"Mom, I'm home!"

"Verity? Is that you?"

My mom walks out from the kitchen, with half her face covered by her curtain of blonde hair.

"Yes. Hi."

Piplup explodes from her Pokèball and runs to Mom, hugging her leg.

"Hi! I missed you too!" She says as she picks her up in a hug. She then looks at me.

"I see you didn't evolve her."

"Yeah. Guess it didn't happen."

Mom gives me at look as I finish taking off my shoes and sit on the couch.

"But you wouldn't believe what happened!"

"What? Tell me about it," Mom says as she sits next to me, with Piplup on her lap.

"I got to meet Suicine, Entei, and Ruiko, and the legendary bird Oh-Ho!"

Her eyes widen.

"Really? That's great honey! Which one did you catch?"

Oh my Arceus. She's actually excited for me. I can't, wait.

"What was that?"

"Which one did you catch hon? I'm sure you had a powerful team that was at least able to put up a fight against them!"

"Uh."

My mom's facial expression begins to change.

"You didn't catch them, did you?"

"No, I-"

"It's ok. They're legendary Pokèmon after all."

I sigh in relief.

"But let's go outside! I want to meet all the Pokèmon you traveled with!" My mom yells as she carries Piplup outside.

"Ok!"

I run outside, and there they are, with my mom's Emploeon hugging Piplup.

"Come on out Lapras!"

Lapras gives out a shriek as she lands on the soft grass.

"Look at her! She's beautiful!"

My mom gently pats Lapras's neck, and she coos at her touch.

"Where's everyone else?"

"What do you mean?"

We stare at each other for a few seconds.

"Lapras, are you hungry?"

Lapras nods.

"Make your way over to Emploeon and she'll tell you where to get some. Did you hear that?" My mom asks Emploeon, and Emploeon stops squeezing Piplup, for a brief second to nod, then continues.

"Come with me," my mom instructs as she walks towards the edge of our yard.

"Yes mother."

I don't like where this is going.

I follow, and my mom then looks at me with her eyebrows furrowed.

"What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you only have two pokemon?"

"Because I only wanted two?"

She lets out an angry sigh and rubs her face.

"So you're telling me, you traveled through the whole Kanto region, and you only managed to catch two Pokèmon?"

"By choice! It's not like I couldn't, I just didn't!"

"Why? You need a full team to compete in the league, which you didn't."

I didn't think she would notice.

"I helped my friend Ash instead to meet Ho-oh!"

"You're telling me you abandoned your dream to help out a boy?"

Her face is red in anger. She's slowly inching towards me.

"Not just a boy mom. He's a friend!"

"Friends support one another. Why didn't he support you to fight in the league?"

"Because I didn't want to fight in the league!"

Mom's eyes widen, then shrink back to normal size.

"I was hoping you would prove me wrong."

"Mom?"

"But you did the exact opposite."

"What are you talking about?"

She takes a deep breath and looks in my eyes.

"You bring shame to the name I worked so hard to build. Look at you, throwing it all away for a boy. You digust me."

She starts to walk away.

"Mom? Mom!"

I try to run after her, but my body won't respond.

"Mom! Please, don't go!"

She ignores me, and keeps farther away.

"Mommy! Please! I'm sorry," I whisper, as the world begins to blend together in a plethora of color, until it all goes black.

....

I sit up in bed, my body shaking and my breathing unstable.

Relax. Breath.

"It was just a dream."

I bring my knees to my chest and wrap my arms around them.

"It was just a dream. It's ok."

Something wet falls on my arm. I let go to touch my face, and I find a small stream of water coming from my eyes.

Great. Just great.

Once I finally calm down, I glance at the clock on the nightstand.

Three twenty-four huh? At least I was able to sleep a few hours.

I sigh, and glance at the door.

Maybe some fresh air will do me some good?

I slip my feet into my slippers and walk out, looking for the stairs. Once I do, I make my way up to the top deck of the ship. I lean on the edge of the ship, looking out to the calm ocean.

