Wow, I whipped up this one quick!

Although I do appreciate the comments and suggestions, I would actually like my fic to be critiqued by someone.

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Farren drove.

The road was a dry, barren grey snake stretching into the distance before her. The warmth of the sun filtered through the window and onto her pale skin. She stretched her back, remarking with a smile how good it felt to be outside again. Especially behind the wheel of her beloved car.

Farren loved driving. She had got her licence only a few months ago, having spent months painstakingly perfecting parallel parking and the like. But it payed off; when Farren got in a car, she felt as if the world was at her feet, and that she could go wherever she wanted. Nobody could get her, or treat her badly because of what she was.

As this particular thought passed through her head, the young girl gritted her teeth as she fought to keep her blades in their fleshy sheaths. What had transpired when she had arrived home flashed through her brain like one of her very own chromium spikes.

She swung her legs out of the car, taking a deep breath of fresh air. The air in the mental institution had been sickly and always had the slight aroma of mashed pumpkin and vomit to it. Here, in the leafy borders of Rockwell, there was a fresh scent, like the start of of a new beginning.

A small figure appeared in the doorway as she arrived. The young girl smiled at her adopted sister, brown eyes shining.

"You're back!"

The older, taller girl smiled at the fourteen year old she considered family. "D'ya miss me?"

Before Steph could reply, a loud bang rattled the fence that separated their property from the neighbour's. Both girls turned a wary eye to where a curly haired, bespectacled woman was watching them with a scowl.

"The demon's back! I would have thought they would have done the right thing and killed you by now, after all that! How many people do you have to kill before God's will is done?"

Farren sighed, and Steph drew her into the house by her sleeve. That was the only way to deal with their neighbours: walk away.

After a brief discussion with her sister and carers, Farren retreated outside. The backyard was her haven: a rippling green wonderland of trees and wilderness. She could spend hours getting lost in the overgrown lawns, climbing the huge trees, or chopping up wood with her blades. It was one of the main advantages of living near wilderness.

But there was one problem.

She sat with her back towards the neighbour's house, which had seemed like a good idea to her but proved to be a bad one when a rock bounced off her back, startling her. Her blades flashed out in surprised and she had to imbed her wrist blades into the tree branch to avoid falling off.

"Hey! Over here, Devil spawn!"

With agility abnormal for any ordinary human, she leapt up, spinning around in the air and landing on the branch, squatting, and now facing her attackers. They were two young children, a boy and a girl, and they were both holding rocks, ready to throw again.

"Go ahead," she muttered loud enough for them to hear. "Try me!"

The young girl raised her arm to aim. "This rock is like God's Punishment!" She hurled it at the teen in the tree.

With lightning reflexes, the teen brought up her arm and swiped the rock with her wrist blade. It split in half, and fell to the ground with a soft rustle.

The children stared in shock for a moment, but then a steely resolve returned to the boy's face. Thrusting a finger at her, he cried: "Your witchcraft doesn't scare us, demon! God will strike you down to Hell were you can writhe with maggots for all eternity!"

The teen girl's face dropped for a moment, surprised that a boy of around nine could know such language. In a heartbeat, she had descended down the tree and retreated into her house.

"Coward," sneered the boy, and the girl shook her head in disgust.

Bob's chocolate coloured eyes had filled with concern which soon turned to anger, an unusual emotion for the usually gentle man.

"Oh, those rodents. Our girl gets back from a rough time at a mental institution, and they're badgering her already?"

Farren shrugged. "They're freaks."

Bob laughed, his brown skin crinkling up around the nose. "And they say you're a freak. Listen, Far, why don't you go down to Gumview for a bit? Get some fresh air, be a nobody for a while."

Farren's usually dull eyes brightened. "Thanks, Bob," She said brightly, as her tossed her a set of keys. "I won't even have to unpack, so I'll just say goodbye to Steph and Jill and I'll be on my way."

Bob beamed, happy that his adopted daughter was able to escape.

The tension in Farren's body eased up. She smiled as her car passed the faded Welcome to Gumview Town sign. She would leave her stuff in the small house her carers owned, and retreat into the wilderness that surrounded the town.

She would learn to become a Chromeon.

---

Darcie's eyes were fixed on Naomi.

She sat with her group of friends, the group which had been Darcie's before she had become too shy to join them. Her hair was tied up, giving her a different look then she usually had, but not removing the striking beauty from her delicate features. Naomi was a small girl, but there seemed to be an elegant grace about her limbs. Her short sleeved top seemed to accentuate this, seeming an almost cruel tease to Darcie.

Worst of all, Darcie's nose was sensitive enough to pick up the girl's intoxicating scent from amongst the variety of other aromas in the cafeteria. It was like a drug to her; she took breaths as deep as her lungs would allow.

Darcie lived for these moments. Even though she couldn't get near to her any more, these moments in the same room as Naomi made her as close to happy as she could get. Even though her heart yearned to be her friend and talk to her again, the best she could come to was to sit a table away from her with Ellen.

Sickening as it sounded, Darcie felt grateful that Ellen sat alone. It meant she didn't have to make new friends, which was a tedious and often painful experience in her eyes, and something her psychic sister had never bothered with. Rather, Ellen liked to sit quietly and watch people, a behaviour that creeped out the average teenager almost as much as her luminous sapphire eyes did.

Darcie was grateful to her sister. Without her, she would be eating lunch in the toilet, away from Naomi.

!!!

