As pretty as a Sylveon
Plot: Becoming a Pokémon trainer wasn't something Kaiya saw herself doing, but when her childhood friend leaves their hometown to set off on his own journey and leaves her behind, she longs to follow in his footsteps and one day reunite with him as she sets off on her own journey, but when a tragic event happens and she isn't able to set out on her journey, she wonders if her friend had forgotten about her, and decides to give up on her dreams of one day reuniting with her childhood best friend. M for later chapters.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters.
[Kaiya's POV]
Growing up in Mossdeep wasn't the easiest due to the lack of excitement and children to play with, but it was a pleasant experience none the less, and although my hometown was a tourist attraction, it was always a safe place. Not many people lived in Mossdeep city; just my family and a few others. Even Though most of them there older, there was one child other than me that lived in town. He was a few years older than me, but we got along well and spent most of our childhood playing together on the beach and getting in trouble for causing mischief. We had been friends for as long as I could remember, and, although he was older than me, he was never really mean to me. He would tease me from time to time, but there was never a time that he would do something to hurt my feelings. He was kind hearted and polite with a knack for adventure. He often lead us on treasure hunts, seeking for 'rare and mysterious' rocks that would usually end up getting yelled at for because we usually accidentally dug up someone's garden or left large holes in the ground for someone to trip over.
Our families had been friends every since before we were born, so we had literally grown up side by side with each other, and, to our disgust, our parents often joked to us about making us marry. It was a long-running joke that we had heard about a million times over, but no matter how many times we heard it, we would both go red in the face and share our disinterest with our parents. Our parents, of course, would just laugh it off and tell us "we will see how your opinion on that changes in the future" to which we usually responded by running away from our parents' sight and preoccupying ourselves with something else. But although I wouldn't dare admit it to my family, or my best friend, I sometimes thought about what it would be like to marry him...
...
I sat awkwardly in a hard wooden chair as my mother attacked my long blond hair with a pair of hair-cutting scissors, trying to cut out the big glob of pink bubble gum that had someone managed to get stuck in my hair as I was outside playing. I watched as yellow clumps of hair fell from my head and land on my lap and around the floor, a pink substance knotting the strands together. As my mother cut more and more of my hair off, I felt the heaviness of my head become lighter and silently wondered how short she was going. In a way, I was glad that I had gotten gum stuck in my hair, since my mother had begun to refuse to cut my hair. I had always like my hair short; it was easy to manage and didn't get in the way as much when I was playing, but as I began to grow older and into a young girl, my mother had begun to refuse to cut my hair, telling me that I should act more lady-like. Although I would be lying if I said I didn't want to look like a girl, but to an 8 year old, the only thing I was interested in was playing. I could tell my mother wasn't happy about cutting my hair from the expression she was making as she cut, but as I watched her in the mirror, I knew she wouldn't stay mad for long.
After what felt like an eternity, my mother finally stepped away from me and met my gaze as I stared at her in the mirror.
"Something tells me that you purposely got gum in your hair so that I would have to cut it again."
As my mother accused me of doing something I didn't do, I realized that putting gum in my hair was a flawless plan and wondered why I hadn't thought of it sooner, but as I said a million times to her already, I had honestly and truly gotten the gum stuck by accident.
"Mom, I already told you, It was an accident. Steven and I were just playing and it just happened."
"Well I bet Steven would like it better if you kept your hair long, wouldn't you Steven?"
I had been so busy watching my mother cut my hair that I had forgotten that my best friend had been there the whole time waiting. When I turned to look at him, he was staring up at my mother with a polite expression.
"It doesn't matter if her hair is short or long. She is still Kaiya one way or another."
I could hear my mother squeal in delight at his response and she immediately turned around to face me, her face lighting up happily.
"Are you so lucky to have such a nice friend, Kai!" She chirped, but as I slid out of the chair, I didn't respond. I knew Steven was only saying that to not get in trouble and knew he would jokingly pick on me as a joke once we got outside. Although Steven never said anything to hurt my feelings, he always teased me to get on my nerves.
