Finally, the first of my Pokémon Stories series is complete. This is the sole reason I wanted to wait to update because I wanted to upload this alongside the newest chapter. I actually started this while I was stuck while working on the lastest chapter for the longest time as a way to get back into writing. Oddly enough this was a great and terrible idea because I got a lot of ideas for chapters regarding specific Pokémon and because I started working on this more than the actual chapter update. So for the record don't expect this to update as much as the others. Anyway, now that that's all out of the way, enjoy!
For as long as I could remember, I have always spent my life just wandering around. Merely floating along the wind, drifting from place to place with no set destination in mind.
Truth be told the only time I stopped in a set location is when something of strong value peaked my interest. Like the time I spotted a school of Magikarp who needed assistance in removing the rocks cutting off the water flow to their lake. Or the Oddish who were being harassed by rude human brats that needed to be taught a lesson in respect. I could only scowl at the memory of them. To think there were so many humans like that around, alive and well.
I shook my head. There was no point in dwelling on that now. There is plenty of people out there who could protect innocent Pokémon just like Pokémon protected innocent people. I had to simply put my faith in that fact and just do my part along the way.
As I continued flying through the air though a strong wondrous smell ensnared my attention. I stopped for a moment, sniffed the air to determine from which direction it came from, and then took off once I did.
My hopes of the source of the smell to be some kind of food were high. It had honestly been quite some time since I had last eaten. A good snack or meal would be a perfect pick-me-up before I continued my journey.
The smell guided me to the open windowsill of a medium-sized house where a tray of fresh Poffins rested. I licked my lips at the sight of the delicacies. I looked around, hoping there would be no witnesses around before I indulged myself.
Satisfied to see no one I turned back to the Poffins and began to happily devour them. The second I tasted the first perfectly baked spicy Poffin I wasted no time to move onto the rest.
"My my, I can only assume they came out well for you to love them so much."
I nearly choked on one of the Poffins when I looked to see behind me was a lady with a baby in her arms, standing there smiling. I glanced at the sleeping child in her arms and then at her smiling face and lastly the near empty pan of Poffins.
"Oh don't worry about those," she laughed. "As long as you found them delicious that's all I care about. Besides, if you want to stick around I'm making more. You're more than welcome to stay and help too."
I swallowed the Poffins still in my mouth just as the child woke up and started crying. Well, more like using Screech actually.
The lady adjusted the child in her arms and then began to rock it back and forth.
"Now now Mia, we can get you some milk first. No need to cry my dear."
The lady started to walk over to a chair on the porch nearby and sat down. She adjusted her shirt, exposing one of her breasts and then began breastfeeding the child. Not long after she did, she looked to me with an apologetic look on her face.
"Sorry, guess you're gonna have to wait longer for those Poffins."
I snorted and licked the crumbs off my lips. At this point all I cared about was that the baby was now content, and more importantly silent, as the lady rocked it back to sleep.
A sudden strong gust of wind blew in that threatened to dwindle me away into nothing. Despite my attempts, I lacked the strength to fly under the eaves of the house or porch and the wind had already blown away large portions of my gaseous body.
Gotta do something fast, I thought as I then attempted to fly through the open window into the house.
Just as nearly nothing of me was left a blanket was draped over me. Someone grabbed the edges turning the blanket into a makeshift sack and threw it, as well as me, into what I can only assume was the open window leading into the house.
Now safe from the dangers of the wind my body began to reform under the blanket.
"Sorry about that," I heard the woman say. "I hope you're alright. The blanket was all I could think of using to get you inside in one piece."
Along with throwing me through the window, I thought with a grumble.
"Scept, be a dear and make sure Gastly is okay for me. I'll be in in a minute."
"Sure thing Miss."
A three-clawed hand took the blanket off of me, allowing me to see the kitchen I found myself in.
It was adequately sized with yellow wallpaper, a small stone oven packed in the corner, a farmhouse sink, and two barn doors that lead to what I assumed was the pantry.
"Well, aren't you the sight for sore eyes," a voice said.
I looked to see the one holding the blanket was a large Sceptile with a blue bandana tied around its left wrist.
"Better be grateful the Miss is as nice as she is," he said. "I would have left you personally."
"Well, aren't you charming?" I grumbled.
"And you're the one who ate all of Ret's Poffins."
"Well this Ret of yours didn't stop me now did they?"
The Sceptile raised a fist, though was unable to do anything else as the lady finally walked in, her baby in hand.
"Whew, looks like its about to storm out there," she said. She looked to me with a smile. "Looks like you'll have to stay for a bit after all. At least until this storm passes over anyway."
She nodded to me and the Sceptile then left the kitchen. The two of us looked at each other, scoffed simultaneously, and then the Sceptile folded up the blanket then left the room as well. I glanced out the window just in time to see rain beginning to pour down. The wind began to howl which in turn caused me to growl. It would appear I would indeed have to stay here until this sudden storm passed over. Hopefully it would leave just as soon as it came.
With not much else to do at the moment, I resigned myself to explore the house that served as my temporary safe haven. Floating out of the kitchen I went down the hall and entered the first open door on the left.
