Bird On The Wire
A story following Corey, who due to a fortunate moment of ignorance might finally get to experience his very own Pokemon journey in Kanto.
Chapter 1
Swinging a dead Rattata, that had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, with a five-foot-long rope at my side my eyes remained glued on the pretty bird circling above.
Waiting…
Trying to judge exactly the right moment…
Now!
The slight angling of the wings just as he was about to turn in my direction.
"Wing Attack!" I shouted giddily, filled with anticipation.
Gaze still fixed on my Pokemon, I saw no indication that he heard me, but my grin didn't slip an inch, because I noticed that the angle of the wings adjusted by the tiniest margins. Instead of a level turn, the raptor's beak was now pointed downward, straight towards me and his target swinging at the other end of the rope.
Then in one smooth motion, less than a heartbeat later, his great wings gave a single powerful flap, and instantly I felt like I was standing in the path of a feathered comet.
Utmost trust and the sheer lack of time however prevented me from getting nervous as I struggled to follow the blur, that was heading my way.
A blink of an eye… and it was already over. Dimly I registered the wind hitting the side of my face and the rope going limp in my hand. The rope, which was now significantly shorter after it snapped under the immense force.
Whipping my head around I ignored my companion doing a low flyby along the edges of the little clearing. Wingtip almost touching the ground and the trees only a hair breath away, told me quite clearly that he was pretty pleased with himself, so I let him to his victory lap and decided to focus on the aftermath of his attack.
The Rattata was a broken mess, but by now that was to be expected. Gaze quickly shifting upwards I inspected the splintered bark at the spot of the tree where it obviously smashed against.
"Already bigger than last time." I muttered in awe, which apparently was the moment my prideful bird had been waiting for, because not a second later he landed right in front of me and puffed out his impressive plumage, literally basking in my admiration.
I couldn't help but smile and crouched, intend to give him the scratches at the back of his neck, which he obviously demanded as tribute.
"Yeah, yeah, you are the best, the fasted, and the most beautiful bird in all of Kanto." I waxed like a bargain poet, knowing he would soak it up like a sponge anyway.
As if to answer my thought he closed his eyes in satisfaction and lazily opened his beak in pleasure.
"Pidge…"
Feeling my Pokemon suddenly go uncharacteristically rigid under my fingers and hearing him stop mid-trill however had me snap an alarmed gaze down at his face in an instant.
"Tweety, are you al…"
Stopping mid-sentence myself now I was suddenly reminded of an eerily similar situation. Although I hadn't been this close and personal at the time, I knew what to keep an eye on.
And sure enough, I felt the muscles in his neck rippling and bulging, and the feathers of his crest slowly but surely lengthening. Taking a slow and cautious step back so as not to startle my buddy but give him the space that he no doubt was going to need I was fully aware that evolutionary transformations could either be slow and gradual or explosively quick.
This instance, luckily, because these were stressful moments for the Pokemon, was over in less than ten seconds despite the slow start. Starring in awe at my companion I was suddenly hit by the realization that we were eye to eye, and I wasn't even crouching anymore.
I couldn't help but laugh in relief and happiness, a quick step forward and my fingers were back on his neck, intent to give him the best neck scratches humanly possible.
"Pidgeot" The magnificent bird screeched in obvious glee, which was followed by a more relaxed but just as content trill when he suddenly registered my massage.
Seeing him stretch his neck to give me better access I was suddenly hit again by his sheer size, and I couldn't help but wonder.
"Tweety…" I murmured to get his attention.
Eyes still closed, a low and quiet trill was his answer and the sign that he was listening.
"Please spread your wings." I calmy asked my Pokemon, somehow keeping a lid on my excitement.
"Pidgeot"
Then, as if in slow motion, Tweety spread his wings, maybe trying to get used to his new dimensions as well.
"Holy crap." I breathed out and unconsciously took a couple of steps back to get a proper view.
This had to be some 6 meters or more.
Shaking myself out of my amazement I clapped my hands once to get Tweety's attention.
Eyes instantly snapping open I let him get a good view of himself first before clapping my hands once more, which managed to snap his amazed gaze towards my figure.
"Alright, do some rounds," I said and absently made a circular motion with my finger, which was our sign for him to do his usual flight routine, which I established to get him warmed up before our training sessions. Dives, quick evasive maneuvers, bursts of high speed followed by gentle gliding using the thermic higher up.
"Then we visit Nurse Joy for a quick check-up." I finished, secretly hoping she would have the time for a quick coffee in the Pokemon Center's cafeteria.
