She starred out the early morning such drenched window in the second story of her house in her room. She saw her three older siblings' wave, their backpacks full of supplies, and on their belts, brand new Pokéballs. Each one of her siblings was leaving today to begin their Pokémon journey. Without her. She felt the tide of tears try start flow again, but blinked rapidly to keep them from falling.
It wasn't fair. Not fair at all. She'd turned 15 this year. She should have left on her journey five years ago. To be honest, her older siblings should have left seven years ago, but the point was she was going to have to wait two more years with only her parents at home. She might as well just get shot now. She'd be smothered and kept on a shelf like the porcelain doll her mom thought all her children were.
Speak of the devil, she heard her mother calling for her from down stairs. "Deema! Get down here right now! You're siblings are leaving and you should be down here to see them off."
Deema sighed and shook her head. Crazy over protective old lady. She rubbed at her eyes to make sure the tears were gone and went downstairs.
Trevor, Kane, and Melissa all were waiting, smiles spread wide across their faces in excitement. The triplets were well overdue to start their journey and they couldn't wait. Melody hurried over to Deema as she came out of the house and hug tackled her. "Oh Deema, I'm gonna miss you! I'll call you whenever I get to a town and tell you all about what's happened okay?" She pulled back to grin down at her sister.
"I'll miss you too Melissa, I-"
"Oh what, not gonna miss us then? No love for the big bros?"
Deema laughed as Trevor glomped himself over his sisters. "I'll miss you too of course. Leaving me all alone."
Kane came around the circle of hugging and ruffled Deema's hair. "It won't be too long before you join us kiddo. You know that."
Kane was the one that Deema was closest to. He knew exactly what she was always thinking, and he knew how hard it was to watch them all leave. They also looked the most alike. "I know. Just a couple of years."
"Those years will be done and over with if you guys just keep standing around. Hurry up and say goodbye." Their mother complained.
Deema sighed again. It was going to be a very long two years. Her siblings all crowded around for one final hug and farewell before being off. Deema waved at them until she couldn't see them anymore, and hung her head against the rising sun. "Deema, get over here. These chores aren't going to do themselves. Start in the garden today will you?"
She resigned herself to the inevitably of the horror of the next two years. "Time to get the chores down." She murmured as she trudged over to the garden to begin the weeding and harvesting.
Deema could feel the dirt caking underneath her finger nails with the hot sun beating down on her. She had half a mind to just drop what she was doing and head out to the stream at the other end of town. "Why can't mom just catch some Pokémon that'll keep up with the gardening?" She wiped some sweat off of her forehead with her arm and went to the next row of vegetables. She placed the basket down and knelt down next to the first carrot. A bit of tugging and it was out. A nice big fresh one. Perfect for if she was stuck cooking dinner tonight. The next one, same thing. The third carrot though, it absolutely refused to come out of the ground.
Deema glared angrily at the leaves of the stubborn vegetable. "Now is not the time to mess with me you stupid orange thing that tastes bad. I want to get my chores done so I can relax. Try cooperating."
She grasped the leaves at the base and tugged some more on the vegetable. It stuck firm. She got took her feet, determined to get that carrot now if it meant yanking its leaves off and going straight at the carrot itself. She dug her hands in around the base of the leaves stuck in the ground and pulled for all she was worth.
She succeeded in pulling the plant up and out of the ground, but she also managed to tug hard enough to send herself flying backwards onto the ground. Her head made contact with the ground and she curled up in pain. "Stupid carrot!" She shouted in anger. Of course, drawing herself into a ball led to her smacking herself with the carrot. But what hit her upside the head wasn't a carrot. It was so much heavier than a carrot. It was like smacking herself with a basketball on purpose.
Her head was spinning even with her eyes closed and all she wanted was the pain to stop, but some little angry puffing kept her from trying to block it out. She angrily opened her eyes to face a small little green face with pissed off brown slit-shaped eyes. It was making little huffing noises despite its lack of mouth and swinging back in fourth from where Deema had ahold of the leaves on its head.
