"Mum…MUM!" I shouted as I clattered through the door. I suddenly remembered that I was wearing my trainers so I jumped back out and kicked them off at the doorway. Boy, they sure were tatty. I was going to get some new ones but I forgot. My favourite department store is on Route 9 and it takes some travelling from Aspertia to get there.
Mum was in the kitchen and turned around when she heard all of my commotion. She looked surprised at my unplanned presence.
"Rosa? I wasn't expecting you home so…soon." Hey, what's with her tone of voice? I shook off my mum's odd response and plucked my only Pokéball off my belt.
"Mum, I came to show you my Pokémon. Oshawott come on out!" A white light streamed out of the Pokéball and formed the shape of my little Oshawott.
"Aiiiiiie! Isn't he adorable!" Mum picked up my Oshawott and squeezed his little cute cheeks. I hope he doesn't flip out and hit her with his scalchop…oh…he's enjoying the attention. However, my attention was grabbed by the flashing television in the middle of the room.
"This is Unova Now, interrupting your programme to bring you breaking news. The leader of the defunct villainous Team Plasma, Ghetsis, has been spotted around the dockland area of Castelia City. I repeat. Ghetsis is at large in Castelia City." The announcer suddenly changed tone.
"So…lock up your children, your Purrloins and your husbands tonight, especially if you live in Castelia or the surrounding areas…" he was suddenly interrupted by a female announcer with baby pink hair.
"Christoph, what are you doing?" She asked him, dazed.
"I'm only making a joke Nancy. I'm trying to lighten the mood." He protested, swishing his light green hair.
"This isn't a gossipy chat show Christoph. This is serious." Nancy scalded.
This is how every show with Christoph and Nancy ended up. I don't even know why they are popular. I can barely stand to watch them. What were they doing announcing something so drastic? Maybe the network managers thought it would stop people from panicking. I think the two of them were singers originally, from some dumb talent show. Now they are on everything, cereal boxes, clothing, the 'news'. Everywhere.
"Oh dear." Mum sighed, looking down and shaking her head.
"Ghetsis, back? This isn't good…" she went quiet, eyes wide and worried. Two years earlier Ghetsis' band of goons, Team Plasma, terroised Unova. They stole Pokémon and claimed that Pokémon should not be used as tools and should be free from human oppression. I don't quite understand their ideals though, since they were using Pokémon to implement their plans. Hypocrites.
Anyway, Team Plasma was eventually stopped by a relatively unkown trainer from Nuevma town, a girl called Hilda. But no one's heard or seen much of Hilda since. I imagine that after such a trial and all of that stress she's gone away for some much needed relaxation. She's probably gone to the beautiful Hoenn region or something, well, that's where I would go anyway. Imagine: staying in a treetop apartment in Fortree city, floating in a modest shack in the secluded Pacifidlog oceans, entering grand contests as an unknown in Lilycove, or just chilling in the calms of Sootopolis. There are a whole host of lovely places to visit in Hoenn. There are even hot springs! Oh to surf the Hoenn seas on the back of a graceful Lapras. Now, that would be the life!
Mum stirred from her quiet, stunned state.
"Remember watching Hilda on the telly last year? She saved Unova, and Cheren helped too. His mother was really worried. I don't blame her I would be too. I know her, Cheren's mother, quite well. In fact, I recommended that they should all move to Aspertia. It's one of the safest places in Unova. It's separate from the mainland, and from that horrible Castelia City. Virbank can be a bit dodgy too but it's getting to be a bit cleaner with those movie studios opening..." My ears pricked up at the mention of Cheren. I had pretty much stopped listening.
"What? You know Cheren's family?" I asked, exasperated.
"Yes, yes, I know his mother. We went to school together. We are both from Nuevma town. I used to help her when Cheren was born. She struggled, being so young. Poor little Mareep. Although two years later I had you. I've invited them for around for dinner tonight." My jaw dropped at this last revelation. Dinner! With Cheren! But hang on. We never invite anyone around here. It's always been just my mum and me…Oh, that's right. I'm not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be out there in the wild on my Pokémon adventure. I ran home like a little girl, all excited on the surface but secretly scared underneath. Mum must have invited them so that she won't be lonely on our first night apart. All of a sudden I feel kind of sad and guilty, but also betrayed. Why hasn't mum told me all of this stuff before? She never tells me anything. This revelation about Cheren's mum makes me wonder if I really know my mum that well. If I ever asked her anything about her past she'd always just brush the question off, and she'd ignore me if I asked about my father. Mum, squealing over the state of my shoes, interrupted my train of thought.
