Pokemon Legends: Salieri's Journal

[Jump Einatz]

I know it's not a gaiden like usual, but you can consider this an alternate recap of Pokemon Legends: Liberation from Salieri's point of view. Just don't tell her you read her journal! She'll hunt you down  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 1

If I run out of ink halfway through this, it’s only because there’s so much to say.

Wow! This has been an excellent start to my journey. It took my mom and dad about a half an hour to let me go in the morning after some long goodbyes, but then I was finally off to Accumula Town. It didn’t have the first gym, so I didn’t stay for very long. But I met a lot of new and interesting people.

First there was Wayne and Emi. Emi’s not her real name, it’s a nickname. I think it’s short of Eunmi? I feel like I once met a girl with the exact same name before. She was Korean too. Small world. Emi wants to do art in Castelia City. I wonder if she’ll draw a picture of me and my future team standing on top of the world. I’d put that in my dojo.

Wayne is also pretty cool. He has a Hitmonlee that came from my dojo! I saw him fight for the first time at the Striaton Gym, and it was a disappointment. Wayne had no control over that Hitmonlee. If I was training it, my will wouldn’t bend so easily. I’d whoop that pokemon into gear.

There was this other trainer named N. He has green hair. And he’s really cute. But he’s sort of bizarre. When he talks he sounds like he’s from another planet. I battled him, but I think he let me win. How was I supposed to walk away from that feeling accomplished? N owes me another fight…

Actually, I asked him if he wanted to travel with me, since we were going to the same place. He said he had things he needed to do. I think that was my first rejection. Was I too forward? I know guys don’t like girls who are too forward. Or do they? I think I have a lot to learn. Hopefully I’ll see N some other day, and then I won’t mess up.

Moze sent me a pokemon! She’s an Eevee that he found in Castelia City! I named her Salem because there’s something weird about her. In a good way, like magic. I wish Moze gave me the pokemon himself, though. I haven’t seen him in a few months. I hope he’s okay.

Chen Zhen and Liuye Dao seem to like her, but Chen Zhen’s having a hard time talking to her. I think he’s got himself a crush. He’s so cute when he’s nervous. Right now, I’ll pretend like we don’t all know how he feels. No pressure.

When I got to Striaton, the gym leader Cilan told me I should train before I battle his brother, Chili. Chili’s got a Pansear, which is like the Fire version of Chen Zhen. So I needed to get a new move to help him fight Fire types. We decided to learn Dig.

I met another trainer when I went to do that. Her name was Henrietta. She carries around one of those kendo practice swords, but she’s super shy. Not like a warrior at all. She’s nice, but way too timid. How is a girl like that supposed to make it in this world? You have to be tough!

After we learned Dig, I battled Chili. It was intense. At some points, I wasn’t sure if Chen Zhen could do it. He was at a disadvantage, after all. But somehow, ike always, he managed to come out on top. That monkey is amazing, let me tell you that now. Even if I don’t become a legend one day, he definitely will. Except yeah right, my legend has only just begun.

I’m writing this from the pokemon center. After I won that match, I passed out. Someone later told me I had hearts in my eyes. I can’t help it if the Striaton Gym Leaders are gorgeous, not to mention there’s three of them. And their hair! Especially Cilan’s. It’s so green…

But of course I got that Trio Badge. Are you kidding me? There’s no way I’d ever lose to the first gym, not a chance. I know beginners can make mistakes, but I’m not as much of a beginner as the rest of them. I’m Salieri Del Forrest. I’ve got standards.

It’s when I write things like this that I hope no one but me will read this journal. There’s nothing like confiding in yourself to help get rid of all the crazy. Tomorrow I’ll take the rest of what this city has to offer before I’m on my way once more. Time stops for no one, not even me. I have a lot of walking to do.

-S.d.F  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 2

It’s Day Two on my journey to becoming the greatest gym leader of all time. Since I got the Trio Badge yesterday, the score became Salieri: 2, The World: 1. I’m on top again, and I can tell. This morning I decided to check out Striaton City’s Trainer Academy. As soon as I walked in, I was challenged by the students to battles in order to test my knowledge, or something like that. Well, to my knowledge, none of them can beat me.

I beat every single kid in there. Not one of them had the Trio Badge. Winning was great, I even got to stand on a desk with a cool pose and everything. But it's not enough. I won’t get stronger until I leave this city. My potential is limited here. I’m positive the trainers and pokemon along this trip will be much tougher than Chili, and he wasn’t easy to defeat. I’ll be out of this place soon.

But first I want to check out this “Dreamyard” thing.

-S.d.F

****

Well this day has taken a turn for the strange.

First of all, there was this old lady at the Dreamyard telling me that I had no idea what I was doing. Apparently I need to be more focused on what I actually want? She doesn’t even know who I am. Why is it that old people always think they know what’s the best for us? Has-beens shouldn’t preach to gonna-be’s.

And then I battled Henrietta. Well, first I saw Wayne battle Henrietta. It was a pretty good fight. But anyway, then I challenged her with Salem. Salem took one hit –just one little Fire attack- and decided to tap out. So I lost. To Henrietta! She’s different when she battles. Not as much of a wuss.

I was so embarrassed. I’ve never lost like that before, and it was the first loss I’ve had so far. Wayne and Henrietta told me it wasn’t that bad. I knew that sooner or later, I’d experience a loss. There will be more to come. But honestly? Losing sucks. It makes me feel weak. I need to train harder. There’s no point in doing this if I’m going to lose.

N told me that Salem had some issues with taking chances, so I knew

OH. MY. GOD. I forgot to say this before! N can talk to pokemon! I don’t know how he does it, but he just knows what they’re saying. He’s amazing! Wayne doesn’t seem to like him, but I think N’s cool even if he’s sort of obsessed with pokemon. Like, seriously obsessed.

Anyway, I had to train Salem to come out of her shell when it came to taking risks, so Wayne and I went to the Dreamyard to train. He told me stuff about his family. His parent’s died in a car crash, so he lives with foster parents. His dad is super strong, too. Just like mine! He also took off his shirt and jumped into a lake. It turned out he’s in pretty good shape. So naturally, I had to jump in too.

I think I saw him checking me out. I don’t know. Maybe not. I’d like to think so.

Also, I think he might have just jumped in there to pee. Which isn’t a big deal. Kind of gross though.

So we went to the Dreamyard to train. It was a pretty good set up. Salem and I played tag with Wayne and Petilil, with battling in the mix. Not a bad training exercise.

Except Wayne Petilil and I fell into a trash compactor and almost died. That sucked. I was pretty close to chewing out my own arm. I think Wayne was ready to accept it, though. Except he told me he could beat me in a battle. And obviously I wasn’t going to let him die thinking that.

Obviously we were saved. Salem came down and braved the trash compactor for us. She’s done really well, I’m proud of her. She’s beginning to realize that she’s better than she think she is. I don’t take just any pokemon on my team, after all. Only the best.

Now, you would think that would be the end of ridiculous events that happened to me today, but not exactly. Wayne and I were separated by a cave in underground, and I ran into someone from Team Plasma.

Oh yeah, Team Plasma. They’re this activist movement that’s been preaching about pokemon rights lately. I think the movement is spreading. It’s a pretty radical group. Makes me wonder if what we do with pokemon is right.

I don’t want to keep my pokemon with me if they don’t want to be on my journey. They all know what I’m trying to do. I’ll only take pokemon who are willing to go the distance.

So this nutjob from Team Plasma attacked me. What. A. ********. This guy was the worst type of sexists pig. Even after I started kicking his a**, he wouldn’t stop telling me I wasn’t good enough. Wtf? I’m the one kicking his a**, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

I hate it when men think I can’t do anything. Reminds me of grandpa.

He said something about getting Dream Mist or something weird. So I let him go after a while. Beating him senseless wasn’t going to make him change his mind about me. I hope not all of Team Plasma is like that. As long as they don’t get in my way, then they can just keep talking their nonsense.

After I healed my pokemon from the fight, I went back to rescue Wayne from this creepy Psychic pokemon. Ugh. I hope she wasn’t in my head. I think I’ve created a good psychic defense for myself, though. Psychics rely on the same abominable tricks all the time.

His Hitmonlee ended up saving both of us. Turns out the psychic belonged to a nurse that was helping Wayne. I guess I started a fight over nothing. Simple misunderstanding.

When we got out of the Dreamyard, we saw a lot of other trainers. Even Emi and Henrietta were there. Henrietta was crying about some jerk taking her Darumaka away. I felt bad about it. If she points me in the right direction, I’m willing to punch one of those Plasma guys in the face for her.

After that, it was pretty late, so I got a room with Henrietta and Emi to call it quits for the night.

So in the end, what I think I learned today was that I’m not as prepared for this as I thought I was. This morning an old lady told me that I didn’t know where I was going or what I was looking for. And now I’ve been shown that I still have a long way to go before I can get what I want. My journey has just begun. These mistakes just add up to experience.

And I think I finally made some friends! Not pokemon this time, either! Moze told me I’d get a new start in Unova, and I believe that he got that right. Hopefully I’ll get to know them all better while we all work to become what we aim to be.

I know it’s been a day full of mistakes, but I realized that it’s just part of the learning process. And I wanted to end on a good note too. After all, my family always says you should never go to sleep upset!

-S.d.f

P.S. I’m still not sure if Wayne peed in the lake or not. I don’t think I’ll ever know, but next time I’ll tell him to warn me first.  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 3

In comparison to the madness that was Day 2, Day 3 was pretty tame. A lot of cool things happened today that make me excited for tomorrow.

