The Heat Of LeRousse
By Shadow
There was something robotic about this place. Something that I had never, ever come to appreciate in all my years of living in this god forsaken city. It wasn't just the robotic blocks that checked your identification at every corner, but there was something fake about the people as well… something heartless. A darkness trapped inside everyone that attracted the sunlight, and shriveled the inhabitants of LaRousse city slowly. But in a numbing way, so people didn't know they were dying. They walked around with pale, lifeless eyes, gasping for air at every step with dry mouths. Their hearts were beating, but they weren't alive. It was why I left so long ago to become a Coordinator, to escape the hell that I also called home.
Shielding my eyes from the deadly rays, I looked up at the giant thermometer tower. It was as if the digital display knew I was watching, because the temperature rose from ninety-nine to one-hundred the moment my gaze locked on it. I groaned inwardly, and took my hand off my face, flicking my hair back as I brought my attention back to where I was going. I didn't even have to walk to get there. Just stand… and be taken forward whether I wanted it or not. I watched the dull, smiling faces of the people around me, with their pathetic, poorly trained lackeys that they called Pokemon. I looked down at my feet, resisting the urge to gag as I continued moving forward without actually moving.
The moving path finally came to its end, and I stepped off it, turning right at a very familiar street. I was in the residential district now, where home was. No one was expecting me I'm sure, because no one stopped to say hello as I weaved down familiar sidewalks and passed vaguely familiar faces. I would know exactly who they were if they weren't… dead to me, and to society. Finally, the building which I loathed the most in the entire city came into view, right before my eyes. It was the place that had first made me loathe LaRousse: it was my home.
I reached into the back pocket of my jeans, grabbing the key I'd placed there for this very moment. Sighing, I attempted to unlock the door, but to my surprise, it jammed when I twisted my wrist. Grunting in annoyance, I took out the key, and then put it back in, twisting at the lock again to no avail. A third time, I attempted to open the door to my home, growing ever more frustrated.
"What is wrong with this city?" I finally yelled, throwing the key to the ground. "Can I not even go into my own house anymore?"
My voice echoed down the streets, causing heads to turn and people to stare in my direction. I clenched my fists at my sides, and bared my teeth like a Mighyena. Why was it I came here in the first place? It wasn't as if I had any real business to attend to in this horrid city.
"Drew!" a voice called from the distance, echoing like my initial cry. It was weird to hear my own name being called, and what more, by someone in this town. The fact that anyone had recognized me in the first place was somewhat of a dream, no, more like a nightmare. I didn't want to be recognized by anyone here. I turned my head ever so slightly to catch a figure running towards me. Curiosity dawned on me, so I turned a bit more, wondering who on earth it could be.
Finally, the person came to stand in front of me, panting as she put her hands on her knees. The weird thing was, she didn't look familiar to me, at all, yet she knew who I was. I crossed my arms as I waited for the girl to stand back up, and when she did, her face didn't seem any more recognizable.
"Oh wow, you've changed," the girl said, blinking in surprise. "Your hair is green."
I didn't respond with anything witty, like I would with any other person. Instead, I rose an eyebrow. My hair had been green for years now. I'd changed it when I left on my Pokemon journey. Clearly, whoever this person was had known me before I became a trainer, that was for sure.
"Oh come on, you don't recognize me?"
I still didn't respond, staring at the girl skeptically.
"I was the one that vowed to beat your cocky little butt when we met next. Remember? Drew?" she asked, pointing to herself as if she were some important figure.
Suddenly, my brain sparked, reloading a memory from years ago. She had promised to beat me in a battle one day… but who was she? I couldn't remember. It was making me more frustrated.
"What makes you think you can beat me?" I asked, a smirk crossing my face.
"That's what you said three years ago too," the girl snorted, smirking as well.
"But the difference my dear, is that I'm a top Coordinator now," I continued, flicking the hair out of my face to emphasize my confidence.
"Wow, you really don't remember anything about LaRousse City do you?" the girl said suddenly, looking a little downhearted. I blinked, wondering what that had to do with anything, but she had struck a chord. It was true; I hardly remembered anything about home.
"I'm May," she said. "We used to be friends, remember?"
"No," I replied bitterly. "I don't want to remember either. I want to get out of here as soon as possible."
"Cold," the girl known as May responded. "But you always kind of were. I always thought it was weird, how you liked to pick on me, giving me roses and claiming they were for my Pokemon, yet you treated everyone else with the same cold attitude you're giving me now. Maybe your hair changed, but Drew, you're still as readable as a book."
"What are you talking about-- oh forget it. I don't have time to waste on a loser like you. I should leave to go compete in Johto, like I said I would."
"That's too bad," May said, frowning, only to come back with a smile from ear to ear. "But you know what? I'm going to be there too! Besides, someone has got to beat you back into shape. I promised I would, remember?"
"No, I don't remember, so stop questioning me!" I yelled, suddenly. All at once, everything swirled into a mass of black, LaRousse disappearing with it. All that was left was me, myself, and I, in a dark void.
"What is this?" I asked aloud. My voice echoed into the blackness, much like it had when I made my first outburst, only this time, May wasn't there to respond. The blackness seemed to go on forever and ever, swallowing me whole, like the rest of the people in LaRousse.
"No, I don't want to be like them," I exclaimed, knowing that was exactly what was happening. I had been in the City's tainted air for far too long, and now, it was making me into one of its citizens… one of its true citizens….
And then, everything became bleached in white as I sat up straight, panting for air. I blinked a few times, waiting for my eyes to come into focus, knowing that everything before had just been a nightmare.
My heart raced for a few moments as I sat on the bed that the Pokemon Center had provided for me. I brought a hand up to my head, and wiped away the sweat lining my forehead.
"What made me think about LaRousse? And May? Of all people, why her?" I asked myself as I closed my eyes to build the picture of the scene in my head again. It was weird. I hadn't recognized her in my dreams, yet in my life, she was the person that stood out more than anyone else.
And my hometown….
"Nothing too weird there," I sighed as I swung my legs over the bedside, letting the covers fall off me from gravity. "The heat of LaRousse was always too much to handle."
A/N: I'm not exactly sure what inspired this, but at the end, I realized that I wrote this as a tribute to possibly one of my least favorite cities in the world: Los Angeles. Nothing against the people, but the city can be a real hell hole.
That, and I really wanted to delve into Drew's character. Any feedback you all want to give me would be lovely.
Woah, my first Pokemon fic O__O. I don't know why this didn't happen sooner.
UPDATE: 8/29/09 -- REVISED, though lightly revised. It will undergo a heavier revision at some point.