Dear Supporter,

Happy Mothers Day Mom!

We may not agree on everything, but despite all that I do, you’ve raised me up to be more than I ever thought I could be, I love you Mum!

Now seriously…. Go hug, call, or text your mother!

Creepy but cute

Jacob leaned against the counter, finally a break! He looked through the kitchen window to see his coworker, and also crush, Autumn as she was working her job in the café… well one in many part time jobs she has. She looked real cute in the uniform and apron, he looked away before anyone noticed. Jacob heard the door ring the bell, he looked over just to see… a little girl? By herself? She had black hair in two low pigtails, hazel eyes- and you could really see the blue and green in this girl’s eyes- a long sleeve hot pink top, and denim shorts. She looked about in kindergarten, maybe 4 years old. Jacob found himself getting a little worried, there were only two reasons that a girl this young would be by herself alone; she was lost, or there was something wrong with the parents.

Jacob was about to go to her, but before he could open the counter. “Hey sis!” Autumn called. The little girl’s face turned from a neutral look, to an extremely contagious smile. “Sissy!” The little girl singed as she ran to her nineteen year old sister to tackle hug her. Her tiny little arms just barely came up to her waist, as she giggled and squealed with delight. Autumn bent down, picked the little girl up, spun her around and laughed. “So how was school?” She asked, as she set her down at the barstool counter.

“It was so much fun!! Cindy wasn’t being mean to Lilly, Monty and Carla caught a frog at recess, and Penny and I made a friendship bracelet for Nugget!” The little girl said.

“That’s great Lelu!” Autumn said.

“Excuse me!” Jacob looked to another customer, “where’s my Oreo cheesecake?”

“Oh, sorry! Uh, Lelu, hang on I gotta to work. Stay here, don’t talk to any strangers, and I’ll be right back,” Autumn said.

“Yes Ma’am,” Lelu confirmed, as she set her backpack in the barstool next to her.

Jacob watched Lelu with curiosity, Autumn had a sister? Autumn doesn’t talk about her family much, but why didn’t she ever mentioned Lelu? Wait… If there could’ve been a lightbulb above Jacob’s head, it would be going off right about now, that and Jacob could’ve sworn he heard a triangle dinging in the background. Maybe if I watch Lelu, be nice to her, she’ll put a good word in with Autumn for me. Jacob looked back at Autumn, blush dusting his cheeks as he saw her kneading the dough for the pie crust. “Ooooh!~” Lelu sang. Oh, PECK! Jacob looked back to Lelu as she gave him a very excited look. “Do you like my sissy! Are you, her boyfriend!?” Lelu exclaimed. If Jacob bared any sort of resemblance to a vegetable, he would most certainly be a beet right now.

“N- No!!” Jacob said, flustered.

“Oh! It’s okay, I won’t tell… I’m good at keeping secrets, shh,” Lelu whispered, winking.

Jacob chuckled, cute kid. “My name is Jacob, I’m your sister’s co-worker,” Jacob said.

“I’m Lisa Lucy Hailey, but everyone calls me Lelu,” Lelu said, taking some materials out of her backpack.

“What’cha got there Lelu?” Jacob asked. Lelu held out some thin yarn thread material, one red, another blue.

“Which one do you like?” Lelu asked.

“Hmm, that’s a tough one, but I think I’m gonna have to go with this one,” Jacob pointed to the blue one.

“Yay!”

Jacob chuckled again. “What’cha ya doing there?”

“I’m making a friendship bracelet. I had one earlier today but Buggs stole it today at lunch. I think he was expecting to grab one of my cookies though, he seemed mad that I told him he couldn’t have one.”

Jacob’s smile faded; she wasn’t being bullied right? “And… what did you do?”

Lelu fell silent, and all of the sudden started giggling uncontrollably, like some villain laughing. She uncovered her right wrist to reveal a green, pink, and purple bracelet. “You fool! Now we’re best friends forever!” Lelu said, pridefully. Jacob covered his mouth from his laugh attack, and pounded on the desk a little. If that was not the cutest way to deal with a bully, he didn’t know what was!

