9:07 a.m. July 5, Sunday, 106 PH (Post Hoopa Event)

Events: The Joint Kanto and Johto Indigo Summer League have concluded; Saria Surge has become the new Vermilion Gym Leader, converting it to a Fairy Gym. It will be open for challenges on the 10th.

Our girl started her journey on the 9th of June—she’s been a Trainer for 26 Days (25 officially; 26 since getting Maya and Nova).

Rhea giggled while stroking Alice’s head; the hyperactive bunny wiggled in her arms, unable to keep still but wanting to be held simultaneously. “Oh, is there more of those Pokemon Red Team Adventures episodes? We didn’t finish the last one!”

Nova nodded frantically by her feet. “Mhm! Mhm! I want a scarf, too, Rhea! Like the Eevee!”

“Hehe. Okay. Okay. We’ll go shopping tomorrow for it.”

“I want a pink bow!” Alice squealed. “I saw one weird human girl with bows in her hair, and I want one!”

“That’s rude, Alice,” Nova chided as Mya frantically tried to figure out what was happening after waking up. “You shouldn’t call people weird.”

“She was doing a weird hop, but she wasn’t a Buneary,” Alice returned. “She is weird; should I call her bow girl… was she a girl? I’m not so sure now.”

Rhea couldn’t help but laugh at their conversation. “Is this what you guys talk about all the time?”

“Mhm! Mhm!” Alice returned, pointing down at Nova. “Oh—Nova, you should come up, too; Rhea has two arms!”

Mya balked at having her turn to speak, but Rhea soothed her worries of not getting a chance.

Just wait a tiny bit longer, Mya.

Nova’s wagging tail didn’t stop as Rhea picked her up in her other arm, and her little Eevee surprised her again, being the mature one of her three Pokemon.

“I can go back in my pokeball for Mya so she can talk with you in the café smelly place.”

“Smelly place?”

Alice snickered. “If it’s like the place we went the other day, it is kind of smelly.”

“Too strong,” Nova mumbled, crinkling her nose. “And there’s so much of it everywhere.”

“Huh… I suppose coffee does have a distinct smell. This will have bread, though.”

Both Pokemon tilted their ears at the word, seemingly not recognizing it.

“Well, okay. Nova goes in first. Are we okay taking turns today, Alice?”

“Aww,” the Buneary’s expression drooped. “I wanted to jump around the creepy-dark caves and hear the echoes Nova told me about. Umm. Can I swap with Mya so I can hear them, and she can be in the smelly place?”

Rhea sighed, catching Diantha and Alizée’s soft smiles. Resolving herself to give it a shot since they weren’t going to do any battles today, she set her two Pokemon down. “Hmm. Why don’t we try to have all three of you out for this trip?”

“Really?!”

“I don’t know, Rhea…” Her Eevee’s tail slowed as she gave her a concerned, pink-eyed look. “We don’t want to hurt you, and remember, Amira’s having trouble keeping Serenity out with her other Pokemon.”

Tucking her lower lip under, Rhea picked at her index finger with her thumbnail for a moment while pondering her Eevee’s concern; she wasn’t wrong, but Amira had only just transferred all her Pokemon to Master Balls.

“True… It doesn’t mean we can’t give it a shot, though. Heh, I’m not going to explode or anything!”

“You can explode?!” Alice gasped, hands flying to her mouth as her ears stiffened before hugging her breast. “Don’t explode, Rhea! Please!”

“Pfft-hehe! I’m not going to explode.”

“What if you do?!” Nova shot back, even having Mya concerned about exiting her pokeball now. “We don’t know. Last time Mya used all your fortitude, you almost died! Remember? Only one of us could be out for a while.”

“Oh?” Diantha’s eyes widened a tad as she listened to their back and forth. “It is shocking that you’re already able to have two Pokemon out at Bronze-tier… and at their strength, yet I wouldn’t consider it unprecedented.”

