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 Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:05 pm
((Alright, last one of the day guys (unless you want more by popular demand). Promise!))
[In the past]
Through the heavy rain, Salieri sat at the dojo’s kitchen table and looked out the window. It was pouring down like a bombing outside. She twisted her fork around in her noodles absentmindedly. On days like these, classes at the dojo were canceled. So she was basically stuck inside.
At the distance, she saw something at the gates that was not there before. Salieri leaned forward to try and see what it was.
A girl about her age, with long black hair that fell down past her waist. She had on a red psychic’s uniform, consisting of what looked like a soldier’s jackets and boots as well as black boots. Her hand was raised in the air, and around the girl there was no rain. Instead, the water droplets merely fell above her and dispersed in a tiny green sparkle every time they got close, like she had an invisible umbrella. She was entirely dry.
And through her bangs, she was staring right at Salieri.
Salieri shuddered, but did not look away. “Moze, that creepy psychic girl from next door is at the gates!” she called out to her brother, who was in another room.
“Hang on, I’ll be right there!”
The Battle Girl couldn’t help but feel like little Sabrina’s gaze was going to bore a hole into her head. The thought of someone being able to move something without touching it was scary enough, but she had heard that Sabrina also had telepathic abilities. Salieri began to start feeling paranoid that her head was being probed right now.
Can you sense me, Sabrina?
From behind her, Moze came up and took a seat next to Salieri. He leaned forward, trying to make out the figure in the distance. Finally, his eyes met hers. “Hey, it’s that girl Sabrina, right?”
When his eyes met hers, Sabrina’s stoic expression suddenly became flustered. She spun around and ran away, causing Moze to frown. “Huh. We should have invited her in from the rain.”
“Moze, are you crazy?” Salieri practically shrieked. “You can’t let her in here!”
“Well that’s not very nice of you.”
“Didn’t Dad tell you? Her family is trying to challenge us for ownership of this gym. They won’t stop bothering him about it.”
Her brother shrugged, and then leaned back in his chair with his hands clasped together behind his resting head. “All Official Pokemon League gyms are acceptable to be challenged should someone wish to battle for their ownership. There can only be 8 gyms for every regional league, so of course there would be someone wanting it eventually.”
Sal turned to face Moze. “Aren’t you scared that we could lose the gym? Psychics have an advantage over fighters.”
“Hmm…I don’t think I can remember the last time I was scared. Besides, I don’t believe in advantages,” he told her with a grin. She rolled her eyes and got up from the table.
“I can never get a straight answer out of you,” she groaned. Moze kept grinning, chuckling to himself as she started to leave the kitchen.
“Shashasha…hey, lighten up, See-Sal!” he called after her. The older brother sighed as he looked out the window, and then he saw Salieri’s abandoned meal on the table.
“Oooh, noodles.”
~~~~
“So you think you can just go and pick on my little brother, huh?”
A crowd of kids had gathered around the swingset in the Saffron City park, forming a huge circle around Salieri and another brute of a teen. But unlike Devin, Lyle was a middle schooler and much larger. His uniform was the standard black pants and matching top with buttons going from the collar to the bottom. But his shirt was unbuttoned revealing a white t shirt stretched over a fat belly. His bald head shined brightly under the sun as he looked far down at the small Salieri. “Well? Answer my question?”
Salieri had her arms crossed as she looked up defiantly at Lyle’s beady eyes. “Your little brother is the one who started it. If he sent you here to fight me, I’m not going to give in.”
The kids in the crowd “ooohed” and “aaaahed” at Salieri’s spunk, but Lyle just smiled his huge pearly white teeth at Salieri, like a Sharpedo. “Kid, I like your guts. And my kid brother is a good for nothin’ punk who think he can step on people.”
Lyle stepped forward so Salieri had to crane her neck even higher up. A bead of sweat appeared on her forehead. “But me? I can, and I will. So if you kiss my shoes right now, I won’t have to pound you into the ground.”
Once again, kids were in awe of the lines being traded between the two. Salieri looked down at Lyle’s shoes, and then back at Lyle.
And then she gave him the finger.
