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Ok, Chapter 2! Oh my god... 18,000 words... what the hell was I thinking? If I don't wake up tomorrow, don't be surprised.

On a more serious note, the next set of chapters will focus on encounters, one for each eeveelution sibling and Pearl.

With that said, I hope you don't think any less of the series, but I promise you that the rest of the series as a whole will have enough action to probably cause you to explode.

So without further ado, sit back, relax, and enjoy another tale from the story of Pearl's life.

Pokémon © of Nintendo & Gamefreak. Storyline and characters © of me (Enigma Eevee).

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• Celesteon, the Apprentice of Light -

Reunion Arc - Ch. 2

FLASHBACK

Aqua quietly waits outside of the cave, fidgeting with her paws. 'Oh boy, this is going to be difficult. They are surely going to panic.' Just as she finished her thought, a noise was heard in the bushes. When Aqua looks up, she is greeted by the sight of her other siblings walking towards her.

"Hello, sister, what have you been up to all day?" Amy the espeon calmly asks Aqua.

"Um, I don't know how to explain this, so you all had better sit down." Aqua stammered in her speech.

Aqua's sister Jade approaches her with a puzzled expression. "Aqua, what's wrong? Did something happen while we were gone? Please, you can tell us, we are your sisters."

"Yea, you are usually so happy to see us when we come home, but you seem to be worried about something. What is it?" Amy asks of her sister.

Aqua shifts uncontrollably for a few moments before answering slowly. "It's...it's about Topaz..."

END FLASHBACK

"What do you mean?! What happened to Topaz? Is he hurt? Aqua, tell us what happened." Ruby demanded.

Aqua sighs. "Ruby, calm down. He is fine now, but he needs his rest, so please keep your voice down."

"You still haven't explained to us what happened and don't lie to me because I will know." Amy gave Aqua a stern look.

"Amy, when have I ever lied to you? Also, if I have told you once, I have told you a thousand times, you can't just read other Pokémon's thoughts when you feel like it, it's rude." Aqua sighed.

"I do not need you to tell me what I can and cannot do. You aren't our mother and you will never take her place, no matter how long she is gone." Amy gave her a fierce look.

Aqua stared in shock at Amy's words. She felt heartbroken and hated by her own sister. "If that's how you feel then fine, I won't stop you from doing whatever you wish. Forgive me for being so caring." Tears began to surface as Aqua felt her heart slowly fall apart. She started crying uncontrollably, then turned and ran away from her sisters.

"Amy! Look what you did! That was so mean and heartless. You know how hard Aqua tries to keep us together as a family while mom is gone and then you go and pull a stunt like this. How could you do something like that?" Jade questioned her sister in a serious tone.

"I know she is my older sister, but she has no right to lecture me abo-" Amy was cut off as she felt a painful, stinging feeling on her face. She looked at her sister wide-eyed. "Y-you hit me..."

"You're right, I did hit you and it was for a good reason. Now you feel the some of the pain you just gave Aqua." Jade gave her a stern look.

Amy stares blankly, trapped in her own thoughts. 'What kind of monster am I? Our family is already struggling as it is and I go and drive one of my sisters away.' "What have I done...?" Amy starts crying, hating herself for what she did.

Lapis walks over and hugs the saddened espeon. "There, there Amy, don't cry. I know you are still feeling angry about mom's disappearance, but you should make sure you don't take your anger out on others, especially us. I want you to go find Aqua and apologize. The sooner you go find her and make up, the sooner we can find out what happened to Topaz."

"A-alright, I'll go look for her, but I doubt she wants to see me after what I said." Amy hung her head low, feeling ashamed.

"Just give her a few moments, Amy. Approach her when you think she is ready and when you are too. Now go, I am worried about what happened to Topaz and I would rather have Aqua explain the whole situation, than try to find out by myself." Jade give Amy a little nudge towards the direction Aqua ran. "Please hurry Amy, the longer you wait, the worse this situation can get."

"Ok, let me go find her. I hope she doesn't hate me. What if she doesn't come back?" Amy asks shamefully.

"She won't hate you, I promise and she will come back, I know she wouldn't just abandon us. Now go." Jade raises her paw and points in the direction Aqua went. Amy nods and runs off towards the thundering falls.

---

On an island, in the middle of the thundering falls lake, Aqua sits, crying to herself. "Why is it so hard? Mom, why did you leave us? I can't look after everyone, not without help. Please, I need help, I can't do this alone." She continues to sob when she hears a familiar voice.

"You are not alone Aqua, everyone here is willing to help you. Please, no more tears. I am sorry for what I said to you. I, I just couldn't control my anger. With mom being gone and then when you told us something happened to Topaz, I was just overwhelmed and lashed out. I am so sorry for the pain I've caused you, can you ever forgive me?" Amy calmly confesses her feelings through her telepathic link.

Aqua's head pops up and she looks around. "Amy? Is that you? Where are you?"

Amy sighs. "I would rather talk to you from a distance. I am afraid to talk to you face to face. I have hurt you already and I don't want to make things worse."

"You have nothing to worry about Amy. I won't 'bite'." Aqua giggled.

"Oh very funny Aqua, you know I am weak against dark type moves." Amy says in a low tone.

"Well are you going to come out or do I have to find you?" Aqua asked.

"Try to find me." Amy said with a playful tone.

Aqua sighs. "How am I supposed to find you when I don't know exactly what to look for?"

Amy giggled mentally. "Look hard Aqua, you will see me."

Aqua starts looking around, trying to find her psychic sister. A flicker of light catches her attention before it disappears. She notices the same flicker appear and disappear a few more times.

"Aw come on Amy, no cheating. How am I supposed to find you when you keep teleporting?" She questioned in a pouting voice.

Amy teleports behind Aqua and sits there quietly. She giggles mentally and gets a devious thought in her mind. 'Oh that will be perfect. She won't be able to resist laughing.' Amy thinks to herself so Aqua can't hear her.

Aqua continues to look back and forth, attempting to find any trace of her sister. "Amy, would you stop hiding." She complains in a frustrated tone.

Amy leans in close to Aqua and whispers in her ear. "Who's hiding?"

'AAAHHHH!!!" Aqua jumps at the sudden voice and feeling of breath in her ear. The sudden movement causes her to lose her balance and she falls into the water.

"Hahaha! I got you! You should have seen the look on your face, it was so funny!" Amy falls over, laughing hysterically.

'So, she wants to play games, does she? Well it's time for a little revenge.' Aqua smiles to herself as she fades into the water.

"Come on Aqua, you have to admit that was funny." Amy stops laughing and looks to where Aqua fell into the water, but doesn't see her. "Aqua? Aqua, where did you go?" She starts looking around frantically trying to find her sister.

'Ok, phase one. Sneak attack.' Aqua thinks to herself. She slowly swims behind the espeon and rises out of the water. She proceeds to poke Amy's tail before retreating into the water, without a sound.

"Ah! What the-?" Amy spins around to find no one there. "Ok, Aqua, you can stop now. You know how much I hate water."

Aqua giggles to herself. 'Now, phase two. Mirage attack.' She starts using double team to create copies of herself. One by one, the copies form a ring around the espeon, underwater. One clone starts to surface behind the espeon and prepares a water gun attack. Right before the clone fires the water gun, Amy detects the attack with her psychic abilities and spins around in time to see the clone fade into the water.

"What the..." She stares at the spot the clone was previously. She notices movement out of the corner of her eye and shifts her gaze towards it. When she turns to see what it was, she nearly jumped at the sight before her. A dozen vaporeons started materializing out of the water and began to charge a hydro pump attack.

"Oh no... I need to get out of here and fast." She says aloud as she starts to panic. Unbeknownst to Amy, Aqua materialized behind her and snuck up right next to her.

"I don't think so, little sister" Aqua quietly and calmly speaks into her sister's ear.

"OH MY GO-" Amy loses her footing and falls into the lake. As soon as she falls into the water, fear takes hold of her and she panics. Clearing her head for a second, she teleports to the shore and lays on the ground gasping for air.

Aqua calmly swims over to the shore where Amy is hyperventilating. "What's wrong sis, didn't like being snuck up on?" She gave her sister an evil grin.

"Don't you ever do that to me again! You know I can't swim!" Amy manages to yell between breaths.

"Aw, you know I would never let anything bad happen to my little sister." Aqua nuzzles her sister's neck trying to comfort her.

"Oh, how could I ever stay mad at you, especially after all you have done. I am sorry Aqua for what I said earlier." Amy hangs her head low out of shame.

Aqua places a paw under Amy's chin and lifts her head up to look at her. "Thank you Amy, for everything. I do forgive you for what you said. I can understand how you feel, but you don't know the half of it."

Amy looks at her sister with a confused expression. "What do you mean? Is it what you were trying to tell us about Topaz earlier? You can tell me Aqua, please, don't hide anything from the rest of us. We are here to help and we can't begin to help you, if you hide things from us."

Aqua sighs. "It's best if I tell everyone, all at once. Care to do the honors?"

Amy nods and starts to focus her psychic powers. In a flash of light, Aqua and Amy disappear from the spot next to the lake and reappear in front of their home.

Aqua wobbles for a moment before shaking her head. "Ugh, no matter how many times I do that, I never will get used to it."

"Aw, it's not that bad is it? I think you are just overreacting." Amy looks at her with a smile.

Aqua looks at her with a stern expression. "Overreacting? I feel like my head explodes every time I go through that. I am not going to ever go through that again, unless it's a matter of life and death."

"You big baby, it's not that bad. Maybe you just have a weak mind." Amy teased her.

Aqua jumps to her feet and shoots her sister with a water gun.

"Ah! Wha...di...I...do?" Amy barely managed to speak through the pounding of water on her.

Aqua stops her torrent of water and looks at her sister with a mock serious expression. "That's what you get for saying I have a weak mind." She turns her back to her and flicks her tail.

Amy grabs Aqua with her psychic power and turns her around to see her face. "Can you please forgive me?" She looked at Aqua with pleading eyes.

Aqua rolls her eyes. "Alright, I forgive you...again. Now if you could be so kind as to let me down." She looks at her sister with a serious expression.

"Oops, I guess I got a little carried away there. Hold on one second." Amy gently sets the vaporeon on the ground then runs over and hugs her.

Aqua returns the hug and notices a sound come from the bushes. She looks over to see her other sisters walking towards them.

"Well it looks like you two have made up, that's a relief. We don't need another family member missing." Jade breathes a sigh of relief.

