I froze in space, as I stared at him for the moment. I looked at him, and realized I had never seen him before. He was a platinum blonde boy with green eyes. He wore a black hoodie that appeared to be ripped on the sleeves, and he also had black pants that were also ripped. He looked kind of emo; that's the only way I could really describe him. He looked to be around my age. I saw him lock eye contact with me, and his mouth dropped open a little. I looked at his sides, and he had an Umbreon and a white and red dog Pokemon with red eyes that stood on its hind legs. The dog Pokemon looked pretty mean, if I'm honest.

Tears continued to fall down my face, as I clutched Mimikyu for comfort. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry if I disturbed you," I said, as I looked off to the side at a nearby tree. "I didn't think anyone else was out here." I said, hesitantly.

I looked back over at him, and the boy's green eyes then wandered to my arms. "What happened to you? Why are your arms red?" He asked, as I saw his eyes moving side to side slightly, as if he were examining my arms.

I didn't want to talk about it, but instead I just said "Oh, I got into a small fist fight. That's all." I looked off to the side again, and then back at him. I continued to clutch Mimikyu as a sort of crutch.

The boy looked at me with a blank expression. He was difficult to read. I couldn't tell if he believed me or didn't believe me.

"I don't think I've seen you around here before," He finally said, breaking the silence. "Are you new?" He asked.

I shrugged lightly. "Yeah. I just moved here from Kanto about a week or so ago." I said, as I continued clutching Mimikyu. I felt her burrow herself more into my arms in response. Her warmth felt amazing in a time like this.

"That's nice," he replied. He sounded very monotoned, or like he just didn't have any emotion at all. "Well, I have to get back to doing what I was doing. I just wanted to check and make sure no one was hurt." He said.

I nodded. "Thanks." I said. "I'm sorry if I bothered you." I said, as I turned around away from him. I knew I was being kind of rude, but I wasn't really in the mood to conversate with anyone. I was still shaken from earlier. My throbbing arms kept reminding me of what went down earlier. I was beginning to be scared of my own father. I didn't know what to do.

"Alright then." I heard the boy's monotone voice say behind me, and I heard him turn away. His footsteps and his Pokemon's were crunching twigs on the ground. The sounds got fainter and fainter. I sort of didn't want him to go, but I was too broken right now to turn around and ask him to stay.

My heart was in two different places. Part of me wanted to go back and talk things out with my dad. Make him understand why I didn't want to talk about the note, but at the same time I wanted to hop on the first plane back to Kanto and hide out in Lavender Town. I sat down criss cross style on the ground, and sat Mimikyu down in my lap.

I looked down at Mimikyu's beady black eyes for comfort. "Oh Mimikyu.. I don't know what to do." I said, tears welling in my eyes all over again as I stared down at her eyes. Mimikyu responded by making her baby doll eyes. I knew she was trying to calm me down, and it was working a little. I just didn't know what to do.

***

Professor Kukui sat on his couch as he listened and watched the heartbreaking news article about Emethyst's mom on TV. He took his glasses off, and rubbed his eyes stressfully. He picked up the TV remote and shut it off. Emethyst still hadn't returned, and he was beginning to worry. He then recalled the fight they had gotten into earlier.

"Ugh, I shouldn't have been so hard on her.." He mumbled to himself stressfully. "It was only a note.. Why did I get so angry?" He mumbled again. He then remembered what he did earlier. He got so angry at her that he blacked out, and didn't realize what he had done had probably permanently damaged her. Kukui closed his eyes, as he tried not to cry. It was Emethyst that protected herself in self defense that made him snap out of it.

"What kind of father am I?" He said, his voice cracking.

Suddenly, he heard the door open. Kukui stood up on impulse. "Emethyst?!" He exclaimed, as he poked his head over to see who had walked in. His heart sank a little when he was met with Ash, and not Emethyst.

"Hey, Professor. Where's Emethyst? She never came back outside.." Ash asked worriedly, as all of the Pokemon including Emethyst's walked in behind him. Gengar and Froslass looked around, but didn't see her anywhere in sight.

Professor Kukui sighed. "I'm sorry, we got into it pretty bad and she ran away." He said, as he looked off to the side. "I found something, and I kind of lost it on her." He said, his voice cracking again. He tried his hardest not to cry in front of Ash, but he was losing.

Ash looked up at him, now a little more worried. "Professor... What happened?" He asked.

Kukui took a deep breath. He knew Ash was a little on the young side to really understand what had happened, and he knew Ash probably didn't know the full story about Emethyst's mom either. "It's.. It's a little complicated, Ash." He stammered, not knowing what else to really say.

Ash thought for a moment, and then he smiled. "Professor, let's go look for her together." Ash said, and smiled.

Kukui looked down at him, amazed that he would suggest that. "Ash, I don't know if that's a good idea." He mumbled. Emethyst did say she needed to be left alone, and he knew she probably just needed time. He was somewhat sure she would come running through that door with Mimikyu on her shoulder any moment now.

"Are you sure?" Ash asked. Pikachu also looked up at Kukui. "Pika?" He asked.

Kukui thought for a moment. "Alright," He said finally. "If she isn't home by sunset, we'll go look for her. But, I'm sure she'll turn up before then." He said. But the truth was deep down inside; He really didn't know if she would come home by then. He knew he had messed up bad this time, and he didn't know how he was going to fix it. The truth was; Old Kukui wasn't completely gone.