A Day before Spring
Summary: A young man with an extraordinary connection to nature sets out on a magnificent journey to master his powers, and bring down the people responsible for the death of his family.
I do not own the Pokémon Franchise
I do own, however, own this fictional continent, all of its cities and geography. I do not, however, own most of the Pokémon depicted, as they belong to random artists on the internet. Hopefully they choose not to sue.
(Note: If you want visuals of any of the Pokémon depicted, type in their name in deviantart)
Chapter One
The silence on the mountain was nearly complete, broken only by the sound of the singing river, and the sporadic rustle of leaves caused by scurrying Spidax, Larbuzz and Fawnest. A youth sat near the river, filling a bucket with water as his mother had requested. His black hair was a mess, teeming with twigs and leaves of the surrounding trees, and his brilliant violet eyes were alight with irritation. Maximus hissed in annoyance as he yanked the bucket out of the river; even for someone hardened by years of manual labor in the village, it was still heavy.
He made his slow trek down the mountain back towards his home. He stopped once, as he was approached by a small creature of the forest. It was almost three feet tall; a deer-like Pokémon with the back of its body a wooden brown color, and its front half as green as leaves, and for a tail, it had a small leaf. Maximus dropped the bucket on the floor, careful not to spill the contents over the ground. "Come here," his whisper carried through the night air. The Fawnest took heed and approached him. Maximus smiled as he petted the small Pokémon, before it let him go about his day.
Since childhood he'd traversed these Fulmen Mountains like his own back yard. His mother always reprimanded him, sometime slapping him across the head with her rough workers hands if he came home too late, while his father laughed and told him to take it like a man. He'd come to know these mountains and the Pokémon that resided here like his own family, and never once had he been attacked; though he had had a rather close call with a Spidax when he was a child.
When Maximus was only half a kilometer from home the smell of smoke suddenly filled his nostrils; it was coming from the village.
He stopped, his seated heart knocking at his ribcage. Normally a fire wouldn't have phased him; the men in the village always handled it easily enough. But today was just a day before spring, the wet season, and there should have been no fires. With no hesitation the youth dropped the bucket and rushed towards the village, the lingering thought of his mother beating him over the loss of her best bucket being pushed farther back into his mind as he drew closer, and the smell of the burning village grew stronger. A cloud of smoke loomed over the village of Brevis like the cloak of the Grim Reaper.
Even as he rushed into the village he was at a dead sprint. The usual sounds of a village fire were missing; he could not hear the sound of the men rushing back and forth with the water buckets. All he could hear was the roaring fire, and the sound of a hundred wailing souls. When he reached the center of the village he stopped as he was met with a stomach churning sight. A body lay on the floor, dressed in a fine blue shirt splattered with blood, and half of the face was missing, revealing bone ligaments. He recognized the other half of the face as his neighbor, Mr. Accoda. Holding his stomach contents in, he continued to run.
He zipped through the village, not even needing to look in order to know where he was going, this time not stopping until he reached his own home. The sight that awaited him was a shocking one, and it almost broke him. His home was burning down to the ground, and amongst the charred rubble he saw what looked to be a burnt, mangled hand sticking out. This time, he could not fight it. He fell to his knees as he wretched across the floor, his eyes tearing up from a combination of sorrow, smoke, and the smell of burnt flesh.
"Look, that must be him!" he heard a male voice yell over the roar of the flames.
"Stop being so optimistic Vir," a harsh female voice retorted. "This village is so backward; I doubt they even know the proper word for 'Pokémon.'"
"But Marita, the boss s-"
"Whatever," she hissed. "Let's go check it out."
