Hey guys. It's me again, Jesspikapal, and I am going to be attempting a CHAPTER Wishfulshipping story. Yes, that's right; a chapter story!
Hopefully I can pull this off!
Note: This story is quite dark/mysterious. Read at your own risk.
I have it all planned out and let me just say that if I write it out properly, then it should be pretty epic! :)
Anyways, "Enjoy". If you could call it that... :)
The only way to incinerate those thoughts of loneliness is to run. Run far away and never look back. Even if the winds of change call your name. Only look forward...
Running away seemed to be the hardest thing that Iris could think of. The blistering rain pelted mercilessly on her head, as she forced herself onwards through the darkened night. There were no clouds. No breeze. No stars. No people. No anything. Empty, just like the gaping hole in her heart as she pressed forwards.
Iris clutched the locket to her chest, the cold metal brushing her wet skin soothingly. It had convinced her to leave. It had called to her and brought her here. Now, with nothing, she could see just how alone she really was. Without the screaming of her parents, she heard nothing. Without the thumps of them fighting, she saw nothing and without them turning on her and taking turns to lash her, she felt nothing.
Just emptiness.
Emptiness like a huge, black hole. The kind of dark hole that was too black to even begin to imagine what could be lurking within it's depths and Iris' mind was just that.
Dark and neglected.
Her feet slowed to a walk, her body too exhausted to run anymore. She should have gained some distance by now.
The path spilt off into two ways and Iris felt herself stop and peer at the sign post that told her where each pathway lead. After carefully analyzing the informitive post, she now knew that route 21 rested to her left, and Striaton City loomed to her right. Which way she should go, she didn't know, but her Axew, who had been hiding throughout her thick purple mane, pointed eagerly at the right path.
"I don't know Axew..." Iris trailed, uncertainty brimming in her tone. "What if it's not safe?" But right after she said that, she mentally kicked herself. No where, was safe.
"Axew, Ax, Axew!" Axew waved his arms frantically, pointing vigourously at the right path with his clawed paws.
"Ok." Iris gave in, a weak smile on her face as she gave into her Axew. "What have I got to lose anyway?" She thought to herself. She grimaced as she felt the headache start again. She had had to cope with this excrutiating pain for six hours and it was starting to get both troublesome and tiresome.
Sighing, she urged herself down the right path, her mind wittering yet another pointless pep talk. As if it would help.
The violent smashes of the rain grew larger, as the steel- like drops thundered down onto her head and her clothes, drenching her completley and making her shiver uncontrolably. She hugged her Axew close to her and edged down the unfamiliar pathway.
A flock of Woobat flew out of the trees abruptivley and startled her, her grip increasing on her dragon type comapnion as she squeaked in suprise. Axew writhed, desperate for air and to escape the harsh clutches of his frightened trainer, shouting it's name in protest.
Iris, realising her mistake, placed Axew on her shoulders and mumbled an embarrassed apology but to be perfectly honest, she was past caring. Nothing seemed to matter anymore as she marched forwards, unsure of where she was going in the first place. Well, she knew she was going to "Striaton City" , but where was that? She'd certainly never heard of it. Although she hadn't really heard of anything because of her parents inceasent niggling. That was all she got to hear.
After about ten minutes of obnoxious pokemon and endless pondering, she reached yet another sign post. This one, incidentally read:
"Welcome to Striaton City!"
She bowed her head, heeding the welcoming seen as though it would be the only one she would probably receive. Then, with a deep breath, Iris took a single step into the city and breathed again. She felt an exhilerating dose of energy course through her veins. She could do this...
Axew disappeared into the thick masses of her hair and she fingered the locket around her neck, smiling fondly at the inanimate object.
Walking calmly at her own pace - something she hadn't done in a while and something, until now, she hadn't seen herself doing in a very long time, she found her way throughout the city. The drops began to slow to an annoying drizzle and she spotted a upset-looking child taking shelter in a shop as he peered through the window at her, smiling sadly and placing his boney fingers on the glass, the condensation creating an eerie mist around his hand.
