Just some quick notes before we start [because I figured I should have those], uh, I'll mostly have OOC stuff at the bottom, not necessarily at the top. I'm only putting it at the top in this part because that felt more apropos. Like I always say don't be afraid to leave reviews/criticism!

Also at the end of each part I will have the current list of characters and species names, along with other miscellaneous information [like pronunciation guides, because I like weird names]. If that gets annoying, though, I'll only do that when new characters are introduced. I think it'll keep stuff organized if I list who was in the chapter and who each person is(?) so new readers won't get confused. I've already confused my beta readers a lot with my weird names, so it'll just be easier for everyone involved if I do that, I think~.

Anyway, LET'S START THE PARTY!


Slowly waking up, sudden sunlight blinded Cendre and he immediately flinched. Agh! What the heck... Why is the sun so bright? Who opened the window? Isn't it Saturday...? Groaning, he rolled over and closed his eyes again. Oh well... I'm just gonna go back to sleep...

Meanwhile...a bit away from the boy...

A Squirtle happily strolls through the forest with a spring in her step. The morning was her favorite time of day and she was more than willing to wake up early to enjoy the full extent of it.

Taking a deep breath, she happily exclaimed "What a beautiful morning! What Pokémon could sleep in on a day like this?"

As she continued her walk, she ended up finding something sleeping on the ground a few feet in front of her.

"What in the world?" she asked out loud. "What is a Cyndaquil doing sleeping when the sun's out like this!"

"Don't fire types like the sun?" she questioned to herself as she went over to the Pokémon and tapped them with her hand. "C'mon, sleepyhead! Wake up!"

Cendre, yet again woken up, looked up at the Squirtle.

"Good morning, you lazy thing!" she grinned.

Cendre was stunned for a moment, before he screamed and scuttled backwards.

She tilted her head. "What's wrong? Haven't you seen a Squirtle before?"

"I-I can't say I have," Cendre replied, studying the turtle before him. She had a green shell, brown eyes, and light blue skin.

She laughed. "That's crazy! Well, then again, you're the first Cyndaquil I've ever seen. I've only seen them in books and stuff."

Cendre glanced down at his own figure. "Is that what I am?"

The Squirtle laughed again. "Wow! You're funny. My name's Lamperé. What's yours?"

"Cendre."

"Well at least you know your own name! I was half expecting you to not know that, either!" Lamperé giggled.

He frowned, then mumbled an "Um..." as he was unsure as to how to react to that statement.

"Tell you what," she suggested, smiling "how about, while I show you around, I tell ya all about where you are!"

"Sounds good," Cendre replied.

The two then walked off, Cendre following next to his new acquaintance.

"You see, you ended up in this forest," Lamperé explained.

I...already knew that...

"This forest is called 'Winding Woodland', mainly because it's so easy to get lost in here, due to all the different paths you can take. They sometimes even have a roundabout way of making you go in circles!"

Cendre looked down with a frown, fearing even the possibility of getting lost. What's even happening right now...?

I think he might have a case of the worrywarts, Lamperé thought, grumpily frowning. I should try to help! "Though, it shouldn't be too much of a problem to get out of here. I know my way around like the back of my hand, so don't be worried!" she said.

Hopefully... he thought.

After a few moments of walking, Cendre quickly realized the two had run out of things to talk about; he assumed it would be best not to force a conversation. The lack of a conversation didn't really bother Lamperé, however; she was just enjoying the Cyndaquil's company, now that he seemed distinctively less worried.

"I'm guessing you don't have any plans?" Lamperé asked.

"No?" Cendre replied.

"Oh! Then, can I ask-" Suddenly, the Squirtle stopped dead in her tracks and put her arm out in front of Cendre, which stopped him as well. All that could be heard was the soft sounds of something sliding across the grass.

Lamperé's breathing quickened, which panicked Cendre.

"We gotta go. Now." She suddenly sprinted forward, grabbing Cendre and tugging him along behind her.

Wh-What's going on!? Cendre questioned his head, though he was too frightened to ask verbally. He was having a hard time keeping up with her.

The noises grew closer and louder.

Lamperé, with no warning, picked Cendre up off the groundand sprinted with him, her arms wrapped tightly around him. She knew he couldn't keep up, and this was the only way she could help him.

Cendre didn't question this, though. If anything, he was taken aback by this as much as he appreciated it. She barely even knows me, but she's still willing to protect me like this...

Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, round spheres that resembled huge seeds rained down and exploded on impact with the ground, with one of them hitting Lamperé right in the back and sending her and Cendre flying.

As they flipped through the air, Cendre held tightly onto his Squirtle friend. "Please don't let me go!" he shouted, before he looked up and realized she had been knocked out.

Panicking, he shouted at her to try to wake her up, but to no avail. Eventually, they hit the ground with a rough impact, landing on Lamperé's back.

He quickly hopped off of her [as the way that they landed made Cendre be on top of her stomach] and tried to wake her up.

"Lamperé! Lamperé!" He desperately shook her.

Oh no. What if her shell broke!? Cendre quickly flipped her over and, surprisingly, her shell was completely intact as if nothing had hit it at all.

Partially relieved, he knew this meant that she was just knocked out from the hit, but not killed.

Quickly glancing around at his surroundings, he tried to find some food for her something in a futile attempt to try to heal her.

What would heal someone...what would heal someone... He checked all the bushes in the immediate area, but found nothing. At the very least something to numb the pain! He searched harder and harder, though he didn't stray too far away from his friend.

Just my luck. My friend is lying on the ground over there after taking an explosion to the back and I can't even find a simple food item to try to make it better... Cendre sulked and sighed. What kinda world did I end up in, where turtles can talk and explosions are a legitimate thing to worry about?

