1Alrighty! Here goes my third– and hopefully final– attempt at a pokemon story that encompasses everything that's been brewing in my mind up to this point. There'll be a lot of mimicked themes that were probably present in my earlier stories, but this is an attempt to combine them all into one, so bear with me.
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Alexis sat, and simply stared. First at her mother, her wide eyes tearfully prideful. Then at her father, underhandedly smug and smoothly expectant, making a show of spearing a piece of asparagus on his fork while watching his only daughter from the corner of his eye. She blinked, sitting back into her chair and letting her fork fall with a clatter onto her plate, thinking the world had suddenly gone completely and utterly insane.
"Well?" Her mother prompted, unable to hide her own bubbling vicarious excitement. A manicured, perfumed hand reached for hers.
"Oh, you must be so excited!" She gushed. Alexis pulled her hand away minutely, avoiding the encouraging squeeze of the other, and looked to her father, hoping to find some last shred of sanity in his upstanding, unwavering persona. Yet to her bafflement, he only wiped his mouth on his carefully folded napkin, still avoiding her eyes, but smiling that barely concealed smile which often graces a parent's face when they feel that they had done something kind for their children without the recipient's notice.
"So how about it, Alexis? Your own pokemon- your own adventure. Why, when I was your age, I was already on the road!" If the scene had been a cartoon for children, all the buttons on his shirt would have popped off.
"We're sorry we didn't let you go before, but we always felt that 10 was far too young for someone to start their own journey. But just think! Now that you're 15, you'll have an advantage over the other kids who are just setting out from home." Her mother cooed, oblivious to the fact that she was several orders of magnitude more excited than her daughter. In fact, not only was Alexis not excited, she was decidedly horrified.
"Mom, Dad..." She started warily, feeling as though she could hear the thin ice on which she skated already cracking, "...I don't think I want to be a pokemon trainer."
Her mother actually laughed, and the smile broke out in full over her father's handsomely mustachioed face.
"Don't be silly now, Alexis. It doesn't matter how old you are! My sister didn't get her first pokemon until she was married- and look how she turned out! She's one of the best trainers in the city!"
Her father coughed into his napkin- something that sounded suspiciously along the lines of 'in her dreams'- and her mother reached across the table and smacked him angrily on the arm.
"George!"
"Sorry dear."
"As I was saying," She continued, turning back to Alexis, who no longer had even the slightest hint of appetite, "We thought it might be a good idea for you to get out in the world and go exploring on your own for a little while. You know; experience life away from all this." She waved her hand in the general direction of everything.
Alexis looked around, honestly not seeing what was wrong with 'all this'.
"Mom, it doesn't have anything to do with age- honestly, that doesn't bother me at all," She added hastily, seeing the disbelieving looks thrown her way, "It's just that I have school here, and I believe that's more important right now than pokemon," She folded her hands carefully on the white table cloth, staring intently at her fingers as she twisted them together, "Besides- I don't want to get into any sort of the trouble you hear horror stories about. And I don't have any money..."
Her father sat back at last, looking incredulously at his wife. "I can't believe it. Our daughter is probably the only kid on the planet more interested in books than pokemon," He said it jokingly, but Alexis felt her face go hot none the less.
"There's nothing wrong with books! Or school. I need to learn as much as I can so I can get a good job."
A sly look came into her father' eye. He leaned his elbows on the table. "Alright," He conceded, "An education IS important. But what do you want to be when you grow up?"
It was a trap, and Alexis knew it. She cast about for something- anything- that wasn't in some way connected to pokemon.
"A lawyer." She blurted out at last. Her parents exchanged looks of surprise.
"A lawyer?"
"Yeah, you know...crime and punishment and all that," She hesitated, "...a lawyer doesn't have to know anything about pokemon. So there's really no reason for me to become a trainer.
Her mother leaned towards her, looking faintly worried.
"Honey, EVERYONE eventually gets their own pokemon. That's just the way life is."
