Chapter Two: An Important Phone Call
Blue's eyes cracked open to a thin beam of light shining through a gap in the curtains into the room she shared with Amour. She grunted softly as she got out of bed and stretched, twisting her body one way, then the other before heading out the door to start her day.
She tiptoed down the hallway and crossed the living room into the kitchen, where she first tied her side-leaves back so they wouldn't come into contact with any of the stove's burners. She then collected the various pots and pans and ingredients that she would need to prepare breakfast for her family. Her plan for the meal was pancakes and scrambled eggs, along with bacon and orange juice – with the pulp, of course. "Now, vere is bacon…?" she murmured to herself as she rummaged through the refrigerator. "I know Craig picked up package…"
As was usual, the smell wafted throughout the house, and Kevin and Amour entered the kitchen a few minutes later, both rubbing their eyes. "Need any help?" the young human offered as the Gothorita hid a yawn behind her hand.
"Nyet, sank you," Blue replied as she glanced at the pair, then did a double-take. "Vait…vere is Craig?"
"Dad hasn't left for work already?" Kevin said, suddenly awake in response to an abrupt sense of worry.
The Steenee quickly dumped the scrambled eggs from her pan into a bowl, which she handed to the young human. "Please put this on table. Bacon is in microwave, cooked. Go ahead and eat; I vill check on your dad." Without waiting for a reply, she hurried out of the kitchen.
The human and the Gothorita watched her leave, then blinked at each other. "Well, she said 'eat', so let's eat," Kevin declared as he headed toward the microwave.
Meanwhile, Blue made her way down the hall, stopping at the door to the bedroom of her trainer's father. She pressed an ear to the door, listening for the sounds of movement. Hearing none, she gently tapped on the door. "Craig?" She tapped again. "It is morning. Are you avake?" Still hearing nothing, she reached up with a trembling hand and carefully opened the door and entered. She'd been in the elder Hart's room many times before, but never to wake him; she would usually enter to tidy up after his departure for work.
The room was laid out rather simply; upon entering, Blue was immediately greeted by the sight of a medium-sized wooden desk loaded with papers, both individual and stapled into packets. The desk was against the left-side wall, facing it, and just beyond it was a partition; a portable wall of sorts. She could hear breathing, so she cautiously followed the sound to the other side of the partition to find… "Craig…?"
Craig Hart slept peacefully in his bed, lying on his stomach with an arm hanging over the side. She could see the rise and fall of the blankets as he slept but, more importantly, she could also see the pained expression on his face, reminding her of his terrible loss, and she felt an intense…longing, a desire to take away the human's pain.
The Steenee swallowed a lump of anxiety before reaching out to gently touch the man's bare arm. "Craig? It is morning; are you going to verk today?"
"Mmm…?" His eyelids fluttered open, revealing steel-grey eyes. "Wh… What are you doing in my room?"
She took an uneasy step back as she gestured to his bedside clock. "You did not come out for breakfast, so I have come to check on you."
His eyes widened, and he quickly shifted his position to check the time before uttering a profanity as he scrambled out of bed. "I've got an appointment with a client in an hour! Why didn't my alarm go off?!" He opened the top drawer of his oak dresser, grabbing a rolled-up white garment before heading into the master bathroom. "So much for breakfast…"
The Steenee watched him leave the room and worried about the well-being of her favorite human. "He cannot go vithout breakfast…" she murmured to herself as she tried to think of a way to help. After several long seconds she nodded. "Yes; I vill do zis." Decision made, she ran back to the kitchen, grabbed her footstool, and brought it back to Craig's room. She opened the doors to his closet and unfolded the stool in front of an array of business suits. "Must find good color…" Most of them were darker colors, but in the end she managed to put together an ensemble that looked nice; a light-blue business shirt and a darker blue suit along with his usual black shoes. She carefully laid the garments out on the bed so they wouldn't wrinkle, then closed the closet again and carried her footstool back through the house to the kitchen. As Amour and Kevin watched from the breakfast table, she fired up the burner again and cracked two eggs into the still-hot pan she had used earlier before setting it on the burner. She then hopped down and made her way over to the table and claimed two strips of bacon from the serving plate. "I vill need zese," she absently informed the pair as she hurried back to the counter. "But pancake vill not be strong enough…" A few seconds later she hurried to the pantry and quickly rummaged through it until she found what she was looking for. "I can make breakfast burrito vith zis," she declared to no one in particular as she pulled out a package of wheat tortillas along with Craig's lunch bag and hurried back to her footstool.
