Chapter One - Trounced Away

Our story begins in a lonely little corner of Saffron City, during a time when the weather was just warming up. Spring was arriving. Lapras would yawn and stretch their long, muscular necks out of the sea in the sheltered bay where theey rarely needed to hide. Low, rolling hills mimicked the morning Lapras, stretching towards the sea. The human population was minimal, most residences home to lovely little gardens wrapping around the houses, or small farms where Ponyta and Miltank were raised. Winter Pokemon were heading north, towards the mountains, while those used to warmer climates were returning south, towards the sea. Farfetch'd landed lazily along the shoreline, females finding old nest sites among cliff rocks. Even tame Pokemon were beginning to grow physically restless. And this included on human.

The young man had risen early that morning to do a bit of garden work, to clear his ever restless mind. The rising sun just cast a shadow upon his backyard as he upturned soil with a tiller he'd bought the week before. Used to doing all this work without machines, it was strange to see him using one now. But he had a reason to be nervous. Something special was going to happen today, and the outcome would be exceedingly joyous or exceedingly miserable. His most unusual Pokemon was going to find a breeding partner

After several unsuccessful attempts, he had finally found an appropriate breeding partner for his Pokemon, and it had nearly cost him all his savings to do so. After failing to get an appropriate response out of the city's gym leader, Sabrina, he had gone with a run-of-the-mill Kadabra, owned by a fancy little traveling lady. Even he was growing desperate to see his unusual Pokemon become somewhat normal again.

Jake Thompson had eventually ceased his work. He cleaned his tiller before heading inside to take a shower and check his clock. Almost 9:00 in the morning. He'd worked for nearly four hours. It was time to see if his Pokemon was ready. Instead of reaching for his hanging belt of Pokeballs on the wall, he knocked on an adjacent door.

"Hey, Sel!"

A muffled, human-sounding voice answered from behind. "Coming!"

The door opened, by psychic energy alone, and Jack spotted his petite Kadabra, nervously fidgeting with a tiny, pink ribbon on her mustache. Her ears were pinned against her head. She was trying to hurry.

"Selena.." Jack said kindly as he walked in, careful not to make her more unruly. "You look just fine without all those ribbons..."

Selena, as she was called, jerked her head his way, appearing both pitiful and shocked. At length, she sighed. Apparently, the Kadabra knew how to speak human.

She winced. "I've got to have something going for me, Jack. Otherwise..." She did not finish, leaving whatever horrible fate to his own imagination.

Jack sighed loudly, reaching around her to tighten the loosening bow around her whiskers.

"You know that doesn't matter.." He shook his head. "It's what's inside. Now come on. We need to have plenty of time. She said she'd meet us at the motel."

The drive was short, but dead silent Selena was allowed to sit in his van with him while he drove, but her eyes were focused squarely on the window. If she concentrated any harder she might have shattered it. However, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

Jack pulled into the parking lot outside the motel. "Well," he breathed. "You ready?" But Selena didn't have to tell him the answer. He already knew it. She'd been protesting since day one, begging him not to make her, complaining of bad feelings. But she also complained of dying a virgin, so he made her come anyway.

He held out a Pokeball. "In you go." Selena sighed, vanishing willingly into the red light, allowing her form to become pure energy, sucked into the machine. Jack knocked ont the motel room door. Number 307.

The woman who answered the door sounded nothing like whom he had talked with on the phone. She was a short, stout woman - not fat - but large-boned. She did not even apepar to possess any psychic abilities whatsoeer. But then again, neither did he. Jack stopped making second guesses.

"Good morning, sir - you must be Jack?" She inquired, beaming up at him as though she wasn't just expecting her Kadabra to get some. Jack gulped, wishing his parents had named him Steve.

"Y-yes ma'am. Where would you like them to meet?" He wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

The woman thought. "There's a garden out back.. and later I suppose we could let them hang out in the room if all goes well. Let me get him." She disappeared, and Jack was loathe to see her face again.

