All three trainers traveled down the streets of Petalburg together, the dying evening light casting a dim amber glow across their surroundings. Brendan and May took the lead, getting into a conversation about how he could improve his tactics, and Astra listened with half an ear.
The rest of her attention was on staring, wide-eyed, as scattered metal poles began to emit bright lights across the emptying streets as the sun finally set; it seemed like the stars themselves had come down from the sky and taken residence in glass jars. Even some signs on surrounding buildings were being lit up, shining with astounding brilliance. How had they captured pure light within these glass tubes? In such vibrant colors, too! Although…something seemed off about it. Astra looked around at the lit-up streets, wondering what was wrong.
“Hey,” she said, comprehension dawning as she looked past the lights. “Where did all the stars go?”
The sky was far emptier than Astra had ever remembered seeing it. On clear nights like these there would usually be a massive field of tiny lights and giant, starry clouds. But all she could see was one or two of the brightest ones scattered here and there. Where had they gone?
“What?” May asked, stopping to look skywards in confusion, “Um? The sky looks like it always does. What are you talking about?”
“Yeah, It doesn’t look any different…oh!” Brendan snapped his fingers in comprehension, “Astra, do you live in a rural area?”
“A what?”
May sighed, “He’s asking if you live out in the woods.”
“Oh, well. Yes?” Astra answered, to May’s surprise. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Light pollution,” Brendan explained, “The city produces so much light during the night that it drowns out the light from the stars. If you’ve never been to a big city before, I suppose you never would have experienced it.”
“Oh.” Astra gazed back up at the sky again. It was well and truly black now, and only a comparatively few tiny points of light remained. “So people living here never see all of the stars?”
“It’s a pretty rare sight,” Brendan confirmed, “That’s one reason why I’m looking forward to traveling around. I’ll get to see the real night sky all the time!”
“Pff. That reminds me,” May leaned in, grinning, “Didn’t Mauville have, like, a giant blackout a few years ago? I remember reading about it online because a shit-ton of people called in a ‘giant silvery cloud’ floating menacingly overhead.”
“Did they really? Hah! That’s amazing!” Brendan chuckled.
Astra didn’t see the humor. “People didn’t know that was there?” she asked, incredulously. That cloud of stars was the prettiest thing in the sky! Her grandfather had even painted it on the ceiling a few times. “I can’t imagine never seeing it. Do all these lights really need to be that bright?”
“Well I bet all those cars are glad they can see,” May said dryly, jerking a thumb at a passing vehicle. “Otherwise they’d crash into each other nonstop. So we can’t see the stars in a city, big whoop; if anyone wants to see them they can go take a hike.”
“That’s just not right,” Astra argued, “Everyone should be able to see it, even in the city! Can’t they shut them off for a little bit?”
“That might be easier said than done,” Brendan said, sidestepping a puddle from a cup someone had dropped. “It’s not like we could just find a big lever and turn all of them off, there’d be chaos in the streets. I dunno how you’d even start going about that, actually.” He admitted.
May cast an incredulous look at him. “What, doesn’t this place have a town hall or anything? Back in Johto you could just go there and drop a suggestion in a box.”
“Maybe?” Brendan shrugged, “I never looked into that sort of thing; too busy with helping my dad around the lab and all. Also, I don’t live here,” he added with a wry smile.
“Hmm,” Astra hummed, “I’ll have to find that and put a suggestion in.”
May looked back at her, amused. “They didn’t do Johto much good, I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”
“I have to try!”
“Yeah yeah, good for you, little miss activist. Bleh, too much talking, I’m extra hungry now!” Twirling in place, she stepped a pace ahead, facing them with arms spread wide. “Good thing we’re here!”
‘The Sleepy Sharpedo,' as the illuminated sign so brightly proclaimed, stood before them. A caricature of a creature—likely the aforementioned Sharpedo—was illustrated on the window, wrapped in a thick white blanket with a black surface as it dozed off. Cute! Posters were plastered across the rest of the windows, and the inside was brightly lit and bustling.
May opened the door and all three stepped inside. The smell hit Astra first, the delicious aroma of fish and sundry lifting her spirits immensely. Humans had done wonders with ice cream, what could they do with Magikarp?
Around them were several groups of people, all talking and eating in good cheer. The sound was extremely chaotic, and she couldn’t understand more than a few words from one conversation before another drowned it out. Spread throughout the main area and behind the counter up ahead were a few humans in matching outfits; they were rushing side-to-side, talking to people who were requesting food. In the back she could spot more people in a preparation area, handling knives, sections of strange fish, unknown plants, along with a large amount of…rice? Another new word.
Despite the crowd there was a fortuitous empty area at the counter itself, so all three of them sat there. Arrangements of fresh sushi were displayed in front of her behind glass panels, and up above were giant boards listing items and prices. Were all of these unique items? There were so many! She didn’t know where to start, not to mention she didn’t even know what most of them were.
