Why does my computer get so many viruses? Seriously, I NEED a Macbook this Christmas. :(
Bleck, it's time to update, isn't it? Well, that's cool ^_^
Recap: We've learned there might be more to Percy than meets the eye. Ben and Jane have officially declared their friendship. And Bella is now an official member of Team Nightshade and has been sent to track our heroes down and follow them. That can't be good.
I just realized that in one chapter when Ben's ex is mentioned her name was Caitlyn, but when I introduced her, her name was Cassie. Oops, sorry if this confused anyone.
Also, Fake Norris, this one's for you.
Chapter 9: I Battle Evil Squirrels
The week went on pretty quickly.
Everyday, it was spent as it always was. Woke up, rolled over, went back to sleep, woke up again, continued the flying lessons Jack was giving me (he sucked at them by the way, I could still only hover a few seconds), eat lunch with his weird ass family, take a nap, eat dinner with his weird ass family, take another nap, wake up, go to sleep.
It was a fucking nightmare. There was nothing to do.
So when the day came to begin our journey, I was like a kid on Christmas. A very dirty, cursing kid.
"Get your ass up, Jack! Today's the fucking day! We're getting out of this hellhole!" I was jumping up and down on his chest, the thought of pecking him as well became tempting, until he finally woke up.
"Get off, B-Cloud," he groaned, still not used to my new name.
I glared at him as he lifted me off him and put me next to him on the bed. "You moron! Today's the day we leave for our journey! I'm bored as shit, and we need to go!"
Jack sighed. "I thought the trainer was to get this excited, not the Pokemon."
"Bite me."
As the sun burned brightly in the sky, I was walking around the house, bored as hell. Jack was showering ("Priorities man!" I yelled at him) and packing his shit up. His sister Suzie had tried to make me stay so she could dress me up as a military soldier (I don't even fucking know) but I pecked her. She ran crying. I was so satisfied.
Finally, it was time to leave. With everything packed, everyone readied, we could finally go, and I couldn't be happier.
Jack slung a backpack over his shoulder, and as I sat on his bed, I noticed it was the same backpack I threw in the street. And I couldn't help but remember my death. The speeding metal, the crunch of my bones, the screams around me as people saw my demise. It was a very painful memory to say the least.
I'm not getting emotional, no, fuck that. Chuck Norris doesn't get emotional, and I am Chuck Norris, bitch. Oh yeah, I just blew your fucking mind.
Jack tossed some items into his pack, some books, some pencils, and some cash his parents provided. It was a couple hundred, but I couldn't tell, because Hoe-Bag…sorry, Ho-Oh, decided it'd be awesome if I couldn't read English letters or numbers. I call bullshit. Do you call bullshit? Because if not, I'm calling some bullshit on you not calling some bullshit.
Jack looked at me, smiling. "Ready to go?"
"Are you fucking serious?" I stared at him like he was crazy.
Jack sighed. "Are you ever going to be at least civil with me."
"Nope," I said, grinning.
Jack didn't respond, but I saw a glint of anger in his eye. And not like some 'you suck' anger, like a deep hatred kind of anger. It actually unnerved me a little bit. Not much though, because as I've stated before, I am the Chuck Norris. The fact that I'm a bird changes nothing, bitch.
"Come on," Jack said flatly. He reached down and picked me, making his way out of his bedroom and down the hall.
"Put me down! I can walk!" I yelled at him. "I have rights! I HAVE RIGHTS!"
As we walked downstairs, there were loads of tearful goodbyes and 'manly' hugs and handshakes. It's not very important, it's just that cliché "Oh we'll miss you so much and don't ever forget to call" shit. So let's do what I love to do: skip it!
After that, we left the house and Jack's dad Hulk (wasn't his actual name, but I named him that. Copyrights be damned) shut the door behind us. After that, we were officially on our journey.
Two words: Fuck yes.
"Can I please be put down now?" I asked as civil as I could possibly be after we had started walking for a little bit.
"Fine," Jack said bitterly. I had a feeling he was beginning to grow tired of my shit. Good, I was pissing him off. Mission accomplished.
"Hey guys!" a voice rang out.
Jack and I turned to the direction of the voice. There was Cassie, a backpack similar to Jack's over her shoulder, Percy cradled in her arms (he was smiling like a madman, obviously happy to be that close to someone's cleavage) and Shannon and Jane running along her side.
Jane ran over before anyone else caught up to her. Like last time, she tackled me to the ground. "Hi Cloud! Ready for our journey? It's going to be so fun!" Then she proceeded to nuzzle her head against my chest. It was cute to say the least.
