Story Notes:
Decided to repost the whole thing, but yeah, same story really, didn't make many changes. Hope you enjoy guys and gals.Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Act 1: Chapter 1: The Bond Made
Act 1 - The Deceived
Chapter 1 -
She had never been the same since that day, but then again, that day had changed most of the family, albeit not as much as her. She once had beautiful blue eyes which shimmered with hope, joy and love. Her mother, Jane, sighed. But no longer, her darling Rose had changed so much...if only James had listened to her. It had been over a month since a rescue team had discovered her without her farther, and within that month she had just sat in her room or the house, never going outside to play with her friends or even to go to school. Jane had tried everything to stop her fear, from just sitting and talking with her to hiring professional help such as psychiatrists and the likes but they had all failed to make any progress with her at all.
"Rose, you're dinner's on the table!" she called, knocking on her door. At first, there was no answer, but then there was the sound of footsteps coming from her room as she put her dressing gown on.
"Okay mum...give me a minute..." she replied quietly, with a quivering voice.
Jane let out a deep sigh, Rose had been in bed all day crying again, it was enough to break her heart thrice over. Rose carefully and slowly descended the stairs and entered the dining room where her mother was already sat, her eyes red from tears. They lived in a very small house nowadays, because her father was the one who used to get the bulk of the money, and now Jane was having problems ever finding a job which would fit around her task of looking after her daughter. Rose silently sat at the table and began to nibble on her food.
"Sweetie..." Jane said carefully, "Are you sure you can't go back to school this term...all of your friends will be missing you." Rose immediately looked at her plate, not looking into her mother's eyes.
"I...I don't know...what...what if I got attacked or...something...?" she stammered. The thing is, on the inside, Rose did want to go back to her school to see her friends and teachers again but there were a couple of reasons why she didn't want to, but the main one was the fear, since the incident she had never been able to keep her cool around a pokémon, her mother even had to keep her vulpix in its ball when Rose was around to stop her from being frightened, so obviously she didn't want to go back to a school where all the teachers had their pokémon out for most of the day. Her mother had seemed to read her mind.
"Rose, I've already talked with the teachers and their fine with keeping their pokémon away whilst you're in the class, and who knows? Maybe going back to school will help you get over your fear of them..." she said comfortingly.
"But, mu-!" she was quickly interrupted by her mother.
"Please! Just do it for one day...for me, and you won't have to ever again if you don't want to!" she said, trying to sweeten the deal.
"O-okay...only one day...and then never again...I'm going to bed..." she whispered, pushing her plate aside and then leaving the table to go to her bedroom.
"Thank god for that..." her mother whispered, relief spreading through her system. Maybe now things would go back to the way they used to be...well minus James. And at the thought of her husband, the relief was quickly over-whelmed with grief and anger. She knew that it couldn't have been a random encounter, because that part of the desert was famed for being inhospitable to all beings, pokémon and human a like, and she knew exactly who must have done it. Their old rivals... she vowed to make them pay for what they had done to her and her daughter, and then swiftly departed to her own room, to try and get some rest.
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As the sun rose over the valley Rose let out a whimper, she wished that she had not agreed to go to school today...there would be too many upsetting questions and too many of the...monsters. She now preferred to call pokémon as such due to what they had done to her father, she didn't care how small or cute they were, to her they were all monsters who could kill you on a whim. Rather dark thoughts for a eight-year-old but loss does tend to stimulate such things. After ten minutes, she decided that she might as well get out of bed and get dressed and ready for her first (and hopefully last) day back at school. She checked the timetable that the school had sent her and groaned, the whole term was dedicated to the study of pokémon, she would have even preferred maths or even geography! Her mother knocked on her door.
"Are you ready yet, dear?" her mother called out, not sure whether or not she would actually decide to go to school or not.
"Give me a minute, I need to pack my bag!" she shouted back, stuffing all of the necessary school books into her bag. Her mother was actually rather surprised that she was going, but almost immediately a smile drifted across her face.
"Hurry up, or you'll have to skip breakfast!" she teased and after hearing the age-old reply "muum" and she descended down the stairs to finish preparing her lunch box. This day had seemed to spark some sought of hope inside Jane's heart, maybe things will go back to normal...it just depends on how Rose's day at school back. Jane had been careful, she'd arranged for all of Rose's teachers to keep their pokémon in their balls and such. Whilst her daughter was getting changed, Jane quickly powered up her laptop since she hadn't had the time of late to check for e-mail for a long time. As she punched in her password she wondered why none of the family had called to comfort Rose, before they would all visit the house weekly, and when she opened the single message titled "Urgent!" her fears were confirmed. The message was from her sister, and as she read through it tears began to swell in her eyes, she was so engrossed in the message that she didn't hear the footsteps that were coming down the stairs.
"Mum! I'm ready!" Rose called out, fully dressed in her old school uniform which still fitted her like a glove. Jane immediately shut the laptop, wiped her eyes and tried to put on a brave face. She walked over and gave her daughter a huge hug. "Uuuuhh ...mum...you're...kinda crushing....me!" Rose shouted, going a bit blue in the face from lack of oxygen.
"Sorry sweetie... it just make me so happy that you're going back to school!" she cried, reluctantly relinquishing her grip and allowing Rose to breathe. Before Rose could question why her eyes were so red, there was the sound of the bus parking on the road outside.