Alexis looked highly affronted.
"Why?"
"Well, for companionship, for protection...there are lots of reasons."
Alexis shrugged.
"A gun would work much better. And besides, I don't get lonely."
Her mother looked ready to cry. She reached over and patted her on the hand. "Honey, everyone needs someone to be there for them. A pokemon can be your friend even when we're not around."
Alexis froze, bile rising in her throat, the sudden image of a tiny, frightened little pokemon appearing before her eyes. It scrambled helplessly as a mindless, trained beast beared down on it from above, beating it into submission at the orders of a human until it could no longer stand, only to be sucked away into the dark oblivion inside of a pokeball, the captive slave of its torturer. And yet the image was no dream; she had watched the same process repeat itself countless times as other children living in her city went out and caught their very first 'friend'. The pokemon never had any choice in the matter. And as soon as they were released from their dark prison, they were forced to enslave others of their kind, continuing the vicious cycle.
The very thought made her faintly sick.
"I very much doubt," She started slowly, "That any pokemon captured considers their enslaver a 'friend'."
The silence following the quiet statement was as thick and awkward as cold custard. Both her mother and father looked mortified, one's gaze pitying and sorrowful while the other's hinted at steely determination.
"So, no," She continued in a rush, before they could both start protesting, "I don't think I want to be a pokemon trainer. Not ever."
"But honey..."
Alexis had had enough. She shot from her chair, almost knocking it over in her haste, feeling as though steel bands were tightening around her chest.
"The world doesn't revolve around pokemon!" She spat, feeling tears pool at the corners of her eyes for some absurd reason. She didn't even feel the need to cry, and yet she was crying.
"Good God! You'd think my parents would be happy that I don't want to waste my life being a trainer! You'd think they'd be happy that I was more interested in books and school!" Despite her best efforts, her voice cracked in the middle of her enraged diatribe. Alexis sucked in a deep breath through her nose, closing her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the looks of disappointment on her parent's faces.
"I'll be in my room. Studying." And turning smartly on her heel, she marched up the stairs to do just that, narrowly avoiding knocking over her chair again. The gaping stares boring holes in the back of her head went ignored.
Unable to help herself, Alexis stormed down the upstairs hallway, wrenched open her door and slammed it viciously behind her– or at least, as viciously as her own meager strength would allow. The jarring reverberation blotted out the sound of a startled voice from downstairs crying, "Alexis!"
"Leave me alone," She muttered under her breath. Still seething quietly, she grabbed her backpack from where it had been dumped unceremoniously on the floor and began rooting blindly through it. Not caring which subject she was choosing, only needing a distraction from the heat flooding her chest, she yanked out a physics textbook and sighed. Thick, heavy, and utterly boring. Perfect.
Her desk was not really a desk at all, more like a horizontal storage unit for various paper back romances (naturally, only those few unrelated to pokemon), balled papers crumpled around rejected lines of poetry, cover-less notebooks, pencils missing erasers (and erasers missing pencils), textbooks that could pass for the building blocks of levies, a laptop computer, a lone beany baby with a critical lack of stuffing and a half eaten slice of pizza. Whenever her parents encouraged her to clean up her desk– and, by extension, the disaster zone of her room– Alexis had always quipped that it's the propensity of geniuses to be slobs. And so, when she stalked over to it for a long session of hard core studying, she had to shift several layers of paper materials out of the way before she could effectively slam her textbook down on the battered wood surface.
To any other teenager in town, Alexis' room would have seemed shockingly bare. Not devoid of clutter, for it had plenty of that, but devoid of pokemon paraphernalia. There was not one single poster on her wall, or picture on her desk, or book in her collection, that featured any hint of pokemon. Instead, she decorated her room with watercolors of landscapes she had painted herself and lined her bookshelf with those few books sold in the local book store that didn't feature a plot that was in some way related to pokemon. That was probably why her interest in school had blossomed as it had; the only books she could find without mention of pokemon were engineering manuals and mathematics textbooks.
