Chapter 1

"Isn't Pokemon just cock fighting for kids?"

Matthew glanced up from his gameboy to see Rachel looking at him with a condescending look.

"I really don't think of it that way." he told her as his Pokemon character was riding his bike in circles. "It's more like a game for highly sophisticated gamers. You have to solve puzzles, decide what to do with hostile Pokemon, and a bunch of other stuff that most gamers can't handle."

Rachel held back laughter with a snort slipping out. She couldn't help but to laugh hysterically at him, holding her sides as if they were about to burst. Matthew glared at her as tears of laughter rolled down her face. He put his gameboy in his pocket as he sat on the couch, which at the time, they both were sitting on. To be even more specific, they were sitting side by side.

"What's so damn funny?" he demanded. She crossed her legs as she started to calm down.

"Sophisticated gamers?" she giggled with sadistic glee. "I hate to pop your bubble, but the last time I checked you're probably the stupidest person I know. If you're so smart you would already know not waste your time playing stupid games and learn how to help pay for the rent."

"I pay the rent too, dammit!" Matthew yelled upset, springing up from the couch in anger.

"Yeah," Rachel laughed. "when you feel like it."

Matthew could feel his blood boiling inside his veins.

Matthew and Rachel had been friends ever since they were kids. They played together, went to school together, and occasionally acted civil with one another. People couldn't ever tell what their status was, considering they were always arguing. If you didn't know better, you'd think they were rivals.

Both being now nineteen, they lived together as roommates, both paying rent with Rachel typically paying the larger bills. Since her father owned one of the largest window making companies in the northwest, she was handed a stable and well paying job.

The story of Matthew on the other hand was much different. Recently fired from a fast food establishment after pissing the boss off by calling him a whiny bitch, he'd been looking for work desperately. Needless to say, he had little luck.

Comparing the two, Matthew and Rachel were complete opposites. Matthew was an avid gamer who found joy in playing Pokemon games while Rachel was in front of a mirror admiring her completion. Matthew was into RPGs and Rachel found herself glued to the television set watching the latest teen drama. To put it shortly, she didn't know what a Master Ball was and he'd rather die than to sit through Twilight. You get the picture.

Still enjoying the fact that Matthew was upset, Rachel grinned with an evil pleasure that she found was almost better than sex itself. The two of them were locked in a staring contest, with Rachel still showing flawless, white teeth as she smiled. Matthew clenched his sweat ridden fists.

"Why do you have to be such a bitch to me all the time!" he finally burst. Rachel's grin notably grew twice in size.

"Because you're an idiot and I take pride in being better, smarter, and definitely more attractive than you are." she told him with her tight jeans hugging her legs and her even tighter shirt giving the illusion that her breast size was larger than it really really was.

"At least I'm not some spoiled brat who's daddy gives everything to!" He came back. His insult didn't even seem to faze her. Instead of getting upset she casually leaned her head to one side with her ponytail moving along as well.

"At least I have a dad." she came back.

Just as soon as the words slipped through her lips had she wanted to shove them back in. Matthew's mouth hung open as if he had been slapped across the face and kicked in the nuts. He straightened his back and clenched his fists even tighter, trying to hide the fact that he was hurt. Without saying a word he went for the front door.

"Matt, I-" Rachel didn't have time to finish her apology. He had already slammed the door behind him. Without a jacket or a phone he was out on the street walking. Rachel swore to herself, wondering why she had to be dumb enough to say what she did.

Matthew had graduated with a D average with no father and no mother. While still in high school he constantly struggled completing his assignments and was living on the couch of his rather intelligent friend Otto. Actually, intelligent doesn't do him justice. Having an IQ of 156, graduated from MIT when he was only fifteen, and a millionaire do to creating software for the government, he was more than just intelligent. He was a certified genius.

During his early years however, Otto was picked on a lot. The kids on the playground would make fun of his thick glasses and the fact that he wore clothes that were falling. Those kids however found themselves battered and blooded by Matthew and soon learned to leave Otto alone. Even though Matthew was no scholar, he was certainly gifted in what he called 'five fingered diplomacy.'

Considering their friendship, Matthew was given a key to Otto's home and was told that he was welcome to come over whenever he liked. The two of them would get to together often to play games and occasionally have Matthew be a guinea pig for some experiment of his. Not only was Otto skilled in software design, but almost any other scientific field out there. If it could be done, Otto could most certainly do it better.

Rain was starting to come down lightly as Matthew walked down the street in the direction of Otto's place. All he had on him was his gameboy and his keys, both being in separate pockets after a very hard (and expensive) lesson he learned when putting both in the same pocket. After having the game screen being scratched to hell from his keys, he had to by himself a new one. Considering the rarity of finding a gameboy color anymore due to the latest gaming systems, it was a pretty big price to pay.

