The Commission Chronicles Chapter 1: Meeting Latias.

NOTE: This is the rewritten chapter 1.

The original chapter on is linked in the artist's comments back on DeviantART.

My name is Brad Snider, up until recently I've been a regular 19 year old guy.

Ok maybe not. Some people would probably say that I'm a, "weird guy" Which in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with. I'm probably not the most normal person around.

So what that I eat cold pizza, so what that I hang out with kids who are about five (give or take a few years) younger than me, so what that I still, STILL, want to have telekinesis. That's the way I am and I'm sticking to it.

Sorry, now I'm just rambling. Any way, that's who I am and this is the crazy story of my even crazier life.

It was the first day of my camping trip, it was also the first time that my parents let me go by myself.

"He'll be fine." My dad said to my mom. "He's been on enough camping trips with me to know how to take care of himself."

I chuckled as my mom rolled her eyes. "That's what I'm afraid of." She sarcastically replied as she turned to me. "Ok, I'll let you go. But promise not to get yourself killed with the camping stove." She told me.

I laughed, knowing exactly what she meant. Last year the camping stove's propane fitting started leaking gas and turned the stove into a tent devouring flamethrower.

Which did by the way, did devour our tent. Not a very good thing when the very next night it decided to rain.

"Ok" I said. "I'll try not to turn the chicken into my backup charcoal supply." My dad laughed and I headed up to my room to pack. It didn't take very long however, due mainly to the fact that I had prepacked everything anyway because I knew that they would say yes.

I loaded everything, including the infamous camping stove into my teal Ford Escort ZX2. It took me awhile to smash all that I could into the trunk next to the subwoofer that took up about half of my trunk space.

"Good thing I don't have to go very far, huh?" I whispered to myself.

"Hey, it runs don't it?" My dad said over my shoulder. He always has bad hearing unless it comes to something you don't want him to hear, then he's all ears.

"Yeahhhhh." I said. "Just you wait, I'll come home riding in my brand-spankin new Hennessey Performance Venom 1000 Dodge Viper." I chuckled, taking note of his rolling eyes in response to my popular saying.

"And I'll be waiting for the test drive." He grinned.

It was now my turn for the eye-rolling. "I gotta get out of here before you all drive me any crazier." I said.

"All right, but make sure you bring back the tent in one piece." My mom said as she walked up to the car.

My dad thumped me on the back, which I took as his way of saying goodbye at the moment. I bid him farewell and hugged my mom.

Then I sliid into the drivers seat and started the Ford up. "See ya round!" I said as I threw it in gear and made some gravel fly up from our driveway.

I was ready for a weekend of nothing but me and some freeze-dried prepackaged unnaturally flavored food-like products. Mmm-mm, nothing says freedom like a fresh can of Vienna sausage.

Fate however, seemed to have something else in mind for me.

I drove through the rural areas, past all the farms and fields until I finally reached the freeway.

"Ahh, the wonders of traffic." I muttered as I honked at a guy to let me onto the freeway. He then proceeded to slow down considerably and I zoomed around him.

I rolled down the window. After all, it was about sixty something outside. I turned the radio up, the only speakers that worked were the one's in the trunk. So they were a bit muffled by all the luggage.

I drove on for several hours. The scenery only slightly changing to a more woody feel. I squinted as I saw a sign ahead, then recognizing the location I started to slow down. This wasn't the first time I had camped over here.

I pulled onto the off ramp and stopped at a stop sign. To the right was a nice paved roadway. To the left however, was a rather beaten up road that obviously hadn't been re-paved for years.

I turned left.

I drove on for about 20 minutes, the repetitive noise of the freeway traffic long faded away. I sighed in relief, ready for an escape from the constant noise.

I smiled as I saw the flat area where we always parked. Seeing that I was the only one there.

I parked the car and stepped out stretching. "Aahh…. Finally…" I grunted, then walking around to the back of the car to get my things.

I sighed as I saw the tent. If there was anything I really didn't like, it was setting up out tent. Calling it a pain would have been an understatement.

