Keerah's Story Part 2
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Keerah-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
"Chikorita, Razor Leaf!" I called, and her most powerful attack was enough to weaken the Pikachu enough to capture her. I threw my pokéball, and started to pray. I was SURE no one else would have gotten a Pikachu.
There was a ding sound, and the little red light on the pokéball went out. Pikachu was mine! I let it out to run around some. My second female Pokémon. This was getting to be pretty good.
"Pikachu!" she said, and immediately shot a lightning bolt into a nearby tree. Out of it fell Tracey Keel.
"Ow," said Tracey, glaring at Pikachu.
"Tracey, why were you spying on me?" I asked, annoyed that someone I wanted nothing to do with had found my secret spot.
"Um...Jamie said you were here and she wants to talk to you," he said, then jumped up and ran through the forest.
"Jamie? What could Jamie want?" I asked no one in particular. I called back Pikachu and Chikorita, then headed for Jamie's spot, a secret island out on the nearby Crystal River.
"What did you want, Jamie?" I asked, and she grinned an evil grin.
"Your Pokémon," she said simply, and I did a double take.
"What?" I asked, not too sure I'd heard right.
"You heard me. I want your Pokémon. I'll never catch any on my own, so I want yours." I took a step back in shock. Someone jumped from the bushes behind me and grabbed both my hands. "Hand 'em over, FRIEND." The word friend was emphasized with a sinister quality, and I knew I had absolute horror on my face. "What? No way!" I said, but it was useless. At least, I thought it was useless, until Jamie burst out laughing. So did the person behind me, who turned out to be Mandy, and so did Holly and Lora as they emerged from their hiding places.
"Ah, I LOVE making a fool of such ignorant people," said Jamie triumphantly, and it was at that moment that I realized that none of them had ever truly been my friends.
"That's right, Keerah, we never WERE your friends," said Holly, knowing in the way that only a psychic could; knowing exactly what I was thinking.
I ran then, as far and as fast as I could, through trees and bushes and a couple puddles, away into the woods, where I saw no more trainers, no more students, no one to remind me of my most recent revelation. I had no one besides our little group. Never gotten close to anyone else, never needed to.
I let both Pikachu and Chikorita out, and I thought they would run and play, it was such a nice day, but instead, Pikachu jumped onto my head and Chikorita into my lap.
"You're right," I said, although neither of them had said anything. "They weren't my only friends. I have Pokémon now, and that means I can never truly be alone." It was then that the tears came.
------------------Dari------------------
NJ gave me the afternoon off, so I headed out to Entripidae (Final) Island to maybe catch some more Pokémon. I took Scyther with me (obviously), and only hoped I wasn't found by the police force of Final Island. They were notorious for hating visitors; that's why it was even called Final Island; if you went there, it was the Final stop on your trip. Period.
Still, I found a small pond and decided to try my luck at fishing for a while. Maybe I'd have some luck today, after all.
"Well, then, what do we have here? You know, the Entripidae Islanders don't take kindly ta strangers." I saw a man emerge from the forest in front of me. He wore a big straw hat and carried a fishing rod.
"I realize that. What do you want with me?"
"Nothin' wit' you, lass. Only wit' de feesh," said the man as he lapsed into an Islander accent. Oh, great I thought, my heart racing. I'm about to be found out.
"Well, then, I think I'll just leave," I said, gathering my things and turning to leave.
"'Ey, what'd be yer hurry, lass? I'm only here ta do some feeshin', nothin' more then dat."
"Well, yeah, but I need to get home to help with dinner," I said, and ran for it. If he reported to the Final Island police, I was finished.
The small motorboat was waiting for me on the bank, although the water was much higher than it had been. I jumped in and sped as fast as I could toward Koloi. Man, what a day. But it wasn't over yet.
I was running back to the Center when I saw it. It was a Rattata, as common as they come, but it was a Pokémon. I let Scyther toss him around a bit, then captured him. It was a good thing I stayed at the Center.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Keerah-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
"Mom, Jay, I'm home!" I called as I walked in the door.
