It started to rain the moment Pearl ran out of the Pokemon Research Center. Pearl normally despised wet weather, since it made her blonde hair weirdly frizzy, but in that instant she couldn't care less. She fumbled in her scarlet bag (chosen to match her elbow length gloves) and pulled out the pokeball she was looking for. Moments later she was perched on Pidgeot's back, soaring through the dull grey sky.
"Take me to Veilstone," she whispered, voice catching in her throat on the last word.
She buried her face in the chestnut feathers of the bird Pokemon, willing her tears to stop. All she wanted to do was go home and curl up on her bed. Maybe her father would make her his famous hot chocolate; that would make everything better. It always did.
Pearl's mind returned to Gary. Why had she done such a stupid, dramatic thing? A mature girl wouldn't bolt out of a situation that troubled her. A mature girl would face her problems. Pearl swiped furiously at her cheeks, which were slick with rain and salty sadness. It would have been better if she had never met Gary. Maybe then she would have learned how to rely on herself.
Pidgeot let out a warning cry before it gently swooped down towards the earth. Pearl hopped off her back and gave her a tight hug.
"Thank you," she said. "Return." The Pidgeot bobbed her head once gently, and disappeared in a beam of red light.
Pearl began walking and stared at her black boots; each step she took made a loud squishing sound as rubber and fabric made contact with muddy ground. She trudged down the trail and her house came into view. Her lips couldn't help curving up slightly at the sight of home.
She hurried through the drizzling rain, desperate to get somewhere dry. Her clothes were cold and drenched; she longed to get into something warm. She hopped up onto the white porch and was about to knock (forgetful girl that she was, she had left her keys on her dresser that morning) when the door swung open.
A middle aged man with sandy hair that was just starting to thin popped his head out. His hazel eyes narrowed behind his wire rimmed glasses.
"Who might you be, young lady?"
Pearl groaned. "Dad!"
Her father, Jonathan, chuckled and tried to embrace her. Pearl squirmed away and darted past him into the house. She kicked off her boots and grabbed a sweatshirt that was lying nearby. She used it to dry her hair furiously.
Her father closed the door and faced her. "Hey, what are you doing? That's my favourite shirt!"
"Oh." Pearl glanced down at it. It was indeed the white shirt with the Azelf on it that he loved to wear. "Sorry about—"
Jonathan wrapped her arms around her, muffling the rest of her response. "I'm so glad you're home, my little Cleffa! I missed you."
Pearl tried to resist but melted into the hug. "I was home just this morning, remember?"
"Yes, but before that? I seem to remember that my baby Cleffa was away for months, beating various Pokemon Gyms." Jonathon wrinkled his nose in mock disgust. "Fighting magical creatures is no pursuit for a young lady."
Pearl pulled away from him suddenly. "Dad, I got you soaked."
"That's all right. Say, aren't you going to say hello to Starry?"
Pearl looked around the cosily furnished room. Starry, her Eevee stuck to her like glue and had an uncanny sense for knowing when she would arrive back at home. Most of the time he followed along on her trips, but he had come down with a cold in the past few days and wasn't able to join her in going to Sunyshore to beat Volkner. He wasn't sitting by the door waiting for her as was the norm.
Her stomach began to churn. "Where is he? Is he all right?"
"He's fine." Her father smiled. "I think the little monster is sulking, in fact. He wanted to come along with you to get your final badge." Her father raised an eyebrow. "You did beat Voltorb, right?"
"It's Volkner," Pearl corrected him. She had begun shivering in her wet clothes, despite the heat that was circulating through the house.
Jonathan gave her a gentle push towards the stairs. "That's great! I want to hear all about it, but first you have to change."
Pearl nodded and ran up the stairs. After changing into dry clothes and getting her hair back to normal, she went into her room. Starry was lying on her bed, paws crossed, glaring at her.
"Hi, Starry," she cooed, inching towards him. The fluffy beige and cream pokemon let out a huff and hid his face in his tail. "Aw, don't be like that. You know I didn't want to leave you here. You were sick."
"Hwee," Starry chirped grouchily. He peeked at her from above his tail and Pearl gave him a winning smile. The Eevee couldn't take it any longer and flung himself at her. Pearl stroked his soft head and he purred, rubbing his face against her fingers.
"You're a sweet boy," she cooed, tickling the little pokemon beneath his chin. "I promise I'll never leave you alone again, unless the circumstances are unavoidable, okay?"
"So, you guys patch up your relationship?" Her father was standing in the doorway.
"Yeah." Pearl's newly cheerful mood vanished as quickly as it had come. She bit her lip and looked at Jonathan. "Dad, I know I'm supposed to be leaving again for the Pokemon League tomorrow..."
He covered his ears. "No, I can't hear you. You're not going anywhere!" His laughter stopped when he saw the solemn expression on her face. "Pearl, what's the matter?"
"I'm not going to the Pokemon League."
Jonathan stared at her, brow furrowed. "You certainly seemed excited about it before." He took a few long strides across the pink carpet and sat beside her on the bed. "What's happened?"
She played with Starry's ears to disguise the fact that her hands were shaking. "Nothing. I just think it'd be better for me to go next year."
"Does this have something to do with Gary?"
Pearl flinched and her father sighed. Starry gave her a concerned look and she gave the pokemon a watery smile. She felt her father's hand reach for hers but she shoved her hands underneath her thighs. Jonathan gave her a questioning glance, but she kept her eyes fixed on Starry. The last person to touch her hand had been Gary; she didn't want the feel of his fingers to be replaced with someone else's.
"If you and Gary had a fight, I'm sure you'd be friends before you left tomorrow," Jonathan said gently. "You two never stay mad at each other for long."
"We're not fighting," Peal replied stiffly. They weren't...were they? "I just don't want to go to the league this year."
