Throughout the course of his entire life, Charles always dreamed of growing up to be something great. Not for his own benefit, but as proof that he wasn’t just some pushover. Every morning he’d tell himself sternly that he would change. He’d stare his mistakes straight in the eyes and fix them.
Yet, every day, he’d buckle under the pressure.
Whether it was classmates, his family, or someone off the street, Charles catered to all. He always felt like he was in the way of someone else’s great journey, so he’d move. Duck his head down and stay quiet.
The submissive boy assured himself that one day everything would be better. That someday he would suddenly sprout into something amazing.
Little did he know just how soon that day would come.
Seemingly overnight, Charles transformed into a very different personality. Where some classmates teased him, he retorted with clever and deliberate remarks. Where his family mistreated him, he talked back and left home. Where strangers told him to move, he became a brick wall that wouldn’t budge.
Charles had finally achieved his dream.
And he couldn’t have done it without me.
A Salandit sat on the coffee table of the hotel lounge, eating away at some of the hard candies that were left out in a bowl. Her eyes widened as she heard a human clearing her throat. She moved her head away from the bowl and looked upward, licking her lips after having devoured most of the delicious sweets. She locked eyes with what appeared to be an older woman, giving her a cold, hard, disapproving stare.
“Do you belong to someone?” said the lady, her voice slightly withered. “I hope you’re not some wild pokemon here to eat all the candy.”
The Salandit looked over towards the reception desk. There stood a young man, roughly in his late teens or early twenties, waiting for the receptionist to get off of his phone. From what the Salandit could hear, it didn’t exactly sound like a business call.
Regardless, she turned and looked at the old lady, who’d now put the pieces together and found out who this pokemon belonged to.
“Oh? Well perhaps he should teach you some manners. It’s quite unladylike to eat so barbarically,” she scolded, “you’re not a wild pokemon anymore, so maybe it’s time you stopped acting like one.”
Initially, the Salandit looked enraged by the unwanted criticism of her eating habits. After considering those remarks for a moment, however, she realized that perhaps this woman had a point. Maybe to truly act like a captured pokemon, she’d need to start behaving like one.
How hard could it be?
The Salandit sat down, then gently picked up a single hard candy with her front claws. She unwrapped it, opened her mouth wide, placed the candy on her tongue, then drew it in her mouth and chomped down on it. After chewing and swallowing, she watched the elder, as if looking for approval.
The old woman smiled in amusement. “That’s much better, dearie. Now you just need to work on not sitting on the table. You must wait for your trainer to feed you.”
He’ll feed me when I want him to feed me… the Salandit thought, speaking of which. She looked back at her ‘trainer’, then hopped off of the table, snaked across the lounge and scurried up his clothes. She came to rest upon his shoulder.
What’s taking so long?
“Well...he’s on the phone, so I’m waiting,” murmured Charles to the Salandit.
He’s close enough to grab. Lean over the desk, grab that stupid device he’s holding, and slam it down onto the ground. Then demand that he get us the room key or we’ll notify his superior!
Charles leaned down and grabbed the man’s phone.
“Hey!” the receptionist exclaimed, trying to hold onto it but eventually having it yanked from his grasp. “What do you think you’re doing?”
The trainer slammed the phone against the tiled floor as hard as he could, breaking off quite a few pieces from it. As an added touch, he proceeded to step on it, fracturing its screen with his hiking boot.
“Y-You can’t do that!” exclaimed the now outraged receptionist, “that was expensive!”
“Well, if you do your job right and get me my room key that I paid for, then maybe you’ll be able to keep your job and buy another one.” Charles shrugged, looking disinterested. “Or, you could keep wasting my time. Then I’ll report you to your manager, you’ll get fired, and you’ll have to settle for last year's model.”
With a look of scorn, the receptionist marched a short ways back, grabbed a key-card, then tossed it onto the counter. “There, you happy? Enjoy your stay, jerk.”
Charles picked up his room key and slipped it into his front pocket.
Wait, give that card to me.
Obediently, the young man removed the key-card from his pocket and handed it up to his Salandit. She gripped it in her claws, examining every aspect of it. After finding it wasn’t valuable enough for her to keep, she gave the card back to Charles and he placed it back into his pocket.
Just as they were about to walk down the hallway to find their room, a voice called out to them.
“Excuse me, young man.” The Salandit recognized the voice as the old lady from earlier.
Charles ducked his head a little and turned around to face the woman. “Uh...hi.” was all he could stutter out.
“I just wanted to say that your Pokemon is quite adorable. She really knows how to listen.” The old woman fixed her glasses a little, “does she have a name?”
The Salandit, as well as Charles, froze. The poisonous pokemon had never really thought of that. For all the time that she’d been with Charles, she never thought once that she’d be asked what her name was. Now, however, it seemed she had an opportunity to give herself a great nickname.
Naturally, the first thing that popped into the Salandit’s mind was ‘Salandit’, however, she winced at that and tried to be a bit more creative.
