Pokemon Dawn

My name is Yusa Shintaro, I am ten years old and a new trainer from Joban City.

I was born in an ordinary family with ordinary parents. I started my journey as a trainer in an ordinary way on January 1st of this year. Now I am living an ordinary study life in a not-so-ordinary academy.

...Yes, I'm just an ordinary person.

I have no talent and no good luck. Being able to come here and meet everyone makes me very, very happy, but...sure enough, I can't ask for more things that shouldn't belong to me.

A mere mortal who wants to become a great being...of course he will be punished, right?

[May 4, 1000, 17:30 pm, Konglu Red District, Guanghui Academy Teaching Building]

"...That's the end of today's class. If you have any questions, you can go to the training ground to find me. If you want to fight, it's no problem. Let's finish the get out of class."

The young teacher teaching the techniques of using moves pushed up his glasses, and the last words of his words were drowned in the noise of the classroom.

The teenage boys and girls couldn't wait for the bell to ring. They were already noisily quarreling and inviting each other to eat in the cafeteria.

"Shintaro-san—" Nana's voice passed through half of the classroom, still making the brown-haired boy's ears ring a little, "Would you like to go to the training ground together tonight? It's a rare opportunity to play against Mr. Kamio today!"

As a player who has reached the top four of the World League, this young man has always been the target of challenges from students.

The young man smiled gently and said, "I won't go. With my current strength, I won't learn anything from fighting against such a strong opponent as the teacher."

"Well, having said that..."

"Anyway, let's go eat first?" Shintaro looked at Nana with a smile in his eyes, "It's not enough to forget to eat just thinking about fighting."

"……All right."

Shintaro followed the crowd toward the cafeteria. Nana, who was following him, sighed silently and lowered her gaze.

In fact, not only Nana, but friends who are familiar with Shintaro have vaguely sensed his changes. Although he is still gentle and soft as usual, deep in his heart, something harder and sharper seems to have

Completely disappeared.

Nana felt that she could barely understand part of Shintaro's thoughts. Although he acted as if nothing happened, the incident a week ago clearly dealt a serious blow to him - this is not surprising, if Nana is put in the same position

, she was sure she would be in pain too.

As one of the parties involved, Nana explained to Shintaro many times that she did not care about his mistakes, was not afraid of heights, and did not care about falling off the bridge occasionally. Unfortunately, these words were not accepted by Shintaro.

After finishing dinner together and saying goodbye at the entrance of the cafeteria, Nana thumped the street tree on the roadside twice in dejection.

"Ah ah ah, why didn't I leave the suspension bridge quickly that day..."

At a loss what to do, Nana inadvertently looked up and saw a cluster of dazzling red hairs.

The girl was stunned for a moment, then her eyes lit up.

[May 4, 1000, 19:05 at night, Konglu Red District, student dormitory]

The Spearow gave full play to its ferocity when preying on insects, and its powerful wings sliced ​​the water gun of the Camilla turtle to pieces. The horned goldfish in the pond looked very sleepy, coping with the attack of the mountain rat at every turn.

, which made the mountain rat very angry.

The trainer looked at his Pokémon and was a little lost for a moment.

Although he mechanically maintains the habit of daily special training, the young trainer has long lost the motivation and strength to do so. The cold voice of the transfer student that day still seems to be echoing in his ears——

"Just go to the corner and stay there, you trash, and don't come out to harm anyone."

Shintaro shivered violently and quickly shook his head to throw the bad memories out of his mind. Then he noticed that Cammy Turtle had stopped practicing and was looking at him with some concern.

The young man quickly reached out and touched the aqua-colored kid's slippery head, "Sorry, I was a little distracted just now."

He originally wanted to say, "Let's continue training," but when he met Cammy Turtle's eyes, his words somehow changed before he came out.

"...Cami Turtle."

Shintaro lowered his head, not looking at his initial Pokémon's expression.

"What do you think, I..."

Am I a very useless trainer?

Before he finished speaking, Shintaro's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door being pushed open. The visitor's red hair was still bright, and the smile on his face was still so energetic and exciting, as if he was a superman who would never be discouraged.

"Xiao Zhen, I came back to see you during the holiday. Are you training?"

"..."

"Why do you have such an expression?" Kazuhiko laughed, "Don't you want to see me?"

"No, no, how could it be?" Shintaro quickly broke away from his dazed state and shook his head violently, but his expression was a bit complicated.

