Story Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Sadly, I do not own Pokemon, otherwise I would be filthy stinkin' rich. The original characters and plot are the property of the me. These characters may not be reused by any other author without my express written consent (you can ask to use them, just not in porn). I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.This series, as my bio will tell you, will contain no yiff, but please don't pass it by simply because of that. Any and all comments or constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated, so please review if you feel that I am doing a decent job, or if there is any kind of flaw that needs to be pointed out. I am always looking to improve.
Chapter 1: Of Life and Death
Chapter 1: Of Life and Death
Darkness looms, nigh is the end of all creation
Yet amidst the gloom, death brings new life, new hope
A dual guardian, divided in space, united in mind
One part light, one part shadow, existing in harmony
It shows the winding path to the salvation of all life
Summon forth the courage to face almighty titans
Fallen foes shall guide the noblest quest
The final key, amongst the blossoms is found
A road on land becomes a breeze in the sky
Ascend to the heavens to turn back the flow of evil
Lest the world fall prey to claws of darkest night
________________________________________________________________________
"Keith, get your lazy butt out of bed this instant! I've got a lot of work for you to do today!"
'Ugh, I'm never going to get out of this damn hick town,' I thought as I lazily poked my head from under the covers. Slowly I emerged from my bed, noticing that Steven's bed was already empty, of course. I went to the adjacent bathroom and took a quick shower; the feeling of hot water running over my body was the only way I could calm myself. After getting drying off, I stood in front of the mirror trying to manage the spiky black mess that was my hair. No matter what brush, gel, or other product I used on it, it always seemed to maintain a permanent hedgehog look. After several minutes I gave up and walked back to my room to get dressed. Throwing on a white shirt, the week-old pair of overalls tossed on the floor, and a crusty pair of brown work boots, I sighed and made my way downstairs.
The house we lived in wasn't exactly large, but it was enough for the four of us. After entering from the front porch, a short hallway with floral-print wallpaper provided access to most of the house. On the right, two open doorways at opposite ends and separated by a shallow closet led into the connected kitchen/dining room. On the left was one door, hi led to m parents' bedroom, at about the middle of the hall. At the end of the hall on the left, a staircase led up to the second story, which served as mine and Steven's bedroom. Finally, the backdoor was located at the opposite end from the front door.
I dragged myself into the kitchen, hoping for some food. Mom was wearing her usual outfit: white t-shirt, denim jeans, work boots and a flowery pink apron. Her long red hair was tied up in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. She was standing at the sink, cleaning dishes from the morning's breakfast, which I was late for yet again. I resigned myself to popping two slices of bread in the toaster. Mom heard me and turned to provide me with my morning dose of sarcasm.
"Well, good morning Snorlax, did you sleep well?"
"Eh heh heh heh, very funny. Could we please get the rest of the corny jokes out of the way while we're at it? I'd like to be able to focus on my chores."
"Well, since you're so enthusiastic, you can get started right away. For starters, the Miltank need milking, and after that, you can go load more hay in the barn for Bullet. And don't you think about running off to anywhere, Mary's due any hour now and I'll need your help."
"Why don't you get Steven to help you? He actually enjoys this stuff," I retorted as I grabbed my finished toast. Mary was Mom's Espeon, the first Pokemon she had befriended while she was a trainer. After Mom met Dad, she and Mary moved out here to the ranch, and now Mary was towards the end of a four-month pregnancy.
"Because he's out with your father tending to the eggs already. Now wipe off that frown and get to work." She looked at me sternly before returning to the dishes.
I cursed under my breath before taking my first bite of toast. Why almighty Arceus had decided to stick me here at this torture camp, I'd never know.
After finishing my meager breakfast, I walked outside and sighed heavily as I looked around our small patch of land. A light summer breeze rustled the high grass that covered our pasture, as well as the branches of the forest that marked the edge of our property. Several yards to the right, a tall barn with faded red paint served as housing for the various Pokemon we kept on the ranch. Around the other side of the house was the egg shed, a light blue structure filled with shelves containing all of the Pokemon eggs entrusted to Dad's care.
My father was the fourth generation owner of this breeding ranch, located just on the outskirts of Solaceon Town in the Sinnoh region. My grandfather had given it to him as a wedding gift when he and my mom got married, just as Grandpa had been given it by his father. It was the "family business," so as soon as I could walk I was set to work on whatever I could. Eventually, the place would be given to me once I started a family, a fate I could not accept.
It wasn't that I really hated the place, I just had bigger dreams. Ever since I was young, my goal in life had been to travel the world with Pokemon. All I could think about was leaving when I finally had my 16th birthday. Sadly, it had been 4 months, ago, yet I was still stuck here.
After grabbing the milk buckets, I headed over to the barn where we kept our Pokemon. As I opened the door, the Miltank, Bessie and Elsa, mooed happily, glad to see me. However, before I had a chance to get started, a small, fiery, black-and-orange blur tackled me to the ground and started licking my face.
"BLECH! Dammit, Ardent, you know I hate it when you do that!"
The slobbering ceased as my Quilava climbed off my chest and allowed me to get back up. She pretended to be upset that I scolded her, but she knew I wasn't really mad. About six years ago, Mary had found an abandoned egg in the woods. After we brought it home, she cared for and protected it as if it was her own. When Ardent hatched as a baby Cyndaquil, Mary became her adopted mother. Once she had grown old enough to not need Mary, we became the best of friends. I taught Ardent about battling, and whenever I managed to sneak a break from work, we would go out into the forest and train, anticipating the day I could start my journey. But since that day was apparently not going to come, Ardent had resigned to being our "watchdog" and keeping egg thieves and dangerous Pokemon away from the ranch.
After she finished sulking, Ardent yipped happily and ran outside, probably to go find my younger brother, Steven, in the egg shed. Ardent tended to act a bit motherly, probably a side affect of living her whole life at this place, and loved to help take care of the eggs. Plus, she liked Steven because he snuck her treats every now and then.
Once again I sighed and started getting milk for the baby Pokemon. I started with Bessie, who once again mooed as I approached her with one of the buckets. I stroked her head gently before getting to work. I filled the first bucket, then grabbed the second and milked Elsa. Once I was finished, I lugged the buckets over to the egg shed and set them in the icebox just outside. I took a moment to see if Ardent was around.
