Chapter Text
On Gloria’s eighth birthday, her world vibrates in hues of red, orange, yellow, green, blue-- in all the colors of the rainbow reflected against the snow. She had never seen fireworks so bright or so colorful, so she stares up in wonder, marveling at each new shape and pokemon that lights up the night sky and colors each snowbank. The smiling faces of a pikachu and eevee splash across the dark scape and a smile spreads across her own cherub cheeks as she tugs on her mother’s coat sleeve to get her attention.
The sight is better than any cake or candle, and on the pokemon’s smiling faces she makes a small wish.
“Ma, look at the pokemon!” Her gloved finger pokes at the disappearing image on the black canvas. The smile on Gloria’s face forms a small “o” in response. “Ma, Ma where’d it go?”
Her mother laughs in response, squeezing the small hand in her own. The action quickly calms the child’s concerns. Crouching down to Gloria’s level, her mother points to the even larger attraction up ahead, the source of the welcoming fireworks. “That’s where we’re going, Sweet One.”
Up the beaten road, the crowd moves around them towards the beacon on the hill, the large red and white striped tents ballooned towards the sky, and the whimsical arch that pronounces its name, “Circus Royale, the Largest Traveling Circus of Galar.” On its last night on the outskirts of Wyndon, the attraction called to the people of the smokey city and they came in droves.
Walking with the crowd, mother and daughter pass through the arch and immediately met with displays that outshine the fireworks just minutes before. In the courtyard of the circus, pokemon and entertainers work together to create marvelous exhibitions of beauty, strength, amazement.
Through the sea of legs, Gloria strains to watch a pair pikachu dance on the backs of cufants, juggling half a dozen colorful spheres between the two. And beyond them, the Mime Jr. clowns match and mimic their trainers, and the Mr. Mimes and Mr Rimes dance with the darumakas. Around her, adults ooh and aah in delight, clapping as each small performance ends and transforms into a collective parade towards the main tent. The sound of copperajah trumpeting creates a hum in the air, hinting at the exploits to come.
The crowd sways forward, ready to follow the pokemon towards the guaranteed charms and exploits ahead. But as Gloria begins to move with them, a pair of unblinking lavender eyes catch her attention, followed by another pair, and one more, all staring at her among the sea of legs.
“Ma, look!”
The three espurr seem almost to call out to her before in a blink of an eye, they’re gone. Straining to locate the trio among the moving people, Gloria pulls away from her mother’s sure grip of her gloved hand, her small fingers sliding free from the too large, too thick, mitten into the snowy cold.
And in seconds, her mother is gone, not yet realizing that Gloria is free, lost to the growing excitement of the circus.
Swiveling her head back and forth, Gloria looks for the familiar figure and finds none. “Ma?” The call is a burst of a white cloud into the night air. And she calls out again.
The murmur of surrounding conversations is her only response. And then they call to her. Standing a yard away, the espurr call her, tilting their heads, their eyes continue unwavering and curious.
Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, Gloria pushes her way through the surrounding people towards the pokemon. Maybe they knew the way. Maybe they could help her find her mother, wherever she was.
As she moves closer to the pokemon, they only seem to get further away. The espurr swivel and maneuver through the throngs faster than she can keep up. The crowd around her grows thick, then thin until she’s pushed. She stumbles over the pavement. And she falls.
The leggings of her tights darken at the knees from dirt, grime, and blood and she winces. “Ow…” Gloria murmurs to herself, brushing the gravel off her legs, coat, and hands. This is far from the birthday she imagined. She imagined fun, pokemon, and a night to remember. And now she’s alone, lost, ready to cry, ready to let out the sob building in the depth of her chest.
“Just stay down already!” The command comes from a hidden corner where the circus perimeter met the bordering stone wall towards town, and Gloria can just make out the shape of one boy, another, and one more staring down at the glimpse of gray and curl of a familiar pokemon.
Rage quickly replaces every feeling overwhelming Gloria just moments before. As one emotion dissipates, another flows and overwhelms her like a wave. How dare those boys bully a pokemon! She wouldn’t stand for it. Justice fuels her small feet forward as she breaks into a sprint towards the scene.
Time moves in slow motion. Before any of the boys are aware of her presence, she’s launched and attached to the tallest of the trio’s back, biting at the shoulder, the hand, and everything she can reach.
She hears him yelp, hears one of the other boys say a string of bad words her ma would only say when she stubs her toe, and hears the last one holler, stating the obvious, “It’s just a girl!”
With as much energy as she’s able to muster, Gloria continues her assault in the midst of the chaos and confusion. Ma would tell her it’s bad to fight, and proper little ladies didn’t bite, but her ma would be proud she was trying so hard to protect a pokemon!
The newly minted eight year old only relents when the boys begin to retreat. Jumping back from her assault, Gloria shakes her tiny fist at their retreating figures. “That’ll teach ya!”
“ I didn’t need your help.” The voice comes from behind her, and she turns, surprised she may have missed something. And the sight makes her blink.
It was a boy. She was mistaken; the boys weren’t picking on a pokemon but a boy, a beautiful boy.