Yeah, I meant what I said. I really am back. (Even if I still can't really confirm that daily postings will be a thing again.) I'm not even gonna try to stretch out the length of this page for the sake of reaching my 2,000 word minimum count i keep for reference, i just want to get on this NOW.
So Anina and Pasco went out of town for a while to relax. They thought they deserved it and really, who could argue? After everything they've been through, some down time would be nice. And even though Anina was adventurous, even she needs some time to rest. The two of them found a nice little spot in the woods outside of the town, and sat there for a bit, talking about various little things about their lives and the people around them.
"..So your telling me your dad, could match the current of a lightning strike with just ONE thunderbolt?" Anina asked her friend, who was telling her tales of his family.
"Yeah, and his tail could cut through a 30-foot radius of grass if he spun around enough." Pasco answered her, enjoying the look of disbelief on her face.
"..I don't believe you." She told him, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"Good, i was bluffing." He told her, dropping his facade.
"See, i KNEW IT!" She cried in triumph, knowing there was no way his father was THAT impressive. He was nice, but not a legend.
"No need to act so confident." He said, in a bit of a huff.
Some silence passes between the two as the look at the scenery before them...the place Anina had found was a small little freshwater lake, that was in a clearing of the woods. She had picked this place because it was quiet, and no one was around at the time..
"...It's really nice..being able to just reflect back on our life up to this point...we've been so busy getting our exploration team up and running i forgot what this was like.." She commented, relaxing in the serenity of the moment..
"..No kidding...especially with that heck of a start to our journey. Some crazy criminal jumps us on the first day, and we barely make it out alive. We try tracking him down..and then learn he's WAY out of our league, so we let the officials take care of him." Pasco added to her words from before.
The Buneary then crossed her arms. "..i still don't think we should have given up that easy...it just feels like he's our problem now.."
Pasco sighed. "Yeah i know how you feel, but...he's..KILLED. Pokemon Anina. Heck, he almost killed all of us...we can't go after him, at least not until we get stronger..."
He then looked at the sky above his head. "...Of course, once we DO get strong enough to take him on, we're gonna go after him again, without a doubt."
She turned to face him and smiled "You bet!" she stated as she raised her paw in the air, the Pikachu giving her a high five.
She looked out at the lake, surrounded by trees.. "...You know..we've been friends for a long time now, haven't we? Almost since we were born." she asked her partner.
"Yeah..if you think about it, it's like we were destined to be friends..." The electric mouse responded, remembering how they're lives seemed to always be intertwined in some way..
"..Huh...I guess you're right." The bunny said back, being flooded with nostalgia from times long ago. "..I wonder why it always seemed like that though...'it's not like there was some sort of outside force compelling us to be friends our entire lives right?"
"...Yeaaah, I'm gonna go with NO on that one." Pasco responded, dismissing the idea that someone out there was watching and manipulating their every move. "I mean, how could anyone have kept us on their mind that long, and what reason would they have? I for one, believe this was all just equal parts our choices, and good luck."
She laughed a bit at this explanation, but agreed with him nonetheless. "Yeah, I think so too. I mean, that would kind of go against our promise...wouldn't it? Cause it wouldn't be our hearts making the choices right?"
"..A bit confusing when you say it like that..but i get what you mean." He responded.
They spent a decent amount of time there, making some more small talk and reflecting back on their days prior to being a exploration team, when they were only a few years old, playing tag with each other, admiring the wildernesses around them, and just...well, being kids. It was a nice time...
After a while, the sun had started to set on the horizon, and the two were enjoying the cool air gently flowing around them..Anina looked out at the lake for a bit, the sunlight reflecting off the water.
"..You know what...why not? It'll probably be fun!" She thought to herself as she stood up from her position siting down, and started walking to the water. Pasco, taking notice of this, was a bit confused as to why she was doing this. He watched her continue walking, curious as to what she was doing.
She eventually made it to the edge of the lake, and her fluff covering the lower half of her body completely submerged underwater...her breathing became slower, even paced, as she calmed down her heart...she did this processe for a while, until she felt comfortable and relaxed. She smiled at the feeling, then with one last deep, heavy breath, she lifted her arms up, and leapt into the lake, sinking into it once she jumped into it.
Pasco, not realizing this is what she was going to do panicked a bit, and quickly ran to the edge of the lake himself. "Wha-! Anina?!"
