Full Circle: A Collection of Interconnected Pokemon One-Shots

[Winter]

Explanation: So rather than posting up a bunch of one-shots to different threads, I thought I would post several one-shots connected by characters and a couple of time jumps. Many of these are from WAR one PE2K last summer, however I find even myself coming back to reread them from time to time and thought I might as well re-share them here...

Index:
While You Were Gone
Goodbyes are Hard
Waltz for The Moon
Reunion

All related fics have been posted. Hope you enjoy the collection and feel free to post feedback--I love hearing people opinions on my work and getting suggestions on how to improve it.

[Winter]

While You Were Gone
Quick Commentary: So this was my first-ever piece for WAR, and it was a real stroll down memory lane for me (as a LOT of my entries that followed were as well). Somehow I ended up with this idea for the theme "Torchlight," and ended up taking it and running with it. While it doesn't elaborate much on Riika and Davis' past relationship, I will admit I never thought much about it myself, despite the fact they were probably two of my first OCs and I love them for that. XD I did have fun with this though, and this part in itself plays into this collection's title, but I think you'll figure it out if you make it most of the way through the collection itself.../End of Commentary

Torches. The beach was lit up by tiki torches--lots and lots of them. So many that the beach at nighttime was just as bright as it was during the day, it seemed, and there were just as many people as there were torches. Finally, my staring was interrupted by Aiden, as my older brother walked up behind me and gave me a slap on the back--with the open-backed dress I was wearing, it stung.

"Stop standing there gawking, Ri-ri. Get out there and have fun!" I glanced over at him to find my older brother wasn't really looking at me directly, but out at the crowd like I had been, light of the torches reflected in the lenses in his glasses. I didn't need to guess where his eyes had fallen, though, as I spotted his long-time girlfriend among the people, waving at us excitedly.

"Fine," I teased, clapping him on the shoulder. "Tell your girlfriend I said hi."

Aiden chuckled, "She's not my girlfriend anymore." It was at this point I openly turned and gaped at him—he and Kelly weren't together anymore? How in the world had that happened?

"But I thought—"

"She's my fiancée." For a moment I wondered if my jaw would fall off in shock. Sure, I'd been used to seeing Aiden and Kelly together for years and we always expected it, but he'd gone and gotten engaged to her while I was away?

"And you did this while I was away?" I concentrated on giving him my most fierce look of disapproval, however Aiden did nothing but laugh and pat my shoulder gently.

"No one but you knows yet, well aside from her father, though I highly doubt he took me seriously. I proposed a few weeks ago, but Kelly wanted to keep it hush-hush until you got home. Everyone else will either find out tonight or tomorrow, but until then, would you mind keeping quiet about it, Riika?" As he spoke, I noted the look of fierce satisfaction on my brother's face, as though he was proud of the fact he had waited to share the news with me rather than trumpeting it everywhere—he and Kelly had practically been together since we were kids, theirs was one of those fairytale relationships that seemed too perfect to be real, and yet there it was, and now they were getting married…

"Your secret's safe with me, Aiden, of course I'll keep quiet," I told him with a smile as Kelly came running up to us in a blur of pink and gold. She looked like a doll in her long pink dress as well as several years younger than she actually was, which her attitude reflected as she hugged me.

"Riika, it's so nice to see you again!" my soon-to-be sister-in-law squealed before letting me go to give me a quick once-over. "Orange looks really good on you," she observed verbally, which made my temper flare once more.

"Don't remind me about the dress," I snapped, and when Kelly opened her mouth I added, "I'm serious. Say something else about it and I'll spill the beans about you getting engaged to my brother." Kelly reacted to those words like any small child would as her brown eyes filled with hurt.

"You wouldn't!" she gasped, looking upset while Aiden simply looked amused. He knew I probably wouldn't, but threatening Kelly as incentive to keep quiet about my dress hadn't been a horrible idea, either. Especially if it worked.

"I would if you made another remark about this dress." Kelly pouted, but Aiden already seemed to have spotted something to make her forget about my threats about commenting on my orange dress. That was part of what made them so perfect—they were like Sense and Senselessness, and opposites attract…or at least, that's what I've always heard. With a murmur in her ear and a hand on her shoulder, Aiden led his fiancée off towards where a few people had set out a red and white checkered blanket and some food, like a kind of mini buffet. He only paused once to spare a little wave back to me while Kelly didn't even bother to look back, still upset about my non-serious threat.

I was on my own once Aiden and Kelly left, as my twin sister had ditched me the moment we got out the house, running across the lawn and down the road with no shoes on while wearing a dress fairly similar to my orange one, but in lilac to better go with her bright blue hair. At least the fact Ericka was a complete nut hadn't changed. It seemed almost everything else had, though, as I walked on the sand in my own bare feet among people I hadn't seen in what felt like ages. Faces that were once familiar now bore features I didn't recognize and left me wondering who I was talking to most of the time, those who had been young when I last saw them had grown taller, grown out or cut their hair. Voices I once recognized had deepened or changed in other ways, there were young children among the mess as well, some I didn't even recognize… It didn't take me long to feel as though I were lost, or in a different Pallet Town, maybe like the Snorlax who slept for twenty years in one of the stories mom used to tell Ericka and I when we were little, but no matter how I described the feeling it was that same. That was why at a party full of people from my hometown, I ended up sitting on the shore of the little beach, away from everyone else, where I thought.

I had been gone for years, and everything had changed. In spite of phone calls and emails, everything had changed from the Pallet Town I had known and left some years ago, and I had changed too. I wasn't the same tomboyish little girl I had been when I left home after my last visit at fourteen--now I was eighteen and sure of what I wanted to do, with justice in my mind and anger in my fists, which joined my Pokemon in battle from time to time. I had come home with scars on my arms that hid behind long stretches of soft fabric and no one but my twin knew about because she had been there when I got them. I no longer carried the same senseless, quick anger I had with me when I left those four years ago, now I just had volatile anger towards the group known as Team Rocket and people who mistreated their Pokemon. Now I was in a Pallet Town different than the one I grew up in, surrounded by people different than the ones I grew up with, sitting on a beach lit up like daytime at midnight by dozens of tiki torches while music spilled from someone's radio. People were starting to go home, particularly the parents with kids who hadn't left home yet, and those who stayed were either sitting around on lawn chairs in a group, sharing stories with each other, or dancing to the music on the beach not too far from where I sat in the sand with my Raichu in my lap.

"Jeez, Riika, you let your hair get so long..." I turned to look at the commenter, as the voice wasn't really familiar--I knew it, but just barely. When my eyes landed on his face, I almost wished I hadn't turned to look at him, because I knew and distinctly disliked the owner of those bright green eyes and spiky blond hair.

"What do you want, Davis?" I sighed, looking back out to the ocean. Next to me, the young man I disliked so much snorted.

"Well hello to you, too. I'm doing great, thanks for asking. How about you?" he replied, sitting down beside me. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught him turn his head to look at me. "Also, I can't say I ever pegged you for the orange dress kind, but it looks good on you."

"My mom stole my clothes and apparently I wasn't getting them back until I wore this stupid thing. Do not think I'm wearing this because I want to, because I don't," I snapped back, and glanced over in time to see him raise his hands defensively.

"Hey, hey, what's with the hostility? I'm just trying to make conversation here because I happened to hear from your mother that you finally came back after wandering around for four years and here you are, alone." His motive sounded simple enough, and I wondered what had happened to the cocky kid who was always boasting about how a girl like me could never beat him and then cried when I proved him wrong. He grew up, just like you did, a tiny voice in my head said, but I tried to ignore it and Davis, hoping they would both just go away. I didn't feel like dealing with more changes at this point. "Aw, come on Riika, do you really need to be so stubborn? I'm trying to be nice here," he sighed, raking a hand through his spikes. I allowed my lips to slip into a smirk.

"That's a new one." He blinked several times, like he didn't recognize my voice at all when I spoke. It took him a moment or two, but when he finally did reply, he stunned me.

"I'm full of a lot of 'new ones,' Riika. Four years is a lot of time, don't you think?" Davis asked me, and it was like he'd read my mind. I reached down and scratched my Raichu's back slowly, quietly. "What, you aren't—" he started as I began to speak.

