Lesson 2: You don't form in the wet sand
It's true that there is such a thing as a natural talent in mathematics. Sadly the complete opposite happens to occur once in a while.
I was one of the lucky people to whom equations and formulas were a complete mystery. My brain simply wasn't wired to do math and off course the whole universe runs on it.
After my spectacular first day of school I tried to calculate how long it would take me to finish primary school, the result was a waste of paper which I could've used for something better or more productive (like doodling during class)
After a few mathematically-oriented tantrums I had a peculiar feeling in my head, as if my brain leaked out of my ears.
Maybe it was one of the less pleasant side effects of math and I decided to give up.
In defeat I sloughed in front of the TV, flipping through the channels, occasionally stopping each time a Pokémon appeared on the screen.
There was a show about Unova's best starter Pokémon, it seemed to aid young trainers in the choice of their first Pokémon.
The man on the screen moved towards a young woman wearing a white lab coat, judging by the looks of her she was what people would call a stereotype scientist.
However she was a woman, barely in her twenties to top. She had light brown hair neatly bundled up on top of her head and clear green eyes,
despite her young age appearing live on national television didn't seem to shake her in the least, and if it did she managed to hide it well.
The reporter asked her a few questions about her latest research, it had something to do with an archeological site situated in the heart of the Desert Resort.
She answered his questions fluently, using all kinds of words I didn't understand. The reporter whose eyes seemed to lose focus as he ignored her words nodded,
and added,
"Are the rumors true about strange statues coming to life at nightfall?"
Professor Juniper gave him a puzzled look,
"I'm not sure if I'm qualified to answer that kind of question." She replied her eyes never leaving his,
"After all the purpose of this program is for young trainers to learn more about Snivy, Tepig and Oshawott, at least that's what the people from the television station
told me, or should I rephrase that last scentence and say they fooled me into believing that our Unova starter Pokémon were going to be the subject of this interview?"
Unimpressed by the fierceness of her answer the reporter continued,
"I heard from a trustful source that several historians specialized in the origins of Pokémon like yourself got hurt one night, some of them haven't been seen ever
since." The reporter said, his beady eyes shone with curiosity,
"They couldn't have been spirited away right? What kind of secret did your people unravel? It had to be something big, otherwise the desert and its guardians would've allowed all of you to leave unharmed."
A shiver ran across my spine when the camera focused on the reporters face, it had something inhuman, and the way he talked about other people getting hurt or possibly worse… He didn't even try to disguise the glee in his voice.
Before professor Juniper could answer his questions my mother entered the living room. Forcing me to change the channel. Bad news always saddened her and having me see or hear it even more.
"Hey kid. What are you watching?" she asked joining me by taking a seat on the wooden floor in front of my place on the couch.
"Err cartoons?" I said, mentally praying I had chosen the Audino-Kids channel in my blind panic.
Raising an eyebrow she nodded towards the screen, "Cartoons huh? Doesn't look like it."
I followed her gaze.
Great. Apparently I was watching some kind of movie for adults since there was a lot of kissing going on. Resisting the urge to punch the screen I turned off the TV,
the image already burning into my mind.
Glowing red I took my mother's chestnut colored hair and started to braid it, unlike my own hair hers didn't seem to tangle and it felt really soft.
It took my mind off things, moreover as long as I was braiding her hair my mother couldn't notice the lingering redness of my cheeks.
"Your hair is so pretty." I muttered stroking her hair in an absent-minded way.
"Yours is the same, even prettier. I always wanted wavy hair." My mother replied between two big yawns.
I remained silent, biting my lip in concentration and using the white ribbon my mother had braided into my own hair that morning to tie her hair together.
"How was school?"
Taken by surprise the silk ribbon slipped through my fingers, my heartbeat painfully quickened warning me to take a deep breath.
I did. And took another one just to be sure.
"It was…interesting." I said staring at the ribbon my mother tried to hand me.
"Interesting? You never talk like a child your age, why is that?"
Careful not to touch her hand with my glowing skin I took the ribbon from her. I thought about her question for a minute,
"Dunno." I said shrugging my shoulders, "Guess I just copied you and grandpa. And that man who shared a hospital room with me off course. He was very smart and knew a lot about Pokémon, he's the one who thought me all about being a trainer and gym leaders, do you remember him?"
My mother nodded, her train of thought creating another silence. At first she had been against it. The man sharing a room with Ashe was covered in wounds. It wasn't a sight she wanted her four year old daughter to see. However the hospital no longer had any empty rooms available, it had been a harsh winter, with lots of people hospitalized due to the flu.
Talking to the chief of staff of Castelia City hospital would be a waste of time, he had enough on his mind as it was. So Ashe's mother decided to put up with it and tried to spend as much time as possible with her daughter, that way the child wouldn't have to be alone with the man too often.
