"G-Gardenia?" Lucas was surprised when he realized that it was the Gardevoir's voice.
"I'm glad, you still remember me…" She replied in a soft tone.
"…Okay?"
"Umm… where are you?" Gardenia suddenly asked.
"At my house at Sinnoh..."
"Where exactly?"
"The outskirts from Sandgem Town. Why do you ask?" Lucas was clueless why is she asking him that.
"…"
"Hello? You still there?" Lucas called out since she hasn't replied yet. He stared at his cellphone, but the call hasn't been disconnected.
"Gardenia?" He asked again for one last time before he was going to disconnect.
"…" However, there wasn't a reply at all.
When Lucas was about to end the call…
"Huh?" He felt a weird presence emitting inside the room; he quickly turned towards the center of the room where the futons are placed as a flash of light suddenly appeared.
The flash of light suddenly grew as it formed into a tall silhouette as another flash illuminated the whole room and blinded Lucas, forcing him to block the flash with his hands and close his eyes.
When the bright flash finally ended, Lucas slowly peeked and was shocked by what he saw.
"Gardenia?" The tall, psychic type pokemon appeared in front of him, holding a cellphone on one hand and a folded piece of paper on the other. But what surprised him most is her facial expression; tears were flowing from her eyes.
"W-what's wrong?" Lucas slowly approached the psychic-type; but just after his step towards her, she quickly darted from her position which caught him off guard and lunged against his chest, causing the two of them to fall on the floor with her now on top of him.
"Hey! What's wrong with you?!" The Lucario was surprised by her strange behavior and tried to lift himself up in a sitting position.
"P-please… Can we stay in this position for a while?" She replied softly as she raised her face from his chest and looked at his face; tears were continuously flowing from her eyes.
After about a half minute later, she finally got herself off him and wiped her eyes and tried to make a smile at him.
"What happened?" He asked as she responded by raising her hand where she held a piece of paper and and showed it to him as he slowly took it from her hands.
"What's this?" He stared at it for a bit before he opened it.
"It's a letter… from my brother." She replied softly as Lucas's eyes widened in surprise to hear that Gallade's name that tried to burn down their house and almost killed Umber.
He was immediately curious in finding out the contents in this letter that may explain everything to him as he read the contents out loud.
"I'm writing this letter for you to know that this may be last time you'll hear from me. The truth is I've been keeping a secret from you. I owe a certain someone a great deal that I needed to repay him very soon or else, your life will be in danger. I'm sorry that our noodle shop is losing a lot of income lately, that's because I'm secretly getting some of our earnings to pay for my debt. I couldn't tell this to you sooner since I don't want you to be involved and share my problem.
To pay back the last of my debt, I had to become close with Esper so I can gain her and her family's trust, but ultimately, I had to destroy her family.
P.S. I will always love you no matter what may happen to me…
Your loving brother,
Guile"
Lucas was just stunned by the contents of this letter; now he understood why her brother betrayed everyone, including Esper, just because of that… monster.
"I'm sorry Gardenia." That's all he could say to her at this time as he placed his hands on her back and suddenly hugged her unknowingly to comfort her. Who knew that the Gallade who betrayed all of them, was only trying to save her sister all along…
"LUCAS! ARE YOU COMING DOWN OR NOT?!" A loud voice came from the hallway; surprising the two of them, especially the Lucario.
"Oh great, Dad…" He stared at the door where he could hear footsteps getting louder and louder.
"HOW RUDE OF YOU MAKING YOUR OWN GUESTS WAIT FOR YOU, I WILL-" The Medicham shouted with rage, obviously furious; he looked around for his son, but when he looked below…
Chammer's jaw dropped when he saw his son on the floor, with an unknown female hugging him.
"Uh… I can explain…"
At the dining room, where the Eevee sisters and Lucas's mother sat down at a huge round table where a large pot of stew with mouth-watering aroma while a stack of bowls beside it. Before everyone could eat, they had to wait until everyone was seated. House rules, got to obey, even if you are guests, you know…
"What's taking Lucas so long?" Umber complained while rubbing her grumbling belly.
"Maybe he's taking a dump?" Flannery said.
"Seriously, not at the dining table, Flannery. You're going to ruin my appetite…" Vanessa interrupted with a disgusted look on her face.
"You know that I'm just joking." The Flareon replied with a grin.
"We're here." A voice called out from outside the dining room as they all looked towards the direction where the voice came from.
"Finally!" Vanessa sighed in relief.
"SLOWPOKE! GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!" Umber called out as she felt relieved but furious at the same time.
They were expecting to see only the Medicham and the Lucario enter the dining room, however, all of them were surprised when there was a third person who was behind them.
"G-Gardenia? Is that you?" All of them were shocked when they saw the Gardevoir out of the blue, uninvited even.
"H-hey guys…" The psychic-type replied softly.
"Why are you here?" Umber didn't hesitate to ask her, although everyone was curious by her sudden appearance.
"It's a long story, actually…" She gave a weak smile but at the same time, clenching tightly at the now crumpled letter on her hands.
