Chapter 8: The Egg Finally Hatches At The Daycare!

"Yay! We're finally out!" Julia was the first to race past the final row of trees, greeted by warm, bright sunshine, and a blue sky with fat white clouds aimlessly floating about. Perrine held a hand over her head to block out the sun, and Naoko simply smiled, following the two girls out. "Woohoo!"

"Coo coo!" Tsubasa chirruped, agreeing with Julia's sentiment.

"I wonder what time it is right now…" Perrine rummaged through her bag to pull out her PokeGear. She checked the time, which read 10:27 AM. "Wow. We spent about a day in that forest."

The beautiful kimono clad girl next to them raised an eyebrow. "Did you, really? My, that must have been tough."

"It sure was!" Julia spun around like a top, with Tsubasa flying around with her, taking in the sun's warm rays. Perrine simply smiled and stretched her arms out, happy to finally get out of that forest.

"Thank you girls for accompanying me out. I must be going now," Naoko said. "There's a pokemon day care up ahead. The old couple that runs it are very good people, and they can help you out," She added.

"Really? Thanks so much!" Perrine bowed politely.

With a warm smile, Naoko waved to them and walked in another direction. Perrine could see tall skyscrapers from miles away. Tall buildings reached for the sky, as if to say they were closer to heaven than everyone else in the world. One would consider them to be a marvelous sight, but all they did for Perrine was make a creepy monster eat at the skin of her heart, tugging at her. Perrine clutched her chest tightly and looked down. She wished those skyscrapers weren't so close. It could only mean that she was close to home. Close to the place she didn't want to return to.

Already, the familiar, hoarse voice of an old man thundered in her ears. "Perrine Sophronia Innocenti!" The middle aged voice roared like thunder. "I will not allow you to jeopardize any chance of a future you have, young lady! You will not become a pokemon trainer and that is final!" Hearing that voice made her physically sick to her stomach, and a contorted, disgusted expression pushed away her sweet smile.

Embarrass the family. What a huge load of crock. She knew it all too well. She wasn't an embarrassment. She just wasn't the daughter he wanted.

"Perrine!" Julia's sweet voice pulled her back to reality.

"Yeah?" Just now, she noticed that Julia had all of her pokemon out. Hikaru, Aqua, Tsubasa, Neji, and Ladybug. The white egg was carefully tucked in Julia's skinny arms.

"Come on! The daycare's gotta be up a ways!" She pointed northbound and raced on ahead, with her pokemon happily giving chase.

Without another word, Perrine caught up with Julia, letting all of her pokemon out as well. She figured this would be the perfect time to let them run around and play. They came across a bench that was perfect for sitting, and they plopped their rears down on it, happy to finally be off their feet. Perrine's shoes began to feel rather snug, and being on her feet so long made her back hurt. The two girls watched their pokemon play happily, sometimes breaking into laughter at their antics.

Chirin let Hikaru sit on his wool, giving him a ride by slowly walking like a mareep would. Aqua and Florian rode on Neji's back, and he made sure to walk slowly so as to make sure they didn't fall off. Tsubasa used her beak to pull on one of Kitsune's tail, and she was quick to bat her on the head with her paw to put the little bird in her place. Fukuro simply sat on a nearby tree, eating some green berries with green leaves on them. Baloo and Fuwari simply ran around in circles, chasing each other happily. Ladybug was content to sit right next to Julia.

Perrine looked down at the egg. "Where'd you get that egg?"

"Oh. This?" Julia stroke the egg gently. "Professor Elm gave it to me. Well, his assistant did. I got it in Violet City. They wanted me to raise it. I wonder if it'll hatch."

"It will in due time," Perrine told her reassuringly. "How long have you had it?"

"The day before I met you."

"So...about a week or so, huh? I hope it hatches."

"Yeah. Me too."

"Pichuuuu!" Hikaru called out. Julia and Perrine looked up to find Hikaru sitting on Neji's head. Baloo, Fuwari, Florian, Tsubasa, and Aqua laughed upon seeing the two together. Julia and Perrine simply waved back.

"Ledy…" Ladybug nuzzled up against Julia's shirt contentedly. Her trainer stroke the ladybug pokemon's back with one hand, up and down.

"Do you want to go over and play with them, Ladybug?" Julia asked.

Ladybug shook her head no. "Ledyba…" ("No. I don't want to.")

