CHAPTER 217

The sound of Erin Atwood's alarm had always been obnoxious, but it was especially so when she hadn't slept a wink. The girl groaned and rolled to the left to grab her phone and saw that it was already eight. How had she been supposed to sleep, with the people she was meeting today? Even now, she was nervous she was going to mess something up.

"Good morning Comet," Erin sighed. "Mornin' Sat."

Comet and Sat were her Bidoof and Glameow, and they were just as tired as she was despite having slept all night. Comet kept snoring at the foot of her bed while Sat lazily stretched on top of her wardrobe and swayed her tail from side to side. And like clockwork, now that Erin's alarm had rung, she was starting to feel tired. Erin lay in bed for five more minutes and considered sending a message to tell Grace Pastel and Cecilia Obel that she felt sick. All of New Wave had already sung her praises and begged to come with her, and she'd told them that they'd only asked for her because she was their leader. Not going would be betraying her club.

But still, maybe—

"Erin! Are you awake yet?!"

Her mom's voice sapped all of her tiredness away in less than a second and woke up Comet, who nearly fell off the bed. Before Erin could answer, her mother barged into the room. Sat jumped off the wardrobe and rubbed herself on the woman's legs.

"Mom, don't just come in!" Erin stammered.

"Didn't you tell me to wake you up no matter what yesterday in case you slept through your alarm? That you were meeting some new friends and that this was really important, and not to let you miss this for anything in the world?"

"I did say that…"

"Then chop chop!" Her mother yelled. She walked toward her blinds and opened them wide, letting the sunlight through. "I made some chocolate chip cookies for these new friends. You said they were a big deal? You better make a good impression."

"Mom."

"What? You never know where connections can bring you in life. You need to wine and dine them— with my cookies. Go get ready. I'll make more for your friends at New Wave later today."

"Thanks," Erin muttered as she hopped off her bed.

They were a big deal. Celebrities, you could say. Not just because they were among the best first years in the Circuit, but because of their strange closeness with the League. They'd spoken to Cynthia herself, which meant that Erin was basically one person removed from having spoken to the Champion. She was sure they'd be fast-tracked to a job there as soon as the year finished, and many agreed, according to a whole lot of posts on the forums. It was how Flint got his job too! But Erin didn't care for herself. What she wanted was success for New Wave.

The minutes passed quickly. Too quickly. Her club's group chat was alight and the early goers on route 222 were telling her that the Wild Tamers were keeping their distance and all harassment had disappeared. Erin placed her two Pokemon in their balls, made sure she had everything in her bag and sat by her window upstairs to wait. Five minutes before nine in the morning, they just appeared with an Alakazam next to them. Erin had to do a double-take to make sure she wasn't just seeing things. Was she going to Teleport?

"Oh Arceus," she whimpered. Erin had never Teleported before.

Her mother yelled from downstairs, "Your friends are here—"

"I know!"

Erin ran down the stairs and told her mother goodbye, although she told her to be back by eight at the latest. Erin honestly had no idea if she was going to be able to fulfill that promise or not. To her mother and most members of her club, Pokemon training was just a social activity for people to bond and make friends. Most trainers knew that they weren't going to make it big and were just in it for fun. Maybe they'd get a badge or two along the way. Erin's mother herself had forbidden her from ever going further than Veilstone or Pastoria if she ever did go on a journey, and most parents were the same.

Erin didn't exactly know what she wanted in the long term. For now, however? She wanted to beat Volkner before the year ended—

"Are you going to open the door?"

"I'm going," Erin hissed. She pressed down on the handle until her knuckles turned white and pushed it open.

Cecilia and Grace waved at her as she walked through her small garden, and the latter even patted Alakazam on the back like it was just another human and not an all-powerful Pokemon capable of squeezing her brain like a grape. Erin also noticed the scars they both bore. A leg mangled beyond recognition and a body half-burned. It was a reminder of the dangers that lurked behind what Erin knew and had known her entire life, yet they flaunted it like it was nothing.

