[Olives]
By TheKnightWhoSaysNi
Part I

Riku was never interested in being a Pokemon Trainer. Of course he liked them. That was obvious considering he and his family owned a Flaafy. It’s just that he was never fond of battling with Pokemon. He didn’t really like adventure. He would have rather lazily hung around at his small house in Evergreen Creek.

Evergreen Creek was a small town on the continent of Shenju. There were now four Pokemon Leagues, Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Shenju, because of the 4 continents. Each continent had its own little set of Pokemon inhabitants. Shenju held 194 Pokemon, 138 recently discovered. There were starter towns in each region, but Shenju was the only region that held multiple starting points. There were four. The most famed one was Orchard Grove, nearest to Maple Village. The other three were Beech Beach, Birch Vineyard, and Evergreen Creek. The goal of a Pokemon Trainer is to defeat all 8 gyms in the region, and receive their badges. After doing so, they could head to the League Championships, which happened in Kanto and Hoenn on the same year every 2 years, and Johto and Shenju on the same year every two years. The one who won the League Championships was called a Pokemon Master. If you managed to win all four League Championships, an extremely difficult feat, you were considered Pokemon Grandmaster. No one had ever done so. In fact, only two people had ever won two different League Championships all together.

Riku’s mother, Jenina, was from the Hoenn region as a kid. She had started with a Mareep on her Pokemon journey from her uncle. She traveled, and soon assembled a top-notch electric and dark Pokemon team. She defeated all 8 gyms (on her first try), and traveled to the League Championships. There she advanced to the Round of 32, but lost to the winner of the tournament. After that, she returned home, and decided to set out again with only her Flaafy. This time, her goal was the Shenju League, and it was only a 7-hour plane ride. She ended up in Evergreen Creek, where she met Riku’s father, Leigh. His father was a Pokemon Professor. He knew a lot about Pokemon, and often helped his father out in the lab. His mother had died when he was a toddler. She fell in love with him at first sight, and put off leaving the city. Finally, he admitted his love for her, and they started to date. 12 years later, when both were 24, Leigh proposed, and they got married. They soon had kids, Riku, and his 5-year younger sister Mai. She never caught another Pokemon, and always kept Flaafy with her. They had 70-year life spans, so Flaafy would survive for quite a while.

Riku was 12. Well, he would be 12 the next day. His family was having a happy birthday dinner for him, although it was the day before his birthday. He would receive his presents the next day, of course, because his relatives would be visiting. Birthday dinner was the only occasion that his parents would have a drink. On Riku’s birthday, it was a tradition to have a martini or two. Riku had his favorite, spaghetti with vinegar. Mai sat finished, waiting for everyone else to be done, but unusually silent.

Jenina poked at an olive in her martini. And mock sword-fought with Leigh. Riku’s dad accidentally knocked an olive off of his mom’s sword, and it went flying into the family room, which was right next to the kitchen. There used to be a wall there, but it was torn down so that they could have a good look at Riku and Mai when they were eating.

Riku quickly volunteered to get it. As he wandered into the family room to retrieve it, he glanced over at Flaafy. She was lying down. That wasn’t normal. Normally at this time of day she would be sniffing around for any trace of food, especially if she had picked up the scent of the olive. Completely forgetting about the olive, Riku walked over to Flaafy and put his hand to her forehead. He was shocked. He jerked his hand away. “Mom,” he called out into the kitchen, “I think Flaaf is sick.”

Riku’s mother raced into the family room. In a flurry, she knelt down next to the sick Pokemon and put her hand to its forehead. She had the same reaction as Riku, she took her hand back quickly. Sparks flying from the forehead or cheeks of an electric Pokemon normally signified a cold with a fever. The last time this happened, she was taken to the Pokemon Center for half of a day, and she was immediately cured. But this time the shocks seemed significantly stronger, which meant a higher fever.

Jenina turned pale. Her life long friend could end up dying too early. If there was anything Riku’s mother had wanted other than a successful life for the children, it was to die before Flaafy, even if it was unlikely. She turned to Riku, “Rush Flaaf to the Pokemon Center! Quickly! Hurry up!”

Riku lifted the Pokemon, but it jolted him with electricity, and an abundance of it at that. He put on rubber gloves and attempted picking her up again, and it was a bit easier. He was still getting shocked, but not as much.

