Chapter 1: Beginnings

Needless to say, life had changed a fair amount for Jullie Penn after her son had been born.

For starters, no longer did she have to constantly attend to her husbands… 'needs' – she spent most of her time now raising their son – something that Theodore refused to help with in any regard.

Her son was a fast learner – Keifer had started rolling around and was already crawling fast – zooming around like a Charjabug at just 7 and a half months. Every day, he seemed to get better at it, and it wouldn't surprise Jullie if he started pulling himself off of the ground soon.

Mari, Jullie's Alcremie, had also been a great help in raising the kid so far. If Jullie had to run into the other room or if Theodore called on her, Mari was always there to keep a close eye on Keifer and help him out if the infant made it clear he was struggling.

And whenever Jullie would come back into the room, Keifer would start excitedly babbling and practically crawl-charge at his mother's legs.

The one-time Jullie had convinced Theodore to at least try holding Keifer, the boy had started crying after being in his father's arms for only a few moments. Theodore had brushed it off as 'he needed to man up', probably not even in a completely lucid state at the time.

Keifer was definitely proving to be a mama's boy, however, whenever his Uncle Chuck, Uncle Milo or Grandpa Luke showed up, he was quick to charge at them too.

Another thing that made Jullie happier and even more proud of her son's development was seeing that Keifer's hair color had mostly taken after hers – albeit, it seemed to have the darker pigment that Theodore's had, but the green still made her little boy look handsome regardless.

There was one other male in the boy's family that he let hold him, and it at first came as a surprise to Jullie.

Theodore had given up most his team after their league run had ended a few years back – before he had become a worse man. He had offered to let them stay on as ranch hands or go out, exploring Galar on their own and leading their own lives.

Only one Pokemon remained, and perhaps that was because of his fiercely loyal nature, despite what his trainer had become.

The first time he had held Keifer, it was by pure accident. The Pokemon in question was Theodore's Gallade. It had been coming in from helping its' trainer with farm work, and Keifer had managed to crawl out of his playpen.

Jullie was making dinner at the time of it happening, and when she heard the excited babbling, she had turned from the stove to see a confused Gallade holding Keifer, the boy excitedly reaching his hands towards the Pokemon and making excited babbles.

"He desired to be lifted up. I… I'm sorry if you didn't want that." The Gallade looked at Jullie worriedly – he was afraid he might've done something wrong.

"..no! It's… it's fine – just surprising, actually." That day, something had changed in the Gallade. Often after that, he would help Mari with keeping an eye on Keifer whenever Jullie wasn't able to be around.

It made Jullie's heart swell, knowing that she could lean on the two Pokemon and her family.

She could hear him crying. It had started midway through, but Theodore was far too drunk to not let Jullie go without finishing first… and maybe that was the only positive to him not lasting very long at all.

The woman practically flew around her bedroom, trying to get herself cleaned up as Theodore snored loudly, despite their son's upset cries coming through the baby monitor. As she got herself cleaned up finally, she had failed to notice that the crying had stopped.

It wasn't until she was quickly moving down the hallway that she noticed that the crying had become happy babbles and coos. Walking through the door into her son's room…

Mari and Gallade were sat there. The former lightly singing and the latter rocking the boy in his arms. They all turned to see Jullie, both Mari and Gallade knowing what she had just gone through.

When Keifer saw her though, his babbles…

"Mama!" Instantly, all eyes were on him. "Mama!" His arms were outstretched to Jullie expectantly and it took every fiber of her being for Jullie to not completely fall apart as she lifted her 11-month-old son into her arms.

"Mama's here baby, mama's here." As she held him, the boy snuggled close to the warmth of her body, finally falling back asleep.

Looking to Mari and Theodore's Gallade, all she could do to not cry was mouth them a silent 'Thank You'.

Her son had just spoken his first words in front of his three parents.

"Get up." The words were sharp, and Keifer found himself waking up almost instantly. He turned to see his father standing in the doorway to his room. It was before the 4-year old's alarm normally went off, which confused him even more.

"Dad?" Keifer tried to talk to him, but he was ignored.

"Get ready and meet me out back. Don't take forever, either." That hurt a little, the older man not even acknowledging his son beyond that as he turned on his heel and left Keifer in the barely illuminated room.

He also realized Mari wasn't in there with him, which further upset the boy. He didn't want to cry, though – his dad got angry when he did. Said that 'crying wasn't manly' or something along those lines.

