The last two weeks had been an exercise in torture. It was not her tenth birthday, that had been a couple weeks ago, and she didn't need to get her pokemon license, because she'd already gotten it. Her permanent, plastic card had even arrived in the mail a few days ago, and she'd gleefully set her temporary one on fire. Identity protection and all that, along with a slight hint of pyromania.
She had all of her gear already, most of it had been birthday presents, and it had been packed for the last three days. She couldn't even justify pulling it all out and repacking to make sure everything was there, not for the sixth or seventh time.
All she was waiting on was for was for her brother, Paul, to show up with her starter. Mark, her other brother, had been had been home ever since her birthday, and her dad and his girlfriend were even putting off their drive home to Lilycove City to see her off.
Her family had a long standing tradition of the father catching the oldest child's first pokemon, then the oldest would get the next youngest sibling's starter, and so on down the line. Well, technically the father would get his oldest son's pokemon, then he would get his brother's pokemon and so on. Any daughters had to stay home and do whatever household-y things girls did a hundred years ago. Gracie would be the first to admit she wasn't interested in social history, but she knew things were a lot better for girls than they used to be.
Unfortunately, her family wasn't the most organized in the world, and while their dad got Mark's pokemon on time, Mark then showed up for Paul's tenth birthday, forgot it was actually his tenth, then left for a week to catch a starter and come back.
Apparently it was going to be continued, because if Paul as doing the same to her, then she was certainly doing it to Zoey next year.
Two weeks...he'd better be getting her something good...
Gracie finally rolled out of bed and got dressed in a long skirt and t-shirt, no longer excited enough to wear hiking clothes every day. When he got back, she could just get changed; assuming he wasn't lying in a ditch somewhere, or forgot. Jeeze, she would be mad if, after all this time, he'd forgotten to come back.
She padded down the stairs, not wanting to wake mum up, and went into the kitchen. Mark was already there, dressed and wide awake, despite the early hour. Well, it was his own fault for being a flying pokemon trainer.
"Mark, make Paul get back." She whined before flopping down on a stool at the breakfast bar.
He laughed at her before turning to the fridge.
"How about I make you an omelette instead?" He offered, getting a grunt in reply. "Sausage? Cheese? Tuna? What do you want?"
"Fish and chives." She finally replied "With ketchup."
Mark rolled his eyes at her odd choice before starting cracking eggs into a bowl.
"Oh, let me know if you see anything purple floating off into the distance, will ya? Rolf's gone for a wander again." Mark said a minute later, as he slid a plate full of omelette in front of her.
Rolf was his drifblim. He got bored quickly.
"How do you manage to go anywhere? This is the fourth time since you got back."
Mark shrugged.
"He doesn't do it when we're actually going somewhere."
Gracie just shook her head before digging into her steaming hot breakfast.
After eating, Gracie sat on the doorstep, considering what to do for the day. The last few days she'd been at school, but yesterday had been the last day and now it was the summer holidays. She felt at a loss and it was all Paul's fault. She could have been at the gym in Rustboro City, or at least lost in Petalburg Forest, but nooooo, she was stuck at home, waiting for him to turn up.
She went back inside to find another book to reread.
It was mid-afternoon before Anthony, Mark's swellow, flew back to the house, screeching up a storm. It took Mark a few tried to understand what he was saying, but eventually declared that Anthony had seen Paul coming back into town, and should be there in twenty minutes or so.
Gracie rushed upstairs to get changed, grab her pack and, after stuffing her book inside, carried it downstairs.
"Gracie, are you sure you want to set off now?" Her mum asked once she saw the backpack. "It would make more sense to wait until the morning."
"Yeah!" She replied, "I know I won't get to Petalburg tonight, but I still want to get going. I've been waiting long enough already."
Her mum looked like she was going to object again, but stopped when Mark put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll let dad know that it's today." He said, before heading out the front door.
She scowled when he mentioned her ex-husband, but smoothed her face in order to fuss over her oldest daughter.
