I glared down at my own body as I slowly started to change into my one piece. May finally worked up the courage to drag us out to the beach after brunch, much to my own annoyance.
‘I don’t know what you’re whining about. You’ll look great in this,’ Emilie said. She was currently standing guard just outside my changing stall with Joern.
‘Do you not see how many scars I have?’ I asked, my nose curling up as I looked at my arms. ‘Why the hell do you think I like wearing long sleeves or that Haori so much?’
‘For future reference, my leaves can be helpful burn salves,’ Joern piped in, disregarding the conversation’s main topic in its entirety.
“Really?” I asked.
‘Perks of being a water and grass type, I guess.’ Joern said. ‘Can we go swimming now? I really want to go swimming.’
‘Look, May doesn’t care about a few burn scars. She just wants to hang out with her best friend on the beach, so quit stalling and put the damn thing on.’ And Emilie sounded impatient. Did no one else care about the problem I was having right now!?
‘I want her to care, though,’ I argued. ‘Is it bad that I want my crush to think I look good? Do you know how many times I've gotten tagged by a random sheet pan coming out of the oven?’
‘Look, do you really think May’s the type of person to care about that?’ Emilie asked, her tone sounding exasperated.
‘I... well, no,’ I said.
‘Then put on the damn bathing suit and come out of the damn changing room,’ Emilie ordered.
Times like this, it really did make me feel like I was the one getting trained in this damn relationship. I groaned as I pulled the stupid blue one piece on. I looked in the mirror to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be before taking a deep breath and walking outside. Emilie looked me up and down and Joern looked bored.
“So?” I asked.
‘It looks like a bathing suit,’ Emilie said.
I groaned.
‘I’m a Pokémon, what do you want. I don’t know what looks good and bad on humans. It looks nice?’
Nice? Just nice?
‘Would you stop being weird, please. You look like Lea. May generally likes looking at you,’ Emilie said.
‘She does?’ I asked, mildly intrigued.
Emilie slapped her forehead.
“Lea, are you ready to go?” May asked as she turned the corner into my changing area.
It felt like time stopped moving. Flawless pale skin was on full display as May wore a red bikini with full confidence. This was so unfair! How the hell are you fifteen and have no skin issues!
Dammit, she looked so beautiful...
“Look, I know you feel a bit self-conscious in a swimsuit, but don’t worry so much. You look great in that,” May complimented me as she dragged me towards the water.
‘See? Nothing to worry about,’ Emilie encouraged.
I couldn’t help but sag a bit. Nothing was right.
‘I was hoping for at least a brief gawk or ogle or something!’ I complained.
Emilie chuckled.
‘What?’ I mentally shouted.
‘Nothing. I’m sorry. I’m being mean. I just remembered your biggest complaint during our swimsuit shopping,’ Emilie explained.
‘Yeah, well... I’m okay with being ogled if it’s May, alright?’ I explained. I felt blood rushing to my face.
‘And that’s adorable,’ Emilie commented.
I glared.
‘Quit picking on the captain, lass. Don’t forget, we’re supposed to be on alert,’ Apollo said accusingly as he flew down to my other shoulder. ‘No sign of trouble, captain.’
‘Thanks Apollo. For multiple reasons,’ I said.
Emilie glared at my current favorite, then at me, then back at Apollo. ‘Suck up,’ she said.
“Stop it with the private conversation,” May complained.
I snickered before nodding.
‘Actually, that’s a good idea,’ Emilie said. ‘Push what I’m saying to May.’
‘First off, how, secondly, Emilie-’
‘I’m not going to out you. I swear. This will be good practice for you. We need to build up your mental muscles, so to speak,’ Emilie interrupted me. ‘Work hard, remember.’
“Counteroffer. I push the thoughts of everyone else to May, you work on verbalizing, after you show me how the fuck pushing thoughts works,” I said.
May looked excited at the prospect, and Emilie sagged.
“Work-”
“Hard,” Emilie said, before glaring at me. “Lea. Why?”
‘Because watching you trip over your words is hilarious, and practice makes perfect,’ I thought.
May leaned back in shock before smiling wide at me. “Thank you!” May said before pulling me into a hug.
‘So... passing along a telepathic message?’ I asked.
‘Try doing it while I’m talking to you. Focus on what I’m saying while you do what you normally do to push your messages to her,’ Emilie explained.
I complied.
‘It’s actually incredibly easy, once you get a handle on it, but don’t feel bad if-’
“Wait, is that what Emilie sounds like in your head?” May asked.
Emilie smiled. "Told. You,” Emilie said. “Easy.”
I fist pumped. “Score!” I yelled.
Emilie glared at me.
‘Sorry.’
“Why does Emilie have a Kalosian accent?” May asked.
My eyes widened and I couldn’t hold back the laughter from bubbling up.
‘I never noticed that.’ I said, trying and failing to stop myself from dying. ‘It didn’t used to be. I think the change was so gradual that I didn’t notice. Legends above you are such a dork.’
Emilie was the same shade of red as May’s bikini. “Shut. Up,” Emilie said.
“Neither of you are answering my question,” May complained. “And hearing your voice in my head WHILE you laugh is really disorienting.”
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘Emilie’s namesake is Kalosian. She’s been emulating her speech.’
May turned to Emilie and smiled. “Aww... that’s so cute.”
Emilie groaned. “Hate. You. All.” Emilie teleported down to the ground and started walking towards the ocean.
“I think Emilie has the right idea, race you to the water,” May said as she ran after my starter.
‘Head starts aren’t fair!’ I thought angrily before running to keep up. Apollo took off from my shoulder and flew ahead.
‘Sorry, Cap. I aim to win. Better luck next time.’ Apollo disappeared in a flash of sound, and the ocean exploded as he dove into the ocean, splashing May in the process.
