“Hurry May! Hurry!” Jennifer begged as they raced across the highway.

       

           

             

“I am literally going as fast and as safely as I can go Jen!” May informed her. “We’re only ten more minutes away!”

“May! I’m scared!… She’s hurt…”

“Do you know what’s happening?” May inquired.

But Jennifer was already shaking her head.

“I barely got the psychic message as it was. It was so faint, from being stretched from so far away…… she must have used so much power to make it go that far, just so that it would reach me…” Jennifer pulled her knees up to her chest as she stared straight ahead.

“I’m scared May… I’m really, really scared.”

                   

May looked over at her friend and saw that Jennifer, was indeed, shivering out of fear because of how frightened she was for her Pokémon.

            

She better, never deny it in the future from now on. May thought with a smirk.

             

“…I might not now…” Jennifer comments.

           

                     

“………………..”

I really need to remember that you can read my thoughts like that. May thought out loud.

Which made Jennifer chuckle a bit.

                 

May reached over and grabbed Jennifer’s hand.

“We’ll make it Jenny… I promise we will.” May assured her.

      

“……………………” Jennifer was quiet before she answered her. “………………. We have to May……………… She’ll die if we don’t………..”

May nodded solemnly, as she weaved her way through the highway traffic.

                                               

——————————————————-

                                           

They were just about back to Jennifer’s dad’s house. Making a normal twenty minute highway trip, in about less than ten minutes.

As the house came into view, Jennifer and May saw Ralts desperately pulling itself to the top of the roof, right before making its way, staggeringly toward the end.

      

“What is she?!—“

            

             

But just then, Eevee came rushing out of a broken window, scrambling to get up the slick shingled roof.

               

Jennifer felt her heart beating, even more quickly as she saw what was happening.

“Oh my Arceus! He’s going to kill her!” Jennifer shouted.

“What?!” May exclaimed in shock. “Why?! How are you sure of that?”

               

“I…— I think he’s jealous of her…” Jennifer was realizing.

“Jealous? Of Ralts?” May asked confused at first, but then the lightbulb clicked on in her mind. She looked back at the Eevee scrambling to the peak of the roof. “Of course…… This is a classic case of S.P.S.” May stated.

“S.P.S.?” Jennifer inquired.

“Second Pokémon Syndrome!” May shouted over the rushing force of the air as they drove quickly towards Jennifer’s home. “It’s a psychological problem with people’s very first Pokémon, after their trainer catches another Pokémon for the first time.” She explained.

              

Jennifer blinked at May confused at what she was suggesting.

“But!— But! Neither of them are my Pokémon!” Jennifer pointed out.

         

May shook her head.

“I know, but it seems to me, that Eevee might not think that way:” May said as they came to a halt as they got to the house. “Wasn’t he the Pokémon your father got for you on your tenth birthday?” Mat asked as she was unbuckling, to get out of the car.

“Yeah, I was mad at him, because he didn’t listen to me, about not wanting to be a trainer at the time.”

“Yeah,” May pointed out. “But you and him decided that he would keep Eevee.” May shrugged as she and Jennifer ran towards the side of the house. “Maybe he always held out that you would be his trainer.” May guessed.

           

Jennifer did a double take at May.

But that was five years ago?! Jennifer thought to herself. …has Eevee really been holding on to his hope that I would take him and be his trainer?

                      

              

They got to the side of the house, and saw that Eevee had trapped Ralts on the edge, on the peak roof.

                         

                    

*BA-THUMP*

                            *BA-DUMP*

                      

                     

                 

Jennifer inhaled deeply.

                                      

                              

“RALTS!”

                                  

                            

                         

Eevee jumped at the sound of Jennifer’s voice slightly behind and below him.

Ralts had opened her good eye at the sound. Not daring to hope or believe what she had heard.

She looked down to see her there.

       

Her human.

                     

Her mistress.

                            

                           

Her beloved Jennifer.

                                             

                              

≈Mistress!≈ Ralts called out to her.

