Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

Azura stared outside of the bus as she thought about what she would do when she got home. She really couldn't wait to go play in the garden with her mother and her step father's Pokemon. She couldn't wait to get her own Pokemon either and start her long journey to become a gym leader or something like that. She was ten, so in about six months, she'd be able to get her very own Pokemon to play with instead of playing with her parents'.

Azura got off of the school bus and began walking up her long driveway. This was odd considering the limo driver would usually pick her up from school. Since he failed to show, she decided that she'd just take the bus home.

She didn't mind walking up the driveway this particular day because she loved the fall weather. It was cool, but not too cool to need a heavy winter jacket. She loved stepping on the leaves that crunched under her feet. It was the perfect day because the sun was shining and there were small puffy clouds in the sky. She just couldn't wait to get into the garden!

After about twenty minutes, Azura was able to see the mansion. She began running towards it until the atmosphere around her didn't feel right. She began to become cautious to her surroundings. She saw the limo in front of the mansion, as if it was going to leave but never did. Tilting her head slightly to the right, she walked over to it. Somehow, she found the courage to open the door. She did so and screamed when she saw the driver with a knife sticking out of his back. She slammed the door shut and fell to the ground as she began to cry. Why had someone murdered the limo driver? She was confused beyond belief and upset at the fact he had always treated her nicely.

Azura got up with her knees shaking and decided to go get her mother and tell her about what she saw. She ran into the mansion and yelled for her mother as tears streamed down her face in desperation. She began to run through the mansion, scared out of her mind. Azura was already somewhat unstable and seeing a dead person at the age of ten wasn't really comforting. "Azura…" She heard a man call. "Azura…"

"Who is it?" She asked as she clutched the straps to her backpack as tight as she could. "Answer me!" She tried to sound unafraid.

"You'll know soon enough." She heard the voice say. She ran up the large set of marble stairs to see if her mother was anywhere up there. She knew there was a strange man in the house, but she didn't know where he was. His voice sounded as if it had come from all directions. "Mommy…" She cried. She decided to open the door to her parents' room. She shrieked and cried harder when she saw her mother laying there with blood all over the carpet.

"Azura, baby what's wrong?" Jessie asked in a concerned voice.

"Mommy, what do you mean what's wrong?" Azura asked in a surprised but frightened voice. "You're hurt really bad."

"No I'm not, baby. Your daddy was just teaching me a lesson. Don't worry about it." She smiled.

"Mommy, I don't think his lessons are good. In school, they always say that hurting people isn't right. It's wrong." Azura explained.

"You shouldn't speak like that or daddy will get you too." Jessie said and grabbed Azura so she couldn't move.

"It's time for me to teach you a lesson." Her father said and almost hit her until-

Azura screamed at the top of her lungs. She felt someone shaking her and she woke up from her nightmare. "Azura, sweetie, you had another nightmare." Her mother said.

"I did?" She asked as she was brought into a hug. "But it seemed so real…"

"I know, but like I said before, dreams can be like that sometimes. Your mind's trying to trick you into thinking it was real."

"Yeah, I know." Azura said and pulled away from the hug.

"You want to talk about it this time?" Jessie asked. Azura thought about this for a moment, but then decided not to tell her because she knew her mother still had a fear of her father coming back. "You sure? Because you never talk about them. Maybe if you do, they'll go away."

"I'm sure." Azura said. "What time is it?"

"Seven o'clock." Jessie answered.

"It's Saturday, right?"

"Yes it is. You can go back to sleep if you want." Jessie smiled.

"No, I think I'll get up now." Azura said. Jessie got up off her bed and left the room. Azura was glad that she didn't have to tell her mother about her weird nightmares again. She got up out of bed and picked out her clothes that consisted of a skirt and a t shirt. She put them on and brushed her teeth in her private bathroom. Then, she took out her brush and began to brush her long, blonde hair. She hated the color of her hair, though. It reminded her that she was related to him. She wanted to punch that mirror so she didn't have to look at herself in it anymore, but she decided against it like every other morning. She didn't want to worry her mother. Her mother was already slightly paranoid as it was.

Azura walked downstairs to the large living room and sat down on the couch next to James who was going to be leaving for work soon. "Good morning, Azura." He said.

"Hi James." She paused. "I had another nightmare last night." She admitted. James knew about these horrible nightmares because she would always tell him about them. She did have to tell someone, but her mother was not the right person to tell, especially since she had panic attacks in the past whenever her father was mentioned. So, she told James about the dream she just had. "I just want the nightmares to stop. And I just want my mom to be normal, you know?"

