Slowly growing up

The rest of their vacation was enjoyable and Umeko and Enki came to an agreement, they would move to the Sinnoh region and reside in Sandgem Town.

It came to a surprise for Shuichi, "Are you sure mom and dad? You'll have to leave the family and friends behind." He was a more simple case as he didn't have any friends in Johto. 

"Yes dear, a new area will do us all some good. We can start again in the Sinnoh region, and with some help settling here won't be a problem." His mother replied, easing Shuichi's worries.

And just like that they moved to Sinnoh region's Sandgem Town, moving to a completely different region was a lot more simple than what Shuichi thought. 

His father even landed a job at the Sinnoh branch of the international police thanks to a good word from the Jenny clan and his achievements. 

Saying goodbye to family was a little sad, however his father and mother didn't reveal that Shuichi had actually regained his emotions, they promised to keep quiet about this and say that a new environment could help him one day.

As for Shuichi himself, he quickly found himself wearing a blue shirt and purple shorts along with purple shoes as he was sent off to kindergarten. 

Having emotions and going to kindergarten again felt really awkward for Shuichi, on one hand he was happy to experience something normal again, on the other hand he was mentally well over 50 years and was really too smart for kindergarten. 

"Hello everyone! My name is Shuichi Tsuki and I'm from the Johto region!" Shuichi introduced himself to everyone in the kindergarten while trying to contain his embarrassment.

Situations like these were uncomfortable however even at times like these he still didn't dare to wish to be emotionless again. One time was more than enough.

The whole class was interested in asking Shuichi questions "Why did you move here?", "What is it like in Johto?" and interestingly enough "Are there also contests over there?" 

The last one was asked by a girl with long dark blue hair. Shuichi felt like he had seen her before but couldn't quite put his finger on it. 

"What are contests?" He asked a little curiously; knew what they were, however he was supposed to play the role of a 5 year old who didn't know better. 

"Contests are super cool! You go with a Pokémon on stage and you both shine as you perform and wow the crowd!" The girl seemed to be very into contests.

"Yes, yes, Dee Dee, we know about your love for contests." A boy with dark auburn coloured hair told the girl. "It's not 'Dee Dee' It's Dawn!" The girl replied and Shuichi now recognised her, it was indeed Dawn the main heroine of the anime. 

Shuichi had seen some of the anime however it was only up to a certain point and he forgot most of it over the years thus he didn't recognise Dawn or the other person. 

"Dee Dee? Why the nickname?" Shuichi was intrigued because he hadn't heard that in the show. Dawn looked a little embarrassed and quickly said "I-It's nothing," But as she was trying to cover it up the aforementioned boy replied. 

"Dee Dee here is in charge of cleaning the Plusle and Minun pen together with me and Leona. Plusle and Minun are our school's pets and while me and Leona were busy cleaning she decided to run after Plusle and Minun. 

Once she was close to both Plusle and Minun they shocked her causing her hair to puff up and sparkle, since then me and Leona have been calling her 'Diamond Dandruff' or Dee Dee for short. Oh I'm Kenny by the way." Kenny spoke the whole story while Dawn went on a small rant.

"Wow what a story, was it painful Dawn?" Shuichi decided to focus on a completely different part of the story, the fact that a 5 year old girl got shocked by lightning from two Pokémon and lived with no burn marks or anything.

Dawn was a little surprised at the question and at the fact Shuichi didn't use the nickname "W-Well, Plusle and Minun didn't try to actually hurt me too much." She didn't feel much from the shock since Plusle and Minun aren't too strong.

"Speaking of Plusle and Minun, Dawn, why don't you bring Shuichi to see them? I think it'll be fun." The one speaking wasn't actually Kenny this time as it was actually the kindergarten teacher. 

"D-Do I have to Ms. Burnwood?" Dawn didn't like Plusle and Minun anymore from her previous encounter and showed clear hesitation. 

"Dawn, you will have to get over your fears one day if you want to become a top coordinator." Ms. Burnwood replied; in Shuichi's mind, that comment was a low blow.

Dawn quietly shuffled to Plusle and Minun's pen, Shuichi quickly followed and could see Dawn was not okay with this at all "Are you okay Dawn?" He asked her carefully. 

