Chapter Text
You saw a lot of weird and unusual things in Castelia City. That was to be expected, seeing as it was the largest population center in all of Unova. On one hand you had your gangs, your swindlers, your conspiracy nuts, your vandals, your doom-spouting prophets on every other street-corner...basically all of the icky stuff that came with living in a big coastal city. On the other hand, you had street performers, food stalls on every corner, art exhibits, fresh seafood from the local harbor, and—for those that cared for such things—a bonafide Pokemon League Gym and all the industries that one entailed. With so much going on, a little weirdness was inevitable.
That didn’t stop people from staring at the lucario walking down the street, however.
It was rare to see a lucario, and rarer still to find one roaming without a trainer. Even stranger was the red bandanna wrapped around its neck, the small black shoulder bag it carried, and the fact that its paw and chest spikes were filed down to rounded nubs.
The lucario soldiered on, uncaring or oblivious of the occasional curious pedestrian. He navigated the streets of Castelia with relative ease; not as confidently as a local, but well enough he obviously knew where he was going.
Eventually, the lucario reached his destination. It was a small building with red paintand two windows at the corner ofDonner Street and Blitzle Avenue. Above the door was a custom neon sign that read, “Porygamers’ Digital Lounge,” made in the shape of the titular porygon.
The lucario entered. The doorbell chimed. Everyone not currently engrossed in a video game stopped what they were doing to stare at the newcomer. The sudden attention made the lucario flinch, his nerves getting the better of him, but he quickly recovered once he saw the human he was looking for.
A lanky teenage girl with wine-red hair and blue eyes watched as the lucario walked up to her. The pokemon fished a strapless Xtransceiver from his shoulder bag and, to the surprise of everyone watching, started typing on it. Once he was done, he held the device out for the girl to take, who did so with some trepidation.
The small crowd was silent. The girl, for her part, quickly went from cautious to confused. She looked at the Xtransceiver, then the lucario, back to the device, and then the lucario again.
The girl looked at the device one more time, re-read the message, and with earnest confusion blurted out, “I’m sorry, what?”
Chapter 1: T he Daily Grind
It was a pleasant summer afternoon in Castelia City. The sun was hot and bright, but the heat was tempered by a strong breeze that carried with it all the pleasant scents of the sea. The streets were the usual cacophony of backed-up traffic, office workers traveling on foot, and street vendors hawking their wares.
With so much noise, it was little wonder that a teenage girl with wine-red hair and blue eyes, sitting on a bench next to the opening for the subway, had to practically shove her face into the Xtransceiver on her wrist just to hear anything.
“You’re working overtime again?” said the girl to the person on the other end. That person happened to be her father, a grizzly looking man with a square jaw, rugged stubble, and a mop of messy hair the same shade of red as her own. His eyes were light green instead of her sky blue, but there was no mistaking their relation. In the background she could make out the sounds of her father’s fellow dock workers: hauling crates, operating heavy machinery, and overall being loud and burly laborers.
“We’ve been over this Amanda,” said the father, “we need the money, and time-and-a-half means I’ll make way more doing this than getting another job.”
The girl, Amanda Rhodes, pursed her lips. “I thought that’s why I was working, so you wouldn’t have to work overtime!”
Amanda’s father, Arthur Rhodes, sighed. “Kiddo, look...don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of you for helping, but we both know it’s not enough. And besides, what about when you go back to school?”
“I could still work!” Amanda protested, a bit too loudly she realized when a passing pedestrian eyed her. “I’ll just work after school. That way I can—“
“Ruin your grades by running yourself ragged instead of studying? Yeah, that’s not happening.” Arthur sighed, and the conversation was allowed to lull for a moment. “Speaking of school...that note I left on the fridge. Did you see it this morning?”
Amanda winced. In her pocket was a list of high schools that her father picked out, a few of which she recognized asspecialty schools for business or nursing or similar trades.
“Yeah, I saw it...” she said hesitantly, afraid of where this conversation was going.
“And…?” her father urged on.
