Chapter 2-The Beginning

Author's Notes

Welcome to a world where humans never existed. Without humans, pokemon took over the planet as the only sentient species. At first pokemon developed similar to human civilization. They developed tools, houses, a monetary system, medicine; some even had the prowess to develop basic technology. They even gained the ability to learn more moves thanks to their enhanced intelligence. But with the good they shared with human civilization also came the bad. They still had pollution, violence, disease, poverty, but all in all, pokemon developed considerably better than humans did. However, that all changed nearly two-hundred years ago.

Celibe was finally satisfied that humans were wiped out, but that satisfaction only lasted for a short time. Soon Celibe wanted even more control over the planet. She devised a plan to become a sovereign ruler to guide all the pokemon into a more utopian society. After a short time nearly every one of the legendary pokemon that had voted for the destruction of the human race had joined her cause and she amassed an army which has been called the Royal Army. She began by peacefully taking over small towns to gain power. But after a while she wanted more and more control over the world. She began conquering town after town then eventually entire regions growing more powerful as she went. Celibe's empire had conquered nearly every region and every corner of the globe except for one; Hoenn. Her army had been fighting to gain control over it for nearly six years now and have only managed to secure part of the region. This is where the resistance is still fighting and this is where our true story begins.

It was a brisk autumn day and Frank was wiping down the counter at his diner. Frank was an old Munchlax who had owned this small dinner for many years. He had just served his last customer and was getting ready to close up, but before he could he knew he was going to be meeting someone soon. He brushed his hands on the front of his apron and glanced at the clock above the door; 4:58. It was just two minutes before Terrance was going to walk through the door and demand "protection" money. Terrance is a Cacturne with a mean look and a permanent sneer on his hateful face. He's a solider in the Royal Army that went rouge nearly two years ago when he was stationed here. He had been shaking down Frank and every local storekeeper for protection money ever since he arrived. The Royal Army had completely taken over the local police and was powerless to stop him. Frank wasn't much of a fighter either and he was too afraid to stand up for himself. Frank broke out of his thoughts as he spotted Terrance walking down the street towards his dinner. He was being followed by his ever-present lackeys Tim and Tina. Tim and Tina are twin Croagunks that nobody could tell apart, except for Terrance that is.

Once Terrance finally made it to the dinner he opened the door and walked inside.

"Hey Frank." Terrance said with his usual sneer.

"Yeah, hey Frank." Said Tim dimwittedly.

"Shut up idiot," Terrance snapped at Tim, "I just said that."

"Yeah idiot, he just said that." Said Tina equally as dimwittedly.

"I said shut up!" he snapped at both of them then proceeded to walk up to the counter. He walked with a jaunty affirmation that he was tougher than anyone else, but when it came down to any actual fighting, he would always run and hide. In short, Terrance was a pretentious, cowardly, bully that would only extort pokemon he knew he could easily intimidate and over-power.

Once he reached the counter he propped one arm up on the top and leaned toward Frank.

"So Frank, how are you this fine day?"

Frank sighed deeply, "I'm fine Terrance." He said with his head held down.

"That's good." Said Terrance with a sneer. "Do you want to know how I'm doing?" before Frank could answer he said, "I'm doing great because you've just agreed to pay me double our usual rate."

"But…but…" Frank stammered, "I can barely afford what I normally pay you." He said dumfounded.

"Yeah well you know how it goes, the price of livin' goes up and so does your protection money. I mean you wouldn't want anything bad to happen to your fine establishment now would you?" and with that, Terrance shot a single barb into the mirror behind the counter producing a spider web of cracks.

"Wait stop!" Frank pleaded, "I don't have enough money now, but if you give me another week-"

"Now Frank, you know our arrangement. You pay me every week and I make sure nothing bad happens to your diner. If you can't pay me," At this point he grabbed the front of Frank's apron and pulled him to the edge of the counter, "We're going to have a problem." Terrance reared back his free arm and was about to strike Frank across the face when he heard a scream behind him.

Terrance dropped his arm and looked over his shoulder to find a dumbfounded Tina. "Tina, where's your brother?" Terrance snapped.

"I don't know." She said sounding confused. "He was here a minute ago."

Terrance wheeled back around to a frightened looking Frank.

"What did you do?!" Terrance demanded.

"I didn't do anything. Honest."

"Liar!" he wheeled back his free arm again but before he could deliver the strike he heard yet another scream from behind.

He spun around once again to discover a deserted dinner behind him. "What the?" he said to himself.

"Alright, what are you-" he said as he turned to question Frank only when he turned, Frank wasn't there. "What's going on?"

"Terrance."

He whipped around to look towards the door and started to scan the area. He could have sworn someone just whispered his name from that direction.

"Terrance."

He whipped around again toward the back of the store. Someone was defiantly whispering his name. He raised both his arms, prepared to shot anything he saw.

"Who's there? Frank is that you?"

"Terrance."

"Frank if that's you, I swear to Arceus I'll-"

"AAAHHHH!"

