Alright here's the second chapter of this story. Much longer than the first and has a bit more going on in it. I uploaded it so soon because I want there to be at least something besides just the intro chapter on the site. Hope you enjoy!
My Best Friend
"Gah!" gasps Milo as his eyelids flip open to bring him back to reality and his head shoots up off his desk that he had fallen asleep on. Groggy and a bit startled by the dream he had, he takes a couple moments to get ahold of himself before doing anything. The dream was surreal, he felt as if he had just gone through the entire process of watching his father die yet again in real-time, except this event was a little more than 8 years ago and by this point in time, he should've been able to move on and continue his life as normal. While this is true for most people, he is the slim minority that is an exception to this rule. The event was so traumatic and heartbreaking that it stuck with him for all this time, making him change from the determined, spunky, energy filled child that he was into the cynical, cold, distant, reclusive young adult he is now. The worst part about his father's death was that he never managed to go on that journey that had been promised, no Pokemon was bestowed upon him, and instead of doing good like he should've in school, he stopped caring to the point that he flunked out of Pokemon Trainer high school in his junior year. For that matter of fact, he stopped caring about most day-to-day life stress and concerns in favor of a pessimistic, blunt outlook on nearly everything around him.
This obviously caused his mother to worry deeply about his condition, and though her intentions were all good hearted and in the right place of wanting to help him recover and get back to a good state of mind, no amount of medication, doctors, and psychologists were able to make a dent in his depression. He simply refused to allow them to change him and according to the doctors themselves, they had tried to their utmost highest-level ability to fix him without any positive results coming out of it. Most of the friends he used to have stopped caring about him a long time ago since he stopped talking to them, and being a shut-in, he had no intentions of going out to try and make new friends or reconnect with his old ones. Even strangers who may have a simple question on where something in Aspertia City is, his place of residence, are met with geodude-cold silence and an expressionless stare looking through them. His mother of all people has trouble getting him to talk as well, with all moments of him speaking being through 5-word maximum answers in a monotone voice, a sad state of affairs in every aspect as she's the only close family member alive that has any significance in his life, at least, that's how she and everyone else sees it. Unbeknownst to all of them, against every odd that's laid out on the table for all to see, he's managed to gain a single best friend who understands him more than even his own mother, fulfilling the role of that person whom he never had in his life up until now.
The thought of seeing this friend comes to mind as he spends time stretching himself out to try and wake up faster from the nap he took a couple of hours ago. As he bends over to place his hands flat on the somewhat scruffy carpet underfoot, he looks out through the single window in his bedroom whose curtains are ironically pushed to the side to see that the sky had gotten a makeover in the form of various shades of purple, black, red, and orange. As beautiful as it looks, it's simply just the dying rays of sunlight poking through the atmosphere as it tries with futility to resist the coming of the moon and night-time. He stops stretching and takes a deep breath in, holding it for a few seconds, and then exhales followed by him walking over to his door, unlocking it, and opening it up to leave and head downstairs for dinner. Gentle little bangs are heard as he descends the stairs, alerting his mother in the kitchen to his approaching presence, and he walks over to the dining table to take a seat and wait for her to be finished with what she's cooking. If he had the choice to not eat at all, he would quickly take it so he'd have one less thing to worry about despite needing to eat to sustain his life and health.
From the brass metal pot on the stove, she uses a ladle to pour out a little bit of soup into a bowl that she takes off the counter and brings to the table for her son to eat. She places it in front of him and gives him a metal spoon to eat with, and then goes back into the kitchen to get some for herself. He looks down into the bowl, a bit of steam rises up and fogs his thin-lensed glasses, obscuring his vision a little but he sees his own face reflected in the soup. Extremely dark blotches exist under his eternally fatigued chocolate brown eyes, always being a quarter of the way closed gives them a sharp, soul frightening gaze. His dark chocolate brown hair is a mess, strands stick up in every direction and its brittle, rough feel is a perfect companion to his tainted outlook on life. He stares at his reflection for a couple more seconds before grabbing the spoon with his left hand and dipping it into the bowl, the orange-colored soup fills it up and he lifts it out, bringing it to his mouth where he sips it out slowly, all while watching his mother walk over to the table to place her bowl down and sit directly across from him.