His face instantly turned a dark, dangerous shade of red. With a growl, he kicked out at Salieri’s gut with a massive foot. Salieri grit her teeth and jumped back to barely dodge the blow, and kept stumbling as Lyle charged forward again with a hook to her face.
“Fight! Fight! Fight!” the kids chanted and raved as Salieri kept nimbly dodging Lyle’s attack. Every one of his punches or kicks was met with a duck, or a spin, or a flip. She was small, but she was speedy.
“Enough!” he growled as he reached for something on his belt. A pokeball. Salieri clenched her fists at her sides while Lyle released a Meowth. “My Meowth will take care of you just fine! Use your Fury Swipes, Meowth!”
She knew this pokemon. If it was trained, it could use it’s superior speed to outmaneuver Salieri. And then she couldn’t dodge. And if she fought back in self defense, it’d probably take her down. Not to mention getting into more trouble for fighting.
It wasn’t looking good.
Meowth’s claws popped out as it stalked towards Salieri with purpose, giving her a slasher smile to intimidate her further. She gulped, tensing up her muscles. There was no way out of this.
“Cat.”
Meowth’s eyes looked over to who had called it out, and suddenly something shiny was flung it’s way. The cat pokemon’s eyes widened in glee as it saw the coin roll away from the swingset and towards the playground. Meowing, the pokemon darted after it on all fours. Lyle grunted in shock.
He reached out his arm to his pokemon, but before he could call it back he felt a tap on his shoulder. Pausing his activity, he turned his annoyed face over his shoulder to see who had tapped him. “Wha-“
The fist connected with his cheek instantly, and Lyle’s head began to reel back. His body followed, lifting off the ground and flying backwards neatly into a swing. His body was caught and stopped, swinging backwards as a trail of blood spurt from his mouth. And then the swing came back to the ground and Lyle fell off and skidded onto the ground.
Lyle slowly got up, his head pulsing with pain that rippled to the rest of his body. The blurriness in his eyes was slowly getting clearer, and the ringing in his ears began to subside so he could hear steady, jovial laughter. Now that Lyle could see, the first thing he saw was Salieri looking exasperated about the boy’s appearance. And then he saw the boy.
In front of him stood another middle schooler, wearing the standard uniform as well. However, his was blue, and had a much slimmer fit to show off a lean and athletic body. His messy black hair fell in silky chops all over his head, and his amber eyes sparkled with cheerfulness as he clutched his stomach from laughing. He was on the tall side for a boy his age, but not outstandingly so. As his laughter subsided, he stood up straight and wiped a tear from his eye.
“Man, I knew that your Meowth would fall for a dumb trick like that, but I had given you some more credit than I should have. But you totally fell for the oldest trick in the book! Guess if the pokemon isn’t well trained, neither is the trainer,” he said, stifling more chuckles as he did so.
Lyle slowly wobbled to his feet, a look of disgust engraved on his face. “Who are you, you piece of s**t?” he spat.
The boy’s cheery smile turned into a slightly more serious and more confident one as he slid his hands into his pockets. “Hey, watch your tongue. The name is Mozart Del Forrest, and that’s my little sister you’re trying to ‘pound into the ground’,” he introduced with a smugness that came from having punched someone he didn’t like in the face. “Now go home so I can spare you from further humiliation.”
The boys in the crowd began to cheer once again, louder than before. They were chanting Moze’s name as the older girls began to swoon.
“Oh, he’s dreamy!”
“He’s the man!”
“Yeah, Mooooze!”
“Moze, you’re hot!”
Salieri scoffed and folded her arms as excitement continued to grow. “Moze, you’re making a scene.”
Moze turned to face Salieri, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as his cheeks turned a slight tinge of pink. “Sorry, See-Sal. I got a little carried away, seeing you in trouble like that and all,” he told her sincerely.
“What a sweetheart!” another girl in the crowd swooned, setting off another wave of infatuated sighs. Salieri rolled her eyes, putting her hands on her hips impatiently.
“Stop it, you’re embarrassing me,” she sighed. But Moze continued to grin at Salieri, and she sighed again in defeat. She couldn’t stay annoyed at him for long. It was too hard. “Thanks, Moze.”
