Fantasy Echoes of Anima

Authors Notes

Coming of age has a different meaning for those living in Neo Corvusia. Wyatt Daycott, like many upon turning 18, is preparing to embark on his very own Anima adventure. There he will train beasts called Anima to battle and grow stronger. Both master and Anima will overcome challenges while also fulfilling a unique mandate. Wyatt, a small town farm-boy, has a special power few men have, and its critical to the survival of human civilization.

Join Wyatt on this adventure through an original post apocalyptic world recovering from a deadly plague. Building back utopia looks a lot different than imagined.

I have always been a fan of Pokemon, but wanted to branch out and make a unique setting and world for such a story to play homage to but not directly copy. I hope you all enjoy. Please leave comments to let me know how you liked it!

Thanks as always to my editor Kenjisato!
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The Adventure Begins

ROUTE 485 BETWEEN THE CITY OF CAMELOT AND THE TOWN OF WICKETSHAM

Never did Wyatt Daycott think he would miss the dull trilling of the breeze across the hills of his home as much as he did the moment he sauntered down the worn path in its direction. It had been over a week. A week that had inexplicably changed his life. Being a simple farm boy with little in the realm of aspirations, he had not quite worked out if the change was for the better. But certainly, it would be far detached from his expectations. As he returned home it was not to continue his life tending to his family's fields, but rather to say his goodbyes. A bittersweet farewell before he set off on his own unexpected Anima Adventure.

Beyond the hills, he could see the smoke rising from the chimneys of the few houses in town. He could see the neon sign of the single restaurant at its center, Momma Veeta's. The cookie-dough-like smell of the wildflowers filled his nostrils, and the rustling of the grains in the fields on either side of the path, brought nostalgia he did not think he had.

Turning eighteen had not been a huge deal for him. Most were excited to travel the land and prove themselves with their Anima partners beside them. Yet for Wyatt, he did not think that this was his fate. Not until he was told otherwise. It annoyed him, since he felt the expedition childish. However, it was a ritual that was the cornerstone of a reborn society, no matter if he had resigned to grow up without it.

He had no choice.

With little regard for what lay ahead of him, he remained occupied with the conflicting thoughts and feelings of his new role in society. It was a complicated one, one that would challenge his own morals and preconceptions about the world.

So occupied was he with this inner moral struggle, he hardly noticed ahead of him a fellow Anima Trainer fixated on his approach with glee. Her eyes had a naïve determination about them, no doubt hyper-fixated on the challenge of her own Anima Adventure. Beside her, a Lynexn, a bobcat-like Anima with grey and reddish-brown fur, speckled in black dots. It was her equal in determination. Clearly master and Anima had been training together for some time. She was by no means from Wyatt's town, she seemed older, more seasoned in her adventure. Judging by the size of her Anima, larger than those Lynexn found in the wild, they had been persevering through many challenges along the road.

It begged the question, where was his Anima? Requiem loved to roam, which often left him a few hundred yards away from Wyatt. Though he was hardly concerned, it did make things inconvenient when he was needed. No doubt, as soon as he engaged this fellow trainer, who clearly desired a battle, Requiem would come to his side in a flash.

"Hey! You! Kid!" The girl, with dark hair and sharp features called out to him. She politely waved as she came towards him, Lynexn at her side with a staunch march.

Wyatt certainly no longer felt like a kid, even if he was younger than she. The past week and his new duty had aged his soul. Hardly did he twitch his eye as she approached him, coming just a few meters ahead before stopping along his path down the route.

"I'm going to challenge you to--"

Holding up his palm, a weary Wyatt sighed. "If it's all the same."

"Huh?" She seemed surprised he would stop her from issuing the formal challenge.

"If it's all the same... that's my home ahead there. It's been a long week, and I'd just prefer to get there." He slipped his hands in his pockets and tried to look humble.

Her Lynexn sniffed the air, hairs raising on its back as it growled. Requiem must be near, stalking the opponent through the stalks of grain. But this girl seemed to be too thick-headed to sense it.

"I take it since you are traveling on this route, and with how young you are, you are a trainer."

"You got me."

"And by how green you look, you must be brand new to the Anima adventure."

Wyatt shook his head, he couldn't stop this train wreck from continuing. "Sure enough."

"Well. Let me educate you then. It's against the rules of the Commission on Anima Programs to refuse an Anima challenge on an official route."

"Right again," he conceded, with a groan.

"Don't think you could fool me with your sob story about being home. I've been on my adventure for almost a year now, and I've been training hard for moments like this. Moments to prove my strength!"

