Chapter Text
‘It's not your fault you lost to me. Everyone does, why expect your outcome to be so different?’ the trainer lifelessly tilts their head at you.
The trainer stares at you darkly, so young, yet so harsh on your fragile ego.
Your hand clutches your poke ball in defeat and anger. ‘I… was so close… I know I should have won that. ‘ you stare at the ball as tears threaten to swell behind your eyes.
‘But you didn't. You didn't win, I did.’ The small trainer looks into your eyes, dully shaking their head, still so dark and empty of emotion. You almost want to scream at the kid.
You clench your teeth in anger, holding back any haste comments, you figure you already made a big enough scene in the building.
You hate so much that this is how everything turned out. You spent so much of your life training alongside your pokemon, yet you still weren't strong enough. You hated that you weren't strong enough. You were strong, sure, but it's still not enough if you were still able to be defeated. You need to prove yourself, prove to your found family, prove to yourself you were meant for greater.
You feel guilt turning up in your stomach, the guilt mixing over your indescribable hatred you have towards the trainer and you. You feel sick to your stomach, as if you were throw up at any second now.
Lost in thought, you let out a heavy sigh as you look to the exit door of the stadium. The doors yell at you to bare into them, to bare your naked body into, they yell at you for your mistake, yell at you for how miserable you are being, yell at your guilt and hatred. You need those doors.
Lips parting ways, you can feel them quiver, ‘I know.’ You finally let out. Trudging your feet along the platform of the gym. You clench your bag of your belongings, trying to not cry in front of every single person in Galar. You can hear the yelling of the doors in your mind.
You stare in front of the doors, they glare at your sickly appearance. Your vomit and tears threaten you as much as these doors. The very doors to solidify your untimely demise. Your fingers brush over the cold metal material of the handles. You pull and twist them open, feeling the screams of agony rush over you like a waterfall. As you walk out of the door, you feel your face tremble in tears. You let Galar down, yourself and your family down, especially Piers. Your close friend. You promised him that you would win the championship. Yet you lost to the kid. The one endorsed by the champion. You can feel your face twist into many different emotions.
It's silly really. How a kid with little to no experience with pokemon, was somehow destined to win. And especially out of nowhere. You clench your jaw, trapping any sort of noise it could make, almost as if it were to mock you of your defeat even more than the world has.
You walk to a bench in the waiting room for the trainers, trying to piece yourself together.
Sitting down, you wipe your tears away, trying to suppress them. You unzip your bag, pulling out a crumbled piece of paper. It was your own endorsement paper Piers wrote for you. It makes you feel even more guilty. But you tread on reading it again, it states your name and continues with that you're an exceptional trainer and must be allowed to compete. You croak out gulps as you cry. The guilt festering in your stomach even more.
You hate yourself so much. You hate, hate hate hate and especially hate yourself. You wish you could crawl up in a ball and die or just disappear, anything like that really.
Yet you look at your letter once again, choking on your tears as you spoke to yourself, ‘I should just find the tallest building in Galar and jump, I'm an absolute and total failure, I suck. I suck. I should die.’.
You fold the paper back up, placing it in your bag once again, you stare at the television, showing the new reigning champion of Galar.
You feel your face scrunch up in disgust.
‘I SHOULD HAVE WON. I SHOULD HAVE, I HAD THE ADVANTAGES AND I HAD MORE EXPERIENCE. I SHOULD BE A REIGNING CHAMPION! NOT THAT FUCKING KID. I HATE YOU AND I HATE THIS LEAGUE. I HATE IT ALL. ‘ you scream and shake out in tears, you nearly barf from how much pressure you're putting on your body. You scrunch up on the bench crying. Some part of you wants someone to hear and comfort you, but in total, you're disgusted by that idea and even people in all. You're so disgusted. ‘I-i.. I can't let t-this happen again.’
‘I won't let this happen again. ‘ you sob out, shoving your head into your lap one last time.
That was almost a year ago since the defeat happened. A year ago since you made that promise to yourself.
Since then, you left Galar in the pursuit of traveling to Paldea, a ‘fresh start’, as you told yourself many times. You left without telling anyone, only leaving Piers a note. You couldn't bear the thought of seeing him and Marnie upset. You missed them, but you knew you had to do this yourself. Without anyone's help.
