The Jewel of Life
A Gift From Arceus
Well, I know I am currently writing a fanfic here, but this one was half done and just sitting around in microsoft word with no one to read it so... well, here is another piece of my work for you to critique and hopefully enjoy. This fanfic is rated Pg13 for small amounts of swearing and minor violence in later chapters.
So, with all that established, let us begin!
A cold wind rustled the cinnamon-colored leaves that were collecting in small piles on the sides of a thin dirt road that meandered through the Destiny Woods. It was said that when a Pokefighter ventured into these woods, they would find their life-long partner, a pokemon to bond with and treasure for all eternity.
It was for this reason that excited crowd of young teens were traipsing through the forest. Each on of them had been chosen as a Pokefighter, a person with the ability to bond and communicate with a pokemon. The Pokefighters were an elite force of people that, with their partner would keep peace among the villages and cities of people in this world prior to that of pokeballs and other fancy technology. Before being sent out on missions and duties, a Pokefighter would be trained and given their most important quest, to bond with a pokemon. After many years of training, these teens were finally ready for a pokemon; all they had to do was bond.
Among then teenagers that wandered into the Destiny Woods that day was fourteen-year-old Selena Forneson, clothed in a beautiful violet robe with silver trims and dressy pants underneath. Sturdy, tauros-leather boots kept Selena from hurting her feet, and a royal blue silk ribbon held Selena’s pure black hair out of her cyan eyes. The girl strolled on calmly, masking her excitement with a quiet hum.
The steps Selena took seemed to go on forever, each one finishing with a satisfying crunch, and each one taking her closer to the pokemon Selena would be paired with for the rest of her life. Another step to the top of the hill, and then a wide expanse of meadow stretched before Selena, riddled with babbling brooks and filled with her happy peers, some with pokemon and some without. Wild pokemon too grazed and played in the forest clearing, hopping among the flowers gaily. The excitement welling up inside Selena threatened to tear the girl’s body to pieces, and thus she submissively rushed in and walked up to different pokemon in attempt to bond.
“Sen? Sentret! Sen sen!” An angry reply and scratch told Selena that this sentret wasn’t going to be her partner. Just a tiny bit frustrated, the Pokefighter-to-be walked up to another pokemon, and another, and another. None of them seemed to like her; each one attacked or ran away in repulse as if Selena were some horrible toxin or crazed murderer. Could it be possible that the wise, old Pokefighter who said that Selena could bond was wrong?
Melancholy was what now flowed throughout Selena’s body like poison, leaving her helpless and feeling in vain. No pokemon liked the depressed girl even a little, and Selena was almost ready to give up. Head hanging, feet dragging, Selena began to trudge back to the path, and from there, back to the village to announce her failure.
Only ten more feet and Selena would be on the trail, homeward bound and unable to be a Pokefighter. The loud screech nearly caused the skin to leap straight off of Selena’s back, sending a rapid chill racing through her bones. “Hey everybody, look, I found a kabutops skeleton!” Looking back, Selena could see that the other teens were gathering around a boy of about fifteen or sixteen and murmuring amongst themselves. All of them had found partners, but Selena didn’t care about being embarrassed; a discovery like this was always thrilling. Rejuvenated, Selena power-walked to the mumbling crowd and forced her way to the front. However she was stopped abruptly as the group began to panic and backed away, their pokemon cowardly hiding their faces or shyly holding up their hands to fight. Wondering why, Selena looked up and rapidly shuffled her feet backwards once she saw the horror ahead.
The gleaming white bone of the kabutops skeleton was now moving, standing up as if it were a live pokemon. Two eyes were set into the exposed skull- the only flesh remaining. Crazily, they scanned the crowd and seemed to pause a second on Selena, singling her out like a staraptor would to a wurmple. “Siiii! Mi- missingNo.!” Spinning so fast no one could see, the kabutops skeleton took on another MissingNo. form, that of a paper-thin rectangle with a smaller extension on top, colored white and flecked with black bars and bands that seemed to move bout and glitter when the ‘pokemon’ shifted it’s ‘body’. Absolute terror shook Selena’s body as she slid back into the mass of her peers, her hearing becoming fuzzy. Soon she found that she could only make out the others’ commands as blurred speech that caused hordes of newly-bonded pokemon to race out toward MissingNo. with an unmistakable rage.
