OTIS
Otis, followed both by Wen and Yanna, enter Route 201 quickly, finding it is actually quite close to their new home, and he can even see his brothers window from here.
As they enter, Otis notices a lot of small pokemon around, and he can't help but smile to himself.
One particularly brave Starly blocks their path, puffing up it's chest feathers and hissing as they try to pass.
"Alright, here's our first challenger! Let's rock this, Wen!" She growls her assent, and flies into position.
Both pokemon stand off, and Otis quickly realizes that he has NO idea what moves his starter has.
"Um... I'll let you handle this one, Wen! Sorry!" He apologizes, but she waves him off with a lock of her dark, pink tipped hair as she giggles. She turns back to the Starly, who makes it's first move.
It throws up a cloud of sand, and Wen disappears within. As the sand dissipates, Wen is nowhere to be seen.
Otis looks around fearfully, scared to have lost his new pokemon ALREADY, but Yanna chuckles and points to the Starly... or more specifically... the Starly's shadow.
I look, and see the glint off of a familiar red gemstone necklace, and soon, Wen comes careening out of the shadow, slamming the Starly from underneath, and throwing it a few yards.
It growls, standing back up, and it looks even angrier, if thats even possible.
Otis whips out his notepad from his bag, grabbing a pen and scribbling notes;
Shadow Sneak.
Starly charges, going in for a Tackle...
And manages to phase right through the normal type.
IT turns around, squawking in anger, as Wen giggles, and sends a small pink wave at the bird pokemon.
It hits, sending the Starly back into a tree, and Wen quickly follows up with a seocnd one, but this one barely fazes the pissed off bird.
Otis scribbles more notes;
Psywave.
Starly flies in for a Tackle, but feints at the last moment with another Sand Attack. Wen growls, disappearing again, but Starly's prepared this time. It flaps, flying up so that it's far enough away from it's shadow...
When a pink wave knocks it from behind, throwing it out of the sky.
Wen giggles as she appears from one of the shadows from the tree beside us, and Starly angrily growls, but flies off, farther down the route.
"Good job, Wen! We won our first battle!" He couldn't help the tears slipping down his cheek, and Wen kisses his cheeks as they both cheer.
"Mis! Dreavus!" She cheers, and even Yanna pats us both on the back.
"Well, we ready to continue?" He asks, and both pokemon nod.
He points to a nearby Bidoof, and they take off.
TITUS
"Well, Gabby. I guess we're just about done." His starter nods, murmuring something as she hugs his leg.
Titus just finished his packing, and moved the rest of his stuff to a corner of his room so it's out of the way. He made sure to neatly make his bed, and he smiles as he opens the window to let some fresh air in.
His window overlooks the backyard, and in the distance, he notices Yanna, and Otis and his new starter pokemon, a Misdreavus that Titus himself had picked out just two days ago, training on Route... 201. Yeah, that was it. Route 201.
Titus knew barely anything about the Sinnoh region before moving there, which left him more than a little miffed about the current situation.
Anyone who knew Titus knew that he HATED not knowing what was going on, or about his surroundings. So when Aunty Flo got a position as Proffessor Rowans' assistant, and told them they would be moving to a region called Sinnoh, one Titus and Otis had only heard about on T.V or the odd book, they were, in the least, quite surprised.
As he was cleaning and reorganizing his bags for the hundreth time, there was a light knock on his door.
"Come in!" He turns, to see Greh, holding a large bag.
"Hey, Titus!"
"Hey man! Is that for me?" He asks, and Greh smiles.
"Of course. It's a gift from both me and Florence." He hands it to Titus gently, and he carefully opens it.
Inside are school supplies, including binders, paper, pens and pencils, pencil cases, empty pokeballs, and more.
He smiles, as he notices a small notebook in the bottom of the bag.
He takes it out, and notices a beautiful drawing of Gabby on the front, but its the background that he stares at.
Behind Gabby in the picture, Titus recognizes the tree she is leaning against. It's a large weeping willow, but it's leaves are pink and gold instead of the usual green, and the trunk has small traces of orange running up, right into the highest branches. Titus fights back a sob.
It's the tree where his parents are buried, back in Almia.
He wipes a tear from his eye, and both Greh and Gabby hug him tightly.
"I drew it myself, I thought it would be nice for you to have them with you wherever you go." Greh says quietly in his head, but Titus just nods.
