As Pretty as a Sylveon

Chapter 1

8 years later...

Kaiya watched in sorrow as they lowered her mother's coffin into the ground, avoiding any direct eye contact with anyone. People came up to her every so often to offer their condolences, but she merely nodded in acknowledgement, her heart too broken to speak. Though, no matter how hard she cried, she couldn't seem to shed a tear over her mother's passing. Her last known family member, and here she was broken hearted, but unable to cry. It wasn't until Mr and Mrs Stone came up to her to comfort her did she fell herself tear up, but still no tears were shed. She had to be so strong for far too long that she had learnt to handle her emotions.

She sat beside her mother's fresh grave for a while, even after everyone had left and the night had come. It wasn't until her eyes drooped and her stomach growled that she picked herself up and dragged herself towards their little home. It was so empty and strange to not have her mother greet her when she walked in the door, and, although she was hungry, Kaiya put herself to bed. She laid there for a while, looking up at the ceiling, many thoughts running through her head. She was 16 now and was no longer co-dependent, but although she was able to take care of herself, she needed her mother. Her heart ached and she longed to hold her mother again, but she still couldn't cry. She turned over onto her side and closed her eyes, listening to the hoots of the Noctowls and the howls of the Mightyena until she eventually fell asleep.

...

Kaiya sat up in bed, the morning sun shone brightly into her eyes through the window as she tried to block the light with her arm. It had already been a week since her mother's burial and Kaiya had spent the time mourning her mother's death, but as the days went by and reality starting to sink it, she was finally coming to terms with her mother's passing. Although she was starting to feel better, she was still unsure what she was going to do with her life now that her mother was gone. She sat at her old desk and placed her face in her hands, trying to come up with something. It wasn't until something caught her attention that she lifted her head, a small picture frame seemed to stick out amongst the clutter on her desk and when she picked it up, she nearly dropped it in shock. The photo was of two children playing together in the sand.

"Steven..." She whispered to herself, touching the picture gently with her finger tips. It had been so long since she had seen her childhood friend that she had almost forgotten about him. She had been so busy with her mom's illness after he left that she hadn't gotten to see him the times that he had come back to Mossdeep city to visit, but now that was able to take a breath after all the years of looking after her mother, she remembered the day he had left; she remembered her promise and she remembered the gift he had given her. Slowly, she pushed herself up out of the chair and made her way slowly over to her closet, opening it up to reveal all of her old, childhood things. Sitting at the bottom of her closet was the box Steven had given to her just before he left. She was never able to open it since shortly after he left, her mom took ill and she was forced to give up her childhood and care for her.

She blew off the 8 years of dust that had accumulated on the top of the box and brought it over to the bed. She remembered it being heavy when she was first given it, but now that she was much older, the box seemed almost weightless. She set the box in front of her as she sat cross-legged on the bed. She hesitated, unsure whether she should open it or not, but since she had gone 8 years without ever opening it, she knew she should. Slowly, she lifted the lid off the box and peered inside. The box was full of a lot of nostalgic memorabilia. Some old drawings she had drawn, some 'rare' stones Steven and her found, a few photographs of them as children and a note. She pulled the note out and read it.

"Here are some things I thought would help you remember me. I will come back for you one day."

Kaiya couldn't help but smile at the note that was written is sloppy child-handwritting, feeling very nostalgic as she pulled everything out one by one. Something caught her eye as she was taking everything out. She put her hand in a pulled out a circular object with a note taped to it.

"Dear Kaiya: I know you don't want to become a Pokémon trainer like me, but I hope that one day, you will realize just how much fun training Pokémon is! This is my very best friend. Take care of him until we meet again! - Steven"

Kaiya pilled the paper off and looked at the round thing in her hand. It appeared to have been a pokeball, but instead of the standard red top with a white button, it was steel gray with blue markings. It took Kaiya a moment to realize that note indicated that there was a Pokémon inside it. She immediately felt horrible for not knowing sooner, but was hesitant to release the Pokémon. She took a deep breath before sliding off the bed and making her way down stairs and into her back yard. The sun hurt her eyes, since it was the first time she had gone outside in a week, and held the pokeball in her hand. With a quick movement, she threw the ball, mimicking what she had seen other trainers to do and stood in shock as a Pokémon shot out of the ball. The Pokémon that floated a few feet away from her seemed to sparkle in the sunlight and it was something that Kaiya had never seen before. It's steel-gray body and yellow markings made it seem like it was a robot, not a Pokémon, and the why it shone confused Kaiya. She had never seen a Pokémon shine like that and wondered what it meant. She slowly made her way up to the floating Pokémon who seemed to be looking around at its surroundings.

"U-Um... Hi..?" She said awkwardly, making the Pokémon turn and look at her. "I... I am not too sure what to do... but... I am Kaiya. I guess I am your trainer. What... um... what are you?"

"Beldumm..."

"Beldum...? Well. I am sorry for keeping you locked up for so long... Um... Oh boy... what do I do now?"

"Beldum..."

Kaiya watched the Pokémon as it started to move around the yard as if it were looking for something or someone. It took a moment before Kaiya realized what it was doing.

"Are you looking for Steven?" She asked it.

At the mention of Steven's name, the Pokémon turned towards her and slowly made its way to her.

"Belllduumm,"

Kaiya knew instantly that it this Pokémon that had been given to her by Steven so long ago, had waited 8 years to be released from its ball and be reunited with Steven once again, but since Steven was obviously not there and it was only her, she knew the Pokémon would probably have been disappointed. She couldn't help but wonder why Steven had given her a Pokémon, despite not knowing at the time that she would change her mind about becoming a Pokémon trainer. She had a feeling that Steven had given her this Pokémon to persuade her into become a Pokémon trainer, or perhaps he knew she would change her mind? Whatever the case was, she was now stuck with this Pokémon that continued to search around the yard if looking for its original owner.

Hesitantly, She made her way over to the Pokémon and looked at it for a moment.

"Um... I was thinking..." she started saying, watching the Pokémon closely, "... Maybe we could find Steven together. Will you travel with me?"

She knew she would regret her decision to leave Mossdeep to set out on a journey to find Steven, but she also knew that she would regret it if she didn't as well. A part of her longed to meet her long forgotten friend, but another part of her worried that he wouldn't want anything to do with her once they met up since it had been so long since they had last seen each other. It was something she was worried about more than anything, but she knew she needed to find him. She had to find him and return the Beldum to him.