Warning! Adult themed content, strong language violence. Some viewers may find the following content disturbing and some elements are not suitable for some audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.
~ A Beckoning Night ~
It was a quiet evening in the neighborhood, there were not so much of any sound except the wind rustling the leaves in the trees. But even as everything is seemingly calm something else might be lurking in the dark. Something was amiss, though, no one knew about it, except Ginnie. She peered out the dark window trying to see something, but could mostly only see her own reflection in the glass. The others at home were not as attentive as her.
Might be because they are not Pokémon. Ginnie tried to tell the others in the living room about the ominous feeling she had. She tugged at the mother's sleeve, trying to get her attention but the father yelled at her to stop and let them watch the show in peace. Ginnie then pointed with her short stubby arms to the window, letting out some meek sounds. The father, Phillip. Rose up in frustration and said.
-"Well if I can't have a nice relaxing time here I'm going to my office!"
He then stormed down the stairs to his office and slammed the door shut. Then the mother, Theresa was a bit shocked by his actions, but still not too surprised. She reached over the armrest down to Ginnie and picked her up, put her in her lap and said.
-"I know he can be a bit grumpy, but he doesn't mean anything bad by it."
Ginnie pointed to the window yet again, and Theresa thought she pointed at the new lamp they had bought.
-"Yes, isn't it pretty! I can't believe I got it at half the price."
Ginnie could clearly see that her efforts at communicating with them had failed, again. She gave up trying to tell Theresa. But even so, she couldn't shake off the feeling, just thinking about it again made shivers go down her spine. She then held tightly around Theresa's arm to feel a bit safer.
-"Naaw, aren't you cute!" Theresa said as she petted the small Kirlia on top of her head.
Ginnie felt a bit safer, but she truly wanted to be with Violet. Though she knew she wasn't allowed to disturb Violet when she was studying, even being in the same room broke her concentration according to Phillip. Ginnie wanted to be with her, but she wasn't allowed to, and she couldn't be around Violets older sister Jasmine either, as she mostly more or less ignored her. She also didn't want to be around Phillip as he wasn't very nice to her. It was quite easy to avoid him now at this time of the day, as he was mostly transfixed in front of the computer. So she chose to stay by Theresa's side for now. Both of them were still sitting on the couch watching television, the program they were watching now was about some kind of cooking show. Theresa was interested in what was going on, and was quite immersed. So very little was exchanged between them. Or rather it was mostly Theresa that spoke, since Ginnie can't do much more than reply with a nod or make chirping sounds. Theresa made some comments about the show, saying. "Doesn't that look tasty", or "would you like to try that some day?" Ginnie mostly just nodded and chirped with a soothing voice as in agreement.
Then suddenly Violet bursts into the living room.
-"Mom I'm done with my homework now. Is it okay if we go out for a short while?" Violet asked with a big smile on her face, while Ginnie hopped out of the couch running to Violet, looking expectantly at her.
-"Okay, sure. But it is late, won't you ask your big sister Jasmine to…" Theresa was cut off by Violet responding with displeasure.
-"But, mom!"
-"No buts! You know it's not been safe out lately, especially at this time of the day."
-"But I have Ginnie with me."
-"No, you take Jasmine with you or you're staying at home for tonight, and you can forget about the snacks you were going to buy."
Violet looked at Ginnie for a short while and then down to the floor as she made a small grimace.
-"Fine, I'll ask her."
-"Good, now don't sulk over this, you know… I think it would be good if you could get along again as you used to."
-"Yes mom. I have to go now before they close!"
Violet walked quickly down the stairs past the hallway to Jasmines room as Ginnie followed after closely. Knocking on the door they got a loud reply.
-"Yeah what is it?!"
-"I was just going out to the store and mom asked me to ask you to come with us when we go out!"
-"What, can't you go on your own?!"
-"No! Mom said you had to come too as she said it's too risky to go out alone at this time!"
-"Fine! Just gimme a sec!"
Jasmine could be heard talking on the phone, she then opened her door after a few minutes and she towered over them both, looking down on them she asked.
-"Well, are we going or not?"
-"Took you long enough, and yes, we have to go now! Violet replied."
They proceeded to take on their shoes and saying goodbye as they went out. They had begun walking to the store, none of them had much to say, but to simply just take in the calm evening. It was very dark outside, as it was nearing autumn. Only small winds swept by, and none other than them seemed to be out, except a few cars nearby on the highway passing by. They kept on walking on the road that was leading through a small forest, as Jasmine broke the silence.
