saranblue

.      .      .

“And that’s the update on the Team Andromeda heist. Local officials are still monitoring the Obsernal City’s Museum to ensure no other relics get stolen.” The reporter on the TV says, before leading into the next segment.  Professor Miles’ expression stiffens before quickly getting caught off guard by his two kids running into the living room.

“DAAAAAAADDDDDDDYYY, Penelope won’t let me play with Pibby!” Arlo screams, very upset. 

“UH-UH! It’s MY turn!” Penelope yells back in retaliation, “Mommy said that I get to play chase with Pibby next!”

Pibby very awkwardly follows behind them, scratching the back of his head.

Professor Miles chuckles a bit, “Now, now.. You both will get your turn to play with Pibby soon enough.”

The kids grumbled about their Father’s response, but before they could say more, there was a knock at the door. Professor Miles gets up to answer it. “Oh my God! Leah!” He exclaimed, still surprised about his younger sister coming over for a surprise visit.

As he invited her in, both of the kids ran towards her & rushed into a hug. “AUNTIE LEAH!!” They both shouted, eager to see their Aunt. Even Pibby ran over to Leah & started jumping up & down to show its excitement. “CHEEP CHEEPA!!”

“Oh my gosh! I missed you, munchkins!!” Leah replied, hugging both of the kids. Pibby, on the other hand, scowled at Leah for not noticing him. Leah looks up at Pibby & chuckles, “I missed you too, Pibby.”

Pibby pushed the two kids aside and ran up to Leah, also hugging her. Leah laughs and hugs Pibby back, “You’re the same as ever, Pibby.”

“Oh! Auntie Leah!!” Arlo says, jumping in excitement, “Daddy told us a story about one of his friends!! Grayson!”

As soon as the name is mentioned, it catches Leah’s attention. “Oh? I haven’t heard that name in a long time”, she says with a smile, looking at Miles in surprise. 

“Mhm!! Daddy told us how they met and fought the scary bear!” Penelope chimes in, “But it was bedtime, and Daddy hasn’t told us any more stories since…”

Leah chuckles a bit, “Well, how about the story of how he met our family? I can still remember it clearly, and I’m sure your father does as well.” She says, as the kids eagerly turn towards their father, awaiting him to tell the story.

Professor Miles awkwardly laughs a bit, “I don’t know… I do have some work I could do…”

Arlo climbs up on the sofa & jumps onto his Father’s back. “TELL US! TELL US!! TELL USSS!!!!”

Professor Miles nearly falls over from his son suddenly jumping on him. “Geez, Arlo! I’ll tell you two the story. No need to be jumping on me like a crazy monkey!” He teased, chuckling at his son’s sudden outburst.

The kids cheered in excitement & quickly ran over to the couch. Pibby, on the other hand, proceeds to pick up Leah to bring her over to the couch, not wanting to let go of the hug.

“What I really miss is when you were a lot smaller, Pibby,” Leah stated, still caught a bit off guard from Pibby suddenly picking her up.

Professor Miles sits down where everyone is & begins telling the story.

...

Miles & Pibby were out & about, exploring the Castu City. While they were out, they noticed a familiar face. “GRAAAAAAAAAAYSON!!” Miles yelled, waving his hand to get him to notice. 

The two of them have been hanging out a lot for the past few weeks after the Ursaring attack. It was to the point of a memorable friendship starting between them.

Grayson looks towards Miles, smiles slightly, and waves. Quilly excitedly meeps while running over to Pibby. “What are you doing here?”

Pibby runs to Quilly & hugs him, “Cheep-cheep!! Cheep-y!”

“Pibby & I were taking a quick stroll around the city before heading home,” Miles replied. He looks up at the sky & realizes it was starting to get gloomy. “What are you two doing out here? Don’t you know there’s a storm coming?” Miles asked, realizing that he & Pibby needed to start heading back soon.

Grayson glances at the sky. “Oh, I suppose there is going to be one, isn’t there?” He grabs the brim of his hat and readjusts it a bit, “I & Quilly were going for a walk while discussing where to stay. We usually just wander from place to place, but storms tend to cause issues with that.”

Quilly nods his head, also readjusting his nonexistent hat. “Meep, Meep-meep.”

