Chapter One : Piece of Information
The secretary looked boredly at the line of girls waiting nervously for their inscriptions. She didn't understand why they even bothered coming.
"Next," she said in a bored voice. A small, brown-haired girl stepped up.
"Name?" she asked without interest.
"Valencia Arrows," the girl answered in a shaking voice.
"Age?" the secretary asked.
"T-Twelve," she replied, slightly trembling.
The secretary raised her eyebrows and leaned closer to look at the girl. She was rather small for her age; she had dark, chestnut curls, pinned up in a practical fashion. Her wide, green eyes were full of fear. The secretary sighed.
"Look, girlie," she said roughly. "If you don't want to, you don't have to. Go tell your parents--"
Valencia shook her head. "T-They're not here right now. I-I'm the one who wants to."
The secretary scowled at her. "Fine, just don't blame me when you run home crying to your parents in a few months." Valencia winced. "Look," the secretary said bluntly. "A tiny pixie like you'll have no hope during the training." The little girl still shook her head. The secretary sighed again. "You're sure about this?" The girl nodded. "Fine then. Here's your inscription. Fill in the blanks." She thrust a stack of paper into Valencia's hands. "Now run along, I have other people to attend to."
The small, brown-haired girl stammered a thanks, then dashed out of the room, heart pounding loudly. I did it! she thought excitedly. I really did it! Now all I have to do is fill out these blanks. She slipped into a shadowy corner in the streets and sat down on the sandy ground. She took out her quill and dipped it in a tiny amount of ink. She looked at the first question.
1) What is your date of birth?
September 21st, she scribbled. The soft scratching sound of her quill broke the silence in the nearly abandonned street. All right, next question.
2) Why do you wish to join the Pokemon Knights?
Valencia paused. Why did she want to? Well, because I want to be a hero, I guess. She wrote that. The third question was a little trickier.
3) If you were to become a Pokemon Knight, would you participate in the Emerald War?
Valencia hesitated. The Emerald War that was going on right now was extremely dangerous. She had heard stories about people dying just a few seconds after the battle had started. But if she wrote that, the council would find her cowardly. Yes, she answered, lying.
4) For what reason?
Aha, she thought. A trick question. To answer this one, you had to reply 'yes' to the one before. Tricky. Now she had to make up a reason. Because I want to help my nation and end the war, she decided to write. Nobody could object to that.
5) What is your current class?
Valencia froze. She heard footsteps coming from the end of the street. She hastily scribbled a small Stone Class on her sheet of paper. and quickly darted through the opening in the wooden fence. She found herself in the 5th District, in Peacock Alley. She gulped. If ever she were discovered here, in a Gold Class District, she would be very severely punished. She glanced around. Her gaze met a tall, oak tree at the end of the street. Perfect.
I'm sure glad I know how to climb trees, she thought as she slowly made her way through the branches. When she was high enough, she saw that the fence next to the tree had a small gap in the metal wires. Sighing with relief, Valencia hopped to the nearest branch and jumped. She staggered slightly when she landed, and her inscription was a bit wrinkled, but other then that, she had just escaped from an undesirable fate.
She glanced at her surroundings. She was now in Feather Avenue, which was only in a Marble Class District. She slumped down, tired but relieved. Even if she was found here, as it was only one class above her own, her punishment would be light. And also, there was grass here, soft, green grass, with the sun shining down her face...
"Val? That you?"
She snapped awake. Jumping to her feet, she looked around, panicking. She heard a giggle.
"You look funny," a black-haired girl said, coming towards her.
Valencia relaxed. "Oh, it's you, Raven. I thought you were..."
"The council members?" Raven suggested. She looked sceptical.
Valencia shrugged. "Kind of. I've been having bad luck recently. It seems like they know where I am all the time now."
Raven looked serious. "Val...is it true? That you signed up for the Pokemon Knights training program?"
Valencia blushed. She nodded. "I figured that...you know...if I could only learn how to fight..."
Raven shook her head. "It's too dangerous, Val. They'll force you to the front lines of the Emerald War. Trust me. My cousin signed up a year ago, and she never came back."
Valencia's heart sank. This was one of the stories she had heard. "But," she protested. "If you aren't good enough, they wouldn't send you, right? They wouldn't send weak Knights or apprentices to--"
Raven looked serious. "Yes, they would. They're missing man power. Their soldiers and Knights are decreasing. If it continues like this, they might have to give up our nation to the Jhoroes."
Valencia widened her eyes. "Give up? But that's horrible! If that's the case, then shouldn't we all try our best to--"
Raven cut in. "You don't understand, Val. This is really serious. If they send more people, they might die. But if they don't send any, we'll lose the war. Either way, it's going to be bad. Why send in more people for nothing? The Jhoroes are too strong. They have a new secret weapon." She clamped her hand over her mouth. She shouldn't have said that.
But Valencia had caught on. "A new secret weapon? Like what?"
Raven just shook her head silently. "Nothing. It just slipped out of my mouth."
But Valencia was persistent. "Come on, Raven, you can tell me! I won't tell anyone!"
Raven looked at her with pleading eyes. "Promise?"
"Promise," Valencia replied. "I won't tell another soul alive."
Raven hesitated for a moment, then brought their heads together. "My dad told me," she whispered. "I don't know how he knew, but I suppose it's his job, being the council's bodyguard and all. Anyway, this is what he said: the Jhoroes have this new Pokemon, it's kind of like a cross between a dragon and bird of some sorts. And he says that this thing can control the sea and stuff. And most of our troops are in the sea! Can you imagine?"
Valencia drew in a breath. "That's amazing," she whispered. "Wow, I wish I knew what it was."
Raven nodded. "Yeah, me too. But I just overhead my dad telling my mom, and then Tristan came because he couldn't find his Teddi bear."
Valencia groaned. Tristan was Raven's little brother. "That's too bad. But why don't you ask your dad then?"
Raven coughed. "What? Look, Val, this is top secret stuff. It isn't something twelve-year-olds like you and me should know about. If I asked him, he would probably ground me for a few decades. Besides--"
"Hey, you! What're you two doing over there?"