“Hey Kiki! Wake up!” Groggily I opened my eyes, pushing my sister off who was busy shaking me.

“Stooop it.” Moaning, I pulled myself up, blearily looking at my sister who was already dressed and ready. Her bed was on the opposite side of the room, the sun streaming down and showing she had made it. “How can you get up so early every day?”

“Practice! Besides, aren’t you excited at least for today? You get to drop off the mask and hopefully not get eaten by the ogre!” She exclaimed with a cheer that belied her words.

“Ugh, of course, I’m excited about that - not the getting eaten part, I mean not getting eaten I mean- argh,” Huffing I tossed my sheets messily to the side and pulled myself out of bed. I’ll be too tall for it soon. Carmine has to scrunch up while she sleeps to sit on hers.

My sister would complain endlessly about anything, but she never brought up the bed, and I knew I wouldn’t either; it was one of the few things we had left from our parents. Dad never was too handy with crafting, not like Mom was, what with Grandpa raising her. Still, he wanted to show he could be handy too, since he worked so hard on these. The rest of their stuff from Unova just sits in a box in the attic.

After our parents were gone, we moved in with Grandpa Yukito and Grandma Hideko. We loved them and they took good care of us, but sometimes, I couldn't help but miss Mom and Dad.

Yawning, I stretched out before facing Carmine. “I’m excited, but also worried. After we drop off the mask, Nemona and Cyan are gonna leave.” And before that, we’ll have our battle, which is what kept me up half the night.

Carmine’s face softened and she leaned down to pat me on the shoulder. “No matter what happens, win or lose, she’ll still be your friend. I know how much you liiiiike her.” A blush spread across my face despite my wishes.

“Aww shut up! Not like you haven’t been pestering her to Ogre Oustin a ton.” It was my sister’s turn for her face to glow scarlet.

“Be quiet Kiki!” She stomped her foot and added “That was just to get a better handle on her skill, I can’t have an outsider beating me! I’ve figured out her strategy and nearly tied up with her.”

“Uhuh,” I agreed without truly agreeing, something that faux-angered her to no end. Truth is, I think we’re both going to miss her. Cyan too, though the older girl didn’t spend as much time with us. We didn’t have many other friends in town before her.

After I got changed and we went to the dining room for breakfast I admitted: “You’re right.”

“Ha! Of course I’m right,” she crowed. “I’m right about so much so umm, what was I right about again?”

“Nemona. She’s not going to be upset or want nothing to do with us after this.” I mean, she could be lying about wanting to know our birthdays so she could get us presents, but I doubt it. Doesn’t sound like her. “I just… I wanna impress her with this battle.”

“And I’m sure you will, dear,” Grandma said kindly, plating the fried Chansey eggs onto our plates with some pancakes and passing them to us. She poured a bottle of Moomoo Milk for us as well (human grade, not Pokemon grade of course). “Eat up! You’ll need your energy if you’re hiking up that mountain again.” She shook her head, muttering something about not being sure where kids got such energy from.

“Argh, stop fretting already, Kiki,” Carmine complained, the sternness of her tone slightly offset by the food she was shoving down her throat. Swallowing, she said, “It’ll be fine, you’ve got that secret weapon, right?”

I nodded. Applin and I worked on that all day yesterday while Nemona and her family had been sightseeing. And not just the Move we worked on with Grandpa, but the one Applin surprised me with too! We’re gonna give Nemona a huge shock, that’s for sure!

Carmine continued “So you’ve got this in the bag… and even if you don’t,” She added, earning an instant frown from me, even as I recognized it was fair for her to be dubious about my odds when even I was. “If Nemona reacts badly or anything I’ll make her swallow a Koffing whole.”

“Sis… don’t go scaring off her too.” That’s not really fair though, Nemona isn’t like other kids. There aren’t many kids our age here, and the ones here aren’t big fans of us ‘city kids’ from Unova after we had to move here. Carmine made a big deal about loving Kitakami since but they didn’t change their minds and are kinda brats regardless.