As they watched the scenario play out, Kevin and Amour couldn't help but exchange grins; they both enjoyed it when their friend and fellow warrior was intense, and the current situation was no exception. "She really cares about Dad, doesn't she?" he thought to his tablemate.
"Very much so," the psychic Pokémon thought back.
"I just wish Mom was still here," he told her with a barely-audible sigh. "I think she would have loved Blue's energy."
"Oui," she agreed as they returned their collective gaze to the busy Steenee.
Blue had been busy while the pair had conversed, laying out a tortilla to put egg, bacon, and some pre-shredded cheese on it. She efficiently wrapped the burrito and sealed the flap with a thin layer of mayonnaise, enough to close it but not enough to make a mess out of the intended recipient's hands. She then wrapped the burrito in a paper towel and placed it in the lunch bag. Another moment of thought had her collecting a travel cup to fill with orange juice. Task finally complete, she carried the lunch bag and cup out of the kitchen and into the living room. She placed the items on the coffee table and settled onto the couch to wait.
It wasn't long before Craig charged into the living room, struggling into his overcoat as he headed toward the door. "Sorry, no time for breakfast," he announced. "I'll just have to grab something on the way. Take care, everybody."
"Breakfast is in bag," Blue said as she ran up to him with his lunch bag and the travel cup. "I have made breakfast burrito for you; I hope you like it."
His eyebrows jumped, but he accepted the meal. "You made this, you said?"
She nodded, suddenly unable to speak.
"Well, thanks," he said, his expression unreadable as he regarded the Steenee. "I, uh… I'm sorry, but I've got to go."
"You have good day," she called out, waving as the front door closed behind him. "I hope you have good one…"
"I'm sure he will," a familiar male voice replied, and Blue dragged her gaze from the front door to find Kevin and Amour standing just inside the door from the kitchen. "Your cooking is the best, after all; it'll get him off to a good start."
"S-Sank you very much," Blue replied as she tried to hide her face behind her 'twin-tails'.
"Well, see you later." Kevin heaved his backpack over his shoulder before heading out the door to school, leaving the two Pokémon in charge of the house once again.
"Do your best," Amour said, waving along with Blue as their trainer left for school. After the door clicked shut she looked over at her battle buddy and grinned. "Chores for an hour, then Poketalk?"
"As alvays," the Steenee replied with a grin of her own, continuing their usual weekday morning banter.
They spent the next hour tidying the house; since tidying was a daily routine, the house never had much of a chance to get too dirty. They then hopped onto the couch, and Blue turned on the television just in time for one of their favorite shows to start.
"Good morning everyone! I'm Victoria Chatterbox, and welcome back to Poketalk, where we talk about the latest news and hot topics around everything…Pokémon!" As usual, the hostesses' enthusiasm was contagious, and the studio audience cheered even more loudly than they had been before her reveal; the shills were certainly earning their paychecks. "The last time our first guests were here they were a trainer and a Gardevoir, but now they're husband and wife with a little one on the way." The audience began to murmur, knowing exactly who the hostess was talking about. "Please join me in welcoming James and Kimono Gottum!"
As the audience roared their approval, a set of golden curtains at one end of the stage parted and an attractive young couple emerged. The man wore a light-gray business suit over a white shirt and with an equally light-blue necktie, and the woman wore a long white dress with sleeves that extended to her wrists. The dress flared out at the waist, just below an impressively swollen tummy, and a slit down the front revealed legs clad in white stockings. She seemed to glide along on white ballet-type slippers, showing remarkable grace in spite of her obvious pregnancy. What was the most striking about her, though, was her delicately pale skin, nearly the color of porcelain, as well as the slightly pointed ears that subtly poked out from under shoulder-length green hair. Both of them gave friendly, if reserved, waves to the wildly cheering audience as they made their way over to Victoria, who hugged them both before helping the woman into one of the plush chairs reserved for interviewees.