"Oh, hi, honey, I heard it was Pokémon Day! Did your principal give you a Growlithe like I told him to?" I stood stock still. I'd forgotten that Mom was a police officer, and Dad a Fire trainer.
"Um, I got a Pokémon, that's for sure," I said, avoiding the subject.
"Well, let it out and let's have a look!" Mom said excitedly, and Jay came in from the living room. Lucky kid, not to have to go to school.
I reluctantly released both my Pikachu and my Chikorita. Nervously, I said, "Like them?"
"Well, Keerah, I never thought you'd disobey me like this," said Mom, nearly yelling. And, as if on cue, Dad walked in the door.
"Hi, guys! What are these Pokémon doing here?"
"It was Pokémon Day today at Keerah's school, and not only did she not bother to tell us, she deliberately disobeyed us and got a Grass and an Electric Pokémon instead of a Fire Pokémon like I told her! And, they're only allowed one Pokémon each, so I can't even imagine how she managed to steal the other one!" Mom was yelling, and Dad looked about ready to yell himself. In fact, the tension in the room sent Jay running upstairs to HIS room, and we heard the door slam.
Dad was trying very hard not to lose his temper. "Keerah, tell me exactly what happened today at school," he said, but I knew that no matter what I said, they wouldn't believe me. So I decided to tell them the truth.
I made a long speech, explaining everything: how Pokémon Day was a surprise, how we picked Pokémon by lot, how I'd caught Pikachu myself.
"Well, tomorrow the three of us are going to go to school and ask for a Growlithe as a replacement for one of your Pokémon. You can keep the other. You'll be a police officer yet, and a Fire-training one at that," said Dad. "You can go to your room now."
I turned to go, then stopped. Who was he to order me around? I was a Pokémon trainer now, I had my license and my Pokémon. I had the right to my own decisions. And at that moment, I made the decision that changed my life.
"No," I said, in a voice just above a whisper.
"WHAT?" asked Dad in the loudest voice I'd ever heard.
I was mad. So mad I thought the roof was going to blow off the house. I stepped defiantly forward, and faced my parents with all the courage I had.
"NO!" I yelled, and before they could say anything else, I kept talking. "NO, I WILL NOT go to my room!" I spat "NO, you WILL NOT come to school with me tomorrow! NO, you WILL NOT exchange my Pokémon! NO, you WILL NOT give me the choice of only one! And NO, I WILL NOT be a police officer, or a Fire-training ANYTHING!!! I WILL BE A POKÉMON TRAINER, AND THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO IT!!!" I slammed my fist down on the kitchen table, so hard it cracked right down the middle.
"You leave us with no choice, Keerah," said my dad with mock disappointment. "You are no longer a member of this household. Period. You can stay one more night here, but that's it. In the morning you will leave, and you will never be allowed to come back. NEVER. When Steve comes home, we will inform him of this...this monstrosity that's taken place. You are not to say a word, not ONE WORD, to Jay. Is that clear?"
"No, but I suspect it doesn't matter with you anyway. I knew this would happen. I knew you'd be ready and willing, when the time came, to get rid of me. Didn't you ever notice how other parents support their children in their dreams? How they let the kids make the decisions? I suppose now, now that Jay's the only one left, and not for very much longer..." Both my parents flinched at this, they hated discussing the fact that Jay was sick. They hadn't even told him, he had no idea why he was at the doctor's just about every day of the week. "I suppose now you're just going to have to live with the consequences of your sending me away. Goodbye, Mom, Dad. If this is the way I'd have been treated the rest of my life here, I doubt I would have stayed very long, anyway." I turned and ran up to my room and slammed the door. I released my Pokémon again, and fell onto my pillow in tears.
It was some time later when I heard a knock on my door. I was packing my stuff, as much as I could fit in my suitcase and backpack. "Come in," I called softly. The door opened, and Jay entered my room.
