Chapter Text
You stretch out your arms and throw your head back to relieve yourself from the brutality of that bus ride. Who would have thought it would take that long to get over here, considering you can take the air taxi back to Paldea whenever you want.
A yawn rips through you as you and the other three people, with you and Professor Briar, circle up in front of the bus stop’s benches.
She claps her hands together and looks at all of you with unbridled enthusiasm, “Alrighty! We’re finally here!”
As Professor Briar and the other students talk, you look around earnestly regarding the sprawling landscape. Excitement courses through you as you prepare to run out there and discover as much as possible.
You watch a Spinarak, lighter than the grass below, crawl up the nearest tree as several Hoothoots fly above you to land in the same tree. The disturbance makes the Spinarak jump in surprise and crawls to the other side of the tree, away from your line of sight. This makes you itch with curiosity, your body begging you to get closer.
You tune back into what Professor Briar is saying as she points out Mossui Town up ahead. Your gaze travels along the road between two rice fields and miles of land reserved for the different Pokémon.
The town appears quite small from what you can see from this distance, but you can imagine it as a quiet and comfortable place compared to the cities back home.
You love traveling; traversing the lands in search of new Pokémon and experiences was the one thing you strived for when joining Uva Academy, and it has brought you here- to Unova.
A few poke balls in your bag shake, making you smile since you already know who requests to be let out.
Luckily for you, Briar releases you to go to Mossui Town, but unfortunately for you, you’re on a time crunch since one of the kids said they were feeling sick. As you walk up the paved road, you shake off the fleeting feeling of frustration, or maybe it’s disappointment. Lots of talking and battling before getting what you want is the typical status quo as a trainer.
After passing the sign and entering the town for the first time, you see two people standing in front of the entrance to the community center.
The guy notices you first. He’s dressed in a uniform of white that contrasts heavily with his black hair, which seems to be dyed yellow in a considerably different pattern than you’ve seen before. It seems to suit him, you think to yourself quickly.
He says something to the girl next to him, but you can’t make it out from here. She turns pointedly at you with a look you can only decipher as…anger? But why would she have any reason to be mad at you?
Well, apparently, she has a massive problem with outsiders. Carmine made that very clear to you very fast.
What piqued your interest, though, was the taller than you expected to be up close and who you now know to be, Kieran, hanging behind Carmine with his arms crossed. His mouth is tucked up at the side as he crooks his head to get a better angle to see you.
Before you can manage any better, you similarly crook your head to get a better look at him as well.
A blush rises to your face as your attention is interrupted. Carmine snaps her fingers at you as if her naturally loud voice wouldn’t gather your thoughts already, “If you insist on coming in, you’ll have to battle me first.”
The request baffles you, considering how blatant the ignorance is radiating off her, but you can’t find it in you to even attempt to disrespect her in her hometown.
Before you can respond, “Oh come on now, sis, you’re making a huge fuss out of nothing.” Kieran says with a sigh.
He finally walks around her to stand to her right. You have to look up a bit from where you stand now to face him fully. Carmine just happens to be a smidge taller than you while remaining shorter than him.
“Hush, KiKi!” Carmine hisses, trying and failing to hide the response from you. She turns back to you, “Just ignore my little brother.”
Hopefully, you were able to try and succeed in hiding your slight shock. Little?! Brother?
First, he is not little. He may be a bit lanky since he is pretty tall, but you believe that if, for some reason, Kieran needed to pick you up from, let’s say, a river or any other body of water, even soaking wet, he’d be able to run with you. Or at least that’s what it seems like what could happen.
Second, brother?! Based on their completely contrasting vibes alone, you were hoping for friends at best, but it’s not too shocking based on their hairstyles.
Keiran gives you a shrug with his palms held up toward you and mouths the words, “I’m sorry,” which makes you smile.
You look at Carmine, “Alright, let’s do this.”
As Carmine responds with, “Get in position,” you’re already making your way to the appropriate distance from where she stands.
You slide your backpack to the front of you to reach inside and pull out a heal ball with one of your Pokémon resting gently inside.
Before you send it, you whisper, “Let’s get em, buddy.”
Your arm arches out as the ball glides away from your outstretched hand, and out pops Spearmint, your shiny Salamence. He lets out his familiar roar that you have come to love so much.
You’ll never forget the day you stumbled upon your best friend. You were training some of the other members of your team for a rigorous amount of time at the East Province, area three closest to Levincia. Of course, you took the needed picnics to restore your Pokémon’s health, but your energy was being sapped much faster than theirs.
