wake-up call
gotta catch 'em allI'm pretty sure this was meant to be about 2k words. Not 4.5k. Whatever.
Every day starts the same for Wendy, and Sundays are no exception.
As soon as her alarm goes off at six o’clock in the morning she’s up and ready to face the world with a smile, no matter if it’s a weekend or weekday. In the latter event she’ll promptly jump out of bed to get showered and dressed, following it up by brushing her teeth and checking her schoolbag before heading downstairs to prepare breakfast and a packed lunch for herself.
Except on one particular Sunday morning she wakes up to the sound of a loud crack, followed by a thud and a cat yowling in her backyard.
The brief cacophony of noise rouses her with a jolt, and she frowns at her bedside clock before flinching once more at the muffled clang that follows seconds later. The teenager immediately sits up, furiously rubbing away the sleep from her eyes as she searches for the source of the commotion outside her bedroom window. Drowsy hazelnut eyes search the shrubs of her father’s beloved garden, squinting away the grogginess as she stops on one particular part of it, near the very back. The granite wall separating the Son property from the small road behind it is as still as ever — standing stark behind the suspicious-looking crabapple tree that trembles by itself among the other plants sitting idly beside it.
Now, the Son family's home is a lot more common in design than one would expect, given the fact that their wealth and status would usually merit for a mansion in the Seongbuk neighbourhood of Seoul. It’s the house that Wendy's grandfather had left for them in his will, and it’s as comfy as it is spacious, located in a good neighbourhood with good neighbours. The main reason why the Sons haven't bothered reinforcing their walls with fancy security of any kind is because Ansan’s a pretty quiet place. People just don’t break into other people’s property.
…Probably.
She’s brought out of her thoughts by another noise outside that’s a little quieter than the others, and Wendy glances over to see a flash of white fur darting out from the bushes, towards the house.
“Olaf?” she mutters, just as a flicker of movement catches her eyes at the far end of her backyard; a quiver of a bush next to the compact garden shed where her father keeps all the tools for his beloved flora. In the next second Wendy's darting out from under her covers, the flash of something resembling a branch disappearing behind the foliage and spurring her into motion as she grabs her jacket and stumbles downstairs as quietly as possible. Halfway down she contemplates waking her parents just in case — maybe even calling the police — but some gut feeling has her skidding along the tiled floor of the kitchen seconds later, curiosity overruling the rational part of her mind that reaches for her phone and keeps it on emergency call, just in case.
Well. If she’s venturing into the unknown solo she might as well be armed with something. Human intruder or not, she isn’t taking any chances.
Wendy hesitates.
Okay. Burglars don't usually burgle at this time, right?
A deep intake of breath.
Who would even burgle someone else's back garden? That’s right, no one. It’s probably just a stray cat.
She nods to herself, but grabs her baseball bat from the laundry room before putting her shoes on anyway. Burglars generally don’t raid garden sheds, but she's not taking any chances.
Gripping her weapon tightly in hand, she exits the back door in swift silence, frowning at the light of the rising sun as the burble of the neighbourhood birds greets her ears. The morning dew of the grass brushes her ankles, reminding her that she should probably help her parents mow it soon, it’s growing back quite fast —
She shakes her head, and concentrates on the problem at hand.
Right. There’s something by the shed. Could be a human. Could be an animal.
Could be an alien?
…Or a demon. Park Sooyoung would totally do something like this.
She frowns at the thought of her neighbour, clutching her baseball bat in both hands now.
Focus, Wendy. It could actually be —
Oh.
“Oh."
Her weapon very nearly drops to the ground as she pinches her arm just to make sure it’s real; because there’s a very familiar, very human figure in front of her, standing around like nobody’s business and staring down at the phone in their hand.
"Seulgi?"
Wendy recognises the teddy bear charm, first. She’s seen it fiddled with by surprisingly deft hands, swinging with the overexcited gestures of its owner, who happens to resemble said phone charm far too much. Not that Wendy pays attention to that particular troublemaking classmate of hers, anyway.
Like, at all.
(Okay, maybe she does. But that’s only because she’s so difficult to ignore.