Sometimes that battle still haunts you, how easily that trainer defeated you. But you promised you would never let it hinder your goal. Since then you haven't lost a singular battle against a competitor. You've been training endlessly, making sure you will be able to win this time.
‘I need to. I need to win. ‘ you reminded yourself. You sit at your desk in your dorm room, sketching your last piece before you head out.
You took up studies in Messagona, to further improve battle techniques and to terastilize your own pokemon. Since in this region, you need to have the proper education to be able to both compete in the gyms and to obtain tera orbs. It was frustrating at first, being well into your late twenties still having to do studies, but alas, you'll do whatever it takes to be the best. In the beginning it was belittling, seeing so many young kids surround you in the school and seeing vastly few adults your age continuing studies or even trying out tera battling. You felt very out of place, yet you pushed on. You took extra classes into battling, putting your all into it.
While training the last year you taught your pokemon more challenging moves and cross over moves to new tera typing to further your type pool while sticking to your comforting ghost typing. And you were also able to catch a charcadet, which you evolved into ceruledge, it quickly became your new ace, with how strong and loyal it was to you.
You have quite the team now, ever stronger than in Galar. You're certainly proud of your accomplishments. You just need to apply it to the actual league. Which this time you will win.
Shaking your head out of thought you look down onto your desk, staring at your drawing. You really like art, almost as much as battling. You tend to combine the two sometimes when you can.
You hold up your drawing, taking it in, and being proud of your work. “Let's head out.” you hum out to your Galarian Linoone, Ziggy, he was a gift from Piers when he first found you out alone in the forest.
Standing up from your chair, grabbing your bag and your battling clothes to get packed and ready to leave your dorm. You rarely get to dress up in your battle attire since it tends to take a bit of time to wear. You have been practicing a ‘tear away’ method, but you're too unsure how it might come off to a trainer battling against you. You really do enjoy this aspect of you and battling but it's hard to actually achieve to your full extent. And to add onto that, much rarely you meet people with such passion or even artistic creativity as this.
“Maybe I am a bit too autistic… “ you say out in realization as you quietly assess your room for one last time. Making sure everything is packed out, since you will be moving to Medali. You figured that after the treasure hunt you won't need to attend school any more, so in preparation you rented out a house in Paldea. You're not too sure how long you'll still be staying here after winning, but till then this is your plan.
You actually haven't even gone to Medali yet, but you saw it had the cheapest houses and apartments there, so you quickly checked yourself in. Which… to be fair isn't the greatest idea you have had, but again, being homeless is worse. Currently you have all your belongings other than personal carry on's set in the house there. You had someone drop them off for you through the school.
Finalizing your thoughts you pet Ziggy as you took your drawing with you to turn in as your last assignment. “Time to actually leave.. “ you sigh out as you shake your head in slight irritation at your internal dialogue.
Leaving the dorm room, you slide your key card in a pocket next to the door frame, so an assistant can collect and disable it. “Time to leave this school Ziggy! Finally, am I right? “ You look over to your Linoone for approval, the only thing you get is your legs being drooled on by its tongue. “Well… that's one way to answer. “
Outside of Hassels door, you stare at the door, looking over it one last time, cautiously knocking on the door, waiting for a response. ‘Pleaseee be in the room.. ‘ you silently pout, staring at the door. Ziggy scratches the door in curiosity as well, trying to figure out why you're so damn focused on a singular door. You really liked Mr. Hassels teachings in art and how much he put his all into art and its teachings. You always felt super inspired by him because of that, one of the classes you looked forward too the most besides the battling course.
Soon enough, you hear a small creek of the door opening. You can feel yourself breathe in relief.
“ Ah, Hello! What may bring you here? Shouldn't you be out for the treasure hunt? “ Hassle questions you, making you a bit anxious, but you manage to actually say something instead of just staring at the poor old man. “Oh! Uh.. Yeah, I came here to turn this in,” you raise the piece in your hands, “wanted to make sure you get it before I leave. "You see his eyes light up beautifully, finding himself beaming in excitement at your creation, he carefully grabs the drawing out of your hands.