For the moment, Deema forgot all about her pain. She just starred at the angry little bulb with eyes that was currently giving her the death glare. "What the hell are you?" There was no response of course, other than it swinging itself harder. Its adorable little face was turning red with anger, and the huffing was more insistent.
"Deema! Are you alright? I heard something crash."
Deema dropped the little unknown Pokémon and jumped to her feet. When the movement caused her head to begin spinning again, she almost fell back down again. "I'm fine! Just tripped." She called, her voice a little unsteady. Her mother came onto their back porch with a dish in her hands, still drying it. "You sure? The crash sounded pretty big."
Your bi-polarity is showing again mom… "Yeah, just fine." Deema heard her mom gasp all the way from her spot in the garden. "No you're not! You're bleeding!" Deema touched a hand to the back of her neck. Sure enough there was blood.
Her mother placed her dish on the counter and rushed over. "Oh my gosh, just imagine if you'd tripped and you'd been on the road with your siblings! See this is why I don't want to let you guys go out. You can get seriously injured and no one will be there to help you." Her mother was so caught up worrying over Deema that she accidently kicked the green Pokémon. Deema tried to see if it was all right, or the least where it landed. Little thing was just having a terrible start to the day.
"Mom, I'm fine really. I'll just go into the bathroom and clean it up."
"But if you're bleeding you could have a concussion. Don't try to make it seem like you're fine. Come with me." Her mom grabbed her arm and started for the house. Deema grabbed for the vegetable basket as she was dragged along behind her mom at the last second, with a slight thought for the weight seeming different.
Inside her house's first floor claustrophobic bathroom, Deema was bent over the sink as her mom washed the blood off of the shallow split in her skin at the base of her skull. "Well, the blood is gone. And I suppose it really isn't that bad. I guess you can go back to your chores then. I'll get you some ice though. Stay here." Her mother left the bathroom and gently closed the door. Deema shook her wet hair to get the end droplets off and sat down on the lid of the toilet. She poked at the welt on the back of her head. It throbbed under her fingertip.
"Lovely." She sighed and leaned back against the cool porcelain. Her head throbbed whether she touched it or not so it was nice to relax. While she might be able to do chores, she'd probably ask her dad to take care of finishing up the garden. Speaking of garden, her vegetable basket was on the counter and had some nice and fresh food in it. Perfect time to snack.
She placed her hand blindly in the basket and pulled the first thing her hand came into contact with. And was rewarded with an already familiar angry huffing.
Deema brought her hand to her face with its contents and saw the same Pokémon from the garden doing its angry swinging routine. "You just keep popping up don't you?" It occurred to Deema that swinging in midair by its head leaves couldn't be all that comfortable. She placed the green little guy on her lap. "Better?"
It huffed again, but stopped afterwards. "I'll take that as a ticked off yes."
The green Pokémon did a little circling dance on her lap as it tried to find the most comfortable spot to sit. It was like a small little house pet. "How cute." She murmured. It chose the middle of her lap and plopped down, though all that happened was it got a little shorter. The thing didn't really have legs.
Her mother picked the worst moment to come in. "Here's your ice kiddo." Deema grabbed the Pokémon by its leaves and tucked it under her shirt to hide it.
Ice in hand, her mother tried to come more into the bathroom. "Are you alright?"
"God mom, learn to knock!" Her mother's face flushed red and she back up out of the room. "Sorry! I'll just leave the ice in the kitchen." Her mother left, and Deema's face was as red as her mom's.
"Well that was embarrassing." Having her mom think she'd been going to the bathroom and had been walked in on had kept the Pokémon from being discovered, but it was going to certainly be an awkward dinner tonight. Deema reached up under her shirt and pulled the Pokémon out from under her shirt. When out from under her shirt, the Pokémon was ten shades of angry again at being rough handled and promptly bit her.
"Ow! You don't even have a mouth!" Deema flung the angry Pokémon into the bathtub off of her bitten hand and glared in its general direction. She wanted to yell at it some more, but the thing kind of had a reason to be violent towards her. That didn't make the hurt in her hand go away though.
