"Yes! It's super effective!"

Lay rolled his eyes. Ever since Chen had discovered his fan-given nickname was "Pikachen", he and his DS had been about as separable as Siamese twins. It would have been a lot less annoying if Chen wasn't so vocal about his accomplishments.

"Guess what I caught this time?" Chen's lips widened into a mischievous smile, his dark eyes twinkling in excitement. Lay grunted and turned to look out the car window.

"A Ponyta...and I'm naming it Lay!"

Lay almost choked on his espresso.

"Hell no!" He lunged at Chen, who laughed and dodged aside. By the time he had wrenched the DS from Chen's hands, it was already too late. His name flashed beside a pixilated picture of a disgustingly adorable horse-like creature. Not intimidating at all. 

"No fair," he grumbled as he scrolled through Chen's rather impressive list of Pokémon. "How come Kris gets to be Charizard while I'm some stupid pony?"

"That's because I'm a mothering dragon," Kris drawled from the passenger seat. Lay could see his smug smile in the rear-view mirror. He was willing to bet that Chen was another victim of Kris's misuse of his leader status (Lay knew from first-hand experience how easy it was to break beneath Kris's don't-eff-with-me death glare).

"Ponyta's the closest thing I could find to a unicorn," Chen said, patting him consolingly on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you evolve into a super-cool Rapidash."

"You better." The only thing stopping him from flinging the stupid DS out the window was that Chen had the good sense to name his Deerling after Luhan. And everyone knew that Deerlings were about as useless as Magikarps. 

*****

The day was spent practicing in the tiny dance studio at the Beijing Headquarters. Luhan continued to ignore him and made a point of positioning himself as far away as possible during breaks. He took it one step further when he announced that he was trading rooms with Chen for the night without so much as a glance in Lay's direction. The idiot could certainly hold a grudge.

"Guess you're stuck with me," Chen grinned. "Just like old times." Lay wasn't too thrilled about listening to Chen hum the Pokémon theme for the rest of the night, but it was better than a repeat of the stiff, awkward silence from the evening before.

With a sigh, Lay flopped down on his bed. Having been Chen's roommate back in Seoul, he knew he had about half an hour to kill before the bathroom would be free (his friend was fond of serenading imaginary noonas in the shower). Chen's DS lay on the bedside table, its bright red cover beckoning him like a siren's song. He was pretty sure Chen was in the midst of catching a Legendary Pokémon (judging by his frequent raging and bulk-purchases of Ultra Balls). It would be oh-so-amusing if he changed the last save point...

He shook his head, clearing away such dangerous thoughts. He didn't need one more person hating his guts. Besides, there were only so many members he could room with, so he booted up his laptop and opened up a new post.

In Memoriam

| Posted on Apr 21, 2012  | 9:07pm |

This post is dedicated to my good friend C, a fallen comrade lost to madness, the latest victim of a frightening, soul- enterprise.

He was one of us, not too long ago. A quiet boy who loved to sing and dance. A boy who had a dream. But like they say, once you get a taste, you'll never be able to stop. We could do nothing but watch, helpless, as he began his downwards spiral into oblivion. He fought non-existent foes and amassed meaningless riches. He replaced us with poor imitations, imaginary companions he interacted with hour after hour.

Before today, I still held a shred of hope that he would one day recover. That is, until he called out my name without even looking my way. It was then that I realized that he had made his choice and it was not us he chose.

It was Pikachu. 

Tags: i (don't) choose you, idiots, pokemon

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