"Cheo…!" A voice cried. "Cheo…! Come on! It's time to get up already…!"
Cheo opened her sky blue eyes slowly and found herself staring up at a white ceiling with a ceiling fan on it. The fan lazily spun around in a circle as Cheo wondered if the voice that woke her up earlier was just a part of the dream she had before she woke up. She yawned and stretched, lifting her arms above her head as she laid down on the wrinkled white sheets.
"Cheo…!" The voice called again and Cheo sat up with a jolt, recognizing the voice as she realized that it wasn't from her dream. She hopped out of her bed and raced to the window, throwing it open and facing the fresh forest breeze that floated in from the forest, bringing in the scent of earth, dew, and clean air. The clean air Cheo favored the most since air like it was so rare in this world.
World War III had just ended a few years ago, taking Cheo's father away from her and her mother. The war was one of the worst mankind had ever seen and most people didn't survive, only a small amount of the human race was still around, exact numbers were unknown here. Pollution and radiation was thick in the air in some places from the nukes that had rained down from the sky. The ones that did survive the war had gotten sick and died and the few that were luckily not in the line of fire, were doing their best to survive.
Cheo was one of the luckier humans that lived in a town called Ocean Rider since the ocean wasn't too far away from where she stood now. About twenty people lived in this town peacefully with little worries. Plenty of food existed in the woods around them from the animals and plants. Fresh water was available too from the nearby river that emptied out into the ocean.
The sixteen-year-old took a deep breath, savoring the fresh air until she heard her name being called again directly beneath her. Cheo glanced down with surprised blue eyes and grinned when she saw her friend, Melody, underneath her. Melody smiled big up at her as she waved up to her friend. "Are you coming down here soon? Or are you going to sit in bed all day?"
Cheo chuckled and grinned down at Melody. "Alright, alright, I'm coming. Give me five minutes."
Melody nodded, making her shoulder length, wavy brown and golden streaked hair bounce.
Cheo smiled and closed the window before going into the house. Then, as promised, five minutes later, Cheo was hopping towards Melody, tying one of her father's spare combat boots around her feet. She stopped in front of Melody and finished tying the laces together and grinned. "Kay, what's on the agenda for today? More exploring in the forest? How about… we go look for the spring again, the source of the river…?"
Melody rolled her eyes with a smile, Cheo was known for her reckless ideas sometimes. "Maybe later, I got some chores to do, want to help?"
Cheo pouted barely but nodded, not wanting to let her friend down. "Sure… I'll help."
Melody beamed. "Great! Thanks! We need to get water from the river for my mom. She needs to help my little brother take a bath…"
With a nod, Cheo followed Melody towards the side of her house were two metal buckets stood, shining faintly in the morning sun. "Is Jay coming with us?" Cheo asked.
Melody shrugged, remembering one of their other close friends. "I don't think so, I tried calling to him, but you know how he is, he's a deep sleeper. He didn't wake up as fast as you did! Besides, it's probably best that he's asleep, summer harvest is coming up soon anyways and you know those berries won't pick themselves!"
Cheo laughed with a nod as she remembered the days when the trio used to sleep in the woods as young children and how long it would take for them to wake up the boy.
Melody picked up one of the empty buckets and dumped it upside down, watching with distaste as a large, dead bug rolled out of it. "Ew gross… looks like we'll have to clean the buckets too…"
Cheo nodded, saying nothing, thinking about the work ahead of them as she picked up the other bucket and glanced inside, relieved to find nothing inside of it. She glanced over to Melody. "Are we going over by the waterfall? You know what your ma says about the fastest water being the cleanest…"
Melody nodded and looked around worriedly as they started heading out of the village with the buckets in hand. "True… but even that isn't working. People are still getting sick from the water, it's coming from the north where all the pollution is at…"
Cheo frowned as she glanced over to her companion, passing through the small, two-story homes in the town of Ocean Rider. "At least the war is over, maybe the pollution will drain out of the water eventually…"
"Hopefully…" Melody sighed as the duo left town by walking underneath a large, wooden arch with the words 'Ocean Rider' burned into it. "I'm so sick of people being sick. Good thing your mother's a nurse though Cheo, we're lucky to have her…"
With her frown growing deeper, Cheo thought about her mother. Her mother never seemed to be home because of how many people were sick from the radiation and pollution in other places. She sighed while putting a hand that wasn't holding the bucket into the pocket of her jeans. "Eh, still, I sometimes wish she wasn't so she could actually be a mother for me. I wish I could come down the stairs someday and have my ma doing something productive… I mean… like making pancakes and sausages or something. Most kid's moms do that. But mine? Nope, I come down the stairs with only a note on the table saying that somebody's dying and needs her help. Sure I mean, it's nice that she's helping people but still… what about me? Maybe I should pretend to be sick just so I can actually see my mom again."
Melody sighed. "Well I'm sure she does love you…"
"I know…" Cheo muttered.
"…but she's been busy working. The war might be over but people still need attention for years after it. And she's the only professional doctor within a hundred miles!" Melody continued, like Cheo has said nothing while Cheo pouted next to her friend.
"Maybe you're right… but hey, what about your older brother?" Cheo asked after a moment of silence, "Any news from him and his research lab?"
Melody's eyes lit up about her brother. She was so proud of him, he had gone off with a bunch of scientists to a top secret lab to find a way to get rid of the pollution and radiation in the air with hundreds of other scientists. She considered him to be a hero. "He's doing great! He said that they found something that they think could work from his last letter."
"How long ago was that?"
"About… two weeks ago?"
"He hasn't sent one since?" Cheo asked in confusion. "I thought you said that he sent one to you guys every week."
