The End… Part 2

Chapter 2: Tears

The 8-year-old James sat in the Rose garden with a crayon in his hand drawing a Diglett. The Diglett happily looked up at James, not scared of him at all. When James had finished, he patted the Diglett on its head and watched it burrow back under the ground. When he saw sure it was gone, James ran to the other side of the Rose Garden to an old man cutting the dead heads of the roses.

“Grandpappa! Look! I found a Diglett and it let me draw it!”

James handed the piece of paper to his Grandfather, who smiled at his grandson’s drawing.

“That’s very good James, you should see if you can find a Dugtrio.”

“Yeah!”

James watched his Grandfather cut the Roses for a minute before he heard a sound.

“Diglett.”

James turned around and looked down and saw the Diglett he was drawing.

“Hey look! That’s the Diglett in my picture.”

James’s Grandfather peered over James’s shoulder to see the Diglett going up and down in the Earth.

“I think it wants you to follow it.”

The Diglett started moving through the Earth, leaving a line of crumpled dirt on the surface. James ran after it out of the Rose Garden, around the 6-foot tall bushes, and through a small wooden gate. In front of him were lots of holes in the ground. Suddenly, the Diglett he was following popped up out of the ground.

“Diglett.” It said.

Suddenly, the ground James was standing on started to shake, and dozens of Diglett and Dugtrio popped up from the ground.

“Diglett dig, Diglett Dig!”

“Trio trio trio.” Finished of the Dugtrio.

James’s eyes sparkled and watched as the Dugtrio moved around making patterns on the Earth. James sat down and got another crayon and piece of paper.

James parents had gone to some millionaire’s thing for the weekend and had left James with his Grandfather on his Estate.
Father to James’s Father, Harold Madison, 78 years old, was the only person in the family James truly loved. He never told James what to do or what to wear. He let James do what he wanted, what was fun, instead of what was proper.
Today was Sunday, and James’s parents would be back to take him home some when that evening.
James had been in a drawing mood all day, and had been searching all morning for a pokemon to draw. He now wanted to draw something for his parents when they got back, and now he had the perfect opportunity.
After a while, James had finished his drawing and said goodbye to his new friends. Running back through the gate, he came up to his Grandfather walking slowly with a walking stick back to the Mansion.

“Look Grandpappa! I found some Dugtrio!”

Harold stopped and looked at the drawing, “Goodness, you really are very good at drawing James.”

James smiled and hugged his Grandfather tightly. Suddenly, a middle-aged woman in an apron came out and stood in front of the door.

“Masters, Lunch is served.”

At the mention of lunch, James ran in to the Mansion straight into the dining room and sat down waiting.

Harold laughed and stood next to the Cook at the door, “That boy certainly has an appetite for food.”

As he and James ate, James was thinking.

“Grandpappa, do you think I can become a pokemon trainer when I’m older?”

Harold smiled at him, “I don’t see why not, you seem to get along with pokemon, especially that Growly or yours.”

James smiled at the mention of Growly.

“I can’t wait to get back home and see him again.”

For the rest of the day, James helped his Grandfather in the Rose garden and drew a few more pokemon.
As the day drew to an end and James’s parents limousine pulled up, James hugged his Grandfather and gave him one of his drawings.

“Thank you James, here, you have this.”

Harold put a small rose in James’s top pocket. James smiled and hugged him once more.

“Come on James, we have ta get back so I can put my face mask on!” Susan shouted.

James said goodbye and got into the limousine. As they drove back, James handed his Dugtrio drawing to his mother.

“Look. I drew this for you.”

Susan frowned at the drawing, and then screwed it up and through it on the floor.

“’onestly James, if you want to do Art, we can get you a proper Art teacher so you can really draw instead of these childish scribbles.”

James couldn’t believe what she just did. Holding back the tears pricking at his eyes, he leant down and picked up the screwed up paper, holding it in his lap.

@~>~>~~

When they finally got back home, James ran up to his room and slammed the door. Lying on his bed was Growly, who leapt up and started wagging his tail, but stopped when he saw James was crying.
James sat down on his bed and tried to straighten out his drawing.

“Grandpappa said it was good.” He sniffed.

Growly watched as two tears fell from James eyes onto the drawing. James, in a fit of anger, screwed the paper back up and through it across the room.
He through himself onto his pillow and cried, as Growly put a paw on his shoulder trying to comfort him.

A few minutes later, Sophie walked into his room with a pile of towels in her hands. When she saw James was crying, she quickly put the clothes on his dresser and ran to James’s side. Growly leapt of the bed letting Sophie sit down.

“Whets wrong Master James?” she asked softly.

James sniffed in response and pointed to the crumpled paper on the floor. Growly trotted over and picked it up, giving it to Sophie. Sophie looked at the drawing and turned to James.

“What’s wrong with it?” she asked.

“Mother says it’s just a scribble and that if I really wanted to do Art she can get a teacher so I can draw properly.”

Sophie frowned in anger, “Don’t listen to her James. I think it’s a wonderful drawing.”

James sat up against the headboard and sniffed again, “You…do?”

“Of course I do. In fact, I might put this in my room.”

James smiled, “Really?”

“Defiantly.”

James smiled at her and wiped away his tears.

“Come on.” She said, getting up of the bed, “No more tears, besides, its time for dinner.”

