The Sardonic Adventure of Briar Casey
Author's Note: I hope none of you take offense at this, but I've been in a bit of a bad mood lately (explains lack of updates) and the fact that I can't watch anime right now on my laptop since my video's screwed up doesn't make me feel any better, and I don't feel like thanking you wonderful people individually. So... thanks to Agent Walrus, risen truth ruthless lies, and Dodgerjoey (and Yorick) for reviewing. Double thanks to Agent Walrus since, well... he reviewed twice. (Your grammar was fine, though. I didn't see anything wrong. Or maybe I'm just a failure at recognizing bad grammar... AHHH THIS DOESN'T MAKE ME FEEL BETTER.)
Anyway, my angsty emotions might come in handy, since this chapter is a bit angstier than most. And it's going to be short, since I just haven't entirely felt like writing. Not even, like, no inspiration. It's more like lack of motivation. Unless you guys want to praise me incessantly and make me not feel so depressed and demotivated *looks innocently to the side*...
Dad's response when I say I wouldn't mind him buying me a new pair of headphones: Sure, I'll get them right after I preorder Pokemon Black and White 2 for you! (IT'S CONFIRMED! AHHHH!)
Disclaimer: I'm in the mood for gambling. Heads for Dodgerjoey being the king of ghosts/darkness in the new world, tails for Yorick... Sorry. No coins.
Chapter 21 and a 1/2
Starring Briar and Ci- Wait, Never Mind
Hey, would you look at that. I'm actually in one of these half chapter things. Normally, these are just filled with Jazelle teaching N some kind of lesson in the most dangerous ways lessons could be taught. I wonder how she'd be as a teacher, or maybe a counselor...
Anyway, the stars of this chapter are Cilan and I as we navigate the treacherous Twist Mountain, me knowing that two of my best friends were mad at me in the nearest town, Cilan afraid that the scary cowboy Clay would jump out any minute and scare the crap out of everyone. There were no trainers, probably because the Sun had hardly risen. What we didn't know was that we were about to embark on journey to a place of sight and sound, of emotion and fear. We'd just entered... the Twist Zone. (A/N: DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO!)
"So Cilan," I said dismissively, as if I didn't really care. "Tell me about your life."
"Uh, well, Earl and I didn't spike the Move Deleter's daily bottle of sparkling water, if that's what you mean..."
"Alright, so I'll need to take the blame for that later. Good to know. But no, that's not what I mean. Like... how was life before you came with us?"
"Oh," Cilan said, surprised. "Well... as you know, me and my brothers ran a restaurant. We all cooked, but I was definitely the best chef."
"Yeah. I'd gotten that when you said it for the fifth time."
"Sorry, my cooking is something that I take great pride in," Cilan answered, a big grin on his face. It disappeared as he looked down and kicked a rock a few feet ahead. "But to answer your question, I didn't do much else. Cooking was really my life. I mean, I guess I trained, and I liked going to the Dreamyard, and sometimes I spied on Fennel to make sure she wasn't dissecting a live human being, but it wasn't anything really fun."
"I don't know what you're smoking, that sounds pretty fun to me."
"But it wasn't!" By now, we'd caught up to the rock and he kicked it even further this time. "It was boring. The same stuff I'd always done. I mean, it wasn't like she was really ever dissecting people..."
"I'd never thought I'd hear that phrased in a bad way."
"Context, dear Briar, context. Anyway, besides cooking, there were few things that I really looked forward too."
"Pssh! Try living in Nuvema." By now, I was getting tired of Cilan's complaining and decided to do some whining of my own. "Or even better, try living in the greatest place ever and then move to Nuvema. It's is practically a ghost town. The city council is Mrs. Baldridge ranting to a couple of Patrat's about her husband. I'm pretty sure that everyone from there was related in some way. It was like someone took a freaking country song and made it into a place."
"But at least you had Gracie."
"What- oh, yeah! I had forgotten that you said you'd known Gracie."
"Yeah." That was it. 'Yeah.'
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Aren't you going to tell me about her?" Cilan stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked away.
"Why? You were her best friend. You must've known her pretty well." Cue, defensive.
"I knew her perfectly well!" I snapped. "I knew her every dream and every flaw."
"You didn't know I knew her," Cilan pointed out, the same smile from before.
"She looked up to Professor Juniper," I began angrily. "Her dream was to become the next Professor Pokemon of Unova. That's why she loved it when Forget ran, because she liked to continually record her speed stat. She was candid and poise. She could've been anything and become successful, even a trainer, but she hated seeing Pokemon get hurt. She loved small town life, perhaps a bit too much." Cilan remained quiet. I gulped. "She was a dreamer. Normally, that's not bad, but it was in her case. She was never firmly planted in real life. She was optimistic and beautiful, never seeing anything bad for what it was. It was a noble effort. A mistake on their part. But never bad. And, without knowing, she kept everyone saddled where they were. We all loved her, couldn't let our Gracie, pretty and delicate as a porcelain doll, get hurt. But she never wanted to leave. So no one ever left."
"You did a great job," Cilan said quietly. I couldn't even see his face; it was turned completely away from me.
"Her favorite flowers were Forget-Me-Nots. Not because she thought they were particularly pretty, she just liked the name. I never understood that until her pretty, dreaming, saddling, porcelain self went to Accumula on an errand for her hero and never came back."
"What does it mean, then?" Cilan asked. Genuinely curious. And I was genuinely silent. "Why did she like Forget-Me-Nots so much?"
