This story is similar to many of my other stories, but is also in many ways different. Like my other stories, this one takes place in the same world as Coloured Fire, and at the same time, but it is unlikely they will cross any time soon, it is also written in a first person narrative. However, this story's main character is what sets this apart from my others… a Human/Suicine hybrid (anthro, basically), about 16 years old. Enjoy.
I woke up to the usual sound of my curtains being pulled away and the light streaming into my room, my mother made her own little ritual out of getting me up in the mornings… "Look at, Carol, your hair is a mess!" she said, pointing to the ragged mass of long, purple hair on the back of my head. "I've told you so many times mum, that's my mane, it's meant to be like that…" I said with a groan, slowly sitting up. Knowing she was beat, my mother changed the subject… "What are you planning to wear today? Yesterday you were moaning about the skirt or something like that…"
I nodded, rubbing my eyes "yeah, it keeps crinkling up my tails…" she turned to me, a little puzzled "what, those funny white strips on your rear?" I sighed and rolled my eyes "yes, the very same". I pushed the covers off and got up, stretching with a loud yawn. "Well, to be frank, I'm covered head to toe in fur, so are clothes really necessary?" she frowned and looked at me, saying "oh come on, I've told you before, you need to have something on to show what school you go to, it's the rules" I sighed, then said "fine, I'll wear the school scarf, but nothing else, pretty much anything messes up some part of my anatomy, and you know how I like to look my best…"
She finished altering my room from it's untidy nocturnal state to a neat and clean room, then walked out, leaving me to brush up for the day ahead. As usual, I spent a minute or so making sure everything looked alright, then came downstairs, on the table was a bowl of cereal and a glass of water, however, the water was a deep murky brown… as I looked at it in disgust, my mother said to me "go on, do that neat trick again".
With a sigh, I closed my eyes and concentrated… a pale shine moved from me into the water, and sure enough, it was instantly purified, the brown colour leaving the glass, in its place was crystal clear water. "Well done… your father is so proud of you…" she said, smiling, I looked her in the eye and asked "have you talked to him recently?" she nodded "he finally worked out how to use the mobile phone I left with him, and he phoned me this morning… he says he'd like to see you this weekend". You may be wondering just why my dad not only lives far off, but also struggles to use a mobile phone… and about me, so I'll explain. It all started with my mother, she just happened to be one of the most successful trainers ever to live in this region, she travelled far and wide, and her successes were almost a little famous… however, there was a legend that a lone Suicine existed atop a mountain nearby where she was born, there was evidence this was so, as the water coming own from the mountain was exceptionally pure, she had never once found this being, but it was her greatest goal in life.
One day, when she was climbing the mountain to collect some of the mountain's incredible water, she came face to face with it, however, when she had originally intended to catch it and bend it to her will, she instead fell in love with it. Three years on from that, I was born, the chances of my successful conception and birth were incredibly slim, but… it happened, my father rarely leaves the mountain, as he fears he will be tracked down and caught by one of the many trainers that pervade the area, he instead asks us to visit him on a weekly basis, sometimes twice a week.
"That's nice of him… anyway, I have school pretty soon, and so I guess I should get going… now" I said, as I hastily finished the food before me and got up from my seat. "If that Alfred boy gives you any more trouble, just tell a teacher, I don't want you giving him frostbite again…" I nodded, smiling. "That's my pup" she joked, I moaned at her "ohh… come on, I'm not THAT young… and I am half human you know" she laughed and patted my head "I was only joking, don't get irate over it". With a wave I left, making my way across the street to the bus stop. It'd be fair to say that we live comfortably, having a large fully detached house, and my mother now worked as secretary for a particularly rich G.P, despite how small this may seem, you get a vague idea of why we have life so well… but I try not to boast or sound full of myself, so I'll stop there.
At the bus stop waiting for me were Alex and Philip, the latter of which was and still is a good friend of mine, and Alex was a ten year old boy who had an obsession for Gardevoirs after one helped him find his mother when he got lost. "Hey, Carol! Looking sharp!" Philip shouted as I drew closer, and he winked at me, a mannerism of his. "Thanks, I finally talked my mum out of forcing me to wear that damned skirt, kept messing with my tails" he laughed a bit, then said "trying my hardest not to sound like a dirty old man, but you look nice with nothing on… yeah, I sounded bad there didn't I?" I smiled and replied "it doesn't matter, anyway, how are you?" as I sat down. "Okay… oh, I need to ask you a question…" he smiled gingerly, then said "you know that time I got a urine sample from you to see if there's anything to do with your water-purification thing?" Indeed, Philip was a keen biologist, and he was interested to find out as much as he could about me… without cutting me open. "Yeah… what about it?" I asked, he cringed and replied "well… you see, I had to look after my one-year-old niece, and thinking of how she likes to play with things, I knew that if she got her hands on it, things would be bad… so I hid it… but I can't find it and…" I sighed, and looked him in the eye "you want another one don't you?"