Her eagerness to prove herself made her just seem smaller. Wyatt wished to not be a part of it, but he felt like she would be too bullheaded to let him go.

"So don't think I'll be letting you off the hook. I need the money from this win."

Wyatt contemplated just giving her the standard trainer victory fee and moving on. He was not hurting for money with his new gig. But she seemed to be in it for more than the money, despite her declaration of being broke-- it was the sense of superiority. In his weariness, he felt annoyed at her motivation. A stray thought moved to end this battle swiftly to knock her down a few pegs.

"Need the money, huh? I hope that means you have the fee," Wyatt probed.

"Pfft, whatever, you won't be winning today newb, and on the off chance you do, well, we will figure something out." She waved her hand dismissively.

Part of Wyatt's good conscience that contended with his new role in the world wished he could have warned her. She so eagerly walked into a life-changing trap. Though, opposing that line of thinking, this change could be good for her. But who was he kidding, she was living for this adventure...

"No, Wyatt... don't let that in your head. Do your job, and let them figure out the rest," he mumbled under his breath.

"Huh? If you are going to trash talk me, then say it loud enough for me to hear, newb."

"Nothing... let's get this done."

"Do you even have an Anima?" She looked around at the empty path beside Wyatt. "Amateur move keeping it in your NEST all the time makes them weaker." Amidst her goading, her own Anima, however, knew what was out there. It arched its back and hissed loudly with the stiff breeze and scent in the air.

Wordlessly, the invitation to battle beckoned forth a shadow amidst the grain. With a low growl, trotting forth, something akin to hellspawn appeared before the unsuspecting trainer, whose eyes grew wide. Her Anima, unsurprised, simply hissed and cowered.

Requiem, Wyatt's Westorian Noccanis came alongside him. He was a horse-sized wolf-like Anima. A dire wolf of legend in his own right. His dark black and violet fur bristled as he stood opposing the gobstruck trainer, looking at both her and her Anima with his beating yellow eyes. Wyatt had not yet gotten used to how large Requiem had become since their time at the medical institute. Whatever special boost they gave the Noccanis, made him grow from the size of a dog to that of a terrifying monster. Even as his master, Wyatt was still astonished each time he appeared.

"Well, I bet then we should just begin," Wyatt cooly stated, hands still in his pocket. "You got more Anima with you than that tabby cat?"

Nostrils flaring, she resented this surprise, and the insult to her Anima. The previously cocky trainer shook her head. Both trainers knew it was no contest.

"Well, just so happens I don't, either. Good luck, I guess?"

Tensing up, the dark-haired girl whose confidence was slowly evaporating, she wordlessly ordered her Anima to attack.

Her face tensed, issuing commands to her Lynexn through the mental link of her NEST and the Anima's genetically engineered mind. Despite its initial hesitation, it shot forth upon the order, without question, just as it had been designed to do. Humans, after all, had dominion over all of Anima, especially those tied to them as their masters.

"Make it quick, Requiem." Wyatt took a step back, as the Lynexn charged. With surprising speed, Requiem matched it, pouncing on the small bobcat-Anima with its two front paws and pinning it to the ground. A shrill cry from the beast rang in their ears. No surprise existed on the weary Wyatt's face, simply disappointment in the foolish endeavor this trainer set her Anima upon.

Helplessly, the Lynexn cried out, stuck under the paws of the large wolf. But before regrets could be lodged, Requiem's teeth gripped its body and whipped the smaller beast back and forth in a hellish thrash. Snaps could only be heard, as its bones were crushed under the momentum. The girl could only manage a squeal as she watched her precious partner being mauled by the proportionally more powerful opponent.

"How... how could you... you just started on this adventure..." She held forth a charm necklace, her NEST embedded within it she used to recall her Lynexn. Technology at the Anima clinic would rebuild its broken body to fight and train another day. Such was the fate of Anima on this quest. But today, this trainer would have to cope with the crushing defeat and the death of her pride.

"Myself and Requiem are old friends." He patted his Noccanis' fur. The once aggressive and menacing Anima, was then panting and with a faint smile. Through their mental connection, Wyatt could feel Requiem's satisfaction with the victory.

"You... this is no way to start an adventure... where is the challenge in starting in such a way? Where is the adventure? This is... this is cheating..."

"Hmph...." Wyatt looked to the evening sky, full of oranges, purples, and pinks from all around them. "Truth be told... I never thought I was going on this adventure. I thought I would be here in Wicketsham forever."

"Then why?"

"It's my job."

"Job?"

"Yep... speaking of, I believe regulation states that you owe me the running trainer victory rate."

