|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 2:39 pm
Reality often came in the same way a cold bucket of water did in the middle of the night. Fast, unexpected, and harsh. It very nearly had the same effect on an otherwise sheltered mind. Shock, confusion, and a lingering chill that rattled one to their core. Baird was left stunned after not one but two buckets of reality had fallen over his head in the last few days.
For one- the world was so much bigger than he could have thought. An inch on his map represented nearly two days' walk. He wouldn't sleep during the night for fear of whatever might be lurking in the darkness. He couldn't be sure that the craggy caves along the side of the road didn't have occupants already- be them people or Poke'mon. So it was during the daytime that the youth found a comfortable place and collapsed for a rest.
The early autumn chill lingered in the mornings so it was in the afternoon that he had sought out a small walnut tree and laid down. He was average for his age but gangly and scrawny. Dusty blonde hair was nearly sun bleached into a pale off-white color that contrasted the dark complexion. It ran in the family. Baird laid curled into a ball, propped up against his traveling pack and wrapped in his sweater while his flaaffy, a strange black-fleeced poke'mon, stood guard dutifully.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 6:25 am
Zinnia was wandering quite happily through the wilds. It was a lovely, warm day, even though the seasons were changing to fall. Soon the trees would shed leaves of beautiful yellow, red, and orange. The only bad part about fall meant that it would soon be winter-- and then the cold would force her to stop camping in the wilderness! But until then, she would enjoy the sunshine and the greenness of the nature around her.
Zyk, her zubat, was sitting in his customary place on her shoulder, while Zebo was trotting at her heels. Dreydonna and Shadow Mew had both gone missing for the time being, but such behavior was normal for them. They would turn up when she needed them.
"Hmm?" Zinnia suddenly spotted something moving nearby. Her eyes widened. "Wow, a Flaaffy!" she exclaimed softly to Zyk and Zebo. "I've never seen one in person before... Let's get a bit closer!" She playfully raised one finger in a shushing motion before sneaking closer to the oddly colored pokemon.
But, as she approached, she saw that the Flaaffy was not alone. A small young boy appeared to be sleeping. Taking a nap on such a nice day? "Hi there!" she piped up cheerfully, no longer trying to be quiet. "Is that your friend there?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 8:23 pm
Rylis noted the approach soon enough. The flaaffy stood up on its hind legs, stretching out to stand as tall as he could manage with his head elevated slightly. It was a defensive position and unless the stranger and her poke'mon proved to be a threat he wouldn't press them with an attack. He regarded the two poke'mon first, giving each a slow dip of his head before he looked to the trainer.
The Flaaffy rose a claw to his lips, motioning for her to be silent but a shrill cry from his trainer, a nervous sleeper by nature, made the gesture pointless.
Baird woke to the trainer's greeting. It had been largely unexpected and the paranoia brought on by the long night and the battle just before his leaving had left his nerves stretched paper-thin. Any sudden or unexpected sound woke him with a start, much to his poke'mon's dismay.
He sat up, his hair a complete mess and his eyes round as dinner plates.
"I-I-I-"
Rylis snorted sharply, shaking the youth out of his rattled awakening.
"S-sorry... I... are you-", Well she did have poke'mon. Asking if she was a trainer was a little pointless. "H-Hi..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 6:11 am
Zinnia was rather taken aback by Baird's reaction. "Are you okay? Were you having a nightmare?" she wondered. She walked even closer and leaned down, peering into Baird's tired face. "I'm Zin, by the way. And this is Zyk, and that's Zebo."
Zebo weaved in and out between Zinnia's legs before stalking closer to Baird, sniffing toward him and the Flaaffy. He seemed to lose interest quickly, though, and curled up in a ball on the grass, watching the proceedings with sharp eyes.
Zyk had to grip Zinnia's shoulder tightly to maintain his balance as the girl bent down. He squeaked at such a high pitch that it could barely be heard; he was using echolocation to make sure that Baird and Rylis didn't make any threatening moves toward his beloved trainer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:32 pm
Baird leaned back and brought his coat up over his face. The girl didn't seem to have a good concept of a personal bubble. He was a private person by nature but that was largely in part to the strange happenings in his home town. He glanced shortly to her other poke'mon, eyes leery and complexion pale.
