A/N: This chapter tells of the partner, Piki, 's story. When I wrote about the relic fragment and how it made Piki think, I thought about a short story I recently read back at Canalave City's Library. I think it was called Veilstone's Myth, but at the last part when it said something like, "...the Pokemon disappeared to a place beyond seeing...". I figured that that "place" that the book was talking about was the land that only Pokemon inhabited, so it kinda made sense to how it got connected. Also, I'm kinda confused of how the dialouge settings should be, like when they talk, how should I put it so it doesn't strain your eyes? Is the way of how I do it okay? It would really help if I got some critisim on that. Anyway, hope you enjoy!
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It was a peaceful morning; the sky had its usual cheery blue, the clouds added an extra bright atmosphere, and of course, the sun was elegantly radiating its beams, stretching miles and miles away. Nestled under the sunlight was a hollow tree, which was home to two Raichus, one Pikachu, and three Pichus.
"Hey, Big Brother," began one of the Pichus.
The Pikachu sighed. "Sparky, please. Just call me Piki."
"Right." She nodded. "Anyway, Piki, why are you making a list?"
Oh, Arceus. he thought. How many times do I have to explain it to all three of them?
"Because, I'm going to start an exploration team," he replied, sighing. "And I'm going to move closer to Treasure Town, where Wigglytuff's Guild is."
"Where'll you be staying at?"
"Where Grampa and Gramma used to live: Sharpedo Bluff. Mom and Dad said I'm old enough to live there on my own."
Sparky grew angry, thunderbolts flying from her tiny cheeks. Right when it seemed she was going to release them, she broke down, wailing. Tears cascaded down her covered face, and her ears began to quiver.
Piki was shocked. His tomboy of a sister barely cried. She didn't shed a single tear when Gramma and Grampa died; she just turned her head to the side with a deep frown on her face while everyone cried their eyes out. And now she was unable to stop gasping and screaming.
"H-Hey, calm down," he whispered, trying to soothe her. "You don't want anyone else to see you like this, right?"
When she was only whimpering, he stopped. "Why're you crying sis?"
"I...I don't want you to... to... to GO!!!" With that, she started the waterworks again.
He sighed heavily. Of course she didn't want him to go. He was her favorite brother, the one she admired and looked up to for everything.
"Sparky." She looked up at him, still sniffling. "How 'bout I promise you something?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "When you're old enough, I'll let you be a part of my exploration team. How's that?"
She gasped. "R-Really? You'll do that for me bro?"
He smiled at her. "Why not?"
All signs of previous tears instantly vanished, and the little Pichu rushed out of the room to rub her new prize into the other two's faces. Piki stiffened, knowing that sooner or later, the other two would run up to his room and plead for them to be in his team, too. Oh Arceus! He didn't even officially start yet! And now he had to promise to let them all be on his team... Sure enough, the sound of little feet padded up the stairs, headed for his direction. He quickly dove for the door and locked it.
"Piki! Piki! Please, oh please let me be in your exploration team!" his sister, Lumina, the girlier one, called sweetly.
"Heck no! Come on Pik! Let me come with you! I'm gonna be the only boy in this place!" his brother, Thunder, wailed.
"Nuh-uh! Daddy's gonna be here!" Lumina reproved him angrily.
"So? It's three against two! It's still not fair!" he retorted back.
"You callin' me a sissy, Thunder?" Sparky harshly interjected.
"Stay outta this Sparky!"
"Why? Cause you're too much of a Whismur to argue with me? "
"Sparky, seriously. Stay out of this!"
"Why? Huh? Is it because I'm in Big Brother's exploration team, and you're not?"
"SHUT UP SPARKY!!!"
"Fine, fine... I'm going downstairs anyways."
"Finally! Anywho, Thunder. I'm gonna be in Piki's exploration team!"
"Why should you? You're too scared to even fight Sparky at our training school!"
"That's be-CAUSE Sparky's my sister!"
"More like you're too scared that our lil sis is gonna whoop ya."
