What made the mad dash after Timburr so embarrassing wasn't that I couldn't catch up, but that it wasn't even that great a distance. After entering Pinwheel Forest, I followed Pawn, who followed Pepper, who followed Tempest, who followed our target. Pawn hooked an immediate left turn into a sunny clearing.

There, Timburr stood with a cocky grin and beckoned Tempest forward. The run lasted about three minutes.

I moved behind Tempest and took a good minute to catch my breath. "Tempest, Tempest." My pidove readied herself and stared straight at Timburr. "Quick attack."

She took a stance ready to leap forward. "Quick attack." Finally, she launched and hurtled towards her opponent.

Before I could give the last confirmation command, Timburr groaned and held its stick up in the air like it had earlier. So, I didn't repeat the move. In turn, Tempest ceased her attack and instead landed in front of it. "We need to get that stick away from it." Tempest looked back at me and blinked as if I told her to sprout legs and run a marathon. "Uh, how about gust?"

Hearing an oink, I remembered that Pepper was there too. I probably should have had Tempest tag out, but she was already angry.

I waited for the bird to start flapping her wings like she was stretching. "Gust." Then she flapped with meaning. "Goddamn, gust."

Very soon, a small twist of wind formed right in front of Timburr, quickly moving towards it. After colliding with the attack, the little jerk flew back, dropping its stick in the process. Because Tempest wouldn't (and probably couldn't), I dashed to pick up the fallen weapon and huck it about five feet away.

It jumped back on its feet quickly with a deep grunt, and had what I assumed to be a smile. But it just got hit with a super-effective attack. And just lost its stick. Was this timburr a masochist?

"Okay, uh… Air cutter?" Tempest could have at least taken less time charging up. "Air cutter." One, two. "Air cutter."

Again, three crescents of strong wind flew at Timburr, whose smile grew with delight for some reason. It jumped back in time to dodge and landed on a fallen log behind it. Once landed, it hopped in place and waved a hand back and forth as if to say try that again.

Tempest only got more flustered as she started squawking like the world was ending. "Okay, okay, air cutter." She tried it again. "Air cutter." At least I had the timing down already. "Air cutter "

Tempest flung her attack directly at the hopping thing's feet. Pity Timburr jumped in time, causing the air cutter to hit the log it used as a platform. But, again, it was elated at this. Once more, Timburr taunted us, still standing on the log. I noticed that a sharp dent was made in it after the attack landed.

Timburr seemed like it wanted us to use air cutter again. That was my only guess. At least they were having a nice time. "Air cutter." It cheered and squatted down, probably to jump once the attack came.

I looked back at Pawn and Pepper, who were sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree, waiting for the battle to conclude. Pawn caught my attention and moved his arms similar to how Tempest swung her wings for air cutter.

Timburr grunted several times whilst waving a fist at Tempest. Were they holding a conversation?

Pawn pointed at me and then Tempest, nodding his head. "What's that supposed to mean?" That could have meant anything under the sun and more.

Calling out, he waved his arms like Tempest again and pointed below Timburr, at the log it stood on.

"What about it?" Was that supposed to help? "Oh, shoot, air cutter!" I managed to get through before Tempest stopped her first-stage charge of the move. I turned around and decided to ignore Pawn since I didn't get what he was saying. "Air cutter."

This garnered the same result: Timburr dodged and Tempest struck the log. At this, our opponent forgot about us and put its face right to the wood. I walked a couple steps over to see it admiring the dents made by air cutter. Then I remembered its dex portrait, and what Pawn tried to convey became clear.

"Not like we have anything better to do." This would be my good deed for the day. I just hoped it would be entertaining. "Tempest, Tempest."

The pidove followed me as I approached the log at the opposite end from Timburr. I made sure a good distance was maintained as I didn't want it to end up attacking me. It looked at me and jumped back up, becoming king of the log once more.

"Uh, do you want this thing cut?" I did a small chopping move with my arm. At this, Timburr's face filled with delight again and it nodded. I couldn't believe what I was doing. "Uh, we'll help..."

It jumped off and smacked the wood on the way down. This thing sure knew how to live it up.

"You really had to assault Tempest for our help, though?" But, then again, any other way and we probably would have not given chase.

It moved like it shrugged. Then, Timburr went to pick up the stick I tossed and swung it around like a toy.

