Emerald smiled to himself as he walked to Crystal’s house. She had called him and asked him to come over. Emerald, of course had said yes, as he was always happy to visit Crystal. As her house came into view, his smile grew wider.
When he noticed Autumn standing at the door however, he blinked. Who was she? Why was she at Crystal’s door? He pouted, marching up next to the girl. Emerald decided that he should ignore her until Crystal said something about her. Looking up at Crystal, he grinned again. “Hi Crystal, I’m here!”
Crystal wasn’t the least bit surprised that Autumn was the first to show up. She gave the small girl a warm smile and stepped aside to welcome the girl into her home. “Hello, Autumn,” she greeted, laughing softly. She still was puzzled as to why she referred to Crystal as her ‘aunt’, but she wasn’t about to question it. “I’m glad you made it here safely.”
One thing worried her, though—Green hadn’t thought to escort her? He had let the poor girl wander around on her own? Surely he had realized that was extremely dangerous, as Autumn didn’t even have the protection of Pokemon. Crystal would most certainly have to have a word with him when she saw him next. She was glad indeed that Autumn was safe, seeing as she had expected her to be accompanied by another guardian of sorts.
How irresponsible of him, she thought crossly, resting a hand lightly on her hip. She nibbled on the inside of her cheek, irritated, but looked up with a completely renewed and genuine smile when she heard Emerald’s voice. She always was happy to see him. They had known each other for a while, and she’d known him since he was a little boy—age-wise, anyway, since he still was rather small in physical terms.
“It’s nice to see you again, Emerald,” she laughed, giving his head a light pat and ruffling his golden hair. She glanced between the two. “Have you two met each other before…?” In all honesty, she had no idea if hey’d met. But judging by Emerald’s lack of interaction with Autumn, they probably hadn’t.
“At any rate,” she said, straightening her posture and looking over her shoulder into her house, “both of you can come on in. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it or not, but you both will be staying here for the night. I, um, hope that’s all right.” She was a bit hesitant as she smiled down at the two. She was sure Autumn would be okay with it, but Emerald was an entirely different matter.
Autumn was surprised to see another person at Auntie Crystal’s house. She was slightly let down when he ignored her for Auntie Crystal, but she told herself that it was because he came to see Auntie Crystal— not Autumn. He would great her later, that was for certain in Autumn’s mind.
When Auntie Cyrstal said the boy’s name— Emerald, she smiled slightly and thought of her Daddy Prickles. His real name was Green after all, and the gem Emerald was a shade of green…
It was then Autumn noticed the gem on the boy’s forehead, and found herself staring at it. Not a single ill-intended thought ran through her mind, instead she was thinking of how beautiful the gem was. It took her a few moments to snap out of the spell it had placed on her, and the only reason the girl came out of it at all was because of Auntie Crystal’s question, “Have you two met each other before…?”
The girl quickly turned back to Auntie Crystal, with one last glance at the gem on the boy’s forehead before responding, “Nope! Never!” With that, she turned back to Emerald and held out her hand, “I’m Autumn! It’s nice to meet you!” She looked down from the gem into his eyes, which matched his name.
When she heard Auntie Crystal speak next, she tore her eyes away from the boy and looked towards the young woman. Her hand still outstretched, she smiled, “That’s fine! Right?” She looked back to Emerald, the cheerful smile still visible on her face… The depression of a few moments ago had been forgotten.
