Author's Note: I'm starting to run out of ideas for Author's Notes, so they may not appear very often unless I really have something to add to the chapter. Just a heads' up. Blabbity blabbity, Happy Reading, everyone!
The search around the entire town lasted a good twenty minutes before I found no sign of my childhood friend. So, I decided to check outside of town instead. I followed my Town Map's directions towards Route 20, only to be stopped by a kid wearing an orange jersey, black shorts, and a tangerine-colored cap.
"You, me, battle!" he said so suddenly, calling out his Patrat before I had the chance to say anything.
"I guess we're battling then," I sighed, deciding to use Eris to battle.
When she came out, my Purrloin was still taking a nap, only to wake up so suddenly and look around at her surroundings.
"What's the meaning of this?" she demanded to know. "Are you sending me out in a battle?"
"Uh, yeah. That's the point, Eris."
"No, uh-uh. I refuse to get my claws dirty for petty reasons such as this.
"Listen, you! You don't have a choice! We just got back from the Pokémon Center, so you're in perfect condition to battle!"
"That doesn't mean I want to, though-"
Patrat attacked Eris with Tackle when her guard was down, sending her skidding across the ground. Her once-sleepy eyes turned irked, her claws becoming visible as she pounced at Patrat with Scratch. She kept scratching it and scratching it until I pulled her off of the wounded Pokémon.
"Okay, I think that's enough, Eris," I told her as her anger mitigated.
"You win," the kid said, paying me a measly 64 PokéDollars.
I sent Eris back to her PokéBall and moved past the boy and across the bridge. I searched high and low for Haley all over the Route. No matter where I looked, he wasn't anywhere in sight. I came across a sign that said "Floccessy Ranch", so I decided to check it out for the chance that he'd be there.
"Maybe he's in here," I pondered in my head, "but what would Haley be doing at a-"
I let out a yelp of surprise as someone placed their hands around my eyes. I was about to strike out in self-defense when I heard the voice I was looking for this entire day. He took his hands away from my eyes and wrapped his arms around my body from the back.
"Who's the ninja, Hynden?" Haley asked with affection.
"Hi, Haley," I greeted. "I've been looking all over for you!"
"Huh, so now it's a paradox? At least we're finally reunited! ...Again!"
"Your sister wanted me to give this to you."
I reached into my bag and gave Haley the Town Map. He looked at the item with a warm smile and put the Map into his own bag. But, then he took out a PokéBall from his belt.
"Now that you're here, Hynden," he said, "I challenge you to a battle! Whaddya say, old friend?"
"I'd say bring it on, man!" I agreed, throwing one of my PokéBalls out in the open. "Tidus, go!"
At the same time Haley's Tepig appeared, Tidus was called out of his PokéBall too. Tidus was faster, so he attacked with a Tackle attack, shoving Tepig across the field.
"Ace, use Tail Whip!" Haley commanded.
Ace waved its springy tail in a distracting manner, which made Tidus focus his attention on the possible trick it was trying to pull. Before he knew it, Ace attacked with a critical Tackle, leaving Tidus winded.
"Uhh, Tidus, you use Tackle too!" I decided after spraying him with a Potion.
Tidus charged in at Ace with all of his might, leaving a critical hit on the Tepig. Then, both Pokémon used a simultaneous Tackle and Vine Whip attack on each other, facing away from the other when the attack struck. In the end, Ace fell to the ground unconscious, even though Tidus lost his balance.
"Return," Haley said, recalling his Tepig after I healed my Snivy and recalled him. "I'm sorry about that, Ace. I'll try much harder with you next time. As for you Hynden, great job as always! At least I know now you're definitely the girl I can count on for backup!" Haley reached into his bag, searched his cooled lunch pouch, and pulled out something that made my mouth start to water. "By the way, I thought you'd like a little snack."
"W-Watermelon slices?!" I beamed as Haley handed me the slices of red fruit with black seeds. "Oh my Arceus, thanks! It's been so hard to get my hands on some this entire month before it sells out!"
"Hey, how could I forget your favorite?" Haley replied, smiling as I chowed down on the delicious and juicy fruit.
I carefully avoided swallowing the black seeds and instead ingested the sweetness of the red fruit they once resided in. Looking at Haley with a mischievous look in my visible left eye, I began spitting the seeds at him, and he reacted by covering his cheek and laughing.
