The Big Moment

Two chestnut eyes stared blindly outside the car window. The loud chattering of her friends in the drivers seat and passengers seat sounded dull. Valencia wasn't paying attention. Her mind was still reeling in all the information that had been stashed in there from the past hours. It seemed just yesterday that she was looking wide eyed at a Pidgey flying over her apartment back in Celadon City. Is that a real Pokémon? Her five year old mind had questioned. It must have been. She never actually touched one up until she went to Highschool. Her aunt and uncle did not have a license and her parents didn't either. Both individuals never seemed to have friends who had licenses, which led to Valencia never seeing one again. Or .. rarely. Very rarely. She tore her eyes of the window and glared at her friend in the backseat. She was clutching a very wary looking purple rodent thing, which apparently was called a Nidoran male. She always mixed that one up with it's lighter blue counterpart. Valencia adjusted her black glasses on her nose and looked down at a Pokéball. She had clutched it in her hand from the moment she got it and she'd be damned if anyone took it. The feeling that someone was going to grab it and take it away had haunted her from the moment she received her gear and her Pokémon. She could not quite put a finger on the feeling and tried to ignore it most of the time. But a nervous storm raged on in her stomach. "Hey Val let me see yours!" Conor shouted as he put his Nidoran on his lap and grabbed playfully to the Pokéball. "I bet it's a Voltorb, suits your explosive mood!" The black haired boy with the green eyes tried to grab at it but Valencia dodged it and gave him a not too gentle punch against his cheek. "Piss off, moron, or do you want to see your Nidoran become a flying type?" As response to her threat pushed she the window button and opened it wide. Conor swore vigorously and Aiyne at the wheel was roaring with laughter. "Keep your dirty paws to your rodent, wuss"  Val spat one more time as she turned her attention back to the outside world. For the remaining time back to her house Conor and Aiyne kept their hands to themselves. Aiyne mostly because she was driving and Conor because his cheek began to swell. It wasn't with a heavy heart that Valencia fell glad when the buildings started to look familiar.

Aiyne waved at her and honked loudly while she turned the car around and made herself ready to drive back to their place. Valencia smiled widely and waved as well. The brunette took a heavy breath and Val exactly new why. She hadn't opened her Pokéball either and she was just as nervous as Val was at the moment. While Conor flicked her off with a well meant filthy look only meant for her, she watched as the car rapidly disappears in the distance and the roaring of the engines died down. When a ominous silence fell Valencia took a deep breath and turned around. Almost there .. Almost. She opened the rather rusty looking fence door that hung by one hinge and walked down the small path towards the house. The once white bricks were ugly grey due to the many exhaust of passing cars and whatsoever. The brown paint on the door peeled down and gave the whole house a rather authentic and poor view. But this was the only house she could afford so far and for the current state it was in, wasn't it bad. She tried to get a house somewhere farther away in the city but she had the misfortune to run out of money when the time came. Mustache'io was fed up with lending her money and practically kicked her out if she didn't find one soon.  Her uncle could be a real pain in the ass, so she made sure she kept being on his good side to avoid any fights. Valencia fished the keys out of her pocket and pushed a rusty, ugly key in the lock and turned it. With a soft click, the lock unlocked and Valencia pushed. With loud, violent cracks the door reluctantly opened and revealed a small, poorly lid hallway that gave access to two doors in the right, one on the lest and one at the end of the hallway. She closed the door and wiped her feet at the doormat that said; 'Be Welcome!'. With a soft push on the light switch, the hallway was covered in a welcoming light. Valencia streaked her curly, honey colored hair out of her face and started unbuttoning her jack as slowly as possible. She hung her black, woolen coat at the wooden peg next to the door and stepped carefully out of her lime green sneakers. She took the time to examine herself in the mirror on her right before walking towards the kitchen. She wore a black skinny jeans with a simple, white blouse that had some lace running down a zipper like pattern. It sure wasn't her favorite but she'd always make do with what she had. To end the whole picture she wore hellish red socks that easily could glow in the dark. With a small smile she looked at them. It was always her thing to stand out in something, but people usually could not see it. That was how she liked it. As she walked into the kitchen she was greeted with the pile of vile looking bills on the wooden, round kitchen table on her left. It stood nearly against the wall and covered most of the small living space in the kitchen. The refrigerator was on her right, with the stove next to it, and the kitchen counters following against the wall. Valencia took a deep breath and started to move away some chairs to make room for whatever was coming out of her Pokéball. She knew that Ponyta would probably be the largest of the Pokémon she could have received. She would not know what to do with a filly in her small apartment. Part of her hoped she had a Ponyta and part of her wished she did not, in sake of her living space and her money.