Next to her, May hummed as she grabbed a piece of paper and a small stick with a pointed black end. “What are you guys having? I’m thinking…Octillery and Tentacool tentacle.”
“You like those? Don’t they still wriggle while you eat them?” Brendan said, looking ill.
“Hell yeah they do!” she cheered, entirely too excited. “Well, not the Tentacool. Prepping them to remove the poison stops that from happening.”
“Ugh. That’s way too creepy,” he shuddered. “I’ll have…ooh, they have Corphish? Yes! And Clampearl!”
“Big meaty claws with a side of pearls, huh? I can dig it. What about you, Astra?”
“Hm? Ah...” Astra shrugged, still puzzling over her choices. “I’ve never had sushi before, so I don’t really know what to get.”
“Never had sushi? Man, what kind of fuckin’ backwater—ugh,” May shook her head. She tapped the counter for a moment, thinking. “How about you just get something random and you can snag a few bits off our plates? Taste a little of everything.”
“Ooh!” she grinned, “I like that plan! Ahh…Magikarp?”
“Playing it safe, are you?” May teased, “And here I thought you’d get something exciting.”
“It’s good to have a fallback!” she defended, “Besides, you just said I could take bits off your plates.”
“What, you’re not even going to ask me?” Brendan said, annoyed.
May gave him a pointed look. “You gonna say no?”
“Well, no, but—"
“No issue then!” she chirped with a single clap. Waving over a person behind the counter, she relayed their orders. “Now to wait!”
“Aaah, I hope it doesn’t take long…” Astra said, kicking her feet idly.
Brendan looked wary. “How much did it all cost?”
May burst into laughter. “Did you seriously order without looking at the price? What the hell, man?” She chuckled again, then told him the price of the meal.
“For everything? That’s not too—"
“Each.”
May twirled on her seat to face Astra, gleefully ignoring the sudden bout of asphyxiation behind her. “Hey, so I gotta ask; did you really live out in the woods?”
“Um,” Astra said, somewhat taken aback. “Yeah? I mean, I didn’t sleep outside, I live in this big cavern carved into the rock—"
“No shit, you lived in a cave!?” May exclaimed, eyes sparkling, “That’s so cool! Was there like, giant crystals deep down, or a spooky mine shaft? Ooh, hidden underground hot spring!”
Astra blinked. “Uh. N-no. It was just one big cavern and a couple blocked-off subsections for rooms. No crystals or…mine shafts. My grandpa did paint on the walls, but otherwise it was…just a cave.”
May pouted. “Lame.”
“You live with your grandfather, then?” Brendan inquired, having resigned himself to a pricey dinner. “What’s he like?”
“Yeah, he’s the best! He tells me stories and teaches me a bit about painting, and how to make jam and stuff.” Astra smiled, reminiscing. “I’ve lived with him for as long as I can remember. It’s…weird to be away from home like this. He was really worried about me becoming a trainer, but I hope I can go back after I complete my journey and show him all I’ve done soon.”
Brendan nodded with a grin of his own. “He sounds nice. Mine moved to another region about two decades ago, we go visit them every other year or so. Is it just you and him?”
“Mmm, we’re not really out there alone; there are a few others around,” Astra drastically understated, “One of them even made me a knife before I left!”
May blinked. “You have a knife? That’s pretty cool, can I see it?” Astra was halfway to pulling it out when Brendan reached out and pushed her arm down.
“Not in the restaurant!” he hissed, glaring at them both. “You’re going to get us kicked out!”
May’s eyes widened, then she slouched, contrite. “Shit, my bad. Sorry.”
Astra recoiled, withdrawing her hand from her pack. “What? Why?” She hadn’t even eaten yet, there was no way she was risking getting thrown out!
Brendan gaped at her incredulously. “Y-you, what? Astra, you can’t pull out a weapon in a restaurant!”
“A weapon?" Astra asked, confused. “But…it’s just a knife? It’s not really a weapon.”
Brendan still looked flabbergasted, so May stepped in to save him. “That doesn’t mean these idiots won’t be paranoid and think you’ll use it as one.”
“What? I would never do that!” Astra protested.
May snorted. “Yeah, I know that, and so do you. But they—" she waved a hand in the direction of the employees, "—don’t. To them, you’re just somebody in black mummy wrappings who suddenly pulled out a knife. Which, by the way, is kinda weird,” she added, then paused. “Actually, I’ve been wondering about that—"
“Order up!” a voice cheered from behind the counter. A waitress stood there, smiling and holding a giant platter. “Thank you for dining with us! Please enjoy your meal!”
