Violet and Gary
It was a quiet, peaceful morning in Kanto. The sky was a crystal clear blue with very few clouds and the forest was alive with activity. Pidgey flew by over head, talking to each other and directing each other as to where they wanted to go. It was nice and serene for the young trainer Violet and her Espeon.
“It shouldn’t be long before we get back home Espeon. I’m sure mom will be happy at the surprise.” Violet smiled down at her psychic little friend and reached down, petting her ears. Espeon mewed happily at the touch. It had been almost 6 months since she’d last been home and almost 3 weeks since she’d last had a chance to talk to her mother and father. As the trees began to clear at the end of Viridian Forest her Espeon ran ahead of her to the edge, mewing happily. Violet laughed as she too picked up the pace to a run. The sun streamed down and hit her face, causing her to be blinded for a moment. She raised her hand to cover her eyes and looked out upon the grassy fields that lead to the sight of Viridian City.
“We’re almost home Es.” She sighed softly and couldn’t help but giggle as the song ‘Viridian City’ popped in her head. She started down the path, walking a little faster than she had been in the forest. She was so close to her mom’s home cooking she could taste it and her mouth was salivating over the thought of it.
Violet hummed lightly to herself, practically skipping when she heard the sounds of battle off in the near distance hit her ears. She stopped and smirked excitedly. Glancing around she finally pinpointed where it was coming from and she looked down at her Espeon, who’d seemed to have heard it too. “Let’s go check it out,” that’s all she had to say to motivate her Espeon into moving with her. Thoughts of home forgotten she ran to see what was going on.
“ SQUIRTLE WATER GUN!” called a trainer no taller than 10. Violet came upon the battle just as the said Squirtle blasted it’s opponent with a fierce jet of water. Violet’s eyes lit up as she watched the battle. The kid was battling another trainer who looked about 6 years older than himself and was wielding a Bulbasaur. Violet shook her head at the obvious type disadvantage.
“Bulbasaur absorb.” The cool female voice gently commanded and grabbed Violet’s attention. Her head snapped up from the fight to get a better look at the girl battling. Long blonde hair pulled into high pigtails, black headband, side swept bangs and all black attire she instantly recognized her friend from Johto. Her eyes went back to the battle as her friends Bulbasaur planted it’s feet and shot it’s vine’s out, wrapping around the Squirtle easily. Bulbasaur started to glow a faint green as it sucked Squirtle’s energy from it’s body before it fainted. Sighing the black clad woman brushed her bangs from her eyes and stood straight as the kid ran to it’s squirtle and gave her the most hated look.
“You didn’t beat me this time Sam, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get stronger. But don’t think that you can just take on any trainer without properly training first. Or this will happen.” She said smoothly and in a calm and caring voice. Sam’s eyes tears up before he looked away pouting.
Violet sighed at her friend and started clapping sarcastically, bringing Winter’s attention to her. Smirking Winter recalled her Bulbasaur and turned to face Violet. “Well look who found me.” Winter smiled and walked towards her, pulling another pokeball from her belt and releasing the pokemon inside to reveal another Espeon. It mewed tiredly, stretching it’s body out before looking around at where it was. When it’s eyes landed on Violet’s Espeon it cried with happiness and pranced over, skipped circles around Violet and her Espeon.
Violet smiled and knelt down to pet Winter’s Espeon on the head, glancing up at her friend. “Yeah, beating up a little kid. Really Winter? Are you so bored with battling you have to get your kicks from beating a little kid?” she asked and laughed, scratching the pokemon’s ears. Espeon mewed happily and leaned into Violet’s hands, enjoying the attention. Violet’s Espeon paid no attention, looking around and hoping to get going to wherever food was.
Winter sighed and rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t battling him for fun. The kid challenged me 3 times before you showed up. You caught the tail end of our fourth match!” Winter defended and folded her arms, pouting slightly. “So I guess you’re headed home?” she asked her friend before kneeling down and calling her Espeon over. It came without hesitation, leaving Violet’s grasp and going to her master’s outstretched hands.
