Pokemon Heroics

by veneerofcute

After Shinji and Eureka agree to travel together, they set out aiming to catch pokemon and battle their way as far as they can go. With not only friends and family supporting them but also Champion Shirona who wants to see a very strong trainer so badly, they feel sure that they can become the best, whatever that is.

2. Chapter 2: Refusal Of The Call

Chapter 2: Refusal of the Call

The next day, Reiji woke Eureka early and told her that they were going to have some fun before Shinji woke up. Eureka swiftly got dressed and quietly made her way out of the room. She tiptoed over to the kitchen and found Reiji finishing making everyones' breakfast complete with juice. He motioned for her to eat quickly and ate swiftly himself. She shovelled the food down her throat and soon was ready. Just as they had finished, Shinji was up and standing in the doorway. "Let me guess, Aniki woke you up and wants to have fun before I wake up and you honestly thought that your racket wouldn't wake me up."

Reiji knew better than to deny this. "Yes." Eureka who had been trying to think of an excuse was alarmed by how swiftly Reiji 'gave in'. She looked up at him and was about to say something when Reiji said, "Maybe you could come with us now."

"Sure." Shinji walked away form the doorway. He was still in his sleepwear: an old oversized top of his brother's but he didn't really care. Eureka found it a little odd but she wasn't too sure it was a good idea to say anything. Shinji hadn't reacted too well to her questioning his actions in the past. He had done weirder things in the past too.

Reiji announced, "I think that a good place to start would be sorting out some winter clothes for the both of you. I know that you'd like to get battling right away but it would be better to prepare yourselves as people. You still have a lot to learn about people, Shinji."

"You seem to think that improving my people skills is the only reason I would be set a task like this."

Eureka interjected, "It's not a task. I'm an opportunity." Eureka's confidence rang in her voice as she said this and her entire body oozed with determination. "I am. I'm going to teach Shinji as much as he teaches me."

Shinji shrugged. He responded blankly, "If you are going to do everything you promised like that we'd be traveling together for ever. You want all the pokemon. You want to try all the jobs. You now want to teach me as much as I teach you."

"It could happen!" Eureka pounded her fists on Shinji's side and clearly had no intent to hurt him for she was also smiling sweetly. "It could happen quick too."

"Our training time is already being seriously cut down by Shirona san. I was hoping that she would be swifter in sorting out the age thing."

Reiji smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring way and said, "There's still a lot that can be done until then. I could battle Eureka kun and she could help you train..." Reiji's voice trailed off as he realised that he wasn't helping.

After a brief quiet, Eureka said, "I'll battle Reiji."

Shinji's eyes widened. This was the determination that had impressed him into wanting to work with her in the first place. "Fine. This afternoon you'll battle Aniki, but with one of my pokemon. Just make this shopping go quick." After that Shinji started to eat and didn't notice how the atmosphere had changed due to his appearance.

Eureka looked to Dedenne and he made it clear that he was in agreement of with her. "I think it would be better if I used Dedenne. Dedenne really wants to battle."

"I have no complaints with that. Aniki shouldn't either." Shinji lamented to himself that it didn't really matter if she used one of his pokemon or not today. He would like it to happen before the week was out though. Then she could learn about battling with a pokemon that was too powerful for her before her Dedenne grew too strong. If Eureka was to only train one pokemon it was best that she was as prepared as possible to deal with that level of power. There was plenty of time for that though so if it wasn't today there was always the next few days. There was a definiate advantage to Eureka learning about this whilst Dedenne was resting too. Shinji decided that thinking things through like this must make him a pretty good teacher.

Once they were out of the house, they made their way into Tobari's city centre where most of the shops where including the large mall with it's bright colourful signs and polite sales people. Eureka walked on ahead but was glad that she wasn't doing so by as huge a distance as she was used to. Reiji took Shinji's hand and they walked calmly together. There was no point in rushing, even if Eureka enjoyed a good rush provided it was by choice. The distance wasn't that far but considering they walked most places, the distance felt shorter. Eureka slipped a few times on the snow but she forced herself to remain upright with her other foot. Plus Shinji was always there to help her with his hand in her. Right then, it made her feel more confident. After a while, she took Reiji's hand just to be certain of avoiding possible embarrassment. She only released the hand when it was revealed that in the built up part of city how the snow had been trod in and melted.

