Gemmei's head snapped toward the door. "Uh-oh. Mother's back."
"So? Now we can ask her about this!" Gen proudly held up the photo of the woman "An' that," she added, pointing to the still-open diary.
"Actually, I thought it might be in our best interests not to let her know that we've seen these...hm?"
"Why?" Gen was starting to get a bit pouty.
"Girls! Where are you?" Gemmei jumped at the second shout, and Gen was starting to feed off of her sister's nervousness. She dropped the picture, which hit the floor with a loud bang, and both girls winced.
"Up here!" Gemmei shouted. "We'll be right down!" She then leaned over towards Gen and spoke in a fierce whisper. "Ok, mom doesn't want us to leave the house because there's a...I guess we'll call it a dog...out there. Which looks," she pointed at the picture on the ground, "like that. She doesn't even seem to want us to know such a creature exists, so there's no use upsetting her, right?"
Gen nodded mutely.
"Good. Now let's put this stuff back where it belongs." She handed the diary to Gen. "Put this and the picture back first, then the other stuff. I'll talk to mom."
Gen complied, though not without some degree of reluctance. Gemmei went out the door and down the stairs, to meet her mom waiting at the bottom.
"What are you two doing up there?"
"Just...playing dress-up." It was a bad explanation, and one that Gemmei was sure she would regret giving, but her fears were unfounded.
"I see. Well, there must be far better places to go than an attic! Why don't you go up to one of your rooms to play for a little while before starting your chores?"
"Alright." At this point, Gen peeked her head through the door, having piled everything back in. She had her arms hugged to her chest, and was shivering.
"Brr...it's cold up there!"
"Well, let's go into my room. It'll be warm there...not that it seemed so cold in the attic to me."
Gen didn't reply, but their mom nodded her assent and shooed them away.
The two scurried into Gemmei's room, Gen still showing the signs of her discomfort, and sat down on her bed. Gemmei sighed. "So...now what?"
Gen just giggled in reply.
"What?" Obviously something was up, but Gemmei didn't want to appear too interested in it. Nor did she have to, for Gen then uncrossed her arms and pulled the diary out from under her arms.
Gemmei was shocked. "Wh--you were sneaking that out?"
Gen nodded proudly and handed it over. "Now, read it again!"
Grudgingly impressed at her sister's cleverness, Gemmei took it and opened up to the page they hand been on. "Ok, let's see. 'March 5, 1948. Father gave me this diary...'"
She read the first entry, then put the book down in confusion. "Pokémon? Is that what the dog-thing was? What does she mean by a 'grass-type'?"
Gen's puzzlement was overtaken by her excitement. "Neat! I wanna Pokémon too!"
"I'm so confused. Is this 'Pokémon' the reason mother doesn't want us to go outside?"
"Read it s'more!"
Gemmei was about to when they were again interrupted. "Girls!"
Both sighed. "Looks like we'll have to put the book aside for now...time to work."
---
Gemmei and Gen usually got through their chores pretty quickly, but on that day they set a record. After finishing these, their lessons started. The girls were home-schooled by their mother, as most of the children of Albus were. When their school day as finally finished, however, they went right back to Gemmei's room to continue reading.
The next several entries were not to reveal much. They read about the settlement Suiko and her companions were beginning to create. The Pokémon were mentioned occasionally, but with no real details. All the girls knew was that Pokémon seemed to be common companions for the people, and that they could apparently do any number of useful things.
Gemmei had gotten up to September 17, 1948 when there was a loud knock at the door downstairs. Although their mother was there to answer it, Gen curiously poked her head out the door to see who it was. After a few seconds, she gasped and ran out of the room.
"Daddy!"
"What?" Gemmei was astonished to hear this. Their father was back? How did he get here so early?
She ran downstairs as well, and sure enough, there her father was standing. His return had been a surprise for everyone -- even the girls' mother, who appeared relieved that he was home.
Gemmei was happy to see him, and went up to give him a hug, asking what had happened.
"Well..." he smiled. "I decided to leave the group so that I could be here more tomorrow. It's not every day your daughter turns 13, is it?"
Gemmei smiled back. Indeed, it was her birthday tomorrow. It would be nice to have the whole family there for it. The book was therefore forgotten by the two for the rest of the day, and they spent their last hour or so before bed in other activities.
---
Gemmei woke up early the next day, unable to sleep any longer for excitement. Partially it was because of her birthday; in addition, however, curiosity nagged at her concerning the diary and the mysterious Pokémon mentioned within. That book was in Gen's room now, however, and Gemmei felt more like going downstairs and eating some breakfast than rummaging around in her sister's room. That decided, she got dressed and ran downstairs - this time, not worrying about how ladylike she acted.