“You could stay at our place for a little bit so you don’t get soaked before you two decide,” Miles suggested, before realizing something & gasping. “Oh my god….. You could finally meet my family!” He excitedly added.

Grayson looked at Miles a bit surprised, “Would they be alright with that? I appreciate it,” he said with his slightly awkward smile. Quilly jumps in excitement, “Meep-meep meep Meeep me-meep!!”

“Heck yeah! They love having company over.” Miles replied.

Pibby jumps in excitement with Quilly & does a little happy dance, “Cheep-cheep!! Cheep-y cheep!”

Miles begins to lead the way back to his house. As they all walk inside, Miles’ Mom, Marie, greets them, “Why hello there! Are you Miles’ new friend he’s been jabbering about for the past few weeks?”

Grayson nods, “I believe so, ma’am. It’s nice to meet you.” 

Quilly climbs up onto Grayson’s head and holds out its arm to shake Marie’s hand.

Marie chuckles & shakes Quilly’s paw. “Wow, your little Pokémon here has some really good manners…… Even better than Pibby’s.” She teased, causing Pibby to scowl at her. “CHEEP CHEEP!!”

Marie calls for Miles’ little sister, Leah, to come downstairs to greet their guest. A 7-year-old girl comes running downstairs & immediately jumps in front of Grayson, “Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!”

Quilly nearly falls off of Grayson’s head, as Grayson jumps back in surprise, “H..hello.” He awkwardly smiles, grabbing Quilly off his head and holding him in his arms, “Nice to meet you.”  Quilly meeps in confused agreement.

Miles sighs, “That’s my little sister, Leah… She’s extremely weird.” 

Leah turns towards Miles & scowls, “Am not!”

“Are too,” Miles replied, as the both of them continued to argue. Pibby facepalms, knowing that this was a common occurrence between the two siblings, “Cheeep che cheepa…”

“Okay, enough fighting, you two! You’re gonna make our guest here uncomfortable.” Marie scolded, putting both of her hands on her hips.

“It’s alright, it shows how close of siblings you two are,” Grayson smiles awkwardly, before continuing, “The closest of siblings tend to bicker occasionally.”

Both siblings grumbled & turned away from each other. Marie sighs & shakes her head before looking out the window & noticing big, dark grey clouds approaching fast.

“Gosh, those clouds don’t look so good…” She stated, before turning towards the others, “I think it’d be best if your friend here stays for the night. I’d hate for him to leave during this nasty storm.”

Pibby & Miles were thrilled to hear this news. They started doing a little happy dance to show their excitement, “WOOOOOO!!!! UNPLANNED SLEEPOVER FOR THE WIN!!”

Quilly started excitedly running in circles around the 5 of them, “Meepmeep! Meep-meep, meep!” Quilly said, briefly pausing & looking up to Grayson, who nodded with his typical awkward smile.

Marie laughs at her son’s behavior, “Well, you two can go do your thing upstairs while I start making dinner.”

Both of the boys go upstairs & into Miles’ room. His bedroom was full of Pokémon research he’s done, walls were covered in papers of knowledge he has collected from random Pokémon sightings. Notebooks filled with different facts about Pokémon were stacked on his desk.

“Welcome to the Miles Cave!” Miles said, showing off everything in his room.

“Oh, wow…” Grayson said quietly, “I knew you wanted to be a professor, but I didn’t expect this much research.” He walked closer to some of the papers on the wall, reading through them, “You’re more dedicated than most professors I’ve met.”

Miles chuckles at Grayson’s comment, “Yeah, Vivian helped me take these pictures.” Miles grabs his journal with all of his Pokémon pictures in it & shows it to Grayson.

“Vivian? Ah, she must be your girlfriend, then.” Grayson said, barely phrasing it as a question, whilst swiftly moving on, “There’s a lot of variety of Pokémon in these photos. About.. 45 different species?”

Miles immediately stops Grayson in his tracks. “WOAH, WOAH, WOAH! SHE’S ANYTHING, BUT THAT!!” Miles yelled, a bit mortified by his friend’s comment. “She’s my best friend…. Ya stupid head.” He added, mumbling the last part.

“Your reaction implies otherwise, right Quil….” Grayson quickly replied, before getting distracted, and looking around confused. “..Where did Quilly and Pibby go?” 

