perfect either since I miss things too!). Whilst I realise this might disappoint some of my original readers, the fact is I don't have time to rewrite a 108k word story from scratch, when it isn't fundamentally broken in the first place. Just remember that you too will have forgotten most of what happens anyhow, and hopefully you will appreciate the slightly longer and perhaps fuller chapters that spawn from this.
I honestly don't know how much time I can commit to this right now, but redoing the chapters I have shouldn't take as long as writing new ones, so... if I can commit enough time it should take about 4 weeks to get back to the final episode of my last thread. From there, having read the whole thing over as I've fixed it, I should then be in a position to write the new chapter with a fresh mind, and regain the momentum I had before.
THE WILD WALL OF TEXT FLED! ONTO THE MAIN FEATURE!
Prologue - Migration of Worlds
There are so many questions in this world that cannot be answered… why are we here? What is our purpose? What is “reality”? That last one is defined individually from person to person. However, most agree that something is “real” if you can physically sense it – it can be seen, heard or touched. That may not be the only way to define something as being real though. After all, data in a computer is very real, but you cannot SENSE it in the way you can sense objects in the world. Emotions are also real, but you don’t use physical senses to define these.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, imagine a world that bypasses the common conceptions of reality, a world where the surreal occurs everyday. That’s right, the world of Pokémon. In THIS world supernatural events dominate, with fierce battles using majestic, seemingly magical creatures take place. Of course, not all battles are fought in the fun-loving manner that they SHOULD be. There are the usual battles between good and evil, with “world domination” at stake of course. But… if this world is merely computer data, is it real? Can you truly get feeling from this? I suppose that once again this comes down to the individual. Hopefully, after listening to this some more of you can understand that these computer game worlds can be just as “real” as our day-to-day world, and that it isn’t only computer-obsessed nerds that can get some meaning from these worlds. If you open up to something, anything can happen… just try sometime, OK?
“Thank you, Calum,” said Professor Clark, looking a little puzzled at the choice of subject. The class clearly shared this confusion. They were unsure whether to laugh and jeer, or actually try and understand the boy’s predicament. As a result they simply stared in bewilderment at the professor, as if expecting commands as to what they were allowed to do. He was focused on other matters though.
The boy whom the professor addressed was a sixteen year-old teen of somewhat average height, with thick shoulder-length brown hair, slightly lanky build and sporty attire. It seemed to clash with the narrow glasses on his face however – this gave him a kind of mismatched appearance. This suited Calum well; his year group generally treated him like an outcast anyhow.
“No problem, Professor,” he answered calmly. “That topic has been clawing at me for a while. It was a good thing you gave us this assignment; I might have never got that off of my chest if you hadn’t.”
His murky green eyes shifted towards the corners of the room, a little discontent at the response the class had given him. In his mind however, this was expected. His year group never understood him – everyone shrugged him off as weird for spending time on a video game that supposedly went “out of fashion” a while back. If only they could see the passion one could have playing a game where strategy was everything… but he knew that this was beyond his age group’s narrow frame of mind. If you weren’t into the latest trends, you were a nobody… that was the sad reality of high school. Still, he DID have some supporters, but they were few and far between. Along with these friends, he had formed a clan based on their pastime - somewhere that they were all in their element without the rest of the school ridiculing them. It was here that Calum came alive; it was here where he was understood.
They had their own room for after school activities set up. The principal allowed Calum and his clan to use the computer room, along with its Wi-Fi Internet connection, for a couple of hours each night. As a result, the clan held vicious Pokémon battles and tournaments every day, each player honing their skills in an attempt to become the ultimate battler in time for the regional championships coming up. And with less than a week to go, the group were being pushed harder than ever to make sure they wouldn’t lose again.
“Man Calum, you blasted my Skarmory wonderfully there! Who would have thought you’d use Fire Blast straight after Dragon Dance… on a switch nevertheless! Beautiful play... I think you have a real chance in these regionals, I tell you. Your prediction skills are immense nowadays, it’s almost impossible to beat you!”
“Aww, give over Gregor, you’re embarrassing me here!” Calum blushed, grinning sheepishly as he shook hands with his rival. His best friend Gregor had complimented him on dealing a rather spectacular Fire Blast attack with his powerful Salamence, resisting the temptation to Outrage too early. With that, the final needed blow to secure victory in the weekly tournament was dealt.
Slightly older than Calum, Gregor had much shorter black hair, with crystal clear blue eyes. Like Calum, his spirit lusted after competition. He chose more casual clothing, preferring not to associate too much with sports. After all, it had been a while since any sporting activities had been done by the clan… the last three attempts had saw people from the school coming along and bullying them for hours because of it. When it came to games however, Gregor was second to none. After a quick talk with the rest of the clan to make sure everyone knew what the plans for the weekend were, the two rivals headed off to grab a meal at the local café.
“So… any ideas as to what team you’ll use yet? I know you must be psyched about the tournament…” Gregor inquired as he sipped his Coke.
“Actually, I’m not too sure,” Calum replied, hands quivering as he contemplated his lack of preparedness. “I was thinking of going with a Choice Scarf Gardevoir, since nobody would expect that, but I haven’t decided yet.” He smiled faintly. “Seems kinda silly, doesn’t it? To still not be prepared even though regionals are only three days away...”
Gregor smirked. “Nothing ever changes...” he whispered under his breath. “Heh, I know what you mean. To be honest, seeing how easily you defeated my team there I’m not sure I’m ready either!”
“No way, your team was perfectly fine,” Calum sharply retorted, unwilling to give Gregor the chance to belittle himself. “I just outplayed you at one key point, that’s all. Seriously, you don’t have to come up with a whole new team because of one mistake...”