But to Selena’s surprise, the MissingNo. itself didn’t seem angry; rather, it was scared as well and cowering in the wake of so many pokemon set on killing it. Frightened, MissingNo. warped across the ground to the point just in front of where Selena was recoiling in her own fear. “Si singNo. MISSINGNO! Siiing siiing siing!” A hint of urgency could be detected in MissingNo.’s mechanical voice, although that was not what had Selena shocked so badly- instead she was gawking at the simple fact that she knew what the odd pokemon words had meant. <I am Strato. HEEELLP! They’re gonna kill me!>
Selena refused to believe that MissingNo., ‘Strato’, had spoken, but the truth was before her and she warily responded. “What was that you said mis- er, I mean ‘Strato’?” Then Strato, who was only about four feet tall buried itself in Selena’s arms.
“Si singNo. Miss ing singNo. no no missi siiiiiing siiii. Si ingNo. missi, ing ingNo.!” Once again Selena understood. <I am Strato. Please protect me from these pokemon who want me dead. I chose you, you must help!> A second passed, and then it clicked. It felt as if Selena’s stomach had jumped into her throat when the realization came- a Pokefighter could understand the cries of their bonded pokemon. I chose you… Now everything became clear; the other pokemon had disliked Selena because of her ability to bond with the ‘glitch’ pokemon MissingNo., and Strato had singled her out for the same reason.
Selena took a deep breath, and swallowing, then a huge gulp, and another breath. One more gulp, and then the confused and frightened girl held up her hand as a signal for the others to call off their partners. Puzzled, they began to whisper in faint, terrified voices while Selena projected her’s to the whole group. “Er… we, uh, I mean, now that we have all found partners, it is time that us Pokefighters er, returned to the uh village.” Strato pressed in closer to Selena’s body.
“Siii? SiingNo.! <Partners? Yahoo!> While the other new ‘fighters shot Selena odd and threatening glances, the whole crew made their way across the clearing to the path. A few resourceful ones with large pokemon hopped up on their partner’s back and rode the way, which made Strato shiver with excitement. “Siiing! SiiingNo. Siing no no miss mi missingNo.!” <Riding! Their riding, now get on my back and ride too!> A questioning look swarmed Selena’s face before she decided that if Strato wanted it, maybe she should as well. Shrugging, the still slightly confused Pokefighter grabbed the tall rectangle on top of Strato and pulled her feet up onto his thin but astonishingly strong ‘back’. Some natural inclination caused Selena’s hand to clench tighter and tighter around the tall rectangle while awaiting movement.
“Si, siiii, MISS IO.!” Selena’s eyes widened in terror for the second time that day. <Ready, set, WARP SPEED AHEAD!> Concerned, Selena opened her mouth to ask what ‘warp speed’ meant, but then, they were off.
The world was a series of earth-toned blurs stretched out as if a single inch of the forest had been stretched thousands of miles long. A mere nanosecond passed before Strato came to a complete halt within seconds. Selena leaned over almost ready to hurl. “How fast were you going?! And how come we weren’t incinerated!?” Panting just a little, Selena looked at a round black marking on Strato’s tall rectangle that she assumed to be an eye.
“Si siiing missing mis mi mi no no siing missin niiii. Nii siing nooooo Misssssing!” <Well, for your information, we were traveling at about the speed of light. I protected you from burning!> Calmly understanding, Selena nodded and leaned back a bit from her crouching position on Strato’s back. Suddenly, she jerked her body upward when her partner’s words sunk in.
“THE SPEED OF LIGHT!?! ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!” Eyes wide and twitching with an overwhelming insanity, Selena lowered herself into a formal crouch again and sat as still as a frightened buneary.
