Author's note: I cannot believe I'm actually publishing it on this site... It took me a few months.
First of all, I do not own Pokèmon, and I am sure you already know this.
Another important thing I'd like to say is that I need to thank NettoSaito for a... uh... first beta reading. To SpiritGirl183 I need to thank for a few things: a beta reading, the title and a few minor things, like the rating of the story.(I wasn't really sure which is fine for this story) Both of them corrected a LOT of my mistakes, some I REALLY can't believe I made...
I also need to thank someone for the names, but because he's not signed up to the site, I don't know if thanking him here would mean anything...
For the next part... I am well aware that my author's note contains grammatical mistakes, but I worked on this story since March or April to try and clean it of grammatical and spelling mistakes as much as I could, mostly with the two beta readers mentioned above, so please don't let my errors in my author's note(which is getting too long), if there are, to repel you from reading this fic.
And without further delay, I hope you enjoy this story.
The skies were blue, the sun was shining bright and the wind was blowing mildly. Yet, everything still seemed gloomy.
He sighed.
He hasn't been here for almost ten years. And yet, everything still seemed so familiar. Yes, he still remembers how everything else was. Nothing has changed one bit.
Still… it was different somehow. Right now, it had dozens and hundreds of stones. He still remembers how he used to be afraid of this place. How he hated it. He was still a child when he last was in this town.
He chuckled. After that, he scowled.
How can he chuckle right here and now? Now wasn't the time and here wasn't the place.
He sighed again.
"I hope you've forgiven me for that.."
The skies were blue, but the fog hid the sun. You could barely see anything.
He took off the old and dusty padora hat from his head with his lavender-violet vertebral tail, and put it on the stone that was right in front of him.
"I came here just for you. It's been way too long for you to be mad.."
A young Skorupi came out of a hollow log and sniffed the air. He loved mornings, foggy or not. There was something in the air of the new day that made him feel relaxed and refreshed.
He started strolling on his own on the wet grass, no one else to be with him. He was alone, since the day he hatched from his egg. No one tried to be a friend of his, not that it bothered him or anything. After all, he lived with no one around for an entire year.
"It's been what?.. Ten years?.. I'm sorry I wasn't here for this long, but that's how it is. I would've come for a visit, but I was afraid, for this entire time." he smiled sadly. "So how was it?.. What have you been up to, in the last ten years?.."
The Skorupi headed towards the forest. The forest had tall, thin trees with orange-golden leaves, wet grass, and almost no Pokemon at all. That's just how he liked it. That's how he wanted it to be. He needed no one but himself.
He knew that. He knew he needed no one. He knew he is and should be the only important living being in his life.
"Are you happy with this?.. Are you sure that's what should've happened?.." he asked his friend, gazing at the ground.
"Watch out!" he heard someone calling, and before he knew what happened, he was knocked over to his right.
"Ow…" he heard as he stood up, trying to figure out what had just happened.
As he turned, he saw a creature he has never seen - a quadruped. His frond half was cyan-colored, small pink nose and big ears with a yellow cross at their center. His back half, though, was black and had a thin tail with a star-shaped tip. He was rubbing his head with one of his paws.
"Who're you? And.. WHAT are you? I've never seen the likes of you before." the Skorupi asked the creature coldly and indifferently, as though he didn't really care. The creature stopped rubbing his head with his paw.
"Well, I'm… Hey, wait up!" the creature started running towards the Skorupi when it noticed the Skorupi was walking away. The Skorupi stopped and turned towards the creature.
"What?" he asked coldly. He clearly did not want to speak to this creature. But it just didn't seem care.
"My name's Reiden, and I'm a Shinx." the Shinx smiled at the Skorupi. The Skorupi, on the other hand, just looked at him blankly.
"Good for you. Bye." the Skorupi said, obviously uninterested, and started walking away. Reiden, on the other hand, didn't quit.
"What's your name?" he asked the Skorupi, walking after him.
