Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Tales of a Bored Raichu ❯ What I Have Lost ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Tales of a Bored Raichu, who is still killing time before the start of school each day

8:05am, Friday 9th November 2001

So quiet. And hot. It's that sort of temperature contrast between outside and here which is causing my paw digits to tingle. But, I can still write.
Today's music is the sound of the school's heating system. Oh, how wonderful. Well, it's better then pop music, anyway...
This morning's little something is still being mentally formed, so when I'm done rambling on paper, I shall start.

(quick, wasn't it.)

#2 - What I Have Lost
- by Mattchu, the raichu with the worst handwriting of anyone he knows

Was there ever something that you treasured over everything else? Go on, admit it, there is. Always is. So what was it for me? It could only have been my vaporeon, who I'd curiously named Lorelei, when I first knew of her. Suits her, because she's elite, in her own special way. Didn't need me around, though it would always be said, "Oh, but Carol, she can't get better if you don't train her.."
Did I ever say I wasn't trying not to train her? She just doesn't need it. She can train herself. And she would; each day we'd go to the lake, and she'd just dive in and start practicing her set attack routines, while I ate a packed meal, and watched her. She was graceful, and she never deviated from her patterns. Not once.
Until yesterday, anyway. That day, she was around half way though one of her routines, when she submerged. Now, I'd watched her enough to have a general idea of what she did at certain times.. though I've about as much chance of actually saying what it is she did as I have of diving in and beating her in four laps across the water.. and I did know she wasn't supposed to do that. Some rather waterlogged alert cries went out, as she resurfaced, and swam back towards the bank. Something caught me blindingly in one eye while I watched. I saw then that she had something grasped inside her mouth.
So, she came back up onto land, and I examined the item closer. It was two necklaces, with two cords which went around the neck. They were both constructed of oddly arranged geometric shapes, triangles, circles, and whatnot.. They were also interlinked together, concentrically. That is, one necklace had a small circle for it's end, and the other had a larger circle, with a hole cut out, exactly big enough for the smaller one to fit inside it.
"Wonder how someone could leave something like this in the lake..." I said, wistfully, making an attempt to clutch the two from Lorelei's mouth to examine them closer. However, the vaporeon kicked back her head a little as I did this, the two necklaces came apart, I slipped backwards a little ending up on the floor holding a necklace, while Lorelei ended up with the other's cord going around her head, and slipping to a skewed position down her neck. She sat back on haunches, letting the necklace slide against her chest. Really, it was a nice piece of work.
A little jilted, I took a look at the one I held. It was the outer ring. It's patterns were rather complex, but they repeated themselves, only once. An obvious line was present across the horizontal. Looking at the inner necklace, the same line was present.
"Okay, these lock together in two positions.." That was correct. The one it was in before was not really suited for wearing by two people. The other one had them facing each other. So one person would be looking right at the other.
"Seems like a gift someone would give to a married couple. Quite romantic, eh Lorelei?" The water canine just said 'Eon!' and grinned somewhat. It set me giggling, for it was such a weird thing to see on her face, of all expressions she ever had.
"Hehe.. By the powers invested in me by myself, and this situation.. I now pronounce us pokemon and trainer?" I was in a rather funny mood, so I decided to lock the necklaces together. Leaning forward, Lorelei did the same, I grabbed them, and placed the circle into the ring. And was then suddenly blinded when the two necklaces started glowing. And then everything was still, though I couldn't see anything... before suddenly, reality snapped back into place. My ears rang, but I still couldn't see anything. I felt falling, and then I hit the ground, and the floor was still, and I was not, and I don't remember anything after that.

I awoke, seemingly.. It must have been hours later, the clouds looked further along the sky. My head hurt, and by reflex, I raised a hand up to it. And my eyes were drawn to this unclothed blue arm-like shape, move itself across my field of vision, and touch my head. I was feeling my forehead. It was a cold feeling. Like I was touching water.
I lost my sense of hearing for a while because my scream deafened myself. My ears rung again, and I ignored that, as I kept moving this water-coloured arm about in my view.. flexing the digits a few times.. Then, I tried to stand up. But my legs caught up somehow, and I fell forwards, luckily not hitting my head, as it landed facing over the edge of the rock side. I gaped.
A vaporeon stared back at me. It had all the features I'd associate with one, except the head was a little narrower on the sides. Quite like the shape of a normal human head. But other then that, I could have been looking at Lorelei herself.