"Okay. That's fine. But they're nice pokemon, so there's no need to be scared. Well...Tsubasa can be rather pushy…"

The tiny pidgey gave Julia a shiny-eyed glare that seemed to say, "I heard that!" Florian simply sighed, wondering just what the big deal was. "Chikori…"

It was here that Baloo saw something that caught her eye. She carried her stubby legs up and down as she walked toward the thing that piqued her curiosity. Hikaru saw her leave. Once the pink balloon pokemon was out of sight, Hikaru tapped Julia's leg with her paw. "Pichu pichu!"

"What's wrong, Hikaru?" The tiny mouse waved her arms around, explaining what went on. "Huh? Baloo wandered off?"

Perrine's eyes grew large. She stood up and looked around the area. All of her pokemon were present...except Baloo. A twinge of worry nagged at her heart, but Baloo couldn't have gone far. "She's right! Baloo's gone!"

"Want to go find her?"

"Yes!"

Julia turned to the pokemon. "Everyone! Spread out and find Baloo!"

The pokemon all nodded and scattered. Julia and Perrine kept Hikaru, Ladybug, and Florian by their sides in case wild pokemon popped out. Thankfully, the search didn't take very long. "Hoppip! Hoppip!" Fuwari called out to them, waving her stubby arm.

"What is it, Fuwari?" The pokemon regrouped, and the two girls caught up to her.

Perrine let out a sigh of relief. An old woman had kneeled down to Baloo's level, stroking the curly tuft of fur on her head with a warm smile. Baloo was contentedly basking in her affection. The old woman had short but neatly arranged grey hair that cascaded down to her chin, covered by a purple hat. Her kind face was a whirlpool of wrinkles, and she was wearing a purple cardigan over a white T-shirt, long blue jeans, and dirty sneakers. "Jigglypuff!"

"My, aren't you an adorable pokemon…" The old woman cooed in a scratchy voice.

"Baloo! There you are!" Perrine caught up to Baloo and picked her up. "Why'd you wander off like that?"

"Is this your jigglypuff, Miss?" The old woman asked, standing up.

"Yes. Sorry about that."

"Jiggly jigglypuff!"

"Baloo says she dropped her hat and was just giving it back to her," Julia explained.

The old woman chuckled. "Your darling pokemon has such good manners," She took a glimpse at all of their other pokemon as well. "Actually, all of your pokemon look very lively and well."

"Thanks, Miss...uh…" Perrine told her gratefully, but realized they didn't catch her name.

"I'm Eleanor," The old woman introduced herself. "I run a pokemon daycare up ahead. My, forgive my rudeness, but you girls look like you hadn't slept or bathed in a while."

Julia scratched her hair with one hand. It felt stringy and limp, not soft and bouncy like usual. "We just got out of Ilex Forest."

"I see. If you want, you can come with me to my daycare," Eleanor told them. "I'm sure the pokemon there would be very happy to have playmates."

"Wow! Thanks so much!" Julia gave a grateful bow.

With that, the girls and their pokemon followed Eleanor to the daycare. The good thing about this was that it was only a couple blocks away. A large, sunny yellow building came within their vicinity. The pink tile roof gave it a warm, welcoming air. Some small pokemon were playing right outside, with the white fence locked tight so nobody could get out. Eleanor unlocked it and the girls and their pokemon went inside. Some toys such as blocks scattered around the area. Three pokemon happily went down an orange slide before running to play on it again.

The inside of the building looked a little more organized. The orange walls, when the sun came through the windows, made the room really bright, giving it a warm atmosphere. Some small tables and chairs stood neatly in other areas. In other rooms there were shelves full of nothing but eggs. Pokemon eggs. Red eggs, yellow eggs, green eggs, pink eggs, multicolored eggs, eggs with markings on them, it was all eggs. An old man sat on a chair, gently rubbing a green and yellow egg with a dry wash cloth. He had a thick white beard cascading down his chest, but the rest of his grey hair was in tact. He had soft, kind brown eyes, and was wearing a maroon sweater, beige khaki pants, and dirty white sneakers.

"Silas, we have guests," Eleanor announced.

Silas looked up, his hand stopping on top of the egg. "Ah! Ellie, you're back early. Now, who are these young ladies?" He smiled and put the egg back on the shelf.

