Chapter 1 : ThunderStorm at Sea
"W-WHOA! Wh-wh-what!?"
"A-Are you OK?!"
"No! Hang on! Just a little longer!"
"N-No! I'm sorry...I c-cant...hold on!"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Vulpix yawned. The Vulpix woke up in the morning, but she was still exhausted, she did not sleep well. There was a heavy thunderstorm last night, and the open cliff she lived on didn't help with the noise. She decided to just go back to sleep immediately after.
On the beach however, someone else did not have a better experience. A lone Ralts was lying on the beach, unconscious. Her head was using a rock like a pillow and she was getting baked in the bright sun.
"GAAH!" she immediately woke up from the shock of the cold sea waves splashing on her. Ralts immediately backpedaled, scrambling as far away from the sea as possible. Or at least she tried. She couldn't feel her limbs, so she ended up awkwardly rolling away a little distance. Her head didn't help matters, with green hair allowing her to barely see anything and a killer headache. Even after the cold awakening, she immediately felt dizzy and exhausted and ended up passing out again.
Ralts woke up after in the evening. The sky was a bright pink and orange, with the sun setting in the horizon. Rubbing her eyes, she tried to look around her surroundings.
"Ok...where am I?" She looked around, however something green was blocking the majority of her vision.
"W-what the-?! What the heck? Why is my hair green?" she exclaimed in surprise. She lifted the hair out of her eyes and looked at her arm. It was white. She gasped and looked down. White again. She started to freak out a little, but calmed down quickly.
"No...calm down Hazel...panicking won't solve anything" she whispered to herself while taking a deep breath. She tried to get up, however her spinning head, cramps and new body caused her to sit right back down.
She got a better look at her body. Her body was completely white, with green hair and some kind of horns on the front and back of her head. After pausing for a moment, she recognized those descriptions.
'I'm...a Ralts?! Why?! I am supposed to be a human for crying out loud.' she thought to herself, silently panicking. However, for some reason there was a twinge of excitement.
'I'm...a Pokemon! This is, a little cool actually! Sure, I may be the size of 2 pencil cases stacked on top of each other, but maybe I can use moves and abilities. Maybe I'm more resilient too.' she thought to herself, grinning a little. 'Although it sucks that my family and friends won't recognize me. Wait, who ARE my friends and family?' her grin vanished.
'Ok, rewind. My name is Hazel, I'm a Ralts, somehow, I'm 15 and have some form of amnesia. I don't know what the heck happened and how I got here. Great, my life is going excellent. As if it wasn't going downhill already.'
'Well, no point in staying here. I'll just - Geh!" she grunted as she tried to get up, but couldn't. She body was still sore from whatever happened, not too mention she was in a different body.
'Welp, then I'll just sit here and contemplate my life choices. If I uh, had any...'
Hazel looked around. She was on a beach, and it was dusk. Turning her head towards the sea, she gasped. The setting sun reflected in the waves and the orange and pink sky were gorgeous. The sunlight was gently reflecting off of the many bubbles swaying in the wind. All her worries faded as she continued to relish the sunset. 'So...gorgeous. I don't think I've ever seen something like this...'
"Alright, I got this..." Vulpix muttered to herself. She was in front of a big tent with the shape of a Wigglytuff at the top. Right in front of Vulpix was a wooden grate covering a dark hole. There were also two giant torches next to the tent. She always wanted to join the Wigglytuff Guild, but her nerves always got the better of her. 'Not this time', she swore to herself.
Vulpix stepped on the grate. Almost immediately, a voice shouted up at her, scaring the daylights out of her.
"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!"
"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"
"The footprint is Vulpix! The footprint is Vulpix!"
"OH ARCEUS WHAT IN THE WORLD WHO SAID THAT!" Vulpix yelped and immediately stepped off the grate. Luckily, nothing happened and she let out a sign of relief. She then calmed down and sulked.
'That was WAY too scary. Who thought that was a good idea?' she thought to herself with a sad expression on her face.
