On the Run

By Polarisey123

I sighed as I draped my six orange tails over the side of my bed. Outside it was raining once again, as it had been doing all week. Dark clouds were rolling over each other as they passed through the sky, like steam from soup mom usually makes when I'm ill. Bill wasn't home yet, not that I'm complaining. I could hear dishes clattering downstairs as mom went about making dinner.

Maybe I should explain, my name's Ashley Tennith the Vulpix. I live in the modern world like the rest of you humans, only this world is inhabited only by Pokemon. Much like you humans, we have cars, houses, electronics, banks, stores, schools, everything. You name it, we've got it. My mom is a Ninetails who works at a grocery store down the street and my 'father' is an Arcanine who owns his own bank, Bill's Billions. As you might have guessed, his name is Bill. He resents me for being a Vulpix instead of a Growlithe, so he and I aren't really fond of each other.

I hate him.

Ever since his banking business has started to plummet, Bill has started to take his anger out on mom and I. I don't dare call him 'dad' or 'father' because doing so would mean admitting that he and I are related. You could say he's bitter and cynical, but that'd be an understatement. He's far more abusive physically than he is mentally. I have been beaten at least three times this week and it's only Wednesday. Mom? Far more than three and, most likely, more agressively.

I'd fight back if he wouldn't be able to crush me with a single paw. The only thing I can do is take the beatings and plead for him to stop. Of cousre, he never does. Afterwards, he'd sit in that old chair of his and watch TV. Sometimes I'd wake up in the middle of the night and hear him and mom arguing. It always ended with him beating on mom and me sobbing quietly from hearing her pained shrieks. I had made the mistake of not pretending to be asleep when Bill came in my room one night and recieved the beating of a lifetime when I told him I was going to tell the police about him. Hell, I'm surprised I'm still alive after that!

The phone suddenly rang. My phone has two distinct ringtones; a gentle tune that comes with the phone indicating outside calls, and a harsh ringing noise that comes from someone dialing me from another phone within the house. I heard the harsh ring which was most likely mom telling me that dinner's ready. I walked over and picked up the reciever, which had a rubber grip on it so I wouldn't drop it. I sat on the ground and pushed the Speakerphone button before bringing it up to my ear. "Hey mom. Dinner ready?" I waited to hear her gentle and soothing voice reply, 'Yes dear. Come and get some before your father gets home.'

What I heard instead was Bill's harsh voice in the background saying, "Give me the damn phone, I'll get her down here." I heard some rustling and something tap the phone a few times before, "Get your ass back to that stove and make me something decent." Then some faint murmuring in the background. "You're damn right I'm angry! The bank got robbed today by some low-life Lucario and his cronies!" More murmuring. "Don't say you're sorry, woman! Just make me a decent meal! You have thirty seconds to get your ass down here, Ashley. Don't make me wait, y'hear?" Before I could respond, not that I would've if I valued my life, he hung up. I knew the tone of voice with which he commanded me; it was his 'I'm pissed and want my punching bag ready' type of voice. I sighed as I shakily opened my door and went down the stairs.

Our stairs had a dark red rug covering them from when we moved in. This same rug covered the entire living room floor as well, though it was worn in some places from the countless ages it has spent being trampled on from the families before us. There was a metal rail to help some Pokemon get up and down them, though it was useless to those of us who walk on four legs rather than two. It was wobbly and probably provided more dangers than it did safety.

I swallowed hard before stepping into the kitchen, which had a worn-out blue rug covering it. Mom was still cooking dinner and Bill was sitting at the kitchen table glaring at her. Mom used to be one of the most beautiful Ninetails you ever laid eyes on, but she's abnormally thin now with dark circles under her eyes. She hardly ever ate due to stress and she slept even less, thanks to Bill. I trudged over to the table and sat to the right of him, gently placing my paws on the surface of the table to steady myself then removing them quickly to avoid him scolding me about 'proper table manners', though he had none of his own.

There he sat. The tyrant of the Tennith family himself in all of his self-righteous glory. He sat proud and true, his furry chest sticking out as though he was a king. The way he treated mom and I, he practically was! His tail was abnormally fluffy today, as if he spent all morning grooming it. Instead of the normal black marks you'd see on an Arcanine, Bill had red scars traced along his body from his early childhood days, where he was tormented for being born without the black marks. He called these marks 'battle marks' as though his childhood was the starting battle for a never-ending war.

I had no clue what mom ever saw in him. The entire time I've know him, he'd been an uptight, know-it-all, self righteous, conceded, rude, narsasistic prick that didn't give a damn about mom and I. How could she, a gentle, loving, caring, benevolent soul fall in love with someone as loathsome as him? ? I know opposites attract, but I seriously doubt that mom was ever attracted to someone like Bill...unless she was drunk the night I was concieved.

"Nice of you to join us," he said to me while not taking his eyes off of mom. "What the hell are you working on up there that's so important that you can't eat dinner with the rest of your family?"