Iris summoned the courage to smile at him and did so, giving him a small, timid wave to accompany her friendly gesture.
The strange boy tore away from the glass, looking shocked and weary as he backed away and ran around a clothes rack and out of sight. Hidden. He was hiding. Iris envied him guiltily. She knew that she shouldn't stoop to such childish levels and let jealousy settle in, but the fact that he hid so easily made her blood boil slightly. Here she was, running away and risking everything, and then he vanishes behind a clothes rack, with no effort whatsoever? Iris narrowed her eyes and contiued to walk, wishing it was that easy.
Her gaze focused on the path as she endured the minute spitting of the rain and the small but chilling air of the seemingly friendly city. Wrapping her arms around herself, Iris eyed a bench, wondering if she should sit. She walked over to the green bench and felt the cold, wet metal tickle her finger, much like the locket that hung limply around her neck.
Doubting she could get much wetter, she perched herself on the edge of the seat and sighed, loudly and purposfully. Axew peeped his head out of her wild hair and swallowed his surroundings, the otherwise known as "useless" details speaking volumes about Striaton's history, unknowingly providing the runaway with answers to questions that rippled on her mind's stream of thought.
The shops organised tidily, side by side, embracing each other invitingly. The small houses accompanied by the large ones, the small ones obviously feeling indifferent about the larger ones as they happily sat next to one another, bricks touching in the same loving fashion. The lamposts were arranged neatly along the road, a gentle light lolloping lazily on the paving stones and bright, colourful posters and flyers hung from the cylindrical perimiter of the long posts.
"Axew, Axe." Axew gasped in awe.
"Isn't it beautiful Axew?" Iris cooed to her pokemon, stroking his head tenderly as she too glanced around her enviroment, amazed and curious.
"Axew..." Axew trailed, jumping onto his trainer's knee with a large, goofy smile imprinted on his face. Iris laughed along with him, both of them eventually just a useless heap of giggles. Just meeting eyes caused them both to explode into unexplainable fits of laughter all over again!
Eventually, when the two calmed down, they came face to face with queer looks. Each one judging her nastily as they glared down at her past their noses. Iris shifted uncomfortably and the people passed, tutting at her as they went. Iris and Axew both stuck their tounges out at them as they walked by and then chuckled to each other, Iris shocked at her own childish antics.
"Well," She started, standing and picking up Axew softly. "We're not getting any further away by pulling childish faces and sitting on fancy green benches, are we?" She joked fondly , though the question didn't need an answer for Iris already knew it. She lovingly rubbed her loyal friend's snout and then began to walk once again.
She passed a bakery and the faint scent of bread caught her attention as she turned to face the shop's large, steamy window, all the delicacies taunting her from the inside of the scorching bakery.
Staring at the food, she shamelessly felt her mouth water. She hadn't eaten in awhile. She would have to find some berries soon, she thought lifelessly to herself.
She sighed and began to leave, but the person behind the counter shooed her away before she turned away completely. Once again, she was being banished. She was unwanted, but that, to her, was no suprise. She shuffled forwards, hung her head and thought deeply. Why was life so difficult? Why were these people so unfriendly? Maybe it was her choice in pokemon? No, no person could be quite that shallow... Could they? No... Well, maybe it was her colour? No, she'd seen a familiar coloured man stride by her earlier, not to mention the person behind the counter in the bakery was a dark shade of brown too. Nothing about her persona seemed too much out of the ordinary. Maybe these people were just naturally a bit of a pest.
After coming to no other possible conclusions in her mind, she settled with the fact that these people were simply arogant to another way of life other than their prim and proper ones that they had in this city. With a knowing smile, she nodded to herself and wandered alongside the road.
Ah, the beauty in not knowing where you're going.
Suddenly, her curiosity spoke to her. Well, more like screamed out to her in a desperate attempt to be fed with something questionable. There, directly across from her, sat a large building. Somehow, it seemed different from the other houses and facilities. Her and Axew glanced at each other, shrugged, and then turned back to face the amazingly structural building. It looked like a mansion of some kind.
Not wanting to disturb the owners of this huge castle - like home, Iris started to leave, but stopped when she felt a tug on her hair done by Axew.
