before birth:
Yuri Morita was part of one of the wealthier families in town, and grew up being taught that nothing would ever be "good enough" for her. She was spoiled, but managed to grow up not bratty, actually being rather modest in her demeanour. She was your average rich daughter -- pretty, quiet, and humble. As was tradition, she was married into another wealthy family of a nearby town -- the Shoji family. Eijirou did not have much time to get to know Yuri, as they only met a few days before the wedding.

Their marriage was... average. It held no passion, but it held no hatred, either. It was boring. It was your typical white-picket-fence life. They did not argue, they did not love. Yuri sent Eijirou off to work every day with a peck on his cheek, and welcomed him home with another dry kiss. They would have the same old conversation every day: "How was your day, honey?" "Fine, sweet pea.", then go to bed at 9 PM. The only reason Yuki was conceived was because they both felt it was a duty to give their respective parents a grandchild -- another heir to carry on their legacies. So, it was in such an environment that Yuki was born.

childhood:
Yuki Shoji was somewhat of a disappointment to the Morita side of his family. They'd all been hoping for an Alolan Vulpix as their first child in order to carry on their heritage, but Yuki was definitely not a Vulpix. On the flip side, the Shoji family were enthralled to see a Sentret -- and a shiny nonetheless! They spoiled him and cherished him, and Yuki only knew this life for a while. That is, until one day, when the Shoji family vanished. Nobody knew where they had gone, or what had happened to them -- but the whole lot, including Eijirou, had up and left. They were "unsuited for this life", according to Yuri. Yuki was naturally confused and lost, but he figured things wouldn't change much.

He was wrong.

Soon after the Shoji family disappeared, his mother remarried into a rich family from New Moon Village, and proceeded to leave Emerald Island for Diamond Island, bringing a weeping Yuki with her. His stepfather's name, he soon learned, was Donghae An. He was an Alolan Ninetales, as was the rest of his pristine family. Their relationship was much like Yuri and Eijirou's, but somehow colder, more professional. They soon had a son they named Ichiro, and this is where Yuki's life began to go downhill. Glad to finally have an Alolan Vulpix heir, both sides of the family only ever paid any attention to Ichiro, cooing over him in delight. Yuki was soon ignored, treated as if he were invisible, even by his own mother. Of course, he naturally developed a dislike for Ichiro, but never showed it in fear of being kicked out of the house. Ichiro also acted as if he didn't exist, and Yuki was more than okay with that. In fact, Donghae was the better part of this new family -- he would try to connect with Yuki from time to time, and would hold short but pleasant conversations with him as if they were neighbours. Yuki attempted to regain Yuri's love many times over the course of years, but always seemed to fail. The only times she even looked at him was when she had to feed him, and even that was sparse.

Eventually, Yuki realised that it would be impossible. His efforts were futile, and it was best he just gave up. So he did. He decided that being fed and sheltered was enough, and that he wouldn't meddle in their affairs anymore. In order to entertain himself, he would often sneak into Ichiro's private library to steal books or eavesdrop on his classes. He also learned random instruments -- any he could get his hands on, really -- and began painting. He was always mediocre at everything, however -- not bad, but also not stellar. It was all just a pastime, anyway. That was, until he found ancient history books, those telling about the time when mystery dungeons were a thing, and speaking of Giratina as if he were real. It was astounding to him, encountering these brave explorers through these tales, and he began to think that he wanted to become just like them.

One day, he decided that moping around the mansion dreaming of these adventures wasn't good enough, and went out to see the world for himself. He snuck out at night (not that it mattered much, nobody would have cared anyway) with a bottle of water and some food, and a long cape that he would use as a shoal, just like a real explorer. He made his way into the nearby mines soon enough, eyes sparkling with excitement and enthusiasm. Flinging his cape over his shoulder proudly, he began "exploring" the abandoned mines. However, he barely made it a tenth of the way in before tragedy struck. An icicle suddenly broke loose from the ceiling, only narrowly missing him. This caused a cave-in, and in his haste, he fell over and tumbled a few meters after he just dodged the last shower of icicles. He received some nasty facial injuries from the incident, and hurried back home so that he could tell everyone about his adventure.

Yuri, on the other hand, was not impressed. She scowled at him as soon as he found her, and just threw a bucket towards him and told him to wash the blood off and to go put some bandages on his wounds. When he didn't leave, having been astounded at his mother's treatment of him, Yuri glared at him and began to growl, knocking some sense back into him. Yuki left with his tail between his legs, very nearly crying.

adolescence:
After that incident, he matured. He realised just how much his mother disliked him, as with the rest of his family. Yuki would spend more time at his friends' houses than his own, despite his house being much nicer than his friends'. He barely saw his parents, let alone Ichiro, and went out exploring more and more. He still stole books from Ichiro's library -- language textbooks, history books, mathematical theorems -- and continued to learn from them, not having had school or any kind of classes since the Shoji family's disappearance. He picked up a few languages along the way, and was absorbed in studying, but also still found considerable enjoyment in exploring.

Then, just after he turned 17, disaster struck.

He was down in the mines once more when it happened. He hadn't had a specific purpose or goal -- just to walk, and see how far he could walk. An earthquake began shaking the ground heavily, and he began to panic -- he had no place he could be, only to hope for the best and pray that he survives. The tremors were more than intimidating, and as rocks began to crash all around Yuki, he thought this was the end for him, that even if he survived, he would die of hypothermia or hunger. There was no way he could live through this. The last thing he remembered before he passed out was some shards of ice falling, and a harsh crack that definitely came from the ceiling.

A day or two later, Yuki snapped out of unconsciousness, and for a second, believed he had died. However, the healthy rhythm of his heart told him otherwise. He began crying out of sheer joy, before realising that he was trapped either way. Just before he lost all hope, he remembered a party trick one of his friends had told him about. There was no possible way he could pull it off, but it was worth a shot -- he had been given one more chance, and he wasn't going to not take it. Taking in a deep breath, he let out the most ear-piercing scream he could, reaching a range he never thought possible before. At first, he didn't think he did it -- but after waiting a few seconds, there was a deep cracking sound from within the icy rocks, and the nearest ones split open, revealing just a bit more light. He gasped, and despite his aching throat from dehydration, he grit his teeth through it and eventually made his way out, one word away from coughing up blood. When his eyes adjusted to the blinding light, he realised that his town was demolished. All of it, even the mansion his "family" lived in -- it was all gone. A large chunk of solid ice was resting where the mansion should have been, and he decided that there was no way anyone could have made it out alive.

They were all dead.

It didn't matter to him. None of it really did. All he cared about was getting to a safe place. After several more days of walking, he reached the port, where he heard from a few survivors that in Emerald Island, there was a growing guild located in Everstone City that was accepting explorers. There was no hesitation on his part as he got on the first ship that sailed to Emerald.

His adventure was just starting.