Lesson 7: You and I, we get along
Despite what some rubbish stories tried to fool you into believing, oversleeping on the day you became a trainer didn't automatically mean earning yourself an 'I-don't- like-my-Pokéball' Pikachu or a cute Eevee.
Hell, whoever stupid enough to forget setting his or her alarm could consider himself to be quite lucky if the only Pokémon left available turned out to be a Magikarp. Even I (and this had shocked Cheren in particular) realized that in a small town like Nuvema the amount of registered trainers shouldn't be underestimated. A small army of trainers would be circling professor Juniper's lab before dawn, and since Bianca's father had called me a brain damaged nut for suggesting we could spend the night in front of the Pokémon professor's place using tents we decided to call each other first thing in the morning.
"To check if the other's already awake daddy." Biance chimed on the morning before my birthday, her voice sweet enough to send me into a diabetic coma.
Her hand clasped onto my mouth forced me to swallow my rude sneer addressed to Mr. Ferilli. "I don't know what you told him Bianca, but trainers don't spend the night in four star hotels. What's wrong with a tent anyway?" I whispered to her afterwards, ignoring the look on her father's face, almost hearing his thoughts screaming 'Bad influence!'
Mrs. Ferilli who walked by holding a basket towering with nice smelling laundry shot me a whistfull smile, she knew my opinion on the matter. I had never bothered to hide my displeasure with Mr. Ferilli's way of raising his only daughter. If smothering, and hiding a child from the world could be counted as raising Mr. Ferilli would be holding the title 'Dad of the Year' for seventeen years by now. 'Most Dangerous Friend of the Year' had gone to me quite a few years ago.
When we were about eight years old I had persuaded Bianca to join me in a race car competition. Always up for everything she agreed almost immediately. "On one condition." She had said, smiling coyly, as Cheren, expecting the worst, raised his head from a pile of paper on which he was calculating different wheel sizes and the speed it would give our car, "I want to be responsible for the design of our car, it has to be stylish!"
One (painted in an eye hurting yellow) crashed and splintered to pieces race car later we found ourselves sitting in Mr. Ferilli's kitchen, fearing for the table as his fist rammed onto the wooden surface for what had to be the millionth time.
"WHO OF YOU TWO HAD THE BRILLIANT IDEA TO USE A POKEMON'S STRENGHT ATTACK TO PUSH THAT STUPID RACE CAR DOWN A HILL!"
Even now I could still remember my ears ringing from the amount of screaming that day. As the brain behind the plan I was the one responsible for Bianca's scraped knees and Cheren's cracked glasses. The fact that I had managed to walk away from the accident without even a single scratch seemed to add fuel to the fire. It could've been a lot worse, but stating that little fact had earned me fifteen more minutes of screaming.
"I'll call you around six in the morning then." I said the grin on my face widening from the fond childhood memory as I left Bianca's house.
"No offence to Magikarp but I don't feel like getting one." I mumbled to myself, fumbling with the old fashioned wind up alarm clock sitting on the shelves above my bed.
"That should do it." I gasped eyeing my collection of wake-up calls, quite pleased with myself.
If my cell phone decided to screw me over, my laptop was set to play my favorites on Itunes at 05:30 in the morning. Cheren would be calling me around 05.45 and I would call Bianca immediately after that. All I had to do was go to sleep. Waking up wouldn't be a problem.
Lying on my back I stared at the ceiling of my room, it followed the shape of our pitched roof. Houses in Nuvema tended to resemble each other a lot in an almost creepy manner. The architect designing our neighborhood apparently had little inspiration or was downright lazy. My room was the exact copy of Cheren's, even the amount of steps on the staircase was the same.
I sighed and listened to the intense high pitched cries of several Woobat preparing for their night time hunt. The moon was bright enough to light up a few of my favorite sketches which were pinned to the wall. One showed the picture of a Pokémon of which I hoped it would be accompanying me from tomorrow on.
Somewhere a clock struck the hour, twelve loud gongs that reverberated through the stuffy summer air. A knowing smile appeared on my lips as I waited for a once in a year occurring event...
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHE!" Bianca's loud voice boomed, startling several Petilil and Herdier who started barking, other doglike Pokémon answering from a distance.
