Fire and Doubt
May 17, 2020 22:33:00 GMT
Post by Brutaka on May 17, 2020 22:33:00 GMT
Warnings: Rated T for some semi-described violence, and some mild language. Possibly some descriptions of abuse.
Hello again everyone. To be clear, my other fic, Thunderstruck, is going to be my main project. But this is another story idea I've been throwing around for quite some time and I finally figured out how I wanted to approach. So updates on this one may be slow, but I do want to get it out there! This story focuses on four characters, separated into two main plots that will intermingle as the story goes. The setup for this will largely follow a trainer fic set in the BW2 timeline of events, but only one of the plots is an actual trainer fic. The other plot is like PMD, except set in the trainer world, rather than the pmd one. Its weird, but it'll make more sense once you read the prologue. Speaking of!
Allee sat on the edge of a cliff admiring the sun as it set behind the distant mountains. Below her sprawled Opelucid City, a sprawling, but rustic town that was home to the eighth gym. She knew plenty about it: that Iris was the leader, and to win the final badge, she’d have to face a small army of dragons. But she wasn’t concerned. She knew she could do it. She just… didn’t want to. On her journey, she had collected the other seven badges quite easily, and for each one that she won, she grew less interested. Her mild musings were interrupted when she heard footfalls behind her – a set of four.
“I would like to say again how grateful I am for your help, Allee. With Ghetsis’s plan in ruins, he shouldn’t be a bother to anyone again.”
Allee turned to look behind her and shrugged nonchalantly. Standing at the edge of the forest that led up to the cliff was Xerneas, a blue and black deer-like pokemon with massive golden antlers inlaid with dozens of gemstones. As usual, it had spoken directly into her mind. “It was the right thing to do,” Allee said casually.
Despite her appearance as a timid, young, dainty, pale-skinned blonde, she was truly bold. After obtaining the seventh gym badge on her journey, she ran face to face with Team Plasma. While they pretended to be a pokemon-rights activist group, they were actually a terrorist organization with truly evil intentions. Instead of letting authorities deal with them, especially since they had failed thus far, she decided to take matters into her own hands. While taking the fight to Plasma, easily defeating their grunts en masse, she ran into Xerneas. Xerneas had told her that it was a member of a nature council of pokemon that came together a few years ago to help stop people like Plasma when the humans couldn’t do it themselves.
Together, Allee and Xerneas beat Ghetsis, and by all accounts, it was only so successful due to Allee’s cunning and the strength of the bond between her and her partner pokemon. She also realized that she was certainly more interested then than while fighting for badges. So she asked if she could join them and help save the world from future threats, to which Xerneas said it had to ask the council first. It had been some time, but now Xerneas was back.
“Mm, what did the council say?” Allee asked.
Xerneas was silent for a moment, then said, “I would ask of you a favor.” Allee tilted her head. “Evil individuals such as those and their plans have made us realize that we are not prepared to deal with these kinds of ongoings anymore than the humans are. But we don’t want to rely on trainers like you to solve our problems. Unfortunately, nature guardians like the ones that comprise the council are not born, they are created. With Arceus unwilling to create more directly, there is only one other thing he has allowed me to do.” He paused, then said, “I would like to extend to you an invitation to join us.”
Allee was confused. “Well… yeah, I mean that was what I had asked for, right? Why would that be a favor? I want to join you, I want to help keep the world safe, and I don’t plan on stopping if there’s more to be done!”
“I understand. But the nature council is made up of only nature guardians, and so if you want to join us, you would need to be one.” Xerneas then stood up full, straightening its posture to look more authoritative. “Thus, my offer is this: I would transform you, permanently, into a nature guardian – a pokemon of exceptional power – and then join us properly on the council.”
Allee almost choked on her own saliva. “I… wh-what?” she forced out.
“I know it is a lot to ask. I am asking you to leave everything about your life behind in exchange for a new one. That is why I said it was a favor,” Xerneas explained, lowering its head.
“But you’re not… joking, right? You want… to turn me… into a pokemon? An actual pokemon? Like, forever?” Allee asked, unable to believe what was on offer. She didn’t know whether she was more amazed or horrified.
“I would not joke about this. You would be, in every way, a pokemon, just like any other. Except that you would be what I believe you would call… a legendary pokemon, one of truly mythical power, like myself and the other guardians.”
Allee’s eyes widened somewhat, and she looked down at her own palms. A legendary pokemon, she thought. She looked over at Xerneas and asked, “Can… Can I think about it?”
It nodded. “Of course. Meet me here tomorrow evening and give me your decision then. No matter which way you choose to go, I still am truly grateful for the good that you have done. Do not worry about disappointing me if you decline; I understand what a truly monumental thing it is that I have asked of you.” After a brief bow, it turned around, retreated into the forest, and vanished.
Slowly, Allee pulled herself away from the cliff edge and stood up. She walked, but she felt as though she were floating. Was she… really considering this? Why? This was insane. She couldn’t be a pokemon. That was just… weird. Wasn’t it? She fuddled with her bag, then pulled out a blue pokeball with red stripes. Pressing the button on the front, her sigilyph appeared before her in a burst of red light. He lowered himself to allow Allee to climb on. “Let’s go home,” she said distantly, then Sigilyph took to the air.
During the flight, Allee thought about the prospect. Her first instinct was still that it was too extreme. And weird. Her? A pokemon? But… She couldn’t dismiss it. Part of her, some remote part of her… thought the idea was… alluring. Plus, it wasn’t like she was going to be some run-of-the-mill pet, she would be a legendary. Those pokemon were the ones people told stories about. They were forces of nature. Some of them were practically gods. That much power… Would that be worth trading away everything? Everything she was and everything she could become?
The flight felt short with so much to think about, and even that night was a blur. Upon touching down in Nuvema Town, her mom had rushed out to greet her and hugged her. Her family congratulated her on stopping Team Plasma, and they said that they saw her on TV. They asked her if she planned to continue her gym challenge, and that she could become champion if she wanted. They weren’t wrong, she knew that, but… she didn’t care. That’s not what she wanted.
She told them about everything that happened. She told them how much fun and how rewarding it felt to help save people, pokemon, and the world. She told them about how she got to partner with a legendary pokemon like Xerneas, and how cool Xerneas was.
Then she told them about the offer she was given. They didn’t believe her at first. They thought she was joking. Then they thought she was suffering from exhaustion. They made her go to sleep, as it was late, and so she did.
The next morning, she reiterated her choice. She was going to do it. They tried to talk her out of it. She gave all the money that she had earned, a healthy fortune, to her parents. They called her insane for even considering it. She left her pokemon behind for her little sister, giving them strict instructions to protect her family. Her sister didn’t quite understand what was going on - she was only eight - but she seemed… happy for Allee. She told Allee to go do cool things. Allee said that she would. Then she bid farewell to her pokemon. She said goodbye to her family. Her mother finally let her go, and told her to visit again. She promised she would, if it were an option. And she left.
