two and a half years later
Lawrence came to visit about every six months, bringing money and a gift every time, but I forgot all about my inheritance. 'The Family' was so dumb, they didn't notice that I had a cell-phone, because I kept it off, or a walk-man, because I kept it in my room. I'd even managed to sneak a new mattress in my room. They didn't notice that the attic had a new coat of paint, or that the floor was no longer covered with dropping or dust.
I'd done a lot of things, and I'd done them subtly. I wasn't that big of a spender, and I'd really never spent all the money Lawrence had given me. I'd bought a fire stone when Talia and I had decided she was ready to evolve, which was just about four months ago. Talia was now a Ninetales, and a kick-ass one, too. She was a lot stronger then Angel's Bayleef, though we'd never battled. I battled wild Pokemon and tourists only, so no one knew how strong we were. Surprise was a good element in battle.
My Dewgong, Aaya, was swimming in the pond, her tail fanning out gracefully. Kirin had recently eaten a meal of three Pinsir, and four Beedrill. He had never gotten over his love for bugs, and it was cheaper this way, since he'd learned to store food in his body, only needing to eat once a week. He was lying on the grass, sun bathing. I leaned against him.
The Family only knew that I had Talia. They didn't even know about Kirin and Aaya. I was wearing a designer one piece swim-suit I'd bought when Aggie and Angel weren't looking. I dove into the pond, holding on to Aaya as she swam. It was amazing how easy it was for her to swim five times as fast as me at my best. I loved being able to tear through the water at this speed. My Nidoqueen, Charla, stampeded out of the trees, jumping into the water.
Aaya quickly turned to the right, barely sparing me from the huge splash that had followed Charla. Charla popped her head out of the water, sighing with delight. I agreed, it was pretty hot. I floated on my back. I loved weekends. Aaya grabbed my waist and dragged me under the water. I didn't struggle. She would know when I needed air. After ten more seconds, I felt my lungs burn for air, and Aaya shot out of the water, carrying me with her.
"Dewgong gong!" Watch out, clumsy!
"Nidoqueen. Nido Nido!" Who are you calling clumsy, horn-head?
"Dewgong, Dew-gong gong." Who're you to talk? They just starting sassing each other. By now I knew better then to try to stop them.
I watched everyone get out, resting in Kirin's shadow. I smiled. I was proud of how I raised my Pokemon. A Nidoqueen, A Gyarados, a Ninetales, and a Dewgong, all the top form of their evolution line. I felt my stomach grumble, and they all looked and me, smiling. Charla had feasted on the local berries, Talia, on the local Rattata population, Aaya, on what I think was seaweed, and Kirin, of course, on the local bugs. I winced.
Five more days till Angel's fifteenth birthday. Her Bayleef, Raticate, and Fearow, would probably all leave with her on her quest. I had spent most of my money now on Pokemon food, and a digitizable carrier, that digitizes items into a small watch, and Lawrence probably wouldn't come for another two months.
I didn't have much money for my Pokemon journey, but I'd make do. Aggie didn't think I had any. As I was walking home from the pond, a trainer spotted me, and ran over.
"I challenge you to a battle." He said boldly. I hid a smirk. The trainer was one of the boys that I'd call a prep. Rich, handsome, and way to arrogant. He was a year or two older then me, but I doubted his abilities. My Pokemon and I trained hard.
"You'd be a waste of my time." I said gently. He turned bright red.
"Wanna bet?" I smirked. This boy was too cocky for his own good. I took my wallet out of my shorts.
"Okay. Two hundred dollars to the winner." I said casually. He smirked. Yup, definitely one of those rich preps. I thought on it a moment, and decided on Charla. She was too hyper today anyway. I was about to send her out, when he sent out his.
"Go Ivy!" It was an Ivysaur. Well, mebbe not. It's to hot to play with this prep, so I'll finish him off fast. I thought.
"Go Talia!" I shouted. The boy paled when he saw the large Ninetales. My Ninetales was well taken care of. Her food was always checked for vitamins, her fur brushed three times a day, and her training was from a camp in hell. I never pushed her harder then she could do, but never any less.
She was bigger then the average Ninetales, stronger then the average Ninetales, and faster then the average Ninetales. Not to mention WAY prettier.
"Let's do this two on two." I said calmly. He nodded, still staring at Talia. "Fire blast, Talia!" Before the Ivysaur could even move, he was K.O'd. Burnt to a crisp, I acknowledged. The boy paled. He probably didn't expect a younger kid to go shish kabob him.
