Chapter Two: Becoming Human

Disclaimer: See chapter one

Hey everyone, welcome back to this tale I weave. Last time we got introduced to the family and to Garde. This time we see her achieve what is considered impossible. Enjoy.

Today was the day, a week ago Bella submitted the paperwork for a bench hearing for Garde to become legally human. The other day Bella had arranged for her best friend and VP of the family company, Helena, to watch Jackson for a few hours while they saw this thing through. Before they left, Helena hugged both her boss and boss' secretary and wished them best of luck. Helena was a firm supporter of the idea that Garde should be recognized as human.

When they had gotten to the courthouse, Garde had to undergo several tests in a secluded room. First among them was her ability to speak. Unlike other pokemon that learned to speak, that usually had difficulty once they had learned it, the naturalness that came with Garde's speech somewhat startled the legal examiner. Not a surprise, Garde has been using the common speech for many years, it was one of the first things that her adoptive parents taught her.

She passed all of her tests with flying colors, the proctor even remarked that she had never seen such abilities in a pokemon before. Now all that was left was to have a judge confirm it.

While Garde was taking the tests the courts wanted her to take, Bella was talking with her lawyer. He was telling her that for this kind of hearing, he was not going to be of much help to her and that she would have to do most of the work, not that Bella didn't already know that, considering there was no legal precedent for this kind of thing.

Court Room

"Please rise, presiding over this court, the honorable Judge Adalor," The bailiff said. The three of them, the sisters and their lawyer, stood as the judge came in. He seemed to be of middle age, and wearing reading glasses.

He got up on the stand, "you may sit," and hit his gavel. The three of them sat down.

"We are here to see if a pokemon, this pokemon, can be considered human?" Judge Adalor wanted to confirm what he was presiding over.

"We are, your honor," Bella's lawyer confirmed for him.

"Very well, topical, in this day and age," Adalor commented. It was true, it was a societal conversation for many reasons, mainly the topic of pokemon in the workforce. He knew what would happen if this could be done. Secretly, the man was of a reformist mind, willing to push policy if he could. "Do you have a name, Gardevoir?" the Judge asked, starting the hearing.

"I do, but I only use it on legal forms. It is Cassandra Ferdanter, my friends and family call me Garde, it's what I prefer," Garde responded.

"Might I ask why?" The Judge asked. It was an important thing in this process. If the pokemon wanted to be considered human, she would need to go by a human name.

"Look at me, I am a pokemon, trying to do the impossible, and I want to be known by the name I choose. Also, I have a complicated relationship with my given name, while it means to shine and excel, but there is the story of a woman that had angered a powerful Pokemon that had been worshiped by their community and was supposedly cursed to never be believed. Also, as a pokemon, my parents didn't have any gym badges so I grew unwilling to answer to that name." Garde remembered the argument she had with her adoptive parents about that last point, in what could be considered her teen years.

Adalor nodded in acceptance of that answer. There was debate among scholars and professors about why the badge system works the way it does. "Tell me this though, why did your parents raise a pokemon as one of their own, instead of adopting or having another child?" Judge Adalor asked. It was a question they had been waiting for, and dreaded. Most people treated pokemon as pets and they were okay with that, though the more human looking, like the Ralts line and some others mostly when they were in their final evolution were not okay with that treatment. The Abra line was like it as well, and he had heard stories about Lucarios and other fighting types being that way. Zoroark were also known to be that way, due to their illusion abilities.

"Our grandparents on my father's side, were former members of Team Plasma," Bella told the Judge. Judge Adalor looked over the edge of his glasses at her to explain, hoping that there was no criminal intent behind this whole thing.

Bella sighed, it was not a piece of family history that she did not like to talk about. "They were followers of Lord N as opposed to Ghetsis, but were considered radical by even them. They believed that Pokemon not only should live free of Humanity's control, but to be considered as equals. Supposedly, Lord N had a liking of them, but the others did not, so they left. They passed their beliefs on to my father, who would meet and marry a progressive minded woman, that resulted in me." The Judge nodded silently in understanding, there were rumors that Lord N was in fact a pokemon himself, but no one knew for sure if it was true. Only that the man himself says that he was raised by pokemon before Ghetsis found him.

"However, the main catalyst for this is that I had a brother that for a majority of my early life, did not know existed. He died of a rare blood disease before I was even born. My parents always wanted to raise two kids. Garde was an almost newly hatched Ralts that had been abandoned by her own parent and had wandered onto our property. They saw a chance to act on their beliefs and here we are," Bella told the judge.