Which was fine, apparently - only her father was in the kitchen, and he was a bit more lax with the girls. For that reason, when Gemmei saw her gift lying in the corner, she was sure it was he who was behind it.
"A bicycle?!"
He chuckled. "It'll give you some good exercise, anyway -- the one practical excuse I can think of for it. Happy birthday!"
---
The day wore on. Gen didn't look overly impressed at the bicycle, but asked to ride it after she saw Gemmei do so. Their mother didn't seem too happy, although she said nothing of the matter.
"Ah..." Gemmei looked pleased as she and Gen came in to start their chores. "I'm so glad we were able to go outside today!"
"Yeah...I kinda wish that man was still around, though."
"Because of the 'dog'?"
"Mm-hm..."
"Well, we still have the diary to read, right? Speaking of which, I suggest we do so after our chores. There must be some other significant mention of the Pokémon in it sooner or later."
Which is what they were prepared to do afterwards, except that Gen had hidden the diary "someplace safe" in her room just before bed, and now had no recollection of where it was.
"Oh, come on, Gen...think! how could you forget, it was only yesterday!"
"I dunno...I was tired when I did it! I don't r'member!"
"Aaa..." Gemmei restrained the urge to start shaking her sister. "You're just like mom, you know...she never remembers where she hides things either."
Unfortunately for the two, neither girl had found it before their mother had called up to them, telling them it was time for bed. It was only as they were just retiring to their separate rooms for the night that Gen suddenly rushed into Gemmei's room, proudly holding it up.
"Foun' it!"
"Where, might I ask?"
"Under my mattress."
"Uh-huh. Well, good job...unfortunately, however, it's a bit late for reading it now."
"Aww."
"Yeah. tomorrow, ok?"
Gen left her sister's room, still carrying the diary, and Gemmei put the lights out and crawled under her covers. In what felt like minutes, a familiar sight greeted her.
It loomed before me, huge, seemingly impassible.
"Huh?"
Gemmei was only a few seconds into the regular dream when she woke up suddenly, although she was unsure as to how. A look at her clock revealed that it was two hours after she'd fallen asleep. How did that happen? She wondered. Didn't I just go to bed?
Shrugging it off, Gemmei lay in bed for a few moments and thought over the dream. Stupid thing...why do I keep dreaming about it? I'm not actually about to climb that fence. And even if I went through the gate, I wouldn't be able to get anywhere...
Or could I? I have a bicycle now! I bet I could go someplace nearby, maybe see a Pokémon if they're not very rare...and be back before it was time to get up!
Once that thought had occurred to Gemmei, she couldn't believe how simple it seemed. That wall has been holding me back all my life...but it would be such an easy obstacle to cross! At that, she hastily crawled out of her warm bed and crept out her bedroom door.
Her plans for her freedom were simple; find a secluded spot, outside the gate, where she could sit down with a flashlight and read the diary some more. That was all she wanted for now, but it would require a trip to Gen's room: she was the one who had the book last.
First, Gemmei dug up the flashlight from her drawer; that was the easy part. Then she stole down the hall, hoping she was being quiet, and approached her sister's door. Once there, she carefully turned the knob and pushed it open.
Finding the book proved easy -- Gen had put it on the nightstand above her bed. She's gonna have to put it someplace safer if she doesn't want us to get discovered, Gemmei thought. She removed it and was just about to leave the room when her sister spoke up.
"What're you doing?" she mumbled sleepily.
"Um..." Gemmei froze. She hadn't thought about what to do in this situation. "Nothing...I just wanna take a look at this outside, to get some fresh air. Ok?"
"Mommy says we can't go out there at night!" she was right, too. Gemmei sighed.
"Ok, look...I'll just take it into my room then."
"You're lying! I'm getting mom!" Gen stumbled out of bed and rushed to the door.
"What the heck are you doing?!" Gemmei hissed. "I'm not lying to you! Just let me go!" She went to the door and held it closed. "Come on, please..."
"No!" Gen tried to force the door open, then stopped suddenly. She stood still for a few seconds, yawned, and slumped against the door.
"Hey...are you alright?"
"M'tired..." Gen started to slide down to the floor.
Gemmei sighed again, in relief. Sheesh...crazy little kid. Guess she wasn't really awake after all. She grabbed Gen before she hit the floor and half-led, half-dragged her back to her bed. The younger sister was asleep again by the time she was under the covers, and Gemmei slipped out silently.
