Chapter 109: Granny Sola's Past
Sola's meeting with her husband happened sixty years ago, on a winter's night. They were both taking shelter from a snowstorm in the same stable. At the time, they were only eleven or twelve years old. Sheltering with them was another Skitty.
The two strangers, who had never met, were brought together by the Skitty's sudden meow, and from that moment on, they knew each other.
Sola wanted to adopt the Skitty, but her family was strict and wouldn't allow it. Her mother even kicked her out, telling her not to come home until she had gotten rid of the cat. A helpless Sola then ran into her future husband, who was out selling flowers. After hearing her story, he decided to adopt the Skitty himself.
"It was only later that I found out that he had a little crush on me back then. He only adopted the Skitty so he would have an excuse to see me again..." Sola couldn't help but cover her mouth and giggle as she told this part of the story.
To see the Skitty, Sola would run over to his house every few days. And to see her, he took excellent care of the Skitty, making sure it was always adorable. Seven or eight years passed in the blink of an eye. During that time, Sola and her husband had fallen in love, and with the Skitty as their shared bond, they naturally got together. Fortunately, Sola's mother was quite open-minded about it and didn't look down on him because his family was poor. The two were married smoothly, with their parents and the Skitty as their witnesses.
Later, they had a child of their own. Twenty years of a simple and happy life passed in a flash. But it was then that a great turmoil erupted across the entire Hoenn continent.
In that turmoil, in the span of just one short month, Sola lost everyone she loved: her parents, her husband, her child... Even her Skitty was gravely injured while protecting her, leaving it with a severe, chronic illness.
In one month, Sola's happy life was completely destroyed. Lost and in pain, she followed her Skitty and fled into the wilderness, hiding in a forest. There, she surprisingly managed to survive with the help and protection of the wild Pokémon.
Sola didn't know how long she stayed in that forest. She only remembered that her Skitty had found its own love there and was trying to start a family. By the time she walked out of the forest again, a new power called the "Pokémon League" had been established in the Hoenn region.
Sola did not take the Skitty back with her to human society. In her eyes, it now had its own family. Having personally experienced the pain of a family being torn apart, she was unwilling to destroy this new, harmonious little family, so she left alone. She returned to her home, sold all her property, and finally, in a corner of Ever Grande City, she established a daycare.
She would occasionally take in homeless Pokémon and help them find suitable trainers. Other times, she would accept requests from other trainers to take care of their Pokémon for a few days. All in all, her life gradually stabilized, and she slowly accumulated some savings, allowing her to manage her daycare even better.
Until two years ago. A Breloom that had once saved her in the forest came to her daycare, holding a pink egg. After talking with it for a while, Sola learned that her own Skitty had died from its illness decades ago. This pink egg was its grandchild. The egg's parents had each left with human trainers. Before leaving, the mother had asked the Breloom to deliver this egg to the human woman its father had spoken of.
That woman was Sola.
"I never thought that he would still remember me, that he would even tell his daughter about me. It's a pity I never got to see him one last time," Sola said, tears welling up in her eyes again. "My family owes him so much. I swore that I would take good care of his granddaughter."
Her gaze, as she looked outside, was filled with worry.
Will listened quietly to the whole story, but he didn't feel much. After all, he had come from the Era of Primal Beasts; he had seen human tragedies far worse than this.
"By the way, little Treecko, come with grandma," Sola said, seeming to remember something. She stood up, took her cane, and began to walk slowly. Will wasn't in a hurry. With his short legs and small steps, he followed along at a leisurely pace. The large and the small, the old and the young, they looked just like a grandmother and her grandson.
It took them three or four minutes to walk from the first floor to the backyard. Will looked around. There were seven or eight Pokémon there. It was impossible to tell which were wild Pokémon Sola had taken in and which were temporarily boarded pets. This meant that Sola's care for these wild Pokémon was no worse than that of other people for their own; in fact, it had to be even more meticulous to achieve such results.
"Look," Sola said, leading Will to a corner of the courtyard.
There was a small fence, and inside it grew several plants. Will looked up. They all looked like white begonias, but he didn't know the specific species.
