CHAPTER 115

I entered a quaint cafe and immediately found my friends. It wasn’t difficult, since they were the biggest group in the place, and two tables had to be stuck together for them. I smiled and strode up to their table.

“Grace, over here,” Denzel beckoned. “Saved you a seat.”

“Thanks,” I said as I sat between him and Cecilia. “The new guy isn’t here yet?” I asked, looking at Emilia.

She was looking at her phone. “No, but he should be here any minute.”

Denzel called over a waiter for me, and I ordered an egg and cheese bagel with some water. They had apparently all ordered before me, since I had been running late and not answering the phone because I’d been on a route.

“I want to warn you guys,” Emilia said. “Please don’t be mean to him.”

“What? Why would I be rude?” Pauline smiled. “He can’t be too bad, since he got you out of your shell. I’ll just ask him a few questions.”

“Please, let’s not be rude to a potential new friend. I’m sure the meeting will go well,” Justin said.

“Thank you, Justin,” she smiled softly.

“Look, I’m just tired, so I’ll be chill,” I shrugged. “I almost had an accident with Turtonator.”

They all turned toward me.

“Oh shit,” Denzel gasped.

“Are you okay?!” Cece asked worriedly.

“Oh, I’m fine,” I hurriedly clarified. “I meant that he almost attacked another trainer that was just passing by. Sorry for not being clear.”

“Arceus, do not scare us like that,” my girlfriend exhaled as she gripped my arm. I hurriedly apologized again.

“They’ll probably complain about it online,” Pauline laughed. Now that she knew I hadn’t been in danger, she had immediately loosened up.

“I don’t think it’s a laughing matter,” I sighed. “He could be traumatized.”

“He’ll go through a lot worse if he wants this job,” she simply stated. “Comes with the territory.”

I wanted to retort, but Emilia interrupted us and pointed toward the entrance. Vincent was a short teen with long, wavy brown hair, thin lips, and large eyes. I observed as he confidently walked toward us with a smile.

“He sure seems happy,” I muttered quietly enough so no one would hear.

He scanned the table as he walked, but his stare lingered on me longer, probably because of how I looked. Trainer scars were common, but most weren’t as pronounced as mine, especially with how young I was.

“Hey everyone, sorry I’m late, I lost track of time when I was editing a video. My name’s Vincent Campbell,” he introduced himself with a smile.

“Oh shit, you have a channel? No way, man!” Denzel exclaimed. “You’re gonna have to give me the name later.”

“Most coordinators have them, remember?” Emilia clarified. “Take a seat, Vincent.”

The boy sat, and we all introduced ourselves one by one. I noticed immediately that Vincent was a very extroverted individual— even more so than Denzel was. In fact, he and my best friend broke the ice immediately and seemed to get along very well after interacting for just a few minutes. I introduced myself last.

“I’m Grace Pastel,” I smiled. “Nice to meet the one that got Emi started on her coordinator stuff.”

“Grace, hm?” He said. “Can I just comment on your scars? You look really cool with them. It makes you stand out…”

Vincent didn’t finish his sentence, as the entire table froze.

“Excuse me?” Cecilia asked, her tone icy.

“Vincent…” Emilia winced.

“Erm, did I say something—”

Pauline slammed a palm against the table, causing the customers around us to look on with worried gazes. “The fuck did you just say?”

“I— I—”

“Oh, so now we stutter, huh? You sure seemed content to run your mouth—”

“Pauline,” I interrupted.

“No, Grace, this guy’s—”

“It’s fine,” I said, discreetly nodding toward Emilia. She was staring down at her hands. “Hey, Vincent,” I called out.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t— I mean, I still don’t know what was wrong, but if you tell me, I’ll apologize properly.”

I stared at Vincent, and noticed that he did appear to be apologetic. He was beginning to sweat nervously, his tone was nowhere near as smooth and confident as it had been seconds earlier, and I could hear the faint tap of his shoe bouncing against the floor. I had considered that he had been faking it for a second, but he did appear genuine. It looked like Emi had picked a good friend, at the very least. He wasn’t tricking her here.

I exhaled as I calmly drummed my fingers against the table. I needed to approach this carefully. This was Emilia’s new friend. I needed to be nice.