"I... I... I... I'm all out of money...I spent it all at that blasted diner in the Game Machine."

Good old Momma Veeta and her crooked slot machine. That would be the first time he could say she had helped him.

"Well... then regulation says I am to designate alternative payment as penalty."

"Whatever... I don't have much." She crossed her arms and huffed.

A single sound, a zipper, unexpectantly broke another expectation she had. Her eyes grew large, looking at Wyatt as he unsheathed himself, at full staff.

"You're... you're... you're..." She fell back on her rear, panting, hardly able to take a breath.

"Breath there, darlin'. Just say it." He loomed over her, the shadow of his cock across her face.

"You're... a breeder!"

EIGHT DAYS EARLIER, STATE OF WESTORIA, CITY OF CAMELOT, CAMELOT ADVANCED BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE (CABRI)

In the darkness brought forth by the shade of his weary eyes, Wyatt's dreams played like feverish premonitions and uncanny reflections of his life and the world around him. Memories of his childhood in the farm fields, his mother before she died, cherished and painful reflections of time spent with his sister. They all sped through his sleeping thoughts like lightning.

Then there were even more peculiar visions of things he should have no business knowing. Phantasmas of the war, a hundred years hence, the monster's humanity begot to spread their lust for power. His thoughts strayed into nightmares of the virus conceived in fruitless ambition; his brow sweating through his sleep, as he passed from event to event. All the stories told to him as a boy about how the world was, how it was undone, and what lay in the future should his generation not seize the initiative.

Heartbeats, it was all heartbeats, everyone was a heartbeat, his head rang with heartbeats. It was maddening. He writhed beneath the weight of this incubus of dread, seeing the land and the people upon it withering before him before the visage of his own body turned to dust.

"Mister Daycott?" A concerned whisper and a warm hand upon his now sweaty shoulder awoke him.

Breathlessly, he reentered the waking world. Panting and throwing off his sheets, Wyatt Daycott fell back against the wall away from the figure looming above his bunk.

"Shhhh." A nurse, of which Wyatt's blurry eyes could register her shaded beauty, held a finger to her lips. "Don't be too loud, you'll wake the others."

The shadowy surroundings of the early morning became clearer to him. He remembered then, that he was in Camelot, at the medical institute, in a dorm-like facility where he bunked with a dozen other eighteen-year-old boys. Friends he had made the day previous, a pair of boys Dylan and Orrin, both from Palletain, still slumbered away. The three of them had stayed up late swapping stories about their lives. It was no surprise to him the nurse's intrusion hadn't woken them.

"Is everything okay, miss?"

"Yes, just be quiet for now, grab your things and come with me." The nurse even grabbed his backpack for him, picking up a few items he had haphazardly draped over the headboard of the bunk.

"All of my things?"

"Yes, all of your things."

"Am I coming back?"

"No. Just quickly come on."

This was really odd. Being a straight-edged farm boy from southern Westoria, he was a bit of a rule follower. The thought crossed his mind that he had committed some sort of grievance and was being ejected from the medical testing he was partaking in. But given the matter-of-factness in the nurse's voice, he did as he was told. Stuffing what little he had brought with him into the bag, he looked over to his slumbering friends. Would he see them again?

"Okay, come on," she whispered, looking around at the rest of the boys sound asleep. There was something about her calm sweetness to her bedside manner that made listening all the more easier. Swiftly, he followed her allure, his bare feet hitting the cold concrete floor as he slipped out of bed.

"Should I, like, get dressed?" he questioned, looking at his cotton shorts and the white t-shirt he wore.

"There will be time later, just let's go." Her cold hand grabbed his as she pulled him from the dark room and through a slightly ajar door. Beyond, a blinding light stung Wyatt's eyes momentarily, the nurse pulling him along the long white hallway. Whiteboards, medical posters, computers, and charts lined the walls like a hospital. Wyatt had felt since arriving there was a rather uncanny feeling to it. Some staff were mulling about in the early morning, a few catching glimpses of him and smiling warmly.

"Good morning," another female nurse said brightly, her eyes looking Wyatt over in a rather lingering way.

"How do you do," his small-town charm responded, naïve to her suggestive amiability.

"No time for a chat, farm boy. Follow me." A sharp pain in his arm radiated upwards as he was dragged down the hall.

"Hey, what about Requiem?" He turned his head from the locked gaze with the other nurse as he was dragged along. His mind turned to the whereabouts of his Anima, a Westorian Noccanis, who had been with him since he was a boy. They were an inseparable pair. Upon his arrival at the institute, all of their Anima had been confiscated for their own testing.