Seriously.)
Any fear that she felt before instantly crumbles into irritation at the mere sight of the girl before her, increasing tenfold when the intruder doesn't turn around at her voice, only continues to creep along the wall with her phone clutched tightly in hand. Wendy tries calling for her attention once again, stepping closer and attempting to don her 'Student Class President’ voice.
“Kang Seulgi, what on Earth are you —"
"Wait!” The taller brunette holds a hand up, glancing at her briefly before focusing on her phone once more. "Before you hit me with that bat or something…It's here somewhere, I know it is."
Wendy instantly tenses with her weapon in hand, frowning at their surroundings warily. "What's here?"
A judging look is tossed her way. "Articuno. Duh."
There’s a brief silence as the hand holding the bat shakes, and she just about suppresses the urge to punt the taller girl over the wall in a home run that would put Baek Inchun to shame.
“Seulgi.” No response. She spots Olaf slinking up onto the shed's roof quietly. “Seulgi."
A few more steps are taken towards her mother’s paperbark maple tree.
“Yes?” The girl eventually responds, walking backwards and almost stepping into a rose bush. Wendy stares up at the sky pitifully, and wonders what she ever did to deserve this.
“It’s five AM."
“…Yes."
Another couple of strides wander dangerously close to the tiny cherry blossom sapling in the corner.
“It’s a Sunday.”
A hum, and a backtracking of footsteps.
“Yes."
Wendy purses her lips, nodding to herself as she drops her gaze back down.
“It’s five AM on a Sunday," she reiterates slowly. “…And you’re in my backyard. Hunting for Pokémon."
“Hunting for legendary Pokémon."
She shuts her eyes, pinches the bridge of her nose, and exhales.
“Please leave."
Seulgi immediately looks up from her phone to pout indignantly at her with a whine of, "But Wendy!"
"Shhh!” The shorter of the two hisses, covering quickly with one hand. "You'll wake my parents,” she mutters when her companion gives her a weird look. Then when she realises what she’s doing she retracts her arm as if burned, scowling at the blank-faced girl before finally noticing the bundle of familiar-looking leaves lying beside her feet. “Wait, is this a branch?"
Seulgi averts her gaze immediately, and the guilty look in her eyes is telling enough.
“Kang Seulgi!” Wendy shouts in a whisper, but the other girl flinches as if she were yelling for real. “Did you seriously break my dad’s crabapple tree?"
Seulgi waves her hands at her frantically. “I didn’t step on it as I came in, I swear!” she babbles, moving away from an irate Wendy and tripping backwards over the branch itself. “…I mean, not much, anyway."
Wendy fumes silently still. “You climbed over my wall to catch a Pokémon."
“A legendary Pokémon,” the other girl corrects her unhelpfully.
“A legendary Pokémon, fine,” she growls. “And you broke one of my dad’s favourite trees in the process."
“It’ll grow back, right?” Seulgi offers sheepishly, earning a sharp look from her shorter peer.
“That’s not the point!” Wendy hisses, throwing her hands up in frustration. “How did you get to my house in the first place? Did you walk?"
Seulgi nods, nonplussed as ever. “Of course,” she says. “I only live a few blocks or so away.” Wendy realises she must look stunned, because the older girl leans in then with a fake-hurt expression. “I thought you knew this, Wan-ah!"
“Don’t call me that,” Wendy deadpans, pushing her away with an index finger on her forehead. “Besides, why would I know where you live?"
Seulgi flashes her a toothy smile. “Because we’re friends!"
“We were in detention together one time."
“And you tutored me afterwards,” she adds brightly.
“Yeah,” Wendy folds her arms, "until you decided algebra wasn’t worth your attention."
The trespasser shrugs noncommittally. “It wasn’t."
“You looked at the textbook for three seconds. Three."
A long, wistful sigh answers her. “And yet, it felt like a lifetime."
