Chapter rating: PG-13(?) for the use of alcohol (by a minor)
Chapter 2- Under the Midnight Flame
The sun placidly beat down upon Godric as he traversed the famous Route 816. It was told generation to generation that some of the most celebrated Pokémon trainers alive had traveled down this route first on their way to glory and fame, not the least of which being Beck Falmouth. As the legend goes, he walked down Route 816 with his Sevipet about forty-three years ago, and we all know how that story ends, now don’t we?
Vulpix trotted at his side, quickly darting from one side of the path to the other, eager to feel the wind in it’s hair and the sun on it’s back. Of course Godric had tried re-calling her to a Pokéball, but Vulpix just kept dodging the red beam, as if it were a game.
“Hey, lets see if the Pokédex has anything to say about Route 816. Besides, I need a rest. My feet are killing me.”
“Route 816. After the Great Pokémon Migration, Route 816’s native species doubled, now not only including Spearow, Pidgey, and Ratatta, but also Sentret, Furret, the occasional Hoothoot (especially at night), and various bug Pokémon. It is only about ten miles long, one of the shortest routes, and most trainers spend only a day or two here.”
Vulpix’s ears suddenly perked up, and it placed its head close to the ground. Its nose was almost glued to the floor as it ran off, and Godric had no choice but to run to catch up to it.
It began to pick up the pace, a walk turning into a jog, a jog turning into a run. Soon enough, Godric was sprinting to catch up with the tiny fox, which stopped suddenly, causing Godric to trip over a rock and fall on his face, covering it in dirt.
Vulpix then turned its head to its quarry, a disposed popsicle wrapper, and began to lick out the insides. Godric, who had anticipated the Vulpix leading it to a Pokémon to battle, was disappointed as he got up and brushed himself off.
After trying to reprimand his Vulpix, which proved impossible due to the large puppy-dog eyes staring back at him, he knelt down and began to lightly straighten Vulpix’s fur with his hand, patting it down from where it got stuck on twigs and removing all of the small pieces of rock from it. As soon as he stood, he noticed a rustling in the bushes. His first logical thought was a Pokémon, seeing as popsicle wrappers don’t commonly rustle bushes. That’s strictly a Pokémon thing.
“Vulpix, go check those bushes over there, quick! I think I see a Pokémon!” Vulpix trotted into the bushes, only to come out a second later covered in string.
<Mehhh! > cried the small Vulpix. Still young, with only two tails, it was not able to speak understandably yet (for humans at least). However, since members of the lupine group of Pokémon were usually exceedingly intelligent, it would learn in no time. But for now, ‘Mehhh!!!’ would have to do.
A small green caterpillar with a double-pronged red feeler on it’s head emerged. As the Caterpie crawled out of the bush and looked curiously around for it’s attacker, Godric saw a chance to strike and didn’t waste any time.
“Use Ember Vulpix!” shouted an exited Godric, not realizing that Vulpix was still covered in the sticky string.
Vulpix opened her mouth to create a fireball, but the fireball caught the netting on fire, and soon enough, Vulpix was a small ball of flame.
“Err…Alright, do a flaming tackle!” Now, if you have ever tried to do something while on fire, you know it is not easy. Even tying a shoe can be hard work (if just for the sole reason you are on fire). So, it is understandable that Vulpix first hit a tree, which Godric had to stamp out the fire on, before she actually hit Caterpie (although it would have been progressively harder if the Caterpie wasn’t laughing it’s ruddy little arse off…imagine that, a condescending Caterpie…).
Godric, now with Caterpie safely incapacitated and the tree fire safely out, and Vulpix not-so-safely still on fire, threw a Pokéball at the small form of the Caterpie. The ball didn’t even shake once, which was a bit of a disappointment, seeing as in all of the shows he watched, it was supposed to shake a bit at least. He put the newly acquired Caterpie on his belt and tensed as Vulpix put it’s nose to the ground again and sniffed a bit before choosing a direction.
Vulpix quickly began off on the trail of another scent. This time, it was more of a winding path, involving the agile little fox jumping over hedges, darting between saplings, and hopping into and out of a small babbling brook (which put out the fire, thankfully), but the end result was the same- it found a small trinket, this time a locket, and then settled down to lick its paws. Godric scooped the locket up and put it in his pocket before managing to sneak up on Vulpix and putting her back in her Pokéball.
He was in the middle of a small clearing, and besides the locket, there was a half-empty bottle of perfume and a small Gardevoir charm that looked like it belonged on a bracelet. Godric also put these in his back before he began to walk north.
The sky darkened a bit as Godric continued going north; determined not to be deterred by rain, he quickened his pace, breaking into a sprint as a cloud broke near him and lightning crashed into a tree about twenty feet away.
Seeing the danger, he rushed into a small cavern to escape the storm. A few feet in he sat down on a flat rock on one of the walls and began to catch his breath.
He put his head into his hands as he began to drift off, slouching on his makeshift seat. The rhythm of the rain pounding the roof of the cave combined with the steady beat of thunder and the occasional flash of lightning to create a cacophony of nature; art in its simplest form.
Vulpix came out of its Pokéball and simply stood at the mouth of the cave, watching the storm. It trotted over to its new trainer and snuggled with him, and they both fell into a peaceful sleep.
