Our Story begins in the heart of Rikliga City.
Around this time it was known as the 'Silent City', 'The Skull Capital' and many other unsavory names. This capital was the hardest hit by the plague, due to its overcrowded population, but many have tried to reclaim or steal anything they could from this once great land.
Our first hero is a lively girl, keeping a close eye on her surroundings and hoping for the best. the slightest disquiet to give her hope at finding her goal… Her name was Tempestas. She was a pikachu on a mission… But she wasn't alone, with her was keen eyed fighter who served as Tempestas' bodyguard, a Croconaw she had known since her childhood. When the crisis hit, the first thing both of them had running through their minds was that they needed to stick together. And so our heroine was joined by the Croconaw, Calder…
Both scouted across a desolate marketplace, both seeming on edge, ears open and eyes out for any slight sign of mischief. Even in broad daylight the place had an air of calamity that hung like a foul scented fog. Both stalked towards a towering office, grey concrete and busted glass showered the area like an abandoned dream of prosperity and profit. Now the clinical colors promised nothing but despair and bleak unrest.
The pair moved forwards into a the monolith, spilled papers and empty drawers littered the floor, both of them crunching on debris and rubble as they carefully tread along.
"Do you hear anything?" the reptile whispered to the mouse, who had sharper senses in air than he.
"No… Wait. what's that?" Her ears perked up towards a nearby door.
A voice echoed through the complex, the obvious voice of a young woman coming from the room, "G-Get off of me you bru…!" Whoever it was was cut off by what sounded like lightning, contorting her voice into a bloodcurdling scream. The Pikachu sidled carefully towards the door to see if she could learn anything about who was inside...
They could only perceive the noises and the faint sound of kicking, "I said get awa.." Another shock shook the floor…
"If ya just stay still this'll all go over smoother" A strangely high pitched but masculine voice could be heard, only slightly muffled by the door…
A moment later something else could be heard, a creaking of floorboards near the cracked door.. The pikachu looked in before seeming to pull back suddenly, "C-calder! I-it's a human! And…"
"Calm down Temp… Let's go before we're caught"
"But Calder we can't leave her here!..." The creaking only became louder, accompanied by a wet slap that chilled the mouse to the core.
"And if you try to save her you might end up in her place!"
They argued in whispers as they heard muffled voices once again, The string of insults and degrading comments coming with that same high pitched voice as before… And the female voice that had been arguing and resisting the whole time had gone all but silent. The two froze at the tirade of offensive rambling, and that slapping only got louder now.
They couldn't help but stay in place for a moment, trying to comprehend it all before yet another sudden sound an an obscenity rang out into the air. Calder looked aside and saw a tear on tempesta's face, "l-let's get out of here.."
They slowly decided to leave, but not before receiving another shock with the sound of breaking glass, and decided to move more quickly from it.
Around the same time, a boy moved quietly through the streets, mumbling to himself, his trusted companion sitting on his shoulder, "Just my luck that the day I get here the whole region shuts down... Right Pikachu?"
The mouse only responded with a short "Piika". Soon though the creature would be forced to make a muffled squeak as the human ducked down by a corner.
"shh, I think I hear something..." The human looked around the corner to see a peculiar sight, a bird with yellow streaks in its feathers and a strange bipedal creature covered in sand, seemingly in the form of some sort of armor plate.
"Aw damnit, the red haired bitch got away!" the bird cursed in frustration.
"Brother can you please give it a rest, she probably won't survive long out here anyway. Our job was to look for human stragglers and I don't see anything around here" the second spoke up, "Hell, it's your fault throwing her out of the window, but what would even be the point of looking for her?"
"Eh, I guess you're right, I just wanted to see the twerp again, maybe send her to be in a vore flick"
"Bloody hell brother, what is your obsession with those... do I even want to know?"
Meanwhile the human hid nearby, quiet but shocked, "red haired... thrown out the window... stragglers?" he hid behind the corner as he tried to understand the situation.. and quietly move away just enough that he couldn't easily be spotted. "What even are those things?... Pikachu, I'd normally say we should do something but we need more info, since... well it sounds like whoever saw them last had a bad time." The mouse just responded with a simple nod. They stopped again and listened in once again
"Eh fine, we can at least get to a different part of town if you really want, we still have to find her blue haired friend and that stupid cat of theirs" the large avian quickly took off, and the sandy creature followed after on foot.
Ash just stood there, trying to take in the situation, "Red haired woman... her blue haired friend.. Oh great, on top of everything going on already, Team Rocket is still on my heels?..." He looked around the corner where the pair of talking pokemon once were, "but at this rate they might need help".
He stared down the alley, walking slowly, quietly to check for any signs of life, quiet and uncharacteristically anxious. He looked up in the direction the bird had gone, staring for a good minute with one thought on his mind "And... What's the Garden?"
And here's another try at setting up chapter 1. hope you enjoyed!