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".
...and i've grown tired... of making plans...
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.
Thank you.
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Have you never heard that there's a river in the valley made of melting snow...?
...and i've grown tired... of making plans...
Childhood...
"Now, class, tell me... what would you like to do when you grow up?"
The teacher, a relatively young Raichu, was looking at the twelve little Pichus sitting in front of her. She showed them her usual broad smile and watched as they all raised their paws and tried to get her attention. Some even jumped up from the rocks they were sitting on. Among them was Famir. He had always had a problem with sitting still, and now it was just impossible for him to remain calm. His teacher had finally asked a question he knew he had a good answer to. However, the Raichu pointed at one of the other Pichus first.
"I want to be a gatherer," the Pichu said, a happy smile standing on her face. "That's what my parents are, too!" Famir rolled his eyes. Being a gatherer was probably the most boring thing he could imagine. All they did was wander around the mountains and try to find food. They did not even get to keep it; instead, they had to bring it back to the tribe, where it was shared among everyone.
"I'll be a healer!" another Pichu shouted. Now, as far as Famir was concerned, this was still a lot better than being a gatherer. In some hidden places, there seemed to be plants growing, which could be used to cure illnesses or help heal wounds. Still, finding out how they worked and how they could be used on those who were in need of help was nothing that Famir would ever have wanted to do. His mind was set on a very special task.
Finally, the teacher pointed at him.
"What about you, Famir?" she asked. The Pichu took a deep breath and tried to look as big and as intimidating as he could.
"I'll be a member of the queen's guard!" he spoke loudly. All the other Pichus seemed to calm down a little. The Raichu blinked.
"Now, that's quite some ambition," she stated. "I hope you know that only the greatest fighters of our tribe can be trusted to guard the queen?" Famir nodded quickly.
"I'll be the best warrior ever!" he exclaimed. The Pichu began hopping around, fighting against invisible enemies. "Leave everything to me, I can protect our queen!" He was punching and kicking the air with his short paws, earning impressed gasps from the other Pichus and an amused chuckle from his teacher.
"Well, keep at it," she said. "If you always do your best, I'm sure you'll succeed."
Famir's classes were over early in the afternoon, and he began running home. It was a bit dangerous, but that did not hold him back; after all, it was good exercise. The tribe lived in a mountain range, where there were a lot of natural caves. Due to the difficult terrain, they could be relatively sure not to be attacked by a greater number of Pokémon. Usually, the electric types were the ones attacking others. Under the command of their queen, a descendant of many other rulers, their territory seemed to grow almost daily. Since conquering new land was such a very important aspect of the queen's politics, the elite soldiers were the most respected Pokémon in the tribe.
Famir trained with his father every day. He knew there was a long way ahead of him, but that did not matter too much. He would never give up.
Adolescence...
It was night. Famir kept looking to the left and to the right, as he wanted to make sure that nobody was following him. He then pushed a rock aside and squeezed himself through a hole in the wall. Being rather tall for a Pikachu, this proved to be a bit difficult. He was glad when he had finally reached the cave that hardly anyone knew about, excluding the four other Pikachus that were already there, waiting for him.
"What took you so long?" one of the two females in the group asked him angrily. Famir slowly rose to his hind paws and dusted himself off a bit.
"The general was not pleased with my behavior," he replied with a wry smile, "so I had to run up and down a few hills until he apparently decided that he would rather go to sleep than make sure I'm punishing myself correctly." There came a low chuckle from the rest of the group.
"What did you do this time?" a male asked. Famir shrugged.
"I have no idea," he admitted. "It's probably still because of what happened a few weeks ago."
It had been a rather stormy day when Famir had lost control over himself. The general had been tossing sticks up into the air, which the Pikachus had to hit with their electric attacks. Since it had been so windy, Famir had missed quite a few times, which had eventually made the general yell that he was completely worthless, he would never amount to anything and if anyone ever got the idea of entrusting him with the queen's safety, they might as well just throw her down a cliff. Famir, having heard such insults way too often already, had, in return, said that since the queen was so important to the general, he should just go and protect her by himself.
"Then again," he had added quickly, "maybe you shouldn't. She would probably drop dead if she had to see your ugly face."