"Sorry Mum, no time for breakfast!" she shouted and was immediately out the door and onto the bus, trying to forge the swarm of butterflies in her stomach and determined to make today a good day.
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The bus had been travelling for about half an hour now, she was the only one on the bus as she lived a long way from everyone else in her class since they had moved. Rose was glad of this extra while of solitude though, so she could give herself some more preparation for the trials ahead. She hadn't been completely honest with her mother about school...it wasn't just the monsters that scared her...it was this huge girl called Emily. Ever since school had started, the fat meanie had bullied her, forced Rose to give her food and money, and even hit her for the fun of it...and she knew that it would go on until school had finished. Rose never told the teachers, because Emily told her that she'd get her friends to "beat her to a pulp". She didn't exactly now what pulp meant, but she had guessed the it was something very small...and possibly bruised. What's more is that Rose knew that Emily had been given a pokémon for her birthday...and although she hadn't exactly been frightened by that prospect before, after she had witnessed how brutal pokémon could be...now she felt sick every time she thought of Emily AND her pet monster...
Her thoughts were interrupted by a rather worrying splutter coming from the engine of the bus, she turned and looked out her window, seeing the black smog belching from the bus' exhaust. The driver muttered something intelligible got up and walked over to Rose.
"Sorry Missy, ol' rusty here has been on its last legs for a long time. If you want to make it to school on time you're gunna' have to walk the last mile!" he smiled apologetically and then exited the bus to work on the engine. Rose sighed, she knew this day wasn't going to go well, and this was just a sign of events to come. Slowly, she climbed down the steep steps of the bus and set on her way to the school, nervously looking at the dark woods on either side of the road. The trip went without incident until she spotted figures up ahead waiting by the bus stop outside the school, whom she immediately recognised as Emily and her gang. Rose stopped, routed in her place, she knew that if she went past them she'd have to deal with their abuse...but if Rose remembered correctly there was a back entrance to the door, but the path had been swallowed by the woods long ago by misuse. Weighing up the options, she nervously stood rooted to the spot until she saw Emily turn her way to look down the road. That easily convinced her, and she quickly ducked into the woods and started running, knowing that they would probably be chasing her. But after five minutes of flat out running she noticed two things; that the path was gone and that she couldn't run anymore without a break.
Rose collapsed against the trunk of an old oak tree, breathing in and out heavily and trying to shake the fear of being attacked by the monsters while no-one was around to help her. It felt just like the time in the desert, the constant fear of being alone and dying alone. She'd always been warned never to go into the woods without an adult supervisor, and she was bemused by the fact that she had chosen to run into the woods then face the wrath of Emily, as she could not kill Rose whilst the things in the wood could easily. A few minutes passed of near hyper-ventilating and paranoia, and Rose was leaning against the trunk, preparing to make another dash towards where she hoped was the school when she heard a frantic rustling coming from the undergrowth near her. At first, it made her want to run away faster, but when she heard a cry of pain her natural curiosity made her cautiously move the bush away to see what was going on. A small, emerald and crimson monster leant heavily against a tree, glaring at a pack of the most frightening creatures Rose had ever seen; they were all much bigger than her, with large curved silver horns, a black hide and a pronged tail. They stood on four legs and were growling ferociously at the small creature...it was then that she noticed that the crimson patches were not the monsters hide...but instead blood coming from multiple deep cuts and bite marks all over its body. The sight of this made her want to cry out in shock, but she quickly stifled this urge to stay hidden, away from the scary monsters. Despite its multitude of injuries, the creature seemed ready to continue to fight to its imminent death, no longer being fit to flee from the death match that it was now in.
Rose's heart started to melt as she watched the pack continue its onslaught of attacks onto the smaller monster, she fear was the only thing that kept her from going out to the creatures aid...but then from somewhere inside her a knew found bravery seemed to sprout up...her thoughts began to race on how she might help the creature. It might be one of the monsters...but that was no reason for it to deserve death in such a painful manner. She grasped a rock in her hand from the ground, prepared to throw it at the monsters when she realised a safer option...up above the battle there were a flock of winged monsters...her limited knowledge of pokémon told her that they were called Murkrow, with a few Honchkrow with them. This sight triggered one of Rose's memories of her father propping up, teaching her that a good way to get out of situation with aggressive pokémon involved was to created a distraction. So instead of lobbing the stick at the pack...she threw it at the winged monsters, who immediately took off making a large amount of noise. This grabbed the attention of all of the monster on the ground, which gave Rose time to sprint out from her hiding place, grab the emerald monster and sprint off in the direction of the road, hoping to follow that to the pokémon centre in order to help the reasonably shocked monster that she now held in her hands.
Rose heard the howl erupting from the trees behind her only moments later, and tried not to think about what would happen if the monsters caught up with her, it was exactly like a nightmare that she once had. Her legs carried on moving, dodging high routes and large rocks on their own accord. After its initial shock of actual being picked up and taken away by...a human it looked up at his saviour with large yellow eyes in bewilderment. Why would this human save him at the risk of it own life, he didn't understand the meaning of the word compassion or sacrifice, in the woods there were very few times when such an emotion would be needed, most of the times everyday would just be fight for survival. And then a thought occurred to him...was this human taking him away to its lair in order to hurt him more...but then again why would it go through the effort of being chased by a pack of Houndoom. It was a very bizarre and overwhelming situation for the small creature, so all it did was hang limp and hope that the human could escape the jaws of the Houndoom, for both their sakes.