Unseeing eyes on the Rapidash-race currently being broadcasted to the old tv hanging from the ceiling, the cup of lukewarm coffee in my hand was almost forgotten by now. Attempts to relax on the couch in the waiting area while trying and failing to ignore the chatting teens all around me were as bleak as my mood.
Of course, she wouldn't have time at the start of the season with all the excited and bubbly kids crawling out of the woodwork.
Frown threatening to become more pronounced I suddenly noticed creamy white legs enter my vision, which forced my gaze to slowly wander upwards over an outfit, that I thought was perfectly innocent and yet always managed to get me bothered.
"Christy." I exclaimed in pleasant surprise, my mood instantly shifting upon seeing her.
Before I could tell the kids on my other side to get lost to provide more space for the beauty in front of me, those soft legs were already in process of smoothly sliding in the little space between me and the armrest, which apparently, she thought was fine enough.
Arm hastily shooting up and over the back of the couch to give her at least a little bit more space I desperately tried to play it cool when I felt her lithe form all over my side. Emboldened, by her initializing what had to be the next stages of our relationship, I calmly, or hoped what passed of as calmy, settled my arm over her shoulders, which she took in stride without comment.
The cheers that exploded in the back of my mind weren't even dampened by the massive yawn she let loose. Quite the opposite, because I felt her relax against me even more and watched her hand lazily reach across my lap, obviously intending to grab my coffee, which I relinquished more than willingly.
Fully aware, that she was here since the early morning shift I kept quiet and let her enjoy this quiet moment.
Watching her take a small sip of my coffee and grimace slightly the gentleman in me instantly roared to life.
"I can get you a fresh coffee." I offered in a murmur, unwilling to disturb the relatively quiet moment despite all the kids and teens mingling around us.
"Don't worry." She answered with a tired smile and as if to prove her point she proceeded to down the whole cup in one go, which made her shudder a bit and me chuckle.
Putting the empty cup on the coffee table in front of us I watched her reach into the little pouch at the front of her dress and pull out a shrunken Pokeball, my Pokeball, which she deposited in my lap without much fanfare.
The unspoken question was obvious because she gave me a quick peck on my cheek and a happy smile.
"Tweety is perfectly healthy." She began while I absently clipped the Pokeball to my belt. "Even as a fresh evolution he's already on the bigger side of the scale and there's no reason why he should stop growing at the same rate."
"Does that mean there might be a situation in the near future involving you, me, and a nice tropical beach somewhere at the Orange Islands?" I suggested the obvious in a playful manner, my initial nervousness having been blown away by our casual interaction.
"Well," Her voice now becoming seductive, playing along. "There are two things you have to do for that to happen." By now her tiredness was all but forgotten and her blue eyes very close.
"First, a little bit of strength training for Tweety." She told me matter-of-factly. "Secondly," her voice became lower, and I involuntarily leaned in closer. "You have to help me pick a new swimsuit."
I couldn't help but cough when that image popped into my head in nothing less than high definition, which made her laugh, which in turn made me smile.
"Christy!" A female voice, not unlike the young woman's voice in front of me, shouted from the reception desk.
"Chansey!"
"Coming Mom!" Christy shouted over her shoulder, before she turned back towards me, a small smile still on her face.
"Just so you know, Mister, that wasn't a joke." She gave me a quick peck on the lips again. "I've got a free day tomorrow and I intend to drag you along for a little shopping trip."
"I honestly can't wait." I answered truthfully, which I noticed made her smile just a tiny bit bigger.
"Oh man." I groaned out tiredly and massaged my eyes, which couldn't help but settle on the pile of mail, that just didn't seem to get smaller no matter the hours I had already spent sorting them into their respective shelves.
Celadon, Vermillion, Cerulean and Lavender for the Pidgeys, Pewter, Viridian, Fuschia for the Pidgeottos, and two large bags with mail for my brother and his Pidgeot headed for Cinnabar and our uncle in Goldenrod City.
I just loved my job.
Suddenly the door to my little dinky office opened and I was greeted by the sight of my older brother already in his fancy black flying coat, which told me that he was already done for the day and ready to fly home to his beautiful wife and their little kid.
Good for him, must be nice to be the boss.
"You are still not done?" He asked in a mixture of surprise and disappointment, which made me struggle to keep my face straight.
"Obviously." I gave a hollow smile, that wasn't even close to reaching my eyes. "Business is doing great after all."
Ignoring my reply in a tried-and-true manner he walked up to my desk and somewhat carelessly tossed what seemed to be a FAX in front of me.
