The Wanderer Koe : The Story Of a Traveller

Part of the 'One-Hour' series - fanfiction designed to maximize creativity, and get things done, at the same time.

This series is a work in progress.. By setting an amount of time, and writing during it daily, I can actually get things done. Maybe.

So, without further wait - Koe; the story of a traveller, and the many things that happen in his wake.



For Meg, and for a mini-story that no-one could remember


The Wanderer


As he walked on towards the city, time seemed to slow down around him.. It flew with him, diverging itself around his very person, in some sort of warped model of air resistance..
But there was nothing special about the guy. You probably saw thousands of him every day. Just a simple person, clothed to the nines in a black shawl, brown trousers, and sporting a tail that would make any normal raichu look about in envy, and wonder what the hell it's mother did to stunt the growth of her son's tail..

~That was the danger~, he, Koe, told himself. ~People proud with what they are, and what they have built up. Like this city I edge towards. And those like me.. well, we just get along, somehow..~

It was surprisingly docile outside the city. A low tree slipped away it's foliage, the sign of an autumn well in season, and a winter soon to descend.. Yet the grass underfoot was a near-brown; scorched, by too much sun, and not enough water; it was not an area that rain took a liking to, and so it's presence was not graced upon the area.


Up the top of the low tree, there was a single child, for no reason sitting and enjoying a view.. A loose wind blew some more leaves from the branch he was sat upon. But he was watching the figure. And it hadn't seen him, but he was staring at the tail, which wavered ever so slightly in the wind. It was out of place; this scene in it's entirety was, as well. But he watched.. a child so young has no idea of conformity, and he can think what he very well wants to.

Ever since the days when the scholars talked about establishing a secure bond with your pokemon.. It would serve you well to do so, they say, and for the most part, they were right. And times got better. Technology increased more then it was ever meant to. And pokemon.. well, they benefited, as well..

Until things were identified as good as they could be. The well trained ones would do anything on command, and enjoy it; indeed, they didn't -need- to be commanded, for their thoughts and their trainers would, more often then not, tally right to the nose. Some philosophers had to ask the question.. Indeed, who was on top, when the thoughts of the master and his pokemon were no different to one another..?

The answer was discovered very suddenly. When a patient, a female, arrived in some low-town hospital in a barren desert, seeking advice for an 'unusual growth'. This growth was revealed to a curious doctor, who promptly wondered where to direct the patient after that..

No-one had ever thought how to document the appearance of a Persian tail on a human, and no-one could explain it, either. Some people blamed random chance. Others blamed a higher deity, for reasons undisclosed.. And a very scant few, mostly the thinkers.. They attributed it to a subconscious want of that person. And they were half right.

~I know the story..~ he reassured himself as he went on.. ~The ability of humans to match thoughts with their pokemon was not a fluke, at all. They couldn't prove it, but whatever of that girl's head was Persian was lacking a tail to flick, and to knock in people's faces.. And so, her mind obliged, as sudden as they come...~

A stronger wind caught the child unawares, and he lost his seating.. With a rather painful-sounding crunch, he fell onto another branch, which gave way, depositing him on the floor. He could only have been five or six, with the as yet undeveloped blond hair and blue eyes.. Some hallmarks of a cleft palate were visible, but only to a carefully trained specialist's toothcomb eye.

From his position, Koe could have heard a pin drop in the next county. The rai looked towards the fallen kid, and went over.. here a slightly dazed kid was staring around, and about, and in many variegated colours.. until his eyes focused on the figure that stood above him then.

Koe was dark haired; not always, but it was part of his ever progressing 'evolution', as his Raichu had put it some time earlier.
{ It's not me to blame, Koe.. You know full well it takes two. If you'd learn to take it as a pleasant occurrence, things would come a lot smoother.. }
That's what he'd said. And Koe, who once was a rather light person, had become accustomed to the dark and slightly 'lived-in' presence that he held right now.. His tail, eight feet and five inches in length, and increasing at the rate of an inch every half year, sat suspended in the air like a banner.