Violet laughed and stood up straight, smiling down at her own partner. “Yeah. I’ve been meaning to come see mom and dad for a while.” She laughed sheepishly, scratching at the back of her head.
“Well you might want to wait a bit. Lover boy is visiting his grandfather to get a few tips and tricks,” Winter warned, her lips quirking up into a smile. That had been her nickname for Gary since he’d ‘grown up’ a couple years back. He’d been trying to prove to Violet all this time that he’d changed and even though Winter could see it, his arrogance had really hurt Violet in the past and if she knew anything about her friend, it was that Violet was more stubborn than a Tauros.
Violet blushed and stared down at the ground. Even though she could see that Gary had changed…even a little, she still wasn’t sure. Girls still followed him around and he was still an arrogant p***k sometimes. She wasn’t ready to believe he had changed completely. Quickly she rid herself of her hot face and stood up straight, looking at Winter. “I’ll be fine. You wanna come with me? I’m sure mom would like to see you again.” She smiled warmly at her friend. Winter thought about it for a moment before she shrugged and nodded.
“Sure. Espeon and I could use a good meal and a soft bed to sleep on.” She said calmly and looked down at her friend. Espeon mewed happily and rubbed up against Winter’s leg, receiving a warm smile from her master.
Violet smiled and turned her body in the direction she’d been going, home. “Then let’s get moving. I’d like to be there before mom makes dinner,” she teased and started walking. The two Espeon’s ran ahead of them, playing and exploring and reacquainting with familiar smells and things.
The city was buzzing with life as they walked through. Violet chuckled as she watched the old man at the entrance to the city giving another lesson on how to catch pokemon to a younger trainer. She shook her head, remembering the day when he had taught her to catch pokemon, which didn’t go so well since the pokemon broke out and threw the ball back in the man’s face. Winter looked over at Violet with a raised eyebrow before she too caught the old man teaching and she burst out laughing. Hers hadn’t gone well either, he hadn’t had any pokeballs that day.
As they exited the city towards Pallet town Winter walked to the ledge of the hills that led down to Pallet. She looked back at Violet and smirked. “Hey Vi…you wanna race to see who can get to Pallet first?” She asked with a challenging smirk. Violet looked down the ledges as well and then shot a sideways confident smirk at Winter.
“I don’t know, you ready to lose again?”
“I didn’t lose last time Vi, you did.” She laughed and hunched down, ready to race. Violet laughed and hunched down as well. Their Espeon’s sighed and just hopped down at a leisurely pace as they waited for their trainers to start running.
“Ready…” Winter started.
“Set.” Violet grinned and raised to her tip toes to go.
“GO!” Winter cried and leapt off the first ledge. Violet shot off, running at full pace, going neck and neck with Winter.
At the entrance to Pallet town Gary Oak was walking back to the Professor’s research lab to help take care of the pokemon when he heard loud roaring footsteps. His Umbreon looked off into the horizon at the entrance and then hissed , going down into an offensive stance. Gary looked down at his pokemon and then up at the hill. “Whatcha looking at boy?” he asked it, staring hard at the horizon line. Just when he was sure his Umbreon was crazy he saw two shapes emerge from the top. Squinting hard to see who it was he could hardly tell who they were but they were running as fast as they could and he ideally wondered if they knew the last hill was too big to run down.
As the two blobs got closer he started to think he recognized them. It wasn’t until he saw the twin Espeon’s skipping along behind them that it clicked into place. Violet was back. He smiled with anticipation and was about to call to her when he noticed that the two weren’t slowing down. He ran towards the bottom of the hill just as Violet and Winter hit the top. “Violet! Winter! Slow down! You’re going to get hurt!” He tried calling to them.