Jacob watched as Lelu’s tiny little hands wove through the materials. “So… how’s school? Ya got any friends?” He asked, trying to break the ice. “Mph!” Lelu nodded, “I go to the new kindergarten school that just opened up! There’s not that many kids going there yet, and there’s only two teachers working there right now. But the principal’s daughter is my best friend!” Lelu’s hands made quick work of the material in her hands, as the blue and yellow thread started to bear resemblance to a bracelet. She must’ve done this a couple of dozen times if she can make a bracelet that fast.

“Hold your arm out,” Lelu smiled. Jacob reached his arm across the countertop and as soon as he was within her reach, Lelu started to tie the bracelet around his wrist. “There!” Lelu beamed, “we’re friends now!” Ah! My heart! Jacob thought, Lelu was a very sweet little girl. Lelu reached into her bag and pulled out some crayons, some paper, and started to draw. Jacob squinted at the paper. Weird… he thought, that paper is all yellow and crinkled, how old is that?

“Is Sissy gonna be done with work soon?” Lelu asked.

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be too long from now, why?” Jacob asked.

“Lisa wants to talk to She when we get home, but she doesn’t want to leave me alone here,” Lelu said. Wait what? “That and I kinda need help with homework, we’re supposed to draw our family.”

“Wait, wait, wait… who’s Lisa? And by ‘she’ do ya mean your sister?” Jacob asked confused. What the heck did this kid just say? ‘Lisa wants to talk to She when we get home’ what does she mean by ‘she doesn’t want to leave me alone here? As far as Jacob could tell, Lelu came in alone… right?

Lelu shook her head, “no, I mean She… the lady that lives in my closet… her name is She.” Jacob felt his pulse beat a tad bit faster… did… did he hear that right? Nah, she’s… she’s gotta be playing here. She’s a kid they have big imaginations. “So, this Lisa and She people… friends of yours?” Jacob asked, trying to play along. Lelu nodded as she continued to draw, so far, the drawing had what appeared to be Autumn and Lelu side by side. “So, what they like?” Jacob asked.

“She has pretty black short hair, red eyes, and another pair of arms on her back. At night She would be at the foot of my bed and listened to me talk, but back when Daddy wasn’t asleep yet he would come in and yell at me for still being awake, She would look at Daddy with an angry look on her face,” Lelu said.

Jacob listened in silence… wait a second… ‘when Daddy wasn’t asleep yet’… oh god… please don’t mean what I think you mean. Calm down man… “Huh,” Jacob nodded, “are you drawing your Mommy and Daddy?” Jacob shifted his attention towards the drawing. “No, this is a recent family drawing. Lisa, She, and my Sissy tell me Mommy and Daddy gone to sleep for a while,” Lelu explained. Oh! Jacob thinks he found out why Autumn doesn’t talk about her family much. “Oh, um… do you miss them?” Jacob said, hoping to keep what actually happened to her parents as far away from Lelu as possible.

“Umm…” Lelu started, “I miss my Mommy a lot, Sissy, Lisa, and She do too.”

“And what about your Daddy?”

“Not… really…”

Wait what?

“My daddy was… kinda mean…” Lelu said sadly, “he always made me and Sissy really uncomfortable, he would always yell, shout, and sometimes even hit us with his bottles full of that juice he loves so much.”

Jacob felt his heart drop at the words. He looked back at the kitchen, with Autumn finishing up the Oreo cheesecake, he then looked at the bottles of liquor that they would dress some of the food in sometimes… Autumn would never even touch a bottle, she always refused, even to the manager… no wonder. “Oh, Autumn,” Jacob said under his breathe, he turned back to Lelu and her drawing.

Jacob’s eyes widened. The drawing now had some lady on the right side of Lelu, it was just as Lelu described; short black hair, with one red eye covered the other came with a red smile the lady had a black strapless crop top of some kind, with a raggedy black skirt that went below the knees. But the way she looked was nothing compared to the arms on her back, Lelu was drawing some black sticks on the back of this person, with black balls for the palms and black sticks for fingers, not as detailed as the arms at the lady’s sides were. This lady’s skin was black, and Jacob didn’t mean the race color black like his… this lady’s skin was ash black, dark grey was her skin tone. Lelu put much more thought, care, effort, and detail into this person in comparison to how she drew her and her sister. Yo! Bruh! What the peck?!