“Miss ingNo. si sing. SingNo. no no!” <Yes and I missed the village. Hold on tight!> Once again unprepared, Selena hastily grabbed ahold of Strato’s rectangle just a fraction of a second before he warped ahead again.
On the outskirts of town Strato slowed to a calm two miles per hour and slunk in. The boy who had discovered Strato was standing terrified in front of a rumor-spreading group of spectators and the oldest, wisest of the Pokefighters. Shyly, Strato slid out from underneath Selena and spun around at lightning speed again, this time taking on the form of a haunter-like missingNo. with solid-white ovals for eyes and more smooth, rounded features than a normal haunter. Quietly Selena whispered, “How many forms to you have?”
“Sii… ing.” <Uhh… seven?> Selena raised an eyebrow but kept quiet, motioning for her partner to fly out into the gathering and explain the unbelievable events that had taken place that day. Her arrival caused every single person in town to shut their mouths and stare in shock and fear. Shaking, the lead Pokefighter spoke.
“I-it appears to be t-true. You, Selena, have bonded with one of the Glitch Demons. Do you know what you are dealing with.” More confidently, the leader spat in disgust and quickly took up his speech again, not allowing Selena to talk. “That… thing… is not a pokemon, it is a demented error in the fabrics of space and time, a horribly destructive demon that has the potential to eliminate all of humanity. In these desperate times Pokefighters are becoming fewer, and it is a miracle that such a large hoard of you children were able to bond. But, we are not so desperate that we will accept one of those wretched MissingNo. into our town. So hear me out; you have three hours to get yourself and that mutated creature you call a partner out of town before every Pokefighter present will hunt you down and see to it that both of you are slaughtered. You are.. dismissed.”
A horrible mixture of neglect, sickness, and irrevocable anger washed over Selena and left her speechless. Tensing her eyebrows to form a fierce glare, Selena snarled in an effort to keep some dignity. “Fine you lot of *******s. We will leave. But when you need us, don’t come back with an apology; we can tell you our response now. Apology not accepted. Come Strato. We do not need anything from my home, these jerks can keep my belongings. We will head out now.”
It took a small nudge from Selena before Strato let out a tiny, weak whine and followed his new friend out of town, and into the far-off wild.
To be continued...
So, with all that established, let us begin!
-Chapter One: Outcast-
A cold wind rustled the cinnamon-colored leaves that were collecting in small piles on the sides of a thin dirt road that meandered through the Destiny Woods. It was said that when a Pokefighter ventured into these woods, they would find their life-long partner, a pokemon to bond with and treasure for all eternity.
It was for this reason that excited crowd of young teens were traipsing through the forest. Each on of them had been chosen as a Pokefighter, a person with the ability to bond and communicate with a pokemon. The Pokefighters were an elite force of people that, with their partner would keep peace among the villages and cities of people in this world prior to that of pokeballs and other fancy technology. Before being sent out on missions and duties, a Pokefighter would be trained and given their most important quest, to bond with a pokemon. After many years of training, these teens were finally ready for a pokemon; all they had to do was bond.
Among then teenagers that wandered into the Destiny Woods that day was fourteen-year-old Selena Forneson, clothed in a beautiful violet robe with silver trims and dressy pants underneath. Sturdy, tauros-leather boots kept Selena from hurting her feet, and a royal blue silk ribbon held Selena’s pure black hair out of her cyan eyes. The girl strolled on calmly, masking her excitement with a quiet hum.
The steps Selena took seemed to go on forever, each one finishing with a satisfying crunch, and each one taking her closer to the pokemon Selena would be paired with for the rest of her life. Another step to the top of the hill, and then a wide expanse of meadow stretched before Selena, riddled with babbling brooks and filled with her happy peers, some with pokemon and some without. Wild pokemon too grazed and played in the forest clearing, hopping among the flowers gaily. The excitement welling up inside Selena threatened to tear the girl’s body to pieces, and thus she submissively rushed in and walked up to different pokemon in attempt to bond.