"Ewww look at those trainers! I'm surprised you can even walk in these!" Mum's trying to diffuse the tense atmosphere.
"Rosa I ordered you some new ones from Shopping Mall 9. They were supposed to be here the other day but they arrived just after you left. I was going to send them to the Floccesy Pokémon Centre for when you got there. They are on your bed." She paused for a minute, put her hands on her lips and then gasped.
"Oh, and Grandmamma and Grandpapa sent you something all the way from Solaceon Town in Sinnoh. I wonder what it is?"
NO WAY! The gifts from my Grandparents are always great. They were Pokémon breeders that had retired to the quiet town in Sinnoh. They were full of knowledge about Pokémon. On my birthday they'd send allsorts of gifts. Pokémon books about Pokémon from other regions, rare berry seeds, hand knitted blankets made with love and Mareep wool for example. But the thing I looked forward to the most was the letters they sent. I raced up stairs and burst open the door to my room. There were three packages on my bed. I picked up the one with the Unova postmark and opened it first. It was a brown paper affair, nothing too fancy, so I tore the paper off with careless abandon. Oh my Arceus. These are the shoes I was staring at lovingly in the most recent Shopping Mall 9 catalogue. I dived into the cardboard box they were preserved in and pulled them out. They went straight onto my feet. A perfect fit! Quite bouncy too. I took the trainers off and admired them a little more. They were red, but not an alarming red, a soft red. I placed them neatly at the side of the bed and sized up the other two packages. One from Grandmamma, one from Grandpapa, but the packages were both the same size! I picked up the one with Cherrim print paper. Grandmamma knows that I love Cherrim. I untied the parcel string and carefully removed the paper and peered inside the box to find it stuffed with polystyrene twists. It must be fragile. I moved the squishy twists out of the way to uncover a glass case. Inside the glass case there appeared to be an egg, a Pokémon egg! I repeated the process with the other parcel, this one wrapped with Dratini paper since Grandpapa likes dragon type Pokémon. There was an egg in there too! I guess I just filled two slots in my party without even lifting a Pokéball. There was a letter taped to the second glass case. It read:
Our dearest Rosa,
You are starting your Pokémon adventure soon. You're all grown up now! We have been looking after some Unova Pokémon here in Solaceon, a rare sight in Sinnoh believe us. These Pokémon caused quite a stir amongst the locals. They are really powerful too. We are not quite sure what they are, all of the Sinnoh Pokédexes don't register them, and not many trainers wander through with National Dexes, but we want you to have them. We are sure that you will raise them right and that they will make for a great addition to your team. Do make sure that you keep in contact and update us regularly on your journey. We do look forward to hearing from you.
Lots of love and kisses,
Grandmamma and Grandpapa.
(P.S. Tell me about any cute boys! Grandmamma x)
I love receiving letters from my Grandparents. They are always so light and full of love. But Pokémon eggs! I wonder what will hatch from them? Only time will tell.
I kicked the parcel carnage off my bed and sprawled back with the two eggs cupped in each arm. With my head on my ever-so-comfy Snorlax cushion I must have drifted off because the next thing I saw was mum standing over me and prodding my face.
"Get up lazy. We have guests." She announced before quickly running back downstairs. Guests? GUESTS! Cheren was coming! I bet my hair looked like poop. I glanced in the mirror above my dressing table. IT DID LOOK LIKE POOP! Oh my, what am I going to do? No, I mustn't panic. First I think I should…tidy my room a little. There were polystyrene twists and papers everywhere. My duvet was all mangled. I picked up all of the rubbish off my floor, put the recyclables in one of the boxes and the other stuff in my bin. I went to my bed and fluffed up the pillows. I had my Buneary print duvet cover on with a pink knitted blanket, both courtesy of my Grandmamma. I placed the eggs back into their safe cases and rearranged my Snorlax cushion. I placed my Cherubi Pokédoll (handmade, not the real thing) back onto the shelf above my bed. It must have fallen off. Right, room sorted, now to fix my hair. All I had to do is brush it and put it back up into Ponyta-tails. This time I added some turquoise ribbon around the hair ties. I took one last glace around my room before I left it. It looks like a little girl's room. I hope Cheren doesn't come up here. I was proud of my brimming bookshelf and neat desk but the rest of the room looked childish. As soon as I opened my door I could hear strange voices. They must belong to Cheren and his mum. They were deep in discussion too, something serious. It must be about the Ghetsis sighting.
