*VVVVVVRRRRRRRRRmmmmmmm*

                    

                     

                  

The vehicle roared as it zoomed down the road leading towards Petalberg City.

“Just hold on Jennifer, we’re almost there!”

Jennifer shook her head.

“I’m fine,” She assured May. “But Gardevoir is getting colder, we have to hurry!”

“I am going as fast as I can.” May informed Her. “We’ll be there in a—“ then to her surprise, it a building came into sight. “There! I can see it!

Jennifer looked up from the injured Gardevoir with a hopeful look, they had been putting the peddle to the metal for almost over ten minutes, and every minute they hadn’t arrived yet, made Jennifer more and more anxious.

Jennifer leaned down to whispered to the unconscious Gardevoir.

“You are going to be okay! You hold on you hear me!” She whispered furiously to her. “You have three lovely children waiting for you to be better! You can’t leave them!”

May unfortunately had to slow down once they were inside town and the city limits, lest the get pulled over by a police officer and waste even more time.

May found a parking space close to the front of the PokéCenter. After parking there, she rushed around to get the Gardevoir from Jennifer.

“You wait here for your dad! I told him you would be in the car, I will take her inside.”

“But!—“

“Nope! No buts! Not listening!” May the pulled the injured Gardevoir from her friend’s arms. Then rushed to bring her inside the center.

Jennifer was left there in the car, blinking after her departing friend.

“Well! If she thinks I am just going to sit here, she has another thing coming!”

Jennifer struggled to lift herself up and out of the bucketed seat of the car.

“Ugh! Arceus that hurts!”

         

“Glace! On on!”

           

Just as Jennifer had herself sat up and on the edge of the cars side, Glaceon popped up from the back, her head stuck between the seats two seats.

“What? Now you want to listen to your mother after you snuck in the car before?”

“But you’re to injured to move! You really should listen to momma-May!” Glaceon thought to Jennifer.

“That would be the smart thing to do,” Jennifer said with a smirk towards Glaceon as she pulled herself free from the trike. “UGH!…” She looked back down at the head poking free from between the seats. “But I didn’t get where I am by playing it smart.”

“Injured and beaten by a wild Mightyena?” Glaceon quipped.

Jennifer rolled her eyes.

“Smartass, just like your mother.”

Glaceon moved from the back of the car to the front seat, preening as she stood up.

“I will take that, as a compliment.” She told Jennifer in rebuttal.

“I’m sure you will,” Jennifer said not doubting it for a second. “Now, get down. I want to get the kids out of the back.”

After Glaceon hopped down, then Jennifer pulled down her seat to reveal the trunk.

Bent forward to stare into the trunk space.

“Ralts?” Said the middle child holding her two siblings while they all trembled in fear.

“Hey hey, it’s okay!” Jennifer called out gently to the trembling scared children. “We’re nice humans, we’re good trainers.” She assured them. “No one is going to hurt you. My friend just took your mother into the PokéCenter to get her looked at by nurse Joy, everything is going to be fine now.”

“R-Ra-Ralts Ralts?”

“I…—“ Jennifer hesitated before answering. She shook her head and then looked at them with more conviction then before. “No, she will be just fine, I promise! Everything is going to be fine,” She stretched out her hand towards them. “Now just come with me. I will take you into the center and show you; your mother is going to be just fine.”

Ralts stared fixated at the large golden dark hand held out towards herself, she felt no malice or ill-intent towards herself to its siblings,

She had come to me when I called out for help, so?……

She looked up into the Sky-blue eyes of the trainer in-front of her.

She remembered how this human had come to save them all by herself, risking her life to save them and their mother; how she had fought the Mightyena with her psychic powers, even though she had no chance at winning.

She slowly, hesitantly stuck her hand forward towards this brave trainer.

           

            

“S-Sister! Scary!”

                         

                          

Her little sister called out to her, who was clinging to her side. She smiled and reassured her little sister with a pat to her head.

“Its fine sister!” She encouraged her smaller sibling. “I think we can trust this trainer, she will keep us safe, just like she had against the Mightyena.”

“Really?” Her sister asked her.

“Will she really?!” Her youngest sibling asked her.

“Yes, I promise.” She told them. “She promised us she would look after us; that mother would he okay. We can trust her.”

“Umm actually! I am not a—…”

Jennifer was about to deny she was a trainer, but when all three of them looked up at her in confusion, shook her head and thought better of it.

“You know what? That doesn’t matter right now.” She leaned forward a little bit more, even at the protest of her ribs. “Y-You can trust me, I am your friend, and as long as you’re with me, I’ll take care of each and everyone of you.” She promised them.

The three Ralts siblings looked between themselves before nodding to one another.

The one in the middle raised her hand towards the trainer and hesitantly placed it in hers.

Jennifer’s heart fluttered at the trust these little ones were putting into her, it made her feel light headed.

Or maybe that is the blood loss…

She shook her head to clear it, she felt hollow at the moment.

“You’re such a brave little girl; were you the one who called out to me psychically, weren’t you?”

“Ralts?”

“Yeah, I can tell; you are such a brave little girl.”