'I really need to take a breather. All these nerves and jumpscares are way too much for me. I should unwind at the beach. I thought my Relic Fragment would help me with my nerves...Oh well, I'll come back a little later' she sulked internally.
As she walked away, she tripped on a patch of grass. The Relic Fragment around her neck, which was attached by a string, detached from her neck and rolled away a small distance near a bush.
"O-Oh, my Relic Fragment..." she mumbled loudly. She picked it put and retied it around her neck with the help of her tails.
She walked away towards the beach. When she was down at the crossroads, 2 Pokemon hiding in the bush emerged. One was a blue bat like Pokemon with no eyes and an open mouth, a Zubat, while the other was like a purple balloon, emitting some sort of toxic gas out of him which kept him afloat, a Koffing.
"Heh-heh, seems like that wimp had something good around her neck. May fetch a pretty Poke." Zubat laughed, grinning wildly.
"You sure? It was just a rock with a weird pattern from what I saw."
"Well, either way, I just want to mess with someone for once. I'm still annoyed about our unsuccessful treasure hunt on Mt Bristle." Zubat sighed in annoyance. They searched all over the mountain for the rumored treasure, but they left empty-handed and covered in scratches.
"Whoa-ho, let's follow her quickly then. We may lose her if we don't hurry." Koffing snickered.
Zubat and Koffing both nodded, before both floated off towards her general direction.
As Vulpix headed for the beach, she saw a bunch of familiar Krabby crawl out. As they usually did, they started blowing out bubbles into the sky. Vulpix approached the waves and sat down, watching the marvelous view of the pink and orange sky, with the sun setting in the horizon with the bubbles reflecting all those colors.
'This view never gets old. I guess the Krabby also agree.' Vulpix thought blissfully. She continued to marvel at the view for a while, sinking into the moment.
'Coming here is always uplifting...Huh?' She noticed something white and green from the corner of her eyes. As she approached, she realized it was actually a Pokemon. The Pokemon was sitting against a wall and their eyes seemed to be glued to the sunset. 'Can't really blame them, the sunset is very pretty...Maybe I should say hello...? Never seen anyone like them anywhere near town...'
Ralts was too preoccupied with the view to notice an approaching Vulpix.
"U-Um, hello..." a voice said.
Ralts immediately flinched and jolted up to look at the Vulpix. The Vulpix was red, with a string necklace and a small pouch at her side. Her eyes were pure brown and they had 5 tails. From her voice, she sounded around 15 years old, maybe a little older.
As soon as the Ralts flinched, the Vulpix also flinched slightly, clearly not expecting such a reaction.
"W-Whoa- is s-something wrong?" The Vulpix asked panickly.
"O-O-Oh, I-I'm sorry, didn't notice y-you there..." Hazel stammered. She was startled by the Vulpix, not too mention she was horrible at talking to others.
"W-Well, okay then..." Vulpix paused a little, taking a good look at Hazel. She noticed some small scrapes on her. "Are you alright?" She asked, concern clouding her face and eyes.
"W-Well...My h-head hurts, and s-so does my b-body..." Ralts winced, trying to stand up again, since Vulpix basically towered over her.
"O-Oh dear! Are you alright? Here, eat these. Please." Vulpix hurriedly reached into her little pouch and pulled out a blue berry and a small seed. Seeing the confused look on Ralts, Vulpix explained ; "The berry is an Oran Berry, and the seed is a Heal Seed. They should make you feel better." Vulpix smiled warmly.
Ralts ate the tiny seed and nimble on the Oran berry. Almost immediately, she felt way better. She still felt unnatural, due to her now small body, but her headache and cramps were almost completely gone.
"Whoa...T-Thank you f-for that!" Ralts exclaimed. She tried standing up again, and was successful, but she had trouble balancing herself. 'Lucky that I'm a Ralts, at least I walk on 2 legs, probably shouldn't take too long to get use to this...', Ralts thought to herself. As she stood awkwardly, prompting a weird look from Vulpix. Seeing this, Ralts immediately sheepishly laughed it off, stammering "Hehe...I-I guess I-I'm still slightly d-dizzy...hehe...".