My sister hadn’t stopped proclaiming how much she loved our new home since, not one to back down once she decided on a path. That’s something I admire about my sis. I might be too afraid in public to be the same way about most things, but I’ll stick up for the Ogre! She’s so cool and strong, I’m sure of it. Maybe, maybe once I give her this mask, she’ll think I am too-

“Kiki, what are you mumbling?” Carmine demanded and I realized I’d been thinking out loud, though the words were muffled by the food I was eating.

“Ahh, nothing, gotta go, get ready.” Finishing up my plate quickly I jumped out of my seat and rushed out of the room.

“Kiki! Ugh, leaving the dishes for me to do…” Carmine groused as I went to the entrance hall. Slipping on my sandals I prepared to leave- before hearing Nemona talking with my Grandpa just outside. It was hard to hear everything from behind the door but I could make out a few things.

“...the truth, handed… you know it, don’t you?” Nemona asked. I could barely recognize the words as her own at first, she sounded so different. Even when we argued about Gligar at first, she was vibrant and energetic about everything. Here she sounds… cold.

Grandpa didn’t sound any happier, with a hint of anger in his voice. “Perhaps so. What do you want? You can’t tell them!”

“I can. I will. Unless you do it first. They deserve to know, Kieran especially.” Why me especially? What do I deserve to know more than Carmine, but she also deserves? Missing the context made it hard to figure out what they were arguing about.

“How would you feel if I offered to tell them all of your secrets?” Grandpa retorted fire in his voice. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard him sound so angry before. “I have no doubt you have plenty.”

Nemona was completely undeterred. “Good guess, though the fact it’s a guess shows just how little you know, or could use. Besides, as much as I might be upset if you spilled my secrets, this one isn’t really ‘yours,’ now is it? It’s just one you happen to know. The only one who’s secret it is- well, she’s not talking.” There’s a joke there, but I don’t get what it is.

“They’re too young! If they revealed it, tried to tell others-”

“I don’t believe the town would take it quite as badly as you…” There were a few more words I couldn’t make out.

“If you believed that you’d be telling everyone yourself. Why ask this old man to drudge up…” After a minute of silence, he conceded. “I was always planning on telling them eventually.”

“‘Eventually,’” she scoffed, clearly disbelieving him. “They might be too young right now, but you need to set definite times in place or ‘tomorrow’ becomes ‘never,’ ya’know? Tell them by the time they’re fourteen.”

“You’re in no position to make demands-”

“Tell them by then or I’ll do it. They might deserve to hear it from you, but if you aren’t going to ever tell them, I’ll put you on a-” I bumped against the door, having been leaning in too far to hear. It wasn’t that loud, but Nemona immediately stopped speaking, so I opened the door quickly, trying to act like I hadn’t been listening in.

“Oh, h-hey guys, what’s up?” I asked shakily. Nemona and Grandpa were standing out in the front lawn, the sun shining bright as the smiles on their faces. If I hadn’t heard them a second ago there’s no way I woulda thought they were mad with each other.

“Just here to pick you guys up for our trip,” Nemona said breezily, before stepping over to Grandpa and grabbing the mask in his hands. His grip tightened on it for a moment, and in a brief interaction I would have missed if I blinked, her eyes darted to me, his followed, and he let go.

“Thanks for making this, I’m sure the Ogre will appreciate all the hard work you put into this. Thank you.” For some reason, those words made Grandpa sag, as if the wind had been taken out of him.

“Glad to,” he croaked out before turning away. “Have fun today. And stay safe.” I couldn’t see Grandpa as he said that, my view was obstructed by one of the posts that held up the roof above the front porch, but he seemed to be directing that at Nemona.

“Of course,” she said seriously before happily grabbing my hand with her free hand. “C’mon, let's get going! Hey Carmine!” She shouted.

“I’m coming, I’m coming, hold up!”

