Part 2
Notes: Before I begin, I would like to address a certain review I received, from someone who obviously has too much time on their hands:
"Somebody You Don't Know" comments:
Hey loser why would a thirteen year-old say 'mommy'? I sure as hell don't!
Well… If you really want to go nitpicking through the story like that and pick out one little thing you disapprove of to ruin it for yourself, then by all means go right ahead. But don't flame me for something you find different! I am almost sixteen and I still call my mother Mommy! Besides, if you had read the story closely enough, his mother was dying… He was worried! He was distressed! Do you actually expect him to walk in there all calmly and go, "Hey, Mom!" So… Please, do NOT send me useless flames. I WILL get you back. *evil music and laughter*
But anyway, I will not let this ruin the story for everyone else who wrote me such nice reviews!! Thank you!! ^^ Please enjoy Chapter 2!!
They closed the Violet City gym for a short time… not just because Falkner was too weak to battle; because he was devastated. His mother was gone, and all he was left with was a big empty gym and two Pidgeys. They hadn't even had that much money. There was nothing for him to do, nowhere for him to go.
Falkner stayed under the care of his aunt Keri for a few weeks. Keri was from his mother's side of the family and she was almost as crushed as Falkner was. Even though they were both mourning over Kari's death, Keri did help Falkner train his Pokemon. By the time he was allowed to go back to the gym, the Pidgey that his mother had captured had evolved into Pidgeotto, and his father's Pidgey was at a pretty high level too. Now he was strong enough to be a Gym Leader.
Weeks into his leadership, Falkner received an invitation to a convention being held in Goldenrod City. It was a gathering especially for gym leaders; Falkner immediately decided to go. He spent the next week training very hard and getting ready for his first gym leader party, and when the day came, he was psyched and ready to go.
Goldenrod City was a huge city, way bigger than Falkner's hometown. He entered the party hall… there were already quite a few people there. Whitney, a 13 year old girl, was there with her mother, who was the leader of the Goldenrod City gym. She was the one to greet Falkner when he came in.
"Where are your parents?" she asked. "You're way too young to be a gym leader yet!"
"I am a gym leader!" Falkner argued. "I'm probably a stronger trainer than you are!"
"Well…" Whitney was speechless; she stared at Falkner, and ran off crying.
"Good one," said another voice. "She's annoying. She's been flirting with me all day."
Falkner turned around to see another boy his age; he was wearing a blue T-shirt with a gym badge pinned to it, and blue jeans that were too long for him. His blonde hair was spiked and styled with a blue headband.
"Oh yeah, my name's Morty," said the boy.
"I'm Falkner, the Violet Gym leader," he said.
"Really? Cool," Morty said. "My dad says I can't have the gym until I'm sixteen. He says I'm not strong enough yet."
"That sucks," Falkner said. "It's not that great being a gym leader. All you do is stand around and wait for people to come and battle you. It's boring."
"I still want to be a gym leader!" Morty exclaimed. "Ecruteak City's gym leader gets to go into the Tin Tower! And I get to hear all these cool stories that I can pass down to the people in my gym!"
"Wow," Falkner said. "Your parents must be pretty great…"
"Yeah…" Morty said. "You're not the one whose mom just died…?"
"In the flesh," Falkner said. Morty sighed softly. "Oh," he said. "I'm really sorry."
"It's okay," he said. "I guess after a while, you learn not to miss them… as much."
Later on, Falkner was hanging out around the back of the hall. He was alone, and bored. Almost all of the other young gym-leaders-to-be were with their parents… and Falkner was left in the shadows. He almost didn't even want to be there.
"Hey... what's up?" asked a young voice to Falkner's side. Standing there was a small boy with short, purple hair.
"Oh… Nothing," he said. "Just.. being bored. My name's Falkner."
"Bugsy," said the young boy. "Hey, if you're bored, we could have a battle."
Falkner looked at the boy; he couldn't have been older than 10. "You have Pokemon?" he asked, astonished.
"Of course!" Bugsy said. "I started training just a little while ago, so I only have one. But it's already powerful."
"All right, then," Falkner said, holding Pidgeotto's Pokeball. "Let's battle, then."
Bugsy backed up a few steps, and took out his only Pokeball. "Beedrill, go!" he said, tossing the ball at his feet.
"Pidgeotto!" Falkner called. His first Pokemon, the majestic evolved form of Pidgey, came out to face the huge wasp-thing. 'This should be fun,' Falkner thought to himself. 'Aren't bugs weak against flying types?'
