With eyes still tightly shut, the first thing that I could sense was the freshness of nature's cool air toying with my nostrils. Funny, I don't remember heading out into the wilderness but the peace and serenity of this moment kept me at ease. A gentle breeze blew across my bare body and sent a few shivers down my skin.
"Why was I naked," I wondered to myself before letting the thought silently drift away. I can't remember when I've felt this relaxed. Coming from a world where only the strong and cunning survived, I did all I could to make my living decent. It was all work and no play for five years until recently. After getting stabbed in the back by my former friends, I soon found myself left with nothing except for wasted time. The sound of leaves dancing softly upon their branches eased my mind away from the coldness of both the weather and my thoughts as I began to slowly crack my eyes open. Darkening gray clouds flowing along with the winds above greeted me before I noticed something orange poking out from underneath my eyes. Reaching towards said object that was plastered upon my face, I jabbed at it with a finger only to find myself wincing in pain. The shock lifted me off of my back as I sat up to grasp my now throbbing face. Seeing my hand only made my eyes widen as I noticed that it was now orange as well. All I could do at that moment was cringe before looking downwards towards the rest of my body. My mind was not prepared for the information that my eyes had sent to it.
Bright orange scales covered my shortened arms and legs while my scaly chest and pudgy belly were colored gold. Where my proud member had once laid tucked between my legs was replaced with a slit that just made me uncomfortable. Looking behind me I found a thick lizard-like tail attached to me that drew my eye's focus towards its tip. I just stared at the tip in silence, feeling my eyes starting to water up. A large glowing flame had found its way onto my new appendage and even though I couldn't feel any kind of pain, the beating of my heart had gone into overdrive. My body began to move on its own accord since panic had just consumed almost all of my rational. Finding myself standing up on my feet, I took a couple of shaky steps forward before breaking out into a sprint. My stubby arms flailed wildly in the air before all of the terror that built up inside me was transformed into an ear-piercing screech. I ran for an unknown amount of time like this until I could no longer feel the ground with my feet. Returning to my senses, all I could see was a huge body of water before a sudden explosion of darkness and chills enveloped me.
I slowly regained my consciousness after experiencing that overload of emotions. After taking that unexpected dive into the lake, I cursed at myself for not learning how to swim in the first place. Placing blame towards something normally helps reinforce my ego, but targeting myself was a horrible mistake. Once that happened, I found that I couldn't stop attacking. All the pushing and prodding that I forced onto my already fragile mind triggered something and an uncontrollable rage began to build up inside me. It flowed around throughout my body, almost as if it had somehow gained a life of its own. Before I even knew what had happened, memories of my childhood that I had locked away so long ago resurfaced from their forgotten prison. All that I could do was stare as the events from the past replayed themselves within my mind. Watching the days of my youth made me envious of my former self and I wanted to reach out and place myself back into those carefree days. These feelings only lasted for a brief moment as I knew that at the end of this nostalgic journey would come the start of my suffering.
"No, I can't go through something like that again," I mumbled to myself as I tried to stop these flashbacks. Before I could recall all the horrific details of that moment, my childhood memories just shattered as the built up rage inside me caused me to lurch myself upwards. I could feel my throat burning with an itchy sensation as water was expelled from my lungs, covering part of the ground with a sickening splash. A thumping sensation inside my head coupled with an annoying ringing resonating in my ears caused me to grasp my head in agony. Staring out into the space in front of me, I couldn't make anything out.
"What happened to me," I grumbled out before wiping away the grogginess from my eyes. The faint noise of someone's voice can barely be heard over the ringing. Rubbing my eyes seemed to help since they regained their focus just as I looked towards the source of the voice. I was completely stunned by what I saw. To my left, a totodile was staring at me with a concerned look upon its face while on my right was a glaring zangoose.
"Hey Truce, I think she'll be alright," the totodile turned as she whispered towards her buddy. By now, both my sight and hearing had returned to normal. Looking over these two, I noticed that these pokemon were taller then me, which was- wait, what did she just say about me? But more importantly, how did I just understand her? "You will be alright, right?" she asked me with a bit of doubt lingering in her voice. I just stared into her amber colored eyes with disbelief.
"I can understand you?" I questioned bluntly.
Her face scrunched up into a puzzling look before saying, "Of course we can understand each other. I mean, we are all pokemon." That last sentence confirmed all of my fears. The orange and yellow scales and that thick lizard-like tail with the flaming tip all pointed to me being one thing: a charmander.
"Here, take this," Truce stated sternly before handing me a bluish berry that looked to be the size of an orange.
Turning the fruit around in my paws, my face heated up as I felt my stomach rumble a bit. "I can't take this," I cried while trying to offer it back.
