"You call this treason?!"

"Must be...alive. Must be...protected."

Protector of Silence

Chapter One – Run for a life

There was commotion throughout the woods. Black-clad men scoured the forest, their Houndoom and Growlithes searching for a scent.

Standing ankle-deep in a stream, the dark-haired boy looked over his shoulder through the trees. His winced with pain as he twisted his torso, the gaping wound in his side making him feel twice as vulnerable. He'd lost a lot of blood, but he no longer cared. All he had to do was get away from this place, then he could, for the first time in years, finally rest. No more sneaking around, no more hiding among the villages; just finally an eternal peace. He smiled - even if it meant his final end, he looked forward to that.
He looked down at the bundle in his arms, suddenly feeling pity. He adored the object he was carrying, yet he would leave it soon enough, never to return. He felt a twang of sadness.

Why?

This wound wasn't self-inflicted, nor were the ones looking for him completely responsible. He'd been running for his life when he tried to climb over a barbed wire fence with sharp wooden spikes on top of the poles. One of the searchers had grabbed his leg and pulled him downward, impaling him on the pole and then sliding down onto the barbed wire. His escape had been nothing short of sheer luck, but luck wouldn't keep him alive for long. Instincts always had, and now those instincts were draining out of him along with his blood. He looked beyond the trees, staring at the flickering orange and red beyond them and the sparks and smoke rising high in the sky amongst the screams of agony.

"Everyone" he breathed "Please, forgive me." What was this, he was asking for forgiveness? He was Lunick Kazuki - outlaw of the Great War - he wasn't one to ask for forgiveness. He lied, he cheated, he stole; anything that kept him alive, and his precious treasure safe. But when that village had gone up in flames, he had felt sorry. Sorry for all the ones who had helped him, albeit only for a week. This was how he repaid them: sending them to their deaths.

"Please understand" he said to no one in particular, an almost begging tone in his voice "This must be done." There was a long list of people that would die that night, and soon he would atone for his past actions and would sign his name to that list. "I'm sorry."

Almost automatically, the bundle began to stir. Lunick shushed it, he couldn't afford to be spotted.

"Just a little longer" he whispered "Please, just until I get us out of here." As if the bundle understood, it went silent. He smiled. Something so small, something in a way so innocent, why was it caught up in a cops-and-robbers chase like this? Why was this happening at all?

"Hey! You!" He turned and looked towards the bank. Five chasers and their three Pokémon stopped at the water's edge. A wind of silence blew in between them, causing Lunick's blue-black hair to agitate the scars on his face. He blinked as torch beams fell upon him and felt a temporary sting of pain as the scar across his left eyelid and cheek caused his vision in that eye to go blurry.

"Lunick Kazuki!" The one who must be the leader of the group barked "I arrest you for treason among a variant of other crimes!"

"Treason!" Lunick retaliated in anger, aqua eyes flashing dangerously, as if daring them to challenge him further. "You call this treason?!"

"You hide a weapon that could cause a loss of life on a grand scale across Almia!" the leader told him "That is treason!"

"This is not a weapon!" Lunick growled, tembling in anger "And you're the ones with blood on your hands! You killed an entire village, and who knows how many more over the years! You're the reason my little brother can never lead a normal life!"

"And it appears blood is on your hands too Lunick, just your own rather than other peoples' this time" the leader smirked, looking at the wound still draining life-force from the fifteen-year-old "It appears our chase is almost at an end. You know what this means Lunick, you finally have to accept you have lost!" He laughed like he was already the victor, followed by all the other searchers. Lunick gave the loudest growl so far, almost matching that of a Mightena. They were mocking him.

"You will never claim it!" he snarled "Even if I must protect it all the way to my own grave, I will never let it fall into your hands!" The leader drew back slightly - not entirely sure what Lunick meant by 'it', but knowing he'd hit a nerve.

"Houndoom!" he ordered "Fire Blast!" The Houndoom opened its mouth and let a stream of fire whiz from its mouth. Clutching the bundle close to his chest, Lunick dodged the Fire Blast by leaping at least three times his own height into the air with no problems at all. His eyes flashed like blue fire in the amber light, his scar rippling fiercely like his face was that of an escaped convict. Well, leave the escaped bit off and he guessed he was.

"Growlithe!" two of the other searchers commanded "Flamethrower!" Two Flamethrowers launched themselves into the air. Lunick smiled.

'No choice' he thought 'Just one last time shouldn't hurt.' His eyes flashed from aqua-blue to a soul-freezing blue-white. The Flamethrowers bent away from him in two arches, instead turning back upon their senders. The searchers and Pokémon screamed in panic as they leapt from the explosion.

