Burning Thunder

---

Distant thunder rumbled in the clouds. The sky erupted with a flash of light, briefly outlining the leaves of the trees with a harsh brightness. Raindrops pelted against the paved footpath out of the forest. The storm had rolled in quickly, dooming any unsuspecting victims outside to get soaked. 

Fortunately, the trees provided some shelter. One particular figure had managed to sprint the gap from the shelter of the forest to the porch without being out in the rain long enough to get completely soaked. After quickly attempting to smooth down his naturally-scruffy brown hair, he pushed the unlocked front door open with his shoulder, as quietly as possible, and scanned his surroundings. There didn’t appear to be anyone here.

His eyes narrowed. “Coast’s clear,” he said in a hushed voice, managing to push the door open far enough that he could squeeze through. Arms held behind his back, he only just managed to catch the door with his foot before it could slam shut. Step one, make it inside without being noticed: check. Phew. 

The next step was to cross the house to his room. It wasn’t far; he just needed to pass through the living room, then sneak down the hall. He could do that! Taking a moment to wipe his shoes on the doormat, he headed for the opposite door with light steps, his feet making almost no noise on the carpeted floor.

“I see you managed to escape the worst of the storm, huh, Ryan?”

The 12-year-old froze mid-step. Hurriedly he span to the right, holding his breath at the sound of a muffled squeak of surprise from the sudden movement. He hadn’t noticed anyone else in the room, but maybe he should have paid more attention to the adjoining kitchen, as someone approached him from that direction. “Dad…! Um… yeah!” He gave a sheepish grin, hoping he seemed innocent.

“Still, you should probably go and dry off,” the man commented, folding his arms; the action caused an almost waist-length green ponytail to swing across his back. His blue-grey eyes betrayed a look of amusement.

“Yeah, yeah, I will,” Ryan nodded hastily. “I’m just gonna, uh… go look for a towel now… yup…” He took a single side-step towards the living room door. His arms were starting to hurt.

“But first,” N hummed, letting out a small sigh. “You know your mother’s rules, Ryan.”

Ack… Ryan lifted his eyebrows, and he tried to look as clueless as possible. “Uh… what are you talking about?”

“Honestly, do you think I can’t tell when someone is carrying a Pokémon?”

For a moment, Ryan just stared at him, wide-eyed, considering clinging to the façade for longer. He quickly gave up, letting out a grumble of defeat. “Busted… sorry, Jay.”

“Aww,” the Eevee whined, climbing up Ryan’s sleeve with blunt claws to cling onto his shoulder instead. Jay’s brown-and-tan fur was slightly damp from the rain. “No fair.”

“I’m sorry, friend,” N apologised, reaching out a hand to gently pet the small creature. “But… Ryan, you know the rules. No Pokémon in the house.”

“But mistaw,” Jay whimpered quietly, putting on his best puppy-dog eyes at the taller human in front of him and flattening his ears back against his neck fur. “It’s waining outside… I don’t wanna be out in the wain…”

N hesitated. It was almost possible to see the debate going on in his mind. He cast a quick glance towards the window, looking out into the storm; right on cue, a rumble of thunder echoed from overhead. After a couple of seconds, he let out a long sigh.

“Okay… okay, just this once,” he said, easily defeated. “Just… don’t let your mother find out.”

“Yes!” Ryan cheered—then immediately clamped a hand over his mouth, realising that had been rather loud. Hurriedly he glanced around, but fortunately, it seemed his mother was not within earshot. Considerably quieter, he added, “thanks, Dad! You’re the best!”

“I try,” N smiled with a modest shrug.

Keeping an eye out for his mother, Ryan hurried to the door and along the hallway, with Jay still clinging to his shoulder. The Eevee was looking around at the house in amazement; having lived out in the forest his entire life, he’d never seen anything like this before.

Eventually, moment of panic over, Ryan pushed open the door to his room. After quickly checking that it was devoid of people, he dove inside, promptly closing the door behind him as the Eevee hopped down to the ground. Jay lifted each of his paws in turn, not used to walking on carpet.

“Okay,” Ryan said evenly. “We’re safe. Just… don’t talk too loudly. I know Mom can’t understand you, but if she hears anything that doesn’t sound human she’ll get suspicious.”

“Okay,” Jay muttered absently, still gazing around in awe. “Wow… so– sothis is what a human nest is like!”