"T-thank you, Greh. This... it means the world. Thank you." Is all he can say, his voice breaking on the last word. He hugs the Psychic type, who bows and floats back out of the room.
Sighing, and wiping his tears, Titus places the book back in the bag, and grabs his empty school bag from his last year in public school, a large blue messenger bag with his handprint and Gabby's front paw print on the front, and starts organizing his supplies, the smell of barbecue wafting up through his open window.
OTIS
The sun is just starting to set as Otis finally calls it a day, and both pokemon are more than happy to head back.
"Mis..." Wen groans, floating lazily until Otis picks her up.
"You did amazing out there, Wen. I'm SO proud of you." She smiles up at him, kissing his cheek, before promptly falling asleep in his arms.
Yanna lands, gesturing for him to get on, and he does. They take off quickly, making it to the house in no time.
"Hey you three!" Flo calls from the back deck, the smell of barbecue floating up to them as they land.
She notices the sleeping ghost in Otis' arms, and her smile turns to an expression of fear as she goes to run over to them, but he gestures for her to keep quiet, and she sighs.
"Sorry! Had me worried for a minute." She smiles, ruffling the boys shaggy hair as he gently sets the sleeping pokemon on a patio couch.
"How did she do?" She asks, asking both Yanna and Otis, and the latter smiles widely.
"I learned about some of her moves, and we battled a total of six wild pokemon! And we won every battle!" Yanna nods excitedly, and Flo can't help the wide grin that spread across her face, nor the tear that slips down her cheek.
"Oh... wow..." She smiles, but her voice breaks, and Otis sits her down as he keeps an eye on the grill. He had always been the one to do the cooking, even as a child, as he had a keen eye for taste and which ingredients would work best with each dish. He almost hisses at the steak spice she had put on, sending VanMerick to grab a small list of ingredients from the kitchen, and Flo laughs.
"You okay?" He asks, turning the meat over to grill the other side.
"Just... proud." She sniffles, wiping her nose on a napkin from the table, and he smiles.
"Me too! She did so great!" He smiles at his starter, who is slowly waking back up.
Flo gently takes her and puts her in her lap, smoothly running her hands through the ghosts dark hair, causing the pokemon to moan with content, and promptly fall back asleep.
"How did you do that?" He asks, already chopping onions and chives, and she smiles.
"As a trainer, its not only your duty to watch out for and to train your pokemon, but also to bond and get to know them. Pokemon arent tools, they are friends and in some cases, can even be considered family. For instance-" She gestures for Yanna to come over, and she gently lifts the ghost and places her back on the couch.
"Watch." She pats her lap, and the bug type lands quickly and effortlessly. She smooths his wings back, and starts scratching at the base of them, causing Yanna to shiver with delight, and in less than a minute, he snores happily on her lap.
"Whoa!" Otis puts the lid down, and bends down.
"I found out Yan likes his wing-joints scratched after having him for almost three years. And trust me when I say, he falls asleep every time." He wakes up then, shaking his head and laughs, taking off again.
"Thats... so cool!"
"Alrighty then chef, how about I take over while you go pack your schoolbags?" His eyes go wide, but he seems hesitant to let her back on the grill.
"Are you sure..."
"Oh, come on! I'm not THAT bad of a cook!" She laughs, playfully smacking the side of his head, and he giggles, running back inside.
He comes back a few seconds later, a lopsided grin on his face as he quietly grabs Wen, and heads back inside.
"That kid..." Flo chuckles, opening the BBQ lid, and gasping.
The steaks were perfect, with a blend of smoked veggies and she even saw some apple slices on top. The smell is so good she has to catch herself.
"That KID..." She laughs outright.
TITUS
"And... there we go!" Titus puts the last binder in his bag, and sets it with the rest of his stuff, and Gabby finishes packing her books as well.
Most people thought it was weird for a pokemon to read human books, but Gabby found them quite interesting, even as a newly-hatched.
So Titus taught her to read, and soon, they both fell in love with literature. Everything from science fiction to biographies to pokemon encyclopedias, they had them all. Gabby's favourite book is one Titus used to read to her before bed, when they were younger; "Three Little Spoink." And even though he couldn't fully understand her, he let her read it every time. He never felt better than when she had that cute little smile as she read through it, and it made him the happiest he had ever been.
