ohmyarceus | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER TEST DRIVE MEME

"SWORD, NO!"

Rose's self exploration was momentarily interrupted by an animate weapon with a trainer's backpack strap tangled around its hilt whirling by, slinging the backpack and all of its contents everywhere. Sword loved existing too!

A haggard and surprisingly dirty man hobbled after the ghost-type with one arm half-heartedly outstretched. The cuffs of his jeans were caked in...something and what looked like dust and oil spattered his shirt. His hair was a mess.

"I'm so sorry," he panted to Rose before he reached her. Trainer handbook pages fluttered through the air like cherry blossoms.

"Oh! Well look at you!"

Rose was entirely not bothered by all of this. Instead, she was absolutely captivated by watching what could only be a living sword as it played with its human companion. She could practically feel the sword's playful energy. Clapping her hands and laughing, she turned her attention to human approaching her.

Who didn't strike her as looking odd or unusual, despite his state. If anything, it looked as though he and his sword had been having a great deal of fun.

"What for?"

If Henry weren't already so winded from the jetlag of his previous adventure mixing throughout the memories of the Longest Day He'd Ever Had and the toll it took on his body, he would have staggered right on by Rose and continued chasing Sword.

But he stopped, doubled over, hands on his knees. He coughed and stared dead-eyed at all of his things that now scattered the street.

"He's making a mess...did he hit you with any of that?" When he spoke he felt like he was in a dream staring down at himself, watching himself speak. He felt far away. Was this how everyone felt when they Came Back?

"That's alright. Messes can be cleaned - here, I'll help!"

Those weren't very good sounds the human was making now. Was he tired or ill? There were so many human sicknesses. maybe he was just old - Rose really wasn't very good at telling human ages by looking at them. Or in general. They were small or they were grown, and the details were pretty blurry.

With a bright grin, Rose began bending to help gather up the spilled things. It really wasn't anything to be upset about. But...no, even Rose could tell that the poor man wasn't well.

"Are...you alright? Do you need to lie down? How many fingers am I holding up?" Asked without actually holding up any fingers, Rose just knew it was something asked when a human was sick or hurt.

As Rose asked Henry these important questions, Sword pinwheeled by again, his blade making a thin sound against the air. The backpack flew off his hilt finally and landed, upended, on Henry's head just as he straightened up.

"I'm fine," he said from within his backpack. He snapped out an arm and took hold of the long banner that Sword used for a hand, pulling him up short. Sword let out an echoing and indignant whining sound. "It's just...been a long day. Thank you though."

Rose made no attempt to hide her delight at the sword's antics. This poor human didn't look like he was having as much fun, though. That wouldn't do.

Still chuckling softly, she stepped forward and reached out to lift the backpack gently off of his head.

"Really? You look a bit terrible. What happened that made it so long?"

Tact and reading the room were not one of Rose's strong suits.

Henry squinted in the sudden return of the light. He hadn't realized just how used to the gloom he'd become in that impossibly long impossibly short stretch of time he'd inhabited in the Other World.

He stared up at this enormous, almost startlingly happy woman and blinked slowly and tiredly. There was no way he could talk to her about all of That.

"I've been away...but now I'm back. It's...hard on my head." It was true. The ghost of a headache was hiding somewhere near the base of his neck still. "It's going to be okay."

As he said that aloud, he realized it.

It really was going to be okay.

Rose's smile warmed and deepened at that.

"Of course it is!" She didn't understand why going away and coming back would be so upsetting, but obviously Mr. Tired Human had his reasons. He really did look like he needed a nap - that always helped Greg, when he was tired.

"Here, let's get all of your things picked up." Look at her! She was a human and she was helping another human and she was doing such a good job of it! She was going to be such a good human being!

A thought occurred to her.

"Then we should find you ice cream! A big bowl with sprinkles. Do they have ice cream here?" Something else that always seemed to help when humans were upset. Or at least something Greg wanted when he was.

Rose only had so much experience to draw from here.

"You don't have to--"

But there she went. Even as Henry stretched out his free hand to stop her, she went about picking up his things. He didn't have much to his name, not yet. A few books, some basic camping supplies, a potion, a couple of poke'balls.

Giving Sword a doubtful look, he released him and started helping Rose gather up all of his junk. Once it was all returned to his backpack he zipped it up and put it on.

"Thank you...it's so nice of you to offer, but I really don't have time for ice cream."

His insides complained loudly at his protest. HE'D JUST BEEN THROUGH LITERAL ACTUAL VERY REAL HELL, STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM WOULD HAVE BEEN PERFECT RIGHT NOW.

"There's a place I need to get to and--"

Sword butted in between them and blinked his single blue eye curiously at Rose. He reached out his banner like a hand and tugged curiously at one of her curls. "Honedge!" Sword's voice was metallic and echoed from deep within him.