The trip outside went smoothly - no one else woke up - and Gemmei was soon outside and on her bicycle. She was halfway to the gate when a voice stopped her.
"Hey!"
Oh no...I've been caught! Gemmei froze, but soon realized that the voice was that of a man she didn't recognize. As the only man supposed to be in the village was her father, she caught on to the fact that this man must be the one with the "dog". Slowly, she turned around.
"Hello," he spoke up. "Are you going somewhere?"
It is the guy Gen told me about! Must be, anyway...I don't see that "dog" with him though. Gemmei was somewhat frightened of him, but his tone didn't seem malicious, so she spoke up.
"Out there," she said, pointing in the direction of the gate and trying to sound flippant about it.
"I see. Well, there's a lot of...dangerous things...out there. Do you have anything to protect yourself with?"
"No..." all Gemmei wanted was to get away from this man and leave, but the opportunity didn't seem to be there.
"Well, here, maybe I can help you with that..." he reached into his bag, but Gemmei stopped him.
"No, that's fine!" she said. "I don't need anything. Thank you anyway." She turned around and trotted to the gate, sighing with relief.
Whew! He probably wanted to give me a gun or something...or that creature, but I highly doubt that.Anyway, now that that's over, time to see what's out there!
She unlocked the gate and opened it, marveling at how simple the act was. Her plan was to savour the moment for a while before stepping over, but now that she was there, her mind had changed. Gemmei quickly moved to the other side, closed the gate behind her, and took off on her bicycle -- just like that!
I don't believe it...I'm finally over! Gemmei grinned as she sped up, putting more and more distance between her and Albus. Nothing could stop her, she felt -- and then she ran over something with a crunch.
She stopped, turned around, and stared at the creature that had been caught in her path. A bird! And a fairly large one at that. She had not killed it - only ran over its wing - but it was very hurt nonetheless. Oh no! She ran over to examine it closer.
The bird itself was a dark purplish colour, with red and white parts. Gemmei had seen these birds flying overhead before, but never close up. Now that she was next to one, she temporarily forgot its pain in her fascination.
She was soon to have something else to occupy her mind, however. The little bird met her eyes and gave a sharp, hard cry--
"TAILLOW!"
--and dozens of the birds came out of the surrounding trees, diving at her.
"Aaahh!" Gemmei hopped back onto her bicycle and started furiously peddling, but she was no match for the flock, who had swarmed her within seconds.
"So? Now we can ask her about this!" Gen proudly held up the photo of the woman "An' that," she added, pointing to the still-open diary.
"Actually, I thought it might be in our best interests not to let her know that we've seen these...hm?"
"Why?" Gen was starting to get a bit pouty.
"Girls! Where are you?" Gemmei jumped at the second shout, and Gen was starting to feed off of her sister's nervousness. She dropped the picture, which hit the floor with a loud bang, and both girls winced.
"Up here!" Gemmei shouted. "We'll be right down!" She then leaned over towards Gen and spoke in a fierce whisper. "Ok, mom doesn't want us to leave the house because there's a...I guess we'll call it a dog...out there. Which looks," she pointed at the picture on the ground, "like that. She doesn't even seem to want us to know such a creature exists, so there's no use upsetting her, right?"
Gen nodded mutely.
"Good. Now let's put this stuff back where it belongs." She handed the diary to Gen. "Put this and the picture back first, then the other stuff. I'll talk to mom."
Gen complied, though not without some degree of reluctance. Gemmei went out the door and down the stairs, to meet her mom waiting at the bottom.
"What are you two doing up there?"
"Just...playing dress-up." It was a bad explanation, and one that Gemmei was sure she would regret giving, but her fears were unfounded.
"I see. Well, there must be far better places to go than an attic! Why don't you go up to one of your rooms to play for a little while before starting your chores?"
"Alright." At this point, Gen peeked her head through the door, having piled everything back in. She had her arms hugged to her chest, and was shivering.
"Brr...it's cold up there!"
"Well, let's go into my room. It'll be warm there...not that it seemed so cold in the attic to me."
Gen didn't reply, but their mom nodded her assent and shooed them away.
The two scurried into Gemmei's room, Gen still showing the signs of her discomfort, and sat down on her bed. Gemmei sighed. "So...now what?"
Gen just giggled in reply.
"What?" Obviously something was up, but Gemmei didn't want to appear too interested in it. Nor did she have to, for Gen then uncrossed her arms and pulled the diary out from under her arms.
Gemmei was shocked. "Wh--you were sneaking that out?"
Gen nodded proudly and handed it over. "Now, read it again!"