“Well yeah, but when it comes down to kicking your butt in the finals I don’t want to be using a team you already know about!” Calum raised his hand, but faltered as his argument left him. “That’s right - things aren’t going to go the same way come Saturday!”
“Is that so?” Calum answered, clenching his fists. In his mind he wasn’t so sure though… something about this competition made him uneasy. The general preparation compared to the other recent tournaments was vastly different – you couldn’t walk through a single block in town without seeing multiple fliers dotted around the place advertising this event. Openly declaring your dedication to a Pokémon tournament was never high on the list of any venue’s agenda, but there was no end to the publicity this one was receiving. It just didn’t sit right with Calum… but nobody else was paying enough attention to notice.
“Is the device ready for testing?” a gruff male voice called over the telephone. He was clearly talking to a subordinate of some description... one he didn’t like too much at that…
“Yes, sir,” a female voice whispered back tentatively. “We can begin testing whenever you are ready. Any time in particular, if I may ask?”
“There’s a Pokémon battle tournament this Saturday; I think that would be the perfect time to test our little machine out.” He smiled to himself. “It’s quite the engineering feat actually – I’m almost surprised your team managed to construct it. And under budget too! That has to be a first for this company… How many do you have ready?”
“Ten, sir,” the female replied energetically; clearly she wasn’t used to receiving any sort of praise, however obscure and hidden it might be. “Shall I give the order to move them to the tournament location?”
“Yes, that would be ideal. You’ll be moving the gadgets to a warehouse-type building in the northeast of town… I’ll meet you there to discuss the plan further.”
“Roger that. I’ll be there in two hours.”
That Saturday, Calum and his clan met up at the tournament venue. The hosts has managed to rent out a modern warehouse for storing the latest computers made over the internet to ship out to people around the world. With all the electronics and gadgetry about, it was the perfect place to hold a video game tournament.
“Do your best everyone!” Calum shouted, as he addressed his friends in the noisy arena. “You know that all of us have a shot here, but the competition is fierce. After all, this is the biggest tournament this city has ever seen, and it means big ranking points to the victors! Let’s do Team Odyssey proud!”
The group cheered in agreement and began to take their positions in the open arena. The brightly lit “stadium”, the walls of which were adorned with various Pokémon merchandise for the day, easily played host to over a hundred eager battlers determined to prove that they were the best in the city. Calum’s Team Odyssey in particular was out for revenge against rival group Team Dreadnaught, who pipped them to the podium in the last tournament. To say that Calum didn’t like losing was an understatement; in THIS game, crossing his path meant being prepared for war… and when fired up, the teenager was almost unstoppable.
“Can I have your attention please!? The final match between Calum and Gregor is about to begin!”
As most of Team Odyssey predicted, the final match of the tournament saw their two best players face to face once again. Unlike the last tournament, the group put in a great show this time, destroying Team Dreadnaught and landing seven people in the top ten. Calum was greatly pleased at his team’s performance, knowing that he had bragging rights as the leader of the winning team for some time to come. However, the fun wasn’t over yet...
The commentator was a knocked-out player in the tournament; you could guarantee decent, informed commentary from him. As the giant stage lights dimmed to add drama to the match, the two biggest rivals of the competition faced each other. This time, however, the stakes were higher – prizes were involved.
“Don’t think it’ll be a walk in the park THIS time Calum!” Gregor jeered, eyes narrowing as his game face took over. “I learnt a few things from our last battle, so it’s fair to say that you won’t catch me out so easily THIS time!”
“That’s the fun part of all this,” Calum remarked snidely, mockingly waggling his finger. “After all, it would be boring if all fights were as easy as the last one!”
“Hmph, we’ll see. I’ll get you back for that today, in front of the whole Pokémon community!”
Always the way with him… Calum thought to himself as he allowed a chuckle to escape his tensed lips. He knew that today was not a day for lack of concentration though; he HAD to win. His reputation was on the line after all...
The crowd cheered vigorously as the two combatants took their seats before the projector screen. Within a minute, their well-used DS consoles had connected to a special Wi-Fi signal to transmit every move to the 3-D display. Calum and Gregor gripped their consoles tensely as the lead Pokémon took to the stage, signifying the start of what looked to be the most intense battle of the day.
“... ...oh that was a fantastic play there by Gregor... he saw the switch coming from a mile away, and successfully landed a critical burn on Snorlax! Calum looks flustered after that one, that’s for sure... how will he react to this precarious situation?”
Calum swore lightly as his best answer to Gregor’s dangerous Gengar suddenly looked a good deal tamer without much of its attack power. And with only Gardevoir and Gliscor left to go to, things really weren’t looking good.
“What’s the matter Calum?” Gregor taunted, smiling broadly. “You didn’t count on me using an unusual move to counteract your obvious switch I take it? You should know how obvious it was that Snorlax was coming in...”
The teen sighed. His foe was right; they’d played out similar moves to these thousands of times before. So stupid... he cursed, slapping his forehead. Well, let’s see... he still has Flygon, but it’s pretty badly beaten up, and I know I can out speed it. The only other thing he has left is Roserade... which is definitely not going to last long if I have my way with it.
Calum bowed his head, allowing his unkempt hair to slip over his face. Gregor frowned, cracking his knuckles habitually. He had already made his move, so there was no turning back for him. “What could he be planning...” he wondered uneasily, hoping that his quick decision wouldn’t backfire.
