Mary felt her heart sink at the single sentence the human spat out. Looking up at May, then to Brendan, she began to struggle against the grasp of the trainer that held onto her, letting out a series of desperate and anxious chirps. Brendan looked a little flustered as he brought his blue-gray irises down onto her. He appeared to be biting his lip lightly as he did so.
"I don't think she wants to be captured," he softly observed, eyebrows furrowing as he watched the struggling torchic. May only shrugged her shoulders, still smiling as she looked at the scared fire type.
"Nonsense! You just gotta use a poké ball," she said, handing him an item from the accessory attached to her waist. Mary began to flap her wings, trying to hit them hard on the trainer that was holding onto her. Unfortunately, her method of attack did not work. Looking down at Damien, May asked, "Damien, can you aid Brendan in capturing the torchic?"
The mudkip jumped up and down, much to Mary's horror, and soon enough she was placed on the ground. With the poké ball clutched in his hand, Brendan took a few steps back, positioning himself a little ways away from the torchic as May set her down. Damien hopped in front of the male trainer, facing Mary as he shifted into a battle stance. She tried to scurry away, but May quickly- and effortlessly- stopped her with a foot.
"Tell Damien to use tackle!" she ordered, looking up at her companion.
Brendan obliged, awkwardly looking down at the water type. He appeared to be not too confident in his battle abilities as he bunched his shoulders together. "Uh-"
Without even receiving an order, the mud fish pokémon nodded. Swiftly, he dashed forward and tackled himself into Mary. Instinctively, she let out a squeak as the male pinned her down, a happy smile on his face as expected.
"Throw the poké ball!" May ordered, proudly watching her pokémon.
Brendan jumped just a tad, before taking a few steps toward the fire type. Crouching down, he lightly scooted Damien off of her, and pressed the circular item he held against her forehead. In an instant, a black blanket enveloped over Mary, and the sounds of the outside world faded away.
At first, she was a little confused, but then it dawned on her: she had been captured. Or, rather, she could be captured, should she not try to break free from the pitch black capsule. Looking around the circular area, she desperately sought a way out. The area was pretty small, and she had almost no extra room for her to move around. Soon enough, it seemed as if her small efforts turned out to be in vain, for a loud clicking noise echoed around her.
Oh no! She was captured.
In front of Mary was a large, white dot. Other than that, there was nothing but a strange, ebony black essence that drifted around her.
The dot must be the way out.
With little hesitation, she pushed the button, allowing a bright light to engulf her frame. After a few moments of the blinding light, she soon felt the comfortable feeling of the grassy forest floor. Scrambling to her feet, she scanned around the surrounding premises, smoothing out her fluffed feathers. She was still where she had fought Damien. However, both him and May were gone. Turning around, the torchic saw Brendan staring blankly down at her.
"Do you mind?" Mary chirped, narrowing her eyes in disgust. Jeez, these humans are creepy! she scowled to herself, eyeing her new trainer up and down. His outfit was honestly a little weird to her. Does he have any other hair, other than that mess on his head?
His red and dark gray clothing clashed violently with his neon green backpack. At least the accessories on his feet- she guessed those were what humans called shoes- had some neon green on them, most likely to match with the backpack.
Sadly, it seemed as if Brendan didn't understand her, as he continued on with his staring. He was still biting his lip, as if he wasn't sure what to do or say. After a few moments, he shrugged, gently using his hands to pick her up. Feeling his hands awkwardly grasp her feathers, Mary let out a loud squeak. The shrill noise caused Brendan to jump a tad, his shoulders bunching in alarm.
"Sorry," he mumbled, lifting the torchic off of the ground. Turning heel, he began to walk away from the scene.
After what felt like ages to Mary, the two entered a small, rural town. "This is Littleroot Town," Brendan quietly- and uncomfortably- informed her, keeping his eyes ahead as he awkwardly shuffled his feet. Mary took a quick sweep over the premises with her vision, taking in the surroundings.
What a weird place for humans, she noted mentally, eyeing the structures that towered over them.
She figured that they were the humans' nests, otherwise known as houses. Brendan didn't say anything else; he only sighed heavily as he walked toward a small house near the corner of the town. Once he opened the door, he took a few steps inside, before closing it.
"Mom, I'm home," he casually called out, before heading toward a nearby staircase to their left.
Mary squeaked as Brendan began to climb up the wooden stairs, using one of his arms to grip onto the railing beside them. Once he got past the stairs, he turned to his right, heading toward a set of two brown doors. Using his free arm, he twisted the shiny doorknob of the door farthest to the right and opened it, revealing a blue room. He closed the door behind him.
Setting Mary down, the human plopped himself on his bed, before sighing heavily as he took off his white cap. She looked around his room. It contained a blue wall, as mentioned earlier, and a desk with a shelf sitting above it. However, none of that really interested her. Instead, she paid a bit of her interest on her trainer. He was strangely quiet, and seemed like a rather shy guy. Perhaps he wasn't too harsh, like how she was always told, but maybe a little gentle?
Hopefully.
With a few chirps, Mary jumped onto Brendan's bed. She struggled quite a bit, considering how taller it was than her. However, thanks to the help of the human, she managed to make her way up. It felt way more softer than her nest back at home, and she cooed to herself in glee as she gently laid down on the blue, cotton blanket beneath her, and rested her head.
It's so nice, she thought, her eyes closing.
Eyes fluttering open, the torchic released a yawn, noticing that she was on a different part of the bed. Instead of being near the center, she was positioned by the end, near a brown frame. With wide, beady eyes, she swirled her head around.
Did I fall asleep? It seemed so. Brendan was not in the room, and the door was wide open. Swerving her head toward a nearby window, she noted that it was dusk- the sun was lowering itself from view.
