Nothing Greater: Chapter 1
To all who read my series Family Bonds that I uploaded last year, again, thank you for taking the time to read it. I did that story last year for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and this year, I decided to continue the story where it left off. Not to put anyone off of it, but this story as a whole contains no sex, so I'm not counting on too many people to read it honestly, but if you do, thank you very much, and I hope that you enjoy it.
Chapter 1: Life is Good
"Daddy, are you awake?"
The words came from a high-pitched, eager voice and echoed off the once-quiet cave walls. The cave itself was still fairly new and it still had its fair share of rough spots: the ground was a little uneven, the walls themselves were not as smooth as they could be, but mostly, the cave just wasn't that large. The last part wasn't really too much of a problem honestly, and who could complain when they were virtually given the place for nothing.
It was plenty big enough for its three inhabitants, surely, but it wasn't ideal to invite guests over to visit. At the moment, only two of its residents were inside: the chipper voiced Charmander and the once-asleep but now stirring Charmeleon. At seeing the Charmeleon moving, the youngster grew more excited and was having a hard time keeping still. He had waited patiently for longer than he was apt to do, but he couldn't stay cooped up all day, and his vibrant, youthful energy needed to be exercised.
"Mmf?" The Charmeleon managed to let loose from his throat. He had been sleeping peacefully before those words resounded through his ears. He didn't mind being woken up in the least, so he wasn't irritated or anything. One word in particular stuck with him, however, and his response was given in half surprise and half inquiry. He stretched a bit and opened his eyes to see the familiar yellow face of Charcoal staring at him.
Charc was different from other Charmanders. Instead of the lush orange hue that donned every other fire type in Charizard Valley, his was yellow. No one was sure why, honestly; he acted just like every other kid his age, and aside from his unique coloration, he was completely normal. There was some thought that maybe it was just something weird when he was hatched and the color would fade back to the normal orange, but that never happened; his skin was as bright today as it was the day he was hatched.
Upon seeing the eager face of the youngster, he couldn't help but smile at him and roll over so that he was in a better position to actually wake up rather than fall back asleep. When he was situated, he actually put into words what his subconscious was trying to ask with the mumble from earlier.
He said, "What'd you ask?"
"Hehe, I asked if you were awake."
He scratched his head still slightly bothered at what he heard earlier. He considered bringing it up, but after a little consideration, he decided to let it go... for now at least.
He smiled and responded, "Well, I am now, so whacha need kiddo?"
"Can I go play with Agro?" The words shot out of his mouth in one quick succession, and it took a moment for him to decipher what he actually said. It was clear that Charc had been waiting for a while to ask that question, and now all he had to do was hear that one word that would free him from his boring, cavernous prison.
"Hmmm, where is..."
"She went with mister Darius!" Charc cut him off in mid sentence and he awaited for the next response.
He laughed at how much he wanted to leave, and he even considered keeping him in the cave a little longer because of how funny it was to him; but he couldn't bring himself to do that to the little guy.
He continued, "Alright."
A quick "yay!" sounded, and before he could react, Charc had run up and nearly tackled him in a hug quick hug. He said his thank yous and sprinted toward the cave exit.
As he was running, the Charmeleon shouted out to him, "You know the drill. Be back before it gets dark."
He wasn't sure if he responded or not, but in no time, he was out of sight, leaving him alone to think in the cave. He considered going back to sleep, but after being glomped, he was pretty much as awake as he was gonna get. He turned his body around so that he could look at the emptiness of his home. He didn't mind being by himself, but he would much rather have company.
His mind started to wander, and eventually he was thinking about how he had gotten to such a place in his life. It all started when he was about Charc's age, actually. He and his twin sister Seria used to think that life was wonderful. They had each other to play with daily, a great place to live, and best of all, they had a loving mother and father to take care of them every day.
Things were like heaven for them, but one day, all of that changed. They never found out why, but one morning, he and Seria woke up to find their parents were dead. No one should ever have to see that, and the sight was too much for their young hearts to bear. They left their old home and traveled in search of the paradise land that their parents had told them about: Charizard Valley. They endured a lot of hardships along the way, and they lost track of how many days or even months they wandered in seemingly a forlorn hope.
