K
karusho
Guest
Well, today, for no reason at all, the song 'Santa Fe' from 'Rent' came back to me. I thought, how could I make something Pokemon-related out of this? And my first thought was Saffron City. Despite the anime, the games gave me the feeling that Saffron was a dump, like New York was back in 1990. So, I decided to set this about forty years after the anime.
So, without further ado, I give you the one shot "Center of the Universe".
_________________________________________________________________
A/N: The song at the beginning is actually 'Santa Fe' from the musical 'Rent', with some words changed to fit the world and time. In case you're wondering, Sunnydale is a made up town about 30 miles from Lavaridge, almost squarely on the other side of the volcano. Protected by the volcano to the east, Meteor Falls to the west, and the Rusturf Tunnel to the south, Sunnydale is a paradise with only a small prairie to the north exposing it.
---
Center of the Universe
---
“Saffron City.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Center of the Universe.”
“Sing it, girl.”
“Times are shitty, but I'm sure they can't get any worse.”
“I hear you.”
“It's a comfort to know when you're singing the hit the road blues, that anywhere else you can possibly go after Saffron would be... a pleasure cruise.”
“Now you're talking! Well I'm thwarted by a metaphysic puzzle, and sick of grading papers that I know. And I'm shouting in my sleep, I need a muzzle... All this misery pays no salary, so... Let's open up a restaurant in Sunnydale... Oh, sunny Sunnydale would be... Nice. Let's open up a restaurant in Sunnydale... and leave this to the rats and the birds...”
“Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, OH!”
“You teach?”
“Yeah, I teach. Virtual age philosophy. But my students would rather watch holos...”
“Kanto.”
“Kanto!”
“You're a sensitive aesthete, brush the sauce onto the meat... You could make the menu sparkle with rhyme... You could drum a gentle drum, I could see guests as they come, chatting not about Heidegger, but wine... Let's open up a restaurant in Sunnydale, our labors would reap financial gains.”
“Gains, gains, GAINS!”
“We'll open up a restaurant in Sunnydale, and save the devastation of our brains.”
“Save our brains!”
“We'll pack up all our junk and fly so far away! Devote ourselves to projects that sell... We'll open up a restaurant in Sunnydale, forget this cold industrial hell... Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, OH!”
“Do you know the way... to Sunnydale? You know, tumbleweeds, prairie Poke's... Yeah.”
---
Jame surveyed the scene before him. There was a young girl with reddish hair getting harassed by three thugs. The girl kept yelling and screaming, but none of the four or five people on the street paid attention. Finally, one of the thugs ripped open her shirt and grabbed the girl. Another slid his hand down to her waist. One final scream, and Jame was gone. There was no reason to get involved. Things like this happened pretty much every other day. He fingered the teardrop-shaped ornament on his necklace, pressed a small button and grabbed the Pokeball that slid into his hand. He stared at it for a few seconds, and then stuck it back in the hiding case. If the thugs saw him use a Pokemon, he was as good as dead.
He thought to himself, Saffron City, center of the Universe... Immediately he snapped out of the memory of the song and diverted his attention to his right, where a cup came flying out of nowhere in particular. He leaned back and kicked it straight up, then as it came down, kicked it back towards the direction it had come from. Huh, never noticed that alley there before...
“Hey! Who's down there?”
“None o' yo' beeswax, homey.”
The spiky blond-haired teen sighed. People were like that a lot these days. He could always go to one of towns around Saffron, but would that be any better? To the north was Cerulean, now abandoned to the wild Pokemon who had stormed the place and taken over a bit over a decade ago, which was pointless; to the south was Vermilion, flocking with tourists with no place for an alley kid like himself. To the west was Celadon, once internationally known for it's giant shopping center and popular Game Corner and full of lights from day to night, was now full of gloom, both noun and Pokemon, with homeless, drunks, and penniless men walking the ruins of town, with only the Game Corner active in one corner, filled to the brim with people with nothing better than to throw their money away. Lavender to the east was no help, as the Pokemon Tower had collapsed and spewed all of the Ghost Pokemon out. Lavender was now a literal ghost town.
