Prologue
"Now Cameron, if you want me to let you stay down here, you've got to be quiet..."
A girl, no older than fourteen, crept down the stairs silently, flinching every time her younger brother stepped on what seemed like every creaky step in the whole staircase.
Swiping a stray strand of black hair out of her eyes, she led her brother down the chilly stairs and into their small living room.
It was barely lit by the flickering glow of the Christmas lights on their tree. Rows of pictures brightened the walls. They were everywhere. Behind the patched up sofa, above the classic stone fireplace, on the mantle of the fireplace itself. She longed to collapse in the soft, padded Snorlax-Snoozer brand chair by the steps, but then she would just be shaken awake from her thoughts by her brother.
Her brother raced out in front of her and barely smothered a laugh as he dove into the pile of presents under their small, little bright Christmas tree. The five red stockings hanging from the mantle swung gently from side to side, heavy with the presents inside. Three were filled with toys, books, and games. The other two had either a thick book or a pile of lipstick and thin novels waiting.
She smiled as he buried himself among the tiny mountain of wrapped presents. Cameron tore into a box with dancing Stantler on the wrapping paper. He ripped off the bright green bow and threw it over his shoulder as he attacked the box. With bits of paper and ribbon stuck in his black hair, he stared wide-eyed at the stuffed Growlithe he found inside the box. He rubbed its velvet fur and rose to his feet.
"Alyssa I love it! Thank-"
She ducked through a doorway and into another room, this one darker and more foreboding.
Sighing, Alyssa called out, "Volts, Tron, what did I tell you last night? I told you we'd be up. Now turn on the lights. It's cold. Where's Charm? I want to make hot cocoa for Cam."
Lights flickered on in the room, revealing two orb-like Pokemon resting in hand-made perches on top of an island in the kitchen. One looked almost exactly like the pokeballs she had seen being played with in the street. The bigger of the two was the exact opposite, with its top half white and its bottom half red. A wooden table with four chairs surrounding it sat in a corner. The stove, fridge, microwave, sink, and oven watched over the room from their wall. A snoozing red lizard snorted and blinked itself awake. She climbed unsteadily to her feet, barely missing the bottom of a chair by the island, as she climbed out from underneath it.
The two orbs on top of the island seemed to tease Charm as she yawned and stretched out her scaly arms, clawed hands flexing. She snorted at the Voltorb and Electrode, her flame tipped tail flicking irritably as she turned to Alyssa. Charm cocked her head off to the side as if to ask, What?
"Can you start up the stove for me?" Alyssa asked.
The Charmeleon shrugged and spat out a small flame onto the gas stove.
Alyssa walked over to the pantry next to the fridge. Opening it up, she nudged a stray Raticate out of the pantry with her foot. It scrambled away without any coaxing, desperate to get away from its confinement.
Looking inside, she found a half eaten bar of chocolate and a red and white striped candy cane.
Setting aside the candy cane, she took the chocolate bar over to the counter and opened the cupboard above her. Stretching up to get a plate, she placed it on the counter and sat the chocolate down on that.
"Charm, can you put this in the microwave for me?" Alyssa asked the Charmeleon, who was now just nodding off again. Shaking the lazy reptile, she put the plate into her hands and shoved Charm over towards the microwave.
She didn't want to accidentally get burned by leaning on the stove again after all. That was not a pleasant experience in the slightest.
When the chocolate was safely inside the microwave and set to be taken out in three minutes, Alyssa put herself to work, taking out the milk carton from the fridge and grabbing two cups from the sink.
Pouring her brother a generous cup of milk, she poured most of the rest into her cup. Then, looking around at the quiet room disdainfully, she slurped down the last of the milk and tried to throw the carton into the trash can next to the island.
She missed, instead hitting Charm who glared at her with milk running down her face, tail flame flaring.
Alyssa stuck her tongue out at the her and opened up the microwave two minutes too soon. She easily pulled apart the gooey chocolate and dumped them into the cups. She took a spoon from Charm-who had planned to grab herself some ice cream from the freezer- and stirred up the two cold hot cocoas.
She placed them in the microwave and tapped her foot impatiently.
She could hear barely muffled crashes coming from the living room. She needed to get Cam to calm down or their fun would be ruined.