"Beedrill, start with Tackle!" Bugsy said. Pidgeotto, blocked the wasp's charge with its wings, but it was still pushed backward a bit. Pidgeotto countered with its Wing Attack, but Beedril was too evasive. It quickly moved, and knocked Pidgeotto back some more.
"Pidgeotto, you'd better fly," Falkner said. His Pokemon was getting too close to him, and if that Beedrill tackled Pidgeotto once more, both of them might get hurt.
"Okay, Beedrill, Twineedle attack!" Bugsy said. But the command came just a second too late. As Beedril flew forward with one of its silver stingers pointed ahead, Pidgeotto flew up into the air. And Beedrill couldn't stop.
Falkner saw a yellow blur, and then felt an incredibly sharp pain cut through his right eye. He threw his hand over his bleeding face as the Pokemon pulled away.
"Oh, God!" Bugsy said, running forward. "Are you okay…?"
"Stay back!" Falkner demanded, crying from one eye and bleeding from the other. Immediately all eyes were on him, and everyone in the building rushed over to see what was going on. There was much commotion; people were talking, screaming… but over it all you could hear the bird trainer's cries of agony, and the distressed calls of his Pidgeotto. It soon quieted when he blacked out.
Falkner woke up much later, inside of a totally white room. Light shone through the windows… it was obviously daytime but Falkner didn't know what time it was… or even what day. There was no way of telling how long he'd been out.
Then, he remembered his eye. He was a bit scared, but slowly he lifted his hand to examine the wound. All of the skin around his eye felt dead and dry… it didn't even feel like his eyelids were attached. Slowly, with his wrist shaking like a startled Chihuahua, he touched the tip of his finger to the eye. Sure enough, there was no protective layer of skin. His finger touched what seemed to be cold glass.
"What the…?" he whispered. He sat up, looking around the room. Vision was completely distorted in his right eye. He stood up, walking nervously to a mirror across from his bed. Glancing inside, he saw his reflection; but definitely not something he wanted to see. The right side of his face was almost totally red, and the skin within half an inch of his eye was dark and scarred. And his eye… it wasn't even really there anymore. A glass replacement glistened before him; shiny and beautiful, yet false and empty.
Falkner was completely speechless. "I look… terrible," he said to himself, holding a shaking hand over his face. "How could this happen?"
A tear dripped from his left eye… he wiped it away, and then the others that followed. His right side was dry. "God, I can't even cry," he sighed, slipping down to his knees. "I can't even be sad anymore…"
Just then, a doctor came into the room, holding a clipboard. She saw Falkner sitting on the ground, sobbing mournfully. "Falkner, you should be in bed," she said.
"Why?" he asked. "I probably can't even close my eye to sleep."
"Falkner, that's…"
"Look at this!" he yelled, standing to face her and pointing up at his destroyed face. "Do you see any tears? I don't! Do you see any use for me anymore?"
The lady-doctor sighed. "Calm down," she said softly. "Your face will heal. After a while, you'll look good as new!"
"And how long will that take, huh?" Falkner demanded. "Five years? Ten? And what about my eye? That will never heal!"
"Falkner…"
"I'm a freak!" he sobbed. "An ugly, useless freak." The doctor just shrank back a bit, watching the disgruntled boy from the doorway. She sighed, not exactly sure what to say anymore.
The years passed by slowly after that incident. Falkner had been almost fourteen when he had lost half of his sight… now, he was nearly seventeen, and still dealing with himself. Of course, all of the wounds had nearly healed (not saying there weren't a few scars). But emotional scars don't usually leave you so quickly. Sometime, they stay with you forever.
And then, there was the evidence. The glass eye… He had to look at it every morning when he got up… every day of his life, he was reminded. After a while, he had started styling his hair over his eye so that he couldn't see it… but sometimes it still showed through. And he could still feel it.. he still couldn't see through that eye. When he got headaches, he could even feel the pain of that night all over again. It was excruciating, and very difficult to live with. But he had made a promise to himself… to be the best Gym Leader he could be, and take care of the Pokemon for his mother and father. And he would do it… it just felt to him like there was no reason to keep going. Almost everything he valued in his life had been drained from him. And he had no incentive to go on.
On a dark evening, Falkner was wandering through the grasses outside of Violet City. A couple of Hoot-hoot and Spinarak were running around, but other than that there was nobody else around. He was so depressed… there was almost no feeling left in his heart. He just wanted it to end.