Winter knew exactly what was coming up and just when she would have hit the edge she skidded to a stop, however, Violet didn’t remember and she kept going, getting a confused, yet satisfied smirk on her face at the thought of winning. That was, until she felt her feet leave the ground and she went high into the air. She looked down to find the steep slopping hill and it all came back to her. Of course she’d be more preoccupied with the race than remembering that she couldn’t run down this hill. “Oh crap!” She cried as she felt her body plummeting down.
Gary growled to himself at Violet’s stubbornness and competitive nature and ran to catch her. He could hear her screams as she hit the ground and went rolling right towards him. Gary’s eyes widened a split second before Violet knocked into him. Thinking fast he held Violet close to his chest and covered her head, cradling her body with his as they rolled the rest of the way down the hill and she landed harshly on top of him. Gary groaned in pain but didn’t let go of Violet.
Violet whimpered as she waited for more pain to assault her from her tumble, but it never came. The only thing she could feel were strong, toned arms gently holding her protectively against a lean muscled chest. She blushed profusely and closed her eyes, hoping that it wasn’t who she thought it was. Taking a deep breath she glanced up to see that her fears were confirmed and that Gary was holding her tenderly to him. “Are you alright?” He asked with worry even though he had to be in more pain than her. Violet’s face grew so hot her eyes watered and she quickly tried to sit up, but Gary held her fast. “Violet, are you okay?” he asked again, refusing to let go unless she answered him.
“I-I-I-I’m fine! Let me go Gary.” She cried out in hysterics. She could hear Winter chuckling up at the top of the hill. No doubt her friend had been planning that the minute she suggested the race. Though that wasn’t logical since she had no idea Gary would be walking by at the precise moment they were racing down the hill. When she got her hands on Winter that girl was gonna wish she’d never been born.
Slowly and reluctantly, Gary let Violet out of his arms and get up to dust herself off. He sighed heavily before standing as well and brushing the dirt from his clothes. Violet glanced at him and couldn’t help the intense blush that formed on her face as she watched him.
“What were you thinking?! Don’t you remember you can’t jump from that hill?!” He scolded angrily. Violet instantly lost the warm feeling she had been getting and glared daggers at him.
“I believe I was racing my friend home. And obviously I didn’t remember or I would have slowed down Captain Obvious.” She growled back. Gary was taken aback by her return statement and his own temper flared.
Winter sighed as she watched the two bicker down at the base of the hill. She sighed and shook her head, before looking down at the two Espeons. “I guess we should go break them up before a brawl breaks out in the square.” She said to them. They mewed in agreement and raced down the hill. Violet’s Espeon wrapped it’s two tipped tail around her leg and pulled while Winter’s stepped between them and pushed back on Gary’s legs, almost tripping him.
“Alright kiddies, enough. Don’t make me separate you two.” Winter said calmly as she approached them. Violet’s flaring angry eyes leveled themselves on Winter. It only made Violet madder that Winter didn’t have the decency to even look scared.
“This is your fault to begin with Winter! Don’t play innocent mother to us!” She shot back. Winter shrugged before facing Gary, who was slowly calming down.
“Mr. Big shot, weren’t you on your way to do something?” Winter asked, folding her arms and leveling a glare at the older boy. Gary sighed, scowling in her direction before turning without a word and walking towards the professor’s lab.
Winter then turned to Violet and smiled. “Why don’t you go ahead and go home. I’ll meet you there. I have something I wanna ask Professor Oak while I’m here.” She said happily. Winter only ever showed Violet this side of her. Violet sighed and reached down to pet her Espeon on the head for restraining her before looking up at Winter.
“Fine, but this isn’t over little Missy.” Violet said, pointing threateningly at Winter, who just smiled and shrugged, walking off towards the lab.
Violet’s return home was just like any other return she’d had. Her mother was thrilled and her father was calm but happy. Of course her mother fussed over her not having said a word to them in over 6 months but lucky for Violet her father quelled her mother with logic.