He wasn't that good company anyway, most of the time he stared out of the window, you could see the ocean from there, a comforting view, especially when you're staying in a hospital, but it didn't seem to sooth him.
Ever since her daughter was a baby she was afraid of strangers, crying as soon as an unknown face hovered over her crib. Somehow it was different with her strange roommate.
Those days the girl was in poor health, fatigued from several seizures she had lost a lot of weight. The sight of her only daughter attached to machines and weighed down by wires and tubes broke Ashe's mother's heart more than the child's heart would ever be broken. Ashe took everything life threw at her and childishly tried to turn it into something beautiful, happily smiling whenever she had a visitor, using the weird machines and the noises they produced to perform several impressions of her favorite villain from a weird science fiction film she had seen.
Standing on top of her bed she was in the middle of a monologue when a power outage shrouded the hospital in darkness, the nurse who entered the room to ensure her it would be a short term loss of electric power almost suffered (due to lack of a better term, not irony) a heart attack, when Ashe (still standing on top of her bed) reached out a hand while using the other to cover her mouth as a mask and yelled, "Join the dark side of the force!"
A nurse told her afterwards that Ashe's roommate who had been silent for weeks burst out laughing when he saw this scene.
It was the first sign of life coming from the man. The tears rolling down his face probably weren't all from laughter.
"I remember him clearly, and I bet that nurse also remembers you a bit too clearly for her own good."
My mother said trading places with me to brush my wild hair.
Before she even asked, I knew what was coming, and indeed while working her way through a rather stubborn tangle in my hair the question resurfaced,
"You managed to distract me but I won't let it slide. Interesting isn't a satisfying answer for a mother who asks her daughter about her first day of school."
"But it was interesting!" I exclaimed trying to face her and painfully pulling my own hair in the progress of doing so.
"There was a very nice girl, she said she liked my accent but I don't have one right?" I asked my mother whose features stiffened,
"What did she…What did she say exactly?"
"I just told you, she said she liked my accent, she thought I was from Yohto."
The words Yohto worked like magic on my mother who seemed to relax a little and turned her attention back towards my hair.
"That was when an obnoxious know it all boy started calling her names and said I sounded like a Kanto native."
With a loud thud the big wooden hairbrush fell on the floor, it bounced twice before it lay still,
"Ouch mom," I mumbled barely audible from being pulled in the most surprising hug ever, "Hardly breathing here." I tried again clumsily patting the back of her head.
She loosened her arms a tiny bit, "Let me guess," she said in a shaky voice, "you put him in his place in front of the whole classroom."
"…yeah maybe a bit…"
"Where you polite?"
"…I might've been a bit rude… sorry I won't do it again… How did you know I impolitely put him in his place?"
"Because I'm your mother."
I gave her a questioning look, successfully raising a single eyebrow in a way Cheren had done when he talked to Bianca.
"Okay also because your teacher called and told me everything." She admitted raising her hands in guilt.
I chuckled and hugged her. Snuggled up on the couch she told me about her day. A stray Purrloin had wandered inside the office building, unable to catch it my mother and her colleges had left a tray of milk and some Pokémon food.
"I hope we'll catch it soon, its owner allowed the poor thing's collar to grow into his skin. I can't believe some trainers deliberately hurt their Pokémon, they have the same feelings as a human don't ever forget that Ashe."
I nodded my eyes heavy with sleep, "Mommy?"
"Oh dear, the mommy card, what is it you want?" my mother asked ruffling my neatly combed hair.
"Why can't we have a Pokémon? We could keep that Purrloin, I would never pull its ears or tail."
She sighed, we often discussed about taking a family Pokémon, "The excitement will put an extra strain on your heart, if we get a Pokémon you'll be running around all day playing with it."
Pouting I blew at a long strand of chocolate brown hair that hung in my face, '"You're no fun."
"Nope, I'm your mother so it's my job to spoil your fun once in a while."
"That's not funny. Will I get one when I'm old enough to be a trainer?"
"Yes."
"Really? Promise?"
"I'll regret saying this but yes, I promise."
"Promise promise? If you don't may Zekrom's thunderstorms chase you across the sky, and Reshiram's fire seek you on earth?" I asked
"Your awfully serious about this aren't you? I'll be holding you responsible when something like that actually happens!"
I gave her the most earnest look I was able to muster.
"I promise." She replied and as soon as the words left her mouth I fell asleep.
Resting her head against the couch my mother squeezed her eyes shut,
"I pray your first Pokémon will be a strong and healthy one, a loyal friend who would protect you, even in front of Zekrom or Reshiram." She whispered out loud.