The High School Life of a Pokémon Collector

The Worst

As Lavra turned back to go to the cabin, she turned back to see the lily pads opening up. The sight of the Illumise near them with Volbeat coming and dancing with them... Numerous Oddish and a Ludicolo dancing... The Lotad jumping up and down... everything was breathtaking. She saw that the Sableye went to whisk Terri away to dance. 

Lavra felt like she wanted to be there, too. She wanted to be by Terri's side. She reached out to the sight but pulled back. Wanting to do something and doing it were completely different. Especially with this rift.

"I'm the worst..." Lavra mumbled as she walked elsewhere. Even though the sight was breathtaking, she couldn't stay. She was miserable seeing how beautiful it was and that she wasn't a part of it. 

That's just the way it always has been.

Lavra was never a part of any social circle. Whenever she would try to get along with someone, people would make fun of her appearance. Bright orange hair, lemon yellow eyes... they look weird in everyone's eyes. With all those people calling Lavra a weirdo for having her natural hair and eyes, it was hard to love herself. So, she wanted to meet every Pokémon out there instead of going with her extroverted personality.

But she also knew her explosive temper was a problem. Lavra has tried to get better, she really has. But she always relapsed whenever someone made fun of her, and it really scared her. It was too late to make friends now, she realized.

All of these thoughts swirled in Lavra's head as she started to get dizzy, probably from the lack of sleep. Lavra decided then to go back to the cabin and apologize for all she had assumed and done, and about how childish she was. However, she didn't make it two steps until she fell over, about to sleep.

She gave up on getting to the cabin and lulled herself to sleep by singing the song her mom used to sing to her as a child.

"Hush, hush little one, it's time to sleep. Close your eyes, my beloved, and dream. I will protect you from Darkrai, so go to sleep. Close your eyes, see the moon shine bright."

Lavra fell asleep with a tear in her eye. 

Well, almost.

She was suddenly woken up by footsteps in the bushes. 

"Lavra! Where are you?" Terri called.

"Miss Lavra, answer if you can hear me-hi!" Mr. Tamaka's Ambipom, too!?

She had already resolved to apologize, so she decided to step out from the bushes. However, someone quickly grabbed her arm.

She knew exactly who it was without looking back. These people had been looking for her since her father's death. The Aria Region's own gang, Team Crash, had sent a grunt after her again. She let her guard down since she was with people before this. She left all her Pokémon at the camp! She was defenseless against Pokémon!

"No, HELP ME!" She yelled out hoping someone would hear.

However, the grunt covered her mouth with their hands. She knew that if she wasn't about to go down without a fight, he would take her to base and torture her.

Lavra bit the grunt's glove and kicked him where it hurts. Thank Arceus this grunt was a man, or else she'd be in big trouble.

He held where it hurts and let Lavra go. This was her chance!

She ran through the woods to get back to camp. She couldn't be alone anymore! She started crying until someone else grabbed her hand.

No... it's over... Lavra had used the last of her strength against that grunt, so she resigned herself to her fate and fell down. But the grabber knelt down and held her face.

"Lavra! What happened?!"

"Ven...? It was Team...."

She couldn't finish her sentence. Her relief that this wasn't a Team Crash grunt knocked her out.