Pokemon: On Forgotten Time

Depths

Awake.

"AHHH!" I shot awake, inciting a wave of pain that slammed me back into a soft cushion.
Wait a minute, soft?
After the pain subsided I slowly sat up to look around. I was in a large reddish orange room, several times the size of my cell. The bed beneath me was made of some kind of silk and was incredibly comfortable. On my left was a simple table with an empty wooden bowl with a cloth in it. Most of my body was wrapped in bandages so I couldn't see my injuries, but the dull throb from beneath them told me I hadn't healed much. I lay back down carefully, trying to remember what had happened.
There was Shenn, he hit me, there was a wall, then... something else happened? On the verge of a thought, the door opened slowly. The face of Inara appeared from its far side, "Are you alright? I heard a shout." She asked, before walking to the side of the bed.
I winced a little, a sudden pain spiking up, "I guess so, but... what exactly happened? All I can remember is lying against a wall and he Grovyle standing above me." She pulled a stool hidden under the table and sat down.

"In short, I busted down a wall, nearly wiped Shenn from existence with flames and ran you to the nearest medical center. You almost died, Sarin, a few moments later and we wouldn't be talking here. Anyway, after stopped most of the bleeding they told me you were relatively safe to be moved."

"So then, how long was I out?" I asked, a little concerned.
"This is going to sting, but you've been unconscious for about five days." She said after an uncomfortable look.
She smiled continuing. "But there is good news, Council heard about what happened and decided to send Hex to look at your dreams on the second day, since you didn't seem to be waking up soon. He determined, again, that you were telling the Council the truth. So, they finally gave in and decided to drop all suspicions."

"So... I'm free to walk around again?" I asked.
She hesitated for a moment, "More or less, you won't have to have me at your side every waking moment anymore."

"What are you going to do now?" I asked. Though I should have been more worried about what I was going to do. I had nowhere to go.
She sighed lightly, "Before I found you I was an explorer. I went across the surface finding Pokemon like you and brought them back to Terradeep if they met all the criteria. Often there are requests from those inside the refuge for Pokemon to be recovered, so that's what I would do. When I found you I was on a similar mission, but unfortunately the Pokemon in question had already been... lost."

"What about you, Sarin, where will you go?" She finally asked, a question that I still didn't know the answer to myself.
I shrugged, "I don't really know. I have no talents, I don't know enough to do anything. It's not like I can fight or anything. What even can I do?"
"You can come with me." She said after a moment of silence between us. "Well, I mean, if you want to. My line of work isn't all that fun or easy, though." She added after a moment.
"I don't even know anyone else." I did my best to lean against the wall behind me in spite of the pain. "So I guess I should stick with you." I laughed lightly, adding, "It's not like I can leave anyway."
Inara's face lit up with joy, replying "Well then, once you can move, I can start to show you what I know.

This began my life for the first several months in Terradeep Refuge. It took several weeks before I healed enough to begin training with Inara, so in the meantime she taught me about Terradeep and Poké-kind. By the time I was able to stand again I knew enough about living in Terradeep and the basics of our typing for a normal Pokémon of my age. Before beginning training Inara showed me the nearby area, just in case I wandered outside at some point. Her home was the far northwestern section of the main cavern, far from any other buildings. "I don't really like to deal with other Mons that much." She had said. Her own home wasn't huge, the room I recovered in was essentially a guest room, built above the other two rooms on the lower floor but the door led to the roof to give a wonderful view of the rest of the cavern. The other two rooms were Inara's room, almost the same size as my own, but with much more in it, the other being a cooking and living area.
At first Inara and I did recovery training to get me back into some sort of shape. Then, after I was able to move easily again she tried to teach me how to fight. It didn't go very well. I just wasn't built for fighting, but Inara would constantly say: "It takes time Sarin, you'll get there." Between sessions Inara showed me new parts of the cavern system. First was the northern subterranean grove, a special underground forest carefully maintained by meticulous Pokemon. Then the southwestern abyss, an unending hole beneath a calm surface. No one knew what lies at its bottom, if there is a bottom. The Council named it World Abyss for that reason. The last place Inara brought me to was the eastern graveyard. It was a silent place, well lit by crystals, but eerie nonetheless. Walls engraved with footprint runes told of all those slain by humanity filled the area. Needless to say, we didn't spend much time there.

For the first time since I had arrived in this strange world, I was happy. Even if I couldn't go with Inara on scouting missions which occasionally interrupted our training sessions. The war wasn't even as fierce as it was during the prior years. Even so, Inara would come back with news of a guild's futile struggles before being destroyed. The humans were winning this war of attrition, something Pokémon were never adapted to. The morale of Terradeep would fall each day, till the eve of the eighth year.