Episode 2: "Perfectly Imperfect"
. . .
“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.
@pandawrites04 + @saranblue
Episode twwwwooooooooooooooo!!!