"Missing? You know I would never leave you. I could never bring myself to leave my family." Aqua looks at her with a smile.

"That's good. We will hug and tell each other how much we love one another later. Right now we have more important matters to discuss." Jade states in a serious tone.

Aqua looks at her with a confused expression before she understands. "Oh! I forgot about Topaz. That's right I need to tell you all what happened to him today." Her expression displays a mixture of emotions as she starts mentally recapping all of the day's events.

"Well?"

"Huh?" Aqua snaps out of her thoughts.

"Aren't you going to tell us what happened to Topaz?" Jade calmly asks her.

"Oh yea. Well um maybe I should start with the beginning." Aqua takes a deep breath before she starts to explain. "Topaz and I were playing around outside the cave when all of a sudden he stopped running and sat down. I looked back and noticed he wasn't chasing me anymore. When I asked him what was wrong, he said he felt out of breath and really fatigued all of a sudden." She calmly explains.

"Ok, it sounds like he was just exhausted, nothing serious." Jade states.

"Well, that's not the end of it. Now where was I?" Aqua thinks to herself for a second. "Oh wait, I remember now. After Topaz said he felt tired, we walked to his room to let him rest. When he walked inside, he suddenly collapsed onto the floor and started coughing a lot. After a few moments, blood started coming up with his coughing. I ran over to him to see if he was ok, but he yelled at me to stay away from him. I didn't know what to do, so I ran out of our home towards the forest to try and find help where I eventually ran into the forest doctor and asked him to help."

Jade gasped. 'Oh god, Topaz..., I hope he's ok.'

"When we got back here, the doctor explained to me that Topaz got sick with the deadly virus that has been going around recently." She was stopped when she heard her sister jump to her feet.

"Oh no, please don't tell me-" Amy was cut off before she could finish.

Aqua raises a paw to calm her sister. "Do not worry. He is still alive and he is recovering inside. He is in the guest room now, so he isn't sleeping in his infected room. The doctor said that he was going to seal off Topaz's room so none of us would be exposed to the infection. He hasn't sealed it off yet, so stay away from Topaz's room everybody. Also, he said he was coming back to check on Topaz." She finishes with a yawn.

The whole group yawns together as they realize how late it is. Lapis speaks in a shaky voice, still uneasy about her brother having caught the virus. "So, he is better now right? I mean he's going to be alright isn't he Aqua?"

"Yes, Lapis. Topaz is ok. Like I said, he is just sleeping right now to try and get his strength back. It's best if we all go to bed and let him rest." Aqua calmly states with another yawn.

"Yea, Aqua is right. Let's go to bed. We can check on Topaz in the morning because I'm sure he is going to sleep all night to recover." Amy agreed.

"I am so glad he's ok. I don't know what I would have done without..." Ruby trails off as a familiar figure steps out of the cave. "Topaz!!"

The others shift their attention towards the cave entrance and are greeted by the same familiar sight.

"Topaz!" They all cried out in unison.

Topaz's ears perk up as he notices his sisters tightly grouped together in a circle. "Hey ladies...what did I miss?" He calmly asks with a yawn.

All five sisters jump to their feet and run towards their brother. They all tackle him to the ground, nuzzling him and kissing him.

"Ooof" Topaz barely manages to say before he falls to the ground under the affectionate assault of his sisters. "Oh, jeez. All of you act like you would never see me again."

"You don't know how right you are Topaz. We were afraid we lost you there for a second." Jade cries into his chest fur.

"Huh? Is that true?" He asks.

All of the sisters stand up and nod except for Aqua. She continues to rub his cheek crying softly into his fur.

"I was so worried. Please don't ever scare me like that again. I don't know what I would have done without you. When I saw you suffering, I could barely keep myself together, it pained me so much to see you like that." She started to cry harder while gripping his neck.

"I am so sorry Aqua. I never meant to worry you like that, but I'm all better and I'm here to stay. You won't get rid of me that easily." He hugs her tightly and rubs her head.

"Aqua was devastated and so worried about you throughout the whole time you were sick. She nearly fell apart when she was telling us about what happened to you." Amy calmly explained.

Topaz looked to his sister next to him and smiled. "I figured she would be the most affected. She has always looked after me, whenever I would get hurt or sick, she was always by my side. I guess this time was no different. Thank you Aqua, I don't know what I would do without you." He leans down and kisses his sister on her head before letting her go.

Aqua blushes at the unexpected action of affection from her brother. "Well you are still my little brother and I have to look after you. I love you all so very much and would do anything for you." She lets out a big yawn and looks around to see her siblings do the same. "I guess it's time for us to go to bed. Topaz you can't go in your old room. The doctor said, he will come back tomorrow to check up on you and seal off the room. Your new room is the guest room, so you will need to go back to where you woke up at."

"I figured that. I would much rather be safe than sorry especially when it comes to that virus. Well the guest room isn't much different from my room anyways except for aunt Peri's meditation cushion that I was sleeping on. I never knew how comfortable that thing was until now." He said as he thought back to when he woke up.

"Well goodnight everyone and I will see you in the morning. Make sure you don't go near the infected room. We don't want anyone else to catch the virus." Aqua yawns once more and heads to her room.

"Yea, I guess I ought to go back to bed and rest, to help with my recovery. Well goodnight ladies, I will see you in the morning, if I have enough strength to wake up early enough." Topaz waves goodnight to his remaining siblings and slowly walks off to his new room.

"Hm, something doesn't feel right." Amy said to herself.

"What do you mean?" Jade questioned.

"Even though Aqua told us Topaz is healthy and alright, something still seems to be bothering her." Amy ponders.

"I am sure you are just really tired and it's that mind of yours playing tricks on you." Ruby states with a yawn. "I'll see you guys in the morning. I need to go sleep before I fall over." She turns around and walks away.

"Yea let's go get some sleep. I'm sure your mind is just a little uneasy at the moment Amy. Don't let it bother you too much. If you still feel the same way in the morning, then ask Aqua about it before you leave." Lapis instructs her as she walks off towards her room.

"Yea, I guess I'm just tired, that's all. Oh well goodnight Jade. I need to get some sleep to relax my mind and restore my psyche." Amy slowly walks towards her room.

"Goodnight Amy, sleep well." She says as the espeon walks away. 'I do agree with Amy. Something else must have happened when we were gone, that is still bothering Aqua. She still seemed a little uneasy about something and I am determined to find out what it is. We cannot afford to keep secrets in this family, not in the fragile condition that it's in.' Jade quietly walks to her room, trying to figure out how to approach Aqua the next day.

---

The next morning, Charles calmly walks to to Pearl's room. As he enters, he notices her sprawled out on her bed, happily draeming. He chuckles and leans over to wake the her.

"Pearl. Come on sleepyhead. You need to wake up." Charles gently nudges the sleeping eevee.

Pearl groans and swats the lucario's paw away. "Five more minutes, it's too early." She rolls over and hides under her pillow.

"Ok then. I will let you sleep in, but you will miss being able to see Topaz today." Charles states in teasing tone. 'Three, two, one...' He counts in his head.

Pearl throws her pillow off of her and starts bouncing up and down on her bed. "I'm up, I'm up. When can we go, I'm ready now." She jumps off the bed and starts running towards the front door.

"Whoa, hold on a second Pearl!" Charles calls after her.

"What? Did you forget something, come on let's go. I wanna go now. Come on dad you're so slow." She says in a hurried, impatient tone.

"We aren't leaving now." He calmly states.

Pearl looks at him with an annoyed expression. "Why not? I thought you woke me up so we could leave to see Topaz."

Charles sighs. "Yes, I did wake you up so I can take you with me to go see Topaz, but we have some other things to do first."

"Huh? What do we have to do?" She looks at him quizzically.

"Well first, you need to eat some breakfast. Then we have to get you all clean to meet him. Finally, I have to get some of my supplies and berries re-stocked before I go."

"But dad, I'm not hun-" A loud grumbling noise cuts Pearl's speech. Her ears fold over her head and she turns red from embarrassment. "Ok, I guess I'm a little hungry..." Her stomach grumbles again, but louder this time.

"I think your stomach says otherwise little one." Charles chuckles.

"Yea..., so what's for breakfast?" She asks curiously.

"Well while you were asleep, I started working on a good breakfast for your first real day of meeting your siblings."

"Ooh, what is it?" She asks with a squeaky voice.

"Well I used the remaining berries we had to make juice and then I used the wild fruit Lu gave us, to make a fruit bowl with some honey on top." Charles calmly explains and looks up to see Pearl gone from his sight. 'Huh? Where did she go? I didn't even notice her move.'

"Daddy, hurry up! I wanna eat my breakfast!" Pearl calls from another room.

Charles laughs to himself. "Wow, I've never seen her so eager to eat, that she disappears without a sound. Ok, I better hurry into the kitchen before she dies from anticipation." He turns and walks into the kitchen and almost laughs at the sight before him.

Pearl stood atop the table and eyed the fruit bowls on the countertop. Unaware of her father's presence, she lowers herself into a pouncing position, ready to jump to the counter. She starts wiggling back and forth trying to get a good start.

Charles just stands there, trying to keep from laughing. 'Ah, I'm going to miss seeing her like this so much. Ah well, I better stop her before she makes a mess.' He quietly walks over to the little eevee on the table and waits for her to move.

'Ok, I think I got it now. All I need to do is jump on the count of three. One, two, three!' Pearl jumps forward with all her strength, but stops in mid air. She opens her eyes and looks in front of her. 'Huh? I thought I jumped.' She looks down and gasps. 'I-I'm flying?' She notices a slight warm feeling on her sides and turns around to see what it is.

"Oh, hi daddy. When did you get here?" She calmly asks, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Oh, long enough to see your little show and attempt to get your breakfast." He laughs.

Pearl sinks her head down in embarrassment at the thought of her father seeing her.

"Ok, since you are so eager to get your breakfast, why don't you sit here at the table while I get it for you." He sets Pearl in her chair and calmly walks over to the two fruit bowls. When he turns around he smiles at Pearl wagging her tail back and forth. "Someone is very eager isn't she?" He asks sarcastically.

Pearl nods and jumps at the same time. "Come on dad, I'm hungry. I want to eat!"

"How badly do you want it Pearl?" He teases her.

Pearl sits back on her hind legs and puts her forepaws together. She looks at him with pleading eyes. "Pleeeease, can I have my food?"

