It felt as if he was falling through the air, reaching unimaginable speeds and hurdling towards the ground. His eyes were closed, unable to see anything and devoid of any other sense than the cold air flowing through his fur, brushing it back and cleaning him of the dirt and mud he picked up in the forest.
"Why was he falling anyway?" was the question that ran through Riolu's mind, echoing inside over and over again, the unanswered enigma remaining just that- an enigma. He was chasing after a call for help in the jungle of trees, that much he could remember, but how did he manage to get so high up to keep falling for so long?
It began feeling like an eternity. He just kept falling and falling, spiralling out of control as he passed through the freezing, ice-cold clouds, leaving comically shaped outlines of himself. Before suddenly, some other feeling had graced him with its appearance- the feeling of slowing down.
Riolu was beginning to deaccelerate, slowing down and down before coming to a halt; a nice change of pace from the earlier tumbling through the sky. Though, another question began prodding at his mind- how? How did he slow down to a full stop so fast? Someone must have assisted him in doing so...
His answer would come soon enough, as the darkness in front of his closed eyes began transforming into a white, blinding light, starting the somewhat painful and irritating journey of opening his eyes and being immersed into the radiant world, right after staying in a black void for eight hours.
As his eyes were adjusting to the blinding sunlight that shined down on his face, Riolu heard a voice; one that he did not recognise. He's never heard that person before, and he knew most of the people that inhabited the woods... How? How did he not know them? Why did he not know them? These questions orbited his mind for a moment, before switching focus to the voice.
It was a male. His voice was smooth and gentle, but had a bit of a rough tone to it- like a protective father Snorlax trying to sound intimidating. Though, with this voice, Riolu did not know whether the person was trying to scare him on purpose, or if he was just overly nervous about it. His focus shifted again, this time listening intently to what the voice had to say.
"Are you alright?" Riolu heard, his senses slowly returning to him. Had he not been hardened by his duty in the forest, he'd freak out like everyone else, running away and screaming in fear. Though, even if he was afraid, he knew that the worst thing that one could do in a situation like this, would be to scream and run, or even attack whoever was talking to him.
The riolu's eyes flickered open, as he blinked rapidly to try and get used to the harsh light again. Probably because of that, the other person laughed merrily and could be heard sighing deeply with relief, apparent in both his words and his actions. "Arceus, thank you. Thank you for hearing my pleas..." He said, but not to Riolu. Those words were aimed somewhere else, at someone else... Arceus?
At long last, he finally regained his sight, colours of his new surroundings amazing him with a single glance at them. Shiny things were sitting atop neatly carved furniture, some even put into special see-through casings that reflected the sunlight back at Riolu. Dull and lifeless straw laid under him, prickling his back as he laid on top of it.
Though, for some reason, it felt... nice. As if it was brushing him with gentle care- just like a mother would. A mother he never had, or rather, a mother who had left him. He sighed internally at himself; a year had passed and he still could not forgive his parents. He thought that a process such as this wouldn't be so hard, yet there he is, still hating the simple idea of them.
The process of forgiving them would mean to forgive himself for thinking of them so badly, and for that, Riolu deemed himself not to be ready. His attention snapped back to reality as a giant beak loomed over his eyes, so close that it looked as if its owner was about to peck his forehead! The small, blue pokemon reacted quickly, his paw flicking up and hitting the side of the beak.
"Ack!" The big bird groaned in surprise as he flinched backward, the riolu that was laying on his bed lifeless, now full of a newfound flame of determination and wide eyes staring back at it. The bird looked back at Riolu and smiled, his beak curving slightly and eventually opening as the avian let out a loud guffaw.
The emanation pokemon lowered his guard more and more the longer he stared at the strange sight. His kidnapper was not only thanking that he had woken up, but also laughing that he hit them... Why? Confusion was etched on his face, as was a strange sense of pride. His brows furrowed. Was the bird mocking him?!
Riolu huffed and got on his feet, standing up on the hay bed, before slowly and clumsily climbing down to deliver another weak punch at the avian pokemon's leg. Riolu barked, or at least tried to bark, as this was the only other thing he could do besides trying to hurt his captor. But they only laughed and kept of laughing through this whole charade.
It was enough to make the little pokemon's blood boil! And boil it did, as his weak little punched were thrown left and right, one of them missing the bird entirely and making him fall forward flat on his face. He quickly turned his head up to look at bird, with a face as if nothing had happened. Upon seeing this, their laughter slowly died out.
It was a lot quieter now, but still present, reduced to a mere chuckle that echoed through the small room the two of them were in. The bigger pokemon bent their knees and got their face closer to Riolu again, their beak the same distance as it was before- just a peck away from taking the riolu's eyesight.