She grabs her spoon with her right hand and goes to eat, but notices that he's staring intently at her as if he has something to say. She's seen him do this countless times in the past, all the times she's asked if something's up in response to this behavior would net no answer from him. Going against her past experiences, she decides to clear her throat and ask him anyway. "You're staring at me, is something wrong?" She waits for him to respond, but all he does is blink his eyes and look down at his soup to take another spoonful of it so he can sip it. She gently shakes her head and decides to ask about the food. "I made your favorite soup. I know it's been a long time since we last had it and I thought maybe it would make you happy."
He looks back up at her as he sips more from his spoon, continuing to stay silent the entire time. Awkward tension builds in the air now as she thinks of something else to say that makes sense to talk about. "W-well… umm… do you want to know how my day at work was?" No response. "It… it was good. I talked to my boss about getting a pay raise and he gladly accepted it, so now I'll be bringing home 8,350P now each month instead of 5,000P like I got in the past. I might be able to afford enrolling you into an adult Pokemon Trainer School next month if you'd like."
He looks down at the soup, up at her, then back down at it and places his spoon on the table, a couple drops of soup fall onto the laminated oak wood surface, and he speaks for the first time in a while. "No." He then proceeds to scoot his chair back and stand up, heading straight for the front door of the house to leave. As he reaches for the doorknob with his left hand, his mother questions him.
"Where are you going? It's late and you don't even have a flashlight or something to let others know you're out and about. You know how the news has been talking about taking a light of some kind if you plan on going out to places that will have wild Pokemon."
He doesn't look at her. "It's none of your business." His hand grabs the knob and turns it to open the door, causing an influx of cold, early, Unovian winter air to flood into the house for a brief moment as he goes outside, closing the door on the way out. He doesn't feel the need to answer to her on where he's going, not because he's an adult, but simply because he should be free to do as he wishes without others judging him or trying to stop him from doing it. He knows right from wrong, and what he's going to do is as far from being wrong in all aspects. A couple of flame-red leaves blow past him in the late fall air, which, as explained before, carries the chill of an early winter that's extremely common this time of year in Unova.
A lack of sunshine means a lack of warmth, though just as with other things, he isn't bothered nor cares about it one bit and starts walking through his hometown of Aspertia City. The name of this place is an understatement for the ages as it's a dream's throw away from being a city. There are only 6 homes here, 5 of which are small apartment buildings while his own house stands out as the only actual "house" in the entire "city", lending it to be more of a suburban town than anything. There's a Pokemon Center nestled neatly next to the Trainer School, which educates students who come from as far as Undella Town to become top tier trainers from Monday through Friday. Within the depths of the school, the very first Pokemon Gym resides where renowned gym leader Cheren awaits to give students and budding trainers their final test to see if they're truly ready for the big leagues. Over the years from his first days in that school to the moment he flunked out of the high school he went to in Castelia City, he's heard rumors about Cheren, rumors that say he had a hand in helping someone stop an evil organization from taking over the entire region, which also meant he had to be super tough and highly skilled since gym leaders have always been held to such high praise.
He walks along the concrete paths laid out for him, passing by the school whose lights are dim with its doors closed, yet the Pokemon Center next-door has soft lights inside radiating a powerful glow and holds a warm, inviting hand out to those whose Pokemon have had a run-in with the strong wild Pokemon a few hops down the road on Route 19, which is exactly where he wants to go, but before he does that, there's something he wants to take a quick stop at. As he approaches the gate that connects his hometown to the outside world, he takes a sharp left up the stairs of an imposing cliffside, his shoes making a small, metallic resonance echo through the air as he ascends up the steps and glides his left hand across the top of the railing to keep his balance the entire way up. A short right and up two more sets of stairs bring him face to face with an outlook watching over the vast, expansive forest that surrounds Route 19. He can see the entire route and part of the next town in the distance to his right, but he doesn't care for this and places his attention on an inconspicuous little clearing deep in the forest where a single tree rises ever so slightly above the others, a king handing out demands to all of its subjects. At the foot of this king is where he wants to be for that is where his friend is located, a friend of great power and mystical status thought to have not existed until now. In the distance is a massive mountain range separating him from the rest of mainland Unova with no means of crossing it, not like he would go there, he has no reason to leave for now, and with that, he turns back and goes down the stairs to continue on his path to Route 19.
