CHAPTER TWO: SENSITIVITY

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Ken had never had a way with words. He said what he thought needed to be said and that was that. White lies caused more problems than what they solved. At least in his perspective they did. According to those close to him, it made him come off as cold-hearted and rude.

Unfortunately, they were right.

To the blond, if anyone should be crying of shock, it should be him. Alice's grandmother told him and Irene that Alice was trying to contain an angered Luxray and that she needed help. Since he was born and raised in Sinnoh where the Pokémon originated from, he volunteered. The last thing he expected was to find Alice shaking a metal lock with her Scizor shielding her from the crazed Luxray trying to gnaw her head off.

"Alice, stop!" he called out to her for the millionth time.

Alice clenched her jaw and quickened her pace, not wanting to be anywhere near him. As she ran through the grazing grass, she felt her legs weaken as if they were made of jello. Her chest ached as her lungs burned, desperate for an easy access to air. Right before she stopped to take a breather, her foot hit a rock hidden in the flowers and she fell face first.

Ken skidded to a halt as he stared at her with raised eyebrows. How has this girl lived to be sixteen?

Alice sat up and wiped her face, lamenting her pride. She sent a nasty glare at Ken and snapped at him in a hoarse voice, "What do you want?"

"I wanted to make sure you didn't encounter anymore rampant Pokémon. According to your grandmother, there are herds of them scared beyond relief loose from their pens," Ken answered. He bent down and momentarily pursed his lips. "I apologize if I insulted you."

She turned her head away and cleared her throat. "It's fine."

Ken narrowed his eyes. "You're lying. Do not lie to me."

"Okay, it's not fine." She sighed. Alice turned her head to look him in the eyes only to look away as his steely gaze sent chills down her spine. "I was stressed out by Luxray and you yelling at me saying I wasn't good enough didn't help any."

He nodded and stood up. "Right. We need to help gather the loose Pokémon."

Alice looked at him incredulously. She expected a heartfelt apology so that they could mend their almost-friendship, not a command. "What?"

"If you're worried about protection, you shouldn't be. Alakazam will be enough. However, I don't know anything about this land so I'm at a lost on where the Pokémon could have fled to," Ken explained as he wiped dirt off of his pants. "I trust your experience handling them will help me out."

"Help you out?" Alice repeated. The nerve of this guy!

"Did you suffer from head trauma during that Luxray attack?" Ken questioned, knitting his eyebrows together as he searched her face for any signs of injury.

Annoyance bubbled within in the girl as she stood up and huffed, "No! No, I don't suffer from head trauma!" She silently added in her head, But I think you do, you, you, you dumb jerk!

The blond stared at her as if she were a math problem and then it clicked in his mind why she was acting this way. "You're on your period, aren't you?"

Alice's jaw dropped, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Excuse me, what?"

"Women become moody when they're on their periods," he stated matter-of-factly as if he were reading a passage out of a book. "Surely no normal person could be this emotional on a daily basis."

Alice couldn't believe her ears. He had to be kidding. This was all some sort of elaborate joke that flew over her head and he was teasing her. It was impossible for someone to be this rude! Maybe his humor revolved around insulting people all the time. She tried to take comfort in that possibility, but his dead serious expression told her that he wasn't joking.

"Where should we check first?" he probed, wondering why she was taking so long to answer. It's no wonder she lost that battle with Luxray.

She answered through clenched teeth, "There's a pond on the other side of those trees."

The two walked quietly, avoiding each other's gazes as they looked around for any signs of Pokémon. Not even the hums of the Kakuna nor the songs of distant Fletchling could cover the awkward silence. They came upon the pond minutes later and found Sentret and Skitty happily playing around.

Alakazam came out to herd them with Psychic, using its abilities to move a log to guide them toward the three. Alice collected berries from nearby trees and persuaded them to follow her. Ken followed the line of Pokémon running circles around her to ensure that they didn't try to escape.

