Wardens Eternal

Chapter One: Mysterious Beginnings

"Hang on! We're almost there!" A figure shouted, pulling an accomplice higher up the face of a sheer cliff. Below them, sharp rocks waited in the white waters of the sea below to break the two clinging on for dear life.

Thunder roared as the dreaded rain continued to fall without mercy, the runoff cascading off the cliff and onto the two below fighting for their lives. The one higher up reached for a handhold, but the water denied any chance of a solid grip, only his instinctive reflexes enabled him to grab a tree root to stop his fall.

"Come one grab my hand! We're going to make it!" He encouraged, holding out his hand to his companion who stretched his own arm to reach it.

"Almost!"

The next lightning strike impacted the cliff next to the second figure's face stunning him and sending him to the deadly seas below

"NO! MAR-"

He hit the water, and everything went black.

Wardens Eternal

By the time the sun rose the next day, the fierce storm had lifted, allowing the sun to rise freely and cast its light to the world below. Still, the damage was done, green leaves and grass continued to shed the rainwater accumulated overnight while the soil below continued to squish around underfoot.

Thankfully Treasure Town, one of the most significant settlements on the map, only was damaged slightly from the storm, the wind ripping new holes in the sides of the many tents. That could be remedied in an hour, and soon it was business as usual, happy and carefree.

Well, happy and carefree for most people. . .

Atop a nearby hill, a large tent stood accompanied by several totem poles and flanked by raised firepits. A massive iron gate blocked the entrance to the shelter meant to keep out unwanted intruders, and if the various dents and marks were anything to go by, it did its job quite well.

Unfortunately, that made the whole tent look like a towering castle with the unwelcoming message "KEEP OUT" written in black iron to the young soul out front.

The soul in question was a vulpix, a red colored fox with several tails. A large scarf wrapped itself around her neck, a deeper red in color. She stared at the gate, terrified, her feet trembling on the verge of carrying her away at a moment's notice.

"No, I, I came this far." The fire type thought out loud, trying to summon all her courage, "I made it this far. I have to try."

One trembling paw at a time, the fox pulled herself up onto the glass panel that covered a grated hole and braced for, for anything.

. . .

"NO ENTRY!"

A voice erupted without warning with a volume to rival the recent storm, shouting two words that broke the vulpix's heart.

"But-"

"I SAID NO ENTRY!"

Almost as if the yelling threw her off the glass window, the fox ran away down the hill blinded by tears. Only a few steps away from fulfilling her dream, only for some cruel fate to deny her that opportunity at the last second. What had she done to deserve this?

As soon as the coast was clear, two figures emerged from their hiding places behind shrubs impishly twisted grins adorning their faces.

"Oh, that was fun," One of them a zubat chuckled, "Nice impression of the Gatekeeper Koffing."

"Pathetic little thing had no Idea, eh?" The koffing agreed, "Did you see that scarf on her though?"

"It did look pretty spendy, must have spent a lot of coin on it." zubat admitted, "Probably has some more coin or goodies on her. Thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Oh, ho ho!" koffing realized, "I believe I am, should we have some fun with her?"

"Yes," zubat grinned, "Let's."

The two nodded in agreement before following the vulpix's trail.

Wardens Eternal

The vulpix kept on running and running blindly, trying to force the tears out of her eyes. The sun baked mud trail abruptly ended, being replaced with cool, soft sand beneath her paws as she entered the beach. Finally, her legs, weakened by her depression, gave out causing her to fall onto the sand. Continuing to sob, the fire type curled herself up as if it was an attempt at hiding herself from a world that had done nothing but ruined her dreams.

The sun began to set, and the local krabby came out and took their positions along the beach and stones before starting their show. Gently blowing, the water types soon filled the evening sky with many delicate bubbles. Each bubble acted like it's own crystal in a grand chandelier refracting and reflecting the setting sun's light to create a masterpiece to behold.

With her crying starting to end the vulpix managed to look up at the display, all the beautiful colors immediately had a calming effect powerful enough to ease the fiercest of quarrels or mend the most broken feelings. And it was working, only here, on the beach at sundown did the Vulpix feel at ease and free from her fears.

But that tranquility was about to change. . .

A painful groan snapped the vulpix out of her trance as she jumped to her feet in surprise, suddenly looking all around for the source of the noise.