I stared down at the tablecloth. It was grey with a few holes in it from having been used by other members of our family before it was passed to us. No designs or nothing in it, just a plain tablecloth with holes in it.

How elegant.

"Nothing. Just watching the rain," I mumble loud enough for him to hear.

He suddenly slammed his paw on the table, which made me jump. "Dammit, Ashley! Can't you do anything other than sit on your ass all day?"

I did my best to swallow the lump of fear in my throat. There was something that I wanted to do today and possibly tomorrow, but there's no way Bill would ever let me leave the house to do it. "W-well, Cynthia is having a sleep-over tonight. She was h-hoping I could come."

Cynthia is an Eevee and my best friend. She and I grew up together, but her parents are Vaporeons, which are water-types; a type that have always agitated Bill due to his weakness against them.

"Why the fuck do you wanna leave the house for water-types, Ashley? Is there something wrong with us?"

I don't say anything in response. Bill knew that once I was out of the house, I'd tell everyone about him abusing mom and I. Child Services took me away from him once and they'd do it again in a heartbeat if they knew about the 'activities' within this house. Mom gingerly set a plate of bread rolls in the middle of the table, which he didn't hesitate to take and start shoveling in his mouth. His eyes pierced mine as he continued to eat. He was waiting for an answer.

I bit my bottom lip. "Some teachers...are asking me about...about..." My eyes trailed to a bruise on my left thigh. Bill was smart, but he wasn't careful. Most of his marks are visible on my skin, so he knew what I was getting at.

"Tell them to mind their own damn business," he said with a mouthful of bread. "Every father needs to discipline his children and you're no different, princess." He said the last word with a great amount of force, as though I think of myself as such. Yeah right.

Mom set down his plateful of food. The usual mystery meat that he loves so much was mounted in a huge pile of mixed grey, red and brown. He had silverware set out next to him, but he plunged his muzzle into the heap without even bothering to acknowledge the tools' presences. Having them at the table was his way of fooling the world into thinking he was proper and decent.

Even though mom had set my favorite meal of delicious ham with a slab of cheese in front of me, I couldn't take my eyes off of Bill as he devoured every morsel of the questionably-colored food in front of him. The tender and juicy meat waiting to be eaten just didn't nab my attention as much as the improper, yet somewhat amusing, way Bill scarfed his food. The curtain of decency he always had on display for others to see was removed with just a simple action of setting food in front of him. He must've noticed my disgusted and slightly amused smirk because he pulled his face out of the heap and swallowed his mouthful of the substance.

"What the hell are you smiling about?" He snapped.

I turned my face back to the food in front of me, unsuccessfully trying to supress a snort.

He slammed his paw onto the table once more. "You got suh'm you wanna share, young lady? What the fuck's so funny about a man trying to eat his dinner, huh?"

"It's only funny if you eat it like the absurd animal that you are," I mumbled quietly, hoping that he wouldn't hear.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME? ? ?" Damn, he heard it.

Figuring that I'm about to be battered anyway, I quickly slid my paws under his plate, which still had plenty of mystery meat on it, and shoved it up into his face.

I burst through the front doors of our house and ran down the street as quick as I could. I rounded the corner just as Bill broke through the front doors and glared at me, the meat still covering his face.

If someone saw us from the drug store across the street, they would've seen the amusing sight of a scared teenage Vulpix running for dear life from one pissed-off Arcanine with a faceful of mystery meat. What a sight that'd be!

I ran another couple blocks before I started running out of breath. I rounded a corner with intense speed, but Bill was still catching up to me and fast. I knew I'd be in for a serious beating, if not a fatal one, unless I could either find someplace to hide or some other method of escape. I was about to lose all hope when I saw a bright red car on the side of the road. There were people in it, but I darted for the back seat nonetheless. I didn't take the time to get acquainted with the Pokemon in it until after I shouted, "Drive, drive, drive! He's coming, drive dammit!"

The Pokemon in the driver's seat floored the gas pedal as I worked on shutting the door. Bill stuck his mystery meat-covered face into the crack and bit at my foot, only to recieve a punch from a Haunter in the back seat. This Haunter helped me pull the door shut with a satisfying click and I looked out the window with great relief as we sped away from Bill, now unconcious.

I smiled thankfully at the Haunter, but paused when he suddenly pulled a knife on me. He pointed it directly at my throat and narrowed his dark eyes at me intimidatingly. My eyes darted from Pokemon to Pokemon, who all glared at me and held weapons pointed in my direction. There was a Haunter, obviously, a Bisharp, a Weavile and, most noticably in the driver's seat, a Lucario. The Bisharp and Weavile both pointed a gun at me while the Lucario tossed another knife to the Haunter who pointed it at me. The Weavile and Haunter both sat in the back seat, besides me, and the Bisharp sat in the passenger seat. All in all, I found myself in a much more dangerous situation than when Bill chased me.

'Talk about 'out of the frying pan and into the fire'' I thought to myself anxiously.