“You’ll be able to play out on the beach,” Luvia’s father said next to her. “But don’t go too far off the shore, hm? She’s still young.”

  Neela gushed, “It’s a girl?! You never told me that!” She went ahead of Luvia and approached the pokémon.

  Their father chuckled softly. “You never asked me. Does it matter?”

  Luvia couldn’t take her eyes off it. It stood on four little legs, hardly one foot high, with plump blue skin, a long fin poking right up from the center of its little round head, and two fatty cheeks, the same dull, orangey color as the starfish pokémon, Staryu. They had three little protrusions poking from each of them, as if it had actually just eaten a Staryu hatchling and not bothered to chew it. It had a bigger, pastier fin for a tail.

  Its eyes were small and dark, but they had a sharp, healthy glint to them.

  As Neela squatted down next to it, it turned toward her, and its tail vibrated rapidly. It whined and let out a squeak that sounded like, “Maahd!” with a voice that made Luvia’s heart quiver.

  It was so cute.

  She had never seen one on the island. Ever.

  She watched Neela reach out to it and give it a gentle pat on the head as Bincy rushed in and began sniffing at it like she had been paid for detective work.

  Though its tail fin vibrated in short bouts, it showed no sign of aggression. It sniffed back at the Linoone, the two pokémon touching noses and flinching.

  “Guh! I’m so jealous!” said Neela, growing bolder and petting the newcomer on its back. It seemed to enjoy the attention.

  “What are you waiting for, Luvy?” said her father. “You don’t like it?”

  Luvia shook her head, wiping her eyes again, and took in a shaky breath.

  “Thank you, Dad.” She took a step toward him and fell in for another hug. She felt like the leakiest teen in all Hoenn, but she wasn’t about to spill out again.

  Instead, she turned to the pokémon and squatted down, next to her father.

  “She’s a Mudkip, Luvy. A conserved species,” her father revealed. “A friend of a friend rescued a wild litter of them, but I still had to pay a pretty penny for one.”

  Mudkip. Luvia held out her hand, opened her palm, and smiled at it.

  Though Bincy and Neela were right next to it, its eyes found Luvia’s and it squeaked another, “Meehd!” before taking a step toward her.

  And then another.

  It started pacing the few meter distance toward Luvia, and the fourteen-year-old’s heart jumped. A chill went through her. The good kind.

  Neela was giving an exaggerated gawp. “Excuse me! I wasn’t done yet!”

  Luvia couldn’t hold back her grin, or the warm feeling in her chest that rose and came out as corny little laugh. Bincy tailed behind it, looking like it wanted to have a little nip of its tail fin.

  “No, Bincy!” Luvia said, and the Linoone flinched and bounded back toward Neela.

  The Mudkip reached Luvia’s open hand and sniffed it. Luvia kept it there, unmoving, letting the little one sniff to her heart’s content.

  After a few seconds, the Mudkip walked in a circle, then another, then sat down with its back facing Luvia. That’s when she scooted a bit closer and gave it a little petting.

  The Mudkip’s tail fin vibrated.

  That means she’s happy? Luvia wondered, feeling the plump, blue skin on its back.

  It was soft and seemed to be the same temperature as her fingers, neither warm nor cool to the touch. It was slightly damp, however.

  “Now that’s something, Luvy,” her father suddenly said.

  “Hm?”

  “See the way she sat with her back toward you? – That’s a sign of trust. She likes you.”

  Luvia smiled doubtfully at her dad, thinking he was only trying to lift her spirits and keep them lifted.

  “Try to pick her up,” Neela said as she gave Bincy some pats of her own.

  Their father gave a small huff and reached down for his backpack. “No no, wait a little while before you go doing that. I tried picking her up when I got her and she thrashed right out of my hands. Very strong for her size – better be careful.”

  Luvia didn’t know what came over her, but something made her body move, made her hands reach under Mudkip’s little armpits, made her lift it off the ground.

  Mudkip’s tail vibrated once, twice, three times, then stopped. It was heavier than it looked. Luvia could feel the little one’s firm muscles beneath that plump skin. They were like tightly bound rubber bands ready to spring. It moved its small hind legs like a cycle, trying to put them on something solid. But it didn’t whine or squeak or thrash.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Luvy!” Neela laughed. “Look at you! Why didn’t I bring my camera!”

  Luvia turned to her father, holding Mudkip close to her chest. Their old man’s mouth was slightly parted, his eyes darting from his daughter to the pokémon, as if he was expecting either of them to pop.

  “Mudkip,” Luvia said, leaning out to peer at its round face.

  “Gaahd!” it squeaked, and they all laughed.

  A minute later, they started to notice the eyes of some locals and visitors lingering on them. More specifically on Mudkip.

  “Take us home, girls,” their dad said. “Let’s have lunch, a nap, and in the evening, we’ll take a walk…”

  He put his arms around his daughters as they set off back home.

  “I’m not out of surprises yet.”

  Mom and Nana gave them a rowdy and jolly welcome once they saw who had returned with them. Luvia saw how her mother’s mood had lifted to the moon.

  Nana began clapping and singing the same old folk song she sang to him whenever he returned from the mainland.

  It was about a Taillow that left its group the moment it learned to fly, thinking that it could find one better. The seasons passed and the Taillow had gone around the whole world without seeing another of his kind, until one day, off far in the distance, he saw a flight of Swellow dancing up high in the sky.

  Neela joined in the singing at this point, clapping along to Nana’s rhythm and smiling teasingly at her father.

  The Taillow was happy at first, but it quickly realized that it couldn’t fly that high – it couldn’t dance up there with them. So, the group of Swellow came down and said, “Is that you, brother? How little you’ve changed!”

  The Taillow replied, “Brother? Who is your brother? I have never seen you.”

