Planting your Dreams- Contest Entry

“H-how c-come w-we’re using smoothies to p-plant s-seeds?” A light laughter passed through Elena’s lips.

“It’s not smoothie dear, it’s compote. It has some berry juice, but also the skin and whatever’s left over after someone eats one. It keeps the soil rich for the new seeds to grow.”  

“W-e  use b—berries t-to m-make mor-e?”

“Not just berries can grow this way….anything, vegetables as well  helps the plants grow big and strong but some berries grow better with certain berry mix as well.” She placed the bagged mix near her knee. "Do you remember what kind of berries we're growing now?"

"T-tamato berries" he smiled. He was always proud of those few moments where his stuttering had improve no matter how little. It was one of the tiny ways Elena knew she could help. Continually asking questions no matter how small the task or simple the answer, which in turn not only helped him but taught him the processes as well.  Gardening happened to be a common favorite.  

"And Tamato berries are?"  Roy's silvery eyes were mixed with confusion.

"B-big?"

Elena laughed digging another small hole in garden patch. "No no sweetie, what do they taste like?" He pouted trying to think back.  

"H-h-ot. Rea-lly- hot. Ra-apidash f-flamethrower hot"

"That's right! and when you grow spicy berries the best compote to use is a mixture of sweet berries. The more sugars the bigger they'd grow and the hotter they get"  Roy wasn't exactly sure if that was a good thing but he nodded. "What do you think would grow a sweet berry better?" 

"Bitter be-erries?

"Oh how so?"

"Y-you s-said th-ere's a-an order of b-berries to be g-grown..or they'd cause mutation o-or some of th-hem wou-ldn't g-grow.....Berries that r-raise attack....t-then defense" he pointed to the rows of berries that were planted before hand." "Then Specia-l a-a-att-a-ck, s-special d-defense a-and speed..........s-so if y-you're keeping.." he pursed his lips together before taking a breathe. Elena gave him a smile nodding him to continue. "T-the b-berries f-from g-growing i-into e-each -to other..you got t-to s-eparate t-them r-right? S-w-weet berries r-raise s-speed..t-the furthest o-one to that is a-attack b-but Special Defense's i-in the middle..t-that has to b-be the one..t-t-hat could work with speed y-you didn't a-add compote w-with dry berries..s-so they must not need it.. so i-it can be used to separate them.. s-so bitter b-berries" he smiled. 

"That's really clever of you Roy. You observe things very well! and you're absolutely right! So this compote is made up of sweet berries for the Tamato seeds we're going to plant. Just mix it in with the soil and plant the seed"

“U-u-m like t-th-his?”  Roy stammered while placing the rich compote into the soil, mixing it until the sticky oddly still sweet smelling mix melded completely with the dry earth.  A warm spring breeze past through Roy’s layered dark hair but did absolutely nothing to cool him down. His dark shirt was as dirty as his hands. Sparrows flew over head and water Pokemon of all sorts played in the streams nearby.  

“That’s exactly right Dear”

The elderly woman  smiled as she stood up off her knees carefully brushing the dirt from her dark brown pants.  Strands of her long Ivory hair moved with the breeze so she carefully brushed them behind of her air and adjusted her lime green hat.  Her lips parted in a small smile as she placed her hand on the young boy’s shoulders. Roy smiled. He loved those moments because before his grandparents had passed he had been extremely close to them, that and his friend Mae who's been his friend as long as he could remember. Their family's businesses worked along each other so he was always over by her place or her by his.

When his grandparents passed he treasured the moments gardening with Elena even more. 

