A/N: I know it's been done to death, but as I was writing an OC-filled story set in the world of Pokemon X and Y I became disheartened by rumours that Zygarde might be playing a bigger role in the future (that story was going be 'Pokemon Z'), so I went back to an older concept I came up with a few years ago but never completed. I intend on this being a version of Heart Gold that includes concepts from the new 6th Generation games, possibly including mega-evolution later on. My protagonist is Ethan, so don't expect any POV chapters focussing on Lyra, Silver, or anyone else; that's not really my style. I will hopefully be expanding the world of Pokemon into something a little more realistic, while hopefully maintaining the fun and simplicity of the games.
Anyway, without further ado, here is the prologue. I can't promise I will update regularly but the first couple of chapters will probably follow in quicker succession.
There was nothing but blackness, an empty expanse of complete nothingness as far as Ethan could see. It was an odd feeling; on the one hand, he couldn't see a single thing, but on the other, he knew he was in an open space. It was as though the knowledge was just there, in the back of his mind, trying to make sense of what was happening.
But where was he? He had no idea. The only conclusion he could reach was that this was a dream; it had to be dream. Of course it was a dream. One moment he'd been lying in bed, drifting off to sleep, and now he was here. What other explanation was there? What else would make sense? But if it was a dream, why was he aware of the fact that he was dreaming? Dreams existed in one's mind, controlled by one's emotions and imagination, so why was there nothing here but this void?
He took a deep breath. The air was fine – refreshing in fact – and he felt his muscles swell with energy. He lifted a foot, but put it back down again. Yes, he was aware there was space all around him, but what if the only piece of solid flooring happened to be what was beneath his feet at this very moment? He chewed his lip. Well, there was only one way to find out, and standing here would achieve a whole lot of nothing.
He took his first step, and suddenly he was falling. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. The air rushed past his face as he plunged into the darkness, his arms and legs flailing around him in complete silence. He squeezed his eyes shut, and then suddenly he was being scraped and battered by branches, which were snapping and rustling as he fell. He could hear his voice now, grunting and yelling, and it was like music compared to that eerie quiet from before.
Ethan opened his eyes. He was falling through a forest canopy. He swung his arms with all his might to cover his face as he rocketed towards the ground. Then, all of a sudden, he stopped. His stomach lurched and he gasped, and he removed his arm. He was hovering a few inches from the leaf litter.
"What…?" THUD. He rolled onto his back, breathing heavily, his heart thumping like the drummers in a marching band. Soft light was filtering down from above, casting the shadows of the leaves like a liepard's spots all around him. He sighed as his heartbeat returned to normal, and he started to take in his surroundings. He was in a forest. That was new; he'd certainly never been here before, and it was somewhat disconcerting. Slowly, he sat up, and ran his hands through his shaggy black hair, expecting bits of twigs and leaves to fall free, but nothing happened. In fact, his hair felt softer and sleeker than it ever had before.
He stood up and stretched his arms above his head, taking a sharp breath of air as he did so, and receiving that feeling of energisation once again. He shook his head. Now what? There was a rough path carved through the undergrowth, leading somewhere. He didn't have much choice; it was either take the path, or stay put, and he didn't fancy staying in one place too long. If he was in a forest, who knew what could be out there? Although, the sounds he was hearing weren't threatening at all. They sounded simultaneously close and far away all at once. Birdsongs echoed around him, but the presence of birds was far from apparent. Indeed, he was alone.
Just as he wanted to start walking, he heard a very female giggle from somewhere around him, and he immediately reacted by tensing up. "Who's there?" he called, ashamed of how shaky his voice was.
"Yoo-hoo!" called a female voice from somewhere around him. He peered down the beaten track. There was only one way to go, and so he began to walk, listening to the leaves crunch under his bare feet. There were no sharp twigs or stones, nothing grating or sharp or uncomfortable. In fact, it felt like walking on soft carpet more than anything.
The giggling continued as he went, getting louder and louder, but no less disembodied, and not coming from any particular direction. It seemed to be all around him at once. He concluded that this was the strangest dream he'd ever been in; time seemed to have dragged by since it began, and yet he felt like the distance he had travelled was great. It didn't make any sense, considering the fact that he wasn't in any way exhausted. He just knew.
"This way…!" said the voice. It was a pretty, sing-song voice, but to whom it belonged was a mystery. Or to what it belonged, Ethan considered with a pang of worry.
He followed the path around a bend and spotted something up ahead. It was another clearing, almost identical to the one he had landed in when he fell, except it was occupied by a small house. Not a house; a shrine, a shining bright white shrine with a red-shingled pagoda roof and a pair of small rich mahogany doors. It was standing on stilts, raising it above the forest floor a few feet, and it was taller than he was.
