"You're just re-using the story from the games! That's not original!"
Yeah, yeah, I get it. But I'm seriously enjoying writing this. I really don't care if it's overused, I'm enjoying it, and that's what matters to me.
ANYWAYS, let's let my third multi-chapter fanfic begin!
She cried out as pain shot through her body, indescribable colours flashing before her eyes.
"Whoa! Are... are you okay?!"
Lightning split the sky, and thunder rolled in the distance. The girl's hand was slipping from her partner's.
"No!" he pleaded. "Don't let go! Just a little longer... Come on! Hang on!"
The sounds of the thunder grew louder, and the lightning was becoming more visible with every passing second.
"N-n-no! I can't... hold on...!" the girl's grip weakened, and she felt her conciousness slipping.
Eventually, her hand slipped, and she screamed as she plummeted to her demise.
A storm raged below. Dark waves churned and crashed against seaside cliffs, which were illuminated by the lightning. The girl soon let the darkness overtake her, and she blacked out.
~o~o~o~o~
The first thing she could hear was the gentle sound of waves splashing against the sand. She groaned as she opened her eyes to blinding sunlight.
Where... where am I?
She winced. I'm drifting off again...
She closed her eyes again, pain filling every part of her body, wondering what fate had in store for her...
~o~o~o~o~
Riolu stood in front of the tent's entrance, staring at the grate in front of him.
You can do this, Riolu, he assured himself. It's only a grate. It's not going to swallow you into the ground.
His foot hovered above it, and he shrank back again, wimpering.
"Who am I kidding?" he muttered to himself. "I can't do this... only brave Pokemon can..."
He turned away, about to head back down the stairs, when determination lit his eyes.
"No. I refuse to let my fear get the best of me!" he declared. "This is it. This is what I came here for!"
He straightened up, and stood on top of the grate. He nearly leapt out of his skin when a Pokemon shouted up at him.
"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!"
"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"
"The footprint is Riolu's! The footprint is Riolu's!"
The blue Pokemon let out a scream, and stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over himself trying to get away from the grate. He panted, got back up, and looked down at his feet in shame.
"I guess... I guess I can't do this after all..." he whispered. He grabbed the small stone hanging by a thick thread around his neck, turning it in his hand, letting the pattern catch the slowly dimming sunlight.
"I thought holding onto this would help me be brave but..." he swallowed back tears as he let it go. "I guess bravery isn't for everyone... I guess I am a coward after all..."
Riolu sighed, and trudged down the steps, feeling nothing but shame and guilt.
A Koffing and Zubat came out of the bushes, looking quite interested in what had just happened.
"Hey Zubat," the Koffing whispered to his partner. "Did you see that? What a wimp!"
"You got that right, Koffing," Zubat replied. "That wimp had some kind of weird stone. Looked almost like treasure, wouldn't you say?"
"It sure did."
Koffing grinned. "Do we go after it?"
Zubat snickered. "We do."
The two of them waited until Riolu was out of sight, and they floated down the steps.
~o~o~o~o~
The sun was setting slowly over the sea, casting an orange-yellow glare across the waves. Several Krabby came out of their caves in the cliffs, and began to blow small, colourful bubbles into the warm breeze.
Riolu's feet kicked up tiny clouds of sand, and he came to a halt when he saw the sunset.
"Wow... What a fantastic sight!"
Bubbles floated past his face, occasionally making contact with him.
When the weather's good, the Krabby come out here to blow bubbles, he thought. All those bubbles, reflecting the sun's rays... it's always beautiful.
His eyes stared in wonder and amazement, the waves splashing over his paws.
"I always come here whenever I feel sorry for myself," he mused. "Seeing this cheers me up somehow. It's always so uplifting."
He shook his head. "There you go again, Riolu," he muttered. "Talking to yourself again!"
He sighed, looking down at his paws. "I can't help myself though... I don't have anyone else to talk to... Sometimes I wish I had someone else here with me... so that I don't have to talk to myself all the time..."
He looked around, and something in the distance caught his eye. He raised an eyebrow.
What could that be?
He walked closer, noticing it was a Pokemon. He gasped.
Someone's collapsed onto the sand!
He ran up to the Pokemon, frantically shaking its shoulder.