“The details! The colors, the shading, ohhh it's absolutely magnificent! Truly one of your best works yet!” He shines his teeth to you, tears of joy pricking his eyes, making you blush in glee. You love hearing compliments about your work. Though it's a bit embarrassing that he became so emotional about it. “Thank you so much, sir! I'm truly glad you like the piece that much!” you gingerly reply back. ” Though I do think I can do much better, I highly doubt this is my best work, but I really appreciate your statement. “ You shyly added that last bit, since you never really rejected a compliment as much as this before, but you couldn't help but to say that anyways. You really did want to speak your mind about your own work.
“Your welcome, I must say though, you don't have to be so harsh on your own work, while I do agree to always strive for more, I must say, diminishing your own self over it isn't the artist way!” He firmly holds your shoulder to try to be friendly around you about his words, yet it only makes you shiver and hold out a gross and uncomfortable expression, since you really haven't been able to get over your distaste for touch. He quickly pulls his hand back in confusion, to which you quickly console him, “Oh sorry, I get really uncomfortable around physical contact, especially if it's unexpected, nothing against you, it's just me being weird.” You awkwardly try to laugh it off while fidgeting with your sleeve.
He seemed to understand by giving a nod, “Ah, I see… well I'm glad you told me anyways, wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable.” He shines a small smile before quickly adjusting himself to a more professional stance.
He coughs into his fist before opening his mouth to say something else, “While you're here, I must ask, what are you planning to achieve in your treasure hunt? If that is, you are set on any sort of plan.” He questions you curiously, anticipating you to answer.
You only think for a moment to process his words before you excitedly epp out and tangenting on your goal “I'm committing myself to battle against the league. I've been training all year for this and been studying the league and its weaknesses! I'm looking forward to battling against the gyms and elite four. And winning. “ You speak sternly on the last portion of your small ramble. You wanted to emphasize you are keen on winning and that is your only goal. ‘No doubt about it, this time I surely must win’ you think to yourself, further solidifying yourself and your heart.
He opens his mouth so slightly as he seemingly ponders in thought, scratching his chin. “I.. Never took you as the battling type.. You're always so quiet… Not that it is bad, just unexpected. “You watch him look back at you, curiously. Honestly you never realized how reserved you came off. And it really does hurt you a little, you thought by now, your teachers will finally see your truest passions?
“Really..? I've been training here the whole time. Actually.. The only reason I moved to Paldea was to train even more alongside my pokemon. “ You gaze over to Ziggy, who was patiently laying by your feet.
Looking back to Hassel, you see his face turn into a disappointed one. Maybe he heard or even saw your hurt on you, either on your face or through your voice, you can't quite tell, and it bothers you. Even irks you to a degree, that you can't tell how he was able to read you so easily.
“I'm sorry if my statement came off as harsh, I simply wanted to learn more about you, I apologize if I made anything troublesome.” He says, apologetically looking at you, which you shake your head to. “No, it's fine. I don't really talk about myself all that much anyways, I don't expect you to know me like that.” You sigh out, lying just a bit, as you start to look a bit more heart broken, you really did expect him to know you were serious about battling, especially since a lot of your art depicted such. ‘To be fair.. He does teach hundreds of kids each day, how the hell do you expect him to keep up with all of that?’ You criticized yourself, looking back at the man, who seemed to be inspecting your face. You blush anxiously, unsure of what he is quite doing, which you hate. You really hate how much you can't tell what he's thinking or feeling.
He clears his throat, “I can tell you are lying, you're way too affected by my words to not care. Please tell me why, so I can help.” You cringe, you don't really know what to say. You tug on your bag strap, seeking words to say. “And truthfully this time.” He quickly adds in, staring at you. You take an awkward step back staring at the floor. “I do admit.. I was a bit upset that you didn't know I liked battling, it's a really big passion of mine… but I do understand that you couldn't possibly have known or really kept track of, I'm just acting foolish.” you anxiously reply back, unsure if your answer is up to his standards.
