Chapter 2

"Ahhhhhhhhh"

"Hahahahaha"

"I hate this. It always looks so wrong," Daisy said, but she couldn't keep her eyes away.

The Gengar's face was coming out the floor, capturing Don between his teeth, his tongue extending out, wrapping around Don.

"Help me! Please! He's tasting me!" A second Gengar grabbed a salt shaker and sprinkled it on Don. Agatha and Gary were laughing so hard, Gary was in tears.

Samuel sighed, pranks like this were Agatha's specialty. 

You'd think growing up around a woman who is the most knowledgeable person on the Gengar line would make you resistant to them.

Well, you'd be right, except Agatha's Gengar is no normal Gengar.

Don could handle ghosts easily and always could, but Gengar took that as a challenge to push it to new extremes of uncomfortable pranking, always skirting the line of to far. It's a minor miracle the boy turned out relatively fine.

When he released Alakazam again, the Poké Ball didn't even close before the boy, free from the ghost, stood clean before him.

"Haha… Awww it's over,"

"Gen gen"

Agatha and Gengar looked down. If he was still a young teen, he might have actually believed that act. Now, as an old man, his heart only finds amusement in her fake sadness.

"Come on, Grandpa, it was funny." Gary said, walking to the middle of the room on his way towards Agatha. "Hey Grandma, can we do that again?" He said with a grin.

With his journey coming up, the thoughts of what Pokemon to get have been firing through his mind, and after this getting a Gengar seemed like a good idea.

Agatha and Gengar's faces went from sad to evil in a second and he could hear Daisy's facepalm. Don's eyes went from a haunted victim on the verge of breaking to an excited kid about to watch his favourite show instantly. Wait, that second one might be true.

"Of course we can. Anything for my dear Grandson." She said, cackling as Gengar faded back into the floor and opened his jaw beneath Gary, who fell into the mouth before being caught by the Gengar.

"Ahhhh! Ahhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

"Hahahaha! Yes, feel my pain!"

"Oh, Gary…" 

He'll learn his lesson. Even Alakazam is just letting this one happen.

"GET ME OUT OF THIS THING!"

Samuel sighed. Gary's had enough. His Alakazam knew what to do, teleporting the kid next to Don. Almost immediately, they started trying to push each other into Gengar's jaw. The pushing quickly turning into Grappling as they rolled on the floor towards the Gengar's mouth. The other Gengar floating beside them, cheering the boys on.

"Nope, I'm not seeing that again," Daisy said, marching over, grabbing them by the back of their shirts, the teen dragging them to the door.

Gengar gave her a stare, attempting to follow, but flinched back at Daisy's glare. "Don't even think about it." Gengar flew back, hiding in Agatha's shadow, looking like it wanted to cry. Yet, no one brought that bit for a second.

Daisy walked outside, not struggling at all to drag the two boys. None of the kids noticed a flicker darting out of Don's shadow and into the corner of the room.

-

"Those kids, still messing around. It's hard to believe they'll be going on their journey soon." Agatha said, her eyes lazily drifted to see Samuel's reaction.

She could feel the weariness in her own voice. They grow up fast, too fast. Were they really ready for this?

Yes, the answer was yes. It's not war time anymore. There's no more hunting down children before they could grow into threats.

Gary has been practicing his battles and is honestly getting good. Don has been going out adventuring already, not able to wait.

But still is one more year too much to ask?

It was like this when Daisy left, all melancholy about seeing her leave, then the rush of excitement that came with each video call and every time she saw her on TV. Daisy really made a name for herself.

And yet with all this worry and sadness comes something else. Beating in her heart is happiness. The boys finally get to travel and live their lives. There's excitement. The two of them will rise to the top, she's sure of it. There's wonder, those boys are going to show the world something new and she can't wait to see it.

"I know it feels like just yesterday we were holding them in our arms," Samuel said, reminiscing once again, bah they couldn't help it, their old let them think about good times. "They're ready, as sad as it is seeing them leave. I don't think we could stop them if we tried," he said, glancing at a shadow in the room's corner.

"You know Gary and Eevee have been sparing with every pokemon they can. He's… determined. I don't know what lit a fire under him, but the dedication he has is incredible," he said with pride and joy. A smile graced his face, thinking back on his grandson's improvement. "And, well, you know what Daisy's been up to."

Ha, as if she'd miss any of Daisy's performances.

She glanced at the corner of the room, from just a glance her pokemon knew what she wanted. Their bond was strong, a friendship that grew through hardships and pain. 

A Dragapult emerged from the darkness, the shadows melting around it. The old girl was a mother hen, not that Agatha doesn't understand. If anything, she's thankful for someone looking out for her free spirited grandson.

"Show us what the boy was really doing when he said he was just learning Brick Break," Agatha whines. 

"Dragapult" the ghostly dragon flew in front of them, the air splitting behind it, a purple, sparkling mist expanding in front of them and growing wide enough that it was all they could see. The illusionary screen came to life slowly forming a picture.

"Learning Brick Break?"

"His newest excuse."

"Ahh. Better than fishing by the river or helping Susan bake seriously, it's like they think were fools."

"What's the best one you heard?"

"Gary when he said 'messing around with Ash' because I never know if he's telling the truth or not. He used that for two weeks straight before I called him out on it."

