CHAPTER 223

"Holy fuck, I think you broke my ribs…"

"Denzel! I missed you so much!" I yelled.

I heard him chuckle and felt him hug me back. Trainers were used to these kinds of loud, happy reunions, so they only stared for a few seconds before returning to their activities and conversations. When I looked up, Pauline's hand was outstretched. I grabbed it, and she helped me up and hugged me too while Cecilia greeted Emilia and Denzel.

"I missed you, little gremlin," Pauline said. "How are things here?"

"They're so much fun," I said before turning toward Emilia. "Emi! You look great!"

"I always look great," she smirked.

Needless to say, it was hugs all around.

"Let's catch up in my room—"

Emi interrupted me. "No, I want to host the party. It can be a pre-party for tomorrow. Just let us get a room, and I'll handle the food and drink."

"Taking charge already," Cecilia smiled. "How was your trip here?"

"It was… eventful, that's for sure. We stopped by the Hotel Grand Lake and stayed for two days, so it was fun too. Emilia took me to all of her favorite spots that she used to drag Pauline to when they were kids."

"Grace!" Pauline yelled. "I caught a Mankey! He's such a weirdo, but I like him! And I think he likes me back. Probably."

"You got one?!" I gasped. "I'm so happy for you! I can't wait to meet the little guy!"

"You can meet him tomorrow. All of our Pokemon are spending a night in the Center. Well, except Emi's. She doesn't train—"

"I do train. I just don't bash my Pokemon against themselves when I do," Emilia scoffed. "Anyway, let's get those rooms."

The process was quick, as usual, and we made our way toward the elevator right away while Emilia was already ordering stuff on the phone.

"Oh, Gothorita also evolved," Denzel said.

I grinned. "Really? You guys must have trained hard."

Pauline stared at Denzel, who stared at Emilia, who stared at Pauline.

That was weird.

"Maeve and Louis are arriving in twenty minutes or so," Emilia said. "Louis said he's smuggling in alcohol."

Pauline pumped a fist. "Fuck yeah!"

"Let's be responsible now…" Denzel said.

"You say that, but you'll drink too," Emilia said as we walked out the elevator. "Grace, what do you want? Grape soda? Grape juice? Cranberry?"

"Soda's fine, thank you."

When we entered Emilia's room, she placed her bag on the ground and jumped on the fresh sheets right away.

"Oh, beds, how I missed you," she said with a fake-sob.

"Didn't you sleep in a bed yesterday? In the hotel?" Cecilia asked.

"Well, yes, but you know what I meant," she said.

Denzel opened a window, leaned against the sill and I followed him while Cecilia, Pauline and Emilia bantered together about how terrible the latter had found traveling, even though this was the safest route in the region. It was hard to remember she'd made it through Mount Coronet once and Eterna forest.

"This city's fucking amazing and I've just gotten here," Denzel muttered. The wind blew in his hair and face, causing him to squint. "You ready for the battle? I know you haven't been resting on your laurels."

"I'm ready," I nodded. "Well, I still need some finishing touches, but what do you mean, you know?"

"You need to be more online, dude," Denzel said. "You drank in a bar with Craig Goodwill and Jasmine Whitaker, and you got into Craig's hotel room with her. Next, you were seen helping her back home while she was drunk after drinking with her again. People are going wild about it."

"Oh. Right," I said. "I saw a little bit of that, but I don't pay much attention. I like to focus on myself, y'know? But I can introduce you if you'd like. Plus, Craig is still here. He was interested in you in Snowpoint."

Denzel's eyes widened. "Oh, word? I'd like to meet Jasmine! And Craig again!"

"Of course. You wouldn't believe what I saw—"

I turned back to the trio and leaned toward Denzel as much as I could. Cece was fine, and I assumed Denzel was too, but I wasn't sure Craig would appreciate me telling all of my friends about the battle.

"I saw them battle," I whispered. "I'll tell you about it when the party dies down, and you can ask Craig about it too."

"No videos?" He asked.

"Nope. It was private. On a damn mountain on route 205, believe it or not. I still can't believe that was real."

"I need to get better at this connection stuff…" Denzel muttered. "How'd you even stumble into that?"

"Randomly," I said. "Don't worry about it. I think Jasmine likes me, so it'll be pretty easy to set up a meeting. Cece will be there too."

"Great. Thanks," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Can you tell me about it now, actually? The battle?"

"I live to tell the story. The more I say it, the less the memories grow hazy," I smiled. "I guess I can do it before the others get here."

I recounted the battle to him until Louis and Maeve arrived, and his expression had grown more impressed with each order.

After that, though? The party was in full swing.

—

I felt a finger poke my cheek and I yawned as I woke up. It took me a few seconds to remember what day it was, despite us having a pre-party yesterday until three in the morning in Emilia's room. The fact that the first thing she'd done when arriving was host a party was hilarious enough, but she'd also ordered food and drinks too. It was as much to free herself from the terrible, pre-made food she'd eaten during her short stint to Sunyshore as it was something nice for everyone else.

And it had been expensive.

"Happy birthday," Cece softly said.

"Thank you."

I was sixteen today.

I dragged her face down and kissed her… a few more times that was probably necessary, and I got off the bed.

"I'm going to shower," she said. "Are you going back to your room?"

