Ah, my dear moderator, all shall become clear with time. Thanks for the comments, I'll be sure to double-back on my work and make sure I haven't made any more silly little slips.
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One of the very best things about Anilla is definitely the Pokemon League. Not least because of the fact that basically every variety of Pokemon can be caught here, making it easy enough for each aspiring young trainer to build their team up from scratch. Which meant that my oh-perfect siblings, now both fifteen, could head off on the journey of a lifetime and leave me stuck here. Is it capricious of me to complain about the two people who I feel made my life awful and then moan when they're leaving? Probably. Still, that's just me, I suppose.
'What do you mean everyone has to go on a journey? You're not everyone!' I remember crying those words at Alena, with tears streaming down my cheeks. My mother took me into her arms and whispered softly; 'Don't worry, Mari, in just one year you'll be able to go on your own adventure.' I broke away from her arms and glared at her. 'I don't WANT to go a stupid adventure like those two because I don't LIKE Pokemon at ALL.' I stamped my foot and ran, still crying, to my room. I took my violin out and started playing my favourite song- Love me with all your heart- and my family knew that was a clear warning to stay out of my way. After I'd calmed down a bit, I was still in no mood to go and speak to my family. If they wanted to leave, that's fine, but I wasn't going to pave the way for them with golden smiles and laughs.
Does that make me a bad person? Maybe that's why they were leaving. They never did, but they were going to. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.
I slumped down at my desk and kicked my phone into gear, hoping to phone someone who could arrange something at short notice- anything at all, if it would just get me away from here. I cycled through the assorted excuses of parents, who all knew that Atticus and Alena were going today, until I came to Mitch's number. Mitch was a friend from Unova who'd moved here about a month ago. We got on fairly well, but I always thought I should get to know him better- why not now? 'Uh... Hey Mitch, it's me, Maria.' I heard a sound at the other end of the line before his reply. 'Oh, right, Maria from school, yeah?' I rolled my eyes. Where else would I be from? 'Yes, that's me.'
'The one with brown hair and with that fit-as sister?' I gritted my teeth. Of all the things to say to a girl, you say their sister's good looking before anything about them? 'Yes, Mitch, that's the one.'
'Oh, cool. So... What did you want?' His voice snapped me back from the moment of total distraction I'd just had. 'Oh, right, uh... I was just wondering if you wanted to go out anywhere?' I asked, hoping my desperation didn't show in my voice. 'Yeah, I'm not doing anything too important, so... How about Tenor forest? It's supposed to be really nice there.' I frowned. Tenor forest WAS nice, but it was just a bit odd, plus it was full of Pokemon. But anything was better than sticking around here. So it was off to Tenor forest with a kid from Unova who I'd basically only just met.
I should tell you a bit of Tenor forest first. It's a beautiful forest in its own right, with towering oaks and the entire place is alive with song. The local legends say that it's the Clefable and Wigglytuff trying to outdo each other with their songs for the favour of Meloetta, but you can't pay to much attention to myths because more often than not, they're just not true. Mitch and I walked down a green, moss-lined path with his father's Arcanine padding along beside him. We'd walked in more or less total silence until he finally broke the tension. 'So, your brother and sister are leaving today, aren't they?' I shot daggers at him. Was he a total idiot or was he doing this on purpose? 'Yeah, they are. I'm a bit upset, but that's life I guess.' I thought I made it quite clear that I didn't want to talk about it anymore, but he wouldn't pick up on it. 'That's a real shame. Your sister's hot, I would have liked to get to know her a bit better.' It took all of my willpower, but could you believe I didn't slap him, or say anything? I just smiled. 'A lot of guys did. Sorry mate.'
'You couldn't put in a good word for me, could you? Only, if she knows someone's looking out for her, she might want to stay, you know?' THAT did it. With a slightly animalistic hiss I smacked him around the face with a satisfying slap. I turned and walked back as he yelled profanities at me, and I could swear his Arcanine was laughing.
The night drew up behind me as it always enjoyed to, and I sat under a tree, lost, tired and irritated. Tenor forest was known to be fairly safe, even at night, but I always felt edgy anywhere when it was dark. I pulled my legs towards my chest and closed my eyes. The grassy floor was fairly soft and I started to fall asleep, until an angry Clefairy ran over, screaming and pointing at me with a claw. I screamed and bolted- I couldn't stand wil Pokemon. I don't know why, but some idiotic urge possessed me to see if it was catching up and in that second of distraction I ran head-first into an uncompromising tree. As I faded into unconciousness, I heard screaming and felt a weak tugging on my shirt collar. But even as I faded into darkness, my blood froze cold, because I heard a terrific explosion and more screaming- the screaming of my parents.