"Here, Mom. Open this one." The Lake Ball rested exactly in place in the center of her palm with the small button, eerily, facing the mother. She looked over the design with her brow concentrated in confusion, but nevertheless, she gingerly received the Lake Ball, yet, she still exhibited more confusion. She held the smaller version of the device between her index finger and thumb, noting with awe of its tiny shape and size compared to those of her children's, but what caught her imagination the most was the fact that some Pokemon—big or small—was resting peacefully and safely inside of these portable machines no bigger than a ping-pong ball! How could this happen, she thought, but the golden glint of the paint underneath quickly snagged her attention and drew it towards the unusual design. It was so incredible and so artfully skilled that she had hardly noticed Rolf's silence replaced by Touko's voice. "Mom, you do know how to open it, don't you?"
"I'm sorry, dear?" Rolf had just joined with Titania as both eagerly but happily awaited the arrival of their next comrade, but more importantly, friend. But they grew impatient. Rolf barked quickly at the woman, his tail casually wagging back and forth with his alluring golden eyes pointedly fixed on the small prison keeping his possibly most dear friend in check. Touko somewhat noticed this so she made a deliberate point to hastily present her instructions, but she also wasn't quite sure on who would burst first—Rolf or Bel.
"You press this button—that's the core—once to ready the ball." Her mother had nimble fingers after years of countless sewing projects, yet she had an unmistakable firm grip just in her two deft fingers. Touko noticed this, mostly because she was almost unable to adjust the tiny ball's position to orient herself during the brief tutorial, but there was no need for it. Her mother simply didn't want to accidentally drop the object and smash some important mechanical device. "Don't hold it that hard. You might want to relax your palm when you do this." Her mother tapped the button, and once she did, immediately the ball sprang to life in its full, larger form, covering most of her palm. "Then, if you want to let the Pokemon out, you press and hold that same button. The ball should open."
"Okay, dear. Thank you. It's been a while since I did this." She chuckled under her breath and released yet another blob of sheer white light. The blob, as it collided upon the table, molded and transformed into a figure that had to be a solid. When the light faded away, a small Oshawott stood before them with eyes closed and relaxed expression upon its face. It's sleeping, Cheren thought as his spectacles flashed in analysis once more, but Bel was much more than delighted.
"It's so cute!" She squealed, and that was enough to make the Oshawott stir and slowly come into consciousness. "What's its name?"
"Mist," Touya wasted no time in reading the manual that Touko had unknowingly placed upon the table. He, more or less, glanced at the page, never noticing great bold print the word 'NOTE.' Instead, he still eyed that Ultra Ball stalwartly sitting in the plush comfort of its makeshift house, but something was incredibly odd in the air, at least to Touya. As he stared at the inactivated ball, he could almost feel a pair of eyes leering back at him, for reasons unknown. But as he stared, Cheren soon joined the competition with senses so acute, he could be considered a scholarly fox.
The Oshawott awoke as the females patiently waited, but as she did, bit by bit it became clear to her that she was indeed in a different environment. It smelled differently, sounded differently, but worst of all, her beloved Trainer could not be found! As her eyes opened and sense reignited, she slowly took in everything in one panoramic view. Bel was giggling, Touko's mother was smiling very gently, Touya and Cheren were still preoccupied with a haze in the atmosphere, but Touko refrained from doing any of this. Once she saw that saddened look in Mist's eyes, she knew something was wrong.
When Mist concluded that Alder was neither in sight nor hearing range, she grew terrified of the creatures around her. Tears dwelled in her eyes, painfully taking their sweet time to gather into a larger amount suitable to fall. Her attention and vision whipped here and there, but there was no Alder. She called for him, but there was no response, not in his voice anyway. She sniffed the air and there was none of his scent. But when she finally spotted Titania and Rolf, she was more than overjoyed. The humans—including Cheren—witnessed what would be the most human thing a Pokemon had ever exhibited: comfort. Titania, with deep motherly guidance, chirped towards Mist, talking some ease into the youth's troubled soul and effectively calmed her down. Rolf, as he sensed that Mist was still a bit upset out of fear, strolled right over to her and smoothly rubbed his furry side against her, purring loudly as he did so. It worked wonders.
