We are each other's teachers - Sabrina's turn

We are each other's teachers - Sabrina's turn

18 June 2001

I have a little time before dinner to jot down some notes about our journey. I lost my temper over Koga's silence yesterday. It wasn't pretty. I misused telekinesis to punctuate my tantrum. It reminded me of my teenaged psychotic episode when I used my mom and defeated trainers as my personal playthings. So many had run away from me in fear I felt [i]had[/i]to do something to have friends. At least my anger got Koga talking to me. Koga now knows I haven't been peeking into his mind and I feel much more like his partner.

I also discovered that he is a far more passionate and sympathetic man than I had imagined at first. After dinner last night as the fire died down we had some time to talk about his complicated past. During our brief argument I inadvertently learned that he had a long-term off-and-on romance with the Elite Four ice mistress Lorelei Kanna that produced their daughter Janine. I realized the girl in my dream was Janine, I fear I'm in for some heartache if I meet her.

It seems he met Lorelei over 25 years ago outside Cerulean City when they were15-year-old trainers. They fought each other to a near draw, she won, but she was down to one Pokémon in poor health. She stared at him ruefully, then she started to laugh. Soon they were both laughing, when she caught her breath she smiled at him and asked him to accompany her to the Pokémon Centre. They were inseparable companions for the next four years. They consummated their friendship in romance when they parted ways, she to teach at Pokémon Tech, and he to apprentice with his father at Fuchsia Gym. They kept in touch, occasionally stealing a night together for the next ten years, one of those nights resulted in Lorelei's pregnancy. Lorelei grew more distant as her knowledge and responsibilities grew, at some point she and Koga simply ceased to communicate except about the growing Janine. I felt sorry for Koga, although I could say nothing for fear of wounding his dignity. He clearly still admires and cares about Lorelei.

I [i]was[/i]forward enough to ask him what it was about Lorelei that attracted him to her. I was charmed by his forthright and unreserved reply, I had been almost certain his taciturn nature would prevent him from discussing it with an impertinent girl such as me. What he noticed first was the eyes, deep, wise, warm and calm. She was pretty enough, but it was the way that first rueful stare evolved into delighted laughter in those incomparable eyes that obsessed him. I had to blush when he said my eyes were very like hers. He remained with her because she was brilliantly intelligent and dedicated to her Pokémon.

"Early on I traded a Shellder for a Venonat with her. I still use the Venomoth that grew from that Venonat, and she still uses her Cloyster. I learned a great deal from Lorelei," Koga said reflectively.

"I hope I can learn as much from you," I said.

"I doubt there is anything I can teach you," he replied.

"Everyone can learn something from another. We're all each other's teachers," I responded.

We had a bit of adventure this afternoon. A boulder smashed into the roadway from the cliffs above, not far ahead of us. Koga stopped the jeep and jumped out, scanning the ledges above. "That was no accident," he grumbled.

"How do you know that?"

"The way the rock fell, and the location of the fresh scar on the cliff."

"Let me cast a psychic net, perhaps I can find out something about our assailants," I offered.

"Be my guest."

I projected my mind to where Koga indicated the boulder had fallen from and detected a confused gabble of thoughts from three beings hurriedly moving to the top of the ledge. I judged them to be a woman, a man, and something that wasn't human but thought in our language regardless. Their escape route was the air, their thoughts faded away as they gained altitude. What I could sort out of their thoughts indicated that they meant to harass, not harm, us. Indeed their thoughts were more those of mischievous pranksters than cold-blooded criminals. I told all this to Koga and his eyes narrowed.

"This reminds of someone I met a few years ago, I'm almost certain," he growled.

"Who?"

"There's a band of white squad Rockets that would fit your description, the non-human with human language would be a Meowth that travels with them. I saw a trainer with a Meowth spying on us from above yesterday morning."

"What do they want with us?" I wondered.

"Mewtwo was a Team Rocket project, maybe the Team wants it back."

Ah, dinner is ready, and I've written a far longer entry than I expected. Time to sign off, the food smells wonderful.