"Heh, come on, Hynden!" he chuckled, running away as I kept spitting watermelon seeds like a BB gun. "No fair! I don't have any ammo!"
"Look, now I'm using Bullet Seed!" I laughed, spitting more tiny watermelon seeds playfully.
He ran around the ranch away from me until I finally ran out of seeds to spit at him. Even then, we were both laughing merrily like old times before I moved to the Unova region. Haley started playfully chasing me until I fell into the pile of hay behind the open fence, and he pinned me to the pile with a warm, yet rather loving gaze.
"I've got you, Hynden," he purred, his smirking face turning rather rosy as he discovered our foreheads were making direct contact when the bill of my cap was pushed back.
"I guess you do, Haley," I laughed back, pushing his face up so I had some breathing room.
"Hey, who're you two?" a female voice asked.
Haley and I were startled by the sudden appearance of the person, causing both of us to fall back-first into the hay pile until Haley rolled completely off of it and I straightened out my right eye's peek-a-bangs while picking hay out of my hat and long ponytail. We saw the voice belonged to a young woman standing beside her just-as-young husband. The woman had a rather satisfied smile on her face as she looked at us.
"Ah, young love," she sighed, looking at her husband. "Kinda like us before we got married, right, Lester?"
"You know it, Eunice," Lester agreed, placing an arm around his wife.
"L-Love?!" I squeaked, doing a double-take. "No no! Haley's just my best friend is all! Nothing more, okay?"
"Y-Yeah… nothing more!" Haley piped up after hesitating in a somber-sounding tone. "We didn't mean to intrude on your ranch!"
"Nah, it's okay!" Eunice insisted. "Lester and I love company! Besides, you couldn't have chosen a better time to come!"
"See, we've got this Herdier," Lester explained as one Herdier walked up sadly. "Poor girl's lost 'er mate, so we need help finding him."
"You lost your other Herdier?!" Haley gasped. "Say no more! Hynden and I will help you find it! No one deserves to be separated from their Pokémon partner forever!"
Without even waiting for me, Haley bolted off in the other direction. Eunice sprayed all three of my PokéBalls with a Potion each in case they sustain more damage, and I was able to chase after Haley again.
"Haley, wait for me!" I called after him, catching up to his hasty self soon. "Any luck?"
"Nope! Not a Herdier in sight!" Haley answered.
I noticed a Mareep close-by, the Pokémon making me smile due to the rarity of seeing Pokémon native to my home region in Unova. I walked over to it and got its attention by clearing my throat.
"Excuse me, have you seen a Herdier nearby?" I asked it.
"Hmm, well, one of them is with the farmers," Mareep answered, "but I believe I saw her mate go down that path. He must have seen something and followed it…"
"Thanks! Haley, let's go down there! Follow me!"
Haley did as instructed as I trekked into the forest path. As we walked, we searched every corner and tree for Herdier until we heard a cry of fear. I heard the cry come from the north, so I told Haley to follow me there. But, I soon lost track of the Herdier's sounds.
"I know I just heard it!" I insisted.
"Yeah, so did I," Haley agreed. "I'll check here, and you check over there!"
I walked in the opposite direction of Haley. I heard the Herdier's fearful noise again coming from beyond a couple of trees, so I turned the corner and went into the grove. But, what I saw was the opposite of pleasant. My eyes widened as I gasped in total shock at the sight of an orange-haired person wearing a uniform I hoped to never see again for the rest of my life. The blazoned symbol alone was enough to fuel my anger, but I restrained my hand when I felt it spark real magic electricity again.
"Team Plasma!" I shouted, storming up to the Grunt.
"I've been spotted!" they gasped, suddenly abandoning the missing Herdier and almost ran past me.
Before they could even think to escape, I unsheathed Storm's Blade, pinned the Grunt to a nearby tree, and held the sharp part to their neck. I had no intent of actually causing harm to them, but if they didn't tell me the information I wanted, then they'd be one unfortunate sucker.
"You have to the count of ten to tell me why Team Plasma's back before I gouge out your windpipe," I threatened, holding the blade closer. "One… two…"
"H-Ha! A-As if I'd really tell you!" the Grunt mocked. "Y-Your dumb katana doesn't scare me!"