I don't know what it is, but water always seems to smoothe me. That's probably I always travel by ship instead of by airplane.

"Piplup?"

My starter looks up at me, rubbing her eye with her wing.

"I'm sorry if I woke you Piplup. I forgot you weren't in your Pokèball."

Piplup then gently rubs my leg.

"Thanks for the comfort. I had a nightmare."

"Pip?"

She cocks her head to the side and gives me blank look.

"It's dreamed that when we arrived home, Mom was disappointed, and shunned me."

Piplup hugs my leg.

"Thanks again Piplup. I'm just so nervous about arriving home. Mom and I haven't spoken since I left. I'm scared how she's gonna react when we arrive."

"Piplup Piplup Pip," she says as she squeezes my leg tighter

"You think everything is gonna be ok?"

Piplup nods, not easing up her hug one bit.

Maybe she's right. I probably am overreacting. But I still can't shake off this feeling of dread.

The water gently hits against the hull of the ship, interupting my thought. I wish I was more like water. It easily takes up the shape of whatever container it's in. That why I could easily be the person my mom wants me to be.

"Hey Piplup, you can let go now," I say as I check my phone. It's almost four. I should try to get a bit more sleep. We're supposed to arrive sometime mid day.

I don't get a response from Piplup.

"Piplup?"

I look down, and there's is Piplup's small blue body, snuggling against my leg fast asleep.

I smile.

Despite what my mom thinks, I enjoyed my adventure with Piplup, Ash, and Sorrel. And she can never take that away from me.

I carefully pry Piplup off my leg, and carried her as I made my way to my room.

....

My heartbeat starts to increase as I enter Twinleaf town.

It's going to be ok.

I turn onto my street, and I see my house into the distance. At this point I'm forcing my legs to move toward, and soon enough I'm at the doorstep of my house. I take a deep breath, open the door and walk in.

The house is spotless. The living toom still has the old wooden table in the middle with a small vase of flowers. The couch has a thin layer of dust on them, as if no one has sat on it recently.

I sigh, and reach for my Pokèball to release Piplup.

"Here we are Piplup. We're home."

Piplup takes off, in search of Emploeon. I slowly take off my shoes, and walk towards the kitchen.

Just like the living room, it's pretty clean, besides that the table has a thin layer of dust on it.

"Piplup? Piplup! I've missed you!"

Uh oh. Looks like Piplup them.

"Where's Verify? Is she downstairs?"

"Piplup!"

You know what. Maybe this was a bad idea. I should go visit the Professor instead, maybe stay at his place. Or maybe I go to the next town and stay at the Pokèmon Center. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

I turn to head back towards the door, and in front of my is my mom.

"Verity?"

She hasn't changed a bit. Her blonde hair still covers about half her face, and she's wearing her signature blue shirt.

"Mom, before you ask me what I achieved on my journey, I want you to know that by your standards, I have achieved absolutely-"

I'm interrupted by my mom wrapping me in a hug.

"Mom?" I croak, tears forming at the edges of my eyes.

She rarely shows affection.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel like a failure, or pressured to be like me. I just wanted you to be the best person you can be. Your own person."

She squeezed tighter.

"I don't want you to be something I molded you into. I want you to create something beautiful, on your own. Something you're proud of."

She lets go and looks into my eyes. She has streams of water falling along her face.

"And no matter what route you choose, I'm proud to call you my daughter. I love you."

Wow.

"I love you too Mom."

She then wipes her tears and takes my hand.

"Come on. Let's go make some lunch and you can tell me all about your journey."

I smile.

"I'll love to."

Author's Note:
I originally wanted to make a review about Pokemon: I Choose You. But as I was watching it for a second time, I came up with the idea of writing about what happens with Verity when she finally arrives home (I definitely prefer her than Sorral). If you haven't seen the movie, I definitely recommend at least trying it once. & as always, Happy Reading :)
-eV04