Fanfiction Weekly Prompt - Grocery Shopping

Alola readers! Took me a while, but Brav's going to do a weekly prompt again! This week depicts a trip to the grocery store with Pokémon! Another huge thanks to @WavePearl for writing these out and thinking of something new and exciting every week!
Little bit of background before I go in; this story is part of a minichapter series I have linked to A Hui Hou Kakou, K'ou Alola being written out here. Even if you haven't, enjoy the family togetherness and comical scene that has loosely been inspired by one of my own personal experiences in shopping with parents as a little kid. Obviously, this Elio is a different character than the one I normally write in the Weekly as Ash and Serena's son.

Enjoy guys.


There were many different grocers to choose from throughout the region of Kanto. Some were regional; such as the Celadon exclusive Metro Market while others were multiregional.

One such place was Tanaka's Market. Having locations in Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, Hoenn and eventually Alola; the megamart chain was among the largest supermarket corporations in the world with more than three hundred locations. Their logo was a large fat spelling of their name and a cartoon design of a Farfetch'd in the center. Its namesake was from the owner's Pokémon, the one featured on its advertising.



The Tanaka's location in Orinda was located at the end of a mall that sprawled two entire blocks of the northeastern borough of Cerulean City. Although a far cry from the gigantic shopping complex of Celadon's three dozen department stores, it would provide a suitable area for retailed goods to be bought. Plenty of shopping options as well as a massive food court tailored something for everyone.


So happened to be a typical Saturday late morning when Calvera Northstar pulled his big blue pickup truck into one of the parking spaces in the lot that encircled the entire shopping complex. Setting the brake into park, he clipped his seatbelt off and opened the door, taking the time to stretch the limbs on his six foot one frame.

Cerulean City was slowly getting cooler, as the fall months began to creep upon them. The air was still warm, but a breeze blowing south was a foretell that chilly weather was approaching.

The door on the passenger side opened and a slender woman in her mid-twenties stepped out, glancing around and brushing hair strands out of her face as the wind whipped at it.

Elaine Northstar opened her side of the truck as Calvera released a Pokémon.

It was quadrupedal, with long gold fins and a bright blue body with a mammalian appearance. Its long tail ended in a flipper fin that waved from side to side; a sign that the Pokémon was excited.

"Hey Blue." Calvera leaned down to give his partner Pokémon a friendly scratch on the top of his head. "We're here."

"Vap! Vaporeon!"

Elaine's husband had a dangerous occupation, responsible for venturing right into burning buildings to save people and exterminate the blazes. His trusty Vaporeon; Blue was his partner in doing the job as well as being the mate for Elaine's Flareon.

His wife was in the middle of unbuckling their four-year old son Elio from his car seat. The child was virtually a splitting image of his father's dark hair and steely gray eyes. While the man smiled, his son was rubbing his eyes and mouth opened in a tired yawn.

"Sorry sweetheart." Elaine ruffled his tufts of hair. "It's Saturday again and that means grocery shopping."

"Yay!" His face broke out into a sudden smile, allowing his father to come over and pick him up with one burly arm.

Calvera had a solid build, with large arms and a body that could've been a personal trainer's. His constant workouts and job required him to be in his best physical shape.

Elaine didn't mind it at all. She did notice when they went out together, there were looks of envy thrown their way since it appeared that they were a happy couple.

No. We're a happy family.
"Vaporeon!"

"Blue!" Elio cried out, wiggling out of his father's grip and walking over to the Eeveelution. The vaporeon was always glad to see his good friend and nuzzled itself into the boy's shoulder.

"Are you ready to go shopping sweetheart?" Elaine shivered from a new gust of wind, but kept smiling at her son's affectionate display.

"Yeah!"

"Vaporeon!"



Elio's eyes widened in wonder as he and Blue entered the store side by side in front of his parents, looking at the interior.

Each Tanaka's had similar architecture; light wooden floors with each department having stainless steel shelves and display cases. Large signs depicting advertisements hung from the ceiling and up in stands beside big tubs containing enormous amounts of the product.

"Okay," Calvera knelt down across from his son. "Remember to keep an eye on Elio. Right Blue?"

"Vap! Vaporeon!"

"Good."