                    

Eevee couldn’t believe it; he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

                    

                  

Jennifer was watching as the two up on the roof stared at her. Ralts stared down at Jennifer, with a look of hope and relief at the sight of her.

Eevee on the other hand, looked bewildered, distraught, and in agony.

                

                     

Jennifer smiled at Ralts’s mental message she had sent to her.

But her smile quickly faded, as she saw that Ralts’s face, her body, were completely bruised up and injured.

The damage was mostly centered around Ralts’s face: which had bruises, scratches, and welts. In addition, she also had a swollen eye and bruises on her chest.

                

                     

Jennifer’s gaze locked on to the aggressor of these damages done to her Ralts.

             

The one she once called a friend; even a member of her family at one point.

                         

                              

“...Eevee...”

               

              

Jennifer growled his name.

           

She could see him visibly flinch at Jennifer’s tone.

Jennifer wasted no time after that.

              

She lifted her good hand towards the front of the house.

                      

I know it’s there where is it?

                      

She reached out psychically towards something.

             

There! She thought in triumph.

           

She pulled mentally on the object near the front of the house; which was stored on a shelf for easy access, so that her father could retrieve them if necessary.

         

A spherical object smashed through two walls of the house to reach Jennifer, who was outside of the house.

                    

The tiny red and white ball landed in her hands, as she caught it after flinging it towards herself mentally.

She looked at it, before pressing the grayish-silver button in the center of the ball.

         

The ball enlarged, filling the palm of her hand.

           

She lifted up the ball, pointing it towards the rogue Pokémon.

          

          

“RETURN!” She shouted; and as she did, a red beam of light shot out, connecting to Eevee, right in his side.

     

“E-EEV?!—“

                             

 Jennifer had all of about, point five of a second, to enjoy watching the look of betrayal on Eevee’s face: just as he was converted down into red colored energy, just before he was pulled back into his PokéBall.

Jennifer clicked the button again to shrink it down, locking Eevee inside.

                          

She looked back up at Ralts. Her eyes to go wide, as she saw that Ralts was swaying unsteadily, just about to fall backwards off of the roof.

          

“RALTS!” Jennifer screamed panicked.

        

She threw Eevee’s ball backwards towards May, then reached out with her hand, to help her mentally project her powers to catch her falling Pokémon.

         

Ralts decent slowed and then stopped altogether as Jennifer caught her before she was even halfway down the side of the house.

Jennifer pulled Ralts towards her, bringing her into her good arm; cradling her body gently against herself.

“Oh Ralts!” Jennifer cried at the sight of the broken Pokémon in her arms. “I’m so sorry!”

          

Ralts was so battered, that Jennifer couldn’t even hear her thoughts anymore.

I’m so sorry Ralts! I’m sorry! Jennifer blamed herself. I should have never left you alone!

                   

“Here,” May spoke from behind her, as she handed something towards Jennifer.

              

Jennifer instinctually reached with her left hand, but felt a twinge of pain at being reminded of her own injuries.

“Shit! Sorry!” May apologized. “Here, let me see her.”

Jennifer turned towards May this time, to see her holding a bottle.

“This is a Hyper-Potion,” May explained to Jennifer. “It won’t fix everything, but it will at least get her wounds closed and let her stabilize a bit; just until we get her to a PokéCenter.”

           

Jennifer watched May spray the bottle’s healing fluids onto Ralts; She watched fascinated as the wounds on Ralts’s face, did indeed, start to close. In addition, some of the minor swelling also went away as well.

She was still bruised and battered.

But she could also feel Ralts’s mental capacity start to become less erratic. Her breathing and heart rate also slowed back down, her body started to relax in Jennifer’s arms as her pain number or subsided.

                           

“Oh thanks Arceus!” Jennifer broke down and fell to her knees. “Thank Arceus! If you weren’t— *SOB* if you weren’t here May! I don’t know what I would have—“

“You,” May told Jennifer. “Would have ran, right to the Pokémon Center, barefoot if you had too, I know you would.” May informed Jennifer with a smile. “Now!” May spoke up, to grab Jennifer’s attention. “Let’s get Ralts to the center—“

               

*BANG* *CRASH*

             

“What?!”