I found myself in a nursery with white walls and various colored polka dots painted on the walls. Piled up against the left wall were pirate chests and Pokémon plush dolls along with other toys of all kinds. Though the closer I looked I noticed all of them were crocheted, knitted or poorly sewn.
Maybe she made them all, I thought.
The baby, whom I didn't notice was in the room until now, crawled her way over to me then made grabbing motions, laughing as she tried to reach me.
"Mia, you be careful dear or you'll fall again," a Furret said, running over to the child.
"What? Is she clumsy or something?"
The Furret looked to me then wrapped her tail around the baby who simply buried her face in it.
"And just who are you?" she asked. "How did you get in here?"
"Oh, Ret, I see you met our guest for the time being," the lady said, walking in.
After she picked up the baby, who continued to grab the air in my direction, she looked to me with a smile.
"I prepared a spot for you in the Poké Room. Feel free to stay as long as you like."
I backed away when the child almost touched me and then flew out of the room. I managed to find my way to this Poké Room. The spot she prepared was a comfy pillow fashioned into a bed with the words "For Gastly" printed on a card placed in front of it.
Being made out of gas it was hard to really enjoy the bed, though I had to admit it, it was comfortable. Before long I shut my eyes and drifted to sleep.
Time past and I found myself a more or less permanent resident of the Longshadow household. I continued to venture out on my own from time to time but always found my way back. Though I wouldn't ever admit it, I actually felt like part of the family. Most of the time whenever I left to go explore, I found things like Shards, Stardust, or pearls and brought them back to Angeni to either use in her crafts or sell.
While she was busy doing that sometimes I would help Ret babysit Mia, who oddly enough took a strong liking to me. Of course me being me she was unable to get close in fear of her inhaling some of the gases that composed my body. Though that never seemed to register with Mia since whenever I moved away from her, she tried to crawl closer. And when I got too far away she started to throw a hissy fit so badly Ret has to distract her while her tail while I grabbed some of her favorite plush toys to use in a quick puppet show. Thank Arceus we found out how much she loved puppet shows. It made looking after Mia much easier.
However, a few months after I started to help out at the house, I dared to ask where Mia's father was. Scept scowled and balled up his fists as Ret helped Angeni breastfeed Mia.
"Arno…isn't around," Scept said. "He would rather focus on being the best Trainer in Silvader."
"What?" I looked at him. "Are you serious?"
Scept growled.
"Back when Angeni was first pregnant she called him up to tell him but we wouldn't give her a chance to even talk with how much he went on about his adventures. In the end she just decided to not tell him. Said he deserved to live out his dreams."
"What?" Angeni doesn't?"
Scept shook his head.
"She wrote a letter to him but she never sent it."
"What even happened to it?"
Scept directed me to a framed picture that showed a younger Angeni holding a newborn Mia wrapped in a blanket.
"It's written on the back of that," he said. "When she didn't give the letter to him she simply framed it."
"Well what do you think?" I asked. "If he got the letter and came back I mean."
"Might make things easier or might make things worse." Scept shrugged. "Hard to say."
The conversation ended after that. Though it sprouted an idea in my mind. An idea that could either help Angeni and Mia, or like Scept said, simply make things worse. Either way, late one night when everyone was asleep, I grabbed the picture and another crucial picture then left to start on my little "quest." Though I didn't have much to go on I had least had an inkling on what my first move would be.
I headed to the Pokémon Center in town and looked for the nearest Chansey or Audino.
"Hello, can I help you?" the Chansey asked when I came over.
"Yes, I'm looking for this Trainer here." I presented the photo of a young Angeni and Arno and pointed to him. "My Trainer is friends with him but lost contact awhile back. I'm trying to track him down for her."
"Hmm, well do you have a name?"
"His name is Arno Dogwood."
The Chansey nodded then went to the computer and typed away. I tapped the photo impatiently while I waited, watching various windows open and close on the screen.
"Well, it seems that the last Pokémon Center that Mr. Dogwood checked in at was actually his hometown about a week ago," she said.
I perked up at the sound of that.
"Really? That wouldn't happen to be Silvader would it?"
"Why yes, so it would appear."
I thanked the Chansey for her help then left. To my luck Silvader was a town I had passed through many times before on my adventures away from my new home. At least that would make this journey far more easier and less time consuming knowing where I had to go.
As I started to make my way in the direction of the town of Silvader I began to wonder how I would go about confronting Arno. In the end it really came down to two simple options: battle him and get caught or somehow convince to read the letter and believe its contents. Honestly I wasn't sure which path I was hoping for.
The more I thought about it the more I was somewhat dreading belonging to the arrogant Trainer that Angeni's Pokémon made him out to be. How someone like Angeni could even have feelings for him I'll certainly never know. Human relations were kinda always a mystery to me. And truthfully I wasn't too keen on learning more about it.
Now that I thought more about it, I realized Angeni and Mia were the closest I've ever been to other people. Scept and Ret came second since we were more like colleagues than actual family yet. But we were getting there so that was something.
With a shudder I also realized that meant if Arno and his Pokémon did move in with us I'd have to learn to deal with more people and Pokémon. That would take some getting used to. Regardless of that, for Mia and Angeni's sake I would do what I would have to.