It wouldn't be long before someone deprived off his sleep started yelling insults. I burst out laughing almost missing the sound my cell phone made as it went off with the sound Yoshi made on Mario Kart. I touched the screen and read the words appearing, stifling my laughs.
Seriously if she keeps this up every year someone will call the police, I'm surprised she hasn't fallen out of her bedroom window yelling like that… No wonder Mr. Ferilli says you're a bad influence on her.
I'll see you guys in the morning, 08:00 AM sharp don't you dare forget!
By the way, Happy Birthday
Cheren
An ear splitting grin spread across my face. After years of waiting and looking forward to becoming a trainer mere hours separated me from my dream. And those dreams were wide like a country mile.
Ignoring my wild tousled hair I sat up in my bed, outside the sun hadn't even started to rise, a few lost clouds were colored a faint pink and orange hue almost as if they were announcing the rising sun. It would be one of those days on which the sky seemed miles and miles away.
I sat there waiting for my very own birthday tradition, it was a rather silly one, much like Bianca yelling a happy birthday in the dead of the night. But to me memorizing the very first song I heard on the very first day of my birthday had something exciting, like counting down to a New Year. The result could be rather sinister though. The first track I heard on my first day as a sixteen year old turned out to be 'Highway to hell' I preferred something more festive this time and waited for my own alarms to catch up on me, which I thought was rather ironic.
As 'Justine' boomed through the speakers of my laptop I took the song as the best starting signal of the day, and danced around the room in a way everyone does when they're alone. Practically shouting the line 'you know it's time to go!' and answering as if the band members were standing right in front of me with a loud "I sure do!"
I followed that up with a rather accurate air guitar, oblivious to the amount of noise in my room as two alarm clocks, a ringing phone, and music capable of giving the unfortunate listener permanent ear damage woke up the whole neighborhood.
"Ashe Justine White!" my mother (a freakishly early riser) yelled as I replayed the track for good measure while brushing my teeth, dancing around in my underwear.
"Way to go grandma for having that name!" I agreed grinning like an idiot while my mother dressed in pajama tapped her fluffy slippers.
"She would suffer from a heart attack hearing this kind of music. And you will too if you don't calm down." She said firmly.
"Oh mom, I'm as healthy as a fish, as long as I take my medicine I'll be fine. Wanna see me do a back flip to prove it?" I asked already bending my knees glancing through my eyelashes to see her reaction. "Don't push it young lady. What I want to see is you dressed and downstairs for breakfast." She replied her tone clipped, adding, "Cheren arrived about five minutes ago, convinced of the fact that you overslept. He gave the mailman quite a scare." Her tone was breezy, a hint of a smile appeared as I tried to force my way to the door, only to be pulled back by my hair.
"Get Dressed First" she said as I considered grabbing a scissor to make my escape.
It took me only ten minutes to make an appearance in the kitchen, dressed in my brand new outfit adding some of my own taste in clothing by wearing my trade mark wristbands and my black boots. My thick curly hair was pulled together in a messy ponytail, various loose strands framed my face.
Cheren who sat by the kitchen table stared at the package in front of him.
He put on his dignified, 'I'm untouched by all of this' air, fooling nobody but himself as his normally cool and rather dull grey eyes glistened fiercely.
"I hear you threatened the mailman." I inquired pulling at the package's wrapping paper earning myself a slap on the hand. "We have to wait for Bianca!" he hissed readjusting the package. "And why didn't you answer your phone? I called every two minutes."
I shrugged fidgeting on my chair, playing with the bowl of cereals my mother set down in front of Cheren and me.
"How much longer?" I asked ignoring Cheren's cold glare as he flipped a page of the Trainer Guide he was reading.
"One minute shorter than the last time you asked, and if you ask me one more time I'll use this book to-"Interrupted by my mother who asked us to come upstairs he squeezed his slanted eyes shut. "Now I'll never get to know how you planned on torturing me with a book." I teased climbing the stairs almost running in to my mother who was holding a pink shoulder bag and a matching pink and white baseball cap.
"Happy birthday honey." My mother said handing me my birthday presents which I happily took. Putting my ponytail through the baseball cap I turned to Cheren inquiring, "How do I look?"