There was an old movie that she watched with Charles recently that came to mind. In this movie, there was a femme fatale who went by the name of Evelyn. Perhaps that would be suitable, considering her and Charles’ arrangement.
Evelyn, she demanded, say Evelyn.
“Her name’s Evelyn,” Charles reached a hand up and scratched beneath the Salandit’s chin. The reptilian pokemon made a few coos of delight while closing her eyes blissfully. “I usually just call her Eve, which is ironic considering how sneaky and serpent-like she is,” the boy chuckled.
“Well, I’m just glad to see that you two get along. If you ever need help training her, however, my grandson runs a daycare that helps train and breed pokemon.” She opened the purse she was carrying and began rummaging around inside of it, “hold on, I believe I have his business card in here somewhere.”
Charles stiffened. He glared at the woman as she searched, his fist clenched. How dare she suggest that his Salandit was anything less than perfect. On top of that, the prospect of Eve breeding enraged him even more. He wasn’t about to let some other Salandit treat her in such a way!
Eve noticed the trainer’s aggravated body language, and tried her best to soothe him before he got into another incident.
Calm down, don’t get upset. She means well. Just take a deep breath and walk away.
It was moments like these that truly worried the devious pokemon. While she was able to control this trainer for the most part, he'd occasionally go into these raging fits of jealousy where she had no say in his actions or decisions. He was temporarily free from her mind control, which was perhaps the scariest possible outcome.
“No thank you, ma’am,” the dark-clothed trainer said through gritted teeth. He then turned and started to walk away.
“No, no, please. I insist! My grandson-”
“I said no.” His voice was much more indignant, leaving the woman surprised by his sudden change of emotion. He kept walking away, fist still clenched as though he were ready to fight.
Keep walking. Let’s go to our room so you can cool down.
The two of them made their way down the hall, found their room number, then disappeared behind the door. As soon as the door closed, Charles leaned his back against it and let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding.
Are you okay? Eve looked to the young man, cocking her head to the side curiously.
“Yes,” he replied coldly, taking a few steps into the room.
Stop. Eve demanded.
Charles stopped.
At that moment, the Salandit jumped off of his shoulder and onto the bed. She looked up at him, and he stared down at her.
Order some food for me, then give yourself a bubble bath to relax a little. Eve looked up in thought for a moment. As a matter of fact, fill the sink with hot water too and make it bubbly. For yours truly, of course.
“Absolutely,” Charles said. He went on to carry out her tasks, seemingly forgetting about his previous enraged state.
Eve smiled contentedly and laid her stomach down on the bed. That’s better, she thought with a sigh. Back in my claws. I couldn’t really ask for a better life than this.
Yet, every day, he’d buckle under the pressure.
Whether it was classmates, his family, or someone off the street, Charles catered to all. He always felt like he was in the way of someone else’s great journey, so he’d move. Duck his head down and stay quiet.
The submissive boy assured himself that one day everything would be better. That someday he would suddenly sprout into something amazing.
Little did he know just how soon that day would come.
Seemingly overnight, Charles transformed into a very different personality. Where some classmates teased him, he retorted with clever and deliberate remarks. Where his family mistreated him, he talked back and left home. Where strangers told him to move, he became a brick wall that wouldn’t budge.
Charles had finally achieved his dream.
And he couldn’t have done it without me.
A Salandit sat on the coffee table of the hotel lounge, eating away at some of the hard candies that were left out in a bowl. Her eyes widened as she heard a human clearing her throat. She moved her head away from the bowl and looked upward, licking her lips after having devoured most of the delicious sweets. She locked eyes with what appeared to be an older woman, giving her a cold, hard, disapproving stare.
“Do you belong to someone?” said the lady, her voice slightly withered. “I hope you’re not some wild pokemon here to eat all the candy.”
The Salandit looked over towards the reception desk. There stood a young man, roughly in his late teens or early twenties, waiting for the receptionist to get off of his phone. From what the Salandit could hear, it didn’t exactly sound like a business call.
Regardless, she turned and looked at the old lady, who’d now put the pieces together and found out who this pokemon belonged to.
“Oh? Well perhaps he should teach you some manners. It’s quite unladylike to eat so barbarically,” she scolded, “you’re not a wild pokemon anymore, so maybe it’s time you stopped acting like one.”
Initially, the Salandit looked enraged by the unwanted criticism of her eating habits. After considering those remarks for a moment, however, she realized that perhaps this woman had a point. Maybe to truly act like a captured pokemon, she’d need to start behaving like one.
How hard could it be?
The Salandit sat down, then gently picked up a single hard candy with her front claws. She unwrapped it, opened her mouth wide, placed the candy on her tongue, then drew it in her mouth and chomped down on it. After chewing and swallowing, she watched the elder, as if looking for approval.
The old woman smiled in amusement. “That’s much better, dearie. Now you just need to work on not sitting on the table. You must wait for your trainer to feed you.”
