.:.1.:.
I forgot the Dramamine
"Vacation need a little sun to break up
all the frustration and turn it into love.
Ain't nobody gonna tell us what we're gonna do
because today, it's up to me and you!."
--Vacation--Vitamin C
*****
"I'm gonna miss you, Mom!" I hugged my mom tightly.
"I know, dear," She hugged me back, "I know you'll have a great time, though."
I hugged my Dad and finally I was ready to go. It was a warm day, the sun was brightly shining, and everything was really cool...homelife that is. My parents were going on a journey of their own. They were going back to the "real" world. To them this dimension was just, as my Dad put it, "Boring as all get out" so they were getting out. They trusted my brother and me to behave here and Matt was just using this as a home away from home while he was on Spring Break from college.
I still think it's suspicious that on the last trip back, my parents won the state lottery of nearly $35.5 million, though both Mew and Mewtwo deny any responsibility for that. So now my parents have decided to travel the world and visit all the places they've always wanted to. My mom wanted to visit the Australian Outback and found out about a special "Survivor" tour package. She's a big fan of the show. They left me with a full bank account so they wouldn't have to worry about me. Matt has some money too.
Speaking of Mew and Mewtwo, it turns out they put a "trap-door" of sorts to Gary's memories, so he could remember everything that happened. It seems that he remembered most of it via nightmares, but a trap-door is a trap-door.
There was a knock at the front door and, with a last goodbye to my breakfast eating, orange juice sipping parents, I left the house. Matt was still sleeping, it was only six in the morning, and he knew I was leaving so things were cool. He'd probably have a party later tonight anyway.
On my Pokeball belt, I had Moonsong, Umbreon, and my Ponyta; none of them were early risers. I know, you're probably laughing at me. Only three Pokemon? They were the only Pokemon I had since I never bothered to go out to try for more. Hey, it's hard enough to move from one city to another, but you try from one dimension to another and let's see how easy it is for you. I had my blue backpack packed with stuff and my Pokedex/gear clipped to my shorts pocket for easy access.
We were going to Fly to Saffron on Gary's Fearow and then take the Magnet Train to Goldenrod. Gary had to get something from the PokeCenter in Goldenrod for his Grandpa that couldn't be transfered through whatever way they transfer stuff here.
I knew we weren't going to stay long in Goldenrod, but I hoped to be able to try to catch something. I'd heard of a Bug Catching Contest in the National Park above Goldenrod, but I didn't really want a Bug Type. To me it was either a giant butterfly or hornet, or a Pinsir, Venomoth, Paras, or Scyther. I guess Scyther would be cool, they do learn Fly. Nahh, I want something cute!
"You ready or are you gonna stand there all day, thinking of Pokemon you're not gonna catch." Gary's voice cut in to my revire. "You're worse than Ash."
"Say whaaat?!" I glared at him. "I am not worse than Ash."
"That's true," Gary mused, scratching the Fearow between its eyes, "At least Ash doesn't stand around all day long."
"Psh, whatever."
One quick uneventful fight to Goldenrod City aaaand....
I saw the Goldenrod Pokemon Center below us and Gary had the Fearow land in front of it. I slipped off its back and glanced around at the people bustling by. People in this dimension were so...bustly. I was filled with excitement, among other things. "Would you mind waiting for me out here?" I asked him. "I need to visit the little girls' room."
Gary nodded, grinning wryly. "I need to have Nurse Joy look at Fearow anyway, so it's convenient for just the two of us."
Resisting another song, I simply nodded. So, off I went in search of the ladies room. I found it with relatively little trouble (I tripped over a Tentacool sitting in the middle of the way) and, after answering Nature's Call, I stood at the sink washing my hands.
Two girls walked in to fix their hair/make-up and as I was drying my hands, I overheard them talking about an adoption fair.
When I found Gary, I asked him about it. He had no idea about it so we asked Nurse Joy.
"Nurse Joy," I asked, "How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?"
"Whaa?" Nurse Joy looked extremely confused.
"Don't mind her," Gary shoved me away, "She hasn't had her medicine today."
I sighed and let it drop. I figured she'd know, oh well. Nurse Joy told us that the adoption fair was an event that happened on the last Saturday of the month at the Pokemon Day-Care Center on Route 34. Trainers and non-Trainers alike would be able to adopt abused, abandoned, or rehabilitated (Pokemon found in the wild that are unable to return to said wilderness) Pokemon.
I didn't have to convince Gary to go to the Center, turns out that he had to pick up two of his Pokemon anyway. "But I thought we were picking up Pokeballs or something interesting."
"But this is interesting! I dropped off my Aipom and my Persian two weeks ago and now they're ready to come home." Gary looked hurt that I wasn't interested.
"It's still not interesting!" I shrugged, "But maybe I'll find something there to adopt."
So we rented bikes ($25/hr) and had a pleasant ride down the hill. It was warm, sunny, and breezy. The Pidgey were chirping, Butterfree were fluttering, and there was a huge line outside of the Center.
"Some things you can never escape from." I muttered.
*****
So we waited in line, well, Gary waited in line for me. The owners of the Center had about twenty people working for them and there were two at the doors to let groups of ten people in at a time. The Pokemon up for adoption were held in the enclosure behind the Center.
