Chapter One: Klaw and Dewey

The surrounding air was damp and musty. She could faintly hear the wind blowing, and the ruffling of some leaves caused by said wind. As the sun slowly rose over the horizon and the forest slowly came to life, so, too, did the young girl.

 

The first thing she registered as she slowly opened her eyes was dirt. Dirt all around the walls and the soft mushiness of dirt clinging to her feet. It didn’t take her long to realize that she was in a hole of some kind. But how did she even manage to get into a hole in the first place? After all, humans aren’t supposed to sleep in holes. She was supposed to be sleeping in her bed in… in…

 

Wait a minute , she thought to herself. Why can’t I remember where I live ?

 

She tried to rack her brain for any sort of memories that could indicate where she was or who could help her get back home. But whenever she tried to recall her past, a foggy feeling came over her. It was almost as if…

 

“Oh, my God!” she yelled aloud. “My memories are gone!”

 

Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, she felt a grave sense of danger wash over her, like some wild animal was going to come and eat her if she spoke a little louder. But there was no other way to explain her mental fogginess. Whatever caused her to fall down that hole must have also caused her to lose her memories.

 

I have to figure out some way to get to the bottom of this , she thought, a rush of determination surging into her. But the second she sprung to her feet to start climbing out of the hole, she was faced with another problem. Directly above her head was a solid, shiny, smooth gray lump that covered the opening to the hole. 

 

Whoever had trapped her in here had put a large rock over the entrance to the hole, so she couldn’t escape. She could definitely climb up to the rock, but she somehow knew that she wouldn’t be able to push away the rock in the state she was in now.

 

The rush of determination left her body almost as quickly as it had entered it. She sunk to the muddy “floor” and laid her head down. Great. she thought to herself. I’m going to die here all alone in this damp, musty hole. And I’m going to do so without ever figuring out who I am or why my memories were lost .

 

Just as those thoughts left her brain, however, a noise jolted her back to her feet.

 

Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch .

 

It didn’t sound exactly like footsteps, but it definitely sounded like someone was walking, crunching the leaves as they were walking. And it sounded that whomever was making those noises was coming closer and closer.

 

Crunch , crunch, Crunch , crunch, Crunch , crunch.

 

As a matter of fact… it sounded like two people were walking towards her. One set of footsteps seemed more assured and confident, while the other sounded very light, almost as if they were trying not to alert anything else as well.

 

Crunch , crunch, Crunch , crunch, Crunch , crunch .

 

The sounds were very close now. Whoever was walking must almost be near the rock now. Maybe they came here to rescue me !, she thought, the rush of determination surging through her once more.

 

For a few seconds, the footprints stopped.  What happened? , she thought to herself. Why did they stop? But she knew they were right above her. From how loud the footprints sounded just before they stopped, her saviors had to be right in front of the rock.

 

Then one of them spoke.

 

“Seriously?! We travelled all this way, and all we found was a stupid rock ?!”

 

The young girl was blown away. She had been waiting for what felt like hours for any sort of help, and the first thing that her hero did was complain about just finding a rock? She wanted to yell at this insolent little brat, but before she could do that, the other one spoke.

 

“C-Come on, Klaw. I’m s-sure the g-gear has to be around here s-somewhere. W-we followed the d-directions on the m-map almost exactly.”

 

What kind of parent would name their child Klaw ?, she thought to herself. And what do they mean by “gear”?

 

“Nonsense, Dewey”, Klaw snapped. “The map said that the gear would be right here, in this exact spot. So how come it isn’t here?”

 

“M-maybe someone s-stole it?” Dewey stammered.

 

“That could be possible.” The girl noticed that Klaw’s voice had become significantly duller. “But if someone did steal it, I think that they would just make off with the goods and leave the area bare. Why is there a rock here in its place?’

 

Silence. Then Dewey  spoke up again, still stammering, but more curious now. “W-what if the g-gear is b-buried underneath here, and the r-rock is b-blocking the w-way to it?”

 

“Hey, that makes a lot of sense! You always come up with the best ideas, little bro.” Klaw’s voice perked up again. “That is a pretty big rock, though. How are we going to break it?”

 

They’re going to break the rock., the girl realized. I’m finally going to be free!

 

“T-that should be easy, big bro! I’ll use my W-Water P-Pulse to weaken it, and then you can b-break it with your D-Double K-Kick!”

 

Water Pulse? Double Kick? What in the world are these guys talking about?

 

“Now that’s the spirit, Dewey! On the count of three?”

 

“Okay, Klaw!”

 

“One…”

 

“ Two…”

 

“Three…”

 

“GO!”

 

There was a huge woosh sound- the girl assumed that was the “Water Pulse”- and something that sounded kicking. And then…

 

BANG!!!!

 

The rock blew apart in a wondrous burst, causing the pieces to shatter everywhere. Some of them fell down to the hole the girl was in, and a dim light began to shine through the hole.

 

I’m free! I’m finally free! It was all the girl could do to not scream out her joys to the entire world. She looked up into the light to thank the boys who had rescued her, but what she saw were not boys at all.

 

They were creatures of some kind. One was a small black cat with red stripes on its body, face, and paws, and the other was a small blue chameleon with a yellow head fin. From the looks on their faces, she could tell that she wasn’t what they were expecting to find either.

 

The creatures continued to look at her with puzzled expressions. Then they turned to each other and started whispering.