Famir had received quite a beating for that remark, and he had been assured that he would absolutely never be allowed to become a member of the queen's guard. His parents had been informed, and they had instantly started showing him exactly how disappointed they were at every single opportunity they got. Because of this, Famir had tried to spend as little time with his parents as possible and had begun to aimlessly walk through the mountain range, when he was currently not busy learning how to become a soldier. Eventually, he had come across the group, and they had invited him to their meetings.
What they had told him had immediately sounded good to Famir, who was frustrated and angry at no one in particular. Apparently they were trying to somehow overthrow the queen and bring freedom to the tribe. Famir had never really gotten the impression that he had not been free before, but now that he had started thinking about it, it had quickly begun to make sense.
"We can't just let the queen get away with occupying every other tribe in this area," one of the females often said. "They have their right to be free, too! We have to stop her somehow!" Famir had understood and he had realized that this was what he wanted, too. Life was not alright the way it was. Somebody had to do something about it.
"Now, listen to this," the female said, "I've come up with something. The queen's guards can't always have their eyes everywhere. Sometimes they even seem to get pretty sleepy; I know, because I've been watching them for some time now. All we have to do is wait for them to stop paying attention, then sneak inside and... well, let's see what we'll do with the queen, shall we?" The other Pikachus grinned and nodded. Still, one of them asked:
"What's going to happen afterwards?" The female shrugged.
"We'll stop attacking other tribes and live in peace with everyone," she replied. "That shouldn't be too hard to understand, and we'll certainly have the support of the rest of the tribe once we've gotten rid of the queen. In any way, I think we should make our move as soon as we can. Tomorrow night sounds good to me, what about you?" The other Pikachus nodded, and Famir suddenly felt full of energy. Something was finally going to happen, and everything would get better. Not even for one second did he assume that things might not go as planned.
Of course, the queen was guarded more closely than they had expected. The Raichus had been hiding in the shadows, so that it had been impossible to see them from outside of the cave. They caught the Pikachus before they had the chance to do anything and brought them to a larger cave, which was used as a prison.
The group was not put to death, but quite some time would go by until they were going to be allowed to see the daylight again.
Adulthood...
Famir gritted his teeth as he tried his best to pull an edible plant out from between two large rocks. His partner, a Raichu who was a little smaller than him and whose fur was of a lighter orange tone than his, was watching idly, waiting for Famir to get the plant. When he had been released from prison, his only option had been to become a gatherer. He had been assigned a partner, as it was too dangerous to roam the mountains all alone. Finally, after about two minutes of relentless pulling, he had gotten the plant out from between the rocks and gave it to the other Raichu, who was already carrying quite a bit of food that they had collected today.
"It's already getting late," Famir's partner remarked. "Are you planning to do anything special this evening?" Famir looked at him as if he had not understood what the Raichu had said.
"No," he said after a while. His partner nodded.
"I guess I'm not going to do much, either," he spoke while following Famir, who was now walking at the edge of a steep cliff, looking for more food. "It's really exhausting being a gatherer, when I come home, I usually just go to sleep and that's it." He watched as Famir turned over some rocks. Beneath one of them, there were some dry roots. Famir picked them up, nibbled on them for a moment and then threw them on the pile that his partner was carrying.
"What do you think is going to happen in the future?" the Raichu asked after a while. Famir shrugged, while reaching into a hole in the stone wall to their left. "What are you going to do tomorrow?" his partner continued. "Or the day after tomorrow? Or the day after that?" Famir turned around to look at him. There was a frown on the taller Raichu's face.
"I have no idea," he replied after a moment had passed. "I suppose things will just go on somehow." His partner shook his head.
"Don't you ever think about the future?" Famir sighed lowly.
"No, I don't want to do that anymore," he mumbled. There was a questioning expression on his partner's face, but Famir ignored it. He kneeled down and ran his front paws across the dusty ground, checking if he maybe missed something that might turn out to be edible.
"Work for the queen," he whispered, "work for the queen, and don't think about tomorrow..."
(1878 words)Chapter End Notes:And another chapter is finished. Until the moment I started writing it, I wasn't really sure about how the story would progress, until I finally decided on the way it is now. The problem was that it was a bit hard for me to not make it too much like the last chapter "i have grown tired... of the struggle...", as the topic is very similar. Well, I can only hope that I've succeeded in what I wanted to do, and that you enjoyed reading this chapter. If you'd like to comment, please send an email to [email protected] or write a review. Thank you very much for your interest.