He then heard a soft voice from a bit behind him. "Cendre...?"

Spinning around faster than he thought he could, he scrambled over to Lamperé's side.

"I'm here."

She shot him a confused glance. "What were you doing just now...?"

"Looking for something to help you... Unless if you wanted me to stay here with you, then, um. I was...doing things?"

She laughed weakly. "I appreciate that you were trying to help, even though you have no clue what you're looking for."

Cendre looked down, quickly realizing her point. "Well, I'd say you're right about that one."

Lamperé laughed a bit, though she sounded worse than before.

"H-How about you tell me what I'm supposed to look for," the Cyndaquil suggested quickly, not pointing out the fact that Lamperé should try not to laugh.

"Look for round blue berries that have really tiny black spots on them and a gray thing at the top, ok?"

After internally repeating that in his head, Cendre nodded and then headed off.

To prevent further injury to herself, Lamperé retreated into her shell, though Cendre didn't see this as he was facing away from her.

Alright, blue berries, black spots, gray things at the top. That can't be too hard to find. As he looked around the immediate area, he found no bushes or any sort of plant-life that could sustain berries.

I can't wander too far away from Lamperé, though... I don't want her to think I abandoned her. He went further away from his friend, but left gash marks in the ground with his back foot to make sure he wouldn't get lost.

After what felt like hours of searching, he finally came across a bush that was full of the berries that Lamperé had described to him. Yes! Jackpot! He grabbed as many as he could, then dashed off down the trail long trail of different gash marks he had made.

Once he had reached the point where she had been left at, Cendre turned to look at her [as most of his face was blocked by the berries] and ended up dropping what he was he was holding in shock.

S-Someone ripped Lamperé out of her shell! Before he got the chance to curl up in a ball and sob, the Squirtle casually put her head, tail, and limbs back out of her shell.

Looking up at him, she smiled and exclaimed in a tone that was starting to sound like her old self again "I see you found an Oran berry bush!" She didn't quite know why Cendre looked so shocked, but she didn't think to ask why.

Cendre stood silent for a moment, completely dumbfounded.

"...Yes. I did," he answered after a moment, picking up a berry and handing one to her. He figured it was better not to ask.

Lamperé smiled and took the berry and bit into it. "You should probably take one, too."

He did as he was told and slowly picked up a berry of his own. He was a bit weary on eating it, however, but he figured that if she had specifically sent him out to go search for these berries, then they had to at least be worth something.

Taking a small bite into it, he discovered that it didn't taste all that bad. The 'Oran' berry, as she called it, had a mix of almost every flavor you can think of, but none of them were too overpowering. It was an odd blend, but it worked, for some reason.

"Do you like it?" Lamperé asked, finishing her own berry.

Cendre nodded, then asked "You're feeling better...right?"

"Mhm! Oran berries heal you if you're wounded."

"Oh. Alright."

"Hey...um..." Lamperé started, her voice trailing off uncharacteristically.

"Yeah?" Cendre looked over to her.

She quickly looked down, blushing a bit and poking her index fingers together.

Cendre shot her a confused glance. What's wrong with her? She's never like this...from what I've seen of her, that is.

"Do you remember what I was going to ask you earlier? After I asked you if you had any plans?"

The Cyndaquil thought back to earlier that day, then nodded. "But you got cut off."

She nodded. "I wanted to suggest to you...that we head to Miza Town." A look of worriment appeared on her face and in her eyes. This made Cendre feel a bit uneasy. Not only that, but he literally had no idea what exactly Miza Town even was. Then again, he didn't really know much of anything, but if there's one thing he did know, it's that whatever is in this town is important to Lamperé; she wants to go there with all of her heart. If this means so much to her that she's asking me this, even though she seems scared...Then I can't say no. Thinking about it further, suddenly a realization struck him. Wait, town? With PEOPLE? Like people who might know me!? Yes definitely take me right now I don't want to be in this forest anymore.

"Of course we can," Cendre said, smiling reassuringly at her, giving her the impression that he fully well understood what she was going at (which of course he did not).

Lamperé then shot him a look of such happiness and excitement that Cendre thought she was going to just implode.

"Oh my Arceus! Thank you so much, Cendre!" she then picked up Cendre and hugged him tightly. He was only partially surprised by this action, seeing as she did pretty much the same thing earlier that day.

What in the world is an Arceus? Cendre felt his head spin. This is gonna take a lot of getting used to; I can tell...

Putting him down, Lamperé stood up and exclaimed "Then off we go to Miza Town!"

Cendre wanted to comment on the fact that they should consider resting for a while, seeing as she had gotten injured earlier. Then again, the Oran berries they ate had healed them up...according to her. If she says she's ready to leave, then I won't argue. Standing up as well, he said "Alright, as long as you're not tired or anything."

Lamperé tilted her head. "Huh? I'm not tired. It's still the middle of the day!" she giggled.

That's not what I meant-? Oh well. I tried, Cendre thought. "You're right," he smiled. "Since you know where you're going, you can lead the way."

"Alright! We'll be at Miza Town before we know it!" she then happily marched off, and Cendre followed in tow. I wonder why she wants so to go there so badly... What exactly is waiting for us there? And even if nothing is, maybe someone will know me there and all of this stuff will be straightened out...


Characters:

Cendre (Sahn-druh) the Cyndaquil - Male
Ability: Flash Fire
Timid nature, often lost in thought

Lamperé (Lam-pier-ay) the Squirtle* - Female
Ability: Torrent
Quirky nature, somewhat of a clown