In an unknown place, there existed a building that contained a mysterious, almost surreal room of conference, where six boys were seated at the round, glassy table built at the center. As the superior, the one who governed over their group, had apparently not arrived yet, they were free to engage in clamorous discussion for the time being.

"What do you think the boss wants?"

"I dunno… Does it matter?"

"It's probably important though. Remember the last time we were all brought together like this?"

"Oh yeah! I remember it like it was yesterday!"

"ATTENTION!"

The entire group of boys fell silent at the booming yell of their superior, who they knew only as a voice that came from a speaker in the centre of their table. Though they had no idea what he looked like, they knew all too well that it was he who called the shots in their business, and always lived according to his words. The voice with no tangible form was like a ruler, or a deity to them.

"I have a very important announcement to make today! Is everyone here?!"

"I'm here," answered Red, the boy wearing the cap and jacket of his favored color. His serious demeanor was most apparent, even on the other side of the speaker where his deadpan face was not visible.

"Hey there, boss! It's me, Ethan!" Next for the roll-call was a wide-eyed boy who wore his yellow cap backwards, sitting directly beside Red, who elected not to be bothered by how close in distance the younger boy was to him.

"Gold," he corrected tersely, and Ethan just giggled bashfully in response to the older boy acknowledging his presence.

"Meh…" came a voice from across the table, belonging to a boy who wore a most peculiar-looking hat; white as ocean foam and spiked at the top, making it resemble a head of shaggy hair.

"Is something wrong, Brendan?!" asked the voice of the speaker.

"…No," he answered back, sharply and laced with a drop of bitterness.

A sharply-dressed young man in a scarf and beret interjected. "Aww, Brendan's just a bit down in the dumps, he thinks the fans don't like him anymore… oh, I forgot to say I'm here! It's me, Lucas!"
As Brendan continued to silently wallow in self-pity, the roll-call continued with Hilbert, an older boy in a sky-blue jacket and dark-gray pants. "I'm here too. Good morning, boss, I hope things are going well for you."

"Hey, don't forget me!" chimed the last boy, who was sitting next to Hilbert, a visor-wearing child whose head was topped in a mop of shaggy brown hair. "What is this meeting all about, anyway?"

From the speaker, the sextet of boys heard their answer. "I'm glad you asked, Nate! Ahem… I'm proud to announce that we are now starting work on the sixth generation of Pokémon games!"

"What?!" Nate and Hilbert's reactions were identical and simultaneous. Lucas expressed only mild surprise, and Red remained silent. When Ethan saw Brendan bury his face beneath his hands, he cheerfully gave the white-hatted boy a sympathetic pat on the back.

"That's right! You know what that means!"

A smile grew wide upon Hilbert's face as he brought his hands together in a show of anticipation. Nate turned to the older boy, asking, "Does he mean…"

Chuckling, Hilbert replied with a simple, "You know it," making Nate gasp in excitement.

Before anything more could be said, a series of footsteps could be heard approaching from the corridor that led to the conference room, and once again, the entire troupe observed silence as the form concealed into the shadows came into view.

They all knew what to expect, yet they could not help but stop and stare when they saw what they had been summoned here for.

It was another boy.

Nervously panning his head from side to side, surveying his surroundings, the newcomer's nervousness was readily apparent to the others, simply from that wide-eyed, cautious stare he was giving.

"Umm, bonjour… hello," he greeted as he gave a friendly wave. His accent was unlike any other the boys had heard before, yet still proved pleasing to the ear.

"Hmm," Red grunted in contemplation, his face as stoic as ever, while Hilbert surveyed the neophyte's attire; an ensemble comprised of a cobalt-blue jacket, denim jeans and boots, topped off with a fetching red cap, where a pair of sunglasses were perched.

"Very nice," he remarked.

However, Lucas appeared somewhat perturbed, asking "Why does he sound so weird?" making the boy blush out of sheer embarrassment. Once again, the speaker answered. "Be polite, Lucas! He's from the Kalos region, which is not based on any place in Japan or America!"

"Oh great, another foreigner," Brendan whined, as he parted the fingers that covered his eyes to get a glimpse of the new boy.

Nate then turned his head to face the Hoenn boy, giving him a suspicious glance. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Ethan jumped from his seat, in an attempt to divert their attention. "Hey, hi there! Come sit with us!" he enthused, taking the newcomer by his sleeved arm, and sitting him down on the Johto boy's seat. The shades-sporting young man watched in surprise as Ethan, now without a seat of his own, took residence upon Red's lap; the owner of said lap willed himself not to react in any way. All heads then turned to the new boy, who was clearly uncomfortable with the sudden influx of attention he was receiving.

Hilbert asked him, "So, what's your name?"

"…M-my name?" the boy mumbled, ducking his head down. "I… I can't say. I'm embarrassed."

"Oh," said Red. He found it a little odd that this boy would be ashamed of his own name; not when the likes of their group included far more unconventional monikers.

Lucas continued the impromptu interview. "The Kalos region, you said? What's it like? What Pokémon do you have there?"

%%%

After much wheedling, the group of six had managed to obtain a fair bit of information about the new boy's home region… and frankly, they were very impressed with what they knew so far.

Once they had grown tired of asking any further questions, Red stood from his seat, shifting Ethan to the ground in the process. "It's time."

The Kanto boy urged Brendan out of his seat and towards the corridor leading out of the room, with Ethan in tow. Before Lucas followed, he laid his hand on Nate's shoulder, asking him, "You know what to do, right?"

"Well," the visor-wearing boy replied, "I'll try my best."

"Don't worry about a thing. I'll be there, just like last time," Hilbert added. Reassured, Lucas joined the other three boys in departing.

"Alright." Nate smiled. He turned to the sunglasses -wearing boy, who continued to sit in silence.

"Let's see how this initiation goes."