------------------Dari------------------
"Night, Rattata," I said to my newest Pokémon, and turned out the light in my room. Scyther never slept in my room; she slept in the garden. But tonight I just couldn't get to sleep. It wasn't only the fishing man on Final that was the problem. It was something else, too. Something...more. For some reason, I felt like crying, but I didn't know why.
I ran a hand through my messy violet hair and sighed. It didn't help that images kept running through my head of the door breaking down and someone saying "This is the Entripidae Island Police, you're under arrest!" in Islander. I sighed again and tried to go to sleep.
As soon as I closed my eyes, a different image filled my mind. It was a girl, about my age, with hair the same color as mine, crying on her bed. Her door opened, and in walked an older boy. He said something to the girl, and she looked at him and appeared to be screaming.
I immediately opened my eyes. Man, if I had dreams like that, I was going to go insane.
I looked at the digital clock on the table. 11:30. Good. I could use the computer.
I quietly snuck out into the waiting room, where the fastest computer in the Center sat on the counter. I slid into the chair and accessed the island files, which contained information about every island in the group of Adventure (Serinepil) Islands.
Once my choices appeared on the screen, I selected Final Island Police Files. The computer asked me for a password.
"Um...Entripidae!" I said as I entered it. The screen said INVALID PASSWORD.
"Maybe...Final Island?" INVALID. "Police?" INVALID. Suddenly a thought came to me, and I punched the word in.
"Feeshin'?" I asked it as I typed. I gaped as the screen flashed ACCESS GRANTED and I was taken to a different screen, one filed with descriptions of people known for trespassing on Final. I gasped as I came to a familiar description.
"Girl, short, violet hair, violet eyes, last seen by an officer at Belros (Deep) Pond," I read aloud. That meant that the guy who was 'feeshin' had been an officer!! I quickly deleted the description and the file. I looked for anything else familiar, but didn't find anything. So, out of boredom, I brought up the 'pokéfiles', or the database that explained anything and everything about Pokémon. Sort of like a computerized Pokédex.
ENTER POKÉMON flashed on the screen. I typed 'Corsola', the Pokémon that was abundant especially around Hoperi (Coral) Island, where I was going in a couple of days to deliver Pokémon that had been brought to the Koloi Center.
A map popped up with all the known areas where Corsola had been found within the past five years. Most of them was around Coral Island, but some were near Final and there were even some in the vicinity of Koloi.
"Cool," I muttered to myself as I clicked on the name Lugia. Lugia was a legendary, meaning there was only one of it, if there was one at all.
The screen said: LAST SEEN IN THE VICINITY OF THE ORANGE ISLANDS. I stared. The ORANGE ISLANDS!!! That's CLOSE!! I thought. I heard a sound behind me, and I slowly turned to see what it was.
It was NJ. She was standing there, right in front of closed double-doors. "Dari," she said softly.
"What? Am I..." 'Am I in trouble' had been my sentence, but I stopped when I saw the look on NJ's face. "Is something wrong?" I asked.
That's when she said it. One word. Just one word, but it had the greatest effect that any word could ever have on me.
"Scyther."
I jumped up from my chair and slammed open the doors, running as fast as I could down the hallway, NJ only a few steps behind.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Keerah-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Steve, my older brother, opened the door a while later. He looked straight at me and said, in a quiet voice, something that made me so mad I wanted to punch him.
"Why?"
"BECAUSE MOM AND DAD ARE BEING UNREASONABLE!!!! THEY CAN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND POKÉMON, LET ALONE CHOOSE MINE FOR ME!!!" I yelled. Steve took a few steps back and tried again.
"No, I mean why are they sending you away?? They...how can they?? They're our PARENTS, for crying out loud!"
"I agree with that," I muttered into my pillow. "But they won't change their minds. And if they do, it'll be too late. I've made up my mind. I'm leaving, and they'll never see me again!"
"But...Keerah..."
"What, Stephen?" I asked, using his full name, which he hated. Being fifteen, two years older than me, he considered himself cool.
"What about Jay?" The words hit home. If something happened to Jay while I was gone...would my parents let me know?? Or would I finally come home one day to find Jay...gone?
"I know, Steve. Look, if anything happens...you HAVE to find a way to contact me. I don't know where I'll be going, but maybe I'll write you. You have a Job Weekend soon, right?" In the high school, anyone who was passing all their classes with perfect grades, and had an idea of what they wanted to do, got a Job Weekend opportunity three times during the year.
"Yeah, I do. Why?"
"I'll write you from wherever I am, but you have to tell Mom and Dad that it's the Job Weekend people, ok? They can't know it's me. Anyway, then you'll know where I am so you can show up or write to there with any news." I thought it was a pretty good plan myself. Steve wanted, or rather, my parents chose for him, the job of a police officer.
"Ok, Keerah. Oh, one more thing." He held out a pokéball to me.
"What is it, Steve?" I asked, realizing that I now had quite a collection of Pokémon.
"It's a surprise. You can't open it until you get to where you're going." Steve smiled and turned to go.
