Story Notes:
The chapters in this story are in no way connected to each other, except for the fact that they are all inspired by song lyrics from "There's a river in the valley made of melting snow", by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, formerly The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band, formerly A Silver Mt. Zion (ASMZ) and, at one point, The Silver Mountain Reveries. There will be 36 chapters, with none of them having more than 2000 words. Each will have its own topic, according to the individual titles. Each will have different characters and a different setting, in order to show just how many topics this song deals with. Speaking of which, in case you'd like to listen to it, you can find it on YouTube. I recommend this song; I've been listening to it for about three years now, and it just never gets old. There are so many things that come to my mind when listening to it, so now I'm trying to write them all down. Since the chapters are going to be really short, I think I'll be able to put a new one online every two days or so, depending on how much time I have. I know there are other projects I should be working on, but now I suddenly had this idea and I'd really like to see how it turns out. It's a bit hard to write stories that are so very short and still meaningful, but luckily they don't have to stand on their own, as they are mostly ways to interprete the song they are based on. Well, I hope I'll be able to update as often and as quickly as I am planning to, and I hope you'll enjoy reading and listening to "There's a river in the valley made of melting snow".
mystery and wonder did light up the valley...
PLEASE NOTE: I do not own Pokémon, and I have to say that I'm kind of proud of it, because the idea of capturing animal-like creatures to make them fight each other is pretty sick, actually. Be this as it may, every species of Pokémon referred to in the following text and everything else that is a part of the Pokémon franchise is the property of their rightful owner, however, the actual story belongs to me. The title belongs to Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band/ The Silver Mountain Reveries. No copyright infringement is intended.
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Have you never heard that there's a river in the valley made of melting snow...?
mystery and wonder did light up the valley...
At some point in history, gray colossi had risen from the vast flat lands. It always seemed like they were waiting for something to happen. With thousands of eyes they watched the daily lives of millions of creatures, wandering between them, heading for unknown goals. Every now and then, a person either came out of or entered one of these waiting giants. Sometimes they were accompanied by a Pokémon, which was kept on a leash.
Orina did not understand the purpose of these constant short journeys that always seemed to lead from one colossus to another. All she knew was that she did not want to partake in them. There was something about the whole procedure that frightened her, even though she could not say why. Maybe it was because of the leashes. Aside from the ones that people used to keep their Pokémon from running away, there also appeared to exist invisible ones, which the gray giants used in order to make everyone return to them.
The city was always loud and always dangerous. Cars were rushing through the streets at any given time. Orina did not understand their purpose, either, and they scared her too much for her to examine them closely. She always made sure to remember the words of her father. "Stay away from cars, they can kill you," was something he had said very often. However, sometimes this was a hard thing to do, as cars seemed to be just about everywhere. The only secure places seemed to be some of the back alleys. They were often rather dirty, but they were also devoid of life, and that was a good thing. The absence of human beings meant that there was nobody around who could try to put Orina on a leash.
She sometimes managed to find something to eat in these alleys. In fact, the green, brown and black containers that stood there were her main food source. As an Ivysaur, she could easily open them with her vines and then rummage through the contents until she would find something edible. This was basically how she passed her days. She kept herself hidden from the noise, the people and the cars, and stayed in the alleys, where the gray giants seemed to have fewer eyes. Orina was always worried they might spot her somehow, and put an invisible leash on her, too.
She had been born in these streets, and this was the place where she was going to spend her entire life, even though there always seemed to be something wrong. No matter what she did, she could not get rid of the feeling that she should be somewhere else instead; however, she did not know where that would be, or how to get there. The Ivysaur knew how to survive in the alleys, and everything else that sometimes came to her mind never got past the stage of being a vague feeling of uneasiness.
There was one other thing that made her feel a bit secure, though. Something was growing on her back. She did not know what it was, or what it would become, and she only had very rudimentary knowledge of what it looked like, but for some reason it seemed to be a good thing. However, she could only really see it when she looked at her reflection in one of the giants' big, empty eyes, and she was often too afraid to do that.
Orina had never been feeling very much. Sometimes she got hungry and sometimes she got afraid, but there did not seem to be any kinds of other emotions living inside of her. The Ivysaur's life simply went on without any real changes. Everything stayed the same. She kept hiding, searching for food and sometimes for shelter, when it started to rain or when the nights became cold. There was always something to crawl under, even though it was sometimes a little difficult with the strange... thing growing on her back.