Sweat dripped from Rose's forehead after a few more minutes of running, she'd have been able to keep running without becoming so fatigued if it wasn't for the damned little monster in her arms, it could of at least helped her by clinging to her back instead of hanging like a damned sack of potatoes! More barks came from somewhere behind her, they were definitely getting closer but Rose thought that she could make out the outline of the road...and even the pokémon centre! She knew that she had been going in the right direction! She could no longer hear the Houndoom coming from behind her and the little monster in her arms was out cold, meaning that she could just drop it off at the centre and get back to school without being too late. She emerged from the woods and took brushed herself off before entering the pokémon centre and heading straight to the counter.
"Oh my, Rose, are you okay?" asked a Nurse Joy with a concerned look on her face, Joy being a friend of her mother's.
"I'm alright thanks...but could you please take this...I found him in the wood..." explained Rose, putting the green creature on the counter. Joy's expression went from surprise at seeing Rose with a pokémon and then concern at the shape the creature was in.
"He's in pretty bad shape...but I can get him back to normal...now Rose, why were you in th-" she started, but then stopped whenshe saw that Rose was no longer there, having ran off back to her school.
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Rose approached the school gates and leant against them while she got her breath back, she'd been running way too much today for her liking...but strangely she felt good inside, knowing that she made a difference for something in her life...even if it was a monster. The playground was deserted, so school had already started so she quickly rushed off to her classroom, and was overjoyed to see that people were still entering the classroom, she thanked whatever was watching over her and entered the classroom to take her seat. Rose was given a few surprised looks by a few of her classmates at actually seeing in school, but most people hadn't noticed yet. The teacher, Miss Williams, stood at the front of the class and powered up a projector and started to give a brief introduction about monsters in the region and the likes. Rose didn't pay full attention to this lecture as her dad had educated her about monsters before he was...killed. Anyway, to be honest she was more concerned with the looks that Emily kept giving her...for some reason she wasn't looking forward to the end of the lesson.
However, her attention was caught when she heard the teacher going through a list of the known monsters in the Hoenn region, so she looked up, wanting to see if it showed the little monster that she had found, and sure enough there it was. No. 252, Treecko, a grass monster which enjoyed to stay in the trees in places like jungles and forests...Treecko, she had to admit, for a monster it actually looked kinda cute...she shook her head, shaking out thoughts of actually liking monsters, they'd killed her father after all, so they must be evil. Miss Williams carried on with the list, until she came across the really interesting monsters, known as legendaries. Apparently, most people never had a single glimpse of one of them in their entire life time, however the most rare, powerful but presumably friendly one was a cute, pink monster called Mew. She went on to explain how there have been a few claims of the monster befriending humans, staying with them for short amounts of time and then disappearing. But, she began to drift away from the more interesting areas so Rose slumped in her seat and didn't pay a great deal of attention.
The end of the lesson came too quickly for Rose, the bell went a lot earlier than she expected it to and she was dreading the thought of having to exit this classroom and face the wrath of Emily. However, she gathered up her books and placed them back into her bag, trying to put her mind on anything other than what was about to happen...and then she realised something. Emily was only one girl...and even if she has a monster with her it would only be a low level one, nothing like the five high level ones that she'd face while rescuing the Treecko, if she could handle a pack of Houndoom then she could easily handle Emily. So, with new found confidence she exited the classroom and made for the playground, still hoping to get to the cafeteria before they got her, but that hope was in vain. Just as she exited the classroom she was grabbed by a rough pair of hands and literally dragged to an area just behind the school; there was the sound of sniggering as Rose was thrown to the hard paved surface.
"Well, if it isn't little Rosey!" sniggered a voice that was all too familiar to Rose. "I was beginning to think that you were never going to come back, and that really had me worried." said Emily, acting like she actually cared, which given her circumstances Rose actually decided to go along with.
"Really?" Rose replied in an anxious but still hopeful voice.
"Pfft! No! How gullible can you be!" she shouted, bursting with laughter. "Ya' know, it was my birthday last week...and guess what my parents got me..." she asked, waiting for an answer. Rose knew all too well what she had been given.
"A monster..." she whispered glumly, still not using the term pokémon which Emily seemed to find funny.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about what happened to your Dad, but to be honest, he deserved it..." Rose cringed at this, biting back her hate, but Emily continued, "He was too much of a goody goody, always trying to help the weak...which made him weak, like you!" Emily sniggered, loving every twitch of Rose's body and every spark of pain that she caused her. "He loved pokémon...and you know what, because you're not...he'd be so disappointed in you!"
Something inside Rose clicked then snapped, she'd had enough of Emily's lies and bullying, she didn't care if she was bigger than her, she was going to pay. Rose jumped at her planted a fist in her face, causing a sickening crunch. But before she could try another, Emily kicked her in the stomach and then shoved her back onto the floor.
"Ah...you...you bitch...you are so going to pay for that!" she screamed in anger, and threw poke ball into the air, releasing a jet black dog-like pokémon with gold rings on its head and legs, which Rose identified as an Umbreon. This was bad, from what Rose knew an Umbreon was actually quite a rare and reasonably powerful pokémon, even if it was at a low level.
"Heh, now you've shut up, yep, my Dad got me the best there was because I'm his little angel! And I think I'm going to demonstrate it on you! Umbreon! Use fury swipes!"