"Steve," I said, and he stopped. "About Jay..."
"Yeah?"
"Tell him the truth, Steve. He deserves to know. Whatever...whatever those people downstairs tell him...make sure it's the truth. And if it's not, tell him the real truth. He knows more than anyone gives him credit for." Steve nodded and left. I finally went to sleep.
I woke up at 6:00 the next morning and decided I'd better leave right away. But another surprise was waiting for me when I got downstairs.
"Hello, Keerah," said Mom. She and Dad were sitting at the kitchen table, where this whole thing started.
"Goodbye, Mother, I'm leaving you for the last time," I said in a cold voice.
Dad looked right at me and said softly, "Keerah, don't go. We...didn't mean what we said. We want you to stay...you AND your Pokémon..." he trailed off and waited for me to speak.
"No," I said clearly. "You can't change the past. You ordered me out of this house, and, for once, I'm obeying you. Goodbye," I said as I walked out the door. And, surprising even to me, I didn't look back.
------------------Dari------------------
The sunlight streamed through the window of my bedroom. I groaned as Rattata started jumping up and down on the bed. "I'm up, I'm up!" I said into my pillow.
"Good, because we've got a lot of work to do on that garden," said a familiar voice.
I sighed. "Morning, NJ." That's when I looked at the clock. "What in the world got me up at six in the morning?" I asked in wonder. I was NOT an early riser. Not by a long shot.
"Most likely Rattata, or have you nicknamed him something I don't know about?" asked NJ. I thought about that. A nickname might be nice.
"No, not yet, but I might. How's...it going?" I asked, still avoiding the question that had kept me up until 2:00 am.
"IT is not raining anymore, so hurry up already!!" said NJ, shutting the door quietly, which totally and completely ruined the emphasis of her words. I quickly got dressed and locked the door to my room as I left. "Come ON, NJ!" I called, relieved for once that the Center was closed.
The garden was a mess. Rattata looked at me suspiciously.
"What? You think just because I didn't notice last night's thunderstorm means it didn't happen??" I asked. I WAS kind of sorry I missed it. I like thunderstorms, particularly the lightning. "Besides, it's the rainy season. Even you should know that, Lightning," I said, and realized that, without knowing it, I had just nicknamed Rattata.
"Well?" asked NJ as she came up behind me. I groaned, but I was actually happy with my job. We had been going to renovate the garden anyway. Now, it would be perfect.
I grabbed my notebook and pen and drew a new layout for the garden. Rattata jumped into my lap (I was sitting on a rock) as I muttered to myself, "Fire can go here...Grass there...great Bug place..." The point was to have an area for each type of Pokémon. It seemed easy enough to design it, but then...here were the special cases.
The fact that the garden also held wild Pokémon, for example, was a BIG exception. I mean, what good would it do to have a fire type live in the water area. So I scratched that plan.
"Ok, how about one big grassy area, with ponds and stuff? And maybe waterfalls, and rivers, and trees..." I realized I was thinking too big. "Maybe just trees, grass, and ponds, then," I resolved, and started to draw in a new plan, when I heard a voice behind me.
"And maybe just ONE waterfall, just for fun," said NJ, smiling. I drew it into the new plan.
"Um...now, just how are we going to do all this?" I asked.
"What do you mean, 'we'?" she asked, then started laughing. "I was thinking of asking some of the Kreholidenry (honestly, did she HAVE to call them that?? It was a mouthful for me) to help. Oh, and by the way, S.I.F."
S.I.F?? What did that mean? I turned to a clean page in my notebook and wrote on the page: S. I. F.
1. Stand In Front
2. Sit In Front
3. Sleep In Friday
4. Stupid Idiot Fairies (well...)
5. (Something in Islander)
But, thinking about it, none of these were a very logical answer, except 'Sleep In Friday,' which I would have loved, but somehow I knew that wasn't it. Maybe it was something in Islander, but that would take forever for me to figure out. So that wasn't it, either.
Hmmm...S.I.F??? What in the world could it mean??? It probably had something to do with the past day, knowing NJ.
"What...maybe with the computer?" I said out loud, and Rattata jumped at my voice. "No, no, she didn't know...what else...SCYTHER!!" I stood up suddenly, Rattata crashing to the ground. "Sorry, Lightning," I said, picking him up and running back through the building to the reception desk where NJ was on the computer.
"What, Dari?" she asked, and I flipped the switch that turned off the monitor as I realized what S.I.F. meant.
"SCYTHER IS FINE!!!" I yelled right in her face, and she covered her ears. She smiled and nodded, though, and that made me jump up and down with how happy I was. "ALRIGHT!!!!!" I yelled, accepting the pokéball NJ held out to me.
"I knew you'd finally figure it out," said NJ as I released Scyther. SCYTHER started jumping up and down along with me, and so did Rattata. Man, after such a long night, I was surprised I had this kind of energy. But Scyther being trapped under an electrocuted tree was something that would keep ANYONE awake till at least midnight.
"Hahahahahahahahahahaha!" I couldn't stop laughing, or just being happy in general.
