They told us they didn't find anything out in our pasture. I had thought that was the end of it, but I was so very mistaken. The team they had sent to check our pasture was full of Trainers too young to be priests or priestesses. They were all about my age, actually. Of course, I wouldn't have known this had they not been invited inside by Father to have lunch with us as thanks for protecting our farm. The girl who sat across from Father wore the gaudiest outfit I had ever seen in a Trainer: pink bows adorned her wherever they would fit, including tying up her massive white ponytail and around her waist, making her look like some kind of doll after a child had gotten into her mother's accessory box.
A Fairy type Trainer, for sure.
There were two boys behind her. One of them looked completely ordinary, while the other was the farthest thing from ordinary I had ever seen. Where one boy's hair was a scruffy brown, the other's was a spikey red. Where one boy's clothing was typical brown leathers, the other's was striking red and yellow plate. No matter how different these two boys looked, they both seemed to defer to the girl, and allowed her to speak for their group while they instead loitered, one in a chair eating as he had been invited to, the other by the door like some kind of guard, or perhaps more like an impatient child ready to leave to play with their friends.
"Thank you for looking into that matter. The last thing we need on this farm is some Ghost type Pokemon scaring our Wooloo," Father said as he moved to refill the girl's drink.
"Not a problem, sir, though I doubt your Wooloo would have much to worry about if a Ghost type Pokemon had been out there. After all, Normal type Pokemon like Wooloo are immune to Ghost type attacks." The girl sipped her drink properly before setting it back on the table, putting her hand on her knee after crossing one leg over the other. "It simply has no effect on them. Though the situation is the same in reverse." The girl looked at the boy sitting next to her, and he rolled his eyes. She returned to Father. "Now, sir, I know that we didn't find anything this time, but that doesn't mean there won't be any Pokemon that might threaten your farm. I saw the... Houndour-" the girl scowls at the name, half-rolling her eyes like she's annoyed to even have seen the Pokemon in the first place, "-on your doorstep, but if something did actually happen to it I doubt you could pay the healing bills necessary to get him back to full health. But if you-" Her eyes glanced to me. "-or your son became a Trainer with the Arceian Church, not only would he get a Trainer License that would allow him to use apricorns to capture and train wild Pokemon, but he would also be able to waive healing costs for any caught Pokemon." The girl paused for a long moment before clarifying, "Even a Houndour."
I had to admit even I was a bit sold on her pitch, but I knew she was excluding some things. Like the fact that Pokemon could heal naturally on their own and typically didn't need the specialized healing of a Pokemon Center, or that the most dangerous Pokemon we had ever seen come out of the forest nearby was a Weedle, or that the Pokemon I already had wouldn't be allowed in the Arceian Church because it was a Ghost type.
"Thank you for the offer. I think my son and I might have a chat about that later." Father looked at me with a glare that told me he was already annoyed at my apathy towards joining the Arceian Trainers before that conversation even started.
"Let's get going. I don't wanna miss scrimmage." The boy in red spoke harshly, like he couldn't unclench his jaw even if he wanted to. He stood and shifted his weight from the doorframe to unclasp the helm from his belt and slide it over his face, flipping down the faceguard with a nod of his head.
The girl stood, brushing a lot of nothing off her pink skirt. "Yes, yes. It's always good to get practice in, I suppose. Thank you for the meal, it was lovely to meet you Mister..." The girl extended a hand and waited for a reply.
"Woolherder," Father replied, taking her hand. I rolled my eyes.
"It was lovely to meet you, Mr. Woolherder. If you do happen to see anything amiss on your farm, don't hesitate to contact the church again. We are here to protect you, your family, and your Pokemon, after all," the girl smiled and after a moment too long withdrew her hand and walked out past the boy in red armor, who followed closely behind her like a loyal Arcanine, followed by the boy in leathers whose leisurely walk reminded me more of a Vigoroth who had just had too much to eat.
As the door closed I spoke before Father could. "I'm not going to."
"Of course you're not. You're too useless to do anything but take the Wooloo out to pasture with that Pokemon your disgrace of a brother left behind." Father replied flatly, not even looking at me as he insulted everything in my life I cared about.