"Thank you for coming on the show!" Victoria nearly had to yell over the cheers of the audience as the three of them settled into their seats. "It's so good to see you two again!"
"Thank you for inviting us," Professor Gottum said with a friendly nod; next to him, his wife smiled attractively. "It's a real honor to be on your show again."
"So you have a little one on the way; congratulations," Victoria started, applauding along with the audience. "Isn't that great, everyone?" She quickly returned her attention to the young couple. "But for those of us who might be new to the show, could you give us an overview of how you two started, and how you got to where you are now?"
"Certainly," James replied, then looked over at his wife. "Do you want to answer, love?"
"No, go ahead," Kimono replied with a blush and a duck of her head, drawing 'aww's from the studio audience.
"Just let me know if I get my facts mixed up," he said with a wink before shifting his attention back to their hostess. "Well, you remember the last time we were here, I was still a trainer and Kimono here was a Gardevoir."
"Of course!" she chirped. "You were so nervous, and Miss Kimono was soooo cute!"
"Yeah, I was," James admitted with an awkward chuckle. "And she still is," he added, squeezing his wife's hand as he sent her a loving smile.
"J-Jim…" The former Gardevoir quickly covered her mouth to hide her embarrassment.
"Aw, it's okay," Victoria gushed, patting Kimono's knee. "You're a lucky girl, you know."
"I…I know."
"So you appeared on our show right before a tournament," Victoria said, politely refocusing the interview, "which you won pretty handily."
"She was amazing," James agreed, giving his wife's hand another squeeze. "And, uh…after the tournament was the party, during which she…" He looked up, trying to find the right words. "…clarified what she had meant when she said she loved me."
"That was when you achieved your mega-evolution without a stone, right?" the hostess asked Kimono.
"That's right," she replied, blushing at the memory.
"And the brave warrior I was, I ran away," James added, rubbing the back of his neck as the audience chuckled. "She and Professors Rowan and Oak tracked me down, and that's when they offered to install me as a Pokémon professor."
"But you didn't accept at that time, right?" Victoria followed up, brushing a lock of brown over her ear.
"I needed some time to think about it," James explained. "After all, I was still a trainer with no real aspirations toward anything so grand. I didn't accept it until…about a week before our wedding." He looked over at his wife again. "Does that sound about right?" At her nod he continued. "Anyway, it wasn't long after that that we married."
"Now…" The Poketalk hostess shifted slightly in her seat, clearly uncomfortable with the question she was about to ask. "Was she human when you proposed to her, or was she…?"
"Well, first of all; she proposed to me, but yes, she was still a Gardevoir at the time," he admitted, though he also appeared uncomfortable with the question.
"Oh, so she proposed to you," Victoria echoed with an approving nod. "Were either of you concerned about how society would view your relationship?"
The young couple exchanged a glance. "We…were, yes," James answered carefully. "But our concerns were made moot the day after our return home from the tournament when I went into her room that morning and found her encased within a crystal-like structure."
"Like the ones we've been seeing in the news?"
"Yes, and I've seen some of those crystals," he replied, leaning forward to rest his hands on the chair's armrests to link his fingers. "It's fascinating, really; in every case, the Pokémon in question has had a strong… The Pokémon has had strong feelings toward his or her trainer. And it only seems to happen with what we would consider the more human-like Pokémon."
"That's interesting…" Victoria said, genuinely intrigued though she still put on her exaggerated 'show face'. "So are you implying that non-human-like Pokémon will never go through this….evolution?"
"I'm not ready to say one way or the other at this point," James admitted, spreading his hands as he straightened again. "Right now we professors are treating this like when the first human broke the four-minute mile; once Kimono here did it, it showed other Pokémon a new possibility." He patted his wife on the knee. "Because of this, I think of my wife as a pioneer of sorts; she introduced another possibility to other Pokémon."
"I think I understand…" Victoria murmured, briefly reading her interview cards. "So she evolved into a human and you married." She reached out and patted Kimono on the knee. "I saw the highlights of your wedding, by the way; you made a lovely bride, dear."
"Thank you," the former Gardevoir blushed.
