Disclaimer: Pokemon is not mine, 'cause if it was, all of my ships would set sail.
Chapter 1
I stood outside of a white house, shivering in the cold air. My breath was coming out in white puffs as I checked my watch. I had been waiting outside for over 10 minutes and it was absolutely freezing.
"Hey! Izabel! You said you were coming out 10 minutes ago!" I scream at the open window. Why it was open in negative 10 degrees temperature I'm not quite sure, but the head that poked out of the window to stare at me was definately not the face of someone who was remotely close to being ready.
"I'm sorry, I'll be right out!" Izabel replies, her hair was tangled and she had a toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. From what I could see of her torso, she was still wearing her pajamas.
"Like hell you will! Let me in!" I yell back and see Izabel sigh before closing the window. I jump from foot to foot outside her door while rubbing my hands until she finally unlocks the door and lets me inside. "You are definately not almost ready," I say as Izabel closes the door.
"Well, sorry! Not everyone can get ready as fast as you can Natalie!" Izabel replies before walking back upstairs. Taking off my black jacket, I hang it in the coat closet and plop myself down on Izabel's coach. After another 20 minutes (I told you she wasn't close to ready) Izabel came down the stairs.
"How in the world does one take 30 minutes to get ready?" I question, flabbergasted. "It's not like you ate breakfast or anything! And you don't even look that good." I say jokingly.
"Shut up, we're going to be late for school," Izabel replies before putting her sweater and jacket on. Standing up, I grab my jacket as well and slip into my black and blue sneakers. Putting on my backpack, I walk outside and Izabel follows me.
"So now you're worried about school?" I ask while Izabel locks the door. She hits my shoulder lightly while we walked down the steps and along the path towards the only school in town. We live in a very small town in the corner of the Minawa region so there weren't many kids around (or teachers willing to teach us). It wasn't the best system, but it worked and you were with your friends (or enemies) pretty much your entire life.
As we slowly approach school, I spot a shady figure standing near the edge of the yard. He, despite the fact that he was wearing all black (which just screams, 'look at me, I'm a bad guy'), was staring intently into the entrance to the school. Turning to Izabel, I tell her to go on ahead which she does, albiet hesistantly.
I know confronting the shady man in front of your school is a really bad idea but for some reason something told me that I had to do this. Which, in itself, seems pretty lame but I was already walking towards him so what could I have done? Within a couple of seconds I had reached the man and as I reached out to tap his shoulder, a shiver went down my spine.
"Excuse me, what are you doing here?" I ask while tapping his shoulder. Stepping back, I place my hands in my pockets and wait for his response.
"What?" the man says, obviously startled. He turns around to reveal a middle aged man (probably in his late thirties). His face is unshaven and his bright red hair (I'm not even sure how I missed this before) was tangled and dirty. Everything about his appearance screamed danger yet I stood there, waiting for him to collect himself.
"Why are you standing in front of a school, staring at the passing children, is what I am asking. Are you a pedophile or something?" I continue, placing my hands on my hips. The man steps back at this accusation, the confused expression on his face soon turns into one of amusement.
"No, I'm not. I'm merely looking for my son," the man replies before stuffing his hands in his pockets. He raises his head to look at me before he sighs and turns back towards the school.
"This is a small town, there's only one school," I say, "What does he look like? Better yet, what's his name?" The man turns back towards me and there's a glint in his eye that I don't like, nevertheless, I press on.
"I don't know what he looks like, I haven't seen him in 10 years," the man says slowly, "But I do know his name."
"Oh? Please tell," I say wondering why in the world this man wouldn't have seen his son or at least made contact with him in 10 whole years.
"Landon, Landon's his name," the man replies carefully. He swallows slowly while his eyes are moving from side to side. He seems nervous, rubbing his hands together and sweating up a storm even though it's winter time.
"Okay, I'll look for him and tell him you're looking for him," I comment. I have decided not to trust this man after all (yes, yes, then why did I confront him in the first place? How am I supposed to know!) but this Landon fellow he speaks of seems interesting.