Sure enough, she was happily following Steven as he checked each egg, polishing them and checking for signs of hatching. Steven was about two years younger than me, but he was almost the same height, with short brown hair and a wiry build. He was also extremely smart, and he loved to help out my dad on the ranch. Steven was especially fond of caring for the eggs, as he got to see every one hatch. Once he finished with his current row, he looked up and saw me watching.
"Slacking off again, bro?" he asked with a smirk.
"No," I replied, returning his expression. "I'm just here making sure you don't crack any of the eggs. I know how sloppy you can be."
"Yeah, big talk from the guy whose bed has more hay in it than the barn," he shot back.
Unable to think of a quick retort, I relied on my fallback plan to shut Steven up.
"Ardent, use Ember."
"Wait, don't you da...OUCH!! That burns!" Steven yelled as Ardent blew a few sparks into his boot, snickering the whole time. After jumping around for a minute trying to put out the sparks, Steven stared hard at Ardent.
"Yeah, laugh now you little fuzz ball, but we'll see who gets any food later." Ardent immediately stopped laughing and shot a glare at me.
I smiled and said, "Oh calm down girl, you know little Stevie never follows through with his threats."
My brother turned his glare in my direction. "That's Steven. Get it right."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever Stevie," I teased. "So where's Dad?"
"Right here," a deep voice said behind me. The sudden, unexpected noise made me jump, causing Dad, Steven, and Ardent to all began laughing hysterically. I turned and stared down the tall, husky man behind me. Dad had your typical farmer's build: broad shoulders, strong arms, and thighs thick as tree trunks. But lately, his face seemed to be showing more and more of his age. Despite all this, Dad was a very gentle and caring guy, which I guess you need to be to care for eggs.
"How can you be so damn quiet with all that bulk you carry around?" I yelled at him, peeved that he had scared the crap out of me...again.
Dad chuckled and said, "Don't know. Just comes with years of caring for all the baby Pokemon, I guess."
"Well it wouldn't kill you to be a little bit louder."
"Oh come on, don't give me that attitude. You know I was just messing with you. It's just one of the many perks of having you help out."
"Yeah, you gotta love those stupid perks," I muttered under my breath.
"Well, enough fun. I've still got a million other things to do, and if I know your mother, you do, too." With that, Dad gently lifted a white egg with red slash markings from a nearby shelf and carried it into the back room for testing.
"You heard the man, back to work!" Steven chimed in, as he returned to cleaning the eggs.
"Oh just shut it, kiss-ass," I shot back with a scowl. Before I left, though, I decided to check in on Mary. The back room served not only as Dad's office, but also as Mary's bedroom. According to Mom, she was due to lay her egg sometime soon, so I thought I would see how she was faring.
As I entered, Dad gave me a quick look, before he realized why I was visiting and returned to the egg he was studying. A big part of the room was taken up by a large machine with a cylindrical glass container. Dad used this machine to monitor eggs and to make sure that the Pokemon inside was developing without problems. Inside the container was the egg Dad had taken, with several black electrodes attached to it. To the right of the machine was a desk, and on top of that was a computer monitor that was displaying the vitals of the life form inside the egg. The entire setup was strangely futuristic for a small farm like this. There were also two other tables, partially covered with various papers, and a closet that held blankets for newborns.
In the back corner of the room, next to another desk piled with folders and test results, a large cardboard box set on its side served as Mary's makeshift den. A cushion had been set in there so she would be comfortable, and a light blue towel had been hung across the entrance to provide a little privacy. I pulled back a portion of the towel and peeked inside to see a lilac Espeon with a noticeably large midsection. Mary was sleeping inside, a fevered look on her face, apparently exhausted from having to carry around her extra girth for the past few weeks. I reached in and gently brushed her head, careful not to wake her. Ardent also poked her head in, seeming worried about her adopted mother. Mary stirred slightly, but only to move her head from the cushion to her paws. I assured Ardent that she would be fine, then slowly pulled back my arm and let the curtain fall back into place.
After exiting the shed, I returned to my own chores. I walked back around the other side of the barn, where our cart was currently piled high with hay bails. Grunting heavily, I hefted one over my shoulder and carried it inside the barn over to the stable, where Bullet, our Ponyta, slept. He was out currently out grazing, so it was easy to blanket the floor with the fresh hay.
For the rest of the day, I continued with the mindless tasks Mom assigned me. Sometime after noon, after I had unloaded the rest of the hay in a pile inside the barn, she gave me some money and had me go into town to get more feed. I whistled to call in Bullet, and once he meandered up, I hitched him to the now empty cart. Just as I was about to leave, Ardent ran up and began to whimper. Before I could finish asking if she wanted to tag along, she eagerly jumped into the cart and gave me a look that said 'What are you waiting for?'. And with that, we headed off.
The ride into Solaceon took about half an hour, leaving me with some free time to think while I was stroking Ardent's head. I came back to my usual dilemma: there was no way that I wanted to do this crap for the rest of my life. Sure it had its rewarding moments, but I just couldn't help but feel I was in the wrong place. I felt like I was meant to do something more than run a tiny little ranch in this sleepy old town. Steven would have been beside himself if he had been the first-born, and therefore the one to inherit the ranch. Me, on the other hand, I just wanted to get away from this place, and see the world, like Lindsay...
Lindsay. Now that was a girl I hadn't thought about in a long time. Lindsay had been my best friend growing up. She had lived in town, but she would often come out to the ranch to see all the eggs and newborns, and once Ardent was born, we would go out into the woods and play hide-and-seek. Lindsay was a full year older than me, though, and once she had turned 16, she left with her Buizel, Lance, to take the gym challenge. At the start, she would come home every month or so to see me, but it had been a good six months now that I had gone without seeing her. Lindsay was a promising trainer, so I wouldn't have been surprised if she had already earned all of the Sinnoh badges and had gone on to some other region.
Suddenly, Ardent slapped me across the face to wake me from my daydream. I looked around and realized we were already at the feed barn.
