No one really knows how it began or when it happened. All that was known was that there was war. Humans verses pokémon, man verses beast. One time pokémon fought along side humans, and suddenly... they turned feral. Arceus had to punish those he created. Neither understood each other, so with his almighty power, Arceus cast upon us all Judgement. Now we, pokémon and humans, are one. Not even the castor of the Judgement could escape his punishment. We are hybrids, mutants, no longer two separate species.
It is believed that there was a time before the pokémon gods, also known as B.G., when the world was barren of humans and pokémon. It is then believed there was a time after Arceus created the world, A.A., when humans and pokémon coincided peacefully together. Then there is the time before the Judgement, B.J. War town and desolate, two opposing sides set out to decimate the other. Then there is the time after the Judgement, A.J. The time of A.J. ... The time of our punishment...
This time... this place... this world and country... This is the time After Judgement. Our eternal punishment of being neither human nor pokémon. We are neither a world with black and white, no, we are now a world of mixed gray.
We are now named after an existence as sad as life itself. Our name is constantly reminded of what our sin was, and the Judgement cast upon us so long ago.
We are Sorrows.
o.0.o.0.o
The strange thing about drowning, I realized, is that the first thought you have when you're drowning is not "Oh God, I'm drowning." No... Rather, it's something along the lines of feeling the cool wetness of the water on the skin. You think about how strange it is to be floating, how your hair drifts up past your face, how water is touching every bit of your body. How you always had childish dreams of being Ariel or Aquaman, depending on the gender, breathing underwater and living with the ocean. You think about how you wish someone was near you, and how everything is peaceful, and how you wanted to share that with them.
Then your lungs begin to burn, and your eyes snap open, though you can't really see clearly because the water is fogging your vision. You begin scrambling and panicking, trying to keep your mouth closed and not suck through your nose. Your limbs flail, and yet, you don't think "Oh God, I'm drowning."
This time, you aren't even thinking. It's fight or flight, but there's no end in sight. You know it, your common sense is trying to break through to you, but you're fighting for your life. You're panicking! "I can't breath! I need to fight! I have to survive!" Peace and family and happiness are gone. After all this is done, after you open your mouth out of desperation, and you inhale water. Lungs are burning painfully, even more so than before, black spotting your vision.
In a last desperate attempt of escape, you reach out, but you're sinking, further and further into the debts of dark water. Even then, you don't think about you're drowning.
"Oh God... I'm alone... I'm dying here... alone..."
You think about your family, your friends, the people will leave you behind. You ponder if they'll miss you, or even find your body once you hit the floor of whatever lake you're in. You close your eyes. Hope is lost. You know you're going to die here.
Then and only then, in your last few minutes of consciousness, do you finally realize it.
"Oh God... I'm drowning..."
o.0.o.0.o
Chapter One
o.0.o.0.o
The river ran peacefully off to the side, calming him as he laid his head back with his arms crossed under it, in the grass. Sighing in content, Slade was considering kicking off his boots and relaxing a bit, but shook his head. He knew that he needed to be getting back to the guild, heaven knows what that Raichu is doing.
He furrowed my brow, opening his eyes and staring at the sky. Why does it seem like himself and Setsuko run the guild more efficiently than their own guildmaster? One would think with, as powerful as the Raichu is, he'd be able to run a guild better. But then again, Slade guessed the break up of his team hit him pretty hard.
"Stop making excuses for him, Slade." he muttered to himself. Here he was, seventeen, and one of the youngest sorrows to be able to handle A-class jobs on his own. Ari was only about a decade older than he, already gaining the title of the youngest guildmaster, and he hardly acted it.
Feeling slightly irritated at the thought of the Raichu, Slade stood up, pushing back his white jacket and reaching for one of the navy bands around his right thigh and grabbing his guild badge. He pressed the button in the middle, contacting the guild. From the center, a little holographic projection popped up, showing a young woman around twenty-five.
She had short, straight blue hair that reached her shoulders, curled ears coming fro the top of her head. A transparent white veil was pinned at the back of her head while a crystal emblem was implanted in the middle of her forehead, right where her hair meets. She was donned in a pale yellow dress with blue accents on the side, an elaborate cape hooked off to the right, three slits along the left shoulder, accented with navy beads and giving it an almost toga-like appearance. On her hip was the only super elaborate piece on her outfit, a golden belt accented with teal beads, a golden heart with gold points and decorated with aqua gemstones.
"Ruta." he stated with stern look.
