“Mama!” I called out. “Come meet my new friend!”

“Hmm? A new friend? Your father hadn’t mentioned any new fr-” Mama stopped short once she came out of the kitchen and saw the Trapinch in my arms.

“H-Honey, I don’t think-” “Nope! You promised I could keep one if I caught it” I interrupted her attempt to talk me out of keeping it, jerking my head towards a framed piece of paper on the foyer wall. It was a list titled “Harmonia Family Rules” and the very first rule was “Always keep your promises.” With a heavy sigh signaling her defeat, Mama relented! Victory at last! Now all I needed was to win 78 more arguments and the score would be even!

“Ooof, your kicks are as strong as ever, my lovely Aria!” Papa said as he came through the door behind me. Mama wasn’t having it though. “Save it, Dante. First thing you do after getting home is break rule #7, in front of our five year old daughter by the way, burst through the front door, and yell about how we’re moving to Sinnoh. I nearly covered myself in tonight’s stew. Now explain yourself before sic Lily on you.” She growled, causing her Lilligant to poke her head out of the kitchen as well.

“W-Well, you see, the wonderful and merciful love of my life…” Papa started, crouching behind to hide from Mama’s wrath. Not that I blamed him, we all knew while Mama had no qualms literally kicking Papa’s butt when she felt he deserved it, she’d never touched me nor would she. Wouldn’t save him though, in fact, it clearly made her even angrier.

“Cherish, please go up to your room and get your partner settled? I need to have a word with your father.” She said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. I simply nodded, gave Papa a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, and bolted clear of the strike zone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn’t until the next morning when Mama and Papa came to talk to me about moving. They’d been too busy last night with their usual method of settling arguments: Pokemon Battling. After which, they’d had their usual post-argument cuddle session. The two of them never could stay mad at each other for very long.

“So…Are we moving to Sinnoh?” I asked them, clearly excited.

“Yes. We’ll be leaving in less than a week, so make sure you have your room cleaned for whoever will move in after us.” Mama informed me and I let out a groan. No kid wanted to clean their rooms! The fact that I was an adult at one point was irrelevant!

“No backtalk young lady, I have to clean the entire house.” She shot back with her arms folded. Which in all honesty was a pretty fair point…

“As for you, dear…” She continued, turned towards Papa. “You’ll head over to Elder Eagun’s house and tell him what’s going on.” …You know, suddenly I didn’t feel so bad about having to clean my room. The old fart could talk someone’s ear off. At least he wasn’t as bad as some of the other villagers…

“And you’ll have to go around to all the villagers afterwards to inform them as well!”

Oh…Oh no.

Papa looked like he was going to argue at first, with both he and Mama grabbing one of their Pokeballs…But after a few minutes his shoulders slumped as he acquiesced. “Yes, dear…”

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All in all, the week went by pretty quickly. Before I knew it, my parents and I were standing at the entrance to Agate Village, saying our final goodbyes to the rest of the villagers. I know I complained about it a lot, but I had to admit I’d miss this village. It’d been my home for over 5 years at this point. Though considering the surprising amount of trouble I’d managed to cause, I doubted the feeling was mutual.

To my surprise, Eagun approached me just as the farewells were wrapping up. “You know, young Cherish, from the moment you could walk, you’ve certainly been a handful…” He started, stroking his beard as he spoke. I winced but said nothing back. It was only fair that he gave me one last lecture before I left.

“From the time you somehow managed to climb into the hole in the giant tree on top of my house and get yourself stuck…to the time you nearly drowned in the river trying to see if there were any Pokemon at the bottom…Yes, you’ve certainly caused no end of stress to both myself and your parents.” He reached into his robe for something.

“Looking back, I suppose it was only natural. It makes sense that such a small village could hardly contain your adventurous spirit, considering what your parents got up to in Unova.” He said with a chuckle.