Godric was awoken a few hours later by a bright light, and blearily opened his eyes to see one of Vulpix’s tails glowing. As quickly as it began, it ended, and the tail split into two, making the tail total three. He looked outside of the cave to see the moon was out, glowing upon the forest. The rain had stopped, leaving the ground wet and muddy, but the scent from the rain remained. Deciding to go for a walk, he stepped out, recalled Vulpix to its Pokéball, and began to trek through the mucky forest.
With the full moon shining down on him, he walked over roots exposed by running water, smelling in the fresh scent of a recent storm. It was so tranquil, so beautiful, so peaceful, and Godric felt like he could walk like this forever.
Only if he knew that tranquility doesn’t last. Poor sod.
The thing that broke the peaceful night (and Godric’s eardrums) was the scream of a girl. Or screams rather, for as soon as the first ended, another began. Godric, being ever the inquisitive one, went to check out the origin of the screams.
He ran for a bit before he was close enough that he had to cover his ears to block out the shrill sound. He reached a small camp in the woods, where he saw a girl. Then he took a few more steps, when he promptly saw the cause of the disturbance- a large bear, with a nice, big, glowing circle with a line through it on its stomach.
An Ursaring, or so told the Pokédex. ‘Populates rocky, mountainous terrain’ my arse.
Not knowing what to do, Godric did the only logical thing; he ran to the girl and pulled her away from her camp and into a bush.
Unfortunately for him, this was met with another shrill scream and finally, a “Who in the hell are you?”
Now, Godric was not always welcome wherever he went. But his company had to be better than an Ursaring’s, right?
“I am Godric Demarque, and I just saved your arse, so I think that you should care to be a little more grateful.”
“Aren’t you the kid Mortimer punched when he got drunk at the farewell party?”
“Yes, that would be me. Well, now that we got introductions out of the way, what say you to the idea of us running away from your gentleman friend who has made the executive decision to thrash your camp?”
“You crazy? There must be at least five thousand dollars worth of camping stuff back there; we HAVE to go get it.”
“Well, erm, whoever you may be, have fun getting ripped to shreds, but I have time to keep. Ta-ta!”
“Wait…umm...err… poor kid who Morty punched! Errgh, what is your name? Whatever, that doesn’t matter right now. I’m Lily, and you have to help me. Your parents probably work for mine anyways. Now stop being cynical and lets go!”
“Well, aren’t you a lil’ bag of sunshine?” Godric began, getting angry at this girl’s I-am-holier-than-thou attitude. I mean really, who throws their weight this much? Not that this girl had much weight to throw around, only coming up to Godric’s shoulder and being thin enough to snap in two in the hands of an Ursaring. She, however, seemed not to have minded, as she ran out from behind the bush to try to get the bear’s attention away from her camp.
In all likelihood, she would get torn in half, slowly and meticulously, being in two or more pieces by the time Godric had reached Puress City. Hell, she may even stay that way for a while, maybe even until the fall batch of trainers left.
Now, there are some things you just don’t want on your conscience. This? Yep, you guessed it, this was one of them.
So, throwing caution to the wind, Godric called out his Caterpie and Vulpix to deal with the big menace of a bear.
“Caterpie, web his eyes! Vulpix, use ember!” Now, one may think of this as a good combination. However, this resulted in a frenzied bear…blinded by webbing…on fire. What a glorious way to die.
Morgue Report: Godric Drake Demarque and Lily Guinevere Maxxwell. Diagnosis: death by flaming bear.
Oh yes, that would go quite well.
Lily called out a Weedle, who promptly plugged quite a many barbs of poison in the back of the Ursaring, further enraging it. She quickly released her starter Pokémon, seeing that Weedle was not very effective versus the large bear, now fire-less, who had now stopped, dropped and rolled over a five-hundred dollar collapsible chair (collapsing it for the very last time).
Out of the ball came a emerald-green, menacing fly-like creature with sharper than normal wings. Its head was pointed, nose jutting out, and black, beady eyes surveyed the situation. It was about the size of a television (versus a bear the size of a fridge, which, in the Pokémon world, is called overkill). Its eyes held a glare that pierced through the Ursaring, temporarily stopping it, but not for long as the bear began to thrash around again.
“Mantescythe, the sharp- winged fly Pokémon. Since Scyther migrated to different climates, its pre-evolution became stronger and easier to train. While it is still rare to see a Mantescythe, they are catching on quick and may become a common Pokémon for new trainers to use.
“Its speed and sharp wings are quite a lethal combination to tree branches, but it is still too underdeveloped to use them to a great advantage against stronger Pokémon, especially rock and steel types. Mantescythe evolves into Scyther.”
“Mantescythe, tackle it!” The large bug charged at the larger bear and made solid contact, its wings slitting a hole in the web near the eyes.
Suddenly, a large pair of eyes appeared out of an indentation of a nearby tree, and the Ursaring stood there string at it, transfixed, before collapsing on the ground. Snores wracked its body (which just happened to be on a collapsible bike and a juicer). The two eyes (seemingly disembodied, as the notch was submerged in darkness) still stared back out at the two trainers and their group of Pokémon.
It flew out, revealing an owl-like form, and Godric took the opportunity to try and catch a new Pokémon. Webbing it to the ground with Caterpie and tackling it with Vulpix, the small Hoothoot was incapacitated, leaving it to be caught by Godric as Lily checked over her camp.
