Chapter 3
"So...this is where Grandpa Gregory lived?"
"Yep."
"It looks so..."
"Like it has no spirit, right?"
White tilted her head and gave her grandfather's house another look before nodding. She was outside the ruins of her grandfather's old house with Abel the Charizard. This was the second time in her life where she's seen the house, but it had lost its majesticness since the first time she saw. She had been around ten years old when she saw it last.
"You could live here, you know," Abel told her quietly.
She nodded again and looked back at the house. It was placed in the center of Route 1, between Pallet Town and Viridian City. It wasn't difficult to find, but it was far enough from civilization. The house once looked welcoming but now it was gloomy and dark. Dead and frozen ivy sprouted around the walls and fence, and some of the windows were cracked.
When Gregory Copperfield died, he had left his will and it said that most of his possessions would go to White and N. Their mother had died from cancer before his death, so they were his only living relatives. One of the things that had been left to the siblings was his house. However N did not know this yet and White didn't have the money to keep the house, so the house had been left where it was, molding away.
"You know I would like to live here, I really would," White finally said, looking up at Abel. "Its just that I don't have the money to keep it."
Abel looked disappointed as he glanced up at the house. It must have been hard for the Charizard and the other pokemon to witness their trainer's death and be taken away from their home.
"Your grandfather was the kindest man I've ever met," Abel suddenly said, not looking away from the ruins. "I miss him very much, and that goes for your mother and grandmother as well. There hasn't been a day that's went by where I haven't wished he was still around. Somehow I think this house and everything inside it brings back all of my memories of him."
White couldn't think of anything to say so she reached out her gloved mechanical hand and grasped onto the fence. She tapped it for a few seconds before letting it go.
"I'll see what I can do about fixing it up," she finally told Abel. "I guess it should be cleared out anyway if me or my brother decide to live here."
The Charizard smiled and flapped his wings happily. The corners of White's mouth twitched slightly. She patted the pokemon's shoulder and pulled away quickly.
They didn't speak for awhile before Abel suddenly said, "Is that all you're going to say?"
"What?" asked White, slightly surprised.
"I expected you to start interrogating me about your parents or something."
"No, why?"
"Well," the Charizard coughed, shifting slightly. "I heard you've been going to police stations and searching for files about your father."
White felt her face grow hot slightly. She looked at the snowy ground and replied, "Jeremiah told you, didn't he?"
"Yeah, he did, sorry..." grunted Abel.
"Well he's telling the truth, I have been doing weekly visits to the police station. Happy?"
"Can I be honest?"
"Fine."
"I personally don't think you'll find much on your father there."
"What do you mean?" White asked curiously.
"No one has seen your father in almost seventeen years, except a possible sighting of him a year after you were born." Abel explained.
"Nobody told me that." said White quietly, looking at the Charizard in surprise.
"Hopefully I didn't just say something that will cost me my neck..."
"If you did then I'll defend you."
"Sure, you will..." Abel growled, but he sounded amused. "I'm the only one who'll give you information, so you can't let me die."
"That's not true!" White snapped furiously.
"I know, I'm just pulling your leg."
"Good."
The pokemon tapped the fence for a few seconds before turning back to face her and said, "May I ask you something?"
"Depends, so just ask." growled White.
"Why are you so interested in finding your father?"
"Because I know he's alive."
"How do you know?"
"Whenever I go visit my family's graves, my pokemon always sense something or someone watching us, and whenever I try to get close to the person they always disappear." She told him, trying her best to sound patient.
"Could be the caretaker." suggested the Charizard.
"The cemetery doesn't have a caretaker!"
"Well still, it could be a stalker."
"I know this is a stupid question but who would be stalking me?"
Abel snorted and growled, "You're a teenager who was arrested several times in your life, so I wouldn't be surprised if police have been keeping tabs on you."
"Thanks for the reassurance." White said coolly, shuddering at the thought of being tailed everywhere she went by the police.
"I'm sorry," Abel said after a moment, sounding upset. "I didn't mean-"
"I know you didn't, it's ok..." she assured him, trying to put an end to the conversation.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, something hard suddenly hit White in the pit of her back. She yelped and crumpled against the fence. Abel roared furiously and swirled around to face White's attacker.
