Chapter 1: They call it home.
…
It has been a week. Why are they appearing just now, looking for me? What do they want now? Thanks to them, now he knows my secret, it's all over now. It is my fault, I should've never come here. I will fix this, though, none of this people deserve this punishment. I am not crazy, I know the true power of this object.
I hear her voice, in my dreams, thanks to the stone… Thanks to her, I know. I am not a normal Pokémon, no. I have a name, a unique name. I am the light that will save all these people.
But then, who is the darkness? I must seek the answer to this question. The faster, the better. I won't hesitate to end its life, if it's necessary. It's my destiny.
The moment came for the two of them to enter the Guild. Chikorita gulped upon seeing the entrance to such place, looking at Buneary, who was completely calm about it. Upon walking near the entrance, they noticed a hole in front of it, with a net so Pokémon don't fall. The bunny creature stepped on it, only to be answered with a loud, childish voice. "Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected! Confirmed as Buneary! Confirmed as Buneary!"
"Pretty neat identification system" Buneary joked, stepping out of the hole. "Come on, Chikorita. Step on it". The leafed Pokémon was nervous, but slowly walked until he was on top of it. The response took a while.
"Companion confirmed as Chikorita! Companion confirmed as Chikorita!" Startled, the Pokémon jumped out of the hole, as the gate of the Guild moved. A creature with big, circular ears, that stood on two legs opened it, and upon seeing them, went back inside. Buneary yawned before entering the building, and waited under the door for her companion.
Chikorita couldn't believe he was already there, about to enter the famous Wigglytuff Guild. He let out a yawn before following her. Even though he was excited to join the Guild, he was expecting Buneary to wait until they at least had breakfast, or slept more. When he went inside the Guild, he noticed stairs going down, which he descended, eventually finding himself surrounded by Pokémon.
"SQUAWK!" yelled a bird Pokémon with blue wings and a head shaped like a musical note. "What brings a couple of young explorers to the Guild?" he chirped.
Chikorita was about to explain. "Oh, we want to-"
"Oh, let me rephrase that question". The Pokémon cleared his throat. "What brings a couple of young explorers to INTERRUPT THE MORNING ROUTINE?" he yelled again, flapping his wings rapidly.
"Huh? Chatot, please don't yell…" Every Pokémon turned towards the source of the voice, which was sweet and laid-back, unlike the bird's. It turned out the one who said this was just waking up. He was a big, pink creature with long ears. "We're all just looking for friends, aren't we?" he said, rubbing his blue eyes. The Pokémon known as Chatot sighed.
"Well, I guess this makes the morning far more interesting" he mumbled. "Welcome to Wigglytuff's Guild! What brings you two youngsters here?" The sudden change of tone made Chikorita feel awkward.
"We are interested in forming a team, if it's not a bother, that is" answered Buneary. The bird Pokémon flapped his wings once more, before pointing towards the room behind him. Both Chikorita and his apparent partner nodded before entering. It seemed to be a large hallway with a chair similar to a throne on the end of the room, along with a couple of giant, red apples scattered around the floor.
"I can't believe we're about to make a team" he beamed, looking at Buneary, who was playing with her ears. "Aren't you excited?"
"Not exactly". She then looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, the place's nice and all but… I really don't know if it will keep me safe at night".
"What would you need to be safe from? Would anyone even like to harm you?" She shrugged, looking at the ceiling. "Then? I believe it's safe enough here".
Chatot and the pink creature entered the room. As the feathered one cleared his throat, the other began talking. "Welcome to Wigglytuff's Guild! If I recall correctly, you two came here to join, am I correct?" Both of them nodded in agreement. Excitedly, the creature jumped, as he gave both of them medals. "Excellent! In that case you're now members of the Wigglytuff Guild!"
"Wait, that's it?" asked Chikorita. "Just like that?" The pink creature nodded, as he went to sit on his chair, grabbing one of the big apples on his way there. "Um… Mr. Chatot, is that really it?"
The Pokémon sighed. "Yes, and I was hoping to introduce you two to everyone, but I guess that'll have to wait, unless you want to do it yourselves".
"Don't bother" said Buneary. "It is early, I believe we can manage the introductions by ourselves. Where are our rooms?" Chatot nodded, walked outside the room and pointed towards a hallway with entrances to other rooms on the walls. "Oh… I suppose we are supposed to sleep there?"
"Yes. It would be recommended that you two take it slow for now, so I can't assign any missions to you today. Take some time to meet the explorers that share lives with you, as well as the ones who dedicate theirs to accomplish tasks our Guild needs, like recruiting and cooking". Buneary walked towards the hallway, looking for an empty room.
