Episode 1: A Single Spark

“So far, so good,” the Kommo-o thought to himself, sprinting on all fours down the steep, rugged rockery of the mountain. His solid structure made easy work of the trek as he clambered across spikes at high speed, completely ignoring their obvious threat as if they dealt him no pain. He still travelled with a limbering gallop however, keeping a determined grip on the two strings of rope that kept a carriage strapped to his back. Its loose attachment irritated him with its constant movements.

He soon had to skid to a stop as he found his view obscured by his surroundings, a wide range of charcoal black mountains and a dusty sky that refused to let through even a spec of sunlight. He wiped his forehead and crinkled his nose, scanning the environment restlessly in search of his destination. The area stunk of embers and the dust in the air threatened to make him sneeze, but he was able to lock eyes with his target before long.

“There. We’re almost there now, so don’t even think about opening your mouth to anyone,” he commanded, twisting his head to glance back at the carriage. He could just about make out the single passenger whimpering within, a lone Clefairy that seemed to do her best to avoid looking at him. “We’ve long lost your little heroes, so don’t bother trying to cry out or anything. If you do, I’ll have more than enough time to make you regret it.”

He kept his voice low and growled his words, hoping that he had frightened her enough to obey. Judging by her pathetic squeak, he had succeeded and used that as his signal to carry on the rest of the way. Reaching the foot of the next mountain, his left claw abandoned one of the ropes carrying the carriage to start climbing it. He used that free hand to jab at the rock and hoist himself upwards. The reckless act caused the rocks to crumble and shake with his heavy body, whilst his carriage dangled dangerously from him, but he didn’t care as he didn’t have to climb this way for long. Before he knew it, he had reached the centre of this new mountain, where he unveiled its startling secret.

“Lord Jyararanga,” a rough voice said in surprise. He had to take a moment to catch his breath before looking at who had spoken; giving a relieved sigh that it was a Zoroark. There were two of them gawking at him.

“I hope those surprised looks mean the illusion’s still up. This castle isn’t hiding itself,” Jyararanga growled, dismissing the two of them to walk off. They gave him bothered looks and returned to guarding what was suddenly a smooth, well-decorated entryway to a castle. A clean red carpet covered the centre of the hallway and all paths that branched from it, whilst lit candles adorned the walls to brighten the place. If it wasn’t for the black brickwork lining those walls and the ceiling, one would never guess that a castle was built into the mountains this way. Its entrance was being visually hidden by the impressive illusions that could only be made by a Zoroark, so they made for the best guards as well.

The castle was lively and productive with a variety of tough Pokémon the Kommo-o was used to seeing. Each of them gave him an astonished look and immediately stopped whatever they were doing to move aside once they saw him and what he was carrying. He ignored them all without much more than an annoyed look, resuming the hurried gallop he’d taken to get this far in the first place. After another long trek up royal stairways and hallways of increasing elaborateness, he finally reached his royal chambers, where he unloaded the carriage next to his nest of hay and rock.

“Get out here, now!” he commanded once again, snapping the backs of his arms together. They made a horribly loud ringing sound that resembled a steel bell, causing the Clefairy to squeal as she obeyed. She tripped out of the carriage and searched for him, trembling so much that she couldn’t stand in one spot. “We don’t have much time, so you had best follow my orders perfectly. I don’t need you to do much.”

The Clefairy didn’t reply with anything more than continued whimpers, leading to a moment of silence. He stared down at her and sighed, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. “Listen to me. If you do a good job, I’ll take you home. So just listen to me and do exactly as I say, okay? You won’t get hurt or anything. That’s a promise,” he said, leaving his arms to rest on the floor.

Clefairy’s trembling gradually came to a halt, but she was still playing with her hands. Jyararanga’s face tightened, “I said, okay? Do you understand?”

“I-uh-um-yes, okay,” she said, going right back to trembling before him. He almost palmed his face, but let it off with a grumble.

“I need to go and make preparations,” he said, hoisting the carriage onto his back again. “Until I return, do not leave this room, and do not speak to anyone. And stay out of sight as well. I’ll be back to take you to the top of the mountain as soon as I’m ready.”

“O-okay,” she responded, squeezing her tiny fingers together. He grumbled at her again but galloped off at that, leaving her to deal with calming down alone.

