"Happy tenth birthday, Cece!"

It was amazing. I had finally reached ten years of age, meaning that I could start on my journey. I was excited beyond belief...

...but I wasn't sure if I really wanted to leave. (At least, not right away.) I had really enjoyed life at home, especially since my sister was the gym leader. How many people could say that they spent most of their life observing gym battles? Not many, that's for sure. Of course, I did want to see the world. However, I had spent the week prior to my birthday debating in my mind whether or not I wanted to go. With every reason that I had for wanting to go on my journey, I thought of more reasons for me to stay behind for a bit longer.

"Cece, it's time to wake up!" my mom called, "You have a lot on your plate today! Your tenth birthday isn't going to last forever, you know."

I slowly pushed myself up in my bed. My eyes scanned the whole of my room, and I noticed that everything looked the same. I glanced at my hands. Nothing was different about them either. I knew that I was ten, but I didn't feel like it.

I scanned the room again. My bedroom door was open, and in came waddling a Snorunt wearing a colorful party hat on top of her pointy head. She hopped up onto my bed and stood on my lap. "Good morning, Cece!" she said, grinning brightly.

"Morning, Delilah," I responded.

"Are we going to go on a journey today?" she asked me with curiosity.

I admitted, "I'm not sure, Delilah. I'm not sure."

She tipped to the side a bit. "What do you mean you're 'not sure'?"

"I-I'm just not sure."

She turned her back to me. "I'm not taking that as an answer. Either you know if your gonna or you're not."

"Delilah, this is my choice, not yours."

"Hmph."

I heard footsteps coming from the hall outside of my room. In came walking my sister: a tall, eighteen year-old girl with black, double-braided hair dressed in a three-quarter sleeved white button-down shirt and a tan miniskirt with an icy blue sweatshirt wrapped around her waist like a belt. As she stared at me with her usual, cheerful grin, she trilled, "Mooooooorning, birthday girl!"

"Morning, Candice," I greeted her back. "I see you're not at the gym this morning. Took the day off?"

"Mhm. I closed it for the day. I mean, it's your tenth birthday! It's one of the most special birthdays ever, with the exception of a Sweet Sixteen."

Delilah looked up at Candice. "Uh, hello? I'm here, too!"

Candice pat the Snorunt on the back. "Morning to you, too! Looks like someone was eager to celebrate their trainer's birthday!"

"That," Delilah admitted, "and I needed to get the heck out of my Pokeball for a bit."

Candice giggled. "You're so feisty!" she described. "It's totally unlike an ice type, but it's totally amazing! You and Cece will have such a fabulous journey!"

"Yeah, if we actually get to g-" Delilah began to say, but I grabbed her and squeezed her tightly to get her to shut up. "Let go of me!" the Snorunt said with a muffled voice.

"I have a gift for you," Candice said, "but I'm not gonna give it to you until you get out of bed and come to the kitchen!"

Then, my sister pranced out of my room, twirling and skipping as she did. She was filled to the brim with excitement and joy, the way she always was. Little did she realize how unusual it was for herself to be an ice type gym leader.

I picked up Delilah and hopped out of bed. "Let's go, Dede," I said to my Snorunt.

"Call me Dede one more time..." the Pokemon growled.

I smiled and laughed. "Let's go eat some breakfast," I said, "Delilah."

"Much better." Delilah rolled her eyes, as if she was thinking, When will Cece learn?

Of course, neither of us liked having nicknames. Although we appeared to have nothing in common, there was one thing that would drive either one of us ballistic: getting called by our nicknames. I let my parents and sister get away with it (being that they are my parents), but Delilah didn't want anyone to call her Dede. Ever.

I walked out of the room, my Snorunt cradled in my arms, and braced ourselves for whatever was planned for our last breakfast at home.

-x-

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CECE!" my parents and sister belted as I walked into the kitchen. They were surrounding the kitchen table in a half moon shape, and my sister's Froslass stood quietly next to Candice at one end. The Pokemon was holding a box wrapped in shiny wrapping paper and topped with a dark blue bow. In the center of the arc formed by my family was a stack of pancakes with a candle in it. The candle's flame was dwindling, indicating that they must've been waiting for me to get out of bed for a while.

"Thank you so much!" I said with gratitude as I went to hug my family. First, I hugged my dad. Then came my mom. When I went to hug Candice, she told me, "I'm not hugging you until you open your gift!"

Her Froslass held out the box to me. I stared at it for a good couple of seconds before putting Delilah down and grabbing the gift box. I slowly unwrapped the present, being careful as to not rip the wrapping paper. Once the gift was unveiled, I saw a plain, white cardboard box. I slowly opened the top of the box, and inside was a light turquoise stone that sparkled brighter than stars in the night sky. It was gorgeous, but I had no idea what it was.

"It's a Dawn Stone," Candice explained to me. "I thought that it'd be nice for you to experience your first Pokemon evolution now, so that's why I got you this. If you give it to Delilah, it will evolve her into a Froslass."

Delilah smiled. "Evolving?" she cheered. "Yes! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" The Snorunt waddled over to Candice and hugged her leg.

"Seriously, this is great!" I thanked her. "I love it!"

"I'm so glad to hear that!" Candice smiled. She seemed overjoyed that I loved my gift.

I pulled the stone out of the box and admired it a few minutes more. "It's so stunning," I said. "Delilah, are you ready to evolve?"

Sarcastically, Delilah replied, "No. No, I'm not."

Everyone laughed, and I gave the stone to Delilah to hold. She then underwent her metamorphosis. Once the Dawn Stone was securely in the Snorunt's hands, the Pokemon's body began to sparkle and radiate a bright, white light of some sort. As her form illuminated in the light, she began to change. Her form went from the short, stubby one of a Snorunt's to a taller, more elegant form-the one of a Froslass. Once the transformation was complete, the light began to subside, revealing Delilah's newly evolved form.

First, I basked in the beauty of Delilah's new appearance. It was ominous, yet interesting and gorgeous. At first, I thought that everything about her had changed...

...but, then again, I hadn't heard her speak yet. I ran over to hug my evolved Pokemon, and as I did, Delilah cried out, "Stop squeezing me too hard, Cece!"

I was wrong; she was the same temperamental Pokemon as before. I let go of her and then hugged Candice. "Thank you!" I said. "This has been the best birthday ever."

"You're welcome, sis," she replied. We let go, and she asked me, "So, are you ready to go on your journey or what?"

My parents appeared interested to know, too. I knew that I had to tell them something, but I didn't know what to say. I thought long and hard for a moment. First, I considered how amazing it would be to go on a journey across Sinnoh, defeating gym leaders and competing in Pokemon Contests. Then, I considered how great my life was at home.

I had to make a decision. It was now or never.

"Listen," I answered, "to be honest..."

-x-

"You're not mad at me or anything, right, Delilah?" I asked as Delilah and I sat on top of a hill near our house. My butt was freezing from sitting on the snow-topped hill, but I didn't really mind at the moment.

Delilah sighed. "Well, I guess not," she replied. "I mean, you had your reasons. I was looking forward to going on a journey, to be honest, but you wanted to train me more before you did. It's not a bad strategy; I don't totally disagree with it, but I don't totally agree with it either."

We didn't talk for a few minutes. The two of us stared at the daytime sky. It was cloudy and about to snow-not very uncommon for Snowpoint City.

"Remember when I first found you?" I reminded her. "That was two years ago today."

I recalled the entire story in my mind. It was as if the event occurred the day before...