I swear, I wrote the beginning of this chapter, looked at it, and said words to the effect of: 'Wow, Aria is PMS-ing big time!' I typed it up…and still think much the same!
I don't own...uh...anything under copyright? I'm making no profit from this, let's put it that way.
Aria would have thought, in her own bed, and in her home world, the nightmare wouldn't have bothered her again. Yet, blood haunted her dreams yet again, along with a prevailing sense of impending suffering that she couldn't seem to shake, not even when she woke, and the sunlight burnt off the morning hazy fog.
Aria left the house with barely a word to her mum; for some reason she didn't feel like speaking much, or at least, not to her. The shock of the weekend and the weight of her mother's newly realised past seemed to crush her, along with the dreams she'd had for the past two nights.
She was practically slamming her feet against the beaten earth track as she walked to school, despite only going at a slow walk. Draigas trailed slowly behind her, reluctant to get in her trainer's way, and risk drawing any of that anger upon herself. However, her curiosity got the better of her.
'Why are you angry?' she asked gently and slowly, as if too fast a question would provoke her.
"I don't know!" Aria shouted, her loud voice echoing off the nearby trees. This shook her, and she immediately lowered her voice. "Sorry. I suppose it's just…I don't really know why I'm angry, and that only makes it worse…"
The concept of being angry without even knowing why was foreign and confusing to the dragon, so she tried to help her trainer with providing a reason.
'You could be angry with your parents – for keeping so many secrets from you…'"Perhaps," Aria said unenthusiastically. "It's more like I'm angry with her world…"
'It makes sense – it was a horrible place.'
"In my dreams…all I see now is blood…" Aria went suddenly quiet, sparkling tears trickling down her cheeks.
Draigas just felt helpless at the sight of her tears. 'Please, don't cry,' she said weakly.
Aria sniffed. "I'm sorry," she apologised, making Draigas feel absolutely wretched now.
Aria was discretely wiping her eyes on her sleeves, forcing Draigas to take an unusually keen interest in a small stone on the floor until she'd finished. They were well within the school grounds by now, and without noticing, they'd drifted slightly westwards.
Both the human and dragon travelled in silence for a few minutes, until the firm, earthy ground began to be rough, sandy dunes that crumbled and slid beneath Aria's feet. The grasses became sparse and scrubby – their roots finding little to hold onto in the dunes.
Aria scrambled to the top of a steep dune, no doubt getting sand in her shoes, yet she was past caring. From it's tip, both Aria and Draigas could see a gently glistening ocean, which was a beautiful, tropical hue of turquoise. The sea was so clear that Aria could see shoals of Remoraid darting around in the shallows, warming their bodies in the morning sun.
They tumbled down the sandy slope, Aria almost tripping over her own feet, to get closer to the sea. Down here, the sand was soft, fine, and already warmed from the sunlight. Aria gazed at the sea with moist, mournful eyes, and Draigas knew she wasn't truly seeing this calm paradise of a beach, but a place where a grey sky overlooked coarse, cold sands and a violently stormy-blue sea.
It was a shame, the dragon thought, that she couldn't see the beauty of the present.
Draigas' senses could taste salt on the slight breeze blowing in from the sea, and the gentle warmth of the sun in its cloudless sky. The sun would soon become far hotter and stronger within a couple of hours, the dragon knew.
Aria dropped to the sand with a sigh, still looking out to sea.
"Draigas?"
'Yes?'"I really am sorry I'm like this. I just can't stop feeling…" Aria gave a deep sigh. "I'm not even sure what I'm feeling anymore."
Draigas playfully head butted Aria's arm in response. 'Humans think too much. Who cares what happened in the past? It's been and done. Us dragons don't bear a grudge against anyone very easily. We are just too laid back. You just have to live for now…okay?'
"It sounds so easy when you say it like that…" Aria said quietly.
Suddenly, a light, haunting melody swept in off the sea, like a fog implanted in Aria's mind; for the more of the sweet song she heard, the more blank her mind seemed to become. It was a low, crooning lullaby that Aria found herself lulled by. Her eyes became heavy, and eventually, she fell back onto the soft sand, fast asleep.
Draigas struggled against the sleep-inducing song far harder than her trainer, yet she was almost asleep when the song stopped. Draigas shook her head sleepily, trying to wake herself up, then when she realised that wasn't working, she dipped her head into the sea, banishing the sleep from her mind. It was then that she turned to find the source of the song.