“Ack, dammit Apollo!” May sputtered before diving after my pirate.
Emilie walked toward the water at a languid pace, disregarding all of us. My eyes widened and I hustled forward a bit when rather than dive in, she just continued to walk into the abyss, letting the waves take her. I grabbed her, lifted her up, and glared at her.
‘And I’m the drama queen,’ I said.
May giggled and Emille looked away from us.
“Rude.” she said as Joern brought up the rear and dived into the deep, his leaf just sticking out above the waves.
‘Why am I the only sane member of our group?’ I glared at Emilie for sharing what was probably supposed to be a private thought.
“What?” Emilie asked. “Didn’t. Do. Anything.”
I sighed and set her back down in the water. She can play dumb if she wants. Still don’t know why that thought was so quiet though.
----------------------------------------
‘Now this, is how a beach day should be enjoyed,’ I said as I leaned back under the umbrella May had bought. The shade felt nice. The sun, the breeze... it all felt incredible.
Was this the first time since leaving home that I just... genuinely relaxed and took it easy for a day? I think it was.
‘We need more days like this,’ Joern said as he laid down next to me. He gazed out beyond the coastline for a moment before leaning back, his hands holding him up against the sandy beach. ‘My tribe used to have days like this out by the Great Pond.’
‘Tribe?’ I asked, leaning forward a bit. ‘How many of you were there?’
‘A couple dozen, at least. The Lotad didn’t get to do much beyond vibe in the pond as the Ludicolo danced to improvised beats, mostly played by Lombre.’ Joern explained.
‘What all music could you make?’ I asked. ‘You didn’t have instruments.’
‘We could get quite the drum line going.’ Joern chuckled. ‘Humans have rather fancy instruments, but you can make quite a bit of noise with what nature gives you.’ Joern looked out across the beach. ‘It’s not quite the same, but it feels close enough.’ Joern smiled.
‘Would you like to head back and visit?’ I asked. ‘I’m sure Emilie could teleport you home if you wanted.’ Joern barked out a laugh. ‘What?’
‘Sorry, sorry. I...’ Joern looked away. ‘There were plenty of good times to be had, but to be honest, I’m happier here. I never really clicked with my tribe. Those three idiots you chased off with Emilie were the closest thing I had to friends, and they still got on my nerves to no end.’ Joern grinned as he spied Emilie and Suzy lock eyes. ‘You lot are noisy, but in a good way. I find myself looking forward to the craziness.’
From across the beach, sand started to move on its own. It shifted and writhed as Emilie brought her hands up to mold her focus. Seconds later, one of the most ornate sandcastles I had ever seen took shape, complete with a defensive moat. Suzy glared at Emilie as she stared down at her modest creation.
Samie burst up from below Emilie’s masterpiece and the whole thing collapsed around the little guy. Suzy started laughing as I felt a spike of rage pass through the bond.
‘Play nice,’ I ordered.
Emilie turned to me and stuck her tongue out.
‘Yeah, this feels more like home than home did,’ Joern said with a grin. ‘Sorry if my earlier comments worried you, I was just reminiscing.’
‘Nothing wrong with that. I like learning new things about you guys.’ A new source of shade loomed overhead, and I turned to see May towering over the two of us.
“Scoot over, you’re hogging all the shade,” May said with a glare.
‘But I’m cozy,’ I complained. ‘Weren’t you and Leshy hitting up a food stand?’
“Leshy didn’t like the looks of most of the vendors,” May explained.
I looked towards the coastline to see Leshy walk up to Samie. Samie looked excited before looking down and turning to Emilie. Emilie nodded once.
‘I think Leshy has adopted Samie,’ I commented.
May stared across the beach and laughed. “He can be the strict parent, I don’t have it in me,” May said.
“I dunno, you can channel Caroline when you need to,” I said as I moved over slightly.
Emilie tossed a glare my way, and I winced.
‘Screw you, this is tiring.’
‘I do it all day long,’ Emilie pointed out.
I sagged.
‘You’ll get there,’ Emilie said before going back to glaring at Suzy.
May sat down next to me and Joern grumbled when I accidentally nudged him.
‘There’s plenty of room for all three of us under here, quit whining,’ I said.
Joern glared but nodded as he scooted slightly to the left.
‘I guess I didn’t need to worry about anyone seeing me in a bathing suit out here, huh?’ I asked May.
“I’m honestly really surprised by that, but yeah. I guess it helps that this isn’t really a commercial beach. There were a lot more people by the vendors up the way a bit.” May smiled. “I kind of like having the beach to ourselves, though. It’s really relaxing, and I... think I need that right now.”
‘You alright?’ I asked.
May looked out towards our Pokémon before pulling me into a sideways hug.
“I’ve been on edge since the attack,” she admitted. “I keep looking around thinking something’s going to pop out at us. Absol showing up this morning really didn’t help that.”
‘Still nothing to report, Captain.’ I shared the thought with May as Apollo called it down from above. May smiled.
‘Thank you, Apollo,’ I replied.
“Thanks for sharing this with me,” May said. “Hearing their voices as they sound to you... really means a lot.”
'I’m glad.’ I nodded up towards the sky. ‘Apollo’s got us covered right now, so don’t worry so much. Just lean back and relax. Even if the space rocks do show up again, I’m confident we can take them. We kicked their ass before, and we can do it again,’ I said confidently.
May nodded once.
“Did you want to hit up the gym and register after this?” May asked. “I know you said you were good with waiting, but I really want to put as much distance between us and this island as possible.”
‘We can register if you want. We still have to deliver Steven’s letter, though,’ I said.
May winced.
