Living in the Shadows

CHAPTER 2 ISLAND HOPPING

*Originally titled: "Say What?!"*

*P.S. Finding a picture that matched the Pokémon universe with just five islands is impossible, people. Deal with it.*

May 1st

Breakfast was the same as usual, except I was eating an omelet instead of my usual, and I couldn't go over to my grandma's until the fighting stopped. The Bug and Grass Pokémon usually stop fighting after the annual four-day-long rainstorms.

That's right, four straight days and nights of nonstop rain. With school usually being out by then, there was no problem. But since that got extended, New World Island's Mayor decided to close the school until after the rains stop.

(FYI: The school schedule is a Monday to Saturday one with Sunday off. But Saturday is just a half-day for students to either catch up on work, gain extra credit, or fulfill their passions; the clubs and activities I mean.)

"You're more quiet than normal," my grandfather says as he stares at me with concern, completely dressed. "Are you feeling alright?"

I nodded my head in response, having finished my breakfast. Whenever I have that memory/dream, the same feeling of helplessness overtakes me, and I'm in a melancholy mood all day.

Just then, a sketchbook appears next to my empty plate along with a box of colored pencils. Drawing has always been my go-to after a bad dream or a bad day.

"I called the school this morning and told them that you're taking a personal day," he told me, his eyes not leaving my face.

That got my undivided attention. I never have a personal day unless I'm sick. When my only options for hangouts are school or staying home, I choose school each and every time. (I told you, my grandfather is overprotective; I can't go anywhere without him.) And as big as the mansion is, I get bored very easily. Besides, I know every nook and cranny by heart. The only reason I'm not home-schooled is that Jake, his mother, and my grandma argued with my grandfather that I need social interactions with other kids my age.

There are also no Pokémon, other than the ones who help my brother in the gardens and the staff inside. My grandfather is sort of the evaluator of butlers and maids; every year, a new set gets employed at the mansion. They work here for a full year before he either sends them back to the employment agency or to their new employers with his recommendation. The only permanent help around the mansion are the gardeners and Pokémon.

Briefly, there was a time when there weren't even Pokémon on the mansion's grounds at all.

When I was eight or nine years old, I was playing with an Oshawott and a Charmander in the gardens. I don't know what happened, but they suddenly started fighting. I tried to break it up, but not before Oshawott used Bubble and Charmander used Ember right when my grandfather came out and saw them hit me with their attacks.

To say that he had a fit would be a gross understatement. He not only banned Pokémon from the mansion's grounds but also banned poor Oshawott's and Charmander's Trainers from New World Island.

Our region consists of five large and semi-large islands. Each island is named after the region it's in: Sinnoh, Kalos, Unova, and Hoenn. Ours is the largest and at the center. Since it's not in any one region, the founders called it New World Island.

(Hence the name of my school and most of the main buildings in the city.)

It took two years of pleading and logical arguments from everyone for my grandfather to lift his ban on Pokémon, but there was a condition. They have to be the kind that could help the staff, and they had to stay away from me. The only non-negotiables were Dark, Ghost, Poison, and/or Psychic-types. Visitors must either leave their Pokémon at the Pokémon Center or in their Pokeballs, which must be placed in the mansion's safe. (We don't have a Pokémon Day Care.) Only on Founders Day does he allow any and/or all types of Pokémon on the mansion's property.