One More in the Family
It had already been a day after Paul had caught Emolga. He constantly tried to release her behind Jade's back, but since Jade had a keen sense of his jerkiness, she managed to prevent him from doing so. So here he was, walking up a hill with a little electric squirrel resting on his shoulders with his companion slowly following him from behind.
"Will you please hurry up?" he turned to Jade, who was dragging her feet along the road.
"Don't you yell at me!" she waved her fist around.
"I'm not yelling!" he sighed and met his palm with his face. "Well, just get up the hill. We're just steps away from Striaton City." His words immediately gave energy into the young brunette as she dashed her way to his side and looked over the city.
"It's better than I imagined!" her eyes sparkled in amazement at the shops and skyscrapers the city held.
"Pika pi!" Pika woke up from his nap in her bag and looked at the city with much enthusiasm as his trainer.
"Well, don't expect to stay long. We'll go to the Pokemon Center, then to the Gym, and then we'll leave." Paul told her. He looked over to see why she wasn't replying but saw her staring blankly at particularly nothing. What surprised him the most was when she turned around and started walking the opposite direction.
"Where are you going?" he asked, she stops and looks at him, eyes shining in determination.
"My brother told me about Striaton Gym before I left. He said there were three gym leaders, and you get to choose who you want to battle." She explained to him.
"And why would that make you go the other direction?" he asked, slightly brushing away the fluffy tail that was hitting his face.
"Because I want to fight all three of them." She jerked her thumb to herself with a determined smile on her face. Paul closed his eyes, understanding.
"I see, and I suppose you want to look for another Pokemon to help you with your trio battle." He asked and she nods her head.
"You read my mind. So can we?" she pleaded and a simple nod of his head had her running to look for another Pokemon to add in her team.
"Hey, wait up." He followed her as she ran back into the woods.
It took a few minutes for Paul to get tired of looking for Jade's next Pokemon. It took the next hour though for Jade to slump to the ground, sulking.
"W-why can't I find my Pokemon?" she mumbled, fake crying to her other two Pokemon.
"Pika…"
"Snii…"
"You can't always get what you want. I know you always keep your word about all of this, but why don't you just fight the three gym leaders with Pika and Snivy? Anyways, you have Pika's Amulet to help you." What he said while leaning on a tree made Jade and Pika look at him like he just murdered a…plant.
"Are you nuts?" she says, shocked.
"No, and what's wrong about using Pika's Amulet?" repeating it made her gasp.
"I am not doing that you little purple headed thing you! Using Pika's special Amulet is like winning through everything without training! Like…like… using a cheat or something!" she yelled, Paul wasn't really affected.
"And that is wrong how?" his sentence made her slap him.
"You're still cold, aren't you?" she asked, arms crossed and a glare lingering in her eyes.
"You can't change just anyone so easily." He responds, not turning his head from the direction it was slapped to. Hachi, still fuming with anger, walked out.
"I'm going to find my next Pokemon by myself." She continued with her two Pokemon following suit.
"You're not going anywhere without me with you." Paul remarked, reminding her about his promise to her brother.
"Watch me." She ignored his following words as her figure disappeared from his sight. Paul sighed and shook his head, making Emolga wake up and cuddle to his face.
"Maa~" she mewed but found him not complaining or something. "Ema?"
"Not now Emolga… I made too big of a mistake." He whispered to her, making Emolga suddenly furrow her eyes in the same way Paul was doing at the moment.
Elsewhere…
"I can't believe him… being so cold…thinking I'm a kid… I can handle myself fine!" she declared, sitting near a river with her feet in the water. Pika was sitting beside her and Snivy was leaning on the apple tree near them.
"Oh who am I kidding? I was the one who asked him to come with me in Sinnoh… what is wrong with me?" she asked, ducking down miserably. Incoherent blubbering was heard from the young trainer, making Pika look at her in concern. While Jade felt emo, Snivy felt a presence before them. Reacting quickly, he used Leaf Tornado on the tree, making several apples fall from it, as well as a gray blur fall into the water.
"What the…" Jade wiped the droplets that had hit her face and stood on the shallow river water and walked over to the thing that had fallen.
"Hey… are you okay?" she picked up the soaked gray fur ball. However, it jumped out of her arms and started to dry itself with its tongue.
"Mii! Miichi! Miichi! Miichi!" it complained, licking itself to get dry very quickly.
"O-kay then…" she rummaged through her back pack and brought out her Unova Pokedex. She turned it on and searched for the said Pokemon.
"Minccino, the Chinchilla Pokemon. These Pokémon prefer a tidy habitat. They are always sweeping and dusting, using their tails as brooms." It says in its automatic voice. Jade looked at it, after being miraculously dry while she was paying attention to the small device, it started sweeping up the fallen apples in one place.
"Weeeiiirrrddd…" she slowly neared the little Chinchilla and bent over to try and pet it. "Hey…there…"
"Mii?" it turned its head and backed away slightly. Jade shook her head and held out her hand.
"Don't worry, I won't bite." She smiled at it warmly; making the Pokemon think she wasn't as bad as she thought.
"Mii…chi…" it slowly walked up to her, Jade keeping her smile still on her face. Once getting close enough, Minccino dusted her hand with its tail and placed its paw on hers.
"It's nice that you trusted me." Patting her head, Minccino wagged her tail. While she, Pika, Snivy and Minccino were talking and playing, Paul came walking up to them.
"Jade…" he said, looking down with Emolga on his shoulders, the same expression on Paul's face also on hers. His sudden presence made Minccino climb up the apple tree.
"Oh… I think you scared her…" she looked up, not looking at him for a while.
"I-I didn't mean to!" he stuttered, a hint of guilt in his voice. This made Jade turn to him, with an unbelievable expression.
"What did you just say?" she asked, nearing him. Paul looked down some more.
"I-I really… didn't mean to scare it…" he muttered under his breath.
"You care… about these things?" Paul tried explaining but failed to bring out real words and not broken ones. During his failed explanation, he didn't notice the small smile that could be seen on Jade's face. Without any warning, she abruptly hugged him, surprising the purple head.
"I'm sorry. You were right. I can't change anyone so easily…" she mumbled to him, burying her face on his shoulder (Cres: Boo! Allyn: Hey, this is like a Brother-Sister moment. Cres: Oh.).
"Not true…" he hugged back, sort of. "You changed a little bit of me." The scene made Pika smile, Snivy look, Emolga closes her eyes and Minccino stare. She slowly climbed down the tree, waiting for her human friend. After a very extremely short while, because this pairing is mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually impossible, they broke their hug and looked over to the little Pokemon.
"Hey, little Michi…" she bent down to her. Minccino's brown eyes met her green ones.
"We may not be special… we may not be perfect… but we're not broken… so, will you be a part of our family?" she reached out her hand again to her. Minccino looked at the smiling faces human and Pokemon gave her. Each and every one of them (Cres: Yes, even Paul.) had a shimmering source of warmness and love she longed for. Instead of placing her paw on hers, she tackle hugged her new owner.
"Haha!" Jade giggled as her fur tickled her neck. Paul smiled at the scene before him. He looked at the cloudless sky above him.
'We're certainly not broken… and if we were… Jade's the only string that can tie us back together again.'