Chapter Text
Internal thoughts: Skadoosh
action or sound: Skadoosh
This story starts with a white egg with light blue spots laying quietly in a peaceful field. Although curiously this egg is very very far from home, a different universe entirely. It was transported here by a rip in space caused by a fight between Palkia and Dialga (who promptly got their asses kicked by a very angry Arceus afterwards). Now it's been laying there for who knows how long, quietly and peacefully until it's time to hatch.
Crack
Crack
Crack
Suddenly the egg twitches and turns in the green grass, whatever is inside is fighting to get free. Finally, after some difficulty the creature inside manages to break free from their organic prison.
"Rio?"
What emerged from the now broken egg was a little light blue jackal, with red eyes, large black ears and black mask along with black legs and a patch of black fur on his chest that looked like a vest and sported a yellow collar on its neck. It was a Riolu.
"Rio?!"
When the little jackal stood up from all the eggshells covering the grass it looked around at the beautiful landscape surrounding it. Riolu stood in an open field with a waterfall near it from the sound it heard and forests all around it, the sun was beaming and the wind was just the right amount of cold to be feel amazing.
"Rio"
was its only response because that is literally it's only response.
The baby jackal began to explore with its pupils taking the shape of twinkling stars, it looked at everything with childlike curiosity and wonder. It made a fuss about everything the rocks, the trees, the birds, everything was incredible to him. This went on for hours as the little blue jackal crossed canyons and valleys and mountains to see the wonders of nature but was stopped by a sound.
"AGH"
THUD
a voice cried out, it sounded old and elderly he sported a brown sleeveless jacket with classic pair of blue jeans and a cane and of course being the curious one this Riolu was he went to investigate finding an old man that had fallen over pretty badly and of course Riolu didn't just stand there he over to the man and tried to help him up.
"Riolu"
Riolu tried his best to help get the man up, but being literally two feet tall and literally born the same day he wasn't able to do much but apparently it was enough as the old man clumsily got to his feet once more. Now getting a clear view of the Pokémon he just became even more confused. He began asking questions like
"Is this an animal?"
"Is this a quirk"
"Did it just speak?"
"Hello there young man, I thank you for the help you have given me may I have your name please"
The old man said
"Riolu!" the canine answered bright and cheerfully
"Riolu eh? what an interesting name, say are you hungry I'd like to pay you back for the kindness you have shown me"
the old man offered in a soft caring tone and just from look of the old man's eyes you could tell he meant no harm and really just wanted to show kindness back.
And as if on cue the jackal's stomach started growling like it had a grudge against the old man
"My that's a loud one, come with me back home my wife can make us lunch so we can shut that thing up, it's going to make me lose my hearing again!"
the old man said in playful and sarcastic tone
It was a bit of a walk but both Riolu and the old man made it back home. It was a small two-story white house all alone in a field but that didn't stop it from looking cozy. The path they were on led straight to the houses front patio with a chair swing swinging gently from the breeze and as they walked up the creaking stairs the homey vibe started to settle in giving Riolu a cozy feeling.
"Hey, Marge, I'm home and I brought a guest. I hope you have lunch ready; their stomach is already starting to deafen me!"
the old man shouted politely
"Seriously? you're telling me that my husband who only leaves the house to go on walks in the forest found someone to invite over?"
the person apparently known as Marge shouted back clearly in disbelief that her introverted husband actually found someone to invite as a guest to his house
"Not lying and its kid so no more of "That" humor for now"
The man said cautiously
Both the Pokémon and the old man entered the house and immediately it's made pretty clear that the house is old, very old, each step makes creaks of different volumes, there's items on different side tables filled with old stuff. But Riolu ignores it and follows the old man also wanting to silence his grudgeful stomach. When they enter the dining room the tasty smell hits Riolus nose harder than a semi-truck going sixty on a public street. Instantly almost unconsciously, Riolu bolts to the table and onto a chair to see what could be giving off that godly smell. as Riolu stands on the chair looking at all the food tail wagging faster than wind turbine and making tiny jumps on the seat clearly stating that his will to wait is vanishing fast.
"Well, you're a unique one never seen a quirk quite like that one"
Marge said intrigued, mutant quirks are a dime a dozen but one that changed the entire body to this extent.
Silence filled the room except for the small jumping from Riolu on the chair before it was broken by Riolu's stomach went off like it had a new grudge against this old lady.
"And a hungry one I see, well go ahead eat I hope you enjoy it"
The old lady said as she smiled warmly
Sparkles and stars lit up Riolu's eyes as he began to eat
"Oh, I just remembered I never told you my name HAHAHAHAHA sorry about that my name is Alfred" the old man said amused his wife however was not as amused as, she gave him a "are you serious" look
"Uhhhhh *ahem* eh oops??" the old man replied weakly to his wife's glare
"Really, oops is the best you can think of?"
Marge sighed clearly having gotten used to this behavior
The afternoon continued like this back-and-forth ranting between Alfred and Marge with such regular tones it was like this was how they talked all the time. Riolu was just enjoying the delicious food, too captivated by its heavenly taste to listening to the funny ranting between the weds. The light blue jackal wasn't exactly sure how he understood what they were saying, but what really mattered was the good food.
