It took a moment for teacher Jordan to calm down and stop laughing, somehow, I noticed he was feeling a strange sense of nostalgia through me. In a way, he was seeing the reflection of my father in me.

“I haven’t laughed like that in a long time”.

Suddenly the mood in the room shifted and he stared straight into my eyes for a second, then he started looking for something in the drawers of his desk.

“There it is. I can’t tell you more details but your father left this for you”.

He brings out a device, I recognize it as something similar to a Holo Caster, but not exactly the same.

“This is a Holo Caster prototype, it can only keep a single recording, but it is good enough for its purpose”.

I grab the device, it’s small and it clearly has a single function, to play the recording inside.

“I will leave you alone for a moment”.

Teacher Jordan leaves the room with his Xatu, probably keeping the office safe from anyone outside trying to listen in.

After that I start the device, a slightly blue hologram appears, a man in his early thirties looks around almost as if he was actually examining the place, it’s only a recording I remind myself.

“Gabriel, my son, if you are watching this it means your are already twelve and arrived to the academy, which also means I wasn’t able to come back and be there for you, for that I’m sorry”.

I can see the regret in his eyes, I didn’t remember how alike we look, it’s as if I was watching an adult version of myself, my mom said the only difference was the color of our eyes, mine are green like hers, my dad’s are blue.

“I believe you must have a lot of questions and I hope by the end of this message you will have some answers”.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Where am I? Why can’t I come back? I’m going after your grandfather and my elder brother, your uncle, there have been reports of them being in a closed off region and it’s the only clue I’ve found after years of searching, if I haven’t made it back yet it means I most likely found them and I have not managed to convince them of surrendering themselves peacefully, I have to keep trying”.

Grandfather? Uncle? My parents never talked much about his side of the family, I thought they might have died, I wonder why he needs to go after them.

“Our family, the Santos family, were very active during the Kanto-Johto war, my grandfather was one of the most powerful military generals in Johto and one of the strongest advocates for the continuation of the war. My father, Jesus Santos, was a colonel and got to participate in the war, following after my grandfather”.

In school we were told about the war, but just barely, never got much details aside for it actually happening, knowing my family was involved…

“When Professor Oak, by that time the Kanto Champion, proposed the end of hostilities, my grandfather was the last one trying to keep the war alive, to the point of committing heinous acts to ignite the flames of war. I don’t know the exact details, but my grandfather battled the Johto Champion at the time, with both of them dying and concluding the war”.

“My father was overcome with grief and rage, swearing to get revenge against all the traitors who sided with Kanto for a peace agreement, our family became social pariahs and went into hiding, but we were not alone, the remnant of your great grandfather's group decided to follow our family, and together began to plan how to take over Johto and stop the unification of the regions”.

“My father had three children, my first brother Jorge, my second brother John, and the youngest, me. We grew up being told about the great betrayal and the lies behind the pokemon league, with Jorge and John joining my father to begin some terrorist attacks, I’m not going to tell you the specifics but it was horrible, my first brother returned a different person, whatever he did during that time affected him in such a way he ended up taking his own life, and my second brother not knowing any other way of life kept following my father”.

“I was eleven at the time, my mother was devastated and decided to take me away from her husband, she wouldn’t lose another son to his madness, but Jesus Santos is a powerful man and could never allow his own family to abandon his cause, he tried to stop us, your grandmother died so that I could have a different life, she sent me to the academy which was just getting started at the time”.

“I vowed to stop my father and my brother, I dedicated my life to become strong enough to go after them. Years later, with the help of your mother, we destroyed every base of their operation we could find in Kanto and Johto, but I could never catch them, until they fled the regions and I lost track of their movements”.

“Now I have a lead, and I won’t stop until I can bring my family to pay for their crimes. I promise you this, I will be back and our family will be free of this burden when I do”.

WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?! Wait, don’t panic, it’s just a very complicated family history, yes, nothing to worry about... YEAH, RIGHT, FUCK THAT.

I take my time to settle down and process, pausing the message for a moment. So, a terrorist grandfather? No big deal, never met the man and sure hope I will never have to. Now, I can even understand all the secrecy, the reason my parents wanted me to have a normal childhood.

“I hope you don’t blame your mother for not telling you anything, I had to be the one to tell you even if I can’t actually be there. You will be safe inside the academy, some of my best friends in the world will make sure of that, so do your best and become a great trainer, but more than that, all your mother and I want for you is to be happy, I love you son”.

With that said, the recording ended while a couple of tears ran across my face.