Laurel Fugimora stared desolately into the dark. Her parents were on a two-week vacation in America, and they'd left her with her eccentric aunt Lulu, an absent-minded, rude, inhospitable, old goat from the States who'd recently figured out that Tokyo was a much pleasanter place. Laurel decided what anime she wanted to dream about that night, before decided on Fruits Basket. But as she drifted off to sleep, her mind gave her the picture of a Charizard, standing next to a Venasaur, and a Blastoise.
Laurel woke with a thump, and pain laced through her body as she tried to pick herself off. She was sitting on grass, in the middle of Kami knows where. A lush forest surrounded her. She looked down at herself oddly. Black short-shorts, an itty-bitty black tub top, and what looked like an unbuttoned white guy's dress-shirt. Around her hips was a nice bright red leather belt, and on it, what looked like… POKEBALLS! Seven of them! (Note: She automatically could tell they were all empty. She just has instincts.) She felt for her hair, and with shock, she realized it was, to her horror, LONG! But she condoled herself with the fact that if she tried, she could shove it all into her black beret, though it was odd enough she had the French hat.
She inspected her feet. She was wearing those expensive shoes where you could take wheels on and off when you wanted to go rollerblading. Calm down. She thought, though she hadn't really panicked. Laurel just didn't do panic. This is just a dream, might as well enjoy it. She was pleased to find her anime form was everything and better then what her real form was; slender, curvaceous, lightly muscled, and tall.
She popped out the wheels as soon as she found a road.
"I wonder which town and region I'm in." She wondered out loud. Then a sign in the road caught her eye. Pallet Town! That was odd, yet, surprisingly convenient. She bladed till she saw a large white building, probably Professor Oak's lab. She walked in unannounced, and a blue turtle tackled her.
"Squirtle, squirt!" It said cheerfully as it clung to her leg.
"Uh…" She started awkwardly. Well, this had been her goal, and she probably would've chosen Squirtle, but she had kind of expected a more… dignified, meeting.
"Squirtle! Where are you?" A brittle old voice called despairingly.
"Right here, Professor Oak!" Laurel called cheerily, scooping up the little blue pokemon in her arms. She reviewed the story she'd made up in her head. She was seventeen, and she'd decided late that she was going to be a pokemon trainer.
"Who're you?" Oak said as he blinked owlishly at her. Laurel waved, shy that she was meeting the top authority of pokemon in the cartoon.
"Hello, Professor. I'm Laurel Fugimora, and I was wondering if I could have a starter pokemon. I guess I decided kind of late to be a trainer, but, betterlatethennever." I said quickly in the end. He nodded.
"I was about to dispatch a batch of new trainers anyway. That squirtle's the only pokemon left, surprisingly. Do you mind of you take him?" I shook my head quickly, cuddling the Squirtle to me.
"No, of course not! He's perfect!" I said, elated. "From now on, He's Tanoshii!" I said happily, using the Japanese word for 'delightful'. Professor Oak hummed as he got a Pokedex ready.
"Are Ash and Gary coming today?" I asked timidly. He looked at me strangely.
"You know my grandson?" I twiddled my fingers.
"Kind of." He grinned.
"Well, they're to young. Gary's only eight, you know?" He said. I frowned. I got a two year head start on Ash, so right now… I was twice his age!
"Now what home town are you from?" I bit my lip.
"Um… New Bark Town." I fabricated. He frowned.
"Odd, you'd think Prof. Elm would take care of starters. No matter." He looked up from his computer. "How old are you?"
"Sixteen." I said automatically. He nodded.
"Now smile for the camera." A flash went, and he handed me my Pokedex. He frowned for a second. "Now Laurel, I want to give you some advice. You might want to get on to the Johto region. Right now, a great deal of the Gym Leaders are switching, or going off on adventures, leaving their gyms unoccupied, so you should go to Johto, where they aren't runnin' around. I nodded my thanks, and checked my pocket when I heard coins jangle.
Oak frowned as I counted, probably thinking I was odd. My jaw almost dropped. Ten thousand pokedollars. Awesome! Normally, people started with $3,000. I waved with a smile at Oak.
"See ya. Thanks for Tanoshii." I held Tanoshii in my arms as I walked through the forest, then paused and looked at the Map the Professor had given me. After this forest, it was across a body of water. "NOO!" I wailed, before thinking. If I trained hard and got Tanoshii to evolve, then my problems were over! I could ride Tanoshii! My ears picked up a rustling in the bushes. And now would be a good time to start. I thought gleefully.
A pidgey burst out of the bushes, trying to strike Tanoshii.