Later that day Winter came over, a huge grin on her face. Violet couldn’t figure out why, until Gary stepped out from behind her. Winter gave Violet her best mischievous grin before walking in around her and giving Violet’s mom a hug and shaking her father’s hand.
Gary smiled sheepishly at Violet who was staring at him, her cheeks slowly heating up. When she realized she was blushing, and Gary did too, she quickly looked away.
“What are you doing here?” She asked him, trying very hard to keep her voice even.
“Well…since you’ve been gone a while, I was going to remind you that the summer festival is tomorrow in Viridian City. And I was wondering if you’d wanna go with me.” He asked with a smile.
Violet’s cheeks grew so hot her eyes were watering from it. They stood there for several minutes, not saying anything and when Winter saw Gary’s cheeks start to heat at Violet’s lack of answer she smirked and walked over, grabbing her friend’s shoulders. “She’d love to go with you Gary.” She volunteered.
Violet rounded on Winter with wide, angry eyes, her cheeks so red her face lit up. Gary smiled at Winter and nodded. “Alright, then I’ll come by to get you at 7 tomorrow Violet. You better be ready.” He laughed and walked off before Violet could say a word.
Once he was gone Violet growled, clenching her fists. “Winter!” She scolded and turned on her friend with a fury unlike any other. Winter didn’t even have the decency to look scared or repentant. “How could you?! I don’t want to go to the festival with that egotistical JERK!” she yelled. Winter knitted her eyebrows together in a disbelieving stare that pissed Violet off even more.
“Puh-lease Violet, you can stand there and pretend all you want but I know that when you guys were kids you had the biggest crush on him and probably still do. Don’t you?” She pressed, causing Violet’s face to betray her by turning bright red. Winter smirked as if she’d won the fight already, which she hated to admit, but she had. “Come on, I’ll be lurking in the bushes so if you absolutely have to stop, I’ll jump out to get you away.” Winter added which ultimately won Violet over. It didn’t hurt to have an exit strategy, especially for something you REALLY didn’t want to do.
The rest of the night Winter planned out the whole date and outfit for the summer festival, picking out a golden Kimono with small dark purple flowers on it, designing how Violet would wear her hair, which was fairly simple to accomplish, and what Winter would wear to blend in.
The next day seemed to fly into place so fast that Violet was shocked when it came time to get ready. She took a quick shower and once she was done, Winter twisted her long lavender hair up pinning it there with a flowered comb. Winter smiled at her friend in the mirror before shooing her off to get her Kimono on. Before they realized it, 7 rolled around and Violet was ready just in time.
Winter smirked at her friend, wearing a dark blue kimono with bamboo on it and her hair down for once, which she never did. “You’re totally going to make him wish he’d never been a jerk to you and Ash.” She chuckled. Violet wasn’t so sure but when she looked at her whole self in the mirror she even had to admit that she was gorgeous and that the Kimono accented her figure perfectly.
There was a knock on her door just as she put her Espeon pokeball in the little pocket in her sleeve. She started down the stairs as her mom answered the door and she got a peek at Gary in a black unzipped hoodie with a tight fitting tee shirt underneath and dark pants with tenis shoes. She couldn’t help but blush deeply at the sight of him and she had to admit he looked pretty hot like that.
“Hello Gary. Are you here for Violet?”
“Yes ma’am.” He said and stepped inside just before seeing Violet. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of her and his mouth dropped down. Violet smirked smugly on the inside at his expression and as Winter came down the stairs and passed him she tapped his jaw up, closing his mouth.
“Don’t stand there drooling over her.” She laughed and walked out, heading for the festival to get a head start on them. Gary blushed deeply and glared after Winter before walking over to the stairs and smiling at Violet.
“You look gorgeous.” He said with a devilish smile. Violet set her jaw and thanked him as kindly as she could, but that smile only made him look even more arrogant than she thought he was. “You ready?” He asked her, offering his hand to her. Violet refused to take it but nodded and kissed her mom goodbye. Her dad was at the festival running a booth for food so he wasn’t there.
