A/N: My first story in a while. I've had this on my mind and rough drafts for the first few chapters finished for some time, but finally decided to try and get it polished up and posted. Hopefully you all will enjoy it.
At the heart of the Land of Uryus, there is a great tree, the Sacred Oak, which produces a single golden fruit once every ten years. The Golden Fruit's taste was so irresistibly sweet and magnificent that the land's Pokémon fought viciously over it for many centuries. Determined to end this dark era, Queen Meloetta ruled that a tournament would be held every time the Golden Fruit grew to determine the Pokémon that would receive it- however, only children would be eligible. In the centuries since, young Pokémon across the land would flock to the great tree whenever the tournament is held, eager to both prove their worth and win the world's most delicious fruit for themselves.
After ten long years, the Sacred Oak - a giant tree standing at well over a hundred meters in the center of a massive grassy countryside - began to bloom brilliantly once again, showering the Royal City built around it in a beautiful rain of pink flower blossoms. It was at this time that thousands of Pokémon from all over Uryus (and even some from foreign lands) traveled to the area. The reason for this trip was not only to see the blossoms fall, but to enter their children into the Queen's Tournament, where they would have the chance to win the single Golden Fruit that the tree produced at this time.
Mienfoo stared up at the great, flower-covered city in awe as his yellow and pink fur rustled elegantly in the breeze. Thousands of flower petals danced gracefully in the wind above the city before eventually coming down to blanket it in a beautiful pink snow. Though his mother had described it to him many times when he was an infant, he now realized that those stories could not possibly prepare him for seeing the city during the Sacred Oak's blooming period with his own two eyes. The sight alone was so peaceful that he partially wished to be able to simply stand there, gazing at it for hours on end– but he knew deep down that there was still a far more important matter that he wished to attend to. After watching this spectacle for several minutes, Mienfoo slung his light traveling bag over his shoulder and continued on into the city, slowly sifting through the busy streets and periodically stopping to ask for directions until reaching the nearest inn- a large and fancy wooden building sitting at the side of a wide street and almost completely covered with pink petals. He would stay there until the tournament began and accommodations have been set up for its participants.
Eagerly, he walked up to the front desk to rent a room with the little currency he had brought with him. Because he was alone, as his mother had been unable to leave their hometown, and because the inn was packed with numerous tourists, he agreed to share his room with two other young Pokémon that were also travelling alone. Making his way up to the fourth floor, he found his room and entered. "Anyone here?" he called out as he set down his bag. Turning his head, he noticed an odd-looking, yellow, bipedal lizard-like creature with enormous eyes and an unusual frown standing still in the dark room's nearest corner.
"Wassup?" the Scraggy shouted loudly and briefly when he had noticed him, giving him an odd stare.
Mienfoo stepped back in shock when he heard this before regaining confidence and reentering the room. "N… not much," he answered hesitantly, "I'm guessing that you're my roommate. Are you entering the Queen's Tournament too?" Thinking back, he did remember the inn's clerk warning him that one of his roommates was mentally unsound- hence why the rent was so cheap -though, unlike most other potential customers, he hadn't been too concerned over the matter.
The Scraggy stared at him for several moments, before opening his mouth wide in reply– rubbing his stomach as he answered. "Golden Fruit, yum yum!"
Mienfoo chuckled awkwardly as he moved further into the room towards what appeared to be the nearest empty bed. After a few moments, to his relief, the room's door opened and a figure entered to interrupt this odd meeting. "Don't bother with Scraggy, there," the metal figure, a red and black Pawniard with sharpened blades for hands and cold, piercing eyes, spoke in an uncaring, straightforward tone. "He's a little messed up in the head."
"SCRAGGY!" the lizard Pokémon shouted its own name as it watched its other roommate walk past him.
"Just ignore him and he'll go away," the Pawniard continued, shifting its gaze from Mienfoo to the other side of the dark room where a small, neatly made bed could be seen in the corner next to the window.
"Ah, I see," Mienfoo replied, giving Scraggy a cautious glance. After a moment, he began to walk up to the Pawniard. "I am Mienfoo Gregorein, your new roommate," he continued, politely bowing his head a little. Though given names were rarely, if ever, used unless distinguishing between two Pokémon of the same species, Mienfoo felt that it was important to make a good first impression.