Saffron was just plain a dump. There were thugs on the streets, gangs in the alleys, black markets behind buildings, and trainers for hire just sitting around. Jame thought about the possibility of joining one of the games with his Burakkii, his Umbreon that he had found just out of town. He shook the possibility from his head. He found a puddle and stared at he reflection of his chain necklace with Blacky's Pokeball hanging from it; his golden-blond spiked hair, his Hakuryuu-blue eyes and his thin arms. Those thin arms packed power, though, however much his tattered black vest attempted to disprove that. He looked down at his shoes, old dirty sneakers he had picked up from a telephone wire, and his pants that he had snatched from a clothesline.
Where was Sabrina the Witch, then? Ketchup- or whatever his name was- had cured her of her coldness two-score years ago, but she was growing old, and that Gousutou that Ketchup had left behind with her helped her along the way to being an old senile. The Haunter had evolved by now, and sometimes Sabrina would be seen walking around with Gengai, waving her walking stick at everyone walking by. It was all thanks to her Fuudin that she hadn't killed anyone yet.
Nobody paid attention to the 'north-eastern dumps' anymore. People were content with Pewter through Fuschia. A thought suddenly raced through Jame's mind: Cinnabar! Cinnabar, yes, what about Cinnabar? Cinnabar was worse than a dump. About ten years after Team Racket or whatever it was had iced Blaine's volcano and destroyed the gym, Blaine noticed that the hot springs were hotter than usual. In fact, it had gotten so hot that the water was boiling. Blaine gave the signal to evacuate, but no one paid a thought. Blaine thought that it would have been clever if he started out giving pennies, but after that people thought that he was just joking around. After that, the eruption had destroyed nine-tenths of the island, leaving the rest to the rats and the birds, as the song went.
No, there was no where to go. Jame meandered through the alleys, hoping to find something interesting. He got more that he was hoping for.
---
Jame turned the corner and bumped into a wall. Wait, I turned a corner and bumped into a WALL?
“Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?”
Jame rubbed his head and looked up. “Oy, I get it. You made your Bariyaado use Light Screen, ne?
The girl put on a quizzical face and said, “Ball-ey-ah-do? Well, if you mean my Mr. Mime, then yes.”
“Bah-ry-ah-doh. It's the Japanese name for Mr. Mime.”
“Oh! Are you Japanese?”
“No, and you're not from Saffron.”
“How did you ever guess that?”
Jame laughed. “Well, for one thing, you're wearing a pretty short skirt for a girl around these parts. You've got brown hair, and it's tied back in a ponytail. Plus, you were worried about me when I bumped into your light screen. No one around here worries. Everyone else is better off dead around here.”
“Oh! You can't mean that. Oh me, oh my, where are my manners? Hi, I'm Cathy Branners. I'm from Viridian City.”
“Viridian City... I'm on the road, to become the greatest trainer...”
“What?”
“Nothing, it's a song I heard a long time ago, about how this guy, Something Ketchup or whatever, was on his way to Viridian City to head over to the Indigo Plateau...”
“Oh! You mean Ash Ketchum? He's still around, I think, somewhere in Palette.”
Jame shrugged. “Oh well. It doesn't really matter. I'm Jame.”
“Jame? That's a strange name. Maybe James would sound more correct. Oh! You don't have a last name?”
“Nobody here does. Put away that Pokemon. The thugs'll rape you and have target practice with your Pokemon if they see it. C'mon. I'll take you to a place where there's some decent food.”
Cathy noticed how he had stressed the word decent. She remained silent for a while, then recalled her Mr. Mime. Suddenly she thought about that old hag's words.
“Remember, child. If you're going to Saffron, be careful. Not even old Sabrina, curse that old witch, will protect you there. I'm getting too old for this. I was over 50 when Ketchum blew up the old Gym... Well, I guess it's fitting, because half of my Pokemon are ghosts anyways... Well, go run along now, Catherine.”
“But Auntie Agatha, I want to hear some more of your stories.”
“What's there to hear? Now go away, I want to sleep. Shoo, shoo.”
“Auntie, Auntie, please?”
The 90-odd old woman ignored her and began fake snoring. Giving up, the 7-year-old goose-stepped out of the gym.
Cathy giggled at her fond memories of eight year past. When she looked up, Jame was at the end of the alley, looking back. “Hey! Are you coming or not?”
