Author's Note: My first ever fanfiction...

Ok people, this may be a Pokemon fanfiction but it's not for the kiddies, alright? If you can't handle violence and swearing than I'd look somewhere else. KTHXBYE.

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Souseki

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I remember that I was four when the animals disappeared.

We, my mother and sister and I, used to have a dog. My Dad took off when I was still too young to know him and hate him for it, and before my sister was even born, so my mom bought a dog to fill his place as best as an animal could ever hope to. His name was Koro, and he was medium-sized and brown with long, shaggy hair that was always matted, no matter how often we brushed him. He was always so playful…I loved him like a brother.

And then he was gone.

It seemed like, over the course of nine or ten days, all the pets in our town just disappeared. The woods and the fields just beyond the edges of the houses were completely empty. Void of all life. No birds, no mice, not so much as a spider or a cicada. Every so often, someone would come back with reports of strange sightings of creatures deep in the wilderness, but life in a small town like mine is hardly altered by such inconsequential and second-hand anecdotes.

Until I was seventeen.

Then, I realized something that I had seemingly known all along:

…that there was nothing left for me in Masara Town.

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Pokemon Kaihan

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The sky was marbled pale white and deep slate grey; a storm was slowly creeping its way towards Masara Town, for now nothing more than a foreboding smear on the north-western horizon, blown down the peninsula towards the sea on a lukewarm and sickly breeze.

The speedometer of Mariko's convertible hovered around a hundred and twelve kilometers an hour as she blew down the high mountain road, headed southeast with me in the passenger seat. The top of the zippy sports car was inexplicably down, spitting in the eye of the forces of Nature. I swore that nature was spitting back, I felt a slight drop on my skin as we flew towards home, but Mariko was like that. She cared nothing for expensive leather seats.

"I can't believe she'd pull that on you on your birthday." She was saying over the dull roar of the wind. "Haruko can be such a bitch."

"It's what little sisters do. And I had to go bail her out because mom would have a heart attack." I said flatly, leaning my head on my hand. "It's not the first time. I'm angry, yeah, but I'm not too worried about it. She'll get out of it. She always does. She's so pretty, she gets whatever she wants."

Mariko said nothing, and there was a bit of an awkward silence. We both knew that Mariko lived by the same rules; it wasn't money but sex that had bought her this car, her clothes, the gigantic rock on her finger. She was everything Haruko, apparently, aspired to be. But I wasn't sorry for saying it.

The edge of the mountain sloped down to our left, deep green pine trees shifted like grass with every gasp of the storm, until they reached the bay. We were headed out to the point of the right arm of the arcing land; the water in the secluded inlet was choppy and steel blue. Across the half-mile or so of water, I could see the other arm of land, thin and slender, covered in trees and poking out like an inquisitive pine-green finger into the ocean, one pale gray cement corner of an abandoned building was the only break in the monotonous dark. Beyond it, the horizon was a blurred line of grey ocean and greyer sky.

"Why do you want to go to the park, of all places, on your birthday?" She asked, breaking the silence. I could tell by her tone that she was offended, but I didn't care. She was the daughter of one of my mother's acquaintances; she was no friend of mine. "There's nothing there, and it's going to rain soon."

"I like the rain." I said, simply, and did not elaborate. The truth of the matter was that I didn't know why I was so compelled to visit the park. I thought that it would calm me down. My life had been all over the place lately, my sister was suddenly on a petty crime kick, my mom was all over me about getting a job for the summer, and I had been feeling restless for no real reason at all. Part of it was the normal teenage itch, I had never left Masara Town in my life and I was ready for something bigger, but part of it was something else. Something I couldn't define.

Finally, Mariko pulled off the highway and onto the narrower road that hatchbacked down the mountain side through the forest, headed down to the edge of the water. We drove on in silence for ten more minutes, the trees blurring past as the occasional raindrop pattered onto my hair. As soon as the asphalt turned to dirt, however, she kicked me out and said I was on my own. That suited me fine: I didn't bother to turn around and watch her rear bumper disappear as she spun the car roughly around and sped back up the road.

The last vestiges of engine noise faded out within seconds and I was left on my lonesome with nothing but the silence of the forest and the soft whisper of the wind through the pine needles. It's amazing; you never really realize how much noise the animals make until they aren't around anymore. My breathing and my footsteps became thunderous in my ears.

As I crunched down the dirt road I caught glimpses of the darkening sky through the breaks in the treetops. I didn't mind, I loved storms. It was nature's way of forcibly blasting out its own weaknesses. It was spring cleaning with a kick.

I just kept walking and walking, letting the thoughts in my head drift out and be carried off by the wind.

The road traced the outline of the bay, and every so often through the trees I caught a glimpse of the slate-colored water throwing itself upon the cold shore, white-capped waves dotting the surface further out. The soft hush of the waves added to the white noise, making it sound as if the whole world were hissing.

It took me maybe ten minutes of steady walking along the path to get to the far arm of the bay. I realized that the path, that had gotten narrower and rockier, must lead out towards the abandoned building. It used to be a small laboratory or something, nothing too spectacular, but it would be something to see. There'd probably be some interesting graffiti, at least.

As I moved to brush aside the strands of hair the wind had whipped into my face, something caught my eye through the trees.

There was a dry creek bed ahead, spanned by a small foot bridge, and as I came to it I hopped down into the ditch. I heard something moving ahead, around the bend, hidden by the banks and the rocks in the silt.

I crept silently forward, slowly, edging my way as quietly as possible, until I peeked out around the bend. Something was wrong: there was a charge in the air, and the small hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end.

There were animals there. Animals like I had never seen before.

There were four of them, small and rodent-like, chirping at each other softly as they milled about in a clear patch of sand. Every so often, an electric crack would ring out as a spark snapped in midair.

…the hell?

And as I watched, more and more of them appeared. They crested the mossy rocks one by one and dropped down into the creek bed, greeting their kin with more chirps. The sparks became more and more frequent, and louder, with each arrival. I could hear the air around me crackling.

This was a bad place to be.

I felt something brush my foot, and turned swiftly around to look.

There was one there, right behind me, identical to the rest with short yellow fur, long ears, and a tail that grew out jagged, as if it had been broken. There were several brown stripes across its back, and it stared up at me with wet, black button eyes.

I stared back.

After a moment's hesitation, the rodent thing launched itself at me. It hit my left shoulder like a light punch to the arm, and I felt little pricks through the fabric of my shirt as it clawed its way onto my shoulder. I winced as a loud spark struck my earring, shocking me. I jerked my arm instinctively, and the yellow bunny-rat-thing lost its grip and tumbled down into the dirt.

I pressed my back against the rock as it rolled to its feet, shaking off the dust and staring at me with a strange new gleam in its eyes. It was then that I noticed the pale scar trailing down the left side of its face.

Shit. It was angry.

I glanced over my shoulder to see what it's little friends were up to. They had all frozen in place and were staring at me with their beady eyes. I didn't have time to count how many there were exactly, more than a dozen at least, before the eyes of me and all the animals present were drawn to the sky.

Above us, a thick black cloud was swirling and, distantly, I heard the deep, throaty rumble of thunder so near it shook the ground.

Somehow, I knew what was going to happen next, but it was too late to escape. All the yellow rodents let forth a piercing, high-pitched cry as the clearing lit with a huge electric explosion.

I felt my body flying through the air as my vision faded into white.

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Pikachu you bitch :(

If you were confused, I'm using the original Japanese names for the towns. So, Masara town Pallet town.

Please review!