When I woke up this morning, Emi was already gone. Skipped out on the bill, too. Note to self.

I also found a recipe in my pocket from this huge trainer I met outside the Dreamyard last night named Robby. When I say huge, I mean huge. I thought he was a Hariyama. But it was really sweet of him, even if the recipe was pretty weird.

Before I get into that, there’s more to tell. My pokemon were watching TV and I saw an advertisement for a martial arts tournament in Nacrene City.

I’m. So. Excited! I got to Nacrene City as fast as I could and signed up, This is what I’m looking for. Good publicity. I finally have an opportunity to showcase my skills. If the people of Unova don’t already know the name Del Forrest, they’ll remember it when I One Inch Punch it into their brains.

While doing some training on Route 3, we heard an explosion come from the Daycare Center so we decided to check it out. The owner told me that there was a Monferno there who had been abandoned by his trainer, so he picked fights with the other pokemon to prove his worth. He was a real problem child.

I saw a lot of myself in that pokemon. We both want to prove that we aren’t worth discarding. We can help each other out. So I decided to fight him for the right to make him my pokemon. I’d fight him myself, of course. There’s no reason to involve the others in what has to be done.

His anger blinded him to tactics. It was an easy victory. And I got my first Fighting type pokemon! I renamed him Wukong, after the Monkey King of legend. He’ll be a legend someday, after all. He’s really cocky and sort of aggressive, but I can see his heart of gold.

The owner was so happy I helped her that she gave me the moonshine I needed to make Robby’s stew. I told my pokemon we’d celebrate Wukong’s arrival with a home cooked meal. They didn’t seem too excited about the idea. Why do my pokemon never want to eat home cooked food? It must be a lack of taste. I’ll have to introduce them to my more exotic recipes someday.

Anyway, it turns out that using a bottle of moonshine to cook with gets you plastered. I’ve never gotten drunk before. Neither have my pokemon. Then I made this stew.

I don’t remember a lot of it, but I think it was fun? Me and Chen Zhen went melon hunting. Also I might have met a demon nurse. And I may have broken into Wayne’s room trying to hang out with him? That’s pretty sloppy. I hope he’s okay with that, he seems pretty relaxed. Ugh. That’s so embarrassing.

I fell asleep and woke up in Wayne’s room by myself with a killer headache. My first hangover. Not fun. It seems like it’s almost gone now, but I definitely want to feel better for tomorrow’s tournament. Drinking is complicated.

After calling my mom (she still refuses to let me use the halberds, by the way. Why not? Henrietta gets to carry around a shinai!), I ran into that Plasma grunt I battled in the Dreamyard.

What. A. ********. He told me I can’t fight since I’m a girl and that I should stick to helping my husband (Wayne is totally not my husband), so I was like “b***h, go sign up for that tournament and put your money where your mouth is”. So he did. Good thing too, I want an excuse to break his legs.

I wanted to fight the gym leader, so I tried to clear my hangover before I went to the gym. Lenora does double battles, and she had a big library above her gym, so I did some research before making a challenge.

I think she lives in the basement. She sounded like a demon monster, so naturally I sent the other kid waiting to fight her to go first. I felt a little bad. He may have been 13. But no way I was going down there without having someone test the waters first. Seriously, it was creepy.

While I was waiting, I ran into Emi, who said Henrietta was missing. And drunk. We found her with Wayne eventually. Thank god for that. Sometimes Henrietta worries me. Emi is kind of like her babysitter. Not to mention that little ghost she hangs around with is creepy. I don’t care if Litwicks are cute, that just makes it easier for them to suck out my soul.

So now I’m sitting in the library, waiting for a challenge from Lenora. My head’s killing me. I should probably go to sleep. But I found a really good book, about old Unova legends.

There are people in folklore who are remembered as legends for eternity. I wonder if that’ll happen to me. Does Moze read these kinds of books? I haven’t talked to him in a while. I miss him.

-S.d.F  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 4

Today is incredible! MOZE IS HERE!

I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m just rushing this because I’m want to go back to hanging out with him and my new friends and I’m excited. Calm down, Sal. Let me go back to the start.

I was woken up in the museum by some librarian who told me the gym was closed because of the tournament. At first I said “Bullshit”, but then I remembered I had to get to that tournament and I hadn’t eaten any breakfast.

So I ran there as fast as I could and picked up a banana and orange juice. Not ideal for a tournament, but I could deal with it. Emi was there too! I had no idea she could fight, but that was cool to find out. I hope I get to fight her some day.

My first opponent was this Robert guy. I could not stop thinking about getting a sandwich during that match. That banana was not nearly enough, especially since the moonshine soup from yesterday did not really work for me. But then I finally got a sandwich later, so that made up for it. Oh, I beat Robert, like, flawlessly. I think he’s hospitalized? Anyway, the sandwich shop we found was actually pretty good. If Wukong doesn’t want to make breakfast tomorrow, I’m down to go there again before our gym match.

After I beat up Ronny Robert, I realized that the dojo had been torn apart around me. Gorm (I mean the Gorm, martial artist extraordinaire) had a fight with a man named Zack that blew up the building. I think that Zack is Wayne’s dad? He seems pretty tough. Maybe even as tough as Moze.

Oh! So the tournament was moved to the Challenge Rock which is like a big rock and my opponent in the second round was Blackbird McKnight who looked like Chinese Santa but he was actually really good and then he laughed like Moze so I beat the cotton out of him and HE WAS MOZE!

I moved onto the next round, and he saw me do it. My big brother finally came back to visit. And at the best time, too! We even got to play music together. But he’s still coughing up blood.

It’s worse than before. I couldn’t help but think back on everything that happened with him in Saffron City. I still don’t know about how he got into those things. We don’t talk about it anymore. He wants it to be behind us, but I feel like there are still things about my brother that I don’t know. Important things.

I want him to tell me. I want to know what’s wrong with him. He won’t tell me if he’s okay. He sounds okay. But he doesn’t look okay.

I get scared when he leaves. I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again. Do you ever get scared that someone you love will one day be gone? I don’t want him to go without knowing more about him. I don’t want him to go at all.

This is stupid. Stupid talk. Moze is here! There’s no reason to be planning for the worst when the best is yet to come! My big brother is still as jolly as ever. That Santa outfit really suited him, cause he’s a big goofball. Still has girls tripping over his feet. I wish guys would notice me. I think I’m pretty…

I went back to the tournament and was set up to fight a girl dressed as a superhero. Ridiculous. Some people don’t take things seriously enough. Like my brother.

It turned out that she was Henrietta. As soon as I found that out, I felt really bad that I was about to kick her a**. But she begged me to forfeit so she could move on. She told me a big story about how she needed to win to talk to Gorm and prove herself to Emi. Or something. I don’t know, but I was pissed.

Doesn’t she know how much things like that tournament mean to me? Well, I guess not. Maybe I just never told her before. Either way, she offered her shinai. That’s a warrior’s soul. I’d rather have a soul shaped like a battleaxe or a katana, but to each their own.

I knew it must have meant a lot to her, and Moze told me that my publicity was being overshadowed by Gorm anyway. There wasn’t much else to gain from that tournament except for the title. So I tapped out. I don’t even really want that shinai. Henrietta owes me big time.

I watched the end of the tournament, and Emi won the whole thing! I was pretty surprised, although that last fight wasn’t much of a fight. Rather, she and Henrietta might have made out with each other. Which is okay with me. If they’re lesbians, I have less competition.

Oh, I finally remembered why Emi seemed so familiar! I met her before, way back when I lived in Saffron City. She was running away from her grandma, who was a total b***h that kept her under cultural rule. We let her stay at my house. At first I just thought she was throwing away a family for nothing. But I saw her reasoning eventually. She just wants to be free.

It was the first sleepover I ever had. And also the first guest I ever had. Come to think of it, Emi may have been the only guest I ever had.

When I finally caught up to Emi and Henrietta, Mayer appeared with a letter from my mom! I don’t think the girls were used to people having psychic swordsman butler pokemon, but Mayer’s been with my mom for ages. It’s normal to me.

She didn’t send me my nunchucks! How disappointing! Instead, she sent me an Air Balloon. Which looked like a condom until I blew it up. I gave it to Chen Zhen.

I mean, it would have been cool if she sent me condoms, though. Just saying. That’s a pretty cool thing for a mom to do. Not that I’d be using them anytime soon. I have to get past my first kiss first!

We finally got those sandwiches. Best sandwiches ever. That might be an overstatement. I was really hungry at the time. But they were great.

I saw Robby Tobb at the sandwich shop and I thanked him for the recipe. I did it wrong, though. The ingredient wasn’’t moonshine, it was Musharna. Either way, Robby turned out to be an Iron Chef. He agreed to teach me some cooking if I helped train his pokemon.

It was pretty cool. He’s got two Fighting types, so they were easy to deal with, even if his Combusken is a crybaby. Seriously, he’s like fifteen feet tall. He needs to man up. And his duck pokemon is a b***h, but even she managed to learn something new.

I’m pretty sure I took a lot away from the learning experience. Well, Wukong did too. He’s now our team chef! I had no idea he had a natural knack for the culinary arts. I think I might just stick to martial. Although Robby did give me a new recipe to try out. Maybe later.

