Yay! The first story of the year! On the first Sunday of the year! Hope you readers enjoy this.
Pokémon in this story belong to Gamefreak, Nintendo, etc. And if you're not 18 years or older, then don't read this.
Word in italics is either stressing the word or the character's thoughts. It depends on the situation so be sure to pay attention as you read.
Looking For Heaven
Chapter 1 - Everything's About to Change
"Hey! Stop it! Please, stop!"
"And why should we? You never listen to us!"
"To think, we just tell you for your own good! You ungrateful bitch!"
Quite some distance away from their pack were some of its members. Of course most of those members away from the pack wanted to be away from the pack. So they'll get away with beating the crap out of one of them, a young female Zangoose. The tall trees and wide bushes of the forest provided good cover for them.
What did I do to deserve this? I don't remember having personal opinions being such a bad thing!
This Zangoose endured the beating the other Zangoose were giving her. Eventually, they left, leaving her all battered and bruised.
Great. I'm going to have use herbs again. Bandages, too.
When this particular Zangoose could walk again, she wobbled through the trees not to her pack, but to her home. At least, someplace she lives. It was a run-down, abandoned cottage on the outskirts of where her tribe lives, clearly not being favorable company to her pack.
The only one of the pack she's the closet to is the leader, a middle-aged but remarkably strong male Zangoose. Speaking of him, he was in front of the girl Zangoose's house.
"Outcast! How did you get hurt this time? Can't you even last 10 minutes without us?"
It's because of you guys that I'm hurt! And I don't like being called Outcast! I know I'm different from other Zangoose but it would be nice if I wasn't called Outcast!
"It's a long story, Alpha, but it's nothing I can't heal from. What brings you here?"
"What other reason would I have for coming here? One of us is sick. His fever is rising with no signs of stopping. Hurry up and make those… healing… something."
"They're called medicines, Alpha."
"Hurry up!"
"Yes, Alpha." The apparent outsider went inside the house to get to work. The leader just simply waited outside, wanting to get back to the others as soon as possible.
The girl Zangoose knows that the only reason why her pack even bothers checking up on her is because she's the only one who has excellent knowledge on herbal medicines. She only ever bothers with her pack because, even though they give her beatings, they won't let her die so easily.
The girl Zangoose have picked the correct herbs for a fever and finished grounding them together in a mortar and pestle that was found in the cottage. In a few minutes, she was done.
When she was done, the unfortunate Zangoose poured the healing substance in a bowl and came back outside.
"Here, Alpha. The medicine you need. Please be sure to give back this bowl once you're done."
"It's about time. Also, stop worrying already. I wouldn't do something so stupid as to lose or break this bowl. We need these."
The leader was about to take it with him, but then seemed to remember something.
"Oh, yes. Before I go, I have something important to tell you."
"What would that be?"
"One of the females of the pack has an interest in your ways of healing others with these herbs and plants. It would be good for us if we had another one of us who knows these type of things. She will start the day after tomorrow, when the sun is in the middle of the sky. Be sure to teach her."
Then he carefully picked up the bowl with his mouth and went off on his way with spilling any of the contents.
The Zangoose left alone sighed and spoke to herself out loud. "Yeah, it would be good for the pack if you had another one who knows this stuff but how do I know you're not just trying to get rid of me?"
She went back inside the hut, expecting to go through the same routine that she goes through every day. Be scorn and ridiculed. Be left out and excluded. Perhaps even get beaten up. Finally, sleep at the end of the day and awake the beginning of the next day to deal with all of that all over again.
Little did the unfortunate Zangoose knew, she won't be living like that anymore. Her life forever changed tomorrow, when she decided to step out for a minute. She didn't stay out for too long since there might be other Zangoose nearby to criticize her or beat her. Before she could step back inside, though, the unfortunate Zangoose heard something in the distance with her sensitive hearing. It sounded like a battle. A vicious one.
She wasn't so sure about intervening. Not only did the reluctant Zangoose didn't want to be involved in serious trouble but she's still hurt from yesterday.
Then she heard it. A piercing wail overflowing with pain. A decision was made and the formerly reluctant cat ferret dashed to where the agonizing sound was heard.
Oh, what do I have to lose to begin with? I just have to teach this new apprentice of mine and no one will even think of me when I'm gone! So that means I just to be alive long enough for that!
The speeding Zangoose was running as fast as her body could allow. The trip getting to the desired destination took a while. Once she got there, she let out a horrified gasp.
A few feet in front of her was a badly beaten Seviper. So much worse than her own injuries from yesterday that they were little bruises in comparison to the Seviper's injuries.
She knew she had to take this pokemon in. She knew she had to, but was hesitant again. It was because of Seviper that the unfortunate Zangoose is such an outcast in her pack.