He didn't get any answer back, just the sound of the waves made by her dive into the water...now well and truly concerned since he was not expecting any of this, he called out to her again with a bit more desperation in his voice. "..A-ANINA!?"
Thankfully, he was responded to fairly quickly this time as to not give him a heart attack, by the sight of his lover's head breaking through the surface of the lake, spewing water out of her mouth in a playful way, like a fountain. Once she had finished, she looked at him and giggled a bit to herself.
Upon seeing this reaction, he felt an intense feeling of relief. So much so that he fell over on the ground with a sigh. "...P-Please don't scare me like that again..."
She smiled at him, scratching the back of her head "Sorry, it's been fairly hot for a while now, given summer and everything and...well, i guess i just wanted to cool off a bit."
He looked at her as she effortlessly floated on the surface. "..You know...i didn't know buneary's could swim."
"A few can, I remember how my mom was one of those few, and she used to take me out to the shore every once and a while and give me lessons about it...i guess that makes me special eh?" she asked him, feeling like she already knew the answer.
"Heh, you're right about that. Special is something you have, and always been." Pasco stated, a bit proudly given who he was talking about, causing the bunny to scratch her head in slight embarrassment. After this moment, the electric mouse let out a yawn. "...Actually...i feel kind of tired for some reason...maybe cause it's getting late..you mind if i just take a nap here for a bit?"
"Sure! You've been really busy over the last few weeks anyway, you could use some rest." she said to him, knowing he was the one handling all the paperwork on making an exploration team, not to mention all the research he did on trying to track down Syd that he handed over to the officials after they decided to leave it to the professionals, he could use a break.
"Thanks, I'll just be over here, laying down on the grass..wake me up when we're gonna go please." Pasco said as he did just that, and lied down on the grass.
"You got it!" she said as she continued to swim around the lake for a bit, enjoying herself.
The lake was actually rather clean for being out in the middle of the woods, to the point where you could easily see the bottom of it from above. It was fairly big, about 7 feet deep and 10 feet wide. The water was fairly clear, and didn't contain any salt or debris or anything really. It was due to this lake being so naturally clean, that Anina could see fairly well when she dove under the water. Something that caught her off guard at first, being used to bodies of water where exposing your eyes to them without any sort of protection was a sentence to be temporarily blind. Nonetheless, she enjoyed this little fact about this particular lake and had fun blowing bubbles underwater and watching them rise, admiring the view of the sun from underneath the water, and the cool, refreshing feeling she got that felt MUCH better than slowly boiling in a fur coat glued to her body, gradually being heated up by the sun.
After she had dived down into the water, and come back up for air several times, she heard a voice while she was underwater. "..Huh, I didn't think anyone else knew about this place other than me because it was so clean..i guess i can rule out that possibility now." She was confused to hear a voice down here, especially one so clear sounding, and she turned around and scanned the area trying to find the location of it. She was at the bottom, and it sounded like it was on an even plane as her..but where was it?
"..Over here mis." The voice said again. Turning to face the voice, Anina saw that it was coming from a small rock she hadn't noticed before. From that small rock came a small Pokemon. It had a white patch of dots that ran along it's side, a dark blue line on the top of it, and a dark blue iris. This Pokemon was known as, whishiwashi.
"..Hi there...it's nice to meet you. I don't really get too many visitors.." The little fish said to her, starring with a curios interest. She smiled and waved at the Pokemon, but couldn't really open her mouth to say anything given that she was underwater. Afterwards she sat down at the bottom of the lake, as the whishiwashi came closer to her. She oped up her paws, and it stayed near them.
"..Hey since you're here...um, can i ask you a question?" The fish asked her, hoping for an honest answer. She didn't say anything, but leaned in slightly closer to the fish, to signal that she was listening.
"..Now that you're down here...what do you think about this place...do you like it?" The water type said to the bunny, who in response, smiled, and nodded her head. She did like it down here..it felt nice. The cool feeling of the water on her fur, the numbing of any sound in her ears giving it an aura of peace...even the sensation of holding her breath felt nice at first, when it was just a gentle pressure in her lungs.
The whishiwashi seemed very happy to hear this. "..That's nice...glad to see I'm not the only one who like this place, underwater and all...it's nice to know I'm not just biased because I'm a fish, you know?" Anina nodded her head again at the Sea-Pokemon. She had a fondness for water herself, she knew just where it was coming from.
