Chapter 9 - Reality Check

"Derrick, can you help me wash dishes down here? I could use a hand."

The boy swallowed absently, pressing START on his Gameboy SP and finding the Pidgeot in his team, commanding it to Fly to Fuchsia City. His glazed eyes followed the pixelated bird as it flew back and forth across the screen, carrying Red to his desired destination. The upbeat theme for the City struck up as Red landed, but Derrick instead pressed the volume on the side of his handheld down to mute it, bringing it from his eyes so he could wipe his hand down his face and think. Maybe a run through the Safari Zone would help change the pace.

"Derrick!"

"What is it, mom!?" he called back, trying to coat the annoyance in his voice.

"Come down here and help me with these dishes!" came the equally annoyed response. Derrick snapped his SP shut, placing it on his bed as he slid from atop of it and exited his room, making his way down the stairs as his mother continued to reprimand him: "I had to call you four times before you even answered. If you were that busy why didn't you just tell me? It's probably that game - you've been playing it entirely too much lately!"

"You're exaggerating, mom," Derrick retorted half-heartedly, stepping into the kitchen and finding a clean cloth to help her dry dishes with. "I haven't played it that often."

"I beg to differ," his mother pressed, pausing her washing to place wet fingers at his chin and turn his face toward her, earning her an embarrassed groan from her son. "Look at you. Look at your eyes! You've hardly been sleeping because you've played that game so often."

Derrick softly pulled from his mother's grip on his chin, rubbing the bags beneath his eyes a bit. He will admit, he hadn't gotten as much sleep as he wished. "It's not the game, mom," he murmured, wiping along his face once more. "My system's back light won't work with this game, so I can't play it into the early morning or anything. It's been those nightmares." His mother's expression softened a bit at that.

"The one from those other times...you're still having those?" she asked. As her son nodded, she crossed her arms and pursed her lip, eyes concerned. "That's strange. Usually recurring dreams like that mean something special." Derrick gave a light shrug, resuming his drying duty. When he was reluctant to meet her eyes, she raised an eyebrow. "Derrick, you can't hide forever. If you're having the same dream over and over, then you probably should begin digging up a few skeletons you may have forgotten to confront."

"Maybe..." he responded, biting his lip.
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Derrick maneuvered Red through the Safari Zone, pacing the character back and forth in the tall grass, even making him stand still and simply facing him different directions to save steps, hoping for a good Pokemon.

"Dude, you're hopeless," remarked Scott, peeking over at him from his phone and smirking. "I'll never know what you see in those sorts of games."

"It'd be awesome if I could find a Chancey," she whispered to himself, having not heard his friend, running or throwing bait at various wild Pokemon as he went. As he gradually became more bold in his steps, making Red walk more and more instead of reserving steps in the Zone, the bells sounded for his time to quit. "Bah," he blurted in defeat, watching his character return to the Safari Zone's lobby.

"No luck?" his friend muttered with a roll of the eyes.

"Hmm?" came the absent reply. Scott's mouth curled into a frown.

"Okay, screw that game!" she blared, bring his phone to his lap. "Turn that thing off and let's actually do something! We haven't been hanging out that much this summer. Let's go find you and me a ladyfriend so maybe this summer won't be so dull, because all you've been doing when we hang out is play on that stupid SP and hardly pay attention to the world. I don't know what your deal is lately, but we need to get you...Derrick...wait, are you okay?"

Derrick lifted his face toward his friend, exposing how clammily white it had become so suddenly. The boy doubled over a bit, nausea filling his mind and stomach. He saw his friend come to his aid, fanning his head, shaking him, shouting into his ear, but the more nauseous he got, the less he could hear or feel Scott with him. In fact, he couldn't feel or hear anything, it seemed. With painful gradualness, his nausea subsided, and he found himself in Pallet Town.  He also saw Red standing, staring at his small house.

"I thought we were supposed to be in the Fuchsia City," she muttered, hoping almost that Red couldn't hear him.

...I did, too. But we're here again.

Derrick looked around. He knew Pallet Town's tiny structure like the back of his hand, but it seemed surprisingly quiet now. There was no heartfelt background music like he was used to, and everything looked excessively static.

It's a bit strange, Red muttered, still staring at his house. Derrick joined him after a bit of wandering, looking  over to his his eyes pasted to the building.

"What's strange?" he asked, hoping that would draw his eyes from the building. It was beginning to unnerve him.

Well...many things, actually. It's strange that we somehow are back to the beginning place after a run in the Safari Zone, but...it's more strange how little I know about this place. God...was I born here?

"Well, yeah," came the boy's reply, as he leaned back against one of the rows of fence erected near his house. "You were born here and lived here until you decided to become a Pokemon master."

But that can't be...I don't know anything about this place. I don't even remember being raised here. Derrick swallowed as Red's eyes finally broke from the house to meet his own. The first thing I remember from this place is waking up in a room and going downstairs from this house and finding my way into tall grass, where I met Professor Oak. I had never met him before then. I had never met my rival, either. Even my 'mother'...

"That's your mother, Red," Derrick tried to reassure him. Red's eyes blazed for a moment at the remark. He beckoned Derrick follow him into the house where his mother sat at the table staring at the wall opposite from her.

This is my mother? Does she know anything about me? Does she ever mention me to other people?

Derrick couldn't respond. He only bit his lip and stared at Red's less-than-neutral expression.

She says the exact same thing whenever I talk to her now. Before I met Professor Oak, she would tell me that kids my age normally leave home, but after I started training Pokemon, she simply heals my team and wishes me off. She doesn't ask me to sit down and talk about my travels, or compliments me on how well I've been raising my Pokemon. She's...she's hardly even human!

Derrick watched the sprite of his character's mother as it remained perfectly still, most likely waiting on her son to talk to her so she could heal his Pokemon. She couldn't believe how right Red sounded.

I couldn't have been born here, from a static mother who talks about only two things, and with people I hardly know...God, where was I really born?

Intermission

So, I know I haven't posted a blog in over a month now, and for that I am extremely sorry! Then again, it is Christmas time. And with that being said, also mentioning that I just finished exams and am now being thrown into the situation of helping relatives prepare for Christmas, I still don't have a ready blog to post yet.
I'll be posting on Christmas Day, however, I promise! I have a new chapter almost ready by then, and soon after that, probably that Friday, I'll be posting another Pokemon White 2 blog, so keep an eye out for those two posts soon!
I'd also like to mention that my boyfriend is visiting me on the 29th, so I'll have one more period of no posts during the week that he's here, then I'll be back on schedule like usual. I promise. ; w ;

Hope everyone is having a good holiday season so far!
- Churl