Author notes:
1)English is my second language. Forgive me for any mistake.
2)I don't own Pokemon, obviously.
3)I only own the plot for this story and the eventual OCs
4)Pokemon's speeches are "Like this"
5)Sorry for the huge delay to update this stroy. My personal life is currently WAAAAAY complicated at the moment (nothing to worry about, but I've been busier than I would like to). Plus I'm working on another story at the moment and it, sadly, might take some time until I update this story again.
On the following Day, before Jack left for school once more, he tried to communicate with Touma to check if he wasn't feeling any worse. Thankfully, the abra seemed to have a good health, at the moment, at least.
Before exiting the house, Jack asked Alfred to take Touma to the medical center of his school to see doctor Caroline if he showed any sign that he's feeling sick.
Alfred told the boy that he would keep the eye on the psychic pokemon in case anything happen and at the boy should relax since it's not anything alarming according with Caroline. Jack still had his worries, but he trusted the butler to take care of his pokemon.
Alfred had plans for that day. He was going to leave his bosses clothes in a dry cleaner, buy some things for the house at the town and he had asked permission to Jack to take his pokemon along so they can stroll around with him and not be 'locked' at the house all the time.
When it was about 9 am, the butler went to the backyard of the house and then told the pokemon to get in the backseat of the car because they were going for a walk in the town.
They liked this idea and followed the man to the veichle. Before they got inside, the butler used Fiona's pokeball Jack had lent him. Too bad she couldn't control her flames yet. But she's still young.
Misaka was particularly excited with this travel. Before she met Jack she used to roam around in the town grabbing food whenever she could and running for it. She never had time before to appreciate the sight.
She was glad to have met Jack. He was a kind boy and took care of her without wanting anything in exchange. He, Hiro, Touma and now Fiona were part of her family and she couldn't be happier for it.
"I wonder what are going to shop." Touma said.
"I think I heard Alfred saying that he was going to buy some groceries for the house." Hiro replied while looking through the window of the car.
"Maybe we can score some food." The abra said with a grin.
"I second this idea." Misaka said with a smile, but then she continued "But I think we should help him carry the stuff."
Hiro turned to his friends and agreed with Misaka: "Yeah. It's the least we can do to help him."
The butler smiled as he looked at the mirror of the car to see the pokemon chatting. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but they seemed to be happy. After a while, Alfred parked the car and then got out of the car, then he picked the clothes which were inside of plastic for protection and then he saw the abra teleporting out of the car.
"Cheater!" Yelled Misaka a bit jealous.
Touma just snickered.
"Come on, you two. Let's behave the best we can here so we don't cause any trouble." Hiro said.
The nidorino was used to this role of interrupting the fights between the abra and the ampharos. He worked as the mediator between them and as their older brother, even though he was technically younger than them.
It would be safe to say Hiro was the pokemon that resembled Jack the most in terms of personality. It's not a surprise, after all Jack hatched him and took care of him like a good parent would.
Alfred looked at the scene amused. He then picked the pokeball with the ponyta and released her. The horse-like pokemon neighed happily and joined her friends.
The butler waited for the fire-type greet her friends before saying: "Stay close to me. We have a few stores to go."
The four pokemon then followed the man around the town. They were enjoying the sightseeing while not losing the man from their sight.
The one who was more fascinated by it all was Fiona since it was her first time in the town. The colorful advertisements, the smell of food in the air and all those humans walking on the street.
"Stay near us, Fiona" Hiro warned her when he saw that she was looking everywhere but where she was going.
The poison type knew that the younger pokemon was just fascinated by it all, but he decided to slow himself down to make sure she didn't end up getting lost by accident.
The first store was a dry cleaner and it had a sign saying "No pokemon allowed outside of pokeball inside of this store."
The buttler hopped it wouldn't be much of a trouble for the pokemon and told them: "Please wait here while I'll leave Mr and Ms. Grandfist's outfits here. It won't take long."
