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Nemona smoothed down the fabric of her skirt for what must’ve been the hundredth time. She’d already changed out every piece of jewelry she owned twice, had tried a dozen hairstyles, and had basically done everything but confront the truth of her nerves.
The transition between Top Champion Geeta and Top Champion Nemona was a slow one, with Geeta taking her step-by-step to ensure she knew each step of the process. From paperwork to PR, to the battles themselves (an area that Nemona needed little help in, except the reminder to NOT utterly stomp twelve-year-olds), Geeta made sure Nemona was ready to fully take over the position.
Today was a big day for her. The League had done mock battles in the past, but this was the first time she’d be actually running the Champion Assessment. Admittedly, the Elite Four had their own roles in hand, so it would be solely up to Nemona to deliver the final battle. All she had to do was battle the challenger. She knew how to do this, it had been her favorite pastime for basically her entire life, and now it was her career.
She shouldn’t be feeling this nauseous over the prospect.
Did her room always spin like this?
A knock came from the other side of her door. “Hey, prez? You still in there?”
Nemona let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Right, she’d asked her friends for help, and had gotten an answer. “Come in!”
Arven pushed the door open, briefly gazing around her new lodgings at the Pokemon League, before settling on her. He wasted no time. “What’s wrong? Shouldn’t you be getting to the top of the League already?”
Nemona brushed at her skirt one more time, adjusting the brace around her elbow. “Hey, Arven. I…think I’m just getting jitters.” She turned back to the mirror. “Something doesn’t look right. I don’t…” She trailed off, leaving Arven looking confused.
“I really hope you didn’t call me here for fashion tips. I have many talents, but that’s not one of them.” She didn’t respond. Arven crossed his arms, looking unyielding. “That isn’t the issue, is it?”
There was a reason she’d called Arven out of the entire Zero Crew (the name wasn’t changing now). While she loved all of her friends dearly, Arven had a talent among them. He had a way of cutting through her anxieties, explaining solutions so simply and so bluntly, she almost felt silly about them afterwards. She really hoped this was one such case.
“I…I keep looking in the mirror. I feel like I’m…missing something still.”
Arven stepped forward, his outline filling in the rest of the mirror. “You’ve got your Pokeballs and Key Stone, right? What else are you missing?”
Nemona wanted to pull at her hair, but she’d spent too long on her current style to risk ruining it (again). “I don’t know! I’m missing something! I can’t…I’m not…!”
“Woah, woah! Easy there!” Arven held up his hands placatingly, and Nemona was instantly swamped with guilt. “It’s alright, you don’t need to apologize. Let's just…break this down, a bit.” He grabbed another stool, pulling it up next to hers and motioning for her to speak.
Nemona twirled one of her bangs nervously, resisting the urge to tug harder. “I just…I’ve spent my whole life looking up to La Primera. I wanted to be a Champion, but now that I’m here…I don’t know what to do with it.” Arven circled his hand in the air, prompting her to continue. “I keep thinking of other Champions that came before me. Red, Lance, Cynthia, Iris… All of them seemed to know what they were doing right away, but I just…don’t.”
“But you do know what you’re doing, right? You’ve gotten all that training from Miss Geeta.”
“Well, yeah. But-”
“And you’ve been battling longer than any of us, so that can’t be it.”
“Yeah, but-”
“So what’s stopping you from being a good Champion-?”
“Because I can’t be her!”
Arven startled at her sudden shout. Nemona looked away quickly, ignoring the sudden burning in her eyes. A hand carefully came to rest on her shoulder. “Hey, hey. It’s alright, Nemona. I think I get it now.” She wanted so badly to snap back and ask what he knew about Pokemon battling, but forced herself to bite her tongue, knowing she’d regret it later. “You’ve idolized Miss Geeta for a long time, right? And now that you’re here, you want to be just like La Primera.” She nodded, still facing away. “Well, it’s not like you have to be, right?”
Nemona blinked. Once, then twice. Then whipped around to face Arven. “What?”
“You don’t have to be La Primera to be a good Champion! All those guys you listed before, Red and Cynthia and all of them, do you think they got where they were by just doing the same thing?”
Gears clanked in her brain and she processed this. “But…But that’s not…”
“What, the same? Why wouldn’t it be?” Arven’s hands started moving in broad motions. “Geeta’s whole elegance shtick worked for her, but you don’t need to be like that! It’s like…” He snapped a few times in thought. “It’s like when you taught Mela and Ortega all those new study methods! They needed to do what worked for them! Doing it like everyone else didn’t work!” Some part of her still resisted. The old bitter voices that never quite left, even after that fateful Treasure Hunt.
