"He's highly unfit to—," the slightly worn-out Professor had once again attempted to begin his argument.

"Ash."

"What?" The Professor softly questioned in concern as the child's tears began to slowly fall.

She inhaled shakily as the soft, yellow-colored furry creature reached out a delicate paw towards one of her flushed cheeks. Its eyes brimmed with concern. Its paw stilled before it sought contact as if fearing that, if done forthwith, it would shatter the delicate girl.

Her lips parted into a loving smile, "Ash?" The Chosen One. Her Chosen One.

The room was silent as four sets of eyes —four stupefied spectators— observed the now acquiescent Pokémon hesitantly and ever-so-delicately trace its paw from her chin to her cheek similar to that of an artist erasing away the existence of an unfitting characteristic of his magnum opus before extending its other paw to rest upon her other cheek; both Arceus-made mammals steadily gazed into one another's eyes with profound sentiments that the present audience could not decipher, but it mattered little as the small critter had arrived to its resolution. In doing so, he had eliminated their presence from within their world.

With a gentle cry of exclamation and a lick upon her nose, the critter fell into her embrace, which it reciprocated to the best of its abilities with its stubby little arms, causing the girl to giggle and slightly curl into herself.

"We're a team now, Ash." We have each other.

"Pichu." We have each other.