Before

A Naruto-Neko original

And the day fell upon us that the world came to an end…

Some old, pessimistic politician rattled on about the end coming on the radio- reporting that time has actually stopped in regions all over the world, including my home region of Sinnoh. Lately, that's all I've been hearing and I'm getting really tired of it. I want to hear about whether or not the starter Pokémon are finally going to get to the professor down in Sandgem or what.

"Hanako-chan, come out!" My best friend, Resuri, was yelling at my window. I sighed and turned off the radio, unwilling to go out into the stifling heat. I was hoping that she had news about the Pokémon. She had told me a week ago that she hoped that Hoenn starter Pokémon would be available to older rookie trainers, we would be able to handle it better I'd think, being 15 and not 12. She wants a Torchic more than any of the typical Sinnoh Pokémon. I wondered which one I would choose… not a Chimchar, whatever happens. Somehow I don't think a monkey with fire for a tail would be a good idea in my room.

I yelled to my mother I was going out for a bit and stepped outside into what must've been the hottest day ever. I glared at the sun, wishing it would set already. I hadn't realized then that it would- possibly forever- much too soon.

"Yeah, Resuri-chan? What's up…?" I pulled my long black hair up, wishing I had brought a couple hair ties so I could put my hair in loose pigtails, at least. The heat roasted us alive.

"The time's stopped just outside town. I heard Solaceon Town is even stopped! That's 5 minutes, away, Hanako! I looked, and it's creepy and dark, and cold." She looked absolutely terrified, and I realized that in all the years I've known her since moving here from Eterna City, I had never seen her so scared. There was, until now, no reason to be this scared.

"… Really?" I was at a loss for words. I had an irrepressible urge to run and hide or find the cause of this crap. I guess it's what is called "the fight-or-flight response" or something like that. Either way, I want this to stop happening right now.

"YES, REALLY, WE NEED TO GO SOMEWHERE, BEFORE TIME STOPS HERE, TOO!" Resuri was screaming and looked like she was about to cry. I noticed she had with her a duffle bag and a belt containing an empty poke ball, and I was undisturbed by her yelling. She had a reason to be yelling, so it didn't bother me.

"But, we have no Pokémon yet! And what about our families?" I was getting increasingly anxious, and I knew that I would not be able to sleep tonight, or for the next few nights for that matter.

"Yeah, we'll have to get to Sandgem somehow! Maybe we can pay someone to fend off Pokémon for us until we get one from Professor whatever his name is! And what can we do? My family's given up already, except my sister who was sent to my grandparents in Unova where time hasn't even started to stop yet. And after we get our Pokémon, we can get to Snowpoint where we can take a boat to Unova! I have enough money for the both of us, see?" She held up a baggie of what looked like about 15,000 Pokeyen. What she was saying made sense, and I really wanted to just say 'yeah ok' and grab stuff and go, but I really could not abandon my family like this. I told her so, and she sighed.

"No, I really want to go, really! I don't want to stay here, and I really don't want to lose you! But I need to at the very least talk to my family first!" I was starting to feel a bit flustered from the stress. She nodded in response, but kept glancing to the east, towards Solaceon Town. I suggested we go the short distance to Solaceon, which was not a problem without any Pokémon, since there was no tall grass along the way- as long as we had our bicycles, and we always did. Resuri agreed and dropped her bag down to dig for her foldable bicycle, as this was the style of bicycles in Sinnoh, while I got mine from my house, grabbed my backpack, and yelled my destination to my parents.

In the short amount of time it took for me to get out of my house again, my best friend had already unfolded her bike as was again worriedly staring towards Solaceon. I felt my right eyebrow twitch slightly from the stress, but I ignored it. I was trying to formulate a plan on how to console her if the outcome of our short journey turned out to be sour. Consoling my friends, or anyone for that matter, was not exactly something I was good at, but it winds up being that occasionally the fact that I try cheers them up. But I couldn't rely on that this time. I was still thinking of this as I went through the motions of unfolding my bicycle.

"OK, let's go…" I nearly whispered, the words coming out breathy. Resuri nodded and pushed off, and I followed close behind her as we made the familiar journey, over the small bridge over a stream that a jogger was always running on, even in the dead of night, making a right angle turn north, powering up the small, muddy, slope and coasting into what looked like Solaceon Town. However, it was not the town I had grown up seeing when I wanted to look at the Pokémon playing in the daycare. It was dark, cold, and leaves hung suspended in midair. No one was out in the street, not even the Day Care Man.