A wordless expression of surprise echoed in Darcie's mind, snapping her out of her Naomi-induced stupor. The Umbreon girl turned to her light counterpart of a sister, who was gazing with surprise at a small hooded figure that was approaching. Naomi out of her mind for a moment, she watched as the figure approached and placed his lunchtray on the table.

A pair of shockingly blue eyes twitched from one startled gaze to another. "I hope you don't mind."

Ellen shook her head enthusiastically with a uncharacteristically huge grin on her face, while Darcie rolled her eyes at her sister and patted the seat next to her.

"Sure, it's cool."

Darcie swore she saw the ghost of a smile grace Jesse's features.

---

Beth did like the bus. It was exciting to travel a route that had been set out, one that a person might not have taken while driving. It was interesting to see the kind of people that got on the bus; they were all from different walks of life.

But she didn't appreciate the stares that came with every bus trip.

Because, while the majority of people had brown, blonde, red or black hair, Beth's was a bright shade of turquoise blue.

A pair of small round eyes stared at her from behind a bench, not looking away even when the teen fixed her deep navy gaze on them. Beth liked most things, but children weren't one of them. She knew that her strange hair colour wasn't the main reason the child was staring; children were just rude like that.

She considered dousing him with water, but she thought his mother might have had a thing or two to say about that. The pair got off the bus at the next stop anyway, the child still staring.

Beth tucked a strand of turquoise hair behind her ear. She knew that keeping her hair its natural colour was sure to attract attention, but she made that choice for the simple reason that she wasn't going to let others define who she was. She shouldn't have to hide her differences and change who she was to fit in with everybody else. Besides, she was kind of proud of her mutant heritage, and why should she hide what she was proud of?

The bus stopped in front of a large, striking building. It seemed almost clownish in comparison to the dull brown apartment buildings with its white marble façade and stained glass windows. The large, medieval style doors were wide open, as if inviting one in. Beth took a few tentative steps off the bus and towards the building.

For the last few weeks, Beth had wondered about her own faith. Her carers had never mentioned anything about religion, she assumed they were Arceusists. But she herself was an agnostic; she wasn't sure if there was a god or not, and had decided to visit this church's priest for clarification.

She took a deep breath, and walked inside.

The church was similar on the inside as its exterior: white marble, stained glass windows. The large room had a soft, peaceful feel to it, and the smell of incense wafted about. A couple of elderly figures dotted the benches, too deep in prayer to notice her arrival.

The priest noticed her, however. He was garbed in a long purple tunic, and a strange headdress topped his grey head. Beth saw shock pass over his face at the shade of her hair, but still he smiled warmly. "Hello! Welcome to the Hearthrome Church of Beryonery. I haven't seen you before."

Beth returned the man's smile. "No, I'm not from around here. I'm Beth."

The priest nodded in acknowledgement. "I'm Father Peters. Can I help you with something? Or are you just here to pray?"

Beth decided that she liked him. He wasn't forcing anything on her… yet. He hadn't commented on her hair… yet. "Actually, I have a few questions. I was raised by non-religious parents, and I'm curious to see what this religion says about me."

Peters gave her an odd look for a moment, before indicating that she should sit beside him on the pew. Beth swore she could smell cigarette smoke on him as did so.

"Well, what do you want to know?"

Beth put a hand to her hair. "Well, I'm the Vaporeon mutant. I've lived a good life and treated people nicely. If I died right now, would I go to heaven?"

From the minute she had uttered the word "mutant", the priest's wizened face had become a mask of shock and disgust. "Kill yourself," he muttered.

"I'm sorry?"

The priest edged away from her slightly. "You must kill yourself. Your existence is against God's will. Only He should have the power to create life. You have no soul, demon. Heed my advice and slit your throat. Only then will the demon inside of you leave this earth."

Beth frowned, and shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably. "This is all a little weird. Could you please excuse me?"

She got to her feet and began to walk down the central isle, tears blurring her eyes. The Vaporeon girl almost didn't hear the priest call out after her "Remember what I said!" as she sprinted out of the church.

She ran for a long time. Buildings and perplexed faces flew by. Her Vaporeon DNA made her have more stamina than the average human, and she soon found herself out of Hearthrome completely. The land had turned from a bustling city to gentle grassland, with pools edging the path. Beth smiled, knowing what she would do.

She leapt above one of the ponds, and dispersed her molecules, becoming water. She hit the surface with a splash, becoming one with the pond.

This pond didn't sting like her pool at home; it was natural, not saltwater. It was more exciting as well; Magikarp swam around her, and Octillery crawled about at the muddy bottom.

Beth loved her ability to become one with water. She could be left alone to think this way. Nobody could bother her, ask anything of her, or tell her she shouldn't exist. It was just her, the pond, and the pokémon.

The pokémon could sense that this section of the water wasn't right, so they left her alone, giving her a brief look before moving on. They, at least, accepted her.

She had learnt something today: that she wasn't a Beryonerist. Her friends had always said that they were crazy, now Beth wished she had of listened to them.

This hadn't discouraged her from finding her religion, although it had been a bit disturbing. She had to believe in something, but it wasn't this.

---

ACKK! Evil priest. Now I know all religious people aren't like that, but this a weird kind of religion unique to the pokémon world. And it isn't a very nice one.

Religious folks, do not despair. One of the EV-Men (or women, rather) is actually religious, I'm not painting you all evil. Read the next chapter for more info.

But meh, I wasn't a fan of the Beth scene. Seemed a little boring.

Anyways, would love to hear your opinion!

~SW