Inside of the gate, there's usually an attendant that sits behind one of the two desks on either side, sometimes both desks are occupied, and they watch people come and go, but tonight, there's nobody watching inside the gate. This is perfect for him, he'd rather not be noticed and talked to as he has nothing to say to anyone nor does he want to say anything to them. Along with the desks, on either side behind them, there's a small monitor with a scrolling LED sign that has text on it that shows on-going news in the region such as the weather in surrounding towns and cities, wild Pokemon outbreaks, and even new regional champion inductees. None of that is important to him as he walks from one end of the gate to the other, being greeted to the wilderness that is Route 19. The rustling sound of trees and tall grass can be heard as more leaves float by in the crisp fall breeze that occupies the air around here.
He walks along the worn dirt path for a little bit, a couple Pidove fly overhead, probably heading back to their nests for the evening. A couple Patrat pop their heads up over the tall grass that sits on the right side of the dirt path, silently watching Milo walk by without him acknowledging their presence. He comes to a bend in the path that leads to the east, but instead of continuing to follow this path, he looks down there and then behind him to make sure nobody sees him or followed him, and with the coast clear, he makes a break for it by dashing into the woods directly in front of him. He's done this hundreds of times in the past, and as "dangerous" as going into the woods and tall grass is without a Pokemon of his own to protect him is, he's never been afraid of wild Pokemon before and wouldn't hesitate to physically fight one to protect himself, although he's never had to do such a thing as most of the wild Pokemon living here are quite calm and friendly most of the time.
He pushes overgrown grass out of the way with both of his hands and narrowly dances around countless trees as he runs deep into the forest, heading straight without making any change in direction. Endless trees and grasses surround him, everything all tightly packed together with the darkness of nighttime looming over the horizon blanketing everything in black, making it difficult for the eyes of creatures that aren't nocturnal to see what lies ahead. Even with such a blanket obscuring his view of the unknown ahead of him, he presses onwards towards his destination, which he comes across some moments later. This clearing that he spotted from the outlook back in Aspertia City is significantly larger than it looks and unlike the rest of the forest around it, the grass here is short and neatly kept, a couple flowers of various colors grow on the bank of a decently sized lake, and that kingly tree from earlier still standing tall and valiant above all of its subjects below in front of him to top it off. Everything about this place radiates a calm, relaxing yet mystical energy, and it's only a short jog from here to his home, providing easy access to it for whenever he wants to come here.
His reasons for coming to this very spot are unknown to one who doesn't know him that well, but for him, this place is the birthplace of a very special friendship with an equally special being. The moment his feet stop just within the outskirts of this clearing, the being is alerted to his presence. She quickly claws her way up to the top of the kingly tree she's been silently napping in and peer out from behind a cluster of thick orange and yellow leaves. The fall breeze makes her fine, fluffy, pink fur wave and flutter and her slender, long tail with a rounded tip slowly wags back and forth. Her crystal-clear baby blue iris and white pupil looks on at the boy, a spark within them signifying mischief and she quickly flies off to prepare for something great.
Milo slowly walks towards the lake in the center of the clearing, looking around as if to try and find something but can't find it. He stops in front of the water and sits down on the ground, crisscrossing his legs, getting ready to wait for a little while to see if what he's looking for chooses to show up. He looks into the water and notices he can see both the sky above and the bottom, something that can't be said for the little lake that's near his house. In the reflection, he can see every single star that's revealed itself in the sky tonight despite the fact the sun hasn't completely set yet and the last few rays of light still peek through. All of these stars twinkle and shine, minerals in the sky forever unobtainable due to light years of distance rendering them impossible to touch. Against his own condition and outlook, he smiles slightly, extremely slightly, such a slight amount that it can't be called a smile.
Behind him, he has no idea that two faintly glowing baby blue eyes are dead set, locked onto him. The being knows this quite well, and with her two back legs and feet, she pushes herself off the trunk of a tree and fly at him with impressive speed, aiming for just above his middle back. The being hits her mark, but instead of anything coming out of it, her entire body squishes up against the boy's back and she emits a high-pitched whine to accompany it before falling onto the ground. Milo looks over his right shoulder to see what it was that hit him and on the floor is the person, or rather more specifically, the Pokemon that he wanted to see. He turns his entire body around gently to face her and with both of his hands, gently scoops her up and holds her in his arms, looking down at her face. She shakes her head quickly back and forth and open up her eyes to see him looked down at her, and instead of getting scared and trying to run away, her eyes beam with excitement and she happily yells at the top of her lungs. "MILO!"
