A River's Journey, Chapter 1
#1 of A River's Journey
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Well, since Rio's Story doesn't seem right to me anymore, here is a different version.
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Chapter 1 part 1: It Begins
I told my mom I wasn't going to sleep that night, told her I was going to stay awake to see the sun rise over the mountain on my birthday. I had planned on climbing out on to the roof and watching as the first rays of morning showed themselves around the mountain. I was going to take a picture and everything! April 2nd was going to be a great day!
But it seems I was going to be the last fool of April Fool's Day. A massive storm came out of nowhere and showed no sign of letting up as dawn came closer. I sighed in frustration as my Hoot-hoot clock ticked away the minutes until dawn in stark contrast to the pounding rain. I was staring out at the mountain again, wishing the clouds would part, when I saw something crash into it. Now, I'm not one of those over-imaginative kids who sees things at night that aren't there. I mean, yeah I've got an imagination, but I wasn't imagining this. So I did what any almost 10-year old boy would do.
I grabbed an umbrella and a flashlight as I raced out of the house.
Or at least I tried to. Just as I opened the back door an arm wrapped around my neck and held me there.
"Hey there little brother. You're not thinking about going out in this weather, are you?" Zane said. He's my older brother and a serious pain in my neck, and not just because he had an arm around it.
"Come on, let me go, I saw something on the mountain and I want to go see what it is!"
"Was it a Pokémon? Maybe I should go check it out instead. Just to make sure you don't get hurt." He laughed as I struggled to break free. "At least wait here long enough for me to go get something for you."
I stumbled forward as he let me. He was already going up the stairs by the time I turned around. I looked out the door and wondered whether or not I should make a run for it, but a part of me wondered what Zane was going to get, and why he was getting it for me. I didn't have to wait long. He came back down the stairs holding a back pack, which he threw at me. I caught it(but just barely) and looked at it like it was a Voltorb about to explode.
"What's in it?" I asked.
"It's your present from me. Mom was going to fill it out more in the morning, you know, with clothes and stuff. Put that poncho on before you go up the mountain. You get sick and Mom will blame me for it."
"You still haven't told me what's in it." I said, holding up the backpack.
"Some Pokéballs, my old Pokédex, and a map of Koeh." He said it like it was nothing, but I slipped the backpack on carefully over the poncho.
"Thanks, Zane. Really."
"Just go find whatever you saw on the mountain." He shoved me out into the rain. "Don't make me have to come up there and get you."
"You don't have to worry about me like that, Zane. I'll be okay." I turned on the flashlight and opened the umbrella. "See you later." I said as I took off.
"YOU BETTER BE BACK BEFORE MOM GETS UP!" I heard him yell over the storm. I smiled, thinking just how weird it was that he was being an okay brother.
Chapter 1 part 2: More than Rain Falls
The rain hadn't let up by the time I reached the base of Mt. Korut, and by the time I was close to where I thought I saw whatever it was crash, I was panting. The trails were muddy and sucked at my shoes ever step of the way, and it wasn't much better off the trails. But I couldn't let some mud stop me! I didn't know why, but I had to find it, no matter what it was.
"Aah!" I yelled as my left foot landed in a deep puddle, getting completely soak. I turned the flashlight down to the ground and gasped. This wasn't the only puddle! "They're almost like.. footprints. But.. Tyranitar are the only Pokémon on the mountain big enough to leave tracks like these, and they wouldn't be in the rain.." I was running before I even knew it, following the tracks as they led up the mountainside. They were getting closer together for some reason...
I leaned against a tree panting after an hour. The winds were picking up so I couldn't use the umbrella any more without it being ripped from my hands, and the rain was coming down with a vengeance now. I looked up, to tired to lift the flashlight, and glanced around. I couldn't tell where I was now. Lightning flashed and my heart skipped a beat. In front of me, not thirty feet away, I had seen a huge figure laying on the ground. I found I could lift my flashlight now, and it's light fell upon a very big, very yellow Pokémon. It looked hurt, so I ran over to it.
I admit that wasn't the smartest thing to do. I didn't even know what type it was, let alone if it would attack me or not! Still, I couldn't just leave it there, not after I'd spent so much time looking for it. I definitely couldn't leave it if it was hurt! It felt it growl more than I heard it as I knelt down next to it. A big green eye glared at me, daring me to try and lay a hand on it...
I moved the light around in search of some sort of shelter, a tree big enough to keep the rain off it, anything. I sighed in relief as I found a cave.
"YOU WERE HEADED FOR THE CAVE, RIGHT?" I shouted over the thunder and rain. "LET ME HELP YOU!"