They entered a store and Eureka instantly went towards the cuter section only to be pulled back by Shinji. "Think more practical, Eureka." He directed her towards the winter wear including snow boots and thick coats and drab colours. Okay, that's a lie: there was one item that was in nice bright colours but that had a design that looked like the designer had no idea what a human was.

"How about practical and cute. I found this really snug warm coat that made me look like a Delibird before." Shinji was dubious. He had seen little kids in such things and was never sure how they could move. Eureka noticed his subtle turn of the eyebrow and said "It was really really really super duper warm."

"I'm sure it was," Shinji said sarcastically, his voice showing less disinterest than he felt.

Reiji though imagined Eureka in the outfit and let out the words, "I'm sure you looked adorable in it, Eureka kun."

Shinji's brows twitched and he irritability said, "Aniki, please don't get involved."

Eureka puffed her cheeks, annoyed that Shinji was in charge and wondering how she could change the situation. She had no idea how to change anything though.

Reiji noticing this, said, "We should set an good example for Eureka kun, Shinji. She can choose based on our good behaviour, that we must start to show, soon."

Though Eureka didn't notice the way Reiji had said anything, Shinji did and resigned himself to the fact that Reiji was going to win this one. He didn't like it when Reiji took that quiet change in tone and knew what it meant.

Eureka watched as Reiji picked out a warm coat that he raised up for them to look at. "It's got little Nazonokusa on it." The Nazonokusa looked a little confused on their blue backdrop and with their dark blue skin and green leaves didn't stand out that much, but nonetheless it was still rather cute.

Trying to sound enthusiastic but failing due to an obvious lack of interest, Shinji said, "I like that it's got pockets." Upon noticing that Eureka's eyes were beginning to glaze over he added, "That way Dedenne will be more comfortable in his bag."

Eureka muttered, "Doesn't Shinji need new clothes too." Then her eyes brighten up as a meaning to Reiji's statement occurred to her. She loudly added, "We should wear matching clothes."

Shinji wanted to go against Eureka, but something inside of him stopped him. Later he would say that it was practicality but in a way it was closer to the idea that Reiji would implant an even worse idea in her head. "I suppose that that isn't the worst idea I've ever heard."

Reiji grinned. That certainly was true. Shinji seemed to attract people who suggested terrible ideas all the time for some reason. Reiji wasn't interested in clothes that much, but he wanted Eureka to have more control over their relationship and Reiji saw this as a good start. He had no idea what was typically cute and what wasn't. For him the most important thing was how much it would matter if pokemon puke got on it. It was nice to see Shinji and Eureka bond over something. Shinji seemed willing to try on whatever Eureka picked out. He soon felt comfortable leaving them to make their choices. They didn't even notice that Reiji had slipped off.

Eureka looked briefly at the dresses, but wouldn't dare suggest them. She hoped that Shinji's only complaint would be the lack of practicality, but she had been let down before.

They soon had picked out a simple assemble. A blue hoodie that when up with pale blue buttons, some baggy grey pants with a lot of pockets and some warm winter boots complete with plenty of grip. There weren't any pink ones in Shinji's size so he wore some brown ones. A small part of Shinji felt disappointed for he had been planning that if Eureka went missing again he could say that she was wearing the same thing as him if he needed to ask for help. He wasn't about to force Eureka into the grey ones for a small difference that wasn't that important.

Shinji found a couple of thick coats in another shop that covered the hoodies completely and met to Eureka's standards of cuteness after not that long. They were both blue but unfortunately rather different again They fitted easily in their bags, which Shinji liked. Still it would have to do. Eureka's was a slightly lighter blue than Shinji's with a pale almost white, pink trim whereas Shinji's came with a pale blue trim.

They walked back in their new outfits. Eureka was glad to not have to hold onto anyone hand this time for more of the snow had melted and ran on ahead, glad that they both looked cute and were being practical. She soon saw Reiji talking to someone that she didn't know. She changed direction and ran as fast as she could towards Reiji.