She doesn't see any reason to hate Seviper.
When she was young, she was told Seviper is no good scum who everyone is better off with every last one of them dead. But she had to question one thing: why are Seviper such no good scum? What did they do that was so bad?
Basically, why are Seviper hated so much?
None of the adults didn't seem to have an answer for that question nor did they seem to like being asked that.
This particular Zangoose decided to never harm a Seviper unless it tries to harm her first. Usually, she does harm them because they're taught to hate Zangoose with every fiber of their being and they try to kill her.
That makes her question her upgringing even further as well as the Sevipers'. Why are they both taught to hate each other for just being right next to each other?
For a period of time, she wanted to see if becoming friends with a Seviper was possible.
This girl Zangoose was already having difficulties fitting in with every one of her pack when she questioned their upbringing. But then she managed to completely and permanently alienate herself from everybody else with her desire of befriending a supposed enemy of theirs.
Although she wasn't sure about tending to this Seviper, she still slowly but surely inched towards the great mass of limp muscle.
She checked for any signs that the unconscious Seviper was still alive. So far, she's yet to accomplish this since she only ever done other Zangoose and, occasionally, other pokemon who didn't have a serpentine body. She found that the Seviper was likely male when she heard him groan. This serpent struggled to move his eyes.
Then he, with some effort, shifted his head and eyes to take a look at the Zangoose in front of him. The pain-ridden Seviper audibly hissed at her, taking her by surprise. With some more effort, he spoke.
"Your friends… already… beat me… to a… bloody… pulp. And now… you're… gonna… beat me… even more? Just like… a… Zan...goose…" The seviper became unconscious again.
Oh, I see. It was another unnecessary battle between Zangoose and Seviper. I'm obviously not going to hurt him. And I still have nothing to lose if I heal him, right?
As hesitant as she was, she couldn't just leave him there. So the unfortunate Zangoose was hurriedly but carefully carrying the knocked out Seviper back to her cottage. She was planning to take care of him until he was all healed. She's aware of the fact this Seviper will try to kill her once he's feeling all better but it felt a risk worth taking.
They finally reached the cottage. The Zangoose was using her sensitive hearing to check for anyone from her pack. Other Zangoose or pokemon, too. She didn't detect anyone around or see anyone waiting outside of the little building.
When the coast was clear, she took the Seviper inside. Of course, he couldn't be left right behind the door; the other Zangoose will feel his presence. She had the perfect place in mind to put the Seviper.
The cottage was just one big room. There was a bed on one side and a table and some chairs, one of them broken, on the other side. There was also a fireplace. In the middle of the floor was a trapdoor. The Zangoose opened it and laboriously carried the Seviper down the staircase made of stone.
One may expect it to be a drabby, dim room but it's not. At the bottom of the stairs was a large room lit in a brilliant, blue light. The light was being radiated from huge crystals sticking out from the walls and the floor. Even the ceiling. Despite all of those crystals, there was plenty of room for the Zangoose and the Seviper.
The Zangoose put down the Seviper on the floor and went back upstairs. She came back with a blanket. She laid out the blanket as wide as possible and laid the Seviper on top of that. She checked every injury the Seviper seemed to have.
The Zangoose gone back up and came back down again. She had the herbs she thought was needed. Getting all of the necessary herbs took a few trips. She made one more trip to fetch herself her mortar and pestle, plus bandages.
She was now grounding those herbs and prepping the bandages. Problems arose when she was beginning to rub the medicine on the wounds.
The Seviper was attempting to, with all of his strength and energy that was left, fight her off.
"Stay… away! Piece of… shit!"
"Please! Stay still! You need to heal!"
"That's… a laugh! Like a… Zangoose… cares! Go away… and die! Whore! Bitch!"
It was like that for the next three of five months. It wasn't easy for either of them. The Zangoose had to put up with the hatred-filled hissing and the Seviper kept struggling to get away. The sort of slithering snake shouted various insults at the nursing cat ferret.
Also, the nursing Zangoose had to teach her apprentice the ropes of herbal medicines. That was only slightly better. The student insulted her less often, although she was putting in efforts to learn half-heartedly.
After 4 to 5 months, the student has been learning more, despite it not being much. The Seviper also stopped fighting whenever he was being treated. He didn't seem to like it, but have gotten used to it.
"No, you use this kind for the medicine that helps with stomachaches. You took the one for broken limbs," the unfavorable Zangoose told her student.
"Oh, sorry," the student apologized but she has a look on her face that shows she'd rather be somewhere else.
The unfavorable Zangoose let out an inaudible sigh, being left with her thoughts.
