So, I haven't done any typing on this since the days when I was ill…nice to know…I suddenly feel really guilty – all my free h
So, I haven't done any typing on this since the days when I was ill…nice to know…I suddenly feel really guilty – all my free hours at Grandma's (where I originally planned to write a LOT) got swallowed up by watching just about every single Fullmetal Alchemist episode on DVD… And when I wasn't watching FMA, I was writing a little oneshot…and a not so little oneshot. But the good news – the little oneshot seems to be quite popular! And I haven't posted (or finished) the other oneshot yet.
(sigh) I don't own Pokèmon…or anything else I may mention.
Seig woke up early that morning – for once he hadn't been troubled by his and Willow's joint nightmare, and had had a good night's sleep because of this. To his surprise, Willow was still in her Espeon form, so either she had learnt to control her transmitted dreams or she'd not had the nightmare. Willow seemed to be slumbering soundly, so he assumed she just hadn't had the nightmare, and got dressed silently.
He was just packing a few essential supplies into his bag when Willow awoke. She staggered up to her feet, then appeared to bow as she stretched her back muscles and legs. She gave a small, vulpine yawn and smiled up at Seig.
"Sleep well?" he asked quietly – his foster parents may still be asleep, and between him and Willow, he wanted them to stay asleep.
Willow nodded. 'Yes…I think I needed that…'
"Me too," Seig agreed, before sighing. "Willow, we're going to try and sneak out of the house today…"
'Unlike normal,' she said sarcastically. 'What's our reason this time?'
"My birthday, which is this weekend. Monica and Harry…Monica especially…always goes over the top, and I don't want to give them the chance."
'Good luck with that,' the small Espeon said, knowing Seig didn't stand a chance.
Seig tiptoed out of the door, closely followed by Willow, who could silently pad behind him. Down the wooden floored corridor – watch for the creaky floorboards, Seig warned himself as he took odd sized steps to avoid them – creep down lushly carpeted stairs without a problem and sneak around the back of the kitchen, grabbing a piece of fruit on the way out…
"Seig! Good morning!" Monica chirped at the sight of his hand.
Seig sighed – so much for that idea!
"Morning…" he greeted reluctantly. "Hey, where's Harry?" he wondered, noting his foster father was unusually absent at the breakfast table.
"Upstairs – having a shower," she answered quickly. "Anyway, I couldn't help noticing that it's your birthday in three days…"
"I bet you couldn't…" Seig muttered. "Look, I don't want anything big, or grand, or extravagant – just a few friends round for a small party."
"Okay, okay," she said, but she had an excited gleam in her eyes which more than likely meant that she had a different idea of 'small' to Seig.
"I mean it!" Seig said, trying to keep a stern face on and failing.
"Look, I had the idea – because your school is pretty small, and you haven't really had a chance to know everyone yet, why don't you invite your whole year?"
Seig supposed it could have been worse – Monica hadn't got the idea of inviting the whole school yet, and he didn't plan on giving her the chance to.
"Yeah, that's okay, and sorry, but Willow and I have really got to get going," Seig lied.
"Alright, bye, Seig – we'll see you when we get home!"
Seig dashed outside…and let out his breath.
'So much for that idea,' Willow said, smiling at Seig's comical failure.
"Please let her be more restrained than last year…" Seig muttered to himself.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at Saralli Caira High, slightly earlier than normal, but content to wander around near the main building for a while until someone else arrived. As it happened, Zero, with Zippo the Dratini, arrived early too.
Willow curled up in Seig's arms while the two boys talked. She liked being up there – not only did it promise safety, but it was also warm, and gave her a higher perspective.
"Hey, we said we were going to have that battle today, right?" Zero said with a grin. "Better do it now before you go back to the library again!"
"Alright, one on one single match, Willow verses Zippo," Seig agreed.
"Go, Zippo! Let's show Seig what you can't learn from a book!"
"Come on, Willow. In return, why don't we show him what books can teach?"
Willow gracefully leapt from her perch to land, cat-like, on the ground. Zippo shot forward to face her.
"Willow, confusion."
Bright, eerie lights surrounded the dragon, and no matter how frantically he moved, he couldn't escape from them, and eventually became dazzled by them.
"No, Zippo! Fight it off!"
It didn't help; the dragon moved around sluggishly, almost as if drunk.
"Willow, keep him off balance, don't let him recover."
