Chaptre 1- Cast the Stone

"Hey Bashful. There's been something I've been wanting to um..ask you about for a while.." Amadeus said, walking alongside me. Thorne and Vera walked up ahead, giving their affections to one another as they always did. We were traveling over a long, grassy knoll. The grass was quite tall, so there was a lot of room to breathe, and not worry about being noticed by the world around us.

"I asked da about it, but he said it would be better if I just asked you, and then went on about something to do with listening to the horse's mouth." he said. "He really annoys me sometimes with that kind of stuff.. Uhh..Anyways..I was wondering, you never really told me about what happened..before we found you, I mean." Amadeus spoke with a gentle, yet rough voice. I never understood why he seemed so timid at times. This moment was an exception. He was usually quiet, and seemed to focus on just putting one foot in front of the other., more than anything.

"I just do not have very much reason to talk about it, that is all." I said, smiling at his curiosity. "But, if you do wish me to tell you, I will." Amadeus nodded, and seemed to smile gently. It almost made me chuckle.

"Ever since I was born, I was smaller than my brothers and sisters. My parents would always tell me that I was the cutest scraggy there ever had been. What they had not realized though, was that not only was I small, but as a result, my body was weaker. Though that did not stop me from being energetic and enthusiastic, always picking fights with my siblings, and causing trouble all around.

I had four friends too. There was..an Aron..A Gible..A Natu..and...a Nincada..I spent most of my time playing with them. We would climb trees, steal everyone's fruit, cause many of other kinds of mischief.." As I continued on about our adventures, Amadeus began to look disinterested, his gaze flowing off into the distance. It was always a problem of mine to digress into things that did not have anything to do with what I meant to say. It actually felt good to reminisce about them, though. About the nice memories at least, though they always seemed to trail straight into that fateful day.

"Anyways, the story of how I was found by Thorne..On that day, I was out with my four friends, and we were climbing trees...I remember..we all decided to get up on one branch, that was very high above the ground. We weren't afraid of heights, except for Vesta, the Natu. I would always have to help her up, and tell her there was nothing to be afraid of. Then, the Aron..her name was Giiga..she started pushing everyone behind her, when she heard her side of the branch starting to crack. It caused us to panic, and Vesta tumbled off in a fright..."

"Hey, stop pushing, you're gonna make us fall off too!" Gallus, the Gible said, pushing back into the Scraggy, who had been pushed up against the trunk of the tree, due to having climbed up second to last. "Shut up! We just have to get back slowly!" Giiga said.

"Vesta! Are you alright?" William, the Whismur screeched out to her in terror. Vesta nodded from below, looking slightly shaken up, though nothing serious had happened. As the branch started creaking again, the heavy Aron jolted backwards, hoping it would keep the weight stable, but alas, no Pokemon of that mass could stand for so long on such a small branch. With a groan for it's warning, it snapped, and they all fell to the ground. I remember being unconscious for what seemed like a few seconds, and when I came to, the three of them were looking at me.

"Oh my gosh, he's waking up!" William said, looking worried as ever. "We'd thought we lost you too.."

"Me too? What are you guys.." I stopped as I looked to my side, and there Vesta lay next to me, lifeless, and crushed. "What the frick happened!?"

"We were all knocked out from the fall, " William said. "When we-" Giiga promptly interrupted "When I woke up, everyone else was still dazed, and I found you laying on top of Vesta! I had to roll you off of her, and she was hardly breathing!"

"You mean I..fell on her..? No..she can't be.." I wondered, looking back at her bloodied little body. Meanwhile, Gallus was beginning to pace the ground with anxiety. "What are we gonna do? We're gonna get in so much trouble!"

"No we're not! Listen!" Giiga said, shouting out at us. "Nobody has to know about this. We'll just go home, and say she got lost, and hope that someone finds her."

"We can't do that!" I said, disgusted by the thought. "She wouldn't want us to do that!"

"And just how would you know that, Baschein? Look at her, she sure can't tell you now!" She said, rubbing it into my wound further. She was often like this, picking on everyone and pointing out their mistakes, to gain the upper hand. And most times, it would have worked. William was always infatuated with her, and Gallus was too timid to talk back her, so he did not.

"I don't care what you do! I'm going to say what really happened!" I yelled in the fury of the moment, picking up Vesta.

"No! You can't!" Giiga said, growling as I had turned my back to her. It was no surprise that she would charge me from the back, I had turned around just soon enough to see the desperation in her eyes, as the cold, impenetrable, steel mask crashed into my temple. In that moment, I closed my eyes, and felt it collide with me. I saw stars, in the blackness of my sight.

I woke again, maybe hours later, with nothing but the dusky sky, and the taste of blood in my mouth. I couldn't move, so I just lay there, still seeing the stars scramble about in the sky. I couldn't feel anything. I thought maybe I was asleep, but yet, I was awake. I could hear my heartbeat throbbing in my ears. It was almost comforting. It reminded me that I was still alive, for what little time I had left.

And then..he came..-Errk" I heard a loud crunching noise, and looked to Amadeus, eating an pear from which he picked off a nearby tree.

"So wait..your name was..Baschein?" He said, with his mouth full. "Is that why Da gave you the name Bashful?" Amadeus asked, only seeming to really be interested in that aspect of the story. It did not annoy me at all though, at least I could see he was even remotely listening...