". . .He's back"
The Sudowoodo could practically feel his entire team's gaze as he entered the pokemon center. He was very, very tempted to just turn around and walk out again, but Rojo's words and his own stubbornness made him approach his team mates.
". . .How's Arella?" he asked, breaking through the awkward silence that hung around the team like a impending thunderstorm.
"She's fine. . .she's just sleeping," Matthew answered, before another silence washed over them. Harris looked away, trying not to look back at his teammates so he could keep his somewhat calm demeanor.
"So, you got to tell us everything!" Hana smiled.
". . .I'm sorry, what?"
"About that awesome battle you n' Daniel n' Matthew had," she pouted, "You guys were so lucky! I haven't had an awesome fight in like. . .forever!"
Harris looked over at Daniel, confused. He gave him a smile back before speaking.
"She's referring battling against that guy with the Lunatone," the Pidgeot nodded, "Weird guy, wasn't he?"
His face remained in a confused expression before he finally understood what was going on.
"Yeah, nearly killed us to," Harris nodded as well, "Matthew came just in time though. . ." he looked back at the front desk of the pokemon center, ". . .Any news on that Mareep?"
"Not yet," the Feraligatr sighed, "I'm sure it's still alive. . .for now. . ."
The sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway, yet none of the pokemon bothered to look to see who it was until they heard a familiar voice.
"Oh my Arceus. . .are you guys still here?"
Everyone turned to see Whitney, gasping in surprise at the sight of them.
"Do not tell me Arella's still in a hospital bed and hasn't woken up. I was here visiting Kelly and I was sure you'd guys be out of Goldenrod by now."
It started with Matthew, who looked uneasily at Daniel and Harris. Daniel looked down, Matthew looked away, then both Hana and Alucard gulped.
"U-uh, yeah. . ." Alucard managed to stammer out, "He kinda deserves it. . .y'know?"
Whitney simply stared at the team's odd demeanor before her eyes brightened.
"Oh my gosh, that's a fantastic idea!" she gleamed, then turned back to the hallway, "I'll go visit him right now."
"Woah woah woah woah woah," Alucard quickly grabbed on to Hana before flying in front of Whitney.
"It's still a little early for Arella to have visitors," Hana explained, keeping a calm demeanor, "I mean, we still have like. . .no clue what happened up there, so who knows what he'll be like when he wakes up."
". . .Whitney?"
At the sound of the new voice, the gym leader of Goldenrod quickly turned around, expecting to see Arella right behind her.
She did.
"I'm. . .I'm sorry, who are you?" she raised an eyebrow.
Arella's cheeks flushed a bright pink, then she looked at the ground in embarrassment. The gym leader looked back at all of Arella's pokemon, and they all averted her gaze as well.
"Whitney. . .I'm. . .I'm so sorry," the trainer finally managed to choke out. Why did she though? She expected her to not believe, to call her crazy, to laugh at her. She never expected the sudden stinging pain on her cheek and the sound that almost rivaled a gunshot.
"How could you?" she screamed, hysterical, "I though for once I had finally met the perfect person, and you turn out to be a girl! A freaking girl!
"Whitney. . ." Arella bit her lip.
"What? Did you make a bet with one of my girls just to see how quickly I could fall in love with you if you dressed like a guy? Huh? I am sick of this shit," she pointed her finger towards the door, "Get your shit, and get out of my city."
"But-"
"Out."
Arella stared at the pink-haired girl, trying to process what happened. But, it didn't take long before she darted down the hallway, all of her pokemon following without hesitation. The only one who stopped was Matthew, who took his time to glare at Whitney before he joined the others.
The sun was just barely reaching the mid-point of its journey across the sky when Arella and her team left the premises of Goldenrod City, calling back everyone except Hana, Alucard, and Matthew.
"So. . .still wearing your old clothes?" Hana asked curiously as she hung on to one of her trainer's shoulders.
"Yeah," she gave a weak smile back to the Jumpluff, "It's not like I had any time to get more clothes. . ."
"Arella, you really should have listened to her," Matthew sighed, "It's not your fault that you were a guy back then and a girl now."
"Matthew. . ." she sighed as well, still smiling, "It's. . .a girl thing."
"Yeah, I'd be really pissed if a guy kept a secret from me!" Hana added, "Besides, it's not like she knew," she climbed over to the shoulder closest to Matthew, "She'll probably call after a while and apologize."
The tower Feraligatr simply stared until Alucard flew closer to him and whispered, "It's okay, I really don't get girls either."
Before he could make a comment back, both boys noticed that Arella had stopped and was looking down. Following her gaze, they saw the Mareep staring back up at their trainer.
"I. . .guess I forgot about you after all that," she smiled at the sheep, kneeling down to its height, ". . .Can you talk?"
"Um. . .Arella. . ." Matthew walked closer, ". . .Its tongue was cut off by that guy. . .it can't speak anymore. . ."
"Oh. . .", her expression darkened a bit, then soured for even asking that question, then went back to a smile. "Do you have a name then?"
The sheep thought for a bit, then proceeded to write on the dusty road, eventually spelling the name 'Leu'.
"Leu. . .huh" she picked the Mareep up gently, ". . .You want to come with us then?"
The Mareep nodded as fast as she could, letting some electricity spark off her fleece as if she was trying to show off her power.
". . .We do have a spot open" she giggled at the display of 'power' "Welcome to the team Leu."
