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Chapter 7: Attacked
I woke up and kept my eyes closed, I cuddled against Mom and Dad's fur. They were so comfortable and warm, I wanted to stay there forever. I whispered, "I love you guys." I stayed there for a long time.
It took me a while to start noticing details that were wrong. There was no heartbeat, no breathing, a soft beeping noise. I felt pain that shouldn't have been there, no one to softly groom me to wake me up. I slowly opened my eyes looking at the empty statile room around me and remembering what happened. 'I am alone.' Tears welled up in my eyes. 'Why did they leave me? Why did this have to happen? Was it so much to ask to continue living together as a family?' I cried and wailed for things that would never be.
"Hey hey, what's wrong?" Remedy came through the door.
"They weren't here when I woke up, they're gone! Will I ever see them again?" I cried into the blanket.
Remedy came over to me and embraced me in her arms, "I know, I know, shhh." She hugged me until I stopped crying. "I have a feeling you'll see them again, one day."
"I have to go find them." I whispered.
"Yeah, I figured that was going to be your choice. You are such a brave and determined kit, there was just no way you wouldn't." She told me, the compliment made me feel a little better. "The kind people who rescued you want to see how you're doing. Is it okay if they come and see you?" She asked me.
"Are they humans?" Remedy nodded and I drew my ears flat, a little afraid. 'They can't be that bad if they rescued me, right? It would be rude not to let them see me and I have to get used to humans if I'm going to travel with one.' I thought, trying to get past my fear when another thought screamed at me in my head, 'But they're humans! They'll try to hurt you!' I started shaking at the thought.
"It's okay, they'll understand if you don't want to see them yet, you don't have to force yourself!" She said, trying to calm me.
"N-no they deserve to be able to see me, it would be bad of me to refuse them." I whispered dejectedly, not sure if I actually wanted to say that outloud but did anyway.
The chansey smiled at me, for some reason there were tears in her eyes as she said, "You are truly the strongest youngling I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I know how much humans scare you. I'm sure they'll be happy to meet you! Let me get the nurse to take care of your needs before you see them."
The nurse came in after Remedy went to go get her. Maggie took me somewhere to help me relieve myself, she fed me with milk in the bottle again, and changed my bandages. Everything was so painful, everything I had to do hurt. Every time I was moved or nuged, pain would flare again. It even took me a whole thirty minutes to go to the bathroom and the process was painful. By the time I was back in the bed, I was exhausted and ready to sleep again, my eyes drooped. But I forced myself awake, I still had to see my rescuers.
After an hour of talking with Remedy she told me it was about time for me to see them. "Are you ready?" She asked. I shakily nodded, I was ready as I was going to be. Remedy went away for a second before coming back with not one but five humans including the nurse and a leafeon.
Not expecting the giant group, I started shaking. 'They're here to take me like they took my parents!' Tears filled my eyes and I tried to crawl backwards.
The humans looked confused and turned to Maggie for answers. Maggie whispered, "Astra has severe trauma, so she is terrified of people. Just make sure to be careful and respect her boundaries." They nodded, understanding and sadness graced their expressions.
One of the female humans came closer with the leafeon, her eyes were green and filled with a sense of kindness. When I growled at her she stopped in her tracks, deciding that was close enough. She spoke up, "Hello Astra, I'm really happy to see that you're safe! My name is Abby and this is my friend Rook." She gestured towards the leafeon when she said his name. "We were the first ones to find you in that clearing."
Rook greeted me, "Hey there kid, my human is nice and would never harm you, she's just worried about you." I didn't respond to him, still freaked out.
Abby continued speaking, unaware of what Rook had just said. "These are my partners Tia, Alex, and Danny." She pointed to the different humans as she said their names but the others stayed near the door. "They were also there. We just wanted to check in to see how you're doing, we're so glad you're okay!" Her face contorted in sadness as if the smile before was just a mask that had just come off, lips trembling and tears filling her eyes. I was taken aback, completely shocked that the human was crying. That's when she said, "I also wanted to say, I'm sorry for what happened to you. It's our fault as rangers that we weren't able to help you when your family was in need and that we weren't even able to find the people who did this!" She was a mess as she said this, her eyes became red as she cried. "I'm sorry… It's all our fault." The other female, Tia, came up to her and hugged her from behind. The other humans looked sad.
When she said this I cried harder, not of fear this time but of sadness and longing. "Why did it have to be us?" I cried out in my wailing. The humans didn't understand me but still knew I was sad.
Rook, now crying himself, said "I don't know… Astra, I don't know." Before anyone could stop him, Rook jumped up on my bed and curled around me making sure not to touch my injuries. "You're just a kit, you shouldn't have had to go through this." He whispered to me, licking the top of my head gently.
His fur was less fluffy and soft than my parents' fur had been but it still brought back memories of cuddling with them. He smelled like fresh leaves and flowers. Without thinking I buried my face into the fur on his side and let out all of my tears. That's all that happened for a long while, the only sound in the room was the sound of my muffled sobbing. I eventually calmed down from my hysterics but that was when my exhaustion took hold and I fell asleep, snuggled with a leafeon I had just met.
-000-
Mew smiled at the sight of Astra cuddling with the kind leafeon. She had watched over Astra the whole time she was in the pokecenter through the window in the side of her room. Mew shared in Astra's pain and sadness, this time being the only time in a long while that Mew had smiled. That kind pokemon was doing a world of good for Astra, Mew only wished that she herself could comfort her. One of the only saving graces of the fate Astra had to endure was the friends she would meet on her journey.