Not wanting to be in any trouble, the kid quickly got himself dressed and ready. Stepping out into the very early morning sun just as his father threw the last massive bale of hay out of the back of his small, red pickup truck. Keifer had never ridden anywhere in there with him – it reeked of something. He didn't know what, but it was definitely gross.

"Get this over to the Wooloo feeding spot – and you better get it done before I get back or you're in trouble. You're old enough now that you can start pulling your weight around here." Theodore nearly spat as he spoke to his 'son'.

When he mentioned the 'you'll be in trouble' bit, Keifer's heart dropped into the pit of his stomach; he'd been in trouble with his dad once and he never wanted it to happen again. He was helping Mari in the kitchen a few days ago, and a glass had slid out of the cupboard – it would've hit Mari if Keifer hadn't swatted it.

When the cup hit the floor and broke, Theodore was the first out of his parents bedroom. And by the time Jullie had caught up, it was too late for him to stop him; he had taken his belt off and lashed Keifer's hind in several times. Mari managed to yank the belt away from Theodore, but the second he saw Jullie out of the room, he practically dragged her back in.

It had hurt him badly and it made Keifer scared of Theodore – scared of his dad.

And as the older man hauled off in his truck, Keifer quickly sat into action to avoid getting whooped again.

However… that's when the reality of the task at hand sunk in. The haybales were at least twice his weight, and half as tall as him.

The 4-year-old felt a sense of dread as he began to try and grab the first one. He strained his body, but he couldn't even lift it a single inch. He could hear that the Wooloo were starting to wake up, and he didn't know when his dad was gonna be back.

Opting to try pulling the first haybale, Keifer had practically nearly dug his feet into the ground just to get it to start moving. And the worst part… the Wooloo feeding spot was on the other side of the field.

Why Theodore didn't just drop it over there in his stinky truck, the kid couldn't fathom.

Nor could he control the panic and fear that was starting to creep in.

"It's too… heavy!" He tried his hardest to pull the massive block of Wooloo food, barely making any progress. "Can't… upset… dad…!"

His eyes started to water as he fell on his butt. He had moved the first haybale only a quarter of the distance, and there were still two more…

"Woooooo!" Before he could start crying, he turned just in time to see the many Wooloo on the farm go rolling past him. He watched in awe as the dozen and a half of them surrounded the haybales and started chowing down.

The sight of that filled the kid with reliefe, the dread and fear that had been festering and about to boil over quickly dissipating as the sheep Pokemon finished the two bales of hay close to the house and then excitedly surrounded Keifer and fed on the haybale he had been pulling.

All of them were docile – a few times he'd come running out to play with them when his mom could supervise. A few times he had even tried rolling with them to… different degrees of success.

"Mum once said…" As he picked up the cords that held the hay together, the phrase came to his mind; his mom said it when she was relieved. "Thank Arceus! Yeah!"

Wanting to see his mom and get back inside, the kid ran for the house after throwing away the hay binds. He never wanted to have to try and do that again.

Jullie was about to go check on her son – normally his alarm went off by now and he'd practically come flying out of his room to give her a big hug.

But today was different. It had taken a minute, but Jullie had been awoken to the panicked noises of Mari.

And that instantly sat off alarm bells in Jullie's mind. Normally, the Alcremie would stay with her son at night – he didn't like being alone and Mari provided him comfort. The fact that she had left his room this early…

Jullie quickly threw something on as the sun rose further outside, and as she stepped into the kitchen, she heard the back door open and shut.

"Mum, are you awake?" She heard the voice of her son call out and Jullie met him in the living room. His hair was all disheveled and he hadn't even dressed himself properly.

"Keifee!" The mother hugged her boy close, slightly surprising the child, but Keifer didn't complain, returning her embrace. "What were you doing outside this early?"

What he said next, it infuriated Jullie and something inside her snapped.

"Dad woke me up early and… had me do farmwork. It was really, really hard, but the Wooloo just came up to me and ate so it was easy. But… trying to lift it was too hard." He rubbed his head a bit bashfully, leaving out the part where he was afraid his father would hit him again.

Jullie quickly put two and two together, only further lighting that anger inside of her as she comforted her son and let him get his emotions out.

"Am I in trouble mum?" He sounded scared.

"No! You're not in any trouble at all!" Jullie reassured her kid as she hugged him. "You shouldn't have been out there to begin with – the farmwork is your father's job, sweetheart." She was as calm as she could be outside, but inside, she was pissed. Off.

"Now… why don't you and Mari watch that cartoon you really like? I'll make your favorite for breakfast." Jullie kissed her son's forehead. "I'll have a chat with your father when he gets home."

