Nearly as soon as we enter our room, I place Cappuccino onto the bedside table, then dramatically flop onto my bed. I release Eve, and my partner climbs up to cuddle next to me. I stroke her back, and she fills me with a deep love.
“Hmm,” Sofie murmurs, looking at her trainer card, “Seems I have my battle tomorrow, what about you Morgan?”
I groan, then wiggle about till I retrieve my card from my pocket. Flipping it over, I find that I have the same. Frustratingly though, I also find that a distinct lack of voice follows. Biting my lip, I silently scream into Eve’s neck, which she seems to understand as she calmly rests her head on mine. Pulling back after a few seconds, I lazily offer my card to Sofie, who takes it and hums when she sees my given time.
“Ah, you’re battling right before me,” Sofie mutters, then sits down beside me, “Still no voice?”
I shake my head, then hesitate before flopping my head onto her thigh. She pauses, then begins to stroke my head. For a few quiet minutes, I sit there occasionally getting shivers of joy, enjoying the small bit of physical affection that I was allowing myself. Eventually though, Sofie taps me softly on my ear, causing my somewhat fleeing consciousness to return, and I jolt up to a sitting position with my face heated.
“Pff.” Shaking her head at my antics, Sofie stands, offering me her hand. “Let’s go back out, Clumsy, we’re gonna go buy you a phone.”
I shake my head, pulling my wallet out of my pocket. It was pretty empty after the clothes I bought earlier, and I didn’t want to be a burden on my friend. Sofie rolls her eyes, then grabs my hand, pulling me to my feet anyways.
“Nope, I’m not taking no for an answer, little miss.” Grabbing our bags, Sofie throws them over her shoulder as we walk towards the entrance to our room. “I need to be able to talk to you, or contact you if something goes wrong.”
Eve swiftly paws out, recalling herself, then sends me a bit of chastisement over my reluctance. My fate sealed, I soundlessly sigh, which prompts little Cappuccino to pat me on my leg in pity. The sun is cresting its arc as we step into its light through a side door, and as I reach up to cover my eyes, Chamomile hops over and rests herself on my head, lowering her leaves to save my eyes some strain. I pat her in thanks, picking up Sofie’s other pokemon in my other arm as I do.
We walk for a while, a few things catching my eyes as we go. The birds were everywhere as always, though Pidove and Pidgey were easily the more common of the bunch. There was a whole swarm gathered around a bench, a actually rather familiar sight. If I had a coin for the amount of times I had seen a whole loaf of bread that someone had left on the side of the road recently, I’d have two coins, but it’s strange that it happened twice.
“Ah, here we are,” Sofie mutters, shifting our trajectory towards a quite out of place modern building, “Trevtech!”
The sleek glass doors slide open as we enter the very crowded building, and an attendant holding up a rather high tech tablet approaches us.
“Hey! Welcome to Trevtech, the home to all your technology needs,” chirps the man, tapping away at his pad, “Can I get a name and your reason for visiting us today?”
“Sofie, she needs a phone.” Sofie smiles, pointing at me. “It doesn’t need to be top of the line, but something that’ll be sturdy would be nice.”
Nodding, the attendant rapidly inputs the information, then steps away towards another customer. As we loiter about the place, I run my hand over the extremely polished wooden tables that took up the bulk of the floorspace in the building. Each was specially crafted it seemed, to show off the companies products while creating a more homely atmosphere then typical electronics stores. I reach out and play with a phone, the TrevHC X, apparently the flagship product of the previous year according to the sign.Cappuccino, apparently unable to wait any longer, hops out of my arms to begin to sweep up the floor of the building, to the chagrin of a cleaning robot.
“Can Miss Sofie please come over here?” Sofie doesn’t hesitate to split the crowd to get to the voice, and we are greeted by a girl likely around our age sitting on an ostentatious looking, tall chrome chair. We step up to her, and looking above her glasses, the girl peers down at us.
“You’re Sofie?” My friend nods, and the girl puts down the same tablet as the other store attendant before pulling a box out of a bag. “This is what you’re going to want. TrevHC seven, our sturdiest option, suited for circuit trainers like you two. You could go up a year and get the eight for its higher specs, but it doesn’t really function as well in more extreme temperatures.”
Sofie takes the box, looks over it a few times, then nods and hands it to me. I reluctantly take it, moving it around in my hands. The phone displayed on it’s side is far more blocky then the one I had messed with a minute ago, but at the same time, I kinda liked it’s look better. It seemed rather well engineered, not unlike the stylers I had read so much about.
“Sounds good. How much?” Sofie pulls out her wallet, but the girl shakes her head and smirks.
“Free, with a bit of a caveat.” The girl rapidly taps as a slab not dissimilar to our trainer cards pops out. Taking it, I look over it to find a mind numbing contract that immediately makes me nervous. I begin to read as Sofie frowns, tilting her head as she narrows her eyes.