Elaine kept her shopping list nearby while Calvera pushed their cart full of food for the week. Mealtime during her husband's off days had both cooking while Elio kept busy by playing with Blue or one of Elaine's Pokémon. There was an abundance of cookware in their home and he made full advantage, while minimizing costs. While she didn't mind the cleaning part; it was the best when everyone cooked as a family. Elio absolutely loved the fact that his parents gave him min-assignments to go on with Blue in order to go and get some of the items they needed to buy. Of course, he was kept in their sight, although he didn't know that.

Meandering through the aisles took a little longer than twenty minutes when Elio eventually got tired of walking and at his insistence, sat in the basket seat, glancing around and pointing at all the fancy colored labels of the canned goods.

"Artichokes." Elaine crouched down, looking between two different brands. "Hmm."

"Hey love." Calvera set some chicken, pasta and bread crumbs into the cart. "Is that everything?"

"Yeah, I believe so."

“Remember, we’re feeding six hungry firefighters.” He chuckled. “You sure you don’t want to double the batch?”

“You know what? That’s probably a good idea.” Elaine looked down at her son in the seat, “Hey sweetheart, I also have to get some brownies for dessert. How about you and Blue go and get them?” She pointed at the end of the aisle, “It’s over there.”

“Okay.” Elio said, allowing his mother to grab him under his arms and lift him out of the cart. “Weeeeee!”

Elaine couldn’t help smiling as he raised his arms in happiness. “Come on Blue!”

The Vaporeon purred happily as it bounded after the boy, both hurrying to the baking area. She watched with amusement as the bubble jet Pokémon jumped up, swinging its tail up at a couple of boxes, knocking them down on the shelves.

Elio held his hands out, but the falling mix containers were well out of his reach and he fell forward with an “ope” sound that made Elaine almost laugh out loud.

The sound of something clunking into the cart brought Elaine out of her admiration for Elio’s cuteness.

“Okay, so I went ahead and got us double for the Florentine bake.” Calvera said. He hefted a case of Sprout’s beer as well. “Gotta also get something else for the guys to enjoy.”

“Well play nice and keep the language G-rated.” Elaine reminded him. “Remember someone’s only one sixth of your age in the house.”

“He’ll be asleep and I promise we can take it outside if things get too much.” He raised an eye brow at the bottle of Amour du Vin. “You better watch it there too love. I know you can down one of those in a night.”

“Maybe some after Elio’s asleep.”

Calvera glanced over at the aisle and his eyes went wide. “Uh, where is he? And where is Blue?”

Elaine gasped, finally seeing that neither the Vaporeon or her boy. The only thing that remained as a sign of anyone doing something was a small pile of brownie mix that had spilled from “Elio?”

“I thought you just said he went to grab brownies?”

“Yeah I did.” Worry began to creep itself to Elaine’s body. “He couldn’t have gone far.”

She hurried to the end of the aisle, seeing no trace of him or Blue. “Elio?”

Calvera’s expression grew more concerned by the minute. Orinda was a very safe place, one where younger kids could go a little more freely without the supervision.

Still though; his absence with no say on where he went was extremely alarming.

“Oh Elio?” Elaine’s voice grew more worried by the second. “Where is he? Where’s my boy?”

“Relax. He’s probably playing tag with Blue right now.” That was another thing he commonly did with the Eeveelution, although it was different this time around since it was done in at least one of their sightlines.

“Elio?”

“Oh no.” Elaine’s breath hitched. “Calvera, get the manager.”

“Okay.”

It didn’t take long to find a blue vested store manager at the front beside the checkout lanes.

“Can I help you ma’am?” She was a little surprised to see a now-desperate looking Elaine and a concerned Calvera walking briskly towards her.

“Please! You have to help us!” Even though she had been trained in nursing school to remain calm under pressure, the thought that her son had been kidnapped was pressing on her like a Snorlax.

“My son.” Calvera set a reassuring hand on his wife’s shoulder. “My son disappeared in the store and we’re unable to find him.”

“Okay. We can do a store sweep.” She turned away, grabbing a nearby phone from the dock, speaking over the PA with a calm, but stern voice. “Attention all employees, attention all employees. We have a code Adam. Code Adam.”

Turning back to them, she gestured forward. “Now let’s see if we can find him. What’s his name?”

“Elio?”

“Elio!”

“Elio Kai Northstar. Where are you?”

Looking through the final aisle and he had still been nowhere in sight. Even though the Code Adam would make things easier, there was no sign other than the spilled brownie mix on the floor.

“Hey.” Calvera gently put his arms around his wife’s back and brought her close. “He’s not gone. We will find him.”