“I forgot about that.” May groaned before falling backwards onto the sand. “Fuck, he’s going to be in a cave somewhere. How the hell are we supposed to find him?” May asked.
‘I don’t know,’ I replied. ‘We’ll figure something out though. Right now, let’s just enjoy the beach, okay? We can worry about all that other stuff later.’
“Right.” I leaned back, closed my eyes, and felt a shift.
Joern was getting up to go hang out with the rest of my degenerates. I opened my eyes and waved to see him off, then froze.
For the briefest of moments, I caught her.
‘So, you’re terrified of people labeling you the dykes of Hoenn, but you’ll stop to ogle my trainer’s boobs when she isn’t looking. Classy, May.’ My eyes popped open wide at that thought, and as soon as they did, May looked away.
I turned to look at Emilie, who didn’t outwardly react at all. She was still recreating her sandcastle and wasn’t even looking in my general direction.
Had I picked that thought out of her head?
Fuck, why’d I have to hear that!? More to the point, why wasn’t Emilie whipping her head around to the thoughts that were whipping around my head right now?
This fucking sucked!
I wanted to be happy, dammit. You can’t just drop that line in my head after what I just found out and not talk to me.
Could she really not hear my thoughts right now?
I swallowed as I tried to work through several things at once.
This meant my feelings weren’t one sided, but...
My mind flashed back to the first day on the cruise ship and the morning after.
Even if May was just curious about the idea of something more, there was no way in hell she was ready for that, and I didn’t want to push her. I just... had to wait, and be supportive, I guess.
Emilie not hearing my thoughts without me focusing on sending them to her, however, was new and exciting in a wide variety of ways. Either she was getting better at respecting boundaries and controlling her telepathy, or I was getting better at keeping intrusive probes out.
Both were good for different reasons.
I closed my eyes again and put my arms behind my head.
This really wasn’t something I could do something about now either, huh?
Screw it. Nap now, freak out later.
----------------------------------------
“Why was this so much easier here?” I asked, leaving the gym reception in record time. “That was, what, ten minutes? In and out?”
“Dewford isn’t anywhere near as populated as Rustboro, and the traditional route isn’t as common anymore,” May explained. “Might be why the beach wasn’t as crowded.”
“Yeah, but we only get two days to train.” I winced at the time crunch. “That sucks. Especially considering that we’ve both been slacking a bit.”
“Don’t act like Emilie isn’t going to obliterate this gym,” May complained.
‘I am, in fact, amazing,’ Emilie gloated.
“So amazing that you forgot you were supposed to talk most of your thoughts today,” I said.
Emilie glared at me. ‘And you were supposed to be practicing,’ Emilie argued back.
“I’m exhausted,” I complained. “I’ll go back to it in a bit. Talking, however, isn’t all that taxing.”
Emilie sighed but nodded. May looked up from Sergei and grinned at Emilie.
“She has a point, Emilie.”
Vindication. Oh, it felt good to have back up when dealing with my starter. Emilie glared at both of us.
“You. Both. Suck,” Emilie said. “This. Is. Getting. Easier. Though.”
“Good,” I said. “Now back to the gym. I’m fighting for my third badge, technically. I'm assuming Emilie won’t be able to just sweep because of the type advantage. Roxanne showed me that rather painfully with Joern and Lileep.”
“Apollo,” May countered my counter. “Seriously, your entire team makes Brawly sad.”
‘Aye, I ain’t losing to no muscle brained fighting types,’ Apollo said as he flew down from above.
‘I’m going first, otherwise you two are going to hog all the fun at this gym,’ Joern complained. ‘Fighting types don’t blow up, right?’ Joern asked with a nervous look on his face.
‘You’re good.’ Emilie replied.
‘Good.' Joern said. His body relaxed.
“I still want to train...” I pouted. “And fight. Where’s the nearest battle lounge thing, or whatever they’re called? I need money.”
“There isn’t one,” May said.
“Excuse me?” I asked. “I need funds, May. How am I supposed to get funds if the only match I’m fighting is the gym battle.”
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“Dewford’s a vacation spot, so battles aren’t... as popular, I guess,” May explained. “We can make our rematch against Wayne and Jasmine a money match. I’m sure they’re stacked.”
I didn’t like the idea of taking money from our new friends. I also didn’t like living off center food till I won my gym badge, though.
“Should we even do the rematch?” I asked.
May frowned, before looking at her phone again.
“We need more battle experience, Lea. We have things we need to do on this island that require it. As much as I want to, we can’t just hide in the center for a few days,” May said before sighing and kicking the ground. “It’d be nice if we could call someone about this. The rangers in this town are about as useful as the ones near Petalburg woods.”
“How would you know?” I asked.
May groaned as she crossed her arms.
“Brawly was the person who came to talk to me in the hospital. He said his ranger, singular, was busy,” May said.
I winced.
“You know, I’m starting to notice a trend,” I said.
“You were right, earlier. We just have to be careful. We’ll get a bit of funds and training in with our rematch, hit up the fields tomorrow, kick Brawly’s ass, drop Steven’s letter in a PO Box, and fucking bounce.”
Somehow, I doubted it would be that easy.
“Assuming we win this time...” I grumbled. “That Skarmory is tough.”
“We’re going with the original plan this time. Emilie and Suzy,” May said.
Suzy decided this would be the perfect opportunity to let herself out of her ball.
‘Rematch?’ Suzy was bouncing on her feet at the prospect. ‘Revenge?’ she asked.
“Just. Don’t. Mess. Up. This. Time.” Emilie choked out the last word.
Suzy glared at my shoulder.
‘Big talk from someone that hasn’t had a real fight in days,’ Suzy taunted. ‘Your laziness is showing again.’
“Been busy,” Emilie said. Her eyes widened. “This. Really is. Getting easier.”