A Lapras floated calmly on the surface of the ocean, watching the dragon, and her now peacefully slumbering trainer.
'Why did you use Sing on my trainer?' Draigas asked indignantly – she felt an instinctive need to protect Aria.
'She looked as though she could use a peaceful night's sleep. Although, it isn't exactly night anymore, is it?'
A kind nature exuded from the water Pokèmon, and Draigas knew the Lapras' intentions were benign.
'She's had a difficult couple of days,' the dragon admitted.
'If a difficult day is followed by a difficult sleep, another day's difficulty lies ahead. At least, that's what my mother always used to say.'
'You could tell she's had nightmares?'
'Most Pokèmon and humans don't realise how astute we are,' the Lapras said with a light laugh. 'Any Lapras could tell just by looking at her.'
'Luckily, we know of your kind and peaceful natures, though,' Draigas said, flattering the water Pokèmon to make up for her earlier ignorance.
While human emotions and logic didn't always make sense to the dragon, she found it inconceivable that humans could not make sense of a Pokèmon's logic and manners. For example, she had paid the Lapras a small insult with her ignorance, and so had felt bound by a strict moral code to make amends.
'Thank you – I'm glad we have such a reputation built up.'
The Lapras, in turn, couldn't reject the flattery without being ungracious, and a flat out rejection of the flattery would be considered a gross insult.
'Does your trainer need to be awake anytime soon?' the Lapras, with a sudden thought, asked in concern.
'She has an hour before school starts, so she'll be fine. We may need to wake her up ten minutes early, though,' Draigas explained.
'I'm sorry for not thinking of that earlier – I could have severely inconvenienced you,' the Lapras apologised with a rigid, formal tone.
'Not at all. If we did have an urgent meeting or anything of the sort, it would have been my duty to keep her awake.'
Their conversation was abruptly halted by a mess of brown hair and the human it belonged to clambering over a sand dune. Draigas recognised the boy as Latto before the Furret near his feet came into view, bounding up and down in an energetic effort to keep his head above the sand.
Latto spotted Aria lying motionless on the sand and immediately feared the worst, if the strangled yell and the frantic run to get to her meant anything. Unfortunately, the yell roused Aria from the deep sleep, and she sleepily staggered to her feet to see an extremely confused Latto.
Draigas, taking her rightful side near to Aria explained.
'A Lapras used Sing so you'd get some decent sleep, and Latto, when he came, thought you were dead or injured, or something.'
Judging by the frantic chatter from Bandit, following Draigas' explanation, he was relaying the message to his trainer, who suddenly gained a look of dawning comprehension.
"I'm sorry!" he apologised profusely. "I just thought you were in trouble!"
"No, I was fine. Draigas wouldn't have let anything happen to me, anyway."
"True…anyway, I wondered if I could find you before school starts, and here you are."
With a sudden realisation, Aria yelped, "How long was I asleep for? How much time have we got before school starts?"
"Relax, we have the best part of an hour, still," the boy replied, smiling at Aria's reaction.
The Lapras whispered something to Draigas, who tried to pass this on to her trainer.
'The Lapras who sung you to sleep…she wants you to become her trainer.'
Aria's eyes went wide. "What?" she asked incredulously, unable to believe her ears.
The Lapras drifted serenely towards them, not fazed by the fact that either of them could start a battle at any moment.
Aria knew the Lapras was talking, but couldn't understand the water Pokèmon. Luckily, Draigas translated for her.
'She may not be the strongest of Pokèmon, but she's determined and kind hearted. She can sense that you'd be a good trainer for her, and she'd be willing to work hard for you. That's what she says, anyway.'
"I'm honoured, really I am. But why do you want a trainer in the first place? Wouldn't you prefer to be wild?"
'She knows her kind are highly sought after, despite their rarity – or perhaps that's why they are rare…but, in any case, she's grown up knowing that one day she will be captured, and she'd prefer to choose her trainer for herself.'
Draigas feared this would be a concept the girl would have a difficult time understanding, but to her surprise, her trainer thought quietly, and seemed to accept this idea without any questions.
"Draigas. What do you think about this? And be honest – it's better you admit any problems with this sooner rather than when it's too late."
'You're asking my opinion?'
Draigas had never heard of a trainer doing that before, normally they acted on their own and the Pokèmon cleared up the shit they got into afterwards. But with a smiling nod from Aria, the dragon gave her opinion.
