When my eyelids flutter open, I find myself in a somewhat awkward position, with my head in someone’s lap. I immediately force myself up, my eyes flickering around to figure out where exactly I was. To be exact, I seem to have not moved from where I collapsed, beyond ending up in a stranger's lap. When I glance at the girl who took it upon herself to act as my pillow, I find her staring at me with a wide smile.
“Hey you! You’re finally awake!” The girl says, like I didn't know already.
I nod, taking a moment to examine the girl. Only a bit taller than me, in comparison to everyone else I had met in Kalos so far, the girl’s hair is long and inky black, braided over her shoulder and with tiny flower clips attached at certain points. Beyond that, she wears both a seemingly hand knit white silk bandana and a cap not too dissimilar from the one that Celine was wearing. Her brown smock top has a gigantic white ribbon on it’s chest, and from my position I can see that she has a pair of cute white shorts beneath a similarly colored but very poofy white skirt.
Realizing I was staring, I jolt to my feet, reflexively touching Eve’s pokeball to make sure she’s there. She is, and when my finger brushes the ball I immediately have a huge tidal wave of worry slap my heart. I take the ball out, put it to my forehead and take a deep breath. I return an equal amount of love to the concern that she had shown. Returning her to my belt, I look down at the girl, who stands up as well.
“How long was I out?” I mutter, hoping that I didn't miss Celine's thing.
Scratching the side of her head, the girl awkwardly looks around.
“Uh… I dunno. I saw you having a panic attack and rushed over but when I got there you were unresponsive, so I decided to be safe so I supported your head,” The girl bluntly states, and I can't help but feel a bit thankful to her.
I nod, giving the girl a small smile as I bow.
“Thank you for the help," I ask, my face a bit stiff, "Can I get your name?”
The girl proudly slaps her chest with her fist.
“I am Blaine Weald, of Viridan," she passionately yells, each word having a strange amount of impact behind it. "I have come to the Kalos region to participate in the Circuit!”
I nod, offering a hand. “I’m Morgan, it’s a pleasure.”
Blaine cheerfully shakes my hand, then looks around again.
“Uh, do you possibly have a way to check the time?" She mutters, like I hadn't been unconscious for who knows how long, "I’m supposed to be at this ceremony soon but I sorta lost track of time when I was taking care of you.”
I shrug, then walk over and peek around the corner. My friends were gone, unfortunately, but I did see a clock atop a pole not far away. Doing math in my head, I pale when I realize I had most likely been out for a few hours.
“Um, this clock says it’s four…” I mutter, trying my best to remember what time we had arrived.
Blaine pales, rushing over to confirm my claim. She kneels down, putting her head into her hands.
“Oh no, oh no oh no oh no. I’m gonna be late, and the professors are gonna refuse to give the pokemon! I don’t even know exactly where the thing is supposed to be, what am I supposed to do?!” Panicking, the girl nearly trips over herself as she stands up again.
I place my hand onto her shoulder, and she looks up at me with teary eyes.
“Don’t worry, I know where to go, it’s not far so you won’t be late." I point behind us, not really wanting to mention I was heading to the same place already anyways.
Blaine sniffs, slowly standing up. “Really?”
I nod, give her a wink and gesture for her to follow. I lead her down the street to the large open air cafe Celine had talked about on the way here, arriving with time to spare. To my relief, and slight annoyance, I find my friends and the Galarian guy from earlier sitting at a table together. They wave at me as we approach, where I step behind Sofie, hiding behind her back as I glare at Albert.
“Why is he here?” I growl, feeling surprisingly territorial.
Sofie giggles and pokes me on my nose.
“He’s one of the kids sponsored by the professors like Celine, so it makes sense that he’s here," Sofie states, then looks back at Blaine, "The better question is, who is the girl with you?”
When I look back at Blaine, I find her staring with wide eyes at Celine, completely frozen, and a quick glance at the other girl finds her in a similar state. Raising an eyebrow, I move over and poke Blaine in the arm, apparently breaking both her and Celine out of the daze they were in. Blushing profusely, Blaine’s eyes flicker around the group before ending up on Sofie.
“S-Sorry what was the question?”
I snort, then move back to stand behind Sofie, who shrugs.
“Who are you?” Sofie asks, and I groan when I know exactly what the answer is going to be.
Blaine blinks, then repeats the same action she had performed earlier.
