Chapter 3:

Artemis's Story

Dinner was ready by the time Artemis and I were done with our little scrap. As we walked to the front door, Artemis suddenly stopped at the doormat and wiped her paws on it. "Almost forgot your mom's rule about no dirty floors," she remarked.

Dinner was delicious. It was so good that Artemis and I wolfed down our food almost as fast as Rod did. Rod commented on my smacking. I ignored him while Artemis showed him her "seafood".

After dinner I showed Artemis around the house. I made sure she saw the laundry room, the bathroom (then had to wait while she ran outside to use the bathroom on the tree), and then the bedrooms. She held her nose while in Rod's room ("What does he do in there?" she said repulsively), was really careful in Mom's room, and we stopped at my room.

"Wow! Look at all the stuff you've got!" Artemis exclaimed as she looked around my room.

"Mom didn't mention it, but the rule about no jumping on the furniture doesn't apply to my room," I informed her while watching her running toward my daybed. We were both full from our dinner and would try to move as little as possible. "Make yourself comfortable while I go take a bath." I grabbed a fresh set of underclothes and my pajamas and walked to the bathroom.

Once in there, I drew a nice hot bubble bath, dressed down, and hopped right in. My bad thoughts just drifted away as I lied there soaking. I didn't think about Tony, what happened a year ago, not anything. I did hear the door creak open, but who cares? To me the door might as well be a mile away. I just closed my eyes and let my stress melt into nothing.

"Hey!" a voice squeaked.

I jerked upright and turned my head to see Artemis slip and fall over the rim of the bathtub and into the water. "What are you doing in here? How did you get in here?" I yelled at the now soaked Eevee.

"Taking a bath with you! The door wasn't closed all the way." She blew the bubbles out of her face and smiled at me.

"Well, I could've bathed you after I was done. I wanted to take one in private!"

"Why? We're both girls, plus this saves you time!"

"Oh, alright. But this is the last time. Now let me scrub your back. Good thing no one noticed. Mom would've been taking a picture of us."

After our little bath time, Artemis found out how interesting my Dell Inspiron was. "Hey, Pro. Cedar has one of these! What can you do on yours?"

"Well, there are games, music, schoolwork, Internet, e-mail..."

"E-mail? You mean those things that ask you if you want to see their webcam?"

"Uhh...that's one way of putting it."

"What kind of music do you have on your computer?"

"Let's see." I opened Windows Media Player and scanned my digital library. "There's Aaliyah, Destiny's Child, Dixie Chicks..."

"Let's hear Dixie Chicks!"

I clicked on the only song I had that was from Dixie Chicks, "Goodbye Earl". Call me stupid, but I think that song is one of the funniest I've ever heard. Artemis was lip synching the words and giggling every now and then.

"You've heard this song?"

"Yeah, the Professor has it on his laptop too! He loves it!"

Yep, Pro. Cedar definitely had a life. In fact, I wonder where he gets the time to do his job.

"Wow, the Professor has one of these, too!" She was now at my Gamecube. "Are you playing that Smash Bros. game?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"The Professor loves that game. Wow, you two have a lot in common. He keeps muttering about something called 'Event Match 51'. Wonder what that is?"

"Yeah, I wonder." I'm going to have to call that guy. He might have a clone somewhere in that lab of his.

I sat on my bed and looked at the window. The sun was now down and stars were starting up in the sky. In Sunflower Town, there were hardly any streetlights. That makes it an ideal place for stargazers.

"Hey, Artemis. You seem really smart for an Eevee. No offense, of course. How did you get like that?"

Artemis jumped on the bed and sat by me, also looking at the stars. "I get it from my mom. She was very smart and very strong." She looked kind of sad while saying this.

"What was your mom like?

"She was the greatest Umbreon that ever lived. All opponents that tried to beat her failed miserably. Her trainer and she were best friends for a long time. Her trainer was Pro. Cedar's close friend. His name was Professor Willow."

"Oh, Willow! I've heard of him." It was impossible not to. Willow was a very famous Eevee breeder and researcher. He was known for his Umbreon.

Artemis continued. "Pro. Willow believed that all Pokemon were intelligent. There's just that problem with communication that made them unable to understand complex human speech. But my mom Luna could understand everything he said. Not only that, she could speak human, too. And when I was born, she taught me the same things that she learned, like how to read."

"Wow! That's amazing! But why are you here? Wouldn't you rather want to be back in Stone Town with your mom and Pro. Willow?"

Artemis broke out in tears when I said this. "I can't! She's dead and Pro. Willow is too! Our home was attacked by some stupid thugs. My mom thought she had them beaten, but one of them had a gun! I tried to help her but I was too scared. After they killed my mom they set the house on fire. Pro. Willow managed to put me in a pokeball and toss me out the window, but he couldn't make it out himself. They found me in the morning and instructed Pro. Cedar to take care of me. I didn't find out about Pro. Willow's death until days later."

"I'm sorry. Hey, cut it out with the waterworks, you're getting your fur soaked." Sorry folks, but I could get a little insensitive. If I get just a little sad, I'll be crying harder than Artemis. Anyway, I didn't even know about the incident. I thought he was still living.

Artemis wiped her eyes. "Pro. Cedar didn't know what to do. He had an intelligent Pokemon and he couldn't understand a word I said. See, Mom didn't teach me the human language. Then he found out about you! See, he heard about your little run-in with the Pichu. That's why he gave me to you!"

Oh man. How many people did Mom tell?

Artemis looked happy to get that burden off her shoulders. "Can I ask you a favor, Shonta?"

"Sure, what?"

"Help me evolve into Umbreon. I want to be just like my mom!"

"Sure. I guess you would want to grow up to be like your mother."

"Great. I don't want to do any heavy battling, but neither did my mom. She was a natural." She yawned and flopped down on the blanket. "I'm getting sleepy..." She muttered to herself as she sank into a good night's sleep.

"Goodnight, little one." I saw that it was later than I thought. I slithered under the covers, careful not to push Artemis off the bed. Thoughts on what Artemis said about her past ran around in my mind as I also drifted off to sleep.