So many thought raced through his mind. He considered killing himself right then… he didn't know how he would do it, but he considered it. But he was scared… scared of what it would be like, to feel the same pain that his parents had suffered. Would it hurt for hours before it ended, like it had when he had been blinded? Or would it be quick and peaceful, like going to sleep… there was only one way to find out.
"Excuse me," said a voice suddenly. Falkner, who was bent over thinking, looked up and into the eyes of a brown-eyed girl. Her long blonde hair fell around her shoulders, and she looked almost like an angel with her light blue clothes.
"Wait… Am I dead already?" he asked, looking at her.
The girl laughed. "No, silly, you're not dead… unless I'm going crazy," she said. "What are you doing out here?"
"Why do you want to know?" he asked suspiciously.
"I don't know. You just don't seem in place here. Shouldn't you be inside?"
"Look, I don't know who you are, but…"
"My name is Lunaria," she said. "Now… who are you, and why are you so out of it?"
Falkner started to protest, but Lunaria stopped him. "Don't even say it. I know there's something wrong."
"Are you… reading my thoughts, or something?" he asked strangely.
Luna just smiled. "Tell me what's up."
Falkner went on to tell her his name, and everything that was on his mind. He hadn't intended to give her his whole life story, but he felt so calm around her. She seemed so trustworthy… After he finished explaining, the girl was almost in tears.
"I'm so sorry I forced that out of you," she said sadly. "I didn't know…"
"It's all right," he said. But she continued sobbing, embracing his shoulders. He found himself blushing, but he shook it off and held her. "It's okay, Luna," he said. "I don't think I want to die anymore."
She looked up at him, confused. "But five minutes ago, you were…"
"I feel better," he said. "Thank you for talking to me."
"Um… Yeah, no problem," Luna said.
Falkner then said goodbye, and just left to go back to his gym. What had he been thinking? If that girl hadn't been out there at the same time he was… he probably wouldn't be thinking these thoughts right now. He poked at his implant, trying to blink but not having much success. It would be hard to live with this handicap for the rest of his life. But it would have to be dealt with… besides, there was so much more to live for. He had to keep his parent's gym. And… maybe he had a chance to finally fall in love.
Notes: Before I begin, I would like to address a certain review I received, from someone who obviously has too much time on their hands:
"Somebody You Don't Know" comments:
Hey loser why would a thirteen year-old say 'mommy'? I sure as hell don't!
Well… If you really want to go nitpicking through the story like that and pick out one little thing you disapprove of to ruin it for yourself, then by all means go right ahead. But don't flame me for something you find different! I am almost sixteen and I still call my mother Mommy! Besides, if you had read the story closely enough, his mother was dying… He was worried! He was distressed! Do you actually expect him to walk in there all calmly and go, "Hey, Mom!" So… Please, do NOT send me useless flames. I WILL get you back. *evil music and laughter*
But anyway, I will not let this ruin the story for everyone else who wrote me such nice reviews!! Thank you!! ^^ Please enjoy Chapter 2!!
They closed the Violet City gym for a short time… not just because Falkner was too weak to battle; because he was devastated. His mother was gone, and all he was left with was a big empty gym and two Pidgeys. They hadn't even had that much money. There was nothing for him to do, nowhere for him to go.
Falkner stayed under the care of his aunt Keri for a few weeks. Keri was from his mother's side of the family and she was almost as crushed as Falkner was. Even though they were both mourning over Kari's death, Keri did help Falkner train his Pokemon. By the time he was allowed to go back to the gym, the Pidgey that his mother had captured had evolved into Pidgeotto, and his father's Pidgey was at a pretty high level too. Now he was strong enough to be a Gym Leader.
Weeks into his leadership, Falkner received an invitation to a convention being held in Goldenrod City. It was a gathering especially for gym leaders; Falkner immediately decided to go. He spent the next week training very hard and getting ready for his first gym leader party, and when the day came, he was psyched and ready to go.
Goldenrod City was a huge city, way bigger than Falkner's hometown. He entered the party hall… there were already quite a few people there. Whitney, a 13 year old girl, was there with her mother, who was the leader of the Goldenrod City gym. She was the one to greet Falkner when he came in.
"Where are your parents?" she asked. "You're way too young to be a gym leader yet!"
"I am a gym leader!" Falkner argued. "I'm probably a stronger trainer than you are!"
