A/N: What? One of these at the beginning? Oh, snap! Lol I'll be doing these to address the reviewers. TripleX: Gah! The typos...I know I know...it's because I'm forced to type in Wordpad until my mom gets her real computer fixed or until I save up enough money to buy one of my own. That plus my eyes scan too fast when reading and pieces words together automatically (I'll have to try and fix that...) And to darek: you say that but you left me no info on your trainer or anything ^^; ah well...anyway, on with the chapter!
Learning to Trust...
The girl hummed while walking, looking nothing but forward, smiling as she could hear the pokemon chattering behind her to their new companion as they walked along on their own now, the chattering more so from Chikorita than anyone else.
"So? So? What is it? Are you happy to be traveling with others now or are you still wishing you could be alone?" she questioned, lilting her head accordingly.
"Uh...I'm used to being alone but I suppose this is fine...I won't be attacked this way..." he replied back slowly.
"Oooh...well, you'll like it with Hotaru! She's fun!" the golden pokemon giggled, looking towards the girl of subject. The dog-like pokemon eyed her skeptically.
"She beat those kids up without a second thought. That didn't seem 'fun' to them-"
"Listen here! She did that cause she got mad cause they beat you up for no good reason! If she hadn't, they'd probably-" she was then promptly cut off by the Treeko, sitting on her back and covering her mouth.
"Please excuse this one...what she means to say is, Hotaru has a zero percent tolerance with people abusing Pokemon in any way. She can clearly see the difference between weakening one and beating one as well as training on one or pummeling one for no good reason. Seeing you, she made a quick judgement on how to make sure those two wouldn't resort to that again..." her yellow eyes cast a serious stare before she smiled. "So now that you know why she did it, do you think off it the same?"
"No...I guess not..."
"Knowledge is power my friend. Know what you're talking about before you speak. Hotaru doesn't mind but this girl is a hothead..." she giggled before resting against Chikorita's leaf. The other fem pokemon pouted as they continued to walk on. Of course, the silence didn't last long...
"Hey...Absol..." she got no answer this time. She frowned. "Absol..." still no answer. "Well, you don't have to talk to answer me but do you even like Hotaru?" he glanced her way quickly, looking highly irritated he was about to say something until they noticed Hotaru was facing them now.
"Leave him alone before I put you in your ball. He's probably tired by now and he doesn't have to answer that. He only met me today..."
"I liked you the first day I met ya!" she chimed back, earning a giggle from the girl.
"True but you and he are different...besides...I can tell he doesn't to talk at all...and you're trying to get him to. Is that right, Absol?" she sweetly smiled at him. He nodded once, grateful for her observance before noticing something.
"Before...and now...how do you understand us?"
"Hoo doo magic..." Chikorita teased, waving her vines with the statement ominously. He quickly looked back at the teen, confused look on his face at the odd smile belonging to the human.
"She's teasing." she quickly assured at the perplexed face she was getting. "Don't worry bout her. She'll do things like that till she knows you better...and it's this earpiece." she chuckled. "Anyway, you want to rest?"
"Uh...sure..." they set up camp on the side of Route 120, the trainer making a mental note that they'd hit Fortree City in the morning. After setting a quick meal of pokefood for them and making herself a quick helping of ramen, building a small fire, they all lay down for rest. Feeling the chill coming down, she put the two in their respective balls before setting up her sleeping bag. She looked over to the dozing white pokemon, remembering something she had with her. Walking over to her bag, she pulled out a blanket and walked to the other side of the fire. Right before she was able to place the blanket over him, she froze in place. A single red eye was open and glaring."What are you doing?"
"Making sure you stay warm. Something wrong?"
"...it appears not to be..." his glare softened as he lowered his eye at her. She tossed the cloth over him and pushed it close. She shivered slightly, being a bit away from the fire.
"T-Tell me if you're s-still cold...I won't bother you..." and with that, she promptly walked back over to her bag. What he didn't expect was her to call out her flame bird pokemon. He looked at her amused as she hugged said bird. "So warm..." she had a small smile on her face as she embraced the bird tightly. She then pointed over to himself before sliding into the worm shaped bag. The yellow bird pokemon walked over to him slowly, as if he himself didn't want to do this task.
"A...are you cold?" he asked, albiet timidly. Absol placed his chin on his paws, seeing as the Combusken was to shy to be a threat.
"A bit...it's fine though...what are you doing?" he asked for the second time that night, seeing as the bird began to walk behind him and slide under the covers as well. "Seriously? What-" he stopped, feeling the sudden heat rush from the other.
"She told me to keep you warm since you don't want her near you..." he mumbled, back turned against the white fur. "You know...you..." it trailed.
"...I what?"
"...you s-shouldn't treat her like that...she really is a n-nice girl..."
"And you are the third to say that. What should make me think twice on it?"
"Well..." he sighed. "I'm proof of it..." Absol then turned to him, a semi-interested face placed there.
"And how?"
"She saved me...from...this boy named..." and at that, he began to slightly shake. The others eyes widened.
