"Nia! Get down here!" I called up to my younger cousin.
Nia trudged down the stairs, pulling her ear buds out of her ears as she descended the stairs.
"what is it, em? What's wrong?" She looked as her cousin's crazed look, her eye twitching in slight annoyance.
"wrong? Nothing's wrong! Oh maybe except the fact that your Growlith just bit a chunk out of my curtains…everything is absolutely great, Nia! Oh…and Gary called. He said he's coming into town today and he wants to see you…"
Nia blushed at my sly comment. Gary oak was nia's biggest crush. They had met when her and her family went to the Kanto region to visit her grandmother. Nia pretended like she didn't care about him, but I knew better.
"w-who says I want to see that hard ass? I can easily find something else to do…"
"But you won't. You say that every time he comes to visit. Yet you end up spending the entire day with him. He says he thinks he's finally "getting through that tough skin" of your's." I snorted. "you? With tough skin? As if!"
Nia pouted, "Oh shut the hell up. At least I'm not the one who likes that hair brained scientist, Brendan!"
My face burned with such intensity that nia swore she saw smoke come out of her cousin's ears.
"S-shut up! What if he hears you?!" nia rolled her eyes at me. Brendan could heard Emerii confess plain as day and that block head still wouldn't put two and two together.
"Whatever. Come on. Let's just go to the lab already. Brendan said that he needed our help with some research today…"
I nodded and we headed out of the door, me making sure to lock the door.
The lab was just south of our house and we trekked off in that direction.
We waved to the few neighbors that were scattered around in their yards, making sure to stop by our friend Isabelle's house to get a ring that I had, had made.
I handed her the money and we walked into the Little Root town lab.
When we found our friend, he was bent over a microscope, checking out some kind of specimen.
I put my finger in front of my mouth to tell nia to be quiet. Nia nodded and sat down on a ledge beside the door and watched me approach the man.
I got closer to Brendan and snuck up behind him, got right up to his ear and whispered, "Boo!"
"gyahhh!" Brendan turned around, holding the counter for support and fell back onto the floor, his hand over his heart to keep it in his chest.
When he looked up, he saw his best friend, leaning over him. Unconsciously, his eyes traveled down to the small line of cleavage between my breasts, causing his nose to drip lightly with blood.
"B-Brendan! I'm sorry! Here! I didn't mean to scare you that badly…" I helped him up and held a tissue to his nose to stop the bleeding.
"Oh geeze! I'm sorry!" Brendan frowned, noticing how close I was and looked back down, falling backwards from another nose bleed.
Nia busted out laughing at her two best friends. She couldn't believe their stupidity! Sure, she wasn't very experienced with romance or anything, but she at least recognized it when it happened.
Brendan and I looked over to her, confusion written all over our faces.
"What's so funny, nia?" Brendan asked as I stuffed the tissues up his nose.
"you two are! You're so blind!" she held steadfast to the ledge to keep from falling over.
"huh? But my vision is perfectly fine…" Nia controlled herself and rolled her eyes at him.
"I don't know how you call yourself a researcher…"
I frowned, not getting it either.
I shrugged at my cousin and turned to Brendan. "you wanted us to help you today?"
He composed himself and nodded, wiping off some excess blood. "Yeah. I'm trying to check personality patterns with a Poochyena, but it only likes girls. Every time I try to get near it, it goes crazy! I lost my last lab coat thanks to it…"
Nia squealed, "Oh my gosh, I love Poochyena!3" Brendan and I both sweat dropped.
"Uh…Nia…you love every Pokemon…"
Nia shrugged and skipped to them, pulling us out of the back door of the lab.
A large field of Pokemon was laid out before us. Our eyes immediately fell on a lone Poochyena by the left of a pond.
My heart sunk just looking at the sad Pokemon. "Awe…why does he look so upset, Brendan?"
Brendan turned to look at me, getting the same look that he always did when he looked at his best friend. He was mesmerized by the glint of the light in her eyes. It was like she could see straight into his soul with those eyes.
A hand waved in his face and his eyes focused back on the girls in front of him.
"I said what's wrong with him, bren?" Brendan blushed lightly at the nickname and turned to look at the lonely Pokemon as he started his explanation.
"I saved him from being attacked by a bunch of Houndoom. As for why he's afraid of men, I really don't know the cause of that. My best bet is that all of the men he's come in contact with weren't very welcoming…"
Nia and I looked at each other frowning. How people could do anything to hurt any living thing was beyond our fathoming capabilities.
We walked over to the small Pokemon, Brendan hiding behind me all the way.
When we got closer, the Poochyena glanced over at us. We stopped, waiting to see what he did. He just turned to look back at the water when he thought we were no threat.
