.

Imaginary Friend

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why."

–Mark Twain

A month. A whole month and she was only just now starting to feel better. The headache had mostly tapered off a couple weeks ago, but that was all she had to show so far. Misty didn't even remember what it was like not to be kept up at night by wracking coughs. Her visit back to the doctor had just affirmed that she still had pneumonia and would a while longer.

Yeah, she could have told him that, and she couldn't even pronounce pneumonia.

Luckily, it had finally started growing weaker and Misty in turn felt herself getting stronger. She was even watching her mom's Pokémon Battles again. More than that, she had started wading in the shallow end of the pool. She rarely took her feet off the pool floor completely except for when she was riding Staryu.

Staryu. That was definitely the best part of being sick. Her mother had appointed one of the young Staryu to spend a lot of time with her. Particularly when she was anywhere near the pool. Staryu didn't have to be rehydrated that often since they had thicker, more armored skin than most Water Types, though, so she didn't have to worry when they were playing outside.

Her mother never said it, but Misty was starting to feel like Staryu was her very own Pokémon. Not her mother's, not the Gym's, but her own. She was too young right now, but maybe in the future…

She tried not to get her hopes up, but it seemed as though her very first Pokémon might be on the horizon.

In the meantime, though, it was the Pokémon's feeding time, so Staryu was eating and then would likely take a nap to recover from spending so much time with Misty so far today.

That left Misty idle and bored. Being sick limited the options of what to do, not to mention the fact that the beach was still banned. Not that Misty was sure that she even wanted to go. She still didn't remember what had happened before she had gone unconscious, so she was still afraid. And being afraid was worse than being bored. Furthermore, she couldn't go outside unattended at all.

As a last resort—as this was always her last resort—Misty headed over to her sister's dolls. No, they weren't appealing. There were some that she rarely touched because they had become so bedraggled through her sisters' overuse and under-appreciation. But using them to reenact Battles was the closest she could come to the real thing until she was older, so she settled anyway.

She was half-heartedly trying different Battle strategies for Staryu—if she extended all of the limbs of the doll to the sides she could almost imagine that it was the Star Shape Pokémon. Luckily her sisters were at school, so she could make all of the sound effects she wanted.

Finally she was starting to get into the Battle she had staged when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Something like dark, gray wisps. Instantly Misty thought of smoke and she darted her eyes over to where they were coming from while simultaneously shooting herself across the slick wood floor away from them.

"Mommy!" Misty cried out. "Mommy!"

But her mom didn't come. She was probably still in the Pokémon enclosures feeding them and out of hearing range. Misty was on her own. She took a deep breath and looked closer at the smoke.

It wasn't smoke, though; at least Misty didn't think so. There was nothing burning underneath where the tendrils were, so it couldn't be smoke, right? And it didn't smell like smoke either.

Then the…whatever it was began to change in color as it grew. It was still gray but then there was black and purple too. Misty didn't know why, but her stomach dropped as she saw that. Maybe it wasn't dangerous like fire but it was making her feel really uncomfortable.

She couldn't look away, though. While the swirls were frightening, they were also mesmerizing. And they seemed to be forming around one of the dolls. Suddenly, the doll's eyes glowed red and Misty scooted herself further across the floor. Now whimpering slightly, she called her mother again. Still nothing.

Red eyes, smoke-like tendrils. Was this a Dusclops coming to try to steal her body? Another shriek was about to bubble its way out of her, when suddenly the glowing in the eyes softened. Misty relaxed, mollified for the moment as they faded to an almost fuchsia color, much more friendly than the red. The wisps were no longer wisps either—they had coiled around the doll, becoming bigger, yet more compact, and were a monochromatic dark gray once again. Before her eyes, the doll began to change shape—its hair became pointed and jagged, more so than even the worst haircut her sisters could have given the doll, extending far out from the body. The legs became stubby and something glinted on its face beneath the eyes. Its mouth?

Strangest of all, though, was a straw-toned tail that came out of the doll. But this doll was a person and people didn't have tails. Only Pokémon…oh.

Misty's eyes widened and she gasped. "Are you a Pokémon?" she asked as the doll finished forming.

