(I don't own pokemon. Now, do the Tango Maureen! (RENT joke). I own a kitty. And a Cinnamonroll toy. Aww, it so cute... Okay, review! Oh, and read My God, would ya? I want feedback on that story... even I think it was fucked up. And that's saying a lot.)
But she nodded. "Okay, Az. Now let's get the hell outta here." She looked up. "Where's Vita?" Salem held up a strange pokeball. It was gold, white, black, and green.
"Veritas in Noctem" was inscribed on the ball. "We found this by your bed. Vita said it was for her, and popped in. So this is where she stays when we're in public."
Luna nodded, and took the ball. They went to the front of the center. Nurse joy handed them black balls with medical signs on them. "Here, keep your pokemon in these. Their injuries will heal faster." Luna nodded, as everyone took the balls, and transferred the pokemon in.
"Thank you, Nurse Joy." Luna said gratefully. "No problem. It's what I do. Oh and this is the Dion Badge; I think you deserve it after all this." Luna nodded, relieved. They walked out and realized; it was silence.
No pokemon yelling and swearing, just them. "The silence... it disturbs..." Salem joked. Luna grinned. "Yeah, not for long. Come on, let's go buy a map." They bought that, and Luna bought everyone's favorite treats." "Okay, the next town is... Hakumen City!" Luna raised an eyebrow. "Twilight?" Salem checked the map.
"Yeah, but get this; the tower in the town is supposed to be where Suicune sleeps! And there's a Contest there! Yay!" His eyes lit up. "So we'll go look for Suicune, and do Contests!" Luna turned to her pokemon. "Any of you wanna try?" They looked at each other, then Merope grinned.
"What the hell, I'll give it a shot." Luna cheered. "Allright! So, let's set off!" Luna put her headphones in, and began to sing. Salem sighed. "Oh lord, here we go." They started off along a path in the middle of a clearing. A pond was nearby, and pokemon lazed around it. Salem stared at them. He pointed at the Seviper curled around a tree. "I have to fight it." He said.
Luna was attempting to talk to "The person in the pond." Feraia sighed. "You going?" Azrael shook his head. "I got her outta the neighbor's backyard when she was a 'nudist-in-training', remember?" Feraia sighed. "Yeah, yeah, yeah..."
Meanwhile, Salem and Kita were fighting the Seviper. "Ember!" It only singed the Seviper, which used Poison Jab. "Alright, Kita! Use Dancing Flames!" Luna looked up. "WTF?"
The Cyndaquil began to spin, shooting flames from her back. It was really actually pretty. And deadly; it hit the Seviper, which was now burned. Salem threw a pokeball at her, and she stayed in. He picked it up. "I... I did it. My own pokemon..." He released her, putting a Translator around her neck.
"Hi! I am Aresna! I love you already, cutie!" She wrapped around Salem. "Oww... my ribs..." He wheezed. Luna giggled. "Fun!" Salem had fainted. She nosed him with her shoe. "Coward." Salem gasped, "Arsena, off, please?" She grinned toothily, and draped herself around his neck. He grinned. "Bad-ass."
Arsena grinned and stretched. Luna decided to leave them with their pokemon, and explore. She morphed her wings, and glided from tree to tree, enjoying the silence, until she heard a pokémon's cries. She flew towards the sound.
It was a feeble fishy thing, lying in a pool of water. Luna winced. She didn't want to be cruel, but this thing was terribly horrific. "Poke." She said, doing exactly that for about five minutes, until the thing yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" She shrugged, and asked, "Hey, are you okay?" It wept, 'No... I'm all alone."
Luna, on inspecting it, said, "You're a Feebas!" The Feebas was oddly colored; black instead of brown, and red instead of blue. "My mom left me, because I was too strange and ugly. I've been attacked a lot, too..." Luna's heart went out to the poor thing. "Damn, that settles it! You're gonna be my friend!" The Feebas sniffled. "Really?" Luna opened a Net Ball. "Yup!" She threw it around the pokemon, and it shook three times.
