This is a story that's been brewing in my brain for a long time, I've been meaning to write it for ages, saying that I would start it next year when I finish school, as it's my final year and I need to focus on studies. I found myself one evening, being totally bored out of my mind - so I started this chapter. Please bear in mind, that if I do continue this - it may go over many long gaps due to schooling engagements. If you like this chapter, please, I urge you to review it and tell me if you like it, so that I may continue to make spare time during breaks in study to continue writing. Thank you for taking the time to read this authors note, and now, I present to you...
Minds, Hearts and Souls
The mind, like a cat, is cunning.
The heart, like a dog, is loyal.
The soul, like a bird, is free.
Prologue: The Beginnings from an End
The soft, north-easterly wind hushed gently through the trees.
Debris of snapped twigs and lifeless leaves skipped along the thin grass. Needles that cloaked over-bearing pines shivered
with a nervous energy, as the late-afternoon sun pierced faint orange beams through gaps in the foliage. Amid the trees, a
small semi-grass covered clearing broke the chain of endless branches. Two figures stood in the centre of the clearing. One,
a young boy who appeared the age of thirteen. He held a guarded stance, legs standing apart and hands curled into tight
fists, while his deep brown eyes flitted quickly around the trees - as if searching for something. His stare was focused, even
as the wind blew the thin black fringe protruding from beneath his backwards black and yellow cap over his face. Standing
beside him was a four-legged shadowy figure, a furry creature with a black and grey coat, its intense red eyes scanned trees
on the opposite side of the clearing. It too, was on it's guard - its four legs stretched out, prepared for, whatever it was that
the two appeared to be looking for. They stood back to back, not once desisting in their search for whatever stood beyond
the trees.
The boy glanced to the right, as he slowly whispered in the direction of the shadowy creature, "She's about to attack," he
announced indefinitely, "I can feel it, get ready Mighty."
The creature responded with a low growl.
The air was filled with and aura of suspense - even the wind seemed to stop from the energy. The two stood still,
undeterred, for what seemed like a millennia, until suddenly -
"ARTEMIS, NOW! ZEN HEADBUTT!" A loud female voice cut through the silence.
From all sides of the clearing, what seemed like a hundred bird-like creatures, swooped with an amazing speed out of the
trees, with white, sparkling, static foreheads, at the boy and the four-legged Mighty. The boy did not waste a moment.
Without flinching, he cried "Quick! DARK PULSE!"
Mighty howled a violent cry, "Mighty-ENA!" and suddenly a surge of erie darkness expelled from it. The darkness stretched
out towards the targeting opponents. The black aura had already reached its first victim when the same female voice cried,
"Dodge it, Artemis!" A small handful of the birds changed course and swerved upwards. Most of the birds flew head-first into
the growing sphere of darkness, however, they disappeared upon impact.
"Double Team, of course." The boy stated, matter-of-factly. He eyed the birds that escaped Mighty's Dark Pulse, and
immediately spoke a command to his companion, "Mighty, use Odor Sleuth to find out which Noctowl is the real Artemis!"
Mighty closed it's eyes and used it's attack to sniff out the opponent.
"Might…" Mighty uttered in quick contemplation. Suddenly, it's eyes fixed directly on the Noctowl that was hovering highest
in the group. "Mightyena!" It howled, signalling to the boy that he had found Artemis. "Hurry," the boy commanded, "use
Crunchon it, NOW!"
Mighty leaped high into the air, straight towards Artemis. The illusions did not distract it, they merely disappeared into thin-
air as Mighty charged through them.
"No!" the female voice sounded once again, this time the voice's owner had run out into the clearing. A girl, of the same
age as the boy, starred up into the sky with golden eyes - her expression desperate as she watched the speeding Mighty
lunge straight towards Artemis. There was not enough time to escape the attack. Mighty's jaws clamped right onto Artemis'
left wing. The bird cried out in pain, "Owl!" It's eyes shut tight in agony.
Before the girl could even blink - the boy shouted yet another command, his voice confident, "Now Mighty, use Take Down!
Ram Artemis into the ground!" Mighty dragged Artemis beneath it - and used the weight of gravity to gather speed as the
two plummeted to the ground.
As the two pokémon fell further down, the girl suddenly re-composed herself - her eyes flickering from disbelief into
determination. She drew a deep breath, "Artemis!" she cried, "Use Hypnosis quickly and get out of there!" Artemis, who's
eyes had been shut since Mighty had sunk its teeth into it - immediately opened its large eyes. Its eyes, parallel to
Mighty's, stared straight into its opponent. Artemis' eyes filled with a light purple - and at once, Mighty's eyes became
drowsy. The two sped closer and closer towards the earth - Artemis, still under Mighty, was now struggling to break free
from the loosening grip, as Mighty began to fall quickly into slumber. "No!" the boy cried, as he watched his companion
become more vulnerable as the ground came nearer and nearer, until -
Impact was made, a huge column of dust and dirt threw itself up into the air, clouding the two siblings' view of the outcome
from the speedy fall.