Fortunately, Gracie noticed the look on her face in time, and ran off to find Zoey to let her know, too.
"Paul's coming back!" She yelled into her little sister's room, before obnoxiously slamming the door shut and running up to the attic.
It was mostly used for storage, but at some point it must have been an actual room, because there was a large bay window at one end. As their house was at the end of the street, that window always had the best view.
She had barely gotten comfortable on the lounge chair, which had been placed by the window years ago to make spying on passerbys more comfortable, before Zoey burst into the attic, sprung over the back of the couch, and flopped down on top of her.
"I can't see, Zo." Gracie mumbled, her face smooshed between Zoey's back and the chair.
"That's okay, I'm watching for you. Besides, you're gonna be leaving! I won't be able to sit on you for ages."
"Yeah, there's always an extra bonus to leaving that you never think of." Gracie said, while pushing her off and onto the floor.
Zoey didn't even bother getting mad; it was a scene they'd played out many times before.
"When are you gonna come back and visit?" She asked
"Probably after the Petalburg Gym." Gracie replied
"What about after Mauville?" Zoe asked after mentally picturing the Hoenn Gym Circuit, "We're only one route over."
"I'll see," she hedged, "Mauville is only the third gym after all."
"But it's just gonna be me and mum, and you remember how she was after Paul left, and that's when there was still two of us!"
"You'll be fine. Look, it's the summer now, right? So just go see your friends every day."
"But what if they're busy?"
"Then just pretend that you're seeing your friends."
"And actually do what?"
"I dunno, Zoey, go to the library or something." Gracie finally snapped, stopping the conversation until they spotted Paul riding his tauros, Minos.
"Paul, dude, you're not that lazy..." Zoey muttered in disbelief.
"Maybe he's injured." Gracie suggested. "Or both, I guess."
Gracie climbed out of the chair, barely avoiding standing on her sister, before dashing back out the attic, down the stairs, and out the front door. She could have stopped and waited in the garden, but she could have waited inside too. Instead, she hopped over the low wall and ran down the road to greet her older brother, or at least find out what pokemon he had gotten her.
"Gracie!" Paul exclaimed once he saw her
"Paul!...You're leg's bleeding...gross."
Paul laughed, before pulling her up to sit behind him.
He did look rather scruffy. His clothes were dirtier than normal, his hair was an oily mess, he had blood stains all down one leg, and quite frankly, he smelled as though he hadn't showered since he left. However, none of that stopped her from hitching a ride back.
"My leg's not bleeding." He informed her. "It was bleeding, as you can see, but I went to the hospital and they fixed it up."
"Oh. What did you do?"
"I wasn't paying attention and stood in a zigzagoon burrow." He muttered
Gracie snickered at him until they got back home.
"So, wouldn't that normally give you a broken bone, not a load of blood?" She eventually asked
"It did, then the bone went through the skin, and hence the blood."
"Do you have a scar? Can I see?!"
"I still have a cast on, so you can see it when it comes off."
"Shouldn't you be keeping it elevated then, or something?"
"Gracie, have you ever tried riding on a pokemon's back while keeping one leg constantly elevated?" He asked, knowing full well that she hadn't. "It sucks. Also, don't tell the doctor."
"Don't tell the doctor what?" Zoey asked from the doorway
"Just that I've been ignoring his instructions."
"Sure..." She replied, before moving out the way to let them in.
Gracie hopped down off Minos' back, but Paul just leant forward to fit under the doorway and, instead of trying to climb down, rolled onto the couch in the living room.
"So, what happened?" Zoey asked once they were all settled and Minos was back in his pokeball.
Paul repeated the story, adding in that he'd done it barely a few days into his trip and, with already being delayed, figured he might as well be even more delayed and go a bit further to get something really good.
"So you've been riding him for the last eight days?" Zoey asked
"Ye-"
"So, what did you get me?" Gracie interrupted
Zoey snorted in amusement and left them to go to the kitchen.