"Well…" Whitney was speechless; she stared at Falkner, and ran off crying.
"Good one," said another voice. "She's annoying. She's been flirting with me all day."
Falkner turned around to see another boy his age; he was wearing a blue T-shirt with a gym badge pinned to it, and blue jeans that were too long for him. His blonde hair was spiked and styled with a blue headband.
"Oh yeah, my name's Morty," said the boy.
"I'm Falkner, the Violet Gym leader," he said.
"Really? Cool," Morty said. "My dad says I can't have the gym until I'm sixteen. He says I'm not strong enough yet."
"That sucks," Falkner said. "It's not that great being a gym leader. All you do is stand around and wait for people to come and battle you. It's boring."
"I still want to be a gym leader!" Morty exclaimed. "Ecruteak City's gym leader gets to go into the Tin Tower! And I get to hear all these cool stories that I can pass down to the people in my gym!"
"Wow," Falkner said. "Your parents must be pretty great…"
"Yeah…" Morty said. "You're not the one whose mom just died…?"
"In the flesh," Falkner said. Morty sighed softly. "Oh," he said. "I'm really sorry."
"It's okay," he said. "I guess after a while, you learn not to miss them… as much."
Later on, Falkner was hanging out around the back of the hall. He was alone, and bored. Almost all of the other young gym-leaders-to-be were with their parents… and Falkner was left in the shadows. He almost didn't even want to be there.
"Hey... what's up?" asked a young voice to Falkner's side. Standing there was a small boy with short, purple hair.
"Oh… Nothing," he said. "Just.. being bored. My name's Falkner."
"Bugsy," said the young boy. "Hey, if you're bored, we could have a battle."
Falkner looked at the boy; he couldn't have been older than 10. "You have Pokemon?" he asked, astonished.
"Of course!" Bugsy said. "I started training just a little while ago, so I only have one. But it's already powerful."
"All right, then," Falkner said, holding Pidgeotto's Pokeball. "Let's battle, then."
Bugsy backed up a few steps, and took out his only Pokeball. "Beedrill, go!" he said, tossing the ball at his feet.
"Pidgeotto!" Falkner called. His first Pokemon, the majestic evolved form of Pidgey, came out to face the huge wasp-thing. 'This should be fun,' Falkner thought to himself. 'Aren't bugs weak against flying types?'
"Beedrill, start with Tackle!" Bugsy said. Pidgeotto, blocked the wasp's charge with its wings, but it was still pushed backward a bit. Pidgeotto countered with its Wing Attack, but Beedril was too evasive. It quickly moved, and knocked Pidgeotto back some more.
"Pidgeotto, you'd better fly," Falkner said. His Pokemon was getting too close to him, and if that Beedrill tackled Pidgeotto once more, both of them might get hurt.
"Okay, Beedrill, Twineedle attack!" Bugsy said. But the command came just a second too late. As Beedril flew forward with one of its silver stingers pointed ahead, Pidgeotto flew up into the air. And Beedrill couldn't stop.
Falkner saw a yellow blur, and then felt an incredibly sharp pain cut through his right eye. He threw his hand over his bleeding face as the Pokemon pulled away.
"Oh, God!" Bugsy said, running forward. "Are you okay…?"
"Stay back!" Falkner demanded, crying from one eye and bleeding from the other. Immediately all eyes were on him, and everyone in the building rushed over to see what was going on. There was much commotion; people were talking, screaming… but over it all you could hear the bird trainer's cries of agony, and the distressed calls of his Pidgeotto. It soon quieted when he blacked out.
Falkner woke up much later, inside of a totally white room. Light shone through the windows… it was obviously daytime but Falkner didn't know what time it was… or even what day. There was no way of telling how long he'd been out.
Then, he remembered his eye. He was a bit scared, but slowly he lifted his hand to examine the wound. All of the skin around his eye felt dead and dry… it didn't even feel like his eyelids were attached. Slowly, with his wrist shaking like a startled Chihuahua, he touched the tip of his finger to the eye. Sure enough, there was no protective layer of skin. His finger touched what seemed to be cold glass.
"What the…?" he whispered. He sat up, looking around the room. Vision was completely distorted in his right eye. He stood up, walking nervously to a mirror across from his bed. Glancing inside, he saw his reflection; but definitely not something he wanted to see. The right side of his face was almost totally red, and the skin within half an inch of his eye was dark and scarred. And his eye… it wasn't even really there anymore. A glass replacement glistened before him; shiny and beautiful, yet false and empty.
