Disclaimer: My name's certainly not affiliated with Pokémon –not unless I want to be sued .
Story: Modern world, hybrid AU. Ash Ketchum was a Persian hybrid that worked at a crazy café with her crazy boss Colress. She really didn't want to get entangled with the likes of Giovanni, Cyrus, Maxie, and Archie in their bid to create as many chaos in her life as they could.
Set as an AU.
Spoilers: Nope.
Warnings: Perverts, raunchy humor, weird humor, craziness, etc…
Pairings: BurntLedgerShipping
Kitty Claws
Chapter Four: Sweet Dreams Made
The streets were crowded, with the usual merchants yelling out their prices and trying to entice buyers to their stalls. That day was the weekly market fair, and there were plenty of items to go around, from produce to sweets, summer dresses to infinity scarves.
A lone hybrid peeked out from around the corner of the building, looking longingly at some sata andagi. She could smell the sweet deep fried buns of dough all the way from where she was hiding.
She wanted some, and she was so hungry….
Face smudged and wearing worn out clothes, with dirt marking places here and there and threads coming apart from the fabrics, she dared to reveal herself out to the public, heading hesitantly towards that stall with the confectionary.
"Isn't that a hybrid?"
"What kind is she?"
"She looks like some sort of cat…"
"She looks absolutely filthy."
She didn't care what they said, though it hurt to hear. And she hated that her sensitive ears could hear from so far away, enough that she could hear people talking about her even that far out. Instead, she focused on the stall that was within reach, ignoring the fearful look on the owner's face at the sight of her.
She pointed a clawed finger in the direction of the dessert.
"Please," she began, voice hoarse. "I don't have money. May I please have one?"
The owner grabbed one of the buns and threw it at her, causing her to hastily reach up and grab it, fumbling clumsily before grabbing hold.
"There! Now get out, you mangy cat!" the owner yelled, throwing her a disgusted look.
She flinched and nimbly darted away, using her long legs to make great strides away from that place.
When she was far enough away, finding a nice field of grass in between the road and a canal, she quickly gobbled up the food. It wasn't enough to make her hunger go away, but it slightly alleviated the pain in her stomach. And its sweet, yummy taste more than made up for it…
Sighing to herself, she fell onto her back and lay on the grass, calmly but sorrowfully staring up at the clear, blue skies.
It was still so lonely.
Her whiskers twitched and she felt the presence of another person in her vicinity. She quickly jumped onto her feet, hissing in the correct direction of the intruder, who looked surprised to see her react so fast and so aggressively.
The blond man held up his hands peacefully, one of them holding onto a paper bag that held a familiar sweet smell.
"Are you still hungry?" he asked kindly.
She watched him suspiciously, but he just held out the paper bag.
"I bought you some more of that sweet you seemed to like," he said. "I didn't think you would be full with just one."
She stared at him some more, before cautiously coming over and taking a sniff. Seeing and sensing no deceit so far, she snatched the paper bag out of his hand and opened it up, peering inside curiously. She purred happily and inhaled deeply as she saw the sweets. She dug one out and nibbled at it.
He walked closer to her, causing her to eye him in suspicion again, but she said and did nothing. All he did in the end was sit down next to her, so she decided to sit as well.
"I'm Colress," he introduced himself. "What's your name?"
"Ash," she murmured. "My name is Ash."
He looked at her curiously. "Most hybrids tend to change their names. Did you? It doesn't sound like it, but I could be wrong."
Ash looked up at the bright sky.
"My mother gave me that name. I want to treasure one of the few gifts she gave me."
She smiled sadly at blue skies that reminded her of a happier life.
He watched her silently, before he reached out and rubbed her head gently, giving her a warm smile as he buried his hand in her hair.
"Dreams are nice."
Somehow, to know that he somehow understood she still dreamt of her mother and of a kinder life, made things a little bit better for her.
When Ash's eyes awoke from the dream, still so vivid in her mind, she could feel the tears prickling at the corner of her eyes. She sniffed a little, rubbing at her eyes to make the tears go away. Looking to her side, she saw Colress already asleep, though the eccentric man had forgotten to take off his glasses again.
She sighed and reached over, carefully taking them off and folding the earpieces in, before she reached up and placed it on the floor and above the mattress.
Consequently, she wondered why she'd dreamed of the time when she first met Colress.