"Huh? What's wrong Axew?" She enquired, blinking down at the little pokemon sat on her shoulder. The dragon type pokemon shook it's head, jumped down from his perch and waddled over to the huge double doors, scraping them lightly with his clawed hand.
"Axew!" Iris hissed. "You can't do that! Someone lives there! You - You'll attract attention. We need to get through this place without anyone seeing us if we're going to make this easier for ourselves!"
Axew, incapable of speech, just delivered her a flat look and once again scraped the door with his tiny claws.
The dark-skinned female stared at her companion and then, with a feverish glare to her left and then to her right, she crossed the path to where Axew was standing and folded her arms across her chest, giving him a flat look of her own.
"What?"
Without warning, the small pokemon shoved into the doors and they opened with a creak. Despite her worried nature, Iris couldn't resist peeking through and immediately gawked when she saw what was hidden behind the deceiving doors.
People chattering loudly and laughing amongst themselves. It was almost real. Like what life was supposed to be like. But Iris somehow felt distanced and excluded for some inexplicable reason that she couldn't quite place. The atmosphere was friendly and seemed out of place compared to the other people's sour behaviour. So this was what life was really like in Striaton? Or was it the opposite? Iris stared, wide eyed and open mouthed at the scene before her in complete and utter happiness, before some iritating giggling obnoxiously triggered her headache and caused her to look upwards. The locket seemed to bounce off of her neck with energetic vibes as the headache continued.
"You'll never fit in! You don't belong anywhere! With anyone. You're - You're a waste!"
Wasn't that the scene from her nightmare earlier that morning? She hadn't thought much of it, but now she found it strange that it would pop up in the middle of her banging headache. Likewise, it probably wasn't important, and the female shrugged it off, grimacing as her head gave one final throb and then ceased to ache.
Strange...
"Um, excuse me?" A seemingly worried tone questioned. Oh God,Iris had no idea someone was speaking to her! Axew looked up at the tall figure and retreated readily into Iris' purple bangs.
Iris straightened her gaze and then lifted her head to make eye contact with the person in question, only to see the redest eyes she had ever seen. They were as vibrant as rubies yet as calm and collected as a candles flickering flame. She took a weary step back and took in the sight of him. Red hair matching his eye's, his body clad in an elegant waitors outfit. In his hand, he held a glass of water.
"Yes?" Iris breathed politely. "Sorry. I was kind of out of it for a second." She explained sheepishly.
"Ah, I could see that." The voice replied, and Iris would've hidden her face if he didn't sound so kind hearted.
"Uh, heh, you couldn't do me a favour and tell me where I am, could you?" Iris mumbled, a light streak of pink appearing on her face. Her Axew sniggered from the safety of her violet hair. She could feel the shudder atop her head and spared a glare at her own tresses that fell down her back in an unorganised fashion.
"You're in Striaton Gym." The waitor answered kindly, an inviting smile settling on his face. A Pansear suddenly appeared on his shoulder, it's tail clutching a tray skilfully.
"Oh, thank you Pansear. Here," He smiled, carefully handing the glass over to the petite fire monkey who accepted with nothing more than an expectant look on it's face.
"Take this to table nine please." The young adult beamed, stroking his Pansear firmly on his head with his now free hand. Pansear lapped up the attention and then cautiously made his way down the red head's body and then started edging himself towards "table nine" with drink in hand.
"Uh, nice Pansear." Iris commented, not sure of what to say.
"Thank you! He helps out alot around the gym. I'd be lost if it wasn't for him!" He laughed heartily, before he regained his posture and then smacked his forehead lightly.
"Oh, where are my manners?" He scolded himself. "I'm Chili. Pleasure to meet and serve you..." He greeted gleefully, stopping when in search of a name, gesturing with his fingers lightly. He stretched out his hand, beckoning her with his fingers to take it and shake when he saw the slightly apprehensive expression on her face.
"Iris." She half-heartedly replied, forcing a smile onto her face. She was completely flattered by this gentleman, but the last thing she wanted to be doing was "making friends".
