Long Road Home
When a powerful storm comes and sweeps six young Pokemon from their home to an island in the middle of nowhere, how will they return home?
Chapter One: Storm Swept
It was a nice, pleasant day as a multitude of Pokemon ran, played, swam, slept, sunbathed, and performed other various activities on the beach near Petalburg City. The sun was shining, the surf was warm, and the sand was perfect for lazing. Young Pokemon played heartily while their parents watched them, making sure everything stayed in order.
Among the mass of young Pokemon, there were six whose lives were going to soon be changed. A little green spider with a little horn on her head, a black face-marking on her rear, and six yellow and black banded legs was scuttling around, making designs in the sand. Not too far away, a blue-backed, cream-bellied fire-mouse was half-asleep in the warm sand, his snout twitching every few seconds. In the water splashed a light-blue water-mouse with a tail like a flotation device, playing with other various Water Pokemon. Back on the beach, a green dinosaur-looking Pokemon with a bulb on her back and another greenish dinosaur-looking Pokemon with a horn on the top of his head, black marks under his eyes and either side of his brownish belly were making a sand castle. And lastly, a small brown-and-cream colored bird slept with her head tucked under one wing. These six Pokemon were Spinarak (named Jaz), Cyndaquil (named Zane), Marril (named Tek), Bulbasaur (named Kalo), Larvitar (named Jerio), and Pidgey (named Sajin).
So as the youngsters did their things, the parents watched, and it was a sharp-eyed Charizard who first noticed the faint scent of a storm on the clear, warm breeze.
"Hark! I smell a storm on the winds! We should all make haste to find shelter!" she called. She and her mate then proceeded to gather up their brood of three Charmander and two Charmeleon. Other parents quickly called their children to themselves, as all knew the storms this summer had been very bad, unusually so for the season, and that they had been striking with little to no warning the past month or so. And no more than ten minutes later did the sky begin to darken with storm clouds and the wind grow cold and biting.
Luckily, there was quite a bit of natural shelter on or near the beach; small caves or large, drooping trees, boulders with sides carved out by time and Pokemon, and other places to weather out a storm.
Moments later, the storm arrived. Rain pounded down in a curtain so thick it was impossible to see more than about a foot ahead. Thunder boomed every few moments, loud enough to shake the earth, and lightening arched and flared like some erratic, demented light show across the black sky. The winds blew harsh and bitter, and many of the younger Pokemon whimpered in fear.
Time ticked by and still the storm raged. It even began to get worse. Some of the older Pokemon started to grow worried. This was easily the worst storm of the season so far, and all the rain was causing the water to rise. Within fifteen minutes it had crept at least five inches up the shore.
Suddenly, a particularly loud crack of thunder and bright explosion of lightening startled all the Pokemon. It was somewhere in this second that several things happened in succession. First, Jaz, who didn't weigh much at all due to her small size, was suddenly blown from her mother's side by a strong gust of wind. Her cry of surprise went unheard as the howling winds carried her farther from her mother. Second, the tree Sajin, Tek, and their families were sheltering under was ripped apart by the same fierce winds that was still taking the terrified Jaz from her mother, forcing them to quickly find shelter under a tree nearer the beach. Third, Kalo, Jerio, and Zane noticed Jaz being carried into the raging waters as the poor little Spinarak tired desperately to stop herself. The three of them, without word nor thought, plunged into the storm to help the little spider, whom none of the older Pokemon had noticed because they'd been temporarily blinded and deafened by the thunder and lightening.
Kalo shot out some vines from the bulb on her back, wrapping them around the scared and cold Jaz and pulling her from the water, which was still rising at a frightening speed. Jerio and Zane lent her strength to keep her from being blown away as well, and the four of them huddled together, unable to make their way back to the safety of their families because of the worsening storm. But a split-second change in the direction of the winds gave Sajin, who was now closer to the beach, a heartbeat to see the four of them with her sharp eyes. She tried to get the attention of he nestmates and parents, but they couldn't hear her. Finally she nudged at Tek with a wing and hollered into her ear that the others needed their help. The little Marril nodded and she and Sajin made their way to where the others were.
"Kalo!" Sajin shouted after the six of them were together. "Aim your vines behind us! You'll hit one of our parents and they can come get us!"
"Right!" the Bulbasaur yelled. She shot out a third vine, aiming it over the Pidgey's shoulder and hoping she hit someone that could come get them. Her vine finally touched a soft, feathery body. One of Sajin's family. "I got one!"