Maximus turned to the oncoming duo, still sitting on his knees, his body facing his destroyed homes as his eyes locked on to them. They were hard to see in the darkness and smoke, and he clearly saw a yellow 'H' embroidered onto the left breast of each of them. Beside the woman came a massive snake, almost two meters long. Its body was yellow, marked by a red underbelly and a wide a head, and its tail opened in the end into what looked like a flute; indeed it had several holes running along its tail. Beside the male, Vir, was a yellow dog Pokémon, with blue polka dots across its body. It was marked by pink fur on its legs, is neck and head, long, pointed ears that bent backward, and a maniacal grin that would forever haunt Maximus.
"You there," Marita demanded, "are you the Magister of this village?"
He didn't understand what she meant, and his fear trampled his words even though his mouth opened wide. What the hell was a Magister? The woman sneered. "Looks like just another useless villager," she hissed, almost to herself. "Koalbra!" she yelled at the massive snake to her side, which stood at attention immediately. "It looks like I've found you some dinner … go and feast!"
Vir grinned and like an overeager little brother repeated the order: "Join her Hyester, enjoy yourself!"
The two Pokémon suddenly shot forward, the Hyster frothing at the mouth, and the Koalbra with its jaws wide and its two poison teeth bared. Survival instincts kicked in, and for a moment, the loss of his family and village were completely forgotten. Maximus moved faster than he had ever before in his life. He ducked, barely avoiding a mad leap from the Hyseter, its massive jaws having been aimed directly at his neck. The dog crashed into the floor behind him with a roll, and he shivered as he heard it laugh at its own misfortune.
The Koalbra was much more fluid in its movements, and his attempts to roll around it where completely useless. He managed to avoid it once, but it quickly changed direction and followed him like the angel of death. Maximus leaped to his feet and took off at a dead sprint away from the two monsters that hunted him down. Unfortunately, he ran right into Vir, he grabbed him firmly by the shoulders. The man was much larger than he was, almost a foot taller, and certainly much stronger. At that moment Maximus caught a glimpse of blond hair, his green eyes … his insufferable smirk.
At that moment, revenge took Maximus under its wing.
His knee flew up like a rocket, slamming into Vir's groin with such great velocity that Maximus was confident that he had, at the very least, ruined the man's reproductive future. Vir immediately let him go, before grabbing his parts, grunting and hitting the floor like a sack of potatoes before starting to writher in pain. The woman, about Maximus' height, didn't seem too frightened by the boy's now aggressive attitude. Without warning her fist suddenly collided with jaw, the tremendous force of her punch throwing him off balance long enough for the Hyester and Koalbra to catch up to him.
The Hyester leaped into the air at him, it slammed its body into his back, throwing him onto the ground, breaking his nose. Maximus turned to off his stomach quickly to try and fend off his attackers. The Koalbra leaped at his throat, but he managed to grab it around the body, stopping it from puncturing his neck with its inch and a half long teeth. The beast retaliated by wrapping it body around his arm and beginning to squeeze. Within moments Maximus lost his grip of its neck as his entire arm went numb and sleepy. At the very moment, the Hyester leaped at his throat, but its teeth only sunk into his left hand.
The pain was unbearable, he felt the thing rip right through the flesh. "Hurry up and fry him!" he heard Vir command, now able to stand again.
The Hyester's mouth suddenly turned two hundred degrees. Maximus felt his arm begin to roast, and finally managed to rip his hand from the beast's mouth as he saw flames brewing in the back of its throat. With the hand still gripping the Koalbra, Maximus punched the Hyester squarely in the nose, throwing it off him and the Koalbra after it. At that moment, the flames in the Hyester's mouth released, engulfing the Koalbra in a ball of flame.
Maximus quickly stood to one knee, his eyes now locked squarely on the grinning, chuckling Hyester, knowing that the Koalbra must've been incinerated in the blast. But at the very moment, the burning body of the Koalbra erected, and it hissed in deep anger. "Koalbra, use Fire Eater," Marita ordered. At the moment the Koalbra opened its massive jaws, and some strange otherworldly wind sucked the flames around its body into its mouth, which it consumed like water. "Now, use Ember and roast him!"
