The waves bumped up against the boat harshly for the third day, forcing my head and half of my torso over the edge of the boat again for the third day in a row. I HATE the ocean more than any pokemon. Thankfully today I was smart enough to put my fiery hair up in a single braid that didn't leave my back.
I groaned and put my forehead against the rail of the boat. "Why? Why did I have to go back to Kalos?"
Decidueye responded with a tilt of his head. He, at least, seemed fine.
The speaker screeched with a microphone being too close to it, "Passengers, we are arriving…"
"Finally!"
I hadn't been to Kalos in nearly ten years but this year was different. This day was different. This day…made me sick to my stomach long after we walked off the boat and every step my stomach flipped quicker and more painfully. My lungs nearly collapsed on me as we walked the dirt road to a lonely mansion, near the side of a cliff that my best friend once fell from long ago.
The big red door was like a stop sign or maybe an omen to turn back. I turned the knob and pushed it inward, "I'm home, Grandma!" I croaked.
There was no answer. After a few moments the grandfather clock at the top of the stairs sang the lonely, monotonous hymn it sang every hour on the hour and not a second sooner or later.
"She must not be home," I breathed out slowly as if merely mentioning this fact was enough to bring her popping right back. I set my bag at the foot of the stairs and walked out the back door.
The breeze was so light that it only kissed my denim shorts. Leaves came off the old oak trees that surrounded the home. My breath caught in my throat. It was on a day like this that I first met him.
I was only four years old but grandma still thought it would be a great present to give me a newly hatched froakie. "Oaky!" I unintentionally named him, and the name stuck. Oaky went everywhere with me, never once did he leave my side.
In his memory I marked the spot with a neat pyramid of rocks near the edge of the cliff where I lost him. Every year he was gone grandma added a new rock to the base of the forming pyramid. I knelt down and touched the flag I added to the top years ago.
"My child, you shouldn't play near the edge," grandma's voice carried in the wind. I looked up at small old woman hunched over her cane.
"I'm not, grandma." I assured her.
She walked with both hands on her cane and Henry, her butler for nearly a decade now, stood on alert behind her, ready to catch her should her strength or her cane fail. "Did you have a wonderful trip?" She held out her small arm, an invitation that I wasn't allowed to decline.
I weaved my arm through hers and walked at her pace. Decidueye walked behind us with Henry with a very relaxed nature, watching me and my emotions so he knew whether or not to step in. He'd never met grandma before so, to him, the old woman could still pose a threat.
No, I did not have a nice trip. I don't want to be here with you! I want to search for Oaky. "Yes, I did." I forced a smile. "You should visit Alola. It's a beautiful set of islands. How is your Paradise Project?"
"Oh, dearie, you give me too much credit. It isn't my project it is Henry's. I just helped him start it up."
I helped her take that step inside.
"The Project is so far a success, madam," Henry answered formally. I hated formal talk. "You should come and visit. It's open to the public now so that humans can interact with the pokemon."
The cloud that hung over my head since I got on the boat momentarily dissipated and excitement replaced it. "Really? Can you take me?"
Henry's face half grimaced at the thought of declining but grandma patted his arm and said, "Go ahead, Henry. I will be okay if you leave me for a few hours. Being alone will actually do me some good."
Henry nodded and gave me a smile. Ten years of wrinkles made him look older than thirty-five and his brown eyes looked lighter as if he were happier.
The road was bumpy but I hardly felt it in my excitement. Decidueye sat in the bed of the truck, enjoying the wind that ran through his feathers. I laughed at the expression on his face. Soon, a fence like one used in ranches came into view and then the sign Paradise Ranch in bright green letters hung over the gates.
"I don't like to keep them in buildings. The more they feel like they're in the wild the better," Henry explained as he slowed to a stop in front of the gates. I didn't wait for him to get out before I jumped out and ran to the gates.
Henry stepped out of the truck and unlocked the gates, he didn't even have to open it I just pushed on through and went straight to the directory near the entrance. It appeared he had four terrains: forest, desert, mostly rocky and hill-like terrains, and finally a huge body of water that split into three rivers.
"Which one should we check out first, Decidueye?" I couldn't decide. Decidueye led the way into the dense forest. There were many pockets of shadows that Oaky would've loved to hide in and some of the ghost and dark-type pokemon did hide in them. Only the youngest ones ran out into Decidueye's shadow to copy him and when he turned around to check on me they would run to hide, sounding almost amused. The Sableye especially had a fun time with this game.
I laughed and plucked off a leaf from a low hanging branch. All types of bug and grass, ghost and dark-type pokemon lived here and all of them orphaned or in need of a home. We followed the trail to the huge pool of water. At the water's edge was a pyramid of rocks similar to the one at home and the pokemon that played near it were careful not to knock it over except for the Squirtle that tripped over it. It looked almost saddened to have tripped over it and tried to put everything back the way it was and when it was satisfied it dove into the water. The scene brought a smile back to my face.
I sat near the river and all of the pokemon that was playing near the water's edge swam away from me, scared of the new comer. I put the leaf to my lips, and blew into it a soft melody.
"What are you humming, dearie?" Grandma asked me once.
"I made Oaky a lullaby." I declared, only five years old at the time.
The tune was sweet but ten years of bitterness morphed it into sadness. Still, the tune was beautiful and it reminded me of Oaky. It attracted all of the pokemon near or in the water and some were moved to tears by the sadness of the tune.