“I am Blaine Weald, of Viridan! I have come to the Kalos region to participate in the Circuit! I have been graciously selected by the professors as a recipient of one of the three pokemon they give out yearly to promising trainers! I-”
I sigh, raising my hand.
“That’s enough for now, we can talk later. Look.” I point to a disturbance I had noticed approaching.
Strutting across the cafe grounds, an Umbreon and Espeon casually walk towards us. A briefcase floating above their heads, the pokemon both get a few feet away before sitting down. The case in question softly lands upon the table, and I flinch when a voice not my own appears in my head.
[Greetings to those chosen by the professors and their friends. We have brought the item that we have been charged to protect, so we will now take our leave. The professors wish you luck in your conquest of the circuit.]
Before anyone can say anything, a light flashes and the two pokemon are gone. We all look at each other, shrug, then move to be able to see what is in the box. Celine carefully pops open the hinges, and once the last one is released the briefcase slams open.
Inside are three pokeballs alongside the same number of high tech looking machines I don’t recognize, and a letter. Blaine reaches over Celine, brushing hands with her when they both reach for the letter. They both freeze, look at each other, and then Celine pulls her hand back, letting the other girl take the letter. I quietly snort, but no one else seems to notice the tension between the two of them, entirely focused on the items before them.
“Ehehehehem…” Clearing her throat, Blaine carefully opens the letter.
Right afterwards, Blaine begins to read, her normally slightly nasally voice shifts, becoming a deeper more mature woman’s voice. I look at her in shock, not understanding how such a cute girl manages to modify her voice so much. I give Sofie a glance, but she just shrugs.
“Hello, my new children! It’s a pleasure to welcome you into our little family, but I have a few things to introduce to you first. Most importantly, inside this briefcase you will find three pokedex, a fancy ultra high tech computer that contains loads of data on a large portion of the pokemon in the world! They have many functions, but the reason we share this technology-”
"Ugh, really?"
I groan, leading to the others staring at me.
“Arceus, don’t look at me like that you guys!" I flush and look at the ground. "I know we all know what a pokedex is already, you can just skip ahead Blaine.”
Albert raises his hand, a dumb look on his face. “I don’t know what it is, so I’d like her to read it.”
I glare at him, to which he looks away guiltily. Sofie and Celine laugh, and Blaine continues, starting a bit further in this time.
“With that out of the way, let me get to the exciting part! The pokemon! The pokemon we’re sharing with you are long time projects of our lab here in Kalos, specifically the Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie lines! These three in particular are special in their litters, so they might be a little rowdy, but I hope that you treat them well. When you get a chance, visit me and my husband at the lab in Lumiose, we’ll treat you to some great food! Signed, Professor Sina Beech. PS: Tell your parents we said hi when you get a chance!”
As Blaine closes the letter and puts it back into the briefcase, everyone is quiet for a moment. I catch Celine stealing glances at Blaine, who doesn’t seem to notice, completely entranced by the pokeballs in the case. Arthur reaches down to take a ball, but his hand is suddenly slapped by Celine. “You're the second pick, Galar boy. Blaine picks first.”
Grumpily he nods, taking a step back. Blaine’s trance continues as she hovers a hand over each ball, touching each with her emerald eyes closed. Upon reaching the third ball, she smiles and picks it up.
“This one.” She states, her decision made.
Blaine takes one of the pokedexes as she walks away, stepping into a more open area as she holds the pokeball lovingly to her chest. I step towards her, a question on my mind.
“Blaine, is this your first pokemon?” I ask, having noticed the lack of any other pokeballs on her.
The girl meekly nods, then takes a deep breath. I half cover my eyes when a blindingly bright smile spreads upon her face as she throws the ball into the air.
“It’s time to meet, Fennekin!”
At the peak of its throw, the standard white and red pops open in a flash of light, revealing a very small fox with fluffy orangish red ears, which lightly lands upon its furry feet. The Fennekin immediately rushes up to Blaine, putting its front paws on her legs to beg for pets. The girl giggles as she picks them up, stroking their entire body, starting at their head.
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Blaine gleefully speaks, her hand filled with her partner's fur, “Aren’t you just the best girl? I think I’ll call you Berry!”