She snapped out of her thoughts and let out a small sigh. "Ever since the accident I've begun to feel afraid of them." As she remembered the accident she also remembered the stupid nickname and the fact that Shuichi still called her Dawn.

"By the way, why didn't you call me that nickname?" Shuichi looked at her a little confused "I thought you hated that nickname? Do you actually like it?" 

To which Dawn quickly replied "No! I don't like it! But Kenny and Leona find it funny and now the whole class also finds it funny. You don't find it funny?" She swiftly corrected Shuichi and asked a follow up question.

"I wasn't present, so I can't be certain, but you clearly dislike the name and I'm not here to bully you." Shuichi replied, he really didn't know what it looked like; and the fact that he just disliked bullying someone.

Dawn looked surprised but quickly smiled and said "Thanks, oh I'm Dawn Berlitz although you already knew my name."

They continued talking until they came to Plusle and Minun's pen, Shuichi could see two small rabbit-like Pokémon sleeping. Both Pokémon were pale yellow in colour with the main difference between the two being their cheeks, paws, tail and ears.

Plusle had red fur on its tail, paws and ears and had red plus signs on its cheeks along with a plus sign for a tail, Minun had blue fur on the same spots and blue minus signs on its cheeks and a minus sign on its tail.

Dawn was a lot more reserved and didn't dare to open it. Plusle and Minun themselves were sleeping and were woken up by the commotion, they looked at Dawn with a slight hint of fear before looking at Shuichi with more intrigue. 

Shuichi furrowed his brows as he could feel something, he could feel emotions. It wasn't from him no, it was from the two Pokémon in front of him. ('What's going on? Why am I feeling this?') Shuichi was confused and didn't know what to do.

He decided to open the pen and take a closer look, his actions caused Dawn to give out a little yelp but she remained firm. As he got closer to Plusle and Minun he felt something else from them and quickly identified it as fear, they were getting afraid by him coming so close. 

('I don't want to get shocked like Dawn did so I have to try and calm them down') He stopped walking towards them and got down to eye level with them "Hello Plusle, Hello Minun, my name is Shuichi and I'm new here. Nice to meet you!" he said as he stuck out his hand.

Plusle and Minun both looked at Shuichi and then at his extended hand, he could feel their fear slowly decreasing and intrigue picking back up again. 

Soon they both decided to come forwards and shake Shuichi's hand causing them to burst out in happiness, Shuichi decided to strike while the iron was hot.

"It's nice to meet you two, I've already made a friend however I believe you are a little off on the bad foot with each other." Shuichi looked at Dawn. 

Dawn herself flinched at being called out like this and felt a little betrayed by Shuichi, Plusle and Minun however looked at Dawn and were clearly afraid of her.

"It's okay, she won't hurt you anymore." Shuichi eased their worries and looked at Dawn.

"Dawn I'm fairly certain the reason they shocked you in the first place was because you chased after them. Pokémon have emotions and thoughts just like us so of course they can also be afraid and even be aggressive." Shuichi explained to Dawn as Plusle and Minun both looked at Dawn somewhat scared.

Dawn looked at Plusle and Minun's expressions "Oh wow, I've never thought about it that way." she said as she thought about that day, she was a little forceful in her attempts to hug the Pokémon. 

"Why don't you apologise? It's clear you meant no harm and maybe you can even overcome your fears.'' Shuichi told her.

Dawn slowly nodded and carefully stepped into the pen, as she was getting closer Plusle and Minun hid behind Shuichi and sparks appeared on their cheeks. 

Dawn stopped and seeing this she realised she really was making them both afraid. Dawn now felt really bad about her actions that day and crouched down to eye level with them.

"I'm sorry Plusle and I'm sorry Minun for hurting you two the other day, I-I just couldn't help myself and hugged you two too tightly. Can you two forgive me?" She said and even started crying on the last part. 

Plusle and Minun were both more surprised at the sight in front of them, Dawn sobbed for a little bit before she felt something touching her leg. It was Plusle who smiled at her and Minun soon also came over and smiled, both forgave Dawn for her earlier actions. 

Dawn also saw that they weren't as scary as she thought they were and nearly went for another bear hug before stopping herself and just patting them on the head.

"Well done Dawn! Well done Shuichi!" A voice came from outside the pen and it was Ms. Burnwood along with a few children, Shuichi could recognize Kenny and there was another girl next to him. 