He entered the clearing, looking in every direction, including above, in trepidation. It seemed he was alone. He strode towards it. The air around it smelt cleaner; everything was so fresh and vibrant and alive. Once again, he found himself asking where he was, and how his brain could have conjured up something so bafflingly beautiful. The ground around the shrine was no longer littered with decaying leaves and twigs, but soft moss. The clearing was almost a perfect circle, bordered by flowering plants and tall sentinels for trees whose branches criss-crossed above, casting lines of shimmering green light down upon him.
He almost jumped out his skin when a voice whispered, "You found me…" so close behind him that he could feel the warm breath on the back of his neck. He spun around, but there was nobody there. He shuddered, and then the voice giggled loudly, once again seemingly coming from every direction, echoing through the clearing.
"Wh-who's there?" he stuttered. No answer. He turned back to the shrine, intending to investigate it, but there was someone sitting on top of it. Perhaps not someone, in fact, but something. She was certainly a girl, maybe no older than he was, and she was stark naked. She sat perched on the edge of the roof, her legs dangling down, swinging playfully. Her skin was a pale green colour, which was odd, and her striking blue eyes appeared far too large. Her lashes were thick and black, like a model's in a magazine, and she had a pair of long blue-tipped antennae rising up from her forehead. Her hair was pulled back into a strange upturned point behind her head, and from her back a pair of large insect-like wings extended outwards, flapping intermittently as she watched him. She wore a lop-sided smile, which looked like a smirk, only not condescending or mocking in any way.
"Hello," she said sweetly.
"Guh?" Ethan replied stupidly. He felt his cheeks burning. The fact that she obviously wasn't human did not for a second detract from her ethereal beauty. Her body was slim but shapely, her legs toned and long, her stomach flat. Her skin looked as soft as satin, her eyes were deep pools of pure azure.
"Are you the one?" she asked him. Ethan focussed on her face long enough to comprehend what she was saying.
"The…one?" he asked her. She giggled and launched herself from the top of the shrine, her wings beginning to hum behind her back as they became a silvery blur. She hovered towards him, her pointed toes inches off the ground.
"The one," she repeated. "The one who will save us all. A great evil is going to befall this land you call Johto…"
"Uh…" Ethan watched her carefully, averting his eyes whenever they accidentally landed on parts of her he didn't feel quite right seeing.
"I think you are the one," she said in a whisper.
He took a hesitant step back as she hovered a few inches closer. "Look, I don't know what this is…"
"Yes, you do," she said. "You've told yourself over and over and over…"
"A dream?" he said. She smiled impishly and landed softly on the ground, her wings stopping.
"A dream," she affirmed with a nod.
"So…is any of it really real then?" She giggled, holding a hand over her mouth as though fighting the urge to burst out laughing.
"Just because it is a dream, does not mean it is not real," she said. "You humans can be so funny…" Well, that answered one question, at least; she wasn't human. Then what was she? Why was she speaking to him like this? What was all this about being the one?
"Who…are you?" he asked her. She cocked her head at him, her eyes suddenly roaming up and down his body, making him feel rather self-conscious.
"You will find out eventually," she said. "But for now, you must hear me. I am only the messenger; the rest is up to you."
Ethan frowned. "Messenger?"
"You will face trials, Ethan Orel; trials the likes of which you have never faced before. Destiny is calling upon you; fulfil your ambitions. You will succeed, so have no fear, but you must keep pressing on."
"Pressing on? What trials?" Ethan ran his hands down his face, suddenly feeling an intense pressure on his shoulders. He sank to his knees, and realised he was sweating. It felt like the air around him had all of a sudden grown incredibly heavy. The forest began to shimmer around him, like it was fading away…
A soothing voice shushed him, and a hand was resting on his shoulder. "Have no fear, Ethan," the green girl said to him. "You are never alone."
Everything was calm again. The forest returned to normal, and the air was light and warm and fresh. Ethan looked up, and the girl smiled at him. She leaned forward, her breath hot on his lips. He felt his mouth go dry. The dream was becoming more and more familiar to him as it went on. Nude women, kissing…
Her lips were as soft as the moss beneath him. She cupped his face in hands as supple as though they belonged to a new-born. He felt his eyelids droop, and suddenly he was flying away. The air rushed around him like a vacuum, roaring in his ears, but breathing still came easily. His lips still tingled…
He blinked into the rays of sunlight streaming in from between his bedroom curtains. His whole body felt light and warm and fresh. He found waking up to be an easy thing to do. He turned to his side and had a look at the digital clock sitting on his bedside table. It was half past seven, the earliest he'd woken up in months, and yet he felt perfect.
He recalled the entire dream vividly, and began to question whether it actually had been a dream. He could still see those sparkling blue eyes, those thick, batting eyelashes, those soft plump lips…
He shook his head.
Whatever it had all meant, he had a feeling his life was about to get very interesting, very soon.