Mew used to smile a lot, once upon a time. She would play, stare in child-like wonder at the beautiful world around her, and be generally carefree about everything. That was millenia ago, before she outlived all of her friends and had to watch as pokemon succumbed to their terrible fates to go on to the afterlife without her. As the years went by her overwhelming optimism withered away as her permanent smile turned into a permanent frown. She was tired, she didn't want to be alone anymore. Her family, the other immortal legendaries, just didn't understand her pain. Unlike her, they had always liked to stay secluded without friends, being too preoccupied with their duties to ever play with her.
Mew sighed and put a stop to thinking about her own problems, she was here for Astra. She would meet Arceus's wrath by interfering with the fate of mortals but did she truly care about punishment anymore? She deeply desired to meet and befriend Astra, possibly help her with her journey. The big event that shaped Astra's fate had already happened so would it really matter if Mew helped a bit? Would Astra even be able to forgive her for letting that terrible event happen? Mew was commanded not to interfere but did that excuse her for just standing around and letting it happen? Mew didn't think so, the guilt continued to overwhelm her feelings. She continued to ponder as Astra slept inside.
Professor Rowan was studying a dratini as he had reason to believe the species as a whole had rare habits and tendencies that had yet to be recorded. His computer suddenly came out of sleep mode and started making an annoying ringing noise. Rowan sighed and put the dratini back in it's pokeball. "I swear I was about to get him to finally do something!" He grumbled to no one in particular. He walked up to his computer and read the caller ID, it read "Fae Fire Forest Reserve Ranger Station." Surprised, he answered imminently. He wondered what the rangers of the ninetales reserve wanted with him.
A window popped up showing the camera feed for the other side of the call. A man appeared, someone Rowan knew already, his name was Alex. He was just a rookie in the rangers when they had met each other. Now ten years later he was the leader for the whole station. Rowan greeted him first, "Alex, long time no see! I hear you're the leader of the station now! How are you doing?"
"Hey professor, good to see you! Not well as of late." He responded suddenly looking sad.
"What happened?" Rowan asked, looking rather concerned.
"Trappers happened." Anger splayed on his face clearly seen, vanishing any sadness that was held on his face before. Professor Rowan knew what that meant and his face saddened. Alex continued, "We found a breach in the fencing four days ago and followed the tracks to a clearing." He took a shaky breath before continuing. "There I found the most disturbing thing I had seen in my entire life. A vulpix kit heavily injured and on the verge of death. It's leg bone shattered and whole right side broken. Whatever pokemon did it seemed to enjoy injuring it as one punch would have been enough to destroy this tiny kit, but there are signs of multiple hard hitting punches anyways. When we had found the clearing her parents were already taken and the trappers had fled. This kit has been recovering in the pokecenter for a few days now after going through extensive surgery."
The professor was horrified to say the least. He had become a professor because he always enjoyed the company of pokemon, they were all friends to him. To hear about a pokemon so brutally injured, a kit no less absolutely angered him.
"This comes to the reason I called you and informed you about this. We have a chansey that is able to type reports for us that has been caring for her, so we know all about this vulpix. Her name is Astra and we learned that she doesn't want to go back to the reserve. She instead wants to get stronger and become a trained pokemon to look for her parents. We have also found out she has bad trauma and is afraid of humans. She is a runt, and her leg injury might cause her to limp for the rest of her life."
"That poor baby." The professor said, "I don't know if it is wise for her to go on a pokemon journey then. She should be taken care of and not made to battle!"
"Well it's not our choice, it's hers. We all care for Astra and don't want anything bad to happen to her. That is why we are asking you for any recommendations on who her trainer should be. No one wants to see her sold on the black market or abused. She needs to have a good trainer, one that won't give up on her, one that cares for her no matter what. Do you know anyone like that?" Alex asked.
The professor sighed, thinking about it for a moment before saying, "Well if she truly has to be a trained pokemon, I think I have the perfect trainer in mind."
Kaia had finally made it to the end of route 202. She looked at Jubilife City that started right in front of her, ready to finally sleep in a proper bed again. Kaia could have gotten here a lot sooner but she had decided that she didn't really want to rush her pokemon journey. She had brought enough supplies to last a few days in the wilderness so she trained her pokemon in the forest on the left side of the route only making a tiny amount of progress through the route each day.
Kaia had Soren, a rowlet, and Aqua, a piplup, protect her from wild pokemon in the forest gaining them experience that they needed to beat the next gym. She also had them fight a few trainers but she lost most of them because most of the trainers this year had a head start on her, their pokemon being stronger than her's. Kaia didn't let her losses get to her though as she felt herself making progress, it wasn't like losing battles was a complete waste of time. She had noticed herself learning more about tactics and using it in her most recent battles. Soren already trusted her as she had been with him his whole life but Aqua was still learning to trust her decisions in battle without hesitation. Aqua knew the moves pound, growl and recently learned the move water gun. Soren knew tackle, leafage, growl and peck, he had a bit more combat experience since Kaia trained him a bit before coming to Sinnoh. She had held off on capturing a third pokemon until she found one she truly wanted to add to the team. The guidebook recommended two pokemon for the first gym in Oreburgh City so it wasn't as though she needed a third pokemon yet. Kaia wasn't too worried about the first gym since it was a rock type gym and both of her pokemon's main types were super effective.
Entering Jubilife City with Soren on her shoulder she got a message on her pokegear from Professor Rowan, it said, "Video call me when you get to the next pokecenter, I have something I want to ask you."