Willow gathered all of her speed and energy, then, swiftly, a purple blur darted forward, scratching the incapacitated Dratini with well-hidden claws. Again and again, she rushed the creature, tackling it to the ground, scratching it, biting it until it looked bruised and battered, not to mention filthy from the dry, dusty ground.
Yet, the powder blue dragon still moved, ready to fight, and he no longer seemed to be distracted by the psychically projected lights. He growled, shooting luminous blue flames at the lilac Pokémon, which, despite her speed, hit her directly, drawing out a yelp of pain.
"Willow, confusion again!"
The Espeon paused, focusing with her mind again, but the Dratini wasn't stupid enough to take it for a second time and shot forward, roughly shoving her to the ground and breaking her concentration.
Willow sprang to her paws, snarling, with the little bit of fur she had standing up, her back arched like an angered cat. Her whole body glowed briefly, before shooting out a myriad of tiny golden stars that slammed into every inch of Zippo's body, forcing him to the ground, where he stayed, feebly moving – alive, but not with enough energy to fight back.
"Espeon wins," came a voice that didn't belong to Zero or Seig. It belonged to a certain half-zora who had obviously been watching the fight for some time now.
"Morning, Haru," Seig greeted, while allowing Willow to jump back into her comfortable perch in his arms, licking away a scratch on one of her forepaws.
'I have a name…' Willow muttered, slightly resentful.
Zero gingerly scooped up Zippo, who was blearily muttering something about hell and how it doesn't compare to the fury of a woman scorned… The three boys entered the main building, getting Zippo, and then Willow healed by Mrs. Hurtz. It wasn't long until the bell went, with all the pupils inside the main room to register before heading back outside to train.
In Saralli Caira High, pupils weren't forced into doing any particular thing – during their morning sessions, where they could freely roam outside, they could track down a Pokémon, train, engage in a friendly fight against a friend, practise contest moves or just explore. In the afternoon lessons, while it was encouraged and widely expected that the pupils would turn up and listen, they had no written tasks, and no homework afterwards.
Seig spent his morning session – for the first time in ages – outside, exploring with Zero, Haru and Fossil, telling everyone in his year that they came across about his impending birthday party.
By lunchtime, they reckoned they'd told everyone, and Seig was completely anxious about his birthday from think about it so much.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Zero asked, in an attempt to cheer him up.
"Monica could suddenly and conveniently find the baby photographs…like last year…" Seig sighed, taking a slow bite of his sandwich. "Or she could show that video of the time I fell over during school's play…Or the time when I slammed into the sliding glass door – I'm pretty sure she has pictures somewhere…"
And so it was with a general sense of impending doom that Seig looked forward to the coming weekend.
However, something would happen in the coming lesson that would distract him from all thoughts of the weekend. Mrs. Picka was teaching them about different landscapes and the effects that they could have on battles and travelling. She reached for her board pen to scribble down a note…but then it moved. Not by much, only a few inches across the desk, but enough to make her do a double take.
Seig frowned at Willow – he could sense psychic power at work here – but Willow repeatedly assured him that it wasn't her. Seig scanned the lecture hall – Willow was one of three psychic Pokémon in the hall, the other two being an Kadabra whom belonged to a girl in the fourth year, and a Gardevoir belonging to a boy in the second year.
Willow told him that it definitely wasn't them – in fact, the source of the psychic power wasn't a Pokémon at all. This meant that, though it seemed impossible, this was the work of a human. Willow tried to read the minds of all the pupils there, but with around fifty humans all thinking different things, some of which were not related to the class at all, Willow had no answer.
Several more psychically created pranks were pulled off, along with the teacher's notes mysteriously vanishing and the teacher clumsily tripping over every five seconds for a minute solid.
By the end of the hour, Mrs. Picka was seriously unnerved and muttered something about needing a payrise as she walked out gratefully.
No psychic pranks befell the next teacher, Mrs. Hurtz, although she looked nervous – obviously Mrs. Picka had told her about her lesson. By the end of the two hours, the class was buzzing with curiosity about who or what had done this, and the lecture hall had exploded with a mixture of noises – some hushed and slightly fearful, while others were loud and cheerful. It seemed that no matter how good a school's teachers were, there was always some animosity between teachers and students, and some people had enjoyed the invisible trickster.
In fact, this soon became the most thoroughly discussed topic in the school, from who they thought could be capable of doing this to what the trickster would do next time. It was the very last lesson on Friday when Mrs. Picka next taught, and the whole class was waiting with baited breath.
