Can it be done alone?

[doc]

“You know you want to. Just give a try. Come on. It’ll be fun for both of us.” He licked his lips in anticipation; his shadowy figure dripped with danger, yet a danger that called out to her and... Well it welcomed with a false comfort. She had never backed down from /anything/. But she had never been pressured into /anything/. “Everyone has to have a first time.”

Lauren’s eyes darted from him to the door and back again. The blaring music in the next room wasn’t helping much as she tried to decide what to do. What to do was right! The posters always said with large red font ‘JUST SAY NO’. But right now it seemed a lot easier to just give in; she already had with booze because of him. Those posters had no idea right now. The temperature in the room seemed to cool to arctic temperatures and her head spun from the hard-A she had just drunk only a few minutes before. What to do? What to do? She couldn’t give in. It would be horrible. She would feel horrible. It wasn’t her. She wasn’t like that.

“How about we split it?” She whispered in his ear, seductively. Her neck was just brushed up against his face and she could feel a sly smile splice across his face. Her hand rose up around onto the opposite shoulder and pulled him even closer to her body, which was leaning across him. She planted a peck on his check and looked at his reaction as she sat back up, closer to him now.

He hadn’t been expecting it and with his wild eyes already spinning at a million miles an hour, he didn’t need much more messing up before he would be out stone cold or even more crazy then he was now. He nodded and pulled out a plastic baggie that contained a eighth of shrooms. Their bitter smell came to Lauren’s nostrils and stung as they went down, as if it had knifes. Now it was her turn to lick her lips. He split the brown curling monstrous looking things into two piles on the bed they were sitting on.

She picked up one from her pile and motioned that she wanted to feed it to him. He accepted with a murmur deep in his throat of total enjoyment. Then she did it again. He accepted once more. It wasn’t until half of her pile was gone that he finally realized that she wasn’t ingesting any of the drug. Just as he opened his mouth to bring it up, he was so high that he couldn’t even control his facial features, she brought hers to his in a kiss. Instantly he melted.

“How about I get us some drinks?” She asked as she finally pulled away, having a difficult time trying to sound like she was having fun and was interested in him anymore. He could only slur some words before flying backwards on the bed obviously thinking that this was going somewhere farther, his drugs flying everywhere. She walked out of the room in a hurry with her purse slung tight to her side, he hadn’t even noticed. She passed her friends, whom asked why she was crying. She answered that Jordon and she weren’t dating anymore. She darted out the door into the warm summer air and walked quietly into the night.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - -



And now here she was, standing in front of the Pokémon laboratory without Jordon at her side. The tears fought to come to the surface but she held them back in like she had for the past month. She had gotten over Jordon. He pleaded with her, begged her and even screamed at her to take him back. Every speech he gave her threatened her defenses, but he just didn’t get it. He had violated a rule she had laid back when they were just friends. She didn’t do drugs and that was it. It was a secret rule just between them, since she didn’t want to look “lame”. The last report she had gotten on him was that he had gotten a drug procession ruling and was spending time with the same kids that beat his ass in middle school.

She took a step forward, completely sure of herself and opened the light lab doors. The first thing she noticed was how clean it appeared to be. For the past month she had been living with various friends, trying to get away from her parents as soon as possible. She had flew the coop as soon as the big one eight rolled around. They hadn’t liked it of course.

The summer dress she wore hug down to her knees and the thin straps showed as much skin as possible. Her curly hair blew back in the opening doors and she looked like a movie star as she stepped into her new life. Her eyes darted to take in their surroundings and she stood a bit awkwardly in the doorway before stepping completely into the lab.

“Excuse me!” Lauren called out with a polite voice. It wasn’t demanding or weak sounding. It was more business like then anything. “I’m looking for a ranger or professor for some help.”

[Rose Petals]

Mime! a call came from the back. "Yes, Echo, I know," a faint whisper. "Coming!" shouted a young man, apparently busy at the current moment. He had been assigned to document each of the Pokemon that the lab contained, and to send out for more if needed. Many people were wishing for females, and now they were nearly out. Carter was checking on them.

After nearly a full minute, a young boy with blonde hair and blue eyes emerged from the back room, apparently a holding room. A Mr. Mime followed him. With a bright smile on the Pokemon's face, you couldn't tell that his life and his trainer's matched almost simultaneously. Carter was so reserved, and though he didn't show it at sometimes, he usually had something on his mind to make him sad, though this wasn't done intentionally.

Forcing a smile after a long day of tedious work, he greeted the new trainer - a quite beautiful young lady, in fact. He hadn't seen anyone his own age in quite a while. "Hello there, miss. I'm Ranger Carter. I'll help you with choosing your first Pokemon. Any interests yet?" Carter walked to the desk and rummaged through a few papers before finding the lists which contained the Pokemon they carried, and the starter kits. Turning to face the girl, he outstretched his hand to offer her these lists, and couldn't help but notice how sparkly her eyes were, and how easily her hair flowed around her shoulders. Mental stability, Carter, take control of yourself, now! he was screaming inside his head. He was a Pokemon ranger, not anyone's boyfriend. He couldn't be thinking this way. Yet, he found it hard to resist looking at her.