"You know, Ardent, a simple arm nudge would have worked," I scolded, though she replied with a face that said she had tried that several times already. The town itself was barely larger than our ranch. There were the standard Pokemon Center and Mart, plus the feed barn/equipment store, one restaurant, and no more than ten houses, all lined up on the one central street. We walked inside the feed barn and bought several large bags of feed, and then I began to load them one-by-one into the cart. Just as I was loading up the last sack, a distant-yet-familiar voice yelled out in my direction.
"Hey there, farm boy. Still playing games in that old forest?"
I turned to see who was speaking, but there was no need. I had no doubt whose mouth those words had come from. As I turned completely around, I caught sight of a tall, slender teenage girl. She was wearing a light yellow, unbuttoned vest over a black t-shirt, along with jeans and a pair of travel sneakers. From her belt hung a trio of red and white pokeballs, glinting in the afternoon sun. Her flowing blonde hair, aside from her bangs, was pulled back into a ponytail. She gave me a cheesy smile when she saw my reaction.
"Lindsay?" I blurted.
"Who else, numbskull?" Lindsay said teasingly, walking over to greet me. "Long time, no see."
"Yeah, no kidding. Where have you been all this time? I was worried."
"You were worried about me? I didn't know you cared so much."
I immediately turned beet red. "Oh...w-well, I...umm...n-not like that..."
"Keith, relax. I'm happy to see you, too." She smiled, pulling me into a warm embrace. "I'm just kind of surprised to see you still here. Figured once you hit 16, you would have been right out the door."
I frowned and said, "Yeah, well, things just didn't work out. You know, inheriting the ranch and everything."
Lindsay pulled away from our hug, frowning as well and looking down. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"Hey, don't you go getting sad. None of this is your fault. It's just the way it ended up," I tried to console her as she looked back up at me with her amazingly blue eyes, the smile returning to her face. "Besides, I hear you're a big shot trainer now. What could possibly bring you back here?"
Lindsay grinned as she regained her confidence. "Well, I'm actually on my way to Veilstone City for my fifth badge. I figured I'd stop in and see my folks, and just happened to run into you."
"Well, if you aren't busy...uh, maybe you would like to...umm, come back with me and stay for dinner?" I winced, immediately knowing I had messed up.
"Keith, I would love to, but I really need to get home and see my parents. I'm sorry."
"Hey, not a problem!" We stood there for a few more moments in silence, before Ardent, apparently fed up with being ignored, nudged in between us and made her presence known.
"Well, hi there Ardent! I see someone's evolved since I was last here." Lindsay beamed as she bent down to pat Ardent on the head. "Well, I guess I'd better get going then."
"Oh, yeah, me too, I guess," I muttered.
Lindsay pulled me into one last quick hug and said, "I'm really glad I got to see you again, Keith."
"Same here, Lindsay," I said.
We broke apart and smiled at each other before Lindsay turned and walked off, waving one last time before disappearing down the street. I sighed once again before hopping back on the cart and urging Bullet homewards.
The trip back was uneventful, filled mostly by my reminiscing about Lindsay. As we neared the house, though, Steven came rushing out to meet us. He had a panicked look on his face and he was breathing heavily.
"Keith, where have you been?!" he shouted. "Mary's going into labor! Mom needs you right now!"
I immediately abandoned the cart, yelling at Steven to take it back to the barn, as Ardent and I sprinted to the house. I grabbed one of the empty buckets on the way, and ran warm water into it from the sink. While it was filling, I ran into the hall and grabbed an armful of towels from the closet. Once the bucket was full, I switched the water to cold and soaked one of the towels. Grabbing my load, we then ran to the shed's back room, where Mom had removed the removed Mary's "curtain" and was busy comforting her. I immediately ran over and handed the damp towel to Mom, who grabbed it with a gloved hand and placed it over Mary's forehead. Ardent sat behind me, watching the events with a worried look.
Mary was grimacing in pain, as her contractions slowly began to force the egg from her womb. Mom was using one hand to hold the towel on Mary, while the other was gently rubbing her stomach, trying to help coax the egg out. This went on for what seemed like hours, days even. At last, with a loud howl of pain from Mary, the egg began to emerge.
"That's it, girl, you're doing great," Mom tried to comfort her oldest friend. Inch by inch, more of the egg was revealed, until finally the entire brown and white mass had been freed. Mom gently picked up the egg and handed it to me. As I took the egg from her grasp though, I sensed some unknown "presence" barely coming into contact with my conscious mind. Yet something was odd. This presence seemed somewhat conflicted, as though it were coming from different sources. It almost felt like it was trying to tell me something...
"Keith, I need that towel!"
Mom snapped me back to reality. After shaking off whatever that feeling was, I soaked one of the clean towels in the bucket of warm water and handed it to Mom who started helping Mary clean up, while I soaked another towel and cleaned the egg. After both had been washed and dried, I gave the egg back to Mom, who carefully set it next to its mother. Mary, exhausted from the ordeal, nuzzled up to her soon-to-be child and immediately fell asleep, though still with the same fevered look. Ardent, too, relaxed and smiled, happy for her mother.
As I sat there watching the tranquil scene, I got an odd feeling, like something was unusual, but couldn't quite figure out what or why. Mom, of course, immediately noticed a difference.
"Mary's egg is a slightly larger than it should be," she pointed out. "I've never seen anything like this before, in any species."
I realized that she was right. On closer inspection, the egg was indeed about an inch and a half taller, and probably a few inches larger around the middle, larger than average for a Pokemon of Mary's size. Once Mary was sound asleep, Mom carefully pulled the egg away and took it over to the research station, where she attached the black electrodes to the egg in order to monitor the being inside.
Once the egg was hooked up, the monitor began to display the heartbeat for the unborn Pokemon inside. Immediately Mom got a worried look on her face.
"What the... The fetus's heartbeat is... It's not irregular, but it's beating nearly twice as fast as it should be! But there are no other problems; the rest of the tests are completely normal. It's almost as if..."
"As if what?" I asked hesitantly.
She paused for a moment, then shook her head. "No...never mind. That's insane, it's never happened before. Forget I said anything." She removed the egg from the machine and placed it back in Mary's den. "Well, aside from the heartbeat, everything else is normal, so we'll just have to wait for it to hatch before we can figure out what's going on."