They weren't disappointed, either…
At first, things had gone as normal, and Mrs. Picka had – foolishly – allowed her to relax as she wrote on the whiteboard some valuable tips should you ever find yourself lost in a desert. She suddenly screamed – a creature, not unlike an Ariados appeared to creep across the floor with jerky movements – she had an intense fear of Bug-type Pokémon, it seemed.
When at last she calmed down – she was screaming frantically – and returned to teaching, she noticed a mistake on the board – she'd spelt 'desert' with two 's', and tried to rub the extra letter out…which proved pointless, as the pen's ink refused to rub out.
The rumours started at a low whisper, which quickly spread like wildfire through the class and generally accumulated to the knowledge that Mrs. Picka had written on the board with permanent marker. When she heard this herself, she collapsed despondently into her chair – and promptly shrieked as the back two legs of the chair snapped and she fell back onto the hard floor with a thump. She ran out of the room, being to cry – obviously very shaken by these events.
They were sent home early because of this, but it was only by half an hour. It made no difference to Seig – he told everyone that he'd see them tomorrow for the party…then spent the night dreading the following morning. Monica just didn't do things on a small scale – he'd spent almost eight years of his life finding that out.
Perhaps it was no surprise that he had the nightmare that night – either it was through nerves or it was some premonition – either way, he woke up in an uneasy mood. The sky outside was as blue as ever on this tropical island, and the sun was already warming Seig's room through the window. Willow was curled up in a ray of sunshine in a feline manner.
Seig looked at his face in the mirror. He was a year older – he was fifteen. He didn't feel it, and he would be more than happy to pretend that this was just a normal day. So what was all the fuss about?
Willow stretched in the sunlight, before noting that her trainer was up already and slinked into the bathroom to find him looking at the mirror.
'No wrinkles yet,' she joked, watching him slip out of his thoughtful trance. 'Happy birthday.'
"Willow? Do you remember when you were born?"
'Of course not – I was taken away from the only person who could have told me when I was very young…too young to remember.'
"Then…I want you to share my birthday. Today's a holy day for some people – did you know that? A day when the Legendary Pokémon of ice are said to begin their slumber, or journey far north. The weather starts getting warmer from now on and the days get longer. Nevefinagiorno. Schneendetag. Eiradarfoddydd. It's called something different in different places…they all roughly translate to 'the day the snow ends'. Not that we ever see any snow here, Willow…"
Willow glowed faintly, her body becoming a delicate shade of blue. Gently, in the small room, it began to snow, small flakes fluttering down from the ceiling, swirling around Seig and Willow. Seig stretched out a finger to watch a flake flutter down, sending a brief cold chill through the digit, before melting.
They enjoyed the white miracle in silence, until Seig realised that his feet – completely bare – were completely numb from the cold inch of snow on his bedroom floor. It was then that the full gravity of the situation hit him.
"How do I explain this one? Sorry, Monica, there was a freak blizzard in my bedroom isn't quite…believable in this part of the world…"
'I'll take care of it,' Willow promised. 'Just open the window.'
The snow was already melting because of the sun through the window, but the now Flareon-formed Willow used Sunny Day to intensify the sun's rays. Very soon, the floor was steaming, and Seig turned on the dehumidifier in his room to extract the water that wasn't being lost out of the window.
'Maybe that wasn't the best idea…' she admitted.
"It was nice though…I'd never seen snow before. Thank you."
'No problem, birthday boy,' Willow teased, taking her Espeon form again. 'Come on, we'd better get downstairs – we don't want to deprive Monica of the chance of embarrassing you…'
Seig sighed, padding downstairs with Willow close behind. Or so he thought. In actual fact, Willow stayed at the top of the stairs until she was level with Seig's head, and then with a slight smirk, she launched herself onto his shoulder, scaring Seig to death.
'Wow…it's surprisingly comfy here…'
"Willow…"
'Happy birthday.'
Monica had cooked them breakfast – pancakes, as a birthday treat. Seig sat down, warily looking around the kitchen – Harry was lost in a flurry of activity, which tended not to bode well…
People arrived in twos and threes, but the first thing everyone asked as soon as they got there was: what was that large thing out the front of the house?
Seig paled and shot out of the house to see that there was a huge billboard-like structure covered by a white sheet.
By this time everyone had gathered outside, and were wondering what exactly this was all about in hushed voices.
"Boys and girls, welcome to Seig's birthday party!" Monica shouted into a portable microphone, much to Seig's embarrassment.
Seig groaned and suddenly wished he were invisible.