I wandered around to the fenced in "back-yard" of the Center to take a look at the Pokemon. Turns out I wasn't the only genius with that Great Idea. I nodded and smiled at a boy who was trying to coax a shy Growlithe to him. He had poked his hands through the picket fence and was offering the puppy Pokemon a treat of some sort. I watched for a moment, wondering if he was gonna get his hand chomped off, but the Growlithe ran off and the boy sighed.
I turned away from him to look at all of the different Pokemon. There were a lot of Pokemon and a lot of people ready to adopt. I saw at least around fifty or sixty Pokemon and all of different Types. Water Pokemon were in the L-shaped pond (there was a nice, though sad looking, reddish-Gyarados), and there were Flying Pokemon roosting in the low branches of the trees, and there were oh, just Pokemon everywhere!!
I noticed a movement in the bushes that lined the fence to the right of me and I crouched down to get a better look. I peered through the leaves, closer, closer...and suddenly found myself eye to eye with a...
"Cyndaquil!" it chirped cutely.
Suddenly, I felt light headed, and birds were chirping all around me. I'd found the one for me! "Awww, cutie-pie!" I slipped my index finger through the wooden slats to tickle under its chin. It chirped for a second, then it nipped my finger. I held back the shout of pain by biting at my lower lip. I jerked my hand back, inspected my bruised, but not bleeding finger, and smiled. "You are cute!"
The Cyndaquil blinked, then resumed hiding.
"Yeah it sure is cute." A sneering voice said from behind me.
I stood up and turned around. There was a girl with lavendar colored hair standing behind me, a scary gleam in her brown eyes. She was dressed in shorts and a tank top, her black backpack was slung over one shoulder and there were five Pokeballs on her belt.
"You're a Trainer too?" I asked pleasantly.
"Of course!" She looked surprised. "You think these Pokeballs are for show? I only have five now, because you can only adopt one if you have a free space on your rouster. I intend on getting a Cyndaquil and that one looks like it has a lot of spunk. See ya later." She walked off, towards the long line.
Turns out she was three people ahead of me in line! She waved from her place beside a girl and it was then that I noticed that Gary was trying to get my attention. Quickly I ran over to him. "I think I found the one I want!"
*****
I was a bundle of nerves as I walked through the doors with Gary. The transition from bright, hot sunlight to this nice, air conditioned building was a bit shocking. I hadn't known it was so hot out.
"May I have your attention please!" The man that led us in said. "You may go out to the yard and look at the Pokemon. My assistant is going to hand you a pager. When you've found the Pokemon you want, just press the grey button and an adoption counceller will be with you shortly."
A woman walked by and gave me a black pager. It had a grey button on the side and the front of it had the time on it.
"You will each have twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, the pager will chime and you will be asked to leave. You may come back next month, but you may not re-enter the Center unless you're here to pick up Pokemon you already own and have dropped off to the Center earlier.
"Pokemon that have been left with the Day-Care personnel are available at the counter to your left at the first window. The Pokemon you adopt will be available at the counter to your left at the remaining three windows." The man smiled, "Good luck and give a Pokemon a good home!"
The doors to the right opened and Gary gave me a quick hug.
"What was that for?"
"For luck," he said and he walked over to the counter to claim his pre-dropped off Pokemon.
I turned and walked out with the rest of the crowd. I stopped for a second to get my bearings, the sun bright and, ugh, it was very hot out. I glanced around, but didn't see any Pokemon I wanted. I did see the lavendar-haired girl looking in the bushes where I'd seen the Cyndaquil.
I walked quickly, but not running - running was a no-no as it could attract the attention of some of the Pokemon who chased - and paused about twenty feet from the girl. I looked around for movement in the bush. Nope, nope, nope...there! I walked to the right, the bush near the far corner where there were no free roaming Pokemon. I knelt down next to the shrub, parted the leaves, to see...
"Cynda!"
"Ah-hah!" A shadow fell across the two of us and I looked up to see...her. She laughed, holding up the pager, pressing the grey button. I jerked my pager out and did the same, butterfrees of nervousness in my tummy.
Seconds later, a middle aged woman showed up, "Yes, have one of you found a Pokemon?"
"Yes, I sure have!" The girl exclaimed loudly.
"I found it first!" I protested.
"I did!" The girl argued back.
"Who do you think is holding this shrub apart!" I was getting pissed. "It's mine, so go find your own!"
"Hold it girls!" The woman chuckled. "Why don't we see who this Pokemon wants to go with?"
"An excellent idea!" The girl looked smug.
"A sucky idea," I muttered under my breath. I was never good at this sort of thing. Back when I was in my dimension, this happened with the cutest puppy and my enemy coaxed it to him. I've never gotten over it.
Teaser:
Will Cirrus win the attention of the Cyndaquil? Just who is that girl? What is it that Professor Oak wants Gary to get? All these questions and more in the next exciting episode of...Neojourney!
A.N.
For those of you playing Silver or Gold, don't go to the Pokemon Day Care Center on the last Saturday of the month expecting to find an adoption fair. They don't exist, though the Center does. Maybe they'll have something like that in the next version of the game.
Question:
Does anyone have a particular font they want or would like to see me use? I don't really like this one, it's called Times New Roman. Anyone know of a font that's easy on the eyes? Yes it was intentional of me to use a different font for the title and then another one for the story. The font I need help with is for the story itself. Let me know in the review okay? Thanks!