An Absol's Life

Woodland Wanderers

At that point, I had been walking through the forest for hours, trying to find a short cut. Yet, all the trees around me appeared identical, each birch, beech and fir just like the next. 

Finally, I surrendered, taking out the map that I'd stashed away in my backpack, having been insistent that I didn't need it, just like I didn't need another pokémon. Squinting, I looked closely at the map, letting out a low groan when the realisation hit me. 

I'd been walking in circles the whole time, according to the piece of paper. 

Mimicking my reaction, the Absol too let out  a low sound of defeat. It was clear from how exaggerated it was though, that he was trying to wind me up.

"Would you stop copying me, you stupid Absol!" I exclaimed, looking in the creature's direction with what I had hoped would be an intimidating expression. 

Instead, the Absol shook his head and I could swear he had smiled. His sass did in fact get underneath my skin, and it had done since the beginning of this journey. "Stupid pokémon," I muttered, resuming the journey and trying to convince myself to ignore his antics. 

For the next half hour, the Absol did his best to rile me up further in any way possible. It was as if it was his life's mission to irritate me.

He'd even gone as far as snatching the map from my hand, running away with it, threatening to shred it with his teeth. It resulted in a brief and pointless struggle to retrieve the map, only for it to land in a stream. I was left to pick up the soggy, ruined item only to find that it no longer could fulfil its purpose, falling apart in my hands. In short, this was not going as planned.

Having enough, I decided to use the Absol's pokéball. 

As soon as he had disappeared in the pokéball, I once more restarted my journey. This time, hopefully, with better results. 

Without him to ruin the trip, this forest didn't seem half bad. In fact, there was something aesthetically pleasing about this ancient woodland. The air was fresh, the sun was shining down on me with warm, golden rays. I could hear the rush of water meandering through the undergrowth in narrow, pebble-bedded streams. Looking around, I could see dozens and dozens of trees that were hundreds or even thousands of years old. 

Each tree now looked different, without the pressure of dealing with one disobedient pokémon, and for a moment, it looked as though I could make it out of this forest, map or no map. 

At the sound of rustling leaves and rushing water, a tune managed to find its way into my head, inspired by the serenity of my surroundings.

Of course, that just had to be when that silly Absol thought to make his presence known again, without me calling him out. 

"Oh for - will you just return?!" Snappishly, I asked, furious that he had disobeyed me. 

He shook his head, the corners of his lips seemingly quirking up, and a sly twinkling shining in his eyes. Unashamed, he refused my demands. Chances were I wouldn't be able to keep him confined to his pokéball if I tried.

"Great." I sighed. "Now I'm stuck on a boring pokémon journey, with a stupid, undisciplined Absol and this stupid map, doesn't offer a single short cut. A stupid map that isn't even waterproof."

It seemed, however, that the Absol did not mind this. Instead, it looked as if he were enjoying himself. I rolled my eyes at his childish responses, watching him roll over onto his back. Now that he'd accomplished angering me, he chose to also set me behind on my journey. "Come on, Absol," I commanded, with no avail.

Several hours later, I decided to rest for a while. I lay a checked picnic cloth over the flat grassy area I'd spotted a few metres away from the path I'd taken, before sitting down, unpacking the food from my bag. Reluctantly, I poured some pokémon food into a bowl for that Absol I had to be stuck with. Sure, I hated him. But did I want him to starve to death? At that very moment? It probably flitted through my mind. That being said, even I didn't want anyone dead. 

A little gratitude from the pokémon would have been nice, but instead, rather predictably, he just scrunched his nose up at the pellets, shuddered and took a few steps back from the food.

Ignoring his apparent fussiness, I took out the ham sandwich I'd prepared for today, about to bite into it.

The Absol must have had other other ideas about what he would eat. Without me predicting it - though in hindsight, I probably ought to have had - he grabbed my sandwich and scampered away with it. 

"Hey, that's my food!" calling after him, my annoyance bubbled up within me. Rising from the cloth, I sprinted after the Absol, trying to get back my sandwich. 

A few moments too late. Spotting the beast lying amongst ferns and lumps of moss, I saw him chewing at seemingly nothing, tilting his head back to look at me with smug satisfaction. 

That damned Absol ate my sandwich! 

That was it. Grabbing the pokémon from his spot, I picked him up off the ground. 

"You stupid Absol!" 

He looked at me with pleading eyes, looking almost apologetic. Not that I was about to fall for that act.

"Don't you get that I am your trainer? Don't you understand that you are meant to listen to me?" 

Dropping him, I stood over him, watching the feline shrink back. There was a flash of resilience in his eyes, a clear refusal to listen to any of my words. Placing my hands on my hips, I wasn't about to lose this argument. Either he was going to take orders or scram. 

"Get out. Now!" I shouted at him. 

There was no hesitation. He vanished into the dense undergrowth of the forest the moment he turned around and bounded off. Scram it was.

'If you're going to be like that, fine.' Huffing, I turned away without much thought to where the Absol would or could go. He'd stopped being my concern the moment he refused to act like my pokémon.

It was then that I'd noticed that the sun had began setting. Realising how long I'd actually been travelling for, I decided to camp out, unpacking a small tent from my bag. Without having to watch over the Absol, I'd managed to sent up the tent fairly fast, and once the sun had descended behind the dark horizon, I crawled into the tent, lying down.

It was dark when the need to sleep slowly overtook my body, my limps and mind growing heavy. As my eyes slowly gave up on remaining open, a vibrant light encircled me. I closed my eyes, trying to push out the light, hoping it would disappear.

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[ Edited - Word Count: 1171 ]