"That Almus Rayne is without a doubt the most analytical and devious child to ever come from Twinleaf Town," said the elder of two women sitting on a porch swing. "He never fits in with the other children in the town. He always has to be going off by himself doing who knows what out in those woods instead of playing ball with the other children like a good boy. But no, he always has to have his way; and don't even get me started on all the sneaky ‘accidents' he has caused the other children who got in his way."
"Excuse you!" Shrieked the other woman. "That is my son you are talking about! Let's not forget that it is my son who is always first to act the ‘white knight' whenever there is trouble in town. In fact, didn't Almus just come to the defense of your grandson recently when he was being picked on?"
Grumbling the old woman continues, "Yes, well, you still cannot deny that he is an odd boy though. He is so quiet and hardly shows his emotions to other people. And then there is the fact that he is so hard on himself. I have never seen someone work so hard to be good at everything! It's as if he thinks that one mistake would end his whole life. It‘s not natural for a boy his age to act so troubled. Odd, very odd indeed."
"That doesn't make him odd!" declared Almus's mother. "I think it just gives him a silent and mysterious persona. That will be attractive to the girls once he has grown up," she said proudly. "And my boy isn't troubled!"
"Well sure he is. You would be troubled too if you were a teenaged boy with no pokémon of your own. I don't blame Professor Rowan for not giving him one though. With how hard that boy is on himself and how shady of a character he as become there is no telling how Almus would treat a pokémon if he had one. It's sarcastic attitude and strange characteristics that are the problem. "
"Oh you hush up now. That's the end of it. … Although, it was so hard on him that on his tenth birthday Professor Rowan didn't give Almus a pokémon. He was so heart broken when he was told he couldn‘t have any of the pokémon there because he was "different" from the other boys and girls wanting to become trainers. He went off exploring through the woods after that like he usually does but didn't come home at all until the next morning. I was so worried. Since then it's rare to see him in the town at all during his free time. I know he makes his way through the tree to the coast south of town but even after four years he still hasn't let anyone know what he does down there. Right now he is on his way to Professor Rowan's lab to try again to get his first pokémon. I wish him luck being that is his fourteenth birthday today."
Four years ago ~
Almus walked along the coastline south of town looking to be far away from everyone because he was upset that Professor Rowan refused to give him a pokémon for being "different." Almus spoke to himself mocking the words of the Professor, "I'm sorry Almus but you aren't like most of the other kids who come to see me. I don't think you would be compatible with any of the pokémon I have here to give away." Almus had been called the word different by other children in the town, a few gossiping neighbors and as far as he was concerned Professor Rowan just continued the trend. Almus hated being called different.
He kicked a rock off the ground sending it soaring into the distance. Almus watched as it landed near an indentation by some large rocks. Having never actually been to this area before Almus went to investigate only to find a small cave hidden away behind some broken rocks. Having absolutely no intention of going back home that night he figured this would make as decent a place as any to stay the night. Once he had wandered inside though, Almus found himself surrounded by a swarm of ghastly. They made scary faces and illusions of fire near the cave exit so that he couldn't run away. Being only ten years old at the time he was scared out of his mind. He looked around for some sort of escape but could see nothing passed the ghastly horrors except for a single shinny light deeper into the cave tunnel. There was another ghastly shimmering blue in the back of the cave that was also being scared by four regular ghastly.
Almus couldn‘t see why though. Nothing seemed wrong with that ghastly other than it was a different color. Then Almus realized it was because it was a different color that it was getting picked on. Instantly there was a connection between them in his mind. Almus had been denied a pokemon because he socially didn‘t fit in with the town. That ghastly was being picked on for glowing blue instead of misting purple. Almus hated it when someone was mistreated for being different and it just went against his nature to not do something about it.
"STOP PICKING ON HIM FOR BEING DIFFERENT!" Almus screamed. He grit his teeth and ran through the illusions of fake fire and shadow monsters. All concern for his own safety left him and he became concerned only about the well being of the blue Ghastly. He swatted the other Ghastly away and while wrapping his arms around the cowering pokémon he asked, "Are you ok?"
"Gh-Ghastly?" the shinny ghastly replied in confusion.
"Don't ever let any one pick on you for being different!" Almus told Ghastly sternly. Almus continued, "Like you, I am different where I live and I have learned something. If you can't be the same then be better. " Just then the other Ghastly charged the two sitting on the floor aiming Lick attacks their way. Almus winked at the shinny ghastly and said, "Hypnosis!" Ghastly grinned and turned to catch all the others off guard. It let out a powerful glance of Hypnosis effectively striking every other Ghastly in the cave. That evening, the two slept peacefully in the cave all night long.
