Beautiful
Disclaimer: Don't own pokémon or any of the characters. I do own my story plots, though. And I don't own the song Beautiful by Maren Ord, because she owns it and I don't. Although I do have it on CD. *Holds up CD.* I think that's all I need to not own for this fanfic. *Skitters away, then returns for author's notes.*
Author's Notes: O.o; I'm so weird! Here I am, contradicting my own abandoned pokémon 'fics. Go figure. Anyway, I suppose you could call this a songfic, but then again…. Eh, I dunno, judge for yourself. The lyrics to the song that inspired this are at the bottom. I think what happened with this fanfic is that I saw too many abandoned pokémon 'fics, and even though I love those types of fanfics to death, the lyrics of the song just went *click* and voila. Here we are. Poké-speech is already translated, since there's no other speech in it.
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Those shadows in the woods were becoming more and more common.
You would see them everywhere, slouched up against some random tree, their sniffles and sobs echoing off the tall cedars and ringing in the ears of the forest pokémon. We were never able to sleep when a new one appeared, for they would keep us awake all night, howling with the agony of what they had lost. Funny, they never seemed to realize what they gained.
Tonight was a normal night for me. Being a nocturnal pokémon, I rose as soon as the sun dropped in the sky to make my rounds of my territory on silent paws, sniffing about and uprooting whatever smelled good. That is the story of my life. Occasionally I'll have a casual battle with a rival that seeks to claim my territory, and rarely I'll meet up with a trainer and have to battle hard for my freedom. My life may sound boring, but in truth I am very happy with it and don't wish it to be any other way.
By now I am used to the abandoned pokémon. It pains my ears as they cry their fragile hearts out, but it stopped paining my heart long ago. The first time I saw one of them it broke my heart. It was a tiny meowth, probably not much more than a baby, staring into a puddle as its tears rippled its reflection. I paused and stared at it, wondering what it was doing here and where its trainer could have gone without it. I could tell it was a tame pokémon due to its glossy pelt and the mud-splotched pink bow it was gripping in its paws and cradling to its chin as if it were the most precious thing it had left. But I am not a particularly friendly pokémon, so I just slipped quietly away, feeling guilty for the poor creature even when its misfortune had nothing to do with me.
Stories like that tend to do that to you the first few times. But after that, the pitiful creatures stop being sad symbols of how cruel humans can be, and they start being an annoyance.
Tonight, as I sniff about a briar patch, I hear a soft whimper. I glance up from what I am doing, more out of habit than anything else, and surprise surprise, there is another one of them, gazing at me with eyes glossed over with fresh tears. It is a flaaffy, the little ball on the end of its tail blinking sadly in time to its sniveling. I lift a paw and am about to turn away from it when I feel a twinge. I don't have the faintest clue what this twinge is, whether it's out of pity or sadness or annoyance or loneliness or who-knows-what, but it causes me to keep standing there. I cock my head at the suddenly silent lamb pokémon, who is still staring at me with brimming blue eyes, a faint snuffle rising in its throat.
I glance up at the sky, huffing a breath of aggravation. The placid night sky is blurred and opaque with clouds.
The flaaffy is still staring at me.
I get an idea. It's not a good idea, and who knows if it'll do any good, but that annoying twinge isn't leaving any time soon, so what the heck.
"Come with me." I mutter, carefully keeping my tone even and commanding, not cruel but not a trace of pity in it.
The flaaffy nods vaguely, too stunned and grief-filled to do anything else.
"Well, come on!" I look behind me at the miserable creature as I head off towards a nearby field. It better follow me soon or I'm going to lose my patience. The flaaffy nods its head again, swallowing back its tears. It drops down to all fours and walks along hesitantly behind me, often tripping over whatever sticks out in its path. Its kind of pathetic how its so sad it can hardly walk.
I sit down in the middle of the field, gesturing towards the sky.
"Isn't that beautiful?"
The flaaffy bobs its head mindlessly.
"No, no! I mean really, really look at it hard. Isn't it beautiful?"
The flaaffy's eyes clear slightly, and it stares into the vague heavens with an unreadable expression its face. "Yes…I guess it is…."
"Have you ever taken a moment to do nothing but look at the sky?"
"N-no, I was too busy wi-with m-my t-t-tr…." Its sentence is choppy and it trails off as tears well up in its eyes, glimmering oddly in the faded light of the sky. Kinda pretty how they sparkle like that.
"Your trainer." I finish for it, as it murmurs, "Y-yeah." It swipes his tears away.
"Look around you."
