Chapter Text
Alola Region, Melemele Island
Aeren let out a yawn as he rose from his bed, his white hair covered his eyes due to bedhead setting in, though despite that, he could still make out his surroundings illuminated by the sun through the window. Surrounded by several opened booster packs from last night, and he let out a disappointed grumble, "Stupid cards, stupid luck".
He quickly shook his head quickly before patting his cheeks with his palms several times, somehow either by Arceus's grace or cartoon logic, his completely disheveled hair was given a more concrete look in the form of a asymmetrical bob cut, "I refuse to let my losing streak continue! I will get a cool card!" he shot out of his bed determined, grabbed his glasses and rushed towards the bathroom, nearly running into his older brother Lucius and his older sister Tora in the process, "HEY WATCH IT!" Lucius shouted, already about to pop a blood vessel at 8 in the morning which caused Tora to snicker at Lucius.
After wrestling with Lucius and Tora watching in the background for usage of the bathroom, Aeren bolted from the bathroom towards the kitchen as he smelled his mothers famous waffles, ever the energetic child, he failed to notice his dad in front of him who caught him mid sprint and held like a Skitty being held in air prison.
"What did I say about running in the house?" His dad's ice blue irises clashed with Aeren's own heterochromatic eyes, "H-hehe, um, if you're as cute as me you can do it without consequence?" Aeren let out a nervous laugh, though Hayate's eyes bore into his son, those eyes quickly lightened and he shared a laugh with his boy before setting down onto his feet, "Just as long as you don't run into anything is what I said", he ruffled his son's hair with a proud smile, his smile matched by Aeren's signature closed eyed smile.
"Go on, first come first served, don't want Luce eating everything do you?" That prospect caused Aeren to audibly gasp before he bolted once more to the kitchen, his mother awaited in the kitchen having set the table with 6 plates of steaming hot waffles, "I could tell it was you by your footsteps, you must've been hungry" Clementine's lips formed a smile fit for a goddess, Aeren ran over and hugged Clementine happily, his head rubbing into his mothers stomach "I was! Luce was gonna eat them all! I won't let him" Aeren looked up at his mother to meet her gaze with him pouting at her.
Clementine covered her mouth to stifle a laugh at her child's whimsical nature "No child of mine is going hungry, now sit down and wait for everyone else, and as much as I know you want to, wait till everyone gets here okay?", Aeren continued to pout as he walked off towards his seat, however his pout soon transformed into a smile as the family pokemon Smeargle made its appearance after walking into the kitchen.
"Smeargle! Come come! Help me guard the waffles!". He patted the chair beside him wordlessly, the Smeargle perked up and flared its nostrils, immediately buying into Aeren's request and both sat down awaiting the rest of their family, guarding the pokemon shaped waffles from the tyranny that was Aeren's older brother.
A few seconds later, everyone walked into the kitchen and took their places at the table, after giving thanks, everyone began to dig in, while at their own places, Aeren and Smeargle both began to eat as if they had never eaten before, "So, whats on everyones agendas today hmm?" Hayate brought up as he ate the Magikarp shaped waffles.
"Train with Charmander" Lucius spoke bluntly as he ate his waffles, shooting glances at Aeren, which anytime their eyes met, sparks began to fly.
"Hmm...Think I'll get some running in" Tora spoke absentmindedly "or....maybe I'll stay in for the day? We'll see how I feel after I eat". Aeren continued scarfing down the waffles one after another, never a worry about leftovers with him around "Aeren what about you? Anything come to mind sweetie?", Clementine asked before gingerly drinking her beverage.
"I'M GONNA GET MY POKEMON LICENSE!" Aeren pointed his fork at the ceiling with syrup around his mouth. "You idiot, you're not even 10 years old yet." Lucius remarked as he leaned back in his chair. "I will be in 5 days! Just you wait, and when I do I'll be able to beat you and shut you up forever!" They shot daggers at each other. "I'm still a bit hesitant about you being a trainer sweetie, its not as easy as you'd think" Clementine brought up, "With a good pokepal, anything is possible" Aeren wiped his mouth as he continued, "I want to be the best trainer! Then I can get all the pokemon cards I want and be best friends with all the pokemon".
Clementine and Hayate looked at each other before Clementine sighed, knowing she couldn't change her sons mind on the matter, "I hope you know that training a pokemon takes skill, discipline, and above all, respect for ones Pokemon, none of you forget that, do you all understand?" Aeren and Tora nodded in understandment, however Lucius didn't seem to pay attention, or rather, he chose not to listen as he kept eating before muttering "Whatever".
Hayate squinted at Lucius before Aeren got his attention by waving at him "Oh dad, can I have a bit of my allowance early? My pull wasn't good this time" Aeren poked his fingers together as he was nervous to ask for his allowance that he did work hard for, "You spent it all on cards didn't you?" Hayate spoke before sighing, "There is more card and tinfoil than blanket in that room I swear" Tora snickered, "NO.........Yes" Aeren let his head down as he knew better than to lie about his poor spending habits.
His dad sighed before pulling 25 pokedollars out of his wallet, though he did hold it out, as soon as Aeren reached for it he raised his hand, "This will be your last bit of allowance until you get your license, you got that?", Aeren quickly nodded as he could already taste that sweet card already, "Yes yes I understand!" Aeren continued straining and reaching, letting out another sigh before relenting, Hayate handed over the money to Aeren.
