Hopelessly Devoted to Misery {Pokémon Fanfiction}

Chapter 2: Only the Lonesome Understand

I wake up to the smell of...blood?

"Damn it," I grumble to myself. My eyes are still shut, refusing to adjust to the light of the day creeping between the slits of the blinds. I shuffle my left hand around the couch. Sure enough, I grasp it within arm's reach.

"Molting season," I mumble. It's bad enough that my Tranquill loses his feathers naturally, but sometimes he plucks them out himself. At least Aquila only loses her exoskeleton versus the volume of feathers that Emy and Quincy can shed.

I wipe my eyes with my free right hand. As my vision adjusts, I see feathers sprawled out everywhere on the floor. Quincy, Emy, and Aquila are all asleep on the other seat in the apartment: my gray recliner I've had for longer than any other piece of furniture. I've created a lot of memories on that recliner. It has changed my restless insomnia nights to peaceful rests. It has a steadfast relaxing spot where I like to snooze on. It also has a handy cup holder.

Yes, I admit my recliner and I go way back.

"Quincy...why? Just why?" I plead as I realize the mess he's made. Feathers are everywhere you can think of. The only places it seems Quincy spared from his "FeatherDance" are my spot on the couch and my recliner.

Everywhere else is not as lucky.

"Quincy," I sigh, "your down brings me down."

I pull myself up, pains in my muscles amplifying with every inch I shift, and scan my vicinity. I spot a small (and surprisingly not gray) cabinet where I keep the one thing I need in this situation. With bounding steps sending shockwaves of agony through my legs, I swing open the cabinet's door to reveal my trusty hand broom.

"Give me a break Quincy," I say aloud as I squat down and undertake the plumage cleaning. Every stroke of the brush saps what little strength sleep gives me nowadays.

I glance over at my sleeping partners on my recliner.

"Yknow it wouldn't hurt to have some assistance," I say to them. Unfortunately, all three birds continue to snooze away. I sigh heavily as it's no use. Sometimes you have to let sleeping Pokémon lie.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

I pull my jacket closer to my body as I walk out of the apartment complex. Poké Balls still in my room, I leave without Quincy, Emy, or Aquila with me. In the end, I figure the best thing I can do for them is let them sleep and not bother their slumber.

What could possibly go wrong in the meantime, right?

The cool breeze in the city with a grand population of fifty-one (it used to be forty-six...or so I heard) chills the back of my neck as it blusters by. I move eastward towards a corner where the road to Route 2 in the southeast intersects with the path I'm traveling.

A grand total of seven buildings are in this so-called "city" I live in. One of them is the apartment complex I live in (I say live, but I'm hardly living).

Three more of them are buildings that are exactly the same as the one I live in: tall, brown, and approximately three stories. Despite their drab appearance, they are rather high quality for such a sparsely populated settlement. I hear there are other regions out there with buildings that can be described as pixelated.

We're obviously doing something right.

I turn left at the crossroad since I know turning right would go south towards Route 2 (the last thing I want to do is go on an adventure). I pass two more of the drab apartment buildings in the process.

Ahead are the other three building structures in the city. On the far right is the Striaton City Bar, Gym, and Restaurant. It is the tallest of the three buildings that line next to each other on what could be considered the main street of Striaton. A blue roof rests on top as the structures dark brown, wood color descends the multiple floors down to the base. Two statues of brass Poké Balls on wooden brown pedestals accompany the sides of the entrance. Etched onto brass plaques on both of statues read Striaton City Gym, Bar, and Restaurant.