A New Path

Starfire sat in the edge of the pond, granted they did call this area the Small Pond. Looking at her reflection, she thought about her life when she was small. It seemed almost like a bad dream, but it was real. 

Starfire was only a young Vulpix playing in a meadow, chasing a Beautyfly. Her parents, a pair of Ninetails, were watching from a hill as she was playing. All three failed to notice a looming shadow watching them.




Starfire felt something hit her from behind her and she fell into darkness before she hit the ground.


Smelling smoke, the young Pokemon quickly got to her feet and saw a horrific sight. The entire meadow was charred black, except for the patch of grass that she was on. "Mommy, Daddy!?" she called. Looking around, the baby looked for her parents. When she made it to the top of the hill she gasped and ran to her parents bodies, lying in a pool of their own blood. "MOMMY, DADDY!!!!!!" she shouted, running to them. 


She cried over their bodies and felt something standing over her. Slowly turning her head, with tears streaming down her face and saw a pair of eyes leering down at her. 


That was the last thing that she could remember. Starfire opened her eyes and sniffled, missing her parents. "Why did I survive?" she asked herself. "Why was I left alive?!" she shouted in anger at the sky.

"Star? Is that you?" Nate had been in the area, just spending some time to relax after the past few missions he had taken in the guild. This time, though, he had heard some kind of yelling. He couldn't tell who it was, or what they had been saying but still decided to try and find the source of it. As it would turn out, the only pokemon he had come across was a familiar looking vulpix that he decided to ask if it was the one he was thinking of.
"Sorry, I just thought I had heard something, so I decided to go check it out. Was that you, or someone else?" He asked the vulpix, hoping that he hadn't mistaken the fire type for someone else but also wondering if they were the one who had yelled.

Starfire turned to see the familiar Pikachu. She didn't want to see anyone right now. "Hello, Nate." she mumbled. She just wanted to leave her home, she tried to be friendly with the other pokemon but it wasn't working. Her life was slowly turning around as she remembered those eyes. I will find you. she thought darkly. She narrowed her eyes and started walking towards Pecha forest. "I was the one that shouted, Nate." she said, pausing when she was beside the yellow Pokemon.

Nate was happy that he had guessed correctly, and it wasn't some random vulpix, but something seemed different. What...something seems a bit, I don't know, off. the pikachu thought to himself as Star walked by him. He noticed her narrow her eyes, but he wasn't affected by it. He didn't think she wasn't the kind of pokemon to attack at random, and had at least a small level of trust in what he thought.
"Why?" He asked her, turning around to watch her walk away as he asked. Something was definitely wrong with Star, though he couldn't tell what it was.

Starfire stopped where she was, looking at the ground. "Have you ever lost something that was precious to you?" she asked. She couldn't stop thinking about that day. When she first arrived in town she was as happy as a Happeni. She remembered the dream that she had the other day, she had woken up scared and was in tears. She had been unable to think of anything else, but those red eyes always haunted her.

"I...that's a pretty personal question." Nate had started to respond, thinking about what kind of loss he would have had. There was my little brother I guess. No, that wasn't a loss. That was a decision I made, I can't count that as this. He decided, before thinking of someone else.
"Yeah, there was someone. Why? Did you lose something?" Nate asked Star, wanting to bring the subject of the conversation back to her.

Starfire turned to Nate with a forced smile, she couldn't tell him what she was planning. So she did the only thing that she thought she could do: lie. "I was only asking, Nate. Sorry if I scared you." she said. Fully turning to face him she continued. "Listen, I'm leaving town but I just want to explore the world. I mean sure we can do it at the Guild, but there's only so much that you can do as an explorer. I want to travel the world." she said looking to thew sky. Travel the world to find my parent's killer. she thought.

Nate chuckled slightly, not picking up on Starfire's forced smile as he heard what she had to say. He nodded his head, smiling at the Vulpix.
"It's fine, you didn't really scare me. And I understand that, exploring can be fun, but being open to go travel around the world on your own is a great thing." The pikachu responded, his smile turning into a smaller grin as he realized that this meant Star would be leaving town, and also as he started to pick up on the forced smile.
"Well, just make sure you look after yourself too." He added.

Starfire nodded, the forced smile was gone and replaced with a sad smile. "Will do. I'm going to miss you Nate. I promise I'll try to stop by to say hello to everyone." she said. Come on don't cry. she thought. Waving her paw she turned to leave, heading towards Pecha forest.

Nodding his head, Nate watched her walk away for a few moments before deciding to walk after her, going a bit quickly so he could catch up.
"Well, don't be in such a hurry to say goodbye. Might as well go with you." He said to Starfire, showing a slight smirk as he caught up to her. He honestly hadn't known her too much, but she had seemed pretty nice, and he was honestly sad to see her go.

Starfire glanced at Nate for a moment and huffed a smile. "Ok, temporary team name?" she asked the electric type. She will never get her own team but that was ok her friends will always be in her heart. Team Cloud Nine will have to wait.

"A team name? If you want one, I'll try to think of one on the spot. I'm not really the best with names though..." Nate looked up in thought, trying to think of something. Personally he didn't see the reason for a name, but if it made Star feel better then he might as well oblige.
"How about Flash Fire? You know, electricity, fire. It's a bit cliche." He responded, as if thinking out loud with the last few parts as the two walked along.

Starfire chuckled, "I like it. It fits for us. But like I said it's only a temporary name." she said. Flash Fire. It sounds cool. she thought. The had now arrived at the border line of Pecha forest. "This place sure brings Memories." she said.

"Right, I get that. I already have a team you know." Nate responded, also looking at the border to Pecha Forest. He had a few memories of that area as well, thinking about the time he spent there, and the time he probably would end up spending there.
"Yeah, it does. If it's not too personal, what made you leave? Just a longing to go see the world, or did something happen to make you want to?" He asked his temporary partner, curious about her situation.

Starfire hesitated for a moment. "I just wanted to travel the world. I mean there's so much that we don't know about the places we have yet to see.  You know the expression, "Places to be and Pokemon to see"." she said with a smile. This wasn't a complete lie she did want to go to new places but, she wanted to find the one that had killed her parents.