They walked in mostly silence on the way to the festival. Violet couldn’t see Winter anywhere ahead of them and that was a long way she could see. This was awkward and she wished that he’d try and talk to her. Usually he was chattier than a Chatot from Sinnoh but right now he was quieter than he’d ever been in his life.
“So…um…” Violet started to say as she stepped foot onto the path again when suddenly the ground beneath her foot gave out on her. Her eyes widened in panic as she started falling and she looked over at Gary, who she could see was falling too. She closed her eyes, expecting to feel her body hit the ground hard but as before when she was falling from the steep hill, she felt Gary grab her and wrap her in his arms, rolling till it was his back that hit the ground, shielding her from harm. He cried out in pain as they went sprawling to the floor of the hole.
Laughter rang out from above. “Wow, I didn’t think it would work but that trap was ingenious Cassidy!” a rough froggy voice sounded out of sight. A whiny feminine laugh sounded as well and Butch and Cassidy came into Violet’s view.
“It’s a good thing we stole the idea from Jesse and James then isn’t it Butch? Now we have the little pest trapped in this hole.” She laughed and picked up a piece of machinery from the ground and held it in both hands.
Violet growled, clenching her fists. “Butch! Cassidy! You two idiots actually followed me here?!” She yelled angrily at them. The two rockets gasped in indignation and glared down at their greatest nuisance.
“Well of course! We want your Espeon for the boss!” Cassidy called down to her in a whiny nasally voice. Gary slowly stood up, and looked at the two of them and then cast his gaze to Violet.
“Are these guy’s for real?” He asked her in disbelief. Violet sighed and glanced at him.
“Of course they are for real. You’ve never heard of Team Rocket?” She asked him with a raised eyebrow. Gary gave her a duh stare which she rolled her eyes at and then looked back at Butch and Cassidy.
“You want my Espeon do you?” She asked them with an evil smirk. She reached into her sleeve and withdrew her Espeon ball. “Then here you go!” She called, throwing the ball up into the air and releasing her Espeon. Appearing before her Violet’s Espeon hissed angrily at the sight of Butch, who on their last encounter had hurt it while trying to get it away from Violet.
“Espeon use…!” Before Violet could issue a command, Cassidy turned the machine in her hands on, which caused it to emit a high pitched screaming sound. Her Espeon cried out in pain as it flattened it’s ears to its head and collapsed on the ground. Before Violet could reach it a net was thrown over her Espeon and was quickly pulled up out of the whole by Butch.
“NO!” Violet cried but the screeching sound then assaulted her ears. She cried out and covered them with her hands. Gary covered his and knelt down beside Violet, who seemed to be in pain.
“Sorry little twerp! Thanks for the Espeon!” Cassidy called, laughing excitedly as she turned off the machine. Even though the screeching was gone her ears still rang and they still hurt really bad. Despite that though she struggled to stand up.
“Damn it!” she growled as tears came to her eyes.
Gary sighed and stood up, looking over at Violet. “Did you really only bring Espeon?” He asked sarcastically before he lifted up his jacket in the back and withdrew two pokeballs, calling forth Umbreon and Arcanine. They both knew just what to do as Umbreon ran up the side of the dirt walls and Gary placed Violet on Arcanine.
“Umbreon, run ahead and rescue Espeon.” He called as he too hoped up onto his Arcanine’s back. He wrapped his arms around Violet tightly and hung onto her and Arcanine’s fur as the giant dog bounded up the sides of the hole till they were on solid ground.
Violet started to run but she suddenly collapsed before she could make it a few steps. She looked down to see that the foot that had caused the collapse of the trap was twisted and cut. Groaning angrily at it she tried to stand up again but fell back down. Gary ran over to her and hovered, offering to help her up but she knocked his hand away. “Don’t touch me.” She scolded and helped herself up again and forcing herself to walk even though it hurt like crazy.
