This Fic IS Big Enough For The Both Of Us! (co-written with Mist)

[Last Exile]

Okay people, this is something Mist and I have decided to try. We will be co-writing this fic in the sense that we write alternating chapters. I will write the odd chapters and Mist will be writing the even chapters. As for what this fic is about, read the first chapter! You'll figure it out! Basically, it's a fic about us in a fantasy world of our own creation!


Chapter 1 - Watercress

“Yeeeeehaaaaaaa!”
She rocks.
“Cool man!”
Her hair whipped in the air like it had a mind of its own. Her eyes were so alive it almost hurt to look into them. Her teeth gleaming like arctic glaciers.
“This rocks!”
She is one of the greatest things in this world. But don’t let her know that.
“Wild!”
She’s my sister.
“C’mon bro, live it up!”
“You little beauty!”
Rollercoasters never thrilled me much. They seemed so simple really. It’s the visual contortion that induces the fear in the riders. It’s an illusion really. A combination of speed and heights. But hell, I always put up a pretense for Tara. Actually it’s not a pretense. She brings the feelings of exhilaration out of me. Feelings I otherwise wouldn’t feel or admit to.
The ride was finally over. Nearly all that descended from the carriages were as disoriented as newborn babies. Only Tara and I seemed to have any grip on reality.
“That was sick! Totally awesome!”
“You said it, sis! Bloody unreal!”
Tara giggled then ruffled my sweaty black hair playfully. “This fair is turning out to be pretty damn good. Beats a day home in front of the box hands down!”
I brushed her hand off lightly and met her face. “Right on. That milk bottle stall was pretty addictive!”
“You could’ve stopped before five plushies though!” jeered Tara, flicking me on the arm.
“Well you’re certainly not complaining!” I teased, nudging into her. “You haven’t stopped hugging that Totodile plushy from the moment I won it for you!”
Tara giggled again. It was a trademark reaction from the skater chick. “Yeah, well I love water Pokemon! They’re so cool!”
“But not as cool as you, right?” I replied, gesturing with my hands.
Tara flashed her pearly whites briefly. “You got it, bro!”
She was only fourteen but in many ways Tara was already an adult. She was way past the typical teen girl trademarks of endless shopping, gossiping and dressing for the boys. She dressed like Avril Lavigne with the jeans and T-shirt look, possessing the long hair and fiery spirit to match. She was into skateboarding and heavy music. But most of all, she had a love of Pokemon unparalleled, except maybe by me. She loved water Pokemon most of all and she spent many nights dreaming of having a Totodile. She just loved the look of its toothy grin, its scaly back and its fidgety little feet.
“You’re still itching to get that Totodile today, aren’t you?” I smirked, half-heartedly attempting to wind Tara up.
“Yeah, yeah, Ryan,” groaned Tara, rolling her eyes and flicking her hair back. “Bet you’re still as keen as mustard to get your hands on that Chikorita, aren’t you?”
I blushed slightly. “Grass Pokemon are my favourite type. Plus I’ve always had a thing for Chikorita.”
Tara giggled yet again. “Yeah, I can tell by the way you’re clutching your Chikorita plushy! Put in it you bag before you sweat so much that you ruin it within a day.”
“Can it, Tara!” I spluttered before taking her advice. “Pity that we couldn’t make a dig for the Cyndaquil either. Then we’d have all of the Johto starters.”
“Yeah it sucks, bro, but that’s the way it is. We’ll find some cool Pokemon once we finally get to go on our Pokemon journey.”
“Indeed! We’ll be the envy of the entire continent once our journey is over!”
“That’s a promise, dude!”

Ever since she was old enough to remember, Tara wanted more than anything else to be a Pokemon trainer. But our parents had been completely against her going. I could understand both sides of the argument. In this crazy world were terrorists were blowing places up at random, more people than ever were being murdered and assaults were almost expected, it wasn’t exactly safe to let a young girl to wander the planet by herself. But I sympathised more with Tara though, because our parents had done the same thing to me. I’d wanted so much to be able to go out on my journey, but my pleas always fell on deaf ears. They would never put me in such jeopardy in an unpredictable environment. And due to the conservative views that people still held about the female gender, if they wouldn’t let me go, they sure as hell wouldn’t let Tara go.
I understood their point. But they didn’t see it from Tara’s perspective at all. They didn’t ever see the way she cried at night every time they rejected her. Cried so hard she barely got to sleep at night. I lost count of the times she suddenly climbed into my bed, her face so wet with salty discharge that I had to hug her for what seemed like an eternity. Each time it happened it felt like my heart was being ripped out. It was bad enough that my dream was continually being reduced to ashes, but it was like rubbing salt into the festering wound every time they rejected Tara. It stung like hell and each time it hurt even more.
On the night of Tara’s fourteenth birthday, just after I turned nineteen, the final straw occurred. It had been coming for so long. After a gigantic party, presents galore, she made one final desperate plea. Not only did they knock her down, our mother cracked her across her arms and then our father shoved her over. They then told her to grow up, stop dressing like a skater girl and to get a life.
It was enough to push one over the edge. With bruised wrists and cut cheeks, she made a customary run to my room. She tore the door open and jumped right on top of me while I was lying on my bed reading the third Harry Potter book. I instantly dropped the novel and cradled her. She was a strong girl but all people have their limits. She had just reached hers.
“Did they do this to you?”
Tara nodded gingerly, her face showing nothing but desolation.
I then reached for her face, traced the cut on her left cheek and sucked the blood that accumulated on my finger.
“I swear to you now that they will never hurt you again.”
Tara held me a little tighter and looked me in the face. “But how? They’ll never let me leave. I’m too young to be out on my own.”
“But not too young to live with your brother.”
Hope returned to her face in the form of colour. Her face returned from a ghostly white to a silky cream.
“You’d do that?”
“You’re my sister, Tara,” I replied with a smile. “It’s my responsibility to look out for you.”
For the first time in ages, Tara smiled a true smile. Not the forced raising of lips, but the natural reflex.
With Tara at my side, I entered the living room and faced my parents. “You’ve gone too far this time. Tara isn’t staying here anymore. She’s coming with me.”
“No she’s not!” screamed my mother. “You may be an adult, Ryan, but she’s still our daughter!”
“Once I tell the police what you did to her tonight and all those other nights, that’s the last thing you’ll be!” I roared, my eyes like wildfire.
“Don’t threaten us!” barked Dad, making an instinctive move for his left pocket. Only I knew what that meant. I knew right then I had to do anything to protect Tara and whipped out an object from my right pocket.
“No, you listen right now!” I grunted, bearing a revolver in my hands, pointing it at my gutless, abusive parents, who were now fearful for the first time in lives. For once, they weren’t in control.
“Are you out of your mind, Ryan?” shrieked Mum. “If you did take Tara, how would you look after her?!”
“Professor Oak granted me a research grant five days ago! He’s giving me three million dollars a year for an indefinite period. I can easily take care of Tara and then some! I’ll be damned before I let you two destroy Tara’s life! So tomorrow morning, you are going to release her from parental custody and assign sole guardianship to me!”
“And why would we do that?!” roared Dad, itching to reach for his gun.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll make sure you guys go to jail and will never be able to save face when you walk in public!”
They kept to their promise. The next day, sole guardianship of Tara was shifted to me. She was free of their tyranny at last, as was I. With the research grant, we now had free reign. As part of the grant, Professor Oak wanted me to have hands-on experience. I had a vast scientific knowledge of the Pokemon world but no personal experience. Although I thought it was overstepping the bounds of the grant and his generosity, the professor insisted I go on a Pokemon journey. That gave me the one opportunity to finally give me a shot at my dream and for Tara to have hers.

Recently many new trainers had set off on their Pokemon journeys, so there weren’t any left for Tara and I. Professor Oak then alerted us to the local fair and that there were contests that had the three Johto starting Pokemon as prizes. It was a match made in heaven. I could go for Chikorita and Tara could try for Totodile.
“So what does your contest require, Tara?”
“Some general knowledge quizes. Tie-breakers involve water obstacle courses. How about you?”
“Looks like I’m in for a bit of a treasure hunt. I have to be the first to track down the Chikorita.”
“With your nature love you should handle that just fine,” she joked.
I smirked. “Considering your brains, your skating skills and your natural agility you should win your contest on a walk!”
Tara blushed. “Yeah, right! Just kick some butt for me and I’ll kick some butt for you, deal?!”
“Cool, sis.”
Giving each other the thumbs up, we headed off to my contest area first. The grass contest was on at two in the afternoon, which was just five minutes away. Tara’s contest was at three.