Alizée gave her Trainer a lifted eyebrow. “If you are speaking about some of the most potent Trainers in Kalos, Diantha, then that would be correct. It is not a standard to be held by all in the least.”

“You are not wrong,” Diantha mused, studying them. “Although, to set your minds at ease, I have never heard of a Trainer ‘exploding’ due to releasing too many Pokemon. Well… spiritually, I suppose that could be another topic entirely,” she hummed.

“Huh!? Rhea! Don’t die!” Alice screamed, hugging her shin tighter and making Alizée sigh.

“She is speaking about releasing ‘seven’ bonded Pokemon, Alice. No need to fret; what would be the worst to happen, Diantha?”

Rhea listened carefully to Kalos’ Champion with Nova and the terrified Buneary latched around her neck; the Eevee probably just liked hugging her more than the irrational fear of her exploding.

Diantha leaned against the railing separating them from the steep decline to the river below, studying her. “Hmm. Every Trainer will experience different symptoms or sensations… they could get unusually cold, hot, or potentially feel claws digging into their chest, attempting to rip out their heart.”

“Rhea!”

The Champion chuckled. “I know it sounds scary, Alice, yet I highly doubt your Trainer would suggest it if she didn’t feel as if she could handle the backlash.”

“Eh-hehe, yeah…” A strained smile creased Rhea’s pearly eyes. “I know people get really worried, but when I first started with Mya and Nova always being out, it just put some stress against my chest. If it gets too much, they can just go back in—we won’t know until we try! Right?”

Alice seemed to be calming down but still had a worried look on her face as she glanced between them; the Buneary was only ten days old. “But… it will hurt you, Rhea?”

Alizée held a hand up to her chin while studying her. “Correct me if I am wrong, Diantha, but Rhea does have a rather unusual psychic signature in contrast to every other human I have sensed; she does not appear to be your typical human, yet not in a normal, psychic way.”

“Haha. You would know far better than I… Has anyone told you your aura is quite a stunning array of hues, Rhea?”

Rhea’s eyebrows pulled together at the sudden change in topic. “My aura? Umm, no… I mean, my dad and brother have tried to teach me how to use my aura, but it’s still kind of hard for me.”

“You can sense aura?” Diantha whispered, looking surprised.

“If I’m concentrating—oh, but not the colors—just the feeling of aura!” she swiftly protested. “I’m terrible at sensing weaker auras, though; I think… Platinum… yeah, I think Platinum-tier auras and below tend to be where my accuracy rate starts to really dip.”

Alizée giggled. “Rhea… you realize that sensing aura is typically something barely sensed by Trainers ‘at’ the Platinum-tier?”

Rhea shrugged; she didn’t see it being that big of a deal since she’d grown up around Masters all her life. “My brother and dad would always play games to try and trip me up, and I always loved to sense my Aunt Cynthia’s Pokemon when they were nearby; I’m pretty sure I’m better at sensing Champion-tier and above; rather than anything lower.”

Diantha was silent for a moment as she held her knuckles against her nose with a thoughtful expression that her Gardevoir mirrored. “Hmm… What would you say about my aura?”

“Uh-heh, umm… it’s way harder to tell when they’re hiding it rather than releasing it, but… I used to think you were a mid-tier Champion, but after meeting you in person with your Pokemon and Lyra, I’m pretty sure you’re roughly as strong as her… maybe a bit stronger even. If you were going all-out, I’m sure you’d be Legendary-tier.”

She blinked after giving her honest answer, her face turning bright red. “N-Not that I’m saying you’re mid-tier or—or weak!”

Alizée and Diantha giggled as Rhea’s Pokemon tried to follow the conversation, still holding fear for her decision to try three of them out at once.

