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Out the back entrance she went, leaving the den behind. She was glad to be going, though realized that things would probably be harder on her own. Well, she would endure. Anything would be better than what she had to go through in there. Her mom had gone too far, and she wasn't taking it sitting down. She didn't know where to go. She pondered a few locations before settling on the city she knew to be a few miles away. What she was going to do once she got there, she didn't know, but she could probably figure out something, right?
"I hope I can survive on my own. As bad as mom was, she at least fed me..." As she was thinking about what was to lie ahead of her, the Buneary noticed a shooting star.
"Wow. I don't know the last time I've seen one of those." she whispered in awe. "Wait...is it turning around? It's- Augh!" Before she knew it, it was quite visible. She jumped out of the way, fairly easily with her Buneary legs. "What was that?!" she exclaimed. She walked over to the crashed rock. Suddenly, it cracked open, revealing-"
"Augh, my head." It was amazing. It was Jirachi, the wish granter. She was didn't react simply from shock. He noticed her, and was obviously less surprised. "Ah, good day to you, young Buneary. Might one get thine name perchance?" He looked at her expectantly, and frowned when he got no reply. "Anon, perhaps." She shook her head "I'm sorry, but...you're Jirachi! The wish granter! One of the rarest Pokemon around!" He dusted himself off. "Ah, so that's what the humans call us now, aye?" She was confused at how he was speaking. "Your talking weird." she said bluntly. He was taken aback by this. "Well, excuseth me, but one does not sleep 1000 years and stay up to date!" He snapped. "Sorry." She muttered, feeling threatened. He noticed and quickly apologized. "No, I understand that mortals are inexperienced with me. I do believe I am in slightly low spirits after my awakening, you know how it is. So! I have limited time, what do you wish for? Power? Glory? Love? Well, probably not love, you are much too young." She perked up hearing this. Perhaps this was her chance! "Actually..."
"Yes?" Jirachi inquired. "Well..." She began. "I do want love. I want someone to take care of me." Jirachi seemed to get it. "Ah, so you want parents is that it?" She suddenly lashed out at the legendary.
"NO! I don't want a mom, or even a dad. My mom was always a meanie-pants." The shooting star Pokemon was visibly confused. "Ah. A 'meanie-pants' you say." He didn't quite know what a meanie was, but he figured it wasn't good. "Just, I don't know, someone. A big sibling or something." She continued, sitting down. Jirachi gained a devious smile. "A sibling, you say..."
***
Stanley was alone.
At home in his apartment, watching TV. He flicked through the few channels he had (he couldn't afford cable), not really finding one he liked. Life was somewhat average for Stanley, though it could have been much better. He had an average job, an average school, an average childhood. Of course, this clashed greatly with his somewhat unusual attitude towards a few things. Namely women. It wasn't that he disliked them, as that would be bigoted and stupid. It was more that whenever he tried to date one, they would be turned off by him somehow screwing up, never to talk to him again. It had happened 5 times so far. By the time he was 25, he had pretty much given up. To be honest, he had somewhat lacked interest in the first place. He was kinda pressured into the whole thing by his peers, believing that someone with no one to love was missing out so much.
It had taken him so long to find out he was aromantic. His friends had understood him somewhat, though were still somewhat confused by the whole thing. Of course, they would be even more mystified if he had told them the whole story. For some reason, even though he would probably never have the capacity to have one, he really liked kids. Whenever one he knew came up to him he would be very loving towards them. They were so cute and innocent, he couldn't have enough of them. Stanley was thinking of one to maybe take care of some day (adoption was possible), though he doubted he would have the resources any time soon. So for now, he watched whatever seemed the least boring.
Outside stood two Pokemon, looking at him intently. "Alright. Does that man look good to you? He was the closest I could find that fit your criteria." Jirachi asked. The Buneary looked at him intently. He seemed okay. She had no idea why they cared about a human. An idea struck her. "Wait, you want me to be a pet?" she asked him, astonished. He repeated he emotion. "Nay. That is not your wish, to be a pet, but to have some sort of sibling to take care of you." She thought this over. "Is there a Buneary he's holding hostage?" The yellow Pokemon groaned. "You really don't understand the extent of a legendaries powers, do you?" he sighed. "Look, girl. I will do this gradually. You enter his abode and I will make him more...personable towards you." He was being too vague for her liking, but decided to go with it, since she didn't want to doubt someone like Jirachi. "Now, all I need you to do is go over to that window and go in." He lost her. "You want me to break the glass?" He stared. "What's glass?"
"I'll go over and get him to let me in." She hopped over to his ground-floor window and tapped on the glass. Stanley noticed, coming over to open it. "Um. Hello. Are you lost?" he asked, and then quickly noticed how bad a shape she was in. "I guess you are. Look at you." She did. Her fur was matted, her fluff had absorbed a bit of mud. She was a mess. Though really it wasn't her fault she wanted to escape as quickly as possible earlier. "Oh, I suppose we didn't think about that. Though it could be useful." Jirachi told her telepathically. It was a strange sensation to her, but she occasionally was in the company of psychic types in the past, so it didn't faze her. The man was checking out all her problems, then said, "I'll ask you again. Are you lost?" She hesitated, then nodded her head. "Alright." He said, somewhat satisfied. "And you came to the nearest human for help?" Another nod. "Okay then. I'll try to help you. But first, we can get you cleaned up." He brought her to another of the 3 rooms, the bathroom. "I think you're a bit big for me to use the sink, so into the bathtub you go." He plonked her into the tub and ran the water. She was quite surprised by this. She didn't know what this thing was, though she figured it was for a bath. All she had was a pond to do it back home, so the nice warm water here was surprising her. Of course, the confusion took second place to how good it felt. She laid down in the marvelous liquid.