Unlike her composed husband; Elaine’s worry had almost brought her to the point of tears. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for this. All I asked was for him to get us some brownies for our party and now he’s gone.”

He felt like he couldn’t do anything but just hold her tightly in his arms, hoping like her, that he would reappear.

“Mister Northstar?” The manager reappeared, glancing assertively at the embraced couple.

“Yes?”

“We found him.”

With the Code Adam finally lifted, she led a pair of concerned parents right to the vegetable and fruit section. Now affirming that they wouldn’t be taking their eyes off the young boy, the manager returned to the front to resume her duties.

Elio had sat down next to the wide arrangement of berries, holding a big poster of Tanaka the Farfetch’d and using his other hand to scoop some dark fruit into his mouth with Blue lying beside him.

Elaine’s mouth dropped and her worry just a few seconds earlier evaporated, causing her to practically squeal at such an adorable sight.

“And so. Mister Tanaka isn’t hungry anymore so you get some more berries Blue.” He held out some more to the vaporeon, in which it happily chowed down in his palm. She also noticed that they were bluk berries, known to be very delicious and inexpensive, but they could leave horrible stains if not washed immediately.

Elio’s mouth was covered in its inky black juice and she could see runnels of it that had gone down into his shirt.

“These berries are so good.” He continued, unaware of his parents watching him. “You really good Pokémon Blue to eat with.”

“Vap! Vaporeon!” Although it gave off a happy cry, there was a look of worry across its face and it glanced around to see if either of the parents was close by.

“I luv you Blue.” He finally said holding the finished berry carton with one hand. Back at their position, Calvera couldn’t hide his shock that Elio had managed to eat that much and share with his Pokémon. “You my bestest friend.”

“Vaporeon!” Blue cooed happily before walking over and using his long wet tongue to gently lick the boy’s face. At its touch, his giggles all but had melted both parents’ hearts.

“Elio!” He looked up wide-eyed to see a rushing Elaine who went right over and scooped him up in her arms. “Elio are you alright?”

“Mom?” His smile vanished, replaced by a similar concerned look. “Are you crying?”

“Yes sweetie.” Her tears were contrasted by a smile of her own. “I just want you to know how much I love you.”

“I luv you too Mom.”

She glanced down at the empty carton in his hand. “What happened though? I told you to go and get brownies.”

“Uhhh. Blue was hungry.”

“I can see that.”

“So we get berries! I remember what you said. It’s always nice to share!”

“That’s very thoughtful of you.” Elaine said, setting him back in the cart and using one of her wet wipes to clear off a couple of stain spots that Blue had missed with his tongue. “But you do know that we have to pay for all the berries that you decided to share?”

“Oh.” His face fell in the seat and he looked just ready to cry. “I’m sorry Mom. I just wanna have a chance to relax and play with a Pokémon.”

“When you become a trainer, you can do that as much as you like.”

“Okay.”



There was a round of profuse apologies on both Elaine and Calvera’s part as they paid for their groceries and headed for their car once again. A big rush of relief was on both that their loving son was no longer out of their reach and safely back with them.

Calvera unlocked his truck while Elaine had placed much of the things they had bought into a cooler that attached to its flatbed. The top was secured by both of them and they climbed inside, starting the engine and headed right back home.

“Are you ready to help Mom and Dad cook?” Elaine glanced back after not getting a reply, to find her four year old Elio sound asleep in his car seat with Blue curled up next to him. Both were all tuckered out from their adventure.

Even though she had been extremely worried about his safety when he had left her sight, it hadn’t been how the child had come into their lives in a way she nor her husband could anticipate.

Not once did she wish things were done differently to bring them together as a family.

Thanks for reading guys. Please like or comment! Really makes my day. As always; mahalo for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.

 

Like I said in the A/N, this was partially based off a personal experience when I was younger...I think maybe 4 at the time. I had gone shopping with my parents and ran off to the fruit section where I had opened a box of blueberries and was eating them. Mom and Dad had no idea where they went, so they called a Code Adam in the store (an emergency to lock the doors to locate a missing child) and they finally found me eating them without a care in the world.

Thank you Wave! Vaporeon is one of my favorite Pokémon!

Thanks man. I really do like writing them when they're happy, before shit hits the fan. Elio and Blue were best friends for life!

Thanks! Elaine's sort of overreaction was similar to my mother's during my own little disappearance. Can't really blame her..but I really enjoyed those blueberries and got them all over my mouth like Elio did. Isn't he just a total sugar cube?