Memories of Neighbors

God, It was such a long time ago since Lenny left, or at least it's what it felt like. Memories played on like an old movie, clear as day.

It was Wendsday, as she clearly remembered. She had just walked into her room, cradling the egg against her chest in her crossed arms, sweaty from her ninjutsu training. She placed the egg down lightly on her bed as she stripped and went into the shower. On her way, she peered at her neighbor, Lenny's, window, which was devoid of Lenny apparently, which was odd. But she didn't question it as she slipped into the shower, washing off the dirt and sweat in a matter of minutes, trying to wash her extremely long hair, which took a bit longer. Her windows and mirror were coated in steam as she stepped up and covered herself in a robe she'd had for a while, so it was a tad small.

She knocked open the window above her desk and steam rose up and out of her room as she drove a brush through he hair which she draped over her right shoulder as she leaned out the window. Then she took the handle of the brush hard in her hand and threw it right into Lenny's double door windows, opening them. She then took up a red sash and tied her hair into her signature tail, as she yelled,

"Yo, Lenny! How you been doin' with capturing that pokemon?"

Malachite Town still had a firm place in Lenny's heart. As he took his first step back into the town for months, though it certainly felt more like years, the familiarity of the town that was firmly engrained into the forest came rushing back; the familiar sights and sounds and smells, greenery as far as the eye could see and pokemon seeing the multitute of buildings simply as scenery to navigate. Familiar territory to Bonnie as well, the Cubone that walked by Lenny, making sure that he kept in check and didn't do anything stupid. Clyde, the self-imposedly-blind Cyndaquil, simply lay across his shoulder, holding on and listening to the many sounds from afar and close.

"Well, guys, home sweet home. For now, at least." Lenny explained to his pokemon. Cain was getting impatient to fight Blake, so training everywhere they could, finding new opponents and kinds of Pokemon was a key essential to training. Lenny decided that, before moving any deeper into the forest, he'd give his old home town a visit. While seeing his family was a priority, for some reason his mind kept drifting to a friend of his from years ago...

Malachite Town was losing place in Lenny's heart. As he took his first step back into the town for a whole day, though it certainly felt more like a year, the dark, dank, muddy look of the town that was firmly engrained into the forest sat before him; greenery as far as the eye could see and pokemon seeing the multitute of buildings simply as scenery to navigate. Lenny scowled uncharacteristically. He was ususually chipper and light hearted, but that Cubone was weighing on his mind and trying its utmost to ruin his life; he had slept in a broken tent, and he was coated in mud and rainwater. The worst thing, though, was that he was kind of enjoying it. The Cubone's struggles only made him want to catch her more, and Lenny was, in his eyes, getting better at living outdoors. In fact, he had decided, he was going to live in the forest permanently, determined to push himself to the utmost limit and catch that Cubone. After all, more time in the forest gave him more time to focus on catching it.

He got into his house, explained the situation and, despite his parent's complaints, packed his things so he could go back immediately, a determined glare in his eye. That Cubone was his and he knew it. He was given the regular speech by his parents, come home if you get sick, contact numbers, good luck, Lenny accepted all of this with a nod, too eager to enter the forest once more. Finally, he walked out of the door, with nothing to hold him back now, a bag on his back and equipment all around his belt.

BOMP!

Lenny stopped stock still, then drove his hand into his forehead. How could he forget to tell her? He walked over to the back of the house so that he was under his bedroom window. He looked up and saw Meryl... who had just taken a shower. Her body was still wet, and that robe was years old, too small for her. Just as it happened, Lenny was at a perfect angle to peek at her as she leaned out of her window to throw the brush she held at his window, forcing it open. The brush fell to earth, but Lenny caught it.

"Yo, Lenny! How you been doin' with capturing that pokemon?" The trainee ninja called out.

"I'm down here, Meryl." Lenny sheepishly said, hoping that she didn't notice him peeking at her. He threw her brush back up to her, before gesturing to his bag. "The pokemon's a Cubone, and catching it... hasn't gone so well. I'm going to be living in the forest until I catch it." He explained quite quickly so she wouldn't be able to protest. "But how about you? Any luck with that egg?"