Shinji kept his pace behind her but made no attempt to run. Her enthusiasm seemed endless and her charm today felt wonderfully infectious. It didn't seem to matter right now that Sumomo was talking to Reiji since Eureka was there too, talking to them completely unaware of how complex life could be. He was glad at least that the shopping trip had taken less time than he had feared.

Once he was close enough to hear the conversation, Shinji decided to remain quiet. Eureka was pretty easy to impress it seemed. So happy to see any pokemon never mind how week. In a way, she was a little like Satoshi.

Reiji was so willing to build her up too, pointing out how impressive it was that she had come this far. Pointing out how unusually good she was at grooming for someone her age and that Reiji himself was no where near the same level at the same age. Shinji decided not to point out that Reiji hadn't even thought of becoming a breeder at that stage. Indeed, Shinji didn't say anything during the conversation and just nodded when he agreed with a particular bit of praise given to Eureka.

The only thing that Shinji didn't like was how pointless Sumomo's praise was: none of this meant that Eureka was a worthy apprentice. Maybe Reiji was just saying this so that he wouldn't abandon Eureka some where, Shinji thought to himself. Reiji had certainly done that with Shinji's pokemon before now. Shinji would never tell his brother but he had at one stage considered making a point of noticing that sort of thing so that he could make choices of when to release pokemon.

He didn't notice how happy it made Eureka. The truth is that he didn't notice a lot of things. He didn't notice how uncomfortable Sumomo felt in his presence or how Sumomo could make Reiji laugh in a way that was a little different from how Reiji would laugh around Shinji usually. The death glares from Sumomo's pokemon might as well have been heart eyes for all the attention that Shinji gave them. Dedenne exploring Eureka's new clothes was something that only Eureka and Dedenne were aware of too, even though it was in plain sight.

After a while, Sumomo went off to the gym and the three walked back to Reiji's home together. Shinji asked Eureka, "What did you think of Sumomo?"

"She's nice. Why do you ask? Is she your ex or something?" Shinji's eyes widened but he didn't feel too shocked. Reiji on the other hand laughed like he'd never seen a kid before. With this reaction, Eureka figured out, "I guess not."

When he'd stopped laughing, Reiji said, "Nah, instead, Shinji is mortally terrified that she'll date me. I don't know why."

"Mortally..." Eureka wondered what it must be like to be that scared of the idea of someone dating but couldn't even begin to understand how it could be anything but the most happy thing when two people get together. Even, as Shinji called mortally an exaggeration, the idea just was so strange. She remembered when she found out that her father was seeing Professor Platane. They had started off alone and now they were happy because of each other. What's more hadn't Shinji once said that Citron reminded him of his own brother. Then a small memory came back to her. She remembered one time she had wanted to spilt up her brother from someone but Shinji didn't seem the jealous type.

Shinji seemed to get on well with Reiji though, taking his teasing with ease and not letting it bother him. Maybe most of the rumours she'd heard about him were lies. Even as Shinji denied that his problem with Sumomo had anything to do with anything as mundane as romance, there wasn't as much bile as Shinji's arguments usually had.

When they were home, Eureka wondered with Reiji still trying to make out the conversation and Reiji took notice, "Unsure what to think, Eureka kun?"

"Yes. Shinji is safe, right?"

"It's taken you this long to ask that, huh? Don't worry, Shinji can be scary, but if anything goes wrong, your brother would take you out from under him in a second. What's more, I think that I should give you my number."

"You make it sound like he's not safe."

"Well, no one is truly safe, really. Especially if they have power. Shinji is difficult but if he doesn't try to improve he never will. I have faith that you have a strength too."

"Traveling with Shinji is so different from travelling with Satoshi. We were asked for help but these people we met on the way here. Shinji told them to help themselves and we walked on."

That seemed rather normal to Reiji. "It must have been clear from the start though, that my brother and Satoshi kun are completely different."

"Yes, it was. Shinji is different from everyone though. I just want to be sure that I made the right choice to go with Shinji."

"In that case," Reiji said with a smirk, "We need that battle."

"Sounds good to me. I hope that I can impress Shinji. He did say that we should battle." Eureka grinned at the smirk on Reiji's face. This felt like a normal atmosphere for the first time in a while. She had seen how much people learn about each other in battle and this sounded like a great idea. Finally the atmosphere was something that she was familiar with.

"Yes, lets do this when Shinji can watch."

