Chapter 2

Trails of hot tears burned down her already pink cheeks as Locke fumbled with her keys to her apartment, her hands shaking so badly that she would have dropped them if they hadn't been attached to the carabiner keychain clipped to her crossbody bag. Her left hand gripped around her right in a tight grip, as if she could will the shaking to stop with enough pain, before she managed to shove the key into the lock and open the door after trying three times. Then after having kicked the door shut behind her, she slumped against the wall for balance, not even bothering to lock the door behind her, swallowed up by the cozy darkness and organized chaos inside.

Artificial sunflowers that decorated the tops of her cabinets and walls in bushels were always the first things she saw. The curved indent in the back wall that was supposed to be a dining room had a whole arrangement of them displayed in a symmetrical, diamond pattern she put up herself with thumbtacks because she was paranoid about losing her deposit if she left nail marks in the drywall. It was the first flower she could draw and always reminded her of the summers spent in Johto. The rest the beige apartment walls were covered in tons of pokemon memorabilia, save for a few anime prints, metal wall hangings given to her by family for birthdays, and a couple college art projects. Everywhere else was equally chaotic. Stacks of papers and books made up strategic piles on the floor, bookshelves and desk space were crammed with books, figures, and knick-knacks to give her boosts of serotonin and maintain object permanence. Things that she had gathered together and made her own, that made up who she was, purchased with her own hard-earned paychecks, save the clay urn Key had made and two incubators she had pulled out of storage that sat on the coffee table, were the start of this whole mess. Behind it was a display cabinet littered with anime figures, along with a medium sized plaque that read Hall of Fame and two league trophies. Her sixteen badges were displayed on a corkboard on the wall with the rest of her pins and mismatched keychains. All of them were gathering dust, just another thing to decorate her apartment.

Her eyes focused back on the incubators that glowed a soft light in the dark corner of the room. What was she going to do? She was getting thrown out of her apartment, and for what? Minor offenses and misunderstandings? What kind of bullshit was this? Where were the warnings, the notices? Why didn't she get those emails? Was it all her fault?

Locke glanced at the pile of unopened mail on her countertop that was stacked precariously on a Volbeat record player, along with a few vinyl albums. Maybe it was in there. Shame scorched her as she added today's mail to the pile, still unable to make herself open any of them.

'Why can't you do anything right?'

'You're so rude when you ignore people like that!'

'Haven't you listened to a single thing I've said?!'

Get it together! Locke inhaled through her nose, trying to breathe through the despair that was wrenching her throat shut. It's fine. You're going to be fine. This is not the worst thing to happen to you, she thought, as if trying to reason would make the hopelessness she felt feel less soul-crushing. At least she had time to try and get her shit together. There were still a few months before she got kicked out. It wasn't the end of the world.

Be grateful you even have an apartment to get thrown out of. There are people worse off than you. You should have done more. You chose this path. This is all your fault because you're too stupid to get your shit together and act like an adult.

Her spiraling thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of fast-moving feet and clatter of clutter being knocked into as an orange blur zigged its way over to her, doing figure eights around her legs. Pumpkin the Zigzagoon was just over seven inches tall and weighed about as much as a newborn baby, and he knew it too. The little trash goblin loved nothing more than to prove he deserved to be a spoiled baby and appreciated for his 'smolness' by bringing her anything and everything he could find with his Pickup ability and then proceed to bury himself into whatever hoodie she was currently wearing like a baby Kangaskan, which was extra fun when you had to factor in the claws and sharp bristles of hair that jabbed against her bare skin.

In that moment, she didn't care about slight pricks his fur left or his sharp little claws that scratched at her ankles. She couldn't even make herself scoop him up and cradle him like a baby like she used to when she got home, instead pushing past him toward the bedroom. Piles of mismatched pillows and blankets had been tossed on her twin-sized bed. She always had the habit of making a nest out her pillows- in fact, she was positive Pumpkin's hidey-hole, the place where all mustelid pokemon hid their ill-gotten gains, was somewhere under her bed. Wordlessly, Locke threw herself onto the bed, wrapping herself in blankets and a giant, life-sized Furret pillow she had purchased in an online auction. Once curled around her body, she buried her face into it and let out a heart wrenching cry, her sobs muffled by the faux fur.