"No, I'll wait for you," I answered as I grabbed my phone. "I'll borrow your shower after. I think I have some clothes here?"

"You do, second drawer from the left," she said, not even looking back.

"How do you even remember that?" I whispered to myself.

I'd been bombarded by happy birthday messages on my phone, and it wasn't even noon. I checked my mom and dad's first, and I answered them right away. I spent some time with my dad on the phone too, and he was nearly crying the entire time about how I was growing up so fast. There were of course, my friends, including Candice (who finally remembered what day my birthday was) but also Jasmine and Craig. The Poketch Company sent me an email, and Melody also sent me a very heartfelt message about how proud she was of my progress. I snorted when I saw Cynthia sent me a message too. The cynical part of me wondered if it was just to keep me satisfied, but I figured I'd better just take it at face value and be happy about it. She'd sent one to Cecilia too on the 28th, and I decided to do the same as her. A short, succinct answer.

It was later than I would have liked. I wanted to go off to train for a few hours before we started organizing stuff for the party. I wasn't going to skip, especially when the battle with Denzel was tomorrow, and I wanted to experiment on some potential techniques with Honey. Cece came out of the bathroom, so I quickly showered, and soon enough, we were out of her room.

Sunshine was still sleeping in mine when I opened to door, along with Angel, while Buddy had been waiting for me right in front of the entrance. The water type floated toward me with more excitement than usual and wished me a happy birthday. Angel did the same, in his own way, dragging me up and down over and over. Sunshine muttered the words under his breath.

"Can you say it again?" I teased. "I can't hear you."

This time, he said it loud and clear, and I couldn't help my face from mocking him with a smug smirk. I used the opportunity to release the rest of the team from their Pokeballs. A few heads in the hallway turned when Sweetheart yelled happy birthday at me, and Princess flew into my arms, saying the same. Honey patted me on the shoulder and grinned.

I spent a few minutes with them, but since today was going to be busy, I recalled them soon enough and we were out of the door again. They'd be able to spend more time out at the party tonight. When Cecilia and I knocked on Mira's door for her Alakazam, she vehemently refused, even when I told her I was going to eat first.

"Absolutely not. We're swamped today," the pink-haired girl said as she typed on her computer.

"They're not doing anything," I protested.

The two psychics shook their heads at me, and Alakazam spoke.

We're training.

"Are you kidding me? You could have just said no," I scoffed. "Cece?"

My girlfriend shrugged. "It is what it is. Maybe you could take a break today."

"Get out of my room," Mira said. "I need to focus!"

"Arceus, no need to yell," I groaned. "Fine, we'll leave."

I gently closed her door and rolled my eyes.

"What's gotten into her?" I asked. "I hope she isn't like that at the party. I'm seriously getting worried she's slipping back into how she was in Veilstone."

But there was no reason for her to do so, so why? She had everything she wanted from the League that had dangled the bait that was Team Galactic in front of her face, and even she knew that. Arceus, I was getting nervous again. Couldn't I relax for a single week? Sunyshore was supposed to be my vacation! And hopefully Pastoria too!

"Well, just give her some time," Cece said.

"I don't know, she was looking at you weird. I'll talk to her tonight," I said. "I guess we can't really train like we did yesterday. I'm probably going to do some low-intensity training on route 222, and then I'll message the others so we can meet—"

"Why don't we go eat an early brunch first?"

"I thought we could just get something from the cafeteria with Denzel and the others?" I said.

"They're all out," Cecilia said. "They told me about it while you were sleeping."

"Aw. Why didn't you wake me up first?" I asked. "I really thought we'd be able to hang now that everyone's here."

"You just said you wanted to train. And I wanted you to get some rest," she said, rubbing my back. "Come on, let's go and eat something. I came across this great restaurant."

"On the boardwalk?"

"No, believe it or not. It's next to the University of Sunyshore campus."

"What? That's so far!"

"The food is really worth it, trust me."

"Fine," I said. "I guess we can go."

Cece smiled and bowed down to kiss my cheek. "You're the best."

—

The restaurant Cecilia had brought me to wasn't just next to the campus, it was right next to the campus, and it was full of students in their late teens and early twenties. If I remembered correctly, it was a tech-focused university, but it of course had all kinds of programs. Professor Rowan had graduated from here while he was young and he often gave speeches to graduates or at the start of semesters here. Or at least that's what Cece told me, I didn't know much about it.

"How is it? I told you it was great!" Cecilia said.

"It was pretty good, I have to admit," I nodded. "Thanks for paying. Again."

"It's your birthday."

"Yeah, yeah. I guess we can get back now. We really need to start organizing this party stuff. Denzel and Chase can do some heavy lifting. Should we order pizza? Cece?"

She looked up from her phone. "Hm?"

"For the party!" I exclaimed. "I think pizza's a good idea—"

My phone vibrated in my pocket, and the more I read the message, the deeper my frown got.

"Erin says there's some intra-club drama with the Wild Tamers on route 222 again," I said. "Something with Riley."

"Didn't he say that he was doing a clean break?" She asked. "How strange."

"Let's get going," I declared as I shot up.

"I need to go to the bathroom first, two minutes."

"Oh. Do you want me to come with you—"

"I'll be fine," she said. "Just wait for me outside the restaurant."

"Okay."

