A/N: Well, it's that time once again! Please enjoy, and let me tell you, this one was pretty fun to write. I was able to vent some of my own anger into this.
And onto the reviewer thanks! Thank you to TJay-Drag-Latios'of'the'Cookie, Karozon (2x), Ketchum Kid (), theking6 (2x), Nanashi Chimera, ReLees (2x), and Wings that bring the fate for your reviews. And one more thanks to TJay for betaing!
Also, since Ketchum Kid () didn't leave a signed review, I'm going to reply to his review here. So if you're not Ketchum Kid (), please feel free to skip straight to the story.
-Thanks for your compliments! I'm actually trying to keep chapters a bit shorter to allow myself to update easier and quicker. And this story is actually set in the Pokemon World from the start, it just had a horrible war in which Pokemon were nearly wiped out. And don't worry about me not finishing it, I'm the kind of person that won't give up on something until it is done. This story will be finished, no matter what. That goes for my other story, too. It's just on temporary hiatus.
Now, onto the story!
Chapter Six – Optimism
I guess that Mew wasn't listening to me earlier.
The day started off reasonably well, with first and second hour passing normally enough. I let my guard down after that, but of course, that's when irony decided to strike and everything goes bad.
My guess is that either one, fate hates me, or two, that in the early morning, everyone temporarily forgets what happened with a certain person until a few hours after waking up. And third hour must have been when the memories of Friday flooded back into everyone else's heads.
Anyway, in third hour, everyone stared at me with daggers in their eyes. And if they could really shoot daggers out of their eyes (which I think would be horrifically painful), then there would be about one hundred daggers flying across the room straight at me. Which, in case you didn't know, would hurt like no other.
The worst part was that even though the teacher was trying to stop it so that she could teach, I couldn't help but notice that she was staring at me for a while, too.
I'll say it once more. This school sucks great big spherical objects.
I'm just glad that Lizzy wasn't following the crowd. She actually was looking at me like she was caring and not wanting to kill me for what I said.
Which makes me wonder: why is everyone acting as if they want to kill me? I said that Pokemon weren't evil, that's it! I guess that they were just afraid of having their beliefs challenged and proven wrong. Why is it that whenever someone looks for change, so many treat it as treason?
After third hour, I tried to get out of that room as fast as possible. Unfortunately, it wasn't much better in the hallways.
People were giving me quite a large area of space around me, which would have been nice if it were for a different reason. The reason for all of the avoidance was the fact that no one wanted to be near me.
It was actually kind of nice, once I blocked out the reason behind it. That is, until some jerk walks straight in and purposely bumps into me, nearly knocking me down. I do my best to ignore it and walk off, but it sure was a challenge. So many people laughing at me and high-fiving the jerk that bumped into me. My guess is that he was some sort of jock. I hate jocks.
But it wasn't worth the punishment that I would receive, so instead of clocking the bastard, I walked off.
Fourth hour seemed so much like third that it wasn't even funny. There were so many eyes shooting daggers at me, and the only eyes that never contained that look were Lizzy's. Or at least I thought.
I looked at the crowd of angry eyes and immediately spotted Lizzy's soft blue, caring eyes. But upon further inspection, I saw another pair of kind eyes.
I never got to see whom they belonged to, seeing as the teacher spoke up, gaining everyone's attention, including mine. When I looked back, all eyes were no longer angry, so I couldn't pick out the right pair.
Finally, the lunch bell rang, signaling a temporary break from my hellish torture and a chance to talk with Lizzy about this entire crazy thing.
So, I went through the food court, grabbing everything I normally eat. It seemed that the news of what I did never reached the lunch ladies, seeing as they all treated me like they normally did. That was a definite plus to my day.
So, let's add up the sum so far of how my day is going. Let's see, I woke up to Koyuki = +20. General ignorance for first two hours = +15. Hatred during third and fourth hour = -30. Jerk bumping into me in the hallway = -15. Having a chance of someone besides Lizzy who cares for me = +15. So, add that all up and we get… +5. Plus the kind-ish lunch ladies is a total of +15.
