Anywhere but home

Chapter 3

An hour later and the stinging pain, a result of the disinfectant, was just bearable. Ayana hoped the baby Ramtor could indeed not hear what was said outside it's shell, because she wouldn't have wished it upon anybody to hear her screams and curses thrown out into the forest. Andrew had started the job, but after being told multiple times that he was going to die he resolutely allowed her to snatch the bottle and cotton buds and the rest of it from him and she did the rest herself. "So I won't be pissed at you anymore than I already am." She had ground out through teeth clenched so tightly she was sure they were slip along and knock each other out. Better she do it than him. Now her legs were wrapped everywhere with bandages, and Andrew was pacing. Ten minutes he had been pacing, ten minutes she had been watching him walk back and forth, back and forth.

Ten minutes ago he had called up the nearest pokemon centre in Sherwood Forest, which he had been at before he had set out again the day of the fire. It was the only pokemon centre in the forest. He had told her of how he had stayed at it for over half a month, training Jo. He wasn't one of those trainers who traveled about seeking badges and the title of a pokemon master.

So now thanks to her uselessness some guy kind enough to help out was on his way with one of his pokemon to pick her up. Andrew would have to walk back. Ayana should have felt guilty, but right now she cared not a bit. All she did was sit there and seethe. She was so angry. The pain made her angry. She was angry at the poochyena for attacking her. She was angry at herself for being so stupid as to wander off by herself and manage to get lost and she was angry because she was angry at Andrew for no good reason. And something else she didn't understand. Why had Andrew caught the five Poochyena? They had hurt her, and had he exploited that to capture them. It took all her will not to ask him why. She knew that would only result in her yelling at him, considering her state. It always happened, she would take out her anger on other people. Although right now he was a very worthy target, for some reason she couldn't bring herself to do it.

But she really wanted to know what exactly was going on. "Why – the hell – did you catch those poochyena?" She demanded, her tone low and quiet yet a scowl echoed her thoughts as it found a place on her face. Andrew halted and turned to her. His eyes were full of some emotion she wasn't at all sure of. He noticed her expression but kept his own strangely neutral. Ayana took a deep breath, almost expecting an outburst of his own to defend himself against her unspoken rage.

She was unusually mistaken. "I may keep one for myself, otherwise the others I can trade for one that I will train, and as a companion for Jo. It's about time I got myself a new pokemon anyway, seeing as I've been a month with just one." Jo grunted with affirmation, bounding up very rabbit-like to his feet. She looked at Ayana, her facial cast darkening slightly at the look she held for her trainer, but she still seemed to hold some respect for her.

"But if you trade them all, you'll be left with a whole team. Would it be wise to take on so many pokemon to quickly?" Ayana asked, her anger receding a little, curiosity acting as a replacement. Andrew held his hands behind his back, tightly clenched in an almost polite pose, but she wasn't too sure. She was beginning to feel weary of him. Almost scared.

"I could always sell them, or trade them all for a very rare or powerful pokemon. There are other choices I could make you know." Ayana was lost for words. Her trail of thought suddenly just tumbled off the edge of a mental cliff. As Andrew stared at her his gaze softened a little. There was a short silence and he spoke again, clearing his throat first. "So, I wonder who's going to come an pick you up."

As if on cue, a shrill whinny cut through the chill morning air, and the sound of hooves was heard. Andrew stood straight, an annoyed look playing across his darkened face. "Oh, not him…" He trailed off flatly.

"Who?" Ayana demanded from the ground where she sat. "Tell me!" She snapped when he didn't reply. There was the neigh again. Andrew gave Jo a grave nod and she nodded in reply, throwing back her head and sending a ball of flame rocketing into the sky. Hooves drums on the earth heavily, and Ayana could feel the vibrations beneath her fingers. Andrew leant her a hand to help her up and she managed it with a lot of difficulty. He picked up the egg.

"Would you like me to take it for now?" He asked, and suspicion and refusal immediately welled up inside Ayana. Why did he offer to take it? For all she knew he could just take off with it. He had all his things and pokemon with him right now, he could just run away, taking her egg with him!