The little feline Pokemon immediately floats up into the air and with her small, little arms, tries her best to hug him, although her arms are too short to come close to doing so. He hugs her back gently, using only one hand as to not crush her, gently caressing her back with his fingers. A few seconds later, they stop hugging and the Pokemon starts talking to him. "I missed you so much… I thought something happened to you!"
He closes his eyes and smiles slightly like before. "Mew, I said I'd be fine. I was punished from leaving home for a bit, that's all."
She taps her paws together, a slight look of concern on her face. "Will you tell me next time if something like that happens?"
He chuckles at this, she's not understanding that if he's not allowed to leave home, he can't tell her. "I can't tell you if I'm not allowed outside."
She realizes this and her eyes open wide. "Oh, I'm being silly! That's right… how could you do that if you're not allowed to leave?" she thinks for a second, then smiles wide. "Although maybe you could sneak out or something."
He shakes his head back and forth a little, it's cute that she's trying to think of ideas to help him tell her, but it'd only get him into more trouble. "That'd just get me into more trouble."
She giggles and puts both of her hands up to her mouth. "That's true!" she stops giggling and becomes semi-serious as it's unusual for him to be here at this time. "But, umm… Milo, why are you here when it's nighttime? You never come here at night."
He looks down away from her. "I had another horrible dream. This one was worse than the others."
Her eyes soften. "Oh no… another one of those dreams? You've been having them a lot more often recently and I'm worried that it might make you do something bad…"
"I won't do anything, I promised you from the start that I wouldn't." he sighs, wishing he could wipe the memory from his mind. "I just want the memory gone. It continuously haunts me day by day, and I never got to experience something that would've been so fun and life changing." he brings his legs up to his chest and holds them close, almost curling into a ball. She frowns at the sight of seeing him this way and crosses her arms as she tries to think of something to say but doesn't come up with anything. He silently speaks but she still hears him. "I miss him so much, he never got to give me my first Pokemon and teach me the special tricks he said he'd teach me."
"Well…" she puts her paws behind her back and averts her eyes. "You did end up meeting me not too long after all that happened. That has to count for something, right?"
"I guess." His voice is monotone and unemotive as he stares up at the sky now, looking at the countless twinkling stars and nearly pitch-black sky. The sun has set under the horizon now and all its rays have vanished along with it. In his head, he can still see his father suffering from the effects of the Pokerus virus. His memory is too sharp, giving him every detail from all the times where something horrific happened to him as the virus slowly took his body over. His eyes shut themselves tightly in response to these horrific thoughts running through his brain, hoping that it'll stop and leave him alone.
She floats in front of him and tries to give him some helpful words. "Hey, look at me." he opens his eyes and looks at her, gazing into her starry blue iris. "I know you're still hurting immensely from that event, but it's far in the past now. I don't know if your dad would be happy if he saw you the way you are now, I know I'm sure not happy to see you like this." his eyes look away from her. "I know you've heard me say this many times to you in the past, but maybe you should try to do something to provide some sort of purpose in your life?"
He puffs part of his right cheek out slightly. "I don't know… I can't even bring myself to talk to other people. Everything I say is too direct, I'll be seen as a jerk."
She shakes her head 'no'. "If others can't understand that that's part of what makes you who you are, they're the ones who have a problem, not you. I never thought that you were a jerk or a meanie or anything like that, ever. You're just… just…"
"Rude, cold, distant, emotionless, indifferent, apathetic."
"No, maybe indifferent and apathetic at times, but I've seen you smile. You smile every time you see me! I know that calling yourself emotionless is nothing but a lie. You're not rude or cold, you just get straight to the point whereas other people tend to draw things out for longer than they need to, and you aren't as easy to talk to or get along with." she silently giggles to herself for a moment upon remembering what it was like when she first met him. "When we first met, you wouldn't even look at me, and look at where we are now! You're talking to me like I've been with you for all of your life!"
He looks back at her, it's not a lie that he's difficult to talk to and get along with, the first time they both met was extremely awkward and tense. She had tried to talk to him multiple times, all of which failed to get even a sound out of him. It was also when he learned that he could hear her talking to him clearly, something that hasn't happened with any other Pokemon he's come across in his life. Mew was and continues to be special to him, she eventually got him to break out of his shell more than his mother has and unlike with her, he actually talks in an almost normal way when conversing with her. He smiles once again, her words always manage to make him feel a little warmth in his heart despite the heavy, dense "coldness" surrounding it. "I can't disagree with all of that, I'd be lying to myself if I said I did. Maybe you're right, perhaps I should try to do something different for once."