It reminded him of his mother.
"T!" Otis knocks on the door, and he quickly opens it.
"Whats up, bro?"
"We finished training, and I have a few questions." This was not an uncommon occurrence, Otis coming to Titus for advice on pokemon.
"Of course! Come, sit!" They both sat on the bed, and Titus smiled as he noticed Wen was still asleep, snoring gently against Otis's shirt.
Otis hands a small notebook to Titus, who opens it gently, and reads what is written. There isn't much, but he can guess the question from the notes;
MOVES
-Shadow Sneak
-Growl
-Psywave
-Hypnosis?
ABILITY
-Levitate?
"Good job on the notes, I'm glad you picked that up from me." He starts, and Otis flashes him a small smile, all the while keeping an eye on his exhausted starter.
"Okay, lets start with..." He runs his hand over his bookshelf, looking for a specific volume... Ah! There it is! 'WitchCraft and the Involved Pokemon!'
He flips it open, having memorized every page after having read it a million times, and quickly flips to the page with a Misdreavus in the corner.
"So... yeah... mhmm... okay! I have some good news!" He turns the book, showing his little brother, who quickly drinks in the knowledge on the page.
"Shadow Sneak is an Egg move? What does that mean?" Otis asks, his brow furrowed in confusion.
"It means its not a move that can be taught through levelling Misdreavus up, one of her parents knew it, so it was passed down to her, probably from as far back as four to six generations. As for Hypnosis... I'd have to see that one, cause it doesn't mention it in here... But! This book is a few years old." Otis nods.
"Her name is Rowena, but we can call her Wen." Otis informs him, and Titus laughs.
"Such a thoughtful name, little brother. Good job. Also, You were right about Levitate, it seems that is her only available ability." He shuts the book, handing it to his brother, who stares at it, with huge eyes.
Otis knew not to touch Titus' books anymore, after having accidentally dropping a few in the bathtub a few years back.
"No, please! Consider it a birthday gift." Otis took it, his usual lopsided grin on his lips.
"Thanks bro!" He hugs his brother quickly, and takes off, leaving Titus to laugh.
As he leaves the room, Titus can't help but feel his chest compress, the pride of seeing his brother with a pokemon filling him up inside.
He pats Gabbys' head, and they head downstairs.
"Boys! Dinner!" Aunt Flo calls from the patio as Titus enters the kitchen. He grabs paper plates and napkins, and holds the door for Terra and Gabby, befoer heading out himself.
He sets the table, and Otis soon comes down, taking over from Aunt Flo, and she sits down as well.
All of them and their pokemon sit around the table, and Aunt Flo smiles at each of them.
"What?" Otis asks, his face already stuffed full of food, and she laughs.
"Just... this might be the last meal we share for a little while..." She laughs, but she can't hide the tear that slips down her cheek.
"Oh, Aunty Flo! We won't be gone long! Plus, we can come visit on weekends! I'll catch a flying type, then I can even come for lunch!" Otis exclaims, and they all laugh, but she nods, wiping her eyes with a napkin.
"I'd like that, very much."
The meal is over way sooner than Flo would have liked, but the boy's take positions at the sink and help clean off any utensils and grill stuff that needs to be cleaned, and she watches from the door.
She chuckles, shaking her head, and Terra approaches, a wide grin on her face as she holds up her bracelet.
"Oh! What did you find this time?" She inspects it, and is surprised to find its a dark purple crystal... Where had she seen that before...
"It's beautiful, baby girl!" She hugs her ecstatic fighting type, who bounds off to wipe the table down.
Everyone says their good-nights, and head to bed early, as they can't wait to go to school.
Otis snores almost immediately, but Titus can't help but fret over his bags, unpacking and repacking them all five times to MAKE SURE he hasn't forgotten anything.
Gabby gently murmurs as she pulls him to bed, and he laughs, picking her up.
"Whoa! You're getting heavy!" He pretends to buckle, and she gasps, playfully smacking his head, and he kisses her forehead as she jumps from his arms to the bed.
Her head hits the bed with a solid thunk, and Titus smiles.
Her helmet had been getting tougher, but now it was like rock. She was close to evolving, even if she didn't know it.
She grabs a book off the shelf, and he doesn't even half to look to know which one she picked.
She starts with the title, and he leans back as her face brightens into the worlds happiest smile.