Story Notes:
This is the "other" Runaways story, the long one with more characters, plot, and some other stuff too.Okay, *clears throat* I do not own pokemon, or any of those characters. the events and characters of this story are all fictional and any resemblance to persons live or dead is purely coincidental, and not meant to be insulting.Also, the inclusion of Lucario and wave guidance is all Felix's fault. Go read "Luca"... it's good and it inspired some of this story.Also, categories will be updated as necessary. They will changeAlso, I will be changing the categories as they need to be changed. the main characters are all a bit young at this point for sex, but it will probably show up in some form or another later.Also, if you can guess what the title is talking about I'll give you a cookie! (And maybe a story request, if you want)
Ch 8: Dignity Lost
As soon as the gyrados reaches shallow water, I hear a splash and lean over to see
Gin splashing through the breakers for the beach shouting, "FREEDOM!!"
I laugh and leap off the gyrados, and immediately get thrown head over heels by a
large breaker. I leap back to my feet and charge ashore laughing. When I reach the
sand, I fall down on my back next to where Gin is kissing the ground. I glance from
him to the gyrados, who looks genuinely disappointed, and back again, "What? She
not your type?"
I get an iron tail to the gut in response.
"I'll take that as a 'no'." I wheeze, rolling over and clutching my stomach as I try to
find my breath.
Melissa jumps off the gyrados's back and floats gently until she is just a foot off the
ground. Her eyes go wide and then she starts windmilling her arms as she fights to
keep from rotating backwards, and failing. As a result, she ends up giving both Gin
and I a 'view'. I quickly look away, knowing damn well what not doing so is going to
get me. Gin however...
There is a dull thump and sand is blasted everywhere. Gin yelps, flying through the
air to land in the dunes. He lifts face out of the sand and starts spitting the grainy
stuff out, wiping at his tongue with one paw. "What the hell woman?!"
"Don't you dare look at me there!" Melissa shouts back at him, and I have to fight
the urge to look myself. Damn reverse psychology!
So, in order to keep from being blasted like gin was, I look around the rest of the
beach at the gathered people as they stare at us, mostly Melissa and the gyrados but
Gin and I are getting some looks too. I'm not used to crowds of people looking at
me. Being a bit of a hermit will do that to you.
I risk a glance backwards and am relieved to find that Melissa has not only righted
herself, but also finally touched down and is covering herself as best she can with
her tail and arms. However, she is clearly even more uncomfortable than me with all
the attention. She keeps her head down and is scooting closer to her gyrados, almost
trying to hide in the big girl's shadow. I can't blame her for wanting to. I can't think
of anything except that I really wish the forest hadn't caught fire and forced us all
out here.
Rogue fortunately has no such problems and barks as she hops down off the
gyrados, "Danny, get Melissa something to cover up with and let's get going! We're
wasting time here!"
I nod, "Right!"
Now with some sort of action plan, I climb to my feet and brush as much of the sand
off of myself as I can, "Okay, but first I need a pokéball."
Melissa turns to me with a frightened look, "Don't you dare!"
I tilt my head as I turn to look at her, then it hits me, she thinks I'm going to try and
capture her!
"Not for you! For her!" I exclaim gesturing to the gyrados, "She needs a pokéball
because she is too damn scary looking for us to just waltz up main street with her
out and not draw any more unwanted attention than we are already going to be
getting."
"Me scary?" the gyrados asks in surprise. I can't help but slap my palm against my
forehead.
I then search the crowd of people that are staring at me until I find a trainer. Then I
spot one. He kind of sticks out actually, all black clothing, dark shades, and bright
silver hair. I point a finger at him, "Hey you! Come here!"
The boy points to himself with a surprised expression. I nod and gesture for him to
hurry up. He walks over, "What?"
I sigh, "I need a pokéball for the big blue girl."
"What?"
I point to the gyrados, "Her ball fell in the ocean. So I need a replacement."
"I can't help you with that." the boy says with a shrug, "One ball to a pokémon.
You need the original to transfer her to a different ball." He scratches his head, "It's
kind of common knowledge."
