I eyed Lucas from across the battle court as Samantha, another trainer who had offered to be the referee, listed out the standard rules for the match.

After a quick discussion, we had settled on a 1v1 Pokémon match, since it was the closest thing to fair that Lucas could offer me. Despite feeling a little patronized, I realized that it was just the reality of the situation. While Venus, Zetian, and I had definitely gotten stronger, Lucas had been with his Pokémon for far longer than I had.

Much like in our first match back at Professor Rowan’s lab, which felt like a lifetime ago, he was going to use Hardy, his Cranidos.

I, however, wasn’t going to go for a straight repeat of our match.

“Are the battlers ready?” Samantha asked.

“Yeah!” Lucas shouted and punched the air.

My response was a lot more measured, with a simple “Ready.”

“On three release your Pokémon, and begin. One.”

The world seemed to tighten down to just the battling court, blocking out the small crowd of onlookers that hung out to watch the Trainer battles.

“Two.”

Zetian’s Poké Ball was cool to the touch as I rubbed my fingers over its surface.

“You got this.” I whispered to her, and the Ball wiggled slightly in response.

“Three!”

“Let’s go Hardy!”

“Zetian!”

Our two Pokémon appeared in flashes of light on the field, and there was a brief moment of stillness as everybody sized each other up.

Hardy had grown since the last time I had seen him. It wasn’t a lot, but he was noticeably bigger, and the thick cap of bone on his head was much more scuffed up than it had been. He snorted and let out a reedy roar as he laid eyes on his opponent, while Zetian merely buzzed quietly.

“Begin!” The referee called, and we burst into action.

“Zetian! Sweet Scent!”

“Hardy, counter with Leer!”

The little dinosaur glowered at Zetian, causing her to falter for a second, but that didn’t stop her from releasing the small cloud of powder.

Right away I noticed a difference between this battle and the earlier one with the Steelix, when Zetian had used this same move. Back then it had taken effect almost immediately, while now the mildly narcotic effect was working much slower.

The reason why was as obvious as it was frustrating: the wind.

Back in the cave there had been no strong airflow, and the confined space meant that the powder was more concentrated. It was honestly a miracle that Venus or I hadn’t gotten a face full of it back then.

But here in the wide open space of the battle courts, the powder was taking a lot longer to affect Hardy.

“Come on Hardy! Let's end this quickly! Take Down!”

I blinked at the aggressive move. Apparently Lucas didn’t want this match to end in a draw like the last one.

The small dinosaur-like Pokémon huffed, lowered his head, and charged forwards with a mighty bellow, feet digging into the ground and kicking up dirt behind him.

Unfortunately for the Cranidos however, Zetian had one notable advantage.

The little Combee zipped up into the air, letting the Cranidos stomp on by underneath her, completely missing.

“Follow up! Bug Bite!”

Zetian spun in place, and her three faces were pinched in anger and determination as she dive bombed Hardy. Right as she was about to slam into the other Pokémon, her wings abruptly changed direction, beating backwards as fast as they could.

She hovered to a stop and lashed out with her abdomen’s small stinger. At first I was afraid that it wouldn’t penetrate the thick skin of the Cranidos, but Hardy’s bellow of pain and rage reassured me that that wasn’t the case.

In fact, Hardy seemed to go mad, thrashing about like a Pokémon possessed, forcing Zetian to back off or be hit with his flailing tail.

“Hardy! Listen to me!”

The Cranidos either didn’t hear Lucas, or didn’t bother paying attention to his Trainer, continuing to lash out at the air around him.

“Hardy!”

Zetian looked almost concerned as she hovered well out of range of Hardy, and I couldn’t blame her.

“That’s enough!” The referee called, and Lucas’ shoulders slumped. “You can’t control your Pokémon, recall it! This match goes to the defender, Alina!”

Dejectedly Lucas pulled out his Poké Ball and recalled the rampaging Cranidos, who was still spinning in circles.