The fox barks in affirmation, then nuzzles her trainer on the neck. Blaine continues giggling, and I step away from the lovey dovey pair to check on the other two people that received pokemon. Sitting in the same place she was before, Celine stares into the eyes of a Froakie while Sofie stands beside her with a smirk on her face. For a moment, I’m not sure exactly what is going on, until Celine slams her hands on the table and shoots to her feet.
“I got it! From now on mister, you’re Dart!” She states, obviously proud of herself.
The frog, who had jumped a tad when his trainer stood up, nods and jumps on the opposite shoulder of PiPi, who simply gives the frog a wave. Sofie snickers, moving to stand beside me.
“Who woulda guessed, she had a good name in her yet.” She says, but far too loud for it to be truly meant for me.
Celine turns, an unimpressed look on her face. “You do know I’m here, right Meier?”
Sofie shrugs, raising her palms. “I guess so? I want my fight now though.”
Celine grins and cracks her knuckles. “I thought you’d never ask.”
It’s at this point that Albert pipes up, a surprisingly large chespin hiding behind his leg.
“Wait you two, we should go to the designated fields first," he states, like we weren't going to go there already anyways. "We did get chewed out last time for battling in the streets.”
I snort, putting my hand on my hip. “More like you got chewed out. Asshole.”
“Why are you so mean? I just wanted to protect you.” Albert, visibly hurt, puts his hand over his heart.
“You didn’t really think about the consequences did you?!" I snap, my anger immediately boiling over. "Eve isn’t a bringer of disaster or anything, she’s just a normal pokemon! You should have checked before jumping to a stupid conclusion!”
The boy blinks.
“She’s your pokemon?” He dumbly asks.
Feeling a sense of uncomfortable deja vu, I breath in through my nose and step back, letting Eve pop out of the ball. She immediately protectively brushes up against me, glaring at the boy. I hear Blaine gasp off to the side, but I am too enraged to acknowledge it.
Scowling, I say: “Yeah. She is.”
Albert pales, reaching towards the pokeball on his belt. Before anything can happen though, Blaine squeals and runs towards us, looking in awe at my Partner. Eve, curious about this new girl but still being cautious after Albert turned out like he is, takes a step around me to sniff her. She cautiously raises her hand up, running it against Eve’s horn.
“Beautiful.” she mutters, leading everyone but Albert to chuckle.
The tension thoroughly dispersed, I sigh and walk over to my Partner, keeping my hand on her back. She sends me a bunch of trust, and I return it in kind. I turn and scowl when Albert approaches us, but his words surprise me.
“I am deeply, deeply sorry over my jumping to conclusions!" Bowing his head all the way down to his hip,I find that the boy seems to be actually regretful. "I was misinformed, and I wish to make it up to you if I get the chance.”
Not exactly wanting to humor his apology, I glance at Sofie, finding her looking at me with a warm smile. Suddenly feeling a bit bashful, I groan and look away towards the river.
“F-fine. You owe me one, I guess," I mutter, then continue, "Let’s get moving.”
Everyone nods, and we set off to the other side of town.
“So, how are we doing this, Meier?” Celine asks, a look of determination plastered on her face.
Standing at one end of the field, Celine stands with a pokemon on each shoulder. PiPi and Dart glance at each other, then hop down to the ground. Sofie takes Chamomile off her head, placing the plant beside Cappuccino, who looked surprisingly pumped up and ready to fight. Blaine and Albert sit on the sidelines, their new pokemon comfortably sitting with them.
Sofie smiles, looking at me, “I say we have Morgan referee, considering I’m almost certain she has the most experience out of all of us.”
A bit taken aback, I almost argue before I see Celine nod in agreement, “After seeing the fight she had with Albert, that makes sense.”
I raise my eyebrow as I give up and walk to the center edge of the arena, Eve right beside me.
“You do know she did all of that by itself, right?” I mutter, not exactly feeling like I earned the compliments.
Both of the girls smile, and I hear Blaine speak behind me, “The strongest trainers always say that a well trained pokemon can move without orders.”
I roll my eyes, then put my hand in the air, “Whatever. This will be a Two on Two singles battle, no items or switches allowed. I decide when a pokemon is unable to battle any longer. Is this agreeable?”
Both girls nod and the tension in the air immediately begins to rise.
“Okay." I say, then take a deep breath, "When I say fight, you will both immediately call out your first pokemon. Are you both ready?”
After both girls check with their pokemon and give an okay, I open my palm and start the countdown.
“Five, four, three, two, one… FIGHT!”
