Paladin
Plains of Valkaria
The egg was bright green. It was a small, bright green egg with some yellow markings on the sides. In the morning sun, it gleamed an untainted gold. Paladin had found this egg during his trip through Thieves Forest two months ago. It was alone, abandoned in the woods, motherless. Paladin then decided it was better to take it than to let some Sneasel gobble it up. Ever since, he had been eagerly waiting for it to hatch. As he walked along the plains of Valkaria, he held the egg in his palm, the egg looking minuscule compared to his giant hand.
Paladin, a former member of the Gold Tribe, had first awoken in a barren desert known as the Wastes of Will to find the world in chaos. Remembering nothing of his past, he discovered that half of his body was colored a sickly grey, and that vision in his left eye had become darker, making the world seem more moody. After a harrowing journey, he found himself in a Refugee camp. Since then, he has been travelling from refugee camp to refugee camp. It has been a year since then, and Paladin is still searching. Searching for his past. The only thing that was left to him was a tattered, burned Gold Tribe symbol, which he kept hidden away from the Ancients in his satchel. Then, he found the egg. The green egg represented something that Paladin could care for, something that had a future, and it gave him new-found purpose. In a sense, it was his exact opposite, since it had its whole life awaiting it, while he had already spent his, and was trying to get it back.
Paladin traveled with three companions. At the front of the group was an egotistical Ursaring known as Kromp. Kromp saw himself as the leader of the group, though really, there was none. Kromp and Paladin disliked each other greatly, but for the sake of the other Pokemon in the group, had to put up with each other. Travelling alongside Paladin was a Linoone known as Ryte. Ryte would often complain that the other members of the group were slowing her down, and that she would already have arrived at Cape City if they weren't tagging along. The group's destination was Cape City simply because it seemed like the safest place to be right now. If they stayed out of the Ancients' way, then they would be protected by the city's walls. The final member of the group, and the only one keeping the other members sane, was Frilly, a cheery young Azumarill who tried his best to keep the others from sinking into depression. As for Paladin himself, he was too busy thinking to bother with the other members. That, and the drumbeat. The constant drumbeat in his head. "Dum dum dum dum," just four beats, playing on a loop. It sounded almost like war drums. ...War drums! That was it! Why hadn't he thought of this before? The drums must have been war drums he had heard somewhere. He must have participated in a battle of some sort. But where? "Yes!" he bellowed, not thinking, feeling great about his new realization. This could bring him one step closer to finding out about his past.
Just then, he noticed all the other Pokemon looking up at him in concern. Even Frilly, in his cheerful attitude, was confused. Afterwards, Ryte quickly resumed talking to Frilly, who put on his best smile and continued the conversation, but Kromp just kept on looking. A look of disdain on his face, although it was hard to see, as the sun was only just coming up, and the Ursaring was exactly a meter shorter than Paladin himself. Kromp grunted disapprovingly, and turned away.
Cape City was coming into view. The city's walls were big, but not that big. On one of his trips, Paladin had seen Gold City, which was far more magnificent than this place. Though Cape did deserve some recognition, it could hardly compete with the giant walls of Gold - or rather, Silver - city. All the refugees were coming to Cape for different reasons, most simply to survive, but Paladin wanted to visit a mysterious figure he had heard of who stayed there. This Pokemon was said to have many connections all around the region, and could even do what they wanted under the nose of the Silver Tribe. Paladin gathered that a Pokemon with so many friends would surely know of someone that knew about his past. Perhaps a surviving Gold Tribe member? He didn't know.
Suddenly, something rose from the ground. From the back of the group, Paladin couldn't make out what it was, though it was seemingly brown in color and had a rounded head. Kromp seemed to be in a conversation with it. Paladin walked ahead to see that it was a Diglett. Kromp was having a discussion with it, though Paladin wasn't listening to them. He walked up to the two, and interrupting Kromp, asked "Who are you?" in a commanding tone. "Why, I'm just an innocent passerby," the Diglett coaxed. He didn't seem reliable at all. Then, suddenly, he popped back underground. "Nice going, idiot! He was going to show us the way into Cape!" Kromp bellowed furiously. Paladin simply looked down at him and said, "We can find out own way in." The two then stared at each other for a time before their attention was drawn to Ryte, who was shouting at something. "Hey! Let go!" she protested. The Diglett from before had returned with a different Pokemon. This Pokemon must have been led here from underground by the Diglett. It was a Spearow, who, by the looks of it, was taking Ryte's satchel, which contained all their supplies. Once it had taken the satchel, it began to fly off with it. Not planning to let it get away, Paladin quickly launched a Stone Edge at the bird. Most of the rocks missed, but one was enough to bring the weak-bodied Spearow down with the satchel. Worried, the Diglett abandoned its fellow thief and returned underground, but Paladin wasn't going to let him get away so easily. He stomped his foot onto the earth, creating a massive Earthquake. Though it did nothing more than cause the Pokemon above-ground to fall over, it probably collapsed Diglett's tunnel upon him, rendering him trapped.
"Got what's coming to 'em, the rotten thieves," Paladin stated, and continued walking ahead of the other shocked Pokemon. "They could have just been hungry!" Frilly said. Paladin turned around to face Frilly, looking down upon the smaller Pokemon. "I said, they got what was coming to 'em. There's always better ways than to steal," Paladin said again, then resumed his walk. The other Pokemon did the same. It took a few moments for Paladin to realize that Frilly was probably right. What had he done? He had injured two innocent civilians who just needed to eat. Of course they would resort to stealing, they had no other option.
Soon, the group of refugees stood before the walls of Cape City. "How do we get in?" Ryte asked. "Leave it to me," Kromp responded. Of course, he had no idea how to get in, but Paladin did. "Ha, you couldn't get us in even if you knew how to," Paladin said, infuriating the Ursaring. He charged at Paladin, who simply avoided the attack at the last minute. Kromp then attempted to get himself hands into his arms, and his legs into his torso. "Get on," Paladin ordered. The other two Pokemon looked confused, and Kromp looked on the verge of laughing. Paladin then took off like a rocket, the energy within him was released through the bottom of his torso, and his arms, allowing him to take off like a rocket. After this little demonstration, he once again said, "Get. On." The other Pokemon did as they were told, but Kromp refused. "Fine then. Have it your way." Paladin said, and took off without him. Kromp proceeded to shout some nasty threats at Paladin, who simply ignored them and continued upwards. His plan was to go over the walls of the city using his uncanny ability to fly. Whatever lay beyond the wall, Paladin would face have to face it.