EXPLORERS OF SKY RE-WRITTEN
Chapter 1: A Storm at Sea
It was a stormy night, on a cliff of the western part of a continent recently named the Grass Continent. Its heavy rain poured down on the world from its menacing dark grey clouds. Lightning would occasionally strike down in the flashiest fashion, so flashy it would, for an instance, give the impression it was daytime despite the absence of a sun. The cliff had a large plateau over it inhabited by a few tents. Those tents formed a small settlement for a few living creatures known as pokemons. This settlement had a sole purpose: map this completely new continent and establish a prosperous civilization for the future generations. This task once proved to be a challenge for some other continents before this one. The lack of hope, the threat of a giant meteorite, those contributed in an attempt to halt the progress of all lifeforms on the planet. In those dark times, humans were summoned from another world to solve those major conflicts and ensure the world could carry on with its quest. What would prevent pokemons to explore now?
The cliff had an opening shaped like a shark's mouth. In fact, this part of the cliff was shaped like a shark's head. Inside lived a small feline with cream-colored fur that turned brown at the tips of its hind paws and tail. Its ovoid head featured four prominent whiskers, wide eyes with slit pupils, two pointed teeth in the upper jaw, and a gold oval coin embedded in its forehead. Its ears were black with brown interiors, and were flanked with an additional pair of long whiskers. He was lonely in its remarkably huge single room for someone like it, sleeping on a pile of hay. He was not asleep though. He was lying sideway, facing the huge opening that served as a window for his home. The way his home was made prevented rain to pour in his home. He stared at the stormy sky. He could not sleep but the reason was in his mind rather than his surroundings. He was lonely, did not have any friends. Even the residents at the surface were not really his friends. They were more like co-workers for a community. He did not even have parents. He was born all alone on a faraway land and slipped in the first ride to this uncharted territory while the other pokemons could afford the travel. Because of that, the others gave him an unwelcome presence. He found this hideout by luck and chose to reside in it. The only entrance was hidden by a conveniently placed bush. The pokemon sighed and closed his eyes, dreaming one day of making a friend.
A new day rose. Our lonely pokemon woke up and searched in a bag placed right next to his pile of hay to pull out an apple he then ate. He checked inside the bag after his breakfast but only had another apple left, an elixir, a seed and a rock with carvings on it. He found the rock while wandering around back on his home continent and took it with him because it looked nice. He was very poor, so poor he could barely afford any food or drink to satiate his needs. It would have been worse if he lived on the surface or if anyone knew of his home. He would have to pay taxes to stay here. He slowly stood up and went to the big opening in his home. It gave an impressing view on a beach with its golden sand far down the cliff and the ocean with its crystalline water going to the infinite horizon. He took a brief moment to enjoy the scenery and headed out with his bag to live the routine: deliver, get an apple, lunch, deliver, get another apple, supper, deliver, get a last apple, and end the day.
On the surface, he was working as an errand boy. He could not get any other work since he did not have any experience in anything. The settlement was made of a linear road where the tents were mounted around. A few instalments were actual buildings like the first building to the left the lonely pokemon passed by. It was used for item storage and as a post office to send or receive letters and parcels. It was run by a kangaskhan. Our lonely pokemon made deliveries for this pokemon. The salary was much less than the minimum but he had no choice.
"Over here!" The owner said while waving at the meowth.
The storage owner was one of the very few people that appreciated the meowth's company. She was also the only one willing to offer him a job but could not pay him much. The meowth went to the counter, ready to do his job. This time, however, the kangaskhan did not seem to have anything to have delivered.
"I heard the guild was lookin' for pokemons to recruit. Maybe it'll be a good idea to give it a shot, don't ya think?" The owner proposed.
"Really? It's always been my dream to explore the world. I'll go check it out! Thank!" The meowth thanked and immediately left the counter.
The lonely pokemon ran through the settlement. Right next to the storage was a tent occupied by two kekleons. They were twin brothers but one was green while the other was purple. They ran a shop that sold anything anyone would need whether it was food, drink, seeds or even orbs and move discs. Our meowth would buy his apples there.
On the other side, another tent was installed inhabited by a xatu. This bird pokemon used to live in a canyon on the Air Continent to the north but moved here to offer his services. It was rumored that explorers tended to find locked treasure chests they could not open and it just so happened that the xatu knew how to pick the lock.
