"I am hungry…" said Dawn after finishing her bath.

  She quickly came down, only to notice the Glameow was leisurely sitting on the table, but she didn't see her mother.

  'Yep, how did I forget? Today, a new neighbor will be coming from the Unova region, and Mommy has been eagerly waiting for them.' thought Dawn as she couldn't wait to talk about the other place with the neighbor.

  She dashed out with a huge grin, saw a chubby body coming out of the neighbour's house, and remembered that her mother had mentioned a kid also coming from the Unova region.

  'What is that Pokémon? I have never seen that Pokémon anywhere around?' thought Dawn as her big blue eyes widened with surprise, and she ran towards him to talk.

  -----------

  I was thrilled to find out the new kind of Pokémon in the region. But first, I should explore the ranch along with Meinshao. Later, I should ask my aunt to buy me a camera to capture everything in the Sinnoh region.

  "Shao.."

  Meinshao stopped me and pointed at the blue-haired girl with the same hair as Johanna's. She had a light touch of blush on her cheeks, she was tiny and felt delicate to me, and she wore two hair clips. Wait, she was running towards me. I understood she was Madam Joanna's daughter, but this was sudden, and I didn't know what to do. I was visibly shaking with tension creeping inside me.

  "Shao.."

  Suddenly, Meinshao patted me with a calm voice, which helped me a lot and straightened me out, and I stood awkwardly. This was my first step; I shouldn't mess out and let her trouble to talk with me.

  "Hi, I am Dawn, your neighbour."

  Wow, she introduced me to a cheerful way, saw her eyes looking at Meinshao with a curious gaze, and I understood she wanted to know about my aunt's Pokémon.

  Ok, no need to worry, try to talk casually with her.

  "Hi Dawn, nice to meet you! I'm Ashford Finn, your new neighbour, and this is Meinshao, my aunt's Pokémon."

  Yeah, I said it clearly with no mistakes and stutters.

  "Shoa.." Mienshao responded with a calm voice to Dawn's shining eyes.

  "Meinshao? Wow, I never heard or saw a Pokémon like this," she said with an excited face, and she reached out tentatively, her tiny little hand brushing on the smooth Meinshao's fur that I groomed with care.

  "Shao…Shao.." Mienshao nuzzled his foxy face to Dawn's face, who smiled when she felt the tickling from Mienshao's whiskers.

  "I forgot to ask; did you see my mommy?"

  "Yeah! She was talking with my aunt in my new home," I said awkwardly as Meinshao shook his head, seeing me. Dawn was confused hearing at my awkward voice, embarrassed that my tanned cheeks flushed a little, but Mienshao helped me divert Dawn's focus, and I let out a sigh of relief.

  "Then why are you outside, Finn?" asked Dawn while feeling the soft fur on her cheeks.

  "My aunt told me to check out the newly built ranch behind my home, so Meinshao and I will explore the ranch and see any na?ve Pokémon of Sinnoh."

  Meinshoa tapped my shoulder while pointing his eyes at Dawn. I didn't understand what Meinshao was saying, but for a while later, my eyes widened with realization. I fidgeted with my fingers and gazed at Dawn, who was looking at me with her cute blue eyes.

  "Do you want to check out our ranch with me?" I asked with hesitation, feeling that Dawn might not agree with me. However, this was my first step in spending some time with a friend, even though I didn't know whether Dawn liked to be friends with me or not.

  "Sure, why not, but I am hungry right now after breakfast, both of us will check out your ranch," she said while holding my hand and dragging me to my new home. My heart was overwhelmed with joy, and finally going to spend some time with other kids.

  Meinshao looked at me with a smile on his face. I grinned at him and went back to the door.

  "Oh my, you both have already become friends," said Johanna while lifting her daughter in her arms. My aunt caressed my head, but noticed the redness in her eyes, and I gazed at my aunt with concern.

  "Mommy, I hugged a new Pokémon and made a new friend," said Dawn, and explained everything to her mother about our meeting, making me tremble with shyness while my aunt looked down at me with a sly face that she couldn't wait to tease me later. I looked down with a silly grin when I heard Dawn calling me a friend.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "That's awesome, Dawn, then after finishing your breakfast. You can play with Finn," said Johanna while caressing her daughter's head. Dawn nodded her head with a grin and waved at me while both of them went to their home.

  "Well, well, our Finn finally has a friend,"

  Her arms wrapped around me before I had a chance to escape. My cheeks flushed red as my aunt continued to tease until Meinshao shouted at her to stop teasing me.

  "I am glad for you, Finn, but first, we both need to clean up our new house. And eat some breakfast, and later you are going to play with your new friend," said my aunt with a teasing face, as my face turned red, and I nuzzled my aunt's neck, making her chuckle.

  -------

  It has taken some time to clean up the house, while I began putting all my stuff in the luggage in my bedroom, like attaching the Unova's Champion Alder, and my favorite Elesa's photo with her signature placed on my study table. Gym leader Elesa was my favorite gym leader. She's a cool person, and sometimes I watch her battles like my aunt watching the contests.

  "Then, aunty, I will go to meet Dawn to play," I shouted out after eating breakfast, leaving without giving my aunt a chance to say anything because I knew she was going to tease me.

  "This kid, Mienshao, please look after them."