It was then that Jacob was starting to become scarred, no kid would have an imagination like this… right? That’s gotta be She… he thought. “I still don’t understand why Daddy did what he did to us… he said he loved us, but I don’t see anyone else’s Daddy’s hurt them like he does with us.” Lelu looked like she was about to cry. Jacob decided not to push the subject any further, he didn’t want to make the kid cry. He gently rubbed Lelu’s head. “Yeah, I don’t know how he could do that to you or your sister… but the important thing is, ya’ll are alright now right?” Lelu looked up at him, and smiled. “Yeah, at least he won’t be mean anymore when he wakes up!” Lelu said hopeful. …HUH?!

Jacob withdrew his hand to his side of the counter. “… Huh?” He squeaked. “Yeah, Lisa told me that after she came back from her trip! I hope Mommy will wake up too so that we can all be together again!” Lelu exclaimed happily, as she continued with her drawing. Now judging by Lelu’s previous reactions to talking about her dad, Jacob knew he should leave it be and just move on to something else… but damn it! Curiosity is going to kill this cat! “Lelu… what do you mean… Lisa went on a trip? What kind of trip did she go on?” He asked. Lelu continued happily with her drawing and swung her legs back and forth a little. “One night, Lisa and I went for a walk around our neighborhood, Lisa wanted to stay out until the moon and stars came out so we waited. When we came back Daddy was there with a big angry face. I tried to explain to him what happened but he yelled at me and said ‘Lisa is stupid and fake!’ then he grabbed one of his juice bottles and he hit me…” Lelu explained sadly, “Daddy kept shouting and yelling at me, Lisa got really sad and upset and then she just… disappeared.”

Jacob felt like he was listening to some scarry story you would hear around the campfire. Only this time… he didn’t think it was just some kid using her imagination to cope with having a crappy dad. This felt real… very real.

“The next day, when Daddy left for work, he was gone all day. He didn’t even come home to eat dinner. He was gone for the entire weekend and then Monday as well. Lisa was gone for a long time too; I didn’t see her since the night when Daddy hit me and made her sad. Finally… Lisa was back home! And she had news about my Daddy!” Lelu said.

Jacob was on edge here… what did Lisa tell her? “And what did she say?” He asked, trying not to sound anxious, but it was kind of hard at this point.

Jacob saw the finished drawing. On the left side, next to Autumn, was a lady of some kind. There were no feet, it looked like the lady was floating. The lady was wearing a pure white tattered dress that was as white as her skin. But her lack of feet and pure white skin was nothing compared to the red crayon Lelu paused marking on her. There was blood… it had to be blood, there’s no way it was anything else! There was blood coming out of the thing’s eyes, a big stitch in the bottom right of her dress with more red blood coming out, blood all over her lips and- Oh God! There was a thick heavy black line in the white lady’s throat and blood splattered and dripping all over her. With no other of Lelu’s friends that she’s told him about… there was no doubt in his mind that this was Lisa.

These things Lelu has been telling him about are not something a normal kid would think of! And from what Jacob can gather, Lelu doesn’t even know that her dad was being abusive to her or her family, or even understand life and death yet for that matter!

Lelu paused her crayon strokes and looked up at him, still smiling. “Lisa told me he’s sleeping now… just like my Mommy…” Lelu said. WHAT THE F-!?

Jacob felt his heart skip a beat! Lisa killed Autumn’s Dad?! Jacob was frozen and didn’t say anything. Thoughts were swirling in his head. He loved ghost stories and the paranormal as much as the next guy, but to actually hear an actual experience happening to one of his friend’s family! Oh Boy!

“Jakey?” Lelu called out to him, “are you okay?” Jacob snapped out of the trance he was in and drew his attention back to the child in front of him. “U-um… Yeah! Yeah! All cool bruh!” Jacob stuttered. Lelu looked at him worryingly. “Are you sure?” She asked. “Yeah! Hey listen, it’s all good-“

“YO! Snake Jake!” Jacob jumped at the nickname that only one person uses. He turned his attention to Felicia who was holding some large trays of pastries in each hand and heading up the steps to the second floor. “Your break ended like, 10 minutes ago! What’re you doing!? You gonna help me out or what?!” She shouted at him. Jacob breathed a heavy sigh, part of it out of annoyance and the other part relieved. “I’m coming! I’m coming!” Jacob said, he turned back to Lelu, “my break just ended so, I gotta get back to work.”