The microwave beeped and she yanked the door open. She carefully pulled the two cups out and closed the door with her nose, then she froze in terror as she realized how close she was to the stove, then sighed in relief as she saw that Charm had already put out the flame. With a cup in each hand, she walked back into the living room to see her little brother surrounded by opened boxes. Quietly, Charm sneaked over to the island where the candy cane had been forgotten, she quickly snatched it off the counter and crunched it in her jaws.
She smiled at her younger brother, the thin white scar on her face standing out from her skin, tanned from years of wandering woods and the hills nearby. It ran from just above the left side of her lip to the right side of her collar bone. The day she had gotten it, she learned that the woods weren't safe after a few hits to the head after a soccer game...Meaning she had decided to try and grab a Pidgey egg from its nest after she had gotten a concussion. The mother Pidgeot wasn't very pleased about that.
She set down the two cups on a small coffee table.
"Well," She said. "You want a cup? Or do I have to give it to Charm?" Alyssa asked him.
He violently shook his head and loudly whispered, "No! I want it!"
She laughed quietly and sat down on the couch sipping a cup of cocoa while her brother waited it to cool by showing her all of his presents. Right when he was presenting a Machamp figurine to her, she stopped mid-nod.
She froze, then silently turned around, she heard a door close softly upstairs. Gesturing to Cameron for silence, she picked up a small metal baseball bat he had gotten. Creeping up next to the landing where she couldn't be seen by anyone coming downstairs, she gestured once again to Cameron, but this time to hide. His panic made him clumsier than usual, he banged into three different boxes on his way to hid behind the Christmas tree. Alyssa flinched with every hit, she returned her focus back to the noises.
There were footsteps.
And they were coming downstairs.
They're at the top of the steps.
A few steps down.
Half way.
Nearly down.
She swung the bat with all of her wiry strength.
A tall, broad shouldered man ducked.
He quickly snatched the bat and pulled it away from her.
Now that he was in the dim light of the Christmas tree, she could tell that it was her father that has come downstairs, not an intruder.
His dark brown hair was flattened on the left side, the other side sticking out at odd angles. His old gray sleeping shirt was askew, slipping off his right shoulder. His jeans were hastily pulled on, he was holding them up with his free hand. He looked past his glaring daughter and quickly spotting his terribly hidden son.
Shooting Alyssa a glance, her cloud gray eyes met his blue eyes. She glared even harder and stomped over to the couch, her father following behind softly. She watched protectively from the couch as he wrapped Cameron in a hug and said 'good morning.'
He flicked on the tall lamp beside the scarred, wooden front door. Light flooded the room and Alyssa had to blink. Cameron might have gotten used to the light by hiding behind the tree, but she had been staring into the darkness in search of the 'intruder.'
Their father made his way past the scattered presents and went into the still lit kitchen. He gave a greeting to the three Pokemon peeking out of hiding spots around the room and shuffled around the room.
When he came back in he had a cup of black coffee in his hands. Cameron had sat down down next to his sister and was sipping his cocoa contently.
He squirmed into a spot between them, but Alyssa immediately scooted off the couch and settled down into her chair next to the tree.
"Well," The tall man said. "I'm guessing it's my turn for presents now."
That's just like him, always acting like he's better than me. Alyssa thought. She watched as her father carefully made his way around his watchful daughter and took a present messily written on: to Dad.
Cameron never had been good at writing neatly.
Their father walked back to his seat and opened his present, taking care to set aside the pretty red and green striped wrapping paper. Under the anxious gaze of his son, he took out a framed drawing of a Charmander.
"It's um, Charm, when she was little. Do you like it Dad? Do you?" Cameron asked shyly. He looked up at the older man with big gray growlithe-puppy eyes.
He smiled down at his son and said, "Of course I love it! You made it after all!"
He wrapped Cameron in a bear hug where he could barely be heard saying, "Alyssa helped, but she says that since she only found the photo of the Charmander, the one I drew, that she wouldn't put her name on it."
The man looked over at his daughter, who has just made the discovery that hot cocoa just so happened to be brown.
He said, "I love it. Thank you."