"Well look a who decided to come and join us for a bit of fun." A male's voice sneered behind her, followed with jeering laughter.
White turned her head to see a group of about seven older teenagers standing a little ways behind her. They were older than her by a year or two. They were also just as fearsome as she was, and possibly even more so.
"What are you doing here now, Moldy?" demanded the nearest and tallest boy, tossing a snowball into the air and catching it. "I'm surprised you're still alive after what happened with you and the hole you fell into."
"Shut up!" snarled White, pushing herself off the ground and brushing the snow off her overcoat. She grasped hold of Abel's tail in hopes that he wouldn't attack the boys.
"Has Mrs. Parker realized how much of a disappointment you are?" jeered another boy, who tried throwing another snowball at her but hit the side of Gregory Copperfield's house.
White snarled and straightened up. Abel was on all fours now. He was lashing his tail threateningly as if daring the group of boys to come any closer.
"Well at least we know the truth," a third, muscular boy remarked. "We know what kind of family she's come from. I heard my parents say that her mother ran off with a madman."
"I'm not surprised after what ended up happening to the rest of the family." chimed in another. "All of them seemed to have lost their marbles toward the end."
White's heart seemed to have stopped beating for a moment. Her throat was dry and her stomach felt like it was filled with starving, vicious Venipedes. How did they know all this? She hadn't told anyone about her past and true identity except for Mrs. Parker and Pastor Jonathan, and she knew that they would never tell anyone else.
"Are you not defending yourself because you know it's true?" the first boy continued sneeringly. "Well at least you know what you're worth. Nobody would love a filthy pitiful crook like you. Dirt is worth more than you. Nobody would miss you if you were gone."
She felt both her hands turn into fists. It was taking all her energy to prevent herself from attacking each of the boys. She knew that she might lose the little respect she had gained if she beat them up, but it didn't mean much to her now.
But before White could do anything, someone had suddenly stepped between her and the group. She recognized the newcomer as Danny by his blue hair. He was carrying a violin case, and was glaring at the boy who had just insulted White.
"I want this to stop right now, Kevin." Danny hissed furiously at him. "You can harass me all you like, but don't go hurting White."
"You're not my boss!" snapped Kevin, stepping away from Danny. White noticed that the rest of the boys seemed to be wary of approaching Danny.
"I can always report this to the police." continued Danny coolly.
"You don't have any proof or the guts to do it!"
"Well it wouldn't be the first time you've been reported for terrorizing and beating up other trainers."
"Like anyone will believe that a former criminal is being pushed around by some innocent and charming guys like ourselves."
White felt her insides burn with fury as the group of boys all laughed. Danny didn't seem too happy about it either because he glared daggers at Kevin before striding over to White and grasping her upper arm.
"Let's just go," he muttered as he started pulling her away from her grandfather's house and the other boys.
"I guess we should've known better not to expect a fight from the Pokemon Prodigy's little brother." Kevin jeered after them, the other boys laughing at this.
Danny seemed to be walking a little faster now. White winced as he grip tightened on her arm.
"I'm not surprised that he stays cooped up in Pallet Town to be honest," one of the boys yelled after them. "I mean, no matter how hard anyone tries, Red has still been placed higher than the rest. I bet even his little brother wouldn't be given a second thought if he did reach that high."
Little brother? White thought, do they mean...
But she never got to her finish her thought because Danny had pushed her gently toward one of the surrounding trees and whispered, "Climb that tree, don't argue."
"Why?" White hissed angrily.
"Because everyone on the ground is about to be in mortal peril." He replied, avoiding looking at White's eyes.
She opened her mouth to retort but closed it quickly and began climbing the tree. She didn't know what he was talking about or what he was planning to do, but White learned not to underestimate people like him. Abel had also flown above the ground, and was looking down at the boys with great interest.
"So you think I can't fight just because my dear brother is the best, eh?" Danny growled viciously at the boys as he turned around slowly to face them. "Y'all never really battled me, have you? You've only heard the rumors."
Nobody spoke. The tone of Danny's voice made it clear that they had crossed the line.
White yelped as an explosion of noise burst from below her, almost making her lose her footing on the tree branch she was climbing on. She dared herself to look down below, trying to ignore how high up she was. Flashes of white and red lights blinded her as the boys below released their pokemon, and her ears rang from the cries of pokemon.
