You would think that alarm clocks would be good for waking people up, seeing as that is their main function. But for Usagi Tsukino, it always took her mother, Ikuko's holler to wake her up:
"Usagi! It's past eight already!" Ikuko barked up the stairs.
Usagi woke with a start, scrambling to get dressed and downstairs.
"I would hope you could get yourself up on such an important day," her mother sighed as Usagi tumbled down the stairs, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "Are you ready?" she asked.
Usagi tried to straighten herself out before replying,
"Yes ma'am! I'm more than ready!" she assured Ikuko with a determined nod.
Even in the small town of Osa, without a lab nearby to give out proper starter Pokémon when kids turned ten, there was still some circumstance around when kids turned fourteen and they were allowed to choose a Pokémon from the local shelter. (The unpredictability of the abandoned Pokémon meant kids had to wait a few more years.) Today, it was Usagi's turn, along with the other 14-year-olds in town.
"Man, why do we have to wait so long?" her younger brother, Shingo, whined, "if we lived in a normal town with a lab nearby stupid Usagi might've left four years ago! And I-"
"You aren't getting a Pokémon anytime soon, young man!" Mother assured him. "Good luck, Usagi!" she added, as her daughter bolted out the door, stuffing her face with a piece of toast.
"Hey, Usagi!" her old friend Naru called as Usagi came into earshot of the adoption center. "I waited for you," Naru made a point of mentioning, "even though Umino went ahead. He wanted to make sure he got the best. Like we'll want the same kind of Pokémon he's looking for!" she scoffed. "Are you excited?" she added, perking up.
Usagi nodded,
"I hope I can get something sweet, and cute!"
"Me too!" Naru agreed, "I want to preform with my Pokémon and catch some cute guy's eye!" she added with a giggle. "I think Umino wants to work for a professor. What do you want to do, Usagi?"
Usagi hesitated,
"I don't know. I kind of just want to take a nice trip with my Pokémon, you know?" she admitted sheepishly.
"Feast your eyes!" Umino bursted, holding out a pokéball, "I got lucky! A Piplup was recently abandoned. Aside from a little apprehension, it's as good as if I got it from a professor!"
"That's pretty cute," Naru admitted.
"Cute?! You don't want it to be cute! You want a powerful Pokémon! Go on, get your Pokémon so we can have our first battle!"
Naru and Usagi entered the adoption center, taking in every inch in search of a cute, sweet Pokémon that was right for them. Each Pokémon was in a pen suited to containing their type, and scattered pens were left empty. As Naru fawned over an Igglybuff, a Cleffairy, a Pidgey, and so on, Usagi's gaze was inexplicably drawn to a Meowstic, ears taped together to prevent it from unleashing powerful psychic attacks. Somehow its stare analyzed Usagi to her core, sizing her up. A shiver went down Usagi's spine.
"You know, I hear Meowstics are popular, what with Trainer V's popularity," the facilitator of the shelter mentioned.
"This is a Pokémon like Trainer V's?" Usagi gaped, "But the coloring is so different!"
"It's different from a lot of Meowstics," she explained, "we don't know how, but this is a female Meowstic with a black coat and white fluff. That never happens! That's supposed to be the male coloration. Plus, the crest on its head is odd. Usually they're more curled. This one-"
"It's looks like a crescent moon!" Usagi noted, "That's so cool! So unique," she whispered in awe. "I want this one!" she declared.
"Are- are you sure?" the facilitator asked, "She's a little bit of a handful. Or at least, we assume that's why someone taped up her ears. We found her in a Moon Ball…"
"I'll take her!" Usagi repeated.
"Usagi," Naru began, cautiously eyeing the Meowstic in her friend's arms, "are you sure you should have taken off the ear-bands? I think it's glaring at me-"
"Me and Meow-meow are gonna' be best friends!" Usagi assured her. She flinched as the Meowstic dug her claws into Usagi's hands. "OW! Not Meow-meow, huh?"
"So, you're ready to battle?" Umino prompted, appearing out of nowhere.
Both girls jumped back,
"Sure!" Usagi responded, recovering quickest, "I have an evolved Pokémon!"
"Hm, he must be at least level 25-" Umino noted, looking the Meowstic over.
"She," Usagi corrected him.
"Huh?"
"She's a special Mewostic with inverted colors and a cool crescent-floof!"
"Hmph. Let's battle," Umino concluded, "I think they were pulling your leg," he added, "no way inverted coloration in a thing; that's not even what the shiny looks like."
"Oh yeah? We'll show you!" Usagi barked, "Go get him!" she told her Meowstic, tossing her at Umino and his Piplup.