So far, not too horrible. Of course, then cruel fate catches up to me.
Right before I'm about to sit down at my table, that same jock that bumped into me in the hall decides to show his ugly face again. This time, with his crowd of equally as stupid jock friends. Great.
"Hey look, it's the Pokemon lover!" the main jock said in a mocking tone.
"Got any more proof that Pokemon aren't evil?" the next jock said.
I did my best to ignore them and walk away. I really did. But they just couldn't let it rest at that. Nope, they had to make my life even more miserable.
Right as I walk past him, jock one (I'll just address them by number since I don't know their names) knocks my tray right out of my hands. The blue plastic tumbles to the floor, spilling taco and slush all over the floor. The tray landed with a loud clatter that attracted the attention of pretty much everyone in the room.
I stood there, forcing myself to keep a blank, uninterested look on my face, and when I try to walk away again, two of the other jocks block my path.
I turned around to a sneering jock one. "Well, now what does our little Pokemon friend here have to say?" he says, nearly spitting the word Pokemon. No, wait, he did spit it, I distinctly remember feeling spit hit my forehead.
Again, I stay silent, hoping that they'll just loose interest. They, however, were definitely not going to be leaving anytime soon.
When I continued to say nothing, jock one started laughing. The rest of the jocks followed suit, and when jock one held up his hand, they all stopped. It was easy to tell that this guy was the leader of the brain-dead idiots who were blocking my exits.
Most of the teachers were now watching this entire event, but none of them were even thinking about breaking it up. They just stood there, like the students, taking it all in.
"Apparently this guy doesn't have anything to say, huh, guys?" jock one asked. "Maybe he just needs a little bit of convincing."
Luckily, he didn't have much to start out with. He shoved me, but it wasn't hard enough to knock me to the ground. However, he had made physical contact first. Meaning that if I made physical contact right now, I could say that it was in self-defense.
And so I smirked, which abruptly wiped the look off of jock one's face. "Well, I don't have anything to say, but I do have another way to communicate," I said. I knew that this would get messy fast, so I prepared to bolt as soon as I did it.
After I was sure that I was perfectly ready, I swiftly brought my leg up and kicked the jock. Hard. Where, you may ask? Well, let's just say that he may not be able to reproduce if that kick did enough damage.
The jock fell to the floor, clutching his privates, not even making a noise. He was in too much pain to make a noise after that kick.
Strangely, the other jocks didn't do what I expected them to do. I expected them to try and get me, but they just backed off, covering their privates, not wanting to risk a kick to the crotch themselves.
Finally, one of the teachers decided to actually do something. He ran up to the injured jock and asked him if he was alright, though he already knew that the answer was no.
The teacher told the other jocks to get jock one to the nurse pronto. Then he turned to me.
"You are in a lot of trouble," he said, the sternest look on his face.
For some reason, I found this to be funny. I started to laugh, and quite loudly. Once I stopped, I saw the teacher's face, and it was a mix of creeped out and angry.
"And what punishment could you possibly give me to make my life any worse?" I said. "My life is already a living hell. Everyone hates me, including you teachers, and some people even gang up on me. Yet when I fight back, I'm the one punished." I looked up at the teacher, then around the room. Everyone was staring at me like I was some crazy nutbag.
"The only people that really care for me are Lizzy over there, my Grandma and Granddad, and Koyuki," I practically yelled. "In fact, Koyuki would love me no matter what I do, because that's what Pokemon do! They love their friends no matter what!"
The entire room of students gasped. "Yeah, that's right, Koyuki is a Pokemon. And guess what? I found him last weekend, and I played with him, and I'm still alive today!"
I paused and scanned the room, seeing horrified and scared faces all around. I turned back to the teacher once more to say my final line.
"So go ahead, punish me. Give me detention, suspend me, hell, even expel me, just take your pick! It won't do anything," I said. "My life doesn't even matter to any of you! I could have killed myself a week ago and none of you besides Lizzy would care!"
