A Heart So True

Amaya eyed the shieldon in her arms, unsure how to shake Fin's mother's hand while holding him. Finally, she decided to set him down, since he still hadn't stopped squirming. She reached out and took the well-dressed lady's hand, putting a smile on her face. She had to admit, she was a bit confused. The woman's entire body language had changed when Fin mentioned that they were trainers. Why was she suddenly feeling a soft animosity coming from this woman?

Amaya froze as Shieldon decided to introduce himself as well, and gently propped it's front feet on the woman's leg. It looked up at her with it's big eyes, and bumped it's head against her playfully.

Anson politely shook Jody's hand, trying to hid confusion. Fin's mother seemed to have taken a dramatic shift in mood upon hearing that the girls were trainers. Why was that? Did she not like Pokemon, or disapprove of them being trainers?

Flame tried to sit quietly next to Anson, but he couldn't help a little bark when Fin's father entered the room as well. New people were exciting! Anson tensed and immediately shushed her Growlithe, feeling embarrassed.

"Oh well, It's a pleasure to meet you two. My name's John, I'm Fin's father. Feel free to have a seat anywhere you like," Fin's father smiling warmly and gesturing with hishand toward the luxurious furniture occupying the living room. "Oh well arent you sweet." Jody smiled as she bent down and patted the shieldon on the head. "Fin, your mother and I need to have a word with you in the study." John said sternly. Fin followed his parents across the living room and through the door, into the study.

Fin's mother closed the door behind them. "Who's is this?" Fin's mother questioned as she noticed Ralts at her heels.

"That's my pokemon mom, I got it today."

"Oh well isn't that sweet," Jody smiled warmly again.

"Why did you bring trainers to the house Fin?" John interrogated maintaining a serious expression.

"They are my friends Dad. They needed a place to stay and I said I didn't think you two would mind them staying here overnight."

"How can they be your friends? You just met them and they are leaving tomorrow."

"I'm gonna travel with them and become a trainer."

"What?" Fin's mother interrupted, "When you said that a few months ago we thought you were joking. That's why we didn't give you money to buy a pokeball." Fin's heart suddenly dropped.

Amaya gave a slight sigh of relief as Jody bent down and patted Shieldon. Her pokemon responded friendlily, wagging it's little stump of a tail happily before going back on all fours and going to sit at Amaya's feet. Fin and his parents left the room, but once again Amaya felt tension coming from his parents. So, they didn't like trainers? She sighed. Why could that be, she wondered.

Taking their invitation to sit, she chose one large plush couch, and sat down on it gingerly. She sank quite a bit into it's fluff. Shieldon promptly jumped up with her, although he chose to sit on her lap rather than the quick-sand couch.

Anson watched Fin and his parents leave the room before finally taking her own seat. "Do you think they don't like us?" she asked nervously, looking to Amaya for an answer. "I hope we didn't do anything wrong . . ."

Flame jumped up into her lap and hung his head, knowing that Anson had been disappointed with him for barking. Anson halfheartedly pat him on the head, but was more worried about the attitude of Fin's parents. She knew that they didn't like trainers, that much seemed obvious, but why not?

"We will not let you become one of those filthy travelers, exploring the world, having to stay in people houses, stealing from people." Fin's mother informed.

"They don't steal from people mom!" Fin replied, anger boiling up from his stomach.

"There's also no money in it," Fin's dad chimed in. They clearly had never been around trainers and were basing all of their assumptions on rumors and false stereotypes. Fin just continued to get angrier and angrier. He didn't know how his parents could be so blind and judgmental.

"But I want to be a trainer so so bad," Fin pleaded.

"No and that's final," Fin's father raising a finger in a silencing gesture. "Now they can stay the night, but they must leave tomorrow morning and you will not be going with them." Fin, exploding with anger immediately turned and walked through the door nearly slamming it behind him.

"You guys can stay the night," Fin muttered as he walked angrily past Amaya and Anson and went to the foyer and up the stairs to his room. Ralts was struggling to keep up with Fin always remaining a few paces behind.

Amaya blinked, nearly missing Fin's entrance and exit from the room. Something had really upset him, and it wasn't hard to guess what. His parent's came out of the sitting room, looking disappointed. Amaya stood up, letting Shieldon jump to the floor. She put a smile on her face as she walked up to them.

"Thank you for letting us stay here!" she said happily. "But," she took a deep breath. Did she really want to bring this out into the open? But if Fin was going to be her companion, then she wanted to know about him. "I can't help but notice that there are certain. . . tensions right now. Is-is everything okay?"

Shieldon cocked its head, as if he was also awaiting a response.