"Oh, he's right here." The endless dragging down the hall ceased for a moment as the nurse dug through her coat pocket and produced a silver wrist chain with a small locket-like box in its center. The chain had been a gift to Wyatt from his sister, Hannah. When he turned eighteen and was given a NEST (Nano-Encapsulation for Storage and Transfer), he special-requested it be added to the chain.

The nurse pressed a small button underneath the NEST and with a blink, Requiem, the Westorian Noccanis appeared. There was no flashy light, no ripple in time or space, simply a blink, and the Anima was there in front of the pair.

Technology was amazing, such wonders felt so far away from his life on the farm. But despite its wonders, he knew his partner, like most Anima, didn't care to be stored for extended periods inside. It was disorienting, to say the least. He could feel it through their connection. As a lover of all things Anima, Wyatt typically opted to keep him by his side at all cost.

The nurse took a small step back as the dog-sized black-and-violet-haired Anima gazed up at them and snarled, revealing a set of long white fangs. Requiem was the visage of a wolf. While wolves and other animals of the like had long since departed this world at the hands of human-wrought extinction, the Anima they were replaced with endeavored to capture as much of the inspiration of their form as they could. While he might not have the blood of such an animal, he had the spirit.

"Hey ol' boy, it's all right, this lady was just letting you out."

A nervous laugh from the nurse followed, as she quickly handed the chain and NEST back to Wyatt. "Don't mind me, doggie... just keep up."

She soon grabbed Wyatt's hand and pulled him along down the hall again; Requiem, who on all fours was about as tall as Wyatt's hip, trotted close behind after a wordless beckoning.

"So, am I in trouble?"

"No, far from it."

"Why the rush?"

"Doctor wanted to see you first thing."

As they passed it, Wyatt looked out a long window overlooking the dark bay of water beyond the shoreline. It was before dawn, back on the farm it was time to milk the Dairydoes. But reflecting on it, he doubted his sister was even awake for that yet. He was really regretting his late-night chat with his new friends.

"Doctor Better?" The nurse peeked her head into an already cracked door, softly calling out to the physician on the other side, as if he were some monster that would snap should she be too loud.

"Huh'er?" A grunt was all she got in response, her dainty hands daring to peel the door open more. Within, an exam room, a large chair for the patient to sit, and medical instruments that the small-town farm boy could hardly identify besides the uneasy feeling they gave him.

In his wrinkled lab coat under heavy eyelids, an unbemused doctor sat brooding over his cup of coffee aptly labeled "Trust me, I'm a doctor. But not before my coffee."

"Doctor Better, your patient Wyatt Daycott to see you."

As he was ushered in, Wyatt couldn't believe "Better" was this guy's actual name. If it was a reflection of himself, he certainly didn't want to see what he was like worse. The older, grey-haired man with a receding hairline, sunken eyes, and a general disdain for being awake seemed to hover closely to the coffee within his cup. He sucked its aroma through his nose as he looked at the first two humans he would be forced to interact with that morning.

"Uh, good morning, doc."

"Hermenahumherrrrr." His mumbling preceded a long sip of the warm liquid. The smell permeated the room, so whatever he was drinking had to be incredibly strong.

"Doctor, do you want us to come back?" The nurse stood nervously; anxiously looking between Wyatt and Dr. Better.

"No..." He interrupted his own sentence numerous times with loud sips of his coffee. "You already..." sip, "... broke the seal..." sip, "... of my morning." sip, "Sit down."

Wyatt's Anima, Requiem, whined as the coffee smell. It was ten times as pungent for the canine Anima as it was for a human, at least from Requiem's perspective shared through the link. As the nurse pushed Wyatt into the large medical chair at the center of the room, the Noccanis seemed content to lie out on the cold concrete floor beside it.

"Well, you must feel lucky, Mister... uh... Daycoat."

"Daycott," the nurse politely reminded him.

"Ermf."

The nurse lamented as to why she would even bother.

"Lucky?" Wyatt was preoccupied with the multiple mechanical arms this chair had jutting out around him like a squid.

"Yes... very lucky, your time certainly will be different from here on out." Dr. Better stood and began to review Wyatt's chart while poking and prodding him from toe to forehead.

"Different how? Ow..." Wyatt flinched, as the doctor jabbed an otoscope into his ear.

The doctor languidly looked at the nurse. "Had you not told him?"

"No, my instructions were to take him out quietly and get him here swiftly." She tried her best to smile through her impatience.

"Honestly, Nurse Misty..."

"Christi! We've worked together for two years now!"

"Sure... but, honestly... that's just more words for me to say now this early in the morning." The doctor looked dismayed.