Tensed, Valencia adjusted her glasses yet again and pushed a strand of hair out of her eyesight. She pushed the small button on her Pokéball and it grew bigger, to its original size. Then she pushed again and something shot out the Pokéball and materialized in front of her. She did not need her Pokédex to tell her what it was. The humanoid Pokémon looked up at the only other living thin in the room and stared. Val stared awkwardly back. Machop had a gray skin and three, light brown ridges on top of his head. His eyes were red and seemed to match his relatively flat face. You could count three thin like ribs on both sides of his chest and his feet appeared to have no toes. His arms seemed oddly muscular and his hands counted five fingers.  To end the whole picture he had a small, stubby like tail. "Oh shit" She murmured as she looked down at her Pokémon. Hér Pokémon. Machop turned around and started to examine his new surroundings. Speechless she watched as he almost effortless jumped on top of the kitchen counter with well trained legs and turned around to study the kitchen with squinted eyes. Valencia silently rose to her feet and closed the kitchen door. While walking the small distance to her door, Machop seemed to assess her. Almost if he was .. evaluating her. Not sure what to say she just sat down again and grinned at him. "Well, muscle, this is your new home" When she said the word muscle something in his eyes changed and he folded his arms together. She raised an eyebrow at him. The Machop she had seemed smart, surely he understood the situation. The fact that he didn't made any movement towards her made her slightly nervous. He was either wondering whether she was good enough for him or he was getting used to his surroundings. She had no idea how long he had been in this Pokéball. Then she remembered what teacher Flint had told her when he gave Valencia her Pokéball.

Mr.Flint always had fabulous hair, but today, the day that his students received their license, it was one big mess of fabulous. It had been dyed in almost every color imaginable and stood upright. When he finally came to Valencia he smiled widely. "Look at you! Ready to be a full grown licence holder!" Val smirked. "Yes, sir" She muttered. Mr. Flint grabbed in the case of Pokéballs and took out the only one left. When Val's fingers closed around the cool fabric, Flint took her hand. "Good luck" He said darkly.

Valencia was abruptly knocked out of her poorly timed flashback when she heard the recognizable sound of something breaking. Machop had opened one of the cabinets and was now slowly taking out every white plate she had. "Hey! Stop that!" She shouted louder than intentional. Machop slowly turned around, hand mid air, ready to grab another plate .. and then carefully closed his fingers around it and pulled it out the cabinet. With a loud breaking sound the plate made contact with it's adamant doom, the floor "Why you little-.. in your Pokéball you go!" Machop snatched the Pokéball out of her hands and disappeared under the table, while Val was still wondering how he got to her so fast. When Valencia wanted to crouch she saw him disappear back ón the table. She flew back on her feet and glared with the most vile stare she could muster at the red eyed devil that stood on her table, his eyes full of adamant, malicious pleasure. Valencia took a shaky, enraged breath and took off her glasses. Val fished the small glass holder out of her pocket and switched them for lenses. Taking her time putting them in one by one. Then, she slowly turned around and reached for the broom that stood next to the door within arms reach. Calmly, with a look of pure zen on her face, swept the broom over the wooden floor. She rounded the pieces of glass up and threw them with the canned and sweeper in the trash. Once that was done, the broom rested safely against the wall and Valencia turned around. Machop had been watching her wide mild interest for the whole time. Awaiting she took a defense stance. Feet somewhat apart, hands raised and clenched. Machop dropped the Pokéball and smiled virulent. "Come at me.." She whispered. Luckily he understood that and flung at her with an amazing speed for such a bulky Pokémon. Val had the fortune to dodge it just in time. Her hands closed around the Pokéball and she spun it around, opening it and entrapping a very indignant Machop right in it. Dissolving in a red flash the Pokéball closed and Valencia took a deep breath. She glared at the Pokéball, hoping he could somehow see her. "That's what you get for breaking expensive human stuff, creepy muscled thing" She spat and she placed the Pokéball in a kitchen drawer, hoping this would at least contain him. Val felt tired already from all the stressful events and her new and first Pokémon who'd proven to be a real challenge. She opened the kitchen door and walked to the end of the hallway and then turned right into her room.