"It's enough time. It's enough time for a lot of things, like for a fourteen year-old girl to grow up. It's enough time to see the world. It's even enough time for someone to become completely lost in their hometown. Four years isn't a lot of time; just enough time." I left him disoriented again, or whatever I had done the first time, because he sat there with this funny look on his face before he spoke up again.

"What did you do while you were gone?" he asked me slowly, and I just shook my head. I had done a lot of things, mainly change myself and not think about how everything else would change once I'd left it behind. Suddenly he stood up, brushed off his faded jeans, and held out a hand to me. "Come on, let's at least get one dance in—the torches are burning down and I'm sure that the owner of that radio is going to want it back soon."

Looking around, the torchlight had faded some, our very own midday sinking into dusk itself. I didn't want to dance with him—at least part of me didn't, but another part of me did. Finally, I nudged the Raichu in my lap, who scampered around to perch on one of my shoulders, and hauled myself up. Once standing, I brushed some of the sand off my dress; I really didn't need sand falling everywhere while I was dancing. I didn't take his hand, but Davis led me out to where the others were dancing, surrounded by slowly dying torchlight. For a moment, he stood there awkwardly before I sighed and muttered at the Raichu on my shoulder to find someplace else to sit and watch for a few minutes before I stepped closer to Davis. The radio station was playing a slow song, and I just smirked as I moved into action.

"You ask me to dance and then stand there? Do I have to do everything myself? Your hands go here and here," I said, stepping even closer and taking one of his hands in my own, then grabbing the other to move it to my side. "Now don't step on my feet, okay? And watch them—mirror them, do what they do." He quickly took notice of my feet and held his gaze there as I stepped in a little square pattern that became imprinted in the sand. Eventually he got the hang of it, and we fell into a quiet rhythm; it seemed he either didn't want to make me mad or was too busy concentrating on not stepping on my toes, because Davis didn't talk, and neither did I. I was too busy thinking about how change was a funny thing, after four years, it had led me to a party on the beach of my hometown where my brother told me he'd gotten engaged to the girl he had been dating for years and where I found myself dancing in a small square pattern with a boy I had hated for so many years because of his cockiness.

By the time Davis spoke up again, it was to speak two words. "Hey, Riika," he said, sounding almost perplexed. I stopped dancing and looked around. There was no one else around us in sight, the radio was gone, and sunlight was beginning to show itself. I glanced to the side to find my Raichu curled up and sound asleep—we'd somehow danced through the radio being taken away, through everyone leaving, and even through the torches burning out. I smiled and let out a soft laugh, letting go of Davis to go scoop up my Raichu.

"Walk me home, Davis," I said as I moved back towards him. Surprise lit his green eyes a little, and I laughed again. "Town's changed too much," this time it was his turn to laugh, as the layout really hadn't changed all that much. We both knew very well I knew exactly how to get home. "I don't want to get lost."

[Winter]

Goodbyes are Hard
Quick Commentary: This was the third prompt I wrote to for WAR last year, to which the theme was emotional impact. It's actually based off the user Mewcario/Master Zorua's old Pokemon: Rebirth and Rebirth: Legendary War RPs, where the Legendary Pokemon could no longer be reincarnated thanks to Team Galactic and their screwy alternate world plan and ended up passing their powers on to humans who would eventually become the Legendary that gave them their powers. The RP was never finished (died in the middle of the battle Seth references where Riika was beating off people with her Raichu and a baseball bat--BEST FIGHT EVER!) sadly, however, this is kinda how I saw it ending for Riika and Seth. And because it was brought up as a matter of confusion, Duke was what Riika called the Entei before Seth. Had this taken place in the same "universe" as While You Were Gone, it would have happened before, but as none of the things here were mentioned in the first fic...well, you'll see./End of Commentary

Today, the sky is blue. Such a clear, pretty blue, the kind that seems to promise no rain—there aren't even any clouds—and it's nice and warm. There's a breeze winding its way through the trees, and normally I would be happy, but today it just doesn't seem fair. I kind of wish it were raining, one of those torrential downpours that keeps you safe inside the house and staring out the windows through the cold, drop-blurred glass. Maybe if it was, we'd still be inside together and not out here, where I know this journey is finally going to end, and I don't want it to. As crazy as it's been, I don't want to have to say goodbye after spending months together—it's hard to think that after all the crap we've gone through, he won't ever be the same after today. He won't be human ever again after today, and that was what bothers me the most—up until now, he's still been at least a bit human, and after today, that will be gone.

We walk through the forest quietly for a while before Seth stops. "You aren't saying anything," he says softly, back still to me.

I sigh, "Do I really need to say anything?" I ask him moodily. "Other than this sucks?" In front of me, he shakes his head, long brown hair waving with the motion. I miss the days when it was short, the days when he looked the same as he had when he first opened his front door when I knocked on it—his hair had been short in the back and long in the front then, and his eyes had been gray rather than brown, one eye obscured by his overly long bangs swept off to one side. It was the single gray eye that I could see that registered surprise at the sight of myself standing at his doorstep as though he couldn't believe he was seeing me, despite the fact we'd never met before.

"I guess you don't, though I wish you'd say something to make me feel a bit better about this," he says, sounding bitter. "Because you aren't the only one who thinks this sucks. No more human Seth after this…I can't ever go see my family or friends again… I think I'll keep in touch with you, though. You know; have known from nearly the beginning—"

"I was a friend to Duke before I was a friend to you. I spent these months with you because he asked me to, because he felt you needed someone you could trust, and I found a friend in you as well. He gave his life with the others to protect you and the other ones like you…I would do the same for you, Seth. If you ever need someone to talk to or turn to for help, I'm going to be there because I was there for your predecessor from the day I turned fourteen…it's only been three years, going on four, but still… You get it, don't you? You're welcome in Pallet Town any time." His family and friends back in Johto weren't going to be the only ones to miss him—we had stayed in my hometown on and off over the last few months, and he had really grown on the townspeople once we managed to explain what the heck was going on and why Johto's government was basically trying to plaster our pictures everywhere and call us terrorists. Seth had had to stop Mt. Ember from blowing its top more than once, and there had been at least one trip to Cinnabar, so he had made friends and left good impressions in those places as well…Seth Micheals would be a very missed human once he was gone.

"You will not die for me, 'promised guardian' or not, Riika. It's bad enough that you have those scars on your arms. Duke was grateful for your help, but he never could get over the guilt of being the cause of them, and he knew he was going to die regretting dragging you into this, too." I shake my head and sigh; so they weigh as heavily on his mind as they had Duke's?

"You don't get to choose what I do, Seth, we've been over this multiple times. I know it's hard for you to understand, but even if I hadn't promised Duke that I would protect you, I'd still be willing to do the same. You're important—me? Not as much. And I'm proud of my scars, thank you very much, I don't know why Duke felt so guilty about them, but I was certainly aware he was. They prove to me that that whole thing wasn't a dream; it wasn't a flight of fancy that I met an Entei and saved his life because I wasn't afraid to give up! It always bothered me that he felt guilty over them, you don't need to feel the same guilt, Seth." He turns to look at me, reaching up to brush the crest of hair formed by his bangs that looked so much like the crest that took up Entei's face, eyes (now even more red than mine) studying me.

"Why didn't you ever tell Duke that?" he asks me, and I shrug.

"Would he have ever listened? There was never really a time for it, anyway," I tell him, shaking my head. "I told you, though, so keep it mind for him, because I know it's bothered you since you found out." I remember how he pestered me until I eventually agreed to show him, and I remember seeing his face when I pulled my armwarmers off so he could see the webwork of slightly raised lines that covered my arms. The look of surprise and horror I had seen that night was enough for me, I kept the skin of my arms out of his sight from that point on.

