They make excellent matchmakers
She always went to the Safari Zone when she was little, escorted by her father when he went to patrol the grounds every so often. She would gape in awe at the herds of Tauros and packs of Nidorino and Nidorina, marvel at the Scyther when they fought over territory, and wonder over the small, crystal clear ponds that sheltered the legendary Dratini and Dragonair. She would assist her father when he patrolled. Even though she was only eight she did everything in her power to help him.
"Remember daughter, they will only hurt you if you hurt them," Koga told her as they wrapped the leg of an injured Nidorino. Janine nodded as she concentrated on cleaning and binding the wound, Koga holding the head of the Pokémon making sure it would not bite or stab.
"Yes, daddy," she would respond while rubbing salve on the leg, tiny face creased with careful concentration making her seem more mature than just eight years. Koga gave a thoughtful pause and said, "Make sure you don't bind it too tight."
She always thought that no one loved Pokémon more than her father. Whenever they found an injured one he would bring it home and he would make some nasty smelling medicine that would have the creature fighting fit in just three days. They even took in abandoned Pokémon and she would nurse them back to health with her and her father's concoctions until they were strong enough to be released. Of course there were times when things weren't as simple. She was bitten and stabbed every once in awhile and she would either cry outright or hold back her tears as her father applied ointment.
He asked every time, "What did you do to it?" and she responded in tiny sobs, "Nothing , honest! I was trying to give it medicine and it just bit me!"
Koga shook his head and said, "Dear daughter, you have to be more empathetic with it." She would respond with a smart, "Wha?"
He elucidated, "Put yourself in its shoes..er...paws, open your heart and imagine what is going on inside that Pokémon's head."
She sniffed and looked at her fresh tourniquet. "Daddy, is there such thing as a bad Pokémon? Has one ever been mean to you?"
Koga sat down and put her on his lap. "No," he replied, "Remember this Janine, there is no such thing as a bad Pokémon. Some may be mischievous and cause trouble, but there is no such thing as a bad Pokémon." He hesitated slightly and then added, "There are only bad people."
She believed him and kept that belief until she was thirteen, when she found out that he had been under the employment of the nefarious Team Rocket. She had the misfortune to discover that he had worked in the upper echelons of the criminal organization along with Sabrina of Saffron and Surge of Vermilion, and that he had been the cause of the murder of a mother Marowak in Lavender Town. Before she could voice her outrage and grief he disappeared leaving her with his Gym and an aching amount of sorrow.
x.X.x
Janine stretched and dismissed her acolytes before closing the Gym for the day; it had been a long one undoubtedly. Seven challengers in the last three hours as well as keeping track of her League Federation paperwork and requests from her employers for freelance work had left her stir crazy and itching to get out of the stuffy walls of her Gym. It had been four years since that fateful day of discovery and her father's disappearance; she had been coping just barely.
"Oh, Ms. Anzu back again?" a volunteer girl greeted as she hand-fed a Psyduck a few berries. The yellow bird gratefully ate, pecking eagerly with its duckbill. Janine smiled behind her face mask.
"Yes, I've come to check on Cubone if that's alright."
The girl nodded and pointed to a corner with a brightly colored rug and small toys. At the center sat a tiny Cubone trying and somewhat succeeding in catching a small little bone club its species always carried. Hearing a familiar voice it shouted, "Cu!Cu!" and ran toward the ninja girl with surprising speed. Janine bent down and picked up the little bone-clad Pokémon giving it a warm look and a pat. "Cu!" the Pokémon replied happily eagerly snuggling into her.
"He's grown so much," Janine commented. The first time she had seen the orphaned Pokémon it was so small she could hold it in the palm of her hand, that had been four years ago. The same time her father had done the irreparable deed. Of course, no one in town knew that the culprit behind the crime was Janine's father, just that it was Team Rocket. She preferred it that way.
Ever since the murder Janine had gone out of her way to visit the little orphaned Pokémon; for reparation at first for her father's sin, later as a kindred spirit who had been separated from its parent, perhaps forever. The Cubone was mistrusting, but then it had been that way towards everybody. Janine had the patience to stick with the little Cubone, coming almost every day to visit and draw it out of its shell. Eventually the Cubone became attached even to the point of crying when Janine had to leave. When this happened she would set the little Pokemon in its cot and sing a small lullaby that her mother (and sometimes her father) used to sing for her when she was young. While her voice wasn't exactly silver-toned it was enough to calm the Cubone down.
"How are you doing today Cubone?" Janine asked meeting the creature's eye with a friendly glance. "Cu! CuCu!" the Cubone responded and gestured to be put down. Janine acquiesced and the Cubone stood in front of her with the airs of an actor about to put on a grand performance.