“And...I’ll think about it...them...the schools I mean, after I’ve had a little more time to look them up.”
Arthur looked down and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Amanda, please. I know you had your heart set on being a pokemon trainer, and I know you’re upset that it didn’t work out, but you need to move on! You’ve only got a few more months before you have to either go back to school or drop out entirely. And you are not dropping out!”
Amanda started to object, but noticed the time and was relieved to find a legitimate out from this conversation. “I’ve got to go, dad. My train will be here in a few minutes and I don’t want to be late for my shift.”
Arthur let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah… I should probably get back to work before the foreman comes looking for me. He’s been making a big deal lately about people going on break for too long.” He smiled at his daughter and said, “We’ll finish talking about this some other time then. Have a good day today. And I love you kiddo, I hope you know that.”
“I love you too dad,” said Amanda, returning her father’s smile. “I’ll see you later tonight.”
With the call ended, Amanda grabbed her bag and went into the subway.
“Hot dogs! Get yer fresh hot dogs, right—!”
“—all items are hand-crafted! You won’t find quality like this anywhere el—!“
“—deals like you’ve never seen before! It’s all on clearance and it’s all got to go, so buy, buy, buy!”
Amanda ignored the cries of the various street vendors hawking their wares. She was walking through Narrow Street, named such for the network of narrow tunnels, back-alley walkways, internet cafes, street markets, karaoke bars, and other such businesses made to cater to a high volume of foot traffic.While not as popular as the gym, it was still one of Unova’s better known tourist traps.
“Bits and baubles for sale!", cried one of the vendors, “gems and jewelry the likes of which you’ve never seen, all crafted by the best artisan in all of Unova!"
Amanda paused mid-stride. She was ahead of schedule a little, seeing that her train had only been five minutes late today. She didn’t have any spare money, but nothing said she couldn’t do a little window shopping.
Amanda approached the market stall, manned by anolder looking woman with gray hair and thick rimmed gasses. Riding on her shoulder was a gray-furred pokemon that Amanda didn’t immediately recognize.
“Well hello dear,” said the merchantin a sweet, grandmotherly voice. “Please, take a look around. If you see anything you like, don’t hesitate to make me an offer.”
The chinchilla-like pokemon squeaked at Amanda, beady black eyes starring curiously at her.
Amanda stared back, fascinated by the shoulder-riding rodent. “Excuse me ma’am, but is that pokemon a minccino?”
“Why yes, he is,” said the merchant, using her other arm to pat the pokemon’s head. “I caught him northward on Route 4, while visiting my son in Nimbassa City a few months ago. He can be a fiesty little thing when he wants, but I couldn’t ask for better company.”
Minccino squeaked happily at his trainer’s affection.
Amanda examined the minccino, its luxurious gray fur looking so soft and inviting. “Would you mind if I…?” she asked while holding out her hand half-way towards the chinchilla pokemon.
The merchant nodded, and Amanda fully extended her hand to touch the minccino. She rubbed the pokemon back to front, marveling at the softness of his fur. But the moment was cut short whenthe minccino, chittering angrily, shook himself free of her and scampered up the merchant’s arm and onto her other shoulder. Dejected, Amanda lowered her hand and backed away.
“Minccino! How could you be so rude to our guest!” chided the merchant. Minccino replied with a hissing-squeak, as if arguing with his owner.
“I-it’s okay,” said Amanda, trying to shake off the awkwardness of the situation. “It’s not the first time that’s happened to me…and I probably need to get going anyway. My work shift starts pretty soon. Sorry...”
Amanda beat a hasty retreat, feeling a little guilty both for getting the merchant’s hopes up and stirring some trouble between her and her minccino. She seemed pretty good at finding trouble where pokemon were involved.
Fortunately, work wasn’t very far. Five blocks up and two blocks over of walking found Amanda at her destination: “Porygamers’ Digital Lounge,” the arcade-bar-cafe combo that she’d been working at part-time as a waitress for the past few months.
