The peaceful summer night surrounds Protectors Village. A small, isolated village teeming with lucario and their young. There is a gleaming temple that resides in the center of the small village that has been guarded by the lucario for hundreds of years. The cheers of disobedient riolu who have stayed up too late can be heard echoing between the huts as their mothers chase after them. But, their cheers, and their mothers gripes, overtake another faint sound. The sound of distant marching. The sound, of an army.
Nebula's POV
A faint shout from one of the lucario in my village causes me to jolt awake.
"We're under attack!" The call rattles me and I scramble to my feet to run for my room's door.
My parents barge into my room and barely miss me with the door they force open.
"Mom, what's going on," I ask with a shaky voice.
"There are some bad pokemon attacking the village. You need to get out of here before you get hurt." She says in a soft tone while petting my head.
"Who's attacking the village?"
"This isn't the time for questions Nebula," snarls my father. "Your safety is the most important thing right now so please just listen to your mother and start running!"
"But what about you guys?" I reply with a fearful voice.
"Your mother and I will be holding them off," replies my father as he kneels down to me.
Fear creeps into me as the thought of being alone comes to my mind. "Why can't you two come with me? What if one of the bad pokemon find me?"
"Don't worry," says my mother while wrapping me in her comforting arms. "Your father and I have to help defend the temple. We'll make sure nobody can get to you."
Tears rush to my eyes. "Please mom, I don't want to go!" I beg in between my sobs.
The dirt floor beneath me shakes and the sound of a nearby explosions rings throughout the hut.
"Nebula, get out of here now!" screams my father as he takes me from my mother's arms and shoves me out into the dark night. Tears begin to stream down my face as my father gestures me to run.
"Mom! Dad! Please don't leave me!" I scream as they run to the temple. My mother looks back with sadness in her eyes but she keeps going. My body shakes with sadness and fear for a second, but then a stream of bright fire lights up the sky, and before I have time think, the fear overtakes me. My legs begin carrying me away from my home and out towards the forest. The only thought I can muster is, Why? As my eyes dart around for an escape route, a clearing reveals itself. Relief washes over me and I sprint desperately to the clearing. The sounds of the fighting begin to fade off into the distance as I get further and further from my village.
My sprinting quickly drains my energy and causes me to sink to the ground in exhaustion. Just a little further, I think to myself. Over my heavy breathing the sound of a twig snapping in the adjacent forest rings in my ears. My eyes frantically dart around to find the cause of the noise. A figure flies from the foliage, and a charizard reveals itself.
Desperation overtakes me as I frantically try to get up, but to no avail. "Stay away!" I scream. The dragon locks eyes with me as he prepares a flamethrower. The charizard takes aim and manages to clip my leg. "Mom! Dad!" I scream out in pain. Adrenaline shoots through me as the pain seeps throughout my leg. Stumbling to my feet, I attempt to run away from the dragon. My new limp isn't helping my speed and the dragon is gaining quickly on me. His gleaming claws cutting through the night. This is how I'm gonna die, I think to myself. The charizard, a few yards behind me, suddenly lets out a pained grunt. A thud follows as he hits the ground. What happened, I think while turning around. A lucario from my village prepares another aura sphere to launch at the aggressor and gestures me to keep going. Relief comes over me like a wave and taking advantage of the opportunity, I continue through the clearing. The end of the clearing reveals itself up ahead as the open field changes to dense forest. That's probably the best place to hide for now. As the end of the clearing nears, a bright light appears before me.
"What is that?" I mutter to myself. Hesitantly, I walk into the light; hoping that it can hide me from any bad pokemon. A strange pulling sensation overtakes me as I enter the light. What's going on? As the light becomes denser, the world around me begins to fade. Panic overtakes me as the world disappears into pure white. "Help! Somebody help me!"
James' POV
"James, honey it's time to get up," my mother says in a soft tone. She flinches back as I jolt up. "You ok sweetie?" she asks with a concerned tone.
"Yeah," I reply groggily. "Just another bad dream."
She nods her head and makes sure that I fully get up. "I don't want you falling back asleep sweetie. You have to go to school."
"I know," I reply with a disheartened tone. "Can't I just skip it for today?"
"You already know my answer to that question," she says while crossing her arms. "I know being the new kid is hard but you will get used to it. I'll head downstairs so you can get ready." She then turns and leaves my room so I can get dressed.
Laying back down with a groan of annoyance, the dream from last night comes back to my mind. Why do I keep having that dream? I think to myself. That's the fourth night now and I'm still not sure what to think of it.
The dream always starts with those weird creatures, and a village, that was presumably my home, gets attacked and I get cast out from a hut and run. Then I would always run into a bright light and wake up.
