Ch8: The Clearing
Hey guys, this is my first time making a fanfic so sorry if my grammar isn't that good. Feel free to correct me or point out any grammar errors.
This story is in the Percentverse created by Jackboy0815.
I recommend reading their story: 30 Percent It is one of my personal favorites and is the original story in the Percentverse.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any characters from Pokémon. None of the people in this story are real people.
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
" Poke speech"
Setting: Dayton Ohio
Words: 4918
Hey so I just realized I didn't write the reason why Joshes dad isn't here right now when I thought I did. I'm gonna retcon it into ch3 but the TLDR is that his father is currently an airline pilot and was in Amsterdam when this went down and is currently stuck there due to flights being canceled.
It's been about three days now. Nothing has really changed in my daily routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, screw around for a couple of hours, and go to the clearing. The only thing that's really changed is the amount of people showing up to the clearing. Yesterday at its peak there were around 50 people there, all of them being Pokemon.
We had too many people for a singular soccer game, so some people split off and did other things. Some just chatted with each other, some were screwing around with their powers together, and there was even a group of people that started a game of hacky sack.
Right now I'm just sitting outside Crystal's house while I wait for her to grab her bag. I currently have my own bag on, an old lifeguard fanny pack with both my phone and a plastic water bottle shoved inside. It's not all the way closed with the water bottle sticking out some. The strap doesn't fit all the way around my stomach, so I have a string tied from each end of the strap.
Currently, it's about 3 ish in the afternoon. Shade and Daniel are both already at the clearing having left about 2 hours ago. I would've left around the same time they did but I ended up falling asleep on the front lawn.
"You ready?" I ask as Crystal leaves her house. She currently has a small satchel that has a strap tied to its handle that goes over her back and under her belly before coming back around the bag and ties off near where it started. "Yep, I'm ready." She says.
We start making our way to the clearing and it's not that long before a conversation starts. "So did you see that shit about the exclusion zone in Paris?" Crystal asks.
A few days ago, France announced that they are going to make Paris an exclusion zone and that Pokemon would not be allowed in the city. Of course, people thought that it would take a while for them to actually achieve this but earlier today they announced that they have finished making Paris a "Pokemon free zone" making it one of the first in the world."
"Yea, I still can't believe that they managed to do that that quickly," I say back
"I'm surprised too." She says back. "They probably used the military to do it though since they had already brought them in for the riots."
"I would imagine so," I say. " Would've been a missed opportunity if they didn't. Might've even been intentional. Bring in the military for the riots and then have them conveniently be there when they force all the Pokemon out of the city."
"That could be true. Although I think it's more of them jumping at the opportunity. If it was intentional then that would mean they would have had to have staged the riot which I don't they would have done to themselves." Crystal says.
We hit the edge of the forest and start to walk down the dirt path that leads into the forest. "True, causing destructive riots would probably not be a good idea." I say.
"Heh, yea." She says.
We are quiet for a few seconds before Crystal speaks up again. "I just really hope that doesn't happen here. There are already countries that after seeing how France easily expunged its Pokemon population from Paris, have decided to start doing the same. Heck, there are countries that started doing the same before Paris was fully rid of Pokemon."
"Yea sigh, I hope that doesn't happen," I say.
We are quiet for a few more seconds before I say half joking. "Worst case scenario we move to Hungry. Most of their population are Pokemon and they just announced that they are now run by an elemental government."
"That or any other country near them," Crystal says. "I know they also have a majority Pokemon population and will probably follow suit."
"Yea, I wonder how things will be different there. Apart from them all being Pokemon." I respond
"I don't know. They will probably have to build a lot more accessibility infrastructure. I mean what if a foot-tall Pikachu and an Onix need to be in the same building." Crystal says
"Heh yea, that would be hard to figure out. Plus, they would probably have to strengthen the roads for the more heavier Pokemon." I say. "There would also be the problem of healthcare."
"Well, these also all apply here," Crystal says. " Just on a lesser extent."
"Well unless you vault you pokemon from your cities," I say half joking
We are both quiet for a few more seconds before Crystal says "I really hope that doesn't happen to us."
We keep walking until we eventually hit the edge of the clearing. I can hear the sound of a small crowd and as I look down into the clearing I see that there are about 50-60 Pokemon here already.