Even though that comment had infuriated me.

“Look, Vincent,” I started. “I’m not going to tell you how I got these. I don’t want you to treat me differently, or to feel bad for me— I mean, we barely know each other. But you need to realize that this isn’t a game.”

“I… I knew it wasn’t a game,” he said.

“You might have known, but I don’t think you truly incorporated that fact,” I continued. “To you, they’re just something I have. But consider this, Vincent. These had to get on me. My skin was seared until it was irreparably scarred.”

Vincent’s eyes widened, and he grimaced. The words might have seemed simple, but after seeing his reaction, I knew I had been right. Vincent hadn’t even considered the simple fact that a burn like this didn’t get on you for no reason. It was painful and traumatic. I had been the victim of this thought process before becoming a trainer too. Plenty of people had scars in the battles I used to watch on television, and I did think some of them were cool. That had been before.

Behind every single one was a painful memory.

“Ah, shit,” he swore. “I was being an asshole, wasn’t I?”

“Yes,” Denzel nodded. “But we can call it water under the bridge if that’s alright with you, Grace?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” I said.

“I guess I was thinking from a coordinator's point of view,” Vincent said. “The distinguishing yourself thing… it’s a thing that every coordinator tries to do to separate themselves from the herd, so I meant it as a compliment. I’m sorry. I swear, I wasn’t discriminating against trainers or anything.”

“Think before you speak,” Pauline hissed. “I’ll let it go for Emilia, but you’re on thin ice. No one fucks with my friends.”

“It wasn’t intentional, Pauline,” Justin tried.

She clicked her tongue. “Whatever.”

“What do you mean by discriminating against trainers?” I asked.

Emilia spoke up, seemingly having recovered from the group’s little spat. “Some coordinators see trainers with disdain,” she explained. “Mostly because we— you get a lot of things for free.”

“They also say that you guys act like you’re better than them,” Vincent added. “Which you’ll easily know is a load of bullshit if you spent five minutes with the first coordinator you find on the Walk.”

“The Walk?” Denzel asked.

“The Coordinator’s Walk,” Vincent said. “The street leading up to the Hearthome Contest Hall.”

Vincent went on to explain a lot of the city to us and the main attractions, which I appreciated because my dad would be here tomorrow, and I wanted to do a lot of things with him. The conversation then moved on to another topic.

“So, how’d you two meet?” Cecilia asked Vincent and Emilia.

“Oh, it was actually on the Walk, funnily enough. Some girl called Jasmine was—”

“Vincent,” Emilia said.

“What?”

“You can skip over the details.”

Pauline frowned. “No, go ahead. Tell me about this Jasmine girl.”

“Uh…” Vincent hesitated, stuck between a rock and a hard place. Pauline’s murderous glare seemingly won out, though, and he continued. “She was trying to trick Emilia. Asked her if she was staying at a hotel so that she and her friends could film a video there, and when she said no, she…”

He didn’t finish his sentence.

“I think I can get the picture,” Pauline said, looking at Emi’s pained expression. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to handle it myself,” Emilia sighed. “I can do it. I know you want to help, but I’ve got to learn to do this stuff myself. You won’t always be there.”

Pauline chewed on her words for a few seconds. “Okay.”

“Really?!” Emilia beamed, hugging the other girl’s arm. “Thank you so much.”

“S’nothing,” she grumbled. “If we walk up on her when I’m with you, though…”

“You won’t have to hold back,” Emi nodded.

“I think I want to go see what the Coordinator’s Walk looks like later,” Pauline said nonchalantly. “Hey, what does this Jasmine gal look like?”

“Now you’re purposefully looking for trouble,” Justin sighed with a slight smile.

“Look, if it’s worth anything, I think you guys are way nicer than your average coordinator,” Vincent said, probably trying to change the subject.

“Don’t kiss my ass,” Pauline grumbled. “Makes you look and sound fake. I know you don’t like me.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“He just can’t win with you, can’t he,” I smiled.

“I’m serious!” He exclaimed. “Y’all seem pretty nice. People normally wouldn’t have given me another chance after my fuck up earlier.”

“They are nice,” Emilia said. “Even Pauline. You just have to get to know her.”