The older Del Forrest sibling spun around again to look back at Lyle, who was searching for his pokemon. “Meowth!” he called out. The pokemon, who was rolling on the grass with the coin, looked up at his trainer. Now it saw there was a new challenger, and that it’s trainer was hurt. Narrowing it’s eyes, Meowth darted back to the battlefield.
“Meowth, use Sla-“
Lyle felt Moze’s hand cup over his mouth, shocking the hulking teen and covering up his words. The bully was terrified, yet awed at how fast Moze was. The other teen had covered the distance between them midsentence. No order was given as Lyle felt Moze undo his belt buckle.
With one swift motion, he slid off Lyle’s belt, resulting in the bully’s pants falling down to his ankles and revealing his white boxers. As Meowth’s pokeball fell, Moze kicked it up with his foot to catch in the other hand while slamming the bully hard into the swingset’s supporting pole with the hand covering Lyle’s mouth.
Meowth leaped up, lunging at Moze. Holding up Meowth’s pokeball, Moze returned the pokemon in midair to it’s pokeball. Tossing the pokeball high into the air, Moze got behind Lyle and wrapped the belt around Lyle’s waist. With swift handwork, he grabbed Lyle’s arms and tied his hands to his back with the belt. Now Lyle was stuck to the swingset, tied there with his hands on lock.
Lyle opened his mouth to protest as Moze spun around, catching Lyle’s pokeball. Before he could utter a word, Moze took the shrunken pokeball and jammed it into Lyle’s mouth with the button facing on the inside. He put his hand over Lyle’s mouth right after.
Lyle’s eyes widened in horror, and Moze held his shoulders in place. “Calm down. If you wiggle around too much, you might press the button. I’m sure you can imagine what happens if you release your pokemon inside of your mouth.”
The bully didn’t want to imagine that scenario. It sounded messy. His breathing slowed to a rhythmic panic as Moze took a deep breath in relief with Lyle. “Good. Now, are you going to leave my little sister alone?”
Lyle nodded vigorously.
“And you’re not going to come after her or me after this, right?”
He nodded again.
“No snitching, right? You don’t wanna get in trouble now, do you?”
Nod.
“Good, that’s good. So, lets all be friends?”
Lyle nodded in a rush and Moze stepped back. The brute instinctively spit the pokeball onto the ground, where it rolled and collected dirt. He was pale as a ghost.
“That’s kind of gross, dude,” Moze muttered to Lyle as he untied the bully. Lyle stumbled forward, almost tripping over his pants at his ankles as he took his dirty pokeball off of the floor. He looked back at the Del Forrest siblings for a second before running away as well as he could.
“Hmm, he fell for another bluff,” Moze mumbled to himself as he rubbed his chin in thought. “Good thing he didn’t know about the safety feature on pokeballs, huh?” he asked his sister. Salieri shrugged unenthusiastically and noticed that the crowd was starting to converge on them.
“Moze, that was awesome!”
“You showed that bully what’s up, man!”
“Can you sign my boobs?”
Moze rubbed the back of his sheepishly again, overwhelmed as more fans started to crowd around him. Salieri could feel herself getting pushed out of the way. After all, Moze was the hero. It must have been nice to get all that praise.
“See-Saaaaal!” she heard from the crowd, not able to see his body amongst the others anymore. “I’m gonna be home late! Tell Mom and Dad I said hiiiiii!”
And with that the crowd swept him away, moving to a different part of the playground. Salieri walked over to one of the swings and sat down, rocking gently back and forth.
She loved her older brother, and she knew he loved her as well. It had always been the two of them together, from birth to adoption to now. As far as she knew, there was no one else on the planet like her except for Moze, because he was her only real family left. And there never would be any more. She knew that no matter what, Mozart would protect her. He’d always have her back.
But as Moze was being hoisted into the shoulders of an adoring mob, Salieri felt a pang of something in her stomach. She was taught that popularity was supposed to be subjective, but she couldn’t deny that Moze was a hit with everybody. All of the girls thought he was the best catch in Saffron City. The boys all wanted to be friends with him so they could be cooler. The school was nurturing him as their star pupil. Their parents thought he was prodigy. So why did this pang feel like jealousy?
She wondered what it was like to be an ace.