"Do you want an honest answer or a not so hurting alternative?" he asked raising, an eyebrow, readjusting his glasses and insulting me all in a single movement.
"Oh shut it." I laughed nudging him with my elbow and hugging my mother.
I noticed she had already packed my bag with basic stuff necessary for traveling on foot, one of the smaller compartments contained my medicine and some prescriptions. "I have something for you too Cheren" my mother said causing the young nerd to pale noticeable.
"I hope it's a baseball cap like mine." I snorted.
To my great regret my mother gave him a device I recognized as an Xtransceiver. Living up to his reputation the teenage geek figured out in mere seconds how to use the watch-like gadget. Pressing a few buttons he managed to contact the second Xtransceiver my mother held, almost dropping it due to shock as it buzzed to live. "Thank you very much Mrs. White." Cheren said inclining his head to express his gratitude. "Happy you kids like it, I hope Bianca doesn't mind its dull color though." She mused making her way downstairs, a third and last watch in her hand.
Half an hour later Cheren paced through my room, "I can't believe she's late. That girl has to set her priorities straight." He fumed, ignoring my attempt to fit my laptop into my bag, failing big time.
The package sat on my bed, begging for me to open it. I suppressed the urge, after getting caught reading the card coming from professor Juniper attached to the package Cheren had almost thrown me out of the window even threatening to reclaim his birthday present.
"You'll wear out your shoes if you keep pacing like that." I stated not being helpful at all. "I can buy shoes, you would need a skin transplant if you keep picking your wrists like that. You're no better than I am Ashe." He said returning to his route through my room for another five minutes. Bianca's loud voice reached us all the way upstairs, and my heart skipped a beat as I heard her climbing the stairs as fast as possible. Cheren froze and stared at the door as it swung open revealing…-a walking bag?
I shot Cheren a questioning look, something close to disgust and utter horror appeared on his face. Carrying what had to be the biggest handbag/suitcase Bianca fought her way through the door dropping her baggage with a loud thud. "Ah man! I'm late again! I overslept and I had the craziest dream. Ashe you were there and Cheren too, but he was wearing the most ridiculous outfit I've ever seen." She said happily, oblivious to the raven haired teen who was flexing his fingers and found himself considering the idea of strangling her. "Doesn't matter Bianca." I said quickly, "Cheren was getting a bit homicidal but even he isn't smart enough to get away with murder."
"As long as I get to kill her I'm happy." Cheren answered coolly, ignoring a whimpering Bianca.
"Yes well before we condemn one of the Pokémon inside those Pokéballs to a lifetime in jail together with his trainer we should get to meet them right?"
Bianca shot Cheren a look with pleading puppy dog eyes. Determined not to give in the teen found his anger ebbing away and shrugged, "I've known for over ten years that you have absolutely no sense of time, kindda like how Ashe has no sense of direction but,...-"
"Hey! Don't drag me into your little lover's quarrel!" I said pressing my lips together as the boy raised his hand for me to be silent.
"Seriously Bianca." Cheren continued frowning his thin eyebrows, "Today's the day we get our Pokémon, don't you want to prove to your dad that you can handle the responsibility. Don't you want to prove that to your Pokémon?" He asked pointedly.
Bianca gasped and withdrew into herself, pulling her green beret down to cover her face. After a tense silence, in which Bianca seemed to reflect on her behavior the black haired teen decided to give his crazy friend a chance yet again. "I hope that by the time we know each other for twenty years you won't be as tardy as you are now." he added flashing her an indulgent smile before she threw her arms around him in tearful hug.
"I'm sorry Ashe, I'm sorry Cheren." She sniffed smudging neat freak Cheren's navy colored jacket with her tears.
"This is becoming a pattern." I pointed out amused by the boys reddening face. "And you never seem to run out of one liners." He snapped back straightening his jacket as a now cheerful Bianca moved towards the package, squealing, "Let's meet our Pokémon! They must be just as excited as we are!"
"I hope one of them agrees on you two acting like idiots." I muttered before Bianca skillfully tore of the wrapping chucking it over her shoulder. Three shining new Pokéballs containing the Unova starters lay there waiting for their trainers, the three of us stared at the Pokéballs in silence. "Ashe gets to pick first right?" Bianca whispered.