"That's not what I-"
"Not what you mean, right. What you mean is that you don't like the Arceian Church. I know that. But you like that Houndour. I know you do. I keep it around because it seems to keep you from running off. 'Course, I thought the same thing of your brother, but he went off to Arceus-knows-where and we haven't heard from him in quite a while." Father slid the only good cup we had back across from the spot the girl had been sitting in and took a drink from it. "I'm not sure if I'm happier to not have to take the Wooloo out every morning or if I'd be happier if you made like your bother and got out of here." He finally turned to look at me and the angry disappointment in his eyes cut me like a knife. "Because the opportunity to make something of yourself was sitting in here across from me just a moment ago, and you didn't say a word until it was gone, and it was only to dismiss it."
"Father, being an Arceian Trainer is dangerous-" I started before Father cut me off.
"Like running around with that Houndour is any less dangerous. That thing barks at the wrong person and you're gonna wish you had a Trainer's License to get that healing fee waived, because I ain't gonna pay it." Father put the cup to his lip and muttered, "Maybe I'll just beat it myself, get the ball rolling for you."
I clenched my fist at my side. Father wouldn't. But he absolutely would. He hated Blitzkrieg. He absolutely would. He wanted me to stay so he didn't have to work. He wouldn't. He wanted me gone. He absolutely would. He hated me. He would.
He would.
I let out a sigh. "What about Riley? Are you gonna make her take the Wooloo out to pasture too? Without a herding Pokemon?"
"She'd manage. You can't tell me that Darkrai dog is actually helping you bring the Wooloo in. Its probably just scaring the poor things."
I couldn't leave Riley like that. I went out with the Wooloo because I deserved it. Riley hadn't done anything wrong. Blitzkrieg hadn't done anything wrong to deserve to get beat though. My thoughts went in that cycle for what felt like several minutes too long. "What if Riley went instead?"
Father snorted. "Send Riley to be an Arceian Trainer? I'm sure she'd jump at the chance, but like you said, it's dangerous," he looked over his shoulder at me, "and she doesn't have a death wish like you do."
Before I knew it, paperwork was being signed for me to become an Arceian Trainer. I had been given an ugly spiky badge to pin on my chest and a single apricorn. They told me to go find a Partner Pokemon. So I did. I went out that night and knelt beside Blitzkrieg, who was laying peacefully in the grass. I put a hand on his head and scratched him softly behind the ear. He had always been a free-roaming Pokemon. It was true that he wasn't really ours, and if he left the property any Trainer could have caught him, but he had liked Oscar, and when Oscar left, he stuck around. He was all I had left of my brother. Or... he used to be all I had left of my brother. Honedge was upstairs in my room at the time, its apricorn packed away in the middle of a box full of clothes. I wasn't used to Honedge yet. It still felt metallic, uncaring, barely even there when I spoke to it. But Blitzkrieg was warm, kind, and playful. He opened his eyes and looked up at me, his tail wagging.
"Hey buddy." I smiled as I sat down in the grass next to him, which he took as an invitation to stand in my lap and lick my face. "Yeah, I love you too." I scratched his sides and pressed my forehead against his. The plate on his head was warm, despite the cool night air. "I don't know what I've got myself into or where I'm headed next, but wherever I go, I want you to be with me. So..." I put the apricorn on the ground in front of him, "wanna come on an adventure?"
Blitzkrieg snuffled the apricorn before looking up at me for a moment and then pressing his foot against it. He turned into red light and was absorbed into the apricorn, which popped softly with fireworks. I don't know why I was crying, but the smile on my face was enough to tell me it didn't matter. I picked up the ball and walked to my room with it. I didn't know what was coming tomorrow morning. My boring farming life had been upturned so completely in the matter of a few days, and it was all because of my brother. Maybe he had intended to push me like this. Maybe he knew I needed something to happen to get me moving again. Maybe he knew I needed someone to tell me to get out of Father's house and make a home for myself somewhere else. I didn't know. But I did know one thing. Tonight, Father's rules be damned.
Blitzkrieg was sleeping in my bed.
