Seven Years Later Chapter 1
Seven Years Later
CH. 1: Unshi's Family
The harsh pounding of the rain began to lighten up. Beams of light pierced through dark gray clouds and began warming up the land. The once frenzied waves suddenly calmed down, gently ebbing its way back towards the ocean. The once hectic scenery slowly returned to a more peaceful state, but the sounds of screaming from a nearby cave reminded nature of the chaos felt only moments ago.
Back in the cave, the totodile could only watch in surprise as the charmander turned around and began to thoroughly examine every part of her body. Four fingered paws, three clawed toes, rough lizard skin, and a large meaty tail, however you look at her, she was just a plain ol' charmander. Panic rushed into her mind as she knew that this couldn't be real. In fact, she was sure that she used to be a guy before her transformation but couldn't remember anything else. Cringing in disbelief, tears flowed down her cheeks as she slumped onto the ground and began to sob.
The feeling of a scaly warm mass pressed into her back as two blue limbs wrapped around her belly. "It's alright. Everything will be fine", cooed the totodile. His gentle and soothing words echoed off the walls and entered the depressed char's mind. Combined with the pleasant hug, the char became entranced. A tinge of happiness could be felt deep down inside her, growing over and changing her sadness. Fully embracing these feelings, she sighed with relief and began to calm down.
Snapping back into reality, the char blushed as she got up and away from the strange blue dile. "T-thank you for, saving me", she squeaked, looking towards her saviors feet. "It's not a problem", grinned the dile. "I'm sure that if our positions were switched, you would have done the same for me. Anyways, my name is Unshi." Extending a paw towards the shy char, Unshi was glad when she shook it. Other pokemon that he met would have either declined or backed away out of intimidation. "Nice to meet you, Unshi. I would give you my name, but I honestly don't remember anything", whimpered the char. "That storm really must have messed with you, since you're a fire type and all. Why not just make a new name for yourself?" Unshi asked.
Taking some time to think, the char felt something in her mind that wanted to be released. "Kutty", she whispered. "You can call me Kutty. Is that alright?" Unshi nodded his head. "Of course! Your name should be something that you're comfortable to be called. Well Kutty, since you don't have anywhere else to go, why not hang out with me? I'll show you everything this place has to offer and it should be fun overall. What do you say?" It true that she had nowhere else to go, and convenient enough to find a friend in this strange new world. Instantly nodding her head, she watched her hero whoop and kick in joy. The involuntary kicks were a habit that totodiles were known for, yet Kutty giggled at the thought of it being a dance of happiness.
Finally reaching his home, Unshi could barely contain his excitement. Located in a cave right next to a pond, Unshi's home was large to fit his entire family. "Hey there, son", echoed a voice from inside. "Baby bro's back?", gasped another voice and soon the sounds of stomping grew. Emerging from the cave came one totodile, three croconaws and two feraligatrs. "Welcome home kiddo!", roared the family as they surrounded the surprised pokemon. The scene flooded with a variety of questions and chatter. It overwhelmed Unshi as he tried his best to answer each question. Many were simple questions, like "How have you been doing?", and "Have you been eating right?" Others were much more complicated and resulted in confused babbling or being skipped all together. With all of this confusing conversation filling the area, one question rose above all and turned everything silent. "Who's the girl?"
Turning to stare at the cowering lizard, the family waited for an answer from Unshi. "This is Kutty", began Unshi nervously. "She's one of my friends but has no where else to go after something happened to her family. So I thought that she could hang out around here with us." The glare from the family soon turned to those of concern as Unshi's mom went towards the char. "You poor thing", she whimpered as she scooped the frightened char into her arms and hugged her. "You can stay here as long as you like and if anyone gives you trouble, just come to me."
The rest of the siblings gulped as they watched their mother treat the guest like one of her own. "Uh, mom?", coughed Unshi. "I think you're embarrassing her." Indeed, Kutty's face was glowing a darker shade of orange from being treated this way. However, this kind of embrace felt nice and she really didn't want to be put down. "Oh, hush now", snapped his mom. "You just come over here so I can hold you to. You were gone far to long, and I missed my little cub." Hearing a few giggles from his siblings, Unshi groaned since he had no choice. Getting picked up, the mother squeezed both bundles in her arms gently before leading them into the cave.