He swallowed nervously out of fear, taking his hand and putting it closer to his face to react quickly in case of a surprise attack- but none ever came. Soon, the bird straightened back out and unfurled its giant wings, offering one for Riolu to grab on to and help himself at getting up. The small pokemon flinched, before looking up at his kidnapper.
It was a big owl, almost thrice his size. The same owl that he had seen before in the forest... But they weren't in a forest now, were they? So then where were they? Riolu grabbed the helpful wing of the big owl and looked around nervously, finding himself in a small house and surrounded by wooden planks.
It wasn't every day that he saw a pokemon living in a fully furnished burrow made of planks... let alone one with two big windows, an open door and sunlight shining down on a hay bed sitting in the farthest corner of the room. Riolu's mouth flew right open as he stared at the wonders surrounding him; was he in heaven?!
Catching on to the riolu's racing mind, the owl pokemon interrupted his thoughts and began talking: "Are you alright? We flew quite fast to get here." He said, bowing down not long after that and introducing himself more properly. "I am but a humble decidueye, living on the outskirts of the forest!" He smirked down at Riolu. "And who may you be?"
The small pokemon motioned at his throat and crossed it with the claw on his thumb, a gesture that might've given the owl quite the scare, as he visibly recoiled backwards and tilted his head. "E-Excuse me?" He stuttered. "Y-You're dead?" The decidueye then repeated the motion that Riolu had made, running the tip of his wing along his own throat.
The riolu barely held back a laugh, swallowing whatever was threatening to come out. Instead, he shook his head and pointed at his own throat, before making an 'X' shape with his arms. This time, the big owl pokemon seemed to catch on to what Riolu had meant, looking away in embarrassment as his beak curved into a smile. "Y-You can't talk... right."
This time, Riolu simply couldn't keep it in; he smiled and laughed silently- he didn't make a sound, though he was visibly laughing. So far, everyone had called it eerie; that's why Riolu never laughed in front of others. It's because he was afraid that they would tell him that its weird and creepy.
As soon as he saw the owl shuffle to face him again, his laughter subsided and he was left staring at the decidueye. The latter leaned forward and down to face Riolu again, this time with a kind look in his eye and a bit of rose stuck on his cheek- he was still embarrassed. His big eyes scanned the riolu up and down, before stopping on his throat.
"Strange... Could you never talk at all?" Decidueye asked, and Riolu responded with a shake of his head. The big owl hummed and nodded to himself. "So you were born that way..." He thought out loud, the tip of his wing going up Riolu's throat once, then twice, and another time for good measure.
"A problem with the larynx, perhaps? Some defect in the neural pathways? Or maybe some strange mutation? Hm..." The decidueye whispered under his breath as he continued "scanning" Riolu, his watchful eyes not leaving anything unseen. And during this all, the small blue pokemon stood still, as if he suddenly turned to stone.
Eventually, the big owl straightened back up and offered Riolu a gentle smile, as he ran his wing atop his head, almost as if he wanted to pet him. "Whatever it may be, I want you to stay here with me for a couple of days at least." Decidueye said as he turned his back on Riolu and began waddling the other direction- towards a shelf.
It was full of strange, leather blocks- some had inscriptions, some didn't; some had pictures, and some were blank. Most of them were just a single colour, colours that Riolu never knew could exist. However, what surprised him the most, was what the decidueye revealed after grabbing and pulling on one of said blocks.
Upon doing so, the riolu was shocked to see that it wasn't just some random chunk of coloured and inscribed leather that he had chosen- it was something like a binder made of leather, only the ones that Riolu had seen before were used to bind leaves and flowers to let them dry on the sun. This one was different, in that his big new friend was using it to bind together paper, something that was considered a rarity in the forest.
He stared up at his soon-to-be new friend in wonder, his mouth agape, mimicking a baby bird waiting to be fed by their parents, only he was waiting for the big owl to say something- or maybe even to see what's inside the leathery binder. Though, the decidueye just continued to stare at the pages all by himself, not sharing at all.
Riolu pouted silently at this, looking away and turning his attention to something else, trying to distract himself from the sound of paper being flipped through furiously, his eyes landing on a desk opposite of the larger pokemon. On it were countless memorabilia, many of them already worn or torn, as time had already imprinted itself on them.
A lot of things were bland and boring, like the sunlight-yellow sunflower seed that gave off a faint and dim glow, nearly impossible to spot due to the sun's rays flowing inside through the windows just above the desk, shining down on him and the other pokemon. Another dull memory just sitting around was a simple root; the only thing that made it different from any other root, was that it was in the shape of a machop's arm, as if it was flexing it.
On the contrary, there were also things that looked extremely interesting, being the absolute opposite of the other trinkets he had seen. For example, there was a sharp looking claw hung on a simple and thin thread, as if it had been used as a necklace by someone. It was stained with a dark red blotch, like someone flicked pain over it.