We hopped off our bikes and walked slowly through the seemingly frozen hamlet. The look of dread on Resuri's face twisted my stomach in knots even more than the situation. I watched her expression carefully, wondering what I can possibly say that wouldn't sound feeble or insincere.

"Let's go see if anyone's inside the buildings, maybe the people aren't frozen," I said instead, deciding not to try just yet. Resuri nodded slowly, not looking at me as she shivered and zipped up one of her many hoodies- this was one was one of her favorites, being based off a character from a childhood favorite TV show. I kicked out the kick-stand on my bike unconcerned about it being stolen and just walked over to the Pokémon Center, a building I never visited much, being Pokémon-less. When the sliding doors didn't slide open, I frowned at the lack of time, and shoved the doors opened.

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect when I shuffled into the dim center. I certainly didn't expect what happened. I expected one of the many Nurse Joys or one of the many perverts or something to appear out of the shadows and take what wasn't theirs, but no. All that I saw was a very enraged Blissey. Wait, a Blissey? Aren't they supposed to be all compassionate and caring?

"Watch out..!" The Nurse Joy that must occupy this particular center called from the upper level, where the Union Room was. The Blissey seemed to prepare some attack that probably wasn't impressive to a trainer, but was dangerous to an innocent, unarmed teenager. The moment it was about to release its attack, Resuri came from behind me and dragged me out of the way, then pulled me behind her as she high-tailed it out of there. She slammed the doors shut behind her and we ran back to our stuff, left in the middle of the street.

"What… was that about?" I panted through my asthma-induced wheezing. Resuri shrugged, still silent. I could tell she was just barely holding in the tears. She had that look in her face that looked tight, sort-of. And her silence also is a warning sign of mental distress. "We should go talk to my parents." I furrowed my eyebrows a bit, and without thinking I made a little sign with my fingers to shape an arrow, something I started with the phrase "Keep moving forward" in mind, but it had now become a habit when I'm nervous. Resuri nodded to my question, and I lost it a bit and tackle-hugged her. I couldn't think of anything to say, but I couldn't help but try to comfort her anyway. When I released her, I saw she was crying a bit.

"Resuri-chan… please don't cry. We'll figure something out." I smiled hopefully at her. I tried my hardest to not sound like I was just saying it to make her stop crying.

"Y-yeah. Let's go back."

Fortunately, it was a weekend so my father was also home.

"Hey, Resuri, what brings you here?" My dad was sitting on the couch, reading a book, though he was grinning at us, now. He was unconcerned about the reports of time stopping.

"Well, you see, time… it's stopped in Solaceon. And it's spreading towards us." She looked worriedly at the east wall.

"Oh… really?" My dad still seemed unconcerned. My mother was busy looking for something, and didn't say anything.

"Pops, I'm serious." I looked pleadingly at my father as I used his favorite nickname to get his attention. I only used it when I really needed his attention, and he knew it. In actuality, my father is the one who normally makes sure to listen to what I have to say and doesn't tend to doubt what I tell him- he trusts me, something I've always appreciated so much I could even express it to him. I had his attention now. "We went to Solaceon ourselves. Time is stopped there, somehow, and the people are scared and the Pokémon are scared, so they're aggressive. A Blissey attacked me. Resuri-chan saved me." Resuri nodded in agreement.

"Odd… so living things haven't been frozen? That might be almost more of a problem than if they had. Eventually, we'll run out of food." He put his book down, but didn't say anything more. I assumed he was trying to formulate some sort of plan.

There was a moment of silence as we all tried to come up with a long-term plan for our survival, but the outlook was so bleak that I couldn't think of any viable option. It was then that things went downhill fast. I knew there was something wrong as soon as I heard hysterical screams outside, and I knew that time was stopping here, too. The color started to drain from the things that I have been surrounded with sine I was a young child, and I waited for the time stop to reach me, to drain the color away from my beloved deep blue Converse and everything I love.

Author Note: Thank you for reading thus far. This is my very first Pokémon fan fiction. I have used actual people from my life; Hanako's best friend, Resuri, is based off my actual best friend, but I won't tell you her name for her privacy. And my parents are more... loosely based upon my parents. Well, my mom more loosely than my dad. I suppose I'll have them go by Takako and Daikichi. (If we lived in Japan, I'm sure those are the names they'd go by. Long story as to how I know this, though.)

I don't own Pokémon, though I do own copies of at least 10 Pokémon games. xD And I hope this isn't all too weird being in Sinnoh, I got into Pokémon when Diamond and Pearl came out, and I barely watched any of the shows. Ash annoys me.