Zetian danced in mid-air, and it took me a second to understand her movements. She was disappointed and a little concerned, and I couldn’t blame her. She soon returned to hover over my shoulder, and I crossed the court to Lucas.

“Sorry about that.” He said, not looking up from the slightly rocking Poké Ball in his hand.

“I would say it’s fine, but I honestly don’t know if it is. What happened?”

Lucas sighed, then minimized the Ball and returned it to its place on his belt next to his other two.

“Can we head back into the Pokémon Center? I’ll tell you about it on the way.”

I shrugged and we started heading towards the large double doors, leaving a group of muttering watchers behind us.

“I’m not sure exactly what’s gotten into Hardy.” Lucas admitted once we were out of earshot. “Everything was fine up until we took a trip into the woods one day. I mean, he was always hard to control, but I figured that was normal for Cranidos, right? Anyways, he somehow managed to stumble his way into a Wurmple nest.”

I blinked. “Wurmple have nests?”

Lucas gave me a strange look. “Yeah, they all gather together in a tree to do their mating, the whole area is covered with their webs, then the Wurmple who have stored up enough energy to evolve use those webs to evolve into Cascoon or Silcoon. You didn’t know that?”

“They don’t have Wurmple in Unova. I think it’s classified as an invasive species.”

“Oh. Huh, you learn something new every day.”

There was still so much I didn’t know about Pokémon biology, but thankfully Unova’s unique roster of native Pokémon species, distance from the other regions, and strict requirements on invasive species coming in from other regions was a useful way to cover my ignorance.

“Anyways, the Wurmple took exception to Hardy running around their space, and strung him up with their webs and bit him a lot. I barely managed to get him recalled to his Ball before they managed to do anything worse, but ever since then he hasn’t been the same around Bug-types. Whenever he gets stung or bit by one he just goes crazy, and I don’t know how to help him.”

I frowned as we walked into the Pokémon Center. If I didn’t know a lot about Pokémon biology, I knew even less about Pokémon psychology. It could be a trauma response, the bite of a Bug-type acting as a trigger, but I couldn’t be sure.

“What does your dad or Professor Rowan say about it?”

He shrugged. “They say to just give it time and to not get upset with him when it happens. If that doesn’t help, then dad knows a good therapist team who should be able to help.”

“Therapist team?”

“Yeah, some people find and train Pokémon who want to help others, like the Joy Clan. The therapist dad knows has a couple Psychic-types, as well as a Blissey on their team. They’re apparently all really good at making sure Pokémon feel comfortable.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“That’s amazing!” I had a small smile on my face as we walked through the door of the Pokémon Center.

Pokémon therapists. I loved this world.

“Yeah. Anyways, I should probably get Hardy checked out by the nurses, what are you going to do?”

I looked at the time.

“It’s a little too late in the day for me to set off now I think, we’d only get so far outside of town before having to stop for the night.”

Lucas flushed, looking down and scuffing his foot against the ground. “Uh, I didn’t cause you to be late did I?”

He was a good kid.

“Don’t worry about it. We still have plenty of time to get to Eterna City for the Quadrathlon. I think I’m just going to go look around one last time, then get some rest and leave in the morning.”

“Will we see each other before you go?”

I hesitated, thinking about the schedule. “I don’t know. You’re all staying in a hotel in the southern part of Jubilife, yeah?”

“Right.”

Biting my lip, I shook my head. “I don’t think so then. We’re going to be going in the other direction to get to Eterna.”

He sighed, then straightened his shoulders. “In that case!”

A surge of panic ran through me.

What is he doing?

“Alina! We’re both sponsored by Professor Rowan, but that’s not going to get you out of this! In fact, it just made me more determined! Let’s be rivals! Let’s see who goes all the way to the top of the gym circuit, and into this year’s conference!”

I blinked as he shouted the challenge, then turned and ran away, disappearing into the crowd around the desk for the Pokémon Center.

“What?”

There was no answer, besides a couple of chuckling bystanders.

“No wait, really, what?”