Her eyes light up joyfully. "Really!? You'll try something new for a change!?" she floats right up in his face. "Milo, please please please try your best! I know you can do anything you set your heart out to, all it takes is a little push from someone that loves you and cares for you deeply! I'll try my best to be with you the whole time!" She nuzzles her right cheek against his face and as much as he doesn't like being touched there, he can't help but drop his resting bitch-face and give into the strong sensation of being happy, chuckling a couple of times genuinely as her fur brushes against him.
"Thanks, you're a big help as always, Mew. I don't know if I'll be the way you see me now towards others, but I'll try." he tells her with a strange, sweet tone that's unusual coming from him. She stops nuzzling his cheek and starts making high pitched meows of joy before doing a couple of loop-de-loops in front of him and then flying around the outskirts of the entire clearing. As she flies around, many little sparkles of energy fall off her body and flutter around in the air. He's seen her do this many times in the past, but it never ceases to amuse him when it happens.
She flies around, circling the clearing 4 times before stopping and then flying straight down into the little lake in front of him. Water splashes all over, flying up into the air and landing on the ground all around, almost wetting him in the process. She surfaces a few seconds after and rests her head on her arms, which she rests on the side of the lake. "So, when will you go swimming with me again? Next week? Tomorrow? Next month?"
He shrugs. "It's starting to get really cold, I don't think it's a good idea to swim when it's cold… unless you want to get frozen and become ill."
"Aww… but I wanna go swimming again! We discovered so much under the sea last summer and I bet there's sooo much more we haven't found." she starts kicking her feet hard, splashing water out of the pond and onto the grass behind her.
"When it gets warmer, we'll go again."
She starts to whine a little. "But I don't wanna waaaiiitttt! I wanna go now!"
Her talking about going swimming suddenly reminds him that he can't stay out of the house for too long. Last time he did that, he ended up being punished for 2 weeks and he wouldn't want to make his best friend wait that long again. Against his own wishes of wanting to stick around and continue conversing with her, he has to get home unfortunately. "I know… how about the next time I visit, I'll take you somewhere you haven't been?"
She sees through his little ruse, though it isn't much of a ruse as he's telling the truth. "Next time you see me? Awww… But it feels like you just came back…" she puffs her cheeks out, picks her head up off the ground, and crosses her arms. Her eyes take on a sharpened look of annoyance to boot as well. "I was just getting ready to talk about something else too…"
"Look, if you want to see me again, I can't be out of the house for too long. That's how I got punished last time and I don't want to go through that again." his tone returns to how it was earlier, except this time, it's serious.
She sticks her tongue out and blows, making a pffft sound in annoyance. "Dumb rules. You should make your own rules so you can see me all the time." Though as annoyed about it as she is, she lightens up. "It's okay, I don't want you to get in trouble again. I'll wait for you no matter how long it takes for you to show up, okay?"
He nods his head 'yes'. "Sleep well, Mew. I have to go now."
She gets out of the water and quickly shakes herself dry, which takes no time at all since her fluffy, fine fur has a natural coating on it that repels water to a certain extent. She floats up to him and gives him one last hug, which he reciprocates. They both hug for about a minute before Milo breaks off from her, but before he leaves, he turns back. "Love you Mew, take care, okay?"
She blushes slightly. "I will, but you better take care of yourself too!" she waves at him as he slowly turns around to trek through the forest back home before someone finds him as, believe it or not, sometimes his mother will ask some of the other residents in Aspertia City to help her locate him when he's out of the house for long periods of time. There was once a time when his little "secret" was almost blown wide open when someone found him on the way back after visiting Mew during the day. Of course, this was many years ago and he's learned an exact amount of time he can be out before this happens, but he can never be too careful. On the way back, thoughts of what exactly he could try come to mind, and the first thing that hits him is to become a Pokemon Professor's Assistant, but he quickly puts this one out of his mind as an angry feeling wells up at the face of this thought. The reason for this anger is much justified, especially considering he could've already been one of those by this point in time.
It doesn't matter, he has a whole new day tomorrow to discuss within his own mind some ideas on what he could do. For now, though, it's back to the same old loop of horrible dreams of his father with depression and sadness to follow soon enough.
Milo is extremely good friends with a Mew! And no, there's no romance to be found in the last bit of dialogue they exchanged with each other, don't get any silly ideas... I hope you enjoyed, review as always, and I'll seeya in the next chapter!