Her question was answered as the doll began to blink all on its own and experiment with moving its limbs. It was kind of funny to watch. The way it wobbled with uncertainty reminded her of some of the more land-based newborn Pokémon she'd seen at the Gym.

At her sniggers the newly formed Pokémon sent her a chilling glare that seemed to come much more naturally than walking. Instantly Misty quieted, but she was still curious. Then a chilling though recurred to her. "You're not a Dusclops, are you?"

From her sisters' description in that horrible story, she didn't think that this was a Dusclops. Still, one could never be too careful. Misty watched carefully as the Pokémon narrowed its eyes at her and managed a forced twist to its neck, which she took as a no.

Well, that was a comfort, at least. "What's your name?" she asked, knowing most Pokémon were good at answering that question.

"Banette," the Pokémon answered, its voice sounding irritated as it still tried to figure out its new form.

"Banette?" Misty asked to make sure.

"Banette."

"You just came from one of my sister's dolls," Misty told it, still in awe of that fact herself.

That inspired a different expression on Banette's face as it widened its eyes in what Misty guessed to be either disbelief or interest. "Bay?"

"Yeah, my sisters," Misty said, turning to point to a picture of the three of them on the wall. "See?"

Banette followed where her finger was pointed with its eyes. It stared at the picture for quite a while and Misty grew bored. But then an intriguing thought came to her.

"Do you wanna play with me?" Misty asked alacritously, her eyes sparkling at the idea.

That snapped Banette's attention back to her. After a moment, it looked just as excited as she did and Misty took that for an enthusiastic yes.

"Yay!" she exclaimed. "But we need to be quiet. I don't want my mom to find you in here, okay?"

Banette nodded its agreement.

"So what do you wanna do?" Misty asked. Banette looked back at her blankly. "Ooh, do you wanna have a tea party?"

Banette shrugged but smiled and Misty decided that that was good enough. She reached for the plastic tea set on the low shelf—she wasn't old enough to use the nice porcelain one—and began to lay it out.

"Okay, now we're going to pretend to be French, which just means that we're really fancy." Misty smoothed her clothes and sat up straight to demonstrate her point. "Ooh, we should give you a fun French name," she announced. "Are you a girl?"

It definitely looked like a girl. It did come from a doll—a girl doll—after all. And its voice was pretty high pitched too, so it had to be a girl, right?

Sure enough, Banette nodded.

"Goodie, because girl names are prettier." Misty sat for just a moment pondering how to come up with a French name—it would have to be French for a French tea party, obviously. Not a moment later she clapped her hands together as an idea occurred to her.

Misty hopped up and walked to where her coloring books were kept. She looked through her colored pencils—those were the best ones to use since markers bled through and crayons smelled weird—for the one that was closest to Banette's color. She picked up the black one. Close enough. She flipped it around until she found the metallic color name on it. Black, negro, noir. She knew the last one was the French one.

"Noir. Do you like it?"

Banette nodded, smiling and starting to look genuinely happy.

"Then your name is Noir."

Making her way back over to the tea set, Misty again smoothed her shirt down and picked up an empty tea cup and pretended to drink tea out of it as daintily as she could. She took only one sip and set it back down as a demonstration to Noir. She looked over at Noir expectantly.

Noir looked down at the cup and curled her hand around the small handle but her hand passed right through it, forming a fist instead. She tried again, clawing at the cup like it was air as Misty watched in shock.

"How are you doing that?" Misty asked bewilderedly.

Noir, however, began growing more and more frustrated. Finally she gave up and crossed her arms angrily across her chest and slouched. She gave a grumpy huff and then began to disappear down into the floor.

"Wait, where are you going?"

But Noir seemed just as confused as Misty was. Noticing that she was sinking, Noir's eyes widened and she scrambled to push herself up. Misty leaned over and grabbed Noir beneath her arms and pulled. This time, Noir managed to sit on the floor without falling through it even after Misty let go.

Misty, meanwhile, was looking at Noir with the most mystified expression coloring her face. "How did you…" Misty trailed off as she thought of more stories that her sisters had told her. All of the mean stories that they used to tease her when it was dark, when she was going to sleep and they were still staying up. They always kept her awake and afraid.

Ghost stories.

