Now here's the thing, I don't do this thing called "writing" but I wish I did. I'm making a thread to force myself to commit to writing a short (1k words? 2k words?) every week. I'm not thinking too much on whether this will work or even if it's a good idea, since I just want to do it and start somewhere. These ideas are all going to be very spontaneous. I wrote this first short in two hours. (That's supposed to be fast.)
List of Shorts
[01] 16/02/14 - Reimu Wants to be the Very Best
[02] 22/02/14 - Stop, Do Over
[03] 02/03/14 - Mt. Silver
"No, are you serious? What are you doing?"
In a medium-sized room, two girls had their eyes glued to the screen of a white contraption. There were two screens, as a matter of fact, but one happened to be more relevant than the other. One girl was reclining comfortably on her cushion, the other hunched over her, her head virtually suspended in mid-air. She looked up at her, narrowing her eyes. "As far as I can tell, I'm doing fine."
"No you're not. How are you so bad at this game?" she said, standing up straight as she began her lecture. "You're done for, now. You can't stop their set-up. It's not that hard looking one move ahead, you know."
The first girl didn't have it in her to admit that she hadn't even considered it. "We're not all like you, Professor Oak," she said, countering with her own snark.
"Look, it's not even funny," the second girl continued, flinging one of her golden braids. "You could've just hit it with a Bullet Punch. You have hazards. Gengar was going to die sooner or later."
The girl in control leaned back some more, eyes still on the sprite jumping around in the virtual arena. It was a red... bug? It had wings, anyway. Pincers, too. A brief pause later and her opponent followed up with a blue shark-dragon hybrid, complete with awkward fangs and scales, to replace the KO-ed purple boogeyman that was supposedly a ghost made out of gas. She'd noticed it wasn't exactly easy describing these things, but, fortunately, it was't that important in the first place. It bothered her more that it was the stamp of confirmation that her friend was right. She shrugged, tapped once, maybe twice at the bottom screen and the white flag was raised.
"I don't see why I'm playing in the first place, honestly," she said, annoyed, balancing her big red ribbon. "If you're so good, why don't you play? I'm probably boring you anyway."
"Hmm, it's more fun than you'd think," Kirisame Marisa said back, a wide grin on her face. "Fun at the expense of others, or something like that. Really gives you a sense of superiority."
This concluded the third crushing defeat in that session of clashes of the shrines. An anonymous Team Green had swept the floor with her, not missing any leftovers, not for the first time. The shrine maiden didn't care for some silly loss in a kid's game, but the smile on her guest's face was starting to get on her nerves. When the realization struck her, she stood up and flipped the contraption shut.
"The only reason you set all this up is to poke fun at me. I'm taking apart your fancy connection."
"Wait wait, you can't!" the witch said as she darted across the room to the door. "If competitive Pokemon isn't your thing, I'm sure we'll find something else! You don't want me telling Sanae-chan you're done playing with her, right?"
She had to grumble audibly at that one.
"C'mon Reimu, where's your competitive spirit?"
"Somewhere under the layer of dust I have to clean up in that other room. Move."
Marisa folded her arms. "Bleh, whatever. Seriously, though, don't tear that down. That stuff's elaborate."
The shrine maiden started making her way towards the shrine's main room, the blonde hazard moving out of the way at the last second. In there, she grabbed her old broom and made a sharp turn for the "special" room, the one for the ceremonies. The formerly-cleared blonde hazard tailed her on the way there.
"To be fair," she said, "Sanae ain't that bad. You think she got it from the kids at the village?"
Reimu let the image humor her for a bit, the Moriya shrine maiden surrounded by a group of preschoolers making serious faces, until she realized that was very likely the case anyway. She doesn't mean it, but Sanae has a knack for reeling in the followers. In fact, she couldn't do the job better if she actually meant it. Ignorance is bliss. Having these sort of thoughts was a nice signal to her that she'd already managed to calm down.
"Right, anyway, want me to tutor you or something?"
That was new. She turned around, broom slightly above-ground as if it were in a ready position to be shoved at the witch's face. "You mean, in the kid's game?"
"Don't give me that, it's obvious you like it," she said as she stretched out one of her arms in a pose. "Come out, Bulbasaur! Let 'em have it! Kind of like that."
It was useless hiding anything from her for the most part, since they knew each other way too well. She tilted her head and folded her arms. "It's a waste of time."
"It's a waste of potential. You're totally Red material."
"You're not funny."
"You're too kind."
The room they ended up in was only slightly larger than the guest's room, housing a few artifacts and other things. It was more like a hallway than anything else, though that only meant the sides of the room were a nightmare to dust. She had to admit that she didn't even like the room that much - it was distinctively gloomier than the rest of the place, lacking in the natural light department. They would usually light the place up with a bunch of candles, which isn't that bad when you're a group but sure felt like a demon spawn when you're cleaning up after. They were right on time - it was early afternoon - so none of that was an issue. Dusting ensued.
"It's an offer you can't refuse, I'm telling you."
She offhandedly blamed the fact that she was probably due for a nap, putting her other hand on her chin as she made a thinking noise. "If I'm allowed to be optimistic," she started, "I could beat that Moriya girl at something for a change. It should be refreshing."
Marisa had to question her hearing to confirm that she was dealing with the rare ambitious Reimu. She would have to update her statistics later, where apathetic Reimu clearly had free reign. "That's a yes, then. The contract's done. Welcome to the Pokemon world, young trainer!"
Reimu briefly considered if calling her Oak was a bad move. She made a gesture with her spare hand to pass the memo that she had to wait patiently until after she was done with the dusting.
She did not have to wait that long. The next thing she knew, she was following Marisa out the room in a steady walk. Disturbingly, she had in on instinct to play that one tune in her head, the one where the supporting characters carried your avatar around like it was in their job description.
Wait, we're going outside?
She barely had time to complete the thought as her eyes widened.
"Marisa!"
The girl had been flattened by... something that gave that quip on common sense in Gensokyo a new meaning.
The big lug taking residence on the floor of the shrine's entrance, and, by nature, Marisa, was none other than a big, black and white... bear? It was a Pokemon, for whatever it was worth. The name was at the tip of her tongue.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
A few seconds had past and the witch released a brief magical burst, sending the creature sky-high. It fell a few meters down the courtyard. "It's a Snorlax!" she said as if she had no recovering to do, her frame somewhat two-dimensional.
Reimu had to narrow her eyes a bit more than was necessary at the "Snorlax". She had actually lost her breath for a second or two. Inexcusable. "It's just the Nue."
"So I am," Houjuu Nue said as she flashed to somewhere behind the two. Reimu didn't have to spin around to feel her dumb compulsory grin that accompanied her practical jokes. The girl clearly had no tact, to a point where she'd perfected it as an art. It was probably intentional.
"State your business, or risk testing me further. I'd advise against it, your chances aren't high."
Flashing back into their line of sight in her original form, holding her trident above her head as she stretched, she said, "Just passing by. I guess I'm also here to wish you well on your quest, right? You don't look like you need it, though. You already have a Pikachu."
The two girls had to parse the line for a few moments before realizing the implication. Marisa jumped a bit, most of it on purpose for added effect. "I'm not her slave! You better take that back."
"Yeah, yeah," she returned, crouching and then jumping into the open air, gone. Reimu murmured shortly how, if there was any importance to it, Nue would be a Ditto.
Then they began the training.