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memory

Geometric-sama

The Manly Man of Steel
11,440
Posts
20
Years
memory
by Jedi_Amara

Author's Note: A one-shot as usual. For me, this is a rare full first-person story; most of mine that include first-person perspectives are mixed first- and third-person POVs, so enjoy. In time-honoured tradition (ie. like two of my previous fanfics), Jordan and Jake are named after pop-punk band members - New Found Glory's lead singer Jordan Pundik and Something With Numbers' vocalist Jake Griggs. Katy is named after Katy Steele, lead singer of the Western Australian alt-pop band Little Birdy. Music I was listening to while writing this: Brock Downey - "Where U Go" CDS; New Found Glory - "Catalyst". Anything else? Nah.

Disclaimers: Same as usual. I don't own Pok?mon etc., I do own my OCs (NOT the TV show)... yeah, I'll admit I thought OCs were something to do with "The OC" the first time I saw the initialism... well, I don't own "The OC" either, now that I've mentioned it.


<!--insert story here-->

"It sucks to be you," I told Katy gleefully. She didn't say anything, just gazed at me balefully from those big round eyes. As usual, the friendly joke had gone right over her head. I patted her absentmindedly on the trunk; she let out a gentle noise, almost like a Persian's purr, except friendlier. Although, I had to admit, I hadn't seen that many Persian - it was pretty much the boss's, and that one I had run into out on the street with its trainer one time when I had been doing the grocery shopping. That particular experience hadn't done much to foster my (basically non-existent) love of Persian; big Whitey (that's what I'd named it in my head) had chased me down the street, claws out, making me drop all my bags. Talk about trainers not being able to control their Pok?mon! I got in trouble for coming home without the shopping, too. Well, it wasn't my fault that the trainer had been some spoilt rich kid who refused to pay up. You would think that, with all that money, he could afford to spare some. Mom managed to scrape together a few meals, but we had gone a bit hungry that week - as we had several times since then. It had been like that ever since Dad walked out.

Dad - I didn't really remember him that much. After all, the guy had just gone out and not come back when I was six. All I could really recall of him was a big shape giving me rides on his Donphan and taking me out for a burger once in a while. And come to think of it, I didn't even know if that had been him or one of Mom's boyfriends. She had gone through a lot of them around that time - trying to replace Dad, or drown out the memories of him. I don't know if it worked, but after a couple of years she'd stopped going out. She threw herself into her work and didn't pay much attention to me and Jordan, except when she needed us for something.

I missed Jordan sometimes. Three years younger than me, he was living my dream - out on the road with his team, travelling and battling. While we were really close, I had to admit that I did resent him sometimes, just for being able to go out and do that. I really did wonder if he appreciated what he had and what he was allowed to do, being the younger kid. Pok?mon training - it had been my dream since before I had been old enough to understand what it really meant. Later, after my dad left, I found out that he had been an excellent trainer in his youth, although he'd been perpetually unsure of himself and his abilities. Perhaps those insecurities had carried through to his adulthood, been the reason he had left us. In any case, I'd wanted to become a trainer when I turned ten, but Mom had other plans for me. "I need you to help with the business," she'd said, and being the oldest I'd had to acquiesce. I didn't really mind the work (although cleaning was always exhausting), but sometimes I wished that we could work somewhere else - not in this cold, hard, factory-like building, hidden as it was behind a mask of emptiness. A hideaway, really - or hideout. Perhaps it was a facade for something not so nice, but I didn't know - all I knew was that we were never allowed to call the boss by his real name, though everyone knew it was Giovanni.

I'd never been allowed to have a Pok?mon; Mom said it was too much work and too expensive to keep one, even if I was going to look after it all by myself. I knew I could take care of one, though. It could eat my food - I didn't need to eat so much. I was big for my age anyway. Mom had other ideas - not even a Mr. Mime who could help in the business was the right Pok?mon for her family. That's where Katy came in.

