To The Cosmos
I. Luna's Delivery Service (Prologue)
"Luna!"
My eyes made a brief effort to open up, and for a second, I could see the brown ceiling of my room. With a strained groan, I flopped over onto my stomach, and my eyes darted toward the digital alarm clock that rested on my nightstand. The bright red digits read 6:24... way too early for my tastes. I let out a satisfied yawn as I buried my face in my pillow, dozing off into a restful bliss once more...
"Luna!"
For the love of Arceus... I bolted upright on my bed, albeit a bit too quickly as I heard my back snap.
"Owowowow..." I bit my lip in pain as I tossed my disheveled sheets aside, swinging my legs over onto the wooden floor. I made my way over to the full-length mirror in my room, taking a gander at my morning self, with messed-up, dirty blonde bed hair and violet eyes. Letting out a loud yawn, I rubbed one eye and strolled out of my room and down the stairs, still adorned in my light blue pajamas. Small rays of sunlight streamed through my window despite the early hour. It was summer, and the Hoenn heat was known for lasting all throughout the day, especially in a place like Fallarbor Town.
"Luna Cozmo! I need you out here right this instant!"
"I'm coming!" I yelled through the kitchen window. After juggling a piece of toast (it was hot) I walked outside, nibbling the burnt edge. The warm Fallarbor air embraced me. It's a familiar kind of air, but also hot, humid, and heavy. I walked over to my father where he was working in the yard as usual. Did I forget to mention? There's a giant freaking crater right outside the house. It's been there before I was born, supposedly from a meteor that struck here years ago. My dad wanted to give it to a cute, girly name like captains do to their ships, but I somehow assuaged him not to. Tourists and passerby trainers already thought the Cozmo household was eccentric enough as it was.
My father had his hard hat on, busily kneeling down in the middle of the crater. He's been digging downward for a month now, 24/7, trying to his hardest to find the latest, greatest discovery in the Pokemon world. He'd find fossils of old Pokemon, traces of DNA and stuff like that occasionally. He's a Professor by license, having gone to school and all that, and always wants to one-up his fellow Professors with his research. He has an advantage too; not everyone has their excavation side right by their house. I strolled next to my father who was holding a small pick axe, mining away at the dirt material. I continued munching away on my slice of toast.
"Why didn't you change?" he asked, giving me a once-over in my pajamas. "Well, it doesn't matter. Here, hold this flashlight. I think I've got something!"
I yawned as I held the flashlight with my hand with my spare hand, aiming it toward his direction. My eyes gazed around our small town. Even at this hour, people were up and about. Fallarbor was a pretty tiny town, with nothing really much to differentiate itself from the other cities like Lilycove or Mauville city. The only outsiders who come by are Pokemon trainers or tourists who want to see the nearby Mt. Chimney and ride the cable car. Other than that, we've got a Pokemon center and the residential houses. No big fancy Gym to gather would-be Champions.
"Here, Luna, take a gander at this," my dad said, gesturing toward the hole he made. I knelt down next to him, aiming my flashlight at where he pointed. There was sort of rock, one with a starkly different shade than the rest of the soil surrounding it. I peered closer to it, and saw that the surface of the rock was covered in tiny, round contours, reminiscent of the moon.
"A meteorite?" I asked incredulously, turning toward my dad. He nodded, a glimmer in his eyes.
Okay, I'll admit now that despite all the flack I give to my dad regarding his nerdy pursuits and obsessions with ancient things buried in layers of dirt, I'm equally as geeky. I get really excited over rocks, okay? Must be a gene that runs in the family. That's probably why my parents decided to give me such a space-y name. Luna Cozmo.
Anyway, my dad might have struck figurative gold with this rock. I reached for a magnifying glass lying around and peered at the meteorite, quickly gobbling down the rest of my toast so I could focus both my hands on the task at hand.
"I did the research, and it's the same kind of stone that's found all over Meteor Falls," he said, a smile growing wide across his face. "I've been thinking about going there, you know, to conduct a full-scale excavation of the place. 'Course, you'd come along."
"Sweet," I replied with a half-grin. I grabbed a shovel and started digging again. "When do you suppose excavation will happen?"
"A few weeks' time maybe," my dad said, scratching the side of his head. He picked up the small meteorite with a gloved hand. It was about the size of a fist, with a bumpy shape and irregular texture. "First off, I'll have to get this scanned and analyzed. I don't have the technology to do it myself, but that's where you come in."