I pulled everything out and looked around for a level spot with some shade. Finding one, I plopped the tent bag down and started unpacking it.

About 45 minutes and a forgotten number of aggravated grunts later, it was up.

"Wow, time flies when your stuck setting everything up and you had something more fun in mind." I chuckled to myself as I looked at my watch, it was almost 7:30 and the sun was just starting to set.

"I suppose I still have some time for a short walk." I thought as I finished loading the last bag into the tent.

I headed off down what I remembered as my favorite path. And in my opinion, it had the best scenery.

"What a beautiful sunset!" I gasped as I rounded a corner with a break in the trees. It was a bright reddish-orange that hurt my eyes to look at, but I couldn't look away because I didn't want to miss the spectacle.

I looked around the heavily wooded bowl-like valley. There was a creek winding through it at the bottom that I liked to try and catch Crawfish in. Maybe I would have some luck finding some this trip.

All of a sudden my eyes were drawn to an object shooting downwards from the sky.

I jogged forward a bit and leaned on a tree as I pulled out my binoculars. "What was that?" I wondered aloud while scanning the spot I thought it had landed.

"Was I seeing things, or was there something there?" I said to myself as I looked a bit longer. "Hmm… Well I guess I can check it out tomorrow. I do have all weekend to wander." I thought as I headed back to camp.

I arrived back at camp, the different thoughts of what the mysterious falling object could have been ran amok in my head. And to tell you the truth, I thought it was kind of funny.

I chuckled as I stirred the scrambled eggs around in the pan. "I bet it was James Bond jumping out of some plane, but his parachute didn't work."

One of the eggs popped and a small piece fell into the burner of the stove. It caught fire and I quickly flipped it out with the fork, then stomping on it to put it out.

"Boy it would have been bad had that hit the tent and burned it down." I said. "My parents would never let me hear the end of the infamous flaming egg." I turned off the stove and scraped the eggs onto a plate.

I finished up dinner just as it was getting dark. I brushed my teeth and stood outside, looking up at the sky. The stars seem to multiply in unheard of numbers when there aren't any lights around.

I smiled and walked into the tent, said my prayer, and slipped into my sleeping bag. There wasn't anybody there to steal the cushioned cot this time. I took in a breath of fresh forest air as I slipped away into my dreams.

Though after I went to sleep I had strange dreams about things falling into the woods. I clearly would not be able to enjoy the trip until I had investigated the falling object.

Day 2:

The next morning I woke up to the sun shining brightly into my face. "If the sun ever had a hobby, I bet it would be waking people up that were stupid enough to set a tent up in that direction." I mumbled as I groggily rose from my cot.

I yawned. "Oh well, I am not taking down and setting up the tent over something like that." I muttered.

I gathered up some hash browns from the cooler and started to cook them.

"The camp stove doesn't seem to have any problems at all." I said to myself, chuckling a little at the improvising gene that I obviously got from my dad. "I knew all it needed was some teflon tape."

I had however, made sure that the stove was facing in a direction where nothing was in the way. I didn't plan on having anything burn down while I was there if it did decide to start the flaming process again.

"Oh hey!" I exclaimed as I remembered the falling object. "I need to check that out here a little later."

A little later becomes really soon when there's nothing else on your mind. So before long I had some 'essentials', (aka: snacks) packed up and I was ready to head out.

As I traveled I couldn't help but once again start imagining all the things that it could have been.

"Was it a meteorite? Or just a chunk off poo that fell from a passing plane?" I laughed at myself, thinking that I could have been wasting all this time over a chunk of poo. "That's disgusting! Oh well, if I find it at least it will clear my head."

I grunted at the weight of my large backpack as I came up over a small hill. "Dang this thing is heavy!" I shifted it to a more comfortable position and looked around.

"I'm positive this is where the object landed. But I don't see anything unusual." I mumbled to myself in bewilderment.

"Hey! Maybe the chunk of poo thawed out and melted!" I laughed all the harder.

I was going to have a great inside joke when I got home. Too bad I would be the only one who understa… "WHOOOO!"