He hums in acknowledgement, “I see… I am sorry I never noticed, please don't take my word to heart, I honestly might have just forgotten, since I do inspect many other students' work and listen to them each. But I will note this for the future! I do wish to see you battle one day!” he puts on a cheery act to make you feel a bit better, it doesn't necessarily work in the way he wanted to, but you do become a lot more at peace with him mentioning battling. You smile at him to show your own affection, “maybe we could battle each other one day!” You offer into the air, not really expecting him to agree. “Maybe… “ he replies a bit quietly but maintaining a smirk. Odd, but you brush past this. Ziggy growls at you, almost instantly reminding you that you have to start heading out. You pat his head in acknowledgement, and you turn back to your teacher, “I'm going to head out! See you later maybe?” you offer again, slightly smiling a bit more. “See you! And have fun battling!” He sends you off with his words. You waved goodbye to him and he waved back. You turn around and leave, walking through the hallways, you smile to yourself.
Outside of Messagona, you realized how absolutely huge Paldea was, in Galar almost everything was really a walk or bike ride away. Realizing this, you're figuring you absolutely need a pokemon to fly you around here. Well… you do have Drifblim, but for the sake of your shoulders you really rather avoid that.. But maybe with your Dragapult could work? It can fly and it is a dragon… just a bit concerned if you would be able to actually sit on it properly.
You call out Atlas, your Dragapult, anyways and try to inspect it to see if it would be fit to fly you. You pet it's snout as you hum something for it, “hey Atlas, would you be able to carry me across Paldea?” You watch for a reaction, it thinks about your question a bit before it makes a small cry with a nod. “Thank you Atlas, you're doing a really big favor for me” you rub your hand across its head again, to signify you acknowledge it and appreciate what it's allowing you to do.
You make your way behind it and carefully set yourself on its floating back, you're a bit surprised how solid it is, especially for being a ghost, but you assume it's like your Gengar, being transparent when it wants. “Alright Atlas… take me to Cortanodo” you whisper as you pet it for reassurance. It makes a small cry and starts floating farther off the ground.
You watch as the ground gets further and further, it honestly makes you shake a bit, it's the first time you actually rode a flying pokemon, especially not traveling on it. You try to take a deep breath to calm yourself down, Atlas cries out, almost as if it was asking if you were okay. “I'm fine, bud! Just new to flying! I'll be okay.” you assure it and even yourself a bit.
Atlas is slowly gliding and floating in the air as it makes its way to the bug gym. It's so weird to you seeing everything so far away like this, it reminds you of a mural you remember seeing in Galar. It was a painting of Galar from above, it had all the different cities and gyms. It was a piece to show unity in Galar and its people. You remember the artwork being somewhere near Turffield.
The thought makes you smile, you really did love Galar, it was the best thing to happen to you. You would go back if you could, you remind yourself. But the thought of one day going back still lingers.
An hour passes when you finally arrive in Cortando, almost immediately the smell of food draws your attention. You see many different shops and stands with sweet treats and savory dishes, one in particular catches your eyes, it was a bakery run by the gym leader Katie! It had so many delicious sweets all in the window, your mouth quivers in hunger and delight at the thought of eating some of those pastries and desserts. “Maybe just a few..” You say aloud, you look over to Atlas as it inspects you. “How about a yummy treat for your hard work!” It and the Dreepy laying in its head nod feveriously, you forget how much your Dragapult loves food.
You and your pokemon walk up to the bakery, looking at all the food in the window before you actually open the door to walk inside. Inside you're greeted by a welcoming aroma of all the collective dishes around. Upfront there's a rather large man in stature making some of the treats and selling them. He looks really kind as well, being super friendly with everyone.
Walking up to the small line of people you wait with Atlas as you read the menu, you're really hoping for Pokemon safe food. You would hate to let it down. Reading it, you see there's a small note that all food here is pokemon safe and there's extra specialty made for pokemon. You smile in relief.
While you were still reading, you unknowingly were just standing still instead of continuing to walk as you waited. Only realizing when Atlas lightly slapped its tail against your back. You eep out a bit, a bit embarrassed you've been standing there like a deerling. “My bad…” you quietly let out as you walked in front of the counter. Looking at the man you quietly and quickly say what you want. “You want what… ?” He questions since he didn't catch any of what was said, “I.. I want the Alcremie special, two of them..” Your head is down as you speak, feeling even more embarrassed by how quiet you were being. “Alright! It will be 500 poke dollars!” The man smiles as he puts in your order. You pull out your wallet and hand him the cash, which he swiftly takes.