I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall outside as I observed students go about their lives. A lot of them were studying on the trim grass with their laptops, and some of them had Pokemon too. There were battles, people playing frisbee, volleyball, it looked like a lot of fun. The main university building was a few blocks away, but I could still see it from here. It looked extremely out of place with its dated architecture compared to Sunyshore's sleek, modern design.

"I wonder if they have a TE research department or something," I muttered to myself.

Cece arrived a few minutes later.

"Sorry about the time, the bathroom was full," she said. "Now, let's get going."

Since Sunyshore University was on the furthest eastern reaches of the city and next to the ocean, getting to route 222 took nearly thirty minutes, especially with how much traffic there was. It was at times like these that I wished for a Teleporter or for a Shiny Stone. The drama was apparently happening one hour into the route, but when we arrived, there were none of the crowds I'd expected. No yelling, no battling, no bullying. It was just Erin and a few friends of hers that I recognized sitting together and fawning over her Spinda, who spun on one foot and fell over— no, not fell over. He caught himself and somersaulted, flipping twice in the air and landing with a soft thud.

He'd looked on the brink of falling over and getting horribly injured the entire time, but he somehow made it look gracious.

"Erin? What's happening?" I asked.

Her friends frowned and were about to ask something, but she hushed them down with force I wasn't used to seeing from her. She really did behave differently with us.

"Uh, the drama's solved. It was a false alarm, sorry," she apologized. "Swirls was just showing us some tricks. Do you want to stick around and look?"

I squealed. "You named him Swirls?! That's so cute!"

"Grace loves cute names," Cece explained.

"I know, it's been all over the forums for a while," Erin said.

Spinda bowed at me, stumbling a few times as he smiled.

"But you could have sent us a text…" I sighed. "We spend a lot of time getting here. Do you want me to speak to Riley? Because I will speak to him—"

"No, he's fine! Here, why don't we… uh, what time is it?"

"It's three in the afternoon," Cecilia answered.

"Why don't we head back and get started on the party, then? We need to empty some rooms to get more space for everything. I'll help," Erin said. "Jessie, Sandy, Ken, you stick around. Sandy, you're in charge for the rest of the day. Watch the new recruits."

"Got it," she answered. Erin recalled Swirls and got up.

"Are you sure about Riley?" I asked as we walked back. "I can be persuasive."

"We know that," Cece said. "But let's give him a chance—"

"I could crush him. Gently."

"No! Don't talk to Riley without telling me first. Don't talk to him at all, actually!" Erin yelled. "It was just a little hiccup. We're fine."

At this point, she was practically dragging me back to Sunyshore, so I assumed she wanted to handle this herself to showcase her leadership to New Wave's new members. Maybe she didn't want to worry us too. Cece asked to take the scenic route back to Sunyshore by the beach, so I knew my plan for a beach date would work now.

By the time we arrived back in the city, it was the start of the evening and the sun had basically fully set, but we still had a lot of time to plan things since the club room would only be free late at night when the last members left. I disliked doing things at the last minute like this, but I'd been swamped with training and had no time to plan parties. Erin actually missed the bus somehow and wasted more time. I knew she was aloof, but missing a bus was really pushing it, especially when we'd gotten in right in front of her.

Finally though, we made it to the clubroom. We walked past the playground and I was surprised to see no one was there. Erin opened the door and pushed me in. The entryway was completely empty too.

"Where's everyone? Are they all on the route?" I asked. "Which rooms do we need to empty?"

Erin didn't answer, and Cecilia dragged me forward. All of the lights were off and I would have had to feel my way around without Erin here. She opened the door to one of the classrooms, and I squinted as the lights finally turned on. Multiple voice rang out.

"Surprise!"

Everyone was here, and they were here early. Chase, Lauren, Louis, Maeve, Mira, Denzel, Pauline and Emilia. They were all here. Balloons of every color were tied down or floating right before the ceiling. Multiple weird, cylinder things exploded and popped out confetti. The entire room had been cleared out, and instead there was a set of two long tables with all kinds of food and drink. Shrimp, pizza, chips, cookies, and an enormous cake with Cece and my name on it. There were stacks of gifts in the corner for both her and me.

The party was far earlier than we'd planned.

I stood there, dumbfounded for a few seconds, and then my vision went blurry.

I sobbed. "You guys…"

Lauren frowned. "She's crying. I don't think that's good news."

Cece stood in front of me and the others swarmed around me. I heard multiple 'are you okays' or 'what's wrong'.

"I'm just so happy," I sniffled. "I thought everyone was behaving so weirdly, I didn't understand. Cece, you were in on this?! It's your party too!"

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"I was in charge of keeping you distracted today while the others organized things," Cecilia smiled as she wiped away my tears with her thumb. "When it didn't work, I had to call in Erin."

"Sorry," Erin chuckled nervously. "It's nice to finally meet everyone in person."

"You know Erin?" I asked.

"We spoke on the phone a bit. I was invited to the party committee group chat after you invited me."

"And let me tell you, this girl is a fucking blessing," Mira smiled. "She helped me so much."

"Kind of makes you feel bad about ignoring her when you first met, doesn't it?" Cecilia chided. "The reason Mira was acting so strangely these past few days was because she was the main organizer until Erin showed up."

"But I thought you were working on some really cool move," I said.