Wendy clicks her tongue irritably. “Look, just…” Apparently her hands are just as lost as her brain as they gesticulate vague motions in the air, before settling on pointing at her companion resolutely. “You.” Seulgi blinks, points to herself quizzically as if she wasn’t the only other person present — and Wendy resists the urge to either flick her forehead as hard as possible or simply hug her cuteness away. “…Don’t take too long,” she grumbles eventually, before shoving her hands into her hoodie pockets and levelling her classmate with the sternest glare she can muster.
To Seulgi’s credit, her glower does nothing to dampen her spirit. Or maybe that’s just because the president of Class 2-A looks like a distressed hamster when she’s mad. According to her friends, anyway.
In any case, the fact that she’s even humouring the girl in her hunt is a testament to her own goodwill and leniency. Or something. It’s probably just because she’s too tired to be annoyed for too long.
Still…Maybe it’s high time she started giving this zany teddy bear of a girl and her mission of befriending Wendy a chance.
What harm could it do, after all?
“Don’t make a mess while you’re here, as well,” she decides to add for old times’ sake anyway, allowing herself to smile a little at the salute she receives in reply.
"No worries!" Seulgi grins, right before walking into a small wheelbarrow. "…Wow, spoke too soon."
Wendy feels her resolve waning once more as she heaves her third sigh in the space of five minutes. "Can you please just catch this thing before my parents catch us?"
"Patience, Wan-ah,” her classmate says sagely, before grimacing at her phone. “My internet isn't exactly being cooperative, right now…"
Something possesses her in that moment. Wendy’s sure of it. There’s no other reason as to why she would she would be so charitable to someone as annoying as Kang Seulgi.
"Just use mine,” she hears herself saying before any brain-to-mouth filters can kick in, but the way Seulgi lights up then is a sight to see at five in the morning, and Wendy suddenly thinks that the sun shouldn’t even bother rising today; if this is its competition.
"Wi-Fi password?”
"Let me type it in for you,” she offers resignedly, taking the phone from her hand and entering it swiftly. Seulgi practically bounces from nervous anticipation as she receives it back graciously, bowing at the waist before opening the app again.
"Thank you so much, I owe you!"
"Sure thing…" Wendy mutters, before raising an eyebrow at the girl. "Why is this ‘legendary Pokemon' so important, anyway?"
The taller brunette shuffles away towards a bed of dahlias. "It's in the name,” she states matter-of-factly. "A legendary is so rare, you'd only get one chance to catch them."
"Which is why you're here."
Seulgi beams. "Exactly.”
She misses the exasperated look that crosses Wendy’s face, turning to her phone once more and taking a few strides back to the shed before freezing.
"Wait, wait! It should be right…”
There’s a buzz of vibration and the furious tapping of Seulgi’s finger on her phone, along with a babbled string of words that sound vaguely like, "Oh my gosh it's here it's here look Wendy Wendy Wendy Wendy —"
The shorter brunette makes her way over to examine the computer-generated beast onscreen as it lets out a cry, easily swatting away the Pokéball that Seulgi flicks towards it.
"That's a legendary?" Wendy squints, leaning almost enough to let her head rest on the girl’s shoulder as she watches her throw another Pokéball, only to miss. "I was expecting something…bigger."
“They wouldn’t fit onscreen if they were to scale,” she murmurs back as Wendy stifles a yawn beside her ear. “I think its height is actually supposed to be a little larger than ours."
Another attempt at catching it ends with a frustrated groan on Seulgi’s part and a disgruntled hum from Wendy. "It broke out?"
Her third try ends the same way, and Seulgi grumbles under her breath as she goes for the fourth. “Not this time…!”
This time the ball lands and shakes on the ground once, twice.
"You got it, you got it!”
They watch, defeated, as it appears onscreen once more.
"…You don't got it."
"I still have Pokéballs left to use,” Seulgi says confidently, tossing a different coloured Pokéball at the creature before crossing her fingers. "Come on, come on…!"
The air becomes tense when it hits its mark and lands on the ground. The camera zooms in on the grass as it rocks side to side one time…two times…three times…then —
"Yes!”
Seulgi exhales in relief and Wendy can’t help but let out a cheer next to her, caught in the moment as she is.
