Old chains

"So why are you going to Acquacorde Town?" Laura asked a while later, as both girls were walking through a sunny meadow.

"I'm going to see the circus there," Bonnie answered. She laughed self-consciously. "I was at the Kalos Fireworks just… two days ago I guess? It seems waaay longer. Anyway, there was this amazing show with a camerupt and a combusken, and a trainer at the pokemon centre said she had heard they were part of a circus in Acquacorde Town, so I wanted to check out the other acts! It must be a great show!"

"Oh," Laura said. "Are you… planning on being a performer or something?"

"I don't know. I don't know my dream yet." Bonnie's reply sounded a little downcast. She immediately brightened. "But that's why I'm travelling, to find it! I'm sure I will. So what about you? Are you also on your journey?"

"Not exactly," Laura replied with some awkwardness. "I was in Santalune for the Fireworks too, but now I'm returning to my family in Acquacorde Town."

'Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you. I just thought, since you're a trainer…"

"I'm not really a trainer. I found my swablu as an egg, and ever since it hatched, he insisted on staying with me. My brother suggested I catch it, so I did. But that's it, really."

"Well, Espurr wanted to be with you too, so I'd say that makes you a trainer. A pretty good one, if your pokemon love you."

Laura stopped and looked at Bonnie with shining eyes.

"You really think so? Hey, maybe you're right! I'd love to be a real trainer!" The dark-haired girl stopped for a while, then asked shyly: "Would you help me create a little show before we reach Acquacorde Town? I would like to present it to my family when we arrive. We have several days, that should give us enough time to practice!"

"I'd love to! I had such fun at the Fireworks putting together a little number for the beginners' show with Litleo! Of course, we had just met and we only had one hour, so it was all quite hurried."

"You and Litleo invented a show in one hour? I don't believe it! You must be really good!"

"Really clueless, rather!" Bonnie answered with a laugh. "But it worked out, more or less. And we struck up a friendship along the way, so… Anyway, how can I help you?"

"Well, I'd like Espurr to practice psychic, and then…"

xxx

Four days later, the two girls arrived in Acquacorde. The town itself looked rather sleepy, and they passed through quite quickly. The circus was quite easy to find: the big purple tent where the shows took place could be seen from afar. As they approach, Bonnie noticed that Laura was getting more and more nervous.

"Is something the matter?" she asked.

Laura's reply was almost inaudible, and the blond girl pulled closer. "Listen Bonnie, there's something I have to tell you…"

"Laura, you slacker! Where have you been? George came back yesterday."

The voice which interrupted them sounded quite irate. The girls jumped apart, and Bonnie looked bewildered at the heavyset woman in front of them.

"Hello mama," said Laura in a little voice. "I'm sorry I'm back so late. It wasn't my fault…" The woman went red.

"Not your fault? You just disappear on your brother without a word, and you expect me to be satisfied with such an idiotic excuse?"

"George went ahead without me when Swablu disappeared, he said he would turn up on its own and I was wasting his time, but…"

"That's not what George said! Why you little liar…"

Bonnie was starting to be quite annoyed by the woman's attitude, but before she could intervene, a dark-haired teenager came up to them.

"Mum, let's not start with the name calling so early in the day, ok?" he said, engulfing Laura in a smothering hug. "I'm glad you came back safely. I was concerned when George said you were coming back on your own, he shouldn't have left you."

Laura's mother huffed, but did not continue her diatribe.

"Well, you can go to the arena now that you're back. You're on cleaning duties today. And be quick about it, your father will want to start his practice as soon as he finishes helping George with his number. And who's this?"

The last was addressed to Bonnie, who was still by her friend.

"I'm Bonnie," she replied. "Laura's friend. And this is my partner Dedenne. I was at the Kalos Fireworks too, and I was so impressed by the combusken and camerupt show that I decided I had to see your whole spectacle."

The woman seemed mollified by her answer. "Well, the show is this evening at seven," she said, dismissing her.

"Actually, can I help Laura with her chores, please?"

"Why would you want to do that?" the woman asked, while Laura looked up in astonishment.

"That's what friends do!" Bonnie replied with a smile, willing to ingratiate herself if that was what it took to convince the woman. Behind Laura's mother, her brother gave her a thumbs-up.

"Well, I'm not going to turn down free help then. But no fooling around!"

xxx

"Bonnie, I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was part of the circus. I'm kind of the black sheep here, they're all so talented."

The two girls were inside the big tent, which somehow looked even larger from the inside. The benches and the arena were still in disarray. Bonnie supposed it was from last night's show.

"Don't worry about it, sometimes people have reasons for not telling everything. Why, on my last trip, my own brother didn't want to tell our friends that he was the Lumiose gym leader. Long story."

"Your brother is the Lumiose gym leader?"

Bonnie laughed. "See, I didn't tell you everything either. But you're wrong on one thing though: you have a lot of talent too, I know that!"

Laura shrugged, unconvinced.

"Anyway, you really don't have to help me clean, you know."

"Of course I do, we're friends, aren't we?" Bonnie smiled. "I'm not going to leave you in a lurch. So, what should I start with?"

Laura had thrown her bag on a bench and was pulling out cleaning equipment from behind the bleachers on one side.

"Well, if you don't mind raking the arena, I can put away all the accessories, and then we can clean the benches and bleachers together?"

"Sounds like a plan. You're on!"

Bonnie's deliberate good mood was succeeding in pulling Laura out of the despondent state her mother's "welcome" had put her in. What a strange family! She thought. Well, the big brother seemed nice enough. He reminded her a bit of Clemont. But still, no one had asked Laura how her trip had been, or given her much opportunity to tell of her travails. And Laura had not volunteered anything either, as if she thought it did not matter.