“Huh?!”

           

“LAI! RON!”

“”R-RALTS!””

            

The humans blinked in surprise as they watched the Iron Armored Pokémon, crash through the fence, while carrying two tiny Raltses on his back.

                              

Lairon ran up to Jennifer, before skidding to a halt.

“Lai! Lai Ron Lai?!”

“”Ralt! Ral alts Ralts?!””

           

Jennifer blinked again at their sudden question and appearance. But then she chuckled at their concern.

“She’s going to be okay,” She told them. “But we need to get her to the Pokémon Center.” Jennifer told them.

“”Ralts!”” The siblings jumped down and rushed to Jennifer’s knees to try and shake her in a pleading motion.

 “”Ralts alts alts! Ralts alts alts!””

“Y-You guy?!” Jennifer stunned by their sudden requests. “I know you’re both worried but—“

“”~Ralts!~”” They both stressed their request.

Jennifer realized, that if these three asked her for anything, she was going to be a push over to their requests.

“ERRRGGG! Alright!” She told them.

““Ralts!”” They cheered.

May laughed at Jennifer’s and the Raltses antics.

Jennifer turned towards May.

“Would you mind picking them up and taking them to your car?” Jennifer asked her best friend.

May shook her head.

“Not at all.” She replied.

      

May reached down, picking Ralts’s siblings for Jennifer. They then headed for the car.

As soon as she got in, Jennifer turned towards Lairon.

“May,” She called to her friend without looking her direction.

“Yeah?”

“Let me have him…”

May nodded, handing over the PokéBall to Jennifer.

Jennifer then held it out towards Lairon.

          

“Take him.” She told Lairon.

He nodded and took hold of Eevee’s PokéBall by his teeth.

“Put him back on the shelf. Don’t let him out: for any reason: I’ll call dad and tell him the same.”

Lairon nodded his head in understanding.

“Lai, Ron.” He replied.

Jennifer smiled at Lairon, before reaching out and patting the top of his snout.

        

After putting Ralts’s siblings in the space behind their seats, May gets inside the car, starting it up back up.

        

May was once again rushing through the streets to get Jennifer and her Ralts to the Pokémon center.

                         

It wasn’t a long drive, just down the street.

They pulled up to the center and and rushed inside.

           

“Excuse me!” She called out to the pink haired woman behind the counter.

“Hmm? Yes? How can we assist— *!!!*” <Oh Arceus! It’s her again, and with another injured Gardevoir line no less>. “Oh goodness! What is wrong? What happened?!” The woman asked Jennifer as she approached.

                          

Jennifer winced at the woman’s thoughts.

Yeah, I guess I am feeling a little nostalgic here myself. Jennifer thought as she remembered the last time she was here.

“You need to heal this Ralts!” Jennifer told the woman. “She was attacked by my father’s Pokémon.”

“Oh goodness! Your Pokémon, was attacked randomly by your father’s own Pokémon?” The nurse asked as she took Ralts from Jennifer’s arms.

“Well no… actually…” Jennifer wasn’t sure how to explain this. “R-Ralts isn’t my Pokémon, I don’t know if you’ll remember me: but My friend and I here brought in that Gardevoir not to long again,” Jennifer shrugged as she watched as the Nurse, puts Ralts onto a small gurney, to be wheeled out by a Chansey.”

“Right, I remember now.” The nurse says with a nod of her head. <The fainting girl>. “You’re the trainer from Ejapul, is that correct?”

Jennifer winced, but felt like doing it twice.

You make great impressions on people, don’t you Jen? Jennifer thought to herself.

“No… Not a trainer… I am just watching after this Ralts, just until I get her a home, but!—“

“Is this some sort of game to you?!” The nurse asked Jennifer angrily.

        

Jennifer blinked at the woman’s outrage.

“P-Pardon?”