“So here are the rules. You may use no kind of Pokeballs to catch the Chikorita and you may not use any Pokemon against it! The first person Chikorita comes to naturally and likes is the one who becomes its trainer. There is no time limit and you may use your surroundings to help find the Chikorita. But remember, your actions may affect how the Chikorita regards you. Good luck to you all. The contest begins now!”
About twenty people, including myself, made a run into the fern-covered forest. For some reason I just love ferns. Their simple and fragile form filled with greens and earthly browns. So soft and so shady. The way water drips off them after a rain shower is just so alluring. I saw countless examples of this as I sped through the forest, not able to soak in the wonders of this sight but still able to avoid harming plant life.
I scanned the ground beneath me for clues. By pure chance, I came across a set of footprints. Small and oval-shaped, just like a Chikorita’s. They were fresh, because water had barely seeped into the imprints. Chikorita was nearby and I had a lead on the rest of the contestants. Adrenaline surged in my veins and my heart was thumping harder than it had in my entire life. As if I finally knew what living really was. I let my feet carry me as fast as they could down the moss-laden path, hearing twigs snap under my sneakers. I knew I was close to finding my dream. I could feel it.
“Chika!”
I almost thought I was hallucinating. I heard a sharp cry from what sounded like the Chikorita everyone was looking for. My brain felt like it was being drawn to the Chikorita like a magnet and my body felt like it was almost being voluntarily being drawn to the Pokemon’s cry. For a few moments I felt like I was in a dream and I couldn’t even tell what was going on.
When I finally entered the scene of the source, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was the Chikorita, but it was being attacked by a male kid of about thirteen years. He throwing stones at it and poking it with a stick, making the Chikorita squeal in pain over and over. Each scream ripped at my brain and tore it apart. I couldn’t take one more second of this injustice.
“Stop that right now!” I yelled, jumping in front of the Chikorita and taking the blow of the three stones that were hurled in Chikorita’s direction. Chikorita made a funny sound while the male teen grunted.
“**** off, wise guy,” he retorted.
“Scram, you little insignificant, gutter-crawling, egg-sucking piece of ****!”
“And who’s going to make me?!”
“Chikorita. Take a look at my feet.”
The teen brat stared downwards. Chikorita was nuzzling against my foot, clutching to me like a little child seeing solace in its parent.
“It looks like Chikorita has made its decision. So get lost, you loser.”
The teen grunted like a caveman and clenched his fists. “Fine. Just be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.”
And with that he stalked off. I then cradled Chikorita in my arms and sheltered its shivering body.
“It’ll be okay,” I whispered. “It’ll be okay.”

“You got it!” Tara ran to me and gave me an enthusiastic high five. “Way to go, man!”
“Sensational indeed!” I grinned.
“Looks like one of us got what we wanted,” she smirked. “I guess the two of you are going to be a great couple now!”
“Tara!” I groaned.
“I guess the two of you are going to get married now!”
“Tara!”
“Can I be the bridesmaid?!”
“Tara!”
“Chill, dude, chill!” She then gave me a warm hug. “I’m thrilled you finally got the Pokemon you wanted.”
I smiled at her as the sun broke through the clouds and lit us up. “In half an hour that’ll be both of us. So let’s go see your victory.”
Tara smirked again then led us on to the beginning of something great.

[PlatinumHawke]

sp00t, I got the first reply!

Is it just me, or did I detect a bit of shippingness in here? It might be accidental, or just me reading too much CCS, but I swear I got the feeling of shipping between the two main characters.

Anyway, this should tide me over until the new WDC comes out.

[Andrew]

Ha! Got the Second Reply! Bwhahahahaha. Ha. Haa. Ha.
Yes I think the shipping I suggested was OrangeVapour Shipping or CitrusMist Shipping or as PH suggested - Aussie Shipping, but that just made me feel ill. Involving all Aussies in that ewwwwage... *Shudders*

Anywho, I'm feeling there is a real life element drawn into this which you're using to vent your feelings and perhaps using it as a "Wish" diary of sorts, you know. Cause not everyone has the same upbringing. But the plushie thing was cute.

But the abuse of the Chikorita, it came off as a bit... unrealistic, as the fic so far had kept going at a good pace and they hit it off kilter, damaging its credability. But another thing is why would Prof give all that cash for a research assignment. Wouldn't you need to write up a huge proposal or something? And isn't there a meeting with Social Workers and other stuff? Bah, I'm being administrative!

Plus that last bit of dialouge seems jumbled and needs some sorting please! But this is refreshingly different and I can't wait to read more! Good work.

[Wolfsong]

Nice. Looks like it'll be another great fic. i eagerly await the next chapter. Keep up the great work. I get the third reply.

[Craig]

Pretty cool, but I was kind of confused about the 3 million dollar thing until I remembered it was Aussie dollars, how many aussie dollars makes a us dollar?

This is pretty cool and eww to the prson who said the shipping between the 2 main characters..they are brother and sister!

[Doomykins]

Let me guess. Citrus is writing from the point of the brother, trainer of the plant pokemon. And Mist is writing from the point of veiw of the sister, the water pokemon trainer.

Quite nice. It sort of is reminding me of a fic called Jelousy. Unfinished though Yet in that one it starts out very comical and the person is hurt badly by someone very unexpected, not their parents. All in all, I really hope this goes well. Post more soon! It did have an air of realisticness in there.

Note: How was the kid attacking the Chikorita! Wouldn't it just run away? And if her was far enough away to throw rocks at it, especialy if someone could come in and intercept them, how could he be poking sticks at the pokemon?

[Mew Trainer Rose]

this is great! i like the feel or realism that's in some parts, especially the beginning. makes me almost feel like i could get a pokemon at the next fair i go to.


...if only i could. anywho, nice job! I look forward to seeing what it'll be like.

[Snakes N' Legends]

Another great fanfic, CCC. By the way, what ever happened to Citrus the Chikorita? I liked that fanfic although they were a few parts I didn't like about it. What I mean is that the parts I didn't enjoy, there were parts that I did enjoy. Have you considered about reposting Citrus the Chikorita or does that not agree with you.

Oh, good idea teaming up with Mist. You two make a great team. She writes Lapras Valley High and you write When Destinies Collide. Although they aren't the same story, you can see the same level of reality and seriousness, I think.

[mistysakura]

Hi! And I do detect some shippjing in here... sort of like S+T, T+Y, or maybe even Syaoran + Meiling...
I really like this fic! Tara is so Avril Lavigne[EDIT: stupid comment] ... just an added bonus. But it's sad how their parents are so concerned about terrorists harming their children, but are abusing them themselves.Well, I guess life isn't always logical.

P.S. To all the people asking, 1 US dollar = approx. 2 Australian dollors.

[Kinglerlord2]

A very good start to the fic, the dialogue was a little too corny for me at times but still it was very good, I liked the emotion and all.

BTW mistysakura what you said is right but the way you said it was confusing:

1 Australian dollar is worth about 50 US cents so therefore 3 million Australian is about 1.5 Million US.

So if you went from Australia and flew to America with say $10 you'd get $5 dollars US approx.

[100FangCroconaw]

I'll be waiting for a new chappie.And it's cool how Chikorita liked Ryan the minute it saw him.

[Last Exile]

Wow! A pretty decent turnout for just the first chapter!

platinumhawke: Yeah, you did get the first reply! As for shipping, um, I don't really think so. Maybe you ahve read a bit too much CCS lately! Tara and I are good friends though but we thought playing brother and sister would be most fun. Basically they have a better than average relationship of that type, that's all. So they're always able to mess around with each other's head and take it with good humour.