Intermittently, she let out small groans, surveying the damage the bear had caused. At least three thousand in uninsured goods was destroyed, small sparks flying out of what used to be a portable stove (now broken in half). The Ursaring, unbeknownst to anyone, began to stir and grumble, picked itself up off the ground, and let out a mighty roar.
It was about the time of the roar that Godric and Lily discovered the bear was once again awake. It charged at the conversing Caterpie and Weedle who immediately turned their attention to it and cowered under the shadow of the bear. The Caterpie and Weedle both lifted their heads skyward and let out a steady stream of white goo that enveloped them and instantly hardened.
The two newly evolved pods used harden at the command of their trainers and the blocked a great downward slash of both of Ursaring’s dinner plate sized paws.
The Ursaring stumbled back, rubbing it’s now throbbing red paws, massaging them as gently as a large bear could muster, when Mantescythe used poison sting, shooting small barbs from its mouth. The barbs also stuck to the paws of the beast, making it howl out in pain. Lily gathered up the remnants of her belongings as Ursaring looked like it was about to use rest to sleep, and they both ran away quickly, recalling their Pokémon to their balls.
They had stopped at the cave where Godric spent the evening and collapsed on the rocks, panting from exhaustion. After all, it wasn’t every night you had your camp attacked by an Ursaring. Unless of course you had female Ursaring musk on you, or took to putting Teddiursas in cages and leaving them out in the open.
But generally, that didn’t happen.
“So…” Godric began, “How exactly did you get an Ursaring on your tail?”
“Well, I have no idea. It might have been my perfume, but how was I supposed to know that an Ursaring would be around here? They aren’t even seen in Suria much, period”
“Good point. Now, I am going to sleep. If you have any problems, please hesitate to ask.” And with that, Godric leaned his head back and fell asleep against the hard rock walls of the cave.
Sleeping in a dark cave was not an idea that Lily liked, especially with someone from the notoriously thieving lower class, but exhaustion overcame her and she drifted off to a peaceful sleep, lying flat on a large rock.
She awoke the next day with a stiff back (her bed at home was quite a bit comfier then your average rock) and, amazingly, all of her Pokéballs and equipment still there next to her. Never can be too sure with those ignorant, thieving lower class people about.
Slowly getting acclimated to being awake, she smelled bacon coming from somewhere out of the room she was in. While still in her half-awake state, she brushed her fiery auburn hair out of her slightly-dulled-by-sleep green eyes, she set got out of the cave to find Godric hunched over a fire, poking as a steel flat platter. Vulpix laid on the ground, lazily stretched out in the sun with one eye trained on Godric and the other firmly shut.
Rubbing her back to ease the soreness, she sat Indian-style on the ground and began to admire the sizzling sausage on the platter next to the sunny-side up eggs.
“Morning,” came the mumbled form of greeting from Godric, poking lazily at the four pieces of toast on the side before flipping one.
“Mind if I stay for breakfast? My stuff is sort of…well…” Lily began sweetly, not sure how to finish.
“Completely destroyed?” questioned Godric with a chuckle.
“Well, yes. All I need is breakfast and then I will be on my way,” stated the girl with her chin held high with pride, not succumbing to his baiting remarks.
“Oh good, I was hoping you would say that,” replied Godric with a smirk.
“Don’t speak to me that way. You should be honored I am spending time with someone like you!” practically shouted Lily, who was by this time very flustered.
“Oh yes your highness, the ‘honor’,” Godric illustrated honor with little air quotes, “Is all mine.”
“That’s more like it,” mumbled Lily, mollified by his sudden turn around in moods, too exhausted to notice the sarcasm.
“Oh course it is,” mumbled Godric, rolling his eyes as he scooped some eggs onto a plate that he put it in front of Vulpix. He called Hoothoot and Metapod while he handed two plates full of toast, sausage and eggs to Lily, who ate demurely with her legs crossed and plate on her lap with the second one on the ground for the Pokémon.
Lily called out ‘Blade’ and ‘Sting’, her Mantescythe and newly-evolved Kakuna, who quickly dug in. Blade would occasionally get territorial over his food, even resorting to swatting Kakuna, who didn’t seem to mind.
Meanwhile, Godric’s Vulpix, Hoothoot, and Metapod all ate quietly. Then Vulpix tried to snatch a piece of sausage out of Hoothoot’s beak, but stumbled and slammed into Metapod, which rolled into a tree, which caused loose branches from the storm to fall on the heads of everyone.
Metapod and Kakuna didn’t seem to notice, as Kakuna seemed to roll its eyes but kept eating peacefully, and Metapod kept gazing at his surroundings serenely. Mantescythe hacked wildly at the fallen branches, and Hoothoot turned around, eyes crossed in anger, and began to yell at Vulpix like a drill sergeant.
Lily was, to say the least, not amused. “Can you at least try to control your mangy fox?”
“It is a child, just leave it be. It didn’t hurt anyone, now go back to eating.”
Lily resignedly bit down on a sausage, watching Vulpix through beady eyes as it ran around, apparently done with its meal.
Godric finished his toast and began to pack up his stuff as Hoothoot preened itself a bit. Metapod watched clouds with Vulpix for a moment before Vulpix got bored and went to play with a tree, but then got bored and went to play with a rock, but then got bored and went to play with…
When Godric was done packing, he raised two fingers to his fake cap as a mock salute and grumbled, “Well, as enjoyable as this was for me, I must be going. You may want to call Jeeves to take you to Puress; it’s a lot safer that way. Oh, and do try not to get ripped to shreds by an Ursaring. See ya.”
