Sorry to keep you all waiting, but I really just have little to no time to type. So don't get excited over a regular release date, I can't promise anything anymore. Also, I have decided to alternate between stories to keep my creative juices flowing. And note that I will not be working on Am I Daydreaming, or Gardevoir's Strange Love... Sorreh for those who liked it! (Leave reviews and PM me and I may resume them) Anyways! Join the dark side, we have cool capes!

On Days Like This

On a particularly hot day in April, I was sitting under a tree, taking refuge from the sweltering sun. I was absently tossing my 10th birthday present in the air and catching it, staving off total boredom.

When most children turn nine or ten, their parents might get them a bike, or a football for their birthday. When I turned ten, I got something better…a pokéball.

My parents didn't like to parent, and I didn't like school, so we compromised. If I got a pokéball, I could go on a Pokémon Journey. Simple, right?

I didn't have a Pokémon yet, but you can't leave until you're ten and a half anyway, at least that was my excuse 7 years ago. Now I am a gloomy 17-year-old without an excuse.

I wanted my first pokémon to be cool, a ralts or torchic, but no such luck. All of the local pokémon were roselia or wooper, and occasionally bibarel. I lived near the marshy area of Sinnoh, causing many of the pokémon to bore me.

I never really wanted to battle pokémon, just keep one as an excuse to get out of school. I had always wanted to participate in the league sanctioned contests. I really loved pokémon, I would always have two or three following me, wanting to get more attention. Something about me made them calm, but I guess it may just be me.

Usually people tended to label me as weird, and try to avoid me, which I didn't mind too much. Quite often I could be found playing by myself, or reading a book. The long time alone though made me very depressive, though. I would spend hours at a time trying to desensitize myself, just for something to do.

It seemed that I was only happy when I wasn't trying to be, but when I wanted it, I couldn't find it. Years of loneliness made me that way, and most often people couldn't make me happy. It's ironic how watching the sun set makes me smile, yet a warm hello falls to the floor, unnoticed.

As the warmth of the sun fled beyond the horizon, I felt my eyelids droop. Normally I slept in my parents' house, but I was really tired. I let the warm, loving arms of sleep take me into a light slumber. Most of the time I couldn't remember my dreams, but when I could, they were usually quite morbid.

I was in the same field, under the same tree, but there was no grass. The sun was obscured by dark, and ominous clouds. The dirt was a blood-red clay, littered with the corpses of many faces, both human, and pokémon.

Many of the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition, yet others appeared to have died of natural causes, but none of the faces were horrified, like usual. They all bore a blank stare, in various directions.

I would like to say I had vomited, or at least became unnerved, but I didn't. In fact, I had become slightly bored, wondering when I would wake up. My dreams resembled a B-rated horror movie, which I spend many hours making fun of.

As I sat under the tree, looking into the desolation, I noticed a light tugging on my shoulder. I turned to see a ralts holding my t-shirt sleeve. Sometimes I will see pokémon in my dreams, like a reminder of my ambitions as a pokémon coordinator.

"Hello." I said to the small creature. It opened it's mouth and started to talk.

"Why are you dreaming about dead bodies Mister?" I could tell from the tone of voice that it was a female, and she was frightened. An odd thing when the pokémon actually talk in my dreams.

"I have no idea, but quite frankly, I'm bored, are you?" I asked flatly.

She shook her head, "I'm kinda scared..." she said, gripping my arm tightly. I picked her up, and set her on my thigh, letting her shiver against my chest. She dangled her legs over my thigh, and held my arm, like a child would hold a blanket. I patted her head and told her that it would be better in the morning, almost like a father.

I rested my head against the tree, wondering what else would happen to my dream world. It felt like only a few minuets passed before something very odd happened. I watched the landscape curiously, as it began to change and the sun slowly poked it's way through the clouds.

The bodies melted into the dirt, leaving behind growing patches of grass. Trees sprouted some 20' away, creating a forest clearing ahead of us, very much resembling the small park I fell asleep in. As the landscape slowly settled on the gentle meadow, I felt the small, shivering form of the ralts calm as well.

More often than not my dreams would be odd like this, constantly changing until it finally ended. I sat waiting for the dream to change again, as I slowly rubbed the head of the sleeping ralts on my lap. I sat for what felt like an eternity in the calm meadow, until I realized that the dream wasn't going to change.

For some reason, I noticed that I was smiling, and I liked it. Nothing good ever lasts though, as I felt the cold, damp grass beneath me, slowly waking me. My vivid dream faded to the black inside of my eyelids, an unhappy color.

The sun poked from behind a cloud, showing the veins and arteries in my eyelids. I opened them sorely, knowing that I wouldn't find my dream again. As feeling returned to my limbs, I felt a small pressure on my lap. I looked down hopefully, but felt disappointed as I saw my pokéball.