The Skorupi was starting to get mad, and the Shinx either didn't notice this, or just didn't care.
"Yup, you sure were a pest back there," he laughed, "and yet… and yet…"
"I don't have one." he mumbled, Reiden still following him.
"You don't have one?" the Shinx asked, surprised. "How come you don't have a name?"
"Never needed one." the Skorupi shrugged. "I never had anyone, no family and no friends. I almost never met anyone. No one ever needed to name me. Never saw a point in having a name. So why would I need a name?"
"You don't have a family or friends?.." the Shinx asked sadly, not noticing, or completely ignoring, the point in what the Skorupi tried to say. "That's sad…"
"Yeah, well, it's not like I care or any-"
"I know!" Reiden exclaimed, interrupting the Skorupi in the middle of his sentence. This Shinx was really starting to get on the Skorupi's nerves.
"You cannot believe how much I hated you that day. You walked beside me when I wanted no one to be around and you never let me say those things about the way I saw things ten years ago. Like you didn't want to hear them. And now, ten years later, I already know…"
"I'll be your friend and I'll pick a name for you!" the Shinx continued. All the Skorupi could do is sweatdrop, not knowing if there was something wrong with the Shinx, and if he was for real. "How about… Claw?"
"I hate it." The Skorupi disqualified the name quickly, not even caring what it was. But to his annoyance, the Shinx didn't seem to care.
"Then it's settled!" he exclaimed. "Your name from now on will be Claw! So… Claw-"
"Don't call me that." the Skorupi interrupted. And still… It's like the Shinx didn't want to listen to him. Some friend he was… Wait… FRIEND?.. No, drop that thought.
"So, Claw," Reiden repeated, "where do you live?"
The Shinx blinked when he noticed the Skorupi wasn't there anymore, and started following him again.
The Skorupi just kept walking, hoping that Reiden will leave him alone eventually.
He laughed again. "I thought that if I'll just keep walking, you'll just leave.. But I guess not every assumption we make is right, eh, old pal?"
Claw… No. The Skorupi was getting tired. It was late at night and the Shinx still hadn't left, still asking stupid questions - 'What kind of food do you like to eat?' 'Where were you hatched?' 'Why can't we have wings so we can fly?' 'I love the thought of flying, of being free with no bounds. Do you?'
And the worst thing - every friggin' question just had to have one word he hated, with a name he hated even more! Either before it - 'Hey, Claw,' 'Say, Claw' - or after it - 'Don't you think so, Claw?'
He hated that name! He hated everything that had to do with that Shinx! Yet… was he… enjoying being with that Shinx?..
No, that could never happen! Not even if that Shinx would actually listened to what he had to say!
He started heading back towards his log-home and started walking into it, when the sound of the Shinx, along with the fact that the Skorupi never noticed Reiden was quite for a while, made him jump and bump his tail and head onto the top of the log.
"Is that your home?" the Shinx asked. The Skorupi never began the answer, he knew that Reiden would ignore him… He was right. "This isn't a place to live in! Come with me." He said, practically dragging the Skorupi by the tail with his own tail from there.
He chuckled. "I hated you so much back then. You didn't care for what I wanted; it was like you wanted to be with me, not wanting me to be left alone… or…"
"Where the hell are you taking me?" the Skorupi was mad. If this Shinx wasn't getting on his nerves earlier, he sure was now.
The Skorupi tried clawing in the grass and dirt, but it was no use. This Shinx didn't even seem to notice that he was trying to stop him. He was trying to shout, swear and even hurt the Shinx… but Reiden kept walking, dragging the Skorupi with him.
After an hour or so of walking, he stopped.
"We're here!"
"We're… where?.." The Skorupi asked, trying to get some sleep for the past twenty minutes of being dragged.
"What do you mean 'where'? We're home!" the Shinx exclaimed. "You're staying here tonight, Claw!"