(weird girl. improper. too much. not worth it.)
“But…But if I’m not like her…then who am I?”
Arven leaned back in. “You’re Top Champion Nemona! I’ve known her for years now! She’s…well, she’s kinda loud. And super excitable all the time. You could plug a generator into this girl and she’d power the whole region on her sheer enthusiasm.” Nemona let out a small giggle at the description. “But she’s also super smart, passionate, cares so much for people, and never backs down from a challenge. I still haven’t thanked you enough for helping me catch up. So don’t try to be Geeta, be Nemona!”
Nemona blinked, this time for a different reason. “Alright, you’re getting hugged for that one, mister.” With no further warning, she threw herself at Arven, who thankfully had grown used to her habits and was able to right himself quickly.
“Ugh, this is what I get for being sappy. Never again.” Despite his complaints, he showed no sign of wanting to break the hug.
Eventually, Nemona sat back, rubbing her eye as carefully as she could without messing up what little makeup she hadn’t impulsively removed earlier. “Thanks, Arven. I needed that.”
“Yeah, you were wound up like a Tarountula.” She smacked his arm for that one, putting very little force behind it. “Now c’mon! Up and at ‘em! Show this kid who Champion Nemona is!”
Nemona stood up, a smile already creeping up her face. “She’s actually thirteen, so legally a teenager.”
“Then show that teenager who Champion Nemona is!” She laughed, and even Arven chuckled at himself.
(Truthfully, he was just glad to see Nemona back to herself. For all his complaints and all their bickering, he never liked seeing her in that sort of state.)
“Alright! Let’s go! Vamos!”
“Yeah! …Except I can’t actually follow you out there, but I’ll meet you afterwards!”
“Right, picnic at Los Platos?” Arven nodded. “Alright, I’ll see you there!”
“See you there, buddy!” With that, Arven slipped out of the room, most likely back to whatever Flying Taxi he’d grabbed when he got her message.
Nemona looked in the mirror one last time. Her hair was still in place, none of her remaining makeup had run, and her sole remaining pieces of jewelry, her Mega Pin and a simple bracelet strung with multicolored beads, were still in place. She smoothed out her skirt one last time.
There was still no Geeta in the mirror. But that was okay.
With familiarity born of many such trips, she navigated to the elevator and rode silently to the top of the Pokemon League, to the final battlefield. The sun shined brightly above her, no clouds to speak of. Wind was minimal, nothing to throw off her team. It was going to be a good battle.
The door opposite her slid open, and her challenger stepped out, a young teenager in an Academy uniform, looking undeniably nervous. Nemona flashed her biggest smile. “Hola! You must be Marigold, right?”
The girl nodded nervously, her pigtails flapping with the motion. “Y-Yes. And…you’re Champion Nemona.”
She smiled a bit wider at that. “That I am! And if you’ve made it this far, it’s clear you care a lot about your Pokemon, and you’re no slouch at handling them either! Now, for your final test!” She jammed a thumb at her own chest. “Me!”
Marigold swallowed nervously, reaching for a Pokeball. Her nerves didn’t escape Nemona, who toned down her smile just a bit. “You know, I remember when I stood there for the first time. I was terrified!” Her goofy tone brought a small smile to the younger girl. “But you wanna know what I did?” Her expression brightened again. “I just smiled right through it! Cause I had my partners by my side, and I knew we could do it!” Nemona drew her own Pokeball, holding her arm as she extended it. “So then, let’s have ourselves a fruitful battle!”
She saw herself, standing across the field from Geeta. She saw Juliana, both of them ready to claim a treasure of their own. She saw Geeta, applauding her joyfully as Nemona claimed her title.
She saw little Marigold, the first inklings of a smile reaching her face, as she released her first Pokemon to the field.
-
A flock of Squakabilly was hardly a subtle presence, so by the time Nemona had landed and paid, everyone was already waiting for her. Penny was busy entertaining her Veevee’s, and Arven gave her a nod over the sandwiches, but Juliana and Florian both ran up to greet her. Juliana tugged her toward the table, looking excited. “C’mon, c’mon! You gotta tell us how it went!”
“You kind of have to now. She’ll never stop until you do.” Juliana only rolled her eyes at her twin’s remark, before turning back to Nemona.
Nemona only smiled. “I lost.”
She’d never been happier to say those words.