Floodlights glared at me and the crowd roared as my opponent revealed his bulky, formidable Tyranitar. The beast glared silently as I threw my Hitmonchan, Mohammed, onto the field, I was hoping for an easy victory. "Tyranitar, hyper beam attack!" My opponent yelled and his beast began charging its attack.
"Mohmo, Mach punch now!" I cried. Mohmo nodded as his fist began to glow a searing white. He dived for Tyranitar, dodging the powerful translucent-yellow beam of energy erupting from it. He sprinted across the field and smashed his fist on Tyranitar's face, taking the pokémon down with one punch.
"Millicent Rodriguez has won the British pokémon league cup, along with double prize money and infinite girlfriends!" The commentator exclaimed, the crowd jumped and applauded in a dizzy tornado of adulation and happiness. Young, attractive women ran out onto the pitch to claim me for their own…and I was only too happy to promise myself to each, why stick to just one? The tornado began to pick up speed and all too quickly, my eyes shot open.
Tonight was too important to daydream away. I was perched on a familiar boulder and stared down at the little town I called my home. Burez had always been cosy, quaint and just a little bit too Christian for my liking. The older generations were devout, but this lost its potency in the younger generations although few people chose not attend church every Sunday. Ironically, church is where my sad little life really began to feel good, began to feel positive. I had always been an outcast, a fact I attributed to my bipolar disorder; a condition that alters my mood and can send me into fits of depression or manic spirals of joy…something my parents have always been quite ashamed of. Anyway, as I was saying…church began a completely new chapter in my life because that is where I met Rainbow. Her parents were travellers from far up north, they had lived in a big troupe before settling down to raise Rainbow and her siblings.
Rainbow was a difficult one to figure though, I met her when I was twelve and her ten, and we became fast friends from there and soon became grumpy, hormonal adolescents. We had few outside friends so we conducted our mischief together, she were braver than I, so I'd usually end up as lookout but I'd receive just as much of the blame when we regularly got caught. Although her parents weren't too upset by it all, my parents blamed my condition and her influence over me, and forbade us to see each other. Ironicallyer than even the irony of before, this is when things got interesting.
Rainbow and I were forced to meet in secret. We would meet at the dead of night, when my parents were out of town or we'd skip lessons just to have a few hours to ourselves. I guess we were caught up in the romance of it all, I still remember the night that she first kissed me. I wasn't surprised, something had told me that I had always felt that way about the kooky young girl; I guess I just needed a little…encouragement. From then on, I was forced to live two lives, the good daughter and the shy girlfriend…I'm amazed, looking back on it all, that I had time to catch and train my Pokémon.
"Heya there Dusty," a beautiful, melodic voice whispered from behind. Rainbow melted away from the darkness and into the moonlight, embracing me and gifting the lightest of kisses.
"Are you ready?" I asked, unnerved by the severity of the situation.
"Yep, I've said my goodbyes, you?"
"…I've left a letter, I'm sure it'll be fine."
"Did you tell them about us?"
"It's in the letter, along with a lot of other crap…"
"Got your meds?" Rainbow, who had kept a stony expression, softened her features when she asked me this. She knew I didn't need them; however, she had refused to join me unless I took them with me, fearing that I may shift into less balanced state of mind. I took a small bottle from my pocket and placed them in her hand, she was younger than I was but she was built like a Tauros and if she wanted to force them down my throat, she could easily overpower me.
"I can't believe we're running away," I giggled.
"We're eighteen, technically we're just moving out!" Rainbow laughed, clapping her arm around my shoulders. "Worry not Dusty, we may be travelling far from home with no money and no parents but we will journey hard. Moreover, all will know the names Zadah "Rainbow" Mcloud and Millicent "Dusty" Rodriquez as we will force our way into the Pokémon League, beauty contests, fishing competitions and whatever else might amuse us on our epic quest, to be the best at whatever it is we choose to do and or be!"
"Have you got the map?"
"…Fuck."