Chapter Text
Juliana stared at the wide, open space outside of her new home. Her eyes pointed at the blue sky as she lied down on the lush grass that stretched for miles.
Kitakami was completely different from the other regions she had lived throughout her life. For one thing, there were a lot less buildings and more open fields. And she could swear that there were only a few hundred people living in this quaint and quiet town.
Juliana didn’t think it was bad living here, since the crisp air and natural atmosphere here gave a soothing feeling in her heart. But the circumstances surrounding her current living situation felt like she was trapped in the same cycle as the last few times she moved. It would take some time to get use to this change, she thought as she felt the cool breeze blowing in the air.
Throughout her entire life, Juliana had to bounce from one region to another because of her father’s work, gaining new friends only to be forced to never see them again each time another job came. She hated how every meaningful connection she gained had to be ripped apart because of something that was out of her control. It didn’t help that the girl had always been shy and introverted, with some even thinking that she was strange. That made it even harder to leave behind the few friends she did manage to befriend over the years.
No doubt it would be the same here in Kitakami.
Don’t get her wrong. Juliana didn’t hate her parents for this because she understood it was their way of giving her the best life possible. After all, the tourism industry did help her father make enough money that allowed her mother to not have to work or worry about finances. She knew they loved her a lot and she loved them with all her heart.
But after spending the first half of her life in Galar before living in Kalos, Unova, and Hoenn for a short while, Juliana just couldn’t help but be pessimistic that her time here would be the same.
Sigh, she shouldn’t be thinking like that. She should try to enjoy her time here while she can by seeing what the town and surrounding areas can offer her during her stay. It wasn’t like she was going to get attached to Kitakami, and at least that way, she could have some fun and enjoy the natural beauty this region had.
His dad was currently meeting with the caretaker of Mossui Town in Kitakami to discuss ways to boost their tourism sector. I think there were plans for promoting the ‘Six Wonders of Kitakami’ or something. Juliana wasn’t really paying attention. Her mom was currently unpacking their belongings with the movers, so she was going to be busy for a while. Hence, why Juliana was currently outside debating over how to spend the afternoon.
But at least one good thing from this move. The green cat that was currently resting beside her. Before they left Sinnoh, his dad had gotten her a Pokemon for going along with their decision. It was a Pokemon called Sprigatito from a faraway region called Paldea. It made her feel happier to have a companion that would stay by her side while she was living in Kitakami. Plus, its soft purrs and fluffy body were absolutely adorable. The day they met, Juliana knew they were made to be each other’s partners.
And so, this was the newest chapter of her life. Living in the Kitakami region for who knows how long. Would it be for one year? Maybe six months? There was no telling with how long her dad’s services would be required before his company was satisfied.
After a while staring into the sky, Juliana became bored lying on the grassy terrain. The movers were still unpacking their things with mom guiding them, so it’s not like she could head back inside to entertain herself. And she couldn’t stray too far from the house considering she had zero knowledge of the areas around here. Maybe she should just head to the community center to see how her dad was doing or get something to eat from that one stall she saw earlier. Peachy’s she thought it was called.
As she continued pondering, she was approached by an angry, tall looking girl with black hair and scarlet highlights. The way her eyes were staring daggers at her made her want to run away, but Juliana felt like she would chase her to the ends of the earth if she did.
Following her was an anxious looking boy with black hair and violet highlights. He looked to be about Juliana’s height, so maybe they were the same age. The timid looking boy seemed a lot easier to talk to and Juliana had to admit he looked kinda cute at first glance. Those golden eyes were a lot kinder and beautiful than the other girl’s.
She didn’t have much time to admire them any longer once the infuriated girl suddenly stood in front of her with a gaze that she could swear were screaming that she was out for her blood.
“I’m betting you’re the outsider that just moved into town, right?!”
“Uh, yeah…I am.” Juliana answered, unsure over how to proceed as the girl kept eyeing her up and down with condescension.
“I knew it. And you just happened to move near our house too. You’ve got some nerve coming here, you know!”
She immediately waved her hands in confusion. “Huh? What are you talking about?”
Juliana literally just met these two thirty seconds ago and they were the ones who sought her out. What was she mad at her for?!
“Don’t act dumb! That man you came here with was talking to our town’s caretaker about how to make Kitakami a bigger tourist hub. This is all just one big vacation for you, isn’t it?! Thinking our home’s some sight-seeing adventure?! Those type of outsiders make me sick!”
Guess she wasn’t happy about seeing foreigners in general if she thought everyone acted like that. Even though the fiery girl was straight up intimidating and rude, Juliana could sense that she cared a lot about her home. She couldn’t help but admire her confidence and passion that she exuded at the very least.