She thought about arguing her case, about explaining her side gig as a babysitter and how despite the fact that her pokemon liked each other, they weren't interested in each other like that, and the many other semantics and fail-safes Locke put in place to avoid unauthorized breeding, but the fact that she had been caught with her Ampharos at her apartment in a move Locke could admit was straddling the grey area of rule bending, had already colored her words with suspicion and mistrust. Deep down, she knew it wouldn't matter. She could try to get a lawyer and spend the last of her money in an attempt to stay, but Locke knew herself and her situation. She was only motivated to do something if she knew how to do it and was under intense stress. Unless she got a very expensive lawyer and had someone holding her hand the entire time through the process, the court date would most likely be well past the day when she was to be kicked out, and she would be found guilty of most charges, wasting all of that time and money for nothing. It would be like trying to argue your way out of a parking ticket five minutes after the meter expired.

An Umbreon that had been napping on the couch, disguised in the pile of plushies and pillows that had virtually no room for sitting, rose from its sleep to come investigate. Its weary red eyes stared up at her, flecks of grey speckled in its otherwise shiny black coat. "Bree?" the Umbreon inquired, headbutting the hand closest to her. Luna had been the only reason why Locke had left Pumpkin in the apartment while she was out running errands. Being one of her oldest and trusted pokemon, the moonlight pokemon could manage the little tyke on her own. Maybe this was the reason they assumed Locke was running an illegal daycare.

"Oh Luna…" Locke's voice wobbled, her lip quivering as she lifted her head enough to peer over her body pillow at the Umbreon. "I messed up. I messed up so badly." Emotion strangled her throat from saying more as she went back to sobbing into her Furret pillow. Pumpkin was already making his way onto the bed, crooning sadly as he started wedging himself inside her hoodie. She moved an arm to cuddle the tiny raccoon pokemon to her chest.

She felt rather than saw as the pokemon jumped onto her bed, while Luna decided to assume her usual position by climbing on top of her head before resting there. Typically, she only did that during showers when Locke's hair was wet and she wanted to nip and groom the ends. Pumpkin buried himself into her chest while Luna nestled around her until she was tucked firmly into bed, her face smothered by the dual comfort of ebony and creamsicle-orange, striped fur until she felt the blackness of sleep.

…

Hours later, Locke had found herself rudely awakened by the thudding of an extra body on her bed, followed by a loud, excited bark in her ears. It was late into the night, or at least, dark enough that the sky was just starting to lighten from the early hours of twilight. In all the turmoil, Locke had fallen asleep after crying her eyes out and had slept fourteen hours straight and therefore, had forgotten to take Chip out on a walk.

"Ugh…" Locke groaned, wanting to do nothing more than bury herself back into her nest. Then she felt a sudden sharp pressure on her chest as Chip jumped onto her stomach and started pressing/shoving his paws directly onto her breasts in a way that can only be described as ungodly uncomfortable and a targeted attack. "Oww! Fucking hell! Right in the boobs!"

She sucked in a deep breath and stretched her body. Pumpkin, who had also been a part of the assault, whimpered from inside her hoodie. "Sorry about that... You too, Chip. Sorry-" her mouth stretched into another yawn. "-I forgot to take you out. We'll go on your walk in a minute. Just give me a moment to wake up."

Another thing she had forgotten in her despair was to check that she had locked Chip's pokéball, and now she had paid for it. "God, I'm up! I'm up! Jesus Christ… Could you chill the fuck out for one second? At least let me grab my meds first..." she groaned halfheartedly as the Rockruff had already darted out of the bedroom. In addition to having autism, there was also the recent diagnosis of ADHD. She didn't technically need the medication like a diabetic needed life-giving insulin, but it helped give her energy throughout the day and helped make some of her symptoms manageable, and the only way it worked was if she was consistent with it. The withdrawals hit her earlier after having forgotten to take the second pill of the day. Perhaps that was why she had been so tired.