               

          

“You’ve brought one random wild Pokémon in her to be healed up before, which is understandable: we get cases like that all the time.” The nurse informed her.

*BANG*

“But what we don’t get!” She yelled after slamming her hands down onto the counter. “Is irresponsible people, treating Pokémon like their pets or play things!”

“I—…”

“Woah there! Easy!” May tried coming in and interjecting.

              

“Pokémon, are living, breathing creatures. Ones that respond to negative emotions or are stressed in a confusing environment:” She pointed at Jennifer’s face accusingly. “You took home, WILD POKÉMON, and expected your father’s own Pokémon, just to be okay with it. And what was it that you were even doing while this happened to this Ralts?!” The nursed questioned Jennifer.

“I uhh… I was…—“

     

May stepped up and in between her friend and the irate nurse.

                    

“You have no right to yell at or to question her..” May told the nurse firmly.

The nurse scoffed at May.

“I have every right.” She informed them. She reached under the desk and pulled out a phone. “One call from me, and the two of you could be saddled with a seriously heavy fined, for Pokémon endangerment!”

                         

“Hey lady! Cut her some slack! She isn’t even a trainer!”

“But you are I assume?”

“Well, yeah. I—“

“Then you are doubly responsible for what happened, because you should have known better, than to leave wild Pokémon alone with tame Pokémon!”

                           

May took a breath and was about to argue, when she felt a hand on her arm.

     

“May, stop…… She’s right…” Jennifer said defeated.

“No Jen! She isn’t!”

“Yes she is!” Jennifer yelled back. “What right did I, have to leave these perfect little angels alone,” She said with a wave of her hand towards the Ralts in May arms. “Alone with a Pokémon, whom I knew had violent tendencies towards Ralts!”

          

               

“……………………”

            

May was speechless.

             

“…You knew?…”

        

Jennifer nodded her head softly.

            

          

“He…— *GULP* —He… The first night I brought them home…… He had apparently gone inside their room, and threatened them…”

          

May was at a loss for words at what her friend was confessing.

          

May heard a scoff from behind herself.

“And the facts of your negligence, just keep piling on. *SIGH*… I should call the police…” The nurse said remorsefully.

May whipped around on the nurse.

“Now just hold on a second!”

“Maybe you should…” Jennifer agreed with the nurse.

“Jenny?!” May called out to her friend in disbelief as she heard Jennifer say that.

But Jennifer was already walking away towards a bench.

        

May was torn between going to her depressed friend and stopping the nurse from making a citizen’s arrest.

May sighed before turning back to nurse Joy.

“Here… Let me explain.

              

                  

               

              

                  

               

It was about fifteen minutes of explaining later, that May had finally pulled herself away from Nurse Joy.

Well, five minutes to explain, another ten minutes of lectures about Pokémon negligence… May commented in her mind sarcastically.

          

She was watching her friend.

Who had since had the Ralts siblings tucked into the cradle of her arms, rocking them as they slept.

May had let them go to Jennifer, once she realized she was about to be in for a long lecture with the nurse.

         

Her friend’s face was down cast, as she stared at the sleeping Ralts.

         

May went to speak.

          

        

“……………………..”

            

But was quieted by the scene of her friend, whimpering and crying on to the Raltses in her lap.

Her tears streaming down her face and out of her eyes silently as she cried.

        

Oh Jen! May thought sadly. May realized her friend was heartbroken.

           

≈Heh!≈ May heard her friend’s voice inside her own head. ≈I don’t deserve your pity……≈

<Yes you do.> May contradicted. <So you made a mistake! A couple! It’s not the end of the world! Ralts is alright, she is going to be fine in about a couple hours.> May informed her.

But Jennifer shook her head.

         

≈You don’t get it May, I was wrong. I was just kidding myself to think I was someone who could have her own Pokémon.≈ Jennifer criticized herself.

May panicked as she realized what Jennifer was thinking.