A knock sounded on the closed bathroom door. "Deema, you okay sweetheart?" Her head snapped up. Uh-oh. Dad. The reason there were no Pokémon in their household. He had had many horrible experiences with Pokémon growing up, and was still pretty scared of them. To make him feel better, Mom had forbidden any Pokémon from being in the house. Part of the reason her children had to wait so long to leave the house.
"Of course daddy!"
"I heard something about a mouth."
"I um- bit my mouth! And was yelling at myself about it."The doorknob began to turn. "Don't come in! I'm about to take a shower."
The doorknob stayed still. "Alright then. Do you want me to finish up the gardening for you then?"
"If you could, I'd love it. I'll cook dinner instead."
"Sounds like a plan. I'll be out in the garden then if you need me."
The door was returned to its stationary position and Deema dropped her tensed up shoulders. Today was so hectic it wasn't even funny.
Deema heard scampering in the bottom of the tub and remembered the Pokémon she'd flung in there. She moved towards the shower and saw the green tulip like Pokémon running around in circles inside the bathtub. "Having fun there?" The Pokémon looked up at her and jumped up and down making happy little puffing sounds before going back to running. A droplet of water escaped from the tub's facet. The Pokémon jumped in the air and rushed over to where the drop had fallen down the drain. It starred at where the drop had disappeared down at for a minute before looking up at the facet and jumping at it. Deema leaned over the tub and gently turned the water on. The little Pokémon huffed in delight and preened under the waters cascading flow. Deema finally noticed that the little guy had dirt on most of its body. She moved closer to the head of the tub and carefully picked up the tiny green thing and began to rub at the dirt spots. The Pokémon enjoyed the attention and made little cooing noises, despite its lack of a mouth.
As Deema washed the Pokémon clean, she decided that she was going to keep the little guy. It was just too cute to let go, especially when it was all sweet like it was at that moment. She'd have to be very careful hiding it, she didn't know what would happen if her parents found out about it, but she wasn't curious enough to find out. Something she wanted to know though was what kind of Pokémon her new little companion even was.
Her chores were being done thanks to Dad, dinner was hours away, and her mom wouldn't be stalking her to make sure she was safe since it wouldn't occur to her that Deema would leave while injured. Perfect timing for the start of a new adventure.
It was time to pay good old Professor Juniper a little visit.
Before leaving Deema had rushed up stairs and grabbed a sweatshirt and tugged it on. She'd apologized to the little Pokémon repeatedly as she'd hidden it under the sweatshirt, hoping it wouldn't be too mad and decide to attack her at a bad time. The sweatshirt was for only getting out of the house easily without having to worry too much about her parents seeing her new pal. It worked, then again Deema went out the front door which was at the opposite end of the house from both garden and kitchen.
Immediately when she got to the main road leading to the professor's lab, her house was off a dirt path leading from the road, she took her buddy out from under the already broiling hot sweatshirt. "Sorry pal. I just had to make sure you weren't seen."
The Pokémon didn't seem overly concerned about having been stuffed under the sweatshirt, just happy to be out from under it.
Deema put the green little one on the ground to remove the sweatshirt, then tied it around her waist. She thought about picking the Pokémon back up, but it's good and solid 15 pounds was tiring after a while. She looked down at the Pokémon and shrugged. "The exercise will do you good. Come on, I want to make sure we get to the Professor's lab before she leaves for her afternoon experiments."
The Pokémon was content to walk along side Deema as she headed down the left to the lab.
A slight breeze was finally beginning to pick up as the two walked down the path, making the summer heat more bearably. The Pokémon's leaves rustled in the wind as it hopped alongside Deema. At the end of the road the lab began to loom into sight. Deema felt a smile spread across her face and she broke into a run to get there faster. It'd been a while since she'd been at the lab, she'd been busy helping her siblings pack and get ready for their journey. Having been away from the lab, even for a few weeks had been dreadful, she loved helping out. Between her, Professor Juniper, and the Professor's assistant, Bianca, they were collecting so much data and trading it with other Professor's all around the world. She could guarantee Professor Juniper would know what kind of Pokémon her little buddy was.