“You need not apologize for an honest answer, Rhea. I am flattered that you believe us to have reached such heights, and Diantha is impressed by the way you were raised.”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The Champion held one arm under her bust while shifting her gaze to the sky. “I have neglected a lot more than I believed in my busy life, yet after meeting Jason, Saria, and you, I’m beginning to see things from a different light. Look at me…”

She gestured to herself while scanning the throng of people moving about their preparations for today’s festival. “I’ve never sat so still. Hmm. Perhaps Lysandre was right in one thing… We should take time to enjoy the beauty in our lives. Beauty fades, but that does not mean we cannot enjoy it…”

“Diantha, we’re stealing the spotlight,” Alizée whispered.

“Oh. My apologies. Hehe. I got a little carried away.”

Rhea swiftly shook her head, thick, blonde ponytail weaving at her back. “Mmh-uh, It’s fine. I’m thankful for allowing me to talk to my Pokemon, and I’m glad you’re able to spend more time with Lucian.”

A sad look crossed Diantha’s face as she shifted to stroke Nova’s head, still not finished with challenging Rhea about her plan for Mya to join them, she was sure. “I am sorry for taking your Trainer’s attention away.”

“It’s okay…” Nova mumbled. “Umm… You seem sad. What’s wrong?”

Rhea caught Alizée’s hands tighten in front of her dress, and she had the sudden heart-tugging desire to pursue the topic. “Umm… Bi’s probably still struggling to get ready—heh, knowing my cousin—so… did you want to talk for a bit? Is Lucian okay?”

“How curious,” Diantha whispered, her bright-blue irises moving to her as she reached out to see if Nova would mind transferring to her arms; her Eevee looked at Rhea and nodded, allowing herself to be carried into the woman’s gentle embrace.

Rhea could practically see the complex emotions swirling inside the Champion’s eyes, and wondered if she wanted Nova just to have something fluffy to hold and pet. “Aura-wise, you certainly have a unique blend of emotional and spiritual shades, Rhea; it is almost entirely white at this moment.”

She lowered Alice from her neck as the Buneary’s fears began to subside, yet she still refused to leave her arms in case she exploded. “What… does that mean?”

Diantha didn’t respond for a second; she stroked Nova’s fur—seemingly in an expert manner—as she turned to the path. “It is a lovely day for a walk. Alizée?”

“I will inform Bianca she needn’t rush.”

She could feel the disappointment from her Pokemon as the Gardevoir teleported away; however, whatever Move the Pokemon used still seemed to be in effect as Diantha guided them along the path.

“I’ve only seen similar shades in a few Trainers—such as Iris—yet unlike her dark-purple undertone, you have a jade-green that will sometimes shine through, which is pretty since jade can also be white.”

“What does that mean?”

Diantha’s eyes softened while studying her. “You are a kind soul, Rhea. What do you think about Lucian?”

A bit thrown off by the sudden shifts the Champion continued to make—as if she were coming to a conclusion before they finished the previous discussion—Rhea shook her head. “Uh… what about him? To be honest… I’m not the biggest fan, but I haven’t really been around him all that often.”

“Is that right… Interesting.”

“How so?” Rhea questioned, focus darting across as her Gardevoir returned to float beside them.

“Hmm-hmm. Lucian seems to be quite motivated by you girls for only knowing you less than a month.”

Rhea forced a laugh. “Yeah… I’d say that’s more Amira’s thing.”

“Not quite,” Diantha hummed, drawing her attention to Rhea’s two Pokemon. “Few Bronze-tier Trainers travel with two Pokemon out, and it puts a lot of attention on you.”

A shiver ran down Rhea’s back at the obvious observation that had utterly skipped her mind; she thought doing the Encrusted Challenge would be the big one, yet just having two Pokemon out was a huge deal that was always on display.

She recalled how Hannah, Sam, and Jade reacted to bonding to their first Pokemon, then followed by Amira’s problems with the Master Ball; not only did she have both Pokemon out after just bonding with them—super genetically enhanced Pokemon—but it was with Master Balls.

That can’t be normal… No wonder people have looked at me as if…

Some of the comments Amira and Lori had made that morning caused another shiver to run through her mind; she’d had people joke like that much of her life, with her mother being one of the lead genetic experts in the world, which made her dismiss it, but now…

Retreating into her mind, her lips parted to ask the question, but who would answer her? Diantha couldn’t; only two people could, and she didn’t know if she could ever actually ask it.