In short order, three plates were deposited in front of the trio, each brimming with delicious fish. Astra gazed upon her own plate with glee—it was Magikarp alright, she could recognize that smell anywhere. But it had been prepared completely differently! The meat was sliced neatly and placed with rice, and wrapped in a thin layer of some shiny black plant—seaweed, her subconscious answered the moment she wondered. All of it was sprinkled with something truly unknown, flecks of color mixed in with the rice making the whole ensemble shine brighter than a measly fire could ever do.
There were also about a dozen of them, and she wasn’t going to waste any more time. Raising her hand she…er…
How was she supposed to pick this up?
A snapping sound next to her drew her attention. May had picked up a small wooden stick from a cup and snapped it horizontally, making two sticks. She covertly watched as she deftly used both sticks with one hand to pick up a—
“Gah!” Astra yelped at the array of live, wriggling tentacles on May’s plate. “Wh—what? Is that still alive!?”
May snorted, then chuckled for a few seconds. “No, no; it’s dead. See, when you pour on the sauce—" she demonstrated, reaching for a bottle on the counter and letting a few drops hit her food. The tentacles renewed their wriggling, curling and twitching madly. "—they start to dance! Pretty cool, right?” She popped one in her mouth, smiling.
“It’s creepy is what it is,” Brendan muttered. Astra nodded in agreement.
“Cowards, the both of you!” May proclaimed, downing yet another writhing tendril.
Shaking her head, Astra turned back to her own plate. Taking a chopstick (is that what they were called…?), she snapped it in half and tried to mimic how May was holding them. After a few seconds of frustration with both the cloth and the fact that she didn’t even have fingers, she gave up and just held them in place psychically underneath her sleeves.
Picking a roll up, she gave a brief pause to apply her illusion and pull her face wrapping down, and finally took the long-awaited first bite. Hey eyes widened in surprise. This—this was…! “Delicious!” she gasped. The flavors of the Magikarp were amplified above anything she had ever had before, the fishy taste only emboldened by the seasoned rice. Even the seaweed added a certain texture to the ensemble, leading to a collection of astounding sensations beyond her wildest dreams. Inhaling another three rolls, Astra absorbed the flavor in bliss. Truly, human food was the best~
She grinned, remembering an earlier promise. Leaning over, she peered at Brendan's dish, which appeared to be a flakey red and white striped chunk and some sort of thinly sliced blue meat set delicately on top of balls of rice. He had cracked them open and was dipping the portions inside in some sort of sauce. “Hey Brendan,” she called, “Can I try some of that?”
Brendan looked up, swallowing a bite. “Hm? Oh, sure, but only if I get a couple of yours!”
May smiled and held up a convulsing tentacle. “Not gonna make a bid for my food?”
“Er…” Astra recoiled from the squirming tendril with faint nausea. “I…no, definitely not.”
“Your loss.” May shrugged as Brendan exchanged a small portion of the Corphish and Clampearl for Astra's Magikarp.
“I think they buttered the Corphish,” he said, munching on one of the pieces of Magikarp sushi. “Ooh, this is good!”
Grinning, Astra took a bite. Her eyes widened. It was sweet! The sauce brushed on top was smooth and a bit salty too, which only amplified the taste of the meat itself! Would this world never cease to surprise her? Practically inhaling the rest of it, the psychic could say for certain that this was the best thing she had ever eaten. Until she put the blue Clampearl in her mouth. It was like a salt lick had exploded on a humid day, swirling and dancing on her tongue as it melted, filling her cheeks with the taste of the first melt of spring.
The conversation had died out as the three of them ate, so Astra pondered what to say over another ‘nigiri’. Something May had mentioned earlier came to mind.
“So May,” Astra said, “you said you were from…Johto?”
May hummed in affirmation, still chewing. Swallowing, she replied, “Yep. We moved to Hoenn from Olivine. It was a nice place, I guess. Used to hang out at the lighthouse and stare out at the ocean. Lived there for two years; longest I ever stayed in one place. ”
“Only two years? That’s...short,” Brendan said, eyebrows raised. “You moved a lot?”
“Yeah. As far back as I remember we’ve moved to a different region about every year or two. Sometimes twice in one year. Never super abroad, though; I remember Dad wanted to go all the way to Orre once but Mom put her foot down due to all the batshit crazy gangs around there.”
Brendan hummed in agreement. “Yeah, I read things are getting pretty bad around there nowadays; I don’t blame her. Still, every year? That’s a bit extreme, isn’t it?”
May snorted. “Try telling that to my dad. He was a Pokemon trainer too; always traveling around from one city to the next, one region after another and going up against the big leagues. Didn’t stop when he got with my Mom—and didn’t stop when she had me, either. Me and mom would just move to one city in the area and stay there while he did his thing everywhere else.” May’s expression grew increasingly bitter as she went on.
“And of course, as soon as we got settled in he would just up and leave for months at a time. Anytime he came home he’d only stay for like, three days. And when he finally says he’s retiring from traveling, he rips me away from a new home one last time to go to some no-name town in the middle of nowhere with no friends and no warning. Again. And, of course, he takes over the gym two towns over and lives there instead of at our house with me and Mom! Clearly, he has his priorities straightened out!”