If it were him a week ago, he would have been extremely excited because of Kazuhiko's appearance. He clearly wanted to see his respected senior more often before, but now he just feels like he can't hold his head up.

There is no way for a loser like me to respond to the expectations of my seniors. I will only make them feel disappointed. A voice in my heart said softly.

"It seems that you still insist on the habit of special training every day, very good." The red-haired boy, who was much taller than Shintaro, nodded and hugged Shintaro's shoulders affectionately, "Come on, let's have a fight. Let me

Look how much you've improved."

Shintaro was almost half pulled and half forced to stand on the trainer's seat, and then he lost completely without any suspense.

Of course, losing to Kazuhiko is not a strange thing - if you win, you need to run around the trial forest three times to celebrate. However, Shintaro's performance in this battle was really poor. His mental state was not stable enough, and he almost acted like a willful man.

The novices who were slaughtered by others had not even lasted more than three rounds.

Just like when he first came here.

When Shintaro was holding the injured Camille and looking for medicine, Kazuhiko didn't say much, nor did he criticize Shintaro's lackluster performance. He just silently took out the burn medicine and helped Shintaro treat the Camine.

Shintaro opened and closed his mouth several times, and finally sipped it as if he had given up.

"Um...Kazuhiko-senpai, can you talk to me?"

"certainly."

Although Nana had narrated the general story of the matter, Kazuhiko still felt a familiar and helpless shock when listening to the narration of another person involved. The thin young man stumbled and told the story that he was ashamed to say, and even wanted to forget it forever.

, but he could no longer keep the experience in his heart, and his voice that had not yet changed had a slight tremor that was not easy to detect, revealing the true emotions that he tried hard to hide.

"I'm sorry, Kazuhiko-senpai." Shintaro lowered his head quietly, "I... am too weak. I can't meet your expectations."

Kazuhiko sighed and suddenly straightened his expression.

"Yes, it's just as you said. You are weak and stupid. Not only are you unable to save others, you even almost became a murderer. Your image in the eyes of your classmates must have been extremely bad."

Shintaro, who had never been scolded by Kazuhiko, suddenly froze, but Kazuhiko had already changed the subject.

"It was my fault."

"...Eh?"

"I am too reckless. I only know how to encourage you without thinking, asking you to become stronger and grow up. I am also immersed in the self-satisfaction of a good senior, and I don't even notice your true feelings."

The red-haired boy's expression softened.

"Xiao Zhen, have you ever thought about it this way? I have changed, I have worked hard, I am indeed making continuous progress, and I have become a responsible person who can shoulder anything."

Seeing Shintaro's expression, Kazuhiko suddenly wanted to laugh inappropriately. Although he was speechless for a moment, Shintaro's expression was much more honest than his words.

"You know, you have only been a trainer for less than half a year. None of us are rare geniuses like Inspector Abel Winfried, so how can we become a unique trainer in just half a year?

Where’s the trainer who doesn’t make mistakes?”

"You're too anxious." Kazuhiko said simply.

As soon as these words came out, the tears that Shintaro had been holding back for a long time suddenly burst out and overflowed drop by drop from his light brown eyes.

"But..." His voice was already crying.

Of course he knew he was in a hurry. It should be said that since Kazuhiko was promoted to the Orange Division, he had lost his previous stable mentality.

Shintaro will never forget the scene when his brother Tatsuya returned home for the first time after leaving the country. When he, who was not yet a trainer, ran out to greet his brother, what he saw was a strange boy of the same age whom he did not know, chatting happily.

The older brother, the black-haired boy, smiled and introduced the people around him, and said, "They are my most important close friends."

After learning about the achievements that Tatsuya and his companions had made in just one year, Shintaro felt a strong sense of distance. His elder brother once lived with him under the same roof and got along day and night, but now his elder brother is no longer with him.

His friends traveled together to a distance that Shintaro could not imagine. He could not even understand what his brother was chatting with others.

Shintaro really admired his brother, so the panic became more intense. He didn't say what he was thinking, but he really thought about it——

The person I admire is no longer in the same world as me.

"Uh, don't cry... I can't stand this anymore." The red-haired boy immediately lost his inscrutable appearance and scratched his head at a loss. For a moment, he felt like a bully who bullied others and felt uncomfortable all over.

Got up.

