Author's Note - Thank you to anyone who reads this. It's been an idea in my head for a while, about what Pokemon-human relationships must've been before there were trainers and rangers and champions, and what-have-you. I also found the idea of humans having to go face-to-face with pokemon quite appealing; anytime you see this- in the anime, at least- the human never strikes the pokemon- he's always got his own pokemon to fight for/ suffer with him. Additionally, they never die. You hear about it sometimes, in bits and nuggets, but in all the battles I've seen and played, not one pokemon or trainer has ever not, somehow, survived. So, this is going to be a different kind of story. Think Monster Hunter mixed with Pokemon, since that's what inspired this whole thing.
It's been a while, I know, and I'm sorry. Life doesn't stop when you're writing! However, maybe you'll be glad to know that I have a clear outline for the next 5, or potentially 6, chapters! Not only do I have an idea, but I have a play-by-play of each 'scene'. As such, you can expect chapters to come much quicker. I won't pretend like it took me 5 months just to assemble that, but one thing I did do in all that time was research a particular sub-genre I've always admired. See if you can tell what it is! To me, a highlight of stories like this is the difference in perspective between characters: one person might see, hear, or remember something very differently than someone else would that same scenario. It's going to be very fun writing the story in this kind of 'roundabout' way, leading each person to different points, and different conclusions, because they will all have different experiences and motives. I find this to be much more engaging than just seeing a single character or faction's experience. Even you, as the reader, might miss something if you aren't careful! Again, characters are moving into more personalized story arcs, and so to mitigate seeing too much of one character, or developing one story too quickly, most chapters will now feature multiple characters, usually with perspective shifts. I'll do my utmost to write this in a coherent and intelligible way. Thanks so much for your time, everyone; let's get back into the groove!
Intro - "The Orange Massacre"
A dreary afternoon, several miles outside Pallet Town, towards the eastern bank of the coast; a grey, weeping sky, mourning the loss of life below it. Corpses of large, orange lizards laid stiff- the flames which wreathed their tails, extinguished. The ground here was an uncomfortable dirt-sand mixture, and weeds and stone decorated the expanse, while the water, itself, was still a ways further east. The weather ensuring the surprised lizards could not flee from the steel falling in the rain. The numerous charmander let loose tiny squeals and rasps as a guild pushed the life out each one they found.
Having cleared the immediate area, the guild members each gathered around for a moment, resting a bit. The entire guild was dressed bodysuits made from the skin of creatures from the charizard family of pokemon; it was cheap and hardly protective against claws and teeth, but was fire-resistant, which was the main concern. With the suits, the rain, and the number of skilled guild operatives who had come, the lesser char-kin bore little chance of survival. Most of the guild wasn't so much excited or nervous to be hunting a charizard as they were ready to get out of the rain, which soaked through the bodysuits, a little. Looking around, a girl with a bow found her friend, who was wield a distinguishable broadsword and standing solemnly in his orange leather.
"God, this weather's lovely," the girl said. Leaf Woods, was her name; she had long, light brown hair and blue eyes, and she commanded Squad 3 in the pokemon-hunting guild.
"Isn't it? Part of me wants to forget about the pokemon and have a picnic," her friend joked. His loose black hair was covered by the fire-retardant plastic mask he, and everyone else, wore. Thus, his piercing, crimson eyes were barely visible, but Leaf always imagined them locking with hers, anyway. His name, fitting of his eyes, was Red Sato, and he led Squad 2.
"Mm, sounds good. This rain's perfect for blankets and sandwiches."
"Well, then, by all means"- he sheathed his sword and offered his arm to her- "shall we?" Leaf linked her free arm with his, her short bow in her other hand.
"Let's," she replied smiling behind her headgear.
"Would you two stop courting? We need to find this damn thing- quickly, please!"
Green Springfield, who both led Squad 1 and commanded the entire guild, approached Red and Leaf, presumably with a grumpy expression behind his fire-retardant mask. Red gave a casual sigh, while Leaf mimicked Green's pout, stating that he must be upset that no one invited him to the picnic. A few snickers from the group only agitated him a bit more.
