-Chapter 1-
Fall was in mid-swing, winds sailed across the Violet City area of the Johto region. It was lunch time, and kids were outside in the playground of Violet City’s elementary school eating their food from brown paper sacks and bright plastic containers.
A girl was sitting off to the side a bit, but not completely by herself. She looked down at her food; her blonde pig-tails flowed down on either side of her lunchbox, tips touching the hard plastic of the table. She poked at her thin sandwich, which was little more than a folded slice of bread with cheese in the middle. She had made it herself that morning, as she did every morning.
“So, Fida.” The girl looked up at the sound of her name. Another girl was looking at her and was extending her arm. She had a card in her hand. “You’re coming to my birthday party, right?”
Fida looked timidly at the card and took it. She opened it and read it; her tiny mouth formed an infinitesimal smile. “S-sure I will.” Fida said, nodding her head up and down slowly, her pigtails bobbed and swayed. She tenderly put the card into her old lunchbox.
“Yay!” the girl’s gleeful response escaped her smiling mouth. “Just make sure you get me something neat, like a ponyta!” the girls broke down into giggles. Fida tried to laugh too, but a thought interrupted her. She knew that the ponyta thing was a joke, but what would she get her? Perhaps something nice, like a drawing. She could draw pretty well. Or maybe give her one of her own belongings… but she didn’t have anything worth giving. She wouldn’t be able to purchase something that was for sure, but she was grateful for the invitation.
The bell rang and the kids hurried inside, eager for the next two classes to end quickly so they could go home. Fida kept her thoughts on this up-coming party. Why had she been invited anyway? It wasn’t like she was particularly close with the other girls. She always felt out of place, like she didn’t belong. But perhaps this invitation meant otherwise.
Finally the last bell wrung and students piled up as they gushed through the doorways. Fida walked slowly, and was one of the last out of the building; she certainly had no hurry to get home, and took as much time as possible without getting in trouble for being home late. She wore old, light purple, almost pink sneakers, they were faded, and many scruff marks covered the top of the shoes. Her dark blue jeans were also faded, enough so that they seemed the standard blue color for jeans. Her t-shirt was not so old; it was violet, with black flower petal print. She walked with her head looking down at her feet as she walked.
She quietly opened the door to her house and closed it silently. She tiptoed down the hall on her left and to her room that was at the end. It was the smallest room of the three bedroom house. The other room was for a “study/office,” but it was mostly used by one of her parents when they were in the middle of a big argument.
Fida placed her old and scruffy bag onto her bed and finished her homework for the day. Then she sat at her little desk and drew a picture. She always loved to make pictures, and she had been told on a few occasions that she was good at making them, not by her parents, who couldn’t care less, but her art teacher whom she saw twice a week. She was definitely better than most though for her age. She kept these crayon drawings on her walls where they could stare happily down at her, all her hopes, dreams, and fantasies resided in their colors.
Her drawing was for someone else this time. By the time she had finished she had made a nice looking birthday card. It displayed a large yellow present with purple ribbons with ‘Happy Birthday Cathy!’ in bold lettering. She would figure out what the actual present would be later. She walked over to her lunch box and took out the invite and read it to herself once more, however, a loud scream interrupted her.
“DINNER!” came the crude voice of a middle-aged woman. Fida quickly put the card into her pocket and scurried down the hall into the entryway. She took a left and wound up in the living room which she walked through and into the dining room.
She quickly and quietly sat down and began to scoop up some of the pasta she was given. Her mother sat across from her, scribbling furiously on papers. Fida knew what the papers were, or at least, she knew what her 8 year old mind allowed her to comprehend about them. They were from a counselor; her and her parents were apparently in need of therapy. They were legal documents that needed signing, she knew nothing beyond that.
Fida quietly cut up her pasta with her fork and continued eating, slowly her thoughts drifted back to the invitation. She would need her parent’s permission to go, but she feared the answer would most definitely be a ‘no.’ Still… it never hurt to ask, and Cathy seemed genuinely happy that Fida was going, she would hate to let her down. The girl looked at her mother as she chose her words. Her mother was a bit plump, with long, light brown hair. She had sharp brown eyes and her cheeks were stuffed with the bread she was eating.