The monster jumped forward at Rose who could only try to crawl away as it began to cut through her clothes with its dagger-like claws and rake her skin likes someone might do leaves. Rose let out a cry of pain as it continued its assault, Emily had done nothing even close to this before, this was a truly deadly situation that Rose was in. From somewhere in the forest behind them a shape darted out and with immense speed and forced crashed into the Umbreon, knocking it a few metres into the wall and then landed right in front of Rose. Her vision was slightly distorted due to the blood dripping into her eye from a cut on her forehead but she could make out the shape of the person...no monster protecting her. It was the same Treecko that she had helped, Joy had obviously done a good job though, he was no longer covered in the scratches and cuts that he was before. It looked back at Rose concerned, who replied with a bewildered look...how could a monster care for her well being.
"W...what the hell!" screamed Emily who had been gawking at what had just happened for the past few seconds. "You're not allowed to have a pokémon, only I am, because I'm PERFECT!" she screamed, little did she know that Rose was just as confused as her. "No matter, I'll just have to take it down too! Umbreon, get up and use feint attack!" It came from nowhere and collided into the Treecko with a crunch, sending skidding along the ground until coming to a gradual stop next to a tree. The Umbreon gave a vicious smile but also managed to glare hatefully at the Treecko at the same time. The small creature shakily stood back onto its feet, the attack had obviously done major damage to him, he looked like he couldn't continue to go on against such a tough enemy for much longer. However, once on its feet it planted itself directly in front of Rose again in a defensive way, staring right back into the Umbreon's eyes.
"HAH! Pathetic, Umbreon use fury swipes on that useless creature!" Emily ordered, and the Treecko stood its ground as it received strike after every strike of the black creatures swipes, trying to protect the human that had saved its life. Once the barrage ended and the Umbreon jumped back the Treecko was fighting to stand up, but still glared at the enemy, right up until it fell over onto the ground unconscious. "Such a thing doesn't deserve to live...Umbreon, finish it off with a take down and end its pathetic life!"
Time seemed to grind to a halt for Rose...was Emily really prepared to end the life of a creature...where had this immense hate come from in the first place, her mother had said that there was no such thing as an evil person being seeing the expression on Emily's face would have made anyone reconsider that. But Rose would be just as bad a person if she let the Treecko's life be ended because of her own inability to protect herself...the unconscious creature in front of her was no monster...it was more of a friend that anyone had ever been to her, it risked its own life for hers when all she had done for it was help it out a bit without sacrificing anything of her own. She had to help it or she would hate herself for ever, so that's exactly what she did. She wrapped her arms around the creature and held it close to her stomach, then turned her back towards the enemy, putting the creature out of harms way. She shut her eyes and prepared for the inevitable pain as the Umbreon raced towards her...but then a strange feeling came over her body, as if she had suddenly become weightless. Below...yes...below her she heard a thud as something collided with the wall...and the sounded of someone shouting...but it wasn't Emily's voice. She opened her eyes and saw that her body was lined with a turquoise light and that she was indeed in the air and when she looked below her she let out a cry of joy. Miss Williams was screaming at Emily who was cowering against the wall, and her Alakazam was the one who was lifting them up. Rose smiled, but then felt the powerful urge to fall asleep...so she passed out.
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Rose slowly opened her eyes, she felt so tired but she knew there were more important matters to do before more sleep...for instance where the hell was she? After her vision had cleared she looked around and instantly knew where she was...the medical wing of the pokémon centre. Memories of the battle came to mind, so she immediately checked her body, all of the cuts were bandaged or healed so that was a relief, she then felt something move by her legs so she quickly looked and smiled. Asleep in between her legs was the small...pokémon that had probably saved her life. From somewhere in the room she heard a door slide open and her mother entered and, seeing Rose actually awake, she ran over to her and embrace her.
"Oh, Rose, I'm so glad that you're awake!" she exclaimed, "When your teacher told me what happened I was so worried, we began to think that you wouldn't wake up." Wouldn't wake up...Rose didn't like the sound of that at all.
"Mum...how long have I been unconscious...?" she asked carefully, she couldn't have been out for that long...surely.
"Well...a little over three weeks..." she muttered, needless to say Rose was stunned into silence, she could have swore that most of the injuries she received wouldn't have kept her out for any amount of time. "The doctors said that you had some sought of brain haemorrhage...and throughout this time that little creature has stayed here...even when we tried to remove him forcefully..." Rose looked back at the...pokémon between her legs, it hadn't left her. It had waited for her to wake up...it had still been protected her. That made her feel warm on the inside, and she did something that she had never thought she could do, she picked up the still sleeping creature and wrapped her arms around it thankfully. Jane smiled at this, the only reason why she hadn't had this creature removed was because there was a slight chance a bond between the two was present...which meant that she might get used to pokémon all over again.
"What happened to Emily..." Rose asked quietly. At the mention of the name her mother took a sharp intake of breath. She would never forgive that child for what she had done to Rose, so she believed that Emily go exactly what she deserved.
"She was expelled from the school, and her pokémon was confiscated...its still being decided whether she'll get a criminal record for assault and misuse of pokémon. Rose didn't reply, thinking it best not to think of Emily ever again. Her thoughts turned back to the small pokémon in her arms, and an idea sparked to life inside her.
"Mum...can I keep it..." she asked pleadingly, not wanting to leave it alone again after what they had been through. Jane smiled warmly, it would take a lot of work...but she didn't want to sever the bond of friendship that was growing between the two.