"Sword, please don't..." Henry was sagging again, as though the Pokemon's presence made his backpack weigh a ton. He wearily took a pokeball off the belt he'd haphazardly slapped on and recalled the creature in a flash of brilliant red light. "I'm sorry, ma'am."

Rose looked around. It was a sleepy little place. Very little. How far away could anything be?

"Where do you need to get so quickly?" It never occurred to her that maybe this man didn't want to talk.

The sword's antics only drew another laugh.

"It's really all right, I don't mind. Is your friend's name Sword? He's very playful. Oh, I'm Rose Quartz. That's right, I should have told you that already...." She frowned thoughtfully, looking him over. One, he looked like maybe rushing off anywhere might damage him, and humans didn't recover as easily as gems did. Oh! Did that mean the same went for her? That was something she'd have to think about.

Secondly...what had he just done with Sword? It almost looked like he'd bubbled the creature!

"Cherrygrove," said Henry as he looked down at the ball in his hands. "I need to get to a Pokemon Center. It's the only way I'll be able to tell if my friends are still here...I don't even know how long I've been gone."

It felt like a bunch of rocks were in his chest when he thought about the fact that his friends--his family might have been long gone from this place. It was still one HELL of a step up from the Other World and his own trashy apartment, but without them it was just...another place.

Henry looked up at her again and forced a smile--whether Rose could tell it was unnatural or not was anybody's guess. He wanted to smile a real smile for this incredibly kind person but it just wasn't in him at the moment. "It's nice to meet you, Rose. I'm Henry. How long have you been here?"

It was a customary thing to ask. You could kinda tell when somebody wasn't a local when you'd lived here as long as he had. However long ago that was.

"Cherrygrove sounds like a beautiful place." Rose's gaze followed Henry's, eyes wide and curious. She didn't understand the rest of it, not really - but she could sympathize with the sadness of being separated from family and loved ones. She briefly wondered about the people she'd left behind, what they were doing now, how their lives would be without her...

But those were troubling thoughts and this was no time for them. There was a human who needed help! A human that seemed sad overall.

"I've been here, let's see...half an hour?" That sounded right. "What did you do, with the light, and your sword friend? And I really think if we're going to stand here and talk, we may as well sit and eat ice cream while we do it...oh! Oh!" A dawning look of jubilant realization lit over Rose's face, her eyes glittering.

"I can enjoy ice cream now! And all kinds of food! And...and...shampoo!" Which popped into her mind because there was a bottle of it in her own backpack. Which she was carrying like a purse.

"An hour...?"

Oh no she was a BABY. Comparatively. Ish.

Henry stared up at her with a weird mixture of awe, pity, anxiety, and a few more emotions before he settled on grim acceptance. He couldn't just bolt when he'd tripped over a newbie. She seemed so eager and so kind. She was going to be robbed blind by Sentret if he didn't give her at least a few pointers.

"Okay..." And what did she mean by 'now'? Had she been a robot? He knew a number of those. Maybe some kind of fantastical being made of light? Pff, now that was far-fetched!

He shook himself and eyed the street before spotting a convenience store which was sure to have those little push-up icecream tube thingies. Henry waved for her to follow.

"I put him in his Pokeball because he was misbehaving...it doesn't hurt him!" Henry was quick to lift his hands. He remembered wondering that. "It just kind of gets him out of the way, somewhere he can rest until I'm able to deal with him. If you just got here, I can make a pretty safe bet that you have one with you too."

"You bubbled him!" Just with a different sort of bubble. How fascinating! At his mentioning that she likely had her own bubbled companion, Rose immediately started digging around in her backpack as they walked.

She was still barefoot.

"Hmm, there's so many things in here...oh! Oh look, Henry, you were right!" She pulled out the red and white sphere, holding it up to her face to peer closely at it. It looked mechanical! But who had put it there for her? Where did the creature inside come from?

There was so much to learn about this new place!

"How do I let it out to meet it?" She looked back to Henry, all bright eyes and beaming smile as she towered over him.

A wistful expression slowly drifted across Henry's face. He was getting to see something kind of special--someone was going to meet their first Pokemon for the first time right in front of him.

It had been so long.

The rocky feeling in his chest grew heavier. But how long?

Henry let out a tired chuckle. "Okay, first off, try not to open it facing yourself--who knows what could be in there. Some Pokemon are small enough to sit in your hand and some are the size of--well, let's just say they can be very big."

He tugged Sword's ball off his hip again and held it out before him before commanding, "Come out!" and pressing the button to expand and open the ball.

Sword reappeared in another bright flash and twirled around before facing the both of them. "Honedge!"

Henry tried to press back the little lump of sadness in his throat. No matter how many times he called out Sword, he wasn't Clam.

