Here' s a short scene I got some inspiration to write. It's an alternate take on how Guardian Signs begins and how I may begin my interpretation of the game. I know it's not long and doesn't shed too much light on anything, but I just wanted to write it.
No this particular ficlet won't be continued since I don't want to get into the world of ancient Oblivia too much since I still have yet to build the culture and language beyond its constituent sounds.
Summer groaned as she opened her eyes, assaulted by the sudden harshness and heat, feeling the sand beneath her hands. Even during the harshest days of summer, Nabiki Beach never reached-
She froze and curled into the fetal position as she gripped her chest, her entire body shaking as flames seared her skin open anew. The pain reminded her all too much of the Dim Sun incident the year prior. Images of her fellow Rangers falling to feeding Golbat in the streets of Pueltown cut through her mind and tears slid down her face despite her closed eyes. Ellie's pained screams echoed in her ears, her body ablaze as she shared in the last moments of her precious Partner's final moments. She still heard the sound of the plasma cannons firing above it all.
Her chest heaved as she struggled to pull herself away from the images, to will away the memories as she had so many times before. But her vision remained black as she squeezed her eyes together, unable to focus on anything but pain of her skin being pulled off. Why...why had this happened? The Rock and Dim Sun Incidents had been hellacious enough, but that brief skirmish with the Pinchers had been enough to show her just how merciless they were. To think she had lost one of her precious Partners…
"Gruva?" The single word made the Ranger jump, unable to suppress a cry of pain as she sat up, but crashed back onto the beach. A man dressed in strange attire looked down at her and she blinked. What in Arceus' name?
"Barlow? What are you doing here?" Despite the pain, she couldn't stop her surprise. The man, however, just looked at her and cast a glance at two people not too far away. A young woman held onto the back of a young boy's shirt. The strange language reached her ears, but she made no sense of the smooth, flowing syllables. One didn't need to understand the language to see and understand their argument, though. The boy strained to get to Summer, but the young woman's iron grip on the back of his shirt only succeeded in raising his voice further.
A moment later, Summer doubled over again, clutching her shirt, her breaths coming in short gasps. The annoyance and anger between the pair only renewed the fire, more tears rolling down her cheeks. Being an empath was far more trouble than it was worth most of the time.
She heard the woman cry something sharply to the boy and he whined in response before another set of soft footsteps approached. A gentle hand ran down one of her arms, causing the eruption of further flames. The touch recoiled instantly, and she heard the man and woman speak. A moment later, she felt a giant hand placed on her head and the she gasped when the burning ceased. A bit of pain lingered, but she opened her eyes and looked at her hands, then at the pair who gave her weak smiles. She shifted and started to push herself off the ground, causing them to back up several feet. Summer just sighed as she brushed the sand off her uniform before she stretched her arms out to the side, her palms fully visible. She hoped that the gesture's universality would help calm them down due to the language barrier.
The man and woman exchanged concerned glances again and she ran her fingers through her hair. Apparently it hadn't worked, but she looked around, scratching her head. "Voice Nav, where are we?" She held her right arm up and tapped the top of her Styler.
"X coordinate 00872579, Y coordinate 0073491. Renbow Island in Oblivia." At the sound of the region's name, the pair looked up at Summer intently and the Ranger stared back. She was in Oblivia? But that made no sense! These people were dressed too strangely and didn't understand her. She tapped the device again and furrowed her brows.
"Voice Nav, give me the coordinates of my current location."
"X coordinate 00872579, Y coordinate 0073491. Renbow Island in Oblivia." Summer let out a groan before she dropped her arm and ignored it. The thing hadn't been busted from the fall since she hadn't fallen in the first place. Her dry clothes and the fact she was still alive attested to that fact. One did not fall from fifteen hundred feet in the air and survive a fall into the ocean completely unscathed. But Ben wouldn't allow his precious pet project to be so faulty…
Shaking her head, she shoved the thoughts aside as she looked back at the man and woman, smiling at them. "Thank you." Even if they didn't speak the same language, it seemed as if they got the message since the man gave her a tense nod. What he had done to get rid of her psychic pains, she had no idea, but she wasn't complaining.
She then pointed at herself and continued to smile. "Summer Lily Blackwell." Wherever she was, she wasn't going to forget her manners. The pair looked at each other again before she saw a blue blur in the corner of her vision. They let out exclamations, and the woman tried to grab the boy, but he hid behind Summer, glaring at the pair. He jabbered at her in the strange language for several moments until he paused and pointed to himself.
"Habae?" She just raised an eyebrow as he pointed to her. "Habae? Suh-mah lee-lee bahk-vell." Each syllable rang out slowly as he furrowed his brow, the vowel sounds far purer than she'd ever heard someone pronounced them for her name. But she gave a small nod as she made a tentative guess at what the word meant.
"Name?" She pointed at herself, and the boy smiled, his eyes lighting up as he nodded.
"Habae!" She pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling the ghost of a headache forming. She was stuck in some bizarre alternate Oblivia (or so it seemed) with people she couldn't communicate with. Terrific. But the boy's fading smile made her drop her hand and quickly put on one herself. Even with the strange circumstances, she couldn't upset someone if she could help it, a child least of all. It was her duty as a Ranger, after all.
"Hah-baye." The syllables flicked off her tongue as she tried her best to replicate the word and the light returned to his face.
"Helondi Ravio! Bukel Tanir! Ligeda Kira!" He pointed to himself, then the man and woman in turn. They shifted their weight a bit, speaking in low tones, refusing to look at her. She opted to keep her attention focused on the boy after he tugged on her shirt. He furrowed his brows as he looked up at her. "Owt-saye-thaa?" Again, he pronounced the syllables with the utmost care. Summer folded her arms and pondered the word for several moments until she blinked.
"Outsider?" The boy nodded rapidly, a smile on his face as her shoulders dropped. The pair gave her hard looks as she put the pieces together, causing her to sigh again. So that's what she was. It was the truth of the matter, but it didn't stop the thorn from piercing her heart.
It was clear they had a very low opinion of outsiders.
Terrific.