"Huh, I wonder what that's about. I guess I'll head to the pokecenter first then." She said to Soren. Kaia didn't really mind, she planned to sightsee and spend time with her pokemon for the next two days before going to Oreburgh anyways. Jubilife was a fairly large city with many tall buildings, she stuck to the main road to not get lost. The pokecenters were usually always on the main road of towns and cities because almost everyone had a pokemon so they needed to be accessible. It still took a little while to walk to the pokecenter because it was all the way in the center of the city.
The pokecenter was on the first floor of a tall building unlike those in other towns. When she entered she saw that it wasn't much different than any other pokecenter. There was a large round carpet with a pokeball design in the center of the lobby and sitting areas to each side. One doorway led to a cafeteria on the right side, one on the far left back wall that led to a trainer hotel, and one on the far right back wall that led to an employee area. In the far back of the lobby was a semi circle reception desk with a Nurse Joy standing behind it. There were many trainers in the lobby milling about and talking to each other.
A line full of trainers with injured pokemon was formed in front of the Nurse waiting to get their pokemon healed. Kaia's pokemon were a little roughed up by the few days training in the wild so she joined the line.
When she finally got to the front of the line, Nurse Joy smiled and said, "Do you need to have your pokemon healed?" In an enthusiastic voice. Kaia nodded. Soren squawked in protest when she put him in his ball before handing her pokemon to the nurse. "We'll call you when your pokemon are healed." She explained motioning to the waiting area.
Kaia walked away from the counter letting the next trainer hand over his pokemon. She didn't head to the waiting area though, she went to the public PC. The PC had a function that allowed trainers to video call anyone so that must've been what Professor Rowan wanted her to call him with. She dialed in his number and after a few seconds of ringing professor Rowan appeared on the screen.
"Hello Kaia, how have you been?" He greeted me.
"Great! I have been training on route 202 for the past few days and only just arrived in Jubilife. Though I'm not sure why you wanted to talk to me so soon after I left on my journey, it hasn't been that long since I left your lab." Kaia replied.
"Ah yes, well…" He said looking a little nervous. "Something came up that I wanted to ask you about."
"What is it?" Kaia asked, more than a little curious.
"Well I was wondering if you would be able to take another pokemon." He replied.
"Umm... professor, not that I'm not grateful or anything. Aren't you giving me too many handouts? I mean you already gave me a second starter pokemon. Wouldn't it be better if I captured pokemon, that is how trainers are supposed to build up their teams." Kaia was confused, she wondered if Rowan didn't think she was up to the task to be a normal pokemon trainer.
"You're right, I wouldn't normally do something like this, but this is a special case. There is this vulpix kit named Astra…" Professor Rowan told Kaia the whole story regarding this vulpix.
"That's horrible!" Kaia exclaimed after the story had ended.
"Yes it is. We need someone we know can be trusted to take care of her. You were the first person I thought of for the task because of your reputation with handling pokemon when you were Kukui's assistant. Before you make your decision I wanted to warn you, this will not be an easy task. Astra has mental trauma that might make her hostile and untrusting towards you. She also wouldn't be able to fight for you for a while because of her injuries and young age. Her physical abilities are also not that great with her being a runt and the possibility that she may develop a permanent limp." He explained.
Kaia thought for a moment. Vulpix and ninetales are said to be powerful fire attackers and super rare. But what if being a runt also decreases the power of her fire? No, how good or bad at battle she is shouldn't matter, she should help this poor kit no matter if it makes the team a little less strong. Making up her mind she said, "If you truly think I could help Astra, then how could I say no?"
"That's great! I'm glad I can leave her with someone I trust. Astra needs more than a trainer after what she's gone through, she needs a friend and a family. To pick her up you'll need to backtrack a little, the ranger station holding her is in the middle of route 202. It will take about a week for Astra to be healed enough to be released, but you should go there right away anyways. If you can hang out with Astra before you head on your journey with her she might trust you more." The professor seemed really happy with her decision, looking like a bit of weight lifted off his shoulders.
"I wasn't rushing my journey anyways, I guess I could train my pokemon more while I wait." She said trying to reassure herself as much as the professor for the setback. "See you later Rowan!"
Rowan said, "Goodbye." Before the screen went dark, terminating the call.
Kaia picked up her pokemon from the front desk before heading to her trainer room. She would explain the situation to her pokemon and get a well deserved rest before heading back. Kaia released her pokemon before retelling the story she had just been told.
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Remedy shook me awake, I groaned in pain and exhaustion. The chansey said, "Wake up Astra. It's been a whole day and Rook needs to get back to his duties." I opened my eyes slowly and sure enough Rook was there still cuddling with me, his warmth slowly pulling me back to sleep. He was sitting up and looking at me with kind eyes. The sun shining through the window showed it was late evening.
I blushed and quickly said, "I'm sorry for making you sleep with me. It must've been weird to have someone you barely knew crying into your side and falling asleep." I couldn't help but put my ears back.
"A kit shouldn't have to sleep alone, I'm happy that I could make you feel better. I would do it more if I could." Upon seeing me still looking guilty Rook added, "Besides, Abby left me with you to help you feel better so I got out of a whole day of work! I'll probably even be thanked for doing this!" He smiled and stuck his tongue out at me and I giggled at him. "But I should probably be getting back to her." He got up from under me and jumped down from my bed. Before he left the room he looked back and said, "See you later Astra!"
I smiled at Remedy feeling better than I ever had in the past few days. I no longer felt as alone, I was blind before. 'I have Remedy, Rook and everyone else who cared for me. Even the humans who I have been acting out against have cared for me.' I thought, feeling a little better.
Remedy smiled back saying, "Well, don't you look like a bundle of joy today! Maybe we should have you cuddle with other pokemon more often. Rook is right about how much it helped you." She came over to me and ruffled the fur on my head. I felt a little annoyed at the disevaling of my fur but pushed the feeling down and smiled anyway. "It's time for your daily routine!"