"I don't know that he would have, though I mean, you knew him for three years—that's what you just said, right? I'll keep it in mind, though…"

"I'm serious, Seth, don't brood over it like Duke did. And yeah—I knew him for three years, but I didn't ever see him very much, and when he did stop by or drag me out somewhere, it was almost like he wanted to be…normal. I mean, there was a time or two when he really wanted help, but other than that, we would just talk. I don't know if he thought he had a responsibility to talk to me, or he wished he had a trainer, or what it was, but he would call me out someplace where he wasn't likely to be seen and we'd just talk for a little while about what we'd seen while we were out adventuring, how we were doing, that kinda thing. You're welcome to do the same, by the way, it's gotta get lonely sometimes, roaming around aimlessly and having to hide from people… Especially when you used to be around them all the time." Seth's eyes grow sad as he looks back at me and balls up his hands into fists. All the conversations we had over the months came flooding back—how he missed the idea of getting to grow up, how he'd probably never expand his family, and how he'd miss his already existing family and friends…

"I'm sorry," I murmur, and he shakes his head before turning around and starting to walk again.

"It's alright. You'll probably see a lot of me in the future, though," he admits, I can't help but smile at his back over that as I follow him.

"I don't mind that at all. Feel free to bug me anytime," I tell him as we come out into a small clearing. I glance around out of habit, though I know that at this point, Seth's senses are better than mine and there isn't much of a point to me trying to act like a guardian anymore.

"You know, I ought to bug you all the time because of that remark?" Seth teases back, and I actually laugh out loud at that.

"Feel free to, I don't care. It'll be like old times." It's my turn to make him laugh, which Seth does easily as he turns to me.

"You're calling the past few months 'old times' already? Jeez, Riika!" he laughs as he turns and sheds his jacket, holding it out to me. I just look at in confusion.

"Why are you trying to hand me your jacket, Seth?" I ask him, Seth just smiles at me and kind of shakes it out in front of him.

"So you know it wasn't a dream. So you know I was human once, and those months you spent with me weren't a dream. So you have proof to go with your scars." It's at that that I nearly burst into tears, and I'm not entirely sure why, other than it seems so final.

"But Seth, I—"

"Just take the jacket and make me happy." I take it simply because I don't know what else to do. The moment it's in my arms, though, I latch onto it and hug it like I never intend to let it go on some childish impulse that makes Seth laugh again. "Thank you," he says softly before walking towards the center of the clearing and leaving me behind on the edge with his jacket as proof he used to be human.

He had left his Pokémon in their Pokeballs, which sat on the kitchen counter at my house next to a letter, where Ericka or mom would find them at some point when they woke up—I had already been told they were to go to trainers who would treat them well. The letter was for my family as a whole, though, and I hadn't been allowed to read it, so I wouldn't find out until I got home, probably after my twin sister cussed me out over not waking her up when Seth woke me up so she could come with us to say goodbye. She was over-emotional, so Ericka would probably bawl while she was cussing me out and mom would probably just ask me if that was what a "responsible young woman" would do. Dad and Aiden would nod to mom's disapproval while Ericka would probably still be bawling, and once this was eventually over, I would get to hear what he had written to my family. I kind of wanted to know, but then I got to see him last and tell him goodbye in person—guess I couldn't get everything I wanted…even if I already wasn't getting everything I wanted due to the fact Seth wouldn't be coming back home with me.

I chase after him as he reaches the center of the clearing, dropping the jacket so I could tackle him, wrapping my arms around him in a hug. "Riika, what--?"

"Ericka would want me to. You know how my twin sister is; at least I can tell her I hugged you for her," I tell him, fighting back tears once more as I refused to let go of him. Seth laughed again and hugged me back.

"You are not hugging me for Ericka, and I know it. Stop lying, Riika," he replies softly, and I try to tighten my grip on him.

"Fine—I'm hugging you because I don't want you to go. I'm gonna miss having you around, you know?"

"I'm not going to be completely gone, Riika," he sighs.

"You won't be there like you have been for months." I know I sound like a child, but I can't help it. I've never had anyone else other than family get that close to me, and that was what it felt like I was losing now—a part of my family.

"But it's not like I'm dying. I'll still bug you sometimes…" And that's it—I've started crying. Not like Ericka would have been, but I'm still crying. "This is not the same Riika I've known for months. Not the same Riika that beat down Johto soldiers with a baseball bat and her Raichu at her side--that Riika's tough and takes crap from no one. Where did she go?" Seth asks me, and I shake my head.

"She took a vacation," I mutter, and he chuckles at that.

"She needs to come back so she can tell me I have to go through with this. Because at this point I'm tempted to take this Riika back home and not bring this journey to an end." I bite my lip—now I'm just being unfair, and I know it.

"She's trying. She says you need to do what you came here to do." I let him go and try to smile through my tears. Seth just shakes his head and turns me around.

"Why don't you go pick up my jacket? It was kind of rude for you to drop your proof, don't you think?" I can see what he's doing, but I don't object, because I'm just as likely to try and stop him again if I don't have anything to distract myself. I move forward almost mechanically and I think back to all our discussions over the months as I do, when one hits me and I whirl around to face him.

"Seth?" I ask softly—he's standing where I left him with his eyes closed, but he opens them when I speak. "Sophia—that was the name right?" He looks confused for a moment, but I can feel the faint smile on my face. I remembered the conversation pretty clearly—he had been talking about the future he could never have, and mentioned he would have liked to have a daughter he could name Sophia because he had always loved the name for some odd reason. I remember laughing at tha time, but I wasn't laughing now.

"If you're talking about what I think you are, yes, Sophia was the name…why?" He still looks confused when I reach down to pick up the jacket.

"Because it's the least I can do—I ever have a daughter, I'll name her Sophia for you." Seth blinks and then a huge smile breaks out on his face as he closes his eyes again and he lets the transformation take him over for the last time.

I remember when we first made it into Kanto and things calmed down while we were in Veridian for the first time, how he looked at me and told me "Looks like we've just got to make the best of the time we have," and now I realize I never knew if he meant before Johto attacked or before he became the next Entei permanently.

Whichever way he meant it, the time we had was now gone, and goodbyes were hard. I just stood there, hugging his jacket to me as the newest addition to the ranks of Legendary Pokémon turned his head to look at me. /No more human Seth,/ he informed me mentally, and I nodded slowly as the tears came back in full force. /Thank you, Riika. For everything./ The words are nearly a mental whisper, but they're still there.

"You're welcome; it was fun getting to know you, Seth," I tell him softly, then raise one hand to make a shooing motion. "Now I think you've got a volcano to fix somewhere, don't you? I've got a raging family to get back to." He lets out a sound that's something like a chuckle of a laugh before he looks up at me.

/Sorry about that… Remember what you promised me about my Pokémon, though, and I'll be back to bug you soon,/ he tells me mentally before he turns and bolts off into the Viridian Forest.

I turn and begin my walk home slowly. Somewhere along the line, I finally manage to stop crying, but it only resumes the moment I make it through the door to my house and see Ericka sitting on the couch with mom, giving me a murder glare the only makes me clutch Seth's brown jacket with cream-colored fur cuffs closer to me as the waterworks come on again, and Ericka explodes into tears again, too. For the first time in years, in the living room of our house on a beautiful day, the Amano twins are crying like children together over a friend who would never set foot in their house again.

~*~

Today, the sky is blue. Such a clear, pretty blue, the kind that seems to promise no rain—there aren't even any clouds—and it's nice and warm. There's a breeze winding its way through the trees, and it reminds me of the day years ago when I said goodbye to a good friend of mine, though the goodbye wasn't completely permanent. The fact we're heading out this way is proof enough of that, actually I've seen him a bit more often in recent years, to be honest. Ahead of me runs a little girl whose long blonde hair streams behind her along with part of her red dress. Her father calls after her, and I shake my head, laughing.

"You know there's no point, Davis," I tell him, still looking after her. "You know there's no one else she loves seeing more." Next to me, my husband sighs in defeat.

"I blame it on you. She's got your free spirit, Riika, and your same love for Entei…it doesn't help that she's got him wrapped around her little fingers, either." I take my eyes away from our daughter to look at my husband and smile.

"Sophia has had Seth wrapped around her fingers since the day she met him. It was to be expected, really, considering—"

"You named her Sophia because he couldn't. I know. I just wish she wasn't as wild as you were," Davis replies as I look back to where Sophia has disappeared into the small clearing ahead of us. I can still hear her laughing, and I'm pretty sure I hear her triumphant cry of "Seth!" amidst more laughter.

"Hey, she's not beating up boys yet, is she? I wouldn't complain too much about our daughter, Davis—she could be exactly like me!" I tease before kicking into a run myself and leaving Davis behind, laughing as I do.