All pokemon, but Fiona nodded and decided to wait outside of the store. The fire type was confused why she coouldn't go inside as well, but then Misaka explained to her: "Some humans think that we'll just make a mess in their stores or houses. That's why we have to wait outside until Alfred comes back."
Touma then added: "Yeah. Remember how they didn't let us go into the kitchen back in the orphanage? Just because one pokemon had an accident there we all get the bad reputation."
Fiona didn't know what they were talking about. She didn't know what this 'orphanage' thing was nor what had happened there. She, however listed to their banter carefully with eagerness to learn.
After a few minutes Alfred came out of the cleaning store and told the pokemon while smiling: "Alright now I need to buy some bread, flour, eggs and some vegetables. Let's go to another store, shall we?"
Then the five of them went to another store nearby and when they got at the entrance they notice some pokemon walking inside of it. This was a relief for them since now they didn't need to wait outside anymore.
However, the man suddenly halted. The store was quite full. Jack had told him that the ponyta couldn't control her flames too well yet and despite of the fact that the ponyta was still young and small, she wouldn't be able to walk around the crowded store without causing an incident.
He then remembered that there was an open market on a nearby street. He knew that he could get what he wanted there and the ponyta could walk there without the fear of accidentally setting something on fire.
He then told the pokemon his change of plans and the four pokemon followed Alfred to the open market.
That was everyone's first time there. Jack never brought them there, mostly because he never had to buy groceries for the orphanage before. The smell of fresh food, colorful slogans and the sound of people chatting out loud mesmerized the pokemon.
As they walked Hiro explained Fiona that she shouldn't pick anything from the shelves or stands unless the human told you so because the food there worth something called "money" and in order for them to take the food there home they first needed to hand over the amount of money each product worth. The poison type knew that the ponyta was still very young and didn't understand how the world worked yet, but he wanted to her in any way he could.
The ponyta found this concept to be quite complicated, but she obeyed what her 'older brother' told her. Plus that, Hiro, Touma and Misaka still remained by her side to prevent her from getting too close to the shelves and accidently set the place on fire. Sure, there were some few water type pokemon walking next to their trainers, but they decided to prevent any kind of accident.
The butler didn't take long to pick everything he needed. After he paid the clerks for the stuff, he moved from one stand to another always being followed by Jack's pokemon. Hiro, Misaka and Touma offered to carry some of the plastic bags, but the butler only handed one to Hiro, who carried it around his back, tied around on one of his back spikes and not the horn since the horn was poisonous for a direct contact with skin, and Touma since the plastic bag was somewhat too big for Misaka.
That annoyed the electric type a little. She started to pout as Touma snickered a little. He was just a little taller than her and at least his arms were bigger than the ampharo's. This made the chibi pokemon a little jealous.
Aldred then looked at the pokemon, smiled and then said: "How about if I treat you guys before we go back home?"
They rejoiced at the news and followed the man to another store. This next store sold pokecandy bar, which are candies made out of several mixed berries which many pokemon adored. They came in several flavors and Jack had gotten some for his pokemon before.
They got inside of the store, which was a little bit crowded with local people and some passerby trainers on their journey to collect the 8 badges and join the Johto League.
They waited in the line and when it was their turn Alfred told the clerk for three oran-pecha combee honey covered pokecandy bars and a sitrus berry pap for Fiona, since Jack had said he had read that very young pokemon can't eat solid food too well. The clerk said that the total was 900 Pokedollars[1].
Alfred then picked the money from his pocket and paied the clerk, who picked the goods and gave to each one of the pokemon.
The pokemon loved the treat. It was sweet, but not too much. It also had a faint honey like aroma, but just enough to make their mouths salivate in delight. The man carefully placed the small pot containing the food next to Fiona's mouth and then she dove her muzzle into the pot to eagerly eat the delicious citric flavored pap. She really enjoyed this new taste and wondered when she could eat some more of it. Unlike milk, she had to use her jaws to properly chew the already soft food. This was a whole new experience for her.