"Why are you packing?" Jay asked. I sighed, and remembered what Dad had said about telling him.
"I'm going away to be a Pokémon trainer, Squirt. I..." I grew angry again. Jay deserved to know the truth. Just like he did about his sickness...I couldn't go on calling it a 'sickness' forever. I had to face it; Jay had cancer.
"What, Keerah? Is something wrong?" Jay asked. He's so innocent I thought. Only six. And yet he thinks with the ability of someone who's thirty-six.
"Yes, something is wrong. I lied. I'm not going away just to be a Pokémon trainer, although that is part of it. I'm going, too, because Mom and Dad have sent me away. They say, because of my Pokémon and my choice to be a trainer, that I am no longer a part of this household." I sighed, and Jay came over to sit on my bed.
"I got you a present for Pokémon Day," he said timidly, and I smiled at him, trying to make him believe everything was all right.
"Really? What is it, Squirt?" I asked, and he held out his hand. In it was a pokéball, shrunk down to the size for carrying on your belt. I took it and opened it right there in my room.
What appeared made me really wish that I didn't have to leave, after all. It was a Dratini, one of the rare Dragon Pokémon. Had Jay BOUGHT this? I asked him as much.
"Yes. I bought it with all the money I had. The money I was saving for when I became a trainer...if that ever happened."
"What do you mean, Jay?" I asked, wondering if he really DID know about his disease.
"Well, Mom and Dad don't say anything, but I know something's wrong and it has to do with me. So, I got this Pokémon for you because I knew you'd like it...and somehow I knew you were leaving..." he trailed off, but suddenly reached out and hugged me. "I'll miss you, Keerah."
"I'll miss you too...Jay," I said, and he left me then, and I buried my face in the pillow and cried for the third time that day, already feeling like I wasn't here, could never BE here again.
* * *
OK, I'm trying for 100 combined reviews from all the Keerah fics! New question, and this has nothing to do with the story...WHO IS MONDO???-pkc
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Keerah-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
"Chikorita, Razor Leaf!" I called, and her most powerful attack was enough to weaken the Pikachu enough to capture her. I threw my pokéball, and started to pray. I was SURE no one else would have gotten a Pikachu.
There was a ding sound, and the little red light on the pokéball went out. Pikachu was mine! I let it out to run around some. My second female Pokémon. This was getting to be pretty good.
"Pikachu!" she said, and immediately shot a lightning bolt into a nearby tree. Out of it fell Tracey Keel.
"Ow," said Tracey, glaring at Pikachu.
"Tracey, why were you spying on me?" I asked, annoyed that someone I wanted nothing to do with had found my secret spot.
"Um...Jamie said you were here and she wants to talk to you," he said, then jumped up and ran through the forest.
"Jamie? What could Jamie want?" I asked no one in particular. I called back Pikachu and Chikorita, then headed for Jamie's spot, a secret island out on the nearby Crystal River.
"What did you want, Jamie?" I asked, and she grinned an evil grin.
"Your Pokémon," she said simply, and I did a double take.
"What?" I asked, not too sure I'd heard right.
"You heard me. I want your Pokémon. I'll never catch any on my own, so I want yours." I took a step back in shock. Someone jumped from the bushes behind me and grabbed both my hands. "Hand 'em over, FRIEND." The word friend was emphasized with a sinister quality, and I knew I had absolute horror on my face. "What? No way!" I said, but it was useless. At least, I thought it was useless, until Jamie burst out laughing. So did the person behind me, who turned out to be Mandy, and so did Holly and Lora as they emerged from their hiding places.
"Ah, I LOVE making a fool of such ignorant people," said Jamie triumphantly, and it was at that moment that I realized that none of them had ever truly been my friends.
"That's right, Keerah, we never WERE your friends," said Holly, knowing in the way that only a psychic could; knowing exactly what I was thinking.