The metal door was cool to the touch despite the heat when Deema knocked on it. A small yellow light flashed above the door. "Yes, who is it?"
Deema recognized Bianca's bubbly voice even though she was trying to act mature for answering the door. "Hey Bianca, it's Deema. Is the professor in?"
"Oh, Deema! I've been wondering where you went. Just a sec, I'll let you in. The professor just went outside to check on something, but she said she'd be back in just a minute." The little light blinked to green and the door slid open.
Inside the lab was refreshingly cool and the familiar humming of all the machinery was welcome. Deema heard Bianca's footsteps coming down the hall before she saw her. Bianca's customary beret was tilted at an angle today, and her hair was slightly mused, but her smile was warm and welcoming and matched her wide open arms. "Deema! We've missed you!"
The 'we' was accentuated when a Samurott and Cinccino ran out of the hall behind Bianca and tackled Deema. Bianca was quick to follow up and join in on the hug pile, though at that point everyone had already fallen to the floor. Deema felt the air rush out of her lungs, but she didn't mind, it was all in good fun, and it seemed an eternity since she had seen her friends. It was wonderful to be back, even if just for a short time. The hug continued with half-worded sentences and noises of joy, until Deema's buddy decided it wanted a different angel to see what was going on. It hopped up onto Deema's head from where it had run away from the huge Pokémon that had rushed at Deema and observed everyone. Bianca stopped mid-sentence/squeal to look at it curiously. "Who's this little fella?"
Deema crossed her eyes and tried to look up at the top of her head. "That would be an excellent question. It's why I'm here, to ask if Professor Juniper knows what it is."
Bianca looked at it closely before climbing off of the hug pile on the floor and shooing her Pokémon off. She held out a hand to help Deema off. "Well, it looks super familiar, but I don't remember exactly all what it's called and the extra details. We'll just have to get the Professor then, she'll know."
Deema accepted the hand up and nodded. "Yep. Good old Professor Juniper."
There was an air-lock gasp as a door on the other end of the building closed. "I hope you're calling a different Professor Juniper old in there."
All heads turned in the direction of the Professor's voice as she came into the room, a huge Bisharp behind her. "Well hey there Deema, long time no see. I take it you're bored after you're siblings leaving you. If you want I have some errands you can run."
Professor Juniper's smile was just as warm as Bianca's had been. Deema was disappointed she wouldn't be able to help out today; she'd have to hurry back to her house to make sure her absence wasn't noticed. "I'd love to Professor, but I can't. I'm really only here for a few minutes to ask a few questions."
Professor Juniper's eyebrows rose. "Ask away Deema."
Insistent huffing came from the Pokémon that Deema had decided to adopt, it clearly didn't like being ignored. It hoped up and down from its spot on Deema's head and spun in small circles every few seconds. Professor Juniper blinked at the Pokémon. "Well I must be getting old if I didn't see you right away little one. And who are you?"
Deema took her buddy off of her head and held it in her arms. "That's why I'm here Professor. I have no idea. But I'd like to know, and that's why I came here. I want to know what kind of Pokémon it is, what it takes to keep it happy and healthy, and the like. I've decided to keep it."
Bianca smiled and started to clap, but then thought about something. "But, Deema, don't your parents not allow Pokémon at your house?"
Deema nodded sadly and rocked her pal in her arms. "Yeah, but I'm gonna hide it." She looked at Bianca. "Come on Bianca, you went on a Pokémon journey, you made friends all over the place and explored Unova. I can't do that just yet thanks to my parents being too over protective. I just want something I should have already had, is it really that bad?"
Professor had an odd look on her face, like she was thinking really hard on something. "Well Deema, I can certainly tell you what your little friend is."
Deema snapped her head to look over at the Professor. "Really? Then tell me!"
The Professor chuckled. "Now don't be too impatient." She walked over and plucked the green Pokémon out of Deema's arms. "This little cutie here is called a Petilil. It's a grass type and likes soil with lots of nutrients and moisture. Which brings me to my next question, even if you're were the one who came here to ask them, where'd you find the little one?"