Using his claws, he pushed the fruit back and gave me a look that filled me with fear. "Eat it," the zangoose stated sternly. "It should restore both your stamina and vitality. After what you just went through, I think you need it the more then we do." Hesitantly, I got the fruit up close to my maw, sniffed it a little, and gave it a test bite. A few seconds later, the berry was no more. Standing up, I wobbled as I tried to find my center of balance. A blue paw grasped my shoulder gently.
"Lemme help you," the totodile smiled. I nodded and leaned on her for a bit.
"So who are you guys?" I asked her while taking a few shaky steps.
"Oh! My name's Liru and that's Truce," she said pointing at the zangoose. "Right now he's teaching me the basics of-." A fear filled screech pierced the air, drawing our attention towards the general direction of its source.
"Let's go Liru," Truce shouted.
Liru nodded and turned to leave. "Sorry, but I gotta go. Be safe, okay?" Another cry echoed out into the open, causing the two to start running. I watched as their bodies disappeared into the thick foliage of the forest. Walking up to the lake, I looked into the waters to see my new self staring back at me with bright green eyes. Looking back at the bush that they went in to, I felt something in my gut that told me to follow them. Without questioning it, I ran off after them. Running through the forest clearing upon all fours was just...exhilarating. The scent of freshly crushed grass upon my paws while taking in the rush of air blowing across my face all felt so natural. Eyes dilating, I knew that my senses were much sharper due to my body's new instincts. Reaching the bush where Truce and Liru disappeared into, I dove over the tangled mess of leaves and branches before landing on top of something soft and warm. A cry of shock escaped from underneath me.
"What the- GET OFF!" they screamed while landing a painful blow onto my chest. Winded from the attack, I clutched the area that was hit and rolled off of them with a grunt. Looking up I saw a feisty feline with black and brown fur standing close by, brushing the dust off of himself and giving me a threatening glare. Staggering onto my feet, the lion-like pokemon tensed up and jumped back, giving off a growl that was flat out adorable. Moving my arms up, I tried my best to look non-threatening.
"Woah, wait a minute," I cried out defensively. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall on top of you. I heard a scream coming from the area and thought somebody might need some help." My words seemed to work since his muscles started to relax a little.
He looked me up and down, gave me a nod, and grumbled, "Alright, you don't look like you're with them. Come with me." Before I could ask who he was referring to, a primal roar blasted out from behind us. "Hurry, before they catch up to us," he whispered before taking off. Following closely behind, I noticed him taking multiple glances behind him.
"What are we running from," I huffed, out of breath. He gave me a puzzling look and stopped for me to catch my breath.
"Don't you know where we are?" he asked. When I shook my head, he groaned and placed a paw on his face. "This is Genko Forest, one of many mystery dungeons spread across the land." Upon seeing my clueless face, the lion cub sighed and muttered something under his breath before continuing. "Mystery dungeons are dangerous because these areas are always changing. The pokemon who live in these areas are negatively affected by this, becoming hostile at every trespasser intruding upon their territory. I was just running away from some of these feral beings until you came along and tackled me from out of nowhere."
"Well if you already knew it was dangerous here," I stated with my arms crossed, "Why'd you come here in the first place? From the way you were talking, it's obvious that you're not from around these parts." Before I could get an answer from him, a large bull broke through the bushes and charged at us. I almost got hit trying to jump out of its way.
"Dang it, I can't believe that Tauros managed to find me," the lion shouted. "Hey char girl, how good can you fight?" Dodging another charge from the frenzied bull, I couldn't give an answer. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins as my pupils dilated again. This situation became a fight for a survival when that bull prepared to charge at me yet again. Something clicked inside my head, telling me that I can beat this. A small ball of flame coming from the lion pelted the side of the bull's hide, distracting him away from my own counter-attack. Digging down deep into my gut, I could feel the raw potential just waiting to well up and explode.
The Tauros shook the blow off and turned towards the source of the flame, making a face that could scare even ghost pokemon away. The once confident lion was now physically frozen in fear from seeing such a terrifying expression. Nose flaring into a couple of snorts, the bull roared with rage and charged, only this time there was a dangerous glint coming from its horns. I ran at the frozen feline and pushed him out of the way. Turning to face the out of control bull, I released everything I had within me and felt a huge funnel of flame erupt from my maw. Seeing and feeling such an intense bout of flame was both amazing and frightening at the same time. When the fire started to die down, I was left shaking a bit with a couple tears flowing down my cheeks. Falling onto my knees, I looked over to find the Tauros knocked out against a tree with scorch marks all over their body.
"Jeez, that was a nice shot," the lion gasped. Padding over to me, he placed a paw on my shoulder and gave me a few victory pats. Some rustling of the leaves behind us startled us and we jumped back to prepare for more enemies. The sight of a zangoose slashing through the brush was pure relief. Seeing him shifting his eyes between me, the lion, and the Tauros made me a bit nervous, but that soon dissolved when he gave a toothy grin.
"Liru, guess who I just found," Truce turned and shouted. Emerging from the sliced up wilderness came the blue gator followed by a Shinx.