When I make it into the clearing, she's already gotten Seth into play mode—she's taking great amusement in the fact he can still roll her around between his front paws in spite the fact she's now five. Sophia lets out a great shriek of laughter as Seth acts like he's going to pounce on her and he moves his paws off to the sides at the moment, both freeze, however as I speak up. "Hey, where's my greeting?" I ask, and Seth and Sophia both look up like guilty children. Sophia waves enthusiastically and giggles as she does.

/Hello, Riika, nice to see you again,/ Seth tells me telepathically, and I roll my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Seth. Lemme guess, 'Now leave me alone so I can play with your daughter'? Big softie," I shoot back playfully. "It's nice to see you again, too." The Entei playing with my daughter like he thinks he's a Vulpix levels his gaze with me.

/Well, it is Sophia's fifth birthday. She should be the one getting all the attention./ I laugh at Seth's counter.

"She's going to be sick of attention by the time her party is through—I made the mistake of letting her Aunt plan the party, and you know how Ericka can get." Seth makes a sound similar to a laugh as well, and this time Davis's laugh joins his.

"Well then, you should stop letting your sister plan parties," he suggests, though we both knew I hadn't exactly 'let' Ericka plan.

"Better than my sister-in-law," I shoot—Kelly was worse than Ericka where party planning was concerned, I felt bad for my nephews and niece. "But anyway, we can only stay for a little while; gotta get back before Ericka pitches a fit about plans and possibly ruining them, so have fun with her while you can," I sigh, and the playing resumes before Davis and I take a seat on the grass.

I had said goodbye to Seth the human years ago in this same clearing, but that had really only been the end of our first adventure. Seth the Entei had been a part of quite a few more afterwards, and he would definitely be part of more adventures in the future, even if they were my daughter's… Sure, that first goodbye had been hard, but I was no longer seventeen and knew there wouldn't be a permanent goodbye between us for years to come.

[Winter]

Waltz for the Moon
Quick Commentary: The last of my WAR pieces, on which we were given free writing instead of a set theme, something I was pretty excited about since this idea had been nagging me between the way I ended Goodbyes Are Hard and the fact I'd been playing a bit too much Theatrhythm Final Fantasy; for those unfamiliar, this fic was heavily inspired by a song in FF VIII that plays to a dancing scene in which a young woman (Rinoa) forces the antisocial main character (Squall) to dance. In this case, however, Rinoa was replaced with an older version of Sophia (the five year-old at the end of Goodybyes) and Squall was replaced with N, who, for the purposes of this story, ended up in Sinnoh after he disappeared in Black/White (for the story purposes, Black, since he mentions Zekrom) and was mentioned by Looker to have been seen in a distant land. For those unaware, N's full name is Natural Harmonia Gropius...something I found to be a huge point of amusement. XD/Commentary End

Dresses, I had spent most of my life in them while other girls wore shorts and jeans, only to be surrounded by girls in dresses at parties and contests. It never made any sense to me, especially upon hearing the things the girls did to try to make themselves look "better" in them. My mother had hated them on her, and it was something I could understand--she had been a tomboy. Me? I just supposedly inherited her energy, free will, and strange, nearly red eyes. Now, I was surrounded by dresses and tuxedos, many rather insane in appearance because those wearing them often wanted to attract attention in contests. Mine was fairly simple--a pretty strapless, crimson number accented with small, clear beads here and there, as well as a simple ruffled skirt that fell just short of my knees. It was newly-bought for this occasion; I had never entered contests myself and never intended to, however it was hard trying to convince your somewhat insane relatives that you just weren't interested in going to a party for a bunch of contest-lovers--being pushy was in the family, I guess. I'd seen it enough times with my both my aunts and multiple of my first cousins once removed, which it seemed I had a lot of, along with even more second cousins--which was why I was here now. Honestly, I didn't know why Dahlia thought it was so important for me to come in the first place--she'd ditched me the moment we got through the door of the Hearthome contest hall, and now I was on my own; well, with the exception of Musei acting as a guard.

There'd been buzz among the Pokémon I'd talked to all night--it seemed that there was another one like me out there; one who could understand the language they spoke just as well, maybe even better, than the language we spoke. That had certainly caught my interest; however the guy had so far remained elusive. Of course, to be fair, I had yet to get frustrated enough to allow Musei to try and hunt him down mentally--I mean, how hard was finding a guy with long green hair supposed to be? Normally it probably would have been pretty easy, but with the contest hall now packed to the brim like it was, it was substantially harder to even move around; let alone track down a single person.

"This place is a zoo, Musei," I muttered to my Gallade, who looked up at me and nodded.

/Ready to give up yet?/ he replied telepathically, sounding somewhat amused. I could swear I heard him give a mental sigh when I shook my head.

"Not just yet." I was projecting my words just as much with my mind as I was with my mouth, seeing as how in the current crush of people we were stuck in, it was difficult to hear well—not that mentally projecting was hard for me since I had been doing it for nearly as long as Musei had been with me, and that had been a few years now. It was the Gallade's only means of communication with me since an incident with a Poochyena when he was a Ralts had cost him his voice, something I'd managed to give back to him over a rather hefty timespan, but only mentally.

We continued to push our way through the crowd until it ended suddenly--so suddenly we both nearly fell out of it, prompting someone nearby to let out a laugh that was quickly cut off, as though they'd thought better of it partway through. Looking around in attempt to discover who the laugher was, my eyes landed on a figure who had basically propped himself up against the wall of the room who seemed to be looking straight at me.

/Looks like you found him, Sophia./ Musei's tone betrayed him--he was surprised to see the young man with long green hair wearing casual clothes, as opposed to the rest of the party's attendees, leaning (almost lounging, really) against the wall. Me? I was just glad I was lucky enough to have found him.

"You're the one who laughed, weren't you?" I asked, him, approaching slowly. He held a black and white baseball cap in his hands, and at my remark, he seemed to reach up to put it on before he seemed to think better of that, too, and lowered his arm quickly and decided to glance down at his shoes. Was he embarrassed I'd caught him? I'd only meant to start a conversation, maybe tease him a little, but it didn't seem as though he found it funny.

"Yes, sorry," he admitted so quickly I almost didn't catch it. "You just looked so surprised it was comical." The sentence flowed out of his mouth like water; so quickly that it took me a moment to comprehend what he'd told me, really. When I finally realized what he'd said, I laughed.

"I kind of was—so many people in here, I expected it to be wall-to-wall crammed." Of course, now I noticed that he seemed to have a whole bubble of space between the crowd and him that completely isolated him from the rest of the party, and I was in that bubble. "Sooo, I've heard that there's a guy here with long green hair that can understand the language of Pokémon, would that be you, by chance?"

The reaction was nearly instantaneous. The young man instantly looked panicked and started glancing around, probably trying to find a way out where there was none, thanks to the crowd. Seeing that there was no exit present, he looked almost angry. "And who did you hear that from?"

"Easy, easy, I'm not gonna make fun of you for it! Arceus knows I went through enough of that--the Pokémon here said it themselves. I can understand them, too; you can ask any of my Pokémon, and they'd confirm it for you." His expression quickly morphed into confusion before he glanced to Musei beside me. Polite as ever, before the guy could put any questions to him, my Gallade raised his chin to show the guy the nasty set of scars at his throat in indication that he couldn't speak; his reaction this time was almost explosive.

"Just what in the world did you put your Gallade through?!" he snarled, shoving himself off the wall. "And yet--" Whatever he had been about to say was cut off as Musei promptly grabbed my arm and forced me behind him while he moved closer to the young man. His mouth moved for a moment, as if to yell at the guy despite his motion to indicate he couldn't speak just moments before—that was when Musei did something I had never seen him do before; he didn't take the time to have me explain or ask, he went straight to shooting off telepathic remarks at the guy.

/Don't you say a single thing about Sophia!/ was his opener, and from there it seemed he became so frustrated that rather than explain the story, he reverted to sharing his memories of the events that brought us together, from the attack of the Poochyena that he had accidentally stumbled upon, to my finding him and taking care of him, and then the beginnings of me teaching him how to speak mentally. Musei shared how I had taken in most of my current Pokémon after they had been hurt or abandoned, and how we all acted like one big family most of the time. The onslaught seemed to startle him, causing the young man to stumble backwards, into the wall, before I slipped out from behind Musei to steady him and keep him standing.