"Now, for the bad news," NJ said, and I stopped jumping.
"Bad news?" I asked tentatively.
"Mm-hmm. In five days, YOU are going to the Orange Islands, Evolution Island in particular, for a weeklong vacation. Period. No arguments about this one, Dari. You're going." I started jumping again. Man, I was energized.
"And this is BAD news??" I asked in mid-jump.
"Shara is going with you," replied NJ, and I crashed to the floor.
"WHAT!! Ouch..." I said, getting up, and NJ started laughing again.
"Just kidding, Dari." I groaned, but then remembered how, within five days, we had to finish the garden. I told this to NJ.
"And we will," she said. "But today, we're going to Hoperi Island for supplies." And I started the jumping, with my two Pokémon, all over again.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Keerah-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
I waited on the school steps for everyone to show up. First to arrive were my old group of friends, early for once. They came up to me, serious looks on their faces.
"Look, we heard from Jamie's brother, Jesse, that you had to leave...for good.... Look, we realized how much we really valued you as a friend and we're sorry," said Lora. But I'd learned better. If I wasn't leaving they'd go right back to hating me.
"Sorry doesn't cut it anymore," I said coldly. "You said yesterday you had never been my friends. I know that's true, now. Forget you ever knew me, I won't come back." I turned to go into the school when Jamie put her hand on my shoulder.
"We want to make yesterday up to you. Give you something to remember us by," she said, and I saw her eyes glittering with unshed tears. "We really are sorry."
"We know, now, that you never realize the value of something...until you lose it. Please?" asked Holly. I sighed.
"Meet me at the big tree in the park after school. You know the one. The climbing tree," I said, and I walked into the school just as the early bell rang.
Jamie and the gang left during sixth period (Pokémath, ugh), but I didn't know why.
By the tree later, there was a note from the gang. It said:
Keerah,
We will be there by five o'clock. If we're late then leave a note for yourself and we hope maybe we can see you again. But please wait if you can.
-J, M, H, &L.
Be here by 5:00? I would be long gone by then. I knew that at least Steve, if not my parents, would come looking for me. And I'm sure that by now Ben knew, too. Ben was my oldest brother, 21 and a trainer at Blaine's Gym in Cinnabar.
I let Chikorita and Pikachu out to play on the tree. I was about to let Dratini out too when I spotted Jamie, Lora, Holly, and Mandy. They were walking very fast toward the tree, and Holly was hiding something behind her back.
"Hi, Keerah!" they called in unison. I waved halfheartedly, knowing that I should have left already.
"Well, here's our surprise!" said Holly, and she handed me...an EGG!! It was round and brownish, with black streaks through it.
"It's an Eevee egg," said Mandy. "Mondo got it from one of his Eevees yesterday." Mondo was Mandy's brother.
"Thanks," I said. "I'd better be going. See you...later...maybe..." One tear fell from my eye as I watched them go. I really HAD liked them as friends. But...
It was about 4:30, and I saw two familiar figures enter the park. One tall, the other short. Steve and Jay. I quickly scribbled a note, then climbed the tree.
When they got there, Steve looked all around, then picked up the note and read it out loud for Jay's benefit.
"Dear Steve and Jay, because I know you will look for me here: I have been here. I really didn't want to leave, and Mom and Dad said I could stay, but I want to be a trainer. Please tell Mom and Dad not to have the police searching for me, because if I am to be a trainer, I have to go on a journey anyway. Tell them this, and tell them I love them. I love both of you, too, and I promise I WILL return some day, no matter what, to see all of you. I am already where you cannot find me, but Steve, you know...well, you know. Goodbye. -Keerah Meeri Plum. (Your sister). PS-Jay, from now on you will get the truth from Steve, even though you may not get it from our parents. I promise.-KMP"
Together they looked up into the tree, and I was sure they'd seen me, but all Steve said was "One of these days, you'll be up this climbing tree, Jay. I just know it." They turned and walked back out of the park. As I slid down the tree, I couldn't stop even more tears from escaping my eyes.
I got to the harbor soon enough, and took a small motorboat. I was headed across the ocean. Until I hit land. So off I went, only looking back once at the wonderful, sunset-lit place that I was leaving behind.
------------------Dari------------------
"Go, Lightning!" I called. It was a battle, me against Shara, the snobby Island girl.
"Ekwa, Cuireda (Go, Treasure)!" she called, and released her Sentret. I smiled. Type equality was what I handled best, and this was it.
"Lightning, Super Fang!" Rattata bared its teeth and bit down hard on Sentret's tail.
"Cuireda, Upi litori (Treasure, Bite attack)!" called Shara, and Sentret hit with considerably less force than Rattata. I was winning. But it was a three-on-three. Lucky I had a new Corsola, too.
"Lightning, Tackle!"
"Cuireda, Cypera Litori (Treasure, Quick Attack)!" The two launched themselves at each other, hitting again and again in the air. Finally, both of them landed. They stood facing each other for a moment, but Sentret fell. Shara groaned and called her back, and grabbed another pokéball.
