Chapter Text
As his uncle had suggested, Michael finished his studies. Instead of going for Pokémon Archaeologist, like his father, he settled for becoming a historian, an expert of the lore’s and legends of the Pokémon World. He would have much rather become an archaeologist, but being a single parent he couldn’t do that to his daughter.
He finished his study at the Rhando Pokémon Academy while taking care of his daughter and living with his uncle. It was a good time, he witnessed his daughters first steps, first words. He played with her and helped her develop her skills.
By the time he graduated four years had passed and while it hadn’t always been easy, he had enjoyed those years. His daughter went to kindergarten and he found a place to live in Mesperit City. During that time he thought about Kimberly a lot, he couldn’t forget her and the pain of her leaving still lingered.
One evening Michael sat in the living room of his house, reading a book. While he hadn’t become what he really wanted to be, he was happy with his life. His Cyndaquil slept on a blanket and his Arcanine lay on the ground as she watched Sharon draw.
The doorbell rang and Michael got up to open the door. At first he couldn’t do anything but stare at the young woman on his doorstep. Her blonde hair was shorter, but he recognized her instantly. “Kimberly…” he whispered.
“Hey there, Michael,” Kimberly said. “Can I come in?”
“Uhm, s-sure,” Michael stuttered as he stepped aside. “Please, come in. You look great…”
“Thank you,” Kimberly replied cheerfully as she entered the house.
Michael closed the door behind her and walked with her to the living room. The moment Saruya noticed Kimberly she let out a soft growl, the Arcanine recalled all too well how this woman had abandoned her trainer and broke his heart.
“What brings you here?” Michael hesitantly asked.
“Sharon of course.” Kimberly looked at the young girl who looked up at her. “You’ve had her for four years. She’s old enough to travel now, so she can come with me.”
Saruya moved closer to Sharon to protect her.
“You can’t take her away from me,” Michael whispered. “You can’t do that to me.”
“Why not? I’m her mother! I gave birth to her!”
The sadness that had surfaced changed into anger. “And not once in four years did you visit her!" Michael exclaimed. "What makes you think you can disappear for four years and then just walk in and take away my daughter?!”
“Our daughter!”
“You abandoned our daughter and you abandoned me! I took care of her! I gave up on my choice of career for her! You didn’t, you went on to be the Pokémon Trainer you wanted to be without us. You have no right to walk in and take her away from me!” Michael looked at Kimbery as he tried his best to keep his emotions under control, there were so many of them all battling to take control. Anger, sadness, fear. He felt it all at once. “If you will take her with you,” he continued with a softer voice. “I will have nothing left. I love her, Kimberly. She’s my world.”
“And what about me?" Kimberly asked as she put her hand on her chest. "I’ve lived without her all that time!”
Michael looked at Kimberly with a sad look in his eyes. “That was your own choice. We were here all the time. You could have come, you could have called, you could have e-mailed. You didn’t. You never asked how Sharon was doing, you never send us a message in which you told us you thought about us or missed us. Nothing. And suddenly you are here to take her away from me? She’s all I have.”
Kimberly looked at Michael for a moment, before she turned to Sharon. “You know who I am, right?”
Sharon nodded. “You’re mommy,” she said. “Daddy showed pictures, he told me how pretty you were and that you are a great Pokémon trainer.”
“And you can be one too,” Kimberly told her with a kind smile. “Don’t you want to go with mommy and see the world?”
Sharon quickly shook her head.
“What do you mean?”
“I want to stay with daddy,” she whispered.
“But…”
Sharon wrapped her arms around the Arcanine that lay down next to her. “I want to stay here, with daddy,” Sharon repeated. “I don’t want to leave.”
“But you are my daughter.”
Michael looked at Sharon. “She could have been if you had come. She doesn’t know you, what did you expect she’d say?”
Kimberly looked at Michael, for the first time there was grief in her eyes. “But…”
“Stay with us,” he said. “Live with us. She’s your daughter, you have the right to spend time with her, but you can’t take her with you if she doesn’t want to.”
“You just say that because her decision works in your favour!” she snapped. “You would have reacted differently if she’d decide to come with me!”
“Of course I would protest if she’d say she’d want to go with you! She’s too young for such a travel and I don’t want to lose her! I already lost you and it broke my heart, losing her will hurt so much more.”
Kimberly looked at him with a more gentle expression now. “You can come with us too. It will be just like old times.”
“Or you can stay here.”
They looked at each other while Sharon held on to Saruya.
“You’re so boring, Michael,” Kimberly sighed. “Where is your sense of adventure?”
“The little I had when I met you,” he began as he looked at his daughter, “was replaced with responsibility when I became a father.” He crouched down in front of his daughter. “Do you want to travel around the world with mommy and daddy?” he asked her.
“You would come to?” Sharon asked.
“Of course, I wouldn’t leave you.”
“And if I want to stay here, with you and grandma and grandpa and uncle Andy and all my friends at school?”
“Then we stay here.”
She looked at Kimberly. “I… I want to stay here, mommy. I want to stay home.”
Kimberly looked from Sharon to Michael, who had risen to his feet again. “So that’s it?” she asked.
“You can stay here.”
“On a small island like this?” Kimberly smiled a bit. “That’s no life for me. I need to travel, I need adventure.”
“I know…” Michael muttered. “It’s why you left the first time too. Will you leave again?”
For the first time Kimberly seemed in doubt. “You’d take me back?”
“In those four years I never loved another girl.” Michael had a kind smile for her. “But I fear you won’t stay.”
Kimberly didn’t reply to that.
“Will you stay, mommy?” Sharon asked.
“I… actually made plans,” she said. “I met a trainer and we’re going to explore mount Moon together.”
Michael closed his eyes, he knew where this was going. Of course she had moved on. “It won’t be with Sharon,” was all he said. “I’m sorry, Kimberly. You’re free to come and visit as often as you want, but I can’t let you take her with you.”
Kimberly looked at Michael, for a moment it looked like she wanted to protest, but she let her shoulders hang and nodded. “Maybe it’s for the best this way. I will…” she looked at Sharon. “I’ll stay a couple of days, spend some time with her. Can I do that?”
“Of course,” Michael whispered. “Stay as long as you like.”
In the end Kimberly stayed a week, a week in which she spend time with her daughter. After the week she promised she’d stay in touch and come to visit her. She gave Michael a kiss on the cheek, telling him he was a great guy and how lucky she was to have met him. And how lucky Sharon was with a great father like him. She left again to travel and explore, leaving her daughter with Michael.
Maybe it wasn’t the life Michael had thought he would have, being a father at such a young age, but he wouldn’t have traded it for anything. He loved his daughter and he loved having her in his life. Maybe he hadn’t become an archaeologist, but working as an expert on Pokémon legends, being a historian, turned out to be an enjoyable career. He loved reading and digging through history with books.
He watched how his daughter played with his Pokémon with his faithful Cyndaquil by his side.
Looking back, it wasn’t as he had planned and it hadn’t been easy, but he was happy with his life and how it had turned out.