Meanwhile, the feathery body Kalo's vine had landed on was Sajin's father. The large Pidgeot blinked in surprise and looked down. It was then he noticed Sajin was missing. Now the bird spread his wings, giving a shriek which sounded even above the raging winds.
"There are young ones in the midst of the storm! I can follow this vine but I cannot bring them back alone!" The cry rallied the closest and heaviest Pokemon, and the lot of them trudged into the storm to retrieve the scared, cold, and soaked youngsters.
"They're coming!" cried Kalo in relief as she felt someone tugging on her vine one in a while. "Someone is coming!"
But then, at that moment, a huge wave crested behind the young Pokemon. None saw or heard it. Sajin's father was only aware of one thing: one moment, he had Kalo's vine held snugly in one wing and the next, it was ripped violently from him and vanished into the pounding rain.
Tek noticed it first. A sort of roaring behind them. Her sensitive ears twitched but she didn't turn, thinking it just to be the winds blowing against the water, which none of the cold and numb children had noticed growing deeper and deeper. Then the roaring got louder. She turned and didn't have time to scream as the huge wave crashed down on her and the others and swept them into the raging water.
Sajin woke to bright sunlight. Her entire body was sore and stiff, and she was lying at an odd angle on soft grass. Where was she? Why did her body hurt and why was she on grass? She remembered being at the beach with her family…
And then she remembered. The storm. The sudden wave. Being swept out to sea. Struggling to stay above water. Going under against and again. Tired. Weak. Scared. Cold. Hurt. Then darkness.
With a faint moan, she lifted her head. The sky was clear and blue, and no trace of the storm remained. Tek and the others lie around her, all of them, thankfully, alive, though just as battered as she.
Gingerly, she flexed her wings and legs. Nothing felt broken, though no doubt she was badly bruised beneath her feathers, which were sticking up at odd angles and stiff with salt from the water. Weakly, she got to her feet and took a moment to get her wits about her, then tottered over to the others to wake them.
A few minutes later, the six young Pokemon were sitting in a loose circle, none of them speaking. Jaz seemed the most upset as she lie in the grass, her pain-stiffened legs stretched out for the sun to warm, her tiny body shaking with fear and sadness.
"Where are we? What are we going to do?" Zane asked after a moment as he scrubbed some salt off his left hind leg.
"I can fly around and see if I remember the place from above," Sajin responded, cleaning herself and grooming her feathers back into place. "My family and I might have passed here before. I'll be back in a minute." With that, she spread her still-aching wings and slowly took to the air, spiraling up into the air until she was a black speck against the blue skies.
"I wanna go home," Jaz said softly as she watched Sajin, close to tears. Kalo walked over to the frightened little spider Pokemon and lay down beside her, using a vine to stroke Jaz's head.
"We all do. Don't worry, we'll find a way home. I'll bet our parents are out looking for us and will find us real soon."
"Really?" Jaz asked, looking at the Bulbasaur. Kalo nodded and smiled.
"Positive."
The five of them were silent then, resting and cleaning the salt from their bodies, and Kalo telling Jaz some jokes to make her feel better. After a few moments, Sajin returned, folding her wings carefully with a little wince.
"Well?" Tek asked. Sajin shook her head ruefully.
"If I've ever passed this place, I don't remember it. It's a huge island I think; I didn't see any other land from where I'd flown."
"How are we going to get home then?" Jerio asked softly, starring at the line of trees that stretched as far as he could see behind them.
"We just have to wait. Our parent will find us, just you see," Kalo replied. "They'll find us and everything will be okay…"
Sajin's father landed, the fleet of other Flying Pokemon he'd led alighting behind him. He sighed as Tek's mother surfaced from the water near the beach, behind her a massive school of Water Pokemon. The lot of them turned to the others gathered on the beach.
"I found no sign of them from the air," Sajin's father finally said, his voice bitter with grief and hopelessness. "No trace at all."
"Nor I from the depths of the ocean," Tek's mother added as she came onto the beach. The other Pokemon all hung their heads, saddened by the loss of the six young Pokemon.
That night, they held a fare-well ceremony for the little ones they'd never see again.
"I'm hungry," Jaz said as Zane made a fire. Night was closing quickly and none of them wanted to find out if any other Pokemon were also on this island the hard way.
"I saw some fruit trees as I was checking out the island from above," Sajin said. "But I don't know exactly where and I can't take anyone because I wouldn't be able to bring back anything."
"Well, let's just go find something then," Jerio said. "We'll just get hungrier if we sit here doing nothing."
