CHAPTER 1:
Arrival
The young Quilava stared at the dark mass that was approaching swiftly on the horizon, a feeling of cold dread in the pit of his stomach. With each beat of the Salamence's wings, the indistinct silhouette in the distance became clearer, and his doom crept even closer. Soon enough, he was able to make out the shapes of forests, hills, lakes, and rivers scattered across the island…
He clutched desperately at the dragon's blue scales as if clinging to the fragments of his previous life. The flames on his head and rear ignited, fueled by his emotions, though they flickered uncertainly, struggling to remain alive as the air rushed past. The wind's mournful keening only added to his sense of impending doom.
He barely paid attention to the weak flickering of his flames, and the wailing of the wind faded into background noise – his attention was focused completely on the distant island. He could almost make out the shapes of individual trees now, and shivered at the sight of them. Those trees were not the ones that he had grown up among – they were strange trees, unfamiliar trees, and he hated them already.
It occurred to him that the Salamence was gradually decreasing their height, preparing to land. If they had still been at their original height, he would never have been able to make out the shape of the island through the clouds.
The sick feeling in the pit of his stomach grew stronger.
With each powerful flap of its wings, the Salamence was bringing him closer and closer to his doom.
Unable to watch the island approach any longer, he flattened himself against the Salamence's back, hiding from both the wind and from his future.
Please, please let this flight go on forever… don't ever land, just keep flying here forever… or, better yet, just turn around and drop me off at the Square again… please… please… the Quilava pleaded silently. Please, Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, anyone… please…
But the legendary gods had either ignored his prayers or just didn't care, because all too soon, the Salamence stopped and hovered in place, flapping its wings more slowly than before. They were directly over the island now, and even closer to land than before.
In an absurdly cheerful voice, the Salamence sealed his doom, confirmed his fears, and tore away all hopes of returning home, or even flying forever.
It spoke the two words he had been dreading for the entire flight.
"We're here!"
Aaaand… welcome to The Rescue Academy!
Chapter One was rather short, but I promise that the chapters afterward are going to be longer.
This is not going to be your typical PMD fic: there is no human-turned-Pokémon and there is no memory loss involved here. This is the story of two normal Pokémon joining forces to form a rescue team.
Did I just say rescue team? Yep, I certainly did. I personally preferred Red/Blue Rescue Team to Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, so this isn't from the PoV of an exploration team.
Yeah. Go ahead. Shoot me.
But review afterwards~! :D