Because I never do anything mainstream, I wrote an introspective bit just for Flannery, my favorite R/S gym leader. I'd like this to be part of something larger (and something that's more than sap -_-), and I guess I'm posting it here because... *dramatic pause* I haven't posted fiction yet. Wow.
If you have an issue against shoujo-ai, I'd suggest going back now. There's nothing depicted here, and the two in question don't even know each other beyond their names, but it exists. One-sided.
Hope that's enough disclaimers. On with the show.
---
"I'm sorry," the pokémon center attendant said through a wide yawn, "but I was about to lock up for the night. Can you come back for the hot springs tomorrow?"
She must not have recognized me. I think I looked much like an overnight tourist, just a bathing suit with a towel around my waist. I smiled with sympathy and pulled my hair up, clipping it in place. The long ends stuck up and flared outwards, similar to the style everyone was used to.
"Oh!" she gasped. "Miss Flannery! I'm so sorry! I'm really tired, and I didn't realize..."
"It's okay," I reassured her. "I don't usually do this, but I just wanted a nightly dip in the springs. Is it all right?"
"Anything's all right for our world-famous gym leader!" She blushed and bowed. "You can even lock up when you're finished. I know management won't mind." She handed me a key dangling from a pokéball charm ring.
I thanked her and exited through the center's rear door, which led to the spring, which was thankfully empty. Being one of Lavaridge Town's only citizens under fifty never really bothered me; in fact, I enjoyed talking with the elderly. They were typically full of wisdom, of course, but there was something more. The memory of my grandfather, surely, the feeling that I was better somehow than other people my age because I revered the elderly so.
There are times when being a gym leader just isn't enough to inflate the ego.
And there are times when I wonder if being the only one my age in this town is getting to me. There is undoubtedly something missing in my life.
I unwrapped the towel from my waist and left it on the step above the spring. A gasp escaped my lips as I entered the hot water. I stood still for a second, allowing my lower body to adjust to the temperature. Oh, the power of heat... I gave my tired body to the pool, leaning against the wall, tilting my head to the skies.
I remembered my last challenge, this one from an energetic girl of no more than fourteen. There was something about her... I couldn't bring myself to act like a fearsome, powerful leader like Grandpa had been. The girl's integrety, her obvious closeness to her pokémon, it made me drop the shield right there.
Gym leaders are bold, fearless, austere, and commanding. That's what I was taught. But watching my challenger's style and honesty... perhaps she distracted me too much, and that's why she won.
I talked with her afterwards, more than I usually did. Her name was Chiori. Without meaning to, she had changed the way I thought about myself, and since, I was seriously evaluating my life. In very shallow ways. My grandfather, as well as the citizens of Lavaridge, would be disappointed if they knew, but... I was still...
I would be twenty very soon. To show for it, I had my title, sure, but I had no friends my age, no one to talk to about things teenage girls talk about, no one to share the ideas forming in the deepest parts of my mind...
Chiori, when you're a little older, will you come back to be my friend? It was, of course, too much to assume I could hang around a young girl and relive my early teenage years. She probably thought I considered myself older in spirit, choosing to reside in a retirement village like Lavaridge.
Such thoughts. I spoke to her once, and she's five years my junior, for God's sake.
Were other gym leaders as lonely as I was?
Memories of last month's conference came to me. It was more or less the Hoenn Masters Convention, held in the Lilycove Motel. And truthfully, I was surprised. The way my grandfather always talked about it, gym leaders were seasoned veterans of the pokémon business, building on their years of knowledge and experience. Yet most of them were so young. It really shocked me. The twins, they had to be ten or eleven, even. Roxanne, Brawly, Phoebe, Sidney, Winona... my age, or possibly younger. Were we all that talented? Did I have something in common with these extraordinary people?
I always forgot that I was one of them, too. It still felt that I didn't earn my place at the Lavaridge Gym, it was handed to me by Grandpa. So I spent the entire conference wondering if they resented me, or felt I was beneath them.
Someone mentioned how candidates for the next batch of Elite Four would start soon. It wasn't an official discussion, just murmurs among one another. A couple of people looked my way. Grandpa was an Elite, too. Surely his average little descendant would have a space reserved for her.
Other glances and theories of certainty were directed at Winona, the flying-type master of Fortree City.
I knew her history, or at least a summation of it. She came from one of those large families that succeeds in everything, so she had relatives in high places all over the regions. One cousin was a gym leader, another an Elite, both in Kanto. My bets were on her success as well, and I had followed everyone's gaze to the place where she stood.
It seemed she wasn't a mingler. At the conference dinner, during which everyone hung around and talked with one another, she remained near a wall -- similar to what I had done, only I chose to sit at the end of the table, a few seats down from the lighthearted conversation, observing everyone. Brawly was encouraging Roxanne to share stories of the Pokémon Trainers' School, but something told me it wasn't the school he was really interested in. Wattson was telling bizarre jokes to Tate and Liza, who laughed delightfully. Sidney and Drake were arguing as to which of their teams was more intimidating. But Winona the wallflower... she seemed content to stand against the wall by a wide window, staring outside, surely at the clouds and the passing birds.
I remember thinking that her expression was both haughty and wistful, and that her hair was so very long, so very beautiful. The little tufts above her ears, they were like miniature wings.
Which I was sure she'd be flattered to hear, had I the courage to approach her.
I contemplated the star-filled sky and reveled in the hot spring's warmth coursing through my skin. Did any other town have springs like Lavaridge? I don't know that I could live anywhere that didn't provide my body with such heat.
The pattern of my thoughts actually brought a smirk to my lips. It was definitely true; I spent too much time alone in spirit.
Did she... was she the same?