All of a sudden all thoughts of chunks of poo falling out of planes disappeared as I swung around, looking for what had made that strangely familiar noise.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THAT?!" I exclaimed, looking every which direction.

"LAAAAAA!!" There it was again!

I squinted my eyes, looking in the direction I thought the noise had come from. "I recognize that sound, but, but, No way!" I shook my head. "It's not possible, is it? That's from a video game!"

I searched around some more. "Whatever it was it sounded like it was in trouble. I wonder if it's gonna call out agai-" I was cut off again.

"WHAAAAAA!!" Now I KNEW which direction to go.

I stepped up over a large rock and thought for a second that I would have to pick up my jaw when I saw the source of the cries.

For in the creek lay the very creature I thought didn't, or shouldn't exist.

"A Latias?!" I exclaimed, my eyes wide open.

The Latias instantly raised up her head and stared up at me with those deep golden eyes, which were by the way filled with pain and tears.

She lay trapped in an old fishnet in the creek, and she had some pretty bad cuts.

"Oh my god…" I thought. "I've got to help her somehow." But I was afraid that she would try to fly and wriggle around to get away from me if I approached her. I HAD to try though.

I always knew I had a soft spot for animals in my heart, but I wasn't sure if I could even consider her an animal. Mom calls me Dr. Doolittle sometimes because I can get near and become friends with some animals that others can't seem to figure out.

But this Latias, this is a whole new league.

I approached her cautiously using every technique that I knew to try to calm her and appear as a friend. And by the look of fear in her eye, I was going to need every bit of skill that I had.

"Easy now, easy…" I whispered to her, which seemed to disperse a little bit of fear. I approached slowly, trying not to look like I was stalking her.

I started to sing a soft tune, where it came from I have no idea but it worked fabulously. "Easy, easy, don't you wor-ry. E-very, thing will be, okay…"

I repeated the tune over and over, and the Latias seemed to like it. She started to sway with the tune, but stopped because of the pain. I had finally reached her and slowly stroked her head.

She twitched a little when I touched her but soon she seemed to melt as I did. "I can't believe this!" I thought excitedly. "She's actually real!"

I looked her over. She seemed larger than I knew Latias to be. About 6 foot or so in length.

I slowly pulled out my pocket knife to cut the net and she started at the sight of it.

I quickly started to hum the tune again, hoping it would calm her down. "Easy, easy, don't you wor-ry. E-very thing, will be okay…" I whispered to her, trying to stay as calm as I could.

She started to calm down a bit, but still kept a wary eye on me. I began to cut the ropes.

"Stupid people who leave these things laying around." I steamed while cutting it. Until all of a sudden, I realized something.

"This isn't a fishnet... This isn't even an old net!" I looked up into those large golden eyes searching for an answer. She just stared right back into mine.

"Who in the world would be stupid enough to do something like this to you?" I spat out, then realizing how angry that I had sounded.

I looked up at the Latias apologetically, she however didn't even look startled because of my tone. It was as if she could understand me.

I remember reading something on a strategy guide or something that said that they could understand human speech, but that was back when I thought that they weren't real.

"Sorry I sounded angry." I said as I finished cutting the last string, then pulling the net off of her.

I looked at her again. "Oh dang!" I exclaimed. "The cuts looked even worse now." I looked up at her. "Hang on, I need to get some bandages real quick!"

I rummaged through my backpack searching for the small package of bandages that I carried. "Oh good!" I said aloud as I found them. "I do still have some medical supplies in here."

I pulled out every bandage in my backpack and prepared to put them on Latias. "Crap. I forgot, She's all wet." I looked at the bandages, then Latias. "These ain't gonna stick…"

I ran through all the ideas in my head, trying to think of something to do. But I only had one solution.

"Latias, I'm not sure if you can understand me." I said as I looked at her skeptically. "But I'm going to have to pull you out of the creek."

She stared at me, and then she nodded.

"She does understand me! Thank God!" I exclaimed. "That makes this job a lot easier." I continued rummaging through my pack a bit more, and found the heavy sheet of plastic that I kept in case I needed a quick shelter.