"Noooo! I don't wanna, just let me go to sleep!" I complained snuggling farther into my blankets. The memory of the last time we took care of my needs instantly souring my mood.
"I can't in good conscience let you waste away in bed just because it's unpleasant. You are still suffering from the effects of starvation. Now you can either help me make this less painful for you or I will force you which you'll like a whole lot less. I'm going to go get the nurse now so you better cooperate." She let a little warning creep into her tone as she said this. I groaned, giving up.
The nurse came in after Remedy went to get her. I managed to stop myself from growling and shaking even though I still felt as much fear as I felt before. Nurse Maggie seemed happy with the lack of a negative response from me. They did everything they did before except this time they had me try walking on my two good legs a little bit. They gave up after I repeatedly collapsed from the pain. The cast on my leg made me unbalanced, making me stumble. Every time I took a step my injured side would burn, I was crying by the end of it.
When they deposited me back in my blankets I was still crying. "I thought... you were just going to take care of my needs!" I said sniffling.
"Yes, I'm sorry, I should have warned you. Maintaining your muscles is also important, especially since we don't have too much longer with each other." She told me sadly. "They have already found a trainer to take you. I was hoping we would be able to let you fully heal before you went but she's getting here tomorrow."
I stared at her, completely shocked by the sudden news. "But I'm not sure I'm ready to leave yet!" I cried.
"Don't worry, you won't leave for another week. The trainer will spend the week here as well. We need to do a background check on her before we release you into her custody. So you'll have time to get to know her before you leave. Even after you leave you won't be made to fight for a while."
'I have a severe disadvantage when it comes to fighting. Maybe I should live in the clan, I still have friends and family who would want to see me. Should I really go with a human? Am I even up to the challenge? If both of my parents couldn't beat those guys, how could I?' I asked myself, second guessing my decision. "What's it like being a trainer's pokemon? Do you think I could do it?"
"Anyone can do anything if they set their mind to it. Even though I'm hesitant to let you go, I'm sure you'll do fine." Remedy paused thinking for a minute. "Training can be tough… but also rewarding. Pokemon have to work on their skills every day to meet their trainers expectations but due to the focus of the training, trained pokemon always end up way stronger than any wild pokemon. You also get to travel and see the whole region which is always fun. I think you will end up enjoying it."
I did want to get stronger so her explanation appealed to me, but it did sound tiring. I yawned at the thought of something so tiring, reminding me how exhausted I was.
"It seems you're ready to go to bed already. Those painkillers always cause sleepiness so it's not surprising." She said checking my vitals.
"Um, I was wondering if I could cuddle with someone again." I asked, my tails wagging behind me nervously.
"Hmm, I guess since my only assigned duty is to care of you… I couldn't lay with you on the bed since I'm too big but I could hold you while you fell asleep." She offered, smiling at me.
I quickly accepted her offer and she came to pick me up. She had to make sure she didn't disturb the wires coming from my body or my injuries. Remedy made sure I was comfortable before sitting in a chair and started to gently stroke my fur. I sighed in contentment and started purring, unable to hold it in. She giggled at me, it sounded like a light rumbling coming from her chest. I closed my eyes and went to sleep again.
I woke up back in my bed, morning light streaming through the window. 'Remedy must've left me here after I fell asleep.' I felt sad, depressed and lonely like I always do when I wake up alone nowadays. 'When I get my parents back maybe I'll finally stop feeling like this.' I thought, feeling like there was a black hole in my chest sucking away any happiness or warmth I felt there previously. Any thought of what happened or how I might never see my parents again always made me feel this way and there was nothing I could do to stop it. My blanket became wet with tears I hadn't even noticed I had shed.
After a while of wallowing in my depression, Remedy came in and greeted me. She obviously saw how sad I was but acted like normal for which I was grateful. "Good morning, Astra! Your new trainer will probably be arriving today, maybe you can make new friends with her pokemon!" She said enthusiastically.
'That's right I'm going to train, get stronger and save my parents! The trainer's going to help me. When I see them again they're going to be proud of how strong I became! I told myself to try to boost my mood a little.
"Now, it's time to start the day! Your recovery is going well so we were able to wean you off of your painkillers a little. You should be feeling less tired today." Remedy said. My body did feel like it had more feeling today even if that meant I felt a little more pain than usual.
She had the nurse come in to take care of me again. Today I decided to allow Maggie to pet me, she looked overjoyed that I trusted her that much. After she fed me she groomed my fur with a brush, the bristles of the brush felt nice as they itched my skin. We went to do something different than usual, they took me to a machine to do something called a scan. The nurse had me stay on a cold metal table on my good side. She warned me to stay still during the entire time before going into a back room to start the machine. The metal table I was laying on slid underneath the round machine as it started up. It made scary noises for a long time and made me feel claustrophobic, I really wanted to run but stopped myself. After a little while more the sounds stopped and the table slid back out. The nurse came out and complimented my bravery before putting me back in my room. Even after all of that I was remarkably still feeling awake.
I was glad when Remedy decided to spend the whole day with me, it made my heart feel that much less empty. We talked about things both sad and happy, she came up with little games I could play without moving. It wasn't as exciting as hopping through leaf piles or learning how to tackle but I enjoyed them all the same. By the time the nurse came in to inform us about the trainer's arrival, I was in a very happy mood again. The news made me nervously squirm around, my tails jerking.