"Of course sweetie..." she said, happy that her daughter had finally made a good friend...Chapter End Notes:Review if this is new read for you, if not, do it anyway! Pweez
Chapter 1 -
She had never been the same since that day, but then again, that day had changed most of the family, albeit not as much as her. She once had beautiful blue eyes which shimmered with hope, joy and love. Her mother, Jane, sighed. But no longer, her darling Rose had changed so much...if only James had listened to her. It had been over a month since a rescue team had discovered her without her farther, and within that month she had just sat in her room or the house, never going outside to play with her friends or even to go to school. Jane had tried everything to stop her fear, from just sitting and talking with her to hiring professional help such as psychiatrists and the likes but they had all failed to make any progress with her at all.
"Rose, you're dinner's on the table!" she called, knocking on her door. At first, there was no answer, but then there was the sound of footsteps coming from her room as she put her dressing gown on.
"Okay mum...give me a minute..." she replied quietly, with a quivering voice.
Jane let out a deep sigh, Rose had been in bed all day crying again, it was enough to break her heart thrice over. Rose carefully and slowly descended the stairs and entered the dining room where her mother was already sat, her eyes red from tears. They lived in a very small house nowadays, because her father was the one who used to get the bulk of the money, and now Jane was having problems ever finding a job which would fit around her task of looking after her daughter. Rose silently sat at the table and began to nibble on her food.
"Sweetie..." Jane said carefully, "Are you sure you can't go back to school this term...all of your friends will be missing you." Rose immediately looked at her plate, not looking into her mother's eyes.
"I...I don't know...what...what if I got attacked or...something...?" she stammered. The thing is, on the inside, Rose did want to go back to her school to see her friends and teachers again but there were a couple of reasons why she didn't want to, but the main one was the fear, since the incident she had never been able to keep her cool around a pokémon, her mother even had to keep her vulpix in its ball when Rose was around to stop her from being frightened, so obviously she didn't want to go back to a school where all the teachers had their pokémon out for most of the day. Her mother had seemed to read her mind.
"Rose, I've already talked with the teachers and their fine with keeping their pokémon away whilst you're in the class, and who knows? Maybe going back to school will help you get over your fear of them..." she said comfortingly.
"But, mu-!" she was quickly interrupted by her mother.
"Please! Just do it for one day...for me, and you won't have to ever again if you don't want to!" she said, trying to sweeten the deal.
"O-okay...only one day...and then never again...I'm going to bed..." she whispered, pushing her plate aside and then leaving the table to go to her bedroom.
"Thank god for that..." her mother whispered, relief spreading through her system. Maybe now things would go back to the way they used to be...well minus James. And at the thought of her husband, the relief was quickly over-whelmed with grief and anger. She knew that it couldn't have been a random encounter, because that part of the desert was famed for being inhospitable to all beings, pokémon and human a like, and she knew exactly who must have done it. Their old rivals... she vowed to make them pay for what they had done to her and her daughter, and then swiftly departed to her own room, to try and get some rest.
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As the sun rose over the valley Rose let out a whimper, she wished that she had not agreed to go to school today...there would be too many upsetting questions and too many of the...monsters. She now preferred to call pokémon as such due to what they had done to her father, she didn't care how small or cute they were, to her they were all monsters who could kill you on a whim. Rather dark thoughts for a eight-year-old but loss does tend to stimulate such things. After ten minutes, she decided that she might as well get out of bed and get dressed and ready for her first (and hopefully last) day back at school. She checked the timetable that the school had sent her and groaned, the whole term was dedicated to the study of pokémon, she would have even preferred maths or even geography! Her mother knocked on her door.
"Are you ready yet, dear?" her mother called out, not sure whether or not she would actually decide to go to school or not.
"Give me a minute, I need to pack my bag!" she shouted back, stuffing all of the necessary school books into her bag. Her mother was actually rather surprised that she was going, but almost immediately a smile drifted across her face.
"Hurry up, or you'll have to skip breakfast!" she teased and after hearing the age-old reply "muum" and she descended down the stairs to finish preparing her lunch box. This day had seemed to spark some sought of hope inside Jane's heart, maybe things will go back to normal...it just depends on how Rose's day at school back. Jane had been careful, she'd arranged for all of Rose's teachers to keep their pokémon in their balls and such. Whilst her daughter was getting changed, Jane quickly powered up her laptop since she hadn't had the time of late to check for e-mail for a long time. As she punched in her password she wondered why none of the family had called to comfort Rose, before they would all visit the house weekly, and when she opened the single message titled "Urgent!" her fears were confirmed. The message was from her sister, and as she read through it tears began to swell in her eyes, she was so engrossed in the message that she didn't hear the footsteps that were coming down the stairs.
"Mum! I'm ready!" Rose called out, fully dressed in her old school uniform which still fitted her like a glove. Jane immediately shut the laptop, wiped her eyes and tried to put on a brave face. She walked over and gave her daughter a huge hug. "Uuuuhh ...mum...you're...kinda crushing....me!" Rose shouted, going a bit blue in the face from lack of oxygen.
"Sorry sweetie... it just make me so happy that you're going back to school!" she cried, reluctantly relinquishing her grip and allowing Rose to breathe. Before Rose could question why her eyes were so red, there was the sound of the bus parking on the road outside.
"Sorry Mum, no time for breakfast!" she shouted and was immediately out the door and onto the bus, trying to forge the swarm of butterflies in her stomach and determined to make today a good day.
