Chapter 1

Disclaimer: If you recognize it from somewhere else, I don't own it. This is my story, with my one OC, but everything else belongs to Masashi Kishimoto or whoever else it might belong to.

"Blah" - Normal speech
'Blah' - Thoughts
/Blah/ - Telepathy

I was cornered, and my pursuers knew it. But even with only my instrument and a spare bow, I could still beat them. Everyone knows that an animal is most dangerous when cornered.

The strange masked assailants dropped down all around me. I put my violin in its special holder on my back, at the same time pulling out my spare bow.

The first just jumped straight at me. I held out the magically strengthened bow towards his body, and his throat was impaled on the end of it, until I kicked the now corpse off. I turned towards the rest of my enemies, just in time for one of them to finish making a series of symbols with their hands. They shouted something in a language I didn't understand, before I felt a huge wall of wind throw me backwards, and through some of the trees all around us.

I flipped upright, and threw my bow towards the man with outstanding speed and unerring accuracy. The sharpened metal point passed through his skull like a hot knife through butter, pushing him back and sticking him to the tree ten feet behind him. I rushed up and grabbed the bow before turning to the remaining two attackers. The pupil-less eyes of the one unnerved me slightly, but I held my ground.

The taller one drew a massive sword, and rushed me with surprising speed. Still using the bow, I blocked each strike with lightning fast reflexes, before slamming him in the side of the head with the same item. He crumpled to the ground, but I couldn't tell whether he was merely unconscious or in fact dead. The last attacker – and I say that loosely, since he didn't "attack" per se – stared at me, obviously marveling at how I had defeated their entire team with just a violin bow. I exerted all the will I could muster to speak directly into their mind.

/Who are you, and what do you want with me?/

Over the temporary mental link I had established, I felt surprise, shock, and a touch of anger. But I still learned my answer.

Five years ago, somewhere

I had no idea where I was. Actually, I had no memory whatsoever. The last thing I could remember was floating in a giant void of energy, and slowly dying within it. Then suddenly, I'm here, in this weird place that was, as far as I could tell, not where I was from. Yes, I wasn't in Kansas anymore for certain. I had been traveling for about a week in this forest, trying to find someone to talk to before I went mad from the unnatural silence. Well, also before I starved to death, but that was more secondary since I somehow knew how to 'live off the land,' however a nice hot meal that someone else made would've been welcome.

Finally, on this, the eleventh or twelfth day of my aimless wandering, I saw the edge of the forest. And I could swear that just beyond the treeline, I could see little wisps of smoke, as if from chimneys. I ran out towards the smoke as fast as I could, and almost over the cliff this town was up against. Of course there would be a cliff. How was I supposed to get down a cliff that was at least a thousand feet high without any climbing equipment? Then, it struck me. A few hundred feet away along the edge, I could see a waterfall. Of course, if there was a waterfall, then it would have to fall somewhere, right? So, carefully making my way along the edge, I crept towards the waterfall, intent on getting to the village below me.

After a few minutes of cautious walking, and a few close calls with an unstable edge, I was at the top of the waterfall. Now that I'm here, though, it's kind of a lot of water, and the plunge pool at the bottom looks really, really tiny. I probably shouldn't even be this close to the edge, but that's something to deal with once I survive the plunge. If I – no, wait, no, that's bad thinking! If I think like that I won't survive!

Steeling myself, I stepped off of the edge, trying to angle so I'd hit the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. Even with the mental preparation, I still screamed like a little girl, before hitting the surface of the water and going under.

300 years ago, somewhere else

I lay on the soft grass, basking in the sunlight. Life was good. I had great friends, a loving family, and a—

"Poachers!" The cry shot through the tranquility of the lake, disrupting my happy thoughts.

—and a community to defend with my life. I dashed off, knowing that this was my time to make good on my promise of protection.

700 years ago, somewhere else

"So then, old friend. It is time, isn't it?"

/Regretfully, I have to say that it is./

"That's okay; we both know that I've been here for far too long."

/It does not change the fact that I will be sad to see you go. The last human who truly believes…/

"You know that's not—"

/It is, actually. You are the only one who has seen us and believes that we are real./

"What about that—"

/Dead. They all died two days ago in a freak accident at the League during a dinner he was holding. I expect that one of the last things you will do this time around is go to their joint funeral./

"And then we'll arrange it so that I disappear, just like old times?"

/Yes, just like old times./

It was a spectacular funeral, you know. It's positively amazing what happens when you have twenty-four people, including the League Champion and Elite Four, all die together, and then their families decide to hold the funerals together. It was amazing, but I wish that it didn't have to happen. They were all so young…

Of course, then I had to do the whole "disappear off the face of the earth" thing AGAIN, and the climb to the top of the mountain was difficult, as usual.

At the top, I took out my special flute, playing a short melody to let my friend know I was here. I climbed the stairs, and, at the top, a soft golden glow enveloped me, before there was blackness.

And... scene!

Thanks for actually reading this far! If you made it here without missing the giant squid battle flashback, good job! I wouldn't even know how you saw it, because that's going in Chapter 3 (Hurrah for spoilers!)! And, as they say here in , R&R! (I need the self-esteem boost.)