Remedy smiled at my unconscious nervous actions and said, "It's time for you to meet your new trainer! I will be here the whole time so you have nothing to worry about." The chansey nodded at Maggie who went to get them. I waited, the anticipation killing me.
There was a knock at the door and the nurse came in along with a younger girl. Her skin was the most tanned that I had seen on a human thus far. She had black hair, blue eyes, and the gentle scent of flowers clung to her. The girl wore a warm jacket unzipped, between the two sides of the jacket showed a t-shirt that held a blue frog pokemon giving a thumbs up with it's white hands. She also wore jeans, tennis shoes and a cap with a pokeball symbol on it. A beige and green owl was perched on her shoulder and she held a blue and white bird pokemon in her arms. The girl held a sad expression when she finally got a look at me but tried to vanish it in favor of a cheery face before she thought I saw.
"Hello Astra! It's nice to finally see you. My name is Kaia, I might be your trainer soon and these are your future teammates. Meet Soren, my rowlet." She indicated the owl on her shoulder who said a quick hello to me. "And this is Aqua, my piplup." She raised the blue bird in her arms who also greeted me enthusiastically.
I gave a shy and reserved, "Hello." But said nothing more than that.
Soren decided to fly over and land on the railing around my bed, shocking me and making me even more nervous. "Jeez, you look really banged up kid! Did a tauros stampede on you?" Wondering what a tauros was, I felt more than a little confused at his statement of my condition.
"Uhh… yeah." I managed to squeak out. Feeling more than a little bit uncomfortable at the situation.
Kaia seemed to notice my unease and said angrily, "Soren, be more cautious, she doesn't even know if she can trust us yet!" Kaia walked forward and Soren retreated back to her shoulder. Her harsh tone only made me more wary of this human. "Sorry about him, he's friendly, I'm sorry if he said anything weird." She seemed nervous about my reactions. "I heard what happened to you and want to help, if you'd let us." Kaia set Aqua on the floor, raised her hand towards me, and walked forward cautiously. "Can I pet you?" She asked.
My trembling increased in intensity as she got closer and Remedy looked like she wanted to stop her. When Kaia got close enough to my bed and started to lower her hand towards me I shrunk back and growled in warning. I wasn't consciously trying to scare her away but it still had that effect. She stopped and took her hand away, backing up a little. Her pokemon automatically took a fighting stance which made me even more scared. I shrunk even further, lowering my ears to let them know I didn't mean any harm and started crying once again.
"I'm sorry Astra I didn't mean to scare you!" Kaia then noticed her pokemon ready to attack and said, "No stop! You are frightening her even more." She returned them to their pokeballs for good measure. Kaia then turned to the nurse and whispered, "I think it's best for us to leave for now." Maggie nodded and led her out. Before she left she said, "Bye Astra, I'll come back tomorrow."
When the door was closed behind them and the only me and Remedy was left, I burst into tears. Crying so loudly that even I was embarrassed by the sound that came from my mouth. Remedy quickly came over and started stroking me, she started making a soft shushing noise.
"T-they must hate me! I almost bit her and they knew it! I couldn't even control myself!" I hiccuped, still crying just as hard.
"It's not your fault, you were scared and she moved too fast. I should have stopped her. You still have a while to make up with her." Remedy soothed. "I'll make sure she's warned next time. Anyways, this has been your longest day since the incident, so you should rest."
I nodded. Remedy then turned off the lights and closed the blinds on the window. She came back over and continued to stroke me until I gave in to sleepiness.
I woke up and immediately knew something was wrong. Wind whipped through my fur and I felt grass underneath me. I opened up my eyes to see a familiar clearing, my home. I was just in front of the cave. 'Why am I back here?' I wondered. It was dark and late into the night, angry clouds swirled up above blocking any view of the sky. No light seemed to be able to make it on to the clearing, making it hard to see. The wind howled and whistled, thunder boomed, trees swayed back and forth, creaking all the while. It made a cacophony of creepy sounds that chilled me to my bones and caused my fur to stand on end. Feeling scared I yelled, "Hello is anyone there?"
The shadows of the dark clearing seemed to writhe on the ground as if reacting to my question, moving and collecting into big dark masses. I tried blinking a few times to clear my eyes but the shadows didn't stop. They kept collecting and building until they piled off of the ground, no longer flat like shadows were meant to be. The first shadows that formed up into being were right in front of me. The seemingly liquid shadows molded themselves into two fox-like figures, each facing away from me. The longer the shadows formed, the more details I could make out until the darkness fled and all that was left in its place was Mom and Dad.
"Mom, Dad!" I yelled, extremely happy that they were here. Hope that they would stay with me filled my chest.
"Shut Up, you worthless runt!" Dad hissed at me. The happiness I felt for only a moment drained into sadness as he stated a truth that I never wanted to hear from my parent's mouth.
"We should have abandoned you when we saw how weak you were, now we have to protect you!" Mom hissed agreeing with what Dad had said.
"What… Why?" I whimpered. My questions were only met with silence. 'Aren't they happy to see me? Why would they say that?' My chest felt like it was going to burst, pressure building to an uncomfortable level.
The other shadows formed across the clearing near the tree line. These shadows formed into humanoid shapes but they stayed ambiguous not gaining detail like my parents did. The shadow human's features were constantly changing, sharpening, shrinking, and expanding all at the same time. Their skin was oily black and dripping darkness. It was the most monstrous and horrific thing I had ever seen.
Both of my parents growled at them. The shadow humans cackled, their voices constantly changing from low to high pitch. They held out their arms which changed into black blades. Suddenly both of the figures rushed forwards towards us, their blade arms raised and ready to strike.