"I was harvesting some carrots in the garden and when I tried to pull one up, it was actually this guy. It had itself buried in the ground."
"I did say they liked nutrient rich soil."
Deema grinned and stole Petilil back. "So you're a Petilil huh?" Petilil huffed and shivered. "Hmm, if I'm gonna keep you, you need a nickname."
She tried to think of something creative and cute, to fit the Pokémon, but the best she could come up with was this. "How about Lillil?"
Petilil made its happy huffing noises. It was decided then, it was to be called Lillil. Professor Juniper grinned as she turned around and headed over to one of her many work benches. "Well if you two are going to be living together then, Lillil is going to need a Pokéball."
She dug into one of the deeper draws on a particularly large work bench until she came up with four Pokéballs. She hurried back over to Deema and hid her arms behind her back. "Okay. Pick either left or right, and then left or right again."
Deema wasn't sure what the Professor was doing, but it was going to be good, she knew it. "Alright, how about, right, then left."
Professor Juniper brought her arms around in front of her and Deema saw four different Pokéballs, in their contracted forms, in the Professor's hands. She recognized all of them. A regular Pokéball, an ultra ball, a lure ball, and a luxury ball. She'd chosen the luxury ball. "Alright Deema! Great choice." Professor Juniper tucked the three left over balls in her coat pocket. "So, as long as Lillil consents, this will be her new home when it needs to be."
Professor Juniper smiled kindly down at Lillil, who cocked its head to the side, as she tapped the Pokémon on the head with the Pokéball. Three simple shakes and it was caught. Deema looked at the Professor as she was handed the Pokéball. "Professor, how do you know it's a girl?"
"All Petilil's are girls. There's no gender variation for these cuties. Well, now that Lillil has her own Pokéball, you'll probably be needing your own Pokédex." Professor Juniper went to a different work bench.
"But Professor, I can't. You need a Pokédex if you're going on a journey, but I'm not. I'm just staying at home with Lillil."
Professor Juniper laughed as she took a Pokédex off of the desk and grabbed extra Pokéballs. "Where's your sense of adventure Deema? Weren't you complaining earlier about how much you wanted to go on your own Pokémon journey but couldn't? Well now you can. Just give me a few more seconds to get you the stuff you'll need."
Bianca and Deema were shocked. Bianca spoke up first. "Professor… are you telling Deema to run away and go on a journey anyways?"
Professor Juniper grabbed a brown drawstring bag from beside a desk and put everything inside. She also grabbed a brown leather belt, specifically for carrying Pokéballs. She spun around with a grin and held out the bag and belt to Deema. "The Pokédex can tell you what how strong your Pokémon is, what moves it knows, its nature, and what type it is. It can also tell you where Pokémon that you've caught also come from and other details. The belt will just make it easier to access your Pokéballs. Any questions?"
Deema hesitantly took the belt and bag. Her mind was having a hard time processing the fact that Professor was not only telling her to run away and spite her parents, but giving her tools and reasons to do so. She looked up at the Professor's face, trying to find some hidden reasoning. "Why?"
The Professor's jovial smile turned into a softer, more understanding one. "I've known your mother since we were both little Deema. Ophelia means well, but her protective instincts went into overdrive when she met your father. I know she'll be heartbroken with all of her kids gone, but she does still have her husband, and you're a growing young woman, you need to start experiencing things for yourself." Professor Juniper pulled Deema in for a warm hug. "In the end both your parents will understand, and things will work out. Just be careful out there though, it can be rough, just as your parents have warned you."
The Professor let Deema go and wiped a tear out of her eye. "You've been a great help out around the lab kid. I know all the Pokémon here will miss you."
Bianca's eyes were watering as she pulled Deema in for a hug. "Oh, I'll miss you too Deema! You've been so much fun and don't mind when I make mistakes. You'll be a great trainer, I just know it!"