Alyssa nodded in acknowledgment and shifted her gaze to her nearly empty cup. Small drops of hot cocoa swirled and flowed in the cup and she turned it.
Cameron opened his mouth to say something but once again, Alyssa froze.
One of the boxes behind the tree had moved.
Alyssa sighed and grabbed the forgotten baseball bat from beside her chair. How it had gotten there, no one besides she knew. They hadn't seen her get up, but who knows what had happened.
Hiding a smile behind his massive hand, her father nodded her on.
Holding the bat like a baseball player, Alyssa crept up to the a box. It shook and scooted around in every direction.
Now that she was close to it, she could see little holes dotting the present.
Why would a box need holes?
Carefully, ever so carefully, she pulled off the gray ribbon.
Poised to smash the box and its contents to death, she lifted off the lid of the box...and promptly threw it across the room as her father broke out into guffaws of laughter.
Hahahaha...
His booming laugh echoed around the room as a small little gray puppy poked its head out of the box and gave a tiny yip.
A light gray body pressed up against the side of the box, black paws reaching over the edge. A masked face looked up at Alyssa, who had dropped the baseball bat.
It rolled forgotten under the tree. Out of sight, but still in reach, it just needed a little work to get it.
She scowled as her gray eyes met red.
It had a rather ugly face, teeth sticking of its mouth and its nose an odd shade of brownish red. Its tail was ruffled up at the base, since he was wagging his tail, apparently that was normal. But still, kind of cute.
Kind of.
It perked up its pointed ears, fluffy gray tail wagging happily.
It let out yet another yip and tried to reach Alyssa.
She turned to her family, the older of the two males smiling, the other staring in shock.
"Merry Christmas from me and your brother Damien."
Of all the things he could have gotten me, he had to get me a Poochyena? Who would think of that as a present! It's ugly! And why would I want it anyway! What was Damien thinking!
Alyssa's mind raged at her father as he smiled at her.
She was shocked out of her thoughts as her brother exclaimed, "Whatcha' gonna name it?"
"Nothing. I'll give it a name later." She answered.
"And it's not an 'it' either, you two. That 'it' is a he." Their father put in. "Why don't you take him outside so you can meet properly? I can stay here with Cam. He'll be fine, I promise."
Alyssa scowled even harder, but sighed and picked up the puppy. She couldn't risk Cameron getting in between them if they fought.
She slipped on a pair of sneakers by the door and silently stepped outside.
Everything was silent as people slept on around the village. It wasn't very big mind you, but her home was big enough to be a village. Thatched roofed homes were scattered around the area down the hill, the bigger, but still small wooden houses like hers were situated at the peak of the hill. Snowmen sat alone in snowy front yards. One such lonely man sat a few feet away, near the iron barred fence surrounding the house. The fence had to be put up after her father's Charmelon, Charm, had gotten into a fight with the neighbor's Hypno.
She set the squirming pup down on the steps and watched as it struggled to get to the snow. She wrapped her arms around herself. It was colder than usual, and she only had a long-sleeved white shirt and black shorts on. Not a good idea for snow, but it worked. Sort of.
Alyssa wiped some snow off of the top step and sat down.
The pup had managed to make its way to the ground and was now trying to get back to her. The tall snowman had scared it.
Hmph. Maybe if you run away I won't have to keep you.
Without her usual planning and thought, she scooped up some snow from beside her and threw it at the floundering puppy.
With a yelp, it pushed its way through the snow and away from the hastily made snowball.
She sighed and got up to go grab it, but whenever she got near it, it darted just out of reach.
"Fine then, you stupid mutt. Freeze your tail off."
She stomped back up to her step and shivered.
Her thoughts drifted off to what she could do to get rid of this thing.
Maybe she could convince Charm to eat it, or maybe the Machamp down the street would put it to work in the mines, or maybe...
She jumped as she heard a happy bark. Looking around, she couldn't spot the unseen puppy.
Alyssa sighed and made her way down the steps once again. She turned her head to the left, to the right, but still not pup. She turned her head off to the side of the house as she heard a second bark.
Then another bark. She wrapped her arms around her jogged over to the noises. What she saw, she would never forget.
There was her Christmas present. Sitting happily in snow. Sniffing the leaves of a deadly, poisonous plant.
