Amber
My head is still spinning from the effects of transporting across the valley when I hear my sister scream "Medic!" My head whips in her direction seeing her desperately trying to do something to help the poor pokemon.
"No, no no! Don't you dare die on me!" She is saying
A pair of machoke brothers come running out of the village clinic carrying a stretcher followed by doctor Jennifer, a blissey. They gently move my sister out of the way and all three pokemon begin checking over the victims.
"This one is stable enough, take her to room 2 and administer stronger salves." the blissy orders as the brothers gently pick up the fallen fennekin and place her on the stretcher.
I am close enough I can hear the blissy muttering to herself and cursing as she inspects the large canine.
"I need a teleporter! Anyone here able to teleport?" She shouts to the gathering crowd of villagers
No sooner had she finished talking then a Kadabra popped into existence in front of her.
"Good, I need you to teleport to the shaymin community on sky mountain, they are roughly a day on foot to the east. Their ability to heal wounds far surpasses my own and may be his only chance. Look for an area where flowers grow in an extreme abundance .Now go!" The blissy says as the Kadabra nods and blinks out of existence.
I can hear my sister's cries so I move to her side and nuzzle her "It's him amber, it's definitely him…" she chokes out in between sobs. " I can't lose him again…"
I wrap myself around her in a hug "sure they look very similar, could almost be twins but it can't be him. You know our brother, if he had survived he would have gone through a legendary to get to us. Also this one's fur is yellow, not orange." I say.
With a sad shake of her head I see Liz's eyes go purple as a lump moves its way out from under her bandana.
"I found this next to him." She whispers as I look at the badge levitating in front of my muzzle. Taking in the badge I look to the large canine who is struggling to breathe.
"No… that's just not possible!?" I say as the dam on my emotions break and my shield of doubt crumbles
Alex
I don't so much as wake up as I become aware of still existing. Where am I? Am I dead? I start to look around and realize that I am laying on the surface of an endless ocean. There are shimmering multicolored bubbles floating up and out of the water all around me. The bubbles rise into a sky full of stars and disappear from sight. I look at myself to find to my disappointment that I'm still a Growlithe.
From everywhere and nowhere a voice calls out. "Dear child, I am sorry. You were not prepared for that level of energy. In trying to assist you against the dreamers I nearly overwhelmed you…" the voice sounds different, almost sad.
I try to find the voice but fail to. Instead I ask the only thing I can. "Am I dead?
"Very nearly, your body is on the brink, i have pulled you here to my realm so we may talk and to spare you the pain." The voice says.
"So this isn't some sort of nightmare?" I say in confusion. "I'm not stuck in some kind of coma or something?"
"Yes child, this is really happening. I brought you here for two reasons. I sensed your deep well of dark emotions from here and brought you here in order to aid you. I also brought you here in the hopes you may be able to aid us…" The voice says
"Wait, who are you? The way you talk it's like you know me?" I ask puzzled
"Oh dear, you don't remember me yet? I had hoped that you had recovered some of your old self after all of these years, Hold on I'm coming in" the voice says sounding more feminine
As she says this a large shape begins to rise out of the water. It appears to be a pokemon with a large serpent-like head. The pokemon appears to have a blue body and a gold chest coloration that reaches up to her face ending in a golden horn. Stretching out of her sides and up above her back almost looks to be a pink ring or ribbon. Her glowing pink eyes focus on me.
"I am Cresselia, the warden of dreams but at one time you called me auntie" she says tenderly "It is so good to see you again Alex."
I stand there shocked at the sight of this pokemon of legend. "Wait, you're my aunt?!" I nearly shout in bewilderment.
"Not by blood of course but we became very close, I always thought of you as family. I was heartbroken when I thought you had perished. When you fell I used all the power I could to transport you to safety but I was too late. You had already been buried by the rock slide" she says sadly "I thought you dead when I got there but then you started emitting a startling amount of energy. The energy absorbed you and warped you away before I could stop it. It took me years but I eventually found you, but to my shock you had changed. You were no longer a Growlithe and as far as I could tell had no memory of the past." she continues
I begin to ask another question but collapse in blinding pain. "what's… happening to me?" I ask through clenched teeth. After a few moments the pain begins to ease and I begin to relax
"We are out of time child, you have a choice in front of you that none your age should face. You have been through so much in your short life it pains me to ask this but this world needs your help" she says as a soothing feeling almost like a tender hug envelopes me. "The choice ahead of you is whether to fight and live or to…die. This is a choice no one can make for you but before you answer let me show you something."
Before I can respond an image begins to appear in the water between us. I move closer and see it is Growlithe me lying in a dirt courtyard with a crowd around me. I see many pokemon there, some I can identify and some I cannot. My attention is grabbed as I spot a pair of pokemon that I recognize immediately as the Vulpix from my dreams
"I can't lose him again amber! I can't!" One Vulpix cry's as the other embraces her.
"I don't know where he has been all of this time but he won't give up. He won't let some poison beat him! He somehow survived a mountain falling on him for Arceus' sake!" The other responds "our brother will pull through and when he does we will find out where he has been…"
"BROTHER! Are they talking about me?" I ask cresselia. She remains silent and as I watch I feel my heart breaking seeing them in such pain. Why is that? I don't even know these two do I?
"They have been grieving for a brother they thought dead for six long years…" cresselia finally says with deep emotion in her voice
"I… I think I'm ready to make my choice. I have to know who I am… I have to figure out who they are…" I say in growing determination.
In response the water starts to turn green forming a pathway. "Follow this path, you will return to yourself. It will be painful and the future will have it's dangers
but I promise you I'll be doing what I can to watch over you."
"Thank you cresselia." I say as I start trotting down the path
"Alex…" cresselia says behind me and I stop to turn around
" I'm so sorry… I've been so blinded by what's been going on in this world I failed to notice how bad things have gotten for you. Please forgive me… I should have contacted you sooner, if I had, maybe you wouldn't have tried…" she says as rainbow colored tears begin to drip from her eyes.
It stuns me to see this beautiful pokemon of staggering power apologizing to me. As I look on I feel another twinge in my heart. Not knowing what else to do but knowing I can't leave like this I trot back and throw my front legs around her neck in a hug.
"It was not your fault… I let anger and despair cause me to almost lose myself and my partner. You saved both of us… I thank you for that. I would never have forgiven myself if my actions led to her death as well" I say "will we meet again?
"Yes, we both need to rest and recover our strength but I will contact you when I can. Now go before it's too late" she urges me and without another look back I take off down the green path.
S class pokemon
A small pokemon zips through the forest easily dodging trees and the clumsy attacks of dreamers. It arrives in a burned out area still marked by damage from a heavy battle. It moves to a large red stain in the dirt.
The pokemon sticks a finger in the bloodied soil and brings it up to its muzzle to sniff.
"It's his alright, with this much blood he is heavily wounded." it says with a hiss and with a burst of rage uproots a nearby tree and hurls it across the valley.
"I will find you this time… I promise you that alex…" The pokemon says and takes off again through the woods in search of its quarry.