An Age of Valour
by the Lady of the Mists
Chapter One: Saving a Pokémon
If Lydia Talon could describe her childhood, it would be considered a lonely one. She was the only child of Rosemary and William Talon, so she didn't have any siblings, and she was deprived of a mother, who died when she was born. Her father hated that fact, so he hated her. More than that, he was so furious with her for stealing his wife from her that he was determined to punish her for that action.
She had only been allowed to go to school and come home. There was no one there who even so much as gave her a second glance, mostly because Lydia wasn't exactly normal. At first, she didn't seem so bad to the other kids, just another kid whose family was messed up. It wasn't like there weren't families that were more dysfunctional than hers in Rosewaters.
There was Mary Williams, whose mother ran off with her husband's younger brother and came back, pregnant, after he'd abandoned her. Her husband refused to have anything to do with the baby, so she was forced to live across town and raise her daughter by herself.
And of course, Andy Stevenson had three brothers and two sisters and their father had been accused of murder two years ago. The crimes, of course, were false, but they were caused by a powerful man, who was in too great a position to be accused. Andy's father was now in jail and his mother was left to raise her six children.
Theresa James had been abandoned by her parents when they ran off to tour the world. No one discovered the child until a month later and after she'd been locked in the dark. Because of this, she had developed a high fear of small, closed-in spaces and was afraid of the dark. She was quiet and jumped at practically everything that approached her.
Lydia's problems at her house were hardly problems when it was compared with the rest of the town, but that wasn't what pushed people away from her. It was the fact that she was abnormal. She had the power of speaking without words and could read people's mind. At first, she hadn't realised what she was doing and answered people's thoughts, not knowing that they hadn't spoken aloud.
But then when people started getting suspicious and asking her questions, she realised that what she did wasn't ordinary. After months of researching, she finally realised that she was psychic. She could talk telepathically to others and look into their minds.
That was only the beginning, though. As her power progressed, she found that she could sense things before they actually happened. A form of precognition, she assumed it was. Thankfully, people weren't as suspicious of this as they were of her telepathy. They just assumed that her reflexes were quicker than most people.
Lydia tried her best to hide her powers from her father—which wasn't that hard, considering how little he paid attention to her—but what she wanted most in the world she knew just by using them that he would never allow her to do. By early age, she knew the reason of his loathing of her, even though she didn't like, she understood it.
Her father had forbidden her to go anywhere near a Pokémon, because he claimed that they were "evil, vile creatures who will destroy the world the moment they get a chance." He'd even tried to make her fear them, but Lydia had fallen in love with them the moment she'd laid eyes on them. Now, she kept Pokémon magazines and guides hidden safely in her room.
People say that her story began the night she was born, but in reality, it started the night that was just like any other. She was lying on her bed, flipping through the forbidden material as she read by moonlight.
Her blue eyes scanned the pages as she studied the maps of the Johto region and its gym leaders. But most of all, she looked to the section on Pokémon found in the region.
"Umbreon," she murmured as she looked towards the page on Eevee's evolution. Of all of them, the Dark type had fascinated her most of all. Even though it didn't learn a lot of Dark type attacks, it was the only pure Dark type that there was available.
As she turned the page to look at the three Johto starter Pokémon, she could've sworn that she'd heard a sound in the backyard. Glancing up, Lydia frowned as she pushed aside the curtain. The night was a full moon, making it easy to see, despite the dark night and late hour. But she didn't see anything outside . . .
Without warning, she saw the shadow of something hiding in the garden, her father's prized possession. He would never allow anyone in there, even though it was dead and depressing. The flowers had long since lost their warmth and colour; the vegetables had stopped growing; and the weeds covered over the entire place. It had been her mother's, before she died.
Pushing herself up off of her bed, Lydia shoved the guidebook under her bed and hurried to her door, yanking her jacket off of its hook. She stepped quickly into the hall, pulling on her jacket as she hurried downstairs, listening careful for any sounds from her father's room.
Thankfully, the only sound that she heard was his snoring, which was evident even through the thick halls. Lydia let out a sigh of relief, but didn't stop moving quietly downstairs, not wanting to take the risk of waking him up. Something told her that this was something that her father definitely would not approve of.
Opening the back door, Lydia stepped outside into the cool night, walking towards her mother's garden. She bent down to peer at whatever was hiding inside of the weeds and jumped back in surprise when she saw a pair of eyes looking towards her.
"Easy," Lydia said gently. "It's all right, I'm not going to hurt you. Are you okay, little fellow? Everything's going to be all right. You don't need to be scared of me; I'm not going to hurt you."
"Vee?" a soft purring answered her and the Pokémon slowly began to edge its way towards her. She gently stretched out her hand and it froze on the spot, fear evident in its eyes.
Lydia ignored this and felt sorry for it when she saw it flinch back. She gently rested her hand on its head and scratched it behind the ears. The Pokémon looked up at her in surprise and she scooped it up, pulling it into full view at long last.
It was an Eevee, the evolution Pokémon, that had been hiding in there. She held it in her arms, taking a close look at it when she realised that her white nightgown was starting to turn red on the chest, where she was holding the Pokémon. Almost immediately, she saw why; Eevee had several large scratches across its back and its front paw was bleeding freely. Lydia almost cursed when she saw the damage that was done to it. How had this happened? she wondered. Had it been attacked by another Pokémon or, she dreaded to think, by its own trainer?
Either way, she had to get it to a hospital right away. The Pokémon Centre in town would have its gates closed by now, but it was still opened to emergencies.
Casting a glance towards the house and knowing that she was going to be punished later for disobeying her father—one of his rules was never going out past nine—Lydia hurried towards the garage and yanked her bike out. Carefully placing Eevee in the basket, Lydia sped off down the road, her blue eyes wide and her light brown hair flying out behind her.