She pulled slightly back from the hug. "Well, now you'd better hurry back home. Your mom and dad will start looking for you soon probably and you don't want to get on a bad note right before you leave. Be careful."
Deema was numb as she nodded, and said some basic goodbyes to Professor Juniper, Bianca, and the rest of the Pokémon there. She hardly even noticed the extra weight of the bag and belt as she left the lab and started running back home. She was in a total state of shock.
Finally, after wanting to for so long and so badly, she had a way to leave. The Professor had given her a Pokémon companion, in a way, so she could leave and strike it out on her own. As she got on the path that lead back to her house, she untied her sweatshirt and pulled it on over everything before heading back all the way home. She saw her dad still in the garden on the last row of squash and waved back at him when he waved at him, not noticing where she'd come from. Deema quietly opened the front door, looked to see if her mom was nearby, then rushed up the stairs to her room and slammed the door shut. She went over to her bed, stripped herself of the sweatshirt, bag, and belt, before collapsing on it.
She could leave. Tomorrow morning when she was supposed to start on her chores, just leave and start her journey. Professor Juniper and Bianca had both assumed she would too, having already let out their heartfelt goodbyes and wishing her luck. She starred blindly at the plaster of her ceiling. They were right too. She would take the chance that had been offered to her and run with it, see where it led her, make her own path, just as she wanted to. How she needed to.
She rolled over to the belt where she'd already put Lillil's Pokéball. She tapped the white middle button and out popped her little green buddy. Lillil stretched out its small body and did a mouth-less version of a yawn. Deema scooted closer to her and patted Lillil's head. "Are we really ready to leave though?"
That was the biggest crux. Yeah, she could do it; it was beyond easy at this point thanks to Professor Juniper. The dilemma was more of a should she, and once she was out there, would she be able to keep going on her own? She might try to convince herself she needed to, but did she really need to? She did already have Lillil, that was more than she'd had in years, in her life time, and it was only two years. She looked at Lillil who had her eyes closed and was enjoying being petted. "What do you think Lillil? Should we go?"
Lillil opened her eyes to blink at Deema, her little brown slitted gaze burrowing into Deema's eyes. What seemed like ages, the Pokémon simply huffed and tried to get Deema to start petting it again. "Well you're a big help. I have no idea what I thought you'd do, but it should have been more than that."
Deema reached over and picked Lillil up and brought it up over her head. "I guess I'll just have to think on it more then. No sense in making a snap decision when I don't need to."
There was a knock on Deema's door a second before it was pushed open. Deema quickly, and as gently as she could, stuffed Lillil under her sweatshirt and sat up on the bed. Her mother stood in the now open doorway. "You okay baby?"
Deema just nodded and tried to smile reassuringly, but it was rather feeble.
"Well, you've been up here a while and I wanted to make sure. Dinner's almost ready by the way, so time to wash up."
Deema's bedroom door went back to being closed and Deema fell back down on her bed. She rolled her head to the side to see Lillil struggling to get out from under the sweatshirt and bag, as Deema had shoved her under the pile in her rush to hide her. Deema pulled her out and was given the death glare. So much for keep Lillil nice and sweet. She was back to huffing angrily and the leaves on her head stood straight up. "Sorry Lillil."
The apology didn't faze the Pokémon; she instead chose to ignore her trainer by hoping off the bed and going over towards the closet. She had at first done so to get away from the meanie trainer, but discovered the closet doors were covered in a mirror and saw herself reflecting back. She jumped in shock before rushing over to get a better look. Lillil was completely fascinated with her reflection and quickly assumed the activity of doing different movements in the mirror to watch her reflection do the same. Deema giggled at how easily Lillil was amused. She assumed it was safe to leave Lillil up here alone while she sped through dinner, just for a little bit.
Deema hoped down off of the last stair and made her way into the kitchen. At the table her parents were already sitting, but without her siblings there, Deema couldn't help but think how empty the table looked. She took her customary spot across from her dad and observed what was for dinner. "Deema, we have something we'd like to discuss with you."
Deema was pulled out of her thoughts about how hungry she was to look at her dad. "What's that Daddy?"