"I figured that much," the knife Pokémon replied without looking back, beginning to walk towards the empty bed he had been looking on the other side of the room. "Call me Pawniard."
Mienfoo watched Pawniard give him the cold shoulder as he moved past him. Not wanting to end the conversation, he stuttered a little before continuing. "I came here to enter the Queen's Tournament, so-"
"You and everyone else," Pawniard interrupted. "This tournament gets well over five thousand participants from around Uryus every time it occurs, even foreigners sometimes come all the way here just to participate." Arriving at his bed, Pawniard reached under it and retrieved a shoulder bag. "I was just about to head to the Royal Palace to sign up for it myself." Silently, he returned to the door and opened it before turning back to face his new roommate with a sigh. "You can come too, I suppose," he said in what seemed to be a slightly more welcoming tone, though his kindness still left much to be desired.
Regardless, the easy-going Mienfoo immediately smiled and jogged after him- but stopped upon reaching the door. Turning back, he noticed Scraggy still standing in place, looking at him with a disappointed frown. "You coming?" he asked the lizard kindly, who instantly grinned and rushed after them. Pawniard groaned irritably.
After weaving through the crowded, pink-blanketed streets, the three young Pokémon finally arrived at the Royal Palace- a massive stone castle built right at the Sacred Oak's base and beautifully covered in a thin layer of fallen pink blossoms. Unfortunately, an incredibly long entry line extended out of its entrance, through the gardens in front and into the streets bordering it, forcing the three to wait in it for what would clearly be several hours. It didn't take long for boredom to tear at their patience.
"I hear that the Golden Fruit that was picked last week is on display inside," Pawniard eventually said in a dry, tired tone after a long silence, prompting Scraggy to shout 'GOLDEN FRUIT!' repeatedly for several minutes. The Knife Pokémon turned to give Mienfoo a discontented gaze for inviting the annoyance.
Ignoring Scraggy's inherent babble and Pawniard's irritation, Mienfoo responded cheerfully, "I've always wondered what it tastes like, the most delicious fruit in the world. I'd give anything to just have a bite. You too, am I right?"
Pawniard stood in thought for a moment, briefly shifting his focus away from Scraggy. "If I do end up winning the fruit, I'd probably sell it," he replied in a somewhat rude, matter-of-fact way. "It's worth a fortune, you know." Mienfoo nodded in agreement, though he could never imagine selling such a mythically wondrous thing.
Finally, after hours of waiting, the group was admitted into the palace's expertly white marble-carved foyer- where they were quickly directed into yet another line for the tournament signup desk. As the second line took them from room to room, Mienfoo enjoyed the palace's splendorous displays ranging from exotic paintings of the Queen and her knights to ancient statues. At last, it brought them to a large, circular room where the melon-sized, apple-shaped Golden Fruit was on display inside a large tank of reinforced glass guarded by a dozen tough looking, red and grey, iron-coated Escavalier with intimidating pointed lances in place of arms. Even through the tank's thick, reinforced glass, Mienfoo's sharp nose could still pick up the fruit's intoxicating aroma, which coupled perfectly with its seductive golden glow- enough to make him drool in eagerness. It was so tempting, in fact, that it took him a great deal of willpower to keep from rushing towards it. Unfortunately, there were some with less self control than him.
"GOLDEN FRUIT!" Scraggy yelled, splattering drool on the ground as he ran forward towards the display. Mienfoo and Pawniard both attempted to hold him back by forcing their arms around his, but found the lizard Pokémon to be quite a bit stronger than they expected.
"Get a hold of yourself," Pawniard scolded him as they barely managed to keep him inside the line with great difficulty, although Scraggy did not seem to be listening. "You don't see anyone else acting like this."
These words were spoken too soon, however. Ahead of them, at another section of the line, what could only be described as a small, less 1' high, red and yellow furball with four stubby limbs burst out towards the tank, and the Escavalier guards quickly mobilized side by side into a wall of iron to block its path.