“Aw! Okay…” Lelu pouted.

“I’ll see ya around Lelu.” Jacob held his fist out to her and Lelu bumped him back.

She giggled. “Okay, bye-bye Jakey!” Lelu waved.

Jacob picked up trays from the window to take to table 23, and started to make his way to the stairs. “Bye-bye Lelu!” He said back smiling.

“JAKE!!!” Felicia called.

“COMING!!!” He yelled back in annoyance, and stomped up the stairs.

For the rest of Jacob’s shift, he couldn’t stop thinking about his conversation with Autumn’s little sister. If he was going to be honest, he kinda wanted to forget about the whole thing. But he had a reminder on his wrist. The blue and yellow bands that Lelu weaved for him… a total stranger, who she knew nothing about. Lelu was a very sweet and nice kid, but the friends she had…

Autumn’s shift ended and she finally came out with the Oreo cheesecake. “Sorry, that took so long sir! Here you are.” She said, as she handed the old man his plate. “Oh, your fine! I could see you had a little one there. She yours? How old is she?” He asked, conversationally.

“Oh, no! She’s not mine! I’m too young to have kids, that’s my little sister. She just got out of kindergarten.”

“Oh… do you watch her all by yourself? What about your parents?”

“… They… have to work a lot of hours. So, I help out with my sister…”

Jacob was listening in on the conversation. That was the same lie that Autumn told the manager and the rest of the staff. Her parents are barely around, they work a lot, she hardly sees them. Jacob can’t help but wonder why though. Why would she lie about that?

Autumn finished her conversation with the old man and went to grab her bag out of the locker room. When she came back, she hugged Felicia goodbye and went to the counter. “Lelu! Come on! We gotta go home!” Autumn called. Lelu perked her head up, and started to stuff her crayons and folder in her backpack. She crawled out of her barstool, her feet were dangling as she carefully reached the bottom, and then skipped over to her older sister. They were out of Jacob’s hearing range, but he could see the old, yellowed, crinkled paper that had Lelu’s drawing in her hand. She showed it to Autumn, who crouched down to Lelu’s level. Jacob was waiting for some kind of worried or scared reaction from her but instead, Autumn gave a warm smile and kissed Lelu on her head, receiving a squeal and giggles of delight from the tiny child. Then Autumn took Lelu’s hand in hers, and they left the café together. There was only one reason why anyone would react that way… she was used to it, she knew!

Jacob stopped cleaning the table, and went to clean the counter off, but something caught his eye. It was folded up yellowed notebook paper, and in a hot pink crayon it read; To: Jakey; Love: Lelu and Lisa. Jacob did a double take, and realized what it read. His eyes widened as he quickly unfolded the paper.

It was a drawing of Lelu sitting at what seemed to be the counter, across from it Jacob assumed was himself… but behind him… was that thing from Lelu’s drawing. It was Lisa… only now… her black and red mouth was curved up into a smile. In the hot pink crayon like written on the outside read;

Thank you for being our friend!

Kanna’s first Christmas Part 1

I might make this into a little mini series…

Seriously tho, was I the only one as a kid who was absolutely shocked and couldn’t believe that not every kid in the world got presents on Christmas Day? I found it absolutely blasphemous!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I’m very thankful for all of my friends and family that have helped me through so much and I hope to help them like how they helped me. I love you guys! 💝

@diabolik-boys Azusa, you were the first ever friend I made on tumblr and I love how you are always willing to lend a hand to me when I need it. Just remember to take breaks and rest when you need it, and that I will always be there for you when you need someone, I’m just a message away.

@dialovers-lover-xoxo Sarah, you are so creative with your work, and you help me in return with my writers block. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with all your friend and family.

