Prologue

Modesty gave me this book. She said that any time anything interesting ever happened to me, I was to write it down here. In my own words, like what a teacher tells you to do. When I told her that nothing interesting happened to me, she just laughed. Nothing interesting happens to me because I'm not an interesting person.

Modesty is an interesting person though. Her name is an adjective. And I expected Modesty to be like her name. For anyone who does not know, Modesty means

"Modesty: noun.
1. The quality or state of being unassuming in the estimation of one's abilities.
2. The quality of being relatively moderate, limited, or small in amount, rate or level.

I don't think Modesty is a modest person. She is a lot of lovely things, but modest is not one of them. She is loud and she talks quickly and she laughs a lot. She knows what she is good at and she likes to talk about it.

Sometimes Modesty is so loud and excitable, I think her body cannot contain all of her grinning and giggling. And her face moves so quickly and changes so much that sometimes I cannot always tell what she means. But my father told me that was normal and had nothing to do with me. Women were just like that. What they say and what their faces show weren't always the same.

She called herself an oxymoron and didn't try to explain what the word meant. I like people who use long words. I don't want to sound like a gloater but I know lots of even more complicated words than Modesty does. Like 'ameliorate' and 'vicissitudes'. It makes me feel proud of myself because it is Modesty's job to use big, flowery words.

One time, when she left it alone, I opened her book and read it.

"I gazed into the still water and froze, drowning in a shadow of myself. Far out, even farther than I could see, the ocean looked like a broken mirror, iridescent light glimmering under the light of the stars."

Writers have to write like that. I can't write like that. I told Modesty I can't write like that. But she said it didn't matter. That all I had to do was write things down like I saw them. So I did. On the first page of this book, I wrote all about how I got up in the morning, how I went to the toilet, how I had my breakfast and how I fed Gadget.

When she looked through it, I paid close attention to what her face did. While she read, she had a little frown and a little frown usually means someone is angry. But when she looked up, she was smiling and she said "Writers have to be selective. We don't need to write down lots of little things that don't matter."

"But those things matter to me. Because I can't start my day right if things aren't done like that." I argued.

I thought Modesty would get mad. A lot of people get mad at me; sometimes it is my fault and sometimes it is not. Father yells a lot. Mother sighs and turns away. My brothers just laugh and make unkind comments. But Modesty is very patient. Modesty smiles and says "It's okay" even when she's angry.

I have written a page and a half in this book now and I have not even introduced myself. I wish I could go back and scrub out the rest and start again but I can't. So I will do it now.

My name is Reuben. It means 'behold, a son' in Hebrew. A 'Reuben' is also a type of sandwich. I live in Lumiose City, in Kalos. I turned 16 three weeks and four days ago. And I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome when I was eight years old. I am an 'other'.

Sometimes I feel like an alien trapped on Earth.

I am not an expert on Asperger's syndrome. But I am an expert on me and I have Asperger's syndrome. In a nutshell, (This is a thing that Modesty uses. A metaphor. 'In a nutshell' does not mean you are literally in a nutshell. It just means summing up) having this means that I struggle to understand people correctly. I have very strong interests and I will talk about them even if people don't want me to. There are many more things I could say, but Modesty says "Show, not tell." Which is a problem for me because I don't have a lot of imagination.

The doctors say I am a "high functioning" Asperger's. This is a fancy way of saying that I can do all the things that a normal person can do – I can cook a bit, I can clean, I can do the shopping, I can take care of myself for the most part. And I can take care of Gadget.

I was 8 years, 7 months and 19 days old when I got Gadget. It was a cloudy day and I had pancakes for breakfast but Mother burned them because she was nervous about me meeting Gadget. Gadget is a Skiddo. He has a white and brown face and he smells of carrots. Carrots are his favourite food. He eats three bags a day.

I don't like carrots.

Gadget likes to run. He can jump really high, and he can carry me. I trained him very well. I once made it all the way to the next street while riding him. Mother was not very happy with me that day.

I like Gadget better than I like most people. That's another thing that makes Asperger's people different. I like Pokemon in general better than I like most people. Pokemon have few emotions – they are happy, they are sad or they are hungry. And it is very easy to tell which one they are feeling. Even when they don't have a face. There are Pokemon like that. Staryu and Starmie don't have faces. Numbers 120 and 121 in the Pokedex. Right after Seaking and right before Mr Mime. Both Water types, though Starmie becomes Psychic.

I like Pokemon better than humans because sometimes it is very difficult to tell what people are thinking. Modesty said it is important, when you are a writer especially, to be able to tell how people talk through their bodies. If you raise your eyebrows, it can mean everything from "I am upset with you" to "I am confused" or even "I am worried" and it can be difficult to work out which one is which.

That's why I like Gadget. Gadget is either happy or hungry.

People think Aspies do not experience things as strongly as ordinary people do. But I don't think that is true. Not for me. All my senses are much stronger. Touch, taste, smell, sight and sound. Things become overwhelming when there is too much noise or light, or bad textures or smells. Sometimes my mind will go blank or sometimes I will get so frustrated that I cannot think of anything else.

Sometimes I don't want to be around anyone apart from Gadget. Sometimes I can't make my mouth say what my head is feeling. Sometimes it feels like I am playing one of those crane games you get at funfairs and video arcades – I can see the words and feelings I want, but the hook always misses them.

But Modesty said this will help. Both her and me. And I like to help people.

So that is why I am writing this.

Modesty said I should never give away the plot in the first chapter. But this is my story and I'm supposed to write it the way I see things. So this is my story of how Modesty and I went on a journey through Kalos.

Authors' Notes

Hi everyone. This is OceanSpiral.

And this is The Neverending Meep.

We'll be talking like this to avoid any sort of confusion on Authors' Notes and the like. I'll basically start by happily introducing you to our new project. Since my last collab fic died a spontaneous death and Meep has never really written one, we're quite excited and nervous to write this.

Just for the record, I (OS) will be writing Modesty, although I did have a big hand in writing the Prologue, and TNM will be writing Reuben.

We're aware of the challenges that come with writing an Asperger's person, and any complications that can arise from it. Anyone feeling a bit antsy about this arrangement can rest assured, as this fic has the experience of an Aspy (myself), and an OceanSpiral with a degree in psychology with specialisation in child development, particularly developmental disorders. The situation will be handled with the utmost care and diligence.

Definitely! Meep is drawing on his own experiences and my wider knowledge so I promise everything will be done to the best of our abilities. It's also a really exciting opportunity to showcase our own distinct writing styles - Meep with his blunt, minimalist style and myself with a more rambling, flowery style for Modesty.

You'll be with me and Modesty for the opening chapter. As of now we have no idea when that will be, but we'll do our best to get it up soon.