"Thank God times two. This will slide great when it's wet." I said as I turned to Latias. "Ok Latias, I'm going to have to get this under you. And I don't think that I can lift you AND place this under you at the same time."

She just watched me intently. "I'm going to have to have you hover up for a few seconds. I hate to ask this of you seeing how much pain Y-You're, uhhh…" My voice drifted off as I stared at her.

She wass doing it, I hadn't even finished my sentence and she was already doing it!

I quickly slid the plastic in under her. And not a moment too soon either, cause she quickly fell back down onto it.

"Laaa-aat… tii…" She didn't sound very good at all. I proceeded to pull the plastic out of the creek with her on it. And was amazed at how light she felt.

As soon as I had her in a good level spot I examined her cuts. Then the realization hit me.

"I need to dry you off so these bandages will stick, Latias." I said to her, looking into her eyes again. "Can you hang on while I go get my towel?" I asked.

She nodded again.

"This is so COOL! She understands me!" My inner Pokenerd spazzed. "I'll be back as soon as I can! Just stay with me okay?"

Yet again she nodded.

I ran like I had never run before, up a hill. And as soon as I reached camp I gathered everything that I could fit in my backpack. Towel, sleeping bag, what food items that didn't need cooling, etc.

I then realized just how hungry I was. So I quickly stuffed some hash browns in my face. "I won't be of much use to Latias if I fall over from starvation."

Soon I was running straight down the same hill as fast as I could. I mentally kicked myself for sleeping in my comfortable cot that night while the poor Latias was stuck in her net all cut up.

I arrived shortly and looked into the clearing. "Good, she's still here." I sighed with relief.

I could see that she was now asleep, so I walked up to her slowly. I didn't want to frighten her.

Her head shot up and she cried out. "LAAAAAH!"

"WHAAA!" I exclaimed as I jumped and stood there, looking at her in shock. She startled both of us.

Once she saw me though, she calmed down. And I could have sworn that I saw a smile cross her face.

I hurried over to her and started to clean her off. Her skin was covered in an extremely soft down, and it felt so smooth. But then I reached the cuts, and it was anything but wonderful.

The blood had dried and was caked with mud, and whenever I cleaned one off it started bleeding anew.

I dressed her wounds as best I could, but I wasn't all that good at it. I had never taken any medical classes, though I'm pretty sure I made about four mental notes to do so afterward as I cleaned her up.

I finally finished bandaging her wounds and marveled that I had had exactly enough bandages for her cuts.

"If I didn't believe in miracles before, then I do now." I said to her as I shook my head.

"Laaah…" She trilled, nuzzling me. I thought it so weird because that's what I saw her do in the cartoon. But it wasn't near as awkward as when I realized that I was blushing. I looekd fairly calm, but my inner Pokenerd going nuts yet again.

I looked over at her, and I saw that smile again. I looked away, not wanting her to see my face.

I looked back at her and thought about it. "If you're a cartoon, then how did you get here?" I asked her. "Is there even a way for you to tell me?"

She just looked up at me, almost with a longing in her eyes. And that was all the answer I needed. Unfortunately for both of us, she could not speak.

I sat there, stroking her head while thinking about the whole ordeal. And it wasn't long before she fell asleep with her head in my lap.

"I guess investigating can wait for later." I said quietly as I looked down at her. "Right now I think we both need sleep." I said as I slowly lay down beside Latias, trying not to jostle her.

I had so many questions to ask...

But there was one in particular that haunted me. Would I ever be able to get the answers from a creature that cannot even speak?

Author's Notes:

I wrote this after being inspired by the Dependancy series that the author by the name of "Pwnanator" on DeviantART had written.

I had thought about trying my own hand at writing once or twice, but only gained the drive to do so after seeing him write his own story.

The rest of The Commission Chronicles can be found here: .com/gallery/#The-Commission-Chronicles

Also, despite this being a re-write, I still think the re-write needs re-writing. :[

This story, Brad Snider, and all other original content in it are © of me, Vypor.
This is not to be posted, altered or used anywhere else other than by me or without prior permission from me.