The fish seemed to take a moment to look at Anina, swimming around her for a bit before stopping back at the same position it was a few moments ago...it smiled at her. "..Alright, maybe we should head up now so you can actually talk to me." The buneary seemed a bit confused as to why the little fish would say this, but then it quickly cleared everything up. "You're an air-breather, aren't you? I mean, pardon me if I'm wrong, but you don't look like any fish I've ever seen before, and given how you're not saying anything and the fact that your cheeks seemed to be a bit..'puffy', wellll..."
Upon hearing the water-type say this, Anina couldn't help but put a paw to her cheek and, sure enough it was inflated with air she had been holding for the last four minutes. "..Huh...I guess I've been down here longer than I realized.." She thought to herself. Once she realized what she was caught in, her face suddenly turned a slight shade of pink.
The wishiwashi laughed. "It's okay, I can understand why you'd want to dodge it for a while...I guess you like swimming huh?" The buneary snapped out of her embarrassment at hearing about this and nodded her head at the question, once again smiling.
The wishiwashi looked at her. "Yeah, I know your type, I've met a few Pokemon just like you who loved places like this...but as I was saying, you should probably head back up so you can actually talk to me. Besides, you've been down here for a fair bit, don't you want to take a breath soon?"
Now that the wishiwashi mentioned it, the normal type could feel that familiar urge to breath start to form in her chest..a slight feeling of pain reminding her she couldn't stay there forever. Normally, she'd be able to ignore it for a bit..and often would, but given how her new found friend couldn't understand her down here, she decided to take a second to breathe. She put a paw to her chest and nodded, and started to swim to the surface, her friend close behind.
The trip wasn't very long, and she broke the surface quickly, Breathing in the needed air. Her companion was a few feet away from the surface because...they're a fish. "You okay?" they asked her.
After she had got back her breath, she responded. "..Yeah, just needed a second...phew.." she looked at the Sea Pokemon. "..So anyway, My name is Anina! What's yours?"
"..Let." The whishiwashi responded with confidence. "..Now tell me, just what are you doing here anyway?"
"..Well, I came to this lake to relax with a friend of mine. He's asleep now though, so i don't think you could meet him yet." She told the water type, being honest with them out of courtesy.
"That's alright, I can get to know him some other time." The water type said, patient for the day they would meet.
"..Now that I think about it, what kink of Pokemon ARE you?" She asked the Pokemon, having never seen one of them before in her life.
"I'm called a wishiwashi, normally we travel in large groups, but i guess I'm the only one here now." Let said to Anina, a tinge of sadness in his voice.
"..Groups?" She said, confused given that the wishiwashi she saw here was all alone.
"Yeah, usually wishiwashi tend to stick together as a form of protection, a way to stay safe from any potential harm." It explained to her as if it had been taught this from birth.
"..But then, where's your group?" She asked the wishiwashi, curios as to why he was out here all alone.
It looked a bit..hesitant to tell her this information. "..Right...about that." It looked at her in the eyes. "..See, I guess i can tell you about that but...if i do, would you mind diving back underwater again?"
This request confused her a bit. "..Um...why?" She asked.
"..Well, wishiwashi are taught from the day they're born to not give details about their schools unless it's someone that swears they won't tell anyone. And even then, it's required that they tell the story underwater so that no one else can eavesdrop on them. They tell us this to protect everyone in the tribe and keep specific details from getting out to anyone else..of course, it shouldn't be a problem for someone like you, right?" The water type asked.
The buneary thought about it for a bit...then she smiled at him. "..Okay. If that's the rule with you guys I'll obey it! Besides, I already said everything I wanted so...I was kinda planning to just go back down again anyway...heh heh.." She was a bit embarrassed about her love of water to be honest, being a bunny, who's kind were more known for jumping than swimming and all. She only told pasco because she trusted him with her heart.
The wishiwashi smiled at her words. "..Rather be down there than up here?" they asked in a bit of a teasing tone, but only to poke fun at it and not humiliate.
"..Sometimes, yeah." She confessed to the fish, deciding that a Pokemon like this wouldn't tease her about it TOO much.
"Ah it's okay, I understand how ya feel...alright, get some air in you, and dive when you're ready. Also, when you're ready go all the way to the bottom, i know there's no one around except your friend but you never know. That way only you'll hear the story." The wishiwashi said as it swam back down to the bottom
She watched it swim all the way down and prepared herself...she closed her eyes, took deep breaths in, and exhaled slowly...she was taught by her mom that the best way to stay underwater for long periods of time was to slow down your heart, and the best way to do that was to stay calm.