Considering the options at this point, there really is only one move he can make, Calum considered, his fingers buried deep in his fringe as his mind raced through the moves his current opponent had already revealed. Shadow Ball is worthless, a second Will-O-Wisp is worthless, and his Hidden Power won’t do enough damage to threaten my Pokémon. Switching is possible, but he knows I have Curse... no, he wouldn’t give me the chance to set up like that. So there’s only one logical move to make then...
Calum finally looked up at Gregor, trying to gauge his adversary’s expression. He’s nervous... he thought, a smile slowly building as the mental jigsaw fell into place. He knows what I’m thinking, and he knows I’m right... heh, this should be fun then! With renewed confidence, the boy locked in his move and watched the grand plan unfold.
“What’s this? Calum is switching out Snorlax, despite the huge advantage it has over Gengar!”
True to the commentator’s observations, Snorlax was recalled. Much to Gregor’s confusion, Gardevoir was sent out as the replacement. He looked at the scene in bemusement, unable to grasp what Calum had in store.
Gengar’s attack was exactly as Calum called, however; the incoming Focus Blast did very little to harm the embrace Pokémon as she easily took the resisted special attack. However, the final words of the round shook everyone to the core...
Gardevoir’s Sp. Def fell!
Gregor’s eyes closed painfully as he avoided eye contact with his opponent. “Calum...” he started, almost unwilling to make his next move through shame. “I’m sorry... this wasn’t how it was supposed to end. Looks like luck has had the final say after all...”
Calum simply grinned, almost as if it was him that had gotten the lucky break. “Oh, I know. But it’s far from over yet... so let’s see what you’ve got, Sneddon!” He pointed his finger firmly at his rival, revelling in the utter bewilderment on the boy’s face.
“How can you be so calm when luck is going to cost you this...”
Little did Gregor know that the game was far from over, however.
Gardevoir used Psychic!
“WHAT!?” the adolescent screamed, thrusting his hands high into the air as he almost jumped out of his seat. “How the...”
For the first time in the match, Calum allowed himself to laugh. “I told you I would, didn’t I?” he winked as he watched his friend gape in awe. “You didn’t think I was bold enough to actually use that in a tournament setting? I’m hurt...”
Gregor just sat open-mouthed. As he looked at his remaining Pokémon for a replacement, he quickly saw that nothing was faster than Gengar on his team... and nothing he had left could take such a strong hit either. “It’s over...” he muttered miserably, knowing once again that his chance had slipped away. “I don’t believe it... of all the things to lose to...”
Five minutes, the battle was over. With no answers to the speedy Gardevoir left on Gregor’s team, Calum emerged as the victor. As the commentator announced the victory the crowd applauded both combatants for a marvellous spectacle, until the tournament organizer came out to congratulate the finalists.
“Congratulations both of you!” he shouted, drawing every possible ounce of attention towards the middle of the room. He was a rather imposing figure of a man, with a large black suit and a microphone adorned with Poké Balls. It didn’t quite fit with the formal attire, making the man look even more mismatched than Calum. “Excellent battle, both of you. That battle went out live to the entire city, so anyone who wasn’t here could witness Pokémon battling at its finest!”
Calum and Gregor looked at each other in bemusement; surely everyone who cared was already here? Nevertheless, they weren’t going to say no to additional media coverage of their game… maybe that would help people to understand a little better?
“And now, if the top ten ranked players in the battleground would care to follow me into the back here? I have a special surprise waiting for you…” Without giving away any more details, the TO headed briskly towards the back room and unlocked it. Confused, Calum quickly followed him, along with Gregor and the other eight players summoned. The man, ditching his ridiculous microphone, greeted the pack as they entered the back room.
“You’re probably wondering why I called you here, aren’t you? I can see the puzzled expressions on your faces you know. Well, my company - the one who organizes the tournaments around here - has been looking for a while to find a way to bring the world of Pokémon to life a little more. You know, virtual reality and the like. Anyways, we think that we have done it!
“Our machines have passed all industry-standard health and safety tests, and the game itself has successfully flown through alpha testing. The next step is to take it to Pokémon experts like yourselves for beta testing. So... care to try?”
The players simply stared at each other in amazement for several minutes. To think that they were going to be testing a brand new type of game that NOBODY had ever even heard of being produced! One where the player would actually be truly immersed in their environment... one where they would be in sole command of what path they took. After getting over this initial shock, eight of the players instantly rushed over and hurriedly agreed to test the system. After careful deliberation, and much discussion between themselves, Calum and Gregor decided to go along with the idea as well.
“Excellent!” exclaimed the TO. He was clearly overjoyed by the unanimous vote of confidence for his system. “See these pods over here? They’re large enough for each of you to fit into. The possessions that you currently have are placed into the pockets in the sides of the pod. Your game is inserted into the front – that’s what allows the system to recognize what game it is being requested to run. Naturally, we only have our Pokémon simulator loaded right now, but in time other virtual worlds will be created also. Oh, and in case you are wondering, my technicians will be on hand the whole time you are in the game world, so if anything starts to go wrong you will not be harmed.”
Everyone loaded their possessions where indicated to and lay down in the pods, ready for the testing to begin. Calum and Gregor looked at each other with excitement written all over their faces – they were really testing the first truly immersive virtual reality game involving Pokémon… surely it was too good to be true?
“OK everyone, start the system! May you find your true meaning within this world!”
What is that supposed to mean? Calum wondered as the system went online. He didn’t have much time to contemplate, however... a faint humming sound could be heard as the pods began to vibrate. Before long, the teen could feel his consciousness fade away as his mind took him to his next destination. After a brief moment the players vanished from the pods.
The TO turned around, his expression changing from faux glee to stern concentration. He was facing a nervous woman eyeing the computer screens behind him. “Well?” he asked impatiently.
“There’s no trace of anyone here, sir. The device must have worked.”