Amanda entered to the sound of a chiming doorbell, prompting a man in his thirties with thinning hair and glasses to look up from behind the bar. Floating beside him was an actual porygon that likewise turned to face her.
“Ayy, Mandy my girl, so good to see you!” said the man in a loud, boisterous voice. His digital companion chirped in agreement.
“Hey Frank, hey Diz,” said Amanda with a wave to her boss. “Give me a second to clock in and change shirts, then I’ll start on coffee and condiments and all that.”
Frank chuckled, wagging a finger at her. “That’s what I like about you, my girl: always ready and always to the point! Well, Lisa gets off in about ten minutes, so make sure to touch base with her about which tables need what before you get too busy!”
Amanda nodded and set about getting ready for her shift. Her “uniform”, as it was, consisted of a simple black T-shirts with the bar’s name framed by asilhouetted porygon. Amanda put her regular clothes—a pink shirt and purple-red jacket with black sleeves and trim—into her bag, adjusted her ponytail holder, placed her things behind and under the counter, and went to work.
Porygamers wasn’t the largest of establishments, but it was roomy enough. The dining area could comfortably seat about fifteen to twenty people and there was a good selection of arcade cabinets and games to play.
Amanda was the sole waitress during an afternoon shift that ran from noon-to-five. This meant her shift was during a lull where it was too late for most lunch-goers, but too early to start drinking. This would be a problem for most, seeing that less customers meant less tips. But for Amanda, she had a unique advantage that turned things to her favor…
Thirty minutes into her shift, the doorbell chimed again. By now Amanda was in full waitressing mode, but she made it a point to sneak a look at the new customer. He was a younger guy, maybe a few years older than herself, wearing a black hoodie, cargo shorts, and a baseball cap turned backwards. But rather than make him look street-tough, he came across as just another casually-dressed teenager.
Four other boys came in shortly afterwards. They were dressed similarly to the first, wearing hoodies or tees or shirts with “ironic” sayings printed on them. A few of them carried gaming peripherals slung under their arms.
Amanda grinned, knowing exactly what was getting ready to happen. The party of five seated themselves. Amanda made sure that her existing customers were topped off on beverages and approached the group to take their order.
“Hi, welcome to Porygamers! Can I start you guys off with any drinks or appetizers today?”
Four of the boys snickered among themselves. The fifth boy – the guy in the black hoodie that came in first – smiled at her and said, “You know, there’s been some talk at the arcades that there’s a girl working at a piss-ant video game bar that’s really good atfighting games. Maybe even pro-level good.”
“Oh? That’s pretty cool I guess,” said Amanda, careful to play along with the boy’s attempt to be “suave” and “mysterious.”
“Yeah, that’s what they’re saying, but I think it’s bull.” The boy pointed his thumb at himself and added, “Everyone knows I’m the best fighting gamer in Castellia. I’ve been to two national tournaments in the past three years and made top forty in both of them!”
“Did you really? That must have been exciting!” said Amanda with the largest smile she could muster.
“Um...yeah, it was...” The boy gave her a weird look, but continued showboating anyway. “So, I figured, ‘Hey, why not find this girl and challenge her to a battle!’ Show her who the real master is!”
“Yo, you tell her Mikey!” said one of the boys between fits of snickering that perhaps weren’t directed at Amanda after all.
“Damn straight!” said Mikey. “Yeah, once I find this girl, I’m going to absolutely wreck her! I’m gonna show her just how trash she actually is! Then everyone’s gonna know that Mikey G. is the real MVP!”
“Then I wish you the best of luck!” Amanda replied cheerfully. “Now, for appetizers we’ve got the chicken-nachos, the loaded potato skins, the—”
Mikey went from cocky to confused in a heartbeat. “Um...aren’t you going to say something?”
Amanda feigned ignorance. “Hm? Say something about what?”
“About...you know...the stuff I said?”
“What about it…?”
Mikey stared at her, mouth-agape, his friends’ snickering reaching new heights. “You’re...your name’s Amanda, right?”
“Yep, that’s me!” Amanda confirmed.