"You caught a legendary Pokémon!” she exclaims quietly, any previous reservations and inhibitions tossed aside for this one victory shared between them.
"I caught a Legendary,” Seulgi beams, before gently bumping their shoulders together. "Thanks again, Wan-ah."
The heat on her cheeks is instant, and Wendy schools her expression by staring at a point beyond Seulgi’s head. “I didn’t do much,” she says, pursing her lips to keep herself from smiling back.
Seulgi doesn’t seem to mind as she locks and pockets her phone in satisfaction. "Oh!” She says a second later, seeming to jump on the spot abruptly a she turns to Wendy with all the energy of a child. "Do you want to play, as well?"
The other teen blinks. "What, you mean…?"
"Yeah, just download the app,” the older one proposes. "Here, I'll do it for you."
She backs up immediately. "No, I'm fine, really —“ Seulgi looks up at her then, and she doesn’t look hurt or disappointed or anything, but —
Well, Wendy’s just that hopeless.
"Thank you,” she says, instead of declining the offer like she planned to. "Of course, go ahead."
“Awesome!” Seulgi takes her phone with unusual care, smiling down at it as she taps away. “Trust me, you’ll love it."
“I doubt I’ll love it enough to go out searching for Pokémon at dawn,” Wendy intones and tries in vain to peer at the screen, only to curse her height and the taller girl's unusual method of holding the device mere centimetres away from her face.
“Did you forget your glasses or something?” the shorter one suggests, watching with quiet amusement as Seulgi squints almost menacingly at it.
“I’m managing,” she mumbles as she hits the home button, before whistling lowly. “Your internet’s fast,” she comments, holding the phone between them before opening the app and breezing through the startup page so quickly Wendy has no time to wonder how the girl knows her date of birth so readily. “Okay, now you just need to sign up with your email account,” Seulgi announces after a few more seconds, handing her phone back. “Then you get to create your avatar."
Wendy nods, swipes the screen a few times before making a face. "You can't change the hairstyle?"
"Not yet,” Seulgi affirms, handing her phone back to her properly. "Oh! You'd look good with blue hair."
Wendy snorts. “I sincerely doubt that."
“Have a little faith in this Pokémon Master,” her companion jests with an increasingly familiar glint of mischief in her eyes, and Wendy narrows her gaze at the girl in return.
“If you weren’t such a fashion terrorist, then maybe," she grumbles, keeping the blue hair anyway and tapping through outfit options as fast as she can to stop Seulgi from literally breathing down her neck.
It doesn’t work, because apparently Seulgi’s appointed herself as Wendy’s personal tutor in all things Pokémon Go. Including the basics of the game itself.
“We can take a walk to catch Pikachu as your starter, if you’d like."
The class president looks up at the gradually lightening sky with a grimace. How long have they been standing out here, again?
“I’m fine with catching these ones in my garden, thanks,” she murmurs, before hesitating. "Which one did you get?"
“Pikachu, of course," Seulgi says proudly. "I almost got run over trying to catch it, but it was worth it."
"I'm sure it was…" Wendy mumbles, shaking her head at the image of an overexcited Seulgi bowing at the poor driver who could have been condemned for running over some poor high-schooler. All because of one troublesome app. "I'll pick Squirtle, then."
“Oh, that one’s cute! It suits you!" Seulgi beams, and Wendy's stomach absolutely does not do a somersault. "Since when do you know the names of Pokémon, anyway?"
She covers up the pink on her cheeks with a scoff. “Please, everyone knows at least a few Pokémon."
“Touché,” Seulgi shrugs, before beaming at her once more. "Are you going to name it?"
Wendy looks away from the human equivalent of sunshine with a sigh. "Might as well."
The first name that comes to mind has her smiling to herself as she enters it, and Seulgi her head to the side curiously. “Yerim?"
“My little cousin — she looks like a Squirtle,” Wendy explains, proceeding to the next window. “Now for nicknames…” she mumbles, typing her name in before letting out a small groan. “Okay, so ‘Wendy’ is taken.”
“What about 'Wan-ah’?” Seulgi pipes up, picking a blossom from baby white cherry tree nearby, and Wendy flashes her a withering look.
