The Hano Chronicles

Part One

The Trevenant Syndicate

By Tonkinese Cat

Prologue

Hano Nakamura was not having a good evening. Twas the night before his sixteenth birthday and an hour ago he had headed into Sting Forest on the outskirts of Valour Town with his father, Toda, to capture his first Pokemon.

Hano had already applied for and received his Pokemon Trainer licence and getting a starter Pokemon was the last step before his licence became active the next morning. Of course, the Tairi region had labs that gave away starter Pokemon for new trainers but the closest lab was over three days' travel and frankly, Hano and his father didn't have the money to waste on such journeys.

Hano had wanted to catch his own Pokemon anyway; something didn't feel right about just being given one. He had not, however, expected to be lost in the forest and separated from his father, with the family Lillipup being his only form of protection, especially since he was one of the most stubborn little pups Hano had ever had the pleasure of knowing and hardly ever followed his orders.

The swarm of Beedrill, usually docile around these parts, but wildly aggressive tonight for some unknown reason, seemed to have moved on. The immediate fear of a hundred Beedrill stings dissipated from his mind. It was dark and he only had his phone torch for any kind of illumination.

'Come on, pup,' Hano whispered over to Lillipup as he tried to follow what looked like a muddy trail, 'I think this is the way.'

Lillipup made no auditory response but caught up to speed with Hano as he walked.

'Well, I think those Beedrill may have scared any potential captures around here, eh?' Hano said, mostly to himself but looking at Lillipup.

They travelled for about five minutes through a dark and obstacle-laden forest, Hano clumsily tripping over branches or getting hit in the face by the leaves off trees every other moment.

"Ouch!" Hano called out. He felt a sharp pain on his chin. He brushed off something from his chin and used his camera to investigate his face.

His dark hair was matted with sweat and covered his rather small ears. He glanced over his own brown eyes down towards his round chin, and noticed a swollen lump.

Shining his torch up at the tree, he suddenly took several steps backwards. There was a Kakuna hanging inches from his face. It was yellow and ugly; and was returning a needle into its cocoon.

'You little bastard. Was that Poison Sting?'

Frustrated, Hano rummaged into his rucksack and pulled out a small canister that he recognised as an Antidote and sprayed it onto his own chin. The wound got really hot for a few moments but then the pain subsided.

'If I was after a stupid little shell of a Pokemon, I'd catch you out of spite,' he told the Kakuna, though he doubted it was anything more than an instinctual defence mechanism to ward off potential predators.

Realising the possibility of the Kakuna possibly evolving at any moment and dreading the thought of having to deal with yet another Beedrill, Hano quickly moved along.

'Lill!' Lillipup barked after a few more minutes.

Lillipup was more so a house pet than a battling Pokemon; and he was not used to being out for so long without the comfort of his bed at home.

'Alright, pup, it won't be long. If we keep going this way we should come out not far from home,' Hano replied, though he sounded more confident than he felt. Rarely had he needed to explore the forest without his father and certainly never this deep into it.

Hano once again tried to call his father but of course there was no reception; he hoped his father had the idea of going back the same way too, instead of digging deeper into the forest to search for him.

However, after ten more minutes of lumbering through the woods, Hano was concerned as he had not found his way back like he had expected.

'I'm sure it was this way,' Hano said to himself.

He sighed with frustration. He had a horrible thumping headache that wouldn't go away. He wondered if the Antidote had actually done its job or whether he was still poisoned.

'Looks like we may be lost, pup.' Hano told his companion.

'Lipup.'

Lillipup lowered his head in disappointment.

'Oh come on now, don't give me that. I went the same way we always go. I guess I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere though… but the trail is still here… ugh. I'm gonna try Dad again.'

Hano called his father expecting the same result as earlier. Surprisingly though, it did start ringing.

After three rings, the call connected.

'Hano - are -'

Static flooded the line, making his Dad inaudible.

'Signal is terrible, Dad. If you can hear me, I'm on the trail but I'm lost and -'

The call was cut out.

'Damn it.'

