Chapter 1: They Live
Voices of the forest rang throughout the atmosphere, reassuring everyone that all was as it should be. Beads of moisture slithered down green chutes of grass as the newly woken sun stretched lazily into the sky, preparing to begin its daily trek through the blue substance. A sudden bang followed by a shout and an angry retort rang through the forest. The disturbance itself disrupted the morning's chorus for only an instant, it was the shouts that followed the noise what silenced the symphony, and the tension which followed the stillness stretched onward before more yelling met with the heavens. A sharp, crisp, slap pierced the fuzz of angry voices before peace settled and the singers nervously resumed where they had left off, once sure the commotion had passed.
A girl's soft footsteps trickled perfectly into the symphony of life as a young child sprinted through the forest, hardly needing to open eyes closed tight to her stubburn tears in order to travel this familiar path. It must have been fate, then, for her to stumble, having tripped over an upraised root. At least the wet grasses were more merciful than reality. She did not bother regaining her feet, preferring instead to wallow in her self-pity for just a moment longer. The child sniffled and choked back her millionth sob as she heard movement in the shadows behind her.
She tensed in anger at the thought that her tormentor would dare to follow her into her sanctuary, the forest. As quickly as the tsunami of fury had come it passed again as she realized that this was not the sound of Father coming to retrieve her, but of a slinking slithering ...thing. A large animal of some sort? The girl turned half-way 'round and screamed as she flipped on her back and used her elbows to crabwalk herself from the glowing red eyes that glared from within the shadows.
The child's breath hitched as pure terror flowed throughout her veins at the mere sight of the supernatural eyes in the shadows. Had it been any other day than today the girl would have had no problem suffocating to death from her fear. But today, she had had enough. Something within her youthful heart snapped and pure unadulterated rage poured out, and that emotion was all it took to harden her resolve. The tears she had been fighting as she ran finally broke free, only this time they were not sorrowful self-pitying tears, but drops of a quivering spitting venom that had been fermenting within her heart for months. The child rose to her feet and glared back at the eyes, which narrowed slightly in return.
"Go ahead! Eat me!" Screamed the enormously small child, "I swear I'll choke you on the way down!" The determined look on her face was enough to assure anyone that she meant every word of what escaped the raw torn thing that served as this girl's throat, and would not go down without a vicious fight. The dangerous glint left the predator's eye as it emerged slowly from the shadows, its long obsidian body decorated in gold as its slit pupils glided over the not-so-delicate morsel before it. Two enormous maroon fangs overlapped its bottom jaw and a matching sword-like tail-tip swished over the leaves as it came closer to its prey. It emitted a low hiss, an amused glint entering it's eyes. Slowly the child's still-simmering anger died away, this girl could now sense that the danger to her had passed.
"You're so…pretty…" purred the youth as she reached for the glistening hide of the serpent. Its eyes narrowed slightly once more, suspicious of what the filly was up to, but relaxed once it realized the human only wanted to feel.
Instead of dwelling on how undignified it would seem to have this sweaty filthy human's hands on his hide, the serpent reveled in the mood-shifts of this hatchling, and how easily she forgot her danger. Perhaps he should remind her? The serpent prepared to do just that, and he parted his jaws slightly, before the morsel surprised him yet again by drying her eyes and sniffling slightly to clear her nose.
"My name is Jasmine." She introduced. "Are you an Ekans? Or an Arbok?" The serpent hissed slightly, a little offended she would mistake him for such a mundane creature after the journey he had endured, and shook its head
Never had a prey item been able to intrigue and charm him before, but now it couldn't possibly eat this naïve yet firey enigma of a lass.
"Are you hungry? Why don't you come to my house, I'll find you something to eat." Jasmine gestured cutely and the serpent, curious, followed.
So began a friendship.
several Years Later...
"Class, tomorrow there will be a member of the top Pokemon Trainer's Elite Four visiting our school in honor of our founder, his great-great grandfather. Because of this you are all urged to bring your Pokemon in celebration." The teacher handed out the last of the worksheets in professional time, an instant before the bell rang. "Don't forget to research your reports and study your elements!"
Jasmine gathered her notebooks and stuffed them into her book-bag, placing her pencil in the holder at the side before lifting it over her shoulder and joining the rest of the heard as they pushed their way toward the exit.
'Like so many sheep'... Jasmine could not help but think, slightly disgusted. 'I wonder where the wolves got to.'