"Loopy, Rapid Spin!" Danny's voice bellowed below at his pokemon, while his challengers all yelled, "Protect!"
She then saw the pokemon that Kevin and his gang were using. The first thing she noticed was that most of the pokemon were Flying, Ghost, or Fighting Types. The pokemon were a Machamp, Haunter, Himonlee, Misdreavus, Pidgeot, Golbat, and even a Lapras. However, all White could see of Danny's pokemon was a cream and pale red blur that was spinning uncontrollably in front of the seven other pokemon.
The blur zoomed straight into the Lapras, but bounced off the bubble now protecting it. It then bounced toward a tree and swung off it, pelting over Danny's head and shooting off toward the other boys.
"CLIMB A TREE!" Kevin bellowed at his friends as the blur narrowly missed his head.
White giggled a little as almost all the boys, and even the pokemon started climbing the trees. The only pokemon who didn't move was the Lapras, which couldn't climb a tree even if its life depended on it. It was glaring at Danny, the only trainer who had not left the ground.
"YOU IDIOT, YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US WITH THAT THING!" one of the boys shouted at Danny.
Danny smirked as the blur stopped spinning right in front of him. White could finally see what pokemon was causing so much havoc.
A cream colored pokemon with red polka dots was swaying back and forth, facing the Lapras without the slightest sign of intimidation. It looked like a small panda with oddly shaped eyes. She easily recognized Danny's pokemon as a Spinda.
"Lapras, Ice Beam!" Kevin ordered the Lapras. He was now climbing back down the tree now that the Spinda had stopped spinning. Everyone else appeared to be advancing on the Spinda and its trainer.
"Dodge it and use Teeter Dance!" commanded Danny at once, noticing the upcoming danger.
The Spinda gave a small happy cry as it bounced away from the beam of ice that had just struck the ground where it had been prancing a second before. It then spun around like a ballerina and started doing a silly little dance.
All the approaching pokemon froze as they watched the panda pokemon. They all had a dazed look on their face.
"Himonlee use Double Kick!" one of the boys shouted at the Himonlee.
The Himonlee ignored him and suddenly smashed its head against a large oak tree. The other pokemon were acting just as badly. The Golbat and Pidgeot were shrieking as they flew in circles above the trees. The Machamp and Lapras were making loud cries of confusion. The Machamp was holding its head with one of its pair of arms while the Lapras shook its head vigorously, as if it was trying to shake water out of it ears. The only pokemon not affected by the move were the Haunter and Misdreavus.
White couldn't stand just sitting in the tree watching the fight. She pulled one of her pokeballs off her belt, threw it, and bellowed, "PURR!"
A red light flashed as her Liepard, Purr, materialized before the other pokemon. All the boys had stopped their shouting to watch the Liepard, who was just sitting on the snowy ground and observing her fellows.
"I didn't mean to gatecrash on your little gathering, gentlemen." Purr sneered after an awkward moment.
"That's the stupidest choice of pokemon I've ever seen!" Kevin burst out as his friends started laughing, along with the Ghost types.
Purr flattened her ears and looked up at White. "May I kill them?" She growled to her.
"No, but you can attack the Ghost types." White hissed.
The Liepard purred and crouched down. A second later Purr was scratching and biting the Haunter and Misdreavus. She was achieving what the Spinda wouldn't be able to.
"Loopy, use Dizzy Punch!" Danny yelled at his Spinda as the Himonlee and Machamp began to recover from the Teeter Dance.
The Spinda, Loopy, took action immediate action. It flung itself at the Machamp and repeatedly punched it in the chest. The Machamp howled with fury and tried pulling back. It didn't become confused again, but it seemed to have weakened it slightly.
The Ghost Types were failing to prevent Purr from attacking them, but her Dark Type moves were an advantage against their Ghost Type move.
"Destiny Bond!" the Haunter's trainer yelled desperately as Purr lunged herself at the Ghost Type.
The Haunter growled and three little white flames appeared around it. The flames circled it once and then sped off toward Purr. The Liepard didn't notice the flames until they circled her. She yowled and tried breaking free, but the circle wouldn't break.