"Tanoshii, watergun." I instructed, slipping some rocks into the slip-stream, and when the attack was over, the pidgey lay unconscious on the ground. I threw a pokeball at it guiltily. Was it really fair of me to have helped Tanoshii?
A week had passed, and now Tanoshii had evolved into a Wartortle. The pidgey, which I had named Tori, had evolved into a pidgeotto. I whistled as I walked through the forest, but I was surprised to see a battle between to wild pokemon. Pokemon didn't normally fight for their own reasons.
"Growl, Growlithe!" The small dog pokemon barked furiously as flames shot through its mouth.
"Ivy! Saur!" Razorleaf. I watched as the two pokemon both collapse, though the Ivysaur manage to keep its consciousness. Tori was watching from a tree limb above me.
"Wing attack." I said quietly. Tori finished off the Ivysaur with ease, and I threw the two pokeballs, which jiggled twice, then the center turned white. I strode with long steps to the small pokemon center hidden in the forest. I'd been sleeping there for the past few days. I sang as I waited for the two pokemon to heal.
"I know how the moon must feel,
Looking down from the heavens,
Smiling at the silly things,
We put ourselves through.
Missing magic each day,
And not seeing the wonder,
That's how the moon,
Must feel...
I know how the moon must feel,
When he makes someone happy,
That's the feeling I will feel,
When you smile at me.
I'll be floating on air,
I'll be beaming with wonder,
That's how the moon,
Must feel..."
Tori and Tanoshii hummed with pleasure. That was pretty. Tanoshii informed me. Yeah! Sing, Sing, Sing! Tori said in my head in her one-track-mind bird voice. Tori was actually pretty intelligent, but when she was excited, she fell back on her lesser mind. In the really world, I was pretty good, but in this one, I was even better. I'd even got my mind off my shyness.
"Excuse me, miss Laurel, but your pokemon have healed." A teenage Nurse Joy said. She was the daughter of the Senior Joy here. I thanked her and sent them out.
"Hi guys. I'm your new trainer." I started, but I was cut off by the Growlithe pouncing on me, licking my face, and the Ivysaur tripping my by nuzzling my leg. "Okay, I guess we've established that. Growlithe, you are now christened Torch, and Ivysaur, you are now nicknamed Hana." They nodded acceptingly.
I trained, and sang, a few more days, and excitingly, Tori evolved again! She was a Pidgeot now. Of course, Tanoshii was a little jealous, but… I was surprised. Tori was bigger then the Pokedex said she'd be, at seven foot eight, her top height was supposed to be four foot eleven. Hana was getting pretty big, and Torch was, too. Tanoshii was getting strong, and I was pretty sure he'd evolve soon. I reminded myself to look for a firestone as soon as I got into Johto for Torch.
I went up to a phone and dialed Professor Oak's number. His head popped up on the screen.
"Why, hello Laurel. I was wondering when I'd see you. Have you caught any new pokemon?" I nodded happily. Then frowned.
"Professor, how big is a Pidgeot supposed to grow?" He looked startled.
"About five feet, why?" I shrugged.
"Because mine is like, eight." He fell out of his chair, but crawled up again.
"What! You have a Pidgeot already? You've only been training a week and a half! Torch nosed the screen, then Hana looked at it curiously, and of course, Tanoshii had to have a look at the screaming box. Professor oak stared. "You're Squirtle evolved? You have an Ivysaur, and a Growlithe. You work fast, Laurel." I shrugged.
"Must be the age difference." I said in a wise voice. "Anyways, I just called because I wanted to know if something was wrong with my Pidgeot." Prof. Oak looked thoughtful.
"Send her over and I'll have a look." He said finally. "I'll call you back in an hour." He said after getting the pokeball. I shrugged and sat on the couch with Torch, and then I went outside to train. We were all sweaty when we came back in, and rank. Seriously, have you smelled a Growlithe after it's had a work out? There'd be a bath for Torch in the near future. He didn't like them that much, but, whatever.
Oak called back, and sent me the pokeball.
"There's nothing wrong with her. Apparently, when a pidgeotto is trained harder in it's youth, it grows bigger in its last form." He said sagely. I rolled my eyes.
"Thanks professor." After I hung up, I let my hair loose and went to the showers with my pokemon.
Lance walked tiredly into the pokemon sister. Joy saw him, and nodded. "Room B-142." She mouthed. Or so he thought. He nodded thankfully, and took down the halls, avoiding Joy's daughter. She was another one of his fan girls. He slipped into the room, took off everything but his boxers, and his cloak, which covered his face, he landed into the perfectly made bed, not noticing the steam coming from under the door to the bathroom. The soft singing, which was so lovely he assumed it was from a radio, lulled him into a peaceful sleep.