Well, it wasn't like there was a way to hide the burns anyway.

"Erin! How're you doing?" Grace asked. "Ready to get your feet wet?"

"Sorry to do this so early. We're morning people," Cecilia said. "Next time if you want, we can meet later."

They were going to do this again? Erin thought. They must have really been serious about this.

"That's Alakazam. Mira's. He'll be carrying us around today," Grace said. "Oh, and don't mind the looks, he's actually very nice even if he doesn't look it."

The psychic must have said something through telepathy, because both Grace and Cecilia laughed out loud.

"Um, nice to meet you," Erin greeted Alakazam. "So we're Teleporting? Does it— what does it feel like?"

"Oh, nothing," Cecilia waved. "One second you're somewhere, and the next you're someplace else. It really isn't bad. A little disorienting at most."

"Okay. Sorry to spring all of this on you, by the way."

"This is like a holiday for us, so don't worry," Grace smiled.

Erin blinked, not knowing what to say.

"But we're still taking it very seriously," Cecilia added. "Right?"

"Oh, yeah, of course. Alakazam? Take it away."

The air around Erin suddenly felt colder as the psychic Teleported them… somewhere up a mountain. Erin didn't really recognize this place, and she felt a surge of panic.

"It's route 214, no worries," Grace said. "Still safe."

Erin breathed a sigh of relief, but the blond girl kept going as she turned around.

"Hey, Cece, this is what I was telling you about last night. Isn't it awesome?"

Erin couldn't help but stare as well, and she felt her throat tighten at the sight. The mountain's facade had been destroyed beyond recognition. Large portions of it had collapsed, leaving debris and chunks of rocks at its base, fragmented and disintegrated into a thousand pieces. Layers of sediment and soil, each a different shade had been displaced and large fissures ran up the side of the mountain.

What had done this? Some kind of rampaging wild Pokemon? Was it still on the loose?

"A single Thunder did this?" Cecilia asked in awe. There was a certain glint in her eye that Erin couldn't place.

"I wish. It was three," Grace huffed. "Honey'll get there one day, though. Anyway, Erin! Why don't we start off by greeting your Pokemon?"

Oh.

It had been her?

Erin stared at Grace, who innocently stared up at her. Cecilia had walked toward the destroyed wall and ran her hand over the wounded facade with a grin.

These people, Erin thought as she gulped. They were insane.

—

"A Bidoof and a Glameow. Aren't they cute?" I gushed. I tried to pet the feline, but she turned away from me and jumped on Erin's shoulder while Bidoof just watched. "Are you trying to be a normal type specialist?"

Alakazam suddenly became interested in the conversation, no doubt because of the TE implications this had.

"No, it was just random," Erin stammered. "My mom gave me Comet for my birthday and Sat is hers, but she's lending her to me for battles."

Alakazam deflated and went back to practicing his telekinesis with Psychic.

"Interesting. May I know their moves?"

Erin listed off some common moves that were to be expected from inexperienced Pokemon. Tackle, Scratch, Leer, Growl, et cetera. The usual. Cecilia listened intently as well, although I knew she was thinking further ahead than the basics. Today, we'd stick to those basics, however. I released Angel and grabbed my laptop.

"That's Angel. He's one of my friendliest. Angel, no touching her."

The grass type's vines drooped, but his entire body nodded as I sat on his vines. I'd wanted to get my entire team to train while we were here, but I realized pretty quickly that Erin was far too skittish for that. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her off.

"My mother baked us some cookies too, if you want some," she added.

"Oh, really? Thanks a ton, I haven't eaten today!" I cheered. The girl quickly handed us some and they were delicious. "Now, Erin, how many times have you fought Volkner this year?"