I felt another growl go through my body as it shifted it's massive bulk slowly off the ground. I reached out and helped it stay steady, ignoring it's flinch as I took as much of it's weight as I could. Don't ask me how, but we got in the cave. The ground shook as it sat against the wall. It was my turn to cringe now. The flashlight illuminated it fully now, and I saw an ugly mark on it's stomach. It was gray and had two thick lines in it, like something had stopped part of it. I looked at it's arms and saw the same gray marks on them..
"What happened to you?" I'd never seen anything like this before, and the way it was breathing was starting to worry me. It also just kept staring at me... I finally searched the backpack for something to help it. All I found were the Pokéballs, Pokédex, and the map Zane had packed. Under the map though was a small spray bottle. I sigh in relief as I read the label. It was a Potion! I moved closer to the huge Pokémon and sprayed in on what looked like the worst of the gray marks. It hissed in pain as the medicine started working. The marks didn't disappear, but after using the entire bottle it was breathing easier. While it closed it's eyes to sleep, I took out Zane's old 'dex and flipped it open to see what this Pokémon was.
"Dragonite, the Legendary Pokémon"
"This water-dweller is rarely seen. It's ancestors are most likely the winged dragons of fairy tale. It is said to be as smart as humans."
"Fun Fact: Two former Pokémon League Champions, one from Kanto and the other from the Orange Islands, have raised Dragonites and used them to defend their titles."
"So.." I said as I shined the flashlight on the sleeping Dragonite. "If you live in water, why are you here on this mountain?"
Chapter 1 part 3: The Storm Breaks, Walking to Altian Town
I don't remember falling asleep, but as the sun started to rise it filled the cave with light. It was nice to be wake slowly instead of having my window curtains thrown open. I froze halfway through a stretch when I saw the Dragonite across from me. Now that I had sunlight to see with, I was able to look at it much better than before. The gray marks I'd seen last night? They were burns.
"What happened...?" I asked quietly, jumping when it rumbled at me. I hadn't realized it was awake. I watched as it curled it's arms carefully around it's belly, placing them in the spots that weren't burnt(they fit perfectly, so it probably had them there when it got the burns) as it looked at me. "Were you attacked?" It nodded. "Why? Was someone trying to capture you?"
It shook it's head and did something I had not seen coming. It moved one of it's hands and reached into it's belly. I took me a few moments to realize it had a pouch, but until then I was really creeped out. It winced as the burns stretched and it pulled something out of the pouch and motioned for me to come over. Whatever it was, the Dragonite trusted me enough to let me see it. I walked over and gasped. Now cradled in it's.. um, in her arms, was an egg about the size and shape of a football, and shining silver in color. I watched, completely absorbed by the egg, as the sunlight bounced off of it and created shimmers of color.
"You were protecting your egg.." I said simply, horrified that someone would go to such lengths to try and.. and steal an egg. "Well, if whoever it was tries again, I'll stop them!" I don't what made me say that, but it was true. I may not be very strong or have any Pokémon, but I was definitely going to help this Dragonite! "Come on, we need to get you to Altian Town's Pokémon Center so you can get better. If you have a trainer, he might be there. But first, do you think you can walk?"
She nodded and used the cave wall to push herself up so she could stand. She was definitely taller than I was, towering over me even as she crouched to keep from hitting her head. As we started walking around the mountain to get on the path to Altian Town, I didn't even remember that today was the second of April. I was finally old enough to be an official Pokémon trainer, and all I could think about was making sure this Dragonite got to the Pokémon Center so she could be safe and get her burns treated properly.
Okay, full grown Dragonite are heavy. Halfway down the trail I had to start helping her stand up, and even going slowly and using all of my strength, I don't think I help much. We had to stop a lot so we could rest, and by noon I was starting to think I'd have to burn my clothes to get rid of the smell of sweat. The trip down the mountain wasn't all bad though. I saw a lot of Pokémon I didn't recognize(okay, I knew what they were called, but I didn't know them personally like the ones on my side of Mt. Korut) and it has always amazed me how Pokémon that look so much alike can be so different in the way the act and what they eat. No Geodude I knew ate Pecha Berries!
Perhaps I should explain about the place I live before I continue. You see, I live in a region called Koeh, just north of the Hoenn region. A century ago(I think) people living in Hoenn crossed a large mountain range and found a new region uninhabited by humans. I live in a city called Stonehand, named after the type of Pokémon that live around it and on Mt. Korut: Rock, Fighting, and Ground types. We get a Steelix every few years, but they're usually caught pretty quick. Now, the reason I didn't take Dragonite to Stonehand's Pokémon Center?
She could have gotten hurt even more. The people in Stonehand hold very firmly to the belief that the only types of Pokémon that are worth training are the kinds that they live side-by-side with. If I walked into town with a Dragon type... I didn't want to think about what might happen.
We made it to the bottom of the mountain long before sunset, and, thanks to the map Zane gave me, we were at Altian Town in no time.