I was some blue and black thing with silver bumps on my hands and had two things dangling beside me as I ran. Also I swear there was a larger version of me shooting blue orbs from their hands when I looked back. It made sense in the dream but now I can't make sense of any of it. All I feel now is a sense of being called. Like the dream was a message being sent to me. I wonder what those creatures were being attacked by.
As more of the dream comes back to me, realization hits me. I've probably been thinking for a while. I glance over at the clock which reads 6:37. School starts at 7:15 and I am still in bed. My resulting groan echoes through my room and I hurry to brush my teeth, comb my hair, and get dressed before my mom grounds me due to my carelessness. I frantically rush down the stairs and my mom catches me before I burst out of the door.
"James," she calls while coming to hug me. A little confusion washes over me and she says, "I know the move has been hard on you." My eyes roll as she continues, "But after a little bit you'll get used to it. I know you miss your friends but please just try to keep an open mind."
"Why can't we just go back?" I ask with a snappy tone. "It was so much nicer there."
A sad look crosses her face and she looks down, refusing to give a response. The sound of a horn rings as my bus quickly pulls up.
"Well, I hope you have a good day James," says my mom with a disheartened tone.
"I'll try" I say while walking out of the door.
The ride to school is long due to the traffic. The country was so much better than this place. This city is trash compared to my old home. It's always so loud at night, and the sounds of honking car horns at 2:00 A.M. don't really help me sleep well. My eyes begin to fill with a few tears. I want my old life back. I had friends and people who really cared. All my mom wanted was that new fancy job and didn't even ask if I wanted to move. Anger begins to build up in me and my fists clench tight.
My inner ranting and rage is interrupted once the bus pulls up to our school. We all file inside the building and head to homeroom to take role. After role, the class bell goes off and we all rush up to leave for first period, which for me, is science. Today in science we're going outside to collect samples of soil. Once we're outside my eyes catch my only friend in this school, Audrey. She's been nice to me ever since I've gotten here and is the only reason I don't absolutely hate this place. I ditch the experiment for a minute to head over to her.
"What's up James," says Audrey with too much energy for a Monday.
"The sky," I reply while laughing at my own dumb joke. Audrey gives me an unamused look which quells my laughter. Clearing my throat awkwardly, I try to change the subject, "Hey, You take psychology right?"
She shoots me a quizzical look, "Yeah, why?"
"I was wondering what reoccurring dreams could mean." I twiddle my thumbs as she thinks of a response.
She looks up while thinking of a response. "Usually, they represent a problem that ya need to face."
I think of any problems that challenge me but really can't come up with one. "I don't think I have a problem in my life right now."
"It could be because you moved recently. Speaking of that, how are ya holding up?"
"I don't like it. It sucks living in the city after being in the country for so long. And I miss a lot of my old friends." A nostalgic feeling overtakes me and my head droops down. "I hate moving all of the time. I finally thought that we were done moving when we found my old house in the country, but my mom had other plans. As usual."
"Well if you weren't always so shy then it would probably be easier," says Audrey with a giggle. "It took you two weeks to actually say hi to me."
A red blush comes to my face and I laugh along with her. "Yeah, I need to work on that."
"Just try to make the best of it. Only thing you can do in a new place is be nice. Then all you gotta worry about is if the people there are nice back."
"Thanks Audrey. You never fail to give good advice."
"No problem, I love making people feel better." She gives me a warm smile. "You'll feel normal here in no time."
"Audrey, get over here!" calls one of her group members.
"Ok!" she calls back. "See you after school James."
"See ya," I say with a smile. My group and I finish up our experiment and head back inside. We then gather our stuff and head out to switch to our next classes.
My next class is band. Band has been fun so far but today is lecture day, and last week our teacher's "lecture" turn into a sob story about how doomed our society is and how we need to strive to improve. I'm not against that, it's just he took the whole period to get one point across. Making my way through the crowded hallway, a large wooden double door comes into view. I approach the door and open it to reveal the large room. The walls are lined with foam which cause the sound of footsteps to ring throughout the room.
"Good morning class!" Exclaims my teacher. "Quietly find a seat where you can see the whiteboard." My fellow classmates and I file into the room and fill the many desks that line the room. Lucky for me there is an empty desk in the back of the room, which I gladly take. "Todays lecture will be about respect. Which is good because a lot of you need help with that," he says snappily.
I could probably fall asleep back here, I think to myself with a smile. Hopefully I won't be tormented with those dreams.
"Now, let's begin," says my teacher. He starts his lecture and I rest my fist on my cheek. After 10 minutes of his repetitive lecture my eyes start to close and my teacher's voice seems to slowly drift away. After another minute my head falls to my desk and I fade into unconsciousness
Once I'm asleep a familiar treeline forms in front of me. Great, what is with this dream. Wait, I think while looking down. My eyes reveal my human form instead of the blue creature. This is different. Confused, I begin to walk to the treeline. Upon reaching it, the spot where my dream usually ends comes into view.