Astra winced as May stabbed a chopstick straight through a tentacle, scraping the plate and snapping the fragile stick in two. She stared at the broken tool for a moment, then sighed.
“Sorry,” she said, tossing the broken stick away. “He just pisses me off.”
“It’s fine,” Astra patted May’s shoulder, “It was hard enough leaving my home. I can’t imagine what that was like for you.”
“Same here. Hopefully you have a better time here in Hoenn. At least you’re not alone, right?” Brendan smiled. “You’ve got us now, and we’re not going anywhere!”
“Yeah!”
“Tch, you guys are such dorks.” May grumbled, but Astra could see her lips quirk up. “Thanks, I guess.”
Astra grinned at her. May must have lived a hard life, she mused. She could barely imagine living somewhere that wasn’t the village; it wasn’t like there were any other options around, after all. To advance the concept of moving around so much that no one place would ever really feel like ‘home’ was…she couldn’t understand it. Home was supposed to be home, not just a disposable sleeping area! Still, something she said lingered in her mind.
“You said your dad took over a gym?” she questioned. “Was it the gym here?”
“And the ball drops.” May rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Dad’s name is Norman. Let me guess, you challenged him?”
“Y-yeah…” May’s dad was Norman? What were the odds? Astra hoped May wouldn’t protest her stomping his face into the dirt; with the way she was talking she might even help!
“And?”
Astra crossed her arms, irritated. “He was a huge jerk that said I wasn’t even worth his time and told me to leave!”
May nodded. “Yep, that’s him. You know, he got here ages ahead of me or my Mom? Enough time to set up the Gym and even appear on tv. So he’s out here for like a month, and when I finally show up here two days ago, what does he do? He sends me out on goddamn babysitting duty!”
“Babysitting duty…?” Astra asked. She had a vague feeling she knew where this was going.
“Yeah. Some asthmatic kid named Wally; short, green hair, couldn’t walk for five minutes without coughing or choking on air. He wanted a Pokemon and for some reason decided to bug Dad about it ten seconds after I walked inside. So he just decides to foist the kid off on me, tells me to go show him how to catch a Pokemon. It’s like—" May clutched at thin air in front of her, before gesticulating wildly, “What the fuck, right? I just got here and you’re kicking me out? Why!?”
Brendan nodded, frowning. “That does seem pretty callous. What happened next?”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“So Dad tosses us a Zigzagoon and an empty pokeball and we head off to route 102. Kid immediately stumbles upon a Pokemon I’ve never even heard of before.”
Astra froze. This was…!
“Really?” Brendan leaned in, eyes sparkling. “A brand new Pokemon? What did it look like?”
“It was about four feet tall, white, with these stubby arms and green hair. Big red eyes, too. Kinda looked human.” May absently ate another tentacle. “I told your dad about it, but he didn’t recognize it either.”
Brendan tapped his finger. “...Hn. I know most of the species that live in Hoenn and that doesn’t fit any of them. Did it vocalize at all?”
May snapped her fingers. “Ah, right! I forgot, it said…Ralts?”
Astra’s face flushed. Right, she had been so surprised and then hurt she had talked out loud. How embarrassing. She resolved to pretend it never happened.
“Ralts?” Brendan stared at his plate, eyebrows furrowed. “It sounds…familiar, but I can’t remember why.”
May shrugged. “Anyway, so Wally manages to beat the…Ralts, I guess, up with the Zigzagoon, but completely fumbles throwing the ball and just flings it into the goddamn forest. The Ralts runs away and I’ve gotta give him one of my balls so his hopes and dreams don’t get crushed by the world's worst aim. Spent another half an hour out there, chasing down a Poochyena, but we snagged it and he was all smiles with his new puppy.”
It was interesting to hear about that event from the other perspective. For Astra, it had been thirty seconds of the worst terror she had ever experienced, but for May it had been a mere chore.
Her hand tightened around her chopstick. ‘It, it, it,’ the girl had kept saying. She was not an it, she was a she! She was a person! But… she supposed they didn’t think so. Not for her real self. That hadn’t been ‘Astra,’ just a regular Pokemon.
That would change, she hoped. She would make it change.
“Don’t asthmatics have problems with dogs?” Brendan wondered.
“I dunno, I’m not a doctor. Wally didn’t seem to care.” May sighed. “Anyway, to sum up the next bit, we get back, Wally goes back home, and I try to talk to Dad but he blows me off like everyone else. ‘Fuck off until you have four badges,’” May mimed with one hand, accompanying it with an exaggerated voice, “‘Roxanne’s easy, go fight her first.’ What the living hell. He still can’t take five fucking minutes off when he doesn’t even have to go anywhere anymore!? I got pissed and left. Rented a room at a hotel for a couple nights then bummed around the city until I ran into you guys.”
