Char (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rivalkidneypunch) wrote2010-04-22 09:28 pm
rivalkidneypunch) wrote2010-04-22 09:28 pm
(We're due for another "Char is emo" tl;dr)
Phoning Aiden had not gone well. Char hadn't been expecting much, but somehow... he'd been expecting something a little different. He didn't expect Aiden to know what had happened to Lavender Tower's Pokemon, but he'd expected Aiden to care.
Instead... "They're wild Pokemon, Kerosene. They can take care of themselves. They probably all just went to Rock Tunnel or something."
"If they wanted to live in Rock Tunnel, they'da moved there before some jackasses went and kicked them all out of the tower! Look... you sure you ain't seen any of them around Fucshia? It's real important. If you spot a Gengar--"
"Kerosene. You're upset. I get it. But Fuchsia's a long way from Lavender. The news never said what happened to the Pokemon, and I haven't see anything myself. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do about it."
"Seriously? What the hell is wrong with you, Aiden? How come you're so okay with this? Lavender Tower's playing goddamn pop songs and nobody's bothered to mention what the hell happened to the Pokemon that used to be busy livin' there! There ain't no way people'd be okay with it if those'd been humans gettin' their graves uprooted! I just don't understand why people ain't givin' a shit! This should be all over the news! We shoulda know about it a hell of a lot sooner!"
"I think," Aiden sighed, "you've been going to that school a little too long. Things are different in Kanto, Kerosene. Pokemon are Pokemon, not people. Nobody calls the news when an exterminator clears out a house with a vermin problem. Very few people are troubled when tall grass is cut down to make room for a PokeMart. If they had been humans, it would have been an injustice, I'm sure. But what happened to the tower? That gets called progress."
"You're useless, Aiden." Char hung up. What a waste of time. What a goddamn waste.
...Now what? Just what the hell was he supposed to do? He couldn't give Nyx any answers. He couldn't give her back her home. Somebody had hurt someone very dear to him -- every last instinct demanded that he fight, that he take it back by force, but even hotheaded, irrational Char could see the futility in that. Getting to Kanto was no easy matter, and one Charmeleon couldn't empty an entire tower, and even if he could, the humans would simply creep back when he returned home.
Anyway, it wasn't like he could go anywhere in the first place. Bulba was faced with the idea of being without his trainer, probably for the first time since Green had first picked his starter out. Nyx had just lost the place she'd called home. They both needed somebody to be there for them. If Green was out of the picture, then it would simply fall to Char to man up and be the glue that held them together. No more fuck-ups: they were counting on him. So was Green.
...Probably a mistake, really. He was a mess. Char had been in this situation once before -- confident that his trainer would come back, that it was a "see you again" and not a "goodbye" -- and... well.
Things were different. Green wasn't like Aiden. Char wasn't the unreliable trainwreck he used to be. Green trusted that he wouldn't run away, or he wouldn't have given Char the option of staying behind. And Char... he trusted Green too, didn't he? Absolutely. Of course he did. They'd been through way too much as a team for it to just end like that. He'd been there when Green went from novice trainer to league champion to gym leader, and he'd always fought hard for Green, hadn't he? He was proud to be part of Green's team. And he fully intended to show just how proud he was by waiting faithfully. By believing that no matter how long it took, he could count on his trainer.
But that stubborn, anxious heart of his refused to quiet down. That anxious, panicky feeling -- the same irrational impulse that had given birth to his sudden escape to Fuchsia, as well as his destructive performance of The Enchanted Ballerina in Samus' office -- was creeping in again. He wanted to wait, to adamantly insist that Green could go wherever he wanted and nothing could fray their bond. He wanted to drop everything and demand Green let him come along, spend every second by his trainer's side so he could never be left behind. He wanted to pull away, steel his heart, tell himself that he was as good as wild again and trainers weren't even worth all the stupid heartache and stress anyway. He wanted to... he didn't know what he wanted. To do something.
Anything to shove those knotted feelings out of his system before he did something really stupid again.
