A/N: I do not own pokemon nor the manga so give it up for Nintendo in creating so many of them. Only four pokemon in this whole story belongs to me, which i still have to think up. I only own the OCs and the region of which this story takes place. Please read and review ;D
Chapter 1: New Beginnings
The truck jumped as the vehicle trounced over the bumps on the road. Opal, a girl with long dark brown hair who just turned twelve, woke up from her nap by the sudden jolt. She fell off the mattress and blocked her face as a box filled with clothes dropped on top of her. She angrily brushed away the mound of clothes that fell on her and stood up. She stretched her muscles and yawned before returning to the mattress. She felt the bumps on the road become rougher and heard the tires screech as it rolled over rocks and dirt. They had gotten off the main road to a dirt road.
Cliff Field is a new town with the distinction of being as close to nature as it possibly can. There are no paved roads and the electricity is gained from the wind and sun. Everyone in the town seemed to grow their own vegetables, but a local market provided everything else. It was a farming community coming together. But Opal's parents weren't farmers. Her dad is a naturalist and an archeologist. It is due to his job that they had come to the Arrnum Region from the Hoenn Region. A discovery in the Glacial Mountains sparked a large debate in the Archeology Community and Opal's father volunteered to check it out.
Opal looked at the sole pokeball she has. A distressed whismur whispered its complaints from inside. "I know Whispy," she apologized. It stubbornly calmed down and returned to its nap. Opal caught the whismur during their time in the Hoenn Region when the Kyogre and Groudon affair was at its height. The fight greatly disturbed the pokemon, who were in a frenzied state as the land and sea tore each other apart. Opal and her family escaped to New Mauville for safety, but along the way, a quake caused her dad to lose control of the car and they crashed into a tree. They sought refuge somewhere in the forest they crashed in. There they found a lost and hurt Whispy. Opal nursed it back to health with her basic knowledge of first aid throughout the chaos. Afterwards, they tried releasing it back to the wild, but it wouldn't stop following them. In the end, Opal's father allowed her to keep it.
The next two years were tough for them as everyone participated in the rebuilding of the Hoenn Region to its former glory. Opal helped with her whismur in locating people trapped in the rubble of cities most affected. Four months ago, Opal's father was given the approval to go to the Arrnum Region and left soon after. Opal and her mother only landed two weeks ago at the Jonansre airport.
The truck abruptly stopped and Opal fell to the floor once more. The door rolled upwards, revealing her mother's carefree face. "Opal! You have to smell the air here. It's so fresh." She took a deep breath. Opal climbed out of the truck and did the same. A rush of cool sea breeze greeted them as Opal released Whispy from its pokeball. It was happy to be out of the small space and out in the open and no one could blame it. They've been out on the road for three days. "Well, we're home. You can go claim your room while the moving pokemon and I take care of the stuff inside the truck."
"Ok! Come on Whispy," Opal yelled at the overly excited whismur. Both ran inside the two story house and checked every room and niche. The second floor held the bedrooms, three of them. Two had a door that led to the wide balcony that looked over a part of the town in the direction of the sea. Cliff Field really deserved the name as the town is situated on top of a cliff above the sea.
All of the houses had the same design, except for a couple of low cost buildings and businesses. However, far off in the distance was a large rectangular building, but something seemed odd about it. Opal pulled out a spyglass she always kept with her and inspected it. A black smoke was flowing out of the windows and people were either running towards it with various water pokemon or running from it in fear. "That building is on fire, Whispy!" she said to her companion. "We have to go help."
The little pink pokemon showed a determined attitude and followed its trainer to the front yard where Opal's mother was also inspecting the black cloud in the distance. "Mom! Where is my bike?"
"I put on the other side of the truck," she said without a care. Then, a thought hit her. "Are you going to the building over there?"
"There might be people inside," Opal said, checking the bike for any damage. She swung her leg over the seat as Whispy jumped on the handlebars. "Hang on."
Peddling hard, she maneuvered the bike with skill towards the building. Years of preparedness for the unknown during the reconstruction has left her in tune with danger as well as enticed by it. She broke hard when a man stopped her near the building. She took him to be the unconditional leader of the party putting out the fire. Despite their efforts, the fire seemed to grow and the smoke became darker. Something was spreading it. "Sorry, but this isn't a place for a little girl. You should try to get as far away as possible."
