Chapter Two: Icy Blue
Evening lingered in its appearance within New Bark Town that day, casting a mixture of orange shades across the cottages and trees that littered it with an attractive tidiness. The soothing light had delicately painted the white of the stone paths, emitting a sort of golden glow across them; certainly succeeding in increasing their appeal.
The fields of grass that sheeted most of New Bark had never been touched with such an array of colours and tones – what with the millions of tiny shadows flecking the verdant with darker hues, and then the golden light of the sun hitting all uncovered areas; it was as if nature was turning mad and switched green shades for the most vivid of colours.
The streets were quiet, as was the town center, and most seemed to be enjoying their Sunday evening indoors – their activities concealed from another's eye.
To look through windows and to spy on such people, just out of the sheer curiosity of it all would most likely turn out some interesting discoveries. People of New Bark kept mostly to themselves, its traditional tranquility seemed to pass through generations of those who remained within New Bark and reflected in the introversion of most of the residents.
The fact was that nobody knew what anyone would have been doing, anything was possible. It's definitely odd to consider such a small town with social qualities of a bustling city.
Though for one boy, a boy who wished for nothing more than to keep his business to himself and to keep his privacy from constant violation; a boy who was going through one of the most important stages of his life and career, this particular evening offered no excitement or unexpected actions.
No, lolling around with not a single thing to do and pondering over his life with anxiety and stress, Paco Quinn was simply sat, eyeing a small blue notepad with what could be seen as anticipation, within his bedroom that shone brightly in the beams of sunlight, its deep red walls welcoming the orange light with open arms, their harmony creating a warm and cozy atmosphere.
He let out a lingered sigh. Revision, despite the ease in which he could do it, was not one of Paco's strong points. Perhaps it was down to sheer laziness, or even the disorganization of Paco's methods; maybe it was his nerves that prevented him from picking up that notepad and writing down as much key facts as possible form the top of his head.
Paco didn't know, truth be told, his brain was so crammed full at that point that he simply couldn't decide which the valid reason was. But it was due to one of those reasons that he just sat. And stared. And pondered.
It wasn't long, as Paco rested his chin upon his upturned hand, which in turn rested unstably upon his knee, before Paco's mind began to sway, and daydream. All of a sudden, dust had become the key point to his vision; he noticed how it was far easier to be seen within beaming sunlight, its gradual plummet to the ground almost hypnotizing.
He began to muse over how dust consisted of dead skin, and how it was possible for this skin to reach the ceiling before leisurely floating to the ground for it seemed there was no other way for it to be falling from above.
He compared the dust to his own life. As it fell, it moved so slowly it was almost suspended within mid air – yet once his sight was taken from it and his attention was set aside, the dust seemed to fall a whole lot faster. His life was much like that, evenings so similar to these, long and stretched had filled the past month, when the pressure was at its height, and yet, as the days went by and his lack of revision caught up with him, it seemed time had sped by him too fast.
A small strand of dust caught his eye, it moved in a circular pattern as it fell, quite entertaining to behold and elegant in its flight.
ITap/I
Paco almost leapt from his chair in fright at the sudden sound beside him that snapped him completely from his study of dust and snatched at his sight immediately.
It was a tapping at his window, from the outside, and the culprit of that tapping was waiting just outside, tight upon Paco's window ledge, and appearing quite unstable as it stood and tapped.
"Seedot!" Paco hissed with annoyance, he paced towards the window with wide strides and lifted it just so the mobile acorn could squeeze through, "Hurry up!" He snapped menacingly, "It's freezing out there lately…"
The little creature wiggled his solid round shape through the gap in the window, his legs waggling frantically while they performed all the work. Paco found Seedot's evolutionary design quite useless, what with its lack of arms and any form of visible orifice. Yet he'd only owned the Seedot for two, nearly three days, and a full study of its habits and physicality was yet to be accomplished.
Seedot had finally managed to squeeze through and took an abrupt tumble to the maroon-carpeted floor, his lack of mouth disallowing the grunt that should have been heard.
Paco irritably shut the window behind him and proceeded back towards the blue wooden chair on which he previously sat, paying no attention to his Seedot as he struggled to his feet and waddled along behind him.