"Let's make this painless, then. Air cutter." With a huff, Tempest complied. "Air cutter." One, two. "Air cutter "

This carved another couple of inches into the log, but not enough to completely split it. I focused a little more and saw that the log was actually quite long, like six feet. Its diameter was about the size of Tempest. So, we kept going and going until finally, a surprisingly clean cut was made into the log. Pretty jagged with angular points, but still.

It got our attention again by shouting and jumping while standing at the other end from where we cut and pointed as if to say here too! The edge was jagged and kind of black.

"Are you serious?" I looked at Tempest, who seemed to have exhausted herself already. Timburr came up to us and stood before Tempest, poking her with the stick and saying something I couldn't understand.

Before I knew it, Tempest gained a second wind. She flew up and flailed her wings, firing air cutter after air cutter at the other end of the log until the rotted segment was lopped off. It must have taunted her into doing that.

Timburr did a small jig before admiring the about-three-foot-long log. It then made a gesture that read follow me and tried to push the log out of the rut it lay in. I put a foot on the wood and kind of kicked it, not really helping in the least bit.

Pepper and Pawn came up to us and tried helping too. But Timburr had none of it. It tapped Pawn's arms and Pepper's nose with the butt of its stick. They seemed more stunned than hurt, then backed off.

"What was that for? You okay?" Both nodded and kept watching. Meanwhile, Tempest perched in a nearby tree and roosted.

Rolling its hand in the air as if to rally me, Timburr grunted and tapped my feet and arms with its stick. Then, it resumed its pushing position.

"Please don't do that." I brushed where the stick touched me with my hands and copied its posture, helping Timburr move the log. I couldn't believe I was being pushed around by this thing. But, it could have been worse. It probably only wanted my help because I was so much bigger than it, though.

Eventually, the wood budged and the two of us moved it to flat land. Then, Timburr just started punching and kicking it with all its might. "What are you doing now?"

A loud grunt, followed by a soft one. A smacking noise, then a solid thump. A deep exhale yet a shallow inhale. Timburr kept a solid rhythm as it assaulted the log.

"Uh, you know that's not gonna-Holy shit, you're actually flattening it out!" Where it hit the log, the rounded edge became ever so slightly straight. Seeming familiar, I checked the dex portrait again and saw that the log in it was squared off.

With a deep cry, Timburr waved its arm and rallied me again.

"Please let no one be watching." I looked around and only saw Pawn and Pepper waiting patiently. So, like and idiot, I joined in the whacking of the log. And when I said like an idiot, I meant like an idiot. The first thing I did was punch it hard.

All that did was hurt my hand, but Timburr kept crying out and looking at me. So, I pretended to punch the dumb wood as it did the actual work.

Let me say, that took time. A lot of time. Evening had fallen a while ago. Timburr kept at it for hours, constantly evening out each side of its masterpiece as I punched the air like an idiot.

Was it boring? Yes. Was it exhausting? Yes. Did it fill me with even more regret? Yes. Was it real? Sadly and somehow, yes.

But boy was the result stunning.

At long last, we beheld a nearly perfect rectangular prism of wood. I had to say, this timburr was dedicated and buff. "Nice work."

Then it hit me: what the hell was it going to do with this thing? Use it like the dex entry portrayed it?

The answer was yes. Timburr squatted low and held the log in its hands, slowly standing up. It managed to lift it a few inches before I saw the wood shaking in its hands. "Wait, that's not gonna work. That's not an upgrade from your stick, it's too much. You're gonna hurt yourself."

I scrambled to the end of the log Timburr couldn't reach with its arm span and held it up to try to create balance. Together, we lifted and put the timber in Timburr's hands to cradle. It cried out in victory. Talk about cocky. It was going to drop that any time now given how shaky its entire being was.

Tempest finally woke up and came down. Once within sight, Timburr approached her, dragging the log on the ground, and held its hand out while bending and extending its fingers like a challenge issue.

Pawn called for my attention again, then put up his dukes to get the message across.

"Well, we've got nothing better to do. Tempest, Tempest." She looked at Timburr and its new weapon and puffed her chest out.

"Still angry from earlier?" A thought came to me then. "Should I catch it"

I looked to Pawn and Pepper while pointing at Timburr. I already sunk the entire afternoon and more with it, and it seemed pretty strong. But, it did hit us with a stick of unknown origin. It couldn't have hurt to try, though.