"Go, Pineco!" I was glad for the switch to English, but not for the Pokémon. A Bug-type. I should use Scyther. Immediately, I called back Rattata and sent out Scyther.
"Pitiful," said Shara. "Do you LIKE type matches or are you just stupid?"
"If type equality is so stupid, then why am I winning?" I asked smugly, and called my first attack. "Scyther, Slash it!"
"Pineco, Explosion!" Pineco exploded right in Scyther's face, but Scyther remained standing.
"Stupid move, taking your Pineco out like that," I said, gently touching Scyther to make sure she was ok. Scyther nodded, and so did I.
"Alright, then I make my final choice! Go, Sunset!" From out of the pokéball appeared a Houndour.
"Ready, Scyther?" Scyther nodded. She wasn't afraid of her type disadvantage. "Ok then, HYPER BEAM!" Scyther's most powerful attach hit with full force, throwing the Houndour against the wall of the pokémart here on Hoperi. He lay there for a minute, then got back up and launched a flamethrower, uncommanded.
"No, Sunset, I didn't say attack!" yelled Shara, but it was too late.
"Scyther, dodge it!" I called, but, like I said, it was too late for that. The flamethrower hit. Hard. Scyther stood strong against the flying flames. Finally the attack diminished.
Both of us stood there, waiting for something to happen.
Something did.
Scyther collapsed.
I let out a scream so high-pitched I didn't think it was audible to human ears, but I knew that was wrong by the way Shara covered hers. I recalled Scyther, and shot a fiery gaze at my opponent. I was MAD.
"Beat that thing, Corsola!" I called my final Pokémon. "Hydro Pump!" After being hit by Hyper Beam, Houndour was too weak to fight back, and he fainted. I recalled Corsola and shook Shara's hand.
Normally I would have celebrated. But all I could do was stare at the pokéball in my hand. Scyther's pokéball. Shara was responsible for this. She'd pay.
"Look...Dari...I'm sorry about Scyther...Sunset never obeys, but he was my last Pokémon..." she shrugged, turned, and walked away. I wanted to punch her, but I knew I had other things to do. I had to get back to Koloi Island, NOW.
I ran to the beach, but remembered that there wasn't anyone at the Center today, anyway. I was really frustrated now. Scyther had been mine since I was five years old. She had hatched from an egg in my brother's professor's lab, and had seen me first, had imprinted me as her mother. She was the one who...I didn't want to, but looking out at the ocean reminded me of that day, when I was ten years old, the last day I ever saw my family alive...
*******Begin Flashback*******
"Oh, I can't wait to see the Orange Islands! It's going to be fantastic!" That was my younger sister, Kyrina. She was only eight, myself ten, my younger brother Kenny five, and my older brother Jason thirteen.
"Look, Day-ree," said Kenny, who still couldn't say my name right. Mom had said it was a takeoff of the word dare. I liked the idea, but not the name so much, then. Dari was a pretty weird name, but then, so was Kyrina.
Kenny was pointing to a flock of Skarmory flying over the sparkling ocean. We were on a ship to the Orange Islands for a month-long vacation on Valencia Island. Everything had seemed so perfect, then. But that's when the sudden storm came.
The waves were crashing, and Kenny started screaming. He hated loud noise. For some reason I released Scyther, maybe for protection, I don't know. My father released his Pidgeot and put Kyrina and Kenny on her, and Pidgeot took off for places unknown. But I was still there, me and Jason and my parents.
"Dari! Let Scyther take you to safety!" my Mother called. I nodded, and Scyther grabbed me and held me tight between her two scythes. I heard my brother call one last thing and throw a pokéball to me.
"ESPEON!" he called, and I caught the pokéball. I shoved it into the backpack I was wearing, and held tight to Scyther. I watched the rest of my family, along with others, disappear beneath the waves.
Scyther and I landed on Koloi Island, although we didn't know it then. The people all spoke a strange language, but somehow I got to the Pokémon Center. Once there, Joy said I could stay and work there for as long as I wanted, and gave me a room to stay in.
I looked all through my backpack, but I couldn't find Espeon's pokéball. I was so upset, having lost my brother's best Pokémon, that I stayed in my room for days.
*******End Flashback*******
Once back on Koloi, I let NJ have my Pokémon, and tried to go to sleep. I had the same dream, about my parents, and the ship, and Espeon. But one thing in particular stood out this time. The sandy beach that Scyther and I landed on three years ago. Sand that blew everywhere, and quickly covered our footprints. That blowing sand...
I jumped out of bed and ran down to that very same beach. It was difficult, but I found the spot where we landed, and I began to dig. I dug and dug and dug, until finally I put my hand around something hard and round. I pulled it out.
It was a pokéball. There was a letter, in purple, nearly worn off, but still visible.
The letter E.
It WAS a pokéball. Espeon's pokéball. I cried tears of happiness. I had at least something of my family back.
I turned my head towards the ocean as a small motorboat came up to the beach. In it was a girl, with long purple hair and violet-colored eyes.
*****
Any guesses, anyone? New question: Who wants me to finish this?!?!