Suddenly, there was a flash. Hano instinctively ducked and was immediately glad he did so when he saw a chunk of metal having splintered the bark of the three behind him.

Hano snapped his head back to see the assailant. A fierce looking Bisharp came put of the shadows.

'Shit! Run, pup!'

Lillipup was not a fighting Pokemon and had been pampered most of his life. It would be more likely Hano would have to protect him than the other way around.

The flash of the blade rewound in his mind. That was an uncomfortable close call.

Deciding he would be faster if he wasn't checking on Lillipup, he scooped him up in his arms and manoeuvred through the trees swiftly not looking back.

As Hano slowed down, trying to catch his breath, he hoped he had lost the Bisharp.

Now that he had time to think, he frowned. Bisharp were not native to Sting Forest. What was it doing here? Was it a trainer's Pokemon? If so, what did they want? And why were they attacking Hano like he had anything of worth.

Without warning, Hano looked up to see Bisharp emerging from the shadows again

'Go away! What do you want?'

The Bisharp straightened its arm. A wave of dread flushed itself over Hano.

Dark Pulse, he realised.

It forced Hano to his knees, gasping for breath.

'Please… Leave me…'

Hano was full of terror as the Bisharp calmly stepped closer. Hano closed his eyes, flinching as something suddenly landed in front of him.

He saw a flash of yellow before his eyes were closed and figured another Beedrill had found him. However, the roar heard from the creature was not Beedrill.

'Kuhi!'

It was a low, bellowing yell that tried to imbue intimidation and did a good job of it as Hano was frozen in fear.

A moment passed and Hano opened his eyes.

Standing in front of him was not a Beedrill at all. It was a Makuhita.

'Ma - Ku!'

Bisharp showed no signs of stopping, so Makuhita threw a straight Force Palm into the chest of the Bisharp and it was blasted backwards, crashing into a tree behind it.

Bisharp recovered well and charged at Makuhita, blade-arm at the ready. It swung for Bisharp, who ducked under and then took out Bisharp from behind with a judo throw Reversal.

Bisharp rolled away from its challenger. It got back to its feet, with its blade now chipped. It registered the damage and quickly retreated into the darkness.

'Mak?'

The Makuhita turned and was speaking to Hano, who had no idea what it was trying to say.

'Thank- thank you.'

'Mak.'

Makuhita nodded.

'Do you know why Bisharp was attacking?'

'Ta.' Makuhita shook his head.

'You know, I came in here looking for Pokemon. I'm going on my journey tomorrow. Setting out to become the best Pokemon trainer in Tairi. Seems like you're pretty strong. How about it? Want to join my team?'

Makuhita's expression was unchanged for a moment, and then Makuhita nodded.

'Mak.'

'Sweet! We're going to make a great team, Makuhita.'

Hano pulled an empty Pokeball from his waist and threw it in the air, catching it on its descent.

'Here we go!' Hano exclaimed, his heart skipping a beat.

Hano threw the Pokeball, which hit Makuhita on the shoulder and absorbed him in a hue of red light.

The ball fell on the forest floor, shook twice and then was still.

Hano picked up the ball, grinning from ear to ear.

He had never expected to have ended up with Makuhita but he proved that he could do exactly what Hano needed him to do. He threw the Pokeball and out came Makuhita.

'So, uh - I'm Hano. Nice to meet you.'

'Mak- o'

'You know Makuhita is a bit of a mouthful. So I'm gonna call you just that - Mako - from now on, OK?'

Hano pointed at himself and said Hano, then pointed at Makuhita and said Mako, but Makuhita just stared at him. Hano wasn't sure if it was an exasperated stare and stopped explaining.

Mako understood Hano even if Hano didn't understand him.

This is gonna be fun, Hano thought with a grin.

'Alright, return and get some rest.'

Hano extended the ball and the red-light beamed Mako back into the ball.

Hano stared into the darkness with another heart skip - he could have just sworn he saw someone watching him in the glow of the red-light.

'Hey!' Hano called out.

There was a rustle and all Hano saw was a flash of blue hair before she disappeared into the darkness.