"Go Poliwhirl!" He shouted. I returned Talia calmly, and he paled. I got Kirin's ball, grinning evilly.
"It's not that I don't think that Talia can't take your wimpy little Poliwhirl, but Kirin needs to have a little fun every now and then, since it's hard for him to find a good place to swim." "Go Kirin!" I shouted. He came out, majestic as always. The bug diet he had himself on for the last few years had made him buff, and to big for the pond. I guess it was the high protein. He had a nice shiny coat that I treated every week, and he was around thirteen feet longer then the average Gyarados, and I might be wrong, but I thought quite a bit stronger. Like Talia, all my Pokemon had been trained to their limits. "Wrap." Kirin surged forward, wrapping the Poliwhirl in his thirty-four foot body. The Poliwhirl screamed in agony, and I shut my eyes tightly. I knew what Kirin could do.
We'd practiced this attack on old trees, and Kirin had be trained to squeeze so tightly that the trees would either explode, or snap unceremoniously in half. I couldn't take it, the Poliwhirl had already fainted from pain, but Kirin was awaiting my signal.
"Kirin, let go. It's done." Kirin let go and with a snake-like grace, slid over to me, where I patted (what little of him I could reach) and praised him. I returned him to his pokeball.
"What the hell did you do to Poliwhirl?" The boy yelled. I frowned at him. That wasn't proper trainer etiquette. You were supposed to go to your opponent and shake their hands. After a good night's sleep, or even several nights, at the Pokemon Center, his Poliwhirl would be good as new, anyways. I remained casual.
"You challenged me, and if you hadn't wanted that to happen to your Pokemon, then you should have thrown in the towel after I sautéed your Ivysaur. You underestimated me, and your Pokemon paid the price for your stupidity." I said coolly. He took a deep breath, his face turning darker and darker shades of red till it turned puce. He grudgingly gave me the money, returning his Poliwhirl.
"Good duel." I said cheerfully, humming as I went away. He put his hand on my shoulder. I stilled the instinct to whirl around and punch him.
"My name's Jake, what's yours?" I turned, my face utterly cold.
"Raono. Take your hand off my shoulder, or you will be mauled." He hurried did so and I walked away, whistling cheerfully.
Jason P.O.V.
Jason walked through the streets, looking for a trainer. He saw a girl stroll out of the woods. She was a little wet, wearing what he assumed to be shorts over a one-piece swimming suit. She had shiny black hair pulled back into a pony tail, her bangs falling over part of her face, framing it perfectly.
But what interested him the most was the ball belt she was wearing, of which four pokeballs were hooked on the side for full balls. He jogged up to her, a little nervous. She had an aura around her of calmness. She raised her eyebrows when he got to her.
"I challenge you to a battle." She looked like she was about to laugh in his face, and a smile tugged at her lips.
"You'd be a waste of my time." Jason was mad. How could she say that? He was a pretty good trainer, and she looked a year or two younger then him, possibly not yet fifteen. She smirked at him visibly now.
"You wanna bet?" He challenged. A smile threatened to replace the smirk. She had such uncommon eyes. They seemed bottomless bits of amber and green. She pulled something out of her pocket, a wallet.
"Okay, two hundred dollars to the winner?" Jason smirked. He'd made bets three times that big, and won. He nodded, taking fifteen steps back to allow room for the battle. He sent out Ivy, his Ivysaur and first Pokemon. He was proud of her, the ace in his deck. He'd pulverize this cocky little girl. She smirked and sent out a Ninetales. It was the most beautiful creature he'd every seen. Shining gold-white fur and beautiful mahogany eyes that shimmered in the sunlight.
As coolly as if she was ordering lemonade, she ordered her Ninetales to blast Ivy. It pained Jason to watch his best friend char and burn. He returned her sadly to her pokeball, summoning Poliwhirl, shaking with anger. He'd make that Ninetales pay for what she did to Ivy. But the Ninetales was recalled. She made a nasty little comment about Poliwhirl before loosing her Gyarados on him.
In seconds, Poliwhirl was defeated. It hurt Jason so much to hear him scream, but he noticed how the girl shut her eyes tightly. Was that a tear he saw? There was something pained in her eyes when she opened them again.
