Pokémon: Lost in the Moment

Chapter 1 - Unsurity

Exactly ten years ago, I set out on a journey through Sinnoh to become a Pokémon master. I was only ten-years-old at the time, so my goals and aspirations were few. I still remember it like it was yesterday, choosing Turtwig as my starter, the first regional starter Pokémon of many for me, and eventually working my way up to the region's champion at the time, Cynthia. It was a hard-fought battle, one neither of our Pokémon seemed to relent on. Thankfully, and as you may have already guessed, my team and I were able to overcome the odds, and I became Sinnoh's new Champion. It's a battle I hold so close to my heart, even to this day. I will never forget celebrating with my Pokémon when we won, it was truly something.

In the ten years since then, I've journeyed through many other regions - Johto, Kanto, Unova, Kalos, Hoenn, Alola, and most recently, the region of Galar. Throughout my journeys, I've experienced so many great moments with the teams I've journeyed with; a different one each time. But... throughout those journeys, I've always yearned to experience the same feeling I felt when I first battled Cynthia. That's not to say my Pokémon were to blame, no, not at all, it was just a 'me' thing.

Once my journey around Galar had concluded, after coming out on top against Galar's regional champion trainer, who was actually the first one to be victorious over the previously unbeatable champion, Leon, I was stuck on what to do next. I had heard rumours of two mysterious locations named the Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra, but those were just rumours at the time, so I didn't think too much of them. Besides that, my first thought was to go around and fill in the pages of the Pokédex once more, a task I had completed in every other region up to that point, but this time, I wasn't feeling the idea. Fatigue, maybe? I wasn't sure.

I did some searching on the PokeWeb for news from other regions, to see if there were any developments on, well, anything at all. My searches turned up fruitless, however, I guess it was just a slow day. Suddenly though, just when I thought there was nothing to do, I got a news alert for the Sinnoh region. It read "Former Sinnoh Region Champion Cynthia Retires from Her Position as League Representative". In the Sinnoh region, "League Representative" is the title given to the stand-in for the current champion if they cannot be there, and since I made it clear at the time that I wanted to continue on my Pokémon journey, Cynthia kindly took up the role as my stand-in and has been maintaining it for close to ten years now, so this headline caught me by surprise.

If something like that were to happen, it would mean that Cynthia either lost a battle to a trainer, therefore I would lose the title, or she just simply retired, which would mean I'd have to get back to the Sinnoh region as quickly as possible and hold my position for as long as feasibly possible or appoint another stand-in, should I desire to continue adventuring. The Sinnoh region champion spot is the only regional championship position, other than Galar now, that I still hold because no other region has that type of system, forcing you to retire your position should you want to continue on your adventure.

Immediately, my mind began racing, "What should I do?" "How can I get back so quickly on such short notice?" "How come I haven't been notified yet?" Unsure of what to do, I brought out my Corviknight - of which I had nicknamed 'Rookoo' - to fly me over to Wyndon, which was where I could, hopefully, catch a train over to Alola, where I could then catch a boat over to Sinnoh. But because of how regional border patrol worked, I, unfortunately, had to leave my Galar team in the region itself. On the one hand, I was sad to leave another one of my teams behind in the appropriate region, but on the other hand, it meant that I could properly reunite with my old Sinnoh team once again, of which it had been five years since I had even seen them, and that was over a call with the region's professor, Professor Rowan, regarding a research update.