Snow's Journey - Chapter 1
#1 of Snow's Journey
Author's Notes - I don't own Pokemon, Game Freak, or anything else copyrighted in my stories. Charecters (other than obvious ones) are my own, please ask before using them for any reason. As always, Thanks to NightWolf020 for the help.
Chapter 1 - Fate
Life can be generous one moment it seems, and cruel the next. All I wanted was to live in peace. Maybe work at the lab and make a decent enough living to decide what I wanted to do with my life. Maybe become a scientist like Professor Oak or even go and start a small business that caters to trainers and Pokemon alike. Maybe even name it something like 'Tray's Pokemon Cafe' and I would cater to my guests and their Pokemon partners as equals. But alas... fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it, seems to always have a different plan in mind. Not once does life come up to you and say "Oh hey, I'm going to put you in the Pokecenter for a few days and drop the world in your palms because you've got nothing better to do!" but no, it doesn't. Laying back in the bed, I can't help but remember what has happened the past 2 days and how my life has been turned upside-down.
It was now Friday, and this entire ordeal started out as a normal, by many standards, Wednesday morning, August 8th, my birthday. Wednesday started out as any other August day would start out,except today was also my Birthday. Turning the ripe age of 22, most people of my age already well on their way to being a "Pokemon Master" or breeder or what have you, already well out on the road following their dream. Heh, as if all of a sudden thinking they know what the world is about and assuming the world is a peaceful and carefree place. I somewhat did too, thinking back now, never really getting into trouble or keeping track of news beyond our little neck of the woods.
My older sister Jandra, whom is 24, lived with me on the outskirts of a small rural town in Kanto named Pallet Town. Our parents were archeologists trying to discover the ancient secrets of Acreus and the creation trio and were only home a few months out of the year. It was a quiet neighborhood, only home to a few dozen people with the only important building in the entire town being Professor Oak's Lab. Acreus knows how many young trainers got their first start on their Pokemon journey with his help. Even that famous guy Ash Ketchum from years back started out with Oak. It was nice, for the most part. Not much crime with it being so secluded and with so few people.
It was early, only about 10am, and I noticed Jan had already left the house. I assumed that she simply decided to go and pay her friend Karen a visit, though I could never understand why she was friends with that woman as she was unbelievably annoying, constantly bragging about her Azurill that her father brought back for her from the Hoenn region. Accepting the assumption I decided I'd go for a hike as I often did on beautiful August mornings, as long as it wasn't hotter than the receiving end of a Ninetails flamethrower anyway. I checked off for what I'd need for a two hour hike along our property and set out the door, hoping to enjoy my birthday outdoors and away from everyone else. That was the best part about living so far from town, the only thing you had to worry about was an occasional Pokemon that may have wandered onto the property and they usually ran away as soon as they saw a human close by.
About halfway into my hike, I had stopped to take a break near a river that bordered the South-West side of the property. It was a near perfect oasis, with a waterfall about 40 feet tall, a large basin like area at the bottom just bathed in sunlight, and the rest shaded by huge trees that have probably lived for a hundred years or more. With my pack slipped off and all but my swim trunks and old knife that my father gave me on my belt placed on the bank, I dove off the waterfall and into the cool and quite deep pool below, letting the water bring my temperature down as it was quite warm today with a high near the mid 90's. Nothing could have been closer to paradise as I simply sunbathed on a large rock near the side of the riverbed. It took me awhile to sense it, but something was off.
It was quiet... Unnaturally quiet. I couldn't hear any of the usual birds singing or insects buzzing and aside from the constant drone of the waterfall, nothing was making a sound. Almost as if on queue, a streak of lightning cracked from out of nowhere, nearly scaring me half to death. There were no clouds in the sky, with no visible source to produce even static let alone a Thunder bolt out of nowhere.
"What the fuck..?" I asked aloud, standing now as if I could peer over the waterfall.