"Cu!" it cried and twirled its bone club in one paw before tossing it in the air like a baton twirler. Waiting a split second Cubone jumped as high as it could before deftly catching the little instrument in its other paw. "Cu!" it said proudly, tiny chest puffing up with the feeling of succession. Janine clapped and said, "Woah, that was great!" and Cubone wagged its tail. "Cu!CuCu!Cu!" it said and retracted the paw containing the bone club and threw it with all its might, however instead of throwing straight up it missed its mark. Janine's eyes widened and she went backwards Matrix-style as the bone went whizzing past. The young volunteer girl shrieked and ducked shielding the other Pokémon. The bone made its full revolution before returning to the Cubone who caught it skillfully.
The Volunteer House's silence was broken when the girl said, "Ms. Anzu, I-I think that little Cubone just learned Bonemerang."
Janine looked at the Cubone with wide -eyed surprise which melted into optimistic pride. "Cubone," she began. The Cubone looked up with shiny eyes and on the verge of crying; it thought it had done something horrible. "You just learned your first attack!" Janine said happily and picked the bone Pokemon up and nuzzled it, "You are an amazing little Pokemon, you know that?" The Pokémon began shouting "Cu!Cu!Cu!"
x.X.x
"So. what do you think we should have tonight?" Janine asked. At her heels was a small, brown Pokemon with a skull covering its entire head, save the eyes. "Cu!" it replied pointing its bone club at a box on a yellow shelf.
"Fried rice it is then." Janine nodded putting the box of Insta-Rice in the basket. The two of them were in Celadon buying much needed ingredients.
"Chicken, pork, or beef?" she asked and the Cubone repsonded, "Cu. Cu." She agreed to pork.
It had been three weeks since the Bonemerang incident and Janine and the volunteer girl had both agreed that it was best for the Cubone to be adopted as quickly as possible. No one in the volunteer house knew had to train or battle and it was becoming increasingly obvious that Cubone wanted to fight, even going so far as to antagonize the Nidorino that had resided in the place since Mr. Fuji's youth. However, all adoption attempts failed when the Cubone refused to leave with the Trainers that opted to take the little orphan. It either made a scene or refused to get into the Pokeball assigned, sometimes even both. Janine then tried a more indulgent approach; she decided to take the Cubone under her wing. Needless to say, the solution worked. While she didn't use it for Gym matches she still trained it, coaching it in the art of battle with her own Pokemon.
"Oh, Anzu, you're here?" a surprised voice asked, breaking Janine's train of thought. She turned and was greeted with the sight of Violet City's birdmaster.
"Falkner," she said politely, "pleasure to see you again."
Falkner nodded, "You too. Is this your Cubone?" he asked. Cubone looked up with a curious stare.
Janine nodded, "Yes, he's mine. Say hello Cubone."
Cubone walked up to the Bird Keeper and replied with a hesitant, "Cu...cu, cu, cu," and raised it skull-covered snout to sniff at Falkner's trousers. Janine frowned. "Cu!" it said and pawed at the boy's shoe, wanting to be picked up. "Cu!Cu!" Falkner raised a brow and asked for a translation.
Janine smiled slightly behind her mask, "He wants to be carried."
Cubone pawed at the boy's foot again "Cu!" Falkner bent down and allowed the Pokemon to scramble onto his shoulders which reminded Janine of a squirrel scrambling up a tree.
"Cu!Cu!" it cried triumphantly while perching precariously on top of Falkner's hair, like some kind of peculiar, wingless bird in a blue straw nest.
"Oh, he really seems to like you..." Janine said watching carefully lest the thing fall off. "He normally doesn't bode well with strangers at first."
Falkner raised a hand and allowed the Cubone to use it as a climbing post right onto his shoulders.
"In fact that's the happiest I've seen him since Mr. Fuji took him in." Janine nodded and moved toward the other Trainer to extricate her Pokémon from its perch.
"C'mon Cubone we gotta' get home now," she reached forward. Cubone hid behind Falkner's hair and defiantly said, "Cu!" Janine widened her eyes in slight surprise and repeated, "C'mon Cubone."
The Pokemon switched from left shoulder to right and shook its head "Cu! Cu! Cu!Cu!" which most likely meant, "No, I wanna' stay and play with my new friend!" Falkner stifled a laugh and while he could only see her eyes he knew that she was getting frustrated, similar to a mother whose child wants to go one more time on the ride even after its nth time.
"Cu! Cu!" it said and latched onto Falkner's hair just as Janine managed to grab it and pull. Falkner winced, "Easy there, I like my hair attached to my scalp if you don't mind."
Janine apologized and tried again only for the Cubone to grip tighter. After the third attempt, which resulted in a decent amount of Falkner's hair now in the possession of tiny paws, the Cubone deduced that being out in the open was unwise and dove into the back of the bird keeper's jacket.
