Chapter 1 – Prologue

Before I started my pokémon journey, my mother told me that I had to choose what to win and what to lose, "sweetie, you can't have everything."

And 15 years later, there I was: the love of my life on one hand, my dream job on the other.

Perhaps, I should start from the very beginning…

-o-

I had just turned 25 and my mom had thrown me this big surprise party at home and some of my oldest friends came.

Misty arrived with Tracey, they had been dating for almost 5 years and I just had the feeling that Tracey would propose anytime soon because their happiness seemed to increase exponentially over time, seriously, every time I saw them they were happier than the last. I'm sure they had their fights like any couple but it seemed like they could find an agreement in matter of seconds and move on. I hadn't been in a relationship for years, but if I ever found the right one, I wanted a relationship like theirs.

Brock was there too! I was so happy to see him again, he had been so focused on his job as a pokémon doctor he barely had the time to go out and enjoy himself, so naturally, I felt honored he took the time to come to my party, and he brought a date! A very healthy one, pun intended, nurse Joy!

Most of my friends couldn't come because they were either traveling on their, experiencing their own adventures or they lived in another region and couldn't find the way to come to Kanto. However, I did receive several phone calls and text messages from most of them, including May, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Clemont, Serena, Lillie and Kiawe.

But there was someone else who came to the party besides Misty, Tracey, Brock, and Joy. He arrived fashionably late, when we were all sit for dinner, and he was not wearing his best attire for the party, I mean, he didn't dress for the party at all.

I felt so bad for not thinking about him since the moment I came back to Pallet town after my last league several days before, I felt like the worst friend ever and yet, he took the time to come to my party: Gary Oak… or should I say, professor Oak. He had inherited his grandpa's title just a year ago, when he passed away and the pokémon community mourned his death for an entire month.

So, I ran to open the door as everyone else stayed in the dining room, and Gary was there when I opened the door, wearing his lab coat and a face full of stress, he seemed exhausted and sleepy, yet he was there. He didn't stay for long, but I remember the words we exchanged that night exactly the way they were spoken.

"Happy birthday, Ashy-boy," he said as he closed his eyes and then opened them before falling asleep, his eyes seemed like they hurt from the fatigue, but he still gave me a smile and a quick hug.

"Thank you, Gary, I really appreciate you coming here," I said with a smile.

He kept smiling and trying not to fall asleep. "Here's your present," he said taking a small red box out of one of his lab coat pockets.

"Oh! You shouldn't have!" I exclaimed all excited and even a little blushed.

"Just don't open it now, this may sound weird but… you can't open it until next Sunday," he said in a very serious tone, and then he yawned.

I was confused, why would he give me a present that I couldn't open until the next week? I wasn't going to object, so I decided to trust him.

"Alright, I promise I won't open it until next week," I said with a smile but I still had the doubt eating me from the inside.

"Thanks, Ashy," Gary sighed now more asleep than awake. "I really have to go now, I have a huge presentation tomorrow and I haven't even started it," he said laughing but I knew he was hurting inside.

I wished I would have helped him, but I just thought I would slow him down, and besides, I wasn't going to be able to leave my party. I knew Gary had to leave, so I didn't insist on him staying.

"Have you eaten dinner yet? I can bring you something after we're all finished," I said, worried about him.

"Thanks, Ashy, I'm fine, I just had a…" He then yawned again and slept in front of me for like three seconds. "Okay! Keep having a great time, Ashy-boy! Be seing ya!" He exclaimed with a sudden burst of energy and then left before I could even say goodbye.

I went to see Gary the next morning, but he was already gone. And he was out of town for almost a week. He had come back until the next Saturday, and I had called him to invite him for dinner because I felt bad he lived on the Oak mansion all by himself, sure, he had his young researchers helping him at the lab, but once their shifts ended, they would leave and Gary would end up alone in that big house of his. Anyway, he seemed rather tired and politely declined the invitation but he said he'd be happy to come anytime soon.

And then the next day came. It was a lovely Sunday: no clouds on sight, a very beautiful sunny day in Pallet town. I woke up that morning without knowing my life was about to change, and it wasn't going to be a small change… it was going to be rather abrupt.

I woke up relatively late and thus, I was having breakfast on my own. My mom was doing the laundry in the backyard while my pokémon partners were playing around. Pikachu seemed particularly full of energy that morning.

I watched that beautiful picture again: my mom doing her laundry while my pokémon played around her, all in the backyard full of flowers my mom had planted and taken care of for the past few years. I could see loneliness on her face, even if she had my pokémon and her Mr. Mime around… sure, she missed professor Oak.