"Alright! Squads- regroup, and fall out! I better make it home in time for my stories, and for every minute I miss, someone's losing their pay! Hustle!" No one bothered to mention how impossible that goal was in any case, given that it took eight hours just to get to the area.
The 3 squads assembled into their respective orders, each team of six bearing a different spot to search. The area was riddled with potential caverns, nests, holes, and otherwise suspicious ground to cover, and over 10 miles worth of it, at that, along with the verticality of crags and caverns. With the boon of the rain, and every guild member wearing their protective gear, the advantage was more than stacked in their favor, but it wouldn't last all night. There really wasn't any time to waste, not when the charizard could be anywhere.
The mission began its planning-stage with a tip-off from local fishermen and residents of Pallet Town; a recent influx of charmander had been felt in the area, with some even making it all the way to peoples' homes in town. The guild was prepared for this- even prior to its inception, many were aware of the migration charizards often make in the springtime to lay eggs on the coast, and where charmander and charmeleon gather for a couple months. Years ago, they'd been a handful- then, they became a nuisance, as fewer and fewer people could stand against them. And just within the past two years, they'd become a danger. As charmander grew into charmeleon, and a few charmeleon became charizard, they became all the more dangerous. This year, they acted on their lethal ability and killed a man just outside of Pallet Town, hastening the guild's deployment, though only the squad leaders were aware of this.
Green, being raised in Pallet Town along with both Leaf and Red, disguised his outrage with simple impatience, and hurriedly took his team to comb a few crags on the south-western reaches of the search area. Leaf flashed Red a pleading smile and stalked off to the northern-most area, looking around large rocks and inside giant holes, which left the entire mid-section they'd arrived in for Squad 2- Red's guys- the realization of which brought a sigh from the entire group, with a few rumblings here and there. There was a vast amount to search and visibility was already low. Rocky dunes and stones everywhere, many of which held small nests, either in or under them, and thoroughly searching it all for the comparatively small pokemon, without splitting-up further, would take at least two hours. Red put on his usual enthusiasm and made for them, his team shambling behind.
40 minutes later, and no one had found anything significant. Leaf's team stumbled on a few charmeleon, and Green found a bounty of charmander, but really, everyone was looking for the charizard; there was always at least one with gatherings like this. Red considered the possibility that it was away and currently trapped by the rain, meaning they would have to wait a while until after it stopped.
"Like hell," Red muttered to himself. He lifted up another rock with a small tunnel-like path leading from it. The way they had been doing it was: two people lift, one person stabs, the others cover both sides of the man stabbing. This time around, the new guy to the guild was the one stabbing. Granted, the guild had existed for less than a year already, so none of them were veterans, exactly, but they at least knew how to handle weapons and had seen some form of action, whereas this young man was totally inexperienced in combat, and it showed.
Obnoxious and cocky, Harley was the archetypal newbie. He talked a lot, and hardly took anything seriously, except himself, though that didn't mean he seemed to care overmuch for his well-being. While Green, as guild master, wasn't the greatest fan of the recently-turned 18-year-old, he did at least want to give him a chance to prove himself. Red disagreed, feeling that he needed more training, but the new adult was persistent, and just good enough with a weapon to pass the entrance trial and make it as far as he had. Still, Red wondered, as Harley missed his stab on a surprised charmeleon, how he was ever going to survive this business. The squawking pokemon pounced from the dirt onto Harley, who proceeded to struggle in all the wrong ways, just barely pushing a scorching-hot maw away from his neck. His squad mates looked on for a moment, giggling and teasing, before Red stepped to his grounded teammate. The laughter froze then, everyone sensing the frigid-cold look Red wore so well, as his three-foot blade expertly pierced the charmeleon and stopped right on Harley's chest. The steel went just deep enough to make an impression; Red's teammate, Shane, even stepped back, shocked, for a moment, until the rookie made it very clear with all his thrashing that he wasn't dead.