“Excellent. Such a fine achievement your team has made, Kara,” the TO grinned. “Can we locate any of them in the other world?”
Kara hesitated. “Not yet sir; we haven’t managed to create a tracking system yet. However, each of them has their own ID thanks to the game they input into the device – once we figure out how to use this to find a person, it’ll be easy to see where they have gotten to.”
“Brilliant. Make sure you finish that task as soon as possible – I need to see if it is at all safe in this other world. If it is, we can finally proceed with our orders...”
“Of course. I’ll get right to it.” Upon saying this, the woman quickly got up and left the building, hammering a number into a phone as she left.
Meanwhile…
“Calum, wake up! You’ll be late for your meeting with the Professor! It’s important that you get up today, remember?” A middle-aged woman’s voice called out to him from downstairs. It had a maternal feel to it; genuine concern for Calum’s well-being could be felt through the voice.
No response.
“HEY, are you LISTENING up there – wake UP!”
Calum still didn’t respond. Sighing, the woman went upstairs to see what was taking so long.
“He just doesn’t learn, does he? All those late nights… Clefairy, you know what to do.” At that moment, a flash of red light revealed a pink fairy creature. Muttering softly at once again being given cuckoo duty, the delicate fairy jumped deftly onto Calum’s bed, being careful not to stir the slumbering teen. Tip-toeing cautiously over to his face, she waited patiently for him to turn over and reveal more potential target areas. With Calum turned face-up, the creature pounded him with several fast slaps to the cheeks.
Calum stirred momentarily, his eyes barely opening as he winced at the sunlight pouring through the window. Blurred vision prevented him from making out the pink creature jumping on top of him in a vain attempt to stir him from slumber. Grumpy from being woken, the teen’s head heavily hit his pillows as he once again attempted to sleep.
Clefairy frowned. She once again moved over to Calum’s face. This time, her slaps struck with far more energy, leaving Calum with no choice but to embrace the land of the living and get up.
“Ugh, my head...” he moaned, holding his forehead. As the sleep-fuelled anaesthesia left him, a sharp pain in his cheek from where he was slapped began to register. “Ouch… what on earth happened?” the boy muttered dozily. He looked around slowly, trying to work out what was going on. He spotted his rectangular glasses lying on the besides table. Now able to both see and feel normally, his attention turned to the nagging pain in his legs.
Upon spotting the cause of the affliction, however, his eyes widened in disbelief. “This can’t be...” he murmured, rubbing his eyes. The fairy, now content that her task was done, cried happily to call her master up to greet Calum. The shell-shocked boy was too busy staring wide-eyed at the creature sat on top of him. “This has to be a joke... there’s just no way you can be real... you can’t be real!” The teen sharply withdrew his legs from the reach of Clefairy, causing her to land awkwardly on the bed. She looked up at Calum in surprise, inching closer to try and comfort the bewildered teen. He shrank away, refusing to believe what he saw in front of him. “This has to be a joke... it just has to be...”
“Oh come now dear, you know Clefairy…” the maternal voice called. “I’ve had her for a long time, and you two are best pals... right?”
“Uhh…”
“Gee, maybe she hit you too hard this time. Are you OK? You’re out of sorts today… and today of all days, too.”
Calum stared at the woman blankly. “What’s so special about today?”
A stern expression took over her face. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about it? You have a meeting with Professor Willow today!” Upon seeing my blank expression, she continued. “To get your first Pokémon! You’re already late as it is! Get going already!”
“Wh-what!” Calum exclaimed, not quite knowing how this all happened, or even who this woman was. He jumped hastily out of his bed, almost sending the playful Clefairy tumbling as the bed sheets flew across the room. As he feverishly scanned the room for remotely personal belongings, all he could think about was the fact that he had to get down to the lab to meet some professor for a Pokémon, and fast! After all, he thought, they may all have already gone!
The teen thrust the nearest respectable set of clothes he could find over himself and darted towards the front of the house. As he raced out of the door, Calum heard a voice calling. “Don’t forget to come back after you get your Pokémon… I have something to help you out before you leave on your journey through Foretta!”
NOTE 2: INCOMING WALL OF TEXT-LIKE OBJECT! CAUTION IS ADVISED WHEN VIEWING THE SUBJECT DIRECTLY. Seriously, if you don't like walls of text and such explaining stuff, skip to the next bolded caps line to get to the start of the story.
Chapter History:
Prologue: This post (eventually)
Chapter 1 - And so it begins...
Chapter 2 - The Journey Unfolds...
Chapter 3 - Reunion at the Pine City Gym!
Chapter 4 - Old Rivalries Remain Strong…
So, some of you might be wondering wth is going on here. Allow me to explain.
I started writing this fic over 2 years ago now (December 07). I originally did so because the Writing Corner at the time was a terrible mess of rubbish fics + PMJ's standalone one. Me being me, and becoming friends with PMJ at the time, I decided I would a) fix this and show people how it's done, b) start writing to do another thing that PMJ liked to do, and c) prove to myself I maintained at least some of my high school english skills.
So that was great and all, I came up with this idea from various inspirations and went along with it. Things were a little... slow at first (I almost had to ask friends nicely to read it and tell me what they thought, lol), but soon enough people were reading and I was enjoying writing for once.
But things got a little difficult. The idea I made was far, FAR larger than I expected it to be. Even at the last chapter I did, it's not even halfway done - that's over 70k words (lol I had the wrong number at first, but oh well, it's a lot ;P), 23 chapters + a prologue, and it's not even halfway through my original idea. Time became an issue, inspiration was scarce, and like most good things on pokébeach my fic slowly slipped into the background.