I screamed, panic consuming my being. When the shadows reached my parents they started slashing. Both Mom and Dad were able to dodge them a few times before finally failing. At the same time both of the shadow humans were able find their marks right on my parents' necks. I watched in horror as the blades sliced straight through my parents' necks decapitating them.
I screamed, "Nooooo!" Tears streamed down my face as I lost my parents for a second time.
The heads of my parents landed so they were facing me, staring at me with glassy dead eyes. The shadows didn't stop, they kept slicing my parents headless bodies until all that was left was two bloody piles. The shadow creatures evaporated back into darkness.
I tried to get up and run towards their bodies but I couldn't move. I looked down only to find all four of my legs brutalized and crippled. Disgusted and completely taken aback, I noticed for the first time that I couldn't feel my legs at all. I screamed in terror at both my paralysis and uselessness.
The decapitated heads of my parents suddenly spoke as one, their eyes each rolling forward to look at me. "This is all your fault!" Their voices oozed malice and disgust. "We wouldn't have to protect you if you weren't so weak! You killed us!" They both coughed and blood poured out of their mouths, noses, and eyes.
"No… I tried to protect you…" I cried.
"And you failed!" They said in unison as their heads lost their physical shape and melted back into the darkness. Their last words were "We should've had a normal daughter, not you…"
"No, don't go!" I screamed at the heads. Even if they were only the heads of Mom and Dad, I still didn't want to be left alone. The heads didn't pay my command any heed and continued melting into shadows.
The shadows that used to be my parents' bodies combined and formed into a familiar poliwrath. "Disgusting runt, I had hoped I never got to see your ugly fur again. At least I get to have a little more fun!" It laughed in the same way it had before, making me tremble. Despair filled my mind, 'It's going to hurt me again and I'm too weak to stop it.' It's terrible laugh rang in my ears. It punched down at my head and I cringed back before everything went black.
I shot up from my bed screaming out in terror and pain, the extremely loud sound echoing throught the room. Searing pain wracking my body. The sensation on par with the night everything went wrong. My head felt wrong somehow like my face was malformed. My neck ached, face and skull in absolute agony. Everything I heard was covered by a ringing noise in my ears. I continued to scream until the door to my room barged open and three nurses and Remedy rushed in.
Their voices were muffled by the constant high pitched noise but I still was able to hear Remedy ask in a panicked voice, "Astra what's wrong?" I didn't answer, couldn't answer as my constant screaming was occupying my vocal cords. "Astra please!"
The nurses were also speaking to each other, "What's happening?" One nurse asked.
"I don't know, but we need her to stop to check on her!" Another nurse shouted.
"Okay that's it, put her under now!" The first nurse said.
Before they could do anything my shouting was forcibly stopped and turned into squeaking and moaning as I collapsed and started shaking uncontrollably. Every nerve on my body burned with each shake. A warm liquid streamed from my nose staining the sheets in front of my head red.
Remedy shouted, "Oh my Arceus! Astra, stay with me!" She was crying, desperate for me to be okay. I couldn't respond.
"Hold her down! She's having a seizure!" One nurse commanded.
I felt pressure all over my body as three sets of hands pushed down on me, not minding my injuries. There was a barely noticeable jab of pain on my leg as I was forcibly put to sleep.
-000-
Mew stared through the window completely shocked. Her long tail was lashing, her eyes wide. One moment Astra was in a somewhat disturbed sleep, probably due to a nightmare, the next she was screaming, shaking, and in an incredible amount of pain. The nurses were quickly wheeling Astra out of her room to go scan her.
"No no no, this has never happened before!" She whispered in a panic to herself. She had seen a significant portion of Astra's fate and what just happened never was supposed to happen. "The only plausible explanation is that someone who knows about Astra's destiny interfered. I have to go tell the others." Mew quickly flew into the sky startling a flock of pidgey on her way.
-0-
When I woke up my brain felt like it was pounding against my skull. I felt so weak that I couldn't move, not even opening my eyes. There was something on my neck and the same wrapping that was on my body now covered my head.
"Astra, are you awake? Make a sound if you can hear me." A familiar voice said next to me. Following their instructions, I groaned. "Good, now don't move or even speak. This is going to be shocking, so be prepared…" Remedy paused to give me time to process this. "After we found you that day screaming. We did a few scans on you to see what was wrong. What we found was rather surprising. Your skull was fractured and your brain was damaged. We believe somehow you were punched in the head because your neck was also sprained. But we don't know how this happened, your room was being monitored and no one came in or out."
'Was it the dream? No that's impossible, dreams shouldn't affect me physically like this!' I thought back to when the poliwrath punched me in the dream. When she stopped speaking, there was just something that I had to know. In a voice that sounded weak I asked, "How long was I out?"
Remedy sighed and said in a gentle tone, "We had to put you into a medically induced coma to stop your brain from swelling and damaging itself more. The coma lasted for a week before we finally brought you out of it. You waking up probably means you're out of danger."
"I… thought I was safe here… You said I could trust everyone here." I said in a sad and worried voice.
"You should have been safe… No one in the hospital would ever hurt you. It's all my fault, I wasn't there when you needed me!" She sounded sad and defensive. "That's why I convinced the nurses to let me stay with you 24/7, I even have a bed right next to yours!"
I tried to get up and look around but pain immediately greeted me. My side and leg felt much better but my head and neck burned. I hissed in pain.
"I told you not to move for a reason! Stay there and sleep." Remedy commanded me.
I sighed and obeyed, knowing any movement would cause me pain. Closing my eyes and falling asleep in the same room that I had been in for the past two weeks.
