I've been watching way too many Looney Tunes lately…
I didn't even realize that I seriously messed up the timeline.
You wont see how until next week though, so until then don't worry about it.
National Suicide Hotline Number : 1-800-488-3000
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out of it alive.- Bugs Bunny
"I'm sorry that I'm not much help, Karen," Mrs. Kay apologized again, "I just can't seem to remember anything anymore."
"(Well, if that doesn't sound familiar…)," Phineas sighed to himself.
"(Yeah, I get it.)," I stood up to head for the door, "(She's not going to be any help. Can we go now?)"
"Would you like to see how Andrew is doing?"
"(Damn it.)," I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Of course," Karen jumped back up to her feet, "and I'm sure that Tyler would love to see his old friends too."
"(Double that damn it.)," I returned and sat back down, "(Haven't I already had enough Torchic exposer today.)"
"(Hey, Torchic are not that bad to be around.)," Phineas winked at me, I cringed.
"(Easy for you to say since you're a Water-Type.)," I recovered rather smoothly… I think, "(if they bug you, you can just knock them out with one shot.)"
"(I suppose I could, but you need to lighten up.)," Phineas jokingly poked me on the head. He nearly tipped me over.
"(Watch it! When I evolve, I'll have hands and I'll show you how that feels.)"
"(Don't be in such a rush to grow up, Johnny boy.)," Phineas looked down at the ground, "(You'll never be able to go back.)"
"(Who cares?)"
"(Can't you just enjoy the body you have now?)"
"(Well, you're not trapped in the body of something you hate.)"
"(Actually, I'm terrified of Croconaw.)"
"(You're kidding right?)"
"(My first Pokémon was a Totodile, but after he evolved the little savage nearly bit my hand off.)," Phineas shivered, "(I never recovered from it.)"
"(Is that why you haven't evolved yet?)," I asked, mentally getting myself ready to face the swarm. Phineas answered as we started our way to the backyard.
"(No, I'm not going to be afraid of myself. I just have too little experience in battle to evolve. Simple as that.)," Phineas said as confidently as he could. Even without my gut telling me that what he was saying was a lie, I could tell by the way his knees shook.
"(Then why are you scared?)," I slapped/kicked him on the back of one knee. This caused him to fall down, but he quickly recovered.
"(I'm not scared.)," he lied again, "(though I am just a little nervous about it.)"
"(You've got jelly legs.)"
Phineas took a moment too look down at his shaking appendages, "(Okay, it frightens me. I don't want to change again.)"
"(You can't fight Nature, but Change is Nature.)," I quoted a verse that I read somewhere, "(All Pokémon evolve eventually.)"
"(Apparently someone hasn't been doing their homework.)," I looked up to find Enya, "(I will never evolve, Milkshake.)"
"(Good afternoon to you too, Enya.)," I didn't bother arguing with her, "(Can we skip the usual beating for today?)"
"(Why would I do that? You haven't done anything… yet.)," Enya then looked up and down Phineas, "(So who's this?)"
"(Phineas the Totodile.)," Phineas spoke before I could say anything, "(nice to meet you young one.)"
"(Excuse me?)"
"(Did I say something wrong?)"
"(Enya is a lot older than she looks.)," I said, forgetting girl taboo number 4.
"(Okay, now you die!)," Enya attacked me with her usual scratch attack. This time I saw it coming so I could dodge it… had I enough sleep the night before that is. Phineas picked her up, her head in his claws.
"(I demand that you put me down.)," Enya said without showing any negative emotions, "(or face the wrath of the true power of the Torchic.)"
"(Never a dull moment with Milkshake around.)," Banhi laughed coming closer to us, another Torchic under his arm, "(Is Siggy and Fia with you two?)"
"(Their owners left them at my place.)," I felt a weird sensation. It's because I had suddenly started considering Milkshake Mansion as my literal home. When did that transition take place? I had never really considered it before that moment. Heck, I didn't even consider it then. Being hypnotized to forgetting everything about who you were, can do that to you.
"(Oh… I hope that she wasn't seriously adopted.)," Banhi made a motion to bitting his ¿wing nails¿, "(I'm not sure if she can adapt right.)" He lie, a rather convincing lie, I'd admit. I wouldn't even have registered it as one if my gut didn't tell me that he was holding back his feelings for Siggy.
"(Don't worry, Fia will be sent back within the week.)", I joked, knowing full well what Banhi meant.
"(Really!)," the Torchic in Banhi's arms woke up from his depression. I now knew that it was Adian. I instinctively hid behind Phineas.
"(Good, you're feeling better Adian.)," Banhi set him back on his two feet.
"(Fia's coming back…)," Adian smiled happily, before glaring at me, "(but she wouldn't have left if it weren't for you!)"