Julia shyly hid behind Perrine. "I'm Perrine, and this is Julia," Perrine took the initiative and introduced themselves. Julia simply waved at them without a word.

"Pichu!" Hikaru suddenly ran up to the pokemon eggs, sniffing them. "Pichu!"

"Ah! Hikaru!" Julia scrambled over to Hikaru and scooped her right up. "Those are their eggs."

"My, what a jolly pichu you have there," Silas said, looking closely at the happy pichu. Hikaru waved at him sweetly. "Hmm? Your pichu has darker fur than usual."

"She's a shiny pokemon."

"Wow. Really?" Silas looked closer. "This is the first time I've ever seen such a pokemon. I've heard the stories, but to think they're real…"

"Girls," Eleanor interjected. "Feel free to use the shower to wash yourselves off. You must be dirty from walking around in the forest, and your pokemon can play with the others."

"Oh, thank you so much!" Perrine couldn't help but fling her arms right around Eleanor, trapping her in a hug. Julia thanked her as well.

The two girls wasted no time using their bathroom. Julia went first, and Perrine went afterward. However, they brought clean clothes with them, so they didn't need to borrow Eleanor or Silas's clothes. They were careful not to make big messes, such as splashing water around or scatter their towels. In fact, Julia thought it'd be rude to show up with wet hair and all, so she spent about twenty minutes drying her hair out with the hair dryer, much to Perrine's subtle chagrin. Once Perrine went inside, Julia found it safe to go out.

As soon as she left the bathroom, something nuzzled up to her leg, and she could tell it wasn't Hikaru. She looked down to find a small, peachy pink pokemon flashing a bright, friendly smile. Its pointed ears were a dark, chocolate brown color, and its small eyes were brimming with curiosity. Its stubby legs and arms carried its weight, and a rolled up tuft of hair rested on its head, like a jigglypuff.

"Cleffa! Cleffa!" The baby pokemon chirped.

"Awww! Hello there!" Julia kneeled down to pick the pokemon up, cradling it in her arms like a baby. "You're so cute!"

"Cleffa!" Cleffa nuzzled against Julia's chin, forcing a laugh to come out.

"Why thank you! I love you too!" She pulled out her PokeDex.

"Cleffa, the star shape pokemon. Cleffa is the pre-evolved form of Clefairy. Their star shape has led some to believe that they reach the Earth riding on shooting stars. Strangely, many Cleffa are often found on nights of meteor showers. When numerous meteors illuminate the night sky, Cleffa can be seen dancing in a ring. They dance through the night and stop only at the break of day, when these Pokémon quench their thirst with the morning dew."

"That little one just hatched a few days ago," Eleanor said, gently taking the happy cleffa out of Julia's arms.

"She's a cutie," She said, her cheeks turning pink with delight.

"Your pokemon are this way, dearie."

"Thanks."

Eleanor escorted Julia to the play area. Her pokemon and Perrine's were happily playing with the pokemon in the front yard. She noticed her egg sitting on a nearby table and cradled it in her arms, sitting down on a bench. "Oh! You have so many cute pokemon here! There's a teddiursa, and an igglybuff, and an elekid, and oddish and aipom and pichu and...oh! Oh! You even have chikorita and cyndaquil!" Her eyes sparkled upon seeing the happy pokemon play. Hikaru was riding on Florian's back, with them playing pretend rodeo as the other pokemon watched.

"You're quite knowledgeable about pokemon, aren't you?"

The brown haired girl looked down at the egg. "I...I just really really love pokemon. I always have."

"Your pokemon seem to be having fun."

"They are."

"That egg in your arms...Mr. Pokemon gave it to you, didn't he?"

Julia looked up. "How do you know?" Immediately, the realization that Mr. Pokemon got it from a daycare came back to her. This might be the daycare he was talking about. "Oh. Right. He got it from here, didn't he?"

The old woman replied with a nod. "He was so enthusiastic about it, so we gave it to him. I'm surprised it came back here, though. It must be fate."

"I doubt it."

"Chikori!" Florian yelped. Julia looked up to find Tsubasa pecking a poor, crying oddish with her beak, and Florian kept trying to push her away by waving his big leaf around.

"Hey, Tsubasa!" She ran over to the bird and picked her up. As usual, Tsubasa flailed her talons back and forth, cawing like a crow. "That's not nice! Say you're sorry right now! We don't peck other pokemon!" Florian gently consoled the sad oddish by wrapping a vine around him, pulling him close.