However, with the recent advent of Moneyking's fanfic as the subject of the Writer's Haven (which uses characters from this fic), questions were raised as to what my characters said in his intro (since it was "deliberately" unclear, being based on events I didn't even get to in my fic), I kinda felt bad that he wasn't able to go into what went on since he (and the rest of you) didn't know... so I looked to restart writing the fic.
However, my last update was 7 months ago. Seven months. Like, sheesh that's a long time. Even my dedicated readers will have forgotten most of this fic by now, and that is rather unfortunate... as to truly appreciate this story it is my belief that you need to keep in mind the many questions that arise as it is being told.
SO!
Rather than jumping straight in and giving a brand new chapter, I am instead going to do us all a favour (myself included) and rewrite the original story a little bit. By doing this, I get to both refresh mine (and your) memory about the events of the fic, and the mysteries (LOL TITLE PUN) it conceals, and I get to work on some of the problems that are painfully noticeable upon rereading. The major one being the lack of complete description in many areas... to the point where many of my characters lack even simple clothing details! I wasn't really thinking of this at the time of starting the fic, but the more I read through it the more I see how utterly vague much of it is. There's a difference between leaving interpretation up to the reader and being lazy as a writer, and I definitely sat on the latter end of the line all too much.
One place I did more than good enough in as a whole however is my battle scenes. They themselves will not be fundamentally changed or added upon (just fixed if I spot major errors). I'll stress again that this isn't a total rewrite - it's simply a repost with additional detail in places that need it (as well as a second grammar check etc, but don't expect that to be perfect either since I miss things too!). Whilst I realise this might disappoint some of my original readers, the fact is I don't have time to rewrite a 108k word story from scratch, when it isn't fundamentally broken in the first place. Just remember that you too will have forgotten most of what happens anyhow, and hopefully you will appreciate the slightly longer and perhaps fuller chapters that spawn from this.
I honestly don't know how much time I can commit to this right now, but redoing the chapters I have shouldn't take as long as writing new ones, so... if I can commit enough time it should take about 4 weeks to get back to the final episode of my last thread. From there, having read the whole thing over as I've fixed it, I should then be in a position to write the new chapter with a fresh mind, and regain the momentum I had before.
THE WILD WALL OF TEXT FLED! ONTO THE MAIN FEATURE!
Prologue - Migration of Worlds
There are so many questions in this world that cannot be answered… why are we here? What is our purpose? What is “reality”? That last one is defined individually from person to person. However, most agree that something is “real” if you can physically sense it – it can be seen, heard or touched. That may not be the only way to define something as being real though. After all, data in a computer is very real, but you cannot SENSE it in the way you can sense objects in the world. Emotions are also real, but you don’t use physical senses to define these.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, imagine a world that bypasses the common conceptions of reality, a world where the surreal occurs everyday. That’s right, the world of Pokémon. In THIS world supernatural events dominate, with fierce battles using majestic, seemingly magical creatures take place. Of course, not all battles are fought in the fun-loving manner that they SHOULD be. There are the usual battles between good and evil, with “world domination” at stake of course. But… if this world is merely computer data, is it real? Can you truly get feeling from this? I suppose that once again this comes down to the individual. Hopefully, after listening to this some more of you can understand that these computer game worlds can be just as “real” as our day-to-day world, and that it isn’t only computer-obsessed nerds that can get some meaning from these worlds. If you open up to something, anything can happen… just try sometime, OK?
“Thank you, Calum,” said Professor Clark, looking a little puzzled at the choice of subject. The class clearly shared this confusion. They were unsure whether to laugh and jeer, or actually try and understand the boy’s predicament. As a result they simply stared in bewilderment at the professor, as if expecting commands as to what they were allowed to do. He was focused on other matters though.
The boy whom the professor addressed was a sixteen year-old teen of somewhat average height, with thick shoulder-length brown hair, slightly lanky build and sporty attire. It seemed to clash with the narrow glasses on his face however – this gave him a kind of mismatched appearance. This suited Calum well; his year group generally treated him like an outcast anyhow.
“No problem, Professor,” he answered calmly. “That topic has been clawing at me for a while. It was a good thing you gave us this assignment; I might have never got that off of my chest if you hadn’t.”
His murky green eyes shifted towards the corners of the room, a little discontent at the response the class had given him. In his mind however, this was expected. His year group never understood him – everyone shrugged him off as weird for spending time on a video game that supposedly went “out of fashion” a while back. If only they could see the passion one could have playing a game where strategy was everything… but he knew that this was beyond his age group’s narrow frame of mind. If you weren’t into the latest trends, you were a nobody… that was the sad reality of high school. Still, he DID have some supporters, but they were few and far between. Along with these friends, he had formed a clan based on their pastime - somewhere that they were all in their element without the rest of the school ridiculing them. It was here that Calum came alive; it was here where he was understood.
They had their own room for after school activities set up. The principal allowed Calum and his clan to use the computer room, along with its Wi-Fi Internet connection, for a couple of hours each night. As a result, the clan held vicious Pokémon battles and tournaments every day, each player honing their skills in an attempt to become the ultimate battler in time for the regional championships coming up. And with less than a week to go, the group were being pushed harder than ever to make sure they wouldn’t lose again.
“Man Calum, you blasted my Skarmory wonderfully there! Who would have thought you’d use Fire Blast straight after Dragon Dance… on a switch nevertheless! Beautiful play... I think you have a real chance in these regionals, I tell you. Your prediction skills are immense nowadays, it’s almost impossible to beat you!”