Without Sigilyph, she had to make it back to Opelucid City on foot, essentially. There were ferries and taxis that made the trip quicker, but it still took most of the day. By the time she made it back to the cliff in the forest, it was sunset again. She took a deep breath and reality seemed to snap back together. Anxiety fell over her. What if she was making the wrong choice? Her life was great now, why would she throw it away? Anyone would love to be her, and she knew that. She could do anything.
Well, no. She couldn’t do everything. She couldn’t shoot lasers, or fly, or hurl massive boulders around. She couldn’t talk to the trees and feel the spirit of the forest, she couldn’t breathe fire, or breathe underwater. She couldn’t pick stuff up with her mind or use the moon’s strength as her own. These are things that pokemon could do. Things that she might be able to do in the future. Allee’s mind was finally made up. This was a position no one else would get to be in. If she backed away now, she’d regret it for the rest of her life.
She heard footfalls behind her. She turned to see Xerneas standing at the edge of the forest. Waiting.
Allee took a deep breath and nodded. “I accept your offer.”
Two years later…
Everything was wrong. The small, gray fox shivered in a corner of her spacious cell, wondering how this all could have happened. Could it be a dream? An incredibly realistic and terrifying nightmare? Seems unlikely, at this point. Rina had been held in captivity for a few days now, but no one ever came to rescue her. Who would? Rina thought bitterly.
Today, her captors had initiated their experiment, and though she had started the day as a human, she was now a pokemon: a zorua, if her memory was correct. She’d only been like this for roughly an hour, though the passage of time was hard to determine in this featureless room. She could barely walk; it felt wrong to even try. Nothing moved the way she expected it to. At least she wasn’t cold anymore, but it bothered her to know that it was probably because she had fur now. Despite that, she shivered anyway, only now because of fear and despair.
Suddenly, a loud crash erupted from the hallway beyond the door of the room that held her cage. She looked up slowly as her downward spiral of thoughts was broken. More experiments? she thought. She heard shouting, but it was muffled by the walls, so she couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying despite her improved hearing. A blur of pink flew by the small window in the door across the room. What was that?
Moments later, the pink thing flew back towards the window and looked inside. It was some kind of small, pink fairy creature. It seemed to be surprised to see Rina, then backed up from the window. A second after that, the thick, reinforced door crumpled with a horrifying screeching noise which pierced Rina’s delicate hearing. The ball of twisted metal hovered for a moment before falling to the floor. She flinched, terrified, and tried to press herself further into the corner she was already cowering in. She then heard a slight twinkling noise as the pink fairy flew into the room. Slowly, it approached the bars and inspected Rina. After a few moments, it smiled sympathetically and said, “You’re not really a pokemon, are you?” The voice was female.
Rina shook her head. “N-no…” Oh, gods above, I can understand it… I’m talking to a pokemon, no, no, no…
“Thought so. Um, this is going to be loud, so I’m sorry, but don’t be scared,” the fairy said, then raised her tiny hands in front of her with her triangular fingers spread apart. With a sudden, quick motion, she thrust her arms to either side of her and away from each other, and the bars of her cell responded in kind with a cacophony of screeching and crashing metal. When Rina looked again, there was a massive hole in the cage. This fairy creature may have been small, but she was powerful to a truly horrifying degree.
“Wh-who are you?” Rina asked tentatively. I’m having a conversation with a pokemon.
The fairy smiled. “I’m a celebi. But you may call me Allee, if you prefer. That was my human name.”
After taking a moment to process this, Rina’s eyes widened slowly and she spouted, “You were a human too!?”
Allee nodded. “I was, once upon a time. But we can talk later. This place is crawling with goons, so we’ll need to get you out of here pretty quick. Can you walk?”
Rina grimaced and took a deep breath. Okay. You can do this. R-right? It’s just walking. She pulled herself up to her feet, then took a step. She took another, then another, and then promptly fell over. “S-sorry… This all feels so wrong still… I don’t know what I’m doing… Y-you’re obviously super strong with psychic powers; can’t you just levitate me or something?”
The celebi smiles softly. “Unfortunately, zorua are dark-type pokemon. My psychic powers have entirely zero effect on you. Um… But I can probably just carry you.” Allee floats over above Rina and wraps her arms around her midsection. The two of them were roughly the same size, but Allee still managed to get the two of them airborne. “Just try not to squirm, okay?”
Rina tried her best to stay still as Allee flew them out of the room then quickly down the hall. It was like an action movie, but Rina wasn’t exactly having any fun. Surely, her life was over. She couldn’t go back to anything she knew. Was she meant to live as an animal from here on? Or maybe… maybe someone could reverse this…? But likely, the only ones who knew how to do that were the very people who did this to her, so it seemed impossible. Then again… what did she have before? There was a reason Plasma targeted her: no one cared about her.
As Allee flew, whenever someone tried to get in their way, they found themselves psychically thrust against the nearby wall, allowing the fairy to fly passed. She expertly navigated hallway after hallway, blowing doors open or apart depending on their strength, before finally coming to the largest set of doors. After Allee mentally shoved them open, Rina saw sunlight for the first time in days. A forest stretched beyond the facility, seemingly forever, and standing on the path through the trees was a huge, blue, deer-like creature.
Allee quickly flew over to it and set Rina down on the path. Her feet struggled to stand after being jostled around so much, but thankfully, her four legs were more stable than her former two, and she managed to keep her balance. Allee nodded to the deer creature, who then nodded back. It stepped further onto the path so it stared directly at the facility they came from, then closed its eyes. Its antlers glowed with an array of colors for a few moments, and then a large ball of pink light formed in the sky above them, glowing with awesome power. Then, the deer opened its eyes, and the ball of light was launched at the facility. Upon making contact, it, and the facility, exploded loudly into flames and light.
“Y-you destroyed it…” Rina muttered, unable to look away from the wreckage.
“That’s right,” the deer creature said with a powerful but androgynous voice. “Now they can no longer do to anyone else what they have done to you.”
“S-so… does that mean I’m stuck –ack!” Rina was cut off as she was yanked from the ground by the fur around the back of her neck. It hurt something awful, and she struggled to move. Allee and the deer creature turned to see what had happened and immediately assumed defensive stances.
“Careful. Wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt,” a deep, sinister voice taunted from behind Rina. A cold metallic object was pressed against the underside of her muzzle. A human had grabbed her and was holding a knife to her neck. Rina mewled weakly as her blood froze despite her heart beating way too fast.
