Dragon's Gate | Pokémon Fanfiction

6 | Sinistea Happenings

While Constance lingered in Pewter City's Pokémon Centre, and, much to Nurse Joy's dismay, was not engaged in analysing the hidden symbolisms lying around in the regional map, her beloved son had it better, for the sun had set at last.

To him, dusk was the tyrant who bit off more time than it could chew, slaughtering pitiless hours in its sunlit basement. Today proved to be no different, save for the special dinner he had prepared for his family. How would that snivelling Snivy of a mother like to eat weakness, and be reminded of her own frailty—the ancients said it best, in the most blessed of misogyny, frailty, thy name is woman?

He couldn't wait to see her face. How contorted would it get? He could already capture in his mind's eyes the gradual folds of her wrinkles and the frown of disbelief coupled with a gasp that would sound like a Pyroar's growl. Her hair would drape on her shoulders, then she would wish to be bald so she wouldn't feel a single strand stand on end. She would then learn to be thrifty and soon become curious about how to forget insomnia. Only then would she be the best mother he could ever ask for.

Because anyone whose flaws didn't bother him would automatically be the best version of themselves. Truly, he wasn't such a difficult person to please. How could anyone-especially she-think so lowly of him anyway? It was simply impossible! It was a truth universally acknowledged that parents must be indebted to their children. Any form of ill thinking that arises must be a symptom of a lack of respect for the embryo that has spent nine months (and fortunately, in some cases, less than that) without complaint despite their unwillingness to be imprisoned in a uterus, unable to experience the world their parents are blessed with.

He thought about little Sebastian who had to suffer such a traumatic event, how he could do so little for his child because he was kidnapped by his wife. Marriage was a sham, he realised. If his wife didn't steal his sperm on a dark and stormy night, if his wife didn't take that faulty test, and if his wife's husband did remember to use a condom in the first place, none of this would have happened!

Childhood was hereby declared as the root of all unhappiness. Only in adulthood does a person learn the true nature of the world and becomes less unhappy. He couldn't wait for Sebastian to grow up. Whoever made birthdays and ageing a thing anyway? He never understood why people were so willing to be stripped of their free will just so they could celebrate a strange concept as age.

This was why he couldn't get why his mother bleached his hair and lied to him that ageing was at fault. He bore a grudge against her and swore never to forgive her for any other lies. He swore to be truthful to himself and to the world. Whatever was taught in school merely propagated her lies. She must have hid her life savings from him and used them to bribe his teachers to feed him such nonsense as "the truth of ageing".

He opened the door and greeted little Sebastian with a rigid smile. No "hi", "hello", "good evening, Papa's home". Just a small smile that seemed like an accidental brushstroke that could not be painted over. Then he pushed little Sebastian aside.

"Where is your darling grandmother?" He asked as he slammed the door shut, took his shirt off and hooked it on a clothes hanger.

Sebastian shook his head and said that she wasn't home. When prompted further with a "What in the turn-table Turtonator! Is she eaten by a Lycanroc?", the young fella shook his head again and said that she was out on a journey.

"A journey?" The adult's cheeks reddened. Never had he felt as though he was a Chatot-in-training instead of the pirate he was meant to be. "Shrieking Squirtle!" He softened his blow on seeing the child flinch. "Where would she go? Snorkelling in Cinnabar Volcano?"

Sebastian shrugged and answered, "Dragon's Gate."

He scratched his hair, his jaw slack. "So she's so free at home that she could chase myths?"