Still, Juliana needed to stand her ground against such accusations. “Hey, I wasn’t expecting to come here, but It’s not like I’m going to treat my time here as a joke. This region seems incredible, and I want to experience and understand it as much as I can while I’m here!”
“Ha, like I’m gonna believe that so easily!” The fierce girl shouted back, clearly firm on her current stance towards her, “I can’t let an outsider like you wander into Mossui Town and try changing it however you please! If you insist on staying here, you’ll have to beat me in a Pokemon battle first!”
Well, Juliana would be staying here whether they battled or not, but she figured this girl wouldn’t be in the right mind right now to have common sense. Though, she never had a Pokemon battle before and always dreamed of having one after seeing so many amazing trainers clashing on TV.
Her heart was getting a little excited over the opportunity for a battle.
“C-C’mon, Sis. Don’t ya think this is too much? Maybe she’s a pretty good person.” The boy softly commented, obviously trying to assuage the taller girl down.
“Just be quiet, Kieran! I’ll handle this, so just stay back and watch!”
The boy instinctively stepped back in resignation. Guess that didn’t work out the way the timid boy thought it would, which was a shame because it was sweet of him to help Juliana like that.
Though, she didn’t think yelling at her brother was the best way for her to communicate those thoughts. Even if she was currently mad at Juliana, she didn’t need to vent her rage at someone so close to her. That was just not right!
The boy’s sister ignored him and resumed speaking.
“I’ll express my wrath by beating you in a battle!” The long-haired girl continued before raising a Pokeball in front of Juliana ready to fight, “I can see you’ve got a Pokemon too, so get into position! I’ll crush you so completely that you won’t even think about changing our home!”
With her current attitude, Juliana thought about stepping back and getting away from the prickly girl who currently hated her guts because of her own assumptions. But the thrill of battling once again overrode her sense of reason as she spoke.
“You’re on!” She passionately answered, adrenaline coursing through her blood for battle, “I’m not going to lose to anyone! Especially not a meanie like you!”
The girl just gave a slight smirk before giving a predatory look towards her opponent. “Oh, I’m going to have some good fun with you.”
The trio walked west towards a place called Apple Hills, not wanting to battle so close to the town to avoid any collateral damage or drawing a scene. The wind blew softly as the leaves and grass around them moved with each burst. Juliana could see a few wild Pokemon watching them from a distance, probably curious about what was happening before they found the perfect area to battle.
Juliana and Carmine agreed to a one versus one battle, seeing as they only had one Pokemon to fight with. The chestnut-haired girl saw her brother Kieran, if she remembered correctly, positioning himself beside his sister. Seemed like he was planning on cheering her on with the way his arms started moving up and down.
“The name’s Carmine. I’ll make sure to sear that name in that pretty little head of yours when I completely crush you!”
“Bring it on! And the name’s Juliana, by the way!” She replied.
With introductions out of the way, Juliana sent out her new Sprigatito, while Carmine sent out a strange Pokemon unfamiliar to her.
“I’ve never seen that Pokemon before.” Carmine commented. “But that green kitten’s no match for my Poltchageist.”
“Don’t underestimate us! This may be our first battle together, but we can handle anything you dish at us. Right, Sprigatito?”
The grass-type cried in agreement as its eyes set its sights at the cup-like Pokemon. Looking closely, Carmine’s Pokemon reminded Juliana of the Sinistea from Galar. But she noted that some differences like its longer body shape and the straw it was grasping.
Maybe it’s a regional variant like the Yamask or Weezing back in Galar. Whatever, I gotta focus on the battle for now.
Carmine sounded off her first command to get the battle underway. “Prettier girls first! Alright, Poltchageist! Start things off with Astonish!”
Poltchageist let out a loud, wailing cry, startling Sprigatito before using its body to tackle the cute cat to the ground.
“Like my opening greeting? ‘Cause there’s more coming. Welcome to Kitakami, Juliana! For your first battle experience here, I’m going to make you eat dirt!”
Juliana giggled a little at the remark before becoming more fired up. “Not bad! But it’s time for us to attack now! Sprigatito, use Leafage with your full might!”
Quaxly relased a barrage of leaves towards Poltchageist, but the cup-like Pokemon took the hit without much damage. When Juliana looked unaware why this had happened, Carmine seemed all too glad to educate her with the haughty laugh she let out.
“So, do you not know about type matchups? ‘Cause that was a pretty stupid mistake you just made using a grass-type move on a grass-type.”
“Poltchageist is a grass-type?” So, the typing was different from Sinistea too. She assumed it might’ve been a ghost-type from how it floated in the air and her knowledge of Sinistea’s typing, but she didn’t expect this Pokemon to have two types.