However, one day, something different happened. Orina's vines were currently trying to find something useful in one of the large containers, as a fluttering sound came from behind the Ivysaur. Orina turned around and saw a Spearow sitting on top of a big brown box, watching her with interest. She slowly pulled her vines out of the container. She had met other Pokémon before; they usually did not care about her too much. However, Orina had never before been able to get such a close look on one that could fly. They were normally to be seen high up in the sky, circling above the waiting gray giants. The Ivysaur had never thought about what they were trying to accomplish, as it simply had not mattered to her. So far, they had been up there and she had been down here; these were two different worlds, as it seemed.
"What is it?" she asked. It made her feel a bit uncomfortable to be watched, as it reminded her of the colossi.
"I have never seen an Ivysaur living in a city before," the Spearow replied; judging from the voice, it was a rather young female. "Should you not be out there, in the woods?"
"The... woods...?" Orina looked around for a moment. She was surrounded by the gray giants, and up in the air, there was just the sky and nothing else. "Where would that be?"
"Just outside of the city," the Spearow said. She frowned. "Have you never been there?"
"Outside of the city?" Orina repeated slowly. She blinked. It appeared there was something her mind was missing, but she could not tell what it was. Outside of the alleys, there was the city, there were cars and people. However, it seemed ludicrous to think of an even bigger "outside". Still, the Spearow nodded.
"Yes, right there," she spoke, and then chuckled a little. "You don't think the city just goes on forever, do you?"
"It... doesn't...?" The uncertainty was clearly audible in Orina's voice. She could not imagine what else there would be if the city just ended at one point, but there was no reason to doubt what the Spearow had told her. After all, common sense said that Pokémon with wings could go just about anywhere, so they would also be able to visit all kinds of different places.
The expression in the Spearow's eyes became even more piercing.
"You really have never been anywhere else, have you?" she asked in a very serious tone. Orina slowly shook her head.
"I didn't know I could be somewhere else," she said in her defense. The Spearow proceeded to stare at her for a very long moment, then she spoke:
"I can lead you outside, if you want me to." Orina stepped backwards and felt herself coming in touch with the container standing behind her. This was too much. Not only did there suddenly exist an entirely different world, but she would also be able to go there right now. That was, if the Spearow told the truth. However, there was no apparent reason to mistrust her...
"You don't have to follow me if you don't want to, I was just making an offer..." The Spearow had seen Orina's reaction and obviously thought the Ivysaur was against her proposal. However, Orina quickly shook her head.
"I will follow you," she said. The Ivysaur did not know why, but all of a sudden a new and unknown feeling had taken possession of her. She wanted to find out what all this meant. To know of another world and simply keep living in the alleys suddenly seemed completely devious. She figured that, if there was a place outside of the city, there would be no cars and no gray giants, no people and no Pokémon walking with leashes and collars around their necks. There had to be something... different there, or else it would just be like the city all over again. "Please lead the way."
The Spearow seemed to have some trouble properly guiding Orina, as she simply refused to get too close to the cars. The Ivysaur had to leave the alleys a few times, while always keeping her eyes on the flying Pokémon above her. Whenever this happened, she instantly got worried that someone might spot her; however the men and women walking through the streets did not pay her any kind of attention, and the colossi, as usual, remained unmoving, although Orina was certain they saw her through their many eyes. Still, she was thankful for every opportunity to return to the lonely alleys.
It took them nearly all day, but the Ivysaur barely noticed the time going by, as she was too wound up in watching the city change around her. The longer they walked, the smaller the giants seemed to become. More and more of the sky became visible and the city seemed quieter around these parts. There were not as many cars as there were before, which managed to make Orina calm down a little. However, she was unable to focus on these things, as she needed to watch the Spearow.
"Here we are," her guide said after a while. Orina lowered her gaze. Behind her, there were still a few of the smaller giants, but, as opposed to their bigger counterparts, they were not gray. They were white, and brown and yellow, and around them, there were green areas... however, this was not important, for what lay in front of the Ivysaur was much more interesting.
The sun was setting, but everything was clearly visible. The street led into a mass of brown pillars with green tops, and eventually disappeared from the Ivysaur's view. Orina slowly stepped forwards and felt the soft green grass beneath her paws. The seed on her back seemed to be throbbing slightly.