The teacher did his best to cover up his shock and fear. "May I talk to you in private?" he asked, trying to hide his emotions. He tried dragging me away from the cafeteria by grabbing my arm, but I easily broke out of his grasp. It's a good thing that he wasn't a gym teacher.
"No, you may not speak to me in private, because I'm out of here," I said, walking over to my table. I picked up my bag and binder and proceeded to march straight out of the door. As I left, I made sure to shout, "And may I never have to set foot in this shit hole ever again!"
I practically burst through the school doors, making a loud "BANG!" as it swung all the way open and impacted with the wall next to it. I stormed off into the forest, marching along the trail that I had made.
The weather was almost the same exact way that it was on Friday, chilly, but not freezing. Light gray clouds covered the sky, yet they were not gray enough to be carrying snow. I quickly broke out into a full run to my house, and into the unlocked door I burst.
Granddad was sitting in the living room when I came in, with Koyuki right next to him. I saw Granddad jump around a foot or so into the air upon my thunderous entry. Koyuki, however, had a different reaction.
He leapt off of the couch and ran swiftly up to me, jumping into my arms. I carelessly threw down the binder and backpack and exited the house as quickly as I came in, leaving Granddad flustered on the couch.
Not caring if anyone saw him, I carried Koyuki through the backyard. Luckily, Mrs. Downs was not out reading as of yet, so there was no one else around. I carried Koyuki all the way out to the clearing, stroking him all the way there. I tried desperately to hide my anger and fury, but Koyuki must have sensed it, since he was looking up at me with concern.
At the clearing, I sat down on the log and put Koyuki down next to me. He was still looking worried, so I explained everything that happened. How everyone was looking at me like they wanted me dead, how the jocks trapped me, how I kicked jock one in the nuts, hopefully scarring him for life (Koyuki chuckled a bit at this), and how I exploded before the entire first lunch shift and stormed out the doors.
And as soon as I finish explaining, Koyuki jumped up on my shoulder and licked my face. I couldn't resist the cuteness of the entire action and a smile forced its way onto my face. I lifted him off of my shoulder and started stroking his super soft fur when I heard someone walking.
And who else enters the clearing but Lizzy. I was extremely glad that it was her instead of the principal or a teacher. But she was followed by another person. This person was a nice looking girl of approximately the same age as Lizzy and me. Her shoulder length brown hair was neatly combed in pulled into a ponytail. A smile looked permanently plastered upon her face, as if she was always seeing the good in things.
Then I saw her eyes. At first, they seemed oddly familiar, but I just couldn't place it. They looked soft, caring, and they sparkled with hope.
I stared at the eyes for a second more before realizing where I had seen them before. 'She's the one in fourth hour who wasn't looking daggers at me!'
Before I could notice anything else, Lizzy got my attention. "Kyle, are you OK?" she asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
I sighed, stroking Koyuki. "Yeah, I'm feeling slightly better," I replied. "I still hate that school, though."
"I don't blame you," Lizzy said. "It's not really the most caring place I've been, either."
I nodded, and looked down at Koyuki. He looked scared of the two girls in front of me, and he was trembling quite a bit.
I patted his head and calmly said, "Don't worry, Koyuki, they won't hurt you. At least, Lizzy won't hurt you, but I really don't know who the other one is."
"Oh!" the mystery girl said. "My name is Stephanie. And I would never do anything to hurt a Pokemon. My father might, but I would never even think of it." All the while she was talking, she managed to keep a smile.
I studied Stephanie a little more. She was nearly the same height as Lizzy, and she wore a light blue skirt that went down to her knees, and she had a T-shirt and a thin jacket on above her waist. I eyed the skirt with confusion. "Don't you get cold in that?" I asked.
"Not really," she answered, still smiling. "The cold doesn't really affect me."
"Ah, well I don't really mind it much either," I said. "I just wear this jacket because I like it."
I glanced down at my clothes, which were just a pair of jeans, a black T-shirt that bore the symbol of one of my favorite bands (Linkin Park), and a black jacket. The only other thing I wore was a medallion with an old symbol on it. I could tell that whatever creature the symbol depicted had a long tail, but it was so worn that I couldn't tell. Personally, I thought that it was a dragon.