It's so obvious she's being forced to come here and let me teach her. I wonder if she got pushed into being a healer of our pack?
The student looked at the window and noticed the sun's rays seemed like a sunset.
"Oh, I gotta go now. See ya next time!" The student ran out the door faster than a Zubat out of hell.
The unfortunate Zangoose was left alone once again.
Oh, well. It was about time I check on Nicholas's injuries, anyway.
Over time, even though she wasn't liked by her patient, the unfavorable Zangoose decided to call the severely hurt Seviper Nicholas. She noticed it rhymed with ridiculous, which is the kind of feeling she gets when treating him. She never told him this, figuring he wouldn't like it.
"Hi. I'm back. I'm going to try changing your bandages and reapplying your medicine, ok?"
Nicholas just grunted. He didn't have a happy look on his face, but didn't make a fuss when she did what she said she was gonna do.
"Well, you seem to be recovering nicely, even if you still have quite some way to go."
Nicholas didn't answer and still had that irritated face.
Nicholas is awfully quiet today. He at least hisses at me every once in a while.
The nursing Zangoose was finished and putting away everything. She turned to Nicholas before she left.
"I'm going to get you something to eat. Maybe you can eat more than a few bites this time? If you want to get out of here sooner, then eating a lot will help your body a lot in healing."
It was quiet for a while. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable so she began to leave.
"Why?"
The Zangoose was surprised at that.
He… he spoke! This is the first sound Nicholas has made that was an actual word! Definitely better than hissing, that's for sure.
"What do you mean by why?"
"We're supposed to be enemies. You were supposed to either finish me off or leave me to die."
Ooooooooohh, he means why am I healing him instead of hurting him?
"Well, it's kind of a long answer. Do you have time?"
Nicholas looked annoyed at the question.
"Oh, right, of course. Well, I can start explaining, I suppose." The Zangoose walked over to Nicholas, sitting next to him.
"It was when I was a little cub," she started. "And just like any Zangoose, I was being taught how to hate your kind with a passion. I'm sure it was like that when you were a little snake, being taught to hate Zangoose to the same extent."
"Because we're enemies."
"But we're not savages. Pokemon, yes, but still not savages. I don't see the point of hurting a Seviper unless they hurt me first."
Nicholas raised an eye ridge where an eyebrow would be.
"Well, I don't! I'm just told we're better off with all the Seviper in the world dead but there's something I just don't get. What did the Seviper do that was bad they deserve death? Why do we Zangoose hate Seviper so much?"
"Well, don't expect me to know." Although, Nicholas had to admit. This was the first time he was wondering the same thing: why do Zangoose hate his kind so much?
"Were you ever given an answer?"
"Hmm?"
"As in no one gave you an answer if you asked why do Seviper hate Zangoose so much?"
This really caught Nicholas off-guard. This was the first time he was wondering that, too. He's never before questioned how he was raised. He was just taught to kill Zangoose because they were better off with every last one of those cat ferrets dead.
The Zangoose kept talking, unaware of Nicholas's bewildered expression.
"When I was a little cub, I was going to hate Seviper like how all the other Zangoose cubs were taught to do but I had some doubts. The way it looked like to me was that I should fight to the death with a Seviper for just being close by. I didn't want to do that. It seemed dumb. My mom and dad tried to assure me it wasn't but then they would whistle a different tune when it came to fighting other pokemon that weren't Seviper. It didn't make any sense."
It didn't make any sense to Nicholas, either. Thinking back of all the times before five months ago, he never stalled in killing a Zangoose. In all those times he killed one, Nicholas noticed the reason why he even did it was because it was a Zangoose and it was nearby. Perhaps that was a similarity between them and him. That they were trying to kill him just because he was a Seviper and he close by to them, too.
"So that's why," the Zangoose said, "I decided to never hurt a Seviper unless it tries to hurt me first. We don't seem a good reason for hating each other to such an extreme degree and fighting each other so intensely for generations. We don't seem to have any reason at all."
Nicholas realized that was true. What reason is there to their feud?
"You know," the Zangoose stated as she got up, "maybe there was a reason why Seviper and Zangoose fight so much and so fiercely. It's just that they perhaps have had a feud for so long that they forgot the reason. Now their descendants are fighting someone else's battle without even knowing the reason why or how it even started. What would the point be in fighting someone for a reason you don't remember or even know?"
Now Nicholas's mind was blown. Not even rubble was left. Nicholas just laid where he was, unintentionally tuning out the Zangoose.
"Now I'll go get you some food. Like I said before, maybe you can try eating more than just a few bites. You can leave this place sooner and no longer have anything to do with me if you just eat more."