All of a sudden, things were different. Millions of thoughts and emotions flooded the Ivysaur's mind. They were both familiar and unknown at the same time. It was as if Orina had rediscovered them, and she knew she was coming home.
She dashed off into the forest, leaving the city far behind her. A mental image flashed before her eyes, and she felt she was heading the right way. Somewhere, deep within the woods, there was a place where she wanted to live. Even though she was heading for the unknown, she was not afraid of anything.
The Spearow looked after her for a moment, then spread her wings and let the wind carry her away.
(1785 words)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter End Notes:Well, these were my thoughts about the very first verse of "There's a river in the valley made of melting snow". I hope you like what you've read so far. If you did, please return for chapter two, with the title "...to be beat back by dark clouds and a harsh, reeking wind...". I'll upload it soon, quite possibly tomorrow already
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mystery and wonder did light up the valley...
At some point in history, gray colossi had risen from the vast flat lands. It always seemed like they were waiting for something to happen. With thousands of eyes they watched the daily lives of millions of creatures, wandering between them, heading for unknown goals. Every now and then, a person either came out of or entered one of these waiting giants. Sometimes they were accompanied by a Pokémon, which was kept on a leash.
Orina did not understand the purpose of these constant short journeys that always seemed to lead from one colossus to another. All she knew was that she did not want to partake in them. There was something about the whole procedure that frightened her, even though she could not say why. Maybe it was because of the leashes. Aside from the ones that people used to keep their Pokémon from running away, there also appeared to exist invisible ones, which the gray giants used in order to make everyone return to them.
The city was always loud and always dangerous. Cars were rushing through the streets at any given time. Orina did not understand their purpose, either, and they scared her too much for her to examine them closely. She always made sure to remember the words of her father. "Stay away from cars, they can kill you," was something he had said very often. However, sometimes this was a hard thing to do, as cars seemed to be just about everywhere. The only secure places seemed to be some of the back alleys. They were often rather dirty, but they were also devoid of life, and that was a good thing. The absence of human beings meant that there was nobody around who could try to put Orina on a leash.
She sometimes managed to find something to eat in these alleys. In fact, the green, brown and black containers that stood there were her main food source. As an Ivysaur, she could easily open them with her vines and then rummage through the contents until she would find something edible. This was basically how she passed her days. She kept herself hidden from the noise, the people and the cars, and stayed in the alleys, where the gray giants seemed to have fewer eyes. Orina was always worried they might spot her somehow, and put an invisible leash on her, too.
She had been born in these streets, and this was the place where she was going to spend her entire life, even though there always seemed to be something wrong. No matter what she did, she could not get rid of the feeling that she should be somewhere else instead; however, she did not know where that would be, or how to get there. The Ivysaur knew how to survive in the alleys, and everything else that sometimes came to her mind never got past the stage of being a vague feeling of uneasiness.
There was one other thing that made her feel a bit secure, though. Something was growing on her back. She did not know what it was, or what it would become, and she only had very rudimentary knowledge of what it looked like, but for some reason it seemed to be a good thing. However, she could only really see it when she looked at her reflection in one of the giants' big, empty eyes, and she was often too afraid to do that.
Orina had never been feeling very much. Sometimes she got hungry and sometimes she got afraid, but there did not seem to be any kinds of other emotions living inside of her. The Ivysaur's life simply went on without any real changes. Everything stayed the same. She kept hiding, searching for food and sometimes for shelter, when it started to rain or when the nights became cold. There was always something to crawl under, even though it was sometimes a little difficult with the strange... thing growing on her back.
However, one day, something different happened. Orina's vines were currently trying to find something useful in one of the large containers, as a fluttering sound came from behind the Ivysaur. Orina turned around and saw a Spearow sitting on top of a big brown box, watching her with interest. She slowly pulled her vines out of the container. She had met other Pokémon before; they usually did not care about her too much. However, Orina had never before been able to get such a close look on one that could fly. They were normally to be seen high up in the sky, circling above the waiting gray giants. The Ivysaur had never thought about what they were trying to accomplish, as it simply had not mattered to her. So far, they had been up there and she had been down here; these were two different worlds, as it seemed.
"What is it?" she asked. It made her feel a bit uncomfortable to be watched, as it reminded her of the colossi.