“Let her go,” Allee demanded as her green eyes glowed with powerful intent.
Somehow, the human understood her demands. Perhaps through telepathy? “Maybe. But I believe you all owe me a new facility, since you rudely destroyed this one,” the villain explained. “You seem to care about this experimental freak for whatever reason, so how about this – One of you will agree to be captured in a pokeball to be sold off as recompense for the damages. If not, your little friend here gets gutted like magikarp. How does that sound?”
“D-don’t…” Rina muttered. Her life didn’t matter anyway, especially if she was going to be stuck like this. These two were legendary pokemon, who knows what kind of havoc a criminal could wreak with that kind of power?
Allee thought for a while, fists clenched, then sighed. She seemed defeated. “Fine,” she said, then looked with purpose at the person holding Rina. The villain laughed and said, “Good! There’s an empty pokeball by my belt. Once you’re securely inside and the Xerneas leaves, I’ll release the zorua.”
The celebi nodded, took a breath, and then flew over to the man’s belt. Rina shuddered. No! I’m not worth that! She couldn’t stand it. These legendary creatures hardly knew her, and they were willing to give up everything for her? For some loser nobody with no life!? Slowly, her despair and fear melted into molten anger. After all, the guy holding her was in charge of the people who turned her into a zorua anyway, right? He’s the reason she was like this!
Time slowed as she could hear her blood pumping in her ears. Little by little, she could feel… something. It was like a roaring river of power, deep inside of her, just out of reach. She concentrated and pulled herself closer to it. It was overwhelming; she had never felt anything like it. With a cry of effort, she reached it and-
“Aaah!” the guy shouted. Rina felt immediate relief as she was let go, and she threw herself to the side just in time to dodge the large knife that embedded itself in the ground moments later. The zorua looked back at the man, who was clutching his head in pain. A black and red aura coursed around him, not letting him go. She was doing that to him. Somehow. It felt… gratifying.
Boiling rage still burned within her, and she redoubled her efforts. The man screamed, clearly in horrible agony. Good! She thought, growling. This is all your fault! Rina didn’t let up, instead focusing even harder. You ruined EVERYTHING! The world was becoming blurry from her own tears and exhaustion, but she still kept it up. Everything seemingly lost focus as the torrent of power burning through her began to consume her from the inside out. She heard the man fall to his knees, and he continued to cry out from a pain so intense it must have felt like his skin was being peeled away.
A hand touched Rina’s shoulder. “Hey. That’s enough.” It was Allee. Suddenly, Rina’s rage began to fade, and so too did the aura around the man. He collapsed, unconscious, as Rina panted, clearly spent. It took a few moments before she finally regained her senses. She looked at the guy on the ground, backed up a few steps, and asked, “D-did I do that…?”
The celebi nodded. “Yeah. You were pretty mad. Still, that was one of the most powerful Dark Pulses I’ve ever seen, so good job,” she said, chuckling softly.
“I… That was an attack then… I used a move like… like a proper pokemon. I… I felt so much power, it was like a hurricane. Is that what that’s supposed to feel like? It’s… scary… I… It felt like… Like I almost lost myself… Any longer… and…” Rina mumbled. She still felt vaguely hollow inside, but more than that, she was exhausted.
Xerneas stepped closer. “Most people don’t realize how much power a pokemon can wield when they’re giving it everything. But doing so is foolish because it can easily tear you apart. You’re lucky you’re still with us.”
The zorua looked down. “S-sorry… I… I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Allee shook her head. “It’s okay, you don’t need to apologize. You’re still new. That guy had it coming anyway. After all, he’s…” She trailed off. “Speaking of… what are you going to do now? For better or worse, you’re a pokemon now. Time to make a new life for yourself!”
Rina sighed. “I don’t know.” The more she thought about being a pokemon, the more resigned to it she felt. What did it matter what she was? She was a homeless failure either way. Still, at least before, she knew what she was doing. If she were left alone now, she wouldn’t last long. What did zorua eat? What needs did they have? She didn’t know. After a moment, she asked, “Can’t I just stay with you, Allee?”
The celebi seemed surprised, then looked to Xerneas. It tilted its head, then said, “Well, I don’t see a problem with that. But Allee is a nature guardian. She regularly goes up against powerful foes and criminal organizations to help keep the world safe. You have to be willing to accept that it’s not going to be easy, and you’ll be in danger fairly often.”
Rina nods. “I kinda figured. But… I don’t have a life right now. So I need to do something with myself. I may as well help you guys help others, i-if you’ll have me. I know I don’t really know how to do anything, but… I just don’t know what I’d do on my own…”
Allee smiled softly. “That’s okay. I’ll teach you whatever you need to know. You’ve already established a link to your internal power, so that’s the first step taken care of. Everything else will be easy! I promise!”
Rina nodded, and for the first time in a very, very long time, she smiled.
Fear.
It was the only thing she felt as she stumbled across the roots and rocks of the forest, trying to get away from wherever she was before. She didn’t know where she was. Even more so, she didn’t know what she was. All she knew was that she was captured - not in a pokeball, but a net - and locked in a cage. Later, she woke up as a different thing entirely. Her arms and legs were long and furless. In fact, she had no fur, besides a thick, curly mane of red-orange hair on the top of her head. She didn’t even have her tails anymore.
Her captors had been taking her to another cell when a pink fairy pokemon flew by them, blowing them over, but leaving her unscathed. She watched the fairy continue down the hall, and various metal banging and explosive noises followed in its wake. Seeing an opportunity for herself, she crawled away from the staggered thugs. Thankfully, she quickly found an exit in the form of a massive hole that had been blown out of the side of the building. Finally free, she only then realized what a situation she was in.
Scrambling over the forest floor was proving to be painful. Whatever she was now, her skin was delicate, and clearly not meant for this. To make matters worse, she was freezing. She had no fur, and her internal flame had abandoned her - clearly disgusted by her new body. The humans that did this to her had dressed her in a large cloth… thing, with holes cut into it for her front legs and her head, but it did little to shield her from the elements.
As she slowly made her way, she was startled by a massive explosion only a short distance behind her. She spun around and watched flames and pink energy lick the sky. That building, she thought. It… exploded.
Good! she thought bitterly. They deserved it after doing this to her. But now she didn’t know what to do. Clearly, she needed help. On one hand, she didn’t really want to be seen like this, but on the other hand, she was likely to die out here on her own. So she kept crawling. It’s all she could do.
Soon, she saw something beyond the trees. It wasn’t green and brown - it was white. She quickened her pace and stopped just before she made it beyond the trees. She looked on, wide-eyed. There were white buildings, tall buildings; though, they looked friendlier than the one she was kept in. It was a town. And there were humans. Several humans. They all wore colorful cloth. For whatever reason, they were standing in the middle of town, looking into the forest. The explosion. That’s what they were looking at.