Her room was bigger than the kitchen, not by much but spacious enough to fit in a bed, clothing cabinet, a drawer and a desk that she previously had used to study. The bed had a mahogany frame and stood against the very left wall under a window that had white, silk curtains. Her desk, drawer and cabinet were also mahogany. With a heavy sight, Valencia didn’t even bother to turn on the lights. The sheer impact of everything she’d done today hit her like a train. She crawled onto the bed and curled herself up to a ball, feeling so very tired. Her eyelids felt heavy and in no time she had dozen off to places only she knew.
It seemed to call her.. mock her .. Valencia was staring at the Pokéball in her hand for quite some time now. She had gotten up an hour ago and had changed in something more comfortable after sleeping through most of the evening, night and morning. Luckily was there a fresh box of cereal waiting for her since she was starving! After the Machop incident didn’t she even notice she was so hungry. When she woke up to go to the bathroom at 5 AM she’d noticed. Still too tired to go she went back to bed, to her regret the next morning. And now she had the Pokéball in her hand again. In all honesty, was she at loss at what to do what it. Not only had she been given a Pokémon that was physical strong practical since birth, but also one who liked to assess its dominance. If she didn’t do something about his behavior quick, she knew things would get terribly out of hand by the time he evolved in an absolute brute. Machop now was already in a condition he could lift slightly heavy objects.. even too heavy for her- Machoke could probably lift small vehicles! Shit, where am I going to keep him? She wondered anxiously. She had to move when the time came .. there was no way her house could contain a fully grown Machoke .. I am thinking way ahead of myself. He isn’t even capable to win from an equally strong Pokémon. I need to calm down and think straight. She told herself sternly. Nevertheless, she kept her mind busy that day by cleaning up the house. Since the day she would get her license she hadn’t touched the floor in months. The living room was covered with pieces of food, dirt, sand and bags and wrappers that used to contain food. It was truly a pigsty. Somewhere halfway through her cleaning job she got bored however and decided to go out for a walk. The clean air infected with exhaust from passing cars and other vehicles would do her good! And so, somehow, she ended up in a small park looking out over a absolutely tiny lake. The park was not really much of a park. More some concrete pathways with some dead bushes and a fence around it. As for herself.. Valencia wore a simple, pale blue skinny jeans and her black, woolen coat over it. The cool breeze that played with her honey colored hair had proven to be chilly. Still no weather to bring out your summer coats. As she silently looked over the muddy water she listened to cars passing by in the distance. The feeling that her Machop somehow would get out of his Pokéball haunted her the second she set foot outside her home. She would not know what to do when it happened. She feared the moment he had to be let out again .. it would come eventually. In a heavily guarded facility.. no way I am letting that little demon back into my kitchen. He ruined half of the plates she had and it would be costly. But she would make do with only three plates and two cups. Who needed things to eat and drink from anyway? Valencia slowly looked down at her purse and the need to just open her purse and release her Machop in the park was great. But she probably would get a penalty because he would start to destroy things. He had been out for probably thirty minutes, maybe more, and already showed that he greatly enjoyed it to destroy things. Maybe she could use him to help break down old houses. Could give her money. Maybe there really is something like that .. She pondered, not noticing her surroundings.