The meowth passed a bridge crossing over a river. The water flowed to a waterfall to then meet up with the sea. The first tent after the bridge, to the left, was run by an electrivire. His services consisted of changing moves for explorers. He could even link moves together to use them quicker.
Across the dirt road was installed a daycare where a chansey would babysit the children of the explorers while they were away. It was too dangerous for children at their age to accompany their parents.
Right next to the daycare, a marowak opened a dojo to train explorers and settlers who wanted to defend themselves. Having been a former explorer back on the Air Continent a long time ago, his services are often looked up by the newer explorers who could confirm their relevancy to the field.
The last building next to the electrivire's tent was a bank for a currency named pokes. A duskull would operate the bank and keep the settler's money safe. The meowth never used this service but, unlike most other services in which he did not need to, he never had any spare pokes on him.
The settlement was built on a giant patch of grass with some rock fences lying around and a few trees. The meowth arrived at a crossroad from the west. The northern path led to a set of stairs that went up a mountain. The eastern path did not seem to lead somewhere in particular. The southern path led to the beach at the foot of the cliff the settlement was built on. A spinda was excavating a space on the south-west spot of the crossroad while a well full of pure water was put on the north-east spot. A big plank of wood standing on some wooden pillars covered the well to prevent rainwater to mix up with the already drinkable water. It was where the meowth would get his water whenever he was thirsty. The meowth took the northern path and climbed the stairs.
He arrived at the top of the mountain where another tent was built. Surrounded by two sources of fire and two totems, this tent also had a wire rack placed on the ground right in front of it. The meowth hesitated at first. He walked in circle without passing the wire rack. There was no way to walk around it. The first risk he ever took, the one of leaving his home continent, might have been one big mistake but it led it to an opportunity of a dream, a dream of a lifetime.
"I have to steel my courage today and take another risk. If I don't do it now, I'll never be able to it later." The meowth whispered.
He put one foot on the wire rack then the other one.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" A voice loudly ordered.
The meowth got scared and froze in place. He feared he might be detained. Since he was not supposed to be here, the meowth believed he would be sent back to his home continent where things would not be better for him.
"Don't move. We're doing a pokemon check… Let's see… Oh hi, Meowth, do you have something to deliver at the guild today?" The voice spoke with a much calmer tone.
"No… In fact, I wanted to join the guild." The meowth stuttered.
"Join the guild? We're always looking for new recruits these days. Do you have someone else willing to accompany you?"
"Someone else? What do you mean?"
"According to rule number 77, pokemon between the age of 13 and 18 cannot be sent alone on adventures. They can however accompany or be accompanied by another child pokemon. You can still join the guild but you'll have to do some work at the guild until we can find you someone that would like to accompany you on your adventures."
The meowth closed his eyes and lowered his head. He had to find someone willing to go with him but he knew no one back at the settlement would agree to be with him. He turned around and slowly walked away. He returned at the crossroad but took the southern path instead of heading back west.
He descended more stairs and led to the beach. The meowth looked at the orange sky with its sun slowly rising up. It could also be seen in the sea's reflection. A few purple clouds surrounded the sun but did not dare to conceal its beauty. Bubbles floated in the air and travelled west. The meowth sat down on the golden sand and stared at the horizon.
"I always end up here on my breaks, when I feel sad. But it always raises my morale and makes me carry on with my day in hope I'll improve my life." He whispered.
He lied down on the beach near the sea. He closed his eyes and let the sea gently massage his feet. He thought of his dream and how he would achieve it. He could perhaps visit Chansey's daycare to see who was about to become 13. He might have to wait at least a year but he would make his dream come true. Or fate could smile at him as it would right now. Something bumped into the meowth's feet. He woke up, startled. He saw an unconscious pokemon lying down in front of him. It was a small, bipedal Pokémon with bluish fur on top of its body, and a milky color on the underside. Tt seemed to be a composite of features from the echidna and the shrew. The echidna features were the flames from its back, while its general body shape was shrew-like. Its eyes were closed and it had a long, thin snout. It lacked claws on its forelimbs, but had a single claw on each hind foot. It did not move. The meowth panicked and quickly searched in his bag but struggled to get what he was looking for. He had to empty the entire bag on the beach to get what he was looking for: the seed. He took the seed and slid it between the pokemon's forelimbs. As soon as the seed was in place, a yellow beam of light came down from the sky wrapping the unconscious newcomer. The light vanished and the newcomer started moaning. It did not open its eyes but it looked at the meowth.