Lily sat there, amazed that that… poor kid would dare to talk to her in that way. Didn’t he know who she was? Her parents could buy him a hundred times over. She opened her mouth to assert herself, but the boy was already gone. "Wha… hey! Come back!" she shouted, sprinting after him.
Godric was walking along the forest trail when he heard Lily behind him, shouting for all she was worth. "Hey! You!" she was calling. "Come back here! You can’t talk down to me like that! Who do you think you are? Come back!"
Hoothoot looked down at his Trainer in confusion. “Aren’t you going to reply, or am I gonna to have to hear that racket all damn day?” he asked.
Godric shrugged. "She just wants to tell me that she is a wonderful rich person and that I should show her respect," he replied. "I’ve heard it all before, from the other rich people. I don’t really want to hear it again."
“Hey, I thought I told you to stop!” Now Lily was running as hard as she could, determined to put this boy in her place. “Hey…Stop walking…stop, you mean little…stupid…meanie!”
Godric froze in his tracks while trying to recover from such a harsh insult. Lily jogged up beside him, breathing heavily. She had lost a lot of ground having to retrace her steps to retrieve her pack and recall her Pokémon. It had taken her a while to catch up with Godric as he had very long legs and she wasn’t really in particularly good shape, with her only exercise before this point coming in the form of walking around the mall and pointing at poor people(while laughing at them, of course).
"Do you normally thank people by insulting them?" Godric growled, swinging around to face the rich girl.
Lily felt strangely intimidated. Maybe it was the half a foot height difference. Yeah, that must’ve been it, she definitely wasn’t afraid of a poor person. "Well… well you wouldn’t stop when I asked nicely," she began meekly. "I wanted you to stop." I mean really, at least the poor can try not to be so ignorant.
"Oh yes, after our last conversation ended so swimmingly, let’s have another about how you think that you are better than me," Godric stated wryly.
"Look, you can’t talk to me the way you did back there," Lily snapped. "Show me some respect! My mother is the region’s best producer! My father owns the biggest construction company in Suria and Trent!”
"If you want me to show respect, make me show respect," Godric demanded stubbornly.
"Well!" Lily snapped. "What’s to prove? My family could buy you and your whole family a hundred times over! My lineage goes back to some of the greatest trainers and businessmen in history! "
To Lily’s surprise, Godric wasn’t phased. "And?" he asked. “I bet that Ursaring didn’t care about how many great trainers you had in your family, now did he?”
"Uh… it didn’t … did it…?" Lily mumbled hesitantly, suddenly unsure of herself. She shook her head as her instincts told her to reset herself and take control of the conversation. "Anyway, it doesn’t matter because you helped like I asked," she concluded. "Just show the proper respect in future, especially to your superiors!"
"You still haven’t proved you deserve respect," Godric shook his head morosely and sighed. He turned to Vulpix. "Come on, Vulpix." The boy and his Pokémon turned to leave.
When she realized he was just going to leave her, Lily suddenly felt slightly afraid again. She jumped forward. "Hey, wait!" she shouted.
Godric rolled his eyes and paused again. "What is it now?" he asked exasperatedly.
"All right, I know what this is about," Lily said in a resigned tone of voice. "You want a reward for helping me don’t you. Well, wait one second, I’ll get something out” Lily swung her pack off of her shoulders and pulled out a small pocketbook.
"Err… No!" Godric was initially shocked, then surprised and eventually arrived in the realm of extreme annoyance, slapping his forehead and rubbing the bridge of his nose in reaction to the headache this nightmare of a girl caused. "I don’t want your money!" Godric shook his head, feeling disgusted at the rich girl. "What is it with you rich people and your incessant need tom be stupider than the rest of us?" he snapped. "I’ve got a secret for you: I don’t want your money. I didn’t help you because you are rich, I helped you because I didn’t want a small girl getting ripped to shreds in front of me ingrained in my memory."
Lily didn’t know whether to be embarrassed by the his refusal or angry at his harsh words. She opted for the second option. “Listen you little punk, it isn’t my fault that the Ursaring decided to trash my camp.”
He had to hand it to her, she had surprised him. He had expected another threat, or maybe a call to her father to have him blacklisted for his brazenness. He wasn’t expecting a bite back for his insult to her ability as a trainer. "I’m sure it isn’t," he sighed shaking his head, just wishing that he was back on the trail (or anywhere away from her, for that matter). "Look, I’ve got time to keep, I’ve got to go."
Lily was confused and disoriented. She had expected for her to be great at the whole ‘training’ thing, while Godric would be lesser. She expected an easy joyride with cute Pokémon running up to her for a chance to see the world and become better. Instead, she had experienced fear, disorientation, and a Ursaring that seemed determined to bite off her limbs and trash her camp. She looked at Godric thoughtfully. Maybe… maybe he could be of use to her.
Godric was just as surprised as Lily was. He had seen lots of the children of Pallet Town’s moderately large rich community down at the Pallet Mall on Ketchum Street, named after the house of Kanto Champion Ash Ketchum. They paraded around, acting like right asses, and not caring about anything but looks and money. The less fortunate? Nah, they didn’t quite exist in that world.