“You’ll be talking real sentences in no time,” I said. May looked up from her phone and glared at her starter.
“Don’t pick fights with your partner. You two will have to work together if we want to win our rematch,” May said.
Emilie and Suzy glared at each other.
“Fine.” ‘Fine,’ Both of them said at the same time before looking away from each other.
----------------------------------------
The field we were standing on was surprisingly green and lush. I guess it made sense, Islands were more than just beaches, but seeing a fairly basic, grassy, field out here threw me a bit. The fact that we were doing this here and not on a beach actually kind of sucked. I wanted to test out how well Confusion worked with sand. Leshy, Joern, and Samie were on the sidelines looking in, and Apollo and Sergei were looking at the whole thing from above.
It felt a bit telling considering we had Suzy and Emilie on standby already, but May didn’t want any surprises while we were having our match.
“Are you sure you’re good to go, Lea?” Jasmine asked from across the field. She already had a single ball in her hand.
“Yeah, we can wait a bit. We’re honestly a bit surprised you guys called us up this soon,” Wayne said as he held a Great Ball in hand.
I made a show of smelling the air. “Why does it smell like bitch out here?”
Wayne glared at me.
“Quit stalling and put em up. I want to redeem myself,” I said.
“You want to redeem yourself? We lost the last round using MY Pokémon,” May said, glaring across the clearing. “Send out your Pokémon, already. Suzy wants to break their faces.” A grin split my face at the taunting. That sounded more like the May I knew and loved.
“Well, can’t argue with that, can we babe,” Wayne said.
“Fine, I suppose we could use a bit more money for this trip,” Jasmine said. “Do we even need a count down? I think we all know who everyone’s using.”
“Just send it already,” May complained. Suzy practically jumped into the arena.
‘You ready?’ I probed Emilie.
‘Won’t even break a sweat,’ she replied before warping into the clearing.
Wayne was bouncing up and down on his toes as Skarmory and Clefairy both formed opposite from us. A smug grin adorned Skarmory’s features as he stared down at Suzy.
“Busk. Busken busk Combusken.” She spat at the steel flying type before spitting a burning ember into the ground.
‘I ain’t translating that,’ Emilie said, never taking her eyes off of our opponents.
‘Baby,’ Suzy spat.
Clefairy had already retreated away from center stage and Skarmory beat his wings against the ground as he got ready for takeoff.
“Focus!” Both May and I yelled at the same time.
“Rapid fire Air Cutter on your ascent, Skarm. Make em bleed,” Wayne yelled.
Jasmine smiled. I don’t like that smile. She barely emoted at all last time, why does she look happy now?
“Metronome.”
Legends above, no. Not that move! Suzy ran out of the way of the wind sickles as they carved into the ground, and Emilie teleported-
“Are you insane!” I screamed as Emilie landed on Skarmory’s back with a malevolent grin.
‘I’m your Pokémon, of course I am.’ Emilie cackled as she grabbed the back of Skarmory’s wings and angled the bird down. Skarmory squawked at the impromptu nosedive.
“Steel Wing! Get that annoying gremlin off you,” Wayne ordered, glaring across the field at me for some reason.
What the hell are you mad at me for, I didn’t order this stupidity.
Emilie teleported off Skarmory the second Wayne started talking and Skarmory’s feet scraped the ground as he barely pulled up in time to avoid a crash landing. His wings glowed silver as he beat them against the ground and regained altitude.
‘Oi, Mandibuzz breath, you going to do anything this fight, that was the perfect chance to tag the stupid bird with one of your fancy fire attacks,’ Emilie said in an annoyed tone.
Suzy glared down at Emilie. ‘How the hell am I supposed to know you’re going to do something like that, you psychopath,’ Suzy clucked.
Oh, this was going well.
“Fair. RY!” Clefairy punctuated the final word by lifting both fingers into the air, her finger’s glowing white as energy pooled into a massive ball that was shot upwards, before warping and shifting in color. From blue, to black, till finally settling on red as it exploded, raining fire and death as the attack scattered down onto the grassy field below.
“Did she seriously roll Draco Meteor!?” May screamed as she backed away from the clearing.
Suzy sprinted forward, scooping Emilie up as she darted through the field, barely staying ahead of the falling brimstone as the very ground below us cracked, burned, and exploded. Joern had sprinted across the clearing and moved to shield me behind himself, and Leshy was knocking stray falling stones back towards the blast zone with his vines. Wayne and Jasmine both ducked away from their spots and hid behind trees as Skarmory took evasive action to avoid being barbecued. He cried out in pain as explosions from below pushed him up into a falling piece of molten earth before rising above the mess in its entirety.
By the end of the madness, Clefairy stood in the center of a baren, desolate wasteland as she rubbed the back of her head with a blush.
‘Sorry?’ she said.
“Suzy, are you okay?” May shouted.
The fire type slowly rose up from the debris and dusted herself off, coughing lightly as Emilie pulled herself up from the ground beneath her. Jasmine and Wayne both cautiously stuck their heads out and stared nervously at the field.
“Is it over?” Wayne asked, his voice shaky as he gazed out at the devastation. “Skarm, are you okay?”
“Skarm!” Skarmory shouted his annoyance from the skies above, his wings slightly blackened and banged up. He glared down at his partner, who backed away nervously.
“Oi, don’t glare at Clef,” Jasmine shouted at Skarmory, dragging his ire to herself. “And don’t be mad at me either, how the hell was I supposed to know that would happen?”
“I dunno, maybe don’t spin the roulette wheel. It never goes well, I don’t know why you keep trying,” Wayne complained.
‘You alright?’ Joern asked, looking a bit charred, but otherwise fine.