So with that, I called for Ardent as we left Mary with her egg. The three of us went back to the house where Dad and Steven were getting dinner ready. Dad was just as surprised at what we told him about the egg, but he agreed with Mom that nothing could be done until it hatched.
After dinner, Dad and I were left to clean up while Steven finished up a few things in the shed. Mom went to make sure that Mary wasn't having any after effects from her ordeal. Dad was washing dishes in the sink while I was drying and putting away the clean ones. After a few moments of silence, he sighed and began to speak in a serious tone.
"Keith...I need to discuss something with you."
"Um, okay?" I said questioningly.
"Keith, I know how much you wanted to start your trainer's journey when you turned 16." At this, I turned towards my father and began to listen with interest. "I know how much time you and Ardent spent training in the forest. I know how much determination you have, and I'm sure that you could be a great trainer." Then, a more solemn look came across his face. "But, I just can't let you go."
"But why not?!" I interrupted. "Why can't you manage without me for just a few years? Plus, you've got Steven! Why can't he help out while I'm gone?"
"Because," he continued, "as much as I hate to say it, Steven just doesn't have the strength or discipline to carry on this place."
"But..."
"No buts. Steven loves helping me more than anyone, but he just can't focus on the work at times. Plus, he's nowhere near as strong as you are, and you know as well as I do that I'm not as young as I used to be. You're the only one who has the strength and discipline to keep this place up and running. I simply can't handle a lot of the heavy-duty jobs without you anymore. If you weren't around, this place wouldn't last a week. We need you here. I need you here."
"Yeah, I know," I sighed heavily, dejected by my shattered hopes. "It's just not fair..." I turned to leave, but Dad stopped me, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Keith, I swear that I'll make it up to you one day." He looked me in the eyes with the most serious expression I had ever seen. I knew he would make good on that promise.
"Yeah, whatever," I said jokingly. Once again I turned to go to bed, but when I got to the foot of the stairs, I looked back at my father, who was still standing by the sink, smiling. I smiled back and told him goodnight, then climbed the stairs up to my room. I tossed my crusty outfit on the floor, then crawled into my bed and immediately fell asleep.
_____________________
'...eith......Kei...'
I sat bolt upright in my bed, sweating slightly and gasping for air. There was absolutely no visible light through the window, so I figured it was in the middle of the night. I began to massage my temples, a habit I had picked up somewhere, trying to sort out my jumbled thoughts. 'What the hell was that about?...what a weird dream. It was so bright, but at the same time...pitch black. It felt like something...no, someTHINGS were trying to...to talk to me? I wonder...'
Suddenly, my musings were cut short as the door was flung open. I looked up to see my brother standing in the doorway, panting heavily. Dad was right, Steven really isn't cut out for the physical work, I thought to myself jokingly. However, all thoughts of jokes immediately disappeared when I saw the look on his face: Steven was stricken with fear.
"What's your problem?" I asked.
Steven tried to say something, but just ended up spitting out a few stuttered words. "M-m-mary...sh-she's..."
I immediately figured that something had gone wrong and jumped out of bed, bolting past Steven. After bounding down the stairs, I burst through the backdoor, still only in my boxers, and ran to the shed. I faintly heard the door open again as Steven came running after me.
Finally, I made it to the door to the backroom. Hand on the doorknob, I paused briefly before slowly entering. When I looked in, my heart instantly sank. My mother was kneeling with her back to me by Mary's den. She was holding something in her arms; her whole body was softly shaking. Dad looked back towards we when I came in; he was squatting behind Mom with his hand on her shoulder. Ardent was on Mom's left, looking at the bundle in her arms with tear-filled eyes. I knew what had happened, but didn't want to believe it. Slowly, I walked over to my parents, and as Mom's bundle came into view, my worst fears were confirmed.
Mary was cradled in her trainer's arms, unmoving. Her eyes were closed, her expression completely blank. My eyes welled as I looked upon the dead Espeon, unfairly taken from her unborn child. I knelt beside my mother and pulled her into an embrace, my tears falling as heavily as hers. Dad wrapped us both in a hug from behind, including Steven when he arrived, and Ardent nuzzled up to Mom's knees. We sat like that for several minutes, collectively mourning the loss of our dear friend, family member, and, in Ardent's case, mother.
Finally, Dad slowly pulled away from our group embrace and stood up. "I'll prepare a coffin tonight," he said, his voice rough from his own tears, "and tomorrow we'll lay her to rest."
Mom nodded slowly, no longer shaking. She stood up, still cradling her beloved Pokemon. Dad pulled a blanket from the closet, and laid it out on one of the tables. Mom lifted Mary up to kiss her on the forehead one last time, before gently laying her on the blanket and wrapping her up. She then buried her face in her hands and began to sob uncontrollably. Dad ended up softly leading her out of the room and back to the house. Steven followed them at a distance, with me following suit.
Before I left, I looked back to call Ardent. However, the sight I saw both warmed my heart and broke it at the same time. Ardent had climbed into Mary's den and curled up around her egg, falling asleep with fresh tears in her eyes. It was obvious that she was returning the favor to her adopted mother, and she was not going to leave her egg unattended. I tried to say something, but the words caught in my throat. Finally, I walked back over and kissed Ardent on the head, then left before I broke out in tears again.
Deciding to leave my parents alone, I sadly climbed the stairs back up to my room. Steven had apparently reached the same conclusion; he was already in bed, though I could tell he was crying himself to sleep. I crawled back under the covers of my own bed, pulling them over my head as I tried to forget about the night's tragedy. Grief finally won, though, as I quietly began to sob once again.
About an hour later, my tears finally stopped falling, and I passed out from exhaustion. As the black of unconsciousness clouded my vision, the last thing I remembered was the familiar mixed presence touching my mind once again. Before I completely blacked out, I heard the strange voice speaking my name softly, as if sharing in my family's sorrow.
'...Keith......Keith...'Chapter End Notes:Ok, before you all give up on me, I know this chapter is a little (maybe really) depressing. Things will get better though. I'm not some emo guy out to make the whole world feel bad, just trying to see if my writing actually affects you in any way. If it does, then I'm doing alright.