Turns out they were all watching the turn of events of Shuichi making quick friends with Plusle and Minun and Dawn overcoming her fears. Kenny and another girl came over and the girl said. 

"Wow Shuichi you were amazing there! Dee Dee you also overcame your fear of them!" Dawn quickly gathered herself as she said "Leona! How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that!'' Both of them started to bicker away at each other.

"Do they do that often?" Shuichi asked Kenny to which Kenny only nodded and said "Yep, those two are like fire and water to each other. Was it your plan to have Dawn overcome her fear like that?" Kenny asked Shuichi who replied.

"I improvised a little, it was clear that both actually feared each other and I took advantage of the situation to have them make up." 

It sounded much more simplistic than it actually was, one wrong move and both could end up shocked. There was also the fact he could understand the Pokémon's emotions however he didn't tell Kenny that.

"Pretty clever, are you going to also become a coordinator?" Kenny asked Shuichi, it was clear Dawn was going to be one so he asked if Shuichi also had those plans. 

"I don't know, I haven't actually seen a contest yet however becoming a trainer is actually my dream." he responded by stating the truth, he didn't know if he would participate in a contest. Kenny seemed to be relieved at the answer before muttering something only he could hear.

The rest of kindergarten ended with nothing special, Shuichi became friends with Dawn, Leona and Kenny and they continued to play with each other. 

Once Shuichi was back home did he tell his mother about the day, he didn't tell her about the fact that he could feel the emotions of Plusle and Minun. 

His mother was pretty happy about him finally being able to act like a normal child and make some friends, his mother suddenly had a brilliant idea.

"It sounds like you and Dawn have become quite good friends from your little event with Plusle and Minun, what say we go and visit her?" Umeko was quite curious to see who Shuichi befriended. 

"Okay mom!" Shuichi was fine with seeing Dawn again, he could also maybe see the contests that Dawn kept fawning over. The ride to Twinleaf Town was short and simple, Twinleaf Town was a lot smaller than Sandgem Town thus houses were more sparse.

Quickly finding Dawn's house Shuichi and Umeko knocked on the door, upon opening the door a young looking woman with dark blue hair opened the door. "Yes? Can I help you?" 

She asked politely. 

Shuichi could see the resemblance to Dawn immediately. "Hello, I'm Umeko Tsuki and this is Shuichi. He made quick friends with Dawn after kindergarten today and we came to say hello." Umeko introduced herself and Shuichi. 

Upon hearing the names the woman exclaimed "Ah! So you're the one I've been hearing about all day now, Dawn! Come and see who's here!" She quickly called Dawn.

"Who is it Mom? Oh Shuichi!" Dawn quickly recognised Shuichi, "Well come on in, I'm Johanna Berlitz." Johanna introduced herself and made way for them to come in. 

Shuichi looked around the living room and his attention was quickly brought to a shelf with pictures and trophies on display. "Woah! Are all of these your mom's trophies Dawn?" 

Shuichi asked Dawn who looked proud as if she was the one who won them "Yep! Isn't she amazing!" "Pretty impressive indeed." Umeko praised Johanna's skill.

Umeko looked around the house for a bit, not spotting another person in the house. She looked at the photographs on the shelves and saw a man together with Johanna. 

Just as she was about to ask Johanna about her husband, Johanna was already looking at her and softly shook her head at Umeko. Umeko recognised what this meant and didn't ask any further.

They were quickly joined by a grey and white cat-like Pokémon, its tail was an ascending coil from the rear that ends with a fluffy tip. 

"Ah this here is Glameow who was my partner during those days." Johanna introduced Glameow. Shuichi looked at Glameow and could feel its emotions; Lazy and docile, however buried deep within were attentive and competitive emotions. 

"Hello Glameow." Shuichi got down to eye level and stuck his hand out for Glameow to sniff, Glameow however looked at Shuichi and could see his empty hand. 

Shuichi could feel its emotions shift a little as contempt was suddenly added "Not very receptive to strangers huh?" Shuichi said, hitting the nail on the head. 

"Glameow is indeed not receptive to strangers, you spotted that pretty quickly." Johanna was impressed, she had heard the story from Dawn however seeing it in person was a different case. 

