West Singles woke up, exhausted with the bus driver gently shaking his shoulder.
"Last stop pal, this is as far as I can take y'." West mumbled an apology, wiping away the drool that was creeping down his chin with the sleeve of his jacket and grabbing his bags from the seat next to him. He had been travelling since late last night, on the move for longer so long that it felt like he would simply keel over at any given second. He managed to stumble out of the bus and into the heat of mid-day sun. It was warmer here than t had been back in Kalos, he wasn't sure how to feel about it. He didn't like being warm, but he didn't like being cold either, and wasn't particularly fond of the inbetween. However, he also understood that there was no point worrying about the weather, instead he dug into his jeans pocket and dug out a shred of paper, on which were listed the instructions to the farm his mother had bought him.

He began to sluggishly drag himself along the dirt path as per the instructions, doing everything in his power to keep his eyes from closing as he did. Honestly, the only thing he wanted to do now was arrive at this place and fall asleep, it was such a tantalizing prospect and the only thing fueling him right now. Normally, west would have at least been happy to absorb the luscious are around him, full of rolling green hills and forests, with signs of wild pokemon all around. It was truly a beautiful place, and obviously particularly good for growing crops. But, the best thing about this area to West was just how isolated it was. It was a ten minute walk between the farm and the bus stop and at least half an hour from there to the nearest town. Out here, West would finally get to be by himself. The thought of this made a soft smile form on his lips as he dragged his weary feet ever onward.

The ten minute walk turned into a twenty minute walk with the combination of West's fatigue and the bags he was carrying, but eventually he found the farm. At first, he thought that his sleepy mind was playing tricks on him, that he was in some sort of 'awake dream'. But, as he stood at the crest of a hill looking onwards at the farm he was to own, he eventually managed to focus on the mess of a land that lay before him. West knew nothing about farming, but even he could see how dilapidated this place was. The fields were shrouded in thick clusters of large tangled weeds, all of the buildings were so damaged that West feared the breeze that trickled through would be enough to topple them.

"No way." He mumbled to himself "There is no way I can do anything with this..." He sighed, taking a seat on a large boulder atop the hill. No sooner had he made contact with the rock, the phone in his pocket began to buzz violently, he flipped it open to hear his mothers voice cooing through the machine
"Hey sweetie! You said you'd call me when you got there! How is it, is everything great." The irony of the situation wasn't lost on West, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah. It's all good. Just got here. Tired. going to catch some sleep." He mumbled hanging up before she could say anything else. Part of him wished he had told his mother the truth, requested her to bail him out and take him home. But, right now, as he looked out over the vast desolate waste that was his farm, he was alone and that was good enough for him. He took a deep breath, in through the nose and out through the mouth and leaned his back up against the rock, closing his eyes for the first time in hours. At least he was alone.

Leanna jumped out of her seat the moment the driver hit the brakes, with Haku clinging on to her hat as she tossed the driver a wave. "Thanks for the lift!" She hollered as she took a quick glance at her map. This place wasn't much different from her home in Unova, wide open space and friendly homes stretched out between fields filled with crops. Buzzing with energy, she kept imagining what she would do first as she ran down the road towards her new ranch or farm whichever she decided it to be.

“Ri?” She looked up to see Haku giving her a questioning glance.

“Everything will be fine you big worry wart. You saw the pictures from the website, the place is gonna be awesome!”

“Ri-Ri.”

“Why would you think those were photoshopped?”

“Ri.”

“I am not gullible! And this was not a scam and I’ll prove it just as soon as we top this hill!” She turned with steely determination towards said obstacle and began a full on sprint up it.

"Just imagine Haku, we'll grow all kinds of berries and make Poke'blocks and Puffins and once we have enough money maybe we can even get a Milktank!Oh boy, I can't wait!" She giggled happily as she saw the last hill that separated her from her new home.

“Here it-!”

A dump. What looked to be a field was completely covered in weeds and other overgrowth to the point you couldn’t see the grass below it. The buildings look so old that one good shove could send them all tumbling down. Leanna looked in shock at what was supposed to be her dream farm was actually an abandoned wreck that she was now stuck with.

