The thinning skin around my eyes crinkles slightly as I smile. It's been so long since the last time I looked at my maternity photos.

My fingers instinctively slip up the bottom of my shirt, tracing my faded stretch marks and scars.

In the picture, Gladion and I look so young, we were practically children ourselves back then! Time can be so deceiving, I wish I would have realized that when I was younger.

Sometimes, when I look in the mirror, I barely recognize my own face. Everything changes so quickly, even though we rarely see it in the moment. The past is the only thing that remains constant, unchanged.

Flipping through the pages of the old photo album makes my heart ache. Spending the morning reflecting on my journey is making it even harder to send my children off on theirs.

They might be nearly adults themselves, but sending them off into this unfamiliar territory worries me greatly. Now I know how my mother felt when we moved to Alola, all those years ago.

The sound of my bedroom door crashing open snaps me back into the real world. A time when I'm older than I'd like to be, and my children are just as naïve as I used to be.

"Arceus! You were an ugly baby!" Acacia gasps as she rips my precious photo album out of my hands.

"Well, at least one of us grew out of it," Edelweiss remarks, unenthused by his sister's jab. The green status light on the corner of his glasses flickers as his ruby eyes dart to the floor.

Acacia glares at her brother with her piercing, amber, eyes.

Suddenly, his glasses slide away from his face, zipping across the room to Acacia's grasp.

"Very funny," Edelweiss groans, his sightless eyes gaze in the direction of his sister's snickering.

"Give them back!" I growl, "If you break those-."

"It's a joke mom!"

Edelweiss holds his hands out and waits patiently for his sister to return his sight.

Acacia loosens her grip on them. The high-tech glasses float gracefully back to Edelweiss. He slips them back on and smirks. A small, puff of a laugh escapes his nostrils when Acacia jokingly presses her fingers to her temples, mimicking psychic characters from movies and tv shows.

I try my best not to discourage her from using her powers. Gladion and I have done everything we can to make her feel normal, but it just doesn't seem like enough sometimes.

She likes to assure us that she is comfortable with who she is, but I sense there is more under the surface. I truly hope this journey helps her to grow more confident. Perhaps she can finally embrace what makes her different.

"This is such a weird region," Acacia groans as she looks out the window at the snow-covered city. Her white, chunky highlights twinkle against the intense blackness of the rest of her hair.

"I was wearing shorts yesterday," Edelweiss adds.

"It will be melted by tomorrow!" Gladion chuckles from the doorway.

"Daddy? Can I get a PokeDex too?" peeps Daisy in her youthful, high pitched voice.

"Maybe when you're older," Gladion says, tightening her blonde twin tails.

"I wonder if the starter Pokemon are as boring as this region," Acacia groans.

I'm trying my hardest to be patient with her. I know moving is hard, but her attitude is wearing me thin. She doesn't seem to realize that Alola was my home too, and I miss it just as much as she does.

"You won't be getting Pokemon from the lab today," Gladion shrugs.

"Are you serious?" Edelweiss moans, the disappointment in his voice is hard to miss.

"See, like I said-" Acacia grumbles.

"Enough of that!" I grumble back, giving her the eye.

Edelweiss hangs his head in disappointment. His wispy, white, hair falls in his face, slightly obscuring his eyes.

"I was really hoping to add a new Pokemon to my team," he whispers.

"You will be getting a Pokemon from me instead!" Gladion says cheerfully as he pulls two matching Pokeballs from his pocket.

Edelweiss's head perks up and Acacia turns away from the window in interest.

Gladion gives Daisy a nudge in my direction and she eagerly climbs up on the bed next to me. I know exactly what's inside those Pokeballs and I really wish he would do this elsewhere.

Gladion smirks when he sees he's caught our children's attention. His eyes sparkle with excitement as he drops the matching Pokeballs on our bedroom floor.

Two type: Null burst forth from the Pokeballs and immediately dig their claws deep into my brand new carpet. As annoyed as I am by that, I get over it quickly when I see the look on my children's faces.

"No way!" Acacia gasps, cautiously approaching one of beasts.

"Shh...it's okay. I'll take good care of you," Edelweiss whispers to his.

Edelweiss's type: Null squawks at Acacia's, his seems quite aggressive compared to the other one.

Watching my children get so close to them scares me a little, even though Gladion has spent plenty of time taming them in advance. According to him, they are very disobedient and hard to train. Although it worries me slightly, I think it's exactly what they need right now - A taste of their own medicine!

"I'm going to call you Hakai," Acacia says to her new Pokemon.

"I will call mine Sauveur," Edelweiss announces.

"Always competing," Gladion says under his breath as he takes a seat next to me on the bed.

Daisy looks up at me with her wide, green, eyes. Her resemblance to Lusamine is uncanny sometimes. I smile and tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear, I know she must be feeling a little left out today.

My little Daisy, so innocent and full of wonder. Watching her sulk around the new house breaks my heart. She hasn't complained once, even though I can tell the move has hit her the hardest.

A shudder comes over me as the carpet threads rip under the beasts' sharp, talon-like claws.

"Okay, back in the balls with them!" I pipe, "We have a gym for this!"

"I'm going to go watch!" Daisy squeaks as she dashes off after her older siblings, who are already out of sight.

Gladion and I sit in silence for a few moments.

"It's so quiet when they're gone," he whispers.

"I don't know if I will be able to get used to it."

I used to crave silence, but now, it only saddens me.

"I'm going to miss them too," Gladion sighs, "Working will be good for them though."

"Well, at least this seems like a pretty safe region. There's more Pokemon than people!"

"Not for long! That's why this conservation project is so important. I'm glad they have shown interest in it, the data they collect will be invaluable for this mission. I can only hope things will be better for them than it was for us."

My nose begins to run and I feel the hot sting of tears in my eyes.

Noticing my upset, Gladion lays me down on the bed. A single tear rolls down my nose as he presses his warm lips into my hot forehead. His ice-cold hands cool my flushing cheeks as he brings me in close.

"Hm, is that your old journal?" he mutters into my long mess of hair.

"Why do you think I'm like this right now!?"

His arm slides across the silk blankets, reaching in the direction of the tattered, old book. He smirks as I grab his arm, playfully trying to stop him.

Rolling onto his stomach, he cracks it open, chuckling at Hau and I's chubby, youthful, faces taped onto the inside cover. His eyes scan the text and a crooked grin forms on his face.

"I see why you were so worried about me reading this back then!" he snickers, "I'm really glad you got over your crush on Professor Kukui."

"I knew teaching you Kantonese was a bad idea," I groan.

We laugh together and I remember the good times, before things got so complicated.

Gladion turns the page, he runs his finger over the piece of motel stationary glued into the pages.

"Roadside Motel," he whispers.

"I stayed there a lot."

"I know, I had a hell of a time avoiding you."

"What?"

"I lived there for quite some time."

"You never told me that."

It's funny, when you think about it.

Two people, crossing paths by chance, becoming one story in the end.

I listen as Gladion recalls his experiences, sharing with me, all the things he wished he could have told me back then.

After everything that happened all those years ago, we decided to put the past behind us. When we were younger, we told ourselves it didn't matter. Perhaps, at the time, it helped us move forward with our lives.

Now that I'm older, it's very easy to forget everything that has happened. I am busy, and the days fly by faster than I wish them to. Many days, I don't think of the past at all. There is so much to look forward to, but the past has made us who we are today.

Thanks for reading :)

-glitter