A warm sensation lightly tapped me, making me gently open my eyes. The sunlight poured in from the window, on to me and sleeping Jane. Her dark hair was frizzy from sleep and she looked so peaceful. I giggled; it was like having a younger sister. We had entered her grandmother's home greeted by her Aunt Melinda who said her grandmother was out and would be back much later. Jane and I had waited till midnight, but alas, we were sleepy. I looked up at the clock on the other side of the room, it was a little before nine in the morning, I guess I had somewhat slept in.
After showering, I exited the bathroom and went towards my backpack. Wasn't there a party later? I'm so unprepared and will ne under dress. Is it okay to just go out in my normal clothes? They won't think ill of me or anything? I had thought and felt hands touch my shoulders, I screeched out only to hear laughing. I turned around and saw Jane, she was now in a yellow sundress with her hair fixed up in a bun.
"I didn't mean to spook you." She teased and stuck out her tongue. She reached for something on a love stool, a frilly pink dress that had some ribbons on it. "This is what you'll wear today." She said as she handed me the dress. I took the dress and held it up to my body, seemed like it would fit. "You have really nice long hair; we can have my Aunt Melina fix it up for you." She suggested as I began to touch my hair, still dripping from the morning shower.
"Darling, you didn't blow dry your hair?" interrupted a booming voice, we both turned to the door and saw Jane's aunt waiting. A petite chubby woman with dark purple hair, she wore dark eyeshadow and had deep green eyes. Her hair was wrapped in a bun like Jane's too, just with some braids framing her head. "I know we have a purple hair dryer in that bathroom. It's an antique, but still gets the job done."
"I usually just air dry my hair." I answered nervously, because I was still wrapped in a towel and didn't want any other relative of Jane's to enter.
"What? Nonsense!" Melinda shouted as she spun me around and lead me back into the bathroom. "Never let your hair air dry! Especially long pretty hair like yours." She said as she shuffled through the bathroom cabinets. Several things came flying out as she fiddle through, I gently touched my hair, cold from the shower. Is it really this nice? My hair grows back fast anyways.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with air drying my hair." I said nervously and she looked up at me after pulling out the blow dryer. She plugged it into the outlet and made me face the mirror.
"Darling, you don't let your hair air dry because it causes breakage and damages your hair. The longer it is, the more prone it is for that." She explained as the hair dryer buzzed while she brushed my hair as cool air blew on it. Didn't your mother teach you anything about hair care?" She asked as Jane frantically shook her head and shuffled her arms.
"My mother's been dead for years now." I pointed out and Melinda gasped.
"I'm so terribly sorry!" She gasped then glared at Jane. "Why don't you stop me from running my mouth?" she snapped, and Jane rolled her eyes.
"Auntie, when I tell you about a friend, I just say the basics. Not stuff like 'Hey this is my friend Celia, her mom is dead.', stuff like that doesn't make up who she is." Jane groaned while Melinda continued drying my hair.
"Jane, sweetie. Stuff like that is important, so that I don't say stuff like that." Melinda said as she finished drying my hair and continued to brush it.
"It's okay." I interrupted, it felt so awkward being in the room with this atmosphere. "It was an honest mistake; I don't usually tell people."
"Darling, did your father not remarry?" Melinda asked and I felt a little pit in my stomach. Was he supposed to? "Did you see the portrait of that man with Jane's grandma in the living room? Not my dad, my step-father." She clarified as I tried remembering seeing a photo of a small chubby woman next to a tall man with a stern smile. "My dad, well he's out of the picture." She added then began shuffling through the cabinets again. "But you know, my mother is very happy with Gilbert, if she's happy then I'm happy." She said as she pulled out a faded pink and purple box. Melinda tapped the lid which popped off and revealed several hair ties. "I think I bring up my parent's situation because I feel the need to specify that Gilbert isn't my dad." She said as she began to section my hair. "Even then sweetheart, do you not have a woman figure in your life? One you can gossip with, tell all your dirty secrets to. The one who would be your one phone call when you go to jail?" she asked as I began to ponder. There were many assistants my father had worked with who were women, but none ever left a lasting impression on me. I did have one tell me not to put warm food in the fridge because it would mold and go bad. That doesn't seem like much. Here, I have someone I hardly know, yet she's fixing my hair up. She continued to brush and frolic with my hair. "I think you'll look better with bangs. Should I give you bangs?" she asked as I nodded my head, trying to be polite. She snipped away at my hair as I continued to think.