Haku took in the sight with a deadpanned expression before he turned to look up at his Trainer. The face he had seemed to be shouting “told you so.”

“....is. Ooookay so its-uh-a bit of a fixer upper-” The Riolu gave her a dubious look. “But, its nothing a little hard work can’t fix. And I sank my life savings into this place so like it or not we’re stuck with it so might as well make the most of it.”

The Aura Pokemon continued to stare before releasing a tired sigh, hoping they really could make this place a home. It shot up however when it realized they were not alone. It scampered over to a large boulder to find a young man sleeping peacefully on the other side of it.

“Haku! Come on we got a lot to do before sunset!” Leanna shouted, then when she continued to be ignored sighed and went to see what had caught her usually obedient pokemon’s attention. Lo and behold, she found a boy who looked to be about her age slouched down against the rock. He must have been exhausted or a really sound sleeper if her hollering hadn’t woken him up.

“Wonder what his doing way out here?” She turned to Haku, who only shurgged as they both turned back to the mysterious young man. “Guess there’s only one way to find out.” She stated, then began shaking the young man fairly roughly.

“HEY WAKE UP!”

West opened a single eye to find a girl his age staring back at him. He groaned slightly to himself and let out an audible sigh. So much for being alone out here, turns out he had neighbors.
"Its rude to wake someone up like that." He spoke through gritted teeth, hoisting himself to his feet. As he blinked, readjusting himself to the daylight, he was met with the sight of the farm. Everything was easy when he was sleeping and now this person had ripped him from his pleasant dreams and reminded him off the mess his mother had tossed him into. To say that West was now in a bad mood was the understatement of a century. He hoisted his bags back onto his shoulder, gave the girl one last poisonous glare and growled,
"This is private property. I live here. Please leave." And, with that, he began to trundle down the hill towards the farmhouse.

He didn't turn to look at the girl, merely hoping that she had gotten the message that West didn't want any form of welcoming committee and had turn tail and left. All he wanted was an hour or so for him to rest, then he could properly assess this... well, he wasn't sure he could really call it a farm. There was work to be done and if he wanted to be able to eat in the coming months he would really need to get a move on and work, the prospect of which merely served to further sour his mood. He booted open the door of the main farmhouse and was greeted by a singular rattata dashing between his legs and off into the surrounding jungle of weeds. West groaned once more and stepped inside.

Despite its rather abysmal exterior, inside the farmhouse was probably the nicest thing about the entire farm. Yes, it was filthy and blanketed in dust and spider webs, but at least all of the furniture seemed to be solid and rather comfortable. There were only a couple of rooms, a large master bedroom, a dining/living area, a bathroom and a very basic kitchen. Of course, West didn't expect anything more, in fact given the situation he had found himself in, he expected a lot less. He set his bags down on the table and swept the dust off the largest, most comfortable looking chair, taking a seat and taking in his surroundings.

He could still hear the life of the farmyard, the wild pokemon in the tangled weeds outside chirped and rustled, but it was calmer in here and he could almost picture it as a home. There was something about this rustic life that appealed to West, the simplicity of it all coupled with the lack of other people made him smile. Providing that girl who lived near-by didn't bother him too much, he could simply put on his happy face and get on with things. He had brought reading materials, enough so that he could learn the basics, and after that everything should be easy enough to figure out. Once again, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, not quite falling asleep this time but trying to shift focus away from what the farm was, and onto what it could be. This was a fresh start for him, everything would be okay.

"...Well someone's cranky." She huffed after he walked off, Haku giving her a "your one to talk" look that was ignored.

"And its also rude to just walk off and not introduce yourself!" She shouted after him. It took a minute for what he said to sink in.

......
....
...
.."Hey wait a minute! This my property, who is he to tell me to leave!" She huffed as she made her way towards the house. As she got closer, she was happy to see it seemed to be fairing better than the other buildings, at least she wasn't worried about it falling in on her. Baku walked beside her, one paw attached to her pants leg to make sure she stayed close to him.