These thoughts fueled her sudden rage. "What is your problem! All you do is be all protective and caring and stuff and that's all good but you're treating me like I'm stupid and weak! Like, I can do things for myself you know! Oah!" She abruptly snatched the egg from Andrew's hands, hugging it to her body protectively and slinging her bag over her back just as a majestic figure seemed to fly into the little clearing. It landed, huge and beautiful. It tossed it's head back with a snort of proud indignation, the huge fiery mane billowing and spouting flames, the tail equally as impressive, a plume of fire escaping from the creature's rump. Red eyes burned out from pale creamy horsehair, huge and fierce. It stamped a single diamond-hard hoof on the ground, causing an audible thump. Ayana was breathtaken. Here before he stood a magnificent Rapidash. She had never seen one in real life before, and she was so awed she didn't realise that Andrew was speaking to the other young man sitting in the black saddle on the huge horse pokemon's back. She glanced up at the mention of her name and they both turned to her. It took a moment to realise Andrew had just introduced her.

"Hi." She said quickly, a neat word spoken curtly. She was glad she hadn't just blurted out some lame greeting – that would have made her seem an idiot. The idea of staying silent to not blurt out a lame greeting had flitted through her head she had dismissed it at the last moment. She looked at the newcomer. He was tall, but not quite a tall as Andrew; his skin was slightly tanned and his hair was a dark brown, thick and wavy. He wore baggy black denim jeans and a shirt as red as his rapidash's flames, and light brown eyes shone through hair gone astray with some kind of bright fervor.

His eyes swept over her. He looked at her disheveled frizzy hair with reinforced frizziness because of the water, the huge red jumper, the dry blood and dirt smeared everywhere, and he broke into a good-humored grin. "So you like it rough eh?" Ayana automatically went to hurl insults at him, but nothing came out. She blinked once and a blush rose up on her cheeks and she let out a small laugh. Inside she was incredulous. Some random just rocked up and made a sexual joke and she laughed it off after all that had happened! Her good opinion of him was immediately diminished, but she somehow couldn't find the words she felt she needed to say to him. Perhaps it was just common courtesy, although she had never struck herself as polite.

"Ayana isn't it?" She smiled in fakery and nodded. He gave the Rapidash a light pat to the neck. "Come on girl. Just this once." The fire horse snorted indignantly but obediently lowered her body to the damp, dirty ground with obvious distaste. "Hop on." The guy grinned at Ayana with a side expression she didn't look at for long enough to define it and patted the spot behind him. Only then did she realise that there was another saddle strapped behind his. She wasn't sure how that worked, or how safe it would be, but she treaded painfully over to it nevertheless. He noticed the egg in her arms. "Hey, maybe it would be better to leave it with him for this." He indicated to Andrew, who was standing there tense and expressionless. Ayana said nothing and defiance was hot on her lips but when this guy said it, it made everything seem so clear and obvious. If she took the egg with her now it would endanger it and possibly themselves. She looked at Andrew and silently handed it over. He took it with care. She had too much pride to apologise.

She mutely settled into the saddle, slid her feet into the stirrups and gasped in surprise as the warm fire pokemon stood. She let off such an intense body heat that Ayana felt almost uncomfortable. She almost fell from where she sat, stabilizing herself by having to grip the guy's shoulders.

"Woah there partner, you better hold on tight or you'll be gone before we've gone a few meters!" Ayana believed him. She wasted no time in wrapping her arms around his waist, but only lightly. She could almost feel the… was it triumph? Resonating from his body in all the closeness. He turned his head toward her a little, a husky smile evident on his face, "This is Springdance by the way. And I'm Macario." She barely had time to think about the different names, unusual to her, before they were suddenly propelled forward into the air. She lost her breath in shock and hot, fresh pain shot down her legs as they instantly tightened around Springdance's body and her arms clenched around Macario in a vice-like clamp. She got a mouthful of thick hair and choked on it while catching a glimpse below her. Her stomach lurched, the ground rushing up to meet them. She squeezed her eyes shut, spitting hair from her mouth.

It was a very rhythmic ride. A single drum of hard hooves impacting the ground, a second or two of stomach-lurching mid-air suspension, the same familiar drum again. She dared not open her eyes, but near the end she began to feel more secure despite the pain. She tried to concentrate on the buffet of the wind in her hair. It seemed to make it a little better.

Then they stopped.

She wasn't prepared for it and after those few minutes she guessed of regulating her body weight in a certain pattern the sudden stop sent her rocketing harder than she would have intended in Macario's back. He barely shifted however and she cried out in surprise as it sent her swiftly sliding down Springdance's side.

