Show Me Your Smile | Pokémon Fanfiction

6 | everything is stagnant

Music in media: fighting pose by DAOKO

Motivation, as with all things fickle, is demonic by nature. Once you get high on motivation, you can ride a bike into the sky, through the nimbus clouds. The moment motivation ditches you for a better someone, it's an immediate strike three. You're out and rotting on the bench, trying to be happy for those who run about on the field, leaving and coming home, scoring their goals, all while struggling to cap your envy. Other times, you just can't be bothered and start to wallow in self-pity.

All's not yet lost. Motivation has a bestie named caffeine. Caffeine is the mom friend who'll direct motivation to the right path. Where there's caffeine, there's motivation, and there's productivity, and there's the daily grind. No breakups. Just pure, golden jubilance.

But here's where the problem lies. Caffeine is the parent of grogginess, which lives in the brain and causes us to be unable to concentrate on their tasks. Our brain is an incubator for our grogginess and when it cries, caffeine will answer, and motivation will arrive. And if you have any memory of what a nuisance you were when you were younger, you'd know what it feels like. Even if you don't recall anything from your infant days, that's alright. The grogginess in your brain recreates that experience for you.

Actually, the biggest problem is that I've run out of coffee. No, wait, it's that I've been trying to get by without caffeine, but life... everything is stagnant without that adrenaline rush.

It's been two days since Meta joined the family. Two days of peace and quiet. Two days worth of The Paper Magician marathon, bingeing the whole of seasons 1 and 2. Two days of leaving the house to deliver bento and fetch Rae from Pokémon School. Two days of not crossing paths with any of the bois, even Kaspar.

Today, I'm out of my chrysalis. And what happens? Life happens. You know, I only drink one cup of coffee every day, but my supply's been vanishing. Worse still, because of my habit of hugging a plush to sleep, I'd always awake to Meta in my loving embrace, despite the pink tatami mattress I've gotten for him a day ago, laid out just beside my bed. Why pink? Because he'll camouflage with it like a Kecleon and I won't be able to see him and I can sleep as I always do before his existence was uncovered.

I don't want to wake up to saliva on my face (that happened with the Gengar) or have my sleep interrupted and waking up every thirty minutes thanks to Noctowl's pecks or be punched in the gut every time I close my eyes (thanks a lot, Poliwrath). As a result, it's no surprise who's got a terrible aura about him. And right now, the only saviour is coffee, who's nowhere to be found.

Meta traipses into the kitchen when I slam the cabinet.

"Ohayo," I mumble at the energetic Pokémon. Over the two days, I've come to learn that Meta also lives with bursts of energy. By that, I mean explosions that last the whole day every day.

"What you searching?" Meta asks.

"Coffee."

Meta repeats the word with amusement and adds, "There's no more coffee?"

"No more." I show him the barren cabinet. "Abra Kadraba Alakazam."

"Awww snap!" Meta moans. "I need my quickie."

My eyes sharpen into slits. "Quickie."

"Caffeine fix. I drink coffee every morning."

I slam the cabinet. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, like, 3am?" Meta strokes the bump above his face. "So we're out of coffee?"

I nod. "How much do you even consume in one sitting?"