A/N:Haha, I got four, read 'em FOUR reviews! I LO-
Ah, I mean I LIKE you guys! I really really LIKE you guys! You rock! You're the best!
Thanks for all the tech advice, but it won't help. Why? 'Cause I'm writing on my family's computer. My family are mostly technono's. Want an example? My mother once de-programmed a microwave.
How do you de-program a microwave? They don't have any complicated gizmos like CD's or fancy processes like surfing the web, you just push the button and BAM! It's working! She must be gifted.
Anyway, my computer woes have come to an end. I simply uploaded my first chapter again...and again...and again until I had enough to last me a week. Then I simply cut, paste, edit, and post. YAY! Okay, I've got all the hyperness out of my system. No, wait, there's still a little bit left. Hang on.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Okay, all gone. Thank you so much for reviewing guys, I'm expecting a lot more reviews soon but you two will always be special. Little Rabbit f/LRPLI, you rock. I'm glad to hear that you like TJ, I'm sure as soon as he gets up off his lazy ass he'll thank you too. oOo Breezy oOo, I'd really like you to visit my bio page. I know it's a lot of bull to wade through, but I left something special for you at the bottom. I guess you don't have to read the junk before it, but it would be nice.
Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this. You're making one of my biggest dreams come true. Thanks again.
Enjoy! Read and Review!
P.S. This whole chapter, and a few after it, are flashbacks. Thusly, they are in bold. However, some normal writing may appear. This is to remind everyone that while they are being told a story, so is May. The normal writing is her comments and TJ's answers.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, Houenn, May, or any derivitave thereof. I do own my character TJ, and I own his method of arrival (unless God wishes to take credit).
Note:
"Speaking"
Thinking
Pokéspeak
Psychic conversations
Flashbacks
SHOUTING
Chapter Four:
I Hate My Life!
Place: a little podunk western town that you don't know and don't want to know.
Time: midafternoon. Huh? Oh, right. It's stardate...I mean it's a few months before TJ and May meet.
I hate my life.
Terrence J. Kane sat at the table with his eyes closed. He really didn't want to open them, because he knew what he would see, but-
"Your first name is Terrence?"
"You wanna hear my story or you wanna chat?"
"Sorry."
Anyway, he really didn't want to open his eyes. He really didn't want to be sitting at that very table anyway; he wished he was back home, in front of the TV playing Pokémon Colosseum. In fact, he wished that he was dangling from a clocktower, because that would be better than opening his eyes. He didn't want to face the menacing fool who was bothering him.
A quote from one of his favorite Star Trek books flashed through his mind: "Hope is illogical. Life is about dealing with what is."
That doesn't mean I have to like it, though, he thought.
Oh well, might as well get it over with.
"Hey punk, are you going to look at me or do I have to help you?"
Terrence, also known as TJ, sighed. Opening his eyes, he said, "Yes Andrew, I'll look at you. There, you happy? I've seen your ugly mug. Now go away." TJ closed his eyes in an unconcerned fashion.
Andrew growled, then grabbed the front of TJ's shirt. Mentally, TJ sighed again. I could have been a bit more polite, he mused, but then again whether I was polite or not Andrew still would have done the same thing. If I'm going to get slapped stupid, I at least like to deserve it.
Andrew would have proceeded to prove TJ prophetic, but as Heaven would have it, he didn't get the chance.
"TJ! Are you fighting with Andrew again!"
Any sane human would have found the previous statement absurd. Here was this short wiry kid being held up by a gorilla with a buzzcut, and he was asking him if he was fighting with him. In all honesty, the speaker, a Mr. Rathbane, was sane, mostly. He just had a blind spot a mile wide when it came to his son.
"No Mr. Rathbane," replied TJ, "Andrew was just showing me his latest Judo technique."
Andrew growled quietly. If looks could kill, TJ would have been KFC right then. TJ just smiled neutrally back. Andrew could get away with just about anything in his father's store, but not even he could start and sustain a fight without catching hell for it. At the moment his hands were tied.
"Oh, okay then. You boys play nice."
Mr. Rathbane turned to leave. TJ saw his opening. Grabbing the rest of his sandwich he followed Mr. Rathbane out the door and into the public part of the store. Stuffing his sandwich into his mouth, TJ proceeded to the paint counter. He put away the "Back in a Half Hour" sign and put on his vest. TJ worked at a store called "Style me Yours", a local little hardware shop in his town. The store was owned and operated by Mr. Rathbane, and besides himself had only two other employees, TJ and his son Andrew.