“Aww, give over Gregor, you’re embarrassing me here!” Calum blushed, grinning sheepishly as he shook hands with his rival. His best friend Gregor had complimented him on dealing a rather spectacular Fire Blast attack with his powerful Salamence, resisting the temptation to Outrage too early. With that, the final needed blow to secure victory in the weekly tournament was dealt.
Slightly older than Calum, Gregor had much shorter black hair, with crystal clear blue eyes. Like Calum, his spirit lusted after competition. He chose more casual clothing, preferring not to associate too much with sports. After all, it had been a while since any sporting activities had been done by the clan… the last three attempts had saw people from the school coming along and bullying them for hours because of it. When it came to games however, Gregor was second to none. After a quick talk with the rest of the clan to make sure everyone knew what the plans for the weekend were, the two rivals headed off to grab a meal at the local café.
“So… any ideas as to what team you’ll use yet? I know you must be psyched about the tournament…” Gregor inquired as he sipped his Coke.
“Actually, I’m not too sure,” Calum replied, hands quivering as he contemplated his lack of preparedness. “I was thinking of going with a Choice Scarf Gardevoir, since nobody would expect that, but I haven’t decided yet.” He smiled faintly. “Seems kinda silly, doesn’t it? To still not be prepared even though regionals are only three days away...”
Gregor smirked. “Nothing ever changes...” he whispered under his breath. “Heh, I know what you mean. To be honest, seeing how easily you defeated my team there I’m not sure I’m ready either!”
“No way, your team was perfectly fine,” Calum sharply retorted, unwilling to give Gregor the chance to belittle himself. “I just outplayed you at one key point, that’s all. Seriously, you don’t have to come up with a whole new team because of one mistake...”
“Well yeah, but when it comes down to kicking your butt in the finals I don’t want to be using a team you already know about!” Calum raised his hand, but faltered as his argument left him. “That’s right - things aren’t going to go the same way come Saturday!”
“Is that so?” Calum answered, clenching his fists. In his mind he wasn’t so sure though… something about this competition made him uneasy. The general preparation compared to the other recent tournaments was vastly different – you couldn’t walk through a single block in town without seeing multiple fliers dotted around the place advertising this event. Openly declaring your dedication to a Pokémon tournament was never high on the list of any venue’s agenda, but there was no end to the publicity this one was receiving. It just didn’t sit right with Calum… but nobody else was paying enough attention to notice.
“Is the device ready for testing?” a gruff male voice called over the telephone. He was clearly talking to a subordinate of some description... one he didn’t like too much at that…
“Yes, sir,” a female voice whispered back tentatively. “We can begin testing whenever you are ready. Any time in particular, if I may ask?”
“There’s a Pokémon battle tournament this Saturday; I think that would be the perfect time to test our little machine out.” He smiled to himself. “It’s quite the engineering feat actually – I’m almost surprised your team managed to construct it. And under budget too! That has to be a first for this company… How many do you have ready?”
“Ten, sir,” the female replied energetically; clearly she wasn’t used to receiving any sort of praise, however obscure and hidden it might be. “Shall I give the order to move them to the tournament location?”
“Yes, that would be ideal. You’ll be moving the gadgets to a warehouse-type building in the northeast of town… I’ll meet you there to discuss the plan further.”
“Roger that. I’ll be there in two hours.”
That Saturday, Calum and his clan met up at the tournament venue. The hosts has managed to rent out a modern warehouse for storing the latest computers made over the internet to ship out to people around the world. With all the electronics and gadgetry about, it was the perfect place to hold a video game tournament.
“Do your best everyone!” Calum shouted, as he addressed his friends in the noisy arena. “You know that all of us have a shot here, but the competition is fierce. After all, this is the biggest tournament this city has ever seen, and it means big ranking points to the victors! Let’s do Team Odyssey proud!”
The group cheered in agreement and began to take their positions in the open arena. The brightly lit “stadium”, the walls of which were adorned with various Pokémon merchandise for the day, easily played host to over a hundred eager battlers determined to prove that they were the best in the city. Calum’s Team Odyssey in particular was out for revenge against rival group Team Dreadnaught, who pipped them to the podium in the last tournament. To say that Calum didn’t like losing was an understatement; in THIS game, crossing his path meant being prepared for war… and when fired up, the teenager was almost unstoppable.
* * *
“Can I have your attention please!? The final match between Calum and Gregor is about to begin!”
As most of Team Odyssey predicted, the final match of the tournament saw their two best players face to face once again. Unlike the last tournament, the group put in a great show this time, destroying Team Dreadnaught and landing seven people in the top ten. Calum was greatly pleased at his team’s performance, knowing that he had bragging rights as the leader of the winning team for some time to come. However, the fun wasn’t over yet...
The commentator was a knocked-out player in the tournament; you could guarantee decent, informed commentary from him. As the giant stage lights dimmed to add drama to the match, the two biggest rivals of the competition faced each other. This time, however, the stakes were higher – prizes were involved.
“Don’t think it’ll be a walk in the park THIS time Calum!” Gregor jeered, eyes narrowing as his game face took over. “I learnt a few things from our last battle, so it’s fair to say that you won’t catch me out so easily THIS time!”
“That’s the fun part of all this,” Calum remarked snidely, mockingly waggling his finger. “After all, it would be boring if all fights were as easy as the last one!”
“Hmph, we’ll see. I’ll get you back for that today, in front of the whole Pokémon community!”
Always the way with him… Calum thought to himself as he allowed a chuckle to escape his tensed lips. He knew that today was not a day for lack of concentration though; he HAD to win. His reputation was on the line after all...