[doc]

Lauren stood in the waiting room after a long silent minute, growing impatient. She was wondering if this was some kind of joke or they had forgotten about her. Drumming her fingers along her side, she started to look around. Instantly she stopped as a young man appeared from nowhere. A quick look over of him concluded that he was nice looking.

‘Might be interested in you. She thought to herself with a coy feeling as he introduced himself and asked his question. She conveyed a charming smile to him, her eyes softened and her voice as well. There would be no problem getting her first Pokémon, which was nice. He looked older then herself, which she loved. The only thing was he was a Ranger. He would probably follow rules and regulations and blah blah blah. Stuff she didn’t do. Lauren lived on the edge, enjoying free fall sometimes, and she wasn’t about to give any of that up. But still, her best “I’m kinda flirting with you, wondering if you’re interested in me, thanks for thinking I’m pretty” showed.

“Thank you.” She said with a bashful voice that suggested something. However he would take it, but it was still flirting. As she grabbed the lists, she accidently ran her fingers over his. Her hand darted away from his as if it had been on fire with the lists. “Opps. Sorry. It’s always awkward to grab something out of someone’s hand.” She smiled and then with her empty right hand offered it.

“By the way, I’m Lady.” She stuttered, shaking her head at her mistake. “Well, my real name is Lauren. But my friends call me Lady.” The Mr. Mine was standing near his trainer with a smile curling across his face. Pokémon were known to be like their trainer and right now that Mr. Mine was beaming. Well, it wasn’t showing right now that these two were any like each other.

[Rose Petals]

"Thank you," she had said. She was nice after all. He couldn't stop thinking about her kind words when suddenly a chill went through his entire body, something he'd never felt before. He instantly realized what had happened. He had been too distracted in his own thoughts to notice that Lauren, AKA Lady, had accidentally ran her fingers over his while reaching for the lists of Pokemon and starter kits. He had nearly conquered thinking straight again when her soft, almost melodious, voice enveloped him into a sort of dream.

“Opps. Sorry. It’s always awkward to grab something out of someone’s hand.” Smiling after she said this, Carter nearly lost it. It had been too long since he'd felt wanted, much less wanting someone himself. Two years before now, he dedicated everything he had to his time with Pokemon and his work, and had lost connection to anything else except for a few orders here and there from the professors. A ranger never let anything stand in the way of what was supposed to be. Now nothing seemed clear, as Carter couldn't even think what he was supposed to do. So what was this insane feeling that made his bones shiver like ice, the hair on his neck stand, his stomach twisting around like it had nothing connected to it to stay in its correct place.

Whenever Lauren took the informational papers from him, he still had his arm stretched out, as if he didn't know they were no longer in his hand. Echo studied the situation closely, then lowered his head. Mime, mime! the Mr. Mime bellowed out to break the tension. He was already in front of Carter by the time he was done getting his attention, and was smiling to the girl whom said her name was Lady. She was a lady, Echo presumed, since she was pretty. That didn't matter to Echo, though, for he wasn't interested in humans the way his partner was. Mime! he instructed. He had a gloved hand held out so that the girl would hopefully get the idea to pick a Pokemon and show him, that way he could go get it for her.

Carter glanced down at his Pokemon while he was participating himself in this escapade, and had to laugh. With the stress from this situation lowering, Carter could look Lady in her eyes again, though he could feel his nerves starting to make his hands shake, and possibly his lower lip quiver. Nonetheless, Carter was able to say a few words, however forced they were. "That's a pretty name, Lauren," he replied. Then to change the subject, trying to focus his mind elsewhere intentionally, he commented, "He sure is smart, isn't he? His name's Echo." Carter hoped that he didn't seem like a jerk for practically ignoring her attempts, but he did not want to be caught up in a relationship that could take him away from everything he had learned to live for, no matter how badly he wanted to take this further, he knew he couldn't.

[doc]

Lauren glanced over the paper with darting eyes, quickly taking in the possible Pokémon available. She instantly was caught on the three flying types. Birds had always been her favorite type of Pokémon. Their feathers were soft and their elegance was matched by nothing. She had often dreamt of flying high above cities, descending to dance among the skyscrapers. The age old question of ‘If you were a type of Pokémon, which would it be?’ had always been answered the same. As she looked now, her heart soared at the idea of being able to have such a Pokémon as her starter, the Pokémon that would be by her side forever.

