Hello! 3 years after starting this story I finally decided to update the authors notes of this first chapter, haha. Mostly to remove the part about this being sort of a sequel to Monochrome, because it... really isn't. I didn't want to confuse people with that.
Anyway, if you're a new reader, welcome to Burning Thunder! This started off as just a random shipping child story and then manifested into an entire universe of future Unova somehow. Whoops?
This story takes place ~15 years after BW2, so with that said, enjoy the story!
Distant thunder rumbled above the clouds, occasionally letting loose a flash of light which lit up the leaves of the trees nearby. Rain lashed against the porch and windows. The storm had set in quickly, leaving any unsuspecting victims outside to get soaked.
Fortunately, the trees had provided some shelter. One particular figure had managed to get from the shelter of the forest to the porch without being out in the rain long enough to get soaked through. After quickly attempting to smooth down his naturally-scruffy brown hair, he pushed the door open with one shoulder, scanning the room.
"Coast's clear," he said in a hushed voice, managing to push the door open far enough so that he could get past. His arms behind his back, he managed to close the door with one foot before pausing to decide what to do from there.
"I see you managed to escape the worst of the storm, huh, Ryan?"
The 12-year-old froze mid-step. Hurriedly he jumped around, holding his breath at the sound of a muffled squeak from behind him. "Dad…! Um… yeah!" He gave a nervous grin, hoping he seemed innocent enough.
"Still, you should probably go and dry off," the man commented, folding his arms, his blue-grey eyes betraying a look of suspicion and the action causing an almost waist-length green ponytail to sway slightly.
"Yeah, yeah, I will," Ryan nodded hastily. "Just gonna… go find a towel now… yup…"
"But first," N muttered, walking over with a sigh. "You know your mother's rules, Ryan."
Ack… "Uh… what are you talking about?"
"Honestly, you think I can't tell when someone is carrying a Pokémon?"
For a moment, Ryan just stared at him. Then he groaned. "Busted… sorry Jay…"
"Aww," the Eevee whined, climbing up his arm to cling to his shoulder instead. "No fair."
"I'm sorry, friend, but… Ryan, you know the rules. No Pokémon in the house," N reminded him, reaching out a hand to gently pet the small creature.
"But mistaw," Jay whimpered quietly, putting on his best puppy-dog eyes at the taller human in front of him and flattening his ears back against his neck. "It's waining outside… I don't wanna be out in the wain…"
N hesitated. It was almost possible to see the debate going on in his mind. He cast a quick glance towards the window, looking out into the storm. After a couple of seconds he let out a long sigh.
"Okay, just this once," he said, defeated. "Just… don't let your mother find out…"
"Yes!" Ryan cheered. He quickly clamped a hand over his mouth, realising he'd said that rather loud. Hurriedly he glanced around. Considerably quieter, he added, "thanks, Dad! You're the best!"
"I try," N smiled with a modest shrug.
Keeping an eye out for his mother, Ryan hurried through the short hallway, Jay still clinging to his shoulder. The Eevee was looking around at the house in amazement. Given that he lived in the forest, he'd never seen anything like this place before.
Eventually, moment of panic over, Ryan pushed open the door to his room. After scanning the room quickly he walked inside, promptly closing the door behind him as the Eevee hopped down to the ground.
"Okay," Ryan said evenly. "We're safe. Just… don't talk too loudly. I know Mum can't understand you but if she hears anything that doesn't sound human I'm pretty sure she'll get suspicious."
"Fair enough," Jay muttered absently, still glancing around in surprise. "Wow… so this is what's inside those 'house' things…"
Ryan couldn't help but smile at how amazed Jay seemed by everything. To the boy, well… he always considered his room kind of plain. No posters or bright colours, but that was the way he liked it; slightly faded blue walls, an overfilled bookcase in the corner, a bed next to the window, and of course the normal things like a wardrobe and desk.
Immediately Jay made a beeline for the bed, jumping up to land on the mattress and experimentally walking around in a circle. "You people are so lucky. This is loads softer than the grass."
"That's the whole point," Ryan laughed, flopping down onto the bed and nearly causing the Eevee to get thrown into the air. "By the way, that was some very good acting back there…"
Jay blinked at him for a moment. Then the Eevee turned his head, looking slightly flustered. "Yeah, well… not my fault if you humans won't listen to reason."
"Hah," Ryan smiled. "Some day we'll go on a journey. I've heard that when you're travelling you gotta stay at the Pokémon Centres each night unless you know how to set up a tent. And they definitely allow Pokémon inside."
"Pokémon Centre?" Jay echoed, blinking.
"You'll know some day. That is, if Mum and Dad ever let me go on a journey…" Ryan sighed.
"Why don't you ask them?"
"I'll try again soon. When I asked before, Dad just told me I couldn't go. He might have changed his mind since then," he shrugged, sitting up and running a hand through his slightly damp hair. He never had found a towel… but no matter. Only water; it'd dry soon.
As a 12-year-old, Ryan was rather short for his age. It didn't usually bother him too much. Scruffy brown hair reached past his shoulders, and he could tie it back if needed but preferred not to; most of the weight of it was spread out anyway, tying it back hardly did anything. Fashion wasn't exactly his forte either; he'd rather wear what was comfortable rather than what looked good, but for a while now he'd favoured his grey hoodie, black T-shirt, navy trousers and blue-and-white trainers.
"He seems like a decent enough human; I'm sure they'll let you go eventually," Jay yawned, curling up on the corner of the bed and turning into a little ball of fluff.
