PMD: Stargazer Chronicles

Maelstrom- Prologue

A flash of a Rhydon. A flash of a plain, burnt and blackened ground under a gray sky. A bit of her home. The massive trees she knew were only seen in a precious few other places in the world. Then, Hannah was three.

Hannah wasn't sure how these families normally were, but everything seemed normal to her. Her mother, a Rhydon, rarely went out to work. She left about two or three times a month. From what Hannah gathered, she punished bad pokemon and got rewards.

Every other day, her mother taught her about life. They lived in the Verde Woods. They were alone here, besides the birds and animals she learned how to hunt. When she wasn't being taught about surviving on her own, she was being taught the names of different kinds of pokemon species. Since before she could remember, she knew most of their names, though.

Hannah was a Minccino with eyes like deep water who loved to talk. She didn't understand why she enjoyed making her voice wavy and loud until her mother explained what singing was. She started to do it every day, all day. Her voice started to get sharper as she changed it to sound nicer to her mother's ears.

Sometimes, Hannah asked to leave the forest. Her mother promised that they would when she was old and learned enough to protect herself and survive. Hannah decided to trust her.

When Minccino Hannah turned eight, her mother started to explain more about what she did for them. Rhydon sat the Minccino down in front of a small fireplace during the winter months of her eighth year and told stories of how she was a "bounty hunter".

Bounty hunters would get rewarded for bringing down bad people and making them atone for their crimes in different ways.

During one of those talks in front of the flickering fireplace, Hannah came up with a question. She sat side by side with her mother. Hannah copied how she sat with her legs crossed.

"What's the difference between someone good and someone bad?"

"Well," Rhydon answered, "good people are nice to others because that's how we're naturally supposed to be. Acting out of negative wants makes a person bad, but it can get complicated."

"But how can I know if I'm good or bad if there's no one else to be nice to?" Hannah asked.

"Train your connection to our creator, and I'll take you from this forest out into the world when you're ready."

"When?"

"I still have things to teach you. You'll know when you're ready."

The following spring, Rhydon strangely began to teach her how she might have to hurt other people if she wanted to do the right thing. It didn't make sense. Her mother compared it to how families of animals defended each other. She taught how to use moves and abilities, then made her do challenges with them every day in the woods.

On her tenth birthday, Rhydon had baked her a cake from the things they grew around the woods. It tasted different somehow.

Minccino Hannah sat in front of the fireplace facing Rhydon instead of sitting on her lap. Her mother explained that there were groups of people called nations. They were all across the world, and made because living together with others was easier than living alone.

Her mother reminded her of bad people, and explained that bad people created disharmony between these nations. Hannah learned what war was.

As the days passed, her mother continued to explain that one of these wars had happened on their same continent, between two kingdoms called Valor and Verity. Hannah understood how kingdoms functioned as she read books her mother brought her from outside of the woods.