Eureka nodded and helped Reiji to serve food to the various different pokemon. She wanted to feed Dodaitose in particular and take in Dodaitose's calming influence. Dodaitose would like to cuddle close to her as she was being fed. Eureka then went to Reiji to get some food for Manyula. Manyula was always a little difficult to feed because she could be aggressive and impatient. Manyula would often feel that it took too long for food to come and was likely to either steal from other pokemon or strike the bringer of food for not being fast enough. Elekible would strike Manyula down if he saw her doing that. Eureka secretly disliked feeding Elekible because she always found Elekible difficult. Elekible sometimes would electrocute her when she turned her back or if she let her guard down then would play innocent when called out. Eureka left this job to Reiji and watched what he did. Reiji had no difficulty though.

Shinij found Eureka just as she was walking towards a bunch of Reiji's baby pokemon with a bucket of food in her hands. He smiled and watched, considering her potential here. Even if she wouldn't help in whatever way Shirona had in mind, at least his pokemon would be better groomed.

Reiji saw Shinji watching Eureka and asked Shinji to help, promising the battle sooner if he did. Shinji rolled his eyes but agreed.

In a field, three people worked on moving pokemon as quickly as possible. Soon more people joined, half hoping that this would be a sign of what it usually meant when the field was emptied like this and soon enough, it was clear that a battle was beginning.

They had decided to forgo the use of a referee and just have a simple one on one battle. Considering how many pokemon Eureka had as well as her relationships with Shinji's pokemon, this wasn't exactly something that had been a hard choice. Eureka sent out Dedenne right away. Reiji however spent a while longer to choose his pokemon. He didn't want to destroy Eureka with a pokemon that was of type advantage or patronise her with a flying, dragon, dark, fighting or water type. After a while he chose an fairy type to make things as even as he could. There was a small gasp from the few watchers when Granbull came out of it's ball.

Eureka called out, "Begin with a Nuzzle."

Shinji frowned for this was exactly how she had begun when she had battled him last time. Not only that but this time Dedenne was a good distance too far from Granbull to get a Nuzzle in. Reiji didn't even have to tell Granbull to dodge.

Grunbull was weaving in and out of Dedenne's attempts at attacks with ease. Dedenne was trying it hardest to follow orders too. He even once succeeded in climbing up Granbull only to be shaken off in a second. It was clear that even though dedenne are naturally faster pokemon, Granbull was simply better trained.

Eureka called out, "Stop, use thunderbolt instead."

Dedenne's change of technique was immediate. The electricity was faster than running around and that was clear. Granbull was held in place for a few seconds whilst Dedenne let out his attack.

Reiji called out, "Use sludge bomb."

"It's not over yet, dodge it, Dedenne." Dedenne had though never officially receiving training been in a few battles with team rocket. Dedenne had learned how to dodge with ease.

"Ice fang."

"Nuzzle."

Dedenne took advantage of being in Granbull's mouth to let out it's shockingly cute attack. The ice still hurt though. If Dedenne had been better trained, maybe it could have escaped Granbull's clutches this way but alas it could not.

Granbull's mouth fell open. A half frozen Dedenne fell out. The mouth couldn't re-close. Paralysis was in full effect. Dedenne wiggled around, but was clearly very cold.

"Try a thunderbolt, Dedenne."

Dedenne didn't try. Dedenne fainted.

Eureka went out into the part of the field that had started to feel like a battling section and picked Dedenne up. She looked at Granbull who suddenly felt less cute. She had lost battles before but this hurt more. It had felt like she stood a chance.

Shinji walked up to her. "Do you know where you went wrong?"

Eureka said, "Everywhere." She started to cry and Shinji looked on very panicked.

"I was thinking more that erm, there... Once you know where you went wrong, you can work on making things right."

Eureka bit her lip. What Shinji said made sense but she didn't like that Dedenne was hurt and this wasn't helping.

"We'll take Dedenne to Joi san and talk on the way, okay?"

"I don't want to talk." Shinji looked at Reiji and he nodded. Shinji was now sure that it was best to let Eureka remain quiet. They walked away together and let Reiji clear up the field from the battle in peace.

