Disclaimer thingy: First off, I do not own, have any copyrights on Pokemon, nor claim that stuff. Nintendo has that. Kudos to them on it, but whatever. So long as I'm not sued over something.
Nor do I claim that skit about Chris and his lack of a girlfriend. It's actually inspired by Chobits. Hats off to CLAMP about that…
The characters are mine (excepting the pre-established gym leaders), and so are their personalities.
Note: If you are expecting the main characters of Pokemon to show up soon, forget about it. They're not in this tale up until chapter 40, or thereabouts.
I'm also going to warn you. This is going to be a SLOW fanfiction.
"…" normal speech.
(…) telepathy. Unless otherwise stated, only the main character hears this. I know it's confusing, since sometimes I overuse (), but this place tends to mess with my preferred symbol of psychic messages, so you'll have to make due. Sorry.
Since I'm bad at descriptions, I'll put them here.
Chris: He's about 18, and 5'5. He has dark brown hair (almost black), with streaks of a bright red color running through, and a hazel eye color. The red color is hair dye; he started that as a joke, but just keeps on doing it. It looks fairly bizarre. Mostly, his hair's mussed up, and he usually needs a shave. He's not the type to care about physical appearance, as much as something else – anything else comes first. He's got a special line in dirty looks, mostly glares.
Kani: an Eevee. She looks fairly normal, but where the tail of an Eevee turns white, hers is black. She's quite cute, even for an Eevee. No, she's not shiny. Just different.
Prologue: destruction of a haven.
Chris sighed, from his favorite spot. It was a hidden meadow, locked within a few impassible hills. The path was apparently impossible, unless you were a teenager with a lot of spare time. That, and possessed an insane amount of bravery.
The place had a small family here – but they generally kept to themselves, taking care of the pokemon here. He'd visited them once (they lived on the far side of the meadow), when their daughter invited him over. More like dragged, when she saw him. They were nice enough, but worried about the fact that he'd discovered their meadow. He'd had to go through a psychic type's questioning before they were satisfied that he wouldn't tell anyone. Apparently, the Illuses were serious about their protection of this place.
Celadon city was not in sight – this was the only place he could get away from the city. He hated that city. Too many people were obsessed with becoming trainers. Especially the younger ones, who didn't seem to understand much about the world. Kids his age weren't much better, though.
A Butterfree floated by. Chris casually reached up, just signaling a greeting.
The Butterfree saw him, and flew away at high speed.
He sighed. "And they wonder why I refuse to follow their path. Why is everyone my age obsessed with becoming a trainer? They battle each other all the time, and gain nothing from it!"
He threw the rock he had kicked along with him into the distance. A Pidgey took flight, chirping annoyance at him.
He shook his head. Most pokemon here were afraid of people. Gangsters, Team Rocket, it was too much for them - scared has living daylights out of them. The population of pokemon was incredibly low, as most left for a haven. Some fled here, but most went farther away. Whatever scared them, there was less to worry about far away from the city.
"Eevee?"
Chris
turned around, and with a rather deep sigh, stroked Kani (she was his
'pet' Eevee. Not that he ever called her that.) She'd somehow snuck
aboard his bike again.
"Hey Kani. At least you don't have to worry. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."
She curled up next to him, giving him a loving look. He smiled faintly, and turned, just looking at the sky. Kani, relaxed, began to nap.
Chris grinned, looking back down at her. She'd been a hard pokemon to get – Eevee were rare. Eventually, he'd received it as a gift from a relative from Johto. Apparently, they were more common there.
After a while, he shook his head. He gently shook Kani until she awoke, and grinned a bit guiltily at her. "Kani, we'd best get going. Boss Lady's getting tired of us disappearing."
She perked up, and jumped into his arms.
"I don't know how you always manage to follow me. Care to tell me?" "Eev… eevee…"
He laughed for a moment, then grabbed his bike.
A figure in black smirked. That teenager had led him to the sanctuary. Now, all he had to do was destroy it, and the fleeing pokemon would be easy pickings. Especially those rare dragons… the family in there wouldn't be able to protect them, now.
He pulled out a remote, and activated it. He then spoke into a radio: "this is Demolitions. Ten seconds."
Chris was almost out, when he heard something. He turned, looking back in curiosity.
Then the explosives went off. They threw him forward, like a rag doll.
Chris somehow managed to roll, so he wasn't too seriously injured. He just twisted his ankle on something (severely, but he didn't know that), and got the equivalent of a severe beating, bruises and all. Kani was even luckier – Chris shielded her with his body the whole time.
The bike was destroyed.
Inside, the whole family (The Illuses), who had been sitting down for dinner, were killed when the explosives surrounding their house went off. All that remained of their home was ash, and a small fire. The blast had been so strong, their bodies were only vapor and ash.
The rocket frowned. The kid had managed to somehow survive. That would not do. He knew very well the location, and it was possible that he could figure out what had occurred.
He charged forward, drawing a gun. Just as he was about to shoot, it was knocked out of his hands, and out of sight. Then he got knocked backwards by whatever had knocked away his gun.
