Spewing Fire: Changes
"Life is just one of those things... nobody ever seems to get the meaning of it, you know what I mean, right Obi?" the brown haired teen absently spoke as she walked, one hand gripping the leash in a loose way. The dog trotting happily beside her gave a small bark of agreement as they kept walking down the footpath. "I still can't believe that this whole thing is supposedly normal!" the teen groaned as they continued around the corner. Her canine companion barely gave her a response instead happily continuing along their rout causing the teen to give a ghost smile towards the retreating canine.
Of course, the conversation that she was having with her pet wasn't even the weirdest moment of that Monday. Her morning, had not been going well at all, she'd awoken with an itch on her back, upon closer examination it had been proven that the faint spots from the Sunday just gone had darkened and become much more defined. Her hazel eyes darkened, a shadow flickering across her face as she stormed down the path, people quickly scrambling away to avoid her wrath even as Obi ran back to her heels and whined trying to work out where her anger was originating from. She sighed and gave a half smile to the canine before shaking her head, they were almost home.
Of course it looked like things were just going to get worse. In the driveway was a van, a very familiar van. Her eyes narrowed and the slightest snarl crossed her lips. "DHS..." she growled fists clenched at her sides even as she took a deep breath and desperately hoped that the pain in her chest wouldn't worsen, she really didn't want to suffer an attack at that point. Obi growled at her side as they walked past the van and to the front door. She opened it after taking several calming breaths and purposefully ignored the stranger in their house as she deposited her canine companion back in the yard behind their house.
She sighed as she unclipped the leash from Obi's collar and watched with laughter in her eyes as the canine immediately dashed across the yard happy to be released. She sighed though before wincing and raising one hand to her chest, the slightest feeling of static shock as her hand touched down. It was quickly gone though and she shook her head before taking several deep breaths to try and ease the pressure that she was feeling, it was still uncomfortable, but at least she could breath a little easier. As she finally felt ready to return inside she heard the sound of the van starting up and exiting the driveway, obviously DHS was finished speaking with her mother.
She sat down in one of the plastic chairs by the back door and waited. She could've easily gone inside, but she wasn't quite ready to face the news, DHS probably expected her to go to school, not that she didn't need to go. She winced as the phantom pain in her chest returned again, it was one of the many reasons that she wasn't at school at that moment. The pain that had no explanation, she shook her head and watched Obi happily trot around the yard before looking up when she heard the door open. It was her mother, the curly brown haired rather generously weighted lady waddled over to her with a considerate look.
She refused to meet her mother's blue eyes as her mother began to speak. "I know that it's not that easy for you, but you're expected to get an education of some sort..." she ignored the way her mother trailed off instead crossing her arms across her chest, ignoring the pain that sent through her shoulders and upper back and glaring to the side. "Please Tamara... there is no arguing about this. It's a requirement!" she rose her head and hazel met blue as she breathed deeply.
"I know Mum... but it's not fair... they know about this problem of mine, yet..." she trailed off before shaking her head "Why can't we do the whole Home Schooling thing, at least then I wouldn't..." she cut off as her chest tightened and it began to be difficult to finish. "I wouldn't have to worry about waking in pain..." she grit out her teeth clenched as the pain slowly began to ebb away leaving a burning feeling in her chest as she shook her head.
"I know, but life in general just isn't fair." her mother stated and she had to agree, although she definitely didn't like it. She sighed and slowly stood from the chair, a little bit wobbly as her legs suddenly felt incredibly weak but that quickly passed as she shook her head and turned to the back door. "Oh one more thing! Make sure that nobody sees those spots, they may be normal, but they'll draw some rather unwanted attention to you." she turned that information over in her mind for a while before she nodded opened the mesh back door and disappeared inside instinctively heading down towards her room to change from her casual clothing into the school uniform.
As she pulled on the magenta top she glanced up at the Pokémon poster on her bedroom wall above the bed. It was of the Hoenn region of Ash's Pokémon adventure, she hadn't actually watched that much of the Advance Series herself but when seeing the posted had fallen in love with it. She sighed and bowed her head, it wasn't really that important though, no matter how many times she had dreamt of been there alongside Ash and co, whether as a trainer or Pokémon it just wasn't real. Although often her instincts would scream at her that she was wrong, that Pokémon were real and she just didn't believe in it enough, she snorted at the thought as she finished getting dressed and her hazel eyes looked at the poster one last time, memorising the grins on their faces.
As she reached for the handle of her door she paused and her eyes were drawn to a particular object sitting on her desk. With a few moments of hesitation she took the shark tooth necklace and looped it over her head, it rested comfortably and familiarly over her chest. Somehow wearing the necklace also made her feel more complete she realised before shaking her head, she was slipping again, probably about to drift into another daydream. As fun as daydreaming was though, it wouldn't be very good form for her to allow herself to do so at that moment.
She sighed one last time, glancing around the room and with one last sigh she turned the knob and left the room. Wandering down the hall she amused herself with the thoughts of Pokémon that had recently been taking control of her life, especially since the release of Black and White 2. She was actually working on breeding a cyndaquil with the perfect move set, since she loved the breeding feature and cyndaquil was her fifth favourite Pokémon, although recently she'd been even more drawn to the fire type than usual and had no explanation for it at all. Shaking her head she realised that she was in the kitchen and her mother was observing her with an amused glint in her blue eyes.