I made a mad dash for the door before my mother could say anything else, and without waiting for Steven, I ran down the pathway and to the beach where I threw myself down into the sand and began to dig a hole.
It wasn't long until Steven caught up to me. He sat down beside me and watched as I dug in the sand. I kept my face turned towards the sand, trying to hide my embarrassment from him, but alas, it was too obvious as he began to laugh at my expression. I turned on him, trying to give him a mad look to mask my embarrassment.
"What is so funny Steven Stone?!" I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest.
By that time, he was laughing so hard he was rolling around on the ground and his laugh must have been contagious because, before I knew it, I was laughing right along with him. Once we were finished our laughing fit, the laid back in the sand and looked up at the sky as it began to set. Sitting on the beach watching the sun set was something Steven and I did often, but this time, something felt a little different. I couldn't help but feel an emptiness build up inside me as I stared up at the dimming sky.
It wasn't long after that that Steven sat up, looking out at the sunset with an excited expression on his face. I couldn't help but turn my eyes towards him and watch him for a moment. After a moment, he turned to me and spoke.
"It's almost my birthday!" He said excitedly, "Which means, tomorrow I will be leaving this town to go on a Pokémon journey!"
I had to look away from him then. Normally I would have been happy that it was his birthday, but since it was his 10th birthday, it meant that he would be able to go on a journey and become a Pokémon trainer and I secretly hated the fact that it was going to be his birthday. The way he seemed so excited about leaving the city left me feeling hurt and betrayed and made me wonder how he could be excited about leaving me behind. I never did understand what the big hype about Pokémon was all about. Yes there were cool, but you didn't need to become a Pokémon trainer to enjoy their company.
"That's great..." I said finally, not bothering to mask the disappointment and pain that was laced in my tone, although I immediately wish I had because Steven turned towards me and gave me a sad expression.
"Kaiya, don't be sad. I will come back to visit," he assured me, but I didn't want to listen. I was so consumed by rage and jealousy that I didn't want to listen to him.
"What if you don't?" I asked bitterly, finally coming out with my biggest fear. I wasn't sure why I was so afraid that Steven wouldn't come back, but it bothered me a lot.
Steven seemed to be a bit shocked by my words, but gave me a small laugh and placed a hand on my head.
"Don't make that kind of expression, it makes you look like a little boy," he teased me, causing my face to darken in embarrassment.
"Don't change the subject!" I snapped, but Steven's laughter once again made me crack a smile.
He stood then, reaching down to help me up off the sand, then stuck his hand in his pocket and brought someone out. He placed his hands on the side of my head and began to play with my hair for a moment before stepping back and looking me up and down.
"Perfect!"
I wasn't exactly sure what he had done, so I made my way over to the water and looked at myself in the water's reflection. A small, purple ribbon sat in my hair, the bold colour standing out against the pale colour of my hair. I turned to look at Steven who was watching me a few feet away, waiting for him to say something.
"There, now you look as pretty as a Sylveon."
I couldn't felt but feel my face heat up at his comment, and quickly turned away to avoid looking at him. I felt nervous all of a sudden, but tried to ignore it by looking at the ribbon in my hair once again. Steven made his way over to me and stood next to me, placing a hand on my head. Through the water's reflection I could see that he was staring out at the horizon, so I lifted my head to look at him.
"Steven, Why do you always wear Purple?" It was a stupid question to ask, but I wanted to stray away from the awkwardness as much as I could.
"Because it's my favourite colour," He replied simply.
"But it's a girl's colour-"
"I don't think it is...
"-But it's an ugly colour! I hate it!"
"Then throw the ribbon away."
I touched the ribbon in my hair and turned to look at Steven. It wasn't until just now that I noticed there was something a bit off about him, almost like he was distant and sad. I wondered if he was going to miss me too, but decided not to say anything. That was the first time I had heard Steven use a cold tone like that, and it made my heart hurt, but I decided not to say anything about that either.