"No, I was working on looking up Sunyshore's regulation on fireworks, ordering a bunch of food, making a playlist, figuring out everyone's allergies, a time everyone would be available, you know, the average party drill. Emilia was coaching me on the phone and Maeve helped too."

I stumbled toward Mira and hugged her. "I'm sorry for assuming the worst about you."

The pink-haired girl scoffed. "What the hell does that mean?!"

"You know what it means," Cece smirked.

"Sorry for doing this," Denzel said. "We had to keep you in the dark because we were scared you'd figure things out. Uh, Louis, Cece and Emilia covered most of the costs. I would have helped more, but I'm kind of still broke. I haven't streamed in a bit and I haven't gotten my paychecks yet."

"Just you being there is good enough, you idiot," I sniffled. "And thank you for paying, everyone. I don't know how I'll ever repay this…"

Maeve chuckled. "Come on, Grace."

"No payment necessary. You're good," Louis said.

"It's our birthday party," Cece gently spoke. "Just enjoy it."

"Uh, I just showed up. Is that okay?" Chase asked.

"Same…" Lauren muttered. "Sorry. I gave a gift, though."

"Hey, I have a gift too, quiet girl," Chase said. "It's going to blow every other gift out of the water."

"Arceus, this is so overwhelming," I sighed. "But in a great way!"

"Let's get this started, then," Mira said. "This is the fruit of my labor. I feel like I just gave birth. It's like, so much relief."

Maeve recoiled with a disgusted frown, but Chase was the one to speak up first.

"Please don't say that."

Mira clapped her hands, and Alakazam appeared in the corner of the room. I craned my neck and saw that there was a DJ board there and a disco ball. Light began to shine throughout the room and music started to play. People slowly started to filter throughout the room.

"I can't believe you were in on this," I told Cece. "Since when did you know?"

"The surprise as a whole was floating around since Veilstone," Cecilia said. "But I was only brought into the plot after my own birthday, since they thought it would be too difficult to keep it hidden from the both of us. Everyone knew beforehand."

"Holy crap."

"I was just as surprised as you were."

A few minutes passed, and I grabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza and released my Pokemon one by one since the others were doing the same. The room was a little too crowded for everyone's teams though, so some of the Pokemon were released outside in the playground. Charizard, Braviary, Sunshine, Milotic, Sweetheart, Abomasnow, Talonflame, Vikavolt, Buddy, and Zweilous could be seen mingling through the window. I knew Sunshine and Buddy would have hated the crowd, and Zweilous would have knocked down all of the food while trying to grab some charcuterie or something. The rest of the teams were inside (except for Lauren, who had only released Sirris), including Erin's own Pokemon, whose protection Angel had decided to make his mission for the night. The grass type furiously swatted at Haunter with a few vines until the ghost ran off through a wall.

I noticed Erin pale and shiver at the sight of multiple Pokemon, so I decided to be her chaperone for the night. Or at least until she got used to their presence. I wouldn't like it if she was just scared the entire time, especially when it was a party.

"Please don't accidentally destroy the building," Erin whispered.

"Oh Erin, you worry too much!" I smiled. "Here, come meet Pauline— wait, I guess you already know her."

"Not really. I didn't exactly speak to her—"

"Pauline!" I yelled. "This is Erin in the flesh. I've been training her."

"I… know?"

"This is not fun!" I groaned. "Oh, is that Mankey?"

The fighting type was sitting crosslegged in the center of the room, oblivious to the people and Pokemon that had to walk around him. He wasn't even meditating. His eyes were wide open, and he was just staring at random things.

"I told you he was a weirdo," Pauline said. "But he's cool. He has this weird rivalry with Vigoroth. Vigoroth tries to make him mad, but he doesn't care since it builds up his tolerance to anger."

"Where is Vigoroth?"

"Gothitelle is babysitting," Pauline said, pointing to the other side of the room. The normal type was hanging on the psychic's robes and climbing all over her. "Oh yeah, she's angry. I should probably just bring Vigoroth outside before she swears so loudly it gets to everyone's mind. I'll see you later, Grace."

I turned and noticed that Emilia and Denzel were also outside, although they were just leaning against the window with some food. They had probably climbed through it. Honey was busy analyzing and tasting every single food item out there while Princess followed him and called everything disgusting, much to his chagrin. I decided to walk up to Chase, who was busy with Lauren and Mira. On the way there, I thanked Alakazam for playing DJ.

Mira basically forced me, he said. Why couldn't it have been Gardevoir…

Gardevoir was busy shadowing Mira wherever she went, and she loomed over the short teen while Ri attentively nodded to every word Chase spoke.

"...not two days. Three to four days per week instead," Chase said. "And you want to leave a day between each to leave your body some time to recover at the start. Now, don't forget that you don't need to actually get a Gym Membership. Those places are scams. Just get your Aggron to make you some dumbbells or something— ah, Grace. How's it going?"

"Are you teaching Lauren how to work out?" I asked.

"She asked," Mira said.

"I want to be physically stronger," Lauren muttered. "That way I can be physically imposing."

"And you'd do well to follow her example. Do you want me to start over? You want to warm up for ten minutes with a light jog or some stretches—"

"We're good," I said, turning to Erin.

A shame, Lucario said with a playful tone.