A strong feeling of curiosity fills me as I gaze at the spot. Maybe I can figure out what happens after the dream ends. I think while taking a step forward. Slowly, I make my way to the spot. Twigs and leaves crunch under my feet. Once I am at the spot, nothing happens for the first few seconds. Well I guess nothings here after all. Just as I turn to leave, the ground beneath me begins to shake. Oh no. I think while struggling to stay upright. Then a sound similar to shattering glass rings in my ears.
When I look to my left, there is a large crack directly in front of me with bright, white light shining through. Ok, that's bad! I think as the ground beneath me splinters. I struggle to back away while an invisible force holds me in place. Why am I out of breath in a dream? I think while panting. The cracking spreads around me and the white light forces my eyes shut. After another minute, the cracking dies down and the light that is coming through my eyelids seems much dimmer. When my eyes open they are met with a large white space.
"What the heck?" I exclaim, confused as to what's going on. My eyes dart around and catch my arm. It seems faded and the white area is visible through it; even while covering my eyes with it. That's weird. Slowly, I look down and see that the rest of my body is the same way. Um, I think confused as of what else to do.
Then my ears pick up a faint sound. Is that crying? With my curiosity peaked I head towards the sound.
"Hello!" I shout. "Is anyone there?" The crying stops after I say that. Curious and a little nervous, I pick up pace and continue towards where the crying was. After walking for a minute I see him. The little blue and black creature from my dream. His body is see through like mine and he quiety crying. My eyes are staring at him trying to make sense of all of this. Whats going on? I question to myself. Slowly, I make my way over to the strange creature and he notices me. Our eyes lock, and a feeling of an unknown familiarity washes over me. His eyes light up like a match.
"It's you," the creature says.
Um, what? I think to myself with a confused look.
"You're finally here!" says the small creature as he gets up and jumps around.
This thing knows me? I think while watching him jump. After a minute he calms down and approaches me. Instinctively I back away from him and he gets a confused look. "What's wrong?"
"N-nothing. What's going on?" I stutter with a nervous look.
"I don't know. The voice guy only told me that you will show up and our soul will be mended." He says those last few words with a mocking tone.
"Uh ok." The voice guy? Please don't tell me this thing is crazy. Awkwardly I ask, "What did you mean by our soul?"
He replies, "The voice guy only said that our soul was broken and that he would bring us here to fix it."
"O...k," I reply. "Do you know how you got here?"
His face becomes dreary again. "All I remember is my village being attacked. I ran into a bright light and ended up here. That's I was showing you"
Showing me? "Were you giving me those dreams?" I ask. He nods and sulks back down to the ground with tears in his eyes. The events of my dream come back to me. I must have been looking through his memories of that night. "Is that what happened to you? What was that dragon thing that burned you? What were those two blue creatures at the start?" I ask with a mind full of questions.
He starts to sniffle after the last question. "They were my parents," he says while being choked up from tears. "A-and I just want them back!"
Tears begin to roll down his face and he puts his head in his knees as he sobs. A strong wave of grief overtakes me from nowhere, like it was just shoved into me. This must be how he feels, I think to myself with a sense of understanding. Empathy fills me and causes me to head over to the small creature and give him a hug. He cries into my shoulder and I keep him wrapped in my arms. A few of my own tears fall along with his.
"Hey," I whisper while patting him. "It's going to be ok. I'm sure you're parents are looking for you right now."
"R-really?" He sniffles.
"Yeah. I'm sure that you'll be back with them soon." He nods and hugs me back tightly. The grief leaves me and is replaced with a warm happy feeling. The little creature looks up at me and gives me a smile. "Feel better?" He eagerly nods and wipes away his tears. "Sorry about being intrusive with my questions."
"It's ok, you didn't know." He replies with a warmer tone ."I'm Nebula." He says with a warm smile
"I'm James." I reply. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you?"
"I'm a riolu. You haven't seen one before?"
"Um, I don't think so." I say with a puzzled look. "Only in the dreams you gave me."
"Oh ok. Well now you're friends with one!" He says cheerfully while putting his paw out for a high five. I give a warm smile, look at his paw and put my hand against it.
When we touch I start to feel fuzzy, and a feeling of weakness starts to overtake me. What now? A force keeps me in place while I try to move back. Nebula is also struggling against the force.
"James help!" He cries
Our bodies begin to emanate a blue hue and Nebula looks at me with fear in his eyes. The fuzzy feeling grows and I look up as Nebula slowly morphs into a blue orb. "Nebula," I cry. Can things just be normal for once today? Nebula's fear transfers over to me and almost gives me a panic attack.