Go on, tell me I'm a wimp. I dare you. You'll only receive a karate chop to your neck. So go on, punk, make my day.
I'm officially changing my name to Clint Norris. Oh hell yeah.
Then, just as soon as she had leapt on me, Jane jumped off, laughing. "This is gonna be fucking epic! Cloud, maybe we could be in a double battle! Oh I would rape any bastard that tried to fight me."
"I have no doubt, Jane," I said, chuckling. I was glad I had a friend this early on in the journey. Jane is one of the coolest people you can ever know, and she can turn even the manliest of men into either big softies or whimpering smears of nothingness underneath her paws. It depends on what mood she's in and what personality she's chosen. It's not like I had many other friends on this journey so far. An annoying dork, a shy seemingly nice girl who cheated on me (whoooooooooore), a pervert who keeps to himself about his past and a sympathetic diva who would be my friend if she got over herself for one damn second. Yeah, not a good selection, so I was grateful for someone like Jane.
Cassie, Percy and Shannon finally caught up to Jane. Cassie smiled at me. "Looks like they've made a friendship."
"Bite me," I said, glaring at her.
"Be nice," Jack grunted quietly. He then smiled at Cassie. "So, uh, ready to go?"
Cassie smiled back at him. "Yep. Got some cash, food, water, some hiking gear. I think I'm all ready to go."
Jack looked at us Pokemon. "So, how about you guys? Ready to go?"
"Shut the hell up, you know I want to go." I glared.
Shannon cocked her head to the side, looking like she had just tasted bad. "Ugh, we're going to the wilderness?" Yeah, some wilderness. "I swear, if I get mud on my paws, I'll be pissed."
Percy didn't answer, he was still too busy snuggling up to Cassie.
Jane was having her own little conversation with herself. "Jane, isn't this gonna be so fun?" she asked herself excitedly. "Hell yeah…when do I get to kick ass?" You see what I mean when I say she's awesome? "You should be patient! And…I don't think you should battle." Jane suddenly let out a low growl. "Why not?" Jane's face then contorted in fear. "I just mean…we're connected! If you go out into a fight, that means I'll have to fight." Jane then laughed. "Psh, sis, you worry to much. If I get in a fight, I'll protect you." Jane lit up like a Volbeat. "Really?" Jane then simply nodded, then gave an even bigger smile.
It'd be a sweet moment between sisters if it wasn't really, really confusing.
Cassie shifted her weight, not knowing what to say. "So, should we go now? We've said our goodbyes, we've got our supplies…so do we begin the journey now."
Jack shrugged. "I guess so." Then Jack let out a laugh.
Cassie looked at him strangely. "What's so funny?"
Jack shook his head. "Oh, it's nothing. It's just…everyone talks about how it's so hard to leave your home to go on a journey, but for us, well, it just feels like it's not that big of a deal. We'll still be in touch with our parents, and we've taken everything we need with us, so we won't miss anything too much. It just seems we're taking leaving our homes a lot better than everyone else."
Cassie looked down, a saddened expression gracing her face.
Jack took notice of that quickly (but he was helpful about it, when I would've laughed). "Hey, you okay? Did I say something…?"
Cassie shook her head, her black hair shaking as she did. "Oh no, it's just…I know why we're not having a hard time leaving."
Jack looked at her. "Why?"
Cassie sighed. "We both need this journey, Jack. We need it, a lot more than we're letting on. And you know why we need to leave this place behind." I noticed Jack looking confused, then realized what she was talking about, then he nodded solemnly. "There's too many bad memories. You know, about…him."
It hit me like a brick: they were talking about me and my death.
Cassie sniffled a bit as we all walked towards the town's entrance to leave for Sandgem. "I mean…I don't know what else to do other than run from it. Run from him. Now whenever I think of Twinleaf or Sandgem, I can only think about him. I don't know what to do. I don't know if I should sob uncontrollably. I don't know if I should act like it doesn't faze me. I don't know if I should be celebrating his memory. I just…I can't even think about it without getting so confused that it makes my head spin. I feel like shit everyday because all my thoughts are focused on him. Hell, I even skipped his funeral, because I just couldn't bear to see him in some box, dead."