Changing the subject, Ralts asked "S-So do you just carry a-around an...an O-Oran berry and Heal s-seed around?".
"Oh, well its just that recently bad Pokemon have been showing up more frequently, so you never know when you can get attacked. I mean, just recently a Teddiursa and Ursaring were walking to Treasure Town, when Teddiursa stepped on a Toxic Spike, placed in the middle of the road on purpose apparently. Teddiursa had to be carried to town and was barely conscious from the poison. It was...messy to say the least" Vulpix explained. 'I guess it makes sense, you can never be too cautious' Ralts thought.
"By the way...w-what's your n-name, I didn't a-ask you before..." Ralts asked sheepishly, clearly embarrassed about not minding her manners.
"Oh right! My name is Vulpix, but others call me Kit. You can call me Kit if you want." Kit smiled.
"W-Well my n-name is ..." Ralts thought about it for a second. She wasn't sure if 'Hazel' was a common name, and she didn't want to tell someone to be suspicious of her true nature. Who knows what could happen if a human-turned Pokemon was found. "T-The n-names just R-Ralts"
"Well, nice to meet you Ralts. Can you remember what happened to you?" Kit said through a concerned smile.
"N-No...I cant s-seem to r-remember...Huh?" Ralts peeked around Kit. She saw 2 Pokemon approaching. Her heart started racing. She was very awkward around others, not too mention their emotions were very, ill-natured, in a way. 'Wait w-what?! I cant really make out their expressions from this distance, how can I tell how they feel?!'.
"Hello ladies." The Zubat snickered with a evil-looking grin. Hazel's eyes narrowed. There was something untrustworthy about them. They were clearly scheming something bad.
"Who are you...?" Vulpix asked.
"The name's are Koffing and Zubat" Zubat introduced themselves with a grin.
"I d-don't mean to b-be rude, but w-what do you t-two want, exactly?" Ralts frowned. Kit turned back to Ralts worriedly. Ralts were some Pokemon known for sensing others emotions. Not too mention her unnatural hostility seemingly coming out of nowhere. Clearly she must have sensed something in these two, however she wasn't really sure.
"What's wrong with just talking to others? We just want a friendly chat." Koffing's eyes narrowed, however he continued to smile. 'Uh-huh, right, of course. I'm betting these guys will try to mess with us.' Ralts rolled her eyes.
"Well, can I help you with something?" Kit asked. Koffing and Zubat shot each other a glance, and grinned.
"Heh-heh, well, we noticed you have a pretty little necklace. Can we get a closer look?" Zubat snickered. Kit shot a look at Ralts, and after seeing her frowning face, she declined. "No, sorry, I dont want it to be stolen." Kit's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
After another quick glance between the two Poison types, they pounced on Kit. Even though she was somewhat wary of them, she did not expect them to pounce on her. Koffing tackled her, causing her to fall to the ground. Zubat grabbed the necklace with his mouth and ripped it off her neck. All this happened so quickly, Ralts was left stunned.
After Kit picked herself up, she glared at her assailants. "H-Hey, what was that about?! Give my necklace back!" She growled.
Zubat and Koffing cackled. Zubat's wings started glowing and Koffing puffed out more toxic gas. Intimidated, Kit backed away and whimpered quietly. "Whoa-ho! And what are you gonna do? That's right, nothing! We are just going to waltz out of here and get away with it. Why don't you go home and play with your dolls, whoa-ho!" Koffing chuckled, before he and Zubat headed towards a nearby cave.
They were stopped by the Ralts. "W-What's w-wrong with you? Who g-goes around m-mugging r-random peo...Pokemon?" Ralts said firmly, although her awkwardness and stutter made her seem less serious.
"Heh-heh, will you look at that? A shortie is more brave. But you're so small though, just try to catch us!" Zubat teased, as he and Koffing simply floated above her. 'Did they just call me a shortie?! Aw hell no, NO one calls me short and gets away with it!'