"Alright, air cutter." One, two. "Air-Uh…"

The next thing I knew, Tempest splayed on the ground with Timburr hovering above her. It had stuck a glowing foot out and swiped it across Tempest, who decided to not fly up to use air cutter this time for some reason. The log was fallen on the ground as well.

"Tempest? You good?" She came to soon enough, but in that time, Timburr went back to its log and tried to pick it up again. "That'll take forever. Air cutter." She flew up this time and readied herself.

"Air cu…" I trailed off as I saw Timburr manage to lift the log alone. However, it was certainly off-kilter, looking ready to fall over. I kind of ran over to make sure it didn't hurt itself, but that was too late.

The log tipped over and fell. This timburr had surprisingly good reflexes as it repositioned itself quickly to catch it. But, that wasn't enough. Once the log landed in its hands, it grunted loudly and hunched over. I moved to help, but before I could touch the wood, it got dropped. Timburr then followed suit.

"Oh, shit." I awkwardly moved my hands above the fallen timburr. Guessed it would have been in bad taste to shout timber right then and there.

It groaned loudly, probably pulled something. Yet it still had the ability to snuggle up to its log and not let go.

"Uh…"

Pawn shook my shoulder and pointed in the direction of Nacrene City. "Center. Got it. Uh.."

Despite our weird little bonding, I still didn't want to touch Timburr. Predicting my sentiments, Pawn made a small tossing motion as Pepper poked at my bag.

"Catch it now? Isn't that kinda unfair?" I returned Pepper and Tempest. If it really didn't want to be caught, it would probably cause chaos, too. I wasn't cleaning up that mess.

After sighing and shaking his head, Pawn picked up Timburr and its log and walked ahead of me.

I ended up following him back to Town instead of the other way around.

~X~

"Don't worry. Your timburr will be fine after a little rest. She just got a little too excited and passed out. Some excess exhaustion and nothing more. I'll contact you once she wakes up," Nurse Joy told me. "Also, here is your pidove back, all nice and healed."

"Thank you." I looked at the floor as I processed the information and took Tempest's ball back. But something was off. "Her?"

The nurse paused on her way back to smile at me. Guessed that answered that. So Timburr was a girl? The veins and muscles were a little off-putting, but I shrugged it off. There were weirder things.

"What now?" The answer was obvious, actually: go back to my room and rest. But, I wanted to make sure Timburr was fine. I wasn't heartless.

Surprisingly, Pawn pulled me towards the exit. "A walk?" I wanted anything except exercise. My hand still hurt from when I punched the log. Joel probably told Pawn to do this.

Before I could register what was happening, Pawn dragged me outside. And since I was already outside, I might as well have let Pawn keep pulling me along. At least he walked slow.

We strolled the lamp-lit streets until a deep bass pulled us out of our peace. In the direction the noise came from, a small crowd gathered and clapped with the music. Curious, I slowly made my way towards the source of noise and saw a boombox bursting some rhythm-heavy song. Near it was a pokémon break-dancing.

Yeah, I said that.

"What the fuck is this?" I notice a hat by its feet with some money in it. Ever more curious, I scanned it. The pokémon turned out to be a scrafty, whatever that was. However…

I choked on spit when I saw a tattoo right under the thing's mohawk. And the thing's mohawk. Damn, it was the guy Pepper almost set on fire with the gum she spit out yesterday. I was sure of it. The gyarados-infinity tattoo and swag on him were exactly the same. So he wasn't human.

I stood, mesmerized by the little guy. He bounced and posed to the beat for several songs in a row. A while later, the crowd thinned out and Pawn and I were the only ones watching. I checked the time to see it was about two in the morning.

When the song finished, the scrafty checked his own watch and switched the boombox off. Why did he have and why could he use a watch? Actually, I would take that back; I was pretty sure Pawn had a pocket watch or something in his fanny pack. The scrafty picked his hat up and eyed the bills in it.

I realized I had been watching him dance for like half an hour. So, I dug through my bag and pulled out two 1,000-poké bills. That was a goddamn lot of money to me, but before I could put one back, the scrafty looked at me and bowed. I just held the money in front of him, afraid of looking like and idiot more than losing money. He took it, bowed again wearing an uneven smile, and walked away with all his things.

"Let's go back..." Well, at least I was entertained.