"Well, if it isn't Slade the Absol, the Lone Ranger." Ruta smiled. "What do I owe the honor?"
"I need a path back the the guild." he said. "Can you please send someone other than Graves? I swear, if I have to hear one more word about how freaking wonderful he is, I'm going to strangle him."
"Someone? You must be desperate then. The only other path traveler we have is Xaphania. You know how she is." the Lapras smiled fondly. A while back, Slade knew that Ruta and Xanphania were on the same team as four other sorrows, calling themselves Team HeartSoul. They weren't extremely talented, but they were in no way weak, either. But with the sudden and unexpected death of one of their teammates, an Espeon named Sophanax, they split ways.
One of their other male members, a Donphan named Zalif, decided to actually settle down and marry Ruta. Both settled down happily, Ruta becoming the secretary of the Three Spirit Guild and Zalif becoming a handyman of sorts around town, fixing up small things like patching holes in roofs and fixing leaky sinks. Pan, a Meganium and their leader, continued to do missions with Xaphania.
Xaphania, as a Gengar, began to study the Paths, a series of roadways that were opposite of the current dimension, making easy means to travel, though hard to access for three reasons. One being that only ghost types, whether full or partial, could access the paths. Two is that someone had to guide the caller, and only a few knew the paths well enough to be a Pathmaster. Three was that Dark Guilds, recently, have been taking an interest in Pathmasters, and have been recruiting them like mad, turning them against the Light Guilds.
At three spirit, there were two Pathmasters, Graves Hallowell, a Dusknoir sorrow, and Xaphania Dusk. Xaphania was always more available than Graves, though, since Graves was already on a team and often went on missions while Xaphania stayed local with Pan.
"I'd much rather deal with psychotic little girls than narcissistic asses."
"Don't let her hear you say that. You know Xaphania hates getting called out on her shortness." she sighed. "Honestly, Slade, how much special treatment do you expect? The Paths are only for emergencies, you know that! Go back to Manson."
"She looks like she's fourteen instead of twenty one." Slade said, ignoring her sentence about his special treatment. Rena narrowed her eyes. Slade rolled his eyes. "Fine, I yield, I yield! I'll go back to Manson and take a guild teleport..." he trailed off as he glanced up, widening his eyes slightly.
"Good. You need to learn to respect your seniors, Slade!" Rena laughed. "I'll make sure your payment for that last bandit arrest is ready for when you get back!"
"Actually," Slade muttered as he took a step forward. "I might need that payment to wait for a moment. I'll call you back."
"Slade? What's going on?"
"I think I found something." he stated, hanging up the call, and rushing over to the edge of the river. Furrowing his brow, he glanced at the water, then inhaled sharply.
Why on earth... Why was there a girl here?
She was perhaps sixteen, and lacked legs. No, she had a mermaid tail, a light blue, with yellow fins that branched out from where he guessed her thighs would be, the skin on the fins and at the end of her tail so thin and delicate looking, he feared that it would rip apart if he so much as brushed it. She had marine-blue hair a tad darker than her tail. Her hair reached her mid-back, with bangs that hung somewhat evenly across her forehead. Four yellow fins came out from the side of her head, the higher two larger than the bottom two, while hair that hung by her face covered where, exactly, they came out. The same type of yellow fins came from the side of her upper arms, barely visible from under the shirt she was wearing. A translucent white veil stretched across her head behind her bangs, almost like a tiara. Around her form was an oversized black T-shirt that was ragged and soaked. He couldn't even call it a T-shirt, more like a rag that hung around her chest and hips.
He watched in amazement as the tail went from a singular appendage to two in a flash of light, suddenly becoming a pair of pale legs instead of an aquamarine tail, the fins still visible on her thighs, hardly covered by the shirt she wore. Judging from he appearance, he was guessing she was a water type, maybe a Vaporeon sorrow? It didn't matter, help her first, questions later.
"Hey." he exclaimed, kneeling down to shake her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
She groaned a bit, eyes squeezing shut before she slowly opened them.
o.0.o.0.o
She blinked up at the person standing over her, furrowing her brow in confusion.
There was a young man around seventeen, kneeling next to her. He had layered white hair that fell past his chin, nearly reaching his shoulders. A majority of the right side of his face was covered by his hair, and single blue streak slashed through his hair, hanging almost directly in the middle of his forehead. He had a strange appendage coming out of the left side of his head, and she barely saw a navy tail behind his jacket.