Miles looks around his room before seeing Leah in the doorway. “I now present to you…. Princess Pibby & Princess Quilly!” Leah said, before moving out of the way. Both Pokémon come strutting in wearing baby doll dresses that Leah put on them. “Aren’t they so cute?” Leah asked, thrilled about her work.

Grayson knelt to the Pokémon’s level and patted Quilly and Pibby on the head. “Well, aren’t you two beautiful? You look like you would score first place in a Master Rank Pokémon Contest!”

Quilly excitedly Meep’d and spun in a circle, showing off the dress.

Pibby, on the other hand, hated it whenever Leah forced him to dress up. Pibby tried to scratch at the dress in an attempt to get it off, “CHEEP-CHEEPA!!!!”

Miles sighs & kneels to Pibby to help get it off him. “Leah… You know you have your own Pokémon you can dress up. You don’t always have to force Pibby, too.”

“But they have to be all dolled up for dinner,” Leah replied.

Miles sighs & shakes his head over his sister’s usual antics. A few minutes later, Marie yells up the stairs, saying dinner is ready. Everyone began heading downstairs & into the kitchen. When they arrived, the table was full of food.

While everyone began to sit at the table, Grayson continued standing in the hall, looking slightly disoriented. 

Marie looks up & notices Grayson standing still, “You alright? You seem confused.”

He jumps a bit, & struggles to find his words, “A..ah! Yes, I’m fine.” He awkwardly laughs, and stutters a little, “I just… haven’t had dinner like this in a long time! So I.. ahah…’

Marie slightly chuckles. “Oh, all of this rain is making you lose your words & mind,” She teased, motioning him to come sit down. “Come, let’s eat. You’re gonna love my special curry.”

“And you better hurry before I eat it all!” Miles added, stuffing his face with the food.

Grayson smiles & quickly sits down to eat, trying to outspeed Miles.

Everyone starts eating & talking to each other about school & fun things that happened during the week. Miles looks over to Grayson & notices him barely joining in on the conversation.

“You sure you’re alright, man?” Miles asked, looking a bit concerned for his friend.

“Yeah, I… just…” Grayson stops mid-sentence and seems deep in thought. A range of expressions go through his face, and he repeatedly opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out. 

Quilly walks over to the table and looks up at Grayson, which finally makes him speak. “I’ve… never really been in a family environment before. It always was me and my.. My b-brother, so I…” He takes a deep breath, “This is just new to me, that’s all.”

Marie stops eating & looks up at Grayson. “You two don’t have parents…? Not even an Aunt or Uncle you can stay with? I-I mean… Do you two even have a house?” She asked, extremely worried for the young man.

“I.. No, it’s just me. If we have any relatives, I don’t remember them.” Grayson looks over to his Pokémon, “Quilly and I just wander from place to place.” 

Marie’s heart drops when she hears everything, “I’m so sorry to hear that…” She resumes eating before saying one last thing to Grayson, “If you ever need a place to stay, food, water, anything. This family will do whatever it can to help.”

“Heck yeah! But if you move in, you’re not getting my room!” Miles added.

“I.. Thank you.” Grayson smiles, then laughs a little, “Your room is too messy, anyway.”

Quilly leaps onto Grayson’s lap, “Meep! Meeep, Meepa, meep-meep meep me-eep!!” He excitedly says, looking at everyone happily. 

After dinner, Miles & Grayson are hanging out in Miles’ bedroom, talking about the earlier conversation. “You never told me you had a brother,” Miles said, looking intrigued to know more. “How come you’ve never mentioned him before?”

Grayson stays quiet for a few minutes, deep in thought, before answering, “It’s difficult to talk about him. He and I… A very long time ago, he & I got into a disagreement, and I haven’t talked to him since.” He sighs, “I don’t know where he is, or if he’s okay.. I’ve been searching for him ever since.”

Miles frowns when he hears about Grayson’s brother, knowing full well what it’s like to lose someone. Miles takes a deep breath, “I know what it’s like to lose someone important…” Miles grabs his backpack & shows it to Grayson. The name Davis was sewn in on the top. “This was my father’s backpack before he…. Passed.”