The two entered the house to find the rather rude gentlemen looking like he was half asleep on a old chair. Why was he in her home, sleeping in her chair?

"Acts like he owns the place.." She mumbled as she stood in front of the chair. "Look pal, I don't know what your doing here, but this is my house and unless you want to pitch in with clean up I must kindly ask you to leave." She tried to be nice, maybe he was looking for work and waiting on her, the owner, to show up so he could ask for work or something. "If you are looking for work, I can't pay you anything until after our first harvest..."

When he heard the girl storming through the front door, West genuinely felt like he was going to cry. Matters were only worsened when the girl said that she believed she owned the place. While this explained her presence on West's property, he now had the question of 'why is this girl lying?' West stood up, immediately missing the comfort of what he had decided was officially his chair, and sauntered over to the table in silence. He unzipped one of his bags and pulled out a slightly crumpled envelope, thrusting it into the hands of the girl.
"Documents of ownership." He explained, folding his arms "This property was bought under the name Emily Second, my mother, and ownership was passed to West Second, myself. Thus, I am the legal proprietor of this farm. Ta-freaking-da"

West had seen all of the paperwork, his mother had made sure that he knew everything about what he was doing. He knew how much was paid for the place, had helped sort all of the legal documents and had sen the (now obviously fake) photographs. Considering the pictures that were provided for them of the idealistic landscape and this girl standing in front of him, West was starting to put the pieces together in his mind. Usually the landlord or previous owner would have been here to pass on the home, but this place didn't look like it had been lived in for years. The farm itself was practically unusable, the buildings were falling apart and the only life for miles were the wild pokemon and this girl.

Of course, West didn't really want to say anything about this until he was certain. All he really wanted was a good nights sleep at this moment. After she had seen the documents handed to her, West grinned and sat back down.
"So, as you can see, this is my house and unless you wanna help clean it up I must kindly ask you to go away." He tapped his foot impatiently as he spoke "Really, I don't know what kind of scam you're running, but I'm not buying it."

The document made Leanna pause for a moment before realization dawned on her. She felt very foolish as she let the guy finish before pulling out a wrinkled piece of paper from her pocket.

"Well that is strange, seeing as I gave to same document right here. Only it has Leanna written in it instead." At thus point, even she had figured out they had both been scammed. Oh her brothers would have a field day with this, their little sisters first big step into the real world and she's already lost most if her money to a scam artist..

She turned back to, he had said his name was West right? And sighed, "We have been scammed." She stated plainly, wondering what in the world they were gonna do about the farm. She couldn't leave and go back home, that was for sure. But what was she going to do about him?

"Ri." She nearly jumped out of her skin when Haku spoke from beside her. With this mess growing bigger and bigger by the second, she had forgotten about her companion being right beside her.

"What?"

"Riolu."

"Are you serious? He'll never agree to"

"Ri-Ri!"

"No I'm not asking him-!"

"Riiiii."

"Fine! I'll ask. Bossy pants Pokemon..." She mumbled as she turned to West.

"Look, since we are stuck with each other, how about we just work together? We can split everything fifty fifty and we'll have three sets of hands working to get this place into shape. It'll looking like a real farm or ranch in no time if we work together." She crossed her fingers and hoped for the best.

Scammed. West was starting to come to that conclusion himself, but hearing this person had her own copy of the documents cemented it. This day could not possibly get any worse for West, already he had had his rest interrupted twice, but now he discovered he was going to have to share this place with some total, and sickeningly optimistic, person and her Pokemon. He closed his eyes and too a deep breath, searching for any alternative he could think of. His only conclusion was it was between this and going back to live with his mother. Whilst this girls good moods were already starting to irk West, his mother had spent most of her savings on this place and if he showed up on her doorstep and told her it was a all a scam, it would kill her. There was a lot about this situation that West didn't like, but he couldn't see a way out of it.

"I don't have much of a choice." West grumbled, falling back into his chair, one of the few good things about this situation he could find "I don't have anywhere else to go, and it doesn't look like you're leaving any time soon." This was already turning into more effort than it was worth, West really hadn't planned on putting on any sort of happy guise this evening and the whole situation was over his head. This was as close to a living nightmare as West could possibly get. He couldn't think of one thing that would make this situation worse.