"You'll find out when everyone's here. Where is everyone, by the way?" Paul replied
"Mark went to get dad, and I dunno where mum is. We've been hiding in the attic since Mark left."
"Has mum been sobbing and crying again about another one of us leaving?" Paul asked
"I. Don't. Know." Gracie slowly replied, as though speaking to a small child. "We've. Been-"
"In the attic, yeah, I got it."
"So, what did you get her?" Zoey asked, carefully balancing three cups of juice in her arms as she walked in.
"He won't tell me." Gracie replied
The front door opened, and the quiet talk in the living room was drowned out by a loud argument, held by everyone outside. Their mum was arguing with their dad, his girlfriend was egging him on, and Mark was trying to calm everyone down.
"Noooooo." Gracie moaned, going to the window to see if she could still see them outside, "Why did he have to bring Leanne with him? She always makes everything worse."
While she was distracted, Paul mouthed to Zoey what pokemon he'd gotten her and she grinned in excitement.
"You knew she was here." Paul reminded her.
"I knew she was in town, yes, but he didn't need to bring her "here" here." She clarified.
The argument quickly moved into the living room, where they could insult each other in much more comfort than outside.
Paul tried to interrupt them, but was ignored, as were Gracie and Zoey. Eventually, he gave up and tossed Gracie a pokeball. Wide eyed, she crept around the adults and sat on the floor next to him, quickly joined by Zoey and Mark, who had given up on trying to calm everyone down.
"Happy birthday Gracie, have a starter. Don't let him out in here, he's still a bit shy around people. He'll be good for you, though. He can find food and has a pretty good sense of direction, but don't ask him to find water." Paul said, loud enough for the other three to hear him.
"What did you get?" Mark asked.
"A sandshrew, from the desert north of Mauville City. I didn't register him, so you don't have to explain the situation at the pokmon centre, just register him as normal."
"How come he can't find water if he's from a desert?" Zoey asked
"A lot of desert pokemon get all their water from their food." Mark explained, "Sandshrew are no different, though they also lick condensation off their skin and rocks and stuff."
"So, is this is my big send-off?" Gracie asked.
"Yeah, sorry about that." Mark said, "Mum showed up as we were coming back and the next minute, they were all yelling. Hah, just think how Zoey's tenth birthday is going to go next year."
All four looked rather glum at that.
Mark's birthday, the oldest, had been perfectly fine. Their parents had still been married, and Mark had set off leaving perfectly happy people behind him. In the two years between Mark's tenth and Paul's tenth, they had gotten divorced and he had been banned from showing up. He did anyway, and the entire party and send-off a few week later had been exceedingly awkward. The way things were going, next year Leanne would be have a wailing baby with her, or he would be in jail, or a gang. Or a dentist. Eugh!
"I guess I'm off to the pokemon centre, then." Gracie finally said, glad that she was finally going to be away from all the drama.
"I'm coming too!" Zoey pronounced, "I want to see your sandshrew."
"What about you two?" She asked her brothers.
She knew that her parents needed to be calmed down and told that she had left, and that Paul should probably rest his leg, but she also really wanted them to be there.
They all looked at each other before Mark replied.
"We'll stay here and stop them from trying to embarrass you in public. It just means we'll have to drop in on you at some point to see how you're doing." He said with a grin.
Gracie grinned back, happier that she would be seeing them later, even though she knew that they would probably have done it anyway.
"C'mon Zoey."
The two snuck out of the room, then out the house, closing the door behind them as quietly as possible. They took the long way to the pokemon centre to avoid having to walk right in front of the living room window and risk being seen. Once they were a couple streets away, Gracie let out her new sandshrew.
He materialized about a foot off the ground, but twisted around to land neatly on all fours. He arched his back, making it look even rounder, looked around, noticed the two girls standing over him, then quickly curled up into a tight ball.
"Shut up, Zoey." Gracie said, not looking away from her sandshrew in awe.
Zoey giggled anyway.