I walked out of the door, completely naked, except for the towel wrapping my hair. "Now that wasn't so bad." I say to Torch, who starts muttering under his breath. I looked on my bed for clean clothes, and screamed;
"Rapist!"
Lance jumped groggily in bed. He looked up to see a beautiful, naked, blue haired goddess standing in front of him, before every thing went black.
After knocking him unconscious, (with Tanoshii. I'm serious, I grabbed him, and bashed him into the nudist's head) blushing that the man had seen her naked, not admitting he was cute, (A/N: I don't know why she thinks this, as she can't see his face.) I shoved on a bra, some undies, and my clothes. (Which all look like my first outfit, haha.) I stomped to Senior Joy.
"NURSE JOY! There's a naked guy in my bed!" Joy jumped. A naked man? Is that why she heard the scream of 'Rapist' before? She hurried to Laurel's room, telling the traumatized girl to stay in the Lobby with her Pokemon. She almost laughed with relief to find Lance, but then blushed and turned around. She got one of her Chansey to pour water on his face, and even the nurse pokemon looked embarrassed at her task.
Lance sputtered, but when he saw the Nurse, he drew his cloak over his body.
"Joy? What is the meaning of this? I go to my room, and then some girl comes out of the bathroom with a Growlithe, screams, and knocks me out. Joy laughed.
"That was one of the trainers. Lance, you're in the wrong room, and I'm not sure seeing you in your boxers was very comforting. She's only been around in this area for a little over a week. The next thing you know, she'll think everyone goes into other people's room half naked. Now shoo! You're room's number C-142, you're not even in the right hall." Lance grumbled, before walking out of the door.
"Can't the leader of the Elite four get a little respect in his own region?" He said as he passed.
"Now if he's streaking little girls, he's not." Joy said cheerfully.
"Yeah, whatever."
"You know, she's going to want to move to a different room. She's like that. She's probably going to say that you 'tainted it'." She complained as Lance stomped through the halls. She was right. In a few moments, Laurel was in the room, still blushing.
"Nurse Joy, is it okay for me to sleep in a different room tonight? Tomorrow I'll leave for Johto by flight. Oh yes, if you run into that man again, give him a kick in the ass for me, will ya?" She said. Nurse Joy grinned wryly and took Laurel to a room a few doors down.
I wonder what that man was doing there… besides being naked on my bed… I thought, blushingly remembering the well-muscled torso, his wondrous six-pack. It was probably an eight-pack or something in reality… I shuddered and banished those thoughts from my mind. That wasn't important. Tori felt my annoyance, and flew a little faster. I wasn't that surprised that she could hold me up. After all, Ash's Pidgeot had done just as well in the cartoon. Though logically, in my world, this wouldn't be possible. I'd forgotten that this was a dream, and sometimes, I forgot I came from any place other then here. But I made myself remember. This place might've been better then my past, but still…
My past. My eyes widened as awful memories flooded me.
Flashback
I was thrown against the wall. The drunken man leaned in close, too close. I cried out, and he backhanded me. Hands found their way into my shirt, and I bit his neck, looking for any way out. He grunted in pain. I shouldn't have done that. He drew his fist back, and I flinched, bracing for impact. As blood spurted from my noise, I gasped with pain. Tears silently crawled down my cheeks as he took off his pants, showing me something terrible.
"Oh god, please, no." I whispered. "Please. Please stop. Please." I plead. "I'll do anything, just please, stop." I was backhanded again. He leaned in, predatorily grinning. It scared me, because I was the prey.
I jerked. No, oh god. I pushed the memory away from me as tears spilled onto my cheeks. Never again. I was only thirteen then. After that… incident, I'd taken karate, I'd taken every martial arts class I could think of. I jogged, did sports, even did boxing, kendo, and archery. I even knew how to use a gun. Anything that would protect me, I did. I felt unsafe, suddenly. I didn't have my Army Knife in my pocket; I didn't even have anything remotely sharp. Not even a nail-filer.
But then I realized it. I had them. Torch would fry anyone, or bite them, Tori would peck them or slash them to death, Hana would give them death by Razorleaf, or Tanoshii would just beat them with something hard. Or drown them. Or stone them. With them, I was safe, and that brought them even closer to my heart.
Well, I'm done. Is it okay? I mean, is it to short? To long? Does just plain suck? TELL ME! Or I'll die. I'm not shitting you. If no one reviews, I shall die.
LAUREL: Okay… look of realization dawns her face REVIEW DAMN IT! If she stops writing, I'll literally die! (And I won't get to straddle someone in later chapters)