"That Litleo... Isn't that the prince?" gasped Liru. "We've been looking everywhere for you. Don't you know that your parents have been worried sick over your disappearance?" When that Shinx appeared, the fire in the Litleo's eyes burned out. A tiny whimper escaped his throat and his gaze was aimed towards the ground. The Shinx trotted slowly to the depressed cub, giving him a couple of friendly licks across his forehead.
"I'm sorry for dragging you through all this, Lilly," he apologized. "I just wanted to revenge for what they did to you that I sort of lost track of everything."
Truce stepped up and coughed to get the Litleo's attention. "One of our other teams have already apprehended the outlaws that you seek. Let's get the both of you home first before talking any further." Clutching something in his right paw, he held it up into the sky. A beam of blinding light flashed for a couple seconds before dissipating. Where the shinx and litleo once stood was nothing but air.
"Now what should we do about you?" Truce pondered with a smile on his face. "Not only did you save us the trouble of searching for the prince but you've also taken out Rampaging Rydro, a D-ranked outlaw who was only one more crime away from becoming a C-ranked criminal." Judging from the tone of his voice, I shuffled back a bit in defense but was instantly grabbed by the quick moving pokemon. Moving in close to my face, I could smell his putrid breath as he whispered, "Don't you know who we are?" Struggling to escape the zangoose's grip, a flash of blue flickered out of the corner of my eye. Suddenly, Truce yelped out as if he had been struck and with a thud, I was dropped onto my rear.
"Come on Truce, stop messing with her," Liru growled with a tiny bit of blood staining a few of her teeth. Walking over to my sitting form, she extended a paw forward. "Sorry about that," she apologized, "Truce only gets this way when he spots potential."
"Potential?" I asked, grabbing her paw and pulling myself up. Looking over at Truce, I saw him rubbing at the spot where Liru had nipped his arm. "Yeah, for the organization that I'm trying to join," Liru smiled.
"With mystery dungeons springing up everywhere, chaos has been slowly spreading across the lands of Evodusai," interrupted Truce. He appeared to be fine and upon closer inspection, the wound on his arm was barely visible. "Sofeda, the place where I work at, is made up of three core groups: Offensive Superiority, Defensive Defiance, and Intelligence Central. Together, we aim to prevent the spread of disaster by minimizing the overall damage caused by affected inhabitants and destroying the source of the area's distortion. Most of the time, we end up finding and removing these strange dark crystals placed deep within the area." Pointing at Liru, Truce continued with his boring lecture. "Liru over here was our newest recruit. Since Genko Forest is a relatively small area, the higher ups decided that this was the perfect test to determine which group her skills would be perfect for. Based on what I've seen, Liru could join either the recon division of Intelligence Central or the physical force division of Offensive Superiority." A long pause snapped me out from my sleepy daze. Looking around, I found Liru taking a nap while Truce was angrily trying to wake her.
"Okay, that was a bit long and boring," I yawned outright. "Since you wanted to explain all this to me, I assume you wanted to recruit me or something?" Picking the Totodile up and shaking her, Truce turned to me and grinned.
Nudging a shoulder at the burnt up Tauros, he stated, "With firepower like that, you'll be perfect for the special attack division." Liru, angered by the violent wake up, chomped Truce's claw and was quickly released.
"So with the prince secured, we can leave now, right?" Liru impatiently asked. Grasping his claw, the zangoose shook his head.
"There's still one more thing we need to do," he muffled, trying to suppress his agony. "We're in deep enough to find the source of the dungeon. Remember, it's our duty to fix the area by destroying the dark crystals. Liru, take her along and see if you can find it."
Nodding, Liru turned to me and said, "let's go." We searched for a bit until we reached a small clearing that lead into a dead end. At the back, we could see a faint glow radiating from a crystal shard. "That must be the source, Liru whispered. We approached it slowly, unsure about the danger the object might possess.
"It would have been nice if Truce told us about what to expect from this thing instead of all that other boring nonsense," I muttered. Liru gave a tiny giggle, which was a bit unexpected. At this point, we were close enough to grab at it, which I did and crushed it in my paws. Once that happened, I knew we were in for a nasty surprise and it came in the form of a group of three Rhyhorns and a Lairon. Knowing that fire was almost useless in this situation, I cursed under my breath and turned to Liru. "Just listen to me and we'll be fine," I ordered. "Since they all share a weakness with water, you'll have to do the fighting while I tell you what to do." She looked at me with shock, shook her head a bit, and turned to face the enemy.
"Alright, I'm all ears." Two of the Rhyhorns immediately targeted Liru and charged forward in a fury. Noticing a gap between them, I told her to squeeze through it and unleash a few bursts of water into one of their backs. The trick worked like a charm as one of the frenzied Rhyhorns was instantly knocked out. Furious at the loss of their buddy, the Rhyhorn next to the Lairon roared and shot out some shards of earth.