"D...don't talk about it then...it's obviously traumatic." silence reigned for a moment before the bird spoke up again.
"Sorry...well...basically...the boy is her...older brother..."
"Brother?" he echoed, not really believing that fact. If she was as "nice" as they claimed her to be, it didn't seem possible with that influence as an older brother over her.
"Y-yes...and it didn't help that their mother hates us..."
"Us?"
"Oh, pokemon...in general...anyway...she used to look up to him, like normal siblings did. Until one day...we lost a battle...and he got angry...very very angry...and he-"
"You don't have to...I get it..." Absol cut off, sympathetic to the others past.
"...I won't go into it fully but...I was his starter...I was the one who failed him quickest so he took it out on me..."
.,;:P.o.K.e.M.o.N:;.
"It's all your fault! You're so weak! I should've picked a different pokemon!" Hiyori raged on, shouting down the defenceless Pokemon in his wake. The Torchic looked beyond scared. He knew what was coming and he never could stop it. The eleven year old terror swung at the pokemon relentlessly, shouting at it even more insults added with injuries. "Look! I can do more damage than you can do! You're pathetic!" He reared his fist back for a punch when he was stopped by a cry.
"Hiyori! Stop it!" A little girl, his younger sister, yelled while running into the fray. "He's hurt! Stop it now!" as she bent down to help the little orange bird, she was yanked by the wrist, screaming as she flew backwards from yank of her brother. The girl quickly stood, running over and latching onto his shirt and the other unto his shorts. "Stop! It's scared! You're hurting him!" He looked down at her growing irritated of the pleading look in her eyes, reminding him of the pokemon he was...reprimanding. "Hiyor-" at that moment she was flung back by a stinging slap to her cheek. He stared at her, he'd done it without trying. She was irritating him, he couldn't help it. She stared as hard as he did, touching her own face lightly, tears cresting her eyes as a whimper escaped her.
"...Hota-"
"NANA!" the girl screamed at the top of her lungs, standing and running opposite her brother back into the house. A flurry of maids quickly ran after her to see what was the reason behind her tears.
"Hotaru, wait!" he yelled, holding up an arm to thin arm. Seeing as it was futile, he glared at the pokemon again. "Geez! You cause me nothing but trouble!" he kicked at the bird this time, adding the expected punches to the barrage. Right as he grabbed the bird by the scruff of feathers at its neck...
"Hiyori Aiami, you let go of that Torchic this instant!" The maid called Nana ordered, holding a crying girl in her arms. His gaze narrowed on his little sister, nothing but a blob of red dress from his current position. He stepped away from the pokemon as ordered. He was then snatched up by the ear by the maid and dragged into the house. The little girl walked over to the still cowering pokemon. She crouched down, smoothing her dress as she was taught then reached her hand out to him but he shied away. She looked sad for a moment before mustering the gentlest smile she could.
"Dun't worry! Not all touches are bad. I wun't hurt you..." the Torchic still stayed away from her, looking at her as if those words were not and would never be true. She inched closer, connecting with it's yellow feathers. It froze but she instead reached for its head, the most battered part and rubbed it as softly as she could. It remained rigid before leaning into her hand. "See!" she giggled, startling the little one. "Not everybody wants to hurt you. We can be nice. There are more nice people like Hotaru around..." she cooed to it, scooting closer and closer still until she was able to bring it into her lap. "There..." she smiled at the bird nestling into her clothes, happy to see it at least trusted her to the point of even that. She ran her hand across the back of it's head before bringing it into a hug. Then she blinked. "You're so warm!" the little bird laughed in its own way, causing her face to light up. Then she winced. "Stupid Hiyori..." she grumbled, rubbing her slightly swelling cheek. The chick nuzzled her cheek slowly before leaning back with a small peck. She giggled, "Thanks! Here, I'll give you one too..." she leaned its head down and kissed it on the forehead. She then placed the bird off and stood up walking toward the house. The bird stood there, looking dejected, figuring she'd left him after all. "Torchic! Why you standing there? We're going to my room!" she called. the bird lit up, looking the happiest it'd every been, quickly taking off after the girl.
.,;:P.o.K.e.M.o.N:;,.
"And after that, she never let him get to me. She'd always pick me up and run off or glare if he came any where near us..." the bird added, smiling at the memories of her care. The other did nothing but stare at the ground in front of him, think that whole tale over.
"So...when did you evolve?"
"Hmm? That..." he laughed. "Another thing...Nana set Hotaru up for karate a while after that. Of course by that time I always followed her. Having only wings at the time, I only learned kicks but it was effective enough for the day Hotaru confronted Hiyori...she handled the punches, I did the kicks...after finally standing up to him, I evolved. Of course he didn't see it...he was unconscious...she was so happy though. Then she said 'Now you can handle both parts all on your own'..." both pokemon laughed at that. Absol found himself smiling at the thought.
"Well...she does sound like a nice kid..." he mumbled, looking over at the girl in question. Only her eyes were visible through the sleeping bag. Then a thought came to him as he noticed something. "Hey...Combusken..."
"Yeah?"