Bonnie looked back up to Lenny, who was standing stock still, stuck in his memories. The Cubone poked him with her bone, concern etched onto her face though concealed by her mask.

"Hmmm... I wonder if she's even hotter now..." Lenny wondered aloud, murmuring to himself. Bonnie rolled her eyes, not even needing to know anything more than she did. Girls; Lenny's very own Kryptonite, it seemed. It wasn't something she approved of, either, so with a flick of her wrist she drove her bone right into his calf, making Lenny yelp with pain. He backed away from her, instantly realising that she had heard that. "Ow! Yes! Yes! Sorry, Bonnie, I'm not saying anything more, you don't have to hit me every time I think of a girl, do you?" Bonnie's reply was simply to raise her bone again, making Lenny flinch, before she slowly lowered it. Lenny sighed a slight sigh of relief. "Still, I have to wonder where she is now..."

Oh...he was on the ground...Stupid Lenny, making her wrong, but oh well. She looked down him from the window, seeing so much gear stacked on him. He must've been going to stay in the woods for a while, which he soon confirmed. Cubone's were not the most docile pokemon, and it was rare to see them so far from the mountains and rocky terrain...so Meyrl was a bit perplexed. She looked down on him, and some sort of feminine instinct knew it wasn't her face he was focused on. She smiled and nodded at him as her hand slipped down her desk into her draw, drawing a kunai from within it and slinging it straight to his feet. She had no intention to hit him, just to draw his attention to something other than her cleavage in what she thought was a joke as she chuckled a little bit.

"And my eye's are up here. I hope to see you around if my training takes me your way, Len. And no, that stubborn egg just won't budge, no matter how much I ask it to come out..." She jumped down from her second story perch on her feet, landing in a crouch and standing up slowly in front of him, smiling as she brushed her tail behind her back, smiling.

But as she stood outside the Pokemon Center, waiting for her pokemon to be healed after a hard days training, she recognized a golden haired boy with a Cubone who apparently just charlie horsed him with its bone. Meryl started to laugh and then she ran over to him, she didn't even have to call his name to reassure herself it was him. She was just happy to see someone from the past as she ran straight into him, hugging him till she heard bones creek.

" OHLENNY,I'MSOHAPPYTOSEEYOUAGAIN!HOW'VEYOUBEEN,WHEREYOUBEEN,WHYYOUDON'TCALLME?!EEEEEEEE!!!" She had no idea why she was freaking out like this, but she was and it made her feel special, and really really happy.

And THUNK! Lenny leapt back to avoid the kunai as it sailed to the space inbetween his feet. It wasn't something he wasn't growing used to; Meryl's answer to a lot of things was to throw kunais, and Lenny knew it was a joke, but it never failed to make him jump; after all, who knows when she'd miss the ground and hit him for real.

"And my eye's are up here. I hope to see you around if my training takes me your way, Len. And no, that stubborn egg just won't budge, no matter how much I ask it to come out..." She said, before leaping to the ground in front of him with a practised grace. Lenny shrugged his shoulders a little, the bag swinging with his shoulder.

"Shame to hear about the egg," He began, "- but maybe you just need to wait for a bit. It'll hatch when it hatches, you just have to be a bit patient." He gave a warm smile to Meryl, and then took a second to shift his gaze across everything he could see. "It's going to be weird, you know. Not being here anymore. But, yeah, I hope to see you too." He then felt a bit awkward; it wasn't really the greatest, most epic farewell ever uttered by man, but it was all he could think of. He stood still, before quickly mumbling "I'll miss you," and then shuffling away, pushing a large bush out of the way and seemingly vanishing.

The problem with ninjas is that they're, for the most part, completely and utterly silent, so when Meryl ran over to Lenny and gave him the hardest bear hug she was capable of, Lenny didn't even notice her. The first he felt was a pair of arms wrap themselves around his waist and squeeze, making a loud 'snap' sound. Clyde, who was lethargically lying on his shoulder, immediately felt his trainer rock forward and a loud noise, and panickly grabbed Lenny by the hair, yanking on it to hold on. Bonnie simply watched this with a wry smirk on her masked face.

