"I can't believe you caught it"
"…What, are you actually impressed with my catching style?"
"No. I have a Geodude and now you have a cute little Mareep… You can tell who's going to wear the trousers in this whole thing."
"Shut u-…. Wait, what thing?"
"Come on, catch up! It's getting dark."
"What thi-"
"-Come on!"
We stood at my doorstep, an awkward silence draped over us.
"I would invite you in," I started, glancing at my window. Inside, my mum was watching TV, her head propped up on a kitchen glove-donned hand. "But-
- It's fine Zen, I'm sorted anyway."
Susii smiled at me. "Thanks though." I nodded.
She turned on her heel and started trudging back towards the New Bark gate.
"Susii," I called. She turned. "Where are you stayi-
- See you tomorrow Zen!"
Tomorrow?
I sat on my bed later that night staring at the pokéball. It was still cold against my hand, almost slippery. It shone in the moonlight that sliced through my window.
I couldn't believe it, that something was inside there.
Something that was mine. Part of me. My life. My future.
- What I was thinking at the time -
I'm only 14. Screw the Prof. and his little fox thing.
I caught a Mareep. And now it's in my hand. And I'm scared...
I woke up the next morning with the ball still in my hand. It still felt cold against my skin, and yet the covers were warmly pressed into my body. I stuck a toe out, and moaned when it tingled. It was a cold one today. The morning sun broke through my bedroom window, heatless and bright, and the ball sparkled as it was dressed in light. I yawned and sat up groggily.
"Right you," I muttered. "Let's have you."
I sat upright on my bed, the pokéball clenched in my hand. And threw it at the wall.
It smacked off it with a thwack and landed at my feel, rolling ever so slightly on the spot.
"You're not very good at this"
The voice in the corner made me jolt upright and I swiveled around to see Susii leaning against my bedroom door, her trademark sarky grin slapped on her face.
"What the fu-"
"Oh shh", Susii interjected, still grinning. Causally strolling into my room, she sat down next to me and looked at me with her giant eyes.
"Listen, you need to learn how to release the pokémon."
"How the hell did you get into my room?"
She smiled again and bit her lip, "Trainers can adapt their throwing style but you can't just throw it without saying anything, moron."
"Susii, how did you get into my room?"
"You can use anything from a flick of a wrist or a spinny-round lob, just as long as you have a release catchphrase."
"How did you ge-"
"-I used my legs, does that answer your stupid question?"
"… I guess?"
She laughed and turned to face me, lightly resting her hand on the corner of my leg. "Besides," she whispered, her grin widening devilishly. "Your mum isn't in." I tried not to blush and continued to glare at her, very conscious that we both knew I was mostly naked.
"You and Mareep need to get a catchphrase that you're both happy with", she said, catching a yawn. "I can't believe you haven't been taught this."
"Well, excuse me for being new at this. If I knew what I was doing, I would have left by now and would probably travelling to every place in the world, being the best trainer aro-"
"Just stop talking", she shouted, before jumping up. "Come on, I'm going to take you training."
I smothered a smile. "You?"
"Yes, me," she pouted. "And you wouldn't want to upset me would you?"
"I guess not?" – I wouldn't have wanted to risk it anyway, I had come to realise, albeit begrudgingly, I enjoyed her company, even if she was completely nutd.
"Exactly!", she shouted, grinning at the way I jumped again. "Now, come on. Get dressed, grab your pokéball and meet me downstairs in ten minutes."
"So, where do you live?" We were walking towards the same patch of grass we caught Mareep in. Susii said it makes sense because you train in the place you catch. I couldn't argue with that.
"I…don't."
"You don't!? What do you mean?" I looked at her quizzically.
"Well", she started, sighing. "I lived in Azalea Town for a little while but I got bored of the place. So I left."
"Just like that?"
"Well yeah, my parent's were upset of course but this world is too big not to explore, you know what I mean?"
"I guess…"
"You need to learn to say something else to questions you know that?" she looked at my, her sarcastic grin glued back on her lips.
I glowered at them. "What, like you need to stop interrupti-"
"-Shut up, we're here!"
We walked through the posts and I tapped the wood softly as I passed them.
She looked at me with an odd look on her face before flicking her eyes ahead to the grass.
"Now what, your lordship?"
She smiled at me and flicked me off. "We wait."
We made a small hole in the grass and sat down for a good couple of hours, talking.
- An excerpt of our enthralling conversation-
"So what made you want to be a trainer?"
I have no clue," she said. "I tend to go with the flow y'know? I never stick to the rules really and it's worked out so far. And I'm still young; I know I still have so much to experience."
"Yeah…"
"So tell me, why are you such a girl?"
I scowled at her. "Are you ever serious Susii?"
