Disclaimer: The following story is fictional. Any similarities to previously well-established multi-national intellectual properties is purely coincidental. Please do not sue us. Or else. We'll… cry, or something.
Ohmigosh! AMBER! AMBERAMBERAMBER!
Hi, my name is Qwill and my name is Qwill because when I talk I don't use the 'Cynda' part of my name because it takes too long and I'm not actually speaking English because Medici is translating for me and AMBER! YAY!
As much as I like Axel, which is a lot because I mean who doesn't like Axel except for mean old Mr. Munson who isn't actually all that mean, but right! As much as I like Axel, Amber is the one who raised me. She fed me special food and sang me stories and groomed my fur and all my physical slash battle training was actually done by Axel but that wasn't nearly as fun as all the things AMBER did for me because she's so awesome and I'm glad she's back! YAY!
Medici says I have something called ADHD. But I don't think that's true because I looked around my corner of the room and I even checked in my Pokeball that was really dark and scary and I'm glad Axel doesn't put me in and I don't think I have anything, like no toys or secret food stashes or posters or anything, so I think he's making things up like he does a lot even though it turns out he's usually telling the truth sometimes.
Oh, and Medici wants to know why I'm telling this part of the story. Do you know? He just kind of asked it out loud under his breath which means I'm pretty sure it's ok for anyone to answer so feel free to answer because I don't know the answer and I think Medici really wants the answer. Answer? Amber! YAY! AMBER!
So Amber went back home for a few days after she came but she made sure to play with me and tell me that she'd be right back in a few days and so it was fine. I started waiting for her which was really easy because it didn't actually require any additional work and so I really just sat on Axel's shoulder during the day like I'd normally do except when he's lifting something heavy because then he starts grunting and stuff and he gets really shaky and its hard to stay on and so I get off and I sit on one of the crates inside Mr. Munson's warehouse which is where Axel lives and does a lot of work but sometimes he has to go make deliveries and then I get back on his shoulder because it's actually really fun up there because I get to look at the top of peoples' heads because Axel's kind of tall.
Ooh! And it was during one of those delivery things that the thing that they wanted me to talk about happened so that's actually really convenient because then I don't have to make a really awkward transition and I can just keep talking so YAY!
Axel was picking up a delivery for Mr. Munson at the post office like he usually does and talking really nice to Mrs. Post who is the Mayor's wife and also the postmistress and I think it's funny that her name is Post when she's the postmistress although it's not probably very funny now that I said something about it so Qwill is sorry for that but anyway Mrs. Post is really nice! She always gives Axel muffins on the third Sunday of every week because that's her baking day and Mr. Post never eats all of them and so there's always some left over and then Axel gives me a blueberry one and it's really yummy!
But I remember getting really excited that day because Mrs. Post was talking more excitedly than usual which usually means she gives us even more muffins than usual and that would have been awesome! But it turned out that she was just about to hang up a poster in the post office window and so Axel did it for her because he's really nice but he almost dropped it! Which I thought was weird because it wasn't very heavy but then I figured it was because of what it said because he got excited after he read it and so I decided to read the poster and it said: 'First Annual Cliffkiln Pro-Am Pokémon tournament. Open to all of Salvout Region. Grand Prize of 50,000P. Inquire within." And so Axel talked with Mrs. Post and he signed up for the tournament and so I guess that means that we're actually going to have a real battle and not just one against Benji which I always feel bad about because his Pokémon are actually starting to become scared of me because I always have to hurt them but its ok because we're still friends and playing is fun!
"So basically, for those of you having a hard time following along," Medici interrupted me really really really meanly, "There was a tournament held in Cliffkiln, and Axel entered it. Couldn't you have just said that? So much easier."
But that's what I said! I said all of that! Silly Medici, you really don't listen do you? What do mean you're not going to translate that? Translate it! PLEEEEEEEE… oh you were being an iron? Okokokokokokokokokok sorry I didn't realize that because you don't look ironic and so anyway where was I because I was interrupted and I forgot what I was going to say next and what? Something about a rich snooty bad word that rhymes with 'bad word'… ooh! Right! Percy Garrison! YAY! He smells like money!
So anyway Mrs. Post told Axel that this really rich trainer named Percy Garrison from some rich neighborhood outside of town was funding the tournament and that he had openly declared in the middle of the farmer's market the other day that he doubted that there was a single trainer amongst us country bumpkins who could stand against him and his awesomely raised Pokémon and that he would personally give another 100,000P to any trainer who could beat him which I think was his way of making sure there was enough competition to make it fun for him because really who would say something so insulting like that just to insult people? Besides, there's no way he could be that confident about him winning because he must know that Axel's in the tournament now except now that I think about it Axel keeps a really low profile and doesn't leave town except for work and so Percy probably didn't know about it but that's ok because it just means he'll be surprised!
After that, Axel went right back to the store without taking the delivery out which made Mr. Munson mad at first but he got over it after Axel explained what had happened and why he'd decided to come back first and so they started talking. Mr. Munson didn't want to let Axel compete at first because it would mean that he'd stop working at the store for those days, but then Axel promised to wear a shirt with the store's logo on it and carry a flag with it on as well whenever he battled and so Mr. Munson figured it was ok because he figured that all the people coming to see the tournament would see it and go to his shop! And so after that, Axel almost forgot about the delivery but Mr. Munson yelled at him and then Axel remembered and he went to take the fruit arrangement over to PROFESSOR REDWOOD who is awesome but not as awesome as Amber but still pretty awesome!