I opened my eyes to see white. The whitest place I had ever been, in fact I couldn't see anything but white. The ground was warm, soft but still solid and white in color like everything else. I looked around and realized my body was perfect. No bandages, no spots of fur shaved off, no cast. I got up and did a few experimental hops and felt normal for once. 'What is this place?' I thought, feeling a bit happier now that I was uninjured. The white void went as far as I could see, it never ended. I ran forward, never changing direction and couldn't tell if I ever moved at all. 'Hmmm, this is getting a little freaky.' I decided to scream out, "Hello, is anyone there?" My voice echoed across the void repeating my question.
After what felt like an eternity of listening a high pitched feminine voice finally broke the silence, "Hello youngling! Sorry I took so long, I was expecting you a bit later." She giggled. The sound of the voice seemed to make me feel safe and calm.
Unable to find the sound of the voice I looked all around me, "Umm… Who are you? Where are you?" I gave up on my search after seeing no one around me.
"Just look up a bit, silly!" The voice said. I did what it asked and looked up. There was still nothing.
I looked around the air from side to side confused until suddenly a pink face filled my vision with an audible pop, yelling, "Boo!"
"Ahhhh!" I screamed and jumped back, completely surprised.
The pink being giggled at me. "Ah ha ha, you should have seen your face!" She said pointing at me.
I got a better look at the creature when she was doubled over with laughter. The color of her short fur was a light pink. She mainly had feline features. Cat muzzle, ears. She had unusually large eyes that filled a large portion of its face. The color of the eyes were a bright blue, so bright they looked like they were glowing. Her front legs were short, ending in normal paws. She was currently using its front paws to cover its mouth while giggling. She also had normal sized back legs but her hind paws were massive. She had a tail easily double the size of her whole body, at the end of the tail it became thicker and ended in a rounded point.
I would have been mad at the scare she gave me but I found both her tiny body, huge eyes, and high pitched giggles extremely cute, too cute to be mad at. Her laugh was infectious and I found myself giggling, I didn't know why but I was. This went on until she stopped laughing and looked at me with amusement. She was gently bobbing in the air somehow, floating lower so I didn't have to look up at her. When I looked into her kind eyes, the same trust I had felt when I had looked at my parents bubbled up from my chest.
"Who are you and what is this place?" I asked the pink creature, now in front of me.
She smiled at me and said, "This is your dreamscape. I'm simply projecting myself into your mind while you sleep." She motioned to the white space around us. "Speaking of which, this place is pretty dull, want me to make it beautiful?"
I nodded enthusiastically at the question, in all honesty I was getting creeped out by the surrounding white void. The still unknown pink cat closed her eyes and held out her paws, her face held signs of concentration. This went on for a few seconds until she snapped her eyes open and a wave of pink light emanated out from her. The light moved fast and in its wake the scenery changed. Vivid green grass and flowers of different colors sprouted from the white floor. The sky changed as well, the white on the ceiling turning into a light blue. The wave also made a sun which shone brightly onto the grasses and flowers below. When the wave was gone, the landscape had changed completely. A meadow was now all I could see stretching far into the distance, no white remained except for a few white flowers. Unable to hold my excitement, I bounded to a bright orange flower and sniffed it. To my surprise the flower actually contained a floral scent, soft and subtly sweet, mixing with the scent of the fresh grass that surrounded it. I was so happy that I could finally see something other than the white starile room where I was being kept.
The pink pokemon got my attention by saying, "Now that the scenery is a little better, it's time for introductions!" I looked over to her. "My name is Mew."
"Wait, are you the same Mew that Elder Ashe and my parents talked about? The creator of all pokemon?" I asked, a bit intimidated by the idea that a god was in front of me.
"Yes, the very same, but you don't have to be afraid. I would never hurt you." Mew, god of all pokemon, said to me.
"Oh… I guess I should tell you my name. I'm Astra." I said, still nervous about Mew being with me.
"Yes, I know, young one. I have been watching you from afar your whole life. I was just outside the cave when they named you."
'That's right! Ashe said something about Mew watching over me for some reason.' I remembered the conversation with the Elder. "Wait, Elder Ashe said that you wouldn't interfere with me and just watch. Isn't talking with me interfering with me?" I asked.
Mew was in the process of spinning around in the air when she replied, "Yes, I'm usually not supposed to talk with those I'm watching, but there are special reasons why that's not the case this time. The first reason is I really wanted to befriend you in particular, something about you just makes me want to help, support, and talk to you." I blanched at her at this statement, 'Mew wants to be friends with me?' I thought as she continued. "The second reason and probably the reason I'm allowed to interfere with you at all, is some unknown individual already tried to kill you. The event where you got hit in the head in the hospital is not supposed to happen, in fact you're supposed to already be journeying with Kaia, your future trainer. This means someone is specifically trying to alter your fate. And the whole reason I watching you at all is to prevent anyone from messing with your fate, so I now am allowed to interfere." When she finished with her explanation, she was upside down and looking at me.
"Umm, would it be alright if I asked you some questions?" I asked.
Mew then started chasing her own tail, she caught it pretty quickly because of how long it was and began to groom it. Nonchalantly in-between licks she said, "Sure, I'll answer what I can."
"Where are my parents?" Was my first question.
Mew immediately stops grooming herself and stares at me dumbfounded. "Starting with the big questions huh? Sadly I can't answer that. You will find your parents on your own one day, not soon but you will find them." My whole body drooped in disappointment. "But I can tell you one thing. I can tell you that they are safe." She suddenly took on a very sad appearance, she looked down, tail dropping all the way to the ground, and arms hanging down. "They are not doing well emotionally though. They have given up because they believe you are dead."