Something then clicked in her mind and she looked down at herself. She looked at her arms, as that’s what she realized they were, and her hands. Then she looked down at her long legs. I’m a human. I’ve been turned into a human, she realized in equal parts disgust and intrigue. She also then figured that her captors had also been humans, but back then, she merely saw them as faceless shapes of evil with how afraid she was.
Looking at her long legs again, she then also realized that her problems with moving were likely caused from the fact that humans were bipedal. This made sense to her, since some pokemon were also bipedal, though she herself hadn’t been before. After thinking it over, she used her arms to hold onto a nearby tree. She gripped it tightly, something she couldn’t have done before with her former paws, then positioned a foot beneath her. Then another. Finally, she stretched her legs out to their full length. She wobbled, but used the tree to steady her. When she felt confident, she let the tree go. She was standing. Like a human.
She took an uncertain step. Then another. She briefly flailed as she lost balance, but she used another tree to steady her. She took a few more steps. Feeling confidant, she started walking towards the town. What she didn’t see, however, was that the forest she was in was on a small ridge over the pathway below, and a misplaced step led her to fall a few feet onto the pavement below. The elbow she landed on exploded with pain, and she clutched her arm tightly. Shuddering, she pulled herself up onto her knees, only to see that all the humans were now staring at her. Despite her minor injury, no one moved. They just… stared.
“C-can… can someone help me?” the red-head asked. It seemed like they understood her, surprisingly, and one of them ran off. Maybe to get someone who could help her? She felt incredibly awkward, however, as most of the others continued to stare. One of them, a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy wearing blue cloth, tilted his head, then shook it, and walked off towards a building with an orange roof.
From the direction of where the first human had run off to now came two more, one in dark blue and rugged clothes, and another in delicate white clothing. They walked right up to the red-haired girl, and the one in blue said, “We’re going to need you to come with us.”
“Wh-what?” she asked. “Why?”
“We have questions for you. That’s all,” the man said.
She didn’t know what they’d want, so she asked, “C-can you help me?”
The woman in white nodded. “Yes, we can help.”
The girl nodded. “Okay.” She tried to stand, but without something to help her up, she struggled. Seeing this, the man in blue reached out his hand. She stared for a few moments, then grabbed his hand with her own, and he helped her up.
They led her through the crowd, and hopefully, somewhere that could help her.
Luke stared at his new, expensive backpack with contempt. It sat there on his desk, mocking him. The simple blue and black design did nothing to hide its true meaning. For the past week, it occupied the same space on that desk, and Luke wouldn't touch it. His parents didn't quite understand what this bag had done to him to warrant such disapproval. He had to admit, though, that it wasn't the bag's fault. The bag was just concrete evidence of something he had been dreading: he was going to challenge the Pokemon League. He didn't want to go, but his parents really didn't care.
He sighed and looked away from the pack. He stared across his disorganized room at the calendar on the wall. It was January 25. His glance hovered over the red ring imposed on tomorrow's date before tearing himself away from the calendar entirely. He turned, pulled the curtains in front of his window aside, and looked out at the small town of Accumula. It seemed like a normal day, just like any other. There had been some kind of explosion sound a short time ago, but no one seemed distressed about it. It was probably just some pokemon running amok, as they sometimes did. Distracted, he used his reflection to slide his long, blond hair out of his face. He wasn't the kind of person to be thoughtful about views from tall places; he was simply procrastinating.
He should have started preparing for his departure yesterday. He hadn’t.
It wasn't that he was scared of walking around semi-maintained paths through the wilderness with multitudes of super-powerful animals waiting to jump pedestrians. He just didn't want to. His scrawny form was much better suited to sitting at home, tablet in hand, than climbing mountains. His parents assured him that there would be no mountain climbing or any other extraneous activity involved, but that didn’t sway his opinion.
Unfortunately, his parents weren't giving him a choice in the matter. His father was a successful gym trainer in Castelia City, and if Luke didn't follow in his footsteps, he'd disappoint his whole family. Or so they said, anyway. Luke’s family line had a history of being gym trainers, and this apparently implied that he should follow suit. But this meant that he had to compete in the Unova Circuit and earn the badge of the gym he wanted to apply for. This also meant he had to earn every badge before that, as per the job requirements. But he didn’t want to work in any gym. Quite frankly, he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life at all. It definitely wasn’t that, though.
But he couldn't stay. His mother would create a land of pure misery and torment for him if he did that. Luke supposed that would be marginally worse than crawling through dirt and being without WiFi for extended periods of time.
"Luke!" his mother called from down the hall, disturbing his inner monologue. "Have you started packing yet?"
"Uh, no," he responded. If he lied, she would have found out anyway.
"Uh, then why not?" The small woman with scraggly, dirty-blond hair appeared in his doorway with a disappointed frown on her face.
"I dunno. I'll get to it. It won’t take that long." She stared at Luke for a few moments, then scoffed. “Well, whatever. Packed or not, you’re going tomorrow.” Then, she left him.
Luke sunk further in his chair. After several useless thoughts in protest, reluctantly, he grabbed his blue coat, threw it on, and, after a moment, took his new bag and slung it across his shoulder. Walking out into the living room, he told his mom, who was now in the kitchen, “I’m gonna go to the Pokemon Center and buy supplies for tomorrow.”
“Great!” his mother said happily.
Luke rolled his eyes, threw on his shoes, and left out the front door. It was cold outside, as it was early in the year, so Luke walked quickly. He noticed then that everyone outside was staring out into the forest. Following their glances, he saw a massive plume of smoke rising from somewhere in the distance.
Moments later, after some rustling amongst the trees, a red-haired girl fell from the ledge over town and hit the white bricks below. Luke watched, brow furrowed, as the girl scrambled to her knees, clutching her elbow. She looked so… lost. Her eyes were wild, and she was dressed in nothing but an oversized and stained white shirt. She called for help, and someone ran off to get an officer.
Luke and the girl locked eyes briefly, and he stared, curious. This was Accumula Town – nothing interesting happened in Accumula Town. And yet… He shook his head, turned his back on her, and continued walking to the Pokemon Center.
The door opened automatically, and he stepped into the warm air within. He walked over to the side of the building towards a blue counter, and started looking over the items. All the while, though, his thoughts were still on that girl. Why was she here? Why was she so poorly dressed for January? Was she homeless? On drugs? Did she have something to do with the explosion from earlier?
Eventually, Luke focused enough to buy his supplies and left. By the time he made it back outside, the girl was gone, and the people were dispersing. He sighed. Forced to leave just as things started to happen around here. Figures.
With nothing else to do, he went home to keep packing.