The Mr. Mine broke her of her daydream. She tilted the clipboard down so that he could see and pointed to the Starly. “That’s a pretty name, Lauren.” It was as if he tasted the words on his tongue. Instantly, she smiled with a light laugh. Complements made her melt and she kept the bright smile across her face as evidence.

“Yeah. Echo is real killer. With brains and charm.” Lauren looked directly at him as she spoke, flicking the bangs out of her face. At this point she really wanted someone to help her get off to the right start. If she could use her looks and charm to this advantage… well, what was to lose? It was that drive of getting the best, even with a bit of a cheat. She felt horrible afterwards though.

“You know this my first time ever having a Pokémon.” Her voice drifted as she flipped through the paperwork to examine the starter kits. Most of the items were foreign to her. The basic items were easy to understand. Like the Pokeball and potions. She had no idea what red scarves or lava cookies did though. “I really don’t know what starter kit to get. What would you recommend?”

[Rose Petals]

Carter smiled as Lauren commented about his Pokemon, saying that he had brains and charm. Echo just looked at the Pokemon she wanted, and disappeared into the back room to search for one. It was a lab Pokemon's dream to help out and they had to know where each Pokemon was located, and that took a lot of training. Echo was still partially in training, even though he knew what to do and where most of the Pokemon were.

Carter was watching Lauren, almost studying her, while she looked at the starter packs. Then the question came. 'Great,' he thought. 'She's making me talk.' Carter never liked to carry on a conversation anymore. He had not always been this way - he used to talk all the time, and sometimes with no point to what he was saying. He had long since given this up, however, for he lost many friends due to his big, clumsy mouth. He had often said things that he would regret later, especially with his past two girlfriends. He always found him saying things to drive them away, and that's how he ended up here, at the lab. He refrained from talking unless he needed to, and made sure he had time to train Pokemon. Until now.

With a smile, he tried to hide his thoughts, though at the moment, he felt like she could see right through him. "Well, the starter kit with the scarves are for potential contesters. If you want to enter your Pokemon in contests when you get to Milbank Town, you should pick this one, though I'm sure they sell them along the way somewhere, it'd be good training for your Pokemon to be accessorized early on. The red scarf is for females, and the blue for boys. Though, I've seen trainers that would put one on their Pokemon and wear the other one. They don't heighten power, they're just for looks." Carter paused for a moment as he looked through the two lists, as though he needed time to gather his thoughts. "The Lava Cookies work like potions, but you can also feed them to your Pokemon if they're hungry. Lava Cookies come from Entei City - they get the ingredients from Smokie Mountain. The Luxury balls are like Pokeballs, but research has shown that they tend to make Pokemon more friendly and relaxed." Carter gave Lauren a few seconds to think about these items, then suggested, "Bottom line is, if you want to enter contests, you should get the first starter kit. If you want to just catch and train Pokemon, get the second one."

Carter hoped that he had explained everything well enough, because he sure didn't want to have to talk much more. Though he loved company, he was used to the company of Pokemon, and he had honestly forgotten how to talk to a girl, as he had learned to communicate with Pokemon. Pokemon and girls were quite different from each other, and Carter knew these differences well. Pokemon weren't out to make a boy talk to them or get compliments. He wished that he could tell Lauren the truth, but at the same time, he didn't want to say another word, as he was afraid of what words would roll of his tongue.

Echo had been gone for about five minutes by now, and Carter had not thought of him getting Lauren's first Pokemon. Echo was having some trouble, as he had never retrieved a Starly for anyone before. He had no clue where they were, and so he was opening many pokeballs to find the right one. After about ten pokeballs and no success, he looked around and tried to decide which pokeball would be correct. He finally chose one that was up too high for him to reach. He pulled over a ladder and climbed up, grabbed the pokeball, then returned to the floor. After he let the Pokemon out, he sighed disappointingly, as it was not a Starly, but a Plusle. As he was getting ready to call it back, the Plusle noticed him and grew frightened. With no warning, the Plusle's cheeks lit up and a weak jolt of electricity flew threw the air. The thunder wave hit the Mr. Mime, and he dropped the pokeball as he fell to the ground, paralyzed, or maybe just stunned, from the attack.

[doc]

As he spoke, she shot curious glances down the long hallway Echo had disappeared from. Random shrieks from Pokémon came from down the passage and she was sure that Echo was having problems. But she listened politely while fidgeting slightly. Well, she knew what kit she would get. Contests had never looked fun to her, even just watching them. His long explanation was unnecessary to her. She just wanted a straight answer and to get out of here.

“You know,” She said quickly, as if wanting to just help Echo. “I think I’ll take pack one. Now maybe we should, well, you know. Help? I think something’s wrong.”


ooc;
Blah. Sorry. Writers block today.

[Rose Petals]

{OOC: I am sorry, but I cannot think of a good reply to that, if you could try to elaborate now? And it's only 111 words, the minimum is 150.}