Gazing around the room, the rough, harsh appearance of everything kept her shuddering and uncomfortable. Everything of the walls and floor looked hard and dull coloured, the room had no door, and a cold wind seemed to cycle through it without cease. Even the hay covered bed seemed to have a jagged appearance, and she knew that she daren’t try to make herself comfortable in it. Who knew what that giant Kommo-o was like with others sleeping in its bed?

She stayed as still as she could, anxiously listening to the sounds of the Pokémon hard at work outside the room. A lot of them passed by as well, not one of them sparing a glance inside. The more she concentrated however, the more she found herself beginning to shudder. Soon enough, she found herself in a level of pain she couldn’t take, being introduced to feelings foreign and seemingly beyond her control.

She could hear everything from everywhere around this castle, and it hurt. Somehow, every last word, shout, footstep, and all else, from every single room and floor could be heard so clearly that she knew exactly what was going on and where it was happening. The sheer amount of noises combined to make her feel like her ears were going to explode. She could hear the shouts of chefs hastily making about twenty different dishes at once. The Zoroark guards at the entrance were having a casual conversation about their favourite weapons. Soldiers were being issued dozens of different orders and were mobilising at different spots around the castle. And most irritating of all, the shouts of two kids playing tag were amongst it all.

The two kids. Their voices were getting louder and louder, closer and closer. They were so close and loud that every word from them brought an unbearable pang to her head. It got to the point where she couldn’t help but moan out loud and fall to her backside, clutching her head to try and drive the pain out. There was just too much loud noise.

“Oh, whoa! I’ve never seen you before, when did you get here?” one of the kids asked, sounding so loud that his words blurred and could barely be made out. She gasped and froze, finding herself stood before an Oshawott just about shorter than her. His face was young and pudgy, but he had an excessive amount of white fur on his head that was styled into a fancy hairdo. She hadn’t seen him come in, so she stared at him in surprise.

“When did you get here? What’s your name?” his young, gritty voice boomed, splitting her head in half. She immediately cried out and grabbed her head in agony, once again brought back to the floor. “Whoa, are you okay? What’s wrong?” he said, stepping back from her. “Man, oh man! I messed up big time!”

“Big brother!” the other voice called out. This one came from another Oshawott, a little girl that was a notable few inches shorter than the first Oshawott. She too had excess head fur that was made into a hairstyle, although hers was messier and clearly hadn’t been made today. “There you are! We’re not supposed to be in Daddy’s room, so what’re you up to?”

“No, no, look!” the first Oshawott said, pointing at Clefairy. She cringed at the volume again but managed to force herself to look at them. They both stared at her for a few moments, keeping her nerves on edge.

“I’ve never seen you before. Is Daddy back? He must’ve brought her back with him!” the little girl said, slowly walking around the Clefairy to examine her. Every word made Clefairy cringe and clutch her head with a moan of pain, taking the little boy’s attention. “Wait a minute… pink body, little wings, short and fat… you’re a fairy! A fairy Pokémon!”

“A fairy Pokémon?” the little boy said, continuing to stare at the struggling Clefairy. There was a moment of quiet, enough for her to stop struggling again, to which he gave her a straight face. He breathed in and began to speak loudly, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Testing, testing, one two three.”

Once again, the Clefairy squealed and tried to withstand the volume of his voice, failing at doing much more than falling to the ground and moaning aloud. Her head was so full of headache inducing noise that she couldn’t even hear herself now, and could just about feel herself fainting. Her eyes were clenched shut and the clarity of the voices had suddenly become muffled, drowning out to a bearable level.

“Are you okay?” the little boy asked, this time whispering. She could barely hear him amongst the ambience of her headache, but she could open her eyes again at least. To her surprise, the Oshawott was right in front of her and both of his hands were holding down her ears, squishing them into her. She shot to her feet and panicked until he hushed her, making her freeze.

“It… it stopped…” she mouthed, realising what had just happened. The boy holding down her ears had drowned out the noise almost completely.

“So, it is too noisy. Keep your ears closed like that, I’ll take you somewhere quiet,” the little boy said. She followed his instructions, unsure of what was best right now. Once her hands were firmly squashing down her ears, he let go of them and stepped back, taking a moment to check that she was okay before turning and walking away.

