Chapter 1: Natural
What's the meaning behind it all? The control and all the lies that are forced fed to the masses. I used to question the idea of marriage, partnership and love; are all just concepts and dreams that young people hope to achieve. Now, all such dreams became dull like the towering skyscrapers above and lively nights became cold and unforgiving. Yet, to be honest, every time when I close my eyes I could feel the wind blow against my face, tall grass brush past my fur, see the light blue sky, chase after the clusters of clouds and enjoy the warm sun. It felt so real, the smell of fresh air and the endless peace that existed. However, so much as changed, Pokemon evolve, humans grow, ideas arise and people are pitted against each other. Pokémon and humans have never been so…
"What's on your mind?"
Everything was only temporary, and I was once again reminded of the reality I was in. A reality that was wet, dark and an endless night with no stars nor moon but only the overwhelming amount of street lamps. A charmeleon had parked herself on the concrete curb outside of the rusted locked gates of a store. Pellets of raindrops washed away the trash on the street before collectively dumping it all against the drain guard. Unfortunately, they weren't able to wash away the scars littered across her body, her legs are like a canvas that a furious artist slashed away. Instead, the cysts of rain landed on her ammo filled plate carrier before sliding down the barrel of her gun.
"You're not bothered, Guiying?" I asked, watching the flame on her tail drown away. The amber danced and hissed at anything that dared to touch it, it's light was sandwiched in the surrounding alley and ignited the walls with colour.
"Bu," she said in Chinese, "it's not like you've never seen rain before. It's a natural thing."
She then threw her gun aside and, whilst avoiding the water she reached into a pouch and pulled out a red carton. Using her claws, she slid out a cigarette before leaning towards her tail to ignite the three minutes of pleasure. The flame climaxed as she inhaled, pushing away the creeping darkness, a small stream of smoke diluted away as she exhaled. Soon, the overwhelming smells of ashes were able to wash away the smell of rain and the odour of wet garbage. She melted away with the smoke, her eyes were closed without any force and she began to slouch.
"Pass me a stick," I said, lending a watchful eye on Guiying's tail.
With the cigarette in her mouth, she let out an ignorant grunt before reopening the same pouch to strip away another one of her precious sticks. I bent over; my sloppy fur followed my movements and flung a small stream of liquid into Guiying's darkened eyes.
"If you're worried about me, you're wasting your time," she said, rubbing her eyes, "next time go get your own things."
"Give me a break," I grunted, bending over towards Guiyang's tail to ignite the cigarette, "I'll soon be the guy paying you to sit out here at night."
"Yeh right," she laughed, "you could barely be called a guy."
A small smile rippled across my face which soon turned into laughter as well. Us braixen's are more or less well known for our feminine appearance which is often related to certain sexual associations. I mean, who could resist? I sometimes find joy looking at myself in the mirror before getting overwhelmed with the feeling of disappointment that I was ultimately a guy. I wasn't given the privilege to be young, cute or even female, instead I was old, blunt and "have a dick".
"I'm surprised to see you made it early tonight," a voice shouted at the end of the alleyway, but it was quickly silenced by the rain.
"Oh shit," Guiying said, "your boyfriend is here."
"Fuck off," I said, taking a deep breath into melt with the nicotine before destroying the evidence of our guilty pleasures. Water washes away most things. I stood up and waved at the two approaching; a flygon and a woman.
Their solid black armour blended perfectly with the shadows and the surrounding grey walls. They looked like robots, although the same could be said about Guiying and I, stripped of any humanity and presence of life. The rain wasn't merciful to them, hammering down on their helmets, flowing off their smiles of relief before pouring out the barrels of their guns like a teapot. Their breaths evaporated out their mouths and their feet battled against the downwards stream, creating waves of resistance. Soon, their bodies began to feel the calming warmth of Guiying's tail and their faces were restored with light. The woman had black thick "bunned" up hair, large round fogged up glasses and a small nose. Water soaked through every layer of her kevlar vest and the ammo magazines began to fill up with water like cups. The lack of light made it hard to see anything, and the camouflaged uniform blended her body into the tight surrounding buildings. She was only slightly shorter than the flygon, her name was Xuiying.