Eh? Old Man Eugan knew what happened in Unova? Mama had told me that’s where she had met Papa, but adamantly refused to tell me much more than that! I looked back at Mama, who was looking at Eugan in shock. Apparently, it was as much a surprise to her that he knew as it was to me. I turned back to Eugan to ask about it, only to be met with a Cherish Ball that he was holding out to me.

“The entire village pooled together some funds to get you a present. We almost didn’t make it, but an old friend of mine managed to find this one just in the nick of time.” He said.

…What?

I looked past Eugan to see the villagers smiling at me…at least until my eyes started to get blurry. I wasn’t crying, I just had some sand in my eyes! Accursed sand, even now you continue to assault me! As I frantically tried to get the wretched sand out of my eyes, Eugan just laughed like a kindly grandfather and patted me on the head. “It’s alright. It’s not as if this will be our final goodbye. Your home by the great waterfall here in Agate will always be open to you should you need or want it.”

“That’s right!”“Good luck, Cherish!””The Sinnoh League won’t know what hit em’!””We’re rooting for you, future Champ!” and other such shouts came from the crowd behind him.

Dang it..After all the stress and panic I’d caused, these people were just too darn nice! No wonder Celebi liked it here…

The tender moment was interrupted when I heard the sound of a ball opening and felt a weight on my shoulder.

“Vee!” Said the newly arrived blotch of brown.

…I knew that Pokemon cry! I quickly finished getting that totally real sand out of my eyes to get a clear look at it. It was another of my favorites, Eevee!

“E-Elder Eugan! We can’t accept such an expensive and hard to come-by Pokemon as a gift!” Mama shouted, but Eugan only shook his head. “We must insist, I’m afraid…But if it’s any consolation, we were only able to get this one because of an apparent genetic defect. For some reason or another, she is seemingly unable to evolve.” He replied, sounding a bit guilty at having to break the “bad news” to me, but my mind was racing as I looked at my new Eevee’s eyes.

Purple.

Oh my Arceus, this was a Partner Eevee.

…I didn’t even know where to begin to explain this or even how I knew it, so I just tucked that away for now. “It’s alright, I’m sure she’ll be a powerful partner, evolution or not!” I assured him, which earned me a smile from the old man. I could tell by the way his beard moved.

“Good answer! Now…listen closely. Of all the wisdom I’ve ever shared with you, young Cherish, this is by far the most important. Never forget: The key to true strength lies in the bonds between Trainer and Pokemon. You may not understand what that means just yet, but you will someday.”

“...But, isn’t that obvious?” I asked back before I could stop myself, and Eugan began to laugh uproariously. “Oh, I look forward to hearing of the terror you’ll inflict on the Leagues once your Journey begins. Now go on, you don’t want to miss your ship to Sinnoh, do you?”

“Ah, you’re right! Thank you, Elder! Thank you, everyone! I’ll come back to visit someday, I promise!” I called back to the villagers as Mama let out her Venusaur. He wasn’t as fast as Papa’s Metagross, but Mama knew how to get Grass types to grow bigger than normal, so unlike Metagross he was big enough for all three of us to sit comfortably. And with her s

“So where will we be living in Sinnoh?” I asked, practically shaking with excitement as I held the regional booklet Papa had given me. “Jubilife?”

“Nowhere so grand I’m afraid. The move was so last minute, your father could only find an available house in a smaller town. Twinleaf, I think it was called? Don’t worry, even if there aren’t any other kids to play with there, you’ll be starting kindergarten soon so you’ll be able to make plenty of friends there.” Mama answered, though my brain took a moment to process the gravity of what she just said. Twinleaf…That’s where Dawn and Barry were from!

Trying not to freak out, I settled into a comfortable spot under Venusaur’s flower with my new Eevee friend.

And as Mama instructed Venusaur to use Grassy Terrain along with Grassy Glide, a combination she referred to as “Green Road”, another revelation came to me.

“Wait, if they’re keeping our old house empty for us, does that mean I cleaned my room for nothing?!” I shouted, causing the assembled villagers to burst out into laughter that quickly faded behind us as we sped off towards Gateon Port.