“What kind of caveat?” Sofie glances at the contract, then shakes her head. “I’m not going to just let her say yes without knowing at least a few of the details.”
“Heh, smart.” Shifting in her chrome chair, the girl turns the monitor of her computer towards us. “Basically, the league is paying for circuit goers to get this model for free, in exchange for their promise to stay in Kalos for at least two years. There are a few more things, like being required to assist league officials if they request your help to secure the safety of civilians, but I’d really doubt that ever pops up.”
That was suspiciously close to a ranger’s duties, definitely a bit too close for comfort. I reluctantly brush my fingers against Eve’s ball, but to my surprise she displays a confidence in the situation I hadn’t expected. I guess my Partner did have a penchant for saving people, so it wasn’t too far-fetched for her to be okay with those terms. I silently sigh, then sign the contract, which gets a surprised look from Sofie. I hand the slab to the girl, who immediately slots it into the computer and begins to type away.
“Okay, you’re all good. Have a great day, and don’t forget to leave us a review!” The girl pulls out the tablet again, which gets Sofie a bit confused.
“Don’t you need her trainer card or something?” Sofie murmurs, peeking at me from the side.
“Nope, it got scanned as soon as you walked in,” the girl montones, “Now, please vacate the area, as you can see I have a lot of people to get through.”
Shaking her head, Sofie snaps twice as we walk out, dragging Cappuccino away from her tense confrontation with the Trevtech cleaning robot. She snaps her Pokemon up, bowing in slight apology to a slightly annoyed employee, then drags me away. Once we’re outside, my friend leads me to a small park, where we sit down on a green tinted copper bench.
I unbox my new toy, going through the setup process before inputting Sofie’s number and sending her a sticker of a Clefairy rapidly waving its hand. Softly giggling, Sofie responds with a gif of a Bewear swinging someone around. I smile and silently laugh, then type out a message on the phone’s note app to my friend.
{“Thanks for this, the voice thing is definitely annoying.”} I raise the phone up, showing my words.
Sofie sighs, putting her phone into her pocket.
“I know we were in need of a solution fast but…” Tapping her fingers against the bench, I tilt my head at my friend.
“I don’t understand why you signed that contract so fast,” Sofie whispers, glancing around nervously, “Aren’t people looking for you?”
I nod, then quickly type out my response.
{“They are, but tying myself closer to the Kalos league is a good thing, even if they end up being unreasonable for some reason.”} I swiftly pull the phone back when she slowly nods, then I raise it again after a moment of consideration.
{“Let’s not worry too much about it. I have more important things that are stressing me out anyways.”}
Sofie nods, reaching out to touch me on my shoulder.
“Yeah, that’s fair. Do you know why you had such a bad reaction to the gym?” She squeezes me a bit as I type, and I raise my phone to find a worried look.
{“I think it was how large they were. I felt like I was suddenly surrounded by huge bugs, and I think my anxiety poured over,”} I think for a moment, then type out a second message, {“I should be fine to do the fight still, but maybe we should watch a few of her fights today so I can prepare myself a bit.”}
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“Are you sure? You already had such a bad reaction to just still images…” Tapping a bit more rapidly, Sofie pets her Chinchilla.
{Yeah, remember how I was pretty okay from that Caterpie outside Santalune Forest? I can handle them fine when they’re small.} Sofie shakes her head, but says nothing.
Beneath the noon sun, we sit until I get hungry and drag Sofie to get some food. We find a stand selling these toasted focaccia sandwiches with cheese and tomato, which we devour two of each before we decide to just walk around Santalune for a bit. At the edge of the business district, however, we notice a group of kids sliding through the streets on roller skates towards the city's western side, chattering about a rink or something.
Getting visibly excited, Sofie nearly runs after them, and I huff in amusement at her antics. We eventually do find the skating rink, the place packed with kids doing over the top tricks and wiping out in spectacular ways. A few pokemon skate around as well, mostly ones with more humanoid shapes, but I find myself smiling at a Grotle happily spinning as he slides around.
I notice a sign talking about free to use skates, so we walk over to a rather buff man with ebony hair, who hands us the skates with a wink. I pull them on, nearly falling as I stand up, but I am caught by Chamomile to my pleasant surprise. Her leaves extend out and go rigid against the ground, bringing my momentum to a complete stop, allowing me to steady myself upright. I watch as Cappuccino nearly vibrates at the sight of the shiny wooden surface, and when the man with the skates cheerfully tells her to go wild, the Minccino rushes off and begins to slide across the ground, running her tail off to the side as she does.
