Chapter 02: A Little Louder


     "What the fuck is this?" Candace could hear her father yell. She
had the worst headache in the world. She let her eyes drift open...

And found herself in Ben's bed. With no clothes.

     "Dad, it's not what it seems!" Ben cried. Candace was still
partially asleep.

     "Then what is it, son? What else could it be, other than my son
sleeping with my daughter?" Robert Parker was fuming. What would his
clients and potential clients think?

     "She came in drunk as hell last night. And you know, I typically
don't sleep with clothing on. And in her drunken stupor, she came in and
took her clothes off and tried to seduce me! And then she passed out on
top of the bed. I didn't have the heart to take her away so I let her
sleep here." Ben was lying to her father! She couldn't believe it.

     "That's not the truth," she said weakly. "The last thing I remember
is throwing up in the bathroom. I don't remember even going to my room
or coming in here."

     "Listen to her, Dad. She's drunk and delusional. She has problems!"
Ben exclaimed.

     "If anyone has problems, it's you. You've been doing this shit for
three years." Nearly three, anyways.

     "She needs help, Dad," he pleaded and he sounded so caring that
Candace thought he could've won an Oscar.

     "Listen, Candace," her father said softly. "I've had the idea to
send you on a Pokemon journey for awhile. But I've never though it was
the right time. I think it's the right time now."

     "But, Dad, you do believe me, right? It wasn't my fault, Ben's been
forcing me to do this since I was eleven!"

     "Honey," he said carefully, trying not to offend her. "I'm not sure
what to think. If you're going to accuse your brother of doing these
things, I'd like to hear your story when you're sober, but I don't trust
your word now."

     She nodded a bit and felt tears burn her eyes. This wasn't fair!
"Do I really have to go?"

     "Yes, honey. The only place you've been besides Labyrinth is
Borrego and that's hardly a ways away. It's time for you to see more of
the world."

     "Why doesn't Ben have to see the world, too? Why doesn't he have to
travel?" she complained. Her head was throbbing. Hardly the best day
ever.

     "Pokemon isn't exactly his type of thing, honey. But you, you've
hung out at the gym here with Astrid for awhile, right?"

     "Yes," she pouted.

     "And aren't you curious to see what being a trainer feels like?
Don't you want your own Pokemon?" What she wanted was a nap. And an
aspirin.

     "Sure, I guess," she mumbled.

     "Okay then. Now I'll let you rest today but tomorrow I'm going to
take you to the harbor in Auroria and you can go see Professor Aspen in
Orimo Town. The boat will take you directly from Auroria to Orimo."

    "Fine," she said and her father left the room. She grabbed her
clothes and quickly put them on, hardly believing what was happening.
Any centimeter of her soul that had ever loved her brother was now gone
and she could hardly wait to leave and get away from him.

Now, time for that aspirin and nap.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry that was so short, the next part will begin her journey, but it's
really late and I want to go to bed.

*~Torchick~*