Will was only five, but the piercing darkness has stuck in his mind ever since. Perhaps that was why his first partner was a dark-type, perhaps the memory was etched so hard into his brain that it had influenced his life up till now… but more on that later.
He was walking beside his mother, who was carrying his younger sister, to their home in Fortree City. Despite his father's advice to stay in the Pokémon centre in Lilycove, his mother was insistent on returning home that evening. Looking back, Will couldn't quite remember why, but it was something important. His mother was not a Pokémon trainer, which made their late night journey all the more dangerous. They were just about to cross the bridge when a terrible omen befell them. A dark, four legged Pokémon with soul-penetrating red eyes stopped before them. It gave out a cry and ran off.
Seconds later the sky lit up into an eerie crimson colour. It hurt the traveller and her children's eyes, and his sister began to cry. Will's mother took a few steps back, clutching the baby with one arm and holding Will's hand with the other. It all felt like a nightmare to the young boy; he pinched himself just to make sure. An orb was propelled from the sky and went straight under the bridge at an ear-ripping speed. With that, the sky returned to its absent black. The mother cautiously stepped towards the bridge, ready to protect her children in case of any surprises. After a few steps, she ran.
She cried out to Will when she lost grip of his hand. He'd fallen over behind her on the bridge, but she couldn't see. It was darker than dark. The moon was black, no stars twinkled. The orb had taken the light of the sky with it. The tears running from the little boy's eyes blurred his vision, but he could still hear perfectly well. Colours and lights flashed around his eyes. A shrill scream made his blood curl and he struggled to his feet, just in time to see a strange humanoid figure touch his mother and the baby. They vanished. He cried for his mother.
No reply.
He cried again.
No reply.
The figure spotted him, and began to advance towards him. However, a huge roar filled the sky and a giant beam of energy hit the figure. Will was blown back by the impact, but he was caught by a mild-mannered bug-like dragon. It held onto him tight and elevated him above the commotion. He was awake just long enough to notice the humanoid figure disappear into the sky, followed by an enormously long green dragon.
And that was the last time he ever saw his mother and his baby sister. Search parties were out day in day out for weeks including Will and his father. After that, his father turned to drink to help the days pass by, and Will was usually left at home alone. From a young age he learned to look after himself; and eventually the day came when he decided to flee the nest…
Over ten years had passed since that night. Will was now 16. He stood 5 ft 11 and he had dressed himself today in his favourite clothes, because he had no room to pack anything else. He was wearing pale-blue tight jeans (they were more comfortable to walk in than you would imagine), a t-shirt and a yellow/black chequered long sleeved shirt. He'd also put on a black beanie hat that he was bringing for the times he was sure to encounter where the weather was a bit chilly. He was also wearing ankle length leather boots, in case he had to do any rock climbing. (These were also very comfortable to walk in)
Will finished packing his bag by taking a potion out of his draw and stuffing it into the side pocket. He sat down on his bed for the last time, curling his ear-length chocolate brown hair between his thumb and fore finger. His bedroom walls were absolutely plastered with Pokémon posters and drawings he'd done. Drawing was a personal favourite hobby of his. It helped him block out the noise of his dad stumbling around on the lower floors, breaking glasses and vases and all sorts.
His father was not a bad man, but he was a broken man. With the assumed death of his wife and daughter, he'd turned to drink in an attempt to forget. There was a lock installed on his door so he could at least be safe when his father was violently drunk, in the broadest sense of the word "Safe". Will got up, grabbed his bag and swung it over his shoulder, then opened his bedroom door. He scrawled a note on a piece of paper and stuck it on the fridge door. It said "Thanks for everything Dad. I'm off to Lilycove to get the ferry to Petalburg port. I've got money and my Pokénav. Don't call me unless you're sober. Will."
He grabbed the flowers he'd bought earlier from the kitchen table and took one last glance at the kitchen, before advancing towards the door and slamming it behind him. Waiting for him was a girl from the city he'd grown up with. Her name was Lucy, and she had shoulder-length jet-black hair. She was half a foot shorter than Will, and he liked to tease her about this. She was wearing a deep blue hat and a matching blouse, a black skirt and comfortable training shoes. She was taking him to Lilycove, since he had no Pokémon, and she had been training for a few years.
"So, are you ready to go?" she smiled sweetly, fiddling with the bottom of her blouse. Lucy had moved to the outskirts of Fortree from Sinnoh when they were both 8, and her elder brother was one of the top trainers in Sinnoh; his name was Lucas. He had given her an egg to nurture as a leaving present, and it had hatched into a Larvitar, which had become her best friend and in turn her companion.
"Yeah I'm ready." He feigned a smile and they began to walk into route 120. It was a very picturesque walk, completely shrouded in foliage. The grass was tall and was home to many Pokémon, luckily however none of them wanted to bother the two friends. A Tailow had approached them but after being fed some Oran berries by Lucy it soon flew away, chirping victoriously. It wasn't long before they had reached the bridge that crossed over the river that provided such rich quality of plant-life in the area. It was also the bridge that had haunted Will since the age of four.
He laid the flowers down by one of the posts on their side of the bridge and whispered a few words under his breath. Lucy wanted to remain silent during Will's few moments knelt by the post, but something caught her eye. A tall four-legged Pokémon stood at the other end of the bridge. It's fur was white, but it had a black face with a blade-shaped bone protruding from one side of its cheek, a sharp looking black tail and a black diamond on its forehead. As soon as she noticed it, the heavens opened on them, raining profusely as if from nowhere. It growled at the two. Then it charged.
