I don't know what I'm doing anymore. I've had this basically finished for like a month and half now, and have yet to put it up. I have reasons why but let's skip the nitty gritty, the answer is life. But hopefully things will work out. The second chapter.

...

Red and Blue sat outside the security building of the amusement park. It seemed like a good day, actually. The sun was out, the rides were fun, the food was good, they found a lost girl so they bought her some ice cream and brought her to security. They'd probably go on to find the mother, have a warm feeling in their hearts and go about the rest of the day. Or one might think anyway.

A guard walked out and looked at them, "So have you told us everything you know?"

"Yes. Is something wrong?" Blue asked.

The guard looked like he didn't know how to say what he needed, but he managed to get it out bluntly, "We don't think the mother is here. From what she's telling us she must've found her way into the park on her own or snuck by with a group of unrelated people."

"Maybe we could talk to her." Blue said.

He stepped aside and held his arm out toward the door to usher them in. Once inside they saw Violet sitting in a chair not too far from the front desk. She cracked a small smile at them. It was familiarity more than anything that tugged at the sides of her mouth, a kind of comfort really.

Blue kneeled down to be closer to eye level with the young child, "Violet, the man tells us you came to the park on your own is that true?" She nodded, "When did you last see your mother?"

"When I last saw her it was dark." She replied in an almost nonchalant voice.

Red and Blue's eyes widened, "Dark? How dark?"

"Only a little dark."

"What happened when you last saw her?" Blue pushed on.

"She told me to wait by a bench. The bench felt good because it was cold and I fell asleep because of it. When I woke up she still wasn't there so I started looking for her." Violet explained.

Blue stood up and turned to Red as they conversed under their breath, "Okay, forget what I said about the naming thing. There's no way we could take this kid back to her mother."

"We're going to have to take her to a foster home or something."

"Crystal volunteers at an orphanage. In fact isn't that one of the major reasons she became a Pokédex Owner?"

"Because she's an angel? Yes. We could take her there, but not right away. Let's ease her into it." She suggested, then she turned back around, "Hey Violet," The girl in question looked up attentively, "We're gonna leave the park, okay? Let's go." She said holding out a hand.

"Okay." Violet replied obediently, taking the hand.

The guard form before spoke up, "Um, excuse me," He caught their attention and got the three of them looking at him, "you can't just leave the park with a lost kid. The police should be here to take her and deal with any necessary legal issues."

"No really, it's fine." Red insisted.

"Excuse me? You know if you leave you and I both could get in a lot of trouble? Do you know what kind of authority you need to-" He cut himself off when he saw Red and Blue hold up red, plastic objects with a slight shine to them, he immediately knew what they were and the status these two had in carrying them, "Ah. Never mind, you can leave."

And they did. They could faintly hear someone in the room questioning why they were allowed to leave, as the guard they were talking to tried to explain it to her. But all that disappeared when the door closed behind them. They stopped a few steps in front of the door, Violet's hand still holding onto Blue's. But now Violet was very curious about something.

"So we'll take off to the orphanage eventually but what first?" Blue said quickly and quietly, enough so to escape a child's ears anyway.

"I was thinking we might take her to a doctor first. Just to be safe." Red suggested.

"Good idea. You know of a docto-" She stopped herself when she felt an arm across her legs for a second, reaching for her other side, "Whatta ya doin' kiddo?"

Violet gave Blue so little of her attention it seemed to be out of obligation, "That." She pointed at the red object that Blue was still holding, "I wanna know what that is. You showed it to the man and he changed his mind."

Blue smiled, "This is a Pokédex, it's... Well it's a long story. We need to get going but I'll tell you about it on the way." She assured, "Red that's your cue."

"Aero can only carry one person because he gets me by my shoulders." Red explained.

"Well then I guess you'll have to carry me in your arms." She said with the most alluring voice she could muster. And considering this was Blue, and she'd been at her act since she was a single digit age, and that this was Blue, and that she and Red had a history and she understood him better than he would like to admit, and that this was Blue, she could rouse up voice that would convince the earth to move off its axis to meet her needs. She just wasn't that selfish.

On the other hand, Red was lucky enough to have a way to weasel out of it and just enough experience to mentally plug his ears, "Blue, we're going to have to escort a child."

Blue frowned and pouted childishly. Though Red could swear he caught a glimpse of something else. It was only there briefly, but it was still there. He didn't know what exactly, for that matter neither did Blue. Hurt? Disappointment? Rejection? She didn't like to use that word, it didn't apply. It's not like anything was happening anyway. There was that disappointment again. It didn't matter though, she just knew that whatever irked her was trying to force her to make an expression and she needed to do something about it quick. She had a lot of experience with that too, it wasn't even hard anymore, it hadn't been for a very long time. There was a lot of vulnerability left in her that she didn't want to show to anyone.