“M-mommy?” she asked timidly, she twiddled her thumbs as her hands rested in her lap.
The women kept writing until she had finished signing that piece of paper, she put it off to the side. She took another bite of the chunk of bread and slowly turned her head to her daughter. “What?” she asked rather flatly.
“W-well, I got this at school toda”-
“What? Shy little Fida got in trouble?” she said in half sarcasm, half contempt.
“N-no… It’s from a girl in my class.” She handed the card to her mother; it was snatched from her tiny hand. “It’s an invitation to her birthday party…” her mother opened it and read it, taking another bite from the bread. Fida waited eagerly for her answer, though she dreaded that it might be-
“No.” her mother said as she careless tossed the card back, the card slid across the table and hit Fida’s plate. “We have an idiotic meeting to go to that day.” She paused and then added, “Too bad.” and gave a tiny smile.
“Oh-oh.” Fida said looking sad. “Its, just… I promised her…”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Her mother responded sharply as she returned to her signing. “We have to go to that meeting at four that afternoon.”
Fida looked at the card and grabbed it from were it rest by her plate and re-read it. “But the party starts at two-”
“I SAID NO!” her mother screamed, glaring at her daughter. “Go to your room.”
Fida obeyed, taking the card and pushing her chair in she walked slowly back to her room, defeated again.
That night Fida lay awake in her bed. It seemed to squeak every time she breathed. She was teary, she really wanted to go to this girl’s party, if she didn’t, she would feel like she had lied to Cathy, and let her down. She didn’t want to let anybody down. Maybe she could calmly tell her tomorrow that something more important came up? She could try, but it’d sound too much like an excuse. Why couldn’t she go?
Fida didn’t like her parents too much, they were always more hurtful than good, in fact the last good thing to happen to her would be when they replaced her old set of crayons a few weeks before. Fida wished her parents could be more like her classmate’s parents; they all seemed so wonderful… But her parents… they were mean a lot, and they always fought with each other and her. Sometimes they would also… well; she didn’t like to think about that. She rubbed her arms. It was a bit late, but she wanted to get out. She slipped out of bed and got back into her clothes from earlier, along with a jacket.
Fida opened her window climbed out into the brisk night. Her parents were both busy with something, mother with her papers and father with the TV. They wouldn’t notice if she was absent for a while, plus she had put pillows and things under her blankets to make it appear that she was there sleeping; they wouldn’t bother to investigate beyond that.
She walked down the street and out behind her row of houses, where the land had yet to be shaped by people. There was a forest there and Sprout Tower loomed in the distance. She had been in the forest before, and she wasn’t afraid like most people would be. It was nice during the day and no different during the night, very silent and isolated, it made her feel safe.
She wandered past the numerous trees and dense underbrush. Occasionally a sleeping pokémon would be startled and scamper off into the night. Fida enjoyed Pokémon, she always dreamed of having one. She sometimes even dreamt of being a trainer, there was a picture of her as a trainer on her wall. She would usually just bring herself down however, telling herself she’d never be any good at it. But even if she was no good as trainer at least she would be… free. Trainers all seemed to be free from everything, just fine with wandering the country with companions and battling for fame. ‘But what makes you deserving of such a lifestyle’ she’d tell herself. She was always arguing with herself. Well, she was free now, for the moment, and she enjoyed it.
Fida was playing with one of her blonde pony-tails when she heard a noise, or, a commotion rather. Strange, she’d never heard anything like that happening here. Curious, she made her way towards the noise, taking quiet, cautious steps. She soon reached a clearing, and what she saw causes to gasp loudly. It was three gastly, and they were harassing something that was cowered on the ground. Her sudden gasp spooked the gastly, ironically; they all looked up and scanned around briefly before vanishing into the trees. Fida bit her lip, making sure they were gone and examined a tiny blue thing on the ground. She approached it slowly. She could hear tiny whimpers as she got closer.
