| abstract | - I looked at the Tyrantrum plushie I was holding in my hands. It was the only thing I had that reminded me of my parents. Well, that and my other pieces of Pokémon merchandise. Let me introduce myself. My name is Jack, but my friends call me Fang. No one's sure why, though, least of all me. My parents were killed in a car crash when I was seven, so I spent what was left of my life living in an abandoned building and getting by with whatever I could purchase and/or steal from a store. You can call it wrong, but you try living in an orphanage that was closed down like nineteen years ago for 6 years and see how well you can survive without shoplifting every now and then. I sighed and put the Tyrantrum plushie down on the floor, next to the mattress that I used as a bed. I turned towards the open window as I rested my head on my pillow. The silver moon was glistening in the blue-black sky, sending its soft light through the window and bouncing off of the locket that I was wearing around my neck. Don't bother asking what was inside; I've been trying to open the dumb thing since my dad gave it to me when I was four. I turned away from the window and soon fell asleep. The next thing I knew, I woke up. Not to the light of the sun or the barking of that blonde-and-white Labrador that always came by at 6:30, but a voice that seemed kind of familiar to me. "Welcome to the world of Pokémon!" it said cheerfully. I opened my eyes and looked around. I wasn't in the room that was once a dining room before the orphanage closed down. Instead, I was in a void that was filled with bright colors that changed every three seconds. "What the? Where am I?" I asked. The voice repeated itself, again with happiness. I sat up, noticing that the blanket was no longer around me. I looked down at my hands----or I would've, if they were there, which they weren't. I screamed a little, but not loudly. After all, it was just a dream. The voice resumed speaking, saying, "Before you enter the world of Pokémon, you must answer these questions." "Wait!" I said. "What are you talking----?" Too late, the voice started asking questions. "First question: have you ever played a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game?" it asked. Pokémon? I thought. "Uh, yeah," I said. "I play Gates to Infinity and Super Mystery Dungeon." "Excellent," said the voice. "Second question: are you a casual gamer or a hardcore professional?" Well, considering how I beat the Nuzlocke challenge in Pokémon Gold like five times before I lost my Gameboy Color, I said, "Hardcore professional." "Final question," said the voice. "What does life mean to you?" This made me think. My life wasn't as miserable as it seemed. I had good friends and an 8:00-9:00 paper route every morning, which allowed me to earn 5 bucks a day. Before my parents died, I lived a happy life in the city. In my spare time, I liked to play my Pokémon games. Of course, life did have its downsides. What little money I could scrounge up was spent on food and, if I was lucky, clothes. No parents or legal guardians meant that I couldn't attend school and get a proper education. Other kids treated me like an outcast and called me the "Pokémon Hoarder". All in all, life seemed pretty balanced to me. "Well?" the voice asked. I looked down and replied, "Life means so much to me." Yeah, yeah, call it cheesy and cliché, but I couldn't think of something better. "Alright then," said the voice. A long silence followed. I tapped my invisible foot against the "floor". "Hello?" I called to the voice. Was it still there? When I didn't get an answer, I mumbled, "Come on, wake up already...." The voice must've heard me, as it said, "Your next tomorrow will not be in the world you know......" "WHAT?!?" I yelled. The voice didn't reply; instead, the void's bright colors grew bright like the sun. I felt as if I was disappearing. I tried to scream, but my voice seemed to fade away with the rest of my body. It wasn't painful, it actually felt kind of peaceful. After what felt like a long time, everything stopped. I felt a cold liquid surging over my lower body, and sand on my arms, hands, chest, and face. I woke up, but not in the abandoned orphanage. Instead, I was on a beautiful beach with golden sand. I turned around and saw the sun setting on the horizon. Wait, setting? Wasn't it 10:00 p.m. a minute ago? I tried to get up, but my legs didn't want to work right, and instead, I fell over and blacked out.
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