“Your dad sucks,” Brendan deadpanned, and May let out a bark of laughter.
“I’ll drink to that! Hey!” she exclaimed, gulping down some water. “Ah, too bad this is just water. Anyway, that’s my life story. It kinda got away from me.”
Astra nodded. “I don’t mind; it seemed like you wanted to get some of that off your chest. Do you feel better?”
“Eh, I guess.”
Brendan smiled at her. “That’s good.”
“What about you?” asked Astra. Brendan blinked.
“Me?”
“You’re from Littleroot, right? What was that like?”
“Ah! Hm…” Brendan muttered, thinking. “I’m not sure how to describe it, really…”
“I’ll bet on ‘as dull as watching grass grow.’”
Brendan snorted. “Hey, no comments from the peanut gallery.”
May stuck out her tongue. “Nyeh.”
He shook his head, exasperated. “It wasn’t that boring. I usually spend most of my time helping out my dad in his lab, or with minor things in the field. Dad's a certified Pokemon Professor, so he does a lot of research on wild Pokemon behaviors and the ecosystem; he’s even published a few books.”
May poked him with a chopstick. “Okay, but what did you do? You said fieldwork? Start with that.”
Astra leaned in closer, listening intently. If people were snooping around in the woods she wanted to know.
“Ah, fieldwork is my dad’s favorite part. I think he’s jealous that I can do it so much easier than he can now.” Brendan chuckled. “What I do is mostly observe wild Pokemon going about their day and record what I see. It’s not exactly glamorous but I think it’s pretty fun. If I saw a rare or unique Pokemon, sometimes I’d catch it and bring it back to the lab.”
“Mmm.” May hummed. “You ever see anything super weird?”
Brendan thought for a moment. “Not really. I haven’t been doing fieldwork for too long; a couple years at this point. The weirdest thing I’ve seen was a Zigzagoon with black and white stripes. My dad, though, he’s apparently seen some really amazing stuff. For instance, he told me that one time he was walking through the forest one night and discovered a giant Mightyena! The way he tells it, it was as big as a truck and then some; with teeth like daggers, pitch-black coat and great, burning red eyes. The spooky part is that it just vanished into thin air a few weeks after he started tracking it.”
“Oooh, so scary.” May said dryly. “Still, that sounds pretty cool. Wouldn’t mind having something like that on my team. I wonder where it went?”
A sudden snapping sound made Astra jump. She looked down and dimly realized she had broken her chopstick.
She didn’t want to hear about this anymore.
“So!” Astra cut in, “Do you do anything that isn’t helping at the lab?”
Brendan considered the question. “I suppose I read a bit. I’ve also been following a few shows on TV and playing games with Max when I have the time.”
“Who’s Max?”
“Oh, he’s my little brother.”
“Eh?” May exclaimed. “You have a brother?”
“May, you were in my house.” Brendan replied, confused. “How did you not see him?”
“Wh— I dunno; I wasn’t looking,” May defended, “I was distracted.”
“Distracted. Right. I guess snooping through my room would count as that, wouldn’t it?” Brendan asked with a wry smirk.
May’s face turned an interesting shade of pink. “Sh—shut up!” she yelled. “Everyone said you were there and you weren’t! What was I supposed to do?”
“Not go through my stuff? I mean, unless you find my clothes that interesting—erk! Alright, alright! I’ll stop!” Brendan raised his hands placatingly to ward off the murderous look on May’s face. He coughed. “Er, back on topic…I guess I go biking on occasion. Now that I’m traveling I suspect I’ll be doing that a lot more, which is nice.”
“What’s biking?”
Astra’s two fellow trainers traded glances.
“You don’t know what a bike is, Astra?” Brendan ventured.
“For real? I don’t—how!?” May threw up her arms, exasperated. “This is ridiculous!”
Astra hung her head, a feeling of shame and embarrassment welling within her. She just didn’t know these things; how was she supposed to guess what was common knowledge?
“Sorry.” she mumbled.
“If you don’t know, that’s okay, Astra,” Brendan said. “Most bikes aren’t really suited for forest activity, so if you were as isolated as you said, I suppose there was never a reason for you to know about them.”
“It’s still weird.” May muttered. “Anyway, bikes are these two-wheeled things that you travel around on by pushing on its pedals. I’ll show you one if I see one.”
That sounded pretty cool. Was it easier than walking? She wondered if she could get one somehow. Absently, she went to grab another roll and was deeply disappointed to find she had emptied her plate already. Next to her, May yawned.
“Jeeze, what time is it…8:30? Damn, it’s pretty late. I think it’s about time to wrap this up.”
Astra and Brendan agreed. Brendan flagged down the restaurant staff and paid the bill, though he rebuffed Astra’s attempt to pay her share.