Author's Note: Like I said, it may be a bit until I come back to this, but feel free to tell me what you think! Or not! Either way
Hello again everyone. To be clear, my other fic, Thunderstruck, is going to be my main project. But this is another story idea I've been throwing around for quite some time and I finally figured out how I wanted to approach. So updates on this one may be slow, but I do want to get it out there! This story focuses on four characters, separated into two main plots that will intermingle as the story goes. The setup for this will largely follow a trainer fic set in the BW2 timeline of events, but only one of the plots is an actual trainer fic. The other plot is like PMD, except set in the trainer world, rather than the pmd one. Its weird, but it'll make more sense once you read the prologue. Speaking of!
Chapter 0
A Prologue in Four Parts
[Allee]
Allee sat on the edge of a cliff admiring the sun as it set behind the distant mountains. Below her sprawled Opelucid City, a sprawling, but rustic town that was home to the eighth gym. She knew plenty about it: that Iris was the leader, and to win the final badge, she’d have to face a small army of dragons. But she wasn’t concerned. She knew she could do it. She just… didn’t want to. On her journey, she had collected the other seven badges quite easily, and for each one that she won, she grew less interested. Her mild musings were interrupted when she heard footfalls behind her – a set of four.
“I would like to say again how grateful I am for your help, Allee. With Ghetsis’s plan in ruins, he shouldn’t be a bother to anyone again.”
Allee turned to look behind her and shrugged nonchalantly. Standing at the edge of the forest that led up to the cliff was Xerneas, a blue and black deer-like pokemon with massive golden antlers inlaid with dozens of gemstones. As usual, it had spoken directly into her mind. “It was the right thing to do,” Allee said casually.
Despite her appearance as a timid, young, dainty, pale-skinned blonde, she was truly bold. After obtaining the seventh gym badge on her journey, she ran face to face with Team Plasma. While they pretended to be a pokemon-rights activist group, they were actually a terrorist organization with truly evil intentions. Instead of letting authorities deal with them, especially since they had failed thus far, she decided to take matters into her own hands. While taking the fight to Plasma, easily defeating their grunts en masse, she ran into Xerneas. Xerneas had told her that it was a member of a nature council of pokemon that came together a few years ago to help stop people like Plasma when the humans couldn’t do it themselves.
Together, Allee and Xerneas beat Ghetsis, and by all accounts, it was only so successful due to Allee’s cunning and the strength of the bond between her and her partner pokemon. She also realized that she was certainly more interested then than while fighting for badges. So she asked if she could join them and help save the world from future threats, to which Xerneas said it had to ask the council first. It had been some time, but now Xerneas was back.
“Mm, what did the council say?” Allee asked.
Xerneas was silent for a moment, then said, “I would ask of you a favor.” Allee tilted her head. “Evil individuals such as those and their plans have made us realize that we are not prepared to deal with these kinds of ongoings anymore than the humans are. But we don’t want to rely on trainers like you to solve our problems. Unfortunately, nature guardians like the ones that comprise the council are not born, they are created. With Arceus unwilling to create more directly, there is only one other thing he has allowed me to do.” He paused, then said, “I would like to extend to you an invitation to join us.”
Allee was confused. “Well… yeah, I mean that was what I had asked for, right? Why would that be a favor? I want to join you, I want to help keep the world safe, and I don’t plan on stopping if there’s more to be done!”
“I understand. But the nature council is made up of only nature guardians, and so if you want to join us, you would need to be one.” Xerneas then stood up full, straightening its posture to look more authoritative. “Thus, my offer is this: I would transform you, permanently, into a nature guardian – a pokemon of exceptional power – and then join us properly on the council.”
Allee almost choked on her own saliva. “I… wh-what?” she forced out.
“I know it is a lot to ask. I am asking you to leave everything about your life behind in exchange for a new one. That is why I said it was a favor,” Xerneas explained, lowering its head.
“But you’re not… joking, right? You want… to turn me… into a pokemon? An actual pokemon? Like, forever?” Allee asked, unable to believe what was on offer. She didn’t know whether she was more amazed or horrified.
“I would not joke about this. You would be, in every way, a pokemon, just like any other. Except that you would be what I believe you would call… a legendary pokemon, one of truly mythical power, like myself and the other guardians.”
Allee’s eyes widened somewhat, and she looked down at her own palms. A legendary pokemon, she thought. She looked over at Xerneas and asked, “Can… Can I think about it?”
It nodded. “Of course. Meet me here tomorrow evening and give me your decision then. No matter which way you choose to go, I still am truly grateful for the good that you have done. Do not worry about disappointing me if you decline; I understand what a truly monumental thing it is that I have asked of you.” After a brief bow, it turned around, retreated into the forest, and vanished.
Slowly, Allee pulled herself away from the cliff edge and stood up. She walked, but she felt as though she were floating. Was she… really considering this? Why? This was insane. She couldn’t be a pokemon. That was just… weird. Wasn’t it? She fuddled with her bag, then pulled out a blue pokeball with red stripes. Pressing the button on the front, her sigilyph appeared before her in a burst of red light. He lowered himself to allow Allee to climb on. “Let’s go home,” she said distantly, then Sigilyph took to the air.
During the flight, Allee thought about the prospect. Her first instinct was still that it was too extreme. And weird. Her? A pokemon? But… She couldn’t dismiss it. Part of her, some remote part of her… thought the idea was… alluring. Plus, it wasn’t like she was going to be some run-of-the-mill pet, she would be a legendary. Those pokemon were the ones people told stories about. They were forces of nature. Some of them were practically gods. That much power… Would that be worth trading away everything? Everything she was and everything she could become?
The flight felt short with so much to think about, and even that night was a blur. Upon touching down in Nuvema Town, her mom had rushed out to greet her and hugged her. Her family congratulated her on stopping Team Plasma, and they said that they saw her on TV. They asked her if she planned to continue her gym challenge, and that she could become champion if she wanted. They weren’t wrong, she knew that, but… she didn’t care. That’s not what she wanted.
She told them about everything that happened. She told them how much fun and how rewarding it felt to help save people, pokemon, and the world. She told them about how she got to partner with a legendary pokemon like Xerneas, and how cool Xerneas was.
Then she told them about the offer she was given. They didn’t believe her at first. They thought she was joking. Then they thought she was suffering from exhaustion. They made her go to sleep, as it was late, and so she did.
The next morning, she reiterated her choice. She was going to do it. They tried to talk her out of it. She gave all the money that she had earned, a healthy fortune, to her parents. They called her insane for even considering it. She left her pokemon behind for her little sister, giving them strict instructions to protect her family. Her sister didn’t quite understand what was going on - she was only eight - but she seemed… happy for Allee. She told Allee to go do cool things. Allee said that she would. Then she bid farewell to her pokemon. She said goodbye to her family. Her mother finally let her go, and told her to visit again. She promised she would, if it were an option. And she left.
