Woot, four reviews :D
Jeanne Reveur: …When I say that out loud, it sounds exactly like "jean reviewer." … *cough* Anyways, that will be a fun character to write. I can see it now: "Stop apologizing!" "I'm sorry!" XD Good times to look forward to. Thanks for reviewing!
Skroy Horitz: I question your use of the term generic. Well, that's what happens when you read manga. Even the weirdest names start sounding normal. Monkey D. Luffy, Chocolove, Black Star, Train Heartnet, shall I go on? …Anyways, yeah, I fixed that, and I rest assured I still have your OC in mind.
the book master: *laughs evilly* the geography of this new region is quite different from my original plan. It will be explained in the next few chapters, but I'm still keeping the three districts. Let's see if I can manage that OC.
ShadowDragoon32: …You mean 180, don't you? A 360 means I'm going in the same direction. Well, it's a start. I want to try to leave readers hanging a bit more this time around. I tend to overthink things, a fact people I know never fail to remind me, so most things that happen here happen for a reason. That includes Radi's behavior. Also, your OC… He's pretty much a carbon copy of the absol in Buwaro's Tales of Flame. If you've ever read it. Finally, thanks for reviewing!
*punches out random bystander and writes "I do not own Pokémon" over his left eyebrow*
000
Soon, Radi slowed to a stop beneath a large tree, momentarily flashing as he crossed a patch of sunlight. Pace sighed as he stopped and stood up, breathing deeply. He still felt worn-out by the earlier scuffle. He nonchalantly glanced back at Luma as she stopped behind him. The younger pachirisu still would give him a distrusting leer every now and then.
He took another look at his environment. He couldn't remember anything about his former life, but somehow, he knew forests weren't supposed to be like this. The tree Radi was currently climbing, the tallest one in the immediate vicinity, was covered in gray, ash-like bark. A few branches, covered in slightly yellowed five-pointed leaves, waved about. What got Pace worried was the presence of many long, dangling deep green leaves among the maple leaves. What the hell is this? Grey bark, fall-time maple leaves, and new willow leaves on the same tree? And that was just this one tree. Now that Pace wasn't pondering his transformation or running for one reason or another, he now noticed that all the trees seemed to be mutated hybrids of a sort. There was even one that looked like it was growing ferns on one side. Crazy.
"Here!" Radi called, nimbly disappearing on the other side of the freak tree. Pace walked around it until he could see the hole out of which Radi's tail hung. With a heave, he pulled out a large assortment of berries and nuts, along with a few white clumps of fur. Pace kept his distance, well aware of the furballs' potent static charge.
"Hey, do we really need that much? I mean…" He trailed off, blinking. Radi quickly stopped, jumped down, and joined Luma in madly munching away at the various fruit. Wow. What gluttons, he dryly thought, picking up one of the larger fruit, a wacan berry. It had grown heavy and swollen from absorbing the static energy in the hollow. He looked away from the two as he nibbled the soft yellow flesh, fearing he would lose his appetite if he watched the electric pokémon' mad feast. At least his mind wasn't on cross-breeding trees.
In a few minutes, Pace stopped halfway through the fruit. He dimly looked at the berry, realizing he still had four inches of the large berry left. The pachirisu had already finished about ten smaller berries between them, and that was without the nuts. He put the wacan berry away, deciding he was full. Besides, the sweet-sour flavor didn't appeal to him. He wiped his juice-stained paws on the grass and leaned back. The bizarre tree came back into view, preventing him from relaxing.
"Damn it," He muttered, sitting back up and closing his eyes. It still didn't make any sense. He woke up in a forest choked in malformed trees as a pokémon with no memories about his past life except his name and the fact that he was human. First question: How? How could I get turned into a buizel? He glanced at his arm. Actually, a buizel with reddish orange fur. That's an odd color. Back to the question. How did I turn into a pokemon? …Either I've been messing around with questionable technology or some legendary is laughing at me right now. He heaved a sigh, his eyes still closed. Not the most satisfying answers.
Okay, next question: Where are my memories? Is it a side effect of my transformation, or was the amnesia implemented by someone? If intentional, than who's responsible? Myself? Tch, that would be ironic. He still wasn't getting any good answers. He continued to internally ask and answer questions like this for a while, the expression on his face falling further into a scowl as the unanswered questions piled up.
Let's try this one: Where the hell am I? It's a forest, that's for sure, albeit a completely deformed one. What could possibly cause oak leaves to grow on the same branch as cherry blossoms? And the pokémon here, I've only met two examples, which both suggest typical territorial wilds. But why can I understand the pachirisu, but not the nuzleaf? There's no good reason …Is there civilization nearby? Maybe if I can find some humans, or perhaps tame pokémon, that'll give me a better idea of things.
