Chapter 29: Seeing A Friend
It's a random day in early March and Drew is fast asleep. His Pokéballs are on his bedside table. One of the Pokéballs suddenly started moving on its own. It moved side to side, until it opened.
The Fox Pokémon materialized on the ground. He looked at the sleeping Drew and he quietly walked out of the bedroom.
Ninetales made his way to the back of the castle. There's a door that is for the Pokémon to walk through. Ninetales exited the mansion through the door that's like a giant dog door. He ran around the mansion to the front yard. He found a tall tree and jumped up and landed on a branch. From that branch, he jumped over the gate of the mansion.
Ninetales started running away from the mansion.
(The Ninetales will be speaking to each other by saying their names, but I'll leave that out.)
"Nine~" Drew's Ninetales whispered in the greenhouse.
Drew's Ninetales ended up running all the way to Petalburg City. jumping on another tree next to the castle, and jumping over the castle gate. He then snuck over to the greenhouse to see if May's Ninetales would be there. There are royal guards walking around the premises of the castle with flashlights. They don't see Ninetales yet.
May's Ninetales opened her eyes and stood up. She walked to the entrance of the greenhouse and saw Drew's Ninetales.
"What are you doing here?" May's Ninetales whispered.
"I came to see you." Drew's Ninetales answered.
"Why?" May's Ninetales asked.
"Because I couldn't bear to be apart from you."
May's Ninetales blushed slightly. "You disobeyed your trainer just to see me again?"
"Don't worry. I'll be back in LaRousse before he wakes up."
"...you're unbelievable."
"I know." Drew's Ninetales said smugly.
"So come on in." May's Ninetales said. "Royal guards don't guard the inside of the greenhouse."
Drew's Ninetales entered the greenhouse. May's Ninetales brushed a tail on Drew's Ninetales' chin. She walked past him.
"Come on. Let's go play!" She said, running in the large greenhouse, followed by the Kanto Ninetales.
Drew's Ninetales would visit the castle at night every other day. He would play with May's Ninetales in the greenhouse without Drew and May knowing.
Drew started realizing that Ninetales leaves during the night. He wonders where he goes, so this night he decides to pretend that he's asleep. He knows that Ninetales didn't leave last night. He's about to get to the bottom of this.
Drew notices his Pokéball moving on his own and he closes his eyes. He hears it open and he assumes that Ninetales is right now on the floor.
Ninetales walked out of the room. Drew opens his eyes and quietly gets out of bed. He peeks around the corner into the hallway. He sees Ninetales walking towards the stairs. He starts to follow him.
Drew follows Ninetales all the way outside and he watches Ninetales jump in the tree and over the fence. He quickly runs to the gate and looks at where Ninetales is. He sees Ninetales start running off.
("Where are you going Ninetales…?") Drew thought. Ninetales was already gone and Drew saw no way of catching up to him on foot, so he decided to just go back to sleep and see if Ninetales is back in the morning.
Ninetales jumps over the gate. He starts sneaking over to the greenhouse. The royal guards are walking around the premises of the castle of course and they have flashlights.
A guard heard footsteps in the grass and went to see what it was. He shined a light in front of him and saw the Ninetales. Ninetales looked at the person.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" The guard asked.
"Nine…" Ninetales said sadly.
Another guard walked over. "What's going on?"
"There's a Ninetales here. It's not the Princess's, right?" The first guard asked.
"Umm...no it isn't. Hers is an Alolan one. I don't think I've seen a Kanto one here before. So where did it come from?"
"Hmm...how did you get here?" The first guard asked.
"Nine~!" Ninetales said. He started walking away with the two guards following it.
Ninetales led them to the back fence. "Nine~!" He said, looking up at the fence. The guards looked up.
"You just jumped over the fence?" The first guard asked.
"Nine~" Ninetales answered, nodding his head.
The two guards looked at Ninetales and then at each other.
"What should we do?" The first guard asked.
"I don't know. The Princess is the one who could befriend wild Pokémon."
The guards looked back at Ninetales. "You are wild, right?" The first guard asked.
Ninetales shook his head.
"You left your trainer? Did you run away?" The second guard asked.
Ninetales shook his head. The guards looked at Ninetales in confusion.
"You didn't run away?" The first guard asked. "Well, I guess we'll wait until morning to tell the Princess that you're here."
"Nine~!" Ninetales turned and jumped onto a branch on the tree. He then jumped over the fence and started running back home.
"That was weird."
"Yeah…"
The guards told May about the Ninetales and how it got over castle gates. May now decides to stay up this night to see if he'll come again. And that's just what happened.
"Hey." May said.
Ninetales stopped in his tracks. He's right in front of the greenhouse door and May is shining a light on him.
"What are you doing here?" May asked.
"Nine…" Ninetales said, slowly backing up.
"Hey, it's okay. I won't hurt you." May said. Ninetales stopped moving. "Hey wait...aren't you...Drew's?"