"What happened?! Are you okay?!"
~o~o~o~o~
Who's... Who's calling me?
The girl struggled to open her eyes. When she did, she saw someone standing over here.
A... a Riolu?
"Oh good! You're awake!" the young Pokemon breathed. "Thank goodness!"
He's talking? How can he talk... and why am I not as surprised as I should be?
She struggled to her feet, finding it surprisingly difficult.
Where in the world am I...?
"I saw you laying here unconcious," he said. "You weren't moving at all! I was seriously worried! What happened? Do you remember how you ended up here?"
"I..." the girl began. "I really don't know... where am I anyway?"
"You're on Treasure Beach," the Riolu replied. "Do you remember anything?"
The girl giggled. "I'm pretty sure I'm a human."
The Riolu gasped. "A... a human?! You can't be! You're an Eevee!"
Wait, did he just say I'm an Eevee?!
She looked down, seeing not feet, but tiny brown paws. However, it was fairly hard to see them with the ruff of white fur in the way. She spun around in a circle, catching sight of a bushy tail. She gulped, and stared at her reflection in the waves of the ocean. She gaped in horror as she saw the face of an Eevee staring back up at her.
I-it's true! I am an Eevee!
"I don't... I don't understand!" she squeaked. "How did this even happen?!"
The Riolu stared at her. "You're kind of odd..." he muttered. "Are you pulling some kind of trick on me? If you are, it isn't very funny."
She shook her head frantically, and he nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, well can you tell me your name at least?"
"Umm... Give me a second! It'll come to me!" She kneaded her paws against the soft sand, and a light clicked in her head.
"My name... I think... I think my name is Gina," she said.
"Gina?" he replied. "I've never seen you around before."
"What about you?" Gina asked. "What's your name?"
He straightened up. "My name is Riolu."
Gina frowned. "You're a Riolu named Riolu? Really?"
He rolled his eyes. "Nevermind that. You don't seem to be a bad Pokemon." He suddenly realized what he had just said, and stuttered nervously. "S-sorry I doubted you for a second. You see, bad Pokemon are popping up all over the place! It's kind of hard to trust anyone these days..."
Gina nodded, and she noticed two more Pokemon creeping up behind Riolu. She was about to call out a warning, when one of them tackled Riolu from behind, knocking him over and causing his necklace to fall off. Looking at them and thinking harder, Gina recognized them as a Koffing and Zubat.
"Oops!" Koffing said with a tone of fake apology. "I beg your pardon! I didn't see you there!"
Riolu got up and glared at them, his red eyes glistening. "What was that for?!"
"Heh, isn't it obvious?" Zubat sneered. "We wanted to mess with you! Can't you see that?"
"Wh-what?" Riolu stammered, his legs shaking.
Koffing stared at the necklace. "That's yours, isn't it?"
"Uh... Y-yes, that's-"
"Sorry, kid! We'll be taking that!" Zubat swooped down, picking up the necklace and let it dangle around his neck.
Riolu didn't do anything but stare in utter disbelief. His lips trembled as he attemtped to make words of what had happened.
"Aww, what's the matter?" Koffing snickered. "Too scared to come and get it back? I didn't expect that you'd be such a big coward!"
He turned to Zubat. "Come on. Let's go."
Zubat turned to them. "See you around, chickens!"
Laughing, the two of them went off into a cave, the sounds of their laughter echoing mockingly off of the walls.
Gina looked at Riolu, who was on the verge of tears.
"Well that was pretty rude," Gina remarked.
He sniffed, then turned to her. "What should I do?" he asked. "That's... it was my personal treasure... it means everything to me. I can't lose it!"
Gina tilted her head. "Your personal treasure?"
Riolu nodded. His eyes glittered with tears, but he shook them away. "I need to get that back! I don't have any time to lose!" Riolu stepped closer towards Gina. "Can you help me get it back, Gina?"
She frowned, and looked down at her paws. What should I do? I don't even know him but... No. He clearly needs my help.
"Okay," Gina finally said, nodding eagerly. "I'll help you."
Riolu smiled widely. "Really? Thank you, Gina! Let's go right now!"