In the middle of the feild, there is a game of soccer currently going on with about 20 people playing.
On the opposite side of the field, my eye catches some sparks as a Pikachu shoots a small bolt of electricity at a tree. He is around a few other Pokemon that also seem to be practicing their moves.
One thing I notice as we are about to head down is… "Is that a… tarp?"
Over by the near side of the clearing close to where the soccer game is, there is a stand set up. Well stand might be a little strong of a word, it's just some PBC and a tarp with a towel on the ground.
"I guess so. I think they are selling something down there. I can't tell what though." Crystal responds.
"Huh, well let's get down there and see what they are selling then."
We make our way down into the clearing and walk towards the stand and as we get closer I can see that Mathiew is the one manning it. He is currently sitting on the towel, surrounded by packs of water bottles, and is currently selling one to a raticate.
We get to the stand as Mathiew finishes up his sale where he notices us out of the corner of his eye. He turns his head towards us and says. "Oh hey, you too. How are you doing?"
I smile back at him before responding."Oh, I'm doing good."
Crystal responds in the same manner where afterward I ask/joke. "So how's business?"
"Oh, it's going well. I've actually made a decent amount of money today." He says. He turns to his left until he is looking straight at a small wooden box. He opens said box where I see a to of money stuffed in there. He puts the money that is currently in his hand before closing the box.
As he turns back to us Crystal asks "How did you even get all this stuff down here."
"Oh, I had Ryder (a rydon) help me haul this stuff down here. I'm giving him a cut of the profits for his help," he says.
"Did you have like a cart or something?" I ask. "Cause I doubt even he could haul all of this down here."
"Well, actually we did. We parked it over there by the edge of the woods so it would be out of the way." Mathiew says before pointing towards the woods.
I look in that direction and see that the is a wooden cart over by the nonhill side of the woods.
"Where did you even get that from?" Crystal asks.
"I bought it," Mathiew says. "It didn't cost too much and if I keep selling at the rate I've been I should be able to make back the money for the cart by the end of the day."
"Huh really. How much are you selling those for?" I ask.
"About $2 a pop," Mathiew says.
"Wow, $2. I kinda expected carnival prices." I say jokingly.
Mathiew throws his hands up in the air before joking back "Hey what do you take me for? A con man."
"Ha, no, I'm just messing with you," I reply.
"Well, anyway would you like to support my small business and buy a bottle of water," Mathiew asks
"I doubt he will," Crystal says as a smile spreads on her face. "He's already got one stuffed into his fanny pack there."
"Hey, it's not like I have anything else that fits anymore." I retort. "Not even this fits I had to use some string to get it to fit."
"I mean I probably have an extra purse if you want it." Crystal jokes.
I roll my eyes before responding sarcastically "Ha, ha."
"Well since Josh here doesn't want to buy any what about you Crystal," Mathiew ask
"No thanks, I also have my own in my bag." She responds.
"Ah, well I can try," Mathiew says.
"Alright well, I'm gonna go see if I can join in on the soccer game. I might come back later when I eventually run out of water." I say.
"Cool, well I'll talk to you two later then." He says
"Alright later." We both say at different intervals.
I end up playing soccer for about 2 hours before I stop. They are still playing but I'm just tired. They aren't really keeping track of the score and have been playing for 5 hours now with people switching in and out. I doubt anyone there has been playing for the full 5 hours.
As I'm making my way off the field I spot Daniel and shade over by "the gym" as people have started to call it. I decided to make my way over to them.
As I get closer I can see some flames coming off of Daniels's back. It's not consistent and they are just flaring up and down but they are pretty decent-sized flames. I look over to Shade and see that he's focusing hard on… I think a tree branch. It's hard to tell. The branch almost looks blurry from here.
There are also a few other Pokemon nearby that are also practicing their powers. I don't really pay much attention to them but I keep a mental note of which ones to not get too close to.
As I start to get close Shade sees me out of the corner of his eye and as he sees me he loses focus and the tree branch he was staring at disappears.
"Oh wow!" I say surprised. " I see you've been working on your illusion powers."
"Uh.. yea I have." Shade says. "It's not really that good though. I've only been able to make illusions of small things and anything decently sized like that tree branch ends up uh… blurry."