Another vivid streak of energy cracks, nearly deafening me as I realized whatever made them is getting closer by the second. Deciding that something very angry was heading my way, I dove back into the water and started swimming across the pool to my pack and to get the hell out of here. Fate decided it had different plans however. With almost no warning, something hit me with such force that it almost knocked me unconscious outright and sent me deep under water. Thankfully though, I had just barely seen it fly off and turned towards it, which most likely saved my life as it didn't quite hit me directly in the head.
Dazed, confused, and now underwater, I opened my eyes to get my bearings and saw what must have hit me. A white fox-like animal, just lifeless a few feet in front of me. Acting out of a compulsion to do so for no good reason I can now think of, I grabbed the drowning fox and clawed my way back to the surface, painfully gasping for air as I just barely breached the surface. With the fox still unconscious in my arms I was still in the middle of the now growing river and knew we were In trouble. I looked back at the waterfall and saw we were pushed a ways down stream by the strong and ever growing current and it suddenly dawned on me we need to get to the shore, and quickly for I knew after about half a mile from the waterfall were fierce rapids, capable of endangering even Pokemon who got too close.
As I tried to swim faster, something in the river hit me and tore into the back of my left leg sending me into unimaginable pain, putting us back underwater and effectively destroying our chances of getting out of the river before we hit the rapids. As I came back up to the surface, the fox still somehow in my arms, I saw the rapids coming into view and knew it was too late to get out of the river before we were swept into them. I had to think of something to not only stop the bleeding from my leg before I lost too much blood, but also figure out how to survive the approaching rapids without getting myself and the fox killed.
My instincts instantly kicked in, grabbing for my knife, which was thankfully still attached. With knife in one hand and the lifeless fox in the other, I cut off the small drawstring of my trunks and wrapped it around my leg as tightly as I could to try and slow the bleeding down just enough to get to shore without going into shock. With that taken care of for now, I had only moments to hold onto the fox tightly before I was violently plunged into the rapids. Water of unrelenting force threw me under and thrashed me in every direction. I tried my best to keep the poor fox's head above water to hopefully keep it from drowning if it wasn't already dead. Seconds felt like minutes as I was thrown into the rocky riverbed over and over again, barely able to keep my head above water as I fought for every breath I could get before being violently thrown under again.
Finally, after one last leg of the rapids, the river began to slow down dramatically, and out of the sheer will to live, I was able to get myself and the fox to shore, cursing that this stretch of the river was rocky up to the treeline. Badly bruised and battered, adrenaline pumped into my blood as I looked to my leg to find it was a clean cut and surprisingly, wasn't bleeding as profusely as I thought. The rope I had used to tie it with was so tightly bound, it cut off circulation to the area and kept it together throughout the intense rapids.
With that alright for now, I crawled over to the fox-like creature and examined it, half expecting it to be dead. To my surprise, I realized what it finally was... an Umbreon. A very strange Umbreon that I had never seen before as this one did not have its species' black coat and gold rings but rather white coat and blue rings instead. The poor thing must've been chased by whatever shot that lightning and ice beam attacks that sent it off the waterfall in the first place as it had patches of fur missing, and clearly looked like it had been on the run for days. I checked to see if it was breathing, and miraculously was, though how I have no idea. We must've spent half the time underwater during that entire trip down the river and how it kept itself from drowning, I'll never know.
It was getting dark at that point and with knowledge that the Umbreon still breathing and alive for the moment, I knew I had to get off the rocky shoreline. Whatever was after it, might search the river to see if it was still alive and I'd be damned to find out what was chasing it after what I just went through trying to save it only to kill both of us. With my body coming down from the adrenaline high, I grabbed the Umbreon and half-crawled, half-dragged myself up to the treeline, and head to the closest tree and propped myself up against it. I had to find at least some sort of shelter before I would be able to rest. Thankfully, behind the same tree, was a small rock alcove partially under a small rocky hill and decided that would be the best place, if only to shield myself from sight of the river and possible rain. With the last ounce of my energy gone, I barely managed to get inside the alcove before I blacked out.