He hung his head and said "yeah, would you?" I nodded "I'll give it to you at break… just be discreet about it, a lot of people would get completely the wrong idea if they saw" he gave a thumbs up and said "sure thing, I'd hate to incur your wrath!" I rolled my eyes and said "come on… it's not like I o around freezing people to death… I just… got a little angry with Alfred… he's okay now" I said, but I couldn't help feeling guilty. "True, but he still hates you… it's his xenophobia if you ask me, he hates anything that's not entirely human" Philip said, as he picked up the bag, I looked to the left and saw the bus approaching in the distance.
Apparently, there was a new bus driver, as when he saw me, his eyes widened and he almost swerved off the road… eventually re-gaining control and parked right in front of us, the doors opened and he stared at me, saying "darn… the staff told me about you, but hearing is nothing next to seeing…" I blushed a little and climbed on board, followed by the other two. It was a pain trying to sit down without crumpling my tails, but thankfully, Phil is a small person, so I could easily fit them around him, even better, he let me listen to his music player, helping to alleviate the boredom of the twenty minute drive.
To my despair, as we disembarked the bus and walked through the school car-park, we managed to run into Alfred and his… companions. "Hey, what the hell do you think your doing?" he asked rhetorically as he walked up and looked me in the face. "Trying to get inside, what about you?" I muttered "You always stick that stupid dog face of yours into the wrong places!" he yelled, and slapped the side of my snout, causing me to stagger back a little. Phil stepped in to back me up, saying "hey, you know full well what she did to you last time, so back off!" he simply smirked, and walked away, saying "whatever, I'm not scared, the best you can do is cool a soft drink anyway". I sighed, Phil patted my back and said "don't listen to him… your great, we all know that, he's probably jealous" I hugged him, and said "thanks… you didn't need to help me back there" he laughed "yeah but I did, and I'd do it again and again" and walked off to the lesson, I followed closely behind.
Just as I got in the doors, I felt a large hand on my shoulder all of a sudden, I yelped in surprise, and looked around… it was Mr. Remora, the deputy head teacher, I swallowed and looked at him gingerly "y… yes… sir?" he smiled a little and said "Your uniform is looking a little… sparse" he said and pointed to my scarf. I blushed again and said "well… you see, when ever I wear any normal clothes, they mess with my hair and…" he interrupted saying "as long as your intentions are… innocent, it's fine". Realising what he meant, I laughed and said "oh, of course… I'm not trying to show off to anyone…" he nodded, and made his way to the main office, I sighed deeply and carried on towards our classroom. Inside, we were registered as usual, in my school, classes are registered in threes, so I sat there with a glass of water, freezing it, then breaking the surface, then freezing it again to pass the time until my name was read out.
After that, we headed off to our first lessons, in my case, this was history, it was our last year of school, and despite the staff promising us it'd be our hardest year yet, things were pretty relaxed. The low babbling sound of general chatter was silenced by our tutor, Mrs. Sanjay, and the lesson had now begun. "Okay then, today we're going to discuss Karloff and his regime". I shuddered, knowing that Karloff was a minor royal who lived about one hundred years ago… he was most famous for forcing Pokémon to work as slaves for huge amounts of time, killing them when they couldn't work anymore… I don't know whether it's because of my heritage of just my sense of humanity, but the subject makes my skin crawl. Mrs. Sanjay did not hesitate to power up the overhead projection machine, and inserted a disc into a DVD player connected to it, saying "this is a documentary on him; it's pretty well made, so pay attention".
