A Trainer's Epoch. Welcome. This is a secondary story of sorts to go along with Roundabouts. Where Roundabout's is more of a traditional story, this one isn't.
We'll be jumping around in time focusing on moments and characters that the main story can't. No linear narrative here, so rough timelines will be given as seen below.
Location – Sinnoh Five Years Before the Journey began.
Solaceon Town Hills
She was running.
Cracked and bleeding paw pads left drops of blood in the dirt. She didn't care. She had to keep going. She had to keep running.
The distant barks of anger and howls had long since left her behind. Behind in that prison of cold grey of faceless humans and familiar monsters.
She splashed through a stream to try and hide her scent. Mother had told her of the outside world. It was more beautiful than she had believed.
She continued to run.
The others were long gone. She had felt the first of them get snatched up by the hunters. It spurred her to run faster, knowing that they were going for easier targets first.
Her legs burned and muscles screamed for her to stop.
She knew if she stopped she wouldn't be able to continue.
They were still following her.
She had to keep running.
Felix sat at his uncomfortable desk with a frown of concentration.
HELP!
He flinched with a jolt as what sounded like a scream right in his ear startled him and caused him to fall out of his chair.
Miss Sandy paused her lesson as the small thump of a child hitting the floor was quickly matched by giggles from the class, she turned with a frown as she spotted the offender.
"Felix?" she called.
He was blinking a little on the floor, looking like he was surprised he had fallen. "I heard something!" he said loudly, clambering to his feet and looking around. "Didn't anyone else hear it?"
His classmates were looking at him in confusion, he looked around, turning a few times and nearly getting dizzy. He narrowed onto a mop of teal hair but Angie was also looking at him strangely. He knew that she wouldn't mess with him too and pouted. "I heard something!"
"What did you hear?" Miss Sandy asked, walking over to him and kneeling. "Are you alright? You didn't bump your head on the way down?"
"It sounded like someone was yelling right in my ear!" Felix said, poking his ear to demonstrate. "Really loudly. Like HELP!" he screamed that, causing the teacher to close her eyes.
She smiled at him a little curiously, he liked and didn't like the smile at once. "You might have dozed off a little, I'm not being too boring am I?"
Felix gasped in horror. "No! No! You're not boring!" He immediately began to tear up and she backpedalled. The other kids were still giggling, and he was looking around him in shame.
"I was just making a little joke, Felix. Are you sure? You look a little tired."
"I heard something!" he insisted. She considered him for a moment and nodded.
"Alright, class, the lesson's about finished anyway and I think you're all in a giggly mood now." The giggles had continued as Felix made his case and she could see it was affecting him. "How about an early recess?"
She didn't have to ask them twice. The kids were excited to get out and run around, she put a hand on Felix's shoulder so he wouldn't think to join them.
"I'll get a ball for us!" Angie said the only one who spoke to Felix. He smiled back and looked up at Miss Sandy worriedly.
"Am I in trouble?" he asked as everyone left.
Miss Sandy sat down and assured him that wasn't the case. "Absolutely not, Felix. I just wanted to talk to you, are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
She was looking at him in the way grown-ups looked when they didn't believe him.
"Can you tell me what you heard, exactly? Did it sound like someone you knew or your own thoughts?"
Felix shook his head. "No! It sounded like a girl and not Angie."
"So, a girl was asking you for help?"
Felix nodded.
"Was she asking you to do anything else?"
He shook his head.
"Use your words, Felix."
"I… I just heard help that's all!" he insisted. "And no one else heard it, did they?"
Miss Sandy didn't really respond to that, glancing away from him in thought. "Can I take you to the nurse?"
"Why?" Felix said, immediately on guard. "Is she going to give me a needle?"
She shook her head. "The nurse will want to check your ears."
"You think something crawled into my ears and is speaking to me!?" Felix yelped in horror. He immediately came up to her, showing her his ear. "There's nothing in there is there?"