~X~

The next morning, I woke up supremely early. After getting back to the center last night (rather, early, early this morning), I couldn't sleep. Immediately, after wasting more of my money on breakfast for four mouths, plus a treat for an extra one, I went to the care room Timburr slept in.

I need to battle trainers. I'm broke, I thought. There was no way I was borrowing cash from anyone. I just needed to figure out how to go about that.

Inside the room, Timburr sat up on a medical bed. Once she saw me and Pawn enter, she hopped off and stood before me. She held her arms out, expecting something. So, I dropped the breakfast burrito I bought for her in them. After gazing at it questionably, she kept her arms out.

Pawn moved his arms and kind of formed a box with them. "Oh, I can guess what she really wants. And I'm pretty sure we shouldn't give it to her, unless she wants to exhaust herself again."

The stupid log we wasted yesterday making sat in my room after Nurse Joy handed it to me and said to hold onto it. The thing was damn heavy. I dropped it a couple times transporting it last night before Pawn decided to lend a hand.

"If she's feeling well, feel free to take her back." Nurse Joy entered the room and started cleaning up the room. "She's all rested up and ready for today."

Just before the nurse finished her sentence, Timburr left the room to stare at me and tap her foot by the doorframe. With her tiny hands, she crinkled the burrito wrapper. Whether she didn't know how to open it or didn't want it, I hadn't a clue.

"Thank you…" I wasn't sure if the nurse heard me or not, but I walked away without turning back, knowing I would feel stupid if I repeated myself. "Hey, eat that. I bought it."

Timburr poked the food as she walked strangely close to my leg. I sighed, looked around to make sure no one was watching, then bent down to unwrap the thing for her. After sniffing it, she picked it up as I took the plastic wrap away just in case she tried to eat it. Hell if I knew if she knew about plastic.

I walked us to my room and pulled out the card key. Before I swiped it, I took my time to read a piece of paper taped to it. Wasn't here when I left.

Trainers! Please be aware of a serial vandalist that has been visiting poké centers across Unova. Their actions include

That was all I could read. The rest of the notice was smeared with something brown and oily. By the scent alone, how it made me feel nauseous and itchy, it was surely peanut butter. But why, and how? Well, it certainly could have been a worse brown substance.

"I don't think this is a good thing." That it was covered with something like peanut butter meant it was intentional. Why else would anybody go out of their way to deface a warning flyer with the stuff? Either that, or the culprit was some asshole who passed by, happened to be eating a peanut butter sandwich, then decided they felt like smashing it against a PSA. You know, either actually sounded plausible… Not.

Pawn gawked at the peanut butter. Who wouldn't? Out of paranoia, I looked around. In this wing of the dormitories, I saw each door had a notice posted on it like mine. Several others also had brown staining theirs. "What is this?" I went up to a clean flyer and continued reading.

Their actions include: spraying unsavory graffiti on the walls of suites and bathrooms; throwing paint on sleeping pokémon left inside rooms; leaving hostile pokémon inside rooms; and stealing gym badges. They are not limited to these offenses. If you are a victim, or if you witness the culprit, please report any and all activity to the help desk.

My heart pounded and my balance swayed as I hoped I wouldn't become a victim to this shit. It wasn't what I signed up for, and the last thing I needed to worry about on my journey. But, nothing interesting really ever happened to me, so I tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my chest.

Timburr lightly punched my calf and opened and closed her hand as if to say give me. A little too much physical contact, but alright.

"Sure." I turned the knob to my room and held my breath. Then, I slowly pushed it open and reached for the light switch, eyes kept on the antsy timburr beside me. I kept smacking the wall to find the switch to no avail.

Silence overtook us, save for the sound of me hitting the wall in my blind search. Well, that and something else. Something strange, out of place… Something akin to growling, I would say. But what the hell was growling? My stomach? No.

I didn't get to wonder any more as the noise turned into a snarling. Several heavy footsteps pounded from inside my room, and the next thing I knew, a huge beast pounced out of the darkness at us.

Pawn pulled me to the side in time for it to leap past me, a whip of fur brushing against my face. After I blinked, I stared at the horrible surprise that laid in wait for me. "What?" I had no breath left in me.

Timburr cried out, followed by a thud that meant she fell either onto the floor or against the wall. I looked back at her and followed her pointing finger to the mass of brown fur that almost ran me over. The thing looked like a dog with a sick mustache. In its mouth was a stick.