"I..." Then there was a terrible... crash!
I know what you're thinking. "This is boring." "This is sad." "It's all about death and 'learning'." And since I know this isn't a good time to say "Suck it up, babies!", I'll instead leave you hanging there and switch to the funny guys back in Mistralton that I'm sure you've all been going through withdrawl for.
Dina was still consoling a sick Earl in the men's room, and N and Jazelle were having some time to think about all the mean things they said to me.
"She's so stupid," N said, his face in his hands. Okay, screw that.
"Maybe not," Jazelle murmured. "I can kind of see where she's coming from." Whose the best, you can never tell, unless of course you count Jazelle! Watch as I mentally wave pom poms and do backflips.
"It's the stupidest thing she could do!" N retorted. N, N, he's our man, if he can't do it GREAT.
"Hey," Jazelle fired back. "My mom was from Kanto. She was always saying that she missed it and the Pokemon. She had a hard time finding merchandise from home, much less people!"
"Oh, right, Briar wants some of Kanto so she chooses its biggest crime lord!"
"No offense, N, but you're being a-"
"BASTIODON!" yelled someone from deeper within the Pokemon Center. Jazelle shook her head and resumed.
"I mean, if you were stuck in a place you didn't even like, wouldn't you want as much of home as possible?"
"Well... I guess so..."
"Briar was desperate for a peice of Kanto-" got that right, Jazzy "- and she grasped whatever straws she could. Who knows? Maybe Giovanni was feeling the same way. I heard he had a nephew or something not much younger than me, maybe Briar reminded him of him."
"For some reason, I doubt that."
"Still, two desperate people are good for each other... Okay, forget everything I just said. Basically, both of them missed home, Giovanni so much so that he made sure Briar stayed safe, Briar so much so that she accepted the help. Like a business exchange among homesick people."
"Alright, alright, so we shouldn't have treated her like that," N said guiltily. "But what do we do about it now?"
"We have to catch up to her!" Jazelle exclaimed, jumping up and down. (A/N: Ahh! My iPod just died! Just another reason to hate my life!... Sorry. Went all Briar on you there.) "Come on, we've gotta hurry up if we wanna catch up to her and Cilan!"
"But what about Dina?" N asked worriedly, turning towards the bathroom.
"Don't you all be too concerned for Earl at once," Jazelle said flatly. "You can write her a mushy goodbye letter, promising that you'll see her again even if Arceus itself forbids it, but that you've gotta go!"
"Well, okay, do you have a peice of paper-"
"No time! Let's go!"
"Wait, but you just said-" Jazelle didn't let N finish repeating her, but instead grabbed his wrist and yanked him out the door so they could deliver their heartfelt apology to me.
Alright, I bet the suspense has just been killing you, hasn't it? It hasn't? Too bad, we're back to the serious stuff.
Now where were we?
Oh, right.
And then there was a terrible... crash!
A colossal rock slammed to the ground, a few feet away from where Cilan and I were having our intense discussion about dead friends. I recognized it from a poster at the Pokemon Center. Boldore, was it? Aw, just a Graveler knock-off. Still, it scared the crap out of Cilan and I enough to make us jump and almost touch the ceiling. All was silent for a few moments after we'd landed, but Boldore didn't want it to stay that way. He started roaring and stomping his feet, which looked especially good for crushing people today.
"LET OUT A POKEMON, WOMAN!" Cilan screamed as the Boldore looked more and more ready to charge. I grabbed the first Poke Ball on my belt: Forget.
"Forget! Kill it! I don't care how, just make it go away!" Forget dashed at the Boldore, using a couple of Razor Leaf's and then Vine Whipping him while he was blinded. But it didn't work. He brushed off the attacks as if they were mere slaps and proceeded to try and crush Forget. She weaved in between his feet, using all her attacks as she tried to keep him away from us.
And it was only then that I noticed her glow. Glow for a split second, so short a time that you wouldn't notice if all your senses weren't enhanced by adrenaline, followed by a wince and another useless attack.
Her body wanted to evolve, but Forget-Me-Not wanted otherwise.
"You have to evolve!" I found myself yelling. Forget looked at me as if I was crazy. "You have to evolve! You're not strong enough now!"
But this is how Gracie wanted me! It was clear as day, as if she was speaking English, and it was all through her eyes. I'd understood her.
"Gracie is dead!" I screamed. "Gracie is dead and you're not her's anymore! You're my Snivy, I am your trainer, and I command that you don't let us die!" Forget's eyes saddened, and I bet tears would've fallen if the glowing hadn't commenced and she evolved.
"Servine," Cilan breathed as the glowing ceased and Forget turned to the Boldore angrily. With power and speed I hadn't seen from her before, she dashed underneath the Pokemon, using Vine Whip and Razor Leaf at the same time, and slid out before his unconcious body crushed her.
Forget trotted up to me, taller than the Snivy I'd fallen in love with. She was darker and even more serious-looking than before. Still regal. Still beautiful. I found myself on the ground, hugging her neck, and whispering in her ear the same way her original owner had done for me.
"I've called you Forget so much that I think you're beginning to do it," I said soothingly. "You're name is Forget-Me-Not, chosen by Graciela Pope, because there are many things that you couldn't forget if you tried, and that flower embodied their spirit."
Author's Note: Awwww... Okay, not to toot my own horn or anything, but this turned out a lot better than I expected. So there's some character development for Cilan, as well as the girl that's been dead since the first sentence. Hope you liked it :)
Thanks for reading and please review!