The blade on the side of its head began to glow white, and then it swung its head around. A high pressure blade of wind fired towards the two, but Lucy wasn't having any of it. "Larvitar, I choose you!" She cried as she threw a Pokéball into the air. A white light appeared before her, and then formed into a small, dusty green looking Pokémon. "Larvitar, protect!" The blade of wind stopped right before the much smaller Pokémon and dissipated. The Larvitar smiled with a victorious grin. "Right, now Larvitar, use Iron Head!" Larvitar tilted its head forward slightly, closed its eyes and charged at the slightly confused Pokémon. They collided with a bang, and the mysterious Pokémon flew towards the tree that had almost been the end of Will all those years ago. Then Will grinned.
"Pokéball, go!" he yelled, shortly after pulling a Pokéball from his bag. It hit the dazed Pokémon on the head and fell onto the ground. One wobble. Two wobbles. Three wobbles. Sparks flew out from the ball. Will punched the air in victory and ran across the bridge to collect the Pokéball. He pulled a device out of his pocket and switched it on. As he did so, a mechanical voice began to speak, "Absol, the disaster Pokémon. It sharply senses even subtle changes in the sky and the land to predict natural disasters. It is a long-lived Pokémon that has a life-span of 100 years."
"Thanks for that, Lucy." He said as he noticed she was running across the bridge. "This thing has been following me for a while, I've only really seen it once or twice, and I've never been able to keep it still in one place for long enough to actually battle it, let alone catch it." He was grinning from ear to ear as he put the Pokéball back in his bag.
"So, you were using me to capture that thing!?" her voice boomed, causing the Tailow in the trees surrounding the take flight. She was angry. "I thought you wanted my company you big piece of-" but Will cut her off.
"I didn't in a million years expect it to appear with you around me. And besides, you offered." He knelt down again when she made it onto his side of the bridge and petted her Larvitar. "You did great!" The Larvitar smiled in agreement and laughed slightly.
"Larvitar, thank-you. Return." A beam of red light enveloped the Larvitar and it returned back into its capsule. "So, do you still want me to come with you, Mr Bigshot?" She half joked, half scorned.
He nodded, and they continued to walk. The rain subsided only slightly, and they were both drenched. When they came to an area that was completely shielded from the rain by trees they decided to settle down for the night, they needed a rest. Will gathered bits of twigs and leaves in order to start a fire but Lucy stopped him.
"You can't just go making fires in an area like this! If it spreads, it'll damage the whole environment! How are you going to survive? Did you bring a sleeping bag?" She looked at him scornfully, but also with a small glint of sympathy; he had been kept inside his entire life whereas by his age most people had come to at least challenge the elite four by now. Hell, by age 12 her brother was ranked in the top 10 trainers of Sinnoh but… he was special. And Will was still just as naïve as her brother was when he first left.
"Oh, I'm sorry… Yeah, I brought a sleeping bag, its right here." He pulled a warm, emerald coloured sleeping bag out of his backpack and laid it out on the floor. He sat down and searched his bag for a rage candy bar and the Pokéball he had used to capture Absol; he pulled both out too. He stared at the Pokéball for a while before pushing the button release on it. In a white flash Absol appeared, sitting down in front of him on its hind legs. Its red eyes stared straight through Will. They reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite remember what. "Candy bar?" he unwrapped it and offered the sugar-filled bar to the quite wary Absol. It sniffed it slightly, before gently taking a bite. After it swallowed, it made a noise that sounded something like purring. Then it burped.
Lucy heard and giggled. "She likes you Will, despite you having just snatched it from the world its known." She released Larvitar from its Pokéball and brought it over towards the Absol. "Come on, make peace. You do what you gotta do, right Absol?" Absol nodded as it lay down at his feet, closing its eyes. "Bless her, she's tired. S'pose it's been a long day for her."
Will gently stroked Absol's head and down her back cautiously, but she didn't resist him at all. "How do you know she's a she?" He looked at Lucy with an intrigued look. "I mean, she's only be with us for a few hours and you already know…"
"I aspire to be a Pokémon breeder, it's my job to know!" she laughed quietly when she noticed that Larvitar had laid down next to the Absol. "The blade on her head is shorter than normal. So that would make her female, as the male one is a few inches longer. Also, she's a lot calmer than male Absol's. Believe me when I say we would've been in trouble if we'd encountered a male one."
Will stopped stroking her and finished off what was left of the candy bar. He was going to have to find another way to eat when he was on his own; eating nothing but sugar would make him crash. He crawled into his sleeping bag and stared at the natural roof that was entrenching them from the rain. Lucy did the same. "You know, tomorrow." He began. Lucy turned her head to look at him. "You'll have to help me do some training with Absol tomorrow. I don't really know any of the moves it learns or anything…" Absol moaned slightly.
"Well… since I'm such a fantastic breeder in the making, I'll help you." She smiled, "now, get some sleep you. Tomorrow's going to be a long day, we're up as soon as the soon pokes onto that tree stump."
Will's head turned to a tree stump that had two Pokémon sleeping beside it; A Minun and a Plusle. The tree stump was the only place in the clearing that wasn't protected from the rain. His eyes became heavy, and the pitter-patter of the rain was soothing to his tired mind. This was his first night as a free guy. With lots more to come.