((Prompt 1, from Cubone's PoV))
I was born amidst flowers and gravestones.
The first thing I remember seeing was my mother. She looked so tired, but so happy, too, when I had finally managed to struggle out of my egg. Mama…she hugged me, and called me her precious one. I felt safe in her embrace, safe and warm. Nothing bad could get me, not while I was with Mama.
Our nest was a big crack in the wall that Mama had found and dug out, high up in the Pokémon Tower, where lots of different Pokémon slept without waking up. Sometimes humans would come and look at them: Mama said that I should never let them see me, because they might try to hurt me, or take me away. Sometimes I would watch them from a safe hiding place. A lot of them seemed to have water running down their faces, and a lot of them brought flowers to put next to the sleeping Pokémon. Mama and I used them to make the nest soft and warm to sleep in, when the humans had gone away.
Some humans would bring food to leave for the sleeping Pokémon, too. When I got a little older, Mama would sometimes leave and go get some to bring back for me. At first I thought she was stealing from the sleeping Pokémon, but she told me that they had more than they needed, and had given her some to share with me. I was happy that the sleeping Pokémon were so nice: I especially liked it when they gave Mama oranges or rice balls to give to me: they were my favorite.
I believed that nothing bad could happen to us…Until the humans dressed all in black showed up. It was one of the first times that Mama let me come with her to get food from the sleeping Pokémon. All of a sudden, she stopped and listened. She said to run, to get back to the nest. I was confused, but I ran: Mama was right behind me, pushing me to go faster. I heard voices getting louder, and heavy footsteps trying to catch up. I looked back: lots of big humans, dressed all in black with red marks on their chests, were behind us. My fear made me run more quickly than I ever had, and before I knew it, I was back home, panting, but Mama was gone. I stayed in the nest: I could hear humans and strange Pokémon I didn’t know yelling somewhere nearby, and I thought that maybe I heard Mama fighting them…Now and then there would be a big thwacking sound, like something being hit hard. I think I heard her yelling at them to leave us alone.
I was too scared to move, even after it had been quiet for a long time. The sun started to go down, but the ghost Pokémon didn’t come out to play like they usually did. Finally, I got the courage to stick my head outside and look around; I didn’t see anything. I crept all the way out, and then I saw: Mama was sleeping and an old human with a shiny head was beside her, with water on his face. I called for her to look out, but she didn’t move. The human looked around, but I ran back into the nest before he could see me, I think. I stayed there for a long time, until eventually I fell asleep. No one woke me when I had nightmares that night.
I thought it might have all been a bad dream when I woke up, but even though I waited all day Mama never came back. I even looked outside again: she wasn’t where she had been before, when I saw her sleeping. The human was gone, too…but there was a pile of food where he had been before. I didn’t take any: I felt too sad to be hungry, and that night I found that I had water on my face, too, just like the old, bald human that found Mama. That evening, from somewhere in the lower levels of the Pokémon Tower, though, I thought I heard the sound of a pokéflute. There was something in that music…It made me feel a little less lonely, almost like Mama was back with me, hugging me and calling me her precious one, just like the first time. I fell asleep, sure that Mama was there drying my tears and keeping me safe.
I woke up again, alone, but there was a surprise waiting for me. I touched it slowly: it was hard, and white, and very smooth. Somehow I knew that Mama had left it for me when she went away the night before: that way she could keep me safe, even though she was gone. Gently I put it on my head…It was strange, to feel comfort and yet be so lonely at the same time. Mama couldn’t come back, and now I was all alone. Tears trickled from my eyes and down Mama’s skull...When I cried because I missed her, now she would cry from missing me, too. I was lonely, and I couldn’t forget, but I would get strong…
...Just like Mama.