"Stop attacking them, Purr!" White ordered her panicking pokemon.
Purr obeyed and stopped fighting. Her sleek purple coat was one ruffled and ragged. She was breathing heavily, but her guard was still up.
"Pidgeot, use Brave Bird on the Spinda!"
"Golbat, use Acrobatics on the Spinda as well!"
The Flying Types suddenly swooped down from the sky at their trainers' orders and charged at the panda pokemon.
"Dodge it!" Danny shouted at Loopy, but there was no need.
"Abel, Heat Wave on Golbat and Pidgeot!" White commanded the Charizard, who was circling high in the sky to avoid the battle.
Abel roared impressively and dove down toward the Pidgeot and Golbat. He roared again, but this time he exhaled a wind of fire. But the Flying Types were already attacking Loopy. The Spinda was trying to stumble away from the attacks, but it was not fast enough. It wailed in fright and White heard Danny yell the Spinda's name.
Then the Heat Wave caught up to the Pidgeot and Golbat. They made cries of discomfort as they were blasted by the heat. The heat seemed to overwhelm them, because they fell to the ground a second later, both pokemon defeated.
It was now five pokemon against three.
White turned her attention to the other pokemon now. Purr was trying to beat back the Misdreavus and Haunter. Danny was trying to encourage his wary Spinda as it started battling Kevin's Lapras. Abel had landed on the ground and was now circled by the Machamp and Himonlee.
"Machamp, Revenge!" yelled the Machamp's trainer, while the trainer of the Himonlee shouted, "Thunder Punch!"
"Abel, Wing Attack!" screamed White. Abel had his wings tucked against his sides, paying no attention to the charging Fighting Types.
She thought Abel didn't hear him, but his wings snapped open and hit the Machamp and Himonlee in the chest the second they came within a foot of him. The Charizard's strength and the move's type advantage against Fighting Types made both pokemon fall over unconscious.
"Lapras, use Perish Song!" White heard Kevin bellow.
She knew they were in trouble the moment she heard the Lapras' screechy song. All the remaining pokemon howled in pain as they tried to block out the high pitched noise. Abel had retreated back into the sky before the Lapras had even begun singing, but Purr, Loopy, and the Ghost Types couldn't avoid the attack as easily.
How am I going to avoid this?! White thought desperately. Abel will be fine, but Purr can't avoid the noise! My only choice is returning her to her pokeball, but Danny's pokemon won't be able to attack the Ghost Types with any of its moves!
"Purr, Dark Pulse on Haunter and Misdreavus!" She finally shouted to the Liepard.
She saw Purr nod and leap between the Haunter and Misdreavus. Both pokemon were still cringing and wailing from the Lapras' mournful and dangerous song. A dark purple and black ring pulsed at Purr's feet. More dark rings were appearing, they were appearing above the ground. The Misdreavus made a small moan as it collided with the Dark Pulse, but it didn't faint. The Haunter avoided the attack by dissolving into thin air and appearing feet away from the farthest pulse.
"Hang in there and try and use Rapid Spin again!" Danny encouraged Loopy.
The Spinda nodded weakly and began spinning around and around. In a few seconds it became the cream and pale red blur again. It then shot off, bounced off a tree and nearly missed Kevin's head. Everybody yelled and ducked as it bounced off the trees. White yelped and pulled her legs up as the blur launched off the branch she was sitting on. It then spun toward the Lapras and hit its chest. The Lapras choked and spluttered. It had still been singing before it got hit. The Misdreavus and Haunter were the only pokemon undamaged by Loopy.
"Haunter, use Curse!" the Haunter's trainer bellowed over the noise, while the Misdreavus' trainer yelled, "Dazzling Gleam!"
To White's amazement, both attacks were aimed at Purr. The Liepard yowled and doubled over in pain as Haunter's Curse effected her. The Misdreavus vanished in thin air and reappeared behind the pained Purr. The air around the Misdreavus flashed a blinding pink and surrounded White's pokemon.
"Dark Pulse, again!" White yelled desperately to the Liepard, though she was unable to see her. However she did see black and purple pulses escape through the pink light.
