The Beginning Of A Long Day
There are three types of people here in the Pokemon World. Those who do become trainers, those who don’t become trainers, and those who want to but opt not to for a reason. Matt Buzz was among the latter, but this is how everything changed.
Matthew Bevan Buzz was born to a very influential family in the Appalora region. His family had lived in Appalora, near a forest of Heracross for over 400 years, and were seen as the greatest Bug specialists in the world. Even in Matt’s time the family was still very notable in the battling scene, thanks to Matt’s cousin, Aaron, having joined the Sinnoh Elite Four, after having been an Appaloran Gym Leader for a year.
As for Matt himself, he had always wanted to become a Pokemon Trainer like most of his family, and especially like his older cousin who he was very close with, but there was a problem. Matt knew his family had a great reputation in terms of Pokemon Battling, but he barely understood it. He was scared that with his limited knowledge of Pokemon Fighting, he would slip up so badly it tarnished his family’s reputation. So for that reason, he didn’t become a Pokemon Trainer.
But now, it was October 12th 1999. It had been exactly 3 years, 6 months, and 17 days since Aaron moved, Matt counted the days exactly. Matt was preparing to move too. He was looking for homes when he found a good deal for an apartment in Eterna City, which just so happened to be in Sinnoh. He was gonna go check out the place the next day. So he packed a small bag, even being able to pack some of his records, and sent Aaron an Email telling him the good news that he would be moving to Sinnoh.
The very next morning, Matt woke up early out of excitement, he grabbed his bag, and raced downstairs. “Today’s the big day!” Matt kept exclaiming excitedly. His dad, awoken by the sounds of his son’s excitement, came downstairs too.
“What happened to you Matt? I thought you hated waking up early.” Said Mr. Buzz jokingly.
“I told you dad!” Matt replied “Today is the day I go to Eterna to see if the apartment is worth renting.”
Matt’s dad looked at his eager son, and many emotions went through his mind. He was proud but sad, excited but scared. And he said “I know, you’re very excited, but it’s just gonna be different. To me it would just feel wrong without you. It only feels like yesterday when I got the call from your uncle telling me Aaron was moving away. It was like a punch to the gut for all of us. And now I see you, getting ready to leave Appalora yourself, and the punch is just stronger. Aaron’s my nephew, you’re my son. And you being my son makes your leave hurt more. But your mother and I had been anticipating this day ever since you were born, and you’re eager to go, so there isn’t much for us to do.”
Matt knew his parents would miss him greatly, and he was gonna miss them too. By this point his mom came downstairs to say goodbye as well. And after two tearful hugs, Matt was off.
Appalora was a relatively peaceful region, it was mostly mountains and forests, with a long river that splits the region in two. The route to Heracross Forest was right next to that river. Most of the start of Matt’s journey had him looking at that river, only really looking forwards when there were people nearby. He then stopped in a town at the end of the route for a quick break from walking. He was sitting at a quiet spot of town when he saw two strange figures, before getting knocked out.