Gary sighed. “Violet this is stupid! You’re hurt. You should at least ride on Arcanine’s back.” He scolded her. Violet turned on him with a nasty glare.
“Butch and Cassidy have my Espeon. I don’t care if my leg is broken I’m going to get her back!” She yelled angrily at him before turning on her heels, which hurt her ankle like nobodies business and started walking down the road again. She hoped that Umbreon had caught up to them and took out the machine before Cassidy had a chance to use it.
She saw an explosion off in the near distance and panic welled inside her, forcing her to move faster. ‘Espeon…’ She thought in worry. In her haste she wasn’t paying attention to the road and bad foot caught on the edge of a small rock. Just as she thought she’d trip and hit the ground Gary grabbed her and pulled her back against his front, holding her tightly.
Violet’s face turned bright red and she tried to move. “L-L-Let go…” She muttered.
“You’re still just the stubborn idiot from when we were kids aren’t you?” He asked and before she could even say a word he scooped her legs up from the ground and held her in his arms bridal style.
“G-Gary put me down now!”
“Stop being so stubborn and let me help you!” He growled harshly and glared at her before continuing to walk with her in his arms down the path. Violet stared up at him in shock at his ferocity on the subject and blushed deeply, looking away in embarrassment.
“Fine…but just this once.” She muttered quietly and clung to his neck as he carried her with ease.
It was a little down the road when they finally came upon the fight. To Violet’s relief the explosion she’d seen was Umbreon making the machine explode, probably with it’s own screech attack. When Gary and Violet came into view of the battle Espeon turned to look back, ready to attack when it saw Violet. It’s eyes lit up excitedly and ran for her.
Gary set her down just in time for Espeon to jump into her lap. Violet smiled happily and wrapped her arms around her Espeon, holding tight. “Espeon! I’m so glad you’re okay.” She breathed happily and then looked up to see Butch and Cassidy cowering before Umbreon and Gary.
Slowly Violet stood up and glared at them. “Espeon, Psybeam now!” She cried out. Espeon planted it’s feet firmly in the ground and it’s jewel glowed brightly before shooting a beam of energy at the two’s feet, sending them flying into the air.
“Well that didn’t really work out very well did it?” Butch growled
“Of course not! We’re idiots for even trying one of Jesse and James’ stupid ideas!” Cassidy whined before they reached out of sight.
Violet humphed in aggravation before sitting back down on the ground. Her Espeon ran to her once more and nuzzled Violet’s face warmly.
Gary carried her the rest of the way to Viridian City’s pokemon center, where Nurse Joy took care of Espeon and Gary tried to take care of Violet.
“Stop babying me I can take care of my own ankle!” She grumbled, trying to take the bandage from Gary’s hand, who skillfully maneuvered it out of her reach and proceeded to wrap it around her leg. Violet would have moved her foot from his reach, but she’d already tried that and it hurt…a lot!
So instead Violet stubbornly pouted as Gary wrapped her foot up. “There, now was that so hard?” He asked her sarcastically, patting his hands together as if wiping dust off. Violet hmphed under her breath and refused to look at him. Gary sighed and shook his head.
“Even after all this, you still don’t believe me that I’ve changed?” He whined emphatically.
Violet glared at him. “I know you haven’t. You’re still Mr. Popular and you would be doing this for any other pretty girl around.” She spat the words as if they were poison.
Gary smiled with pity in his eyes before he stood up and folded his arms across his chest. He couldn’t help but chuckle, causing Violet to scowl up at him. “What are you laughing at?”
Before Gary answered, he bent down and kissed her cheek lightly before leaning forward to whisper in her ear with a smile. “ I’ll convince you one of these days Violet, and I greatly look forward to the day I do.” He smirked and stood up before walking out of the room to check on his Umbreon, leaving Violet sitting in the waiting room stunned beyond belief. Gently she reached up to touch her cheek where he’d kissed it and after a moment she giggled, blushing lightly.
“Till next time then.” She breathed and looked up at the ceiling.