Ryan couldn’t help but smile at how amazed Jay was just by seeing the inside of the house. To Ryan, well… he always considered his room kind of plain; faded blue walls, a crowded bookcase in the corner, a bed near to the window, a wardrobe and dresser, and a shelf of old toys that overlooked his desk. 

Immediately Jay made a beeline for the bed, jumping up to stand on the mattress and experimentally walking around in a circle. “People are so lucky. This is much, much softer than grass!”

“That’s the whole point,” Ryan laughed, flopping down onto the bed and nearly causing the Eevee to get thrown into the air. “By the way, that was some very good acting back there.”

Jay blinked at him, tilting his head to one side. “Acting? I really did want to stay in the human house place!”

“Hah,” Ryan smiled. “Someday we’ll go on a journey. I’ve heard that when you’re travelling, you gotta stay at the Pokémon Centers each night unless you know how to camp. And they definitely allow Pokémon inside.”

“Pokémon Center?” Jay echoed, staring at him as if he’d just spoken in a foreign language.

“You’ll see one someday. That is, if Mom and Dad ever let me go on a journey…” Ryan sighed.

“They won’t let you go?” Jay asked, flopping down onto the blanket, his front legs disappearing as he folded them underneath all his fluff. “Why not?”

“I don’t know. When I asked before, Dad just told me I couldn’t go. I could try asking again, though; it’s been a while, he might have changed his mind since.” Ryan shrugged, sitting up and running a hand through his slightly damp hair. He never had found a towel… but no matter. It was only water; it’d dry soon.

At 4’1”, Ryan was rather short for his age, but it didn’t usually bother him too much. Scruffy brown hair reached past his shoulders, and he could tie it back if needed but preferred it down. With clothes, he favoured comfort over appearance; his most common outfit recently was his grey hoodie, navy trousers and blue-and-white trainers.

“He seems like a nice human. I’m sure he’ll let you go eventually!” Jay said with a yawn, placing his head down on the soft surface of the bed. 

“Hopefully,” Ryan sighed. “Nearly everyone I know left already. I wanna go on a journey too.”

---

The next morning, Hilda only just managed to stifle a yawn as she glanced at the clock on the wall; 7:30AM. She had been up and dressed for at least fifteen minutes by now, but the rest of the house was still silent.

“Ryan’s forgot to set his alarm again,” she sighed to herself. Sometimes it seemed like she was the only person in this house who could willingly get up early. There was little chance of N being awake within the next few hours, at the very least – the lazy thing – but if Ryan wasn’t up soon, he’d be late for school.

Rolling her eyes and tutting at her family’s laziness, Hilda made her way down the hall, pausing in confusion when she realised Ryan’s door was closed. That was odd. He usually left it slightly ajar overnight.

“Ryan, time to get up,” she called. When there was no response, she twisted the door handle and pushed it open enough to see into the room.

As she’d suspected, he was still asleep. Yet, as the door swung wider, she had to do a double take and blinked in surprise.

There was an Eevee curled up at the foot of his bed.

Immediately Hilda flung the door wide open, storming into the room. “Ryan! Why is there a Pokémon in here!?”

Ryan was immediately startled awake by her furious exclamation. The noise spooked the Eevee, too, and it let out a frightened squeak, running behind Ryan’s arm to hide from her as he sat up.

“What… uh…” Ryan glanced around in a half-asleep stance, not alert enough to really understand what was happening yet. “Um…”

“There had better be a very good explanation for this, young man.”

Ryan’s gaze finally settled on the Eevee, who would have actually been out of his mother’s sight now. “It… was raining…? Dad said he could stay just this once…”

Hilda rolled her eyes with a sigh. “Of course.” Stepping back out of Ryan’s room, she marched down the hallway. “N! I don’t care what time it is, you are getting up right now!”

Ryan exchanged a glance with Jay.

“We’re dead.”

---

It took Ryan less than five minutes to change into his usual clothes. Grabbing his backpack, which he'd packed for school last night and then dumped in the corner of his room, he warily peered around his door frame into the hall. Jay jumped onto the bag as he picked it up, scrambling up Ryan’s arm to perch on his shoulder.

“You know Mom’s gonna kill us, right?” Ryan muttered.

“She is?” Jay squeaked, nearly losing his balance as his fur puffed up alarmingly, and he tried to bury his face in Ryan’s hair, as if it could hide him somehow.

“Not literally,” Ryan rolled his eyes. “But she sounded pretty mad. Why couldn’t you sleep somewhere out of sight!?”