The video started bearably, describing how Karloff grew up… but soon it was providing historical accounts and video reconstructions of his insane genocide… I could barely hold back my emotions, it was only a video, but it was easily enough to bring me to tears. I was crying for a good minute before anyone noticed… it was Leonard who heard me over the film's booming sound affects. "Miss… I think Carol's crying… should I take her outside?" she nodded to him, and he guided me outside into the fresh air, putting his arm around me and lifting my chin with his other hand… "You okay? I've never seen you in tears like that before…" I stifled my sobs so as to speak clearly "yeah… yeah… I'll… be okay… I just can't… I can't believe that he… I mean… if I…" he interrupted me, saying "it's okay; he's long gone now, there's no way he'll harm you or anyone else…"
With a sigh, he hugged me, running his hand through my mane "… You'll be just fine, I guarantee it… racists don't get very far in today's world" we both sat down on the bench, knowing that the documentary would still be rolling for about 10 minutes still… he and I talked for the whole time… whenever I said anything, he would listen… and understand, even though he is just a normal guy and I'm a half-breed, he seemed to have problems just like I did… it was so comforting, I felt something… between me and him… maybe we were better friends than I thought. Eventually, the door opened and Mrs. Sanjay leaned out and shouted "hey, you two love birds! Video over now! You can come back in!" We both blushed and stood up, going into the room with a little distance between us. Inside, just about everybody started asking me if I was okay… apart from Alfred and his goons, who simply sat there smirking to themselves. The rest of the lesson went off pretty much without a hitch… next up was art.
Art was particularly interesting for me, as the teacher is the only other Pokémon-human hybrid I know in person… her name is Ms. Wekkid, perhaps its some form of irony that her name sounds like 'Wicked', as she is half Mismagius… however, when I say 'half', physically, she's almost all Pokémon… so she gets no end of the 'wicked witch' comparisons… not that she cares. By far her most proud achievement is being the most successful 'trick-or-treat-er' in this region, and as a result, she has received the 'Miss Halloween' award three years running, a title she fiercely defends. Anyhow, she is my art teacher. As we entered the room, the lights were turned low, and cast an orange glow over everything… we crept inside, not sure if she was there or not… suddenly, we all jumped as the lights switched to full power, and she stood in the middle of the classroom smiling "hey, I thought I told you folks that you had to wait till twelve past, eh?" she said, there was silence for a few seconds… she rolled her eyes and said "it was a joke people, lighten up!" We shuffled into our normal seating arrangement and took out our work and equipment… Ms. Wekkid walked straight over to me, and said "yeah, I saw you with Mr. Remora this morning, was he giving you stick over your nakedness?" I shook my head, saying "don't worry, all he said was it's fine as long as I don't show it off…" she laughed "oh come on now, that's the whole point, look!" Jumping up onto the table, she turned around so her back was facing Alfred, then bent over, lifting her natural skirt-like appendage and showing him just about everything! His eyes widened, and his face was ridden with disgust and embarrassment. I couldn't help but laugh, she finished her little display quickly and hopped back down off the table "Carol, there was a lesson in that; don't give a damn what others think you should do unless it's important" she said, returning to her desk… to be honest, I really like Ms. Wekkid.
I was sat next to Leonard the whole lesson, I could hardly concentrate on my work… I felt… something when I was with him, but I had no idea what. Ms Wekkid could tell that there was something the matter between us… "Caroline, I need to speak with you after the lesson, it's… about your… good conduct" she said, trying to hide her blatant fabrication. The rest of the lesson went by, and as the others left, I got up and moved over to her desk. She climbed up on top of it, so as to be at my height, waiting till the others were out of earshot, she sighed and said "look… I want to apologise… back then, when you were looking at Leonard, I read your surface thoughts…" I began to blush, and said "don't worry miss, it's okay" she put her hand on my shoulder and looked me straight in the eyes "Carol… you don't know it, but I do… you are in love with him".
Like a hex had been placed on me, I froze… love? Really? He hadn't been in the school for very long… but he's such a nice person… I knew she was right, even though it seemed so strange… "oh your right miss… but… what should I do?" She smiled to herself, saying "if I were you, I'd keep my feelings to myself until I knew it definitely wasn't some fifteen-second crush… but you aren't exactly fabled for your patience" I blushed again, nodding, she hugged me and whispered "he's a nice boy… and I think he has feelings for you as well, if you need any help or advice, don't hesitate to call on me, I may be four years 'Miss Halloween', but that doesn't mean I don't know one or two things about love as well" she patted my back, and said "now go and get something to eat you lucky devil… and don't forget about art club tonight! I look forward to it!" I breathed in and out deeply… so this was love, was it?