Nine – Misunderstanding
Skylar - Swablu
After the 'glasses' event, they were off towards Dendemille Town. Serena looked over it on her map device, showing Skylar. "I was there for my showcase, but we're going to return for now. It's pretty cold, so we should get changed before we arrive." Serena declared.
Skylar looked down at her large dark blue sweater that was too big for her. "I think I'll be okay..." Then her eyes widened when she didn't see the familiar chain aruond her neck. "I forgot my locket! Be right back!" She quickly ran off.
The others stayed behind and waited.
When Sky ran back to the others, her eyes widened. They were gone.
Instantly, she went into panic, her anxiety beginning to seep in and giving her negative thoughts- 'W-what if they left me?!' was the thought that stood out the most.
"Serena? Clemont? Ash! Bonnie! W-where are you guys?!" She cried out.
That was the last thing she said before her vision went to black.
She woke up to a pale yellow cat face sneering down at her.
Skylar quickly got up and scrambled away from Meowth. "W-what's going on?!" Suddenly, she remembered.
"Where are the others? W-what have you done!?" She cried out.
"Well, not so confident now, are we twerp?" Meowth sneered. "Hand over the Pokémon."
She looked around- she was in some sort of dark hallway corner.
Jessie and James appeared from the shadows. "You heard Meowth." The latter said.
Skylar shook her head. "N-no way!" However, her voice was quavering. She was terrified.
Then she began to think about the others, leading her to think about hers and Clemont's conversation... And she was reminded of something. She was on this journey to try and be a more confident person, right? So where was her confidence?
She quickly stood up, then slid away from the corner and began to run down the dark hallway. She could heard Team Rocket chasing after her- and she had no idea where she was going, so just took random turns.
She appeared to be in some sort of small building, with multiple floors. There was a staircase at the end of the hallway, but Sky reminded herself that she needed to stand her ground instead of just run. So she turned around and released her Pokémon, hoping that Sylveon and the others were safe and hopefully upstairs.
Team Rocket was just behind her, and she was cornered again.
"Kirlia, Disarming Voice! You too, Swablu!" However, the sound attacks had no effect- James threw a small black cube that created a barrier between them.
"This barrier blocks attacks, but not Pokémon. Get over here!" James taunted, and Jessie stuck out her tongue.
Kirlia stood its ground, but Swablu slowly floated over towards the barrier.
"S-Swablu? What are you doing?" Sky called out in worry.
It turned around, and began speaking angrily: "Swa, swa blu!"
Meowth scratched its head. "It's coming willingly?"
Jessie frowned. "Meowth, translate!"
Meowth jumped at her tone. "It says that the twerpette only caught it for Mega Evolution-" Meowth stopped speaking. "That thing can Mega Evolve?!"
Skylar's eyes widened as Swablu continued. "Blu wu swab!"
"It says that it would be better off with Team Rocket!" Meowth said with glee, rubbing its paws together.
"Swablu, wait!" Skylar cried out, reaching her hand towards it. Tears filled her eyes. "That's not why... You're with me now." She sniffed, walking closer. "I-It's true that my father wanted you for research, but... I always admired your species." She went on explaining. "Mom used to own an A-Altaria, and we were really close... Until it passed." She wiped at her tears,
Swablu's eyes widened. It stopped moving.
"I-I always loved Swablu and Altaria, and not because Altaria has the potential to Mega Evolve. And-and when you wanted to come along with me, I knew w-we could be great partners! D-don't go with Team Rocket, you know that they'll just treat you like garbage! I'm sorry for not treating you better, I-I was-" She stopped, sniffed, and stared down at the ground. "No. I won't make excuses. Y-you can do what you like, Swablu. I just wanted you to know I was sorry…"
Team Rocket watched Swablu expectantly, waiting for it to come to them.
Swablu took a deep breath, turned towards Team Rocket, and hummed a loud but sweet melody- and then they fell asleep.
"S-Swablu?" Skylar mumbled, in shock.
It flew over to Skylar and wrapped its cloudy, fluffy wings around her.
Kirlia hopped on Skylar's shoulder, joining in on the hug.
But the fight wasn't over yet.
Team Rocket slowly woke up, a bit disorientated. The barrier had faded by now; but as they came to their senses, James and Jessie brought out Gourgeist and Inkay.
"Psybeam!" "Dark Pulse!" They shouted simultaneously, wanting to take them by surprise.
Skylar's eyes widened, as did Kirlia's, but they didn't have time to react.
Swablu, however, flew out of the hug and hit the attack head-on to protect Sky and Kirlia.
It had trouble reflecting the attacks, and began to falter. But before anyone could do anything, the hallway was covered in a blue glow as Swablu began to change shape; growing larger.
Ash, Serena, Bonnie and Clemont, along with Pikachu and Sylveon all descended the stairs, and watched in awe.
The glow disappeared, and revealed an Altaria- a beautiful, large blue bird with huge cloud-like wings. It launched a powerful attack towards Team Rocket- who were blasted away with a chorus of "We're blasting off again!"
Altaria slowly turned around, a large smile on its blue face.
Skylar ran over and hugged its neck. "Together, we're going to become stronger. I-I want to be somebody who isn't shy or n-nervous… And I'm sure you have a goal too. But together, we're going to go on our journey- and we're going to achieve Mega Evolution together- only if you want to. I promise I'll treat you m-more respectfully."
Altaria hummed happily in agreement, as if forgiving her. Skylar moved away, hugging Sylveon as it jumped onto her shoulder.
"Let's get out of here, and begin our real j-journey, okay?" Sky spoke to all of her Pokémon, who nodded.
Altaria hummed in agreement, and began to lead them out of the building.
"W-what happened to you guys?" Skylar asked, as Sylveon returned to its normal spot on Sky's shoulder and Kirlia went back in its Poké Ball.
"While you were getting your locket, James put us in one of those nets and carried us away in the balloon. Then Jessie knocked you out. You should've seen Clemont, he was freaking out when he saw her do that." Serena explained, smiling.
Clemont blushed, looking off to the side. "I wasn't exactly freaking out-"
"Oh, give it up big brother. You were trying to rip the net apart- it was so bad that you punched Ash in the face by accident." Bonnie teased.
Clemont stared down at the ground, while Ash rubbed his cheek.
"I'm sure it wasn't th-that bad…" Skylar admitted.
Sky caught up to Altaria, who had found the exit. "First things first…" Sky smiled. "Key Stone, here we come!" They then took their step outside together.