When the light faded, not only was Purr defeated but the Misdreavus and Haunter were defeated also. The Haunter had hurt itself during the curse and the Dark Pulse, and the Misdreavus was probably defeated by the Dark Pulse.
Now it was just Loopy and the Lapras. The blur was now circling the Lapras as the blue dinosaur-like pokemon tried to keep it in its sight.
"Ice Beam!" Kevin ordered his Lapras.
"Wild Charge!" shouted Danny.
Lightning and a stream of ice surrounded the area. The blur had disappeared and was replaced by the panda pokemon, which had been surrounded by electricity as it charged at the Lapras. The Lapras however tried stopping the charging Spinda by shooting a beam of ice at it. But the electricity seemed to be preventing the ice from coming any closer.
Then Loopy finally got through the ice and tackled the Lapras. The Lapras screeched and pulled away from the attack. The Spinda stumbled away from its opponent, panting heavily. Then both pokemon had collapsed, both unconscious. The Perish Song had done its job.
White had only begun to climb down the tree as the group of boys had begun to return their pokemon and run away. The only one bothering to stay behind was Kevin. She was slightly surprised to see that he was grinning.
"Those rumors now seem a little exaggerated, don't you think?" He sneered as Danny, who had bent down next to Loopy and picked her up. "That Spinda is a poor excuse for a pokemon. Your brother's Pikachu could probably beat it through the ground with its paws tied behind its back."
"Shut up!" White heard Danny hiss through clenched teeth.
Kevin laughed. "No wonder nobody knows you exist! Red must be ashamed having such a terrible trainer for a brother!"
"I'm not that terrible!" Danny snapped.
"Says you, but compared to the famous Red, you are terrible."
White watched as Kevin smirked and strolled out of the clearing, leaving a sticky silence behind him. She finally slid down the tree trunk and knelt next to Purr. She set the Liepard's head in her lap and pulled out Purr's pokeball.
"You did well, Purr," White whispered, returning Purr to her pokeball.
She then straightened up and looked over at Danny. He was cradling Loopy and stroking its fur. He didn't look up until White approached him.
"Your brother is Red?" She asked him quietly.
Danny blinked and nodded stiffly. He grabbed the violin case he had set down during the fight and stood up. White now remembered who Danny's eyes reminded her of. They were the same piercing red eyes as his brother's.
"I'm sorry you got dragged into this." he muttered, avoiding looking into White's eyes.
"I'm use to this stuff." White reassured him as Abel finally flee down out of the sky, the only pokemon not effected by the Perish Song. "Why didn't you tell me Red was your brother?"
"I don't like talking about him much," growled Danny. His voice suddenly became harsh and cold.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"It's ok, it's not your fault I'm related to him..."
White stopped speaking. Abel was looking from White to Danny, apparently wondering whether he should've come down or not. Danny was placing Loopy in the hood of his jacket. It still hadn't woken up.
"Do you mind if I walk you home?" Danny suddenly asked, looking back at her.
"I...I don't mind," White stuttered, surprised and slightly taken aback. "But isn't Pallet Town in the opposite direction?"
"I don't really want to head home yet," he replied. "Kevin and his gang went that way, I wouldn't be surprised if they're waiting to jump me. Home isn't any better to be honest."
"Quite understandable," sighed White, glancing back at the ruins of her grandfather's house before starting to walk back toward the snow covered path. Danny waited a second before following her. The Charizard flapped its wings and flew a ways ahead of them.
"Where did you get your Spinda?" White asked conversationally, watching the unconscious Spinda. "They're not native to Kanto, are they?"
"No," Danny answered her, turning his head a little to look at Loopy. "I got her from my uncle when he came back from a trip to Hoenn. She was just an egg when I got her, but she hatched a few weeks later. I've had her ever since my brother started his journey..."
He trailed off and fell silent. White began to feel that Danny had some problems with his brother.
"Do you know how they knew so much about me?" She then asked, changing the subject as quickly as she could. By they, she meant Kevin and his group of friends. She was startled that they had figured out so much about her.
Danny frowned. "You won't like it." he said warningly.
"I've heard worse."
"Promise you won't get, well, angry?"
"Nope."
"Fair enough, then. You remember the younger children at church, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, the parents are worried about having you in the church because of your past mistakes, and I know a few of them actually tried making my uncle kick you out of the church..."