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:06 pm
[before leaving the ruined Dojo~]After his match was over Takamaru left, now heading towards Challenge rock, knowing the location from his Town map. Before leaving Tk was met by Ookami. "Hm, i thought you where with mom and Kari?" questioned the young boy. but before he could inqury any further Ookami thrust a note into his face that Read... Takamaru,
Me and your younger sister have already headed towards Challenge rock. i just want you to know that i still don't approve of this but you seem to be doing rather well but my decision is still un-clear. ill know more after the end of this tournament.
Love always, mum After reading the note Tk noticed that Ookami was gone, probably leaving to re-join with Mai and Kari. then he too headed off towards Challenge rock, tucking the note into his pocket as he walked. ____ [Present~]Takakamaru now standing face to face with Enmui. "tch, yea yea, im young i get it." came Tk's reply. 'Im pretty sure this chick was in the dream yard that night....' thought Takamaru wracking his brains for a name. When he couldn't think of it he just looked past it, to be honest he really wasn't interested in the woman all to much, he hardly knew if she was a Friend or Foe when it came to team plasma. one thing he did know was that in order to retrieve Lancer back from the one named Gorm he would have to beat her to get to him. To takamaru it looked as if Eunmi was putting far too much thought into his age. her stance was dropped and relaxed and she even questioned his age. if she didn't treat Tk like a real fight then it would be him moving on and not her because to Tk, your gender and Age played no part in a fight.
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:16 pm
Eunmi rose her hand and flicked her bangs out of her eyes.
"Focus, Eunmi." She exhaled softly and then looked directly at Takamaru, keeping eye contact, her brow furrowed and her expression suddenly serious.
"Even if he is just a kid, you have to win."
Eunmi took a few quick steps forward, not a dash, but swift enough to cover the distance between them. With her front facing arm, she would swipe out to backhand the kid across the face, quickly stomping down at his ankle with her front foot. She was testing his movements to see how experienced he was - she'd be embarrassed if she lost to a 10 year old, but even more so if she lost to someone with no fighting experience.
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:32 pm
"You're really lucky," the medic told her. Henrietta was laying in the ring, feeling a lot better.
"Hum?" she asked.
"If we hadn't been on the scene to do this, you wouldn't be able to leave a bed ever again."
"H-h-hum?!" Henrietta looked up at the medic, his Audino at one side.
"That attack bypassed your muscles and hits your insides directly, everything from your ovaries to your heart, bottom to top, was damaged. We've done the best we can for healing, and you shouldn't have any problems, but that was a pretty serious attack. It's probably crippled anyone who has been hit without medical attention," spoke the medic.
"B-but I'm okay?"
"Yeah, just relax for now. Girl like you is lucky the attack didn't hit your brain, then it wouldn't matter if we were on scene or not."
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:33 pm
An explosion of aura. Or so it felt like it. Gorm, who was on a casual stroll in new robes, looked out across the city. A smirk played across his lips. That peak in Aura, why, it almost felt like a challenge. A chuckle rumbled from Gorm's lips and he continued walking.
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:41 pm
((Henrietta? Lucky? HA!))
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:48 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:13 pm
[Flashback]
As the small crowd of people followed Lenora to Challenge Rock, a voice from it, that could have been from anywhere, anyone or no one, spoke. "Why do you have an egg?" Now, the gym leader didn't bother to look for this elusive person, Crowd Guy existed within any crowd, instead she chuckled and responded with "I always have an egg."
And out in Pinwheel Forrest, sitting in his nest, far away from any possibility of having heard such a comment, Robby looked up, ear twitching. His pokemon were training, Fried and Bacon were battling to train their physical fighting skills, though neither was particularly so skilled as a trained martial artist, and Roast was continuing her flight training and water pressure training against the wild pokemon that would still come anywhere near the nest. He looked over at his pokemon, eyes suddenly burning, Robby Senses telling him one thing. "We gotta go to the gym here..."
[/Flashback]
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:33 am
[Past]
There it was again; the words 'your Pokemon'. Avan couldn't help but feel awkward. He didn't claim ownership to them; maybe responsible for them, but not like he owned them. Humanizing? The thought was almost funny enough to make him laugh. If Baku heard him say that, he'd go off. Avan smiled, fighting it back, and tried to find the right words to answer the question. If he didn't, his ruse could have very well been discovered by this no-longer-stranger. "I suppose we've been traveling for a bit of time now. It's not entirely farfetched that Baku could have picked up a few things along the way." And that wasn't entirely false. Baku was just like that; not much the boy could do about it. "He has always appreciated displays of skills; since the day I met him." Avan chuckled. "I'm not the most skillful person, so I guess he looks for it elsewhere as well."