"Woah, hold up there!" Was the reply to her "Gah!" of surprise turned sarcastic annoyance and Macario managed to grab her arm and hoist her back up. She bit her lip against the sharp pain, biting back the tears stubbornly. No way was the going to cry now as she dashed the wetness from her eyes.

Macario swung a leg to the left and climbed down with ease. Ayana tried to imitate his moves but failed miserably as she struggled with the pain and her spinning head and the butterflies in her stomach and her induced fear of the suddenly perilous height at which she sat in relation to the drop to the ground on unsteady legs. Her teeth ground deeper into her lower lip. She feared she would taste blood in a moment. "I'll catch you!" Macario held out his arms invitingly, his face calm, which seemed strange in her eyes but she didn't really register it at the time.

"Promise?" She called automatically, reasoning with herself that if he didn't catch her she'd have resolved to bash him, though she doubted she could have.

"Yep!" He said, and she let herself drop. It took a great deal of will as her faith in him wasn't very confident, but he caught her around the waist and almost dropped her, her feet just hitting the ground as he held her up to reduce her full weight on her legs before he slowly set her down completely. She stumbled and almost fell over again, her legs near wobbling like jelly. It was only then that she realised that she ached all over. Her arms ached from holding on, her bum hurt horribly, but her legs were the worst, not only did they throb as usual but many of her cuts and bites were bleeding again through the bandages, those of which had reduced the chaffing somewhat but she still felt it. She dimly wondered why she hadn't changed into some pants prior to the ride.

She thought Macario was staring at her and focused him with a swift flat glare, adjusted her skirt and looked around. Before them was a large white brick building standing next to the road, a large red 'P' up near the point of the roof of the two-story building. A part of it looked rather old, suggesting most of it had been built on as extensions. "Well here we are, the pokemon centre." Macario stated generally, gave Springdance a good rub and a pat to the neck, recalled her into her pokeball and led Ayana through the wooden double doors. They stepped straight into a hall, the walls white and the floor mostly carpeted with fuzzy blue carpet, a section of it brown floorboards wide enough for five people to stand shoulder-to-shoulder. The floorboards gave the look of a wall-less corridor with rooms leading off it – swinging double doors that led to the kitchen, a doorway to the infirmary, the male bathrooms and female bathrooms, and another doorway leading to someplace else Ayana didn't know about. Half of the hall was filled with plywood fold-up tables with blue plastic chairs set up around them, the other half was empty except for a couple of gas heaters that weren't on. Clustered on the cleared floor were a number of mattresses, sleeping bags and pillows as well as travel bags, some packed neatly, and others with items of all sorts strewn across a bed or a patch of carpet.

But it was all the trainers that caught Ayana's attention mostly. That and the pokemon wandering around as well. There were only about five other trainers aside from she and Macario in the hall, four of them sitting at the same table conversing over bowls of cereal while another, a young girl, sat at a table by herself with a serving of porridge and a book. A weedle was curled in the chair next to her.

At their entrance, almost every eye turned their way. She went red as most lingered on her and gritted out, "They have showers here?" Macario's nod sent her hurrying to the bathroom, or at least trying to hurry, her legs slowing her down slightly as she tried to ignore the pain as well as ignore the trainers.

As she let the bathroom door swing shut behind her she let out a long, deep sigh. She felt publicly humiliated. She had never rocked up to a pokemon center in her life, and now she had just done it with no pokemon, impractical travelling clothes, munted hair, bandaged legs, dirt and blood. She could barely believe it.

It was worse when she glanced in the mirror on the way to the showers. She walked past, stopped abruptly, stepped backward, faced the glass and screamed. It wasn't too loud, but she regretted it instantly. However she didn't really think too much of it. She stared at herself. It was much worse than she had thought.

He hair was frizzier than she had ever thought possible as well as being matted with dirt, sticks and was oily, making it seem almost black. She didn't even want to touch it. She wanted to die.

The door tentatively opened slightly and one of the trainers peaked her head in. "You alright in here?" She asked carefully, one eyebrow raised in an elegant arch.

"No, no I'm fine, I'm good." Ayana said blankly, not bothering to look at the other girl for very long. "I'm alright, don't worry." She wanted her to go away.

