Jade Chronicles (Pokemon Fanfic)

Clarifications and Defamations

Flip: "You know there's a 'delete' button on the story, right?"

Me: "I can fix it."

Flip: "Okay, but when you say that, it just sounds like you're deliberately ignoring all of the obvious mistakes that you've made in the story and refusing to fix them and just adding more, which is another mistake."

Me: "I know, but I'm too stubborn to admit that this isn't the greatest story the world has ever seen."

Flip: "You have other, better, actually fleshed-out story ideas! Write those instead!"

Me: "Make me."

(No, but seriously, I'm too stubborn to just cancel the story, despite wanting with all of my heart to just. write something else. So I'm going to rush the ending of this story a little bit to make things work well and to allow me to write something else on here without having more than one project at once. in case you care, there are probably going to be like 5 more chapters or so. then i will write something with a better and less confusing story i think)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Penny POV

I'm not in love with Wes. How many times to I have to say that? Everyone at school thinks it, everyone at home thinks it, and I'm sure that after all of what happened at my house, even Wes thinks it. I don't really understand why, considering Wes' reputation as pretty much unlikable.

I didn't want to go against my parents when they called Wes my boyfriend. They don't take "no" for an answer, and if you argue, they double down on it. They're not mean or anything, they just don't have the best communication skills.

My mom was always obsessed with appearance. She tries to make sure everyone sees her the way she wants them to see her, and if they don't, she just tries harder. If that weren't stupid enough, she likes to include me in this, and try to force me to be the way she needs me to. That's definitely a bad parent thing.

My dad, on the other hand, is too shy to argue with anyone. If my mom says something, then he agrees with it, no questions asked. He also has a very strong sense of justice, and if you think that doesn't mix well with being non-confrontational, then you're right. It ends up in him sitting in the corner, glaring at people, never voicing any sort of disagreement with anything anyone says, and yet still hoping that they get the hint.

And this combination of factors leads to my mom deciding my family's entire life for us while my dad sits angrily doing nothing about it. Which is what led to me having to pretend I'm dating Wes so my mom's little perfect world won't be shattered.

I wish that world would be shattered, but oh well!

Jade POV

"Lin, we need to talk."

I don't usually start conversations, so this is uncharted territory for me. But Lin isn't acting normal. Usually, she's, I don't know, capable of staying calm for more than five seconds? But now she's taken over Wes' home for a mission that we may or may not even be able to do. And I have to work with people who I barely know.

Lin doesn't even look my direction. "Sure, what's up?"

"You know what's up," I snap. It sounded a bit more harsh than I would have liked it, but I continued nonetheless. "Everyone knows what's up. The stupid fire mess that you think you can fix. But all it's doing is hurting you more and more each day, thinking that it's your job to fix this problem that you clearly can't fix."

Lin turns to look at me. "Yes, and?"

Okay. That was not what I was expecting her to say. "What do you mean 'yes, and'?"

Lin stares at me. "I mean 'yes, and'. I know that I can't fix this problem, I know that none of us can fix this problem! I know that I'm losing sleep, I'm losing free time, I'm losing countless hours of my day just trying to hold this plan together! Trying to hold myself together! Every day since that first fire, I've felt more and more unsure of myself. Coming back to this cave every day is the only stable thing left in my life, so will you please shut up and let me have this?"

I walk away without a word. I turn, ready to say something, but no words come out. Maybe I'm still shocked from what she said.

I don't want to dwell on it too much. No matter how much I offer help to put out the fire, she still chooses to burn. And I know it's my fault. If she wants to burn down with the rest of the world, then I guess I have to let her.