@drtesla2426 Sparky, I love you so so much! I’m so thankful that you and I are together, you’re so special to me that sometimes I feel like you’re out of my league, but I know that you love me too and I hope you and your family have a wonderful thanksgiving feast! 🫶🏻💕

Pokémon Ghost Story

Nessa sat her glass of champagne down, and glanced over to the new champion. It looked like Gloria was trying to keep a fight between Bede and Hop from breaking out… again. Nessa found herself smiling, wondering if those two will ever be on good terms with each other, probably never. Although… despite the fact that Bede and Hop don’t get along, they both tend to come to a truce when it comes to Gloria. Hop’s reason was just for typical childhood best friend protection, but Bede’s… well, it was almost like watching a hallmark movie in person.

Opal was sitting at the same table as Bede, watching with the same amused look. He is doing far better though, Nessa thought, ever since Opal took him under her wing, and after that man was put away, he seems so much happier now. Nessa personally didn’t know Bede too well… but even during their short encounter during the gym challenge, she could tell there was some kind of inner demons he was dealing with. It was bugging her for quite some time, and now she’s just grateful that Bede has finally found someone he could consider family.

Bede flinched and looked away as a blush flushed across his face when Gloria cutely hugged him. Nessa’s grin grew wider at the sight. She totally ships them.

“Hey Nessie!~” Of course… she barely had any room to talk when it came to romance. Raihan snuck yet another selfie with his girlfriend. “Raihan! No more pictures tonight, please!” She complained, although a part of her was smiling in amusement. This was what? The eighth? The eleventh picture now? Nessa loved modeling and all, but now it was starting to get annoying, especially since it was all just going to end up on Raihan’s blog anyways.

“What? I can’t take pictures to show the people of Galar what a beauty my girlfriend is?” Raihan said with a grin.

“Not when you’ve been doing it for the entire night,” Nessa did her best not to stare, but Arceus damn! It wasn’t often she got to see Raihan in something other than his regular hoodie and gym clothes. Raihan should honestly consider wearing a suit more often. Raihan looked over to the trio Nessa was eyeing earlier; Bede, Hop, and Glory had all sat down with Ms. Opal and it seemed like the tension was resolved between Hop and Bede… for now, anyways.

“Me and Gordie got $50 on those two getting together by the end of the season,” Raihan stated smirking.

Nessa tore her eyes away from them and looked back to him, a little taken aback, but not surprised. “You guys bet on this?”

“Yeah why? Is that wrong?” He asked cheekily, chuckling as she rolled her eyes at him, “Hey, him and Pierce did the same thing with us and now look!” That she couldn’t deny, even if they’ve only been dating for several months now.

“You act like we’ve been together for a few years, when it’s only been a couple of months,” Nessa sighed.

She should’ve guessed what was going to come out of his mouth next after seeing that shit-eating grin of his. “Hey it seems a couple of months is enough for our little ‘after parties’ if last night was anything to go by.”

Nessa nearly spat out her drink as fluster and embarrassment quickly made its presence be known on her face. “RAIHAN!” She hissed. She swatted at his arm as he laughed almost loud enough to catch people’s attention at the charity gala.

Why did she decide to date the one person who drove her crazy half of the time again? “I really hate you sometimes,” she grumbled.

“Nah! That’s not true! You love me, and you know it,” Raihan said.

“Shut up, Raihan!”

“Make me why don’t ya?”

Nessa responded by a short, soft kiss on the lips. Despite that cocky attitude Raihan liked to display, a kiss or two seemed to be enough to shut him up… for now.

Before Raihan could take yet another photo of them, (this time Nessa was willing) a slow dance song was played. “Hey, wanna have one last dance before this party ends?” Raihan asked holding out his hand. Nessa finished her glass off and took his offer. They were joined on the dancefloor by a couple of other pairs, two of them being; Victor and Marnie, and Sonia and the former champion himself, Leon. Nessa rested her head on Raihan’s chest, letting herself fall into the rhythm and movement of the dance. This night was perfect, everyone here together after months of nonstop work as gym leaders or research, what could happen?

***

And as the party ended… wouldn’t you know it? All of the Sky Taxies were full! Raihan wanted Nessa to take his place on the Taxi, but Nessa had brought her rental car for them to arrive in anyways, so she sent Raihan off, promising to drive safely. Safer than Raihan anyways, he drank far too much tonight to be driving in her stead.