He laughs and sets her bowl down in front of her. He walks over to his seat and sits down, preparing himself to eat. "I'm going to miss seeing you do that. It makes me laugh every time I see it." He thinks aloud.

"What did you say dad?" She questions him with a mouthful of fruit.

Charles smiles at her. "Oh, nothing; just thinking out loud. Go ahead and finish up sweetie so we can get the other chores done quickly." He starts eating his food quietly until he hears a thumping noise. When he looks up, he sees Pearl trying to jump onto the counter to put her bowl away.

"Pearl, how are you done already? Did you even taste your food before you inhaled it?" He looks at her with a puzzled expression.

She looks back at him and giggles. "Of course I tasted it. I wouldn't eat it so fast if it didn't taste so good." She explains.

"True, I guess. Though in the future, please eat slower. If you try to eat too fast, you could end up choking and I don't need anything happening to you." He says in a worried tone.

"Ok, I promise. Are you done yet?" She asks him impatiently.

Charles looks down at his bowl and sees it almost empty. "Yea, I'm full. There is still a little bit left. Do you want to-" He was cut off as Pearl jumped onto the table and started eating the rest of his breakfast. "Well, I guess that answers that question."

When Pearl finishes the remainder of her father's breakfast, she looks up at him and smiles with a content expression. Charles starts laughing to himself. She looks at him confused. "What's so funny daddy?" She asks and tilts her head to further show her confusion.

Charles couldn't hold his laughter back anymore and falls onto the flooring, crying from laughing so hard.

Pearl looks down at the lucario rolling on the floor, laughing hysterically. 'I wonder what's so funny.' She thinks to herself. She turns around and looks into the empty bowl on the table. Her eyes go wide as she looks at her reflection on the bowls surface. 'Oh silly me, I've got honey all over my face. Well if dad thinks it's so funny to see it all over my face, let's see how funny it is when it's all over his face.' She smiles a devious grin and wipes the honey onto one of her paws.

"Oh dad..., look what I've got." Pearl mockingly sings.

Charles' ears perk up and he raises his head to look at her. As he looks up, Pearl throws the honey directly at his face. When he turns his head towards her, the honey hits him right on his mouth and he falls onto his back out of surprise. "Ah! What the...?" He raises his paw and wipes it across his face. He looks at his paw and then looks up to see Pearl giggling and rolling around on the table.

"So you thought it would be funny to get me back for laughing at you, well I got news for you young lady; you are going to be punished." He says in a mock serious voice.

Pearl stops laughing and rolls over to see her father glaring at her. Thinking he was serious about her being punished, she starts whimpering and shaking. 'Uh oh, did I really make him that mad? I shouldn't have done that, now he's not going to let me see Topaz.' She worriedly thought.

"Now, come here Pearl..." Charles says in a sinister voice. He slowly walks towards her and sees her shaking. 'Hehe, she's actually scared of me doing something to her. I better get the best out of this.' As he finishes his thought, he jumps forward in an attempt to grab Pearl.

Pearl sees the lucario jumps towards her and she barely dodges his dive. Charles crashes into the table and knocks it over, sending him down onto the ground. Pearl trots out from behind a chair thinking she was safe. When she sees the table knocked over, she laughs until she notices her father lying on the ground next to the table, not moving.

"Daddy? Are you ok? Daddy..." She continues to stare at the fallen lucario, waiting for a response. When none came, her fear swelled up inside her and she immediately ran over to him. She started looking over his body to find any signs of trouble. She started whimpering when her father refused to move even after her attempts to wake him. "Please daddy..., you can't leave me. I don't want you to go. Come back, please..." She continues to cry, thinking her father is gone forever. After a few moments, she stands up and turns to leave. She looks back towards her father but gasps at what she saw or rather didn't see.

"Wha..., where did he go?" She quietly asked herself.

Charles, whom had been awake all along, peeked out from the wall along the kitchen entrance. 'I know this is kind of mean, but she is gonna have to learn that she get away with everything.' He sighs and then looks at the eevee staring wide-eyed at the empty kitchen. Charles chuckles quietly to himself. 'She is so freaked out about my disappearance, that she hasn't noticed me standing over here yet. Maybe, it's time for a little payback.' He slowly walks up to the eevee from behind and kneels down behind her quietly.

Pearl continued to look back and forth around the kitchen in front of her, trying to figure out what happened to her fallen father. "How did he disappear like that?" She continued to ask herself the same question over and over again.

Charles slowly reached down, then snatched the eevee up into his arms. "Gotcha!" He said in a sinister tone.

"AH!" Pearl screamed as she was suddenly swept off of her feet and thrown into the air only to be caught by her father. When she landed in the lucario's arms, she looked up at him with a saddened and confused expression. "Daddy, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do it. I thought you were gone..." She trailed off only to be interrupted by Charles.

"Oh, I'm not done with you yet young lady." He claims in a sinister voice and smiles evilly.

Pearl cringes at her father's sudden evil looking expression and awaits her punishment. She continues waiting for a few moments and looks up at the lucario with a puzzled expression when nothing happened. He grins at her with another evil smile and raises his paw into the air. Pearl goes wide-eyed, fearing her father is going to hit her, but gasps when he starts tickling her mercilessly.

"Hahaha, daddy...stop...I...can't...breathe...hahaha!" Pearl writhes back and forth in her father's arms, while he continues to tickle her. After a few moments, he stops tickling her and watches as she continues to wiggle against her will. A short moment later, she catches her breath and looks up at him with a smile, only to have him return it with a hug.

"You know I could never stay mad at you Pearl. You are the only significant other in my life and I could never harbor any negative feelings towards you." He calmly reassures her and continues to hug her.

Pearl nuzzles his chest and purrs. "I really thought you were gone daddy. Please don't ever do that again, I have never felt so scared before. I don't want to lose you." She starts to sob into his chest fur, fearing what might have happened.

Charles notices his daughter's fears and hugs her tighter. "Oh Pearl, I never meant to scare you that much. I only meant to have a little fun, but I guess I went a little too far. Please forgive my actions, I promise I will never scare you like that ever again."

"Thank you daddy. I love you so much, I don't know what I would do without you." She rubs his cheek to comfort him and herself.

"Well since breakfast is done, how about we finish the rest of our morning chores and then go see Topaz?" He asks her knowing how she will react.

Sure enough, Pearl pokes her head up and licks the lucario on his cheek a few times before he pulls her away. She wiggles around in his grip, trying to get free so she could continue to lick him. After a few moments, she gives up and Charles sets her down on the floor.

"Ok, first things first. You need a bath young lady. You still have the honey stuck in your fur and I'm not allowing you to visit your brother, looking like a mess. Now go to the washroom and get the water started; I will be in there in a few moments to help you. I need to fix the kitchen first." He points towards the washroom and Pearl rushes off to get the water running for her bath. Charles turns around and surveys the damage. 'Hm, I guess I did go a little too far if I caused the table to completely flip over.' He chuckles to himself and starts cleaning up the kitchen.

Pearl enters the washroom and looks around. 'Hm, now where is that ro-, ah, there it is!' She dashes over to a rope hanging from the ceiling of the room. She jumps up and catches it in her mouth and lets her weight pull the rope down. As the rope started to lower, water started flowing out of a newly opened hole in the wall, into the makeshift tub her father built for her. When the water reached her body height, she let go of the rope and the water stopped flowing from the hole in the wall.

"There we go all ready to go." She says confidently to herself and jumps into the bath tub full of water.

"Not yet, it's not." Charles suddenly spoke while entering the room.

The sudden sound of the lucario's voice caused Pearl to jump and turn around all at once. "Dad! Don't scare me like that! You promised that you wouldn't scare me anymore." She made a pouting face at him.

He walks over to her, laughing at her expression. He ruffles her head fur with one of his paws and holds up two bottles in his other paw. Pearl's eyes widened as she recognized both of the bottles. Charles sets a big, dark blue bottle down on the floor labeled, 'Pokémon Shampoo: Normal Types'. He opens the other bottle in his hand and proceeds to pour it's contents into the water. Pearl starts jumping around in the water, causing it to splash her father.

"Watch it Pearl, you are the one who is supposed to be having a bath, not me." Charles complains as he shields his face from the flying water.

"Sorry daddy, but I'm always excited when you add bubbles." She gleefully states.

Charles sets the bottle down on the floor next to the other one. "I know how much you like the bubble bath, so I figured I would give you a little treat this morning for being such a good girl." Charles tells her and winks.

Pearl pays no mind to her father as she notices a mountain of bubbles forming in the water. She lowers herself in an attacking position and wiggles herself to get ready. Charles notices Pearl's sudden actions all too late as she pounces on the mountain of bubbles, consequently spraying them and water, everywhere. When Pearl looks up she starts giggling at the sight.

Charles looks down at the giggling eevee and raises an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" He questions her.

Pearl stops giggling long enough to point at her chin, then at him.

Charles tilts his head in confusion and glances at the makeshift mirror on the wall next to him. When he sees his reflection, he notices that part of the bubbles had stuck to his chin and formed a long beard shape that made him look extremely old. He knocks off his bubble beard and turns back towards the tub to find Pearl nowhere to be seen.

"Pearl?" He looks around the tub to see if she got out, but doesn't seem to find her. He looks in the tub to see if he missed a spot when he looked the first time. As he scanned the inside of the tub, a certain mountain of bubbles catches his attention and he leans in closer to look at it more closely.

As soon as Charles' face is mere inches away from the bubble mountain, Pearl jumps out from underneath it and grabs the lucario's neck. The sheer shock and sudden addition of weight on his neck causes Charles to lose his balance and he falls forward into the tub with Pearl still hugging his neck. He starts scrambling around, trying to catch his bearings. He looks up and notices Pearl sitting on his chest with a pleased, confident smile knowing she beat her father at some game.

"You think you are so clever, hiding under the bubbles and waiting for me to get close enough, so you can pull me in. Well, I'm not giving up without a fight missy, now prepare yourself." He gives her a sly grin.

Pearl gets into her battle stance on his chest with her body wiggling again in anticipation for the first attack from her father. She is suddenly caught off guard as a wave of water crashes into her from behind causing her to involuntarily squeak.

Charles laughs as he looks at the drenched fox Pokémon in front of him. "Hehehe, you should see yourself right now Pearl, you look like a drowned rattata."

Pearl 'humphs' and lays down on the lucario's chest with a mock sad expression.

Charles sees her face and starts scratching behind her ears to comfort her. "Aw, you know I'm only playing with you Pearl. You still look as cute and beautiful as ever." He reassures her.