Robby’s so boss that he got someone to make a montage out of our training, so when Wayne invited some of us up to his hotel room I knew I had to show them the video.
Somehow, his parents got him the coolest room ever. With water beds! And Moze came over to watch the montage too!

So now my friends are getting drunk again. It’s pretty hard to write this when everyone’s dancing around. My light source is pretty lame since Wayne took the lampshade and started wearing it on his head. Also Emi has this thing called a beer bong. No idea where she got it from. But it looks fun? I think I’ll pass on drinking for tonight.

Moze is calling for me! It’s time to play Kings! Arrrg, I’m being antisocial! Have to get back to my friends!

-S.d.F  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 5

Still early. I don’t know why I’m up writing this, but I felt like I had to.

Sometimes I feel like my body just wakes me up whenever Moze is going to leave. It happened this morning, at 4 o’clock. Moze was already out the door. As usual.

So naturally I ran after him. I know I should be used to this by now. Moze isn’t good at saying goodbyes. But I wish he’d try to. For me.

He asked me if I was crying. I wasn’t. Moze is always worried about me. If he could see how well I’ve been doing, he wouldn’t be.

I’m the one who should be worried. I don’t know what he does when he goes out on adventures. Neither do Mom and Dad. Nobody does. And ever since his symptoms showed up again, I’ve been scared that when he leaves me he won’t come back.

My brother is strong. But he’s still human.

Now he’s on the road again. I can rest easy knowing that he’s safe for now.