"Liru, jump into the air and fire off another round at the flanked one." Hearing my command, she jumped, but it was a bit too late since a stray piece of rock pelted her on the back of the leg. Wincing, she shook the blow off and followed through with the rest of the order, taking out another baddie. I rushed in to catch the injured gator, placing her down gently on her feet. "How many shots do you have left," I asked to get an idea on how well we're doing.
"I got enough in me for one final attack," Liru huffed with a glint in her eyes. The remaining two pokemon blindly charged towards us, one using the standard horn attack and the other going for a powerful headbutt. "Let's do this," she shouted and together we unleashed a water gun/ember combo that meshed together into one. The sound of a huge thunk bounced off the trees, leaving our foes crumpled in a heap. "Nice...job..." she wheezed. Offering my paw this time, I picked her up and felt her using me for support. With the job done, we started to leave the area. The atmosphere seemed gentler, soothing the minds and calming the bodies of everyone in the entire forest. Hostility itself had vanished. After a few minutes of walking beside her, Liru stopped in her tracks.
"What's your name," she abruptly questioned. I was so taken aback by the tone of her voice when she asked me that I just couldn't find the words to reply with. "The way you acted earlier, it's just, you remind me of someone from long ago. The way your eyes glowed when I first met you on that riverbed and the way it burned when we were fighting, it was like reuniting with a dearly departed friend." At this point, I was just confused.
"I'm sorry," I began, "I don't know what you're talking about. I've never met anyone like you before today and if I did, then I can't remember. Honestly, I'm sure that I was born a human and that today was my first day as a..." I stopped talking. A tear rolled down Liru's cheek as she moved a paw near her mouth.
"Winta?"
"How do you-" I started, but then it all came back to me. All the fractured pieces of that one buried memory resurfaced, bringing along with it a whole range of emotions. It happened five years ago, when I was old enough to become a trainer. Since my family made a living breeding pokemon, I was confident in my abilities to raise one for myself. I was given a freshly laid egg and told to take care of it since the pokemon who laid it had sadly passed away. Twenty one days later, she cracked through the fragile shell and saw me for the first time through her amber colored eyes. We stared at one another, both unsure of the situation presented before us. Taking a step forward, I heard her give a few sniffles before she went off into a full on bawl. Her crying alerted the rest of my family of the newborn's arrival and my siblings came running in out of curiosity. My parents walked into quite a scene that day. Like an overprotective mother, I was clutching the baby tightly in my arms while trying to drive off my younger brothers and sisters. When everything had calmed down, I was left with a sleeping Totodile gurgling in my arms.
From there, it went downhill pretty quickly. A month had past since Liru was hatched. I spent most of those days taking care of her. As a result, she got pretty clingy to me, following me everywhere I went like a duckling chasing after its mom. I didn't mind it much, but I was definitely worried about her safety. Some of the family's breeding pokemon had recently gone missing and I was afraid that whoever took them might target her next. I wanted her to stay inside while I got the chores done around the house, but couldn't bear the sorrow coming from her cries of loneliness. My inexperience with this kind of thing would soon make me regret my decisions for the next couple of years. On a day where storm clouds rolled by in thick sheets of gray, I didn't know that my greatest fear would turn into a reality. Despite the weather looking horrible, I brought Liru outside to get some fresh air. Chores already done, we played together in the windy conditions for a good hour or so. The bellowing of a miltank was a big enough distraction to draw my attention away from my Totodile and I stupidly left her out in the open. Soon enough, her cries of terror instantly made my blood freeze. Turning, I saw three guys escaping with bags slung over their shoulders. Running was all I could do to catch up to the culprits, but all that I could remember was pain. When I came to, I found myself lying charred up on a bed in a pokemon center. The nurse who treated my burns said I was lucky and that I would fully recover in about a month or so. By then, I knew it would be too late to save her from the kidnappers. For five long years, I buried away the feelings of despair and worked to try and forget it all. But the physical pain of having my body pushed to their limits was nothing compared to the scar left on my heart. One night after returning from the store with supplies, I came home to find the area surrounded with rangers. A ranger came up to me and broke open the bad news. Apparently fire had found its way onto the roof of my house and my home as set ablaze. Critical, missing, painless were the only words that I could make out through all of the panic. Watching them dragging out the captured fugitives set me off into a rampage. How could my neighbors, who were once close friends of ours, do such a thing? I shouted and yelled for answers, but only received smug grins and silence as they were taken away. The family business was completely ruined.
Blinking, I stared at the gator in my arms who was sobbing uncontrollably and clutched her deeply into my chest. A couple tears of my own streamed downward, mixing with the tears that were already on the ground. Looking up, a couple of drops fell onto my face.
"I lost you on a day just like today. I'm never going to lose you ever again." The soft pattering of rain gently hitting the ground was soothing to the ear. Still clutching tightly onto my long lost friend, new found instincts told me to seek out shelter. Breaking off from Liru's embrace, I took her paw and led her towards one of the nearby trees. Wiping away a final tear, she gave me a stare that reminded me of her old self.