Adian charged at me, but Phineas used his other claw to lift him off the ground as well. Before Adian had the chance to fight back, Banhi came up and forced Phineas to use the two Torchic as cymbals. That knocked them both out. I was left relieved.
"(Now that that's settled.)," Banhi chuckled as he took the unconscious Torchic, "(Jyrotika wants to have a word with you.)"
"(What could I possibly have done in the thirty seconds since I've arrived.)"
Banhi looked at me, who knows what he was thinking of saying at the moment, "(No, she wanted to talk to you about your birthmark.)"
"(I don't have a… oh, right.)," I made my way to the Combuskin coop. I had forgotten that the birthmark was actually the "scar" that I received from being reborn. Phineas being there might have been the only reason that I remembered it. Again, I didn't realize these things until later on.
Phineas followed me to the coop. Wordlessly, we had forgotten about our short conversation about our fears. Phineas with his fear of evolving and me with my fear of never doing so myself. How long before we had to face them?
Jyrotika was busy mixing something in a small bowl. From the smell of it, it had to be some kind of cousin to the Grandpa Muk she served me last time. I took a quick step back from her. She stopped what she was doing when she heard my feet scratch the wooden floor of the coop.
"(Ah, welcome back Mil… Tyler.)," she said, placing the bowl down behind her. Strangely she didn't look happy to see me, even as she hugged me as lovingly as she did when she saw me last, "(I see you're healthier than when you left. A few levels stronger too.)"
"(Well, Johnny's been training hard for his new masters.)," Phineas pat me on the head and extended a claw to Jyrotika, "(I'm Phineas by the way. I'm kind of Tyler's older brother, now.)"
I paused at the mentioning of Phineas being my 'brother'. Where did that come from? I didn't have much time to think about it as Jyrotika returned the introduction with one of her own. She motioned for us to sit across from her.
"(So, I see you've met another one like you. That's good.)," Jyrotika nodded to herself, Phineas and I looked at each other, "(Oh, don't think it was that hard to figure out. You both do horrible jobs acting otherwise.)"
"(It was only thirty seconds.)," Phineas said with a little worry in his voice.
"(Exactly. A real Totodile would have bitten my wing off before ever considering shaking it. Plus, us Pokémon measure time with 'counts', not 'seconds'.)," Jyrotika chuckled to herself, our faces must have looked funny to her, "(Don't worry. Who am I going to tell?)"
"(Yea, but how did you know that I knew?)," I asked.
"(Frankly, it didn't matter if you did or not.)," Jyrotika snorted, "(That's not why I wanted to speak to you. Well, close enough. It's why you have that 'birthmark', isn't it?)"
A moment of silence was my answer.
"(Would also explain why you were born white too.)," Jyrotika placed both of her claws on her knees, "(I hear that it happens, sometimes do to lack of translation (or something like that), when the subject dies with brain damage, Johnathan.)"
"(What did you call me?)"
"(What, you didn't seem offended when you're big brother called you 'Johnny' a few counts ago.)," Jyrotika knew more than she let on, and acted like it, "(or do you find it strange that I know you by your whole name.)"
"(Stop playing games!)," Phineas shouted, on the brink of starting an episode.
"(Sorry, it's just been so long since I've called you by that name.)," Jyrotika turned around and took some straw in her claws, broke them at just the right lengths for her purposes. She placed the straw carefully as she continued.
"(Of course you were only an angry child, last I saw you by that name.)," Jyrotika laughed at a personal joke, "(in some ways you still are. You never really knew my full name…)"
I recognized the shape that the straw formed long before she finished both talking and placing them down. On the ground was a shape that I had seen every day for over seven years. The one object that had not been erased from my memory. It was my pendant, my father's pendant. Only one other being could possibly know about it. I knew who she was. A tear came to my eyes, I couldn't admit it out loud.
"(You were too young to call me by my full name.)," she looked me right in the eyes. They compelled me to speak what she wanted me to say. I tried to resist, but a little voice in my head told me that I had to know.
"(…Jay-jay.)," I gulped as Jyrotika nodded at the name, "(I… Jay-jay, I'm…)"
"(Save apologizes for later. Where is it, Johnathan?)," Jay-jay pointed at the straw shape, "(Please tell me that it's at least safe.)"
"(…I'm… i'm sorry…)," I'm not even sure if I was answering her, or continuing what I was trying to say earlier. Jay… no, Jyrotika stood up to comfort me. (Jyrotika was not the Pokémon than she used to be as Jay-jay.) She held me close, sighing deeply.
"(Look Johnathan, I promised your father that I would protect you.)"
"(I take it that you two need a moment?)," Phineas cocked his head, having absolutely no clue what our relationship to each other was.
"(It would be nice.)," Jyrotika nodded, patting me on the back, before stepping back again, "(but it be better if I explained everything first.)"
Please review thank you.