"Wait, what?!" White snapped, fury rising up in her chest.
"Believe me, White, he would never do that!" Danny continued hurriedly. "But some of the parents think you're pretending to have changed but are really lying! So some of the parents have been trying to figure out as much about you as possible, for instance, some have actually started searching for information about your background. News spreads fast in Pallet Town, so I guess Kevin heard some of your background from his parents."
White began twisting her hand around her gloved mechanical arm. She was beginning to appreciate Amos' annoying snooping after hearing this. At least Amos didn't spread her secrets around, and asked Sky Blue or Mira if the information he received was fake or not.
"You don't believe I'm lying, do you?" She asked Danny after a moment.
"No, I don't," he answered, a little more calmly this time. "But those parents have been influencing others not to go near you, and my mother is one of the women influenced by them."
White saw a scowl cross Danny's lips as he said this. She then remembered what Margaret had said on Sunday about his family giving him a hard time. She began to wonder if she had also been a topic that caused the rift between Danny and his family.
"Um, I know you'll probably won't like me asking this," she started tentatively. "But what is your relationship like between you and your brother?"
She was thankful that Danny didn't start yelling. He kicked the snow and muttered, "Do you mind if I rant a bit?"
"No." White replied.
"Good, because my relationship with my brother right now is terrible!" He snarled furiously, his pace becoming faster. "Everyday I have to listen to people talk about Red, I have to hear them praise Red for his battling skills and how he stopped Team Rocket! At school the teachers' expect me to be exactly like Red, and other kids taunt me by insulting my own battling skills and compare them to my brother's! Everybody else talks about Red all the time! Red this, Red that, I'M JUST SICK OF BEING RELATED TO RED!"
Danny had bellowed the last few words, and a few Pidgeys had flown out of the trees out of fear of the noise. White didn't flinch however. She was watching him carefully.
She was seeing her past self in Danny. She was reminded of how her jealousy and hatred toward her older brother drove her to hunt him down for revenge. N may have had a better childhood than White, but now she was currently better off than he was.
"Do...do you get to see your brother regularly?" White then asked Danny.
"No, and that's another reason why I'm so ticked off at him!" Danny huffed. "He only visits once or twice a year ever since he became a champion! On the few occasions he does come home, he only stays for at least three days and leaves again! He never calls or anything, and we're always left in the dark! He's also one reason why I was never allowed to go on a journey till now! When my mom heard that Red went after Team Rocket, she kept me from going on a journey because she was scared I was going to copy him and go after criminals! But she held on too long and now she expects me to go on a journey in a boring region like this! So if I have to start my journey in Kanto, I'd rather not go at all!"
He was still fuming as White said, "Did Red teach you about battling?"
"What if I told you," Danny started, cooling down a little. "That Red never taught or talked to me about pokemon, and that I learned how to battle from Margaret?"
"Margaret?" She repeated, surprised at this piece of information.
"Yeah, I've been giving her piano lessons in exchange for battling lessons." He explained, completely unabashed. "I don't know how she knows so much about battling since she barely does it herself, but some of her friends are trainers so she probably learned from them."
"Is she any good? I mean, she doesn't seem like much of a trainer."
"She's actually quite good, to tell you the truth. Even for a trainer with only a Sewaddle."
White nodded absent mindedly. She was still a little curious on how good Margaret was at battling. Margaret seemed a little too bashful for a trainer.
"Why hasn't she gone on a journey yet?" White finally asked Danny after a minute.
"Margaret?" said Danny, frowning a little. "Well her great grandmother has been holding her back. She lives with her grandmother and great grandmother, and her little brother is still too young to take care of both grandmothers, so I think Margaret stayed behind to take care of them. But I do think there is another reason why she hasn't left though."
"How long have you known her?"
"Don't know exactly, I think I was six or seven when I met her."
"Do you like her?"
"I- what?!"
He stopped walking and turned to glare at White. She smirked as she noticed how red his face was.
"So do you like her?" She demanded again, smiling slyly.
"W-Well, maybe..." he stuttered, brushing his blue hair out of his eyes. "A l-little..."
"Do you love her?"
"N-No offense, but I don't want to talk about this right now..."
"Ok, fine, sorry..."