Pibby hops up on Miles’ bed & wipes away Miles’ tears, “Cheeep-cheep…” Quilly also jumps up on the bed and rests his head against Miles' leg.

“I’m so sorry,” Grayson said quietly, “What was he like?”

“He loved to study everything there was about Pokémon,” Miles replied, trying to get himself to stop tearing up before continuing, “He used to always take me with him, so we could learn about them together.”

“He must have been an excellent researcher to inspire you to become a Professor, I’m sure he’s very proud of you,” Grayson replied with a somber smile.

“I guess it just shows that no family is perfect,” Miles said, wiping away the last of his tears.

A few minutes later, as the boys continued talking, Marie came in, “Miles, it’s getting late, time for bed.”

“But I wanna talk to Grayson stillllllll!” Miles groaned, hating the fact that he had to go to bed because he had school the next day.

“It’s just a few more weeks of 9th grade. I think you’ll survive it.” Marie replied.

Miles grumbles & reluctantly starts getting ready for bed with Pibby following behind him, “Goodnight, guys.” Marie quickly snuck a kiss on Miles’ cheek before he could wipe it off. “EW! Mooooom!” Miles yelled.

Grayson laughed a little, “We can talk more another day, time isn’t going anywhere.” He said, picking up Quilly, who waved goodnight as they left the room..

Miles & Pibby hopped into bed & went to sleep for the night.

. . .

“And that’s the story of how he met your Grandma & Aunt.” Professor Miles said.

“Cheep, cheep!” Pibby nodded, “Cheep-cheep, Cheeep cheep che-cheep cheep!” He said, patting the kids on the head.

“Pibby’s right, kiddos. Why don’t you go out and play while your Aunt Leah, Mother, and I make lunch?” Professor Miles said as he helped the kids up from sitting.

“Aw… but Daddy, we want to hear more stories!” Arlo whined in protest.

Professor Miles laughed, “I can tell you more stories another time, time isn’t going anywhere.” 

Penelope pouted, “Fiiiiiinneeee, but I get to play with Pibby first!” she shouted, running out the door.

“WAIT! That’s not fair! It was my turn!” Arlo yelled, swiftly running after her.

Pibby facepalmed, as the kid’s Mother said, “Ah, wait!” She sighs, “They’re already gone. Pibby, make sure they don’t stray too far, alright? Team Andromeda has been more active lately, but they don’t have any Pokémon to defend themselves with.”

Pibby nodded and sprinted out the door to catch up with the kids.

“Hey, Miles…” Leah said, turning to him, “Why did Grayson leave, anyway?”

Professor Miles’ expression tightens as he takes a deep breath & slightly turns away. “He… He had things he still needed to do. So he left to take care of them.”

Leah frowned, “Is he ever coming back? It’s been almost 20 years.”

Still turned away, Professor Miles couldn’t answer. 

Regardless, the conversation was cut short by his wife asking if the two would be coming to help make lunch.

As Leah walked away, Professor Miles briefly took the charm out of his pocket and stared at it,  “Maybe someday,” he whispered, finally answering the question, before swiftly putting it back.

To be continued on July 28th.

Sorry for the silence, it’s been a lot recently. But I’ve been doing a lot better for the most part.

I’ll be honest it’s been a while since I’ve ever posted consistently on social media, as I mostly like talking to my friends on discord, but I did want to share some of the recent things I’ve been doing!

I redid a couple of my ref sheets for my Ocs in preparation for Art fight! And not only that but I also have been experimenting with my sketching technique and I’ve started doing this really nice rendering sketch sort of style that I’ve been really enjoying that I wanted to share with y’all! That being said I hope you guys enjoy!

One of the characters I drew in the rendered sketches belongs to my good friend @saranblue PLEASE go check out their work, they’re such a talented artist, and they’ve helped me with figuring out the coloring for Lotus, Monarch, and Millie’s color pallets! Please go check them out and give them much love!!

That being said I hope you guys have a wonderful day!! :]

.      .      .

It's 2025 in a small town in the Resa Region, & a Professor named Miles is working in his basement’s makeshift lab.

“Whew! That’s the last piece of research for today, Pibby.” Professor Miles said.

Pibby’s a small penguin Pokémon Professor Miles has had for years. Pibby was a Piplup that has since evolved into its final form, Empoleon. Professor Miles gives Pibby some head pets as it sighs about finally finishing helping with today’s work.