One Skitty started to wander off, and he picked it up before it could jump into a puddle. He lifted it up to his eye level. "Don't run away," he warned sternly.

"Skitty!" the Normal-type yipped.

Ken smiled briefly at its innocent, cute face and decided to keep carrying it so it didn't try to leave again. Even while Skitty continued to babble noisily, it made no move to try to leave Ken's arms. Alice noticed his kindness towards the Pokémon as she continued to lead the group.

"Did you only travel with your Pokémon on your journeys?" she asked, finally initiating a conversation between the two.

"Of course," Ken confirmed, absentmindedly petting Skitty's head. "Pokémon are easier to get along with."

"I get it." Alice nodded as she raised her hands before the Sentret beside her stole a berry. "I spent a lot of my time alone, too." She lowered her somber gaze to stare at her shoes moving through the grass as memories replayed in her head. "It was... really different."

Ken failed to recognize her saddened attitude as he attempted picturing Alice trying to pitch a tent all on her own. He imagined her finally putting up the tent after an hour of fighting it then crawling inside of it only for it to collapse on her.

He doubted that was far from the truth.

* * *

They finally got back to the pens and locked the Pokémon in with the others. Alice's grandfather happened to be on the porch as they went back to the house. When he saw Alice, he raised his eyebrows and laughed.

"What happened to ya? It looks like you were wrestling the Pokémon into their pens." He cackled, wiping some leftover mud from her cheeks. "I never expected the girl that never comes out of her room to get so involved with the outdoors that she covers herself in dirt."

Alice's cheeks warmed in embarrassment and she held up Scizor's Poké Ball. "I had some problems with the Luxray; Scizor got pretty hurt and needs to be healed."

"At least you got him contained." The elder hummed optimistically, taking the device. "That ol' Luxray has been as cool as a cucumber since you dealt with him."

"Actually, Ken was the one that stopped Luxray," she admitted, looking at her muddied sneakers.

He gave Ken a thumbs up. "Good job, Ken! You're a natural daycare worker."

"Thank you," Ken said.

Unable to stand being around Ken for any longer, Alice kicked off her shoes and retreated to her room upstairs. She wiped the remaining dirt off of her face then threw herself onto her bed, letting out a loud, ugly groan into her pillow.

A small, white feline's ear twitched at the disturbing whine and she opened her eyes to glare at the noisemaker. The Psychic-type stretched, yawning as she dug her claws into the blanket she had previously nestled in. The sound of fabric being torn alerted Alice, and she picked up her head and scowled.

"Meowstic, stop it! You're going to ruin it!" Alice whined, swatting at her Pokémon. The said Pokémon stuck her tongue out at her Trainer, eliciting an offended gasp from her. "Meowstic!"

Meowstic rolled her eyes then padded over to Alice to pet her head. In the back of her mind, Alice thought about how it should be the other way around as Meowstic plopped down beside her to stroke with her long, brown hair. Alice closed her eyes as she was soothed and smiled.

"You felt my stress, too?" she guessed in a soft voice, listening to Meowstic's gentle breathing. "You're nice, Meowstic. I wish you would rub off on Ken."

Alice's insides burned at the thought of the tall blond, remembering how robotic he was when he ordered her around. His callous behavior and condescending tone echoed in her mind.

She grumbled, "I can't believe he's living here. Mom said his parents died, not his entire family. Shouldn't he be living with his cousins or a close family friend? Dad said that they were old friends, but I don't even remember meeting the Amachi's before."

Meowstic cocked her head to the side and blinked.

"It doesn't make sense to me either," Alice muttered. She sat up and held Meowstic in her lap, shaking one of her small paws. "I get that he's being emo because his parents died, but that doesn't mean he has to take his edginess out on me." She unconsciously squeezed Meowstic's paw in frustration.

"Meowstic!" Meowstic hissed in pain, drawing her paw away.