"I heard the fall.. Are you okay?"
The boy said nothing, instead moving away a little.. And then, with the innocence of someone his age, he recited;
"My mommy doesn't like your type. My friend was fine and then she grew wings and wouldn't speak proper no more and I wasn't allowed to see her again."
~Poor kid.~ Koe had it lucky; the tail was the most prominent part of his jaded existence.. The sword of relief was double-edged, though, as what it had left in body, it had taken in mind. Whenever he thought to himself, it was in raichu. And it wasn't his voice, either. That was something it had taken a while to live with.. But he could speak fine.
"I'm awful sorry for you and your friend, then.. I suppose if you'd taken a harder knock and couldn't tell what I was, it wouldn't matter so much then, would it.."
Sigh. He knew that would go nowhere; he was only talking to a young child.. Then again..
"...uummm..." Of course, he didn't have an answer; rather then do what some did, and disguise the fact, he'd come right out with it.. That would put most adults off what they were going to say next. But it got to the kid slightly, and he ran off, away from the tree.
~and to think.. the kids adore Pokemon. Or they used to.. but /now/, doing that could prove 'harmful'.. I really hate how things are going for this...~ Oh, but of course.. a lot of the younger ones, who adored their pokemon so.. very often achieved the level needed to cause these 'problems'. But being so young, a little meant a lot more. And some of them never knew what hit them, as they suddenly became mirror-comparable to their favourite pet..


---

Truly, a sad state of affairs. None so then he got, walking a little further.. The city was so large from this distance.. it wasn't far at all... And the second sign of life he'd seen since that kid was approaching.. a truck, speeding down the right like someone had filled the gas tank full of steroids, or tossed a lit stick of dynamite in the intake.. Surprisingly, the truck, which he identified as a blue and white pickup, swung to a sideways stop in front of Koe. He looked up at the drivers seat, but didn't look long, as the truck emptied. Five people stood ahead of him.
~Seem to be the sort of people you get on a lynch mob..~ he thought.. probably right, as well..

"Well.. Hello there, stranger.." one of the guys said. All were burly, large, and the sort of people you might take an aversion to before you even met them. Men's men, the lot of them.. and under their jackets, you could easily envisage 'Drink Beer' shirts..

"You sound pleased to see me.." The tail changed in position, the mirror of what it had been before..
"Heard you threatened my son for something he said to you. Rather believe him then you, but I want to see what y' got to say about it.." one of the men said.
~Probably owned the truck, as well. And arranged this nice welcome..~ Koe liked to think.. it's the only thing that kept him calm..
"Not at all.. He told me what his mommy thought of me, and I replied by guessing what might have happened if he fell from that tree harder, and couldn't see who I was. He wouldn't care so much for my look then, would he.." Koe was interrupted.
"You better watch yourself while running your mouth, rai.." Family man as well? Somehow, he seemed like he just wanted the excuse..
"I do, believe me. Now if we've cleared this up, I've had a hefty days walk, and want to reach some place for the night before getting much further--"
"You know, people round these parts don't like your sort.." said one. Koe snapped back a little, whipping his tail against air, irately.
"I've heard. Though it shouldn't matter. Not like I was born like this, you know.." Koe had the points all correct. But he didn't have four guys next to him, and he wasn't the one trying to deliberately cause trouble..
"I've dealt with your type before.." said the man, who had taken a step forward. Koe guessed he didn't mean electricity..
"They talk a lot.. And we ask them real nice to leave our community and our people alone.. and they reply with all this crap about their 'rights'.. Last I heard, they fully referred to these issues as 'human rights', friend.. Guess you don't cut that line any more, eh?"

---

Things were quiet. Koe couldn't very well say he was as human as any other guy, because he clearly -wasn't-.. But he didn't want a confrontation with these guys right now.. It wasn't the sensible thing to do.. So he just stared them out a while.
"So.. I recommend you just turn right back where you came from.. Got it?" said someone else..
Koe shrugged. His tail kicked once. "Actually, I'd rather not."

One of the men clapped, once, sombrely. Then they started advancing on him..

And he just stood there for then, having nothing else to do.

---