“No."
“Maybe ‘Class President Son'?"
“No."
“Kang Seulgi’s Best Friend!"
“Too lengthy."
The two of them stand in an abrupt silence afterwards, and Wendy hurries to cover her slip-up by typing in her most frequently used account name. It goes through without a problem, and she breathes a sigh of relief as she’s welcomed onto a CGI map of her neighbourhood.
“’shonsw1004’?” Seulgi inquires softly, and Wendy nods.
“My SoundCloud account name,” she clarifies reluctantly. She feels something touching her head then, but before she can look up it’s gone, and Seulgi is still standing way too close.
“Whoa, you have SoundCloud?” effectively distracts her as a reminder of her more covert musical hobbies. Wendy lets out something resembling a whine at having revealed it in the first place, and instead goes to nudge her companion back towards the wall.
“Shouldn’t you be going back home?” she mutters, and Seulgi pouts.
“I guess…”
It earns another roll of the eyes on Wendy’s part as she gives the girl a light poke on the arm. “Thanks, by the way,” she admits begrudgingly, scuffing her shoes on the grass. “For the app thing.” That I didn’t even want, but whatever.
If Seulgi is surprised at all she doesn’t show it, and instead tilts her head to the side with a warm crinkle of her eyes. “It’s the least I can do for waking you up in the first place,” she smirks, chuckling at the dark look shot her way before walking over to pick up the crabapple branch beside the wall. “I’m sorry about the tree, too."
Wendy winces at the her father’s prized plant. “It’s fine,” she finds herself saying with forced nonchalance. “I can just tell him Olaf broke it. It’s an old tree, and Olaf's a little heavy, so."
The grateful smile that’s flashed her way makes it well worth the scolding she’ll get for not disciplining her cat properly. “You should probably get back to bed,” Seulgi urges her after a moment, already moving to climb her way out as Wendy nods.
“Yeah,” she manages to say without stuttering. “I’ll see you at school."
Seulgi waves then, moving to climb over the wall as Wendy watches her to make sure she gets over safely. Then she halts all of a sudden, clambering down and calling out in a rush.
“Wendy, wait!"
"Shhh!" The shorter one immediately responds from halfway across the garden, a finger to her lips and an admonishing frown on her brow. Except she's giggling at the same time, because Seulgi has this dopey grin on her face again — and Wendy finds herself wondering when exactly it became more endearing than annoying. “I’m still here, what is it?"
"Sorry!" A pebble lining the footpath is kicked out of place as Seulgi stumbles forward, and they both watch it go flying into the shed. "Oops, sorry." Wendy just puts a hand to her face for a second before walking over.
"What is it?” she sighs, preparing herself for whatever nonsensical thing to come out of her companion’s grinning mouth.
"Go out with me?"
I knew it, what a daft —
Wait.
"W-What?"
"Go out with me," the older girl grins, apparently unaware of Wendy's impending spontaneous combustion. "We can take a walk together and catch Pokémon, it'll be fun!"
"Right." Wendy, you idiot. "Alright. Okay."
"So that's a yes?” The sparkle in her eyes is disarming, but Wendy steels herself adamantly.
"That's a maybe."
Seulgi deflates. "But you said —"
"Maybe,” she repeats, and the taller one blinks once, twice, before grinning in a way that Wendy can only describe as downright mischievous.
“I’ll take that as a yes, then,” Seulgi chortles, already going to pull herself halfway up the wall as Wendy scrambles to follow her.
“Hey, I didn’t say —!"
“Shhh, you’ll wake your parents!” she giggles, swinging her leg over the edge. “Now go to bed. I’ll be seeing you around, rookie trainer."
A corny salute and an equally corny wink is the last thing Wendy sees before she hears the thump of her landing on the other side of the wall, followed by footsteps scurrying away with the echo of barely stifled laughter in the air. Wendy stands there until the sounds die away in the direction of the houses a couple of blocks away, and when she finally moves it’s to put her hands in her pockets with a single huff and a roll of her eyes.