Neither objected to my actions, although Musei decided to punctuate his sharing with /See? She "put me through" nothing—she saved me and took me in. She took almost all of her Pokémon in, and these same Pokémon would do anything for her in return./ The young man, however, still seemed to be dazed and didn't respond.

"Musei, you didn't have to hurl the memories at him…" I said softly, and my Gallade stepped closer to me.

/I didn't mean to… I was angry…/ I couldn't tell if he was still talking to the guy as well or not, though this was answered when he spoke up.

"It's alright, I understand now…more than I probably would have understood if you had explained it. Just…took me by surprise, that's all." He straightened himself up and looked at me. My hand was still on his arm from where I had steadied him earlier. "I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions; I shouldn't have, but it's hard not to, when…" At this point, he simply gestured to Musei.

"I know, it looks bad, and you aren't the only one who's jumped on me about it, but you are the only one who completely flew off the handle over it. I understand why, though--you speak to them, too. You grow closer to them when you can do such things; my Pokémon are almost like my family away from home… By the way, I'm Sophia, if you didn't figure it out from my Gallade's rant," I offered, letting him go.

/Sophia calls me Musei, and I am sorry I lost my temper before,/ Musei added, and this time, the young man's gaze flickered to him.

"It's quite alright, I can understand why you were angry, now… Anyway, it's nice to meet you both, I'm N," he replied. N? Just a letter for a name? My curiosity got the better of me.

"N? Is that short for something?" He looked to me, expression somewhat surprised, before he shook his head.

"Nothing that I'd like to share." I couldn't help it--I laughed at that.

"That bad, huh? I'm sure I've probably heard worse." N just shook his head, chuckling.

"I doubt you have."

"I have this first cousin once removed who had rather eccentric parents. Her name is so overly long and complicated that was all just call her Ash," I told him, he shook his head again.

"Sounds bad, but I still can't say that I think it's worse than mine," N said simply, I shrugged.

"Well, Ash was the best I had, I think. Of course, I guess I'll never know, considering I don't know yours beyond N." N just held his hands up as if he was trying to ward me off.

"Don't look at me like that, Sophia--I really don't care to share it."

"Fine, then," I told him, and it was in that moment that my crazy side started to act up. "You know what? I heard there's supposed to be dancing in the arena area and just standing around is boring--come on, dance with me!" N blinked. Musei looked at me like I was insane.

"I, ah...can't dance," he said softly, almost like he was embarrassed.

"It's not that hard," I assured him, "I'm sure you're just giving yourself less credit than you deserve."

"Well, I'm really not--" he protested, but it now seemed I'd inherited the pushiness from my relatives as well.

"It'll be fine, come on; I'll show you an easy dance--pretty hard to mess up a box waltz." I reached for his hand, and rather than yanking it away, he allowed me to take it.

/Sophia, are you sure this is smart?/ Musei followed us as I began to tow N through the crowd to get to the door to the arena area. I laughed back at him.

"Does it need to be smart? I just wanna do something other than stand around!" This got a laugh out of N as we reached the door that led down into the arena area, where music was playing and a handful of people and Pokémon were dancing on the floor where contest participants usually stood. The only thing between us and the makeshift dance floor now was a set of stairs; a set of stairs that I proceeded to hop down, taking N with me.

I nearly took us both tumbling down the stairs once, thanks to the edge of my shoe getting caught and tripping me up. However, I was only airborne for a moment before the mutter of /Dangit, Sophia,/ filled my head and I was frozen mid-fall and gently placed back on my feet. /Be more careful!/

"Hey, mind slowing down a bit now?" N asked, and for his benefit, I nodded.

"I guess we can," I sighed, looking back to the strange young man still holding his baseball cap in his free hand and my Gallade. "And thank you, Musei." The Gallade nodded to me in acknowledgement, and N gave me this almost grateful look before we started down the stairs again at a slower pace than before. It felt like it took ages to reach the bottom from that point, however we reached it without further incident, much to both N and Musei's relief.

/I'll stay out here, on the sidelines,/ Musei announced as I began to tug N towards the makeshift dance floor.

"Alright then, enjoy your break," I called back a moment before N tugged back for once, holding his baseball cap out to Musei.

"Hold on a moment," he said quickly before looking to my Gallade. "Musei, would you mind holding my hat for me? I would rather not have it go flying off my head in whatever chaos Sophia has planned," he chuckled. I frowned at him.

"Box waltzing doesn't exactly get wild," I informed him, but Musei smiled and took the hat anyway.

/I'm sure you'll find a way to work him up to something beyond box waltzing, Sophia. You're you, after all./ That earned him a frown as well.

"How about have some faith in me?" I asked him; he just smiled while N proceeded to chuckle more.

/I have faith in you--faith that you're going to get as bored with box waltzing as you were with just talking earlier./ N's chuckle grew into a full laugh at that, however before I could fire anything back, he turned to me.

"Well, if you want to dance so badly, why are we just standing here?" he asked me. With a grumble, I shot one look back at Musei before leading him off. The Gallade only continued to smile.

"Alright," I started as we neared the dance floor, "box waltzing is as repetitive and simple as you can get. As the name suggests, your feet make a kind of box pattern when you dance, all you should really have to do is watch my feet a time or two before you have it." I smiled to myself as I spotted a relatively free spot on the floor and headed towards it.

"Okay…" I heard N say behind me, still sounding nervous.

"You'll be fine," I assured him as we reached the empty spot I'd been aiming for and spun around to face him. "Okay, now, one of your hands goes on my waist," I simply raised the hand I had been holding onto and moved it into place before letting it go. "My hand on the same side goes on your shoulder." I was going over this partly for his benefit, partly for mine, as I was going over a mental checklist as I went through the process of moving us both into correct form. Finally, I held out the hand not resting on his shoulder and smiled. "And then you take my other hand."

You could probably have fit another person between us, maybe two, and N was obviously uncomfortable, but he did take my hand despite his obvious discomfort. He wasn't the tallest guy I'd ever seen--he wasn't even that much taller than me, really, I noticed, so at least things weren't going to be horribly difficult in that department. It really seemed like the hardest part was going to be teaching him the steps and getting him comfortable with them so he didn't stare at my feet the entire time. "Now what?" N seemed to ask out of nowhere, catching me off guard. It took a couple moments of blinking and furious thinking for me to remember what came next.

"The steps, which are fairly easy. You move in a pretty simple squarish pattern, however it's easier to show you than explain... It's silly, but think of it like both of us have magnets on our toes, and the magnets on your toes are attracted to the magnets on mine, so whatever I do, you follow. That make sense?" He nodded quickly, suddenly looking rather determined.

"I think so; let's try it."

"Alright then," I laughed at his newfound seriousness before stepping back with my right foot. Immediately, N's left foot shot forward after it, and he barely avoided kicking me, only to almost fall on me instead. "It's supposed to be a slow dance, N," I informed him teasingly as he let go of me, muttering a long stream of apologies, face bright pink, and attempted to walk away. "Hey, now, don't get down so quickly! I'm not letting you give up that easily!" I called, chasing after him and dragging him back.

"I told you," he complained, "I can't dance!"

"Well I'm not letting you give up after one mistake," I replied, placing my hand back on his shoulder and holding out the other. After a rather long moment, he sighed and took up starting position again. "Remember, slow this time. Now, forward…" I said as I stepped backward with my right foot. This time, N followed without trouble. "Forward and side," I murmured, stepping back and to the left with my left foot. This time, N's following was a little slower and shaky this time, but it didn't come close to nearly kicking or falling on me like before. "Now back with your right, and then follow up and take a step to the right with your right foot." This went off pretty well, as N seemed to catch on as quickly as I had expected him to. "And now follow with your left and close the box."

"That's it?" He looked up from my feet at last, and I nodded, grinning.

"Yeah, that's all it is; that same pattern over and over. Simple, isn't it? Once you get used to it, you don't even have to look at feet. Ready to try it again?" This appeared to improve his mood drastically, as N laughed in response.

"Of course, if it's that simple!"