A while later, a bald man with an extravagant moustache entered the tent, accompanied by another teenager, who seemed somehow familiar.

"Ah, Laura, you're back. Good. Are you finished here?" He asked. "George needs to practice in situ."

"Just about finished, dad!" She replied brightly. "I just need to put some fresh sand in the arena."

"Took you long enough to come back, sis!" The teenager said snidely. "Be quick, I added a new twist to my fire number so that I can do it inside."

So that was the George with the combusken and camerupt act! He did not seem very nice, Bonnie thought. Neither of the newcomers took any notice of her.

"When you're finished, you can prepare food for all the pokemon" Laura's father added. "And your mother said not to disturb her, she's working with Pelipper and Glalie, there's a move combo that's not working as she wants."

xxx

As Bonnie and Laura walked outside, the blond girl could not help but ask:

"Is your whole family in the circus?"

"Oh yes! My mum and dad are the owners. Mum does water shows, mostly, and Dad is specialized in ghost and dark types. Then there's George, who you've seen in Santalune, Reed, who likes grass pokemon, and my uncle Tim and my cousin Elisa, who are the only ones you haven't seen yet. They have a rock and ground show together, and my uncle also does a number with electric pokemon."

"Big family! Me, it's just my dad, my brother and me."

"Laura!"

A young woman with a big nose and lots of makeup was waving at them.

"When will the pokemon food be ready? Mine are already hungry!"

"Give it a rest, Elisa, I haven't even started yet." Laura shouted back. "If they're so hungry, why didn't you start yourself? I see you're not practicing with Uncle Tim right now."

"Yeah well, Lunatone and Sandslash don't like what I prepare. And I just finished my nails, I wouldn't want to chip the polish!"

By the end of the afternoon, Bonnie was really angry for her friend. True, the whole family, except for Elisa, seemed to be working hard on the shows, but that left most of the housekeeping work to Laura, who even with Bonnie's help was struggling to meet all the demands. Okay, she had been gone a few days, so there might have been some catching up to do, but still! It was amazing her mother in particular had let her go to Santalune, in fact.

"George wanted someone to help him on the road," explained Laura when Bonnie said something to that effect. "I was the only one they could spare."

"So, when are you going to show them your own number?" Bonnie asked. "You designed it for the spectacle, didn't you?"

"Oh, it's not good enough for the show yet!"

"Still, you said you wanted to present it to your family at least" Bonnie insisted. "It's a really good number, you should show them your talent!"

"Laura? Talent? Don't make me laugh!" George commented. The girls hadn't heard him approach. Bonnie frowned.

"She's very good!" She retorted.

"And what do YOU know about talent?" retorted the freckled boy.

"Now, now, what are you fighting about?"

Reed, Laura's second brother, was coming up to them. He seemed to be the peace-maker in the family.

"Apparently, Laura has a "number" to show us" George laughed.

"What's this I hear about a number?" Laura's father asked.

Trapped, Laura shot an anxious glance at Bonnie, who made an encouraging gesture.

"Well, I've been developing a little act," she admitted shyly.

"Is that why you were late getting back?" snorted her mother.

Bonnie had had enough.

"The reason Laura came back later than her brother was because her swablu had been captured by a pokemon thief!" She exploded. "So were my pokemon, and me, and a bunch of other pokemon! I never would have gotten free without her. Then we helped Officer Jenny catch the thief, and after that it was very late."

"Blimey Laura, is Swablu alright?" Reed asked. His sister nodded.

The rest of Laura's family seemed incredulous at first, but as Bonnie recounted the events, they started to believe her.

"And Laura only practiced with her pokemon when we stopped for the day," Bonnie finished.

"Great! So, you want to show us your number, sis?" Reed asked. George sniggered. "Dad, do we have time now?"

"Why not?" Their father agreed easily. "Let's move inside."

Laura's mother looked like she wanted to protest, but, maybe somewhat shaken by the story of the pokemon thief, did not say anything.

xxx

When the whole family had taken place on the benches, Laura went to the middle of the arena.

"Swablu, Espurr, come on, time for the show!" She said brightly.

Bonnie saw the surprise on Laura's family faces when Espurr got out of its pokeball.

"Swablu, feather dance!"

The little blue bird launched quite a storm of feathers at Espurr, who, using psychic, sent them right back at him. Swablu dodged right and left. The feathers followed him, tightening up into a feather snake. Espurr was very focused. The dance continued for a minute or two, until the feathers caught up with Swablu and he disappeared inside of a feather ball. Bonnie smiled. The little act was going well. Reed was looking impressed, and even George had lost his mocking smile.

"Now peck!"

The cotton-winged bird sent the feathers flying in all directions. The plan was for Espurr to catch them once more, and to shape them into a neat circle above Laura's head, through which Swablu would fly, before letting them fall gracefully on Laura like powder snow while Laura herself would rise and catch Swablu. But the feathers were going too fast for Espurr. The little cat only managed to capture about half of them. Still, the overall effect was achieved, and the number could have been saved by the finale, if Espurr, exhausted by its attempt to control all the feathers, had still be able to lift Laura up like they trained. As it was, its psychic move failed while Laura was hovering about one meter above the ground, and she fell heavily, landing on her behind. Red-cheeked, the slim girl got up again, and for a few seconds, Bonnie thought she would be alright. Then Laura's brother and cousin started laughing. Her lips trembled, her hands shook, and she sprinted out of the tent without a word, snatching up her bag on the way. With a distressed cry, her pokemon followed.

END OF CHAPTER 6

Sorry about the late update. It's hard to keep to a weekly schedule! I know a guy who does updates thrice a week, that gives me a new appreciation for his work!

And just a little peek into what's coming: next chapter is going to involve a big decision for Bonnie and Laura, and the one after that, we'll be meeting another very familiar character from the series… Stay posted!