All of that changed though when they finally caught a glimpse of their final destination. Their joy was short-lived though, and through a series of unfortunate events, they managed to irritate an Onix whom they'd never met, he broke his leg after getting kidnapped by said Onix, because of that, they got separated from each other for a couple days, and Seria even laid an egg while they were apart. Just when it seemed they were going to fail right at the end of their long trek, help came from the family that they had grown so close to recently.
Although the family as a whole was a big help, he probably wouldn't even be alive if it hadn't been for the nicest and strongest Charizard they've ever met: Zenith. Zenith was the one who located him after he was kidnapped, knew what to do to fix his broken leg, and even made the cave that he was now sitting in all for nothing. Zenith and the rest of his family definitely made the two of them (well, three of them after Charc hatched) feel at home and welcome, and now they were all good friends.
They had learned after a short while staying in the Valley, that Zenith was, by chance, the Charizard who basically acted as the protector of everyone else. He was clearly the strongest 'zard, and with his being so strong, everyone else had grown slightly lazy. They still pulled their weight when they had to, but as far as brute strength, they were seriously lacking. Zenith was also supposedly an excellent fighter, but there was no reason for him to show that to anyone and no one to spar with, so it was an unproven, spoken rumor of sorts.
He turned back to the cave opening and got up and walked over to it so that he could look and see if anything was going on out of the ordinary. There never was anything unusual going on, but he still enjoyed looking at the Valley. It wasn't anything like he and Seria had envisioned in their heads. They had conversations frequently in their travels about it, and they had pictured thousands of Charizards flying through the air at all times, volcanoes erupting which would hide the Valley from outsiders with its constant black smoke, and that there would never be a dull moment.
Well, for the most part, it was pretty quiet around. Most of the other 'zards kept to their families and didn't fly around unless they had to go get some food. There weren't any volcanoes either, but there was a lava pool that was in the center of everything. To any passerby, it would seem pretty bland other than the fact that it was lava, but to the inhabitants of the Valley, it was much more than that. Around the edge of the pool, there were carvings. They weren't just any carvings, they were memories of Pokemon who had passed on, and their spirit lived on in the hearts of the inhabitants with personalized etchings. And they weren't just any Pokemon, they were the ones who had made an impact or done something great while they were around for everyone else; it was the highest honor in the Valley to be engraved into that central monument.
Looking past the pool, he scouted out the surrounding area for his sister and Darius. He knew it was a slim chance that he would spy them, but he was looking for something to do while he waited for them to return. The Valley itself was flat and one could clearly see from one side to the other (unless the lava pool were in the way of course), but no one was ever just waltzing around in that part. Most families stuck to their own personal caves for the most part, and if they had to leave (getting food or simply to relieve themselves for example), they would go a little ways outside the Valley before returning.
The outskirts were extremely rocky, and, as he was told by Zenith, due to magma from the past drying and breaking and constantly reforming itself, there were literally hundreds if not thousands of places to explore if one were looking for adventure or simply to be alone for a while. That's where Darius and Seria were most likely to be: enjoying some time together somewhere they wouldn't be bothered. That's also where Charc and Agro usually went. He had inquired of Charc before, and he practically knew the lay of the land himself without having been there just from all that Charc had told him.
He wasn't much for exploring that much himself, and without a close friend to go with him, he didn't see much of a point leaving. He used to be just like Charc and want to explore everything he could in the surrounding land, and he would act as the big brother for Seria if she ever got too scared or if he felt like proving himself with something dangerous. After having spent months upon months traveling and having every day be a constant, new adventure though, he was tired of it. He might get back into it one day, but for now, he'd be content where he is.
Even though he didn't have a close friend to go places with him like how Charc had Agro or how Seria had Darius, he did have his family, and after all that he had been though, he wouldn't give them up for anything in the world. He sighed and turned around, heading back into the heart of the small den to where he had first been woken up. He didn't used to sleep later than the other two; in fact, he and Seria used to get up at the same time every day.