My eyes widened. My funeral! I had a fucking funeral? When? Nobody told me. I knew I would have one, but I didn't know when. Thoughts of my parents flooded my mind. How would my mother react, what with her job searching? Would she give up? And, my Mew, how would my father react? That man was a big ball of angst and sadness…what had this done to him? My father would never tempt the option of suicide…right? Then, anger replaced sadness. Jack did nothing. He probably knew about it, so why didn't he go. I understand it might've been hard for him, but at least he could've told me about it then told me why he didn't want to go. But he didn't, he acted as if I didn't exist. I know I shouldn't have been angry, but I gave my life for his egg. At least give me some credit. As more emotions about the subject appeared within me, I kept listening to the conversation, or rather, Cassie talking to Jack while he stayed silent.
"And now all I can think about is how terrible I feel about…what I did." She said it hesitantly, because nobody likes to talk about how they cheated on someone. But I wanted her to feel under the magnifying glass, I wanted her to feel like shit about what she did. She wasn't the one who had started to fall in love with someone (yeah, yeah, I'm young and shouldn't know what love is, blah blah blah shut up). She wasn't the one who had found the person they fell in love with in the janitor's closet at school making out with some blonde rich guy (more like middle class, but when you're in Twinleaf, middle class is rich status worthy). No, that was me. I was the one who had to go through that, not her. I was the one who felt like shit, but to her it seemed like it didn't matter. The day after I found out, she didn't have much of a reaction to my finding out. When I saw her in the streets, she didn't give me a second glance. When we sat next to each other in the little schoolhouse, she said nothing to me. When I gave a speech for class that day, her eyes had directed themselves to her pencil which was placed on her desk. It was clear our relationship was over, and it didn't need the label of 'broken up'. Our relationship was one that didn't need that kind of label. Some things need labels. Some things don't. We didn't need that. It was clear in our body language and our separate emotions that the kind of spark we used to have ended as soon as I saw that guy's tongue in her mouth. Back then, it didn't even affect her in the slightest. But now it had affected her and it made her hurt. I was happy she had felt hurt, finally, after all this time. She should feel hurt, and now that she had, I couldn't be more happy.
Sadistic, you say? A little, but then again, we're talking about me here.
"Yeah…" Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Awkwardness will not leave me alone, will it?
Jack pointed. "Hey! Look, we're at the borderlines of the town."
Cassie gave a small smile. "Guess we are."
Jack grinned, trying to forget about the solemn seconds that occurred just a little bit before. "So, Cassie, we're finally on our journey."
Cassie couldn't help but lengthen her smile. "It's all up hill from here."
Jack laughed. "Couldn't agree more."
Oh how wrong teenagers are sometimes.
The route between Twinleaf and Sangem is as basic and generic as it could possibly get. It's just a lot of grass, covered in snow. There's also a gravel road for the very rare car that may pass between the two towns, but you wouldn't notice it because the snow covers it. And none of the Pokemon around here are all that interesting either. Bidoof is one of the dumbest Pokemon, and I would love to peck at it for hours, just to piss it off. It deserves it with a name like Bidoof. Other than that, you can find Starly which is your standard flying type and the occasional Shinx which kicks some serious ass if used well. I had seen these Pokemon around all my life, and frankly I was glad I was going on a journey to meet new Pokemon, since seeing the same shit for fifteen years is really boring.
The route was pretty straightforward as well. Just walk down a path, take a turn and bam! Hello Sandgem! So it wasn't too hard for Jack and Cassie to navigate our current trek. I wondered if we'd meet any trainers on this route. Trainers were pretty damn rare on this route, but I came on this journey for fighting and kicking ass. And so far I had kicked no ass. I was, to say the least, a sad panda (inside joke, involved me and some dude throwing Jack against the lockers and he hit some chick in a panda sweater. You had to be there).
I was freezing my tail feathers off. Yeah, I know. You're totally shocked. But imagine walking barefoot (baretalon, whatever) through the snow on a three hour hike with no clothes. Yeah, it's pretty fucking cold.
Jane was trying to cheer me up by singing a song, but it was ruined when she scolded herself for singing. I swear, that Eevee's cool, but crazy. Very, very crazy. I had just gotten used to it, but I would later realize why Jane was the way she was. It's actually a pretty deep story, but that'll be told in the future.
Yes people, the future. Where flying cars zoom by in the air. Where pink hover boards are the new 'thing'. Where people fly around in big blue boxes and fight monsters day in and day out with a new companion every year.
No, not really. Sorry.