Anywho, chapter 2 to follow. As a forewarning, it will start out depressing, but please stick with me. Every cloud has a silver lining, right? *kicked in groin* Ok, sorry for the bad cliche. Until next time, see yas
Darkness looms, nigh is the end of all creation
Yet amidst the gloom, death brings new life, new hope
A dual guardian, divided in space, united in mind
One part light, one part shadow, existing in harmony
It shows the winding path to the salvation of all life
Summon forth the courage to face almighty titans
Fallen foes shall guide the noblest quest
The final key, amongst the blossoms is found
A road on land becomes a breeze in the sky
Ascend to the heavens to turn back the flow of evil
Lest the world fall prey to claws of darkest night
________________________________________________________________________
"Keith, get your lazy butt out of bed this instant! I've got a lot of work for you to do today!"
'Ugh, I'm never going to get out of this damn hick town,' I thought as I lazily poked my head from under the covers. Slowly I emerged from my bed, noticing that Steven's bed was already empty, of course. I went to the adjacent bathroom and took a quick shower; the feeling of hot water running over my body was the only way I could calm myself. After getting drying off, I stood in front of the mirror trying to manage the spiky black mess that was my hair. No matter what brush, gel, or other product I used on it, it always seemed to maintain a permanent hedgehog look. After several minutes I gave up and walked back to my room to get dressed. Throwing on a white shirt, the week-old pair of overalls tossed on the floor, and a crusty pair of brown work boots, I sighed and made my way downstairs.
The house we lived in wasn't exactly large, but it was enough for the four of us. After entering from the front porch, a short hallway with floral-print wallpaper provided access to most of the house. On the right, two open doorways at opposite ends and separated by a shallow closet led into the connected kitchen/dining room. On the left was one door, hi led to m parents' bedroom, at about the middle of the hall. At the end of the hall on the left, a staircase led up to the second story, which served as mine and Steven's bedroom. Finally, the backdoor was located at the opposite end from the front door.
I dragged myself into the kitchen, hoping for some food. Mom was wearing her usual outfit: white t-shirt, denim jeans, work boots and a flowery pink apron. Her long red hair was tied up in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. She was standing at the sink, cleaning dishes from the morning's breakfast, which I was late for yet again. I resigned myself to popping two slices of bread in the toaster. Mom heard me and turned to provide me with my morning dose of sarcasm.
"Well, good morning Snorlax, did you sleep well?"
"Eh heh heh heh, very funny. Could we please get the rest of the corny jokes out of the way while we're at it? I'd like to be able to focus on my chores."
"Well, since you're so enthusiastic, you can get started right away. For starters, the Miltank need milking, and after that, you can go load more hay in the barn for Bullet. And don't you think about running off to anywhere, Mary's due any hour now and I'll need your help."
"Why don't you get Steven to help you? He actually enjoys this stuff," I retorted as I grabbed my finished toast. Mary was Mom's Espeon, the first Pokemon she had befriended while she was a trainer. After Mom met Dad, she and Mary moved out here to the ranch, and now Mary was towards the end of a four-month pregnancy.
"Because he's out with your father tending to the eggs already. Now wipe off that frown and get to work." She looked at me sternly before returning to the dishes.
I cursed under my breath before taking my first bite of toast. Why almighty Arceus had decided to stick me here at this torture camp, I'd never know.
After finishing my meager breakfast, I walked outside and sighed heavily as I looked around our small patch of land. A light summer breeze rustled the high grass that covered our pasture, as well as the branches of the forest that marked the edge of our property. Several yards to the right, a tall barn with faded red paint served as housing for the various Pokemon we kept on the ranch. Around the other side of the house was the egg shed, a light blue structure filled with shelves containing all of the Pokemon eggs entrusted to Dad's care.
My father was the fourth generation owner of this breeding ranch, located just on the outskirts of Solaceon Town in the Sinnoh region. My grandfather had given it to him as a wedding gift when he and my mom got married, just as Grandpa had been given it by his father. It was the "family business," so as soon as I could walk I was set to work on whatever I could. Eventually, the place would be given to me once I started a family, a fate I could not accept.
It wasn't that I really hated the place, I just had bigger dreams. Ever since I was young, my goal in life had been to travel the world with Pokemon. All I could think about was leaving when I finally had my 16th birthday. Sadly, it had been 4 months, ago, yet I was still stuck here.
After grabbing the milk buckets, I headed over to the barn where we kept our Pokemon. As I opened the door, the Miltank, Bessie and Elsa, mooed happily, glad to see me. However, before I had a chance to get started, a small, fiery, black-and-orange blur tackled me to the ground and started licking my face.
"BLECH! Dammit, Ardent, you know I hate it when you do that!"
The slobbering ceased as my Quilava climbed off my chest and allowed me to get back up. She pretended to be upset that I scolded her, but she knew I wasn't really mad. About six years ago, Mary had found an abandoned egg in the woods. After we brought it home, she cared for and protected it as if it was her own. When Ardent hatched as a baby Cyndaquil, Mary became her adopted mother. Once she had grown old enough to not need Mary, we became the best of friends. I taught Ardent about battling, and whenever I managed to sneak a break from work, we would go out into the forest and train, anticipating the day I could start my journey. But since that day was apparently not going to come, Ardent had resigned to being our "watchdog" and keeping egg thieves and dangerous Pokemon away from the ranch.
After she finished sulking, Ardent yipped happily and ran outside, probably to go find my younger brother, Steven, in the egg shed. Ardent tended to act a bit motherly, probably a side affect of living her whole life at this place, and loved to help take care of the eggs. Plus, she liked Steven because he snuck her treats every now and then.
Once again I sighed and started getting milk for the baby Pokemon. I started with Bessie, who once again mooed as I approached her with one of the buckets. I stroked her head gently before getting to work. I filled the first bucket, then grabbed the second and milked Elsa. Once I was finished, I lugged the buckets over to the egg shed and set them in the icebox just outside. I took a moment to see if Ardent was around.