Anson fidgeted anxiously with Fin's parents in the room. She hated confrontations like this, even when they weren't her business. They made her nervous, like she should do something, but at the same time, she didn't want to leave the room and draw attention to herself at all.

Eventually she swallowed and tried to sneak off, hoping to follow Fin and ask him what was going on. It would be much easier to ask someone her age, rather than the intimidating (and apparently angry) adults. Flame hunkered low to the ground and followed her, thinking himself sneaky.

"Yes dear, Fin is just a little upset about a few things. He'll be fine though," Jody smiled at Amaya. "Would you like something to eat, we have a whole kitchen of food, we don't want you to go starving," Fin's mother gestured toward the marble counter that ran down the middle of the kitchen.

~

Fin walked into his room, slammed the door shut and was about to fall into his bed when he heard a scratching at his door. In all the commotion he hadn't realized Ralts had followed him up to his room. Fin turned the knob and let Ralts walk into the room. "Hey little guy," Fin welcomed his pokemon in, coming down from his tense anger, but still frowning. "Why do parents have to be so controlling?"

Amaya frowned, obviously displeased with her response. Wasn't that just like adults? They would only give you the answer they thought you wanted to hear. But she wasn't a child anymore; she was (nearly) an official trainer, and therefore an adult in the eyes of society. She deserved the truth!

She sighed. She wasn't sure how effective it would be to push them right now, though. She decided to accept there offer for food, since she hadn't had anything since that morning.
"I'd hate to be a bother," she said with a shrug, "but we haven't had any supper yet. . ." She left it at that.

She followed Fin's parents into the kitchen, and picked up a yellow apple that was sitting in a bowl on the counter. She dug some treats out of her bag for Shieldon.
"Fin seems really passionate about pokemon," she said conversationally.

Anson ascended the stairs slowly, hoping that she was going the right way to find Fin. This house was so enormous, she was afraid just one wrong turn would get her lost. At one point she wondered if she should go back, but decided against it. Something had upset Fin and she at least wanted to try to help.

At the top of the stairs, she hesitated, before hearing Fin's voice very faintly from another room. She stopped outside the door and swallowed hard before knocking gently a few times. "Hey . . . Fin?" she said slowly. "Is something wrong? You bolted out of there pretty fast . . ."

Fin's father walked back into his study while Amaya and Jody sat down in the kitchen. "Yeah, Fin has always been very passionate about pokemon. When he was little he used to catch them in the back yard and bring them back to the house asking if he could keep them. We always told him he couldnt. I caught on time feeding a poliwag in the bathtub," Jody smiled and chuckled slightly at the flashback of her son's antics.

~

Fin picked up Ralts and sat down on the bed when he heard another sound from the other side of the door; it was a knock this time. "Hey . . . Fin?" she said slowly. "Is something wrong? You bolted out of there pretty fast . . ." Anson worried outside his room. Fin stood up and opened the door about halfway. "You can come in if you like," Fin said to Anson with a frown.

Amaya laughed as well. She hadn't known Fin for very long, but that definitely seemed like something he would do. She could almost see him now: a small child trying to sneak in this or that pokemon. It was a cute picture.

"He'll make a fantastic trainer then," she said while still chuckling. "That's one of the most important thing for trainers. One can't get far if they don't love their pokemon."

"Well . . . alright . . ." Anson hesitated before taking a few steps into the room. Flame immediately bolted in to check out the surroundings, pushing his nose into everything. Anson didn't bother to stop him.

She sighed and crossed her arms loosely. "So . . . what was all that about?" she asked, turning back to Fin. Then she added quickly, "I mean, you don't have to tell me, but that didn't exactly seem good."

Fin's mother just stood in silence at what Amaya said wearing a blank expression across her face. "Would you like something to drink Amaya?" Jody changed the subject.

"Sorry about all that," Fin said with his head hung low slightly peering up at Anson through his hair. "I was just angry, I told my parents that you two were trainers and that I wanted to leave with you guys tomorrow and..." Fin hesitated turning his head to the side and continuing to frown. Ralts had sensed Fin's emotional disturbance and hugged his leg hoping to give comfort.

Amaya cocked her head to one side, a slightly confused look painting itself onto her face.
"Sure, water would be wonderful."
Fin's mother nodded and went to get a glass. Amaya took a deep breath, and decided not to drop the subject, despite her gut warning her to let it go.

"Do. . . do you have something against trainers?" she said softly, looking down at the floor.

"They don't wanna let you go?" Anson finished awkwardly. "Well . . . why not? I mean, are they just worried about you or . . . They seemed to be angry when you told them we were trainers. Do they just not like us or something? Amaya and I haven't done anything, at least not that I'm aware of, so I don't really know why they wouldn't."