***

We made it to up the mountain to the passageway without incident, the climb tiring but not very threatening with Dun out. Nemona’s starter was massive, and there was a certain presence to him that made me feel like there were few Pokemon in Kitakami that could challenge him.

That makes sense, Nemona says she’s been training him for over two years now. I wonder if Applin can get that strong in that time?

“What are you thinking about?” Cyan asked, peering over at me. Lost in my thoughts, I’d been lagging on the last section of our hike up and I jogged back to catch up with Cyan. The mostly white-haired girl was herself trailing a bit behind Carmine and Nemona.

“Ack! Just… I don’t know if I can measure up to Nemona, you know?”

To my surprise, the older girl nodded without hesitation. “Oh yeah, I get that feeling.” At my startled stare, she laughed. “I’m not blind, my little sister is gifted. Sure, I have things I can do that she can’t, and she always praises me for those or my efforts, but it’s clear how much more she excels at. Look at this trip; I’m pretty happy with the Horsea I caught, and Nims was the first one to praise me. Went on and on about how strong my Horsea can be and the Type advantages when she evolves into a Kingdra... but my sister also caught two Pokemon of her own here.”

“Oh,” I stated dumbly, having not expected that. “Do you think I can win?” Given what she just said, I assumed she would say no, but instead she had a pensive look on her face.

“Not sure. I don’t think you have great odds, would usually say no, but… Nims has once or twice mentioned that ‘one day’ someone will come along and push her to her limits. A true ‘rival.' She’s got a couple of other friends who are trainers too, but she never refers to them that way.”

Could I be her rival? But I want to be her friend, like with the Ogre…

“Kiki, hurry up!” Carmine shouted at me.

“Cyan, don’t be a Slow…poke,” Nemona finished awkwardly.

I giggled a bit as we hurried up to meet them. Nemona can be so weird. Carmine too, but at least Nemona doesn’t snap at me when I laugh about it.

Distracted and hurried as I was, I missed a step and started to lose my balance, slipping off the edge of the final narrow walkway to the Den. I don’t have Miles to help me, we forgot about that. Was the one random thought that popped into my mind before I fell.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Nemona was there in a flash, grabbing my arm before I fell more than a foot. Gravity still caused me to fall a bit more before Nemona’s grip around my bicep arrested my movement, shooting pain through my shoulder.

“Ahhh!” Crying out from the pain and fear, the grip on the mask in my hand slackened. I tried to hold on, but ended up just flipping it up for a second after dropping it, failing to grab it again.

“Miles! The mask!” Her Rotom blurred out from her pocket, streaking below. I craned my head to look before the strong girl said “Focus on me. C’mon, just get back up.”

Anxiety was something I was used to, but fear like this was something new. My body was shaking and I knew that I might die, that Nemona might die too. Yet, as I looked into her amber eyes, I saw no fear. Concern, but only for me, despite how close she was kneeling to the ledge herself, my weight pulling her down.

Then she heaved, steadying herself with her free hand and yanking me up with the other. I could see the muscles on her arms bulging as she whipped me up and almost over her head, placing me down gently on the bridge beside her.

“You ok?” Was her first question. My eyes were blurry, tears starting to form from all the emotions swirling through me. I hate being a cry baby, but if I open my mouth, I’m going to start bawling, I just know it. So I nodded my head, biting my lip even as tears started to roll down my face.

Nemona smiled, relieved I was ok, then turned to see her Rotom hovering back up, carrying the mask above it with its plasmic limbs. Miles passed the mask back to me and I took it gingerly, inspecting it for any damages.

Luckily, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it. The turquoise mask had light red-orange swirls on its ‘cheeks’ like a setting sun with a black beak painted open in a devious smirk. The shining crystal eyes and feathers sticking out to the side and curving up gave it the appearance of some great bird of legend, a powerful hunter.

“Th-t-thanks,” I stammered out, holding it close. Helping me up, we walked together, slowly and carefully towards the end of the bridge, and I let out a sigh of relief when we were on wider ground.