"But first, I give you…" Monica tugged the cloth off the billboard in one fluid movement. On the billboard was a blown up picture of Seig and Willow. "Seig, who just turned fifteen today! Isn't he handsome?"
Seig hid his face in his hands, in a futile attempt to fight the fierce red blush on his face.
"At least it wasn't the baby pictures, this time," he muttered with false optimism.
The billboard fell face down due to Willow's psychic power.
'Happy now?' she asked.
"I will be once I get my hands on Monica," he growled ominously.
'Well, leave it for another day, okay – you don't want to spoil your birthday…'
"Our birthday, don't you mean," he corrected with a grin.
Willow's eyes lit up with a nameless, indescribable joy. The moment was short-lived, though, as Zero (who had been calling him for what seemed like forever) physically dragged him into the madness.
Whenever Seig looked back on his birthday, he'd always remember colour, and very little else. The grass seemed a little greener than normal, the sky a little bluer, the sun a bit brighter. And that was just the natural colour. His friends and their Pokèmon seemed to – between them – cover every colour of the rainbow. He was handed multicoloured boxes – presents, along with the greeting of 'Happy Birthday'.
Willow would remember it differently. She would remember huddling into Seig's arms, not fully trusting the large crowd. She'd remember whispered insults and taunts until she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't remember the exact moment she'd left Seig's arms – it was lost in a fuzzy, crimson, angry haze. She could remember snarling at the offending Pokèmon – Haru's Staravia, and issuing a challenge, before stalking off through the thick undergrowth wildly growing near the back of Seig's house.
One of the advantages of living on an island was that no matter what direction you started going in, sooner or later, you'd find the sea. Seig's house was a fairly short distance away from a long stretch of beach, and it was here that Willow made her stand.
To her surprise, it wasn't only the Staravia that came. All the Pokèmon at the party had followed, meaning a large crowd was watching curiously, making what Willow was about to do far more difficult.
'If anyone has a problem with me, now's the time to settle it,' she growled. 'After today, I don't want to hear another word about me being strange, or different…okay? So whatever problem you have, get it over and done with now.'
Zippo, Zero's Dratini, was the first to move.
'You are different, true, but there's got to be a reason why. You've never told us the reason why, which isn't like you – you're normally really honest. So, there must be a really important reason for keeping it secret. I can't fight you because of that.'
Zippo took a stance behind Willow, as Draigas began to move.
'Like he said – you're different. It's just taken me until now to realise that different can be bad or good…or neither. I've seen more different things than you, Willow, and you're a good kind of different.'
Lazuli was serenely floating in the sea, and drifted towards Willow's side.
'I believe this is what Aria would want me to do,' she explained simply.
Draigas smiled. 'Don't ask her for an opinion of her own, by the way. It's almost like she has no choice but to obey Aria…it's quite scary sometimes…'
Now, Pokémon were coming over to Willow's side without needing to justify themselves – Sirius, Wraith's Eevee for one. Dashita plodded slowly over, too.
Haru's Pokémon eyed them mistrustfully – how could they go against what their inner natures must be telling them? To leave, get as far away from the unnatural creature as quickly as possible.
They glared at those left undecided, as if daring them to side with Willow. Rolo happily joined their side, despite protests from Willow's side. Rolo merely gave them a mocking bow with her trunk, along with what constituted as a Pokémon smirk.
Willow, and those supporting her turned their gaze to the remaining neutral Pokémon.
'If you think I'm going to get myself involved in this,' Naga started disdainfully, then turned her back and slithered away.
Jet, Rydia's Zubat, and Phoenix, the Vulpix followed suit, slinking off back into the forest, back towards the humans. Layla, the overactive black bundle of fur known as a young Poochyena, looked torn for a moment, before following them, taking the distance between them at a trot.
The Staravia gave Willow and her followers a foul glare.
'Last chance if you want to wimp out. Willow's a freak, but you don't need to be tarred with the same brush.'
'We'll stay right here,' Sirius snarled, his hackles rising.
'Fine. Then prepare to battle!'
Sorry, peeps, but I couldn't resist Monica behaving…like a certain anime character…. Some of you will get the reference, and no doubt, some people won't, but don't worry about it. It's not a major point. And sorry, also for the snail-like update – like I said, blame Fullmetal Alchemist and homework. And me, I guess…
Please review? It might make me type faster…okay, it'll definitely make me type faster, especially if I have some nice, positive remarks (you can criticise if you like…just don't say miaw, or I'll have a nervous breakdown…long story…).