It wasn't until after lunchtime that Theodore had gotten home. Keifer was in his room with Mari, the Alcremie helping him make his bed when the kid overheard his parents.

"Theodore, he shouldn't be out there even TRYING to lift that stuff! That could've seriously hurt him or worse! What were you THINKING?"

"I told you before he was born that he's your son and that he'd be pulling his weight around here." Keifer didn't realize that his father's speech was slurred, but what he heard next tore his being in half.

"He's OUR son and you need to start being a half-decent human and fath-"

SMACK!

The sound rang through the house and things went dead silent. Keifer stopped listening at that point as his mind swirled and heart pounded.

"I…" He started tearing up as he curled on his bed. Mari quickly tried to comfort him but he was already crying. "He… dad… dad hit mum!" He was blaming himself…

Keifer bawled his eyes out as Mari refused to leave his side. The small Pokemon desperately wanted to talk to him, but all it sounded like was her saying 'Alcremie' over and over.

"Keifer… please it's not your fault." She wanted him to hear it as she hugged him. If she could, she'd go in there and attack Theodore for hurting her friend, but… that wasn't gonna work.

She didn't leave his side and the 4-year-old cried himself into a nap, not knowing what tomorrow would bring.

As days turned into weeks, and then into months, life continued in the Penn Residence.

Theodore had started trying to keep Jullie to himself more as he forced more of the farmwork on Keifer.

The only light in the tunnel for the boy on that was Mari, the second Theodore would take off in the mornings, would be out there to help him. Using her moves, she could break down the hay into much easier to lift parts and the Wooloo would even meet them halfway.

And there would be some days where Theodore asked him to do much, much harder things. Those days, the second he got the chance Gallade would assist Keifer and Mari, deepening the bond between the three.

"Gallade… I need… your… help!" Today, the six-year-old had been told to rip up all the thorn bushes that had started growing around the Wooloo's Pond and despite having been lifting feed and other Wooloo stuff consistently for a long while now…

He couldn't get this last one on his own. Mari was inside with his mum that morning helping make breakfast, and Gallade had already been helping him.

As soon as Keifer had asked for the Psychic/Fighting type to help him, the Pokemon didn't hesitate to walk to the thorn bush the boy was having issues with. Using a bit of his psychic power, the Gallade yanked the bush out of the ground, Keifer looking at him in awe.

And without thinking…

"Thanks Dad!" The boy didn't even realize what he had said, hugging the Gallade who stood frozen for a moment.

There had been a few times where Keifer had almost called Mari Mum or Gallade Dad, but… never outright like he had just now.

Gallade had grown to love Keifer like his own son – as had Mari. But… there was a block on Gallade's end – fear that this wouldn't align with what his trainer wanted… yet he fought back against it.

"You're welcome Keifer." Gallade spoke to him gently with his telepathy, their bond deepening even further at that moment.

"When… when are you gonna be back?" Keifer was a little teary eyed as he hugged his grandfather one last time, the older man returning the child's embrace.

"I'll be back in time for your 7th Birthday champ. I promise."

If you saw Luke, you wouldn't think he was a day past 50 until you saw the silver hair. Even then, it wasn't until you asked him his age that you would know he was pushing into his late seventies.

What tore Keifer up about him leaving was that he loved his grandpa. There were a few weekends now where he and Mari had gone to stay with him, which not only got the two out of waking up extremely early and being forced to do farm work, but Luke always had plenty of fun things lined up for them to do.

And that wasn't the only cool thing in Keifer's eyes – Luke had some super awesome and strong Pokemon that he would have put on mock battles, the spectacle of it all bewildering the kid and making him wish he could be a trainer just like his grandpa had been.

And on Sundays, in the morning when he'd bring Keifer home, Luke, Mari, Keifer and Jullie would go to a place called Flo's Diner in Wedgehurst together, giving them all time together as a family.

"Alright… just be safe!" Keifer hugged him tight. He'd be strong – just like his grandpa!

To say he had been excited for his seventh birthday was an understatement. Keifer had barely been able to sleep the night prior, and instead of being dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn this morning, he got to wake up to his alarm, because Theodore was out of town the entire day getting a few different contracts for the farm!

As soon as breakfast had been cleared, the first person to arrive had been Keifer's aunt, Katie. She was a researcher working under the Aether Foundation in the Alola Region, so while he didn't get to see her that often, it greatly excited Keifer when he got the chance.