“You act as if you did all of the work today, Pibby.” He teased with a laugh, causing Pibby to cheep more.

As Professor Miles starts cleaning up, his two kids, Arlo & Penelope, sneak up behind their Dad to scare him. “BAAH!” Arlo screams, nearly causing Professor Miles to jump out of his skin before turning around & noticing who it was.

“What are you two doing still up? Shouldn’t Mama be getting you guys ready for bed?” Professor Miles asked, with a slight chuckle.

“But we haven’t seen you ALL DAY, & we wanna plaaaaaaaay!!!!!” Arlo replied, with a twinge of annoyance in his voice.

Professor Miles chuckles. He knew the kids were still very young. “Oh, Arlo, you know Daddy doesn’t have much time to play with you guys during the week.” He stated.

“But we want you to tell us bedtime stories just like you used to,”  Arlo replied, crossing his arms & giving a pout.

“Please tell us a bedtime story, Daddy. Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaase!!” Penelope chimed in, doing big puppy dog eyes to get her father to say yes.

Professor Miles shakes his head & sighs, “Ok, ok, but first I have to finish cleaning.”

Both kids groaned about having to wait. While waiting, Penelope noticed an old picture of her Father on his work desk. She took a closer look & noticed another person in the photo.

“Daddy, who’s that in the picture over there?” She asked, pointing at the picture.

Professor Miles looks over to see what she’s talking about. He immediately stops what he was doing & stares at the photo for a few minutes before speaking up.

“Th-that’s an old friend of mine. H-his name is Grayson.” He stuttered.

Both kids were confused when they heard that name. They had never heard their father call any of his friends by that before. They both looked at their Father, waiting for him to say more.

Professor Miles knew his kids most likely had hundreds of questions. He took a few minutes before saying more. “He was like a brother to me during my younger years.” He continued, trying not to get choked up.

“But Daddy, you don’t have a brother,” Arlo replied, being too young to understand what his Father meant.

Professor Miles chuckles at his son’s comment. “You’re right, kiddo. I don’t have an actual brother, but Grayson & I were very close when we were young.” He explained, ruffling Arlo’s hair. “We had many memorable adventures together.” Professor Miles added, feeling a wave of memories flooding in.

“Can you tell us one of your adventures as a bedtime story?” Penelope asked.

Professor Miles smiled when she asked that. “Of course, I have just the adventure in mind.” He said.

Both kids were excited to hear a story about their Father’s past. As Professor Miles sat down, Pibby also sat down so the kids could sit on its lap. Both kids started listening intently as their Father spoke.

...

In the year 2005, many years before Miles became a Professor. He was a typical 15-year-old boy. Him & Pibby always went on adventures around the Resa Region, trying to collect as many new Pokémon so Miles could study them.

While strolling on the route through Aplin Forest, Pibby suddenly stops & begins looking around. “Huh? What is it, Pibby?” Miles asks.

“Cheep! Cheeep Cheep!” Pibby urgently squeaks, pointing one of its wings toward an empty clearing in the forest. Miles notices a small, orange-colored bear, dawned by a small moon on its forehead, sitting on the ground, whimpering.

“Ah! I haven’t seen that Pokémon before, but it looks injured! We have to help it, Pibby!” He quickly exclaims, to Pibby’s agreement. They both run over to the small bear, & Miles kneels to it. “Hey, little guy… Are you okay?” Miles whispers to the small Pokémon.

It backs up, initially cautious of Miles. Pibby hops in front of Miles & starts talking to the bear. “Cheep! Che-cheep cheep!” Pibby exclaims, pointing to Miles, “Cheep! Cheep!” He nods.

The bear nods & shakes its head “no” to Miles, trusting him a little more after Pibby’s heartfelt words. The bear points to his mouth as a small rumbling sound fills the air.

“Oh! Haha, you’re hungry!” Miles exclaims, now understanding what’s wrong. He took his backpack off his shoulders, pulled out a lettuce & tomato sandwich, & held it up to the Teddiursa. “Here, buddy! This will help!” he says with a smile on his face. 

Before the little bear gets a chance to grab the sandwich, the bear looks up behind Miles & Pibby & tilts its head sideways. 

