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There were rumors about a Pokémon in the Coastal Biome. Supposedly if you went to a certain spot near the waterfalls, the leaves would blow around in circles, and the faint melody of a song could be heard singing to the water.
Kieran wasn't much for rumors, back before he was champion, back when he was weaker , he had quite a few spread around about himself. A few still roamed around the gossip of the school; new ones about his strength. About how he sold his soul, about how he was terrifying . He didn't mind being terrifying, not if it meant people finally saw him as stronger.
He didn't care much about rumors, but there were rumors about a strong Pokémon in the Coastal Biome, only ready to show itself for those who were worthy of catching it. Those who could solve its riddle of music and leaves.
Kieran stared at the cyclone of leaves, watching as they spinned dizzily around him. He growled angrily at the leaves, waiting for some sort of sign, some sort of clue as to what the Pokémon could want.
“Where are you?!” He screamed at nothing in particular. He needed the Pokémon. He needed the Pokémon now . Juliana had made it through two of the Elite Four, and if he was going to change his team up, he needed to start training them right away, otherwise it would mess everything up.
Kieran needed the strong Pokémon, because Juliana was here, and he still needed to be stronger .
The leaves continued in their spiral patterns, taunting him. Letting him know he was not enough.
He shouldn't be wasting his time with this. He should just go back to his normal training regimen, get stronger so he can crush Juliana for once . But there is a part of him that thinks that maybe, just maybe if he gets the rare Pokémon, if he has something no one else has, Juliana might stick around, whether he wins or not.
Both options are rational, he tells himself. Whether he's stronger than her, more special than her, either way, he will have something she doesn't, and maybe it'll be enough.
But the leaves keep spinning, and Kieran is getting frustrated because there's no Pokémon anywhere , and maybe the rumors were nothing but gossip to torment those gullible enough to actually look into it.
He scowls at his own lack of information, and starts to stomp away from the area. He'll go back to his training. Back to Chargestone Cavern to see how many of those magnetic rocks his Hydrapple can crush.
There is a song. It almost sounds like the folk songs his grandmother used to sing at festivals. Passed through generations, passed from mother to daughter, mentor to student. It sounds ancient, and serene, and it sounds like it means something.
Kieran doesn't like it.
It sounds almost too important for him. A taunt of how he will never reach its source, and it makes Kieran want to scream. He whips around, frantically looking around in circles for any sign of the melody's origin.
There is nothing. Whatever is singing, it is singing without being seen, singing without being known . And Kieran wants nothing more than to punch something. The song continues, it sings and it sings and it sings , and the worst part of the melodic piece is that it sounds like a lullaby.
It is a song that sounds important, as if its ancient tune was meant to sing to sleep princes and kings. As if it was meant to lead a revolution somewhere with memories of childhood nights. It sounded like a lullaby, and Kieran had been tired for too long.
His knees felt weak, and his eyes felt heavy, and he hated it. He didn't need sleep, he needed to train . To find the Pokémon, and finally be better at something. He started to sway on his feet, and he gripped a nearby tree for support. The music kept on.
Refrain after refrain, chorus after chorus, it played and Kieran could only sink to his knees, and bark of the tree sliding against his glove in a feeling and sound that made him want to cry. The lullaby played on, and Kieran was collapsed on his side, trying so desperately to stay awake.
His eyes sank shut, and the sound of sepia-toned memories chanted on.
Something was nudging into him.
He didn't think it was trying to wake him up, it was probably a curious Zangoose sniffing at him to see if he was a Seviper, or maybe a Bulbasaur trying to check his vitals. Whatever it was, it was annoying, and Kieran didn't want to wake up.
But the purring and the sniffing of the Pokémon forced him to roll over, trying to seat it away. He was tired, he just wanted to sleep.
“Agias!”
That caused him to jerk his eyes open. Turning back to the Pokémon, he saw it. Juliana's stupid orange kaiju staring and sniffing him down. He scrambled back, hitting the tree behind him.