So she showed this instead, "Party-pooper, no more ice cream for you."

Violet giggled. Blue was like something out of a cartoon to her.

...

Blue's Wigglytuff was puffed out as far as it could be to act like a balloon. Blue regularly did this for long distance travel. It might've been strenuous, but Wigglytuff had a lot of experience doing this. Mostly brought on by necessity, sharing Blue's hardships. Red, Blue and Violet rode on the inflated Pokémon, the whole phenomenon made Violet very curious. She apparently had very little experience with Pokémon in general, let alone this one or in this way.

It made her forget all about her previous curiosity until Blue reminded her, "So Violet. You wanted to know about the Pokédex right?"

"Oh yeah. What is it?"

"Why don't you ask Red? He's had his longer." Violet looked down in front of her shyly, which didn't go unnoticed by Blue, "Well go on. He's really nice." Violet didn't move, Blue had the idea to take matters into her own hands, "Okay then, hey Red." She called, "Come help me show Violet that you're nice."

Red stood up, willing to humor Blue, "Okay I'll bite, how're you gonna go about doing that?"

"See, he's willing to help." She said to Violet as she stood up walked to the edge of her bloated Wigglytuff.

"What are you doing Blue?" Red asked curiously, maybe with a little concern too, it was Blue after all.

"Call it improvising." She said with a smirk.

"Blue?" Blue hopped. Off of Wigglytuff, "Blue!"

Violet let out a short scream. Red sprinted after her as fast as he could, which was very fast as a result of his training with old woman Kimberly. She could hit the ground in seconds, Red didn't have time to scream or stare or react with anything other than action and with absolute efficiency. Just as fast as he ran he reached back on his belt for a Poké Ball, the one containing Aero, and jumped down after her. The dust cloud released by the Poké Ball seemed to obscure Red as he dived straight downward after her. Aero spread his wings and swooped away just as Red, by some miracle, grabbed a hold of her. Red could barely catch a glimpse of a sly, obnoxious smile as he zipped back to the Wigglytuff, whom was apparently unconcerned with what happened, perhaps out of trust.

Red landed and scolded Blue, "Don't EVER, do that again."

Blue looked irritated but before she could retort Red and Blue heard sniffling, it was from Violet, "Red you scared her."

"Me? You're the one who dive bombed to your almost death."

"Yeah but you yelled." Blue said with a hint of know-it-all in her voice.

"Miss Blue, why did you do that? I thought you were gonna get hurt. And you just, it was so-and you scared me." Violet spoke up.

"I uh, well I."

"Yeah anyway Blue." Red agreed.

"Okay okay, my little stupid little stunt was stupid." She admitted while walking up to and kneeling next to Violet, "But see how he saved me? If he were a bad person he wouldn't've saved me, see?"

"I guess." Violet said quietly.

"So then it wasn't a total loss." Blue could still see Violet's upset, unsettled face, it yanked at her heart, "I'm sorry. I won't do anything dumb like that again."

"Promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to, erm, well you get the idea. I was holding on to my Blastoise's Poké Ball the whole time, so I wasn't actually in any danger." Violet didn't completely understand, but seemed to feel better, or act like it anyway and hugged Blue, "Aw. Sweet kid."

"Yeah so don't scare her so bad." Red finished and sat down, "Or me."

"Sweet boy." She said, reaching over and affectionately tousling his hair, "So Violet, to help make up for scaring you like that, why don't Red and I tell you about the Pokédex you were so curious about?"

"Oh yeah, what is it?" Violet asked, remembering what this was originally about.

She seemed to forget and let go of what Blue had just done and how upset she was. That was the important thing, Blue thought, "Alright then, first the Pokédex, then we'll take you to the doctor. Speaking of, Red, who was the doctor you were thinking of?"

"Oh I think you know."

...

"Red, Blue, this has got to stop. I am a Pokémon researcher, not a physician. You need to start seeing an actual doctor for these things." Said old Professor Oak.

"Oh come on Professor it won't take long. We don't expect her to have anything big. Just do your thing." Blue requested in the tone of a pleading child.

Oak sighed, "Alright, but this can't persist. I know of a doctor who works not far from here. His name is Dr. Mario."

"Dr. Mario? Seriously?" Red said in amusement and disbelief.

"I know," Oak said with a smile, sharing in Red's knowledge and entertainment, "he gets that reaction a lot, or so he says." Oak turned to the little girl that Blue had sat on the table in his lab, "So then, Violet was it?" The young girl nodded, "I'm Professor Oak, it's very nice to meet you."