"And I see you have a little one on the way," Victoria noted with a smile and a gesture toward the other woman's abdomen. "Congratu-" She waited with a patient smile as the audience cheered; once the applause subsided she continued. "Congratulations. How do I ask this…? Is it a baby as we know it or is it an egg?"
"It's a baby," James chuckled as his wife blushed again. "And from what the doctors have told us, it's very healthy."
"'It'?" Victoria echoed with a puzzled expression, which then faded to an understanding smile. "Ah, you've decided to keep it a surprise."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Well, I can't tell you how happy I am for the both of you." The Poketalk hostess gestured to the studio audience. "Well, in closing; is there anything you'd like to tell your audience, both here and at home? Any advice or suggestions that you can give them?"
"Don't be afraid to be true to yourself," James immediately replied. "And don't be afraid to live that truth with others. Some may reject you, but others are sure to accept you. And be willing to learn; that's how we become that best we can be."
"Well said!" Victoria had to shout over the cheers of the audience. "What about you, ma'am?
One could hear the proverbial pin drop in the studio as the studio audience suddenly fell silent, and all eyes focused on the former Pokémon. "Don't be afraid to admit your love," she said, boldly addressing those in attendance, even as she knotted her fingers in her lap. "That may be the only way you'll ever know what kind of love it is." She started to tremble, and reached out for her husband's hand, which he quickly offered with an affectionate smile. "If Professor Oak hadn't taught me to be open with my feelings, I might never have confessed to James, and we would have never married, and…" She couldn't finish her sentence, as tears started to flow, causing the audience to 'aww' yet again. "I'm gonna be a mother! I'm so happy!"
"Yes, you are, sweetheart. Congratulations to the both of you." Victoria replied, her eyes misting as well as she turned to address the audience. "And there you h-have it, ladies and gentlemen; true-" She cleared her throat before chuckling awkwardly at her own expression of emotion. "True love on P-Poketalk! Coming up next, we'll be talking to…"
The Steenee and the Gothorita stared numbly at the screen for several minutes, not even registering the commercial break or the return to the show. Both of them had been stunned by what they had heard from the couple, particularly from the former Gardevoir. "She…She vas Pokémon?" Blue said, still trying to process the new information.
"Amazing…" Amour breathed. "She was so brave…" She shook her head to re-center herself and laid a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"I…I vill be fine," Blue replied, rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand. "Just need some vater."
"I will get it for you," Amour offered, and before Blue could protest she hopped down from the sofa and hurried to the kitchen. After pouring two cups of water she headed back into the living room and handed one to her still-trembling friend. "Here you go."
"Sank you."
They nursed their drinks for the next few minutes before deciding that they'd had enough TV for the morning, so they turned it off and returned their cups to the kitchen before continuing their daily chores.
"See you shortly," Amour said as the pair parted ways outside the guys' bedrooms, she to Kevin's and Blue to Craig's.
"Good luck cleaning up zat boy's room," Blue replied with a teasing grin before entering the older man's bedroom. "Teenage boys are so messy."
Amour clicked her tongue at her friend before entering their trainer's room. As expected, the bed was unmade and the desk was a paper-strewn mess. Fortunately, since she cleaned his room nearly every day it hadn't had enough time to gather much in the way of dust. "That boy…" she huffed without much conviction as she moved to the bed. As she did, though, she unconsciously imagined him sleeping there; not hard to do, considering the number of times she'd had to wake him for one reason or another. She shook her head to clear the thoughts from it as well as a tightening sensation in her chest and set about to make her favorite human's bed.
Once she had finished with the bed she hopped to the floor and made her way over to the desk, carefully climbed onto the swivel chair, and started to organize the papers to the best of her ability. "Homework…oh! Scholarships?" she mused as she examined a packet; while she wasn't very literate, she'd seen enough scholarship and grant packets to recognize the layout. "Do your best, Keveen," she thought out loud, though her spirits fell as she remembered that he would have to leave home to go to college. "You're a silly Gothorita," she chastised herself as she reached for another small pile of papers; as she lifted it up, a small envelope slid from the stack and fell to the floor. "Mince…" she muttered as she climbed down to collect the errant envelope. As she picked it up she noticed that it had Kevin's name on it, and when she flipped it over she saw that the flap was sealed with a sticker in the shape of a heart. "N-No…" she breathed, her hand going to her chest as the hand holding the envelope began to shake; she knew enough about human culture to recognize a love letter. "No…"
Across the hall, Blue had finished her basic dusting, using a white cloth to ensure that she didn't miss a spot. "Zat did not take long," she sighed, satisfied with the results of her efforts; though she couldn't reach the higher parts of the furniture, she did her best with what she could reach. Realizing that she had forgotten the nightstand, she headed over with the intent of rectifying her error.