Daniel stops expunging flames to walks over to us. "Well, it's still a start. You should be able to master it in no time."
"T-Thanks Daniel." Shade says a little sheepish.
He doesn't get compliments that often
"No problem," Daniel replies.
"So how is your… would training be the right word?" I ask
"Yea, I think so." Shade responds.
"Alright well, how's your training going Daniel?" I ask
"Oh, it's going well. I've mostly just been working on control. I wanna make sure I don't accidentally burn anything down." He says half-jokingly.
I hope he's doing ok at home. I know he almost burnt down the house when he turned into Quilava and I wouldn't be surprised if his parents are holding that over his head.
"Noice. Well, I'm probably gonna work on my telekinesis. Are there any rocks around?" I ask
"Uhh, yea there should be some over there." Shade says before pointing over to a shattered rock about 50 feet away. It's about the size of a car and has been completely shattered.
"There was a machoke over here that was testing his strength and shattered the rock."
"Hm alright then," I say. "Well, i'm going to let you too keep practicing and head over there then."
"Alright, well I'll make sure to keep my distance so I don't set you on fire." Daniel jokes flashing a smile at me
"That would be appreciated." I joke back, also smiling.
"I'll probably just be a could of feet away from you." Shade says. "I'm not doing anything too dangerous. Although I probably won't talk to you that much, since trying to make an illusion takes all of my focus right now."
"Oh, I probably wouldn't be talking much either since I will also be putting all of my focus into this," I respond back.
As we all split off to work on our own thing I make my way over to the shattered rock. The entire rock itself is about as big as a car with two-thirds of it being at least cracked in some way.
My eyes start to glow as I slowly pick up a medium-sized chunk that's around the size of a door. It's wobbly and not rising very fast but it's still rising nonetheless.
I move it to the right of the rock and keep it floating a few seconds more before I lose focus and drop it. It falls to the ground and slams heavy thud.
I sit there taking heavy breaths as a small headache starts to form in the front of my head.
"Mmm, alright maybe I should have started on something smaller," I say as I bring a paw up to my head.
"That… might've been… smart" Shade slowly says as his illusion of a basketball-sized rock wavers.
I just give him a nod, not wanting to waver his focus anymore. I take a minute or two break as my headache recedes until it is barely noticeable.
When I start up again, I start with picking up a smaller rock that is about the size of a soccer ball. I lift it up into the air and bring it a few feet in the air.
I hold it there for about 5 seconds before I start to bring it up higher. I bring it up to about 7-8ft before I start to bring it down eventually bringing it about 1ft above the ground.
I start to bring the rock back up to the same height before bringing it back down again and repeats this for 8 more reps for a total of ten before I start to feel a headache again.
I wait for another minute or two before starting up again with the same rock.
I "work out" for about an hour and a half before I decide to stop. I've been mostly switching between lifting weights and seeing how many small rocks I can lift at a time.
Weight wise the biggest rock I got to was about the size of a small chair. I never did try to lift that really big one again. I was barely holding it up the first time.
For the small rocks, they ranged in size from small pebbles to baseball sized. The most I managed to lift and keep stable at a time was about 12.
I also tried to work out my physical body some but that didn't go as well. It's mostly because I don't know any work outs for my new body and just ended up pushing a heavy rock around.
Shade has also made some progress with his illusions. He's been mostly trying to make illusions of objects around the forest like rocks leaves and twigs. Occasionally he has asked me to see if I could tell if it was an illusion or not whenever I'm taking a break.
Daniel has been working on his flames. He started off with his back flames, gradually making them bigger and bigger before eventually switching to shooting flames from his mouth. Compared to his back flames the flames coming from his mouth are relatively smaller. He didn't train for as long as me and Shade did and left half an hour after I started.
Crystal also came by to say that she was leaving. Had to go help take care of her younger brother who also got transformed.
Right now we are all sitting down together sippin on some water that we bought from Mathiew.
"Hey, do you got any room in your bag there Josh?" Shade asks. "I didn't bring one myself and there's not really a recycling can around here."
"Sorry, I still have my other water bottle in there and I'm gonna have to cram this one in there too" I respond.
"I can probably stuff it in my bag," Daniel says. "I should have some room."
"Alright.. Uhh, where is your bag?" Shade ask. "Cause I don't see it around."
