Hello again readers,

This chapter has been incredibly hard to write. Not because of lack of ideas, in fact the opposite is true. Through a combination of my own thoughts, my friends and your suggestions on the look of Rosa and the Soulsword manor I had a lot of great ideas that I wanted to try. I debated with my friend (also known as the friend leaning over my should from chapter 4) for hours about this subject. However I have finally sat down I made my choices.

Please keep in mind though, Rosa's style of clothing is all subject to change, what she may wear this chapter can (and probably will) be different from other chapters so if I didn't use your idea now, I'll probably use it for another chapter. Thanks for all your support, you guys are what makes writing this story so fulfilling and fun.

Anyway on with that story

Rosa followed Ophelia and the receptionist to another room. This one was clearly the salon part of this business because it came with all the usual amenities you'd expect. The wall was lined with mirrors and opposite them was a row of chairs, all of them expensive looking white leather showing that this place spared no expense in regards to its customers comfort. As Rosa looked around, she could feel the tangible distance between here and Nuvema town, where everything was in one room and it was just a basic barbers.

Standing in the room was a Furfrou and a Scizor. The Scizor was wearing a basic black buttoned shirt and matching trousers which made sense because why wearing something more expensive when you're cutting hair. The Furfrou had its hair cut in the style of a debutante, which left Rosa surprised. Rosa's knowledge of Kalos Pokémon was limited considering she was focusing on capturing and training Unova Pokémon at the time of her journey, but she did know a few things. Apparently, Furfrou were Pokémon that could style their fur into various forms but she had never seen one up close before, so seeing this was surprising to say the least. One thing was similar between the two Pokémon though, they both looked taller than their original forms, again though procedures that helped with their jobs.

"Ophelia, Darling" said the Furfrou, coming over and offering a hand to Ophelia, which she shook "How wonderful to see you again"

"It's good to see you as well, Antoinette" said Ophelia.

Ophelia must be a regular here Rosa thought

"Welcome back, Mrs Soulsword" said the Scizor "My sister and I are very happy to see you again"

"Hello again, Samus and please call me Ophelia. You are my friend, I invite you to the parties me and Raph hold"

"Yes, I should" said Samus, a little embarrassed "I'm just remembering about when you first came in to our shop and how nervous I was to meet a hero of the revolution, but that's another story" both she and Antoinette looked behind Ophelia and spotted Rosa. Both gasped slightly

"Ophelia, how is she?" said Antoinette "wait... is she? Does this mean?"

"Yes it does" said Ophelia, turning slightly and pulling Rosa gently in front of her, once there she place her hands on both of Rosa shoulders "Antoinette, Samus, allow me to introduce to you Rosa Soulsword, my daughter"

Both Samus and Antoinette's faces went from shock to smiles the moment that Ophelia finished speaking.

"I heard a commotion in the waiting room, I was wondering what got everyone so loud" said Antoinette, coming over and offering her hand to Rosa "Well anyway, we welcome you Rosa to our boutique. It's truly an honour to meet you."

Rosa shook the Furfrou's hand, blushing again at all the attention she was getting. She knew that she had made an impact for hiding for so long but she had never expected to have made this much of an impact.

"Thank you" Rosa said quietly "It's nice to meet you as well"

"I'm guessing this is why you booked an appointment for today, Ophelia" said Samus, "Anyway Miss Rosa, it is an honour to meet you, as Ophelia mentioned, my name is Samus and my sister and I run this establishment. I'll be cutting your hair today, while my sister will be designing and creating your new clothes today."

I'm Miss Rosa now? Rosa thought, I guess that Raphael and Ophelia commanded high respect. So being their "daughter" now that must afford me some respect. It still feels weird though

Another thought struck her

"You run this place?" asked Rosa "Why are you doing it instead of some other Pokémon? Not saying you can't but I thought you'd be busy running this place"

Samus chuckled softly "Whenever an appointment from Raphael or Ophelia comes through, me and my sister make sure that it is us who handles it. We owe a lot to the Soulsword family and it is the least that we can do."

I wonder what they did to deserve such treatment Rosa thought Maybe it was something with the revolution? Possibly, makes the most sense

"Anyway enough standing around" Samus said "How about that hair cut? If you would like to take a seat Rosa we can get started" Samus gestured to the chair she was facing and rotated it toward Rosa

Rosa took her cue, sat in the seat and Samus spun the chair back into place. She pressed a button and from behind Rosa a sink rose up to the highest point of the chair.