                   

Now it was Ralts’s turn to have heart palpitations. She felt her face heat up from embarrassment at being called brave.

She didn’t feel very brave while she watched her mother being beaten down by the Mightyena.

Her hand is so big… and warm… it makes me feels safe.

She looked up at the trainer whose face was strained with pain, but she still held a reassuring smile on her lips.

“There you go, and I am glad I make you feel safe.” Jennifer told her.

Oh Arceus! I forgot she was psychic!

Jennifer chuckled at the Ralts’s embarrassment.

“That is okay, I forget I’m psychic too sometimes.” Jennifer quipped. “Here! Up you go…”

With the eldest Ralts in her arms, she looked at her blood caked appearance and smiled at her.

“We really should clean you guys up a bit, otherwise they’ll think you guys guys are the ones injured.” She pulled down the sleeve of her shirt to wipe at the caked blood on Ralts’s head and face.

              

                   

But as she did, Jennifer was greeted to an unexpected sight.

“Oh!…..” Jennifer exclaimed. “You’re a variant.”

With the blood wiped away, her blue hair and orange horn was revealed for Jennifer to finally appreciate the Ralts’s coloration.

Ralts was yet again embarrassed at the trainer’s scrutiny.

She hated that she was different from her mother. Hated that she didn’t look more like her siblings. The other Ralts from the forest always made fun of its blue colors.

They always teased her and called her trainer bait.

She winced as she was ready to hear this trainer also make fun of her colors.

                  

“……pretty……”

                

“…R-Ralts?…” She exclaimed in surprise.

Wh-What did this trainer call me?!”

“Yeah, you very pretty; the prettiest Ralts I have ever seen.”

                                 

*BA-DUMP*

                              

P-P-Pretty?! She! She thinks I’m pretty?! Me?!

Jennifer chuckled, but winced as it the laugh hurt herself.

“Uuhh! Yeah, the prettiest!” Jennifer told her.

Ralts couldn’t believe her ears, no one other than her family had ever called her pretty before.

              

“Ralts?” “Ralts?”

                              

Jennifer and Ralts looked down towards Ralts’s siblings that had made their way out from the back of car.

Jennifer smiled as she held out her hand towards them.

“Come on up here you two, let’s go find your mother.”

“”Ralts!””

They then jumped up into her open arm, straining her injured ribs in the process.

“Uugg,” She moaned in pain and after opening her eyes after the stab pain, she saw three concerned Ralts faces staring up at her. “D-Don’t worry, I’ve had worse than t-this.” She told them. 

“Ralts…” The eldest reached up in concern and patted the trainer’s cheek.

Jennifer just smiled down at the blue haired Ralts.

“I-I’m fine, really. Thanks for your concern, but I’ll be fine. Now,” She told them as she turned towards the clinic. “Let’s find your mother.” She looked down towards Glaceon. “Lead the way Glaceon.”

“On!” She told Jennifer with a nod.

                       

As they entered, they spotted May sitting on a bench near the counter, her face holding a sullen expression on her face.

                       

“Glaceon!”

Glaceon called out to her mother as she ran towards May.

“Huh? Glaceon?”

May looked up to see Glaceon bounding towards her and leaping up onto the bench to lick at her face.

“Hey girl, what are you..” She looked over and saw a bloodied mess entering in right behind Glaceon. She stood up and pointing towards her friend.

“And what the hell do you think you’re doing?!” May shouted at Jennifer.

Jennifer was startled by her friend’s fierceness.

“I-.. I- I was just coming in here because… because…”

May walked up and pointed at Jennifer’s face.

“You were supposed to stay in the car and not moving around on your probably broken ribs!—“

              

“”..R-Ralts…””

May stopped her tirade as she saw the terrified Ralts in Jennifer’s arms. She stopped to take a breath and to calm her expression.

She looked back up at Jennifer who had a sheepish expression on her face.

“W-… We were just worried about their mother… I just… I just didn’t want to wait in the car, when we could be here and closer to her.”

May looked at her friend incredulously like she had grown a second head.

May grabbed her own forehead and sighed at her friend’s stupidity.

“Why did it matter how close you were? Or whether or not you were in the building at all?” She looked at Jennifer with glower. “At this rate, the only thing you’ve done has injured yourself more by moving around.”

“I-I told you!” Jennifer argued. “I am not that hurt—“

              

*SLAP*

                  

May lightly smacked the back of her hand into her friend’s belly.

“—Uuurrrrrrggggg!—”

“”RALTS!””

                     

May smirked at her friend who was doing her best to try and act tough in-front of her and the Pokémon she was holding.

“Look at you! You’re about to collapse.” May said in a snarking manner.

The eldest Ralts in Jennifer’s arms turned from looking at the injured trainer she was being held by, to look at the person the trainer was talking with.

“Ralts!”

“Hmm?” May looked down at the protesting Ralts. “Oh?! Is this a shiny Ralts?! Wow! I’ve never seen one before!” May exclaimed in surprise.

“Ralts Ralts Ralts Ral Ral Ral lst! Ralts!” Ralts shouted and flailed in Jennifer’s arms trying to get at May.

