Chapter One: Disorientation
The sun shone down in all its pre-dusk glory, its light glittering on the wet sands of a forgotten beach on the southern coast of Kanto. Flocks of Pidgey and Spearow clouded the air, dive bombing the ground as the small tawny birds feasted on any Magikarp or Goldeen that had been unfortunate enough to be washed up by the storm the night before. The tide was coming in and the local aerial creatures were working doggedly to eat their fill before the food was swept away.
Lapping its way slowly up the sand, the waves started to bother someone else; the long, prone form of an unconscious human. Black shirt and blue jeans plastered to her skin, the girl gave a tiny moan as the water trickled through her thick socks and between her toes. Her long nose wrinkled beneath the matted mop of blonde hair that shielded her face from the sun, picking up a strong scent of salt and the underlying whiff of drying seaweed and dead fish.
Suddenly something solid jabbed into the back of her head and the girl woke with a start, jerking away as her brown eyes snapped open. Every muscle in her body ached from the movement: she felt as though she'd fallen under the hooves of a herd of bulls. But that wasn't quite the worst of her troubles.
"Uh…" she squeaked, leaning on her arms as she leant as far away as possible from the thing that had woken her.
It gave a curious bark in response, its long, pointed ears twitching as its four slender, yellow paws carried it closer. The creature regarded her with coal black eyes as the human froze, staring right back at its jagged ruff and golden yellow pelt. It had the basic shape of a dog but also possessed a feline sort of grace. In place of a tail triangular barbs of stiff fur jutted out over its rear, forming spikes that looked far too sharp for the girl's tastes.
"Jolt?" it yapped again, moving closer as the object of its interest backed further away, "Eon jolt?"
The next step forward was too much - leaping to her feet and causing the huge gathering of birds to wheel away up into the sky with loud caws, she turned and fled up towards the trees, her socks slapping into the sandy slush as she ran. Behind her the strange yellow beast cocked its head to the side and watched her go.
Although she had no destination in mind, Cassie wouldn't have made it running anyway. Although she was still terrified that dog thing was following her, she let herself fall against the nearest tree she reached, gasping for breath. Simply having survived the ride that got her here had been more than enough, she realised, and asking for any more from her body wasn't going to achieve anything. She'd never done any real work before, but she was smart enough to figure out that her current condition was the one her father normally referred to as "dog tired".
The thought of her father brought her mind back to her current situation and the girl forced herself to walk some more, scratching at her itchy, salt encrusted skin. Her parents… where were they? More importantly, where was she? Well, perhaps that one was more easily solved. As it wasn't the island, this could only be the mainland… but she knew very little about the place, aside from that her father often went there on business trips and that it was somewhat bigger than home. How much bigger she didn't know but-
Pokémon. Ah.
She did know something else about the island: it was inhabited by creatures known as Pocket Monsters, Pokémon for short. And they were… creatures. Things that replaced the normal animals of the island and were gathered, or something, by people who liked them. She cringed inwardly at her own ignorance on the subject, although she now highly suspected that the creature she'd seen down at the beach had been on of these "Pokémon". Did that mean it was safe? She wasn't sure.
The trees thinned out very quickly, leaving Cassie on a beaten dirt path very similar to the one leading from the cove to the village back home. Although she wasn't sure if she really wanted to meet the townspeople - they could be savages, like those she'd read about in books - following the road was probably the best thing to do, especially since she hadn't a clue about living in the wild. In fact, she couldn't remember ever sleeping anywhere other than her soft feather bed back in her cavernous home. Although it seemed extremely unlikely that any structures could have survived if she had ended up outdoors, Cassandra Nallu silently wished that the mansion still stood.
In the same way that the village at home was close to the sea, the path the sodden and tired girl followed broadened quickly into the main street of a settlement. Despite her numerous aches and pains, Cassie peered at the first few scattered houses as she passed them, seeing small wooden structures that could consist of no more than three or four rooms at most. Each was topped with a slightly sloping grey slate roof, patches of moss creeping from between the gaps, and beside every plain wooden door sat a squat water barrel for collecting rain. The newcomer blinked at each, confused by their simplicity. Her mother had tutored her at home and these houses reminded her of the distinctive buildings of centuries ago she had seen in the extracts from history texts they had studied together. She had never expected to see anything like this still in working use…
'That's something to ponder once I get back home, not now.' she told herself stubbornly as the poor excuses for houses started to get closer together.
There were a lot of them, the girl realised as she walked further, and they were getting bigger. By the time she reached a place where the path she followed crossed a similar one in a massive cross, the majority of the buildings had two stories, larger, clean windows and doors with metal numbers nailed to their fronts. The place was still eerily empty… but were those human voices she heard coming from the largest house?
Naïve through lack of experience, Cassie decided that there was little anyone could do to her but call her names if she bothered them. She padded towards the door of the noisy building and pushed it open. For a second the full sound of a large group of humans deep in conversation flooded out into the streets but as the increasingly nervous girl stared at the grinning faces of folk gathered around stocky wooden tables the noise started to fade away until the very last voice was silent. Those faces didn't look so jolly now, they stared at her in silence as though she were some sort of alien. They weren't used to strangers.
