Three days had passed since Violet overheard Noah pray for her.
Violet received a call from Zack, asking if she was feeling better how she was getting along in Pallet Town. She told him that her bruise was healing, slowly but surely, and she was recovering from her attack fairly well. She hadn't had any problems breathing, and wouldn't as long as she took it easy, and had returned to taking her medicine daily. She thanked him for everything he had done for her, and apologized for not being able to say goodbye to him and his wife before leaving for Kanto. He said not to worry about it and apologized for... what happened.
"If there's anything you need, feel free to call. You have my number, right?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Be careful, okay kiddo?"
"I will, promise."
The atmosphere in the house began to grow more homey and familiar, and a daily routine was already starting to become clear. Violet would usually wake to the grateful sounds of the Pokémon outside as Professor Oak went out to feed them. He had explained to her that the vast majority of the Pokémon of his charge were sent to him from trainers who had caught more than the six allowed in a party.
As it grew closer to noon and Oak was finishing up his morning rounds, Noah would begin to make lunch. Afterwards, both Noah and the professor would work with the Pokémon, refilling food bowls and giving short checkups to different types, depending on the day. Then Oak would go off to his lab to do some private work. If Noah didn't have any other chores to do, he would train his own Pokémon or find something else to do until Oak made dinner.
As for Violet, she kept to herself for the majority of the day. Her time mostly comprised of reading, whether it be her two books or the books she found in Oak's library. These books were her escape- her own special way of masking her pain and filling the void. Her favorite reading place had become a large tree out in the back yard. Being outside in the late summer air was very relaxing, and Teddi enjoyed having time to play with the other Pokémon.
Sometimes Noah would come over and join her. He never brought up her father again or said anything about the night she heard him praying. Instead, he would usually ask how she was feeling or what she was reading. The book of choice was of her usual topic- the functions, behavior, and compositions of plant life. Noah seemed genuinely interested and would ask questions, which Violet eagerly answered. No one back home ever wanted to discuss plants with her, save for Val, and Noah's curiosity and listening skills were very encouraging. This one in particular was about Bellsprout, so Violet was describing to him how they had adapted to acquire nutrients by both performing photosynthesis and eating bugs.
"You know," said Noah, "for someone who's not much into Pokémon, you've got a knack for the grass type."
"Well, they do share properties with what I know best." She had to admit, she had grown to enjoy Noah's company. He seemed to be the type of person who could get along with everybody, and was oddly easy for her to talk to.
He shared a few stories with her about his time in the Johto League. Cyndaquil was his first Pokémon, as he mentioned earlier, and on his third day of being a trainer, he caught a Spinarak. He told her of his two trainer battles he had with his Pokémon... and how he lost both, miserably.
"Is that why you quit the league?" Violet teased. "Because you suck?"
"I-what? No!" Noah waved his arms defensively. "I was just inexperienced. I've gotten better since then."
Apparently, his whole career as a trainer took a turn for the better when he caught his third Pokémon, Natu. He was in the Ruins of Alph, and found her pecking at the ground near one of the old buildings. She put up a tough fight, and it was only thanks to Spinarak's string shot that he was able to subdue her enough to be captured.
"She's an amazing Pokémon," Noah said fondly. "Her psychic abilities are pretty strong for her being such a little bird. She was a challenge, too. I don't think I would have become a better trainer if I hadn't been so determined to master handling all her attacks. Funny how that works."
"When I first got here, I saw a small green bird looking out of your window. Is that her?"
"Yeah, she stares at the sun a lot. She stares at everything, really. It's just her thing."
Later that night, Violet thought of Uryu. She had tried to contact him several times since arriving at the laboratory, but every time only silence greeted her from his end. She was starting to believe that her previous assumption was true, and that the Gastly was just a figment of her imagination, created out of shock from that horrible experience just a few days ago. But if that were true, then how did she manage to teleport from her house to the forest? Had she ran all that way without realizing it?
Even if Uryu was real, he knew her mother. She wanted to talk to him so badly about her mother. Why did she make Uryu promise to protect her daughter? Did Maria know of Val's past experience with Team Rocket? Did she know that they would come looking for him? Maria Lestrade had become a mystery. Violet had so few memories of her mother. Most of them were from paper and ink, not from touch, site, and sound. She wished she had those types of memories...
Uryu, are you there? Please talk to me. Let me know you're real.
No one answered.