Terrance was interrupted by a blood curdling scream. He turned in sharp circles scanning the entire diner for who or what made the scream. Panicked, he started shooting off a volley of Pin Missiles in random directions all over the diner. After a short while he stopped and held his breath tensely as he waited for something to happen.

"Mwahaha!"

Terrance jumped when he heard the laughter. It was the kind laughter you only heard in the movies when the evil villain was about to watch the good guy get killed; only this time, it wasn't a movie. He knew that whoever was doing this was just playing with him.

Terrance continued to spin in circles until he heard something that chilled his bones to ice. It was whispered right into his ear with deadly calmness.

"I'm going to kill you now Terrance."

He couldn't take it anymore. He bolted for the door and shoved his way through.

Once he was outside he started running. He was running so fast and so scared he didn't pay attention to where he was going. The next thing he knew he was flat on his face not ten feet from the door to the diner. He looked back to find out what had tripped him to see a root wrapped around his leg. Before Terrance knew what was happening, roots exploded out of the ground all around him. They began wrapping around his body again and again until he was so tightly bound by vines that he could barely turn his head from side to side. Terrance, unsure of what to do began to struggle and cry out for help.

It was at this point that he noticed something out of the corner of his eye; a figure approaching from his right. Terrance struggled to turn his face so he could look at the approaching figure. He finally managed to get enough movement to rotate his head fully to the side. The figure was a Sableye wearing a pair of BlackGlasses walking up to him. Terrance was about to call out to him for help, but before he could, the Sableye removed his BlackGlasses and Terrance saw his eyes. He was transfixed on the Sableye's eyes; they were just so tantalizing that he found it was getting hard to focus. As the Sableye approached he kept a façade of utter calmness. Terrance was still staring into those eyes when the Sableye stopped not three feet in front of him. The Sableye's eyes began to glow red, just a little at first then steadily brighter and brighter. Terrance became dazed and the last thing he saw was the Sableye staring at him with that face of complete calm.

Then he blacked out.

"Well, looks like this was easier than we thought." Came a voice from behind the Sableye. He slowly turned to address the voice and nodded in agreement. The speaker was a Grovyle walking toward him.

"These guys didn't put up much of a fight did they Styx?" The Grovyle said.

The Sableye shook his head and turned back to look at the unconscious Cacturne. He looked up as he heard footsteps to discover the proprietor of the diner running up to them.

"Oh my Arceus! How did you two do that?"

"It wasn't hard; this guy isn't much of a fighter." He said indicating towards Terrance. "We were told that this Royal Army punk was shaking down local store keepers around here, so we were assigned to put a stop to it."

"Assigned?" Frank asked in confusion.

"Yeah we're with the resistance." He said casually, "Speaking of." The Grovyle said as he held his hand in front of him, palm up. He then formed and Energy Ball and thrust his arm upward to shoot it into the sky. "We were supposed to send a signal once we captured these guys."

"A signal for what?" asked Frank doe-eyed.

"That." The Grovyle said simply as four shapes appeared on the horizon. They were drawing closer and closer as Frank looked on in awe. Eventually he could see that the shapes were actually two Staraptors, a Pidgeot, and a Butterfree. Soon they landed and the Butterfree said "Good work guys. Were there any casualties?"

"No, but this one got a few shots off inside the diner." He said using one of his clawed feet to nudge Terrance. "Styx scared the piss out of him and he got all jumpy."

The Butterfree smirked and turned her attention to the bird pokemon behind her. "Alright you lot, prepare him for transport."

"Yes Ma'am!" they said in unison.

Turning her attention back to the Grovyle she said, "I thought there were supposed to be three of them?"

"I got the other two off to the side of the building all wrapped up. This one was the only one that tried to make a run for it."

She nodded, "You!" she said pointing to the Pidgeot, "Go get them!"

"Yes ma'am!" and with that he flew off to the side of the diner to get Tim and Tina. Soon he returned with the two of them in his talons. They were both wrapped together with one large vine, each struggling furiously to escape. As soon as the Pidgeot set them in front of the Butterfree she said, "Alright enough of that." And with that she surrounded the two of them in a Sleep Powder and they instantly fell asleep. "You two," she indicated to the two Staraptors, "carry this one," she said nodding to Terrance, "And you carry those two. Alright let's go!"

"Yes Ma'am!" and with that they left.

"Where are they going?" asked Frank in awe.

"Prison." The Grovyle said simply. "The resistance has a place set up to house people like that.

"I've heard rumors about that place; I just didn't think that it actually existed."

"Well it does and it's also impregnable. You'll never have to worry about him again. Sorry about your place though; do you need any help fixing it?"

"Oh no you two have down enough for me." He said gratefully. "I've always hated that so-called Royal Army and I appreciate what you have done for me. If there's anything I can do for you guys name it."

"That's not necessary."

"Well can I at least get your names?"

"I'm Arbor and this," he said indicating the Sableye "Is Styx. He doesn't talk much but he's good at what he does." Styx nodded to Frank in response.

"Well thank you again."

"No problem." He said shaking Frank's hand. "Well Styx we should be getting back to HQ now."

Styx nodded once more and they turned to leave to begin the long journey back to the resistance HQ.