"What happened to you, momma? You used to be a human, but now you look like an ordinary Charmander." I shook my head in confusion.
"Momma?" I chuckled to her. "I was male before turning into a Charmander."
Liru looked away with a feeling of doubt. "But momma, you fed and took care of me when I was little. Whenever I was alone, you were the only one who showed up when I started crying. Then when you let me follow you around, I saw how hard you worked and it inspired me to become the pokemon that I am today." Moving closer to me, Liru grasped both my paws and held them up to chest height. "No matter what you look like, you'll always be my mommy." I couldn't say anything to her. The way her eyes glowed with sincerity as she talked just melted my heart. I accepted her words and grinned with a sense of maternal pride. A cough from above ruined the moment between us.
"Sorry for intruding," an uncomfortable Truce said as he hung upside down from a tree while rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Liru, turning purple out of embarrassment, instantly dropped my paws and jumped at the Zangoose. Truce was able to see her coming and managed to dodge her attack by using his powerful legs to pull himself up.
"Whoa, calm down! I said I was sorry," he huffed from the treetops.
Liru stomped the ground for a bit to let out her rage. "Promise me that you won't tell anyone back at headquarters," she screamed out.
"I promise," Truce said while dropping to the ground. After brushing some stray leaves off his fur, he walked over to Liru and patted her on the back. "Speaking of headquarters, we gotta start heading back," he said while winking at the Totodile."Can you go and get our packs? I kinda left them back in the forest clearing." Liru grumbled out something profane and left to gather their things. Turning to me with a serious look, Truce got in real close and whispered into my ear hole. "Char girl, I won't force you to come with us but we could really use someone with your abilities. I've seen the way you took control of that fight after breaking the crystal and I gotta say that it was impressive. Also," he nudged a shoulder towards the direction that Liru went, "you two seem pretty close. Truth is, that girl needs some help with her anger issues and you're the only one that can potentially fix them. After meeting up with you, she's shown me a side of her that I didn't even know existed." A few flags were raised after sensing something wrong in the tone of his voice.
"Look, you don't have to use your honeyed words to lure me in," I said as I looked at him suspiciously. "I was already going to join so that I can help out my buddy and see if I can find out anything about myself along the way."
Truce rubbed his maw in disappointment. "Feisty. I can see where Liru gets her attitude from."
Hurrying back with bags hanging from her tail, Liru returned with something in her hand. "Truce, you have to be more careful with this thing." I walked up to her to get a closer look at the object. It was a flat golden piece of metal that was slightly bigger then the size of her paw and shaped like an eye. There was a green jewel encrusted in its center that glowed with energy.
"What is that?" I asked Truce. Approaching us, he gasped and snatched the object from Liru.
"It's my badge," he said, rubbing it gently. "This particular badge is actually a one of a kind item. I'd like to tell you more about it but not here." He looked around the area, a bit troubled by something. "Okay, looks like we're ready to go. Huddle up next to me and we'll be back in headquarters in no time." Practically hugging, we waited as Truce held up the badge. The blinding light hit us and the feeling of travel was nauseating. What used to be a forest soon became buildings that looked modern and man-made. Letting go of the Zangoose, Liru and I looked around in awe. Feeling a claw placed on our shoulders, Truce smiled. "Welcome to Sofeda."
"H-h-how... Did you b-b-build all of this?" I stammered out in shock. Running a paw down a section of wall, I was simply amazed. The craftsmanship on these structures were absolutely stunning.
"Well," Truce began, "When the humans all suddenly disappeared, they left all of their shelters behind. Using them as a model, we had a couple of Timburrs, Gurderrs, and Conkeldurrs-."
I waved my paws in front of Truce's face. "Back up. What did you mean when you said that all the humans disappeared?"
Truce looked utterly confused. "I mean what I said. They all vanished from these lands a couple of years ago. I don't really know all the details, but yea, they're all gone now."
Liru stepped in to back up Truce's claim. "We're very far away from home, Winta. After getting taken from you, those bad guys just took me around from place to place for almost a year. Like Truce said, they all just disappeared one day and I found myself freed from their clutches." This was disturbing news. Still feeling the carvings engraved onto this building, I couldn't believe what I had heard.
"Winta, was it?" Truce mumbled. "While were here, could you keep this talk about humans on the down low? It's still kind of a touchy subject and you wouldn't want to cause any trouble around here. Now, with that out of the way just follow me and I can show you around." Sighing, I gave a nod and walked behind the two. We arrived at a plaza like area where a grand fountain stood. A more detailed look at this statue showed a sword sticking into the ground while a shield that had an image of a brain etched into it hung from the sword's handle. Water erupted from a hidden nozzle located at the top of the sword's hilt, creating a gorgeous display of art just as the sunlight hit it at the perfect angle. Past this fountain were three paths, each of them leading towards a different building.