"Oh, finally done feasting and ready for some attention now? Perhaps you can squeeze in the time to even Itrain/I now, like we've supposed to have done for the past two days!" Paco yelled heatedly at the Seedot that stared up at him from the floor, "You're supposed to have trained for eight hours now, and you've not done one of those hours – you just waddle your way over to that oak tree of yours, miraculously climb it and begin your daily scoffing!" Still, Seedot merely gazed up at his trainer, obviously not comprehending a word that was lectured; but, persistently, Paco continued, "Tomorrow, I should hopefully pass a test that will change my life. From there, after a few official actions, I am free to pursue my dream of Pokemon training. Not only do I doubt I Iwill/I pass after the stress you've been aiding to pile upon me, but even if I do pass – what good is a Pokemon as inexperienced as you for protection?" An expected silence ensued, and, as he had been doing throughout Paco's rant, Seedot watched – his eyes partly concealed beneath that teal hat of his.
"What am I doing?" Paco sighed to himself, "I'm talking to an acorn!" He swiveled on his chair and went back to glaring at his notepad, his mind boiling with frustration. As the silence was yet again apparent, he couldn't help but flicker a glance towards Seedot, who was still stood, looking at his trainer with an unidentifiable expression.
He tore his view away and pondered again, pessimism flooding his future plans.
A thud and an almost hollow grunt at his side had signified that Seedot had taken a seat on the carpet.
Time stopped.
A grunt?
Paco blinked once, his eyebrows slowly twitching into a small frown as he stared before him. Slowly, very slowly, as curiosity took over, Paco turned his head and took his sights firmly to his now seated Seedot. He cocked his head slightly, scrutinizing the oaken brown of Seedot's front for any sign of a mouth, perhaps a slit, or a miniscule hole. Nothing was there, yet the silence of the room was enough to reassure him that he had definitely heard a noise.
His frown deepened, and he stooped a little, not allowing his anger to pass and instead fusing it with his curiosity as he spoke, "Did you?" He squinted a little, "Did you just…make a noise?"
Seedot didn't budge, his emotionless eyes staring blankly into Paco's, his two feet pointing to the ceiling as he sat. It was useless asking the creature, he wasn't going to reply, be it out of sheer defiance or just because he understood nothing that Paco said.
Instead, Paco glanced around him in search of a tool that would aid in his reassurance. A small cuddly toy in the form of a weird looking fish rested upon his desk among other things – the reason as to why it was there was unbeknown to Paco.
He lifted himself from his seat and paced towards it, crouching a little. Seedot's eyes were firmly locked upon his as he went.
He grabbed the fish and turned to face Seedot with what could have been considered as a menacing glint in his eye. The unsuspecting acorn merely sat and stared, unaware of the fish's purpose.
Paco showed no hesitance in continuing and practically took a run up to the defenseless Pokemon before hopping a little and bringing the soft toy down upon the Seedot's head - almost forgetting the reason as to why he did just that.
However, silence ensued and Seedot didn't move an inch or make a sound. Paco blinked a few times, still glaring at his Pokemon before he ultimately decided he did imagine the noise.
"I need a rest," he stated, and in a teenage-like manner, dropped the fish where he stood and trudged over to his single, blue bed positioned in the corner of the room.
Seedot immediately got to his feet and began to follow, making use of his new found voice as he hobbled along the carpet with each step he took.
Paco swerved and dropped to the floor, his face inches away from Seedot's and making use of both his forefingers by pointing them at him accusingly,
"You did just make a noise!" He cried with triumph. His anger was diminished on that spot, and was hastily replaced with eagerness and excitement, "Do it again! Go on!" He commanded jovially, his eyes wide and his face still inches away from the walking acorn.
Seedot tilted his head-slash-body, and unintentionally met Paco's desire by emitting the hollow, almost wooden sound from out of seemingly nowhere.
"Haha!" Paco yelled, glee taking his expression. He looked around him, his thirst for discovery not yet fully quenched.