Without Sigilyph, she had to make it back to Opelucid City on foot, essentially. There were ferries and taxis that made the trip quicker, but it still took most of the day. By the time she made it back to the cliff in the forest, it was sunset again. She took a deep breath and reality seemed to snap back together. Anxiety fell over her. What if she was making the wrong choice? Her life was great now, why would she throw it away? Anyone would love to be her, and she knew that. She could do anything.
Well, no. She couldn’t do everything. She couldn’t shoot lasers, or fly, or hurl massive boulders around. She couldn’t talk to the trees and feel the spirit of the forest, she couldn’t breathe fire, or breathe underwater. She couldn’t pick stuff up with her mind or use the moon’s strength as her own. These are things that pokemon could do. Things that she might be able to do in the future. Allee’s mind was finally made up. This was a position no one else would get to be in. If she backed away now, she’d regret it for the rest of her life.
She heard footfalls behind her. She turned to see Xerneas standing at the edge of the forest. Waiting.
Allee took a deep breath and nodded. “I accept your offer.”
Two years later…
[Rina]
Everything was wrong. The small, gray fox shivered in a corner of her spacious cell, wondering how this all could have happened. Could it be a dream? An incredibly realistic and terrifying nightmare? Seems unlikely, at this point. Rina had been held in captivity for a few days now, but no one ever came to rescue her. Who would? Rina thought bitterly.
Today, her captors had initiated their experiment, and though she had started the day as a human, she was now a pokemon: a zorua, if her memory was correct. She’d only been like this for roughly an hour, though the passage of time was hard to determine in this featureless room. She could barely walk; it felt wrong to even try. Nothing moved the way she expected it to. At least she wasn’t cold anymore, but it bothered her to know that it was probably because she had fur now. Despite that, she shivered anyway, only now because of fear and despair.
Suddenly, a loud crash erupted from the hallway beyond the door of the room that held her cage. She looked up slowly as her downward spiral of thoughts was broken. More experiments? she thought. She heard shouting, but it was muffled by the walls, so she couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying despite her improved hearing. A blur of pink flew by the small window in the door across the room. What was that?
Moments later, the pink thing flew back towards the window and looked inside. It was some kind of small, pink fairy creature. It seemed to be surprised to see Rina, then backed up from the window. A second after that, the thick, reinforced door crumpled with a horrifying screeching noise which pierced Rina’s delicate hearing. The ball of twisted metal hovered for a moment before falling to the floor. She flinched, terrified, and tried to press herself further into the corner she was already cowering in. She then heard a slight twinkling noise as the pink fairy flew into the room. Slowly, it approached the bars and inspected Rina. After a few moments, it smiled sympathetically and said, “You’re not really a pokemon, are you?” The voice was female.
Rina shook her head. “N-no…” Oh, gods above, I can understand it… I’m talking to a pokemon, no, no, no…
“Thought so. Um, this is going to be loud, so I’m sorry, but don’t be scared,” the fairy said, then raised her tiny hands in front of her with her triangular fingers spread apart. With a sudden, quick motion, she thrust her arms to either side of her and away from each other, and the bars of her cell responded in kind with a cacophony of screeching and crashing metal. When Rina looked again, there was a massive hole in the cage. This fairy creature may have been small, but she was powerful to a truly horrifying degree.
“Wh-who are you?” Rina asked tentatively. I’m having a conversation with a pokemon.
The fairy smiled. “I’m a celebi. But you may call me Allee, if you prefer. That was my human name.”
After taking a moment to process this, Rina’s eyes widened slowly and she spouted, “You were a human too!?”
Allee nodded. “I was, once upon a time. But we can talk later. This place is crawling with goons, so we’ll need to get you out of here pretty quick. Can you walk?”
Rina grimaced and took a deep breath. Okay. You can do this. R-right? It’s just walking. She pulled herself up to her feet, then took a step. She took another, then another, and then promptly fell over. “S-sorry… This all feels so wrong still… I don’t know what I’m doing… Y-you’re obviously super strong with psychic powers; can’t you just levitate me or something?”
The celebi smiles softly. “Unfortunately, zorua are dark-type pokemon. My psychic powers have entirely zero effect on you. Um… But I can probably just carry you.” Allee floats over above Rina and wraps her arms around her midsection. The two of them were roughly the same size, but Allee still managed to get the two of them airborne. “Just try not to squirm, okay?”
Rina tried her best to stay still as Allee flew them out of the room then quickly down the hall. It was like an action movie, but Rina wasn’t exactly having any fun. Surely, her life was over. She couldn’t go back to anything she knew. Was she meant to live as an animal from here on? Or maybe… maybe someone could reverse this…? But likely, the only ones who knew how to do that were the very people who did this to her, so it seemed impossible. Then again… what did she have before? There was a reason Plasma targeted her: no one cared about her.
As Allee flew, whenever someone tried to get in their way, they found themselves psychically thrust against the nearby wall, allowing the fairy to fly passed. She expertly navigated hallway after hallway, blowing doors open or apart depending on their strength, before finally coming to the largest set of doors. After Allee mentally shoved them open, Rina saw sunlight for the first time in days. A forest stretched beyond the facility, seemingly forever, and standing on the path through the trees was a huge, blue, deer-like creature.
Allee quickly flew over to it and set Rina down on the path. Her feet struggled to stand after being jostled around so much, but thankfully, her four legs were more stable than her former two, and she managed to keep her balance. Allee nodded to the deer creature, who then nodded back. It stepped further onto the path so it stared directly at the facility they came from, then closed its eyes. Its antlers glowed with an array of colors for a few moments, and then a large ball of pink light formed in the sky above them, glowing with awesome power. Then, the deer opened its eyes, and the ball of light was launched at the facility. Upon making contact, it, and the facility, exploded loudly into flames and light.
“Y-you destroyed it…” Rina muttered, unable to look away from the wreckage.
“That’s right,” the deer creature said with a powerful but androgynous voice. “Now they can no longer do to anyone else what they have done to you.”
“S-so… does that mean I’m stuck –ack!” Rina was cut off as she was yanked from the ground by the fur around the back of her neck. It hurt something awful, and she struggled to move. Allee and the deer creature turned to see what had happened and immediately assumed defensive stances.
“Careful. Wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt,” a deep, sinister voice taunted from behind Rina. A cold metallic object was pressed against the underside of her muzzle. A human had grabbed her and was holding a knife to her neck. Rina mewled weakly as her blood froze despite her heart beating way too fast.
“Let her go,” Allee demanded as her green eyes glowed with powerful intent.