"Kirin, let go." He heard. She pat him, murmuring praise? How could she praise him for what he'd just done. He knew it wasn't right, but he yelled at her anyway.
"What the hell did you do to Poliwhirl?" He yelled as he returned Poliwhirl to his ball. She looked at him with casually, even coldly.
"You challenged me, and if you hadn't wanted that to happen to your Pokemon, then you should have thrown in the towel after I sautéed your Ivysaur. You underestimated me, and your Pokemon paid the price for your stupidity."
Back to Rei's POV
I continued to walk home, feeling guilty. Maybe I should have told Kirin to use a weaker attack. Wrap was a bit harsh, at least it was if it was Kirin dishing it out. I wondered if the poor thing would be alright. I turned on my walkman, going home for lunch. Everyone was already there. Aggie glared at me and yelled at me for being late, though I was actually five minutes early.
We ate first, then began to talk, well, they did.
"Well sweetie, what do you think you're gonna do after your birthday?" Max asked Angel.
"I think I'm going to go on a quest and see if I can get to the Meyatex league." She said indifferently. Aggie gasped, and Angel smiled. "What Mom, don't you think I can do it?" Aggie smiled.
"Of course I think you can do it, sweetie. But all alone…" She grinned. I grinned into my cup. I could just imagine Angel, terrified and all alone in the wilderness.
"Don't worry mom, Eocene and Erin said they'd come with me." I snorted. They would. The two strongest boys in our year, Eocene and Erin were twins, not identical, but twins, who both had crushes on Angel. Angel and Aggie turned to me, identical expressions of hatred on their faces.
"So what are you going to do?" Aggie asked. I was ironically born two days after Angel, so we'd be leaving about the same time.
"I'm going to go on a quest to beat as many gym leaders as I can till the League starts, then go there." I said coolly, sipping my soda.
"Mommy, she's copying me." Angel whined. I choked on my coke.
"Are you (cough cough) kidding (cough, cough) me? Why the (Cough, cough, cough) hell would I (COUGH) copy some- (COUGH COUGH) -body like (Cough) her?" I said, banging my collar bone till it all went down. Angel looked displeased.
"What
do you mean, somebody like me?"
"I hope you don't
expect up to pay!" Aggie said, making Angel light up like a
Christmas tree. Max looked uncomfortable. I grinned at Aggie coldly,
reaching into my pocket and drawing out my previous money, and my
winnings from earlier today. Angel gaped.
"How'd you get that much money?" She said indignantly, Aggie echoing her only a second off beat. I smiled lazily, almost a smirk.
"It's amazing how much rich boys are willing to bet on battles, especially when their not that good." I said. Angel smirked at me.
"They must have been pretty bad to have lost to you." I turned bright red, only years of being scolded by Max and slaps by Aggie kept me from giving her a broken nose.
"Then you must really suck." I said casually, "Considering I can probably beat you easy three on three, or three on one, as a matter of fact.
"Care to try!" Angel yelled, standing up. Aggie smiled.
"Atta' go! Discipline her, Angel!" God, how pathetic, I mused.
"Okay, three on three battle, in the backyard, now." I said. She stomped off to the back, her steak unfinished. I held back a laugh as I stood up gliding to the back door, in front of me an eager looking Aggie and a disgruntled Max. Aggie probably expected me to lose.
Angel smirked at from across their backyard.
"There's no way you can win a three on three battle when you only have one Pokemon." I smirked back at her, holding up all four of my pokeballs.
"Who said I only had one? God Angel, you're so stupid." I sent out Charla. She needed the practice.
"Oh yeah? Well go Whisper!" I smirked. Whisper was her very recently evolved Raticate. He had a very bad sense of balance. I watched as Angel blushed when Whisper fell on his butt. But she still tried hard, I admit. "Go Whisper, Hyper fang." Whisper lunged forward, teeth bared. Charla stood patiently.
"Wait for it." I said, my voice shaking with laughter, which Angel took as fear. She looked triumphant.
"Not so tough now, huh?" I giggled, pointing back to the battle. Charla had swung around, giving Raticate a good dose of Iron Tail. It was so weak, it was a one hit knock out. I was starting wonder how other people trained their Pokemon, or maybe I just fought weak trainers.
"Oh no! Whisper!" Angel cried. She looked more upset that she'd lost the first round then her Pokemon getting hurt. She returned him calmly, while still managing to look pissed.