“Sorry about that,” Nemona said, and I looked at her as if she had grown a second head like a Doduo. “I should have been more careful about the bridge. We’ve just been exploring Kitakami so much, I got complacent and- never mind, I’m sorry.” Why does she try to take responsibility for everything? It’s my fault for slipping off.

I couldn’t say anything about that as I was busy fending off Carmine, who had rushed over to me the second we got to more stable land and was fretting about me.

“S-stop it, sis! I’m fine,” I mumbled out, to little avail. We took a few minutes break to compose ourselves after that scare, even though we were only a few dozen meters away from our goal. My eyes were still a little red as I approached the entrance to the Den, and I felt almost more nervous going in there than I did on the bridge, wondering how the Ogre would react to our mask. Wondering if, by some miracle, she’d be inside there, waiting for me.

Of course, things don’t work out like that. When I entered, it was the same empty Den I’d seen a dozen times before. With a sigh of disappointment and relief, I placed the mask on the ground, along with a letter I’d written (with Carmine and Nemona’s help) days before.

‘Hello Ogre,

I’m Kiki Kieran, and I think you’re super cool and strong. I saw the masks you had and I know this isn’t the same, but I hope you like this mask too. Grandpa made it with the help of me and my friends. It must be lonely up here and one day, I’d like for us to be friends too. No matter what, I want you to take this mask as a gesture of good faith and hope it brings you happiness.’

One last look around showed me the cave was empty, so I stood up and exited back into the light. Cyan and Nemona cheered me on as if it had been some big deal, and even my sister was saying “Good job Kieran.”

“It was nothing,” abashedly turning my face away, I wiped at my eyes some more, to make sure I wasn’t crying again. “Uhh, umm, anyway, we have a battle planned, right?”

“Here?” Cyan asked. The opening around the Den was pretty high up, but it was much wider than the bridge.

Nemona nodded. “This should be fine. Sis, would you referee for us?”

The girl in question shrugged, standing off to the side along with Carmine as we took our places. “This will be a one-on-one battle with no switches allowed. The battle is to incapacitation or forfeit. Any attempt to seriously injure an opponent or attack a trainer or bystander will be met with disqualification. Boundaries are to the edge of the bridge and the Den, and umm, let's say fifteen meters above the ground. Trainers, get your Pokemon ready.”

“Ah, umm, okay!” I shouted out, panickedly trying to take all that in. Pressing the button on my Pokeball, I released Applin in front of me, to a chuckle from Nemona. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just you're a bit eager. It doesn’t matter here since we both agreed to which Pokemon we’re using ahead of time, but in other battles when you have a bigger team, whoever sends out their Pokemon last gets an advantage. The referee has the trainers hold up the Pokeball they’re going to use, and then they both release them,” She explained, pulling out Gligar’s Pokeball and releasing her Pokemon.

The pink flying scorpion spun about in the air, drifting near her trainer. My brave Applin shivered in fear at the predator that had almost taken his life before, but he didn’t hide in his apple case. Instead, he stuck his body out, defiantly meeting Gligar’s gaze.

“Wowzers, real battles are pretty complicated, huh?”

“You’ll get used to them,” she said easily. “It’s like-” the brash girl paused, thinking. “Do you know how to ride a bike?” I nodded. While there were trucks that came in and out of Mossui town, bicycles were some of the easiest ways to travel around town, and anything short of going past Kitakami Hall or the Paradise Barrens.

“It’s like riding a bike. It seems complicated at first, and there’s a ton you need to learn and do all at once, but then you get the hang of it and it’s second nature.” Nemona wore a contented smile, clearly proud of herself for that simile.

“Hurry up and battle already!” Carmine shouted, causing both of us to deflate, though our Pokemon both perked up a bit at my sibling’s heckling. Guess they’re ready to battle. Grandma always said Pokemon are naturally more aggressive than people, on average, which is why she gets worried whenever I venture too far out of town without supervision.