However, at this time, Touya's skillful sleight of hand plucked the Ultra Ball right from its den mere seconds before Cheren attempted to grab it. Cheren frowned and glared at Touya's mischievous and self-confident smirk as the Ultra Ball was practically dangled and wagged in front of his face. But when Touya then flashed a cheesy smile, Cheren merely rolled his eyes and used a hand to support his face in sheer annoyance and disappointment. Indeed, he did have his heart set out for that Ultra Ball simply to know how it feels to release a powerful Pokemon, but as he recalled this, his grip on the Heavy Ball intensified.
However, a sharp glint of light caught his critical coal eyes. He sharply followed it and spotted the faint yet constant glow of a light blue aura around the Oshawott. As the Pokemon turned around to bravely view her surroundings, his eyes had finally found the light that they fancied quite strongly. In Mist's paws was a small blue orb, no bigger than an activated Pokeball, but it shined with a luminous and welcoming white light. This light shined purer than even the releasing light of Pokeballs, and it was surely a true sight for sore eyes. Cheren's willpower was shattered at the luminosity of this shining orb uncannily resembling the great blue Earth. His eyes went wide with curiosity, his glasses flashed as he readjusted them, and, for just a fraction of a second, he could somewhat clearly make out the image of another Pokemon—or so he thought—within the light itself! There has to be a reason, he contemplated deeply, why Alder would have such a thing. What is it? A water stone?
Yet, curiosity crept through him too much. With a slow, precise motion, he reached out for the coveted jewel without thinking too much on the subject. However, just before he executed such a risky motion, Touya activated the Ultra Ball in preparation for the new arrival. Unknown to Cheren, Mist had acquainted herself with the humans after Rolf's igniting encouragement, and the others were blissfully preparing for the new arrival. However, Touko, out of the corner of her eye, caught Cheren in his act of deadly curiosity.
But even she, with her advantage, could not stop Cheren fast enough. Suddenly and without warning, the Ultra Ball laid in Touya's hand violently shook, the core glowing red with surging energy. Immediately, Touya gasped in alarm, drawing everyone's attention except for Cheren's, which Mist noticed with blank curiosity.
The next few seconds were a blur.
Shards of spectacle glass shattered into thousands of little shards that scraped his skin, not bloody, but enough for him to feel a multitude of Beedrill-like stings and to draw a few drop of blood. Some shards embedded themselves in the skin of his nose and forehead, but these were minor and easily could be plucked out. But what he didn't see was the very culprit of this attack. The air stood still as the situation came into focus bit by bit: right between Cheren's outstretched arm and Mist's body still with her orb stood a moderately sized and steaming Mienshao.
This haughty Mienshao puffed out his chest and glowered quite triumphantly at Cheren's gaping form and deliberately used his body to completely block Mist's sight from Cheren's large coal eyes. The Pokemon growled lowly and swiftly, eyes shooting threats at the boy, and arms crossed to alert him to some finality. During the Mienshao's burst of pride and triumph, Mist remained strictly flabbergasted. Her eyes were probably the same size of Cheren's, but after a few moments of shocked silence, they narrowed straight at the back of the Mienshao's head. She yelped and whined consistently to assault his ear to, perhaps, teach him a lesson; however, his countenance and overprotective attitude was unwavering.
So, she launched a precisely-aimed Water Gun straight at his head.
The impact was enough to grab his attention. He shivered at the cold chill associated with the blast then turned to face her with beat red cheeks and a glare filled with annoyance. Cheren was forgotten in that moment. He silently watched the two Pokemon argue with each other, neither winning nor loosing until Titania intervened. However, Cheren gradually regained movement of his body, mostly his arms, but when the present situation dawned on him, he quickly wiped the small drops of blood on his nose and forehead as best he could. The slightly bloody glass shards were a joy to take out, so he had to be assisted by Bianca all while muttered some incoherent data he surveyed from the Mienshao.