"Anything special tonight?" Xuiying asked in a lively tone.
"Yes ma'am, water is falling from the sky," Guiying smiled.
"Nice one," Xuiying smirked, rubbing away the fog on her glasses, "I was referring to the patrol."
It's almost a culture for us to make fun of the night guarding we do around the streets of Beijing. Mostly due to the lack of anything happening, so we end up slacking off and pretend to be productive whenever we have a debriefing conversation. I guess it's got to the point where none of us cared about our jobs anymore, but it's these nights that are the most enjoyable. The nights where nothing mattered.
"Ma'am," I said standing up with my gun holstered against my chest, "Reporting, Gui keeps on mistaking me for a girl."
"To be fair you do attract a lot of other guys," the flygon teased, "too bad Xuiying ain't getting some of your action."
"Yong," she commanded the flygon, before being interrupted by a roar of a passing vehicle, "you have been granted with the permission to shut up,"
"Yes ma'am," the flygon giggled.
As the laughter died down, the sound of rain returned and our souls were slapped back into our drenched bodies. The sounds of water colliding with our metal tools of murder created a harmonious sound; uniting us with the remains of the city. However, none of us complained.
"Right," she said, prompting us to stand up, "as you may know this is my last night with you guys."
"Tomorrow, I'll be sent off for training to become a colonel and become a leader. This means this squad will be a group of three and I've placed Sergeant Fang in charge."
She then knelt down in the murky water, her pants were out of room to absorb the dirty liquid and her boots were like water bottles. She firmly wrapped her hand around my paws, sending a chill down my arm but was stopped by her warm smile. Behind those fogged glasses of hers was a pair of eyes connected to mine, they were filled with hope, gratefulness and regret. The darkness and rain camouflaged her emotions and wrinkles, and I couldn't tell if she was crying. However, I could feel and see this inevitable end, the lady who taught us Chinese and guided us through this country was about to leave without any requests for repayment. Guiying took this opportunity to light another cigarette while Yong avoided eye contact, and I was stuck to deal with the emotional weight.
"It's only natural, there's always an end somewhere," she said before shaking my paw with both hands, "Fang, please take care of yourself, and in particular Yong. He's the youngest here."
"I'm a 50-year-old fox, Xui," I sneered, "I'll be sure to babysit Yong."
Although the night made it hard to see; she then glared her smile of approval and I stared back with confidence. She stood up and began shaking hands with the rest of us before disappearing into the shadows, rain and wind. The silhouettes of her footsteps were immediately drowned away and left a strange feeling. The feeling that this was not the end but just the beginning of a lonesome adventure she'll embark on. I have hope I'll see her again but nothing was guaranteed. It's only natural to be optimistic; I wonder how far she'll get on both feet.
"Now what, Fang?" Yong sighed.
"What we usually do, head back."
I always believed that the mind is most venerable when it's alone. In this case, I was alone in my bunk bed, wrapped in a grey cement box with no openings but a wooden door. Guiying and Yong used to complain about the smell of my wet fur but like everything else, with time they become used to it. Rain isn't too bad either way, it's the only baths we have, and it's the most enjoyable, that goes for Xuiying as well. Despite the comfort of being in bed and being cleaned by the rain, my mind still wonders. I could still hear the words in my head that begged to be released when I left Xuiying. Perhaps as the mind gets older, words become less meaningful, all I wanted to say was "goodbye". Then again, people come and go, one day it'll be my turn. As I closed my eyes, I hear the soothing sounds of rain, the gentle whispering of dying buildings and the pleasuring numbness of the cold. It felt so peaceful.
Currently trying to fin beta-readers, please PM if you're interested.