/^\

I was still confused as I strolled around the shopping district of Jubilife city, a cute little Rattata’s nest of side streets and alleys dotted with small stores located around a few larger shopping centers.

Was there something in the water here that made teenagers just randomly declare people their rivals? First Kevin, now Lucas, was Dawn going to show up somehow and shout at me next?

No. I shook my head as I walked. She’s smarter than that.

Still, it was absurd, rivals were a thing in anime, not real life. Of all the things that had caught me off-guard in this world, this was somehow the most bizarre.

What did being rivals even mean? Just battling each other every now and again? If Lucas wanted to battle that would be fine, there was no need to declare a rivalry over it.

And for Kevin… well he needed to just chill out a little bit, get that chip off of his shoulder. I was even willing to battle with him too if he would calm down.

I sighed. All I wanted was a nice, quiet Journey while I figured out what I was going to do with my life. I still hadn’t figured that out entirely, besides “live with Pokémon.”

That was a good goal, but I needed something a little bit more. My medieval studies degree was next to useless here, unless I wanted to write some books that would be considered fantasy novels. That was a decent back-up plan, but I needed something more. Maybe once I got through this year and my Journey I could go back to school? Find a degree program that appealed to me and get whatever this world’s equivalent to a bachelor’s or master's degree?

Being sponsored by Professor Rowan was nice, but I didn’t think I wanted to be a lab assistant for my whole life.

My thoughts stutter-stepped to a halt in time with my feet as I stopped in front of a display that had caught my eye.

There, in the window of a tiny store, was a guitar. There were a number of other stringed instruments that looked vaguely familiar, but that was definitely a classical guitar.

I immediately changed directions, and a small bell chimed as I stepped through the door into the shop.

Then I had to blink, because it wasn’t a bell, and instead there was a Chimecho that had attached itself to the ceiling of the shop, and was happily chirping.

A quiet hum responded to the Chimecho, like a bow being softly dragged across a violin’s strings, and I looked over to see a Kricketune standing on top of the shop’s counter and rubbing its arms together.

“Uh,” I said eloquently. “Hello? Is this… your shop?”

I wasn’t sure if Pokémon could even have their own store, but at this point it wouldn’t surprise me.

In response, the Kricketune rubbed its arms together again, creating a louder tone that carried throughout the small store.

“Yes, yes, I’m coming.” An elderly woman’s voice called out. “You silly little noise makers, what’s it this time? I know for sure that you’ve been fed so- oh! A customer!”

A woman stepped around a back corner in the shop, and was the image of a kind old grandma; a slightly hunched back, gray hair, and a plethora of wrinkles and laugh lines.

“Hi?”

“Well hello dear! Please, please, come in! Ignore the Pokémon, they’re just happy to see another face besides this old hag. Are you interested in anything specific, or just looking around?”

“Something specific, actually.”

“Oh?”

I pointed at the guitar in the window. “That guitar, is it for sale?”

“Oh hoh, yes it is dearie! I’m somewhat surprised, I’ll let you know. We don’t get a lot of musicians looking to buy new instruments here, and the ones who do visit are mostly interested in the biwa or our tonkori.”

“Really? What do most people do here then?”

“Oh, mostly repairs to their instruments. Would you like to try the guitar out?”

“Yes please!”

She extended one gnarled hand. “Be my guest.”

I eagerly hopped on over to the guitar and oh-so-carefully pulled it from its stand.

It wasn’t as big as my guitar back on Earth, which was actually a blessing. I was a lot smaller now, and my hands wouldn’t have been able to fit if it had been a full-sized guitar. The wood was a dark brown, almost a walnut color, and it felt like it was made for me.

The owner found a stool from somewhere, and as I sat down the guitar just fell right into position, and my hands carefully stroked its body.

“That’s native Sinnoh Apricorn wood.” The woman said approvingly. “Harvested from the Eterna Forest.”

“Really? Like the trees whose fruit used to make Poké Balls?”