"Night, Rattata," I said to my newest Pokémon, and turned out the light in my room. Scyther never slept in my room; she slept in the garden. But tonight I just couldn't get to sleep. It wasn't only the fishing man on Final that was the problem. It was something else, too. Something...more. For some reason, I felt like crying, but I didn't know why.
I ran a hand through my messy violet hair and sighed. It didn't help that images kept running through my head of the door breaking down and someone saying "This is the Entripidae Island Police, you're under arrest!" in Islander. I sighed again and tried to go to sleep.
As soon as I closed my eyes, a different image filled my mind. It was a girl, about my age, with hair the same color as mine, crying on her bed. Her door opened, and in walked an older boy. He said something to the girl, and she looked at him and appeared to be screaming.
I immediately opened my eyes. Man, if I had dreams like that, I was going to go insane.
I looked at the digital clock on the table. 11:30. Good. I could use the computer.
I quietly snuck out into the waiting room, where the fastest computer in the Center sat on the counter. I slid into the chair and accessed the island files, which contained information about every island in the group of Adventure (Serinepil) Islands.
Once my choices appeared on the screen, I selected Final Island Police Files. The computer asked me for a password.
"Um...Entripidae!" I said as I entered it. The screen said INVALID PASSWORD.
"Maybe...Final Island?" INVALID. "Police?" INVALID. Suddenly a thought came to me, and I punched the word in.
"Feeshin'?" I asked it as I typed. I gaped as the screen flashed ACCESS GRANTED and I was taken to a different screen, one filed with descriptions of people known for trespassing on Final. I gasped as I came to a familiar description.
"Girl, short, violet hair, violet eyes, last seen by an officer at Belros (Deep) Pond," I read aloud. That meant that the guy who was 'feeshin' had been an officer!! I quickly deleted the description and the file. I looked for anything else familiar, but didn't find anything. So, out of boredom, I brought up the 'pokéfiles', or the database that explained anything and everything about Pokémon. Sort of like a computerized Pokédex.
ENTER POKÉMON flashed on the screen. I typed 'Corsola', the Pokémon that was abundant especially around Hoperi (Coral) Island, where I was going in a couple of days to deliver Pokémon that had been brought to the Koloi Center.
A map popped up with all the known areas where Corsola had been found within the past five years. Most of them was around Coral Island, but some were near Final and there were even some in the vicinity of Koloi.
"Cool," I muttered to myself as I clicked on the name Lugia. Lugia was a legendary, meaning there was only one of it, if there was one at all.
The screen said: LAST SEEN IN THE VICINITY OF THE ORANGE ISLANDS. I stared. The ORANGE ISLANDS!!! That's CLOSE!! I thought. I heard a sound behind me, and I slowly turned to see what it was.
It was NJ. She was standing there, right in front of closed double-doors. "Dari," she said softly.
"What? Am I..." 'Am I in trouble' had been my sentence, but I stopped when I saw the look on NJ's face. "Is something wrong?" I asked.
That's when she said it. One word. Just one word, but it had the greatest effect that any word could ever have on me.
"Scyther."
I jumped up from my chair and slammed open the doors, running as fast as I could down the hallway, NJ only a few steps behind.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Keerah-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Steve, my older brother, opened the door a while later. He looked straight at me and said, in a quiet voice, something that made me so mad I wanted to punch him.
"Why?"
"BECAUSE MOM AND DAD ARE BEING UNREASONABLE!!!! THEY CAN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND POKÉMON, LET ALONE CHOOSE MINE FOR ME!!!" I yelled. Steve took a few steps back and tried again.
"No, I mean why are they sending you away?? They...how can they?? They're our PARENTS, for crying out loud!"
"I agree with that," I muttered into my pillow. "But they won't change their minds. And if they do, it'll be too late. I've made up my mind. I'm leaving, and they'll never see me again!"
"But...Keerah..."
"What, Stephen?" I asked, using his full name, which he hated. Being fifteen, two years older than me, he considered himself cool.
"What about Jay?" The words hit home. If something happened to Jay while I was gone...would my parents let me know?? Or would I finally come home one day to find Jay...gone?
"I know, Steve. Look, if anything happens...you HAVE to find a way to contact me. I don't know where I'll be going, but maybe I'll write you. You have a Job Weekend soon, right?" In the high school, anyone who was passing all their classes with perfect grades, and had an idea of what they wanted to do, got a Job Weekend opportunity three times during the year.
"Yeah, I do. Why?"
"I'll write you from wherever I am, but you have to tell Mom and Dad that it's the Job Weekend people, ok? They can't know it's me. Anyway, then you'll know where I am so you can show up or write to there with any news." I thought it was a pretty good plan myself. Steve wanted, or rather, my parents chose for him, the job of a police officer.
"Ok, Keerah. Oh, one more thing." He held out a pokéball to me.
"What is it, Steve?" I asked, realizing that I now had quite a collection of Pokémon.
"It's a surprise. You can't open it until you get to where you're going." Steve smiled and turned to go.