Evergreen Creek was noted for its wet season in the spring and summer. It was early summer, and many nights it rained. When Riku stepped outside his house he encountered a torrential downpour. Fortunately, he knew his way to the Pokemon Center. Unfortunately, he could barely see. He ran as fast as he could through the pouring rain, and was occasionally shielded by overlying trees that blocked the rain. But that didn’t help his sight much. Riku was never good at seeing to begin with, and almost needed glasses. He just barely passed his sight test.

Riku came to a log that was protected from the flooding rain by the trees that towered overhead. He looked down at the ill Pokemon. She was breathing hard with her eyes closed and drenched. The water seemed to conduct her electrical outbursts, making it more difficult to endure the stinging pain. He felt her head. The shock easily breached the barriers of the rubber gloves. She was getting much worse.

Riku’s heart was beating rapidly after all of the running he had done. Judging by the clearing he had arrived at, where he spotted an old tree house infected with mold, he was a little more than halfway there. That is, after about an hour of traveling. At this rate Flaafy would die.

Riku’s attention was diverted by a rustling in the bushes. ‘Why would a Pokemon be out in the open like this in the pouring rain,’ he thought to himself. No Pokemon in their right mind would want to be out in this weather. Come to think of it, nothing but a water-type Pokemon that was out of water would want to be out in this weather. Nonetheless the Pokemon emerged from the bushes.

The first thing Riku noticed were its eyes. They glinted in the shine of yet another electrical jolt from Flaafy. When it came into closer view, Riku could barely make out a small head. It looked to be about 4 feet tall. As it came within 10 feet, he spotted pigtails held together by flowers, and dark complexion. It was wearing a necklace of petals strung together by a stem of some sort of flower. It had on a dress that was light colored, almost white, that ruffled out at the end into frills. Under them were small boots, adorned with a blossom at the top.

The creature, which Riku suspected to be a Pokemon, held out two vines which were connected to its body, and attempted to lift Flaafy. “Petteler,” the strange Pokemon called out in a high voice. Riku, musing what it said, helped it pick up Flaafy. Petteler seemed to know Riku’s objective, and lead him to the Pokemon Center.

Riku and the Pokemon, who he dubbed Petteler, arrived at the lifesaving building in about 20 minutes. Flaafy was in critical condition. Checking the clock, Riku found that it was 8:40 on the dot. He had been out in the wilderness for about an hour and a half. Flaafy could definitely die.

The nurse named Joy pushed the double doors to the ER open and spotted Riku, one of the only people still waiting in the lobby at that time of night. She bore bad news. “I’m afraid it’s only about a 45% chance your Flaafy will live.”

Riku was stunned. Flaafy’s life had never been threatened before, and Riku could not possibly imagine life without Flaafy. It was like trying to imagine life without a sister, or parents. Flaafy was a part of the family. Gathering his senses, he left, Petteler sulking beside him. He did not have the desire to call his parents. Instead, he took a bath to think.

Petteler stood at the top of the bath’s edge, and silently watched Riku’s horror. Riku was in a total state of shock. All he could think of was life without Flaafy. That and the magnified sadness of his mother; that was all he could think about. He was too sad to cry. Petteler eyed its new friend, and was now becoming melancholy itself. It wanted Riku to be happy.

Riku got out of the bath still in his dreary state. Petteler attempted to cheer him up, eventually resorting to juggling wads of notebook paper found in the lobby. Riku politely asked Nurse Joy to stay the night. He headed for his room after he was given his key. Petteler walked beside him, quite worried. About 5 minutes after entering the room, he got a call from Nurse Joy that his parents called to ask if he and Flaafy were all right.

Shaken out of his state, Riku answered the call. He informed his parents that he was all right, but that Flaafy was not. His mom started to cry, and his father and sister were solemn. He didn’t tell them about Petteler because he honest to goodness forgot.

After safely looking his room door, he got into his bed. It was then that he noticed the little Pokemon that was still following him around. “All right Petteler,” he told the Pokemon in a voice that he would use with Flaafy, “you can either sleep on the top bunk, or with me.”

The Pokemon loyally stayed with Riku on the bottom bunk of the bed. With Petteler there, it was much easier to fall asleep, because he got a similar feeling to that of when Flaafy slept on his bed. He had good dreams that night, from the comfort of his new Pokemon companion. And in his dreams he anxiously waited for the morning.