Lawls

IGN: Walsje Title: An Inspirational Summer Word Count: 1539 Words The blonde haired teen periodically kicked the rocks as he walked through the town, it was the first day of his summer job and he wasn’t looking forward to it, like any bratty teenager. He had reluctantly gotten the job to earn a few extra pokecoins and to get his parents off his back. James used to love playing and caring for his family pokemon, “Gritto” a Herdier that would always manage to find a way to get dirt on his entire body, hence the nickname. But as school work piled up and the stress of getting good marks dawned on him he started playing with Gritto less and less, eventually just letting his mum and dad do all of the washing, cleaning and playing with Grito. As he wandered down route 3, he arrived at the daycare ten minutes early (like his parents recommend him) and with a knock on the door, he waited, for a couple of seconds. The bratty teenager could hear a walking stick slowly coming towards the door as it opened, revealing a quite small older lady, greeting him with a smile. "Oh hello there, Mister." The polite old lady said with a pure smile, reminding James of his own grandmother. He stumbled over his own words as he tried to explain why he was here. "Oh, uhm... I'm here for the uh-" "Assistant Daycare Carer position. Your mother told me you were coming last night, she cuts my hair every other Wednesday.” “Oh- Uhhh, I didn’t know that.” Awkwardly the young teen placed his hand on his elbow, not know what to do next. The manager smiled at him and introduced herself, offering a hand to shake his. “I’m Maria, the manager, and owner of this daycare.” The awkward teenager quickly shook her hand and introduced himself, his nerves slowly going away as he started his first day on the job. “My name is James. It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.” “Such lovely manners. It’s nice to meet you too, James. Come in, and I’ll show you the ropes.” As the older lady beckoned her new assistant, James sheepishly walked inside as the room filled with the periodical taps of Maria’s old walking stick hitting the timber. The day was spent as Maria taught James the ins and outs of running the daycare, like washing the pokemon when they get dirty, feeding the appropriate amount of food to each pokemon, watching them and making sure they don’t get in any fights, and if they did to patch them up with a potion or two. This would go on for a few weeks before Maria gave him a complete day to do everything in the daycare from the feeding to the cleaning. Although, she hung about, just in case any emergencies happened. James would be responsible for everything else. Despite what he originally thought of the job, he was starting to really enjoy it. The now-warmed-up teenager realized that he missed caring about pokemon and getting to know the and now due to the love little old lady that reminded James of his grandmother was getting him to be a lot like how he used to, a cheerful boy who loved playing and caring for his pokemon. As James went through his day he didn’t have many hiccups, maybe a misplaced bowl of food for Lilipup that was meant to go to Herdier but overall he had perfect day… Until he got to sunset when the pokemon would be picked up usually. Though busier pokemon trainers had their pokemon stay overnight with another pokemon in hopes to find an egg the next morning. As James was quickly tidying up the yard while Maria was inside in hopes to impress her after a long day of solo work, he saw two pokemon that a trainer dropped off. The two were Bouffalant and Rapidash, giving no further though he continued to clean up the yard until he heard a loud BANG! Looking up quickly James saw that the two Pokemon didn’t move and an egg was between them, the two pokemon almost bowed to each other as they walked away. Looking bewildered the assistant daycare carer walked over and gently picked up the egg, wondering where it came from. As he inspected the egg Marias walking stick could be heard as she hurriedly came outside, and as she opened the door revealing the yard and James holding the egg the Bouffalant grunted loudly beside James which caused him to jump. The manager quickly called out as loud as she could. “Drop the egg, boy. Bouffalants are very protective of their eggs” Almost instantly James did as he was told as tried to walk away, but instead, Bouffalant charged directly towards James and hit him with the large clump of fur on is head. Pushing him back and making a large thud noise as the assistant manager impacted with the ground. As quickly as her walking stick could go, Maria came over to help calm down the Bouffalant with a raise of the hands and a slight bow. The Bouffalant showed his respect to the woman with a slight bow as well leaving the two alone. “Are you alright James? Did he hurt you?” “N-No… I think I’m fine, just my back kinda hurts from the ground hahaha.” James scratched behind his ear sheepishly as Maria picked up the egg and started to explain that Bouffalants only let people touch and hold their eggs with someone they respect mutually. “Here… I have a book about eggs inside, come in now.” Still embarrassed that James let a situation like that happen, he followed Maria back inside as she smiled sweetly towards him. “Just remember to be calm in situations like that, you did really well James.” James thanked his boss and borrowed the book, taking it home and never forgetting the lesson Maria just taught him. --- “Now what do you do when you find an egg from two Rhyhorns?” “Oh uh…” James drummed the table that he and Maria were sitting inside as if that would help him drum up the answer in his mind. “Do you have to present the two with a rocking gift? Then you can hold onto it?” “Correct, you really have been studying that book I gave you.” A smile of genuine delight came from Maria and as James saw it, his smile become one of genuine happiness, much like Marias. He looked up at the clock in the foyer, it was the last day of summer… Well more accurately the last 8 hours of summer, and the last 10 minutes of his summer job. A wave of melancholy filled James face as Maria looked at him. “Is something wrong?” “Oh no, not at all… Well, actually. I’m really sad to be leaving. I know it’s not goodbye forever but I’m gonna miss working here and helping all of these pokemon and learning about the natures of all of them.” As he recalled all of these memories, James began to smile again. He continued telling and opening up about himself, something he hadn’t done for a while now. “Basically… I really want to thank you, Maria. I had no idea what I wanted to do after I left school, I thought maybe I’d try and be a trainer but now that I’ve done some work here. I think I know what I’d like to do. I want to make pokemon happy and care for each and every one of them. I want to become a daycare manager.” As James looked up from his lap, he could see tears coming from the manager's eyes. She was so proud to have had such an impact on someone's life that tears streamed from her face. James, on the other hand, was worried that he said something wrong. “Oh! Did I say something that upset you? Ah- Oh I didn’-” “No no.” Maria laughed as she wiped her tears away. “I’m just so happy you feel the same way about this daycare as I do. Thank you, James.” James and Maria’s conversation was cut short by the clock, it was the end of James’ shift and now he had to go home. With a melancholic smile, the assistant manager got up out of his chair and placed his hand out in front for a handshake. “Well, it was amazing working for you, Maria.” Maria shook her head and placed her hands out for a hug, James happily agreed and the two hugged tightly for a solid minute and a bit. As the two let go of the hug and James grabbed his stuff the manager spoke up, just remembering something. “Oh, James. I forgot to tell you, I have a part-time position opening up. The shifts are a bit after school so I thought you might like that.” A knowing smile came from Maria as she looked up to James, his face glowed as he saw the almost smug smile that came from Maria. James nodded quickly and asked a quick question. “How long have you had this position for Maria?” The manager looked at the clock and then back to James. “For about five minutes now.” --- Best of luck to everyone!