“Duh, I mean Poltchageist is greenish, and it makes matcha. How could it not be a grass-type. Maybe you should study typing more heehee.”
Juliana angrily pouted at her insult. “How was I supposed to know what its type was from just its color?! And I don’t even know what matcha is, so your argument for me being clueless about this is just stupid!”
Carmine shook her fists in rage. “Did you just call me stupid?! I am so going to teach you some manners on how to talk to a beautiful lady like me!”
“Uh, m-maybe you guys should calm down…” Kieran weighed in to try to defuse the situation.
“Shut it, Kiki! I told you I’m handling this! Just stay by my side cheering me on, ok?!”
Kieran sulked with a resigned sigh. “Aw man…I was just tryin’ to help.”
Juliana felt bad for Kieran since he clearly wanted to de-escalate things. But Carmine was right that this was between the two of them, and the best way to settle their argument as fellow trainers was by winning this battle.
Winning was going to be harder than she thought, though. Sprigatito only knew Scratch and Leafage as offensive moves, neither of them very effective against their opponent. She could try weakening Poltchageist’s attack power with Growl, but that might give Carmine too much time to formulate a counterstrategy.
She must have pondered for too long because Carmine was once again going on the offensive as she ordered her next attack.
“Time for me to use my most powerful move. Poltchageist, make 'em really hurt with Shadow Ball! Blot Sprigatito good!”
Poltchageist pointed its straw at Sprigatito, forming a large ball of energy before sending it towards the cat’s direction. The attack was too fast to dodge, dealing massive amounts of damage as Sprigatito struggled to balance itself afterwards.
Not good! Sprigatito’s barely holding on because of that Shadow Ball. It’s not going to last much longer if it takes one more hit.
“You ready to give up?” Carmine asked her, confident that her victory was assured. “Your little kitty’s almost done and there’s nothing it can do to turn things around.”
Even though Juliana really didn’t see a way out of this, she wouldn’t give up. She was a Pokemon trainer now, engaging in her first Pokemon battle. Her passionate soul blazed even more in defiance, wanting to win no matter what.
Sprigatito must have sensed her feelings because it immediately stood up with a loud meow. Suddenly, its teeth started glowing with dark energy, running across the battlefield to bite Poltchageist hard, causing the grass-type Pokemon to reel back in pain.
“What the?! Hey, what’d you just do?!” Carmine demanded, shocked at how much damage her Pokemon just took.
“I’m just as clueless as you are. But whatever it was, we’re going to use it to turn this battle around. Right, Sprigatito?!”
Sprigatito’s teeth glowed once again, moving to strike Poltchageist while it was still reeling from its last attack. Jumping up and biting onto Poltchageist’s head, it landed a critical hit before slammed the cup Pokemon to the ground.
Juliana felt the adrenaline flow through her body as she jumped high up in air with cheers of victory after witnessing Poltchageist being knocked out.
“We did it, Sprigatito! I’m so proud of you!” Juliana cheered while giving a high-five to her partner as it purred happily.
As the two kept celebrating, Carmine was completely shocked over her loss. Juliana hoped she wouldn’t take it too hard. But it looked like she was off the mark because her body and fists were shaking with burning fury.
After returning Poltchageist back to its Pokeball, Carmine’s eyes blazed in anger over what had happened. “I can’t believe this! I was so going to win in the end! There’s no way you could have been able to beat me!”
Kieran, however, looked to have been more astonished over how Juliana had managed to turned things around. “Wowzers! You really went and beat my Sis! And that new move you guys just did…Y-You’re so cool, Juliana!”
His cheeks became rosy with both admiration and amazement, making Juliana smile brightly at the boy for the praise. Looks like Kieran didn’t take his sister’s loss as badly as she did. In fact, his eyes were practically glowing at her right now. It was kind of cute how the starry-eyed boy was admiring her like that, given how shy he was before.
“Well, if Sprigatito didn’t learn a new move when it did, we would’ve been toast. You’re really tough and amazing, Carmine.”
Carmine appeared flustered and surprised at the compliment, not expecting such honesty and friendliness from the shorter girl after everything that happened before.
Not that she could blame her. While Juliana was annoyed when the girl first approached her, she felt happy there was someone around his age who could have fun with. It made her current situation living here more bearable.
Even if she knew it was only temporary.
Juliana offered her hand to Carmine with a huge smile. “Thanks for the battle, Carmine! I had a great time, so I hope we can battle again!”
Carmine became even more flabbergasted after hearing her comment and seeing her bright expression. But after taking a few moments to regain her composure, she accepted her gesture with a firm shake.