The thing that changed that was mainly the broken leg he received from that Onix a month or two ago. He forgot how long ago it was exactly; his happy days living in the Valley made him stop counting the days the same way the arduous, long trek to get there in the first place made him want to forget each day. When he was recovering from that crippling injury, he slept a lot more than he used to, and his body just got used to sleeping later than he was accustomed. After he was completely healed, he just started sleeping later without a care in the world.
Maybe it was the stress-free lifestyle that he had now that allowed him to do it without so much as a second glance at his conscience, or maybe it was just that he really liked to sleep, but whatever the reason was, Seria had started leaving before he could wake up. It was always for the same reason: to go spend time with Darius; so when he asked Charc earlier, it wasn't because he wanted to know where she was (because he already knew), but more to hear it spoken from Charc's mouth directly so that he could spend just a few more seconds with the company.
He wondered when Seria would be back though. She wasn't gone for long usually - just long enough to talk with Darius (or whatever they did together) and get some food - and she typically made an appearance shortly after he woke up. Since he was woken up a little earlier this morning, he wasn't sure when she would show up. His mind darted back to how he was woken up, and his thoughts lingered on the one word that had roused his curiosity in the first place. It was one that he would have to consider with Seria on how to approach dealing with it, but he would have to wait on her to get back for that. By some miracle as if she had been hearing his thoughts in her own head, he heard her familiar voice sound from outside.
"See you later Darius, and thanks as usual for the company and the help."
He didn't hear his response to her, probably because he was far away or something, but it wasn't something that he minded. He was just waiting for her to make her appearance in the cave entrance so that he could talk to her and not be alone. Not more than a second later, her Charmeleon form broke the sunlight and waltzed in, carrying a handful of berries just like any other day. She was slightly shorter than he was, her skin was a lighter shade of orange than his, and she had green eyes whereas he had blue eyes.
She smiled when she saw him and said, "Morning Drek" before setting the assortment of fruit in a neat pile on the ground.
He grinned back and walked over to her, giving her a hug which she reciprocated. He hugged her every morning, and it was one of his favorite parts of the day. Her skin was always really warm because she was outside in the sun while he was left in the shadows, so that was a big plus. It also reminded himself that they truly were at peace in the Valley, and everything they had worked so hard for was finally over. He knew that as long as he had that hug to look forward to each day, then no matter how tough things got, he would have that glimmer of hope and love to give him comfort.
He broke their embrace and responded, "Morning sis." Gesturing to the pile of berries, he started making idle chit chat saying, "So did you get anything special this morning?"
She answered, "For the most part, it's just the usual. However..." she picked up a strange blue berry that resembled an oversized acorn and held it out to him, "this one's new. We found it a little further away from here than we usually search, but it was worth it. That thing is the sweetest, juiciest berry that I've ever tasted. There were only four, so Darius took one for himself, I had one, and I got the other two for you and Charc. Hopefully we can find more of them in the future."
He wasn't too thrilled to learn that she was going farther and farther away from the safety of the Valley every morning, but he guessed as long as she was with Darius, then things would be ok. He would have much preferred to accompany her himself, because he'd hate for anything to happen to her after all they went through, but he trusted Darius, and if he had to choose someone else to keep her safe (well... he would choose Zenith first and foremost, but that's beside the point), he would choose him.
He continued, "Cool. I look forward to tasting them. Speaking of food, did Charc eat earlier? He dashed out as soon as I woke up."
"Yeah, he ate with me before I left, so don't worry about him."
"That's good. So how's Darius doing? Anything new with him or his family?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary. I did tell him about that time I got captured by those humans though."
Drek's mind instantly went back to that day. It was definitely a wild one, and it was the first time that the two of them had ever been separated from each other in their lives. Admittedly it was only for a couple hours at most, but everything that went on until he managed to find her and free her made it seem like an eternity. He hoped that he would never see humans again after that experience, and so far, he had gotten his wish, and if luck would have it, it would stay that way forever.