The Skorupi didn't like what he had just heard. Spending the night with Reiden didn't seem like a good idea for him, so he tried walking away, but stopped when Reiden grabbed him by his tail and started walking into the house, dragging him along with him again.
The house, the Skorupi noticed, wasn't a big one. It was a wooden hut, no bigger than a shed, but it looked like Reiden was the only one living in this… home.
"You can sleep on the bed; I don't care sleeping on the ground for the night." Reiden told the Skorupi. "I'll make a bed for myself tomorrow."
The Skorupi shrugged and went on to the bed. He already knew that arguing wouldn't help him. He was too tired, anyway. He's stuck in this house for the night, so why not going to sleep there?
It wasn't long until he fell asleep.
"Oh, man.. I just can't stop laughing at this day. We were both acting like morons, each on his own way." He smiled at his friend. "I still remember you making me play with you, using my anger to do so…" he sighed and then chuckled. "These were good times. Sometimes I still think about them, not even aware that I do."
He sighed again. This was too nostalgic, too painful. And yet, he wanted to keep remembering those memories. His eyes began to water again. He wiped them off with one of his hands.
He knows he already knew back then that he had fun with him. But… he never admitted it. And a month later…
The skies were dark, darker for a usual night. It was raining outside; the Skorupi could hear the rain tipping hard on the roof of the wooden hut. He could easily hear the wind's whistles outside, along with the rumbling tree's leaves.
The Skorupi could've sworn lightning cracked the sky outside, but if it did… the sound of thunder never got to his ears, so there was no way of knowing if there really was a lightning out there.
The Skorupi sighed and turned his gaze over to Reiden's bed, with Reiden lying on it. He was asleep, yet coughing horribly.
The Skorupi decided to go outside of the hut and find someone to help the poor Shinx. And, eventually, he found a Chansey that agreed to try and help.
He brought the Chansey back to the hut so she could try and help him, but she just told him to wait. So that's what he did - he went next to the wall, sat down, and waited.
And he waited…
And waited…
He could hear the rain outside, still knocking at the roof of the hut. The space between each drop seemed to be longer and longer. Each seemed to torment him more than the ones before.
Tick.
This was starting to get on his nerves.
Tick.
This was starting to take too much time.
Tick.
He hoped that Reiden will be okay..
Tick.
Wait… was he starting to… get worried?.. For someone other than himself?..
Tick.
Wow, this rain was annoying.
And he waited…
And he waited…
Eventually, the Chansey came up to him.
"Looks like he has a nameless disease," she told him, "and he already knew about it. It's genetic, and it's been in his family for over twenty generations. He told me his parents died when he was at the age of seven months.
"When it bursts, it goes straight for the heart and makes it beat faster." She explained, "Thus, making it easier to get to the rest of the cells by riding the blood stream. Then it 'eats' every cell from the inside, destroying his entire body. It usually happens by their second birthday. He survived a month after, more or less, but I don't believe he will survive the next week."
This can't be true. This mustn't be true.
"There's gotta be a way to stop the disease!" He shouted at the Chansey, not wanting to believe what she said.
"And so, I made the potion. Remember the potion? The potion I let you drink?" he asked his friend, smiling.
He walked towards the Shinx, a glass with a purple liquid in his hands.
The Shinx was wide awake now, still lying on his bed and still coughing.
"H-hey, Claw.." He coughed again, red liquid coming out this time.
"H-hey…" the Skorupi mumbled, not knowing what to say. This was just too much for him, watching the only living being that he ever let getting close to him… dying.
"C-Claw.." The Shinx's eyes began to water as he coughed again, staining his bed with more red liquid. "I-I'm sc-scared, Claw…" the Shinx's voice broke.
The Skorupi didn't know what to do. It was just too hard looking at his usually lively companion acting like this.
"Cl-Claw?.." Reiden asked, just about to cry.
"Yes?"
"I'm… I'm s-sorry, Claw…"
"About what?.." the Skorupi asked, blinking.