“And...you work at this bar, right?”
“I do.”
“Well...the girl I was talking about...her name’s Amanda too.”
“Is it? Huh, that’s neat!”
The snickering died down, as it seemed even the others were beginning to wonder if they’d somehow made a mistake and embarrassed themselves. Amanda played it cool, letting the awkwardness build to a crescendo, waiting for Mikey to say the magic words…
“Um...aren’t you the girl they’re talking about? The waitress that’s good at fighting games?”
“Yeah, that’s me, but your trash talking was so boring and basic I figured you didn’t need help embarrassing yourself. Actually handing you the L would just be overkill.”
Mikey’s friends broke out into schadenfreude-fueled laughter. Mikey, for his part, was beet-red and silent.
“But if you really want to go through with this,” continued Amanda, “then let’s make this interesting! Standard arcade rules: Best of three, no pausing, no tilting or shaking the cabinet, and loser pays out 1000₽ to the winner. Break the rules, and it’s an automatic forfeit with the loser paying double.”
Mikey stood up and slammed the table. “You’re on! I’m gonna mop the floor with you! You’re not even going to be able to touch me I’m so good! When I’m done, you’ll be so embarrassed that you’ll never want to pick up a video game ever again!”
Amanda yawned. “Kay.” She turned around and yelled, “Hey Frank, got another challenger. You mind if I take a break?”
Frank, who had been observing the exchange from behind the bar, grinned and gave her a thumbs up.
“Cool, thanks.” Returning her attention to Mikey, Amanda flashed him the widest, toothiest, most predatory grin she could muster. “Let’s do this.”
The game of choice wasPokken Tournament, the latest in a series of one-on-one fighters.Amanda had been a fan since before her pokemon journeyand enjoyed experimenting with the characters and mastering new strategies and techniques. In a way it was kind of like being an actual pokemon trainer, insomuch that you had to really understand each character’s strengths and weaknesses and how they matched up against each other.
Amanda and Mikey took their positions, the latter insisting on the player 1 spot, and chose their characters. Unsurprisingly, Mikey chose Aegislash—widely considered to be one of the strongest (and most brain-dead) fighters in the entire roster. Amanda’s choice was much less extreme, to the point Mikey felt the need to comment on it.
“Lucario? You’re going to fight me with Lucario!? Hah! I’m going to absolutely shred you! You don’t stand a chance!”
Amanda rolled her eyes. The trash talking was getting old, but she’d make him eat his words soon enough.
The versus screen faded, and each player’s avatar assumed their positions at opposite ends of the digital field. The players tensed, hands at the ready. Mikey’s friends crowded behind them, watching and quietly muttering among themselves.
Then the digital announcer yelled out:
“ROUND 1: FIGHT!”
Almost immediately Mikey charged forward to try and combo Amanda. What made his character so dangerous was a stance-switching mechanic based on an aegislash’s real-world abilities. In Sword Stance, the character’s moves focused on up-close offense, while Shield Stance focused more on defense and moves that kept the player away. The character could change stances either manually or mid-combo, and every time it did it got an attack boost that made its offensive prowess even more devastating.
Naturally, Amanda intended on having none of that and set to work zoning her opponent with a barrage of Aura Spheres and other ranged attacks.
“Stupid...annoying...grah!” Mikey grit his teeth as his character took yet another Aura Sphere to the face. “Hold still and quit spamming you fucking scrub!”
“Not my fault you don’t know how to play,” Amanda shot back.
Eventually, Mikey managed to navigate the projectile spam and get close enough to Amanda to attack. Unfortunately for him, Amanda blocked the string of hits and proceeded to land her own combo. The digital lucario punched, kicked, and badgered its opponent with a barrage of Bone Rush attacks, ending with a strong swing of an aura-construct staff that sent Mikey’s character flying to the other side of the screen...only for the projectile spam to begin anew.
The rest of the round went much the same way. Every time Mikey tried to attack, Amanda either dodged or blocked before counterattacking. Mikey did the best he could, even attempting to fake her out a few times like she’d done to him, but it was all to no avail. The round ended without Amanda taking a single sliver of damage.