Pearl blushes and leans into the tender touch of the lucario.

Charles continues to scratch her head and watches her lean more and more into the affectionate touch. He suddenly gets an idea and starts slowly pulling his hand away while still scratching her head.

Pearl reflexively leans more into the touch until she loses her balance and falls into the water next to her father. When she surfaces, she gives him an annoyed expression and splashes water at him. He returns fire at her with an aura pulse under the water which caused a big wave to hit her. They continue to splash each other, enjoying the other's company and happiness.

After what seemed like forever, they calmed down and laughed. "Ok Pearl, we need to get out and dry off or both of us are going to turn into water Pokémon." Charles jokingly stated.

She nods and leaps out of the tub to allow her father to get out. When he exits the tub, he pulls on a second rope in the corner of the room and an opening in the wall came into view. He reaches into the makeshift closet and pulls out two towels; a solid white one for Pearl given to him by the Pokémon center and a blue and black towel that was a gift from his previous trainer. He dries himself off quickly and walks over to Pearl to dry her off. When he kneels down next to her, she suddenly shakes herself off, spraying water everywhere and all over the lucario.

Charles grumbles as he looks to see himself all wet again. "Pearl..., how many times have I told you, not to shake yourself when I'm right next to you. You would have thought after the first 'hundred' times I told you, you would have learned." He gave her a stern expression.

Pearl just giggles at him and nuzzles his legs affectionately. "You know you love me too much to stay angry with me." She knowingly states with a cute smile.

"I-uh, um." Charles sighs in defeat. "Ok, you win. I can't stay mad at you when you look so adorable." He picks her up and hugs her tightly causing her to purr affectionately. After a few moments, he sets her down and dries her off and quickly re-dries himself afterward. He sets the towels down across the window opening so they could dry and then turns to Pearl.

"How about we worry about the berries after we are done visiting your brother, how does that sound?" He asks while bracing himself for the inevitable impact soon to come. Sure enough, within a few seconds, Pearl leapt at the lucario, but despite his efforts to prepare for it, he still fell over with her licking his face endlessly.

After a few moments, Pearl gets off her father and runs towards the front of the house. Charles immediately jumps to his feet and runs after her to make sure she doesn't leave the house. When he arrives at the front door, he notices Pearl jumping up, trying to open the door herself. He walks up behind her and picks her up and cradles her. She looks at him, then the door and then at him again as if trying to ask when they were going to leave.

"We will leave in a few moments Pearl, but I need to get some medicines for Topaz. The virus is gone from his body, but it's side effects can still be active which is why I need to be prepared to treat any possible scenario. Now you stay here and out of trouble while I go gather the necessary materials." He instructed her while pointing at the floor in front of her to emphasize his point.

Pearls nods vigorously. "Ok, ok, go get the stuff, I wanna go. Come on dad, stop looking at me and go. Hurry up please."

"Ok, you little energetic ball of fur, I'm going. Try to keep yourself in one piece for a few more minutes." Charles walks off into his work area and starts rummaging through the medicines to determine which ones were possibly needed. After a few minutes he selected an armful and placed them neatly in his special bag. He gathered a few different potions and full-heals and stuffed them into the bag and hoisted it over his shoulder.

Pearl sat there waiting for what seemed like hours. 'He is taking forever. Come on daddy, I wanna go now.' She kept saying in her mind. After a few more moments, she heard footsteps and looked up to see her father walking calmly towards her. She immediately jumped to her feet and started hopping up and down in anticipation.

"Alright calm down. In order to get to their home with plenty of time to spare, I am going to have to use extremespeed. Please hold on to me as tight as you possibly can." He opens the door and they both walk out and feel the warmth of the sun above them. "Ah, what a beautiful day to go meet a new family member, wouldn't you say Pearl?" He looks down in time to reflexively catch her in his arms when she jumped up at him. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

Pearl grips her father's arm as tightly as she can and nods at him to signal she's ready. With that he nods back and charges his aura in his body. After a few moments, he diverts his entire aura to his feet and pushes it out. He rockets through the forest, towards the thundering falls in the distance.

---

As Charles approached the thundering falls, he slowed himself to a jogging pace. 'I don't want to repeat yesterday's unfortunate events especially with Pearl in my arms.' He thinks to himself. He continued to jog at a steady speed until the Cave of Gems was in view. He stopped to lower Pearl onto the ground. When he tried to let go of her, he noticed she wasn't releasing his arm. He looked at her with a curious expression.

"Um, Pearl you can let go of my arm now, we are here." He says while trying to pry himself from the eevee's grip. "Come on, Pearl, I'm serious, let go." He said in a firm tone. When he looked at Pearl again, he noticed her claws were dug into his fur and her face was buried into his arm. He reached over and tapped her head with his free paw and waited for her to respond. When she didn't respond, he lifted her head and noticed she was breathing calmly and had her eyes closed.

"You have got to be kidding me..., how on earth did she fall asleep during that?" He asked himself as he continued to stare at the slumbering Pokémon. 'Well I can't let her sleep all day; otherwise bringing her along will be useless.' Charles starts thinking of a way he can wake her up without causing her to panic. 'Hm, that should work.' He slyly thinks to himself as he reaches towards Pearl's stomach. He starts to rub her stomach calmly at first and then starts tickling her to see if she would stir.

Pearl started squirming against her father's tickling and awoke suddenly with laughter.

"Ah...what...hahaha...what...is...going...on...hahaha." She tries to question through her constant laughing.

Charles stops his tickle torture and grabs Pearl away from his arm. "How on earth did you fall asleep with me running like that?" He questioned her.

Pearl stops writhing back and forth and looks at her dad with a content expression. "You felt so warm, I couldn't help it. You're like a warm, fuzzy pillow daddy." She smiles and nuzzles his chest.

Charles smiles and hugs Pearl tightly. After a few moments, he sets her down and kneels next to her. "Ok Pearl, Aqua and Topaz should be here today. We are going to let you and Topaz get to know each other. Also, you should spend some more time with Aqua since yesterday was a little tense for everyone, so I don't think you two had enough time to bond. Are you ready?" He calmly asks.

Pearl looks down at the ground and shifts uncomfortably back and forth. She looks up at her father with an unsure look. "I don't know if I'm ready dad."

"Of course you are Pearl. I know yesterday it was hard for you to face Aqua, because you had to do it alone. Today you have me with you, so if you ever feel uncomfortable, just come to me and I'll help guide you." He reassures her in a soothing voice.

Pearl's ears perk up and she looks at him with a happy smile. "Really? Thank you, I think I am ok now." She looks towards the cave and back at him.

"One more thing. Last night I told Aqua not to tell anyone else about you, so it is technically a surprise for Topaz when he meets you. So you cannot just rush in there and make a scene. I would much rather you wait outside his room while I get him ready. I will send Aqua to get you, when I feel Topaz is ready. Is that ok with you?" He asks her in a concerned voice.

Pearl breathes a sigh of relief. "Yea, that's ok with me daddy. Actually, I am happy that you are doing it this way. I wouldn't know what to do if I walked in there and saw him without him knowing me."

"Ok then, let's go inside. I am sure Aqua is waiting for us and I know Topaz is probably looking forward to seeing me again." Charles stands and walks slowly towards the cave with Pearl at his heels.

As they enter the cave, they start to pass Topaz's old room and Pearl stops. She looks at her father walking away and suddenly becomes confused. "Daddy, where are you going? I thought this was Topaz's room here." She questions, pointing at the opening next to her.

Charles turns around to look at the confused eevee and then towards the room she is pointing at. He looks back at her and speaks in a calm voice. "Pearl, I had to move him out of that room last night because of all of the blood he had lost during the worst part of his sickness. He is now in a new room towards the back of the cave. Now come on, we don't want to keep them waiting." He turns to walk towards Topaz's new room.

Pearl jumps to her feet and runs after the lucario walking away. 'Now I remember. He told me to stay outside of there so he could take Topaz to a new room. The last thing I remember was Aqua hugging me and humming a song.' Pearl smiled as she remembered her sister's comforting touch.

After a few moments, Charles arrives at Topaz's new room and hears voices coming from inside. He decides to listen to determine who it was. He continued to listen for a few moments before a sudden warm feeling of fur brushed up against his leg causing him to nearly jump through the ceiling. He looked down and saw Pearl quietly giggling to herself at the lucario's reaction.

"Good lord Pearl, don't do that to me again. I thought it was another one of your siblings, which would have been a problem. I promised not to scare you anymore, but that doesn't mean you get to scare me." He gives her a stern look.

Pearl just smiles at him and sticks her tongue out playfully.

Charles sighs to himself. "You know, if there was ever a day when you weren't overly cute, it would be the sign of the apocalypse." He jokingly states.

She headbutts his leg, causing him to lose his balance and nearly fall over. She falls over giggling to herself at her father's expression.

"Ok, that's it, hold still you little mischievous fur ball." He steps towards her and reaches down, then scoops her up into his paws. He gets a sly grin on his face as he starts thinking of a way to get back at her.

"So you want to play games do you? How about I turn the corner to Topaz's room and suddenly throw you in there for both of them to stare at you? Would you like that?" He asks in a sinister voice.

Pearl cringes and starts shaking her head back and forth trying to persuade her father to forgive her. "Please no, don't do that. I don't want to have them staring at me." She whimpers.

"Are you going to behave, while I try and see who is in the room?" He questions her with a serious tone.

She nods vigorously and ducks her head down to further show her submission.

"Good, now be quiet while I listen to see who is in there." He leans in close to the opening and perks his ears up to try and figure who is in the room.

---

Unaware of Charles' and Pearl's arrival, Aqua and Topaz sit in the room, discussing the upcoming visit from the Lucario. Aqua, specifically keeps herself in check so as not to reveal that Pearl is supposed to be with him.

"So, when do you think he will get here?" Topaz asks his sister.

"I don't know exactly. All he said, was that he was going to come back for the next few days to check up on you. So you had best be on your best behavior when he shows up Topaz." She gives him a serious expression.

"Sis, how many times do I have to tell you, call me by my nickname. I don't like my full name, it sounds... too formal or something. Also, I may be your little brother technically, but I am the same age as you, so please don't treat me like a little kid." He states with an annoyed expression.

"Ok, 'Taz'." She says in a mocking expression. "I don't think I will ever get used to calling you that. Dad may have called you that when you were a little toddler, but it seems too childish and goofy now that you are grown up."