I grimace, "Well, shit."
"They took the pokéball and released her." Melissa says quietly behind me.
"They?" the boy asks, "Someone took your pokémon's pokéball and released them
against your will?"
I'm about to snap at him that I'm not a trainer but bite my tongue quickly, replying
with a strained, "Yesss. And I got her back, so now I need a new pokéball."
"So why did you tell me that you dropped her ball?" the boy asks looking at me out
of the corner of his eye suspiciously.
I grit my teeth, "Just give me a damn ball."
The boy takes a step back, then pulls a miniaturized ball out of his pocket and tosses
it to me, I catch it turn it over for a bit. How the hell do these things work again?
Gin comes over to me with a smirk, "It has a button. Press it."
I press the button and the ball expands to full size. "Thank you." Then chuck the
ball at the gyrados, who disappears inside with a red flash, and not long after the
ball lets out a ding. People consider this an accomplishment?
Melissa picks up the ball with one hand and I move on to the next phase of the plan.
A quick scan of the beach shows several items with potential, and then I see a quilt.
There we go.
I jog over to the blanket and bow to the two ladies lying across it, "Pardon me,
madams, but I need this."
I then try to pull that table cloth trick. The one where you yank it out from under a
set table and nothing falls over or spills. It fails. Miserably. The two women are
spun around before they land in a heap on top of each other.
"Whoops." I shrug and start walking back over to Melissa.
"Hey asshole! Where do you think you're going with our blanket?"
Turn to see both women coming towards me, and they are understandably furious.
I raise a brow, "My friend needs a little dignity, and unless you want me to take
your swimsuits instead, I suggest you chill the fuck out."
"We were using that!" the other woman exclaims trying to grab back the quilt.
"To do what? Sunbathe?" I retort, "I have a friend with no clothes right now. And
in my mind her feeling ashamed over that takes precedence over your sunbathing!"
The woman recoils as I jerk the quilt back away from her. Her friend steps forward
and slaps me. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"
Rogue starts walking over and I chuckle before turning, "Take it up with my boss."
"Complaint processed." Rogue growls.
Suddenly I double over as Rogue head butts me in the balls. It's been awhile since
that last happened. Almost forgot how much that hurts. I sink to my knees, my face
pressing into the hot sand as I clutch my wounded pride. A small whine slipping
past my lips as I try to speak, "Why?"
"Because you're being both a dick and an idiot." Rogue replies calmly, taking the
quilt and throwing it back out and spreading it on the sand. She turns back to me as
I pull my face out of the sand. "Danny, we just got our record of thefts cleared. I
don't think we should start racking up new ones."
"Point taken." I squeak out as Gin helps me back to my feet. I clear my throat and
try again at talking, "What about Melissa? She still needs something."
"Give her your pants." Gin says with a shrug. "And before you say anything, it's the
only real option."
I glance back at Melissa who still looks really damn uncomfortable. I sigh, "Fine." I
wave at Melissa, "Hey Melissa! Come here!
Mellissa quickly walks over to where the rest of us are, "What?"
I rub the back of my head, fighting the urge to fiddle with my braid, "You, um,
seem really uncomfortable right now with your whole, uh, clothing issue." I can see
a blush spread beneath her pink fur which is more than enough to tell me that I am
severely understating her discomfort. "And, I was wondering if you would like my
pants."
She looks at me with a long blank stare that is making me even more uncomfortable
by the second. Finally, she replies, "They won't fit. I have a tail and my hips..."
I glance down, taking a quick look at her hips. They are kinda wide, probably more
than before she got turned into a Mew person. Suddenly my head jerks back up to
look her in the eyes, but not of my own doing. The hell? I see a slight glow coming
from her eyes and then I know. She's using psychic to manipulate me!?
"What? I am? How?" Melissa suddenly asks as her eyes go wide and the glow goes
out.
I shrug, "Don't know, but you did. Regardless the pants don't need to actually go on
your legs. You can alter the way you put it on."
"How?" Melissa asks with a confused look, her ears flattened out to the sides cutely.