Flame bumped his head gently against Fin's other leg, whining softly. He could tell when someone was upset, and he didn't like it.

"No," Jody replied noticing Amaya's depressed look. "We... just don't feel he's ready to go out on his own," Jody lied wondering why this girl was pushing the subject so hard. 'Of course a trainer would not know when to mind her own business,' Jody thought a haughty expression sweeping across her face betraying her ability to hide her feelings.

"I don't think it's you two specifically, I don't think they like the idea of being a trainer in the first place," Fin looked up at Anson feeling ashamed of his family. "They said it doesn't pay well or something and I'm guessing by my mom's attitude that she thinks trainers are filthy and poor," Fin slightly flinched at the words coming out of his mouth disliking the taste they left on his tongue. He knew it was all lies, but he was pretty sure that's how his parents percieved trainers; as lower than themselves.

Jody's words were comforting, but they didn't seem true. And she recognized that look. It was the look that her big brother always gave her when she claimed that she would one day go out and become a great trainer like he had done. She sighed, trying to fight the tears that were coming to her eyes. Here she was, finally trying to get out on her own and do something, and she was already facing criticism! She squared her shoulders, and took a deep breath to steady herself. She was a trainer now: she couldn't let any little set back upset her! She didn't know why Fin's parents seemed so against trainers, but she wasn't going to let them see her cry.

"Excuse me," she said, her voice only cracking a little bit, "I believe I've overstepped myself. I think I'll go check on my friends now."

Shieldon looked back and forth between Jody and Amaya, obviously sensing the tension. He sneezed, and walked over to stand my his master.

"Well, that's really stupid," Anson decided, crossing her arms. "No, we don't make a lot of money, but who cares? And we aren't filthy, or poor, or anything. Where is she getting ideas like those?"

Anson was starting to get angry. She had always thought being a trainer was an honorable position, and she hated to see people like Fin's parents looking down on them. Especially believing lies like those . . . She wanted to say something to them herself, but knew that would only cause trouble.

"That's fine," Jody smiled. "It seems to be getting late anyway, I think I'm going to go to bed." Jody led Amaya upstairs and down the hall to the third door on the left. "Here is the spare room that you can sleep in Amaya," Jody opened the door and gestured Amaya into the room. "Your other friend's is the next one down the hall and the bathroom is on the other side of you. If you need anything ask Fin. He knows how to be a gentleman even if he doesn't show it all the time," Jody smiled and rolled her eyes. "Night," Fin's mother left Amaya in the room.

"I know, I know. I have no idea where she's getting ideas like these. I think it's stupid too," Fin began to feel the anger welling up inside of him. Ralts began frantically tugging on Fin's pant leg as if frightened by something. Fin bent down and held his arms out to hold Ralts. "Come here, it's alright," Fin spoke calmly noticing Ralts's hesitation. "I'm not gonna hurt you." Ralts finally let Fin pick him up. "I wonder why he's acting so strange?" Fin asked Amaya.

Amaya let herself be lead to the room where Fin and Anson were talking. She gave a friendly nod goodbye to Jody, glad to see her leave. She could feel a little bit of her stress leave with her. She sighed, and went into the room.

She had entered in the middle of a conversation, it seemed. She ignored the tidbit she heard, not sure if it was personal. She did notice Ralts' hesitation though. She shrugged. She really only knew about pokemon from her books, so she didn't know if she would be able to help.

"From what I've read, Ralts is able to sense emotions. Maybe he's picking up on yours? Anson would probably know better."

Anson looked at the Ralts and nodded. "If a Ralts likes its trainer, it usually tunes in pretty well to its trainer's emotions," she agreed. "You got angry, so Ralts started to worry, maybe thinking your anger would lead to something else. It's pretty interesting; Pokemon usually relate well to their trainers, but Ralts and their evolutions are particularly tuned to it.

"You, meanwhile," she added dryly to Flame, who was sitting at her feet again, "barely tune in to a command sometimes."

Fin chuckled at Anson's response regarding her Growlithe. "I never thought about that. I remember hearing that from another trainer who came through town with a Kirlia," Fin looking at Amaya as she walked through the doorway of his room. Ralts leaped out of his arms and toward Amaya hugging her leg.

"I have some bad news," Fin frowned at Amaya. "I can't go with you guys tomorrow, my parents don't want me too."

Amaya blinked in surprise.

"What do you mean you're not coming?" she asked, confused. "You already got your pokemon. And you were so excited!"

She shook her head. This wasn't right. Becoming a trainer was supposed to be a sign of independence. How could his parents just take it away like that?