Never had Matthew been so hurt and offended by Rachel before. There was the time that she shoved dog crap in his face, a time she lit his pants on fire as a joke, a time she sneaked a porno magazine in his backpack and told the health teacher he was planning on masturbating while they watched the video on childbirth, and even a time where she hit him in the head with a wooden plank in shop class and sent him to the hospital. Normally, Matthew would beat up anyone who did that to him, but considering she was a girl and his 'friend,' he allowed it. Along with not being the brightest person he was also too forgiving it seemed.

A tear was wiped from his eye as he wondered why on earth she was so mean to him. It was like she simply lived to make his life hell and to make him feel pain on a daily basis. All he wanted to do was distract himself from her bullying and dull the pain by playing a game, but this time was harder to let go than the rest. She knew how painful it was to bring up the subject of his parents.

He crossed the street, entering the one of the richer neighborhoods with the three story homes and the perfectly managed lawns. Rain continued to fall with Matthew ruing the day he was born.

"Why couldn't my mother just gotten an abortion." he mumbled to himself as he passed a random stranger. It was probably wise to keep thoughts like that inside his head instead of speaking them openly like he had just done. The stranger gave him a funny look, but Matthew couldn't care less.

It didn't take him very long to get to Otto's place. His home was the mocha colored one with the lawn sign that read: BEWARE OF GRIMLINS. It always put a smile on Matthews face when he read it, but not today. Maybe he would feel better to see what Otto was up to. Maybe he'd be lucky enough to get killed by some crazy experiment of his.

He unlocked the door and entered without any hesitation.

The place was a bit of a mess as usual. There were files in folders scattered all over the living room, documents in a pile on the coffee table with an empty bowl of cereal next to it, and a report entitled "Hypothesis on Genetic Mutation of Ferns" on the arm of the couch. Otto was nowhere to be seen.

"Otto? You here?"

No response.

He's probably upstairs on his computer. He thought to himself, heading up the stairs with his hand sliding up the wooden railing with his keys still in hand. Humming a song to himself, Matthew walked the second floor of Otto's home and entered his computer room.

Inside was usually bare with only Otto's incredible god-like computer on a desk inside. Upon entering however, Matthew found that the room had been filled a large machine in the corner with large cords connecting from it to the computer.

The machine itself was about twelve feet tall tube thing with what looked like computer towers next to it along with a ginormous power generator. Whatever it was it had Otto's name written all over it. Matthew approached it, tossing his keys on the computer desk as he passed it.

He curiously examined the metal contraption with confusion, wondering what the hell it was. Placing his ear on the machine, Matthew listened to hear if there was anything working inside it. The metal was cold as he pressed his ear against it.

He heard music. Music coming from his pocket to be exact.

Matthew pulled out his gameboy to find that it had turned on somehow with the title screen playing the cinematic like it always did when it was turned on. He flicked it off, setting it down on part of the machine that was sticking out. Without knowing what he had done, he set it on the scanner tray of the mysterious contraption.

Before he had time to notice what had happened, the scanner tray retracted into the machine with his gameboy with it. He quickly tried to move his hand into the slot that it had entered, but cursed when the scanner opening closed. With his fists now pounding on the machine he started cussing like a sailor.

"I'm not gonna pay another sixty bucks I don't have on another gameboy, dammit!" he yelled angrily. "Piece of shit, OPEN UP!"

As if responding to his voice, the side of the machine opened. He paused and stopped pounding on the machine for a moment. With his eyes moving from inside the machine and from where the scanner had sucked his gameboy in, he was left speechless and puzzled. With his curious side getting the better of him, he entered the machine. Perhaps he could find a release button from inside to get his game back.

The interior was nothing like he'd ever seen before. There were strange panels inside with an uncountable amount of buttons and nobs with weird markings that labeled them. With most of the buttons being black or white, there was one that stood out from the rest of them.

It was a large red button. To Matthew, it reminded him of something he'd seen in a movie, the kind of thing where the president hits it and nukes shoot out from silos. Matthew couldn't stop staring at it. Two voices could be heard inside his head. One told him not to even think about touching the red button; there was no telling what it would do once he did. The other voice on the other hand was much louder and appealing.

"Touch the button!" the voice told him. Not even thinking of the consequences, he hit the button.

And he waited. Nothing was happening.

Before he could react in his disappointed state of mind, a third voice spoke, but it wasn't coming from inside of his head. It came from the machine.

"Starting initiative A-19." the machine spoke. The door of the machine closed with a blue light inside turning on inside. Matthew touched the door and started pounding on it in a panic with a noise growing from overhead and beneath his feet. It sounded like something electrical charging up. Panic began to set in as Matthew realized he was trapped within the machine. There was no stopping whatever it was that was about to happen. He closed his eyes as a bright light flashed.

Nothing could save him from the fate he had stumbled upon.