We sat some more and talked some more but we weren't really listening to each other. The wind shyly kissed us both, and the smell of fresh grass teased our senses. The grass provided us with both a windshield and privacy. We were in our own natural cell, and we were both waiting.
Focused on finding a pokémon.
Three hours and seventeen hours of sitting and talking later, we struck gold.
"Zen loooook!" Susii screamed joyously, beside herself.
I looked up, after trying to collect myself from a mini heart attack before seeing a pokémon flutter down into a tree a couple of metres away. I looked at up at Susii who had already started to run off towards the tree.
"Susii, wait a min-
"-Zen, come on!"
I ran after her.
We both craned up to look at the pokémon in tree. It was a bird, coloured brown and with prominent beige ruffled underbelly. Behind back eye sockets, brilliant-white slanted eyes peered suspiciously down at us.
"Right, Zen. Here's the first lesson", said Susii, looking at me seriously. I nodded at her for continue.
Her eyes flicked away from me at a minute to my hands. She gritted her teeth. "Zen, where's your pokéball?"
I gasped. Turning on a heel, I started sprinting back to town to retrieve it, ignoring Susii's facepalm.
I was lucky to see the pokémon hadn't moved an inch when I got back. I looked dumbly at Susii who, like me, held a pokéball. "Right, are you ready?"
"Wait, of course I'm no-"
"GO SLOWPOKE!"
She threw the ball and it erupted with a loud metallic sound and blinding flash, knocking me over.
In its place was a weird little pokémon that I couldn't stop staring at. It looked like a pink platypus, docile in appearance with two blunt teeth protruding from it's bottom jaw. Its tail was tipped white. Its wide eyes looked at me, uninterested.
"What the hell is that!?" I cried hoarsely, still spread-eagled on the ground. Susii laughed.
"It's super cute is what it is!" she shouted joyously before twirling around to look at the pokémon in the tree.
"Right Slowpoke, let's K.O this Pidgey!" she screeched pointed her finger at the tree. I could help but hopelessly love her dramatic side. I scuffled to my feet before gripping my pokéball and holding it out in front of me, eyes focused on the tree. Susii looked at me and nodded eagerly.
"Um…Come on out Mareep!" I screamed before throwing the ball at the tree.
The ball smacked against the tree before twisting in mid-air, slicing the air with crackling static and blowing open. In its place, stood Mareep.
It looked at me, before lazily stretching and plonking itself down in front of me.
I looked at it back, before pointing at it and then at the tree desperately. "Come on, get it!" I shouted. Susii slowly facepalmed. I glared at her embarrassed.
"What!?"
"Pick a move?"
"What?"
"A move. Like something it can use?"
"How am I supposed to know what the hell it does, I haven't even seen it more than five times yet!"
"Well, it's electric."
"So?"
"Do I have to spell it out for you Zen? Use an electric move like Thundershock or something! Jeeeeez!"
I pondered for a minute before a lightbulb clicked in my head.
"Mareep, use Quick Attack!" I bellowed. Mareep eyes widened and before I knew it, a cloud of dust appeared as it fled up the trunk before landing gracefully landing in front of the startled Pidgey.
"Now, Thundershock!" Mareep exploded in yellow light before blasting the Pidgey with electric power. The Pidgey squawked and shook as the shock hit it, before falling off the branch.
"Slowpoke, Psywave!" Susii shouted.
Slowpoke grunted and its eyes turned a soft blue colour, emitting a tutti-frutti coloured wave. The Pidgey slowed until it floated on the spot in midair and landed gently at Susii's feet.
"Is it... dead?"
Susii giggled and flicked me off. "Of course it isn't, silly."
"It's awfully still…"
"It's just paralyzed dummy. Come on, we'll take it to the Pokémon Centre."
I called to Mareep who gracefully landed beside me in one fluid jump. It nuzzled my leg and I stoked its wiry coat in awe of it. Each stroke emitted a crackle of yellow and left my hand feeling tingly.
I couldn't help but laugh.
Susii smiled and picked up the paralysed Pidgey before turning around. "Come on, lets go and- "
She was cut short.
In front of us stood a boy, silent against the shadows.
He had a bright red mane of hair and snakelike eyes. His lip was curled into a sneer that made his face look like a torn mask. He was dressed completely in black and beside him, stood a weird canine pokémon. It was also black, apart from a coffee-coloured muzzle and underbelly. It had a white masklike skull bone above its eyes and white bands around its legs. Two white bones protruded from its back, looking like white ribs. Smoke poured from its nostrils.
The boy stepped forward, the sneer still fixed to his face.
With a voice as thin and sharp as razor strips, he cut the air with a question.
"…Fancy a battle?"