"What about the fire?" Zane asked as he stood by it.
"Let it burn, but we should put some stones around it so it won't spread," Jerio replied. The six of them spent a few minutes searching for some rocks, which Zane proceeded to place around the fire. Afterwards, the band of youngsters trouped off into the woods.
Instantly, the world got darker as they made their way through the trees and undergrowth. Jaz had a bit of a time making her way through the thick bushes and the like, and after a moment Kalo stopped and lifted the little Pokemon onto her bulb with a vine.
"Thanks," Jaz said as they moved deeper into the woods, all of them a little jumpy. Somewhere, a Noctowl gave a cry as it woke to the evening, causing the young Pokemon to all jump. Jerio gave a nervous sort of laugh as they continued on.
For a while they walked until finally they came upon a large grove of fruit trees, the same ones, in fact, that Sajin had spotted earlier that day. They hurried to the trees, where Kalo used her Vine Whip to free the large apples while Jaz scurried up another and snipped at the stems with her fangs. Sajin used her Gust attack to knock free more food while Tek used her Water Gun while Zane and Jerio ran around, gathering the fallen fruits and piling them up.
After a few minutes of work, they youngsters had a considerable amount of apples gathered. Now there was the problem of getting them back to the grassy area they'd been washed up on.
"How do we get them back?" asked Jaz. They thought on it for a moment, and it was Kalo who came up with the solution.
"Jaz, why don't you make some packs using your webbing we can carry on our backs? We can put the apples into the packs and carry them that way."
"Okay," Jaz said happily, and then set to spinning four strong packs (she herself couldn't carry one; she had enough trouble getting through the undergrowth with just herself, and Kalo was going to take her back on her bulb). After she was done, the others quickly filled them up and slung them onto their backs.
"Alright, let's get back," Jerio said as he adjusted his web-pack, then took the lead of the little group. Within a few minutes they had made it back to their camp.
"This is good!" Jaz said as she ate one of the large, golden-yellow apples. The others agreed as they each took an apple and they ate in silence, each in his or her own thoughts.
It was a short time later, while they were all still eating, when they heard a soft crack from the woods behind them. All of them instantly froze, tense. Minutes ticked by, and there was silence.
"Heh, must have just been a-" Jerio started, but was abruptly cut off as a loud howl sounded from the trees. The little Pokemon leapt up in surprise and turned to see what had made the noise. Standing behind them was a large, black dog with white horns sprouting from its head and two white circles of bone around each ankle and wrist. A little skull adorned its chest and three white strips of bone lined its back. This was a Houndoom, and a large one at that.
"Little babies are sweet meat," the Pokemon growled as he stepped forward, his eyes blazing with crazed glint. "Sweet meat for dinner!"
"A Houndoom!" Sajin cried. They all knew what this Pokemon was; they'd been warned when they were younger of these savage creatures. Now the huge thing stalked towards the youngsters, growling and snarling.
"How to eat you? Raw and bloody? Or nice and toasted? Hot is good, but bloody is too!" the Houndoom muttered madly, chuckling crazily. Tek stepped forward, her eyes narrowed.
"We can take him!" she said, trying to sound brave. "Some on, there are six of us and one of him!"
"But he's bigger and stronger," Jaz said.
"It doesn't matter! If we work together we can beat him!" Tek said, looking back at the others. "Come on!"
"Little sweet meat talks too much," the Houndoom growled irritably. "That one needs to be quiet!"
"Quiet THIS!" Tek shouted as she let loose a Water Gun at the large dog. The Houndoom snarled in anger as the powerful jet of water slammed into him. "Come on guys!"
"Yeah!" Jerio shouted heatedly as he jumped forward, locking his eyes onto the Houndoom's and using his Leer attack. The Houndoom was temporarily distracted by this, giving Zane time to step forward.
"Jaz! Use you webbing!" he cried as he used a Smokescreen, blowing out a thick cloud of black smoke as Jaz shot out a thick glob of webbing which struck the Houndoom's front legs, effectively snaring him to the ground.
"Come on!" Sajin called as she used her Sand-Attack to kick up dirt and loose grass, further obscuring the Houndoom's vision, then took to the air. The other ran beneath her, their fire and food forgotten as the angered howls of the Houndoom chased them into the night.
I know it's pretty short, but this was originally for Pokemon Elite 2000. They have a character limit of 10,000 for each post, so each chapter had to be broken down into parts small enough to fit. Anyways, remember to R&R!