Although the girl before him was arrogant and insulting (and condescending, and snobbish, and annoying, and slightly ditzy, and…), there was something unexpected about her.
"Um… could I come with you?" Lily asked quietly.
Godric was totally caught off guard, and the instinctive answer was obviously a resounding “Bugger off”. But then he re-thought it, and realized she would probably get eaten by Ratatta if left out here alone. She even looked incapable, her clothes mussed up and make-up disheveled after her ordeal with the ‘midnight caller’. Godric relished the sight of one of the annoying, larger than life idiots with a sense of panic about them and a appearance not god(ess)-worthy. Once again, his conscience and instinct to help others ruled over his common sense (and headache). "If you must," he replied. "Just remember one thing: I don’t take orders. I’m not doing this for money or a reward and I’m not doing this as my ‘duty’ to my ‘superiors,’ okay?"
“Tell her boy, show her who is the boss!” chirper in Hoothoot from a nearby tree.
Lily snorted. “If I must, I’ll try to respect you. But I’m not sure about being able to respect a punk like you," she muttered.
“Did you hear that boy? You going to take that from that wench?” twittered Hoothoot encouragingly.
“Yeah, whaddya mean by that, anyways?” retorted Godric, now seething.
"Well, come on," Lily stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "you are coming off as so tough and independent, but you know I’m better, don’t you?" That was something her father had taught her- working-class types always knew their superiors, no matter how much they might deny it. “Denial,” he used to say, “Is like a drug for those poor people. Love using it so much, they get addicted.”
"No I don’t," Godric shouted back. "I don’t see how you expect to be respected while showing no reason to respect you in the first place!" Godric growled deep in his throat and tried to regain control of his temper. "I’ve camped out here with my father and uncle every summer since I was four! I can look after myself!" It was now official: migraine status had been reached
"Well so can I!" Lily shouted back at him. "Probably better than you can!" No I don’t, she reminded herself. My holidays have always been to big hotels on Preston Island or Halegrove City! Well, there was that one time that Tommy’s car ran out of gas on High Street, but that wasn’t a holiday so much as it was a date…but it WAS roughing it, I mean, he did have to push the car…afterwards, right?
"That’s it," Godric muttered resignedly, apparently finished with her stupidity and pride. He turned and strode away.
Lily panicked. "Hey wait, I said I want to come with you!" she shouted. She started to actually burn up, her face turning red in fury, meltdown close to coming. “Look, blast it, why can’t you at least try to show some respect towards me?"
Godric turned around and strode back towards Lily, who backed up, fearing a mugging from the look on his face. "Look," Godric said with all of the patience he had left, "I have had enough of your arrogance. You haven’t done anything to claim respect from me except wave your money in my face, and use large words. Heh, come to think of it, I’m not really impressed. Now bugger off.”
This was the last straw for Lily. "I’VE HAD ENOUGH," she screamed and burst into crocodile tears. "I… I should have … listened to mother and father," she wailed, falling to her knees. "I wanted to prove that I could make something of myself on my own! But all I’ve done is get lost and now I’m being shouted at by a poor little ***!" Lily tried to pull her mobile phone off of her belt, but got all tangled up in its casing. "I’m calling Daddy and asking him to… to take me home! He… he said this isn’t an occupation for a… a true lady of society and he was right!" the cell phone accidentally flipped off, flying into Hoothoot, who proceeded to kick it into a babbling brook nearby.
“That’s what ya get…cruddy machine…” this only caused Lily to ‘wail’ harder, causing Vulpix to scramble in an attempt to cover its sensitive ears.
"Gah!" Godric felt like throwing her into the stream now. He hated seeing girls cry, even arrogant rich ones. What made it worse was that he had so blatantly made her cry, and he couldn’t try to alleviate the doubt. Hell, he couldn’t even walk away and pretend it never happened, seeing as she was now taking up the path. He stepped forward and tried to place a hand on Lily’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "I… I’m sorry, Lily. I didn’t mean to make you cry." Well, at least part of that was true.
"GET OFF OF ME!" Lily screamed, knocking Godric’s hand away, causing him to lose his balance and fall into a bush of nettles on the side. She started crying some more. "I… I’m a failure! You know it… everyone knows it! That’s why you don’t respect me! I’m a know-nothing, air-headed rich girl failure!"
"Hey, who said you’re a…uh…” Godric tried to look for fault in her argument, but at the moment, her words seemed pretty accurate. Trying to salvage something, he tried a weak, “failure?" overlooking the fact that this was his personal belief. He thought back, trying to remember if he had called her a failure yet, and finally wondering why he had missed that one. Too late now, seeing as she was crying, and he had to comfort her. "Okay, I don’t like your attitude, but I don’t think you’re a failure!" “There we go, Goddy!,” popped his Uncle Remus’s voice into his head, “nice lie! Told ya lying works like a charm in most situations with women! ” Come to think of it, Uncle Remus WAS a thirty-seven year old bachelor…
"But… but I’m lonely and scared," Lily whimpered.
"I was lonely when I first got into the woods too, Lily," Godric lied through his teeth, kneeling beside the girl and putting a hand on her shoulder. This time she didn’t try to smack him or shake his hand off. "Being so far from my home and family scared me too, you know."