And then it clicked into his mind and he groaned
"This place..." He waved his arms at the building they were standing in "It's only really built for one... One bathroom, one kitchen and worst of all, one bloody bedroom with one bloody bed." He laughed, the whole thing was simply getting crazier which only served to make West angrier "And, I having slept in at least a day, no thanks to you. This is all just one, great big mess."

"...Man this guy makes a Charizard look friendly." She thought after he collapsed back into the chair. She wondered if he realized this was just as a big a mess for her as it was for him. She had done nothing but talk this place up for months to her family, which would be expecting news of her great farm life and how it was going, and now she had to wonder how she was going to get this place farmable before winter came. Not to mention she would have to live with mister congeniality as well, she didn’t even want to think about sleeping arrangements yet. “One step at a time Leanna. One step at a time.” She repeated the mantra silently in an attempt to keep her cool.The combination of being scammed and her new partner’s attitude were fraying her nerves to nothing very quickly.

“Look, we can sit here and mope about our bad luck, or we can get out there and whip this place into great shape and show that scumbag who's boss.” With that, she rolled up her jacket sleeves and pulled a ponytail holder out of pocket, putting her hair up before she grabbed a hold of West and started dragging him into the kitchen. She barely dodged the Spinarak that scurried out after she pushed open the old door leading into it, her nose crinkling as the aroma of the shut up room wafted towards them.

“First things first.” She propped the sleepyhead against the wall why she dug around in her large suitcase. “We gotta make this place live-in-able again.” Good thing her mother insisted she bring her own cleaning supplies, else they’d be up a creek with no paddle.

“Now I’ll get started with the dusting, you get started on the sweeping.” She didn’t bother to listen for an answer as she threw a broom at him before moving to what used to be the kitchen counter.

West sat for a second with the broom in his hand, before taking a deep breath and standing up. He wasn't too keen on doing what the girl said, just because he wanted to be difficult. But, he was able to recognize when he was just being grumpy. Despite everything, he was well aware of the fact that this Leanna was correct. They needed to move into action and get this place livable if they wanted to survive. Income had to be made and the only way to do that was to make the farm farm-able. He stood and started sweeping the floor, starting in the area around his chair and taking extra care to make sure the area around his new favorite spot was perfectly clean before progressing onto the rest of the room. What little sleep he had managed between arriving and now wasn't much, but it as enough to let him clean with some level of 'enthusiasm'. Of course, he was still incredibly tired and it was obvious from the look of him, but he was still capable of doing a passable job of the floors.

As he cleaned, he did everything he possibly could to ignore Leanna as she cleaned. He made sure he wasn't working in a room that she was, keeping his distance an enjoying the silence. He tried to focus on the sounds of the farmyard, the wind and the pokemon cries that filled the area. It was peaceful and made him smile slightly, but as he swept he couldn't help but feel that he was hearing something out of place, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He shrugged it off, the house was old and unused to people being in it, so it was probably just the sounds of creaky floorboards or something similar. Right now, he wanted to clean this place enough to mean that Leanna would let him fall asleep.

Eventually, having made pretty decent work of the living room and bathroom, West progressed onto cleaning the bedroom and instantly the feeling that something was off returned, stronger than before. Every couple of seconds he would hear a whining noise that seemed somewhat out of place. After a couple of seconds, he put down the broom and started following his ears, trying his best to find the source of the noise. He managed to narrow it down, believing the source to be coming from beneath the bed. He dropped to all fours, peering into the darkness under the bed, using a torch on his phone to illuminate the shadows.

Huddled in the corner was a ball of tangled, filth orange fur, trembling slightly. West was not an expert on Pokemon but he was able to recognize certain species. The Vulpix was smaller than most, and the thing looked terrified. Instantly, every ounce of spite drained away from West, as he stuck out his hand under the bed.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you." He spoke softly and calmly. It took a little coaxing, but eventually West was holding a dirty lump of matted fur in his arms. The Vulpix licked his cheek gently as West inspected the poor creature. She had a collar around her neck that read 'Cupcakes' and West assumed that she had belonged to whoever owned the farm previously, meaning that she had been alone in the area for years. It was a wonder that she was alive.