Hazel turned to the Vulpix, and paused. Even though Kit's face was turned away from her, she could feel how she felt. Frustration, fear, sadness.
"H-Hey, are y-you alright...?" She asked worriedly.
"T-That's my personal t-treasure...it means everything to me..." She calmed down and turned to Ralts with a more serious expression, but still with tears in her eyes. "Can you please help me get it back?".
"I-I don't know...I s-still don't know w-what is h-happening, not t-too mention h-how to fight...But then a-again, they c-called me s-short, and no one c-calls me short. S-So I'll t-try to h-help you out..."
Kit's face lit up. "Oh thank you! Let's go quickly! And don't worry, I'll try to tell you about moves!"
"A-Alright, l-let's go!"
As they entered the cave, it started out normal enough. The cave was like a dark hallway. However, after walking a short distance, it opened up and they entered a big room. When they entered the room and walked to the middle or it, the entrance behind them vanished. Ralts was very confused and started to grow worried, however Vulpix mumbled "A mystery dungeon...".
"A-A what?"
"It seems this cave is a mystery dungeon." After a confused look from Ralts, Kit elaborated. "Mystery dungeons, from what I know, are weird places. Once you enter, you cant really leave until you either find an Escape Orb or you reach the end. What's also weird about them is that they give healing properties, which is neat." Kit added with a shrug as they both started walking towards another hallway.
"Huh, i-interesting. S-So do we just s-search the entire place f-for those two jerks?"
"Hmm, well, I'm not sure. I think it would be best to go to the end first. If they are at the end, we can corner them, and if not, then we can re-enter and search again. If we re-search the floors then by that time they definitely should be at the end. I hate to admit it, but those two are quite strong. They should be at the end." Kit thought out loud.
"Wait, t-there are floors in t-these places?"
"Yeah, these places are weird. There are also wild Pokemon here, and the layout changes every time you enter them. But you can also find money and items."
"O-Oh, so I g-guess we have to fight o-other Pokemon..." Ralts sweated a little. She didn't realize they had to fight other Pokemon.
"You said you don't know how to fight, right?" Kit asked.
"U-Um, yeah..." Ralts answered sheepishly. She was still working on walking normally (at least, as normally as a Ralts can), there is no way she can use moves yet.
"Hmm, you're a Psychic type, right?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, why don't you try focusing on the ground? You may know something kind of Psychic move..."
Hazel decided she may as well give it a try. Looking at the ground in front of her, she raised her arm in front of her. She just stared at the ground in front of her. Okay...this is awkward. How am I supposed to do this? I think the move I can use is Confusion-'
The instant she thought the word 'Confusion', her vision briefly became pink. The spot on the ground she was staring at suddenly exploded a little, throwing sand up.
Hazel's jaw dropped. 'W-What?! Is it THAT simple?! All I did was stare at the ground and think 'Confusion'. How does this even work?'
"That wasn't hard, right?" Vulpix chuckled.
As they progressed through the dungeon, they entered another room. In it was a sleeping Shellos and peculiar stairs in the corner of the room. The Shellos woke up and glared at them.
"U-Um, that Shellos i-is glaring at u-us..." Ralts said nervously.
Suddenly, the Shellos charged. Both Kit and Ralts flinched as back away a little. Aiming for Kit, the Shellos shot a Water Gun at her. Being a super-effective move against her, she yelped and stumbled a little.
Hazel angrily growled at Shellos. Shellos seemed slightly intimidated, and was clearly more wary of both of them. Shellos tackled Hazel, however surprisingly it didn't hurt that much. Clearly the Shellos was holding back his attacks slightly. Hazel glared at Shellos, extending her arm forward and after a slight pause, shot a Confusion at Shellos. Shellos stumbled a little before collapsing. Then suddenly, he just, vanished into thin air. 'W-What the-?! Where'd that Shellos go?!'
Turning to Kit, Ralts worriedly asked "H-Hey...you okay? That Water Gun seemed to h-hurt you a lot...".