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:37 am
((On a side note, Avan can't even get laid by NPCs. Haha))
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:40 am
((Too mean.
lol
Oh the frustrations of a teenage boy.
Poor Avan.))
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 7:05 am
Stop thinking and have some Fun~
In the time it took Eunmi too close there distance was all the time it took for Tk to evade her first attack at his face with a a single back step, this manouver also took him out of place from his ankle being stomped on.
'She's testing me...' thought the Twelve year old boy. he was able to reseon this by the fact that this was exacty how Ookami fought with him the first, which was a 'Test' of his skills.
After which Takamaru began his own test by sweeping his leg across the surface of the ground in an attempt to trip Eunmi up. if she would jump to evade the attack the Tk would attempt to thrust his elbow into her mid section/rib cage whilst in mid jump. where as if she was in fact tripped then Tk would follow up with a second kick onto her stomach region.
But if she evdaded by other means the Tk would have to react in another fashion.
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 7:40 am
[In the past (N)]
N had seen a few of the pokemon he had met pick up habits from their trainers. It wasn't entirely unheard of. He also noticed Avan's behavior changed to slightly uncomfortable every time he mentioned ownership of pokemon. Did the subject make him uneasy? Now N was interested in the potential candidate.
"So what would you say your skill is as a pokemon trainer? Do you display enough to keep Baku interested?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 7:45 am
[In the past (Salieri)]
Time went on, and it started to become the end of winter. Salieri had not gotten into any fights lately, so she had been attending class regularly. But while that was an improvement in her life, Moze had started going out every night, sometimes not coming home until the middle of the next day. She kept his secret from their father, but she felt that Moze was growing a little distant with the more time he spent out at night in the city.
Their father was still struggling with Sabrina’s family next door, who had started to construct their own pokemon gym using Silph Co. teleportation tile technology. The gimmick was attracting a lot of attention. If the makeshift gym was to be completed, it could possibly gain enough attention from the pokemon league that a challenge for official gym status could ensue.
So Koichi had continued to train himself and Moze harder than ever. As the eventual heir to the gym, Moze had to be the most skilled fighter so he could gain respect from his students. And surely enough, he was a monsterously skilled fighter. It was around this time that he also received his first two pokemon, and began to train them as well in order to become a better gym leader.
Salieri once sat down to watch her father and brother train together along with their pokemon. His skill was so organic. Yet for every move he made, Salieri could practically feel the life flowing out of him. It seemed the more he trained so seriously and the more pressure Koichi put upon him, the more his life was being sapped away.
Although the kids at school had stopped bullying Salieri to her face, she still felt them talking about her behind her back when she walked through the hall or in class. No one dared to mess with her after Moze had displayed his prowess in martial arts to the public, but it had only solidified her isolation. Her only true friend remained her brother.
One rainy day, the two of them were in the kitchen washing dishes. They were making jokes, splashing each other with water occasionally. But they never talked about school, or Moze’s training.
“I heard Nyora is getting engaged,” Salieri told her brother while scrubbing away at a plate. Moze nodded, his eyes looking dull. But he smiled anyway.
“Is she the lady who knocked out that guy with a headbutt last week?”
“That’s the guy she’s getting married to. Isn’t that sweet?”
Moze stifled a full laugh. “Sha sha, you know everyone who goes here, don’t you?”
Salieri shrugged. “More or less.”
He picked up a plate and began to scrub it. “I bet you know all of their birthdays-“
And suddenly, he stopped speaking. His eyes looked glazed over, as if something had overtaken them. His eyes didn’t directly meet his sister’s anymore. Rather, they looked out into a space far beyond, a space Salieri could not see. She waved a hand in front of his face, which was frozen along with the rest of his body. “Moze? Are you okay-“
The plate he was holding slipped from his hand, dropping to the floor and shattering to pieces. Moze’s eyes returned back to the same worled as Salieri, and he looked down with a wide stare at the plate. He put two fingers to his temple, rubbing it in pain. “I-I didn’t…it was an accident.”
