CHAPTER 1

Rexii blindly ran through rain and mud, splashing through puddles as lightning streaked across the black sky. Tears upon his cheeks washed away with the ash that stuck to his fur.

There was nothing for miles. His legs burned and he panted pathetically, wishing for the hurt to end. His heart was on fire with grief.

Until at last, his legs gave out, the child’s body slamming into the mud. The ache in his stomach thrashed his senses as he dragged himself forward, alone, thousands of miles from his home…a home that didn’t exist anymore.

A home that’d been taken from him by the fire demon.

He lied there, limp, blankly staring eyes watching the rain as the fierce storm turned to fluttering droplets. As the darkness of unconsciousness pulled at the poor boy his ears faintly heard something…

…the light pattering of soft, gentle footsteps.

“Hey…are you okay…?”

---

I awoke from my nap with a start, jolted by some manner of bad dream or another. I couldn’t remember what it was I had been dreaming but it gave me such a start…but not a fright. I felt happy, even though my lungs burned like I hadn’t taken a breath in years.

But my happiness subsided at once, it was only confusion now.

I wasn’t in my home anymore. It was nighttime and I was outside. All at once I felt a rush of distant familiarity, the vague feeling of having no immediate memories of something but knowing that I remembered it.

There was nothing around me but grass and one large cherry tree. The clouds above hung low, rolling, with the far-off rumble of thunder vibrating the ground. It was now that I found my fur wet as I lie in the mud.

I was terrified. Someone had dragged me outside, surely. This had to be some sick joke by the village children, having a laugh on the old widower ex-guild master.

They were always so sweet to me, it seemed strange they would suddenly be so horrid.

I had to mind my weak legs and my bad back. I was vulnerable as I could not stand up easily if at all. A Raichu my age was lucky just to walk, let alone move around like the glory days of my youth. Slowly, fearfully, trying to brace for the aches and sharp pains, I lifted my head.

I found it light and easy to move. No pain came.

I let out a sharp breath, eyes widening.

I slid my arms down to lift myself.

My joints did not creak or send waves of pain through me. I felt almost dizzy at how bizarre I felt…how strong I felt.

My breathing came easy, my movements were fluid and snappy. I rolled over, finding it easy. The feeling of unhindered movement disoriented me, but I managed to get myself to my feet, even as I swayed and stumbled, all the pains and aches I expected just…gone.

I was able to straighten my back, stand tall. My hands were free of any wood staff to balance myself, my own two feet were enough.

I was so confused, looking down upon my old Riachu body.

Yet what I found was no body of a Raichu…but the yellow and glistening fur of a young Pikachu.

I gasped in shock, stumbling back, catching my footing easily. Not a day ago such a stumble would have sent me to the ground, killed me. Now I caught myself easily, on instinct, by reflex.

I could feel the swish of my tail, the grass upon my young fur.

I realized where I was. I was at the old crossroads near Culpa village, a place I’d not seen in years. But it was so much more barren. Where was Qixi’s smoothie shop? Where was a little garment store set up beside the sign post? For that matter, where was the brick paths and square? Why was it all dirt roads again?

Again…

I found myself thinking of a far-flung memory. The ruins of my parent’s home miles behind me, standing at a crossroads in a place I’d never seen before, a sign I couldn’t read. Picking a random direction.

But that couldn’t be…

I looked up at the sign now and could read it clear as day: WEST TO CULPA VILLAGE, then SOUTH TO THE ADVENTURE GUILD, then EAST TO KINDIN VILLAGE and finally…

…NORTH TO LOOKOUT POINT.

I felt a pang in my heart. Lookout point, the place where she had lived, hidden away from Culpa village. I’d not seen it in years and years. I could never bring myself to go back. It was always so tempting to wallow, and even as I tried to avoid it I still indulged in it so often even as I knew she would never want me to.

Even as I knew she wanted me to move on to new adventures, I simply couldn’t help it. Those long nights just sat alone in a quiet house, thinking. Thinking long about her.