"Oh come on now, you know you love it. If I remember correctly, you used to call me 'Baby Tazzy' when we were growing up." He smiles at her.

Aqua turns red with embarrassment as she remembers when she used to call her brother that all the time. "Yea, I guess 'Taz' sounds a bit more mature than 'Baby Tazzy' even though that's what you will always be to me; My little 'Baby Tazzy bro'." She says teasingly.

Taz's ears fold back and he lowers his head in embarrassment. "Aw come on Aqua, don't start teasing me like this. I am already weak physically, I don't need you crushing any self-esteem I have."

"What self-esteem? According to uncle Charlie, you shouldn't have any." She states in a teasing voice.

He looks at her quizzically. "What do you mean, according to uncle Charlie? What did he tell you, what do you mean?"

"Aw, come on you know. Your little 'moment' you had when he was applying the ointment yesterday; he told me what happened." She starts giggling.

Taz thinks to himself before he suddenly realizes what she was talking about. "Oh god, he didn't!" He suddenly turns red.

"Oh yes he did. It seems like you enjoyed yourself didn't you?" She continued to tease him.

Taz falls over on his back hiding his face in his paws out of embarrassment. "Aw man... why did he have to tell you that? I can never show my face again. This is the worst day of my life." He complains with his voice muffled by his paws.

"What did you say Tazzy?" She teasingly asks him.

Taz groans into his paws and tries to hide his face even more. Aqua laughs at his discomfort and walks over to him.

"Aw come on Tazzy, it's not that bad is it? I mean you only felt a little excited from someone touching you." She continues to mess with him.

Taz curls into a ball to try and hide as much as possible from his sister. "Ugh... leave me alone Aqua, you're not helping at all..." He complains.

"Aw... am I hurting you feelings Tazzy?" She mockingly asks.

He groans again and curls himself tighter.

'Hm, I guess I had my fun. Maybe I should cheer him up. Ah, I know.' She mentally devises a plan. "Hey Taz, guess what?" She asks him.

Taz uncurls himself and looks up at his sister with a questioning look. "What?"

Aqua suddenly pounces on her brother and starts biting his ear playfully.

"Ah!" Taz freaks out at his sister's sudden attack and starts rolling around on the floor, trying to wrestle her off. "So you wanna play rough huh?" He asks her during their scuffle.

She nibbles on his ear harder to answer him.

He cringes at the sudden intensity in her bite and then laughs evilly. "Alright then you asked for it. Time to wrestle; Taz style." He suddenly whips his head upwards causing his sister to fly off of him and land a couple of feet away.

As Aqua tried to regain her footing, she heard a bunch of thumping noises and looked up. As soon as she raised her head, Taz tackled her to the ground and rolled her across the floor. They continued to playfully nip at each other's ears and neck until Aqua managed to pin him down.

"Haha, I pinned ya!" She triumphantly states with a grin.

Taz continued to struggle against his sister's grip, but finally gave up when he realized he couldn't move. "Alright, you win this time Aqua, but I swear I am going to get you one of these days."

"Oh is that a challenge, little bro?" She confidently asks him as she releases him from her grip.

Taz smiles wickedly at his sister as she slowly releases him from his imprisonment. As soon as she is fully off of him, he tackles her again in hopes of surprising her. They started wrestling on the floor, throwing each other around and knocking into the walls, laughing the whole time.

---

Charles, who had been watching the whole exchange between Aqua and Topaz, started cringing as he saw the two siblings forcefully throw each other around the room.

"My word, those two play rough." He fearfully states and cringes again as Aqua flies onto the floor.

Pearl started looking back and forth between her father and the opening to the room, trying to figure out what was going on. "Um, daddy, what do you mean?" She asks him in a curious voice.

Charles looks down at the eevee and notices her curiosity. "Well, um, your siblings are playing around and are-" He is suddenly cut off as a loud banging noise rings out through the cave. "Good god, they are going to destroy the cave at this rate." He looks back towards the room then at Pearl who is shaking from the loud noise. "It's ok Pearl, it's just your siblings wrestling around in there." He tries to reassure her.

"That's what I'm afraid of." She says in a shaky voice.

Charles laughs. "Aw, what's the matter? Don't tell me you're intimidated by a little rough housing between your siblings?"

Pearl looks at him and then quickly changes her attention to the room as she hears another 'bang' from something being hit from within.

Charles notices the fear in Pearl's eyes and picks her up to comfort her. "Don't worry Pearl, they aren't mad at each other, they are just showing one another, how much they love each other. Just a little sibling quarrel, nothing serious." He tries to reassure her in a soothing voice.

She looks at him with a confused expression. "What do you mean, daddy?"

Charles takes a breath before answering. "Well, what they are doing is like what Lapis will probably bother you about when you meet her. All it is, is a little friendly competition. Aqua and Topaz just wrestle around with each to prove their dominance. They always still love each other afterward, no matter who wins. They do seem to be taking it a little bit on the rough side, judging by the noise coming from within." He worriedly states looking over his shoulder at the room.

Pearl's curiosity gets the better of her and she looks up at her father. "Can I see what they are doing?" She asks him in an innocent voice.

Charles is caught off guard by Pearl's sudden curiosity and looks at her with a confused expression. "Are you sure? Things are pretty scary in there, so you better be prepared for anything if you want to look. Just make sure you don't get too close to the opening, I don't want you to get caught in any cross-fire." He gently sets her down.

Pearl cautiously walks towards the opening and slowly peeks her head around the wall. She sees Topaz leaned over something on the floor. As she leans in closer to see what Topaz is on top of, he suddenly flies through the air and hits the wall next to pearl. The sudden impact of her brother on the wall next to her, causes Pearl to scream and jump backwards into the lucario standing behind her. Both of them fall backwards with the sudden loss of balance and Pearl hides under Charles' arm, shivering uncontrollably.

"It's ok Pearl, calm down, you're fine. He's not going to get you, as a matter of fact, I think Aqua won that round because he isn't getting up." He tries to comfort her, rubbing her head soothingly. Charles looks down and sees that Pearl stopped shaking and was looking at her fallen brother.

"I-is, he ok?" She hesitantly asks.

"Yea, I'm sure he's fine, probably knocked out. He did take quite a hit to that wall. I didn't even think Aqua had the much power. Well I better get in there and survey the damage." He picks Pearl up and sets her down next to him. He slowly rises and cautiously walks towards the opening of the room.

As he looks into the room, he notices Topaz lying against the wall, knocked unconscious. "Wow, he took one hell of a hit if he made a crack in the wall that big." Charles says as he notices a giant fissure running along the wall. He turns his head and starts scanning the room. "Ok, now where is- Ah, there she is." He notices a blue lump on the floor a few feet away, sprawled out.

He slowly walks towards her, making sure not to make any sudden movements. When, he gets closer, he notices Aqua breathing heavily with her eyes closed. He quietly kneels next to her and observes her breathing patterns. He leans over about to get her attention, when he is suddenly stopped by the sound of her voice.

"Ha! You will never defeat me Tazzy and don't you forget it!" She triumphantly brags between breaths.

Charles smiles at the content vaporeon and leans over to get her attention. He quietly raises his paw and pokes Aqua on the nose, which causes her to immediately squirm. Her eyes shoot open and she is greeted by the sight of the lucario next to her.

"Oh hi uncle Charlie! Please excuse the mess, Topaz and I were wrestling around and it kind of got out of hand." She states looking around at the slightly damaged room.

Charles laughs and lifts the vaporeon up so she can breathe easier. "I know, I saw the whole thing. You two are quite the violent ones when it comes to competitions, aren't you?"

She turns red with embarrassment. "Hehe, yea, we like to get into it when we wrestle. I originally pinned him down, but when I went to let him up, he tackled me again and we started the whole thing over again." She started looking around for her brother. "Where is he anyways?" She questioned by his sudden disappearance.

"Oh, oops, I must be blocking him from your sight. It's probably best if you don't seem anyways. That last attack of yours, whatever it was, caused him to have a heavy impact with that wall and it knocked him unconscious." Charles explained.

Aqua's eyes widened and she tried to scramble to her feet, but was held still by the lucario. "Let me go, I need to go check if he's ok." She continued to fight against his grip.

"Aqua, listen to me, I have already checked him. He's fine, just knocked out. There is no blood or anything, so he will live. For now let's let him enjoy his sleep." He reassured her and let go.

She relaxed as he loosened his grip and she looked around him at her fallen brother. Her eyes widened again as she noticed the giant crack in the wall. "Oh wow, did I do that?" She asked and pointed at the wall.

Charles turned his head towards the direction she was pointing at. He whistled as he noticed that the crack in the wall was larger than he had expected. "Yea that was you little girl. Where on earth did you acquire such strength?" He looked back at her with a curious expression.

Aqua blushed and fidgeted with her paws. "I don't know. Topaz finally got me pinned down and I didn't want to lose, so I folded my legs and kicked him as hard as I could. If I had known he would fly that far away, I would've never hit him that hard." She confessed with a worried expression.

"Well, make sure you keep that strength of yours under control, otherwise, you are going to kill him one of these days." Charles states in a serious tone.

Aqua hangs her head low. "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry. I promise I won't let it happen again." She shamefully stated.

"Well, it's not me you have to apologize to, it's Topaz, but we will save that for when he finishes his trip from dream land."

"Shouldn't we wake him up now, so you can check on him?" She asks.

"No, I think it's better to let him rest for awhile especially after a quarrel like that. That reminds me, I will need to ask him how he had the strength to even wrestle with you after having that virus. Most Pokémon can't move for at least a day after getting it." He curiously ponders.

"Oh, I can answer that. We made him eat a lot of Oran berries this morning along with a lum berry to heal him. We figured it would give him some energy to move around, but I never thought he would have enough to wrestle around." Aqua explains.

"Well that explains that. It seems like he's feeling better, but I am still going to do a couple of check-ups just to be sure." Charles glances back at the unconscious jolteon and notices him snoring lightly. "Well, he's out like a light now, I can hear his famous snoring." He jokingly states.

Aqua giggles. "Yea, mom always said that when he's snoring, there is no possible way you will wake him up, so I guess we have no choice but to let him sleep now."

"That also reminds me, you made sure not to tell your siblings about your mother or Pearl right?" Charles asks her.

"Yea, I only told them what happened to Topaz. They all freaked out, but they soon calmed down, when he came outside when we were talking. Poor Topaz was tackled by the whole group when they saw him. I thought he was going to drown under the amount of affection everyone dumped on him" She giggled as she remembered the scene.

