The Arcean Relfex
Bulbafreak9000

Prologue: The Games Begin

A young man ran up the steps, into the nothingness. 
	“All finished. The last one is in place.”
	It gave no response. It sat there, eyes closed, silent. 
      “Something has to be done soon. The board is set, the players in position. Can’t 
we start now?”
	A long, deep growl was heard from the being next to him. The growl was of 
sorrow, of pain. It was obvious he was against the entire thing, no matter how essential it 
was. 
	“How do you think I feel? You’ve had millions of years to prepare. I’ve had less 
than six months. God knows how the pawn will feel.”
	Another growl, another one of sorrow, of anguish, came from the Being. 
	“Erm… I guess you do know… But it has to be done. And soon.” He sat down, 
letting his feet hang off the edge, into the nothingness. These past months had been hell. 
How else could it have been explained? He’d dare not say that to the Being though. 
That’d get him killed. Sighing, he slowly pulled his scarf off of  his neck, then removed his 
hat. There was a surprising wind in the nothingness. He turned around and he saw that 
the Being had turned a light shade of blue, one of his arms touching a slab of rock the 
same color. He shut his eyes and felt the wind, felt the peace, knowing that for a long 
time, it’d not be like this anymore. 
	And again he wondered about the others. He left what seemed like just months 
ago. It had to have been years ago. How much had changed? How much had he 
changed? When he went back, would it be the same? No, of course not. He wouldn’t be 
able to talk to them, get to know them again. Not for a while, anyway. He’d be like a 
ghost. 
	The Being let out a small purr. It was delighted at the irony in his thoughts. 
Turning around, he saw that the Being now glow purple, the same color as the rock 
beneath its hand. “I forgot you had a sense of humor,” he laughed. 
	“You know, my younger sister is still down there,” he said. “When I left, she was 
what… seven? She hadn’t even gotten her first Pokemon…” 
	He looked down into the nothingness. He couldn’t tell its color. It couldn’t have 
been black, since black is the reflection of all color. But if there was really nothing in 
nothing, then that wasn’t true. And just for a second, he wanted to launch out into the 
nothing, to find something. He’d already seen all else there had to be seen, except what 
was in the nothing. The nothingness wasn’t a vacuum, as some think. Outer Space is a 
vacuum. Everyone had seen that. Only one had seen what was in the nothingness, known 
what nothing really was, and it sat, feet behind him. And it wasn’t telling. 
	It growled again. More anguish. More sorrow. The Being knew just what was 
about to happen, as it always did. He wondered if it was really sad about what was about 
to happen, or what had happened. Or maybe it’s the nothingness. 
	The Being stood and opened its eyes. He looked at it. He’d never seen its eyes. 
Then he looked where it looked. A light appeared in the nothingness. He moved closer to 
the Being, to get a better look at the light. Something was falling through it. 
	He squinted hard. What is that? It looks like… nah, it couldn’t be… 
	It began to fall faster. That isn’t… is it?
	It came into view. It is… it’s a…
	The Pokeball smacked him in the face, and he fell, sprawling flat on the ground. 
The Being opened its great jowls and laughed. 
	“The Game,” it said, still laughing, “Begins.”