“Coming!”
---
Jame couldn't figure it out. Why had he spend the last of his precious money on a Viridian girl? He racked his brains, and, failing to come up with an answer, gave up. Then he thought of something else. “Cathy?”
“Yes?”
“Do you know the way to Sunnydale? You know, tumbleweeds, prairie Pokes...”
“Oh, that old song! Well, if you want to go to Sunnydale? You'd have to get a ticket on the S.S. Anne, or in your case, hitch a ride, and get off at Slateport in Hoenn. From there, you go north to Mauville, then to Lavaridge, and then... I can't remember. I doubt it's true, 'cause Agatha was getting old and mad anyways...”
“Oh.”
“Did you want to go there? Well, one of the reasons I'm here is because I'm going to Johto to visit my Uncle. Dad said that he would go with me, so I have a ticket for three, but then he got busy, and the tickets are for next week, so they're going to waste, anyways... well, two of them at least. You want to go to Sunnydale? You can have one of the tickets, but I don't know what you're going to do with the other one...”
“Oh, I have something in mind...”
---
Later, as they exited the restaurant, Cathy left for Vermilion, leaving Jame with two S.S. Anne tickets in his hands. He walked back to the restaurant, and said, “Hey Walt!”
“What, Jame? Something about that girlfriend of yours?”
“You could say that. C'mon, Walt. Let's open a restaurant in Sunnydale. Oh, sunny Sunnydale would be... Nice!”
“You're kiddin', right? We can't afford a ticket. Hey, what's in that hand of yours?”
Jame grinned and held up to two S.S. Anne tickets, now gleaming in the setting sun behind him.
_________________________________________________________________
Whoo, it's been ages since I've logged in. I'm surprised my account still exists, unlike the last two times I've re-registered. Well, there's 'Center of the Universe'. Ya, it's only about 4.5 pages in Writer, but it's 1:00AM, here as I'm posting this, and a guys gotta get his sleep, ne?
R&R, please!
Oh, and for those of you too lazy to look it up, Burakkii (Blacky) is Umbreon, Hakuryuu is Dragonair, Gousutou is Haunter, Gengai is Gengar, Fuudin is Alakazam, Bariyaado (Barrierd) is Mr. Mime. I think only Hakuryuu and Fuudin needed a hint, though, ne?
So, without further ado, I give you the one shot "Center of the Universe".
_________________________________________________________________
A/N: The song at the beginning is actually 'Santa Fe' from the musical 'Rent', with some words changed to fit the world and time. In case you're wondering, Sunnydale is a made up town about 30 miles from Lavaridge, almost squarely on the other side of the volcano. Protected by the volcano to the east, Meteor Falls to the west, and the Rusturf Tunnel to the south, Sunnydale is a paradise with only a small prairie to the north exposing it.
---
Center of the Universe
---
“Saffron City.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Center of the Universe.”
“Sing it, girl.”
“Times are shitty, but I'm sure they can't get any worse.”
“I hear you.”
“It's a comfort to know when you're singing the hit the road blues, that anywhere else you can possibly go after Saffron would be... a pleasure cruise.”
“Now you're talking! Well I'm thwarted by a metaphysic puzzle, and sick of grading papers that I know. And I'm shouting in my sleep, I need a muzzle... All this misery pays no salary, so... Let's open up a restaurant in Sunnydale... Oh, sunny Sunnydale would be... Nice. Let's open up a restaurant in Sunnydale... and leave this to the rats and the birds...”
“Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, OH!”
“You teach?”
“Yeah, I teach. Virtual age philosophy. But my students would rather watch holos...”
“Kanto.”
“Kanto!”
“You're a sensitive aesthete, brush the sauce onto the meat... You could make the menu sparkle with rhyme... You could drum a gentle drum, I could see guests as they come, chatting not about Heidegger, but wine... Let's open up a restaurant in Sunnydale, our labors would reap financial gains.”
“Gains, gains, GAINS!”
“We'll open up a restaurant in Sunnydale, and save the devastation of our brains.”
“Save our brains!”
“We'll pack up all our junk and fly so far away! Devote ourselves to projects that sell... We'll open up a restaurant in Sunnydale, forget this cold industrial hell... Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, OH!”
