Chapter 1: Present Day

Sam Stark woke up in the strange bed struggling for each breath. He caught a glimpse of the alarm clock next to his bed: Three in the morning. Sam pounded his fist into the too-hard mattress; he was used to having the nightmare by now, but he knew he’d never get used to how it felt waking from it. He briefly considered lying back down, but it was all-too-common that he never fell back to sleep after this nightmare. The disappointment of not being able to do so yet again was too much to bear. Rubbing his face in frustration, he felt the beard he’d been ignoring for far too long. Shaving, he thought, would be a good way to pass the time so early in the morning. 

He was thankful that Sinnoh had outlets that accommodated devices brought from other continents as he plugged his trimmers into the wall adjoining the bathroom sink. He had heard that other areas of the world like Unova weren’t as readily accessible for foreign devices. Thinking like that made Sam realize how big the world truly was, and that, in turn, made him realize just how far he’d traveled to get to Sinnoh. He’d left so much behind on his trip here, but really…what was left for him at home? He had talked to every doctor on both sides of Mount Silver; none of them had any answer that could satisfy him. 

A realization fell down upon him: today was the 17th. It had been two weeks since he’d arrived in Sinnoh! That meant when the customs office in downtown Jubilife City opened in the morning, he’d be able to get his friends back. He’d had them thoroughly checked at the Goldenrod Pokemon Center before his flight so he was sure that he wasn’t bringing any foreign diseases into Sinnoh, but customs still insisted on keeping them to run their own tests. It was an annoyance, however mild. Two more weeks on top of how long he’d already waited, but these ones felt longer than the rest. He was closer now than ever to what he needed, and to wait for a silly, redundant government clearance seemed an unnecessary chain holding him back.

Sam ran his palm along his newly smooth face. He would be meeting with Professor Rowan by mid-day (he did some quick math in his head: if he could get his friends promptly at nine when customs opened, he could be to Sandgem town by noon), and he wanted to be presentable. No doubt that upon speaking to the professor he would think Sam crazy, so there was no need to show up bearded and wearing unwashed clothes to punctuate the point. What to wear? Sam had brought a suit, but that now seemed too stuffy; he wasn’t here to do a PowerPoint presentation or ask Professor Rowan to marry him, after all. He passed on the jacket and matching pants in favor of just the blue button-down and a pair of khakis that he still had plenty of time to iron. It wasn’t even four yet, after all. 

As of eight o’clock, Sam had never managed to get any more sleep when his hotel phone rang. It was the customs office verifying that his pokemon (the lady on the other end of the line seemed disaffected when Sam corrected her to call them his “friends”) were medically cleared for arrival in Sinnoh. Sam was still frustrated to have had to wait even this long, and she must have heard the annoyance in his voice because she seemed to be compelled to tell him about the lady several years ago who brought a Delcatty from Hoenn without having it medically cleared. Apparently, according to the attendant, Sinnoh’s Glameow community is only now recovering to its previous numbers after a leukemia variant swept through them. Sam thanked her for this information in an effort to get her off the phone, and she reminded him that their doors open at nine.

Jubilife City reminded Sam of Goldenrod back home. The television station here reminded him of the radio building back home, and, oddly enough, both cities’ high schools had a Rhydon as their mascot. And both cities were huge! Rush hour in Jubilife was as frantic as it was in Goldenrod. Sam could hear his dad’s voice complaining about all the other drivers every morning. Everyone was already on their way to work when Sam left the hotel, and getting a bus down to customs was nearly impossible. Three of them, already filled to safety capacity, passed his stop without him. When one finally did have a small enough load to let more passengers on, Sam decided to forego the last seat he saw available so that an older woman could have it. She thanked him, and he nodded; at this point he didn’t care if he sat, stood, or danced the Hokey Pokey…he just wanted to get his friends back and get to Sandgem Town. Customs was clear on the other end of the city–near the condominiums–but traffic was nearly impassable. Sam hadn’t wanted to bring his luggage with him; he thought he could check-out after he came back with his friends, but as he watched the minute hand on his watch move faster than the bus, he started to fear he would be charged another day’s stay. The heat battered him through the windows of the bus as they sat behind lines of cars that couldn’t manage a simple merge point during construction. Didn’t these drivers understand how important this was?

Sam had targeted nine o’clock; in actuality he arrived at nine-forty. He approached the window and gave the attendant his confirmation slip. She vanished into a back-room for several moments before finally emerging with the two pokeballs he had left there after his plane arrived. He snatched the Nest Ball into his right hand and the Dusk Ball into his left, then carefully latched them to the notches on his belt. He patted the Nest Ball gently as he did so and looked up at the clock. Everything felt better now. The discomfort of the bus, the heat from the morning sun, the thought of paying for another day at the Jubilife Resort, and the fear that perhaps he should have worn the blazer and pants after all wafted to the sidelines now that the emptiness of not having his friends was filled. He emerged from the customs office and pulled the Nest Ball right back off of his hip. With a gentle squeeze of the ball, a Butterfree appeared in the air, stoically beating its wings to stay aloft. The black spots in the veins of its wings marked it as a female of its species; her long, black antennae zipped back and forth, helping her take in the brand new environment. 

“Sorry about the customs office, Bree,” Sam said, finally getting the Butterfree’s attention, its antennae pointing at him, “I wish I hadn’t had to do that.” Bree hummed lightly and shook its head, which Sam took as a sign that it was no big deal. “Are you ready to see Professor Rowan?” Bree hummed louder and fluttered up and down in the air in front of him. Sam nodded his approval at her energy. “Do you think our other friend wants to come out, too?” He snatched the Dusk Ball off of the other side of his belt and squeezed it lightly. A Ninetales emerged from the flash of crimson energy. It shook off each of its paws as if stretching out muscles that hadn’t been used in ages. The orange fox creature looked up at the tall buildings around it, decided the busy city was not worth the attention, then leaned down to lick its front paws to keep them as elegantly groomed as the rest of its fur. Its lengthy tails flopped about slowly, each in order. Sam bit down on the inside of his bottom lip as he watched his friend enjoy its freedom. 

“Does it feel good to be out of your ball, Vlam?”