Disclaimers: Refer to prologue.
Notes: First go at a pokemon fanfiction; humor me.
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Chapter Four: Because we've been here for way too long…
Having returned to the pokemon center - and making no attempt to explain how she had managed to leave without using either the front or back (what, there was a back?) exit – Mitsuko was not in the best of moods. Then again, she never seemed to stay in a good mood for too long, especially when it seemed to involve pokemon to a great extent that she just could not understand. Flame had returned to its pokeball sometime ago and she had tried to bargain with the shopkeeper about the pokemon doll (which she failed to reduce the price and had walked off in a huff) and she was now hungry, tired, and just plain sick of the fact that she would probably be doing this more times than necessary.
Either way, the next few hours consisted of the usual tasks normal people need to do to live, she walked off to pick up a couple of items before the shops closed (well, the signs did read 'open 24/7' but with only one shop keeper, the 10-year-old could only wonder if they were some sort of medication that kept them up 24/7) and then returned to collapse on the bed. Her mood had taken the wonderful plunge downhill during that time; why was everything so overpriced that it wasn't funny? What did they expect to gain from it? Who actually cared enough to answer the questions?
Mitsuko stared blankly at the ceiling, half-awake. She really didn't want to call home, mainly due to the fact that her mother would probably bombard her with questions and missions of conquest to become the greatest master of them all… as a child, she just didn't get why everyone was so hyped up with the prospect. Even if they did get the highest ranking of master, where did you go from there?
That's right; straight downhill for a certain enthusiastic trainer. When one became the top, there would always be another stronger to steal their place, and then the cycle would continue with everyone battling everyone else and nothing would end. It was annoying, it was dull, it was repetitive. It was what was expected from children who became trainers.
And that was her exact reason for not wanting to leave home in the first place. As far as she could tell at the very moment, the one good thing that came out of becoming a trainer was that she had a plausible reason to no longer attend school. Or… was a trainer merely the result of education never going past the fourth grade?
"It's a conspiracy!" she jerked up as the realisation hit her, but then flopped back upon the decision that it didn't matter either way. Because she was stuck here and there was nothing she could do about it now.
It was only then did it come to mind for her to check the time; rolling over to the edge of the bed where her bag was located, she shuffled through the contents until she came across her alarm clock. Shifting it around until it was illuminated by the moonlight outside, she stared at it, wondering if it was broken.
3:42am
How had the time gone so quickly?
Those were the last of her (uncensored) thoughts as she removed her contacts (in all honesty, she'd almost forgotten she'd had those on), muttered some curses under her breath, and then tried to go to sleep.
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Next morning was greeted with the cheery chime of an alarm clock, and then the possible sound of said alarm clock being smashed against the wall as the person woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
In this case, the wall ended up with the worse side of the deal.
Rubbing her eyes and muttering to herself, Mitsuko's focus zoned in and out for a moment before it returned to its wonderful fuzziness of short-sightedness, and then replaced her contacts. As the room came into focus, she noted the fact that the wall now had a clock-shaped dent in it, the rubble still spilling out of the… er… wall.
When she finally decided to check on the damage her clock had gathered from the attack, she was pleased to be informed that it was still in good condition and that the wall had done nothing to scratch it. Of course, the consequences of destroying property that was not one's own…
With a nervous laugh, Mitsuko stuffed the offending item back into her bag and bounced off to the bathroom to change and prepare for another day. She wasn't necessarily happy about another day she had to plough through, but at least she knew that no one had attacked her while she'd been sleeping. So unless this was just one painful dream and she was really dead or something, there was nothing for her to complain about.
It wasn't like she was a bitter girl in the first place, but all her life she'd been expected to follow in the footsteps of her older brother, but she definitely held the qualities of her father, and with her mother practically controlling her life, there was no way out for her. So with this little fact in her mind, she would just have to make do with it and hope that one day the massive love of training pointlessly would simmer down and she could do whatever she wanted.
… whatever that actually was.
Well, she had a good thirty or forty or so years to think about it, if she really wanted to. Man, was she going to be old by then.
After breakfast, making an excuse to the nurse about what happened to her room, and leaving the center as fast as possible before the truth came out, our dear protagonist took a good two hours to relocate her bicycle (because the police decided to move it for reasons unknown) and was pedaling out of New Bark Town as fast as she could. She didn't get very far because of the small fact on contacting her mother, but she was still trying to find reasons as to why she shouldn't even attempt to do such a thing.
She jabbed pointlessly at her pokegear for a moment before it began to make a numerous amount of beeping noises she was pretty sure was not supposed to happen. She frowned at it and continued to poke it some more before giving up and throwing it against a small bush, which, sadly, contained some bug-pokemon-related-something-or-others and she was forced to move away.
It was only when she was nearly out of breath, cursing to herself and only being held up by the help of her trusty bike that she noticed that something had happened to her pokegear; besides not being smashed to pieces, anyway. Besides from being completely unscathed, scarily enough, there was talking.
"Hello? Mitsuko! What are you doing? Answer me!"
She blinked, held up the item slowly – almost warily – and then spoke to it, while feeling incredibly stupid. "Er… mum? Hi."