Her father looked worriedly over at his wife, and took her hand. "Well Deema, it's… gosh, I don't know how to say this."
"Can't be that hard, just say it."
He sighed and shook his head. "Alright. Then I will." He took a deep breath and looked Deema straight in the eye. "We're sending you to Hoenn to be married."
Deema felt her eye twitch. "Your sense of humor is messed in the head Dad."
Her mother sighed. "Deema, we are being serious."
Deema's temper and sanity started to fly away from under her watch. "Oh come on. An arranged marriage? In this day and age?"
"Yes young lady, and don't give us any attitude about it."
"I'm 15! I don't want to get married! I don't even know the guy."
"Your father's sister has an important business contact who-"
"'Important business contact'? We aren't fucking business tycoons mom!"
"Watch your damn tongue and sit down!"
Deema had shoved her seat back and was about ready to leave the room. "No. I refuse to sit here while you dictate to me about something asinine and bizarre in which I had absolutely no say in."
She stormed out of the dining room kitchen area and headed back up the stairs. "Get back here right now young lady, or you'll be grounded when you get on the boat next week."
Deema slammed her bedroom door hard against its frame, and if she'd been looking, she would have seen little bits of plaster rain down from the ceiling.
Deema was in complete denial of what had just gone on down at the dinner table. It was impossible. Not even a full twelve hours had passed since her siblings had left to go on their journey, but suddenly she was supposed to go and get married to a complete stranger all the way in Hoenn. For business reasons. Which made absolutely no sense because her parents weren't even involved in any major corporations. Her mother was a pharmacist for Arceus' sake! Her dad was a professional garden too. There should be no need for anything as archaic as an arranged marriage. Especially not when the daughter in question wasn't even close to be of legal age.
Lillil, who had barely noticed that door had been slammed hard enough to bend a few boards, saw Deema's reflection in the mirror and turned to inquire about some food. She stopped though when she saw the outraged expression on Deema's face. Her face was red, but the more noticeable part, was the stream of tears down her trainer's face. She hoped over to Deema and onto her foot to get her attention.
Deema was about to kick whatever stupid thing had managed to get itself onto her foot when she looked down and saw Lillil. Her tiny white face looking up in query of why she was such a mess after being gone for such a short time. Deema felt her begin to dissipate and the fear and sadness begin to take over as she bent down to pick up Lillil. She hugged the warm little body to her, seeking some comfort. Footsteps sounded from the stair case as one of her parents came up. Deema locked the door, thanking Melissa for when they'd shared a room and she had demanded a way to lock anyone out when she wanted to be alone. Deema heard her mother pound on the door. "Open this door right now, we aren't done talking!"
Deema felt a new flood of tears wash over her face and hiccupped. She ignored her mother and went over and sat on her bed to stare out the sunset painted window. Any chance of her staying and waiting the two years to leave had been eradicated from her mind. She felt a cold settle on her as the plan was forced onto her instead of her leaving being a choice. She sniffled and tried to hold back any more tears from falling.
Deema wiped her face clear of the tears that ever so slowly continued to trickle out of her eyes. She pushed down the extra clothes she'd packed in her bag, as well as the blanket, small sleeping bag, extra food, and money she had saved up. Lillil was toying with her Pokéball on the edge of Deema's bed, waiting for either food or when she had to go back in the ball. Deema had decided the best time to leave would be in the middle of the night, when her parents were asleep, and she could better sneak out if she did it right. She'd changed into black clothing, donned her favorite pair of black work boots, and was about ready to go. She just needed a coat before she left her room to grab some food and then she was gone.
Deema moved silently to her closet and starred at her reflection as Lillil had done earlier. Her bright red hair was almost black in the moonlight, but its shortness remained the same. It barley reached the bottom of her neck. Her dark blue eyes would be rimmed with red, and her pale skin blotchy from the tears and crying. She was pretty short, but her boots added about two inches, bringing her to 5'3".
