Seven Years Later Chapter 0
Seven Years Later
CH. 0: The Beginning
'Seven years ago, an evil being named Darkrai plotted to distort the balances of time and space. If either of these things ever became unbalanced, then our world would slowly be shrouded in darkness. The sun could never rise, the wind will never blow, and peace itself would just become an unreachable dream. Darkrai's plan however was thwarted by the brave members of the world famous guild lead by Guildmaster Wigglytuff. It should be noted that the Guildmaster declined his involvement and openly gave the credit to two of his former apprentices. These two would go on to become legends themselves, but that is a story for another time.'
The sound of ringing chinglings soon disrupted the classroom. Signaling the end of the class, the pokemon students groaned in displeasure since history class was the most entertaining, and therefore the most favorite class in the school. Taught by Mr. Nidoking and Mrs. Nidoqueen, the class itself inspired many of the students to become adventurous explorers. One such student is a totodile named Unshi. Like many other totodiles, he is pretty excitable and as a result can be quite hasty. This forwardness of his outcasted him from many groups and he finds himself alone most of the time. Wielding an unwavering spirit, he trudges onwards and hopes that one day he will become an explorer with tons of friends.
Saying goodbye to the teachers, he leaves the class to find a sentret being harassed by three bullies; Meowth, Mankey, and Houndour. The leader, Meowth, is sly and quick witted. He naturally uses other pokemon to do his dirty work and picks his fights after examining the situation. Mankey is the usual heavy moving grunt of the group. With lower IQ, he depends on the others to help him do the thinking. Houndour on the other hand has an IQ above most of the students of the school. This fact made her a lonely outcast who only follows the other two for companionship. She disapproves many of Meowth's schemes, but doesn't have the courage to voice her concerns in fear of being outcasted again.
"Come on sweety", grinned Meowth. "I only want some of that delicious apple that ya got there. Hand it over and you won't haf'ta get hurt over it." Mankey jumped at the thought of being able to punch something while Houndour looked away. Sentret grasped onto her apple, hugging it close to her round body. "This is for my special date with Phanpy", cried Sentret with tears forming in her eyes. "Like I care. Now hand it over", voiced Meowth angrily. Claws extended and patience wearing thin, Meowth soon unleashed the move scratch while Mankey used low kick.
"STOP", cried Unshi. Stepping in and taking the full brunt of the attack, the totodile huffed in agony. "So the loser wants to be a hero, eh? Mankey, finish the trash while I get to work on the damsel." Barely able to stand up, Unshi saw Mankey charging in with his karate chop. Digging deep down into himself, he began preparing a move of his own. Mustering all of his strength, he felt Mankey's chop graze his body as he dodged out of the way. Turning towards his attacker, he let out a blast of his water gun that had it's power boosted from his passive ability. The move instantly knocked out the grunt, leaving the wheezing and injured dile victorious.
A blow from behind ended Unshi's triumph. "I didn't expect you to beat him, but the outcome is still the same", smirked Meowth. With Unshi out of the way, Meowth moved in to collect his prize. The sound of trampling however alerted the cat and he realized that he was out of time. "Next time, you won't be so lucky", Meowth grinned before scurrying away. Houndour picked up her fallen friend, apologized to the sentret, and followed after their leader.
Phanpy came from around the corner and ran right into Sentret's arms. "Are you alright?", panted the blue elephant. "I heard from others that you were getting mugged and came running. Is this the jerk who threatened you?" Kicking the knocked out body of the poor dile in anger, he was stopped by his dear Sentret. "Stop it, honey. He ran in and sacrificed himself to save me. If it weren't for him, It would have been me knocked out right now." Realizing the situation, Phanpy mood went from anger to relief. Feeling bad for putting salt onto Unshi's wounded soul, he and Sentret brought their hero to nurse Blissey's office. Giving their thanks when Unshi woke up, the young couple left to enjoy their date. The fight and being healed took up the rest of the school day, so he thought he should just head home. Thanking the nurse for her hospitality, he left with a hint of sadness in his eyes.
The way home had been filled with random conversations. Everybody that he met had heard about his fight and gave him mixed emotions. Some praised him for protecting the sentret while others jeered at how stupid it was for him to fight in the first place. With these conflicting interruptions dying down with each step he took, the more he noticed the change in the weather. It started off as a few drops but suddenly became a torrent that pelted down so hard, that you could actually hear each and every drop. Flashes of lightning and bursts of thunder erupted in the sky, making the journey home sound more like a battlefield at its climax.
The unusual downpour was horrifying to Unshi. This was the first time in his life that it stormed like this, and it made the dile cower. Finding shelter underneath a sturdy tree, he decided to wait it out. Curling himself into an upright fetal position, he lied down and looked off into the distance. He saw the tides roar onto the soaked, sandy beach and gasped. A bright glowing light of orange flickered from the shore. With the rain obscuring Unshi's vision, he could vaguely make out the shape of a pokemon lying in the sand. Jumping onto his paws, he made a mad dash towards the figure in an attempt to save this unknown pokemon.
Reaching the beach after enduring the onslaught of pouring rain, he managed to get a good look at the victim. It was a female charmander, one that he didn't recognize as a student from his school. Saving the thinking for later, he managed to carry the poor girl into a nearby cave. Finding a few dry sticks and tons of hanging, flammable plants, he used the charmander's tail to get a roaring fire going. Finding a plank of wood slightly curved towards the middle, he filled it up with rain water and drank to fill his thirst. Refilling it, he set it aside for the charmander to drink. Sighing out of exhaustion, Unshi lied down in front of the nice, warm fire and drifted off to sleep.
The pleasant blaze of the flame dried off the previously wet pokemon and made the cave glow with beauty. Stirring awake, the charmander rubbed the dust from her eyes before looking around. Her eyes drifted towards the sleeping totodile. 'What is this strange creature', she thought before turning to look towards her own body. Eyes wide open at the sight of her cream colored belly and her orange arms and legs, she glanced over towards the bowl of water and looked into it. Upon looking at her own reflection, she screamed in terror.
Woken up from the scream, Unshi looked to find the charmander staring into the bowl. "Are you alright?", questioned the dile. Jumping back and landing onto her rump, she stared at the beast before her. "You can talk!", she exclaimed. "Of course I can. We're both pokemon right? Now, are you okay miss?" Questions began reeling inside her head, but the largest of her concerns managed to make its way out through her mouth. "Miss? But...I'm not a girl!"