As I swing my hand down, both trainers make their decision.
“Cappuccino!” “Go Dart!”
Running onto the field, the frog and the Chinchilla immediately begin to carefully eye each other. Cappuccino nearly immediately begins to run at the Froakie, who sends a continuous wave of bubbles out into the field, creating a slowly spreading pseudo wall between the two of them. Sofie raises her hand confidently, her order loud and clear.
“Echoed Voice!”
Stopping in her tracks, Cappuccino takes a deep breath, then screams into the air, a wave of force immediately crashing into and dispersing the bubbles. To both Sofie and her Minccino's surprise, however, the Froakie is nowhere to be seen. Instead, a few piles of white bubbles litter the field, obscuring the Pokemon’s location. Celine is the one to make the next move, grinning and pointing at Sofie.
“Use spikes! Make it hard to get to you, then use water gun to utilize the distance!”
Jumping out of a bubble pile with a rock in it's hand, Dart shatters the stone, causing a wide field of earthen caltrops to cover the entirety of Sofie’s side of the field. Breathing in, the Froakie spits a highly pressurized stream of water at Cappuccino, grazing their arm as they barely dodge. Unfortunately, in the process she slips on a bubble, falling into a spike and cutting herself a bit. Seemingly unbothered, Sofie claps her hand twice.
“Tidy up, would you dear?”
Her eyes coming alive, Cappuccino begins to glow with power as she continuously sweeps her tail around, sending all the clutter on the field flying. Her fist glows, and it swings out five times in less than a second. Only having a tiny bit of time to respond, Dart manages to raise a block of stone, blocking half the hits, yet he still goes flying. Panicked, Celine stomps and raises her fist into the air.
“Quick, use Water Gun again!
Obeying the order, Dart manages a midair water gun, which slams directly into its opponent’s chest. Cappuccino is pushed back a foot, but continues forward towards the slowly falling frog, the light around her body intensifying when she swishes her tails to clean the field again. Her fist raises, shining with power, and she takes a swing right as the Froakie is going to land. As she does, Dart barely manages to raise his webbed foot and swing it at her in time.
It ends up as a cross counter. Both pokemon with their fists slamming into the other’s face. Both pokemon fall and don’t get up, but Cappuccino surprisingly doesn’t pass out. I swipe my hand through the air, rather impressed in the little Pokemon's performance.
“Both pokemon are unable to battle! Please call out your next pokemon!”
Sofie and Celine both recall their pokemon, staring at each other with fire in their eyes. Sofie softly kisses Cappuccino's ball, keeping it in her hand rather then putting it onto her belt. Leaning down, she smiles at Chamomile, to which the plump plant does a happy little spin.
“You ready, friend?”
The Petilil nods and leaps out into the field, surprisingly mobile despite its size. Celine and PiPi look at each other and nod after the girl puts Darts ball onto her belt, her Pikachu leaping out to match the plant. A silence falls over the field, an unspoken armistice between my friends, both seemingly unable to decide on what their first action should be. In the end, they both are the first to speak.
“Growth.” “Quick Attack!”
In an instant, two things occur. Chamomile grows around a sixth larger, its head leaves stretching farther into the sky than before. PiPi flashes across the field like lightning, slamming into the poor plant. The Petilil slides back a foot or two, but that doesn’t stop Sofie from making a quick decision.
“It’s close, quick, use Mega Drain!”
Shooting out from her head, Chamomile’s leaves stab forth into PiPi, draining a huge amount of his strength before he manages to get out of range. Seeing how damaged her partner is from just one attack, Celine clicks her tongue.
“Thunderwave, then sweet kiss.”
A wave of electric energy flows off of PiPi, covering the field around Chamomile. The petilil visibly slows down, and when the Pikachu rushes in to kiss it’s cheek, it doesn’t get the chance to respond until it’s nearly out of its range. Unfortunately for PiPi, the Petilil’s leaves stab into its back again, leaving it nearly entirely drained. Not backing down, Celine screams out her order.
“Use Thundershock from outside of its range!”
Sofie’s face twitches as PiPi sends a shock through the air, and though it barely does any damage, Chamomile barely moves in the meantime.
“Corner it! You’ll get your chance, so keep using growth as you move towards it!”