OzAndrew: Well the guy had been working Chikorita over for quite a bit before I got there, so it was already suffering some injuries. But still, Chikorita knew it was to be given to a human trainer and since the brat (whom I will identify in Chapter 3) was the first person it saw it felt an affinity for that person and liked him but was ultimately confused and scared by his behaviour. As for why I got such a large grant, that will become clear later. I guess everything went so smoothly with the transfer of guardianship because the parents had no qualms with it. In the end they were probably glad to be rid of Tara and I.

Nala98: Well, hopefully Tara and I can make this work!

Craig: Thank you for pointing that out!

Doomykins: Yeah, that's the basic idea. As for the rock-stick thing, they were big rocks.

mew trainer rose: If only we could! If only we could. Good to hear this fic does that for you!

tyranitar master: Citrus the Chikorita is ditched for good. I think it was a disgusting piece of sugar-coated junk despite how popular it was. I made it too soppy and it was just downright ridiculous. And for those interested, the idea to write this stemmed from an AIM conversation. I asked her if she wanted to write something with me and she said she was thinking exactly the same thing! Guess it was destiny.

mistysakura: Aussie No.2! Sweet! It wasn't just concern on behalf of the parents. They were abusive too. Tara was their second beatup toy after me. As for the shipping, it ain't there. It's just family love.

Kinglerlord2: Welcome mate! That makes three Aussies here after Ozzy and mistysakura! As for the dialogue, it will be getting more graphic from here on in but we're keeping it silly as well because that's how we're portraying the characters.

100FangCroconaw: Yeah, I guess Chikorita was ecstatic that someone came to save it and felt complete gratitude. A natural reaction!


Thanks for all the support everyone! You've been great!

Ok Tara, when we spoke two days ago you were very close to finishing. So feel free to post Chapter 2 whenever you're ready. I need to know how the last bit of the chapter goes before I can write Chapter 3 however.

[PancaKe]

Okay peoples chapter two is in da house!

~Mist

Chapter Two:

~Tara~

“I wonder how long until the Totodile contest is on,” I wondered out loud. Ryan wouldn’t let his Chikorita walk itself, he insisted on carrying it everywhere we went. Of course it had a pokeball, but that stayed in its small size, tucked away in the pocket of Ryan’s jeans. Ryan would sniff the Chikorita’s leaf every now and then to inhale the sweet fragrance.

A few moments later Ryan’s slow moving brain registered the fact that I asked a question. “What?” he asked, snapping into reality. “Oh, I heard somewhere that its on in about half an hour or something,” he answered. “What do you think I should name my Chikorita?”

“You and that Chikorita,” I groaned. “How about this,” I suggested. “Name it Wife.”

“Shut up,” Ryan told me, grinning. I knew he really didn’t mean it, him and I always kidded around like this. He glanced at his watch. “We have thirty minutes to kill,” he announced. “What do you want to do?”

“Go on that,” I pointed, stopping in awe as I gazed at the miraculous structure in front of me. It was huge for starters. The track of the roller coaster seemed to stretch skyward for kilometers, then it went over, and plummeted down towards the ground. After that it seemed to twist in and out, going around and around, before looping twice and riding upside down up and down a little hill. Then it came to a stop. “The Rage Control,” I whispered in awe.

Chikorita and Ryan both looked up at the Rage Control, and just like on the anime cartoons that Ryan loved (like Sailor Moon) their eyes went huge while the pupils shrunk to the sizes of bread crumbs.

“On that?” Ryan managed to squeak. He quickly regained his voice. “Okay I will admit, I went on the other ones but that is just going way to far, Tara… oh great.” Ryan sighed as he trudged his way over to me with Chikorita towards me, where I was in line.

I was looking forward to this ride, I’d never seen anything as thrilling as this before in my life. Sure that one time my class went to Wonderland when I was in school was fun. I went on the Space Probe, a really tall tower where you get taken up slowly then dropped down. And the Demon, that was so much fun.

I remember when Adam (an old friend) and I went on that ride, I was shaking as I stepped into the little cart that we shared. I can distinctly remember the conversation we had also.

“Are you sure about this?” I whimpered, scared out of my brains. It was the first time I had ever gone on a roller coaster before, and Adam was forcing me to go on with him. But Adam had been a heap of times, to him this was just a very thrilling way of brushing his teeth.

“Don’t worry about it,” Adam reassured me, in his calming and confident voice. “Just remember to pose for the photos.” He had explained earlier how they take photos of you just as you’re about to go upside down on double loops, and then those photo’s are shown on a screen later.

“Right,” I nodded, shaking in my seat. We began to get pulled up backwards, up the steep slope of the runway. Adam was smooth, calm, and not scared a bit. I felt like I would never ever need laxatives.

I could hear Adam counting down the seconds until the launch. He spoke the numbers as if there was nothing to be scared of. “Five, four, three, two, one!” Adam cried, then we shot down, fast as anything. I was so scared, I gave a quick smile for the camera then shut my eyes tight and screamed.

Then I went on the same ride five more times.

“Hey, Tara,” Ryan waved his hand in front of my eyes. I blinked and looked up at him.

“Hi,” I grinned.

“We’re going on the ride,” Ryan told me. Instantly those familiar excited yet nerving jitters appeared, and I grinned evilly around. The gates opened and as the people exited from the ride, dazed and shaking, people flooded into the ride, grabbing what seats they could.

“Sorry no pokemon allowed on the ride,” the worker told Ryan. “We can mind the Chikorita for you if you wish.” Ryan reluctantly agreed and hopped on the ride, leaving his pokemon behind. The ride was beginning.

“I hope they don’t’ take pictures,” Ryan groaned. Last time he had a picture taken on a roller coaster, he was screaming and his face was a light shade of green. I had been smiling widely of course.

“I hope they do!” I cried, as we made our way down a very small hill, at top speed. Racing up the next hill, I could feel the hands of gravity pushing me back against the plastic seat. Tipping straight over, my stomach and internal organs were pushed right back into my spine and whatever else is in your back. I could hear Ryan screaming and freaking out, and laughed. “YAHOO!” I hollered. We shot round and round as the ride rode the twisted track.

Ryan’s hand flung from its grip and smacked me right in the face. “Hey!” I yelled, but Ryan was too busy screaming for himself to be bothered paying attention. Once we were out of the twisty zone, we went straight for a bit, giving everybody a chance to relax. Well, those with their eyes closed.

Ryan sighed loudly. “We’re finished,” he breathed, opening his eyes. It couldn’t have been better timing, we tipped and flew down the slope and through the two loops. I was cheering, Ryan was shrieking. When we came down the second slope, I gave a cheesy smile as flashes went off and the ride finished.

“Here’s your Chikorita,” the worker handed back the pokemon to Ryan, who accepted it, shaking. He stumbled down the exit way, while I ran ahead to see the results of the photos.

Ryan’s face was pulled back by the pressure, yet he was screaming. His hair was being blown back, exposing his forehead and making it look extremely large. His expression was priceless though, his shrieking mouth was twisted, causing his whole face to look deformed and hilarious. I, on the other hand, had my hair being blown back, and was giving a beautiful smile.

By the time the shaking wreck of my brother arrived, I had already paid for a copy of the photo. Once he glanced at the screen, he knew what I had done and groaned. “You are so evil,” he complained, sitting down on a spare chair.

I shrugged. “What do you expect?” I replied. I ran over to him and handed him the photo, while grabbing his wrist. “Come on! We have 10 minutes to get over to the pool and enter!” I tugged at his hand, trying to pull him up.

Reluctantly he stood to his feet, this time letting Chikorita use her legs. He followed at a slow pace, trying to recover from his dazed state. Fishing into my backpack, I pulled out a bottle of water, and took a drink. I glanced at Ryan’s face – it was obvious that he was too much in after shock from the Rage Control to take notice of his surroundings.

I tossed water at him through my water bottle and watched as he spluttered and wiped his face free of the drops. “Hey!” Ryan protested. I just grinned and put the water back. “To do,” Ryan made a list. “One, burn the photo, two, flush Tara down toilet.”

“I wish you wouldn’t make lists,” I told him playfully.

The fair wasn’t really a fair when you looked at it from the view of the owner, workers, and everybody else. Ryan and I just called it a fair because that was just how we were. It was actually the opening of a new theme park and on the opening they were having competitions to win pokemon. Normally it would be just pokemon plushies – but the coolest thing was that aside from extreme and wild roller coasters and rides, great food and fairy floss, they had the sickest pool and water slides!