With no hesitation, Mary bolted out of the room, and hopped down the steps of the staircase, her feet a blur as she did so. Halfway down, however, she slipped and crashed onto the wooden floor of the home. Scrambling to her feet, she frantically looked around the surrounding area, before dashing to her left and down a short yet wide corridor.
This place is so confusing!
Screeching to a halt, she saw Brendan sitting by a table in front of her, a strange wooden device in his hand. To her right was a strange room with metallic objects and a bunch of smaller tables hanging from the ceiling, and to her left was a room with a black screen resting atop yet another table. Deciding that the room to her left was safer, she darted toward that direction. With hasty movements, she hid herself in the shelves of the table the black, rectangular object sat on.
At first, everything seemed perfectly peaceful and normal about the location. Soon, however, she heard a small shuffling noise, that only quickly erupted into a deafening roar. Fluffing out her feathers in terror, the chick Pokémon scurried over to a large, cushiony object. Jumping onto the object, she took a moment to catch her breath, before brining her vision onto the loud contraption. A female, taller than Brendan for sure, was moving it around, her eyes fixated onto the ground.
She watched as what she assumed to be the mother of Brendan turn the machine toward the torchic, her vision placed on the ground. The human silently urged the machine forward, sucking up dirt and other small particles beneath the object the pokémon sat on. The monstrous roar the contraption was deafening, to say the least, especially since it was so close.
It's so loud! With a high-pitched squeal, she tried to back further away, but to no avail. She already had her back pressed against the soft wall of the cushions. Please don't find me!
The human then looked up, staring into the eyes of the frightened Mary. For a few moments she stood there, before bringing her gaze toward her son. "Brendan," she called out, her tone a little cross as she flicked the machine off, "is this the pokémon you told me about?"
Brendan looked up from the table, peering over the half-wall that blocked his view just a tad. Noticing Mary, he nodded his head. "Yeah, that's it," he spoke up, lifting himself from the chair before making his way into the room. Picking up the torchic with one arm, this time his grip being a little more softer compared to the last time he held her, he looked up at his mom. "I'll put her away, if you want."
"Please do," the older woman responded, her fingers running through her dark brown hair. Mary blinked, a little shocked to see how calm the mother was. If this was Zeke, Brendan would've been given a vicious scolding. "Did you finish your dinner?"
"Yes," Brendan politely responded, motioning toward the table with his hand. "I cleaned it up, too." With that, he was shooed away by a flick of his mom's hand. Silently, he escorted Mary to his room.
After he closed the door behind him, he placed Mary down onto the carpeted floor of his room, before sitting in front of her.
"Okay," he softly began, "I think my mom doesn't mind you. But I don't know about my dad. He likes normal type Pokémon, and since you eventually evolve into a fighting type.." A small yet noticeable smile formed on his features as he stared toward his door. "He told me that I needed a pokémon, though, and now I have one. There isn't a problem with that, is there?"
Yes, there is a problem with that! Mary silently whined.
With a small snort, she began to preen her feathers, looking away from him. Whatever he was talking about really didn't interest her that much, but he didn't seem to notice. That, or he was just too polite to really mind.
"You see, my friend May wants to become the champion when she's older," Brendan continued, shrugging his shoulders as he brought his gaze back to Mary. "I don't really want to. I mean, it sounds like a lot of work to do. My parents work at a gym a huge chunk of their lives- it's rare that they're home." He released a sigh. "They're usually gone for a long time when working, so I'm left alone in the house. I don't mind, though. They at least give me money for groceries, and they pay the bills and stuff at their gym."
Mary stared back at Brendan, her eyes narrowing just a tad. What's a gym? she asked herself, blinking. And what are groceries and bills?
She couldn't ask the male what those were, unfortunately, so she only offered a simple chirp in response. Brendan smiled softly at the chirp, and then threw himself backwards, now lying down on his back as he heaved a sharp exhale.
After a few moments of silence, Mary sauntered away from the male, climbing over his arms to head over toward his desk. It didn't take long for the trainer to follow suit. Stopping behind her, he picked her up and placed her on the desk. Sitting on the chair, he grabbed a white book and placed it down, opening it casually.
"I just remembered," he mumbled, dwindling with the pages that the book had, "you don't have a name. It's kinda boring having a nameless pokémon, y'know?"
I actually do have a name, Mary thought to herself, eyes narrowing as she glared at the human. Of course, he couldn't understand her. He only greeted her with a soft look, before showing her the cover of the book.
"Wouldn't it be cool if you had some god's name?" he rhetorically questioned, setting the book down once the pokémon eyed it. He appeared to be bursting with excitement, strangely enough. "Of course, May said you were female.. So you need a goddesses' name."
Mary didn't even know what a god or goddess was. While she didn't want to change her name, it was important to pay attention. If she chose not to listen, she could be confused whenever her trainer called out for her in the future.
For a few moments, Brendan flipped through the pages, before halting on a rather colorful one. "Maybe.. Persephone?" he asked, glancing at the torchic. "Nah." Looking back at the book, Brendan hastily continued going through the pages. It looked as if he was growing more and more desperate to find the perfect name for her. "Aphrodite? Demeter? Hera?" He shook his head after giving himself a few more moments to think.
I don't even know half of the stuff he's spitting out! Mary mentally moaned, watching his hands whirl through the seemingly endless amount of paper. Suddenly, he stopped, his hand landing on a page laced with unidentifiable scribbles and tints of red.
Looking back at Mary, he offered, "Athena?" She looked at him, her eyes a tad wide as she cocked her head. Brendan smiled, looking back at the book. "Then that's settled," he stated, closing the item and setting it back on his shelf. Looking back at her, he allowed his smile to grow larger as he happily patted the torchic's head.
"I think Athena fits you perfectly."