Pokémon
Bonjour! Ok, first of all, I am really sorry. It's been a month since I've updated and I feel bad, in more ways than one. Bad news is I'm not feeling well again, good news is that I might be posting another story soon, but that's not a definate. Truth is, I've had this written for a while but never posted it. Again, very sorry.
In other news, thank you to the reviewers that gave their opinion to my question in the last chapter. I really appreciate it. Now, please forgive my horrible updating ways.
Chapter # 13 – Old Friends, New Rivals
Paul and Alex each walked out with a Fen badge in both of their possessions. "Can we leave now? This place is too mucky for my taste." Alex said hopefully, eyeing her muddy shoes and showing her distaste with a slight curl of her nose.
With a silent answer, Paul leading the way, they drew nearer the border of the city. Happily, Alex ran forward to the edge of the city. But, apparently fate wanted her to stay in town and as soon as she placed a foot over the city's border, the livid clouds hanging in the sky broke like a huge water balloon. A gale of wind slashed the stinging pellets into their faces. Thunder and lightning cackled viciously. Vision got very limited for the pair of travelers, so both sprinted back to the pokemon center to take shelter.
"Everybody, I'm sorry to inform you that an unexpected storm has hit our city." Nurse Joy stated over the worried voices throughout the center.
"N-no r-rea-lly?" Alex mumbled sarcastically as tremors quaked her body while she attempted to warm herself by the fire.
"I would advise all of you to remain in the pokemon center until it has died down enough for safe journeys. Now if would please form a line I will assign each group of travelers a room for the night. Some of you traveling alone may be required to share. Thank you." With that, almost everybody jumped up and elbowed their way into line. It was going to be a long night.
*****
Paul and Alex stood in the entrance of their room, eyeing the contents, or lack there of, unhappily. All of the double-bedded rooms had quickly been reserved leaving Alex and Paul with one, fair sized bed, not even an extra couch.
"You have got to be kidding." Paul snarled.
"Yeah, well I don't like it any better than you." Alex replied, tossing her backpack at the base of the bed. "But I want to get out of this town with as little pain as possible. I'm tired, my clothes are still damp and I hate this stupid place. So, I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. If you stay on your side of the bed and I stay on mine we should be good. Ok? I thought so." She slammed the bathroom door shut to finish her rant, leaving no room for objections.
She emerged after a much needed, relaxing shower about 15 minutes later, fluffing her long chocolate hair dry. She had put on a pair of light blue pajama shorts with purple pinstripes, and a lavender tank top while her regular clothes dried out over the heater. A tiny yawn escaped her lips as she threw her towel beside her backpack.
Paul was nearly asleep by the time, arms resting behind his head. He had taken off his sweater, leaving him in a simple black t-shirt and track pants. She laughed as she watched him slowly drifting off to sleep. He didn't look nearly as grumpy while he was in this state.
She quietly called out her eevee, who had taken cover in her pokeball during the downpour. Snuggling the little fox close to her body like a cuddly, stuffed animal, she climbed into the space on the bed Paul had left for her.
The rained pounded harshly against the windows, and every few minutes a flash would brighten the grim sky, followed by a sharp crack. While listening to the storm attacking the city, Alex finally drifted off.
Everything felt cold. Even under her thick blankets, the cold still managed to surround her. A massive storm had reached the little town of Pallet; winds howled through the trees leaving threatening shadows on her walls, dark, menacing branches like hands reaching in to grab her, and the menacing thunder like the sound effects in a horror movie.
The little girl buried herself farther down in the depths of her bed, trying to rid herself of everything. Something, to her, didn't feel exactly right. It seemed as though the storm was working to cover something else up. A whimper went unheard as a clap of thunder vibrated the house.
The warm blankets were suddenly ripped off of her. She shrieked as tears began to flow from her dark eyes. "Daddy?" She whimpered at the dark figure lingering above her.
She could tell the man's face contorted into a toothy sneer. Even in the dark she knew this dark, red-eyed man was not her father. "You're daddy's not here anymore little girl." A flash or lightning granted her a better view of his face, and she screamed an ear-piercing scream. This seemed to amuse the man farther as he cackled.
A siren rang in the nearby distance. The man stopped short, looking out the window. He brought a cold hand to the child's cheek, and whispered, "We will meet again." He then flew out of the room as fast as he came. Her brother, not even seeing the man, ran into her room seconds later and rushed to hug his sobbing sister. She looked up to find his face was as tear stained as her own.
"I can't find mommy or daddy!" He managed through sobs. Both clutched to each other until the police found them huddled in the small room. They were taken to Mrs. Ketchum's house to spend to rest of the night. The tall, redheaded woman clutched both children like a lifeline. The little, fear-struck girl numbly embraced the mother like figure with all her might, horrid thoughts swimming though her mind of the reality of what was happening.
Paul awoke abruptly, feeling pressure around his torso. He glanced over to find his traveling companion holding him in a death grip. Her eyes flittered as a sign of her dreaming, and with the expression of her face he guessed it wasn't a pleasant one. She was breathing deeply, and tears were trying to escape from under her lashes and closed eyelids.
Alex's eyes shot wide open and she bolted upright into a sitting position, both hands clapping over her mouth to suppress a gasp. After wildly searching her surroundings, she took a shaky breath of relief and cradled her head in her hands. She whimpered and trembled, as there was another roar of thunder.