James grinned again at the mention of food and got of the bed, following Sophie out the room.
Growly trotted after his Master down the stairs. As they got to Hall, Growly noticed Harley talking to one of the servants out the front door. The door was open, and Growly could see something moving in the dark outside. Walking over to the door, he could see it was a Pigey peaking at the ground. Growling, he leapt outside startling the Pigey. The Pigey flapped its little wings as Growly chased it through the mud outside.
Satisfied the Pigey was gone, Growly trotted back inside into the dining room and walked over to his bowl filled with delicious food the Cook had prepare especially for him.

“AGGGHHHHH! GET THIS DISGUSTING THING AWAY FROM ME!!!” Susan screamed, seeing Growly completely covered in mud.

Growly stood there and looked up at her panting, but then, he did the worst thing he could possibly have done.

He shook his coat.

Susan screamed as large, sloppy pieces of mud flew over her nice evening dress.

James sat there laughing under his breath, watching as his mothers’ arms flew everywhere.

“THAT IS IT JAMES!!”

James stopped laughing hearing his father shout at him.

“THAT GROWLITHE HAS GOT TO GO!”

“What!?” James said, jumping up from his chair, running over to Growly, and hugging him protectively.

“James! You’re getting your suit all muddy, get away from it!” her mother said, as servants fussed around her trying to get to mud off.

“No!” James said sternly, “You’re not taking Growly away!”

Suddenly, a male servant came running up to Fredrick.

“Sir, perhaps I can suggest something more effective.”

“What?” he said sternly.

“Perhaps if we build a dog house, than the Growlithe can live in there and won’t have to come into the Mansion.”

Fredrick pondered this for a moment before walking over to a window.

“Hmm, perhaps we can. I’ve been meaning to build an extra wing to the Mansion, but perhaps it would be more efficient to give that mutt a home.”

He turned back to James still hugging Growly.

“Oh very well, he can stay.”

“Yey!”

“But on one condition. I don’t want to see him in this Mansion ever again. Do you understand James?”

James nodded mutely.

“Now,” Fredrick continued, sitting back down in his chair, “Finish your meal, then take that Growlithe back up to your room and get the servants to give him a bath.”

So James did exactly that, only he didn’t get the servants to give Growly a bath, he did it himself.

@~>~>~~

The next week went quite swiftly for James. On Friday it was Kids day, so he had an extra long weekend, which mainly consisted of swimming and eating Ice Cream Sandwiches, one of his favourites.
On Saturday, James was woken up by load banging noise coming from outside his window. Stretching and yawning, James climbed out of bed and walked over to the window. Looking outside, he saw the scaffolding for Growly’s doghouse.

It was huge!

“Hey Growly!” James said.

Growly lifted his head of the floor and looked up at James. Getting up, he walked to James side and looked out the window.

“Look Growly, that’s gonna be your new home.”

Growly barked happily. He didn’t want to leave James, but he was glad the doghouse wasn’t going to be tiny like the ones he had seen on TV.

Suddenly, Lara walked into his room.

“Good morning Master James. Sleep well?” she asked, pulling back the curtains from the other windows.

“Yes thank you.” He replied.

“Today’s a big day for you today.”

“It is?” James asked.

“Yes, I don’t know exactly what’s happening, but what I do know is that your meeting some girl named Jessiebelle today, something about training.”

Training?

“Ohh! She must be here about pokemon training! Oh Mother and Father must be letting me become a pokemon trainer!” James said excitedly, Growly barking in agreement.

Lara smiled at him and took some clothes out of the cupboard. James got washed and dressed at super speed and raced down the stairs into lounge where Susan and Fredrick where sitting drinking herbal tea.
James ran up to them and practically through himself onto his mother, hugging her tightly.

“Oh thank you so much! I’m so happy your letting me be a pokemon trainer!”

“James dear, what has gotton into you? Get off me at once!” Susan yelled.

James let go and stood back frowning.

“Lara said your getting some girl called Jessiebelle here to talk about training, right?”

Susan sighed and straightened out her skirt.

“Yes, training, but not pokemon training.”

James looked at her sadly, “Not, pokemon training?” he asked.

“Certainly not, we would never have our son being a pokemon trainer. Pokemon trainers only train pokemon because they can’t do anythin’ else. Pokemon training is about the lowest form of living you can get next to being a servant.”

“Not, pokemon training?” James said again, more to himself this time, “Well if it’s not pokemon training, then what training are you talking about?”

His parents snickered to themselves, “You’ll see this afternoon James.” Fredrick said calmly, “Now leave us alone, we have private matters to discuss.”

James hung his head and walked back out into the Hallway.

“Not pokemon training?” he whispered, a small tear rolling down his cheek.

He slowly walked back up the stairs into his room and sat down on his bed. He looked down at Growly sleeping peacefully on the carpet. Knowing that he could never tell Growly to use his flamethrower, never tell him to dodge his opponent’s attacks, made James feel even lower. He sat down next to Growly on the floor and snuggled up to him.
His parents were never going to let him do anything he wanted. If it wasn’t proper or didn’t involve using brains, they didn’t approve. Besides, they were wrong. Pokemon training isn’t low. Everyone has pokemon, and everyone knows there is more to it than just telling pokemon to use its attack. You have to trust it, to teach it, to be friends. There is so much more, but his parents couldn’t see that.
James didn’t think his parents could get any worse than what they had become, but little did he know, that he was once again, gravely mistaken.

To be continued…