‘I’m fine. Same question, for both you and Emilie,’ I said, doing my best to block out the bickering couple. Joern just nodded once.
‘Only thing hurt is my pride,’ Emilie complained, before slowly giving Suzy a strained smile. ‘Thanks.’ Emilie said the word like it caused her physical pain.
‘Whatever. Just don’t put yourself in a position where I have to save you again,’ Suzy said.
Emilie glared. ‘You are the most insufferable, annoying-’
Thats it.
‘BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!’ I screamed at both of them mentally, they winced. ‘Fight the powder puff and the flying knife before killing each other, or I swear to every legendary out there that the calamity Absol predicted was me going to jail for Pokecide.’ I took a second to be grateful that Skarmory, Jasmine, and Wayne were also still arguing with each other as I felt a small headache form. Emilie and Suzy glanced nervously at each other before nodding hesitantly my way.
‘Sorry,’ they said in unison, and I made sure to pass the message along to May.
‘Let’s make them pay for ignoring us,’ I said to everyone in our group.
May looked across the barren field before nodding.
“Right. Rapid fire Ember, Suzy. I don’t care where they go, just start some fires and get in close,” May shouted.
Suzy ran forward and spat multiple embers as she closed the gap. Embers that started dancing and shifting as a blue light enveloped them.
‘Burn them,’ I ordered.
Emilie smiled and lashed out with her stolen fire as Suzy closed the distance between herself and Clefairy in the blink of an eye. She slammed into the distracted Clefairy, her body igniting on contact, and the powder puff rolled across the clearing, clutching its chest in pain as fire surrounded her. Emilie’s possessed firestorm consumed her, and a wail of pain sounded through the clearing.
“Steel Wing. Break Emilie’s focus, now,” Wayne ordered, suddenly very focused on the fight at hand.
“Clef, I know you’re hurting right now, but you need to put those flames out. Rollout,” Jasmine ordered.
I wasn’t sure if Clefairy heard her or not, at this point, but regardless, she was still flailing about wildly. Unfortunately, the flames Emilie had control over were pulled back as Skarmory charged Emilie. A wall of fire forced him to gain altitude and whiff his attack. Clefairy was kneeling down, clutching her chest, her skin slightly charred as a single shadow loomed over her. The fairy Pokémon slowly lifted her head up and shrunk away from Suzy’s terrifying visage.
‘Not again!’ she shouted before scrambling backwards.
Suzy moved to give chase, but a single angry steel bird put herself between them and slammed a glowing white wing into Suzy.
‘Stop bullying my partner,’ Skarmory hissed.
I think this was the first time I heard his voice. It almost sounded mechanical, if that was possible.
‘Tell your partner to toughen up and stop being a baby,’ Suzy shouted as she jumped away from the angry bird.
Emilie’s fire once again closed in as Suzy pulled back. Skarmory beat his wings, and a gust of wind pushed the fire back, only to cause the flames to swell in the open air.
‘Oh, that’s interesting. Let me just...’ I heard Emilie mutter as the swelling firestorm exploded upwards and outwards toward Skarmory in one massive fireball, engulfing him completely. He slowly started to fall back towards earth, his wings smoldering in the wind.
“Wish,” Jasmine shouted as Skarmory plummeted. The bird collapsed into the ground before slowly picking himself up and standing, his wings looking warped from the heat.
‘What the fuck was that?!’ I asked, gazing after Emilie’s pyrotechnics display in a state of awe.
‘Wind fans the flames. I realized something cool I could do because of it. I pulled a bunch of air into the ember storm, and that happened,’ Emilie explained, sounding excited.
‘Do that again!’ I ordered.
Emilie glared at me.
‘I need fire for that-’
“More embers while you move, Suzy. Give Emilie some more toys to play with and hit Skarmory hard with a Flame charge while he’s down,” May ordered.
‘Coming right up.’ Suzy shouted as she sprinted across the wasteland, spitting fire balls into the air as she went.
“Disarming Voice! Blow those fireballs out of the sky and keep them away from you,” Jasmine ordered before Emilie could even reach out and grab the flames.
Clefairy opened her mouth, and what came out felt wrong. The wail was dissonant and grating as a shockwave pushed itself outward from Clefairy’s mouth, snuffing out the fire and stopping Suzy in her tracks as she threw her hands over her ears.
“Go underground,” May yelled.
‘Relay that to Suzy, I doubt she heard that through this,’ I said with gritted teeth. Hell, I could barely hear her, and I was standing right next to her. My brain rattled around in my skull, and I was having trouble focusing.
Suzy dove underground a split second after.
'Is Clefairy weak enough to grab?’ I asked shakily.
‘Maybe? Hold on a second.’
Clefairy’s body glowed blue, and she froze, her cacophony ending abruptly. Her body shook slightly before it started to levitate into the air.
‘Not... easily...’ Emilie shook with the strain, and her words sounded far off.
“Air Cutter, don’t let her bully Clefairy.” Wayne said. Though the exhausted Skarmory beat his wings once, what lashed out wasn’t the usual wind sickles we had come to expect. A single gust of wind blew across the field, and the gale forced Emilie to kneel. Clefairy was still floating in midair.
“Come up now and slam into Skarmory. Full force Flame Charge, finish him before wish can come down,” May ordered. At the same time May’s order was shouted, Clefairy broke free of Emilie’s hold. She fell to the glowing, red ground and moved, shoving Skarmory as hard as she could before the ground beneath her exploded, the earth melting and gaining a glassy shine as Suzy once again slammed into Clefairy.
The assault knocked Clefairy into the sky. A pained whimper filled the air as she slowly fell back down to the charred battlefield below. She passed out on impact.
“One down, one to go,” I shouted with glee.
