Chapter 1: A Fateful Encounter
A quiet wind was whisping over the cliffside town of Treasure Town as the sun was setting on another day. Down near the town, Auntie Kangaskhan was just closing up her storage services when a young Ralts strolled by, seemingly saddened by something. The young Ralts wore a small lavender scarf with a red hood, with a small red cape, which covered up her head, aside from the fact of her crimson eyes were still glowing brightly from the hood.
"Oh, is somethin' wrong now, young one?" Kangaskhan asked the young Ralts walking by. "Your not seeming like a normal Pokémon around these parts."
The young Ralts jumped at the question. "O-oh! S-sorry Miss Kangaskhan!" The Ralts stuttered, lowering her hood from her head. It was clear now that the Ralts was female, from the apparent lashes and from her blushing complexion. A small relic around her neck fell from the perch on her scarf.
"Aye, aye, aye, Naomi," Kangaskhan had said. "You know you can't be walking around Treasure Town like that. Teams may mistake you for an outlaw."
The young Ralts nodded worriedly. "V-very sorry, Miss Kangaskhan." She said before she hurried down the dirt path through town. Kangaskhan shook her head. "That lass sometimes, I swear..."
"What's wrong with her, mama?" The youngling in her pouch asked as the Ralts hurried off. The Kangaskhan shook her head again. "It's nothing sweetie," she said. "The girl is just troubled."
The young Ralts continued down the dirt path, pulling the hood back up over her head. She, in her own mind, was extremely lonely and usually wanted to hide her face away from everyone else. She never had any friends during her childhood, but she tried to change that. She had heard about the rumors of Exploration Teams from the Wigglytuff Guild, situated right in the hometown of Treasure Town, and was thinking if she started a team, she could get more friends to join with her.
"Ooohhhh," The Ralts thought in her head as she stepped in front of the guild's enterance. "I need to get myself together, I am so nervous as heck..." She then shook her head. "No, I need to focus," She thought stepping forward onto a grate in front. "If I want friends, I need to grow some courage..." Her thoughts were interrupted as a voice shouted up from below.
"Pokémon Detected! Pokémon Detected!" A small shrill voice shouted up. The Ralts shrieked and stumbled backwards off the grate, landing back-first on the ground in front of the grate.
"Alright, who'd we got coming in this time?" A loud baritone voice called through the grate.
"The footprint is... uhh, gone." The small shrill voice said. "There's no one on the grate."
"YOU JUST SAID THERE WERE!" The loud voice yelled through the grate. "HOW IS THERE NO ONE THERE?!"
"W-well," The small voice said. "I don't know what's not there..."
"GO UP AND CHECK!" The loud voice yelled. The Ralts panicked and rushed down the hill from the guild's perch and headed for the beach, moving as fast as her small legs could take her. She didn't stop running until her foot stubbed something and she tripped, face-planting into the sand a couple feet away from the object she tripped on.
"Oww..." The Ralts said, rubbing her head in pain as she sat up, before looking over at what she tripped over. "Oh... my god!" She gasped as she rushed to the Pokémon she tripped over. "H-hey! A-are you alright?!" She panickedly asked, nudging the unconscious Pokémon, a Riolu.
The Riolu stirred slightly from the Ralts' nudging. Soon the Riolu pulled his head out of the sand, shaking it like he had a massive headache. "Oww..." He said, holding his head in pain. "Wh-what happened?" He said to himself, unknowingly turning to the Ralts.
"Oh my god, thank Arceus you're okay!" The Ralts said, hugging the Riolu tightly. "I thought you were dead!"
The Riolu was silent for a second, then freaked out, shoving the Ralts off of him. "Di...did you just talk?!" He asked.
"Y-yeah," The Ralts said. "Is there... is there something wrong with that?"
"How?!" The Riolu said. "P-Pokémon can't talk!"
"Wh-what do you mean?!" The Ralts asked hesitantly. "Y-you're a Pokémon too!"
"That's ridiculous!" The Riolu said. "How am I a Poké-" He started, before a bubble floated in front of his face, showing a Riolu staring back. The Riolu panicked and rushed to a nearby spring at the base of the rock face. Sure enough, looking into his reflection on the spring confirmed that he was in fact a Riolu. He panicked.
"H-how?!" He said. "How am I now a Riolu?!"
"Uhh..." The Ralts said. "A-are you ok?"