Some way from the explosion, Lunick landed in the stream again. He looked over his shoulder, raised his face to the sky and laughed almost manically, a mere shadow of the guardian ranger of Fiore four years ago.

"That's what you get for ruining my little brother's life!" he laughed. He then cried out with pain and fell down on one knee, his left hand moving to his wound. Briefly, the world span and he was almost sick.

'I'm running out of time' he thought, looking at the bundle cradled in his right arm 'But I still have one last mission to complete.' He stood up, looking back over his shoulder.

Looking at the smouldering village, he couldn't help but think of Solana Hinata, his closest friend. Both had been Pokémon Rangers before the Great War between Almia and Fiore had begun. Lunick had fled the eyes of the rangers the day the war began, and not long after Solana followed him. Then they met the young boy they took on as their little brother, a mere baby but with a great destiny in Lunick's eyes. They'd fled, hiding in villages and forests across Almia and Fiore until they could be granted three boat tickets off this archipelago of fights and rejection. But only three months after meeting their brother, Solana had perished at the hands of searchers. She had been noble, backed off a cliff to her death instead of just being taken prisoner. She had been a true ranger, not the traitors these days who just followed orders from anyone. But Lunick missed her, with all his heart. Maybe, if things were as they should, before this stupid war, then they could've been together. It was no secret he had held feelings for the blue-haired ranger, and if he bled at this rate then he may see her again before the sun rose. But first he had something to take care of.

He turned on his heels and, ignoring the pain in his side, ran upstream.

Chicole Village. The sun was slowly rising over the cliffs. Bird Pokémon tweeted and crowed as they welcomed in the new morning. The land was florishing with life, Pokémon and people alike moving to this secluded corner of the world to escape the ragin war further north. The beauty of this piece of land was as-of-yet unblemished.

The farmer turned, wipping his brow as he stood up strait. He looked down at the freshly dug earth on the farmland south of the village. He turned and was about to leave to return to the tiny settlement just to the north when he saw something walk out of the trees. Or should he say someone. A boy, about fifteen with dark blue hair and aqua eyes that were pale and dull, like they'd had all the life drained out of them. His skin would have probably been pale if it hadn't been streaked with dirt and he wore the traditional Fiore ranger uniform.

'A Fiorian?' the man wondered 'In Almia?' He wore a Fiore uniform, but there was something about his eyes that made him look Almian. Was it possible, this ranger was both?

'Half Almian, half Fiorian' the man thought 'Near-black hair, aqua eyes... wait a minute!Does that mean he's...!'

"Please...help us" The boy, carrying a small bundle in his arms, dropped to his knees, a scar across his left eyelid and cheek rippling in the rising light.

"Lunick Kazuki?" the man asked. He had heard of this boy before, but not in a good way. He then noticed that the left side of the ranger's jacket was stained a dark red colour.

Blood.

"Not...much time" Lunick gasped for air "Can't protect...any longer." He shoved the bundle he had had been carrying along the ground towards the man. "Take...care..." He trailed off as the man bent down to look at the bundle. Inside a seven-month-old baby was sound asleep. "...Brother." The man stared wide-eyed at the baby, then the dying boy in front of him. Lunick fell onto his front, shoving the baby closer to him. He looked up into the man's eyes "Please...protect. Please."

Just then the baby woke. It opened its eyes, an unusual but enchanting blue-green colour, the colour of the ocean. The baby opened its mouth as if to make a sound, but no sound came out. But the thing that interested the man so much were the pupils of those blue-green eyes: they were white as marble.

"Brother...great destiny..." Lunick continued "Must be...alive. Must be...protected."

"He shall be" The man got down on one knee and used one hand to stop the bundle of cloth that the baby was wrapped in from rolling away "I shall protect him." Lunick closed his eyes and gave a content sigh.

"Glad" he breathed "Thank...you." His hand slipped from the bundle.

"Wait" the man said "The child, does he have a name?" There were some tense moments where the man feared the dack-haired ranger may have passed, but then a tiny weak voice rasped:

"Brother's name...Kellyn." Then Lunick gave a final shuddering sigh and lay still.

For a few seconds the man stayed paralysed, looking down in horror at the still-warm, battered and bloodied body of the once proud hero of Fiore. He then looked down at the baby who was finally making a tiny gurgling noise of laughter.

"Kellyn" the farmer breathed.

The baby then moved its arms and clapped its hands together in delight.