"Thank you, Mr. Chatot". The bird Pokémon chirped and went inside his room, leaving Chikorita with no option but to follow Buneary. He was surprised to find her lying on the floor, writing in her diary. "What are you writing?"
"None of your business" she spoke, closing the square shaped notebook. "I don't like this place, in fact, I find sleeping on the beach better, don't you think?" Chikorita tilted his head, confused, and looked around the room for something potentially bothersome. There were two straw beds, which were fairly better than sleeping on the sand with only a piece of cloth to cover from the cold. There was also a wooden stump, which Buneary could've used to write.
"Of course I don't. I can finally call this place my home" he replied, as he went to lie on a straw bed. "I've been wanting to enter the Guild for a lot of time by now. It was my dream, but mostly, it was my caretakers' wish".
"I personally believe that places like 'home' are overrated" she commented, hiding her diary under her bed and then sitting on it. "I mean, it's just a place you can sleep and feel safe. There's plenty of places like that, some fairly better than others".
"Well, in my case, I've had plenty of homes". Chikorita turned to see Buneary, who was already lying on her bed. He supposed she was pretty tired. After letting out a yawn, he decided to sleep as well, after all, he could use the sleep.
By the time both of them had woken up, it was already lunchtime. The dining room was large, but didn't have much. There were plenty of plates scattered around a long table in the middle, most of them empty. Apart from Buneary and Chikorita, there were four more Pokémon in the room: Chatot, the Guildmaster Wigglytuff (who introduced himself when he saw them at the dining room), Chimecho, the cook of the Guild, and a black bird Pokémon who didn't say a word in the whole meal.
While they were eating, Chatot explained to Chikorita and Buneary how they Guild worked: The teams were in charge of taking care of the Pokémon who can't defend themselves, or that simply forgot something in their adventures. Meanwhile, the members at the Guild worked hard to keep the "explorers" healthy and safe. Chikorita was happy to hear this, Buneary didn't seem to really mind it much, as she continued to eat.
"Have you ever seen Treasure Town?" asked Chikorita once they both finished their meals. They walked towards the "main hall" of the Guild. "I mean, you surely don't seem to be around from here, but-"
"A tour wouldn't hurt, I guess" The black bird Pokémon came out of the kitchen and headed to its room, followed by Chatot. Buneary stopped him. "Who's that Pokémon?"
"It's Starly!" he replied, a bit startled from her interruption. "She is staying here because of a mission. She normally picks outlaws' missions, normally doesn't get too injured, but last time she took her time to come back. Turned out she was unable to fly again. We recommended her to stay here, for safety".
"Oh, alright. Sorry for scaring you, sir". The bird Pokémon nodded, as he continued its way towards the Guildmaster's room. Buneary turned back to Chikorita. "So, will you show me around Treasure Town?"
All the Pokémon around Treasure Town greeted Chikorita as he walked through the streets of Treasure Town, making Buneary feel awkward. He mentioned the shops, but the bunny Pokémon wasn't paying attention to him. It didn't really seem important, it just helped to understand the place they were going to stay. The short trip stopped at a shop ran by two Kecleon. One of them was green, but the other purple.
"Ah, Chikorita. We're happy to see you once more" began the green one, as the other took supplies from the back. "Can we safely assume you are now part of a guild's team?"
"Yes!" he said, showing off his new Explorer's Medal. "I made a team with this Buneary here. She came here one night, when I was sleeping at the beach. Turned out she also wanted to enter the Guild. What a coincidence, right?" Buneary looked at Chikorita, confused.
The brothers looked at each other, smiling, and giggled, before the purple one talked. "We believe coincidences don't exist, little Chikorita. We believe in fate, yes. You were bound to meet this beautiful girl right here, it was destiny".
The long-eared creature crossed her arms, looking offended. "I see. What do you sell here?"
"Oh, we sell a little bit of everything, lady. From apples to keep your stomach full in your dangerous trip, to Technical Machines that, get this, let you learn a new move! We also sell orbs that contain secret, mystical powers that you can use to your advantage". Buneary's eyes opened. "We see you are interested in these".
"Is there some sort of… knowledge orb?" she asked. One of the Kecleon looked inside a bag and gave an orb to her. "Alright, how do I use it?"
"Oh, no, no. You can't use it here. The power inside it can only be freed once you are in a dungeon, far away from Treasure Town. It's of no use right now" explained the purple Kecleon, which closed the bag afterwards. "And by the way, don't mind the payment. It's free for you two, but don't tell anyone else" he giggled.
Buneary nodded as she looked at the orb, smiling. Chikorita walked towards the end of the street, waiting for his companion to follow him. Once they got to the end, the grass-type Pokémon smiled, pointing towards the floor. "Now, the place you currently are is called Sharpedo Bluff. It's a pretty nice place, where you can see Krabby's bubbles at times like this".