Half of her told her she should go home and leave the thing be. It could be dangerous. Her other half told her that she’d never forgive herself if she went home and let this thing lie there without an ounce of help. She stood awkwardly and confused, she brought her right hand to her mouth and bit her finger in thought.
Finally the girl kneeled down to examine the creature in full. It was a pokémon, and she also knew it was another ghost-type. She recoiled at the realization. One of her teachers, Mr. Klubbin, who taught basic Pokémonolgy, said that ghost-Pokémon could be dangerous, more so than other Pokémon, and were really for advanced trainers.
Fida gasped as the creature stirred. It looked up at her with big red eyes, it was in tears, and its eyes drooped sadly. The Pokémon looked feminine, it had ghostly hair that flowed out behind its head and a small body that didn’t look very different from a dress, around its neck was a necklace of red gems. Fida recognized the ghost-type as a misdreavus, a species which she had studied in class briefly.
Without her realizing she stuck out her arm and attempted to comfort the misdreavus with a pet, but she was shocked to see her hand go through the Pokémon and at the biting cold that ate at her hand before she quickly drew it back. Both the misdreavus and Fida flinched. The girl’s grey eyes stared in amazement at the creature. It cried out weakly. Fida stuck out her arm again and was surprised to find that misdreavus was now more solid and not as freezing cold to the touch.
“I-its ok.” She found herself saying. “You’ll be alright.” Misdreavus stared deeply into Fida’s eyes and then closed them. The girl looked around and saw that there was no one in the area, human or pokémon. She scooped the ghost-type into her arms and stood. She turned in order to head home and screamed. The three gastly from before were staring at her, all three of which had a sadistic malice in their eyes. Fida stepped back and held Misdreavus away from them. “G-go away!” she tried to sound forceful, but the dual ghost/poison-types drew nearer. Fida did the only thing she knew to do at that time and veered off to the side and into the woods.
She could hear her pursuer’s ghoulish cries from behind her as she ran. She feared for her life and held Misdreavus tightly. The trees rolled by her, but they seemed to last forever, she tripped once, but got up quickly. Finally she burst from the forest and into a clearing; she could see houses before her. “If you ever find yourself being chased by ghost-Pokémon like gastly or haunter, head for the nearest source of light.” She recalled the words of her teacher and immediately sought out a street light. She spotted one not far from her. She rushed towards its safety and only stopped once she reached it. She caught her breathe and inhaled deeply.
She looked back and saw three pairs of terrifying eyes staring murderously at her from the darkness, and then they faded. Fida fell to her knees and sighed in relief, she found herself hugging the unconscious misdreavus in her arms. She realized she couldn’t leave her out here alone, not now. She must take Misdreavus home…
She stood up and looked around, checking for any eyes, and then made a dash for her house. She opened her bedroom window and clumsily climbed inside, though she managed not to make a sound. She cleared her things from under her sheets and placed the misdreavus on her bed. Then she stared at her. She really had no idea what to do now. She discreetly went to the restroom to get a wet towel; she placed the warm cloth on the ghost’s head. She didn’t know what it would do, but doing that always seemed to help with anything. She wrapped the misdreavus in her own blankets and placed her at the head of her bed.
Fida settled back into her nightclothes and made sure her room was in order and non-suspicious before she climbed into bed.
She found herself staring at Misdreavus for at least half an hour, her head whirring with thoughts. She had to accept that this creature was really next to her right now because she found her in the forest while she was being attacked by gastly, and those same gastly went after her too. She didn’t think she’d be going back into the forest for a while now; the images of the eyes were forever burned into her mind. She had done a good thing though, saving this pokémon, and she fell asleep with a tiny smile on her face.
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“WAKE UP!” Fida sat upright in her bed. “Stupid girl, did you forget to set your alarm?” her mother stormed out of the room. Fida flinched and looked over that the clock. 8:30am it read. School started in thirty minutes; she would surely be late if she didn’t hurry. She quickly dressed herself and brushed her hair, tying it into her usual pony-tails. She took two slices of bread; she toasted one and used the other for her sandwich, she didn’t have the time to make anything else. She grabbed her school things and put them into her bag and looked over at her bed, which was not made well. She noticed that the bundle she placed there last night was now flat. Fida frowned and then walked down the hall and outside, eating her toast as she walked. She looked at her watch. 8:50am; not enough time. She quickened her pace so she wouldn’t be terribly late.
