"Ah, it's so good to be back in Sinnoh…" She said, taking in a deep breath. Despite the fact that the young trainer had seen marvelous sights in other regions, Sinnoh would always be her home. She glanced over to her pokemon, who seems quite pleased to be back home.
She looked out at the fields, spotting a few wild pokemon playing around and looking for trainers to bother.
"Let's go show Professor Rowan what we've learned, Empoleon." She smiled. Empoleon seemed to perk up at the professor's name, and followed after her as she started walking to Sandgem Town. Her walk changed to a casual skip as she started to recognize all the landmarks of Sinnoh, realizing she'd been a little homesick.
Suddenly, the Pokegear that she'd picked up in Johto started to ring. It surprised her a little, and she fumbled with it for a minute, trying to answer if quickly as well as pretend that she wasn't flustered.
"Hello? Maya?" Inquired the voice on the other end. "Maya? Can you hear me? It's Malcom." Maya let out a sigh. Oh great, just what she needed.
"I hear you, Malcom. What do you want?" Maya said coldly. Her Empoleon looked at her with innocent eyes. She gently patted his head.
"What, I'm not allowed to see how you're doing?" Malcom asked, trying to be innocent. Maya rolled her eyes.
"Absolutely not. I'm busy right now. Call me in never." Maya commented, and hit the end button. She switched it to silence mode, slipped it into her messenger bag, and started her walking skip, her Empoleon in tow.
Pretty soon, the pair entered a small cave, just west of Canalave City, to be exact. They wandered around, looking for the exit into Canalave City. Maya heard a cry of a wild pokemon, and whirled around to take a look.
"Oh! Look Empoleon, it's a little Zubat!" She said with a small squeal. Empoleon gave her a slightly confused look. "It's pretty cute, isn't it, Empoleon?" Empoleon let out something that resembled a sigh. "Empoleon, use Surf." Her voice changed to an emotionless command. Empoleon summoned forth a cascade of water, and practically drowned the Zubat, knocking it out cold.
"Good job!" She said, holding out her hand for a high five. Empoleon merely stared at it, before pushing at her hand with the tip of his wing. "Awesome, okay, let's head on. We'll be in Canalave soon, so we can just fly over to Sandgem." Maya started off on her skipping way, Empoleon walking just behind her.
Within minutes, and thankfully, without another pokemon encounter, the pair had entered Canalave City. Maya inhaled deeply, savoring the scent of the water, and the general smells of the city.
"Okay, Empoleon, return." She said, bringing out a poke ball, pressing the button, and allowing Empoleon to be absorbed back inside. She carefully put the poke ball inside her bag, and pulled out another one.
"Go, Crobat!" She said, releasing the Crobat from the poke ball. "Time to fly, buddy." The Crobat adopted a pleased expression. Maya climbed on the pokemon's back. "We're heading to Sandgem, think you remember where that is?" Crobat nodded and let out a bit of screech, before launching into the air.
Maya peeked over her Crobat's shoulder, brushed a piece of hair from her face, and tried to pick out the few towns that she could see. She smiled, and wiggled back, hair whipping everywhere in the wind.
Mere moments later, the Crobat started to descend, and landed neatly in front of Professor Rowan's lab.
"Thanks, Crobat. I'll bring you out again soon." She said, bringing out the poke ball and putting the Crobat away. She put the poke ball away, and brought Empoleon out once more. Empoleon stretched a bit, and looked at Maya.
"Alright, shall we?" Maya said, opening the door and heading inside. She waved slightly to the other scientists near the front of the building, walking all the way to the back, were an elder gentleman sat, looking at data on the PC screen in front of him. "Hi, Professor!" She said, causing the gentleman to start.
"Maya!" Rowan said, standing up. "You startled me for a moment. How have you been? Working away on the pokedex?"
"Always down to business, huh, Professor?" Maya said with a slight chuckle. "I've been fine, and I've got a present for you." She reached into her bag, and pulled out her pokedex. "I've filled it with information on absolutely every pokemon there is." She handed it over to the professor, whose eyes shone with excitement. "Also, Empoleon wanted to say hello."
Empoleon nodded at Rowan, who nodded back, a little overcome with excitement from the pokedex being completed.
"This is simply splendid!" Rowan exclaimed.
"I had to travel all over the place, but I managed to do it. I imagine that this will help you out quite a bit." She said, with a smile. "I'll be heading home now, so if you happen to need anything, here's my Pokegear number." She scribbled a number on a slip of paper.
"Okay, I will see you later." Rowan said, a little distracted, hooking the pokedex up to the PC, and uploading the information. Maya headed out with Empoleon, and yawned casually.
"Let's go Empoleon, we should hurry home to Jubilife." Maya said, walking past the Pokemon Center, and heading through the grass. No Pokemon approached, and the trainers seemed to remember her vaguely, and asked her about her travels and such.
Just as she was about to take her first step into Jubilife City, she was stopped.
"Hey!" A boy called from behind her. She turned around, and was surprised to see her cousin, Barrett, running to catch up. "Hello, Maya." He greeted her once he'd finally caught up.
"Hi Barrett. How's it going?"
"Haven't seen you in a while. Where you been?" Barrett asked.
"Fine, ignore my question. Here and there. You've been in Sinnoh?"
"Yeah. Haven't had motivation to go anywhere else." He said nonchalantly. "Wanna battle? For old time's sake?"
Maya shook her head. "No, I'm going home. Come find me tomorrow if you want to battle." She turned her back to him, and walked along side Empoleon to her house, which was near the pokemon center.
"Dad, I'm home." She said, entering the main floor. She glanced around for her dad, but didn't see him. She turned around and closed the door softly before turning back. She let out a shriek as her dad suddenly appeared in front of her, and embraced his daughter.
"I'm glad you're home!" He said, tightening his squeeze around his struggling daughter.
"I! Can't! Breath…" She managed to choke out.
"Oh, you must be so tired from all your journeys! Go upstairs, rest for a while. You look like you need it." He said, letting go of Maya, only to push her towards the stairs. Maya stumbled forward, but caught her balance, and walked in a slight huff towards the stairs, and up to her room. Empoleon made a chuckling sound, and followed after his master.
Once upstairs, Maya looked around her room. Aside from a layer or two of dust, her room was exactly the same as the day she had left.
"Remember this place, Empoleon?" She asked. "Last time you were here, you were a Piplup." She smiled. She yawned and crawled between the sheets on her bed. "See you in the morning, Empoleon." She said with a smile, and almost instantly drifted off to sleep.
Empoleon watched for a moment, before letting his guard down, and dozing off himself.