"Coo coo coo coo!" ("I need to train so I can get stronger! Stay out of my way!")

"I-I-I'm so sorry!" Julia apologized, putting Tsubasa back in her pokeball. "My pidgey thinks she can do whatever the heck she wants."

Despite her efforts not to laugh, Eleanor couldn't help herself. "It's alright. We've dealt with some naughty pokemon of our own, too."

All of a sudden, many small pokemon began crawling up Julia's leg, none of them her own pokemon. "Whoa! Whoa whoa whooooa!" She found herself falling on the ground, being playfully assaulted by tiny baby pokemon, nuzzling her, jumping on her, giving her pokemon kisses, all of that stuff. Julia couldn't hold back her merry laughter. Some of her pokemon burst into laughter upon seeing the cute scene.

"Help! I'm being attacked by cute pokemon!" Julia cried jokingly. Truth be told, she was enjoying this. To her, being with pokemon was like being in Heaven.

The only one of her pokemon not laughing was Ladybug. The red ladybug pokemon happened to glance at the egg right next to her. All of a sudden, the egg flashed for just a brief moment. It was faint, but the egg glowed in a soft white light for just a second. Eleanor saw it, too. Perhaps the egg's time to hatch is coming near. Julia was blissfully oblivious to it, as she was too busy playing with the pokemon.

Once Perrine was out of the shower, the girls decided to repay the old couple by helping out around the daycare. As much as she liked playing with the pokemon, taking care of the many pokemon eggs proved to be easier. All she had to do was take a dry washcloth and rub the eggs gently from side to side. Hikaru, Baloo, Florian, and Aqua helped out as well. Even they were enjoying it, sometimes singing little made up songs to themselves as they worked.

Taking care of a huge group of pokemon, fun as it was, was no easy task. Sometimes, Perrine had to break up some fights. At one point, some bird pokemon almost pecked at her, had Baloo not intervened by singing them to sleep. Julia refused to go anywhere near the poison type pokemon except oddish. Understandable, since she was afraid of poison types. Eleanor and Silas understood, and didn't push the issue. Sometimes, Julia took a break to tend to her own egg, rubbing it with the washcloth.

"Would you girls like to have dinner with us?" Silas offered. "You must be hungry."

"Sure! Thanks!"

The sky above was orange, streaked with familiar but still stunning shades of rose pink, lavender purple, and deep blue. Eleanor and Silas were so kind to them, Julia couldn't help but think that nothing she did would ever repay them. She was sure that if Amara were here, she'd yell and scream stuff about Julia being nothing but inconsiderate to them, being an inconvenience to them by taking advantage of their kindness. How could she take advantage of it when they were the ones offering? But she still kept an eye on her egg, wondering when it'll hatch.

"So, are you two going to the Pokemon League?" Silas asked, taking a bite of some steak.

"I am," Perrine answered. "Julia's not into that stuff."

"It's true," Julia added, taking a bite out of some broccoli. All of their pokemon sat on the floor, happily eating bowls of fresh pokemon food. Some soft, soothing classical music played loftily on an old radio that was on a shelf. Julia took a bite out of a crescent roll before giving a piece of it to Hikaru. The tiny mouse shared her piece with everyone, making sure Tsubasa didn't eat the whole thing.

"You kids are heading for Goldenrod, right?" Eleanor asked.

Perrine stopped eating. She stared down at her steak, broccoli, and mashed potatoes with a doubtful look on her face. Goldenrod City...she wished it wasn't so close by. "Yeah, we are," Julia answered. "It's pretty much the only city that's nearby."

"But it's so late now. It'll be too dark when you get there, and wild pokemon can be dangerous, especially during the night," Silas explained.

They made good points. "You can spend the night here for tonight."

"Thanks," Julia said, finishing her broccoli. "You're so nice. You don't have to do all this for us."

The old couple shook their heads. "It's no trouble at all. Our daycare is always open to weary travelers."

Whoever raised this old couple deserved a medal. That was what Julia thought, anyway. They were never angry, suspicious, or judgmental. They just helped them out without hesitation, and had been nothing but kind to them. Julia regretted being so shy toward them earlier in the day. She wished she could stay here forever. But she knew she couldn't do that. She took them up on their offer, and slept in the other room with Perrine and her pokemon. She kept the egg in her arms in case anything happened.