Which is where they were holding the Totodile competition.

We could hear them before we even arrived. “Ten minutes left ! Sign up to win a water pokemon while you can! Only two to be given away! Are you ready?” the speakers announced then repeated the message.

“Two pokemon?” Ryan repeated.

“All right, twice the chance to win a Totodile!” I grinned. I ran ahead, and squeezed my way into the sign up booth.

“Name please,” the lady drawled in a bored expression. Her name tag read Jan.

“Tara Jayne Serenity.”

“Age please.” Her voice was irritating, almost the same as Roz from Monsters Inc.

“14,” I answered, a bit saddened by the fact they needed my age. It wasn’t as if I was too young for a pokemon, the youngest you could be for a pokemon to train was twelve anyway. It was the horrible memories attached to the age.

My fourteenth birthday was supposed to be one of the best, I had been looking forward to it for as long as I could remember. Fourteen seemed like the coolest age, almost scary to tell the truth. I figured that seeing I was allowed to walk down the road to my friends houses and down the road and around the corner to the movies with them then I would be allowed to walk down the road, around the corner, and across a whole hoard of places with gyms on a pokemon journey.

Don’t get me wrong, I had tried looking at the whole thing from my parents perspective too. They had stopped me from going for as long as I can remember, and it was because “We love you and we don’t want to loose you.” As if they’d care whether they lost me or not, they hated me. They treated me as their personal slave, I was always doing the dishes, cleaning up every night, waiting on them hand and foot. I had to stay up late just to finish assignments because when they were awake I was forced to do the work.

They weren’t very nice.

But when I turned fourteen I found out how mean they could get. I always had a hunch they hated the way I dressed, the way I acted and what I was passionate for. My skateboard. I suppose that’s why they bought me a dress for my thirteenth birthday, which I had shoved in the back of my cupboard. After the party, and after all my skatie friends left, I had faced them, and asked them one last time if I could go out on a pokemon journey with them. My best friend Adam and another friend, Patrick, they were both going on their pokemon journeys too, but I couldn’t see why I wasn’t allowed to go with them. Safety in numbers after all.

Their response was hitting me, shoving me down. The hatred in their eyes was enough to tell me that what was coming was bad. My arms stung after mum cracked against them with the wooden spoon she was going to hand to me.

“Grow up *****!” Mother had yelled.

“You’re a disgrace to females,” Father had sneered. The rest basically went along the lines of grow up, stop pretending to be a boy, start dressing properly instead of like a street kid and stop skating because skating lead to nothing and I had no life by skating. I did what I was used to doing, getting the heck out of there.

This time was just too much, I remember running into Ryan’s room, trying so hard not to cry, but breaking down. Ryan had been the best though. He had taken care of it all, especially with his totally cool gun. He’d told his parents to give him custody of me and that we were going to get out of there. Mum and Dad didn’t want to do that though, and they had been very reluctant. All I could remember was them signing the papers and the cool way the gun had shone in the light.

“Excuse me, Tara,” Jan said, her voice drowning out the thoughts. “We need you to fill this out.”

“Oh okay,” I blinked and grabbed for a pen, and began to scribble in answers. I handed the form back to drawly Jan and she looked over it before nodding.

“You may go through,” she drawled. I shuddered at her voice then laughed as I looked back and saw Roz serving somebody else.

“Are all the contestants here?” the head judge asked. I stood in a large group of guys and girls who all wanted to enter and win just as much as me.

“Do you know how the competition runs?” I asked the girl beside me. She was a typical girl, with straight blonde hair done up nicely in two small pigtails at the back while leaving enough out at the front for those strands that hang down the sides of the face, and a small thin fringe. She wore a skirt and high sandals.

How did she keep her balance?

“He’s going to explain that right now,” she replied, facing me.

“But all the people aren’t here yet,” I frowned. “Oh by the way, hi, I’m Tara.”

“I’m Marian,” she smiled back.

“Been on the Rage Control?” I asked her.

“No! Why would I want to go on that,” Marian answered. “Personally I think it’s much too boisterous.”

“I went on it,” I shrugged. Marian gave my clothes a quick glance and then forced a smile.

“Okay,” she nodded. “Are you a tomboy? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Yeah,” I shrugged. I had expected that from her – I was dressed as a skatie, and normal girls didn’t dress like this. I brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes and tucked it behind my ear. “I think he’s about to start explaining,” I observed. “Good luck with the contest Marian.”

“Same goes to you,” Marian answered, nodding.

“Okay now I’m going to start explaining the rules,” the head judge announced.

“Wait!” a cry came from behind, as a tough looking guy walked over to us. I observed him, he looked like he thought he was the toughest thing alive. His shoulders were broad, and his skin was a dark tanned color. He wore a baseball like top with the numbers 6 and 9 printed on the back in large print. He wore jeans and shoes as well, and on his head had an Echo cap sitting. He walked into our group, and shoved me aside to get closer.

“Hey!” I exclaimed. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“What do you care?” the guy asked. He looked me over and a disproving look shone in his eyes. “You little tomboy ****.”

My fist tightened, as I prepared to punch him. “Since when do you get the right to call me a ****?” I demanded. “You homo whore.”

“You two!” the head judge yelled. “Both of you! If there is any more trouble you’re both out of the contest!”

We glared at each other before turning away and staring straight ahead.

“Okay, the contest is divided into two divisions, senior and junior,” the head judge began explaining. “Senior ages range from 16 to 20, while junior ages range from 12 to 15. You will divide into two groups now please, and then you will be told your obstacle. Juniors over here,” and the head judge pointed over to his left, “and Seniors over here,” pointing over to his right.

The group split from one to two, like the splitting of cells in test-tubes. It’s so stupid they force you to watch videos like that when you’re young.

That guy was in my group, and he spoke first. “So now what are we doing? Are we going to hurry this up or what? I want that Totodile.”

“Do you want to learn a thing called patience?” I asked that guy, annoyed.

“Tara, stop it,” Marian whispered. And to the guy she also had a few words. “Look Mitchell, can you just shut up? You’ve done nothing but cause trouble since you got here.”

“You know him?” I gaped.

“Unfortunately,” Marian sighed.

“Look, I don’t want to have any hard feelings or anything,” Mitchell began. “So why don’t you just leave now, Tara. That’s your name isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I replied slowly. “Why should I leave?” I eyed him.

“So that when I win you won’t feel as bad,” Mitchell smirked. I grit my teeth. I wasn’t just winning the Totodile for myself now. This was war.

“Today you are competing for a very great prize,” the lady running the junior division announced. She seemed full of energy and was just busting to tell us. Her name tag read Maggot. “I’m Maggot everybody and today we all have the chance to win a Totodile! Okay, so here’s what you have to do. First its going to be a short five question quiz, then after you fill that in, the people with the highest marks will go into the trivia challenge. After that the two winners will have to compete in some secret challenge.” She whispered secret as if that was scary and thrilling. “Are you ready? You can go over to that table, take a pen and a piece of paper and answer the questions on the paper.”

We left Maggot and made our way to the table. “Good luck,” Marian wished me.

“Same to you,” I replied, grabbing a pen and beginning to read the questions.

Question One: Where can Clefairy, Zubat, and Geodude all be found?

That was easy. I scribbled down the answer, Mount Moon, and read on.

Question Two: What is HM 03 and what does it enable pokemon to do?

I scrawled my answer. HM 3 is Surf and teaching it too a pokemon results in learning how to swim across water with passengers on their back.

Question Three: What do Friend Balls and Lure Balls do?

Friend balls make a captured pokemon like you more and Lure Balls make it easier to capture water pokemon.

Question Four: Where was the legendary Dragon Scale found?

The legendary Dragon Scale was found in Mount Mortar.

Question Five: What pokemon did Ash use in the Orange League finals that aired a few months ago?

This question made me pause. It aired about five months ago, and I saw other people pause at this question also. They had all been easy up to this point. I thought about Ash and the times that Ryan and I had watched the reruns of famous league finals and battles – and began to try to remember the pokemon that Ash carried with him.