The Mother visibly flinched and fidgeted where she stood; she was not quite sure what to make of the situation. Her father's Pokemon had never once struck a human, as he claims, and were benevolent, if not, then non-malicious to humans. But here this Mienshao stood, arguing with another Pokemon over striking a human.
Touko and Touya, twin novice Trainers, repeatedly glanced at Cheren while asking of his current state of health. His injuries didn't look very serious—just a few specks and drops of blood with small glass shards dipped in crimson. In fact, Cheren even muttered that the pain was only a mere sting and not excruciating. He would heal after a day. However, Touko was still upset inside. This was now her Pokemon—her Mienshao—that attacked one of her best friends! There was no telling what this Pokemon or what others could do to anyone else. She needed to be a Trainer and she needed to do it now. So, she gathered up her courage and, in the best stern voice that she could copy from her mother, addressed the Mienshao.
"Look at what you did! Don't attack a human. Didn't my grandfather teach you anything, you…horrible Pokemon!" The Mienshao turned his attention to her, eyes wide with incredulity. He looked around quickly, as if to place the blame on another, but when he caught the intimidating glare from Titania, he froze and turned back to Touko. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"It doesn't matter," Cheren spluttered as he snatched the towel offered to him by her Mother. "You won't understand it, anyway."
"Your grandfather didn't…hurt one of these Pokemon, did he?" Bel spoke slowly and carefully, but the look in her eyes was just about as incredulous as the Mienshao's.
"Of course not! He wouldn't dare!" Touko spoke firmly and flatly then turned to Touya. "Did Grandpop say anything about this Pokemon?"
"How should I know? He didn't tell me anything." Touya, as stubborn and oblivious as ever, looked away from her after a few seconds and watched the Mienshao bully upon the Shinx. Rolf didn't like that too much, so he continually bat away the Mienshao's hand, until the bigger Pokemon plucked Rolf up by his tail and laughed as he dangled in mid-air.
Touko looked upon her brother with some sense of disappointment. "Then read the manual. Does it say anything?" Touya felt his face grow hot from that subtle comment. There was no excuse of why he didn't think of that before—he knew that—but he wished he could defend himself somehow. He quickly flipped through the pages until he found the correct one labeled 'Ultra Ball' in bold black ink.
"It doesn't say anything unusual about him, except that he may fight with his brothers—especially Rolf the Shinx." His sentence trailed off slowly, as if his brain slowed with processing the idea behind those words. He looked up and caught the bewildered stare of Cheren who simply shook his head after a few moments.
"They would have to be half-brothers then."
"They're not hurting each other, right?" Bel held her breath as the two Pokemon scuffled, but the Mienshao seemed to be hurting the Shinx by pulling his tail and lifting him by the paw.
"I don't think so, Bel. They seem to be just playing." The Mother commented quite casually and smiled very faintly while seeing how adorable the Shinx was in trying to bat away his older brother. Touko discreetly leaned over Touya's should as she read the rest of the passage; however, there was nothing terribly important to be found other than the Pokemon's name and moveset. She snatched the manual right from under him as if she was snatching a carpet from under his feet.
"His name's Boyd." As that name escaped her lips, the Mienshao's ears twitched a bit before he turned his attention to her. She noticed him drop the Shinx onto the table, but the expression in his eyes was not the same as it was towards Cheren. He eyed his new Trainer cautiously, taking in every detail of the human, but he ended up scoffing and turning away with arms crossed once more. Touko noticed his analytic stare, so she froze right in place in confusion and slight anxiety. However, when he turned away from her with an indignant scoff, she quickly grew flustered. "Hey! Who do you think you are, Boyd? I'm your Trainer; you have to listen to me!" He sneered at her distress and cared to give even a glint of a glance in her way through his thinly slit eyes. She grew even more flustered to the point where she was speechless at his incredible lack of respect. But this was to be expected.