The Chateau: A Pokémon Fanfiction

The Residents

I always wonder why our house is in a forest instead of a city. It feels so lonely to be here, and I'm yearning to see anyone.

I can't complain much, though. It is still the most comfortable place as I have been living here all my life.

Well, even more than that.

People rarely pass by, so I stay behind this window, so that I don't miss any one of them.

Actually, there is someone from the nearby city who often passes by: a boy with his net. If he catches something from the forest, he will swing the captive in his net playfully along his way back. I feel sorry for them, especially for the butterflies. It must be painful for those beautiful wings.

That is why I hate him.

What I'm hoping to see is anyone other than him, or at least any forest inhabitant.

There is only one bunny in the yard right now, hopping around the messy tall grass. I love the bunnies in this forest. They are very cute! The flower buds are also cute, but they rarely do anything and I will quickly get bored.

I have to be thankful for them, though. It's even more boring when the yard is only filed with the rustling leaves and...

Do I hear some footsteps?

Oh, there are two persons!

One of them is a lady. I almost miss her. She blends perfectly with the forest due to her long green dress and long green hair.

Well, that is another strange hair color...

She looks at this house, then talks to the other person which has a yellow bag. I can't hear what she says, but her face shows that she must be scared, just like other people.

The other person stares to this house. Most passersby will just walk without looking. Some of them even run.

They pass by.

Of course, they won't think about visiting. They are not that orange-haired girl.

Aside of her, who would like to visit a deserted house in the middle of a forest?

Every surface in this house has been covered with thick dust. Wooden materials have become frail. The yard is a mess with all those tall grass. It isn't my fault, though.

I can't do anything about it. So is my butler.

He just stays still in the dining room. He avoids me every time I approach him. It is not that we were close before, but it feels strange to be avoided by someone I have been familiar with.

Oh, the person with the yellow bag returns!

That person gets closer to the entrance! We are having a gues—

Oh, right. The gate.

Small trees and bushes mingled with the gate, blocking the entrance.

Yes, it is that bad.

That person fails to get through the trees and bushes. After another stare, that person leaves.

Anyway, what would I do if that person entered? Poppies will try to scare and attack that person. My butler doesn't welcome and serve guests like he used to.

What could be interesting?

Oh!

Will that person be interested to Bulbby and the TV light?

It is almost night! I should wait for it to wake up.

***

Having a house in the forest means that the moonlight—after being shaded by the trees—is the only source of light during the night. It is useless to stay behind the window as everything beyond the yard seems pitch-black.

Therefore, I stay in the TV room. There is no more electricity in this house, but there is Bulbby.

It is more than enough for me.

I always watch the buzzed light that Bulbby made on the TV during the night. Sometimes, it can show fading pieces of TV shows. I'm really thankful for its effort in amusing me. I'm sure it has tried its best.

Sometimes, it even pops out of the TV to float around. When it does, it becomes a glowing, orange bulb-like thing with a sharp tip above it and a cute face in the middle.

Its face is the cutest face I have ever seen.

I love to follow it when it floats around the house. Sometimes, it goes into the fridge in the kitchen and it will be turned on! It will open the door and let me feel the cold air. I love to see a familiar device in this house functioning again.

My butler, however, doesn't seem to like Bulbby.

When we were all living together here, electronic devices sometimes caused trouble: they could be turned on by themselves or suddenly not working. My butler was the one who is always looking for the cause of those troubles, but he couldn't find it.

When I found this cute thing in the TV, my butler and I realized that it might be the culprit. However, instead of adoring its cuteness, he might feel irritated for all of the efforts he has done.

Bulbby is also the only one of its kind, unlike Poppies which has become so many.

It is not that I don't like Poppies, though. As a floating purple ball with big eyes and mouth, they are also somewhat cute. They are all over the house.

I name them Poppy because they are round and stinky, just like the popping bubbles that I saw on the mud of the Great Marsh.

Oh, good memories.

Even though they all look exactly the same, they have different behaviors. Some of them mostly stay in one room, while the others are always moving. Some of them are shy, while the others can abruptly circle around their friend, or even me.

However, they all agree in one thing: they hate visitors.

When those small trees hadn't blocked the entrance, a few people sometimes visited this house. I was so happy to have guests, but Poppies scared anyone who came in. It was even worse for trainers. Poppies  do know how to harm their Pokémon.

Some of those people caught the Poppies by throwing the so-called Poké Ball to them. Perhaps they like them. I hope the Poppies they took have a better life out there.

The TV light starts to fade, even though is still dark outside. Bulbby showed a lot of TV shows yesterday, so perhaps it is tired.

Well, then, I will stay in my room, wondering about anything I like.

No, it isn't my bedroom.

I will never go there again.