This is a prelude to my other fic, A Grey Life which I started a few years ago. I lost my motivation and passion for Pokémon so I put the story on hold for what would seem like forever. But I have retrieved some of that passion. I do not know for how long but here is something I put together in a fit of motivation. Enjoy.

"Vincent! Dinner!" Elina Grey shouted down the hallway. It was a small apartment, only three rooms. One bathroom, kitchen and two bedrooms. It was tight enough for two people but since four months ago, it had been inhabited by three people.

A door opened, allowing music to spill out into the rest of the apartment and out into the narrow hallway stepped a young man. He was breathing heavily and wore a pair of blue sweatpants and a white t-shirt that was clinging to his skin because of the sweat on his body. Looking at his face you could see small beads of sweat on his forehead, upper lip and running down his cheek. His hair, which was cut pretty short, clung to his forehead as well.

He walked the short distance from his room and sat down at the dinner table.

"Jesus kid, go and whipe yourself off before you drown me over here." Across the table from the young man, a heavy set man in his early fourties spoke up.

He was wearing a violet tennis shirt that sat too tight on him by normal standrards. He sported quite the belly and you could clearly see the blavk hair on both his arms and on his chest since he hadn't bothered to button the shirt at all. Since he didn't have any hair on his head it looked a little odd and gave the impression that the hair had migrated from his ehad to his arms and chest. It looked like he had a good amount of backhair as well.

The man sloppily cut loose a big piece of meat from his plate and stuffed it all in his mouth. He frowned, which made his face all the more appalling. "And you stink too. You should know better than to come to the dinner table like that. How do you think your mother feels when you show her that kind of respect? She worked hard to prepare this meal for you." He talked as he chewed and pointed his greasy fork at the young man.

"Carl, please. I don't mind. It's good that he's being active." Elina's voice had a timid tone to it as she tried to soothe her boyfriend.

"Keeping active? He's looking himself up in that room and is only coming out to eat or to shit! And every time we see him, he's sweating like a pig! He could at least show some consideration and not be like that when we are eating!" Carl raised his voice and was now waving his fork around more briskly.

All the while, Vincent didn't look up from his plate and simply continued eating like he didn't hear anything. But he did hear it. And even though Elina or Carl didn't notice, Vincent held on more tightly to his fork and knife.

"And shouldn't he be studying instead of doing whatever it is he's doing in there?"

"I'm sure Vincent is managing is schoolwork as well... He is very smart." As she talked, Elina had a smile on her lips. Carl either didn't know or couldn't care less but it was a forced smile. Vincent could tell.

"Well he doesn't look that smart to me." Carl set down his knife and put his fork in his right hand as he looked at Vincent up and down. "He just looks like a musclehead. Who doesn't even have that much muscle."

Vincent had finished his meal. He wasn't full but he was satisfied and preferred to staying in his room over being with Carl. He looked at his mother who still had that smile on her face as she with careful movements cut and ate her food.

"It tasted very good, mom. Thank you." He stood up and got over to the sink to wash his plate. When it was celan he put it in the dish rack to let it dry off. As he was halfway to his room, Carl called out to him.

"Hey kid. Your plate is still wet."

Vincent turned around and met Carls eyes. He was leaning against the table, loosely holding his fork and staring at Vincent as he chewed his food. Vincent stared back at him. Neither saying anything for almost a minute.

"It's ok Vincent, I'll do it later." His mom was smiling at him

"No." Carls gaze was still fixed on Vincent

"He'll do it." His voice was calm and confident as he still chewed the same piece of meat.

Vincent knew this was a battle he couldn't win. If he refused, Carl would only make it worse by provoking him and in the end making him do it, at the cost of his mothers suffering. She hated it when Carl and Vincent fought.

But if Vincent did do as Carl said, he would lose a bit of himself. He hated being told what to do by that piece of crap for a man. Especially when he only did it for his own satisfaction. He enjoyed bossing Vincent around, simply to see how far he could go.

Vincent could hear his own heartbeat as it grew faster and faster. He could feel it from the pit of his stomach, swelling until it filled his entire being. Pure anger. He clenched his fists as hard as he could, ignoring the fact that he dug his fingernails into the palm of his hands. Concentrating all of his willpower, he pressed the snarling, wild creature that was his rage down into the bottom of his stomach where it came from, unclenched his fists with shaking fingers and started back towards the kitchen. Only to make matters worse, Carl smiled a little as he picked up his glass.

After having dried his plate, glass, fork and knife with as calm an exterior as possible, Vincent went back into his room. The moment the door was shut and locked, the wildly roaring creature that Vincent had pressed back into his stomach clawed itself free and once again took hold of Vincent's body. It felt like a black veil was hung over his eyes, blurring his vision and not allowing him to think clearly. He was breathing heavily and was baring his teeth. His eyes were wide open and he was clenching his fists as hard as he could.

Vincent threw himself to the floor and started madly doing pushups. He was doing it so fast that he on several occasions banged his head into the floor by accident. However, that only fuelled his rage further and after a couple of minutes, his body was giving up. His upper body had already been tired when he went to eat dinner but now it was completely exhausted. Vincent tried to keep doing pushups but even though his mind wanted it, he couldn't. So he fell to the floor, panting. He was still furious so he quickly spun around and started doing situps at the same mad pace.

It has been a while. Maybe I shouldn't say anything but I am considering rewriting all my previous chapters. I started reading a good Pokémon story the other day and that lead to me reading my earlier chapters. They are quite frankly really bad. Sure, I was fifteen when I started writing and now I am starting on my nineteenth year but I still think that A Grey Life is a good story – meaning I think it has potential. Sure there are some major plotholes and errors made by me but I might be able to patch those together. Whoever is reading this, I am asking you a favour.

If you would be so kind to read A Grey Life and point out plotholes, annoying things and the like I would be very happy. Sure, flame me all you want but do it in a constructive way. Then you will help me much more than just writing that I suck. If you like, send in suggestions to the plot as well.

Over and out

Yorun