"R… really?" Lily asked, surprised. She had stopped crying now. "I… I suppose it’s natural, huh?"
Godric shrugged, and with a roll of his eyes said, "Oh yes, ask me, seeing as I’ve obviously done this before."
Lily laughed slightly. "I really don’t know what to do out here," she admitted. "I… I could use some help, you know. I want to learn to be my own person, but I don’t have the first clue how to start!"
"Fine, I’ll help yeh," he relented. "I’ve only one condition to make. No going on about the fact I’m not rich and that this makes you better than me. We’re both Pokémon Trainers, and that should go beyond all other petty social barriers."
Weird concept, Lily thought. However, she liked the concept- profile on job rather than house. Could take a while to get used to, though. "I’ll agree if you promise you won’t look down on me for being a rich girl who has had everything given to her before now."
"I promise," Godric lied confidently, despite that this was his exact reason for joining her- he didn’t want her making a stupid mistake and getting herself killed. He stuck out a hand. "Godric Drake Demarque," he said, introducing himself. Lily looked at him for a moment then took it for a shake. "We’ve got a deal, Lily," he brightly stated, behind an equally bright smile. He gestured to his Vulpix. "And this is Vulpix and that is Hoothoot," he added, waving his arm vaguely in the direction of some trees off to the side.
"Can I name them?" Lil asked. She reached out to Vulpix, who allowed Lily to scratch her behind the ears.
“No. And please, don’t bug me about it.”
The two stood up and looked at each other thoughtfully. "We… we really got off on the wrong foot didn’t we?" she admitted ruefully.
"That’s one way of putting it," Godric admitted. "I expected you to be a rude, abrasive, annoying, snobby, arrogant, rude rich girl and I got what I expected."
"And I expected an impertinent, offensive and proud poor boy and I got what I expected too," Lily mumbled through clenched teeth. "But I wasn’t expecting you to be remotely helpful."
"I wasn’t expecting you to want to…well…make something of yourself," Godric replied quietly. He shook his head. "I suppose we’re both guilty of expecting the worse and making sure we get it," he admitted with a wry smile.
"I really need someone to help get me going," she began to plead. "Can I come with you?" Lily’s voice was filled with a desperation that almost touched Godric’s heart. Almost.
"Alright, I suppose." Godric relented. "It will be good to have some human company on the road," he admitted with a sigh, “No matter how unpleasant they may be,” he added under his breath so only Hoothoot could hear.
“Well, I think we should be off then. Come on Blade.” The Mantescythe, who was beating bugs away from a tree it claimed as it’s own, flew over to sit on it’s master’s shoulder and hummed quietly, shooting furtive glances at Hoothoot, Vulpix, and Godric every so often.
By about four o’clock, the trainers had reached Puress and went to the Pokécenter.
“Welcome to the Puress City Pokécenter. Can I help you?” asked Nurse Joy in her cheeriest possible voice.
“Yes Nurse Joy, you can. Can you heal my Kakuna and Mantescyth-”
“Wait a second, you look familiar…” said Joy to Godric, cutting Lily off. “Are you related to-”
“Remus Demarque? Yep, I’m his nephew, Godric. Pleased to meet you.” They shook hands over the counter, and Joy took the Pokéballs that housed Hoothoot, Blade, Sting, Vulpix, and Metapod and placed them gently on a tray that she carried into the back while Godric went to sit down and read a magazine.
Nurse Joy came back out and asked, “Would you two like to spend the night here? Your Pokémon will be free to go in about ten to fifteen minutes- but we have plenty of open rooms, so there is no charge. You two are only the second and third trainers to arrive.”
“Who was the first?” inquired Godric.
“Wait a second, let me check.” After a few seconds of punching in data to the outdated computer behind the desk, Joy popped her head up over the monitor and read off, “Timothy Dupont- arrived three hours ago with two Pokémon. Room 16, if you are interested. Now, would you like to spend the night here?”
“Nah, I’ll just find a hotel,” came Lily’s reply from behind a fashion magazine.
“I think I’ll be staying with my uncle,” said Godric, folding April’s edition of Trainer’s Monthly and getting up out of his seat to go find a bathroom.
“Pokémon are done!” half-shouted Nurse Joy in a cheery voice before coming out of the room with seven Pokéballs on her tray.
“Seven? We only have 5 between the two of us,” noticed Godric, looking relieved after his return from the bathroom.
“Well, I was hoping one of you would bring the other two to Timothy in room 16. Unless you have somewhere important to be in which case I can just-”
“No Nurse Joy, I can take care of it,” offered Godric, clipping three Pokéballs to his belt, tossing two to Lily (who promptly dropped them on her foot), and taking the other two in his hand.
He started down the hallway, finally reaching Room 16, and knocked lightly. Timothy opened the door, book in hand, and indignantly interrogated, “What do you want? I was reading.”
“Surprise, surprise. Listen, I have your Pokéballs. Here,” he said, tossing them to Timothy, who caught one clumsily but dropped the other.
Lily also walked down the hallway, headed to challenge Timothy to a battle. I mean, how hard could he be, right? Little nerd. And this way, she could prove herself to Godric as a strong and capable trainer.
“Okay, Timothy, I challenge you to a battle!” announced Lily with great gusto. This was probably a practiced line, gone over time and again in front of a mirror.
