ChapterOne;;
She'll prove you wrong just wait and see;
Her name will sparkle in the lights for everyone to see
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Danika Hayner's eyes flickered off the blurred vision of the rapidly passing world to look at the scrunched up sheet of paper that had hit her head and landed on her lap. A soft sigh escaped her vaguely parted lips as she straightened out the sheet that had one word scribbled across it in a messy bold print. She could predict it, and her theories were correct, 'loser!'. Several unintelligible words were muttered under her breath before she let the page slid onto the dirty floor of the old bus. In a few moments it disappeared under her seat because of a sudden jerk, and the loud squeaky brakes sounded, signalling that their means of transportation had stopped. She ignored the several cries of her name, evidently going to throw something at her face when she turned around. She just wanted this stupid history trip to be over; looking through the ancient burnt down Cinnabar Mansion from several hundred years ago. What of interest could possibly be in the decrepit building, the only things that linger within the ruined construction are fire type Pokémon, that's about it, everyone thought.
She completely tuned out to what the teacher was saying, or the tourist guide, since they were just babbling randomly about the history of the mansion, and what made it so famous, so basically how it got burnt down. She didn't care, either way she'd fail the test, she was far from intelligent. She was a dork, and didn't need to be told it, it was general knowledge. She trudged miserably at the very back of the group of her classmates as they were led through the massive building. Her mind refused to listen, and ended up wandering elsewhere, making her focus on alternate topics then the current one. Then something caught her eyes, and they flickered over towards a peculiar shaped shadow. She expected it to be a Pokémon, but out of all the ones she anticipated, the creature that appeared was a little pink blob with a mischievous grin plastered across it's disjointed face, and it's tiny beady black eyes bore into her.
Its gaze seemed to penetrate through her brain, taking control of her body and making her immobile. She couldn't even find the strength to open her mouth, and she watched in despair as the crowd of people just wandered off to another room, her disappearance going unnoticed. Then, without realising, she began to walk, but not in the direction she wanted to go, but the direction the pink splodge wanted her to. Even through her best attempts to crane her neck, she soon lost sight of the door her classmates had gone through, so instead took in her newest surroundings. A distinct sign caught her eye, Danger Ahead it read. She struggled against the force, not wanting to get into trouble, but was obligated to go regardless.
But it wasn't forcing her to go; it was her own strength of mind. Curiosity tugged her along, luring her where fate ordered, taking steps where destiny had laid. Her mind was screaming at her to stop following the peculiar creature and go back to the boring history trip, but her body had other ideas, and her legs refused to change course. A little bit of excitement is what she really wanted, being constantly the quiet girl in the corner who tried to stay out of everyone's way – failing every time. But was really following the mysterious creature she'd never seen before. She couldn't recall noticing it in any of her books either, or in any pictures.
She focused back into reality, allowing herself to walk absently, coming to the conclusion an invisible force was pulling her along generated from the thing she assumed was some species of Pokémon. Her eyes flickered nervously over her surrounds; they were nothing like the revamped rooms that the guide had brought them around. The ground was charred, revealing holes in several places with excess floorboards broken and hanging into the darkened depths. What would be considered valuable monuments were scorched and partially black where vibrant colourful patterns would have been. Some wooden beams hung loosely off the ceiling, giving the threatening idea that the whole room may collapse and obliterate any unfortunate soul who would be walking there. Furniture that was once there were just heaps of worn fabric lay in singed masses. The only given light was the small amount that managed to seep through slits that opened up to the outside, or a glow of an overly thin piece of the ancient wooden walls that glowed and faintly illuminated the room.
Suddenly, the creature stopped, making her stop unless she wanted to trip over the it. It had formatted chubby arms from its liquefied self and appeared to be pointed towards something. Danika blinked a the circular object on the ground, shrouded in black particles. She bent down, scooping what resembled a medallion into her frail hands. The cool metal of the chain slipped along her fingers, whilst the pendant rested on her palm as she examined it, identifying the symbol as the yin yang. She dusted the soot off it, fully revealing the undamaged gemstones that had been concealed behind. She looked back down at the creature that had led her to this unfamiliar room, but to her surprise and anxiety, it was gone. She faltered in her panic, twirling around and stumbling over her feet. The accessory slipped out of her hand, bouncing across the floor several times before resting. Quickly, she went to look if its beauty had been tainted, but thankfully, it remained in its same state.
She twirled it round, so the back of the medallion was facing her. Fascination glimmered in her eyes, having temporarily forgotten her predicament, as she rubbed off more of the dirt that had gathered over the years. She realised there was a message, an etching, which she couldn't fully make out. Frantically she continued to wipe away excess filth that made her vision falter, but regardless of her speedy polishing it still took a while. She was forced to chip various specks away with her bitten stub for a nail. A grin flashed across her nicely tanned face, which was natural on Cinnabar Island where the sun constantly beat down. Contented that she'd made it clear enough to see, she focused her eyes intently on the tiny engraved script, desperate to make it out.
