An ambient noise awoke him. Within the depths of the night the boy flipped forth, rolled over and landed on bunched knees, then sprung back up and made an attempt to reach the doorway, stumbling as he went. There was no indiction of the time, but judging by the sky's hue it was probably struck midnight. This did not aid him in his venture downstairs, for he found that he had to cling hard to the rails as he made his descent.

When the laminated flooring of the stairwell turned to that of carpet, it was safe to assume that he had hit the bottom. With a curiosity of a child, for which he was, he continued walking with the intents of finding out what the noise was. He took a right, and the room at the end was illuminated with a bright light. The boy was confused, but continued heading towards it anyway.

He stood in the doorway and gazed up. Before him was his father, staring down at him with a streamer in hand. When his father's face fell, the six year old began to question what he had done wrong, and began to ponder if the choice he had made was reversible.

'I guess it isn't much of a surprise now, is it Tek?' He said. Tek tilted his head before clasping his hands together in a carefree joy.

'This what I think it is?' He asked, a widespread smile forming on his lips.

'Yes. . . .'

He walked further into the room and sat upon a couch in the corner of the room, staring at the decorations that hung from the rooms ceiling. Something to his left came out the kitchen, something that interested him. He turned to find out that it was his mother, herself holding a three tier cake laced in both blue and white. When she saw him, she sighed and set the cake upon the table.

'See this isn't why you should make loud noises. You woke him.'

'Yes. . .' He turned towards Tek, 'perhaps you should go back to sleep?'

Tek glanced around the room until his eyes set upon a digital clock. He raised a finger and pointed at it. 'It says one. I was told that the new day starts when the clock hits zero.'

His mother and his father shared a few nervous looks before turning back to him.

'All right,' his mother said, 'I suppose we can celebrate your birthday now. . . .'

Tek threw his hands up in the air, hauled himself off of the seat and ran towards the kitchen. Looking up, he saw that a Marill had made its way atop the selves. When it saw him, its face illuminated and Tek outstretched his arms so that it could jump into them. It did so gladly.

He ran out of the room and began to twirl in happiness, Marill clinging to him tightly, eyes closed with cheer. His parents seemed to sweat drop and soon Tek came to a standstill, staring up at them when a question came to mind.

'What about the presents?' He asked, his voice innocent. The two once again stared at each other before smiling. His father walked towards him, grabbed a spherical object out of his pocket and knelt down. He then motioned for the boy to outstretch his arms, to which he complied, then placed it within his open palms, quickly clasping them around it.

Tek took a few moments to analyse its structure. Half of it red, half of it white. Along the crevice was a circle, then another. . . . Tek was pretty sure he had seen one of these before on TV. The thing Pokémon come out of.

Tek dropped it upon the floor, then jumped back when a red light flashed from it. From this light came a conical creature and, noticing the presence of humans around it, jumped behind the nearest object - a table leg.

He took a few moments to analyse this creature, for the table leg only covered a portion of it. When he realised that it was no threat, he felt mildly intrigued by it and knelt down to it. The Pokémon immediately skirted away, which made Tek's face fall and his mood become monotonous.

'Maybe it'll learn to like you soon. . . We caught it fairly recently, it's no wonder it's frightened.' Said his mother. Tek looked at her before looking back at the Pokémon's turbulent features. He pulled himself to his feet, then began walking back towards the doorway.

'Perhaps. . . I want to sleep now. Night.' He replied. Walking up the stairs began to prove difficult however, for the boy began to realise that his limbs had grown tired. However, he eventually made it. He took a right and pulled into his room, soon snapping his head around in an effort to find something.

Ah - there. There was that creature. However, as soon as he caught a glimpse of it it quickly hastened behind the doorway. Tek tilted his head, gave a sudden gasp of realisation and then began to chase after it. The Pokémon weaved and dodged all of Tek's attempts to catch it, and the boy seemed to tire himself more than he tired the Pokémon. He lunged after it again but the Pokémon was too swift, and he came crashing down upon the carpeted floor. He shot it a glare. Judging by the way the Pokémon was staring at him, he could tell that it was inwardly laughing at his failures.

He pulled himself up and sat cross-legged on the floor, both his gaze and the Pokémon's locking. Then he exhaled and hauled himself up using the banister to aid him. He walked towards the bed and laid upon it, its small features barely enough to keep his small-frame inside. Revolving his torso in order to face the Pokémon, he stared at it for a while, then watched as its wide smile began to fade slowly into the distance.

7 Years Later - Tek Naomhán

Under the morning sun, a bike sped up as it made it's way down a hill paved in both snow and ice. Holding the bars was perhaps a boy of fourteen or fifteen, and he displayed both experience of riding alongside the snow and yet clumsiness at the same time.

Before him, the terrain began to ascend in a sloping fashion. Tek pushed down on the brakes, and instead of the bike coming to a complete standstill it skidded along the thin ice for a while before finally reeling to a stop. Behind him, another boy of the same age and stature followed, but it was evident just by staring at him he wasn't handling the change in terrain as well as Tek, and as he pushed on the brakes the bike flipped forth. Tek let out a chuckle at the sight of his grounded friend. The floored male stared up at him, eyes flicking about him nervously as a slight blush crept onto his face.

