"Evolution and What's Going On?"
Archie entered the training room and found Sakura still at it training her Mudkip. Suddenly her pokemon started glowing and evolved into Marshtop. Sakura looked at her new pokemon wondering what the heck had just happened.
"It evolved." Archie said from behind her. "It's a Marshtop now."
Sakura turned around and looked at Archie, "Okay, I wondered what happened……."
Archie smiled, "Come here, you!"
Sakura walked over to Archie and he embraced her since he was very proud of his daughter-to-be. Sakura let her dad-to-be hold her for a minute, before she pulled away.
Archie smiled at her, "I know it'll be hard for you to accept me as your legal guardian, but you can do it. I hope that at one point you'll be able to call me your 'dad'."
Sakura looked surprised, "Most likely, but it probably won't be too hard to readjust……."
"I'm sure it won't be as hard as you think it'll be, but all the same, I won't push you until you're ready. It was surprise enough when you were rescued and were given a place to belong." Archie said.
Sakura nodded in response.
"By the way, the legal office said that I would be hearing back from them in three days, which will be on your birthday. I'm thrilled that I'm finally going to have a child of my own. I hope you don't mind what I've said about you……." Archie said, smiling at Sakura.
"I really don't mind……." Sakura said.
Archie looked a little surprised, "You just want to be loved and accepted, now, don't you?"
Sakura nodded in response and Archie smiled.
"One thing's for sure, I'm going to accept and love you when you become my daughter." Archie said, taking Sakura's hand.
Sakura's Marshtop tried to get her attention, "Marsh! Marshtop!"
"Sakura, your pokemon wants you…….." Archie said.
Sakura turned back to her pokemon and it jumped at her, almost bowling her over in the process, but Archie caught her in his arms before she hit the floor.
"Thanks……." Sakura said. (a/n: She would have said, "Thanks dad", but Archie isn't her legal father yet)
"No problem, honey……." Archie replied, while helping her up again.
Marshtop cried at her.
"It wants you to pet it." Archie said, translating for her.
"Okay……." Sakura walked over to her Marshtop and petted it on the head and it cried out in pleasure and nuzzled her hand.
"Aw….. It likes you already…….." Archie said.
"Yeah……." Sakura replied, still petting her purring pokemon.
Archie looked at his watch, "Oh my! It's already lunchtime……. The others are probably wondering where I am to start the meal……. Come on, Sakura, to lunch we go."
Sakura recalled her pokemon and followed Archie out of the training room and to the dining room. Sakura and Archie entered the dining room and everyone stopped chatting and turned around, and looked at Archie and Sakura.
"Sorry, I'm late, I was helping Sakura……."
A couple of Admins, who hadn't had a chance to speak to Sakura yet, motioned for her to come sit near them, which she did. Archie walked over to the head of the table and sat down, and the meal began. Sakura tried to move some food to her plate, but couldn't because her arm was in a sling; so she had no choice but to call it a pointless operation to even try to serve herself some food. Sakura let go of the spoon, clearly having given up, and sat back in her chair upset that she couldn't even feed herself without help. An Admin named Matthew smiled at her and reached over and spooned some food onto her plate before he even spooned some onto his own plate.
"Thank you." Sakura said after he had spooned the food onto her plate.
Matthew smiled, "Don't worry about it, Thomas told me what happened, and he asked for me to keep an eye on you while he was gone."
Sakura looked a little surprised when Matthew had said that.
"Don't worry, Thomas worries about you since you're new and also because he doesn't want anything to happen to his new group member." Matthew said.
"He's right, Thomas does worry about you a great deal. He doesn't want for you to fall back into Maxie's care." An Admin named Taylor said.
Sakura shuddered and took a bite of her lunch.
"Maxie didn't treat you well, didn't he?" Taylor asked.
Sakura shook her head no.
"That no good wretch!" Taylor exclaimed.
"Let her eat…….. She really needs to eat, we don't want to lose her now that she finally has a place to belong." Matthew said.
Taylor nodded and let her finish her meal before he continued talking to her.
"Do you miss your family?" Taylor asked, looking at Sakura.
"Not really……. They never treated me well, so I think I'm better off without them……."
Taylor looked surprised, "I'm sorry your family didn't treat you well……. I hope that you'll have a better life her with us."
Matthew nodded and patted her gently on the back in a friendly manner. In another ten minutes, everyone finished eating, and began waiting for Archie to deliver his famous end of meal notices to the team like he usually did.
Archie stood up, "Okay, I want everyone to go back to what they had been doing before lunch, but Matthew I want you to help Sakura train her Marshtop while Thomas is gone."
Matthew looked at Sakura, "Yes, boss……."
Sakura though Matthew would have preferred to do something else with his time, so she didn't look at Matthew. Matthew could tell that Sakura thought that he didn't want to help her, so he put a hand on her shoulder to let her know that he didn't mind and that he had only been surprised with the sudden change in plans. Shortly after that was said, everyone got up and left the room. Sakura stood up, and Matthew took her good hand and took her back to the training room. As they were walking back there, Sakura couldn't help wondering where Thomas was, but all she could do at the moment was to train her pokemon like she had been told to do, and to worry about that at another time.