"How about let's take a seat first?" The Medicham suggested as the two nodded and went towards the vacant seats.
"Yesterday, when I came to my house late." After a deep breath, Gardenia started her story.
"I was expecting to see my brother inside, however, he wasn't there."
"Because he was already at our house, trying to start a fire!" Umber suddenly added.
"Umber!" Esper shouted at her and stared at the Umbreon with a frightening look on her face. Well, who could blame her after all?
"…Sorry." She quickly apologized and looked down. She quickly realized that the Espeon was serious.
"When I entered my room, there was a letter placed on top of my desk." Gardenia continued as she revealed the paper to them. Esper didn't hesitate to take it from her hands through telepathy and immediately read the contents while the rest all stood up from their seats and went around her to also read the contents.
It took a few seconds of deep silence before tears flowed from the Espeon's eyes.
All of them were seated at the long dinner table which can accommodate around twenty people or more. Everyone was interested to hear the Gardevoir's side of the story, especially the contents of the letter.
"So she just used Esper like that?!" Glaceon sure was upset.
"And to think I'm almost getting used to that horrible excuse for a chef." Umber said as she crossed her arms.
"Maybe… but he did all of this just to keep Gardenia from harm." Gloria added.
"
However, the Espeon, who was hurt the most through this whole incident, never uttered a single word at all. She was just glaring at the letter for the whole conversation.
"Umm… Esper, are you alright?" Lily asked upon noticing her sister staring blankly at the paper.
"H-huh?" The Espeon suddenly snapped back to reality as she quickly looked at the Leafeon with a surprised look on her face.
"I-I'm sorry… So much has happened that I'm so tired lately…" Esper said softly.
"Don't worry about the past." Vanessa butted in.
"Lily is back, our house is being rebuilt; all that matters is we're all together again!" Flannery added.
"Yeah!" "Lily is safe." "Flannery finally said something that made sense for once." The rest of the sisters all agreed and smiled at their eldest sister, trying to comfort her.
"…Yeah, you're all right." Esper finally made a smile. Unknowingly for them, she was only faking it for their sake. Things like these are just too hard for her to let go easily…
"Now that's settled…" The Medicham suddenly interrupted them as they all stared at the huge puckered lips for a face pokemon.
"Why don't we all sit down and eat. All of you must be very tired and hungry due to what happened, right?"
"YEAH!" Umber, the first one to agree as usual; and she was the first one to pour the stew on her bowl. Typical Umbreon, that's what makes her unique and cute.
"Gardenia?" The mother called to her, who was still standing.
"Y-yes?"
"You're welcome to stay with us!"
"Is it… really ok?"
"Of course! We don't mind." Luc replied with a smile.
"Thank you."
"Here, you can sit beside Lucas. You must also be hungry." She pointed towards an empty chair where she happily seated herself beside him.
"Here you go." Lucas took a bowl and poured soup onto it and gave it to the Gardevoir.
"T-thank you…" She replied shyly and slowly took the bowl from his hands.
All of them were enjoying the soup prepared for them as the obvious Flareon and Vaporeon took seconds and busy chatting amongst themselves.
"So will Gardenia also stay in the guest room?" Umber asked out of curiosity.
"Since we only have one guest room, which can accommodate up to ten to fifteen people, I'm pretty sure there's still a lot of space to go around." Luc replied as the Umbreon nodded after her question was answered.
"So how did you get here in the first place? I didn't hear any doorbell ringing." Umber asked another question, but now she was asking the Gardevoir.
"Teleport. All Psychic-types can go any place they want as long as they know where it is." Gardenia replied.
"Oh yeah! Big sister can do that too!" Umber said with excitement, recalling how the Espeon has the same ability as the Gardevoir, and quickly looked towards the Espeon, however, she seemed to be busy with her soup, that she wasn't probably listening to their discussion which made the Umbreon frown a bit.
They continued eating as everyone felt free to serve themselves another serving, especially something this delicious.
"So, Lucas's Mom, did you teach Lucas how to cook?" Typical Umber, never running out of questions to ask.
"Yep, I taught him pretty much everything he needs to know. Why?" Luc replied.
"Oh, nothing. Just curious, that's all." Umber replied and continued eating, although it gave some of her sisters something to think about.
"Hey, maybe Esper could learn a thing or two from her!" Flannery butted in as she stared at the quiet Espeon who was taking her time with her soup.
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea!" Vanessa added.
"What do you say Esper?"
"…Maybe some other time." However, that was the only response they got from her as she only gave a weak smile and went back to drinking her soup.
"Man, she really is bummed out." The Flareon whispered to the Vaporeon's ear.
"Yeah. But who could blame her? Her boyfriend was only using her all this time." Vanessa replied. Sadly, the atmosphere inside the dining room suddenly became uncomfortably quiet for everyone else. Probably was a bad idea asking her like that.
"I'm finished. I'm just going to get some rest, if that's okay with you." Esper stood up from her seat after finishing up her bowl and bowed down towards Lucas's parents as a sign of gratitude.