"No, don't!" the man exclaims stepping forward a bit. "Uhm, I mean, just come to the park with him please?" he continues, recovering from his his initial shock (at least, I assume he was in shock).
"...Fine," I reply before bidding the man a goodbye and walking into the school. As I said before, I didn't trust that man one bit, but something compelled me to help him. It wasn't like I wanted to, but I felt a significant weight on my shoulders that caused me to walk into the school and look for a boy named Landon.
(I don't know how to make line breaks so this will just count as one okay? Awesome.)
"Yay! School's over!" Izabel says, skipping to my seat. She sat on the other side of the room, right near the teacher's desk (for talking too much). I look up at her and try to smile although I was feeling really stressed. I hadn't been able to find Landon (despite my best efforts). In fact, no one I talked to even knew of a Landon. After every failure the weight on my shoulders just got heavier and heavier and now I could barely focus.
"Hey Izabel, walk home without me okay? I... have something I need to do... And you need to get ready for that test next week, don't want to fail again do you?" I say, trying to keep the concern out of Izabel's eyes. Izabel gives me a suspicious look before relunctantly leaving. Letting out another sigh, I stand up and push my chair in. Walking to the window, I stare at the entrance of the school and watch the children leave happily, chattering about their after school plans.
"I heard you were looking for me?" a voice asks, directly behind me. Turning around, I see a tall boy about my age standing there. Letting out a loud shout of surprise I fall down. "Woah, calm down. No need to scream, it's not like I'm a ghost," the boy says grimly, as if he were making a bad joke. Looking at him oddly I stand back up and dust my jeans.
"Sorry, I thought I was the only one in the room," I reply before studying the boy in front of me. He had dark red hair (so dark that it was almost black) and light blue eyes. An odd combination for sure, but it seemed to work.
"But you were looking for me no?" he says, leaning against the wall next to the window. He crosses his arms over his chest and look at me with a serious expression (this guy really needs to lighten up, there were dark circles under his eyes after all).
"So, you're... Landon?!" I exclaim gleefully. The weight around my shoulders lessened momentarily.
"Yes, what do you want?" he replies, grimacing slightly at my loud squeal (seriously dude, it wasn't that loud... was it?).
"Uh..., well, you see, uhm..." I stutter. I hadn't actually thought that I would be able to find Landon much less talk to him so I had absolutely no idea what to do. Then, suddenly, the weight around my shoulders moved from my shoulder to my face and eventually my mouth. "I need to talk to you about the Soul Dew, but it's dangerous here, let's meet at the park," I say, watching as Landon's face turns from one of surprise to determination with a dash of something else I couldn't recognize.
"Fine," he mutters before walking briskly out of the classroom. I slowly slide down the wall and sit on the floor while trying to calm my racing heart. Something had happened there that had been out of my control. What in the world was a Soul Dew? It sounded like a quest item for some type of MMORPG! I don't even play those that often! How had I known to say that? What was that weird feeling right before I spoke? And why does Landon want information about it? Or, even worse, what would happen when I met up with him at the park and he realized that I didn't know a single thing about the Soul Dew?
Tucking my legs under my chin, I wrapped my arms around them and hugged myself for a while in a vain attempt to comfort myself. I wish now that Izabel hadn't left me all alone to deal with this amazingly confusing situation. Taking a deep breath (or maybe two or three), I stood up and grabbed my jacket and bag. I wasn't going to figure anything else here, all alone, I thought in order to calm my racing heart beat. I'd just have to tough it out, go to the park, and pray that everything would turn out all right. Hopefully. Maybe. It probably wouldn't.
Author's Note: Okay so, I decided to combine the first and second chapter together (which is why there's only one chapter now) 'cause it didn't feel long enough. I've been planning this for a while now but I've only gotten the time to do it now 'cause of exams and schoolwork (oh my goodness, I don't know how I'm going to deal with exams next week). I've also changed and edited a couple things so the chapter is a bit different. The new second chapter will be up soon... Maybe... Probably after exams. Anyways, thanks for reading and until the next chapter!
- Alateni