Meissa enjoyed swimming with her friends for hours, and the words of her parents were almost forgotten. She loved the water, and her mother always said she would make a great Vaporeon some day. But Meissa didn't want to think about the future, and the uncertainty she felt. She only wanted to think about the present, her and her friends spending the day together.
Her friend Yippy however, was thinking of the future. "Hey, Meissa" he said. "I know you didn't want to talk about this, but what will you do when you leave your parents?"
"I don't know Yippy." said Meissa. "I guess I could find a place to make my own burrow somewhere in the forest, but after that I just don't know."
"We can help you with that" Yippy said. "Right Emily?"
"Yeah, we probably could." Emily replied. "But that can wait until-" Emily was suddenly interrupted by a sharp cry from the forest, which caused birds to fly up from the trees in fear. "What was that?" she said with surprise.
"I don't know." said Meissa. "But it didn't sound close, so we should be fine."
"Ok then." Emily said before turning back to Meissa. "As I was saying, that can wait until later. Your parents probably aren't making you leave now, so you could still stay with them for a little while."
"I don't know if I want to stay with them if they want me gone." said Meissa. "If they don't want me there, I won't be there."
"I don't think it's that they don't want you there Meissa." Yippy said. "They just know that you need to go soon, and they want you to be ready."
"Yeah, maybe" Meissa said back. "I guess I kind of overreacted."
Another cry from the forest was heard, this one sounding a little different from the first.
"Whoever that is needs to be quiet." Meissa said. "Anyway, maybe I should go back home and talk to mom and dad."
"I think you should." said Emily. "They are probably worried about you since you ran away crying like that."
"Emily." Meissa said. "Stop with the mind reading."
"Sorry." said Emily. "Sometimes I just can't help it."
A third cry came from the forest, even louder than the other two, and now Meissa was really annoyed. "Shut up!" she yelled. "Nobody wants to listen to you!" Meissa then said goodbye to her friends and walked back into the woods towards her parent's burrow. There was still plenty of daylight left, but she felt that she needed to see her parents as soon as possible.
"What should I say?" she wondered to herself. "Should I apologize? They just want what's best for me, but does that really mean I have to leave?" She was unsure how her parents would react, and what they would tell her, but she knew the only way to find out was to speak to them. She soon arrived back at the burrow, where she was greeted by her mother, who was standing near the entrance.
"Meissa," her mother said, running over to her. "There you are, I had no idea where you went. I'm sorry if what we said this morning upset you."
"It's alright mom." said Meissa. "And I'm sorry I ran off like that." "Oh, don't worry sweetie." her mother said. "I don't blame you, it must have been quite a shock."
"Yeah, it was. But I think I can talk about it now." Meissa said. "Where's dad?"
"He went off to look for Rigel so we could tell him what we told you." her mother replied. "I guess he still hasn't found him."
Meissa thought of where Rigel might be, but couldn't remember any place that he usually stayed "Let's see." she thought. "He sometimes goes places with his friends, but what could he be doing?" Then it hit her. The stone. He seemed to be so attached to that stone, even though he had only saw it for the first time yesterday, of course he would go to see it again.
"Mom, I think I might know where he is." Meissa said. "He might be at that weird rock he found yesterday."
"What makes you think that?" asked her mother.
"I don't know." Meissa said. "He just really liked it, and that's the only place I could think of him being."
"Alright." said her mother as she started walking towards the forest. "Let's go see if he's there."
Meissa then followed her mother down the forest path in the direction of the stone, picturing Rigel sitting on top of it, looking out into the distance.
As the two were walking, Meissa thought to herself about Rigel. "I wonder how he'll take the news. Knowing him he'll just clam up and not talk to anyone. That's something else he needs to get over" Soon the stone was visible up ahead, but there was something different about it. It still stood high above the surrounding trees, but the patterns that were there yesterday had disappeared completely, leaving the stone a featureless grey, and Meissa couldn't see Rigel anywhere around. "Hmm... I guess he's not here." Meissa said. "We should probably go back home and see if dad found him."
"Maybe we should." said her mother. "They are probably waiting for us."
Meissa and her mother then started to turn back to the burrow, but stopped when a dark shape stepped out onto the path. Meissa let out a small cry, before realizing that the dark shape was her father. "Dad, don't do that! You nearly scared me to death!"
"Sorry Meissa." her father said. "I thought you and your mother would be back at the burrow waiting for Rigel."
"We were doing that." said her mother. "But Meissa thought Rigel would be here."
"Well apparently he's not." Meissa's father said back. "I haven't seen him anywhere, and it's starting to get dark. I'm getting a little worried."
"He should be fine." said her mother. "Meissa and I are heading back home. In about an hour you should come back too if you haven't found him. He wouldn't stay out after dark."