I picked it up, and gave it a disdainful throw, hoping to lose sight of it for a while. I heard it fall softly in the grass, not even hard enough for it to accidentally pop open.

The sun had recently risen, illuminating the small forest meadow. There were no Pokémon within it, yet they could be heard close by. The chill air, and moist ground made me shiver slightly, yet I didn't want to stand up.

I watched the meadow slowly fill with Pokémon, either unaware of me, or just not caring. Eventually I felt myself begin to smile at the serenity of this forest scene, until one of them found my pokéball. A budew tripped over the red and white sphere, but instead of getting sucked inside, nothing happened.

Curiously, I stood up to investigate, causing several Pokémon to flee as I did so. The budew stood still, almost hoping I didn't see it. I patted the back of its head gently, and let it run off. I picked up the ball and looked more closely at it, seeing that it's latch was locked. That meant something was inside of it.

I pushed the button with much confusion to see it take the form of a sleeping ralts. I knelt next to it, gently nudging it's side. It began to giggle and yawn.

I stood speechless as it rubbed it's eyes and said "Hello Mister." using telepathy. She sat up and brushed off her shirt, which was entirely too long, looking around. "Did you like that new dream? The first one was way too scary." she said, with a very childish inflection. She stood and asked me my name, politely I told her it was Jeff.

She giggled and tugged on my pant legs, motioning that I pick her up. "Woah, wait a second." I said. She looked confused, so I kept talking. "Where are your parents?"

She looked sad for a moment. "They aren't here now, so I decided to find a human to protect me." she said, again motioning that I pick her up.

I stood there for a moment, thinking about what I could do. I was sixteen, after all, but I do like to care for pokémon. I picked her up and walked over to the tree, sitting down, thinking deeply for a moment.

After about thirty seconds, she began to ask me several questions, most of which pertained to me. "Why are you out here instead of in your house, Jon?"

"It doesn't matter where I sleep, as long as I'm back before 12 o'clock." I told her.

"Oh... Why?"

"Because my parents don't care too much about me."

"What! Why not?"

"We never saw eye to eye."

With that we sat in silence for a few minuets, simply enjoying the morning. She nestled into my lap, sighing contentedly, watching the pokémon cautiously refill the meadow. Eventually they seemed to simply forget that I was even there, as a few passed quite close by. I watched them pass, smiling to myself, feeling true contentment for the first time in a long time.

"Hey, Jeff..." she said, disrupting the serenity slightly.

"Yeah?"

"Can I have a name?"

Her question caught me off guard, and for some reason made me feel guilty. "Yeah, sure... what would you like to be named?"

She crossed her arms and furrowed her face for a moment. She sat thinking for a few minuets, allowing the placidity to return before interrupting it again. "How about Tiff?"

"Sure." I said, still lost in the surreal-ness of this moment. "That sounds fine... a lovely name."

She giggled and squirmed around a bit. "And I'll call you Jif, 'cause that sounds like Tiff!"

At the moment she could have called me anything, I was just happy to have my first pokémon. "Jif and Tiff," I mused to myself "sounds catchy."

We sat in the warmth of the sunlight for what seemed like hours, before I realized that the sun had gone past the middle of the sky. I stood up, cradling Tiff, and told her that we needed to go to my parent's house. She didn't object, but climbed up my torso to get a better view of the path.

She sat on my shoulder, holding my long hair like reigns, guiding me down the path in the small park. I ran, laughing to myself at how childish that was, but realized that she too was a child.

After a half hour of running, I made it to my parents' house, totally winded. The driveway sat vacant, and all the curtains were shut, a sign that they had left.

The house was quite large, and made to look old. My father had decided to build this house after he was inducted into the head engineering position at Silph Co, for his "Innovative Designs" on pokéballs. Sufficed to say, he had a lot of money, and an eye for landscaping.

The house was sat against the edge of the marshy land, with a wide open field stretching in front of it. The field was split in two by a large two lane gravel driveway, surrounded on either side by willow trees. The property was about ten acres, a two by five plot. In the distance, about five miles away, sat the small town of Solaceon, an hour's walk from the northern border of the great marsh.

This section of the marsh was more like a forest, the ground being dried by the natural incline towards Solaceon. It was a quiet place, removed by distance, and kept isolated by my eccentric parents. Most of the time I simply explored the vast forest, creating small huts from the fallen sticks and mud. I didn't enjoy it per-say, but I felt comfortable with my monotony.

I began looking through the pottery that littered the front porch, until I found a small, stainless steel key, on the verge of rusting. Tiff gave the key a curious look, until I placed it into the lock inside the polished doorknob.

"Hey Jif, what's that thing?" she asked as the door swung open.

"It's a key... or did you mean the door?" I said, realizing that she would have no Idea about either.

"Well... tell me about your key first." she said, turning to look at the door intently.