"Return to the line, child," the centermost guard spoke in a commanding tone. "Only the victor of th-"
The guard was interrupted by a ball of crackling orange flames that suddenly shot out of the ball of fur's mouth and expanded to massive size. "Darumaka!" it cried as it leapt through the spreading flames towards the intoxicating fruit, only for a guard to jump in its way and unleash a deafening screech of sound from the small mouth beneath its helmet, displacing the air before it powerfully enough to make the furball fall back towards to the stone floor with a distinct thud. As several more Escavalier approached, it stood and rushed backwards while covering its pounding ears with its paws. "Mama!"
A red, apish Pokémon with eyebrows composed entirely of raging fire extended its arms to embrace her child protectively. "I'm sorry for Darumaka's behavior," she apologized as the furball cowered behind her, "she's just a little excited, that's all."
The lead guard nodded. "It is understandable," he replied, "however I must inform you that signing up such a young child into the Queen's Tournament, though not strictly against the rules, is not recommended for their safety. I advise you not to enter." Darumaka whimpered at these words.
Darmanitan looked sadly at her child before shaking her head. "I understand." Slowly she led Darumaka out of the line and began to cross the room towards the nearest exit. The faces of the many others standing in line watched them walk with blank stares.
"Hold it!" a young voice called out from some distance behind Mienfoo's group. The voice belonged to a short, bipedal, brownish-gray Pokémon with bulging pink veins across its body and a small piece of timber hanging over its shoulder. "If she wants to enter this tournament to win the fruit, then what right do you have to stop her?" the speaker, a young Timburr, asked loudly with a courageous grin spread across his face. "Even if she's a little young, she is still eligible, right? Don't just step all over someone's dreams like that! I'll protect her!"
Darumaka smiled in glee and ran towards the Timburr as the adult Pokémon gave him surprised stares. "Calm down, kid," he said in a lowered voice as she hugged his leg tightly, though he could not hide a soft chuckle.
As this matter resolved itself, with the guards and the mother agreeing to leave Darumaka in the Timburr's care, Pawniard sighed. "That was irritating," he said. "Sending Pokémon that can't take care of themselves into a tournament like this is a stupid idea. They'll only get hurt."
"I don't know," Mienfoo replied thoughtfully, extending his arm to grab Scraggy's as he attempted to make another run for the fruit, "that guy seems really nice." After a little arguing, Pawniard agreed to let a few others skip ahead of them in line until they were next to the Timburr, Darumaka, and Darumaka's mother.
"Hey there," Mienfoo greeted the Timburr with a smile, extending his arm in greeting, "I'm Mienfoo."
"Timburr," the Pokémon replied with a grin as they firmly shook hands. After exchanging introductions and laughing a little, the two groups – as Mienfoo had hoped – quickly bonded into one. Though there was still a ways to go until the line's end, their cheerful new friends ensured that it was not nearly as boring as it had been before.
After another half hour or so longer in line, the group finally made it to a desk at the end, where the clerk had them fill out the documents necessary for entry into the tournament. With that done, Darmanitan entrusted her daughter to the other children, who were allowed to wander the parts of the palace open to the public on their own for another forty minutes. They all agreed to avoid the room containing the Fruit because of Darumaka and Scraggy, but had trouble deciding where else they should go.
"Why don't we go see the Queen's throne room?" Mienfoo suggested as they moved through the crowded white stone foyer. "We might even get to meet her!"
"Queen Meloetta will be speaking before the participants when the tournament begins tomorrow morning," Pawniard replied without looking back at him or truly answering his suggestion. "If we make it far enough, we'll probably even get to meet her in person then. Honestly, staying here is a waste of time when we could be preparing ourselves."
"Don't be such a bummer," Timburr replied with a friendly push to the knife Pokémon's shoulder as the tiny Darumaka shouted happily in agreement while sitting on the wooden block resting on his shoulder.
Pawniard turned his head irritably and did not attempt to continue his argument. It didn't take them all long to agree to go explore the throne room.
As they moved through a crowded hallway towards it, Mienfoo found himself lagging behind the group a little after stopping to inspect an interesting old portrait of the blooming Sacred Oak on the wall. Before he could hurry to catch up, however, an off-limits door opened a couple meters before him and two dark figures emerged from it. One of them he recognized as an Accelgor by its green-striped pink helmet, dark bluish cloak, and piercing eyes. The other however, was a kind of Pokémon he was not familiar with. Its eyes were twice as piercing, had leathery black skin, fang-like teeth, razor-sharp claws, and bright red feathers lining its head like a crown. A single glance from the strange Pokémon's cold stare as it noticed him was enough to make him freeze up in a crippling fear. The two then continued on, ignoring the youngster.