He dashed off towards the cave, and Gina stared back down at her paws, unsure of how she would walk with four legs instead of two. Riolu looked back at her in confusion, and he caught on.
"It's okay. It's really easy when you get the hang of it. Just move your front left leg, then back right leg, front right leg, then back left leg, and so on."
Gina bit her bottom lip, doing as he instructed. It was surprisingly easier than she thought it would be, and she squealed with delight. She took several more steps, eventually walking around in a circle.
"I'm going to try running next!" she squeaked, tripping over herself as she tried, and failed, to run into the cave.
Riolu sighed. "She sure is excitable." He slowly followed behind, hoping she wouldn't be tripping all over the place when they got deeper in.
~o~o~o~o~
When he caught up to Gina, she was very busy staring all around her. "Look at all the pretty colours!" she squealed. "There's even water in here!"
Oh wow, Riolu thought. She's way more energetic than I would've anticipated.
Gina suddenly came to a halt. Riolu peered past her, and saw a Kabuto staring her down. She beamed. "Hi!"
The Kabuto wasted no time in attacking her with Scratch. She leapt back, the attack narrowly missing her. "Hey! What gives? I was just being friendly!"
Riolu sighed. "They don't exactly respond in the best way to friendliness. Let me help you out."
He lunged forward, knocking out the Kabuto with Quick Attack. The Water-Type Pokemon scuttled away.
"Are you alright?" Riolu asked. "You need to be more careful."
"I don't even know how to attack yet!" Gina protested. "Give me a break!"
Riolu scratched his chin, realizing he hadn't even taught her that yet.
"Okay... Well from what I know, you should probably be able to use Tackle and Flail."
"Flail?" Gina asked. "I know what Tackle is, and I could probably do that, but what's Flail?"
"Well, it's as the name suggests," Riolu replied. "You flail around and attack your opponent."
"Er... That doesn't seem very useful to me," Gina remarked.
"It works better when you're weaker."
Gina rolled her eyes. "Still doesn't make much sense to me, but okay. Whatever! Let's just get through this cave and find your treasure!"
Riolu grinned and nodded. "Right!"
She took a path to the north, soon finding a large slope leading down underground.
"Hey! This must lead to another floor!" Gina exclaimed, running over to it and slipping down.
"Gina!" Riolu's eyes widened in alarm, and he stared down the slope. "Are you okay?!"
"I was right!" Her voice echoed up from underground. "This did lead to another floor!"
Riolu let out a sigh of relief, and walked more slowly down to the second floor.
~o~o~o~o~
Gina bounced up and down as the end of the cave came into view. "Look Riolu! I can see Koffing and Zubat!"
Riolu ran ahead of her. "Come on then!"
Gina and Riolu approached the two crooks, who had their backs facing them. Riolu took a deep breath, and stepped forward.
"H-hey!"
The two Poison-Types turned around and grinned. "Well, well, well," Koffing said. "Look who it is! It's our old friend, the big chicken!"
Riolu gulped, and yelled, "Give me back what you stole from me! That was my personal treasure! It means everything to me!"
"Is that so? Treasure?" Zubat asked. "It's really that valuble?"
"It's probably worth more than we thought," Koffing said. "Maybe we should try selling it. It might actually get a good price!" He laughed. "All the more reason not to give it back!"
Riolu gasped. "Wh-what?! You can't!"
Zubat snickered. "If you really want it back that badly..." He bared his fangs. "Then come and get it!"
Riolu and Gina prepared themselves, as Koffing and Zubat came towards them.
"Riolu!" Gina yelped. "What do I do?!"
"Attack!" Riolu yelled, as he slammed into Koffing with a solid Quick Attack. Gina turned her attention to Zubat, who was already in front of her.
He used Bite, latching onto her ear. Gina flung him off, tackling him into the ground. The bat attacked her again, but she avoided him, using Tackle again, knocking him out.
The Eevee panted. She had to hand it to Zubat, he was pretty strong. Riolu was fighting off Koffing, with slight difficulty. Gina stepped in front of him, taking a strong Tackle attack from Koffing. She struggled to her feet, losing her strength quickly.
"Gina!" Riolu yelled. "Flail! Just use Flail!"