“Thank you” you quickly get out before he tells you to wait 15-20 minutes for the items. You abide, finding a seat inside. You sit at a small table with your Dragapult. Taking your bag, you shift through it to find a small sketch book to doodle in.
As you were sketching, you heard the bell of the door ring, signaling another person walking in. Out of curiosity you turn to see who it was, shockingly to you, it was your Teacher (or formal) Hassell. Your eyebrows raise in curiosity as he steps into the building, with sharpness, he spots you out. He calls out your name to which you nod and waved at. “I wasn't expecting to see you here!” He cheerly says as he walks up to your seat. “Hah.. Yeah, I came here to gain some energy before the gym!” You answer him, offering the seat across you. He sits down, as he does he sees your Dragapult.
“You have a pseudo legendary! My you really do have yourself set out!” He glees at you, petting your pokemon softly. “Yeah, I guess I do! I have had it since it was a Dreepy, from Galar. It has been of service to me since.” Atlas lays across your feet, almost as if it is acknowledging your words of it. “I suppose you guys have a very strong bond then!” Hassell remarks, smiling. “Yeah, we really do.”
You smile back, but then you start to wonder why Hassell came to Cartonado. “Sorry to ask, but what made you come here anyways? Cartonado is pretty far out.” you question him, looking at his face for a response. He blankly stares for a bit, before responding,”well, I have two reasons I came! One was to get some food for me and a… friend.” He oddly paused after admitting to getting food, which you slightly tilted your head at. You shake your head, figuring he just needed time to think. “And the other reason?” You ask, watching the man blink again before answering. “Ah, I simply wanted to see you battle! You were so excited about it, I figured I would take your offer, that is, if you would like for me to be there.” You raise a hand to your chin, a bit confused how he figured to find you here, but you remembered that typically this is the first gym for trainers. You blink at him as you process and assess the question. “Hmm yeah, you can watch! I'm very glad you took my offer into consideration.”
“Marvelous! I am very excited to see what art you create on the battlefield!” he stands up, pushing his chair in, “if you don't mind, I'll be picking up the food I need” you nod in response waving him off. You, yourself, are waiting for your own food as well, so this worked out perfectly.
Going back to your sketch book, you continue to doodle till your food arrives.
15 minutes or so passed as your name was called out for your order. You place your book and pen down as you get up to collect your food. Standing up, you push in your chair to collect the Alcremie sweets that were made for you and Atlas. “Thank you so much!” You hum out to the man, grateful for the sweet. You head back to your seat, where you pokemon was sleeping. “Atlas! I have some food for you!!” You cheerfully say sliding a small plate of cake and whip cream. It beams at you, and quickly digs into the treat, alongside the small Dreepy in the head.
You place your own treat on the table, basking in the sweet aroma, making you drool a bit. “Time to dig in!” You say rubbing your hands right before plunging your fork into the cake. The cakes’ taste melts into your mouth, it's so sweet and delicious. The Alcremie cream is so soft and sweet. It has a bit of strawberries in the flavouring.
In no time both you and your pokemon are done with the food. “Wasn't that great Atlas!” You scratch its head and it cries in glee.
You stand up, collecting your belongings. You hype yourself up to get yourself checked into the gym test. “Lets get going” you say to your Dragapult, it spins in the air quickly before it follows you to the door.
Outside, you see Hassell by the gym building, he waves at you which you respond by walking faster. “Ready to get yourself checked in?” He asks you once you're in earshot. You nod and catch up to him. “More ready than ever!” you respond back while steadying yourself. “Good! Get in there and sign up for the gym test, I'll be waiting for you when you're done!” you nod and head inside the building.
Inside you see a lady behind a desk checking trainers in, you can't help but to stare at the kid getting into the gym's field. Something eerie about them crawls across your skin. You hate that. You shake your head and focus on getting registered.