“Huh? What’s wrong, little guy?” Miles asks, a bit confused.

GGgrrrgrr...

“Cheep… cheep…” Pibby whimpers, slowly looking towards Miles.”

“S-so… You hear that noise too, Pibby?” Miles says, as he & Pibby slowly turn around to see a giant brown ball of fur… until they look up & see it’s a tall, very, hungry, & very mad bear Pokémon.

“Pibby… we should run, shouldn’t we?”

“Cheep. Cheep cheep!!”

The two jump up & start running as fast as they can as the bear begins roaring after them.

“PIBBY, SPRINT FASTERRRR,” Miles screams, ducking & diving through the dense forest.

“CHEEP, CHEEEP!!!” Pibby also screams, running as fast as his little flippers can carry him.

The two keep running, with the bear slowly but consistently catching up to them. The both of them are so focused on running that they don’t realize they ran past a trainer & his Pokémon having their lunch.

..”What the fuu….” The trainer, with pitch-black hair & a hat, mumbles in utter confusion. His Pokémon, a Cyndaquil, a small fire-mouse-shrew-badger, also returned the same look.

Miles & Pibby keep running as fast as their legs can carry them until Miles trips over a stick & falls on his face. Pibby tries to pick up his arm with his flippers, to no success. With the bear quickly catching up, Miles looks up at it & flinches his face, anticipating his impending doom, until… 

DONK

Miles opens his eyes to see a sandwich on the bear’s face, with it stopped in its tracks. However, before he gets much more of a look, he suddenly gets pulled up by the arm & dragged across the ground by a fellow trainer just yelling “RUN.”

The trainer & his Pokémon eventually pull Miles & Pibby behind a rock, hiding.

“I…I think we lost it..” The trainer says, out of breath. With dark eyes & matching hair, the young man turns to Miles & whispers, “What did you do to make that Usaring that upset?!”

Miles tries to recuperate everything that just happened before trying to speak. “I-I think I angered a Teddiursa’s Mama by t-trying to help it!” He stuttered, still feeling a bit panicked about it all. Pibby jumps onto Miles’ chest, getting close enough to his face to slap him with his wing.

“CHEEP-CHEEP-CHEEEP!!” Pibby yelled, clearly upset about being chased.

The man just kept staring at Miles, bewildered “Helping it?! Did you have food or something?”      

Miles rubbed his cheek after being brutally slapped by his angry penguin friend. “I just gave it whatever my Mom packed for me before heading out.” He replied.

“Also, OW!!! What the heck, Pibby!” Miles yelled back, still rubbing his now sore cheek. Pibby crossed its wings & scowled at its owner before hopping off.

The trainer’s Cyndaquil made a quiet “Meep” as it began following Pibby. 

The dark-haired man sighed, & held the bridge of his nose in frustration, “Ursaring becomes aggressive near food, which is most likely what upset her. You’re lucky she didn’t catch you…” The trainer stood up & said, “You also owe Quilly & I our lunch.”

Miles stood up & looked at the older trainer in confusion. “B-but, I thought all Pokémon liked food…? It looked so scared & helpless, I-I just had to help the Teddiursa!” He explained, feeling a little frustrated about the situation. “& we barely know each other, why do I have to repay you your lunch?!” He added.

“The problem is that it likes food too much! & whether or not we know each other does not matter, you need to repay us our lunch because I threw it at the bear so it wouldn’t eat you!” He scoffed, crossing his arms. 

As both of the boys continue to argue, Pibby looks around & notices Miles’ backpack is missing. Pibby walks over to Miles & tugs at his pants leg. “Cheeep-cheeep!”

“Hold on, Pibby, the humans are talking,” Miles replied before going back to arguing with the other trainer.

Pibby gets frustrated by its owner’s obliviousness. Pibby gets on the nearest tall rock & the next thing Miles sees is a flying angry Pibby about to slap his other cheek. “CHEEP-CHEEEEEP!!!!” Pibby screamed, as its wing started coming into contact with Miles’ face.

“OWWW!!!!! Pibby, what is with you right now?! I told you to hold-” Miles stops talking mid-sentence to realize something. “Uh…. Pibby, where’s my backpack?” Miles asked.