"It is that simple--again, forward…" I laughed along with him as I stepped backwards and he stepped forwards without overdoing it or going too slow this time. The rest of this "box" went through without incident as well, and surprisingly, on the next one, he lifted his eyes from my feet, and one box later, I stopped murmuring the directions. Five boxes later, N asked to amp up the difficulty, and we began moving in a small circle along with the box pattern. He proved a fast learner again, and was asking for something even more difficult. This set the pattern for the rest of the night, and it went on for quite a while…

"Sophia!" He laughed as he caught me, effectively saving me from falling on my butt. I was tired, out of breath, and yet still laughing with him--that had been the most fun I had had in a long time.

"I thought you said you couldn't dance!" I fired back, only causing him to laugh more.

/That's it, you're done./ I looked up to see Musei coming towards us from across the halfway populated dance floor.

"Looks like I just never had a good enough teacher," N said and he moved me back to where I could actually stand as Musei approached.

/Off the dance floor. Both of you. Preferably before Sophia sprains or breaks something,/ he snapped. The Gallade probably could have been a bit more polite about it, but he had his quirks, just as all people and Pokémon did.

"Fine, Mr. Pushy," I teased back, heading towards the exit, N following me after a moment. He was silent until I took a seat in one of the many chairs ringing the makeshift dance floor, where he took the seat on one side of me and Musei took the other.

"You know, you remind me of someone I knew in the region I came from?" he spoke suddenly, startling me. I turned to look at him rather than those still dancing.

"Really? How so?" I asked, curious.

"Well, to begin with, your Pokémon seem to care for you greatly, if Musei's feelings for you are any indication of how the rest of them feel about you."

/You'd better be glad I wasn't Poppy,/ Musei cut in, prompting N to look to the Gallade on my other side, then at me in confusion.

"Poppy…?"

"My Ursaring. He thinks of me like his child, even going so far as to calling me 'cub' most of the time," I elaborated for him. N paled for a moment and then nodded slowly.

"Ah. Anyway, her Pokémon cared greatly for her even though she used them to battle…they even seemed to like battling with her, which really surprised me… She cared about both her Pokémon and human friends, and would do anything for them. She stood by what she believed in, and she definitely proved to be a wonderful rival in the end. She showed me I had a lot to learn…I hope to apologize to her for all the trouble I caused her someday. Oh, and I probably ought to apologize for, ah, kind of stalking her, too, while I'm at it…" I couldn't help but laugh at the last bit.

"You stalked her? And what kind of trouble?" N had started shaking his head even before I was finished speaking.

"My people skills were quite lacking back then. They're still lacking quite a bit, now, however they have definitely improved since then. She and her Pokémon intrigued me, and so I ended up following her…much to her annoyance. As for what kind of trouble I caused her, it's the kind of trouble I'd like to put behind me eventually. In an ideal world, it'd be after I apologized to her for causing it and she found it in her heart to forgive me, but I don't know that I'll ever bother to go back after all of that." He sounded almost sad, and in looking at his face, the word "wistful" came to mind.

"Well, it's certainly far from an ideal world, but you should apologize to her if you want to do it. She doesn't sound like someone who would refuse an apology, especially if she knew it was from the heart. If she knows that you are truly sorry for whatever trouble you caused, no matter how big, she'll forgive you simply because she knows you really regretted what you did and were big enough to apologize to her face-to-face, N," I told him, simply because it's all I can do, and what I feel is right to say.

"Unova is a long flight from here…" N murmured, and I blinked; he was from Unova?! "However, I suppose it's worth the ride, and if Zekrom was up to it before, hopefully he'll be up to it again…" Part of me wanted my jaw to fall off in shock; he had just referred to Zekrom as though he had the Pokémon in his possession… I wasn't sure why it really bothered me, though, seeing as I had grown up around Entei, but I was. It was after a moment, N stood up and smiled down at me.

"Thank you, Sophia, for your advice. I think I will return and apologize to her," he said. "Thank you for showing me that I'm not alone in my ability to speak with Pokémon, and showing me how to dance as well… You've shown me a lot tonight, Musei as well, and I'm glad I had the pleasure of meeting you both." He reached down and shook my hand, and then seemed to remember that Musei was still in possession of his baseball cap. Musei wordlessly handed it to him with a smile, meanwhile I was frantically searching around for something to trade contact information with as he turned and bolted up the stairs.

"N, wait!" I called, standing up to go after him when Musei stopped me, grabbing my wrist. "Musei, I--"

My Gallade smiled at me. /How did I know this would happen? I know you, of course. That's why I snuck off while you two were dancing to hunt down paper and a pen. I gave him your Xtranceiver number. If he contacts you from there, it's up to him, but he knows how to contact you again if he wishes to do so,/ Musei told me, and I smiled back.

"Thank you for that, Musei," I murmured, turning and hugging him. All I got in response was a burst of happiness via his telepathy. Moments later, my second cousin Dahlia came storming down the stairs to the row of seats where I stood.

"There you are, Sophia!" she snapped, shoving caramel bangs out of her face. "It's time to go, I've been looking everywhere for you! Why did you ditch me?" I bit my tongue to keep from pointing out that could not have looked everywhere for me if she hadn't found me earlier. I also refrained from pointing out that in reality, I had not ditched her, but she had ditched me and it was the other way around, not that it would have mattered if I had. s she took me by the wrist in much the same manner I had taken N's earlier, and nearly dragged me up the stairs.

~*~
For months, I heard nothing from N. While I never forgot the odd young man with green hair who could talk to Pokémon like I could, swore he couldn't dance, and then proved himself wrong when I managed to pull him onto the dance floor, I did give up on the idea of hearing from him again. While it bothered me a little, I was simply glad I could help him, though I wondered if the girl he had mentioned really would forgive him when he apologized to her.

Of course, not too long after I gave up the hope of hearing from him again, I was startled by a loud beep from my Xtransceiver –ironically while suffering through a visit with Dahlia and her family. Curiously it wasn't a call, just an message, not that Dahlia cared, and she leaned over to see what it was I had been sent. "Would you stop being so nosy?" I snapped as I opened up the message.

I didn't recognize the number, but I didn't need to once I read the message, after which I burst out laughing. "What are you laughing for? It's not funny… Ugh, I don't get you, Sophia," Dahlia muttered moodily, standing up and walking away as I continued to laugh.

Still visible on the screen were three very simple, but clear words: "She forgave me."

[Winter]

Reunion
Quick Commentary: Meant to be a follow-up to Waltz, it actually took me what felt like forever to finish Reunion simply because it took me quite awhile to find the words I wanted to use to convey the ideas presented here. All I have to say otherwise is the here Hilda/Touko/White is the girl named Anya, and Reine is what I took to calling Black 2's Rosa/Mei. Pretty sure everything else is self-explanatory.

She punched him the moment the door was open all the way. N didn't have time to react before there was explosion of pain along the right side of his face that sent him stumbling backwards off the porch and falling on his butt in the layer of fluffy, white snow covering the ground. She didn't move as he dazedly lifted a hand to touch her point of impact and then raised his eyes to where she stood, fist still raised in the air, glaring right back at him with those fierce blue eyes of hers. They remained like this for moments, angry blue eyes meeting confused green ones, before she dropped her fist and spoke.

"You've got some nerve, N Harmonia, showing up here." The words were softly spoken, but carried no less menace than if she had snarled them at him, not that it bothered him. N was still looking up at her blankly and holding one hand up to his jaw where she had punched him. In this confused state, the first thing he chose to notice aside from her eyes, which were the same ones he remembered, was the fact she wasn't wearing a hat and her hair was down. Her once wild ponytail now tumbled down around her face and over her shoulders in distinct waves…it looked good like that, he found himself thinking before he realized that the young woman before him expected a response and his mind scrambled in all directions to come up with one.

"Do you have any kind of idea how hard it was to find you?" he spoke without thinking, and it was when she narrowed those angry eyes at him that he backtracked. "I came because there are things I want to say to you. Things I probably should have said long before I told you farewell two years ago…" The anger in her gaze softened, and she shook her head slowly.