Please be free...
-- Lion vom Silberwal
Thank you.
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...and i've grown tired... of making plans...
Childhood...
"Now, class, tell me... what would you like to do when you grow up?"
The teacher, a relatively young Raichu, was looking at the twelve little Pichus sitting in front of her. She showed them her usual broad smile and watched as they all raised their paws and tried to get her attention. Some even jumped up from the rocks they were sitting on. Among them was Famir. He had always had a problem with sitting still, and now it was just impossible for him to remain calm. His teacher had finally asked a question he knew he had a good answer to. However, the Raichu pointed at one of the other Pichus first.
"I want to be a gatherer," the Pichu said, a happy smile standing on her face. "That's what my parents are, too!" Famir rolled his eyes. Being a gatherer was probably the most boring thing he could imagine. All they did was wander around the mountains and try to find food. They did not even get to keep it; instead, they had to bring it back to the tribe, where it was shared among everyone.
"I'll be a healer!" another Pichu shouted. Now, as far as Famir was concerned, this was still a lot better than being a gatherer. In some hidden places, there seemed to be plants growing, which could be used to cure illnesses or help heal wounds. Still, finding out how they worked and how they could be used on those who were in need of help was nothing that Famir would ever have wanted to do. His mind was set on a very special task.
Finally, the teacher pointed at him.
"What about you, Famir?" she asked. The Pichu took a deep breath and tried to look as big and as intimidating as he could.
"I'll be a member of the queen's guard!" he spoke loudly. All the other Pichus seemed to calm down a little. The Raichu blinked.
"Now, that's quite some ambition," she stated. "I hope you know that only the greatest fighters of our tribe can be trusted to guard the queen?" Famir nodded quickly.
"I'll be the best warrior ever!" he exclaimed. The Pichu began hopping around, fighting against invisible enemies. "Leave everything to me, I can protect our queen!" He was punching and kicking the air with his short paws, earning impressed gasps from the other Pichus and an amused chuckle from his teacher.
"Well, keep at it," she said. "If you always do your best, I'm sure you'll succeed."
Famir's classes were over early in the afternoon, and he began running home. It was a bit dangerous, but that did not hold him back; after all, it was good exercise. The tribe lived in a mountain range, where there were a lot of natural caves. Due to the difficult terrain, they could be relatively sure not to be attacked by a greater number of Pokémon. Usually, the electric types were the ones attacking others. Under the command of their queen, a descendant of many other rulers, their territory seemed to grow almost daily. Since conquering new land was such a very important aspect of the queen's politics, the elite soldiers were the most respected Pokémon in the tribe.
Famir trained with his father every day. He knew there was a long way ahead of him, but that did not matter too much. He would never give up.
Adolescence...
It was night. Famir kept looking to the left and to the right, as he wanted to make sure that nobody was following him. He then pushed a rock aside and squeezed himself through a hole in the wall. Being rather tall for a Pikachu, this proved to be a bit difficult. He was glad when he had finally reached the cave that hardly anyone knew about, excluding the four other Pikachus that were already there, waiting for him.
"What took you so long?" one of the two females in the group asked him angrily. Famir slowly rose to his hind paws and dusted himself off a bit.
"The general was not pleased with my behavior," he replied with a wry smile, "so I had to run up and down a few hills until he apparently decided that he would rather go to sleep than make sure I'm punishing myself correctly." There came a low chuckle from the rest of the group.
"What did you do this time?" a male asked. Famir shrugged.
"I have no idea," he admitted. "It's probably still because of what happened a few weeks ago."
It had been a rather stormy day when Famir had lost control over himself. The general had been tossing sticks up into the air, which the Pikachus had to hit with their electric attacks. Since it had been so windy, Famir had missed quite a few times, which had eventually made the general yell that he was completely worthless, he would never amount to anything and if anyone ever got the idea of entrusting him with the queen's safety, they might as well just throw her down a cliff. Famir, having heard such insults way too often already, had, in return, said that since the queen was so important to the general, he should just go and protect her by himself.
"Then again," he had added quickly, "maybe you shouldn't. She would probably drop dead if she had to see your ugly face."