"Had enough, cousin dear?" I said sarcastically.
"GO ANGEL! YOU CAN DO IT!" Aggie yelled loudly. Angel managed a winning smile. What a prep.
"Go Heaven!" Heaven was her Fearow, ugly thing, really. I was surprised Angel kept it. I'd seen her room. It was painted baby blue and hot pink, everything completely feminine. "Peck!" yeah, right. I thought reverently.
"Wait for it, then grab the neck." I said at the last second. Charla seized the large bird Pokemon's neck right behind it's head, swinging it's body and smashing it into the ground. The bird Pokemon was about to get up, when Charla, at my signal, pounded it on the head with her heavy tail. Angel looked almost tearful to lose so bad.
"It's not fair! That Nidoqueen was stronger." I smirked at her. What a ditz.
"Technically, Angel, Charla has a disadvantage to Heaven, so really, you have no excuse except that you're a bad trainer." I said easily. She glared at me, returning Heaven to her ball. She sent out her Bayleef, Rita.
"Go Rita, show that bully what you can do. Bully? I thought, amused. Honestly, how old is she? I thought reverently. At least Charla was having fun. She looked a little tired, but not much. Angel's Pokemon weren't strong enough to do anything to her. The Bayleef was relatively big, with a hot pink ribbon around it's neck.
"Let's get ready to rumble, Charla. Maybe Rita can give us some fun." I said, smirking. "Body Slam!"
"Vine Whip!" The Bayleef managed to lever Charla over her head as she jumped forward.
"Front Flip!" Charla absorbed the fall with her hands, rolling into a sort of front flip, falling heavily on her feet. "Ready, Take Down!" She charged, shoving the Bayleef into the ground. Damn, she's not out. Oh well, it can't be all Roselia's and Beautifly's. I thought reflectively. "Okay, Iron tail while she's down, follow up on Tackle!" Charla's tail glowed hot white, smacking Rita soundly, throwing her against the ground as she began to get up. She tackled her, combining it up with a Body Slam, and the grass Pokemon was K.O'd.
"Bayleef is unable to battle, the match goes to me and Charla!" I yelled as Charla caught me in a big Ursaring hug. Oomph. I'm squished…Angel collapsed, sobbing in humiliation. Max and Aggie ran to comfort her. I was still praising Charla when Aggie came to slap me soundly on the cheek. Well, I'm sure that was her intention. Charla grabbed Aggie's speeding arm and threw her bodily to the ground.
She looked ready to kill, Charla, that is. I was afraid for Aggie, as much as I hated her, I didn't want her to be ripped apart by a blood-lusting Nidoqueen.
"Charla, return." Charla returned unwillingly, glaring at Aggie. I smiled sadly at the pokeball, then turned to Aggie, eyebrows raised. "What was that about?" She scowled at me.
"As if you didn't know!" She spat bitterly, pointing at Angel. "You must have cheated to beat Angel, and I don't tolerate cheaters!" I smiled wryly at the women I'd hated for three long abusive years.
"Is it cheating to care? Is it cheating to train your Pokemon? Is it cheating to work beside them for years, every day until you think you'll drop?" I said bitterly. She stared at me coldly.
"I want you out of the house. I'll give you twenty minutes to pack, and then you're gone!" I didn't say anything, half stunned and half gleeful. I decided to go to my friend's house and see what happened from their. I got my school things, my clothes, my walkman, and the bear essentials. I'd need help carrying this shit.
"Go Charla!" Charla appeared, still looking very pissed.
"Nidoqueen! Queen Nido!" Why the hell did you stop me? I grinned at her, which seemed to calm her a bit.
"I got thrown out." I winced as my Pokemon displayed some language she'd picked up from me and some other kids in school.
"Nido! Queen Nido, Nidoqueen!" That mother-fucking-bitch! (OO) T-T I stared at her, wide-eyed. Do I really cuss that much? I wondered, vowing to stop. We trotted downstairs, Charla more carefully because of here larger girth. We bolted out of the door, running easily. The bags didn't hinder us, because during our training, I'd fill them with bricks or lead while we ran, to strengthen out legs.
"Nidoqueen, queen Nido. Nidoqueen, Nido, Nidoqueen, queen, Nido Nido." Your psycho-bitch training is paying off right about now. I glared at her.