“You’ve worked pretty hard today why don’t we take a break for a bit?” Roy nodded. “L-l-ast one and we c-can plant two more rows after and be d-done tomorrow” planting the final oval seed in the now rich plot he covered the small hole with his hands. “Mae’s helping Darren make some cookies and lemonade I’m sure you’re hungry

The two dusted themselves off before heading inside when a Lilipup ran up to Roy happily. "H-ey Bud h-ad fun with Mae?" The pokemon barked happily it's small tail waving in the air before quickly looking back at Mae. The smaller girl grinned at the entrance to the kitchen. Her long ebony hair bouncy behind on her back as she made her way in. A pink band held the hair from her face.   She held a plate of cookies that were shaped like several different pokemon. Most of them were ones Mae didn't know of herself but that was part of the fun.

 Mae smiled with a little hop in her step. "You're going to do the game aren't you grammy?"

"Oh I don't know I thought Darren was going to do that while you baked them?" Elena smiled carrying the juice jug on a platter with several colored cups. "And don't forget to wash your hands Roy" Elena reminded him. 

"Come on dear you know you're better at these stories then I am dear" Darren kissed the side of his wife's forehead she only giggled pouring the juice into the cups. 

Roy sat near Mae with a smile

"You still got dirt on your face silly" she giggled her mouth stuffed with cookies. Roy paused already half way through eating his cookie his face lit red with embarrassment. 

"W-well you got c-crumbs on yours"  he retorted. 

"Least people like crumbs" She stuck her tongue out at him and wiped the Dirt off with a tissue from off the table. "There" she grinned.

Darren crossed his arms shook his head with amusement at the two while leaning against the living room entrance.  "Don't talk with your mouths full you two"

"Sorry" the two mumbled.  

"Alright ready you two?"

"Wait can Rena listen too?!" Mae's smiled beamed. Rena was a small Vulpix that she had found in a bad shape on her way home day. Completely alone and hurt she took sweet thing back and her grandparents helped nurse her to health. 

"I think she needs her rest. She's not back up to 100% yet"

Mae pouted. Elena shook her head. "Nonsense The cutie has a huge appetite dear I'm sure she'd love a few cookies and she can rest in Mae's lap I'm sure she'd love that' Elena was just overjoyed to see Mae wanting to spend time with a Pokemon remembering those moments when she couldn't stand to be around them made that moment all the more valuable.   

Rena had bandages around her paws and her tail. Roy waved at her but she turned her head sharply from him. Mae giggled feeding her a cookie from her plate.

"Alright dearies. Pick a cookie"

"M-me first!"

"You went first l-last time!"

"No! you did!"

"Mae . Roy" Darren stated. 

"Rock paper scissors?" Roy suggested and Mae nodded despite knowing she wasn't very good at that. The two went at it and for once Mae ended up the victor.  Crushing his feeble scissors with her mighty rock. She stuck her tongue at him. 

"This one!" She picked a cookie off of the plate and handed it to her grandmother before she passed it back. 

"This sweetie is an absol~" Elena stated. 

"Absol" they both repeated. 

Darren opened up his scrap book that was laying on the table and turned it's page to the wondrous ivory furred pokemon.  It had a ruff around its neck and chest and a tuft on the top of its head adorned with a single blue-black oval. It had a feline face with almond-shaped, red eyes, a scythe-like tail, and a sickle-shaped horn on the side of its head. Roy looked amazingly at the photos, the absol stood on a ledge over looking the ocean. His stare seemed off in the distance and not facing the camera. 

"I saw it while having my travels in Johto years ago" Darren explained "It was only there for a moment before it disappeared."

"You see sweeties, Absols appear as a warning, for natural disasters or some great danger"

"That's horrible.." Mae said stroking Rena's forehead.

"Not at all, he comes to warn them he doesn't cause them. Though alot of people tend to think he does. I like to think of him as a Guardian angel..."

Mae's eyes lit up at the idea. 

"D-did something happen while you w-were in Johto" Roy asked with his lilpup feeding on one of his cookies. 

Darren nodded finishing his drink. "I was supposed to be return back to Hoenn the next day but when we saw the absol we knew something was wrong. So my friends and I decided to postpone our trip and kept boat out another day."

"A-nd then?" 