"I see," Judge Adalor said. He understood the grief of losing a family member like that. It hurts, but it makes sense.

"There is one other matter, as to why I want my sister to be recognised as a human." Bella handed a manilla envelope to her lawyer, who walked up and gave it to the judge.

Adalor, confused, opened the envelope and read the document inside. He briefly looked at Bella and then back at the document. "I see," he said as he put it back in the manilla envelope.

Garde's brow raised in question, she could read the judge's mind if she wanted to, but that was not the wisest move if she wanted this to succeed, and she trusted that Bella would tell her when the time was right, but something felt wrong to her. She needed to get to the bottom of things soon.

Having set the envelope aside, the judge folded his hands and looked at them. "I see that you passed your tests with high marks, which is good. Do you use your human skills on a daily basis?"

"Yes, I am Bella's secretary at work. We run a textile and clothing firm that we inherited from our parents, PokeFabrics. It's good business," Garde answered.

"Really? You run that company?" Judge Adalor was more interested. PokeFabrics has a rising company in the clothing industry, priding themselves on ethical sourcing and other practices. They had recently announced a new line of jackets.

"Yeah, we do," Bella confirmed, glad that the Judge was interested in their work.

"Very well, I have heard enough to make my decision," Adalor stated. Bella and Cass stood up to hear his judgment. "If a human can have pokemon-like abilities, I see no reason why a human-like pokemon can not be considered as a human. Cassandra Ferdanter, in the eyes of the law, you are human," the judge stood and slammed his gavel on its stand, signifying that it was final. Cass and Bella hugged each other in happiness. They had done it, Garde was legally human.

Step one done, Bella thought. She knew she had to tell Garde the truth soon: She was dying, and that it would fall to Garde to raise Jackson. Before he let them leave, Garde had to fill out several bits of paperwork to make it official. She signed her name as Cassandra "Garde" Ferdanter, to make her nickname an official name for her to be called.

Outside

It was a media circus outside, not like that was unexpected. Word like wildfire, there were hundreds of reporters from every major news outlet in Sinnoh and some from Kanto and Johto. The concept that Pokemon could be about to defy societal conventions was big news. As the sisters walked out, they were bombarded with cameras and reporters shouting questions. Bella stepped in front of Garde and told them all what they wanted to know. "Yes, she did it, she is now legally human. Don't bother us!" Garde took Bella's hand and teleported back home.

Home

Arriving home, they found Helena sitting on one of their couches, Jackson asleep in her arms, watching the news. Noticing that they were home, "hey, I saw the news. You did it!" She said as she stood up to greet them. Helena placed the sleeping infant in Garde's arms, "congrats, by the way."

"Thanks," Garde adjusted her arms to hold Jackson right, due to her chest spike.

Noticing Garde adjust her arms, Bella asked, "have you given thought to my offer? About that specialist in Hoenn?"

"I have, but I need to consider it more, considering how sensitive the blasted thing is," Garde hated her own biology sometimes, making things harder for her. "How was he?" she asked about Jackson.

"He was a joy," Helena said, with a half smile.

"Good, I'll go put him down," Garde walked away to go lay the baby in his crib.

As the pokemon walked out of the room, "I'll make sure your bonus is taken care of," Bella told Helena.

"Not that much of a concern. My question is: does Garde know?" Helena's arms crossed. Helena was among the very few that knew Bella's condition and that her time was running out.

"Not yet, and let me handle that. I still have some time. I just need to make sure she will be okay when I am gone," Bella shook her head. One thing at a time.

"Don't wait much longer to tell her, it will be all the worse for you, and her," Helena told Bella.

"I know, I know." Bella sighed. Bella heard the nursery door close softly, and indicated to Helena to keep it on the down low.

"So, how does it feel to be human?" Helena asked as Garde came back.

"Good, I have lived as one for a while, just making it official," Garde smiled at her.

"Good, I gotta get going, anytime you need me to watch him, just let me know." Helena grabbed her bag and left. Bella made them both dinner and the sisters relaxed the rest of the night.

As Bella drifted off to sleep, what Helena had said stuck with her. She knew she was running out of time, it's why she had given the judge the file she did. It was a copy of her notice of how long she had left to live. She resolved to tell Garde soon.

Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed that chapter. Nice and short, also forgive me on the legal stuff, we don't know much how things like this work in the Pokemon world.

So, now you know why Bella is pushing for Gardevoir to be seen as human. She is dying, and knows her time is nearly up.

Next time, Garde finds out what is going on, stay tuned.