(no subject)
So I'm trying to write some more fics, and this one is a three parter...however, as I have schoolwork that kind of takes precidence to writing, I won't be able to finish the second and third part til at least this Thursday, possibly Friday, if not a little later. *Sigh* Well, that's the way the cookie crumbles. At least I'm posting something! :)
Happy Birthday, Seren! Sorry, you won't get your birthday fic until I'm done with my evil homework :P
Giovanni: Hey, I didn't get a birthday fic, and I'm a canon character with a canon birthday!
I was out with a messed up neck...I was in a frickin' neck brace.
Giovanni:...Oh....in that case, perhaps some grace is in order...just hurry up with the other fics!
Yes, sir... :P
51. Childhood
Characters: Lil' Giovanni, Lil' Seren
Rating: G
Notes: the First in a series about Giovanni and Seren as young trainers. In an anime style, complete with anime physics. ^^
Notes: Seren is pronounced sair-RHEN, not Serene. And “Ser” is “Sair”, not ‘sir’; While Iian isn’t pronounced ‘Ian’, but ‘E-Yain.’ His last name is Moretti-Rochat, or just Rochat (pronounced Roe-SHAT) for short. Rocket will be an alias he uses around Team Rocket later to enforce his leadership.
Also, Giovanni hates his parents for giving him a complicated name :-P
Sadly enough, the punch line HAS happened to me.
BTW, since the story assumes that the Pokemon Nation is part of Japan, they are technically using Japanese, though it’s obviously translated here :-P
Song translation at the end
Atah chipasta ko'ach
va'ani ahavah
atah ratzita sheket
ani ratziti otcha
atah hakochav shezore'ach me'al
bo vetar'eh li le'an
Tovil oti latov
garesh et kol hapachad
tar'eh li she'efshar lihyot me'ushar
ten li lehar'gish
kol od anachnu yachad
sheha'olam kulo bishvilanu nolad*
It was an abnormal Wednesday morning in Viridian Academy as the young boy pushed past his classmates in the crowded hall, muttering apologies frequently as he scanned the mass for a familiar face. He was a little bit taller than the others his age, so it made it a bit easier, but he still had to stand on his toes and jump up to see much more. Finally, he spotted a familiar red-ribboned black ponytail near one of the water fountains, and called her name; when he failed to be heard over the crowd, he simply pushed his way over to where she was. “Essie,” He gasped when he was allowed some breathing room, “there you are!”
‘Essie’ turned around and smiled a little, though her violet eyes looked uneasy. “Hey, Vanni,” She moved further over into the alcove the water fountain sat in to get away from the crowd, “Sorry, I was late this morning.” He noticed her breathing was uneven, and, coupling with that look in her eyes, he stood between her and the mob of students. “Too many people…” She muttered.
“Far too many,” he agreed, “Are you alright?” ’Vanni’ had a dislike of crowds as well, but not to the same extent as she.
She looked away, “If you call about to have a panic attack alright, then sure.”
“It’s just a test, Ser…” He replied.
“No, not just a test. It’s the TRAINER’S test. If I don’t pass this, I have to wait to go on my journey until I pass it, and the next testing opportunity is two months away! Oooooo…” Seren took a deep breath and sighed, twirling a strand of hair around her finger, before going on, “What happens if I don’t pass? We just spent all day yesterday in class,” her speech was quickening and running together now in her panic, “and you waited past your birthday to go with me, and I can‘t go by myself because of…”
Giovanni rolled his eyes, put a hand on her shoulder, “I know, but chill out, you know this stuff backwards and forwards.”
“But…”
“We’ll pass. Calm down, you‘ll trigger an attack if you‘re not careful. Breathe.” While she concentrated on not hyperventilating, he looked behind him to see the throng of students thinning as they went to their rooms, “Crowd’s dispersing a little, and the test starts soon, so we need to go to the room. Come on, kid.” He pulled her out of the alcove.
“Kid?!” She yelped, “I’m two months younger than you!”
“Whatever you say, shorty,” he stuck out his tongue in response, and, after her squeak of ’Shorty?!’, replied, “Remember, you have to do better than everyone else so it’s just a competition between you and I.”
