Hey guys! Here's a little something I wrote the week prior to Valentine's Day. Hope you guys enjoy the read! If you liked it, then I'm glad you did. If you found something to be wrong with it, it would definitely be nice if you left it in a review! It helps me become a better writer, and is an extra step closer to the re-incarnation of John Lennon, George Harrison, and the reunion of the Beatles! Now who wouldn't want that?
'Till The Pidgeot Came
He was alone that Monday morning. It was a dull and uneventful Monday morning. The sky was an unexcited grey. The trees didn't dare to sway in the non-existent breeze. Somewhere in the world, a fletchling took flight, on the lookout for its potential mate.
It had gone unnoticed. He, for sure, didn't notice it. But when he did, it had disappeared, for the pidgeot that swiftly arrived swooped in and snatched it away. This was the trouble of being on the lower part of the food chain.
You weren't missed, you weren't feared, you weren't respected.
And it was poor Richard Button who shared the same feelings with the fletchling. Or at least until there was the pidgeot.
Poor, poor Richard Button. He had been cast aside, overlooked, and forgotten on this mundane Monday. If there were reasons to this, Richard did not know them.
But he was okay with it. He had gotten accustomed to the life of the lone mightyena. Some would feel ill and queasy about their treatment. But not Richie.
Because really, he wasn't a lone mightyena. He had a friend with him, a little smeargle named Harold. A little shy friend at that. The only reason Harold was friends with Richie was because Richie had felt sympathy for Harold when he found the little smeargle in trouble on the bottom of the food chain. It was a slow friendship at first, but it grew.
At least Richie liked to think so.
Harold was, like all other smeargles, a skilled painter and had an excellent photographic memory. The subject of all of Harold's works would range from Richie to a flower to the snack that the pidgeot was now feeding on. He was the source to most of Richie's entertainment and interactions to keep himself from going insane. Richie, these days, now considered Harold his best friend, while Harold only considered him as the one who saved him from certain death and fed him food.
This specific Monday would mark the day that Richie was alone for two years now. The last time he had seen a person was when Amy still traveled with him.
She wasn't like Richie. Amy wasn't at the peak of the metaphorical food chain, but she was definitely away from where Richie stood. But she, like Richie, felt sympathy for him and decided that he wasn't a bad guy.
Richie had a very monotonous life. He realized that, and it would have continued on if he hadn't run into Amy. Until there was her, Richie's life had been the prime definition of rinse-and-repeat.
Amy had been a person of Richie's interest ever since she left, and only now did Richie notice this through the constant requests for Harold to sketch a painting of Amy. She was nice and kind, always told the truth, and could make Richie laugh. Richie rarely ever laughed. The last time he remembered someone who made him laugh was when he was with Amy.
He denied that he loved her. He didn't want to believe that he loved her and needed her. He didn't know why he felt this way whenever he thought of Amy, but he always told himself to push it aside. The more he denied to himself, however, the more his love seemed to grow.
That Monday also marked that 'special' second year, the last time he had laughed out loud.
It seemed the world wasn't a very friendly place. There weren't enough people like Amy, and when Richie ran into someone like that, they disappeared within the month, just as Amy left him a month after joining.
She had joined... what had she joined? She joined Richie on something. Had it been a journey to collect something, achieve something, learn something?
Had it been a journey to collect, achieve, or learn, Amy might have stayed several more months. But it wasn't even a journey.
It was just aimlessly wandering around. But Amy's departure had given Richie something to do. She had inadvertently given him something to achieve. Richie wanted Amy with him again.
He hadn't noticed her departure at first. It had been a quiet morning, just like this Monday morning, when she quietly said she had to go. And then she left. It wasn't until a month later he realized that Amy had left him.
He knew it'd be a difficult task. That difficulty was evident that special Monday morning, when he finally broke his streak of being alone and stumbled onto the farm of an elderly person.
"Ha-Have you s-seen a g-g-girl?" Richie asked the old man he had ran into. Harold held his head in his paws as he watched Richie attempt once more in cringe-worthy fashion.
"I-I s-said, ha-have you s-s-seen a g-girl p-pass by?" Richie's speech impediment would definitely hinder him on his quest to find the girl he wanted.