Grudgingly impressed at her sister's cleverness, Gemmei took it and opened up to the page they hand been on. "Ok, let's see. 'March 5, 1948. Father gave me this diary...'"
She read the first entry, then put the book down in confusion. "Pokémon? Is that what the dog-thing was? What does she mean by a 'grass-type'?"
Gen's puzzlement was overtaken by her excitement. "Neat! I wanna Pokémon too!"
"I'm so confused. Is this 'Pokémon' the reason mother doesn't want us to go outside?"
"Read it s'more!"
Gemmei was about to when they were again interrupted. "Girls!"
Both sighed. "Looks like we'll have to put the book aside for now...time to work."
---
Gemmei and Gen usually got through their chores pretty quickly, but on that day they set a record. After finishing these, their lessons started. The girls were home-schooled by their mother, as most of the children of Albus were. When their school day as finally finished, however, they went right back to Gemmei's room to continue reading.
The next several entries were not to reveal much. They read about the settlement Suiko and her companions were beginning to create. The Pokémon were mentioned occasionally, but with no real details. All the girls knew was that Pokémon seemed to be common companions for the people, and that they could apparently do any number of useful things.
Gemmei had gotten up to September 17, 1948 when there was a loud knock at the door downstairs. Although their mother was there to answer it, Gen curiously poked her head out the door to see who it was. After a few seconds, she gasped and ran out of the room.
"Daddy!"
"What?" Gemmei was astonished to hear this. Their father was back? How did he get here so early?
She ran downstairs as well, and sure enough, there her father was standing. His return had been a surprise for everyone -- even the girls' mother, who appeared relieved that he was home.
Gemmei was happy to see him, and went up to give him a hug, asking what had happened.
"Well..." he smiled. "I decided to leave the group so that I could be here more tomorrow. It's not every day your daughter turns 13, is it?"
Gemmei smiled back. Indeed, it was her birthday tomorrow. It would be nice to have the whole family there for it. The book was therefore forgotten by the two for the rest of the day, and they spent their last hour or so before bed in other activities.
---
Gemmei woke up early the next day, unable to sleep any longer for excitement. Partially it was because of her birthday; in addition, however, curiosity nagged at her concerning the diary and the mysterious Pokémon mentioned within. That book was in Gen's room now, however, and Gemmei felt more like going downstairs and eating some breakfast than rummaging around in her sister's room. That decided, she got dressed and ran downstairs - this time, not worrying about how ladylike she acted.
Which was fine, apparently - only her father was in the kitchen, and he was a bit more lax with the girls. For that reason, when Gemmei saw her gift lying in the corner, she was sure it was he who was behind it.
"A bicycle?!"
He chuckled. "It'll give you some good exercise, anyway -- the one practical excuse I can think of for it. Happy birthday!"
---
The day wore on. Gen didn't look overly impressed at the bicycle, but asked to ride it after she saw Gemmei do so. Their mother didn't seem too happy, although she said nothing of the matter.
"Ah..." Gemmei looked pleased as she and Gen came in to start their chores. "I'm so glad we were able to go outside today!"
"Yeah...I kinda wish that man was still around, though."
"Because of the 'dog'?"
"Mm-hm..."
"Well, we still have the diary to read, right? Speaking of which, I suggest we do so after our chores. There must be some other significant mention of the Pokémon in it sooner or later."
Which is what they were prepared to do afterwards, except that Gen had hidden the diary "someplace safe" in her room just before bed, and now had no recollection of where it was.
"Oh, come on, Gen...think! how could you forget, it was only yesterday!"
"I dunno...I was tired when I did it! I don't r'member!"
"Aaa..." Gemmei restrained the urge to start shaking her sister. "You're just like mom, you know...she never remembers where she hides things either."
Unfortunately for the two, neither girl had found it before their mother had called up to them, telling them it was time for bed. It was only as they were just retiring to their separate rooms for the night that Gen suddenly rushed into Gemmei's room, proudly holding it up.
"Foun' it!"
"Where, might I ask?"
"Under my mattress."
"Uh-huh. Well, good job...unfortunately, however, it's a bit late for reading it now."
"Aww."
"Yeah. tomorrow, ok?"
Gen left her sister's room, still carrying the diary, and Gemmei put the lights out and crawled under her covers. In what felt like minutes, a familiar sight greeted her.
It loomed before me, huge, seemingly impassible.
"Huh?"
Gemmei was only a few seconds into the regular dream when she woke up suddenly, although she was unsure as to how. A look at her clock revealed that it was two hours after she'd fallen asleep. How did that happen? She wondered. Didn't I just go to bed?