Her already wrinkled brow grew even more furrowed, but a smile spread across her face. “I’m surprised you know that. Most people don’t know that they used to make Poké Balls from Apricorns, only that old geezer in Johto still keeps up with the old traditions. My husband used to make a few every now and again back when he was still alive, but the art of making them passed away when he did. I’ve tried, but I just can’t seem to make it work like he did.”

She sighed, and shook her head. “It’s a shame, but the wood is also just right for instruments.”

I blinked, then took in her clothing. She was wearing a simple blue outfit with a white cloth tied around her forehead, and there were a few slivers of wood stuck in the fabric of her trousers.

“Wait, did you make this?”

The old woman smiled proudly, and her back straightened unconsciously as she looked around the shop.

“I made that guitar, and every instrument in here.”

You could have flown a Dragonite into my open mouth as I stared at her. “That’s amazing! This is a masterpiece! They’re all masterpieces!”

“Oh hoh! What a flatterer!” She fanned her face with one hand, while the other poorly hid her smile. “Calling this old woman a master.”

I noticed she didn’t actually contradict me though.

“Well go on then girl, play me a song.”

I hesitated, my fingers pausing on the strings for just a minute. There were any number of songs I could play but none of them felt quite right, except…

Slowly, carefully, I started to pluck at the strings, hands moving almost instinctively. A soft, quiet tune, one that I had memorized a long time ago. Almost a lullaby, and one of Go Ichinose’s greatest songs. It spoke of moving forward, of never being able to go back, but was soft and comforting nonetheless.

The soft sounds of Pokémon League (Night) echoed throughout the store, and the world fell still for just a few minutes.

It wasn’t perfect. I hadn’t played a guitar in months, and I hadn’t played that song in years. But it was right.

“Huh.” The old woman said gently when the last note had finally faded into silence. “And here I thought I had heard it all, but that was something special.”

Her smile was a warm thing, her eyes filled with emotion.

“Thank you.”

I blushed, and ducked my head.

“It just felt right.”

“That’s how you know it came from the heart. My dear beloved used to say that every Poké Ball had its owner. I never understood what he meant until now. I daresay that guitar belongs to you more than it ever did to me.”

I looked up through the hair that had fallen in front of my face. “Are you sure? This is… this is a beautiful guitar, I’m not sure if I deserve something this nice.”

“Girl, after that performance, I wouldn’t let you walk away without it.” Her smile turned shark-like, but only for a moment. “I’m still going to charge you for it, mind you.”

The old woman disappeared into the backroom for a moment, then came back with a black hard-case for the guitar.

“Consider this on the house for the song.” She said, letting me put the guitar inside of it.

“Thank you.” I hesitated. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I got your name.”

“It’s quite okay dear, you can just call me Granny Sayori.”

“Thank you again, Granny Sayori.”

“Feh!” She snorted. “Making sure your money goes through is enough thanks for this old woman!”

Granny Sayori paused, before continuing softly. “Although, if you truly want to pay me back, play a song for me again the next time you’re in town. It’s been awfully quiet around here lately, and it was nice to hear somebody else’s music again.”

I tried not to tear up, and clutched the guitar case a little tighter.

“For you Granny Sayori, I’d play a whole concert.”

“Bah! Come on, let’s see if your money is even good enough for the guitar.”

She grumbled and made her way behind the counter to start ringing me up. The Kricketune and Chimecho both looked at me, content and gratitude in their eyes.

Once I finished paying I was about to leave the store, when I paused in the doorway.

“In or out girl, don’t stand there blocking the entrance!” Sayori called.

I looked at the sky, it was still plenty light out.

“Say, Granny Sayori?”

“Eh?”

“I don’t have anything going on this afternoon. Would you mind if I stayed here for a little bit longer to practice?”

The old woman sniffed, and turned away to walk into the backroom.

“Feh! Do what you want, but I have work to get to!”

I sat down on the stool and got the guitar out, and began to play again. If she wanted to pretend like she hadn’t teared up when I came back in, I would as well.