"Steve," I said, and he stopped. "About Jay..."
"Yeah?"
"Tell him the truth, Steve. He deserves to know. Whatever...whatever those people downstairs tell him...make sure it's the truth. And if it's not, tell him the real truth. He knows more than anyone gives him credit for." Steve nodded and left. I finally went to sleep.
I woke up at 6:00 the next morning and decided I'd better leave right away. But another surprise was waiting for me when I got downstairs.
"Hello, Keerah," said Mom. She and Dad were sitting at the kitchen table, where this whole thing started.
"Goodbye, Mother, I'm leaving you for the last time," I said in a cold voice.
Dad looked right at me and said softly, "Keerah, don't go. We...didn't mean what we said. We want you to stay...you AND your Pokémon..." he trailed off and waited for me to speak.
"No," I said clearly. "You can't change the past. You ordered me out of this house, and, for once, I'm obeying you. Goodbye," I said as I walked out the door. And, surprising even to me, I didn't look back.
------------------Dari------------------
The sunlight streamed through the window of my bedroom. I groaned as Rattata started jumping up and down on the bed. "I'm up, I'm up!" I said into my pillow.
"Good, because we've got a lot of work to do on that garden," said a familiar voice.
I sighed. "Morning, NJ." That's when I looked at the clock. "What in the world got me up at six in the morning?" I asked in wonder. I was NOT an early riser. Not by a long shot.
"Most likely Rattata, or have you nicknamed him something I don't know about?" asked NJ. I thought about that. A nickname might be nice.
"No, not yet, but I might. How's...it going?" I asked, still avoiding the question that had kept me up until 2:00 am.
"IT is not raining anymore, so hurry up already!!" said NJ, shutting the door quietly, which totally and completely ruined the emphasis of her words. I quickly got dressed and locked the door to my room as I left. "Come ON, NJ!" I called, relieved for once that the Center was closed.
The garden was a mess. Rattata looked at me suspiciously.
"What? You think just because I didn't notice last night's thunderstorm means it didn't happen??" I asked. I WAS kind of sorry I missed it. I like thunderstorms, particularly the lightning. "Besides, it's the rainy season. Even you should know that, Lightning," I said, and realized that, without knowing it, I had just nicknamed Rattata.
"Well?" asked NJ as she came up behind me. I groaned, but I was actually happy with my job. We had been going to renovate the garden anyway. Now, it would be perfect.
I grabbed my notebook and pen and drew a new layout for the garden. Rattata jumped into my lap (I was sitting on a rock) as I muttered to myself, "Fire can go here...Grass there...great Bug place..." The point was to have an area for each type of Pokémon. It seemed easy enough to design it, but then...here were the special cases.
The fact that the garden also held wild Pokémon, for example, was a BIG exception. I mean, what good would it do to have a fire type live in the water area. So I scratched that plan.
"Ok, how about one big grassy area, with ponds and stuff? And maybe waterfalls, and rivers, and trees..." I realized I was thinking too big. "Maybe just trees, grass, and ponds, then," I resolved, and started to draw in a new plan, when I heard a voice behind me.
"And maybe just ONE waterfall, just for fun," said NJ, smiling. I drew it into the new plan.
"Um...now, just how are we going to do all this?" I asked.
"What do you mean, 'we'?" she asked, then started laughing. "I was thinking of asking some of the Kreholidenry (honestly, did she HAVE to call them that?? It was a mouthful for me) to help. Oh, and by the way, S.I.F."
S.I.F?? What did that mean? I turned to a clean page in my notebook and wrote on the page: S. I. F.
1. Stand In Front
2. Sit In Front
3. Sleep In Friday
4. Stupid Idiot Fairies (well...)
5. (Something in Islander)
But, thinking about it, none of these were a very logical answer, except 'Sleep In Friday,' which I would have loved, but somehow I knew that wasn't it. Maybe it was something in Islander, but that would take forever for me to figure out. So that wasn't it, either.
Hmmm...S.I.F??? What in the world could it mean??? It probably had something to do with the past day, knowing NJ.
"What...maybe with the computer?" I said out loud, and Rattata jumped at my voice. "No, no, she didn't know...what else...SCYTHER!!" I stood up suddenly, Rattata crashing to the ground. "Sorry, Lightning," I said, picking him up and running back through the building to the reception desk where NJ was on the computer.
"What, Dari?" she asked, and I flipped the switch that turned off the monitor as I realized what S.I.F. meant.
"SCYTHER IS FINE!!!" I yelled right in her face, and she covered her ears. She smiled and nodded, though, and that made me jump up and down with how happy I was. "ALRIGHT!!!!!" I yelled, accepting the pokéball NJ held out to me.
"I knew you'd finally figure it out," said NJ as I released Scyther. SCYTHER started jumping up and down along with me, and so did Rattata. Man, after such a long night, I was surprised I had this kind of energy. But Scyther being trapped under an electrocuted tree was something that would keep ANYONE awake till at least midnight.
"Hahahahahahahahahahaha!" I couldn't stop laughing, or just being happy in general.