The crowd cheered vigorously as the two combatants took their seats before the projector screen. Within a minute, their well-used DS consoles had connected to a special Wi-Fi signal to transmit every move to the 3-D display. Calum and Gregor gripped their consoles tensely as the lead Pokémon took to the stage, signifying the start of what looked to be the most intense battle of the day.
“... ...oh that was a fantastic play there by Gregor... he saw the switch coming from a mile away, and successfully landed a critical burn on Snorlax! Calum looks flustered after that one, that’s for sure... how will he react to this precarious situation?”
Calum swore lightly as his best answer to Gregor’s dangerous Gengar suddenly looked a good deal tamer without much of its attack power. And with only Gardevoir and Gliscor left to go to, things really weren’t looking good.
“What’s the matter Calum?” Gregor taunted, smiling broadly. “You didn’t count on me using an unusual move to counteract your obvious switch I take it? You should know how obvious it was that Snorlax was coming in...”
The teen sighed. His foe was right; they’d played out similar moves to these thousands of times before. So stupid... he cursed, slapping his forehead. Well, let’s see... he still has Flygon, but it’s pretty badly beaten up, and I know I can out speed it. The only other thing he has left is Roserade... which is definitely not going to last long if I have my way with it.
Calum bowed his head, allowing his unkempt hair to slip over his face. Gregor frowned, cracking his knuckles habitually. He had already made his move, so there was no turning back for him. “What could he be planning...” he wondered uneasily, hoping that his quick decision wouldn’t backfire.
Considering the options at this point, there really is only one move he can make, Calum considered, his fingers buried deep in his fringe as his mind raced through the moves his current opponent had already revealed. Shadow Ball is worthless, a second Will-O-Wisp is worthless, and his Hidden Power won’t do enough damage to threaten my Pokémon. Switching is possible, but he knows I have Curse... no, he wouldn’t give me the chance to set up like that. So there’s only one logical move to make then...
Calum finally looked up at Gregor, trying to gauge his adversary’s expression. He’s nervous... he thought, a smile slowly building as the mental jigsaw fell into place. He knows what I’m thinking, and he knows I’m right... heh, this should be fun then! With renewed confidence, the boy locked in his move and watched the grand plan unfold.
“What’s this? Calum is switching out Snorlax, despite the huge advantage it has over Gengar!”
True to the commentator’s observations, Snorlax was recalled. Much to Gregor’s confusion, Gardevoir was sent out as the replacement. He looked at the scene in bemusement, unable to grasp what Calum had in store.
Gengar’s attack was exactly as Calum called, however; the incoming Focus Blast did very little to harm the embrace Pokémon as she easily took the resisted special attack. However, the final words of the round shook everyone to the core...
Gardevoir’s Sp. Def fell!
Gregor’s eyes closed painfully as he avoided eye contact with his opponent. “Calum...” he started, almost unwilling to make his next move through shame. “I’m sorry... this wasn’t how it was supposed to end. Looks like luck has had the final say after all...”
Calum simply grinned, almost as if it was him that had gotten the lucky break. “Oh, I know. But it’s far from over yet... so let’s see what you’ve got, Sneddon!” He pointed his finger firmly at his rival, revelling in the utter bewilderment on the boy’s face.
“How can you be so calm when luck is going to cost you this...”
Little did Gregor know that the game was far from over, however.
Gardevoir used Psychic!
“WHAT!?” the adolescent screamed, thrusting his hands high into the air as he almost jumped out of his seat. “How the...”
For the first time in the match, Calum allowed himself to laugh. “I told you I would, didn’t I?” he winked as he watched his friend gape in awe. “You didn’t think I was bold enough to actually use that in a tournament setting? I’m hurt...”
Gregor just sat open-mouthed. As he looked at his remaining Pokémon for a replacement, he quickly saw that nothing was faster than Gengar on his team... and nothing he had left could take such a strong hit either. “It’s over...” he muttered miserably, knowing once again that his chance had slipped away. “I don’t believe it... of all the things to lose to...”
Five minutes, the battle was over. With no answers to the speedy Gardevoir left on Gregor’s team, Calum emerged as the victor. As the commentator announced the victory the crowd applauded both combatants for a marvellous spectacle, until the tournament organizer came out to congratulate the finalists.
“Congratulations both of you!” he shouted, drawing every possible ounce of attention towards the middle of the room. He was a rather imposing figure of a man, with a large black suit and a microphone adorned with Poké Balls. It didn’t quite fit with the formal attire, making the man look even more mismatched than Calum. “Excellent battle, both of you. That battle went out live to the entire city, so anyone who wasn’t here could witness Pokémon battling at its finest!”
Calum and Gregor looked at each other in bemusement; surely everyone who cared was already here? Nevertheless, they weren’t going to say no to additional media coverage of their game… maybe that would help people to understand a little better?
“And now, if the top ten ranked players in the battleground would care to follow me into the back here? I have a special surprise waiting for you…” Without giving away any more details, the TO headed briskly towards the back room and unlocked it. Confused, Calum quickly followed him, along with Gregor and the other eight players summoned. The man, ditching his ridiculous microphone, greeted the pack as they entered the back room.
“You’re probably wondering why I called you here, aren’t you? I can see the puzzled expressions on your faces you know. Well, my company - the one who organizes the tournaments around here - has been looking for a while to find a way to bring the world of Pokémon to life a little more. You know, virtual reality and the like. Anyways, we think that we have done it!
“Our machines have passed all industry-standard health and safety tests, and the game itself has successfully flown through alpha testing. The next step is to take it to Pokémon experts like yourselves for beta testing. So... care to try?”