“Alright, with that out of the way,” Cyan spoke loudly. “On the count of three, the battle will begin. Ready?” Nemona locked eyes with mine, both of us nodding, the same drive pumping through each of us. “Three, two, one… begin!”

“Withdraw!” I called out immediately, hoping to bolster Applin’s defense before Gligar could start pounding him. It’ll also set up our first attack.

Or so I thought. Gligar and Nemona blew me away, almost literally, with how fast they were.

“Acrobatics.” No sooner had the word left her mouth and Gligar was across the battlefield, slamming down into Applin hiding in his shell, leaving cracks and ripping a few chunks of fruity flesh off with her pincers and teeth.

“You’re not holding back, are you? Well, neither will we, Sucker Punch!”

“Get out of there!” Nemona called out, and while Gligar would now listen to her trainer and try to follow her commands, she was a bit slow to respond here. Too focused on ripping and tearing my Pokemon, she backed away a second too slowly to avoid Applin’s head jutting out of the apple and hitting Gligar in the gut.

“Gar!” The Flying Type called out, flapping away. Nemona’s lips quirked down for half a second, before wiping away any displeasure from her face.

“Poison Sting, keep your distance.” Gligar followed obediently, rubbing lightly at where she had been hit before flinging a bunch of needles out from her tail, each one dripping with a violet liquid.

“Withdraw, defend more!”

The battle fell into that pattern, me defending while they kept their distance and launched attacks. Each strike is getting weaker, I’m sure Applin can take on anything else Nemona can dish out now.

Just as I thought that Applin gave a plaintive cry, his tail seizing and twitching violently as a purple discoloration spread throughout the few visible parts of his body. “Huh?!”

Nemona was looking down on me - not unkindly, but still - like she knew something I didn’t. Which she did. “Your Applin has been Poisoned. One of Gligar’s stings managed to get through.” Looking carefully, I saw where one needle stuck in deep, having landed through one of the cracks Gligar had opened up earlier.

“Gaaaah. We can’t lose like this. Uh, uh, Astonish!” I shouted desperately, trying to rack my brain for something Applin could do with his few Moves to hit someone flying above. And it worked! Applin stretched his whole body out, his tail and eyes extending far out of his shell, shocking Gligar and causing her to reel back in the air.

My opponent, however, was unfazed. “Drop down and Sand Attack.” A swift dive to the ground and she was kicking and flinging sand from the rocky ground into Applin’s exposed eyes.

The ground here was more than just rocky, however; this section of the mountain had a bit of greenery growing on it, which we could use with Grandpa’s secret Move. “Grassy Glide!” Applin gave a weak but happy cheer at that, his tail drawing on more power from the plant life and extending that to conjure a bunch of grass in a line that he slid on, straight towards Gligar.

“Quick Attack to reposition, do not hit Applin!” Nemona responded rapidly, and Gligar had to adjust her motion at the last second, but she ended up shooting past Applin to the side, my starter missing her as she moved in a bright blur.

“Sand Attack again,” Nemona ordered again, and Gligar once more pelted Applin with sand. He could hide his eyes, but that just left him blind, freeing her Pokemon to make even more room.

My attacks failed, nothing coming close to hitting her until eventually, Applin fell over, giving a small croak as he was defeated.

“Applin is unable to battle, Nemona is the winner!” Cyan called out as I slumped down trying to figure out what went wrong. How? I trained… so hard…

The victor had the presence of mind to apply a quick antidote to my Applin and a Potion to her own Pokemon, praising Gligar for her efforts. Then she walked over to me and offered me a hand up. “That was a great match, Kieran.” She sounds so sincere but…

“I lost,” I moaned. “We worked so hard, but we couldn’t beat Gligar.” Trudging over to Applin, I scooped him up. “I’m sorry.”

“Ap… applin.” He said wearily. Glancing over my shoulder I tried to see if Nemona could understand what he meant, but she just shrugged.

“It sucks to lose, I know that, but really, you did well today. While you might not have beaten the Gligar of today, I’m certain you would have beaten the Gligar that attacked you two back then.”