“You’ve only just started training, right? I have a large savings, and I did lose to both of you. I’d feel bad if you spent all your money on this one dinner, so I’ll cover you. Okay?”
Astra’s give him a brilliant smile. “Thank you!”
“How chivalrous,” May snarked. “Well, let’s get going.”
The three of them exited the restaurant in high spirits. Astra let out a sigh of relief as the loud noise faded into the more manageable background hum of the city. May pointed out a bicycle almost immediately; it was chained up to a post in front of a store.
Astra observed the contraption suspiciously. “How are you supposed to stay on that?”
“It takes a bit of practice, but once you get it down there’s no better way of moving yourself around!”
“Driving, sailing, flying,” May said, counting off her fingers, “Actual, literal teleportation—"
“Healthiest,” Brendan amended.
“Debatable.”
They walked a block in comfortable silence before Brendan spoke up again. “So, what are your plans for tomorrow? Moving on to Rustboro?”
“That’s the idea,” May confirmed. “Astra?”
“I was going to do that as well. I want to challenge all the gyms as fast as I can! How about you, Brendan?”
“I’m actually going to stick in this area for a little longer,” he admitted. “Dad wants me to make a report on all the places I visit, and I also wanted to check out route 102 for that rare Pokemon you saw.”
Astra’s grin grew strained. She couldn’t have him look too closely. “Not for too long, right? We wouldn’t want you to fall behind,” she added when Brendan raised an eyebrow.
He shook his head. “I'll just take a casual look; nothing to worry about. You two are walking, right? You’ll have to go through the forest, and I think that’ll delay you for a day or two. I can catch up with my bike easily enough.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Astra thought she could see May’s expression fall for a moment, only to be replaced in an instant with her usual confident smirk. “Well, you better practice your ass off. I expect a real challenge the next time we meet, you hear me?”
Astra nodded in agreement. “I’ll be looking forward to a rematch too!”
Brendan laughed. “Well, how could I say no? I’ll do my best!” He looked at a nearby signpost. “Well, this is where we part ways, I think. I’ll see you in Rustboro, and we’ll have that battle!”
“I’m counting on it!” said Astra.
May held out a fist. “Better make it a good one!”
Brendan hit her fist with her own with a determined grin. He turned down the street and soon enough May and Astra were walking the streets alone.
“So,” she asked. “Where are you staying? I’m at the Green Valley.”
Astra stared at her blankly. “What?”
May came to a dead stop, a familiar incredulousness spreading across her face.
Voice tinged with trepidation May asked, “Astra, where are you sleeping tonight?”
Oh. Astra glanced around at the gigantic, unfamiliar city. Then the eerily faint stars. Then May again.
“The forest?” she tried.
Judging by how hard May’s palm impacted her face, that was the wrong answer.
----------------------------------------
The lobby of the Green Valley hotel was a very nice looking place. The hellish deathtrap called an elevator that followed, not so much. Astra stepped out of the vibrating monstrosity both amazed at how the door suddenly opened to a different exit, and also trying not to vomit. If the world would stop spinning that would also be nice…
“Oh come on, it can’t be that bad!” May argued.
Astra, swallowing a hefty chunk of bile, was inclined to silently disagree.
Eventually she managed to start walking, and soon Astra was waiting anxiously as May fiddled with a key. Throwing open the door, she proclaimed, “Home sweet temporary home!”
The room was white, and full of strange things. A large square piece of furniture took up most of the room, covered in fabrics and a few pillows. Was this a human bed? It looked amazing. A couple poles with odd coverings on top stood in the corners, and Astra watched May flick a switch to make something under the shade emit a bright light, illuminating the room fully.
On the wall across the bed was a large shiny black device. The other walls had images of flowers encased within glass hung up, and one wall was actually a giant window. There was also a chair and table in one corner, upon which was a giant bag that Astra could only assume was full of May’s supplies.
“Thanks for letting me stay with you,” Astra said, dropping her own bag and the violin case next to the table.
May shrugged. “We’re going to be traveling together anyway, and I wasn’t about to let you sleep in the woods when I had this all set up already.” She jerked her thumb at a door Astra hadn’t noticed. “Bathroom's over there if you need it.”
Bathroom? She opened the door curiously, but the room was pitch black. Was there a switch here too? Brushing her hand against the wall, she felt the tiny lever and flipped it, turning the lights on.
As with the main room, the bathroom was entirely white, but somehow even more so. There were two basins in the room; one was elevated and about the size and depth of a very shallow cauldron while the other, much larger one resembling a very wide trough rested on the floor behind a curtain, alongside a…chair? A few thick, neatly folded fabrics were piled next to the larger basin.
The elevated basin had a giant mirror on the wall behind it, and the basin itself had two x shaped knobs on either side of a metal rod. There also appeared to be a semi-covered hole in the bottom. Astra fiddled with the knob experimentally, and blinked when water started rushing out of the metal rod and draining into the hole.