-"I can't understand why mom has to be so overprotective, I mean, nothing has ever happened here except for a few robberies... And that was years ago!"
-"Ha-ha, yeah." Violet tried to reply with confidence, but the more she thought about it the more unsettled she became, as she peered into the dark woods.
-"You're not scared are you?"
-"What… No! I'm not scared."
-"Ha-ha, yeah you are."
-"No I'm not!" she yelled back with frustration.
-"Well if you take a look at Ginnie she seems to be just as freaked out as you are right now."
At that moment they heard something in the bushes rustling about and all three of them were standing there transfixed on the dark outline of the forage. Violet shone a light with her cellphone at the conspicuous bush. As she did a wild Rattata ran out from the bush right across the road. All of them were a bit startled but Ginnie was so frightened that she jumped up Into Violets embrace, clinging on her.
-"Ha-ha! It was just a stupid rat, and it seems like Ginnie was the most scared of you two after all. You see why mom don't want you to rely on Ginnie so much." Jasmine said with a bit of relief, and with bit of a criticism.
-"Well, I can still protect myself! And Ginnie is strong, she just…"
-"She's not inclined to fight or anything like it, why can't you and dad get that through your thick skulls."
-"I know that Ginnie doesn't like to fight! I just…" Violet yelled but abruptly stopped as she paused for a thought and looked down at Ginnie.
Ginnie looked up at Violet and Jasmine, almost with a telling look that she doesn't want them to argue. Jasmine paused for a moment, looking down at Ginnie, and then at her cellphone. She put it away and said.
-"Alright, well, let's not sour my mood. We should get going to the store already."
-"Yes…" Violet replied with a sound of defeat in her voice.
Violet took Ginnie and put her down, and held her hand as they proceeded to walk.
Not long after they were at the store, just in time before they were going to close. Jasmine then waved to some stranger that was waiting at the front gates of the store, he also waved back. When they had approached him Jasmine said.
-"Hi there Derek, I hope I didn't take too long."
-"No, I just got here myself. So where do you wanna go, mine or your place?"
-"Well, we can't go to my place, my parents wouldn't allow it."
-"Okay, so it'll be my place I take it."
Suddenly Violet bursts out with a yell.
-"What the fuck Jasmine?! Aren't you going to lead me and Ginnie home? - Both of us are going to get into so much trouble!"
-"Calm down you little Wimpod! You can make it back yourself and you just have to say that I walked with you home and then left with a friend. Now shoo!"
-"They won't buy that kind of story, and you know it!"
-"Fucking just go get yourself stuffed, I'm outta here."
-"Fine! And you can go get yourself stuffed with dicks!"
-"You little shit!"
Jasmine got really angry at Violet and chased her off as she ran in to the store with Ginnie. Violet looked back and saw that Jasmine flipped her the bird from outside the store, and walked away with Derek. Derek didn't do much about the whole situation, but to simply smile awkwardly about the ordeal.
-"I swear Ginnie, I will never be like her." Violet said with a disdain in her voice.
Ginnie looked with a quizzical look at Violet as she tried to calm herself down. It only took a few seconds before she let out a big sigh, and looked back at Ginnie with a smile and took her hand. Ginnie smiled back and held her hand tightly as they then proceeded to walk through the store to get what they came for. Ginnie pointed at the things she wanted and Violet happily got them for her. Both Violet and Ginnie had recently gotten their weekly pocket change from Theresa, enough to buy several Kilos of candy.
When they were done they had grabbed a big mixed bag of candy together, a big soda and other assortments of goodies. They walked up to the counter and stood in line, waiting to pay. In front of them there was an old lady that was buying some bread, cookies, milk and a lot of other assortments. She was holding up the line as she was also looking for small change and coupons in her purse. Behind them there was a middle aged man. Violet and Ginnie felt a bit at unease and didn't want to make eye contact. Because he smelled a lot like tobacco, beer and other indescribable smells, the smell was almost burning in their nostrils. He glared down at Ginnie, while she tried to not make eye contact. Violet held Ginnie's hand tightly. Looking down at the floor, trying to put herself between Ginnie and the man.
As they had been focusing so much on the unpleasant man they didn't notice that it was their turn, and that the old lady had seemingly disappeared. The cashier that was sitting there asked them if they were going to buy this, while pointing at the things on the conveyor belt they had collected. Ginnie and Violet hurriedly walked forth and split the cost evenly. They put the money on the counter, as the cashier looked a little bit surprised at Ginnie but didn't ask, though the man slurred out.