Shrugging it off, Gemmei lay in bed for a few moments and thought over the dream. Stupid thing...why do I keep dreaming about it? I'm not actually about to climb that fence. And even if I went through the gate, I wouldn't be able to get anywhere...
Or could I? I have a bicycle now! I bet I could go someplace nearby, maybe see a Pokémon if they're not very rare...and be back before it was time to get up!
Once that thought had occurred to Gemmei, she couldn't believe how simple it seemed. That wall has been holding me back all my life...but it would be such an easy obstacle to cross! At that, she hastily crawled out of her warm bed and crept out her bedroom door.
Her plans for her freedom were simple; find a secluded spot, outside the gate, where she could sit down with a flashlight and read the diary some more. That was all she wanted for now, but it would require a trip to Gen's room: she was the one who had the book last.
First, Gemmei dug up the flashlight from her drawer; that was the easy part. Then she stole down the hall, hoping she was being quiet, and approached her sister's door. Once there, she carefully turned the knob and pushed it open.
Finding the book proved easy -- Gen had put it on the nightstand above her bed. She's gonna have to put it someplace safer if she doesn't want us to get discovered, Gemmei thought. She removed it and was just about to leave the room when her sister spoke up.
"What're you doing?" she mumbled sleepily.
"Um..." Gemmei froze. She hadn't thought about what to do in this situation. "Nothing...I just wanna take a look at this outside, to get some fresh air. Ok?"
"Mommy says we can't go out there at night!" she was right, too. Gemmei sighed.
"Ok, look...I'll just take it into my room then."
"You're lying! I'm getting mom!" Gen stumbled out of bed and rushed to the door.
"What the heck are you doing?!" Gemmei hissed. "I'm not lying to you! Just let me go!" She went to the door and held it closed. "Come on, please..."
"No!" Gen tried to force the door open, then stopped suddenly. She stood still for a few seconds, yawned, and slumped against the door.
"Hey...are you alright?"
"M'tired..." Gen started to slide down to the floor.
Gemmei sighed again, in relief. Sheesh...crazy little kid. Guess she wasn't really awake after all. She grabbed Gen before she hit the floor and half-led, half-dragged her back to her bed. The younger sister was asleep again by the time she was under the covers, and Gemmei slipped out silently.
The trip outside went smoothly - no one else woke up - and Gemmei was soon outside and on her bicycle. She was halfway to the gate when a voice stopped her.
"Hey!"
Oh no...I've been caught! Gemmei froze, but soon realized that the voice was that of a man she didn't recognize. As the only man supposed to be in the village was her father, she caught on to the fact that this man must be the one with the "dog". Slowly, she turned around.
"Hello," he spoke up. "Are you going somewhere?"
It is the guy Gen told me about! Must be, anyway...I don't see that "dog" with him though. Gemmei was somewhat frightened of him, but his tone didn't seem malicious, so she spoke up.
"Out there," she said, pointing in the direction of the gate and trying to sound flippant about it.
"I see. Well, there's a lot of...dangerous things...out there. Do you have anything to protect yourself with?"
"No..." all Gemmei wanted was to get away from this man and leave, but the opportunity didn't seem to be there.
"Well, here, maybe I can help you with that..." he reached into his bag, but Gemmei stopped him.
"No, that's fine!" she said. "I don't need anything. Thank you anyway." She turned around and trotted to the gate, sighing with relief.
Whew! He probably wanted to give me a gun or something...or that creature, but I highly doubt that.Anyway, now that that's over, time to see what's out there!
She unlocked the gate and opened it, marveling at how simple the act was. Her plan was to savour the moment for a while before stepping over, but now that she was there, her mind had changed. Gemmei quickly moved to the other side, closed the gate behind her, and took off on her bicycle -- just like that!
I don't believe it...I'm finally over! Gemmei grinned as she sped up, putting more and more distance between her and Albus. Nothing could stop her, she felt -- and then she ran over something with a crunch.
She stopped, turned around, and stared at the creature that had been caught in her path. A bird! And a fairly large one at that. She had not killed it - only ran over its wing - but it was very hurt nonetheless. Oh no! She ran over to examine it closer.
The bird itself was a dark purplish colour, with red and white parts. Gemmei had seen these birds flying overhead before, but never close up. Now that she was next to one, she temporarily forgot its pain in her fascination.
She was soon to have something else to occupy her mind, however. The little bird met her eyes and gave a sharp, hard cry--
"TAILLOW!"
--and dozens of the birds came out of the surrounding trees, diving at her.
"Aaahh!" Gemmei hopped back onto her bicycle and started furiously peddling, but she was no match for the flock, who had swarmed her within seconds.