"You sure? We like, heard and you scream and all and-"

"I'm fine!" Ayana snapped, anger rising quickly. It was all the other girl needed. She frowned and left. Ayana waited a short moment, glanced at the door again and began to unwrap the soiled bandages. Below her countless scratches and bites were encrusted with blood, some still bleeding. She frowned. Andrew hadn't done a very good job. Then she corrected herself almost instantly. More like she hadn't done a very good job. Then she changed her mind again. Andrew never should have let her do it herself.

She dumped all the bandages in the bin and inspected all the showers before selecting the cleanest after taking a pink soap left in another cubicle. She got first freezing cold water, then it gradually warmed and for a moment she knew the sheer bliss of a nice hot shower, but that was before her injuries began to sting. All stung, all at once, all over, and Ayana thought she had never felt such pain. It took her ten minutes to get used to it and for the pain to fade somewhat then she began the tedious task of getting everything out of her infinitely knotty hair. She had no shampoo or conditioner to wash it with. She hadn't thought about that when she had packed up and left.

Grimly she started thinking about what she had done. It all flashed through her head in an instant. She considered calling home and asking for someone to come pick her up, but then she started to really think about it. If she asked now, she might get away with it without as much punishment as she would if she stayed any longer. But if she stayed away too long if she changed her mind they might not take her back. She shook her head incredulously, shaking the thought from her mind. There was no way her parents wouldn't take her back if she asked… she didn't think. It would be humiliating if they turned her away. But then again it would be even more humiliating if she asked to come back and they allowed her to. They would chastise her and yell at her and she wouldn't be allowed to go anywhere. They would make her do homework and study all the time she was at home as punishment, and in an act of defiance she would fail something. Biology maybe, though there wouldn't be any loss there, she thought bitterly. And they would take away her Ramtor! That was suddenly what she dreaded the most.

But no, she thought as she soaped her legs to wipe away all the blood. She wouldn't call. She wouldn't go back. She wasn't going to humiliate herself, no matter what the cost. That's just what her parents would expect of her; to crawl back home crying and apologizing. They didn't take her seriously. They didn't think she could take care of herself, that she could make her own way in the world, much less go pokemon travelling all over the place in her endless array of skirts. So she would prove them wrong. She would push away the pain and strive on. She would wait for this egg to hatch, train the creature within and become good at it. Then one day in the future she would come home and visit her sister, and if she were brave enough, her parents too. But not yet – definitely not yet. And definitely not anytime soon.

She gave up trying to untangle her hair through her fingertips and gave one last look at it in the water showering down on her and got out. It was only then that she realised she had forgotten to tuck a towel into her bag. She felt like slamming her head on the wall and instead picked her way through her bag of things, searching for something to dry herself with. On the way through her task she became familiar with what exactly she had brought with her. A few singlets and shirts, three skirts not including the one she had been wearing, one pair of pants, a white plaited belt and a load of underwear. That was all the clothes. They took up over half her bag space. She cringed at all of what else she had. Which was barely anything. The only things that consisted of her other items were a water bottle, Latty's mobile, her wallet, a single black pen, a hairbrush, the mobile recharger, a couple of plastic bags and… and… That was all. She felt like banging her head into the wall again. No torch, no ipod, no food, no toothbrush… she was indeed unorganized. Or so she felt. She actually didn't know what things aside from pokemon items trainers usually carried around.

Ayana ended up drying herself with a shirt – the one she was least likely to wear anytime soon – and wore her sole pair of jeans and a random pink shirt. Then she got out of the cubicle and tried to get through brushing her hair. It was almost impossible, there being knots in literally every strand of hair. In the end she threw her brush into her bag in sheer frustration, almost attacked her own mass of hair then angrily pulled it into a plait. She knew it wouldn't come undone because she didn't have a hair lackey. It was too far past being washed and too messy and knotted to just slip out, but countless locks still worked their way out all over the place because all her hair was randomly different lengths. She frowned at it, not at all entirely happy, but it would do. She tied her white belt around the waist of her jeans, gave her shirt a final tug and left the bathroom.