"Now, for the bad news," NJ said, and I stopped jumping.
"Bad news?" I asked tentatively.
"Mm-hmm. In five days, YOU are going to the Orange Islands, Evolution Island in particular, for a weeklong vacation. Period. No arguments about this one, Dari. You're going." I started jumping again. Man, I was energized.
"And this is BAD news??" I asked in mid-jump.
"Shara is going with you," replied NJ, and I crashed to the floor.
"WHAT!! Ouch..." I said, getting up, and NJ started laughing again.
"Just kidding, Dari." I groaned, but then remembered how, within five days, we had to finish the garden. I told this to NJ.
"And we will," she said. "But today, we're going to Hoperi Island for supplies." And I started the jumping, with my two Pokémon, all over again.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-Keerah-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
I waited on the school steps for everyone to show up. First to arrive were my old group of friends, early for once. They came up to me, serious looks on their faces.
"Look, we heard from Jamie's brother, Jesse, that you had to leave...for good.... Look, we realized how much we really valued you as a friend and we're sorry," said Lora. But I'd learned better. If I wasn't leaving they'd go right back to hating me.
"Sorry doesn't cut it anymore," I said coldly. "You said yesterday you had never been my friends. I know that's true, now. Forget you ever knew me, I won't come back." I turned to go into the school when Jamie put her hand on my shoulder.
"We want to make yesterday up to you. Give you something to remember us by," she said, and I saw her eyes glittering with unshed tears. "We really are sorry."
"We know, now, that you never realize the value of something...until you lose it. Please?" asked Holly. I sighed.
"Meet me at the big tree in the park after school. You know the one. The climbing tree," I said, and I walked into the school just as the early bell rang.
Jamie and the gang left during sixth period (Pokémath, ugh), but I didn't know why.
By the tree later, there was a note from the gang. It said:
Keerah,
We will be there by five o'clock. If we're late then leave a note for yourself and we hope maybe we can see you again. But please wait if you can.
-J, M, H, &L.
Be here by 5:00? I would be long gone by then. I knew that at least Steve, if not my parents, would come looking for me. And I'm sure that by now Ben knew, too. Ben was my oldest brother, 21 and a trainer at Blaine's Gym in Cinnabar.
I let Chikorita and Pikachu out to play on the tree. I was about to let Dratini out too when I spotted Jamie, Lora, Holly, and Mandy. They were walking very fast toward the tree, and Holly was hiding something behind her back.
"Hi, Keerah!" they called in unison. I waved halfheartedly, knowing that I should have left already.
"Well, here's our surprise!" said Holly, and she handed me...an EGG!! It was round and brownish, with black streaks through it.
"It's an Eevee egg," said Mandy. "Mondo got it from one of his Eevees yesterday." Mondo was Mandy's brother.
"Thanks," I said. "I'd better be going. See you...later...maybe..." One tear fell from my eye as I watched them go. I really HAD liked them as friends. But...
It was about 4:30, and I saw two familiar figures enter the park. One tall, the other short. Steve and Jay. I quickly scribbled a note, then climbed the tree.
When they got there, Steve looked all around, then picked up the note and read it out loud for Jay's benefit.
"Dear Steve and Jay, because I know you will look for me here: I have been here. I really didn't want to leave, and Mom and Dad said I could stay, but I want to be a trainer. Please tell Mom and Dad not to have the police searching for me, because if I am to be a trainer, I have to go on a journey anyway. Tell them this, and tell them I love them. I love both of you, too, and I promise I WILL return some day, no matter what, to see all of you. I am already where you cannot find me, but Steve, you know...well, you know. Goodbye. -Keerah Meeri Plum. (Your sister). PS-Jay, from now on you will get the truth from Steve, even though you may not get it from our parents. I promise.-KMP"
Together they looked up into the tree, and I was sure they'd seen me, but all Steve said was "One of these days, you'll be up this climbing tree, Jay. I just know it." They turned and walked back out of the park. As I slid down the tree, I couldn't stop even more tears from escaping my eyes.
I got to the harbor soon enough, and took a small motorboat. I was headed across the ocean. Until I hit land. So off I went, only looking back once at the wonderful, sunset-lit place that I was leaving behind.
------------------Dari------------------
"Go, Lightning!" I called. It was a battle, me against Shara, the snobby Island girl.
"Ekwa, Cuireda (Go, Treasure)!" she called, and released her Sentret. I smiled. Type equality was what I handled best, and this was it.
"Lightning, Super Fang!" Rattata bared its teeth and bit down hard on Sentret's tail.
"Cuireda, Upi litori (Treasure, Bite attack)!" called Shara, and Sentret hit with considerably less force than Rattata. I was winning. But it was a three-on-three. Lucky I had a new Corsola, too.
"Lightning, Tackle!"
"Cuireda, Cypera Litori (Treasure, Quick Attack)!" The two launched themselves at each other, hitting again and again in the air. Finally, both of them landed. They stood facing each other for a moment, but Sentret fell. Shara groaned and called her back, and grabbed another pokéball.