Making a quick trip to the bathroom, Locke was followed by a posse of pokemon to ensure her safety as she tried and failed to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She didn't even have the energy to shut the door behind her. Five minutes later of staring into the void, she washed her hands and started making her way towards the kitchen to make something for all of them to eat. Lately, she had been buying or making meals that all of them could eat together, not having the energy to cook for herself and them. Today it was vegetable medley soup with a light tamato berry broth, one of the simple recipes her mother had taught her how to make. The mix of mago and persim berries helped negate the spiciness level of the tamato berry juice while preventing confusion for those that didn't like the sweet umami flavor.

Right as she was pulling out the repurposed ice cream tub full of soup out of the fridge did Locke notice the ground by her feet was slightly more crowded than usual. While she did have a few cardboard boxes that needed to be flattened for the trash compactor and bags of trash that needed to be recycled, what sat next to her foot was the severed head of a shiny Wooper plushie. It hung loose from the neck, not quite decapitated from its body as stuffing leaked from it. Bits of it was stuck in Chip's mouth, having dropped it at her feet. She had purchased that oversized Wooper plush at a convention two years ago, spending more on it and the convention than a responsible adult probably should have, but she couldn't help it. She had fallen in love with the whole Wooper line, and though hers wasn't pink, it reminded of her Gillbender when it had just been a baby Wooper hatched right out of the egg, and now it had been torn to shreds.

"Ah what the hell, Chip!? What did you do?" The Rockruff just wagged his tail, looking mighty pleased with himself. She looked at the mess, the absolute slaughterhouse that was her living room that was now covered in stuffed animal fluff and ripped up pillows, something else that the Rockruff had torn into while Locke had been asleep. Some of the baseboards were even gnawed on. "Bad pokemon!" She scolded and then felt her stomach growl. Food first, mess later. She could confront the potential property damage later, once she had a full belly and clearer head. She was already going to be evicted. What else were they going to do? Throw her out faster?

Locke popped the repurposed ice cream tub into the microwave for two minutes and then poured out three bowls of soup before making another one for herself, realizing she had company. The pokemon all slurped it down greedily. Pumpkin and Chip seemed to be having a contest on who could eat the fastest and messiest (Pumpkin had won that contest, being too short for most of her Tupperware bowls). Locke dropped an old handtowel onto the ground and wiped up the mess with her foot before flinging the rag into the washing machine, all of the baskets currently full of clean clothes that had yet to be folded and put away.

She opened the pill organizer next to the kitchen sink, noticing the PM pill slot had, in fact, not been taken, and quickly popped it into her mouth with a mouthful of water gathered from the sink. Then she popped a little yellow pill, a vitamin D tablet, and chewed two gummy multivitamins before swallowing it all down a mouthful of berry juice swigged straight from the carton and huddled over her bowl of soup on the counter. She stared out her window at the feeder hanging off of the elder tree by her patio garden, watching as two Pikipeks pecked away at the block of suet while a Pachirisu waited for its moment to sneak a bite at the pokéfood. She needed to start packing so she could move back home with her sister, Key. She knew that she needed to get in touch with vocational rehab to update them on the urgency of her job situation. She knew she needed to start searching for apartments. She knew she just needed to do something. The logical part of her brain was screaming at her to move, but she instead continued watched the bird pokemon chip away at the feeder while she ate her soup over the counter, crippled with her new reality. She would have to buy new suet blocks soon. A sob caught in her throat as a new horrifying reality dawned on her. How was she going to feed her pokemon?

Some pokemon ate more than others, which meant buying more food. Locke's only smart choice had been having keeping her team inside their pokéballs and giving the Snorlax she had caught in Kanto to her cousin Curtis, who helped by eating the leftover cornstalks after a harvest and some invasive brambles. There was no way she could afford to feed that monster now, especially since she didn't have fields of food and with her savings dwindling fast. Many of her other pokemon could fend for themselves, grazing mud or grass or catching their own dinners, while she had used her Ampharos' electricity as a buffer for electric bills, using it as a mini generator for things like phone chargers or air-fryers to help stretch her budget. Just until she could figure out how to build back her savings while still being jobless. Then the notice happened.