Sure enough, she was happily following Steven as he checked each egg, polishing them and checking for signs of hatching. Steven was about two years younger than me, but he was almost the same height, with short brown hair and a wiry build. He was also extremely smart, and he loved to help out my dad on the ranch. Steven was especially fond of caring for the eggs, as he got to see every one hatch. Once he finished with his current row, he looked up and saw me watching.
"Slacking off again, bro?" he asked with a smirk.
"No," I replied, returning his expression. "I'm just here making sure you don't crack any of the eggs. I know how sloppy you can be."
"Yeah, big talk from the guy whose bed has more hay in it than the barn," he shot back.
Unable to think of a quick retort, I relied on my fallback plan to shut Steven up.
"Ardent, use Ember."
"Wait, don't you da...OUCH!! That burns!" Steven yelled as Ardent blew a few sparks into his boot, snickering the whole time. After jumping around for a minute trying to put out the sparks, Steven stared hard at Ardent.
"Yeah, laugh now you little fuzz ball, but we'll see who gets any food later." Ardent immediately stopped laughing and shot a glare at me.
I smiled and said, "Oh calm down girl, you know little Stevie never follows through with his threats."
My brother turned his glare in my direction. "That's Steven. Get it right."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever Stevie," I teased. "So where's Dad?"
"Right here," a deep voice said behind me. The sudden, unexpected noise made me jump, causing Dad, Steven, and Ardent to all began laughing hysterically. I turned and stared down the tall, husky man behind me. Dad had your typical farmer's build: broad shoulders, strong arms, and thighs thick as tree trunks. But lately, his face seemed to be showing more and more of his age. Despite all this, Dad was a very gentle and caring guy, which I guess you need to be to care for eggs.
"How can you be so damn quiet with all that bulk you carry around?" I yelled at him, peeved that he had scared the crap out of me...again.
Dad chuckled and said, "Don't know. Just comes with years of caring for all the baby Pokemon, I guess."
"Well it wouldn't kill you to be a little bit louder."
"Oh come on, don't give me that attitude. You know I was just messing with you. It's just one of the many perks of having you help out."
"Yeah, you gotta love those stupid perks," I muttered under my breath.
"Well, enough fun. I've still got a million other things to do, and if I know your mother, you do, too." With that, Dad gently lifted a white egg with red slash markings from a nearby shelf and carried it into the back room for testing.
"You heard the man, back to work!" Steven chimed in, as he returned to cleaning the eggs.
"Oh just shut it, kiss-ass," I shot back with a scowl. Before I left, though, I decided to check in on Mary. The back room served not only as Dad's office, but also as Mary's bedroom. According to Mom, she was due to lay her egg sometime soon, so I thought I would see how she was faring.
As I entered, Dad gave me a quick look, before he realized why I was visiting and returned to the egg he was studying. A big part of the room was taken up by a large machine with a cylindrical glass container. Dad used this machine to monitor eggs and to make sure that the Pokemon inside was developing without problems. Inside the container was the egg Dad had taken, with several black electrodes attached to it. To the right of the machine was a desk, and on top of that was a computer monitor that was displaying the vitals of the life form inside the egg. The entire setup was strangely futuristic for a small farm like this. There were also two other tables, partially covered with various papers, and a closet that held blankets for newborns.
In the back corner of the room, next to another desk piled with folders and test results, a large cardboard box set on its side served as Mary's makeshift den. A cushion had been set in there so she would be comfortable, and a light blue towel had been hung across the entrance to provide a little privacy. I pulled back a portion of the towel and peeked inside to see a lilac Espeon with a noticeably large midsection. Mary was sleeping inside, a fevered look on her face, apparently exhausted from having to carry around her extra girth for the past few weeks. I reached in and gently brushed her head, careful not to wake her. Ardent also poked her head in, seeming worried about her adopted mother. Mary stirred slightly, but only to move her head from the cushion to her paws. I assured Ardent that she would be fine, then slowly pulled back my arm and let the curtain fall back into place.
After exiting the shed, I returned to my own chores. I walked back around the other side of the barn, where our cart was currently piled high with hay bails. Grunting heavily, I hefted one over my shoulder and carried it inside the barn over to the stable, where Bullet, our Ponyta, slept. He was out currently out grazing, so it was easy to blanket the floor with the fresh hay.
For the rest of the day, I continued with the mindless tasks Mom assigned me. Sometime after noon, after I had unloaded the rest of the hay in a pile inside the barn, she gave me some money and had me go into town to get more feed. I whistled to call in Bullet, and once he meandered up, I hitched him to the now empty cart. Just as I was about to leave, Ardent ran up and began to whimper. Before I could finish asking if she wanted to tag along, she eagerly jumped into the cart and gave me a look that said 'What are you waiting for?'. And with that, we headed off.
The ride into Solaceon took about half an hour, leaving me with some free time to think while I was stroking Ardent's head. I came back to my usual dilemma: there was no way that I wanted to do this crap for the rest of my life. Sure it had its rewarding moments, but I just couldn't help but feel I was in the wrong place. I felt like I was meant to do something more than run a tiny little ranch in this sleepy old town. Steven would have been beside himself if he had been the first-born, and therefore the one to inherit the ranch. Me, on the other hand, I just wanted to get away from this place, and see the world, like Lindsay...
Lindsay. Now that was a girl I hadn't thought about in a long time. Lindsay had been my best friend growing up. She had lived in town, but she would often come out to the ranch to see all the eggs and newborns, and once Ardent was born, we would go out into the woods and play hide-and-seek. Lindsay was a full year older than me, though, and once she had turned 16, she left with her Buizel, Lance, to take the gym challenge. At the start, she would come home every month or so to see me, but it had been a good six months now that I had gone without seeing her. Lindsay was a promising trainer, so I wouldn't have been surprised if she had already earned all of the Sinnoh badges and had gone on to some other region.
Suddenly, Ardent slapped me across the face to wake me from my daydream. I looked around and realized we were already at the feed barn.
"You know, Ardent, a simple arm nudge would have worked," I scolded, though she replied with a face that said she had tried that several times already. The town itself was barely larger than our ranch. There were the standard Pokemon Center and Mart, plus the feed barn/equipment store, one restaurant, and no more than ten houses, all lined up on the one central street. We walked inside the feed barn and bought several large bags of feed, and then I began to load them one-by-one into the cart. Just as I was loading up the last sack, a distant-yet-familiar voice yelled out in my direction.