Erin flinched at the sudden words, but Aura-based speech didn't give headaches, so she was fine on that front.

"That was weird. My head felt cold."

"That's how it works," I said. "Anyway, you—"

Alakazam strode up to Mira with a frustrated look and spoke.

Mira. Take over DJ duties, please.

"What? Why?" The girl groaned.

You know the playlist better than he does, Gardevoir said.

"You just want to separate me from Chasey," Mira said. "I'll do it if Chase and Lauren come."

"I don't care," Chase said.

"If you want…"

The trio left toward the DJ board, but Alakazam's eyes were set on Erin. Cece was playing beer pong with Pauline, Louis and Maeve and someone had apparently made some kind of great throw because they all erupted into gasps and cheers.

Do you have a pen and paper, Grace? Alakazam asked.

"Uh, no. I don't have anything with me— wait, I don't even have my gifts!" I yelled. "Shit, shit, shit!"

"You'll be alright. Here, have a cookie my mother made," Erin said.

I snatched it out of her hand and reflexively munched on the food.

I'll go and pick them up if you tell me where they are, Alakazam shrugged. I'll pick up some a pen and paper as well.

"You'd be a lifesaver," I exhaled in relief. "Thank you. Erin, Alakazam wants to speak to you in writing. Is that okay with you?"

"Oh. Yeah, sure," she said. I could tell she was hesitant, though.

"Okay, my gifts are all in my backpack. Uh, here's my room key," I said, getting the keycard out of my pocket. "Oh, and can you grab Cece's coat? She might get cold tonight. The key opens both doors."

There was a glint in Alakazam's eyes and he disappeared.

"He'll be back in a few minutes. Why don't you tell me what Swirls is like?"

The little Spinda was giving Angel the performance of a lifetime, and they both loved it. Comet was snoring on Angel's head already while Sat was curiously pawing his vines, which he moved around to let her play. The grass type clapped with two vines and silently called Princess over, who'd grown tired of looking at food she found unappetizing. She hadn't interacted with Swirls much, but I knew she disliked him. She had called him loose, whatever that meant.

"He's really strong. He has this move, Dizzy Punch. It actually leaves an imprint on rocks whenever he punches them! Isn't that cool?!"

"Now you're getting it," I sagely nodded. "There's nothing better than seeing the mark of what your Pokemon can do, Erin. Destroyed stuff is cool."

"All this time, I thought you were crazy…"

"Me? No, we're normal, you and I," I said. "Everyone would think the same—"

Alakazam with a stack of papers, three pens, Cece's coat and my bag levitating around him.

Why in the world would you put your bag in the bathtub? He spoke into my mind. I had to look for it for thirty seconds! What a waste!

"Why did I do that…?" I muttered as I picked up the bag and the coat.

"What's he asking?"

"Why I put my bag in the bathtub."

"To hide the gifts, maybe?"

"Oh, right," I snapped a finger. "Cece came to my room yesterday and I didn't want her to look through it or something."

"That makes sense."

What if she needed to go to the bathroom?! Humans are simple creatures! The bag being where it shouldn't be would make her more likely to look through it!

"Well, it all worked out, didn't it?" I shrugged. "Come on, speak to Erin already."

The psychic audibly sighed and levitated a pen against the paper. His words read like this.

Dear Erin Atwood—

"You know my last name? How even—"

Alakazam stopped writing and scratched out his next words, replacing them with this.

Don't worry about that. It has come to my attention that you have caught a third normal type. Now, Type Energy is known to have multiple effects on humans, but there are no normal type specialists of adequate power in Sinnoh to study the phenomenon. I know you will not have changed—

"He wants to study you," I interrupted. The psychic glared at me. "What? It's faster that way, and you write super slow. Plus, your handwriting is pretty bad."

"What does study me imply?"

Tell her I want to know the beginning of how a human is changed by TE. It is a gradual process, but the start of it is seldom studied.

I relayed his words, and Erin reluctantly agreed after Alakazam told her there would be no pain involved. A strange light glazed over his eyes as he stared at her, and I decided to leave them be for now. Knowing Alakazam, they'd be there for thirty minutes at least, and I didn't want my party to be a research paper, and they could actually communicate now.

I did feel bad for Erin, though. I sent Emilia to keep her company since she was done speaking to Denzel. My best friend was currently hanging out with his Sylveon, who had been radiating jealousy since I'd seen him out of his Pokeball, and especially when he spoke to Emilia. I tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh. Hi."

"Hi guys. Sylvi."

The fairy type's anger soothed when he saw me, and a ribbon gently wrapped around my ankle, reminding me of Angel. I crouched and petted his cheek. Unlike every other fairy I'd met, Sylveon didn't call me sister. He just used my name.

"I haven't seen you in a while," I said. "Is he okay?"

"Sylvi's fine," Denzel stammered. "We just have a few hijinks we have to settle."

"Jealousy issues?" I said.

He nodded, and I swore I saw him pale for a split second. He was hiding something. "Yeah. Nothing we haven't encountered before though, it'll be fine."

Sylvi huffed and muttered something under his breath.

Something he knew I'd catch.

Denzel, Emilia and Pauline were… well, not dating, but were trying to reach that point, and Sylveon hated it. I blinked, not knowing to pretend to not have heard anything for Denzel, or to just rip off the band aid, but I opted for the former. It would be better if they told me when they were ready. I stared at Sylvi and subtly shook my head, and the fairy type stormed off, jumping out the window.