"It's alright."
White couldn't help smirk at Danny, who had started walking again. She could still see him blushing.
"So you said you give Margaret piano lessons?" She asked, changing the subject quickly.
"Yeah, she wanted to play an instrument, and I thought the piano would be the easiest."
"Do you play other instruments?" White continued, gesturing to the violin case he was carrying.
"Yes, I can actually play quite a few instruments. I mainly play stringed instruments though, like the viola and cello, but I prefer the violin."
"How long have you been playing the violin?"
"Since I was nine. My uncle taught me how to play it at first, but then I began to teach myself how to play because he got busy. I want to be a musician, but nobody seems to accept that," he finished bitterly.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm made fun of at school and in the neighborhood for playing the violin during my free time instead of battling and training like others."
"I see nothing wrong with playing an instrument," White told him. "I play the guitar, and everyone thinks I'm a lying criminal."
"I guess you're right," said Danny.
The lights of Viridian City were now glowing against the darkening sky. It had begun to snow lightly, and was obscuring White's vision. Abel was waiting for them at the end of the Route 1 path.
"Where is Mrs. Parker's house, again?" Danny asked her as they reached the edge of the city.
"It's just down a little ways a way," She replied, pointing through the snow to her left.
She then heard a yelp and a small voice squeaked, "Daddy!"
"Loopy woke up?" said White with a snort.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Danny answered, his voice muffled.
"Lucky guess."
White smirked as she saw Danny pulling the Spinda out of his hood and holding her in his arms. Loopy stretched out her paws and began catching snowflakes. She heard Abel huff irritability next to her.
"Jealous?" She whispered to the Charizard.
"No, but I'm cold and sick of snow." He growled, swinging his tail back and forth.
"Then let's move on," she told him as she began walking down the road that led near Mrs. Parker's house. She was eager to get out of the cold herself. Abel stayed close by her side while she heard Danny scolding his pokemon as he followed her.
She could see the lights of Mrs. Parker's house burning ahead of them. She didn't know how long she had been gone, but hopefully Mrs. Parker didn't panic again and start a search for her.
"White?" Danny called behind her as they approached Mrs. Parker's berry garden. His voice sounded urgent and a little frightened.
"What is it?" White called back, stopping in her tracks to let him catch up.
"Do you hear that?"
"What?"
"It sounds like someone's crying in that garden." Danny explained, standing next to White and pointing at Mrs. Parker's garden.
White frowned and tried to listen through the wind. After a few moments, she began to hear an odd crying noise. It didn't sound like a pokemon, but it sounded human.
"Let's go take a look," White told him in a whisper, leading him over to the garden fence and pushing open the gate. Danny seemed to hesitate before following her. She saw Abel glance longingly at the house before jumping over the fence.
The crying was indeed coming from the garden, but it seemed to be coming from the very back of the garden. White looked around at the ground, using Abel's flickering tail for light.
"White, something's coming!" Danny hissed desperately, his voice cracking.
"What are you-" White started, but she then heard the rustling coming from her right. Something or someone was coming toward them from the direction of Mrs. Parker's house.
"Stay still!" She ordered Danny in a whisper. He obeyed, and White could hear the crying ahead of them and the rustling from their right.
Everything happened in a split second. A howl came from the direction of the rustling as something appeared next to them, and a flash of lightning illuminated a tall, fox-like figure on its hind legs. Danny yelled in shock and fell backwards, Loopy squealing and crawling back into his hood. White screamed and lost her footing, falling against a tree. Abel roared in shock and flapped his wings, but a second later he shouted, "Samuel!"
White looked back up at the pokemon and finally registered the figure. Samuel the Delphox was rubbing his head and muzzle with his thin paws. Raichu was hopping up and down, holding her tail and yelping loudly. It appeared that Samuel had stepped on Raichu's tail, making her panic and release her electricity.
"Watch where you're swinging that flaming tail of yours, boy! You almost broke my snout!" the Delphox snarled at Abel, white smoke fuming out of Samuel's nose as he huffed furiously.
"What are you doing out here?!" White snapped at Samuel and Raichu in a whisper as she stood up.