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The bus had been travelling for about half an hour now, she was the only one on the bus as she lived a long way from everyone else in her class since they had moved. Rose was glad of this extra while of solitude though, so she could give herself some more preparation for the trials ahead. She hadn't been completely honest with her mother about school...it wasn't just the monsters that scared her...it was this huge girl called Emily. Ever since school had started, the fat meanie had bullied her, forced Rose to give her food and money, and even hit her for the fun of it...and she knew that it would go on until school had finished. Rose never told the teachers, because Emily told her that she'd get her friends to "beat her to a pulp". She didn't exactly now what pulp meant, but she had guessed the it was something very small...and possibly bruised. What's more is that Rose knew that Emily had been given a pokémon for her birthday...and although she hadn't exactly been frightened by that prospect before, after she had witnessed how brutal pokémon could be...now she felt sick every time she thought of Emily AND her pet monster...
Her thoughts were interrupted by a rather worrying splutter coming from the engine of the bus, she turned and looked out her window, seeing the black smog belching from the bus' exhaust. The driver muttered something intelligible got up and walked over to Rose.
"Sorry Missy, ol' rusty here has been on its last legs for a long time. If you want to make it to school on time you're gunna' have to walk the last mile!" he smiled apologetically and then exited the bus to work on the engine. Rose sighed, she knew this day wasn't going to go well, and this was just a sign of events to come. Slowly, she climbed down the steep steps of the bus and set on her way to the school, nervously looking at the dark woods on either side of the road. The trip went without incident until she spotted figures up ahead waiting by the bus stop outside the school, whom she immediately recognised as Emily and her gang. Rose stopped, routed in her place, she knew that if she went past them she'd have to deal with their abuse...but if Rose remembered correctly there was a back entrance to the door, but the path had been swallowed by the woods long ago by misuse. Weighing up the options, she nervously stood rooted to the spot until she saw Emily turn her way to look down the road. That easily convinced her, and she quickly ducked into the woods and started running, knowing that they would probably be chasing her. But after five minutes of flat out running she noticed two things; that the path was gone and that she couldn't run anymore without a break.
Rose collapsed against the trunk of an old oak tree, breathing in and out heavily and trying to shake the fear of being attacked by the monsters while no-one was around to help her. It felt just like the time in the desert, the constant fear of being alone and dying alone. She'd always been warned never to go into the woods without an adult supervisor, and she was bemused by the fact that she had chosen to run into the woods then face the wrath of Emily, as she could not kill Rose whilst the things in the wood could easily. A few minutes passed of near hyper-ventilating and paranoia, and Rose was leaning against the trunk, preparing to make another dash towards where she hoped was the school when she heard a frantic rustling coming from the undergrowth near her. At first, it made her want to run away faster, but when she heard a cry of pain her natural curiosity made her cautiously move the bush away to see what was going on. A small, emerald and crimson monster leant heavily against a tree, glaring at a pack of the most frightening creatures Rose had ever seen; they were all much bigger than her, with large curved silver horns, a black hide and a pronged tail. They stood on four legs and were growling ferociously at the small creature...it was then that she noticed that the crimson patches were not the monsters hide...but instead blood coming from multiple deep cuts and bite marks all over its body. The sight of this made her want to cry out in shock, but she quickly stifled this urge to stay hidden, away from the scary monsters. Despite its multitude of injuries, the creature seemed ready to continue to fight to its imminent death, no longer being fit to flee from the death match that it was now in.
Rose's heart started to melt as she watched the pack continue its onslaught of attacks onto the smaller monster, she fear was the only thing that kept her from going out to the creatures aid...but then from somewhere inside her a knew found bravery seemed to sprout up...her thoughts began to race on how she might help the creature. It might be one of the monsters...but that was no reason for it to deserve death in such a painful manner. She grasped a rock in her hand from the ground, prepared to throw it at the monsters when she realised a safer option...up above the battle there were a flock of winged monsters...her limited knowledge of pokémon told her that they were called Murkrow, with a few Honchkrow with them. This sight triggered one of Rose's memories of her father propping up, teaching her that a good way to get out of situation with aggressive pokémon involved was to created a distraction. So instead of lobbing the stick at the pack...she threw it at the winged monsters, who immediately took off making a large amount of noise. This grabbed the attention of all of the monster on the ground, which gave Rose time to sprint out from her hiding place, grab the emerald monster and sprint off in the direction of the road, hoping to follow that to the pokémon centre in order to help the reasonably shocked monster that she now held in her hands.
Rose heard the howl erupting from the trees behind her only moments later, and tried not to think about what would happen if the monsters caught up with her, it was exactly like a nightmare that she once had. Her legs carried on moving, dodging high routes and large rocks on their own accord. After its initial shock of actual being picked up and taken away by...a human it looked up at his saviour with large yellow eyes in bewilderment. Why would this human save him at the risk of it own life, he didn't understand the meaning of the word compassion or sacrifice, in the woods there were very few times when such an emotion would be needed, most of the times everyday would just be fight for survival. And then a thought occurred to him...was this human taking him away to its lair in order to hurt him more...but then again why would it go through the effort of being chased by a pack of Houndoom. It was a very bizarre and overwhelming situation for the small creature, so all it did was hang limp and hope that the human could escape the jaws of the Houndoom, for both their sakes.