"EIGHT. NINE…!"
"Okay okay, it does scare me! A lot! But, all I can tell you is we're part of the new legion of Team Plasma after some girl split up the old one a couple years ago! Oh, please don't kill me! This is my first day on the job, and my boss wouldn't like it if I spilled all the beans to you!"
Rolling my eyes, I released the cowardly Grunt and took my katana blade from their neck. Forgetting all about the Herdier beside us, they ran off in a panic. I crouched to the ground and faced the Herdier, who started licking me with joy when it saw the Neo-Plasma Grunt was gone.
"Hahaha! Okay okay, down!" I chuckled, getting the Herdier off of me. "Everything's alright now, little Herdier."
"Oh, thank you very much, Miss! That person lured me with a Pachirisu squeak toy, and I thought it was real. But, I guess my habit of chasing them really bit me in the butt this time… Again, I can't tell you how thankful I am you saved me!"
Just then, Haley came into the grove with Herdier's mate and Lester. The female Herider immediately rushed over and nuzzled noses with her lost mate. While Haley looked just as relieved as Lester, his face was also much more worried, as if he was the one who lost Herdier.
"You've found it!" Lester cheered, hugging his lost Herdier. "Thank you so much you two! Your help is so appreciated!"
"How are you so calm about this?" Haley asked, "Your Herdier could have been lost forever, and I'd bet you wouldn't be able to live with yourself, now would you?"
"Of course not! But, the important thing is Herdier's safe and sound! Are you okay, young man?"
"I'm just peachy! Absolutely serene, sir! I'm probably the most calm person in this forest right now!" Haley bellowed, the worry and stress obvious in his tone before it calmed when I patted his head. "Ah… thanks, Hynden. I needed that. How did you find Herdier before I did?"
"It was over here in this grove. I rescued it from Team Pla-"
I stopped my words the moment Haley faced me with shock in his red eyes. I thought of a way to change my words, lest I exacerbate any other reaction from him (even if I didn't see any reason he would).
"I rescued it from… those trees! You see that really tight part? Herdier got its leg trapped between it, and I pulled it out."
"That's not true!" Herdier objected, "You saved me! Saved me from a mean person with orange hair who lured me with a fake Pachirisu!"
There was never a moment where I was more than thankful to be the only person in this grove who could understand what Herdier was saying. My relief grew when Lester chuckled and passed off Herdier's apparent barks as nothing.
"Its thanking you some more, and it can't control its joy!" Lester believed. "Again, thank you both, Hynden and Haley. We couldn't have found our lost Herdier without you! Now come on, Herdiers, let's go home. Eunice is probably worried sick now!"
Lester left the grove with the two Herdier, but I saw that Haley was still vexed about the whole thing. He was repeating something to himself, but I couldn't make out what it was.
"Haley, what's wrong?" I asked him, "Ever since Julia told us to take care of our Pokémon, you've been more wound up than a music box!"
"It's fine, Hynden!" he insisted. "Let's just say recent events have gotten me more in a rage than ever!"
"Is that even possible for you?"
"Well, now it is!" he snapped. His tone thankfully calmed again. "Sorry, I've just had so much stress lately. What with years of being separated from you, and now what happened, things have taken a toll on me. I think I'm just gonna go since you probably have Gyms to tackle and stuff."
"Let's keep in touch. I'll register you in my new Xtransceiver."
Without hesitating, Haley's face broke into a huge grin as he turned his on. When I activated mine, we held the wrist-devices close to each other until a high-pitched PING-PONG-PING sounded off. I checked my contacts and saw Haley's name on the list.
"There, now it's official," I decided.
"At least I can finally keep in touch with you more frequently," Haley remarked with joy in his tone. "Now I don't have to worry about not seeing you again whenever we're separated! Thanks and good luck, Hynden!"
Haley bolted off in the opposite direction, leaving me to find my way back to the Floccessy Ranch. I remembered where he ran, so I followed that path until something bounced onto my shoulder. I looked down and saw it was an Azurill.
"Surrender, human!" she giggled playfully. "You're now my prisoner!"
"Aww, where'd you come from, little one?" I asked, picking her off my shoulder and into my palms.
"Don't call me little!" she snapped, now angry. "I may be just a kid, but I'm the toughest little Azurill around! You can call me Michi, but what can I call you?"
