From: Zephyr <eternalwinds@hotmail.com> Subject: [PW!][FIXED] A Jewel For The Choosing Date: Tuesday, January 25, 2000 7:11 PM [OOC: Excuse the last one. I should have proofread it before sending. --] The wind blew as clouds slowly rolled in. The winter rains would soon and perhaps, if the moment was right, snow. Julia closed her jacket tighter as she made her way to the center. Sapphire, her baby staryu, quivered and held on to Julia tightly. The door of the Pokèmon Center soon swung open as the two quickly stepped inside. A figure emerged from the shadows as it reached out and grabbed Julia's arm. "Hello Miss. Do you happen to be Julia Aiyana?" asked the figure as it came into the light. "Why yes I am her", Julia responded as she took a quick look of who she was talking. The figure appeared to be a middle aged woman with hair that was beginning to gray. The figure asked almost abruptly, "Well we've been looking for you ever since Fuschia. You see we have a problem, and the problem is your staryu." "Is anything wrong with it Ms..?" "Haloway and no it has nothing physically wrong with it. But how should I put this....it isn't yours", replied Ms Haloway. "What do you mean this isn't mine? My now deceased starmie gave birth it. I saw it with my own eyes" retorted Julia, worried where the situation would lead to. "Well you see Ms. Aiyana this isn't your staryu. You see as your starmie gave its life to give birth...it..well failed." "What do you mean failed.." "Well..that staryu that you have was up for adoption already at the Fuschia City Pokèmon Center and Mr. Jennings, who is right here with me..", Ms Haloway explained as a man near his forties appeared from the shadows and greeted Julia, "had registered to adopt your staryu." "No, you must be mistaken. I saw my starmie give its life so that her baby could live!" Julia raised her voice being careful not to yell. "It appears you are the one who is mistaken Ms. Aiyana. When your starmie gave its life, this staryu had gotten free and was wandering around the Pokèmon Center. As your starmie's life ended, which would be the flash, this staryu managed to climb on top of the bed while everyone was distracted." Julia gave a look of surprise as Ms. Haloway continued, "When the flash ended you saw this young staryu and concluded that it was your starmie's offspring." "No, your wrong this is my starmie's offspring. This is MY baby and I promised I would take care of it. I'm not one who breaks promises." Julia spoke as her voice quivered. "That's touching, but this staryu is already registered to Mr. Jennings so by law it belongs to him and not you" "But I promised....can't you see that!?" "I'm sorry but I can't. Relinquish Sapphire now before I take legal action" "No, when one raises a child you can't just give it away. I've raised her all by myself. And who do you think you are barging in my business? How did you get all this information anyway?" asked Julia as she desperately tried to hold back her tears. "I'm with the PBI, the Pokemon Bureau of Investigation. I have all the information I need. Now relinquish your staryu before I am forced to take you into custody for grand pokemon theft", Ms Haloway said sternly as she peered into Julia's eyes. "The PBI must be made up of robots, as no human would allow so much pain to happen to another" "I'm as human as one can get. This is my job. This is what I do for a living. I solve crimes" "Caring for another is a crime now? Pouring one's soul and love into another is defined as wrong? Is that what you do Ms. Haloway, take away hope and replace that hope with pain?" "This isn't a request give me that staryu NOW!" "Answer my question! If you have any honor, any dignity then you will." "Fine, I do feel some sort of compassion for people. But most of them deserve it anyways so, no I don't give a damn about what they feel!" said Ms Haloway, almost screaming. A couple of people turned around to see what was going on but soon went back to what they were doing before hand. "That must explain why you're still single then. One can not be loved if they don't want to accept love itself." "Listen, I didn't come here for a lecture. I came here to return that staryu to its rightful owner. Now give me that staryu", ordered Ms Haloway, as two security officers came to her side. "I...don't know what to say..." "How about you give me your staryu and we'll be on our way. I'm trying to make this as easy as possible." "And losing something that you hold dear is easy? Of course how would you know. You don't know how it is to lose something. You had never have had a chunk of you ripped out and thrown and to have pain and anger fill that space. No, Ms. Haloway you don't know the meaning of loss or compassion. Now if you will let me have a moment with Sapphire.", Julia said as she took Sapphire into her arms. "You have five minutes", instructed Ms. Haloway. "Sapphire from the moment I found you I knew we were meant to be together. I don't care if you were my deceased starmie's offspring or not. I would have loved you either way. I know you're going to be too young to remember me and I don't know if your new trainer is going to treat you right. But, if you remember me you could always look back on the times we spent together whenever you feel lonely." "Times up", said Ms Haloway as prepared a pokeball. "Sapphire I'm never going to forget you because the one thing she can't take away from me is the memories of being with you and the love that I hold for you. Goodbye, Sapphire. I love you", said Julia as she held back her tears. A red light appeared as Sapphire was sucked into a pokeball and with it a part of Julia. "I pity you Ms. Haloway, because you'll never experience what it is to raise a child you so deeply care for", said Julia, her heart a void. "Sympathy will get you nowhere Ms. Aiyana", replied Ms Haloway as she and the others made their way out. Julia slowly made her way to her room. There she fell in her bed, head on her pillow. Tears began to fill up as she began thinking of what just happened. "I will never shed another tear again. I've lost too much already. But I promise that I'd rather die than have the world break me", Julia promised herself as she fell into a deep sleep. [OOC- Feedback would be nice]