Deema pushed aside the closet door as quietly as she could and reached in to grab her cold weather jacket, just in case, and grabbed her goggles as a last thought and put both on. She moved back to her bed and swung her drawstring back over her shoulder and tied the belt on. Lillil looked up at Deema and huffed. Picking her buddy up, she hugged her closer and hiccupped. "We'll do our best, because that's all we can do." She murmured, before grabbing the luxury ball of the bed and putting Lillil back inside. Placing Lillil's ball on her belt, she tiptoed over to the door and let herself out. She pulled a paper clip out of her pocket as she stepped outside into the hall and fiddled with the doorknob until she got it to lock again. This way, when her parents tried to get to her, it would take them that much longer.
She went with a combination of speed and stealth as she worked her way downstairs and into the kitchen. She took a large paper bag and began shoveling fruit and vegetables into it, as much as she could carry, but not enough to be noticed right away. As she was gathering food, she had a pang of worry course through her. What would her parents think had happened to her? Should she leave them a note?
Deema grabbed a piece of paper off of the kitchen counter and a pen and tried to think of what to write. She couldn't write anything too long, but she didn't want them to think she'd been kidnapped either. She chose the simple way.
I love you guys. And I'm sorry.
P.S. Don't look for me.
She couldn't think of what else to say and left it at that. Within two minutes of writing the brief note, Deema was out the door and running as fast as she could down the dirt path. She kept up the break neck pace when she got to the road and continued on as far she could. Down the main road leading down to the Professor's Lab, down pass it, to the expanse of grasslands on either side of the road, and finally down to a bridge covering an out of the way river. It was there that Deema slowed down to catch her breath.
The cold night air was both a relief and pain as Deema tried to catch her breath, at the least it woke her up more. She turned to look up at the half-moon floating in the sky to her right and gave a faint smile. It was a sort of freedom to do something so defiant, such a thing done solely for herself. She moved the side of the bridge and took a moment to observe the river. Normally the river was just an overly large brook that was fun to play in during the day, but due to some odd and heavy rains, the river was much more full, and the current more violent. She had a brief thought of how it would suck to fall in there.
Her breath caught back, Deema was ready to get going again. She pushed against the old wooden bridge railing, and heard the creak and groan before she felt it collapse and fall, and her fall with it.
Deema fell in head first, with almost no air in her lungs. In the heavy current, it was next to impossible to tell which way was up, which was down, which way would lead to air, or which way would lead to her drowning. Her head briefly popped above the water and she gulped as much air as she possibly could. The current dragged her back under and all Deema could do was try to go with it but keep herself righted.
The water went on and on, dragging Deema along in its wake, until it finally started to subside back into a calm little stream. Unfortunately, by the time it had, between her sprint for freedom and struggle against the current, Deema could do no more than keep her eyes open, and even that was hardly working. Her mind started to fog over, and she couldn't help but think how horrible this way, to try and avoid one horrible fate, just to have an even worse one drag her down. She just wished she had the strength to at the least, save Lillil.
Her head dipped under the deep streams top layer for the last time, just as shadowy figured darted into the water. It grasped Deema around the waste, and used hydro-pump to shoot them back up and out of the water. Deema gasped for water as her lungs recognized the fresh, water free air, and she began to choke and cough. A firm hand patted her on the back. "There there young miss, all better. Good job Simipour. Now reach into my bag and get me a towel. We need to dry her off." Deema, in her half-conscious state, felt the roughness of a towel rub over her skin. She slowly surfaced more, and was grateful to whoever had reached in and saved her. Problem was, whoever it was, was an unknown, and at this point, all unknowns, were a potential risk at being caught.
Author's Note: So, if you're reading this, then you've most likely just finished reading my first attempt at any sort of fan-fiction, and I'm hoping people enjoyed reading it, even just the first chapter, as much as I enjoyed writing it. As this is my first fan-fiction, I'm open to any sort of critiques that could help, and interesting ideas, or opinions, or just anything really in the reviews, except flaming, that will be ignored and deleted. So thank you for ready and I hope you'll stick around for the next chapters to come. -Stormrifle.