"Naturally." Cheren nodded the red and white orbs reflecting in his glasses.
"Why are you two whispering?" I laughed, noticing my cramped muscles. "Here's the deal, the three of us simply take the Pokémon we wish for, I'm sure it'll work out."
"Idiot of course it won't. Those things never do." Cheren snapped.
"Don't call her an idiot, idiot!" Bianca yelled sticking out her tongue.
After a few seconds of swearing back and forth, the three of us noticed our hands resting on a Pokéball. All three Pokémon had a trainer touching the surface of their Pokéball. In a flash of light the young creatures materialized on the floor, craning their necks to gaze into their new trainer's eyes.
A green slender Pokémon studied me with large reddish brown eyes, it stood with his head held high and tasted the air before carefully climbing my shoulder using the leaf on the tip of his tail to tickle my neck.
Bianca petting her brand new Tepig copied his move and sniffed his snout with her own nose, both of them sneezing in unison.
A female Oshawott chirruped, apparently deep in conversation with Cheren who whispered to her, a small smile tugged at his lips as he noticed how the female otter scooted closer and closer settling down on his lap.
Snivy in the midst of studying a chocolate colored lock of my hair raised his head in interest as Bianca jumped to her feet holding Tepig in her arms, the piglet snorted proudly as he towered above all the other Pokémon. "We all have Pokémon now, so we should celebrate by having a battle!" she yelled clenching her fist passionately making if very easy for me to imagine flames burning in the background. "Bianca," Cheren sighed shaking his head in disbelief, "You shouldn't have Pokémon battles in someone's house. Especially if said house isn't even yours!"
"Jup it's mine! And I give you permission to do so!" I said gesturing throughout my room. "But if you want to be a worrywart you can just watch me and Bianca become real trainers you know?" I purred enjoying the immediate effect of my words as Cheren sprung to his feet and Oshawott took on a battle stance.
Gracefully sliding down my shoulder Snivy landed in front of the little otter, staring down his nose at the water type. On his way down I could've sworn he lazily winked in my direction. "Three on three huh?" Cheren muttered his eyes shifting between Snivy and Tepig, the latter scraping its front hooves readying to charge.
"Okay Tepig get Snivy!" Bianca shouted getting down to business, the pig charging in with surprising speed sending the lizard Pokémon flying. Cheren and Oshawott used the chaos to scratch the celebrating pig.
"Show em what you got Snivy!"
Pushing off against the wall with all his strength Snivy returned the favor with a headbutt at the speed of an incoming rocket, throwing the fire Pokémon to the furthest corner of the room, knocking over a plant in the progress. "Tepig!' Bianca yelled as the Pokémon reappeared looking rather shaken but fuelled to continue the battle.
During the Pokémon's combination of wrestling, growling, scratching and an occasional bite their trainers shouted instructions, some of them actually working others making the matter worse. At a certain moment Oshawott climbed a large bookcase and decided to throw its content at her rather unhappy opponents. When a particular large math book hit Snivy on the head I growled in anger, "A math book that's low Cheren!"
"All's fair in war!" he smirked, immediately turning his attention towards the battle as Tepig who practically ran on the walls smashed into the little otter.
"Strike!" Bianca exclaimed her Pokémon wiggling his tail, happy with the praise.
Snivy rather pissed off produced a slender vine whip smacking Oshawott followed by Tepig in the face. "Yeah! Follow it up with a left hook too Snivy!' I cheered punching the air as the lizard produced a second vine whip using it to throw random stuff across the room.
A rather fierce snap of Oshawott's sharp teeth forced Snivy to back off. "Nicely done Oshawott!" Cheren complimented.
"You okay Snivy?" I asked, a stoic flick of his leafy tail and a determined nod coming from the Pokémon almost as if he were saying, I will be after beating those two.
Hissing in concentration the lizard lifted Biana's huge travelling bag from my bed, chucking it at a rather startled Tepig and Oshawott. Distracted by Bianca's loud cry of fear for her bag's contents Tepig tripped over his own paws knocking over a yelping Oshawott. The otter unable to move growled, as Tepig found himself squashed by what had to be his trainer's complete wardrobe. His weight added to the weight of the bag almost flattened a defeated Oshawott.