"Go, Pineco!" I was glad for the switch to English, but not for the Pokémon. A Bug-type. I should use Scyther. Immediately, I called back Rattata and sent out Scyther.
"Pitiful," said Shara. "Do you LIKE type matches or are you just stupid?"
"If type equality is so stupid, then why am I winning?" I asked smugly, and called my first attack. "Scyther, Slash it!"
"Pineco, Explosion!" Pineco exploded right in Scyther's face, but Scyther remained standing.
"Stupid move, taking your Pineco out like that," I said, gently touching Scyther to make sure she was ok. Scyther nodded, and so did I.
"Alright, then I make my final choice! Go, Sunset!" From out of the pokéball appeared a Houndour.
"Ready, Scyther?" Scyther nodded. She wasn't afraid of her type disadvantage. "Ok then, HYPER BEAM!" Scyther's most powerful attach hit with full force, throwing the Houndour against the wall of the pokémart here on Hoperi. He lay there for a minute, then got back up and launched a flamethrower, uncommanded.
"No, Sunset, I didn't say attack!" yelled Shara, but it was too late.
"Scyther, dodge it!" I called, but, like I said, it was too late for that. The flamethrower hit. Hard. Scyther stood strong against the flying flames. Finally the attack diminished.
Both of us stood there, waiting for something to happen.
Something did.
Scyther collapsed.
I let out a scream so high-pitched I didn't think it was audible to human ears, but I knew that was wrong by the way Shara covered hers. I recalled Scyther, and shot a fiery gaze at my opponent. I was MAD.
"Beat that thing, Corsola!" I called my final Pokémon. "Hydro Pump!" After being hit by Hyper Beam, Houndour was too weak to fight back, and he fainted. I recalled Corsola and shook Shara's hand.
Normally I would have celebrated. But all I could do was stare at the pokéball in my hand. Scyther's pokéball. Shara was responsible for this. She'd pay.
"Look...Dari...I'm sorry about Scyther...Sunset never obeys, but he was my last Pokémon..." she shrugged, turned, and walked away. I wanted to punch her, but I knew I had other things to do. I had to get back to Koloi Island, NOW.
I ran to the beach, but remembered that there wasn't anyone at the Center today, anyway. I was really frustrated now. Scyther had been mine since I was five years old. She had hatched from an egg in my brother's professor's lab, and had seen me first, had imprinted me as her mother. She was the one who...I didn't want to, but looking out at the ocean reminded me of that day, when I was ten years old, the last day I ever saw my family alive...
*******Begin Flashback*******
"Oh, I can't wait to see the Orange Islands! It's going to be fantastic!" That was my younger sister, Kyrina. She was only eight, myself ten, my younger brother Kenny five, and my older brother Jason thirteen.
"Look, Day-ree," said Kenny, who still couldn't say my name right. Mom had said it was a takeoff of the word dare. I liked the idea, but not the name so much, then. Dari was a pretty weird name, but then, so was Kyrina.
Kenny was pointing to a flock of Skarmory flying over the sparkling ocean. We were on a ship to the Orange Islands for a month-long vacation on Valencia Island. Everything had seemed so perfect, then. But that's when the sudden storm came.
The waves were crashing, and Kenny started screaming. He hated loud noise. For some reason I released Scyther, maybe for protection, I don't know. My father released his Pidgeot and put Kyrina and Kenny on her, and Pidgeot took off for places unknown. But I was still there, me and Jason and my parents.
"Dari! Let Scyther take you to safety!" my Mother called. I nodded, and Scyther grabbed me and held me tight between her two scythes. I heard my brother call one last thing and throw a pokéball to me.
"ESPEON!" he called, and I caught the pokéball. I shoved it into the backpack I was wearing, and held tight to Scyther. I watched the rest of my family, along with others, disappear beneath the waves.
Scyther and I landed on Koloi Island, although we didn't know it then. The people all spoke a strange language, but somehow I got to the Pokémon Center. Once there, Joy said I could stay and work there for as long as I wanted, and gave me a room to stay in.
I looked all through my backpack, but I couldn't find Espeon's pokéball. I was so upset, having lost my brother's best Pokémon, that I stayed in my room for days.
*******End Flashback*******
Once back on Koloi, I let NJ have my Pokémon, and tried to go to sleep. I had the same dream, about my parents, and the ship, and Espeon. But one thing in particular stood out this time. The sandy beach that Scyther and I landed on three years ago. Sand that blew everywhere, and quickly covered our footprints. That blowing sand...
I jumped out of bed and ran down to that very same beach. It was difficult, but I found the spot where we landed, and I began to dig. I dug and dug and dug, until finally I put my hand around something hard and round. I pulled it out.
It was a pokéball. There was a letter, in purple, nearly worn off, but still visible.
The letter E.
It WAS a pokéball. Espeon's pokéball. I cried tears of happiness. I had at least something of my family back.
I turned my head towards the ocean as a small motorboat came up to the beach. In it was a girl, with long purple hair and violet-colored eyes.
*****
Any guesses, anyone? New question: Who wants me to finish this?!?!