"Hynden. Y'know, I could use someone like you on the team. Why don't you tag along, and I'll train you so you'll be even tougher!"
"Sounds like a plan, Trainer! Consider me recruited!"
I took a PokéBall from my bag and tapped its tip to Michi's ear. She went inside in a flash of red light, and her release was made official when it clicked shut after three shakes. With a new teammate in my party, I arrived back at the Floccessy Ranch and bid farewell to Lester, Eunice, and the two Herdier one last time.
"By the way, Hynden," Eunice spoke, "you may wanna be careful near that patch of grass o'er there."
"Why? What's gonna happen?"
"Well, there's this little Riolu that lurks around that patch, and he's not all too friendly with 'outsiders'. After what's happened to him before we took him in, we don't hold it against him."
I saw the patch of grass Eunice was pointing to rustle and shake. Despite her objections, I got closer to it until something sprang from the grass. As Eunice said, it was a Riolu, and he immediately charged to attack me head on.
"Back away, outsider!" he exclaimed as he jumped closer.
"Eris, help!" I shrieked, tossing her PokéBall. "Use Assist!"
When she came out of her PokéBall, Eris' paws glowed white before she summoned a random Vine Whip attack copied from Tidus. Just as the Riolu was about to attack, Eris tied him up with the vines until he couldn't move.
"Lemme go! Stupid cat, let me go now!" he demanded.
"Now now, why don't we talk things over instead of attacking my Trainer like that?"
"Why should I?! You shouldn't be defending a human anyways! Most of 'em are disgusting creatures! The only ones I can trust are Lester and Eunice, but that's it! They'd never hurt me!"
"I wouldn't either, little Riolu," I said to him, kneeling down at him.
"Then why am I stuck in these vines with this stupid cat girl?"
"Watch your tongue, mutt," Eris hissed, tightening the vines a little in anger.
"I only called Eris out because you tried to attack me first. Why don't you calm down first, and I can help you build trust? My name's Hynden, this is of course Eris, and you're…?"
"...Perseus," he answered. "Percy for short, but only Lester and Eunice can call me that! And how could you help me build trust? If you think I'm coming with you, then you've got another thing coming!"
Eunice then walked over to the scene. Percy looked up at her and saw the sincerity in her eyes. Eunice knelt down at Percy and started speaking to him, despite not knowing what he's saying.
"Percy, look," she sighed. "Lester and I know about your experiences with humans and what happened to your pack before we found you, but this is getting out of hand. You can't just keep attacking every human visitor that sets foot near you; it ain't right."
Percy looked away from Eunice with stubbornness and pain written all over his face, but Eunice made the little Riolu look back at her again.
"Percy, please," Eunice begged. "I'm asking ya nicely; give this young girl a chance. Now, Lester and I love you so much, but we think if you go with Hynden, then she can help you. You'll become more attached to other people outside of the ranch. This girl, she and her friend helped us find Herdier, so she's definitely more than trustworthy! If not for her, then try it for us?"
The Riolu looked down again as he began trembling. Tears started welling up in Percy's eyes as he ran to hug Eunice and bury his face in her chest. But, then he looked her in the eyes again and nodded his head yes, much to my delight.
"That's my big boy," Eunice chuckled, putting Percy down. "Now go on now, join her. You're more than welcome to come visit us any time you'd like!"
"Hynden," Percy spoke, making eye contact with me, "Let's go. I'm ready to be recruited."
I tapped a PokéBall to Percy's head, and in he went in a red light. The Ball shook slowly three times and clicked shut. Although Percy was now an official member of the team, he still came out of his Ball on his own will to tearfully say bye to Eunice again.
"I'm gonna miss you, Mrs. Eunice…" he sniffled as Eunice pulled him up into a hug.
"I'm sure gonna miss you too, Percy," Eunice responded just as tearful, assuming that's what Percy said to her.
They hugged for a few more moments before Eunice let Percy on the ground. He waved bye to her again as we started to walk away from the Ranch. Eris was back in her PokéBall, so it was just Percy and I on the route back to Floccessy Town.
Pokémon obtained: Michi the Azurill, Female, Relaxed nature, Quick-tempered.
Percy the Riolu, Male, Naughty nature, Mischievous.
Boxed/Unboxed: None.