It wasn't just his strange looks that caught her off guard, but also his strange attire. He had on a sleeveless jacket with a white fur collar that nearly engulfed his entire neck, hanging down and brushing the ground accented with navy stripes going along the hems. He had on a long sleeved, navy blue shirt under that, tucked into white pants with a belt, two navy bands around his right thigh that seemed to be holding important items. Navy boots came up to his knees, and he had navy gloves over his hands.
"Are you okay?" he asked. His one visible, narrow red eye expressed concern, yet hid a deep curiosity. "Do you know where you are?"
She shook her head.
"You're in a small field, nicknamed The Secret Cove, at least, to me. It's a little bit outside of the settlement of Mason. It's a peaceful town, very in tune with what's going on around them... sound familiar?" she shook her head. He chuckled slightly, a light smile on his face. She furrowed her brow. Had she done something funny? And who was this person? Something flitted through her mind, a flash of realization.
"S-Suriedo?" she asked, brows furrowed in confusion. He paused at this.
"Are you referring to me?" he asked.
"Your name is Suriedo, right?"
"No, wrong person." he responded. "My name is Slade. Slade Indigo. May I ask your name?"
"My... name...?" she asked as she tried sitting up.
"Easy now. I don't know if anything's broken or not." Slade said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and helping her sit. She glanced at her attire and blushed crimson. Why wasn't she dressed more properly than a ratty T-shirt and some undergarments?! And... and in front of a boy no less!
"Erm..." she muttered, feeling extremely embarrassed. "Can I borrow your jacket until I get some actual clothes?"
"Of course!" he shed the jacket and passed it to her. She quickly tugged it on, pulling it over her chest. Finding a blue tie that hung loose at her waist, she tied it tightly in front of her holding it somewhat in place. "So how about that name, Miss?"
"My name..." she muttered, glancing down. "What's my name?" A simple question, surely. She had to have known what her own name was! Who she was, at least? Something...?
Nothing. Outside of that flash when she first saw Slade, obviously not the Suriedo she though he was, it felt as if her mind was a blank slate. How had she arrived here? What was her name? Where was she?
...
Who was she?
She raised her hand to her mouth and covered it, to afraid that her turning stomach would let whatever was in it, which felt like nearly nothing, spew out in a fit of panic. She didn't remember anything before being shaken awake by Slade.
"I don't know my name." she muttered behind her hand. Slade raised an eyebrow, hardly hearing the words. "I-I-" she choked on a sob as the full reality of what happened hit her. She lowered her hand and shut her eyes. going through her brain again. She remembered Sureido, right? She had to know something else! "I don't remember anything!"
"Hey, listen!" Slade exclaimed as she began panicking. He gripped her shoulders, offering a kind smile. "Listen, just a moment, okay? I can't understand what could be wrong, or how it feels, but you don't have a reason to panic. I can help you, all right? And you remember me, or at least someone who looks like me."
"I don't have a name."
"Then we can give you one. This place is called the Secret Cove, right? Can we call you Cove, until you remember your real name?"
"We?"
"My guildmates." Slade smiled. "I know a really kind water type who will help you."
"Type?"
Slade looked at her in surprise.
"You really don't know much, do you?" he stood, holding out his hand to her. "Can you stand?"
"I think so." she muttered, taking his hand and standing on shaky legs.
"Alright... Easy now..." Slade muttered as he wrapped her arm over her shoulders to help her stand. She slumped into him, accepting his strength. "You're probably tired from dehydration and maybe starvation... We'll get you a good meal once Ruta gets you some proper clothing." he pulled out a badge-like object and pressed a button in the middle. "Ruta, I've got a sorrow here. Dehydration, possible starvation and exhaustion. I don't think she can walk back to Mason. Turns out I'll need Xaphania's path anyways."
"Alright." Ruta said, a serious look on her face as she glanced at Cove. "Where to?"
"Your place? She needs somewhere to stay and some clothes for her. Maybe some of your old stuff will fit her for the time being..."
"Of course! I'm glad to help! Draw an opening and Xaphania will be on her way!"
Slade hung up, kneeling down and drawing some sort of strange circle on the ground. Cove eyed it curiously through blurry eyes and a pounding headache.
"It's all right." Slade muttered, standing then taking a step back. She watched as the circle glowed for a moment. "Help is on the way."
o.0.o.0.o
Well, here's the rewrite! I hope you enjoyed, a bit different from the original chapter... ^.^
Amy47101 signing off! ^.^