"What's gotten into you?" Denzel asked.

Had he expected me to do something about it? Personally, I was happy that they'd finally stopped avoiding the topic and I hoped they'd succeed, but three people dating each other was still astonishing to me.

I guess I'm monogamous through and through, I thought as I fondly stared at Cece. Their game of beer pong was almost over now.

"What's with the coat?" Denzel asked.

"Oh, that's Cece's. I'm holding onto it for her," I said. "Thank you again for the party. I love you, you know?"

He nodded with a smile. "Me too. I'm glad we met."

I snorted. "You know how we thought we'd be able to become Champions when we first started out?"

He grinned. "It was a good dream. Why? Feeling sentimental?"

"No, it's just that hanging out with so many powerful trainers made me think back on those days," I said. "I want to get there so bad."

"Craig says the journey's just as good as the top when he does interviews," Denzel said. "Think about it. You're a Champion, you're at the top. What else is there to do? You'd crush anyone you'd battle without breaking a sweat, and battling other champions is impossible because of the political repercussions."

I nodded. "You're right. It's probably lonely."

Was Cynthia lonely?

I chewed on that thought for a few seconds, and Denzel continued.

"I've been thinking too. I don't really think I want to become a Champion and do politics and stuff. With my social media stuff, I'd prefer to be a free agent, you know? Not beholden to anything. Of course, the goal long term is still to reach the skill level of a Champion."

"Oh? Where's your usual patriotism?" I teased. "Sinnoh lost a good soldier today."

"Shut up," he groaned. "I mean, it's not impossible. Leon has a pretty big social media presence, but Sinnoh and Galar aren't the same culturally. It wouldn't work here."

"Who the hell is Leon?"

"Are you serious? Galar's new Champion that ascended last year? When we hang out, I'm putting you through some social media training. I wonder how the hell you're still alive sometimes."

"You suck," I said. "We should hang out, though. Let's set a date. Two days after our battle!"

Denzel beamed. "That's what I'm talking about. Want to come on my stream again?"

"I want to avoid anywhere your stream touches," I said.

"Well, I am streaming our battle. Win or lose, it's going to bring in a lot of viewers and revenue. I hope that doesn't make you nervous? I can cancel if it'll affect how you fight."

"I'm good," I said. "And fine, I'll let you be my social media coach. You can tell me what the new trend is on Chatter."

"Come on, even I don't use Chatter. That's where all the coordinators go, it's a toxic cesspool."

"Now you're sounding like Chase," I said. "Did you know he's teaching Lauren how to work out…"

We bantered for around ten more minutes, and then I made my way toward Cece. Honey was trying to speak to Lopunny— wait, did he have a crush on her? He looked a lot more nervous than he usually was. Where had this even come from?

Well, I wasn't going to interrupt, but Lopunny's heart was unfortunately Sylveon's. I considered speaking him out of it after the party, but hey, maybe he had a chance. At least he was holding up her interest. I heard a bit of their conversation and noticed they were talking about learning how to read and their progress.

You go, kid, I thought with a prideful smile. I also shot Princess a look across the room to get her to settle. I knew she wanted to tease and embarrass him from her mischievous stare. The fairy type grumbled and flew out the window to go see Buddy and Sunshine.

"Cece! Alakazam got your coat. It's going to get cold tonight, I think."

"Grace! Here, have a cheese stick."

She shoved the stick in my mouth and grabbed her coat.

"Thank you. I was getting a little cold, since the window's open."

"You Unovans," I teased.

My girlfriend grabbed my hand. "Don't start now. Want to dance?"

"Uh, I don't— well, I do, but I don't know how to. This song isn't that danceable, and I'm not exactly dressed for the occasion."

"That's okay. It's for fun."

"Fine. But don't blame me if I step on your feet."

Cece turned toward Mira, who was cackling with Lauren and Chase. I'd never seen the black-haired girl laugh this hard.

"Mira! Do you have a love song we can dance to in there?!" Cece yelled.

"Ask and ye shall receive, dear Cecilia," Mira said. Some cheesy song about two trainers being rivals and becoming lovers throughout their journey started to play.

I blushed when every head turned toward us. "Don't say it so loudly."

"I don't care. Hey everyone! Grace is great and I love her!"

Our friends cheered and whistled.

"Arceus!"

"Say it back. Come on," she chuckled.

"I love her too!" I yelled out to the world. "Now, how the hell do I dance?"

She leaned in a whispered in my ear. "Follow my lead."

Cecilia's hand intertwined with mine while the other wrapped around my back. I took a deep breath, and her warm smile calmed my nerves some. She began to lead me in the dance, and at first, it felt a little awkward. It felt odd to follow her every movement, but once I got used to it, we were practically gliding across the floor while our friends and some of the Pokemon clapped and cheered us on. Every subtle shift in her posture spread through me in such an innate way that it was like I actually knew what I was doing. By the time the song was halfway done, I was smiling just as widely as she was.

Cecilia leaned forward and kissed me right as the song finished.

She'd always been one for theatrics. And so was I.

"Let's keep this PG, guys," Mira said. "We can't ruin Chase and Lauren's virgin eyes."