"Oh I'm fine, don't worry, as scary as that was, it didn't hurt too much. But that was quite impressive, how you dealt with that Shellos. You seem like a natural." Kit said sheepishly.
"T-That's good to hear...But uh, w-what happened to t-that Shellos? Shellos just, v-vanished into thin air..." Confusion was traced all over her voice.
"Well, I'm not sure myself, but like I said, mystery dungeons are weird. Apparently, if you faint in dungeons, you get kicked out of it. My guess is that the Shellos must have been kicked out as well. To where, I don't know."
"Oh, well, okay. I-I guess we shouldn't w-worry about it. We do have t-two Poison types to beat" Ralts grinned a little, cracking her knuckles.
"Yeah...I guess we should go through those stairs, it'll take us farther into the dungeon." Kit said nervously. Clearly she wasn't confident about the upcoming fight.
Kit and Ralts approached the end of the dungeon. When they reached the end, Ralts felt this weird feeling. Whatever injuries, hunger or exhaustion she felt were gone. It was as if nothing happened.
"K-Kit, is it j-just me, or do you feel almost refreshed?" Ralts turned to Kit with wonder in her voice.
"Yeah, I do. I'm willing to bet it's the dungeons effects." Kit chuckled.
They noticed 2 figures floating in the distance. One was a bat and the other was like a balloon. No doubt about it ; Koffing and Zubat were ahead.
Their backs were turned to both of them. They approached and stopped a few meters away from them. Hazel could feel Kit's fear and uncertainty about the inevitable fight that was about to happen. After a reassured look and nod from Ralts, Kit stepped forward angrily.
"Uhm...Hey!" She called out sternly.
Both Poison types turned around. However after seeing their new guests, they both grinned.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't our old friend and the shortie"
'I swear, if he calls me a shortie one more time, I'm skinning them alive'
"Give me...G-Give me back my necklace! Please, it means everything to me!" Kit yelled at them
Both Zubat and Koffing exploded in a fit of laughter. "Whoa-ho-ho! It means EVERYTHING to you?! That's just sad. Who puts all their self-worth into a ROCK?!" Koffing laughed.
"Heh-heh, we probably SHOULD sell it. It may not be worth a lot, but clearly it could be healthy to you. You got way too attached to your 'Relic Fragment'." Zubat chuckled.
"W-Why? And h-how do you know what I call it?" Kit exclaimed.
"Remember when you tripped near that bush? We were in it, heh-heh!"
Ralts suddenly giggled. When all attention was turned to her, she immediately stopped, however she spoke up. "S-So, you guys just, hid in a b-bush, and sat there all day waiting for s-someone to come?"
Koffing and Zubat paused. "Okay, we wanted to enter the guild, but before we could, that wimp walked up. So we ducked into a bush and waited for her to leave, but then we say that rock and thought we could mess with her." Koffing explained with irritation lined in his voice.
"...Why t-though?"
"Look, we came back from a failed treasure hunt, give us a break! Now, are you gonna leave us alone or are we going to rumble?!"
"Well Ralts, I-I guess we are going to need to fight."
"Whoa-ho, bring it on then!"
Zubat started the fight of strong by immediately swooping on Hazel. She didn't react quickly enough though, so Zubat managed to bite her arm. She shrieked in pain and tried to fight him off, but she felts as if her energy was getting drained. 'T-This must be Leech Life...Smart move, but a dumb one too. With Zubat latched on her arm, she was able to focus on him and after a moment of glaring, fired a Confusion. Zubat immediately let go of her arm and flapped around frantically. He must have been either confused or struggling to regain control, either way Hazel did not care. Zubat was close to the ground, so she tackled him and cause him to collapse. He didn't move. 'That was...surprisingly easy. Must have taken a lot of damage from Confusion.' With that, she turned her attention to Koffing. Even though she felt weak and her arm was unbearable, she ran in to help Kit.