It only took ten minutes to get from the Talon manor to the Pokémon Centre in Willow Hill. But in those ten minutes, one Pokémon's life hung in the balance. Lydia was pedalling as fast as she could, glancing down at Eevee every few seconds to see how it was doing.
"Just hang on, Eevee," she told him, trying to reassure him that everything would be okay. "We're just about there. Just try and hang on a little bit longer, okay? Don't worry, you'll be all right." I hope.
As she saw the Pokémon Centre swarm into view, Lydia sped up, trying to hurry. Skidding to a stop at the bottom of the steps, she gently lifted Eevee out of the basket and hurried up the steps, leaving her bike at the bottom without a second thought.
She banged on the door, which was locked. "Will somebody pleased help me!" she yelled through the closed door. "Unlock the door! There's a Pokémon that needs help NOWW!" She practically screamed the last word, but to her relief, a light came on inside. That was all that stopped her from breaking down the door.
"What is it?" the nurse in charge asked. "What's wrong?" She gasped when she saw the condition the Pokémon was in. "Hurry, there's no much time!" she said, quickly urging Lydia in. "Hurry!"
Lydia wasted no time hurrying into the centre, where Nurse Joy called for a stretcher and immediately had her Chansey helpers rush Eevee back to the critical care unit. "Be careful with him," Lydia warned her. "I don't think it likes being touched. He barely let me pick him up to bring him here."
"We'll do what we can," Nurse Joy assured her. She blinked in surprise. "It's Lydia Talon, isn't it?" Lydia nodded, surprised that she had recognised her—or that she'd remembered her name. "Don't worry, we'll take good care of Eevee." She pointed towards a room behind the nurse's station. "If you want to get out of that nightgown, there's some clothes back there. I'm sure there's some that will fit."
"Thanks," Lydia said weakly. Joy nodded once and left to go help Eevee, leaving Lydia to her very worried thoughts.
She did as Nurse Joy suggested and changed out of her nightgown and into a pair of jeans, a lilac t-shirt. Over this, she put on the jean jacket that she'd grabbed on her way out the door. It didn't matter that she was in her nightgown. Mostly, she just wanted to get her mind off of worrying about the Pokémon that was in the critical care unit.
It didn't take long for her to get dressed and she walked out to the lounge after she was done, sitting down and hugging her knees carefully. She shivered slightly, despite the warm night, and kept glancing towards the surgery room, where she knew that Eevee must be, fighting for his life. Just hang on, Eevee, she thought desperately. You've got to be all right. For once, she prayed that her telepathic message reached the unconscious mind of Eevee.
It was just before dawn the next day when Nurse Joy finally came out of surgery, looking exhausted and weary. But when she saw Lydia jump up and rush over to her, she smiled reassuringly. "He's fine," she said, moving aside so that Lydia could look into the room, where Eevee was sleeping peacefully. "You did a good thing, bringing it here so fast. The surgery went well. He just needs some rest, now." She placed a gentle hand on Lydia's shoulder. "You should go in and sit with him."
Lydia looked up at her. "Do . . . do you know how he was injured like that?" she asked. "I mean, what did it look like?"
Nurse Joy sighed, rubbing her forehead tiredly. "He was definitely injured by someone—or something. Either another Pokémon or its trainer. But after what you said about him barely being able to stand your touch, I think it would be the latter."
"How do you know?"
"Basic psychology. When a person is injured by something, it takes time for them to build up their trust in it again. Sometimes, they never do. But Eevee seemed to be able to stand your touch. He must realise, now, that you're not going to hurt him. If you were going to, you would've done so when it was weak and helpless."
"Yeah, I guess so." Lydia sighed, shaking her head. "How can some trainers be so cold and cruel? How can they treat Pokémon like that? We're all living creatures." Nurse Joy smiled and placed her hand on her shoulders, consoling her.
"You can't right all the wrongs in the world, Lydia. Not by yourself. But you brought some good in just by saving this little Eevee. And by so doing, you may have gained yourself a lifelong friend." She smiled. "Go on, stay with Eevee for awhile, until it wakes up. I'll be in the office if you need me." She left Lydia behind, standing at the door, watching Eevee.
Lydia swallowed and stepped into the room, taking the seat next to Eevee's bed. She reached out and touched the Pokémon's head tenderly, not wanting to injure him further. Eevee started slightly at her touch, but he seemed to sense who she was and leaned closer into it.
"Who did this to you, buddy?" she sighed, her eyes closing slightly. It had been a long night and she was tired. She should've known better . . . her psychic power was never in control when she was exhausted.
Almost immediately, she felt her mind being pulled into Eevee's and images flew through her mind. A trainer with blond hair and cold eyes, wearing a haughty expression was yelling at Eevee, flourishing a Fire Stone. Eevee wailed, not wanting to become a Flareon, just to stay an Eevee.
"You'll not disobey me!!!" the trainer screamed at him, snatching up a knife from his bag and throwing it at Eevee. This startled him so much that he couldn't avoid it. He squinted his eyes together, trying to block it out, but knew he could only wait until it was over. When his trainer finally gave up, he managed to get himself away . . . and found her . . .
Lydia gasped as she yanked herself out of his mind, her head reeling as she took a couple deep breaths, trying to calm down. Eevee didn't appear to have noticed her entering his mind, but she checked to make sure that he was all right, not realising that someone had just entered the Pokémon Centre, causing absolute chaos as he practically ran two trainers over as they started to get moving for the day.
"Where is she?" Lydia jumped when she heard his voice and practically froze when she heard it. "Where is that half-witted daughter of mine!"
Lydia knew, even as she heard her father's furious voice, that she was in more trouble than she'd ever been in before.