-"You can't do that... Pokémon shouldn't carry money. It's wrong!.. Only people should have that. they can't have that kind responsibility."
Violet didn't want to respond to him, as she only focused on paying and getting out of there. The man then grunted in discontent for being ignored. The cashier thanked them and Violet thanked her back. Violet grabbed the stuff and put it in a bag, and she took Ginnie's hand and started to walk a bit faster to get out from the store. When they got out, and they had walked a bit away from the store they saw the man exiting the store too, he walked in the same direction as them. This made Violet a bit unnerved. They picked up the pace a bit to get away from him. But he too picked up the pace. Making a sharp turn around some buildings nearby and later walking back to the original path. Violet stopped in her tracks holding Ginnie close, listening for anything. It seemed to do the trick as the man was gone.
- "Wow that was scary. I think we should hurry home now."
Ginnie nodded, and so they continued walking at a normal pace again as they also could relax a little bit. Violet was still a bit mad at the man for what he said, but she really didn't want to confront such a person, though it still gnawed at her. She looked at Ginnie and saw that she seemed unsure of herself, and a bit worried. Violet then kneeled down to her level and started to comfort her by saying.
-"I know that most people think it as strange if they saw a Pokémon with money, but for me it is just as natural as any, for I see you as a part of the family. Don't worry about what anyone says about that. If you carry anything valuable I know it is in safe hands."
Ginnie gave a small smile in response to what she said. Violet then stood back up again and turned around, looking in the direction of the store… Even though they were in the clear Violet couldn't shake the feeling that they might be stalked by that man. They continued to walk down the same road they had walked on earlier. When they reached the forest again a faint yell could be heard in the distance, she turned around and listened carefully. But they didn't really hear anything else except the wind and a little bit of rustling in the leaves from the wind. They stood there for a moment and just stared, after a short while Violet said.
-"I am not sure what that was. Do you think we should check it out?"
Ginnie only tugged at Violets skirt and tried to pull her in the direction of going home. Violet understood that Ginnie didn't seem to like this late evening at all, so she decided that they should continue to walk home instead.
They were trying to shake the creepy feeling off, but it proved almost impossible, even the shadows from the trees seemed scary at this point. They continued to walk with a brisk pace, nothing else seemed out of place, except there was someone walking towards them on the road. The person was walking with their hood up, they could not tell the face of the person as he or she was tilting their head down. Both of them thought there was something off about the person. Violet decided to take a path that lead into the forest, trying to avoid the person. The path lead just a bit off to the side and it would put a little bit of distance between them, but they would still be able to walk home. But the other person didn't seem to care, and simply just kept on walking. Violet didn't look where she was going as she had her sight locked onto the road they just left. So Ginnie stopped her by pulling her hand. Now right in front of them there was a something looking down on them. With a ferocious hissing noise, it started to come closer. Violet then started to back away and Ginnie Held tight to her. Violet picked up Ginnie and started running, as the shadowed figure gave chase. It easily caught up with them, Violet was pushed to the ground and Ginnie was dropped to the ground, landing with a big thud. Violet could feel that it tried to claw at her. Luckily it only caught a bit of her skirt, ripping a big chunk of it straight off. Ginnie was frightened and distraught so she couldn't manage to do anything. Though Violet was able to kick it off of herself, she then got up again, picked up Ginnie and ran as fast as she could. It continued to give chase after them but stopped as they reached the end of the forest.
Violet continued to run while holding Ginnie with one arm and the bag in the other. Just a few minutes later they reached their own street and could finally relax. Violet said.
-"I think it stopped chasing us…"
She paused for a moment, looking back from where they came from.
- "What was that?!.. Well, whatever that was I think we've had enough of crazy encounters tonight, what do you say?"
Ginnie looked very frightened and just nodded in agreement.
They continued walking down the street to their house. When they arrived they could see through the windows that it was already dark in most rooms as the others were probably preparing for the night. Violet carefully opened the door and stepped inside. The father stood atop the stairs looking down on them both, Violet tried to say hi but was immediately interrupted by him asking.
-"Violet, where's Jasmine?" But before she could even reply to that he asked something else with a surprised expression.
-"What happened to your skirt?!"
-"Uhm, well…"
At this point Violet looked down at her own skirt, even a bit surprised herself, she didn't know what to say. She didn't want to tell the truth, for if she did there would probably be some kind of punishment, like getting grounded, or no allowance for a week, or two, or even worse? But even if she lied it would probably not convince him.