As Nessa got situated in the driver’s seat, she finally noticed Alister sitting right outside her window. “AH! Oh! Hoo!” Nessa jumped. How does he do that every single TIME?! “Um… Hi- Hi Nessa,” Alister stuttered as Nessa rolled down her window.

“Hey, Alister, you scared me there… again,” Nessa laughed weakly, still coming down from her shock.

“S-s-sorry, but- but I had to tell you something,” Alister said.

“What’s up?”

Alister played with his hands for a bit, stuttering and trying to let the words come out. Nessa, like the rest of the gym leaders, knew Alister struggled socially, so she was patient with him. “I- um- I- I’ve been- I’ve been feeling something strange… near a certain area of Wyndon… and it-it’s probably nothing… but uh… I wasn’t going to bring it up to anyone because they were all taking the sky taxies… but uhm- be careful? Please?” Alister asked.

Nessa found it a bit odd… what certain spot was Alister talking about? Where was this specific spot? What was it that made him feel uneasy? One by one, questions were floating through her head. “Okay, thank you Alister, you be careful going home too alright?” She said reassuringly. Alister nodded and waved goodnight.

***

The drive to the hotel Nessa and Raihan booked was a long one. It was currently 1:17 am, Nessa was tired and felt her eyelids were getting heavy with each passing second. Maybe this was a bad idea, maybe she should’ve just waited for one of the Taxi’s to come back. But she was already more than half ways there, not much further.

As Nessa drove in the dark, she felt uneasy as she drove underneath one of the many bridges of Wyndon. Nessa shivered as all of the sudden it was freezing cold. She looked at her thermostat, it was 41 C, Weird… it was just 77 a moment ago… Nessa didn’t think anything of it, and simply turned it back to what it was before.

The drive was more unsettling as Nessa discovered there were fewer and fewer cars on the road with her, and before the water type gym leader could realize it… she was the only one at the next stoplight. Nessa didn’t know if it was her paranoia or if this was the certain road Alister told her not to go down, but the chills never stopped, and now she could feel as if someone was following her, but when Nessa looked in her rear view mirrors, she was the only one on the roads as of right now. Nessa left one hand on the steering wheel, and placed the other on her purse. If anything did go wrong… at least she’d have Drednaw and the others to back her up.

As Nessa felt she was being a bit exaggerative, she focused herself, knowing she would hear from Raihan later if he caught wind that she was scarred. Nessa looked at her GPS, only two blocks away from the hotel. Nessa smiled in relief as this would all be over soon. Nessa felt herself beginning to relax as she drove by the lake, she once did a shoot for, she remembered the Pokémon there well, the sweet little Poliwag, the kind Lapris, and the cute little Marill that basically stuck to her leg for the whole shoot. Nessa smiled, that was also the lake where she used to go with her father as a child.

Nessa pulled herself out of her thoughts, before she got distracted by memory lane. She was almost there, just a little bit more. As Nessa drove under yet another bridge, she saw something that made her slow down… there was a child… alone… on the side of the road… and at freaking 1:55 in the morning! Nessa slowed down, staring, until she came to a complete stop… this didn’t seem right. The child was alone, no adult in sight, wearing a sky blue dress that reached down to her knees, and it was 44 degrees outside!

Nessa wondered if she should call someone first, but out of fear of the little girl running off, she rolled down her window. “Hey, honey?! Kid!” She called out, with no response, “Sweetie! Kid!” Nessa tried again, louder this time, there was again… no response. This time, Nessa blew the horn… nothing… not even a flinch, the girl’s back was still turned away from her. Nessa was a little creeped out, no response or even a reaction. As creeped out as she was… this little girl could need help. Nessa unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car; she was just going to go to the little girl herself. As Nessa closed her door, she looked to where the little girl was… or rather… would’ve been. The little girl was gone.

What in Garentina’s dimension? Nessa found herself worrying now… where did she go? Or was it just her mind playing tricks on her? It was almost 2 in the morning, and she was exhausted. After spending 12 minutes or so calling out for the little girl, there was no one in sight. Nessa chalked it up to her own imagination, blamed her tiredness, and went back to her car, although she still couldn’t shake the worry she felt for the child.