The only hint that she even existed in the same universe as pokemon was the single textbook hidden shamefully away under her bed. Starting at age ten, the age when most children begin training for their own pokemon 'adventure,' schools began to offer courses on pokemon training and upkeep. For most, whose family's were already deeply embroiled in all things pokemon, they were able to opt out of the mandatary classes by taking a test. A test which Alexis, naturally, had failed. So to her horror and embarrassment, she had been stuck in remedial pokemon training classes with enthusiastic ten year olds, being forced to learn how to make the poor creatures rip each other limb from limb.
But sitting down at her desk with a relieved sigh, Alexis cracked open her perfectly mundane textbook and felt a weight lift off her chest, knowing that here was a subject that she could devote herself to entirely that bore no relation to pokemon. Chapter five, the next chapter in her studies, promised at least several hours worth of pokemon-free normalcy, in which she could ignore her parents and pretend that if she ignored the problem they presented that it would go away too.
But submersion wouldn't come. After reading the same line at least fifteen times and still not remembering what was said, Alexis thunked her head down on her textbook, groaning. Why was it always so hard to get lost in inertia calculations when she needed the distraction the most? Looking up at her watch she moaned; she hadn't even managed to waste fifteen minutes!
Suddenly, there was a knock of her door, breaking the stifling silence and making her jump slightly.
"Honey?" A voice, a distinctly motherly voice called out softly. Alexis pressed her forehead against the edge of the desk and studied her twisting hands in her lap. Maybe if she ignored her mother for long enough...
"Sweetheart, can you come downstairs for a minute? Your father and I would like to talk to you."
...of course not. Alexis squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath in through her nose.
"Alright. Hold on," She found herself saying, wincing as soon as the words were out. To her relief, however, they seemed to pacify the agitated presence on the other side of the door, and the soft sound of footsteps going down the stairs heralded its departure.
Squirming in her chair a minute longer, Alexis finally heaved a great put-upon sigh, laboriously lifted herself into a standing position, exited the room and stumped down the stairs.
The mood in dining room was more subdued, almost bordering on gloomy, than when she had left it. Stopping awkwardly in the doorway, she noticed that her parents had taken up their respective positions around the table again as though nothing had happened, though the food on their plates was cold and congealing, clearly untouched. Her own place had not yet been cleared away.
Since no one seemed inclined to speak with her hovering in the doorway, Alexis eased her way into the room and perched on the edge of her chair, hand clasped tightly between her knees. She looked from adult to adult expectantly, trying to conceal the dead weight of dread she felt settling in her stomach like week old left overs.
After a quick glance towards her father, her mother cleared her throat.
"Alexis...though we may not understand your feelings about this–this time in your life, your father and I have decided that we need to respect your opinions,"
Alexis gaped, her head snapping up in surprise.
"However," her father interjected, seeing the irresistible grin beginning to spread across her face, "We also feel that its unhealthy for you to grow up without knowing and understanding the creatures we share this planet with. So! Your mother and I have decided that you will spend one week helping out at Professor Oak's lab–"
"WHAT?!"
"–After which time, if you still feel the way you do now, you may choose not to go on a pokemon journey."
Alexis stared blankly at them both. She knew her mouth was hanging slack, but couldn't find the will power to shut it. The words rang in her head like a death knell, seeming distant and not entirely real. She shook herself mentally, certain that she would wake up and discover the whole thing was a dream, or else that one or the other of her parents would leap up and yell, 'surprise!'and confirm that it was all just an elaborate, cruel joke.
But the looks of utter seriousness on both faces did not waver, and a subtle pinch under the table to her thigh did not cause the scene to evaporate. Oh God. They weren't joking.
"You're kidding, right? Please tell me your kidding."
Her father's brows furrowed darkly.