"I have an idea." Gin says with a grin, "Hurry up and take off your pants."
As I undo my belt, I suddenly remember what kind of underwear I have on and I
can feel my face start to turn pink. I take a deep breath and loosen the draw string
of my pants and slide them off to reveal the underwear underneath. Melissa giggles
and my entire face heats up as it goes from pink to a deep tamato berry red.
"Really?" Melissa asks in amused disbelief, raising a brow comically.
"Brother, when Mew hears about this you will never hear the end of it." Gin says
with a chuckle.
My underwear is a pair of pale grey boxers, I'm not sure of just what material but
it's kinda silky, and they are covered with pink cartoony Mew faces. Mew refuses to
make any other kind for me. I knew I should have stolen some normal
underwear when I had the chance. I shut my eyes and slowly hiss, "You say you
have an idea to make the pants work for Melissa?"
Hearing my tone, Gin's ears flatten against his head briefly before he scoops up the
trousers. "Take these and tie them around your neck so that the waist hangs down
in front of you."
Melissa takes the trousers and does as Gin directs her. Then Gin picks up my blade
belt.
"Oh hell no, you are not taking my blade and giving it to her!" I exclaim yanking
the belt back out of his paws. "I am not surrendering what is left of my dignity!"
However, in the blink of an eye the belt has been yanked out of the sheath's loop
and is being cinched around Melissa's waist turning my trousers into a kind of sexy
apron or something. I rub my chin thoughtfully as I hold the blade in its sheath
under one arm, "You know, that actually looks pretty neat."
Melissa's ears dip slightly and she smiles just a little before making her way over to
the dune crosswalk. Gin, Rogue, and I follow close behind.
~
The trip through town is pretty uneventful, thank Arceus. The less time I have to
spend walking around in my Mew boxers the better. Melissa must live on the very
damn edge of town judging from the way we have now left the tightly packed city
and moved into a pleasantly wooded development full of large properties. You
know, the kind where you see a mailbox on the side of a road with a path leading
way the hell back into a massive property so that you can't even see the house unless
it is tall enough to peek above the tops of some trees like a castle parapet in the
distance.
I'm about to ask if we are close yet when a young kid runs over. "Hey mister!"
I stop and give the kid a look, "Who me?"
"Yeah!" he says excitedly, "You look kind of funny with those shorts but you have
some really powerful looking pokémon and I want to battle you!"
"Uh, no." I say with a grin and keep walking with Melissa, who didn't stop when
the boy ran up.
I hoped he would just leave, but instead he starts following us. "Aww c'mon! It's
just a quick one on one!"
"He said no." Gin says rolling his eyes.
"Holy crap! Your lucario is shiny and it talks!?" he gets right up next to me,
"C'mon, pleeeeeease?"
I take several hopping skips sideways away from the blond haired ten year old.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! I said no damnit! I don't have any pokémon!"
"But there is a lucario and a mightyena right here walking with you! You have to be
a trainer!" he whines loudly. Melissa covers her ears but otherwise just ignores the
entire thing.
I however, froze when he said 'trainer'. I lean forward with a forced smile, "I'm
sorry. What did you just call me?"
The kid freezes, but forges ahead anyway, "You're a trainer. I'm a trainer. We
meet, we battle. It's the way things work."
Gin's eyes widen and Rogue winces. I grit my teeth, "I am not a trainer."
The kid frowns, "But..."
"BUT NOTHING." I snarl, jabbing a finger into his chest, "Who are you to
presume that you know a damn thing about the way things work!?"
He takes a step back, "But everybody tells me that trainers battle. I mean there is a
whole league and..."
I laugh, "Oh, so 'everybody' says that's how it should be done. Well, has
anybody ever told you about how the gardevoir cry during the night for their
children who have been stolen away from them by trainers?" I take another step
forward, "Or how about the young pokémon whose parents never came home from
hunting or gathering berries for them because a trainer caught them? Anybody ever
tell you about them?"
The kid stares at me, "What are you talking about?"
"For Cresselia's sake!" I exclaim, "Have you ever once thought about how the
pokémon feel?! Have you ever once considered what the pokémon want?!"