"OHLENNY,I'MSOHAPPYTOSEEYOUAGAIN!HOW'VEYOUBEEN,WHEREYOUBEEN,WHYYOUDON'TCALLME?!EEEEEEEE!!!" Came an unmistakable squeal. It was Meryl alright, Lenny could already tell, but he couldn't answer at first, his face already going blue.

"... haaaa! M-Meryl! Can't breath... can't breath..." Lenny panted, the arms crushing him. He couldn't see her to determine whether or not she was hotter, but she had certainly gotten stronger.

"... haaaa! M-Meryl! Can't breath... can't breath..." Whoops...it was an often occurrence that Meryl forgot her own strength, but she should've realized that when she heard his bones creek, but she quickly let go, a nervous smile on her face as she rubbed the back of her head. She backed away slowly to just admire the spectacle before her. There was this small Cyndaquil attached to his hair and a Cubone who was watching with some sort of cheer in its eyes. Wait...Cubone? So this was that pokemon he caught. She smiled at it and crouched down in her school skirt and held out her hand to it. "I hope you've been keeping Len in line; he's always been a troublemaker." And as if on cue, Lilith's furry form came bursting from behind the sliding doors of the Pokemon Center and straight onto Meryl's head, cooing happily like always. After a delay of several seconds, Sherman fluttered out and onto her shoulder, nodding to the Cubone.

"This is Lilith and Sherman. Lilith here was the egg I told you about, Lenny. Sherman here was causing a bit of a ruckus in a nearby shrine and we got him to join us."

Lilith mewed happily, cocking her head towards Sherman, who directed his face and therefore most of his body to the side and gave a quick nod, quiet and adament like always. The tiny Vulpix on Meryl's head rubbed herself into her hair, happy to be with her trainer again.

Lenny took a sharp intake of breath as Meryl released him from her harsh vice grip of a hug, catching his breath back. When he felt like he could move, he turned to the ninja who used to be the kind of hot and cool best friend and next door neighbour. Now, as it turned out, she was a hot and really tall girl in a plaid short skirt. Lenny took a fierce gulp as she bent down to talk to Bonnie, who eyed her with the cold dispassion she treated everyone. The Cubone did take her hand though, a world-weary look in her eye seeming to say 'I'm pretty much the only thing keeping these two idiots alive right now,' in response to Meryl's greeting to it. Lenny grinned happily though; it was good to see a familiar face again, and the fact that it turned out quite pretty didn't hurt. On instant, a Vulpix and a Natu came over, the Vulpix affectionately burying herself into her trainer's hair, while the Natu perched himself on her shoulder, giving a nod to the Cubone that was replied. Clyde remained on Lenny's shoulder, gripping for high heaven and still unsure of what the disturbance was until Lenny's calming hand stroked his head.

"Hey, don't worry, she's a friend of mine, you're not going to fall off." Lenny reassured him, whose flames began to shrink as he calmed down.

"This is Lilith and Sherman. Lilith here was the egg I told you about, Lenny. Sherman here was causing a bit of a ruckus in a nearby shrine and we got him to join us." Meryl explained. Lenny smiled, looking to the Vulpix.

"So you finally hatched then. It's a good thing you did, Meryl's not a fan of waiting." He said to Lilith, who was enjoying the nest of hair she rested on, before looking back to Meryl herself. "Bonnie's the Cubone I was trying to catch all those years ago. Finally managed, after a while, and I don't know how I'd manage without her to cook for me." He said, not noticing the Cubone roll her eyes. That 'while' was almost a year, and it was completely and utterly disaster until he saved her life. As far as she was concerned, she wasn't caught, but rather she went with him voluntarily. Besides, she felt in debt for that act. Lenny then gestured to the Cyndaquil as he clung to his trainer's shoulder. "This is Clyde. He can't see, which is why I carry him everywhere, but he's a great friend." Clyde nodded a little at the mention of his name, shyly nodding with a quiet "Quil...".

"Yeah..." Lenny said, feeling awkward again. He love to talk to people, but always ran out of things to ask. With Meryl, though, it was easier than most. "How's the training going?"