"I sometimes take babysitting jobs, yea? And sometimes they're long enough that I have to run baths for whoever I'm taking care of." Stanley explained. "I figured a Pokemon asking for my help wouldn't be that different, and it seems so!" He smiled. After letting her soak for a bit, he got out the brush and a bit of shampoo/conditioner. "I wouldn't normally use this, but I don't think body wash would really work on fur. Don't lick the bubbles, they taste horrible." She followed his instructions. She liked this human. He was pretty nice. But she still didn't understand why Jirachi picked one. It was then that she noticed something.
His ears had turned somewhat long and brown. Eventually, they grew so much they flopped over, reaching down below his shoulders, turning cream about halfway and fluffing up. Somehow he hadn't noticed! She decided to just go along with it. Next came his face, slowly turning into a muzzle, with a small black nose, gaining brown fur. Underneath his now-enlarged cream eyebrows, his eyes turned red, whites disappearing, gaining black highlights in front of them. And he still hadn't noticed! He was cleaning her somewhat slowly. He decided to just soap up problem spots individually, which made the cleaning thorough, but made it take longer. The brown fur crept down his neck, covering all of his body except his arms. Was he going to turn into a girl or something?
His feet gained cream fluff "boots," his foot structure changing vastly. He gained a small round brown tail in the back. Strangely enough, and to the Buneary's puzzlement, his body structure didn't change much, of course excluding his different feet. She had only ever seen one Lopunny in her life, and that was her vile mother. She supposed this was what males looked like.
Coming last was his arms. He rinsed her off, picked her up and put a towel around her. "All done." he said, though now in Pokespeak. His arms had gained paws and cream "pom-poms," though they were considerably less fluffy than a females. He put his hands on his waist, looking at her. The little Buneary just stared at him for a few seconds. "So, did you like it?" He asked expectantly. She stopped staring. "Uh, yeah. I guess." she said, almost mumbling. Now it was his turn to stare strangely. "Did...Did you just talk?" He asked. She replied simply with: "Look down." He did so. He then looked at the rest of him, repeating words like "Ack!" or "Deh!" This continued as he shrank out of his clothes, a few feet being shaved off. He looked back at her angrily. "Why did you do this to me?!" He exclaimed. She cringed. "I dunno! I met Jirachi and he said he could get someone to look after me!" She started crying. "I just wanted to get away from mom. She had all 3 of us battle and train every day until we got tired, and punished us for not trying all the time. She never even cared about us!" She was sobbing, and Stanley came over to hug her, to make her feel better. "There there." He said quietly. "Stanley's here. It'll be okay." He held the girl who he now shared a species with, eventually stopping her crying. After sitting in silence for a bit, into the room came Jirachi. "Hello kind sir, m'girl." He smiled at them. Stanley got up. "You're Jirachi." he stated plainly. Jirachi replied simply as well "'Tis the truth." There was a pause. "You did this?" Stan asked. "Aye. I swore a troth to that girl over there, and this was what it was. She wanted a sibling." He looked back at her. Then he looked at Jirachi. He repeated this a few times. "Alright. I guess I could work with this if she wants it." Jirachi did a somersault midair. "Oh good." Stanley thought of something though. "Wait. A Buneary and Lopunny living in an apartment will draw a little attention, don't you think?" Jirachi smirked. "I have already thought of that." he snapped his tiny fingers, and suddenly they were in a slightly different place.
It looked like the apartment, but most of the electric appliances were gone, as well as the windows, and the walls were a dark wood, unpainted. "I have gotten you a homely burrow. I do hope it works." Both of them were smiling. "Yeah, I think it will." Stanley said. "This is so cool!" The Buneary added. Stanley gained a puzzled look though. "Why are you doing this? I thought it was one wish per customer." Jirachi scratched the back of his head. "Well, I thought someone like her with a terrible life deserved a bit more.
I shall grant some other wishes, as I will be here for another year or so before I have to leave again. I do wish you two the best." He was about to teleport away, when he was tapped on the shoulder. "Jirachi," the Buneary said. "Thanks." He smiled, and went on his merry way. They stood there in silence for a bit. "Oh," Stanley said. "I don't think I ever got your name." She put her paw to her chin. "I don't think I have one. If she ever gave me one, I forgot." Stanley thought a moment. "How about...Renee?"
"Too fancy."
"Fern?"
"I'm not a plant!"
"...Marissa?"
"...I like that one." He laughed. "Alright. Marissa it is then." He said.
***
After that day, the two Pokemon, now brother and sister, got very close. He was her big brother, and he was proud of it. He occasionally wrote to his family (using Sligoo mail, because they had no electricity. Weirdly enough they still had running water though.) to tell them he was okay. They were kinda sad he couldn't visit at all, but he always came up with a reason why he couldn't.
Marissa's mom was quickly found out with the help of Stanley, a few forest Pokemon doing their worst to her. Stanley was somewhat surprised at being a Pokemon generally assumed to be female, though he knew that males were a somewhat common thing, and things like battling generally made him stop thinking like that.
For once, Stanley wasn't alone.