…But why?
Well, this was called the bathroom, she reasoned. Bath room. You took a bath to clean, so this was used for cleaning, she supposed. Cleaning…hands? That kinda made sense. Pulling back her sleeve, she felt the water—hot! Jerking back, she rubbed her lightly scalded hand and glared at the faucet. Why in the world did they have a boiling water dispenser in a room for cleaning!? Turning the knob back so the water shut off, she moved on.
What was with this weird chair? Astra pondered its existence; the back was extremely thick and out of proportion, the base appeared to be welded to the floor, there was some sort of lever on the back, and the seat had a hinge for some reason. It could open? Astra lifted the first layer of the weird chair and stared inside for a long time.
“May,” she called, “why is there a chair full of water in here?”
A beat.
“Astra, what the living hell.”
She heard heavy footfalls and then May poked her head in, having at some point lost both her shirt and faith in humanity.
“Are you seriously fucking telling me you don’t know what a toilet is?”
Astra dropped the toilet lid like it burned. “This is a toilet!?” she shrieked. “Wait, you do that inside!? That’s disgusting!”
“Well how the hell else are you—oh sweet fuck you’ve never had plumbing.” May’s expression ran a gauntlet through incredulity and anger before making a hard stop at horror and pity.
Astra inched away from the toilet uncomfortably. May noted the lack of a denial and pinched the space between her eyes.
“Right, this is—this is stupid. Hokay,” she exhaled, clapping her hands. “May’s supreme guide to basic bathroom amenities, from the top. That’s the sink, wash your hands and face there—" she said, pointing at the elevated basin.
“What?” Astra exclaimed, “I’ll get burns if I try to do that!”
May gazed sightlessly into the distance for a moment. “There’s a tap for cold water.”
Astra felt her face go red. “Oh.”
“That is the toilet. You do your business then hit the flush, it goes away,” May continued, her face carefully neutral. “Please tell me you already know what toilet paper is?”
Astra nodded sullenly. She could hazard a guess.
“Small goddamn mercies. Bathtub and shower,” she indicated the giant basin in the corner. “Use it to clean your whole body. Towels are over there. That’s pretty much everything.”
They both stood there awkwardly for a moment before May coughed. “So…did you use a water bucket to bathe, or…?”
“I swam in the river.”
“Right, right.” A thoughtful expression came across May’s face as she spoke. “You should try out the shower then. I think you’ll like it.”
Astra blinked in confusion as May spun around and stepped out, shutting the door behind her. Use the shower? Well, that sounded interesting, but she couldn’t take the cloak off while she was here. Or maybe she could? She would have to stop May from walking in first. Maybe she could block the door—
Or, she amended in light of a new discovery, the door could have a built-in lock.
After a quick test found the door sufficiently impassable, she took one last survey of the bathroom for inexplicable openings before peeling off the sheet of black fabric. She sighed in relief as the robe hit the floor; it was quite freeing to be out of her clothes, though a little nerve-wracking as well. Standing in front of the mirror, she looked at her own face, reflected with startling clarity. Gazing at her reflection, she turned her head this way and that and made a few silly expressions, laughing quietly to herself.
Turning away, she stepped into the shower and closed the curtain. Now, what was so great about this? Swimming was fun, but there wasn’t any room to do anything like that here. There was a faucet down below, and a single knob above it. The plastic head above loomed ominously.
Twisting the knob didn’t do anything—but pulling certainly did; water was now pouring out of the faucet below. That probably wasn’t right; maybe if she pulled the stick?
Astra shrieked when she was blasted in the face with a spray of freezing water from above, leaping just out of range of the showerhead's effect. She shivered, drenched and cold. What was the point of this!? This was awful! Was she missing something again?
Upon closer examination, the knob was marked quite heavily; it had a semicircle of two colors, red and blue. An arrow was firmly pointed inside the blue section; Astra twisted it so that it was leaning into red, and sighed as the water returned to room temperature. At least she could-
She could…
Oh.
Oh.
A few minutes later, Astra noticed that there was a tiny bottle of shampoo hidden behind the curtain.
Paradise was real and it was full of steam.
----------------------------------------
After a thoroughly enjoyable soak, Astra stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped once again in her cloak but now with impossibly soft hair and a giant dreamy grin.
“Hot water is amazing~”
“Mmhmm.” May responded absentmindedly, sprawled on the bed and fiddling with her pokedex. She raised an eyebrow at Astra’s attire. “Are you going to sleep in that? Isn’t it dirty?”
Astra nodded. May waited a moment to see if Astra would explain further, then let out an irritated huff when nothing happened.
“Why?”
Astra shrugged, smile fading. “I don’t feel comfortable taking it off around others.” Also it would expose her secret identity. Details! Who needs them? “I started wearing it in the first place because otherwise people would bother me because of what I look like.” Among other things. “They said I had albinism.”