"Move it." Growled a particularly nasty but pretty and popular girl as she shoved passed the teen to join the rest of the flock, while Jasmine stood behind the wolf in sheeps clothing she kept her face neutral even as her insides seethed with a burning anger.
She nodded to several of her friends as they passed by in the hallway. They would smile or wave a one-finger salute in her direction as they brushed by.
As the traffic cleared the young woman exited and took the only dirt path near her school, not bothering to dodge the condescending looks that followed her on her way to work. The Mart was hardly ever busy, and no teenagers were caught dead even looking at the merchandise when there was an over-the-top and pricey pokemon shop down by the lake, it was all about style nowadays, and so accordingly most her classmates prefered the malls to the traditional and functional PokeMart
She didn't really mind the chink in her imaginary reputation. Working at the Poke Mart was really a good source of income and she loved the old man who ran the shop like a father. He would let her take tastey Poke Treats home to Seviper and sometimes she would even catch a Rattata or Raticate in the basement for him to eat. The best part though was that she was making enough to put some into savings and had finally saved enough to order a custom-made pokeball for Seviper. She was supposed to receive said poke ball today.
That meant she would ask Seviper to be her Pokemon Partner tonight.
Jasmine almost laughed out loud at the thought before a nervous twitch found its way into her stomach. "I feel like I'm proposing a marriage." Sighed the youth as she opened the shop-door and set her backpack on the counter as the bell twinkled to signal the door's close behind her.
"Jasmine? That you?" Walter's voice rasped from the back. "Jasmine! You're early as always. How's that snake of yours? Did he enjoy the Raticate we found?"
"Yes Walter, thank you. Did my Poke-ball come in?" Queried the young woman as she set her backpack behind the counter, donned an apron as a uniform, pulled up her long sleeves and armed herself with a feather duster to began her epic battle of dusting the shelves.
"As a matter of fact it did! Its in this box here!" He held up a jewelry-like box reminding the teenager ever more of the ring-box for an engagement ring. "I'll just put it in your back-pack."
"Thank you Walter…" The young woman finished up with the dusting and moved on to sweeping the floors. "How does this place get so filthy in one day?" Sighed the teenager as she swept the ridiculous amount of dirt into the pan.
"We're located on an unpaved road, whenever a costumer comes in they track about three pounds of dust in with them…but it gives us that nice homely look, doesn't it?" Walter got a sly look to his eye, "and it keeps you employed."
Jasmine chuckled slightly at this, unable and unwilling to deny the old man's words, before opening the door and empyting the dust-pan around the corner.
A sigh escaped Jasmine's lips as she watched the sun sink below the horizon; at least she did not have to stay at home all day with her insane father anymore. The young woman supressed an angry snort, that man was no father to anyone. Hardly even a gaurdian, really.
Soon enough her shift at the Poke Mart was over, Walter had gone home to spend the rest of the night with his wife and she had to lock up the store tightly before traversing the moonlit road to her house.
Jasmine was so wrapped up in her nervous thoughts that she failed to notice the shadow which had slid into her wake. she kicked at a pebble as she walked with her head bowed in contempation as the dark shade slithered ever closer behind her, two glowing red eyes regaurded the girl with mischevious intentions as she walked her familiar path. All at once it reared up and wrapped itself around the girl, causing her to scream slightly and fall to the ground in a fit of ticklish giggles.
"Viper!" Jasmine gasped, as she pushed the snake's head and tickling flickering tongue away from her. "What are you doing so close to work and shcool?" Even in the dark, you never knew when trainers were around that might try to capture him... he was still wild technically.
You were late. The serpent hissed gently in reply.
"You were worried." Grinned the teenager cheekily. The serpent scoffed but made no comment. Instead choosing to release her from his coils and slither beside his comrade His fangs glistened slightly with the powerful toxins that were always dripping slowly from the tips and all at once the young woman realized just how careful Seviper was with her. For she had seen those same fangs peirce jugulars and those same coils crush the life out of countless prey items. The thought was a sobering one, but also caused a strange warmth to spread over her chest. Had Seviper wished it, she would have been one of those countless prey items upon their first meeting. It was a horrifying and thrilling thought, Jasmine wondered what she had done to catch the interest of the serpent, and preserve her life in his eyes.
The pair entered the house without incident, cutting through the filth and straight to Jasmine's room. The young woman attempted to calm her fluttering heart as she groped for the box that contained the Pokeball. As her fingers closed around the heavy velvet box again Jasmine was reminded of a marrige proposal. The young woman then turned toward the Seviper and fell to one knee. 'May as well add some comic releif.' The snake shot her a strange but still amused look before she began.