"How the hell am I supposed to know what they want?!" the kid exclaims, "They
can't talk!"
I grin and throw my arms out theatrically, "Well then today is your lucky day kid,
because I can understand pokémon as if they were speaking plain English!"
"And even if he couldn't I could always translate for you." Gin says with a shrug,
then after a moment adds, "And never call him a trainer. The last person to do that
got a black eye." He smiles and licks his lips, "And then we ate all his snacks while
he was unconscious."
The kid stares at Gin for a moment, and then stares at me before replying with a
drawn out, "Oookay. I'm game."
He pulls a miniaturized pokéball, resizes it, and releases the pokémon inside. When
the red glow fades I find myself looking at a little cyndaquil. It shakes itself and
looks up at me before turning to the boy, "Who the hell is this nut?"
I slap the palm of my hand against my forehead. Gin chuckles, "Way to make a
good first impression, squirt."
"Walking around in Mew print boxers isn't exactly the best way to make a good
first impression either, freak." The cyndaquil fires back. "Besides it's not like he can
understand me."
"Kid, your cyndaquil is a jerk." I say through clenched teeth, "Anyway, cyndaquil,
do you enjoy this kid's company?"
"It beats being bored out of my freaking skull in the professor's lab any day." the
cyndaquil says noncommittally. Then its eyes widen, "Wait, what?!"
I grin, "Yah, I look like a human, but I'm really a pokemon. Next question, what do
you want from life?"
The cyndaquil stares at me, "What?"
"Basically, what are looking to attain in life?" I say gesturing with a hand as I list
off a couple ideas, "For instance, do you want to have a family? Become the
strongest? Be famous?"
"I kinda like those last two." The Cyndaquil says scratching itself behind the ear
with a hind leg, "But as I said, anything beats the lab."
I stand back up and smile, "Well, that's good to know. Do you have any complaints
about the way things are now?"
"Yeah, being stuck in the pokéball all the time is almost as bad as the lab." He says
looking over his shoulder at the blonde boy, "I want to see the world."
Rogue giggles, "You want to be a globe trotter."
"Yeah!" the cyndaquil exclaims, "I really want to just see everything this world has
to offer!"
I grin at the boy, who had been watching the whole thing with obvious curiosity.
"Well, he's happy to be out of the lab, but he'd like to be out of the ball more as
well. He is interested in fame and power, but it seems what he wants most is to
travel and see the world. Does that sound good to you?"
He nods, "That's why I wanted to be a trainer."
I give him a thumbs up, "Well, you two go after that, but try to remember that
pokémon have lives too, with families and dreams. Even in the 'wild'."
He nods, "I will. So, will you battle me now?"
"Nope." I reply as I turn and continue walking down the road, "No offense to your
cyndaquil, but you two are hopelessly outmatched and I'd feel like a real bastard if I
whooped up on you, and I think it would be real embarrassing for you to get beat by
a guy walking around in Mew boxers."
"But I have to train if I want to get better." The boy replies, following after me, "If
you really are that powerful, tell me how you got to be that way!"
I keep walking behind Melissa, "Train with your pokémon every day, work hard at
everything you do, try to only bite off a little more than you can chew at any given
time, and a free range diet like you would have living in the wild."
"And always remember that your pokémon are not tools or weapons." Melissa adds,
"They are partners and friends."
Gin nods, "They are family."
"Thanks mister." The boy grins, and looks down at the cyndaquil, "Alright Blaze,
let's go."
I chuckle as the cyndaquil makes a face, "That name is so lame! Almost every
cyndoquil that old fart has given away gets that name!" he glances at me, "But it
beats Cyndi, that's for sure!"
The boy and the cyndaquil run off and we keep going for another couple minutes.
Finally Rogue asks, "So where is your house?"
Melissa points to the right of the road we are on, where a pair of wrought iron gates
block the way into a walled property. I run ahead and hop up onto the wall and my
jaw drops. "Well, damn."
Gin hops up next to me and his tail starts wagging. "I like the looks of this. I like it a lot."Chapter End Notes:Nya~orn! :3
That took a long time considering it's only a little over three thousand words.