Umeko had a feeling there was more at play however she played it off pretty quickly "Shuichi's always been pretty quick on the uptake, say Johanna do you happen to have a recording of your contests? I'm pretty interested in seeing them." she said, shifting the topic back to contests.

Watching a contest at Dawn's place was an interesting experience, Dawn was constantly narrating as she knew these by heart. Dawn also told Shuichi that she was going to go on her own journey and become a top coordinator just like her mother.

Shuichi on the other hand could see the appeal of contests, using combination moves like that were pretty and spectacular. Would he compete in a contest? 

Probably not, becoming a trainer was still his own childhood dream from the past life. Shuichi noticed something from the video and looking at Glameow once more made him ask a question.

"Glameow still looks exactly the same as on the video even though it's been years ago, how is that possible?" Glameow looked like it hadn't aged a day. Instead of Johanna answering Dawn came in quick with the answer. 

"It's because my mom makes amazing poffins for Glameow to look amazing!" She revealed the secret just like that. "Poffins?" Umeko was the one asking this time as she was also intrigued. "Want me to show you?" Johanna asked and was quickly met with a yes from everyone. 

Shuichi remembered poffins from the games, they were used to make contest statistics grow. However real life already proved to be greatly different from the games already, he was interested to see how they were made. 

With the children on chairs and the adults behind the counter Johanna got to work. "Poffins are made from berries, first you cut the berries you want to make poffins out of into chunks." Johanna explained as she grabbed pecha berries and oran berries and cut them into chunks. 

"Next you dump them into cold water and put the heat on high, now the next step is the most important one. You have to stir to enhance the flavour of the poffins, speed is crucial, go too fast and you spill it, go too slow and you'll burn it." Johanna said as she stirred the pot at a moderate speed. 

"And finally once you've stirred it enough, pour it into a mould and let it cool." She explained the final step and soon the pink poffins with some blue spots were done.

Shuichi looked at the whole process in amazement, it was simple yet there was depth to it and one could easily screw up. 

"What happens if you add more than two berries or other ingredients to the pot?" Umeko was the one asking the question, it looked too simple really and she wondered what would happen if you added more to it. 

"Well, adding more than two berries causes the poffins flavours to combat each other making it inedible and the balance of flavour is very precise, adding in more ingredients makes the flavour fall apart." Johanna explained what would happen if one tried to change the recipe too much.

Shuichi however had a different thought process ('Just because the flavour is tight doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.') Ideas began to form in Shuichi's mind which caused him to smile at the concept of untapped potential in the form of poffins. 

As someone from a world where food and the body closely intermingled he had a completely different understanding of poffins than anyone else. 

"Seems like you also like poffins Shuichi!" Dawn noted as she noticed Shuichi smiling "Yeah, I think it's really cool!" Shuichi was indeed enthusiastic about poffins.

Umeko could see her son shining with enthusiasm and was happy, not too long ago he was a husk of a child now he was actually making friends and being interested in hobbies.

Dawn and Shuichi were feeling a little drowsy after their busy day and Umeko decided to head home with Shuichi but not before exchanging contact info with Johanna. 

In the car ride home Umeko asked a question that was on her mind for a while now "Shuichi, how did you know about Johanna's Glameow's personality like that?" 

Although Shuichi was sleepy he wasn't too sleepy and said "Ever since meeting Mesprit I can feel the emotions of other Pokémon." He decided to trust his parents with his secrets because of course they were his parents after all.

"That's-, Shuichi have you told this to anyone else?" Umeko was a little lost for words and quickly understood the dangers behind such an ability and asked if he told this to anyone else. 

"No mom, you're the only one." Shuichi understood the dangers better than her and kept it to himself. "Good, your father and I will be the only ones to know this, don't tell this to anyone else, promise?" Umeko was relieved and she asked Shuichi to promise her. 

"Okay mom I promise." Shuichi said drowsily as sleep was starting to take over, he already planned to not tell anyone except his parents. "Good." Umeko nodded and drove back home, on the way home Shuichi fell asleep.

"Sigh, you keep giving me headaches for different reasons." Umeko muttered as she saw Shuichi fall asleep, first there was the mental block and now there was the ability to feel Pokémon's emotions. 