She opened the box and in the light of the full moon the real obsidian shone and the golden plates danced with sparkles. The device was sealed with a maroon line that matched his tail and fangs perfectly and the middle was like his eye.
"Seviper," She began, blushing as she felt emberassing tears threatening to choke her, "I humbly propose that we become lifelong Partners, supporting and assisting one another till our very bitter ends." There was a pregnant pause where neither of them moved and Jasmine did not dare to breath, the serpent regaurded her and Jasmine could have sworn the snakes eyes were more glossy than usual with suppressed emotion as the serpent came forward and gently tapped his nose to the eye-like activation device. He was sucked into the ball with no struggle. Jasmine held the device to her chest as it shrank back down to its portable size. She enjoyed the pleasant buzz in her mind, while it informed her body that all was well. Her gaze fell to a black leather strap which had fallen halfway out of her backpack in her blind groping.
"A Pokeball holster!" Gasped the young lady as she lifted and inspected the high-quality item before she attatched the Pokeball to it and set it gently on her nightstand. "Thanks Walter." She murmmured with a soft smile before crawling into bed and falling fast asleep.
Morning.
Jasmine pried her eyes open at the sound of her radio alarm clock and immediately turned back over to go back to sleep, one arm groping lazily for the off-switch of the alarm clock and instead coming into contact with leather and a cold material. She drew her hand back as if it were burned, but immedietley sat up and seized the cold substances remembering the events of last night and smiling widely as a result. The young woman readied her school uniform before hopping into the shower and preparing herself for what was bound to be an entertaining day of school. Jasmine attatched the Pokeball holster to her jeans and shouldered her bag as she walked out the door and along the all too well known trail to school.
Jasmine arrived just before the bell and dogged her way through the excited murmurs of fellow teenagers, seating herself in the only remaining open chair in front of the 'wolf' from yesterday, which, due to her normally late arrival times, was her usual seat.
"I didn't know you had a Pokemon." The wolf-girl's voice was like nails on a chalkboard to the young woman with it's sickly sweet qualities. As if speaking to someone not of the popular crowd were something to loose face over she quickly added. "I didn't know they had Pokemon for losers."
Jasmine closed her ears to the annoying girl behind her, and ignored the twich she felt at her side, where Seviper was stirred awake by the rash words, keeping her eyes glued to the teacher who had dedicated today's session to educating the class on Pokemon elements and how to use the elements of individual pokemons to one's own advantage in a battle. Although Jasmine had been playing the pokemon videogames for years, and so already knew the basics, it wouldn't hurt to listen. She felt better, calmer, and more centered just having Seviper near.
"Wow, look its got gold plates on it! Its really pretty." One of the less bitch-like girls gushed.
"I'll bet its not even real gold, the thing's probably empty and made out of plastic." Giggled the one behind her. "Or even worse, it's a Magikarp." Again the chortling of her voice met Jasmine's ears and she tensed, closing her eyes again to get her mind and sudden anger under control.
"Jasmine, would you come to the front of the class please, since you obviously know enough of these elements to sleep through them." The teacher's words caused her to open her eyes and heave a long-sffering sigh, raising from her desk Jasmine walked through the field of students, some sympathetic some mocking and others neutral. "Ah, I see you have a Pokemon, what is it's element?" The teacher's eyes glinted, she was not above humiliating a student into paying attention.
"Poison, Ma'am." Replied the young woman, causing the teacher to frown. Had the teacher seriously thought she would not know the element of her own partner? How ridiculous. Anyone who did not know the element of their Pokemon was not meant to be a trainer.
"Name the strengths and weaknesses of the poison element." The teachers eyes bore into her's and Jasmine sighed, really, she had read, re-read, played and re-played through all of this information way before she dared to ask Seviper to remain by her side.
"Poison's attack is strong against grass-type pokemon, poison's defense is strong against fighting-type moves, poison's attack is useless against steel-type pokemon, poisons defense is extremely weak against ground and psychic-type moves." Jasmine's eyes locked with her teacher's and fought the urge to smirk at the teachers dissapointed scowl.
"Very good. You have been paying attention." The teacher stated, even though they had not covered any but the basic elements of Fire, Grass and Water. "Tell me, would your poison type come out victorious against a Machop?" Something about the woman's tone made Jasmine nervous, and so she bit back her automatic retort of 'yes' and decided on a less commiting answer.
