All concepts (including Pokémon species), and all characters excepting Rose, Walker, Mr. Edengrian and the personality of Rose's Chansey, are copyright Nintendo, Game Freak, 4 Kids, and all sorts of people who aren't me. This isn't meant to detract from the show in any way. And even if it was, the show's a lot more entertaining and has made sooo much money, whereas I shall never make any money off of this story, so please don't even think about getting angry about it, anyone who owns these characters... Fan work. FAN WORK!!
Chansey Trainer's Story
Episode 5: School part 2
The house was lonely without Chance or Rose's father. Rose tried to watch television, but nothing good was on, so she actually did her homework. Not that it'd matter much, whether or not she had done her homework, once she got thrown into prison for breaking into a school.
"Meowth, meowth, meowth," Meowth chanted, circling the room, and reveling in being the only Pokémon in the house for a while.
Finally, Rose worked on making dinner. Her father generally did that, but she was too bored and sad to just sit still or do homework.
"You made supper?" Rose's father asked when he got home. He smiled at his daughter. "All right, what did you do and where do I need to sign?"
"Dad!"
Rose's father smiled wider; he knew his daughter never got into trouble.
"Where's Chance?" he asked non-chalantly.
"Taking a nap," Rose said quickly.
Rose's father stirred the gravy on the stove. "Well, this looks about done; you should go wake her up."
"She was up late with me last night," Rose said truthfully. "She should probably rest."
"Rose? Is something wrong?"
"No," Rose said softly.
Rose's father looked at her sharply, then down. "All right," he said, his voice troubled.
Rose looked up. "It'll be all right," she said, trying to smile.
Rose's father frowned. Rose knew he knew something was up, but figured she'd tell him when she was ready.
Rose didn't eat much at dinner, either.
"Did something go wrong at school?" Rose's father finally asked.
"Kind of," Rose said softly.
"What's wrong with Chance?"
Rose sighed. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Rose's father asked.
Rose shook her head silently. She looked out the window. It was starting to get dark. "I've gotta go."
"Where?"
"To meet Walker," Rose lied.
Rose's father frowned. "Is your homework done?"
"Pretty much."
"All right. But be back before ten."
Rose nodded silently and rushed out the door, taking her wallet and backpack with her.
Rose could barely afford two Pokéballs, and she wasn't too thrilled to spend so much money on something she was going to get rid of. But still, if it got Chance back, it'd be worth it.
Then she went to the school, to the back door of the offices. School was an eerie place, when it was dark and deserted. It felt dangerous. Rose was breathing fast; if she got caught, she'd be in really big trouble. But she thought of her Chansey, and she forced her breathing to slow. Her heart still fluttered, though.
All the doors were locked. But on her way around the building, Rose saw that one of the upstairs windows was open a crack. A tree was growing pretty near it; one of the branches reached far enough that Rose thought she could make it into the window.
Rose managed to climb the tree, but she almost fell several times, and she wished Walker's Bellsprout was there to help. The overhanging branch bent down a couple feet as she climbed out onto it. But it didn't break. Rose managed to push the window open and scramble inside.
No alarms went off. There was no noise except the thud Rose made when she landed on the ground. Rose waited, but nothing happened. Finally, she stood up.
The lights came on!
Rose crouched again, about ready to jump out the window.
But no one was there.
Belatedly, Rose remembered that the lights were hooked up to motion detectors. She sighed, and turned to close the window most of the way, like it had been when she had come in. Her hands were shaking so badly the window rattled.
Finally, she headed downstairs, the hallway lighting up before her. She looked around carefully on the ground floor, but no one was around. Rose opened the door to Mr. Duram's office. The lights came on when she entered, but nothing else happened. Rose went to open the desk's main drawer, but it stuck. She pulled on it a few times, but it didn't give. She looked closer and saw that it took a key.
Desperately, Rose tried the other drawers, hoping the Pokémon were inside. They all opened fine, but none had any Pokéballs inside. Not even the last drawer. But the last drawer made her do a double-take.
Lying among the paper clips and post-it notes was a key.
Rose eagerly tried it in the lock. It fit! She pulled the drawer open and eagerly rummaged through it.
There were lots of school papers and pens and pencils, but no Pokéballs.
Rose paled. Mr. Duram must have taken the Pokémon home with him, she realized.
She sat at the desk for about ten minutes, trying to figure out where she'd be if she were Chance. But the only place she could think of was Mr. Duram's house.
Finally, Rose got up and went to the office's entrance. It opened for her, and locked neatly behind her when she closed it.
Rose sighed heavily, then started the slow walk home. But she wasn't a block away from the school when she spotted a figure, dressed all in black. She had to look closer to see that it was Walker. The young man approached her.