Speaking of which, Kit was busy fighting Koffing. As Hazel shrieked from the Leech Life, she flinched and turned her attention to her. Koffing took advantage of that by firing a Poison Gas, and hence the name, poisoning her. After coughing a little, Kit took a deep breath in and fired an Ember at the Koffing. It collided with him and burned a part of his skin. Infuriated, Koffing charged at Kit, hitting her with a tackle. However, barely a moment later, he froze and collapsed.
Ralts was able to sneak behind him and hit him with Confusion, knocking him unconscious as well.
With the battle won, both girls let out a sign of relief.
"That was...slightly scary" Kit huffed out. "Are you sure you didn't fight before? Cause that was pretty impressive for someone with no fighting experience"
"W-Well, all I did was use Confusion twice...besides, m-maybe I'm just a natural." Ralts answered sheepishly.
Kit chuckled a little bit. But then suddenly she became pale and coughed, pain being evident. Ralts panicked a little and asked if she was okay, but Kit assured her she was alright. "I-I'm fine, it's just poison. I'm sure as soon as we leave the dungeon, it will wear off. Let's just collect my necklace and go before those two wake up."
With that, they took the necklace off of Zubat's unconscious body and stumbled out of the dungeon.
Just like when they entered the pit of the dungeon, when they returned to the entrance of Beach Cave, Ralts felt a lot better. Granted her arm still slightly stung from being bitten, and she felt exhausted, but she definitely felt better. Kit's poison also wore off.
"I cant thank you enough for your help...I don't know what I would have done without you." Kit said with tears in her eyes.
"H-Hey, it's no problem, really. I'm just happy to help." Ralts answered happily.
Kit took off her necklace and put it in front of her. "Here's what they stole. This is what I call a 'Relic Fragment', I called it that because of the pattern on it. Here." She pointed to the middle of the rock.
Ralts picked it up to get a better look at the pattern. There was something strangely familiar about it, but she didn't know what it was. The pattern was quite weird, but also pretty in a way. There was a circle in the middle of it, and surrounding it were feather like patterns, with four lines stretching out away from the middle.
She placed the rock back on the ground and continued to stare at it. Kit, not noticing her reaction, started rambling. "I called it a Relic Fragment because I want to discover if this rock means something. I've always loved ancient treasure, discovering new places veiled in darkness and mysteries, relics with deep histories...It's all so excited for me! Wouldn't you agree?" She looked up to Ralts.
Ralts noticed and snapped out of her thoughts. "O-Oh, yeah, it does sound nice...".
"I'm sure there is a lot more to my Relic Fragment. I want to learn more about it. Which is why I wanted to join Wigglytuff's Guild."
"Wigglytuff's...Guild? A guild for what?" Ralts asked curiously.
"Don't you know? Wigglytuff's Guild is the most famous Exploration guild. Exploration Teams go there to train." Kit explained.
"Ohhh...interesting. Zubat and Koffing did mention a guild. I believe y-you went there?"
"Y-Yeah, I did...but, I chickened out. It was just so, so nerve racking. Not too mention that yelling that always catches me off guard, even though I know it's coming." Kit mumbled. Ralts was able to feel the embarrassment and anger coming from Kit.
"Well, that aside, I want to ask you something, Ralts." Kit said rather matter-of-factly. It caught Hazel off guard. "O-Oh, really, what is it?"
"Do...Do you want to form an Exploration team with me?"
"I-I mean, s-sure, but why me? You met me a couple hours ago, and you already trust m-me THAT much?" Hazel stammered.
"Because I feel so much more confident around you. I probably wouldn't have the courage to stand up to those jerks without you. Besides, I'm sure you feel the same way" Kit added with a chuckle.
"How do you know?"
"When I met you, you stuttered about three times every sentence. Now you don't stutter so much when talking to me." Kit smiled.
Hazel blushed a little. " I g-guess I just got used to being around you..."
Kit looked back at the setting sun. It was further into the horizon now.
"Well, do you want to go to Wigglytuff's guild right now? It's not super late, I'm sure they'll let us in."
"Sure, it's not like I have nothing to lose" Ralts replied with a shrug.
With that, they both left the beach.