Could her family watch over them? Not Key. That would involve telling her and making her pay for yet another bill in addition to taking care of the house they had inherited. Another relative, maybe, perhaps one of her cousins. She already had some of her pokemon staying with her relatives, simply because many of her pokemon weren't made for apartment life, and her cousins had the space for them to roam on their farms and plenty of kids who loved giving them attention. It didn't make any sense to have dozens of large pokemon cooped up in a PC or a small, cramped apartment space, especially since she wasn't very active as a trainer. Still, the idea of not knowing when she could see her pokemon again and being forced to burden her family with them than she already had made her sink even lower into the pit of misery and debt she was in.

Had her sister called? Locke checked her phone, relieved that there had been no missed calls. For the last year, they had been exchanging phone calls Key had called her 'daily life checks,' but sometimes a day or two went by where one of them was too busy or too tired to call. Locke was relieved today had been that day for her little sister. There was no way in hell Locke was going to tell her sister that she was broke- at least, not now. The nest eggs their mom had left them was all that she had left in finances, spending the rest on rent, food, and online shopping. Eviction would actually be an easier excuse than explaining the whole complicated mess.

Her eyes went back to stare at pile of unopened mail and forced her hands to go through the most important looking envelopes and opened them. None of them had been warnings for the apartment. Two of them were statements, bills for amenities paid and upcoming, the other her official employment termination letter. She had only been at the job for about a year before they decided that her numbers weren't good enough and decided to give her the boot. Now, she was living off of her local library's free internet and AC to have a lower power bill, since the power company loved raising the price during the winter season, applying to jobs through vocational rehab in the hopes of keeping her apartment. Now she had until the end of August to vacate the premise. That was about four months from now. Not as urgent as they make it to be in the movies, but Locke was out a job and only had about 20,000 poké in the bank, which wouldn't even be enough to cover two months of rent, let alone four.

She tossed both of the envelopes onto her pile of mail and heard seconds later the pile slide onto the floor. In between them had been various junk mail, a brochure for lawncare and a Ticketmaster schedule for upcoming pokemon events. She shoved the junk mail into her hoodie pocket, not even bothering with the trashcan, which still needed a liner. Chip ran for the door, excited at the idea of a walk Locke had promised. What time even was it? It didn't look like it was evening. The afternoon sun wasn't blinding her. She glanced at the watch she had fallen asleep in. It read 8:07 am.

God, she had slept almost fourteen hours! No wonder everyone was so excited for food. What happened to Tom and Jerry? Why hadn't either of them called to ask about Chip and why she hadn't brought him home? Surely, they realized he was missing. It's not like he was easy to ignore. Locke listened for the telltale sign of two flatscreen TVs playing simultaneously. Tom had been an athlete in his twenties, something he bragged about whenever the topic came up. Not having the body of a water chariot racer anymore, he chased the high of playing sports by watching other people complete. However, he took it a step further by have two flatscreen TVs mounted on top of each other like he lived inside an Applebee's, always playing a different game or pokemon league match, because apparently having one TV on wasn't enough.

She sent Jerry a quick text message and shoved it into the pouch of her black and green hoodie, hoping that it still wasn't too early for him to be sleeping, and recalled her pokemon as she wrangled Chip into his harness. She glanced down at the shock collar and pronged training collar and decided to leave those behind as she clipped the yipping Rockruff to his lead and took a bracing step outside. As far as she knew, Jerry was a manager at a hardware store, so she imagined he would be getting ready for work by now. Tom, on the other hand, was a bit of a puzzle, showing up at all hours of the day. Who knew what his schedule was like?

With no word from either of them, Locke decided she would check back in with them in person after going to the Pal Park like she promised. That was until she saw the letter wedged into the doorway of their apartment. Unlike most people, Tom and Jerry used their patio door to exit their apartment, since it was the one facing the building's entrance. Which must have been why they missed the letter. Thinking it was another flier, Locke was going to ignore it until she noticed the unique format of the letter seen from the folds. Having worked in the legal department at her old office job, she recognized what a complaint letter looked like. This one, however, was worded differently, parts of it highlighted in both red and green. She tugged it out of the door gap and walked outside to leave it in their patio door to be nice. Then she noticed that Tom's motorcycle was gone.