Charles chuckled. "Heh, I guess it couldn't have been avoided. At least they didn't crush him to death with hugs."

"Yea, we all went to bed afterward and I told them to stay away from his old room so they wouldn't catch the virus." Aqua calmly states.

"Oh yea, I still need to seal off his room. Let me go do that now before I forget. I'll be back in a second."

Charles stood up and walked out of the room. He walked over to the entrance to Topaz's old room and started gathering his aura into his hands. The aura suddenly changed into a glove shape around his paws and pulsed outward. Charles reached forward and started tapping the rocks around the entrance. Once all of the rocks were pulsing with his aura, he used the last remaining amount of his aura and concentrated it into his mind.

As the aura in his mind became more concentrated, Charles quietly muttered a few words to himself without breaking his concentration. "I sure hope this works, it's been a long time since I have had to use this technique." He takes a long drawn out breath and continues to mutter to himself. "Alright, here goes. 'Aura Fusion Technique: Growth.'" He releases the aura concentrated in his mind into his paws and begins to manipulate the rock fused with his aura. One by one, the rocks begin to grow outward across the opening until they all touch each other, effectively sealing the room.

"Wow, it actually worked. Seems like I haven't lost any of my mojo." He smiles at his handy work and starts to remember when he was first taught the technique by his previous trainer. After a few moments, he sighs with a content smile. "Thank you my master, I don't know what I would have done without your teachings to guide me."

Charles starts to let tears of happiness fall as he remembers his previous trainer; a man with courage and bravery. He wore a blue jacket and black pants and shoes to match. His signature feature was his blue fedora hat with the black band. "I will miss you master, I am sorry I wasn't there to save you." Charles wipes his tears away and slowly walks back to the room with Aqua and Topaz.

When he returns to the room, he notices Topaz still asleep against the wall and smiles. "Wow, Aqua was right, when he sleeps he's out for good." He turns and notices Aqua shuffling around the room, trying to fix some of the damage caused by the earlier scuffle. He walks over towards a chair in the corner and sits down to relax his mind.

Aqua noticed the lucario enter the room , but paid no attention as she continued to clean up the mess. After a few more minutes, she sits down and takes a deep breath and surveys her work. She smiles contently when she sees that nothing is out of place. She turns and notices Charles sitting in the chair with his eyes closed.

'Hm, I wonder if he fell asleep. Only one way to find out.' She quietly walks over to him and jumps into his lap.

Charles startles himself awake and looks down at the sudden addition of weight in his lap. When he notices it's Aqua, he smiles and scratches her back. She slowly rolls onto her side, then her back as he continues to scratch her. After a few moments, he stops scratching and looks down at the purring, content vaporeon in his lap.

"If, I didn't know any better, I would think you were Pearl as a vaporeon. She always asks me to do that whenever I am sitting down." Charles states.

Aqua's eyes opened at the mention of Pearl's name and she looked up at Charles with a questioning expression.

"Where is Pearl? I thought you were going to bring her with you to meet Topaz."

"Oh yea, I told her to stay outside of the room so I could tell Topaz about her first, but since he is happily snoring in the corner over there, I guess it's ok to let her in. I'll go get her." Charles picks Aqua up and sets her on the floor and then proceeds to stand up. He slowly walks towards the entrance of the room and looks out to see if he can find Pearl. He looks back and forth and starts to worry when he doesn't see her.

"Hm, that' strange. I told her to wait out here, now where did she go?" He questions to himself and starts walking out of the room. He turns as he fully exits the room and immediately stops when he feels something furry touch the bottom of his foot. He reflexively lifts his foot and looks down. "What the-Ah, I should have known." He calmly states as he lowers his foot. He kneels down next to Pearl, whom was sleeping and starts to gently shake her to wake her up.

"Huh, what?" Pearl groggily asks as she begins to stir from her slumber.

Charles picks her up and starts tickling her stomach to further arouse her from slumber.

"Please...no...daddy...not...again...!" Pearl starts wiggling around against the lucario's touch. He immediately stop stickling her and holds her up at arm's length.

"Are you awake now little missy? Seriously I wonder how you can sleep so much all the time." He jokingly states.

Pearl sticks her tongue out at him and giggles. "Yes, I'm awake daddy. Can I go in the room now?" She asks with a gleeful tone.

"Yes that's why I came out here, but you were asleep...again. Speaking of sleeping, Topaz is still out cold from the quarrel with Aqua earlier, so you won't meet him right now, but you will get to see him." Charles assures her.

"Ok, let's go." She says as she tries to wiggle out of his grip.

Charles hugs her and laughs as she continues to try and escape. "Nope, you are going in the princess way, now hold still and look cute." He instructs her as he begins to cradle her. She purrs affectionately and nuzzles his neck.

Charles walks back into the room with Pearl in his arm. He slowly walks past the sleeping jolteon towards Aqua who was sitting on the chair.

"Ah, there she is. Hello Pearl, it's good to see you again." Aqua says with a smile.

Pearl smiles and jumps from her father's arms into the vaporeon. "Aqua!" She gleefully yells when she tackles her sister on the chair.

"Well, someone isn't shy anymore." Charles laughs as he watches Pearl continue to hug and nuzzle her sister.

"Yea, really. Just think, it was only yesterday that you and I came face to face and you fainted just from me touching you." Aqua teasingly stated.

Pearl lowered her head and turned red with embarrassment. "Nuh-uh."

Aqua licks her cheek and giggles. "Yes you did Pearl. Don't you try to hide from the truth." Aqua again teases her.

Pearl's blush deepens and she hides her head under her paws. "Stop it..., you're embarrassing me..."

Charles laughs at the sight of her trying to hide. "Aw, poor little Pearl is embarrassed. Do you want a hug to make you feel better?" He teasingly asks her.

Pearl looks up at him with a pouting face. "...Yes..."

Charles looks at Aqua and nods.

Aqua wraps her tail around Pearl and squeezes her. "There we go, all better." She states as she watches Pearl melt into the hug.

"Well since you two have already met, introductions aren't really needed, so are there any questions you wish to ask each other?" Charles look at the two with a questioning look.

Pearl and Aqua look at each other and try to speak at the same time. "What-" Pearl starts to ask. "When-" Aqua begins to question. They stop and look at each other. They start giggling and Pearl motions Aqua to go first.

Aqua stops laughing and collects herself for a moment. "Ok, I'm good. Alright, I was going to ask when your birthday was Pearl. Do you know?" She curiously questions.

Pearl thinks for a second and then looks to Charles with an unsure expression.

"In five days actually." Charles states.

"Ooh, so it's almost here. We are going to have to do something very special for you. It is your first birthday after all." Aqua gleefully states.

"Ok, Pearl now you ask a question. Both of you can take turns and I'll be sure to help either one of you when you feel it is needed." Charles motions for Pearl to take her turn.

"Ok, um, let me think." She ponders for a moment. "Ah, I know. Do I have any aunts or uncles?"

"Ah, yes. We have two aunts, one from each side of the family. Our dad's sister is Peridot or Peri for short. She is what known as a shiny Pokémon. She is an espeon, but she is different colored than our sister." Aqua explains.

"Our sister; you mean Amy?" Pearl asks.

"Oh, you know her name already. You are just full of surprises aren't you? Do you know everyone's names?" Aqua curiously asks.

Pearl nods. "Yea, daddy told me. You are Aqua. I have two brothers named Topaz and the other Is Obsidian. Then there's Amy, Ruby, Jade, and Lapis." Pearl confidently states.

"Wow, that is helpful and saves a lot of time. Well back to our aunts. As I said, aunt Peri is an espeon like Amy, but she is different color. Amy is pinkish/purple, but aunt Peri is bright green colored. That is her 'meditation' cushion over there." Aqua says and points towards a pillow like object in the corner of the room.

Pearl looks to where Aqua is pointing and sees a bright green object. "Ooh, it's looks comfy."

"Yes, it is very comfortable. Aunt Peri would lay and meditate there for hours to practice her psychic powers. I have walked into the room a few times to see stuff floating through the air." Aqua reminisces in her memory for a few moments.

"Wow, that sounds really cool. I would love to be able to move things with my mind." Pearl starts to daydream about being able to use psychic powers.

"Well you are still an eevee, so you still get to choose what you want to evolve into." Aqua states.

"Pearl doesn't quite understand evolution yet, she is still learning." Charles explains.

"Oh, ok, well you still have plenty of time to choose and the longer you choose, the more likely you will have chosen one you really like. Just remember Pearl, once you evolve, you cannot go back to being an eevee. You will always be whatever you evolve into." Aqua explains in a serious tone.

Charles nods and looks at Pearl with a serious expression. "She is right Pearl, so you have to think about it before you evolve and choose wisely. You do not want to become a vaporeon if you do not like water that much, understand?"

Pearl nods. "I think so." She turns to Aqua with a curious expression. "So who is my other aunt?"

"Oops, I forgot about her. I feel ashamed, she was always my favorite too." Aqua shook her head at her own mishap.

"You must be talking about Rose, if you are saying she was your favorite." Charles knowingly states.

Aqua nods and looks at Pearl. "Yes, our aunt Rose. Her actual name is Quartz, but she adopted the name 'Rose' because she liked the flower. She is a vaporeon like me, but instead of being blue, she is pink colored, and thus she is also a shiny Pokémon."

Pearl stares at Aqua, trying to imagine her pink colored instead of blue. 'Hm, that would look kind of funny.' She thinks to herself.

Aqua notices Pearl's constant staring and tilts her head. "Pearl, why are you staring at me? Do I have something on me?" Aqua starts checking her body.

Pearl shakes her head. "No, I was just trying to imagine you pink colored, but it looked funny to me." She giggles.

"Ah, ok. Well I guess it's my turn to ask another question then. Ah, I know. I have noticed that you are different colored from a normal eevee, but your colors do not match a shiny eevee's colors either. So, um, what are you exactly?" Aqua asks with a confused expression.

Pearl's ears flatten against her head and she looks down at her feet with a saddened expression.

Charles notices Pearl's sudden discomfort and leans over to hug her. He looks at Aqua who is stunned by Pearl's reaction. "I am sorry Aqua, but Pearl doesn't like it when others ask about her colors. She has been repeatedly teased by other Pokémon about it." He looks down at the whimpering eevee and hugs her tightly. "It's ok Pearl, this is Aqua, she won't make fun of you about your colors, won't you?" He looks up at Aqua.