The kaiju followed after him, looming over him, until it decided to attack his face with its tongue. It almost seemed… happy to see him. That couldn't be right. No one was happy to see him.
There was the sound of a whistle, and the kaiju ran over to… a picnic table. A picnic table only a few feet away.
Juliana handed a sandwich to the overly excited Pokémon, and slowly began to walk over to him. She reached out a hand to him, and he stared at it before he pushed himself off the ground, dusting off his hands on his shorts.
She went back to the table, and grabbed a napkin before handing it to him. Kieran stared down at it, before looking up at her, confused. Juliana tapped her cheek, and shook the napkin a little, and Kieran brought his hand to his own cheek, before quickly realizing that his face was still covered in the kaiju's slobber. He reluctantly took the napkin.
“What are you even doing here?” He tried his best to sound hostile, but there was still a heavy weight of tiredness that settled on his shoulders, seeping into his voice.
Juliana looked at him for a second, before her face shifted into something almost sad. Kieran hated it.
“Ponyo liked the flowers here,” she responded, quietly. Kieran froze, looking back at the picnic table behind her. Her Pokémon all sitting around in the grass. Her Quaquaval hovered around the table, protecting the ingredients from the over-excited Koraidon that was trying to eat them off the table. A weird looking Arcanine sat snoozing away next to a Mamoswine, while her Archuladon watched over them, picking at the grass and kicking around a ball.
Ogerpon was frolicking around, her Teal Mask plastered on her face while she swung her cudgel around. Flowers sprouted out from where she stepped. She seemed to be looking for something, but whatever it was Kieran didn't know.
He was snapped out of his musings by Juliana grabbing his hand and leading him over to the picnic table. He followed after her blindly, not bothering to pull away. She pulled out a chair for him, and still in his daze, he let her push his shoulders down into the seat.
There was a sandwich in front of him, and Kieran, the picky eater that he was, took the top off the sandwich, inspecting all of the ingredients. Surprisingly, the sandwich didn't look that bad. Kimchi, and a fried egg to top it off, a weird combination definitely, but at least it had always been healthy.
“I asked Carmine what you liked, and she didn't give me a lot to work with… so, um I hope it's okay,” she smiled awkwardly as she spoke, and Kieran felt an all too familiar feeling creeping up his spine.
He quickly stood up, his stoic expression settling back on his face. The chair knocked over, not prepared for the sudden movement.
“I don't have time for picnics. I need to train.” He had a Pokémon to find too, but he wouldn't let Juliana know about that.
See who's keeping the secrets now? He thought, a childish sense of pride filling him as he did.
Juliana shook her head.
“You haven't been eating like you should. Just take a few seconds to eat something, ‘sides your Pokémon need rest, too.” She said it so softly, and it almost made Kieran want to listen. But the mention of his Pokémon caught him off guard, and he quickly patted himself to look for his pokéballs.
Looking around the picnic table, he eventually saw all his Pokémon under the shade of a tree, all of them piled up. His Hydrapple in the center, as his Dragonite, his Grimmsnarl, his Politoed, his Incineroar, and Porygon-Z all rest against it. Five of its heads were out, wrapped around each of his other teammates, protectively as they napped.
“At least let them rest, they've been pushing themselves,” Juliana whispered. Kieran whipped back to face her. He picked the chair off the ground and sat back down in it, tearing a bit off his sandwich, almost reluctantly.
It tasted good. Kieran didn't like that.
Juliana smiled at him, too bright, too blinding, he couldn't look away.
Eventually, Ogerpon saddled up to her, holding a bunch of flowers in her tiny, non-visible hands. Juliana grabbed them, pinks and purples and reds gathered in her palms. She started to braid them, making a chain of flowers, as Ogerpon trilled happily, going back to the grass to make more flowers.
Kieran continued to eat away at his sandwich, and Juliana had finished her chain, connecting the two ends in what looked like a large bracelet. Juliana whistled, waiting for something, and Kieran just stared at her curiously.