Was any of this even real? Was I so lost in a fantasy of old that I now wallowed in every detail of the past?

I shook my head. My thoughts were rambling. I had to get home to Culpa village. I didn’t want to be lost any further in my thoughts for her. I wanted the peace that I had made to be the final word, not to relapse into a hurt heart that pined for a woman who was no more.

My legs, strong and young, carried me down the long path to Culpa village. I needed help, to find out how this happened or what was going on.

As I walked, I saw more and more missing. There were no torches. There were no homes. It all really looked like that night so very long ago. Even the thick forest I once had been so scared of as a child was here, looming branches and bark looking like faces in the pale moonlight. Of course, I remembered every nook of the forest this time. I even saw the hole in the oak where I used to stash money before it was stolen.

But that oak had been cut down decades ago. Why was I hallucinating so much?

Between the trees I could see the glow of lights, Culpa village. There, surely, someone could help explain what was happening. Was everyone else here and decades younger as well? Were they stumbling around, confused as I was? As I reached those old gates of the village entrance…I was perplexed by my answer.

Everyone was walking about, business as usual. But, again, so many of the buildings were smaller. The food storage shop didn’t have its second story anymore. The item store was back to just being a small stand. The treasure opening shop…simply wasn’t there anymore.

I walked the streets, taking careful steps, looking in awe, as though I were taking in a vivid dream. The poke’mon I passed, many I didn’t even recognize somehow, eyed me curiously as I walked slow down the dirt pathways.

No…I recognized these poke’mon! But so many of them had left Culpa village! So many had…passed on. I shook my head, seeing Tuvux the old Typhlosion walking about as though there was nothing to it. My jaw dropped as Ruxli passed me by, still alive and well from the fire demon attack, not a care in the world.

I felt overwhelmed, watching friends and rivals, gone and passed, simply walking…and not even batting an eye towards me.

“Oi, you lost, pipsqueak?”

That voice…

I turned, my eyes wide, looking up at a Garchomp. There was his red bandanna, the scar on his arm, that totter smirk on his face as he leaned against the wall of the bar down at me.

It was Oluz, the man who taught me to fight, to be brave. My confidant, my bastion of safety, my wall to make me strong when the going got tough.

He was the first man I ever had to say goodbye to after losing my parents.

“Oi, pipsqueak, what’re you blubbering for…?” His voice rumbled. I didn’t even realize I was crying. “Do you need something? Where’s your parents…?”

I could only stammer, hands over my mouth, staring at him.

“Oluz…” my voice rasped. The Garchomp looked shocked.

“Woah woah, how do you know my name, Pipsqueak? Have we met?”

“Have we met?” I choked, standing up straight, trying to not look so pathetic in front of my mentor. “You don’t remember me? Rexi! It’s…it’s been years, how…how are you alive?!”

“What…do you mean by ‘alive’?” The Garchomp asked in disbelief. “Kid, you’re saying some weird stuff. What are you doing out here?”

“I…should ask the same of you!” I stammered. This wasn’t real. It was my fatigued and old brain playing tricks on me. More visions. I only hoped I was talking to this phantom in the comfort of my home, not in the middle of Culpa village, with onlookers watching the old and senile Raichu rambling and crying to nothing.

“It’s my time off, kid, and you’re bothering me.” Oluz huffed. “More like freaking me out. Ai, I’m no good with kids…”

“Oh, now, Oluz, I’ve not been a ‘kid’ in a long, long time. I’ve not been ‘young’ in a long time, frankly!” I chuckled through my tears, sniffing. The Garchomp huffed, leaning over.

“Ohh, think you’re mature for your age, ey?” He snickered. I couldn’t even care that he talked down to me. Just talking to him at all was a miracle.

“Nevermind, Oluz…I just…” I paused, looking behind myself at the strange world around me, the world of days long gone. Then I looked back to Oluz, my mentor, my confidant.

I stepped beside him, leaning on the wall, side-by-side, just as we used to.

