After dialing the number, she looked at the computer screen that the call would be recorded on she held the phone up to her ear and waited for a minute. After a couple rings, an annoyed looking boy picked up the phone. He had bright orange hair that swirled up into a soft looking spike, and he wore really tacky black sunglasses, and had a Charmeleon standing stoically behind him, as if on guard.
“Who are you? How did you get this number?” The boy demanded to know.
“Oh, hi! Uh, you’re…” she looked at the tag again,” Brennan, right?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Well, I found something of yours, and I figured I’d give you a call so we can figure a time to meet up, and return it.”
Amelia gently picked up the Charmander and put it on her lap. Upon seeing his trainer on screen, Charmander smiled happily and started shouting out different chirrups and sounds. The trainer in question rolled his eyes and looked back at Amelia.
“That thing isn’t mine. I left it.”
Amelia was absolutely shocked, disgusted that he would leave such a rare and cute Pokémon on its own. Charmander was still babbling, and seemed to ignore what his trainer had said, just happy to see the boy again.
“But you put a collar on it! It has your name and number on the tag! Surely you’re mistaken?”
“As if! Listen, I ditched that thing a while ago the moment I found something better. A dude can hook you up with some strong Pokémon, if you know where to look. That’s where I got Charmeleon,” Brennan explained.
He jabbed a thumb at the mid-evolution fire type Pokémon, and Charmander immediately stopped talking. He looked at the serious Pokémon and immediately pointed at it, whimpering.
“Let me get this straight…” Amelia started, glaring daggers at the screen, “You left Charmander all on his own, in the middle of nowhere, because you found a stronger Pokémon?”
“Uh, yeah. That little pipsqueak couldn’t even do anything for me. He’d try everything I asked of him and still failed. Charmeleon, however, does everything I say perfectly.” Brennan just smirked at the screen.
Charmander sniffled a bit, mewling at the screen as if to apologize for not being good enough. Amelia frowned as she saw some tears leak out of Charmander’s face. Brennan, however, just rolled his eyes.
“Ugh, it’s crying now. See what I mean? He’s a terrible partner.”
“You are a horrible person!”
Before Brennan could fit in a comeback, Amelia slammed the phone back on the receiver, causing the computer to shut off abruptly. Charmander jumped with a start, shocked by Amelia’s outburst. Charmander turned to look at her, tears still in his eyes. But to his surprise as well, Amelia was also crying.
“You’re so cool, Charmander!” She said, through the tears. “You deserve so much more in a trainer! You’re perfect as you are!”
These worse seemed foreign to the fire type, and his eyes lit up. A few more tears fell down its face, and Amelia was quick to wipe them away. She picked up the little lizard Pokémon and squeezed it tight in a hug. Charmander was shocked by this gesture, having never been hugged before. However, it felt nice to him, and he squeezed her back as tight as he could, loving the feeling of this hug.
Amelia pulled away to his dismay.
“Okay buddy, here’s what we’re gonna do,” she said standing up from the phone. “You can stay with me tonight! Then, in the morning, we’ll find out what to do.”
Charmander nodded quickly, before leaning in to lick some stray tears on Amelia’s face. Strangely, he liked the salty taste. Amelia just giggled at this, before looking at Fushi and Transel.
“These are my Pokémon, Fushi and Transel!” she introduced, setting Charmander down.
Charmander tilted his head at the names, as they seemed foreign to him. He pointed at himself, mewling quite a bit.
“Oh! Do you want a name too?”
Charmander nodded eagerly, still babbling on.
“Alright, what about…” she tapped on her chin a minute, before smiling at Charmander, “Hito? I think it’s a cool name!”
Charmander jumped up excitedly, in awe of the name, nodding his head and continuing to babble. Amelia laughed at this, before nodding.
“Hito it is!” She said, throwing her hands on her hips. “So, Hito! Wanna train for a bit with me and my Pokémon? We’re gonna go back to route two and train a bit! Is that alright with you?”
The Charmander, now named Hito, nodded happily, and walked up to Amelia to grab on her jeans, so he wouldn’t get lost.