Finally the screech of wood on slate broke the silence as a red faced man lurched to his feet, a pewter tankard spewing amber liquid as it hung from wobbling fingers.
"Ya like swimming' in tha' sea wif all ya clothes on then, lass?" he slurred drunkenly, roaring with laughter at his own 'joke' and seeming not to care as ale splashed down his dirty white shirt.
Unnerved by his strange behaviour and not entirely sure if that was a rhetorical question, Cassie stepped back and mumbled, "Well, uh, I…"
"Don't be stupid, Alfred." Quipped a black haired woman, sneering over her own mug at the local drunk, "She's probably from Saffron or the like, come to show off her money and her new styles to us plain commoners." Her cold sapphire gaze slid over to the girl in the doorway, words dripping venom, "Is that it, some new style? Coated in salt and mud… at least your kind has finally realised that it should dress as the swarm of dirty Grumpigs it is."
Although she had no idea as to what a 'Grumpig' might be, Cassie knew an insult when she heard one. As a result, she was at a loss. She'd found people, and she definitely needed them to get in contact with the individuals who might know her father from his annual mainland visits. But did she really want to stay in the same room as some woman who was slandering her as though she were scum?
She gulped, "I've never been to Saffron, really. I was just wondering… if anyone…"
She took another step back, chin lowering almost to her chest as her eyes went wide. The tension in the room was growing more menacing with every word and she was being forcibly reminded of the other children back home - they despised her for being rich and apparently these people agreed with them. But…
"I was wondering if anyone knows my-"
She was cut off again as a cloth-covered hand grabbed her upper arm tightly. She jumped, her body jerking around to face this new threat, and she came face to face with a black haired man whose dark eyebrows were furrowed in a frown. Before she could even open her mouth to speak he pulled her away from the pub door, letting it slam shut loudly as he manoeuvred her out of harm's way.
"Who're you?!" she garbled, trying to yank her arm out of his grasp in sheer confusion.
He raised an eyebrow at her, obviously sceptical about the state of her attire.
"I'd ask the same of you." He retorted, his voice carrying a cocky and confident tone.
She blinked, looked down at his firm hold on her arm, blinked again and looked back up into his face.
"If you don't know me," she said, "Then why are you touching me?!"
Although he seemed slightly surprised by her blunt answer, the man recovered himself quickly and let her pull away, gesturing to a shape at his feet she hadn't noticed.
"Sajirella here wanted me to meet you, for whatever reason." He responded, shrugging one cape-covered shoulder.
Looking down at 'Sajirella', the colour faded from Cassie's face as she took a few slow steps backwards. Giving a pleased woof, the yellow creature she had encountered down by the beach sat back on its haunches and gave a doggy smirk.
"Wh-what is that thing?" the girl squeaked, her eyes not leaving the squatting creature.
The man rolled his eyes, "A Jolteon." He told her in an exasperated tone, as though this were common knowledge, "She seems to think that you'll be of use to me, although your current performance is definitely telling me otherwise. The name's Jarred, by the way."
He held out one black gloved hand to shake, but Cassie took yet another step back, staring at him cautiously. The fact that she'd never met another person before without her parents right behind her wasn't helping relations out at all.
Neither was the way he dressed - at least the people in that building had worn familiar clothes. This guy sported a white muscle shirt under a pearly breastplate, shoulder armour and short black cape made of something similar to velvet. A thick, dark coloured leather belt sagged from one hip, cutting an angle through the black cloth that made up his trousers. His dark eyes peered out from under a thick fringe of feathery black hair and one thick eyebrow arched skywards at her hesitation.
"Why would I be of use to you?" she wanted to know, refusing to take the offered hand, "I'm not good with numbers and I'm pretty weak too, so what…?"
"I need a new servant to replace the last one," Jarred told her dryly, letting his hand drop to his side, "And for some reason I got the impression that you weren't too welcome here. But forget it, I don't need a skittish little nuisance under my feet when I leave this village."
He sniffed haughtily and turned on his heel, clucking to Sajirella the Jolteon.
"Girl washed up on the beach might make a good replacement…" he muttered to the creature, "Ha! Sometimes I wonder if you're still all there…"
For a second Cassie stood indecisively, chewing her lip and shivering as the lengthening shadow of the house across the street as it shifted up her leg. It would be night soon and she was still freezing cold… Wait, did he just say leave the village?!
"Uh," she paused again for a second before dashing after him, "Wait!"
"And why exactly should I?" he queried, doing so anyway as his dancing black eyes settled on her pale face.
"I'd… I'd like to take the position of servant." She said with a nod, hoping that she could find someone else to help her along the way.
"My name's Cassandra. Cassandra… Windsor-Smith." The name came suddenly, stolen from a particularly pretty (but venomous) girl from back home, "I can read and write, work with a computer, carry some stuff…"
Jarred simply laughed, his eyes twinkling. Seeing her confused expression, he grinned roguishly.
"Sajirella knows what she's talking about, Cassandra. And I know how to get people to do as I want them to."
Before she could protest, he snatched a single paper note from his pocket and deposited it into her hand.
"There's your first payment - do well and there's more where that came from!"
Again he twisted on his boot heel and strode off, his new servant trotting to keep up with his long strides and making sure she kept him between herself and the Jolteon.
"Ready to see the world, Trojan princess?"
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