“Oh…” began Timothy, bending over to pick up the dropped Pokéball and sliding his glasses back up his nose. “I accept, I guess. How about in the Puress City Gym? It isn’t used for official gym battles anymore. No more gym leader, I think, since Haley Falmouth retired.”
“Okay…meet me there in twenty minutes,” demanded Lily, who practically skipped out of the room with joy after Tim accepted her challenge. She would show Godric. I mean, she was rich- set for life even. How can she not be good at this ‘training’ thing anyways?
Fifteen minutes later, Lily was on the battlefield, mentally prepping herself for the battle to come. Well, that may be an overstatement. But eating ice cream is a form of mental preparation, right?
Godric walked in a few minutes later, Tim and Vulpix by his side, and sat in a chair near the middle of the battlefield. The battlefield was regulation width and length, with two platforms on either side that, at one time, may have been able to be mechanically raised.
The actually battlefield was little more than a few spots of unpolished wooden floors surrounded by cement, with a few holes that weeds poked through. A broken scoreboard adorned the wall opposite the door, graffitied on countless times by rival gangs. Under the scoreboard was a steel, uncomfortable looking chair used by the referee with two flags beneath it; this appeared as the only thing complete from the original official gym.
Tim climbed into the green box, pausing to push his glasses up his nose. Lily, likewise, climbed into the red box, blew her hair out of her eyes, and reached for a Pokéball on her belt.
“The following will be one on one battle, fought by official league rules. Each person may use two Pokémon. Begin!” announced Godric, taking one flag in each hand and standing at the mid-field line.
Tim began by choosing a small bird Pokémon with golden brown feathers. It looked around for a bit, showing some distaste in its surroundings, and exchanged some words with it’s trainer before flapping out into the center of the battlefield.
Lily responded with Sting who appeared in a flash of light. The Kakuna gazed silently, shifting its eyes quickly around it, before settling down and setting it’s gaze on the Pidgey hovering slightly above a dull patch of wooden flooring, as though disgusted at the thought of touching it.
Tim began with a tackle, to which Lily’s Kakuna responded with a Harden, not needing to be commanded to do so. The Pidgey, angry at being rebuffed, started wildly flailing around, trying to damage Kakuna with its claws, wings, beak, and occasionally, with a full-body tackle. Timothy tried to calm it down, but to no avail, as the Pidgey quickly tired itself out.
Upon Lily’s command, Kakuna took advantage of the momentary lapse in attacks as Pidgey tried to regain its strength, hitting it hard with a tackle and finishing it off with a poison sting to the gut.
Pidgey fell to the ground, face full of weeds, before being deemed unconscious by Godric and recalled by Timothy.
Next, he tried a large pink, fleshy blob a tail poked out of, until it unfurled to show a face with a confused expression and a stomach with a powerful growl of its own. The Slowpoke showed surprising speed by catching Kakuna off-guard with a powerful water gun and sending it flying back into a stop sign nailed haphazardly to the wall.
Kakuna slowly slid down to the ground before coming to a complete stop at the bottom. After seven seconds, it still hadn’t moved, and was deemed unconscious by Godric.
Lily, although disappointed, grabbed the other ball on her belt and tossed it out, revealing her Mantescythe. It fluttered around a bit, it’s head trying to see all potential dangers in the arena at once, before it settled it’s gaze on the Slowpoke. On Timothy’s command, Slowpoke tried another water gun, hoping to one again surprise Lily, but Mantescythe was too fast and although Lily was slow to react, Mantescythe was able to dodge it without command.
Lily quickly regained her composure and Mantescythe went on the offensive, hitting the much less agile Slowpoke with a many sharp tackles in quick succession while easily dodging the various jets of water sent its way. By the time Lily commanded it to finish Slowpoke off with a poison sting, Slowpoke was already exhausted, not used to the frenetic combat that the Mantescythe engaged it in.
The small barbs hit Slowpoke’s back and it fell to the ground, defeated. By the time Godric’s count had reached four, Timothy knew it was hopeless and returned Slowpoke.
“Well fought, Lily, well fought,” was all Tim managed to grumble out before Lily began her intricate victory dance. Tim gave Godric a crisp twenty to give to Lily, and with a parting statement of, “Oh, and tell your buddy over there that Mantescythe lose their blades when they evolve into Scizor,” stalked out of the gym, mumbling something about reading up on that strategy.
Godric waited until Lily managed to calm down before calling her over to the doors to leave. Agreeing to meet the next morning, they parted ways; Lily, to the Main St. Pokémon Center, and Godric to his uncle’s general store tucked within the gentle confines of Ossus Square.
The square was the center of life in Puress, as the town square was in many of the Suria towns. The only official league-approved Pokémart for twenty miles was here, along with a street vendors, artisans, and young kids with heir families going shopping for the upcoming summer.
In the very center or the square was a large, multi-tiered circular fountain that glittered of marble and pennies tossed carelessly into the bottom. At the very top was Puress’ guardian Pokémon, Pidgeot, spouting water from its beak, which was pointed skyward; at this point, almost directly into the waning sun.
Godric easily found his destination, just as the aerial ferry was pulling in and the travelers were getting off of it. Godric was momentarily lost in a sea of people, going to and from work, but the tumult quickly calmed down and Godric hurriedly entered the shop before the 7:30 coach pulled in.