"But I can help!" she yelled at the man who fell back a step at her sudden (and rather loud) rebuttal. "My whismur can find people in a building with its ears."
A lady in a white lab coat, who has been listening to their conversation, ran towards them. "Really? Can you help us?" she said grabbing Opal's hands. She didn't seem to be much older than her, probably by three or four years.
"I sure can," she said proudly.
"Our professor didn't come out with the rest of us because he was afraid for the pokemon. He is still inside trying to transport them to our main branch in Jonansre. Please find him."
"Don't worry about a thing," Opal optimistically said, presenting them with a peace sign. She turned to the whismur. "Whispy use supersonic to find the professor." The little pink pokemon opened its mouth and released a low frequency sound wave only it can hear. The rebounding echo came back seconds later and it knew where the professor was at and tugged on Opal's shorts. "Good going, now let's go save him."
"Wait-" the man said, but it was too late, Opal and the whismur disappeared into the burning building.
Opal immediately covered her mouth with the sleeve of her long sleeve shirt upon entering. There was less smoke on the first floor and Opal could see without the help of whismur. They found the stairs to the next floor and it was much worse. Fire consumed everything it could and the ceiling had collapsed in the middle. "Professor, can you hear me?" Opal yelled to no avail. Whispy kept pulling her to move forward. "He isn't on the second floor either?" Whispy nodded and pointed to another set of stairs.
On the third floor, Opal began to realize how difficult it was becoming to breathe. Even the small whismur was short of breath. She called out again and received no answer. She deftly crossed the large hole in the center and thanked which ever God there was that the floor didn't give way. The fourth floor appeared to be suffering worse from the fire and the smoke was thickest there. Opal depended on Whispy to navigate her through the smoke. She tripped over a chair and scratched her knees. "Got to be careful," she said, gritting her teeth over the pain. "Professor, are you here?"
"Over… here…" a reply came from her left. She cautiously approached the source of the voice until she could see the ashen face of a very old man. "It is… a good thing… you came by or… I wouldn't… be able… to get out of here." He was breathing heavily; he must've been breathing in the smoke for a long time. "All of the pokemon… have been transferred… we can leave now…"
"I'll get you out," said Opal as she ducked under his arm and hoisted him to his feet. "We can't go back the way we came in because of that hole."
"We can… try the roof," the professor suggested. He was becoming weaker. Then there was a sudden flare up of fire in one direction and the three were buffeted with a dense cloud of smoke. Opal couldn't breathe nor see. The professor was sagging on her shoulder; she won't be able to keep a hold on his weight, not when her own strength was being sapped.
"Whispy –cough- find the stairs to the –cough- roof." The whismur made a hasty reply and directed Opal to another set of stairs, but the door to the roof was locked. "Looks like –cough- we have no choice. Whispy –cough- use pound to open the door."
Whispy rammed its small body at the door and after five slams the door busted open. The smoke rushed out of the building along with the three. Out in the fresh air, Opal can feel her strength slowly returning to her. She propped the professor near the railing and checked his pulse. It was weak, but getting stronger. "Ahoy!" she hailed the startled team on the ground. "Do you have a way to get us down?"
"I have a pidgey!" yelled back an old lady from the crowd of onlookers. "It'll only be able to carry one of you at a time, though."
"That's fine," yelled Opal, joyfully. The old lady released the pidgey and it rushed towards them with its small wings. "Take the professor first."
Whispy tensed up and alerted its trainer of the presence of another pokemon. It stood at the door, a weasel-like pokemon with fire shooting from its back. An angry yet pained expression on its face as it challenged both the pidgey and Whispy. Opal turned back to the pidgey and the professor. "Go now!" she said to it, but the professor woke up and grabbed Opal's arm.
"That cindaquil is the cause of the fire," he began. He placed an empty pokeball in her hand. "I don't know… why it got so angry, but please… catch it."
"Alright!" Opal smiled at him reassuringly before the pidgey took the sky as best it could and hovered down to the ground with all its might. With the professor gone, Opal turned her attention to the cindaquil at the doorway. "You ready for a battle, Whispy?" It murmured a quiet growl. "Alright! Go, use pound!"