No, not a stick. It just looked like a stick since the thing was so big, up to my shoulders. In its mouth was Timburr's log. "The fuck?"

The next thing I knew, it ran off. Timburr followed it closely. I hesitated to do so, but ended up closing my door before following them. Nurse Joy knew I was affiliated with this pokémon, so any damage by her would mean I got the blame.

Once again, Pawn became my waypoint. We ran around the poké center before we somehow all ended up at the battlefields behind the building. I hated that we didn't encounter Nurse Joy or someone to get help from. Not even someone to tell us to not run in the halls.

Outside, the dog kept charging straight. If we let it keep running, it would have made a clean getaway with Timburr's log, never mind what havoc it would wreak in the city. I put effort in the making of that thing, so I also had a stake in it. So, I panicked and rifled through my bag for something, anything. I felt a poké ball with a sticker on it and flung it the hardest I could ahead.

Maybe I had potential for baseball or something because the poké ball flew ahead of the dog, and out came Pepper in time to execute one move. But, the problem was that I probably couldn't shout loud enough for her to hear me. Plus I was out of breath.

Lucky me, though. Out of what I assumed to be instinct, Pepper shot ember at the charging dog. That slowed it down and caused it to come to a dead stop.

It dropped the log and bent down, head to the ground in some battle stance. By the time I got in shouting distance of Pepper, the dog's fangs crackled with electricity as it chomped them like a guillotine. Only then did I notice its absurdly sharp teeth, all of them perfect cones. Pepper jumped out of the way to stand in front of me, just barely dodging the dog charging at her.

"Uh… Pawn, can't you do something?" The dog was huge and scary. Possibly rabid. And who knew where it came from. It certainly wasn't mine.

Pawn hesitated and made a gesture to give him a minute to think. There wasn't time, though. It wasn't even like I wanted to command him, if that was the issue. I just wanted to not get bit by this thing. What the hell did Joel tell him to not do?

"Uh, uh, Pepper!" My eyes flickered from Pawn to Timburr, who ran to retrieve her log the moment it hit the ground. "Seriously? You can't carry it right. Whatever, um, ember."

Again, flames shot out of Pepper's nostrils and lightly toasted the dog. After scanning it, it was apparently a stoutland, male. I knew a pokémon I didn't want to train in the future.

Without waiting for me, Pepper launched another ember, then followed into a tackle. "Whoa, no, I didn't say that!" She was going to get hurt, wasn't she? This sucked. "Uh… Why do you only know two moves? Uh…"

Pepper used ember again, then jumped to her side and repeated over and over again, circling the dog while acting like a spit roast.

However… it did diddly to the stoutland. Other than slightly singing his fur and making him continuously turn to the right, the stoutland was completely unaffected by Pepper's endeavors. So either Pepper was extremely weak, or this dog was extremely jacked. Or both.

Covering for my melting brain, Timburr acted as a distraction of sorts. She abandoned her log (probably because she knew she couldn't use it) and literally jumped into the fray. She gave him a sick drop kick. This pushed the stoutland back, giving her time to use it again.

"Join in." That was the one thing out of infinite others that I said. How stupid it was.

But oh, did Pepper know what to do. She charged in with tackle and struck the same spot Timburr had been kicking him. Then, they took turns wailing on the dog.

This was short-lived, though. When I looked at the stoutland, his face wasn't really pained. He seemed more annoyed than anything. "Get away from it," I shouted once I saw him open his mouth, fangs glowing red and fire spewing out.

With a deafening roar, he snapped his jaws closed, latching onto Pepper. He picked her up and swung her around like a toy, fire from whatever move he used engulfing her. At least it wasn't very effective?

"Oh my god."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Timburr huck a decent-sized rock at the stoutland. It hit his butt and made him drop Pepper, who landed upright and ran back to breathe. She threw another rock, landing a solid hit on the stoutland's head.

He shook it off and faced Timburr, teeth bared and bent down, ready to charge whilst growling. The next move, he shot at her with absurd speed and force, coated in white. From my spot, I couldn't see the poor fighting-type anymore.

"Ember, ember!" My wires got crossed and I thought Pepper was Tempest for a moment.

It was too late, though. The stoutland already stopped running by the time I said that. So, I edged around to try to see what happened. And, wow, was I actually impressed.