And that wasn't the only thing that made him even more excited to see her; a few days prior, on the phone, she told him that there was someone special he'd get to meet.

"Should we have him wait until everyone else shows up Jullie?" The Alolan Woman looked to her sister who was starting to prep everything for lunch that afternoon.

"Please don't make me wait! Please!" The kid was barely containing his excited energy, and that was all the answer Katie and Jullie needed.

"After talking about it with your mom… we decided that you could have your very own Pokemon!" Katie revealed her surprise to him and honestly, both women thought that the kid was about to have a heart attack, spontaneously combust or both.

Reaching into her bag, Katie pulled out a Pokeball. "This Pokemon is special – it was a helper around the lab before I recently caught my newest partner, Kira. When we asked if it'd like to meet you and be your friend, it was as excited as you are right now!"

Jullie found herself nearly moved to tears as Katie handed Keifer the Pokeball. She watched as her son got to meet his first Pokemon – one that he could call his own. It was always a tender moment for any person, but to Jullie, it was also a sign that her son really was growing up, especially given that he was already 7.

As quickly as he could, Keifer let the Pokemon out of its ball. In a small flash of light, the creature was revealed to be a Chikorita. It pawed the ground a bit and suddenly turned to be met with the face of her new trainer.

"…hi there!" The kid barely avoided screaming it out at her. "I'm Keifer! It's so awesome to meet you finally!" He grinned broadly.

"Rita!" The Pokemon responded happily, running up to Keifer who quickly lifted it into his arms, hugging the grass type close.

"Thank you, Aunt Katie, THANK YOU!"

The rest of Keifer's birthday had been just as much of a blast – his friends from school, Kassi and Hop, had been able to come over, alongside his Uncle Milo and, while not technically related, his aunt Flo had made it over as well and had helped his mom prep lunch and had even brought a gift for the green head.

Jullie and Flo went as far back as the former did with Kelly – childhood friends and she had even travelled with them during certain parts of their journey.

Speaking of the adults…

After Keifer, Hop and Kassi had gone outside to play with the promise that lunch and cake would be ready soon, it gave Chuck, Flo, Katie and Jullie a moment to talk.

Mainly about the Donphan in the room.

"Jullie, I get he wasn't always a bad guy, but the fact he couldn't even be here for your kid's birthday is… well, I don't think you need to hear it from me." Flo was the first to break the silence as she reached down into the oven to pull out the Cake that Mari had spent almost the entire morning preparing.

"Sis, if you're worried about not having a place or being able to take care of yourself and your kid, I've got plenty of spare rooms in Alola and could get you a job at the lab." Katie had only heard parts of what her sister had gone through, but Theodore was easily far, far worse than she knew.

"We're here for ya Jullie. You don't need to stay with Theodore." Chuck spoke in a reassuring tone as his sister-in-law's posture had slowly deflated as the other adults took their turns to address the situation.

"I'm not staying here for him." Jullie finally spoke up, turning to face her family. "This house, the life I've lived in it with my son, none of that is Theodore's. When… when the time finally comes, that right moment, I'll be done with him. I promise."

"That's one of the most relieving things I've heard in years." The four adults turned to see that the last person to arrive had finally made it – just as he had promised, Luke was there in time for his grandson's birthday. Jullie quickly found her arms wrapped around her dad. "Seems like I'm just in time for cake. Speaking of which… where's Keifer at?"

Keifer had been elated to see his grandfather. When he had heard him calling the kids inside for lunch and cake, he practically bolted across the field, jumping over Wooloo and coming to a rolling finish into hugging the older man.

His mother and aunt Flo's cooking was top-tier, but somehow it was topped by the cake Mari had made him.

Homemade Cream frosting that tasted like a sweet cloud spread wonderfully on top of hands down the best cake he'd ever eaten – after of course blushing through everyone singing happy birthday to him.

And the gifts he got were nothing short of great, either. Kassi and Hop had gotten him an entire set of Pokeballs – now he'd be able to potentially catch some friends for his Chikorita! Everyone else had gotten him gifts too, but to him, his partner Pokemon was the star on top.

And, well, getting to spend the entire day with his friends and family. Keifer wouldn't trade that for the world and he'd do whatever he could to keep having days like these.

No matter what it took.

"Bye guys! We'll see ya tomorrow!" He was already running towards home by the time Keifer said this to Kassi and Hop. Most days, the three friends would walk together, but there was an extra pep in Keifer's step.