  The Swellow called him by name and said their own, and Taillow, all dismayed, fell down towards the earth. His siblings swopped in and carried him back up, saying, “If You. Fly. Alone, you will Not. Ride. High!”

  Whenever the song ended, Luvia’s father would wave it off, smiling, and reply, “But the new house won’t buy itself.”

  The Juneworth women were cooking up a banquet, despite the father saying he wanted something simple. As if.

  On any festive occasion, a ruthless spirit seemed to enter into Nana. She’d rule the kitchen with an iron fist, and everyone else was just an extra pair of hands that needed ordering – even Mom’s.

  Luvia helped setting the table and fetching ingredients, and Nana excused her after she’d done that, saying that the three of them could more than manage and that she should go keep her father company.

  “She’s got a new pokémon,” Neela mentioned as she diced some fresh yellow peppers.

  The older women paused and stared at the youngest Juneworth searchingly.

  Luvia was at the kitchen threshold, but she turned back and gave them her brightest smile.

  “No… Really?” Mom said, putting her knife down on the thick wooden counter. “Why didn’t you say so?”

  “Not ‘nother Ziggy is it, girlie?” Nana asked worriedly. “The ruffian’s hair is everywhere.”

  Just the thought that Mudkip was in her pocket made Luvia brim with delight. She was walking on air. She shook her head.

  “Do you want to see her now?”

  Mom did. Nana didn’t.

  “After! – after the cooking, Luv.”

  When Nana gave an order, you followed it.

  Almost two hours later, the rich aroma of a meticulously prepared meal was making Luvia’s father drool at the mouth, totally famished. He was already at the table, gripping a fork on either hand.

  “That’s why I said something simple,” he groaned. “Something simple!”

  “Stop whining Benn,” Nana snapped, coming into the dining room with a piping hot platter of roasted clams in wailmer ghee sauce.

  Mr. Juneworth half-stood in his chair, peering into the platter, reaching out for a clam before Nana had even finished placing the dish on the table.

  Luvia laughed at how driven her father looked, ignoring Nana’s complaints as he took one clam with each hand and fell back on his chair, slurping the oily soup from each one.

  “What’s the other surprise, Dad?” she asked as more of the food made its way to the table.

  “Gffmhr!” her father replied. “Gmmhmm, mhm?”

  “What?”

  He gulped down what was in his mouth and quickly said, “Eat, Luvy, eat!”

  Soon the table was filled with plenty of dishes. Tamashea soup with pan-fried croutons, a pile of steaming Quino-Quino rice sprinkled with desiccated cornn chunks, a tray of spiced bread, fresh from the oven, and a creamy pinaya curry.

  Luvia and her father ate until they were stuffed, taking from every dish on the table, though Luvia filled most of her stomach with the curry and hot slices of crisp, spiced bread.

  Bincy and Ziggy enjoyed a few clams and rich, fatty sauce from their bowls. They were the opposite of fussy eaters – anything a person could eat they would happily eat too. Hoenn’s best homestay pokémon.

  They tried to have Mudkip out to eat beside them, but the Zigzagoon and Linoone were way too interested in it, pushing, sniffing, and nipping at her, making sure she knew whose turf she was on.

  When Mudkip nipped back at Ziggy, the latter raised his hackles and hissed. Mudkip’s tail vibrated violently, and everyone called for Luvia to recall her back into the ball.

  Ziggy would need to get used to his new housemate slowly, or at least in less noisy and stimulating situations.

  When everyone had their fill and Mr. Juneworth leaned back with a satisfied sigh, Luvia asked again.

  “Dad… the other surprise… What is it?”

  The man gave a little groan as all eyes turned to him, and stretched in his chair.

  “Can’t I have a small nap first?”

  “What surprise?” croaked Nana.

  “What else did you bring, Benn?” said Mrs. Juneworth

  “Tell us, Dad,” Neela insisted.

  He could do nothing but buckle under that much pressure. He took a teasingly long sip from his cup before answering.

  “Well, you girls always went on about getting out of the island for a trip, didn’t you…”

  Luvia gaped at him. “We’re going out, out?”

  “Where?” Neela said, enthusiastic. She would be leaving the island at the end of the week anyway, but that didn’t seem to lessen her excitement.

  “Tomorrow we’re going to Slateport,” their father announced.

  “Oh! Are you showing us the new house?” Suddenly, Mrs. Juneworth seemed the most excited.

  Nana watched her son-in-law with a discerning frown.

  “God no, Sara,” he replied. “Luvy’s new friend has set us back a year. We’re not moving yet.”

  “You did not spend a year’s wage on that little pup!” Nana burst.

  Dad’s laugh spread across the table, and he only shook his head slightly in response. It made Nana settle down, but it got Luvia wondering if it was true.

  “Point is, I have the tickets all paid for, so tomorrow, Slateport City it is!”

  “Tickets for what?” said the two sisters at the same time. They glanced at each other and smiled.

  “Don’t you like those poké-musicals you watch on TV?” he said and waited for them to agree. “Well, this is even better. They’re holding a coordinator showcase tomorrow night with their best local talent. If the ones I’ve seen up in Rustboro are anything to go by, you women will all leave the event in tears. They are truly something.”

  Neela squealed like a child. Luvia felt like she’d cry from joy.

  The day had started gray and depressing and stormy… but it was turning out to be one of the best ones of her life.

  Chapter trivia (Food Dishes):

  Tamashea soup (watery) = Tamato berry + Mushroom + Seaweed. (Tamato is a spicy berry found in Hoenn)

  Pinaya curry = Pinap berry (spicy/ sour) + Payapa berry (sweet/ sour)

  Desiccated cornn chunks = dried, brittle Cornn berry grains (mild sweet)

  Quino-Quino rice = Cmon.