-"Well?" Phillip said with anticipation.
-"Uhm, we… We got chased by a Raticate." (Fuck what a bad lair I am!)
-"Chased by a Raticate?! What about Jasmine then, why isn't she with you?"
-"I… I walked with Jasmine… Or rather we walked through the forest and she said that we could make it back by ourselves, when she left we were chased by a Raticate."
-"Right. Well you know I will have to have a word with her later, and you are not going out again except for school."
-"What?! Why?"
-"Well I don't like you separating just like that, you and your mother had an agreement that you were going to walk together, and since these past incidents we just want you to be safe. So I have to make you understand one way or another."
Violet looked a bit down as she didn't want to make eye contact with anyone, and Ginnie was standing there holding herself close to Violet. Then Phillip asked.
-"But, I wonder… why didn't Ginnie try to fight it off at least?"
Violet looked down at Ginnie and then back up to her father, and she said.
-"No. No she didn't."
Phillip sighed as he shook his head, and said.
-"Well, what use is she if she won't even protect you when you need her?"
Violet got a bit riled up by this comment, she couldn't believe what she was hearing, from her own father no less. She wanted to say something back, but didn't know what to say, and she was afraid that she might get into more trouble if she did. Ginnie looked ashamed and burrowed her face into Violets clothes as Violet put her right hand on her head trying to comfort her. Phillip didn't seem to have anything more to say as he went away into the kitchen, were Theresa was. He would probably tell her everything he was just told, and surely even more. Violet just wanted to get away from this as she felt awful and didn't want to get scolded again. So both of them walked down the other set of stairs, down to her room that was adjacent to Jasmines. They went inside her room and both of them sat down on her bed. Looking a bit empty in their spirits as they just sat there for a moment. Ginnie looked at Violets ripped skirt, as she put her hand on her lap. Violet just sighed, stood up and took it off. She threw it in the corner of the room, and she slumped down onto the bed again. Staring at the blank screen of her TV. She then looked over at Ginnie with almost a defeated look on her face. Ginnie looked back at her with her big eyes worryingly. Violet put her hand on Ginnie's head and said.
-"It's okay, you don't have to fight if you don't want to. I'll fight for you if need be."
Ginnie then hugged violet, to thank her for understanding, and she hugged her back. Violet then stood up after a short while and started the TV.
-"Let's forget about the bad things now and let's enjoy the rest of the evening."
Ginnie chirped up at this suggestion, she got the remote and Violet sat down again. Just browsing through the channels, not finding anything much of interest. There were just some boring documentaries running on one channel, and another had some uninteresting TV-show on. One channel after the other seemed just as boring. After she had flipped through most channels three times in a row before she gave up and shut off the TV.
She looked at Ginnie, as Ginnie looked back at her with her face stuffed with candy. Violet smiled and asked if she'd like to watch a movie instead, as she followed up by saying that she could choose what they were going to watch. Ginnie seemed to cheer up by this proposition, as she smiled a little and stood up at the side of the bed. She walked towards Violets movie collection that varied between some action, dramas, and romance movies. Some of them were kid's movies, but even so Violet and Ginnie liked these still, even though both of them were about sixteen years old.
Ginnie looked through many of the available options, but as usual she stopped, and looked at a particular case. It was a children's movie about love and friendship, Violet sighed a little and said.
-"Are you sure? We've seen that about a million times already."
But Ginnie was adamant that they were going to watch this movie, as she held it out with both of her small hands towards Violet. Raising it a bit higher and moving it about trying to show that she really wanted to see this movie Violet replied.
-"Ha-ha! Okay, okay. Calm down, we'll watch it then…"
Violet got up from the bed and took the DVD case and looked at it a bit closer, she glanced over the cover for a short while before saying.
-"I guess it was a long time ago since we watched this."
Ginnie nodded in agreement and pointed excitedly at the TV, almost jumping up and down and with a big smile on her lips.
-"Okay, I will, I will. You can make yourself comfortable, I'll just put this in and we'll give it a watch."
After putting the movie in, both of them sat down in the bed under the covers munching away at the candy that they had bought. The movie continued to play for about an hour until Violet had dosed off. Ginnie was still wide awake and watching the movie until it finished, as she was quite immersed in it.