It was a surprise to all of us when the boy stepped out of the trees. He had spiky green hair and a very dark tan (must've been from Hoenn). He was also pretty tall and very muscular, and I assumed he got his muscles from football seeing as he had a red letterman jacket for some high school on. Under the letterman jack he wore a long sleeved blue shirt and he wore some baggy blue jeans with some purple converse (who where's purple converse?). I also took notice of the Pachirisu atop his head, with its long bushy tail draped over his shoulder as it nuzzled against his hair affectionately. He was, to say the least, loud in appearance.
The boy, who I guessed was seventeen, noticed us and smiled. "Oh, hello. Didn't think anyone was on this route."
Jack grinned holding out his hand. "Hi, I'm Jack, nice to meet you." Did no one ever tell him to not talk to strangers?
The boy shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. My name's Drake." Then the boy named Drake pointed to the Pachirisu on his head. "This is Kirby. Say hi Kirby."
Kirby proceeded to burp as loud as he possibly could. It was lovely, really.
That was a joke, lighten up, geez.
Cassie stepped out from behind Jack, making herself known. She had a visible blush, and I couldn't tell if it was from the sheer cold of the environment or because she was blushing because she thought he was cute. I hoped it was the former, because if it was the latter, I'd be pissed seeing as she got over me pretty damn quickly. "Um, hello." She then gave a little wave. "I'm Cassie."
I looked up at Drake. "Don't fall for it man. She probably only wants your nuts or your money, or both."
What? I was helping him, silly.
"Nice to meet you," Drake smiled, and my Mew his teeth were whiter than the snow that had fallen on the ground. And let me tell you, that's pretty damn white. Just saying.
Cassie smiled shyly, but I saw through her act. She was truly evil and wanted to eat all of our souls in the dead of night. I'm being totally cereal.
Jack then took it upon himself to introduce us Pokemon. "This Pidgey is my starter, Cloud. The rest are hers. Jane the Eevee, Percy the Minun and Shannon the Nidoran."
Drake nodded. "Cool. Are you two trainers?"
"I am," Jack said.
"I'm just traveling with him," Cassie admitted.
Drake then turned his attention to Jack. "So you're a trainer?" Jack nodded. "Have you battled yet?"
Jack shook his head. "Not yet, I've only just started my journey today."
Drake smiled, rubbing his hands together. "This is perfect! Let's battle!"
Jack and I both looked at him and said in unison, "Huh?"
Drake kept on grinning. "Come on! You haven't battled anyone, I haven't battled anyone, and since there's no trainers on this route except us, we should battle."
Jack took a small step back, shaking his head. "I don't know, I haven't trained Cloud that much…"
"Plus, the Pokemon League Official Rulebook states that if one trainer is confronted by another trainer, one is challenged to a battle and their eyes lock then the trainer who has been challenged must accept the battle or forfeit and give the challenger the proper amount of money. The only loophole in the rule is that if your Pokemon are all fainted or too injured to battle then the trainer who has been challenged may forfeit and not pay the proper amount of money. And your Pidgey seems fine, so you have to fight me, or give me some of your money right now."
Ugh, he was one of those trainers. The trainers who've read the rulebook a hundred times and act like battling is the only reason there is to living.
Jack thought for a moment, then looked at Kirby. "On one condition. After our battle, you let me take some notes on your Pachirisu."
Drake furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Why?"
"Because I'm interested in Pokemon and I wanted to be a Pokemon professor when I grow up, and taking notes on Pokemon early on is the easiest way to start that career," Jack explained.
Drake nodded, then gave a sly smile. "Okay, sounds cool. Deal…now let's fight!"
Jack then looked down at me. "You ready, Cloud?"
I grinned devilishly. "You bet your nerdy ass I'm ready, bitch!"
Jack sighed. "Way to be nice."
"Thank you."
Drake tapped his foot impatiently as Kirby leapt off of his head and prepared itself for battle. "Are we gonna do this or not?" Drake asked, annoyed at Jack's slowness.
I stepped in front of Jack, preparing myself for battle. I went through some strategies and battle statistics in my head. By now, my move set was Tackle, Sand Attack and Gust. Tackle would be useful seeing as it was a physical move and Pachirisu's Defense wasn't that good. Sand Attack would help as I could lower Kirby's accuracy when needed. Gust wouldn't do shit seeing as it was weak against Electric and it was a special move and Pachirisu have good Special Defense. Kirby's move set should've been Growl, Charm, Bide and Quick Attack. Quick Attack might hurt a bit. Bide was stupid because if I didn't attack it while it used Bide then it couldn't hurt me. Growl and Charm worried me. They both would lower my Attack, making my Tackle useless so it could Quick Attack over and over until I had fainted.
You know, all this Pokemon knowledge hurts your brain when you think about it.