“K.O. PERFECT!”
Amanda smirked at her opponent. “What was it you said earlier? ‘I’m so good you won’t even touch me?’”
Mikey didn’t respond beyond scowling at the screen. The characters assumed their ready stances.
“ROUND 2: FIGHT!”
Mikey must have clued in from the last fight, because instead of trying to combo into a stance change he did so manually at the start of the round. Unfortunately, that plan had two major flaws:the first was that manual stance changing was slow, andthe second was that Amanda still intended on having absolutely none of that.
As casually as could be, Amanda’s character walked up to Mikey’s while he was mid-animation and punched him out of the stance change.
“Yo! Did she just walk up, slowly...and punch him?” asked one of the four boys.
“She totally did!” wheezed another through a fit of laughter.
Mikey turned beet-red again. “Hey man,shut up, nobody asked you!”
Amanda grinned like the purrloin that got the pidove. And much like the proverbial feline she pounced on her prey, delivering several full combos that ate away at Mikey’s health bar.
By now, Mikey’s Synergy Gauge was full. One of the game’s mechanics was that each character had access to Synergy Burst, a super mode that allowed for stronger attacks as well as access to a one-time use Burst Attack.
Cornered and on the verge of losing, Mikey finally used his Synergy Burst to interrupt Amanda and push her away. He followed up with Flash Cannon, the beam forcing Amanda to block and pushing her character even further back. Mikey used the extra spacing to switch stances, stacking an attack buff on top of his super mode, before closing in on Amanda.
“Eat this!” Mikey yelled. On screen, a cinematic played where Ageislash retreated behind its shield, glowing with power, before summoning a ring of eight spiked crystals. An ethereal blade emerged from each, ready to spin and trap Amanda in the Royal Sword pokemon’s most devastating attack: Underworld Ruler.
Amanda smirked. “Yeah, how about no.”
Just before the attack connected, Amanda activated her own Synergy Burst, transforming her character into Mega Lucario and stopping Mikey’s super move in the process. Tables turned, she dashed in and delivered a flurry of aura-charged punches and kicks that decimated her opponent’s health bar. Mikey was screaming now, frantically mashing block trying to stop Amanda’s onslaught, but it was too late. At the end of her combo, instead of a normal finisher Amanda activated her own Burst Attack.
Mega Lucario dashed across the screen, delivering a fierce uppercut so strong it left a blue tornado in its wake. Then the screen switched to a cinematic wherein Mega Lucario created and fired a slew of energy blasts, each one pummeling Aegislash and knocking it around. Mikey was screaming, mashing all the buttons as if that would somehow let him break free.
Mega Lucario put its palms together, charging a ball of energy as its aura flared with power. Then, right as Aegislash was about to hit the ground, it fired a beam that erupted into a screen-covering explosion.
The cinematic ended. Mikey’s health bar dropped to zero. The digital announcer declared with finality:
“K.O. PLAYER 2 WINS!”
The other four boys whooped and cheered. Mikey backed away from the cabinet, cussing and yelling and throwing a tantrum that would make a two-year old blush. Amanda watched, amused. Once she decided that he’d sufficiently calmed down, she walked up to him and held out her hand.
Mikey scowled at her. “What? What do you want now?”
“Pay up,” said Amanda. “1000₽, remember? Or do you want to make yourself look like even more of a fool in front of your buddies by going back on your word?”
Growling, Mikey dug into his pockets and threw a wad of money at Amanda. “There! Just take it and piss off! Not like you deserve it, you cheap piece of shit!”
“Ah, the scrub-lord’s creed; music to my ears!” sang Amanda as she bent down to pick up the thrown money. “So, now that that’s over, did you still want some time to look over the menu, maybe get something to go…?”
“Go to hell!” yelled Mikey before he stormed towards the exit.
“Thank you for coming to Porygamers!” she called after him. “We hope to see you again!”