"Axew!" Axew protested from her shoulder. (Iris didn't notice him move because she was too busy talking to Chili!)
"Oh, and this is Axew!" She happily grinned, holding up her pokemon to show Chili.
"Ah, I see. He's very nice." He complimented with a smile. "I'll show you to a table and get one of my brothers to take your order in just a second."
Iris didn't have time to protest when she felt his hand lock around her wrist and pull her gently towards a table in the corner.
"Oh no, you don't understand. I don't have any m-" Iris started, but was interupted by another fit of flirtatious giggles. The pair turned to speculate the scene before them and Iris saw a blue haired waiter emerge from the crowd of gurgling girls.
Presuming that he was Chili's brother who had just been mentioned, she turned to him and asked:
"Who's he?"
The red-eyed waiter glanced down at her before looking back up and smiling fondly.
"He's my brother, Cress."
"Oh, cool. So, you're both waiters in the same resteraunt? That's pretty good." Iris said, a genuine smile spreading radiantly across her face. Then remembering that Chili had said that he had "brothers", she looked around for another similarly dressed boy, with strange hair.
"Something catch your interest?" Chili cluelessly asked.
"If you don't mind me asking, who's your other brother?" Iris voiced her thought timidly. Axew turned to face the waiter aswell, curious about what he was going to reply with.
"I said I had another brother?"
"Well, I just thought you said brothers, so I thought..." Iris began, but was cut off by a chuckle.
"I'm just teasing you." Chili grinned wickedly. "His name's Cilan. Come now. Lets get you sat down."
Iris complied meekly, far past trying to tell him that she didn't have any money. When they reached her table, Chili pulled out a chair for her and she smiled weakly and accepted it, sitting down and nervously fiddling with the edge of the table cloth.
"Thanks." She mumbled, her Axew curled in a heap on the floor beside her regal chair.
"I'll just go and get my brother." He leaned in and mischeviously whispered, "Which one do you fancy?"
However, Iris was all well and ready for that enquirey. Well, not those exact words, but she knew who she wanted to see if he poised the question.
"Cilan. I have yet to see him." She calmly responded, her individuality sparking through her determined eyes.
"Very well. I'll go and get him. In the meantime, just wait here..." Chili grinned once more, before departing from her table with a cunning wave thrown over his shoulder.
Iris took a minute to take in her surroundings. The people, now that she took a proper look, were mainly girls. And they probably weren't even here for the food, but for the waiters themselves. Her damp shoes felt royally padded on the soft, lucious carpet and the tables were all clean and tidy, a table cloth draped over each one. A knife, fork and spoon sat in front of her, mirroring that of each table - Even the empty places- and artistic grooves in the table legs existed silently. She dragged her finger down them, feeling the unique patterns wind beneath her finger, before she got bored again and drummed her fingers on the table quietly to herself.
She idly picked up the spoon that was positioned in front of her and played with it restlessly. She grumbled to herself. She was losing so much time! She was out here to survive, not eat in fancy food resteraunts in which pretty-boys served meals to those who were fortunate enough to dine there! She gritted her teeth together in agony when she felt her head pound violently against her skull, her hands flying up to her temples as she massaged them gently.
"Hello there. Are you ready to order?" A propitious voice broke through her frivilous attempts to rid herself of the ongoing pain in her head.
She opened one eye, and then both as she took in the sight before her. Tall, green haired and smiling, stood Cilan, a notebook in his left hand while a pen danced inbetween the fingers on his right hand. Her waiter. She gulped to herself.
So much for making it easier...
Are you maybe wondering what on earth you just read? Well, that's good. You're not supposed to understand it. Not quite yet... ;)
Umm, yeah, sorry about Chili's rubbish portrayal, but I don't really have much to go on regarding his character. He said, like, two lines in the entire anime, so forgive me if it's OOC. It was kind of hard to guess how he would act, but I got the impressiont hat he would be laid-back, polite and slightly mischevious. That's just what I think...
Anyways, chapter two will be up soon, and please, only inform me about major mistakes. :) Thanks so much!
~Jess~