“The bed wascomfy!”

Unable to give a clever reply to that, Ryan just pulled a face. Why had he expected anything more of Jay? Deciding he’d be better off focusing on trying to escape the immediate threat rather than the Eevee’s lack of logic, he bravely took a step out of his room, then another when his had no consequence. “Maybe we can sneak out…”

Although, it seemed that would be easier said than done. To get to the front door they’d have to pass through the living room, and that didn’t seem to be unoccupied currently…

“N! What the heck were you thinking!?”

Ryan froze mid-sneak. Swallowing hard, he made a ‘shh’ motion to Jay as he peered around the door frame of the living room, hoping he wouldn’t be spotted.

“What’re you going on about, Hilda…?” N mumbled, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hand. “It's too early…” He looked half-asleep. That was hardly surprising, since he’d probably only just woken up.

“You know what I’m ‘going on about’, N! You’re the whole reason I had to make that rule about not letting Pokémon in the house!” Hilda huffed, her hands resting on her hips in an unimpressed way.

“Oh…” N blinked, glancing away guiltily at the ground as he ran a hand through his scruffier-than-usual hair. “Well, it… it was raining last night… a-and it was just Eevee… he’s Ryan’s friend…”

“My name’s not Eevee!” Jay complained.

“Ah! Jay, quiet!” Ryan hissed, backing away from the door so quickly he had to catch Jay before he could fall off his shoulder.

“And you,” Hilda said sternly, clearly talking to Ryan. “Get over here. Now.”

Ryan hesitated for a long moment, Jay in his arms, wondering if it was worth trying to run back to his room and pretend he was never here, before finally sighing and giving in. He was going to be in trouble either way. Placing Jay down, and making a gesture for the Eevee to follow, he emerged into the living room, his gaze on the carpet. “Yes, Mom…”

“You know the rules, Ryan.” Hilda stated, arms folded. “No Pokémon in the house.”

“I know, Mom.”

“So don’t try and smuggle any more of them in here, okay? Or you’ll be grounded.”

“Yes, Mom…”

“Have I made myself clear?”

Ryan was about to echo his last reply once more, but realising that might give her the impression he wasn’t actually listening, he looked up at her and nodded instead. “Mmhmm.”

“Good,” she nodded, clearly content with his response. “Now, put the Eevee outside, have some breakfast and then get to school. You’re going to be late otherwise.”

“Okay…” All things considered, Ryan had been let off lightly. He headed for the door. “C’mon, Jay.”

 Jay padded after him, turning his head away with a huff as he walked past Hilda.

“Can I go back to bed now…?” N asked, partially as a yawn.

Hilda tutted and rolled her eyes, although there was the hint of an affectionate smile on her face. “Fine. Just don’t sleep in ‘til midday or anything, sleepyhead.”

---

When Ryan finally left the house, Jay was sitting patiently on the doorstep, ears twitching innocently and tail whisking back and forth. At the sight of the boy he immediately hopped back to his paws with an excited squeak.

“Where are we going? Where are we going?” he chirped, jumping up and down.

“I’m going to school, Jay,” Ryan reminded simply as he walked past. “Just like I do five out of every seven days at this time of morning.”

“Oh. Okay!” Jay replied happily, and trotted after him. “Let’s go!”

Ryan fixed him with a blank stare. “You are way too excited about this.”

“Why? School is fun!”

“Maybe for you it is,” Ryan rolled his eyes. “Jay, you’re not even supposed to go into the school grounds. Don’t sneak into the janitor’s closet again, okay?”

“Humph. If he didn’t want me going in there, he should have closed the door and not left that sandwich lying around where anyone could find it!” Jay huffed indignantly. 

Ryan couldn’t help but laugh. Sometimes Jay had such a hilarious mix of logic and naivety.

They trekked along the forest-lined path which bordered Greenway City. It wasn’t the quickest way to school, but it was the more scenic route, and sometimes a couple of wild Pokémon wandered close to the path. However, even from this far away, he could see the clock tower in the centre of town; it reached up above the roofs of the one-story buildings, calling out a familiar chime.

8:30.

“Oh, heck!” Ryan gasped in realisation, his steps hastening to a run. “C’mon, Jay, we gotta get a move on or I’ll be late!”

“Huh? What?” Jay glanced around, looking slightly bewildered. When he realised how far ahead Ryan was, he let out a quiet squeak and raced after him, his small paws churning up dust from the path.