I turned to him, frowning. "Pardon?"
"You'll have to get this to a formal lab," he said, tossing the rock in an airlock bag. "I'd do it myself, but I lack the technology and the equipment. Fortunately..."
He double-checked to make sure the rock was sealed tightly, and handed it to me. I didn't take it.
"What?" He asked, his eyes big and curious. "You don't want it?"
"...what exactly did you want me to do?" I asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Take this to a formal lab," he repeated, as if it was super obvious. "I've got a friend in Littleroot Town. He goes by Birch, and he's got state-of-the-art equipment down there. Seeing as he's the one all the new Trainers go to get their first Pokemon, he gets a lot of money from the government. Quite simply, I'm asking you to go down there and deliver to him. Once the scan's done and the results are in, come back here."
"...Not to be rude, Dad, but you can't you just hitch a ride down there or deliver it via mail or something? Why me?"
My dad sighed. "Luna, I have to support us and this house. Shipping costs a fortune, not to mention the damage the mail service could do to this specimen." He shook his head, and shuddered, visibly disturbed. "Going down there myself would mean I'm not at work for quite a while. You've got Aerodactyl and some other Pokemon, right? Just race down there in a jiffy and come back up!"
"Littleroot's all the way down south of the continent. Plus, you're trusting a teenager to do this? I just turned seventeen last month," I said flatly.
He grabbed my shoulder. "Not just any teenager, Luna. You're my daughter. You're a careful girl, not to mention clever too. I've raised you by myself for a long time and know that you know your way out of a sticky situation. Plus, there's ten-year old children walking around the region by themselves raising Pokemon. Please, do this for me."
He looked into my eyes for a long while. I sighed.
"Fine," I said, lazily offering my palm to him. He smiled and placed the meteorite in my hand.
"Great. I know you'll do well," he said, giving me a pat on the back. He looked up. "It's almost seven o'clock right now. If you leave soon, you'll make good progress before nightfall. Good luck!" he finished speaking, then turned back to the meteor site.
Well. That was a quick farewell. I stared at the meteorite in its airtight bag in my hands. Just the thought of knowing what this small rock could reveal almost motivated me to go happily on this adventure. Almost.
My thoughts were broken by a whiny, annoying voice. I looked up to see a boy around my age dressed in a lab coat, with long black hair and thick spectacles. He waved to my dad and me, a cocky look on his face.
"Well, if isn't the Cozmo household up in the morning, working already!" He said, then turned his glance to me and my clothes, and laughed under his breath. "I guess I missed the notice where pajamas were proven to be ideal mining apparel." He laughed at his own joke.
"Shut up, Felix," I shot back at him.
"Well, anyways, Mr. Cozmo," Felix said, pushing up his glasses. "My brother and I have made good progress in our fossil mine. If you've got anything you need to appraise, you know exactly who to call!"
"I appreciate the help, Felix," I heard my father say wearily as I headed back to the house.
Felix and his brother, Dan, lived just west on the outskirts of town in their own house. We've got our meteor site, and they've got a mine connected to the basement of our house. Naturally, me and Felix being the same age and our parents having similar interests, we hung around a lot. He was always kind of cocky and arrogant, but I played with him a lot since he was the only kid my age in town. His older brother by three years, Dan, was a lot more tolerable and soft-spoken. Recently, Felix, wanting to show off his expertise in the area of archaeology, started introducing himself as the 'Fossil Maniac', even going as to change the sign in front of his house. It sounded stupid to me, but I'm not one to judge.
I went to my room and changed into more outdoor-sy clothes and made myself look presentable, curling my messy blond hair upwards and placing the fossil carefully in my bag, along with some food and water. Lastly, I grabbed my three Pokeballs from my desk and headed outside, tossing the first one into the air. It burst open to reveal a jagged, dinosaur-like creature with large wings and a stony exterior. It cried out, stretching its wings and limbs, and whipping its arrow-shaped tail around. I walked over to it, petting its rough mouth.
"Hey, Jaws, how are you this morning?" I asked, laughing, stroking my hand against its mouth and reaching for a Pokeblock. "We're gonna be off in a bit for a long time, so eat up!" I fed him the Pokeblock.