"No, of course not. Mom was a shiny type and almost all of our other family members are shiny as well. As a matter of fact our brother Obsidian is an odd shiny kind of like you. Shiny umbreons are supposed to be black with blues rings on their body, but his rings are white colored. Mom couldn't figure out why and she just thought it was from her." Aqua tries to reassure the saddened eevee.

Pearl looks at her, then at Charles.

"Well Pearl is not a shiny Pokémon. She is a different type of Pokémon known as albino; or at least that's what the humans call it. Albino Pokémon are solid white colored. If they have fur, then the fur is all white, while the skin becomes pink colored. If you look at her eyes, you will notice a pink tint to them. This is also a trait that they have." Charles explains as he points to various parts on Pearl's body.

"Wow I have never heard of an albino Pokémon before. Well, Pearl continues to amaze me with all of the surprises that come with her." Aqua happily states and brushes Pearl's head to comfort her. "I did not mean to cause you to be sad Pearl. I was just curious, that's all. There's no need to feel ashamed or anything. You are unique and that's something most Pokémon actually envy. Most of us all look the same as the others in our species and we can only tell each other apart by name. With you, others can see you and immediately know it's you. It helps identify you and it's what makes you so special." She nuzzles Pearl's cheek to further comfort her.

Pearl sighs with a content expression. "Thank you Aqua, I feel better now."

"Well Pearl, is there another ques-" Charles suddenly stops as he hears a noise come from behind him. He turns and sees Topaz slowly waking up. "Ah, looks like someone is finally waking up."

Aqua and Pearl poke their heads around the lucario to see what he was referring to.

"Finally, jeez, he is so thick when he sleeps." Aqua states with a sarcastic tone. She looks and notices Pearl hiding behind Charles' arm. She stares for a few moments before a sudden thought pops into her head. "Wait, Pearl, you haven't met Topaz yet have you?" She questions.

Pearl looks at her and shakes her head. "No, I haven't. In fact, this is the first time I have really seen him." She looks back to where Topaz was slowing rising. "He seems really happy about something." Pearl states with curiosity.

Aqua giggles. "Pearl, if there is one you will definitely learn about Topaz, it's that he is always happy when he sleeps. Our dad used to say that the louder Topaz snored, the happier he was."

Charles let out a small laugh at Aqua's joke. "Well he must have been real happy yesterday because I could barely hear your questions over his snoring."

Aqua and Pearl giggle in unison. When they both stop, Aqua hops off the chair and starts walking towards her brother.

"Welcome back sleepyhead. Did you enjoy your trip into dreamland?" She teasingly asks.

Topaz looks up at her and yawns. "You know it. If there's anything I like to do more than play jokes and wrestle with you, it's sleep." He smiles at her. "So what have you been up to while I've been sleeping?"

"Oh nothing much. I have been talking to uncle Charlie mostly."

Topaz's ears perk up. "Uncle Charlie, he's here?"

Aqua giggles. "Yea silly, he's over there." She points over towards the chair in the corner.

Topaz looks in the direction where Charles is sitting and smiles. He continues to look when something catches his eye. "What was that?" He questioned aloud.

Aqua looks at her brother with a confused expression. "What was what?"

"I don't know. I was looking at uncle Charlie and all of a sudden I see something white move behind him. It looked like a furry snowball." Topaz states.

Aqua giggles at her brother's ignorance. "Would you like to see what it is?" She teasingly ask him.

"Yea, because it is going to bother me until I find out." He answers in an unsure tone.

"Ok, I will go let uncle Charlie know you are fully awake and curious about the 'snowball' behind him." Aqua giggles as she walks away.

"Ha ha, very funny." Topaz states in an annoyed expression.

Aqua walks over to Charles and tells him that Topaz is fine, but that he is curious about Pearl. Charles nods and looks up at Topaz. "Well, they have to meet each other eventually, so we might as well get it over with now." He explains and looks down at Aqua with a nod.

She nods back and walks back over towards her brother. When she gets over to him, he gives her a curious look.

"So what is he hiding?" He asks her.

"Why don't you go see for yourself. I think you will be surprised." Aqua answered him with a playful tone.

He looks at her and raises an eyebrow. "Is that so? Well, now my curiosity is piqued and I've got to know now. So let's go meet this mystery 'snowball'." He jokingly states.

Aqua and Topaz walk over to Charles and they exchange glances. Topaz is the first to break the silence.

"It's good to see you again uncle Charlie. How have you been since yesterday's whole event?"

"Well, I haven't been up to anything special, just doing some research for medicine." Charles casually lied. He was waiting for Topaz to make the first move about Pearl.

"That's cool." Topaz answered, but seemed distracted. He looks up at the lucario with a questioning and curious expression. "Say, um, uncle Charlie, what are you hiding behind your back? I saw it a few moments ago, but I couldn't tell what it was."

"I thought you would never ask. Here, allow me to introduce you to my adoptive daughter, Pearl." Charles moves aside to allow Topaz to see Pearl.

Topaz looked at Charles with a confused expression. "Um, uncle Charlie, I don't see anything." Topaz stated with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

Charles looks at Topaz with a confused look and then looks at the chair. "Huh? Where did she go?" Charles questions. He continues to look around until her hears Aqua giggling. He turns to look at her and questions her. "What is so funny Aqua?"

She continues to giggle and then points towards her aunt's cushion in the corner.

Charles notices where she is pointing and begins to smile. "Sorry about that Topaz, she is a bit of a shy one." He calmly explains.

"Oh no problem. I would like to meet her though. Do you need help getting her?" Topaz asks.

"No, that won't be necessary. In fact I think if she saw you first, she would probably faint." Charles chuckles to himself. "I'll go get her." He gets up and slowly walks towards the cushion in the corner. As he quietly steps closer, he notices the cushion shaking slightly. 'Yep, she's definitely under there.' He smiles. He slowly kneels down and reaches under the pillow. When he feels fur, he immediately grips it and lifts the cushion.

Pearl squeaks at the sudden grasp of her tail and tries to squirm free. She looks behind herself and notices it's Charles and immediately calms down.

"Daddy... I thought you said you would never scare me again." She makes a pouting face at him.

"Well I wouldn't have to scare you if you hadn't hid from Topaz. Now come on out, he is very eager to meet you, which should make you the same. Don't be shy, he won't hurt you. He has a playful nature just like you, so you two should get along just fine." Charles picks up the little eevee and cradles her so she can't escape. He turns around and walks back towards Topaz and Aqua.

Aqua starts giggling to herself as Topaz looks in wonder. Charles calmly sits in the chair and begins to stroke the eevee's head in an effort to calm her.

"As, I said before this is Pearl, my adoptive daughter. Go ahead Pearl, say 'Hi' to Topaz." He gently nudges her.

Pearl pokes her head up over Charles' arm and hesitates before speaking. "H-Hello."

"Timid one aren't you? How come she is so shy?" Topaz asks.

Charles sighs, but Aqua answers for him. "She is so shy because she is nervous to meet you."

Topaz tilts his head in confusion. "Why? I'm not that scary am I?"

Charles looks down at Pearl and nods at her. She looks up at him with an unsure expression. Slowly he begins to move his arms out of the way so she and Topaz could see each other.

Topaz's eyes widen as he sees Pearl in full view. "Whoa, what's wrong with her colors?" He asks the first thought that popped into his mind.

Aqua walks up behind her brother and hits him on the head. He looks at her with a confused look. " Ow! What did I do?" He asked rubbing his head.

Aqua rolls her eyes. "Sometimes, I wonder how I am related to you. I mean seriously. You meet this cute little eevee who is very nervous to meet you, and the first thing that comes out of your mouth is something about the color of her fur. Is that anyway to set a good example for your new little sister?" Aqua questions him with a stern expression.

Topaz does a double-take at his sister. "MY WHAT?!" He suddenly looks at the eevee and faints.

"Ah crud. I guess that was a bit of an information overload." Aqua looks up to see Pearl laughing.

Pearl continues to giggle and looks up at her father. "Look daddy, Topaz did what I did!" She gleefully states while laughing at her unconscious brother.

Charles continues to watch the unconscious jolteon. "Wow, I didn't think he would react like that. I guess it was a little bit too much info being dumped on him." He looks at Pearl then Aqua. "Well, I guess we better let him rest and sleep off the shock. Hopefully when he wakes up, he will be a little more stable about the news." Charles looks at Topaz and Pearl and Aqua nod.

---

"Ugh, my head..." Topaz slowly wakes and shakes his head of the pain.

"Oh look, he's finally waking up. I better go see if he is fully with us." Aqua walks over to her brother and starts to gently shake him. "Come on sleepyhead, wake up. We aren't done with you yet, now WAKE UP!" Aqua starts shaking Topaz more vigorously.

"AH! I'M AWAKE!" Topaz starts flailing around trying to roll away from his sister. He immediately rolls away from Aqua only to be met with the sight of Pearl right next to him. His memory immediately hits him like a ton of bricks and he freaks out. "OH MY GOD!" He screams and jumps backwards and slams into his sister, sending them flying backwards.

"Ouch! Topaz, watch where you're flying next time or give me a warning would ya!" Aqua yells from underneath the stunned jolteon. "Topaz as much as I love you as a brother, I would appreciate it, if you would GET OFF!" Aqua immediately kicks Topaz off of her and he flies across the room onto the floor.

"Ugh, I am so abused..." Topaz falls limp onto the floor.

Charles runs over to Topaz to see if he has any major injuries, but doesn't find any. "I am surprised, you have managed to come out of this whole situation without any problems." He reassures the jolteon.

"Speak for yourself... ow, my head." Topaz complains as he holds his head with his paws.

"Hold on one second, I have a remedy that should get rid of your headache." Charles runs over to his bag and searches for one of his medicines. After he finds the right one, he runs back over to Topaz and sits him up on his hind legs. "Alright, Topaz, take this, it will take away the pain in your head." He hands the jolteon a small pill.

"This isn't going to be as nasty tasting as that stuff you gave me yesterday is it?" Topaz asks in a disgusted voice.

"Well this pill is designed so that you swallow it without chewing it first, so you shouldn't taste anything." Charles explains.

"Alright, but I don't think I have ever swallowed anything without chewing it first." Topaz says with an unsure voice.

"Hold on, I have some water that should help with that." Charles pulls a bottle of water out from behind him and opens it. "Ok Topaz, open your mouth. I am going to place the pill on your tongue and then allow you to drink some of the water. When you swallow the water, the pill should go down with it, without you having to chew." Charles explains.