"Hey there, farm boy. Still playing games in that old forest?"
I turned to see who was speaking, but there was no need. I had no doubt whose mouth those words had come from. As I turned completely around, I caught sight of a tall, slender teenage girl. She was wearing a light yellow, unbuttoned vest over a black t-shirt, along with jeans and a pair of travel sneakers. From her belt hung a trio of red and white pokeballs, glinting in the afternoon sun. Her flowing blonde hair, aside from her bangs, was pulled back into a ponytail. She gave me a cheesy smile when she saw my reaction.
"Lindsay?" I blurted.
"Who else, numbskull?" Lindsay said teasingly, walking over to greet me. "Long time, no see."
"Yeah, no kidding. Where have you been all this time? I was worried."
"You were worried about me? I didn't know you cared so much."
I immediately turned beet red. "Oh...w-well, I...umm...n-not like that..."
"Keith, relax. I'm happy to see you, too." She smiled, pulling me into a warm embrace. "I'm just kind of surprised to see you still here. Figured once you hit 16, you would have been right out the door."
I frowned and said, "Yeah, well, things just didn't work out. You know, inheriting the ranch and everything."
Lindsay pulled away from our hug, frowning as well and looking down. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"Hey, don't you go getting sad. None of this is your fault. It's just the way it ended up," I tried to console her as she looked back up at me with her amazingly blue eyes, the smile returning to her face. "Besides, I hear you're a big shot trainer now. What could possibly bring you back here?"
Lindsay grinned as she regained her confidence. "Well, I'm actually on my way to Veilstone City for my fifth badge. I figured I'd stop in and see my folks, and just happened to run into you."
"Well, if you aren't busy...uh, maybe you would like to...umm, come back with me and stay for dinner?" I winced, immediately knowing I had messed up.
"Keith, I would love to, but I really need to get home and see my parents. I'm sorry."
"Hey, not a problem!" We stood there for a few more moments in silence, before Ardent, apparently fed up with being ignored, nudged in between us and made her presence known.
"Well, hi there Ardent! I see someone's evolved since I was last here." Lindsay beamed as she bent down to pat Ardent on the head. "Well, I guess I'd better get going then."
"Oh, yeah, me too, I guess," I muttered.
Lindsay pulled me into one last quick hug and said, "I'm really glad I got to see you again, Keith."
"Same here, Lindsay," I said.
We broke apart and smiled at each other before Lindsay turned and walked off, waving one last time before disappearing down the street. I sighed once again before hopping back on the cart and urging Bullet homewards.
The trip back was uneventful, filled mostly by my reminiscing about Lindsay. As we neared the house, though, Steven came rushing out to meet us. He had a panicked look on his face and he was breathing heavily.
"Keith, where have you been?!" he shouted. "Mary's going into labor! Mom needs you right now!"
I immediately abandoned the cart, yelling at Steven to take it back to the barn, as Ardent and I sprinted to the house. I grabbed one of the empty buckets on the way, and ran warm water into it from the sink. While it was filling, I ran into the hall and grabbed an armful of towels from the closet. Once the bucket was full, I switched the water to cold and soaked one of the towels. Grabbing my load, we then ran to the shed's back room, where Mom had removed the removed Mary's "curtain" and was busy comforting her. I immediately ran over and handed the damp towel to Mom, who grabbed it with a gloved hand and placed it over Mary's forehead. Ardent sat behind me, watching the events with a worried look.
Mary was grimacing in pain, as her contractions slowly began to force the egg from her womb. Mom was using one hand to hold the towel on Mary, while the other was gently rubbing her stomach, trying to help coax the egg out. This went on for what seemed like hours, days even. At last, with a loud howl of pain from Mary, the egg began to emerge.
"That's it, girl, you're doing great," Mom tried to comfort her oldest friend. Inch by inch, more of the egg was revealed, until finally the entire brown and white mass had been freed. Mom gently picked up the egg and handed it to me. As I took the egg from her grasp though, I sensed some unknown "presence" barely coming into contact with my conscious mind. Yet something was odd. This presence seemed somewhat conflicted, as though it were coming from different sources. It almost felt like it was trying to tell me something...
"Keith, I need that towel!"
Mom snapped me back to reality. After shaking off whatever that feeling was, I soaked one of the clean towels in the bucket of warm water and handed it to Mom who started helping Mary clean up, while I soaked another towel and cleaned the egg. After both had been washed and dried, I gave the egg back to Mom, who carefully set it next to its mother. Mary, exhausted from the ordeal, nuzzled up to her soon-to-be child and immediately fell asleep, though still with the same fevered look. Ardent, too, relaxed and smiled, happy for her mother.
As I sat there watching the tranquil scene, I got an odd feeling, like something was unusual, but couldn't quite figure out what or why. Mom, of course, immediately noticed a difference.
"Mary's egg is a slightly larger than it should be," she pointed out. "I've never seen anything like this before, in any species."
I realized that she was right. On closer inspection, the egg was indeed about an inch and a half taller, and probably a few inches larger around the middle, larger than average for a Pokemon of Mary's size. Once Mary was sound asleep, Mom carefully pulled the egg away and took it over to the research station, where she attached the black electrodes to the egg in order to monitor the being inside.
Once the egg was hooked up, the monitor began to display the heartbeat for the unborn Pokemon inside. Immediately Mom got a worried look on her face.
"What the... The fetus's heartbeat is... It's not irregular, but it's beating nearly twice as fast as it should be! But there are no other problems; the rest of the tests are completely normal. It's almost as if..."
"As if what?" I asked hesitantly.
She paused for a moment, then shook her head. "No...never mind. That's insane, it's never happened before. Forget I said anything." She removed the egg from the machine and placed it back in Mary's den. "Well, aside from the heartbeat, everything else is normal, so we'll just have to wait for it to hatch before we can figure out what's going on."
So with that, I called for Ardent as we left Mary with her egg. The three of us went back to the house where Dad and Steven were getting dinner ready. Dad was just as surprised at what we told him about the egg, but he agreed with Mom that nothing could be done until it hatched.
