Chapter 2: Lonely Dream

The young torchic had woken up... She was in a place which wasn't so different from the pen she had been sleeping in. It was a cold grey world. the sky was full of grey clouds. like a thunderstorm would happen any second. The air wasn't fresh like you would from being outside, it smelled exactly like the pen, warm and musty The ground felt cold, rocky, and it seemed barren, for there weren't many green plants. Only tall weeping willows which only added to the sadness of it. She seemed to be the only thing that was not cold and grey.

Being in this place made her feel miserable, so she wanted to get away from this place. She had stumbled a few times over some of the rocks that stuck out of the ground, but it didn't seem to hurt, she had already figured she was in a dream. She walked until she had found a small brook. She decided to get a drink, she had not eaten a thing since she first hatched, so by now she was pretty thirsty. The young torchic tried to find a good place, she didn't want to fall in, being a fire type, you wouldn't want to fall into a stream and drown.

When the chick pokemon had found a good spot to get a drink, She saw something that she had never seen before; her own face. It was round and orange, with a small beak and two round eyes and three yellow feathers on top.

"I don't seem so different from other torchics... Do I?. She was transfixed by the torchic staring back at her. Wanting to touch the image in the water, she extended a foot out and dipped her toes into the water. It was not warm like her face was supposed to be, but it was icy cold, and wet. She didn't like this much so she took it out., she also noticed that her reflection was gone. She waited for it to return, but it didn't so she decided to leave the brook. Before she did though thought she had heard someone calling.

"Darla..."

The young torchic perked up to the sound. The place she was in was very quite, there wasn't even any wind blowing. So any sound would have been noticeable. She looked around for who was making the sound:

"Darla..."

She heard it once more, it was coming from the east, so she ran towards the sound. Only s didn't really know who this "Darla" was. The young torchic did not think of it until now but she didn't have a proper name for herself.

Most pokemon don't even get special names, they usually only get called whatever pokemon they are, like "Torchic" or "Mudkip". Humans don't seem to call other humans "Human being" but they call them by unique names, such as "William" or "Laura". It isn't like this with pokemon, they don't seem to bother much with names, they simply call other pokemon by their species' name, or names that their human trainers have come up with. The latter however is more special, because it makes them more unique then others of there own kind, and it doesn't change when the pokemon evolves, it practically stays for life.

These were of course, very complicated issues for a torchic who was less then a day old, But somehow she knew the name being called out was meant for her. Darla... the name seemed so perfect for her, so she decided to name herself just that. Darla. From now on, her name was not simply known as "torchic" but now she would be known to the world as Darla! Darla now knew who the voice was calling for, and she also knew that there was someone, somewhere out there who wanted her. This was another thing that she wanted, someone to want her, to take care of her and most importantly, to love her for who she is...

A mother.

Darla did not want to be alone in this big wide world, she wanted someone who can be her friend, someone who she wanted to love and to love back unconditionally, even if she was considered a freak by everyone else. She would have that one person who would love her because of what made her different.

The small Torchic had been running towards the voice for quite some time, she noticed that the ground was no longer as rocky as it once was back at the brook. The ground was not as grey as everything else, and it was becoming softer, but was this a good thing? Her feet were progressively going deeper and deeper within the mud as she kept running, and occasionally a foot would get stuck within the deep mud and she had to pull it out. Both feet had become caked with mud and both seemed to get heavier and heavier with each step. It got to the point where she was getting exhausted from all the weight of the mud on her feet. Finally, she got completely stuck and couldn't move them.

"Ooh... I wish someone can help me!" Cried the small pokemon as she desperately tried to move her feet out of the soft muck, but the more she moved, the more stuck her feet became. She then saw something that really made her want to get out of the mud. A huge figure was moving towards her, this figure was not another torchic or even the farmer. It looked like it was a part of the mud itself, only it had a big long arm and a cavernous mouth. Darla tried struggled to move but it only made her more covered in mud, she fell on her stomach. She tried to push herself up with her wings but they were too small to be of much use, and only got stuck in the mud herself. Now she was in very deep trouble, there was a monster coming for her and she was completely unable to run away from it. The creature had come close enough to be smelled by the torchic, the smell of rotten waste and garbage filled her nostrils and she began to choke. The only thing she can do was scream. But this didn't do a thing, it only made the smell much more offensive. The monster then lunged straight at the terrified pokemon.

Darla suddenly woke up with a scream. She noticed that she was back in the straw-laden pen within a small room. She wasn't caked with mud anymore, although she seemed to be a bit wet, and was smelling of a faint ammonia smell. She also noticed that there was sunlight coming through a small window which was high up on a wall of the room. Most importantly, there were no monsters around, in fact, there didn't seem to be anyone in the room. The other torchics that were there the night before were gone. They must have already left to be someone's starter pokemon. There didn't seem to be anyone there... No one to was there to comfort her after her bad dream. She was alone, scared out her wits, wet, and smelled awful. Darla started to cry out to someone to someone she wanted but just wasn't there...

"MOMMY... MOMMY!!!" The small pokemon cried... If someone did not know that she was a pokemon, her voice could have easily been mistaken for a small child's cry. In a way though, she was a small child, only she didn't have anyone to be with her and to love her... She was completely all alone.