Violet smiled, it was hard to explain and it would've been even harder for someone as young as she was. But teenagers were just plain intimidating to her, whereas seniors just plain weren't. It helped that Red and Blue talked to her so she'd know what to expect. She felt comfortable knowing that "he's a friend's grandpa, he gave us the Pokédex, he's kind of like our grandpa too" and other such things. It was Red's decision to bring her here. They know they should see a real doctor, but at least Prof. Oak knew first aid.

When researching something as powerful as Pokémon, you find yourself in need of several miscellaneous skills. His grandchildren shared his love of Pokémon, and even if they didn't they were children nonetheless, so he had to know how to look after them when they got hurt. Though perhaps his memory was slipping on the subject, because he remembered one day becoming a father and the next it seemed he was looking after what felt like the whole town. The old man only remembered having one child, and then two grandchildren. His granddaughter Daisy and his grandson. What was his name again? Oh darn, his memory really was going. Was it Green? Yes I remember now, his name is Green.

And then one day, after the ninth Pokémon League specifically, he ended up looking after another two children named Red and Blue. It's funny how that worked out. Neither of them seemed to have any family, they were resourceful young trainers, Blue living on the run, Red having a house he somehow managed to keep and live in on his own. Maybe he lived with someone at some point, Red was never clear on the subject and Prof. Oak had never seen anyone when he visited.

Blue was alone and originally homeless. Oak recognized her as the girl who had been kidnapped six years ago, or rather, eleven or so years now, she had family but it took another five years to find them. There was a boy named Silver she looked after but they had separated when he had found her. While they, and his grandson for that matter were more than capable of taking care of themselves and were by no means normal children, he saw their potential, entrusted them with the Pokédex, the most valuable thing he had, and took it upon himself to look after them. From his perspective he had done a subpar job at best, but they were happy, that's all that mattered.

After asking a few questions and checking her breathing and cough, Prof. Oak announced; "As far as I can tell, she's fine."

"Thanks Professor." Blue replied.

"You're very welcome. Well, not really, I wish you'd see a doctor more often. Anyway, I'll give Crystal a call to let her know you're coming."

"Hey Blue," Red tapped her arm, "look."

He pointed at Violet, who had hopped off the table and started exploring the lab. She weaved through the books and papers scattered all over, being extra careful not to step on or knock anything over. She was looking at all the Pokémon in their Poké Balls. It's not that she hadn't had exposure to Pokémon before, but she'd never seen them this close up, or this many, or in Poké Balls. She always thought it was "neato" how they made them so small. It wasn't until she was this close to them that it hit her just how many different kinds there were. Some were asleep, others were ignoring her, but some of them were eyeing her back. They had varying emotions, some were as curious and bug eyed as she was, some were wary or even afraid of her while others were interested and excited.

"Aw." Blue sighed under her breath.

"Takes me back." Red said.

"I bet." Prof. Oak said back to him, knowing what he was talking about before walking over to Violet.

"Bulbasaur story?" Blue asked.

"Bulbasaur story." Red confirmed, referring to his first time visiting Prof. Oak's lab and ended up getting his Bulbasaur.

Violet was still curiously examining the Pokémon, her arm stretched out, reminding herself not to touch what wasn't hers when Oak came up beside her, "Looks like you've taken a liking to the Pokémon." Violet looked at him to pay attention to what he had to say before her attention was whisked back to the Pokémon, "You can bring one out if you like." He offered.

Violet looked back at him in surprise, "I can?" Oak nodded, Violet looked back at them for a second and turned back to ask; "Are they nice?"

"Of course. Erm, well maybe not that one." He said, moving a Primeape out of her reach, "But go right ahead, pick your favorite."

Violet looked around the rows upon rows of Poké Balls. She took in all of their colors, shapes, sizes. She looked at the ones with soft expressions, hoping to find a friendly one. It was somewhat intimidating, she didn't know anything about them or how they would act if they were let out. But the man seemed to know a lot, and he moved one he said wouldn't be nice. He seemed to be in control so why not? She looked at the Pokémon in front of her one last time, and reached out for her favorite.

"I wanna see this one." She said, holding the Poké Ball she picked out in front of her.

"Okay, now just gently toss it in front of you." Oak instructed with a hand motion to give Violet a visual idea of what to do.