“Do you know the way... to Sunnydale? You know, tumbleweeds, prairie Poke's... Yeah.”
---
Jame surveyed the scene before him. There was a young girl with reddish hair getting harassed by three thugs. The girl kept yelling and screaming, but none of the four or five people on the street paid attention. Finally, one of the thugs ripped open her shirt and grabbed the girl. Another slid his hand down to her waist. One final scream, and Jame was gone. There was no reason to get involved. Things like this happened pretty much every other day. He fingered the teardrop-shaped ornament on his necklace, pressed a small button and grabbed the Pokeball that slid into his hand. He stared at it for a few seconds, and then stuck it back in the hiding case. If the thugs saw him use a Pokemon, he was as good as dead.
He thought to himself, Saffron City, center of the Universe... Immediately he snapped out of the memory of the song and diverted his attention to his right, where a cup came flying out of nowhere in particular. He leaned back and kicked it straight up, then as it came down, kicked it back towards the direction it had come from. Huh, never noticed that alley there before...
“Hey! Who's down there?”
“None o' yo' beeswax, homey.”
The spiky blond-haired teen sighed. People were like that a lot these days. He could always go to one of towns around Saffron, but would that be any better? To the north was Cerulean, now abandoned to the wild Pokemon who had stormed the place and taken over a bit over a decade ago, which was pointless; to the south was Vermilion, flocking with tourists with no place for an alley kid like himself. To the west was Celadon, once internationally known for it's giant shopping center and popular Game Corner and full of lights from day to night, was now full of gloom, both noun and Pokemon, with homeless, drunks, and penniless men walking the ruins of town, with only the Game Corner active in one corner, filled to the brim with people with nothing better than to throw their money away. Lavender to the east was no help, as the Pokemon Tower had collapsed and spewed all of the Ghost Pokemon out. Lavender was now a literal ghost town.
Saffron was just plain a dump. There were thugs on the streets, gangs in the alleys, black markets behind buildings, and trainers for hire just sitting around. Jame thought about the possibility of joining one of the games with his Burakkii, his Umbreon that he had found just out of town. He shook the possibility from his head. He found a puddle and stared at he reflection of his chain necklace with Blacky's Pokeball hanging from it; his golden-blond spiked hair, his Hakuryuu-blue eyes and his thin arms. Those thin arms packed power, though, however much his tattered black vest attempted to disprove that. He looked down at his shoes, old dirty sneakers he had picked up from a telephone wire, and his pants that he had snatched from a clothesline.
Where was Sabrina the Witch, then? Ketchup- or whatever his name was- had cured her of her coldness two-score years ago, but she was growing old, and that Gousutou that Ketchup had left behind with her helped her along the way to being an old senile. The Haunter had evolved by now, and sometimes Sabrina would be seen walking around with Gengai, waving her walking stick at everyone walking by. It was all thanks to her Fuudin that she hadn't killed anyone yet.
Nobody paid attention to the 'north-eastern dumps' anymore. People were content with Pewter through Fuschia. A thought suddenly raced through Jame's mind: Cinnabar! Cinnabar, yes, what about Cinnabar? Cinnabar was worse than a dump. About ten years after Team Racket or whatever it was had iced Blaine's volcano and destroyed the gym, Blaine noticed that the hot springs were hotter than usual. In fact, it had gotten so hot that the water was boiling. Blaine gave the signal to evacuate, but no one paid a thought. Blaine thought that it would have been clever if he started out giving pennies, but after that people thought that he was just joking around. After that, the eruption had destroyed nine-tenths of the island, leaving the rest to the rats and the birds, as the song went.
No, there was no where to go. Jame meandered through the alleys, hoping to find something interesting. He got more that he was hoping for.
---
Jame turned the corner and bumped into a wall. Wait, I turned a corner and bumped into a WALL?
“Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?”
Jame rubbed his head and looked up. “Oy, I get it. You made your Bariyaado use Light Screen, ne?
The girl put on a quizzical face and said, “Ball-ey-ah-do? Well, if you mean my Mr. Mime, then yes.”
“Bah-ry-ah-doh. It's the Japanese name for Mr. Mime.”
“Oh! Are you Japanese?”
“No, and you're not from Saffron.”
“How did you ever guess that?”