"We heard someone crying their eyes out out here, so the old woman sent us out here to investigate!" replied Raichu angrily, rubbing her sore tail. She saw Samuel scowl and glare at Raichu. Samuel was a polite and loyal pokemon, and was the first pokemon to accept Mrs. Parker as his new trainer.
"Well that's what we're doing, so we might as well check it out together!" She told the Delphox and Raichu. "Let's go see what the noise is! Danny, are you still with me?"
She looked around and saw Danny with his hands over his face.
"Danny, are you-"
"Just give me a second," she heard him mumble. "Every time I close my eyes I see a giant deadly fox with large teeth."
White sighed and grabbed his arm, dragging him toward the crying noise. Samuel, Abel, and Raichu began bickering among themselves as they followed the two trainers. The crying noise was getting steadily louder as they moved toward the other side of the berry garden. The crying sounded like it belonged to a toddler, possibly a girl.
They soon reached the back of the snow covered berry garden. The crying was coming from beneath an Occa Berry tree in front of them.
Danny had crouched down next to the tree and White knelt down next to him.
"Someone's defiantly under there." He whispered to her.
"Seems so," White replied, turning around to look at Samuel. "Can I borrow that flaming stick you keep in your tail?" She asked him.
Samuel blinked and nodded. He dug his paw in his fur and pulled out a lit torch. It looked a bit like a wand or staff. White took it and held it close to the tree, trying not to set it on fire.
They could now see what was behind the crying noises. A small girl around five or six years old was curled up under the tree, her dirty, flaming reddish orange hair shining from the torch light.
~~~
I updated, yay! :D Now I can go back to playing my DS for three or four days! X3
Introducing main character number three! We'll learn more about her in the next chapter.
Ok, this was updated later than I had hoped. I was planning on updating yesterday, but I couldn't get it done in time ;-; But today my inbox isn't working, so I just decided to wrap up and edit this chapter. I'm sorry it takes a month for me to update this book ;_;
So, so far Danny has been the hardest character to come up with. When I was first planning this sequel, he almost became one of the few OC characters without a canon sibling/relative. His first pokemon was hard to figure out too, so please don't make fun of him having a Spinda, I'm kinda nervous about that. Just to clear this up before I receive hate or anything, I don't hate Red, but he isn't one of my favorites. I hope Danny will become an interesting character in the future.
Next thing: I wanted to tell you all that until further notice, I will not be entering in the Pokemon Watty Awards 2015 like I did last year with Spite Without Shame. Some of you may not know this, but SWS didn't receive an awad last year. I thought about re-entering this year, but even if I could, I wouldn't. The rules on violence seemed to have tightened a bit, and I'm a bit nervous on the violence in some parts of the stories. (I'm mainly worried about Sky Blue's flashback about when he loses his eye, and Archy's flashback about the forest fire) Otherwise, SWS2 probably won't be done by the deadline, so that's another reason why I'm not re-entering. I'm actually relieved that there is no deadline. No deadline means more free time XD
vvv PLEASE READ vvv
So since my Wattpad app updated, I've noticed that lots of the videos I've added to the chapters can not be viewed, which I didn't notice before. So right now, there is only one type of videos I can put on: Nightcore or Lightcore videos.
For those of you who don't know what nightcore is, Nightcore is a regular song that's just made the singer's voice higher and the music going faster. It's lower than the chipmunk version, but higher than the regular singing. Personally, I love nightcore/lightcore, but I don't know if you guys like it. So I'm sorry if you don't like nightcore videos, they're currently the only videos I can put on ;-;
^^^
Last thing: I'm editing/remaking the cover of this book, so just a heads up. Also, if anyone knows a good place where I could make book covers, could you please tell me? I use Pic Collage, and it isn't the best cover making app in the world :/
Alright... I know later on I'm going to be like, "UGH, I FORGOT TO ADD THAT IN MY AUTHOR'S NOTE," but I can't think of anything else XD I'll try to update quickly, but I never get this much free time.
The nightcore video I added to the chapter (which I hope it works) is called "Odd One Out" by Guvna B ft. Victizzle (I hope I got the artist right -_-) and this kinda reminded me about Danny's problem about him being different from others. If you have problems fitting in, I recommend this song. The video isn't mine, it belongs to its rightful owner.
So good bye and see you later! :3 Sorry for the long author note!