She made a show of checking and assured him. "Nothing is in there."
"So the nurse doesn't need to see me!"
"She can still make sure you're okay."
Felix pouted. "I want to go play with Angie."
"It won't take very long, you'll still be able to play with her."
"I don't like the nurse."
She tutted gently. "What would Miss Norrie say about that? She used to be a nurse herself you know?"
"I know."
"So…?"
"Okay."
He dragged his feet a little, but she took him to the nurse and explained so Felix didn't have to. She could tell he was getting frustrated at not being believed, she hoped he wasn't developing tinnitus or anything.
The nurse looked him over but indeed found nothing.
Felix was asked a few more questions. "What did this voice sound like?"
"A girl."
"Anyone, you know?"
"No."
"What did she sound like?"
"A girl."
The nurse smiled, children were blunt in a way that was tricky sometimes. "Have you heard it since or ever before?"
He shook his head.
"What were you doing when you heard the voice?"
"Listening to Miss Sandy talk about maths."
"You weren't daydreaming or anything?"
Miss Sandy was still there, and Felix looked ashamed for a moment before trying to pretend he didn't. "No, I listen!"
The nurse smiled. "That's all I have to ask. Would you like a lollipop?"
"Can I have two to give to Angie?"
"Of course."
"Thank you!"
Felix grabbed the two best ones and looked to Miss Sandy. "You can go play now."
"I told you I was fine!" Felix said confidently before smiling. "Thank you, Miss Sandy!" And ran off.
The two adults watched the six-year-old race out with a smile before turning to each other. "What do you think?"
"I'd say it's most likely just a daydream," Mrs Rhine, the school nurse, answered. "He looks a little tired but otherwise okay. Did you see any Psychic-type pokémon around?"
Miss Sandy shook her head. "I looked out the windows as best I could but nothing out of the ordinary. He just yelped and fell out of his chair."
"Like the roller-coaster dreams," the nurse replied. "Slipping off to sleep before the dream does something startling and you jerk awake. He'll be fine."
Felix ran out with a mission on his mind.
He had to tell Angie what he heard! She'd bet it was super cool, and he had a lollipop for her too in case she was still grumpy.
Felix put his mind towards his most recent fantasy, him being the Super Trainer of Bismark. What Bismark was he wasn't sure, it just sounded cool.
"Bismark!" He shouted, doing an air kick. It was fun for a moment, but the trappings of lala land left him and Felix found himself unable to float back.
As he ran out onto the playground he began to look around for Angie. They got let out early so the kids were all digging into the sports equipment, getting balls and hoops and all sorts of things to play with. He bet he'd find her owning the basketball court and began to head uphill.
Along the way, however.
"rly, early todly. Larly little onesly."
He heard another voice, only it wasn't right in his ears like the other one. He looked around, the voice sounded older, motherly, nothing like the other kids. He could see a couple running.
"Hello?" he asked, he didn't recognise the voice of the grownup and felt scared. He wondered if he should run.
He ran under a tree to hide in the shade, wondering what that was.
"Oh star, he looks afraid of sta rr rrl. Is he ly trouble?"
"Who's there?" Felix called out, he grabbed a stick. That was another voice entirely, similar but he could tell the difference.
"Best take a lly around, maybe one of the other hatchlee's are bullying him. I've steen this one be pecked on before."
Above him, a branch rustled as a pair of starly took off flying, they began to flap over the schoolyard and the voices disappeared.
Thoroughly spooked, Felix waited for the grownups to say anything more. However, he heard nothing.
His tummy rumbled and reminded him that he hadn't eaten anything yet. He began to creep out, the hunger gnawed at him. Felt like he hadn't eaten anything in days. He grabbed his stomach, it hurt actually, where was his schoolbag?
Help.
The voice again!
It was in his head again as well!
He shook his head, this wasn't happening he was just imagining things. He had been daydreaming a bit in class, maths was just a bit boring that's all. That's all. He was imagining that cool pokémon battle he saw on the television and….