"No, no," Melody said with a laugh. "I said every other week."
"Oh…!" Cheo laughed. "Pssh! I knew that!"
Melody rolled her eyes once again. "Sure you did."
By now, they had finally reached the river and they could hear the quiet roar of the waterfall not too far away. The river's current was stronger today than it usually was and quickly dragged leaves and large sticks down the river. The girls couldn't even see the bottom of the river because of the force of the current.
They followed the river carefully, making sure not to fall in as they finally reached the waterfall. The waterfall wasn't too big, only about five feet tall with blue water falling down it before crashing into the swift river. It filled their buckets quickly as they stuck the metal pails underneath the drops of thick water raining from the sky.
Cheo and Melody remained quiet, they would have to yell at each other if they wanted to have a conversation to hear each other over the sound of rushing water. Besides, they needed full concentration on getting the water and avoiding falling in. They rinsed out their buckets in the dripping water, cleaning them to the best of their abilities before filling their buckets with the falling water.
Melody filled her bucket first and with a proud smile, she put her bucket on the ground next to her and frowned when she saw Cheo balancing on the slippery rocks next to the watefall, trying to get to a thicker stream of falling water.
"Cheo…!"Melody called. "Be careful!" However, if the other girl heard her, she ignored Melody while lifting her bucket into the air.
"Almost… got it…" Cheo muttered through clenched teeth as she reached out for the falling water. Suddenly, her foot slipped and Cheo let out a wild shriek as she slipped backwards and fell into the river, disappearing underwater.
"Cheo!" Melody yelled as Cheo resurfaced, panting and trying to swim against the swift current.
Cheo tried to reach the bottom of the river but her boots couldn't even hit the bottom of it, not only that but her right leg seemed to burn from some unknown pain. Her clothes were weighing her down as she used her hands to try to push the surface of the water down to keep herself up. She accidentally swallowed a mouthful of water and coughed furiously to get the water out of her lungs but that only resulted in swallowing more water. "M-Melody!" Cheo gasped, reaching a soaking wet hand towards her friend.
"Cheo…! Don't give up…!" Melody yelled as she ran alongside the river as Cheo was swept away, dragged underwater again before resurfacing seconds later, splashing water furiously. "Cheo!"
Melody looked up as she ran alongside the river and her eyes widened as she saw another girl running alongside the river on the other side. She was barefooted, wearing a papery looking dress. She had large, baby blue eyes and she ran awkwardly, looking like she had never ran this fast before in her life. Her blonde hair was a mess, like she hadn't combed it out after washing it, so it stuck out in crazy angles.
Melody's eyes widened as she looked at the girl, then back at Cheo as she was dragged under again. "Help Cheo!" She called to girl as the girl's blue eyes flickered over to Melody's light brown ones. Suddenly, the girl dived into the river and Melody wasn't sure if she should call the girl a fool or some bizarre hero.
The girl suddenly resurfaced with Cheo unconscious in her arms. She looked up at Melody and then to the edge of the river next to her.
Melody panted heavily, thankful for the many times she and Cheo had gotten used to running from the most ridiculous of creatures they had accidentally gotten angry. However, she wasn't used to running this much and this far. Cheo and the mystery girl were slowly getting ahead of her as her lungs begged her to stop and her legs started feeling like jelly.
The girl's blue eyes looked up at Melody before somehow swimming with the current but heading towards the edge Melody was at. With her free hand outstretched, the mysterious girl grabbed onto the edge of the bank and stopped herself and Cheo from being carried farther downstream.
Melody stopped next to them, panting heavily and grabbing onto Cheo's limp arms and dragged her friend out of the river while muttering continuous thank yous to the girl that was still in the river. As soon as Cheo was on dry land, Melody put a hand on her friend's wrist and checked for a heartbeat, and was relieved a few moments later when she found one.
"Oh thank heaven you're alive…!" Melody said gratefully, hugging her sopping wet friend's unconscious form. "I thought you were a gonner! Thank you so much…"
Melody looked towards the girl in the river but was stunned to see she wasn't there anymore.
Another chapter down, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, I honestly did not expect so many people to be interested in this story! But um, as habit, I have to thank the reviewers, but before you go please leave a review and let me know what you think!
Thank you so much!
Chaos= Thank you so much for your review, and I hope it stays as epic as you hope it to be! It's my goal for it to be like that.
Anahita= Oh course you're looking forward to those characters *laughs* thanks for the review, friend!
AwesomelyEpical= I do like your penname haha. But thank you for saying so, I wanted it to be different from the average PMD stories and remakes that you usually see on this site. And I was trying to figure out how to begin the first Pokemon tale, and I came to this idea... but that sounds interesting. Perhaps when I get the chance I'll check out your story ^^ thanks for the review! It meant a lot.
Retto= Should I be worried? I bet I will be able to though, you'll see! Thank you for the review.
thechinskyguy= Thank you for your kind words... and I was trying to avoid that problem with avoiding the 'I's and the 'My's, but guess I needed to try harder. Thank you for the review!
Rotomknight= Thank you for so much for your review! You were one of the first people that reviewed and that actually got me excited. Thank you so much. Anyways, that is true and it does make sense, but I'm going to try to avoid that one… hah. Not very exciting if humans are decedents of Mew. But thank you so much and hopefully I hear from you again soon!
A special thanks also goes to AwesomelyEpical (also thanks for favoring), AnahitatheMoonlakefairy, and Something dictionary related for following the story too!
Disclaimer= I own nothing that belongs to Pokemon, just the setting, the plot, and characters (in this chapter)
Have a nice day and hope you enjoyed this chapter!