With those two gone, Mienfoo was soon able to move again and he stared down the bustling hallway they had left in, realizing that he had been the only one to take notice. He knew that the strange Pokémon was not native to Uryus and could not help but wonder what a foreigner was doing in an off-limits area of the palace. Shaking his head, he decided that it was none of his business and rushed off to catch up with the others.
Soon after, the group entered the uncomfortably packed throne room, but they were unable to even see the queen who wasn't in there at the time. After some time, they eventually finished their tour and walked back to the entrance disappointedly, exiting into the pink flower-covered gardens surrounding the front of the castle. It didn't take long for them to quickly discover that something was awry. Up ahead, a young, bipedal crocodile-like Pokémon with shady-looking black marks across its tough brown skin, a Krokorok, seemed to be rampaging around and holding up the line to enter the palace.
"You're gonna enter the Tournament with that level of skill?" he shouted aloud mockingly as he bullied a young Lillipup. "Don't make me laugh!" Raising his leg, the Krokorok brought it down to create a fierce shockwave powerful enough to send the small, furry hound flying backwards into a wooden fence- whipping up a few hundred pink blossoms in the process. Then, it twisted around and jumped in the air before crashing back down to create a miniature earthquake that knocked down everyone near him in the line with a brief tremble. "Listen up everybody!" he shouted loudly and arrogantly to the fallen groups. "Only the strong stand a chance at winning the fruit, and all you weaklings out there will just get in our way! Save yourselves the humiliation of utter defeat and get outta here before you get a taste of what real pain feels like!" The Krokorok began to laugh as he continued stomping the ground and injuring those waiting in line with even more shockwaves. Many were taking his advice and began to turn their backs on the castle and leave.
"Stop that!" Mienfoo called out angrily, moving towards him as he saw the crocodile's actions. Timburr and Pawniard also stepped forward to confront him as Scraggy and Darumaka hung behind to watch.
"Got a problem?" The Krokorok asked with a menacing grin of its long snout that showed off a mouthful of sharp fangs and moved towards the group in wide steps that made the ground shake beneath his feet. Though the crocodile didn't seem to be that much older, it still towered over all of them by nearly a foot. As it neared them, its smile soon degraded into a vicious, bloodthirsty scowl.
"Yeah," Timburr replied with a determined look in his eyes, unbothered by the Pokémon's intimidating, muscular physique, "you'd better shut that jaw of yours before I smash it shut!"
The crocodile snorted in laughter before thrusting his head forward and opening his large jaw to unleash a sudden blast of tightly-packed sand from its throat that shot out to strike the speaker and then explode outwards to knock the whole group off their feet- save for one.
The moment this occurred, Pawniard dodged by leaping forward into the air, using the force of the small explosion to launch himself further before coming to the ground to begin rolling towards the enemy and then standing up to rush forward, slashing mercilessly at the flesh of Krokorok's soft, pink-tinted gut.
"Not bad," the enemy spoke as he stepped backwards and swung his tail into Pawniard's side to knock him down, rubbing the cut on his belly irritably. He was just about to deliver another, more powerful blow with his claw when Mienfoo and Timburr came at him with a blinding barrage of flying fists and claws. After exchanging a few blows, the three-allied Pokémon had surrounded Krokorok, who laughed before opening his mouth to spit out a stream of sand- which quickly began to blow around him in a fast circle to form a sandstorm-like shield of sorts, picking up hundreds of nearby flower petals as it spun. In an instant, the blowing sand burst outwards to blind the three and knock them down long enough for Krokorok to retreat backwards a little. From there, he opened his mouth even wider than before and a massive ball of rapidly swirling sand which quickly grew larger and larger began to form- obviously powerful enough to make them all realize that being struck by it would be dangerous. An instant before the brutal attack was unleashed, however, a mighty bolt of blinding white electricity shot past the group to land right before the crocodile with a flashy explosion, causing him to lose focus and misfire to his side. As the smoke and dust of Krokorok's failed attack cleared, the group saw that the thunderbolt had come from a tiny, barely 10 inches tall and 8 inches long, bright yellow mite-like Pokémon with four solid blue eyes standing behind them- a Joltik.