It’s time to go back to sleep.

~~~

I never thought I was going about this journey the wrong way, but after today I’m starting to have my doubts. I haven’t doubted myself in a longtime. It’s a strange feeling.

I woke up again around 7 AM and went out to get some training done before battling Lenora. Emi joined me, and we taught our pokemon priority moves. You should see how fast they are now! Wukong can’t be seen! And Emi’s Oshawott is quick too.

Emi and I sparred underwater. She’s picked up a few tricks since all those years ago, I’ll tell you that. Her taekwondo is pretty good. But I still bested her. Naturally.

Then Henrietta found us. She had scratch marks on her head and was missing some memories. And not from last night, either. From the morning. Somebody had done something to her.

I don’t know who would do that to her. Or how. Henrietta might be shy, but she’s nice. No one makes enemies that way.

We tried to figure it out, but it was pointless. On the bright side, she got Darumi back somehow. It must have been tied in with her amnesia. Could it have been Team Plasma?

Speaking of, those guys are really starting to piss me off. Here’s why.

We get to the gym, and I’m prepared to have the ultimate tag team battle with Liuye and Wukong. But sure enough, the first thing out the door is Team Plasma. Gorm (the Gorm) knocked me through a window without even realizing it. And then they sprayed some weird pink mist that knocked everyone out.

Lenora found us after everyone woke up and said that Team Plasma stole a Dragon skull from the museum. What a bunch of nutjobs. She was in no shape to go after it herself. It looked like they had given her a rough battle. So Lenora made us a deal. If we could get back the skull for her, the badges would be ours.

Which is bullshit. Badges should be earned through battles. She made the slip up and let that skull get stolen, not me. Helping her out is one thing, but earning badges through it…it just seems dishonorable. But I didn’t have much of a choice. We followed Plasma into the Pinwheel Forest.

That’s when I saw Bill. That creeper was goading me on, telling me to hit him as hard as I could. Obviously he thought he could take it, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. So I gave him a One Inch Punch.

What. A. ********. My attack didn’t even phase him. It was like he got remade into a Terminator. On top of that stupid armor, beating him up wouldn’t be easy.

So Wukong and I lured him deeper into the forest while Chen Zhen set up some traps. It just took a little stalling, but the guy went out real quick. We bashed a tree into his gut like a ram, and then he got trapped in a net while a fire started.

I left him and moved on. Looking back, that may have been too ruthless. I wanted to humiliate him, let him just stay there and think about why getting into a fight with Salieri Del Forrest is a sure fire way to get a beatdown. But I shouldn’t have left him there.

I kept going, and later on I found him again. On top of Henrietta, the two of them on the ground.

It was hard to tell through all the smoke what was going on (the forest had started catching fire. I think someone was having an explosive fight in the center of the forest), but it was very…suggestive. Bill had said earlier that if I ran from him, he would just move on to Eunmi and do things to her. He didn’t specify what. I assumed the worst.

So understandably, I was upset. I ran in there, tackled him off, and started beating his face in. I was so angry that I can’t even remember recognizing him. I was looking at him, but it was like he didn’t have a face. Just something for me to punch.
Henrietta stopped me. Bill had saved her from getting shot. It was then that I finally started to really look at him. Half of his face was burned. The trap from my fight must have scorched him. I really shouldn’t have left him there.

Instead of continuing on, Henrietta and TK opted to bring the wounded back to the city. And now that Bill was rendered unconscious by me, on top of getting shot and half burned alive (also on me), he was high priority on that list.

Did I go too far? I told myself later that it was a mistake, but leaving him in the forest to burn…that wasn’t an accident. I did that because I hate him. I wasn’t thinking of the consequences, but I wanted to see him hurt.

Sometimes, I don’t think we really know how much damage we cause to things. Moze says that some wounds don’t go away so easy. I don’t know what happened to Bill after that. I try not to think about it.

I kept going through the forest, stealing a uniform from a grunt along the way. I figured I could avoid another fight if I could trick someone in giving me the skull. Some grunt, a lady with a parasol, just gave it to me. I barely had to say a word. She didn’t seem too motivated to continue her mission with the woods burning down around her. I get that.

With the skull in hand, I started going back to town. Lenora had given the badges to Henrietta, who handed them out to us. How shameful. She couldn’t even show her face to give us the badges herself. What kind of gym leader did she think she was? When I get my gym, there won’t be roundabout goals like that. It’ll always be a straight up fight.

Wayne said he was headed to Castelia City, and I took the bus out with him. Wayne and I have a bet going on to see who gets all eight badges first. I can’t fall behind.

On the ride there, I fell asleep, and when I woke up I was napping on his shoulder. I wonder how long I was doing that for. Did he care?

Castelia City is huge. No matter where you look, that urban presence is there. It makes you feel very small to be in such a big place. I’m looking forward to exploring it tomorrow.

Wayne and I got dinner at an Italian Restaurant. It wasn’t a date. Not that I care if it is or not. He and I challenged the kitchen staff to a tag battle so we wouldn’t have to pay. Obviously we won. I don’t lose to scrubs.

After that, we met an old lady. Super old. So is her Torkoal, which is huge. It looked powerful. She also had two creepy ghosts floating around. It was bizarre. My spine always chills when there are ghosts around. You ever get a tingly sensation that you just want to stop? That’s how it felt. I really hate ghosts.

The old lady seemed like she was a competent trainer, even if she was sort of crazy and hitting on Wayne. So I set us up to have a battle tomorrow.

I got myself a room in the pokemon center, and now I’m about ready to go to sleep. This day has been exhausting. Thinking back, the way that Salem looked at me when I was beating up Bill…it made me sick. It was like she was scared of me. I never want her to feel that way.

Maybe I was too headstrong. I’m trying to keep things under control. I’m trying real hard. But there was just too much tension between me and him. It was all let out today. I know he’s a jerk and I know he’s ambushed me twice now, but I still hope he’s okay. Or at least not dead.

Hopefully, writing all this down will get me less anxious. It’s stressful to keep all of those feelings blocked up inside you. Sometimes it just needs to flow.

But I’m not sure if I can go to sleep. There’s something creepy about this room.

-S.d.f  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 6

One time, when I was a little kid, my dad hired a spirit medium to come to our house because he thought we had a Gastly infestation. I met that medium, and she told me that ghosts were nothing to be afraid of. They’re misunderstood creatures who lash out because no one gives them a chance.

This is a load of bullshit, because the ghost in my hotel room is psycho. Entirely. Creepy too. I found him when I woke up. He was trying to read my journal and stole my pokemon! Fortunately it was part Water type, so I managed to electrocute it before doing a quick emergency capture. It’s not a pokemon I want on my team, but something had to be done.

Needless to say, I got out of the pokemon center quickly after that. Now I’ve got this ghost in my bag that I don’t know what to do with. Maybe I can release him. But then who’s to say he won’t go and start scaring random people? Or worse, stalk me in revenge? No, I think I’ll hold onto him until I figure out what to do.

Anyway, I just split up my team across Castelia for some advanced technique training. Chen Zhen’s doing his own thing, I trust that he’ll find a way to improve himself. Wukong’s is iffy, but I think that he may manage the basics of his technique today at the least. Liuye Dao’s training is the hardest. We’ll see what happens with him.

I took Salem to battle that old lady from yesterday, Chari. Turns out she wasn’t just another crazy old person, she was a superb battler too. The hits I landed didn’t even make a dent before Salem was taken out by her Torkoal. Damn. I guess I need to try even harder. Maybe Salem needs some intense training too.

Remember for later: Old people are full of experience. Sift through the senility to find it.

****

It was only a minute after I wrote this last note that things took a turn for the worse.

I had forgotten that Eevees can evolve through intense feelings of bonding with their trainers, not just through elemental stones. Salem and I had one of those moments, and she transformed into an Espeon. A Psychic type. I was so bewildered and confused that I must have scared her, because right after that we Synchronized.

It’s a weird feeling. I was aware of myself, but it was like I was also Salem. I saw her whole life story. And she must have seen mine, because right after she ran away. I know it’s because of those nasty thoughts I had at the time. About Psychics. She went into my head, I couldn’t help but feel violated.

By the time I found her, Chen Zhen had found her too. He at least managed to calm her down. I couldn’t even do that. I tried to apologize, but she wasn’t having any of it. And now Chen Zhen is mad at me too. I guess he must really care about her. The two of them won’t even look at me.

What am I supposed to do about that? I’m trying to make things right, but it just isn’t working. If we can’t work together as friends, how can we work together as a team? I need their help, or else I’ll never get my gym. I’ll never be more than just Salieri Del Forrest, pokemon trainer, without my friends.

In light of the situation, I decided to give that ghost pokemon a shot when I was challenged to a battle by a girl named Iris. We tied, but that ghost surprised me. He had guts, even if he was disobedient. And plenty of wild abilities too. I nicknamed him Haizhe. Maybe we can work together after all. And if I can work with him, maybe my other pokemon will trust me again too.

Later on, I tried to get in some more training at the docks when something incredible happened. Some sort of phenomenon occurred in Castelia. I don’t know how to do it justice. The sky turned orange and waves of gold streaked across it. I felt like my body was being washed over by power.

But a second later, I saw that my veins in my arms were glowing, and then I threw up blood before passing out. Luckily, some Interpol Agent found me on the street and took me to a hospital. The amount of blood in my body went back to normal, and I was feeling fine.

I don’t feel the same, though. I asked the agent, Jump, to tell me what was wrong. He danced around that subject, but told me he knew my brother and that he owed him a favor. So naturally, this idiot translated that into the need to bring me to a banquet he was doing some undercover work at.

This guy sucks. He showed me the area where he and my brother had a pokemon battle, and just looking at it is enough to know how strong he is. But he’s just so…stupid? I can’t tell how smart he really is, but I know it’s not very. He seems goofy, but he’s really putting on an impression that he’s just immature and irresponsible. Two traits I can’t stand.

Right now he’s getting me a dress while I sit in this department store and wait. I can’t wait for this banquet to be over. I can’t wait for this day to be over. My team’s morale is broken, and it’s all my fault. Instead of doing something about it, I’m stuck attending some Plasma event because of a promise some idiot made to Moze.

There better be a bar. I could use a drink.

And if he makes me wear high heels, I'll be stabbing those stilettos into his feet.

-S.d.f  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 7 ((Part 1))

Well there was a bar, and I definitely got to have my drink. My head's killing me as I write this early in the morning. And not just from drinking, from the black eye too. Hold on, I'll get to that part. I've got a lot to think about.

So that banquet that Jump made me go to was basically some sort of Plasma Rally. The leader (I think he's the leader? I'm not sure, but he acted like it) made some big speech and answered questions from the audience, but I wasn't really paying attention. Team Plasma just irritates me. I don't agree with their message, but they really want to cram it down our throats. If they want to go live by themselves without pokemon, I would be glad to see them go. But they don't have to drag me into that, that's just stupid.