"Each path leads to a different division," Truce stated proudly. "Now, each of the three divisions has a captain in charge of their area as well as three different chief officers who command the normal officers below them. Since the both of you are still recruits, it will take a bit of time and effort before you can join those ranks. For now, you'll either be training or taking on small jobs." Pointing to the east, Truce continued on with what appeared to be a rehearsed speech. "Over there lies Offensive Superiority. With both physical and special attacks along with infliction status conditions, they take down foes through sheer power and debilitating effects with ease. Across from them on the western side is Defensive Defiance. Utilizing both physical and special defense to shield their allies as well as healing the wounded both on the field and off the field makes them a respected force to be reckoned with. Finally, to our north is where Intelligence Central is founded. Providing information through research, reconnaissance, and interrogation keeps us one step ahead of our enemies. All factions are an important part of Sofeda and without the support of one another, this organization would simply crumble. By joining us, remember to keep this spirit of togetherness a flame so that one day you too can pass the torch down to the next generation of recruits." Ending with a pose of pointing to the sky, Truce groaned and rubbed his neck. "Sorry about that. There's this tradition around here that forces a chief officer to deliver this speech to all new recruits. At first it was fun, but after doing it so many times, it gets old pretty fast."
I shook awake after hearing the last couple of sentences. "Wait, you're a chief?" I gasped. Taking another glance at the zangoose, I couldn't tell if he was lying or not.
"Yea, you remember my badge right?" Truce said, pulling the eye shaped metal from his bag. "Here, see this jewel? Each captain and chief officer has one just like this, but they're all different colors. As for the shape of the badge, they represent the area of expertise that we have control of. Since I'm the chief of recon, mine's shaped like an eye."
After hearing what he had to say, there was still something that still confused me. "If you're a chief, why do you let Liru hurt you and stuff. I mean, wouldn't that look bad if someone thought you were getting attacked?"
Liru started to chuckle at where this conversation was headed. "After the bad guys went away, Truce found and took care of me. He taught and trained me to become fast, which wasn't easy since I wasn't built for speed in the first place. After many years of living with Truce, I started to look up to him as a father figure and we developed a bond that the others here already know about. Now that you're here, I have both my mommy and daddy with me. It's kind of like we're a family!" My stomach dropped as Truce and I both looked towards one another and slowly backed away from each other.
"Sorry, kid," Truce said crossing his arms. "But you look too young for me. If you were more mature, then maybe-."
"And I'm completely uninterested!" I shouted, blushing that he even considered me as a potential mate.
Liru suddenly roared with laughter. "Aw, you should have seen the look on your faces," she hollered. "I was only kidding around, but now I'm gonna try to get you two together!" Liru winked towards me. Even though I knew she was just joking again, I couldn't help but hate her for saying that. Marching along the north path, we finally arrived at the headquarters of Intelligance Central. Passing through the automated sliding doors, the inside of this place looked very modern. The polished smooth stone floors and reflective metallic walls gave the place a feeling of intimidation. Adding to this was the number of pokemon who all turned to look at us when we walked on in. I did my best to ignore their quiet gossiping, but there was one pokemon that stood out the most to me. Almost three times my height, this huge Dragonite stopped his conversation with a Gengar and gazed silently at me. The look that he gave off appeared as if he was closely studying me, giving me the shakes. Rubbing off the goosebumps, I didn't notice that Truce had stopped in his tracks and I accidentally walked into his soft floofy tail. The way that he yelped out in surprise was quite adorable despite the stern look he gave me with his reddening face.
"Sorry about that," he said turning back to a pokemon in front of him. At first I thought he was talking to a person, but looking closer made me realize that it was an old Mr. Mime.
"Hahohahaa," he rumbled with laughter, "I haven't heard you cry like that since you yourself were just a recruit." Patting Liru's head, the way he smiled could fill anybody up with a sense of achievement. "Goodness little Liru, I can't believe that you finally made it past the trial. When Truce first brought you here, you seemed so scared, so frightened at the world around us. Those feelings of fear slowly buried the flame that I saw in your eyes and I couldn't help but feel sorry for you. But now look at how much you have grown! Gone is the darkness as that flame has now grown to be bright and strong! It fills this old elder's soul with pleasure to see youth such as yourself stepping up to the challenge of defending these lands. Congratulations!" After expressing his joy through clapping, he soon took a slight interest in me. "Oh? I see that you brought along a friend. Hmm! My, oh, my! And what a unique friend this is!" Taking a couple steps forward, he examined me for a bit before turning back to Truce. "You don't normally see Charmanders around these parts. Then again, most of our members aren't from around these parts either!"
Slapping the Mr. mime on the back, Truce gave off his trademarked grin. "Very true, old friend and well said! Anyways Souna, this here Charmander helped Liru out during her trial and together they passed with flying colors. That's right, we're getting two new members today and that means more paperwork for you."