Such thoughts of mine, all swarmed around the memory of her. Was it possible to fall in love with someone based on a vision and a few wishful ideas? The handful of seconds that passed just then told me that yes, it was.
If you have an issue against shoujo-ai, I'd suggest going back now. There's nothing depicted here, and the two in question don't even know each other beyond their names, but it exists. One-sided.
Hope that's enough disclaimers. On with the show.
---
"I'm sorry," the pokémon center attendant said through a wide yawn, "but I was about to lock up for the night. Can you come back for the hot springs tomorrow?"
She must not have recognized me. I think I looked much like an overnight tourist, just a bathing suit with a towel around my waist. I smiled with sympathy and pulled my hair up, clipping it in place. The long ends stuck up and flared outwards, similar to the style everyone was used to.
"Oh!" she gasped. "Miss Flannery! I'm so sorry! I'm really tired, and I didn't realize..."
"It's okay," I reassured her. "I don't usually do this, but I just wanted a nightly dip in the springs. Is it all right?"
"Anything's all right for our world-famous gym leader!" She blushed and bowed. "You can even lock up when you're finished. I know management won't mind." She handed me a key dangling from a pokéball charm ring.
I thanked her and exited through the center's rear door, which led to the spring, which was thankfully empty. Being one of Lavaridge Town's only citizens under fifty never really bothered me; in fact, I enjoyed talking with the elderly. They were typically full of wisdom, of course, but there was something more. The memory of my grandfather, surely, the feeling that I was better somehow than other people my age because I revered the elderly so.
There are times when being a gym leader just isn't enough to inflate the ego.
And there are times when I wonder if being the only one my age in this town is getting to me. There is undoubtedly something missing in my life.
I unwrapped the towel from my waist and left it on the step above the spring. A gasp escaped my lips as I entered the hot water. I stood still for a second, allowing my lower body to adjust to the temperature. Oh, the power of heat... I gave my tired body to the pool, leaning against the wall, tilting my head to the skies.
I remembered my last challenge, this one from an energetic girl of no more than fourteen. There was something about her... I couldn't bring myself to act like a fearsome, powerful leader like Grandpa had been. The girl's integrety, her obvious closeness to her pokémon, it made me drop the shield right there.
Gym leaders are bold, fearless, austere, and commanding. That's what I was taught. But watching my challenger's style and honesty... perhaps she distracted me too much, and that's why she won.
I talked with her afterwards, more than I usually did. Her name was Chiori. Without meaning to, she had changed the way I thought about myself, and since, I was seriously evaluating my life. In very shallow ways. My grandfather, as well as the citizens of Lavaridge, would be disappointed if they knew, but... I was still...
I would be twenty very soon. To show for it, I had my title, sure, but I had no friends my age, no one to talk to about things teenage girls talk about, no one to share the ideas forming in the deepest parts of my mind...
Chiori, when you're a little older, will you come back to be my friend? It was, of course, too much to assume I could hang around a young girl and relive my early teenage years. She probably thought I considered myself older in spirit, choosing to reside in a retirement village like Lavaridge.
Such thoughts. I spoke to her once, and she's five years my junior, for God's sake.
Were other gym leaders as lonely as I was?
Memories of last month's conference came to me. It was more or less the Hoenn Masters Convention, held in the Lilycove Motel. And truthfully, I was surprised. The way my grandfather always talked about it, gym leaders were seasoned veterans of the pokémon business, building on their years of knowledge and experience. Yet most of them were so young. It really shocked me. The twins, they had to be ten or eleven, even. Roxanne, Brawly, Phoebe, Sidney, Winona... my age, or possibly younger. Were we all that talented? Did I have something in common with these extraordinary people?
I always forgot that I was one of them, too. It still felt that I didn't earn my place at the Lavaridge Gym, it was handed to me by Grandpa. So I spent the entire conference wondering if they resented me, or felt I was beneath them.
Someone mentioned how candidates for the next batch of Elite Four would start soon. It wasn't an official discussion, just murmurs among one another. A couple of people looked my way. Grandpa was an Elite, too. Surely his average little descendant would have a space reserved for her.
Other glances and theories of certainty were directed at Winona, the flying-type master of Fortree City.
I knew her history, or at least a summation of it. She came from one of those large families that succeeds in everything, so she had relatives in high places all over the regions. One cousin was a gym leader, another an Elite, both in Kanto. My bets were on her success as well, and I had followed everyone's gaze to the place where she stood.
It seemed she wasn't a mingler. At the conference dinner, during which everyone hung around and talked with one another, she remained near a wall -- similar to what I had done, only I chose to sit at the end of the table, a few seats down from the lighthearted conversation, observing everyone. Brawly was encouraging Roxanne to share stories of the Pokémon Trainers' School, but something told me it wasn't the school he was really interested in. Wattson was telling bizarre jokes to Tate and Liza, who laughed delightfully. Sidney and Drake were arguing as to which of their teams was more intimidating. But Winona the wallflower... she seemed content to stand against the wall by a wide window, staring outside, surely at the clouds and the passing birds.
I remember thinking that her expression was both haughty and wistful, and that her hair was so very long, so very beautiful. The little tufts above her ears, they were like miniature wings.
Which I was sure she'd be flattered to hear, had I the courage to approach her.
I contemplated the star-filled sky and reveled in the hot spring's warmth coursing through my skin. Did any other town have springs like Lavaridge? I don't know that I could live anywhere that didn't provide my body with such heat.
The pattern of my thoughts actually brought a smirk to my lips. It was definitely true; I spent too much time alone in spirit.
Did she... was she the same?
Such thoughts of mine, all swarmed around the memory of her. Was it possible to fall in love with someone based on a vision and a few wishful ideas? The handful of seconds that passed just then told me that yes, it was.
.