It seemed that the hall had returned to whatever ordinary atmosphere it had possessed before she had arrived, and not so many people looked up this time, those that did looking very surprised at her transformation of being clean. She stood with a bag strap slung over her shoulder outside the door, wondering what to do, when she was saved when a lady in a pale blue and white nurses' uniform waltzed up to her and smiled sweetly, tossing her twin dark blue pigtails. "Hello Ayana, I'm Nurse Josie! I must say I've heard much about you and your unfortunate incident. I do hope you're all right?" Ayana went to speak but was quickly cut off. She was beginning to very much dislike this woman already. "I would be so kind as to offer your injuries be speeded up in the healing process, but I'm sad to say that our resident Blissey was unfortunately stolen yesterday! It's most terrible, in all the confusion with the fire and most of the trainers out trying to help, someone stole into the infirmary and took her and the injured pokemon as well!" The nurse's cheek flashed pink with anger, then the colour faded as her expression saddened. "Oh, but why am I burdening you with this? Please, come into the kitchen and I'll get you something to eat if you like." Reminded of food, Ayana felt a painful pang of hunger in her stomach and nodded numbly. As she followed the blue-haired nurse through the swinging doors she wondered. Who would be heartless enough to steal a well-trained pokecentre blissey that would have been needed to help heal any pokemon injured from the fire, as well as other trainers' pokemon? Rockets, some other mafia group? What if they were hanging around? What if they decided to steal her egg? What if-

"You're looking better." Ayana was jolted out of her thoughts in an instant and her eyes flicked up to settle on the tall figure in front of her. Macario. Leaning on a bench eyeing her and heaping porridge into his mouth. Ayana felt a tiny cat-like smile pull on her mouth. Where it came from, she didn't know, but she chose not to reply. Instead Nurse Josie presented her with a very welcome bowl of porridge, which she thankfully spooned in. The first spoonful she burnt her tongue and she resolved to proceed a little more carefully. Josie was muttering on about something before exiting the kitchen, and Ayana was content to just lean her elbows on the bench and eat.

Andrew arrived at the centre an hour later. By now Ayana had organised herself a mattress that the center supplied like all the rest, and a pillow and a blanket. When he had walked in the door the only thing that came to her mind was the egg, which she took from him quickly and wordlessly, only smiling a little in unspoken thanks. But she didn't really mean it. Something in her was still guarded against anyone and everyone. Those trainers staying at the centre that she had been introduced to by Macario she had only smiled and nodded to, ignoring the stares of some, then choosing to drift away to someplace else where she could be alone.

She paid Nurse Josie for a token to wash her filthy clothes, as well as Andrew's jumper for him. She felt obliged to regardless of how detached she felt from it all. He came and tried to talk to her at some point during the day, but she barely said anything and eventually he got up and went away while she remained sitting in the sole chair in the washroom, in front of one of the two washing machines. She spent the whole time it took for the clothes to wash staring into space and hugging the egg to her face, listening to the tiny cries inside, and the sounds of scuffling. She wondered how long it would take to hatch. She wondered what such a small, baby ramtor would look like, whether it would like her, what she would name it. She was counting down the approximate hours according to Andrew's flip-dex. Forty hours left.

When the washing was done she took it all out and hung it up on the line out the back of the centre. She paused when she was done, wondering what to do next, when sounds reached her ears. They were unfamiliar, yet she recognised them right away. A pokemon battle.

Ayana had never seen a pokemon battle in person, only ever on the television. She headed for the source of the battle as quick as she was capable of, excitement building inside her. She walked around the side of the pokecentre, turned the corner and looked upon the battle. She instantly recognised Macario at the far side of the road, Springdance locked in a deadly embrace with another tall creature, a charizard. Flames were licking into the air, great billows of the stuff coming from either pokemon. Springdance, standing on her hind legs was at least a neck taller than the charizard, of whom was raking with its claws even as the fire horse brought down her diamond-hard hooves upon its chest and body with neighs of rage that shocked Ayana, anger burning in her red eyes. The teenager owning the charizard was one she had met in the pokemon centre earlier that day. He had spiky gelled hair, and from what she recalled of him his eyes were blue and his name was Caleb. She found herself sitting down under a tree to watch the remainder of the battle, interest overriding anything that had been in her head previously.

Ayana could see both pokemon were beginning to tire, and Springdance's coat would have probably been thick with sweat if the flames weren't evaporating it most likely.