Timburr stood like a pitcher, log held up at a 45-degree angle due to her leg kicking it at the end on the ground. The dog kneeled down while rubbing its nose. All I could guess that happened was he hit the log head-on and hurt himself.

Grunting with satisfaction, she let go of the log, which fell down and whacked the stoutland on the head. Just then, Pepper unleashed ember. Again, it seemed like she did no damage to him. However, when I looked closer, the stoutland was kind of on fire. A patch of fur was burnt blackish, too, some strands falling off and revealing red flesh.

"He's burned?" I tried to remember if ember could burn. Either way, the fire seemed to greatly hinder him as he struggled to stand up, front paws nursing his head. "Is that log legal?" That was the bigger question. But, I guessed that since she struggled just to hold it, it was sort of okay.

The stoutland barked his head off, dragging a paw in the dirt like a charging bull. Once again, he shot ahead with such speed and force, aiming for Timburr.

She jumped forward, ever so slightly dodging the dog. Did she really have time for style points?

I stared at the stoutland intently and watched as his focus broke before he ended his attack, really just running straight instead of using whatever move he was trying to use.

"Oh, well, ember again." If we were lucky, that stoutland would wear himself out soon enough.

Just as Pepper inhaled, the stoutland turned around and charged yet again. Only this time, he seemed more threatening.

He howled like his life depended on it. Oh, yes, were we doomed.

He came at us, mainly at Timburr who just so happened to stand beside Pepper to catch her breath. With such power, surrounded by an orange and purple aura bubble, he leaped and hurtled towards the two small pokémon in what I knew was the move giga impact. I saw Joel's slaking Queen use it plenty of times on televised tournaments to know it by heart.

"No, no, both of you get out of there somehow!" As I said that, I ran as far as I could to avoid any trace of the move hitting me. Queen's giga impact caused dirt to fly up in the air in clumps and affect anything in like a twenty-foot radius. Pebbles and rocks often came up too.

I hid behind a convenient tree and peered out with mixed feelings. On one hand, I was safe. On the other, I didn't even try to help them besides just barely shout a warning when it was probably too late to even help. But, then again, what could I have done to help? There was literally nothing I could do, except maybe return Pepper. But, even then, what of Timburr?

Timburr kicked Pepper like a pigskin, sending her flying a few feet away to safety. Then, she jumped away herself, but I could see that at least her legs would get knocked by the stoutland.

Time seemed to slow down. As I kept watching, I saw Pepper stand up and call out, probably for Timburr. Then, the charging stoutland gained a pink-ish color to its giga impact. With this, he veered a hard left, pink immediately leaving his aura once his direction changed.

My sights shifted to Pawn, who held his head with one arm in what looked like great focus. Before I went over to check out the mess before me, I watched as the stoutland kept going until he ran into a tree, collision causing a puff of dust to go up.

Once it settled, the dog lay on its stomach, eyes closed. The tree tilted over by about fifteen degrees.

"Pawn, Pepper, you…?" I approached Pawn, who walked over to the stoutland while panting heavily and clutching his head. Pepper approached me and immediately collapsed, panting up a storm herself. Timburr came by too, dragging her log across the dirt and scratching her head like a human ruffled their hair in frustration.

"What happened?" Why were we even here to begin with? Where did that stoutland come from? Why did he have to steal the goddamn log?

Pawn came up to us carrying the unconscious dog. "Are you okay? You used psychic, right?"

He nodded his head and bounced the dog in his arms. I saw the stoutland twitch his foot, so he certainly was alive.

"Let's show him to Nurse Joy." I returned Pepper, then looked to Pawn. "No, wait, what about the room?"

The warning poster I read not half an hour ago came back to me. Was I seriously a victim of that asshole? If so, was he truly so dedicated to his trolling as to train up this huge stoutland just to abandon it in a stranger's room and cause unknown chaos? Chaos that he wouldn't be around to see?

"Keep an iron grip on that thing." With that, we went back to my room.

Pawn bumped me to the side with his hip once I twisted the doorknob. He went in first, still clutching the sleeping dog, to turn on the lights. Before he gave me the okay, I saw him take a step back and stiffen up.

When I stepped in, I did the same as Pawn. Who wouldn't have?

