Pokemon - Evil Reborn

Chapter 7 - Heart and Soul

Though the Christmas period was over, the good spirits of the holidays continued to fly around the atmosphere, lighting up everyone's smiles on the road to the New Year. Snow still sat in the driveway, and sparkling lights flashed at night, as if nothing had changed.

But on New Year's Eve, despite the fun and happiness, we were all reminded that there was a greater force out there, ready to pounce when the time was right. With my newly-developed troubles still fresh in my mind, it seemed that my evil doppelgänger was up to no good once more, which would further add to my issues.

It started with a knock on the door on New Year's Eve...

*

Maruki's snowman was still standing in the back garden, smiling as the cool wind nipped at the scarf around his neck. Rainbow was with the boy now, as the two of them piled together large clumps of snow to build a friend for their creation.

Inside the house, the number of people was significantly smaller than on Christmas day. Alexis was leaning against the garden door, watching her son with a mug of coffee in her hands, whilst Darragh was mixing his own drink on the counter. Skyra and Liv were sat on the sofa together, leaning into one another. Nelly and Lydia were knelt down on the floor, giggling happily at the plush toy I had bought the latter.

My dark blue stylus hung from the side of my mouth as I stared down at my console in concentration. I was leaning by the bookshelf, playing the new game I had received for Christmas. The games based on Pokemon were very well made, I thought. I smiled as my Grovyle took down Gym Leader Wattson's Magneton to get me my third badge. “Almost as cool as the real thing.” I nodded. It got me thinking about my real Grovyle. He had sensed that something was wrong with me on Christmas day. Perhaps I needed to talk to him at some point, not only about that, but also about the looming issue surrounding his evolution. If he really didn't want to evolve, I might have to buy him an Everstone to stop him from being in pain. I reached out for his PokeBall, but then I became distracted.

I caught sight of Nelly laughing happily, and it made me smile. Then Lydia laughed and immediately stopped herself because she was embarrassed about how it sounded. I wondered if Nelly ever felt embarrassed about stuff like that? Because from how I saw it, neither of them had any reason to be ashamed of who they were in any way.

There was a knock on the door that travelled through the hallway and echoed into the living room. It startled me somewhat, and my stylus fell from my lips. I snatched the falling pen from the air and slotted it back into my blue hand-held, before saving my game, turning the device off and closing the lid. After putting it away, I walked towards the door. I opened it slowly and greeted Xene happily. He was standing there on his own, his red hair laden with melting snowflakes.

“Hey, Toby.”

“Hi, Xene.” I gestured for him to come in. I closed the door behind him and we walked back into the living room. Xene, Aquilina, Ethan and my older half sister, Megan, had decided to stay in Fuchsia City after Christmas. They were interested in Tobi's revival, and no matter how Skyra and I persuaded them to get away, they wouldn't leave.