Professor Redwood lives in this small little brick house next to this really awesome restaurant where this one really nice waitress always gives me free pizza whenever I show up, though maybe Axel does pay for it when I'm not looking because I see them talking together a lot and sometimes when I'm eating I'll look up and find that they're not there but Axel always comes back and so I don't mind but anyway I didn't go there today because then Axel would have to come looking for me and he gets worried because there's always the chance that the death trainer might show up and try and steal me and I don't like him getting worried about me and so I didn't go off by myself.
Instead, when we got to Professor Redwood's house, I got to get off Axel's shoulder and go play with the professor's bodyguard/pet/awesome-Pokémon Champers the Machamp though Champers is just what I call him because I think his real name is just Machamp, but I got to go play with him and he likes to grab me and fling me into the air out in the backyard and then catch me and its fun and I actually learned how to do the second part of Fly because we do this so often and so if I can learn to jump really high I can dive bomb opponents in battle and Axel will be really proud of me! But Axel's always proud of me no matter what, so even if I can't figure out how to do it which I probably won't then it's ok. After a few hours Axel came and got me and I showed him the second part of Fly and he was really happy and then we left and the next day we started training for the tournament! And then Amber came back again! YAY! Life is so awesome!
"That's it?" Medici asked me with a groan after I'd finished narrating. "I can leave now? You're done?"
"Yupyupyupyupyupyup!" I lied to him. Whether or not he believed me or not doesn't really matter because he left anyway, which means I can tell you about the last thing that happened that made me think really really hard and even kind of scared me a little which admittedly isn't exactly hard to do since I get scared of pretty much anything past 8:00 but... Focus Energy Qwill, come on. This part is important!
After getting back from Professor Redwood's place that day, Axel went to lie down which is odd for him because he usually goes right on working past when his shift technically ends. Like I usually did, I climbed up on top of his chest, circling round and round until I eventually plopped down with a soft thud to take a nap. But almost immediately after I'd gotten comfortable, Axel grabbed me underneath my front legs and lifted me up, which isn't as fun as it might seem but is still pretty fun because Axel always makes sure he gentle, even when... Focus! As I was saying, he lifted me up, making sure I was facing him directly. The playfulness that was always in his eyes was gone and, for some reason, it allowed me to concentrate fully on what he was about to say. It wasn't often Axel thought about something seriously, or at least as far as I can tell which I'd like to think is pretty far and so I figured what was coming next must be super important.
"Qwill," he said. "You remember what it was like catching Medici, right?"
Since I don't speak English like Medici can, you might think Axel was a little crazy for trying to talk to me. But he's known that I at least understand him for years now, and we've been able to have any conversation we want provided I can answer by either nodding or shaking my head. In this case, I nodded.
"Do you think we should risk letting him fight in the tournament?" The question struck me as weird, because why wouldn't we let Medici fight in the tournament, it'd mean that we'd be guaranteed to win because he was like really super strong even before Axel caught him, and now that he can play the guitar on top of it all it means he's... no, no, damn it! Why can't I stay on task? I didn't shake or nod my head, but simply said 'Qwill' as inquisitively as possible, which is a lot more than you might think because since I use Qwill to say everything, I can make it sound WAY different depending on how I mean it and... Axel's... response... was...
"I mean, I know it's been almost a year," Axel almost muttered. "And he's gotten a lot better, especially since Professor Redwood's been in the picture, but... I mean, his last relapse was only two months ago." He was silent, probably thinking really deep and interesting thoughts like he does a lot of the time or at least that's what I'd guess. "I'm just afraid that if we put him in an actual battle situation, he'll... you know." We didn't like to mention Medici's problem, just in case he could hear us which he probably could because he can read minds.
Axel was quiet for a long time after that, and I wished he would say something because he hadn't asked a yes or no question and so I couldn't really respond to what he was thinking. I wiggled free from Axel's grip, having just come up with a semi-awesome idea, and ran into the warehouse, eventually finding and bringing back a scrap of rusted metal and laying it at Axel's feet.
"Metal? The MetalGross?" Axel asked, but I shook my head so he knew I wasn't talking about that. "Well, then what is it? Rust? What does that..." I nodded my head quickly. "Rust... oh..." He smiled sincerely. "Trust him. I see." He placed a hand on my head, ruffling my fur. "Thanks a lot, buddy." He looked happy, and the playfulness in his eyes returned which I guess meant that I did a good job cheering him up and so he went back to work and I decided to take that nap I had been wanting and so I went looking for a really big, nice, soft crate which is harder to find then you might think because...
Narration Ended By Author For Interest of Reader Sanity
Author's Note: If you only care about the story, or don't care at all, feel free to stop here.
So, if you hadn't guessed by now, the idea behind this story is to have different characters narrate each time. If you're wondering why I'm doing this instead of having it just told from the point of view of Axel who, believe it or not, is the main character, then I'll enlighten you.
For those of you who don't know, which is all of you and so I'm… not really sure why I prefaced this statement with that, I've been spending my free time that isn't devoted to college or socializing or sleeping to finishing up an actual novel. (You: Oh my goodness! An Amaxing novel? That's… well, this is Amaxing's only story for the Pokémon fan base, so I'm not really sure what to expect from it.)
One of the things my editor said offhandedly was that, occasionally, my characters sound kind of similar. It wasn't enough of a problem for him to actually suggest me changing anything but… it still bothered me nonetheless. So I've decided… why not? I've already started the trend in this fan fic… why not continue?
So, what I'm getting at is, if you decide to review, which I'd appreciate a lot, actually, if you could address character development in some way shape or form, then I'd appreciate it… even more a lot. Like 10X a lot. Plus one.
But then again, if you just write a hurried, badly spelled review about how much you love me and how I'm awesome and this story is the best thing ever… I'd appreciate that too. I love those things.
Max English out.