Whether the old man knew Amy's whereabouts or just pointed in a random direction to get rid of Richie was up for debate. He might have known. It might have been chance. But it led him somewhere.
At least Richie had Harold with him. Harold's excellent photographic memory and sketch of Amy had helped him when Richie's poor ability to articulate decided to fail on him.
Once he left the man, Richie began walking. He didn't know for how long, but he just kept going where his feet took him. He kept walking. He hoped he would run into Amy, and until there was her, he wouldn't stop walking. He kept walking in the direction the man pointed to, his confidence and happiness fading away after each week, and it seemed like a good month had gone by until Richie found something among the several other people that inhabited the farms.
Richie ran into a lilipup and a lilligant. Richie almost mistook the the grass pokemon for Amy, as the flower on its head looked just like the gardeners' hat that Amy always wore.
But the lilligant was almost one and a half feet smaller than the girl he sought.
Both pokemon that Richie ran into happened to be the species that made up Amy's team. Their names were Evan and Clarisse, and both were somewhat frightened by Richie's appearance. They both shied away from Richie as he tried to approach him, with the lilligant shielding the lilipup away from Richie.
Perhaps they didn't realize who was trying to approach them. Or perhaps the two pokemon weren't even Evan and Clarisse.
Evan and Clarisse were like little children to Richie. Evan was always the excited and energetic pokemon that liked to run around at any given time and in any given place, while Clarisse was more laid back and polite and offered a flower to anyone that seemed like someone she could trust.
Richie breathed a sigh of relief when the lilipup stopped barking and the lilligant eased herself. However, he was confused when another pokemon appeared from behind them and again, he held his breath.
It was an empoleon, the majestic trident-headed flightless bird that towered behind Evan and Clarisse. Richie thought that Evan and Clarisse were about to be attacked, but that thought was dismissed when the giant bird greeted the smaller pokemon in a friendly manner.
Richie didn't remember anything about Amy having an empoleon. His spirits plummeted when he realized that maybe this bunch of pokemon didn't belong to Amy. But he decided to give it one last shot before continuing forward. They seemed to be familiar with the name 'Amy', so he decided to confirm it.
"H-Have you g-guys s-seen a g-girl na-named Am-m-my?" Richie asked. The lillipup looked at him weirdly. The lilligant played with a flower on its head. The empoleon idly sharpened its blade-like flippers. Even Harold looked up at him, wondering if he was going to say something to clarify his thoughts.
The pokemon clearly didn't understand him. So Richie tried again, and this time, he spoke slower. "H-Have you guys s-seen a girl n-named A-Amy?" A little clearer this time, Richie supposed.
The lilipup looked at him and wagged its tail excitedly while the lilligant subtly swayed left and right, her attention now fixed on Richie. The empoleon crossed its flippers and looked sternly at Richie. Richie knew from the pokemons' body language that he struck gold, even though he knew that Amy didn't own an empoleon.
"Ev-Evan?" Richie asked, before receiving an excited bark from the lilipup. Richie knew he struck the gold mine and smiled when the lilipup eagerly ran around him in circles, before moving up to Harold and sniffing him.
"Cl-Clarisse?" The lilligant grabbed the petals of her skirt and bowed politely to Richie.
Richie smiled. "D-Do you r-remember me?" he asked. This was the question to confirm whether or not these pokemon were Amy's. "M-My name i-is Ri-Richie, and th-this is H-Harold." Richie pointed towards his smeargle.
Evan stopped sniffing Harold for a moment and stared at Richie, before running up to him and sniffing his pant legs. Clarisse looked at Richie for a moment as well. She approached him slowly, plucking a flower off of her head and handing it to Richie.
"Ooh, th-thank you," Richie said. He took the flower graciously, but his attention was suddenly shifted from the little flower to Clarisse, who bowed to Richie again.
He awkwardly bowed back and looked up to see to see that Clarisse was gesturing to the side of her head, beckoning Richie to wear the flower. This was an action that Richie took without any mistake. He knew this was Clarisse.
Richie gently placed the flower in the crook of his ear, patting it gently so it would stay in place, and looked at the lilligant, who jumped in joy and ran towards Richie. The grass pokemon embraced Richie with her skinny and leafy arms.
Until there was her, Richie wouldn't have been a step closer to finding Amy.