Wyatt just did his best to stay still in the chair, feeling the unease rise between what he envisioned to be consummate medical professionals.

"I'll refill your coffee..." The nurse, resigned, made to grab his cup of joe.

"Hold on." Dr. Better guzzled the last few ounces that remained. A sudden rattle of his head and a crack of his neck and his eyes further opened, if only by a millimeter.

"Thanks, Christina."

"Christi! Errgggh." She stormed off to find the nearest coffee pot.

"Two creams, a pinch of salt, and two pinches of sugar!" he called after her, the first smile of the morning slyly coming across his face. "Sometimes in the morning, messing with her is just as good as drinking coffee." He looked at Wyatt, then with a broader smile, his teeth having a slight yellow tint from all of the coffee he drank.

"I can understand that, I mess with my sister in the morning afor' tending to the farm to wake up."

"Well, your days on the farm may be behind you. I recommend a stiff drink of coffee in the morning."

A wave of concern washed over Wyatt. "What is going on, doc? What is happening that I am so lucky... and why can't I go back to the farm?"

"You're cured."

"Cured?" Wyatt wasn't sure what he was referencing, he certainly didn't think he was sick, so it did not register with him.

"Yes. Cured. All traces of the Mollana Debimen Strain-8C have disappeared from you."

Wyatt stared blankly at the doctor, the prognosis still not registering.

"Orange Flu, you're cured."

"What...?" The gravity began to settle in on Wyatt. Even Requiem perked up, feeling the astonishment of his master.

"It's been ninety-two years since the war... since man dabbled in things it shouldn't have." The doctor began to reflect, staring up into the fluorescent lights above him, as he made to sip his coffee, but found himself empty-handed. "You learned about the virus in primary school, yes?"

Wyatt, still reeling in shock, stammered and nodded. "Yeah, I remember bits and pieces. It was made by the Evil Empire of Bastonia... to win the Great War?"

"Evil Empire...." Dr. Better chuckled. "Funny how names change to fit the narrative."

"Doc?"

"The Armed Republic of Bastonia was its name. Our enemy to the south in the war-- yes, the alleged creator of the virus-- yes, but I think the term evil is loaded. The victor writes history, and evil is never exclusive to one side in a war."

Wyatt was a bit perplexed, he didn't quite understand what the doctor was alluding to. He hardly was the best student in school. He spent most of his time daydreaming or skipping class to work the farm. But something felt a bit unpatriotic about where the doctor was going with this.

"Doc, I don't know what you mean really, down in Wicketsham we speak pretty plainly about the war."

"I'm sure, it's no matter." The doctor smiled, leaning forward to look Wyatt dead in the eye. "But the virus... you know what it did?"

"Killed the animals."

"Yes, and...?"

"Destroyed the world."

"Well, the ecosystem fell apart because the animals were killed. But what else did the virus do, directly?"

The door of the exam room came open, both men startled as their conversation was interrupted by Nurse Christi and the new cup of joe for the doctor.

"It, uh..." Wyatt seemed a bit timid to say it as the pretty nurse with the long dark hair strolled in unawares. "It, uh... stopped men from... you know."

Dr. Better smiled. "Say it. It's all scientific, really."

"Oh boy... are we on the history lesson part of this already..." Christi placed the steaming cup of coffee on the counter before rubbing her face and sighing.

"Well, you know there is a lady here and all." Wyatt scratched the back of his head as his cheeks turned red.

"You better get used to those ladies, Mister Daycott, and saying things that may not be on the level of your small-town charm."

If it was all as it appeared, even the simple outlook of Wyatt Daycott had to admit that it was true.

"Well... then it stopped men from being able to... have babies and all."

"More precisely, it rid them of their vitality." Dr. Better picked up his fresh cup and sipped.

Both of the men's eyes looked at Christi, who got a little flustered. "Hey, don't look at me like that."

"Anyways... Wyatt. You understand the virus' significance. For most, that is all they need to understand. Men, from birth to death, are infected by this disease. They have little sexual desire, as fortunate as it is for them given they would not be able to fulfill it anyway. And most importantly, they cannot father children."

"But me..."

"But you... now, you are something else for that matter. You are one of the one-thousandth percent of males who can be cured of Mollana Debimen Strain-8C. And it will now be your job to continue our way of life."

"Gosh, doc, that's a heavy way to put it."

"It's a big job."

"Job?"

"Yes... whatever life you had before Wyatt, now your job is to do nothing but sow the seeds of repopulation far and wide." The doctor waved his hands about, Christi the nurse cringing, as she imagined the flowery way he put it.
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