My Funny Little Valentine

Ivory's neighbors at the apartment complex knew her as the secretive girl who seemed to only wear one outfit. She never left her windows or shades open for anybody to peer into her place of residence. In the evenings she'd keep the lights on really low, and though the walls were quite thin, they could never really hear her talking at all. It was as if she was trying to keep quiet at all times.

Several of her neighbors had spoken to her on occasion. It was true that she was polite and outwardly pleasant to all. It was also true that her strange albino ditto was simply bouncy as could be from all of that energy "she" had. However, it always seemed to feel like the girl in the purple jacket and blue headscarf was just putting on her good face in public. Many wanted to know what was under her scarf, or perhaps was was behind her dark glasses. None ever really asked though. It was a mystery that was going to stay a mystery.

After a long day out, Ivory returned back to her apartment. She fussed with her keys in her hands, as she typically did. That girl always seemed to have the darnedest time getting the key into the keyhole. One of her middle-aged neighbors was passing by with a full laundry basket.

"Oh, Miss Woods... it's good to see you!" the woman said in an effort to make pleasant conversation. "I see you dressed up your Pokemon for Valentine's Day!" She paused only long enough to waggle a pinky towards the ditto who now had a pink ribbon seemingly hanging off of her arm. "Do you have any plans for this evening?"

The girl paused at her door, still having yet to actually get the key into the keyhole. She offered a smile, as would be expected. "Well, Mrs. Kinkade... I only have one Valentine this year... and she's going to spend a quiet evening with me at home. Nothing too special."

The white gelatinous blob wobbled in acknowledgment.

The woman tilted her head, causing her curly hair to sway to one side. "You're so young... you should be out and about. Enjoying yourself... not doing the same thing you always do each night." Obviously Mrs. Kinkade lacked this thing called "subtlety."

"...don't worry yourself... I will enjoy myself this evening... what is fun for me might not be fun for everyone else... but that doesn't matter so much." There was a pause before she added "...you know, I saw Mr. Lavor heading down towards the machines too... he had a lot of laundry... you should probably hurry so he doesn't hog them all!"

The ditto seemed to squint at her trainer. That was a lie if she ever heard one, despite how convincingly it was stated.

"Oh goodness! Well, I'll leave you be, sweetheart!" Readjusting her laundry basket, the woman trundled off on her way.

Ivory paused, taking note of the look she was getting from a certain Pokemon. "...don't give me that look... you know as well as I do that woman is too nosy for her own good!"

"Ditto dit dit ditto!" the Pokemon seemed to scold, not seeming to mind that her friend was resuming her work with the door. The door eventually managed to get unlocked, and soon enough the pair had entered the apartment.

With the door shut behind them, the ditto seemed to instantaneously hop off of her trainer's shoulder, however, mid air her form seemed to glitter and glow, her form shifting from something shapeless to something a lot more structured.

Before even landing on the ground, the albino Pokemon had shifted to her true form. Her long tail lashed behind her as she floated mid-air.

"Opal... you silly girl you!" Ivory scolded quietly on her own while setting her parasol down. "You could have been a little more patient!"

The Pokemon shook her head, floating up in front of the trainer's dark glasses and reached out to take them off from where they rested on the girl's nose. "Mew mew!" she seemed to giggle in a quiet voice as she tugged the lenses back. It was hard for her to see, but with the lenses gone, her friend's eyes that matched her own were looking back at her. Without a second thought, she pulled the glasses behind her back, then leaned in to give her friend a tiny smooch on the nose.

"...you couldn't even wait for me to turn on a light?" The girl laughed as she took off the pair of black gloves over her hands. One complaint she could have about those gloves she wore was the fact her hands were always sweltering at the end of the day when she got home. Setting them on a table near the door. Her pale fingers flicked up to touch the dimmer switch there. She almost seemed to barely nudge it up, causing the light to barely shine. However, that was enough for the duo.

"There we go... now... can you at least wait until we get to the bathroom!"

"Mew mew!" The Pokemon moved to place the dark glasses in front of her own eyes, holding the obviously too-large frames in place.

"You look silly!"

"Mew!" Rather than linger in place, the white mew zipped off towards the bathroom, only pausing long enough to set the glasses on a nightstand closer to the bed. By the time the girl had made it to the bathroom, Opal was standing on her hind legs on the counter, playing with the dripping faucet. It was something that never seemed to get fixed, but it didn't seem like the Pokemon minded at all. Each time it dripped, the little bead of water would float out of the sink area and above the psychic-type's head. She had already managed to gather quite the cluster of water, combining into what seemed like a marble-sized blob.

With a gentle laugh, Ivory asked "...did you get to take a look in the mirror and see how pretty you look with that pink bow around your neck?" Her hands reached for her scarf and began to untie it. The moment she got it loose, she rolled it back to show off her own naturally white hair. It was pulled back tightly into a bun so that even her own bangs wouldn't be visible.

Pinching her eyes shut happily, the Pokemon gave a cheery "Mew mew!" Once the gathered water was about the size of a quarter, the Pokemon reached out with her paws, grabbing onto a small portion of the moisture and bringing it to her face in an effort to clean herself off. With her short little arms, she ran the liquid up over her head and behind her little ears. Her short fur bristled slightly, but the white Pokemon continued with her bathing efforts.

Ivory smiled as she resumed her own clean up. She removed all of the bobby pins holding her hair into place, which eventually let her hair sway back to its normal length down to her knees. All she had left to do was to take off her purple jacket. It might have seemed to anybody else today that she hadn't dressed up for Valentine's day, but underneath the jacket was a shirt that had a pink Butterfree on it holding a bouquet of flowers.

Folding her jacket over her arm, she made her way towards her closet to put the jacket away for now. "...I wonder which tape we should listen to today, Opal? I think both stories are kind of interesting..."

With the mention of the tapes, the mew paused from her efforts, working on just getting the puff of fur at the end of her tail wet enough for cleaning. "...mew..." Whatever her friend wanted to do was fine. If it made her happy, it made Opal happy!

Seeming satisfied with her work, the Pokemon carefully floated the remaining water back to the sink and let it fall naturally down the drain. She then hoovered over towards where Ivory was standing with two tapes at hand. In an effort to be helpful, the white Pokemon placed her tail onto the tape in the pale girl's left hand.

"...well, thank you, Opal!" The tape that had not received any attention was set down and soon enough the girl was scooping the Pokemon out of the air into the crook of her arm. The pair soon enough relocated to the desk towards the edge of the room. On the top of the desk was a simple tape player along with a large sketch pad and a charcoal pencil. A kneaded up gum-eraser was hiding in one of the drawers.

Setting herself down in the chair, the girl released the Pokemon from her hold. The Pokemon easily just curled up in her lap. Pale fingers twisted into the looped end of the pink bow about the Pokemon's neck.

"...I love you, Valentine!"

Closing her eyes for a bit, the Pokemon easily replied with the same genuine emotions "Mew mew mew!"