So maybe she wasn't a Dusclops, but maybe she was still a…

"A-Are you a ghost?" Misty stammered.

Noir just looked at her blankly. There was no way for Noir to know that any better than Misty did. But the more Misty thought about it, the surer she was.

"You are. You're a ghost."

Misty sat there for a while, hyperaware of the side of her body closest to Noir. Ghosts were scary. They had no souls, no morality and therefore did unspeakable things. They were always the bad guys in stories.

But Noir didn't seem that scary…

Misty almost leapt out of her skin when the door to her bedroom suddenly opened. "Misty?"

After scraping herself off of the ceiling, Misty turned to look at the intruder only to find her mother. Misty sighed in relief, her heartbeat returning to normal at the comforting sight of her mother. "Mommy," she breathed.

"I heard you talking," Misty's mom said. "Were you calling for me?"

"There's a ghost!" Misty blurted out, looking over to Noir, who had also started at her mom entering the room.

"Where?"

"Right there!" Misty pointed accusingly at Noir, who looked hurt by the action.

Misty's mom followed her finger to where Noir was sitting on the other side of the tea set, confusion pulling the corners of her lips down. "There's nothing there, sweetheart."

"But…" Misty darted her head back to Noir to make sure that she hadn't slipped through the floor again, but was met by upset fuchsia eyes. "It's right there," Misty finished weakly, confused as to why her mother didn't see what was so clearly right in front of her.

Crouching down to be on her level, Misty's mom touched her cheek to pull her face towards her. "Are you playing a game, sweetheart? With an imaginary friend and your tea set?"

Misty didn't know what to say. Her mom really didn't see Noir. She couldn't see Noir. Because she was a ghost.

So why could Misty see her?

"I…yes."

She wasn't supposed to lie. She knew that if her mom ever learned that she was lying she would be in trouble, but she didn't know what else to say. Her mom didn't understand so she didn't know what other answer to give.

"Okay. Well, our lunch will be ready soon. I'll call you down when it's ready, okay?"

Misty's mom patted her head with a smile and left Misty alone with her thoughts.

And, unwittingly, a ghost.

Hesitantly, Misty looked up at Noir, face scrunched nervously as though she was trying to save herself from getting a good look. She didn't see anything truly scary, though. All she saw was Noir's wounded face staring back at her. "Bay…nette," she said dejectedly.

"I…" Misty didn't know what to say. This was a ghost. A ghost that had formed out of a doll right before her and that her mother couldn't see. If that wasn't terrifying, then Misty didn't know what was.

But still…

"I'm sorry." It slipped out earnestly and truthfully before Misty could even fully grasp that the words had been spoken. But it lit a glimmer in Noir's eyes that warmed Misty's heart. "Do you wanna play our game again?"

The answer was a resounding yes as Noir again tried to pick up her tea cup. Her face instantly twisted as she again went right through the plastic.

"Here, let me help you." Misty scooted her chair around the table so that it was adjacent to Noir's. She picked up Noir's cup and held it to her zippered mouth tilting it only slightly so that the imaginary tea would only spill in a light flow. "Now don't make a sound when you slurp. It's not French-like. Sip like a lady."

Noir played her part, closing her eyes and smiling in satisfaction as Misty replaced the cup on its saucer, then giving herself a taste from her own. When she finished, she looked at Noir and smiled.

"Someday you'll learn how to do it on your own."

"Okay, Staryu, use Water Gun!"

Misty sat rapt as she watched Staryu—her future Staryu—let out a thin stream of water at a target. The blast was pointed far above the target so that it could travel farther in an arc across the Gym. The weak Attack, however, barely budged the target.

Staryu, however, was pushed back a lot by the force of attempting the Attack and was left tired at the end.

"Good job, Staryu," Fleur said, going over to it to give it a light pat on its top spike. "You're getting better every day.

It was true. Misty had been watching their training sessions every day and Staryu's Water Gun was going a lot farther than it was before, even if it didn't have a lot of power behind it. She knew that the Attack should be going in more of a straight line than an arc, somehow that meant it was more powerful, but still, the distance was impressive. The target was so far away that it looked tiny to her.