"Oh, it's with Mathiew. I asked him if I could leave it in his tent."
"Oh alright then." Shade responds.
We finish what's left in our water bottles before we get up and make our way over to Mathiew's tent.
It's about 7:00 pm right now and most people here have started to or are getting ready to leave since it's going to get dark soon, although there is a group of dark types that look like they plan on staying longer.
We get close to Matthews's stand and see that he and a Rydon are loading the tarp and pbc pipe onto the cart.
"Hey, Mathiew," Daniel says when we are a few feet away.
Mathiew turns around and smiles when he sees Daniel. "Oh, there you are. I was about to go find you so I could get you to come get your bag before I left. I thought I told you I was leaving around this time."
"Oh, yeah my bad. I kinda lost track of time." Daniel says. "But I'm here now."
Mathiew just shakes his head before turning to grab Daniel's bag, which was leaning against the cart, before handing the small backpack to Daniel.
Daniel takes it and starts to put it on the part of his back without flames.
As Daniel gets his bag on Shade asks. "Alright, are we ready to head back?"
"Ye—"
"Actually I'm not heading back just yet," Daniel says. "I just came here to get my bag."
"You're not heading back?" Shade asks. "It's going to be dark soon."
"Yea, I know. I plan on heading back with some of the dark types later." He says.
He's avoiding home again. He's done this in the past when he was having issues with his parents but he hasn't done it in a while. I was hoping his parents weren't mistreating him worse since he's 'not human anymore' but it looks like I was wrong. "Daniel, are things at home ok?"
"I-" he says, his usual smile falling. He doesn't say anything for a second or two. Seeing as he is having trouble even coming up with a response and that I might have overstepped, I say "If you don't wanna talk about it you don't have to."
"No, it's fine I just… I'm not fine." He says before letting out a sigh. "My parents have been,.. well.. it's almost like I'm not a person to them anymore."
Shade gives a puzzled look before hesitantly saying "Um, I'm sorry but I don't think I understand."
"Well… they already treated me like shit before. But now it's just more shit." Less food, yelling at me more, almost constantly reminding me that I almost burn down the house. They are almost constantly trying to get me outside the house more so there's "less of a chance I'll do it again.""
He stops for a second before continuing.
"They've been putting my food in the bowls and setting them on the ground like I'm a dog. I don't even have that hard of a time sitting at the table but every time I ask they tell me to "get down" and "you'll burn the furniture." which also applies to the couch im no longer allowed on."And then there's my brother who's been taking full advantage of this and has been holding the fact that I almost set him alight to force me to do whatever he wants me to do. And if I refuse to do it he'll just get my parents who will back him up."
He stops to let out a sigh before saying. "I'm just tired of it and would rather not be there right now."
I've already stated this but his parents have not treated him well in the past. It's never been this bad though. At the worst it would be the less food and obviously favoritism but never "you're not allowed on the couch."
"Well, if you need anything you just need to ask." I say to him. " If you want to you could probably say over at my house tonight if you want to. I doubt my parents will say no and despite what your parents say I know you won't burn anything down. I haven't seen them flare up accidentally since you started practicing a few days ago."
A small smile spreads across Daniel's face before he says. "Thanks but I should be fine. I plan on getting back at a time where they will be asleep and I know some of the dark types like to stay up really late.
"Well the same goes for me." Shade says supportively. "If you need anything all you have to do is ask."
"Thanks." He says with a small smile on his face.
We ended up staying for about 10 minutes before me and Shade made our way back. We mostly just discussed Daniel's situation.
We both wanted to stay with him for longer but our parents want us home before dark and even though I'm 18 they are still the ones that put a roof over my head so I'm gonna listen to them. I'm guessing the same goes for Shade.
We both decided to bring him some snacks next time we see him before we went our separate ways.
As I get back to my house I can see the sun starting to set over the horizon. As I open the door I am met by Owen.
"Oh there he is." Owen says from the couch as I make my way through the door. "Hey mom, Josh is here."
I think my mom is currently in the kitchen. I can smell her cooking from here. "Good dinner's almost ready." I hear from the kitchen, confirming that I was right.
" Oh nice, what are you making" I says as I walk into the living room. Owen is currently on the couch with his phone out and responds. "Can't understand you Josh."