“So you mentioned that coordinators hate trainers earlier,” Denzel mused. “I honestly don’t see the same dislike toward you guys in our line of work.”

“Some coordinators,” he specified. “Like Jasmine, for example. But the majority won’t really care. They’re too busy competing with each other.”

Cecilia let out a tired sigh. “What a cutthroat world. It seems exhausting.”

“Trainers and coordinators do seem fundamentally different,” I contemplated with a nod.

“True,” Denzel agreed. “Trainers can be toxic to each other, but at the end of the day, we have each other’s backs.”

“Probably because we don’t actually compete with each other— at least not in an official manner— until we get to the Conference,” I said. “Imagine if people had to battle each other to get a badge.”

“Okay, yeah, I can see how that’d degenerate very quickly,” Denzel said.

“Plus, we travel together in the routes,” Cecilia added. “Harsh experiences create bonds. Coordinators have none of that.”

“Doesn’t mean they have to be fake pieces of shit,” Pauline said.

“The performances make it worth it,” Vincent said.

“You ever been in a performance?” She asked aggressively.

“Emi told us about—” Denzel spoke up until Pauline interrupted him with a single stare.

“Twice, and none of them were for a ribbon,” he quickly answered. “The first one, I lost horribly. The second one, I lost. Also horribly.”

We all chuckled lightly. I was glad I gave Vincent another chance. Emilia seemed overjoyed that we were getting along. She had probably been worried she would have had to lose her only coordinator friend. Plus, he didn’t seem to know much about us because he was largely disconnected from trainer news, which was a positive in my book. We continued talking for an hour, although most of the conversation had turned toward content creation. Denzel and Emilia wanted to do a ‘collab,’ and he also wanted to shout out her channel to give her a head start. He had fifty-thousand subscribers now, and his channel was still growing exceptionally quickly. I wondered if it was going to get him unwanted attention from other coordinators, especially with what Vincent had told us about how a good number of them hated trainers. There could be some jealousy issues there.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Vincent,” I told him as we exited the cafe.

“Likewise. Sorry again about earlier. And Denzel, don’t forget to contact me! We’ve got to get that video filmed before y’all leave Hearthome!” Vincent yelled as he left.

“Sure!” he grinned.

“What is the video even going to be about? I spaced out,” Pauline asked.

“They’re going to make me try to come up with a performance with no prep time and act as the judges. I’ll most likely fail horribly, which could be good content. Emilia will upload the video, and Vincent will help her edit it. It’ll be a good base to build up from.”

Emilia’s smile was so bright I almost felt the need to cover my eyes. “This is going to be so good!” She squealed, sneaking in between Denzel and Pauline as she wrapped her arms around theirs. “Now I’ve just got to keep working hard for my performance. I'm close to a breakthrough with Shadow Ball.”

“Oh right, that reminds me!” Denzel exclaimed. “I still need to borrow your Shadow Ball TM!”

“Borrowing TMs, huh?” I teased.

“What? It’s the smart thing to do! I’ve got to save for two evolutionary stones!”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” I chortled. “Anyway, are you guys ready?”

Pauline and Justin looked at me with fired-up expressions. Justin’s Audino was set to arrive tomorrow, and they were going to sign up for Fantina’s gym. There’d probably be a decently long wait time, so he hoped that since it was a bred Pokemon, it’d be easy to train so that he could use it in battle. I considered it a very interesting tactic, considering ghosts and normal type attacks couldn’t hit each other for any amount of significant damage. Something about the two type energies canceled each other out. Apparently, the Audino he had ordered would have the Regenerator ability too, which was incredibly busted, since it meant that the Pokemon would continuously heal its injuries when it got a chance to relax, and the process was further sped up when it was recalled. The longer they stuck in their Pokeballs, the more damage they repaired, which meant that you couldn’t just recall your Pokemon and instantly rerelease them, but it still had a lot of powerful applications. Tangrowth could have had it too, if I had gotten lucky, but Chlorophyll would come into its own as soon as we managed to learn Sunny Day.

Cecilia paid for a taxi, and we were driven to Fantina’s gym, which was the usual stadium-like building, and we waited for Justin and Pauline to go through the queue to sign up. The lobby was unusually active, but it was probably because Hearthome was a big city. People were squeezing past each other to get to the spectating area.