Clasping his hands together, Souna turned to me with the same smile he gave Liru. "Ah, splendid! Extra work won't be a problem for me if it means that such a capable looking pokemon such as yourself would join our ranks. Oh, pardon my manners. I am Elder Souna and I manage the files of all the pokemon within this organization." Shaking hands with the elder, I only introduced my name. "Well Winta, bring Liru along and come with me. Oh and Truce? The boss made it clear that she wanted to see you when you came back." Truces eyes began to bulge out. Without a second thought, he raced away at an alarming rate. Chuckling softly to himself, Souna lead us to a room where the shelves were brimming with paper. "When recruits such as yourselves join up, I must first determine the ideal division to place you in. To do this, I must use my psychic powers to look at the potential deep within you. Let's start with you Liru." Propping her up on a chair, the Mr. mime began by staring into Liru's eyes. A purple aura covered Souna's hands and he slowly gripped Liru's head carefully. They stayed like this for a couple of awkward minutes until I heard both of them gasp. "It seems that," Souna panted, "you will be joining Truce's team. The fact that he raised you must have been a huge influence, but it does seem to suit you. Now Winta, I'll get to you as soon as I catch my breath." Liru gleefully hopped down to let me into the chair. Meanwhile, Souna was writing something down onto a notebook. Tearing the page out, he gave it to Liru and sent her off.
"Alrighty, let's see what kind of potential lies within you my dear." Following the same procedure that he went through with Liru, I found myself caught within Souna's hypnotic gaze. The feeling of his hands grasping my head didn't quite register in my mind. However, I could feel him prodding around inside, gently interacting with my psyche. The entirety of this experience was very calm and soothing. Pretty soon, we both gasped as he exited my mental body. "Oh...oh my," he calmly stated. "This is troublesome. Winta, parts of your psyche appears to be damaged by some sort of internal conflict between two large spiritual forces. Two possible outcomes could be made from this battle: either one of these entities has been eliminated by the other, or they struck each other hard enough to merge into one."
"What does that mean?" I asked, a bit scared of how serious his tone was.
"Well truth be told, I have no idea what it means. This is a rare condition that is hard, if not impossible, to treat. Not to mention all the risks, I'm afraid that I am unable to help you." I gave a tiny sigh that was a mixture of relief and disappointment. It looks like he didn't find out about my human past, but was very close. "Despite all the damage, I've managed to determine that the special attack division would be the best place to suit your skills. I believe that they will find your destructive powers to be one of the best around." Giving me a note and some directions, I soon found myself inside the building of Offensive Superiority. The amount of intimidation coming from all these tough looking pokemon made my heart beat sporadically. I soon found myself unable to breath due to the pressure. Its as if a vice had found its way onto my chest and started to tighten itself. Rushing back outside, I coughed out loud while struggling to control my breathing. As this was going on, I sensed a presence behind me.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked. Turning around, I was now face to face with an Alakazam. "I assume that you're the new recruit Souna mentioned to me via telepathy. Your name is Winta, correct?" Giving a nod after regaining my breath, the Alakazam returned his approval with a nod. "Wonderful. I am Plena, chief officer of the special attacks division. I'm sorry about what my subordinates had done to you when you first arrived. They seem to always pick on the newbies by acting like thoughtless barbarians. You seem to be different from the rest of them, but I must first test out your abilities to see if you belong here. Come." Leading me off to what looked like some kind of outdoors arena, I could see a group of pokemon crowded together and waiting. One of them spotted us and alerted the rest. Pretty soon, cheers of "Hurry up chief!" and "We wanna break in the new kid!" erupted from the crowd. Gesturing with his hands to keep the volume down, Plena and I reached the eager gang.
"Is this all? She doesn't even look that tough!" a Flaffy shouted. This caused a domino effect of disappointed cries being heard from the group. Plena gave a long sigh of disapproval.