Char shook his head and moved to the window, shoving it open. "Oi, Rasputin. Wake your lazy ass up. We're goin' out." It might not do a thing to solve his problems, but at least he could get his mind off them. Maybe if he just scratched that destructive itch. Maybe if he just... hurt something. That might just do the trick.
Instead... "They're wild Pokemon, Kerosene. They can take care of themselves. They probably all just went to Rock Tunnel or something."
"If they wanted to live in Rock Tunnel, they'da moved there before some jackasses went and kicked them all out of the tower! Look... you sure you ain't seen any of them around Fucshia? It's real important. If you spot a Gengar--"
"Kerosene. You're upset. I get it. But Fuchsia's a long way from Lavender. The news never said what happened to the Pokemon, and I haven't see anything myself. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do about it."
"Seriously? What the hell is wrong with you, Aiden? How come you're so okay with this? Lavender Tower's playing goddamn pop songs and nobody's bothered to mention what the hell happened to the Pokemon that used to be busy livin' there! There ain't no way people'd be okay with it if those'd been humans gettin' their graves uprooted! I just don't understand why people ain't givin' a shit! This should be all over the news! We shoulda know about it a hell of a lot sooner!"
"I think," Aiden sighed, "you've been going to that school a little too long. Things are different in Kanto, Kerosene. Pokemon are Pokemon, not people. Nobody calls the news when an exterminator clears out a house with a vermin problem. Very few people are troubled when tall grass is cut down to make room for a PokeMart. If they had been humans, it would have been an injustice, I'm sure. But what happened to the tower? That gets called progress."
"You're useless, Aiden." Char hung up. What a waste of time. What a goddamn waste.
...Now what? Just what the hell was he supposed to do? He couldn't give Nyx any answers. He couldn't give her back her home. Somebody had hurt someone very dear to him -- every last instinct demanded that he fight, that he take it back by force, but even hotheaded, irrational Char could see the futility in that. Getting to Kanto was no easy matter, and one Charmeleon couldn't empty an entire tower, and even if he could, the humans would simply creep back when he returned home.
Anyway, it wasn't like he could go anywhere in the first place. Bulba was faced with the idea of being without his trainer, probably for the first time since Green had first picked his starter out. Nyx had just lost the place she'd called home. They both needed somebody to be there for them. If Green was out of the picture, then it would simply fall to Char to man up and be the glue that held them together. No more fuck-ups: they were counting on him. So was Green.
...Probably a mistake, really. He was a mess. Char had been in this situation once before -- confident that his trainer would come back, that it was a "see you again" and not a "goodbye" -- and... well.
Things were different. Green wasn't like Aiden. Char wasn't the unreliable trainwreck he used to be. Green trusted that he wouldn't run away, or he wouldn't have given Char the option of staying behind. And Char... he trusted Green too, didn't he? Absolutely. Of course he did. They'd been through way too much as a team for it to just end like that. He'd been there when Green went from novice trainer to league champion to gym leader, and he'd always fought hard for Green, hadn't he? He was proud to be part of Green's team. And he fully intended to show just how proud he was by waiting faithfully. By believing that no matter how long it took, he could count on his trainer.
But that stubborn, anxious heart of his refused to quiet down. That anxious, panicky feeling -- the same irrational impulse that had given birth to his sudden escape to Fuchsia, as well as his destructive performance of The Enchanted Ballerina in Samus' office -- was creeping in again. He wanted to wait, to adamantly insist that Green could go wherever he wanted and nothing could fray their bond. He wanted to drop everything and demand Green let him come along, spend every second by his trainer's side so he could never be left behind. He wanted to pull away, steel his heart, tell himself that he was as good as wild again and trainers weren't even worth all the stupid heartache and stress anyway. He wanted to... he didn't know what he wanted. To do something.
Anything to shove those knotted feelings out of his system before he did something really stupid again.
Char shook his head and moved to the window, shoving it open. "Oi, Rasputin. Wake your lazy ass up. We're goin' out." It might not do a thing to solve his problems, but at least he could get his mind off them. Maybe if he just scratched that destructive itch. Maybe if he just... hurt something. That might just do the trick.