"Only once. The other three times, I fought a Gym Trainer, and it also took me multiple tries to get past the Gym Trainer that allows you to sign up for the real deal," she embarrassingly said. "I got decently close last time, though. I took down his Shinx, but then he pulled out a Magnemite and Sat and Comet don't have much to deal with anything that floats. Every time, they use those against me. Twice I fought Magnemite, then once a Tynamo and another time an Emolga."

"That's your test, then," Cecilia nodded. "You might be able to deal with them power-wise, but he's asking you to think outside the box to deal with something you think you can't. It's a lesson."

Erin turned toward me. "Uh, is what you're writing… good?"

"What? Oh, I'm just summarizing what you're telling us. Bullet points," I said. "Do you mind if we look up a video of your battles while you get your Pokemon warmed up?"

"Uh, go ahead," she hesitantly said. "Comet, Sat, let's start training."

She went off into the distance, but not too far, and she watched her Pokemon jog and use moves on repeat. I entered the Sunyshore Gym's website and quickly found her when I looked up her name. I clicked on one randomly and let the video play. The battle opened with Bidoof against Blitzle.

"What jumps out to you?" Cecilia whispered after around two minutes.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Well, letting Comet take on Blitzle instead of switching to Glameow was a mistake because of how fast Blitzle is. Comet can't keep up."

Indeed, the electric type ran circles around Bidoof and occasionally zapped him with low-powered Thundershocks from afar.

"You're looking too deep. Wider," Cece said. "We need to start broad and hone in on her deficiencies."

I mused to myself for a few seconds. "The lack of confidence is killing her. She's second-guessing every order and her Pokemon are getting confused."

"Yes."

"Oh, and she closes her eyes whenever her Pokemon get hit. That's a split second lost, and those add up."

"I didn't notice that one," Cecilia said.

"Eh, she could be wincing, it's hard to tell with this video quality," I said, squinting at the screen. "But the fact that she freezes up as well is an issue. Fix these two, and she's golden for the first badge. The flying Pokemon stuff is easily fixable with a little bit of outside-the-box thinking."

"How would you instill confidence in someone? Train her until she can beat her peers easily?" Cecilia asked.

"Hm. Yeah, I think that works. Be gentle with her."

"I'm no Chase," she smirked. "Erin, are you done warming up?!"

The teenager ran toward us a lot faster than she needed to and nearly tripped on the way there.

"Done already?"

"Well, we noticed something big, but easy to fix. You close your eyes and freeze up when your Pokemon get hit, don't you?"

Focusing on the easier issue first to ease Erin in was smart. I was content to let Cecilia work as I continued to watch Erin's battle with the Gym Trainer.

"Well yeah. It's a reflex, I can't stop, but does it matter that much?"

"It does, exceedingly so. Time is a resource, Erin, and you need to be smart when using it. Notice how when you freeze up, the Gym Trainer keeps up the pressure on your Pokemon? Instead of countering or offering a strategy to your Pokemon, you freeze for some precious seconds. Do you battle others often? Non Gym Leaders, I mean," Cecilia asked.

"Not really. I train a bunch, but we only battle every few days," Erin said.

"Desensitize yourself to the feeling of seeing your Pokemon get hurt," Cecilia said. "Do they want to do this? To help you be a trainer?"

Erin nodded, and both Comet and Sat did as well.

"Then they know what that implies. Trust them," she gently smiled, patting her on the shoulder.

"What should I do, then?"

"You could ask them if they want to battle each other," I said. "But some Pokemon dislike that. My team's not a fan, for example, even if they do it sometimes. Meanwhile, Cecilia's has no qualms about it. A Pokemon will improve the quickest when there's struggle involved."

"Struggle doesn't have to mean anything dangerous," Cece quickly added. "Just difficult battles and strenuous training will do. Push them to their limits again and again, and you'll find that limit increasing extremely quickly."

Erin breathed a sigh of relief, which I felt like she'd been doing a whole lot these last few minutes. Her Pokemon agreed to spar— and only a spar for now. It wouldn't do any good to have them faint this early when we had only been there for a few minutes. I wanted her training to last longer than that.

