(A/n) Okay, I made it to chapter two!!! *is winded* Now I just want to make a quick address to my lovely and wonderful readers! I just want to say that IRL, my locker is pretty roomy (it really is, compared to the lockers in the new wing, which are a bit wider than my arm, and I'm not kidding). Plus, it's littered with papers and book socks, and it has vents, so the Chikorita could survive for 6 ½ hours. Besides, it's only fiction! Good ole fiction. Kept me alive in '98, it did. And I'll stop with the Authors notes in the story; I just put them there to clarify on certain things. And yes, Nirejseki, you can use "HOLY SLYTHERIN!!!" IRL, though you may find yourself gagged before long ^_^. Happy Reading, and jolly good days to you all!!!
It Followed Me Home!!!
Chapter 2
The first part of school was crappy. I got a cut slip in first period art for having an inexcusable late. The rest of art wasn't so bad, but I had to face Gym afterwards. And after a pointless game of "Krazy Kickball" (in which I got beaned in the head – twice), I forced my aching self up the stairs to my locker, but the hallways were too crowded. Not wanting to risk the chance of letting the Chikorita, Erik, be seen, I went to Science without my book. Having reached the class, I managed to get away with not having my book. But then I nearly fell asleep during my teacher's boring lecture, and was chided for that.
After two more periods of heck, Lunch made its cavalry-like entrance. Go Lunch! And since you couldn't be late for lunch, I waited for the halls to be nearly devoid of kids, then raced to my locker, shielding the view from anyone around. But when I opened my locker, I found Erik chewing on the remains of my paper bag lunch. How he managed to reach it from the top shelf, I'll never know, but my two sandwiches were nothing more than crumbs and crust. And my jacket was soaked with Capri Sun. Groaning, I grabbed my fortunately unsoiled books and raced to the cafeteria.
"Hey Hanni," Nirejseki cheerfully grinned as I slid into my seat. "Where's your lunch?" I threw her an Evil Glare of Death™ and muttered, "He ate it."
"He?" she asked, puzzled. Then her eyes widened understandingly. "O-o-o-o-h… him…" And she passed me her bag of carrot sticks. I tore at them like a beaver at a tree (having missed breakfast that morning). During my carrot-killing frenzy, Cindy and our other friends, Rose and Alice, sat down at our table with their lunches. "Hey guys!" Alice giggled. She always giggles. Rose also grinned, but Cindy just looked at me and the bits of carrot strew across the table.
"What happened to the, uh… giant pear thing?"
I slowly chewed the bits of carrots in my mouth, my brain scrambling for an explanation. "I… ate…it. Yeah, I ate it already."
"Did you miss breakfast again?" Nirejseki questioned, playing along, and winking at me so that the others couldn't see. "Yeah. Good thing the pear was so big!" I replied, forcing a laugh. Nirejseki fake-laughed too. Cindy looked at me strangely, and Rose and Alice had no clue what was going on. Then the three of them sat down and immersed in a conversation; I don't know what it was about, but there was a lot of giggling and pointing. Nirejseki resumed eating her lunch, but not before sliding a note across the table to me. I picked it up and opened it. It was pretty simple:
HmB- I have an idea about how to get the pear project home. Meet me in the first floor bathroom after the last bell. DON'T TAKE THE BUS!!! -NII nodded back at her and resumed devouring the carrots like a merciless Houndour.
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I never figured out how I survived the last three periods of the day, but I did. After the last bell, I sidled into the first floor bathroom, hoping I didn't look too conspicuous. Nirejseki wasn't there yet, so I took up pacing. Every girl coming into the bathroom just stared at me, then did her business and left.
Finally, Nirejseki arrived, carrying a large tote bag. "Where'd you get that?" I asked her. She grinned knowingly. "It's the bag I use to carry my books around in the halls," she informed me. "So you're carrying the books in your bag, and I'm taking the "pear project" in this bag." Pear project? Oh, Erik. We couldn't be heard saying "Chikorita" or "Pokemon" in the school, unless we had a death wish. "Okay, let's go then," I said.