As she walked along the sidewalk she felt some sort of presence behind her, a sudden coolness. She turned around and saw the misdreavus from last night following her. Her heart jumped, she feared the ghost-type had left forever. The misdreavus floated a bit wobbly, but her condition had improved dramatically from last night. Fida would never again doubt the power of a wet cloth. Fida stopped walking.
“H-hi there…” she smiled. The misdreavus chirped (if that’s the right word) and smiled up at Fida with her large red eyes. “Y-you wanna follow me for a bit?” Fida asked. “I-its ok if you do!” she said a bit excitedly. The misdreavus continued looking at Fida. “W-well, o-ok then…” she thought for a moment.
“I’m going to school, so you’ll have to stay hidden if you do…. C-can you do that?” Misdreavus nodded once and briefly vanished completely, Fida gasped. “W-well, that works.” She smiled again. She gazed at her watch; 8:55am. “O-oh, but we have to hurry, or I’ll be really late…”
Misdreavus floated high above the girl and over the houses and noticed the school way off, she recognized it even though she had never seen it before, like she had pulled the image from Fida’s mind.
There was a way to get there quicker. Misdreavus descended and without first asking Fida enveloped her in a ghostly purple energy. Fida gave out a yelp as she saw her feet come off her ground and screamed as her legs disappeared. She was about to ask misdreavus what on earth she was doing, but there wasn’t any time. Misdreavus rushed head long into the nearest house, becoming invisible as well before passing through the wall. Fida was pulled in along with her, as if pulled by an invisible leash, she recoiled as she was about to hit the wall, bracing herself for the inevitable impact, but found that after a few seconds she had passed through it, and was well near the opposite wall of the house.
The duo rushed through houses and houses. Fida felt a rush as she watched families go about their everyday business, almost in awe that this was even happening. In only a couple of minutes the detour was over and Fida found herself only yards away from the school property. That had to have been the most exciting thing she had ever done. “M-misdreavus…” she said after a long moment. “T-that was… amazing!” then she thought some more. “…though… It would’ve been alright if we d-didn’t go through that shower.” Misdreavus blushed and then giggled, orbiting around Fida’s head. The girl started to laugh along with the pokemon.
She looked at her watch and saw that it was one minute until the bell rang. “T-thanks!” she cried as she started sprinting towards the doors of the school, no tardy for her today.
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The rest of the day passed by normally, though for the majority of the time Fida sensed the odd coolness around her, and the students did too. They complained that it was too cold and begged the teacher to turn on the heater. “But its 80 degrees outside!” the instructor responded. Fida giggled to herself each time.
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For the rest of the week Fida spent all the time possible with the misdreavus in her room. Fida ended up telling the Pokémon everything on her mind, and she was happy because misdreavus seemed to understand, or at least sympathize. She would often wonder how two completely different species could commune like this. “The world is full of mysteries, especially when it comes to Pokémon.” Mr. Klubbin always said. They both seemed to enjoy this time together, but soon enough, someone became suspicious of her daughter’s activities.
“Girl, who are you talking with in there?” Dixie, Fida’s mother, demanded one afternoon. “I’ve told you before, I don’t want any kids from school at the house!” she yelled. Fida’s mother forced the bedroom door open and looked around with her large eyes. “Well.” She walked in. “Where are they?”
“W-where’s who?” Fida asked very quickly, she bit her finger as she stood against a wall.
“Don’t play dumb with me, girl!” her mother fumed. “Where are they!?”
“T-there’s no one here!” Fida urged.
“LIAR!” she screeched and slapped Fida across the face. Fida fell to her knees and held her cheek, tears forming in her eyes; it stung pretty badly. She watched as her mother tore up the whole room looking for this make-believe person. Once she was sure there was no one she glared at Fida, too prideful to admit her somewhat-false assumption. She stormed out of the room; Fida recoiled at the sound of the slamming door.