A short glance down, which was not enough to discern the contents, and my gaze was back on my brother, who obviously had something on his mind.
"Can you explain to me why the City Council felt the need to send me a missive, telling me, that my employee is in possession of a Class Three Pokemon and that his work permit is revoked until further notice?" He asked innocently, giving no hint of what he was feeling.
"What?" I asked, admittedly somewhat dumbly, in return.
"What." He echoed my words, first hints of his mood shining through.
"What this means, you moron," He went on and I decided to ignore the insult in favor of what seemed to be serious business. "is that you need to get three gym badges within 30 days otherwise the league is going to confiscate your overgrown Pidgey and your provisional trainer license." He finished with a scowl, and despite the situation, I was a tiny bit glad, that I didn't detect any schadenfreude at my situation.
"But," I struggled for a moment to formulate a straight sentence before I shook my head once to get my thoughts in order. "But, I don't want to be a Battle Trainer, I have no idea about this whole strategy stuff."
"Yes, well, Corey, you don't have much of a choice in this matter if you want to keep Tweety." My brother answered straight to the point before he threw up his hands and began to pace in front of my desk.
"For fuck's sake, let me repeat myself, you are not allowed to work with Pokemon, you are not allowed to use Tweety in the vicinity of a settlement." He shook his head in frustration, not slowing his pacing before he went on with his tirade. "If you wanted to fly around you could have asked for Valkyrie, she likes you well enough. But no, you had to somehow evolve your bird, how did you do that anyway? You said you didn't like battles." He stared at me and I couldn't help but let my brows wander towards my hairline at the seemingly stupid question.
"We trained." I stated the obvious, apparently, I was missing something here, because my brother stared at me like I was a puzzle.
"You trained…" He trailed of faintly before he shook his head to focus on the matter at hand. "Whatever, thanks to you I have to make a trip to Uncle Denjiro and ask for a temporary replacement for you or look for someone reasonably suited here in Saffron, while you stumble around the wilderness."
"Good luck with that." I said dryly, implying he should better get on his knees in front of our uncle and beg, because I doubted someone in this city was stupid or desperate enough to get roped into this shitshow.
"What was that?" He asked with an edge. "You think it's funny, that I have to clean up after your mess?"
And suddenly I felt my temper begin to bubble under the surface. That ungrateful prick.
"I said, I'm terribly sorry, that for once I wasn't one hundred percent convenient for you." I said with a scowl of my own, accentuated by a mock bow in his direction.
"You" He began, but I cut him off.
"No, you, shut up and listen," I said and stood up, despite the four-year age difference we were of the same height…and I was in significantly better shape. The perks of having a shitty job.
"Look at you in your fancy coat, living with your beautiful wife in a nice little house in the residential area. Things always went just right for you, while I ate shit!" I bit out venomously, which made my brother shut up.
"You are twelve and get to join Falkner for training and tuition." I said it like it was no problem for me, which it wasn't. I had long outgrown this petty jealousy. "And I sit at home with a father, who wouldn't shut up about the grand adventures he was missing." My stare was now cut from stone before a hollow smile slowly began to split my face.
"How convenient for him, that you returned three years later. Now he could have his mid-life crisis and fuck off to who knows where." I shrugged, by now I didn't give a damn about the guy.
"Luckily Uncle Denjio offered to take us in and provide for us," I said with honest gratefulness, before I went right back to vitriol. "but you, you decided you had other plans. You would go on your journey so that our good uncle wouldn't have to feed two more mouths. You are truly a saint." I gushed with disgustingly obvious fake-admiration.
"Three fucking years again you had your fun, while I cleaned up bird shit, sorted piles of mail, manned the shop desk plus dealt with all the other crap that tended turn up regularly." I stopped short and cocked my head. "Will you look at that, it's the same old shit I do today at almost 18." I said in mock realization, before I went back to the right spot on our shared timeline.
"After three years, you come back and get right into management. You had the proper Trainer license, you had the experience, you had seen all of Johto and Kanto. And little old me had to stay as a convenient little helper to run the fucking Pidgey Express." I finished with proper anger coloring my voice, while my face felt like it had shifted into a truly ugly scowl.
"You know what," I finally said to my brother, who looked at me with wide eyes and open mouth. I closed my eyes for a second and took a single deep breath.
"Fuck it," I began in a flat tone and made my way around the desk and my brother towards the door. "I quit, lock the door when you go...or don't. I don't care anymore." I finished and carelessly tossed my keys onto the pile of unsorted mail.