"Lean back please" Said Samus and Rosa lent her head back. While in this position she could see Samus and her pincers. They were huge and quite scary, considering she was about to get her hair cut by them, her eyes widened and Samus took notice.

"I'm guessing this is the first time you've had your hair cut by a Pokémon, Miss Rosa?" she asked, with a gentle smile

"It's also the first time I've seen a Scizor's claws up close" Rosa replied

Samus continued smiling, like she had done this before and probably was going to do more so today "Don't worry Miss Rosa. My pincers are not going to hurt you. I've done this many times, including on children and even your own mother. I know this is your first time so I will go slow but you have nothing to fear from me."

Taking a deep breath, Rosa nodded and smiled back at Samus. Then Samus turned on the tap from the sink and hot water began to fill the basin. She took the water and began gently washing Rosa's hair and then, she gestured to another employee. This employee, a Lopunny, brought over a bottle of shampoo, squirted some into her hands and started lathering it into Rosa's hair. It smelled like roses. Rosa noticed that Samus was talking to Ophelia, probably discussing what style of hair that she would like to see Rosa have. After the lopunny was finished, Samus retook control and washed out the shampoo in Rosa's hair and then gestured for Rosa to lift her head out.

Rosa did and samus put a towel around her neck which she tucked into Rosa's shirt.

"So Miss Rosa, how shall we cut your hair?" asked Samus "Ophelia has given me her idea for it, but I want to hear from you."

Rosa gave this some thought. She could go for the style that she had before the revolution or she try this new idea. She decided that she would try Ophelia's idea, variety was the spice of life after all and she had had the same hair cut for over 4 years.

"I'll try Ophelia's idea" Rosa said and she could see out of the corner of her eye, Ophelia started wearing that motherly smile she had shown earlier in the waiting with Rosa in her lap.

With permission given, Samus set to work, starting to cut Rosa's hair, using one pincer to lift up the hair while using the other one to cut it.

"It may be a good idea to close your eyes, Miss Rosa" Samus said "because of the length of your hair it will hair into your eyes, also you may want to keep a surprise for when I am finished."

Rosa conceded her point about the length of hair issue, closed her eyes and lent back so Samus could work. At points Samus asked Rosa to move her head in a certain way in order to get a different cut. All Rosa could do was listen while Antoinette and Ophelia were holding a conversation about other things and the snipping sounds of Samus cutting her hair.

"Antoinette, could you tell me sister I need a ribbon, white if possible." Rosa heard Samus say

A ribbon Rosa thought What is she going to do with that.

Soon afterwards, she felt her hair being tugged at as Samus had stopped cutting and had now started styling. Rosa feel her hair being styled and continued wonder what it the style was.

"Ok Rosa, I'm done" Samus finally said "You can look now"

Slowly, Rosa opened her eyes and was shocked by what she saw. Her hair was still quite long however a lot of it was on the ground. Rosa's hair was now in a long ponytail that reached down about halfway down her back. There were two ribbons in her hair, one at the top of the pony tail and one near the bottom. The ribbons were tied into double bows, and between them her hair was twisted into a long braid.

For Rosa it was a huge change from the style beforehand however she liked it, it was much better than letting her hair grow all wild like from her days of running that was for sure. Rosa smiled, she more than liked it, she loved it, she had ponytails before but nothing like this, it also still smelled like roses from the shampoo

"I love it, it's beautiful" Rosa said, giving her hair a few flicks to get used to how far it travelled around her head

"I love it as well darling" Ophelia came over to get a look "Oh Samus, you've done it again, it's lovely"

Samus blushed at their compliements, "it's nothing, honestly, I'm glad you like it Miss Rosa"

"Please stop with that Miss Rosa stuff, just came me Rosa"

"Very well... Rosa"

Rosa smiled back at Samus and thanked her once again for her work and followed Ophelia and the receptionist who had come back into the room to another room. This one was the clearly the boutique section of this double business as there was full length mirrors, changing rooms and mannequins with various outfits on. Rosa took a look at some of the clothes, all of them looked really expensive and well made. All of them still had their price tags on them, Rosa looked at one of them:

300,000p

Man that's expensive Rosa thought

"I don't think you're tall enough or have the right proportions for that dress darling" said a voice from behind her, Rosa turned around and saw a Scizor coming towards her. This one was wearing a simple indigo suit.