Violet did her best to imitate it, it startled her when the ball opened halfway on its way to the ground and in a cloudy puff emerged a small purple Pokémon. It had long ears protruding from the back of its head that were blue on the inside. It was mostly round with round hind legs, it had spines on its back and a horn on it forehead. A big forehead, big eyes and a small fang visible from its mouth made it look cute, if also threatening. That dichotomy made it interesting to her, she didn't know what she liked about it, it mixed her emotions and she wanted to see it out of curiosity. She didn't understand any of this though, as far as she knew she just liked it.

"This is called a Nidoran." The Professor explained as it started to sniff and look around curiously before fixing its gaze on the person who released it, "You can pet him if you want. He likes that, just be careful of the horn and the spines on his back, and go slow." He said, doing exactly what he described.

Violet hesitantly followed his actions, she pet the Nidoran slowly a few times until she was comfortable, she smiled, "He's so cute."

"Hey Professor, is he gonna get overwhelmed if we come over?" Blue asked.

"No, by all means."

"Is this one of Crystal's?" Red asked as he walked up with Blue.

"No, poor thing got lost and wandered all the way from Victory Road far as I can figure." He explained, "You can pet him too, just mind the spines."

And they did, Blue pet him on his right side and Red got under his chin. Nidoran stretched out his neck, enjoying all the attention. Violet almost put her hand on the horn but stopped herself. While being pet it started to lift its head and sniffed Violet's hand, then it started to nibble on the loose strings of her shirt, it was more playing with them then trying to eat them. It was then Blue notices how old Violet's clothes were.

"You got some pretty messed up sleeves there kid." Blue said, "As a matter of fact your clothes look really worn and dirty." She lifted her head and announced to everyone in the room; "We should get her some new clothes before we take her to Crystal."

"But it's my favorite shirt." Violet complained.

"We can save it but we have to get you some new clothes too."

She looked at them and then down at the Nidoran who was starting to get tired of the string, "What about the Pokémon?"

"Nidoran?" Red spoke up, Violet ducked her head back and slunk away, "Well, Professor what were you doing with 'im?"

"You mean research wise? Well, not much, the only thing remarkable about him is that he's incredibly docile for wild Nidoran." He replied.

"So it's not vital that you hang on to this one then right?" Red asked.

"She can keep it if that's what you're asking." Upon hearing Oak's words Violet gasped with an excited expression, "But only if she takes good care of him and considers his needs to be of the utmost importance."

"I will, promise." Violet replied.

"I don't see any reason to stop you then."

Violet turned and carefully pulled her new Nidoran closer and pet it, Blue patted Violet's head, "That was real nice of Red and Professor Oak wasn't it?"

Violet knew what she was getting at, "Thank you Red. Thank you Professor Oak." She said, turning to each of them.

...

Red and Blue had taken Violet to an out of the way clothing store in Viridian. Blue found it, she found all these stores, no matter what town Red went to he never seemed to be able to find one himself. She was finding all sorts of outfits for Violet while Red stayed out of the way. Blue had a taste for fashion and knew how to bring out the best possible look in someone. Of course like most of Blue's talents that had a dark origin, but she found a way to put a positive spin on it. Like now.

"What about that one Violet?" Blue asked from outside the door to the booth in the changing room Violet was in.

"I don't like this color." She replied.

"Did I pick out too much purple?" Blue asked, switching out the shirts from the top of the stall.

"No. You got a lot of red though."

"Did I?" Blue started to whisper under her breath, "Man I've got a lot to get out of my system."

"You mean Red?" Violet spoke up.

"Those are some good ears you got there kiddo. Come out, let's see how that 4th one looks."

Violet stepped out. She was wearing a dark red, long sleeved shirt, and some new blue jeans. Her worn out shoes were replaced with light purple and white ones with a glittery flower patterns. Blue helped her comb and wash her chin length hair in a sink in the bathroom earlier, so her hair was straighter and reached past her chin. Blue had a hard time getting it to stay out of her face.

All Blue had to say for her hard work was; "Aw, you look cute Violet. Give us a twirl." Violet obeyed, giving Blue the chance to see the whole thing, "That one's a keeper. Now all I think we need is for something to keep your Nidoran's Poké Ball in. I'm sure they have a belt with holsters around here."

"Blue." Violet looked concerned.

"Hm?"

"What if mommy won't let me keep him?"

Blue froze, she didn't want to tell Violet upfront that she was going back on her word, and especially didn't want to get her upset before getting her settled in to everything she was going to have to adjust to, "I... I can't answer that Violet. But if you take really good care of him, no one will take him away."

"Besides Red got him for you, he's a good judge of character when it comes to these things. I mean look at him." Blue pointed to Red, who was sitting on a bench in the middle of the changing room petting Nidoran, Nidoran was laying on his side with his head resting on Red's leg.

Violet looked away solemnly, she couldn't explain, even to herself, what was wrong.