For the next four years Almus secretly spent his free time visiting his new friend in that cave and was no longer bothered, but now respected, by the other Ghastly. However, Almus would have never expected what was to happen on his 14th birthday. For the fourth year in a row Almus walked with an empty pokéball in hand towards Professor Rowan's lab to receive his first pokémon but this time he was stopped at the door by another boy from Twinleaf.
Cain stood there in front of the door blocking Almus‘ path. He had been Almus‘ rival since they were very young. With his flowing golden hair and dressed in his fancy blue suit Cain had been an annoyance to every child in their generation but he always had it in for Almus. Cain always took every opportunity to show how much better he was than Almus and always was the ringleader of others picking on Almus for going against the flow of things. "Different," was Cain‘s favorite word when talking about or to Almus. "I'm not going to let you get a pokémon from Professor Rowan Almus," said Cain.
"And why not?" replied Almus."
"Because you already have a pokémon don't you?!"
"What? No I don't!"
"Don't lie. Where do you always sneak off to then? You have another pokémon in secret and you are trying to pull a fast one on the Professor to get another one. The Professor is only supposed to give a pokémon to someone who doesn't have one." complained Cain.
"I don't have my own pokémon yet. This pokéball is empty and every kid in Twinleaf is supposed to receive a pokémon from the Professor. It is time I got mine! Now move!" Almus yelled.
Cain blocked Almus's path and said, "No! You had better hope that you have a pokémon because I do and it is a dragon and either way I am about to attack you with it! Dratini, Go!"
Almus stepped back in fear but watched as Cain stood paralyzed in mid throw, not releasing his pokéball. A large tongue appeared out of thin air behind Cain's head and then disappeared. Then floating eyes appeared in front of Cain's face followed by him falling to the ground in a deep sleep.
"Ghastly!" Almus cried happily. "You saved me. Thank you!" The blue shinny pokémon showed itself smiling happily and Almus reached our to pat Ghastly on the head, running his fingers affectionately through Ghastly's mist. "You have always been my best friend. I wish you belonged to Professor Rowan so that I could get you to be my first pokémon."
With that, Ghastly floated down to the pokéball in Almus's hand and disappeared into it with a red flash. Not knowing it was possible for a pokémon to willingly catch itself for you, Almus stood there dumbfounded in the doorway to the lab until he heard a voice calling his name. Almus put the pokéball into his pocket and walked inside. There he saw Professor Rowan waiting for him. "Hello Almus. I knew you would be by today. You are 14 now, am I right?"
"Well I didn't see any point in being impatient about it, seeing as how long I have waited." Almus complained.
"Now I would tell you to watch that sarcasm with me young man but I suppose that I had that coming. It is my fault that you reached your 14th birthday without receiving a pokémon from my lab yet. Almus I want you to know that I think you will be a fine trainer. I didn't hold my pokémon from you because I thought you didn't deserve one so don‘t be mad. I held them from you because I didn't have any that I thought matched your potential. I'm not saying I think you would make a stronger or weaker trainer than anyone else but I have known you since you were little and I just couldn't give you any of the pokémon that I had when they were so far off from your nature. You are always struggling so hard to be stronger so I wanted to hold out until I found a pokémon for you that is very difficult to train. I thought that maybe that way when you finally master it, you can finally be satisfied in yourself and your abilities."
"Tch" scoffed Almus, hurt from being read so easily.
"And guess what Almus? I finally found what I think is the perfect pokémon for you. It was probably too long ago for you to remember but it was your favorite pokémon to look at when you would glance at my bug books when you were much younger. Do you have an empty pokéball with you?"
Almus had hardly heard a word Professor Rowan was saying but managed to shake his head, honestly telling the Professor that he didn't have an empty pokéball with him. He was still too confused about what had happened with Ghastly outside of the lab. The Professor drew up a pokéball from his pokémon storage device and handed it to Almus. "She is yours now. I have no doubt that she will take care of you if you treat her well and train her as hard as you train yourself. Go on. Open it." Almus pressed the tab releasing the pokémon from it's ball to reveal a beautiful Scyther standing tall and proud in front of him.
After Almus was excused from Professor Rowan's lab, he looked at the two pokéballs in his hands. One held Ghastly, his closest friend for years who had protected him from danger and the other held his new Scyther, a pokémon that he had wanted since he was just a small boy. All he could do now was run off to tell his mom the news and start his life as a pokémon trainer. However, there was still a lot to be done before he left Twinleaf to set out on his journey.