"There was a sudden storm off the coast just around the direction we were heading and the waves were terrible they had to call off all of the boats of the sea...had we left when we had we would have definitely been caught in the storm"

"See sweeties? Absols are our protectors." Elena nodding. "Any Pokemon is capable of protecting us in some way but the idea that they specifically look out for every and anyone is just amazing thing. 

Roy couldn't take his eyes off the scrap book. He'd always loved searching through it with Mae. "I-I want to go there one day"

"Hoenn?' He asked Roy nodded. "That's one of the beauties of travelling Roy. There's no limit to where you can go. I just loved  taking pictures of everywhere I went."

"I'd want to travel too maybe" Mae suggested. 

"You g-et lost on y-our way school" Roy teased.

Mae's face flushed red before she smiled looking down at Rena. "And it got me Rena. That's not bad at all"  Rena stared at Roy before turning her head from him again. "Don't worry Rena, he's alright really!" As Mae tried to diffuse the distrust with the pokemon and her friend while Roy had been thinking of his choice.

He picked up another cookie before handing it to Elena. "Oooo Jirachi...the wish maker Pokemon"

"Wish m-maker?" he asked.

"Of course sweetie.  He sleeps for one thousand years and only wakes up one day, if you happy to be around when he does you could write a picture on papers on his head and he'd grant your wish"

"I' just want people to live happily with pokemon..Not use them..." 

"I want to tra-avel to all the regions!" 

"You don't need a wish pokemon for that, you two can do whatever you want. There's no limit on your dreams........"

"Dreams?" Roy asked.

"It's basically what you want out of life. What you want to do in the future...or things you want to accomplish and Mae honey I wish everyone would view that way about Ppokemon as well but sadly not everyone would think the same way as you do" 

Mae looked down sadly. She wasn't really sure what her dream even was.  She just knew she wanted to make friends with the Pokemon. Was that enough? "When i told the class though they made fun of me. "

"W-h-y?" Roy asked. 

"They said my Pokemon can't be strong if I don't want to battle all the time"

"That's not true!"

"Roy's right....and while I admit sometimes they'd be people trying to discourage you from your dreams sweetie. That'd always happen...sometimes the challenges aren't even people either.....sometimes it's yourself....sometimes its your friend" 

Mae and Roy looked at each other obviously not happy with that idea.  "Sometimes it isn't on purpose" Darren added. "Sometimes we hurt others without realizing it.....little things we may not notice may actually hurt those we care about quite deeply and most of the time we intentionally are hurting ourselves. If we don't believe in ourselves who would? So long as you don't give up on your dream it's always going to be a possibility and a reality if you work towards it"

"They'd be all sorts of road blocks in life." Elena finished another Jirachi cookie. 

"How am I supposed to do it without wishes then" Mae said. "I know my dream is then..."

She ran her hand through her hair with a smile. "I said you could do it but I never said it'd be easy. They'd always be people who have the same views as you......you can't change everyone...dear" she patted their hands then refilled their drinks. "That's okay sweetie...you're still young. Give yourself time"

"Did you ever give up on your dream Grandma?"

"I'm living it dear..."

"I mean with Mew! you want to see it one day right" She turned her eyes over to the window. A gentle breeze fill the room as the sound of the trees rustling filled her with peace. 

"Of course....it's one of the reasons I'm always outside sweetheart but sometimes I'd like to believe I've already seen him. So many Pokemon pass by my garden it's hard to keep track and sometimes Mae, Roy" she paused leaning forward. "Believing in a dream is all it takes for it to become reality. Following your dream is kind of like gardening. You choose what you want to plant and work towards it. Sometimes you want to change your mind and plant other things, or sometimes you can have multiple plants. It's all up to you. It's your garden. You can do what you want with it. It's okay if you don't know what you want to plant. That's okay. Look at everything. You have all the time in the world to make your choice...and even if you still not sure...plant anyway.." She ruffled Mae's hair. "Don't worry. Just live your life......however it makes you happy"