Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Early Years (Ongoing)

Chapter 1: Welcome To Seaway

Lucia tossed and turned, the cries of a number of Wingull in the sky, along with the wind and the waves and... what was she laying on?

Lucia brought herself to open her eyes where she saw she was on a beach, covered in sand, with the tide rising and only about a foot away from her. She scratched her head "What in the... where am I?"

She thought for a moment. And then another. And then a few more... At first she thought she just needed a moment to wake up some more to remember where she was, but it didn't come to her. Even as she brushed the sand off and stretched and felt very much awake, she couldn't remember.

"Hmm..." She didn't quite know what to make of it. Maybe someone could've dropped her off here? Oh! Maybe it was... no, no. She couldn't think of anyone who would do this. In fact, she couldn't remember anyone. She glanced around the beach, at the ocean and to the nearby forest.

Well, no answers there. She kicked at some sand and stirred around the area for a second longer. She, eventually, decided on a course of action. Well, I guess I'll look for a river. Settlements like to stick to those... right?

Lucia, then, just wandered into the forest. She tried to keep herself facing in one direction, just in case if she needed to turn back to the beach. The forest was dense—all kinds of trees and plants all around, with Pokémon who likely lived there being scarcely seen, hiding from whatever next on the food chain was.

She was slightly alert, but not as much as she probably should've been. All the same, she kept walking and walking and walking, uninterrupted besides the occasional trip from a vine here or fallen tree there. But, soon, a few minutes turned to an hour, and then, Lucia predicted, about four.

The lovely scenery had suddenly turned into still lovely, but slow moving scenery. So, when Lucia found a tree that had apples up in it, she leapt at the opportunity (and also up into the tree) for a break. The apples up in them were a bit smaller than what they should've been—definitely not fully grown, but Lucia wasn't going to wait until the apples were ready.

She thought about the best way to get the apples, and came to the reasonable conclusion to use Quick Attack on the tree, again, and again, and again. It wasn't the easiest, most efficient, or most importantly—quiet—method, but on the 6th or so try, a good few apples fell at once. Lucia smiled as she picked one up.

Then there was growling behind her.

She turned around to see a Poochyena, glaring at her with a snarl on their face. Lucia blinked, just for a second. She didn't want to assume the worst about the locals—maybe that was their way of saying hello. However, Lucia didn't assume herself a local, and decided that, wherever the hell she came from, was a threat.

She blinked a few more times, both her and the Poochyena unmoving for a second. Eventually, she stuck the apple in her mouth to keep her hands free, took a breath, and bolted deeper into the woods. She heard the Poochyena behind her howl, and then run right along behind her.

..."Uh oh" feels like a really really big understatement here—aaaAAAAAAAAAAA— Lucia kept rushing through the brush. Even though she could easily out speed the Poochyena, it was more familiar with the terrain than her, the right steps to take, the best twists and turns to get ahead, everything.

The first one was gaining on her ever so steadily, and chills went down Lucia's spine as she heard even more Poochyenas responding with the howl of the first with their own, filling the air. One suddenly jumped out of the brush and Tackled her, knocking her back.

Though she fell, Lucia quickly got back on her feet, and, with the apple still in her mouth, she used Quick Attack, knocking the Poochyena back itself. And, to regain momentum and distance, Lucia Quick Attacked away. I just wanted a dang APPLE! She thought to herself as she kept running from the now-pack of Poochyena.