Wardens Eternal

Pain.

The first thing he identified was pain throughout his body, but in his line of work, it was a welcome sign. It meant he was still alive.

Slowly the rest of his body began to respond, starting with his ringing ears. He could hear a voice, but the ringing made it impossible to understand. His vision was extremely blurry, but slowly returning to normal as he pushed himself off the ground. His head felt like a solid boulder, his mind felt, obstructed. His instincts were still there, but memories felt distorted, twisted, out of context.

If not missing entirely.

"Oh, just great. Must of hit my head pretty good somehow."

"Hey! Can you hear me? Are you okay?" The ringing ears cleared up, finally meaning he could understand what the voice was saying. Judging by the tone, he was out of any sort of immediate danger, a welcome change.

"Yeah," He groaned, wincing in pain for a moment, "Won't be pretty, but I'll live."

"That's a relief," The voice sighed, "When I found you passed out I was afraid you were already dead. Think you can get up?"

"G-give me a minute." he groaned as he moved his hands in front to help get back to his feet when he froze. He didn't have hands. He had paws.

"Is something wrong?" The voice asked, noticing his hesitation as he racked his mind for answers.

"Yes, no, I can't tell anymore," He admitted, "Last time I checked though, I was human."

"H-human? Like from the legends?" The voice asked in disbelief, "You look like a luxio to me, albeit a big one. Are you trying to pull something?" The voice asked, growing suspicious.

"A what?" He jumped to his feet and studied his reflection. The face of the blue and black electric lion stared back. Even if he doesn't remember all of them, he knew that he'd seen more than his fair share of things that didn't make any sense, still, this was entirely unexpected.

"You're telling the truth, aren't you?" The voice realized, "What happened?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." The luxio admitted, "Must have hit my head pretty good because I don't remember much. It's all blank, at least for now." he turned to face the source of the voice finding a vulpix slightly tilting her head at him.

"Well, do you still remember your name? Anything?"

"Mar. . . Mar something." The luxio replied, "Mark? No, Marcas?, No that's not it. Marlin? No, Marven, Marvel, no no no no, Martian? No…" The electric type continued to struggle until one name seemed to fit: Martian.

"Martian?" The vulpix repeated, trying the weird name for the first time before nodding, "Nice to meet you. I'm just glad you aren't a bad Pokemon."

The luxio, Martian immediately raised an eyebrow, a red flag suddenly went off in his head.

"N-not that I thought you were!" the vulpix quickly defended herself, "It's just that recently, more and more Pokemon are getting more aggressive and, and worse. It's hard to know who to trust nowadays."

Martian nodded in understanding before the vulpix was suddenly tackled from behind. Martian instinctively braced to break the vulpix's fall, triggering a faint, distorted memory of when he did something similar as a human. Something important.

"Oops, So-rry." The zubat sarcastically laughed after he sent the vulpix tumbling.

"What was that for?" The vulpix demanded as she turned to face the two hovering Pokemon

"It's what we do pipsqueak." Koffing replied, "We find a soft Pokemon like you then we mess around with them. What are you going to do? Fight back?"

The vulpix was about to retort when she stopped herself, looking down at the sand in shame.

"Heh, thought so." koffing scoffed smugly, "How much coin we get?"

"Uh, none, she's broke," Zubat reported looking for any coin on the ground. "Not a single piece, Just this piece of rock."

"No! That means everything to me!" The vulpix pleaded once she saw what the bat was holding, "It's my personal treasure!"

"Treasure?" Koffing's disappointment vanished at the mention of the word, "might actually be worth something then, grab it!"

"Well, I think we'll be on our way now," Zubat causally stated as he grabbed the small stone shard, "You're free to come get it back girl if you're not too chicken!"

The two laughed as they flew into a nearby cave, Koffing stopping at the entrance to turn around and stick his tongue out at Martian and the vulpix before he rejoined his ally.

"No, that was my personal treasure; it meant everything to me." The vulpix wept as she dropped to the sand. "It was everything I dreamed about, what I wanted to be, but without it. I don't know what to do. I'm such a coward."

"I'll help you get it back."

"W- What? Y-you will?" The vulpix looked up in utter surprise to see Martian stand to his full height examing one of his paws before closing it over his chest.

"On my honor."