She found the best way for her to stay calm was to think happy thoughts...and of course, the first one that jumped into her head was when she and Pasco confessed to each other.
As she breathed, she smiled as she remembered the moment. The warm feeling in her chest when he said she loved her, the joy she felt when she hugged his chest and told him she felt the same, the bliss she was in when they kissed and she felt his static on her tongue...she took one more deep breath, and let herself get lost in the moment...she could almost feel the soft, cool, touch of his fur engulf her entire body...
..Wait..cool? That doesn't seem right, she remembered his fur was always warm to the touch...come to think of it, she could feel this feeling really well...better than she should have been able with her thoughts alone...this doesn't feel like fur actually...more like...
...Wait a minuet.
She opened her eyes, and almost gasped at the realization; She had sunk underwater without even realizing it! She was surprised she could get so lost in her own thoughts that she forgot about something like that but...it was pasco.
"..Wow, I get so lost in thought thinking about him i forget about breathing...then again, he always stole my breath anyway." She giggled a little at her own joke, careful not to open her mouth, and then swam back down to the bottom of the lake to hear the story.
Once she got there, the whishiwashi said to her in a caring way, "..You got enough air? Are you comfortable?" The buneary nodded her head happily and lay'd down on the floor of the lake, resting her chin on her paws as she smiled through her puffed up cheeks while her legs floated upwards, a similar position she took when her mom was telling her a story about..well, anything.
"Great...oh, and this story is...well it's pretty long, so if you need a second to get another breath, point at your mouth and i'll wait for you to get back." the whishiwashi told her, just to be safe.
"Now where do i begin..." He thinks to himself as he begins his tale...
"I'm gonna upload something every month" He said, "I won't lose my passion" He said,
Oof...sorry guy's, i know how i just came back to fanfiction with my first ever post in six months saying i would try harder but, I'm just...REALLY, bad with procrastination. I need to hire somebody to remind me about this site man...
Also, don't worry I'm not gonna just skip the part where let tells his story to Anina, I just decided i should make this into my first two parter since it was getting kinda long, and i actually wanted to upload it...well, in an actually plausible amount of time instead of four months. I'm also gonna do the best i can to get part two out as soon as i can so i don't drive anyone crazy thinking about it.
ALSO, also, I know a lot of you guy's are probably wondering what ever happened to my other story's like dual natures, the last days, and etc, and the thing is..I kinda don't know where to go with those two. Which i feel bad about since i literally ran a poll about dual natures, so i KNOW some people really do care about that story. And by no means am i giving up on it! I just want to concentrate on a Buneary's heart for now, since i was planning for it to be a relatively short fic anyway, (it honestly went farther than i thought it would have) and it's the only one I'm not currently suffering a writers block from. So that's the story I'm gonna be focusing on for now, and once I've finished it I'll head back over to dual natures and see what i can come up with.
OH, and by the way, as a means of apology for my inability to perceive time, I'm doing something special! if any of you have an idea for a character you want to see in a Buneary's heart, or dual nature or..well, any of my story's really, if you get in contact with me (But like...not in a creepy way.) and tell me about the idea, I'll put them in the story's! And the more you share about them, the more important they become to the story.
Okay, that's all from me for now, I've got to get to work and..find some inspiration so i can get out of my writers block. This is riolulover97, hoping you all get to go to heaven!
(P.S. Okay, so after some thought, I've decided that the bit with Anina discovering she has a soul al la undertale style was...rather rushed. I'll admit, I didn't think that part through. So i might have to leave the identity and the ultimate reason why the gardivour and the greninja from that special place are curious about Anina's soul up in the air...although, i think i have an idea for them, but it probably won't be as important as you think. I'm sorry if people were curious about them and wanted to know more about this whole thing but, i really just, don't know what to do with them anymore. I may also have to keep the story of that OTHER mysterious group largely separated from Anina, cause they were in a similar boat as to them, but i managed to JUUUST squeeze them in. I REALLY hope no one is mad about that, but I'm WAY to far into the story to just pull a retcon and...well, this was my very first story, and i was bound to make some kind of face-palm worthy mistake eventually and, this is just the only way i think i can properly address things..)