Something came up from underneath the picnic table, and Kieran pretended not to be interested. It appeared to be some sort of Pokémon, and it floated around Juliana in light, practiced steps, before it stopped right in front of her. Juliana smiled at it, and gently placed the ring of flowers on its head. The Pokémon clapped its hands together, before floating on over to Ogerpon.
The Pokémon began to sing. Ogerpon slowly dancing along to the tune, letting out a few off-key “poniooo"s along to the melody.
Kieran froze, the song playing on as Juliana gently hummed along, almost perfectly. She had heard the song before, she had heard it long enough to memorize it.
“I heard rumors about a Pokémon down here,” Juliana mumbled quietly, “I spun around for a while and wanted to take some pictures of the falls… and she just appeared,” she smiled back up at him, braiding more flowers together as Ogerpon came up to her with them, “her song is beautiful, isn't it?”
Kieran wanted to scream. Because of course . Of course the strong Pokémon and its riddles would flock itself to Juliana. Of course, she would find it and simply add to her team like it's nothing. Of course she would befriend it enough to hear its song, over and over, unfazed as she made it a flower crown of all things.
Of course Juliana had been looking for the Pokémon, and of course, she had found it. He could never be better than her, know more than her. Legends and myths flocked to her as if she was one of them, and he just expected to be able to do the same. No. He wasn't good enough, strong enough. He wasn't worth it.
But Juliana had found the Pokémon, and for some reason, she was still here .
Something light settled itself on his head, and when he snapped back to reality, Juliana was standing over him, her fingers lightly brushing against his hair as she placed her crown of flowers on his head.
It was stupid. All of this was stupid. Kieran stood up again, the chair sliding back a fraction, as he left his sandwich half-eaten on the table. He shouldn't be here. He had training to do. Juliana would probably make her way to Lacey, and then she would be one step closer to facing him.
The melody still plays, and Kieran turns to his Pokémon, still piled up, still resting. He returned them all to their pokéballs. He takes a few steps away from the table. Away from Juliana. Away from her the pantheon that sits around her without any cares in the world.
“I need to go.” The weight of tiredness returns that much more as the Pokémon continues to sing, but he can't fall asleep again. He can't fall asleep because Juliana is right there and he can't be weak . Not in front of her.
Kieran stumbles as the lullaby plays on, and arms wrap around him to prevent him from falling. He's being stupid, and weak, but he clings to her anyway. He's leaning all of his weight against her, his legs feel like jelly and he can't bring himself to stand. The Pokémon keeps singing.
Somehow, they end up on the grass with his head in her lap, and it takes everything in Kieran not to scream. Why is she still here? She got the mythical Pokémon. She got what she wanted, and yet she's here, as if she actually cares .
He knows she doesn't. She can't. Not about him. Even as she's taking his hair tie out and braiding flowers into his hair as Ogerpon hands them to her. It's all a plot. A scheme. He's not someone people care about. Let alone people like her.
Kieran wants to open his mouth, to say something, instead of just staring up at her as she runs her hands through his hair as if it's the most natural thing in the world for her to do. But he doesn't. His eyes feel like lead and his mouth is too dry to do anything other than feel and listen.
The song for important people, for people like Juliana, a princess, a queen, a goddess even, the song keeps playing, and Kieran drifts off to sleep again.
He wakes up on his dorm bed.
It was a dream , he convinced himself. He collapsed during training, and someone like Carmine or one of the Elite Four brought him back to his dorm. Kieran scoffs at himself for it.
He's still too weak, if he's collapsing during training. He needs to be stronger. Stronger than food, stronger than sleep. He doesn't have the time for it.
Kieran still feels tired, and so he makes his way to the bathroom, turning on the cold water as he splashes it onto his face in order to wake himself up.
It's only for a second, but he looks up at the mirror.
There are flowers in his hair. Braided and tucked away so they won't come loose. Blues and greens and yellows, practically attached to him. All of them accented by a crown of flowers that sits slightly wilted.