"Shut up and put the next song on," Chase said.

Another song began to play softly in the background.

"You were great," Cecilia said. "And you only stepped on me twice."

"That was a lot more fun than I thought, honestly. I remember that you like dancing though. You told my dad when we were in his rental car in Hearthome."

Cece's eyes widened. "You remember that?"

"Duh. Of course, I'd remember."

"They were among the only lessons I enjoyed," she said. "I'd be happy if you partook in it. I'm a little rusty, though."

"You saying you're rusty after sweeping me off my feet is crazy," I said. "It's like what Jasmine said after the battle with Craig."

"Somebody said Jasmine?" Denzel interjected. "Nice dance, you two."

"Yeah. Jasmine was rusty, believe it or not," I whispered. "It kind of makes me think that Kanto-Johto's Gym Leader are a lot stronger than the norm, since she beat Volkner twice."

"She beat Volkner twice?" Denzel half-hissed. "Why didn't you tell me that yesterday? I had no idea they fought."

"The score is 2-1 at the moment," I said.

"It'd make sense considering how martial their society is," Cecilia shrugged. "Jasmine's standards might be skewed."

That made what she'd said about Clair a lot more impressive than it already was. The three of us spoke until Erin was finally freed from Alakazam's hold.

"Erin! Nice to finally meet you," Denzel said.

"L—likewise. I have a friend called Sandy that's a huge fan of yours. Can I film you for a bit? You can just say a few words to her about how you appreciate her support or something?"

"Sure," Denzel smiled. "Let's do it in another room. The music here's kind of loud."

"I'll be right back, I've got to talk to Alakazam," I told Cece.

I sneaked around the back of the party and saw that the psychic was sitting and staring at his spoons.

"So? Verdict?"

It's faint. Extremely so, Alakazam said. But the process is slowly starting. I would need to observe her behavior to see any minute changes.

"What if she doesn't change? I mean, it's the normal type."

Don't be so foolish, Grace, he shook his head. A change will happen. It is guaranteed. Normal TE is only named so because you humans named it so. There is substance to it, I just have to figure out what it is.

"Well, you could come back later in the year," I shrugged. "She's bound to have gotten stronger by then."

That was what I was considering. I could Teleport every few weeks to track her progress here.

"See? It's all good! Why're you sitting alone in a corner?"

I was enjoying myself, actually. Ruminating on my research.

"Oh. So basically, you're telling me to leave you to… ruminate?"

Well, no. Since it's your birthday, you can stay if you so wish.

"Nah, I'm going to hang out with the others. You should too. Gothitelle and Slowking are outside now. Buddy is too."

I will soon. Do not worry about me.

I nodded and let him be. I glanced outside and saw that Zweilous was harassing everyone else like usual, but Talonflame and Slowking were on there to keep him under control. Maeve was speaking to Pauline and Emilia about contests while Louis had joined Denzel. Their conversation topic was a lot more depressing.

Justin wasn't here.

Of course, it'd been stupid to expect him to be here, but a part of me had still hoped he'd show up. I mostly hung out with Erin, Cece and Denzel the rest of the night, and then we all reunited to eat the cake. Half of it was vanilla with strawberry frosting— my favorite! And the other half was chocolate, which was Cece's favorite. It was big enough for the entire group and then some. Cece even gave some of it to Zerst and Sol, who fought for the piece until they realized she was going to give another one to the head that hadn't gotten it. A few other Pokemon had some cake, including Honey, Lucario, Angel, Lopunny, Scyther… the list went on and on, and we actually ran out faster than expected. Everyone had gotten at least a piece though, so we were pretty happy.

"Time for gifts!" Mira announced right after cutting the music. "Guys, gifts! Who's getting them first— oh, nevermind you're just doing it without any organizing. Okay."

I was swarmed with so many things. A card with a nice word on it from Erin, along with a… homemade coupon that said I could come to her house whenever she wanted for some cookies. Emilia handed me a beautiful pale blue dress that was on par with the one I'd worn during my date with Cecilia. Maeve gave me some new running shoes and some traveling clothes while Louis handed me a nice card just like Erin and some macarons. Pauline gifted me some high-heels, not missing a chance to tease me for my height, but she also gave me money—

"Money?" I muttered.

It wasn't an astronomical sum. 'Only' fifty-thousand.

"Don't you dare complain. I held back, you know?" Pauline said. "I like giving people money. It means they can buy whatever they want if they don't like the other gift I give them."

"Well, uh, thank you. I'll buy some more soil for Sweetheart with this."

Denzel gave me two gifts. A joke one and a serious one. His joke one was a promotion to be the second moderator of his stream after Lopunny. The other was actually a joint gift for me and Cecilia. It was Cynthia's autobiography she had written a decade ago and that hadn't actually been distributed to publishers. There were only a few of them in the world. Needless to say, I was extremely interested.

"Where did you even get this?" I scoffed as I quickly flipped through the book. The cover page was a younger Cynthia with her Garchomp behind her. "I thought they never actually sold these?"

"I've got some connections of my own," Denzel said. "One of my fans works at the League and sent it to me after I paid… a pretty large price. Remember when I told you I was broke because I hadn't streamed? Yeah, that was kind of a lie. I'm broke because I bought this."

"Holy shit. You're the best," I said. "Thank you so much. And, uh, thank you for making me a moderator I guess. I actually don't have a DailyTube account."

