Like No One Ever Was

A small crack of light illuminated Nemona’s room, showing her form, faintly twitching beneath her Pikachu themed bedsheet. I moved to open the door further, but Rotom hovered up from where they had been charging, doing a small shake to indicate it wouldn’t help. It flashed the time towards me, showing it was still an hour too early for her to wake up.

With a sigh, I gently closed the door. Walking back down the hallway, I bumped into Hamber. “Oh! I’m sorry sir.”

He didn’t look ruffled by the impact. “It’s nothing. Care to join me for a midnight cuppa?” The older man asked, and I nodded.

The house was quiet at this time of night. Most of the staff was gone and the few live-in members like myself had gone to sleep. It gave the place a very deserted feel, and with how dark it could be, might even make you think it was haunted, though I knew better.

In the kitchen we could have the lights on without potentially disturbing anyone else, and he began fixing us up some tea. “Why were you up so late?”

“I could ask the same thing of you.” I fired back before biting my tongue. He was just curious, and as my boss, I shouldn’t be so rude to him. The job here was a great one, by most metrics. Very easy chores to handle most of the time, plenty of free time in the day, and even the girls were well behaved. Well, mostly. I guess that’s the real crux of the problem.

He didn’t take any offense, steeping the tea bag and responding “I like to take a midnight stroll of the property occasionally. Gives a different view of what we manage from day to day. Plus, this is an excellent time to give Greavard a walkie.” The dog in question poked his shaggy head out of a wall, gave a quiet bark, and walked to his food dish. His faithful hound Pokemon (and his other Ghost Type, a spooky Dusclops) was why I knew that the mansion couldn’t be haunted. A shame. If it was just that, then there might be an easy fix to Nemona’s nighttime troubles.

Hamber didn’t press the question, but I caved in a few seconds. “I’m worried about Ne- the Young Miss.” Have to remember to be detached, professional. I’d already noticed that the young girl treated my words as more rule defining than her parent’s. It’s nice that she respects me that much, and I get that part of it due to how overly permissive the Glitterati parents are, but I need to keep in mind my station, especially around the majordomo.

“She seems quite lively and intelligent. What’s the issue?” I gave my superior a look at that as we were both well aware that there was more than that going on in our young charge. Why does he even need me to spell it out? Clearing his throat, he added “Despite how it may seem with the tight ship I run, I’m not omniscient. You might have seen something I haven’t or have some concerns I could put to rest.”

At that I winced. With how seamlessly he’s integrated into the household, I can forget he hasn’t been with us for too long. Only since the Glitterati family moved to Paldea. He might not get how Nemona was before now.

“Oh. Well, it has to do with… a lot of little things, I guess. She’s smart. She’s always been a bright young girl, but recently, it’s downright unnerving how much she seems to understand. The battle skills are one thing; most kids are obsessed with battles at her age, she just has a better head for strategy than most.” Better than mine even. I watched a new elite four battle with her and she accurately called out how Hassel, the newest of the Elite Four was setting up his opponent for a crushing defeat in ways I completely missed. “Her skills at reading people are eerily good for her age too.”

“True, but being intelligent isn’t a bad thing. The Young Master is also quite intelligent for her age,” he countered.

“No, but Young Master doesn’t have the same…” I searched for the right word, having no desire to insult Cyan or Nemona. “Drive. The Young Miss has a drive that pushes her constantly. If she’s not looking up mechanical engineering online, she’s studying history. If she’s not looking into the past, she’s working out - not just running around playing, actually working out.” That’s weird, kids shouldn’t be thinking to do that, not without someone else trying to encourage them to do so, and no one here is.

“She watches international news and argues about civil rights on forums, and of course, the training. She trained for hours every day before the tournament, now it is sun-up to sun-down, every day! And the nightmares-!” He placed a finger to his lips and I cut myself off, realizing my voice was starting to rise.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be acting hysterically, but I just worry about her.” I took a moment to calm down as he poured the tea for both of us. Oh! This is nice, he remembered I liked this Pinap blend.

“I noticed. Looking up books on child psychology was not the subtlest hint,” he said dryly and I blushed. “Many children have grandiose dreams, few realize what it takes for those dreams to become reality at that age. Some will grow into maturity in time, others find different paths. It seems like she’s a bright young girl, intelligent enough to realize what her goals will take and determined enough to pursue them anyways. You might be a bit young to remember it, but back in my day there was the occasional tale of children becoming champions as teenagers.”

“Yeah, yeah, we all know about Ash and the like. But the nightmares, how she acts like there are huge problems that she has to tackle by herself… I’m worried about her. There are other things too, like her poetry, how I’ll sometimes catch her humming a tune to songs I’ve never heard, or her stories. She used to have such wonderful tales.”

He tilted his head slightly at that. “I’ve heard she still has quite the imagination. She writes that comic with her sister, no?”