When Dedenne was with Joi, Eureka sat down and let Shinji sit next to her. After a short quiet, she said, "The battle was wrong from start to finish."

"I think that Aniki may have over judged your skill level. The bigger mistake was on his part."

"You think so?"

"I thought that using Nuzzle the second time round was a good move. You clearly learned from your first mistake already."

"First mistake?"

"When you asked for Nuzzle without considering if Dedenne had the ability to pull off the move from where he was. Taht said, you took the opportunity when it came instead of trying to waste energy creating one. You clearly learn fast."

"Thanks."

"You'll get there. Whilst Dedenne recovers, I'm going to loan you a pokemon so that you can learn how to train."

"Cool, can I train with Dodaitose. She's so sweet."

Shinji nodded, trusting Eureka to handle his starter well and his starter to be willing to listen.

With Eureka beginning to feel better, they waited patiently and quietly for Dedenne to recover from the battle. The pokemon centre was quiet with only a few other trainers in at the time. A Lucky leaned on the counter, clearly a little bored and after a while, Eureka got up and went to have a sort of chat.

They were soon interrupted, when someone went up to Eureka and said, "Excuse me."

Shinji was instantly on alert but kept his distance and watched to see what would happen. This was not obvious from watching however someone like Reiji would have picked up on the tiny details and figured it out.

Eureka turned round to the new person and said, "Hello, would you like to entertain Lucky here too?"

"No, I was wondering if you were the little girl that was on tv a few weeks ago. When those evil people were attacking Kalos?"

"You mean Team Flare?" Eureka couldn't think of anyone else that fitting that description.

"Yes, Team Flare. Were you the one with the Dedenne?"

"Of course. Dedenne was wonderful, wasn't he?"

"Yes. He was." The person then left. Eureka shrugged and went back to entertaining Lucky. She had hoped to talk about how Dedenne had defended her. It wasn't anything impressive in terms of battling but the shock that Dedenne was willing to fight for her at all was enough to protect her.

As the person passed Shinji, he could hear the words "She's less cute in real life. Who would have thought?" Shinji reached for a monster ball but soon the person had left and would likely never be seen again. Therefore, Shinji decided he didn't matter.

Soon, Dedenne was recovered and the two children walked home together. As Eureka walked, she thought of how they had met that strange person Alan and how he had told them about how something odd was going on. They weren't certain what to make of it, but they knew that they had to get strong and quick. Eureka had trained a little with Citron and Serena whilst Satoshi had seen the league at the perfect opportunity to train.

They had discovered that Alan was working for someone who he thought he could trust. Eureka wasn't sure if she had trusted him from the start but that could just be her memory playing with her and telling her what she wanted to think. The person was very nasty and had tried to kill everyone and she wasn't too sure why. Still, they had stopped him and it had been wonderful.

Then Shinji had appeared, not long after. He had heard of the attacks and decided that there would likely be strong trainers around. He was surprised to see Satoshi, but not so much in that he didn't find Satoshi's appearance to be Satoshi like.

She wondered what Shinji meant by Satoshi like though it hadn't occurred to her as odd at the time.

Shinji was weird was the conclusion that she came at this time.

When they reached Reiji's place, everything was much neater. They could see Granbull playing peacefully with a young Nyarth. He didn't look anywhere near as nasty as he had on the battle field and in truth he wasn't. The Nyarth looked very fine as well. Eureka went to give the Nyarth a little cuddle and soon was persuaded into playing with the two pokemon. She called Reiji and Shinji over and to Shinji's surprise he found himself playing with the pokemon too. He saw Elekible from a distance looking angry but ignored that. Ringuma walked over and joined in.

When they entered the house, both Shinji and Eureka were covered in a fine layer of dust. No one minded and Shinji settled down with a book, whilst Eureka went to help Reiji in the kitchen.

The rest of the week whilst waiting for Shirona to return continued on much like this. Eureka never defeated Shinji or Reiji in battle but she learned a lot about battling. She played with all of Reiji and Shinji's pokemon making herself popular amongst most of them. She never was able to get Shinji to join in playing again and instead he passed books onto her.

It was a shock when Shirona did appear. She arrived late in the day and found Shinji and Eureka deep in a discussion on training. She had in the hands a large pile of paperwork and she was clearly out of breath. Shinji and Eureka went to help her inside then they went to sit at the table.