The players simply stared at each other in amazement for several minutes. To think that they were going to be testing a brand new type of game that NOBODY had ever even heard of being produced! One where the player would actually be truly immersed in their environment... one where they would be in sole command of what path they took. After getting over this initial shock, eight of the players instantly rushed over and hurriedly agreed to test the system. After careful deliberation, and much discussion between themselves, Calum and Gregor decided to go along with the idea as well.
“Excellent!” exclaimed the TO. He was clearly overjoyed by the unanimous vote of confidence for his system. “See these pods over here? They’re large enough for each of you to fit into. The possessions that you currently have are placed into the pockets in the sides of the pod. Your game is inserted into the front – that’s what allows the system to recognize what game it is being requested to run. Naturally, we only have our Pokémon simulator loaded right now, but in time other virtual worlds will be created also. Oh, and in case you are wondering, my technicians will be on hand the whole time you are in the game world, so if anything starts to go wrong you will not be harmed.”
Everyone loaded their possessions where indicated to and lay down in the pods, ready for the testing to begin. Calum and Gregor looked at each other with excitement written all over their faces – they were really testing the first truly immersive virtual reality game involving Pokémon… surely it was too good to be true?
“OK everyone, start the system! May you find your true meaning within this world!”
What is that supposed to mean? Calum wondered as the system went online. He didn’t have much time to contemplate, however... a faint humming sound could be heard as the pods began to vibrate. Before long, the teen could feel his consciousness fade away as his mind took him to his next destination. After a brief moment the players vanished from the pods.
The TO turned around, his expression changing from faux glee to stern concentration. He was facing a nervous woman eyeing the computer screens behind him. “Well?” he asked impatiently.
“There’s no trace of anyone here, sir. The device must have worked.”
“Excellent. Such a fine achievement your team has made, Kara,” the TO grinned. “Can we locate any of them in the other world?”
Kara hesitated. “Not yet sir; we haven’t managed to create a tracking system yet. However, each of them has their own ID thanks to the game they input into the device – once we figure out how to use this to find a person, it’ll be easy to see where they have gotten to.”
“Brilliant. Make sure you finish that task as soon as possible – I need to see if it is at all safe in this other world. If it is, we can finally proceed with our orders...”
“Of course. I’ll get right to it.” Upon saying this, the woman quickly got up and left the building, hammering a number into a phone as she left.
Meanwhile…
“Calum, wake up! You’ll be late for your meeting with the Professor! It’s important that you get up today, remember?” A middle-aged woman’s voice called out to him from downstairs. It had a maternal feel to it; genuine concern for Calum’s well-being could be felt through the voice.
No response.
“HEY, are you LISTENING up there – wake UP!”
Calum still didn’t respond. Sighing, the woman went upstairs to see what was taking so long.
“He just doesn’t learn, does he? All those late nights… Clefairy, you know what to do.” At that moment, a flash of red light revealed a pink fairy creature. Muttering softly at once again being given cuckoo duty, the delicate fairy jumped deftly onto Calum’s bed, being careful not to stir the slumbering teen. Tip-toeing cautiously over to his face, she waited patiently for him to turn over and reveal more potential target areas. With Calum turned face-up, the creature pounded him with several fast slaps to the cheeks.
Calum stirred momentarily, his eyes barely opening as he winced at the sunlight pouring through the window. Blurred vision prevented him from making out the pink creature jumping on top of him in a vain attempt to stir him from slumber. Grumpy from being woken, the teen’s head heavily hit his pillows as he once again attempted to sleep.
Clefairy frowned. She once again moved over to Calum’s face. This time, her slaps struck with far more energy, leaving Calum with no choice but to embrace the land of the living and get up.
“Ugh, my head...” he moaned, holding his forehead. As the sleep-fuelled anaesthesia left him, a sharp pain in his cheek from where he was slapped began to register. “Ouch… what on earth happened?” the boy muttered dozily. He looked around slowly, trying to work out what was going on. He spotted his rectangular glasses lying on the besides table. Now able to both see and feel normally, his attention turned to the nagging pain in his legs.
Upon spotting the cause of the affliction, however, his eyes widened in disbelief. “This can’t be...” he murmured, rubbing his eyes. The fairy, now content that her task was done, cried happily to call her master up to greet Calum. The shell-shocked boy was too busy staring wide-eyed at the creature sat on top of him. “This has to be a joke... there’s just no way you can be real... you can’t be real!” The teen sharply withdrew his legs from the reach of Clefairy, causing her to land awkwardly on the bed. She looked up at Calum in surprise, inching closer to try and comfort the bewildered teen. He shrank away, refusing to believe what he saw in front of him. “This has to be a joke... it just has to be...”
“Oh come now dear, you know Clefairy…” the maternal voice called. “I’ve had her for a long time, and you two are best pals... right?”
“Uhh…”
“Gee, maybe she hit you too hard this time. Are you OK? You’re out of sorts today… and today of all days, too.”
Calum stared at the woman blankly. “What’s so special about today?”
A stern expression took over her face. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about it? You have a meeting with Professor Willow today!” Upon seeing my blank expression, she continued. “To get your first Pokémon! You’re already late as it is! Get going already!”
“Wh-what!” Calum exclaimed, not quite knowing how this all happened, or even who this woman was. He jumped hastily out of his bed, almost sending the playful Clefairy tumbling as the bed sheets flew across the room. As he feverishly scanned the room for remotely personal belongings, all he could think about was the fact that he had to get down to the lab to meet some professor for a Pokémon, and fast! After all, he thought, they may all have already gone!
The teen thrust the nearest respectable set of clothes he could find over himself and darted towards the front of the house. As he raced out of the door, Calum heard a voice calling. “Don’t forget to come back after you get your Pokémon… I have something to help you out before you leave on your journey through Foretta!”