School days meant he, Mari and Gallade didn't have to do nearly as much farmwork at the butt-crack of dawn, and he got to see his mom each morning he had school too! He got to see Kassi and Hop as well, the three still as good friends as ever.

Maybe it was because of the waffles his mom had made that morning, or maybe it was because the math teacher was gone today, but Keifer was in a great mood. Normally, he partially dreaded heading home because most the time it meant dealing with Theodore, but today, that wasn't gonna stop him as he and Buttercup ran down the familiar path from Wedgehurst to Postwick.

After his grandfather had passed away, Keifer was working towards the last promise he had ever made the man; to stay strong and be brave. The then-7-year-old figured that a good first step to that would be walking himself to and from school, and 3 years later, now 10, he was still going strong on that.

He had even stood up for himself against Theodore once or twice and didn't let the older kids at school push him around anymore – afterall, it was a little embarrassing when Kassi helped him off the ground the first time, but only because of how he didn't get up fast enough!

He wouldn't say things got better with Theodore at all throughout the past few years – he was still as much of an alcoholic as ever, still not caring for Keifer to the point that the kid started slipping up and calling him Theodore a few times here and there.

As for his mom, she was getting better – she was still somewhat weak from the defect that plagued her body after he'd been born, but she was able to be around a lot more often and not hogged by Theodore doing who knew what.

"I bet Mari's made her cookies again, Butterc-" Keifer's excitement practically nose-dived off a cliff as they approached the house and he could hear shouting.

Getting closer to the front door of his home…

"Him going to school is getting him nowhere when he's meant to be out doing fieldwork, which you won't even let him do half the time Jullie!" He heard the anger in Theodore's voice. "This gets rid of the little accident you chose to keep and makes us stinking rich! We could just get rid of those stupid ass sheep out there!"

"You aren't giving up OUR son! Keifer doesn't need to be out there every day doing farm work when he's as bright as he is – why can't you accept that!? He's OUR ki-"

SMACK!

Keifer flinched hard and Buttercup, bless the Chikorita's heart, tried to comfort her friend. It made the kid's blood boil whenever Theodore hurt his mom…

"We're putting him in PokeTech's Youth Altercation Program, and that's FINAL!" Theodore's next words made Keifer want to puke. "And when he's gone and we're rich, maybe we both can get some interesting changes…"

Keifer hadn't expected to almost immediately be face to face with Theodore when the older man swung the door open, but that's the situation he was faced with.

"Get in there and tell that woman your goodbyes, because when I get back, we're going on a ride." There was no love, no fatherhood, none of that in Theodore's voice as he looked down and spoke to his son. Keifer felt his heart twist and drop into his stomach as he watched the man get into his truck and drive off.

Keifer was ripped from that dread and fear, however, when he heard his mother sniveling. He and Buttercup ran into the house and found Jullie sat at the table, holding a hand over her right cheek, tears leaking out of her eyes.

"Mum?" Keifer finally spoke. He felt that rage from earlier flare up inside when he got a good look at the mark that Theodore had left on Jullie. "What's going on?"

"He… he wants to take you away." Jullie was physically drained – Theodore had made sure of that, and because of a stupid legal loophole PokeTech had, only one parent needed to give consent to essentially sign the rights of their child away. She'd try and fight back, but…

Hearing his mother's words…

Seeing how he was still hurting her…

Knowing how he had hurt both of them…

Something inside the ten-year-old finally snapped. That fear he had of Theodore, to keep dead quiet and just push past…

It was gone.

Replaced by rage.

"No." Jullie looked at him, shocked by the tone of her son's voice. She was in no position to fight her husband…

"Keifee…" Jullie hugged her son close, but that rage didn't leave him for a second.

"I'm not going anywhere mum, not with him, not ever!" His emotions started to boil over. "All he's done is hurt me – he's hurt you! All you've ever done is be nice, and helpful, and… and love me! He's done none of those things!" Tears of anger, tears of reliefe from finally getting to say it all out loud flooded out of him.

"I hate him! I HATE HIM!" He shouted, and it was rare for him to seriously shout. "He's… he's not my dad! He's nothing like you, and he's never wanted me, so… you know what? I don't want him either!"

Seeing the look in her son's eyes, hearing his voice…

Despite how unwinnable the situation seemed…

"This house, the life I've lived in it with my son, none of that is Theodore's. When… when the time finally comes, that right moment, I'll be done with him. I promise."

It was time.

"I won't let him tear us apart sweetie. I promise." Jullie hugged him tight, and together, the two planned on how they were going to deal with Theodore once and for all.

