Chapter 2 – Mother and Son
"Mommy?" he called out as he walked into the small cave that he called home. It was getting dark out, and the rest of his friends had already turned in for the night. Despite the short walk he took back home alone each day, it was later than usual for him to come back this night, but he always felt safe in this part of Kanto. Out here, there was little to fear other than the large nest of Beedrill in the corner of the forest he always avoided. No sense in starting a fight with those guys.
He took another step into the cave when suddenly he heard a loud and deep noise come from inside. He froze up where he stood, never having heard that noise in his home before. He felt a chill go up his spine, and he took a step back from the darkness.
"Mommy, are you in here?" he called out again, desperately wanting an answer. He shivered in fear, his eyes becoming watery as he peered into the dark cave. He couldn't see anything at all...wait a minute, was that a-
Then, without warning, a large figure leaped out of the darkness and scooped him up into it's arms. A surge of adrenaline went through his body, and he instantly tried to escape, but the arms held him fast. "MOMMY!" he screamed out in fear, still trying to pull away from the firm grip he was in.
"Right here darling." he heard a soft familiar voice say, and he froze, a tear falling down his cheek. He looked up at the figure, seeing his mother's face, visible only by the moonlight coming from the cave's opening. She was smiling playfully, despite the hyperventilating, crying son she held in her hands.
"Y-you s-scared m-me." he blubbered, breaking down into harsh sobs and digging his face into her chest.
"I'm sorry my child." she apologized, her tone both sincere and a little upset. "But you know, I was scared too when you didn't come home at dawn like you promised."
He stopped sniffling for a second, a look of realization coming over him before resuming his crying. He felt a hand come up and rub his back, comforting him as the adrenaline rush and fear from a moment ago faded, replaced by sympathy and embarrassment.
"I'm s-sorry, mommy." he whispered. "I didn't mean to be so late. I was just having so much fun, and then Caterpie found me on my way back and...and..."
"Shhh, it's alright sweetie. I understand." his mother said, pressing a paw to his lips, still smiling down at him. "Just remember, I'll always be waiting for you when everything is over." she said. She sat down against the wall of the cave, setting him on her lap in his usual sleeping position.
He sighed and felt tiredness come over him as the last of his fear left him. "Mommy..."
...
Suddenly, Cubone found himself being released out of his accidental prison into what looked like a kid's bedroom. He rubbed his eyes, blinking a few times to adjust to the light and stretching his body to get rid of the cramped feeling his muscles had. He never liked the feeling of being in a pokeball; he had been so stupid to let that happen to him.
A large map of the Unova region was displayed on one of the walls, with a few sticky notes adorning it. Toys and the like lay scattered about the floor, while a large TV sat in the corner, a white game console in front of it with a weirdly shaped controller. Then Cubone spotted the pokeball he had come out of on the floor in front of him, along with a small bed that had his blue vest laying on it, wrinkly and dirty.
"Cubone?" he asked out loud, wondering who had brought him here as he looked around the room. It appeared to be empty besides himself, but then, who had let him out?
There was silence for a moment. Then the bedroom door creaked open and a young human boy peeked inside, his expression innocent, but nervous. When he laid eyes on the Cubone, he gasped and closed the door shut quickly. Cubone cocked his head in wonderment, then walked over with bone in hand and knocked on the door with it.
There was no answer. Cubone sighed and turned around, laying eyes on a desktop computer in the corner of the room. He approached it and leapt up onto the swivel chair, turning the computer on. A loud startup noise went through the room, and the door suddenly flew open.
"Hey, that's my computer!" the kid said, rushing forward towards it to check that it was alright. "My mom gave that to me, and I don't need some Pokemon to accidentally break it. She'll...kill...me..." The kid's indignation disappeared as he realized he was standing right in front of the Pokemon.
Cubone gave a deadpan look towards the kid, then turned back to the computer screen, opened a browser, and began typing in the search bar. The kid watched in amazement as the Pokemon typed in a rather practiced fashion, which was rather impressive considering his stubby paws not being as agile as a human's.
"Whoa, you can type?" the kid remarked. Cubone nodded, then pointed at the screen, where the kid saw a few words in the search bar.
"'Yes, now where am I?'" the kid read. "Oh, you're in my house." he answered, nodding as he smiled. At this obvious notion, the Cubone let out a sigh; leave it to fate that he end up with a human more dense than a Roggenrola. He typed some more.