"You were having a nightmare." Alex let out a startled yelp, failing to realize Paul was awake. She would have fallen off of the edge of the bed if Paul hadn't held her in place, wrapping an arm around her small waist.
"Yeah, so what?" She snapped, wrenching herself out of Paul's reach and attacking her tears with the bottom of her shirt, spotting it with dark specks. Eevee arose from the foot of the bed as well, noticing her trainer's discomfort.
"Is that why you haven't been sleeping well?" Paul asked, oddly concerned. He tried to put a hand on her shoulder, to which she jumped completely off the bed.
"What's it to you?!" Alex stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She needed coffee, badly!
*****
The next day brought the city a cheery sun, completely opposing Alex's current mood. Last nights nightmare was the worst one yet. She usually had little flashes of different scenes, but the storm last night must have dug up old memories of that one horrible, tragic night way back. Paul was walking behind the edgier, sharp-tongued girl, leaving her to her thoughts. Every few minutes she woould mutter quietly to herself, sounding like a string of profanities.
They walked even faster than usual, but the unusual, un-comfortable silence made the journey drag on. Even Alex's little eevee was safely tucked in her pokeball, away from her trainer's wrath. An uncontrollably large yawn came from the agitated girl, as she slowly started coming off her sugar/caffeine high. "Why, why must this happen to me, why now?" she mumbled annoyed, digging through her backpack for another candy bar.
"You know, talking to yourself is one of the first signs that somebody's going crazy." Paul stated, eyes closed, hands stuffed in his pockets as he caught up to her.
An un-audible reply made him smirk. "Are you acknowledging this, or are you just too scared to say something to my face?"
"I said screw you, you stupid, think-you-know-it all, son of a… oof." Alex hit the ground hard, taking all of her breath with the fall. An umbreon sat innocently on her chest, looking at her expectantly.
"It's an umbreon." Paul said, remotely surprised but not showing it.
"No duh. I figured that…much… This isn't just any umbreon." Alex sat up, hugging the black dog like pokemon and whipping around excitedly. Just as she expected, not too far away, a head of spiky brown hair caught her dark eyes. Paul was confused at her bipolarness; first she was steaming mad and now she looks like a little kid at Christmas. What had her so excited?
"GARE-BEAR!!!" She shrieked, hopping up and racing into the boy's arms. He caught her around the waist, lifting her off the ground and spun her in circles, laughing happily. Paul approached the two in a normal pace, eyeing the boy holding his traveling partner with his harsh glare. They seemed not to notice him as Gary nuzzled into her silky, chocolate hair.
"Miss me my little Lexi?" He teased, tickling her sides lightly, earning another joyful laugh and a hand swat.
Pulling away from the long embrace, smiled up at the spiky haired boy. "Oh my gosh, yes! What are you doing here?" Alex demanded, bouncing up and down like an impatient 5 year old, the largest smile imaginable adorning her face.
Gary placed his hands on her shoulders to keep her still. "I was just doing some more research for Gramps." He responded, a tad smugly. He finally looked up to see the purplenette boring holes into his head, and responded with a smirk.
Noticing Gary wasn't paying attention to her anymore, Alex looked back and forth between the two boys, who were now engaged in a staring contest. "Um, Paul, this is Gary. Gary, this is my traveling partner Paul." Neither acknowledged her, but rather still stared at each other; Gary smirking with his arm around Alex's shoulders, and Paul's lips pulled into a hard line. Her eyes squinted as she watched them both, wondering what she was missing. "…Yeah, ok I'll be over there after you guys are done with, whatever." She said, giving her attention back to the black and golden ringed pokemon.
"Umbreon." It chirped happily as Alex let eevee out to greet her evolved friend. They both lapped up the attention they were getting from the girl, rubbing against her legs.
Gary raised an eyebrow at Paul, unfolding his crossed arms slowly. "It's nice to meet you, Paul." He spoke in a mocking tone, causing a low growl to emit from Paul's throat threateningly and his scowl to increase in bitterness, if it was at all possible.
"Hn, whatever. You seem pretty confident in yourself. So, wanna battle?" Paul asked in his usual cold tone.
"Sure, but don't cry when ya lose." Gary stuck his nose up arrogantly, but not losing eye contact. "After all, I am the grandson of the Professor Oak."
"We'll see whose crying after I'm finished. It will be a three-on-three battle with no substitutions. The first one with two wins is the winner. Got it?"
"Fine, we'll go along with your little rules. Doesn't change who the winner will be; me."
"What is up with them?" Alex asked the two pokemon before her, watching the glaring, the back and forth bickering, the harsh handshake that looked more like a contest to see who could break the other's hand before retreating to opposite sides of the forest.
"Lexi…" Gary said, turning to the girl. She pouted out her bottom lip.
"Fine." She drawled out, pulling herself to a standing position. "Umbreon, good luck." She patted his head as he hopped onto his trainer's side of the field. "You both know the rules. Blah, blah, blah, begin." Alex called out with little to no interest, moving to sit cross-legged where the referee would stand.
"No need for a referee, this battle will be over quick. Ursauring, stand by for battle." Paul half snarled over at the brunette boy.
"Let's show them, umbreon." And the battle ensued.
So, as you can probably tell, my question is still open so if you didn't get your opinion in the last time, now is your chance. It is now 1 in the morning and I have school so I think it would be a good idea to go to bed now. R&R!
