Sitting on a low rickety branch was a tiny green bird-like Pokémon, wet from harsh rain, it appeared to be staring at a nearby house's window intently until a gust of wind knocked the Natu off the branch. The Natu, startled, flapped its tiny wings as hard as it could, failing to stay airborne, before impacting with the window with a thud.

"What was that?" A kid whispered to themself, startled by the thud. They got up from their bed and tiptoed to the window, getting up on a chair to be tall enough to see out of it, they then pushed away the light blue curtain to see a Natu on the window, still squished against it from the impact. The kid opened the window to let in the Pokémon, the Natu hurriedly went inside the room on a dresser next to the kid, shaking itself dry and getting the kid wet in the process.

"Ahaha, stop that!" The kid laughed.

The Natu looked up at them, and proceeded to stare intently.

"Hey, what's your name?" They asked. "Mine's Riley."

The Natu simply stared at them, and then hopped onto their shoulder.

"Since you're a Pokémon, I suppose you can't say much at all. That's okay though." Riley said.

Just then, the Natu scanned its surroundings, its eyes darting all over the place until its view lands on a bookshelf.

"Oh, you want a story? My papa used to read me stories all the time when I was a little kid, but I'm getting too big for them, at least my parents think that."

Natu hopped off of Riley's shoulder and hopped to the base of the bookshelf, staring at a book. Riley made their way to the bookshelf in a few steps, and then knelt to reach the book it was staring at.

"This one is about a wild Natu who saves the Big Berry Tree from the mean Houndours." Riley explained. "So do you want to read this one with me?"

The Natu looked at Riley and hopped up and down, signifying its confirmation.

"Okay! Well..." Riley knelt down further. "Come on my shoulder, you seem like you'd enjoy it there." Riley said, smiling. The Natu hopped in place quickly and then did a pounce-like motion to rest on their shoulder.

Riley giggled, and then grabbed the book before tiptoeing back to their bed, turning the Poké Ball shaped lamp on and then opening the book to the first page.

"This one is called "The Brave Natu Who Could...", with the subtitle "...Beat The Houndours" underneath it." Riley said with a giggle. The Natu's eyes darted to Riley and then back to the book.

Riley cleared their throat and begun to read...

"Once there was a Natu in a forest, living with his friends the Sentrets, and with his mother, the Xatu, and his father, the Honchkrow. One day, while the Natu is hopping along a dirt path to the Big Berry Tree, a group of Houndour bolt past him and towards the tree, with the intent of eating all the berries until the tree runs dry on delicious food for all of his friends, and the brave Natu decides to hop along after them." Riley briefly stops reading to look at Natu, who seems to be staring at the book in anticipation.

Riley flipped the page and continued, "Once he reached a clearing and makes his way down the hill to the tree, he sees a pair of Sentret trying to protect the tree, but they each go down to a different Houndour's Ember attack, the Dark Pokémon then start blasting many berries with Ember to get them onto the ground. Seeing his hurt friends, the Natu hops along until he makes it to the base of the tree. He then starts tweeting to get the attention of the Houndour, who all look at him with mean looks. The Natu stares back, agitating a Houndour who tries to unleash a Smog at the Tiny Bird Pokémon, who hops out of the way in time and uses Sucker Punch on the Houndour that used Ember. He lands the hit, but the Houndour looks like it wasn't fazed, before it used Ember right in Natu's face, knocking him away. Natu quickly gets up and uses Night Shade, shooting a ray of dark purple light at the Houndour from his eyes, which it noticeably feels. The other two Houndour then both use Ember, which the Natu dodges by hopping off of the ground and high into the air, the Natu then uses Confuse Ray against one of the Houndour, and then hops next to the one besides the now confused Houndour." Riley stopped again, to peek at Natu, who was still staring at the book.

Riley flipped the page again and continued, "The nearest Houndour then unleashes a Smog attack, which Natu dodges, causing it to hit the confused Houndour instead, who after taking damage tried to use Ember in the direction of the Smog, accidentally hitting its friend in the process. The Natu lands back on the ground away from them both, but his blindside is caught by the 3rd Houndour who uses Bite on the Natu, badly hurting him. Just then, the brave little Natu starts glowing white and grows in size, his tiny wings expanding in length and his height getting taller, before the glow fades away and a Xatu stands where Natu had been. Xatu uses Night Shade on the now fearful Houndour that used Bite on him, knocking back the Houndour through force alone, the confused Houndour tried and aimed its snout in the direction of the sound of its friend being knocked back, but its confusion got to it and it hurt another one of its friends with a Smog attack, Xatu then uses Night Shade again on the confused Houndour, knocking it into the tree. The rest of the Houndour had enough of this and ran away in fear, and the Xatu stared in their direction triumphantly. The Xatu then flew to his Sentret friends and took some Oran Berries above and fed them the berries, afterwards the newly evolved Xatu played with his Sentret friends without worry of the Houndour ever returning again." Riley finished, closing the book and setting it on his nightstand.

The Natu hopped quickly in place, staring at Riley now, who looked back at it with a smile. "Yeah, I love this book too! My papa read this one to me the most, the ending is always the best surprise ever." The Natu hopped onto Riley's head, and then on top of the book, resting with its eyes closed. "You're right, we should sleep now, tomorrow is a big day!" Riley said, turning off the lamp and getting under their covers to sleep.

A/N: That's the end of the prologue chapter! What did you think?

I hope you get attached to Riley and their new friend the Natu!

Also just as a side note, Riley is intended to be androgynous, and later, nonbinary.

Up next: Chapter 1, Natu-rally Inseparable!