"Why you little..."
Piki just droned out their vicious name-calling and made sure he had thought of everything. Some Apples? Check. Some water? Check. Some Berries? Check. Everything was set, but it wouldn't help to just sit around and wait for the time to come, so he stepped outside, told both Pichus to train harder if they wanted to join the exploration team ("Why did you let Sparky in if she doesn't train as much as we do?"), and headed for the beach.
The beach was a lovely place, with Starlys, Staravias, and Staraptors soaring overhead, the sand glistening like diamonds in the sun's glow, and tiny seashells dotting the place, which a Jigglypuff and a Smoochum collected. Piki waved briefly to them and started walking along the shoreline, waves gently washing over his feet. He kept his eyes glued to the waves, in case they might sweep up any interesting rocks or minerals that he could add to his collection.
Collecting interesting things was one of his hobbies besides battling his siblings and visiting some of his acquaintances over in the nearby town. His father had been the one who started him off with a Thunderstone that washed up on the beach, even though he couldn't exactly keep it.
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Piki sat on a stone on a hill a fair distance away from the beach. His parents were talking to some of their old friends, which left him nothing to do. There were no other young Pokemon collecting shells or playing in the water, despite the gorgeous weather. He sighed loudly, hoping to get one of his parent's attention. His father noticed it and headed over to him.
"Hey, Piki. What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.
The Pichu let out another sigh. "Why couldn't I stay home with Gramma and the new twin babies?"
"You mean Thunder and Lumina?" He nodded. His father seemed to think hard as his gaze drifted from his son to the sea. Suddenly, it hit him.
"Hey, have you ever heard of collecting rocks?" he asked. Piki instinctively alerted, shaking his head slowly. His father smiled. "Well, come on then."
He watched his dad splash in the water, ducking his head momentarily, and surfacing with a bright yellow stone. "Wow, Dad! What IS that?"
His father chuckled, handing him the stone. "This is a Thunderstone... It lets Thunder type Pokemon evelove." Piki looked at his father in disbelief. All his life he trained hard just to be able to evelove into a Pikachu. Now he discovered a way to evolve quickly. He grabbed the stone eagerly. First, he felt kind of a sharp pang inside of him, which caused him to clutch his head in pain. Then, he felt tingly, the lingering pang all gone. Lastly, he saw his hands and body glowing and feeling as light as a feather. Before he knew it, he evolved!
His dad looked at him proudly with a hint of sadness. "Congrats, sport. You're grown up! Too bad you couldn't keep the stone though."
Piki smiled back at him. "Aw, it doesn't matter! I'll just find another one, so I can evolve into a Raichu! Just like you and Mom!"
His dad's expression turned completely serious. "Sorry, kiddo. You can't just get one and expect to evolve. You gotta meet the specific needs, like a higher level, or sometimes, you need a specific object with you to evolve. For example, a Riolu needs to hold a Sun Stone in order to evolve into a Lucario."
Piki's ears drooped. Why when his hopes were high they always had to be crushed? His dad took notice and gently said to him, "Hey, being a Pikachu isn't all that bad. The Thunderstone was your official first rock, but hey, here's an Everstone." He handed him a ordinary-looking rock conveniently lying around.
Piki glanced up at his father suspiciously. "Are you sure? It doesn't look like any evolution stone."
"Trust me. It'll prevent you from evolving. And the best part is, it doesn't disappear, because as long as you have it, you won't evolve."
Piki sighed. "But I WANT to evolve."
"Just keep it, Piki. We're helping you start your collection, remember?"
"Right."
With that, his father left him searching the sand and water for any interesting things. Unfortuantely, he couldn't find anything else, so he returned home with only the Everstone. His father smiled at him, ruffling the top of his head. He told him not to worry, because everyday is new and so is his collection.
