i cant believe

Despite a few... obstacles, the plan to collect Uxie, Mespirit and Azelf went rather smoothly. The Team also received a bit of unnecessary attention, but other than that things went quite well indeed.

“So... why am I getting fired?”

Saturn stood in front of me, looking maybe a little bit upset. “Even if things turned out well for us in the end, you put our entire mission at risk!”

“I what? How?”

“By being a moron! If you would have just beaten that twerp right off the bat instead of running away, there wouldn't be any worry of the bomb not getting to us in tact!”

“But how did you find out about th—?”

“Shut up! That doesn't matter. What does matter is that you're a terrible worker, and I'm not taking the risk of having you around! Now get out of my sight!”

Maybe I should've seen that coming. It wasn't the first time I'd messed things up, and my policy tends to be run first, battle later, which doesn't exactly suit Team Galactic's needs, I guess.

But if they thought they'd get their uniform back from me they were dead wrong! That would be my revenge!

Not to mention I didn't have any other clothes. Or a place to go. Actually I was pretty much a hobo at that point. And realizing that was what finally made me freak out, and before I knew it I found myself behind the Veilstone Department Store, sobbing and clinging to the garbage bin beside me. It wasn't exactly my greatest moment.

So of course, that's when he just happened to walk by.

The stupid kid who chased me all the way to Valor Lakefront! The little brat who ruined my life!

I could have snapped his neck! But the thought didn't really occur to me, since my brain was still stumbling over the fact that this guy was right there before my eyes.

And he had the nerve to walk right up to me! He walked right up to me, knelt down, and pulled something out of his pocket. It was a hanker-something, a little cloth thing, and he was just holding it out to me. What the hell was I supposed to do with that?

After a couple seconds of just staring at the cloth, I looked back up at the kid. He rolled his eyes at me, rolled his eyes at me, and started dabbing my face with it. Then I remembered that I'd just been crying, and I must have not dried my face, and he was just mocking me, wasn't he?!

Well, I wasn't about to have any of that! I jumped up, started flailing my arms, and shouting at the top of my lungs. He looked mildly surprised. And that was it. What a freak! So finally I resolved to try talking to him.

“You! Do you even know who I am?!”

He nodded.

And I didn't quite know what to say for a few moments. “What? You can seriously tell the difference between us?”

He nodded again. Didn't he know how to talk?

“Oh. Well. You know who you're dealing with, and you still have the balls to do that?!”

This time he looked a bit confused. But something about his face also seemed to be asking, 'Are you stupid?'

“Do you have any idea what you've cost me?! I just lost my job because of you! I'm homeless! A hobo loser! My life is in ruins!” Halfway through my accusations I'd begun talking mostly to myself. And from there it wasn't long before I was sobbing and hugging the garbage bin again.

When my wailing died down to hiccups, I heard the kid getting up. I thought he was finally leaving me alone, but instead he started tugging at my arm. I tried to ignore it the first couple times, but then he just started tugging harder. Exasperated, I finally let him pull me to my feet, and he led me around to the front of the store.

He let go of my arm and began to walk off, so naturally I wondered why he made me get up in the first place. But then he stopped and looked behind him, as if he'd been expecting me to follow him. What an idiot! How was I supposed to know?! More importantly, why was he looking at me as if I was the idiot...?

I didn't know why he wanted me to follow him, and I'll never know why I did, but that's exactly what happened. He led me out of the city, and close enough to Valor Lakefront that for a moment I thought he just wanted to rub salt in my wounds.

But instead he brought me to a tent, set up a bit into the woods. I still didn't know what the heck he wanted from me, so I asked him, “What? Is this yours?”

Yet again he nodded, and this time he smiled a little bit. Still not a word out of him. I stared at him for a while, meeting his silence with my own, and he started to look a bit uncomfortable. Which was good, he deserved to know what it feels like. He started to gesture at the tent, still too god damn stubborn to just say what the hell he wanted me to know!

Suddenly a light bulb went off in my head, and I thought that maybe I figured it out. “You're giving me this as reimbursement?”

No... from the look on his face I could tell I was wrong. Dammit! I was never good at charades!

“There's something in there that you want to show me?” No. “There's someone in there that you want me to meet?” No. “There's something special about the tent?” No. “You want me to stay in the tent with you?”

The kid smiled again as he nodded vigorously.

“Hah hah! I got it!” I threw my arms up in the air, revelling in my genius, for the first time that day. I gave the little guy a high five, and was in mid-celebration when I suddenly realized what I'd just said. “Wait... you want me to stay in there with you?”

His smile was tainted with something like disbelief, and he nodded again, more slowly this time.

“What kind of nerve is that?! You don't think I have any money?! That I can't stay in a hotel or afford my own food?!”

He started looking at me critically, and then I suddenly realized: I had no money. I couldn't afford a hotel or my own food. Heck, I went straight from living with my parents to living at the Team Galactic Headquarters; I couldn't even take care of myself.

I really hit rock bottom.

For a second I thought I would start crying again, but I managed to fight back the tears that time. I noticed the kid was looking at me sympathetically, as he gestured to the tent again.

“...I guess this is my only choice for now, huh?” I muttered, sighing to myself. “I might as well see where I'll be... living.”

The tent rustled as I pushed one of the flaps aside and peered into my temporary home. It didn't seem too bad, it was big enough for two people and all. But it was still a tent, and it still belonged to the person who put me in this situation in the first place.

“So do you get cable he—Hey, where are you going?” I caught the beret-wearing-brat (Oh! I oughta remember that one!) as he was trying to walk away, apparently on his way back to Veilstone. “Where are you going? Back to Veilstone? Whaddaya want there? Were you about to do it when you saw me?”