He always parked it on the patio stoop, not wanting to leave it on the parking lot with everyone else's car was, since you needed to pay an additional fee for owning multiple vehicles under the same unit, and it was small enough to leave there. He only drove it during warm weather, and it was still too cold out for that. Then she took another step closer on the steppingstones and noticed the welcome mat was gone. Inches away from the door and she could see into the apartment. All of the major furniture was gone! Anything left had been abandoned, including Chip's knocked over crate that lay shoved up against the hallway leading to the side door she had just come from. With a cold feeling of foreboding, Locke looked at the letter grasped in her hands and began to read:

REGION OF LIMSTON

APEX CITY

BIRMINGHAM MANAGEMENT, LLC AS M/A FOR THE OWNER OF BIRMINGHAM APARTMENTS

V.

JERRY BLANC, JOSEPH HANNA, ANY AND ALL OTHER OCCUPANTS

ORDER OF POSSESSION

Comes now Birmingham Management as M/A for the owner of Birmingham Apartments, by Wilson Barbera, for preliminary hearing on Plaintiff's Complaint of Ejectment. The Defendant, Jerry Blanc, appears. The Defendant, Joseph Hanna, fails to appear. The Court having considered the pleadings, and all evidence present finds the Plaintiff is entitled to the use and enjoyment of the property and grants the Plaintiff possession of the property. The property is described as follows:

195 Ashwood Boulevard, Apex City, Limston 46548

Plaintiff shall be given possession of the property and the occupants removed not earlier than midnight on April 3rd. If Defendant(s) fail(s) to vacate premises as ordered, upon Affidavit by Plaintiff, the Apex City Sheriff will be directed to remove Defendant(s) from the premises.

NO FINAL HEARING SET

Defendant, Joseph Hanna, to be notified by the Apex City Sheriff serving Defendant and by Plaintiff leaving a copy at the door. Plaintiff and Defendant Jerry Blanc notified in open Court.

So ordered on this the 15th day of March.

Signed,

Jean C. Furoro
Apex City Superior Court 2

FILED
Mar 15th
Judith S. Blum

Locke paled. She had been wrong. Her neighbors didn't get a pass for their misdemeanors. They had gotten in trouble just like her. Then another horrifying realization came to her. They mentioned the eviction notice to her, not because they had seen it personally, but because they had been given one too. This letter, however, appeared to be much older, the appeal dated back at least a fortnight before her letter was issued.

What the fuck. What. The. FUCK! So many questions and uncertainties were running through her head, like 'what the hell is going on' and 'why didn't they tell me they were being kicked out?' The biggest one was spinning around in circles, anxiously waiting to get inside the now vacant apartment by thinking Locke was taking him home. 'Why did they leave Chip behind?' A lot of theories came behind this one, ranging from the innocent 'they forgot him by accident' and 'I accidentally stole him' to the ones that left her blood boiling.

There were three things she was sure of. One was that Tom's real name had been Joseph. Not an inherently important detail, but something her brain had decided to latch onto in the heat of the moment. The second thing was that her neighbors were gone. And finally, the third was that they had Chip left behind in her care. Whether or not it had been on purpose was still up in the air. Locke wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, reasoning that forgetting Chip had just been an oversight in all the hubbub caused by the couple's shared ADHD, but judging from how eager Tom had been for her to babysit and the lack of text messages to her questions and inquiring why she hadn't brought him back home, it didn't look good.

She wasn't even sure who she should report this to, the apartment office maybe? The police? What then? Would Chip feel like she had abandoned him too, that she was responsible for separating him from his owners? If that was true, it would be her fault for him being separated from his owners. The Rockruff pulled on his harness, confused why they weren't going inside his house, already leaping up the steps.

"Come on, buddy. We'll come back later." Locke tugged him away from the door with her leash, trying to keep him from seeing the dark interior of the vacant apartment. He yipped and whimpered at the tug but his mood quickly shifted back to puppy excitement as he recognized the direction she was nudging him toward. In all the uncertainties Locke had, one thing she did know was that she had been tasked to take care of the Rockruff, because right now all Chip had left was her, and she would be damned if she abandoned him now. It went against her oath as a caregiver and a pokemon trainer.