"I don't think there's been many women in my life. Well my mom, but she's been 'out of the picture' for many years now." I said as Melinda continued to work on my hair.
"I need to have a conversation with your dad. Not an aunt or even a grandma? What is that? Did your dad have nothing but brothers then?"
"No, I actually don't know because I don't talk much to family, father says they live too far away. I did come from Johto before we moved to Sandgem."
"I'm from Kanto Celadon City, so is Jane's mom, my little sis. But my mom, she's from here in Sinnoh, Solaceon Town precisely. We would travel between Kanto and Sinnoh to even Hoenn to see family." Melinda said as she braided a small part of my hair and began to tie my hair up. "What a pitiful excuse, that's no reason to keep you from seeing your family. Seems like he just doesn't put effort in and deprives his own child of her family." She sneered.
"Auntie!" Jane gasped as Melinda glared back.
"Jane! A good parent makes arrangements. Whatever has to be done is done and will get done. They think of their child and put their child first." Melinda snapped.
"Ok, go tell that to my mom." Jane suggested.
"Oh, you didn't hear the fight I got into earlier on the phone?"
"Ladies, it's fine." I lied. It wasn't fine, I don't have any memories except for spending my time around research facilities and taking people's orders for food runs. Maybe Melinda is right, what my dad did was wrong.
"It's not fine sweetheart. A little girl needs her family and a woman she can look up to." Melinda said then handed me a mirror. "Do you like it?" she asked as I gazed into the mirror, hardly recognizing myself. My brown hair was put into a bun like Jane's hair, but I had a braid on each side of my head feeding into the rest of my hair. I had new bangs, just a little above my eyebrow that framed my forehead, now I wouldn't have to worry about moving my hair out of the way. "Think of me as the lady that gave you the nice hairdo." She teased.
"It looks lovely, thank you." I said and she smiled.
"You're very welcome." She said
Jane and Melinda left the room as I walked to the bed, already neatly made and the pink dress was waiting for me. I gently picked it up to look at it better, some ribbons and lace decorated it. It fit a little snug, but just right as I looked at myself in the mirror. I feel so out of place here, but I was welcomed in and given a dress. It wouldn't kill me to show some appreciation.
XXxxxx
Jane and I spent the day helping in the kitchen, mixing ingredients into bowls, washing dishes, and taking out trash. I was polite and nodded my head, pretending I was listening to their conversations. Everything was so overwhelming. The smell of potatoes roasting, lavender dish soap, and people chattering away mixed in my mind. So many of Jane's relatives kept popping in and chatting for a bit. I felt so nervous and out of place, these are family members seeing each other after time apart, I didn't' fit in or belong here. This was not my family. Yet here I was being hugged and thanked. So many aunts and uncles and cousins came by. I still had not met Jane's grandma, again she went out for errands while others stayed here preparing for the party. So many ladies came in with nice dresses and men in suits, even the children had dressed so nicely for the occasion. I went out to the dining room where children were being fed first, one complimented the dress I had worn. I was flattered, but it wasn't even my dress. I dusted my hands on the apron I wore, it was cute navy blue with white colored patterns apron, underneath I wore the pink dress that was loaned to me. I can't get this dirty I thought as I served the children punch. I have to return this dress in mint condition, so please protect the dress, dear apron.
"I'm so sorry, you're basically the waitress even though you're a guest here." Jane groaned as she continued slicing vegetables. Piles of cucumbers and carrots in a bowl I would then mix with vinegar dressing.
"It's alright, I usually attend to my dad's colleagues like this." I said nervously.
"Your dad makes you attend his coworkers? Like some type of sever. Why is it that everything I hear about him makes me hate him more?" Melinda snapped.
"It's okay, I don't mind helping out." I assured her. It didn't feel like a big deal to me, I was used to doing stuff like this.