She released it, and said, "Okay, your name is Helalyn." She blinked in wonder. "But, it's such a pretty name, and I'm so ugly..." Luna picked her up. "It's what's on the inside that counts. Like the Elephant Man! See, he was cool. All horribly disfigured and such, but literate, artistic, refined... Come on, we've got to get back to the others."
She met up with them, and Merope rowled, "What on Earth is that?" Luna sighed. "This is Helalyn. She's our newest member!" Cybela nosed her. "Hello, dear. I'm Cybela, and this is my brother, Nyeros." He nodded. "I'm Azrael, her first pokemon, and this is Feraia, our dear glitch." Feraia kicked him. "I'm Merope. Sorry about before, I was confused." Helalyn nodded.
"Okay, well, we're finally off to Hakumen!" Salem yelled, gesturing in the direction of the woods. As they tromped through, Helalyn got more acquainted with the others. As they arrived at Hakumen City, Luna noticed one thing; the girls were like something out of the Stepford Wives. And they were all giggling and whispering about Helalyn.
"Ew, what is that thing? It looks like the stuff I feed to my Persian..." "Oh, poor girl. Got stuck with such a reject..." "Oh, gross..." Helalyn's eyes welled with tears. Luna glared at the girls, then hugged her. "Don't worry. You're pretty on the inside; it's more than I can say for them." Helalyn nodded, as Luna dried her tears.
They arrived at the Contest Hall; Salem's face was lit up. "Names?" The receptionist asked. "Um, Luna Ashforth, Salem Falcore." The lady nodded. "What pokemon will you be using?" "My Absol, Merope." The lady nodded. Salem registered Kita. Helalyn was staring in wonder at the hall, not noticing the dirty looks everyone gave her. "Luna?" She whispered. "Can I try a contest someday?" Luna nodded. "'Course!" The Feebas lit up.
"The Contest will be starting in an hour. The rooms are back there." They split up; Luna went to the girl's side of the rooms. They were greeted by 'cute' pokemon aplenty, along with the dumb blonde look-alike owners. "Puke." Luna muttered. Grinning, Merope snapped at a Marill next to her who was sticking her tongue out at her.
The Marill hid behind a girl's leg, who yelled, "What are you and your stupid pokemon doing to my Bubbles, freaks?" Luna curled her lip. "Nothing but what she deserves, bitch."
"You can't talk to me like that! I'm Rachel Marisue! My mom's Angela Marisue! She runs this whole hall!" Luna growled, "Pathetic. You're hiding behind your mum?" The girl snorted, "Well, at least my Bubbles doesn't have stupid piercings, you fatty!"
Luna winced. Fuck. She then got pissed. Luna snarled, "Your damn rat's too fucking stupid to find her ass with a flashlight." The girl yelled, "Shut up! We'll beat you in this contest, freak!"
Luna pushed her up against the wall, and snarled, "Run home and play with your Barbie dolls, shitstain. My disaster's gonna kick your runt's ass." The girl huffed. "MOMMMY!!" A lady who looked like Tammy Faye Bakker stormed up, reeking of Chanel No. 5.
"Eww. That woman smells like rotten wormfood." Merope muttered. Luna giggled. The woman glowered. "Are you hurting my daughter?" Luna cocked an eyebrow. "Nothing worse than what you did. Dropping her on her head like that, you know. Severe brain trauma, obviously."
She tsked. "Shame, isn't it? Stupidity is so sad." The woman harrumphed. "I know you! You're the daughter of that tart Lorelei Ashforth! She was a brat as well; I saw her when she visited this very hall with her Dewgong. She mouthed off to me as well." Luna rolled her eyes.
"My mum's badass too. Anyway, I look forward to beating your daughter shitless in this competition. See you later, motherfucker, Roach." She flounced off to her room with Merope by her side. The woman huffed, and pulled her daughter off. "Come on, Rachel. Time to get ready, darlings!"