"I know what you mean." James said and rubbed her back in a fatherly way.

"It's so frustrating. She never says no to me, she's continually paranoid, and she's such a push over. Why are you even with her?" James didn't know what to say. Azura had never asked this question before.

"Because I fell in love with her when we were still teens." James said.

"But what was she like before? Was she always like this?"

"Actually, no she wasn't. She was actually the complete opposite believe it or not. She was a strong, independent woman. She was somewhat of a hot head and lost her temper practically every day. She's completely different now. But part of me knows that the woman I once knew is still in there somewhere." James explained.

"I can't believe my dad did this to her."

"Time changes people." James said and stood up. "Sorry to end the conversation, but I have to go to work." He said goodbye to Azura and left the mansion for his limo. She sighed and stayed on the couch, thinking about the kind of person her mother used to be.

She was thrown out of her thoughts when the doorbell rang about an hour after James left. She remembered that the butler had the days off on weekends, so she got up to answer the door herself. She opened the door and screamed when she saw who it was. It was her father. She could recognize that disgusting smile perfectly.

"Why hello there little girl. Is your mother around?" He asked.

"N-no. And besides, you aren't married to her anymore." She stuttered. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"I have my reasons. Now, is your mother home?"

"H-how did you get past the guards?" She asked. He pulled something from behind his back. Her eyes went wide and her knees began to shake when she saw it was a knife with blood dripping off of it. "Y-you…"

"They were a couple of nuisances. Got rid of them. I bet you're happy with your mansion, aren't you?" Azura didn't know how to reply to this. She just broke into a run. "You can't get away from me. I'll always find you." He said. She felt as if she was in a horror movie. She ran down the long halls of the mansion in search for a place to hide. She settled on a closet that she knew locked from the inside. She held her breath as she heard his footsteps coming closer. The footsteps stopped right in front of her. She heard banging on the door and eventually saw a hatchet break through the thick door. She screamed and once the door was down, she knew she was helpless. He grabbed her arms and held them painfully behind her back. He had the knife to her throat. "Where's your mother?"

"I-I don't know." Azura cried.

"I know you know."

"I really don't. Please don't hurt me." She wished James hadn't left for work. She wished the butlers were here to help. She wished that her mother would appear and save the day with her old toughness that she had before Azura was born.

"I won't hurt you unless you get your mother for me." He growled and shoved her forward. She fell onto the ground, but quickly got up after he kicked her in the ribs. "Lead me through the house now." He ordered. Azura nodded and began walking through the house.

After countless slaps in the face and numerous rooms later, Azura finally found her mother in the play room vacuuming. However, once she saw Azura walk in crying with her old husband, she shut the vacuum off and began to panic. "Jessica, come here." Jessie backed away into a corner and fell to her knees. Azura knew this meant her mother was having a panic attack. "Get over here or she gets it." He raised the knife to Azura's throat. She saw her mother shaking in the corner with her eyes shut. Why was her mother doing this? Azura felt the cold knife on her throat. Then, she felt it on her arm and he cut it with the knife. She cried in pain.

"Mommy, help me." She said as she watched her own blood dripping off of her arm. Jessie opened her eyes and saw that her daughter was in danger.

"Let her go." Jessie said softly. "Please."

"Then get your ass over here." He said. Jessie hesitated. She didn't know what she should do.

"Mommy, please help me." Azura said. "Remember what you used to be like in Team Rocket? James told me you used to be strong, mommy." Her father grasped her arm harder. She felt as if she was forming bruises already.

"You, be quiet." He said to Azura and threw the weak ten year old onto the floor. She tried to get out of the room, but was yanked back up to her feet and held tightly so she couldn't get away. Jessie looked into her daughter's eyes. She then closed her own and opened them. Azura saw something in her mother's perfect blue eyes that was foreign to her. It was anger. She had never seen this look before.

Jessie got up to her feet and stood there. Azura couldn't detect any fear or panic from her mother. This was unusual. The look on her mother's face, how she stood without any fear… this was new to Azura. Her mother looked tough- as if she wouldn't give in to her ex husband this time. Azura could remember back when she was four or five and how her mother used to let her husband beat Azura because Jessie was scared out of her mind. But now…was she going to help her?

"Let her go." Jessie said in a very threatening tone. "Or else you'll be sorry."