I laughed to myself, about to answer her question, as I noticed a small slip of paper on the floor inside the doorway. "Alright, in a minute... and that's a door..." I said, rubbing her head.

"Oh." she said, blushing slightly.

I smiled and shook my head as I picked up the small piece of paper. I could see my mom's small handwriting on the front of it, saying:

Dear Jeff,
If you actually read this note, please take it with you if you don't plan on being here when we get back. Or better yet, call me and tell me what you're doing... I hate it when you do this. If you take anything, leave it on the note so your father doesn't get paranoid about thieves. I love you son... mommy loves you no matter what!

-Mom

I heard Tiff giggle, sitting close by on a chair in the small hallway leading to the living room. "Mommy loves you...!" she projected.

I smiled as I folded the note up and put it in my pocket. Although she may suck as a parent, she still really did love me. I picked Tiff up and held her under my arm, walking down the hallway, feeling her squirm around, trying to get free.

"Come on... I was only kidding!" she plead with mock sincerity.

I laughed as I ran up the carpeted stairs that led to my room. She clung tightly to my arm, to prevent her from falling, and whimpered slightly as I shot up the stairs and into my room.

The room was modestly sized, (Originally meant to be a guest room) and had charcoal black walls, and a blood red carpet. Posters for bands like Disturbed, Seether, Avenged Sevenfold, Korn, and Rammstein covered most of the walls. The only furniture in the room was a military cot, and a writing desk, giving it a Spartan look. A few old candles (When lit) provided some light, but most of the light came from a translucent red curtain, giving the room a demonic Aura.

I sat Tiff down on the cot and walked to the closet, obscured by the posters plastered on, and around the door that was flush with the wall. I pulled an old school backpack, and filled it with black t-shirts, along with my favorite black jeans. Most of my clothing hung loosely on my body, making my somewhat slender frame look even smaller.

Tiff looked around the room with a curious expression, but seemed confused. "Why do you sleep at all in a place that's covered with these scary pictures?" she said, pointing to a Marilyn Manson poster.

I looked around and shrugged my shoulders. "It's not really for me, it's meant to portray an image I try to show people." I said, folding the pants to fit into the bag.

She jumped slightly as I said that. "Why would you want them to think you're a serial killer?" she said, motioning all around her.

"Where did you hear that word?" I asked her, placing the last pair of pants into the large backpack.

"I heard it go through your mind while we were running down the road." she said, dangling her legs off the cot, trying to reach the floor.

I nodded and sat her back on the cot, sitting next to her. "Well, I don't really like other people... but killing people is very bad." I said trying to gauge her maturity.

"Duh!" she said, giggling slightly. "But why are you telling me this?"

"No reason... but you probably shouldn't listen too closely to my thoughts." I said, rubbing her hair.

"OK." she said, hopping off the cot, walking around the room.

I shook my head, walking toward the door. "Come on, we've got to get some more supplies, and then we can leave this place." She followed me out of the room, smiling (Likely glad to just leave my room).

A middle-aged woman ran toward the fine wooden door of a large mansion-like house worriedly. She looked around and noticed that the pottery had been disturbed, causing her to sigh audibly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he's just outside somewhere... like usual." said a middle-aged man, cutting her worry short.

"Yes... I'm sure you're right." she said, pulling out a key.

The door swung open freely on it's well-oiled hinges. She hardly noticed a note fall to the floor, but she was interrupted by her husband ranting about a broken pot. She shook her head, totally disregarding his frustration, returning her attention the small slip of paper. She instantly recognized the sloppy, rushed handwriting of her 17 year-old son.

Dear mom,
I wrote you this letter to let you know that I am leaving for my Pokémon Journey. I decided to leave early because dad would be mad about the pot. I'll visit as often as I can, and I'll write every week. Oh, and tell dad that Tiff is sorry about the pot. I love you, and I always will... no matter what!

There was more written on the back, but her eyes couldn't focus through the tears forming in her eyes. "Damn it!" she shouted. Her outburst startled the man, causing him to totally forget about his favorite spider plant being scattered across the large porch.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sympathy flowing from his voice. She simply turned and handed him the note, unable to find adequate words.

He quickly read the note, turning it over, reading about the ralts named Tiff, and the longing to leave. He gripped the note tightly, and laughed softly to himself. He grabbed his Wife tightly, telling her it would be okay. "He'll be back soon." he said.

"He didn't even wait to say goodbye..." she said, crying softly into her Husband's cotton covered shoulder.

"I know, but he'll be back." he said, softly rubbing her shoulders, soothing her pain. The couple walked inside and sat on an expensive couch, consoling each other.

And thus the first chapter! You guys better review! Seriously... I feel so alone... these shadows are cold... and also offer very little constructive input ;_; Well anyways... Join the dark side, we have cool capes! (Review to make a lowly shadow demon happy!)