Ripple Effect

Chapter One: The Home Life

Author's Notes:
1. This takes place in the same universe as 'Synchronization' and is effectively a sequel.
2. My knowledge of Pokémon is still effectively limited to Generation One, so if you find any mistakes in canon, please let me know and I will do my best to fix them. I did do as much homework as I could, though.
3. My apologies if my efforts at writing accents make this effectively unreadable; please let me know if it's too much of an issue.
4. I'm aware that my capitalization of Pokémon names may be a little inconsistent right now; I'm trying to figure out my 'style', for lack of a better term.

Thank you for your patience.

***

Chapter One: The Home Life

The Gothorita hummed to herself as she swept the hard-wood living room floor of her trainer's home. She didn't mind the work; it beat being stuck in a Poke ball all day, not that she ever had to worry about her trainer putting her in one. He'd put a lot of effort into teaching her how to use human language and helping her integrate into human society, so to keep her cooped up in a Poke ball would be counterproductive...not to mention a little on the cruel side. So she got to enjoy spending her days caring for the family who had taken her in and cared for her first.

A familiar rattling at the door brought a smile to her face, and a quick glance at the grandfather clock confirmed that her trainer was arriving home, so she set her broom aside and trotted to the entryway to wait. A few moments later the door opened and a young man dressed in blue jeans and a white t-shirt stumbled through the door. "I'm home," he sighed, dropping his bulging backpack to the floor.

"W-Welcome home, Keveen," the Gothorita greeted as her trainer dropped to a knee to exchange their daily 'welcome home' hug.

"Thanks, Amour," he sighed again as he gave her an extra squeeze, eliciting a squeak from the petite Pokémon. "It's good to be home." He grunted to his feet again and collected his backpack.

"You sound very tired," she noted, observing his slouched posture. "How was school?"

"Tiring," the young man replied, confirming her suspicions as he roughly ran his fingers through his unkempt mop of light-brown hair. "Mr. Drew – my math teacher – decided that it'd be a great idea to hit us with a pop quiz today, and now I have a three-page assignment due on Friday."

"Zat ees too bad," she said sympathetically, accidentally allowing her 'accent' to slip through, though she immediately caught herself. "Can I offer you some relaxing tea?"

"That'd be great, thanks," he replied as he absently laid a hand on her head. "Would you be willing to bring it to my room? I really need to hit the books and get this assignment done."

"I-I can do that for you," she said as she fidgeted under his touch. "It will not take long."

"I appreciate it," he said, removing his hand from her head to give her a thumbs-up along with a smile.

As she watched him head down the hallway to enter his room Amour pressed her hand to her chest, taking several deep breaths in an effort to calm down before heading to the kitchen, where a female Steenee stood on a small stepstool, working on dinner. "Blue, is there a burner I could use?" she asked, noting the steaming pots on the stove.

"Left front burner is free," the fruit Pokémon replied absently, waving at the stove; like Amour, she had an unusual manner of speech, though it was different from the Gothorita's. While Amour would occasionally pronounce the letter 'I' as a long 'e' or remove the 'h's from her words, Blue had the habit of turning 'w's into 'v's. She also tended to omit words like 'a' and 'the'. "Did Kevin have rough day at school?"