Throughout the past month, she’d had some of the highest and lowest emotions she’d ever felt; yet, she suddenly doubted something fundamental within herself for the first time in her life.

Interacting with girls her age for more than just a few hours made her acutely aware that her eating habits weren’t normal; despite everything she told herself growing up, like that her brother was just a glutton or others just loved to eat too much.

How stunned Amira was as they discussed their athletic feats, such as holding her breath or swimming, and how much longer she could go. Amira wasn’t a slouch; she often woke up before any of them to stretch and do a light workout, yet Rhea hadn’t done that in a while.

Now, it was becoming so painfully obvious that she couldn’t deny it with how swiftly she was advancing as a Trainer, and it began to seed a bit of fear in her heart.

Am I Mom’s experiment… What if all this is just to see how well I do… Mya, Alice, Nova… Is all of this some kind of genetic and breeding experiment… No! Mom loves me… it’s not just some experiment… but… I could still be an experiment, and she still loves me. I just… started as an experiment….

Diantha snapped her back to reality. “Rhea? I hope I didn’t make you feel uncomfortable. I simply wanted to better understand how you have come to push my son. Ah-haha. To be honest, it’s really quite something, but he mentioned you as his inspiration for having both of his Pokemon out.”

She brushed back her brown hair to look up at the sky. “All I ever wanted was for him to be free to live his own life without my influence, but seeing the difference in how Len and Jason were raised compared to Lucian makes me believe I was wrong to try to have as little influence in his life’s decisions as possible.”

Trying to bury the itching realization that clawed at her tense chest, Rhea forced a laugh. “Really—me? Are you sure it’s not Amira… they kind of have this… hatred for each other, I think.”

“Really? Hatred… Hmm,” the woman’s lips pulled in, and for the first time, Rhea saw true confusion touch her eyes. “Is that what Amira believes?”

Rhea swiftly nodded, using their last encounter in Pewter as a distraction from her terrifying thoughts; her Pokemon could totally tell something was wrong but didn’t want to interrupt their conversation since they didn’t understand human emotion too well yet.

“A, uh, bit of a ramble real quick, heh, but Jason’s kind of my best friend—we grew up together—and he says Lucian’s not that bad of a guy… It’s just, umm… how do I put this… he kind of turns into a bit of… he gets kind of… mean—well, when around us, anyway,” she managed to say, scratching her ear while fumbling through the admission.

“Hmm.”

She didn’t know quite what to make of the woman’s narrowed left eye and tilted head as she pondered her response; Diantha was his mother, after all, and what mother wanted to hear that her son was a total Muk.

“I… suppose I will have to speak to him about it,” she said after a time, giving Rhea a reassuring smile. “Is it too much to ask for you to give him a second chance? I know being in a new, unfamiliar region—one that has a particular stigma toward Kalos—isn’t much of an excuse for rudeness, and I am positive you are not the type to push someone away.”

A bit surprised by the compliment, Rhea tightened her arms around Alice as she listened. “I’m not perfect… but I try to make friends with everyone. Eh-heh… it’s a bit hard when people just naturally seem to try and push you away… like the girls we did a Contest against. I’ll try to give him another shot, though, but…”

“I understand you cannot promise the same for your team… and I know it may even cause a divide between you, which is not something I would like to cause…”

“No! No! Amira and Lori aren’t like that. I’m sure they wouldn’t be put off by me not hating—well, eh… I never really ‘hated’ Lucian,” she admitted. “I just didn’t like his attitude. Amira, though… yeah, Lucian and her are like oil and fire.”

Diantha chuckled. “With my son as the oil or fire?”

Rhea’s mind blanked, not following through with the analogy. “I… wasn’t thinking that deep about it, heh, to be honest. Umm…”

The woman chortled. “It’s fine, Rhea.”