The flames suddenly released again in the form of condensed ball of molten fire. Maximus barely managed to jump out of the way, but he landed right where they wanted him. The Koalbra's speed swallowed the distance between them before Maximus could even realize it had moved. It wrapped around his left leg, squeezing so tight that his leg immediately fell numb and useless, before sinking its teeth right into his calf muscle. He felt molten fire shot through his entire body, and his bloodcurdling scream filled the night air.
"Now, Hyester, use Bite! Rip out his throat!" Vir ordered insanely.
The little dog blasted forward, its massive teeth gleaming with anticipation of fresh blood. It leaped into the air, its jaws coming just inches from Maximus' throat. At that moment, it was suddenly knocked out of the air by a massive red blur. The Hyester sailed through the air liked a bird with a broken wing, slamming into one of the burning houses to their side, falling unconscious, or hopefully dead. The blur that saved Maximus' life suddenly landed on the floor, picking up dust with the speed at which it had moved.
The beast stood at a little bit over six feet tall, standing on six powerful legs ending in three black claws as large as steak knives. Its scales were the reddest red that Maximus had ever seen in his life, although it had a yellow underbelly. On its back was a green and yellow pattern that stopped at its long, thick neck, which had a massive main of black hair running down it. From either side of its nose came two long green tendrils, which ran up the length of its snout, around its electrically golden eyes and floated in the air. Behind it was a back, thick black tail ending in seven large beads, four of which could be found on its neck. On the calf of its two front legs and the thigh of its back two was a magical green swirl of energy.
"K-Kiliryu ..." Maximus managed to utter.
He'd never seen it of course, no one had. But stories of the great Dragon God that roamed the Fulmen Mountains were predominate in Brevis. The massive beast didn't even pay attention to the Pokémon Trainers behind it that watched it, awed and shocked. Without warning the Koalbra attached to Maximus' leg suddenly hissed and released him, falling to the floor and convulsing as its body was wracked with electrical currents. Maximus shook as he fell to his knees, his eyes locking fearfully onto the eyes of the great Dragon God.
Its eyes suddenly exploded in energy, and the last thing Maximus saw was a golden light, before he was engulfed by blissful darkness.
An undetermined amount of time later …
The first thing he felt was something wet running across his cheek. It was a very gentle, caring feeling. The next thing he felt was the dull pain his right hand and left leg. Slowly his eyes opened, adjusting to the light in the room. Finally, the world cleared up and he remembered who he was. Staring affectionately into his eyes was a small blue-eyed Pokémon. It was barely a foot and a half tall; it was a small brown bull, with tiny little horns and a tan underbelly and snout. On its back was a spiky black shell, and from a hole in the middle of the shell protruded a powerful flame.
"Well aren't you the luckiest man?" a booming voice asked out of the blue from a part of the room that Maximus could not see. "Pyrox are very rare Pokémon, and they are far from affectionate. In fact, many call them Terra's answer to Kanto and Johto's Tauros. This Pyrox took a particular liking to you while you were unconscious. You'd better take good care of him, most Pyrox evolve twice in their life time, and its final evolution is one of the strongest Fire Pokémon known to man!"
Maximus finally managed the energy to rise, sitting up and look through the window directly in front of him. Wherever he was, it wasn't burning down. There was an abundance of light outside. "Where am I?" he asked, so quietly that he was almost just talking to no one.
This time the voice took physical shape, in the form of a somewhat tall, brown-haired, late thirty-something year old man. The man grinned deeply as he locked eyes with the youth staring back at him. He outstretched a thick, burly hand. "Professor Dolor's the name. You, young man, are currently in Satus Town on the continent of Terra, south of the continent of Unova, east of Hoenn, Sinnoh, Johto and Kanto, on the big blue ball surrounding the big orange ball, in a solar system of the galaxy called the Milky Way, in the big black universe!"
