James sat on his bed, obviously trying his hardest not to cry. Growlith lay on the bed next to him, his head on his lap, whimpering quietly. When Jessee and I came in, James mumbled without looking up, "Why can't dad just let me stay here? He's turned into a big jerk!"
I sat down on the bed next to him. "It...might not be so bad..." I tried to assure him. "You're going to live in a big house, and have a lot of money, and have all kinds of great things that we couldn't afford here. And what's more, you'll still have Growlith." I reached over and scratched the pokemon's ear.
"Oh, sure, like you're all of a sudden making this whole divorce thing sound good." Jessee interrupted. "Our brother is being taken away from us. And now you can just act like it's no big deal?!"
I glared at Jessee. "You're not helping..." I snapped, then I turned back to James. "Look, I know it seems hopeless...Trust me, I don't want this any more than you do. But you just have to be strong now." James sniffed and looked up at me. I continued. "You're going to live in a big house, with lots of money, probably even with servants and cool stuff like that...You won't ever have to worry about what to eat, you'll have all kinds of new clothes and probably lots and lots of pokemon...And no matter what, you'll always be our brother." I hugged him. "One day, when the time is right, you'll come back to us, and we'll be one big happy family again." James sobbed again and I hugged him tighter. "Just be strong." I whispered. "We'll find a way through this...we're Newkens. It's what we do."
On the dot, a long black limousine pulled up to our little ranch house. Our father stepped out. James stood on the front step, Growlith sitting loyally beside him. James didn't say a word, but picked up his large suitcase of belongings and stepped into the car. He cast one longing glance back up to us on the front porch, my mother grasping the railing with her frail hands, looking weaker and paler than I'd ever seen her, my sister and I standing on the steps, dumbfounded that all this was happening so quickly. James' face turned downcast, a strand of his blue hair falling into his green eyes. He looked like he might say something, but before he could open his mouth, our father pushed him into the car. He then pulled out a pokeball and held it out, a red beam shooting out of the front and Growlith disappeared. Then our father followed James into the car without saying a word to me, Jessee, or our mother. In a thick cloud of dirt behind the limo, our brother disappeared.