After dinner, Dad and I were left to clean up while Steven finished up a few things in the shed. Mom went to make sure that Mary wasn't having any after effects from her ordeal. Dad was washing dishes in the sink while I was drying and putting away the clean ones. After a few moments of silence, he sighed and began to speak in a serious tone.
"Keith...I need to discuss something with you."
"Um, okay?" I said questioningly.
"Keith, I know how much you wanted to start your trainer's journey when you turned 16." At this, I turned towards my father and began to listen with interest. "I know how much time you and Ardent spent training in the forest. I know how much determination you have, and I'm sure that you could be a great trainer." Then, a more solemn look came across his face. "But, I just can't let you go."
"But why not?!" I interrupted. "Why can't you manage without me for just a few years? Plus, you've got Steven! Why can't he help out while I'm gone?"
"Because," he continued, "as much as I hate to say it, Steven just doesn't have the strength or discipline to carry on this place."
"But..."
"No buts. Steven loves helping me more than anyone, but he just can't focus on the work at times. Plus, he's nowhere near as strong as you are, and you know as well as I do that I'm not as young as I used to be. You're the only one who has the strength and discipline to keep this place up and running. I simply can't handle a lot of the heavy-duty jobs without you anymore. If you weren't around, this place wouldn't last a week. We need you here. I need you here."
"Yeah, I know," I sighed heavily, dejected by my shattered hopes. "It's just not fair..." I turned to leave, but Dad stopped me, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Keith, I swear that I'll make it up to you one day." He looked me in the eyes with the most serious expression I had ever seen. I knew he would make good on that promise.
"Yeah, whatever," I said jokingly. Once again I turned to go to bed, but when I got to the foot of the stairs, I looked back at my father, who was still standing by the sink, smiling. I smiled back and told him goodnight, then climbed the stairs up to my room. I tossed my crusty outfit on the floor, then crawled into my bed and immediately fell asleep.
_____________________
'...eith......Kei...'
I sat bolt upright in my bed, sweating slightly and gasping for air. There was absolutely no visible light through the window, so I figured it was in the middle of the night. I began to massage my temples, a habit I had picked up somewhere, trying to sort out my jumbled thoughts. 'What the hell was that about?...what a weird dream. It was so bright, but at the same time...pitch black. It felt like something...no, someTHINGS were trying to...to talk to me? I wonder...'
Suddenly, my musings were cut short as the door was flung open. I looked up to see my brother standing in the doorway, panting heavily. Dad was right, Steven really isn't cut out for the physical work, I thought to myself jokingly. However, all thoughts of jokes immediately disappeared when I saw the look on his face: Steven was stricken with fear.
"What's your problem?" I asked.
Steven tried to say something, but just ended up spitting out a few stuttered words. "M-m-mary...sh-she's..."
I immediately figured that something had gone wrong and jumped out of bed, bolting past Steven. After bounding down the stairs, I burst through the backdoor, still only in my boxers, and ran to the shed. I faintly heard the door open again as Steven came running after me.
Finally, I made it to the door to the backroom. Hand on the doorknob, I paused briefly before slowly entering. When I looked in, my heart instantly sank. My mother was kneeling with her back to me by Mary's den. She was holding something in her arms; her whole body was softly shaking. Dad looked back towards we when I came in; he was squatting behind Mom with his hand on her shoulder. Ardent was on Mom's left, looking at the bundle in her arms with tear-filled eyes. I knew what had happened, but didn't want to believe it. Slowly, I walked over to my parents, and as Mom's bundle came into view, my worst fears were confirmed.
Mary was cradled in her trainer's arms, unmoving. Her eyes were closed, her expression completely blank. My eyes welled as I looked upon the dead Espeon, unfairly taken from her unborn child. I knelt beside my mother and pulled her into an embrace, my tears falling as heavily as hers. Dad wrapped us both in a hug from behind, including Steven when he arrived, and Ardent nuzzled up to Mom's knees. We sat like that for several minutes, collectively mourning the loss of our dear friend, family member, and, in Ardent's case, mother.
Finally, Dad slowly pulled away from our group embrace and stood up. "I'll prepare a coffin tonight," he said, his voice rough from his own tears, "and tomorrow we'll lay her to rest."
Mom nodded slowly, no longer shaking. She stood up, still cradling her beloved Pokemon. Dad pulled a blanket from the closet, and laid it out on one of the tables. Mom lifted Mary up to kiss her on the forehead one last time, before gently laying her on the blanket and wrapping her up. She then buried her face in her hands and began to sob uncontrollably. Dad ended up softly leading her out of the room and back to the house. Steven followed them at a distance, with me following suit.
Before I left, I looked back to call Ardent. However, the sight I saw both warmed my heart and broke it at the same time. Ardent had climbed into Mary's den and curled up around her egg, falling asleep with fresh tears in her eyes. It was obvious that she was returning the favor to her adopted mother, and she was not going to leave her egg unattended. I tried to say something, but the words caught in my throat. Finally, I walked back over and kissed Ardent on the head, then left before I broke out in tears again.
Deciding to leave my parents alone, I sadly climbed the stairs back up to my room. Steven had apparently reached the same conclusion; he was already in bed, though I could tell he was crying himself to sleep. I crawled back under the covers of my own bed, pulling them over my head as I tried to forget about the night's tragedy. Grief finally won, though, as I quietly began to sob once again.
About an hour later, my tears finally stopped falling, and I passed out from exhaustion. As the black of unconsciousness clouded my vision, the last thing I remembered was the familiar mixed presence touching my mind once again. Before I completely blacked out, I heard the strange voice speaking my name softly, as if sharing in my family's sorrow.
'...Keith......Keith...'Chapter End Notes:Ok, before you all give up on me, I know this chapter is a little (maybe really) depressing. Things will get better though. I'm not some emo guy out to make the whole world feel bad, just trying to see if my writing actually affects you in any way. If it does, then I'm doing alright.
Anywho, chapter 2 to follow. As a forewarning, it will start out depressing, but please stick with me. Every cloud has a silver lining, right? *kicked in groin* Ok, sorry for the bad cliche. Until next time, see yas