"THANK YOU SO MUCH" Speed eating the rest of the waffles and chugging his beverage, he put the dishes into the sink, gave his family a firm kiss on the cheek aside from Lucius who put his palm on Aeren's face and dashed out the front door, though he did come back to quickly yell to his family "BYE, I'LL BE BACK LOVE YOU" before taking off again, Hayate and Clementine only looked at each other before chuckling. "I wonder who he gets the energy from" Clementine mused before she began to clean up after everyone. "Heh, I wonder too" Hayate spoke before he looked at a photo of him and Clementine 14 years ago, taking himself down memory lane, "But don't worry darling, he'll be okay".
The dark skinned boy jumped off his porch and broke into a sprint towards Hau'oli city, the beauty of the region never ceased to amaze Aeren as he ran past several pokemon and people living their lives in harmony, soon he could fully enjoy the wonders of the world in 5 days, this prospect filled with him with energy....but not as much energy as the potential SR pokemon card he could get from a booster pack was gonna buy once he got to the city, he was so full of energy and not paying attention that he ran smack dab into a Alolan Exeggutor, falling onto his butt he rubbed his face before looking up at the gargantuan specimen. Without words, he focused his true thoughts into words that Exeggutor could understand, "Sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you,a heartful connection was being formed by Aeren's latent gift, luckily the Exeggutor's docile nature allowed Aeren to reach them more easily with his heart, though initially surprised, the pokemon turned and left the boy alone with Aeren sighing of relief and getting up before dusting himself off, "Maybe I'll just jog there instead....and look where I'm going", he gently touched his face before wincing in pain.
Aeren continued jogging at a brisk pace as he entered into Hau'oli city, wiping the sweat from his brow as his eyes beamed with happiness, first stop, Pokemart.
Familiar music filled the air as he entered in the shop, "Hey Aeren! Back for more?" the clerk spoke with a smile, "You betcha! I'm aiming really high today" Aeren swiped as much as he felt 25 pokedollars could get him in booster packs before bringing them to the counter. "Let me guess, pops said this was your last bit of allowance right?" The clerk playfully winked at Aeren who dejectedly hanged his head and shoulders low, "Is it that obvious?" "When you go from 100 dollars worth of packs to 25, it says alot." The clerk couldn't help but laugh a bit at the budget this card fiend had to endure, but Aeren wouldn't let that get him down as he forked over his money to the man.
The boy eagerly waved at the kind clerk before trotting off, a pleased smile gracing his face, "I can almost taste the SR, I deserve this for passing all my classes, and the absolute trash I got last pull", he shook his head to get rid of his lingering negativity. He put his haul into his backpack as he hummed a tune he heard a Pikipek sing a while ago, "Hmm, oh yeah! Next on the list is feed that sneaky pokemon by Iki Town", he checked his bag and confirmed the existence of high quality pokefood within, smiling to himself he decided to briskly jog towards Iki Town.
Along the way he had passed several pedestrians, pokemon and the like and eagerly greeted everyone as he came by, receiving the same praise back, even stopping to help an old lady carry her groceries to her house before making his trek back to Iki Town. He made an abrupt stop when he came towards the wooden bridge that connected the two plots of land together, taking a deep breath to relax himself, he steadily made his way across the bridge, despite how sturdy that bridge was his overactive imagination led him to believe that one wrong move would send him to Arceus first class, after looking down at his feet to see that he had indeed made it across, he sighed of relief before continuing his brisk jog into Iki Town.
Iki Town was bustling full of life, families were preparing to worship their guardian deity Tapu Koko, however it was still too early for that celebration, aside from that he came here for that sneaky pokemon that he was caretaking. "Easy peasy, now just to sneak into Maholo Trail", using his stealth skills that his father taught him from his homeland, he was able to sneak passed everyone prepping for the ceremony. "Alright little buddy, I got your food, I even got the really expensive brand! I hope you like it", he glanced around to see if his heartfelt thoughts could be heard but to no avail.
As he went towards some trees along the trail, he knelt down and slowly pulled from beneath the brush a blue food bowl with crumbs of food in it, "At least you're eating, that makes me happy", he couldn't help but smile as he felt he was helping a pokemon, even if he never saw it as it only ate whenever he was gone, he was determined to help anyway he can. Without wasting anytime, he poured the food to the max that the container could hold then zipped up the bag.
"I'll be back to fill it up tomorrow!", as he rose from his kneeling position, he sensed a disturbance nearby through the Pikipek that flew away in a flock further up the trail, their feelings were hard to read clearly but it was....fear, not from a predator but something else. He couldn't reach their hearts with his own, there were too many for that, so he looked straight ahead of the trail, "Theres.....theres something wrong over there" he gulped as he wondered what he could even do in this situation, he wasn't a trainer yet and technically trespassing on what would be considered sacred land for a seemingly inconsequential errand.
Fear never held a firm grip on his heart however, pushing those thoughts aside, he felt he had to try and sprinted down the trail towards an unknown evil that threatened the lives of these pokemon, unbeknownst to him, that evil had goals far exceeding this mere island.
Further up the trail, Ruins of Conflict
A hooded man clad in a tattered cloak slowly approached the ruins, his form seemingly phasing in and out of existence, as if life itself was rejecting his very being, yet he persisted towards the ruins, his footsteps echoed as he entered in the ruins walkway, he never turned his head to look at anything, only concerned for the altar that lay before him.
A sudden gust could be heard even this deep into the ruins, distant rumblings of an approaching storm echoed throughout, but the man didn't stop his advance until he reached the center of the altar, in front of him was a ball of electricity, no bigger than a pebble, yet it was rapidly expanding as it began to take shape of a pokemon, "Make yourself known Tapu Koko, this will mark the beginnings of this worlds end", undeterred by the mythical entity coming forth before him, he prepared himself by pulling out a dark ball from within his wispy mass, preparing to face off as a third party would soon make themselves known.
|> To be continued....