We dashed up to the second floor and ran to my locker. While Nirejseki kept watch, I frantically twisted the dial, eager to get out of there A.S.A.P. Opening the locker, I saw Erik asleep in my jacket, but he awoke as soon as my shadow passed over him. "Rita!" he chirped happily. "Shhhhh!!!' I hushed, gathering him up in my soggy jacket and gently (but quickly) stuffing the both of them into the tote bag. I handed the load carefully over to Nirejseki, and then loaded up my backpack with the books we would need for homework. Slamming my locker shut, I nodded to my friend, and we took off down the hallway, with Nirejseki carrying my Chikorita.
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Miraculously, we got home. Alive. No one we met gave us a second glance in the hallways, and there were barely any people on the way home. Boy, was I glad to be home! I mean, you try lugging a backpack with two sets of books all the way home!
As soon as we set foot in the house, we threw off our backpacks and raced up to my room. As soon as I slammed and locked the door, Nirejseki let Erik out of the bag. He frolicked happily around the room, sniffing curiously at my stuff, especially my Charmander plushie. Nirejseki and I sat on the floor, relieved to be able to relax. For a few minutes, we watched Erik attempt to talk to the Charmander plushie. Apparently he thought it was real (though I can't see how. I mean, it's a furry Charmander!) and was trying to talk to it. When Charmer didn't respond, Erik got mad and challenged him to a battle. Nirejseki and I cracked up as the Chikorita tackled the plushie. "No! No! Don't!" I cried as Erik started ripping off one of Charmer's arms. I pulled the plushie away and put it on my dresser.
"Okay," Nirejseki said, standing up. "Let's find out why the Chikor- I mean Erik- is here."
"Fine," I said, picking up Erik. "What do we do?"
"First, we look for clues," she replied, pacing around the room. "First off, where are you're Pokemon things?"
"In the garage, in a box."
"Do you have any Chikorita plushies that I don't know about?"
"No! Even if I did, it would be in the box."
"Hmmmmm…" Nirejseki looked over to an empty shelf, which once held its weight in Pokemon stuff. Now it was empty. "Where are your Pokemon games?" she asked.
"Also in… well, actually, I was playing my Silver game this morning…"
Nirejseki turned to me. "Really?"
"Yeah. Well, I mean, I know that Chikoritas are from Silver and all, but this doesn't explain why there is one chewing on my sheets… No! Erik, stop!" I pulled the Chikorita off my sheets, where he chewed a sizable hole.
"So where's your game now?" Nirejseki asked.
"I dunno, my mom took it this morning and…" I stopped suddenly. Erik looked up at me quizzically. Without warning, I dropped him on to my bed, unlocked my door and hollered out, "MOOOOOOM!!!"
"Hanni, don't scream!! What is it?" my mother called from downstairs.
"What did you do with my GameBoy after you took it away this morning?" I called a little more quietly.
"Well, I had to warm up soup for your sister, so I put it on top of the microwave while the soup was heating up."
"Did you turn the game off, by any chance?" I called meekly, remembering not saving or shutting off.
"I don't think so…"
"Great," I said to Nirejseki. "That could explain some things." Calling back to my mother, I said, "Where is it now?"
"I hid it. You're not getting it back until tomorrow after school, if you catch the bus."
I slumped down to the floor. "Great. How am I going to explain to my mom why there's a Pokemon in my room?" Nirejseki patted my head sympathetically. "Don't worry," she said. "I have an idea as to how we'll get him back into your game. As long as you make it on time to the bus tomorrow, and manage to keep Erik at home, you'll be fine." Erik plodded up to me and licked my cheek softly. "Chiko, Chikorita, chik!" he chirped, smiling. I grinned back weakly and patted his leaf. Nirejseki was right. If all went well, we'd be able to get Erik back into the Silver game, and it would all be good. At least, I hoped…
(A/n) Well, that was fun! BTW, HmB and NI are fake code names. That's right, fake. Don't think of the pink elephant. The next chapter will be harder to write though… I better go bribe my muse. Oh Coltrane! Coltie dear….