"Clarisse!" Richie gasped, surprised at the sudden embrace. It wasn't like her to suddenly embrace him like that, as she would usually be the one to play it cool. Evan followed her right behind and hugged Richie's pant leg. "Evan! Oh, I m-missed you g-guys!"
The sweet fragrance of Clarisse's flowers made him feel happy again. He was now as close as ever to find the girl he loved.
Richie couldn't help but let out a laugh, the first time since two years ago.
He glanced over at the empoleon and noticed the stern and unamused look it was giving him. He decided to cast it off to the side, as it wasn't going to ruin the first phase of his reunion with Amy.
After what seemed like an hour, Clarisse and Evan let go of Richie, with Clarisse shyly rubbing her arms and Evan running circles around the lilligant.
"Y-You guys kn-know where A-A-Amy is, right?" Richie asked immediately. If Amy's pokemon happened to be in the vicinity of Amy, Richie would be reunited with the person he longed for throughout his whole two year stretch.
Clarisse and Evan quickly and excitedly nodded, before rushing off in the empoleon's direction. The empoleon scratched its head, seemingly confused at Evan and Clarisse. How had Evan and Clarisse known about this weird man that stood in front of him.
Richie decided to take the initiative, awkwardly stepping up to the large bird and offering a hand. Harold face pawed himself as he watched the empoleon take a defensive stance at what it thought was a sudden initiation of battle. Shaking hands wasn't the way pokemon greeted each other.
Evan and Clarisse quickly waved the large empoleon off, standing in between Richie and itself. Clarisse beckoned Harold over, and now it was Richie's turn to awkwardly watch the pokemon converse among each other.
Richie watched Harold write a name on a nearby tree trunk. It started with a very sloppily written 'B' and followed by other letters that were hardly readable. But at least it was hardly readable.
Richie squinted at the tree trunk."B-Bishop?" Richie asked Harold, who nodded and pointed towards the empoleon. His eyes met with the empoleon's and the empoleon got back into its defensive stance. "Wh-Why did y-you w-write this?"
Harold continued pointing at the empoleon, who was now on the verge of blatantly attacking Richie.
"O-Oh, Bishop! You're Bishop!" Richie exclaimed, offering his hand once more to the newly-named empoleon. Bishop lunged at Richie, but was somehow held back by the smaller Evan and Clarisse.
"I-It's a handsh-shake, B-Bishop," Richie explained. Bishop eased off and cocked its head at Richie, now confused since just now the man in front of him wanted to battle. "It's h-how I greet new f-friends."
That words definitely calmed down Bishop. The large pokemon closely examined Richie's hand, stopping closer at the filthy and work hardened hand. Bishop was unsure of how he was to go about this stint and awkwardly offered his flipper, which was then reluctantly retracted back, and then offered once more.
"R-Richie, Bishop. The n-name's R-Richie," Richie said, shaking the pointy and sharp flipper that every empoleon possessed. "C-Can you t-take me to A-Amy?"
It was a simple question, and one that Bishop simply answered. He beckoned for everyone to follow him, and just like that, Richie was another step closer to reuniting with Amy.
Off in the distance, Richie watched a small fletchling dart around the trees. It sung songs, looking for its significant other, and flew closer and closer to their group, before it finally found another fletchling. The two both perched on the same tree branch just overhead, and both were abnormally close to each other. Richie watched as one fletchling picked bits and pieces of pollen and other debris off of its friend's feathers, before the other fletchling returned the favor.
Richie found himself watching in awe. He had witnessed a true friendship in the wild like that before, but never took the time to appreciate the real beauty that the two birds seemed to have for one another.
The fletchling that seemed to be the male presented a large berry to the one that seemed to be female, in which they both shared together. They both held the berry in between themselves with their beaks and began taking turns nibbling at the berry.
He snapped out of the trance when he heard Harold struggling to peel a piece of bark off of a tree, one that would unmistakably be used as a canvas for another one of Harold's projects.
"D-Don't worry, bud, I-I got th-that for you," Richie quickly said, moving over to the tree that Harold grappled with. He easily peeled it off for Harold and handed it to the smeargle.
He continued watching the two fletchling, and now that they were groomed and fed, they took flight. They flew overhead, chirping and tweeting songs to each other, and went off in the direction that Bishop was leading the group.