He stopped me there, sticking out his hand to get me to be quiet-- I shouldn't have let that slide-- and then moving it to point at Lake Valor. He looked at me very seriously, and then pointed behind him, in the direction he was walking a moment before.

“Um....” This would've been so much easier if he would just say something. Then I noticed that he was pointing at me, or rather my uniform, and I started piecing things together. “All right, so you're going to the Galactic Headquarters in Veilstone right?”

I got a nod, and added a point to my mental scoreboard. But I really didn't know where to go from there. Something about Team Galactic... Veilstone Headquarters... Lake Valour... something that involved him. He slumped a little, and I growled at his clear lack of faith in my intelligence.

“Let's see... I can totally figure this out. Right, I met you here before... unfortunately. The whole bomb business went down. What were we using that bomb for again? Oh right capturing Aze--... Oh! Oh, I get it!” I watched for a signal that I was on the right track, and when I got it I started snapping my fingers. “Azelf! You wanna go to the Veilstone Headquarters to free those three buggers that Boss wanted so bad holy crap are you stupid?!”

Judging by the look on the kid's face I could tell I probably lost him somewhere in my run-on sentence.

“You can't do this! I won't let you do this! As a member of Team Galactic it's my responsi—Don't give me that look! Even if it's not my job anymore, you're still crazy! Saturn'll clobber you! And Jupiter! And Mars! And especially Mr. Cyrus! It's so not worth it, Kid!”

That's when I got another one of his serious looks, and maybe I was just implying things-- Wait, is it imply or infer? Maybe Mum was right about paying more attention in school, and that's irrelevant anyway-- but I thought I could understand what he was trying to tell me. Something like 'This is my responsibility' or something equally cheesy.

“Whatever, if you wanna get yourself beaten to a bloody, stupid-hat-wearing-pulp, then that's your problem! More tent space for me.” I crossed my arms and tried to look as judgemental as possible, but he didn't seem to even consider giving it a second thought. Whatever! It really wasn't my problem anyway! Heck, I shouldn't have held him up in the first place.

The kid hiked up his bag a bit, and turned around to walk away again. What an idiot. How does someone get the idea that they can beat an entire organization on their own? I mean, they had big office-type buildings! With spikes on them! If that doesn't say 'Back off!' I don't know what does. “Spikes, god dammit.” Oh, talking to myself again. That was getting to be a real problem. But it's not like there were pesky children to overhear me rambling to myself that time.

Once Mr. Good Samaritan was so far away that I couldn't see him anymore, I turned back to the tent. If I was going to... live there, I might as well make myself cozy. I climbed in and sat in the centre, in front of a little table. Who puts a table in a tent, anyway? I looked around, soaking in my new surroundings. The place was mostly empty, probably because he spent most of his time on the move, but the essentials were all there. The little table, a box of supplies in the corner, a sleeping bag.... Huh. Only one sleeping bag. We'd have to fix that once the kid was done getting the crap kicked out of him.

If. If the kid came back. It was stupid, but I had a weird sort of confidence that he would somehow make it out alive. Maybe it had something to do with how easily he clobbered me. If he could take down Team Galactic, then losing to him wouldn't seem like such a big deal. That was probably it, yeah.

Reflecting on that suddenly reminded me of the Pokemon I had all cramped up in a ball, so I let him roam free. Glameow was a prissy little snob, and he really couldn't stand being carried around for too long. If I didn't let him out every now and then he would flat out ignore me for days. Even if I was trying to use him in a battle. He... he really didn't like me much. And I guess I was supposed to give him back, and he wasn't much happy about being stolen. Nothing really made him happy though.

Despite giving me a bit of a disapproving look, he curled up beside me, getting ready for a nap. And why did I have to let him out for this? Spoiled little brat.

Brat.

Somehow Glameow's ridiculousness brought me back to my situation. Stupid cat.

So I started thinking that maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he didn't come back. I'd have the entire tent to myself, I wouldn't have to buy a new sleeping bag.... I'd have to learn to cook and stuff though. Not to mention it'd be a bit lonely.

No, not lonely, that'd be stupid.

Boring. It would be boring.

...Kind of like sitting in a tent alone, waiting for some kid to get back from kicking ass. How pathetic! The brat was out being an action man, and I was just sitting around being used as a pillow! I could've been sitting there with a pink frilly apron and doing his laundry and it would be totally befitting of the situation!

Actually, scratch that, that sounds a bit creepy. But the point still stands!

I really did hit rock bottom.

Kinda hard to think optimistically with that gem of knowledge, huh? But that would not deter me! There were probably a bunch of 'bright sides' to my predicament! For instance, I was not back at Headquarters getting my butt kicked. That was certainly an upside. Though maybe I'd rather get beaten up again than be unemployed.

But hey! At least things could only get better! “Yeah! Things can only get better, they can only get better, they can only get better....” I snapped out of my trance to see Glameow giving me an odd look. “Don't act like the only reason you don't talk to yourself is because your name is the only thing you know how to say.”

Right. Things could get better, or I could end up going insane and start arguing with a cat.

...So maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he got back as soon as possible. I leaned over to look out of the “doorway,” disrupting Glameow's position in the process, not that I really cared. Though I cared a bit more when he chomped on my toes and walked off.

I looked down the road. Nothing. After staring for another five minutes, I finally decided that my bratty companion wasn't coming back any time soon, and pulled myself completely into the tent. I could wait a while for him to to get back.

It's not like I had anything better to do.