"What! But I'm not dead, I'm right here!" I shouted, tears of frustration beginning to form in my eyes. "Why would they think I was dead?" The last part was in a whisper to myself.
"Astra… do you remember the last time they saw you? You were screaming in pain with injuries that would've killed any normal kit, alone in the middle of a forest. Really, It would only be wishful thinking for them to think you were alive now. No, they think you died in immense pain and are blaming themselves for not protecting you." She said sadly.
All of my happiness of being in this imaginary beautiful meadow drained away. "My parents think I'm dead."
"Yes, but remember I also told you something else! That day wasn't the last time you would see them, they will get to see you alive again someday. Only you can make that reunion happen, Astra." Mew said.
Feeling a little better I asked, "But how will I find them?"
"That will become apparent with time. We are running out of time here. It is about time to do what I came here to do." Mew said as she floated closer to me and raised her paws to touch my side. As soon as she touched me a green glow enveloped my body. After a few seconds the glow evaporated and Mew said, "There I just healed you quite a bit, you should be good enough to travel now. Though keep in mind, you're not completely healed so take it easy for a while."
"Thank you, for everything. I can't wait to walk around again!" I said, bowing my head a little in respect.
"Not a problem, dear. I'm glad I can help a friend." Mew said while bobbing a little.
"Uh, Miss Mew… do you think we can talk again, in the future?" I asked nervously.
Mew's smile brightened, "I'll see you later, Astra!" As she said this her form evaporated into pink mist before completely disappearing. I stared at where she used to be in wonder before the whole world turned to black.
Chapter End
Warning: Extreme content past here, describing the ugly side of war. If you are squeamish of these sorts of things, I advise you not to read this.
Story Lore
A long time ago in one of the last great wars, humans warred over land, the different region's territories were constantly in flux, especially territories that shared the same continents. Humans fought, killing each other to gain favor with their respective kingdoms. Humans were not the only ones to fight however, even without current technology like pokeballs, humans had learned to tame dangerous pokemon to act in their will. Pokemon were very common on the battlefield, brutally murdering other pokemon and humans alike with powers beyond the humans understanding, even though they had no other reason to then to please their masters. Fire pokemon were most common as they were able to burn forests, villages, pokemon, and humans, not caring if innocents got caught in their fires.
Many citizens came to despise war, but no one had any way to stop it. Monarchs of each region didn't want to stop, their greed didn't allow them to. What if they were able to get more land, or other regions didn't agree to stop the wars and took more land from them? No, they wouldn't stop for anything, not even for their own subjects' safety.
Two humans in particular became infuriated that so many people and pokemon were getting harmed and killed. They saw all of the horrors of war, people and pokemon getting burned alive in their own homes, orphans of every species starving in the streets and forests. The enemy and ally soldiers along with their pokemon didn't stop at just killing innocents, some took pleasure in raping, torturing, and pillaging them as well. These two humans decided to fight against the evil that war brought into everyone's lives. They fought in the hopes of peace.
One of these brave humans healed all those she came across with techniques that were far more advanced than regular healing techniques of that time. She required no payment, offering healing to anyone who needed it with a kind smile. She set up infirmities, hospitals, and orphanages in every town and village she visited. She even went into the wilderness to help wild pokemon that were affected by the war. She knew she couldn't be everywhere at once so she trained doctors to use her techniques and heal humans and pokemon even if she wasn't there. This hero's name was Joy, her unique beauty and pink hair brought hope to everyone who saw her.
The other hero was named Jenny, she had shoulder length green hair, and a muscular face and body. Jenny didn't have any unique skills like Joy had, she didn't know how to heal the pain and suffering of innocents around her, but she did know how to fight. With a kind heart and determination she helped stop the evil going on around her. Jenny acted as a leader, many towns and villages were in chaos, she helped bring order to these places. She organized militias and policing forces in each place she visited. She taught ordinary people how to fight and how to tame pokemon to defend everyone they cared about. Jenny fought against enemy and ally soldiers alike, anyone who decided to exploit the innocent was her enemy.
These two heros, after meeting each other, traveled around to every region helping whoever needed it, uncaring if the people they were helping were currently at war with their home nations. They both became tired and weary but still continued helping without regard for themselves.
Eventually, after a year of these two heros helping everyone, the monarchs of each kingdom began to notice something. Their soldiers began complaining that the citizens were beginning to raise their swords against them. Thinking that the citizens were starting to rebel against the kingdoms, the monarchs of each region set up temporary truces to stop fighting. Instead they sent their troops against their own people, to stop a rebellion that wasn't happening in the first place. Soldiers went into the villages and started slaughtering or imprisoning innocents.
Unable to stand that their good deeds were the cause of so many deaths, the heros decided to act. They sent out a world wide message asking for help. Every village and town they previously helped rose up in an actual rebellion that fought against their respective kingdoms. Even the wild pokemon Joy had healed out of the kindness of her heart got the message and spread it across the wilderness. All across the world one massive rebellion spread. The numbers of people and pokemon that rose up to fight was so overwhelming that every monarch and soldier surrendered when confronted.
People and pokemon alike celebrated their victory across the world. The people of every region worked together with the heros to create a league of nations called the Pokemon League. Certain policies were set into place like democracy and peace treatises. There were no wars or pointless fighting over land, there was only peace.
In recognition of what the two heros did to create this worldwide peace, certain traditions were made. In each pokecenter the title of Nurse Joy is given to the top female doctor, it is tradition that these doctors also dye their hair pink. In each police center the top female officer is given the title of Officer Jenny and has their hair dyed green. To this day people in these positions are seen as perfect images of healing and order respectively.