"Julia!"

Shades of green and white dotted the darkness. A faint voice cried out in the distance.

"Julia! Wake up!"

"Pichu!"

"Wha...huh?" The first thing she saw was a flash of white light. She rubbed her eyes with her hands, wondering if it was the morning sun coming through the windows. But she looked down to find that it came from the egg. Perrine and all of the pokemon surrounded Julia's bed with curious, awestruck expressions.

The egg was glowing. It was about to hatch!

"No way!" Julia scrambled out of bed, holding the egg in her hands. The light felt warm, and it didn't burn like she expected it to.

The top of the white egg suddenly had a small crack. Said crack grew bigger and bigger. Crack! Went the top of the shell, and the light vanished. Five light yellow spikes popped out of the top of the egg, revealing a mouth and two small, oval shaped black eyes. Two stubby arms protruded from the sides of the egg, and two feet popped out, with two toes on each foot. The rest of the shell stayed in tact, red and blue markings included.

The tiny pokemon let out a high pitched yawn. "Chokiiiii…" As soon as it opened its eyes, the first thing it saw was Julia. The girl's beaming face brought forth a smile, and the pokemon cheered happily. "Choki choki kriiii!"

"Awww! How cute!" Julia couldn't resist the urge to hug her new friend. Perrine pulled out her PokeDex and pointed it at the egg pokemon.

"Togepi, the spike ball pokemon. Togepi is filled with an energy that makes people happy. When treated well, Togepi shares this energy with others, but when it comes near a human with an impure heart this energy quickly disappears, leaving Togepi exhausted. An ancient proverb claims that happiness will come to anyone who can make a sleeping Togepi stand up," A pink female sign appeared on the corner of Perrine's PokeDex.

"It's a girl?" Perrine asked herself. "But Togepi are usually boys."

One look at Julia and the togepi told Perrine that she didn't care. The brown haired girl was just too happy with her new friend to mind. Julia held togepi close to her heart, and the egg pokemon returned the affection by happily cooing and waving its tiny arms. Hikaru hopped onto Julia's lap and held out a hand. "Pichu pichu!"

Without even the tiniest hint of hesitation, the togepi leaped out of Julia's arms and shook Hikaru's arm before glomping her. Soon, togepi was running around the room, chasing Hikaru, Kitsune, and Fuwari around. "Choki choki chokiiiiiii!"

"She is sooooo adorable!" Julia cooed, watching her new friend play. Perrine could swear she saw hearts fluttering around her. "And I know exactly what to name her!"

"And...what's that?"

"Tokiko!"

"Toki...ko?"

"Yep! It sounds like she says tokiko when she talks!"

Right then and there, Tokiko waddled up to Julia, stretched her arms out, and cooed, "Choki!" Just hearing that tiny voice coo made Julia's heart completely melt. "Oh my gosh! She called me Mommy! I'm not kidding you! She thinks I'm her mom! What do I dooooo?!" Tokiko leaped on Julia's lap and hugged her...or at least, her abdomen, showering her in affection. Julia did the same.

"What are her attacks?" Perrine asked.

"Oh! Right! I'll check!" She pulled out her PokeDex and searched through Tokiko's attacks, but she found herself completely flabbergasted. "Whoa."

"What's up?" Perrine took a look.

Tokiko's attacks were the following: Extrasensory, Headbutt, Dazzling Gleam, and Sweet Kiss. "What?! No way!" Perrine exclaimed, at first thinking the PokeDex was playing tricks on her, or was malfunctioning. Technology didn't lie. "Togepi shouldn't be able to know those kinds of moves until it's evolved! Or at the very least until it's older!"

Breakfast could wait, as the first thing Julia did upon changing her clothes and arriving at the dining room was show Eleanor and Silas her new friend. To say they were stunned would be exaggerating, but their eyes were wide and their mouths agape at the sight of the pokemon. "How adorable! What a cutie pie," Eleanor couldn't resist stroking Tokiko with her finger. Tokiko returned the gesture by shaking her finger up and down with both arms.

Tokiko proved to be quite a special little togepi. When wondering what to feed her, since she was still a baby, Tokiko helped herself to some of Julia's yogurt and crescent rolls. Everyone was shocked, thinking she could only drink liquids for the time being. Not only that, when Tokiko wandered to the slide, wanting to play with some pokemon, she managed to climb the steps and reach the top all by herself without fear, sliding down with Hikaru and Aqua. She even managed to keep up with the other pokemon.