As usual, there were a few things that needed to be moved before she could wipe the top, so she put her cleaning cloth on a corner of the nightstand and reached out to remove a framed photo. She'd done this many times, but for some reason her eyes were drawn to the subjects in the photo; it showed a younger Craig along with a young, brown-haired woman wearing a white dress. They were smiling as they looked into each others' eyes, and Blue gasped as she realized… "Zis must be from his vedding…" She was familiar with the human custom of pair-bonding, and her chest tightened and tears formed as she saw the happy, carefree smile on his face as he looked into the eyes of a woman who he had clearly loved very much. "Oh, my poor Craig… You miss her so much, don't you?" She finally had to force herself to put the photo aside to continue her work.
Both Pokémon were exhausted when they met up in the hallway. "Are you okay?" Amour asked when she saw the expression on her friend's face.
"I…I vill be fine," Blue replied somewhat evasively. "I saw vedding photo of Craig and his vife." To distract herself from her own troubled emotions, she studied her friend's face. "You look haunted as vell; are you okay?"
The Gothorita started fidgeting. "I…I weel be fine," she replied, then winced; she normally had better control of her pronunciation.
"Oh my, vat happened?" Blue asked as she wrapped her tiny arms around her friend's trembling body; she was grateful for the distraction, but also felt guilty for feeling grateful for the distraction.
The Gothorita was so distressed that it took several tries for her to answer: "Z-Zere was a l-love lettair on 'ees desk." She shuddered violently. "Wh-Why am I zo upset? Wh-What ees 'appening to me?
Blue tried to think about a solution to their dilemma, but her own thoughts were so scrambled that she couldn't even think straight. One thought, however, was crystal clear: "Ve need to talk to Missis Kimono."
"Thank you for calling Gottum Farm; this is Shade."
"Good day," Blue greeted; she hadn't much experience in using the telephone, but Kevin had taught her and Amour how to use it in case of an emergency. And as far as the Steenee was concerned, the current situation counted as one. "My name is Blue, and I vould like to talk viss Missis Kimono, please."
"I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time understanding you," the voice from the other end replied. "Could you repeat that?"
"I am Blue, and I vish to talk viss Missis Kimono. Please."
"I…apologize," the voice repeated. "We may have a bad connection. Would you be patient with me and try one more time?"
Blue's heart fell; she could hand the phone to Amour, but the Gothorita was having troubles controlling her own speech and likely wouldn't have fared any better. "Please… I need Kimono. Please."
The pause was brief, but it was still long enough that blue thought that the person on the other end had given up on her. "Ah, you wish to speak with Lady Kimono?"
"Da, please."
"I will assume that your answer is in the affirmative," the voice replied smoothly. "Allow me a minute."
While they waited, the two Pokémon shared anxious glances. "Do you sink zat she weel talk to us?" Amour asked nervously.
"How should I know?" Blue growled, grinding her 'h' more than usual. "Zat is vhy ve call, right?"
Amour couldn't answer, as she was nibbling on her hand.
Less than a minute later, a newly-familiar voice came from the phone: "Hello? This is Kimono Rob-er, Gottum. You wished to speak with me?'
"Yes, ma'am," Blue said, focusing on her words as she shared the earpiece with her fellow Pokémon. "Amour and I vere hoping zat you vould be villing to speak with us."
"Oh, what a charming accent!" the Gottum matriarch gushed. "Oh, and don't worry; I can understand you just fine, so we should be okay. So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Ve saw interview on Poketalk viz Victoria," Blue explained, "and my friend and I vere hoping you could tell us about love."
"Oooo, one of my favorite topics," Kimono giggled. "What did you want to know?"