Pibby sighs & facepalms over its own owner’s stupidity. Miles begins to panic again, looking everywhere it could possibly be.

“No, no, no! I-I don’t see it anywhere!!” Miles shouted frantically, feeling a wave of panic coming back.

“Did you leave it back with the Teddiursa?” The trainer asks with a puzzled look.

Miles’ eyes go wide as the older trainer’s idea dawned on him. “O-oh, my god…. I must’ve left it sitting there after Pibby & I ran!” He replied.

Miles starts pacing back & forth, unsure of what to do. “We have to get it back somehow.” He said, feeling a little anxious without his stuff.

“Maybe we could distract the Ursaring? That might give you enough time to run in & grab it. ”The trainer pauses & puts his hand on his chin, thinking. “I don’t have any more sandwiches though so if you get seen, you’re done for… If we could just get the Ursaring out of the way first, that would solve that problem.”

 Miles stops pacing & suddenly gets an idea. He quickly picks up Pibby, catching his Pokemon off guard & causing it to squirm. “I know! We could use our Pokémon as fake live bait!” He replied, thinking it was a brilliant idea.

The trainer slowly looked at Miles stunned, questioning the audacity & mental sanity even to suggest that in the first place. “..You aren’t serious, are you?”

Quilly hopped behind the trainer, hiding behind his leg.

Pibby is fed up with Miles’ utter stupidity. Pibby manages to turn around in Miles’ grasp to slap him with both of its wings. “CHEEP-CHEEEP-CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!!!!” Pibby yelled, slapping Miles with all their might.

“OW, OWW, OWWWWW!!!!!!!! Ok, I get it!” Miles replied.

“Deserved.” The trainer mumbled under their breath.

The little Cyndaquil then steps on the trainer’s foot, “Meep-meep!” It meeped loudly. 

“Ow! Sorry Quilly.” He kneeled & patted the Cyndaquil on its head. He stood back up & looked at Miles again, “The longer we wait, the more likely your bag won’t be in one piece by the time we get to it.”

Miles puts down his angry penguin friend & rubs both of his now sore & pink cheeks. “Let’s just think of a plan on the way there.” He replied, still recovering from being brutally slapped.

Everyone returns to the area & sees the Ursaring & Miles’ backpack plain in sight. Everyone quickly hides in a bush. “It’s right there!” Miles whispered, pointing to where it was. The Ursaring started sniffing the backpack & trying to get it open.

Miles turns to the older trainer, “Ok, What’s our plan?” He asked, trying to keep his voice quiet enough so the Ursaring wouldn’t hear.

The trainer stopped for a minute to think, “I think… If you could catch it, that would remove the risk of getting caught. It also would distract it. I can then run in & grab the bag.”

Miles liked this plan, although he was a little nervous about getting near the Pokémon. Miles takes out all of his Poké-Balls in his pocket to count how many attempts he has. “I only have 3 left.” He stated.

Miles takes a deep breath & prepares himself for the task ahead. “Ok, ready to do this?”

The trainer nodded, “3 might be enough. Ready.”

Miles & Pibby quietly sneak closer to the Ursaring, but as they do, Miles steps on a stick. They both quickly hide as the Ursaring turns to see what the noise was. Miles moves a little closer to throw the first ball. As the Ursaring enters the Poké-Ball, Miles quickly hand-signals for the older trainer to start moving before the Ursaring breaks free.

The trainer begins running as fast as he can, but just as he gets to the backpack, the Pokeball breaks open. 

Miles quickly tries to throw the second ball, but fumbles, causing it to miss entirely. The Ursaring started getting closer to the older trainer, preparing to attack. With one last Poké-Ball in hand, Miles threw it. The Poké-Ball manages to catch the Ursaring just as it was about to attack. After a few seconds, the Poké-Ball seals shut, capturing the Ursaring inside.

Miles gasped in excitement. He & Pibby both come out of their hiding spot & start doing a little victory dance together in celebration. “WOOOO!!!! We did it! We did it!! We’re awesome!!!” He cheered, jumping around like a little kid.

The trainer let out a sigh of relief, & walked over to Miles, handing him the backpack. “Good job.” He said, whilst attempting to hide a slight smile. 

Quilly ran over to Pibby, running in circles around them in joy. 