<Yes you can!> She encouraged Jennifer. <You deserve it! You both do! You both care and want to be each other’s Pokémon and trainer! So you made some amateur mistakes! That happens even to the professional. Hey! Look at me!> May said with a point of her hand at her chest. <I should have realized that the daycare center wasn’t a place we could leave the Raltses! That one was on me! And I’ve been a trainer for six years! Almost seven.>

≈No May, No… I…— I also realized I’m not cut out for this stuff…≈

<Stuff? What stuff?!> May asked Jennifer frantically. <Come on Jenny! Don’t pull back on me now! Talk with Big Sis-M.> May encouraged.

≈It’s just… all this Pokémon business! I took away Eevee’s freedom away from him, without even hesitating or even calmly talking about what had happened… I just… I saw her, and I just could help myself……. …… I also felt it all May.≈ She informed May in a thought that sounded like she was being scrapped and dragged through glass.

It physically made May feel ill.

         

≈I felt the first blow to her… I felt when her heart started beating erratically in fear! Every time she was hit, she screamed out for me, “It hurts! Save me!”… I…— I was so scared May… I was so, so scared!≈

         

*HIC*

                   *SOB*

*HIC*           *SOB*  

                                        *HIC*

*SOB*                    *HIC*

             

               

                

May didn’t know what to do.

She wanted to encourage Jennifer. Wanted to make sure she was okay; tell her, that everything was going to be fine.

                            

But it’s not… May realized. She’s absolutely destroyed over what happened.

         

So May decided to do the only thing any sensible big sister should do.

         

She walked to the other side of the bench. Sat next to Jennifer, then put her arm around her tall frame, reaching for her left shoulder: being mindful of Jennifer’s injury, she gently coaxed her into leaning her head into May’s side.

        

         

At May’s kindness.

           

Jennifer broken down in earnest.

               

“WHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!~”

                                

                   

                

                  

                  

                      

May say there patiently as her little sister from another family. Cried her heart out at the things that had transpired this afternoon.

How she had just lost the trust of someone she thought she knew.

How she had let down, failed, and neglected the Pokémon she had sworn to protect.

And that she felt like all of the progress that Jennifer was making, was suddenly going to go backwards.

     

I hope not… May worried. I sincerely hope not…

                 

It was about another thirty minutes after later, that Jennifer finally calmed down.

                 

“… Dumb question… Want me to get you something? Water? You’re probably parched after that.” May quipped.

                    

“………………………….”

            

May swore to herself, fearing her joke fell flatter than a Stunfisk.

                

          

“I waAAant—“ Jennifer croaked out, but then stopped to cough and clear her throat.

May was at least happy Jennifer wasn’t mad or upset.

Yay! Joke not to terrible!

“Oh no! It was bad.” Jennifer told May with a smirk. “Just so dumb, I didn’t feel like responding.”

“Agk! Rude!~” May intoned with a playfully miffed tone.

They chuckled for a moment before either of them spoke.

                       

“……I want to be better person for these Raltses May… for Ralts……” Jennifer said after a while.

May couldn’t believe her ears, but decided to wait and see what she might say.

“…Were you serious this afternoon May?…” Jennifer asked her.

         

May thought she was talking about their conversation about her being a trainer.

“Abso-lute-ly! I am!” May told her.

         

Jennifer nodded her head.

                   

“Then!…. Can you help me?” Jennifer asked her.

“Of course I will!” May promised.

                  

“Good… when can we start?” Jennifer asked her.

“Any time that works for you!” She informed Jennifer.

            

Jennifer nodded her head.

        

“Okay… then let’s not delay… why don’t you give them a call, have them come and see the Raltses next week…”

        

“Of course we can!” May told her. “We just need to get you a few things, some balls, a Dex and……………”

        

Wait?…. What?

                              

May looked at the still down cast face of her best friend.

          

“…You said you had three of them lined up right?” Jennifer asked May. Who was staring at Jennifer in absolute disbelief. “Why don’t we just get this over with… Get them off to people they deserve… someone who knows what they’re doing; someone better than me.”