He laughed again, as the sight of the two birds was heart-warming. The sight of them had him thinking. It had him hoping.
He hoped that he and Amy could be like those two fletchling, and perhaps she felt the same way about him. He could only hope for the best, however, and it wouldn't be until they saw each other that Richie could find out about Amy's feelings.
His reunion with Amy's pokemon and the sight of the fletchling had boosted his spirits extremely high, perhaps as high as a bird could fly.
But that spiritual bird that flew so high was suddenly snatched away by a pidgeot.
He noticed just after Bishop, Evan, and Clarisse greeted Amy.
"Richie! I remember you!" Amy exclaimed, moving up to him and giving a quick embrace. "How are you?"
"I-I'm doing good!" Richie exclaimed. "H-How are..." His voice faltered when he noticed someone else come from Amy's little cottage.
"Ooh, Will!" Amy called, waving her arms around. "Richie, I want you to meet my husband- er, my future husband, Will!"
She was with someone else.
He had been so excited to reunite with Amy once more. But now he felt sick.
Richie tried his best to smile back. "Th-That's n-n-nice," Richie said quietly.
"I know! We're going to get married on Valentine's Day, too! And that's almost two weeks away!" She tightly hugged Will's side, and Richie had difficulty keeping a straight face when Will wrapped his arm around Amy.
"H-How rom-mantic," Richie muttered. "I h-hope i-it g-goes well f-for you."
Richie watched a pidgeot flap its wings in the distance, closing the distance between itself and Will and Amy's little cottage.
"S-So how long h-have you g-guys been tog-gether?" Richie asked out of curiosity.
Amy put a finger up to her chin. "Probably... Maybe a year and a half by now?"
Richie gawked at her, his disbelief evident on his face.
"I know right?! Isn't it crazy?" Amy exclaimed, taking the disbelief a different way.
The pidgeot now landed next to Will with a carton of eggs delicately placed in its talons.
"Suki, what'd I tell you not to do?" Will scolded the pidgeot, who placed the eggs on the ground and hung its head in shame. "The fletchling around here are mating this time of year. Would it be nice if someone took away your mate?"
In its beak was a snack. In its beak was a fletchling.
Richie threw up a little in his mouth, horrified at the mess of red and black feathers.
"Richie, what's wrong?" Amy asked, noticing his distress.
"N-n-n-nothing," Richie stuttered. H-Hey, I have t-to get g-going," he said hurriedly, taking several steps back and almost tripping over Harold. "I-It was n-nice to s-see you again."
Richie quickly gave a fake smile Amy's way and began running the other way, ignoring Amy's calls to come back.
Richie ran as far as he could. He didn't know for how long, but he just kept going where his feet took him. He kept running. He hoped to run as far away from Amy as possible, and until he forgot about her and she forgot about him, he wouldn't stop running. He kept running, and now he had lost track of time. All he wanted to do was keep running.
He felt betrayed. He thought there was something between Amy and himself, but that seemed not to be the case.
He finally stopped running when he felt winded and took a rest against a nearby tree trunk. Despite his sharp breaths, Richie wanted to yell. He had been given something to do, and even if it was inadvertently, it should at least have a reward of some sort. His reward was supposed to be Amy.
Up above, he watched a fletchling call for its significant other. It finally gave up and perched on the branch just above Richie. It sang songs with less energy than its other songs. The usually happy bird sorrowfully sang its songs, the quick and high pitched chirps now replaced with long drawn and drawn out tweets.
"T-tough break, huh?" Richie asked, more to himself than to the fletchling.
Richie didn't have a task to do now. His quest to reunite with the girl he thought he loved had been expired for a year and a half. He showed up a year and a half late, and he couldn't do anything about it.
These were the troubles of being on the lower part of the food chain.
Poor, poor Richard Button. He had been cast aside, overlooked, and forgotten. If there were reasons to this, now he knew.
And it was Richard Button who now shared his feelings with the fletchling above. Of course, that was until the pidgeot came.
Sorry if Richie's dialogue was a little hard to read. But anyways, remember to favorite if you enjoyed and leave a review if there's something wrong with it. I prefer constructive and bashful criticism, but a little 'good job' helps too. Remember, the reunion of the Beatles depends on YOU and the reviews you write.