Lady Arceus, help me...
She darted through the snow, her bare feet barely feeling the cold. She slid on a patch of ice and stumbled over to the pup. His head was bent, as if he was considering eating the fatal plant.
Alyssa snagged the pup just as he opened his tiny jaws. The pup let out a yelp as he was picked up out of the snow. He was turned around to face her as she said, "You suicidal mutt, do you have a death sentence planned out for yourself? Huh? And what about me? I'd be grounded for the rest of my life if you died so soon!"
He cocked his head at her voice and seemed to smile.
Then he stretched out his little neck and licked Alyssa on the nose.
She snorted and spluttered as she made vain attempts to get Poochyena slobber out of her nose. She dropped the pup back onto the cold, snowy ground where he whined and tried to get back into her arms, pawing at her legs.
She rubbed at her nose with a numb hand.
"Really? Really? Did you have to do that, Brat?"
He yipped as if agreeing with her, making her smile despite her annoyance with him.
"Looks like I'm not getting rid of you. Great."
He backed up a few steps, and made a running leap for her arms. Unfortunately for him, he didn't even clear her waist. The puppy slammed into her knee and stared up at her panting. His expression seemed to say: What'd you do that for?
Alyssa snorted and picked up the breathless pup.
"Come here, Brat. You want a name? How 'bout Dumbo?"
He barked in alarm and tried to scramble out of her grip.
"Great," she muttered, "Not only did I get a suicidal present, I got a smart one too. Well then, how 'bout Stray?"
The puppy growled and continued to try and fight his way out of her hands. She growled back mockingly and tightened her grip. From the top of the steps to the house, she heard the door open and her father called, "Alyssa! Come back in already! Cam wants to know what you named him!"
Well, he might just be out of luck.
Alyssa called a "Fine, jeez. I'm coming." and shifted the pup so that he settled into the crook of her arm, thankfully he decided to stay in that little spot. She started to kick snow over the plant lying forgotten in front of her, but paused. Leaning closer for a look she observed the small umbrella shaped plant.
What the...
Hemlock.
Water Hemlock to be exact.
No doubt about it, but the question was, what was the water loving plant doing here?
Meh, She shrugged her shoulders and the thought fled from the front of her mind, disappearing in the shadows of more important memories. The pup leaned forward to sniff the plant and she pushed his quivering nose away.
No more for you, little pup.
"Alyss-a! Come on! I wanna open more stuff!"
She sighed as she heard her brother call. Her father she could ignore, but Cam?
"Well, Brat. Why not name you after your suicide attempt. Hmm?" Alyssa said, looking down at the struggling Poochyena. He paused in his attempts for freedom and glanced up at her. He grinned as well as a puppy could and gave an approving bark. Whether or not he was happy that she was paying attention to him or he liked his name, she would never know.
"Well," Alyssa smiled, but only slightly. "Can't really name you Death Sentence, so we'll have to go with the next best thing."
They both cocked their heads as Cameron called out for Alyssa to come in again.
She lazily meandered her way back to the front of the house where she would climb up the steps and be surrounded by a blanket, Poochyena in her arms, sipping hot cocoa.
The sun finally peaked over the horizon, its full glow signaling the start of the new day.
A Growlithe barked down the road, ruining the beautiful sight. A symphony of barking started up. Then the shouts of owners rang through the village, along with hrrring sound of pokeballs opening to contain the loud Pokemon. Then there was a high pitched scream as someone fell out of their window, landing on the Arcanine below. Wincing at the noise, Alyssa hurried back to the house.
Glancing down her present, she said, a tinge of amusement in her voice, "Welcome to 'Bark by Dawn' Village, the last village you'll see on the mountainside."
She paused in her speech, as if she had forgotten what she was about to say.
With a foot on the steps and the thought back in her mind, she raised her voice over the barks and uttered a sentence that would never have been said before the near death experience for the pup. But that sentence never came to be, she had to pause as her father reopened the front door and began to call out, "Alyssa! Get in- Oh, there you are. Come in. I heated up your cocoa."
Alyssa sighed and murmured,
"Welcome to the family, Hemlock. Hope you enjoy your stay."