Then she left, leaving Nicholas to his thoughts. Nicholas was sorting out his thoughts for weeks. The Zangoose was getting worried about his mental health because he hardly made a sound ever since she told him her opinions. Nicholas didn't even hiss.
The worried Zangoose wanted to help him, but wasn't sure of how to do it. She just continued with tending to the physical state of Nicholas.
Although, the Zangoose's mental state was being disturbed. It felt like to her she was being stared at. She knows it would highly likely be Nicholas staring at her because he's the only other living thing underground besides herself when she checks on him.
Even if Nicholas was looking at her, he would turn his head the other way whenever he was being treated. The Zangoose was puzzled of this kind of behavior.
About 4 months have passed and the Zangoose was close to losing it. She was amazed with herself that she could tolerate it for this long but it would get bothersome. By 4 months, the bothered Zangoose found out for sure it was Nicholas staring at her. Combining that with Nicholas turning away whenever she treated him, the unfortunate Zangoose felt like letting out her frustrations somehow. She found that, on the bright side of this, is that by now Nicholas has only a month or two of recovery to go.
Being underground seemed to hide him from the pack leader and the student learning about medicine better than the unfortunate Zangoose thought. Sneaking Nicholas away from the pack of Zangoose who will definitely kill him upon discovery would be a tough task. She would have to figure something out when the time came.
As much as the Zangoose was bothered by being looked at all the time, she's not looking forward to being alone again.
Even if Nicholas doesn't like me, I'm gotten used to him. At least, to the point where I realize he's the only thing out of my whole, entire life I feel fine with and we're supposed to be enemies. I'm supposed to be on good terms with my own pack, too, but I'm not. This whole situation just drips with irony.
However, what the unsuspecting Zangoose didn't know was that Nicholas had other plans. She found out about them when she came down to check up on him one day.
She was grounding those herbs again and was about to change the bandages. Then Nicholas caught her by surprise.
"You know a lot of this stuff."
"Oh! Yeah! I do!" She was just happy he was doing more than just staring, completely unaware of Nicholas's plan. "I'm the healer of my pack."
"You're in a pack?" Nicholas didn't expect that. "Are you sure you should be healing me, then?"
"Yes, I'm sure. I'm a healer by nature. Healers aren't supposed to be intolerant of those in need! Besides, I made sure no suspects anything."
"That's an excellent kind of nature for a healer. Your pack must be proud to have you in it."
Said healer became sad at that. "I can't imagine any pack of Zangoose being proud in having a Zangoose with opinions of Seviper like mine among them."
"It must be hard, then."
"Yeah… it is." The saddened Zangoose applied the medicine and changed the bandages. It's not as much medicine as before and fewer bandages were being used, now, too. She thought it was a good thing she frequently gets hurt. No one would get suspicious about the noticeable decreases in medical supplies.
"All of this knowledge on healing others. Is it the only reason why you're even in your pack?"
She got even sadder. "Yeah… it is."
Then she sprouted tears from her eyes. She was going to wipe them off but Nicholas pushed her arm down with his tail.
"Wha- what ar-"
Nicholas had wiped off her tears with the exact same tail. The Zangoose was beyond surprised. She was freaking out, in fact.
"W-w-w-wai-wait. What was-"
She really freaked out at Nicholas's next action. He wrapped her head around with his tail and kissed her.
It wasn't simple kissing, either. It was kissing kissing.
Nicholas managed to put his forked tongue inside the Zangoose's mouth. In the best angle possible, Nicholas pressed his mouth against hers, made his tongue roam inside of her mouth all over in there.
The Zangoose was shocked at this but she was able to get over it. She tried to tell Nicholas to stop but she was muffled. It wasn't really working. Then she tried to push him away. It proved to be useless, too. Because there was only a month or two of recovery time left, Nicholas has regained much of his strength. Even if it wasn't complete, Nicholas became strong enough to hold the female feline ferret to his mouth.
The troubled Zangoose wasn't sure what to do. She couldn't tell him to stop; she couldn't push him away. The only she could do was start breathing through her nose and wait for Nicholas to let go.
It felt like hours before that happened. Soon after Nicholas finally let go, the frightened Zangoose tried to make a run for it.
However, Nicholas was quick and grabbed her ankle, making her fall to the ground.
"Why leave so soon? We can do one more thing before you have to leave, right?"
"If it was the kissing, that was already done! Please! Let me go!"
"Wrong choice of words, Angel."
"Angel?"
"Yes. That is the name I've given you. You're going to be called Angel from now on."
"Wha-?"
Nicholas began to drag the newly-named Zangoose towards him.
Before you give me any reviews, I want you to know that I tried writing this chapter with mainly nameless characters or characters yet to receive a name.