"N-no... I just...", He slowly lowered his coat and offered a welcoming hand, "My name is Baird. I just... I startle a bit. I didn't sleep till a few hours ago." He ran his fingers through his hair and glanced sideways to his flaaffy. The poke'mon smiled a little and made a small gesture with his hands. A friend might help him get over things... and it might lead to another traveling companion.
"Two poke'mon already. Have you been out long? I mean on your... are you a trainer?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 5:48 am
Zinnia took his hand and shook it, though she frowned a bit at the news that he hadn't been sleeping. Was he on the run, too? She wasn't sure what else might cause a person to sleep during the day, and out in the wild. This clearly wasn't a leisurely nap!
"I actually have four," she said, suddenly grinning again. "I have a gengar named Dreydonna and a mew named Shadow Mew. They like to go off on their own a lot, but they'll probably come back soon." Zinnia sat down in front of Baird so that they were at eye level. "I've been a trainer for about two years now. Wow! Time flies." It wasn't a complete lie; in truth, she had only become a trainer recently. For two years she had been a part of Team Rocket, but that wasn't something she really wanted to bring up in idle conversation.
"How come you haven't been sleeping?" she asked suddenly. If he was in trouble, she wanted to help him out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 2:56 pm
The boy's complexion paled a little more. A gengar!? Oh he couldn't meet a gengar... what if it knew? What they could sense curses or... make them worse? The thought sent his stomach flopping over on itself and a very real chill run down his back. He quietly hoped that the gengar would keep his distance for a while... this was his trainer but maybe he'd decide to drift off... find another gengar and settle down. Somewhere far. Very far.
"Two years, wow... I just started." He latched onto the safer, more polite subject and sat himself upright.
"Oh well I uh... I'm... scared." He said quietly. "I think my family's cursed...so night time's not a good time to be asleep. It's safer in the day time."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 4:07 pm
She was right to be concerned, apparently. Someone who had just started his pokemon adventure was too afraid to sleep at night? He definitely needed some help!
"What do you mean by cursed?" Zinnia asked, making herself comfortable on the grass. She crossed her legs Indian style, and Zebo promptly came over to curl up in her lap. Zyk remained perched on her shoulder. A thought occurred to the blue-haired girl, and she added, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 3:22 pm
"Cursed... like...bad things happen a lot." He looked up then gave a small, awkward smile. "It's kind of silly I guess. My dad was a smelter, he depended on the silver that was taken out of the mines...but they shut down. Well..things got bad so he went to mine some for himself and... that's when it started getting...really bad."
He brought his knees under him and began picking bits of grass off himself. He'd obviously been laying in the grass for a bit, he had impressions of his surroundings on his skin and bits of foliage in his hair and on his clothing.
"There was a cave-in and Dad didn't make it. Neither did his poke'mon. I think he disrupted the ghosts there... then my brother disappeared. His poke'mon too. I'm scared I might be next."
He cleared his throat and shook his head. "Don't think so. I dunno much about ghosts, just that they're scary. Dangerous too. I gotta train and make some money as a trainer. Rylis and I are the men of the house now. That's what men do."
Rylis snorted and gave a helpless bob of his shoulder. He supposed that's what they did.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 5:51 pm
A look of horror crossed Zinnia's face. "I-- I'm so sorry, Baird." She reached her hand forward as if to grasp his shoulder in a comforting gesture, but seemed to think better of it and drew back again.
"Not... not all ghosts are bad!" she insisted, though. "Dreydonna is... well, she's not bad!"
She didn't seem to notice Zebo and Zyk's skeptical looks (though how the zubat managed to look skeptical without any eyes was an amazing feat).
"You should meet her sometime... and Shadow Mew, too! Hey, if you're alone, why don't we travel together?" She beamed as this brilliant idea occurred to her. Maybe she could find a way to help him out with this curse, or at least get him over his fear of ghosts. And if Team Rocket managed to track her down, well... Two trainers and five pokemon was better than one with four. She bit her lip, wondering if she ought to tell Baird that he wasn't the only one who could possibly have danger stalking his footsteps.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