Gina's eyes widened, and she glared up at Koffing, who was about to deal the final blow. She flung herself upwards, slamming her back paws into Koffing's chin. Riolu finished him off by attacking him with Quick Attack once again in midair. Koffing flew back, slamming hard into the ground.
Gina puffed out her chest. "Had enough yet?"
Koffing and Zubat groaned in response.
"That... that was embarrassing..." Zubat muttered.
They eventually got up, and Koffing glared defiantly at them.
"Blast it..." he muttered. "How'd we get defeated by these wimps?"
"Whatever!" Zubat huffed. "Here! Take your stupid 'treasure'!"
He flung the necklace towards them, and Riolu caught it in his paw.
"Don't you dare think you're so awesome!" Koffing snapped. "Your victory was a fluke! You just got lucky this time!"
"Yeah! You remember that!" Zubat shouted, before he and Koffing scurried past them, out of the cave.
Riolu stared at the stone in his paw. "It's my Relic Fragment." He tied it around his neck. "I'm so glad that I... I actually managed to get it back."
He turned to Gina. "It's all thanks to you..."
Gina beamed. "I'm just happy I was able to help you, Riolu."
Riolu smiled at this. "Thank you... thank you so much, Gina!"
~o~o~o~o~
"I honestly can't thank you enough," Riolu said for possibly the tenth time since they got out of the cave.
Gina grinned. I only helped him because I just so happened to be there... but I don't care! He's clearly very grateful!
Riolu held up the stone. "This is what they stole from me. It's my Relic Fragment, or at least, that's what I call it. It's my treasure."
"Wow... it's so cool..." Gina mused.
"You know, I've always liked to hear legends and tales from the past," Riolu said. "They're just so exciting! Don't you feel the same? Troves of treasure and strange relics..."
Gina's eyes glowed as he went on.
"Uncharted territories veiled in darkness, and new lands waiting to be discovered! They must be chock full of gold and treasure, and history! Wouldn't it be awesome to make historic discoveries?"
He turned his head towards the sea. "I've always dreamed of that. It's just so exciting to me! Then one day... I found my Relic Fragment. Yeah, it looks like a piece of junk, but..."
"There's that strange pattern," Gina remarked. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like it."
"Exactly!" Riolu exclaimed. "It must lead to something mysterious! It must be the key to legendary places!"
Gina stared at the Relic Fragment. The pattern was so intricate and odd, but it really did feel as though there was some kind of signifigance tied to it.
"That's why I want to join an exploration team," Riolu said. Gina looked up.
"What's an exploration team?" she asked.
"A group of Pokemon that go all over the world and discover... well, almost everything, from gold and treasure to different places!" Riolu's voice was increasing in pitch as he became more and more excited. "This fragment must fit into something... somewhere! I want to find out what that is. I want to solve the mystery of the Relic Fragment!"
His face fell. "I tried to join an exploration team earlier as an apprentice... but I was too scared..."
He looked back up at Gina. "So... What are you going to do now, Gina? You have amnesia, you somehow transformed into a Pokemon... Do you have anywhere to stay?"
Gina looked down, and shook her head.
"Then... Can I ask you something?" When the Eevee nodded, Riolu continued. "Will you form an exploration team with me? I feel much safer and braver when I'm with you. So will you? Please?"
Gina sighed. What should I do? I guess it's true that I don't have anywhere to go, and I don't know what to do next... I, too, feel safer when I'm around him... maybe I'll figure out who or what I am by being with him... Alright then! That's settled!
She smiled. "Yes, Riolu! I'll make an exploration team with you!"
Riolu beamed. "R-really? You will?!" He cheered. "Yes! Thank you Gina! We'll be a great combination!"
He looked toward the cliffs. "We need to go to Wigglytuff's Guild first. We'll apprentice there. We'll train there to become a first-rate exploration team!"
Riolu looked back at her. "It'll probably be tough... But we can do this! Let's give this our all, Gina!"
Gina grinned, determination shining in her eyes. "Yeah!"
The two of them walked side by side, as they headed away from the beach, ready to begin their journey together to try and become the best exploration team there ever was.
Well, that's the first chapter! I know the fight scenes need work, so I'll be working a little on that. Anyways, please review, and have a nice day!