“What’d you find out about Fantina earlier?” Denzel asked me.

“That she’s going to be tough,” I shrugged. “Ghosts are a bitch to fight. Expect the battle to be long and exhausting.”

“Just how I like ‘em,” he said confidently.

“Please, at least do some surface-level research,” I told both Cecilia and Denzel. “There actually aren’t that many Pokemon to learn about.”

“How many?” Cece asked.

“Twenty.”

“We have different definitions of ‘not many,’” Denzel shook his head.

I sighed. They were both lost causes. “Well, at least we get to watch Justin’s and Pauline’s battle before our own this time.”

“They’re a badge below us. I don’t expect it to help that much,” Cecilia shrugged.

“If it was any other type, I would have agreed,” Denzel said. “But Grace is right here. It’ll help to see how ghosts operate. I mean, the only one I’ve ever seen was that Mismagius.”

“And Dusknoir,” my girlfriend somberly added. “It’s true that they are decently rare, so I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.”

Suddenly, I heard huge cheers emanate from the battlefield.

“Must be a good battle going on,” I smiled. “Should we go see?”

Denzel stood on his tiptoes and craned his neck. “Looks packed to the brim, I don’t think we’ll get through.”

After fifteen minutes, Justin and Pauline came back.

“We’re on in five days, in the afternoon,” Justin proudly declared. “Pauline’s first, since she so desperately wanted to go—”

“You should be happy I’m going first,” she huffed. “I’m letting you get some intel.”

“That’s when Chase is coming back,” Cecilia pondered.

“Chase won’t come watch,” I said.

“He’d probably say something like— I don’t have time to waste on watching these low leveled battles,” Cece recalled fondly.

“Seems like a real angel,” Pauline said. “Anyway, what now?”

“Well, a few companies answered me, and I’ve got my first meeting in…” Denzel trailed off as he grabbed his Poketch. “Three hours. I was wondering if any of you could help me out? Rehearse a little? Figure out what they’d do to fuck me over?”

“Say no more,” Pauline said. “Emi, Cece, come with.”

“Actually, I’m going to train,” Cece declared.

“So am I,” Justin nodded.

“Any answers on your side, Grace?” My best friend asked.

“I checked on the bus. One answer from that shoe company I talked to you about, and the meeting’s next week. But nothing from the Poketch Company.”

Cecilia crossed her arms. “If I had to guess, they’ve probably read your message, but they’re deliberately taking their time to answer.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Well, you made them wait, right? It might be their way of letting you know that they didn’t appreciate it.”

I sighed. “They did send their first email when we were in Snowpoint. I could have answered…”

“And now that they’ve seen you’ve answered back, they know you want to work with them. That means the balance of power’s back in their favor,” Emilia nodded. “Be careful.”

“I will, don’t worry,” I reassured her. “I thought they were supposed to be nice. You guys go do your stuff, I’m gonna hang out here and decide what to do.”

We all bid each other farewell and went our separate ways. I considered my options before deciding to go off and train too. Maybe I could find one of the arenas and battle some trainers there with Tangrowth, or I could go back on Route 208 or visit Amity Square to work on Togetic’s Wish. Well, the closest option was Amity Square, so I’d go there—

A girl with glasses and jet black hair paced through the lobby, followed by a group of… fans? One of them carried a banner with the word ‘LET’S GO LAUREN’ written on it in a fancy, almost unreadable font, but the girl seemed to pay them no mind. In fact, she wasn’t even listening to what they were saying since she was wearing ear pods and her head was nodding to the rhythm of what I assume was music.

The name Lauren…

Wait, was this Craig’s sister? They certainly shared the same hair color, and their eyes and noses were the same shape. I discreetly followed the small but dedicated group, who were asking for Lauren’s autograph. I remembered from my research online that her fans weren’t as numerous as other trainers in the Circuit, but they were devoted to finding out every crumb of information about her. They reminded me of some of the fans coordinators had. They could get very rabid, even driving some to quit the industry after they were found to be dating someone. I was surprised to see that she was even out and about in broad daylight, however. She usually battled as early or late as possible to attract the least attention. What was she doing here in the middle of the afternoon?

