Lost and Found

Chapter Five: Possible Solutions

Cookie spent the next several days going through the same routine: Wake up, breakfast, train, lunch, train, dinner, train, sleep, and wake up the next morning to start all over again. While to an observer it might have seemed boring, the thoughts going through the Hattrem's mind kept things from becoming tedious; thoughts about what she would say, what she would do when she saw Matthew again. While it wasn't as though he had visited with any regularity, it did seem like it had been quite a while since the last time she had seen the trainer, and she eventually started to worry about whether she would have the chance to put Meg's lessons into any kind of practice.

She had just defeated a fellow Hattrem when she felt a familiar melancholy, and she smiled to herself before hurrying to the path from the forest nearest the emotion's source.

She found him some distance from the edge of the forest, in the process of setting his things on a picnic table that had to have been placed there more recently. To her surprise, he didn't seem to have any Pokémon with him. "H-Hello, Matthew," she greeted, suddenly feeling self-conscious as her conversation with the aspiring counselor played back in her head.

He looked up to his unexpected guest and broke out into a smile. "Oh, hey Cookie! Great to see you again! How's life treating you?"

"G-Good..." She suddenly looked to the ground, frustrated at her inability to meet the human's gaze. "You've seemed-" She wanted to say 'You've seemed sad' like Meg had taught her, but she couldn't force out the words; asking him to be vulnerable like that just didn't seem right. Fortunately, another idea came to mind that would allow her to balance things out. "Matthew?"

"Yeah?" he said as he rummaged through a brown paper grocery bag. "What can I do for you? Other than give you the food I brought for you, I mean?"

Her heart skipped a beat at his words, causing her to blink in surprise; even though she was grateful for everything he had done for her in the short time they'd known each other, her body's reaction to his statement was unexpected. "My...My..." She took a deep breath. "I think my friend is still trapped in a relationship with her trainer...and my former trainer."

The rummaging hands stopped, and he withdrew them from the bag to give her his full attention. "Please, sit down," he offered, gesturing to the picnic table. "Just...wherever."

She approached the table with a puzzled look; his emotions had suddenly become as difficult to read as his facial expression. She sat on the bench seat opposite the human only to find that her eyes barely cleared the tabletop, so she hopped onto the table itself and sat down.

"I want to make sure I understand you correctly," he said, and she was relieved that she was able to perceive the intensity in her friend, though she also found herself somewhat intimidated by it. "One of your friends – who I'm assuming is a Pokémon? – is in a relationship with your trainer?"

She nodded. "She was a Mawile, but somehow became human. After that, Trainer Donald left me here but kept her with him. I don't know what happened to the others."

"SONOVA-!" he snapped as he drove a fist into an open hand, and she could feel his temper flare, only to flinch in surprise as it abruptly subsided when he opened his hands and released a slow breath; his self-control was impressive. "I think I know the kind of guy you're talking about." He took another deep breath. "Have you heard of Professor Gottum, the newest Pokémon professor?"

"I remember Donald talking about him a lot, but I was a Hatenna at the time so I don't remember much."

Matthew settled onto the bench, a sign that he was about to tell a somewhat lengthy story. "See, Professor Gottum was a trainer like me, except he was in his late twenties or something like that at the time; an older trainer. Anyway, he had a Gardevoir named 'Kimono'; he'd caught her as a Ralts and took care of her and taught her how to fight without needing to be given commands." He opened his mouth to continue but paused. "Are you with me so far?"