"It would depend on the Pokemon's expertise in battling." Jasmine evaded.
"I see…you may return to your seat." The teacher was clearly still dissapointed whcih meant that she had dodged a huge bullet. Jasmine obliged, refusing to dodge the quirked eyebrows that followed her or the whisper of 'what a pokemon nerd' from one nasty girl in particular.
Before long the bell rang for lunch break and Jasmine packed her bag and took it with her out to the campus where many of her class-mates were releasing their Pokemon to show off. The majority owned Rattata and Pidgey. Some had tougher pokemon such as Pidgeotto and Raticate. A few had Poliwag and Poliwhirl one even had Poliwrath, though the beast would not listen to the young man. Koffing and Weezing made some apperances, and one group was composed entirely of Ekans and Arbok owners.
She stopped suddenly as she saw a very attractive young man caught her gaze. He was definatley too old to be in high school but not too old to be attractive to high school girls. His dark hair stood straight up and defied gravity and he wore a tight black outfit with a dramatic cape. She assumed he was Lance and he was in deep conversation with the principle his eyes trained interestedly on the pokemon and the battles going on.
"Jasmine!" Called Courtney one of her long-time friends from elementary school. Her attention was broken and she turned before she smiled and embraced the hyperactive girl with one arm while looking down at her leg.
"Wow I never took you for a Growlithe lover. He's beautiful." Jasmine complimented and the dog puffed-out his chest proudly.
"His name is Puppers!" The girl replied as she petted him, "Oops I have to go Corey wanted me to battle against his Charmander! Wish me luck!" She was gone as soon as she had appeared and Jasmine was left alone with Viper. She glanced hopefully only to deflate as the hot hunk of man-flesh was found to be gone.
Mmmm snacks... She heard Seviper hiss from within his pokeball, and she could not help but smirk. The obsidian ball at her hip twitched slightly and the grin quickly dissipated as she shook her head, Seviper wanted to show off, but she would have none of it. Attention was not something she was keen on attracting, especially not the attention of... Oh god too late, that wolf-bitch was already comming towards her.
"Jasmine, why don't you send you're Pokemon out?" Queried the voice she wanted most to avoid. The teen turned halfway 'round spying the nasty girl with the overly-smug Pidgeotto at her side. "I have a better idea, why don't we have a battle? That is, unless you're too afraid. I won't blame you." The Pokeball twitched once more, drawing attention to it.
"Fine." 'if nobody else is going to stand up to her…I suppose I'll have to.' Jasmine disattatched the Pokeball with one hand and pressed the activation device expanding the specially developed obsidian.
"Pidgy-Pie get out there and make me proud!" The Pidgeotto flew to land just beyond its partner, while Jasmine threw the specially made Pokeball into the air, releasing a jet black shadow that solidified into Seviper. He hissed menacingly and reared up to intimidate the enemy, the pidgeotto chirped and cowared, beginning to back off. "Pidgy-Pie, fight!" The slightly nervous voice of the enemy growled. "Tackle that overgrown worm!"
Jasmine watched as the bird flew at her partner, her mind reeling, this was her first real battle ever. She knew she had to say something, to command Seviper as the bird dove at him again and again, barely missing him one dive only to slice open a gash on his side another time as seviper writhed in awkward angles to avoid the attacks. Her heart clenched as she watched the quick bird injure her comrade. Finally Jasmine recalled one of the TM moves she had offered Seviper last year and steeled herself.
"Seviper, sludge bomb!" Exclaimed Jasmine at last, earning a grin from the serpent as it's crimson fangs began to drip a sickly purple substance before the venom was expelled from the mouth and came into contact with the Pideotto's eyes, spreading to cover its feathers and bring it to the ground, there it struggled vainly only to stick as if glued. The serpent hissed his satisfaction and returned to his partner, who put her arm around him proudly. "You did good Seviper." Grinned the teen as she watched her opponent recall her Pigeotto and shuffle off to the girl's bathroom to sulk.
"Oh wow! I tried to catch one of those last month but it was totally out of my league" One of the Ekans owners came over with his snake, to make conversation.
"That is a Seviper, if I am not mistaken." A rich voice broke into the conversation. Jasmines heart clenched for an entirely different reason as she turned to see Lance. A blush slowly began to spread over her cheeks. "Excuse me, I saw your Pokemon's magnificent performance! Not bad for a beginner!" The dragon tamer shook hands with the Ekans owner, eyeing Seviper with admiration. The serpent seemed to scoff before wrapping protectively around the girl he had come to call a friend.