"It's too cold over here and the fire went out...let's move..." the bird did nothing but smile.
.,;:P.o.K.e.M.o.N:;,.
The next morning, the girl woke up by the call of Tailow and Swellow taking to the skies as Zigzagoons played around the nearby bushes. She felt incredibly warm, to say the least. 'How long did the fire last?' she wondered absently, reaching out of her bag to stretch and yawn, placing her hand on something next to her that was also warm. All she saw was white so she figured her eyes hadn't adjusted yet. Except...the white never changed. She then noticed it was moving, almost in a breathing motion...then her eyes widened. It took all the mental fighting not to slap herself for not figuring out Absol had moved to her side, Combusken lying behind her. She smiled at the sleeping form in front of her, lightly petting his fur. "It's soft..."
"Ab..." he grumbled. She quickly looked up to see that he was looking at her in almost the same way as last night. Glaring with one eye. "Absol ab..." he muttered again. She slid on the earpiece.
"What?"
"You still warm?" he asked again, face softening.
"Uh...y-yeah..." she mumbled, slightly dazed at the sudden closeness between them.
"Hey...you mind?" he mumbled, nudging his head toward the hand on his back. She quickly took it away just to have him lowly growl at her. "Not that! What...you were doing earlier..." at that a small smile crossed her face.
"You want me to...pet you?"
"Not if you say that again..."
"Alright, fair enough..." she giggled, stroking his fur again, avoiding the bandages, petting softly against what she did manage to pet. He placed his head back against his paws and ended up drifting back to sleep. She smiled, standing up and reaching for her bag. She let out the other two, who stretched and yawned. They looked as of they had a nice sleep.
"Hotaru! I wish you could get in one! It was all warm and soft...your mother got us the works!" Chikorita chimed. She was then promptly shushed. The yellow girl frowned before giggling. "You want to try and get in one?"
"That doesn't work..."
"I'll be your trainer!" she giggled again, wrapping vine around one of the empty pokeballs. "Pokeball, GO!" as a natural reaction, the girl smacked the ball away. However, a nose of something being captured went off, freezing both girls. They turned to see the ball shaking with a faint glow of pink.
"Oh...dear..." the gecko pokemon mumbled, watching the ball's movements. All three stared, silence among them. They all figured he'd break out but then the teen remembered one key thing...Absol was asleep... The ball let off a ding, signaling a caught pocket monster inside. The three continued to stare at the contraption, unbelieving of what just happened.
"Oh good Arceus, he is going to kill me..." Hotaru mumbled. She cautiously picked up the sphere, pressing the button and send the contents to the farthest point it could reach. Upon materializing from the beam, Absol glared. And pissed was an understatement.
"Girl..." he growled. "Why did you do that?"
"I-I didn't! It was an accident! I swear it!" she babbled. As the pokemon took a step forward, the girl trio took a step back. A hidden smirk crossed his face with a glance towards Combusken. Taking the hint, the bird added to it.
"Umm...c-can I get in my ball?" she complied, zapping the bird away along with the other two.
"Hotaru..." the white and blue creature murmured stepping closer. Hotaru turned and ran for the hills. "Hey!" she looked back to see him trailing her, dashing as if nothing was even ailing him. "Stop running!"
"Stop chasing me!" she yelled back, running even faster. As she got up to a sprint, his speed accelerated as well, keeping up with her with no problems. "Stooooop it!"
"If you stop first!"
"Nooo!" she whined back. She soon found herself turning with the road and entering Fortree City, the inhabitants with shocked and confused expressions on their faces at the loud intrusion. As both jet past, people simply wonder why he was chasing and just how was she out running him? Fear is a good source of energy when it comes down to it. She ran to the bottom of the town, taking a sharp turn right and ended up going into a U-turn as she dashed across the bridge, Absol not far behind. Taking his injuries into account, she made a swift decision, jumping off and landing squarely on the gym's roof.
"Pause the battle! What...was that?" the gym leader glanced up frowning. Winona looked around before stepping outside and looking to see if she could catch anything. So far all she could she was...blond hair? She ran back inside and up the stairs to the roof to find a girl being stared down by an Absol.
"Don't kill me alright! I said I didn't mean it!" she panted, clutching the straps of her back, slightly hunched over. The Absol stalked over her to the point of standing in front of her.
"I told you to stop running. I was going to say that...maybe I wouldn't mind staying with you...even after I'm healed..."
"...w...what?" she stood there, blue eyes just stuck to the red eyes of the other before she started to smile. "When did you change your mind?
"When a little bird talked to me and convinced me last night..."
"..." she laughed "Combusken's no little bird but..." she knelt down and hugged him lightly. "Glad you're staying from now on!"
"That's all well and good but who are you and why are you on the roof of my gym?" The leader asked, unintended sarcasm in her voice.
"Uh..."
A/N: And there you have it owo Winona makes an appearance because I am slow and I gotta check up on her personality before I continue because on Sapphire, she was all wisdom...y but when I searched for a picture of her she seemed all bold and loud so yeah. and if you do know her personality already, TELL ME lol and thanks! Don't forget to review me ^^