"Darling, children are not supposed to attend to grownups, all that teaches them is that the ones in charge are just lazy. You don't baby the ones you depend on; everything has to be a mutual effort. Like Jane chops the veggies, you mix them, then I add the final touches." Melinda pointed out as I washed dishes. Is this true? I thought back to when I would sit in the lab, overhearing my dad's coworkers chat, mostly about stuff unrelated to work. I would have to bring a broom if anything broke and any chore that needed to be done. It's true I would have rather been elsewhere, but I didn't have many places to be or people to speak to at the time.
By the time Jane and I had sat down, Melinda along with a few other aunts had been busy washing dishes and clearing the table for the adults when they would come and eat. I poked at my broccoli, I had already lost my appetite going back and forth in the kitchen to the dining room.
"Want to go see your Pokémon?" Jane asked as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. I glanced to her plate and saw it was clean, unlike mine.
"I don't think they could have gotten that far if they run off." I said sarcastically as she laughed.
"So we can get out of here before they need us to do something else." She suggested as she pulled my hand as we left the dining room. We made our way to the garden outside, just passing the adults who were sitting at tables chatting. Many greeted us and I greeted them back, but I just wanted to leave. It was so cluttered and crowded. We found ourselves in an open field with many flowers as Pokémon played with each other. I saw a variety of different Pokémon, it amazed me I could see those many different ones.
"Some of these Pokémon belong to my aunt you saw earlier, my cousins, of course my grandmas too." Jane pointed out, then Aurora approached us with the rest of my Pokémon. "And these are your Pokémon here." Jane teased, until I saw I was a Pokémon short.
"Where's my Budew?" I screamed out. "Oh no, did she get lost?"
"She's over here sweetheart." Called out a gentle voice, we turned and saw an old lady approached us, she held my Budew. She wore glasses with thick frames, and her dark brown hair had a few greys in it.
"You must be Celia? I'm Jane's grandmother, Janie." She asked as she extended her hand to shake my hand. Her grip was firm, but not too tight.
"It's nice to meet you ma'am." I said, then remembered how Jane told me her grandmother was a previous watch holder. "I have so many questions about the." I said midsentence as she stopped me.
"The pocket watch?" She guessed giggling while my Budew squealed. Janie signaled us to follow her as she began to walk. "When I was younger I went on a very long journey. Made many friends on the way. Ares is a name of an old friend. We started out our journey together in Sinnoh. We meet a lot of Pokémon on our journey. One that I know you've been acquainted with." She explained as a gentle squeaking echoed. She turned to the squeaking's direction and smiled. She opened a gate once we got to a fence and we began to walk down the street. "We need to go see someone first, they didn't feel well and couldn't make it to their own party. It was to celebrate our anniversary of traveling together, we made so many wonderful accomplishments." Janie said as we approached a home with a big brown door with odd inscriptions that appeared to be a language I didn't know. "We'll enter through the gate." She said as she took out a key, but the gate opened, behind it stood a tall man with ashen hair and big deep green eyes.
"Janie, I've been waiting." He whispered accompanied with the sound of a door creaking shut. From the door Melinda exited the house and rushed over.
"Mother! I've been trying to make him come over." She began, as the gate door slipped and revealed Celebi behind the gate. She stopped and smiled, then turned around and walked away as entered through the gate. We entered a backyard with many plants that were overgrown and needed to be cut. Celebi flew to a chair and sat down as it looked back at us.
"Hello, Celia, was it?" he asked as he extended his arm to shake my hand, he had a tight grip, but it was okay. "My name is Ares, I am a very old friend, literally, of Jane's grandmother." He said as Celebi began to chirp again. "So, my Celebi gave you a pocket watch?" he asked, as I reached into the pocket of the dress and pulled it out.
"I got this watch. And Celebi is your Pokémon?" I asked confused and he laughed.
"That's right, I was not much older than you when Janie and I traveled through a forest and found this Celebi fluttering around. I was lucky to get Celebi into a Pokéball." He explained as Celebi flew into his arms and he began to hold it. "After our journey we started studying in universities, I took an engineering class and we learned about watches."
"So, you used your education to make that watch?" I guessed.
"It's more complicated than that." He laughed. "But that did help a lot." He said as he reached into his coat and pulled out another pocket watch. It had a dark blue gem on it that glistened in the light. "Jane, will you get out your pocket watch." He asked as Jane dug through her pocket and pulled out a watch then held it next to the diamond watch, hers had a pink pearl that shinned.