“App?” The Pokemon in my arms asked and Nemona nodded fervently.

“Really. That Sucker Punch Withdraw combo had us changing up our whole battle plan!” Applin’s already overly large eyes widened and he even gave a few cheers, as weak as he currently was. My feelings were more mixed.

It was nice to hear, and what we wanted when we first challenged her. Nemona encouraging us confirmed she was my friend, and I was so grateful for that. There was something to her gaze, however, as she looked just past me that confirmed that I wasn’t the ‘rival’ she was looking for either. I wonder, if I get stronger and prove to her I can be that rival, if she’ll tell me that secret she and Grandpa were talking about?

“I wanna challenge you again!” I shouted suddenly, shocking the others. Nemona though, was delighted.

“That sounds great! Maybe not today, we need to get our Pokemon looked at, and then Cyan and I have to head out, but I’d love to come back and battle you again someday.” Turning to my sister she added “Both of you.”

“Hmph, of course. Next time we face, you’re going down!” Carmine declared haughtily.

“Like your Ogre Oustin score?” Nemona slyly teased.

“Yeah- hey!” We all laughed at Carmine a bit, but with Cyan being older, and Nemona being… Nemona, she turned her rage on me. “Stop laughing Kiki or I’ll wring your neck!” She yelled, but I knew she wasn’t serious. My big sis gets flustered easily, but she's always looking out for me.

A trait that seemed common to all big sisters as Cyan (who had less of an appreciation for Carmine’s more ‘extreme’ comments) stepped in and said: “None of that. If she gets on your case, let me know.”

Nemona quickly defused the situation before Carmine could get upset with her sister for that. “Yeah, we have to stay in touch! I’ll send you guys tons of letters and you’ve got a computer at home too, right? We can email each other as well, and talk all about our battles.”

“Ugh, is battling all you can think about?” The older girl complained. “You’re going to corrupt poor Kieran just like you did Arven and that Amethio boy.” I felt a small curl of something unpleasant in my gut at the mention of these other people in Nemona’s life, but it was shoved to the side quickly as Cyan took out a notebook and gave me and my sister her address and postal code, with a second one written down beneath it.

“The first one is for the family home, and the second one is for Uva Academy since I’ll be going there in a few weeks.”

“Wowzers…” I looked it up online after Nemona mentioned it the other day, and that school is huge! The Pokeball at the top looks so cool too.

Carmine wasn’t as impressed, snorting derisively. “Uva Academy is nothing compared to Blueberry Academy.” A vein bulged noticeably on Cyan’s forehead, but the older girl took some deep breaths and said nothing as my sister continued, now speaking to Nemona. “Kiki and I will be going there when we grow up, like our parents did. You should join us,” she announced imperiously.

Nemona stood between the two older girls, caught like a Deerling in a Druddigon's eyes. “Aheh, well, I haven’t actually decided my school yet. Oh look at the time,” she said, for some reason holding up her bare wrist. “Let’s hurry back down to the town.”

Turning and marching away, the sharp-eared girl suddenly remarkably deaf to Cyan and Carmine’s arguments for which school was better, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. This was super fun. Meeting Nemona Glitterati was amazing, and I’m sure that the next time I see her, she’ll be even tougher.

Looking down at the Applin in my hands, his natural color returning to him, I saw the fierce, draconic gaze in his eyes. Which is a good thing, because we’ll be so much stronger too, next time.

With a full heart, we waved them off at the bus stop. “Goodbye! We’ll see you again soon.”

“Oh, you bet!” Nemona shouted back. “I can’t wait to see you guys and Kitakami again someday. Goodbye, for now!”

***

My first letter to her I sent only a few days after she left and it began like this:

'Nemona, you're never going to believe what happened. I went to check the Ogre's Den the other day, and the mask and note were gone! Do you think the Ogre found them? She must have, I'm the only one who goes up there regularly. I hope she liked them, Grandpa worked so hard on it...'