Katy was, technically, an "illegal immigrant". I'd smuggled her into the house, in a way. That is, she was always right under Mom's nose (or maybe not quite, but definitely very visible) but Mom never saw her - or never saw what she really was. I didn't understand how Mom could be so sharp-eyed about a speck of dust left after my vacuuming and so blind when it came to Katy - who was, after all, bigger than a fully-grown Ivysaur, and bright blue to boot - but it was definitely a bonus for me. I made a special pet of Katy - working in HQ, as everyone called it, wasn't a great job for a 15-year-old, since there was never anyone else of the same age to talk to. Katy filled that gap in my life, became the friend I needed.

Bending down from my perch on the edge of the desk, I rubbed Katy's head, muttering softly to her.
"Now, if you're good, you might even grow up to be a big strong Donphan... now, wouldn't that be nice?"
Katy didn't respond - but then again, she very rarely did. It didn't matter - I talked enough, and thought enough, for both of us. I grinned - it was nice to have some time to myself, just to spend with Katy. Time was a commodity that I never had enough of - there was too much work to be done.

"Jake! Are you talking to that vacuum cleaner again?"
I sighed, stood up and went to see what my mom wanted this time.

<!--end story-->
 

Lily

◕ ‿‿ ◕ double rainbow.
3,329
Posts
19
Years
*apologizes* ;_;

As usual, your one shot was really cute, in my opinion anyway. =] It could be just me, but the story seemed to be consisted of a *lot* of explanations. Although there is no real action in here, it still served to be a amusing one shot, especially the last dialogue. Very nice. X3

I've never seen these kind of one shots before, I admit...o.o; I mean- it's short, not much action involved, a lot of history background, and yet it turned out great. Your background information was distributed nicely along with the fic. Eh, what can I say...I'm not the best at constructive criticism. >__>; We have frostweaver for that! ;-;

Good job, JA, as always.
 

Geometric-sama

The Manly Man of Steel
11,440
Posts
20
Years
Thanks Lily ^^. Yeah, if you read the sequel to this one (accolade) you'll find that it's more of a background fic. I'm not sure why I wrote those two, but maybe it's because I've been listening to even more GC than usual lately... the twins' father walked out on them when they were 16...
 

Aiya Quackform

Her High Quackiness
189
Posts
19
Years
Very nice character you have here, JA. You express his voice quite well, and that's not easy to do. As Lily said, there isn't any real external conflict, but this was all about internal conflict. It's a little confusing, you talking about him working for TR but not really explaining it. I suppose that's in the sequel. Anyway, a couple of grammar things...

big Whitey
If that's a name, shouldn't it be B[/i]ig Whitey, with both words capitalized?

I got in trouble for coming home without the shopping, too.
Shopping is a verb, and doesn't work here. "Groceries" would be an appropriate alternative.

You use single dashes a lot. I'm not sure if this is a rule, (I think it is,) but you should use a double dash "--" to seperate thoughts, and a single dash "-" to connect words. I.e. "when it came to Katy -- who was, after all..." & "factory-like building..." Also, you used dashes to seperate thoughts a lot. I didn't see a real problem, but you should be careful of overuse. If you use dashes too often, they'll lose their significance.

Perhaps those insecurities had carried through to his adulthood, been the reason he had left us.
I'm not sure if this is grammatically correct, but it doesn't sound right to me. Maybe they should be re-written as two sentences, or rewritten & connected with a semi-colon. Of course, these are the character's thoughts so you're given a bit more leeway with grammatical correctness.


Oh, and I'm really happy to see that you wrote "Pok?mon" with the "?" in stead of "e."

Overall, really nice one-shot!
 

Mr Cat Dog

Frasier says it best
11,344
Posts
19
Years
Aiya Quackform said:
Shopping is a verb, and doesn't work here.
Shopping can be used both ways. Par se, in the UK, no one at all says groceries, and everyone says shopping. Whilst its not an official term, it is recognised as Standard English and all that.
 

Aiya Quackform

Her High Quackiness
189
Posts
19
Years
Mr Cat Dog said:
Shopping can be used both ways. Par se, in the UK, no one at all says groceries, and everyone says shopping. Whilst its not an official term, it is recognised as Standard English and all that.
In the UK it may be acceptable, but certainly not in the US. It's JA's call.
 
7,901
Posts
20
Years
It's true that you're your own worst critic... don't say that something is your worst when some see it as better than the other... ;)
 
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