He stood up. "Finally, a start," He mumbled. I have to get out of this forest. He briefly wondered why had the other two pachirisu had kept quiet. Glancing around, he realized that neither of them was in sight. Perhaps they're restocking on food. They certainly eat them quickly enough, he dully thought. I might as well leave now. It's not as if they'll be missing me.
He started to walk away from the tree when some bushes rustled. He quickly turned to look at it, then relaxed when Radi and Luma ran out, carrying some small berries. Radi paused, looking curiously at him. Luma, meanwhile, seemed to be trying her best to ignore him as she dashed up the tree.
"What are you doing?" Radi asked, setting down the nuts he carried.
"Leaving," Pace replied gruffly.
"…Leaving?"
"Of course. You think I'm going to live here?" Pace growled.
"…Where will you go?" Radi asked after a pause.
So much for not missing me. "How should I know? Out of this forest. I just know that nothing's going to happen if I stick around here."
"We stay here, but something happened. Something bad," Luma said blankly, back on the ground. "You came."
Pace's eye twitched. He felt a growl rise in his throat, but her glare matched it evenly. These two are just… Gugh, I hope I can find some normal pokémon soon. "Look, I'm going, I don't even know why you don't want me to," he finally said to Radi, "And I don't care. Thanks for the food." With those elegant parting words, he turned around, walking away from the shade of the tree.
"Stop."
Pace ignored him.
"It is dangerous outside. Bad things happen," Radi continued.
Pace stopped in a patch of sunshine as he glanced back irritably. "Outside where? Besides, you're trying to tell me that this twisted place isn't bad?" He scoffed, picking up a branch that was covered in needles and an orchard bud. "Besides, you're just kids. You don't have much right telling me what to do."
"It is true!" Luma spoke up. "Outside is a bad place! Brother doesn't lie!"
Pace raised an eyebrow. "Your brother told you this."
She nodded. Pace glanced at Radi, this time with an analytical gaze. As the pachirisu looked back at him, he could notice a minute trembling about him. He's getting nervous. All at the mention of "outside"…
"You've been 'outside', haven't you?" Pace asked quietly. Radi flinched.
"No! Stupid! We lived here always!" Luma shouted back at him.
"Y- Yes…" The older pachirisu stammered.
"See?" Luma said, as if his words were scripture.
Pace looked at the two. "I don't know what happened, but I'm not spending another second with cowards like you, who are scared of what they don't know." He turned again and dropped the bizarre branch. He paused, then quickly snatched it up and swung behind him just in time to block Luma's attack. Her glowing teeth tore through the branch like paper as she hopped back, cheeks sparking.
"We are not cowards," She growled, blue sparks crackling around her cheeks.
Pace snarled back, still clutching the remaining wood in his paw. "If you want a fight…"
"Sister. Don't."
"What!? Brother! He insulted us!" Luma shouted back indignantly. Radi ignored her, watching Pace grimly.
"Just leave," He muttered, almost in a whisper.
"Tch. First, you get all clingy on me, now you tell me to go? Make up your mind," Pace grumbled, tossing the stick, and seemed to abruptly vanish. His tails flashed briefly in the sunlight before he walked into the shade of another tree. The two pachirisu kept watching long after his figure disappeared in the distance.
000
"Hey, what's that?"
"You see something, Hobbes?" The kirlia asked.
"It's not Hobbes, it's Obsidian," The jet-black sableye grumbled, shielding his large eyes from the sunlight. "There's some kind of signpost way over there. Right ahead of us."
"I'll check!" The shaymin said, quickly flying forward. In seconds, he was a speck in the distance, nearly invisible under the shadows of the trees. Just as quickly, the speck grew as he flew back.
"What did it say, Jaden?" The kirlia asked him.
"Good news! We're almost at Jigsaw!" He grinned. "Though it's on the other side of a mystery dungeon. It's pretty wide, so if we went around it, the trip would cost us another day."
"Absolutely not," The kirlia quickly said. "No way I'm spending another night on the road. This pack is killing me!"
"Stop whining, Valas," The larvitar growled. "I'm lugging about twice your whole weight over here. You don't get to complain."
"One, a majority of the mass you are carrying is composed of your own books," Valas countered, "and two, you decided to carry that much yourself. What I'm holding is my possessions alone."
"So you openly admit complete laziness?"
"No, there is too much of a difference in our physical-"
"So you're lazy."
"Listen, what I'm…"
"Lazybum."
"You shut your trap before I shut it for you!" Valas finally roared, turning towards the grinning larvitar.
"Valas! Please! Calm down for a bit!" The dratini pleaded, quickly sliding between the two. "And Clay! Please don't annoy him like that!" The larvitar kept grinning as Valas visibly struggled not to throttle him. "Look… um… We decided on- um- who carries what… because we… so…" She stopped there, as the two had completely ignored her.