The dust still loomed about the clearing, the boy and girl's eye's fixed upon the cloud of dirt. Waiting to find out what had
happened. Waiting to find out, who had won. The dust begun to clear, but the two pokémon were not yet visible. As even
more settled, still, victory had not yet been revealed. Brother and sister gazed anxiously - brows creased and fists clenched
with anticipation. Then, shockingly, a figure let out of the top of the remaining dust into the air. More became clear as a
definite figure lay motionless on the ground in remnants of the dirt-explosion. The first figure rose into the air… and gleefully
spread out it's wings.
"Noct-OWL!" It cried triumphantly.
The girl immediately flashed a huge grin on her face - nothing was more satisfying to her then showing up her twin brother,
especially when it was in a pokémon battle, something the both of them eagerly participated in. "Great job, Artemis!" she
praised the Noctowl as it swooped down, slightly ungracefully due to its recent injury, beside her. "Noct-owl!" it cried in
reply, as the girl hugged the huge bird - her brunette pigtails bouncing around her cheeks as she embraced it.
Meanwhile, the boy had run over to the Mightyena that lay, exhausted, on the ground. He knelt beside it, his knees
grinding into the dirt. "You did great Mighty." he said solemnly, as he placed his hands gently on the Mightyena's soft and
dirty fur. It grizzled lightly in reply, its eyes, half open, looked towards the boy with an approving stare.
The girl wasted no time gloating over her victory, "Looks like I've won… again." she teased, desperately trying to act cool,
but being unable to conceal the stupid grin on her face made this impossible. She walked springily over to her un-identical
twin brother. "How are you ever going to be a pokémon master, if you can't even beat your dear little sister?" she mocked.
The boy stood up abruptly and glared at his sister. "Get stuffed," he blurted out in irritation, "this is only the second time in
a row you've beaten me! You're only one point ahead, you were one point behindtwo matches ago!"
The girl folded her arms and looked upwards in taunting contemplation, a smirk still smeared across her face, "Well, that
just means I've obviously practiced a whole lot more then you!" the tone of her voice seethed with self-satisfaction. The
boy however, smiled fiendishly at this. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say sis! Your win was a total fluke, you should have seen
your face when Mighty had Artemis in a lock heading towards the ground, you looked like you'd just seen a ghost!" The boy
jeered in vengeance. The smirk instantly vanished from the girl's face, her cheeks flaring up in embarrassment and anger.
"Oh yeah?" she said defiantly, "well you should have seen YOUR face when Artemis put Mighty to sleep. You sounded so
pathetic wailing out," she adopted a forlorn expression, "'No!'" Now the boy's gaze again turned dark, his own cheeks
flushing. "At least I didn't loose control of the situation, you almost lost the entire battle!" he shouted. "But I didn't!" the
girl shouted back, "youlost the battle!"
The two continued to shout viciously at one another, as the light of the day slowly began to drain away. Artemis and Mighty
sat with slightly irritated faces, tired of again, hearing the two bicker in bouts of sibling rivalry.
Meanwhile, a fair distance away, but within eyesight, a small house stood on the edge of New Bark Town. The back of the
house faced the clearing, and from the kitchen window of the small house, two broken eyes gazed emptily out towards the
small figures in the distance, who were the two twins in the clearing. The thirty-five year old woman, with long brown hair
that fell quietly on her shoulders, placed the beeping phone slowly down from her ear to the countertop, the wireless phone
brushing the dangling pokéball earring she always wore. She held onto the phone that now stood on the kitchen counter
where she always cooked, and stared out through the window she always looked through, towards her children that she
always loved, in the clearing they had always played in, with the pokémon they had always battled with, with the pokémon
that had always been their father's… that had always been her husband's… the husband that she… had always… loved…
And now, as her children and her husband's pokémon walked back towards the house, she thought about how… how she
was possibly going to tell them, that the father they had always knew… that the trainer they had always knew… that the
man they all had always loved… was now… in fact…
a single tear had traced the right cheekbone of the widow…
was forever… and always… gone...
Thank you very much for reading this! Remember, please review and tell me if you would like me to continue the story. Feedback will be appreciated, and I promise to deliver, to the best of my ability, a creative and gripping story for you all.
pyroXjay