"Are you okay? Where are you from?" The meowth asked.
Our new pokemon first looked at itself and screamed.
"Woah! What's wrong!? Did you lose something!?" The meowth asked, frightened.
The pokemon looked around and saw the sea. It went to it and stared at the water right under its feet. With its forelimbs, it touched every single detail on his face then his body. The meowth was confused.
"Are you alright?" The meowth asked.
The new pokemon looked back at the meowth and pointed behind him. The meowth looked behind him and saw two unwelcome guests taking his stuff. It was a zubat and a koffing. They would always bother the meowth every day. The meowth completely forgot about these two while he was helping the new pokemon.
"Hey! That's mine!" The meowth yelled.
"Ho ho! Did you hear that, Ghubat?" The koffing mocked.
"Finderz keeperz, lozer! Catch uz if you can!" The zubat taunted.
And just like that, the two burglars took the bag with everything in it and left west. The meowth looked back at the new pokemon, angered.
"You're gonna help me, right?" He asked.
The pokemon nodded but that was because it all happened so suddenly. If he had a better idea of what was going on, he would go find some local help or some figure of authority to apprehend the troublemakers. And so, the two pokemons headed west into a cave. As soon as they entered the cave, they caught a strange feeling.
They ended up in a maze of blue rocky corridors with its floors made of light purple sand. They ventured through the corridors until they met a shellder. The shellder's eyes seemed to be red.
"Excuse me, sir. Do you appear to have seen a zubat and a koffing passing by?" The meowth asked.
The shellder did say anything. It instead went to the meowth but the new pokemon pushed the shellder away. The shellder went bouncing away and came back.
"Why did you do that?" The meowth asked.
The shellder spit some water on the meowth. It hurt him but it made him understand the shellder was not friendly. The new pokemon tackled the shellder and defeated it. It then looked back at the meowth with a look as if the meowth was supposed to know about that and combat.
"I've never been outside the settlement. It's my first time." The meowth brought up, a little embarrassed.
They kept going inside the cave and met some more pokemons that wanted to fight them but the new pokemon took care of them. It seemed that this new pokemon knew a lot about exploration despite having been found washed up on the beach. Perhaps it was an explorer who lost its way to somewhere but the meowth could not understand when the pokemon seemed surprised about himself.
They eventually reached a dead end where they found the two burglars. The dead end was some sort of secret beach with the same colors as the one outside the cave. Though the burglars planned to lose their pursuers through the cave, they did not expect to reach a dead end as they were arguing with each other.
"Idiot! Look where you brought uz!" The zubat insulted.
"Me!? I jusht followed you in there. You should've gone the other way, shtupid!" The koffing insulted back.
They heard footsteps and looked at the source. They did not expect their culprit to catch up that fast.
"You again!? Az if thiz day couldn't get any worze!" The zubat complained.
"Shut up, Ghubat! Let'sh beat them down!" The koffing declared as he dashed toward the meowth.
The pokemons started a fight but it ended as fast as it began. The new pokemon sure knew a lot to be able to take down two burglars all by himself without even breaking a sweat. He first spit some fire at the koffing who was immediately beaten. He then tackled the zubat who crashed on the sand afterward. The two troublemakers stood back up, hurt.
"Okay, you win! Here, have you ztupid rock back, lozerz!" The zubat said.
"You haven't sheen the lasht of ush! We'll be back!" The koffing warned.
They left the belongings behind and immediately fled the scene. The meowth took the bag and left the secret beach with his new friend. It took less time for our new explorers to exit the beach.
"Thanks for helping me get my stuff back. I really appreciate it." The meowth said to his new friend.
The new pokemon nodded.
"Say, do you have a place around here to stay? If not, I might have an idea of what we can do now." The meowth proposed.
The new pokemon tilted his head sideway. He was intrigued.
"I know it might sound I'm proposing something out of nowhere but, do you want to go with me and make our own exploration team at the guild?" The meowth asked.
The new pokemon was not sure of such proposal. He first looked down on the sand and his sight was led to the sea then the sky, still the same scenery as before. He looked back at the meowth and smiled. He nodded.
"Really? But you just got washed up on the beach. Surely, you must have been doing something else." The meowth reminded.
The new pokemon simply raised his shoulders, giving little importance to that fact. They both left the beach and headed to the guild.
And so, our two pokemons would form an exploration team. This would turn out to be their very first step into many fantastic realms of adventure that would await their arrival.