"You try."

"And there's no way to know before?" Her eyes went back to the ball as she exhaled eagerly. There was a surprise friend just waiting inside there, for her! She clasped the ball to her chest for a moment, eyes closed, enjoying the moment of anticipation.

"We're going to be such good friends," she whispered, before holding the sphere out in front of her like Henry had.

"Come out! We're so ready to met you." Holding her breath, Rose pressed the button.

She was expecting the flash of light. She leaned forward to try and see through it, quivering with excitement to see what would come out of the mechanical bubble.

When the light began to fade...there was a round, star-like bouncing stone before her! Roughly the size of a head with two wide round black eyes and faintly glowing points! Rose gasped in astonishment, hands clasped together under her chin. How perfect!

"Oh....."

Without another thought, Rose dropped to her hands and knees in the street to bring herself face to face with her new friend.

It was a...what was it?? Henry opened his mouth to remark on how he hadn't met this kind of Pokemon before but Sword was already zooming around Rose and the newly released 'mon to introduce himself.

"Honedge! Honedge! Hone!" Sword was very insistent on letting the little space creature know that he was Very Cool.

"Sword, please..." He understood that his new Pokemon--his new partner was just excitable and generally perky but it was just so much so soon. "What do you think, Rose?"

Rose, still on the ground, fished out the little computer that was supposed to have all sorts of information in it. She'd at least skimmed the handbook. Sort of. Parts of it. There was so much to explore, she didn't have time to read a book!

It was very easy to bring up the information she wanted, ignoring the excited sword as she read the little description of what where apparently Miniors. Not that the name mattered, but what it said...

"She's a living mineral from the stars...she's just like me!" She really was perfect. Rose rose to her knees and gathered the Minior into her lap. She still didn't understand why or how she was here, but it was a beautiful place and something had made sure she had this familiar and fitting companion...

It was almost too much.

It really was a nice scene, even with his stupid overgrown toothpick whirling around in the background. Henry took a moment to appreciate it. Maybe this was why Sword had smashed his own Poke'Gear--instead of instantly running to the edge of town waiting to be whisked away on the back of a Togekiss, he was here, watching an important friendship form.

Receiver.

A real smile finally did find its way to Henry's face. "I've been to space once..."

HENRY MOON PROM IS NOT THE SAME THING.

"You've got to give her a good name!"

"You did?" That managed to distract Rose for a moment from her Minior. Not many humans went into space.

But oh...a name! She blinked, suddenly unsure. She looked down at her new companion, lips pursed.

"I don't know what name would be good...ha, isn't that funny? I spent weeks reading baby name books and now I can't think of any names!" And what if she didn't pick the right one? It was so easy with Gems.

"A good name..."

Henry glanced aside at Sword, suddenly feeling a little guilty for not granting the Pokemon with a more...creative...name. But he'd been in a hurry to get him registered in his Poke'Gear before dropping it.

"Some people name their Pokemon after people they know...or things that they like..." Henry offered helpfully. His Pokemon...did his friends have them? Were they at the ranch? He was starting to feel dizzy from all the questions and he swayed on the spot.

Henry really didn't look well. Rose set her Minior gently aside and then she was on her feet, reaching out to Henry intending to gather him right up into her arms. Before he fell on his face, which it looked like he just might do.

Poor man. He really was exhausted, wasn't he?

"Names can wait."

As if on cue, the Canon Update Fatigue finally got to him and he slumped forward like a rag doll with his arms dangling in an undignified manner. He'd been worried about all his human friends, sure, but WHAT ABOUT HIS POKEMON?

Sword finally stopped his dramatic flailing around and noticed that Trainer was...not looking so good. How could he be so neglectful on day one! He had to sharpen up and fast! Sword rushed over to Rose and hovered anxiously by her shoulder, reaching out to lift one of Henry's feet and release it, watching it dangle.

"I'm fine, I promise."

Rose caught him, making soothing noises as she did, and held him in her substantial arms. He was in need. And...it kept her from wondering too much about those she left behind.

"It's alright if you're not. It's one of the wonderful things about feelings, there's so many of them! A life lived is a life full of all of them. Sometimes we have to feel not fine - if you weren't supposed to, you wouldn't be able to." She looked over Henry at Sword, and then to her own Pokemon. This would be fine. She knew what to do, they'd all be just fine.

"I think we should get you someplace comfortable. Resting is important for humans, you know."

Henry had to admit that even though he woke up in a bed, he had no idea if he'd actually rested in that bed. It had been a long time since he'd had a good old fashioned anxiety attack and this felt like it was the start of one.

And also probably nicotine cravings.

He started to struggle out of her arms. "Let's get that ice cream you were talking about and I'll tell you what I can about this place."

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER TEST DRIVE MEME

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