"Thanks." I muttered. Charla glared at me irritably as I fell only a few feet behind. She wrapped her tail around my waist, dumping me unceremoniously on her back while she picked up the speed. She was holding back for me. I realized, then pouted. Why were all my Pokemon faster then me?
"Nidoqueen. Queen?" Tyson's, right? I nodded, then realizing she couldn't see me, said yes. It took us a couple of minutes to get there, but Charla ran unwaveringly. Tyson was in his front yard, dutifully pruning a rose bush while his Hitmonchan, Sake, (Yes, he was named after the drink, stop wondering you dimwits!) was mowing the lawn. I glanced at him, my eyebrows raised.
"Evening, Ms. Winslow." I said mockingly. He wore his mother's flowered apron and pruning gloves. He glowered at me.
"Not another word." I grinned and grabbed some more shears, pruning away right next to him. A thorn nipped my finger, drawing blood.
"Shit!" I said, drawing back my finger and automatically putting it in my mouth, before hastily taking it out in disgust as I tasted my own blood. Tyson smirked, easily snipping away in his leather shearing gloves.
"Be careful little miss Osacura." I stuck out my tongue, wiping my finger on the grass. Tyson frowned when he saw the amount of blood the thorn had drawn on his recently mowed lawn. "Be right back, Rei." He said, putting down his shears and going inside. He came back with a first aid kit, and before I could before I could protest, he was by my side, holding up a pad of gauze wet with disinfectant.
"Ouch!" I yelped. He grinned crookedly.
"Wimp." I stuck my tongue out again as he put a bandage on it. We pruned again in silence. I waited till we were done to mention anything.
"Do you think your mom will care if I stay over at your house till grad?" I asked suddenly. He fell on his butt, astonished.
"What? I mean, I know Angel's a bitch and Max is a wimp, but are they that bad?" He asked, winged eyebrows raised. I glared at him, scowling.
Though Tyson knew I had more then Talia for Pokemon, he didn't know just how strong they were, or what they were, and my refusal to battle with them had convinced other people they were weak. I stuck my tongue out at him again. I considered having the advantage of surprise a good thing, besides, I like stringing Tyson along. He did, however, know about Charla, and was content to know she was strong enough to beat the crap out of Soki.
"Angel challenged me to a battle, I accepted. I won. She bitched about it. Aggie threw me out. I need to stay at your place till graduation." I said quickly. He looked at me oddly, well, actually, he stared at me as if I'd suddenly become an entirely different creature.
"Okay, first we're going to go tell Mom very carefully about this." He stopped, looking thoughtful. "You know, she's been looking for a renter, you know for that spare room? This just might work out." We strolled into the kitchen.
Mrs. Wilson, a pretty brunette lady in her late thirties, was in the kitchen baking cookies. Mrs. Wilson was what people thought of as a housewife. She baked cookies, she gardened, she was pretty much always perky, but the thing was, she was ambitious. She planned on her son being a trainer to be able to brag about, and I guess he was.
She smiled cheerily at me.
"Oh hello Rei. Just in time for cookies. They'll be done in a few minutes." I smiled gently at her. For some reason, I'd always felt protective for Janet Wilson. She's lost her husband in a car crash like I lost my parents, and I felt like she was my surrogate mother.
"Hello Mrs. Wilson. I just wanted to ask if I could rent your room." She stared at me in amazement, then chuckled.
"Oh, you had me there, Rei darling. I think I just heard you ask if you could rent my spare room." She chuckled. She sobered at the look on my face. "What happened?" I spent the next ten minutes explaining over a plate of cookies and fat free milk.
Rei had never seen Janet Wilson that angry before, but now she looked furious. "Agatha Curston has gone to far! Honestly, just because of some silly battle! She has absolutely no right to just throw you out on the streets like that! The nerve of that woman!" She yelled. It took a few minutes for us to calm her down, and then she smiled tiredly.
"Don't worry, darling. You won't have to pay rent." She muttered to me. "After what happened to your parents, no one should have to. Just like my Charles." Tyson threw me a look. Mrs. Wilson tended to get a little weepy when she talked about her husband. I nodded sympathetically and the two of us had her lay in her room. Tyson grinned at me.
"This is going to be so cool!" He said enthusiastically. I grinned back at him. Yeah, I guess it would be. But it didn't make that much difference. Tyson and I saw each other every other day anyways. I laughed and told him to go get some shut eye while I unpacked. I fell asleep, Talia at the foot of the bed.