He began to wonder if the Seedot would now accept orders, perhaps the unearthing of his voice also came accompanied with some intelligence. Paco got to his feet, almost shaking with anticipation and searched his mind for an attack any Seedot would respond to.
As he wracked his brains for a move, it suddenly became apparent to Paco that he knew nothing of Seedot's move set and quite disappointingly possessed nothing that would divulge such information.
He could have used the internet via the family computer, but that would have required too much effort, the moment of excitement was here and now – searching up a single move to command would spoil the spontaneity of the moment.
He bounced on his heels, reeling off grass-type moves through his mind, yet uncertain of their power and the set level of which they had to be executed being higher than that of Seedot's. Suddenly a move came to him that he believed to be quite common among grass-types.
Lost in the moment, Paco's voice raised significantly in decibels when he shouted out the command,
"Seedot, Absorb attack!" At first there was silence, and Seedot continued in performing the action he knew best other than climbing and clinging to trees, tilted his head and stared. Then a loud thud was heard from the next room, which was unfortunately Paco's two younger brothers', and George's voice yelled through the wall, his words muffled and slurred,
"E're ryin' oo lay a game!" Paco dismissed them carelessly and concentrated back onto his Pokemon.
Yet for all his efforts in discovering more – Paco had to submit to the fact that he knew none of Seedot's attacks, and even if he did, it didn't at all guarantee that Seedot would understand.
Although, with his newly found upbeat attitude, the consequence out of all of this was Paco's spontaneous rise in motivation to continue with his revising. With a rare smile dancing across his face, Paco lifted Seedot from his space on the floor (another of his wooden squeaks was sounded at the action) and brought him to the desk that had the blue notepad placed upon it.
Paco sat Seedot beside it, took a seat, and immediately began writing down all the key facts he knew of Pokemon Training upon the notepad's pages.
CENTER..:.:.:.:.:../CENTER
An icy glare was tenaciously locked upon the unruffled, tranquil town of New Bark, a cruel intent visible within them – be it true or not. Their firm hold upon the small town had disallowed their sight to stray, even for the rustle of grass nearby that signified the moving presence of another living being.
Hard to make out in the looming darkness, a figure, tall and almost quite foreboding, stood determinedly atop a grassy cliff towering over New Bark as a beautiful natural landmark. Long hair was thrown about gracefully in the slight wind, stronger than a mere breeze yet softer than a gust. Its colour was undeterminable, as was the colour of any other feature upon this figure, all tinted with the black and blues of the dark.
Yet the eyes, piercing and icy blue were unnaturally clear within the dark, and their stillness brought about an eerie effect.
A light, illuminating the head and tail of an approaching Typhlosion was nearing, emitted from the flame that collared its neck and lined the tail, flickering in the darkness much like a candle would within a dreary room.
The creature's face was grooved in scars and crumpling of the skin, its expression sneering maliciously as it eyed the figure ahead, almost with a longing hunger. Its fur was unkempt, and tufted in places, its claws were uneven and split and its stature was hunched, as if it were bearing a huge weight. It lugged ahead in a juggernaut-like fashion, heavy and slow paced, taking no heed of stealth.
Its collar flickered in the approaching blackness, casting numerous shadows over surrounding objects of nature and illuminating the rear of the form ahead – at which it stared with a visible callousness.
"Remember this place?" A voice broke the calm, originating from the figure; it was surprisingly warm and steady. It was feminine, and seemed to be owned by a young person, perhaps in their early twenties or late teens.
The Typhlosion had finally reached the woman and stood towering above her, seemingly larger than any normal Typhlosion, even with the hunch it retained. Its sea blue eyes scanned over the slowly disappearing town below as the darkness enveloped it, finding it hard to make out details yet its basic shape visible enough.
It gave a low rumble in response, now scanning a certain area of the town,
"Searching for something?" The woman spoke again. Her icy blue eyes had now moved to the Typhlosion beside her, transfixed upon its thin eyes as they searched. The Typhlosion remained silent, still scanning the area with intent,
"Don't worry, I'm sure its still there. If we can, I'll let you visit it, what's the harm..." The woman seemed to trail off and her eyes were yet again locked upon the town, "But," she continued dreamily, "We must find him first."