Slowly but surely, the plant saunters over the battlefield taking shocks along the way, growing to nearly eighty percent bigger than normal as it does. As the Pikachu finally reaches its range, the pokemon’s leaves shoot out, going for the finishing blow. Then, they shiver, stop their movement and float uselessly to the ground, PiPi casually repositioning itself advantageously while the plant is unable to move.
Sofie bites her lip as Celine taps her foot rapidly, the battle quickly becoming a nailbiter. At first it doesn’t look like Chamomile will manage to corner the rat again, but when it finally reaches to double its size, the Petill uses its leaves to form a kind of fence, slowly blocking PiPi in. Right when it’s finally time for Chamomile to end the battle, Celine sees an opening and immediately takes it.
“Quick attack!”
Obeying without question, PiPi rushes forward in a flash and for a moment it doesn’t look like she’ll be able to get out of it. Tilting her head forward, Chamomile’s third leaf begins to shoot out, on track to stab into the Pikachu’s face.
Then, it shivers, and it’s immediately too late for the Petilil.
Pipi slams into Chamomile with all its weight, barely moving it at all, but it’s enough. The Petilil falls over, exhausted. I raise my hand, a smile on my face. It was a good battle.
“Chamomile is unable to battle!" I declare before pointing my hand at the victor of the battle, "As a result, I declare Celine the winner!”
For a moment, Celine is shocked, somewhat unable to accept her victory. When it clicks, she squeals and dashes onto the field, grabbing her Pikachu off the ground and spinning it around.
“We won!" She cheers, her elation heightening even the pitch of her voice, "I can’t believe we actually pulled that off! You did great!”
Sofie, on the other hand, sighs as she recalls the fallen Petilil. Holding both her pokeballs to her chest, I see her mumble something, but I don’t catch it. Walking over, I am relieved when I see a large grin on my friend’s face.
“Arceus, that was fun!" Taking a deep breath, for a moment I see her waver for a moment. "Shall we go to the center, Morgan?”
I nod, but when I turn to the rest of our group, I find Celine still celebrating and the other two people deep in thought. Preparing myself, I take a deep breath.
“HEY!" I yell at the top of my lungs, my volume lowering when I actually get their attention. "I’m going to go with Sofie to the center, if you wanna come.”
Albert and Blaine look at each other, nod, standing up in unison. Albert walks up to Celine, giving her a small bow.
“Congratulations on your victory, Miss Celine." The boy gives a small bow, but quickly straightens his back afterwards. "I understand your team is also tired, but would you do me and Miss Blaine a service and serve as our referee?”
Celine considers it, then recalls PiPi before running up to us.
“Would you two get my pokemon to Joy?" Shoving the balls into my hands, Celine runs off before I can even give an answer. "I wanna help them out, since you two are going together.”
I share a look of exasperation with Sofie, after which begin our short walk to the center. As we leave, the fierce sounds of battle begin to rage behind us, but we don’t turn. Side by side, Sofie matches my steps as we move through Aquacorde. Eve, sensing a bit of disappointment in our friend despite her demeanor, steps over and nuzzles her. Sofie gives a bittersweet smile, closing her eyes as she hugs Eve and lightly pushes her head into my partner’s neck.
“You know, that was the first time I have ever lost against her," she says, her voice muffled by Eve's fur.
I blink, then huff a small laugh, “She must have planned hard for today.”
“You’re right!" Sofie giggles, yet the laugh is less joyful then the norm. "I’ll have to use that against her.”
Noticing a nearby bench, Sofie releases Eve from her death grip and plops down with a sigh. Looking up at the evening sky, dyed in orange and pink by the setting sun, my friend sniffles.
“Celine had so many tricks, and she meshed so well with the Froakie despite only meeting it barely an hour before that." Pressing her face into her hand, she hides her eyes from me. "I prepared well too, I thought at least. What did I do wrong?”
I hesitate, then walk over to Sofie, pulling her face into my chest.
“Thinking about a loss like that right after it happens is a good way to feel terrible." I slowly stroke her back, feeling very unsure of if I am comforting her right. "For now, I know you did everything well from my perspective, and your pokemon were great despite the rough conditions they had put onto them. You did good.”
When I finish speaking, Sofie’s dam breaks, and she begins to quietly sob. I gingerly rub her back, letting her cry out her frustration. I sit down beside her, letting her shift her face to my shoulder.
Together, beneath the evening sky, the two of us sit on that bench until the sun finally sets.