That glee was short lived as Clefairy’s wish finally came true, and a single, glowing star fell into the battered steel type. His wings regained their lustrous shine and straightened out to their full wingspan, and he rose to full height and beat his wings against the ground.
The flying steel type was airborne once more.
“Dammit, now this is going to take-” I cut myself off as I saw it. It was brief, but tufts of white hair made themselves known to me at the edges of my peripheral vision. I turned, desperately trying to see where the dark type went, but as soon as she appeared, she was gone. Back into the foliage.
“Skarmory, Steel Wing Emilie,” Wayne ordered while I was checking the tree line.
‘Right, battle. Teleport,’ I said distractedly.
Emilie disappeared as Skarmory flew down low, his wings glowing silver as he carved through the ground.
“Suzy, give Emilie some more ammo, and wait for my mark.”
Oh, I like ammo. Suzy backed away from the center of the field and launched several more embers into the air, when suddenly, the small glowing balls of fire turned into a continuous stream of heat.
May’s eyes widened before she threw her fist into the air. “Yes! We don’t have to use Ember anymore! Oh, I’m so happy,” May shouted as Emilie took direct control of the massive stream of fire.
‘Light him up,’ I needlessly ordered. The fire rushed towards Skarmory as he frantically beat his wings in an attempt to gain speed.
“Help with the chase, Suzy. Flamethrower,” May ordered.
Sweat started to fall from my brow. This heat was starting to get to me a bit.
Suzy leaned back and breathed out, a stream of fire filling the airspace around Skarmory. He quickly gained altitude, losing a bit of speed.
‘You’re mine!’ Emilie shouted as her possessed flames slammed into Skarmory. The air cracked for a split second before the bombardment exploded. I leaned down and braced myself as a shockwave pushed out from the blast, and hot air passed over my skin.
Apollo fired a water gun at my head, and I sputtered a few times before glaring at him.
‘Your hair was on fire,’ Apollo said. My eyes widened before I reached up to feel a significantly shorter cut. Fuck, I liked my long cut, dammit.
Skarmory flew out of the fire ball in a screech of rage, his wings still on fire as he struggled to maintain altitude. He beat his wings forward once, and a massive, sickle of fire was launched from his wings, heading straight for Emilie. She teleported away before the attack made it half way across the field.
“NOW! Jump into a Flame Charge,” May shouted.
Suzy sprinted forward and jumped at the wounded bird, her body the picture of a flaming meteor streaking across the sky.
Skarmory looked at the oncoming fireball and winced, too exhausted to even alter his flight path. He leaned away from the attack, before his whole body glowed red as he was pulled back across the field into Wayne’s Poke Ball. Suzy pushed through the air Skarmory had occupied and slammed into the ground, cracking it beneath her as fire pushed out from the impact. She raised her fists above her head and gave a mighty war cry into the air.
‘VICTORY!’ she screamed, jumping up and down as she stared across the field at Wayne, who looked down at his Poke Ball apologetically before looking up and smiling across the field at us.
“Well, that was insane,” Wayne commented. “That Combusken is way more horrifying than I thought.” Wayne slowly walked around the blast zone that used to be our arena and started walking towards us, Jasmine trailing behind looking dejected.
“She’s a lot scarier when the person that knows what she’s doing is giving orders, huh?” I asked.
May glared at me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, you did great on the ship,” May said. “Besides, half the reason we did so much better this time is Emilie gave Suzy reach.” May smiled down at both of our starters. “They kick all kinds of ass when they aren’t trying to kill each other, don’t they?”
“Duh, they’re ours,” I said.
‘See, feather head, you needed my awesomeness just to compete!’ Emilie said.
‘You would have been out here, staring blankly at the sky with nothing to do, were it not for me and my fire,’ Suzy countered with a glare. ‘I don’t wanna hear anything from you about awesomeness. I was clearly the star of that fight.’
‘I did more damage to that bird than you ever did. Don’t even start with that right now,’ Emilie said back. I was too tired to deal with this. I lifted Emilie’s Poke Ball and froze as Absol once again flitted across my vision. I froze before bringing my arm down.
May, however, made it a point to recall Suzy as her feathers started to ignite.
“Yeah, I’m just going to let you cool down for a bit,” May said into Suzy’s ball, before glaring at Emilie.
My starter looked away.
“Sorry,” Emilie muttered. Both Wayne and Jasmine instantly focused all of their attention on Emilie.
“Did... she just talk?” Jasmine asked, her eyes wide.
Emilie smiled at both of them before teleporting to her usual perch. “Work. In. Progress.” Emilie said. “Vocal. Chords. Don’t want to. Make. Right Sounds.” Emilie glared at the ground. “I Wanted. To Talk.” Emilie explained. “Hard.”
“Can’t she just... talk telepathically?” Jasmine asked.
I shook my head. “Not at this stage, at least not to humans. I’m special,” I explained.
Wayne backed up a step at my grin.
“Very. Special.” Emilie smiled my way.
‘Why do I get the feeling you mean that as an insult?’ I asked.
Emilie continued to smile.
“Yeah, yeah, Emilie’s awesome. Where the hell did you get a Clefairy?” May asked Jasmine pointedly. “I wanted to ask after the first time we fought, but I never got the chance.”
“Starter,” she explained. “I’ve raised her from a Cleffa. My mom gave me an egg from her Clefable, and...” She looked away and smiled. “She’s been my baby ever since.”
“Your baby’s a murder machine,” Wayne complained.
Jasmine laughed and I backed up a step this time.
“But she’s MY murder machine,” Jasmine smiled while she said that. I suddenly remembered Oak’s article and idly wondered if this would fall under indulgent behavior.
Meh, Jasmine seemed fine enough.