“Is this real…? Really real…? I have…to prove it to myself…”

“Er…ok…? Kid, you’re not making sense.”

I took a deep breath. Thoughts began swirling in my head. Thoughts that I knew we dangerous. Yet I didn’t care. More and more, I began to home beyond hopes this was real, that none of this was a dream or an illusion.

I shouted.

“If anyone can hear me!” I yelled, making Oluz jump. “Hit me and knock me out of this dream! Don’t let me be tormented by visions disappearing just…get it over with! Someone hit me! I’m having visions!”

“Oi, kid, what are you-?!”

Poke’mon on the street stared at Oluz and I, bewildered. The garchomp stood from the wall, looking panicked.

“I’m waiting! Someone hit me! Shake me awake! I’m dreaming!”

“Look, everyone, I-!” The garchomp recoiled, looking from me then to the gathering crowd. “He just came up to me! I don’t know this brat at all!”

“Come on! Someone! Anyone! I just need one potshot!” I shouted. The crowd looked over at Oluz as though he were going to do it. I could see the color drain from his face.

“Look, I’d never!!” Oluz insisted, trying to raise his voice over mine. “He-“

“Now!” I shouted! The crowd was grow incredulous.

“Will you get your kid under control?!” One of the villagers shouted.

“Oi, he’s not-“

“Oluz! I din’ know you were a pa!”

“I’m ruddy well not!!”

Nobody was hitting me. None of this could have been real. Even as a saw a rock hurtling towards me, I was sure I would feel no pain from the phantom images.

Until I did.

“Ha! Beaned him!”

I yelped, stumbling back, hitting against the wall. There was a shout, Oluz yelling out at whoever threw that rock at me. I held my face in my hand.

There was blood on my paw.

“What kind of-?! Where do you get off throwing rocks at kids?!” Oluz shouted, stomping forward towards the crowd, many of them backing off.

“Oluz, he was literally asking for it…”

“You gunna hit me with one next?!” Oluz shouted.

“Are you askin’ for it?”

The commotion continued as I held my hand on my face, feeling dizzy. I could feel the warm, wet liquid on my hand, trickling down my face. It was too specific. I was too aware and cognizant to be in a dream. My face hurt, stung, burned. But the pain in my joints was gone.

It was real.

It was all real.

Here I stood, in the Culpa village of old, talking to Oluz, seeing old friends and rivals as though I were a child again. I was a child again. Years in the past. No vision. No illusion.

I was simply here.

As I held my bleeding face, my breath caught in my throat. I felt suffocated. My heart stopped.

She was there. She had to be still there.

“Hey, where’s the kid going?!”

“What do you mean?!” Oluz’s voice shouted. “Hey, wait, kid! Where are you hobbling off to?!”

The shouting voices became more faint as I bolted off, towards the village entrance, drops of blood falling from my face. I could hear Oluz behind me but I paid him no mind as I stumbled forward. Back through the forest, back to the crossroads.

The crossroads. I was such a fool. An idiot. She was there. All along she was there, waiting, and I’d kept her waiting. My beloved.

I shambled down the North dirt path, to the lookout point. I could smell it, the salty air of the sea. The cliff overlooked the crashing waves, right at the point where the wingulls would cross the dusk sun.

I could see it, there! Peeking over the treeline. A smile spread over my face, even as more blood trickled down my cheek. The rising sharp bluff of lookout point. My feet pounded the dirt. I burst through a bush that I swear wasn’t there before.

There, on the cliff face…a door. Red painted wood serving as the entrance to a dugout on the cliff. A hermit’s home far away from the rest of the village.

It’s where she lived.

“Vexa!!!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. I waited, looking at the dark windows of the Cliffside hermitage.

I gasped, seeing a light come to life on the other side of the windows. My breaths were heavy, ragged. I stumbled forward, towards that door, pounding upon it.