Grinning at me knowingly, Sofie rolls over and takes my hand again, slowly pulling me to the edge of the rink, where she proceeds to leave me in place. Rolling against a fence, she takes a deep breath, then leans down a bit before zooming off. I watch in awe as she speeds up dramatically around the edges, going nearly sideways and running her fingertips against the polished ground as she makes a few full rotations around the rink.
A bit of slight hesitation later, I set off as well, speeding up a bit as I enter the central rink. I start getting the hang of the skates fast, but I do find myself having to rely on Chamomile a bit near the start. Soon, Sofie and I are sticking close together, enjoying the wind in our hair. We continue for a good while, but when a rather annoying old woman yells at everyone skating from the side of the rink, we reluctantly exit and return our skates.
We head back to the center, and as we enter the room, Eve grumpily leaves her ball with annoyance and plops down on my bed. I softly smile, walking over and hugging my partner, doing my best to reassure her with my love. She pouts and looks away, but she still reluctantly returns it. Looking at her phone, Sofie grabs a small remote from her bedside, turning the room’s Holotv on.
“Next up on today’s docket for Viola is Blaine Weald, a trainer from Kanto on her first gym circuit.” Our attention thoroughly grabbed, Eve and I scoot over to the side of the bed, intently watching the screen as the camera pans over to the girl we had met two days previous. The battlefield is pretty standard, mostly grass with a small pool of water on the side, along with two elevated platforms for each trainer. Though we can’t hear her voice, Blaine does the same exact motion she did when she introduced herself then, and I know exactly what is being said.
“As is typical for a first gym battle, this is a two on two, no subs match,” The announcer says, his lack of interest apparent in his voice, “Oh, it seems Viola is quite amused at our challenger’s introduction. Let us see what is going on.”
“And I’ll become the champion!” Blaine takes a deep breath, leaning on the edge of her platform. “Whew, nice to get the full thing out for once.”
“I’m a bit impressed, to be honest,” Viola says, a wide grin on her face, “Your life story aside, shall we begin?”
“We’re more than ready!” Holding out a pokeball, Blaine’s grin shines in the gym’s artificial light.
“I’ll send out the first pokemon then, who shall I go with...” Viola looks over a wide array of pokeballs on her platform, then smiles when she sees a turquoise ball with intercrossing black stripes along its top. “You’ll do. Go, Surskit!”
Popping into the world with an illusory splash of water, Viola’s Surskit immediately zooms over to the water, relaxing once it begins to gracefully glide. I feel my heart speed up a bit, but nothing else seems to really happen, to my relief. Then, Blaine responds, and it gets a bit worse.
“Oh, it seems that Viola has decided to take it easy to start. Her surskits have been a well known comfort pick for her in previous seasons,” The announcer states, a small infographic popping up at the bottom of the screen detailing the Pokemon species’ previous performance.
“Tart! Your time to shine!” Throwing her pokeball up, the capsule pops to reveal a familiar brown form- though this time it’s a Metapod.
“Oh! A shiny Metapod,” The announcer’s voice shifts, displaying an interest that wasn’t there before, “What a rare sight, I think this might be the first shiny reveal for new circuit members this season.”
Viola freezes, her eyes going wide.
“Wait! Pause the match!” Viola jumps off of her platform, raising her camera as she rushes at Tart. Blaine, more confused than I had ever seen her, looks at the referee, who just shrugs.
The gym leader frantically spins around the shiny Metapod, flashes happening with each click of her trigger, rapidly taking as many pictures as she can. She soon sighs when a woman who looks very similar to her yells at her from the sidelines, and she reluctantly walks back up to the platform. Once she is back where she is supposed to be, Viola swaps the memory card of her camera out before looking up at Blaine with her eyes burning.
“That is a beautiful Pokemon. You should be proud.” Blaine blushes, but then Viola’s next words make her expression go serious. “Let us resume. Referee, if you’d please.”
Clearing his throat, the man on the sidelines raises his hand, then swipes it down after a five second countdown. The pokemon burst into action, or well, the Surskit does. Tart sits on the sidelines, unmoving as cocoon pokemon typically do. Yet, Blaine just smiles and taps her fingers against the console in front of her.
“So we begin. Metapod aren’t particularly known for being very active pokemon, so I am interested in how Blaine plans on bridging the gap between the two,” Clicking his tongue, the announcer pulls up a different infographic, displaying a list of moves that Tart could know, “Metapod biologically learns no moves besides harden at this stage, and all of its potential capabilities come entirely from its previous form.”
“C’mon, Tart!” Slamming her hand into the console in front of her, Blaine points out towards her opponents. “We trained hard for this! Use String Shot!”
I scoff, looking to the side at Sofie, who looked as unimpressed as I was. I hastily type out a message, sending it to her phone.