"That can wait," he winked.

Lauren gave me a Fire Pillar TM, which she'd gotten for free since it was her move. I was going to teach it to Sunshine as soon as I could. Mira joked that her gift was the party she'd organized, but she pouted when I genuinely smiled at her and thanked her. Her actual gift was a sun hat made of straw that she said would look great on me and would help keep my face in the shade since we were going to Pastoria next. It'd be annoying to carry but I could always attach it to the outside of my bag. Chase handed me a step-by-step workout guide that he'd customized for me and made by hand…

Yeah.

But humans weren't the only ones with a gift. Angel strode up to me and pulled out a statue Princess had made. Buddy, Sunshine and Sweetheart clamored as they looked through the window and Honey could barely contain his smile.

It was a statue of me. The detail on it was extravagant. From the usual jeans, shoes and clothes I wore, to the freckles on my face and my hair. It was perfect. I was standing on a little podium and holding a Pokeball, and it was small enough to fit in my bag and sturdy enough to actually last.

"Baby…" I sniffled. "Thank you so much."

I wrapped my daughter into a tight hug, and she made sure to remind me that this came from everyone and not just her. I made rounds and hugged all of my Pokemon. Even Sunshine was smiling. When I hopped back through the window, Cece was done getting her gifts too. Clothes, cards, clothes, more clothes… yeah, she was definitely getting a lot of clothes, but she did love them more than I did.

But we still hadn't given each other our gifts. I sneaked a glance to Emilia, and she nodded. She had edited the video with our audio messages just like I'd wanted (although Erin and Lauren would have no part in it, I assumed), and the room had a projector. I quickly looked through my bag and pulled out the sunglasses and two small, square boxes. Cecilia pulled out a huge rectangular packaged gift from the now-empty pile.

"I'll go first," Cece said. "Unwrap it."

I felt anticipation course through my veins as I tore through the wrapping paper—

I sharply inhaled at what was within. I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was an electric keyboard with a sturdy protective case and a strap around it so I'd be able to carry it while we traveled.

"So? How is it?" Cece asked.

"Are you kidding me?! This is amazing! I'm gonna cry…"

I hugged Cecilia and kissed her over and over until it probably felt awkward for our other friends just watching. It was my turn now, and I handed her the sunglasses first.

"Just a little something I bought in a store on the boardwalk. Lauren was there," I said.

"It was a fun time," Lauren said.

I pulled out my own pair and grinned. "We're matching."

Cecilia chuckled. "They look so good. Hold on, let's take a picture together— wait, the lighting is terrible. We can do it tomorrow."

"I have something else. It's a ring— well, matching rings, really. They do this really cool thing where they interlock with each other, so it's this cool metaphor where we complete one another, and they're really pretty. I bought them in Veilstone and they were pretty expensive, but not too expensive— Cece? Are you good?"

My girlfriend was frozen and just staring at the two silver rings and back at me. I had never seen her look this shy in our entire time together. Even when we had just started dating, she hadn't been this bashful. The chatter had also died down and everyone was staring at me.

"Did you just propose to her in a really weird way?" Mira asked.

"What? Why would—"

Oh.

Oh.

That was what rings did. Yes.

How the fuck had I forgotten that?!

For a second, my perception of time slowed as if I was in a battle and needed to think really quickly, because if I didn't I would lose. This was a battle. A battle to find the words to get me out of this weird situation I had put myself in.

They're just couple rings! I would never propose to you— no, too harsh. That sounded like I didn't think our relationship could ever go long-term.

I had no idea that these could look like wedding rings and that this looked like I was proposing! No, they would never believe me. They knew I forgot obvious stuff sometimes, but this was pushing it even if it was true.

Okay, the truth is I do hope to marry you someday, but we're way too young for that and even though I think you're perfect, we've only been together for a few months! These are couple rings, not engagement rings. Hm, I didn't think that was good either, but it was the best option I'd come up with. Three, two, one, go!

"Okay— the— uh, yes."

"Yes?!" They screamed in unison.

What?

How the fuck had that come out of my mouth?

"No!" I quickly yelled. "There's this thing called couple rings. That's what this is. It's not actually… that. Yeah, that's what I meant."

I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Cecilia rapidly blinked as she grabbed one of the rings.

"Um. What finger do I put it on?" She asked.

"The… index finger?" I said, unsure of myself.

She slipped the silver ring on her finger, and I couldn't help but blush. I was sweating buckets because this felt a lot more official than it actually was. This wasn't supposed to be like this! I put on the ring on the same hand and held hers.

"So, uh, yeah, those were my gifts," I said. "Happy?"

"Hmhm," Cece mumbled.

Needless to say, that moment overshadowed the rest of the night, including the edited video. Cece was doing this thing where she was kind of avoiding me and could barely utter a word when we spoke. Then, Mira and Chase couldn't fucking stop making fun of me, and even Erin was pitying me. Her teacher!

The party finished at around midnight with a round of fireworks that Mira had bought, and we all went back home after that. I was too embarrassed to even ask Cece if she wanted to sleep with me and I just locked myself in my room and screamed into my pillow. It'd be best to clear my mind for the fight tomorrow and then speak to her about this.

Even so,

This was going to haunt me for a long, long time.