The fight itself was… well, something I'd known to expect. It reminded me of Princess' early days and mainly consisted of Glameow desperately dodging Bidoof's attacks. There was this interesting dynamic where Comet was stronger but slower than Sat, who was weaker but quicker on her feet.

As for Erin countering Volkner's Pokemon capable of flying?

Yawn on Comet could potentially work, but it left the opponent the opportunity to finish him off before they went to sleep, and I assumed that moves like Hypnosis were too advanced of a concept for Sat. She was actually quite spry on her tail, however, and she used it to dodge multiple times.

"Think Sat can use her tail to jump in the air?" I asked.

"Oh. Oh, that could work," Cecilia said. "And it'd take whoever she's fighting by surprise and potentially allow her to get a clean hit."

"See? Progress already," I smiled.

Cecilia nudged her head forward. "Look, she doesn't know who to cheer for."

Erin's eyes desperately alternated between both of her Pokemon, and she kept stammering something under her breath.

"Aw."

—

As it turned out, the training with Erin didn't go nearly as long as I thought, mostly because I'd overestimated how long her Pokemon would be able to train for. What she did have, though, was a lot of questions, and she was finally starting to open up to us, and she took notes on her phone whenever we answered. Cecilia healed up her Pokemon with two potions and she said they'd never been this tired or hurt after a training session, and even battles sometimes ended before things got this far. I was starting to better grasp how people were stuck here all year long, but Erin also told me that some of them didn't really care for the Conference and that this was mostly a hobby.

It was barely over eleven when Alakazam teleported us back to Sunyshore, but instead of going back home, Erin decided to take us to her clubroom.

"People are going to love you," she said. "It's going to be awesome."

"Sure. I'm always willing to help people get better at Pokemon training," I shrugged. "Cece, you're good to go?"

"Yes," she said before leaning against me and whispering. "This might be good PR for you and the Poketch Company."

That was true, but it wasn't my main motive. Or any motive, for that matter. We stepped onto one of the sky bridges and I realized that they were automated walkways. I felt the urge to walk backward on one, but Cece grabbed me by the arm and shook her head at me like a disappointed parent. After navigating this labyrinth of a city for around twenty minutes, we reached the New Wave building.

It looked a lot like a school from the outside, and there was even a playground that was currently only used by young Pokemon. I smiled as an Igglybuff slid down a slide as he waved his little arms and his two friends— a Popplio and a Rattata— waited for him at the bottom. There was a sign made out of cardboard with the words 'New Wave' clumsily painted on it, and dried light blue paint had dripped down from a few of the letters.

We were accosted before we even reached the entryway by a multitude of children with too many faces to remember. Erin introduced each of them as a name that I committed to memory. There was even a girl called Emilia here, and it wasn't actually a school, but some sort of old human daycare according to Erin.

So many questions, pictures, so much noise. It was almost overwhelming, but I found myself able to cope with it, especially with Cece here with me, who handled all the attention like it was second nature for her. After around thirty minutes, Erin locked us up in her office. It was a simple, small room with a wooden desk at its center and some file cabinets. I took a seat and sighed.

"Oh man, that was tiring," I exhaled.

"I'm sorry. I thought it would be nice, and people will talk about this for a long time. This is good for New Wave's rep," Erin said.

"Whose building is— who's paying rent for this?" Cecilia asked.

"Oh, this belongs to Jamie's grandparents. They used to run it as a daycare before they retired, so we're using it for free. We still have to pay for utilities, though, but electricity and water comes cheap here," Erin explained. "And we pool all of our resources together, and some parents help too."

"Well you look like you run a tight ship," I said as I splayed over the desk. "I don't know if I'd be able to do it. Sounds like a hassle. You've got some real leadership skills."

"Really?" The girl beamed. "I mean, yes, uh, I do."