Sweat dripped from Rose's forehead after a few more minutes of running, she'd have been able to keep running without becoming so fatigued if it wasn't for the damned little monster in her arms, it could of at least helped her by clinging to her back instead of hanging like a damned sack of potatoes! More barks came from somewhere behind her, they were definitely getting closer but Rose thought that she could make out the outline of the road...and even the pokémon centre! She knew that she had been going in the right direction! She could no longer hear the Houndoom coming from behind her and the little monster in her arms was out cold, meaning that she could just drop it off at the centre and get back to school without being too late. She emerged from the woods and took brushed herself off before entering the pokémon centre and heading straight to the counter.
"Oh my, Rose, are you okay?" asked a Nurse Joy with a concerned look on her face, Joy being a friend of her mother's.
"I'm alright thanks...but could you please take this...I found him in the wood..." explained Rose, putting the green creature on the counter. Joy's expression went from surprise at seeing Rose with a pokémon and then concern at the shape the creature was in.
"He's in pretty bad shape...but I can get him back to normal...now Rose, why were you in th-" she started, but then stopped whenshe saw that Rose was no longer there, having ran off back to her school.
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Rose approached the school gates and leant against them while she got her breath back, she'd been running way too much today for her liking...but strangely she felt good inside, knowing that she made a difference for something in her life...even if it was a monster. The playground was deserted, so school had already started so she quickly rushed off to her classroom, and was overjoyed to see that people were still entering the classroom, she thanked whatever was watching over her and entered the classroom to take her seat. Rose was given a few surprised looks by a few of her classmates at actually seeing in school, but most people hadn't noticed yet. The teacher, Miss Williams, stood at the front of the class and powered up a projector and started to give a brief introduction about monsters in the region and the likes. Rose didn't pay full attention to this lecture as her dad had educated her about monsters before he was...killed. Anyway, to be honest she was more concerned with the looks that Emily kept giving her...for some reason she wasn't looking forward to the end of the lesson.
However, her attention was caught when she heard the teacher going through a list of the known monsters in the Hoenn region, so she looked up, wanting to see if it showed the little monster that she had found, and sure enough there it was. No. 252, Treecko, a grass monster which enjoyed to stay in the trees in places like jungles and forests...Treecko, she had to admit, for a monster it actually looked kinda cute...she shook her head, shaking out thoughts of actually liking monsters, they'd killed her father after all, so they must be evil. Miss Williams carried on with the list, until she came across the really interesting monsters, known as legendaries. Apparently, most people never had a single glimpse of one of them in their entire life time, however the most rare, powerful but presumably friendly one was a cute, pink monster called Mew. She went on to explain how there have been a few claims of the monster befriending humans, staying with them for short amounts of time and then disappearing. But, she began to drift away from the more interesting areas so Rose slumped in her seat and didn't pay a great deal of attention.
The end of the lesson came too quickly for Rose, the bell went a lot earlier than she expected it to and she was dreading the thought of having to exit this classroom and face the wrath of Emily. However, she gathered up her books and placed them back into her bag, trying to put her mind on anything other than what was about to happen...and then she realised something. Emily was only one girl...and even if she has a monster with her it would only be a low level one, nothing like the five high level ones that she'd face while rescuing the Treecko, if she could handle a pack of Houndoom then she could easily handle Emily. So, with new found confidence she exited the classroom and made for the playground, still hoping to get to the cafeteria before they got her, but that hope was in vain. Just as she exited the classroom she was grabbed by a rough pair of hands and literally dragged to an area just behind the school; there was the sound of sniggering as Rose was thrown to the hard paved surface.
"Well, if it isn't little Rosey!" sniggered a voice that was all too familiar to Rose. "I was beginning to think that you were never going to come back, and that really had me worried." said Emily, acting like she actually cared, which given her circumstances Rose actually decided to go along with.
"Really?" Rose replied in an anxious but still hopeful voice.
"Pfft! No! How gullible can you be!" she shouted, bursting with laughter. "Ya' know, it was my birthday last week...and guess what my parents got me..." she asked, waiting for an answer. Rose knew all too well what she had been given.
"A monster..." she whispered glumly, still not using the term pokémon which Emily seemed to find funny.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about what happened to your Dad, but to be honest, he deserved it..." Rose cringed at this, biting back her hate, but Emily continued, "He was too much of a goody goody, always trying to help the weak...which made him weak, like you!" Emily sniggered, loving every twitch of Rose's body and every spark of pain that she caused her. "He loved pokémon...and you know what, because you're not...he'd be so disappointed in you!"
Something inside Rose clicked then snapped, she'd had enough of Emily's lies and bullying, she didn't care if she was bigger than her, she was going to pay. Rose jumped at her planted a fist in her face, causing a sickening crunch. But before she could try another, Emily kicked her in the stomach and then shoved her back onto the floor.
"Ah...you...you bitch...you are so going to pay for that!" she screamed in anger, and threw poke ball into the air, releasing a jet black dog-like pokémon with gold rings on its head and legs, which Rose identified as an Umbreon. This was bad, from what Rose knew an Umbreon was actually quite a rare and reasonably powerful pokémon, even if it was at a low level.
"Heh, now you've shut up, yep, my Dad got me the best there was because I'm his little angel! And I think I'm going to demonstrate it on you! Umbreon! Use fury swipes!"