The bedding and actual bed of the room were torn to literal shreds. The carpet had huge claw markings and generous patches of golden and blue fur, like the stoutland was shedding. The lamp and television sat on the floor, completely broken. Chunks of the walls had holes and cracks, most definitely from the dog running into them.

Such destruction that rendered the room reminiscent of a junkyard. And that wasn't even the worst part. All that stuff was probably from the stoutland. But there was more, things that a human had to have done.

My eyes shot to the most obvious offender: the wall the television once leaned against. A disgusting green, similar to one people made bio-slime on television, marred the white wallpaper, likely spray paint.

Scrawled in handwriting just barely better than mine was a giant fuck you. Literally.

The words FUCK YOU in huge letters stared at me from on high.

"That's mature," I managed to cough out. I couldn't tell whether I was supposed to laugh or burst into tears at that. Who broke into someone's room just to write that? Never mind the stoutland.

I turned around and more graffiti greeted me. This time, in red similar to that of a teacher's pen, GIVE UP GO DIE was written, words stacked upon each other.

Couldn't use punctuation or something? I thought to myself in a failed effort to ignore the shitty feeling I got from this. This was why I didn't go out much. This was why I didn't like talking to other people, my skepticism manifest.

Scribbled elsewhere on the wall in black marker were dejecting phrases of similar sentiment, all of which I wished I hadn't read. A similar motif among all of them was failure.

Who the hell went around doing this stuff? And how much money in repairs did they leave behind doing this garbage? And how many other rooms got this treatment? I was a cynic too, but I never acted on my hate-filled impulses.

What really got me was that despite the fact that this incident seemed like it was aimed at whoever was renting this room with how unspecific its trash talk was, it still got me. I already knew I wasn't going to go far. So why did this stranger of a vandal have to hammer it home?

"I have to report this, don't I?" It was something too severe to just walk away from. Plus, I was a victim. And if I didn't tell someone, I would have to clean the mess myself to prevent myself from being called the vandal.

With a sigh, Pawn exited the room, still carrying the stoutland. I should probably have found Nurse Joy already to ease Pawn's burden.

Timburr huffed. I almost forgot she was there. She leaned against the wall outside, trying to carry her log without it touching the ground.

"Let's g-"

"Nurse Joy!" someone screeched from outside. I popped my head out and saw a small crowd surrounding the nurse standing a few doors down. "Someone broke into my room and broke everything."

"The public bathroom is a mess, too," a man added. "The walls are covered with brown… stuff, and the mirrors are ruined with marker." Was he censoring himself? No, there was no way someone took shit into their hands and rubbed it against the wall.

"The battlefields outside are covered with hidden stealth rocks and toxic spikes! My pokémon need help!"

Those were just some of the complaints I heard before I found myself slowly wandering toward the poor nurse swamped with angry folk. When I got close enough, a few people looked my way and quieted down, probably at the sight of Pawn and the dog he carried. With a nudge from the gallade, I said, "There was this crazy stoutland in my room."

"Okay, everyone, let's calm down. I understand the situation and hope to have everything sorted out as soon as possible. As we work to try to retrieve the footage from our security cameras, I ask that you all follow me to receive compensation." Why did she say try?

Very professional. But, seriously? Who was this asshole vandal? They went to such great lengths to bully people. Was this really what they did with their life?

On another note, compensation? I needed money, so...

I learned shortly after that compensation meant a new room for free and taking the stoutland off my hands (and that she said try to get the security footage because the cameras were hacked or some bullshit like that). Not one to argue and cause a scene over exaggerated (or perhaps genuine) emotional distress, I took the card key and left quietly.

~X~

Scribbled in various places in my journal were these:

I'll follow you in this chase

A game practically a charade

Pretending I like it

Inside I detest it

Yet suck it up for future days

-O-

Go ahead and make a scene

As if the shame doesn't demean

I'll try, try again

Fail up until ten

Till finally I learn this was your dream

-O-

You insult me as if I enjoy it

Your sick game of tat for tit

In the end, you win

But I'll call you has-been

As you pretend that you're innocent

-O-

You keep me on a long, long leash

And so, everything is so close, but out of reach

I run, then it chokes

Somehow I am a joke

For believing your rabid dog isn't me

-O-

The dirty walls of lies start closing in on me

Graffiti towering over, screaming blasphemy

That this could occur

To this boring trainer

I can't convince myself it's plain profanity