What really cemented Tokiko as a special pokemon was when she saw Tsubasa picking on the poor oddish again. Without a word, she simply walked over to Tsubasa, and...rammed her head into the poor, hapless pidgey, sending her flying across the front yard. Florian managed to catch her by using his vines, preventing any potential injuries."Whoa! Did...did Tokiko just use...Headbutt?!" Everyone was aghast, Julia especially.

Enraged, Tsubasa flew right to Tokiko and began a tirade of bird cooing. "Coo coo coo coo!" ("You dare to attack me, you little runt?!")

Keeping her sweet smile, Tokiko simply said, "Choki choki kriiii!" ("You were being mean, so I had to teach you a lesson.")

"Wow...Tokiko's...awesome…" Julia mused to herself.

"Yeah. Really," Perrine agreed.

Eleanor smiled. "Isn't she so lively?"

"Indeed," Silas added with a nod.

It helped that Tokiko was quite the social butterfree, too. She already got along well with all of the pokemon. Even Ladybug warmed up to her, and the two found themselves playing in the dirt and rolling around. Julia joined in as well, as she loved playing with her pokemon. Eleanor and Silas simply watched as the pokemon frolicked and played to their heart's content. Perrine knew that they couldn't stay here forever, as much as she wanted to keep away from Goldenrod City. They had to get going. When noon came around, the kids prepared to leave.

"Thanks so much for having us, Eleanor and Silas. We really appreciate your kindness," Julia told them gratefully.

"It was a pleasure having you here, kids," Silas told them with a hearty laugh. "You girls be careful out there, and have a safe journey."

With that, the girls left the daycare, happy to be out on the road. Hikaru and Tokiko were outside of their pokeballs, chasing each other happily, basking in the warm sunshine. A gentle spring breeze made everyone's hair float in the wind. However, none of this was enough to dispel the anxiety nagging at Perrine's heart. It ate at her chest like a hungry totodile, ripping away at her deepest, darkest secrets. With every step she took, she felt that she was going back to the trap. The gilded cage the man set up just to keep her locked away.

It didn't matter what he did. None of what he did would dissuade Perrine from her dream. She didn't want to go back to that gilded cage, adorned with jewels, beautiful clothes, warm food, and things she just couldn't do no matter what. All those rules, all those lessons, all the yelling, all the disapproval...she thought she had escaped all of that. He never gave her what she wanted. He decorated the cage more and more every day, giving her new trinkets and baubles. All failed to impress her. Gold. Silver. Diamonds.

No, she did not want those, beautiful as they were. She wanted to run about in grass thickets, through deep forests, trek through harsh mountains, surrounded by pokemon.

"Perrine?"

"What?!"

Julia stopped in her tracks, turning around to face her friend. "Is something wrong?" She tilted her head to one side out of concern. "You look sad."

Concern. That was what she had always wanted. Someone who cared. Someone who cared enough to listen. Why had she hidden it all this time? Perrine balled her fists. "Sorry, Jules. The truth is...I don't really want to go back to Goldenrod," She confessed in a low voice. Hikaru and Tokiko stopped playing, realizing that the girls stopped on the road.

"Why not?"

"I ran away," Perrine began. "I had to apply to be a trainer in secret. My parents...I told you about how they don't want me becoming a trainer, right? No matter how I explained it to them, they were set on keeping me at home," She balled her fists once more. "I...I'm not the child they want. They want a kid who plays piano and dresses in flashy gowns and wears makeup and is perfect in every way. A little socialite, if you will. I can't be that kind of kid. I saw missing person posters when I left. If I'm spotted in Goldenrod, Mom and Dad are sure to find out...and they'll be mad, too."

The orange haired girl expected her friend to dismiss her concerns. Oddly enough, she didn't. She just kept quiet and listened intently. Even Hikaru and Tokiko stopped to listen. When she finished, Julia simply said. "I know how you feel. Y'know, before I met you, I was afraid of going to Violet City."

"Really? How come?"

Julia told Perrine about her experiences in the Pokemon Academy during the second grade, especially about Mrs. Amoretto's machinations. Perrine found herself aghast. "No way! A teacher did that to you?! My God!"