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Piki got bored of depending on the waves for something interesting, so he snooped around the sand to see if anything was there. Not long after, he heard voices, but he figured that there were other Pokemon, or he was just hallucinating from the crazy heat. He didn't mind them at first, but later on, it seemed to grow louder and louder. He stuck his ears up, but when he detected them, it sounded like they were coming from underground. For a second, he wanted to just run away from that very spot. He hated things to do with scary stuff, which was why his siblings and acquaintances occasionally called him a chicken. But the real reason why he was "chicken" was because he didn't want to get involved in something that caused big troubled. His parents told him enough stories about world-ending, life-threatening predicaments to get him chilled to the core.
He just wanted to turn away right now and pretend that this really was just a hallucination. Unfortunately, his curiosity always got the better of him, so he slowly reached into the sand, half expecting something or someone to pull him down, and yanked out an eerily beautiful carved stone. He tilted it up to the sunlight, and all of a sudden, it flashed a quick rainbow streak. Startled, he flung it back, before running back up to it to again. He pressed his ear close to it and heard a voice...
"Is that really you? ...Kinda empty, actually... I really miss... Don't be so hard on yourself..."
He quickly jerked it away. The voice sounded like it belonged to a female, a sad female to be exact. She sounded like she really did missed someone, but the last phrase sounded faint, like she was thinking it.
Something confused him though. Yes, the voice was feminine, but it somehow didn't sound like it belonged to a Pokemon... Could it...? He shook his head. They were just myths. Myths that said they lived on another world, maybe even another dimension! But those creatures were said to be cruel, slaughtering their ancestors when they both lived in the same world. ...But it only said a young man did it, so it could mean that that one man did it himself, not the others of his kind. Perhaps, they weren't as vicious as they were claimed to be...
"Piki! Piki! Piki!" He heard his brother and sisters shouting for him. "Time for dinner!" He smiled and waved to them. Along the way home, Thunder and Lumina tried once again to convince him to let them be on his exploration team, but he only listened half-heartedly, curious about the girl that the voice belonged to. Every time he stared at the relic that he kept hidden from his siblings, he couldn't help thinking: This is the most interesting addition to my collection. As the sun faded, the light caused him to look up to see the glorious sunset, but instead was met with the most elegant and enormous rainbow, mixed in with the enchanting hues of the evening: a creamy orange, a soft hint of blue, and a vivid array of different shades of purple. The colors seemed to swirl and dance over the center masterpiece which was the incandescent setting sun. For that moment, all the talking ceased, and all they could do was let themselves be paralyzed by nature's true beauty.
After a while, they watched with fascination as the rainbow began to dissolve with the sun, leaving in its place a midnight blue with plenty of stars scattered across its infinite surface. "Wow," whispered Lumina. "That was definitely amazing..." Thunder only stood there, mouth agape, nodding in agreement. Sparky was clinging onto Piki's arm, her eyes closed and mouth smiling in a dreamy manner. Piki himself was replaying the image in his head, knowing that he would probably never see anything ever as extraordinary as it ever again.
His thoughts drifted back to the relic. He wondered if it was the cause of the unusual beauty. He looked at it again. In the dark, it looked just like any other rock, but the carving's pattern was a bit darker, so he could still see it. He loosened his arm from Sparky, who ended up lying on the floor with the other two, who now had their eyes closed. His glanced at them to make sure they were still there and hid in a nearby bush. He pressed his ear near the stone again, but he heard nothing. Maybe it has something to do with light, he thought. He wanted to hear the voice again so he could do some experiments.
With a shrug, he went back to where his siblings were and nudged them. They opened their eyes and gasped in horror at how dark it was. Piki reassured them that they hadn't missed dinner, but the thought of it drove them to run as fast as they could.
That night, Piki flipped and flopped restlessly. Sighing, he heaved himself up and went over to look at the relic again. He raised it against the moonlight hoping it would trigger the voice again. He laid rock against his ear again and waited. Still nothing, but he thought he could make out a soft breathing in the background. He thought it was just Lumina's soft snoring next door, so he sighed again and went back to bed. Tomorrow, he would do some serious detective work.