West carried the pokemon back through to the kitchen, the resentment he had felt towards Leanna had been forgotten in the urgency of the situation.
"Hey, I found her in the bedroom." He said, getting Leanna's attention "She looks like she's been here for a while. You're a trainer, have you got anything that might help?"

Once Mr. Grumpy had wandered off, Leanna had begun her attack in the many layers of dust that had overtaken the house. She noted that the workmanship on the wood was actually really pretty once it was cleaned up. She could just see the nice cozy home of her dreams underneath the cobwebs and dust bunnies.

As she worked, her thoughts turned towards her cranky companion. She hoped his current mood was a combination of the scam and lack of sleep and that after a go on night's rest his mood would significantly improve.

Haku had been cleaning all the little nooks and crannies that were hard for her to reach, mumbling to itself as it strived to remove every speck of dust and dirt.

He was a bit of a neat freak so she knew being in the filthy house must have been driving him crazy. Just when it had begun to look somewhat nice she heard Mr. Krabby coming in.

"What is it now-" her train of thought derailed harshly at the poor, heart wrenching sight before her. The feather duster fell to the floor as she shot over to him.

"Oh you poor thing." She cooed softly as brushed some of the matted fur out of the Vulpix's eyes. "Hang on just a second." She dove for her suitcase and dug around until she found a small bag, a bowl, and knife.

She wordlessly moved to the freshly cleaned counter and pulled some Oran berries and began chopping them into tiny pieces.

"Here you go sweetheart." She said softly as she held the bowl up to the starving Pokemon.

West hopped up onto the counter, taking a seat and placing Cupcakes down next to the bowl. The scared Pokemon spared no time, from the second her paws hit the table she dashed over to the bowl of berries, almost sliding of the table and knocking the bowl over in the process.
"Easy there Cupcakes." West chuckled, catching the Vulpix just before she fell of the counter. He set her down next to the bowl again and this time she managed to successfully begin ravenously devouring its contents. As she ate, West watched with the first real smile since he had left home. His mind was whirring, clicking things into place. He looked up to Leanna and nodded his head towards the bedroom
"I got as far as there with the sweeping," He explained "Found her underneath the bed. I think she belonged to whoever lived here last, been here alone for a while." He hesitated, he wanted to say something along the lines of 'and now I'm going to take care of her'. Thruthfully, West had always wanted a Pokemon of his own, but given that his Father left his Mother to become a Pokemon trainer, his Mother had always chalked up Wests desire to have a Pokemon to some sort of 'Daddy issues'. Truthfully, West simply thought they were fantastic creatures and he wanted to know about them.

He gently stroked the tangled fur at the back of Cupcakes neck. He knew nothing about raising a Pokemon other than what he had read in a book a long time ago. The Pokemon before him had already been so much, he was starting to think that it would just be best to leave it in Leanna's care. With a slight, yet audible sigh, the smile from West's face vanished as he hopped off the counter and turned to Leanna.
"Take care of her." He mumbled, before sauntering back through to the bedroom and picking up the broom inside, returning to the job at hand. As he swept, he kept peering over his shoulder to check on Cupcakes. Every time he did, he was met by the same sight of Cupcakes happily eating away from the bowl, her tails wagging in the air. Every time he saw it, he smiled slightly and then convinced himself to return to sweeping, head down.

He was half way through the bedroom, telling himself that Leanna was certainly a better owner for Cupcakes, when he felt something barrel into the back of his legs, sending him sprawling into the still dusty floor. He managed to turn, to find a still filthy Cupcakes, looking slightly disappointed in him for walking away. She yipped in a manner that West could only construe as threateningly, and pawed at his chest, a look of worry in her eyes.
"Hey! Hey!" West giggled "Don't worry, I 'aint going anywhere." Cupcakes looked relieved at this and calmed down, gently licking Wests cheek. After everything that had happened, now he had his own Pokemon and all of a sudden things were looking somewhat brighter.