"I know, right?" Julia agreed. "She got arrested, but ever since then, I hated pokemon battles with all of my being. But I had to go back there recently, and I had no choice. I had to go through it in order to move forward. I didn't want to go back to that place," A smile curled up on her face. "But when I did go back, I learned so much! I went to Sprout Tower, learned that Falkner was the one who arrested her, and got to see that battling isn't about senseless violence, but a way that pokemon express themselves and the bond between them and their trainers."

"Wow...I had no idea…"

Julia put a hand on her shoulder. "If you're scared to go back to Goldenrod, that's okay. You don't have to go if you don't want to. But you do have to admit, it's the only city we can go through in order to move forward. There aren't any other towns on the map," She explained.

Perrine sighed. A very good point. There was just no avoiding it. But the doubt in her heart slowly began to dissipate. Julia told her about the worst experience of her life. That had to take courage and a truck load of strength. But upon going back, she made new, much better memories. She had overcome her fear. Perrine balled her fists. If Julia could do it, perhaps...Perrine could settle things with her parents once and for all. It wouldn't hurt to try, right?

"No. I'll go," Perrine announced, her eyes blazing with determination. "A good pokemon trainer doesn't let fear get the best of them."

Julia flashed a thumb's up. "That's the spirit!"

Hikaru imitated her. "Pichu!" Tokiko did the same. "Choki!"

"You'll be there, so maybe it won't be so scary…" Perrine confessed.

"That's one way to put it. Hey! You said the department store is really cool, right? Maybe they'll have The Bond Between Shooting Stars There!" Julia exclaimed, running ahead of the girl at full speed. Hikaru and Tokiko gave chase.

"Hey! Wait for me! Jeez!" Perrine laughed as she chased after her friend. She was ready to face her family.

What the girls didn't know was that a boy happened to overhear their conversation from about ten feet away. The boy had curly, bushy brown hair framing a set of green eyes like Julia's but were a darker shade. He was wearing a pale green short sleeved shirt over a long sleeved white one, with black and white wings parallel to a black and white circle. It wasn't a yin-yang symbol, as the line separating the two colors was perfectly straight, not in a wavy motion. He was also wearing beige khaki pants with large pockets on them, and solid grey shoes. A brown pokemon with a large skull on its head stood next to him, holding a bone in its left hand.

"So that orange haired girl has parent problems too, huh?"

"Cubone!"

"Hey, Mallow. She seems pretty cool. Want to try and make a new friend?"

"Bone bone cubone!"

For those of you wondering, don't worry. Tokiko will definitely not be useless and do nothing but sit around in Julia's arms.

Julia: Pichu (Female, Jolly Nature, Thundershock, Disarming Voice, Sweet Kiss, Thunder Wave), Marill (Female, Mild Nature, Bubble, Tail Whip, Water Gun), Furret (Male, Bashful Nature, Scratch, Defense Curl, Quick Attack, Fury Swipes), Pidgey (Female, Naughty Nature, Gust, Sand Attack, Tackle, Wing Attack), Ledyba (Female, Timid Nature, Comet Punch, Tackle, Flash, Safeguard), and Togepi (Female, Hardy Nature, Extrasensory, Headbutt, Dazzling Gleam, and Sweet Kiss)

Pokemon At The Ranch: Butterfree (Female, Calm Nature, Confusion, Sleep Powder, Tackle, Stun Spore), and Oddish (Female, Docile Nature, Acid, Poison Powder, Stun Spore, and Mega Drain).

Perrine: Vulpix (Female, Quiet Nature, Flamethrower, Confuse Ray, Faint Attack, and Extrasensory), Chikorita (Male, Gentle Nature, Razor Leaf, Tackle, Growl, Poison Powder), Jigglypuff (Female, Docile Nature, Sing, Doubleslap, Disarming Voice, Wake Up Slap), Hoothoot (Male, Sassy Nature, Confusion, Peck, Hypnosis, and Echoed Voice), Chirin (Male, Adamant Nature, Thundershock, Tackle, Cotton Spore, Charge), and Hoppip (Female, Relaxed Nature, Tackle, Fairy Wind, Bullet Seed, and Sleep Powder)

Pokemon At Professor Elm's Lab: Paras (Male, Quirky Nature, Scratch, Stun Spore, Leech Life, and Growth)