'Never died but as one yet reborn as two, one knowing whilst the other discovering.'
She didn't quite know how to react, instead just staring blankly at the engraved text that she seemed to be able to make out perfectly and easily now that she knew what it said. She remembered hearing something mentioned about this mansion from the short period of time she tuned into the lesson. The legendary fire elemental warrior, Zakai had turned against and eliminated the other three of water, earth and air. He had the war beaten, easily conquered all of Kanto, then disappeared into this mansion. He never came out, and both sides ceased from obliterating each other upon realising they had no one to guide them once either had gained their own. It was as if the raging war was forgotten, and soon enough the people set back into their friendly olds ways of life. Nobody ever found any trace of his body, and they would be long since gone at this stage, but it always remained a mystery. His supposed father was found dead, and most of the mansion burnt. Most of the rooms were subtly reconstructed for tourists, but some were damaged beyond and form of blatant repairs, so instead they were left aside, with no one allowed to enter because they were classed as hazardous.
Her finger drifted over the indented writing whilst she attempted to decipher whatever it meant. Another question kept coming up though, that was constantly diverting her thoughts to frustration. Why had that creature led her here to discover the piece of jewellery? She couldn't think though, managing to develop a headache. She instead debated whether or not to take it, wondering if it would be considered stealing, or an offence to whatever occurred those many years ago that managed to bring the region to peace. She almost did replace it back to where she had found it, but a tiny buzz at the back of her mind resulted in her slipping it into her pocket without really thinking. She still wasn't thinking when she glanced around the remnants of the room and heading back the way she had come.
Retracing her footsteps was a task in itself, having not been focusing when she had been following the creature, merely attempting to work out what it was. She knew when she was where she was supposed to be, noticing the drastically different interior and the extreme increase of light that forced her to shade her eyes briefly, even if it was only a miniscule amount that seeped through the pathetic lights which were dotted around the rooms. From there she dithered on what she should do, but the choice was unnecessary as moments later her classmates appeared, and was being deafened by her teacher who looked rather tempted to punish her physically if it hadn't been illegal, or if the tour guide hadn't still been around. She still didn't listen for the remainder of the tour, finding it difficult, and feeling that everything around was so fake after witnessing the real results of the fire years ago under all of the renovations. The bus ride home was much quieter then the coming one, everyone being rather tired and just chattered quietly amongst themselves whilst she simply huddled into the corner of a seat on her own.
She mumbled a barely audible thanks to the bus driver when it stopped across the road from her house and she climbed off. As soon as she stepped off the vehicle the doors slid shut and it drove off, leaving her coughing in a plume of smoke that had been filtered out from the exhaust pipe that stuck out at the back. She stiffened, clearing her throat of the foul gas before walking up the drive to the small house that was the residence of her parents. They didn't want her there, and if they could they'd be rid of her, but the risks of being caught and the consequences purely weren't worth it. She knew what had happened – she had been an accident, an unexpected life that would join the world, and be a waste to humanity. They wanted nothing to do to her, and she feigned the same attitude, although she would prefer to have nothing more then to feel the love of someone else, and to be cared for by another creature.
There came no reply when she stepped into the house, and she didn't announce she was home like most. This was normal, having nobody there to welcome her back and talk to her about the trip, and she personally didn't know any better. It was a regular routine of her coming home and being ignored unless she did something wrong, in which case she'd be screamed at and punished, and then she'd go and lock herself in her room, coming down several hours later for something to eat. They didn't eat together as a family, and she preferred it like that. Her parents scared her, their presence menacing, and whenever she was even in the same room as then she stiffened and was afraid they'd even hit her if she breathed. So she'd normally hurry up to her room, her light body barely making any noise as her feet touched the creaky timber that constructed the stairs. From their, unlike any normal child who would simply locate a bedroom and walk in, she'd instead search for a removable square in the ceiling which revealed a hole and a ladder that slid down. Then she'd quickly scramble up the ladder, pull it back into the attic which was her equivalent of a bedroom and fix floor so the hole was somewhat unnoticeable.