When the movie reached its end, the screen turned black with the credits of white text going across it. Ginnie looked at Violet and saw that she was asleep. Ginnie on the other hand was still wide awake, a bit because of what happened earlier and because of what Phillip had said. It kept running through her mind and it bothered her, making her unable to rest. She felt useless as she thought that she didn't have it in her, the will to fight, to be brave. For she was too scared to engage in any kind of violence. She felt that she can't help her loved ones in times of need, and that also made her feel useless.
She continued thinking of these bad thoughts, and that made her remember the time when Phillip brought her to a small arena.
It was about thirteen years ago, when she was still just a Ralts, which was her previous evolution of her current form. But even so as she has evolved into a Kirlia she still feels pretty much the same. She was brought there to test her capabilities. This was the first time when she would have ever actually fought. Phillip seemed like he had some kind of plan in mind with her, but they were foiled, simply because she couldn't fight well. Even though she'd shown great promise with her abilities before, as she'd used them playfully at home, she didn't seem to have the sense for battling. She was struck down again and again by varying opponents. Even the weaker ones present at the arena were able to take her down easily. She was becoming more and more scared of fighting, and after many more opponents she was lying on the ground panting for air and aching in pain. Phillip grew more and more frustrated at her, yelling that she should get up and fight back. Violet was also there cheering her on, but her cheers stopped as she saw her best friend getting beaten up. Even Jasmine who was there didn't like what she saw, Jasmine intervened and took Ginnie away from the arena. She told her dad that he can't push her to do something that she doesn't want to do. At the moment Ginnie was struggling to stay conscious, but even so she could feel the emotion Phillip had. It was anger towards herself. And ever since that day Phillip had been acting cold on several occasions towards her, but only noticeable to her. Violet still kept her image of her being strong and more special to her than anything else. Ginnie appreciated her compassion and devotion to her and wanted to be with her as much as possible. Ginnie frowned a bit at the thought of all that had happened back then, but as she looked at Violet, she thought that even though all these things there were some good things in her life, and that made her smile a little.
She laid down next to Violet leaning her head on her legs, she closed her eyes and drifted away to sleep.
It rang over and over again with a familiar tune, and suddenly Violet burst out from the bed like a rocket. Ginnie on the other hand was still quite sleepy and looked at Violet with hazy eyes. Violet was seemingly in a hurry and she put on her clothes as fast as possible, and she said.
-"I'm sorry Ginnie, but I'm running late, so I won't be staying for long… Bye Ginnie!"
She then went out of the room in a hurry, her quick footsteps could be heard from the stairs, and then a slam from the front door. Ginnie still felt quite tired and didn't want to get out of bed yet, and she didn't have anything important to do as usual. She went to sleep again with ease. She laid there in bed for about two more hours before getting out of bed.
After the long rest it was much easier to move about and stay awake for her, though she felt a bit stiff. She raised her arms up and stretched a little bit before going up to the kitchen.
She tried to find something to eat while everyone was away. Nobody else had prepared anything for her so she had to make something herself, she looked in the cupboard. In it there were a lot of things, but after looking through most of it, there didn't seem to be anything edible in it except a for a few crackers, and old stale bread. She frowned a bit and hesitantly grabbed a few crackers as she continued to search for something else edible in the fridge. In it there was some milk, butter, cheese and other cooking ingredients, she could cook something with what was available, but she wasn't allowed to. Simply because Theresa didn't think she could handle it on her own. For many of the things were too heavy for her. In particular the frying pan, since it is about half her size. She looked a bit peevish, grabbed the cheese, sat down, and ate the crackers with some slices from the cheese. She stared out the window looking very bored.
She could leave the house, but she'd been requested not to as of recently it's not been safe outside. This is because of the rising crime rate in the nearby city. It all had started about three months ago, and it has relentlessly kept on going. It is like a wave that hit the city and it's not gone away, as most crimes have been moving from one area to the next. Or rather that is how Theresa would describe it, and that is why she thinks everyone should be cautious. Ginnie understood her concerns and didn't want to risk anything herself.
She finished eating, and put away the things she had used. She looked out the window and saw that it was raining outside, Philips car was away, and Violets bicycle too. She was simply looking out on the empty street, no cars were passing by nor any people, and the trees didn't have birds in them as well. Ginnie kept on looking out for a while before walking down to Violets room. Usually Ginnie would walk to school to meet up with Violet, but she wasn't allowed to do that anymore, for Theresa feared for her safety.
Just as she sat down on violet's bed the front door could be heard opening. Ginnie walked over to see who it was.
It was Phillip, he looked at her and said.
-"Good, there you are, you are coming with me on a little trip."