"O-of course! Lucas! Be a gentleman and show her the way to the guest room. And bring their belongings too while you're at it." Chammer quickly responded and ordered his son.
Unfortunately, Lucas couldn't argue with him with everybody in the room so he quietly stood up from his seat, gave an irritated look over the grinning face of his father and did what he was told.
"I-I'm also finished eating." Lily also stood up from her seat and bowed down towards the parents before she walked quickly outside the dining room.
"What's with her all of the sudden?" Flannery asked and stared at the Vaporeon who simply shrugged her shoulders and continued eating.
At the guest room, as Lucas carefully dropped all of their belongings beside the door and was panting heavily due to the huge weight on each of their bags. What are girls' actually putting inside their bags?
Lucas looked at the Espeon who went towards a nearby futon, sat down and stared at the window. Obviously, something was wrong, so he slowly approached her.
"Hey, are you all right?" Lucas asked.
"It's not fair…" She replied softly while Lucas could only sit beside her and say anything at all, it's not he wanted to talk to her; he couldn't just find the correct words to comfort her at this time, and the reason why she was suddenly down, was because of that letter.
"All this time, I only wanted was a boyfriend. When I learned that he was just a thug working for that scoundrel, I simply brushed it off and quickly moved on so I won't look like a fool in front of my sisters."
"But…" Suddenly, tears flowed from her eyes.
"When he did all of this for her sister's sake… I-I…"
Suddenly, she leaned towards Lucas's chest which took him by surprise. However, he didn't immediately try to back away, but instead, he let her head rest against his body; he could feel his shirt getting damp by her tears.
'Come to think of it… all of this started when Lily slapped that Blaziken in front of the whole class.' He said in his thoughts while unknowingly placing his hands around her head and back as she continued to cry.
'However, he never let it go and swore revenge against her… and Guile suddenly came into our lives.'
'Then her kidnapping which finally led to both of them locked away for good.'
Suddenly, Esper just let her weight drop on him, her head falling on his waist which shocked him.
"Hey, you okay?"
"…" However, she didn't answer, so Lucas slowly pushed her away from his waist as she laid on her back, she was motionless which scared him for a bit until he stared at her face, her eyes closed and her mouth slightly open, inhaling and exhaling air calmly.
"So she cried herself to sleep…" He looked at her and smiled.
She's been through a lot, with so many things in her mind right now; she deserves some good night's sleep. And since she was the eldest, she was supposed to stay strong for them but there was no one else where she could lean on, so maybe that's why…
He slowly and carefully fixed her position so she is lying properly on the futon, her head resting on a pillow and her body covered with a blanket.
"Hey…" A voice called out to the Lucario as he quickly turned towards the door and was surprised to see the Leafeon standing there.
Although, he immediately noticed her cheeks slightly damp which was obvious she tried to wipe them off before she entered the room. Was she listening to their conversation this whole time? Or were the two of them thinking of the exact, same thing before?
"How is she?" Lily asked as she quietly approached them, sat down beside him and stared at her sister peacefully sleeping.
"She's just exhausted. That's all." He replied as the Leafeon nodded slowly and quietly stared at her again.
"Oh well… I'll just prepare the bath for you guys." Lucas stood up but when he was about to go towards the door… He felt something gripped his wrist. He quickly turned around and saw Lily's hand.
"C-can we talk for a bit?" She slowly asked while he quietly nodded and sat down in front of her.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"I've been thinking a lot lately. All of these happened back at Home economics class, right?" Lily said. So it's true that they've been thinking of the same thing before, where it all began…
"He was trying to touch Gloria and I immediately protected her from him…"
"Then I suddenly slapped him after he touched me."
"Then, after school, I was ambushed by him along with his group…"
"And luckily, you were there to save me…"
"But unfortunately, he hit you so hard that your ribs broke and were burned."
"Hey, that's all in the past. Lily." Lucas interrupted her when he saw that she was about to cry.
"I-I know… But, if you think about it, if I haven't slapped him nor defended her… none of this would've happened."
"It's not your fault! He should be blamed, not you!" Suddenly, these words came out from his mouth without him knowing as he placed his hand on hers which surprised the Leafeon.
"You were only trying to protect Gloria."
"I'm sorry…" Lily tried to wipe off the tears.
"Don't be…" Lucas's voice was so calm and determined that it made her feel at ease. She looked down and smiled when suddenly she noticed his hand was holding hers.
"W-what's wrong?" Lucas asked when Lily suddenly became quiet and was just staring below which made him look and was shocked to see where his hand was.
"S-sorry…" He quickly removed his hand from hers and stood up with blushes from his face.
"I-I'll go prepare the bath." He said and immediately went for the door, embarrassed by what he had done.
Lily just stayed there, staring at the door and smiled. She raised and stared at her hand where Lucas held onto it without either of them noticing it before.
"Thank you… for everything, Lucas." She touched her hand with her cheeks, closed her eyes and smiled as faint blushes were formed on her face.