"Oh hello Erza" said Ophelia, shaking her hand with Erza's pincer "I guess you have heard about my daughter, Rosa"

"I have" said Erza, looking over at Rosa with a smile "I'm very happy for you and Raphael that you finally have a daughter to take care of, I know how long you waited for this to come"

Ophelia blushed gently, Erza came over to Rosa

"So Rosa, shall we head to the changing room and get started"

Rosa nodded, she was genuinely excited about what came next, after how much she liked her new hairstyle. Both her and Erza made their way to the changing rooms, leaving Ophelia in the other room. Just after that, Raphael stepped in to the room.

"Sorry Raph" said Ophelia "You just missed Rosa, she's gone to change in the other room, so you'll have to wait to see her new hairstyle"

"Sorry Ophelia" said Raphael "I tried to get back as quick as I could but I was held up"

"It's alright dear" said Ophelia "She's in there right now and I can tell you she looks great"

"I can't wait to see her" said Raphael, pondering on what style Rosa had now

Meanwhile, Rosa followed Erza into the changing room which was again, very up-scale. The walls were wooden with full length mirrors on all the walls of the room. The room was circular which made sense considering you want to look at what you are wearing from every angle.

"Alright Rosa" said Erza, after going to a draw to grab a tape measure "I am now going to take your measurements, I need you to stay still while I work"

Rosa nodded and stood in the centre of the room while Erza took the tape measure to various parts of her body, occasionally Rosa was asked to raise her arms so that Erza could get a full measurement of her arms and should width. Erza was constantly jotting down the measurements on a chart she had brought with her.

"hmmm..." Erza said after a while, looking over the chart "As Ophelia said darling, you are painfully skinny" she looked up to see the confusion on Rosa's face of that fact "When making the appointment she told us that the person she was coming with was going to be very skinny, I guess that's what living on the streets does to you"

Rosa nodded, the extent of her health issues was already well documented and was told to her. The doctors said it was a miracle that she wasn't anorexic at this point, however she didn't know if that softened the blow or made it worse.

"However" Erza said, now with some excitement in her eyes "your other measurements mean that you could fit a new design I just finished, wait here a moment"

Erza quickly left the room leaving Rosa alone for a few moments and wondering what "design" Erza had been working on. Erza came back just as quickly as she left, this time with a large black bag, the kind that holds clothing

"Now then Rosa" Erza said, clearly very excited "As with my sister, I want this to have a element of surprise to this, so I will ask you to close your eyes and follow my instructions, but first, please strip"

Rosa was shocked by her casualness of asking her to strip down but considering that she was a fashion designer, Rosa guessed it made sense considering she worked with other people like this all the time. Rosa did as she was bid and then closed her eyes. After setting the other materials Erza set to work on dressing Rosa, before doing so she took a moment to over Rosa's body. The months on the street had not been good for her health, she was so skinny that you could see bones through the skin. The site pricked tears in her eyes, to think that this girl spent so much time on the streets without anyone or any Pokémon to take care of her was heart breaking. However, now that she was being taken care of by Raphael and Ophelia, it gave Erza a great deal of hope for Rosa's future. Moving on from those thoughts Erza began dressing Rosa.

The first thing that struck Rosa about the outfit she was being dressed in was the material. It felt soft and smooth, almost like... silk? Possibly this is a high end fashion designer after all. After a while Erza asked Rosa to lift her arms, which she did and then Rosa began moving another piece of material onto Rosa, this one felt like wool, very fine wool by the feel of it. Erza then asked Rosa to walk forward into some shoes she had set up for Rosa, and then asked Rosa to stretch her hands forward so Erza could place silk gloves on her hands and up her arms.

"Alright Rosa" Erza said "I'm finished, you can look now"

Rosa slowly opened her eyes and was shocked by what she saw. The girl in front of her looked completely different, a girl that looked like she had been raised in riches her entire life. Rosa was wearing a white dress with a green cardigan on top of it. The edges of the cardigan were lined with small rubies. She was also wearing green arm length gloves and on her feet were simple green shoes with white socks.

It was like this style had been modelled after a Gardevoir Rosa thought Probably my "Mother"

Even though she had that thought, she did love the dress. It was similar to the dress she had envisioned herself in when she was a child when she had dreams of being a princess. The Gardevoir actually worked on her, when she took time to look at herself and it was a very comfortable outfit to wear. It was another big change from what she was used to, she could feel her inner child jumping up and down with glee as the dream of being a princess inched ever closer to being real. Rosa couldn't help but agree with it, while the resistant part of brain tried to ramble on about how she was accepting this, she quickly quieted it after all she was reminded of what she had told herself at the hospital

I am going to be part of this anyway, might as well enjoy myself for a while before escaping

Besides, she loved the outfit. It made her feel like a princess and was comfortable all at the same time.