May blinked in surprise as she leaned away from the thrashing shiny Ralts who was clearly angry at her.

May smirked at the Ralts and pointed at her.

“Aaawww! Are you mad at me because I scolded and smacked my friend there?”

“Ralts!” Ralts affirmed with a cross her tiny arms angrily while puffing up her cheeks.

May then redirected her finger to point at Jennifer behind the Ralts.

“But it looks to me that you’ve hurt her more than I did.”

“…Ra-Ralts?…” the eldest looked behind her to see that the trainer she was being held by looked even more pale than she did a minute ago.

“R-Ralts!” She then squirmed to turn and start patting at the trainer’s face in concern.

                      

May snorted at the scene she was witnessing.

“Well well well, look at what we have here little miss not a trainer.” May quips at Jennifer. “Looks like you got yourself you very own Pokémon after all.”

Jennifer perks up at hearing her friend’s teasing remark.

“H-Huh? Me?!” Jennifer questions her friend’s logic. “How? Why?!”

May points towards the shiny Ralts.

“You don’t see that kind of affection from a Pokémon towards a person, unless they really trust and want to be that person’s Pokémon.” May explained.

“Y-You’re wrong! S-S—She is just affectionate towards me because she is concerned and because I saved her.” Jennifer argued.

May closed her eyes and shook her head before looking back at her friend in the eyes.

“No, you’re wrong on this, I bet if I put a Pokémon ball down right now and let this Ralts choose, she would love to be your Pokémon.” May shrugged her shoulders. “It’s like I said before: it’s not always up to the person whether they be come a trainer or not; sometimes the Pokémon that choose the person, not the other way around.”

             

“Ralts!” The eldest shouted happily in Jennifer’s arms in affirmation of May’s words.

          

Jennifer gritted her teeth in anger at her friend’s lack of tact about her feels towards the subject.

“Look May!” She started to shouting at May. “If you can’t…—… Can’t……. It can’t be……………”

                    

May noticed the sudden shift in her friend’s emotions and her totally destroyed expression on her face as she stared off into space.

“J-Jennifer? What is wrong? What is the matter?—“

It was then that May noticed that the Raltses in her friends arms were all trembling and crying tears.

“R-Ralts!” They whimpered softly. “R-Ralts” “Ralts!” “”Ralts!”” “R-Ralts alts Ralt alt!” “Ralts!” “R-Ralts!”

“H-Hey?! What is wrong you three?! What is wrong, hey now! Don’t cry! We weren’t fight just now! I didn’t mean to be mean to my friend, I was just teasing—“

                 

                

“……………..She’s dead………………”

                  

May looked up from the Raltses to her friend at her words.

“What?…”

        

“They……. She…… S-She didn’t make it…. T-They…….. *GULP*…..” Jennifer started sobbing, as large tears spilt from her eyes.

         

“What?! H-Hey now! That isn’t nice to say that in-front of their mother! You have to kept of the spirit at least! There is still a chance she’ll make it!” May encouraged. “Nurse Joy isn’t even back yet from surgery! So there is no need to give up hope!”

But just as May was saying this, she saw out of the corn of her eye that the light above the back room towards surgery switched off.

“Huh?” May felt a chill go down her spine as the light switched off. “...No way…”

            

                 

                   

Not two minutes later, Nurse Joy along with her two Chansey assistants.

                   

They didn’t need to say a word for May to understand; their sullen expressions said it all.

                 

                       

                     

The Gardevoir didn’t make it.

                                  

                             

                   

                           

                           

May turned quickly to look at Jennifer, who looked so pale, May thought she Jennifer herself might be dying as well.

“J-Jennifer!”

“I-I…— *GULP* — I failed again! I l-I… couldn’t get to her in time! She died because of me! I failed again!— *SOB*”

“Jennifer! Calm down!” May called out to her friend who was starting to speak hysterically.

“I—I’m responsible for their mother’s death! It’s all my fault!” As she says this, Jennifer loses the last of her strength to remain standing and falls to her knees.

““RALTS!””

“JENNIFER!”

                 

She lands on her back all while falling unconscious do to the pain she was feeling; but all the while, she made sure to not fall and harm the precious cargo in her arms.

Her eyes slowly started to close as the world went fuzzier and fuzzier.

            

              

“Jennifer! JENNIFER! Get a hold of yourself! Do you dare die on me! Stay awake damnit! STAY AWAKE!”

“RALTS RALTS RALTS! RALTS RALTS RALTS!”

“”RALTS!””

                         

“Jennifer?! JENNIFER!”

            

                

“Professor Yew! Oh thank Arceus you’re here! Jennifer she!—“

          

“Thank you May!…… we need to get her to the…….”

           

Jennifer was quickly falling unconscious and losing her hearing.

           

“I am here now, sweetie! Everything is going to be fine.”

                     

“D-……….. D-…D-Dad?…”

“Shhh! Don’t…. eak… thing will… okay… ow…”

As she heard her father’s voice finally faded into nothingness. The last thing Jennifer remembers hearing, was the sound of a pretty blue haired Ralts’s crying out to her.

           

“…RALTS!...”