'How do you do this?' He asked, pulling himself back up to his knees and placing his bike perpendicular to the ground once more. As if to taunt him, Tek rode around him in circles, chiming the bell as he went.

'I grew up here, Lukas!' He yelled with joy. Lukas rolled his eyes and got onto his bike again, pushed down the pedals and began riding north. Tek rushed after him, finding it no challenge to catch up with him. 'Don't fall on your face again!'

'As if!' Lukas replied, quickening his speed to that of a hunted prey. Tek soon slipped behind, yet he felt no need to stay level with him. Instead, he gripped the back of Lukas' bike and rode along with him, hands away from the handlebars. Lukas turned around just to see Tek smiling at him, and then refaced the direction he was heading with a much less joyous tone. 'How much longer until Minstrel? I'm bored of this place. All of its snow - tsk! I'm glad it was you visiting me and not the other way around.'

'So you don't like the snow? That's a shame. And to answer your question. . . Urrm. . .'

'Urrm?'

As he said this, the snow subsided into that of a green landscape, scattered with trees and small tangles of undergrowth. The road before them lay bare though, and Tek let go of Lukas' bike to grab his own. Soon, he rode ahead.

'You're out of the snow now, you should know where we are.'

'Just a bit more until Minstrel?'

'Yup.'

The boy internally cheered, then regained his posture. 'Say, Tek. . . Have you caught your second Pokémon yet?'

'No, why do you ask?'

'It's just. . . Well, our goal is to enter the Arana league right? Then we're obviously going to need more Pokémon than just one, you know.'

'One Pokémon can dominate a thousand, you know. It all depends on how much love and trust you put into it.'

'Yet your one still hates you -'

'S-shut up!' He yelled, flushing a bit. Lukas shot him a wry smile, and soon Tek wasn't sure about where he stood anymore.

'So right now me and Pichu have more chance of beating you in a battle!' He said, giving a thumbs up as if to go alongside his speech. Tek screwed his face up.

'Prove it!' He retorted. Following the males outburst, the bike began to wobble, and Tek gripped onto the bike handles harder in an attempt to straighten himself.

'All right, once we get to Minstrel I'll show you what I've got!'

Lukas began to peddle harder, and soon he had shot ahead of Tek and was now whizzing past the foliage. Tek watched in helplessly, outstretched his hands as if to say 'watch the civilians!' then let it fall flat by his side again. His look of distress was then turned to that of determination, and he mimicked the male's movements and began to speed after him. Tree after tree flew past him, along with the bright green flick of vines that laid entangled with their branches. The asphalt road was flat, which meant the ride would be smooth. Tek's eyebrows pushed further down, and soon he could see the boys figure in the distance. Within a few moments, he had left him in the dust. He could even picture the boy's distraught look right now.

Buildings began to appear in the distance. Tek squeezed the brakes and skidded to a halt, his bike angled lowly as to stop himself from falling over with his momentum. Lukas came behind him and grinded to a stop, his expression indifferent.

Tek jumped off his bicycle and dashed forwards, arms outstretched as he spun in circles. 'Welcome to Minstrel!'

'So I suppose I have to battle you to prove to you that I am and will always be greater than you?' He jeered. Tek nodded in agreement, although rather dubiety. He grabbed a Pokéball from his belt and promptly dropped it onto the floor, a red light and a conical creature emerging from it. 'You open your Pokéballs weird. . . .'

'It's how I learned to do it!' He protested in a rather squeamish attempt to defend himself. Lukas just laughed before flicking him on the forehead.

'Watch and learn.' Lukas replied. He took a few steps back, grabbed a Pokéball from his pocket and threw it forward. 'Throw it, not drop it. You'll look like a weirdo if you don't do otherwise.'

'Well according to you everything I do makes me a weirdo. . . .' Mumbled Tek. Before him, a Pichu appeared, and soon it tilted its head and turned back towards Lukas. He nodded, and then the Pokémon seemed to catch on, turning back towards the battlefield with an expression of pure determination. Tek stared down at his Pokémon, Snorunt, who had quickly hidden away inside of its cone. He sweat dropped.

Perhaps Lukas was right. Perhaps he was greater than he was.

Blergh. Currently writing this at midnight. It isn't cool.

All characters here are from the UWHF database, though I don't think that it important to any of you. Yes, this story takes place in the region of Arana, which is indeed a fan-made region. Though trust me, I have everything planned.

I'll leave character submissions open for a while as I have until the end of July to finish Camp NaNoWriMo. Then I'm participating in something known as ViViDATiON, but I'll be able to do this story alongside it.

I'll only be accepting about 6 OCs, for this is Pokémon and I do believe that is the most I can handle.

Anywho, to those who are interested the form is on my profile!

Night~

I'll update you with a map of the region tomorrow, because right now I'm lazy.