The tinkling of a bell met his ears, but his uncle obviously didn’t hear it; he was busy tidying up a shelf and preparing for closing time, quietly mumbling something that sounded like a song about a ‘Brenda and Eddy’ before quickly pausing to stop a can of paint from sliding off of a shelf.
Godric tapped his uncle lightly on the shoulder, startling him out of his revere and causing him to jump slightly. He spun quickly, his baggy sleeve catching a pot of coffee and sending it tumbling to the ground before his face lit up in a smile that brightened the room. The pair shared a manly hug before going into the back to talk.
Remus sat down first, and began smoking a cigarette from an open carton behind the counter.
“Hey buddy, good to see ya! How have ya been?” asked Remus in his deep, just above a baritone voice. He talked much less formally than his twin (Godric’s father), and was almost the complete opposite of him in every way. While Romulus was a family man, Remus was a vagabond; while Romulus was tall and lanky, Remus was shorter and more muscular; while Romulus was introverted, Remus was as outgoing as they could come.
“I’ve been good so far, Uncle Remus. How about yourself?” Godric spoke like his father rather than uncle, more by his mother’s urging than anything.
“I’ve been alright, just keepin’ myself busy. My Pokémon are with Cecilia, she tookem’ to the park or something. Arcanine is doing better now, ya know, but it’s a long road to recovery from that. I s’pose I’m just lucky to still have ‘em, ya know?” Godric knew what he meant; Remus’ Arcanine recently was operated on to remove a cancerous tumor from its pilot, but the operation had damaged the pilot, leaving Arcanine unable to create fire effectively.
“Yeah, its good he is still around, but how about Cici? She still doing alright?” questioned Godric.
“Oh, that she is. She’s amazing, ya know that Godric? Totally amazing. I-I was thinkin’ bout marrying her, ya know? A nice ceremony, maybe next summer, if I can save enough up. Such a nice woman, shame she never met nobody for her, but I think we could really make it work, ya know? I mean, if not for her, I’d still be smoking two packs a day.” And with that, Remus flicked some ash off of the cigarette and took another nice, long drag. “So, what’s your starter? A fierce Growlithe like me? Or maybe a more intelligent-like one, like an Abra? Your father’s was an Abra, ya know, which fittem’, I suppose,” Remus finished the cigarette and carelessly tossed it into the rubbish bin after snuffing it out.
Godric warily eyed the bin, half expecting it to go up in flames, before reaching to his belt and grabbing the three Pokéballs there. He placed them on the chipped wooden table and released them, one by one.
Remus analyzed them one by one, ruling out Hoothoot and Metapod as his starters due to the fact they could be found one Route 816. His eyes fell upon the last Pokémon released, and he stuffed his part of fist in his mouth. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop the tears of mirth from welling in his eyes and the sound of smothered chuckles rumbling like thunderclouds.
“Oh god, just wait’n’till your father gets a wind’a this one!” finally came out between the laughter; he immediately stuffed his fist back in his mouth a fresh wave of chuckles swept over him.
Godric rolled his eyes humorlessly and began petting the small Vulpix, who looked around the room with wide eyes of nubile curiosity. Metapod also gazed around the room for a moment before realizing there was nothing to do and closing its eyes. Hoothoot’s eyes also scanned the room, as if looking for a threat, before settling on Remus and fixing a stare on him with beady eyes.
“What are you laughing at, old man?” rudely asked the Hoothoot, glaring at Godric’s uncle.
Remus raised an eyebrow at the brazen Hoothoot and with a slight smirk questioned, “So we have a smart one here, do we?”
Hoothoot gave an equally sharp response of, “Thanks for noticing.”
Remus chuckled at Hoothoot’s impudence and drawled, “I’m not as oafish as I look.”
To which Hoothoot snarkily said, “Hah, fooled me.”
Remus’ response of ‘I’ll show you a fool,’ was interrupted by Metapod quietly saying “Nobody is as they first appear.”
Hoothoot then shifted his head completely around to face Metapod before saying “So the shell finally talks now does he?” Metapod did not respond to the question, instead closing its eyes and drifting off to sleep.
Vulpix tore Godric’s attention from the squabbling by nudging him with a foot. Godric looked down to see her offering him something metallic from her mouth. He retrieved and wiped the object, noticing how hot it was, before recognizing it as his uncle’s ring. He held it up to the light and some light reflected into Remus’ eye, making him turn around to look at the ring.
“Hey- wait a second- tha’ looks exac’ly like my ring- how’d you manage that?” He looked at his bare hand, for the first time noticing that the ring was no longer on it.
“Well, I didn’t; that was Vulpix,” replied Godric, equally as confused.
Remus smirked scratched Vulpix under the chin, causing her to quietly coo. “Maybe she ain’t tha’ bad after all, huh?” He looked Vulpix in the eye and rubbed noses, asking “Who’s a good little girl, eh?”
Godric returned the ring to Remus who went to begin dinner. Godric tidied up the store, helping the occasional customer while Remus cooked, and they closed at 8, when the food was done.
Ripping the juicy meat off of Quilfish quills and gulping down a pint of rum proved to be a welcome distraction from the eventful day, and the two humans chatted about friends, family, Pokémon, journeying, and everything in between. By the end of the night, with both parties sufficiently less sober then they were coming in, Godric settled into bed with his Pokémon safely in their Pokéballs and fell asleep before his head hit the pillow.