"Oh? How did he react to that story?"
"He had nothing but praise for you after I finished telling him. He wasn't sure if he would have been able to figure out how to free me like you did. He was also curious about the contraption that they used to keep me, so I described those to him. Other than that, he didn't say much more about it. At least nothing important anyway."
"That's good to hear." Now that they had had their routine discussion of how the morning went, he decided to bring up the topic that had been on his mind since the start of the day. He continued, "So, Charc called me something today."
She went to put the berry back into the pile and inquired back, "Oh?"
"Yeah. He called me 'daddy'."
She dropped it in her surprise and it rolled away seemingly forgotten as she turned her attention back to him. Her face changed to more of a worried or concerned look and she responded, "Well, did you tell him?"
He shook his head and said, "No, I didn't tell him, and I wasn't sure how to respond to it, so I just pretended like I didn't notice that he said it."
"How did he learn that? Who told him?"
"I don't know who told him, but you know as well as I do that something's gotta be done about it."
"Do we punish him for it?"
He couldn't help but laugh at her before responding, "Punish him for what? For telling the truth? A fine example we'd be setting for him if we did that. No, we'll just have to find a way to explain to him that it's not good to call me that."
"Who told him though? To my knowledge we're the only ones who know about it except for Darius and his family, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't tell him."
"Even Agro?"
She opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it as she thought more about it. She wasn't sure if Agro knew about it or not, and if he did, then he and Charc hung out way too much for something like that not to be brought up. She was pretty sure that he didn't know though, and she was sure that Darius wouldn't have shared something as important as that to a young Charmander with the risk of it becoming public information.
She said, "Maybe he doesn't know?"
"Can you think of another way he would have found out?"
"No... I can't... Well, we'll just have to tell him whenever he gets back."
"We shouldn't jump to conclusions about Agro. Let's start by just asking Charc where he learned that word and why he called me that. Sound like a plan?"
"I guess... I'm just still not sure how to approach it. Do we lie to him to protect ourselves?"
"Yeah, I'm not too sure either." He ran some ideas through his head, and after a few moments, he came up with an idea. "Tell ya what. Why don't we go visit Zenith and company tomorrow, and we can discuss the issue with them. They know more about this place better than we ever will I think, and they would know the best course of action not necessarily just for us, but for the entire Valley."
She seemed to be put at ease with that solution, and her concerned expression waned to one of relief. She responded, "I think that'll be best, but why not go over there now and discuss it?"
"Well, Charc's not gonna get back until later, and we don't know how he found out. I think it'll be safer if we can get that information figured out first before we waltz over there accusing Agro of something he might not have done."
"True. No need to pin the blame on him with circumstantial evidence. Alright then, I'll run over to their place now and let them know that we'd like to talk to them about something important tomorrow if they can."
"Sounds good to me. I'll wait here in the very unlikely event that Charc comes back."
"See you soon then."
"Bye."
She turned and left, leaving him alone again, but this time he had food. It only took one glance at the delicious stack of berries and a long growl of his stomach to tell him what he should do now. He eyed each one, mentally making a list of which ones he would eat for himself and which ones he would leave for the rest of them later. He was about to grab for a red one that he knew he liked, but then he remembered the blue one that Seria had specifically told him was delicious.
He looked away from the pile and found it by itself some feet away. It was a little dirty from having rolled across the ground, but that was fine. Typically he would have just wiped it on his chest before ingesting it, but if it truly did have that wonderful of a taste, he wanted to get the most out of it on his first sample. Luckily, they still had some water at the back of their cave.
Zenith had made it a point to show Seria where all the nearby water was, and he even gave her a container that he made. He used the same stuff that he used to fix Drek's leg, so it was made to be extremely durable and last a while. About once a week, one of them would go fill up the container with water and bring it back several times so that they would always have a nice supply handy. There was a larger vessel that they could dump the water into, and as of right now, it still had a plentiful supply.