I tried to smile. Then she smiled at me, waving her hand full of soap, and I could draw a smile on my face, I knew she was fine. I was happy and I wasn't aware of that. I would later learn that's the happiness you miss the most once you lose it.

I was half-way through my cereal when I decided to turn on the TV to see what was going on in the world. The pokémon news channel was the first to show up by default because, well, do I need to explain on that?

And it came right there, in front of me, that morning: a special news announcement the Pokémon Council was about to make was what changed my life that morning.

There they were, the members of the most prestigious group of trainers in the whole world, at least some of them who were the region champions (other members of the council included some executives and administrators who almost never fought, however, rumor had it that whenever they fought, they were even tougher than champions themselves).

And the fact that nobody knew much about the executives and administrators didn't help. They never made any public appearances, whenever the council had to make an announcement, it was the champions who made the public appearance and talked to the world.

So, there they were: Lance, Steven, Wallace, Cynthia, Alder, Diantha, and the youngest member, who was just 2 years younger than me: Sun. All of them were there, standing in front of a big crowd… how did I not know about this until I turned on the TV? Maybe it was some sort of improvised thing.

Anyway, Cynthia was the one holding the mic, she and Steven usually were the ones who spoke while the others just stayed in the back, of course, that didn't mean the other champions weren't important, they were just not that good as Cynthia and Steven in public speaking.

I wasn't expecting a big announcement to come, this sort of announcements happened once or twice a year and they informed the world about the discovery of a new type of pokémon, or a new eevolution, or a new synthetic item to improve the performance of pokémon in battle, a new mega-stone, or to inform that a rebel organization like the now extinct Team Rocket had been successfully dismantled.

But then Cynthia started speaking and I was all ears to what she had to say:

"Good morning everyone. My name is Cynthia, Sinnoh's champion and member of the Honorary and Respectable Pokémon Council. As you may know, there has always been the urban legend of what they call the Pokémon Master," Cynthia began her speech and all the crowd made a huge gasping noise and I almost fell out of my chair.

That was it, Cynthia was confirming the legend of the Pokémon Master, a trainer so powerful yet friendly to all pokémon, even legendaries; a trainer who maintained the peace between humans and pokémon, a trainer who was exactly like the stories that mentioned him: legendary.

I could see Cynthia smile to the crowd gasping in surprise. "That's right, the Pokémon Master figure was indeed established by the council since its foundation, but we didn't have the need to search for the Pokémon Master… until now."

The surprise was still shocking everyone in the crowd, and I wasn't reacting different either. Until now? What did she mean exactly?

"We need the Pokémon Master in times of peace, now that all major rebel organizations like Team Rocket, Team Plasma, Team Flare and others have been successfully dismantled."

The crowd started cheering in happiness and pride. I was happy too by the announcement, I had always wanted to be the Pokémon Master, even if I thought it was just an urban legend, and now… my dream was more tangible, it was more real. I couldn't wait for Cynthia to announce if there was going to be some sort of league to pick who was going to be the Pokémon Master.

"The council will pick the Pokémon Master based on what is established in the book that was left by its founders more than 50 years ago: each pokémon professor from each region will pick a master in trainee, this master in trainee will be the person who best fulfills the description of the Pokémon Master according to each pokémon professor, after all, they've seen countless of trainers begin their journeys along the years and there has to be at least one who has left a special mark on their hearts.

"So, counting the official regions as Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola; there will be 7 masters in trainee, all of them will have to go through a series of trails established in the book, and whoever comes out victorious will be our new Pokémon Master," Cynthia ended her explanation and the crowd cheered again.

A master in trainee, I sighed. Would I get the honor to be chosen by one of the pokémon professors? Would professor Elm from Johto choose me? Or would it be professor Birch from Hoenn? Maybe professor Rowan from Sinnoh? Professor Juniper from Unova? Professor Sycamore from Kalos? Professor Kukui form Alola? Had I left a special mark on any of them to be chosen as their master in trainee?

Then my eyes opened and I just had an epiphany, Gary was a pokémon professor too! The gift! I had forgotten to open his gift! It was already Sunday so according to him I could open it already. I ran overexcitedly to my bedroom, dreaming on how perfect and surreal it would be to have an invitation to be Gary's master in trainee as my birthday gift. But would it even be possible? It seemed rather difficult that Gary had known these news since last week.

Still, I could dream, I took the small red box out of my night table and opened it to see… a gold ring with a small pokéball badge on it… and there was also a small handwritten note, and it said:

Would you be my master in trainee?