Whispy ran up to the cindaquil, but the fire pokemon exploded into a cloud of smoke. Opal cringed as she heard a tackle land on her whismur and watched it slide across the floor outside the cloud. "Don't give up! Use your ears to track its movements, and then hit it with a supersonic!" Opal hoped her orders were heard.
Sure enough, they were. The small pokemon opened its mouth and unleashed a low pitch noise that disoriented the cindaquil. "Finish it with pound!" Whispy charged at full speed, jumped, and landed on the cindaquil's back. It gave a surprised squeak as it was flattened by the force of Whispy's weight and speed combined. Still willing to continue the fight, it dizzily stood on its feet and tried to unleash another smokescreen, but it got stuck in its throat. The cindaquil dropped to the floor with smoke trailing out of its nose and mouth, defeated by its own confusion. Taking her chance, Opal threw the ball at the cindaquil and it was enveloped in light before being sucked into the ball. She anxiously waited for the pokeball to signal its capture.
A dull click and the pokemon was hers. Opal picked up the ball and stared at the now calm cindaquil just as the pidgey arrived to take them to ground level. "Boy, am I glad to see you," she said to the pidgey. Opal picked up Whispy and the pidgey lifted them off the roof and floated down to the ground where the old woman, a rescue team, and the scientist lady waited for them. "Piece of cake," she flashed them the peace sign as she touched the ground.
"You were great," the scientist applauded her. The man who stopped her before mumbled his accolades before returning to his team. With the capture of cindaquil, they were able to get the fire under control. "Thank you for saving the professor. I don't know what I could've done if you hadn't come by."
"Oh it was nothing," Opal blushed. "I'm Opal, by the way."
"I'm Maybell, the assistant," the scientist said. Opal remembered the cindaquil and handed her the pokeball. "Hmm, it seems to have calmed down now and he seems to like you. Hang on to him for me, will you?"
"Ok," she hesitatingly said. Then she saw the professor being put into an ambulance. "Is he going to be alright?"
"That hearty old bag of bones won't be killed by something like this," Maybell laughed. "They're taking him to the clinic in town before sending him to the hospital in Jonansre. You should come by when you have the chance. We should really reward you for all your help, but it'd be easier to do it over there rather than here."
"My dad's office is in Jonansre so I'll pay a visit," Opal excitedly said. It has been awhile since she last saw her dad and it would be great to pass by and see how he is doing.
"Great, I'll give you our address," Maybell quickly scribbled the address on a piece of paper she kept with her and handed it to her. "Our phone number is there too just in case you get lost. Well, I have to go with the professor. He can be a handful when it comes to hospitals. Take care of the cindaquil." Maybell entered the ambulance as the professor noisily complained about being strapped down. Alone, Opal was hounded by a team of reporters and several townspeople.
"Opal!" said a voice from behind her as she was tackled into a hug by her mother. "God, how you scare me sometimes when you do such dangerous stuff."
"But I'm alright, mom," she tried to say as her mother squeezed harder. Embarrassed at having so many people watching, she pushed her mom off her.
"And now look! You got me dirty with your face covered in ash." Her mom tried wiping the dirt off her shirt, but only succeeded in spreading it. "We should go home. We still have a lot of stuff in the truck that needs to be taken out and you need a bath now, young lady." As Opal was being dragged away, she apologized to the reporters who stood stunned.
Once home, Opal hurried to the bathroom after grabbing a towel her mother left lying around for her. She started undressing after turning on water to fill the tub. She realized she had a burn on her right forearm that stung like hell when she tried to take off her shirt. She released the two pokemon from their balls and examined the rest of her body for scratches and injuries she would have to dress after bathing.
Whispy jumped into the tub, causing a splash that angered the cindaquil. Opal bent down and dried the cindaquil. "That's right, fire and water don't mix, but you sure are a well mannered pokemon. Why did you go berserk back at the lab?"
Cindaquil cocked its head to the side and wobbled to the farthest corner from the tub. It was still suffering the effects of the supersonic and the blow Whispy hit it with. Opal entered the bathtub and played with the whismur. "Well, we should get comfortable for a bit. I've decided on going to Jonansre after we finish helping mom unpack. Maybe we will get to see dad at his new office." She poured some water over her head and watched the ash gather on the water's surface.
I wonder if he is thinking about us…