"Why are you doing this to me?" It asks out of the blue, blinking at me. "What's your point? And what do you have to gain by this?"
I close my eyes as I answer. " You'll see. And I'm just doing this because I feel like it." Not the most touching response, but it's true.
"Oh." I can tell that it knows I'm reluctant to answer any more questions. "Okay."
"Just look all around you, at everything. Isn't it beautiful?"
It looks around halfheartedly. "I guess so."
"Really look."
"Okay."
It squints its eyes at the trees pointing like sharp arrows into the sky, and it looks down at the stream curling past its feet, and it stares all around at the lush green grass sprouting from the dark soil, and its eyes fill with awe instead of tears.
"Let me ask again. Isn't it beautiful?"
"It is."
"Take a deep breath of this air. Doesn't it make you feel alive?"
It thrusts its nose into the air and sucks in a deep breath of the soothing mountain air.
"It does."
"Did you ever feel that way when you were with your trainer?"
"N-no…!"
"Now, let me ask you, have you ever felt the simple, overpowering joy of running through a field, feeling the air sweep your fur out behind you? Have you ever watched a sunset just because it's there?"
"No to both of those…!" Flaaffy's voice is becoming stronger with every question I ask.
"Did you ever feel truly free when you were with your trainer? Did they allow you to feel so much joy flowing through your body that you never wished to feel any other way?"
"No, no I haven't."
"Then why do you miss them so much?"
"I…don't know…."
"I'll bet you never realized what a big world is out there while you were with them, either, did you? There is so much to see, and so little time to live and see it all. Mourning over something that cannot be fixed will never do you any good, enjoy the beauty of the moment while it lasts. Don't let everything pass you by. You don't need a trainer to be happy. And anyway, they couldn't have been that great, and loved you that much, if they disliked you enough to abandon you. You need to learn to be happy, no matter what life tosses in your path. Because let me tell you, its not always going to be soft and fuzzy. Life just isn't that way, but you gotta learn to love it anyway."
For a long moment we just sat there together, staring up at the hazy sky. But suddenly, Flaaffy pipes up.
"I…see now…."
"Good. Now go along, before you become Noctowl food." I wave towards the sky, where a large shadow is sweeping about.
"O-okay!" He looks me straight in the eye, and I have to resist the temptation to look away from the honest gratitude that is shining in his eyes. "Thank you, I'll never forget what you did to help me."
With that he romps off across the field, and I can see a little smile poking at his former frown.
But I just sit there for moment, mulling in silence over what I told that mislead flaaffy. Where did that come from? I shrug. I do suppose it's true, though, and maybe, just maybe, it's a lesson we should all learn.
Just before I leave the field to go back to my endless search for food, I look up to the sky again. My eyes soften at the sight, and linger there for a little while.
Somehow, in those last few minutes, the all the clouds fogging the sky have cleared, and the stars are shining at me brightly. Happily.
I think I just learned the same lesson that I taught that flaaffy.
Life really is beautiful.
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Author's Notes: Okay, that was a sweet [extremely short] little 'fic, wasn't it? I can't say I can properly judge for myself, though, since I'm still in that weird stage right after you write a story where you're convinced it must be good even if it's terrible as can be. *_* Could you please judge for me? Reviews would be great and will be rewarded with poofy little mareeps, okay? The main character in this fanfic was a furret, BTW. At least in my mind's view. Feel free to think otherwise if you wish.
*A note to all who review: When you review, you automatically get the pokémon. I don't have to give it to you, because they're waiting within the story for whoever reviews! (Suddenly realizes how silly she is.) Uhmmm…. Yeah!* Here's the mareeps's pokéballs: (-o-) (-o-) (-o-) Don't worry, there's more than 3 mareep for people. I'm just too lazy to type them in. Anyway, here are the lyrics to the song that inspired this.
Beautiful
By Maren Ord
If you could open up your eyes
And see the color of my tears
They're not that gray, they're not that
Blue, They're beautiful
If you could just see what I see
You'd know the world is not that gray
And it's not that blue
You'd see the world is beautiful
If you would
Chorus
Open your eyes, take my hand
Take a look at where you stand
It's not that hard,
Just take a step back my friend
And see this world
We're living in it's beautiful
Life is beautiful
So take that look from off your face
I know it's not that easy so tell me
Ohhhhh
It's not that gray so look at me and
Chorus
It's when I open up my eyes
And see the color of your tears
They're not that gray,
They're not that blue, no
If you could just see what I see you'd
Know the world is not that gray,
It's not that blue
You'd see that the world is beautiful
Chorus (2xs)