For the record, the trainer mentioned at the beginning, he is a cameo, his name is Krad Dashow, and he is from another writer on here, Derek8121. I decided to throw him in for this chapter because I support Derek and his Krad fellow and hope to see more of the guy eventually. But not in ATLTH, because Krad is not my character.
comments/reviews are loved
Gin splashing through the breakers for the beach shouting, "FREEDOM!!"
I laugh and leap off the gyrados, and immediately get thrown head over heels by a
large breaker. I leap back to my feet and charge ashore laughing. When I reach the
sand, I fall down on my back next to where Gin is kissing the ground. I glance from
him to the gyrados, who looks genuinely disappointed, and back again, "What? She
not your type?"
I get an iron tail to the gut in response.
"I'll take that as a 'no'." I wheeze, rolling over and clutching my stomach as I try to
find my breath.
Melissa jumps off the gyrados's back and floats gently until she is just a foot off the
ground. Her eyes go wide and then she starts windmilling her arms as she fights to
keep from rotating backwards, and failing. As a result, she ends up giving both Gin
and I a 'view'. I quickly look away, knowing damn well what not doing so is going to
get me. Gin however...
There is a dull thump and sand is blasted everywhere. Gin yelps, flying through the
air to land in the dunes. He lifts face out of the sand and starts spitting the grainy
stuff out, wiping at his tongue with one paw. "What the hell woman?!"
"Don't you dare look at me there!" Melissa shouts back at him, and I have to fight
the urge to look myself. Damn reverse psychology!
So, in order to keep from being blasted like gin was, I look around the rest of the
beach at the gathered people as they stare at us, mostly Melissa and the gyrados but
Gin and I are getting some looks too. I'm not used to crowds of people looking at
me. Being a bit of a hermit will do that to you.
I risk a glance backwards and am relieved to find that Melissa has not only righted
herself, but also finally touched down and is covering herself as best she can with
her tail and arms. However, she is clearly even more uncomfortable than me with all
the attention. She keeps her head down and is scooting closer to her gyrados, almost
trying to hide in the big girl's shadow. I can't blame her for wanting to. I can't think
of anything except that I really wish the forest hadn't caught fire and forced us all
out here.
Rogue fortunately has no such problems and barks as she hops down off the
gyrados, "Danny, get Melissa something to cover up with and let's get going! We're
wasting time here!"
I nod, "Right!"
Now with some sort of action plan, I climb to my feet and brush as much of the sand
off of myself as I can, "Okay, but first I need a pokéball."
Melissa turns to me with a frightened look, "Don't you dare!"
I tilt my head as I turn to look at her, then it hits me, she thinks I'm going to try and
capture her!
"Not for you! For her!" I exclaim gesturing to the gyrados, "She needs a pokéball
because she is too damn scary looking for us to just waltz up main street with her
out and not draw any more unwanted attention than we are already going to be
getting."
"Me scary?" the gyrados asks in surprise. I can't help but slap my palm against my
forehead.
I then search the crowd of people that are staring at me until I find a trainer. Then I
spot one. He kind of sticks out actually, all black clothing, dark shades, and bright
silver hair. I point a finger at him, "Hey you! Come here!"
The boy points to himself with a surprised expression. I nod and gesture for him to
hurry up. He walks over, "What?"
I sigh, "I need a pokéball for the big blue girl."
"What?"
I point to the gyrados, "Her ball fell in the ocean. So I need a replacement."
"I can't help you with that." the boy says with a shrug, "One ball to a pokémon.
You need the original to transfer her to a different ball." He scratches his head, "It's
kind of common knowledge."
I grimace, "Well, shit."
"They took the pokéball and released her." Melissa says quietly behind me.
"They?" the boy asks, "Someone took your pokémon's pokéball and released them
against your will?"
I'm about to snap at him that I'm not a trainer but bite my tongue quickly, replying
with a strained, "Yesss. And I got her back, so now I need a new pokéball."