"Now..." She beamed at him again, releasing her Kadabra into the open. The male was no spectacle - nothing like Sabrina's Kadabra at all - he was a generic Kadabra, and he didn't even seem to possess much of an aura. He was looking around, as though expecting something. Jack wasn't sure he wanted to learn about this Pokemon's mating habits.

He released Selena, who had become something of a wild animal, and cowered behind Jack's legs, staring out at the flat-faced Kadabra.

"Kadaaaa..." She whined, voice soft and fearful. The male's eyes narrowed, watching her. She shrank beneath his gaze.

The woman looked confused. "I can assure you, Mr. Jack, that my Kadabra is anything but violent." Jack had figured this.

"Go on." Jack gently reached behind Sel's shoulders and pushed her slowly towards the Kadabra. She winced, knowing she had to obey but terrified to do so. Alarms were sounding in her head.

The Kadabra was a bit larger than her, but by no means the largest of her kind she would ever see. She wasn't eyeing him - she was staring at the floor. The male continued to eye her.

When she grew within arm's reach, she sensed it more clearly than ever. It was a certain brainwave, filtered into a mental translation only she could read. It contained a warning. Selena halted, ears flat against her head. She took a step back. The warning increased, and was becoming almost phyiscally painful. The Kadabra was growling.

Sel turned back to look at the humans. They were urging her on and on, and she whimpered, wanting to obey but fearing some horrible fate. They had never been attacked by a psychic Pokemon - when one's body was completely surrendered to the mental and psychic whims of something much stronger.

Finally, Sel made her choice. But she never took a step. With that thought the warnings had become weapons, pounding against her brain with the force equivalent to a freight train. She yelped, clutching her head. But the Kadbra wasn't through. Her body glowed, mind already overwhelmed and surrendered, and the humans could only stare as her body was slammed harshly against the motel building. The bricks cracked around her body as it crumpled to the earth behind some bushes.

"Sel!" Jack slid over to her, gently stroking her dusty head. The female had a small trail of blood trickling from her ears. he winced. That was what she had been trying to tell him.

The woman looked mortified. She returned her Pokemon. "I'm very sorry... I'll be glad to pay for her bill if you'd like. I had no idea this would happen - he's such a nice fellow.." Jack returned his injured friend to her ball and stood to stare evenly at the woman. "Why'd he do it then?"

"There was obviously something about your Kadabra he doesn't like. I know he would never kill anyone - and I think you need to consider proper training for you Pokemon."

Jack knew she was right. But he wasn't psychic.

Sel groaned. Her body was wracked with pain, curled up and nestled on a hospital bed. She knew she was in the Poke Center without gathering her surroundings. Her tail wrapped gently over her nose, concealing her face. She didn't want to see the world and have it look upon her.

She could feel others in the room, could identify them as Chansey, working among the various machines. Electrical energy hummed between her ears, a solemn lullaby to remind her of her reason for being here.

The door opened. Jack. She buried her face further under her tail.

"...Sel?"

But Selena couldn't hide. "Why did you do it?" she whimpered, ignoring the bandage on her head. "Why did you make me do it?"

Jack winced. He sat on the bed, not daring to make eye contact with her. "Oh, God, I'm sorry..." He pressed an open palm to his moit forehead, sighing audibly. "I didn't know that was it.. you were right all along, I never should have..."

The Chansey scooted out of the room.

"I told you they wouldn't want me. I know psychic Pokemon better...t hey want powerful mates for powerful offspring.. it's natural." She shuddered. "And you know I don't have those abilities.." Maybe the world really had changed. She could hardly remember where she put her ribbons every morning.

Jack was thinking, and so was Selena. And for the first time, after she returned home and the pair slept back at home, their thoughts were one.

((I know I'm probably famous for never finishing my stories, but this one is looking up. I've gotten nine chapters completed. There are four parts to the story, and I've just now finished the first. It makes me happy. I'm putting my others on hold for now, mostly because if I do otherwise I'll be lazy. Note that sometimes it might take me awhile to update. I have a life too. Anyhow, please review the story. I apologize for typos - I typed this chapter without contacts and at least three feet away from the monitor. .o;))