Ash couldn't go back to sleep after that, so she got up carefully, trying not to wake Colress (who idiotically tended to work himself into the ground and forget he still needed to eat and sleep). Once she was up and Colress was still knocked out, she headed over to the kitchenette. She might as well cook them breakfast already.
Deciding a traditional Western breakfast would do for the day, she started to take out some eggs and bacon, and got out some bread. Scrambled eggs and bacon, with a side of French toast, sounded good to her. Colress tended to just eat whatever she put out in front of him.
There was a polite knock on the door, and she looked at it in surprise. Colress just mumbled something and burrowed further into the blankets. Turning off the stove and putting the warmed up pan to the side, she headed over to the door to see who had interrupted her cooking.
She opened it and saw a red-headed man she hadn't seen around before. He looked briefly taken aback by her, probably because she was a hybrid and because of how she looked, before he bowed.
"Please excuse the intrusion. I just moved in recently and wanted to introduce myself to my neighbors. I'm Maxie," he finished, finally moving back up.
He held up a gift offering. "Please accept this gift."
Ash almost started staring. She knew it was Japanese tradition for one to greet their neighbors after moving in (and include a small gift), but he was really formal and he seemed like a foreigner.
Which reminded her, why was she running into so many foreigners lately?
She received the gift from him and smiled slightly.
"Thank you for the gift and welcome to here! I'm Ash. Would you like to come in?" she moved to open the door wider, but he held up a hand and smiled apologetically.
"No, that's alright. I don't want to be a bother. Plus, I left my sister in the apartment, and she's attempting to cook," which reminded her that she still had to cook as well.
"Ahhh! I burnt it! I burnt the bacon!" she suddenly heard the screaming from next door.
Maxie looked alarmed, so she guessed that was his new apartment and that had been his sister.
"Please excuse me!" he hurriedly said as he ran to the door and flung it open.
She saw smoke coming out and she raised her eyebrows. Worried, she came after him and saw that the stove was on fire in their home. Maxie was dragging his sister, a dark-haired human girl that seemed around Ash's age, towards the door. However, the fire was still going strong, so Ash rushed passed them.
"Wait! You shouldn't go near the fire –!"
But Ash was already using her arms and hands to smother the fire out, enduring the heat and flames easily, though it did hurt like hell. When she managed to put out the fire, she turned back to the siblings, who were staring at her, though thankfully not in disgust or wariness.
Ash cleared her throat and said wryly, "Um, hybrids tend to be built a little stronger than humans…" Still, her arms and hands stung, but she didn't want them to know that and worry. She could deal with a little pain, at least until she managed to get Colress to help her…
"Ehhh! Brother, we got a pet? So cute~" the girl tossed herself at Ash, and rubbed her cheek against Ash's, who was completely caught off guard by this.
"Idiot," Maxie growled, twitching. He grabbed his sister by the collar of her shirt, and roughly pulled her off of Ash. "Ash is our neighbor. She's a Persian hybrid."
"Oh?" the strange girl asked curiously. "But she's still cute," she pouted.
Holding out a hand, the girl introduced herself as "Courtney" and Ash tentatively shook it.
Courtney rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Heh, it's nice to meet you. I'm glad there are teens around my age around here. It makes me feel less embarrassed about being a ronin and having to study at a yobiku."
Ash actually felt rather interested about Courtney's education, but decided that it was probably too early to ask such personal questions to her, after having just met her. Still, she was just itching to blurt out questions.
"Well, there goes our breakfast," Maxie grumbled, and the two girls saw him by the stove, poking at burnt and blackened pieces of what was supposed to be bacon.
"I was just about to cook when you came, Maxie," Ash threw out there. "If you guys wanted, you can come over and have breakfast with me and my roommate?"
"Thank you!" Courtney accepted before Maxie could reject the offer politely. "I'm starving!"
Ash smiled widely and led them to her apartment, where Colress looked like he was just waking after sitting up on the futon mattress. He blinked blearily at them, shoving his glasses further up on his nose.
"What...did I miss?"
Started 12/18/14 – Completed 12/18/14 (Part I)
Started 12/18/14 – Completed 12/18/14 (Part II)
A/n: Hehe, Maxie has now arrived! That means Archie is coming up soon~ Kolkolkolkol…Anyway, wow! That's a huge, fantastic surge of alerts and favorites! Thanks, guys! Now how about some reviews, huh? (hinthint)