Help.
He turned around and began to run back uphill. Something was calling out for help, he decided, and it was calling out to him and only him. He must be special.
He felt really hungry though, like really, really, hungry.
He could eat later.
He was really hungry….
He panted, falling to a slow walk. Running uphill was not fun at all, was this even the right way to go? Maybe he could ask for help?
Help.
No! He had to help, whoever it was might not have enough time to last!
He wasn't sure why he was going in this direction. The voice was in his head, but for some reason, he felt like he knew which way to go. Maybe it really was in his head, and he was becoming magical!
It reminded him of his books and that was cool, it gave him a burst of energy. He really wasn't that hungry.
Help.
He was so hungry.
No, he wasn't?
What was going on? Why did he feel so tired but also fine at the same time? He felt dizzy.
Felix tripped and fell over, landing on his face. It hurt, he thought he might cry he was super scared why was he doing this? Miss Norrie told him never to go places with strangers.
Help.
He was close though.
What was going on?
He got up and persevered like the heroes of his books. Heroes weren't afraid of helping.
So, why did he feel so scared and hungry when he wasn't?
Was he going crazy? Was the nurse going to lock him up for hearing voices, back in the cold grey place being poked and prodded by-?
Felix blinked. He was right on the edge of the school grounds, this was a place he'd never gone to because there wasn't any point. He was pretty sure he wasn't meant to be here either, it was behind the greenhouses and they were old construction material that really should be moved because it was unsafe, but no one came out this far anyway.
The school had a fence all around it, so he knew he was still within the boundary. Yet, he was right behind the place anyone would stop, how did he get so far without noticing?
He looked around, there was a big rectangular chunk of metal sticking out from behind an old shed that probably contained something on the inside. He walked up to it and then looked past it, past it was some old planks and one of the ninety degrees angles of the fence. He was right where to top fence met the fence on the left of the school.
The fence was broken in place, he saw some planks were smashed, hanging by splinters. And right in this tight little spot was a spool of wire ignored for who knows how many years?
And trapped in the wire was a pokémon.
The sheer panic that gripped him then nearly caused him to run away.
"A-Argh."
It was both louder and weaker. No longer in his head, and losing strength.
Help.
"A-Are you okay?" he asked. That might have been a mistake.
As soon as the words left his mouth, suddenly, everything stopped.
Blinking mutely, Felix was nearly bowled over by a surge of fear that nearly caused a new problem before the sudden withdrawal of the panic and was left confused. He felt normal again, well as normal as he was already.
His eyes a bit clearer, he could take in the pokémon that was stuck.
It had blue fur all over it, besides its abdomen, back legs, mask-like feature on its face and two odd tassels that hung down each side of its head.
And two red eyes narrowed in a glare the likes of which Felix had never seen.
"LU OUT!" it shouted, fury emanating off it.
"SHUT UP!" Felix yelled back, angrier than he'd ever felt. Even angrier than when he got into trouble for something he didn't do. The anger was unlike him, he'd never felt it before and never so sudden. The shock of his own shout jarred him back to the present.
Both its paws and one leg were fine, but the other foot was trapped tightly within the tangle of wire, and it seemed unable to get out.
"S-Sorry," Felix said, the burst of anger fading as if it wasn't even his. "Are you okay?" He stepped forward, only for the pokémon to take a swipe at him. It was nowhere close to being in range, but the warning was there, and he heeded it.
"Do you need help?" Felix didn't step any closer, nor did he back away. "I can go find my teacher, she'll know what to do." He turned to run back to class, only to be stricken with a level of fear so intense he staggered and fell to the ground, curling up in a foetal position before remembering himself.
"Ow," Felix moaned, he had scraped his arm on the ground. He pushed himself back to his feet and looked back at the pokémon, it was shivering, and its eyes were flicking between overwhelming anger and crippling terror.