"You know, you look like a moron, sitting there in the snow with your hand to your face like that?" she asked him before crossing the porch and crouching down to offer him a hand, which he took slowly, letting his other hand fall from the now bruising spot on his jaw. She'd already punched him once, and N wasn't keen on being hit again, however it didn't seem that she intended to as she helped him up out of the snow. "Anyway, I imagine it was rather hard to find me, since I only just came back a few days ago. Mom guilt-tripped me into coming back…you know this is only building up on my opinion that you're a stalker that still exists from two years ago, right?" N gave her a look of surprise—she had just gotten back from where? What was she going on about?

"I guess my timing was lucky, then—I wasn't aware you were gone, Anya. I was only aware you'd moved." The young woman gave a frown that only existed for half a second before she smiled.

"Guess so, then. Yeah, I've been gone for a few months, but—" she was interrupted by a knock on the door, which was still open behind her, that caused both to look at the girl standing in the doorway, her own blue eyes fixed on Anya. "What, Little Sister?" the young woman asked, to which the girl gestured to the open door rather animatedly before following through with a handful of other gestures too quick for him to follow that made the little brown ringlet ponytails on either side of her head bounce. It left N more confused than ever, though it seemed that Anya understood, as the young woman muttered something before she spoke again. "Look, I know it irks Mother, but it's not killing anyone if I leave the door open for a little bit, is it?" The little girl replied with more gestures N only half caught. "It really isn't and you know it, Little Sister. Mother just decided to send you because you're the cute one," Anya replied. The little girl smirked at that before beckoning Anya to come back inside and followed up by rubbing her arms like she was cold.

"It is cold out here, isn't it?" N piped up, causing the girl to suddenly realize he was there, standing next to Anya. All at once, her face brightened up and she gave Anya a glare as if to say 'You have a guest? Why haven't you invited him in yet?'

"Don't give me that look, you don't know him. You don't know what he did to me," Anya shot back, and N cringed, not that she caught it since her eyes rested on the little girl. The girl just shook her head and gestured to N in a way that suggested he come forward, however he looked over at the young woman standing near him as if to ask permission first.

Anya regarded him with a look that almost seemed tired to him before she sighed and moved towards the little girl in the doorway. "Well, you had the guts to show up, Harmonia; might as well come inside," she said without looking back, though the little girl's eyes stayed trained on him even as Anya passed her. After a moment, he followed, unwilling to stay out in the cold any longer.

"Please, don't call me—" N's soft request was cut off as another woman who looked to be a good bit older than Anya, her own thick mass of brown hair pulled into a ponytail about halfway down its length, approached the young woman who had invited him in and began gesturing in much of the same manner the girl had done before her. This same girl had since shut the door behind both Anya and himself and stood just behind him, and watched the exchange with a slight smirk he saw as he glanced back at her. After a moment of frenzied hand gesturing, Anya reached out and grabbed the woman's hands, effectively stopping her communication.

"Stop blowing a fuse and slow down, Mother. You know I can't understand a thing you're trying to get across when you move your hands that fast." N blinked—this was Anya's mom? He only barely saw the resemblance, and Anya's treatment of the woman that had given birth to her shocked him. If he had known his real mother, he certainly wouldn't have spoken to her that way, or grabbed her hands, though the fact that she and both the little girl were dead silent confused him.

"The door, Anya, dear. You know Mother hates it when it's left open, especially in the winter when it's cold like this." N spun around to see the speaker, a woman who looked to be that same age or close in age to the woman whose hands Anya was still holding, who had the same brown hair Anya did falling in soft waves to her shoulders. The woman was bent over a sink, washing dishes, and didn't bother to look up as she spoke. Anya let go of the woman's hands and sighed.

"Sorry, I was a bit thrown off by who was at the door, mom." N blinked. Had she just called the other woman mom? But then why would they both be calling the other woman 'Mother'?

"Wait, what? Didn't you just call her," he paused to indicate the woman with the ponytail, "Mother?" Anya turned her head to look at him, and rather suddenly began to laugh.

"I would have thought you figured it out the moment you saw them, but I guess not," she replied, shaking her head.

"Dear, don't prolong the explanation, just tell him before the poor boy ends up devastatingly confused. Would you like some tea, young man? My daughter doesn't have the best people skills, as she's already made rather apparent, so you'll have to forgive me offering rather than her, and not using your name, as I don't know it," the woman at the sink said. Anya just shook her head, grumbling.

"So you really don't get it?" Anya asked him, ignoring her mother's blow to her social skills. N took a moment to answer both of them.

"I would appreciate some tea, thank you for the offer, ma'am. Anya can be rather abrasive sometimes, but with some people being how they are in the world today, you need to be able to be a bit tough, and you can call me N. Anya, no, I really don't get what you're going on about," he sighed, looking at the little girl just behind him again. Anya burst into laughter once more.

"N, Mother is a Zoroark. Little Sister is a Zorua. Neither of them is related to me—they just sort of came with those names." N blinked in confusion as the little girl burst into giggles and the woman who stood before Anya smiled smugly.

"They came with… How…? Why…?" Anya held up her index finger to her lips and smiled.

"Mother's quite good with telepathy when she wants to be, which is rarely. Before I left, Mother and Little Sister found mom and introduced themselves…and they've been sort of part of the family ever since. I'm just glad they don't mind putting up with mom when I'm away, and that they're willing to protect her, should, Arceus forbid, the need ever arise." The ponytailed woman nodded in what seemed to be agreement, smile faltering slightly.

/I should hope the need never arises, but one can never be too careful these days./ N started as a firm feminine voice filled his mind. It was the kind of voice he'd imagined his nonexistent human mother having once or twice in his childhood…or maybe the mental voice just made him imagine it. It was odd to have a Pokémon speak inside his head, it was rare for Pokémon to speak to him through telepathy since he could speak to and understand them using their own language. Actually, it hadn't happened since a few months ago, when he'd met that girl and her Gallade—Sophia and Musei. They were why he was here; well those two and Reine. It was that thought that brought him out of his mental wandering to find Anya looking at him oddly.

"True," he replied softly, a moment before a shrill whistle sounded from the kitchen, startling him and making him jump. Anya and the Zorua, Little Sister, burst into giggles in response, earning them a look of disapproval from Mother.

"Anya! Tea's ready; come get it—your social skills might be lacking, but your legs certainly aren't broken!" The young woman turned to the kitchen and frowned, grumbling something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like 'They certainly aren't, and if you keep harassing me, I'll use them to walk back out that door again,' before her expression softened.

"Hey, Mother, Little Sister, mind clearing out for a bit? I'd like to have a conversation with N in private, if you two don't mind," Anya told the pair before heading to where her mom had set a pair of cups on the counter. After a moment, the girl turned back to look at him, "Hey, what do you want in your tea?"

N blinked in confusion. He had accepted the offer for tea because it seemed like the polite thing to do, but now he was clueless—what did one put in tea? Was it like coffee? He wasn't sure, though he knew Ghetsis and many of the other Team Plasma scientists had consumed copious amounts of the drink. N had tried it all of once and had hated the stuff. "Ah…I'll have whatever you put in yours," he found himself saying without much thought. This was followed by a groan from Anya's mom.

"Oh dear Arceus, you're putting yourself at the mercy of my daughter where tea is concerned? You are a brave, brave young man," the woman said as Mother and Little Sister left the room in a fit of almost literally barking laughter and giggles. Anya reached across the counter, swiping at her mother and missing, laughing at the same time.

"My tea is not that bad! You just can't handle the sugar content, old woman!" she shot before moving back to the cups and picking up what looked like an oversized salt shaker and, in one quick motion, upended the container over one of the cups. When she was done with the first cup (which N was now sure contained more sugar than tea), she moved on to the other, though she seemed to take a small bit of consideration for N and didn't hold the container upside-down above it for as long as she had the first one. The overload of sugar was soon followed by the addition of a spoonful of something that was golden in color, two spoonfuls went into Anya's, much to her mom's displeasure, if the grimace on her face was any indication. When Anya finally came over with the cups, N was unsure of whether or not he actually wanted to try drinking the concoction, however he'd come to apologize, and he wasn't going to make her more angry with him for not drinking the tea she'd made from him.