“C’mon, follow me!” he said eagerly.

“But big brother, what happened to our game?” the little girl said.

“Forget that, I wanna know about the fairy now. Let’s go to the roof,” he replied, waving at them. Clefairy stayed put and stared for a while, running a hundred thoughts through her mind. She knew better than to disobey that big brute that had taken her away from her room. But then again, he had probably kidnapped her to eat her or something. Meanwhile, this little boy had helped her on the spot and seemed friendly enough. If she really had any chance of not getting eaten, following this little boy was probably her best bet.

“Er, your ears… are you alright?” the little boy said, making her realise she had let go of her ears during her thought trail. Her hearing had returned to normal, silencing all but her surprised breathing. “Was that all just an act? You’re pretty funny already.”

“N-no… It’s not noisy anymore,” she said.

“That’s good. Are you gonna follow me or not?” the little boy asked, dancing on the spot.

“But that dragon told me to stay here. He m-might eat me,” she said, going quieter at the thought of that.

“Eat you?” The little boy repeated, walking back over to examine her. “Nah, you don’t look very nice. I don’t think Dad would eat you.”

“But you’re a fairy, right? From the Fairy Kingdom in the sky!” The little girl asked. Clefairy nodded. “Really? Oh my gods, that’s so cool! You’ve gotta tell us about that!”

“Tell you?” Clefairy replied.

“I’ve never seen a fairy before. Heck, I’ve barely seen any Pokémon outside of the castle! What’s it like in the Fairy Kingdom? I bet it’s really sunny and colourful and stuff!” the little boy started rambling. “O-oh! I’m Rune, by the way. What’s your name?”

“I… I’m not allowed to tell you mine,” Clefairy said, scrunching herself up.

“Well, that makes you weird. I’m Diantha, and I’m the princess here, you know. That means you have to tell me your name,” the little girl said, putting her hands on her hips. There was another moment of quiet.

“Why are you two here? Are you here because of the big dragon?” Clefairy asked, playing with her fingers. The two Oshawott leaned back and exchanged glances, quickly whispering something to each other.

“Yeah, we’re here to show you around,” Rune replied, putting his hands on his hips as well. “So don’t be so stiff! You’re not in trouble.”

They said that, but she knew that she was. Either these two kids were playing along with something, or they really didn’t know where she had come from. She started shaking a little and glanced side to side unsurely, almost hoping that the dragon would come back and clear everything up for her. But he didn’t, so she forced herself to speak up. “He told me not to t-talk to anyone. And not to go anywhere either.”

“Hmm. I wonder why he did that? If you told us where you came from, we might be able to help,” Rune said.

“Really? Aren’t you with the dragon? He stole me away from home and didn’t let me out of the carriage until I was here,” Clefairy said. “I don’t know where I am or who he is. I don’t know what to tell you.”

Rune gasped overzealously, “Sis, do you know what this is? What this means?”

“This… means something?” she replied.

“It’s the call to adventure. This little fairy got kidnapped from the sky. Now we’ve gotta take her back there!” Rune said, pumping his fists. He turned to Clefairy and gave her an upbeat handshake. “So it’s fine that we don’t know your name. If you’ve been kidnapped, we’re just gonna take you home!”

“But big brother! We don’t know how to get to the Fairy Kingdom. And how would Dad let us go if he’s the one that kidnapped her?” Diantha whined.

“That’s why it’s the call to adventure. We don’t tell him. We set off in secret using that blocked passageway Dad always keeps us from going up. There must be some sorta secret up there, a secret that has something to do with why he kidnapped a fairy Pokémon!” he said, posing enthusiastically. “Stick with me little fairy. I promise I’ll take you home, no matter what.”

“Would you really?” Clefairy replied.

“You might be wrong this time, Rune. But it does kinda sound like fun,” Diantha said in a playful tone. “I’ve wanted to know what’s up there ever since Dad said we shouldn’t go.”

“Exactly! So let’s go right now before he comes back!” Rune suggested, grabbing one of Clefairy’s hands.

“A-ah, wait Rune!” she squeaked, tripping after him.