The Rilou put two digits on his hand to his forehead, and calmly breathed. "I'll be fine, I just need to figure out exactly what is going on here."
"...you're... odd, to say the least." The Ralts said. "Anyways, I'm Naomi, you are?"
"Shin'ichi." The Rilou said. "Where am I anyways?"
"Oh? Where are we?" The Ralts asked. "Th-this is near Treasure Town... do you not know your way around here?"
"Frankly my friend, I can't seem to remember much of anything." The Riolu said, scratching his head. "My name is the only thing's that's comin' to me."
"Ohh, that's awful!" The Ralts cried. "There must be some way to get your memory back!"
"Look, I'll be fine," The Riolu said. "It'll probably come back to me at some point."
"Oohh, I hope so..." The Ralts worried, before being harshly shoved forward, a small pendent flying off from around her neck.
"Woh-ho! Looks like we got a big wuss here!" A voice said from behind the Ralts. She flipped over to see a large purple gas-ball, a Koffing, looming over her, with a Zubat flitting at it's side. "And here I thought a Psychic-Type would actually stand a chance!"
"Heh, you got that right, Koffing!" The Zubat snarkily commented. "What a wimp!"
"And just who exactly do you two think you are?" The Riolu asked, clearly offended by these two's raunchy behavior.
"Eh, why should it concern you?" The Koffing mocked. "That pendent is ours ripe for the taking!" The Zubat swooped down and soon had the pendent around his neck. The Ralts was in shock at this scene happening before her.
"I'm sorry, but when a bowling ball reject and his little friend just start beating down on innocent Pokémon, that raises a red flag in my book." The Riolu said, clenching his fists.
"Bowling ball reject?!" The Koffing raged. "You've got some nerve, kid! Maybe you'd like to take that back before I shove that tail of yours into your fat mouth!"
The Riolu shook his head. "You want trouble, you got it, now back off!" He said.
"Your asking for it now brat!" The Koffing growled, before charging straight at the Riolu. "You won't be gloating so much when you're choking on gas!"
The Riolu jumped over the Koffing's Tackle before grabbing it and throwing it back, slamming it into the Zubat. The Zubat got back up before flying straight at the Riolu, fangs glistening. The Riolu deftly dodged to the side before slapping the Zubat upside the head with his tail, before landing on a nearby rock, the Zubat faceplanting into the sand.
The Koffing charged again at the Riolu, bit was then frozen in place as an odd blue aura surrounded it. The same blue glow surrounded the Ralts' eyes before the Koffing slammed into the ground.
"Heh, not bad!" The Rilou said. "Looks like you do have some fight in you!"
"Thanks.." The Ralts said. "I'm not really much a fighter, though.."
"No, but that was impressive!" The Riolu said. "Think of how much power you have inside!"
"Ah, whatever!" The Koffing said, floating back up. "We don't need any stupid rock to get rich!"
"Yeah!" The Zubat said, throwing the pendent onto the ground. "Take your stupid rock!"
"See ya around, losers!" The Koffing said before him and the Zubat took off from the beach.
The young Ralts rushed over to the pendent, brushing it off before clutching it close to her chest. "Oh, thank god, it's not damaged.."
The Riolu walked over to where the Ralts was. "So, what is that thing that those low-lifes tried to steal?"
"Oh, this?" The Ralts said, holding out the pendent. "Th-this is my Relic Fragment."
"Relic Fragment?" The Riolu asked.
The Ralts nodded. "This has been my personal treasure for as long as I can remember. It... it gives me hope."
"Hope?" The Riolu asked.
The Ralts nodded again. "It gives me hope that one day... one day, I can make a friend, hopefully..."
The Riolu nodded, looking out to the sea. "H-hey, if it doesn't inconvenience you," The Ralts asked. "Would you like to form an Exploration team?"
"A what?" The Riolu asked.
"An exploration team." The Ralts said. "Please?"
"Well," The Riolu thought. "I really have nowhere to go. It might not hurt to team up with her for now... alright, I'll do it."
The Riolu nodded. "I'll do it." At this comment the Ralts eyes brightened.
"Y-you will?!" She asked. "Oh, thank you!" She cried, hugging the Riolu. "C'mon, I know the perfect place where we can start!" She said, grabbing the Riolu's arm and leading him up to the guild.
And so began the tale... the tale of intertwining time and darkness and the birth... of heroes.