"Me?" Azura's father began to laugh. "Jessica, my dear, you are too weak."

"That's what you think." Jessie snapped and with quick, fluid movements, she was able to knock the knife out of his hands and take Azura away from him. Azura had no idea how her mother did that. Was it an adrenaline rush? Or the fact that maybe her father let Jessie take her. "I'm so sorry, baby." Jessie said and brought Azura into a hug.

"It's okay mommy." She cried.

"Stay right here. I'm going to take care of you. I'll get him out of here, I promise." Jessie said. She handed Azura a box of tissues to press onto her wound.

"You're dead, Jessica." He scowled as he put the knife up to her neck. Azura could see the panic in her eyes, but it quickly left. Jessie thought about how she had survived being electrocuted and blasted off into the sky by a Pikachu years ago. She decided that a knife wouldn't stop her. Jessie managed to get on top of him and pin him to the ground. She struggled in doing so and was cut a few times here and there, but she didn't cry out in pain or pull back because of it. The knife fell to the floor out of his reach. She smiled down at him. It wasn't her innocent smile she had been putting on but it was her old, intimidating one.

"I should have done this years ago." She whispered to him and began to punch him in the face repeatedly. He was out of shape. He was balding, had a beer belly and his lung capacity seemed to suck, and so Jessie assumed he took up smoking. She got off of him when she noticed his face was covered in his blood and her knuckles had the blood on them. He was too weak to get up, considering Jessie kicked him in a sensitive area and his ribs. She turned around and noticed Azura was gone. "Where'd she go?" She then picked up the man by the collar of his shirt. "What the fuck have you done with her?"

"How the hell should I know?" He said and she pushed him roughly onto the ground. She then saw Azura run through the door with Meowth, Growlie, and Seviper.

"I called the police and James." She announced. Azura wasn't scared anymore. She was happy that her mother was able to defend for her and for herself.

"Jess, are you all right?" Meowth asked. "You don't seem like you. But at da same time ya do. Is da old Jessie back?"

"I think so, you little fur ball." Jessie said and pulled Meowth into a hug. She then let him go and hugged her daughter. "You did a good job calling the police and James." Jessie said.

"Mommy, you don't sound like yourself." She paused. "And I like it."

The police came and went and locked up Jessie's ex husband. Jessie didn't want to press charges or make him pay child support because she wanted him out of her life for good.

Jessie and Azura heard James burst through the door. "I came as fast as I could." James said. "You girls okay?" He asked.

"Of course we are." Jessie stated.

"Jessie? You're back!" James said in delight and pulled her into a hug and kissed her. "Now this is the woman I fell in love with." He said and Azura nodded, enjoying the moment. She knew that her mother was going to be okay after all.

There was a girl taking the bus home. For some reason, her limo driver didn't pick her up so she had no choice. She got off the bus and as she walked up the drive way, she began to think about becoming a Pokemon Coordinator this time. The ribbons her mother had won years ago looked much better than those badges and it seemed to her that there was more skill doing that than just simply battling with Pokemon.

She walked on the driveway, avoiding the cold snow. She still had no idea why her mother loved the snow so much. It was cold and numbing. There was so much more she wanted her mother to tell her about herself. She felt as if her mother wasn't distancing herself from her again.

When she got to the front of the house, she saw the limo in the front. She found this really creepy. This reminded her of the dream she had about a month ago. She began to panic. Was her father back already? Was her dream coming true? She decided not to look into the limo because she was afraid of what she would find.

She opened the door to the incredibly large mansion. She didn't see anyone around her. She took her backpack off and tossed it on the bench towards the side of the door. She began to look around the house and she was afraid to shout out for anyone just in case someone was in the house that wasn't supposed to be. She walked through the house and heard laughter coming from the living room. She walked in and saw that her mother was on the phone with someone. She saw that her mother noticed her, said goodbye to whoever was on the phone, and hung up. "How was your day?"

"It was fine." Azura paused.

"Is something wrong?" Jessie asked and invited Azura to sit down on the couch. Azura hesitantly sat down next to her mother.

"Why didn't I get picked up by the limo from school? I had to take the bus home."

"Oh that's what's bothering you?" Jessie laughed. "Honey, I don't want you to become a spoiled little rich girl getting picked up by a limo all of the time. I told him not to pick you up from school in the limo. It'll get you used to your Pokemon journey you'll be starting in April."

Azura smiled and gave her mother a hug. This was the mother she always wanted.