Until it occurred to me that I was doing.

'This is me?' I thought.It was hard to believe, but as I cast my gaze behind me, seeing two legs, yes.. Both blue, slightly translucent, and one was entwined slightly with another protrusion, this time from my lower back. It ended in a fin. It was a tail. And it moved when I asked it to, though not too much, since it was trapped by the leg. I now know what I had tripped on. And, I gazed back at the water, and looked at the water. And I wondered where Lorelei was.
I saw where she now was, in that water. Her change had not been lossless, quite obviously. Now was the time for thought.
"Well... I haven't lost her, really.." I told myself. "In fact.. I could even say I'll never lose her now." I did find comfort with that thought. A jaded sort, one that twists with your perception, until all you know is what it says, and all you knew before is made to be lies. Comfort, however, is the watchword, and it's what I was needing at that moment..

Sitting upon that rock, overlooking the lake.. Always had it relaxed me, but now it seemed more calming then ever before; a place of sanctuary within the stress I was in.. a source of unwind for a still confused mind, with everything it had ever know being called into question.. The water was so inviting.. If it would have, it would have welcomed me into it's embrace with arms similar to mine. Until I thought, and that's what I wanted as well.
So, by default, I removed the necklace.. this that seemed to have cause it. It was foreign; it had no place in sanctuary. And somehow, I wanted it off just then. So, I did. I lay hands upon the cord, and pulled it off. It was unhindered; I had not the hair that was there when I put it on. I turned, to put the neck-wrapping behind me, when suddenly, everything started to stiffen up. My lower half spun, so I was facing inland, from a crouched position. Everything was shaking. I grabbed the back of my head with both arms, crouching lower. I could feel something happening. My hands detected the head was not content to stay human-shaped and was now altering itself. And then.. my hands could feel nothing. My senses told me I had both my hands touching the ground. But that was wrong.. And before I could work out what was going on, my back arched forward a little. The rock did not give. Instead, I moved back a way. But it was enough, and the new position didn't anchor me. I slipped sideways, rolling into the waters, with a rather mangled cry, that I'm not even sure of while looking back onto it.
And then, I was making my way across the lake.. water passing by eyes that did not care, they were perfectly content to be open while submerged. A tail was lashing about behind. I looked to my arms. Which weren't arms, as such. More like front limbs, ended with some front paws. Ones alike to what Lorelei had. I closed my eyes then, and just went with the flow.

I lost track of the time I spent in there. I know that when I finally resurfaced, it was the middle of the day. I don't know which day, but that's what it was. As my short term memory started to inform me of proceedings I had just done.. I realised with surprised cries.. vaporeon cries, most definitely, that held little meaning to me.. that I had just run through one of Lorelei's patterns. Over, and over. However, I still didn't really feel any more enlightened as to what and how they were co-ordinated. Some more thought was wanted, and swimming back to that rock, I resurfaced, and jumped atop it.. turning to look back at a sun reflecting on slight ripples left by my actions. Sitting, crouched, with four legs together, chest and head up. Just like you would see any vaporeon do.

I wonder. Before this moment, I thought I had lost a friend for good. I convinced myself quite easily that she wasn't really lost, that she'd always be with me in spirit.. and in body as well. Obviously, seeming what I was left as. Convincing myself I had not lost anything; no, that was wrong. That didn't work. I had made a loss that day.

I question myself again. What is the thing I treasured the most.. that now is lost and gone forever? I can tell you, though it took a long time to get it. I have lost myself. My identity. Everything I was went at the touch of a necklace. And all that is left is the one testament to my achievements. A vaporeon, one that is quite a bit younger then when she came here with me. The reflection I look at now can not be any more then two or three years of age. Lorelei was twelve.
From death is her life. Except it isn't really death. Nor is it really life. But it's close enough.

I picked up the necklaces. I know now that Lorelei was human once, long long ago. Cursed to do what she does for as long as time goes on. Someone is always drawn to the catch. And then to the necklaces. And then to her. Never does it end.

I don't really care, though. No. I didn't care when masses of people came by. They didn't find Carol, no. They didn't find anything to suggest she'd even been here. The only thing they found, was me. And since Lorelei was allegedly much much older then I, I was not counted. I just sat in the lake, and practiced routines. Again, and again. And waited.

A vaporeon, yes, that is all they found. She who knew everything they wanted to know. But who couldn't tell them anything.

And wouldn't, even if she could.

---

Fin.