Somehow, the human understood her demands. Perhaps through telepathy? “Maybe. But I believe you all owe me a new facility, since you rudely destroyed this one,” the villain explained. “You seem to care about this experimental freak for whatever reason, so how about this – One of you will agree to be captured in a pokeball to be sold off as recompense for the damages. If not, your little friend here gets gutted like magikarp. How does that sound?”
“D-don’t…” Rina muttered. Her life didn’t matter anyway, especially if she was going to be stuck like this. These two were legendary pokemon, who knows what kind of havoc a criminal could wreak with that kind of power?
Allee thought for a while, fists clenched, then sighed. She seemed defeated. “Fine,” she said, then looked with purpose at the person holding Rina. The villain laughed and said, “Good! There’s an empty pokeball by my belt. Once you’re securely inside and the Xerneas leaves, I’ll release the zorua.”
The celebi nodded, took a breath, and then flew over to the man’s belt. Rina shuddered. No! I’m not worth that! She couldn’t stand it. These legendary creatures hardly knew her, and they were willing to give up everything for her? For some loser nobody with no life!? Slowly, her despair and fear melted into molten anger. After all, the guy holding her was in charge of the people who turned her into a zorua anyway, right? He’s the reason she was like this!
Time slowed as she could hear her blood pumping in her ears. Little by little, she could feel… something. It was like a roaring river of power, deep inside of her, just out of reach. She concentrated and pulled herself closer to it. It was overwhelming; she had never felt anything like it. With a cry of effort, she reached it and-
“Aaah!” the guy shouted. Rina felt immediate relief as she was let go, and she threw herself to the side just in time to dodge the large knife that embedded itself in the ground moments later. The zorua looked back at the man, who was clutching his head in pain. A black and red aura coursed around him, not letting him go. She was doing that to him. Somehow. It felt… gratifying.
Boiling rage still burned within her, and she redoubled her efforts. The man screamed, clearly in horrible agony. Good! She thought, growling. This is all your fault! Rina didn’t let up, instead focusing even harder. You ruined EVERYTHING! The world was becoming blurry from her own tears and exhaustion, but she still kept it up. Everything seemingly lost focus as the torrent of power burning through her began to consume her from the inside out. She heard the man fall to his knees, and he continued to cry out from a pain so intense it must have felt like his skin was being peeled away.
A hand touched Rina’s shoulder. “Hey. That’s enough.” It was Allee. Suddenly, Rina’s rage began to fade, and so too did the aura around the man. He collapsed, unconscious, as Rina panted, clearly spent. It took a few moments before she finally regained her senses. She looked at the guy on the ground, backed up a few steps, and asked, “D-did I do that…?”
The celebi nodded. “Yeah. You were pretty mad. Still, that was one of the most powerful Dark Pulses I’ve ever seen, so good job,” she said, chuckling softly.
“I… That was an attack then… I used a move like… like a proper pokemon. I… I felt so much power, it was like a hurricane. Is that what that’s supposed to feel like? It’s… scary… I… It felt like… Like I almost lost myself… Any longer… and…” Rina mumbled. She still felt vaguely hollow inside, but more than that, she was exhausted.
Xerneas stepped closer. “Most people don’t realize how much power a pokemon can wield when they’re giving it everything. But doing so is foolish because it can easily tear you apart. You’re lucky you’re still with us.”
The zorua looked down. “S-sorry… I… I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Allee shook her head. “It’s okay, you don’t need to apologize. You’re still new. That guy had it coming anyway. After all, he’s…” She trailed off. “Speaking of… what are you going to do now? For better or worse, you’re a pokemon now. Time to make a new life for yourself!”
Rina sighed. “I don’t know.” The more she thought about being a pokemon, the more resigned to it she felt. What did it matter what she was? She was a homeless failure either way. Still, at least before, she knew what she was doing. If she were left alone now, she wouldn’t last long. What did zorua eat? What needs did they have? She didn’t know. After a moment, she asked, “Can’t I just stay with you, Allee?”
The celebi seemed surprised, then looked to Xerneas. It tilted its head, then said, “Well, I don’t see a problem with that. But Allee is a nature guardian. She regularly goes up against powerful foes and criminal organizations to help keep the world safe. You have to be willing to accept that it’s not going to be easy, and you’ll be in danger fairly often.”
Rina nods. “I kinda figured. But… I don’t have a life right now. So I need to do something with myself. I may as well help you guys help others, i-if you’ll have me. I know I don’t really know how to do anything, but… I just don’t know what I’d do on my own…”
Allee smiled softly. “That’s okay. I’ll teach you whatever you need to know. You’ve already established a link to your internal power, so that’s the first step taken care of. Everything else will be easy! I promise!”
Rina nodded, and for the first time in a very, very long time, she smiled.
[?]
Fear.
It was the only thing she felt as she stumbled across the roots and rocks of the forest, trying to get away from wherever she was before. She didn’t know where she was. Even more so, she didn’t know what she was. All she knew was that she was captured - not in a pokeball, but a net - and locked in a cage. Later, she woke up as a different thing entirely. Her arms and legs were long and furless. In fact, she had no fur, besides a thick, curly mane of red-orange hair on the top of her head. She didn’t even have her tails anymore.
Her captors had been taking her to another cell when a pink fairy pokemon flew by them, blowing them over, but leaving her unscathed. She watched the fairy continue down the hall, and various metal banging and explosive noises followed in its wake. Seeing an opportunity for herself, she crawled away from the staggered thugs. Thankfully, she quickly found an exit in the form of a massive hole that had been blown out of the side of the building. Finally free, she only then realized what a situation she was in.
Scrambling over the forest floor was proving to be painful. Whatever she was now, her skin was delicate, and clearly not meant for this. To make matters worse, she was freezing. She had no fur, and her internal flame had abandoned her - clearly disgusted by her new body. The humans that did this to her had dressed her in a large cloth… thing, with holes cut into it for her front legs and her head, but it did little to shield her from the elements.
As she slowly made her way, she was startled by a massive explosion only a short distance behind her. She spun around and watched flames and pink energy lick the sky. That building, she thought. It… exploded.
Good! she thought bitterly. They deserved it after doing this to her. But now she didn’t know what to do. Clearly, she needed help. On one hand, she didn’t really want to be seen like this, but on the other hand, she was likely to die out here on her own. So she kept crawling. It’s all she could do.
Soon, she saw something beyond the trees. It wasn’t green and brown - it was white. She quickened her pace and stopped just before she made it beyond the trees. She looked on, wide-eyed. There were white buildings, tall buildings; though, they looked friendlier than the one she was kept in. It was a town. And there were humans. Several humans. They all wore colorful cloth. For whatever reason, they were standing in the middle of town, looking into the forest. The explosion. That’s what they were looking at.