She was quiet for a moment then very quietly said, “S-see? I told you she was mean…” Misdreavus’ head emerged from the wall right beside Fida and whined and nuzzled Fida on the cheek. The ghost-type came to rest in the girl’s lap and surrounded the girl in a sphere of energy, the only thing she could do at the time.
The pattern continued into the next week, though the duo was more careful and quiet with their discussions, at times Fida’s mother rushed in hoping to catch her daughter by surprised somehow, but misdreavus was always quick and vanished from view. Though, misdreavus still witnessed abusive acts, both physically and verbally on a daily basis. The two had decided that misdreavus would have a name; Elvia, after a character in a book Fida enjoyed. It was Friday, the day before Cathy’s party, when Fida stayed a bit after class to ask Mr. Klubbin a few questions.
“M-Mr. Klubbin?” Fida asked as she stood in front of her teacher’s desk after all the students had left. He looked up from the papers he was grading. He was probably in his late 30’s and had brown hair, and kind brown eyes.
“Yes, Fida?” he looked kindly at her.
“W-well, I have some questions about some… stuff…” she swayed from side to side and twiddled her thumbs behind her back.
He chuckled. “Well, ok. What’s up?”
Fida thought out her words for a moment. “W-what do you know about misdreavus?”
Mr. Klubbin at once had a good idea what this was about. “Well, I know a bit about them.” He played along. Fida stared up at him expectantly. “Like, for instance, they’re ghost-type Pokémon, but I’m sure you already know that and a bit more, you’re an awfully bright student.” He smiled. “Misdreavus are usually very, well, mischievous. They like to play tricks on people and pokémon.” He paused briefly. “They don’t generally like to be out in the daytime, but they, like all ghost-pokémon, can get used to it… You want more?”
“N-no, thanks…” Fida said. She knew beating around the bush wouldn’t help her. “Uh, Elvia?” she said. Elvia appeared in the air above Fida’s head and fixed her eyes on Fida’s teacher.
“Oh! And what have we here?” Mr. Klubbin inquired half-surprised. He knew that Fida probably had a misdreavus, but not there in his room. He got up, letting his Pokémologist-self get the better of him. He examined Elvia, who simply floated still, though looked a bit uneasy at being examined.
“Well, she seems to be healthy, and she seems nice.” He nodded in approval. “Nice to meet you… eh… Elbina was it?” he looked down at Fida
“…E-Elvia” Fida corrected.
“So your parents are letting you keep Elvia?” he asked, but he knew the answer to that too, a couple of parent-teacher meetings had shown him the Fida’s parents weren’t the best in the world.
“Well, no, n-not exactly…” she looked down to the side. “They don’t really know about her yet.”
“I see… and how did you meet Elvia?”
“I um… saved her from some… gastly.” She looked up at his suddenly sullen face.
“You’re very lucky you weren’t hurt. Gastly have a nasty reputation of gassing their prey, it’s fatal.” His chin rested on his hand as he leaned back in his chair. “So do you plan to keep Elvia?”
“W-well, she doesn’t really belong to me… she just likes me… She could leave whenever she wanted…”
“Does she want to leave?” he looked up at Elvia. After a moment, Elvia shook her head. “Well… technically, I think that means she yours.” he smiled. He knew he shouldn’t do what he was about to, but he didn’t care. Fida seemed in much higher spirits the last two weeks. He walked over to one of the many shelves and took a spherical device off the shelf. “So, if she’s yours.” he sat down. “You’re going to need one of these.”
Fida looked at the ball. “A-a pokéball?” she said surprised. “I-I can’t take this.” She said desperately and attempted to take it back.
“No, you’re right…” he said, taking it back. “It’s much too dirty.” He snatched a tissue from its box and shined the ball a bit, finishing it off with the sleeve of his jacket. “There.” He said, handing it back.
“B-but”-
“Take it.” He said gently. “Elvia’s your first pokémon, so you’re going to need this.”
Fida reached out slowly and took the ball from his hands again. “T-thank you…” she said, staring at the pokéball.