"'Who are you?'" the kid read. "Oh, my name's Kevin." he answered. "I found your Poke ball in the forest, and your trainer's vest next to it. There wasn't much in there, just a couple spare poke balls. Were you guys separated or something?"
Cubone shook his head, and typed some more.
"'That's...my...vest.'" Kevin read as each word appeared on the screen. "Really? It doesn't look like it would fit you...and what does a Pokemon need clothing for?" he questioned. "I thought Pokemon weren't really bothered all that much by...well, you know." the kid said, blushing a bit.
Cubone looked down at his small, stumpy body, adjusting his skull mask a bit. Then he shrugged and typed again.
"'I need it to carry my equipment.'" Kevin read. "Wait...those poke balls are yours?"
Cubone nodded. Kevin looked puzzled.
"So, what does a Pokemon need with poke balls? Those are only for trainers, unless I'm missing something. You delivering them to someone?" he asked. "I would think a flying Pokemon would be faster and safer."
"Kevin!" a voice called from outside the door, and footsteps sounded, coming audibly closer. A middle-aged human woman came into the room, holding a laundry basket in her arms. "Would you mind getting...oh my goodness!" she said, interrupting herself as she jumped back at the sight of the Cubone, dropping her basket to the floor.
"Mom, it's alright!" Kevin said, waving his arms to grab her attention. "I, er, brought a friend home with me."
"Yes, I can see that." she said, her eyes not leaving Cubone, who simply stared right back. "Where did you find him?"
"I found a vest full of poke balls in the forest, but he was the only one inside." Kevin answered. Then he recoiled at the slightly upset look his mother gave him.
"Kevin, you know better than to steal Pokemon from other trainers." Kevin's mother said, wiping her brow and picking up the basket again. Cubone felt a small twinge of guilt go through him at her words. "I know you're excited to be a trainer, but that doesn't man you just take whatever lost equipment or Pokemon you find." she said, while Cubone looked down ashamedly.
"It was just lying there." Kevin said sheepishly, blushing a deep red.
"So you turn it in to the authorities, young man. That way you can give it to whomever it belongs to." Kevin's mother said sternly. Then she turned to Cubone, who quickly looked back up at her. "What kind of Pokemon are you dear? I've never seen your kind around here before." she asked.
"Cubone." the Pokemon said, both saying hello and answering her question at the same time. Kevin's mother smiled warmly at the Pokemon's answer, though her eyes still betrayed a hint of nervousness behind them. "Huh, a Cubone. I thought I recognized that mask. Are you looking for your trainer?"
Cubone shook his head, then without breaking eye contact with her, reached over to grab Kevin and pull him to his side, trying to look cute and happy. Kevin looked rather surprised at this, but then suddenly got what Cubone was trying to say..or at least, he almost did.
"Oh, um...he actually wants me to be his trainer now!" Kevin quickly said. Cubone resisted the urge the slap the kid across the face for the very idea, but knew he probably don't want to risk looking hostile in front of the two humans; he was lucky enough that he had been found and released by the kid at all.
Kevin's mother raised an eyebrow, peering at her son's uneasy expression. "Hmmm...I don't know. Are you sure?" she asked.
"Of course." her son replied gleefully.
"Not you, him." she said, nodding towards Cubone while her son looked rather put out."Are you sure you want to be his Pokemon? Kevin isn't exactly the most responsible of kids." she said, a knowing smile gracing her expression.
"Mom..." Kevin said through gritted teeth.
"Cu!" Cubone said, patting Kevin in a friendly manner.
"Well...alright." Kevin's mother said after a moment of thought. Cubone felt his heart leap with joy at her words. "I guess you can stay here then and go with him when he leaves to get his starter tomorrow. Arceus knows he needs all the help he can get." She turned and began walking down the hall. "You two behave yourselves now." she called.
Kevin beamed at Cubone. "I don't believe it. I'm not even a trainer yet and already I have another Pokemon to help me. Thanks Cubone!" he said, laughing a bit as he petted the latter's skull helmet.
Cubone really had to try this time to resist swinging his bone weapon across the kid's face, as he had no intention of joining the kid on his journey at all. But he knew that trying to explain what he actually wanted was pretty much hopeless...the humans would never understand after all.
"So, Cubone, uh, what do you wanna do today?" Kevin asked, scratching the back of his head. "I don't really know what Pokemon do for fun, I mean other than battling of course."