What happened next was nothing short of an explosion and Mitsuko was forced to hold the pokegear as far away from her ear as possible while her mother ranted on about one thing or another, as well as reprimanding her for not calling anytime sooner. Seeing as it would take a while before she calmed down, Mitsuko took a seat, allowed her bicycle to fall to the ground with a dull thump, and wait for her mother to finally calm down.
Some half-hour later she was finally able to explain her situation, the fact that she had, indeed, received her first pokemon (and had to cover her ears again from her mother's squeal of approval), and was on her way to the next town. At least, that was supposed to be the case, if Mitsuko hadn't been positive about being lost again. She really wasn't looking forward to camping out anyway.
A brief break and then she was back on the… pathway to who knew where. Part of her was really dreading it, or maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was doomed to this sort of lifestyle for a long, long time…
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A good few hours later, more grumbling about being lost, and unable to find out which way she was supposed to go… not to mention the fact that the trainers she did run into (that being only about two or three of them) had tried to do battle against her, got fried or she left them behind, and still had no idea on which direction she was now supposed to go.
So all in all, it had been quite an… eventful day for Mitsuko; quite negative, though, but still very eventful. She still dreaded the idea of camping out and ended up asking Flame to keep watch in case some evil looking bug pokemon tried to attack her during the night. Seeing as all it had really done that day was sleep in its pokeball, Flame agreed readily; at least, that was what she suspected. One could never tell with these creatures.
Needless to say, the day could not have ended on any other note than the appearance of the dear… as they called themselves… 'villains'. Annoyances in Mitsuko's case. And… random acquaintance for the confused Cyndaquil, but that was not the point.
"AHA! WE'VE FINALLY FOUND YOU ONCE MORE!" boomed the voice, forcing a couple of startled Pidgeys and Hoot-Hoots out of the trees above them with angry squawks. The leaves rattled as they shot out, but the voice started the traditional 'evil laugh of doom'.
"Uhm… Eimi, as much as I know that you love to talk and laugh in a loud voice," started Chester in the background from wherever they were located, "this is why we never get anywhere when it comes to petty crimes."
"Pika-pika-cough-cough-hack-hack-" agreed their should-be-but-isn't-dead Pikachu.
"SHUT UP! I'M HAVING MY FIVE MINUTES OF FAME HERE!"
"Er… fame? Maybe we should take you to your psychiatrist like we were asked to."
"I DON'T NEED NO -BLEEP-ING PSYCHIATRIST!"
"…"
"Pika-hack-hack-cough-hack-chu!"
"MAKE THAT DAMN THING SHUT UP ALREADY!"
Mitsuko poked her head out of the tent she had constructed some time earlier and sighed; "Why, of all the times, do the weirdos have to come and bug me already?"
"Cynda," piped up Flame. She inclined her head thoughtfully.
"Assuming that you're asking permission to fry them, as much as I'd like that to happen for some peace and quiet, you'll probably burn down the whole forest and we'd be charged for… uhm… flora slaughter."
Her patience was already wearing thing, though, and hearing that Eimi was not about to shut up anytime soon, she snapped. "Okay Flame, fire away."
She stuck her head back into the tent and listened to the sounds of fire being emitted from her pokemon, and the side-effects it had when used against the so-called 'Team Rocket'.
"WHAT THE--?.!"
The string of curses that followed as they retreated finally faded off and silence replaced the annoying tone of voices or whatever that had been keeping Mitsuko awake. Face buried in her sleeping bag, her voice – directed to no one – was muffled.
"If tomorrow ends up as bad as this, I'm going to have to kill something soon…"
If pokemon could snigger out loud, her Cyndaquil would have been doing just that.
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Bleargh… I haven't written anything for (what feels like) so long that I think I might have just gotten that much worse. Mitsuko needs to keep going on so that she can actually get somewhere, but I don't know how long that's going to take. At the rate she's going, she'll never reach the first town. At least, not in one piece. (sweat drop) Either way, she shall overcome! (pumps fist in the air) And now she has her own personal body/poke-guard XD Ugh… I've run out of things to say…
Oh yeah, apologies for the long wait (lol, how many people were actually waiting? XD) and I'm hoping to continue this. If not just for the pure what-the-hell factor, then for the other crazy people who will become Mitsuko's comrades-or-something-teammates(?). That's where the real insanity begins :) (And as an extra useless fact, I'd actually almost forgotten that Mitsuko actually wore contacts. Who would have thought?)
Celtic Warrior: Thanks :) (hugs) Isn't she the most interesting character to analyse closely? XD Let's watch her 'grow and mature' over the hardships of pokemon training! Yeah! (From now on, I will do my best to stay inspired/motivated enough to not have a large seven-month-gap between it all. (gasps) It's been that long! (sob))
marthawolfer: Hm… an Ash-heroism-clone, eh? (sniggers at the thought). He's probably going to end up like that, or a Gary-like-I'm-the-best-watch-my-ego-grow! XD Ah, the possibilities (perhaps a mix of both?). Part of me really wants Mitsuko to run into Ash and co. at least once during her travels to see the clash in opinions XD