The idea of leaving this thing, when it didn't know he was coming back, stumped Felix. "I'll be back," he tried, deducting that him leaving was what made it so scared. "But I'll be back, and I'll bring more people, people who will know what to do with you!" He smiled to cap it all off.
His smile froze and then shattered, the pokémon had begun to cry, tears collecting in its red eyes before spilling down, shaking its head rapidly back and forth. It fell completely still, the fear preventing even shakes.
"Hey, hey," he skittered forward, feeling absolutely terrible for the scared pokémon. "It's alright, you're gonna be, OW!"
Felix had stepped too close, too eager to prove that it would be fine, too hopeful that he could soothe the pokémon and it had swiped out, punching him in the stomach with the strength of a Fighting-type pokémon and knocking him back with a cry of pain, landing on his bottom.
Felix coughed twice and nearly retched. He was stunned silent for a moment, the hit hurt, yes, but the sheer fact he had been hit paused him. Once it all sunk in he wheezed and rolled over onto his front. "YOU'RE TERRIBLE!" he shouted back at the pokémon, not seeing it clearly with the pain and ran off, tears clouding his eyes.
He couldn't stand the thought of being hit, he was only six years old.
He collected himself before he reached the populated schoolyards, recess had started, and kids were eating their morning snacks and playing around.
Felix rubbed his face, trying to hide the fact he had been crying and ignored the offers to play from everyone. Although, Angie would not be denied.
"What's wrong!?" Angie said, marching right up to him. "Did Andrew be mean to you again?"
"No!" Felix replied. "It's nothing."
Angie put her hands on her hips looking as stern as a child in her fifth year of life could. Which was pretty intense.
Felix could not withstand such a face for long.
"I tried to help a pokémon and it punched me." He lifted his shirt to reveal an angry bruise forming in the shape of a paw.
Angie, to her credit, was more impressed and immediately asked if she could touch it. "It's really smooth," she said, brushing at his skin.
"And it hurts!" Felix said, lowering his shirt with a huff. "I was just trying to help, and it hit me! I'm never helping again!"
Angie squeezed her mouth shut but giggled a little anyway.
"It's not FUNNY!"
She nodded. "You're right. It's not. I just thought it was funny you'd say that. You'd help me if I asked wouldn't you?"
He nodded. "Of course, I would."
"So, you'll help someone again!"
Felix considered that her words were wise. "Well, I'm not helping that mean pokémon again!"
"Felix, I know a lot about pokémon," Angie said confidently. She did, he'd give her that. Her parents owned the Martin Day Care and she got to learn so much about pokémon whenever she went home.
There was just Elly, Miss Norris' glameow, at his home and so he was jealous.
"So, you know I'm right when I say that it's probably just scared of you. Pokémon can be a bit scary when they're scared, it's weird but it's true, Dad told me!"
"Scared?" Felix asked, remembering how terrified he felt for a moment back there. "But I'm not scary."
"That's true," Angie said, frowning. She hadn't considered that. Felix was about as intimidating as a sunflower. "Maybe you were loud, you can be loud."
"I can be loud," Felix repeated, frowning. "But I'm not scary."
"Not to me!" Angie laughed. "Pokémon can be scared if they don't know you, like how starly fly away if you run at them and stuff."
"It couldn't run," Felix said slowly. "It's stuck in a big ball of wire."
Angie's mouth fell open. "Well, we gotta help it!"
"But it'll hit me again."
"Not if you're with me!" Angie raised her fist. "If it punches I can punch back!"
"Well, maybe we should just tell Miss Sandy."
"I want to see this pokémon," Angie said. "What if we can keep it if we save it?"
"Can we do that?"
"We won't know if we tell Miss Sandy, she'll take it."
That was decided then. They wouldn't tell the grownups, although Felix looked really uneasy at the thought, Angie's confidence was enough to carry him through the rest of the day.