Jame laughed. “Well, for one thing, you're wearing a pretty short skirt for a girl around these parts. You've got brown hair, and it's tied back in a ponytail. Plus, you were worried about me when I bumped into your light screen. No one around here worries. Everyone else is better off dead around here.”
“Oh! You can't mean that. Oh me, oh my, where are my manners? Hi, I'm Cathy Branners. I'm from Viridian City.”
“Viridian City... I'm on the road, to become the greatest trainer...”
“What?”
“Nothing, it's a song I heard a long time ago, about how this guy, Something Ketchup or whatever, was on his way to Viridian City to head over to the Indigo Plateau...”
“Oh! You mean Ash Ketchum? He's still around, I think, somewhere in Palette.”
Jame shrugged. “Oh well. It doesn't really matter. I'm Jame.”
“Jame? That's a strange name. Maybe James would sound more correct. Oh! You don't have a last name?”
“Nobody here does. Put away that Pokemon. The thugs'll rape you and have target practice with your Pokemon if they see it. C'mon. I'll take you to a place where there's some decent food.”
Cathy noticed how he had stressed the word decent. She remained silent for a while, then recalled her Mr. Mime. Suddenly she thought about that old hag's words.
“Remember, child. If you're going to Saffron, be careful. Not even old Sabrina, curse that old witch, will protect you there. I'm getting too old for this. I was over 50 when Ketchum blew up the old Gym... Well, I guess it's fitting, because half of my Pokemon are ghosts anyways... Well, go run along now, Catherine.”
“But Auntie Agatha, I want to hear some more of your stories.”
“What's there to hear? Now go away, I want to sleep. Shoo, shoo.”
“Auntie, Auntie, please?”
The 90-odd old woman ignored her and began fake snoring. Giving up, the 7-year-old goose-stepped out of the gym.
Cathy giggled at her fond memories of eight year past. When she looked up, Jame was at the end of the alley, looking back. “Hey! Are you coming or not?”
“Coming!”
---
Jame couldn't figure it out. Why had he spend the last of his precious money on a Viridian girl? He racked his brains, and, failing to come up with an answer, gave up. Then he thought of something else. “Cathy?”
“Yes?”
“Do you know the way to Sunnydale? You know, tumbleweeds, prairie Pokes...”
“Oh, that old song! Well, if you want to go to Sunnydale? You'd have to get a ticket on the S.S. Anne, or in your case, hitch a ride, and get off at Slateport in Hoenn. From there, you go north to Mauville, then to Lavaridge, and then... I can't remember. I doubt it's true, 'cause Agatha was getting old and mad anyways...”
“Oh.”
“Did you want to go there? Well, one of the reasons I'm here is because I'm going to Johto to visit my Uncle. Dad said that he would go with me, so I have a ticket for three, but then he got busy, and the tickets are for next week, so they're going to waste, anyways... well, two of them at least. You want to go to Sunnydale? You can have one of the tickets, but I don't know what you're going to do with the other one...”
“Oh, I have something in mind...”
---
Later, as they exited the restaurant, Cathy left for Vermilion, leaving Jame with two S.S. Anne tickets in his hands. He walked back to the restaurant, and said, “Hey Walt!”
“What, Jame? Something about that girlfriend of yours?”
“You could say that. C'mon, Walt. Let's open a restaurant in Sunnydale. Oh, sunny Sunnydale would be... Nice!”
“You're kiddin', right? We can't afford a ticket. Hey, what's in that hand of yours?”
Jame grinned and held up to two S.S. Anne tickets, now gleaming in the setting sun behind him.
_________________________________________________________________
Whoo, it's been ages since I've logged in. I'm surprised my account still exists, unlike the last two times I've re-registered. Well, there's 'Center of the Universe'. Ya, it's only about 4.5 pages in Writer, but it's 1:00AM, here as I'm posting this, and a guys gotta get his sleep, ne?
R&R, please!
Oh, and for those of you too lazy to look it up, Burakkii (Blacky) is Umbreon, Hakuryuu is Dragonair, Gousutou is Haunter, Gengai is Gengar, Fuudin is Alakazam, Bariyaado (Barrierd) is Mr. Mime. I think only Hakuryuu and Fuudin needed a hint, though, ne?
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