Nia was the first to walk over to him and sit down next to the pond as well. She started petting his fur and began to sing quietly to him. He suddenly laid on her lap and she motioned me over.
I knelt down beside them both and began to pet him as Nia scratched behind his ears.
"You've had a hard life, haven't you? Did bad men do something to you? Is that why you won't trust Brendan?"
He looked up at us with sad, tired eyes before we saw his eyes water a bit and I picked him up and cuddled him into my chest.
Brendan watched as we comforted the sad Pokemon, never ceasing to be surprised whenever we could do such things. Maybe it was in the bloodline…
I stood with the Pokemon in my arms and slowly walked over to Brendan. He looked a little scared for a moment. The Pokemon glared at him.
"He won't hurt you, sweetie. He's a wonderful person and very kind. You can trust him, just like I do." I smiled down at Poochyena, not noticing the look on Brendan's face when I glanced back up at him, motioning him to try again.
This time, the Poochyena just closed his eyes tight, waiting for the pain, but was instead met with the pleasant scratching of his ears. He looked up at Brendan curiously.
I smiled down at him. "See? He's not so bad right?"
"A little stupid, but good all the same." Nia answered and I gave her a confused look, while Brendan looked a bit offended.
"What? Oh, was that rhetorical? Oops, sorry!" We sweat dropped and carried the Pokemon back to the lab, who was being more open to having Brendan so close to him.
"I'm gonna stay out here and play with the Pokemon a bit more, okay?" Nia stated while petting a Girafarig that had come up to her. This Pokemon seemed to favor her over the rest of us.
"Okay, but watch out for that Makuhita. You know that Pokemon has a big thing for you."
Nia nodded as the other two walked inside the building. "You won't let that lustful Pokemon get me, will you?" She cooed as she hugged the giraffe-like Pokemon around the neck.
"Of course not, babe. We all know that you want that hunk of an Oak from Kanto."
Nia blinked up at the Pokemon. It looked down at her, just as confused as she was. She saw a figure at the very end of her peripheral vision and scoffed, noting the black and purple clothes and the spiked brown hair.
"Oh grow up, Gary. You'd have to be senile to think that."
He smirked, jumping over the fence and stalked over to her in the way she loved oh-so-much. It made her angry as her usual feelings began to arise like they always did when she was around him.
"Maybe I am. You were telling me to grow up just a few seconds ago, though…it seems you have been doing all of the growing up here."
His eyes scanned her figure, which was a bit more curved than the last time she had seen the young professor. How was it that her and her cousin both ended up falling for young scientists?
She simply rolled her eyes at his usual attempt to flirt. Not that she didn't like it, she did, but Gary's ego was already too big as it was. She wasn't going to add to it, even if it meant saving her life.
"Oh, stop your groveling. Its not gonna make up for you showing up unannounced again."
He blinked, this time him being the confused one. "Nia, I told you last time we talked on the phone that I'd be coming today. You forgot?"
'More like I stopped listening after you started talking about how you missed the days when you had a car full of cheerleaders. Speaking of which, how the hell did a twelve year old get to drive a car? Lucky bastard, having connections like that-'
Gary's face was suddenly close to hers, causing her to gasp and fall back on her butt from the fright.
She glared up at the laughing teen. "Well, don't just stand there, you jerk! Help me up!"
Still chuckling, he reached down, taking a hold of her elbow and hoisting her back onto her feet. She dusted off her skirt, still glaring at him.
"What's with the yelling? Did Makuhita get you again-oh, hey Gary!"
I walked to them from the back door, letting the Poochyena run back to the pond, only to splash into it, suddenly happy again. Brendan was in tow, following me like a puppy as usual.
"Hey, Emerii. Brendan. How's the research going?" they did their usual "manly" fist pump, causing us to roll our eyes.
"Mine is going great. What about yours'?"
"Its going pretty good. Gramps is letting me take a while off though, since I've been getting bogged down in it. He says that I'm getting to caught up in it again and that I needed a break to come and see my friends. And Nia. We can't forget about her."
Nia glared. "Oh, so, I'm not your friend? Throw me to the dogs, why don't you?"
"Please, Babe. We all know your so much more than a friend to me." He wrapped his arms around her and made a kissy face, to which he got a face full of Nia hand as she pushed him away. He just laughed good naturedly.
"Well, that's cool, cause my Dad just said the same thing. Maybe we can go visit Kanto when you go back! We can go on another journey!"
I grinned up at Brendan, happy to go on another journey with my favorite man. "That's a great idea, Brendan! Plus, now I won't have to listen to Nia blubber about how much she misses Gary when he leaves-"
Nia had fire in her eyes as she growled almost inhumanly and started to chase the purple haired girl. The boys just laughed as Nia tripped on a rock and fell into the pond, only to be followed by a Makuhita who started rubbing its' face in her breasts.
