The day was bright and warm. The clouds drifted overhead, casting light shadows on the forests and plains of the land, as well as the city they surrounded.
The large castle town was bustling with life, its humble residents going about their tasks to uphold their home. The farmers tended to their fields, the hunters took to the woods to bring home food for their families, the shopkeepers and vendors sold whatever they had in stock to willing customers, from trinkets and baubles to fresh berries. And at the center of it all rested their king's castle, a monument of authority. It was made of stony bricks, like many of the buildings surrounding it, but even at a glance, one could tell the castle was far more lavishly decorated. But this only brought peace of mind to the people; the glamour of the palace was a sign of the kingdom's prosperity, after all. Like its king, the castle had its crown: a massive crystalline structure resembling the beacon of a lighthouse, shining for the lost to follow…
And this beautiful city had a name.
Heliond. The Kingdom of Light
But, at this very moment, a heated argument was happening between two of the kingdom's inhabitants. A rather small Rockruff was yelling up at a Zangoose, growling at the Cat Ferret Pokémon.
"Just let me join your team already!" She shouted, drawing the attention of a few of the surrounding Pokémon.
The Zangoose pinched his snout with his claws. He couldn't count on a Barbaracle's hands how many times he'd told her what he was about to say, but he had to say it again if he had any hope of driving it through that thick skull of hers.
"No, damn it! No matter how many times you ask, I can't let you join, runt! Just give up, already!"
"I can't! I won't stop until I join a team and train to become a knight! I don't care how many times I have to ask!" There was a look of pure determination in the Rockruff's eyes. Nothing would stop her from achieving her goal. She'd ask anyone she had to, as many times as she had to ask. She had to do this.
"Oh yeah?" The Zangoose leaned down, putting his face intimidatingly close to the Pokémon he was arguing with. "And what can a weak runt like you even do? Besides sitting back and whining, that is."
"Everything I can, Gris."
She nearly snarled the name, making Gris stand back up with his brow half-cocked. Above anything else, the thing she hated most was people telling her how weak she was. That was the reason why she wanted to train in the first place!
"It looks like I touched a nerve," he thought with a sigh… And then a thought occurred to him. Some way to finally get this runt off of his back. "You know what… I think I just might let you join after that."
It took her a second to properly understand what he just said. "R…really? You'd let me join just like that?" She couldn't believe it… This had to be a trick of some kind.
"Of course! You've shown you won't give up on this, so why not." He gave a small shrug before looking down at her again. "But, I need you to prove you can keep up with my team. We don't need you slowing us down."
"I-I won't, I swear!"
"Alright then…" He leaned in closer to the Rockruff and began whispering to her. "You see, a buddy of mine left some berries out in the woods outside the city. I need you to go out there and get it."
"The woods? But aren't we supposed to stay away from there?"
"Shh! Why do you think we're whispering?!"
"O-Oh… Sorry…" She lowered her voice in response, hoping no one heard her.
"But, if you can get those berries and come back, I'll make you a full-fledged member of The Golden Claws. Do you think you can do that?"
The Rockruff nodded enthusiastically. "Of course I can! I'll be back as soon as I find those berries!" And with that, she turned on the spot and raced off towards the edge of the city, tail wagging behind her. Gris watched as she disappeared from view before looking to the side, a sneer coming to his face.
"Tsk. What a joke."
Juxtaposed to the bright and lively environment of Heliond, the forests surrounding the city were dark. Ominous. And if one were to even look into them, every fiber of their being would scream at them not to enter. Only hunters who were sure they could make it out in one piece dared to go in…
Them and Pokémon with dreams bigger than their judgment, of course.
The small Puppy Pokémon wandered through, jumping at every rustle of the leaves, every distant sound.
"Oh, why did I choose to come here…"
She knew why. She was so close to finally joining the knights like she wanted to for so long. All she had to do was make it through the woods and find some berries. Simple. She just had to get past the bloodthirsty wild Pokémon, pitfalls, and any traps left behind by the city's hunters.
The Rockruff shivered.
Then she shook her head and kept going. She couldn't let anything hold her back. Not now.
And after a long time walking, she found something. An opening in the trees. "Oh, there must be a clearing here," she said.
She approached and stepped between the trees, being greeted with an open area in the forest. The semicircular area was lined with soft grass on the ground, with trees acting as a sort of wall around it. The sun was still overhead, beginning its descent toward the horizon. And on the other side of the clearing, under a sturdy oak… there was a small basket of berries. Her face lit up as she saw the bowl-like shape. That's what she was looking for! It had to be!
She began to laugh, hopping around in joy. "I found it! I found it!" After a while, she managed to calm down, but her heart was still racing. "Now I just have to bring this back to Gris… things are finally looking up for me!"
She stepped closer to inspect the basket. It looked like it would be hard for her to carry because of its size, but she'd figure something out. Maybe she could drag it, or carry it on her-
THWIP!
Suddenly, a rope wrapped around her, dragging her upwards by her legs! She had barely any time to react to what was happening, yelling and wriggling to try and escape! After a while, what had happened finally dawned on her.
Those berries… were the bait for a trap! And she'd fallen right into it! But… that would mean…
"Hahaha! I can't believe how easy that was!"