They lived in Solaceon Town, a little farming town with a few little highlights for visitors. It was small enough of a place that they were free to run home after school, not needing to be picked up by their caretakers. Everyone knew everyone in a place like, or at least everyone knew Angie and Felix.
Energetic Angie and Fearsome Felix, one of the many names they liked to call themselves. Best of friends, a year between them but the school was small enough for fused years, allowing them to still spend time together in class.
Felix trailed after Angie as she led the way back to the Martin Day Care. "We're not going to tell Dad we're gonna bury his tools."
"Borrow," Felix corrected.
"You'll borrow these hands!" Angie threatened lightly. They ran along the fence to the daycare, a few powerful pokémon stepping around and doing whatever pokémon liked to do.
"You wait here!" Angie directed, setting Felix away from the entrance to her family's business and home. Felix hopped up on the fence and looked at the pokémon.
There was the cool infernape making some sort of challenge to an empoleon who didn't look so impressed.
"Naaape you can't infer anynape that fer can do!"
Felix frowned as he watched them.
Emploeon didn't seem so impressed.
"Let it go, poleon. Emp perol defeat the likes of me."
Felix was pretty sure pokémon didn't talk in real life. He loved the cartoons of them talking and being just like humans but none of them had ever talked to him before no matter how much he tried.
Angie came racing out with a pair of pliers clutched in her little hands. "Got it!" she called, waving the object wildly.
"What are those?"
"I saw my dad cutting wires with this one day," she answered, giving it to him to carry. He had to hold them with both hands. "This will work!"
Geared up like real Pokémon Trainers, they gathered their energy and ran back to school.
"Follow me," Felix said, bravely taking the lead for once. He trekked up the sheer cliffs and pointed out the forbidden sanctuary which he had pierced through to find its prisoner.
"Woah, you came all the way out here?" Angie asked, impressed.
"Of course!"
"Isn't this, like, out of bounds?"
"I don't know," Felix said quickly.
"It is. Hah, you broke the rules!"
"I didn't mean to!" Felix was looking genuinely scared and so she knew what to say.
"I'm not gonna tattle on you. I'm no snitch." She extended her hand for a pinky promise.
"Me neither!" Felix took her pinky in hers and shook, a binding agreement just like their oath of eternal friendship.
"Okay," Felix said, feeling nervous. "You won't let it hit me again?"
"I will hit it back if it does!"
That was still not great, but she might bop him if he didn't move it. Felix was feeling that funny feeling again as they approached. It wasn't the same as the first time and, curiously enough, after it attacked him he stopped hearing the voice in his head.
He still heard what those pokémon were saying, however. He hadn't mentioned this to Angie yet, he didn't want her to think he was crazy.
"It's over here." They moved cautiously and Felix began to feel the scared and the hungry and the angry all over again. It was like a pit of spikes in his belly, all rumbling around and making him upset.
He didn't want to let Angie see it, though, so he did his best to look normal.
They peered forwards. The sun was already dipping closer to the horizon, casting a shadow on the land. It wasn't evening yet, but the corner they were in was under the cover of shade.
"Do you feel it?" Felix asked, hoping she felt as weird as he did.
"Feel what? Chilly?"
She didn't feel it.
They poked their heads out, hearing the sniffling and soft sounds of misery from the pokémon. It was still stuck in the wire, cutting deeply into its leg and this time Felix noticed there was blood on the ground.
He didn't like that. He immediately felt guilty, he didn't know it was bleeding!
"We should have gotten Miss Sandy," he said, going pale.
Its fur was matted, it was skinny, its eyes were bloodshot and actual blood had dried all along the wire, yet fresh blood still oozed as the pokémon desperately dragged itself forward. It wasn't in the literal corner of the school anymore, it had dragged itself a little forwards, pulling the entire spool of tangled wire along.
Angie, to her credit, didn't cringe like he did at the sight nor flinch back as the creature growled. "Ri…? Ri ol lu came back?"
"It's a riolu," she whispered in amazement.
"A riolu?" Felix asked.