"Tha-Thank you sir! But it's not mine." The snake keeper gestured to Jasmine whom had her hand wrapped around the serpents fang, checking it for god knows what as casually as if she were walking home from school. Really the girl was trying to distract herself from the member of the elite four. The man did a double-take and shook his head in wonder as he made his way toward Jasmine. Seviper hissed warningly as the stranger came close, he didn't like the smell Jasmine put off whenever she caught sight of him, his slit eyes narrowing and preparing to deliver a paralyzing glare. Jasmine quirked an eyebrow at the serpent before turning to face the "enemy".
"Hello! Please allow me to introduce myself." The man bowed to the young Trainer politely, and Seviper relaxed slightly at the, in his mind, submissive display. "I am Lance. And might I have your name?" She had to bite back a humiliatingly girlish giggle at his suave approach.
"Jasmine." The young teen felt her cheeks begin to flush even more deeply at the handsome Elite four member, the serpent flicked his tongue in her direction and rolled his eyes at the level of pharmone she was outputting, but hung back. If his trainer wanted to make a fool of herself, he would not stop her, indeed he would actually enjoy seeing her flustered, it was always quite entertaining.
"Jasmine! And tell me, where did a nice young lady like you learn to control such a riley Pokemon?" The gentleman seemed genuinely interested, causing Jasmine's breath to almost catch as she barely avoided breaking down in hysterical giggles. Finally grabing ahold of her self Jasmine replied.
"He found me in the forest a few years ago." The flush in her cheeks began rising as the handsome tall man leaned closer to take her hand. Seviper, while thouroughly amused, would have none of that, however, and threw his body in front of his Trainer's, hissing angrily at Lance and successfully backing him off. Though Jasmine did not see it, a calculating spark had entered the eyes of the young man and he grinned at his own internal secret.
"Seviper! That behavior is uncalled for!" The snake backed off and lifted his head, snorting unconcernedly. She knew better than to ask for an apology from the snake, that snort would be the closest thing the guy would get. "I'm sorry." She said on the snakes behalf, "I don't know what his problem is." Lance waved it aside.
"It's a pleasure to meet the both of you." Smiled the older Trainer with a twinkle of something mysterious in his eyes as he turned to take his leave, seeing him prepare to walk away Jasmine thought she felt her heart start to break. "Oh! I almost forgot," She caught her breath in her throat hopefully as she leaned forward expectantly. The man fished around in his cloak for a moment before pulling out a coupon.
Jasmine blinked in dissapointed confusion at the paper once she realized it did not, in fact, have his number on it.
"Go to the address listed on the back and show the owner this paper, he'll supply you with the necessities you need in order to become a true Trainer." The Elite four Champion winked at Jasmine before heading out, leaving a tremulous duo in his wake.
Home
"It would be a relief to leave this place…" The teen admitted as she gazed around the shack. "And I'm sure father wont mind…" She ignored the sarcastic grunt this severe understatement elicited from her companion and reclined against her bed, Seviper coiled around her for warmth and comfort. "But there will be points I'll miss…" She gazed longingly at the mirror upon which photos of her school friends and pictures of days long past with her parents resided.
'Take them with you' Offered the serpent, who's eyes had followed hers, but the young woman shook her head but seemed to get an idea.
"Maybe I will take some of them, but other ones will just remind me of what I never had. And I would rather enjoy what I do have, like a beautiful, strong, intelligent and loving partner, than spoil it with what could have been if someone I barely remember hadn't died." The young woman fingered the obsidian pokemon next to her lovlingly, enjoying the feel of his scales beneith her fingers. She reached onto her nightstand and withdrew the pokeball and holster "This is the only material I need, this, and maybe some money and food too i suppose. It would be nice to get a phone to call my friends but I don't have the money for that." She tossed a half-smile Seviper's way before rising to a sitting position. "But what about Walter? I'll miss him terribly." She frowned.
'And I shall miss his snacks. We…do not have to go, if you so wish.' The serpent did not sound so thrilled to stay, indeed he seemed almost pained to make that offer, but she knew he would keep his word and do it for her. A wave of guilt crashed over the youth as she recalled all the sacrifices Seviper had gone through for her. It was time for her to make some sacrifices on his behalf, and the first one would be saying goodbye to the few things she had come to hold near and dear, just as he had done to the freedom he had so loved.
"I won't keep you from this Seviper, I will go." The two shared a smile and embrace before the packing began, and, soon after, the journey.