('Though if I could choose, I would choose the latter all day.') She quickly added in her head, having a husk for a son was heartbreaking and now he was having fun and even making friends. 

She would have a talk with her husband about today and some more talks about Shuichi's future, his interest in poffins didn't go unnoticed.

Umeko knew her son was interested in becoming a trainer, he had told them after he got his emotions back. She knew her son was special in his own right already, he was a lot more mature and a lot smarter than his peers.

She would make sure he wouldn't get arrogant about being special, Enki would also make sure of that. 

If he was going to be a trainer then she would have to prepare the family tradition by the time he was going on his trip which was going to be in 8 years here in Sinnoh.

Soon eight years passed just like that, Shuichi slowly grew up in a normal environment. There was no war, no death, just peace and of course school, Shuichi graduated from trainer school where he learned more than he would like to admit.

As ex-military Shuichi knew about camping and all those things, what he didn't know was how to spot a wild Ursaring territory or a wild Ariados territory among other things.

What Shuichi also got caught up on was the fact he actually saw Ash Ketchum on television, he had finished top 8 in the Hoenn Ever Grande Conference and was poised to enter Sinnoh this year.

Shuichi had never seen the end of the diamond and pearl anime series and only seen Ash's second fight with Fantina so he really had no idea who was going to win it this season. 

('Of course I'm going to win the Lily of the Valley Conference!') Shuichi thought as he woke up from his sleep, as today was the day he was going to go on his journey.

"Shuichi, Are you awake?" His mother called from outside the door. "Of course mom! I could barely get a wink of sleep in." Shuichi said as his hair was full of wild red hair and was dressed in a light denim shirt, charcoal down vest, light denim jeans, royal blue low sneakers.

He wasn't the only one to age as his mother also changed her own style, still with the long blonde hair and dressed in a beige long sleeved turtleneck shirt, black jeans, black heeled boots

"Well then let's hope Eevee managed to get some sleep in." She said as she looked at the small, fox-like Pokémon with brown fur that was laying in its own bed. 

Eevee stirred awake and yawned before stretching and getting up, "Eve" it said in response giving off a clear feeling of satisfaction to Shuichi. 

"Looks like he did," Shuichi said as he walked over to Eevee. Shuichi had gotten this Eevee as an egg on his 12th birthday, it hatched a couple of months later and was quickly growing up. By the time he was 13 years old Eevee had grown out of the milk phase. 

According to his mother it was the tradition of the Tsuki family members to start with an Eevee and Shuichi wasn't going to say no.

Eevee jumped on top of Shuichi and draped itself over his shoulders, this was Eevee's favourite place except for his bed. Most interestingly was that Eevee was wearing a scarf with a peculiar stone in it; it was an Everstone to prevent Eevee from accidentally evolving. 

Eevee was a special Pokémon with multiple evolutionary forms depending on the circumstances, and some depended on how friendly Eevee was with its trainer. Thus the reason for it holding the Everstone.

Shuichi and Eevee had already discussed the issue of evolution and both decided on an evolution form and once the time was ready Eevee would evolve.

On Shuichi's desk there was a backpack with a tent, some kitchen equipment and there also laid a white Pokéball next to the backpack which was Eevee's Premier Ball.

"Looks like someone is ready for his journey." His father said as he saw Shuichi and Eevee walking down. His father was dressed in a brown short sleeve rugby shirt, Medium denim joggers and tan loafers, it was a stark difference between his work uniform which was more or less a stereotypical detective's outfit. 

His father had managed to hit his stride at the international police as he worked alongside Looker, yes that Looker from the games. 

"Yep! I could barely sleep." Shuichi said as he and Eevee ate their breakfast, soon they finished their meal and after a totally not teary goodbye from his mother he and Eevee set off on their own journey. 

However, before Shuichi could even get two steps in, a girl on a bike was frantically looking around and was not paying attention to where she was driving. 

The girl crashed into Shuichi and Eevee, both of them groaning in pain as his parents had already seen what had happened. 

"Are you two alright?" Umeko asked as she barely kept her laughter together. "I'm alright mom, but who would not pay attent..." Shuichi was about to complain to the person who crashed into him as he looked at who it was. "Dawn!?" 

The girl looked back "Shuichi!?" Yes it was indeed the same Dawn he had been friends with for about 8 years by now.