Pokemon: Sanctuary

…I wanted to try something different, but something familiar. Your opinions/suggestions/criticisms are appreciated. c:

[spoilerPrologue:3lv7yznm]The world has changed since the last hero came to protect it, with the help of The Legendary Pokemon, as well as their other Pokemon allies. The region had been calmed and the organization saw the error of their ways, disbanding never to be seen again, but that was not the end of it.

It was with the motive to create stronger Pokemon that the Hybrids were made. The scraps of the team reformed to create and protect the ultimate Pokemon. The skilled scientists studied the link between a Pokemon"s strength and their bond with their human partners. They also studied the intelligence of the Pokemon and tried to find ways to make them smarter, able to think of strategies by themselves, but it proved difficult.

It was then that they thought of the idea, to make humans and Pokemon a single entity, to merge a Pokemon with it"s trainer so the best of their abilities could be shared. However, with no idea how to even start it, they began experimenting with making humans into Pokemon. Unfortunately, this was problematic as either the being would lose all of it"s human traits and become a simple Pokemon, or it would simply disappear, without a trace. These strange disappearances didn"t bother the scientists as much as it should have, but they were too wrapped up in their research and experiments to care much.

Seeing the problems with making humans into Pokemon, they decided to try it the other way around. They found that these beings were merely Pokemon in human bodies, and were unable to perform any skills that they had.
All hope for them was lost until they came across the stories of Latios and Latias, legendary Pokemon who are able to take on human forms. Before they could start, they were caught and they were forced to destroy all of their research, all of their efforts, all of their experiments…but it didn"t end there.

They were researching the mechanisms of Pokeballs when they found a way to disrupt them. They released an electronic virus which caused all Pokeballs to cease function, releasing all Pokemon who had been captured in this way. Eventually, Pokemon and humans began to drift apart until they lived almost completely separately. With less human interaction, Pokemon began to suffer more from illnesses and actions made by humans while humans found t harder to survive, also having to protect themselves from the violent wild Pokemon.

Thus began the all out war between Pokemon and humans. Humans evolved by creating bigger, smarter weapons while Pokemon became faster and stronger. Among this chaos something was born. Where many failed, few succeeded, the Hybrids were born. They were born from many different ways, whether a Pokemon and a human joined through their bond and longing to stay together, whether it was forged together by an experiment or whether a human or Pokemon simply took the next step of evolution, the Hybrids were made.

This is their story.

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[spoilerChapter One:3lv7yznm]It had been weeks since Kasai had seen anyone else, Pokemon or human. The heat of the desert was scorching his scalp and the searing waves of air was blurring his vision. He normally had no problem with hot weather, being a fire type Pokemon, but he was tired and he had exhausted most of his energy escaping the humans in the first place; it was starting to get to him.

His human form was less resistant to the heat, but he didn"t want to risk being caught as a Volcarona, the humans were always harder to fool. He found a nice place to rest, a tall rock sat in the ruins of what appeared to be a tower. He sat at the side of it, the shaded sand below offering a cool refreshing touch. He sat, exhausted from his journeys, running his fingers through the sand.

He sat there for hours but the sun continued to burn high in the sky. The shade was starting to retreat back to the rock, it was time to move again. Kasai got up, dusted his trousers and walked on. It wasn"t long until he saw something in the distance. He wasn"t sure what it was, but it was a nice change from rocks and sand. After walking for a while longer, he was able to make out the forms of each structure before him. They were buildings, similar to straw houses. He walked straight into that town, without a thought of the consequences, but to his amazement the town was completely deserted.

The village was silent, the buildings were empty, the houses were bare. The faded footprints laid scattered in the sand, a tangled maze of steps in all directions, ultimately fading into nothing in a jumbled path away from the buildings, away from safety and into the golden sea. He crouched down to inspect a pile of dry, blackened branches. Wisps of smoke rose from them every now and then, the sheer heat of the sun was enough to keep the fire flickering for a while longer than it should have. Kasai stood up straight when he noticed prints in the sand, deeper than the surrounding ones, but not as recent as his own.

Kasai looked up, turning to follow the trail of fading prints. He didn"t care who it was that made the prints, Kasai had just about had enough of this blasted desert. He followed the prints out towards the steeper ground, where the dunes were beginning to rise. He followed them as far as he could, but then came a point where they suddenly stopped. He realized they looked similar to his footprints, they were recent. Kasai tried to make sense of the situation, but he was caught in the shadow of something flying overhead. That definitely wasn"t there before, he would have noticed it. The haze of the desert distorted it a little, but the jet black figure of the bird Pokemon was obvious against the pale blue sky.

It circled for a while, at a distance. Kasai was almost certain, it was definitely getting a look at him, but it was circling, trying to be careful not to be discovered. It didn"t take long for him to put it together.
“Hey, you can come down, I won"t hurt you.”
The bird continued to circle, but closer and slower this time. He was definitely watching him now.
“I know what you are, I promise I won"t harm you.” Kasai gestured the bird Pokemon to come closer.
The bird huffed and swooped down to the Hybrid"s level. “What do you want? Why are you following me?”
“I-I” Kasai wasn"t really sure why he followed him, maybe out of curiosity, maybe because he was lonely, maybe he wanted a way out of this stupid place. “I just want to talk.”
Up close Kasai could examine the Pokemon closer. It was a Honchkrow, it"s plumage was smooth and sleek, he didn"t seem very tired either. It carefully landed it"s feet in the sand. It unintentionally kicked up quite a lot of sand while flapping near the ground, getting some into Kasai"s eye.
The boy rubbed his right eye from the sand which was in it so he didn"t notice the Honchkrow change its form.

“Sorry about that.” Said the sharply dressed man as he wiped the sand with his feet to cover the Honchkrow"s footprints. “I never expected to find someone else in this part of the desert, let alone someone like us.”
“Heh, yeah. I was thinking the same thing.”
“Anyway, what do you want to talk to me about?”
“Oh, uhh. I uhh.”
The black haired man wore a black hat similar to the way the Honchkrow"s head feathers form. He dressed in a smart, but relaxed way.
“Is something wrong?” He said in a calm, soft voice.
“Uhh, no. I just-uhm.” Kasai"s words had failed him, he had no idea what to say now that he found another man in this desert. His mind went blank on him. “…So, what are you doing in the desert?”
The Honchkrow laughed a little. “I was on my way home, but I saw you coming up behind me so I changed hoping you"d pass me, what about you? Why were you following me?”
“Oh, I din"t mean to follow you, I was just uhm…curious as to who else would be out here.”
“That doesn"t explain why you were out here in the first place.”
“Oh…yeah. I was uhm…”
“It"s fine if you don"t want to tell me, I understand things can be confusing now.” He gave a soft smile and held out his hand. “My name is Sebastian Kuroyami, nice to meet you.”
The Volcarona Hybrid outstretched his arm and shook his hand. “Kasai. Kasai Yozora.”
“Nice to meet you Mr. Yozora. Now, can we get out of this desert? The heat is starting to ruin my feathers.”
“Uhh, yeah. Sure.”

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