'She seems very nice and I can get on with her easily. She's thoughtful, and isn't inclined to make rash decisions too often. If anything, the only problem I can see is your experience – you've only been a trainer for a week, and you might find it a bit difficult to train us both at the same time. But, you are hardworking – I think you would be all right with that.'
"So, then, it's settled," Aria said, turning to the Lapras with a grin. "If you want me to be, then I shall be your trainer."
This time, Aria clearly understood the Lapras. 'Thank you.'
"I should be thanking you," she replied. "Anyway, do you have a name?"
'Lazuli.'
"Well, welcome to the team, Lazuli! My name is Aria, and this is Draigas."
Lazuli made a comment that Aria couldn't understand, but all the Pokèmon present snickered at.
"What?"
'She said you're very polite…for a human.' Draigas half-laughed.
"Hey, what's so funny about that?"
To Aria's surprise, it was Latto who answered.
"Pokèmon are very formal towards each other unless they know one another very well. Bandit keeps trying to explain why, but can't quite seem to make his point. From what I can understand, though, it's to stop a great deal of hostility from building up between Pokèmon, as they're always fighting…"
"Oh. That makes sense, I suppose," Aria reasoned, yet not fully understanding.
'It doesn't matter if you don't understand,' Draigas assured her trainer. 'It's good enough that you just know that we are quite polite to each other…wait, that's what seemed so off about that Eevee!' the dragon realised.
"What? Seig's Willow?" Aria wondered.
'She was so shy…she wouldn't even acknowledge me. ...But it wasn't just that…' Draigas muttered, more to herself than anyone else.
"Anyway," Latto broke across her muttering, "we should start walking back to school – give ourselves enough time to get back there."
Aria nodded, while digging out a Pokèball from her bag. "Normally, I'd be happy for you to stay outside, but…well, you can't exactly walk or fly to follow us, can you?"
'No…'
"Still, I can make sure you're comfortable – this is a Luxury ball; I brought a couple of them before starting here, and you definitely deserve one, Lazuli. Also, I can try and get to deep water every day to let you out for some training…"
'Generous…' Lazuli said with a happy, content sigh before nudging the release on the Luxury ball, and disappearing in a burst of red light.
As the humans walked back, trailed by Draigas and Bandit, they had a short, light-hearted conversation.
"She's…rather eager to be captured…" Latto said carefully.
"What do you mean? Draigas explained-"
"She just relayed the message. To me, it sounds like Lazuli is too…willing…to have a chain around her neck."
"But-"
"It doesn't seem right. A Pokèmon is meant to fight for their freedom, so they can acknowledge their trainer as stronger than them…Lazuli just skipped straight to being captured."
"You just sound jealous that Lazuli didn't choose you," Aria said abruptly, starting to stride away.
Latto caught her, holding her shoulders to stop her from running away.
"Is that what you think of me?" he asked seriously, looking into her eyes.
Aria was suddenly ashamed – she knew she hadn't meant it.
"No…I was…"
"Letting yourself get carried away?"
"Yeah. Sorry. I suppose…" Aria looked away, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly, "I was just kinda saying stuff…"
Latto smiled faintly. "Apology accepted. Just don't shout at anyone else, okay? If in doubt, keep your mouth shut."
"Good idea," Aria agreed.
'I'll say,' Draigas said, curling around one of Aria's arms. 'That does include me, right?'
"Of course it does, Draigas!" Aria said, hugging her close.
By now, the tall building of the school had drawn into view, and they distinctly heard the melodic chime of their bell.
"Last one there?" Aria asked mischievously.
Latto began running as she did, and easily pulled ahead, Bandit racing besides him. This gave Draigas an idea. Flowing swiftly over the ground, she lay herself in Latto's path, not quite tripping him up, but making him stumble and lose precious seconds, during which, Aria pulled ahead, madly dashing towards the building. She entered the open doorway with barely seconds to spare, with Latto arriving, panting, behind her.
With the exception of a few raised eyebrows, and a low muttering, no one seemed to acknowledge her. In a few minutes, they were dismissed for the morning – every morning, they were given free time to train, battle or study.
Aria quickly found the 'Beautifully Messed Up People' – Wraith, Ebony, Rhiannon, Tegeirian and Rydia. They decided to train by the sea, and along the way, Tegg and Nannon challenged Aria to a double battle, having learnt she'd caught a new Pokèmon.
This, Aria concluded, wasn't exactly fair – while the number of Pokèmon would be equal, she'd have to worry about twice as much as her friends. Latto obviously overheard, and shared that opinion.