"About n-never tel-telling you ab-about this… I d-didn't want you t-to be wo-worried… A-And… I wan-I wanted to s-spend time w-with som-someone… And wh-when I saw y-you walking a-all al-alone… I-I know y-you've been m-mad at m-me, b-but…" Reiden sobbed. It looked like he was right on the verge of breaking.
"It's okay." The Skorupi said quickly, not knowing what to say. For some reason, he felt ashamed of himself.
"A-And Claw?.."
"Hm?.."
"Can you… C-Can you p-promise me som-something?.." Reiden asked, beginning to shake mildly.
All the Skorupi could do was just nod.
"P-please… P-promise me th-that we.. Th-that we'll g-get to p-play… ge-get to pl-play ag-again… j-just like… j-just like we d-did in th-the past month…" the Shinx said, coughing again.
Those words hurt the Skorupi; they had hurt him like nothing before.
He nodded.
"I promise." He lied. He knew he wouldn't get to meet the Shinx again. Not even in the afterlife - he didn't deserve to get to the same place as the Shinx.
"Th-Thank you… N-Now I'm…s-so ha-happy.." The Shinx smiled weakly, a tear flowing from his eye to his cheek.
"Now, drink this," the Skorupi said, putting the glass in front of the Shinx, looking away. "This'll make you feel better."
Reiden nodded slightly, coughed again and started drinking the purple liquid.
"Th-Thank you, y-you're the b-best friend that I-I could've-" the Shinx's eyes have gone wide open and his whole body started shaking violently.
At that point, the Skorupi couldn't watch. He turned around and started walking towards the exit of the hut, as the poison he had given his friend took his life. He couldn't spend another day staying in the area.
But before he left, he whispered one sentence towards the Shinx.
"I'm sorry…" he choked, and left the hut, not knowing if his friend heard him.
He picked his hat from his best friend's gravestone with his tail and sighed sadly.
He hated seeing that gravestone.
The gravestone of his friend.
The gravestone that summed up his best friend's whole life in four lines, one sentence each:
Reiden
Born: MM . DD . YYYY
Died: MM . DD . YYYY
We will never forget you
"You know?.. It's funny, actually…" he chuckled sadly. "I heard everyone in the area was killed by an angry Beedrill swarm. It's funny because… even after your death… you saved my…" his legs collapsed beneath him. He had lost his will to keep his power right now.
"I hope you've forgiven me…" the Drapion… no, Claw said, a single tear flowing from his eye to his little cheek, his gaze falling to the ground.
"Don't worry." He heard a familiar, lively and happy voice behind him. "I did. Where have you been, by the way? I was waiting."
"Well, I…" the Drapion lifted his gaze quickly and turned towards the voice.
He saw nothing.
He smiled to himself.
He put his hat back on his head and started walking away.
"Well, it's getting late. I should go back home... The home I haven't been in for ten years…" he mumbled to himself as he walked away, then stopped.
He turned his head towards his friend, smiling. He stood there like that for a few seconds, and then started walking away again.
This time, he thought, this time you won't beat me.
In a forest not so far away, one could find a Shinx and a Skorupi, playing.
Suddenly, the Shinx stopped.
"It's getting late…" he mumbled, looking at the darkening sky.
The Skorupi also stopped.
"Yeah… we should probably head back to the hut…" he mumbled, also looking at the sky.
"Race ya' home!" the Shinx called and started running.
"Hey! No fair!" the Skorupi started running after the Shinx.
The Shinx laughed as he ran and ran, the frustrated Skorupi behind him, calling for him to stop.
This story is a first to me... A first fic in English, a first oneshot, and a first completed fic. I really hope you enjoyed it and managed to get to the end of it.
At some point the story was writing itself. There was a few scenes that actually got in there by accident and a few lines I didn't want to keep in the story, but I chose to keep them.
The end was the biggest thing to change, but I really couldn't write the ending I planned. It was too much for me.