The Meowstic hit the ground with a thump and whipped around to glare at Usagi, growling a little.
"Sorry!" Usagi winced, "Go on, fight!"
Meowstic sat down on the battlefield, staring Usagi down.
"Sick'em!" Usagi tried,
"Battle! Attack!"
Nothing.
"Mush?"
Meowstic glared.
"You know, higher level Pokémon won't obey you if you don't have any gym badges," Umino mentioned.
"Whaaat?! No fair!" Usagi wailed, "You mean I can't battle you?"
"Looks like it," Umino shrugged.
Usagi groaned, collapsing to the ground in exasperation and disappointment.
"I guess it's just you against me and Happi, then," Naru shrugged, "you ready, Happi?" she asked her Happiny, who beamed and chirped in agreement.
Usagi sniffled from her crumpled position on the ground. The Meowstic shot her a judgmental look.
Usagi returned home a little downcast, with Meowstic returned to her pokéball.
"How did that go?" her mother asked offhandedly.
"Good," Usagi insisted.
"I got to meet Umino's nice Piplup, and Naru introduced me to her cute little Happi! Which Pokémon did you choose, Usag?" Ikuko asked cheerily.
Usagi winced; of course stupid Umino would come over to gloat.
"I- I got a Meowstic," Usagi admitted.
"An evolved Pokémon? Usagi, are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Well, Trainer V has one, and she seemed nice, and-"
"W-well, can I meet your Meowstic?" her mother asked, much less sure of Usagi's choice.
"Come on out, Meowstic," Usagi called, tossing the pokéball. It hit the ground and rolled a moment before Meowstic finally obliged.
"She seems a little, um, strong-willed," Ikuko noted. The Meowstic shot her a glare.
"Y-yeah. I- I can't really get her to do anything yet," Usagi muttered.
"You got a Pokémon that won't even listen to you?" Ikuko asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach.
Usagi nodded wearily.
Ikuko sighed a long-suffering sigh,
"You need to go out and train that thing until it will listen to you before you can even THINK about leaving town. Go, shoo! Make friends with it!" she demanded, shuffling Usagi back out the door, "Don't come back until it listens to you!"
The door slammed behind her and Usagi stood for a moment in front of her house, Meowstic refusing to make eye contact. Unable to think of a better solution, Usagi fell to her knees again and bawled.
"Usagi!" Naru called, strolling over, "What's wrong? Meowstic still not co-operating?"
Usagi sniffled,
"And now Mom won't let me leave town unless she'll listen to me! I don't wanna' be trapped forever!" she whined, breaking into full on sobs again.
"U-Usagi! Usagi, it might not help," Naru admitted, "but Mom's having a sale at the jewelry store. Would looking at some pretty jewels cheer your up?" she offered.
Usagi's tears abated,
"OK," she accepted. Letting Naru take her hand to pull her, still sniffling a little, to Naru's family's jewelry store.
When they arrive they found practically every woman and girl in town busting down the doors, and several from nearby cities and towns.
"Extraordinarily low prices on incredibly rare jewels!" Naru's mother was calling, riling up the crowd.
"It is a little weird, though," Naru mused, "I don't think we've ever had a sale before. But is sure is good for business!"
"Wow-!" Usagi gasped, looking over the glass cases full of marked down jewelry, "It's all so pretty! If I were a trainer I could win a few battles and have enough money for some of this in no time! But…" Usagi sighed, tearing up a little again, "without Meowstic's trust-"
"Please don't cry again!" Naru insisted, rushing to her friend's side, "I don't even know what Mom would do if you cried on the merchandise! Come on, we don't have to stay here. Let's try to figure out a way to get on Meowstic's good side," she concluded, leading Usagi out of the store.
Someone behind them cried out, and the two girls turned to see the results of Meowstic having swiped a young man's leg.
"M-meowstic!" Usagi yelped, rushing over.
"Control your Pokémon, bun-head!" the guy barked.
"Meowstic, Meowstic leave him alone!" Usagi insisted.
Meowstic continued to stare him down without remorse.
"Meowstic, come on!" Usagi begged.
"Can you not even control your own Pokémon?" he snorted, "Jeeze, bun-head, you're a lousy trainer!"
"M-mind your own business!" Usagi snapped, returning Meowstic to her pokéball and storming off.
Usagi collapsed on her bed, returned from a day of trying (and failing) to get Meowstic to follow orders.
"You just won't do anything, will you?" Usagi asked the moon on the black-blue pokéball Meowstic resided in. "Trying to make you listen is real hard work," she sighed, "I'm just gonna' take a little nap…"