Luna rolled her eyes, as she pulled on her clothes. Merope nosed her, as she applied eyeliner. "Luna. She was just like the others, wasn't she? I could tell from your scent; this has happened before, right?" Luna didn't meet her eyes. "Yes." Merope sat down. "Tell me." Luna sighed.
Flashback "Azrael, no!" Snarling, he attacked a girl's Mareep. "Don't say anything about Mistress Luna!" He roared. The girl screamed, "Star!" Luna held Azrael. "You fat freak! Why don't you and that beast go die!" The girl screamed. She rushed off to tell the teacher. Luna sighed. "Fuck, Az." The Houndour growled.
"I know, I know; but she shouldn't have said that about you!" Luna hugged him. "I understand. You were very brave, dear heart." Luna sat outside the office, and listened to her mother argue with the principal.
"You can't say you blame her; she's made fun of, and none of you do anything about it!" "Miss Ashforth, I understand that Luna's Houndour attacked another student's pokemon. This is not accepta—" "Azrael attacked the Mareep because the girl was making fun of Luna!"
Luna buried her head in her hands as she began to cry. The girl, Morgan, who had been making fun of her was walking past the office with her groupies, and threw a book at her, smacking her in the head. "Dumb fatty freak. You and your pokemon both are going to hell." She spit. "And I'm a better trainer than you!"
Azrael spat a flamethrower at her, setting her designer clothes on fire. She ran off screaming with her groupies following uncertainly. Luna screamed, "OH YEAH?!?! PROVE IT, BITCH!" She turned to Azrael, and Luna giggled. "I love you, Azrael." Azrael growled comfortingly. "I love you too, Luna. I'll always be there." And he was.
But what could one hellhound do against the force of children? Luna was kicked, spat on, punched, nasty notes and rumors were spread about her; she was completely alone. When people saw how she talked to Azrael, they shunned her even more. Luna was often coming home in tears and covered in bruises.
She was a frail child, because of the albino gene, and had a broken bone every two weeks, causing her to be covered in bandages constantly. She refused to let it hurt her, forcing herself to train on the same level Azrael did. Life was cruel towards the young Goth. She was prone to sobbing at random times, and being kept awake with nightmares. She was scared to go to school by the time she was eleven, and Lorelei sent her there with a heavy heart.
And two weeks before she turned twelve, she was cornered in the locker room. She was alone, except for the boyfriend of Takira, her worst tormentor. He beat her until she was unconscious, and after that, she didn't remember what happened. All she knew was that there was blood on her clothes, especially her pants.
Since there was no evidence, it was her word against the word of the school hero, and as she was always covered in bandages anyway, they dropped charges against the boy. Seeing this, Azrael took matters into his own paws; the next day, the school cafeteria was mysteriously set on fire during her tormentors' lunch period.
Everyone perished but the boy, who suffered disfiguring scars until he killed himself a week later. She thought the hurt would stop, but it didn't. Luna was called fat even more now, since she didn't have a boyfriend, and was a reject. And ugly is a powerful word. So Luna began throwing up her food. This went on for three months, until Azrael found her one night. "Luna! STOP!" He roared. She slumped over the toilet, and began to sob.
She looked up at Az, and rasped, "Have you ever felt ugly all the time?" He sat. "Oh, god." Luna began to scream. "I'm UGLY! I KNOW my hair is thin, I KNOW my eyes are red, I KNOW my skin is white, I KNOW I'm fat, I KNOW I'M UGLY!!" She screamed.
"And... maybe it'll stop hurting if I'm pretty." Azrael nuzzled her. "God, Luna. You're not ugly. I love you, and I think you're beautiful. I know what they say. It's gonna be okay someday, I promise." She collapsed on the floor, and fell asleep. Azrael stood over her.
"Someday, kiddo... you'll find someone who really, truly, knows how beautiful you are. They'll show you, Luna. They'll show everyone." Azrael insisted Luna be taught at home from now on, and Lorelei happily did so, teaching her everything she knew about pokemon. Luna still thought she was ugly, but kept it private. She'd defeat that demon some other day.