TJ smiled a big fake smile as Andrew sauntered out of the breakroom. He headed back up to the cash register and opened back up his till. TJ waited until no one else was looking, then stuck out his tongue at Andrew's back. The gesture was childish, but it relieved some stress.
Mumbling bitter curses under his breath, TJ went about turning on all the paint mixing machines. He supposed he should be more chipper, as he really was lucky to have the job. His little town was a community of close knit families, some having been there back almost 150 years. They were jealous, the townies, and suspicious. And horrible gossips. When TJ and his family had moved there on his seventeenth birthday, some three years previous, there had been an uproar over the "lazy freak from the city".
His brothers had gotten off easy. One was a natural-born athlete, able to play just about any game involving a ball. The other was friendly and good natured, a natural cool guy. His parents also got by fairly easily. His father was personable and charming, as well as a good hand at business matters. His mother was kind and compassionate, and her cooking was excellent. Food went a long way in that town.
That left him. TJ had never been a "people" person. He lacked the necessary skills to chill out with kids his age. A multitude of bad experiences at his old schools had left him withdrawn and shy, preferring to be antisocial and play with his video games. The masses at the high school had branded him as weird within three days. Those precious few who took the time to get to know him kept their relationship secret, unless they were just as unpopular in which case it didn't matter.
It was a pity, really. TJ was actually a nice guy. An amazingly creative brain resided behind those impassive eyes; TJ saw solutions where others saw problems. If ever there was a group project to be done in school, everyone had wanted to be on TJ's group. TJ was also kind. He liked to laugh, he was mature for his age, and he was happiest when making others happy. Whenever others would tease him about his love of video games, he would reply, "Hey, I'm not knocking it up, getting drunk off of it, or rolling it up and smoking it. I'd say I'm ahead of the game."
"Gee, you don't think you're biased a bit, do you?"
"AHEM!"
"Sorry. Continue."
TJ sighed. As you may have guessed, he did that a lot. When TJ had graduated high school, it had been with a 3.89 average, much better than the local football jock. He had expected that summer jobs would be plenty and profitable. After all, he was young, smart, hardworking, and earnest. No parent would be stupid enough to listen to the petty concerns of their teenager, would they? Right? Right?
Wrong.
It turned out that unlike the rest of the world, people in this town never matured past seventeen. Week after week he went out to the different businesses around town and tried to convince them to hire him. All the owners, and managers, and even most of the employees never bothered to ask him questions. They all simply said, "we're sorry, we're not hiring right now. Please try again at a later date." One girl said this moments before handing out an application to another teenager, and then looked straight at TJ, her eyes daring him to complain. TJ sighed, not even sure how the girl knew who he was.
Mr Rathbane was no different from all the rest. When TJ first applied to his store, he simply explained that he had all the help he needed. That would have been the end of it, but it seemed that Heaven had some divine intervention planned.
Mr. Ratbane's dislike of TJ did not extend to TJ's father, Harry, who was in the Rotary with him. Harry and Mr. Rathbane got along splendidly, having many of the same interests. Though Mr. Rathbane had told TJ that he had all the help he needed, the truth of the matter was he needed someone who knew how to mix paint better than his son. He chatted with Harry about this at a rotary meeting one night.
Normally Harry would not have said anything. He liked Mr. Rathbane, and respected his decision not to hire TJ. He loved TJ, but he was worried about his antisocial behavior and felt that a lack of funds would encourage him to change it. However, a life lesson was one thing, but when his friend allowed his predjudices to affect his judgement on his son, it was time for a little behind-the-scenes dad action. And besides...
"Well, why don't you just hire my son Terry!" said Harry, chuckling.
Mr. Rathbane squirmed uncomfortably. He had, in fact, allowed his predjudices to cloud his judgement, and he felt that his son was right in calling TJ a "weird freak! He doesn't belong in this town!" However, as much as he didn't like his perception of TJ, Harry was a good friend, the two often went fishing together or watched football at one or the other's house. Mr. Rathbane didn't want to insult his friend.
"Ah, yes," he began, "well, you see, he did come to me and apply for a job. I considered him, but I really need someone who's experienced with paint, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings, so I simply told him I didn't need any help at the moment. I'm sure you understand, business matters and all..."he trailed off.