He accepted the teacup with a soft "Thank you," and a smile. Anya nodded in acknowledgement before moving over to a huge white armchair by a window across the room from him and practically flopped down into it. N didn't move, he simply stood there and held onto his cup, still trying to psych himself into drinking the tea. This continued on for quite a while before Anya began to laugh, though not the happy laugh he had heard before, it almost sounded like she was close to tears.

"You know, it's so stupid," she said softly, shaking her head. "I've been hoping this would happen for two years—two years, N, and I still manage to screw it up. I know you're the one who said you had things you needed to say, but you aren't the only one. I have things I need to say myself, but I go and punch you the moment I open the door, and then just sit here, too frozen up to say anything!" N looked over at the girl in confusion, had she just said…?

"At least you weren't the one who finally decided to come back to apologize after two years only because of a girl you met at a party you weren't even supposed to be attending. I thought I was ready to come back and make things right because of her. And then there was that other girl; the one from Aspertia that reminded me, and from the way it sounded, most other people, of you. Because of her I thought I was ready to thank you for everything you helped me realize, but obviously I'm not. I'm standing here, just as silent as you and trying to convince myself to drink this tea and say what I came to say," he admitted, glancing up to meet her eyes. Anya's blue eyes were fixed on him, wide in surprise and…something else.

"Where have you been, N?" she asked suddenly. "I've been looking for you for two years. Ever since you told me farewell in the throne room of that castle Plasma built around the Pokémon League before I could tell you that… I wanted to tell you that maybe we could learn together; I could try to teach you how to make friends, and maybe you could try to teach me how to understand Pokémon like you do. It was a childish thing to think, but even after you left, I wished I could have said it to you. I wished it so much that I searched for you from that day on…until my mom practically begged me to come home, and then you just showed up on my doorstep. Where did you go off to that I couldn't find you?" N blinked. Anya looked like a hopeful child, and her words had touched him. She had really wanted him to stay? She really wanted to both teach and learn? He sighed and took a sip of the tea.

It was sweet, but not overpoweringly so. Along with the sugar, other familiar tastes filled his mouth. He puzzled over it a moment before he finally asked her, "Honey and orange?"

Anya's face lit up. "You like it, then? Mom thinks I'm crazy, but I love it."

"Yeah, it's good… As for where I've been? Zekrom and I went far away. To other distant regions to make new friends and learn by ourselves. We spent quite the chunk of time in a place called Sinnoh; that was where I met my biggest inspiration to come back and talk to you. All the people there were pretty friendly, but she…she had the same ability as I do, and her Gallade about tore me to pieces for jumping to conclusions. Before I met Sophia and Musei, though, Zekrom and I just spent a lot of time wandering. He shared stories with me, and so did other people. I learned a lot about the bonds between people and Pokémon there, and learned Team Plasma wasn't the only group to ever cause a region trouble. Then when I came back here, I heard Ghetsis was causing trouble again and went to help the girl standing up to them…I nearly lost Zekrom, but she helped me get him back. It was her, Reine, who made me realize I needed to find you and thank you too, not just apologize, like I told Sophia I wanted to do." Anya smiled at him before seeming to give something a bit of thought. N watched her eyebrows knit together in a "v" formation before she spoke up again.

"I guess you learned without me, huh?" she murmured, but N just shook his head. "And you said Sophia? Did she have blonde hair and funny, kind of rusty colored eyes?" she asked before N could speak, flooring him. She had met Sophia, too? All he could do was nod.

Anya's mouth fell open. "I started out farthest away…I met her parents in Kanto. That girl's mother has an incredible story. Her parents think they know why she can do what you do, but that's only a story I'll tell if you want to hear it, though I probably shouldn't. It's something I don't think her mom would have told me if I hadn't told her about you, and it's almost unbelievable."

"I'd love to hear it sometime… Maybe you could do it while you were teaching me to behave a little more like a normal human? I've learned a lot, but it always helps to learn from the best, does it not? And I don't know how well it would work, but you seem willing; I could try to help you understand Pokémon like I do. Well, I mean, if you still want to teach and learn?" N offered. Anya bolted up from the armchair, spilling tea everywhere, but she didn't seem to notice.

"I…" The word barely came out as a whisper. "I would love to!" N let out a soft chuckle before turning serious.

"There are two things I have to say first, though. First of all, I am sorry for all the trouble I caused you two years ago," a small smirk tugged at his lips. "And seemingly ever since. I can only hope you can forgive me for the mistakes I made back then, and accept my thanks for setting me on the right path in the end. For teaching me so much in such a short time and showing me that what Ghetsis taught me was only for his benefit in the end. In short; I'm sorry and thank you." A smile tugged at Anya's lips as well.

"You can't help how Ghetsis raised you, N. I won't ever hold that against you, so you were really forgiven before you even asked about that. However I'm glad I could help you realize that you can't see the world in just black and white, you've got to look for all those in-between shades of grey, too. I'm also glad I could help you get on the right track…even if you did it before I could offer my help. You're welcome." She gave him a warm grin before suddenly closing the distance between them and wrapping her arms around him.

"You know, I've always thought you needed one of these. You always seemed so alone two years ago… Have you ever been hugged before, N?" Anya asked him softly. Confused, the young man just shook his head, trying to think.

"Anthea or Concordia might have when I was little, but Ghetsis was distant and strict. He never really showed affection, but I can see why now," he replied. N could feel the fading warmth of Anya's spilled tea seeping into his shirt, but he didn't have the heart to try and push her away. He wasn't sure he'd ever been hugged before, and now he was beginning to grow certain that if he had, he would have remembered the feeling that came with it. He was certain he would have remembered the warmth that wasn't just from spilled tea clinging to a young woman's sweater, or the certainty that he wasn't a freak in that moment, or the feeling that finally something was right in the world. "I think I would have remembered if I had been, though…unless it happened before I can remember…"

"Don't think about it too hard; you're going to need your brain to learn," Anya laughed, breaking apart the sadness that had crept up on him. He found himself starting to laugh as well when Anya's front door flew open.

"Hey, Anya, I was just wondering if maybe you wanted…to…go on a trip for the Professor with me…?" the peppy female voice fell flat at the end of her sentence. The girl knew she'd stepped in on something she probably shouldn't have, and looking over, N just barely recognized the girl standing in the doorway as one of Anya's friends. Anya didn't let the situation bother her in the slightest.

"Hi Bianca," she greeted her visitor cheerily, letting go of N. "I know this is probably a bit odd, but what can you do? Anyway, in light of recent events, I think an introduction is in order—Bianca, this is N. N, this is Bianca." That didn't get much of a reaction; N and Bianca just kind of looked at each other oddly, neither quite sure what to say. N was pretty sure the original Team Plasma had stolen Pokémon (or at least tried) from this girl.

"Ah…hello, Bianca," N found himself saying, letting his learned politeness kick in. The girl frowned a moment before she spoke.

"Hi, N…" Bianca said shyly, playing with the lime green beret that sat atop her head.

Anya only grinned as she helped the two through introductions and managed to convince Bianca to allow N to accompany them on a simple field study of the Pokémon living on Route 1. As they stepped out the door, she elbowed him gently to grab his attention. "Looks like your learning starts now; hope you're ready for it," she whispered so that Bianca couldn't hear. N fought back the urge to laugh. If this was what being a normal person was like, N thought he would enjoy being normal for once.

It wasn't until a few weeks later that he remembered he had Sophia's Xtranciever number written messily on a small scrap of paper that was tucked inside his hat. When he finally remembered, Anya found him sitting on her living room couch one morning, typing a quick message. After a bit of poking and prodding, he admitted he had sent the message to Sophia and that it simply consisted of three words: "She forgave me."

If only Sophia could have known that Anya had done so much more than that.

[FedoraChar]

I'm so glad you moved these here! :D I sure loved reading them x3

"Goodbyes are Hard" made more sense to me this time around, though :o I remember being a little confused when I read it last WAR ^^' Probably cuz I didn't realize it was based on that RP Mewcario/Master Zorua did xD

Still love that beginning to Reunion xDDD

[Winter]

How could I not move them here? XD I love them! Hopefully An Act of Kindness willmake it onto the boards soon enough..

I could swear that I made note of it in the extra section when I put it up for WAR...oh well.

I love the opening to Reunion as well, simply because of how comical it is. :) then again, I love the whole fic, so...