He’ll feed me when I want him to feed me… the Salandit thought, speaking of which. She looked back at her ‘trainer’, then hopped off of the table, snaked across the lounge and scurried up his clothes. She came to rest upon his shoulder.
What’s taking so long?
“Well...he’s on the phone, so I’m waiting,” murmured Charles to the Salandit.
He’s close enough to grab. Lean over the desk, grab that stupid device he’s holding, and slam it down onto the ground. Then demand that he get us the room key or we’ll notify his superior!
Charles leaned down and grabbed the man’s phone.
“Hey!” the receptionist exclaimed, trying to hold onto it but eventually having it yanked from his grasp. “What do you think you’re doing?”
The trainer slammed the phone against the tiled floor as hard as he could, breaking off quite a few pieces from it. As an added touch, he proceeded to step on it, fracturing its screen with his hiking boot.
“Y-You can’t do that!” exclaimed the now outraged receptionist, “that was expensive!”
“Well, if you do your job right and get me my room key that I paid for, then maybe you’ll be able to keep your job and buy another one.” Charles shrugged, looking disinterested. “Or, you could keep wasting my time. Then I’ll report you to your manager, you’ll get fired, and you’ll have to settle for last year's model.”
With a look of scorn, the receptionist marched a short ways back, grabbed a key-card, then tossed it onto the counter. “There, you happy? Enjoy your stay, jerk.”
Charles picked up his room key and slipped it into his front pocket.
Wait, give that card to me.
Obediently, the young man removed the key-card from his pocket and handed it up to his Salandit. She gripped it in her claws, examining every aspect of it. After finding it wasn’t valuable enough for her to keep, she gave the card back to Charles and he placed it back into his pocket.
Just as they were about to walk down the hallway to find their room, a voice called out to them.
“Excuse me, young man.” The Salandit recognized the voice as the old lady from earlier.
Charles ducked his head a little and turned around to face the woman. “Uh...hi.” was all he could stutter out.
“I just wanted to say that your Pokemon is quite adorable. She really knows how to listen.” The old woman fixed her glasses a little, “does she have a name?”
The Salandit, as well as Charles, froze. The poisonous pokemon had never really thought of that. For all the time that she’d been with Charles, she never thought once that she’d be asked what her name was. Now, however, it seemed she had an opportunity to give herself a great nickname.
Naturally, the first thing that popped into the Salandit’s mind was ‘Salandit’, however, she winced at that and tried to be a bit more creative.
There was an old movie that she watched with Charles recently that came to mind. In this movie, there was a femme fatale who went by the name of Evelyn. Perhaps that would be suitable, considering her and Charles’ arrangement.
Evelyn, she demanded, say Evelyn.
“Her name’s Evelyn,” Charles reached a hand up and scratched beneath the Salandit’s chin. The reptilian pokemon made a few coos of delight while closing her eyes blissfully. “I usually just call her Eve, which is ironic considering how sneaky and serpent-like she is,” the boy chuckled.
“Well, I’m just glad to see that you two get along. If you ever need help training her, however, my grandson runs a daycare that helps train and breed pokemon.” She opened the purse she was carrying and began rummaging around inside of it, “hold on, I believe I have his business card in here somewhere.”
Charles stiffened. He glared at the woman as she searched, his fist clenched. How dare she suggest that his Salandit was anything less than perfect. On top of that, the prospect of Eve breeding enraged him even more. He wasn’t about to let some other Salandit treat her in such a way!
Eve noticed the trainer’s aggravated body language, and tried her best to soothe him before he got into another incident.
Calm down, don’t get upset. She means well. Just take a deep breath and walk away.
It was moments like these that truly worried the devious pokemon. While she was able to control this trainer for the most part, he'd occasionally go into these raging fits of jealousy where she had no say in his actions or decisions. He was temporarily free from her mind control, which was perhaps the scariest possible outcome.
“No thank you, ma’am,” the dark-clothed trainer said through gritted teeth. He then turned and started to walk away.
“No, no, please. I insist! My grandson-”
“I said no.” His voice was much more indignant, leaving the woman surprised by his sudden change of emotion. He kept walking away, fist still clenched as though he were ready to fight.
Keep walking. Let’s go to our room so you can cool down.
The two of them made their way down the hall, found their room number, then disappeared behind the door. As soon as the door closed, Charles leaned his back against it and let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding.
Are you okay? Eve looked to the young man, cocking her head to the side curiously.
“Yes,” he replied coldly, taking a few steps into the room.
Stop. Eve demanded.
Charles stopped.
At that moment, the Salandit jumped off of his shoulder and onto the bed. She looked up at him, and he stared down at her.
Order some food for me, then give yourself a bubble bath to relax a little. Eve looked up in thought for a moment. As a matter of fact, fill the sink with hot water too and make it bubbly. For yours truly, of course.
“Absolutely,” Charles said. He went on to carry out her tasks, seemingly forgetting about his previous enraged state.
Eve smiled contentedly and laid her stomach down on the bed. That’s better, she thought with a sigh. Back in my claws. I couldn’t really ask for a better life than this.