Maximus found himself almost sickened by the man's enthusiasm. The professor seemed to understand this. "Well, you stay right here, I'll go get you something to eat."
As he walked out and closed the door, Maximus' head fell back into the pillow it had been on. The events prior to this rushed back into his head as if a dam had been removed. Without warning he felt his face get wet with tears as the thought of his incinerated home and his murdered family suddenly sprinted into the forefront of his mind. He tried to compose himself, to tell himself that somehow they'd escaped … but he knew better. His mother, his father, his little brother and sister … all gone in an instant because of some spontaneous act of cruelty that he could find no rhyme or reason for.
He felt something warm curl up onto his chest, and he saw the Pyrox staring into his eyes. It was comforting him, no words could be heard but he could feel the warmth, he suddenly found himself in a total state of peace and tranquility. "Thank you," he whispered through a sigh. The thought immediately came to him that he needed to name her, as calling it 'the Pyrox' would quickly get annoying.
By the time the professor had returned with his meal, Maximus had managed to erase all witness of his weakness. His weak throat ached from disuse, but he didn't let that stop him from digging into the bland bacon and eggs that the professor prepared for him. The large man sat down on a chair not far away from him and watched him eat. It was now, when he tried to use a fork, that Maximus realized that his right wrist was bandaged, and probably his left calf as well. After a while, Dolor broke the silence with a simple question.
"Who are you?"
"Maximus," he said. There was a silence, and he realized that the professor was waiting for something. "In my village, we don't have last names."
"Interesting," the professor commented. "You must be from the other side of the Fulmen Mountains. Very interesting, I had always assumed that there were people living somewhere between the mountains and the Salsus Sea, but I'd never ventured to look." Quickly the conversation took a morbid turn. "In the name of mighty Solaris, what happened to you? Your arm was ripped to shreds with what looked like Hyester bites, and your leg showed clear evidence of Koalbra bite. Luckily for you, Koalbra's are Fire type Pokémon, all they do is burn when they bite, no poison fortunately."
"My village was ..." the words stuck in his throat. He found great difficulty in releasing them.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Dolor assured.
Maximus took a deep breath, feeling the tranquil energy of the Pyrox near him. "My village was attacked by two people. A man and a woman named …" he found himself at a lost, unable to remember their names. "I can't remember their names … but the man had a Hyester and the woman had a Koalbra. They attacked my village, and burned my home down to the ground … my family ..." again the words froze in his throat. This time he stopped for fear of throwing up as mangled and burnt images of his family invaded his mind.
"A tragedy," Dolor said, getting up and placing his hand on Maximus' shoulder. "You must've fought a very good fight to be here today. Now you just finish resting up, tomorrow you can get up and think about all this mess."
Maximus did as he was told. He woke up one more time to eat again, but mostly remained in a deep sleep with his new companion in his chest. The little Pokémon brought him the peace he needed, purging him of the ghostly images that invaded the inner sanctum of his head. A name for her soon came to him like a message from the mountain deities. In his village, the native language of Terra was still somewhat spoken, and from there he drew her name. She was his peace, and in native tongue 'pax' meant peace. "Pox," he said to the Pyrox as he slowly slipped into a deep sleep. He went to sleep with Peace in his arms.
The next morning Maximus found the energy to stand and walk. The professor offered that he stay as long as he liked, and when he said that he'd have to go back and look for his village, Dolor quickly shut the idea down. The professor's assistant, who has not here now, had found Maximus in the middle of the village. To put it simply, there was nothing left to go look for. That left Maximus with little options, and he spent the better part of two weeks associating himself with Pox, who was growing at a rapid rate. He noticed that where shell was slowly growing to cover her underbelly and thighs, while the fur just around it was taking a darker brown hue. Dolor said that she was in the early stages of evolving into a Solabull.