"Let's just get this tradition over with so we can get back to work. Form a line over there and wait until I give the okay to start fighting." Taking position across from the line, my first opponent was the Flaffy. The air around him was charged with energy, showing just how excited he was. "Ooh, I'm gonna enjoy breaking you," he mouthed off to me and the crowd. Waiting for Plena's signal, we stared each other down in an attempt to intimate the opposition. Once he gave us the okay, the battle was on. Barely dodging a bout of electricity, I was stunned at how quick and powerful his attack was. "Oh?" the Flaaffy wondered aloud. "You dodged it? There aren't that many who could effectively dodge that. Then again, it's only that fast because I sacrificed power for speed. Even if it did hit, I wouldn't-" Taking the initiative, I blew out a burst of ember in hopes of hitting him when he was talking. He was able to nearly avoid taking the full hit as the flame singed off some of his fluff. Seeing the burn marks on the right side of his shoulder, his face took on a serious expression. Firing off a flurry of bolts, I managed to avoid most of his attacks. However, a stray bolt struck my left leg and I was brought down onto a knee. The hit reminded me of the feeling that one would get after sticking a fork into an outlet. Shaking the blow off, I soon saw a bunch of floating wool swarm around me. The faint sound of crackling static made me aware of the attack, but by then it was too late as these things started to stick onto me. Slowed by the wool, I hurled a gushing spout of fire at the Flaffy. Responding with a large wave of electricity, the sudden explosion caused by these two forces slamming into one another provided him with a perfect opportunity to counter-attack. Appearing through the smoke, the flaaffy rushed head first into me. Slamming into the area underneath my belly, he successfully tackled into me and launched me back a couple feet. Before I could even respond to the pain in my groin, a strong jolt of lightning struck my form and burned off all the wool stuck to me. The pain around my entire body was then amplified when another more powerful bolt made its mark on my chest. Crumpled in a heap after those multiple attacks, all that I could hear was the sound of laughter. Taking a glance over to the line, I saw the Flaafy interacting with the crowd. Wincing from all the pain, I slowly made my way up from off the ground. Fueled with rage, I'll be damned if I just gave up now. Noticing that I still had some fight left in me, the Flaafy looked to Plena before coming back to the center of the arena slowly. His stupid face glowed with pity as he looked at me, smiling at the damage that he had done to my body.
"You just don't know when to quit. I like that in a potential mate!" Hearing the word "mate" just set me off. My mind raced uncontrollably and rising through to capitalize on the chaos was instinct. Spitting out a cloud of thick black smoke, I saw his face go from smug to shocked before he was enveloped in it. Pushing forward, I did my best to ignore the pain and charged forward with my claws. With the flame on my tail blazing brightly, I lost myself to the giddiness of battle. The smoke began to clear and the flaaffy could be seen rubbing his eyes in displeasure. Striking multiple times with scratch and ember, a maniacal smile soon grew on my face. The way he cried out in pain every time I hit caused a rush of happiness to spread throughout my body. The silence of the crowd as I smashed the flaaffy down was extremely satisfying and I soon jumped back to prepare for my final flame attack. It was here that I noticed what was actually going on. Consumed by instinct, I had turned an embarrassing defeat into a stunning and shameful victory. Did I deserve this win? Was that really me fighting or this other persona that had found its way into my psyche. I was unhappy. Frightened. I almost went and attacked a guy who had already been knocked out. I could have killed him. I would have killed him if I didn't return to my senses in time. Cringing, all the pain that I ignored up until now rushed back and I felt my heart skip a beat or two. Everything swirled around and around until my vision faded. The last thing that I felt was the hard surface of the ground connecting with my aching body before losing consciousness.
I found myself sitting in a strange area. Around me was the smoldering ruins of a place that reminded me of home. Wait. This is my home. My human home. Panicking, I tried to get up and run towards the building but something around my neck held me back by choking me. Feeling around my neck, I found a leather collar with a dog tag under my chin. A chain connected the collar to a burning rock shaped like a tree. Desperately pulling at the chain and the collar, I came to the conclusion that it was impossible to remove. Even trying to melt the chain with my fire attacks didn't work. The crunching of dried grass alerted me to the presence of another.
"It's good to see you! Or should I say me?" Emerging from behind the tree, another Charmander appeared with an arrogant smirk plastered on his face.
"W-what do you mean?" I growled. Taking his time approaching me, he gave a shrug and shook his head slowly.
"Think back to what that Mr. Mime had told you. You know, about how your psyche was damaged by internal conflict? Well, this is what he saw when he entered your mind." Gasping after finding out where I was, I examined the scene around us. The place did look like a battlefield, but if this was true then... "Of course it's true," the other Charmander giggled. "I fought your human form in here and won easily. Merging with you and taking over should have also been easy but I didn't take into account the overwhelming amount of stubbornness still left in you at the time. The process was interrupted about halfway through the conversion. Although all of of your body was completely changed, most of your will and mind was left intact. After what seemed like a day, an unexpected change to our gender had occurred and we were now left with a female version of my body coupled with your thoughts and memories." Taking a moment to absorb all this info in, I still had a question to as this guy.
"Why did you choose me to change? I was nothing but a failure of a man who basically lost everything in his life. My friends stabbed me in the back, my home ruined from said friends, and my family completely destroyed. I-" The other charmander placed paw over my mouth.
"You were chosen because of your hardships, Winta. The transformation should have given us a clean slate to start anew. Think about it. After changing, you were reunited with your long lost baby Totodile and joined an organization dedicated to helping out these lands. Life can only get better for the both of us." Finding some sort of comfort in his word, I teared up and hugged him. The feel of his scales on mine put me at ease and I relaxed my tense muscles. Part of me hated what he just said while a majority of me slowly started to embrace them. A soft click was heard and the collar fell from my neck. Inscribed upon the dog tag were unknown letters spelling out the word "fear".
"Once you accepted you new self, you'll find yourself free," he grinned.