Another item that caught his eye was a small, spherical orb- it was orange in colour, as seemed to be embedded inside of a slot carved into what seemed to be an armband made of solid iron. Aside from the orange hue, there was also a red and blue spiral than ran along its middle, as if splitting the small stone in two.
He looked back at the decidueye, who was still busy with flipping through his binder, not paying attention to the small riolu, who turned his attention back to the armband and began walking closer and closer to it. And the closer he got, the more he saw- for example, he could now see that the collar was very thick and- probably- pretty heavy.
Something else that Riolu had noticed, was that the closer he got, the warmer the glow of the embedded stone would get. It started off innocently, like a faint ember of a fire-type, then went on to get as intense as the sunlight. He'd move closer, but he was afraid of being found out by the decidueye- he didn't know how harsh the light would get, and if it were to get any brighter, it would certainly catch his attention.
Just like that, he began moving away, the stone slowly returning to its original state as Riolu got back to his; just in time for the big owl to finally pay attention to him. His wing stopped on a blank page, one that he shown the riolu as he got lower down. Decidueye was now kneeling down in front of the smaller pokemon, a big smile on his beak.
"Alright! So, as I was saying, I'd like you to stay here for a week or two." He said, his other wing moving to flip to the previous pages, showing Riolu something that he had not anticipated seeing. "You see, I like to call myself a doctor." He chuckled after announcing that, a faint blush crossing his face. "Well, what I mean by that, is that I help whoever I can."
Riolu raised his eyebrow in confusion. The decidueye didn't strike him as the type of person who would help others, especially with that scary look on his face and that cape made of ruffled, dirty feathers stained with mud. Then again, if he wasn't a self-proclaimed doctor, he wouldn't be showing him a logbook with his "patients".
There was a page about a gardevoir that lost her psychic abilities, a weezing that couldn't stop emitting gas, a bewear that lost their "spark", and even a zoroark with post traumatic stress disorder. That last one made Riolu shiver and look away for some strange reason- reading all this just didn't feel right, or just.
Seeing this, the decidueye quickly flipped back to the blank page he was showing the riolu earlier with a smaller, kinder smile on his beak now. "I have had many mute patients before, but a mute riolu is a first to me. I'm just curious if I could somehow help you with your condition- make it easier to communicate, is what I'm trying to say."
Riolu didn't interject, instead crossing his arms over his chest and letting the big owl speak. In turn, he cleared his throat and continued talking. "All that I would need is your pawprint- that's all I'm asking for." He said as he reached for a suspiciously black sponge, one that was being soaked in a black liquid as he took it in his wing.
"Here. If you're up for that, just press your paw on this here sponge and then on the paper. However, if you don't want me to help you and are fine on your own..." The decidueye began, but Riolu quickly interrupted his with a hit to the damp sponge, pressing his black paw on the bottom of the paper right after doing so.
He was alone for so long, travelled the forest for so long, and with no one to talk to or share his interests to... Needless to say, Riolu was tired. Tired of it all; tired of having to put up with rude people that wanted his help; tired of having to explain that he can't talk for reasons unknown; tired of having to fight for survival.
All that he ever wanted from life, was a home to be able to come back to and someone that could look after him, or just tend to his wounds after a small brawl with another pokemon; and he didn't even get that. And so, when he was faced with a decision like the decidueye was presenting him right now... Rejecting it would be considered idiotic.
The riolu looked up at his new caretaker with a joyfully bashful look on his face as he began to feel something that he had never felt before. A sort of bond, or more like a thread connecting the two of them- that's what he was feeling. He didn't even spend a day with the decidueye, and he was already feeling attached to him.
Maybe it was that nobody ever really showed him pure kindness, always wanting something in return or just plainly wanting something for no reward at all. But he... the big owl was different. He offered Riolu a place to stay, somewhere to call home... No one had ever done that to him.
He spread his arms wide and ran forward, basically tackling the decidueye as his little paws embraced him. He was so happy he could implode at any second, and yet, he did something else, something completely alien to him. As a new emotion began to arise, so did the small tear at the corner of his eye.
The riolu buried his face in the bigger pokemon's thick plumage, wiping his tears away and clinging to him like a bur. It was overwhelming- all of it. He just didn't want to think anymore, didn't want to fight for his life every day, didn't want to feel like he was on the verge of death while traversing through the forest.
At long last, he finally found someone kind enough to help him and to keep him safe. Should a day arise that he would need to protect them, he'd throw his own life away if it meant that they would be safe. The decidueye only embraced him with his giant wings, enveloping him whole in a matter of seconds.
"...I'll teach you how to live, young one. I'll teach you everything that you need to know and more. But in return, I want you to remember one thing." He whispered down to Riolu, his voice breathy as he bent down to have him at eye level. "I want you to remember my name- Silas. Do that, and I'll do everything in my power to raise you like you should have been long ago. I promise."