"Listen to me." He put his hand forcefully on Shintaro's shoulder, making him look directly at him.

"Although I may not be qualified to preach as an 'irresponsible promoter', I still hope you know." Kazuhiko's bright golden eyes looked at Shintaro, "I understand that you have made a lot of efforts, and you have indeed achieved results.

Progress. However, hard work or belief, these are just the simplest things that everyone can do. They cannot be used as capital for bragging, let alone eagerly looking forward to receiving feedback. Rather than calculating your own efforts,

How much time and sweat have been spent - it is better to realize the fact that 'I am very weak and will be very weak in the next few years, or even more than ten years', and then work towards the ideal goal."

Meeting Shintaro's uneasy gaze, Kazuhiko patted his shoulder and smiled narcissistically, "Your role model is here, what else is there to be afraid of?"

Kazuhiko's last words severely touched Shintaro's defense. Letting go of Kami Turtle's cold body, Shintaro wiped his face vigorously with his sleeve.

"You really...won't give up on me because I'm too useless and my progress is too slow?"

"What are you talking about? You have such a beautiful idea." Kazuhiko said with a straight face, "Don't think that you can be lazy because I went to the orange group. I will check your performance changes once a month. If I find out

If you are lazy, I will immediately ask for leave and fly back to beat you up."

The brown-haired boy paused, and finally showed a broken smile, but his tears started to pour even more violently.

He knew that his beloved senior had indeed read all his thoughts, so he gave such a firm and reassuring answer.

What could be more exciting for travelers than a bright, unfading lighthouse standing in front of them?

"By the way." Kazuhiko continued without any hesitation, "I have checked your results this month. The theoretical part was just so-so, but the actual performance was too poor, and the number of times was not enough, so you failed."

Saying that, Kazuhiko clapped his hands and stood up, "Kami Turtle's injury is not serious. He should be almost recovered by now, right? Come on, let's continue fighting."

"...Eh?"

His thinking circuit switched from emotion and emotion to fighting in one second. Shintaro couldn't remember it for a moment, and his face was suddenly confused.

"Fireblast, are you ready? Come on!"

"Hooooooooh!"

"...Eh, eh, eh, eh? Now? Immediately?? Ah, ah, wait!"

The brown-haired boy stood up in a hurry, and almost tripped over the Cammy Turtle. The flames of the Explosive Beast had already struck, and the Cammy Turtle quickly used water-type moves, which prevented Shintaro from being burned before exiting the fighting venue.

It looked back at its trainer.

The young man looked a little flustered, with tears still hanging in the corners of his eyes, washing his eyes clean.

Just like it did when it first met Shintaro.

After a week, the aqua-colored turtle finally showed its first reassuring smile. The hazy white light that reshaped muscles and bones seeped out from the deepest part of the body, carrying Pokémon and humans together to begin the most important transformation in life.

[May 5, 1000, 9:12 am, Konglu Red District, Guanghui Academy teaching building]

"That's what happened." Shintaro scratched his head in embarrassment, "I'm really sorry for making everyone worry all this time."

"Finally figured it out? Really, what you did a few days ago was so shameful, you actually refused my invitation to fight." Nana showed an unhappy expression without any gentleness at all.

"Yes, I'm sorry...I won't refuse today, for sure!"

"But...doesn't that sentence sound familiar?" Feng Jie muttered.

"'Effort is only the basic of the basics, recognize your own weaknesses and then move forward'?" Nana turned her notepad, "Of course you are familiar with it, isn't this a famous line from our academy? Senior Kazuhiko back then"

Still an immature first-year student, Kamijou Naruya, the electrician who was transferred from the class, was beaten to the point where he was unable to fight back. He even became frustrated and wanted to withdraw from the final exam. His childhood sweetheart, Inoue Hitomi-senpai, gave him a hard blow.

He came out with a friendly fist and said these words."

As Nana spoke, she also performed the so-called "Friendship Breaking Fist", "Many people saw this incident at the time, and there are still posts from that time in the forum."

"Oh, I remembered it!" Feng Jie slapped his palms, "I have indeed seen this post before."

"Kazuhiko-senpai also had his young and cute moments." Nana shrugged.

The chatter of the friends gradually faded away, and Shintaro was stunned as if someone had slapped him on the forehead with a mallet. He blinked and it took him a long time to realize a fact.

"I...I actually drank second-hand chicken soup once??"