How even if you're just garbage, you can still fight back.
"You're just a stupid reporter."
She flinched at the harsh words, jolting a bit when she felt spit splatter on her hair. She cringed.
"You're useless."
And then she was beat up, to the point where she could barely see anything.
"Drag her away."
And she didn't even protest or utter a sound. After all, wasn't she useless?
When Yancy was three years old, she had smiled at Curtis and pulled on his hair, oblivious to the fact that it would probably hurt. They were laying on the carpeted floor, toys scattered all around them as they, unconsciously, tried to be relieved of their boredom.
The also three years old Curtis grinned dumbly at her, still chomping on an unfinished doughnut he had been chewing for the past half hour. His fingers fumbled with the doughnut because it was so big; before, their parents had only let him eat little donuts, and not the big ones. But, they said, Curtis was a big boy now, and he could eat big donuts. He had proudly asked his parents if he could show it to Yancy, which they happily obliged, wishing an excuse to go over to the girl's house.
Yancy's and Curtis' parents were childhood friends, and the two of them were glued together all day because their parents had been cooing at how cute the two of them looked.
But three year olds don't care about things like that.
Instead, they only cared about their favourite cartoons; one they particularly liked was a show of a kid named Ash ('AHH' was what the two of them called him, sitting in front of the TV while they pointed at all the pretty colours) running around the region like a maniac. The two of them adored the show, and every single day, at three o'clock, while their parents sat down and drank tea, the two of them would be watching Ash.
And watching the Pokemon he met.
Sometimes, they wondered if they could ever meet as much Pokemon as he did. The first time that thought appeared, the two of them had then suddenly jolted with a new goal that just popped up in their minds;
One day, I'm gonna catch all the Pokemon in the world! Just watch me!
This was what stayed in their minds when they moved to a new town in the south-western portion of Unova at the age of six, and met two kids who were extremely friendly.
Their names were Nate and Rosa.
So, they had promised to trade every day with Nate and Rosa until they would meet all the Pokemon in the world.
(No matter how much it was improbable.)
When Yancy was seven and in second grade, when the teacher told her to announce her dream, she had proudly stated: "To be a reporter, of course!"
And when that statement was heard, everyone, everyone, in the class besides Curtis, Nate, and Rosa had laughed at her. Mortified, she turned to look at the teacher for some condolence of sorts, but was horrified to see that the teacher was laughing too. Her eyes wide, she could feel herself trembling with unshed tears as the teacher walked over, smiled at her, and patted her on the head.
"Isn't that cute, class?"
Needless to say, from then on, she only talked with her three friends. She vowed to prove everyone wrong. She would achieve her dreams.
And when school was over, at three o'clock in the after noon, she would watch Ash on the television while her parents drank tea.
Three o'clock is tea time and the time for dreams.
And every day, when she came home, she found herself wondering why three o'clock was so special to her. But she refused to believe otherwise, even when it was strange, for a girl to like a certain time so much. But three o'clock was when she would be able to achieve her dreams. Reaffirm them. And it was time for afternoon tea.
One day, when Rosa and Nate told her that they felt something important was going to happen, at three o'clock one day, she believed them, even though they were shunned by everyone else. Everyone else called them freaks, although she and Curtis were amazed at the "psychic" powers the two possessed. They told her that something, something, was telling them that some day, at three o'clock, something would happen that would change the world.
And when a boy named Hugh transferred into their class, Rosa and Nate stiffened a bit and asked if they could be excused, along with Yancy. Their sudden behavior startled most of the class, and Yancy felt curious as to why they would tell her to come along. After all, Rosa and Nate, even though they were friends with Yancy and Curtis, preferred to spend time with each other, although time with the two want-to-be reporters was valued too. The teacher looked at them weirdly, before telling them that they had only a minute to speak, and Rosa and Nate quickly rushed out of the door.
And when Rosa and Nate told her, trembling, that they had dreams and memories of this kid, she had to believe them.
After all, they said, that three o'clock was important.
They said that this boy killed them in their past life.
And she nodded and believed them, because three o'clock was special.
(Later on, she had convinced Rosa and Nate to share teatime too. They had agreed.)
When Yancy was eleven years old, she received permission to travel the region along with Curtis. Sadly, she noted, Rosa's and Nate's parents were all extremely paranoid about what would happen if they traveled at this age, murmuring something about protecting them from inner turmoils.
When Curtis's and Yancy's parents were notified of this possible detriment to their children's mental health, they grew solemn and told Rosa's parents that they were grateful for the concern, and Curtis's parents that they knew what they were doing.
"Besides, if they want to be a reporter, they have to be used to the harsh reality."
So Yancy and Curtis eagerly started off on their journey away, waving goodbye to Hugh, who looked at them with happiness in his eyes, because he knew his friends would finally get a chance to live out their dreams.
But there was something that Yancy and Curtis did not know.
Hugh had asked Rosa and Nate, in a fit of tears, what would happen after goals were accomplished.
And his question didn't only apply to Yancy and Curtis.
(Rosa and Nate looked at each other solemnly, because they knew that right now, he was only asking about what would happen after he got his sister's Purrloin back, but they both knew that his goal would change later in his life.)
Yancy and Curtis finally left their home at three o'clock in the afternoon, with Pidove rising up and heading away in a flock, feathers falling down as the sun beamed overhead.
When Yancy was thirteen years old, on a mission sent by the reporting agency which told her to investigate a sudden fire which happened in Nuvema Town, she found a beat-up girl kneeling on the remains and ashes of the dead.
She watched, from far away, as that girl cried in the rain, her tears flowing down, and the only words that went through her mind were:
"Who would do such a thing?"