Something then clicked in her mind and she looked down at herself. She looked at her arms, as that’s what she realized they were, and her hands. Then she looked down at her long legs. I’m a human. I’ve been turned into a human, she realized in equal parts disgust and intrigue. She also then figured that her captors had also been humans, but back then, she merely saw them as faceless shapes of evil with how afraid she was.
Looking at her long legs again, she then also realized that her problems with moving were likely caused from the fact that humans were bipedal. This made sense to her, since some pokemon were also bipedal, though she herself hadn’t been before. After thinking it over, she used her arms to hold onto a nearby tree. She gripped it tightly, something she couldn’t have done before with her former paws, then positioned a foot beneath her. Then another. Finally, she stretched her legs out to their full length. She wobbled, but used the tree to steady her. When she felt confident, she let the tree go. She was standing. Like a human.
She took an uncertain step. Then another. She briefly flailed as she lost balance, but she used another tree to steady her. She took a few more steps. Feeling confidant, she started walking towards the town. What she didn’t see, however, was that the forest she was in was on a small ridge over the pathway below, and a misplaced step led her to fall a few feet onto the pavement below. The elbow she landed on exploded with pain, and she clutched her arm tightly. Shuddering, she pulled herself up onto her knees, only to see that all the humans were now staring at her. Despite her minor injury, no one moved. They just… stared.
“C-can… can someone help me?” the red-head asked. It seemed like they understood her, surprisingly, and one of them ran off. Maybe to get someone who could help her? She felt incredibly awkward, however, as most of the others continued to stare. One of them, a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy wearing blue cloth, tilted his head, then shook it, and walked off towards a building with an orange roof.
From the direction of where the first human had run off to now came two more, one in dark blue and rugged clothes, and another in delicate white clothing. They walked right up to the red-haired girl, and the one in blue said, “We’re going to need you to come with us.”
“Wh-what?” she asked. “Why?”
“We have questions for you. That’s all,” the man said.
She didn’t know what they’d want, so she asked, “C-can you help me?”
The woman in white nodded. “Yes, we can help.”
The girl nodded. “Okay.” She tried to stand, but without something to help her up, she struggled. Seeing this, the man in blue reached out his hand. She stared for a few moments, then grabbed his hand with her own, and he helped her up.
They led her through the crowd, and hopefully, somewhere that could help her.
[Luke]
Luke stared at his new, expensive backpack with contempt. It sat there on his desk, mocking him. The simple blue and black design did nothing to hide its true meaning. For the past week, it occupied the same space on that desk, and Luke wouldn't touch it. His parents didn't quite understand what this bag had done to him to warrant such disapproval. He had to admit, though, that it wasn't the bag's fault. The bag was just concrete evidence of something he had been dreading: he was going to challenge the Pokemon League. He didn't want to go, but his parents really didn't care.
He sighed and looked away from the pack. He stared across his disorganized room at the calendar on the wall. It was January 25. His glance hovered over the red ring imposed on tomorrow's date before tearing himself away from the calendar entirely. He turned, pulled the curtains in front of his window aside, and looked out at the small town of Accumula. It seemed like a normal day, just like any other. There had been some kind of explosion sound a short time ago, but no one seemed distressed about it. It was probably just some pokemon running amok, as they sometimes did. Distracted, he used his reflection to slide his long, blond hair out of his face. He wasn't the kind of person to be thoughtful about views from tall places; he was simply procrastinating.
He should have started preparing for his departure yesterday. He hadn’t.
It wasn't that he was scared of walking around semi-maintained paths through the wilderness with multitudes of super-powerful animals waiting to jump pedestrians. He just didn't want to. His scrawny form was much better suited to sitting at home, tablet in hand, than climbing mountains. His parents assured him that there would be no mountain climbing or any other extraneous activity involved, but that didn’t sway his opinion.
Unfortunately, his parents weren't giving him a choice in the matter. His father was a successful gym trainer in Castelia City, and if Luke didn't follow in his footsteps, he'd disappoint his whole family. Or so they said, anyway. Luke’s family line had a history of being gym trainers, and this apparently implied that he should follow suit. But this meant that he had to compete in the Unova Circuit and earn the badge of the gym he wanted to apply for. This also meant he had to earn every badge before that, as per the job requirements. But he didn’t want to work in any gym. Quite frankly, he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life at all. It definitely wasn’t that, though.
But he couldn't stay. His mother would create a land of pure misery and torment for him if he did that. Luke supposed that would be marginally worse than crawling through dirt and being without WiFi for extended periods of time.
"Luke!" his mother called from down the hall, disturbing his inner monologue. "Have you started packing yet?"
"Uh, no," he responded. If he lied, she would have found out anyway.
"Uh, then why not?" The small woman with scraggly, dirty-blond hair appeared in his doorway with a disappointed frown on her face.
"I dunno. I'll get to it. It won’t take that long." She stared at Luke for a few moments, then scoffed. “Well, whatever. Packed or not, you’re going tomorrow.” Then, she left him.
Luke sunk further in his chair. After several useless thoughts in protest, reluctantly, he grabbed his blue coat, threw it on, and, after a moment, took his new bag and slung it across his shoulder. Walking out into the living room, he told his mom, who was now in the kitchen, “I’m gonna go to the Pokemon Center and buy supplies for tomorrow.”
“Great!” his mother said happily.
Luke rolled his eyes, threw on his shoes, and left out the front door. It was cold outside, as it was early in the year, so Luke walked quickly. He noticed then that everyone outside was staring out into the forest. Following their glances, he saw a massive plume of smoke rising from somewhere in the distance.
Moments later, after some rustling amongst the trees, a red-haired girl fell from the ledge over town and hit the white bricks below. Luke watched, brow furrowed, as the girl scrambled to her knees, clutching her elbow. She looked so… lost. Her eyes were wild, and she was dressed in nothing but an oversized and stained white shirt. She called for help, and someone ran off to get an officer.
Luke and the girl locked eyes briefly, and he stared, curious. This was Accumula Town – nothing interesting happened in Accumula Town. And yet… He shook his head, turned his back on her, and continued walking to the Pokemon Center.
The door opened automatically, and he stepped into the warm air within. He walked over to the side of the building towards a blue counter, and started looking over the items. All the while, though, his thoughts were still on that girl. Why was she here? Why was she so poorly dressed for January? Was she homeless? On drugs? Did she have something to do with the explosion from earlier?
Eventually, Luke focused enough to buy his supplies and left. By the time he made it back outside, the girl was gone, and the people were dispersing. He sighed. Forced to leave just as things started to happen around here. Figures.
With nothing else to do, he went home to keep packing.
Author's Note: Like I said, it may be a bit until I come back to this, but feel free to tell me what you think! Or not! Either way