Moze quickly grabbed the broom and began to sweep the pieces together. Salieri got down to his level and began tentatively picking some up as well. For the whole clean up, he remained silent and did not once look her in the eye.
“I can clean the rest of these, Salieri. You don’t have to stay here anymore.” He was basically telling her to leave.
The Battle Girl just nodded, walking out into the hallway. Her feet shuffled along the floor aimlessly as she looked over her shoulder back to the kitchen. The water was running, but Moze was simply standing over the sink, looking longingly at nothing. Finally, he began to wash the dishes again.
She had never seen her brother like this before. Not once had anything like this happened before. Moze never broke anything. Ever.
What was wrong with her brother?
~~~~
At the dinner table, the three Del Forrests sat quietly eating. Moze was usually the life around the household, but as of late he seemed more exhausted than ever. So they didn’t do a lot of talking together.
“The Psychic gym’s gained enough of a reputation that they’re challenging us to a match for the title of official gym,” Koichi mumbled. He sounded very stressed out about it. “Since they are the ones asking for a challenge, we are the ones to set the terms. Moze, as the new heir, you get to make all the calls on this one.”
The news hit Salieri like a brick. Putting the gym on the line? She knew it was inevitable, but it still couldn’t be true. Without the dojo, she’d have less than what little she had. No. Without the dojo, she’d have nothing.
“Can’t you deny it?” she implored to her father from across the table. Moze continued to poke at his food while his sister and father talked. “We don’t have to take the bet-“
“We do. There’s only room for one gym in this city. If they continue to stay and we do not assert ourselves, our business will be split in half. We won’t be able to keep up with payments in the dojo.” Koichi shook his head. Sal looked for an idea, anything that would help. She had nothing.
“Moze? What do you think? You’re being awfully quiet lately,” Koichi said to his son. Moze, still looking down at his meal, remaining silent. Suddenly, just for a second, his eyes widened with a new idea.
“Lately, my stamina has been off. A pokemon battle against me won’t be very much. But Salieri’s skills have been improving. I think that if she was the one to fight, she could throw them off guard.” He turned to his sister with a little smile on his face. “See-Sal, what do you say to that?”
“I say BRING IT ON!” The Battle Girl stepped onto her chair, putting one foot onto the table in a triumphant pose. “I won’t let this gym down! There’s just no way I can lose!”
“Salieri Del Forrest!” Salieri gulped at her father’s exclamation. “How many times have I told you not to pose at the table?”
She bowed her head down and sat back in her chair quickly. Koichi sighed. “Moze, are you sure about this? As the eventual leader, you must be ready to accept any challenge.”
“I’m accepting this one with my own,” he calmly replied as he stood up, stacking up the empty plates and bowls to bring to the sink. “I’m challenging everyone who says my sister isn’t good enough.”
Salieri was practically glowing. For the first time in a long time, she was going to be given a chance to prove herself. “Dad, I won’t let you down! I promise you that!”
Koichi laughed heartily, his demeanor changed by his daughter’s enthusiasm. She knew that Moze had gotten to him then and there. “Very well! Salieri, we’re going to have to do some planning together then. We need to figure out which pokemon you will use.”
And she was going to get personal training with her father? Just like Moze did? She was ecstatic. The Battle Girl jumped out of her seat and ran up to Moze, who was starting to wash the dishes. She threw her arms around him, burying her face into his chest. “Thank you Moze, thank you!”
She could feel him ruffle the top of her hair with one hand, and then he returned the hug.
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:05 am
[In the past (Salieri)]
“I can’t believe it, Dad!” Salieri jumped up and down on his large bed, watching as her father put on a jacket. Koichi was now in his civilian clothing and getting ready to leave the house. “How do you get a date when you’re balding?”
“Eh? I’m not balding at all,” he grunted back to his daughter.
“C’mon, your forehead looks huuuuge.”
Koichi turned back to the mirror. His spiky black hair was still definitely there. Although it did look a bit thinner then usual…it was awfully short in the front. His forehead was quite evident-
“Salieri, stop that,” he snapped at her. “I’m trying to keep my nerves calm here. A buddy recommended that we do this, I haven’t even met her yet.”