(P.P.S. In case anyone reading my fic happens to want a more QUALIFIED person tell story's about Pokemon and also happens to be a nerd that like's rolling dice in..*ahem* 'certain well-known variations of board games' with..*ahem* 'a number that goes higher than six' Then, BOY do i have the person for you! The person i speak of is known as Yeesha stone, and she runs..*ahem* 'said well-known variations of board games' with a unique twist. She's adapted the system to fit Pokemon! You ever wanted to be a pidgey archer? Or a sandslash musician? Well, now's your chance! How do you get in contact with her and begin your adventure? Well, that's the tricky part. [or easy part depending on your own circumstances.] To get in, you need a Discord account, and you must also be able to tell what game I'm talking about by my description. [Although to be honest, I'm sure A LOT of you will be able to tell what game I'm talking about through my description, but hey, you never know.] Don't know anything about said game? Never fear! So long as you have a genuine interest and passion for it, Yeesha will be MORE than willing to teach you all about the game and everything you need to know about it. i should know, she did it for me. Oh! And also, when you arrive on her server, PLEASE, don't tell them i sent you there. Well, you can tell them i sent you there, but don't tell them you came here via a shout out on my fanfiction. If they do ask, just tell them you were on another discord server that i was also on, and i just told you about it. I'd rather not tell them about this since...well, one of my best friends IRL hangs out there, and I'd never be able to rest in peace if they found out about this site. [and if any of you decide to be rebels, I WILL change my account name! You'll never find me again...]
In case your on the fence and not sure about it, here's some more information about the world you'd be inhabiting!
The setting:
The game take place in a world of only Pokemon, that have civilized over time, and spread to various inter-connecting dimensions, each meant to represent a region and generation of Pokemon. You'll most likely find your way to the guild of wings, a special organization of Pokemon dedicated to the collection of knowledge, and seeks to aid Pokemon across the world. Whether you become a member or not is up to you, but just remember that anyone involved with this guild tends to find themselves in incredible adventures, and surrounded by friends...of course, adventure always comes with a risk..
The conflict: [Note: i don't know everything about the situation at hand in the campaign, so my description should be taken with a grain of salt. A.K.A, any of this could change/ be false.]
Recently, strange beings of elemental affinity have appeared across the land. They resemble Pokemon, but are much more hostile towards normal Pokemon and are actually created by using a deceased Pokemon's soul. The guild of wings seems to have caught those responsible for the monsters, legendary bird Pokemon called zapdos, articuno, and moltres. They each used a special orb to use the monsters to attempt to destroy one another, however they were stopped by the leader of the guild, zeedani. A powerful archeops who matched even them in combat. The orb's have been locked up tight by the guild...but it's doubtful the birds wouldn't attempt to recover that which belongs to them..and that's not even mentioning the other strange monsters that AREN'T Pokemon related at all...
Your job: [if you chose to join the guild]
You'll be a member of the guild of wings, and travel all around the universe to discover new Pokemon, and uncover information that the guild of wings can use to supply to all Pokemon. You may start at humble beginnings, but if you keep at it, and keep working hard, you may just find yourself rising up the ranks, and as the guild lovingly calls it, 'earn your wings.' You'll most likely find a few friends and allies that will stick with you through thick and thin, and may even help you achieve more..personal goals.
Play style:
The game takes place ALL on discord, so you don't need to worry about finding time to meet up with a chosen few players. The people there all have a few separate things in common. They all love Pokemon, they all love the game, and we're all nerds. So feel free to geek out about anything you want to geek out about! Also, take note that Yeesha is developing the game to this day, so she may occasionally ask the server about ideas about a certain Pokemon, move, ability, or anything really. Feel free to offer up your ideas, it may just be the thing she's looking for.
And that's about everything i can tell you on this end! Oh! And if you want to meet me in-game, [you know, as a cool little "hey i saw your shout out!' moment] I play as a gray-colored Riolu, with a purple scarf and a green robe. I'm usually accompanied by either a energetic skitty, a shy, but sweet zorua, a silent, noble oshawott, and a happy-go-lucky eevee. [their my friends, in case you couldn't tell.] Some other's i know are a strong, bestial gible, a quiet, reserved abra, and a cold, reclusive sandile. [although that last one i'm not sure if i can call a friend, he just put's up with me.] If you see me and want to me to know you know who i am, type this message after your character introduces themselves: grilledcheeseDABEST101 [can't wait to see everyone's reactions to that, it's gonna be hilarious. XD] once you do, I'll be able to tell you know my works and may even make special references to them that only you would get ;) anyway, I've been rambling on enough about this, [can you tell what's been distracting me from fanfiction lately?] I'll see you next chapter, and maybe I'll see you there as well!)