Chris got shakily to his feet, leaning heavily on his good leg. He didn't know if his fowled one could support him. He hurt all over, but it had seemed worth it to shield Kani.
"Thanks Kani." Kani was on the ground, growling at the figure. Chris glared at the shady figure, with an incredibly nasty look. The hardened rocket blanched for a moment, despite himself. He shook it off after a few moments, but he still worried about the Evil Eye. If any kid had it, this one did.
"Sorry kid, but you should be dead. I guess I'll have to deal with you myself." He threw a pokeball, sending out an Arbok. Despite the fact it was evolved, it looked pathetic. It was half starved, and hardly seemed able to move.
"You people are going to rot in hell. ROT IN HELL. Kani? Let's go." Chris's voice was hard, and there was a suggestion of foiled rage. He wanted to go and bash that arrogant Rocket's head in, but he couldn't trust his leg yet. That, and he was too weak.
Kani set herself. She hadn't fought before now, but she was ready enough.
The Arbok went for a bite attack, but Kani dodged it quickly. Though Chris and Kani hadn't ever fought a poke-battle, both were familiar enough. Not to mention all the games they had played earlier in life improved Kani's abilities (unknowingly). Chris hadn't completely ignored his peers – he knew enough, as it was, of battling. "Kani… charm it, then do what boss lady tells you never to do." He'd suffered from Kani's charm attack far too often – he knew the effects.
Kani's charm took the Arbok unprepared, stunning it momentarily, and then Kani multiplied. Each duplicate then charged the Arbok.
It went flying away, even as the double team wore off. Kani wasn't even sweating. The same thing happened twice more before the Arbok gave up, and feigned fainting. It was tired – and the Eevee wouldn't get hit, with so many Double Teams built up.
The rocket swore, returned his Arbok, and ran off. "Kani, let's get out of here. That guy… he looked like a rocket." He rotated his bad ankle, until it cracked. Then, wincing, he tried to walk.
He fell down. His ankle couldn't support his weight. Wiping a tear from his eye, he looked at Kani. "Kani, looks like I can't go far. I'm dead. You'd best get going."
Kani, instead, stood next to him. She glowed, then began to change…
Chris looked confused at what was happening – until Kani completed evolving.
Where an Eevee had been, an Espeon now was. Though Chris didn't know that. He just saw something that looked like a Delcatty (he'd seen one before). He just knew Kani wasn't the same – was that 'evolution'?
"Kani?"
(Chris! ) The Espeon ran to him, rubbing against him (just like Kani used to).
"What… what happened?" (I have changed, Chris. I am now an Espeon! )
"What… why?"
(So I could save you.) As she finished that telepathic message, she teleported both of them away.
The rocket, from his hidden viewpoint, made a frantic call on his radio "There's a leak! The teenager didn't die! He's escaped!" He paused, listening to someone else, then "yes, I know I said he broke his ankle. His Eevee evolved, then teleported him away! What now?"
He listened to his instructions, and hung his shoulders. He was in deep trouble for letting someone escape. Especially since they had killed some people, and missed one. If that got out, the Rocket organization would be under severe pressure.
Chris and Kani re-appeared in Chris's room. Kani knew the room best, since it was her favorite room. That, and Sue (Chris's mother) hated her.
"Now what, Kani? The hidden valley… why?"
(They wanted the pokemon in the haven. That place you found? It was a safe place to hide from the bad men. Especially those of us that were rare.) Kani was pacing around, while Chris was laying down on his bed. He still couldn't put weight on his bad ankle. "Well, can't they just escape?"
(They blew up the exit. I don't know if they can escape.) Kani was still pacing. Chris was disturbed – it was unlike the carefree Eevee he knew. "Well, could you do the same thing you did for me?"
(No. I can't. I'm too tired.) Chris looked at her at that – she didn't look tired.
(Mentally. I'm young, I haven't trained my mind yet. I can't do very much. They can't escape, and if I'd only trained my mind, I could help them! )
Chris sighed deeply. "First off, of course you haven't trained. You've just evolved. Secondly, Kani… thank you."
(What? )
"Thank you. If you hadn't evolved, and then done whatever you did…" (A teleport) " that, then I would be dead. Rockets don't like it if someone knows about an illegal act of theirs."
Kani's 'voice' was filled with a suppressed emotion, as she responded ( yes, but I still… I still feel guilty… and the family there was killed…)
Chris reached down, and gently hugged her, just like he always did.
Kani, overcome with guilt, began to weep. Chris managed to pull her up onto his bed, and held her tightly. "Thanks Kani. Thank you…"
A man in a suit picked up his phone. He listened, and it was very evident that whatever the call was, it was very displeasing for him.
"Send that fool back to boot camp. If he fails to improve, eliminate him. And eliminate that kid….. and whatever teleported him away." He listened for a moment, then yelled "I don't care! Psychic pokemon have telepathy! It could easily do the same thing. Have our spy in the police ready to kill the kid, and have reinforcements ready. And someone had better catch those dragons and steel types, before I have all your heads."