And I thought Jump was going to introduce me to some people or something, and instead he ditched me. He ditched me! He took me out to this stupid party I didn't want to go to in the first place and just ditched me. It turned out to not be so bad though, because N was there too. Dressed as a prince. I don't know if he was doing it as a joke or if he was serious. He's weird. But I like him.

We ended up dancing. And then we ended up not dancing while everybody danced around us. And I really thought we were having a moment and that would be, like, you know? But he was just BLAH! He had no idea what I wanted him to do. N's pretty smart, but he can be so oblivious. Or does he just not like me? Does he not want to hurt my feelings?

Whatever. I don't care. N is dumb. He can go make out with his pokemon for all I care. No, that's not true, I do care. But I just wish he'd let me know how he feels. If he even feels at all. Maybe I just need to tell him first.

Well anyway, I had a few more drinks after that. This is when it starts to get hazy. Here's what I remember.

Jump came back and found me. The banquet was wrapping up, so he decided to walk me back to his hotel room. We must have gotten into a fight, because he got mad enough to tell me that Moze wasn’t looking for a way to cure whatever it is that’s wrong with him.

Which doesn’t make any sense. There’s something wrong with my brother. I know it, he knows it. To hear somebody tell me that my brother doesn’t even care about getting better anymore was too much for me at that point. The whole day was a nightmare, but that was the last straw.

So I attacked him, and then I guess I said some mean things because he backhanded me hard enough to knock me out. Hence the black eye. Ouch.

I woke up with a killer headache and more questions than I had answers. I told Jump I was sorry, and he forgave me. He said that Moze doesn’t like it when I make him out to be as awesome as I think he is. Because I do think Moze is awesome, he’s the best. I just wanted to do right by my brother, by my whole family, because they’re great people.

Jump told me they were already proud of me (I think he and Moze had a really, really long talk. Why doesn’t Moze tell me these things?) and that if I keep living in this shadow, I’ll end up getting stuck there. It was a lot to hear.

He’s in the shower now. Before I started writing this, I looked back at my old journal entries. I’ve never done that before, but revisiting the past is a real eye opener. I must sound like a real jerk sometimes. Am I a good person?

I don’t think I want to keep going they way I have been. I still think I want to be a gym leader, but something’s changed. I think this Aura thing was my wake up call. I’m going to figure out what it means. I’m going to figure out what Moze isn’t telling me. And I’m going to figure out what I really want to do with my life.

Oh, he’s getting out! I’ll finish this up later. Btw, he braided my hair! And did a really good job, too. Maybe Jump’s not as shallow of a person as I thought. Maybe there’s more to him than just being an obnoxious goofball. And I’m starting to see the prissy side. What’s the word for that? Metrosexual?

-S.d.f  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 7 ((Part 2))

WOW so I have superpowers now but besides that things are going nuts and I'm going bananas so I'm starting with Team Plasma. Oh wait no I should start with Jump.

Jump told me his backstory. His parents were Interpol Agents that got blown up, and he felt like he wasn't there in time to save them, even though he was just a kid. So he became Interpol himself. It looks like he's happy all the time, but there's just no way he can be. He thinks just because his eyes stand out I can't see it, but when he told me that story I could tell he's still got some issues. Pretty sad.

But even though I think he's an alright guy now he's still a MORON because he snuck us into a hotel room unchecked. What. I know a thing or two about Interpol, and those guys get to be checked in FOR FREE. He thought it was sneaky or something. Idiot.

Anyway, it wasn’t, because when I walked outside I saw that Parasol Girl from Team Plasma. She was leaving the room next to ours. And she was with that waiter from the Italian restaurant, but he dropped that phony accent. I thought I was being paranoid, and that Team Plasma had been spying on me. That bugged me all morning.

Shopping for new clothes fixed me up, though. I like the way Jump braided my hair (Jump braids hair lol), I’m going to keep it this way. But I need to get some more cash or I’ll be broke really soon, even with the money from beating Burgh

Oh yeah I beat Burgh. I kicked his a** it was sweet, I know I got really lucky but it was still sweet. Here’s what happened.

Burgh’s got three bugs. The first one was Dwebble, the “Rock Inn” Pokemon. Pretty cute. Haizhe took some hits but held it down overall. He’s very precise even if he lacks power. I wonder if he was trained before he started sneaking around hotel bathrooms ewww he’s so weeeeeird.

The second pokemon was Scolipede. A fifteen foot centipede. Not as cute, still cute though. Haizhe only got one hit off before going down, but he had set up a lot of advantages for my next pokemon (that squid’s smarter than he looks). I know I was taking a chance, but I chose Chen Zhen. He got brutalized at first, I got him over whatever was keeping him from forgiving me and he OWNED Scolipede! He rocked out, just like I expected.

This is the best part. The third pokemon was a Leavanny, just like Mom’s. Chen Zhen went down no problem. Now, I know I should have chosen Wukong. I really should have, I admit I was being cocky. But I was on a roll, and I thought if I could get Chen Zhen to be my friend again then I could do the same with Salem. I apologized for everything that happened between us. And then we Synchronized again.

But we were in control this time.

I can’t explain what happened, exactly. It’s like we were both watching each other’s thoughts on TV at the same time. I could give her orders instantly, just by moving. I made her fight exactly the way I wanted her to. No miscommunications. She trusted me enough to let me take the wheel, and we ******** UP BURGH’S s**t!

Honestly, when I saw Leavanny samurai slice through Chen Zhen, I was a little worried. Salem didn’t have the training to combat that yet. If we didn’t Synchronize, we may have lost. All Leavanny needed was one hit. I’ll never know for sure. But all it took was Hidden Power, Quick Attack, and my kung fu to make sure we got that victory. I was ecstatic. I still am. GO SALEM!

After I claimed my badge (rightfully, this time. You suck, Lenora), I went to the desert to meet Wayne. He lost his match before mine, and wanted me to teach Hitmonlee Blaze Kick. Also he may have been crying. I’d normally give him grief about that, but since I cried that morning I thought it would be hypocritical. You cry sometimes too, shut up.

When I got there, Henrietta was there too. She told me that somebody from Team Plasma threatened to kill her. Wayne told me that they killed his friend and blew up his grandpa’s house. Seriously. We’re being followed. I told you this was nuts.

Henrietta wants to fight them. What happened to that timid girl I knew seven days ago? What happened was she wants to fight psychos now. I got lucky compared to those two. I’m not trying to get involved. But if they hurt my friends or family, I swear, I’m going to destroy them.

We agreed to meet at Henrietta’s house in Nimbasa City later, that’s a whole thing I’ll get there soon. She left, and I taught Blaze Kick to Hitmonlee with Wukong. I was pretty impressed in my teaching skills, he got it almost immediately. And after that, I showed Wayne my Aura

OH so I’m okay by the way. That whole bleeding thing? Yeah, that’s part of my Aura ability. I saw Jump later, and he told me that it was my Aura activating. Everyone’s got a unique Aura ability they can bring out if they train hard enough, and Moze thought mine would be similar to his. He called it Nianzhu, so I’ll do the same.

I think it’s like biofeedback, but better. The ability to have complete awareness and control over my body. Today, I already figured out

No instead, I’m just going to make a list that I update (if I can do more):

-Blood Sensing (my blood, duh)
-Skin Armor (my skin gets really tough. And gets a nice tan too!)

So it’s only two things for now. Jump said if I’m not too careful, I might hurt myself. I think he’s right, if this power works the way I think it does. But it’s incredible! I still have so much to learn about how it works, but imagine the possibilities! I could be superhuman!

I wonder how Moze’s version of this ability works. Can he do what I do? What can he do? Did he ever hurt himself with Nianzhu? Is Nianzhu why he’s sick? I have so many questions and I told you I’m going bananas.

Anyway, I left Wayne to head across the desert. I wanted to ask him if he was okay about what happened with his friend, or his grandpa, but he didn’t seem phased. Besides, he had a gym match he wanted to complete and I didn’t want to be a Debbie Downer (Dwebble Downer? Hehe). So I left. I felt kind of bad, but I decided I’d try to talk to him later on, when there was a good time.

Before I left for the desert, I saw N again. He was just goofing around, like a kid who takes himself way too seriously. It’s pretty dorky, but I can’t help smiling. I really just have to step up to the plate here. Why haven’t I asked for his number yet?

While we were training in the desert (NOTE: the desert is a great place for training, go back sometime) we met this pair of archaeologists. One of them said Chen Zhen was weak just cause of his species. Beat that guy too. I’m telling you, I’m on a roll today.

They turned out to be pretty nice guys. Dr. Markus and Simon. I’ll have to hit them up when I go through Driftveil. The doc told me I was Native Unovan. I feel like I should care more that I found out what my race was, but that’s not really a pressing concern to me. That’s just the color of my skin, right? There can’t be anything else behind it. I’m Salieri Del Forrest, that doesn’t define me. I’ll look into it some other time.

After the desert, we got to Nimbasa City. It’s a pretty big place. Not as big as Castelia, but it might be livelier. There are a couple of places I want to check out tomorrow. The Battle Institute looks promising.

I was the first one to get to Henrietta’s house, so we hung out in her room. Her house is kind of what I expected it to be. Except for the medal she got for a city wide kendo tournament. Is she that good, or did she just beat a lot of people who suck? I can’t imagine her to be a very good fighter, not after what happened in the tournament in Nacrene. I wish I had a medal. Ugh. How does she do these things?

Wayne, Takamaru and that Luka kid showed up later, and Henrietta tried to band us together to make an anti Team Plasma team. I know that eventually, Team Plasma will come to try and liberate my pokemon. If they’re already spying on me, why wouldn’t they? But I’m not going to go pick this fight this time. If they want it so bad, they can come and get it. Plasma is psycho, I don’t want anything to do with them if I can help it.

Henrietta is still trying to fight them, though. Same with Wayne and TK. Luka seems more sensible than that, but he’s not against the idea. If they get themselves in trouble, I’m going to have to bail them out. I guess I’ll fight for them until they can fight like me. Yeah right. They’ll never be able to fight like me. We set up a chat room in the C-Gear (the C-Room) so we could keep in contact with each other.

Each one of them has superpowers too, so I can’t be all that worried. I’m not sure about the full extent of what they can do, mine included. But I’m going to figure it out. I think it was that whatever turned the sky orange in Castelia on Day 5. Freaky.

We ate pizza until Henrietta’s parents kicked us out (lame), and when we got the boot I tried to get Wayne to come play some football so I could talk to him after the game about what happened to him with Plasma. Wayne didn’t want to play, though. And of course, TK had to go and interrupt it by calling Wayne and I a couple.

Why do people keep doing that? We don’t act like a couple. I mean, Wayne makes me laugh and he’s definitely not a coward and he’s a good trainer and a good person but that doesn’t mean I like him or anything. He’s my friend. Honestly, one of my only friends. I don’t want that to change. Even if he is kind of cute. And then there's N. AAAAAAHHHH boys are complicated.

I took TK to play football with me instead. It was pretty fun. We walked to the center after. He told me a little about his home life, I told him about mine. And then I told him about that thing with Bill in the Pinwheel Forest. I’ve been trying not to think about it, but it’s hard. Talking it out helped a little, but I didn’t want people to know. Oh well. I think I can trust TK. Besides, he’s the youngest one out of all of us. Someone’s got to keep an eye on him, you know what I mean? If something happened to him because of this stupid Plasma thing, I think I’d feel partially responsible for it.