"Ok." Topaz opens his mouth and feels the lucario place the small tablet on his tongue. He suddenly feels the cold rush of water on his tongue and reflexively swallows. After a few moments, he notices the pill gone from his mouth and smiles. "Wow that was easier than I thought."

"Yea, it's something that humans came up with. I have used them plenty of times before and they have always helped so I have no doubt your pain will go away in a little bit." Charles reassures the jolteon. "Now, since you are fully awake, why don't we get down to business." He gives Topaz a serious look.

Topaz looks at him confused. "What do you mean?"

Charles looks down at the jolteon's legs and Topaz's gaze follows his. When Topaz notices what Charles was looking at, his eyes went wide. There standing at his feet was Pearl, waging her tail and smiling at him.

Topaz stammers in his speech as he tries to find words. "Uh...um...h-hi..." He immediately looks at Charles for guidance.

Charles shakes his head and looks down at Pearl before looking at Topaz again. Topaz sighs in defeat and looks back at Pearl who still had the same smile on her face that showed she was eager to meet him.

'She's actually kind of cute.' He thought to himself as he continued to stare at her. He decided to lie down to be at eye level with her. As he starts to lower himself, he notices Pearl get into an attack position. He stopped and stared at her as she started to wiggle back and forth playfully. 'What is she do-' He was suddenly cut off as Pearl leapt at him and knocked him over backwards.

Aqua started giggling at the sight of Pearl standing triumphantly over her much bigger brother. "Aw, looks like someone wants to play with her big brother." She teasingly stated.

Topaz went wide eyed as her looked up Pearl. He looked over at Charles who only nodded at him. He returned his gaze to pearl and noticed she was back in her attack position and was wiggling back and forth again. He formed a sly grin and suddenly jumped up and sent Pearl toppling over herself.

"Is that so? Does my sister want to play with her big brother?" He asked in a confident voice.

Pearl immediately jumped to her feet and leapt at her brother. She missed and flew past him only to pivot and leap again. Topaz turned around and was hit face first by Pearl. He fell over backwards with Pearl standing over him again smiling.

He looked up at her and laughed. "Well, even my new little sister can beat me. Looks like I'm getting a little rusty." He leans back and waves his paw in defeat.

Pearl squeals in delight and starts nuzzling her brother's neck.

"Ok, ok, you got me!" Topaz starts laughing at his sister's energetic actions. He slowly rolls over and stands up. He looks down at Pearl, who continues to nuzzle his leg. "I can't believe I had a new little sister all this time and never knew. So what's your name sis?" He curiously questions her.

Pearl looks up and smiles, then continues to rub her big brother's leg. "My name is Pearl." She says in a happy voice.

"Well Pearl, aren't you the cutest little ball of fur I have ever seen. Now give your big brother a hug." Topaz states as he sits down next to her.

Pearl jumps up and latches onto her brother's neck with a firm grip. She starts purring affectionately and nuzzles his cheek.

Topaz smiles and reaches a paw up and starts rubbing his sister's head. "That's better." He leans over and gently sets Pearl on the ground. He looks over to his sister and charles whom continue to smile at the affectionate pair. "What? She's my little sister, how else am I supposed to show my love?" He questions.

Aqua and Charles look at each other and start to laugh. Aqua looks at her brother, whom has turned red from embarrassment.

"Aw, how cute, little Tazzy is embarrassed." She teased him.

Topaz turns and even darker shade of red and sinks his head. "Aw come on Aqua not in front of her."

Pearl giggles. "'Tazzy'? What's a 'Tazzy'?" She curiously asks.

Aqua giggles at Pearl's innocence. "That's his nickname silly."

Topaz pokes his head and attempts to correct her. "No, it's not 'Tazzy', it's 'Taz'." He says in a serious tone.

"Whatever you say, 'Taz'." Aqua continues to mock him.

"I like his nickname." Pearl says in a happy voice.

Both siblings look at Pearl and ask her which one in unison.

Pearl giggles at their actions. "I like 'Taz'." She happily states.

Topaz jumps up and does a back flip in the air. "Woohoo! Score one for me!"

Pearl and Aqua laugh at their brother's happy reaction.

Charles walks over and sits down with the group. "Ok, now since we have introduced each other, it's time to be a little more serious." He turns and looks at Topaz. "Topaz, are there any questions you wish to ask in regards to Pearl?"

Topaz looks at the lucario and then at Pearl. "Well there were a few questions. I did want to know why she was all white and not grey colored like mom or brownish/yellow like dad, but I'll let that one slide." He smiles at Pearl. "Besides, I like you, just the way you are."

Pearl jumps up and licks her brother's face.

Topaz laughs and leans over to nuzzle Pearl's cheek. "I love you too, Pearl."

"Aw..." Aqua says as she looks at her brother and sister bonding.

Topaz looks at her out of the corner of his eye. "Don't you even start Aqua, don't ruin the moment." He returns his attention to his little sister.

Charles clears his throat. "Are there any other questions you wish to ask Topaz?" He asks.

Topaz looks up at him and nods. "Yes there was another." He sits up straight and looks at Charles with a serious expression. "Where has Pearl been all of this time and why did you say she was your adopted daughter?"

Charles takes a long breath. "Oh boy, here we go again." Charles explains the truth behind their mother's disappearance and the situation Pearl was put in. By the end of the story, he was cradling Pearl to keep himself from breaking down into tears. "And that's the whole story up until now." He finishes.

Topaz and Aqua were holding each other, crying into the other's shoulders. Topaz looks up at wipes the tears from his eyes.

"I never would have thought she would have gotten it too." Topaz suddenly thinks about something and decides to ask the lucario about it. "Uncle Charlie, how come you didn't give our mother the cure and healing ointment like you did me?" He asked with a confused tone.

Charles sighs. "I could have given it to her, but it wouldn't have done any good. The cure would have destroyed the virus in her body, but since three out of the four in the litter already had the virus themselves, the cure would have been weakened from the prolonged exposure to the active virus in their bodies. She would have just gotten sick again."

Topaz's ears flatten on his head. "Oh..., I guess there was no way of helping her. Well as long as she is finally at peace, I am happy she is no longer burdened with the virus." He says with a small smile.

Aqua slowly nods her head, recovering from her tears. "Yea, I know she doesn't want us to grieve every day for her, but sometimes, it's too hard to move on." She says in a saddened tone.

Charles reaches over and picks up the vaporeon and sets her in his lap. He hugs her tightly trying to comfort her. "It's ok Aqua, let all of your tears out. Do not worry, even with your mother and father gone, you still have many others that will help you when needed. You can always count on me to help, I will never abandon your family, especially when I have to worry about Pearl too."

She looks up at Charles and smiles. "Thank you. That means so much to me and everyone else in the family." She looks at her brother and sees him looking towards the entrance of the room. She tilts her head in confusion and walks towards him. "Is something wrong Topaz?" She calmly questions him.

He glances at her and then returned his gaze to the room entrance. "I don't know. For a few moments now, I have been feeling this weird vibe. It feels sort of detached, but familiar. It just feels like I know this feeling and it's been bugging me for a few moments now."

Aqua tilts her head again. "That's weird, I'm sure you are still a little dizzy and your mind might still be a little scrambled from earlier." She tries to assure her brother.

He shakes his head. "No, I thought that at first, but the feeling kept getting stronger as if it was coming closer."

"I still think you are being overly paranoid or you head has gone under." Aqua states.

Charles thinks for a moment and decides to have a look. He concentrated his aura into his mind and then released it outwards. As his aura continued to span out he saw that the cave was empty, but there was something standing outside of it.

"Topaz is right, someone is nearby. In fact they are at the cave's entrance, but they only seem to be standing there." Charles says in a serious tone.

Aqua and Topaz look at him in surprise. "How did you-" Topaz started to question.

Charles raised his paw to stop him. "It's an ability I can do with my aura, but there is no time to explain. We need to focus on our mysterious visitor. I shall look to see if he is still there." Charles focuses his aura again and sends outwards to locate the visitor. His aura moves through the cave but sends a signal before it reaches the entrance.

"He is inside the cave now, everyone remain quiet." Charles instructs everyone.

"Aw no, I am not letting some stranger walk freely through my family's cave. I am going to go give him a piece of my mind." Topaz stands up and slowly walks towards the entrance of the room.

"Topaz, don't be stupid. You do not know who or what it is that is in here, so get back here before you get yourself possibly killed!" Charles yelled in a hushed voice.

Topaz looks back over his shoulder and smiles. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fi-" He is suddenly cut off as a mysterious voice rings throughout the cave.

"Hello! Is anybody home?!" The voice calls out.

"That voice... it couldn't be?" Topaz says to himself. He slowly steps towards the entrance of the room, carefully mapping out each step. He peeks his head out around the corner and stares into the darkness. He notices an eerie light moving closer to him. He strains his eyes, to identify the light, but couldn't figure out what it was. He slowly steps around the corner and moves, slowly, closer towards the light.

As he draws closer, he notices white rings and some white lines, but what caught his eye the most was a pair of blue eyes looking at him from the darkness. "Who are you?" Topaz calmly asks the figure.

The dark figure starts slowly moving forward. As the figure starts to emerge from the darkness, he speaks in a compassionate tone. "It has been a long time hasn't it, big brother?"

Topaz's eyes widen as he sees the figure emerge. He stammers in his speech before collecting himself enough to speak one word.

"Sid?"

End Chapter 2

~~~[]~~~

Ok, first off I want to apologize for the long ass chapter, I guess I got a little carried away.

Second, I would like to address the Dark figure who appeared at the end. For those of you who have read my previous submissions, you know him as Onyx. I have changed his name to Obsidian because Onyx sounded too close to the Pokémon's name. 'Sid' is his nickname. I thought it was more badass sounding than Onyx. So sorry for the confusion.

Ok, onto the questions to see which one of you paid attention. There are two main questions and a third bonus one.

Question one: What does Amy the espeon hate and why?

Question two: What was Aqua talking about when she was teasing Topaz? (Note: You will have to have read chapter 1 in order to provide a complete answer)

Bonus Question: Who was Charles' previous trainer. (I provided details of his clothing in the story, now you need to determine who he is. HINT: Pokémon games.)

Criticism is always welcome, so feel free to leave your opinion.

Be sure to provide your answers in your comments and I look forward to hearing from you all.