"I'd get out of here right about now if I were you," the Joltik spoke to the desert crocodile in a calm, but confident and threatening tone. "Or you might end up with a little more than you bargained for, punk."
The gator stared at the new arrival for a moment before looking back at the other three and then to a group of Escavalier guards quickly approaching from the palace entrance. He grimaced. "I guess you all pass," he replied grudgingly as he stepped backwards. "We'll meet again in the tournament- and this won't end so easily next time around." With that said, Krokorok spit out another ball of sand at his feet and promptly disappeared in the resulting dustcloud.
"Nice one," Mienfoo said, greeting the electric mite after checking to make sure that they were all alright. Meanwhile, Pawniard quickly began to look around for any signs of the gator as Timburr stumbled around in a fit with Darumaka and Scraggy at having been unable to stop the crocodile properly. At around the same time, the Escavalier palace guards arrived to ensure that the situation had calmed down.
"Yeah well, I just couldn't stand by and let that guy do stuff like that, you know," the Joltik responded, staring up at the mustelid with a laugh. "The fact that there are actually contestants who act that way makes me sick." Mienfoo smiled and nodded in agreement.
After exchanging introductions, Joltik – who had also recently signed up for the tournament – agreed to join them as they all went to spend the rest of the day exploring the city and preparing for the tournament together.
When evening had come, the group of friends had all stopped at a local food stall set up on the side of a less-crowded street for dinner. "You know, we should all team up for the tournament when it starts tomorrow," Joltik said as he finished his meal from a plate on the ground, being too small to reach the wooden counter properly. "That way we can easily give that gator what's coming to him and pass any challenge the planners throw at us."
"Team up? Can we do that?" Mienfoo asked curiously. Since arriving, he had heard surprisingly little about how the tournament would play out. He assumed that the Pokémon in charge of it had been keeping it a secret on purpose.
"There's nothing in the rules against it," Pawniard answered, brushing some splattered soup off himself as Scraggy rapidly and messily consumed bowl after bowl without end next to him, splashing it everywhere. "They'll have to get rid of a lot of contestants in the beginning somehow, so there will probably be some sort of free-for-all to determine who goes on. If there is, we definitely won't be the only team out there."
"Still, if we do meet up with that Krokorok," Timburr added, clutching his hands into fists as Darumaka sat next to him, "he's all mine, got it? There's something off about that guy!" Darumaka cried out in agreement.
Mienfoo smiled proudly to himself, glad at having already made so many new friends. There weren't many others his age in his hometown and, before reaching the city, he had secretly been somewhat worried about entering the tournament without anyone to share the experience with. It was good to know that this wouldn't be an issue.
For the rest of the evening, the group laughed and enjoyed each other's company- happy to have just one last night of fun and relaxation before the great tournament began. Nevertheless, when it did, the six of them – Mienfoo, Scraggy, Pawniard, Timburr, Darumaka, and Joltik - would be ready to take on any challenge thrown at them. Even if they had only met just earlier that day, their bonds of friendship had already formed- bonds so powerful that nothing in this world could possibly tear them apart.
It was late, in the black and silence of night that Krokorok moved swiftly through the now dead dark streets of Royal City until coming to an abandoned warehouse in its outskirts. Upon knocking three times on a locked door to its side, a slot on the door opened up to reveal a pair of keen, soul-piercing eyes. After being asked for a password, the crocodile replied correctly and the door swung open to allow him inside. Slowly, he walked through the building, passing several large shady figures which glared down at him expectantly until stopping in front of a tall, skeletal Pokémon with an edged helmet-like head and numerous other blades attached to its metal body.
"Progress report?" the figure asked coldly, giving him a gaze that instantly shattered his normally tough demeanor.
"I have successfully entered the tournament, as you have requested," Krokorok answered nervously, fidgeting with his claws as he attempted to avoid looking the tall Pokémon directly in the eyes. "However, I must apologize for my other assignment. The diversion was ended prematurely."
"It was more than long enough, so do not worry over that matter," the other Pokémon told him without lessening its cruel tone, though the crocodile still sighed in relief. "For now, focus on winning your way through the Queen's Tournament- and annihilate anyone who dares to stand in your way."