May sat up with visible surprise. “You have albinism?” she asked, very obviously examining Astra anew. A second passed before she nodded. “Well, now that you say it, it’s kinda obvious. I thought you were pale, but that’s nearly chalk-white.”
Astra looked away. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t make a big deal out of it.”
"Hey, I’m not like that.” May held up both of her hands with a reassuring grin. “Doesn’t even matter. Actually, I think it looks pretty cool!”
Astra blinked. “Really?”
“Yeah, especially with your eyes! They’re really intense, you know? Especially when you’re all wrapped up in that cloak.” Her smile dimmed. “I’m not going to— you don’t have to wear that thing if you don’t want to, around me. I won’t start being weird.”
Astra shook her head. She wanted to believe that; that May wouldn’t make a big deal out of her being different, that she wouldn’t have to lie. But she couldn’t. Not until everything was already over.
May’s face flashed through a mixture of disappointment and hurt before it settled on a vague amusement.
“It’s alright.” she said, getting up and patting Astra on the shoulder. “We’ve only known each other for a day; I wouldn’t strip for someone I just met either. Eh? Eh?”
May’s pout when the joke flew over Astra’s head made the psychic giggle.
"Still," she said, grimacing, "didn’t you bring any night clothes or anything?”
Astra blinked. "What? Why?"
"Wh—" May's face scrunched up again. "Seriously? That cloak has got to be caked in dirt by now, and you are not sleeping next to me like that. Now did you bring pajamas or not?”
Astra shuffled, looking away from the other girl. She didn't really see any problem with her cloak. It was just some sweat and dust, right? There wasn't even any mud or droppings. However, the look on May's face told her that arguing this would probably be a lost cause.
“Not...really.” she admitted. “I wasn’t expecting to be traveling with anyone, to be honest.”
“Ah, nude sleeper?” May guessed.
Well, that was technically right? Wearing clothing at all was a new experience for her. “Something like that,” Astra agreed.
“Tch. How about...uh. You could...cover yourself with some towels?” May suggested, grimacing.
"Alright," Astra sighed. "I'll see what I can do."
It took almost every towel in the room and some creative folding, but Astra found a way to effectively cover herself before she stepped back out of the bathroom.
May blinked as Astra came into view. "Huh. Didn't peg you for having long hair."
Astra, who had to pile a tower of towels on her head to hide her horns and had no idea what May was talking about, just shrugged.
May nodded at the dirty robe Astra was carrying. "There's a clothes washing service for trainers in this hotel; I can throw your cloak in with my stuff, it should be done by morning."
Oh! That sounded nice. "Thank you!"
May frowned at the lump of cloth Astra handed over. Slowly, she grabbed one section of the fabric and let the rest go. The entire garment unfolded into its original form: a single, very long strip of unmodified black cloth. She stared at Astra, silently demanding an explanation.
Uh. "It helps with the heat," she lied flagrantly. It was the best she could do; nobody knew how to alter cloth back home!
May's mouth opened, then closed. This repeated a few times, accompanied by several aborted gestures between Astra and the fabric. Finally, May's expression settled into sheer resigned exasperation and apathy as she yanked the door open.
"It is way too late for this shit."
Astra winced as the door slammed. That could have been handled better.
May came back a few minutes later, recomposed and empty-handed. "Right, that's all set up. I think I'll be taking my turn in the bathroom now."
"I think there's still a towel left," Astra offered, to which May rolled her eyes.
“Anyway,” May continued, walking past Astra, “You can take the right side of the bed. If you hog the covers I will toss you out onto the floor, you hear me?”
Astra gasped in faux horror. “You wouldn’t!”
“I can and I will!” May promised, closing the bathroom door behind her. Astra heard the shower turn on a minute later.
Turning off the lights, Astra pushed aside the window curtains and gazed at the moon and what few stars could be seen above the city’s skyline. The psychic had to admit that the man-made horizon had its own beauty; the lights and shapes of the buildings contrasted heavily with the moon and sky above.
She wondered what her grandpa would make of all this. If only the stars were visible as well; it would make a wonderful painting, she was sure.
Stepping back, she slipped under the covers of the bed and rested her head on the pillow. Ah, these cushions were incredibly soft, and these covers were so smooth and comfortable; she felt like she was sitting on a cloud~
Sinking deeply into the mattress, Astra’s mind wandered, reflecting. She had failed to even try to get a badge, but a lot had happened over the course of her first day, hadn’t it? She had a few fights, learned to play the violin, made three new friends, ate indescribably delicious food, and discovered the joys of hot showers.
What wonders would tomorrow bring?
The sound of running water turned off, and eventually May slipped into the other half of the bed.
“Night, Astra.”
“Goodnight, May.”
She closed her eyes and fell asleep. Tomorrow was a brand new day.