Shirona took a few seconds to get her breathing back to normal then combed her hair back behind her head and said, "This is going to be a lot of paper work but I wanted to get you the best deal."

"Excellent. So we shouldn't get into trouble for battling in cases that aren't self defence."

Shirona smiled and looked at Eureka then at Shinji, "Yes, and more. Think of Eureka as an ordinary trainer, only seven years old."

The shock was swift as all went quiet. Eureka had hoped that she'd be battling with Shinji and maybe a few other trainers all over the place. They had planned that they'd choose a region with cute pokemon and to wander around from there. Now they could challenge gyms. Now they could battle pretty much anyone they wanted to. She had been so looking forward to turning ten and now she wouldn't need to.

After what seemed like a long time, Shinji said, "But I was told that a person under ten can only battle in self defence, though people tend to turn a blind eye if it's own your own property."

Shirona mused to herself, that that was true. She had never heard of anyone being done when it was on someone's own property and she had no idea why. It certainly gave more power to richer families.

Eureka spoke up, "I'll be able to enter gym battles? Tag battles? Those weird Don Thingy battles they have in Isshu?"

Shirona replied, "If you get that far, it would be possible for you to enter the league."

Shinji blankly asked, "How?" He found himself feeling nothing and finding that odd. He mistook his shock for logic and proceeded to ask the question that Eureka was too awestruck to ask.

Shirona took a deep breath and smiled at the reactions around her. "I found a way. Eureka chan just needs to sign a few forms. Hence the paper work."

Eureka squealed, "Where?"

Shirona flipped a few pages over and pointed in a few places as she spoke, "Eureka chan will be considered like an adult as a trainer however she will still be considered a child in terms of things like marriage, taxes, and careers that have nothing to do with pokemon. There will be one difference. She can only carry three pokemon at any one time, unless she's carrying them for self defence or for assistance a disability, not that the second one is relevant right now."

Eureka whined, "Only three cuties, not fair."

Shinji stated, "Please don't make yourself sound like a brat, Eureka." She stuck her toungue out at him and turned back to Shirona with a huge grin on her face.

Shirona said, "I did try to change that. Still, it'a pretty good system I've worked out."

Shinji asked, "How is this possible though?"

Shirona replied, "Oh, I just shifted a few ideas around. Jumped into some loopholes and worked things out from there. Just show people this card and they'll understand" whilst she shifted a few more pieces of paper around for Eureka to sign, then she pulled out a card and showed it to Shinji.

Shinji looked that the card flipping it over again and again in his hand. It looked familiar but it took him a second to place it. "This is like those ones they had during the last war. I vagely remember it from history class."

"Yes."

The card was plastic and brown. It had a picture of Eureka that Shinji had never seen before. Shinji guessed that Shirona must have got in touch with Limone for that. Therefore, Reiji must have passed on the number at some point. It had the flag of Sinnoh on it too with the starter pokemon looking particularly rough and tough. Listed were Eureka's name, gender, age, number of pokemon she owned and a number that looked a lot like a trainer number but was a little different from the usual ones in how the numbers and letters were arranged. There was also a strip. Shinji imagined that it would be like with his own trainer card that every time it was updated it would automatically change the trainer details to fit.

Shirona asked, "Are there any problems?"

"I still don't understand how this is possible. What power do you have when it comes to the law?"

With a laugh, Shirona replied, "Oh, only as much as any other celebrity I suppose, still I can be very persuasive. Now Eureka chan, is there anything that worries you?" Her eyes focused on Eureka, taking in Eureka's joy, her passion and her innocence.

"Of course not" Eureka called out. She looked at Shirona, seeing a kind giver of kindness beyond description. She had met a champion before but had never imagined that a meeting with a champion could lead to something this wonderful.

With this, Shirona and Eureka finished off the paperwork together. It felt so excitingly fast, as each signature was added. Shinji smiled noting how easy to forge Eureka's signature was, and yet it was making such a difference to her life. Of course he never would take advantage of this, but that her signature was giving her so much responsibility was something strange. It evoked a happiness in Shinji that made him want to empower her and he didn't even ask himself how she would do that.

As soon as the final line was marked, Shirona left as quickly as she came, paperwork in hand.