"You got her back?" he whispered, motioning to the Pokéballs in Rose's hand.
Rose shook her head. "No. They weren't there."
"Then what are those?"
"I was gonna switch the Pokéballs with our Pokémon when I got 'em back."
Walker's eyes widened. "You were gonna get Bellsprout too?"
"A Pokémon should be with its trainer, not locked in a desk," Rose said, frowning. She looked back up at Walker. He didn't look pleased.
"Then we both would've gotten in trouble!" he whispered angrily. "They'd figure we broke in together and stole the Pokémon!"
"You're a horrible trainer!" Rose suddenly said. "I wish I had gotten Bellsprout! I would've kept it! I'm sure it'd be happier with me than with you!"
Walker looked taken aback. "It's not so bad for a Pokémon to be in a Pokéball for a few days," he murmured.
Rose glared at him. "What were you doing out here, anyway?"
Walker rolled his eyes. "Off to a Gothic rave, I'm sure."
"You were gonna break into the school, weren't you?"
Walker shrugged. "So what if I figured you'd chicken out or get caught? I figured I could finish the job for you."
"You do want that Bellsprout back!" Rose exclaimed.
"Do not! I just figured if I got that Chansey back for you you might quit whining about it!"
They looked at each other fiercely for a moment before Rose turned away, blushing.
"I think they're at Mr. Duram's house," she said. "Maybe if we bug him enough he'll give them back."
Walker shrugged. "Maybe."
"You know where he lives?"
Walker nodded. "You shoulda brought your bike; it's a long walk."
"I don't care. Which way?"
Walker pointed, and Rose set off at a quick pace. Walker paused, then caught up to her. Neither of them said anything on the whole walk, which took nearly twenty minutes.
Mr. Duram lived in a small house in a poorly-lit and hilly neighborhood. Rose was glad that she wasn't alone.
"What's your brilliant plan?" Walker asked sarcastically.
Rose shrugged. "I haven't decided yet." She bravely knocked on the door.
"Just a minute," a female voice said. A woman about Mr. Duram's age opened the door, wearing her pajamas.
"We didn't wake you, did we?" Rose said quickly.
"No, no," the woman said.
"Uh--can we talk to Mr. Duram?"
"Oh! You must be his student?"
"Students," Rose said. She looked behind her, but could hardly see Walker in the dark.
"He's not home yet. Was it something important?"
"Yeah," Rose said. "We really need to talk to him."
"Well, he should be home shortly. Would you like to come inside?"
"We'll wait out here. Thanks." Rose had to repeatedly refuse Mrs. Duram's hospitality before the woman went back inside.
"What'd you do that for?" Walker asked.
Rose shrugged. "I figured we could just kinda follow Mr. Duram around 'til he gave us our Pokémon back."
Walker rolled his eyes. "That's stupid."
"You have any better ideas?"
"I don't know!" Walker shot back. "Why don't we just write an essay to tell him why he should give us our Pokémon?"
Rose laughed. "Oh, come on! That's..." She paused. "...well, a stupid idea, but it might work. Let's do it."
Walker glared at her. "We don't have paper."
Rose sat down on the step and pulled a notebook from her backpack. "I have a pencil, too."
Walker sat next to her. "It won't work."
Rose turned so the light from Mr. Duram's windows would hit the paper, then started writing. After a little while, Walker peered over her shoulder.
"There's two 'L's in 'Bellsprout,'" he noted.
Rose quickly added it in. "Anything else?"
"Nah. You're good at writing essays, so I'll just let you do the work." Walker lay back on the sidewalk, looking at the stars.
Rose felt both flattered and also taken advantage of. But she wrote the best essay she could think of, and had just enough time to make Walker sign next to her own name when Mr. Duram drove up and pulled into his garage.
The principal looked very surprised. "Rose? Walker?"
Rose instantly stood, but Walker took his time. "We have an essay on why we think you should let us have our Pokémon back," Rose said, handing the three sheets of paper to Mr. Duram.
The principal unlocked his door and used the light from inside to skim it. "This is very...thorough," he said. "But I've made my decision, Rose. You'll have your Pokémon back Friday afternoon."
"You didn't even read it!" Rose objected. "I said you could suspend us or give us in-school detention if you'd just give us our Pokémon back!"
"Hey!" Walker yelled. "You never told me that!"
Rose glared back at him, her finger on her lips. "Please, Mr. Duram. We'd do anything to get our Pokémon back."
Mr. Duram looked undecided for a moment, but shook his head again. "I'm sorry, Rose," he said. "But I can't do that. Do you two need a ride home? It's awfully late."