You remember being on the dredges of consciousness, your Scyther holding you up when suddenly, a green Bagon emerges from one of the rare bushes occupying the area. He was so shy at the time that he was obviously hesitant to come forward, but you assumed his curiosity won out since he ended up coming up to you and later ended up inside one of your heal balls.
It has been some time since you’ve thought about that memory, and it leaves you with a warm feeling every time.
You zero back into the moment when Carmine sends out her Poochyena. It takes everything in you not to laugh at the sheer power ratio set against her. You feel for her in this moment; you really do.
An impressively quick and fruitful battle later, Keiran lets out a slow whistle, “Look at that, you went and beat my sis.”
“There’s just no way you should’ve been able to beat me!” Carmine exclaims as she shakes slightly with her fists balled up.
You pat Spearmint several more times before sending him back into his ball. After tucking the ball back into your bag, safe and sound, you return to Carmine.
“Don’t worry, we can have a rematch whenever you want.” You give her a smile and hold your hand out to shake her hand to recognize a good match.
She regards your hand as something a child would look at a new food for the first time, with a grimace, but she does shake your hand, “Alright, fine, whatever, you pass. Welcome to Mossui Town.”
You both retract your hand and look away from each other before it gets too awkward.
Kieran’s mouth opens to say something, but before he can, an older man dressed in a matching purple tunic and pants runs up towards your group.
“Oi! What are you doing, causing a ruckus out here!”
Carmine and you look at each other, and a secretive smile spreads across your faces.
~~~~~~~~
After a good night’s rest, Professor Briar gathers all of you at the front of the Pokémon center. You all make ‘official’ introductions with the Blueberry Academy students, and the caretaker explains the tasks of the self-guided tour within this time.
You shudder at the idea of working in pairs, considering you don’t like to feel rushed or operate based on somebody else’s time schedule. But this might not be a bad thing. Maybe you’ll just have to meet them at the signpost instead of having to travel with them the whole time, and Arceus forbid you actually use the roto stick.
Your worries dissipate momentarily when Keiran comes up to you.
“Hey, so um,” His mouth is turned up at the corner as he rubs the back of his neck, “Want to partner up? I’m assuming Briar really wants you to partner up with one of us, so it’s either me or my sister, and I thought I’d ask you first,” His eyes dart from me to the rest of the group before continuing, “Besides, Carmine would probably start off by saying something stupid to either offend you or embarrass me, so I decided to cut out the middle man.”
Your eyes dart from Keiran to Professor Briar as she stares at you while talking to the caretaker. Why hadn’t you been able to feel the weight of her gaze on you before Keiran said something? That’s usually your specialty.
You come back to look at Keiran and notice that he is still rubbing his neck. It was unnerving to you. Other people being nervous irrationally spreads into you every time, but everything he said makes sense. Sort of?
“Oh, um,” You stumble a bit with your response, not sure exactly what to say, “Yeah, yeah, that actually sounds great to me.”
Keiran smiles at your response and visibly relaxes, bringing his hand down to rest at his side, “Okay, great.”
He doesn’t seem that bad of a guy, based on first impressions. If anything, you’re just nervous to interact with Carmine. She’s definitely a strong flavor, and this early in the morning, that’s not something you’re used to dealing with.
The wind blows slightly, tumbling through Kieran’s colored hair, which snags your attention and makes you ask, “So random, but what-“
You’re interrupted by the already familiar cadence of Carmine’s rigidly loud voice, “As predicted. My brother has had googly eyes for you ever since yesterday,” She comes to stand by the two of you and talks with significant movements from her hands, “He wouldn’t stop talking about you, even at-“
With efficient accuracy, Kieran puts a quick hand over her mouth, muffling any further words.
Your eyes bulge slightly, betraying your usual composure for a split second. Following the outstretched arm from Carmine's face, you find a concerningly red-faced Keiran actively avoiding your eyes and has found an intense interest in the power lines above.
“Like I said, cut out the middle man.”
You can’t help the giggle that escapes you.
Keiran’s attention is returned to ground level as he snickers and pulls his hand away from Carmine’s face. Wiping his palm on her shoulder, “You shouldn’t have licked my hand. I didn’t wash my hands after using the bathroom this morning.”
Keiran turns to you and puts a hand up to block Carmine from reading his lips, “I did. I washed my hands.”
This makes you laugh more freely, making Keiran look at you with rapt interest. You note that his blush still hasn’t faded, making you much more excited about this self-guided tour.