Famir had received quite a beating for that remark, and he had been assured that he would absolutely never be allowed to become a member of the queen's guard. His parents had been informed, and they had instantly started showing him exactly how disappointed they were at every single opportunity they got. Because of this, Famir had tried to spend as little time with his parents as possible and had begun to aimlessly walk through the mountain range, when he was currently not busy learning how to become a soldier. Eventually, he had come across the group, and they had invited him to their meetings.
What they had told him had immediately sounded good to Famir, who was frustrated and angry at no one in particular. Apparently they were trying to somehow overthrow the queen and bring freedom to the tribe. Famir had never really gotten the impression that he had not been free before, but now that he had started thinking about it, it had quickly begun to make sense.
"We can't just let the queen get away with occupying every other tribe in this area," one of the females often said. "They have their right to be free, too! We have to stop her somehow!" Famir had understood and he had realized that this was what he wanted, too. Life was not alright the way it was. Somebody had to do something about it.
"Now, listen to this," the female said, "I've come up with something. The queen's guards can't always have their eyes everywhere. Sometimes they even seem to get pretty sleepy; I know, because I've been watching them for some time now. All we have to do is wait for them to stop paying attention, then sneak inside and... well, let's see what we'll do with the queen, shall we?" The other Pikachus grinned and nodded. Still, one of them asked:
"What's going to happen afterwards?" The female shrugged.
"We'll stop attacking other tribes and live in peace with everyone," she replied. "That shouldn't be too hard to understand, and we'll certainly have the support of the rest of the tribe once we've gotten rid of the queen. In any way, I think we should make our move as soon as we can. Tomorrow night sounds good to me, what about you?" The other Pikachus nodded, and Famir suddenly felt full of energy. Something was finally going to happen, and everything would get better. Not even for one second did he assume that things might not go as planned.
Of course, the queen was guarded more closely than they had expected. The Raichus had been hiding in the shadows, so that it had been impossible to see them from outside of the cave. They caught the Pikachus before they had the chance to do anything and brought them to a larger cave, which was used as a prison.
The group was not put to death, but quite some time would go by until they were going to be allowed to see the daylight again.
Adulthood...
Famir gritted his teeth as he tried his best to pull an edible plant out from between two large rocks. His partner, a Raichu who was a little smaller than him and whose fur was of a lighter orange tone than his, was watching idly, waiting for Famir to get the plant. When he had been released from prison, his only option had been to become a gatherer. He had been assigned a partner, as it was too dangerous to roam the mountains all alone. Finally, after about two minutes of relentless pulling, he had gotten the plant out from between the rocks and gave it to the other Raichu, who was already carrying quite a bit of food that they had collected today.
"It's already getting late," Famir's partner remarked. "Are you planning to do anything special this evening?" Famir looked at him as if he had not understood what the Raichu had said.
"No," he said after a while. His partner nodded.
"I guess I'm not going to do much, either," he spoke while following Famir, who was now walking at the edge of a steep cliff, looking for more food. "It's really exhausting being a gatherer, when I come home, I usually just go to sleep and that's it." He watched as Famir turned over some rocks. Beneath one of them, there were some dry roots. Famir picked them up, nibbled on them for a moment and then threw them on the pile that his partner was carrying.
"What do you think is going to happen in the future?" the Raichu asked after a while. Famir shrugged, while reaching into a hole in the stone wall to their left. "What are you going to do tomorrow?" his partner continued. "Or the day after tomorrow? Or the day after that?" Famir turned around to look at him. There was a frown on the taller Raichu's face.
"I have no idea," he replied after a moment had passed. "I suppose things will just go on somehow." His partner shook his head.
"Don't you ever think about the future?" Famir sighed lowly.
"No, I don't want to do that anymore," he mumbled. There was a questioning expression on his partner's face, but Famir ignored it. He kneeled down and ran his front paws across the dusty ground, checking if he maybe missed something that might turn out to be edible.
"Work for the queen," he whispered, "work for the queen, and don't think about tomorrow..."
(1878 words)Chapter End Notes:And another chapter is finished. Until the moment I started writing it, I wasn't really sure about how the story would progress, until I finally decided on the way it is now. The problem was that it was a bit hard for me to not make it too much like the last chapter "i have grown tired... of the struggle...", as the topic is very similar. Well, I can only hope that I've succeeded in what I wanted to do, and that you enjoyed reading this chapter. If you'd like to comment, please send an email to [email protected] or write a review. Thank you very much for your interest.
Please be free...
-- Lion vom Silberwal