Finally, he was going to be able to get rid of that mistake. Theodore had a small grin on his face as the familiar sight of his home came into view. He was almost tempted to take a pre-celebratory drink, but… better to wait than to potentially get pulled over and have to deal with that mistake any longer.

They heard him pull up – Theodore always slammed the truck door closed. The man had gotten back from signing the last of the paperwork at PokeTech – once he showed up with Keifer, he'd legally be theirs.

Jullie and Keifer sat at the dining room table. On the off-chance that they could end this civilly…

That was practically out the window when the front door swung open.

"Come on boy. Don't make me come in there!" It wouldn't surprise Keifer if Theodore didn't even remember his name. After he barked out his demands, Theodore expected the child to obey and come out, but…

Nobody Came.

"Get outside NOW!" Theodore hollered, but Keifer and Jullie were unwavering. Was this child defying him!?

Snapping, Theodore barged into the house and found his wife and mistake sitting at the dining room table.

"Theodore. We need to have a talk." Jullie wanted to try and end this without needing to get physical – she wasn't strong enough and she didn't want her boy getting hurt.

"There's no need to have a talk – I need to leave and that boy is coming with me." He jabbed a thumb towards Keifer, who…

"That's right. You're leaving." Theodore's blood instantly started boiling. "And I'm staying."

Brave, badass, bold, brazen or a mix of all 4, Keifer's words were as solid as titanium. He wasn't leaving his home – his mom, his friends, his Pokemon, his family.

"Excuse me?" You'd think Theodore was going to burst a blood vessel with how enraged he was. He looked to Jullie, expecting the woman to back him up-

"Theodore, we're done. You're no longer the same man I fell in love with. I've tried countless times to help you get better, but you refused. You chose to not even try, and you've neglected our son since the day he was born. There's not a place in this home for you anymore."

"…"

Maybe… if only for almost a brief second, the tiniest part of the 'good' side of Theodore that remained tried to glimmer through. For just a brief second, Keifer and Jullie thought that maybe, that'd be the end of it…

But then came Theodore's go to…

Anger.

"ENOUGH!" He barged forward and roughly yanked Keifer by the collar of his shirt, dragging the boy out of his chair in his rage. "YOU'LL THANK ME FOR THIS LATER, WHORE!"

"THEODORE!" Jullie shouted at him and quickly rose to action, pulling her son away from the man, until…

It wasn't a slap.

It wasn't a hit.

Theodore punched Jullie.

She stumbled hard, immense pain flaring in the Galarian Woman as she almost buckled. Never had he done this – he had been rough in bed, had slapped her during arguments… but he had never brutally hit her like this.

"Let… ME… GO!" Keifer thrashed in Theodore's arms and accidentally head-butted him, causing the man to roar in agony and drop him square on the floor. His mother was hurt, and Theodore was attacking them.

"Now, remember kids! In an emergency, whether it be a fire, or you or a loved one getting hurt, remember, you can always reach out to Galar's Trusty Police!"

He had nearly fallen asleep during Super Pooch the Police Mightyeana's presentation at his school all those years ago, but today hearing that would come in handy.

"Mari, CALL THE POLICE!" Theodore had already gotten back up, and as soon as Keifer finished talking, the older man had roughly wrangled the smaller boy into his arms.

"NO MORE OF THIS! YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!" Theodore was rough, making his damn surest that Keifer couldn't headbutt him this time as Jullie had managed to get a grip on her pain. She couldn't reach them though-

"Chikoooooo!" The tussle had caused a certain Chikorita to come out of her ball, and with no hesitation, she fired a Razor Leaf at Theodore, the grass move cutting away at his hands, causing him to, once more, drop Keifer.

"MOTHERFUCKER, DAMNIT ALL!" Theodore had practically lost himself; the alcohol he had drank that morning was starting to kick in and he was NOT about to lose his ticket to riches and getting rid of his mis-

"LEAVE!"

Keifer charged him.

As hard as he could, as fast and as rough as he could, Keifer crashed into Theodore, sending the two flying out the front door.

What Keifer hadn't accounted for was the landing; he smacked his head on the last step of the stairs and rolled into the grass as Theodore landed flat on his back next to his truck.

It hurt, badly. But… as far as he could tell he wasn't bleeding. Yet… Keifer struggled to his knees as Theodore managed to stand up first.

"You wanna make this hard? Couldn't just do this ONE FUCKING THING for me!?" Keifer was scared. Why were the Police taking so long? Buttercup stood defensively in front of him, ready to protect her trainer.