Lauren released a Duosion, who hovered above her, and the people following her clenched their heads and backed off. Was that even allowed…? The psychic type seemed unharmed, which meant that she hadn’t used it in her battle. I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure it had actually been her battling, but the fact that some of her fans carried banners to encourage her certainly made me lean that way.

Well, I had promised Craig that I’d tell his sister to call him if I met her.

I took a deep breath and quickly approached her, tapping her shoulder. Duosion moved around in its goo-like substance, and Lauren stopped in her tracks. She turned toward me.

“Hello?” I hesitantly said.

She just stared at me, and then at Duosion. And then at me again. After what seemed like an eternity, she took off her ear pods.

“You… seem alright. Can I help you?”

Her voice was so quiet it was practically inaudible, especially with my busted ear drum.

“Erm, I’m Grace. I know your brother Craig. I know this is sudden, but he asked me to call him if I ever met you.”

Her meek expression changed to an exasperated one for a split second. “Oh… what do you think, Duosion?” She asked. After a few seconds, she talked again. She didn’t seem to be in any pain from the telepathy, but I doubted that it was because she was used to it enough. No matter how many times you spoke to your psychic types, you would at least feel some pain if you had only owned it for a few months. Lauren either had a very high pain tolerance, or was simply good at hiding the fact that she was suffering a massive headache. “Trustworthy? You’re right, she doesn’t seem like a stalker…”

“You’ve been stalked?” I asked worriedly. “Are you okay?”

“During my stay in the city…” she whispered. “They keep following me, but they’re harmless.”

“Oh. Well, I won’t follow you,” I said. “Just let me do this favor for your brother? I owe him a whole lot.”

“Fine,” she sighed.

I dialed his number, and he thankfully answered. For all I knew, he could have been flying off somewhere.

“Grace! Long time no see. What’s up?” He asked cheerfully.

“No… um, I’ve got your sister in front of me. I’ll hand her the phone.”

I ignored his freak-out and gave Lauren my Poketch. As soon as she brought the phone to her ear, her whole demeanor changed.

“I thought I told you to stop trying to contact me!” She yelled angrily into the phone. Duosion worriedly jumped around in its goo. “Shut your mouth! I want nothing to do with you!”

I felt like I shouldn’t have been hearing this.

“If I’m seen with you, people will think I’m getting help from you, you shitter!” She screamed. “No! No— don’t you dare fly here. No! I don’t want to see you!”

There was another pause.

“I’m not sticking around. I got my badge, and I’m leaving,” she said. “All the bullshit messages you sent me about being more public only got me some creepy fans. I hate you.”

I awkwardly stared at the floor, hoping this conversation would be over. This wasn’t what I had expected at all.

Lauren sighed. “Her? Fine… if you say so,” she said, in a surprising change of heart. “As long as you don’t actually come here.”

Then, she stared at me and seemingly remembered that I was hearing everything being said, since Craig had probably mentioned me by name. “Okay… yeah… I’ll stick around for a little bit,” she muttered. “Nothing happened. Just… bye.”

Lauren handed me my Poketch back. “Sorry you had to see me that way,” she continued with her meek voice. It was like she had done a complete one-eighty, but maybe that was how close she was with her brother. “Craig just gets on my nerves.”

“Hey, I won’t tell,” I shrugged. “So I guess that’s it.”

She nodded. “Craig told me that you and your friends were good…” Lauren quietly said. Her eyes suddenly lit ablaze with a passion I knew too well. “I’m sticking around until I see all of you battle Fantina.”

I smiled. “Are you sure? You seemed like you wanted to leave badly.”

“There’s a tournament in Solaceon I want to sign up for,” she muttered. I perked up at the mention of a tournament, and she continued. “It’s in a bit, so I should still be able to make it. And so should you, if you don't lose against Fantina. You losing would be disappointing, though...”

“I won't lose,” I declared. “None of us will. I should probably tell my friends about all of this. Um, it was nice to meet you?”

“No. Don’t tell more people about me,” she shook her head.

“Oh. Um, okay?”

My friends were cool, though…

Lauren nodded, giving me her number to tell her when our gym battles would take place. Afterward, she put her ear pods back in, and walked off with her Duosion as she bobbed her head to music.