The foreign fear breaking me is interrupted by a deep, bodiless voice. "Your soul will now be put back together after being split for so long," says the voice.
"Wait, what," I strain as I'm transformed into the same kind of orb as Nebula. I frantically struggle to move but can't. Nebula and I collide and merge into one orb. Quickly I reform and I am in Nebulas body. "What's going on? Where's Nebula?" I stomp my new paws on the ground and yell, but the only thing that comes out are growls and snarls. My confusion turns to annoyance and the voice speaks again.
"Your soul has been restored but I'm afraid only one conscience could be allowed to stay."
It seems to understand my snarls so I ask, "What the hell is going on?"
"As I said, your soul has been put back together."
"I heard you!" I snap. "But what does that mean!"
"Your soul was split between worlds, so to prevent any dimensional problems, I brought you here to repair it."
"Split between worlds? How does that work?" I ask, my confusion evident in my voice.
"That knowledge is not available to me."
I open my mouth to argue but decide against it. If this voice can join souls I probably shouldn't tick it off, I think to myself. "Why am I in Nebula's body?" I ask in a more respectful tone.
"Your soul decided to take on the form of Nebula due to it being more convenient. You will be taken to his world from yours soon."
"His world?" I question with a shaky voice. "What do you mean?"
"When you wake up in your world it will only be a matter of time before you are taken to Nebula's. Broken souls are a e dimensional problem and I can't allow your soul to be in your world for too long."
"Why not?".
"Unfortunately, Riolu or any pokemon for the matter, do not exist in your world."
"What are pokemon?" I ask. To my annoyance and growing unease, the voice decides to not answer me. Any respect I tried to have goes out of the window. "Answer me!" I scream with fear and confusion bubbling within me. Sleep begins to loosen its grip and the hazy white space begins to recede to the back of my mind.
As I wake up the white space fades away into darkness and the voice's presence disappears. I wake up on my desk, covered in my own drool.
That was a weird dream, I think to myself. It felt so real. It was like Nebula was actually in my arms. Maybe my next dream will show what happened after. My reflection on the dream is interrupted by my band teacher who has a very annoyed look on his face. "Oh no," I mutter.
"Speaking of respect!" says my band teacher in a loud tone. "James here is a great example of how to not show respect."
My cheeks burn red with embarrassment and I reply, "Um, sorry sir, I didn't get much sleep last night,"
"I know you're new here, but that doesn't give you the right to sleep during my class." The sounds of my classmates snickering causes more embarrassment to fill me and I put my head down in shame.
"Ok everyone," says my teacher. "We want James to feel welcome here, so stop laughing and get back to your work." A slight wave of relief washes over me and my teacher calls me up to his desk. As I approach the desk a shocked looks spreads across his face. "James, what happened to your leg?" he asks me with a concerned tone. When I glance down at my lower leg, a large burn mark that is eerily similar to Nebula's reveals itself. I flinch in shock, and stare in disbelief.
I quickly ask to go to the bathroom. My teacher obliges, and I dash to the end of the room with the other kids eyes trained on me. In the hallway, nausea begins to set in and causes me to wobble while I walk. The trip to the bathroom usually isn't too far from the band room, but the nausea and new pain in my leg makes it seem like a mile. As I approach the bathroom, I fall against the door and strain to push it open. Once I'm inside, I begin to kind of freak the hell out. My heart feels like a drum against my chest and my breathing becomes rapid.
"Ok James," I say to myself. "You probably just hit your leg on something," but, when I glance in the mirror, my irises begin taking on a red hue, like Nebula's. "Shit!" I hiss as my body collapses to the floor due the extreme pain starting to overtake it. Was that dream real? I get my answer when blue and black fur starts growing on me. I start to hyperventilate from the fear. This is still a dream, it's not real. I'm just imagining it. Pain shoots from my hands as they turn into paws, and my nose and mouth morph into a snout. All the while I am writhing in pain. My loud breathing is outshined by the sound of my breaking bones. My body slowly takes on all of the other characteristics of Nebula until I am completely transformed. I stare at myself in the mirror, "No no no no, this isn't real" I whine when Nebula's form stares back at me. I fall to the floor sobbing "Why me? Why me?!" A large flash comes from above me and the bright light from my dream begins forming around me. "No! I don't want to go!" I scream in desperation. I try desperately to escape but the force of the light holds me in place. "Somebody help!" I scream as the world around me starts to fade away, until there is just darkness. After a minute a dense, unfamiliar forest forms around me, and the putrid taste of bile forms in my mouth.
September 5, 2017- I am currently working on the second chapter. I really want to get it out soon and I'm sorry it's taken so long. I have had an eventful summer and I am going to work hard to develop this story to it's full potential. Thank you for reading and leave any criticisms or things that I need to work on in the reviews. See ya guys soon.