Harry shook his head and smiled. He knew that his friend was lying to him so that he wouldn't insult him. One look at his son's resumé would have dispelled any of the excuses Mr. Rathbane was now using. Inside, a deep woe was born in his heart. Is this what my son's life is going to be, until he dies? thought Harry. Oh Lord above, he silently prayed, set my son upon a path away from the woe and sorrow now before him. Guide him to your peace, O Lord.
Harry chuckled. "That's perfect!" he said. "Back in Denver Terry worked at an ACE Hardware, mixing up paint colors. He's got all the experience you want, and more! He's perfect!"
Mr. Rathbane still wasn't sure about TJ. But he didn't want to insult his friend, and he didn't see how he could avoid that without at least looking at TJ's resumé. So he reluctantly called TJ up the next day and asked him to come in.
When TJ arrived, Mr. Rathbane was trying to mix up some paint for a customer. He was having difficulty, as he didn't really understand the machine. Matters were only made worse by his son Andrew, who seemed to think that it just needed to be smacked a few times. Mr. Ratbane was frustrated, his son was frustrated, and the customer was getting impatient.
"Excuse me, Mr. Rathbane! You called me?"
Mr. Rathbane waved at TJ irritably. "Yes yes, I'm busy. Stay there, I'll be over in a minute."
Once again Heaven nudged events a bit. If TJ had stayed, he might have missed out on a miracle, but as providence would have it he felt an urge to go and help.
Mr. Rathbane was really starting to get angry. The machine had been very expensive, the salesman had made it sound like it was the wave of the future. Well, he had been right about that, the paint company was scaling down its pre-mixed program in favor of custom-tinted colors, and the public wanted them. But the machine was so damn complicated!
"Whoa, waitta minute. Here, let me help."
TJ slipped in and deftly manipulated the machine's levers and pumps. Within minutes he had successfully tinted, labeled and mixed the customer's paint. The customer checked out cheerfully and left a two dollar tip at the register.
Mr. Rathbane hired TJ on the spot.
TJ proved to be a valuable employee over the years. At first he had planned on working at the shop only for the summer, but as fall marched onward and college after college told him that his high school record just wasn't good enough to get him accepted (the local colleges were all staffed by, well, locals, and his out-of-state applications always mysteriously got eaten by the system), he became more or less a permanent fixture at the shop.
TJ grumbled some more. He missed living in Denver. In Denver it was okay to be a little different. No one had bothered him about the fact that his sense of humor was too dry, or mocked his love of children's books and playing with elementary school aged children. He would move back there if he could. The problem was money. Mr. Rathbane was fair in his wages, but clerk at a hardware store hardly paid enough to rent an apartment in a far-off city. Then there were the fines, fees, mandatory donations, and straight out blackmail that everyone took such joy in hitting him with. Every single shop in town tacked on an extra dollar or two to his purchases. At least his dad had talked with the chief of police at a Rotary meeting; TJ no longer recieved "loitering" tickets every few days, and the tickets he received that were marginally realistic were now processed in a speedy manner. One night in the local jail had been enough for him. Added all together, living in the town was too expensive for TJ to move out on his own. He was well and truly screwed.
OOOOOOOO
TJ stumbled home later that evening. He quickly went upstairs to his room and turned on the TV. Normally his parents would be bugging him about doing something useful instead of wasting time with his games, but his whole family was gone for the week, and he was house-sitting. TJ popped in Colosseum and quickly became involved in playing.
"Come on you mother$&#! That was cheap! Oh yeah? Take that! Yeah, how's that water boys! Ya thirsty! Drink up! Hahahahahahahahaha!"
TJ looked up at the clock. It read 10:31 PM. "Shit! I have to open tomorrow! Dammit! This is your fault," he hissed at the Gamecube.
TJ got into bed. As he was drifting off he uttered his standard nightly prayer...
TJ stopped talking. May leaned forward, concerned. TJ's eyes were clearly full of tears, and his throat seemed to be swollen shut. "Are you all right?" she asked.
TJ sniffed, and several tears ran down his face. "Yeah," he said in a low, scratchy voice. "It's just hard to talk about, you know? Give me a minute, I'll be all right."
May sat silently while TJ struggled with his grief. A minute turned into five, then ten, then fifteen, and then he sat up, wiped his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "okay, I'm ready."
"Lord please wake me in a better place," prayed TJ. He didn't care if it was Denver, another town, or Heaven. He was willing to die to get away from this place.