“Sen? Sentret! Sen sen!” An angry reply and scratch told Selena that this sentret wasn’t going to be her partner. Just a tiny bit frustrated, the Pokefighter-to-be walked up to another pokemon, and another, and another. None of them seemed to like her; each one attacked or ran away in repulse as if Selena were some horrible toxin or crazed murderer. Could it be possible that the wise, old Pokefighter who said that Selena could bond was wrong?
Melancholy was what now flowed throughout Selena’s body like poison, leaving her helpless and feeling in vain. No pokemon liked the depressed girl even a little, and Selena was almost ready to give up. Head hanging, feet dragging, Selena began to trudge back to the path, and from there, back to the village to announce her failure.
Only ten more feet and Selena would be on the trail, homeward bound and unable to be a Pokefighter. The loud screech nearly caused the skin to leap straight off of Selena’s back, sending a rapid chill racing through her bones. “Hey everybody, look, I found a kabutops skeleton!” Looking back, Selena could see that the other teens were gathering around a boy of about fifteen or sixteen and murmuring amongst themselves. All of them had found partners, but Selena didn’t care about being embarrassed; a discovery like this was always thrilling. Rejuvenated, Selena power-walked to the mumbling crowd and forced her way to the front. However she was stopped abruptly as the group began to panic and backed away, their pokemon cowardly hiding their faces or shyly holding up their hands to fight. Wondering why, Selena looked up and rapidly shuffled her feet backwards once she saw the horror ahead.
The gleaming white bone of the kabutops skeleton was now moving, standing up as if it were a live pokemon. Two eyes were set into the exposed skull- the only flesh remaining. Crazily, they scanned the crowd and seemed to pause a second on Selena, singling her out like a staraptor would to a wurmple. “Siiii! Mi- missingNo.!” Spinning so fast no one could see, the kabutops skeleton took on another MissingNo. form, that of a paper-thin rectangle with a smaller extension on top, colored white and flecked with black bars and bands that seemed to move bout and glitter when the ‘pokemon’ shifted it’s ‘body’. Absolute terror shook Selena’s body as she slid back into the mass of her peers, her hearing becoming fuzzy. Soon she found that she could only make out the others’ commands as blurred speech that caused hordes of newly-bonded pokemon to race out toward MissingNo. with an unmistakable rage.
But to Selena’s surprise, the MissingNo. itself didn’t seem angry; rather, it was scared as well and cowering in the wake of so many pokemon set on killing it. Frightened, MissingNo. warped across the ground to the point just in front of where Selena was recoiling in her own fear. “Si singNo. MISSINGNO! Siiing siiing siing!” A hint of urgency could be detected in MissingNo.’s mechanical voice, although that was not what had Selena shocked so badly- instead she was gawking at the simple fact that she knew what the odd pokemon words had meant. <I am Strato. HEEELLP! They’re gonna kill me!>
Selena refused to believe that MissingNo., ‘Strato’, had spoken, but the truth was before her and she warily responded. “What was that you said mis- er, I mean ‘Strato’?” Then Strato, who was only about four feet tall buried itself in Selena’s arms.
“Si singNo. Miss ing singNo. no no missi siiiiiing siiii. Si ingNo. missi, ing ingNo.!” Once again Selena understood. <I am Strato. Please protect me from these pokemon who want me dead. I chose you, you must help!> A second passed, and then it clicked. It felt as if Selena’s stomach had jumped into her throat when the realization came- a Pokefighter could understand the cries of their bonded pokemon. I chose you… Now everything became clear; the other pokemon had disliked Selena because of her ability to bond with the ‘glitch’ pokemon MissingNo., and Strato had singled her out for the same reason.
Selena took a deep breath, and swallowing, then a huge gulp, and another breath. One more gulp, and then the confused and frightened girl held up her hand as a signal for the others to call off their partners. Puzzled, they began to whisper in faint, terrified voices while Selena projected her’s to the whole group. “Er… we, uh, I mean, now that we have all found partners, it is time that us Pokefighters er, returned to the uh village.” Strato pressed in closer to Selena’s body.