"She'll need to have someone else on her team, Rhiannon," he told his cousin wearily.
"Fine then, Latto, why don't you team up with her?"
"Me?" he gave Aria an apologetic look. "I'm ridiculous at battling…"
"It's only a friendly battle – it doesn't matter whether we win or lose," Aria assured him.
They all arrived at the breezy sea's shore rather happy, refreshed and ready to battle. Aria threw the black ball high into the air, allowing a streak of red light to flash down to the sea.
"Lazuli, it's your first battle!" she announced happily.
The large Pokèmon floated on the surface of the water. 'It would be an honour.'
Bandit ran out as near to the Lapras as he could without getting his feet wet. Layla, the black Poochyena pup bounded forwards, giving a canine grin at being on the beach with all these new and interesting smells. Finally, Nagas, Tegg's Ekans slithered out onto the battlefield.
All of them tensed, and then, as if by some unspoken and unseen command, they launched into a fast and furious battle.
"Lazuli, use Power Snow on Nagas!" Aria commanded quickly.
Lazuli obeyed without question, sending a flurry of fierce snowflakes at the snake-like Pokèmon.
"What was the point in that?" Rydia asked. "That snow's going to melt too quickly in this weather!"
True, the Ekans seemed unfazed by the attack, but when it tried to move, it was with a sluggish sleepy quality.
"It's a snake, so needs to bathe in the sun to get moving. If it gets too cold, it can't move!" Latto said, realising his partner's actions. "Okay, Bandit. Slash that pup!"
The Furret was a blur as it streaked towards the Poochyena, extending a clawed forepaw in readiness. Layla dodged to the side and seized Bandit in her powerful jaws, using them to bite down hard.
"Bandit!"
"Lazuli, help him out!"
Lazuli shot a weak stream of water at the black canine, which far from damaged it, but surprised it enough to slacken its jaw, and Bandit wriggled free. For good measure, he slashed Layla on the nose once free, which made her yelp and stagger backwards.
"Bandit, focus on Nagas!" Latto commanded.
The Furret seemed to quiver, yet did as instructed.
"Lazuli, use Power Snow again!"
While Lazuli made the Ekans sluggish yet again, Aria whispered, "Get Bandit to stand on Lazuli – then we can use surf."
"Okay. Bandit, take a swim!"
If Bandit was confused by the command, he didn't show it, instead diving straight into the ocean. Lazuli helped him up onto her back before carrying out Aria's unspoken command to attack.
A large, towering wave built up over the beach, crashing down on both the Ekans and the Poochyena. Nagas, deciding she'd had enough, simply fainted, leaving Tegg to recall her. Layla got to her feet, barking. Bandit dashed back onto dry land to fight furiously with the canine. No matter what he did though, he couldn't seem to gain the upper hand – Layla, through bites, scratches and the occasional command to use Iron Tail, or something similar, was clearly winning.
Sure enough, Bandit soon couldn't even stagger, and Latto was forced to withdraw him.
Aria's nerves started to emerge, she was now in a one-on-one battle in front of a crowd, and she was fully aware of that.
"Lazuli…use…"
Lazuli took it upon herself to finish the command, and shot a high power Water Gun at the canine.
Layla couldn't take it anymore, and staggered back to Nannon, gently licking her hand to ask forgiveness.
"You did your best, Layla," she assured her, before withdrawing her.
Aria breathed a sigh of relief – despite freezing up in the middle of that battle, they'd made it…with not a scratch on Lazuli, thanks to Bandit's distraction methods, she realised.
Aria smiled her thanks. All the little things...all the little memories. To some, they'd seem insignificant. But Aria treasured them all, including that tentative battle.
Since starting at Saralli Caira High, Aria knew she'd had a mixture of experiences, not all of them good, she'd admit. However, looking back, even at all the mistakes she'd made, she wouldn't have changed any of it. And the best thing, in her opinion, was the four years here yet to come…
Aria's sequence…ended! I'll start crying soon…anyway, I did the last four pages of this in a rush on Monday night (as some may tell from the late hour of uploading...), so please excuse the poor quality – I'll do better next time (and not wait 'til the end of my personal deadline next week!)
Anyway, reviews are appreciated, and to leave you in suspense, here's a teaser line from next chapter:
"Modified isolated strain 095-A (non-contagious) to be administered to test subject WI-110 along with morning doses."
If that's left you with your jaw open, thinking 'What on Earth…', then please send a review. If not, please, still send a review!