“Diantha,” Alizée interrupted. “Bianca appears to be ready.”

“Right. I apologize again, Rhea, Nova,” Diantha whispered, bringing up the Eevee to kiss her head. “I didn’t mean to ruin your mood. There was something I said that has troubled you to a degree I never wished to instill. Is there anything I can do?”

“No… it’s not you. It’s something else,” Rhea returned. “It’s nice getting to know you a bit more, and I’m happy some of the rumors I heard were kind of unfounded and mean… Yeah, I’m kind of mad now…”

“Haha. It doesn’t affect me. When you live in the spotlight, you are bound to receive hate; I am sure some of it is founded. None of us are perfect flowers. Right?”

“Mhm. Umm… what about letting all three of my Pokemon out?”

Diantha set an expectant Nova on the ground as they came to a stop. “Are you asking for my advice?”

Rhea nodded.

“Hmm. Do you believe you can withstand the pressure?”

She nodded again.

“Then do what you believe is best!” she chimed before her cheer dampened a tad. “Are you sure there is nothing I can do to correct the negative emotions you experienced not too long ago?”

“It’s… something more personal,” Rhea admitted, shifting uncomfortably. “It really has nothing to do with you or Lucian… Can I, umm… get some time to talk to Bianca alone in the ruins… or will it be too dangerous?”

Diantha turned to her Pokemon for an answer.

“I can keep my mind linked with one of your Pokemon to inform Diantha and me if our help is needed. Let us know when you’d like to speak to your cousin, and we will give you privacy.”

“Thank you. Okay… Heh-ha. Let’s go get something to eat?”

“Mya?” Diantha questioned, with the Mawile mirroring her query.

“Right! Sorry, Mya… just a lot on my mind now. Umm. Let’s do this!”

Pulling Mya’s pokeball off her waist, she activated it and took a deep breath before releasing her; the pressure that hit her chest was a tad more intense than she expected, but it was acceptable for at least a while.

“Rhea?” Nova fearfully whispered.

“Don’t explode, Rhea!” Alice cried, hugging her chest. “I won’t let you!”

Mya seemed to be infected by Alice as she cheered her on. “Fight the explosion! Don’t let it win! Are we winning?”

Rhea giggled at their overreaction. “I’m fine! I told you, I’m not going to explode—huh?!”

“““What?!””” her Pokemon cried in unison.

“Achoo!” she faked a sneeze and laughed. “I’m fine!”

“Gragh!” Alice lightly hit her chest with her tiny paws. “Don’t scare me like that!”

“Sorry! Sorry! Hehe. I’m fine! Sure, it’s a bit of pressure, but I think I can last the meal. Let’s all eat together?”

“You sure?” Nova asked, big eyes watering as she stood on two feet to paw her knee. “There’s a lot of bad stuff I feel… You’re hurting, and scared, and angry, and want to cry, and…”

“Nova…” Rhea whispered, yet she already expected the Champion to know all about the negativity that entered her aura. “My fix is talking to Bianca. We gotta eat breakfast first, though, right?”

“Okay… You’ll go to the Human Center?”

“Haha! They can’t fix this… Bianca can!”

“Oh… okay. Yeah, let’s go get something to eat.”

Rhea stroked her Mawile, Eevee, and Buneary’s heads, but deep in her breast, there was something festering; all she’d ever wanted was to feel like the normal girls she saw on TV dramas and online, yet the more she experienced in the real world, the more she was reminded she wasn’t normal.

Diantha and Alizée gave them a soft smile at how concerned her Pokemon were for her health, and the Gardevoir teleported them to the restaurant before leaving to fetch Bianca.

However, Rhea began to wonder if she should truly try to push for her Pokemon to all be out at once, and it only increased the pressure against her heart.

On the one hand, she wanted them to enjoy everything together; she also didn’t want to be exceptional or stand out. Exceptional people always ended up alone and isolated in their own little worlds, but that was the Master’s community—her life.