 

“Ok, is this some sick joke or something?” the cat whispered. “Keeping a living thing hostage here and calling it ‘gear’ is not funny in the slightest.”

 

“I don’t k-know” the chameleon whispered back. “M-maybe the gear was stolen, and t-this is a h-hostage the t-thieves left here?”

 

The girl shook herself off and looked up at the duo. “Excuse me?” she called out. “I’m still in the hole! Can’t I at least get out before you guys start whispering amongst yourselves?”

 

The two creatures jumped at the sound of her voice, then turned their heads to look at each other again. After a moment of deliberation, the cat stepped a bit close to the hole and stuck his paw in.

 

“Grab on!” he called out.

 

The girl grabbed on to the cat’s paw, and the cat began to pull her up. It took a bit of straining, but with some help from the chameleon, the girl was finally able to get out of the hole.

 

“Phew!” she said, shaking herself off. “That was a mess and a half.” She then turned towards the duo and smiled. “Thanks for getting me out of there, you two. I have to ask, though… what exactly are you two supposed to be?”

 

The two stopped cleaning themselves off and squinted at her. After a few moments of silence, the cat turned towards her and asked “You can’t be serious, are you?”

 

“I am being serious,” she responded. “What are you two?”

 

The cat turned towards the chameleon and snickered. “I think she hit her head a bit too hard when she fell down the hole.” He turned back to her. “We’re Pokemon , you silly Skiddo. Just like you!”

 

The girl felt a wave of confusion wash over her. “What do you mean?” she asked. “I’m not a Pokemon. I’m a human!”

 

For a few short seconds, the air filled with silence. Then the cat started snickering again, and the chameleon soon followed suit. Before long, the duo were rolling around in the leaves laughing their tails off.

 

The girl began to feel annoyed. “What the hell is wrong with you two?!” she snapped.

 

The two Pokemon snapped out of their laughing fit and got back to their feet. “I-it just sounds r-ridiculous” the chameleon said. “Y-you’re just a plain, n-normal Eevee, a-after all!”

 

Wait… what?

 

For the first time since she had woken up, the girl got a proper look at herself. Where she expected her hands to be were instead two small, fuzzy, brown paws. Her legs were replaced by two more of those fuzzy brown paws, and she was now standing on all fours. From the corner of her vision she could see a big, bushy brown tail with a large, beige, heart-shaped marking on its end attached to the end of her body.

 

There was no doubt about it.

 

“I-it’s true! ” she screeched. “ I’ve actually turned into a Pokemon!”

 

The other two Pokemon jumped into the air. “B-be q-quiet!” the chameleon snapped at her. “Y-you’re going to wake up e-everything living in this f-forest!”

 

The cat shook his head at the chameleon. “You’re such a paranoid Pidove.” He turned back to the Eevee. “So even if you were a human, you’re obviously an Eevee now. How the hell did that happen?”

 

The Eevee’s fur ears began to flop over as she was reminded of her other big problem “I don’t remember.”

 

The cat tilted his head to the side “Pardon?”

 

“I don’t remember anything” the Eevee sighed. “I woke up here in this hole with no memories of who I was or where I came from.”

 

“N-none at a-all? N-not even your n-name?” the chameleon inquired.

 

My name… Suddenly it felt like a key had been inserted into the Eevee’s brain, unlocking a hidden treasure chest. “Hold on! I just remembered my name!” she cried out.

 

The Pokemon raised their eyebrows. “And that name is…?” the cat asked.

 

The Eevee held her head high before she spoke. “Hope. My name is Hope.”

 

The cat smirked. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Hope the Eevee/maybe-human.” 

 

“Not maybe-human, human-human.’ Hope interjected.

 

The cat ignored her and continued to speak. “I’m a Litten, and my name is Klaw. And this over here” he said, turning to the chameleon, “is my little brother. He’s a Sobble, and his name is Dewey.”

 

Brothers? Those two don’t even look like they share an eighth of a relative , Hope thought to herself. But something told her that if she said that aloud, she would be in for a beating. Instead, she raised her head and responded “It’s nice to meet you two as well, Klaw the Litten and Dewey the Sobble.”

 

Dewey smiled. “S-so Hope, I’m g-guessing that y-you don’t have a p-place to s-stay?”

 

Hope shook her head. “Nope”, she answered.

 

Dewey began to shake. “T-that m-means that y-you’re g-going to h-have to c-come b-back to our h-home.”

 

Klaw jumped and turned to face his brother. “Are you kidding me, Dewey?” he hissed. “We can’t bring her back there ! Our dads will tear her to shreds! And I can’t even begin to think of how the boss will react…”

 

What does he mean by “the boss”? Hope wondered to herself. And why are they so scared to go back home? Don’t they live there?

 

“B-but we don’t h-have a c-choice, K-Klaw.” Dewey stuttered. “T-there aren’t enough r-rations to s-support the three of us. W-we have to go b-back, or we’ll a-all s-starve to d-death.”

 

Klaw sighed. “Fine.” He turned back to Hope and flicked his tail. “Well, come along now, Hope. We have to leave now so that we can get back before sunset.”

 

Hope felt scared. The way that Klaw and Dewey had spoken about their home made her feel uneasy. But she didn’t have anywhere else to go, and Klaw and Dewey themselves seemed like nice Pokemon. After all, they had saved her from the hole in the first place, and they were kind enough to offer her a place to stay. So she began to follow the brothers out into the great wide world.