The picture finished forming before it started moving, showing Don crawling through a hole in a tree and ending up inside a mystical new place meeting a giant Butterfree.

"That boy. Always up to something."

"It's fine Agatha. Can't blame him for being curious. I hope he's got samples of those berries."

"Knowing him, he's got samples of everything."

"Hahaha. Can't wait to see them."

Agatha could only sigh.

It's hard seeing them go, but she can do it. Those kids better call or there will be consequences.

-

Daisy watched her brother and cousin roll around wrestling on the grass. Meanwhile, she's sitting on a perfectly nice blanket with a picnic basket. They were a small empty patch of grass in Agatha's flower garden. 

Or well, her team's flower garden. Their section of the garden overflowed with daisies, lilies, and tulips. Agatha's Frosslass made a section of frozen flowers shaped like herself. 

Daisy had to be careful and make sure the boys didn't ruin any flowers or they'll all pay the price. She's not becoming a victim of a ghost who feels justified just because they were fighting about… 

What were they even fighting about?

Gengar isn't here. She thinks.

To her side, their Eevee's and her Slyveon are having a great time chatting. So why can't they just chat normally and not scuffle so close to the flowers!

"ENOUGH! Sit down and stop acting like little kids." She yelled, finally making them pause.

The boys looked at each other, sharing a look of confusion.

"Daisy, are you okay?"

"Yeah, you seem stressed for some reason?"

"You scared of something?"

"Also, we are little kids."

"What's the matter? You getting bullied?"

"Who's bullying you? We'll beat them up,"

"I bet it's that Jean guy she's been hanging around with. She's got a crush on him,"

"So we need to train up and jump this Jean guy."

"Don't even need to train. He's weak. Just need to find him, then we'll take all his money."

"Like in Lumiose City."

"Cool, I can borrow Alakazam. Now, where would he be?"

"I swear to Arceus, if you two don't sit down right now."

The boys, grinning, went over and sat on the blanket, taking out some sandwiches for everyone to eat. The Pokémon, seeing them sit down, hopped over to them, crawling to get affection from their respective trainers.

"See, isn't this better? Nice beautiful day. I bet this would make a scenic picture."

"I don't know fighting is fun. A Pokémon battle would make this better." Gary said, his Eevee getting excited at the prospect of a Pokémon battle.

"There's more interesting picnic spots," Don said, his mind now coming up with interesting places for a picnic on his journey.

"We're not having a battle in Grandma's flower garden, and where would be better than this beautiful garden?"

"I found a way to this amazing place that looks super spooky. Wanna check it out?."

""NO!""

"Why not?"

"Do you remember the rainbow silk incident?" Daisy said, her voice rising, her sandwich squished in her hand.

"You got the silk! You said it was the best dress you ever wore."

"Don, we were dangling over a pool of Sharpedo."

"Hey, Those Sharpedo were chill."

"I would like to bring up the cult incident." Gary said calmly.

"That was not my fault."

"Your the one who wanted to explore the cool-looking rocks."

"How was I supposed to know that it was an evil cult meeting place?"

"We were on vacation."

"And we got everything for free after that."

"Anyway! We're not going to this super spooky place, and you shouldn't either. I really don't want you to get stuck there." Daisy said sternly.

"We wouldn't get stuck. Right girl." 

"Eevee!" she cheered in agreement.

Daisy could only sigh. She was worried. These two were going on their journey soon. And while it was extremely unlikely for someone to die on their journey, that was because registered and secured paths existed. Even then accidents happen.

"Right! Journey plans. Let's hear them."

Gary and Don turned to each other with giant grins.

Don reached into his pocket, bringing out a small piece of paper that unfolded, becoming a map of the region. Scribbles, circles, and crosses covered every inch of it. 

"Ok, so I've been researching and there're tons of places in the Kanto region that aren't fully explored yet!" He pointed to a place near Viridian Forest. "There's a whole undocumented area of Viridian Forest near the mountains." His finger moved elsewhere on the map. "And basically everything between Mt. Moon and Celadon City is a mystery."

"Wait, so you plan to explore all these places. What about gym battles or contests?" Gary asked, looking over the map.

"My plan is to explore, research and document what I find and then hopefully have enough to make my thesis on Pokémon shaping environments and the environments themselves shaping Pokémon." Don explained, his body struggling to keep still in excitement.

"You're planning to become a Pokémon Professor like Gramps." Gary said with a smile plastered on his face.

"Yep. Are you going for the Indigo Conference?" Don asked.

"Hehehe. Not just the conference," Gary stood up, looking at the sky with his fist clenched tight, his Eevee standing beside him. "I'm going all the way! Gary Blue Oak is going to be the next Champion!" He declared with all his heart.

"Eevee Vee!" His Eevee screamed.

"A Professor, a Champion and a Coordinator. It's gonna be an interesting year." Daisy said, feeling the excitement coming off the boys.

"Are you going to the Kanto Grand Festival?" Don asked.

"Yep. I may have lost my first time, but now that I've won the Hoenn Grand Festival, I can't not go back and win this one."

"Then let's make a promise. None of us can lose. We're all going to the top." Gary said, holding his fist out.

"Right!"

"Ha. Sure."

Their fists connected, and the three of them made a promise.

AN: This was meant to be out weeks ago. Oops!