{“It’s been a day, what kind of training did she have time to do?”}
After tapping her finger against her chin for a few moments, Sofie gasps, then looks back at the screen.
“Time dilation…”
I breathe in, looking back at the girl who had abandoned us in the forest, a feeling of discomfort in my chest. Her Metapod had been a Caterpie then, and who knows how long she had spent in that creepy area. On the screen, Tart had exuded a huge amount of sticky silk on top of the Surskit from its… eyes? Maybe? I sort of missed it.
“You do know, if string shot is all you can do, your Metapod is going to go down without a fight.” Confidently, Viola rotates her pokeball in her hands.
“I know, but Tart is stronger than she seems!” Blaine’s hand shifts into a fist. “Electroweb!”
The cocoon glows for a moment, then a spark begins to visibly travel down the bug’s web. The Surskit screeches, the jolt of electricity slightly illuminating its body’s outline from beneath the webs.
“Oh, one of the few options Metapod has, and it’s especially strong against the water bug! How will Viola respond to such a weakness?!” The camera shifts to Viola, who shows no concern.
“Water Gun, cut your way out.” The Surskit immediately follows the order, rushing backwards after a spiral of water slices the web up entirely. “Now, hit it from range while staying out of its web.”
Her order absolute, the bug begins to enact its trainer’s plan. A thin, high pressure beam of water cuts into the Metapod, and when the Cocoon tries to extend its web, the water strider simply jumps out of the way.
“Oh, it’s probably over for this poor Metapod. Its ranged options are too slow.” A bar appears on the screen, a rough estimation of the current endurance remaining for Tart.
Then, it erupts in white light. Its form visibly shifts, changing into a large butterfly over a few seconds. Surskit jumps back, watching intently as it all happens.
“OH! A timely evolution!” I roll my eyes, but when the Butterfree’s full form is revealed I find my heart slamming. Regardless of how fine I felt, it seems that a strong bug still was a bit much for me. I hug my partner, who exudes care for me, and after a few seconds of circulation, it does calm me a bit.
Looking back at the screen, I find the two bugs engaged in a fierce ranged battle, the butterfly now able to match the water with heavily concentrated bursts of wind. It eventually comes down to both pokemon being exhausted, and right when the Surskit manages to hit the flying bug again, its eyes go white as it passes out.
Both trainers recall their pokemon, but the referee rules that Blaine must send out her pokemon first, as hers was the first to fall. Blaine raises her pokeball, kisses it, then tosses out her first pokemon. Berry appears, her fur exuding small embers around it. On the other side, Viola smirks, then grabs a blue and red ball, which pops open to reveal a Vivillon.
“Two interesting revelations on both sides! While the advantage seems to be for Blaine with her fiery fox, Viola’s signature butterfly has a wide range of abilities that make it a pain to deal with.”
The battle rages to a start, but I find my interest falling, since as far as I could tell, it’d be hard for the Fennekin to win. Pulling out my phone, I start playing with a couple of options, but I eventually go and check the schedule to find that our battles were actually first thing tomorrow morning. A bit of a time crunch, but we didn’t really have much to prepare. When I look back up at the screen, my suspicions are confirmed, the large butterfly barely scorched as it floats above the small fox.
Then the fox begins to shine.
My eyes twitch, and I quickly type out a message to Sofie, who giggles when she reads it.
{“She totally told them not to evolve until now, to make it more dramatic or something.”} Chamomile leaps off my head, moving to the window where it starts to play with the green energy I had taught it to emit. Sofie stands up, then moves over to sit beside me.
“Maybe, but did you see her face?” Sofie half lays down beside me, looking up at me with a grin. “I bet she didn’t plan that at all.”
I sigh, then look up to see the inevitable victory for Blaine. The girl rushes down to hug her Braixen, who was now just a bit shorter than her. The two of them dance around, only to get shooed off the field. To my surprise, the next one to come to the podium is also familiar.
“This next trainer is Albert Paddock, a galarian trainer who is also on his first circuit. It’ll be hard to match that previous match, but we’ll see if he can pull it off.” I grimace, then lay down beside Sofie as well. Cappuccino jumps up onto my stomach, bouncing across the bed to land onto my partner’s back. Eve stands up, playfully leaping off the bed as she begins to zoom around in the room to try and get the little Chinchilla off her. As I watch the shenanigans, I don’t really pay attention to the screen, but I do look up when I see something vexing out of the corner of my eye. Albert stands there staring completely dumbfounded at his Rookidee.
Who is glowing in a way too common bright light.
“That’s BULLSHIT!” I yell, then touch my throat in shock. My head shoots to Sofie, who’s smile slowly begins to rise as she locks eyes with me. She pulls me into a tight hug, joy filling me deeply from Eve. I return the hug, an amusing thought popping into my head.
For the first time, I was a bit thankful to the boy.