  She sighed while shaking her head and began checking the things to be adjusted in the house.

  "Shao…" Mienshao nodded his head.

  I saw that Dawn was waiting for me at the ranch entrance, my heart beaming with joy that I was going to spend some time with my first-ever friend.

  "Hey!" Dawn waved her hand with enthusiasm.

  "Hi, did you have your breakfast, Dawn?" I asked, feeling excited to spend time with my friend.

  "Yep, I finished my breakfast, Finn. What about you?"

  I nodded my head. Suddenly, behind my back, Mienshao appeared like a flash, and I understood my aunt should have told him to keep his eyes on them.

  "Meinshao!" Dawn hugged Meinshao with a beaming face, while I opened the ranch's gate, signaled with my hand to Dawn to enter the ranch..

  From what I knew, this ranch was built for my aunt's Pokémon; currently, she only had Mienshao, and all her remaining Pokémon were in Professor Juniper's lab ranch. Later, we both explored the ranch while Dawn talked a lot about her, and in between, I explained the Unova region Pokémon and also the culture.

  She also told me about her mother's Coordinator career for which I smiled, remembering my aunt's obsession with contests. Dawn got confused, I hurriedly explained about my aunt's craziness for the contest, and she was a big fan of Johanna and Wallace.

  Then Dawn's eyes shone with excitement as she couldn't wait to talk with my aunt. I sighed, feeling sad that no one was there to share my interests in Pokémon battles.

  We spent some time exploring the ranch, and later began playing games in the ranch while Meinshao was on alert for the surroundings

  ------

  "Phew~ finally everything finished and neat," Catherine said with a proud nod after seeing the house. She gazed at the trash bags that needed to be thrown out and began to put them one by one outside.

  "I should bathe, ew, I'm feeling sweaty," she groaned out with disgust, feeling the stickiness on her smooth, fair skin. She went upstairs, and her room was right beside Finn's. She began stripping her dress, leaving only her undergarments, and looked at her figure as she pinched her slightly plump stomach.

  "I should check my weight and start exercising with Finn daily," groaned Cath, furrowing her brow, looking at the reflected milky midriff.

  "Wait, may I ask Johanna to give me some tips, or else ask her to join me for exercise?" she shouted excitedly, thinking of her favorite neighbor Coordinator.

  She cascaded her luscious blonde hair to her slender back, reaching her bubble-clad bum, and she turned her face forward to the mirror, looking at her green eyes to see any dark circles, and she caressed the smooth skin with a nod that there were no wrinkles or spots on her face.

  "No sags too, but my back is getting big…" she frowned, clutching her bum with her slender hand while looking at the mirror. She sighed and went to the bath, dipped her body in the warm water, even though she felt relief, still she missed Finn bathing with her, and chuckled when Finn demanded to bathe alone.

  "He is growing up fast, Aww~ finally my little boy has made a friend, and his friend is the daughter of Johanna. I can't wait to spend some time alone with her to chat and shop." She giggled like a little girl, which she never dared to show this side to Finn.

  Slowly, she began remembering her 16-year-old self, who got a starter Pokémon of Unova, an Oshawatt, after passing the hard exam. She started her journey to participate in the Unova League Tournament, even though she never had an interest in becoming a Pokémon trainer, but to become a researcher, one had to know the habitats of Pokémon in the wild, that was the reason she ought to travel the Unova region while for fun she applied for Unova League Tournament, gaining five Pokémon in her journey.

  "Silly old days, it's time to call my team here. For Finn's security, I need my team in this new house to protect him." Said Cath with a serious face, the reason she agreed to the work offer by Professor Juniper was to settle in Sinnoh. Finn was bullied by the kids in his Trainer school. She was devastated seeing Finn crying, and he hid the bullying from me.

  "Without Mienshao, I would never have been able to find out the bullying of my sweet Finn. But the reason he hid it was because he didn't want to disturb my work and put any concerns on me."

  She bit her lip, remembering the crying face. Finn begged her not to worry about him.

  "I know why you don't want to tell Finn, you feared that I would get angry with you and scold you…" She clenched her fist with furious eyes, calmed down a bit after remembering Johanna's encouraging words.

  "It always happens when someone talks with him nicely, he always cries, as he has never experienced goodness from others."

  "OK, I need to prepare lunch for my sweet boy," Cath said with a joyful voice, got up and dried herself while putting the removed dress in the washing machine, and put on the new dress. She went to the kitchen, where there were some vegetables that Johanna had given in the morning.

  "Next weekend, I will invite my neighbor for a nice dinner, and I should call Professor Juniper later"

  -------

  "Yawn~~"

  I yawned, looked down to see that Dawn was sleeping beside me on the grass beneath the big tree's shade, and Meinshao lay down beside us.

  "Shao.." I patted Meinshao unconsciously and slightly shook Dawn to wake her up.

  "Dawn, wake up, it's already afternoon."

  "Let me sleep for some time, Finn," groaned Dawn, covered her eyes with her arm, and proceeded to sleep.

  "Dawn, Glammeow is coming this way," I said with a sly face.

  "What?"

  As expected, Dawn stood up and looked around with fear, but she didn't find the Glammeow, glared at me with a cute, fuming face. I quickly got up, ran, while behind me, Dawn was chasing me for teasing her.