I tried to talk to Wayne one more time at the pokemon center, but he just went straight to his room from eating. I don’t think he’s avoiding me, but I don’t think he wants to talk about it either. Is that healthy? I’m not sure if I should just keep letting that go or not. Something in my gut tells me I shouldn’t. Maybe that’s the pokeburger talking. I’ll try and pull him aside tomorrow.

So now I’m going to go out with Chen Zhen and Liuye Dao to try to learn one more thing about my Aura ability before I go to sleep. I figure if I have control over my body, I should have control over my bioelectricity, just like I taught Liuye the other day. Maybe this power isn’t solely meant for combat, but I would like that extra offensive edge.

It’s probably going to hurt if I electrocute myself. I hope my pokemon don’t freak out over it. They’re tough, but I think sometimes they worry about me too much. Especially Liuye. Which is nice, but I don’t want them to think I’m helpless. We protect each other, he doesn’t have to just protect me.

I should get going. I need to find a spot where we won’t be too loud.

-S.d.f  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 8 ((Part 1))

I said before that a hangover is not fun. Waking up with one is not fun. But waking up from a night of accidentally zapping all of your pain receptors trying to figure out your superpowers is decidedly worse.

The good news is that I learned what not to do with my bioelectricity, so that's a start. The bad news was that using all of that Aura was really taxing on my energy, on top of the whole electrocution thing. I can see why Moze wanted me to know that this power can be a danger. Maybe I should stick to the small stuff first.

My list of abilities is now:
-Super tough, nicely tanned skin
-Blood sensing
-Bioelectrical manipulation (kind of)

Groggy does not begin to cover how I felt when I woke up today to text messages from the C-Room (I gotta remember to turn that off before I got to sleep). All of my pokemon had woken up before me, so I met them in the park where they were training. Kind of. They were really just lazing around, but that's fine. They can't be working all the time, there needs to be some R&R.

I took them to breakfast. The newspaper said that the pop concert Henrietta and Luka are trying to get into is going to be in the Big Stadium. Which is nonsensical, given that there's a music hall right down the street.

Pop stars are always way too focused on the spectacle. A lot of people say the worst kind of music is country, but for me it's pop. It just lacks that substance, so formulaic.

We left the Pokemon Center to go to the Battle Institute for some training, but got sidetracked on the way by TK. He really needs to watch where he's going, he almost crashed into me on those rollerblade shoes of his. But thankfully his acrobatics have improved, so he just flipped over me instead. Still sloppy technique, though.

Those rollerblade shoes are actually pretty neat. I should look into getting a pair someday.

Instead of walking across the city to get to the Battle Institute, I decided we should take the subway instead. The Gear Station is awesome, I love the style of the glass dome ceiling. But it's incredibly busy in there. Seems like everybody is hustling to someplace or another. My pokemon got lost in the main lobby. Sometimes I think I should put tracking devices on those guys. Or just put them back in their pokeballs in highly populated areas, that'd work too.

Before we got onto the train, the conducor asked about my eligibility or whatever and told me to enjoy the Battle Subway. At first I was like "Whaaaat?" but then I was like, "Oh, Battle Subway." Get this: it's a train that you get to fight on. That would be a great combination of things, right? Wrong.

Here's something I should confess about myself. I don't handle vehicles very well. Car rides make me a little dizzy, plane rides make me anxious, and boats are like a combination of the two. I had never been on a subway before (they don't have a subway system in Saffron City), so I thought it would be a different story.

It was. It was a horribly different story. Subways are the worst, it's like being trapped in the stomach of a hollowed out Steelix going way too fast and it's dark and you have no clue where you are. I almost threw up everywhere. Not very lady-like, I know, but I couldn't help it. Note to self: train up Nianzhu to get rid of motion sickness.

Fortunately, my pokemon managed to fight just fine without me guiding them. We beat a whole circuit of trainers before we looped back around again. They're really improving every day. I'm a proud trainer.

Once we got out of the subway (thank GOD), I decided it was time to talk to Wayne. So I shot him a text while I chilled in the amusement park. Rides are so lame. Anyway, he was up to meet for lunch, so long as we could get some money together. I suggested we battle scrub trainers for cash outside of the Gear Station, and we decided to meet there.

I have been waiting here for almost an hour now. He said he'd get lost, but this is ridiculous. Now I really don't know if he's avoiding me or not. Does he think this is a date? It is so not a date. Why does everybody think that?

Wait, if he thinks this is a date and he didn't show up, does that mean I scared him away? What if there's something wrong with me? I heard that guys don't like girls who are stronger than them. But I can't help it if he's not a high tier martial artist in continuous training! Are muscles on a girl really that off putting? I don't think mine are, like, bulging or anything. I'm just athletic looking, that's all.

Maybe I should start wearing sleeves.

Or I should just text him again and see where he is. Who knows, he could be in trouble. He better be in trouble, that's the only excuse I'll accept outside of health reasons or I don't know. Something bizarre. Bizarre things happen lately.

Yeah. I think I'll text him again.

-S.d.f  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 8 ((Part 1))

I once got into a fight with a kid in elementary school. It was in the cafeteria. Everybody else was in a big circle around us, so I had plenty of room to work with. At one point I hit him, hard, into a table and kicked his arm against the bench.

It bent in a way I've never seen before. And there was this cracking sound. The whole cafeteria heard it when they went silent. It sounded so painful. He went from confident to crying in seconds. I didn't mean to hurt him that badly.

What happened to Liuye Dao was the same thing. He got broken, his spirit got crushed, and it was all my fault. The only difference was that there was only one break in that kid’s arm. Liuye Dao’s cracked like a broken mirror.

Henrietta sent a message over the C-Room. Plasma, Stadium. So I went to the stadium. But it wasn't Plasma. It was something completely new.

They called themselves the Freedom Liberation Force. Freedom fighters trying to uproot our shitty government. They took everyone in the stadium hostage and set up guards outside so the cops couldn't get through. So really they were terrorists trying to uproot our shitty government.

Yeah, I know the system sucks. The World Government's treats all criminals like dirt. I wonder what they'd do if they knew Moze used to have illegal drugs. Maybe they'd through him in jail I dunno. He's not a bad guy, he's the best guy there is. But that defense doesn't work for what they call justice nowadays.

These guys were assholes though. And I didn't care for their trash talk. Besides, if I wasn't around then the rest of the crew wouldn't have been able to take out a guard, I'm sure of it. This guy took on all of us, and Robby, AND N all at once. He had Aura too, some kind of spinning ability. But he was in another league with it.

We took him down eventually. It wasn't flawless, though. Melty almost melted my pokemon alive. Twice. And Henrietta just watched it happen. I almost knocked her out after that, but N convinced me not too. If you call yourself a hero or a trainer or whatever you shouldn't suck at it.

Wayne and N told us that the FLF had Electrodes rigged to blow under the stadium. There was a floating WG fortress nearby with a signal that could emulate the Damp ability so the explosions wouldn't go off, but the signal was being jammed by the FLF's ringleader.

Her name's Pachi. She's Native Unovan. Just like me. The way Wayne talked about her made her sound like a dirty tribal woman. If he knew I was Native Unovan too, would he say that about me? I don't know what it means to be a Native Unovan.

Pachi has a power that lets her jam signals and make portals. Somehow it triggers my sixth sense. That just makes it spookier.

We fought our way inside, but when she saw me she threw me out of the stadium with a portal into a dumpster outside. I was furious. She must have known I'd land there. Trying to embarrass me. She thought she had the right to. With the power she has, maybe she really did.

Some Spanish girl outside the stadium asked me to save Henrietta, and called her a superhero. I wouldn’t call her the same. Although I really have to give her credit, she’s trying.

I got back inside and joined the fight. We broke apart the stage and scored a hit on Pachi. But I hadn’t been there for the first half of the battle. I didn’t know how hard it would be to do twice.

The portals redirected everything we threw around back at us. She wasn’t even trying to hit us with her own power. She had told some other FLF person over the phone that she’d stall. That’s what she did.

And in all that chaos, she grabbed me. Knife to the throat. I’ve never come that close to getting killed before. She was buying time. Everybody made a move, and before I knew it, Liuye Dao nearly got killed trying to save me and the FLF were gone.

I ran to the pokemon center but somehow it got half blown to bits during the fight. The Battle Institute was set up as contingency medical service for trainers. And they saved him. Barely.

Liuye’s in no condition to travel with me. I’m leaving this city behind as soon as I can, I have to. It just doesn’t feel good to be here anymore. And if I keep going forward, how is he going to survive? It only gets harder from here.

I sent him home to get proper medical care. And he thought I was just throwing him out like a broken toy. He even told me that himself, N translated. I didn’t even know Liuye could talk, but he did. Because I was breaking his heart, and he cried and I all I could tell him was that I wanted what was best for him and that he would come back when he was at the level he needed to be to survive.

And we said goodbye. But how can I ever make this up to him? He would rather be dead than to be disgraced and I let him down. How many apologies can I make? His bravery was rewarded by my weakness.

So I tried to walk it off. But everyone kept looking at me. It was because the cameras were running inside the stadium.

It’s almost funny. I finally get to be on TV all over the world. The chance to show everyone what I’m made of. And they saw me fail completely. Maybe they were giving me pity, just like my friends did. Or maybe they were scared of me. Because I looked like her.

I took a shortcut to Henrietta’s house through an alley and some guy jumped me. He said a lot of things that rubbed me the wrong way, and I was already on edge. He called out my weakness.

The rest was a blur. When I was done with him, he didn’t look like a man anymore. There was a kid at the end of the alley who saw what I had done. She ran scared before I could tell her my side. And Moze tried calling me, but I had to hang up on him. He was calling out my weakness too.

I left that man there and got to Henrietta’s house. Everybody else was there, plus that Spanish girl. Turns out she’s Henrietta’s friend. I think she has a crush on her, too. You can tell from the way she talks about her. Fortunately Henrietta is probably a lesbian.

I finally got to talk to Henrietta and told her never to let her psycho pokemon go loose like that again. She said it was her fault and apologized, like I knew she would.

Then her parents called her. They yelled a lot of things over the phone. Her grandpa just died, and she skipped the funeral to be in Nimbasa. For us. Her parents practically disowned her over the phone. And they mentioned, almost casually, that they thought she wouldn’t be trying to kill herself again. That’s right.

She explained to me what she had done to herself and her time in the hospital, but a lot of it failed to register with me. It was too much to process at once, on top of the rest of my day. How could ever try to discard the life you’ve been given? I could have ended up anywhere, but I ended up on the front door of someone who loves me. Without him I wouldn’t be here now. To ever give up your life would be a stab in the back to everything you’ve ever been a part of.