Misty was always interested in watching training. Even though it was repetitive, it was an important part of being a Trainer and besides, she wanted to watch Staryu's growth. But today was different. Today she was engrossed and watching her mother's every command rather than Staryu's every move.

Staryu was young, just like Noir was. That meant that Staryu was better to watch than Seel or the other Pokémon. But she watched both anyway just to try to catch any differences in training technique. She knew that they were there, but she could not for the life of her tell what they were.

"Mom," she asked as Fleur stepped back to give Staryu, and herself, a break, "can I ask you something?"

Fleur was wiping the sweat from her forehead and taking heavy breaths. Battling didn't look heavily taxing to the untrained eye, but good Trainers—like Misty knew her mother was—actually put a lot of exertion into their teamwork. After a second she went over to sit with Misty on the bleachers, looking happy to sit down. "Of course, sweetheart."

"How do you Train baby Pokémon versus older Pokémon?"

Fleur took a second before responding, "Well, you have to give them breaks often so that they don't get too tired," she started, gesturing over to Staryu, who was now floating leisurely in the pool. "It also keeps them from getting frustrated when they are struggling with something."

Misty nodded. That was a good idea.

"But I guess the most important thing," Fleur was now absentmindedly stroking Misty's back, speaking slowly and thoughtfully in turn, "is to keep the commands simple to things that they understand. For example," again Fleur gestured to Staryu and the pool, "I tell Staryu to aim its Water Gun Attack higher, rather than telling it to make its Attack go farther. That's an easier idea to understand. Do you see?"

"Kinda."

Keep the command simple. If Noir didn't know when she was going through something or not then that wasn't a good command to use. But she couldn't think of anything better.

Fleur patted Misty on the back. "Think about it and it will make more sense."

Misty frowned. She sure hoped so.

"I think Staryu's done for the day," Fleur continued, getting up and returning to the pool. "And I am too. I'm going to put it in its enclosure and get your sisters so that they can use the pool, alright? You can stay and watch them if you want."

Unlikely. Her sisters were probably just going to swim. Then Misty wouldn't be watching and enjoying, she would be envying the fact that they could go into the deep end of the pool. Not that she had wanted to since her incident in the ocean, but it still sucked not to be allowed to do something just because she was too young.

So Misty got up, fully intending to go and work with Noir, using the advice her mother had just given her when her sisters entered the pool room. Much to Misty's surprise, they didn't just dive right in. Rather, Violet brought out a PokéBall from a clip on her clothes and opened it into the pool.

Unconsciously, Misty sat back down and started to watch. She saw the white light from the 'Ball form into a Seel, but not her mother's Seel. It must have been the young one that had been born just a few weeks ago. And given to her sisters a week ago, Misty remembered with jealousy.

No, it was okay, because she would be getting Staryu in no time. Besides, the three of them all had to share the Seel.

"Okay," Daisy said, clapping her hands to draw the attention of her sisters. "I say we let Seel warm up first by swimming, like, get it used to working its muscles."

"Good idea, Daisy," Lily bubbled.

"Just not too long," Violet agreed. "We don't want Seel getting tired before we even start training him."

Maybe she would just watch for a little while.

Misty was surprised to see how much of her mother's technique her sister's were using. They were telling Seel to swim with its head down. Now, Misty could tell that this was supposed to be a Headbutt Attack or maybe a Tackle, but they never commanded an Attack out of Seel, who was too young to put a name to a move.

Furthermore, they gave Seel breaks to both swim around lazily and also lie on the ground by the pool; they were careful to make sure that he didn't get overheated.

What surprised Misty the most, though, was when Daisy actually jumped into the pool to work with Seel and began swimming beside him in demonstrations. Misty couldn't help the smile that rose to her face.

She was lucky to be in a family of such good Trainers.

A/N: Okay, this was a tad more than 2 weeks. You can blame my awful beta, C'sMelody, for that. Just kidding, she's still the very best like no one ever was. Anyway, in this chapter, I have Misty make a brief comment about what it means to be a girl, and I would like to point out that I do not agree in this kind of genderization of people. But I would like to also point out that this is how young people are socialized in our society currently, and so that is how Misty would figure out what gender Noir is. That's all. *steps off soapbox*

Hope you enjoyed and are excited to meet our next main character, Noir!