When the food was eaten and the ranting was done at that point it was almost night, with the sun falling over the horizon signaling it was time to rest. Riolu was about to leave the house when suddenly the weds offered a bed for him to sleep in. When, they got to the room it became very obvious of the height problem. The wife offered to lift him up, but Riolu declined thinking he could do it himself. Spoiler he couldn't and after a couple of minutes of failing he finally accepted the ride with a pout and crossed arms, and with two hands lifting Riolu up from under his arms he was placed onto the bed and promptly fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed. With a giggle from Marge, she shut off the lights and closed the door.
And when day finally came, Riolu was about to leave already on the lawn outside the house when the weds said that he could come back anytime and he'd be welcomed. That's just what Riolu did, he came back every day to eat to eat and play with the couple and it went on for weeks before the baby jackal decided he wanted to stay. He was happy and felt safe here, the house was warm and cozy despite it looking like it was on its last legs, and the company was kind, loving, and caring. The old man and women accepted him with open arms, having grown attached to the baby blue Jackal and his seemingly endless childlike wonder and they raised him as a son. Sure, it was a bit weird finding out he wasn't human through when they discovered the egg he hatched from, but they still loved him, nonetheless. Together they did so many things that only strengthed the bond they had.
Learning to read was.... interesting. Since Riolu couldn't talk in human sense, learning to read was a challenge. It involved a whole bunch of picture cards, guessing and questions as to how Riolu could even understand them, but they got it working eventually.
"Alright Riolu, can you spell what you see in this picture?"
Marge said pulling up a picture card in front of him.
Riolu had been giving a large assortment of pieces of plastic that had letters on it so he could spell, and spell he did. After a few seconds Riolu started moving things around to spell what he saw and soon the word was formed.
"Beer. BEER?"
Marge said and looked at the card she presented and there was indeed a picture of beer on it even though she specifically got rid of cards she thought was inappropriate to kids. She questioned how it got there because it wasn't her or Riolu so it must be-
"HAHHAHAhahhahahHAHAHHAA"
It came from Alfred because of course it did
"DID YOU TEACH HIM THE WORD BEER?!"
He only laughed harder at this
Learning of the incredible energy Riolu had quickly become a challenge. Because the literal ball of energy didn't need to sleep every single night like they did, so they didn't force Riolu to sleep every night which unfortunately cause quiet a few scares.
It was very late at night; Alfred had decided to get up and get a glass of water before heading back to bed. But when he rounded the corner of the stairs and looked towards the kitchen in the pitch-black darkness of their house, inside the kitchen was two bright red eyes staring at him which understandable spooked him.
"OH JESUS!"
"RIOLU!"
In the end both parties were scared
"Oh, is that you Riolu? Jeez kid you're gonna give me a heart before it becomes expected with my age"
Alfred said with a smile
"riooo..."
"Don't worry kid it was an honest mistake"
and also, the common occurrence of bumping into something small late at night when you can't see anything, but the little guy can and still somehow gets hit.
Discovering Riolu's abilities went about as good as you'd expect.
The day was normal, Alfred and Riolu were just playing some catch, and Alfred argued that no he was not too old for this to be a problem for his health he was not. So, Marge relented and here they were playing catch. Alfred had an old catcher's mitt for the ball and Riolu was too small for anything human made to play catch for so to catch the ball he had to use both hands, as the ball was bigger than his entire hand but the little guy made it work.
"Heads up Riolu"
Alfred threw the ball and the baby jackal barely caught it
"Nice catch, now give me a faster ball throw with all of your might"
Now the thought process in his head went like this
"He's two feet tall and built like a noodle how hard can he really throw this ball?"
Answer? extremely hard.
Riolu nodded cheerfully and suddenly a glowing white light appeared right behind the ball that he has balancing on his palm, and when Riolu threw it there a bang.
BANG
With the ball flying away there was a streak of glowing white behind it that carried the ball too far for the eye to see it again.
Silence filled the lawn before it was broken by Alfred with an idea
"Hey hun! I think I got an idea of how to make some more money"
that was promptly shut down by Marge
"No Alfred"
"Damn..."
The lovely life went on for months but unfortunately, all good things must come to end, some endings more horrible than others.
On a stormy night, lightning struck the house and set it on fire. No one noticed until the fire was a constant inside the house with the old wood only serving to hasten the fires takeover. Soon, the structure of the old worn-down house began to collapse. Falling planks and roaring flames in the middle of nowhere nobody was coming to save them. A falling pillar woke everyone up and the crackling of the fire kept them awake, they all gathered in the living room. There was no exit that wasn't block by fire or covered with debris, except for a small opening in the debris covering the door just big enough for a two-foot-tall person to squeeze through and make it to safety. That hole would grant Riolu safety away from the flames but also away from his family who would surely die in the fire. But Riolu refused, the baby jackal tried everything to break them free, he tried vacuum waving the debris covering the doors or windows, but they didn't enough significant damage for them to get out before the flames reached them, or they died from asphyxiation from the smoke, or the building collapsing crushing them. His two parents told him to leave but Riolu declined, he wanted to die with his family with his parents. But the couple told him that they had lived their lives, but he deserved a chance to live his. Riolu seemed to go blank at that and with some more coaxing, Riolu finally turned to leave the burning house and squeezed through the opening in the debris and ran away from the fire, tears streaming and pouring down his face, but he decided to look back even if it hurt his little heart. In the blurriness of tears, he saw the house burning down and knew that soon his home would go down with it.