“Idiot,” she mutters to no one in particular, and when she catches herself smiling stupidly at a bed of camellias she reconsiders just how much that word applies to herself. “Idiot Kang with her idiot game and her idiot smile…”
Her phone buzzes in her hand then, and she glances down at the screen before giving in and touching the icon. A minute later she’s in the middle of naming her newly captured Pikachu ’Kang Dummy’ when a text notification pops up, and she taps it without a second thought.
From: Your friendly neighbourhood Pokémon Master ♡
How do you feel about adventuring tomorrow after school?
Wendy snorts at the contact name, shaking her head at the fact that even Seulgi managed to sneak her number onto her phone. She goes to reply immediately, thumb hovering over the send button for a brief moment before hitting backspace instead and typing up a less desperate-sounding reply.
To: Your friendly neighbourhood Pokémon Master ♡
Only if you promise not to break into my garden again.
Satisfied, she changes the contact name slightly before making her way back inside, contemplating whether or not she’s hungry enough for a cooked breakfast rather than cereal. A reply comes through as she searches the refrigerator, and she pets Olaf’s head as the snow-white feline jumps up onto the counter beside her.
From: Loser Pikachu ♡
What if another legendary Pokémon appears? D:
Typical. Wendy spares a minute to refill her cat’s bowl with some milk before typing back a response on a whim.
To: Loser Pikachu ♡
Then tell me first so I can join you.
A short exhale, and Wendy settles back against the kitchen counter to debate with herself whether or not she’s being too bold. No, that’s not too bold, that’s friendly. That’s what friends do.
She bounces her foot and bites her lip before releasing it just as quickly — and surely Seulgi’s habits haven’t rubbed off on her already? The mere thought of the girl apparently garners a reply, because Wendy finds herself scrambling to unlock her phone as it chimes with a new message.
From: Loser Pikachu ♡
Deal! :D
The short brunette lets out a sigh of relief just as another reply comes through.
From: Loser Pikachu ♡
Oh, and if you haven’t looked in the mirror already, put your hand on your head :DDD
Wendy frowns but obeys anyway, blinking at the feeling of something soft on the crown of her hair. “What the —“ She takes the end of a stem out from where it’s been surreptitiously woven in, and stares at it for a moment before laughing quietly to herself. “Idiot,” she mutters fondly, holding the flower — a white cherry blossom — gently in her hand as she types back a response.
To: Loser Pikachu ♡
I hope you stop vandalising my parent’s backyard. Just so you know.
Her answer this time is instant and simple.
From: Loser Pikachu ♡
Whatever you say, Wan-ah ~
Wendy shakes her head and pockets her phone, filling up a small glass cup with lukewarm water and setting it on the windowsill. She places the cherry blossom inside carefully, gazing at it for several moments until she spots her own stupidly wide smile in the reflection of the window pane.
It wavers and drops, and she musses a hand through her hair with an aggravated sigh before tossing all notions of breakfast aside to trudge her way back up to her bedroom. Her pillow beckons for her to rest her head and all its heavy thoughts, and she curls up with eyes wide open at the warmth in her chest and a smile that just won’t go away. Ugh. She’s a class president running for the title of Student Council President; she hasn’t got time for high school romance. And God forbid anyone finds out about any sort of soft spot for Kang Seulgi, of all people. Ugh.
The teenager lets out a groan and pulls the covers over her head.
What if she goes to sleep right now and it all turns out to be a dream?
What if it doesn’t, and Seulgi really does want to be her friend, and Wendy really is —
She shuts her eyes tight, and begins counting sheep like her life depends on it.
God, she's so screwed.
Seulgi so asked her out on a Pokémon date, I’m calling it.
Just to clarify, I'm not sure how the legendary Pokémon mechanic works. Maybe it's event only? For now, let's just pretend you can find them in the Son's back garden. There should also be some kind of update that lets you battle other trainers outside of gyms. Then we’ll have some really dumb “I saw you so now we have to battle” scenarios to work with.
Also I walked the length of my local high street twice in search of a Squirtle who remained at three steps distance the whole time.
(Screw you too, Yerim.)
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