She got close to the edge of the cliff to make sure that what he was saying was true. They were hard to see at first, but the spherical water objects were floating, reflecting the light of the sun. She had to admit it was a nice sight.
"It's getting late, I think we should go back to the Guild". Buneary nodded, as she followed Chikorita back to their home.
It was already night-time and everyone had gotten to their rooms to sleep, except for Buneary. She convinced Chatot that she needed some time alone, so she left. He felt the need to look for her, mostly because she was his companion, the one that made him enter the Guild in the first place. He got out of his bed and slowly went to open his room's door.
He managed to avoid getting caught by Chatot, which was surprising, since he seemed to be the one that took care of every explorer in the Guild. Chikorita's first guess was the Sharpedo Bluff, but because of stores closing, it didn't seem like the best place to be alone. His second guess, though, was the correct one.
Buneary was sitting on the beach's sand, writing in her square notebook when Chikorita approached her. She immediately closed it, staring at him. "Can't someone here have some privacy? I expected you to be asleep when I came back" she groaned.
"Hey, I was worried for you. It is late, you know" he said, sitting next to her. "Besides, I can't sleep. I just… can't believe I'm already here".
"You lived in Treasure Town all your life, didn't you?" He shook his head. "Oh, where, then?"
"My parents lived far away from here, they were merchants, like the Kecleon brothers. They passed away due to a strange illness, here in Treasure Town. I've lived in every merchant's house, tent or whatever they sleep in. Yesterday was the first time I slept on the beach, because they couldn't afford me being there anymore and I was also able to join the Guild. I wanted to be there so I could finally call a place home, without the fear of leaving it eventually".
Buneary yawned, looking at the sea which reflected the moon's light. "Like I said before, places you can call 'home' are overrated. Without counting the Guild, I've had one home, and let me tell you, I had a reason to leave it".
"Really? What did they do to you that made you leave?" Buneary sighed, still looking at the sea. "Is it painful? You don't really have to tell me".
"It wasn't bad. A Pokémon known as Froslass took care of me, but not for very long. She was nice and caring, I wasn't". She turned her head towards the sky. "I would prefer to not talk about it".
"What about your parents?" The bunny creature didn't expect that question, and looked at Chikorita. "Don't tell me you don't remember about them".
"I don't think it's much of a big deal. I can't remember anything before Froslass took me in. I just remember it was cold outside, and I had woken up with ink all over my face…" She turned towards the sea again and sighed. "Can you go back to the Guild? I want to keep being alone".
"I understand". Buneary raised an eyebrow. "You really don't want to talk about it, huh? I'll go back, then". Chikorita stood up and headed towards the Guild, leaving Buneary alone by herself.
The Pokémon waited a couple of minutes make sure he was gone, and once it was sure he was, took the diary out to keep writing, but before that, decided on reading what was already written there:
"Why must we always run when things like this happen to us? I really don't know…"
Those were the first sentences in the diary. It wasn't really long. The last thing written was:
"… I need to get rid of it before bad things start happening".
"Ah, yes…" the bunny muttered, taking an object out of its fur. It was a stone, darker than the night itself. For Buneary, this stone was precious, mesmerizing, but at the same time, dangerous. Even so, the Pokémon couldn't leave it, it was just impossible.
"And yet… I need it. I must keep it.
It is the only thing that I can think of in this moment, and in a way, I think this object thinks about me as well. I'm not sure of it, but I believe there is a spirit trapped in this stone, one that knows me too well, which even gives reason to my own existence.
The spirit's voice calls a name I don't remember. It talks about things I can't imagine me doing. I heard someone say that coincidences are not real, that only fate is real… and I think that's true.
It was my fate to have this. This stone belongs to no one but me, I'm the only one who must know of it, and whoever asks about it will get nowhere. For now I am safe from them, the ones who want to steal the stone. They're unable to understand that this spirit… or whatever it is here, is calling me. It's saying…
Dawn. The stone repeats that name constantly. I feel connected to it. I believe it's my name".
Buneary closed the diary and headed to the Guild, happy to see that its doors were open, waiting for the Pokémon to come back.
Aaah, this chapter is FINALLY done. It took me quite a while to write it, mostly because I SUCK at introductions. I hope the rest of the story seems interesting to all of you, because it will get interesting.
I wanna thank Xcite because he told me about a few things in the last chapter, I realized there was a thing that could've been misunderstood, and I'm sorry about that!
Anyways, I hope none of the characters came out as too emo or too uninteresting. Please send some feedback if you liked the story!