"I must agree. I should take notes," Cecilia mused with a hand to her chin.

"Well, um, I can help you if you need it. I need to go speak to them for a few minutes and tell them to stop the noise, and I'll be back, just five minutes!" Erin exclaimed. As soon as she opened the door, a flurry of voices slipped through the small opening.

"You were really good with the kids too," I told Cece. "Hey, when I have to go to that Poketch event this summer, do you wanna come with me? I can bring a date."

"I'll never say no to you asking me out," she smiled. "This was tiring, though. I got rusty."

"Really? You didn't show it at all. I thought you were fine."

"I can't let it show, Grace, I was trained not to. I thought I'd be fine," she shrugged. "I need to get better at these kinds of events before we get to Unova if I want a chance at nabbing the Championship."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you know already," she said as she began rubbing my shoulders. "There's a lot less 'might makes right' and a lot more politics involved. I told you what happened to Iris, right? She was forced into resigning because she had no political support."

"Uhuh."

"Support is what I need. So I'll need to make connections with politicians, Gym Leaders, and maybe the Elite Four if possible, or I'll just get pushed out of power. For that, I need to work on my charisma and my stamina in social situations, and I'll also need a total reset from my last name so that they know they're speaking to me and not my father."

"You're plenty charismatic already," I said.

"I know. Speaking of, you're going to go after the badges, right? In Unova?"

"Yeah! There's ten, so that sounds like fun."

"Do you want the position at all, though?"

"No," I said right away. "I mean, I'll still fight for it, but if I get there somehow I'll turn it down. I sure as hell don't want to be a politician, I just want to fight strong people."

"I'll have to go through you, then."

"If the brackets line up that way," I said. "By the way, have you always been this good at massages?"

"Am I? I'm just winging it."

"Well, keep winging it please. My back's been pretty tense lately. Maybe I'm growing?"

Cecilia guffawed, "No."

"You could have entertained it!"

—

There was a storm brewing in New Wave, and Erin was desperately trying to contain it. She'd locked the doors to her office from the outside so no one could sneak in and interrupt those two terrifying girls. They were nicer than she would have expected from celebrities, and they gave good tips, but Arceus, sometimes they just said things.

During training, Erin caught a glimpse of Grace's computer and saw that the most recently opened note document was labeled 'LAVA STRATEGY - LETHAL VERSION.' All she had wanted to do was check if her new teacher was writing nice things about her or not! And her other teacher Cecilia wasn't any better either! She kept saying that every time she saw the beach, she felt the urge to glass it. Glass it! Erin had to look up what that implied, and the internet redirected her to a horrifying battle at the Solaceon tournament. And the worst part was, Grace had answered that she understood completely and they both giggled about it afterward like it was a joke. They were completely insane.

But she couldn't deny that she had improved more in that one training session alone than she had in the last few months. A single day, and it felt like the wind was in her sails and Comet and Sat could potentially win at Volkner's Gym if given another few days of training, and if she fixed her own issues they had outlined.

"Erin, when are they coming out? I didn't get a picture?"

"Can they train me too?"

"Are you hogging them for yourself?"

"Are they joining New Wave?"

"Who cares? Lauren Goodwill's better!"

Erin inhaled. "Listen up! Right now, they just came to greet you all. I don't know what they intend to do but it's certainly not join New Wave. Maybe they'd be willing to help out the club temporarily while they stay, but that's it. If you want, I'll outline what they tell me during training and bring it back to you, does that work for everyone?"

"But they're training you specifically. Most of the advice won't apply to us," June yelled in the back.

"I'll ask them for some general advice, then. If you have any specific questions, send them to me and I'll see what I can do, okay? I can't guarantee anything, though, so don't expect much, or you'll be disappointed!"

That seemed to have calmed them down somewhat. Erin created a separate chat where each person could send one question at most. They had three hundred and fifty-six members, so even that was too much. Erin looked the questions over a few times, but an older girl— Sandy— tapped her on the shoulder.