Mikey flipped her off and left. Mission accomplished, Amanda mentally declared. She got to school a trash-talking loser, take his money, and make him embarrass himself in front of a bunch of people! A pretty successful day, all things considered.
The rest of Amanda’s shift was uneventful. The other four boys stayed to order some food and talk among themselves about their friends’ beating, but didn’t stick around much longer than that. Other customers came and went, a few of them challengers brought there by Amanda’s reputation, but none had been as obnoxious as the first guy.
All told, Amanda made out pretty well for the day: around 3500₽ in tips and a bit more than that in prize money, on top of her hourly wage. Not bad for a five hour shift.
The subway ride home was likewise uneventful. Her neighbors on the train loudly discussed a news story about “increased activity from the remnants of Team Rocket”, but she mostly tuned them out. She had better things to worry about than weirdos in costumes.
Amanda lived in an apartment complex at the south-eastern corner of the city. It wasn’t...the worst place to live, but it was decidedly not the best either. It was one of those older buildings that had been gussied up to look nice, but still had creaking floorboards, iffy plumbing, and no elevator for its ten-plus floors.
One tortuous climb up seven of the ten floors later found Amanda finally home and lying on the couch. She had of course stopped to make dinner along the way; tonight’s special was Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and mixed veggies! The catch, of course, being it was the TV dinner version of those items, meaning the steak was cold and chewy, the vegetables were bland and tasteless, and the potatoes were hot enough to cauterize an open wound.
The next few hours were a blur of watching TV, reading on her Xtransceiver, and browsing social media to watch funny internet videos about regional cat pokemon. Amanda was in the middle of a video about a skitty making weird faces when her father finally came home.
Arthur Rhodes trudged into the room, eyes half-closed and struggling just to keep his head up. “Hey kiddo...” he mumbled weakly as he closed the door.
“Hey dad,” Amanda replied without looking up. “Rough time at work I’m guessing?”
Arthur groaned a response she couldn’t quite make out. Instead of eating or even changing out of his work clothes, he made a bee-line straight for the bedroom.
“Do you want me to bring you something?” Amanda called after him, still watching the video. “Something to drink? A sandwich? Maybe some painkillers?”
Arthur audibly flopped onto his mattress. “Painkillers, please...” he grumbled from the other room.
Amanda nodded. With a sigh, she paused her video and got up to help her dad.
She entered the bedroom with a glass of water in one hand and a bottle of ibuprofen in the other. Arthur was lying face-down atop the covers, but managed to sit up enough to accept the offered items from his daughter. “You’re a good kid, Mandy,” he said before popping the pills and chugging the water. “Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
Amanda huffed as she sat at the edge of the mattress. “You know I don’t like that name!” she pouted.
“Well why not? Your boss calls you that doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, well, he pays me, so I can’t really argue with him can I?”
Arthur let out a tired chuckle. “Yeah, like you’d let that stop you...” He laid back down and said, “Sorry for falling asleep on you, but I’m really tired. Would you mind getting the door for me on your way out?”
With a nod, Amanda got up to do as her father asked. The door was half-way closed when Arthur spoke up again:
“Oh, by the way, how’s the research into the schools going? Y’know, since you needed some time to ‘look into them’ before applying?”
Amanda flinched. She was really hoping he’d forgotten. She turned slowly to face her father, who was propped up on the headboard now, staring expectantly at her.
“I, uh...it’s kind of...” The teenager scrambled to find an excuse, but it was becoming clear that lying would just make things worse. “Truth is...I haven’t done that yet.”
A heavy sigh was her answer, Arthur’s facea blend of frustration and disappointment.“Yeah...I figured as much.”After quickly composing himself, he said,“I’m really tired right now, so I’m going to make this simple. Don’t be an idiot like me and spend the rest of your life working yourself to the bone. You’re a bright kid with the rest of her life ahead of her. So promise me you’ll look into the schools tomorrow? Please?”
The question was left to hang in the air for a moment, the teenage girl really not wanting to give an answer. Eventually, though, Amanda relented. “Yeah...okay dad. I’ll take a look tomorrow. Promise.”