"What?" she asked with a shrug and her mother simply shook her head. She needed to say goodbye to Obi for the day. "Here girl! Obi!" she called exiting into the yard and the small white and brown blur barrelled into her causing her to laugh happily before kneeling down to talk to the dog. "Okay, okay I get it, you're happy that I came to see you right!" she laughed before wincing as her chest tightened briefly.
[Of course I am! Hey you alright?] hearing actual words coming from her canine companion caused her to freeze and gape openly at the dog. [What? Oh wait! You understood me!] Obi seemed to grin her tail speeding up as it waved in the air behind the canine even as she stared. She was probably still asleep, yeah that was as good an explanation as any [Anyway... Tammy, do you think that you could fit me into your pack! I'll be able to help you! I promise!] the dog pleaded with her. Fully convinced that she was apparently still asleep she obediently opened up her school bag and the canine jumped in. [Don't close it fully! I still need to breath!] was the last thing she heard from the dog as she zipped it up and slipped it onto her back.
She quickly approached the back gate, or more likely the front gate since there were two, no three gates to the backyard. Well four if she counted the one that opened into the shed but that didn't really count she thought as the gate swung open with a painful screeching noise that grated on her sensitive ears. She shook her head as she pulled it closed after stepping through, still screeching like a dying animal or nails on a blackboard. She growled before opening the passenger side door to the seat in the front. "All ready to go now are we?" her mother asked amusement glittering behind her glasses. She rolled her eyes and her mother sighed before starting up the car and backing from the drive.
She mostly ignored her mother throughout the ride, preferring to stare out the window at all the fields that they passed on the way. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the glass mumbling to herself "I swear that if any of this is real... then I'd have to be a cyndaquil..." she missed the flash across her mother's face, of course that wasn't the only thing that she missed, while her eyes were closed. In the long grass that they had just driven past there had been the flash of purple and cream fur, even as naturally grey eyes followed the white vehicle.
Soon enough of course they were rolling up the asphalt rode to her school. As she pulled her bag out and stared at the campus she turned to wave bye to her mother. Only the car was already gone, taking off at a rather frantic pace. She stared with an open mouth as it disappeared before shaking her head, unable to formulate any explanation for what she'd just seen. She turned back to the school and slipping her bag once more on her back walked with her hands in her pants pockets towards the late window. As she signed for a late pass she thought that she could hear screaming, and tilted her head. As she gripped the pass in hand she turned, and found herself staring at a scene that wouldn't have been out of place in a comic or fairytale story.
In the distance across the oval she could see a rather familiar brown haired boy running, well more like hopping across the field. Poking from the back of his pants, was a fluffy cream tail. She stared with an open mouth as the boy jumped and ran screaming she could vaguely hear the words and understand them. "HOW DOES THIS EVEN WORK? I HAVE A TAIL! A TAIL!" It had to be her brother she realised recognising that voice anywhere even as he charged towards her. Realising that fact she jumped quickly to the side and stared as her ran past her and soon disappeared somewhere down the street. The places where he'd stepped had smoke wafting up from them to her surprise, leaving her thoughtful.
Or well as thoughtful as she allowed herself. "Yeah... I'm definitely still asleep..." she mumbled shaking her head as she absently made her way towards the English class room. As she reached the room a shuffling on her back reminded her that she still had her backpack on, not that she could really do that much about it at that point. She winced as she entered the room fully expecting to be reprimanded for bringing her bag to class, so it was a bit of a shock when she wasn't. Staring around the room she was surprised to note that it was much emptier than it was supposed to be, and staring at the front of the room, there was something different about the teacher.
Something was off, she immediately felt that as she sat down in her seat and watched the teacher flutter, literally flutter and breeze around the room. She pulled out her textbook and began to read the required passage, but kept more focus on the teacher, the stranger. It might have been the sunglasses, or the way that the teacher seemed to be projecting an aura of power but she really didn't like the feel of this teacher as they stood at the very front of the room, supposedly happy with what they had observed of the class. "Now Class! I am to be your substitute for the day, Miss Hudson." that voice instantly made her instincts scream danger, she sounded too much like Professor Umbridge from Harry Potter, and that was never good. "Now, I trust that you're all working on the essay of the film Harvey Krumpet right?"
She absently nodded her head as she pulled her workbook over to directly in front of her and read over the points of interest for her essay. Of course the slightest tickly feeling in her nose had her sniffing. She could feel a sneeze coming, she sniffed and her breathing became rather jerky as her body prepared itself. Only the sneeze never came and she relaxed ready to finish the sentence she'd been on.
Of course just as she touched pencil to paper the sneeze finally came. It was much like an explosion, in more ways than one. Along with the expelled air came a sudden burst of flame, it quickly set the desk alight and caused everyone in the room to stare wide-eyed at her. She sniffed one more and rubbed her nose before looking up slowly, Miss Hudson had a rather malicious smirk on her face, and everyone was staring at her. With a gulp and sheepish grin she stated the first thing that came to her mind;
"This isn't what it looks like..."