Unthinking, Shinji turned to Eureka and said, "This changes everything." He let his own statement sink in to his own mind. When he picked Eureka he had never imagined that Shirona would show this much faith in him. He had thought that he'd be laughed at and have to send Eureka home in disgrace. He had been dreading the thought of having to find a new apprentice. He had half been tempted to give up on his ideals and go for someone with little potential a few times, but now it had been confirmed. Eureka was perfect.

Eureka replied, "We can still go to Aloha, right?" She had set her heart on making friends with a Mimikyu after reading about them in one of Reiji's books and that had made Aloha a strong choice right from the start. She had been tempted by other region's cuties but Reiji hadn't had a Mimikyu for her to befriend.

"That region doesn't even have gyms. You still should be able to choose though, just out of the regions with gyms."

Eureka said, "Maybe we should go for Sinnoh, since we're already here." If she was disappointed, it didn't show. In fact, her excitement was clear from her voice. The ideas had sunk in and now she just wanted the future to come right away. She wanted to begin. She wanted to catch a pokemon and make friends with it. She wanted to battle. She wanted so many things that she didn't know where to begin.

"There are some pretty cute pokemon in Sinnoh and I'll tell you if I see a Mimikyu." Upon adding in the second bit, Shinji hoped that the Mimikyu's trainer would be friendly. Still, seeing one could well be good enough.

Eureka's head leant back and she called out so that all would hear, "I'M GOING TO BE A TRAINER."

Shinji smiled and said, "Why don't you go and tell your family?" He then watched her run off to do just that. He himself decided to follow his own advice and tell Reiji, though he had a feeling that Reiji was already aware of this. Eureka's voice had been after all loud.

Reiji was out with a young first time mother and her eggs. Shinji knew better than to step too close or say anything. He waited until everyone was content and then approached. Reiji seemed so calm that Shinji didn't waste any time. He got straight to the point. "Eureka chan is allowed to do so much thanks to Shirona. She's going to challenge gyms. She could even challenge the league."

Reiji's eyes widened. "Wait, what?"

"Eureka chan is a trainer. In the eyes of the law, she's a trainer. I have a real appearance. I'm going to be an Elite Four member. Aniki, isn't this the best news ever?"

Reiji nodded though inside he wasn't certain what to think. He carefully took some steps towards Shinji then decided that he needed to sit down. He walked inside quite quietly. He saw Eureka tell a very confused looking Citron and that someone he'd never seen before was behind him. The stranger looked confused too.

Reiji sat down with a thump and adjusted to the thoughts as Shinji showed him Eureka's card. It was true. All of what Shinji had said was now beyond a doubt true. It wasn't even possible that Shinji had somehow become someone amazing at lying and gone out to annoy him. This was happening.

"Aniki?"

Reiji shook his head and forced himself to think straight. He then said, "I think that this is probably great news, Shinji. However, I want you to promise me that you'll keep in mind that Eureka kun is a little kid. Don't push her to win the league. Understand when she crumples under pressure and start again if needs be."

"You don't have to worry about anything, Aniki."

Reiji started to cry causing Shinji to look a little worried. Even as he wiped his eyes, Reiji kept himself together. "I'll do that never mind what you say because I can't help it."

Eureka turned to Reiji and said, "Because Shinji is your little brother."

Reiji started to cry more loudly. He nodded so everyone assumed that Eureka was right. He then left the room. Shinji shortly followed.

Eureka turned back to the screen. "I'm going to be great. Just wait for me to bring back the league trophy. I'll be the youngest ever winner won't I?"

Citron replied, "I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself, Eureka."

Eureka grinned. "What if I am? It doesn't change that this is amazing."

Citron laughed. He felt his heart swell with happiness. Eureka was already doing so well. He had half expected that the two would give up after a week, but no, this proved that everything would go swimmingly.

When they had all calmed down, Reiji took Eureka outside and said, "With the fact that you're going to be catching your own pokemon, I want you to know how to groom any sort of pokemon so I'm going to set you some harder tasks than I have before."

"Okay." Eureka squealed with delight until Reiji took her towards Elekible. She felt a pang of fear but scowled determined to prove herself. She wasn't going to let Shinji send her home.