Arthur smiled at her—a tired, weary smile. “That’s my girl.”
Amanda forced a smile back and closed the door. She hated her father’s job. She hated the hours he worked, that he was always tired when he came home, and just the sheer misery of the whole thing. But most of all, she hated how it was this looming threat, that if she didn’t make a decision right now she too was going to spend the rest of her life overworked and miserable.
The lanky teenage girl didn’t sit on the couch so much as collapse onto it. “I really miss you mom,” she whispered to herself, a single tear running down her cheek as she curled into a ball. “I miss you...so much right now...”
A few hours later, Amanda drifted into a light, fitful sleep.
It was another pleasant afternoon in Castelia City. The summer sun was hot and high, the sea breeze was cool and strong, and the streets sang its song of noisy commuters and robust commerce.
Amanda sat outside the entrance to her subway stop idly browsing her Xtransceiver. As promised, she was looking up the schools on her father’s list, although nothing was jumping out at her as something she’d want to do for the rest of her life. At least she’d be able to describe in more detail what each school was about; maybe that would get him off her back for a while.
She put away the list for now and got up to catch her train. Much like yesterday evening, the ride was uneventful save for passengers gossiping about the news and whatnot. Today’s stories included high-profile gym-goers, the son of a wealthy business family, and something about strange phenomena in Alola. She couldn’t suss out much more than that, but she didn’t particularly care anyway.
Narrow Street was as loud and bustling as ever. No incidents with any pokemon thankfully, although Amanda did spot the merchant from yesterday and her minccino. They didn’t seem to notice her, or if they did they just pretended otherwise. She’d have to figure out a new route to work that circumvented that stall.
Porygamers was relatively peaceful. Frank was in a good mood, as usual. Amanda’s customers were pleasant and tipping well, and the few that weren’t tended to be the ones paying her prize money instead.
Yesterday’s concerns faded into background noise, the comfort of her routine washing away all of her worries. Just another day, Amanda thought to herself with a smile on her face.
Three hours into her shift, the doorbell chimed, and suddenly the restaurant fell silent. Amanda was in the middle of taking an order when she noticed, and so she too turned to see what was grabbing everyone’s attention.
Standing at the door was a bipedal jackal with blue fur, a cream torso, and bright red eyes framed with a black mask. The fur terminated at the creature’s knees and wrists, revealing black skin underneath. A quartet of black appendages dangled from the back of its head, swaying gently with every small motion it made.
Amanda rubbed her eyes, just to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. It was a lucario, and a rather unusual one at that!Aside from its bandanna and shoulder bag, somebody took the time to grind its spikes down into safe, rounded nubs. It also seemed a little...thicker than usual? Like, not fat, but not as fit as the photos she’d seen of other trainers’ lucario or the avatar she played as in Pokken.
The aura pokemon flinched, perhaps not quite used to this much attention. He—Amanda was pretty sure it was a “he”, anyway—seemed to recover quickly, though, after looking around the room and noticing…
Wait, what? The lucario was looking at her. Whywas the lucario looking at her...?
And now the lucario was walking towards her. Why was he walking towards her?
The lucario stopped in front of Amanda and fished something out of his bag. It was...an Xtransceiver? But without the wrist band and slightly bigger than usual. And the lucario was typing on it—wait, the lucario was typing on it!? Why was the lucario typing on it!?
Once finished, the lucario held the device out for Amanda to take. She did so, not quite sure what to expect, still not sure why a lucario—a rare pokemon, especially in Unova—was here at this restaurant and looking for her, but if this was really happening than damn it all she might as well just roll with it.
She took the Xtransceiver and turned it over to read the following message:
“1v1 me m8! >:3”
Amanda stared. She looked at the Xtransceiver. Then at the lucario. Back to the device. Then back to the lucario again.
The lucario, for his part, stood there wagging his tail, looking up at her with beaming red eyes and a big, hopeful smile on his face.
She read the message one more time, and with earnest confusion blurted out, “I’m sorry, what?”