"So why did you tell me that you dropped her ball?" the boy asks looking at me out
of the corner of his eye suspiciously.
I grit my teeth, "Just give me a damn ball."
The boy takes a step back, then pulls a miniaturized ball out of his pocket and tosses
it to me, I catch it turn it over for a bit. How the hell do these things work again?
Gin comes over to me with a smirk, "It has a button. Press it."
I press the button and the ball expands to full size. "Thank you." Then chuck the
ball at the gyrados, who disappears inside with a red flash, and not long after the
ball lets out a ding. People consider this an accomplishment?
Melissa picks up the ball with one hand and I move on to the next phase of the plan.
A quick scan of the beach shows several items with potential, and then I see a quilt.
There we go.
I jog over to the blanket and bow to the two ladies lying across it, "Pardon me,
madams, but I need this."
I then try to pull that table cloth trick. The one where you yank it out from under a
set table and nothing falls over or spills. It fails. Miserably. The two women are
spun around before they land in a heap on top of each other.
"Whoops." I shrug and start walking back over to Melissa.
"Hey asshole! Where do you think you're going with our blanket?"
Turn to see both women coming towards me, and they are understandably furious.
I raise a brow, "My friend needs a little dignity, and unless you want me to take
your swimsuits instead, I suggest you chill the fuck out."
"We were using that!" the other woman exclaims trying to grab back the quilt.
"To do what? Sunbathe?" I retort, "I have a friend with no clothes right now. And
in my mind her feeling ashamed over that takes precedence over your sunbathing!"
The woman recoils as I jerk the quilt back away from her. Her friend steps forward
and slaps me. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"
Rogue starts walking over and I chuckle before turning, "Take it up with my boss."
"Complaint processed." Rogue growls.
Suddenly I double over as Rogue head butts me in the balls. It's been awhile since
that last happened. Almost forgot how much that hurts. I sink to my knees, my face
pressing into the hot sand as I clutch my wounded pride. A small whine slipping
past my lips as I try to speak, "Why?"
"Because you're being both a dick and an idiot." Rogue replies calmly, taking the
quilt and throwing it back out and spreading it on the sand. She turns back to me as
I pull my face out of the sand. "Danny, we just got our record of thefts cleared. I
don't think we should start racking up new ones."
"Point taken." I squeak out as Gin helps me back to my feet. I clear my throat and
try again at talking, "What about Melissa? She still needs something."
"Give her your pants." Gin says with a shrug. "And before you say anything, it's the
only real option."
I glance back at Melissa who still looks really damn uncomfortable. I sigh, "Fine." I
wave at Melissa, "Hey Melissa! Come here!
Mellissa quickly walks over to where the rest of us are, "What?"
I rub the back of my head, fighting the urge to fiddle with my braid, "You, um,
seem really uncomfortable right now with your whole, uh, clothing issue." I can see
a blush spread beneath her pink fur which is more than enough to tell me that I am
severely understating her discomfort. "And, I was wondering if you would like my
pants."
She looks at me with a long blank stare that is making me even more uncomfortable
by the second. Finally, she replies, "They won't fit. I have a tail and my hips..."
I glance down, taking a quick look at her hips. They are kinda wide, probably more
than before she got turned into a Mew person. Suddenly my head jerks back up to
look her in the eyes, but not of my own doing. The hell? I see a slight glow coming
from her eyes and then I know. She's using psychic to manipulate me!?
"What? I am? How?" Melissa suddenly asks as her eyes go wide and the glow goes
out.
I shrug, "Don't know, but you did. Regardless the pants don't need to actually go on
your legs. You can alter the way you put it on."
"How?" Melissa asks with a confused look, her ears flattened out to the sides cutely.
"I have an idea." Gin says with a grin, "Hurry up and take off your pants."
As I undo my belt, I suddenly remember what kind of underwear I have on and I
can feel my face start to turn pink. I take a deep breath and loosen the draw string
of my pants and slide them off to reveal the underwear underneath. Melissa giggles
and my entire face heats up as it goes from pink to a deep tamato berry red.
"Really?" Melissa asks in amused disbelief, raising a brow comically.
