Kaede - Chapter 1

---chapter 1------------

Absentmindedly flipping through the different channels on the TV, the tall fifteen-year-old boy let his mind wander away from the pictures and storylines; a strange, constant feeling kept interrupting his thoughts, and he felt slightly irritable as it simply would not leave him alone. He was quite casually dressed, with his favourite white t-shirt, decorated with grey designs, a pair of black jeans, and a silver necklace around his neck. These items made up his usual attire. The ornament on the end of his necklace was always hidden behind the collar of his t-shirt. By the door, Kaede’s white runners with black laces sat silently. He blinked out of his reverie and focused on the screen, in time to see an all-out battle taking place before him. Suddenly interested, Kaede slid to the edge of the couch, closer to the TV. A skarmory and raichu were rapid blurs as they moved back and forth, dodging each others’ attacks while attempting to launch their own.

A small weight suddenly appeared on Kaede’s lap, and his pale blue eyes, the colour of a glassy lake, met the golden ones of his family’s shiny umbreon.

“Hey, you,” he smiled fondly at the black-furred pokemon. The umbreon allowed Kaede to smooth his fur with his hand. “Tired of prowling the kitchen?”

The pokemon just looked up at Kaede with intelligent eyes. The boy felt as if he was trying to express something urgent to his master. The umbreon tilted his handsome head, before looking questioningly at the TV.

“Oh, that? I’m just—“ Kaede broke off as he suddenly remembered the 7:30 broadcast that night. “OH YEAH!” Without hesitating, he grabbed the remote and quickly changed channels. Satisfied, the umbreon stretched and curled up on his lap.

The screen’s picture switched to show a women with purple hair, and for a moment, Kaede almost laughed, before realizing his own hair –dark raven-black with blue tips on some strands— must look just as odd. He raised a hand in an attempt to smooth his somewhat messy hair, as his parents so often said he should, but kept his eyes on the screen.

The professor spoke, describing each and every pokemon that would be available to new trainers the next day. Kaede could barely even begin deciding which one he would like, even though he was quite old in comparison to start his journey. He ruffled the fur of the umbreon on his lap. If he could, he would take his life-long friend with him, but at the same time, he felt that he should start this adventure from scratch, without a familiar face from home.

“What do you think?” he whispered to the sleepy pokemon. The umbreon responded in his own way by putting his head on Kaede’s arm and falling asleep. Kaede smiled as he watched the pokemon rest. He turned his attention back to the TV, which by now was moving on to some other news. With a slight sound, the TV turned off.

The broadcast had brought Kaede to the question of, “Which one should I choose?” For a moment, he tried to imagine working with each and every pokemon… which really didn’t result in much. Kaede looked down at the pokemon sleeping in his lap. Hmm… Hopefully something furry. Kaede loved furry pokemon, because just like the umbreon was now, they could curl up in your lap, content. Almost with amusement, the boy also hoped that his new pokemon would enjoy running, because it was one of Kaede’s favourite things to do and it would be nice to have some company.

He gently picked up the snoozing umbreon and placed the pokemon beside where he had been sitting, before getting up and stretching. Still deep in thought after watching the broadcast, Kaede headed back to his room to get some rest for tomorrow.