I stare down at my shoes, glancing back at the hard oak table in front of me that nests several empty bottles. I am lying on top of the table, my hand loosely gripping a tall thin bottle with an unreadable label. I tilt my head around top see the blur of a clock on the wall which says 6pm and slowly push myself up in shock. I find that I'm sitting on a chair, and in front of me is my computer. I'm in my basement. The large table that stretches in front of me provides a point of reference for me to picture in my head were I am and the layout of the area from memory. How else could I orientate myself in this blurred vision?
After several attempts at standing up, I finally orientate myself vertically, and my vision slowly comes back to me. My equipment seems to be as normal, but 2 bottles of alcohol lay empty on the bench, excluding the one I am still carrying in my hand. After a while I seem to be able to navigate, although the headache that follows is one quite unbearable, that I'm going to have to take the night off from work. I look at the clock again for reference. Six Pe-Em. I repeat that to myself a couple of times before understanding the relevance of the time. I need to sign up for the tournament. I stumble up the stairs to find all my pokémon sleeping peacefully, and an open fridge, which I quickly divert my current direction to kick closed, causing a slight stir in my pokémon's sleep. I then direct myself to the door and grab my wallet, just in case. I ten fling open the door and shut it carefully behind me, pushing my keys trough the letter box in case of an emergency and my pokémon need to evacuate. I just reached the fence where my front garden ends when I see behind me I have been followed by Gallade. I nod at the pokémon and it nods back, teleporting behind me so it doesn't have to go through the fence, if I had the power I would probably use it for those simple things as well. We end up walking side by side through the streets, seeing a few more people than there usually is, not too many though, although once I reach the area where the registration office has been set up - with help from wandering citizens - I realize that the place is packed with people of all different kinds. Nearly all of them are just viewers spectating who's entering and placing their bets with family on who they think might win, but if I was going to watch, I would watch the actual match, not the registration. This gives me the impression that perhaps tonight more people will end up coming to stay and watch the tournament tomorrow. I hear the laughter all around me and the joy coming from children that it seems to make my headache worse, and my anxiety is starting to show. I'm like a silent statue, only moving one step when there's space available. Soon I'm at the front desk.
"Hello, are you here to register?" she says in a voice unrecognizable in this area. I reply with a nod and hand down a card showing the pokémon I own and my day job and such. She studies for a moment with great interest before returning it to me.
"You're birth date isn't included." Drat.
"It was a printing error, I was born 22 years ago." I say that as if I've forgotten the actually year... Well I have, I'd prefer if she didn't know that though. She sighs and then calls her supervisor who just shakes his hand and says 'the more the merrier.' They must be having trouble finding participants or something. I pocket my card and the women hands me a leaflet giving me all the information and where to go when and whatnot. I never thought these things could be so confusing. I also put that in my pocket before she calls for 'next' which is my cue to scram. I walk away, grasping my head and start to walk home. I don't bother checking the details that are on the leaflet, instead I just charge into my home and jump onto the sofa. I am quickly accompanied by Gallade who sits in a formal position at the other end of the sofa, and can see I'm in some form of agony and teleports me a drink of orange juice along with some cold ice. I thank him and take small sips before I find that I'm once again dropping off to sleep.