Salieri stopped her jumped and landed cross-legged onto her father’s bed. “Dad, you’ve got nothing to worry about. You’re a martial arts master! How could anyone find you anything less than awesome?”
Koichi laughed. “Ah, Sal.” He walked over to his daughter and ruffled the hair on top of her head. “You’re right, I’ll just Brick Break through all of my problems.” Salieri giggled. “I’ll be back much later. Moze will be here, so don’t get into any trouble.”
“Uh-huh.” She reached out and gave her father a big hug. “Good luck dad.”
Koichi grinned and returned the favor, embracing little Salieri in his arms. He gave her a kiss on the top of her head, and then let go. Turning around, he grabbed his wallet and then left. “Goodnight, Salieri!” he called through the hall.
“Goodnight, Dad!” she called back to him. She heard the door shut, and he was gone.
And now the two Del Forrest siblings had the house all to themselves. This was a rare occurrence. When they were little and their father was out, Moze took Sal to the basement to spar with her father’s pokemon, which Koichi made otherwise forbidden. They would slide around the staircases, or play capture the flag throughout the whole dojo.
“Mo~ze!” Her cheerful voice rang throughout the house while she walked down the hall to his room. She rapped her fist on the door. “Moze, c’mon! Let’s go play with Dad’s Machamp-“
The door creaked open at Salieri’s knocking ever so slightly. Curiously, she pushed the door open all the way. Moze was not in his room. His window was wide open, with the winter air blowing through the house. She ran to the window to try and see if he was still outside. She knew he had gone out again, but maybe-
And then she saw him. He was walking out of the courtyard and was about to enter Saffron’s streets. Without a second thought, Salieri ran to get her jacket. Finally, she would find out where Moze had been sneaking out to for the past year. Whether or not he approved of her tagging along.
So she took to the streets, following her brother from a distance. With his hood on, he looked almost unrecognizable. Which she guessed was the point, as several times throughout the walk he stopped to look over his shoulder. But the quick girl constantly ducked into crowds, or behind garbage cans to avoid his vigilant eyes.
They were entering a shadier part of the city, and now Salieri began to feel a little nervous. The apartments looked shoddy, slightly dilapidated like nobody really cared about them. She knew that seedy people probably hung out here as well. Which made her worry about why Moze would be here as well.
Finally, he walked up the steps of an apartment stoop and knocked on the door, looking around first to see if anyone was watching. Salieri watched from behind her current hiding spot (a lamppost) as the door opened slowly and her brother darted in.
The Battle Girl ran across the street, looking to see if there was a window she could see through. And she was in luck, as there was one single window that wasn’t boarded up. She moved a garbage can under it and stood atop her makeshift platform to stare into the room through the dirty glass.
It was slightly blurry, but she could make out her brother sitting on a couch. At a table next to them was one seriously greasy looking kid, who only looked greasier when he stood next to his Grimer. Moze didn’t look entirely comfortable as he handed a few pokedollars to the guy at the table.
“I’ve got the good stuff tonight. Me and Grimer have been working on it for a while now.”
“Good stuff?” Moze asked.
The greasy kid nodded as he held up a vial filled with a noxious purple looking liquid and a syringe. He passed it to Moze and then took another vial and syringe for himself as he sat down next to Sal’s brother on the couch.
“My buddy in Vermillion told me about this extract. It’s supposed to get you sky high in an instant.”
Moze filled up the syringe with the purple liquid, looking like he knew exactly what he was doing as he held rolled up his sleeve. Salieri’s eyes widened when she saw a red dot on her brother’s bicep, dark from being pierced through so many times by a needle. She wanted to look away. She wanted to leave. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it, only to keep watching.
The greasy haired kid finished the same preparation as Moze, and then grinned. “Well, cheers,” he said in a happy go lucky way as he injected himself. Moze did the same.
The two sat silently for a minute. Salieri was close to breaking down the door and getting her brother out of there. She wasn’t sure if he was dead or not.
And then suddenly, a large smile crept onto his face. Moze loved to smile, but this was uncharacteristic of him. It was far too large, like there was something entirely fake about it under the surface. The amber in his eyes began to fade away, replaced with that noxious purple as he leaned back in the spacious sofa.