Entering Unshi's room, she plopped both pokemon onto the bed before heading off. "Oh, dinner will be ready in a few minutes", she added as she left the cave. "Is your mother always like this?" whispered Kutty. Unshi nodded with a blush. "Yea, I kinda got most of her personality in me so I understand her reasons." Looking at a photograph stuck to the wall, Kutty saw an old portrait of Unshi's family.
"Yea, that picture was taken before I was hatched. See, I was in that egg, surrounded by my parents, my three sisters, and my brother. In order of age, first up is big bro. He is like my dad; kind, caring, and overall overprotective. Next are my twin sisters. They don't resemble any of our parents and really like to cause trouble. They just want to have fun, but end up grounded most of the time. All three evolved already, and that makes me and my other sister a little bit jealous. Now my other sis is really smart and could easily outwit anybody. She loves us, but openly admits that she would rather look after herself."
Kutty nodded at the family history lesson, but wondered why he told her all of this. She could have figured all of this out after meeting all of them personally. Wasn't she also going to live here? There would have been plenty of time to get to know her new family. Just as she was about to voice her concerns, Unshi looked into Kutty's eyes and that stopped her. "Kutty, I need to ask you something."
Blinking in surprise, Kutty nodded to allow Unshi to talk first. "You see, I've always wanted to be an explorer. Deep down inside, I could feel something pulling me to find and reveal secrets. On the day that I met you, that feeling grew large and now I can't think of anything else then to explore. In fact, I even left the school that I was attending just to come here to tell my family my plans. Now the reason that I'm telling you all of this is because I want you to come with me and be my exploration partner. Along the way, we'll be sure to find the reason why you turned into a girl and lost all of your memories."
With this sort of logic, Kutty thought that this whole exploration thing might be worth while. To find the reason for her transformation, she agreed to follow Unshi. The dile smiled at her willingness to be his partner and agreed that they will tell the family their intentions once dinner is over. Unshi's dad roared to let the rest of the family know that dinner was prepared and they all rushed towards the table. Plates filled with fresh fruits and slices of fish, the pokemon dug into the food and filled the room with the noises of chomps and swallows. Finishing the feast with smiles on their faces, Kutty and Unshi stood up to announce their intentions.
"...and that is where we plan to go", finished Unshi. The look of shock could easily be seen in the faces of the family members. "You just got back home and now you want to leave again?", exclaimed the father in disbelief. "It isn't enough that I allowed you to go to a far away school, but now you want to do something incredibly dangerous such as this? I can't do it. I'm sorry, but I can't..." A clawed paw clamped over the frustrated gator's maw. Looking over to his mate, he could see something twinkle in her eyes that calmed him down. "Dear, I think we should let them go", said Unshi's mom. "If they were brave enough to take a stand against all of us, then they should be able to face anything that will stand in their way. Besides, this sort of reckless behavior is something that attracted me to you in the first place."
Reconsidering the whole idea, Unshi's father smiled and let out a roar of laughter. "Ah, to be young once more. I'm glad to see that you inherited something from me after all, Unshi. With your mother's compassion and my ahem 'bravery', I'm sure you're bound to become one of the greatest. Alright son, you have my blessing." Jumping with happiness, the other siblings applauded at their baby brother's success. The night ended quickly and soon daylight arrived once again. All packed up and ready to leave, Unshi and Kutty met with Unshi's mom one last time.
"Since you're going to treasure town to train at Wigglytuff's guild, be sure to visit us often", cried Unshi's mom. She had given them three oran berries and two apples to take along the way. Her last gift, however, shocked the young dile the most. "Five thousand pok'e?" gasped Unshi. Nodding, the mother placed the money into her son's hands and hugged him. "Kutty, you be sure to take care of my son, alright?" Nodding in earnest, she too was enveloped in a giant warm hug. "Prolonging this will only make it sadder to say farewell", sobbed Unshi's mother. "But remember, this goodbye isn't forever. It's a goodbye that happily invites greetings anytime they could stop by. Now go before I change my mind." Holding back the tears, both nodded and turned to face a new world filled with adventure. "We won't disappoint you mama!", cried Kutty suddenly as the two disappeared in the horizon. Blushing, Unshi's mom couldn't hold back her tears anymore.