“Vexa!” I shouted again. Desperation laced my voice. I wanted this to be real. I wanted it all to be real. My heart was filled with terror that I might find a stranger or find the home empty again, that my joy would be ripped from me at the last possible moment. But I kept hope. I kept that hope Oluz taught me so long again and pounded the door again, wishing for her bright and shining face, wishing for it to greet me and tell me she loved me and we would be together again.

I heard it.

The creak of the door as it opened slightly.

My eyes stung, blood mixing with tears as I saw it.

A Vulpix’s face slowly emerged from behind the door. Radiant and beautiful, glimmering with an otherworldly sheen upon her perfect coat. Those deep, warm eyes peeked and looked out to me. The curls upon her head swayed in the ocean breeze, her coat softly rippling.

She was gorgeous. Just as when I first met her.

My heart stopped. Time had frozen in that moment. After so long, I was looking upon her again, and she looked upon me.

“Vexa…” A whispered, choking back a sob.

She said nothing.

“Vexa!” I shouted in rapturous joy. “I finally found you, my love!”

The Vulpix yelped in horror, an arrow going through my heart as she vanished behind the door, slamming it shut. I heard the click of a lock. Another. Another.

My breath stopped. My joy crashed to the ground.

“No…no no no!” I shouted, pounding on the door again, blood smearing on the surface.

“Go away!!” A shout came from within.

“No! Vexa! Vexa come out! Don’t leave me out here!” I shouted in utter desperation.

A scream came from inside. I could hear the clatter of objects knocked over. No, this was all wrong. She had taken me in! I remembered! She nursed me when I was tired, comforted me in that warm way she always had. Fed me and gave me water! We explored the village together incognito! Searched for berries together! Joined the guild together!

What happened? What was happening to us?

I pounded on the door. I missed her. I missed her so much.

“Stop! Go away!” The voice inside shouted.

What was happening to me?

My fist pressed against the door, bloodied tears streaking down my face. I backed off, feeling haggard. Here I was, pounding upon the door of my beloved like a man possessed, exhausted and bloody.

What was wrong with me?

I was so…desperate.

I stumbled back, watching as the lights cut off from the bedroom. My keen ears could hear her whimpering in fear upstairs, no doubt with the covers over her head. It’s what she always did when she was stressed.

I had…stressed her. Terrified her.

I only stared at those dark windows, hearing footsteps thump behind me slowly.

“Kid, what are you doing running off to a place like this?”

My ears perked up, hearing Oluz’s voice. I turned to face the Garchomp, the man staring down at me…then looking up at the Cliffside.

“Guh, we need to get you away from here. You’ve got no idea who lives here, do you?”

“It’s…Vexa…”

“Oh so you do know, ey?” Oluz leaned over, eyebrows raised. “So what’re you doing hanging around the cursed girl, then?”

The cursed girl…I remembered that. The one destined by the stars to have a cursed fate for herself, the world, and all who were close to her. On top of being a Vulpix, one day a Ninetales, an omen of misfortune.

I remembered how angry it made me that everyone treated her so badly. How long it took for everyone to accept her. To see that reversed…

I furrowed my brow, looking up at the Garchomp.

“Woah, kid, it’s alright, no need for the stink eye, now…”

“Don’t…talk about Vexa like that…please…” I muttered. Oluz shook his head, putting a heavy hand on my shoulder, just as he used to.

“Nevermind, kid, enough of that.” He sighed, leading me from the lookout point. “You’re lost, confused and nary a parent in sight…against me better judgement, I suppose that makes you my responsibility, ey?”

“But…Oluz…” I said, struggling slightly. “I’m not…”

“Oh I’m sure, I’m sure you’re mature for yer age, now.” Oluz said, guiding me away. I looked over my shoulder longingly as the visage of the lookout point slowly slipped away from me, vanishing behind the line of trees.

I could feel another wave of tears escaping me.

“Let ol’ Oluz take you home and we’ll tend to that cut of yours…” The garchomp’s voice soothed as Vexa disappeared again. “I’m worried it’s going to scar…”