“Big brother, don’t go and leave me behind!” Diantha cried, having to skip after them.

Clefairy could barely keep up with his steps, trying not to cry out or draw too much attention to herself as she was dragged along the foreign hallway. They bumped past a few servants and soldiers and made them drop whatever they were carrying, resulting in them getting shouted at. None of them seemed to comment on the fact that she was a fairy however, which although was confusing, was fortunate enough to let her relax a little. She let herself get dragged along the numerous hallways and focused on not tripping up, doing nothing but puffing and panting to keep up.

The castle turned out to be bigger than she imagined. It took them at least ten minutes to navigate the repetitive hallways and staircases, gradually going higher and higher until they reached a quiet enough area. They had run out of breath by the time they got there, but this hallway was empty enough for them to take as long as they needed. It was just a long, straight corridor with a single branching path to the left; a staircase that was heavily barricaded with red fencing and several signs.

“Huh?” Clefairy mused, trying to make sense of it. The signs were written in a language she hadn’t ever seen before. The letters were so unusual that it was impossible to even guess what was written on it. “I can’t read it. Is this a drawing?”

“A drawing? Nah, it says ‘danger, do not enter’. But we’re gonna enter anyway, because a big secret is up here,” Rune said. Clefairy looked over the signs again. It probably did say that, but the characters of the text were so mind boggling that it was hard to believe anything. Then again, he lived here, so he probably could read it.

“Rune, if there really is danger up there, you’ll be able to protect us, right? You’ve been going to knight practice,” Diantha said, making her brother flinch. He started scratching his back and laughing, and then clearly feigned a boastful appearance.

“Of course! I’m not a knight yet, but I unlocked some pretty sweet skill. Whatever danger shouldn’t be a problem,” he said, smiling cheekily at the two girls. He gestured to help Clefairy over the fence. “Ladies and guests first.”

“Spoken like a true royal knight,” Diantha said, ignoring that the gesture was for Clefairy. That or she didn’t care as she pushed the fairy type out of the way to climb over, receiving a push on her backside from her brother to help her over. Clefairy reluctantly copied, falling down on the other side.

“It’s just a staircase. Does this lead to a different part of the roof or something?” Diantha asked once they were all over the fence. The stairs before them were longer than the rest of the stairs they had climbed thus far, but a source of light was coming through the other end to obscure where they led.

“Only one way to find out. Follow me, ladies!” Rune said, marching forward. Clefairy gave a slight moan but followed, relieved to be able to walk on her own two feet this time.

 

…

 

Meanwhile, back down in the main castle hallways, Jyararanga had gone right back to charging through with full focus on his task. His preparations were clear on his attire as he now possessed a sword and armour fit for a war. He was also carrying a peculiar cloth that was for a Pokémon far smaller than himself, the cloth adorned with unusual, dark markings that resembled black flames. It could be seen clear as day that the Kommo-o was sweating as he had been running and fretting the whole time, to a point that he had to catch his breath when he finally made it back to his den.

“What… Ariala, where…?” he whispered, scanning the room for her. He began to tear the room apart, quickly concluding that she was no longer there. “No. This cannot be!”

He tripped out of the room and almost stomped right on top of a soldier, a Druddigon equipped with a helmet and a sword. “You! You’re on duty on this floor, yes? What happened to the fairy I had here?”

“The fairy?” the Druddigon responded in surprise.

“Yes, the fairy! The tiny pink Pokémon that was in my chamber! Where is she?” Jyararanga raised his voice.

“I don’t know. I did see a little pink kid with the prince and princess. The lot of them were making a ruckus,” the soldier answered.

“Rune and Diantha… n-no. No, this can’t be happening. Rune is supposed to be in knight school. Could he have taken her? Where did they go?” he raised his voice even more.

“I wasn’t watching, your highness. They distracted me and several servants,” the soldier recalled.

“No! Damn it, this can’t be happening,” Jyararanga roared, grabbing his head. He glanced side to side and then stomped his feet. “Forget your orders! Find them at all costs. And tell all other staff to find and bring them to my quarters immediately!”

“Your highness, if I may­—“

“No questions. The entirety of our world is in danger if you don’t find her. FIND THAT FAIRY!” he roared at the top of his voice.