"Brother, when Mew hears about this you will never hear the end of it." Gin says
with a chuckle.
My underwear is a pair of pale grey boxers, I'm not sure of just what material but
it's kinda silky, and they are covered with pink cartoony Mew faces. Mew refuses to
make any other kind for me. I knew I should have stolen some normal
underwear when I had the chance. I shut my eyes and slowly hiss, "You say you
have an idea to make the pants work for Melissa?"
Hearing my tone, Gin's ears flatten against his head briefly before he scoops up the
trousers. "Take these and tie them around your neck so that the waist hangs down
in front of you."
Melissa takes the trousers and does as Gin directs her. Then Gin picks up my blade
belt.
"Oh hell no, you are not taking my blade and giving it to her!" I exclaim yanking
the belt back out of his paws. "I am not surrendering what is left of my dignity!"
However, in the blink of an eye the belt has been yanked out of the sheath's loop
and is being cinched around Melissa's waist turning my trousers into a kind of sexy
apron or something. I rub my chin thoughtfully as I hold the blade in its sheath
under one arm, "You know, that actually looks pretty neat."
Melissa's ears dip slightly and she smiles just a little before making her way over to
the dune crosswalk. Gin, Rogue, and I follow close behind.
~
The trip through town is pretty uneventful, thank Arceus. The less time I have to
spend walking around in my Mew boxers the better. Melissa must live on the very
damn edge of town judging from the way we have now left the tightly packed city
and moved into a pleasantly wooded development full of large properties. You
know, the kind where you see a mailbox on the side of a road with a path leading
way the hell back into a massive property so that you can't even see the house unless
it is tall enough to peek above the tops of some trees like a castle parapet in the
distance.
I'm about to ask if we are close yet when a young kid runs over. "Hey mister!"
I stop and give the kid a look, "Who me?"
"Yeah!" he says excitedly, "You look kind of funny with those shorts but you have
some really powerful looking pokémon and I want to battle you!"
"Uh, no." I say with a grin and keep walking with Melissa, who didn't stop when
the boy ran up.
I hoped he would just leave, but instead he starts following us. "Aww c'mon! It's
just a quick one on one!"
"He said no." Gin says rolling his eyes.
"Holy crap! Your lucario is shiny and it talks!?" he gets right up next to me,
"C'mon, pleeeeeease?"
I take several hopping skips sideways away from the blond haired ten year old.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! I said no damnit! I don't have any pokémon!"
"But there is a lucario and a mightyena right here walking with you! You have to be
a trainer!" he whines loudly. Melissa covers her ears but otherwise just ignores the
entire thing.
I however, froze when he said 'trainer'. I lean forward with a forced smile, "I'm
sorry. What did you just call me?"
The kid freezes, but forges ahead anyway, "You're a trainer. I'm a trainer. We
meet, we battle. It's the way things work."
Gin's eyes widen and Rogue winces. I grit my teeth, "I am not a trainer."
The kid frowns, "But..."
"BUT NOTHING." I snarl, jabbing a finger into his chest, "Who are you to
presume that you know a damn thing about the way things work!?"
He takes a step back, "But everybody tells me that trainers battle. I mean there is a
whole league and..."
I laugh, "Oh, so 'everybody' says that's how it should be done. Well, has
anybody ever told you about how the gardevoir cry during the night for their
children who have been stolen away from them by trainers?" I take another step
forward, "Or how about the young pokémon whose parents never came home from
hunting or gathering berries for them because a trainer caught them? Anybody ever
tell you about them?"
The kid stares at me, "What are you talking about?"
"For Cresselia's sake!" I exclaim, "Have you ever once thought about how the
pokémon feel?! Have you ever once considered what the pokémon want?!"
"How the hell am I supposed to know what they want?!" the kid exclaims, "They
can't talk!"
I grin and throw my arms out theatrically, "Well then today is your lucky day kid,
because I can understand pokémon as if they were speaking plain English!"
"And even if he couldn't I could always translate for you." Gin says with a shrug,
then after a moment adds, "And never call him a trainer. The last person to do that
got a black eye." He smiles and licks his lips, "And then we ate all his snacks while
he was unconscious."