OOOOOOOO
TJ was dreaming. He was on a vast plain, it was barren and teeming with life at the same time. Far off in the distance something shot up into the clouds. TJ was curious. He wanted to find out what was over there. He started walking. After a few minutes he picked up speed. He started to jog. Eventually he was sprinting all out, and not getting tired. He really wanted to find out what that thing was. Finally he reached it. It was a strange shape, bumpy and wrinkled. It was huge, much bigger than TJ. It was mostly flesh tones, although here and there a bit of earth tone appeared. TJ stared at it perplexed. It didn't look like a mountain. In fact, it looked like nothing more than a pair of giant feet, shooting up past the clouds to the top of some gigantic creature. But that couldn't be right, nothing was that big. Was it?
TJ was proven wrong when the clouds parted to reveal some sort of immense... being. TJ had no idea what it was, but it was huge, so big that he couldn't even see its hips, and he thought that it was looking at him. He sensed a love so pure it hurt emanating from the creature, as well as a righteous fury. Wait a minute, how was that possible? He was losing it! The stress had finally gotten to him! He was cracking up!
"TERRENCE."
The creature spoke, and it was like a wave of force. TJ was overwhelmed by the force of the being's words, and wanted nothing more than to hide.
"TERRENCE."
It was just as scary as before, but something in TJ stirred. Something strange, and unfamiliar.
"Uhm, my name's TJ, sir."
"TERRENCE..."
"No, it's TJ!"
"TERRENCE!"
The world was ending. TJ cowered, unable to face the fury of those words.
"TJ."
The force was still there, but this time it was tempered with a love so sweet TJ didn't know what to do. Finally he said, "Yes? I'm here."
"TJ," said the force with yet more love, "I KNOW YOUR PLIGHT. KNOW THIS MY SON, EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE SUFFERED YOU HAVE SUFFERED THAT YOU MAY GROW STRONGER. YOU HAVE OVERCOME OBSTACLES THAT MOST OF YOUR KIND WOULD BLANCH AT, AND GREATER OBSTACLES STILL. YOU HAVE GROWN INTO A MAN AFTER MY OWN HEART."
"Waitta minute," said TJ, "who're you? Are you some sort of manifestation of my psychosexual mind from my subconcious? Or am I just nuts?"
The force was silent for a moment. Then it said, "I AM GOD."
TJ snorted.
"DO YOU DOUBT ME?" roared the force.
TJ was terrified, but he bravely forged onward. "Don't get me wrong, it's just that, I kinda, you know, pictured god a bit differently, you know?"
"LIKE THIS?"
Something appeared to TJ's left. Warily, he walked over to inspect it. It was a statue, a fairly recent one done in an old style. It took TJ a moment to recognize it, but he suddenly realized it was the "Buddy Jesus". His face burned as he realized that really was about how he viewed God, and he-
"Hold up, 'Buddy Jesus'?"
"Err, it's from a movie I know you haven't seen, so don't worry about it, okay? It's not important to the story."
"Oh. Okay."
TJ's face burned in shame. Suddenly, he gasped. One of two possibilities could be occurring right now. The first, that he was losing his mind, was incredibly unlikely. The second, that he was actually conversing with God, simply was too big to comprehend.
"TJ."
TJ looked up again. He couldn't see it, but for some reason he was sure God was smiling at him. "Yes Lord?"
"I HAVE NOT COME TO CONVICT YOU OF YOUR SINS. THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED AT ANOTHER TIME. I HAVE COME INSTEAD TO YOU AS THE BEARER OF GOOD NEWS. YOU HAVE STRIVEN LONG AND HARD IN THIS WORLD, AND GROWN INTO AN UPRIGHT YOUNG MAN, FOR THE MOST PART. THEREFOR, I HAVE DECIDED TO MOVE YOU TO YOUR NEW HOME. IT WILL HAPPEN AS SOON AS I LEAVE. BE BLESSED, MY SON, AND BLESS OTHERS WITH THE GOOD NEWS. I SHALL BE WATCHING OVER YOU.
And with that, God left. He didn't walk away, he simply was no longer where he had been. TJ had time to drowsily think, oh God, if only it were true...
And then he was out like a light, traveling to parts unknown.
A/N:Whew, a really long one this time. Okay, there should be two more chapters on his past after this, then he straightens some things out with May and he's on his way! Exciting, no? The next chapter should be fairly long, we have a whole 'nother life to cover, and it'll be a flashback still. Stay tuned and find out just how many different ways you can hate someone else's life! Until next time, Ciao!