Blue's mind went blank; what did she want to know? "I…am not sure. All I know is zat I have funny feeling when I am around Craig, and I miss him a lot vhen he goes to verk, and I love it when he likes my cooking, and-"
"My goodness!" Kimono giggled again. "It's obvious that you think highly of this 'Craig'. What can you tell me about him?"
"He is good man," Blue declared. "He verks hard for family and loves Kevin very much."
"Who's Kevin?"
"His son," Blue replied, then remembered who was with her. "Kevin is reason vhy Amour vants to talk viz you."
"So if I understand you correctly, you are fond of…Craig, and your friend likes his son."
"Da. Er, yes. Close enough...I guess."
"Where is Craig's wife? How does she feel about this?"
"She…" Blue exchanged a glance with Amour. "She died before I joined family."
"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," Kimono said, and Blue believed that she meant every word. "Well, I'm happy for you that the family took you in. If I'm not rude for asking; I'm assuming that you two are both Pokémon, right?"
"Zat is right."
"What species are each of you?"
Blue exchanged a puzzled glance with her friend. "She…is Gothorita and I am Steenee."
"Ah, first-stage evolutions…" A longish pause. "I was in my final form before I… Well, James likes to call it a 'transformation' since what I went through is not part of the normal evolution process."
"I sink I understand."
Another longish pause. "I'm not sure what to tell you; I became human from my final form, so you may not be able to transform until you become a…Tsareena?"
"Zat is right. But you loved your human as Pokémon, right?"
"That's true." A sigh could be heard. "Are you going to be at the tournament on Saturday?"
"That is Kevin's plan, yes. Vhy?"
"James and I will be there along with some of the other professors, and I would love to meet you and your friend…Amour, was it? Can she hear me?"
"I can hear you, ma'am," Amour replied, angling closer to the mouthpiece. "Eet ees an 'onair to speak weeth you."
"What a charming accent!" Kimono gushed again, causing both of the younger Pokémon to share a blushing smile. "Oh, I simply must meet you two! What team are you part of?"
"Ve are on Team Collectum," Blue told her. "But…vill zis be okay? Ve are not famous or anysing like zat."
"Oh, pish-tosh," the former Gardevoir replied, and in her mind's eye Blue could see the older woman waving a dismissive hand. "I'll talk to James and make sure we get to talk."
"Sank you, ma'am," Blue replied while flashing a 'victory' sign, which Amour copied. "Ve vill be looking forward to it."
"Thank you-oh! May I have your phone number? It didn't show up in my caller ID."
"I…do not have phone number," Blue replied. "I vill ask Craig about it, since it is his phone. Is... Is zat okay?"
"Perfectly fine," Kimono replied, a smile in her tone. "Thank you for respecting your host's privacy."
"You're velcome?" Blue said, wondering why she was being thanked by a stranger over Craig's privacy. "I vill call you as soon as possible."
"Sound wonderful. In any case, see you on Saturday."
Blue thanked her for her time and ended the call. She then pressed her hand into her chest, breathing heavily. "I did it…" she murmured as Amour rubbed her back. "Zat vas scary."
"Sank you so much," Amour said as she continued to cam her friend. "Now we just need to talk wis Keveen and 'ees dad."
The Gothorita's words reminded Blue that she was far from done, and a scarier test would be coming up at dinner…
"Pass the fries, please?"
Blue reached out with shaky hands to lift the bowl and pass it to her favorite human. "H-Here you go." She barely heard his expression of gratitude, as absorbed in her thoughts as she was.
"Looking forward to Saturday?" Craig asked his son before popping a fry in his mouth.
"Sort of," the young man replied, and it wasn't hard to figure out the reason for his hesitation. "I'm just hoping things work out for you so you can be there."
The elder Hart sighed. "Me too, son." He sighed again. "Will any of those professor-types be there?"
Kevin's eyes lit up, if just a little. "From what I've heard, yeah. It'd be cool to meet one of them."
"I'll bet that if you won the tournament, one of them would want to meet you," Craig remarked as he hoisted his massive burger to his mouth to take a bite. "Whoa, this is really good," he said carefully through a mouth half-full of food, directing his gaze to Blue. "You've really outdone yourself this time."