Leanna brushed some of the caked mud and dirt off the Vulpix's fur as she listened to West's story. "Poor baby..." Her heart twisted in pity as she watched her devour the Oran berries, wondering what could have happened to the actual owner and why they abandoned her this adorable sweetheart. She then noticed the old collar around her neck, with "Cupcake" written on it. "Awww, its so cute!" Leanna mentally squealed as Haku went to her bag to get more berries while Cupcake licked the bowl clean. She turned to ask West if he'd noticed it but the thought died when she saw it.

A smile. He was actually smiling as he watched the little Pokemon eat its first good meal in heaven only knew how long. She knew that look on his face, it was the same one she had when she first saw a little Riolu stare up at her when it hatched from that abandoned egg she'd found. Whether she knew it or not, little Cupcake had West completely wrapped around her little paw. She felt a little warm and fuzzy as she enjoyed this new side of her future farm partner.

"Take care of her." West's words broke through her warm fuzzies as she turned to see him walking off. "Wha- now where does he think his going?" She wondered aloud as Haku put more berries into Cupcake's bowl.

"Ri-olu." He shrugged as the Vulpix's continued inhaling berries. Leanna stood there for a moment in minor shock before moving over to Cupcake. "I don't know what that was about, but his not fooling any of us is he sweetheart?" She cooed as the little one finally finished eating, head turning to where West had just been standing. Not seeing him, the little Vulpix gave a worried whine before bolting out of the kitchen.

"Awwwww!" Leanna hauled Haku off the table and into a big bear hug. "Isn't that just the sweetest thing you've ever seen?" She asked the little Riolu as he just hugged her back and let her have her moment.

"Ri."

"I knew you'd think so." She chuckled as she headed towards the bedroom, only for her heart to nearly bust at the adorable sight before her. On the floor, was West, Mr. Leave me alone, laughing and holding a now happy looking Cupcake in his arms. So the grump was actually just a big ol softie huh?

"I don't know who you were trying to fool in the kitchen." She stated, leaning against the bedroom door, "But that is your Pokemon." SHe smiled down at the pair, trying not to squeal at the cuteness. "And she really needs a bath."

"Ri."

His Pokemon. That was something West had never really thought he would hear in his life. He smiled slightly, scooping Cupcakes up in his arms and standing up, brushing some of the dust off of the pair of them.
"I guess if she wants me that badly..." He smirked, Cupckaes yipped in confirmation "Then who am I to say no?" He gently scratched the fox pokemon behind her ears. Her fur was definitely in need of a good clean, the only issue with this was that West had seen the bathroom in this place and it was in need of a good clean first. And, to top it off, West still had no idea what he was doing. He didn't know the first thing about raising a Pokemon, which meant that he was going to have to actually rely on Leanna for advice, which meant he was actually going to have to talk to her.

Still, if West was going to be trapped here with someone else, Leanna seemed like a decent choice. Despite his attitude before, she was still here smiling at the sight of West and his new Pokemon. Providing she gave him space when he needed it, he was starting to feel like he could co-exist with the girl.

"You're right" He mumbled, blushing very slightly but noticeably "She does need a wash. Have you got cleaning crap in your bag for the bath? It could use a rinse out before I even consider putting Cupcakes in there." He was slightly embarrassed to be asking for her help after being such a jerk to her previously, but he was going to have to drop the grumpy child act sooner or later. The concept of dealing with people always frightened West, but if he could figure out how to work with Leanna, this whole situation would be a lot easier for both of them.

"Listen, uh, until we get everything sorted out with whole... Farm thing, I can sleep on the chair..." West mumbled awkwardly. This situation wasn't easy on either of them, he had known it from the start and unless he started to make an effort things were just going to get worse. Plus, if he wasn't in Leanne's good books, there was no way she would help him raise Cupcakes, and right now that's what he wanted most. He felt so bad for the small creature. All his life he had gone around pushing people out and now he had discovered something which had been forced to be alone for who knows how long. He wanted to be there for her, to help Cupcakes to the best of his abilities.