Falkner was completely speechless. "I look… terrible," he said to himself, holding a shaking hand over his face. "How could this happen?"
A tear dripped from his left eye… he wiped it away, and then the others that followed. His right side was dry. "God, I can't even cry," he sighed, slipping down to his knees. "I can't even be sad anymore…"
Just then, a doctor came into the room, holding a clipboard. She saw Falkner sitting on the ground, sobbing mournfully. "Falkner, you should be in bed," she said.
"Why?" he asked. "I probably can't even close my eye to sleep."
"Falkner, that's…"
"Look at this!" he yelled, standing to face her and pointing up at his destroyed face. "Do you see any tears? I don't! Do you see any use for me anymore?"
The lady-doctor sighed. "Calm down," she said softly. "Your face will heal. After a while, you'll look good as new!"
"And how long will that take, huh?" Falkner demanded. "Five years? Ten? And what about my eye? That will never heal!"
"Falkner…"
"I'm a freak!" he sobbed. "An ugly, useless freak." The doctor just shrank back a bit, watching the disgruntled boy from the doorway. She sighed, not exactly sure what to say anymore.
The years passed by slowly after that incident. Falkner had been almost fourteen when he had lost half of his sight… now, he was nearly seventeen, and still dealing with himself. Of course, all of the wounds had nearly healed (not saying there weren't a few scars). But emotional scars don't usually leave you so quickly. Sometime, they stay with you forever.
And then, there was the evidence. The glass eye… He had to look at it every morning when he got up… every day of his life, he was reminded. After a while, he had started styling his hair over his eye so that he couldn't see it… but sometimes it still showed through. And he could still feel it.. he still couldn't see through that eye. When he got headaches, he could even feel the pain of that night all over again. It was excruciating, and very difficult to live with. But he had made a promise to himself… to be the best Gym Leader he could be, and take care of the Pokemon for his mother and father. And he would do it… it just felt to him like there was no reason to keep going. Almost everything he valued in his life had been drained from him. And he had no incentive to go on.
On a dark evening, Falkner was wandering through the grasses outside of Violet City. A couple of Hoot-hoot and Spinarak were running around, but other than that there was nobody else around. He was so depressed… there was almost no feeling left in his heart. He just wanted it to end.
So many thought raced through his mind. He considered killing himself right then… he didn't know how he would do it, but he considered it. But he was scared… scared of what it would be like, to feel the same pain that his parents had suffered. Would it hurt for hours before it ended, like it had when he had been blinded? Or would it be quick and peaceful, like going to sleep… there was only one way to find out.
"Excuse me," said a voice suddenly. Falkner, who was bent over thinking, looked up and into the eyes of a brown-eyed girl. Her long blonde hair fell around her shoulders, and she looked almost like an angel with her light blue clothes.
"Wait… Am I dead already?" he asked, looking at her.
The girl laughed. "No, silly, you're not dead… unless I'm going crazy," she said. "What are you doing out here?"
"Why do you want to know?" he asked suspiciously.
"I don't know. You just don't seem in place here. Shouldn't you be inside?"
"Look, I don't know who you are, but…"
"My name is Lunaria," she said. "Now… who are you, and why are you so out of it?"
Falkner started to protest, but Lunaria stopped him. "Don't even say it. I know there's something wrong."
"Are you… reading my thoughts, or something?" he asked strangely.
Luna just smiled. "Tell me what's up."
Falkner went on to tell her his name, and everything that was on his mind. He hadn't intended to give her his whole life story, but he felt so calm around her. She seemed so trustworthy… After he finished explaining, the girl was almost in tears.
"I'm so sorry I forced that out of you," she said sadly. "I didn't know…"
"It's all right," he said. But she continued sobbing, embracing his shoulders. He found himself blushing, but he shook it off and held her. "It's okay, Luna," he said. "I don't think I want to die anymore."
She looked up at him, confused. "But five minutes ago, you were…"
"I feel better," he said. "Thank you for talking to me."
"Um… Yeah, no problem," Luna said.
Falkner then said goodbye, and just left to go back to his gym. What had he been thinking? If that girl hadn't been out there at the same time he was… he probably wouldn't be thinking these thoughts right now. He poked at his implant, trying to blink but not having much success. It would be hard to live with this handicap for the rest of his life. But it would have to be dealt with… besides, there was so much more to live for. He had to keep his parent's gym. And… maybe he had a chance to finally fall in love.