“I actually might ask you for some tips,” I said hesitantly. “Emilie and I are kind of out of our depth when it comes to training her fairy side. We’re obviously golden on psychic training, but... that’s only half of the equation and what’s out there to train fairy types really isn’t all that clear.” Emilie’s eyes widened a bit as she stared up at me, looking more than a little worried at the prospect.
‘I’m not sure if that’s a good idea,’ Emilie said.
‘The best way to get a handle on something is to work with it, Emilie.’ I smiled down at her. ‘It’s only going to get harder if we don’t,’ I argued.
Emilie looked down for a bit. ‘You’re right,’ Emilie finally said. ‘Ignoring it isn’t going to make it go away. The only way to deal with it is to work through it.’ Emilie sighed. ‘When do we get to the play hard part of Roshi’s tenants? That Turtonator seemed to have way more fun times than we are.’
‘You mean you didn’t have fun during the fight?’ I asked back with a smile.
‘It wasn’t... horrible. Working with the feather head,’ Emilie said. ‘And the fight itself was a blast.’ A hand waved in front of my face, and I groaned.
“I’m sorry,” I said without prompting.
Jasmine gave me a glare.
“I see what May means, now,” she said. “How are you going to ask a question and then slip off into lala land? Whatever, I was saying that Clefairy can show Emilie a thing or two later, after she gets patched up at a center.” Jasmine stared down at Clefairy’s Poke Ball and sighed. “Just expect a decent amount of attitude. My girl’s a bit of a sore loser.”
“Ah, I see, that’s a trait of the type. Got it,” I said.
Emilie glared at me. “Never Lost. Yet. How would. You know?” Emilie said with a grin.
‘Don’t act like you’re not going to go off the deep end after your first loss,’ Joern said. ‘You have too much pride to be anything but a sore loser.’
I nodded along to my grass type’s assessment, much to my starter’s detriment. She glared at both of us.
“Joern’s just being brutally honest, hon. Don’t worry, I’ll be there to listen to you rant when it finally does happen,” I said in a faux consoling voice.
“I really need to get myself a psychic type,” Wayne said. “Having a full dialogue with the whole team sounds incredible. I can generally pick out what Skarm’s trying to say, but Nuzleaf really isn’t all that expressive. It makes him hard to talk to.”
I quickly shifted my focus to the hulking man in front of me with rapt attention.
“Can I meet him?” I asked.
Wayne sucked in a breath. “He’s kind of temperamental around new people. I’ll introduce you once Skarm’s healed up and he can babysit.”
I turned toward the sky and whistled, and Apollo flew down and perched on his usual spot. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not, Wayne, but I think I can handle a grumpy grass type.” I nodded towards Leshy. “Hell, I do it every day when May let’s Leshy out to play.”
‘Your jokes are as bad as your new hair style,’ Leshy said.
I smiled down at him.
“You’re only proving my point,’ I countered.
Leshy just glared at me. Samie walked up and rubbed his jaw against Leshy in a consoling manner.
“I’d still feel better if Skarm was out. I don’t really want his first impression of you to be that of an enemy,” Wayne said.
“Ah, he’s one of those,” May said.
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
“Got it. We’ll wait.” May shifted to look at Jasmine. “Any other members of your team besides Clef?”
“I’ve got a Misdreavus,” she said, making no motion to grab a Poke Ball. “She’s... not much of a people person. At any rate, Lea, did you still want to do an interview with us?” Jasmine asked, not being subtle in the abrupt change of subject at all.
‘Roll with the subject change. That Misdreavus has issues,’ Emilie said.
I nodded to both her and Jasmine.
“It sounds like it’d be fun. I kind of doubt the official May Maple channel is going to post anything else, but if you want to have me on one of you guys’ shows, I’d be down,” I said. May looked away.
“I won’t be posting anything else. If you want to, you can,” May said. “I’m sorry if my freak out the other day made you think you couldn’t.”
I paused for a second.
“If I did do something like that, I’m making my own channel,” I said. “I don’t know if I do, yet. I just... I know it freaked you out, and I don’t want to make you deal with crap you don’t want to deal with.” I smiled at her. “That’s the last thing I want to do.”
May nodded and shot me a smile.
“And you really don’t have to apologize for me being an ass,” I said.
May giggled. “Right. I don’t know what I was thinking,” May said.
“Right...” Jasmine said, looking decidedly uncomfortable. “At any rate, if you’re going to join us for a stream there’s a few things we need to go through.” She turned to look at May. “Would you mind if I took Lea off to the side so we can do some prep really quick? I just want to run through some basic questions with her.”
“Why can’t you just do that here?” May asked.
“Some of them might be a bit private, and I just want to make sure I don’t cause any issues between you two. Again,” Jasmine said.
“Jasmine, I don’t think there’s a question you could ask that I wouldn’t feel comfortable answering in front of May,” I said confidently.
“Look, it would just make me more comfortable, okay?” Jasmine said.
May looked at me nervously as I slowly moved to follow her.
“Look, I’ve got the three stooges with me, I’ll be fine, alright? Don’t worry so much,” I said.
Jasmine looked at me oddly.
“I can’t help it. I know you’ll probably be fine, just be careful, okay?” May said.
I nodded before walking with Jamine to the tree line. We went a bit further in than I was expecting, honestly. I couldn’t really see Wayne or May once we stopped. Apollo took off from my shoulder and started flying overhead, and Joern and Emilie both looked attentively at the trees.
“Are the armed guards entirely necessary?” Jasmine asked.
“We saw an Absol this morning.” Jasmine froze as she quickly looked around. “May and I have been really careful to always have at least three of the team out at any given time,” I explained.