Rose's eyes widened. "Please, Mr. Duram!" she begged. "I want my Chansey back!"
Mr. Duram shook his head again.
Rose was surprised to feel Walker's arm around her shoulder. She blushed slightly. Walker drew her ear close to his mouth.
"You're a girl," he whispered. "Cry."
Rose jerked back from him, surprised. But she looked up at Mr. Duram's stern face, and her heart sank. She imagined poor Chance, the Pokémon who didn't even like being in Pokéballs. Rose had had to coax Chance into just hiding in a Pokéball to avoid being caught by Walker, back in the Safari Zone. It must be so sad and lonely. And Rose couldn't pet Chance or tell it everything was all right. They hadn't even gotten to say goodbye...
And Rose found tears coming from her eyes.
"You made her cry!" Walker said defensively, glaring at Mr. Duram. "Haven't we been punished enough?"
Mr. Duram rushed inside his house and brought back some tissues. "Don't cry, Rose. It'll be all right. Look--you can have Chance back, all right? Just stop crying!"
Rose looked up, sniffing. "What about Bellsprout?"
"Yes, yes, Bellsprout too."
Rose took the tissues, wiping her eyes. "All right," she said tearfully.
"Now," Mr. Duram said, "you two will still have to have detention for the rest of the semester--"
"Dad'll kill me!" Rose wailed. Walker looked up at Mr. Duram sharply.
Mr. Duram sighed. "If we catch you with any Pokémon at school again, I'll keep them permanently. Do you understand?"
Rose nodded, sniffing.
The principal frowned. "Then you two'd better hurry home. I'll see you at school tomorrow."
"What about our Pokémon?" Walker asked.
"Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center has them." Mr. Duram paused, then walked inside. He came out a minute later with a note written on a piece of notebook paper. "Show this to her and she'll return your Pokémon. But I'm serious. Don't try bringing Pokémon to school again. They belong at home."
"Yes, sir," Rose said.
"Uh-huh," Walker said casually.
Rose handed the note to Walker, then wiped her eyes again. "Thank you, Mr. Duram."
The principal nodded. "Be careful; it's late." He watched from his doorway as Walker and Rose walked away. Finally, Rose and Walker heard the door close.
"You didn't do too bad," Walker said, glancing at Rose.
Rose wiped her eyes again.
"Hey, stop crying," Walker said quickly.
Rose sniffed again. "Sorry..."
"I thought girls could turn their crying on and off," Walker said.
"No!" Rose yelled. She wiped her eyes, trying to get control of herself. They walked in relative silence, the only noise being Rose's sniffling.
"Hey," Walker finally said. "That getting us out of detention was pretty cool."
Rose looked up, surprised. "Really?"
Walker shrugged. "Yeah, kind of. Better than I could do."
Rose smiled. "If you had cried, Mr. Duram would've just told you to be a man."
"Called me a sissy as likely as not," Walker said.
Rose laughed. "Yeah, probably." She laughed again. "And in half an hour I'll have Chance back!" She grinned, looking back at Walker. "Thanks for your help."
Walker shrugged. He started to talk, but cut himself off.
"What were you going to say?" Rose asked.
Walker shrugged. "Nothin'."
"No, tell me!"
Walker shrugged again. "There's not so many people our age interested in Pokémon. Everyone's too busy with school." He smirked at her. "So even if you're no good at training Pokémon, it's still more fun to be around you than with a bunch of eight-year-olds."
Rose smirked back. "Thanks. I think."
"Chansey! Chansey!" It was pretty typical to hear a Chansey's call when entering the Pokémon Center, but Rose recognized this one.
Besides, it was quickly followed by a "Bell! Bellsprout!"
Rose sprinted to Chance's side and hugged the Pokémon. Bellsprout wrapped its vine arms and neck around Walker's leg.
"Hey, hey," Walker said quickly. "Stop that!"
The Pokémon let go of Walker. Walker looked both ways, and when he confirmed that no one was watching, then scratched the Pokémon's head a bit.
"Bellsprout!" the Pokémon said happily.
"I'm so sorry," Rose said to Chance. "I never should've let them take you."
"Chansey, chansey!" Chance said cheerfully.
"But I left you in your Pokéball and you were all alone..."
"Chansey," Chance said firmly, hugging Rose.
"Well, you're not going to school with me again. All right?"
"Chansey! Chansey!" Chance nodded enthusiastically.
Rose got home late, and Rose's father grounded her for two days.
But he couldn't stop her from seeing Chance, or even from seeing her friends--and Walker--at school.
And that was she wanted, until school was out for the summer.