"There are more trainers outside. They heard that Cecilia and Grace were here."

"Heard?"

"It's all over the Sunyshore forums— and the forums in general. They're both usually so private that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"You can't ambush them, Sandy."

"Don't call it an ambush, it's just fans wanting to meet them. Denzel Williams does it all the time— and did you hear he was on his way here? I'm his biggest admirer, I can't wait!"

Erin pushed a thumb against her forehead and sighed. "Keep them out. Don't disturb them ever. We don't know what they'll do if they get angry."

"Why do you look like that? Like you're scared?"

"I'm not scared, I'm just nervous. It's not like they laugh about blowing things up or glassing beaches or anything—"

"What?"

"I'm just joking. Haha. Isn't it funny? Please laugh."

Sandy frowned and just stared at Erin like she was insane.

"Okay, I'm going back in there. Keep them out, Sandy. Keep them out no matter what."

—

"Okay, but fossils cost a bajillion to buy, let alone revive. I bet your dad had some fossil sitting in one of his mansions," I said.

"Yes. A Plume Fossil," Cecilia smiled. "It's behind a glass display near the entrance of our home in Castelia to impress the guests. He never did want to revive it, though. I'm just saying that fossil Pokemon are interesting. They function on a completely different mindset and are a lot more aggressive, even with their trainers."

"Byron has one, right? Bastiodon."

"Yes, and Roark has Rampardos. I just think it'd be an interesting challenge—"

Erin knocked on the door of her own office and then entered when we told her to.

"You don't need to knock, Erin. This is your place," I said. "So, what now?"

"Um, could we get Alakazam back?" She muttered.

"I'd have to call Mira," I said. "He'd probably be pissed at me for asking him to come when I told him he could go. Do you want to go back to the route?"

"Oh, no, it was just to ask. Um, there might be a huge crowd of trainers outside. They aren't from our club. And, uh, I don't want you to get mad or damage our building."

I frowned. "Damage your building? Why would we even— even if we're mad, we wouldn't do that. The Poketch Company would hate me, and I'd be arrested!"

"And you know, there are people in the building," Cece said.

"Yes, but that's obvious, so it's beside the point."

"You said you wanted to glass a beach, so I didn't know—"

Cece grimaced. "Erin, you weren't supposed to hear that. It was just a flirty joke, nothing serious."

"Flirty?!" She coughed. "O—okay, yeah. Flirting, got it. Okay, let's go ahead and leave, then. Sandy's keeping them out, so I'll clear the way for you."

Even with Erin here, avoiding the crowd was impossible, but she seemed to have a lot of authority even with non-club members in the city. When she yelled, people listened, and we were through easily.

—

"See you later, Erin. Cece will take care of you tomorrow, and we'll be together the day after that, alright?" I said. "Thank your mother for the cookies for us!"

"I will!" She yelled as she waved. "Sorry for the misunderstanding!"

"We apologize too!" Cecilia exclaimed. We waved until Erin returned to the street the New Wave building was situated on. "Arceus, that was a disaster."

"Hey," I said with an air of smugness as I bumped her arm with mine. "You're the one who scared her in the end. I was completely innocent."

"She wasn't supposed to hear it," Cece groaned. "And you started it with what you did to that mountain! You could have fixed it with Princess, but you kept it there to show me when you knew I'd love it!"

"Are those excuses I hear? It's okay, I'll just bask in this superiority for the next week, don't mind me," I teased. "Don't worry about it, we'll grow on her. Hopefully. She didn't refuse to meet us again, at least."

"I suppose so," she shrugged. "She has potential. She's a planner like you are."

"She is," I agreed. "Let's hope we manage to nab her a badge."

We walked back to our Pokemon Center, and while Cecilia left to meet with Chase for some theory crafting about dark TE, I stuck around and secluded myself in my room.

It was time to see how Volkner functioned in detail.