Pikachu! That was always the famous one – his Pikachu and him. I bit my lip as I tried to remember the pokemon he had. I do remember him beating an Onix, but with what water pokemon? He didn’t own a Totodile or any of the water pokemon that migrated from Johto anywhere. Was it Gyarados? No, it wasn’t as strong. It wasn’t evolved either… Lapras! No, he didn’t beat Onix with Lapras but he still had one.

I scrawled down Lapras, and then Squirtle as I remembered the tiny turtle that he carried. Squirtle was very close in the pokedex to another of Ash’s pokemon, was it Charmander? No, but he had a Charizard. I scribbled Charizard and also Bulbasaur as it came to me. Now there was only one space left to fill in. But what pokemon was it?

I couldn’t remember for the life of me. I paced around trying to remember. Looking around I observed the various people and pokemon. Over somewhere else they were having one of those ranch things where the trained professional cowboys would get up onto the back of Tauros and ride without falling off…

Tauros! I scribbled down the answer and handed it in where they quickly marked it. “Congratulations Tara,” Maggot grinned. “Most people forgot the answer to the last question. You make it through to the trivia quiz. You have to go stand over there next to the stage. You can sit if you like.”

“Thanks,” I smiled back and made my way over there. Halfway across, I made a face. Mitchell was already finished with his questions and leaning against the stage smugly. I groaned.

Maybe I should just go up to him and say “Hey, I know we got off to a bad start but lets be friends”. I groaned again at my idea. What was I thinking?! That wasn’t the Tara that I knew!

“What are you doing here?” Mitchell asked.

“Can I just say something,” I replied. “That won’t involve any teasing or name calling?”

“What,” Mitchell sighed.

I sighed inwardly. “How about we just forget everything that happened and try to get along? I mean…”

Mitchell cut me off. “I don’t really care,” he replied. “You’re basically asking to be friends right?”

“Well…” I sighed. “Yes.”

“I don’t know you,” Mitchell answered. “But from what I’ve seen you’re a jerk.”

“Fine then, be like that,” I replied, as I saw Marian walking away from the judges table. She walked over to me, and I grinned at her. “Hey how did you go?”

But her face had already answered that, the expression in her face and eyes was disappointment. She hadn’t made it. But she still gave a sad smile. “I guess I should’ve double checked,” she sighed. “I made a mistake, and answered question one in question two’s line. So for HM 3 I put it was Mount Moon.”

I giggled. “That’s funny when you think about it,” I told her. “But I’m sorry you didn’t make it.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Marian smiled. “I’ll get Daddy to buy me a pokemon. He can afford a pure bred Eevee for me.”

“Are you going to stay and watch?” I asked. “Because if you’re not go for the Rage Control.”

“I think I’ll stay and watch for a while,” Marian answered. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” I smiled. Marian waved as she left the stage, her blonde hair swinging as she walked. Her father could afford to buy her a pure bred Eevee, those things were like $5000. It was much better to get a crossbred Eevee from the pound. Her father must be really rich.

Maybe he owned Microsoft.

“Okay, guys, we’re going to start the trivia now, get up onstage,” Maggot announced, bouncing over. She made her way to the mic and picked it up. “Okay everybody. Welcome to the Junior Division Trivia. This is for the Totodile. Now our contestants are as follows, Zachary Weasle, Jessica Morris, Mitchell Taylor, Veronica Jacob, Tara Serenity, Pyro Martin, Stacey Bowell and Ross Mason. The other people unfortunately didn’t make it into this round and will have to go to the pound or the pokemon store if they want a pokemon.”

“Good luck,” Pyro Martin whispered to me. I turned around and looked at Pyro. His hair was a very light creamy brown, it was hard to describe, but it was spiked up at the front. His eyes were a deep blue and they shone with innoncence.

I smiled back. “You too,” I grinned. “You’re Pyro aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Pyro smiled. My heart seemed to jump a beat. I think I was getting a crush on Pyro.

“Hey do you have a mobile?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Do you?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Wanna swap numbers?”

“Okay,” Pyro agreed, and gave me his number. Just as we finished swapping numbers, Maggot began to run the quiz.

“Okay, first question…”

********

“Typhlosion!” Mitchell answered.

“Actually it’s both Charizard and Typhlosion, but can also include Ampharos,” I interrupted.

“Tara gets the full points, Mitchell gets half the points,” Maggot announced. “And we’ve got a tie between Tara and Mitchell, which means that they both will be going into the final round!”

“What do you reckon the final round is?” I wondered aloud.

“I’ve heard that they fill the pool with jelly and you have to swim your way across,” Pyro replied.

I laughed. “Are you being serious?” I asked him. “I’d rather walk chest high through Dittos.”

“At least you could eat your way across,” Pyro shrugged. “In a jelly pool I mean, not through Dittos.”

I grinned. “So do you skate?” I asked him. He didn’t really look like a skater but sometimes skaters dressed differently.

“No, I ride my bike a lot,” Pyro replied. “Why?”

“Just wondering,” I shrugged. I normally never admit that I’m a skatie chick, basically for the reason that people ridicule me. Not that I let it get to me, it just gets annoying.

“Mitchell and Tara are going to be doing the final obstacle course now,” Maggot demonstrated to the obstacle course with her right hand. “They will first have to make their way through the tires on the ground, a foot in each. After that they will have to run and use the rings to swing their way across from ring to ring over a pit of Ekans and Arbok. If you fall you won’t be killed, just probably hurt and slowed down.”

“Eep,” I squeaked.

“Then they will have to make their way through a shallow pit of squishy Dittoes, and climb over a fence. The rest is self explanatory, but I’ll explain it anyway,” Maggot continued. “They will have to crawl through two tubes and then they will have to run to the end in an all out sprint. Tara and Mitchell, you two can make your way to the starting line.”

Breathing in and out, I glanced at Pyro before leaving. “Good luck,” he smiled.

“Thanks,” I replied, smiling. I liked him! Well it was a change from my year long crush on Adam but it was still interesting. I tried to forget about him, and the other hundreds of people watching me about to race. “Hey Mitchell,” I spoke.

“What?” he replied.

“Good luck,” I told him, then after looking at him for a moment, I added, “You’ll need it.”

“I think that you should get all the luck you could find and then maybe you’d have a chance at beating me,” Mitchell smirked. He got ready to run, and so did I. The gun blasted and we ran off, and hit the tires. In and out the feet went.

I found this really easy, we were always made to do this at school last year in PE. It was quite fun after you got over the tiring bit. I ran, ahead of Mitchell, and jumped, catching the rings in my right and left hands. I wasn’t the best at the monkey bars, but steadily swung my left hand to the ring in front. Then my right hand.

Behind me Mitchell was catching up, and I was pressured to go faster. My palms became sweaty and as I swung for the next ring, I felt my fingers slipping.

I was inches away from the ring when I fell down into the pit.

“Tara!” Ryan yelled from the sidelines.

“Oh my gosh!” Marian exclaimed.

“That cant be good,” Pyro commented.

I felt myself falling and closed my eyes tight. I had faith in God seeing I was a Christian so it didn’t really matter whether I died or not. I just didn’t feel like dying at the moment because I wanted to go on a pokemon journey, marry Pyro (yeah! I had a fast crush growing!) and kick Mitchell’s butt.

“Lord please save me!” I called. Then I stopped, and felt myself bouncing as I was caught in sticky string shot by the snakes. I grinned. “Thank you Jesus!” I called up to heaven, before making my way some how over to the rocky edge of the pit and beginning to climb up.

Mitchell had stopped to see whether I was going to die or not, and once he saw me climbing my way up the side, he turned and made a run for the Ditto pool. I felt the tension as my muscles pulled me up the side, but once I reached the top, I rolled up onto the grass, got up and made a dive for the Ditto pool.

Moving as fast as I could I jumped out just before the end and began to sprint my way to the tubes, and got down on my knees crawling through them. All of a sudden, I felt my tube shake as Mitchell crashed his into mine before getting out. I made my way out though, and chased after Mitchell as he dashed for the finish line.

It was a mile away at least. Well 200 meters to have a realistic look at it, but Mitchell was ahead of me. I wasn’t the fastest person around but I was fast. I sprinted, my legs aching with stressing pain, my heart pumping so hard it was going to break my rib cage. I caught up to him, and saw the finish line, this time much closer than before.