“I guess I’ll accept that I lost for now. I still don’t fully trust you…but after battling you, maybe you’re not as bad as I thought. When we do battle again though, I am definitely going to come out as a winner! So, keep that in mind!” She declared with a slightly friendly smile.
Juliana chuckled from her words, even if Carmine was still acting arrogant and haughty. Maybe they could be friends during her stay. Because she definitely wanted to battle the hot-headed girl again and even wanted to know her better. Both her and her sweet little brother.
With energetic eyes, Juliana responded back. “I’m not going to lose next time!”
Carmine flashed a small smirk before Kieran suddenly joined in on the conversation. He looked a bit concerned based on his facial expression.
“Hey, Sis? Shouldn’t we be goin’ soon? We left the house without tellin’ Grandpa and Grandma and I don’t want them gettin’ worried about us…”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Carmine agreed after checking the time on her smartphone. “C’mon Kiki, let’s get back as soon as we can! Last one back’s doing the dishes for the rest of the week!”
As Carmine turned around and ran back to town with breakneck speed, Kieran shouted back at her in shock. “Wha?! Aw man, you’re such a cheatin’ dummy Sis! See ya later, Juliana!”
As Juliana saw the siblings’ moving farther and farther from her, she started heading back home with Sprigatito happily trotting beside her. She never expected today to be so exciting, but maybe this move wouldn’t be as bad as she thought.
Maybe…she could develop a friendship between them that wouldn’t fade like the others, despite knowing that it eventually would one day. It always happened with every new region she moved to.
But even so, the young girl couldn’t help wishing deep within her heart that this one would be ironclad. The golden-eyed siblings that both intrigued and brought her a bit of colour from her previously colourless world.
She walked back to the place she was staying with a cheerful grin she hadn’t had in a while.
Home.
Kieran couldn’t help but bounce and down his sister’s bedroom like a kid on Arceus Eve, still in awe over the sweet and beautiful girl who moved into their quaint, little town.
The first time he locked eyes on her, he could tell that she was the coolest person ever, even being strong enough to defeat Carmine in a battle. Which was no small feat considering he know how skilled she was.
His heart thumped with intensity as he kept remembering that fated meeting.
“Wowzers! Wasn’t Juliana so amazin’ with the way she managed to turn the battle around with that new move her green cat Pokemon learned?! Way cool! And-” Still bouncing on his heels with amazement and excitement.
“Yes, Kiki. This is like the fourth time you said that about that outsider.” Carmine replied with immense exasperation. “The way you’re acting all googly-eyed over her is making me wanna hurl! If you love her so much, why don’t you confess your sickening love at her face?”
“W-wha?! L-love?! T-that’s not what I… Ugh! You’re such a big dummy, Sis!”
“What did you just say to me?! You better apologize if you know what’s good for you!” Carmine seethed with dull, golden eyes staring daggers at the shy boy.
And as always, Kieran relented to his sister’s intimidation as he sighed in resignation to her current mood. “Aw man…”
“But…” She continued, “She didn’t seem so bad when we talked, and I guess she’s a decent battler. I wouldn’t mind battling her again at least.”
Kieran gasped. “Am I hearin’ you right? Did you actually compliment an outsider?”
“I can be nice to people who have my respect, you know?! She was actually pretty fun to battle with, even though we all know I would’ve won if her kitty didn’t pull out a new move outta the wind like that!”
“I dunno about that…”
Carmine huffed. “Anyway! Maybe it wouldn’t be a completely bad idea to get to know that outsid-, I mean Juliana better while she’s living here.” Carmine added, a faint blush evident on her face.
Wow! Kieran never thought Carmine would ever lessen her hostility against people outside of Kitakami. And a compliment was even rarer? Juliana must have been even more special than he thought. That just made him want to get to know her even more.
But would Juliana like him once she got to know him? Would she even want to be friends with someone like him?
She didn’t seem like the type to be critical or mean over others, seeing as she was still acting friendly despite Carmine’s aggressiveness. She even smiled at him back at the field. Seeing that smile pointed at him made Kieran tingle all over his body that he had never felt before.
Still, Kieran couldn’t help but focus on the nagging thoughts that plagued his mind. Years of being looked down on by the other kids and some of the townspeople had left him feeling anxious and pessimistic over any future potential friendships. Why bother giving himself hope when it was likely this would all end up in failure as usual, after all?
Yet, somewhere deep within his heart, he wanted to believe that this would work out. That he and Juliana could be close friends. That he could be the shining light that would illuminate the darkened world he felt he was living in.
He wanted to believe so badly that the cool, radiant girl who came to live in their small town would like him for who he was.