I ran then, as far and as fast as I could, through trees and bushes and a couple puddles, away into the woods, where I saw no more trainers, no more students, no one to remind me of my most recent revelation. I had no one besides our little group. Never gotten close to anyone else, never needed to.
I let both Pikachu and Chikorita out, and I thought they would run and play, it was such a nice day, but instead, Pikachu jumped onto my head and Chikorita into my lap.
"You're right," I said, although neither of them had said anything. "They weren't my only friends. I have Pokémon now, and that means I can never truly be alone." It was then that the tears came.
------------------Dari------------------
NJ gave me the afternoon off, so I headed out to Entripidae (Final) Island to maybe catch some more Pokémon. I took Scyther with me (obviously), and only hoped I wasn't found by the police force of Final Island. They were notorious for hating visitors; that's why it was even called Final Island; if you went there, it was the Final stop on your trip. Period.
Still, I found a small pond and decided to try my luck at fishing for a while. Maybe I'd have some luck today, after all.
"Well, then, what do we have here? You know, the Entripidae Islanders don't take kindly ta strangers." I saw a man emerge from the forest in front of me. He wore a big straw hat and carried a fishing rod.
"I realize that. What do you want with me?"
"Nothin' wit' you, lass. Only wit' de feesh," said the man as he lapsed into an Islander accent. Oh, great I thought, my heart racing. I'm about to be found out.
"Well, then, I think I'll just leave," I said, gathering my things and turning to leave.
"'Ey, what'd be yer hurry, lass? I'm only here ta do some feeshin', nothin' more then dat."
"Well, yeah, but I need to get home to help with dinner," I said, and ran for it. If he reported to the Final Island police, I was finished.
The small motorboat was waiting for me on the bank, although the water was much higher than it had been. I jumped in and sped as fast as I could toward Koloi. Man, what a day. But it wasn't over yet.
I was running back to the Center when I saw it. It was a Rattata, as common as they come, but it was a Pokémon. I let Scyther toss him around a bit, then captured him. It was a good thing I stayed at the Center.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Keerah-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
"Mom, Jay, I'm home!" I called as I walked in the door.
"Oh, hi, honey, I heard it was Pokémon Day! Did your principal give you a Growlithe like I told him to?" I stood stock still. I'd forgotten that Mom was a police officer, and Dad a Fire trainer.
"Um, I got a Pokémon, that's for sure," I said, avoiding the subject.
"Well, let it out and let's have a look!" Mom said excitedly, and Jay came in from the living room. Lucky kid, not to have to go to school.
I reluctantly released both my Pikachu and my Chikorita. Nervously, I said, "Like them?"
"Well, Keerah, I never thought you'd disobey me like this," said Mom, nearly yelling. And, as if on cue, Dad walked in the door.
"Hi, guys! What are these Pokémon doing here?"
"It was Pokémon Day today at Keerah's school, and not only did she not bother to tell us, she deliberately disobeyed us and got a Grass and an Electric Pokémon instead of a Fire Pokémon like I told her! And, they're only allowed one Pokémon each, so I can't even imagine how she managed to steal the other one!" Mom was yelling, and Dad looked about ready to yell himself. In fact, the tension in the room sent Jay running upstairs to HIS room, and we heard the door slam.
Dad was trying very hard not to lose his temper. "Keerah, tell me exactly what happened today at school," he said, but I knew that no matter what I said, they wouldn't believe me. So I decided to tell them the truth.
I made a long speech, explaining everything: how Pokémon Day was a surprise, how we picked Pokémon by lot, how I'd caught Pikachu myself.
"Well, tomorrow the three of us are going to go to school and ask for a Growlithe as a replacement for one of your Pokémon. You can keep the other. You'll be a police officer yet, and a Fire-training one at that," said Dad. "You can go to your room now."
I turned to go, then stopped. Who was he to order me around? I was a Pokémon trainer now, I had my license and my Pokémon. I had the right to my own decisions. And at that moment, I made the decision that changed my life.