He went over to it and used it to rinse off the berry a little bit, and after he was satisfied with it, he shook off the water and brought it to his lips. The first bite flooded his mouth with flavor, and his eyes went wide with surprise from how succulent it was. She wasn't kidding when she said this thing was delicious. He wasn't even finished with the first mouthful before he was already going back for a second bite, and before he knew it, it was gone.
He looked over at the rest of the berries and spied the other one of its kind nestled next to another red one. He really wanted it, but he remembered that it was the only one left and Charc hadn't had a chance to eat one yet, so he decided to let it be and have his fill on the others while he waited. He only ate a couple more before he was full; that was one good thing about being a relatively small Pokemon. He wasn't sure what he would do if he were as big as those Onixes, because they had to eat a lot more than he did.
After he finished his last berry, Seria appeared again. He greeted her with, "That was quick."
"Yeah, only Darius and Cara were there. Zenith was apparently out somewhere. I didn't want to be nosy so I didn't ask where he was, and you know that Agro's with Charc somewhere."
"Well, what did they say about it?"
"Oh, they were fine with it. I didn't give them any details; I just said that you and I wanted to come over tomorrow to talk about something with Charc, and they said they would be delighted to have us over and they'd pass the word along to Zenith."
"Cool. Guess that's settled then. So what were they doing over there?"
"Nothing in particular. I would imagine just talking. Cara is probably waiting around for Agro like you are for Charc, and if I know Darius even remotely well, he is there to keep her company so she won't have to wait alone."
"I thought so." A few moments of silence went by as the two of them seemed to be searching for something to talk about. Drek eventually said, "Do you ever get bored with all of this?"
"Huh?" She raised one of her eyes in confusion. "What do you mean 'all of this'?"
"I dunno... It's just that when we were younger, we used to be outside every day and the days seemed to go by too fast for us, and the sun was setting way before we were done having fun. Now... the days just seem to get longer and it's a little mundane without some sort of adventure in our lives."
"Are you saying that you wanna leave this place?!"
"No, no. I wouldn't leave this place in a million years. It's got everything we could ever hope for: food, water, friends, and it's even warm all the time. But that aside, we need to figure out something that we can all do that'll just be fun."
She smirked at him and said, "Well lazy, if you wouldn't sleep so late then you could join me and Darius every morning. I think you just need to get out of the cave for a while and explore the area like I've been doing."
"Then who would watch for Charc?"
"I think you're being a little too overprotective of him. Sure he's young, but think about all the trouble we got into when we were his age. I don't think it'll kill him to come home for one day and find that we're not home."
His knew that she was right, but his mind couldn't help but flash back to the one time when they came home and weren't greeted by their parents. Sure they weren't scared at the time (curious would be a better word), but what they woke up to was horrifying. Maybe she was right and he shouldn't be so careful with Charc. He was getting smarter and stronger every day, and it's not like he would starve or something if they weren't there to give him his food.
"You're right. I need to loosen up some and get out more often."
"Tell ya what, why don't we go for a nice long walk together? We can go to your favorite spot, and I can show you a bunch of new places that Darius and I have found."
He couldn't help but smile at the offer. A chance to stretch his legs and find more about the surrounding area was definitely something that would lift his spirits. Also, he loved going to that one place that she took him after his leg was healed. It was truly the first time that he saw all of Charizard Valley, and he'll never forget the sight and the feeling of happiness that swept through his body at that moment.
"I think I'd like that a lot."
"Well come on and let's go. We wanna get in as much as we can before it starts to get dark."
Without waiting for a response, she turned and left, leaving him to follow behind her. He glanced back at the cave, thinking that it was the first time since it had been constructed for them that no one was inside of it. It was a strange feeling, but at the same time, he felt like a small weight was being lifted from his shoulders as he turned his back on it and ran to catch up to his sister as he eagerly awaited all that she had to show him.
* * *
The time wandering around outside was just the boost that Drek needed. He didn't know that so many interesting places existed around the Valley, and the time walking with his sister brought back a plethora of wonderful memories. They got back just as the sun was touching the horizon. There was still plenty of light, but it wouldn't last much longer, so they decided to play it safe. As expected, Charc wasn't back yet when they arrived at their home again. He would always wait until the last possible sliver of light before he made his appearance.