"This is no joke, Alexis. Your mother and I are very worried about you. Whether you like it or not pokemon are an integral part of the world, and you need to acclimate yourself to that fact."
Alexis just shook her head. Despite the logicality of his statement, despite the fact that she knew that it would only be one week, she couldn't repress the abject feeling of horror that rose within her.
"The pokemon lab?" She choked out, "You mean the place where they capture wild pokemon for study?"
Her mother smiled slightly, misinterpreting the meaning behind the wetness at the corner of her eyes.
"Yes. It's also the place new trainers go to receive their starting pokemon. Just think, honey, you might find a pokemon you like and decide to change your mind."
Alexis shook her head numbly. "I don't think that will happen."
"In any case," her father interjected forcefully, "I'll be calling professor Oak tonight to arrange your internship. If all goes well, you'll be going there every day after school for the next week."
"But...but what about homework?" She tried weakly.
"You can do homework after you get back home. Besides, it may do you some good to concentrate on something other than studying for a while."
Alexis didn't trust herself to move, or even breathe. She couldn't even nod. It seemed her acceptance wasn't needed, however.
"Good then. It's settled," he picked up his fork, forcing a smile onto his face, "This looks delcious, honey." he stated definitly, turning to his wife and spearing a bit of limp broccoli. At length, her mother returned to her luke warm dinner as well, both seemingly trying to ignore their daughter at the other end of the table, and the silent tears that trickled down her face.
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"Ah, you must be Alexis!" Professor Oak smiled widely at her, showing rows of perfect porcelain teeth. Alexis merely stared at him gloomily, immune to the ebullient aura that rolled off him in lemon-scented waves.
"Unfortunately," She muttered under her breath.
With a large hand on her back, he guided her through the double glass doors that parted at their approach into the lab area. Wrinkling her nose, Alexis glanced around with distaste. The first thing that hit her was the smell of disinfectant and the surgical cleanliness of the large, oblong room. Rows upon rows of plastic shelves lines the walls, sporting hundreds of round red and white spheres; pokeballs. A shiver kept up and down her spine, unable to repress the feeling that she was being watched by so many resentful eyes from within the confinement of the hateful contraptions.
"This is the lab area. You'll probably be spending most of your time in here, helping my assistant keep up with the archives. There's just so much paper work, I can't keep track of it anymore!" He chuckled to himself. Alexis couldn't tear her eyes away from the pokeballs. How many of those pokemon had been torn from their homes in the wild and forced to live a life of confinement?
"Okay," she answered faintly. Releasing her from the pressure of his grip, the professor strode lightly across the room, and with practiced ease, lifted one of the pokeballs from the lowest shelf, turning it around and around in his hand.
"This," he flashed her a quick smile, "Is my other assistant!"
His thumb depressed the small white button on the front of the ball. A bright light flared through the hairline crack around its circumference, and with an audible snap the two hemispheres broke apart, releasing a stream of red light, which coalesced on the floor into a shape the size of a long-limbed human. Gasping in shock, Alexis stumbled back a step. But the next moment, the form within the light resolved itself into that of a large-headed Alakazam, and she breathed a quiet sigh of relief. A small, slightly hysterical giggle tumbled from her lips, her momentarily fear proving to be completely baseless. And for a little while, she allowed herself to feel a sense of awe. Here was a piece of small and relatively innocent technology which nonetheless possessed the ability to turn matter into energy. It was simply incredible.
Fully formed, the Alakazam turned its luminescent eyes to her.
"Kazam!" It muttered conspiritally. She felt a gentle probing at the edges of her mind, and stiffened reflexively.
"Alakazam!" Professor Oak scolded good naturedly. The feeling vanished. The professor looked at her with an apologetic smile.
"He's an old grouch, but don't worry– he wouldn't harm a fly. Just try to ignore him when he does that. Better yet, just relax. Fighting will do you more harm than good, but if you tell him to stop he'll usually listen. Alakazam," The large yellow pokemon turned around to face him, "This is Alexis– though you probably already knew that, you sly old dog!– she'll be helping you this week. I'll be showing her around for today, though, so just continue the catalogue where you left off."