Nessa was only one block away from the hotel, and thought the rest of the way would go without incident. But then came the frost that grew on her windshield way too suddenly, as the streetlamps flickered. It was freezing! Nessa could now see her own breathe in her car! The frost grew and covered the windows and her mirrors. Nessa stopped breathing as she heard a raggedy breath, and looked over to the passenger seat.

There she was… there was the little girl… only now that Nessa could see her face… she wish she didn’t. The girl’s skin was paler than Alister’s, her eyes were empty sockets, and her black wavy hair was all in her face. She wore a sky blue dress with some summer boots, and held a well-loved Buneary plushy in her lap. She just stared at Nessa with those blank eyes of hers.

Nessa saw her in her passenger seat, she screamed as she swerved across the road, hitting the breaks as hard as she could while steering away from crashing. Nessa knew you were supposed to just go with the car, and take your feet off the brakes until your tires touched the roads again, but she did it entirely on instinct! Nessa screamed full voice as she screwed her eyes closed, hoping that her incident in this car would be painless as long as it was over already!

Nessa felt her car stop abruptly as she was finally on the road again instead of ice… her eyes cautiously opened to the size of saucers, taking in shallow breathes as she greedily sucked in air. Nessa cautiously, slowly, and shakingly took her hands off of the steering wheel, still coming down from the shock of her near death experience. When Nessa finally came down from her shock, she patted her entire body, making sure she was still here and alive. She gasped as she remembered her Pokémon, only to breathe a sigh of relief when she saw they were still in their poke balls undamaged in her purse safe and sound.

Nessa didn’t see any frost covering her windows, no streetlights flickering, and when she looked over to the passenger’s seat… there was no girl or her Buneary plushy anywhere to be seen. What in the name of Kyogre just happened?! Nessa knew she should’ve gotten out of the car, maybe she should just walk the rest of the way to the hotel? She should’ve just drove past the little girl… or was that little girl even there to begin with?

Nessa touched the sides of her temples, starting to contemplate if this was all just in her head… maybe she just drank too much, even though she only had two glasses of champagne and wine tonight, but still… maybe this was all just a hallucination… even if she knew that couldn’t be it, because she felt her tires slip off of the road and onto the ice, but this was the only reasonable explanation she could come up with. Nessa thought about what she should do or should’ve done… but in the end her body acted for her and she resumed her driving the rest of the way to the hotel.

***

It’s been a week and a half since the almost crash scene. Sometimes Nessa wonders what would’ve happened if she had crashed, what would be in the papers? “Famous model and water type gym leader died in fiery car crash” or “Water type gym leader Nessa hospitalized from crash.” Or worse; what would’ve happened to her Pokémon? Nessa shuddered at the thought of anything terrible happening to her beloved Pokémon.

Nessa had decided not to tell Raihan or the other gym leaders about her almost near death experience, just chalking it all up to hallucinations from the alcohol and wine. Nessa had contemplated whether she should tell Alister about the little girl or what she assumed was the spot in Wyndon that made him feel so uneasy. But ultimately decided against it. Nessa wasn’t sure why she didn’t tell her boyfriend or the rest of her fellow gym leaders, maybe out of fear of being told what she’s been telling herself for the past week. But the more time that pasts, the more she is convinced that maybe it wasn’t a hallucination.

Nessa was pulled back to the present when Raihan tapped her leg. “Helloooo?~ Galar to Nessa! You alright?” Raihan asked. Nessa looked at the two other people she was in the flying taxi with; Bea and Milo. “Oh… um… yeah… sorry I guess I just… spaced out for a bit there,” she said. Raihan looked at his girlfriend with a concerned look. “Yeah, ya know, you’ve been doing that a lot lately…” he stated, obviously wanting to know what was up.

“I have not!” Nessa said stubbornly.