"Why do these two have jewels on them, but mine doesn't?" I asked looking down at my pocket watch, it was just plain platinum and he smiled.
"Yours is made of precious metals I found when I found myself in Turnback Cave." He explained and tapped the lid which popped the watch open. "Do you see inside the watch? Each watch does have jewels from Arceus. During my journeys I had come across an Azure Flute and was given those jewels. See those gears in there, made from the melted plates." He explained as the watch ticked.
"Arceus?" I asked confused.
"There's an old Sinnoh Legend about this Pokémon named Arceus. According to this legend, Arceus is the one who created Sinnoh and the creation trio. Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, each watch has something unique from each one." He explained as I stared in disbelief. I looked down at my watch, rare material was used to create this? "At Mount Coronet, I played the Azure Flute because of a myth I read in a book, and this shinning glass stairway appeared. Once I made it up the stairs, I was on top of this brilliant platform, as if the heavens were pulled down. There I met Arceus and was bestowed with the Arceus's jewels." He went on then tapped on the gears in the watch he held. "I melted those jewels down and created these little gears and place them into each watch." He added as Celebi began to squeak. "I also added these fibers from Celebi, we tested out the watches and like that, time traveling pocket watches."
"You ran into a lot of legendary Pokémon and witnessed some legends happen?" I asked nervously, my feet felt so wobblily as Jane dragged a chair to me, I quickly sat down, my head was spinning.
"I know, it's a lot to take in." He said laughing. "Hey, I'm old, when you're old, unbelievable things happen. Things that are in history textbooks happen too."
"Darling, it may sound like a scary movie, but a lot of things happened with Ares and I when we were traveling trainers." Janie explained as she pat my head. "Just take a deep breath." She suggested as I felt my heart rapidly beat. Does this mean things are going to happen to me too?
"It'll be fun, you'll end up telling your grandkids the similar stuff I'm telling you." Ares teased as Jane returned with a glass of water I chugged down.
"She didn't eat much for dinner. Maybe that's what's wrong?" Jane said as I handed her back the glass, but Celebi snatched it away.
"Isn't Celebi from Ilex Forest?" I asked, trying to change the subject.
"That's where I got it from many years ago." Ares said and Janie smiled.
"We saw all sorts of Pokémon there." Janie laughed.
"I'm from the town nearby there, Azalea." I pointed out and Ares smiled.
"Maybe that's why Celebi chose you, it felt a sort of kinship to you." He said and Celebi giggled.
"I found Celebi at Lake Verity." I said. "Isn't that where Mesprit is at?"
"Now that's my Pokémon." Janie said. "We actually had each caught one of the Lake Trio each when we were on our Sinnoh journey." Janie explained.
"Trio? So there was three of you?" I asked them confused and Ares smiled slipped away as Celebi looked back worried.
"The one who originally had the platinum watch, the one you have. They got Uxie while Ares got Azelf." Janie explained.
"Where's the other one at?" I asked.
"Other one?" Ares asked. "The Azelf or Uxie? You'll probably see them on your journey." He said chuckling.
"No, this third person, the one who had this watch before me." I clarified as the smile faded from Ares's face.
"I also managed to get a Suicune when we were in Johto." Janie interrupted; did she not hear me?
"Grandma, what happened to that Moltres I saw a picture of?" Jane asked as Janie began to chatter away. Were they trying to distract me? I saw Ares was quiet now while Jane and Janie cracked jokes. Is there something they didn't want me to know?
We returned to Janie's home with Ares, everyone swarmed him with questions while Jane and I left to be alone. A cake was being served, but I didn't want any. I just wanted to get Jane alone, to see if she could better explain to me what happened.
"It was nice meeting him." I told Jane and she smiled.
"He's a great guy." Jane added.
"Why did your grandmother and you avoid my question?" I asked and Jane's smile faded. "She was literally telling me about the previous holder. Then you guys just went off on a tangent."
"Celia, sometimes it's best not to know about things." Jane said and turned on the tv. "Let's watch some movies." She asked. I didn't mind being kept out of the loop, but why bother telling me about someone then stopping?