"Alakazam." It affirmed with a nod. Without further acknowledging the presence of the two humans in the room with it, it turned to the shelves lining the far wall and, using its psychic powers, began randomly pulling things off the shelves and sticking them back on in different places. At the same time, a computer in the corner of the room flicked itself on and began recording data with blinding speed. Alexis could only stare in amazement.
Professor Oak chuckled over her shoulder.
"Yes, incredible, isn't it? I don't know what I'd do without Alakazam– he's smarter than a supercomputer, and faster to boot! In any case–" Putting a hand on her shoulder again, he steered her back towards the door again, "There's lots for us to see and do today, so let's get a crackin'!"
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Unknown to the two humans, as the doors hissed shut behind them Alakazam stopped suddenly, pokeballs freezing in mid air. Squeezing his eyes shut as a human would, he sighed.
::Ooo! Ooo! A new human! Yeah!!!!::
grunt ::It looked like the runt of the litter, to me::
::Every human looks like a runt to you, Ryhorn!::
::Do you two MIND! I'm attempting to sleep, over here.::
::Aw, get over yourself, Snorlax! You sleep like, what, 23 hours a day? What difference does a few minutes make? Personally, I'm looking forward to meeting the new human myself::
::Yes. I also am eager to see what becomes of the little one.::
::Poor thing...she looked a little scared.::
::Of what? The old human? Bah! I could take him down with one hand tied behind my back::
::Oh dear me! Please tell me you're not thinking of hurting the dear old man, are you Machoke?::
::Chansey, we all know he's nothing but a big wind bag::
::WINDBAG?!! Come over here and say that, Pigeot! I'll tear you limb from limb!::
::That's enough.:: Commanded Alakazam sternly, eyes still closed. Blocking out the noise of the chattering pokemon around him, he stretched out with his mind to follow the glowing orbs that represented the humans' minds. One, old but still burning brightly, gleamed contentedly. The other, glowing a slightly greener hue than the other, practically trembled with unease and...pity?
::Interesting. I shall have to keep a close watch on this one's future. I sense a great destiny ahead of her. But the outcome is...undecided::
::How so?:: The soft, intelligent question came from the Milotic relaxing contentedly in a pokeball on the fourth shelf.
::There is a choice she will have to make, but I am as of yet uncertain what she will choose::
::Then we will have to trust her to make the right one:: It conceded softly::But why this sudden interest in a human's future?::
Blocking out the simpler mind of the other pokemon, Alakazam mentally turned towards Milotic.
::For several days now, I have seen the coming of a great catastrophe to this place:: He replied hesitantly::And I've been searching for a way to avoid it, if at all possible. This human, however, added a new variable into my equations the moment she set foot in this room. Somewhere, there's a constant that is no longer constant. The future is no longer set. And this...worries me:: He finished, sounding slightly perplexed.
For a long while, Milotic was silent. Anything that could worry Alakazam was lethally serious. She pondered her answer for a long while, hating the words even as they entered her mind.
::Does this mean...she will have to be eliminated?::
::No. Her presence is not harmful, merely destabilizing. But, possibly destabilizing in OUR favor::
::Good then:: She answered, sounding relieved.
::I had believed you were against harming humans. Why this sudden shift?::
::I AM against harming humans:: she spat, sounding slightly affronted::But the last time one of your predictions was this serious, it nearly meant the end of the world. I would prefer the death of one human to the deaths of all::
::Agreed:: Here he paused. ::But what if it was your Master that was the focal point? Would you wish him eliminated?::
Milotic bristled dangerously::Never!:: She hissed vehemently::How dare you even suggest such a thing!::
::Merely curiosity:: He answered, with just a barest hint of amusement, before abruptly severing the close— and suddenly tense– connection.
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Well, what do you think? As always, please review.