My thoughts were interrupted by Drake's voice ringing out. "Kirby, Quick Attack!"
Kirby yawned, then, in a burst of incredible speed, shot forward and slammed into me. I flew back, landing on my back at Jack's feet. Kirby then followed up with another Quick Attack that sent me flying through the air and hitting a nearby tree. I groaned as pain shot through my tiny new body. I lay slumped down on the snowy ground, in pain. That little bastard had power!
Jack, who had been processing strategies just as I had been a few moments ago, finally gave me an order. "Sand Attack!"
I nodded. As much as Jack annoyed me, I figured I should listen to him. After all, he was the Pokemon expert. So as Kirby made a u-turn around and prepared to continue Quick Attacking me, I flapped my wings frantically. Sand shot out from my wings at the speeding Pachirisu. Don't ask how, I can't answer that. Kirby then cried out as sand had become caked in his tiny little eyes. He cried out and veered off to the side, Quick Attacking a tree. Kirby groaned at the pain that he was surely feeling from that hard hit against the tree.
"Tackle!" Jack commanded.
I didn't need to be asked twice. I ran forward towards the still dazed Kirby, who was desperately trying to get sand out of his eyes. I then jumped as I got near him, and Tackled into him as hard as I could. The squirrel yelled in pain as he rolled backwards into the snow. I smiled. Definitely a direct hit, because Kirby was now holding as if he had an intense migraine.
Jack smiled. "Good job, Cloud!"
"I fucking kick ass!" I yelled happily. My first Pokemon battle and I was actually doing pretty well. That is, until Kirby finally got that sand out of his eyes.
Drake took notice of this pretty fast, much to my disappointment. "Alright, Kirby! Use Quick Attack!"
Kirby gave a lazy nod, then glared at me. He began to rush towards me, and before I could even process what was happening, Kirby had bashed himself into me.
"Cloud, use Sand Attack!"
I was too pissed to listen. Fuck strategy, I wanted to kick this little ball of fur's ass. So, I ignored Jack's ordered and instead jumped at Kirby, about to use Tackle to its full power.
Drake chuckled. "Now, Bide!"
Oh shit.
Bide's power is increased whenever its opponent attacks it as it uses Bide. I tried to stop myself, but gravity's a bitch and wouldn't let me. I wildly flapped my wings to try to fly backwards to no avail. Kirby's eyes glowed black as the rest of his body glowed an angry red. I slammed into the squirrel, and it barely fazed the damn thing. I stepped back as Kirby's red glow and black eyes intensified in brightness. Then, after a couple of seconds passed, Kirby let out a roar and shot forward to finally attack me with Bide. I cried out in horror and began to run the opposite direction. But Kirby proved to be much faster than I could ever be, and slammed into me. I screamed in agony. The pain was so fucking intense, I was close to passing out. I felt some sort of liquid on my back, soaking my feathers. I was bleeding.
Oh shit…again.
I weakly looked over to Kirby. He looked just as weak as I was, surprisingly. That Bide attack must've worn him out. Good, now time to kick some serious ass in the fashion of Clint Norris, the world's greatest hero. I jumped towards Kirby, performing a Tackle attack, bashing into his head. Intense pain zipped through my spine as my back was in serious pain, but I ignored it to put some damage to Kirby. As soon as I Tackled him, Kirby growled in pain, falling on his back, heavily breathing.
One more hit.
I shot forward, despite the pain in my back, Tackling him once more in the side. He rolled across the snow, groaning in pain as a little blood seeped out from his mouth into the snow. Kirby tried desperately to get back up and attack, but it was no use. The electric squirrel slumped back down, and his eyes closed.
He had fainted.
I won my first battle.
Two words come to mind:
Fuck. Yes.
Long chapter is long.
So, in this chapter, we got a little into Cassie's feelings about Ben's death and it was angsty, wasn't it? Yup, very, very angst filled! Then, Ben finally participated in his first battle! Was it good, as in, was it well written for a battle scene? Please review and tell me.
And I understand how underplayed the beginning of their journey was, but seriously, everyone and their Mom's Flareon write a whole chapter or large chunk of the chapter about this long goodbye or this long, boring exposition building up to the leaving of their home. I just decided I should keep it short, because I've kept you guys from the beginning of the journey long enough.
So, now Ben's journey has finally started. Predictions? Please review and leave kind words. Mean words are mean and would just destroy my precious little heart :( So please be nice, or I'll throw stale Pringles at you. You wouldn't want that, now would you?