"Ah, Rosa could you help me with these please?" Mum called holding up a tamato berry. Ooh we must be having stuffed tamato berries, my favourite. I reached the kitchen to find that she had everyone helping out. Cheren looked really cute with his sleeves rolled up! I could see his muscly arms. I didn't take much effort to see his muscly legs however, since his trousers were so tight! I carefully washed the tamato berry avoiding the sharp spikes. I then placed it on a cutting board and chopped the stalk and the top off. I scooped the insides into a bowl and repeated it with the other 3 berries. Mum and I are vegetarians. We can't stand the thought of boiling up a Torchic or something. I passed the bowl of tamato entrails to my mum who then put the Haban berries Cheren's mum was cutting in the bowl too. Haban berries can be quite nasty to cut, and Cheren's mum had tears rolling down her face from the aroma. Cheren was giggling at the sight. Mum scooped the rice that Cheren was diligently stirring into the Haban-spiked bowl and started mixing it up together, adding sauces and seasonings and other chopped savoury berries as she went. She then stuffed the colourful mixture into the tamato shells and put them in the oven. In twenty minutes they will be a lovely gooey mess. We all retired to the table in triumph whilst we waited for our dinner to cook.
"What did you get from your Grandparents?" Mum asked.
"Two Pokémon eggs. How great is that! I don't know what's in them though. The letter they sent me was a little sketchy when it came to the contents of the eggs. They are Unova native though."
Mum nodded and our guests gasped with anticipation. We all wanted to know what was in those eggs! However, the conversation quickly turned to my impending, well, already begun adventure.
"Have you had your first official trainer battle yet?" Cheren quizzed me.
"No, I haven't yet. I want to do some training first." Cheren's eyes met mine. Was he studying me?
"There's nothing wrong with that. It's quite smart. I rushed into my first ever Pokémon battle, with Hilda believe it or not. Even at that early stage she kicked my arse!" He chuckled to himself as he recalled such an embarrassing memory.
"I'd be honoured if I could be your first opponent. I'll give you a Unova League badge for your effort…if you beat me that is!" He had a sly smile on his face. I don't think that beating him is going to be that easy.
"Your friend…Nate? Yes, Nate. He came through the gym earlier today…I sent him packing!" Nate had challenged the gym already? I thought he was going to Virbank to see his father. I wonder what happened. His father doesn't sound that reliable to be honest. He's always letting his son down.
"Come to think of it, that kid kind of looks like y…" Mum interrupted Cheren by stabbing a fork in the table violently, quite close to his idle hand. Cheren got the message and shut up. But what was he just saying?
Mum had a sour look on her face. She never liked Nate. She loved Hugh and was always inviting him around and feeding him food, but never Nate. To be honest even I didn't know Nate that well. He seemed to prefer Hugh's company rather than mine, he normally follows Hugh around like a lost Lillipup, and instead he treats me with suspicion.
The timer rang and the steaming stuffed tamato berries were pulled out of the oven and dished up. It was delicious. Everyone was more focused on the food rather than the awkward conversation we were having prior. After dinner was consumed and enjoyed we sat down for tea in the living room. Cheren's mum had a few photos of Cheren from two years ago, from when he started his adventure. Wasn't puberty kind to Cheren. Oh Arceus! What a transformation. He was a Wurmple and now he's a Beautifly!
We chatted and giggled into the night and I was starting to get a little tired. Mum called Cheren and his mum up to help with the tidying up, which I thought was odd since they were our guests! They were having a conversation in the kitchen but it was muffled. Mum sounded strained. I kept hearing words like 'Plasma' and 'father' but I couldn't fit all of the words together in my state of tiredness…
I was being carried. Who was carrying me? I can feel strong arms. I feel safe. I opened my eyes a creak. I saw an unmistakable red tie. It was Cheren's, he was carrying me. He kicked open my door and placed me on my bed.
He whispered "Good luck Rosa" into my ears and then gently kissed my forehead. Oh wow, I feel like jelly. I'm completely full of bliss, and sleep. I need to go back to sleep. Sleep…sl…
I woke up and it was still dark outside. I checked my X-transceiver to see the time. 5:01 am. I'm leaving. I'm leaving right now. I just have to go, I can't explain why. I wrote an explanatory note for my mum and then bounded out of the house with my brand new trainers on and my Pokémon eggs in tow. Wow these shoes sure helped me run. I was making a great pace towards Floccesy. But suddenly a Pokémon jumped out of the grass and into my path. My first challenger, a Patrat. I grinned as I clutched my Pokéball.
"Go Oshawott."