"So, is this Koyuki?" Lizzy asked, sitting down next to me. Koyuki visibly scooted away from her, trembling horribly in spite of what I told him.
"Yes, this is Koyuki," I said to Lizzy. Then to Koyuki I said, "Don't worry, she's a friend of mine. She won't hurt you."
Koyuki must have believed that I was telling the truth because he stopped shaking like a leaf in the autumn wind and scooted back towards Lizzy. She reached out a hand and stroked him a few times. With every stroke, Koyuki looked less and less scared, until finally, he was smiling again. Well, he was smiling as best as any creature with a snout could.
"What species is Koyuki?" Lizzy asked, removing her hand. Koyuki looked disappointed that Lizzy had stopped petting him, but as soon as I continued stroking him, he looked contented again.
"Koyuki is an Eevee," I answered, still stroking Koyuki.
"Oh, aren't they the ones that can evolve into seven different Pokemon?" Stephanie said, walking over to the log and sitting next to me.
"Seven? I thought there were only four," I said. I looked at Koyuki to see if he would scoot away from Stephanie as well, but my petting his had him distracted.
"Yeah, there are seven of them," Stephanie said. "Let's see, there was Flareon, Jolteon, Vaporeon, Umbreon, Espeon, Leafeon, and Glaceon."
"Glaceon evolves from Eevee?" I asked, a little taken aback from all of Eevee's possible evolutions. Stephanie nodded. "Well," I said, "how ironic. The Pokemon killing begins because a man gets injured by a Glaceon, and here I am, befriending the pre-evolution."
We sat in silence for a minute or so, all contemplating the irony of the situation. Then a thought popped into my head.
"I wonder which one Koyuki will evolve into?" I said aloud. Hearing his name, Koyuki looked up to see Stephanie, and he shied away again.
"Don't worry, Koyuki, I would never dream of hurting you," Stephanie said, holding out her hand. Koyuki looked up at me, and I nodded.
He slowly approached Stephanie's hand, sniffed it, and, in true Koyuki fashion, jumped forward onto Stephanie, licking her to death.
Lizzy and I burst out laughing, while Stephanie tried to keep herself from falling off of the log. She managed to maintain her balance while holding Koyuki in her arms. Koyuki continued to lick her face, and she began to laugh as well.
After a while, we managed to stop, and Koyuki jumped back down onto my lap. "I guess that he likes you," I said.
"Yeah, he sure does like me," Stephanie said, still smiling after that entire episode.
"So, what do you guys think Koyuki will evolve into?" I asked. "I kind of hope he'll evolve into a Glaceon."
"Don't those only evolve in certain places?" Lizzy asked.
"Not really," Stephanie said. "Before the Grand Revolution, a study was done on Glaceon and Leafeon. As it turns out, an Eevee can evolve into either a Glaceon or Leafeon depending on the seasons. Glaceon in the winter, Leafeon in the summer."
"Well then, I hope that he evolves into a Glaceon as well," Lizzy said. "Of course, I can only say that since Glaceon is the only evolution of Eevee that I know."
"I'd kind of like him to evolve into a Flareon. Or a Jolteon. Or maybe an Umbreon. Or a Leafeon, that might be nice. But a Vaporeon might be nice to see. And so would an Espeon. A Glaceon would be pretty nice, though," Stephanie said.
"Um, you just listed off the entire list of evolutions," I pointed out.
"Well, they're all so nice that I can't choose," Stephanie said, with her eternal smile still ever present.
"How come?"
"I like to see the positive side of everything," Stephanie explained.
Just then, there were more audible footsteps. And I could tell that there were more than just one or two people this time.
"Koyuki, get behind the log," I quickly said. Koyuki jumped off of my lap and hid behind us, slightly scared.
"Maybe it's a nice person," Stephanie said, still being optimistic as ever.
Suffice to say that she was wrong.