It took four days to reach Silvader. Less than an hour to find the Pokémon Center. Now came the hard part of figuring out where to go from there. But good fortune seemed to be on my side when the Audino at the Center told me that Arno's parents were still in town and was certain that they would have a way to get into contact with him. Though since it was very late in the night when I got there I was amazed but not very surprised to find a Sableye awake and caring for the garden in the front lawn.
"Um, pardon me," I said, drifting over. "This is the Dogwood residence correct?"
The Sableye looked at me and tilted its head.
"Why do you wanna know?"
I presented the photos to it.
"I'm looking for Arno. There's something I have to tell him."
The Sableye looked between the photos and me then muttered something to itself.
"So the kid in the picture," it said. "That his…you know?"
I nodded, confirming his suspicions.
"It's why I'm looking for him. He deserves to know about Mia, the baby in the photo, and whatever happens after that…happens."
"Well you're in luck. Arno just came back home to spend the weekend with his mom for her birthday. You can stick around, so to speak, until dawn. Try to catch him in the morning before or after he does his daily training."
I nodded to the Darkness Pokémon.
"Sounds like a plan. Thanks for the help."
The Sableye scowled then shrugged.
"Yeah well, to be honest I'm just hoping that maybe learning he's got a kid will help straighten the kid out. He needs it if you ask me."
"So I keep being told," I chuckled. "So I keep being told."
When I more or less met Arno in the morning, my opinion of him didn't improve from all the things people told me about him. As they said he was a tad bit rude, definitely arrogant, and honestly, a bit of an ass. I first saw him while he was giving his Pokémon some speech about all they progress they made together since they started their journey but they seemed completely bored and uninterested in the subject. Some were even muttering about how annoyed they were with his behavior when they did win something.
With a roll of my eyes I ventured forth and got his attention. He turned around and got a fire in his eyes, like I was a new challenge for him to overcome.
"A Gastly, you would certainly help balance out the time," he muttered. "Be a damn good advantage over the next Gym we're planning on taking on."
I growled a bit hearing him say that in a tone like I was a tool for him to use but ignored it. I looked to his Pokémon who were eyeing me up like a potential threat, which I couldn't blame them for.
"Hey, I need your help," I said. "There's something I need to tell your Trainer, think you can tell me if he'll listen or if I'll have to do things the hard way?"
They all shook their heads. Great. Hard way it is.
I looked to Arno who already looked ready for a battle. I bared my teeth as he called over his Munchlax. Well, at least the clear Type advantage would make this battle over quickly.
"Munchlax use Zen Headbutt!"
The top part of the Munchlax's glowed blue while a see-through reflective shield surrounded it as it charged towards me. I dodged the attack with ease and shot a Shadow Ball in retaliation. The Munchlax wasn't able to dodge once again but just the same it shook it off.
At this point the battle simply became a dull rinse and repeat, even with Arno's attempts at trying different tactics. Honestly it became so annoying and pointless to keep the battle going I merely just told the Munchlax to have at it while I took the full force of its next string of attacks. Once Arno seemed satisfied that I seemed weak enough, he tossed a Poké Ball at me and I did nothing to resist it.
And with the sound of a simple ding later, I was officially caught and another Pokémon under Arno's ownership. From within the confines of the Poké Ball I could hear Arno gave a holler of triumph and congratulate the Munchlax.
Look at your Pokédex and notice the letter already dammit, I thought as I waited patiently in the Poké Ball. I don't have time for this!
For what seemed like forever Arno kept going on and on how the next Gym battle was gonna be a breeze now that I was apart of the team and what not, until he finally checked his Pokédex to check my stats and finally noticed the letter. With a frown he finally began to read it, his eyes widening as he progressed through it. When he finished he shuddered as his Pokémon all looked at him with slight concern over his change in mood.
"No way," he murmured. "Is this…is this true…?"
With a long sigh I felt myself relax. The first hard part was done. Now came the second and harder half.
The next week went by in a blur of events. First Arno spent two days trying to work up the guts to visit Angeni to see if the letter was true. Then when he finally did there was his reaction to finally meeting Mia to the point Angeni spent thirty minutes consoling him when he fell to his knees crying when he got overwhelmed with emotion. After that it was simply helping Arno get used to the idea that he was a father. Angeni, Scept, Ret, and myself all got him to help with taking care of Mia when he found himself unsure of what to do.
It wasn't until the end of the week while Arno was looking at the sleeping Mia in his arms that he tearfully asked Angeni for permission to stay and to give him a chance to be a good father to Mia. I couldn't help but smile along with the rest of the Pokémon when Angeni teared up too, saying she would love nothing more.
Scept elbowed me, so to speak given the whole being-made-of-gas thing, with a sly grin when Angeni and Arno weren't looking.
"Didn't think it could happen," he said. "But thanks. For you know, helping Arno and Angeni."
"Yeah well, had to do something. Besides…"
I looked at the image of Arno and Angeni smiling down at their content sleeping daughter brought a smile to my face.
"I couldn't ask for anything else in return."