A/N: Recently I ended up joining a roleplay where the legendary pokemon we all and may or may not love ended up getting turned into humans, and wound up taking Giratina after getting the rather hilarious idea to have him get dragged around by an young, innocent-looking girl that totally contrast his punkish appearance. After getting bored and being tired of writing Perfectionism's newest chapter, I ended up writing a bit on Sophia (the innocent girl) and Sakasa (the name Giratina takes up upon becoming stuck in his human form) and how they first met, since the original roleplay post was told from Giratina's point of view. Thanks to Chibi for betaing, and hope you readers enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own Sophia Triste and the Giratina's Sakasa Yochi persona. Nothing more. Trust me, if I owned Pokemon, things would be a LOT different.
First Impressions
The first time she saw him, she wondered if he was there to rob the convenience store. Sure, it wasn't exactly right, but the guy looked like a punk, a troublesome punk. His eyes, which she had seen clearly when he turned just a few feet away from her, were as red as the sundress she wore on her tiny frame and glowed like flames lit atop the matchstick lines of eyeliner underneath, going straight down to his jawline. His hair was a complete mess, golden blond with bits dyed gray here and there, and his skin seemed to be an unhealthy, slightly gray tinge. His coat went down to his ankles and was frayed at the edges, it was several shades darker than the odd grayish tinge of his skin, and a single red scarf looped around its upturned collar. His combat boots could have stomped her flat, and his close-fitting jeans seemed to suggest he was a bit scrawny. He was the kind of person Musei would have picked her up and run away from to keep her safe, but she had asked the Gallade to stay outside, assuring him that if there was any trouble she would be sure to allow Poppy to handle it.
Eleven year-old Sophia processed things very well for her age. She wasn't one of those kids who had gone wild the moment she got ahold of a pokemon and her parents told her to have fun traveling the world. In fact, she had run away from home without a pokemon partner to keep her safe and found Musei as a Ralts later that week as a result. She was smart and rather world-wise for her age, actually. Whereas most girls went for all the cute pokemon that they could when they started off, Sophia had taken in a team of strong rejects. She had a Gallade that she had taught English so that he could communicate with her, a Gyrados that would go wild the moment she said "Apache, eat," an Ursaring who would destroy everything between her and danger to keep the small girl safe, an Absol who warned her of danger and how to best avoid it, an Altaria who treated her like she was her hatchling (and called her such, just as Poppy called her cub), and a Riolu who tried to imitate Musei constantly and loved trying to spar with the Ursaring, who often let her win, though none of them told Diva that. Close to any of them could easily win a fight with most other trainers her age, and made those who thought bullying the small girl would be easy think again. It was this girl who was prepared to fight back if the boy at the counter attempted to rob the place, however, as she watched he began to dig through his pockets, looking upset. A pale, fragile hand drifted to the little bag at her side, just in case, and she moved closer. After a few moments of rummaging, she saw his expression turn to defeat. So he wasn't going to try robbing or shoplifting after all. Sophia smiled, and stepped up to the counter, brushing her way past the imposing man to ask the clerk "What's his total?" a few food items of her own in hand.
In her head, she saw it as making up for her horribly incorrect first impression. When he tried to explain later that he would have found a way to pay for the food he had been trying to buy a few minutes later, she told him that she paid because it was the right thing to do, but invited him to eat lunch with her and her pokemon. She rarely interacted so much with other people, but it seemed he was like her-nothing like what he appeared to be, the kind who gave first impressions that were entirely incorrect. He was the guy who dressed like a punk but insisted that he would have found a way to pay for the food if she hadn't done it and she was the girl who looked entirely too easy to beat, but could put up one heck of a battle-why not give interaction a chance for once? He was probably, Sophia suspected, just as misunderstood as she was.
If only she had known just how right she was. She would come to know later, yes, but in that moment, the girl who could understand the language of pokemon fluently dragged the Giratina who was trapped in human form along by the jacket sleeve without any clue of their similarities or their intertwined futures. She only knew that he was different and she didn't mind that in the slightest.