Then I slipped.

I must have had Ditto slime on my shoe or something, but all I remember was being a head of Mitchell by the tiniest bit, then seeing the grass in close up view. I could hear the cheering around and I knew the awful truth.

Mitchell had beaten me.

My butt had been kicked.

[Lady Vulpix]

Ryan, that was excellent! I've found that I have more things in common with the 2 of you than I thought. Your talent for description hasn't deteriorated one bit, and nor has your creativity. I hope that fic stays up for a long time.
I'll read Tara's part as soon as possible. I have too much work to do, but I'll do my best to keep up.

[100FangCroconaw]

I can't believe Tara got her butt kicked.I hope Mitchell's Totodile abandons him.But I suppose there is always the Cyndaquil contest.Or maybe the prof. can send her one.

[Craig]

Argh! Leave it to Mist to make a really bad chapter!



Just kidding, lol it was great.. too bad Tara lost though

[Last Exile]

Lady Vulpix: Wow, that's a pretty big wrap for just one chapter! Well, Tara and I will do our best to see this through and make it as good as it can be. Do get to Tara's chapter when you can, though. I thought her chapter was very creative and quite entertaining. I've given Tara free reign to pay me out when appropriate.

100FangCroconaw: Oh, don't worry! This isn't the end of the Totodile saga by far. Tara gave me an indication of where she wanted this to go, so I know what to do with Chapter 3. I can promise you a conforntation of epic proportions involving four people.

Craig: Yeah, it sucks but it shows originality and really gives the plot more substance. Chapter 2 is all Tara and I'm impressed to the extreme with what she produced.


Again, this chapter blew me away Tara. Your PM with the final details has given me an idea of where Chapter 3 will go. As always, I'll PM you the final product before I post it.

[Snakes N' Legends]

A very good chapter, indeed. First I have to say a few things. As I am very good at noticing things in certain fanfics, I noticed that the characters in this fanfic are the actual names of the writers, if I am not mistaken. Also I thought I caught Martin's name. I know it was Pyro Martin but I thought that Mist was trying to put a little bit of Lapras Valley High into this fanfic or it might be just be concidence that the name Martin appeared. Also, this fanfic mentions a little bit of the anime. I have to admit when I read the last question, I knew the answers of the top of my head.

Well, you two keep up the good work.

[pokemasterfrank]

Very nice. This a very interesting format...a joint fic. Keep it coming! Can't wait for the next chapter.

What's going to happen to Tara? She didn't get her Totodile so what's going to happen to her?

[PancaKe]

Originally posted by tyranitar master
A very good chapter, indeed. First I have to say a few things. As I am very good at noticing things in certain fanfics, I noticed that the characters in this fanfic are the actual names of the writers, if I am not mistaken. Also I thought I caught Martin's name. I know it was Pyro Martin but I thought that Mist was trying to put a little bit of Lapras Valley High into this fanfic or it might be just be concidence that the name Martin appeared. Also, this fanfic mentions a little bit of the anime. I have to admit when I read the last question, I knew the answers of the top of my head.

Well, you two keep up the good work.

Okay yep your right thats just because thats us in there TM. Thats Ryan as Ryan if he were on a journey and thats me if i was on a journey. Yeah.

Also Pyro Martin? No I wasn't trying to bring a bit of LVH into the fic. It was just a cool last name I've heard. theres a chick in my class with that last name.

The anime bit - well basically I like to make fun of the anime if I can and I don't know why I put that in there. Basically it happened a few years ago for these people so it would be a tough question. I know you knew and so did i btu the me in the fic had to think.



~Mist

[Lady Vulpix]

I've finally caught up! That was a great chapter, Tara! Too bad you've had to suffer so much from prejudice and stupid people like Mitchell. I hope life treats you and your character much better than that in the future. You both deserve it.
But you were also mean: why did you make Ryan ride the Rage Control?
By the way, I like roller-coasters with loops, while I don't like those with steep falls (I don't like the feeling of my stomach going up to my throat).

[Mew Trainer Rose]

poor Tara, not getting the Totodile. but theres always the pound, as i think you hinted twice. hope she gets something good!

[Andrew]

Hee, the humor in this fic is entertaining Mist and your chapter is you epitomised! Great to see! But it had a great mix of humor and snarky sarcasm and bitchiness which is good. I loved the Wife Comment about Chikorita, but we didn't see too much of it, probably cause its Ryan's little buddy!

The Contest seems to be a wierd thing! And it seems much more like a Game Show contest than anything else! Maggot as a name... *Shudders* poor lady! And the "Gladiator-esque" course! Classic!

I can't wait to see where this goes, but good work! Both of you!

[PancaKe]

I haven't heard from Ryan in ages. I have no idea when chapter three is giong to be up but thanks to those people who commented on my chapter. Your comments are very appreciated. I'm not going to go into a big detailed sop about how they help us all be better writers but its nice to get comments. If anybody sees ryan can you tell him to get his butt on aim sometime?

Oh and I'll keep on teasing ryan and his chikorita about the wedding oz.

~Mist

[Last Exile]

People, I hope you aren't miffed by my absence over the last several days. Alas, my mum had a visitor the last few days and the computer room was the guest room, so I was outlawed from the PC, and thus Internet usage, until today, except for a very brief period on Saturday.

As for chapter 3, it is nearly done. I have a significant portion of it ready and am writing the critical part of it soon. I feel really physically exhausted and just haven't had the writing spark lately. I've even had the skin on my palms peel away, which happens to me after long periods of stress. I inherited it from my dad. But my spark is coming back. As long as I can stop playing Sonic Adventures 2 for more than 5 hours a day, we'll have something up new soon.

Tara, I'll have a completed product for you in the next few days. I've come up with a significant plot twist. It happens to explain why I received such a large grant from Professor Oak.

And for anyone that's interested, I'll be getting my final result for my Uni course this year very soon. I'll be seeing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on Thursday (opening day in Australia) as well.

PS. Any 24 fans here? I saw the final episode of Series 1 tonight (Oz premiere). I figured what happened in the final episode would happen. It seemed obvious that Teri would be the one that would die. Jack is essential for future series and Kim's death, while it would be incredibly significance, wouldn't have as much impact as losing Teri. The traitor was Nina. Wow.

PSS. Anyone know the alternate ending for 24?

PSSS. The sequel to WDC (when it's finally done ) will be 24-like

[PancaKe]

Okay that explains a lot. I can't wait to read what you've got in store! I'm sure its gonna be great!

~Mist

[Hyperness is a Good Thing]

Wow...this is a cool fic....

I'm glad I sacrificed sleeping time to read...It's really interesting...^_^ I like it, and the story's well written.

*hopes for the next chapter*

[Last Exile]

Hyperness is a Good Thing: Great name, great comments! Beautiful! Just don't dodge sleep over this too much, ok?

Might start again tonight. I got my mark for my Uni course. I passed but not as well as I expected to. So we'll see how the future pans out now.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Wow, I oughta do this 'fic reading' thing more often! Guys, what can I say? Since it's you two I was expecting great things, and you haven't disappointed me so far. Seeing as I'm impressed when the fic's only really just starting, I can't wait to see what happens when things REALLY start to get going! ^_^

[Last Exile]

AntiAsh Superstar: No worries Ade! Great to have a person of your talent here. Hope you enjoy what gradually comes.

Ok Tara. I've PMed you what I've done for Chapter 3. So let me know ASAP whether what I've got is right to post and what you think about what we've been thinking for Chapter 4.

PS. I think you should give your chapters titles. Makes it a bit more fun. You do that in LVH, but no worries. You'll get round to it.

[Ultra_Poke2000]

post more! i wanna know why the grant is like $3,000,000 , and what tara will do cuz she lost the contest!

[PancaKe]

Well Ryan has finished typing up the chapter! Good news! But you'll have to wait until he gets on next for him to post it! Moo! Basically its a very good chapter and its very good.

