I pushed past the hordes of people that crowded the busy sidewalk, my feet pounding against the concrete, aching for me to stop. My lungs heaved as my body shook with fear. I glanced behind to see I had lost Fin in the crowd. Being small had some advantages... I still hated it though. I finally slowed as my shoulders shook and I hiccuped. My throat burned for some sort of drink, and my heart pounded in my ribcage, trying to escape. I felt something slide down my face, and I reached up. I blinked as I saw I had been crying. I rubbed my eyes and waited at the crosswalk. I had gotten a few glances from my fainted pokemon, but no one did anything. That's all they were. Glances.
I felt every inch of my feet as they pounded against the road in time with my slowing heart. I kept my head low, and my ears listening for any sign of Fin.
Thankfully I had not run into him when I walked through the pokecenter's automatic doors as a wave of cool air hit me. It was relaxing.
The pokemon center had tall walls that raised several stories and was topped off by an overarching roof that was covered in glass panes. Outside I could see the last of the sun's rays crying for help as they sunk over the horizon. Long, thick, concrete pillars erupted from the ground to hold up the ceiling like thick arms tattooed with fancy designs. The pillars rose from beside a red and white tile pathway that lead down the long red desk with a fancy machine behind it. On each side of the desk were two more sliding doors with a red cross on the front. One was tinted so you couldn't see behind it, while the other was crystal clear. I could see chairs and waiting trainers. Some were talking with strange pokemon I could barely recognize, while others just sat there blankly, as if they were puppets who had there strings cut off.
I walked up to the desk and rung the little, adorable bell that sat on the counter. A woman came out of the tinted windows immediately and stood behind the counter. The woman was taller than me, but to everyone else she must have seemed small. Her pink hair looped behind her head like if they were large earrings while she sported a nurse's cap with a pink cross on it. She wore a stark white dress with a front pocket that also had a pink cross and a small pink bow around her neck.
"Hello and welcome to the pokemon center, how may I help you?" The nurse joy bowed.
"Er... Hi, my pokemon was knocked out in a battle and I was wondering if you could help him?" I asked politely. Her eyes stared behind me, yet she acted like she was looking at me.
"Of course! Please put the pokeball on the tray." I blinked as a tray with six indents for pokeballs suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Er... I don't have his pokeball with me..." I rubbed the back of my neck. The nurse joy paused, and then pulled out another tray. This one was empty and gray.
"Please put the pokemon on the tray." She repeated. I carefully put down the stunky and backed away. "Please go to the room on your right and wait until we call you." The nurse joy picked up the tray and headed past the tinted doors.
I walked into the clear doors and noticed a reception area with a nurse joy behind it; this one was leaning on her elbow and reading some small book in her right hand. This reception area was surrounded by a thick layer of glass, leaving only a small area for her to fit something through. Her pink hair was tied up in a bun instead of the loops like the other nurse and she had on a thin pair of reading glasses. She glanced up to look at me, and then looked down at the paperback. I stood there for a minute, unsure of what to do, until I realized I was being looked at by several trainers. I flushed and took a seat near some of the magazines on a little wooden table in the corner of the room. I lifted one up and pretended to read it. The magazine was Pocket's Digest and it had a small quiz asking what type I was most like. The answers were already filled in by someone who had a blue pen, but I ignored the answers they put and tried the quiz on my own.
The quiz was silly. It asked a bunch of silly questions like if my friend had fallen would I laugh or help them up, or even what my gender was at the end.
I ended up being a hasty skitty, and I promptly got pissed off and put the magazine back. I crossed my arms and mentally growled. I'm not a skitty.
"So what did ya get?" I heard a terrifying voice gleefully ask. I yelped and jumped up, catching the attention of everyone but the receptionist, who seemed really into the book she was reading. I glanced around, then sat two seats away from Fin. I pulled another magazine from the table and tried to busy myself by reading an article about an old woman who was saved by her houndoom when she had a heart attack. "Hey." He tried to get my attention, but I ignored him. "Hey. Hey." He grinned wider, as if I stated a challenge to him. "Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey." My grip on the magazine got tighter and tighter until the top of the spine tore apart.
"What?" I snapped at him.
"You ran away." He pouted as if I did something wrong.
"You beat my pokemon then threatened me." I hissed at him. A few of the trainers who had pokemon, put there hands on the pokeballs. Fin blinked and looked down.
"Sorry... I get..." He looked around the room. I noticed he was sitting cress-cross on the chair. "Excitable... Sometimes."
"Excitable?" I laughed coldly. "That's not the word I would use to describe what happened."
"Then how would you describe it?" Fin leaned over the chair and crossed his arms.
"Insane." I stated bluntly. He blinked, then looked down. He huffed and sat up straight. I noticed how tall he was sitting. I glanced around the room and saw we had the attention of everyone in the room. Even the receptionist was eying us eagerly, as if we were some sort of live book. I lifted up the broken magazine and pretended to read.
"I-I sometimes don't think before I say things..." He told me. I remained silent. "I also am very competitive. B-but I didn't send my torus after you. Riggor can become very angry very quickly... But usually she is very docile." My pressed my lips into a line. "I really didn't mean anything I said... except the mentoring thing." I felt my anger build up.
"Mentoring? Me? After what just happened?" I blurted out in my rage.
"B-But that's what you don't understand!" Fin jumped up, seemingly unaware of the attention he was drawing. "I was going easy on you! Your pokemon sprayed mine and she attacked on her own!" Fin jerked out his hand. "Others won't let you attack first, or go so easy on you! They will stomp you and your stunky into dust!" He put his hand on his chest. "How about this. I'm not your mentor, but I'll teach you without any charge!"
"That's the same as a mentor." I murmured as I sunk into my seat, trying to get everyone to stop staring at me. He blinked, then let out a small 'oh...'
"What if you can stop being trained whenever you want... Just let me try, and if you want to train on your own after that, then I'll let you." He paused. "And I'll protect you." He puffed out his chest. I wanted to say no, but then the conversation would go on and on and I didn't want these eyes boring into me any longer.
"Fine! Fine!" I waved my hand. "Whatever! Just... Just..." I looked at the awaiting trainers. "Never mind, Fine." I put down the magazine. I looked at Fin, but found he was missing from sight. I blinked and looked at the trainers and receptionist who were are returning back to there normal positions when I arrived. "W-what?" I looked under the seats, but found he wasn't there. "Where di-"
"Kayla." A dull voice rung through the area. A few trainers glanced around, but most of them remained still. I stood up and eyes looked at me. I lowered my head and walked to the reception desk. The nurse Joy looked up at me with tired eyes and pointed her thumb at the automatic door that lead back to where I gave the other Joy my stunky. "Your pokemon is ready to be picked up. We hope to see you again." The Joy told me blankly. I bowed slightly and headed out the door.