Miles grabs his backpack & walks over to where the Poké-Balls landed, But just as he was about to grab them, he notices the same Teddiursa he saw before, looking scared & lonely now. Miles frowns before picking up his two remaining Poké-Balls. He remembers that the Ursaring he caught is the Mother of the Teddiursa. Miles looks at the Poké-Balls & sighs, realizing what he has to do. He gets a little closer to the Teddiursa before releasing its Mother back into the wild.

The little Teddiursa runs over to the Ursaring, & the two of them walk away, deeper into the forest. 

“I think that was the right decision,” the dark-haired trainer says, watching Miles. 

Miles smiles as the two Pokémon walk away. He looks at his phone & realizes the time. “Oh god! I have to get home!” He stated, quickly grabbing all of his stuff. Miles turns to start walking before stopping to turn back towards the older trainer. “Thanks for helping us today, the name is Miles, Miles Linden.” He said, holding his hand out to shake hands.

The trainer reaches out & shakes Miles’ hand, “Grayson.” He quickly lets go & begins to walk away before turning around, “Oh. You still owe us our lunch.”

“OH C’MON, MAN! ISN’T SAVING YOU GOOD ENOUGH?!” Miles yelled.

"I saved you, first," Grayson says with zero hesitation, & little emotion, other than a slight smirk.

Quilly meeps in laughter.

Miles crosses his arms & grumbles to himself. “Fiiiiiiiiine, I guess I’ll repay for your lunch, but don’t come complaining if I get something you don’t like!!” He replied.

Miles pulls out a piece of paper from his notebook in his backpack & writes his phone number on it. “Here, feel free to call me anytime.” He said, handing his new friend the piece of paper.

Grayson looked a little surprised, but nodded “Sure” & wrote his number down on a spare piece of paper & handed it to Miles. Then swiftly turned around & went his separate ways, with Quilly following behind, waving goodbye to Miles & Pibby. “Me-meep meep meeep!”

Miles & Pibby wave goodbye before running off & heading back home.

…

“& that’s the story of how we met.” Professor Miles said, coming back to the present day.

Both kids were in awe after the story was over. “Can we hear another story, Daddy?” Arlo asked, clearly intrigued to hear more about his Father’s past. Professor Miles chuckles, but before he could answer, the Mother of the two kids comes down the basement stairs.

“There you two are, it’s time for bed.” She stated.

Both kids whined at the idea of going to bed. “But we’re not even tiiiiiiiirrrrreeeeeeeeddd!” Arlo whined, rubbing his eyes. It was obvious that both kids were starting to get tired, even if they didn’t want to admit it.

“& Daddy was gonna tell us another story, right Daddy?” Penelope added, hoping he’d say yes.

Professor Miles shakes his head no. He knew the importance of the kids going to bed on time. “Sorry, sweetheart… But if Mama says it’s bedtime, then it’s bedtime.” He replied.

The kids groaned at their Father’s response. “But we want another stooooorrrrrrrryyyy!!!” Arlo whined, plopping himself on the ground & crossing his arms.

Professor Miles sighs & pushes his glasses up. “If you guys don’t go to bed, then I have no choice, but to send Pibby after you two.” He teased, looking at Pibby to have them go along with it. Pibby pretends to rub its wings together as if getting ready to do it.

The kids’ eyes go wide as they remember what Pibby did in their Father’s story. They both stood up & ran upstairs, shouting, “I DON’T WANNA BE PIBBY SLAPPED!!!”

The parents chuckle as their children disappear from the basement. “Well, I’m gonna get those two in bed. Are you coming up soon?” His wife asked.

Professor Miles looks around & notices his messy work area that he still needs to clean. “I’ll be up there in a few minutes. I just have to finish cleaning up here.”

His wife nodded & went upstairs to deal with the two kids. Professor Miles sighed as it was just him & Pibby alone again. He grabs the old picture of him & Grayson, letting his true emotions seep through. Pibby pats him on the back. “Cheep-cheep, cheeep…”

“I know, I miss him too….” Professor Miles replied, grabbing a key to open a locked drawer in his desk & pulling a small charm out of it. “One day we’ll bring him back, Pibby. We just have to keep trying.”

To be continued on June 28th, 2025.