Chapter Text
With a final mid-air bounce and a subtle click, the pokeball fell to the ground with a soft thud on the grass as Harmony let out a celebratory hiss "yes!" as she went to go pick it up.
She'd been out in the wild zones in the chilly autumn air of Lumiose all day now, and as the sun got lower, the chill of the wind seemed to creep into her very core even though she had her jacket on. Maybe a drink would help her warm up. She was already in Centrico Plaza to catch some of the pokemon around the remains of Prism Tower, so she thought she could make a quick detour to Noveau Café for a quick pick-me-up.
Harmony had contemplated going back to Hotel Z for the night early given how fatigued she felt, but she also really wanted to participate in the royale again tonight, with how few battles she got in last night (not like she expected to find many other trainers with the heavy rain and all, though) so she thought surely a nice warm coffee would also stave off the tiredness that was weighing so heavy on her (who needs sleep anyways when you have coffee, right?).
As she sauntered over with her partner Absol and came in view of the truck, she heard the voice of the waitress Griselle calling out to her:
"Well if isn't our favorite hero of Lumiose, here for another Ember roast, I presume?" she asks in her normal sarcastic tone. Harmony almost wanted to come up with a sarcastic comment of her own, but decided not to.
"Yes, please," she opted for a simple answer instead, her voice coming out rougher than she thought as she clears her throat to fix it.
"Rough day out there?" the waitress questions, clearly noticing Harmony's rough state as Grisham begins to make her coffee behind her.
"Just a little tired," she reassures before breaking into a sudden coughing fit as if to nullify her statement.
"Doesn't sound that way," she retorted skeptically. "Were you out late last night or something?" she interrogated.
"Yea, battling," Harmony answered non-chalantly.
"In the storm?" Griselle's tone began to sound more annoyed as she interrogated further.
"... Yes?" Harmony answered sheepishly after a second with an upwards inflection, sensing her growing ire at Harmony.
"Are you trying to catch your death of a cold?!" Griselle snapped back at Harmony. Normally when she would snap at her like this, it was out of annoyance, but this seemed more like it came from a place of concern, though her tone was no different.
Harmony interjects with a bit of nervous laughter, her voice still a bit hoarse, "Oh, I'm uh, fine."
"Doesn't really look that way either," the waitress commented, her blue eyes narrowing at the trainer in suspicion, examining her pale-looking face.
"I'm" —Harmony stops to sniffle a bit— "fine, I swear."
Griselle exchanges an unimpressed look with Absol, both knowing Harmony had been pushing herself too much and refusing to do so much as acknowledge it, again. Just like that friend of hers she showed up with sometimes.
"Whatever you say then, kid. Don't work yourself too hard." The waitress suddenly switches back to cheerful, handing off the drink to Harmony.
"Can't save the city running on empty, now," Grisham added from behind the counter.
"I don't know what they're acting like worried parents for," Harmony thought to herself, "I don't even think they're all that much older than me anyways." She coughed into her fist again before taking a drink of her coffee.
She was originally going to take it with her, but Harmony decided to sit and drink as she began to feel a bit weak standing. She felt the heavy chill inside of her ease a bit as she drank the hot coffee, relaxing a bit. Harmony turned to look over at the setting sun with her Absol. As she sat and watched the colors of the sunset dance across the sky, she began to think that maybe they did have a point. She didn't really feel great, now that she thought about it. A persistant ache began to creep up the back of her head. Maybe she could skip battling just for tonight...
Harmony took another drink and relaxed a little more, her eyes beginning to feel kind of heavy as her Absol gives her a curious look. Suddenly it's feeling impossible to keep her own head up, as she brought up a knee to rest her hand on as she put her head down on her arm.
"Maybe if I just close my eyes for just a minute..." Harmony thought just before she began to slip away silently into a deep sleep.