"Sank you," the Steenee replied, bushing as she tried to sink into her chair.
"Sir?" Amour suddenly piped up.
Craig blinked, surprised at her address; she rarely spoke to him, likely due to her stronger connection to his son. "Yes?"
The Gothorita fidgeted ever so slightly before speaking. "I must apologize; I used your phone weezout your permeession today."
The older man chewed his food thoughtfully, even blinking a couple of times. "Okay… Was there an emergency or something?"
"We…" Amour tried to answer, but nerves got the better of her and she looked back down to her plate.
"I vas one who made call," Blue admitted. "Ve really vanted to talk to Missis Kimono."
"Kimono?" Craig looked across the table at his son. "Did I hear that right?"
"If she's talking about who I think she is, she's talking about the wife of the newest Pokémon professor," Kevin explained. "She used to be a Gardevoir, but mutated into a human somehow." He gestured to the TV. "She was the one the news guy was talking about the other night; the one with the crystal?"
"Okay, I remember that," Craig said with a nod as he picked up another fry. "So you called her without consulting with either of us first?"
"D-Da," Blue stammered, unable to meet the man's gaze. "I am sorry; ze truth is zat ve have been feeling…strange lately, and sought that Missis Kimono could help us."
"I see…" Craig studied the Steenee's downturned face to the best of his ability, considering their notable differences in height. "Was she able to help you?"
It took Blue a moment to answer; part of her had expected the man to be angry with them, so his reaction was s surprise, albeit a pleasant one. "N-Not exactly," she replied. "She said zat she vould like to meet us on Saturday at tournament."
"Professor Gottum will be there?" Kevin asked, starting to sound excited. "Do you know if the other professors will be there?"
Blue looked lost, so Amour took over, having recovered her nerves. "I believe she said zat some of the othair professors would be zere."
"Sweet!" the trainer exclaimed, smacking his fist into an open hand; across the table, his father smiled at the sight. "Now we really gotta win; whenever the professors have been at an event, they've wanted to meet the winners." He looked from one Pokémon to the other and back. "Please, I really want to meet them; will you help?"
"Of course, Keveen," Amour replied, blushing; his excited face was one of her favorites. "I always do my best for you." She then quickly pressed hand to her chest in response to a familiar tightening feeling. "Oh…"
"Whoa, are you okay?" Kevin asked, getting up from his seat to kneel at the Gothorita's side. "That sounded like it hurt."
"I…am fine…" Amour managed as her body started to relax again.
"Zis…is part of reason ve call Missis Kimono," Blue admitted in a quiet tone.
Kevin looked across the table and studied the Steenee's face, hoping he could figure something out from her expression. It didn't take long before he gave up, though. "As long as you're okay…" he said, eyeing his teammate warily as he reclaimed his seat.
"I am ready to command your team, Kevin," Blue declared, trying to distract the humans from their Pokémon-specific problems. "Oh, Craig?"
"Yes?"
Blue was relieved that her favorite human still didn't appear angry with her. "Missis Kimono asked us for phone number, but I told her zat I couldn't give it to her vissout your permission."
"Well, she's the wife of a Pokémon professor…" He appeared to mull over her request. "I guess…if she's willing to help you with your problem – and you don't think that Kevin or I could help – then go ahead and give her our number. Just don't give her my cell number or anything; just the land-line."
"Understood," Blue replied, feeling a wave of relief wash over her. "Sank you very much."
Craig gave the Steenee a smile, though it seemed guarded. "Well. I hope you get what you need."
The family ate quietly for the next few minutes, only speaking to ask that something be passed and the like.
"Dad? I'd like to visit Mom tomorrow, if that's okay."
"I don't see why not," the elder Hart replied, then smiled softly at his son. "You want to tell her about your upcoming competition?"
"Yeah," the young man chuckled awkwardly while rubbing the back of his neck. "Since, you know, she can't be there…"
"I understand," Craig replied. "Go right ahead; I'll probably visit her myself on Saturday on the way to your competition."
As Craig looked back down at his plate to retrieve his burger, Blue noticed that his smile looked more…pained, and her heart broke for him just a little bit more.
Mini-glossary:
'Mince': French for 'darn it'