Keifer didn't say anything as Theodore grabbed a Pokeball from his pocket and, in a flash, his Gallade appeared in front of him.

He had been aware of the situation, but his ball had been locked up to that point – Theodore kept it locked any time he went to the bar. And now that he could see everything clearly…

"Theodore, stop… please…" Jullie pleaded with him as she reached the door finally, but the woman's words had no effect.

"Gallade. Grab. The. Boy. And bring. Him. Here." Theodore's words were cutthroat.

The Gallade could physically feel Keifer's fear. The child was shaking as he stood there, Buttercup in front of him and almost as scared as he was as the Gallade stood opposite them.

He could feel Jullie's worries and fear too, and Mari's were apparent too as the Alcremie stood next to her trainer.

And nothing but burning anger and hatred, resentment… no, outright loathing was radiating from Theodore. The bright, young man that had caught him as a Ralts, that Jullie had fallen for, was now nothing more than a narcissistic, abusive, raging drunk and a complete failure of a father.

The Gallade couldn't bring himself to move. The will of his trainer clashed with his own, a mental battle raging inside the Pokemon.

When a Kirlia evolved into a Gallade, they had a natural born, practically hard-coded, fiercely loyal relationship to their master.

"What, are you braindead like the rest of those lazy bastards were!? GRAB THE KID SO WE CAN GET ON WITH OUR LIVES!" Theodore's words did it.

No one was going to treat the ones Gallade loved like that.

Overpowering Theodore's will, the Gallade turned and a blast of Psychic Energy fired from his being, striking Theodore head-on and sending the man crashing to the ground with one final thud.

It was over.

"Gall…ade…?" Keifer fell over too – shock had overtaken him, possibly from how much he had just put his body through, hitting his head as hard as he did or both.

Keifer tried to stay awake, but his vision swam as the sounds of his mother, Gallade and sirens filled the air…

The moment Theodore had gotten home, all Mari could do was watch the chaos unfold. The shouting, the back and forth; she had half a mind to savagely attack Theodore… but she knew that doing that would come back to make things worse. She wanted to help; not just be sidelined-

"MARI, CALL THE POLICE!"

That was Keifer's voice. She hadn't seen what had happened when things moved to the living room, but if he was yelling that… Keifer was Mari's child; she had helped raise him alongside Jullie. Moving as quickly as she could, she found the house phone and dialed the ever-important number, and after one ring…

"Galar Police, what's your emergency?" Mari heard the voice on the other end of the receiver and without thinking…

"My son! My son is in trouble! His father is hurting him and I can't stop it! I need help!" She shouted into the receiver, but all the dispatcher heard was a distraught Alcremie.

"Is this a Pokemon I'm speaking to?" On his end, the dispatcher was confused but already pin-pointing the address; a house in Postwick; it wasn't impossible that a Pokemon was dialing the police; it just didn't happen often.

"Alcrem! Alcremie!" He heard the panic in the Pokemon's voice, but a few seconds later he heard an actual human.

Jullie had stumbled into the kitchen and she took the house phone from Mari. "This is Jullie Penn…! My husband… he's trying to take my son! He's trying to take my boy!" She was winded, but Jullie pressed on. "Our house, we're on the hill towards the edge of Postwick, please send someone!"

"Ma'am, please breathe." The Operator did have a script to stick to, but that didn't stop his heart from going out to the clearly scared mother and Pokemon. "I've got someone on the way; is your son alone with his father?"

Jullie's heart dropped into the pit of her stomach; handing the phone back to Mari, she rushed to get back outside, leaving her orange-swirl Alcremie to try and communicate with the dispatcher…

"Keifer… please hang in there."

"-othing major at all. The body reacted to the shock the way it does for a lot of People and Pokemon."

It was certainly a voice he didn't recognize. Keifer sat up and realized that he was, A, alive and B, in a hospital room.

"That… that's so relieving to hear."

"MUM!" The doctor and Jullie turned to see that Keifer had woken up. The boy went to move but quickly realized that one of those weird I.V thingies was attached to him, and he'd been told you never wanted to yank those out. "Mum! Mum!"

"It's okay sweetie, I'm here." Jullie quickly walked up to her son. It was clear her eyes were red but… it almost sounded like a certain weight had been finally lifted from her voice. "Doctor Elaine was just telling me that you're okay! You're gonna have a small bump on your head for the next day or two, but you're in perfect health."

That was good! But… Keifer looked around the room. Mari was in his mother's arms, but…

Gallade was absent.