I was about to apologize for my cruel words, but as I opened my mouth, my mother called my name and I turned around to see her standing on the stairs, looking out at Steven and I. Steven didn't turn his gaze away from the horizon, so I decided not to say anything to him in case I had hurt his feelings. I didn't want him to leave feeling anger towards me, so I decided that just leaving it at that was the best situation. I ran to my mother's side and walked with her home.
Once inside, I immediately ran to my room to examine the ribbon in my hair once again. The ribbon did look good on me and did make me look pretty, but I wasn't sure that I looked as pretty as a Sylveon. I took the ribbon out of my hair and laid it down on my table, looking away from my reflection with a shy expression. I wasn't sure why it was, exactly, that I was feeling so embarrassed all of a sudden, but as I thought about what Steven had said to me, I couldn't help but blush. I walked over to my bed and laid down, looking up at the ceiling tomorrow. I hoped with all my might that tomorrow wouldn't come, but I knew, as soon as I woke up, Steven would be leaving for his Journey.
...
I opened my eyes slowly, looking over at the alarm clock that sat beside my bed and groaned irritability. It was earlier than when I usually woke up, but no matter how much I tried to go back to sleep, I couldn't stay asleep. Eventually, I pushed myself up out of my bed and made my way over to my window and peered out over the city. A large Crowd had gathered near the docks and it took me a moment to realize it was all of the town's people wishing Steven a Farewell. I turned my back towards the window, trying to keep myself from running over there and throwing myself at Steven's feet and begging him not to go. I didn't want to make myself look like a fool, but I knew I couldn't just not say goodbye.
Something on my desk caught my eye and before I knew it, I was racing down the street towards the beach with a little box clenched tightly in my hand. I couldn't believe I was going to be so selfish and let my best friend leave without saying a proper goodbye, I just hoped it wasn't too late. I pushed my way through the town's people before coming to the front of the cheering crowd. Steven was already heading towards the large ferry that was suppose to take him to the main land and I knew if I didn't call out to him, I would be too late.
I took a deep breath and shouted his name, causing him to turn towards me. His expression immediately brightened when he seen me and I rushed over to him, throwing my arms around him and pulling him into a tight bear hug.
"I thought you wouldn't come..." he mumbled against clothing as he rested his face on my shoulder. I could feel the tears sting my eyes as I hugged him, but I pulled away and gave him a large smile.
"Happy birthday, Steven," I said before letting go of him and handing him the small box that was in my hand.
He hesitated for a moment before taking it and opening the box up. He pulled the stainless steel ring I had gotten for him as a present out of the box and slipped it onto his finger. It looked a bit big for him, but he smiled happily regardless.
"Thank you," he said before slipping his backpack off and placing it in front of him. He unzipped it and brought out a much larger box than the ring came in and handed it to me. The box was much more heavy then what the ring was, and I silently wondered if he had put his whole rock collection into the box. I was about to open it when he place a hand on the lid and laughed.
"You might want to wait to open it later," he told me, throwing his backpack back on.
I wondered why he would say that, but decided not to say anything. He pulled me into a hug, and this time it was him who began to cry. When he pulled away from me, he looked at me with a happy expression and I couldn't help but tear up again.
The horn of the ferry sounded and Steven placed a hand on my head.
"I'll come visit," he promised me again before turning and making his way onto the Ferry. I watched him as he leaned over the side of the boat to give everyone one last goodbye wave and it was in those final moments that I had made up my mine.
"Steven!" I yelled to him, "I WILL BECOME A POKEMON TRAINER AND I WILL TRAVEL WITH YOU ONE DAY!"
I could see Steven smile at me from the boat.
"But what if I travel to another Region ?"
"Wait for me! I will search all of Hoenn to find you, and when I do, we will travel the world together!"
And with that, I watched as the boat that my friend was on, sail away until it was out of sight. I turned to walk back to my mother, giving her a small, but sad smile.
"Don't cry Kaiya, you will see him again one day," she said, placing a hand on my head. He finger brushed against the ribbon in my hair and she gave me a puzzled expression.
"Kaiya, I thought you hated the colour Purple?" she asked, commenting on the ribbon.
I gave her a small giggled before I turned to look back at the once again.
"Where did you get that idea from?"