"My husband planted these with his own hands. Through the cold winters and hot summers, they've always survived. They're quite resilient. They were my husband's favorite flower," Sola said, bending down to carefully sniff one of the blossoms. It was clear she cherished these flowers very much; otherwise, she wouldn't have put a fence around them.
"They're very beautiful."
"Skitty's grandfather loved to sleep under these flowers. If anyone other than me or my husband got close, he would hiss at them," Sola couldn't help but smile, as if remembering the scene. But then her mood soured a little.
"Every time I see these familiar things, I can't help but remember the past, and the people from the past. It's never a good feeling, but it does make me feel that I'm still alive," Sola stood up and sighed. Then she looked at the little Treecko by her leg and asked, "Does a Treecko have people they miss? Like your mother and father. You're still so small, you must be curious about them, right?"
"...I don't even know who my parents are in this life. But I do miss Liz and the others," Will shook his head, the memories that surfaced being from his past life. The little moments in the palace and the courtyard, it all felt like it had happened just a short while ago. Although there was still hope of seeing them again, who knew how long that would be?
Thinking of this, he felt a deep agreement with Sola's words. They were happy and profound memories, but now, when he recalled these things and these people, his heart would feel an endless pain and longing.
To long for someone from afar is to be trapped in endless memory; a short time apart can feel like an eternity of longing.
"Granny Sola~ we found your Skitty~"
"Woof!"
"Meow~"
Officer Jenny's voice came from the front of the villa. Granny Sola's spirits lifted a little, and she leaned on her cane, wanting to hurry to the door.
"I'll get it," Will said, seeing her eagerness. He ran to the door. Though he was short, his jumping ability was decent, and he managed to grab the doorknob.
Click.
The door opened.
"I was wondering why the door opened so quickly. It was you, you little glutton," Jenny's voice sounded. Before Will even touched the ground, she had scooped him into her arms.
"You still have no sense of personal space," Will said, swatting her with his tail. He then jumped to the ground and ran behind Sola. He was really afraid Jenny would take him back.
"Skitty," Sola said, seeing the pink cat in Growlithe's mouth. She hurried over to take it.
"Meow?" The Skitty, however, wriggled free, and without even looking at Sola, it ran over to Will and began to curiously sniff him.
"What are you looking at?!" Will's attitude towards this rude little cat was not good. Although he was only 0.3 meters tall, and the Skitty was 0.6, he was not afraid of it. In his past life, he was the Guardian Dragon of the Dragonite Kingdom. In terms of seniority, this Skitty's ancestors would have had to respectfully call him "ancestor."
Of course, that was all in the past. In reality, this was the Era of Leagues. Even if he yelled at the Skitty, the most it could do was beat him up a little. He was confident the kind Sola wouldn't just stand by and watch it bully another Pokémon.
"Meow..." The Skitty was scolded by this "little brother" and shrank back, looking a little wronged. It was only then that it remembered Sola and ran to her, rubbing against her legs and purring.
"Hey, you're a feisty one, aren't you!" Jenny said, walking over and gently tapping Will on the head.
"Ouch~" The tap wasn't hard, but Will's body was still fragile. The tap made him cry out and hold his head. An infant Pokémon was as fragile as paper. In Unova, when Ash's newly-hatched Scraggy wanted to battle, Pikachu's soft "Ten-Volt" had zapped it into submission.
"You little thing, you look so well-behaved, but you're so fierce. Come back to the station with me. I'm going to have to teach you some lessons," Jenny said, reaching for him.
"I don't want to! Grandma, save me!" Will was scared. He forgot all about his sore head and squeezed past the Skitty to hide behind Sola's legs.
"Wait, little Jenny. If the child wants to stay here, let him. I think he's very well-behaved. He's probably just a little shy," Sola said, remembering Will's gentle hug. Her heart softened, and she stepped in to block Jenny. She had grown quite fond of this little Treecko.
"Since you've said so, Granny Sola, I'll let you off this time. But next time, I'll have to come and arrest you, okay?"
"Nyah-nyah-nyah~" Will stuck his tongue out at her.
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