"Champion Cynthia has a lucario! Riolu evolves into lucario. They are really rare pokémon, people try and get riolu eggs from my parents but they say no. I don't think they know how to get them, they're so rare."
"Ooh." Felix was interested and then gasped in pain.
NO!
He looked back and forth in a panic as complete horror at Angie's exact words gripped him and he grabbed her by the arm. "What do you mean it's rare?" he shouted.
She looked stunned at him, stunned and confused. Felix caught himself a moment later, it was another one of those weird not-him moments.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I…." He blinked, trying to shake it off. He looked at the riolu and met its eyes. Red and filled with anger, hate, fear. It was crying, actually. It was scared of them.
"I… we're not going to hurt you," he said gently. He lowered himself to the yucky ground, remembering from their lessons that pokémon didn't like you staring down at them.
Doubt.
"I'm telling the truth!" he replied, hotly. The pokémon cringed and again he felt bad.
Angie was looking between them both in confusion as Felix tried to reason with it like they could talk.
Doubt.
"We brought something to get the wire off you," Felix said, showing the pliers. The riolu stared at it in horror.
Hurts.
"These will help, not hurt."
Metal.
Hurt.
He blinked, vision going spotty. He didn't know what to say, or why he could magically read this pokémon's mind. "Did you get hurt by these before?"
Fear.
"I just want to help."
Fear.
"Please?"
F-
The riolu froze as the funny black tassel things on the side of its head shivered, rising briefly before falling. Its eyes filled with something even Angie could plainly see to be horrified fear and both of the children staggered as the riolu's emanation went out of control.
HELP! HELP! HELP!
"We'll help!" Felix cried, trying to shield his face like it'd stop it.
"What's going on?" Angie shrieked. "AAH!"
THEY'RE COMING!
Felix jumped forwards with the pliers. All he could feel was an utter need to run and run away far. Angie had frozen in place, freezing in the fight-or-flight response as Felix attacked the wires with the pliers as best as he could.
He twitched once. "FELIX COME ON!"
"I'm not leaving her!"
"HER?" Angie screamed again but instead of running she jumped on as well snatching one-half of the pliers. Felix wasn't strong enough to snip through metal on his own, but the two of them slammed their weight together and sheared through the wire and then another and then another.
The riolu began to cry out, a soft sound that pleaded for its mother to help it.
Gone.
The pliers snipped through the bloodied wire and the riolu leapt forth, sensing it was free and able to run once again for its life.
Immediately, however, it sagged on a leg. Injured and in agony, coupled with exhaustion over a day at least of straight running. It, she, crumbled to the ground yelping in pain before howling in misery.
The fresh surge of all-consuming need to flee took the children again and this time they couldn't resist, bolting. Felix snatched up the riolu as he and Angie ran for the hills.
He scooped her up in his arms and jostled her painfully until she clung onto him as they ran. From what? They had no idea, they were just running.
The riolu's eyes were wide and terrified, filled with tears as she stared over Felix's shoulder. Horns curled over a hill as a pair of burning dark eyes rose to meet hers.
The devil dog glanced at the humans and gave a single bark as four others rose up as well. All five glared at her as they ran, ranked in a line staring at her and the children running.
"Unhand me iolu!" she snarled once they were away from the school, Felix failing to understand the last word. For the best, that was.
"We're going to my house anyway," he argued back, he seemed to be shrugging off the weird not-him thoughts better, Angie was still bolting with all the speed in the world. "And it'd be so much faster, and warmer if I just carried you. You're real light anyway." He grinned and the pokémon seemed to wilt against his pleasantly innocent smile.
"Have it your way then," she muttered, shivering against him as another howl echoed through the night. The houndoom were following them.
For those who have read, far enough, into Warped Skies, yes. That's Keira as an itty bitty baby pokemon.
Still an aggressive spitfire.
For those who haven't, don't worry. Reading that story is far from required to understand this one, it's just a bonus really.