When she was done she took her muzzle from the pot and a good part of her face was now covered with the pap. This gave the man a chuckle. Alfred then took a napkin and carefully cleaned her muzzle to not let the pap get inside of her nostrils.
After eating Misaka gave a look round at the stands nearby and she found something that caught her attention. One of the stands was selling some bags, accessories and fanny packs. And something caught her attention.
She slowing walked towards the stand and stared at something with her eyes shining brightly and her lips with a wide smile.
This didn't go unnoticed by the man. Alfred saw what the little pokemon was staring at and decided to give her a surprise.
Some time later, after they were done there, the man guided them back to the car and before going inside of it, he placed the ponyta inside of the pokeball once more. And, as usual, Touma teleported inside of the car after the butler had turned the alarm off.
The abra had teleported inside of a locked car before during a game of tag while they were still at the orphanage, but he immediately regretted it. The alarm was trigged by his movement inside of it and he quickly bailed out of it. Fortunately, nobody had discovered it.
Jack then explained him what alarms were and why he shouldn't teleport inside of other people's car while they're locked and without permission as well. And also to not try to cheat during a game.
During the trip back home, Misaka couldn't take her eyes off the pretty fanny pack. She still had a marvelous glee in her eyes as she stared at her gift. She thought it was very generous of the man to give it to her.
"I wonder if there's any way to repay him for this." She said to her friends.
"Maybe helping him with some chores back at home?" Hiro suggested.
Touma than grinned and said: "Maybe be a power generator during a blackout."
Misaka glared at him, but she didn't say anything. The abra had a point. Her electricity was powerful, yes, but she was short. She was almost at the same size as Touma. She had seen other ampharos in the television during battles and contests and they were much bigger than her. She couldn't even carry a big plastic bag without blocking her own view of the street. However, she was determinate to find a way to thank the man for the gift.
The travel back home was short and they soon returned to the backyard. Fiona was especially glad to be out of the pokeball since it was a strange feeling for her.
The four pokemon then decided to play and then rest a little while they waited for Jack to come back home.
When the boy got home from school he looked for Alfred and thanked him for taking care of his pokemon.
The man said it was no big deal and that the pokemon behaved perfectly in the town. Alfred also said that he fed the ponyta with a soft berry candy bar and the ponyta had no issues chewing that.
Jack smiled and said: "Really? I guess it's a good thing that you did that. After all, it'll be good her to slowly introduce solid food for her. I guess I could see if the library at school has something more about ponytas."
The man smiled at the boy's comment and then said: "You really like to learn more about your friends, don't you, Master Jack? That's very admirable of you. I don't think I've seen a boy of your age so interested in learning so much about pokemon. I bet you learned a lot by now and without the help of a pokedex."
Jack blushed at that and looked away for a while and stuttered: "I-I don't know that much. I just want to help them the best way I can."
The older man chuckled and told him that the pokemon were at the backyard as usual.
The boy then said quietly "Thanks for taking care of my pokemon, mister Alfred." and rushed to see his pokemon. Jack really wasn't used being praised like that.
When Jack got there he saw his pokemon taking a nap next to each other. He looked at the scene and thought smiling: 'They must be tired from today.'
Then he noticed something odd about the electric pokemon. He saw his ampharos with a fanny pack, which was a brown waist bag that also had a yellow strip on it along with a green frog sewed on it[2], around her waist and couldn't help but to ask himself: "Who gave you that?"
End of chapter 11
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review.
More author notes:
[1]Well, ingame a simple lemonade is 350 poke dollars, which may seem like a lot, but I'm pretty sure it was based on Japan's currency, Yen. According with a quick google research, 1 U.S. dollar is about 89 yen. I particuallry don't like the name pokedollar (sounds silly to me), but this is the canon name for the currency as far I know.
[2]It's from an anime/manga. Try guess without googling.