Even Reshiram and Zekrom would feel it if you had the guts to smack them on the head with something like that. I thought as we eyed the result.
"Oh dear!" Bianca yelled digging up the groaning Pokémon hugging him to her chest, Cheren already muttering words of comfort to his Pokémon who had to take in the loss.
"Snivy you won! We won!" I yelled throwing my hands in the air as the slightly swaying Pokémon rose up to his full height, his eyes sparkling proudly despite his composed form.
"Wow that was really intense." Bianca puffed taking a seat on my bed, "Did you see the way Tepig ran over the walls! He did great, no he was utterly awesome!" The fire Pokémon sitting next to Oshawott and Snivy snorted in agreement.
"Err Bianca." Cheren surveying my ruined room gestured at the walls, footprints of all three the Pokémon clearly visible on the wallpaper. "Wow!" she repeated genuinely impressed with the Pokémon's talent to create a mess, "Pokémon are amazing aren't they? Such power stored in such little creatures!" she mused cringing as a frame containing a picture of the three of us fell to the ground.
Cheren cleaning his glasses shot her a look saying 'you are hopeless' before tending to the Pokémon, he was the only one with the quickness of mind to buy some potions before battling using an untrained Pokémon.
"Some interior architects. They manage to trash rooms more accurate than rock stars." I laughed as the six of us set off cleaning my room with combined effort.
"No wonder Bianca's dad thinks you're a nutcase." Cheren scoffed unable to stop himself from pointing out his 'concern' for my mental health as I stopped him from erasing the three pairs of footprints left on the wall. "I think it's cute." Bianca said leaning on his shoulders unaware of the soapy water on her hands smudging his navy sport jacket.
"When we return from our journey through Unova our Pokémon fully evolved would like to see these too. It'll be nostalgic, you know like watching baby pictures?" I asked.
"Aaaw remember that cute picture of Cheren in the bathtub!" Bianca squealed risking her life by pinching his cheek.
"You were freakishly cute back then." I teased as the boy dodged the touchy blonds hands rubbing the bridge of his nose, clearly annoyed. "When we return home your Snivy," he said nodding towards the uninterested lizard, who sat lounging on top of my cap, "will be a fully evolved Serperior. Meaning a snake-like Pokémon has no paws, feet or whatsoever."
"Uncool Kuro. By the time we get back Marron will have kicked your ass over a dozen times, isn't that right buddy?" I asked as Marron formerly known as Snivy grabbed the rim of my cap, suddenly appearing in my line of vision the smug smile on his face leaving no room for questions.
A huge smile appeared on Bianca's face, "You named him after the color of his eyes, that's so cute!" she squealed frowning her brow and scrunching her face in utter concentration.
"I can almost hear her brain working." I muttered to Cheren whose brows rose and disappeared behind his black bangs, "I was going for steam erupting from her ears but that'll do too." He replied as we put our heads together staring at the reddening blonde.
"Oreo!" she exclaimed clapping her hands in delight, "Ashe used Snivy's eyes, I use Tepig's nose, it's round like an Oreo!"
"We get it, Bianca no need to explain." Cheren mumbled burying his face in his hands.
"You should nickname Oshawott or she'll feel left out. Mark my words I have a nose for these kind of things." She said solemnly giggling as Oreo leapt in her arms and checked her nose for certain oddities.
"Like an Oreo." I snorted bursting into laughter as Cheren added, "No, her nose truly reassembles a pig's nose despite what she says."
Dodging several waves of water coming from the bucket in Bianca's hands and once again transforming my room into a war zone, the little blonde covering her nose chased after Cheren throughout the house aided by an agitated and snorting Oreo. Cheren followed Oshawott's helpful dodging-instructions yipped in a high pitched voice, obeying her as if she were the trainer and he the Pokémon.
"Stop her Saya!" he huffed, awkwardly dodging small puddles of water nicknaming Oshawott and halting Bianca.
"I knew I had a nose for these kind of things!" Bianca cheered raising her arms in triumph giving herself and Oreo an unexpected shower. Resting my hands behind my head I exchanged glances with Marron, the lizard in the middle of climbing my mother's curtains hissed in question.
Are all your friends crazy? He asked swinging back and forth hanging by his tail.
Justine by Customs: check it out on youtube!