“Now, is that all?” he sat down again.
“Y-yes, thank you.” She said happily, she smiled, then she turned and left, Elvia following behind her and disappearing.
“See you Monday!” he called out after her.
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Later that afternoon Fida sat on her bed, looking at her gift, Elvia floated around looking at it. She was very grateful for Mr. Klubbin and his kindness. “Does this mean I’m a trainer?” she wondered out loud and looked at her picture on the wall that depicted her as such. She smiled and held the ball close.
Suddenly, her door burst open. “Come and ea”- began her mother, but paused as she caught sight of the red and white ball. “Where did you get that?” she demanded. Fida couldn’t answer. “WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT!?” she screamed as she walked in a stole the ball from her daughter’s hand. She examined it thoroughly. “Wait till your father sees this.” And she marched out of the room. Fida yelped and ran after her. By the time she caught up her mother and father were already in the living room, he was holding it in his hands. He was a large man, with a meaty head and meaty hands, the top of his head was all bald, a ring of graying light brown hair surrounded the bottom half of his head. His name was Rick.
“What’s this?” he asked as he saw her.
“I-its nothing.” Fida fidgeted.
“Lies.” He said and pushed her down. He pressed the button in the middle of the ball and it snapped open, revealing nothing. “It’s empty.” He said, looking at his fallen daughter.
“Y-yes, it’s a-a project for, um, school.” She responded.
“Oh really?”
“Y-yeah… we have to um, l-label the different parts.”
“We’ve told that idiotic teacher of yours that we don’t want you with any of this trainer-stuff!” he huffed, his hands shaking as he held the open sphere.
“We don’t want you becoming one of those kids, roaming around doing whatever they want.” Her mother scoffed.
“Throw it away.” Her father said. Fida didn’t move. “THROW IT AWAY!” he cried. Fida still didn’t move, but closed her eyes. “Fine! If you won’t do it then I will.” The mass of flesh that was her father rose slowly and hobbled over to the trash bin, his head red like a beet.
“No!” Fida called out after him. She sprung to her feet and caught the ball as it fell and then sprinted off to her room, closing her door. She heard her parents’ yells as the came down the hallway. She ran to the corner and huddled in it, covering her ears.
“You will learn your place, brat!” her father roared. The door flew open and one of its hinges broke. They both entered and made for Fida in the corner, raising their fists. Fida did her best to brace herself. There was a bloodcurdling scream… It came from somewhere in the room. Fida looked up and saw Elvia floating defiantly in between her and her parents.
“So, it was a lie, you dirty, little, ungrateful piece of trash.” Her father said.
“And it had to be something like that didn’t it?” her mother spat. “Well, at least it fits well with the décor.” She wrinkled her nose while scanning the room, looking at Fida’s drawings.
“This thing won’t help you, as soon as we’re done, it’s leaving, and you won’t stop us.” he was now even redder. “We’ll stuff it in that,” he pointed to the pokéball. “And tie it to a rock and throw it into the deepest crevice in the Lake of Rage!” her father smacked Elvia away and both monsters raised their arms again, threatening to resume their interrupted assault.
Elvia braced herself once more. “Elvia!” she screamed as the blows were about to connect. A second passed… then two… then three… Fida heard some sort of banging but it seemed so distant. She opened her eyes and saw her parents furiously hitting at her, but none of their attacks reached her, they seemed to hit a faintly visible bubble. Elvia was in her lap, concentrated on keeping the shield up. Fida embraced Elvia and held her close. “Make it go away.” She cried.
The barrage continued for many minutes. The parental guardians refused to believe that they had been thwarted and resorted to throwing anything at the bubble. After so long they gave up, billowing as they left, leaving a wrecked room in their wake.
Elvia kept up the shield for many hours after, until eventually Fida grew brave enough to climb into bed and collapse. Elvia rested in front of her companion, facing the door. The beasts returned multiple times during the night, and each time they were met with Elvia’s red and yellow eyes leering at them through the darkness with a set of red pearls glowing eerily; the whole night was a feast…