...

Violet had several of her new clothes packed away in the lime green backpack Blue had gotten for her. They also got her a toy. "They" as in, Blue never bothered to pick up her bag and made Red pay for everything. In fairness she agreed to pay him back for it all. She let him go home already, he felt kind of bad about not seeing the kid off but she didn't seem all the comfortable around him anyway. Blue just wanted to make sure Violet would be happy, given everything that's happened. Maybe Red had a point with that whole naming thing.

"So Violet, You have all the stuff you need, you have that toy to remember us by. They'll handle everything else you need, we've got a friend who works here every day you're gonna meet her in a sec, anything you need just talk to her. But the biggest thing is that you gotta take care of little Nidoran, kay? You can talk to her about that too, she's an expert. She works with Professor Oak."

Violet looked at Blue with hopeful eyes, "So is this where my mommy is gonna pick me up?"

Blue didn't want to answer that, luckily she didn't have to, "Hey Blue!"

Blue turned around and saw Crystal walking up to them with her hand in the air, "Hey Crys. Violet, this is Crystal, the friend I was just telling you about."

"She has a really pretty name." Violet said.

"Thank you." Crystal said.

Violet ducked behind Blue's leg, she didn't think Crystal could hear her, Blue just smiled, "She's shy, okay up you go." She lifted Violet out from behind her and up into her arms, "You're gonna have to get used to seeing her. Introduce yourself."

Violet was summoning her confidence when Crystal spoke up, "Maybe I should start. I'm Crystal, what's your name?"

Crystal knew, Prof. Oak had informed her ahead of time but she also knew how to best engage shy children, "I. I'm Violet."

"That's fitting, you've got pretty purple eyes." Crystal said.

"I thought so too. That's why I call her that." Blue joined in.

"Oh that's right you named her." Crystal switched her attention back to Violet, "That must be why you seem so attached, you like hanging out with Blue?" Violet nodded, "We're both Pokédex owners, that's how I know her. Did she tell you what the Pokédex is?" She nodded again, noticeably more comfortably, "Sounds like you did a lot in the time you had."

"Well you'll have a lot of time to get to know each other." Blue said.

"Yeah Blue, I actually wanted to talk to you about that." Crystal said with a worrying change of voice. Blue's smile faded, "Why don't we let little Violet wait inside while we talk. She can play with her Nidoran."

...

"Full? Whatta you mean full?" Blue asked.

"I mean we've run out of places to put these kids ages ago. Look at that playground out there, I need to look after all of that myself." Crystal pointed, Blue would've guessed there was some 60 kids, too many to all fit on the swings and monkey bars that were spread about, "Those are just the ones who go outside, we've got more. Every orphanage in the country is full."

"What happened, was there a baby boom?" Blue asked.

"No it's just. Well, there's a lot of things, but really, how often does the vision of a perfect family include an adopted child? When people decide to make that choice, they usually bring a new life into the world, not adopt one. Children end up in orphanages for all kinds of reasons, no family, existing family unable or unwilling to take care of them, child abuse and neglect are increasingly popular ones. There are no vacancies, as soon as one kid leaves, another one takes their place. When I say we have no where to put her, I mean we literally don't even have the physical space to have her here and treat her humanely. It's been this way for a while." Crystal explained.

"I had no idea."

"Most people don't."

Blue and Crystal walked back in, pondering over their next decision. Violet was sitting on a bench, Nidoran laying next to her leg that barely reached the floor. She looked down at it, in blank contemplation of her day, what she's doing now, and what's about to happen to the best of her young ability. She looked up and gave a small smile at Blue and Crystal, paying little mind to their slightly concerned looks.

"So what do you wanna tell her?" Blue asked.

"Look, I'll find something for her. I'll keep her at my house if I have to." Crystal said.

Blue smiled inexplicably, "That won't be necessary." She bent over and picked Violet up as she'd become accustom to doing over the day, "If you needed to do that there wasn't any point in bringing her here." She turned back to Crystal, "So I have another proposition."

...

That stuff about orphanages being full is true by the way, in Japan anyway. Here in the states we don't have orphanages, we have foster homes. We also have a long and expensive process of adoption, and we've also ran out of places to put our kids, so the next time someone says "adoption is always an option" smack them for me, because it's really not anymore. Anyway, don't let me get all very-special-episode on you. I love/hate how I built up this cliffhanger ending and yet there isn't a single one of you who can't guess what happens next. Some of you may notice I dropped "Little" from the title. I don't know, it just felt too cutesy and perfect-little-angel, real kids are as much hassle as they are joy. I really don't have much to say about this one. Everything just sort of explains itself.