As the time went by, the dark scene of his home's destruction replayed again and again in his head. He wondered how he'd gotten away. He quickly dropped the idea that he had been saved by Kiliryu, and he passed it off as the pain altering his mind and sense of reality. But what he really wondered was why? Why had they attacked his village looking for this 'Magister'? He'd asked Dolor about the term, but the man was just as lost as he was. It was hard, but eventually he just began to let it go and move on as Pokémon became the forefront of his mind.
When Maximus had asked why Dolor kept mentioning this 'Solaris', the professor quickly explained that it was a 'Legendary Pokémon'. Where in Brevis they had not worshipped anything in particular, here in Satus, and beyond apparently, they worshipped 'Solaris' the original Pokémon of Terra, and the various deities that followed him. Over the weeks, Maximus found himself nearly stuffed with knowledge, and he simply couldn't stop asking the professor to provide him with more and more.
Aside from filling his head with facts and realizing how ignorant his life before his had been; his stay in Satus was simply boring.
It was until half way in the second week or so that the monotony was snapped. Dolor had gone out into the grasslands north to investigate some Pokémon, leaving Maximus alone in the Pokémon lab. The youth spent most of the day outside, training with Pox. Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass shattered their tranquility. Without a moment's hesitation he rushed into the home and hurried downstairs into the basement, which served as the Pokémon lab. His calf muscle, still sore from the Koalbra bite, didn't allow him to sprint as he would've liked to.
Standing there was a man, likely just older than eighteen. He was taller than Maximus, about Dolor's height, with laid down black hair. He wore a pair of tattered blue jeans and a red t-shirt. In his hands was one of Dolor's Poke Balls. "Hey!" Maximus shouted, startling the young man. They locked eyes for a brief moment, and the new arrival's grey eyes sparked with something that looked like mischievousness. A grin split his face.
"Well, looks like I've been had!" he mocked.
Pox stood defensively in front of Maximus. Her horns were a good deal longer than before, and instead of being cute, which Maximus had first assessed them as, they looked rather dangerous. The young man seemed rather unimpressive with the display, but still he raised his hands into the air. "Look man," he said with a smile, "no need to aggressive. Why don't you just go back upstairs, and I'll leave without causing any more problems. I swear I will."
As naive a mountain-boy as he was, Maximus actually believed him. Without warning, the young man suddenly leaped out of the small basement window leading to the outside. Maximus cursed as he exited out the stairs, barely managing to cut him off before he managed to get away. "Hey, stop right there thief!" the younger demanded. The thief stopped, bearing an agitated look about his face as he held the stolen Poke Ball threateningly in his hand. Maximus found that he was far from scared; Dolor told him it took weeks to tame a Pokémon, just stealing one, even if it was domesticated by a scientist, and expecting it to battle was stupid.
"Look kid," the thief said, "we don't have to do this. Look, my name's Ambo, what's yours?"
"Maximus," he growled.
"Good," Ambo said. "Me Ambo, you Maximus. We be friends no?"
"You're a thief!"
Ambo growled, pressing the small button in the middle of the Poke Ball and making it expand to the size of a softball. "Fine kid, but you're messing with the wrong person." He pressed the button again and the ball hissed open as a red light escaped from it and took physical form. "Come on!" Ambo yelled to the materialized Pokémon. "Let's how this punk what we got!" Maximus immediately recognized the Pokémon as an Orkid. It short, about Pox's height. It stood on two legs with smooth, blue skin save for its white jaw and stomach. Its arms were short, ending in fins, and on its head was another fin. Its tail was about its body's length and split just past half way to end in two.
Ambo walked over to his new Pokémon, smirking as he touched it on the head. "Me and you, we're best friends now okay?" To Maximus' surprise, the little creature nodded in acceptance. The teen suddenly felt his heart pound at his ribs. They were behind Dolor's home in an alley. No one was around, and he had no experience with battling. This guy must've been a professional the way he handled Orkid so easily. A sweat ran down his head. What if he got beat? What if this thief took Pox too?