The monster jumped forward at Rose who could only try to crawl away as it began to cut through her clothes with its dagger-like claws and rake her skin likes someone might do leaves. Rose let out a cry of pain as it continued its assault, Emily had done nothing even close to this before, this was a truly deadly situation that Rose was in. From somewhere in the forest behind them a shape darted out and with immense speed and forced crashed into the Umbreon, knocking it a few metres into the wall and then landed right in front of Rose. Her vision was slightly distorted due to the blood dripping into her eye from a cut on her forehead but she could make out the shape of the person...no monster protecting her. It was the same Treecko that she had helped, Joy had obviously done a good job though, he was no longer covered in the scratches and cuts that he was before. It looked back at Rose concerned, who replied with a bewildered look...how could a monster care for her well being.
"W...what the hell!" screamed Emily who had been gawking at what had just happened for the past few seconds. "You're not allowed to have a pokémon, only I am, because I'm PERFECT!" she screamed, little did she know that Rose was just as confused as her. "No matter, I'll just have to take it down too! Umbreon, get up and use feint attack!" It came from nowhere and collided into the Treecko with a crunch, sending skidding along the ground until coming to a gradual stop next to a tree. The Umbreon gave a vicious smile but also managed to glare hatefully at the Treecko at the same time. The small creature shakily stood back onto its feet, the attack had obviously done major damage to him, he looked like he couldn't continue to go on against such a tough enemy for much longer. However, once on its feet it planted itself directly in front of Rose again in a defensive way, staring right back into the Umbreon's eyes.
"HAH! Pathetic, Umbreon use fury swipes on that useless creature!" Emily ordered, and the Treecko stood its ground as it received strike after every strike of the black creatures swipes, trying to protect the human that had saved its life. Once the barrage ended and the Umbreon jumped back the Treecko was fighting to stand up, but still glared at the enemy, right up until it fell over onto the ground unconscious. "Such a thing doesn't deserve to live...Umbreon, finish it off with a take down and end its pathetic life!"
Time seemed to grind to a halt for Rose...was Emily really prepared to end the life of a creature...where had this immense hate come from in the first place, her mother had said that there was no such thing as an evil person being seeing the expression on Emily's face would have made anyone reconsider that. But Rose would be just as bad a person if she let the Treecko's life be ended because of her own inability to protect herself...the unconscious creature in front of her was no monster...it was more of a friend that anyone had ever been to her, it risked its own life for hers when all she had done for it was help it out a bit without sacrificing anything of her own. She had to help it or she would hate herself for ever, so that's exactly what she did. She wrapped her arms around the creature and held it close to her stomach, then turned her back towards the enemy, putting the creature out of harms way. She shut her eyes and prepared for the inevitable pain as the Umbreon raced towards her...but then a strange feeling came over her body, as if she had suddenly become weightless. Below...yes...below her she heard a thud as something collided with the wall...and the sounded of someone shouting...but it wasn't Emily's voice. She opened her eyes and saw that her body was lined with a turquoise light and that she was indeed in the air and when she looked below her she let out a cry of joy. Miss Williams was screaming at Emily who was cowering against the wall, and her Alakazam was the one who was lifting them up. Rose smiled, but then felt the powerful urge to fall asleep...so she passed out.
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Rose slowly opened her eyes, she felt so tired but she knew there were more important matters to do before more sleep...for instance where the hell was she? After her vision had cleared she looked around and instantly knew where she was...the medical wing of the pokémon centre. Memories of the battle came to mind, so she immediately checked her body, all of the cuts were bandaged or healed so that was a relief, she then felt something move by her legs so she quickly looked and smiled. Asleep in between her legs was the small...pokémon that had probably saved her life. From somewhere in the room she heard a door slide open and her mother entered and, seeing Rose actually awake, she ran over to her and embrace her.
"Oh, Rose, I'm so glad that you're awake!" she exclaimed, "When your teacher told me what happened I was so worried, we began to think that you wouldn't wake up." Wouldn't wake up...Rose didn't like the sound of that at all.
"Mum...how long have I been unconscious...?" she asked carefully, she couldn't have been out for that long...surely.
"Well...a little over three weeks..." she muttered, needless to say Rose was stunned into silence, she could have swore that most of the injuries she received wouldn't have kept her out for any amount of time. "The doctors said that you had some sought of brain haemorrhage...and throughout this time that little creature has stayed here...even when we tried to remove him forcefully..." Rose looked back at the...pokémon between her legs, it hadn't left her. It had waited for her to wake up...it had still been protected her. That made her feel warm on the inside, and she did something that she had never thought she could do, she picked up the still sleeping creature and wrapped her arms around it thankfully. Jane smiled at this, the only reason why she hadn't had this creature removed was because there was a slight chance a bond between the two was present...which meant that she might get used to pokémon all over again.
"What happened to Emily..." Rose asked quietly. At the mention of the name her mother took a sharp intake of breath. She would never forgive that child for what she had done to Rose, so she believed that Emily go exactly what she deserved.
"She was expelled from the school, and her pokémon was confiscated...its still being decided whether she'll get a criminal record for assault and misuse of pokémon. Rose didn't reply, thinking it best not to think of Emily ever again. Her thoughts turned back to the small pokémon in her arms, and an idea sparked to life inside her.
"Mum...can I keep it..." she asked pleadingly, not wanting to leave it alone again after what they had been through. Jane smiled warmly, it would take a lot of work...but she didn't want to sever the bond of friendship that was growing between the two.
"Of course sweetie..." she said, happy that her daughter had finally made a good friend...Chapter End Notes:Review if this is new read for you, if not, do it anyway! Pweez