“Siii? SiingNo.! <Partners? Yahoo!> While the other new ‘fighters shot Selena odd and threatening glances, the whole crew made their way across the clearing to the path. A few resourceful ones with large pokemon hopped up on their partner’s back and rode the way, which made Strato shiver with excitement. “Siiing! SiiingNo. Siing no no miss mi missingNo.!” <Riding! Their riding, now get on my back and ride too!> A questioning look swarmed Selena’s face before she decided that if Strato wanted it, maybe she should as well. Shrugging, the still slightly confused Pokefighter grabbed the tall rectangle on top of Strato and pulled her feet up onto his thin but astonishingly strong ‘back’. Some natural inclination caused Selena’s hand to clench tighter and tighter around the tall rectangle while awaiting movement.
“Si, siiii, MISS IO.!” Selena’s eyes widened in terror for the second time that day. <Ready, set, WARP SPEED AHEAD!> Concerned, Selena opened her mouth to ask what ‘warp speed’ meant, but then, they were off.
The world was a series of earth-toned blurs stretched out as if a single inch of the forest had been stretched thousands of miles long. A mere nanosecond passed before Strato came to a complete halt within seconds. Selena leaned over almost ready to hurl. “How fast were you going?! And how come we weren’t incinerated!?” Panting just a little, Selena looked at a round black marking on Strato’s tall rectangle that she assumed to be an eye.
“Si siiing missing mis mi mi no no siing missin niiii. Nii siing nooooo Misssssing!” <Well, for your information, we were traveling at about the speed of light. I protected you from burning!> Calmly understanding, Selena nodded and leaned back a bit from her crouching position on Strato’s back. Suddenly, she jerked her body upward when her partner’s words sunk in.
“THE SPEED OF LIGHT!?! ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!” Eyes wide and twitching with an overwhelming insanity, Selena lowered herself into a formal crouch again and sat as still as a frightened buneary.
“Miss ingNo. si sing. SingNo. no no!” <Yes and I missed the village. Hold on tight!> Once again unprepared, Selena hastily grabbed ahold of Strato’s rectangle just a fraction of a second before he warped ahead again.
On the outskirts of town Strato slowed to a calm two miles per hour and slunk in. The boy who had discovered Strato was standing terrified in front of a rumor-spreading group of spectators and the oldest, wisest of the Pokefighters. Shyly, Strato slid out from underneath Selena and spun around at lightning speed again, this time taking on the form of a haunter-like missingNo. with solid-white ovals for eyes and more smooth, rounded features than a normal haunter. Quietly Selena whispered, “How many forms to you have?”
“Sii… ing.” <Uhh… seven?> Selena raised an eyebrow but kept quiet, motioning for her partner to fly out into the gathering and explain the unbelievable events that had taken place that day. Her arrival caused every single person in town to shut their mouths and stare in shock and fear. Shaking, the lead Pokefighter spoke.
“I-it appears to be t-true. You, Selena, have bonded with one of the Glitch Demons. Do you know what you are dealing with.” More confidently, the leader spat in disgust and quickly took up his speech again, not allowing Selena to talk. “That… thing… is not a pokemon, it is a demented error in the fabrics of space and time, a horribly destructive demon that has the potential to eliminate all of humanity. In these desperate times Pokefighters are becoming fewer, and it is a miracle that such a large hoard of you children were able to bond. But, we are not so desperate that we will accept one of those wretched MissingNo. into our town. So hear me out; you have three hours to get yourself and that mutated creature you call a partner out of town before every Pokefighter present will hunt you down and see to it that both of you are slaughtered. You are.. dismissed.”
A horrible mixture of neglect, sickness, and irrevocable anger washed over Selena and left her speechless. Tensing her eyebrows to form a fierce glare, Selena snarled in an effort to keep some dignity. “Fine you lot of *******s. We will leave. But when you need us, don’t come back with an apology; we can tell you our response now. Apology not accepted. Come Strato. We do not need anything from my home, these jerks can keep my belongings. We will head out now.”
It took a small nudge from Selena before Strato let out a tiny, weak whine and followed his new friend out of town, and into the far-off wild.
To be continued...
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