"Orkid," Ambo began, "use Pound!"
Without a hesitation, the little blue-whale Pokémon rushed forward, raising its fin to bat Pox right in the face. Maximus steadied his shaking legs and spoke, trying to keep his voice from breaking.
"Pox, run forward and Tackle it!"
Like a warrior the little-bull Pokémon rushed forward, its hooves clinking against the cement alleyway. They rushed at each other, both still young and slow, and unused to battling. The Orkid leaped into the air suddenly before coming down with its fight in a devastating fashion. Pox was unfazed, however, she bulled forward, bucking away at the little whale until she finally managed to hit and send it skidding back. The blow did very little damage, and the Orkid was back on its feet, staring down Pox who was ready again to charge forward.
Ambo smirked, "Well, looks like you aren't too bad. And if you aren't too bad, then you must know that as a Fire Pokémon, your Pyrox is weak to Water Pokémon, which my Orkid just so happens to be. You'd better quit before this gets ugly kid."
"Not I chance I'd lose to a thief!" Maximus yelled, steeling his nerves. Pox's impressive debut and her unwillingness to back down inspired him; it excited him. He felt his heart pounding so rapidly, and heard blood rushing through his ears. The feeling was so simply exhilarating. A part of him wished that Ambo would have decided to steal one of Dolor's Pokémon earlier. "Come on Pox, use Tackle again!"
Pox rushed forward like a bad bull, but this time, Ambo was ready to counteract. "Orkid, use Bubble!"
The whale-Pokémon opened its mouth, in taking precious oxygen before suddenly releasing a steam of high condensed water bubbles right at Pox. On contact they suddenly popped with tremendous force, pushing Pox back making her skid against the concrete. Maximus cringed as he saw Pox stand; a small cut had opened up under her right eye. He felt his resolve began to shake, but as if feeling his uncertainty, Pox suddenly roared into the air, her cry giving him strength anew. It was at that moment that he remembered his battle with that woman and her Koalbra; it had been a Fire type, and he remembered the name of the move it had used.
"Pox, use Ember!" he shouted.
The tiny bull took a deep breath, mixing precious oxygen with the flames brewing at the pit of her stomach before suddenly exhaling in a deadly fashion. But, instead of a ball of fire, a stream of black smoke suddenly escaped from her jaws. Maximus quickly moved to cover his nose and mouth, and within seconds their entire view was obscured. It took almost a minute for the smoke to alleviate. And once it did, Ambo was nowhere to be seen.
"What in the name of Solaris is going on here?"
Maximus turned to see Dolor. The man looked far from amused, and standing beside him was a young girl, about Maximus' age, looking down right furious. She was a bit shorter than Maximus, with brown hair that stopped right at her shoulders, and chocolate eyes that may as well have been red considering how much anger was inside of them. "Professor!" Maximus yelled, quickly trying to redeem himself. "S-someone was try- I mean, someone stole your one of your Pokémon!"
"And where were you when this happened?" the girl bellowed.
Maximus found himself cowed by her rage. "I-I tried to fight him."
"Fight him with a Smokescreen?" she asked sarcastically. "You helped him get away. I say he's the one who stole it professor, and we should bring him to a Ranger!"
Dolor said, "Livia, enough. Go back in the lab and make sure we've everything, almost everything." She gave him a protesting look, but a hard stare from him made her pout before rushing into the home. "Come on Maximus, you two get in here." He placed a hand on the young man's hand when he got close enough. "Meet my daughter, Livia. She's the one who brought you back from the mountain. Don't worry, she may seem a bit … angry, but she just really loves Pokémon. Now come on, let's get inside."
Maximus downtrodden attitude was killed almost immediately by Pox, who nudged her snout against his foot. He picked her up into his hands and entered the home, a small smile plastering onto his face. He felt a new found courage seed itself inside his chest.
He was sure that they were meant to be a team; together they could accomplish anything.