"Hopefully," Ryan mumbled. "Nearly everyone I know is travelling already. I wanna go too."
Touko just about managed to stifle a yawn as she glanced at the clock on the wall the following morning. 7:30. She'd been awake for at least fifteen minutes by now and had gotten changed for the day, but there was no sign of anyone else.
"Ryan's forgot to set his alarm clock again…" she sighed. Sometimes it seemed like she was the only person in this house who could willingly get up early. She knew it was unlikely that N would be up for at least an hour or two. The lazy thing. But if Ryan wasn't up soon, he'd end up being late for school.
Rolling her eyes and tutting at her family's laziness, Touko made her way down the hall, blinking in surprise when she realised Ryan's door was closed.
"Ryan, time to get up," she called quietly. At no response, she took hold of the door handle, twisting it and pushing the door open slightly.
As she'd suspected, he was still asleep. Yet still, she had to do a double take and blinked in surprise.
There was an Eevee curled up on the pillow next to him.
Immediately Touko opened the door fully, walking into the room. "Ryan! Why is there a Pokémon in here?"
At her rather angered exclamation, Ryan immediately jolted awake. The noise surprised the Eevee too, and it let out a frightened squeak, trying to hide from the woman by cowering behind Ryan's arm as he sat up.
"What… uh…" Ryan glanced around in a half-asleep stance. "Um…"
"There had better be a very good explanation for this, young man."
"It… was raining…? Dad said he could stay just this once…"
Touko just rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Of course." Turning out the door, she vanished down the hallway. "N! I don't care what time it is, you are getting up right now!"
Ryan and Jay exchanged a glance.
"We're dead."
It had taken Ryan nary five minutes to get changed into his usual clothes. Grabbing his backpack which had been left in the corner of the room from when he'd sorted it out last night, he warily made his way down the hall. Jay jumped onto the bag as he picked it up, scrambling up his arm to perch on his shoulder.
"You know Mum's gonna kill us, right?"
"She is?" Jay squeaked, nearly losing his balance as his fur puffed up alarmingly and he tried to bury his face in Ryan's hair.
"Not literally," Ryan rolled his eyes. "But she sounded pretty mad… maybe we can sneak out…"
Although, it seemed that would be easier said than done. To get to the front door they'd have to go through the living room, and that wasn't exactly quiet right now…
"N! What the heck were you thinking!?"
Ryan froze mid-step. Swallowing hard, he made a 'shh' motion to Jay as he peered around the doorframe, hoping they wouldn't see him.
"What're you going on about, Touko…?" N mumbled, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hand. "It's too early…" He looked half-asleep. That was hardly surprising, since he'd probably only just woken up.
"You know what I'm 'going on about', N! You're the whole reason I made that rule about no Pokémon in the house!" Touko huffed, her hands resting on her hips in an unimpressed way.
"Oh…" N blinked slightly, glancing away at the ground as he ran a hand through his scruffier-than-usual hair. "Well, it… it was raining last night… a-and it was just Eevee… he's Ryan's friend…"
"My name's not Eevee!" Jay complained.
"Ah! Jay, quiet!" Ryan hissed.
"And you," Touko said sternly, pointing in his direction. "Get over here. Now."
Failing to suppress the quiet yelp of surprise he gave at being spotted, Ryan hesitated for a moment before finally sighing and walking into the room. "Yes, Mum…"
"You know the rules, Ryan. No Pokémon in the house."
"I know, Mum."
"So don't try and smuggle any more of them in here, okay?"
"Yes, Mum…"
"Have I made myself clear?"
Ryan was about to simply echo his last reply once more, but considering she'd probably accuse him of not actually listening to what she was saying he nodded instead. "Mmhmm."
"Good. Now, put the Eevee back outside, go have some breakfast and then get to school. You're gonna be late otherwise."
"Okay…" Ryan sighed. "C'mon, Jay." He walked towards the door, the Eevee still clinging to his shoulder. Jay turned his head away with a huff as they walked past Touko.
"Can I go back to bed now…?" N yawned.
Touko just tutted and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Just don't sleep in 'til midday or anything, sleepyhead."
When Ryan finally left the house, the Eevee was still waiting patiently outside, ears twitching innocently and tail whisking back and forth. At the sight of the boy he immediately hopped back to his paws with an excited squeak.
"Where are we going? Where are we going?" he chirped.
"I'm going to school, Jay," Ryan reminded simply as he walked past. "Like I do five out of every seven days at this time of morning."
"Oh. Okay!" Jay replied happily, trotting along after him.
"You are way too excited given the situation."
"What? School is fun!"
"Maybe for you it is," Ryan rolled his eyes. "Jay, you're not even supposed to go there. Don't sneak into the janitor's closet again, okay?"
"Humph. If he didn't want me going in there, he should have closed the door and not left that sandwich lying around where anyone could find it," Jay huffed indignantly.
Ryan couldn't help but laugh. Sometimes Pokémon had such a hilarious mix of sense and oblivion…
They were walking along the forest-lined path at the back of the village; this wasn't the quickest way to school, but it was what Ryan considered the scenic route, and there were sometimes a couple of wild Pokémon that wandered past here. Yet even from here, he could see the clock tower in the centre of town. It reached up above the roofs of the one-story buildings, echoing out a familiar chime.
8:30.
"Oh, heck!" Ryan gasped in realisation, taking off at a run. "C'mon, Jay, we gotta get a move on or I'll be late!"
"Huh? What?" Jay glanced around quickly. Then he let out a quiet squeak and raced after him, tiny paws churning up dust on the path.