She wants to be strong now. So she fights. And it shines a light on old memories of her. I understand how she feels. I need to be stronger too. If I’m not strong enough, then I’ll be buried under all that pity. The people who told me I wouldn’t be good enough would win, and I’d fail the people that believed in me. So I have to keep going, more than I thought I would. I won’t stop at gym leader. If I’m the best of them all, the greatest trainer on the face of the planet, then no one will put me down anymore. And I’ll be free from all of that.

I told her I’d stay.

So we’re all sleeping over here. Even N. I took the master bedroom, a small plus to counteract one of the many cons of today. But I’ll count it.

It’s because of this weakness that I couldn’t make Liuye Dao all better. He relied on me and I failed him. Henrietta is relying on me now. They want to be heroes, but if we’re weak then who can counts on us?

I won’t be weak anymore. Those days are long behind me. And people like Pachi will shiver when they hear my name.

-S.d.f.  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 9

When I start a journal entry, I wish I could just spill all my thoughts onto the page. It’s so hard not to with the pen in my hand. But if I learned anything today, it’s that I need to slow down or I’ll explode.

I didn’t wait long after waking up to challenge Elesa’s gym. If I was going to get stronger, I needed to take big leaps. Which meant heading for the battle as soon as possible. Nimbasa City is under temporary lockdown, so it’s not like there was a better challenge anywhere else I could go to.

The trainers inside were chumps. I ignore the fact that everyone was still giving me stares from yesterday while I trashed them. The fact that Pachi was on TV even more thanks to her hostage tape going viral didn’t help me out either.

Then I got to Elesa. The battle was on a rollercoaster.

I was too queasy to even give most of my orders. But even if I could, I don’t know if I could have won. Elesa was a step and a half up from Burgh. It wasn’t a long battle.

Embarrassing.

I tried to rechallenge her, but she wouldn’t let me battle her again in my motion sick state. So I called her a prissy b***h that was just scared I’d beat her, which on second thought may have been harsh, and I got kicked out.

Well I wasn’t going to stand for that loss. I’d overcome it, or at least I thought I would. I taught my pokemon a few new power moves and then fought every trainer that tried to step foot into the gym.

I kept wiping the floor with them. And it felt good. We got tired but we kept going, kept winning. Chen Zhen’s leaves pushed my pokemon past their limits. Until N came and told me to stop. Told me I was overtraining my pokemon.

This anger kept boiling inside me, since the beginning of the day. I told him to ******** off and that he should mind his own business without forcing his stupid agenda on me. Which I didn’t really mean. I just felt so enraged and I didn’t know who to yell at.

So I took my pokemon to the patched up pokemon center and tried to call home. Dad told me Liuye was sleeping, so I couldn’t talk to him. He told me I could talk to him if I wanted, but I told him I was fine. Dad wasn’t the right person to talk to.

Moze called. He tried to talk to me about what happened yesterday too, but for the first time he wasn’t the right person to talk to either. I didn’t want to talk to my family, or my friends. Not with all this rage inside me. I felt sour, and I didn’t know what to do.

I found a spot far out in the park in Nimbasa, the closest I could get to being alone.
I started training on my own, attempting to discover more about my Aura. I started by manipulating my muscles. With concentration, I found out I could bulk them up, make them more flexible, make them dense. Very useful.

Concentration is the keyword. Any distraction would send my muscles into a painful spasm. With all this heat inside me, I couldn’t concentrate very well. It hurt. Eventually I had to stop, and all I could do was lay there.

And then I found out it was easy to be angry now. The only person I’m really angry at is myself.

I can’t believe how selfish I was being. All this time, I tried to push away help because I thought I was above receiving it. But my pokemon, they knew Liuye Dao like I did. And no one wanted to make them feel okay. Not even me. What kind of trainer am I? What kind of friend am I? It’s just another form of weakness, not being able to see that pain. I have to get past my own when other people need me.

So I let them out, and we talked. And I couldn’t understand exactly what they were saying, but I got their feelings. And they blamed themselves, but we talked each other up again. And honestly, I cried a little. I hadn’t before, and now I had too. Those tears were burning up the insides of my eyes since yesterday. It was a long time coming. Where would I be without my pokemon?

I found N later and told him I was sorry. I don’t want N thinking the wrong idea about me. He only means well, he’s never done wrong by me. I still don’t think he understands how I feel about him, but I’ll make him see.

My team and I will take it a little easier tomorrow. We’ll still train hard, but not without aim. I won’t just push us for the sake of trying. I’ll be smart about this. Slow and steady will win the badge. And we’ll be better of in the long run.

So I’m not so angry at myself about what happened anymore. Not being so hasty calmed me down. The rush is what’s making me crazy. I need to get my head straight again.

Although now that I’ve slowed down, and all my energy’s not being focused on wasteful self hatred, I start feelng other things. And a different kind of heaviness sets on me.

I really miss Liuye.

-S.d.f.  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 10

This morning I woke up feeling cold, which was weird considering how warm it was outside. I felt fine later. Maybe I’m getting a cold? Who knows.

My pokemon were already up and really wanted to train. I was still kinda drained from yesterday but I couldn’t pass down their enthusiasm. So I did my usual thing, got us food, and went to train with Henrietta.

My pokemon learned some new moves, refined old ones. The training the day before had been sloppy. All power, no substance. It was pretty good this time around. Henrietta’s a damn good battler considering we tied everytime. But that’s what I expect from someone who’s trying to team up with me, nothing less. Chen Zhen’s leaves kept everybody going so we got a lot of battles in at once. Same with Robby’s cooking. Yum <3

Wukong’s been taking up every word of what Robby has to say when it comes to cooking. No complaints. How come I can’t get Wukong to listen to me without hesitation? Whatever. Maybe he’s got a man crush or something.

And Robby showed me some pointers today after I trained with Henrietta. But he gave me the boot when I went to chop tomatoes with my nails. It totally would have worked! Kung fu is an all-encompassing art, culinary included! Even though that happened, cooking with Robby was fun.

Then N came told me to do Aura Training with me. It was weird, he never asked me to hang out before. I mean he didn’t really ask me but he kinda did. You could tell he just wanted to me leave the house with him. Well I guess he had a good reason to cause

Actually I’ll get to that later but for now N and I were training and hanging out. I experimented with my senses. I can amp them all up, which is so awesome. Super vision? I saw two dudes making out in a hotel room 2 ******** blocks away. My awareness sense? I could almost count all the people in the park at a glance. Smell? Actually that kind of sucked cause of the garbage but still. You got the idea.

The problem was getting them to the right levels. Heightened hearing is not something you want at a traffic circle, trust me. I fixed them up after a while, trying to find the right balance between everything. But I put them back to normal when I was done. Not sure if I’m ready for having them as my default mode yet.

I don’t get why people think they only have five when we have so many more. I trained almost all of them but three: pain, time, and my sixth one. With the rest of the senses down I realized just how aware I was of what was going on inside me. The learning curve is starting to drop.

So now my list of controls is

-Skin. I actually haven’t turned the toughness off since the stadium. I like the way it looks. Did I mention the tan? I think I did
-Muscles
-Senses. Most of them
-Bio Elec. This one’s kinda tough. The taser fist is perfected though biggrin
-Nails
-Blood. I cut myself cooking before, but I could stop the bleeding. Don’t know if it’ll work with big wounds yet. But awesome

Pretty cool, pretty cool. N and I went all around the city, testing out my senses and his ability. Oh his ability is cool too. He calls it Full Restore cause he says he can restore whatever he wants. Like when the ice cubes I was using to practice my heat sense with melted, he restored them back to ice cubes. Kind of like Chen Zhen’s Recycle.

We talked a lot too. He told me that since he can restore wounds, he was responsible for not having the strength to heal Liuye. I told him it wasn’t his fault at all. Honestly, hanging out with him and everybody else made me feel way better than I did when I woke up. They helped me get it together.

N especially. N is so great. And cute. I “accidentally” poured water on his shirt and he had to take it off to restore the dryness and damn. He’s in shape. I had no idea there were muscles on him at all.

And he’s smart. Like knowledgeable. We had a good discussion about the world government when it came up on the news.

See, one of the emergency restrictions being placed on Unova while the FLF was at large was on travel. Normal people aren’t allowed to travel between towns and cities anymore unless it’s public transportation. Oh I’m sorry, regulated public transportation. Only trainers with licenses are allowed, or anyone important enough to get a pass.

What the hell? I know I can still go wherever but everyone else? It’s more than a major inconvenience, it’s one step closer to being in a lockdown all the time. N pointed out that Unova’s public transport wouldn’t be able to accommodate everybody, either. The system will eventually slow to traffic that’ll lock people down anyway.

I know they’re paranoid about the FLF, because everyone is. They’re freaking out. At the same time, they’re treating us like heroes cause we helped stop the Electrode detonation.

We were getting recognized by people. And thanked. It was actually really nice to hear how much they appreciated it. N was loving it. I think he likes being a hero more than Henrietta does.

What I didn’t like was that the media was giving us nicknames. And I was the Anti-Hero. That’s so stupid. It’s not even creative. I’m not an anti-hero, I’m not any type of hero at all. We found a newspaper that interviewed the cop I talked to at the stadium for like a second, and twisted around my words to make me sound like a cheesy superhero trying to be badass.

I had no idea N and I were hanging out for hours. It was great. Eventually, Zero found him and they had some side conversation. Which was rude, considering Zero can speak English just fine somehow. I don’t like that Zoroark very much.

N told me he needed to go do something, Wayne was coming to meet me, and that I should stay here. Before I could figure out why, he bailed. Real fast. It was sketchy at the time, and then Wayne popped up. He told me that he and I were going to hang out anywhere but Henrietta’s house. Which was weird, but I rolled with it.

So we went around double battling chump trainers for change so we could get food. Classic.

I finally got the chance to ask Wayne about his friend that Team Plasma killed, and his grandpa’s place. But he told me that he was fine and then made some joke I can’t remember.

I let it slide, but I’m not sure I buy that. How can someone like Wayne be that way? He’s not a cold guy. But I know how it feels to not want to discuss your feelings. I almost wanted to give him a hug. Is a hug too much? It’s not like I’d be making a pass at him. Right? Right.

Finally, we went back to Hen’s and I opened the door the SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Everybody yelled that when I walked in the door. Even people I didn’t know. And Jump. And there was a party. I was so confused, it was surreal.

Turns out that Haizhe told my pokemon that I don’t have a birthday

Okay so if you just started reading this journal you might not now that I don’t have a birthday. Or at least one I know of. My dad had no way to tell when me and Moze were born so we just let it go. Honestly, I don’t know if I’m even sixteen. Well, as of today, seventeen. Officially.