"Brim, get out of it!" Caleb yelled, panic obvious in his voice. The orange dragon had red splayed all down its front, and Ayana felt her stomach lurch. Macario in contrast was looking relatively calm, but his brows were knitted together in slight consternation. He shot Caleb a glance that suggested that maybe he should give it up. Springdance wasn't near as bloodied as her foe, her powerful flaying hooves knocking away any attack the charizard, Brimstone even tried to deliver now. The latter was roaring in a stricken way before it tried to back up, wings beating desperately, only to have its opponent bear down on it with all her weight. Brimstone was on the ground now. Springdance was completely rabid, leaping into the air and about to crash bloodied hooves into the body below…

In a second it was all over. Caleb raised his pokeball and his pokemon was gone in a beam of white light. Springdance slammed into the ground, her hooves digging deep into the torn up grass, now muddled up with dirt and blood. She flung her head back in a neigh of rage at the victory being stolen from her moments before, rearing up and shrieking, hooves flying. Then she danced about in a mad frenzy, ripping up the ground. There were two trainers standing at the door of the centre, watching with Ayana's own horrific stare. Macario produced his pokeball to recall the raging rapidash.

"She's really something isn't she?" Ayana jolted with surprise, whipping her head around to look over her shoulder. It was Andrew. Arms crossed over his chest, eyes guarded, he presented a very imposing configuration. She tried to stop her fast-moving heart, turning back to the finished battle, pulled her knees close and wrapped her arms around them, her egg resting gently on her thigh. "Sure is." She murmured in response.

Andrew came and sat down next to her, not too close. "But she's a bit blood-thirsty." Ayana let out a hollow laugh.

"She is."

"Isn't it said that pokemon become like their masters? Is he like that too? Something of him must have rubbed off on her, he has owned her for six years or so." Ayana couldn't help herself. She looked at him from where her chin rested on her knees, eyes wide.

"How old is he?"

"Eighteen."

"So he's been training since he was twelve!" Andrew said nothing to that. Ayana turned her head back forward. Macario was speaking to Caleb, the blond boy wiping the perspiration from his face with his hands. One of the spectators was approaching the pair, a questioning look on his face. Ayana had a question in her mind herself that she hadn't realised before. She glanced at Andrew.

"What have you got against him?" She asked plaintively. He didn't look at her.

"Last year my girlfriend dumped me for him." Ayana stared at him. The expression of profound sorrow on his face captivated her. Here sat a different, darker side to Andrew she would have never thought he had. He had seemed so kind a positive before, not anything like this. Something nagged at the back of her kind that maybe she should say something that would make him feel better, something nice, but instead, "Well you obviously weren't good enough for her," fell from her lips coldly, not at all how it was supposed to come out. He sent her such a dark, stony glare from his shadowed eyes that she was frozen in place. She didn't move, not even her eyes slid away, but his attention was only momentary.

"Thanks a lot." He growled under his breath. She barely heard his words but the meaning was eminent. She wanted to slap herself, but she found herself continuing to just stare at him. He wouldn't look at her. He just stared at Macario across the grass down the road. He was giving Caleb a pat on the back as the younger boy took off for the building, presumably to get help for his pokemon.

"Well," Ayana began, hoping to somehow redeem herself, "did you try asking her why?"

"Of course!" He snapped, then softened his voice a little. "But she just kept telling me that I knew why, I knew, but I didn't know, I didn't know what she was talking about!" His voice was bitter as he spat the words, and Ayana turned away. "Yeah and then the next time I hear of any of them they've broken up, and she wouldn't come back, just told me to go get screwed and forget everything!" Andrew visibly fumed as he subconsciously tore out grass by clumps. His nails were dirty. Ayana felt some sympathy for him, but not enough to offer any condolences. Talk of relationships had brought far too many bad memories to the surface. She felt tears in the corners of her eyes, but her loose hair would be obscuring her face from Andrew. It was lucky because she didn't feel like wiping them away. She just denied them until they went away, then she looked up again to watch Macario walk away with the trainer who had been talking to him, back to the centre. Ayana rubbed her closed eyes against the denim over her knees.

"Usually people who mistreat you aren't worth it. You'd do best to forget everything." She said gently, her voice strained, almost cracking halfway through the second sentence. Andrew didn't look at her, and he didn't say anything. They sat there for many minutes more, then he got up and walked away. And Ayana denied every emotion she was feeling.