“Awww man, you weren’t kidding,” he said in a dopey manner.
“I know, right? What did I tell you?”
Moze started staring off into space. His eyes glazed over as they left reality and went off into a different world. A world where everything was wonderful, where everyone he knew was happy and so was he. A world that didn’t exist.
He reached out to grab at something. What was it? No, there was nothing there to reach for. But not to Moze, who smiled as he clenched his fingers around the non-existant object and pulled it close to him. His eyes began to close, and it looked like he was going to fall asleep. But then they snapped back open, looking around the room in a paranoid way. His trip was taking him all kinds of places, not a single one close to real.
He was snapped back to reality by the sound of a crash outside of the window. “What the hell was that!?” she greasy haired kid yelled while jumping up, darting to the window. Moze followed to look.
There was a toppled garbage can outside, and the sound of rapid footfalls running off in another direction. Moze stared wide eyed at the alley, not sure what was going on. The greasy haired kid shrugged.
“Eh, probably just a Sandshrew or something. Come on, let’s do another one.”
~~~~
The image of Moze’s influenced smile wouldn’t exit Salieri’s brain. Everytime she tried to replace it with something else, it would be there. Even if she tried to think of her brother’s true, dazzling smile. But that could have been because he hadn’t smiled for so long.
“Salieri? Salieri, focus!” rang her father’s voice in her ear.
She snapped back to reality.
She was standing in the courtyard, with her father’s Hitmonlee in front of her. Opposite of her was a young Sabrina, standing with her arms folded across her chest behind her Kadabra. It was the day of the bet match between the two gyms. No, it was the actual match itself. Had it really been a week? Salieri felt like time had been distorted to bend in an unnatural way. That was right, the fight was already underway.
“H-hitmonlee, Mach Punch!”
The Fighting type cocked back his fist and then launched it forward. The springy part of his arm extended, carrying the punch to the other side of the arena. But as soon as it was about to land, Kadabra blinked out of existence with a Teleport.
Hitmonlee knew that she Psychic type would reappear somewhere, and waited on Salieri’s order. But his trainer was looking off at the side to the porch, where her family stood. Koichi watched intently, a bead of sweat rolling off of his brow. And Moze was staring off into space. With them were several students, all cheering for Salieri’s Hitmonlee. On the other side of the porch was the family of psychics, all watching Sabrina intently.
She wanted him to tell her what to do, like he always did. She wanted him to be there for her. So why did he have to choose this time of all times to go off into his fantasyland?
Kadabra reappeared right behind Hitmonlee, and suddenly Salieri’s attention returned to the fight. “Blaze Kick!”
Hitmonlee spun around, and his leg ignited with flame. The fire wreathed kick blasted at the Kadabra, who Teleported away at the last moment. Hitmonlee’s leg swept at air.
What should I do?
Moze’s grinning face kept popping up in her head. Kadabra was on the counter attack now, holding up his spoon for a powerful Psychic attack. Sabrina’s cold eyes remained locked onto Salieri’s wavering ones as both girl continued to remain silent.
Those creepy eyes again. Salieri suddenly felt very small. She felt like she was looking up at Sabrina looming over her, larger than life. Her head was pounding.
What should I do!?
“De-“
It was too late. Hitmonlee was blasted away by the Psychic attack, and his body narrowly avoided slamming into Salieri as it was flung into the courtyard’s wall. After the dust cleared, Hitmonlee was no longer moving.
As the referee declared Sabrina the winner, everything became white noise to Salieri. She could not hear the disappointed sighs of the dojo’s students. She could not hear the cheers coming from the Psychics. Finally, the image of Moze grinning his creepy grin was gone from her head. Because it had been sapped away, replaced with a void of nothingness.
That was it. The dojo was no longer the official gym. It was over. She knew at that moment that this one, quick passage in time would be something that would plague her for years to come. A memory that she couldn’t escape.
She couldn’t even bring herself to look to the side at the dojo. To see her father’s disappointment. Instead, she fell to her knees, curled into a ball, and put her hands tightly over her ears. Her eyes shut, threatening to never open again.
She still couldn’t escape the void.
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