"That was…beautiful," a strange voice startled me when I was done and I dropped the leaf into the water. I guess I won't be playing that again anytime soon. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," the voice belonged to a boy behind me with black hair and features that only belonged in the Kanto regions. Next to him stood three more people, two of whom looked like they were related somehow.
I stood and dusted off the butt of my pants. "It's okay, I was done playing the tune anyway." By now all of the pokemon had scattered.
"What kind of a pokemon is that, big brother?" The small blonde girl tugged at her older brother's pants.
"Looks like an Alola pokemon. A…decidueye, I think."
I nodded. "How did you guess?"
The blonde boy grinned with pride.
"This is Decidueye. I'm Alessandra but people just call me Alice."
The boy with the black hair went first, "I'm Ash and this is my buddy, Pikachu." Pikachu greeted us after the boy, perched on his shoulder.
"I'm Clemont and this is my little sister, Bonnie," for some reason he seemed to be holding his sister back and covering her mouth while she relentlessly fought him.
"And I'm Serena." This girl had very long hair that went past her shoulders.
I smiled and turned to Decidueye to see if he was ready to leave but there was a gleam in his eyes I hadn't seen in him in a while. He was staring at Ash's Pikachu who held that very same gleam, the red in its cheeks burned with electricity. Finally, as if some tension between them became too much, Decidueye jumped out in front of me and Pikachu hopped in front of Ash. The sudden movements took Ash aback.
I laughed. "It seems our Pokemon want a battle. I don't keep very many pokemon on me, though. I only have two others."
"That's okay," Ash grinned. "We'll use three pokemon each then."
I nodded. "Decidueye, back to me." Ash looked shocked so I explained. "I never make Decidueye go first." I took out a pokeball and kissed it. There was a superstition among my family if you kissed the ball the pokemon could feel it inside and it was considered good luck. "Okay, you ready, Gengar?" The pokeball opened up and Gengar looked pleased to finally be fighting again.
"Hawlucha, go!" Ash threw his pokeball and there stood the masqueraded bird pokemon.
"Gengar, use shadow punch." Gengar ran at Hawlucha who impressed me with its dodge. I hardly heard Ash call out a command but I recognized aerial ace from anywhere. It caught Gengar head on. "Quick, use dark pulse!" Gengar wasted no time recovering from the initial shock of being hit to forming the dark orb in his hand. It soon fired before Ash could give further instructions hitting Hawlucha.
Hawlucha went head first to the ground and had a harder time recovering than Gengar did. "Shadow ball!"
"Hawlucha, use roost." Ash yelled just as I did.
Hawlucha folded its wings in to its chest to rest just as the shadow ball hit him. It was a bad call on Ash's part. "First point!" I bragged and called back Gengar. The next pokeball I kissed again. "Scizor, its your turn."
"Greninja!" The Greninja Ash called out was taller than any I've seen and reminded me much of Oaky.
"Come on, Oaky! You can do it!"
"What are you doing, Dearie?"
"I'm training Oaky so he can be the most powerful Greninja in the world!"
Decidueye gave me a light push so I came back to reality. My pokemon were mostly familiar with what to do whenever I spaced but Scizor was newer to this. Only Decidueye could go into battle and make his own decisions during the battle with total confidence. Gengar and Scizor were still figuring out the best moves for battling each opponent type. Now, Scizor was on the ground, looking at me with pleading eyes while Greninja stood over him.
"Sorry, Scizor, use X-scissor." At close range like this Scizor was able to do a great amount of damage.
"Water Shuriken," Ash commanded.
I hesitated too long. I couldn't battle Greninja. I never had the ability to battle anyone in that evolutionary family. I called back Scizor. "Sorry, bud. I messed up." Finally I turned to Decidueye. "Your turn." Decidueye lowered his head so I could kiss the top of his head and he went into the middle of the field.
"Okay, Pikachu, you ready?"
Pikachu nodded and jumped off of Ash's shoulder.
Decidueye first used the long string-like leaf as a bow and he released a shadowy arrow at Pikachu's shadow. Spirit Shackle was by far his favorite move. Pikachu used an iron tail and Decidueye only blocked with a wing.
Pikachu was about to use a thunderbolt but Decidueye scattered an array of sharp leaves.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Someone was watching me but when I looked around there was nothing. Still, I heard movement but saw that all of the pokemon were starting to gather around. I smiled and met Decidueye's eye. It was time.
I looked at my wrist and remembered when I was given the Z crystal from the Guardian Tapu Koko. I don't know why he had taken such an interest in humans, or maybe he took an interest to my Rowlet.
I got down low to the ground and as I came up, like a ghost with my hands near my face, I jumped forward. Decidueye's Z crystal glowed and wrapped him in light. Ash watched with astonishment. "Decidueye, Sinister arrows!"
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash tried to quickly counter.
Decidueye flew high into the air and charged back down with an array of arrows. Pikachu's thunderbolt was more powerful than I expected. I shield my eyes from the bright light and when I finally turned back both Decidueye and Pikachu were down.
"Guess it's a tie," Ash laughed while I gave both of our pokemon revives.
"It was a good battle, Ash."
Henry faked a cough to get our attentions. How long had he been watching? "Madam, I've taken the liberty to set up a picnic spot for you and your new friends." He gestured toward the pool of water where there was a dark green blanket and food scattered on it for everyone.
The pokemon nibbled on their food happily but Decidueye sat next to me with alertness. The hairs of my neck still stood up even though the crowd of pokemon had disappeared. Decidueye tilted his head at me.
"Check the parameter," I whispered.
He took off silently into the trees. I couldn't shake off this awful feeling.