Ninetales nodded and walked closer to May.
"What are you doing so far from home?" May asked.
"Nine, nine." Ninetales answered.
"A friend?" May questioned. Ninetales nodded. May gasped. ("I understood another Pokémon.")
May looked at the greenhouse. "Ohh...I get it now." She looked at Ninetales again and smiled. "You're here to see my Ninetales, right?"
Drew's Ninetales smiled and nodded.
"Well, I'm perfectly fine with that." May said. "Does Drew know you're here?"
Ninetales shook his head.
"He doesn't? Don't you think you should tell him? I'm perfectly fine with you visiting my Ninetales as long as he knows."
"Nine…" Ninetales said sadly.
"I can tell him if you want me to." May said.
Ninetales smiled and nodded.
"Here's the problem though…" May started. "He won't be able to enter castle gates because my parents won't allow it. So if he says no, then that's that."
"Nine…" Ninetales said sadly.
"I'll tell him tomorrow, but for now you'll have to go home."
Ninetales sighed and nodded.
"Ninetales, I'm getting really worried." Drew said. "You keep disappearing in the night without saying anything."
Ninetales looked down sadly. They're in Petalburg City, walking around town, and Drew brought up why Ninetales leaves during the night.
"Care to explain?" Drew asked.
"Hi again."
Drew looked up and stopped walking. He saw Princess May standing before him. Ninetales looked up and smiled.
"Princess." Drew said. "Hi to you too."
"So, I actually wanted to talk to you about something."
"You did? I mean...what is it...Your Highness?"
"Well, let's take a walk, shall we?"
"Umm...okay." Drew said.
May turns around and they all start walking towards the castle.
"So, it appears that your Ninetales has made a friend that lives at the castle." May said.
"He has?" Drew looked at Ninetales.
"Yes he has." May said. Drew faced forward again. "And that's why he's been sneaking out."
Drew's eyes widened. "Wait...you mean that...he's been coming to the castle?"
"Yep." May answered. "To see his friend."
"And what friend does he see?" Drew asked.
"My Alolan Ninetales."
"Makes sense, but...why didn't you tell me something?" Drew asked Ninetales.
"Nine, nine, nine." Ninetales answered.
"He was scared you'd be mad at him." May interpreted.
Drew looked at her. "You understood him?"
"Umm...yes. Can't really explain it, but I can understand Pokémon language." May answered.
Drew faced forward. "Cool. So...he hasn't caused any problems for you, right?"
"No problems at all." May said. "And that leaves me to ask you if you'd allow your Ninetales to visit whenever he wants to."
"Umm...really? You'd allow that?"
"Of course. I welcome all Pokémon at the castle. They could be mine, someone else's, or wild. Yesterday when your Ninetales visited, I told him that I would allow him to visit whenever he wants as long as you would allow him too."
"Hmm…" Drew said, thinking.
"And another thing," May said. "The King and Queen won't allow a commoner to visit. Just Pokémon. So if your Ninetales visits, he'll be the only one allowed inside." They stop in front of the castle gates.
They face each other. "It's your decision Drew. Your Ninetales likes to play with mine. I don't want them to be separated from each other when they've become great friends."
Drew didn't say anything for a moment. His eyes then widened when he realized something. "Hey...how do you know my name?"
"What?"
"I don't think I've ever told you my name before."
"Oh. Umm...that's because…" May started. "I make it my job to find out the names of the people I usually always see around town, so...yeah."
"I...guess that makes sense."
May laughed nervously. "So anyway, it's your decision."
"Yeah...I hear you." Drew said.
"Nine~!" Ninetales said.
Drew looked at Ninetales. "Do you really want to?"
"Nine~!" Ninetales answered a yes.
Drew smiled. "Okay then." He looked at May. "I'll allow my Ninetales to visit whenever he wants to."
May smiled and nodded. "Wherever he's here, you can be sure that he'll be protected."
"Thank you, Princess." Drew said.
May just nodded. Things got quiet between them as they stared into each other's eyes. They stayed like that for a while.
("It's weird...when I stare into her eyes, I see...Daisy.") Drew thought. ("No. It's gotta be my imagination.")
"Well," May said to end the silence. "Thank you for the talk."
"Yeah, no problem." Drew said.
"I guess I'll...see you again sometime?"
"Most likely."
"Okay then. I should umm...go inside now." May said. She looked at Drew's Ninetales. "I'll see you soon?"
"Nine~!" Ninetales answered happily.
"Okay then. Open the gates." May told the guards. The gates started opening.
"Wait." Drew said.
"What is it?" May asked, turning back around to face Drew.
Drew pulled out a rose and held it out to May. "It was nice seeing you again."
May blushed and accepted the rose. "Y-you too."
("It's...the same reaction.") Drew thought. He shook his thoughts away. ("Just my imagination.")