"Wha-what the hell?!" Harley clambered to his feet, shaken and angry. "You almost killed me, you bastard! Are you crazy?!" The kid even took off his mask just to show how upset he was. Rookie move; he didn't knew how uncomfortable it would be putting it back on, now that his face was no longer dry. Despite the silliness of the situation and the embarrassed look on Harley's face, Red didn't laugh it off. He stepped in closely, his mask still on, and sword still drawn, dripping bright orange blood. When he spoke, he was tone was calm, but disdainful.
"You think I didn't know exactly how far to thrust? How much force to use? Which place to pierce? I've spent my entire life doing this. Training for this. And even if you had done the same- which you haven't- it wouldn't matter if you never take this seriously!" Red stared harshly from behind his mask, while Harley's eyes looked away, still hurt.
"Oh, come on, man… I am taking this seriously! I mean, here I am, in the rain and 'Hicks-ville', killing monsters…" The kid sounded defensive, but humbled- a step down from the outrage of seconds ago. Everyone knew not to challenge Red- especially when he was clearly right- since he, in particular, had a way of making his criticizers feel stupid. "Look, Red, I just- "
Red didn't interject, but instead hushed both Harley and the squad, which was already silent and watching. Through the rain, he heard a cry- different from the ones he'd heard for the past hour. It had been a while, but he'd heard it before, back when he was still living in Pallet Town. Honestly, he did halfway-hope that he wouldn't have to kill every living pokemon before the charizard would appear, and it looked like the soaked charmeleon some 20 yards away hoped the same. When the others saw it, they immediately readied their weapons, but Red kept them still.
Let the poor thing go ahead and call mommy; saves me the trouble of having to flip over another damn rock, Red thought. The creature's cry was an odd sort of chirping howl- a call for help- and exceptionally loud despite the rain. He'd read about it, and heard it twice, and each time, a charizard appeared within a few minutes. While it would be nice to have the charizard all to his squad, every fire-spawn in the vicinity would be flocking to his position, as well. He clenched his teeth, and flagged his team.
"On me!" Sword still out and washed in the rain, Red darted to the charmeleon and set his weapon to strike. The creature must've tried its absolute best to get away, since Red missed the first couple attacks, but it did slip, and he capitalized, brutally slamming his blade into weak, scaly flesh, pulling away, and cleaving again. The blood poured onto the rocks where the lizard laid, like lava washing into the rain. Normally, charmeleon were extremely arrogant and bold, but in the rain, they were only timid and skittish, and grew all the more terrified upon watching their kin be ousted from their hiding places and slaughtered. It was a quality Red wanted to evoke, again, in the now-amassing char-kin.
A few charmander on their own weren't a threat, and the same could have been said for a charmeleon or two, if one wasn't a complete novice. But the swarm that flocked Squad 2, then, bore at least 20 charmander and 6 charmeleon, by Red's count. It seemed like the cries definitely yielded attention, and Red suddenly found himself wishing that he had found a few more nests before the arrival of the charizard, which could already be heard roaring in the distance. On a sunny day, Squad 2 would be forced to flee, or dead, at this point, searing reptiles rapidly approaching them from nearly every angle. The conjunction of heat from all the creatures ignited their tails, despite the still-falling rain. However, the guild still had an advantage, and it was the only reason Red let them all gather in the first place. Now that they were in thick numbers, they were instinctively less likely to flee, which made for easier kills. Not to mention, the horn one of his group carried would summon the rest of the guild, who could seal the deal in the extermination by flanking the creatures as they focused on Squad 2. Then again, Red considered, it could take at least 20 minutes for any support to arrive.
This was the definitive moment- they had to hold their ground. Red just hoped his squad was ready. He entered his signature, deceptively relaxed stance and spoke with solemn authority.
"Focus- we've trained for this!" Red declared to the nervous group behind him, as they all tightened onto a large rock. "Assume Wedge Formation! And, Tristan, blow that horn, already." Things are about to get exciting, Red thought with caught breath. There was no time for deliberation; he had to trust himself and his team, and so he commanded them firmly: "Advance!"