^_^

~Mist

[Last Exile]

Chapter 3 – Reality Bites

“I can’t believe we just did that!”
My whole body was pulsating with sweat and my veins were sticking out. I was sprawled out across my bed in the hotel room we had rented for the night. My hands clutched at the sheets as my exhausted body craved rest. It would not come, however. Tara flipped myself over and then jumped on me, giving me a warm yet smothering hug, tight enough to kill a boa constrictor.
“That was amazing! We finally gave that slimy bastard Mitchell what he deserved!” Her arms constricted around me even more but I couldn’t feel a thing. Except warmth, her natural warmth. I’d never seen her this happy and carefree in her life. And I’d helped to bring it about. That was what would always keep me going. Especially after the events that unfolded tonight. The sight of Tara glowing like the sun and laughing like she was floating on cloud nine would never leave my memory> Despite what we’d done tonight, it would always keep me going. It was more than worth it.

- Twenty-four hours earlier -

“****.”
Tara’s tear-soaked face was smothered against the pillow, almost as if she wanted to end it all right then and there.
“That scumbag beat me. That sexist, arrogant homie! Of all the people, it had to be Mitchell ****in’ Taylor.”
My eyes were on fire and I wanted to kill something or someone. Particularly that lowlife Mitchell. He dressed like trash, talked trash and acted like trash. I mean, what kind of self-respecting person would dress like a homie and wear a cap that says 69? Tells you straight away what was on his mind. It was a sure bet that his main quibble with Tara was that he’d never be able to sleep with her. Within minutes I’d figured that Mitchell only like girls that he figured he could score with.

Hardly anyone approved his victory in yesterday’s contest. Marian gave Tara a few kind words and a soothing hug, Pyro gave Tara a sympathetic look that even managed to force a smile out of Tara, even if just for a few seconds, then Tara turned, her face lowered and her eyes watery, ran towards me like a roadrunner and embraced me gingerly, almost as if she was about to fall apart. I held her softly and rubbed her scalp with the gentle action of a masseur.
“It’s okay, Tara. You did your best.”
Tara sniffled and kept her face buried in my shirt. This was not characteristic of Tara at all. Usually she’s a pretty tough girl. She’d taken dirt from our parents and from jerks at school for a long time, so she knew how to handle pain. But this kind of pain could not be avoided. It was personal. Mitchell Taylor had offended her in the worst way possible. It was a matter of honour now. She had to beat him to prove she wasn’t what he labelled her as.
But she didn’t. She was faster but he was luckier. Tara and I both have conditions of sweating more than the average person, which cost her when swinging over the pit. And as for the final sprint, it was just rotten luck that Tara had a bit of Ditto slime clinging to her left sneaker. When she fell flat on her face and felt the earthy smell and taste of grass and dirt, she instantly knew it was over. As she fell I saw her hopes fleeting in an instant like kids from thunder. It wasn’t fair but life in general is rarely fair. Tara had lost and I could not see why the Powers That Be would make things turn out this way such that Mitchell triumphed. Totodile is quite a rare Pokemon. You have to be lucky to find one in the wild. So seeing this one at the theme park opening was a golden opportunity. Tara could finally get her dream Pokemon.
Somehow things went horribly wrong. It’s an all too familiar tale that anyone could tell you a million times over about a million things that have happened to them, and each time it would move you in a different way. Tara’s tale was one of the biggest hard-luck stories anyone could tell.
Tara’s misery tuck in my head like a dagger. It hurt like hell and made me sick to my stomach. Mitchell Taylor had scorned the both of us, not just Tara. War on her was war on me. I swore on all that is good and holy that Tara would get a Totodile and that Mitchell Taylor would pay for what he’d done to us.

“Moping around will get you nowhere, Tara.”
Tara finally lifted her face from the silky pillow, which was now saturated to the core with her tears. “And what do you think I should do, alright?”
I sighed then regained my composure. “Listen, I’ll get us some food and we can play Sonic Adventures 2 until we drop. That sound good to you?”
Tara’s face perked up at the sound. “Yeah, that sounds pretty decent. I’ll have Chinese. What are you getting?”
“Thai and Italian.”
“What?” Tara gave a look as if she was looking at Michael Jackson coming straight out of plastic surgery. “How can you do that?”
“I’m not in the mood for rice tonight and I don’t want Asian noodles either. So I’m getting green chicken curry from the Thai place and farfalle with loads of Napolitano sauce. That combination is heaven to the mouth.”
“I’ll take you word for it,” giggled Tara. “Just make sure your stomach doesn’t explode!”
“Yeah, yeah,” I smirked while dialing the number for the hotel takeout centre.
“I want a big serve of sweet sour pork and stir-fried vegies, got that Ryan?”
“Sure thing, Tara.” At least some things hadn’t changed.

Tara had taken to Sonic Adventures 2 from the moment I bought my Gamecube. The first mission of the Hero storyline was Sonic escaping from the military police by skating on a piece of metal he’d ripped off a jet, set against American punk music. Tara completely identified with that and she was an instant Sonic addict. Sonic’s whole attitude, his voice, his talk, his moves, the soundtracks for his levels, it was all Tara. For similar reasons, she also liked Shadow, because he was kinda punk and kinda metal and he simply reeked of attitude. She also liked Rouge, but she’d never admit that, for obvious reasons.
I, however, had no problems in admitting I liked Rouge the bat. She’s fast, she can fly, climb walls, she’s got a cool voice, great outfit, nice exotic mission music and she’s a government spy foiling the bad guys. How cool can you get?! Tails the two-tailed fox ruled because he had a sweet machine to pilot and he had a pretty cool voice too. Knuckles the echidna was cool because he had attitude, he could also fly, climb walls, great moves, and also had a fairly decent rap soundtrack, but I avoided using him tonight because of Tara. I also liked the sweet pink female hedgehog Amy Rose, who was teen girl with pride and power. Tara thought she was hilarious and always payed me out whenever I used her.
“I’m here to rescue my hero, Sonic!” Tara mimicked in a girly voice, eyes wide open like she was in heaven, clasping her hands in prayer and going ga-ga all over.
“I’m getting excited!”
“If I tell you, will you marry me?!”
Payouts of Rouge were also common.
“How was that? Perfect, like me?!”
“All of the world’s jewels belong to ME!”
I let her attack me at will. I was just glad to see her feeling better. Seeing Tara happy was the most important thing in the world to me now. I wasn’t just her brother anymore, I was her guardian. I had to look out for her now.