"Where's Da – where's Gallade?" Elaine looked a little surprised and Jullie felt her heart flutter a bit. "Doctor, can you please take this cord off of me so I can go see Gallade?"

"I… think the Pokemon was still being interviewed by authorities-"

"Please!" She couldn't say no to the pleading boy's face… and she did just give him a clean bill of health.

She looked to Jullie. "If you'd like, I can fax the remaining discharge Paperwork so you and your family can head home. I can't exactly imagine that the past twenty-four hours has been stress free."

"Definitely not. Thank you doctor." Jullie shook hands with the woman and watched as she took the I.V out of her son and bandaged him.

"Now then, no more hitting your head on the ground, or anything for that matter young man." Elaine got him to smile a little as the boy quickly leapt out of the bed. He hadn't even noticed he was in a different outfit from the previous day – his mind was still set on…!

"Mum, where's Gallade!" Jullie would've felt worried if she didn't know the bond between the Pokemon and her son.

"Now hold your Ponyta for just a second dear, we'll see him – promise." That got her son to calm down a little as they stepped out of the patient room. Keifer excitedly followed his mom down the hall and down a super fancy elevator.

As the elevator went down…

"Keifer… you're not in trouble, but… what you did was extremely reckless; dangerous, even." Jullie looked at her son. Theodore had been drunk and angry; he could've easily done far, far worse to the young boy. "If you had hit your head the wrong way or if Theodore hadn't lost his grip…"

The kid nodded slowly.

"Just promise me you won't go head strong into something like that again, okay?" Jullie spoke in a soft, yet serious tone.

"I promise mum." He hugged her as the elevator continued down.

He finally recognized that they were in PokeHealth when they reached the clinic's lobby. It was fairly huge and there were a few other nurses, patients and Pokemon milling about-

And sat facing two Indeedee and two officers…

"DAD!" Keifer ran, letting go of his mom's hand. He didn't stop running until he was in the arms of the Gallade, hugging him tightly. "You're okay! Please tell me you don't have to leave!"

"That's why he was so hectic – bless his heart." Jullie breathed a sigh of reliefe as she caught up with her son. "I'm sorry if he interrupted you detectives."

"It's not a problem Miss Penn. We just had to have our Indeedee confirm that what your Gallade had to say was true – it's not often that these sort of… circumstances happen."

As the adults began speaking about what Theodore was going away for, whether or not Keifer and Jullie would need to be there for a court hearing of some sorts, the kid was focused solely on Gallade.

"As far as I have been made aware this morning, I won't have to leave your side, Keifer." Gallade's psychic voice was soft, calm and caring. "I discussed at length with your mother while you were asleep about the entire predicament and…"

Keifer's heart nearly exploded when he heard what the Pokemon had to say next.

"If it is what you want, then I will fulfil the role of being your father. I will love and treat you as one of my own-"

Keifer tightened his hug, tearing up a bit.

"You already are my dad."

Morning country music, sometimes interrupted by ads or radio shows, filled the air as the family of four stepped into the diner. It had been a few days since that fateful afternoon, and the Penn Family was ready to move forward with their lives.

"Jullie! You haven't been in here on a Sunday for a while now!" Flo was surprised to see her as she led them to a booth. "And there's my favorite little rascal of a nephew!" Flo rustled Keifer's hair a little, causing the kid to laugh. "What's the occasion?"

"Flo… I did it." The waitress raised her eyebrow a bit before realization dawned on her. Her jaw practically dropped so far to the floor a Flygon could've waltzed in and out.

"Did you… did you really?"

"The Divorce Papers go through on Wednesday." Jullie smiled to her sister-from-another-mother. "Everyone else already knows, and the four of us-" She smiled to her family, "Are at peace finally."

"Holy Arceus, Jullie!" Flo hugged her. "I… WOW I'm just… gosh I'm really darn happy for you!" Flo could see a change in Jullie's eyes already. "Well, I won't sit here and… air the laundry so to speak. Lemme go get you guys some menus."

As Flo walked through her diner, that left the four sitting at the table.

With Theodore no longer looming over them, a lot could and was going to change.

Starting with them finally getting to be one thing.

A Family.

A.N: Hey all, FairyHat here! I want to thank

you for making it through another

chapter of the story! I just wanted to let ya know that there IS

a Discord server where readers of this story or any other GTiG Content can

join and read stuff early or just make some friends!

discord dot gg slash R3g9js4efK

(P.S, reviews would be greatly appreciated!)