Jaws was my first Pokemon and friend I got when I was little. My dad had gone overseas when Mom was still around and had this Aerodactyl restored in Kanto, and brought it back over here to Fallarbor, and for some odd reason decided to gift it to me. It might have been strange, but the affectionately-nicknamed Jaws and I got along pretty well. Strangers would give my dad a strange look seeing a prehistoric predator playing around with a six-year-old girl in their backyard, but we didn't give it a second thought. Sooner or later, I'd take rides on Jaws around the area, but never further that I couldn't make it back home within the same evening.
Jaws spread his wings as I saddled up onto his back, putting on my goggles and licked my lips.
"Alright, Jaws, let's do this," I said, giving him a firm pat on the back. With a triumphant cry, Jaws leaped off the ground and flapped his wings, heaving large pockets of air downward as we steadily rose higher and higher. After a few flaps, we were a good distance off the ground. I saw the small town of Fallarbor grown smaller and smaller underneath him. I held onto the meteorite tightly in my hand, making sure it didn't fall out of my bag and drop.
A few minutes passed and we were steadily soaring along. The landscape became small below me. The air running through my hair felt relaxing. The steady pace of Jaws's wings became comfortable to my ears. When I was in the sky like this, everything stressful vaporized and I could enjoy the precious moments off the land.
"Good job so far, Jaws," I said, patting him again. "Keep at it." Jaws cried happily in response. We kept going, and I idly watched the low-hanging clouds fly by as we sped up. I held tighter onto my Aerodactyl's rough skin, making sure to steer him around tall obstacles and hills. Things were going rather well, better than I'd hope, until...
"Wait a second.." I said, squinting my eyes and adjusting my goggles. I peered into the distance to an incoming figure. "What is that...?"
At first I thought the unidentifiable figure in the distance was some sort of Trainer flying to a nearby town, but as we flew closer and closer to each other it soon became apparent that this was far too large to be an average Swellow or a Pokemon of the sort. Maybe the Trainer had a rare Dragonite or the like...?
"Easy," I encouraged Jaws as he began to cry in worry of the large figure. We slowed down our pace, both staring at the dark figure, and soon we weren't moving at all, just hovering in the air, watching this thing. Whatever it was, it was moving at an insane speed. Much too fast for an ordinary Pokemon. I worried and began to tighten my grip on Jaws in fear. I took a deep breath in order to calm my nerves.
"Alright, we're just gonna stop here, okay?" I said to Jaws, pointing toward the ground. "Just slowly go down from here..."
Jaws roared in response, aiming his head downward to land before a sudden, shrill noise pierced our ears. The cry of the Pokemon in the distance pierced the air. It was a loud, violent cry, almost deafening at the distance we were at. I almost lost my grip on Jaws for a second, before re-adjusting myself.
"Quick, Jaws, down!" The threat was getting closer.
Before Jaws could recover from the cry, I saw what we were up against.
"N-no way..." I gasped.
Its head popped out of the clouds first, followed by the rest of its serpentine body. In a split second, the Pokemon and I made eye contact. Its yellow pupil had a fierce aura about it, and its roar revealed a row of sharp teeth. The rudder-like appendages all over its body helped it maneuver powerfully and gracefully in the air, and I could not mistake the signature yellow patterns engraved all over its body. Two claws protruded it out of its body, and its entire being rushed passed us, tearing up the air in all directions. The force of the air cleanly knocked me off of my Pokemon's back. I screamed.
"Crap!" The bag I had strapped across me fell out, and all its contents went flying into the air. I saw the zip lock bag with the meteorite. If I somehow managed to survive this, I knew my dad would kill me if I broke his specimen. I desperately flung an arm to grab it, but whiffed and hit nothing but air. Gritting my teeth, I performed a pseudo-somersault in the air to edge myself toward it, and flung my arm again.
"Yes!" I involuntarily yelled as I managed to grab the rock, hugging it tightly to my chest. It was only then I looked toward the ground when I realized at what alarming rate I was pummeling toward it. Nothing between the hard Hoenn ground and me but air. I remembered my father's words.
"I know you'll do well."
Well, Dad, it looks like you were wrong this time.
I closed my eyes, clutching the rock closer to me, praying to Arceus I wouldn't feel it when I hit the ground.
Author's Notes~
All characters besides Luna belong to Nintendo, and are NPCs found in Fallarbor Town in the Generation III R/S/E games.
The chapter's name is reference to the Miyazaki film Kiki's Delivery Service.
Luna made a brief appearance in my very first Pokemon story from a long time ago where she helped the male protagonist out of a pit.
Stay tuned for next chapter.