“Actually, Raihan has a point,” Bea joined in, “ever since the Gala, you’ve been acting… weird… almost as if you’re not fully here…”

Nessa looked to Milo, who nodded in agreement with Bea’s statement while wearing a concerned look as well. She cringed and mentally scolded at herself for making it that obvious. There was silence for a beat of wings or two, before finally Raihan placed his hand on top of Nessa’s. “Babe,” he said, “something had to have happened on your way back to the hotel that night, you haven’t been yourself since then, and honestly; everyone inside this league can see it… we just want to know what’s going on.” Nessa looked away for a moment, slightly reminded of why she fell for Raihan in the first place. Raihan rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand slightly, waiting for her response. Just as Nessa opened her mouth to speak, the taxi landed with a thud!

“All ashore let’s go ashore!” The taxi man called down laughing. They had arrived at the Wyndon stadium. Nessa looked out her window, one by one, other flying taxi’s that contained the other gym leaders from across Galar had shown up for the start of this year’s season. Nessa looked back to Raihan, who is still looking at her with those pleading eyes of his. Nessa felt a twinge of guilt inside her for making Raihan, one of the most carefree people she knows, worry like this. “Meet me in the lockers after the matches and I’ll tell you,” Nessa said, jumping out of the taxi quickly. Nessa quickly speeding past Bede helping Opal out of the taxi with Gloria and the former steel type gym leader, Peony, inside.

As Nessa was about to go into the stadium, something caught her eye on the bulletin board outside. This board normally contained battle information and battle schedules, but today there was something different. It seemed to be a missing person poster, with contact information and everything. Nessa stepped closer to see who was missing and… felt her heart drop and heard her heart pounding in her ears.

It was the little girl… from the night at the Gala. Only this time she had eyes… beautiful heterochromia eyes, with her right being a pale purple and her other being ice blue. In the photo, the child was cuddling the Buneary plushy that she held in her lap that night, she wore a lavender top with a Milotic on it and blue shorts, with a premier ball clip in her hair to keep the bangs out of her eyes. At the top of the poster read in bright red bold letters:

MISSING!

Gretchen Moya

It’s kind of funny, the sun was out, and if you let it’s warm rays wrap around you… you will feel so warm and fuzzy, but even with the sun out… Nessa felt just as cold as she did that night in the car. She took two little steps backwards, away from the photo… this… this just confirmed… what she saw that night… was no hallucination. Nessa felt the color drain from her face as her breath picked up speed. She didn’t notice some of the gym leaders had stopped to look at her. “Nessa? NESSA!” BONK!

“OW!” Nessa was pulled back to reality once more when Opal had whacked her with her umbrella.

“Ms. Opal!” Bede protested, “terribly sorry Nessa, you can’t take her anywhere.”

“Maybe I should’ve whacked you with this!” Opal threatened holding up her umbrella once more.

“Never mind those two, but Ness… honey? Are you alright?” Melony stepped forward with a concerned look plastered on her face.

“Yeah, you look like you just saw a ghost,” Gordie joined his mother.

Nessa didn’t speak… couldn’t speak… but she should’ve… it would’ve been better than what she did next. Nessa simply turned away from her fellow gym leaders, from her friends, and walked into the stadium to get ready for the day’s matches, leaving the others outside confused and concerned.

Part 2???

I will go down with the ships that are in this! (For real, HOW is Nessa x raihan so underrated???)

I can’t help but get really insecure at times about my art. I see all of this beautiful artwork on tumblr or in comics, things that I strive to be like, and what I want to do for the rest of my life. But then I keep looking at my art… seeing how it’s nothing like how I want it to be, even when I take classes and lessons, nothing changes… and I can’t help but wonder… if I’m not good enough for myself… will I ever be good enough for the real world?

Comic coming Soon!~

I played legends of Arceus the other day and caught a shiny Teddiursa, and I was reminded of Molly’s love of bears! So of course I absolutely HAD to do this! And I love how this turned out! Our little bear cub is so adorable with these little guys! I may draw the others with Pokémon as well, so if you guys have any ideas of what they should be, please let me know! 😊

I still can’t get over how cute this is!

This was a paid commission by one of my neighbors, who is a hula dancer instructor! I loved the way this turned out, and it’s my first time drawing a bonfire with procreate! And don’t ask why but her name is Ānuenue!

Are we twins or something? I do the exact same thing every time!

Crazyheadcomics