The two of them hungrily ate their nightly ration of food as darkness fell over the Valley. As they downed the last of the fruit, Charc finally showed up, further illuminating the cave with his tail flame wagging behind him. Without waiting for them to say anything, he said in a chipper tone, "Hi mommy. Hi daddy."
The two of them exchanged a nervous look before Seria said in response, "Hi Charc. Where did you learn to call us those words?"
His face dropped a little thinking he was in trouble. He tried to play innocent by asking, "What words?"
She continued, "Why did you call us 'mommy' and 'daddy'?"
He wasn't one to tell on a friend, so he tried avoiding the question a little longer. He looked down at his the ground and said, "Are those bad words?"
Drek chimed in, "No they're not bad words. Don't worry, you're not in trouble or anything. We're just wondering why you called us that."
Hearing that he wasn't in trouble did brighten his face a bit, and he was much less afraid to say where he learned of them. He said, "Well... I heard Agro call mister Zenith and miss Cara that when he left yesterday. I asked him why he called them that, and he said because they were the ones who took care of him and were there when he hatched. So I thought I could call you that too."
Suddenly everything made sense. No one blabbed about it, he just heard a couple words and decided to try them out. They were glad that they didn't accuse Agro or anyone else in the family of letting the secret get out. They would still need a solution on how to explain it to him for exactly why he shouldn't use those words. Technically, he's right, and no one would say anything if he called Seria "mommy." The dangerous part would be calling Drek "daddy." They didn't know how the other members of the Valley would react to it, but there was a chance that they could be kicked out because of the taboo of their actions prior to arriving. There was also a chance that nothing would happen, but they couldn't take the risk.
Seria said, "Alright. We were just wondering where you heard it, because we know that both of us had never used those words around you before."
"So I'm really not in trouble?"
They both laughed and Drek said, "No you're not. Here..." He reached down toward the fruit and grabbed the blue one, tossing it toward him. He caught it and examined it by bringing his flame tail in front of him for extra light. He looked back up at Drek as if to make sure it were ok to eat it before digging in. Drek continued, "Whacha waiting for? Try it."
Trusting him, Charc took a bite, and like Drek, he was instantly surprised by its flavor, and he devoured it while they watched.
Drek said after he had his mouth thoroughly stuffed with blue goodness, "Haha, I did the same thing when I first tried it. It's good huh?" Charc nodded quickly and Drek continued, "Well come over here and eat the rest of your food and then I think we should all go to bed."
Charc approached them and sat down when he got to his small dinner pile. He happily stuffed himself, and when he was finished, the three of them settled down in their usual spots to sleep. Seria typically slept the closest to the cave entrance. She liked waking up by the sun hitting her face, and conveniently enough, their cave was faced in the direction of the sunrise much like their old one from so long ago. Drek slept later because he turned his back to the morning light, and Charc always nestled down between them.
Again, their cave wasn't anything too fancy or elaborate. Zenith's cave for example had indentations cut into the walls and larger spaces off the main area so that they would each have a room: one for Agro, one for Darius, and one large one for Zenith and Cara to share. Even their old cave was at least a little deeper, so even though there weren't separate areas within, it was large enough that one could feel a sense of privacy in one part of it.
They might work to make their home larger in the future. They would probably have to whenever they evolved and needed more space. Maybe that could be a fun project to work on, Drek thought, so that he wouldn't feel as though he were wasting his days there. But that would be something that would arise another day. For now, they had other things to think about, and the first thing on that list of priorities was going to sleep.
Soon after curling up in their usual spots, the sounds of slow breathing could be heard ricocheting off the walls and out into the open air where the moon made its appearance known as a tiny sliver in the sky. The Valley as a whole was settling down for the night, and with virtually all its inhabitants in their homes, the large shadow that blocked the moon's light briefly went unnoticed by everyone. It only lasted for a second at most, but then it was gone, moving across the sky until it settled down somewhere off a ways from the Valley.