Reiji passed her a pair of rubber gloves and said, "Elekible doesn't have static anymore but he has a habit of shocking those that groom him anyway. Please treat any attempts as though it was static."

Eureka got close to Elekible who was wearing a nasty grin and put on the gloves. She said, "Please be nice." She then picked up one of the grooming brushes and started to comb Elekible's fur. It was fine and soft, clearly showing signs of being well loved. She could see little sparks come off Elekible and had to be ever so careful with each movement she made. Soon she had done the lower half of Elekible's body and was presented with a step ladder to do the upper half.

When Eureka had finished she was quite shaken. She turned to Reiji to see if he approved and was surprised to see that a few other breeders were watching her progress.

"Very well, Eureka. There's still a lot you have to learn, but so far this is wonderful."

Elekible shook Eureka and she fell off the step ladder. Reiji presented her with his hand and helped her up. She turned to Elekible with annoyance but found herself unable to reprimand him. He was just so big and scary and right now, she couldn't convince herself that it would be worth it. She instead walked with Reiji and accepted his warm smile and soft eyes.

Reiji then said, "It isn't usually needed for bird like pokemon to be groomed but there are odd instances where it helps. They like to groom themselves and can be very picky." He then sent out his Mukuhawk and said, "Mukuhawk here though is used to helping train up those looking to learn grooming. I'm sure that you can handle this. Begin by petting Mukuhawk and letting her get used to you."

Eureka did just this, liking the feel of every feather. Mukuhawk cooed contently liking that Eureka had more experience that most people that learnt this through her. She watched Reiji bring out the half bucket and fill it with water. Reiji then proceeded to add in a purple liquid and she cooed louder in excitement. Reiji explained, "This is gumic acid stops the water from removing the feathers natural oils. That's only likely to happen if the pokemon is either sick of coming down with an illness but none the less is a good thing to do."

Reiji then picked up Mukuhawk and placed her in the half barrel and let her flap around comfortably. He then picked out what looked to Eureka like an ordinary pair of sticks. "If you use a brush for this, you're likely to mess up the feathers and then the pokemon can't fly." He then passed the sticks to Eureka. "Use them similar to how you would a comb but be even more gentle, like you're brushing your teeth and make sure to use both sticks."

Eureka reached over and stroked the feathers along. She noticed that each brush stroke was only making the mildest of differences. Mukuhawk rested her eyes and seemed ready to wait for a long time. Eureka continued to groom Mukuhawk and looked at Reiji who was calmly nodding. She looked at Reiji hoping that he would give more information but he didn't.

Reiji then said, "Okay, now you have that basic idea down, Mukuhawk can let you handle more difficult areas like where the feathers cross over." He then showed her how to use the sticks almost like chop sticks and how to genitally twist the feathers back into shape, only for Mukuhawk to then lean down and twist them a little differently with her beak. "Midori is better at this than I am."

Eureka giggled accepting Reiji's failure here with ease. She then tried to copy Mukuhawk's movements but found that Mukuhawk once again corrected her work also.

"It's a good thing that Mukuhawk knows what she's doing," Eureka said with a smile.

"Yes but understand that this can be needed at times." Reiji then knelt down and said, "It's true though, pokemon do know themselves very well and you should always feel ready to trust them."

Eureka frowned wondering why Reiji was telling her that. Eureka asked, "Can you show me more grooming?" That would be way better, Eureka thought than morals that felt like they were out of nowhere.

"Sure. Let's see. Ah, I know. I'll show you how to make fire types comfortable. Grooming them is much like any other pokemon but there's things that you can do that make them more relaxed that aren't as needed with other pokemon." Reiji then stood up and said, "Let's find a nice big rock to begin."

Just as they were going to look for a suitable rock, Shinji came over and said, "You can learn about grooming any time. I've packed our bags. Let's go and catch some pokemon."

Booburn looked a little disappointed as Eureka abandoned the search and ran over to Shinji. Reiji turned to Booburn and said, "I'll still groom you even if Eureka isn't here." Booburn grinned.

Seeing that Eureka felt sure that she was doing the right thing and ran off to catch pokemon with Shinji, Reiji felt content that both of them were going to have a wonderful journey. He contently got on with his job, not worrying about his family at all.