"Give it up, Lynn. You can't stop them," Obsidian muttered, looking at the map he had unrolled. "Bah, this thing is way too outdated. Ancient. Turning to dust," he grumbled, shaking out a crinkle in the worn, but certainly not "ancient" material. "There's no mention of a junction or a mystery dungeon between these two towns. Not a smudge. Completely blank."
"Maybe we should buy a smaller scale one. One that covers the entire territory will probably leave out a lot of things."
"Well, we had one, but…" Obsidian paused. He quickly looked at Tadayo. The drifloon was still staring up at the clouds.
"Yeah, good idea, Tadayo!" Jaden smiled cheerfully, flipping upside-down to grin at him.
"…I don't get that guy," Obsidian muttered, shaking his head. "Loopy. Head in the clouds. Literally."
"Don't try," Clay told him, looking at the map over the sableye's shoulder. "He's just like that. He's smart, but only some of the time."
"That doesn't make any sense!"
"Besides, our leader is kind of loopy himself," Clay said before the sableye could throw another series of synonyms. The shaymin was currently doing midair barrel rolls.
"That, we can agree on," Valas mumbled, still glaring at Clay. "Let's just hurry up and get this over with."
"Okay then!" Jaden suddenly said, righting himself. "We'll cross that mystery dungeon on no time! Let's go!"
000
A sudden shriek caused Pace to sharply look up one of the trees. He held back a curse and rolled to the side as the staravia dove down at him. The outstretched talons missed him by a wide berth as it swooped back up and began to circle him. Pace, back on his feet, watched it warily. Quickly, he twisted around twice, swinging his tail in a wide arc both times. Two metallic shockwaves rippled through the air, but the staravia easily swerved through them. As they created two gashes in a tree behind it, the bird swooped down at him again, it's wings glowing. This time, Pace was prepared, and leapt clear over it, planting his feet into its head as it flew under him. The kick forced it straight into the ground as Pace landed smoothly behind it. Not giving it a chance to recover, he rushed at it, wrapped his arms around its neck, then started an aqua jet. The burst of water propelled him across the ground as he dragged the dazed staravia along. At the last second, he jumped away, shoving it face-first into a tree with a loud crack. Pace sighed, turning away from it.
Suddenly, another piercing shriek tore through his ears. "What the hell!?" He looked up to see another staravia and a staraptor perched in a tree, both looking very ticked. Pace glanced from the bird pokémon he had just defeated and the two others. "Shit, I just can't get a break, can I?" he muttered, eye twitching, and quickly began to run for his life. The two bird pokémon dove down to fly after him.
"This isn't looking good," He grumbled to himself. As fast as buizel were, these two birds were faster, and were easily catching up. There's no way I can fight both of them, I need to get them off me… He looked around for anything that might help. Suddenly, there was another loud caw, and another large bird appeared in front of him.
"Oh, come on!" Pace roared, diving to the side as the swellow swept down at him, launching an aerial ace attack. Unfortunately, he was unable to avoid the speeding blue flash, which scored a long scratch on his leg. Pace grunted as he rolled away, wincing when he put his weight on the injured limb.
The swellow, unable to stop, had collided with the two birds that had been chasing Pace. He would've gladly watched the following argument and brawl, but he had more important concerns. Besides, the fight wouldn't last long; as Pace knew, aerial battles never did. Growling lowly, he crawled away from the explosion of feathers, hoping to find something to heal the wound.
It wasn't long before Pace had moved out of hearing range of the battle. He sighed, leaning against a thick tree. Looking at the scratch, he saw that it was long, extending all the way across the side of the leg, but not deep. Though, he couldn't call it shallow. He winced slightly, looking away from the trail of blood. His eyes scanned the forest for an oran berry or the like. Because of the bizarre nature of the foliage, he couldn't identify the tree by leaves. Eventually, he found a clump on a bush a good distance away. On a bush. This place is really screwed up.
He started to stand up, then remembered why he was looking for oran berries in the first place. He winced, anticipating a bolt of pain to rip through his leg. None did. Blinking, he looked back at the gash. "This... this is..." He stuttered. What the hell? Even pokémon don't heal that quickly. In three minutes, the gash had been reduced to no more than a thick line visible through his bloodstained fur. He stared at it, and shook his head, walking towards the oran berries. Even if the wound didn't need them, they would provide stamina anyways. "Just what the hell is this place?"
000
Edited 10-21-09
Made several edits here, most of them pretty minor. One of note is the changes made in Joutei's scene, establishing some more concrete traits in each of the characters, Obsidian and Clay most noticeably. Kaysta has been redubbed Lynn. Rolls of the tongue much more smoothly, don't you think? Also, Pace's fight has been slightly extended.