“That’s true but… it’s different now. She talks less about the world and more on other things. Everything from board game ideas to philosophy.” It was quite disconcerting to logically argue ethical values and the difficulties of using consequentialism as a set of moral guidelines with a girl less than seven years of age. I shook my head, trying to figure out how to best say it, figure out what exactly I even meant that bugged me so much. “The stories were the biggest change. They’re full of detail and internally consistent, but often feel like she’s trying to fit the story in, like a round peg in a square hole. Before she had far more fanciful, freeform stories, about Legendaries and rare Pokemon, epic journeys.”

“Like?”

“Oh, things like Groudon and Kyogre fighting with ‘Primal Revision’ or something like that before Mega-Rayquaza stopped them. And then something about a meteor and an ‘alien’ Pokemon? Which she was insistent was different than extra-dimensional Uber Beasts.”

He opened his eyes fully from his usual slit-gaze, or at least the one I could see that was not hidden by his hair curl. “Really? That does sound… quite fantastic. I might ask her a bit about that.”

“Good luck. Any time I try asking her about such stories, she Clamperls up, and claims she doesn’t remember anything like that, or forgot. But I can read her well enough to know she’s lying. Do you think she’s embarrassed about her previous stories?”

He took a moment to think it over. “That could be the case,” the majordomo didn’t sound very convinced, however. “Have you tried asking her about these changes in character?”

“I- no sir. I’ve hinted at it, and she refuses to talk to me about it. I… even asked Master O’Nare and Master Billy to ask, but they haven’t had the time to bring such things up.” I bit my tongue at how it seemed like they didn’t care. Of course they laughed off my concerns as silly, it’s not like I have anything concrete. Distortion, it might even be that I’m just working myself up over nothing.

Hamber let out a heavy sigh at that. “I wish you had talked to me about it first, but it does seem like there is something bothering her. However, we can only help her if she wants to be helped. You can lead a Mudbray to water, but you can’t make them drink. Trying to pressure her further might be less than helpful.”

There was silence as I finished my tea, taking it all in. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I just worry about her. All of them, really.”

“As do the rest of us. I’ll inform Masters Billy and O’Nare that they don’t need to pressure her and we’re keeping an eye on the situation. Please, if anything else worries you or the situation worsens, come to me and I’ll see what I can do. For now, just support her.” He tapped the table for a moment, thinking before he said “Why don’t you accompany her to the tournament? I’m sure she’ll appreciate having you there to cheer her on.”

“Really?” Considering Nemona’s parents would be there, that meant I would basically be getting paid to take a day off and have some fun watching the tournament.

“I insist. We must support our charges in any way possible. I’ve noticed the Young Miss has come to rely on you a great deal.”

“I wouldn’t say that, she feels so independent already.” I shook my head. “In any case, thank you for the talk.” As I spoke he finished his tea, getting up from the table. “I think I’ll try to be more open with her, in the future. At least that way we can avoid things like the Haxorus incident again.”

The older man rubbed his hands together. “Indeed, it was quite the kerfuffle canceling the shipment of such a dragon, but she found her new partner so quickly that you were able to do so. Despite how mature they can be, children can also be fickle at times too.”

“No, it wasn’t that. Nemona has some unusual standards, I’ll admit, but she sticks to them pretty firmly.” Whenever asked about a specific Pokemon, she would always preface her opinions by saying how even if she didn’t prefer some Pokemon over others, they were all great. Some of the Pokemon she liked were rare, or strong. A few were generally seen as cute. But some weren’t overly popular, like Dun, who she would often extol the virtues of. “I think when she realized what was happening, she didn’t believe she’d be able to handle a fully grown Dragon.” She hadn’t put up much decorations in her room since moving, but the fact that she had a big poster with a bunch of dragons, including a Haxorus front and center implied she hadn’t given up on that dream.

“Yes, that would have been a bit much for her, no matter how smart she is. Luckily you managed to alert them and stop the transfer before the Haxorus would have been delivered here.” He gave a thin smile. “It would have been a bit more difficult for me to find a Haxorus a good home than it was those Eevee’s the Masters bought.”

“Actually, I feel she underestimated herself. Given the training I saw her put her Dunsparce through? I believe she would have brought even a fierce Pokemon like Haxorus into line.” He blinked, surprised.

“Really now?”

“Yes. The drills she had Dunsparce running were quite intense, drilling through boulders and snapping apart small trees with his body. And I think she might have even been holding back a bit on the training that I oversaw.” Rotom is watching over her though, and they’d tell me if she was doing anything too crazy. “Still glad she didn’t end up taking the Haxorus though, at least for my own sake. I’d have a heart attack every time I saw a Pokemon like that running through the house like Dun does.”

Hamber made an agreeing sound, but seemed focused on my first point. “Hmm, I’ll have to review her battles as well, when I get the chance. Might introduce her to some associates of mine that share an interest in battling and exploration.”

“Oh? That sounds nice, she could use some more friends. She gets along well with that Arven kid, but she doesn’t have anyone else she really plays with.” Mostly what they did was battling (the Young Miss certainly has a one track mind), But I had also seen them talking about science or the world, or occasionally cooking together. At least they both seem to have fun together.

“Happy to help. Have a good night, Miss Odale.” He left and I let out a long yawn. Probably for the best that I let this rest. I’m glad he invited me to air things out. Really takes a load off my mind.