Cubone snorted at the thought of himself in a battle with Kevin. Probably one of the few fights he would actually stand a chance of winning, if he was lucky. He eyed the kid's smiling face again, gripping his weapon just a little tighter...
"Here, use the computer again...ooh, I gotta tell mom you can type!" Kevin said excitedly, before rushing out his bedroom door, leaving Cubone alone in the room. Cubone blinked, surprised at his newfound isolation, then looked at the large poster of the Unova region on the door. He peered at the yellow notes again, seeing the writing on them, reading things like the names of towns and certain Pokemon that were in the areas the notes covered. He found that something like this could be quite useful to have around, and turned towards the computer to quickly look for a small map he could print out.
It didn't take long before he found a printable version of the poster, this one with small side notes and a separate page with a list of known Pokemon on Unova. Cubone didn't even recognize half the names on said list, which was fine considering he had only been in Kanto until a few days ago. It would be that much more fun of a journey to see what was out there.
He clicked the print button on the page, when suddenly an error message popped up and said there was none available. He sighed in irritation; if only he had a-
"Hey Cubone!" Kevin said, sliding into the room with a small device in his hand. "Mom thought that was a pretty cool thing you knew how to do, and also, she gave me this!" He showed the device to Cubone, who instantly recognized it as a Pokedex. Cubone snatched the thing out of Kevin's hand, who did a double take at the sudden action while the Pokemon opened it and tapped a few buttons. Soon, a map of the region popped up on the screen, and Cubone beamed. This was precisely what he needed!
Then the Pokédex was taken out of his paws by Kevin, who looked at the map happily while Cubone looked shocked at Kevin having taken the device from him. "Man, this thing does everything!" he said, closing the map and studying the various functions and options, not noticing that Cubone was shaking in anger and about ready to tackle the human to the ground, or throw his bone at him, he hadn't decided yet...
"Oh, and Kevin!" a voice called, and the former's mother appeared at the door again. "I forgot to tell you, tomorrow you head down to Professor Juniper's to get your starter. Make sure you get up early, she only has a limited amount of them." she informed.
"Ok, thanks for letting me know mom." Kevin said, echoing Cubone's sentiments exactly. Suddenly, a grumbling noise went through the room, and both Kevin and his mother looked over at the Pokemon, who was glad that his blushing was hidden underneath his helmet.
"Er...I'll feed him right now." Kevin said, rubbing the back of his head nervously at the questioning look his mom was giving him. "Come on Cubone, let's head downstairs." he said, motioning towards the hallway.
Cubone nodded and followed behind the kid out the door, pausing only to smile up at Kevin's mom cutely. She seemed nice enough after all, even if her son annoyed him to no end. Then he went down the stairs, looking around at the rather large house he was in. He hadn't realized just how big the place was, and for only two people. He thought back to the cave that he had grown up at...and then stopped, feeling a little sick at the memories that suddenly returned.
"Um, Cubone?" he heard, and he looked over at Kevin, who was in the kitchen. "I uh, don't really know what you eat, to be honest."
Cubone rolled his eyes, then he walked over and opened one of the lower cabinets, peering inside for a moment before pulling out a box of cereal. Kevin watched in wonderment as the Pokemon opened the box and pulled out a handful of the sweet food, munching it down underneath his helmet.
"Do you want a bowl or milk?" Kevin asked. Cubone shook his head and walked over to the table, pulling himself onto a chair. Not that he really needed to be at the table, as evidenced by Kevin's puzzled expression, but it did make him feel a lot less wild and...Pokemony.
A moment passed with only the sound of crunching food going through the house. Then Kevin came over with a couple glasses of orange juice, giving one to Cubone, who took it with a nod and drunk it down. If the kid kept this up, he'd be actually tolerable.
"So Cubone, I've gotta head out later today to buy some stuff for the journey I start tomorrow. Do you wanna come with me?" Kevin asked. Cubone thought for a moment; while Kevin was the trainer here, at least for now, he figured it couldn't hurt to look around town and see where everything was. Who knew, maybe he'd find something worth buying...or stealing. This was a new region to him after all, he might as well get acquainted with the place.
"Cu." the Pokemon answered, chewing down another handful of cereal. Kevin stared at him, looking confused.
"Uh...was that a yes?" The kid asked, scratching his head and smiling nervously. Cubone's eyes widened, then he skull-palmed.
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