We’d played all the way through to 3am, so we didn’t get up until noon. Tara was clutching the sheets to her chest, a serene smile across her young face. It felt great to know that she was having pleasant dreams. After watching her for a moment, letting her serenity pass through to me, I then proceeded to look outside our hotel window. We were still in our home town, one of the minor centres of our state. In America suburban streets are lined with miles and miles of oak trees, but in Australia, it’s a lot more exotic and beautiful. The streets, even in the most urban centres, are lined with weeping myrtle, bottlebrush, wattle, cherry blossom and plenty more. A mix of native Australia and international types. One of the real perks and trademarks of living in our country. It’s greener and more relaxed.
Sighing, I fell down onto the soft bed in front of the TV in our room and reached for the remote. Except my hand was grasping at nothing but air. I whirled my head to the side and saw Tara’s smirking face beaming back at me.
“Bit slow today, aren’t ya?” she purred in a feline manner as she flicked the monitor on.
“You’re one to talk!” I teased. “I doubt even a Slowpoke could have been as sleepy as you were.”
Tara grinned as she began flicking from channel to channel. “I suppose you want the cricket on, do ya?”
“You bet your life I do.”
“Not today, thanks.” Tara flicked to Channel 9 and then spread out while lying down on her back against the soft bed.
I smirked as I watched the match, my eyes lighting up and the sound of soft clicks and the roars of the crowd. “Bloody Poms. They stink worse than a Koffing. Even you could play better than them, Tara.”
“Well maybe the fast bowlers might feel a little guilty about trying to beat up a girl, but maybe they’d be intimidated by the skater girl.”
“You wish.”
We both laughed and softly flicked at each other as Gilchrist sent another wayward delivery to the stands.
“Jesus Christ, man! He miscues and still manages to hit a four then belts the guy for six next delivery. Now that’s talent!”
“Bet he gets out next ball,” predicted Tara with a smug look on her face.
“Pig’s breakfast!” I spluttered. No-one disses my any of my cricket idols in my presence. Adam Gilchrist, Darren Lehmann, Jason Gillespie. They’re the untouchables. The English bowler charged in with a delivery that was too wide. Gilchrist whacked it behind him and it was headed for another six, but he instantly cursed. For the racing red ball was soaring towards the black fielder out at fine leg. He was racing around to get under it to take the catch but he was incredibly close to the boundary rope. If his feet touched the rope at all, the catch would be illegal and Gilchrist would survive. The fielder twisted his foot sideways to give him position and his hands grasped the red ball. Bronx cheers came up as England supporters cheered as something finally went right for them while Australia supporters booed. I then turned towards Tara, who was grinning like an idiot.
“You jinxed him! How the hell could you do that?!”
“Aw, come on! We have to make sure England doesn’t lose by TOO much!”
We both ended up in stitched as we fell to the floor and laughed like hyenas.
“Hey Chikorita!” I chirped as my sweet green Pokemon jumped onto my face and nuzzled in against me. Tara began laughing out of control again and kept hitting the floor with her fists.
“I swear man, I can’t stand hearing laughter from ****ing anybody!”
We both jumped with a start. That voice wasn’t either of us. It was familiar, way too familiar. I had a fair idea who that voice was. Tara’s fists were pumped and she looked ready to kill.
“Calm yourself down, man, you stupid ****! I ****ing swear I’ll whup your *** if you don’t shut up!”
Now it was my blood who boiled. I knew that voice too. I really knew that voice.
“Listen, man. I got that Totodile fair and square, but that runty ***** gave me enough trouble to last a lifetime, I swear! I’d slit her throat it I had the chance, man! Her and that brother of hers! That was meant to be your Chikorita man, not his! He don’t deserve ****, Marcus!”
“Damn straight, Mitchell. That damn mofo bloody hypnotised that Chikorita or something. I found it first, for ****’s sake! I’ll kick his *** in when I seem him next time. And his sweet little Chikorita will be mine!”
“So it’s settled then. We corner the two of them, cream their brains out, nab the Chikorita and leave them to bleed!”
“Right, bro. They’ll be eating from soup straws once we’re through with them.”
Tara and I stared at each other in fury then down to the street below us. Who else could it be but Mitchell and Marcus Taylor. Apparently ruining Tara’s dreams wasn’t enough for them. They were after my Chikorita, with bashing our hides in as an added incentive.
“C’mon, you stupid little runt, get moving!” blared Mitchell as he kicked his Totodile right in the guts. Totodile winced and momentarily cried before it swung into step with its dastardly master, not wanting any more punishment.
Tara’s face went red and she blew her top, which she had been threatening to do ever since she met Mitchell. “That bastard! How dare he treat Totodile like that?! I swear I’ll save that Totodile from those ****ing homies even if I have to pry it from their dead hands!”
“Hey, you’d better cut that **** out, okay?!” I grunted. I had no problem with Tara being more aggressive and independent than the average girl. But I definitely had a problem with her tendency to use violence as an answer.
“No one’s killing nobody, got it? We will get that Totodile from those arseholes, but we’ll do it on our terms.”
Tara’s eyes widened in bewilderment. “So what are you suggesting?”
My lips formed a wicked grin and my eyes were like wildfire. “I think it’s time we give Mitchell and Marcus Taylor a taste of their own medicine.”

[Hyperness is a Good Thing]

Yeah! Cool chapter...can't wait to see what they did to the two @#$%%#$%$%&*^%&@#!%.

Excuse that.

Mitchell and Marcus are eviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil. They're baaaad.

*sits down to wait for the next chapter*

[Snakes N' Legends]

Interesting chapter. That just shows you that there are trainers who care more about winning than the way they treat their pokemon. It is very interesting that you added Sonic Adventure 2 for the Gamecube. Mist added Shrek in Lapras Valley High and you added Sonic Adventures 2 in this fanfic.

Well, keep up the work, Ryan.

[PlatinumHawke]

Take it easy on the OrangeVapour Shipping he says... then he tosses something like this at me...

Originally posted by Citrus Crush Chikorita
“I can’t believe we just did that!”
My whole body was pulsating with sweat and my veins were sticking out. I was sprawled out across my bed in the hotel room we had rented for the night. My hands clutched at the sheets as my exhausted body craved rest. It would not come, however. Tara flipped myself over and then jumped on me, giving me a warm yet smothering hug, tight enough to kill a boa constrictor.
“That was amazing! We finally gave that slimy bastard Mitchell what he deserved!” Her arms constricted around me even more but I couldn’t feel a thing. Except warmth, her natural warmth. I’d never seen her this happy and carefree in her life. And I’d helped to bring it about. That was what would always keep me going. Especially after the events that unfolded tonight. The sight of Tara glowing like the sun and laughing like she was floating on cloud nine would never leave my memory> Despite what we’d done tonight, it would always keep me going. It was more than worth it.

Almost the whole of that paragraph just screams out ecchi shippingness. Are you tempting me here CCC?

[Andrew]

Goodness sakes those homies don't give up! WORD! G to the o to the o to the d, work CCC, it seemed to give a small insight to our typical Aussie life. You down with that me homie?

But I have to admit with PH there about the OrangeVapour Shipping, reading that paragraph alone is quite suss ^^; You're going to harpoon me for that one aren't you!

Also I liked the cheering up of poor Tara but the Sonic and Cricket parts weren't really my fav parts to be honest. But Mitchel And Marcus sound like Bangers and Mash IMO you know those two troublemaking monkeys! Lol...

Oh well it was good CCC can't wait to see what happens.

[PancaKe]

Originally posted by OzAndrew
But Mitchel And Marcus sound like Bangers and Mash IMO you know those two troublemaking monkeys! Lol...

Lol! Me and Adam (my best friend) ALWAYS talk about the little kids shows that we used to watch and that was one of them!

As for the shipping? Give it a break? For one thing, Tara has a crush on Pyro. And Pyro happens to be a substitute for this guy who i like named Todd As for Shipping? Oh come off it would you! Brother and sister! Obviously with a closer bond than me and my sister but brother and sister get along and care about each other. Its' like me and Adam, except one is way older. And likes wishy washy rock (no offence Ryan)

PUNK FOREVER!

~Mist

[Last Exile]

WISHY WASHY ROCK?!

^%@^%!%^*(*(!*&!

The Vines own ALL of you! ALL OF YOU! So get yourself nuts and go WILD!

Queens Of The Stone Age.....YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! It's Songs For The Deaf, all right! Run you little wimps!

The Strokes...FIGHT! DRINK! BE STUPID! Yeah! Except I don't do that stuff! I just ROCK!

The White Stripes...Brother and Sister doing it for themselves! MAD! Girls make wicked drummers...and guitarists come to think of it.

Silverchair...GODS! Flee, you mortals! This is eternity calling for you! Guitars and violins do mix!


I'll argue more later!


Anyways, I guess people seem to be picking up 2 things big time.

1. Mitchell and Marcus are two maniacs. Correct!

2. Shipping between me and Tara. NO !&*&*!&*(@(&*@*( WAY! Firstly, the two characters are brother and sister. That stuff is not on, seriously. I think imagination is getting the better of too many people here! Besides, there is a considerable age gap between the two of us. I'm sure people like the idea but Tara and I are just good friends IRL. And I think it's illegal for adults to be involved with teens anyway. So just go easy on the shipping suggestions, please?!

[PancaKe]

First of all - all the bands except for Queens of the Stone Age aren't my cup of punk tea.

The Vines, what is with them? They look freaky, he's skinnier than my best friend (who has the cuteness going for him) but this guy must be anorexic or somehting. And where's the english accent come from if he's an aussie? But Im not syaing they're bad. I'm just saying that their singing sucks and their guitar riffs are really lame compared to other ones such as Unwritten Law and Sevendust.

The Strokes, they're just freaky. Their music is (N) for me anyway

The White Stripes, never really liked their stuff much. And where the heck is their bassist?! BASS ROCKS (mainly cuz im learning it)

And Silverchair. They WERE good. I'm saying that everything before Diorama ROCKED MY SOCKS. Then they brought out wishy stuff man! Go their old stuff, their new stuff kiss my butt.

No OFFENCE! I'm just saying I prefer a punk cup of tea instead of THAT type of music cup of tea.

And ryan u should've expected this from when you first posted your reply



~MIst