A familiar voice echoed out through the clearing, joined by the laughter of a few more. The Rockruff wriggled to look at the source of the voice… and the Zangoose she had been arguing with earlier stepped into the clearing. Only this time, he wasn't alone. A Trumbeak and a Pignite carrying a large sack over his shoulder stepped out with him, still snickering to themselves.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you when you were tied up!" The group laughed again at the Rockruff's current predicament.
"G-Gris?! W-Why are you-"
"Hmm? What, did you think I was going to let a Pokémon like you join the Golden Claws? No way! Not only are you far too weak, but you're also far too stupid to join a team like ours!"
She wanted to argue that she wasn't, but she wasn't in any position to do so. She swallowed her pride and kept silent, thinking to herself about how this happened… about how she chased a dream that couldn't come true… about how she fell for the oldest trick in the book… and about her life in general. Either due to how weak she was or just bad luck, nothing ever seemed to go right for her…
"Now, we'll let you stay there for a while, but… I know you'll come crawling back soon enough to bother someone else. We can't let that happen, now, can we? So…"
The Cat Ferret clapped his claws together, the Machoke at his side taking the sack off of his shoulder and dropping it on the floor, a few of the stones it contained spilling out. The Rockruff's blood ran cold when she saw them, and terror gripped her when she saw Gris' sickening grin.
"Let her have it, boys!" And with the signal given, all three of the Pokémon began to throw the stones at the hanging Rockruff, the Trumbeak firing them out of his beak like a cannon. The little Puppy yelped in pain as the stones hit, some hard enough for rivulets of blood to begin emerging. And at every yelp, every cry, the three laughed even harder, almost in tears from the display. This lasted for multiple minutes until the bag was completely emptied. "Blast, we're out of stones… oh well, that should be enough, anyway. I don't know what you'd be if you came back from this one. Come on, boys. Let's go home."
The three left, still laughing to themselves about what they had accomplished, leaving the Rockruff, dangling by her legs, to wallow. Hot tears dripped down with the blood from her wounds, bruises already forming across her body. Eventually, the pain and the blood flowing to her head became too much for her to bear, and she lost consciousness…
The Rockruff felt something shake her awake, the worst headache she'd ever had making her head throb. She was still hanging upside down, the gentle birdsong of the feral Pokémon audible in the distance. And then…
PECK!
Something hit her on the head, only making her headache worse as she cried out.
"Ow! Hey!" She opened her eyes to see a Mandabuzz in front of her, checking to see if the Puppy Pokémon it found was dead enough to eat. It tilted its head when she opened her eyes, not expecting her to wake up when she swatted at the bone-clad bird with her front paws. "G-Get! Get away!"
The Mandibuzz squawked and flew off to find less fierce prey, leaving the little Rockruff alone… Again.
"Ah… Ow…"
Everything hurt. Her head hurt from all of the blood rushing to it, her body hurt all over from all of the bruises and wounds on it. She was starting to get callouses from the rope, and everything was telling her that she shouldn't move.
But she didn't listen.
She wriggled and squirmed, gritting her teeth as the pain flared all over her body. She couldn't die here… She had to make it back home. If she could just get out of this bind-
"Whoa!"
She managed to slip out, falling to the ground. She groaned as she lay there… At least her head was beginning to stop hurting. If only the rest of her body would follow. She forced herself to her feet, yelping when she tried to put pressure on one of her legs… and she started limping. She remembered the way she came, so if she could just make it out of the forest, she'd be safe.
But then she saw something. Her vision was still blurry from the tears, but she could still make out something oddly colored laying on the forest floor- no, someone! She stopped, considering if it would even be worthwhile to check on them. Her condition was terrible, after all. But, against her better judgment, she decided to take a look.
As she got closer, she could make out more details of the Pokémon's body. They were bipedal, and quite a bit bigger than the little Rockruff, covered in blue and black fur, with some kind of tassel on either side of their head.
A Riolu.
She'd never seen one in person before. They were mountain folk, or so she'd heard. So to find one out here… it brought some questions to mind. And while they didn't seem harmed, finding them unconscious in the middle of the woods like this was certainly worrying.
She went to the Riolu's side, nudging them slightly. "H-Hello? Are you alright- agh!" She winced and backed off as the pain flared up again. Then, she tried again.
Eventually, the Riolu slowly opened their eyes, groaning as they sat up and looked around.
"Oh, good… you're awake. I was- ah!"
The Riolu stopped looking around and turned his gaze towards the Rockruff, the look of confusion he had on his face turning into one of worry and fear. "A-Are you ok?!"
She winced again and shook her head.
"I-I'm alright… but who are you? What are you doing out here?"
"I'm…" He froze, doing nothing except breathing and blinking for a few seconds. "I… don't know…"
She couldn't do anything except blink. "Wh… I beg your-"She winced again as her headache came back. Her head started to feel fuzzy as she began to lose her balance. She tried to help this stranger when she really shouldn't have, and now she was paying for it. The Riolu's voice seemed to grow further and further away as her mind began to slip…
"…Hey! Stay with me!"
"I'll get you out of here…"
"…whoever you are…"
And in her final moments before she lost consciousness, she weakly gave a response to the stranger.
"G…Guin…"