The kid stares at Gin for a moment, and then stares at me before replying with a
drawn out, "Oookay. I'm game."
He pulls a miniaturized pokéball, resizes it, and releases the pokémon inside. When
the red glow fades I find myself looking at a little cyndaquil. It shakes itself and
looks up at me before turning to the boy, "Who the hell is this nut?"
I slap the palm of my hand against my forehead. Gin chuckles, "Way to make a
good first impression, squirt."
"Walking around in Mew print boxers isn't exactly the best way to make a good
first impression either, freak." The cyndaquil fires back. "Besides it's not like he can
understand me."
"Kid, your cyndaquil is a jerk." I say through clenched teeth, "Anyway, cyndaquil,
do you enjoy this kid's company?"
"It beats being bored out of my freaking skull in the professor's lab any day." the
cyndaquil says noncommittally. Then its eyes widen, "Wait, what?!"
I grin, "Yah, I look like a human, but I'm really a pokemon. Next question, what do
you want from life?"
The cyndaquil stares at me, "What?"
"Basically, what are looking to attain in life?" I say gesturing with a hand as I list
off a couple ideas, "For instance, do you want to have a family? Become the
strongest? Be famous?"
"I kinda like those last two." The Cyndaquil says scratching itself behind the ear
with a hind leg, "But as I said, anything beats the lab."
I stand back up and smile, "Well, that's good to know. Do you have any complaints
about the way things are now?"
"Yeah, being stuck in the pokéball all the time is almost as bad as the lab." He says
looking over his shoulder at the blonde boy, "I want to see the world."
Rogue giggles, "You want to be a globe trotter."
"Yeah!" the cyndaquil exclaims, "I really want to just see everything this world has
to offer!"
I grin at the boy, who had been watching the whole thing with obvious curiosity.
"Well, he's happy to be out of the lab, but he'd like to be out of the ball more as
well. He is interested in fame and power, but it seems what he wants most is to
travel and see the world. Does that sound good to you?"
He nods, "That's why I wanted to be a trainer."
I give him a thumbs up, "Well, you two go after that, but try to remember that
pokémon have lives too, with families and dreams. Even in the 'wild'."
He nods, "I will. So, will you battle me now?"
"Nope." I reply as I turn and continue walking down the road, "No offense to your
cyndaquil, but you two are hopelessly outmatched and I'd feel like a real bastard if I
whooped up on you, and I think it would be real embarrassing for you to get beat by
a guy walking around in Mew boxers."
"But I have to train if I want to get better." The boy replies, following after me, "If
you really are that powerful, tell me how you got to be that way!"
I keep walking behind Melissa, "Train with your pokémon every day, work hard at
everything you do, try to only bite off a little more than you can chew at any given
time, and a free range diet like you would have living in the wild."
"And always remember that your pokémon are not tools or weapons." Melissa adds,
"They are partners and friends."
Gin nods, "They are family."
"Thanks mister." The boy grins, and looks down at the cyndaquil, "Alright Blaze,
let's go."
I chuckle as the cyndaquil makes a face, "That name is so lame! Almost every
cyndoquil that old fart has given away gets that name!" he glances at me, "But it
beats Cyndi, that's for sure!"
The boy and the cyndaquil run off and we keep going for another couple minutes.
Finally Rogue asks, "So where is your house?"
Melissa points to the right of the road we are on, where a pair of wrought iron gates
block the way into a walled property. I run ahead and hop up onto the wall and my
jaw drops. "Well, damn."
Gin hops up next to me and his tail starts wagging. "I like the looks of this. I like it a lot."Chapter End Notes:Nya~orn! :3
That took a long time considering it's only a little over three thousand words.
For the record, the trainer mentioned at the beginning, he is a cameo, his name is Krad Dashow, and he is from another writer on here, Derek8121. I decided to throw him in for this chapter because I support Derek and his Krad fellow and hope to see more of the guy eventually. But not in ATLTH, because Krad is not my character.
comments/reviews are loved