"I have never seen an Ivysaur living in a city before," the Spearow replied; judging from the voice, it was a rather young female. "Should you not be out there, in the woods?"
"The... woods...?" Orina looked around for a moment. She was surrounded by the gray giants, and up in the air, there was just the sky and nothing else. "Where would that be?"
"Just outside of the city," the Spearow said. She frowned. "Have you never been there?"
"Outside of the city?" Orina repeated slowly. She blinked. It appeared there was something her mind was missing, but she could not tell what it was. Outside of the alleys, there was the city, there were cars and people. However, it seemed ludicrous to think of an even bigger "outside". Still, the Spearow nodded.
"Yes, right there," she spoke, and then chuckled a little. "You don't think the city just goes on forever, do you?"
"It... doesn't...?" The uncertainty was clearly audible in Orina's voice. She could not imagine what else there would be if the city just ended at one point, but there was no reason to doubt what the Spearow had told her. After all, common sense said that Pokémon with wings could go just about anywhere, so they would also be able to visit all kinds of different places.
The expression in the Spearow's eyes became even more piercing.
"You really have never been anywhere else, have you?" she asked in a very serious tone. Orina slowly shook her head.
"I didn't know I could be somewhere else," she said in her defense. The Spearow proceeded to stare at her for a very long moment, then she spoke:
"I can lead you outside, if you want me to." Orina stepped backwards and felt herself coming in touch with the container standing behind her. This was too much. Not only did there suddenly exist an entirely different world, but she would also be able to go there right now. That was, if the Spearow told the truth. However, there was no apparent reason to mistrust her...
"You don't have to follow me if you don't want to, I was just making an offer..." The Spearow had seen Orina's reaction and obviously thought the Ivysaur was against her proposal. However, Orina quickly shook her head.
"I will follow you," she said. The Ivysaur did not know why, but all of a sudden a new and unknown feeling had taken possession of her. She wanted to find out what all this meant. To know of another world and simply keep living in the alleys suddenly seemed completely devious. She figured that, if there was a place outside of the city, there would be no cars and no gray giants, no people and no Pokémon walking with leashes and collars around their necks. There had to be something... different there, or else it would just be like the city all over again. "Please lead the way."
The Spearow seemed to have some trouble properly guiding Orina, as she simply refused to get too close to the cars. The Ivysaur had to leave the alleys a few times, while always keeping her eyes on the flying Pokémon above her. Whenever this happened, she instantly got worried that someone might spot her; however the men and women walking through the streets did not pay her any kind of attention, and the colossi, as usual, remained unmoving, although Orina was certain they saw her through their many eyes. Still, she was thankful for every opportunity to return to the lonely alleys.
It took them nearly all day, but the Ivysaur barely noticed the time going by, as she was too wound up in watching the city change around her. The longer they walked, the smaller the giants seemed to become. More and more of the sky became visible and the city seemed quieter around these parts. There were not as many cars as there were before, which managed to make Orina calm down a little. However, she was unable to focus on these things, as she needed to watch the Spearow.
"Here we are," her guide said after a while. Orina lowered her gaze. Behind her, there were still a few of the smaller giants, but, as opposed to their bigger counterparts, they were not gray. They were white, and brown and yellow, and around them, there were green areas... however, this was not important, for what lay in front of the Ivysaur was much more interesting.
The sun was setting, but everything was clearly visible. The street led into a mass of brown pillars with green tops, and eventually disappeared from the Ivysaur's view. Orina slowly stepped forwards and felt the soft green grass beneath her paws. The seed on her back seemed to be throbbing slightly.
All of a sudden, things were different. Millions of thoughts and emotions flooded the Ivysaur's mind. They were both familiar and unknown at the same time. It was as if Orina had rediscovered them, and she knew she was coming home.
She dashed off into the forest, leaving the city far behind her. A mental image flashed before her eyes, and she felt she was heading the right way. Somewhere, deep within the woods, there was a place where she wanted to live. Even though she was heading for the unknown, she was not afraid of anything.
The Spearow looked after her for a moment, then spread her wings and let the wind carry her away.
(1785 words)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter End Notes:Well, these were my thoughts about the very first verse of "There's a river in the valley made of melting snow". I hope you like what you've read so far. If you did, please return for chapter two, with the title "...to be beat back by dark clouds and a harsh, reeking wind...". I'll upload it soon, quite possibly tomorrow already