Not this time though, for when she was about to set out on her miniature trek to her bedroom, to her surprise her mother appeared, and fear suddenly engulfed her. Had the school already managed to inform her of her little disappearing act? One of her feet shuffled slightly, in case she'd have to make a break for it to avoid a beating, but her mother didn't move. The tanned face which was so similar to Danika's remained impassive, giving no hint to what emotion she was feeling. Her dark eyes just bored into her daughter's topaz ones, which was inherited from neither of her parents, as her dad had eyes that flashed the colour of emerald gemstones. In fact, she didn't look a thing like her parents. Her hair was poker straight strawberry blonde, unlike her mother's jet black unnaturally straight hair and her father's brunette coloured curly, almost afro like hair. She was thinner then both her parents, which may have something to do with the lack of food, but also had a thinner frame, and a much smaller waist then her mother. Her face was more angular, whilst her dad's seemed square like and her mother's oval shaped one. She was never compared to her father though, considering he was supposedly dead, after disappearing off the face of the earth – seemingly literally.
"Um, hi Mum." Danika muttered in a voice which could just barely be picked up by even her mother's sharp ears.
The woman blinked and seemed to focus into reality, as if she hadn't even acknowledged her own daughter's presence. "Oh yes, there you are." her peculiarly shrill voice sounded. Her mother's behaviour didn't shock Danika, as it was common that her parents would simply see right through her, as if she were just insignificant remnants of dirt wafting in the air. And for a while, she believed she was. "On that little trip of yours did you happen to come across something? Like a necklace maybe?"
Impulsively, she almost actually made her hand dive straight into her pocket, misunderstanding it as a statement than a question. She paused though, so only her finger twitched ever so slightly as her mind processed what had been said. She doesn't know, she told herself silently, I don't have to give it to her. She knew the consequences of the household for lying, and she weighed the odds of risking another beating. Was it really worth it? She didn't know, but the item looked valuable, and she a small voice chided at the back of her mind, ordering her to keep it a secret. A secret, something she had never had the chance to have, something she possessed that nobody else knew about. Something secretive that nobody could take away from her. There was the voice again, screaming at her, something she could only faintly make out; something that could change the world. That was enough from her conscience to convince her.
"No," she began carefully, trusting herself not to slip up. "We just looked through the rooms they had fixed up. If there had been anything there, they would have taken it away anyway." She mentally cursed herself, having made it too much that the thought would be absurd. Her mother would definitely suspect something now. She always did at any minor slip up at the word, or get it spot on.
Mrs. Hayner was eyeing her daughter warily, scrutinizing over her ominously, her dark eyes tainted with disbelief. "Liar." she spat, picking out the untruths from her face, her slightly stammered breath, and her eyes which glazed over with fear upon being discovered. She especially knew then, for she had been testing her seconds before. She held out her hand, palm up, expecting the item to be put into her hold. "Now." she growled simply through gritted teeth, resisting the urge to annihilate her daughter right then and there.
Danika panicked again, but knew well enough that if she admitted to having it her cover would be completely blown. So she decided to stay with she had said, quickly stuttered out, "I-I don't-t ha-have i-it." She backed up slightly when she saw her mother advance towards her, her clenched fists cracking softly under the tension and strain. Her eyes widened and she knew she was about to be beaten, so she pulled her hands up in a desperate attempt to protect herself from any damage. She listened to the old woman screaming at her, saying something she couldn't decipher. She was practically deafened by the unnatural high pitch, shriller than even the screeching sounds she'd heard someone at her school's Zubat make. The sound of several of the glasses in the cupboard shattering could faintly be heard over the noise. The rough strikes from the woman left her feeling numb, but she held her ground, realising that the creature could have chosen anyone to find the medallion, and since it chose her it must have some significance for her. And why else would her mother want it? It means something, and that something must be something very special.
The strikes did begin to weaken – eventually. She had been having this type of treatment since she was young, she was bound to have some form of resistance against it. She never dared strike back though, or report them for child abuse. Her mother was tiring though, after all, she can only keep it up for so long, everyone wears down. She cracked open one eye that had managed to avoid most of the damage to peer at her mother who glared back angrily, and then began shouting once more, send out a flurry of wonderfully colourful vocabulary that made her daughter flinch each time without fail. She was beginning to feel slightly dizzy actually, her mother usually didn't attack so ferociously. Usually just a few punches and kicks and it was over, but she was in full attacking mode now. She shielded her face from the series or consecutive that were definitely going to leave a mark. Her common sense was ordering her to give up the pendant, whilst that tiny voice at the back of her mind commanded her to do the contrary. Whilst trying to separate the best thing to do from the worst, she didn't notice her vision beginning to fade into a series of blurred red dots.
The last thing she heard was the deafening sound of wall being smashed beside her, and she vaguely felt piercing glass slice through her numb skin. A shrill scream was swiftly added to that, and then her senses went into automatic shutdown and everything faded into insignificance. Before she knew it, nothing mattered anymore, and she felt herself falling into a void of her on consciousness, forever falling into a pit of darkness.
Black.