“That’s the kind of information you LEAD with, Lea. Usually, within the first few sentences of seeing someone. Something like ‘Hi, how are you, I saw a harbinger of disaster and death on my front deck today!’” she shouted.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to worry you,” I hastily explained. “We had a fucking Pokémon guard convoy out as we made our way here. People kept giving us weird looks as we walked about town.” I chuckled at the memory. “It wasn’t like that in Rustboro. People didn’t bat an eye at the squad being out and about. Regardless, you said you had some things you wanted to run through with me?”
“Are May and Lea really not dating?” Jasmine wasn’t looking at me when she asked this. She was looking at Emilie.
“They. Are. Not.” Emilie said the three words with what looked like a tremendous amount of difficulty. Jasmine nodded once before looking intently at me.
“How long have you wanted to date May?” This one was directed at me. I felt uncomfortable.
“This wasn’t about the interview at all, was it?” I asked.
Jasmine shook her head.
“It will be, I just wanted to ask a few questions about you, first,” Jasmine said. “I don’t really” she paused and took a deep breath before looking away. “Get close to other people. I’m surprised Wayne puts up with me sometimes, and I don’t have a ton of real friends back home.” She looked back at me and smiled. “In the last few days, I’ve had so much fun hanging out with you and May. It felt easier than with other people. I just... want to help, if I can,” Jasmine explained. “Maybe get to know you both better in the process. I’m so bad at this...”
I gave her a reassuring smile.
“I’m not exactly the most social person in the world either, Jasmine. I think I can count the friends I have on one hand,” I said. “I appreciate your concern, but May and I aren’t going to be a thing.”
Jasmine looked up at me in surprise.
“Girl, are you crazy? Just tell her! You two would be a couple by the end of the day. Best friends don’t look at each other that way!” Jasmine said. She looked like she wanted to shout, but she was keeping the volume low enough that it didn’t carry.
“May got super freaked out at the prospect of us going on a couple’s cruise because she was terrified people were going to send pictures out about us, and we would be labeled the Dyke Rookies of Hoenn.”
Emilie looked down at me, moderately terrified.
“She didn’t actually say that, but she thought it loud enough to piss Emilie right the hell off.” I smiled sadly at Emilie.
‘When the hell did you pick that out of my head!?’ Emilie shouted. ‘How did you hide that you found out!?’ Her voice got louder at the second question. That one I didn’t really have an answer too.
“When we were at the beach, and I caught May staring,” I said. “Either you’re getting better at staying out, or I’m getting better at keeping thoughts in, either way, I’m counting that as a win.” I looked back towards Jasmine, who I now noticed looked ready to smack a bitch. “Er, Jasmine?”
“I’m beating her ass,” Jasmine said, before trying to walk back to the clearing.
I grabbed her, and holy fuck she was a lot stronger than she looked.
“No, you’re not,” I said.
Joern grabbed her and pulled her back.
“She didn’t actually say anything that bad, and it’s not her thinking that way.” I looked down towards the ground. “It’s how she’ll think others will see us.” I smiled bitterly. “To answer your question earlier, I’ve felt this way for May since Rustboro. At least, I’ve been aware of it since then. Back then, I was terrified my feelings were going to cost me my best friend.” I looked down at the ground. “I’m actually fairly confident that she feels the same now.”
“Then why-”
“Us being more than friends needs to be her choice,” I said over Jasmine. “I already fucked up once by all but dragging her onto the cruise. I’m not dealing with that again.” I smiled. “I’m happy you asked about this, honestly. Talking about it with someone felt freeing.” I smiled at Emilie. “I guess being more open has it’s perks sometimes.” The air around us felt fuzzy. That was odd.
“If you’re sure...” Jasmine said.
“It’ll happen if it happens.” I repeated what my own Pokémon said about my relationship with May. The air suddenly felt heavier.
“In that case-” Jasmine’s words died on her tongue as the world around us shifted. A single dark orb appeared out of thin air and sniped Emilie off of my shoulder. She hit the grass with a sickening thud and laid, motionless, at my feet. A huge boulder launched from the other side of the clearing and slammed, full force, into Jasmine.
“Jas-” The word died on my throat.
A barrier slowly dissolved just beyond the tree line, and Solrock and Lunatone slowly came into view as it faded. Just outside of my peripheral vision, I could see that Jasmine was out cold, and her arm was bent at an angle that looked... unnatural. Joern was shouting now. It was loud.
I should recall him. It’s dangerous out here! I really don’t want him to get hurt like Jasmine just did. I quickly grabbed Joern’s poke ball and hit the return button, smiling as my favorite grass type disappeared into the ball, safe and sound. I faintly heard water fall to the ground.
‘He must have been confused by whatever attacked Jasmine,’ Solrock said.
‘It was probably Ralts. She seemed agitated,’ Lunatone said.
I nodded eagerly.
‘Yeah, this is for his own good. He’ll be fine in a bit,’ I thought glaring down at the Ralts.
Joern’s ball was shaking, and I frowned. He needed to stay safe! I locked the ball and put it back on my belt as a pair of familiar faces floated closer to me. I smiled as Solrock urged me to grab on.
I frowned as Apollo flew down. Fuck, I grabbed his ball. It wasn’t safe for him to be out here either! Last thing I wanted was for him to end up like Swellow. I aimed my ball at him, but he disappeared as soon as the red light launched outwards.
‘Aerial Ace... annoying.’ Huh, was that me? It sounded like me. Aerial Ace wasn't annoying, though, it was awesome! ‘No matter.’ I needed to grab Solrock. Right now.
“LEA!” I heard May scream, and I hesitated briefly.
What was I doing? Solrock moved closer to me and it suddenly all became clear. I grabbed onto Solrock, and then I felt a pull.
“JASMINE!” I faintly heard as the world around me shifted to the familiar feeling of teleportation.