" Ah, my bad" I respond. I take off my phany pack and take my phone out of it. I type up what I said and show it to Owen.
"Oh she's making chicken stir fry." He says "I think it should be done soon."
"Oo nice I say." Before giving a head nod.
"Alright, it's done, come and get some." She says.
They both make themselves a plate, while also marking one for me, before we go and sit down at the table too eat.
As I float the first price of my dinner into my mouth my mom asks. "So how have yalls days been?"
"Oh it's been good." Owen starts. "I have been mostly hanging out with my online friends."
"Oh, alright. What about you Josh?"
I bring my phone up and type out. "I've been hanging out with my friends at the clearing again."
"Nice, has the amount of elementals there gone up again."
"A little I think." I type out. "I didn't count them out."
"What, you don't keep track of everyone who comes in and out." Owen jokes
" Ha ha" I sarcastically respond back.
We keep making small talk for a little bit before mom asks. "So I was talking to Suisie earlier today…"
Suisie is my moms sister. They both grew up down in Texas together during their childhoods. My mom ended up marrying my dad while he was stationed there before moving 4 years later. Meanwhile Suisie still lives in Texas and ended up marrying and having a kid. That kid is my cousin Michael. We are both around the same age as each other and we are both good friends.
We haven't talked much during this whole thing on account that both his phone and his computer got smashed when their neighbor turned into an onix and smashed through his bedroom which he thankfully wasn't in at the time. Unluckily though he also got turned into a pokemon, specifically a Umbreon.
"… and she said that one of their friends lended them one of their old phones so that Michael could use it." She says
"Oh, nice!" I say out loud forgetting to text.
She must have heard my excitement though and says. "Yea ,I'll send you the number after dinner."
"Noice!" I say.
Nothing eventful happens for the rest of dinner and afterward I get Michael's new number.
I text him a "Hey this is Josh." and it doesn't take long for him to respond.
Mathiew: Hey, Josh. I finally got a new phone after that tree fell through my roof.
Josh: I heard about that. Are they still working on fixing the roof.
Mathiew: Yep, still has the tarp over it. They just finished moving all the debris out of the room itself.
Mathiew: I still can't go in though. There also a hole in the floor.
Josh: Wow, they just finished that. I would've expected for them to get it done sooner.
Mathiew: from what I've been told they were backed up for the next month and we just got lucky.
Josh: nice
Josh: so, how have you been doing with being an Umbreon
Mathiew: honest not too well.
Mathiew: I probably don't have to explain to you why since your going through the same thing.
Mathiew: I was just so excited to go off to collage and be able to do my own thing but now I'm just stuck here having to be pampered all the time
I was also about to go off to college but I don't mention that. I probably wasn't as excited for it as he was, it just sounds like more school to me.
Josh: well I won't act like I have it the same as you since I've been able to do things with my telekinesis but I will say that getting out of the house has been nice.
Daniel: I've tried that but every time I do I get dirty looks from people everywhere I go. Even some of my friends give me weird looks when I'm around.
Those probable arnt real freinds then I say in my head.
Josh: well have you tried hanging out with others pokemon. That's what I've been doing for most of the week.
Daniel: I don't know anyone that's an elemental irl. Nor do I know how to find them.
One thing I've noticed over the past few days is that you can tell who has played the pokemon games and who has not. Most of the people who have played the games have continued to call pokemon pokemon even after the government announced the name change and that the people who haven't played the games call them elementals now.
Daniel: I'm just glad I have a phone now. I've been talking to other elementals online. They've been pretty nice so far.
Josh: well that's good. From what I've seen so far we need to stick together. Just the language barrier alone makes it a lot nice to hang around pokemon than humans.
Daniel: yea, I do hope that someone smart manages to figure out an easy way to translate between elementals and humans. I miss being able to talk to my family without it taking a full minute to write down a Sentence.
Josh: well I've found that it's easier to just type out on my phone than it is to write on paper.
Daniel: yea, I've been doing that recently with my phone.
Daniel: It's still slow but I've been getting the hang of it.
Daniel: also auto correct has been really helpful. I doubt you would be able to decifer what I'm text without it.
Josh: lol, same here.
We end up talking for another half an hour before the conversation dies down.