“Like that makes me feel better,” she mumbled as he pushed her into the test room just as the bell rang.
“Alright. What level does Pidgey evolve?” The boy asked his friend.
The girl thought for a moment, nibbling a cookie, before replying, “…Level eighteen into Pidgeotto, and Pidgeot at level Thirty-six.” He nodded, and she posed a question of her own, “ This should be easy. Sandshrew evolves into Sandslash at what level?”
“Pfft. Twenty-two, I could have answered that in my sleep. Dad’s starter was a Sandshrew, and that Sandslash is his best Pokemon. Let’s move on. Flying is weak and strong against what types?”
“…Strong versus Bug, Grass, Ground, and…” she went to bite her finger nail before he stopped her, “Fighting. Weak against Electricity, Rock, and Ice.”
“See, I told you, you know the stuff, just need to calm yourself.” He smiled, “Dad, can you teach her like you taught me?”
Alden chuckled from where he was cleaning the dishes and watching them at the table, “Of course. Alright, Seren, two ways to do it. First, give me your hands…there, now squeeze as hard as you can…hold that for a few seconds…relax. You can do that on your chair or desk. Second, close your eyes, and breathe…
Breathe…
Breathe…she remembered the words as she stared at the test the next day, written in a foreign language, but she knew the language enough to answer the questions…
At least, she hoped she did.
Two grueling hours later, the entirety of the students taking the test were assembled in the hallway, waiting for the professors to post the scores, and as soon as they did, all efforts to control the students vanished as they crowded around the boards, looking for their names on them. A few minutes later, Giovanni finally pushed his way to the ‘R’ section, and finally spotted his name, and the grade beside it. “Yes! Pass!” He grinned as Seren made her way over to him, “I got a 100! What’d you get?” He frowned when he saw her confused look, “What?”
She looked up at the ‘S’ section next to him, and frowned, “I can’t find my name anywhere…I wanted to make sure I didn’t mistakenly put ‘Seren’ as my family name…nothing under ‘A’…”
“I’d ask why you’d think you might have put your given name under family name, but…”
“You know Japanese isn’t my first language, and neither is English, so having the English translation for the kids from America doesn’t help me one bit. Ooooo…” She sighed, “Maybe one of the teachers knows something.” She ran off to the professor in charge of posting the grades, and Giovanni could tell from her expression it wasn’t a answer she wanted. She came back, and it was obvious she was trying to keep herself calm. “They aren’t sure where it is…”
He raised a brow; he had never heard of this happening before. “Eh?!”
Giovanni sat outside the room where his friend was speaking with the teachers in charge of the test, and sighed. How did things like this always happen to her? For the last three years, it seemed this girl had the worst luck, not to mention she was clumsy. He could understand why she had trouble with other children, that was culture shock. True, she had been born in Viridian, but living her formative years in Israel seemed to have shaped her differently. (He could sympathize with her there, since he was Italian, and he much preferred the Tuscan countryside to Japan. Ah, well, it was nice enough here.) She tried to fit in, though, and her spoken Japanese was passable, and he had noticed when she was nervous she could do it very well…when relaxing, though…
The door opened, and he looked up to see a blushing Seren coming out. “Well?”
“…You promise you won’t laugh?” She asked.
Uh oh, what’d she do now? “I promise…”
“Well, they need to give me an Oral version of the test.”
“Why?” He hadn’t heard of this before, either.
“Um…you know what your dad told me last night? The whole breathing thing? And you know how I sometimes slip into Hebrew when I relax?”
He could see where this was going. “You didn’t.”
“Yes…yes I did…” She poked her index fingers together as the red in her face deepened.
For a moment, he struggled to find the words, and then he yelped, “You answered the entire test in Hebrew!?”
~~~~~
*You looked for strength
and I for love
you wanted silence
I wanted you
You are the star that shines above
come and show me where to
Lead me to the good
drive away all the fear
show me that it's possible to be happy
let me feel
as long as we are together
that the whole world was born for us
.