When I was little, the first Pokémon were discovered. Savage little beasts that looked like mutated animals, they would attack people on sight. At first they were a myth in our snug little village, then one day a huge dragon/dinosaur/horse/mustachioed water... thing attacked our village. I was about thirteen at the time, and when I heard the crashing, I rushed out of my house and saw it coming towards me, and I was frozen with fear. My mother screamed at me to run, and I did, blindly and on the wings of primal fear. That... thing TOWERED over me, but soon I heard the sounds of its decimation of its surroundings fade away... but when I looked around, my surroundings were wholly unfamiliar. I heard a rustling in the brush as something came towards me, and I curled up into a ball, eyes closed tight, shaking and waiting for the inevitable. Then, I felt a little paw on my knee, my eyes popped open, and I was face-to-snout with a little mutant otter. I squeaked and backed up, scared it was going to hurt me. It walked away, then stopped looking back at me. After I didn't move, he came back, poked me, and started walking away, stopped, looked back at me, and came back again. This time he tugged on my shirt and pointed. "Do you want me to follow you?" I asked, timidly. It nodded vigorously, smiling and tugging. I got up and followed it.
We had been walking for a while, the little thing bounding forward then pausing and making sure I was still following, then running forward again, when it gave an agonized cry and took off. "Wait!" I yelled as I ran after it.
I saw it run up to that... thing that had been attacking the town, keening like its life was ending. The thing stirred and feebly licked the little one- and somehow I knew that the thing was the little one's mother. The thing then gave one last shuddering breath... and never moved again.
The little one ran, keening, to me and hugged my leg, burying its face in it. I picked it up and snuggled it against my shoulder- it wasn't its fault that its mother had attacked my town- and followed the path of destruction that its mother had made that, I knew, had to lead back to my home.
I had to keep it safe and take care of it, because it was so little, but I knew that my mother would never approve. So I kept it in my room until it was to big for that, my own little pet. I found out that "it" was a he, and decided to name him Sachiel... because he looked like a little otter.
Sachiel was always there for me. He and I ran in the woods to school, he, protecting me from savage Pokémon, which got more and more numerous with each passing year, and I giving him little treats and playing with him. He'd wait in the woods for school to end, then we'd run through the woods back home. He was always somewhere near me, if not next to me then hidden just out of sight in the woods. He protected me, and I took care of him, and we were the best of friends for five years.
I was eighteen and preparing to set out on my own when Pokémon attacked our village. I came home from a friend's house in Accumula to find the town in chaos, people being attacked and overcome. My mother told me to run, but I couldn't. Not when my town was in danger. I put my fingers to my lips and let loose a piercing whistle, and Sachiel popped out of the forest, ready for action. We fought our way toward my mom, and as we did so, the Pokémon seemed to understand that I was one human that they couldn't touch, and started giving Sachiel and I a wide berth. I came up to my mom and said, "Mom, come on, we need to go!" but she refused to move, staring wide eyed at me, then Sachiel, then me again. I reached for her arm to drag her away, but she tugged her arm out of my grip, and just kept staring, disbelief written all over her face. I tried and tried but I couldn't get her to move.
Suddenly all was quiet, and I heard a distress squeak from Sachiel, and I spun to see that the Pokémon were gone, chased or killed off by the other people, who had now surrounded my mother, me and the only other Pokémon left. It was clear they were going to kill him, too, unless I interfered.
I stepped forward, hearing shuffling behind me, and scooped up Sachiel in my arms, knowing how hurt he was. I glanced behind me, and saw that my mom had been taken back to our house by someone and the circle had closed in on us.
"Hand that thing over." Said Professor Juniper. "You shouldn't be holding it, it could attack you at any minute. Just give it here and no one will be hurt."
"And what are you going to do with him, hmm? He'll be hurt, don't bother denying it, and I can't let you hurt him."
Juniper's face went stony, then she smiled over-sweetly. "I see. Well, don't worry, just come with us and everything will be fine."
She tried to take my arm, but I yanked away. "I'm eighteen, Juniper, I'm not an idiot. You think I've gone wild or some shit like that, well you're wrong! I've been taking care of Sachiel for five years now, ever since he was just a baby. It's not his fault Pokémon are attacking the town, he hasn't attacked anyone ever, I made sure of that much at least! In fact, he's been defending me when I needed it, so you can't just kill him..."
"It's a Pokémon. It's feral. They can't be tamed, trust me, there's some very influential people who have tried over and over again. Just hand it over, it'll all be over soon..."
"Sachiel's not an it, he's a he, and he has a name." I noticed that the people around me were edging closer, slowly, like they would approach a feral cat or something. I carefully reached in my pocket and pulled out a handful of berries, which I had noticed would perk Sachiel up when he ate them, like they were healing him or something. I held them out to him and he wriggled around and ate them all in one fell swoop.
A good thing he did, because the people surrounding me made their move then. They piled toward me and Sachiel jumped down, tripping people left and right, making a path for us to safely get out and away into the forest.
That night I snuck into my house much the same way I used to sneak out to see Sachiel once he got too big to safely keep in my room: through the window, which was almost always open for just such a purpose. I grabbed some stuff I'd need: clothes, running shoes, supplies, and first aid stuff. I wrote a note to my mom telling her I was sorry... and I genuinely meant it, because I'd never wanted this to happen. I grabbed a baseball cap, a blue and black one I'd never worn, and left the same way I'd come.
Sachiel led me to the cave where he'd made his home recently, and there I bandaged my breasts down, changed out of the skirt and the other frilly things that would make my life impractical, and into jeans, a t-shirt and a dark grey hoodie, zipped up. My hair, my beautiful, long brown hair, I cut off, favoring a shorter, boyish cut. As I looked into the pool just outside the cave after washing my makeup off, a boy looked back at me, as much a stranger to me as the situation I was in was. I smiled, just a little, and went to get some sleep, curled up with Sachiel for warmth.