"Oh crap," Janine exclaimed, now looking a bit harassed. "Er...if you don't mind?" she began.
Falkner nodded and reached back only to find that the Cubone was one step ahead. It had used the inside of the jacket as a kind of climbing wall and had appeared as a moving lump going from Falkner's back to his ribs and finally a bone-white snout poked its way through the collar of the boy's shirt. "Cu!" it exclaimed looking like a content little puppy dog.
"Got ya'!" Janine said managing to snatch the tiny terror out of Falkner's shirt. "Cu..." it said dejectedly, eyes watering slightly.
"Sorry about that," Janine said setting the Pokémon in the grocery basket and motioned for it to stay there, "He's usually so timid, I've never seen him act so affectionately before."
Falkner laughed a bit, "It's cool. He's awfully small, how old is he?" Janine replied "Four years," she hesitated, "He lost his mom and I watched him a bit before adopting him just a few weeks ago."
Falkner nodded, "He's a bit small for four years."
Janine paused again, "He has growing problems, his growth was stunted after a few months so he'll probably remain small even after he evolves." Their conversation lasted for a few minutes and the two were about to part ways when the Cubone took its chance and hopped out of the basket much to Janine's displeasure. She was someone whose training had forced her to keep her composure, never let others know what you're thinking or feeling and always, under any circumstances, remain calm. This Cubone had nearly succeeded in blowing seventeen years' worth of that training sky-high. It didn't make the situation any better when she saw it had the box of Insta-Rice in both paws and offered it to the bird keeper with an expectant look in its eyes. Janine was no slouch.
"No, Cubone," she said already knowing what it was thinking. "Cu!" the Pokémon replied and thrust the box towards the boy once again. Falkner looked on with an expression somewhere between amusement and confusion.
"What is it saying?"
Janine now realized the mess this Cubone had truly caused; she began to think this little, "innocent" orphan wasn't so innocent after all. "He...he's asking if you would like to come over for dinner." she responded, thanking the powers above that she was wearing a ninja mask.
"Cu!" the Pokémon held up the proffered box of rice. Falkner stared down poker-faced and thoughtful. After a few moments of awkward silence he finally said, "Depends, you're not serving chicken are you?"
x.X.x
"So are you switching over to ground types now?" Falkner asked tapping the Cubone's snout. The Cubone responded with a loud retort, making a flock of nearby Pidgey scatter into the sky. The sun was slowly sinking behind the horizon bathing everything in a violent shade of orange and pink. The seaside coast bordering Route 15 was reflecting red and gold.
Janine thought and then shook her head. "Honestly it's a long story, kinda' depressing really." She rubbed the back of her head. "Well, I hope you're in the mood for fried rice-" she started awkwardly and stopped when she realized that the two of them were piggyback racing towards the Fuschia City skyline. Chuckling under her mask, she sped up shouting about head starts and she'll beat them to the house, receiving enthusiastic and slightly challenging responses.
x.X.x
"Father, why did you do it?" Janine asked, struggling not to let her voice rise. She was kneeling, one knee on the floor, one arm extended so that her knuckles laid flat against the polished wooden floor. Koga was faced away from her, eyes examining the hanging scroll hanging in front of him.
"Daughter, one day you too will serve under my Master, just as you have served under me. Then you will come to realize why I did what I did." Koga responded, his voice as cold and solid as steel. Janine bit her lip, thankful that she was wearing her face mask, and kept her head lowered, gaze fixed on the floor.
'You liar,' was all she could think, 'You are not my father, my father would never do something like that, he loves Pokémon. You are an impostor.' However, deep down, she knew that this was her father. The man who she idolized, who cared for sick and injured Pokémon, whose gaze held nothing but calm love and affection, was now a criminal.
"Yes, father," came her crisp reply.
Koga, turned to face her, eyes and facial expression unreadable. Then he nodded, signaling the dismissal from his presence. Janine moved to stand and headed towards the sliding wooden door.
"Janine," his voice stopped her for a moment, "I am proud of you, I know what I have done is questionable but don't think ill of me. It is all for the greater good. Someday you will understand."
"Yes, father," Janine repeated, the response was hollow and lifeless. Just like the Marowak.
'Daddy? Is there such thing as a bad Pokémon?
'No, there is no such thing as a bad Pokémon. Some may be mischievous and cause trouble but there is no such thing as a bad Pokémon….Only bad people.'
A/N: Wow, has it been awhile? I'm really sorry for seeming like I've abandoned this thing when I really haven't! (Writer's block can be a real pain) Anyway, this is actually an older fic I started on and never quite finished. I'm still not too happy about the ending but I suppose it beats the alternative…..This sort of goes along the line of the comic Pokémon Adventures, but I left some things out and added others…so pardon some of the inconsistencies if you have read the comic.
I do not own Pokémon and am no way making a profit from this.