Alice kissed the top of her head. "Sorry, Meowstic." She fished her broken phone out of her pocket and set it on her nightstand, switching it for the tablet laying beside it. "Let's watch a movie."

Across the hallway, the source of Alice's newly found stress was quietly working. Ken remained in his room unpacking his things, neatly setting his clothes in the dresser. He took out his last shirt, and his breathing hitched when he saw the photo frame lying below it.

It was the same picture he kept with him as he traveled so he could look at it when he was homesick. His ten-year-old self smiled brightly at the camera with a Growlithe at his feet and his parents standing on either side of him. His mother had her hair tied back, drawing attention to her beaming face staring affectionately at her son. Her arm was linked with his father's who had his head tilted back, laughing with tears in his eyes.

Ken took a deep breath and put the picture frame on his nightstand and couldn't bring himself to look away. Bile thickened in his throat, and he cleared it with a grunt.

Calm yourself, Ken. You can't cry every time you see their faces, he told himself.

Abrupt knocking made him jump, effectively snapping him out of his emotional reverie. He wiped his face, drying his cheeks. "Come in."

Irene poked her head in and smiled sheepishly. "I know you just started unpacking and all, but dinner is ready. We eat early here so everyone can shower before we go to bed."

Ken nodded and followed her downstairs to the dining room. A large, wooden table dominated the dining room, and he was amazed to see a large array of baked fowl, salads, mashed potatoes, rolls, and jams spread across it. He sat in between Alice and Irene, directly in front of the rolls that were begging him to eat them.

"Don't just stare at the food, dig in!" The grandmother chuckled.

Everyone made their plates and started eating, telling their stories about rounding up the loose Pokémon. The grandfather had to use two of his Herdier plus his wife's Stoutland in order to gather the Aipom because they decided they would rather play tag than listen to him. His story made everyone laugh, and Ken grinned a close-lipped smile since his mouth was full when they looked at him.

Sheesh, Alice thought as she finished off her third helping of mashed potatoes. She reached out to take another roll only to grab empty air. There's always leftover rolls. Where the heck did they go?

She got her answer when she saw Ken reach out for the jam to spread some on his rolls — all six of them. Her eyes widened in shock; who ate that many rolls? She knew for a fact that he ate quite a few before those.

Towards the end of the meal, the front door opened and Alice's father walked in. He was a husky 6'2 man that intimidated everyone due to his huge stature. Once people got over his appearance, they realized that they were talking to a Teddiursa instead of a Gyarados.

"Hey everybody, what's shaking?" he greeted, scanning the room. His eyes landed on Ken, and he stuck his hand out. "Ken, am I right? Call me Joe."

"Hello, Joe," Ken said. He shook his hand, flinching as the much larger man nearly crushed him with his tight grip. He flexed his hand when Joe let go to make sure it wasn't damaged, completely aware of how Alice was snickering behind her napkin at his reaction.

"What took you so long, Dear?" her mother probed as she fixed him a plate. "Normally you'd be back by now."

"It's because there was a long line to register in the Central Plaza," Joe explained as he went through his bag. "I never thought it would end. I'm proud to say that my patience paid off." He let out a victorious 'a-ha!' and held up a brightly colored flyer. "I got us a place in the brand new annual Lumiose City Double Battle Brawl!"

Irene's eyes widened. "You're battling?"

He shook his head, chuckling. "No, no. My battling days have ended. I figured with Ken's arrival he'd need a way to bond with us so it's not so awkward. What better way to have two trainers bond than to have them battle together?"

Alice paled. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. She crossed her fingers, praying to whatever deity that would listen that he was talking about Irene.

Joe dramatically threw out his arm for emphasis and winked. "Alice, Ken, you two will be representing our family in the Double Battle Brawl!"

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Author's Note

There's nothing like having your parents force you into awkward social interaction ;D

Question of the Chapter: What's your favorite city in the Pokémon world?