"No," I said, in a voice just above a whisper.
"WHAT?" asked Dad in the loudest voice I'd ever heard.
I was mad. So mad I thought the roof was going to blow off the house. I stepped defiantly forward, and faced my parents with all the courage I had.
"NO!" I yelled, and before they could say anything else, I kept talking. "NO, I WILL NOT go to my room!" I spat "NO, you WILL NOT come to school with me tomorrow! NO, you WILL NOT exchange my Pokémon! NO, you WILL NOT give me the choice of only one! And NO, I WILL NOT be a police officer, or a Fire-training ANYTHING!!! I WILL BE A POKÉMON TRAINER, AND THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO IT!!!" I slammed my fist down on the kitchen table, so hard it cracked right down the middle.
"You leave us with no choice, Keerah," said my dad with mock disappointment. "You are no longer a member of this household. Period. You can stay one more night here, but that's it. In the morning you will leave, and you will never be allowed to come back. NEVER. When Steve comes home, we will inform him of this...this monstrosity that's taken place. You are not to say a word, not ONE WORD, to Jay. Is that clear?"
"No, but I suspect it doesn't matter with you anyway. I knew this would happen. I knew you'd be ready and willing, when the time came, to get rid of me. Didn't you ever notice how other parents support their children in their dreams? How they let the kids make the decisions? I suppose now, now that Jay's the only one left, and not for very much longer..." Both my parents flinched at this, they hated discussing the fact that Jay was sick. They hadn't even told him, he had no idea why he was at the doctor's just about every day of the week. "I suppose now you're just going to have to live with the consequences of your sending me away. Goodbye, Mom, Dad. If this is the way I'd have been treated the rest of my life here, I doubt I would have stayed very long, anyway." I turned and ran up to my room and slammed the door. I released my Pokémon again, and fell onto my pillow in tears.
It was some time later when I heard a knock on my door. I was packing my stuff, as much as I could fit in my suitcase and backpack. "Come in," I called softly. The door opened, and Jay entered my room.
"Why are you packing?" Jay asked. I sighed, and remembered what Dad had said about telling him.
"I'm going away to be a Pokémon trainer, Squirt. I..." I grew angry again. Jay deserved to know the truth. Just like he did about his sickness...I couldn't go on calling it a 'sickness' forever. I had to face it; Jay had cancer.
"What, Keerah? Is something wrong?" Jay asked. He's so innocent I thought. Only six. And yet he thinks with the ability of someone who's thirty-six.
"Yes, something is wrong. I lied. I'm not going away just to be a Pokémon trainer, although that is part of it. I'm going, too, because Mom and Dad have sent me away. They say, because of my Pokémon and my choice to be a trainer, that I am no longer a part of this household." I sighed, and Jay came over to sit on my bed.
"I got you a present for Pokémon Day," he said timidly, and I smiled at him, trying to make him believe everything was all right.
"Really? What is it, Squirt?" I asked, and he held out his hand. In it was a pokéball, shrunk down to the size for carrying on your belt. I took it and opened it right there in my room.
What appeared made me really wish that I didn't have to leave, after all. It was a Dratini, one of the rare Dragon Pokémon. Had Jay BOUGHT this? I asked him as much.
"Yes. I bought it with all the money I had. The money I was saving for when I became a trainer...if that ever happened."
"What do you mean, Jay?" I asked, wondering if he really DID know about his disease.
"Well, Mom and Dad don't say anything, but I know something's wrong and it has to do with me. So, I got this Pokémon for you because I knew you'd like it...and somehow I knew you were leaving..." he trailed off, but suddenly reached out and hugged me. "I'll miss you, Keerah."
"I'll miss you too...Jay," I said, and he left me then, and I buried my face in the pillow and cried for the third time that day, already feeling like I wasn't here, could never BE here again.
* * *
OK, I'm trying for 100 combined reviews from all the Keerah fics! New question, and this has nothing to do with the story...WHO IS MONDO???-pkc