Anyway, I didn’t really care, but apparently my pokemon thought I did when Haizhe told them he read about it in my journal. That little creep. (note to self: choke him out later) So they told N, and N told everybody else, and somehow Jump found out (through TK?) and they decided to throw me a party.

It was amazing. Robby and Wukong made this gigantic sub platter cause Haizhe told them sandwiches were my favorite food (******** you Haizhe), Jump DJed and everyone was dancing and having fun. They even got a videophone for Moze and everyone at home to call in! I got to see Liuye! I can’t say our conversation was long since it was entirely one sided, but he looked better than before!

I had no idea that this was what I needed to get me back to normal. My friends did though.

So yeah, people partied until they either got too drunk or tired and passed out everywhere. N was like a machine cleaning up after that. Jump got me a music player and Henrietta got me some sweet steel toed boots.

All in all, I can see why people enjoy their birthdays now. I like writing that word. Birthday birthday birthday. Sweet.

Oh, and Jump gave me the playlist at the end of the party. I don’t think it’s a real playlist. It made sense in the beginning and then just became kind of random to me. I asked him if it was a playlist and he told me, direct quote “Either this is a playlist or either I’m drunk or wait no it’s both. Mostly the second.”

I liked it though. Weird party mix, but I liked it. If only this wasn’t a blog and not a book, cause if it was I could put up links. Oh well.

Seventeen Years – Ratatat
19-2000 Soulchild Remix – Gorillaz
New York Border – Mouth’s Cradle
Kong - Bonobo
Beggin – Madcon
Shoot Down The Stars – Gym Class Heroes
Mighty Healthy – Wu-Tang vs Beatles
Nice Weather For Ducks – Lemon Jelly
Bonito – Jarabe De Palo
D.A.N.C.E. - Justice
Do The Astral Plane – Flying Lotus
The Anthem – Onra
Vacation – Vitamin C
Green Light – John Legend
I Want You Back Sleepyhead – The Jackson Pit
Happier Ending – Viewtiful Joe 2

Sleepy time now.

-S.d.f  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 11

I woke up cold again. There’s gotta be a draft in here somewhere. Maybe that’s why Henrietta’s parents are so frigid. Zing! Seriously though, someone should fix the insulation or something.

Anyway, I did something a little different this morning. I tried to use my Aura to style my hair. It took a while, like ten minutes, but I could make a braid with my mind after that. Nianzhu is so convenient. I wonder if Moze uses it to style his hair?

Now that I think about it, Jump told me no two Aura abilities are the same. So how is Moze’s different than mine? I have so many questions I want to ask, but I feel like it’s only easy to get in touch with him when he calls me. Hopefully I’ll see him soon.

So breakfast, then more hardcore training with Henrietta and the others. Wayne’s been using his Aura ability to learn from me and Henrietta. So he’s been picking up on more tactics and moves, and martial arts too. At first I thought that learning martial arts that way is kind of cheap. Takes away from the hard work part. But since that’s his ability, he should be using it. It actually makes him the best pupil I ever had if you think about it.

Henrietta told me that someone had asked her to help put on a play for the kids at Nimbasa’s public school. The world was going through a shift, and they didn’t want the kids to be scared. So bread and circuses.

She asked me to help. I didn’t want to deceive children into thinking everything was okay when Interpol has been putting more officers into Unova, but she convinced me after a while. They’ll understand someday. Kids deserve to be happy while they’re kids.

We went to the musical hall and some guy gave us costumes and scripts. Get this: it was about the Legends Crew, which means us, fighting the FLF. I was cast as Pachi.

I was ready to throw the script down and leave there, but Henrietta got me to stay. The kids expected a show. And I was only going to be Pachi for a couple of minutes, like three. So I did it.

It was terrible. The way they all looked at me, like they believed I was the real deal. I hate her. I want to ruin her, I don’t want to look like her. I left pretty quickly after it was done. At least those kids are happy for now, I guess.

When I went to get food, I saw that spokesperson for Plasma on TV, Ghetsis. He wanted to publicly declare that Team Plasma held a firmly anti-FLF stance for their mistreatment of pokemon, specifically the Electrode bombs. That guy sure knows how to cash in on people.

I'm hoping my fifteen minutes of fame is up soon. A couple of reporters have asked me for interviews at the most annoying times. One asked me in a bathroom. I want to be renowned, but not like this. If I want to talk to a newspaper or a news network, it'll be on my own terms, not their weird stalker s**t.

I went to do a little Aura training after lunch. Specifically, now that my awareness was heightened I worked on changing my connective tissues. It wasn’t as hard as some of the other systems, helped out my flexibility too. I can see it being versatile if I play my cards right.

I also worked on my lungs with some deep breathing exercises. I can increase their capacity now. So I’ve got super breath now, basically. Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?

Current superpower list:

-Skin
-Muscles
-Senses
-Bio Elec.
-Nails
-Blood
-Hair
-Connective Tissue
-Lungs

TK called me up. Said he was bored. I told him to come train but he wanted to play tag. All over the city.

Well for some stupid reason I agreed, thus starting the longest game of tag in my life. The thing is that I needed to tag the real TK. And he can make like 4 or 5 of himself now. Even with my sense boosts, it’s impossible to tell the difference. But I got him a few times, and he got the jump on me too. It was actually a lot of fun. We were exhausted after that.

Went home, ate dinner, and started working on something new. See, the One Inch Punch is technically a punching exercise. But in the Del Forrest Dojo, it’s taught to be applied as an attack. You can use it to turn all of your force inwards, changing the damage from external to purely internal.

I think I thought of a way to expand on that principle of force change. It needs some work, but I’m getting there. I think I’ll call it the One Inch Palm for now.

So that peppy girl that obviously likes Henrietta –Azucena- invited me to a sleepover. At Henrietta’s. Which is weird cause I’m already sleeping there, but I said okay. And Azucena never showed up. It was just me and Henrietta in her room. I think she tricked us into having girl time?

Well that was fine. I guess I’ve never really had a friend who’s a girl that I can talk to about girl stuff. So I asked Henrietta if she realized Azucena had a crush on her. She got all shy about it, but she told me that she thinks she likes girls. Well duh. No secret there. I told her exactly that.

After everything Henrietta's been through, I think she deserves someone to be good to her. And Azucena kind of annoys me to be honest (Too strange, too much pep. Sometimes I wonder how I put up with Moze), but I think they'd be good for each other.

And then I told her that I thought N was awesome and quirky and mysterious and hot, but Wayne is also cute and I don’t know how to choose between them. Whew. Felt good to get that off my chest. Henrietta didn’t really know what to do either, but she encouraged me to follow my instinct. Not bad advice.

And we kept talking about other stuff. And eventually we got tired and passed out. Well, not before I wrote this journal entry, obviously. So I haven’t passed out yet. But she’s asleep on her bed.

This must be what its like to have a sister, I think.

-S.d.f  

[Jump Einatz]

The Quest to Become a Legend: Day 12

Wow. This lockdown is getting old. I like all the training I’m getting in during the downtime, but I need a change of scenery. Thankfully it’s over tomorrow. I’ll challenge Elesa too, she won’t stand a chance against me after today.

Wake up, eat, group training. Same old same old. Everyone’s really improved in the last few days, it’s great to see. Reminds me of the dojo.

I locked myself into the master bedroom for my Aura training. I had something very different in mind. Certain changes I made in my body remained activated without my concentration, passively existing without using Aura to be sustained. So I decided to reinvent myself. It’s like that song that’s on the music player Jump gave me says. Harder Better Faster Stronger.

It was kind of painful. And awkward to get used to. I need to experiment with certain shifts to get the right balance of things, but I think I’ve done it right.

So my skin is still super tough, has been for days. My hair is as tough as steel now, and silky smooth! My senses are all enhanced, but not to the point where I’ll be overloaded. My connective tissues and lungs are stronger than before, and my muscles are denser and more flexible for more power, endurance and higher reflexes. Changing my bones hurt like hell, but now they’re super dense but hollow. If normal bones are wood, mine are like the strongest bamboo.

On the outside, I look mostly the same. Except for that sweet tan. My hair’s shinier, I guess. I tried out having big boobs, but they kept getting in the way when I moved. So I settled for medium.

I don’t know for sure, but I think I’m prettier now. I’d like to think so, cause Wayne asked me if I wanted to go to the Battle Subway with him. Obviously I said yes!

The city had shut down the public transit lines, but the battle exclusive ones were still open so we checked those out and chose a tag battle line. With my senses of balance and awareness improved, I could ride that subway forever. Well, not forever since I had to use a little Aura consistently to keep myself good, but it’s better than motion sickness.

He and I crushed basically everybody we battled. We even beat the Subway Bosses in a tag match! They’re really strong, I think they could have beaten us outside a regulated match. But it was a great fight.

And Wukong evolved! ******** yeah! He’s an Infernape now. And his temper’s actually gotten better because of it. You think he’d be more of a hot head now. Get it? Cause the fire is on his head? I’m glad I wrote that one down.

So with so many Battle Points, I got myself some items. I got a Razor Fang cause I think it would make a cool necklace for Wukong. Plus it increases your flinch rate. I also got Wise Glasses for Salem to boost her attacks, and also cause they’d look so cute on her.

We got some food after. There was a jazz band playing at the Musical Hall that was pretty good, and we sat on the hill outside to listen to them without paying for tickets. While we ate Wayne suggested that I do something nice for Liuye Dao when I see him again. Like polishing him. Because Steel types like that? I saw TK do it and he’s got all kinds of Steel types, so it must work. I’ll see if Liuye’s up for it.

He told me other stuff too. About himself, his past as a trainer. So Wayne had three pokemon before Ronin Daphne and Eukayra, but Team Plasma convinced him to let them go. Since then he’s been trying to get them back. He told me he thought he failed them as a trainer, and as a friend.

I had no idea he had a grudge against Plasma before he met me. It’s just like with Henrietta, it puts a whole new spin on things. I always thought Wayne was just a trainer without a care in the world, but he’s so much more than that. He’s loyal, he’s kind. Even if he’s a goofball. But I like that he’s a goofball.

He and I got closer than before. I still don’t know what he really thinks of me. It’s hard to tell what he really thinks of anything. He’s so much deeper than he lets on. Wow I am gushing right now. I sound like a thirteen year old.

We both got a message that the house went on fire from Robby. But then we got another saying he put it out, so it was all good. I wonder how that happened. I’ve never seen Robby mess up in the kitchen. It must have been something else.

Maybe Zero was messing with him. She’s only been hanging out with N. Most of the time she’s not even around. Unless she is, disguised as something or someone random and then changing form to scare us for kicks.

Oh well. At least the food was saved.

Robby made a big dinner to celebrate the end of lockdown. It was so good, I’m stuffed as we speak. There was a little drinking going on, but I didn’t get drunk. Well, specifically, I worked out a way to shift my metabolism so I didn’t get drunk. Pretty useful. That should be useful in removing any other foreign substances. I’ll never get sick again! And if I can out how to remove my fatigue poisons, I won’t have to let silly things like exhaustion slow me down so much.

So here I am, sitting on the living room couch stuff with food using Salem as a pillow. She is so ******** soft. Like a smooth cloud. Oh man thinking about this is getting me sleepy.

I thought this lockdown was going to destroy me, that I’d go crazy from staying here too long. But I’ve kept some good company. My parents would be proud. I know Moze is.

-S.d.f