And she watched, in horror, as the girl cried out for all the people and Pokemon that were killed, her friend that was burnt to an unknown degree, and how weak she was. And Yancy watched, as the girl stood up and clenched her fists, nails digging into her skin so deeply that it bled, red droplets falling along with the rain.
"I will kill you, Hilbert!" She watched the girl scream and have her voice crack, falling to her knees, sobbing and holding a shattered Pokeball in her hands. "I will kill you, and then you'll see that I'm not weak and you'll regret what you did!"
And Yancy walked away then, because the girl clearly couldn't do that at the moment, because the girl was lying on the ground, and the only thing Yancy could understand was her parents's words before she left-
And then she realized, that if the enemy of this girl was something who did something as bad as that, then this world wasn't worth documenting.
She walked away from the girl, leaving her reporter pad in the ashes of the bodies as the rainwater drenched the paper and swept the ashes away.
Like a clean slate.
Leaving the area, she looked at her watch and forever imprinted the girl in her mind.
Three o'clock, and a lonely girl.
She returned home, that day, as did Curtis, who she begged to come home with her.
Upon returning, they found Nate and Rosa arguing and pointing knifes at each other. Staying only for two days, Yancy talked with Hugh and Curtis about the possible reasons for their departure.
Team Plasma.
Hugh's words stuck in her mind. Team Plasma was the one responsible for so much pain amongst the townspeople.
And she wondered if Team Plasma was responsible for the attack on Nuvema Town, and for the poor girl's vengeance.
When Yancy was fifteen years old, she was sent on a mission to interview Ghetsis, ruler of the kingdom.
Rumours of his passing down the throne to the unofficial king of Team Plasma had filtered through, and Yancy, being one of the agency's best reporters, was sent to hopefully please the king with published articles of his glory.
She still couldn't get the face of that girl out of her mind.
Led by three grunts (she noted disdainfully that each one of them had horrid manners; they were grinning like fools and calling her cute and stuff and ugh), she was pushed into a large room with a strange man who sat in a throne, a scowl present on his face.
She gulped.
Was this really Unova's king?
Walking over timidly, she bowed before him and greeted him. He suddenly glanced over at her, scanning her, when he stood up and pointed at her. She opened her mouth to ask a question, but it just so happened that the first one was about how the Hero of Ideals spoke in front of Nacrene City.
What she found instead of an answer, however, was the sudden pinning of her body to the ground. Struggling to get free, she soon found the heel of Ghetsis's shoe stepping with force on her head. Cringing with pain, she fought back a scream as the man only ground his foot into her head even more, making marks and bruises by kicking at her repeatedly while sneering.
She found herself near unconscious as he spat on her, and the last thing she saw was Ghetsis point to her again before the three grunts from before were beating her up, punching her many times in the eyes and she would've cried out for help if her mouth wasn't swollen to the point where she couldn't even move them-
And she could see the worried eyes of a boy in the background, someone that she could've sworn looked familiar, but she had no time before she was dragged away.
"Useless."
The last word she heard.
Because wasn't she useless? She couldn't help that girl in Nuvema. She couldn't help Nate and Rosa. And Hugh clearly wasn't stable with his mindset of revenge. She couldn't do anything, couldn't she? She was just a useless pawn.
She woke up in a small room.
Sitting up abruptly, she clutched her head as the world around her suddenly spiraled in many directions, and she held her head in her hands to stop the spinning.
"Are you alright?"
Yancy quickly jolted, taking a defensive position, backed up against the wall with her legs splayed out in front of her, ready for attack, but she stopped when she saw the face of the person.
She didn't recognize the voice, even if it had been on her mind for the past two years, because this girl was not screaming like the one in her nightmares.
The girl from Nuvema.
And she immediately relaxed, because this girl wasn't evil, she was just harmed.
She wanted to help this girl, because then, she wouldn't be useless.
"...What time is it?"
And the girl answered, with a small smile and the quirk of the lips:
"It's a magical time," the girl looked away and smiled sadly. "It's three o'clock."
And Yancy found herself wondering about this girl who looked only two years older than her but felt so much more mature-
"And three o'clock is teatime, for a certain friend of mine."
And inside Join Avenue, a unspoken friendship was formed.
At sixteen years old, a rather cheery voice chimed in Hilda's ear.
"I'll pretend to be you."
Hilda looked up, startled, Yancy staring right at her. Hilda sighed a bit, before asking if Yancy- no wait, Nancy, it was always hard to remember the name she had chose to lose her identity when it was so similar to her original name- was alright with it.
Yancy nodded, knowing that Rosa and Hilda had to go.
It was kind of strange, really, to have Rosa become Hilda's friend too. Of course, Rosa hadn't remembered Yancy, but it was nice to know that her female friend (even if she didn't remember her) ended up in good hands like Hilda's instead of Team Plasma.
Of course...
Now, Rosa was going to be with Nate, and Hilda had to work with Hilbert (Yancy still remembered that name, from that day...), and Yancy couldn't help but be worried, but Hilda had reassured her that it was alright.
Hilda had also told her that she was the second most talented person she had ever met in the art of disguising, the first being Rosa (even Yancy couldn't deny that; she'd known ever since they were kids that Rosa would be talented as a movie star).
Leaving Yancy behind, Hilda and Rosa flew off on Zekrom as Yancy watched them.
They left at four o'clock.
A/N
...Wow, this is the longest chapter so far.
So, now you know Yancy's side of the story...yeah...
I might have messed up, because this chapter is about 2,500 words that I've typed in an hour because of time restrictions, so please comment about any problems with my grammar or punctuation and I'll try to correct it. ^^
And I know teatime is about four o'clock in England, but for this fic's sake, Yancy's and Curtis's family drank tea at three. (It's important)