There was a long silence, punctuated by her father sighing.
"Pearl—"
She got to her feet, gripping Starry tightly in her arms. "I don't want to hear it." She turned on him, brown eyes morphing from brown to green in her sudden rage. "I know you like Gary, okay? I know you want him to travel around with me and protect me and play cards with you. But he's not going with me to the Pokemon League tomorrow, okay? I'm not going either. End of this stupid discussion." Her chest heaved after she unleashed the torrent of words.
Jonathan suddenly looked ancient. He got up slowly and walked past her until he was in the doorway again.
"Okay." He gave her a tired smile. "You'll become champion next year." He shuffled off slowly, closing the door quietly behind her.
Pearl set Starry on the floor and flung herself onto her bed. She buried her face into the lilac scented pillows and let out a scream. Jonathan wasn't her biological father; he had adopted her when she was a baby he had found on his doorstep. He tried so hard to be a good parent, he was so kind and forgiving; meanwhile Pearl was a short tempered nuisance of a daughter. It was obvious that they weren't related. She rolled onto her back and stared up at the off white ceiling.
If I had a mother, she wondered, would I be a better woman? Would I be the kind of daughter dad deserves? Would I be the girl that Gary is looking for?
Thoughts raced through her head, one after the other, until she fell asleep. She woke up groggily some time later, hearing sharp taps echoing in the room.
Pearl sat up in bed, mouth dry. She heard the tapping sound again and she looked at the window. The noises were definitely coming from there. Her heart froze for an instant before beating again at twice its regular speed. There was only one person who would wake her in the middle of the night by tossing rocks at her window: Gary.
Starry let out an annoyed squeak in his sleep and shifted away from her as she stood up. Pearl hesitated; she wasn't sure if it would be wise to do this. But she found herself mechanically putting on her charcoal trench coat, sneaking down the stairs and going out the back door. She would do anything to see his face again.
She saw him leaning against the apple tree in her backyard. He was wearing dark blue jeans that hugged his legs just so, and his grey jacket was unzipped. He heard her footsteps crunch on the gravel and he whipped his head around to look at her.
"Hey." His voice was casual, as if they always held midnight meetings.
"Hi." She kept her voice equally as nonchalant as she walked toward him, stopping a few feet away. "What are you doing here?"
He gave her an awkward smile. "I wanted to say sorry about what happened today. I shouldn't have let you go to my dad."
"It's okay."
Everything was still; the air was chilly and heavy from all the rain. Pearl was freezing; her light cotton trench coat was meant for warmer temperatures, and although it was nearly summer, the weather sure didn't make it feel that way. Not to mention the coldness that has forced its way between the two of them.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" he asked. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets.
She nodded and trailed along behind him, feeling too embarrassed to get any closer. This didn't feel right, not at all. She felt so far away from him. She wasn't paying attention to what her feet were doing so she walked right into Gary, who had stopped moving forward to wait for her.
She looked up and met his forest green eyes. She could feel the heat radiating from him and it warmed her. Pearl wanted to get close to him, but she was afraid.
She darted her eyes away and stepped back. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
"Pearl," he said. It nearly broke her to hear him sound like that; his voice was hollow. "We can't keep doing this."
"I know," she replied. The moon hung low and bright white in the clearing night sky and Pearl spoke to it; refusing to meet his gaze. "I think we should take a break from each other for a while."
"Okay."
Pearl's eyes flew to his face. "Okay?"
"If you don't want to see me anymore, I understand." Gary offered her a smile; his teeth sparkled in the light of the moon.
"No." Her heart pounded in her throat. "It wouldn't be for... forever, it would just be—"
"For a little bit?" Gary said, frustrated. "Pearl, it would be even harder to become friends again if we took a "break", as you call it." He stepped towards her and held out his hand, pulling it away slowly when she crossed her arms. "Pearl, I'm coming with you to the Pokemon League." His tone was decisive.
She dropped to her knees onto the grass and buried her face into her hands. She began to sob noisily. Gary crouched beside her in alarm, and she pushed him away.
"Leave me alone, Gary!" she nearly shouted. "I don't understand why you're doing this. I don't need anyone to come with me to the league! I'll be fine on my own, okay? I'm independent!"
"I want to come with you."
She stared at him, vision blurred. "Gary, I'm not going to screw up the relationship between you and your dad. I'll go with you to the league next year."
"So you're not going to the league this year?" He narrowed his eyes at her. "How does that prove your independence, exactly?"
Pearl stared at him before laughing. "I guess you're right."
A Noctowl hooted somewhere nearby and they both twitched slightly.
Gary brushed his thumb against the tear streaks on her cheeks and her breath caught in her throat.
"You sure you want to do this alone?"
She closed her eyes, tingles shooting up her spine at his touch. "Yeah, I'm sure." She opened her eyes and grinned. "I'll totally love becoming Champion before you do!"
Gary responded by looping his arms around her waist. They were both kneeling on the grass, their knees brushing. Gary tilted his head to the side, as if considering something. Pearl's mouth felt full of cotton. What was he—?
"Get a room, kids!" a drunken man was leering at them, surrounded by his buddies. They laughed and shuffled off, mumbling about wine and Ponytas.
Gary stood up and his face veiled all emotion. "That was weird, huh?" v
She didn't know if he was referring to their moment or the drunks, but she nodded in agreement. They walked back to her house under the stars in silence; this time it was a comfortable one. Pearl smiled to herself. Tomorrow her adventure would begin. Gary wouldn't be by her side, but at least they were still friends.
His hand found its way into hers yet again and she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. His eyes were fixed straight ahead but she could see his cute pointy teeth in that special little grin he saved just for her.
Everything was going to be fine...right?