"I take it you like it" said Erza, judging by the reaction on Rosa's face, which had broken into a huge smile.

"Yes, I do, thank you Erza" Rosa said

"It's no problem at all, you know you're already taking after your new parents so well". Rosa blushed, that was pretty off-hand but considering what she was dressed in, it wasn't hard to see where that comment came from.

"Well it's now time to show you to your parents, you ready?"

Rosa nodded it was time for "Mother and Father" to see what their "little girl" looked like. Erza went out of the changing room first and then pulled back the door to reveal Rosa. The looks on Raphael and Ophelia's faces could only be described as stunned, as Rosa stepped out with a huge smile on her face. Ophelia was first to get over the shock and quickly came over to Rosa.

"Oh darling, you look radiant" Ophelia said, kneeling down and hugging Rosa. Seeing her wide smile and gentle touch that reminded her of what birth used to do made Rosa forget about her plans of escape for just a moment. For that moment it felt like Raphael and Ophelia were truly her parents and doing what parents want to do for their child, give them the best of everything. Rosa leaned over and rapidly whispered "thank you, thank you, thank you" in to Ophelia's ear.

"Hang on, is that my little girl?" Raphael said, Rosa blushed knowing what he was doing

"Yes it is Raph, she is the princess of the Soulsword family" Ophelia said, causing Rosa to blush even deeper

"Yes she is" Raphael said, bending over a kissing Rosa on the cheek "and today she definitely looks the part"

Rosa hugged Raphael after he was finished, reapeting the "thank you" she had given Ophelia.

Soon after that, Ophelia had produced a credit card and paid the Scizor sisters for their trouble.

"Now Rosa, can I ask you, was that really all bad. Apart from the lap thing, which I will agree is mostly reserved for younger children, did I make you feel like an infant?"

Rosa blinked a few good times and looked up at Ophelia. She had brought up some good points again and once again Rosa was shocked by how little baby treatment she had been made to endure so far. Apart from the lap thing, Raphael and Opehlia had treated her as if she was her age. Rosa knew that eventually they would introduce elements of this, certain pictures from the magazine sprang to mind, but for the moment Rosa couldn't fault them. Just then Lyra passed by with Cassandra, Cassandra was strapped in to a stroller and waved as they passed by. Rosa waved and smiled back.

"Aww, isn't that sweet. I think you've made a friend" Ophelia said

Rosa looked back at Ophelia, she was right, even though they had only just met, Rosa did considering Cassandra a friend. Also seeing Cassandra put things in a new light. Cassandra looked the same age and height as Rosa, yet she was enjoying all of the treatment she got from Lyra. While that was one of the things that scared Rosa the most, she couldn't deny that having loving parents after all that time on streets would be a welcome change.

Ophelia knelt down and gently hugged Rosa"We understand this is a big step for you. Don't worry about this darling, we are all going to take this one step at a time."

Rosa smiled back at Ophelia, glad to hear that they were all on the same page on this. Thinking about it some more, maybe she could convince Raphael and Ophelia to not put in as many elements of babying that others were forced to do. The resistance part of her brain nodded in agreement, they maybe stuck in this situation for the moment but that doesn't mean they have to put up with all of it, after all Raphael and Ophelia were reasonable pokemon so maybe gettig a deal on this could be in the works.

"Well now shall we head for home?" said Raphael, gesturing towards the street

Both Ophelia and Rosa nodded and, with Rosa taking Ophelia's hand again, the Soulsword family started heading for home.

I have decided to cut it short for now (well by short I mean split it up) because otherwise you would be ready an massive chapter and I feel I need to split these up in order to have more time to think about the manor and another project relevant to this story. Anyway leave feedback, rate and review and I will see you very soon.

Next chapter: Welcome to the Soulsword Manor

Have an awesome day!

UPDATE (26/08/14): After reading your comments and having several conversations with a lot of you, I have decided to alter this chapter. As you can see the stroller parts have been removed and, for the time being, will be kept for later chapters. So hopefully to those of you who commented on that part, I apologize and have edited the chapter as such. You are correct in the fact I should have Rosa resisting more and to be honest looking back I do not like that part either. Anyway, progress is slow because my computer suffered a crash and my writing was erased. So please be patient, I am working on chapter 9 and I promise it will be out by the end of August (future developments not withstanding)

Have an awesome day!