Walking up to the lady, you tell her that you are looking into battling the league and interested in this gym. She nods telling you to go outside for a test.
The test was to roll an olive across a field through pathways, which turned out to be quite easy with the help of Atlas, it managed to skip over a lot of the poles set in place which you snickered at, at the time. You congratulated it by giving it an orange Berry after the test. Now, you were back inside the building getting registered for the actual gym battle. “Are you ready to battle gym leader Katie?” The attendant asked you behind the desk, and you quickly responded yes.
She asks you to follow her outside to the court, it was just outside the bakery you were at mere minutes ago. In the crowd you see Hassell cheering you on as you step into the lines. Waving out as people cheered, you see the gym leader herself step onto the court.
“Hello there, gym challenger! And welcome to the bug type gym! With that said, do not underestimate my cuties! They pack punches!” You nod and smile, not really worried about that.
She sends out a Nymble, to which you send out Atlas, yes a very unfair level difference, but you wanted this battle to end as quickly as it could.
She seemed a little shocked as her eyebrows raised a bit, “I can see you're quite the experienced trainer…!” you blush and shyly shake your head yes, you didn't know what else to say.
And within moments you won, and you didn't even need to terastylize.
“Good battle!” Katie praised you, which you returned the favour and complimented how much effort she did try to put in, even if the battle was severely unbalanced. She smiled and gave you the bug type bag.
“Do you want to take a picture to celebrate the moment?” She asked you, pointing at your Rotom phone. You think for a second before shaking your head yes. “Yeah! Seems fun!” You take your phone out and angle the selfie to include both of you in a fun way. “So sweet!” You both said as you took the picture. Putting away your Rotom phone, you thank her for the picture and battle once more, really showing how appreciative of it you were.
You waved her goodbye, deciding to meet back up with Hassell to see what he thought of the battle. You find him in the diminishing crowd surrounding the court. You wave at him in greeting, “how did I do?” You ask him, wanting his full opinion on it. For a moment he seems to ponder the question a bit, analyzing the question at his hand. “Hmm.. Well you certainly did quite well, it's just hard to evaluate when there's such a difference in advantages, which hinders your performance.” He says critically, seemingly a bit disappointed at such. “So you're saying I took advantage of her low level pokemon?” You question, a bit unsure at what he was saying. “A bit like that, yes, I have no doubt that you are very talented, but it becomes empty in surprise or in awe with your quite huge advantage.” You nod slowly, you get what he is saying, it just sucks that this is probably the only time he will be able to see you battle, and it wasn't even the full extension of it.
“I see… unfortunately I don't have any low level pokemon myself, so I guess I was bound to be a disappointment I suppose.” You ponder aloud, not really responding to Hassell, more really, just talking your mind. “Well… I wouldn't say that, but I do understand what you mean.” He adjusts his tie before he quips another reply, “I guess I will judge your later battles then! See you soon.” He beams you a smile before walking off, you dazely wave back, unsure what to say, so you stay silent.
You pull out your Rotom phone, it shows that it's 5:37 pm, you decide that it might as well be perfect timing to try out your new house.
You call out Atlas from its Pokeball, it lets out a small cry like usual. “Can you take me to Medali? Our new home is waiting there.” Atlas swops side to side excitedly. You scratch its head and you hop onto its back. You rub its back a bit, signalling you are ready to depart. Atlas starts to hover off the ground, gaining momentum to start flying.
Being up in the sky is still really hard to adjust to, you feel your stomach twist again, so you start to breathe in and out. Slowly gliding, you watch as the city gets farther away, much like in Messagona. The cool air tickles your neck as you get higher in the air.
You watch the sky change from blue to orange hues as time passes by, watching the sun set in the horizon. The perspective is so different, yet it's so beautiful. Almost as if someone painted the literal sky. The clouds were strokes of paint and the ombre of colors are splatters of paint on the canvas.
After two to three hours, you finally arrived in Medali. You give Atlas another Oran Berry for the time being as a treat, “thank you so much, it's time you get some rest.” After it's done eating, you call it back to the Pokeball. You pull out your Rotom phone to assess where you will be staying from now on. On the map it shows it sits on the outskirts of Medali, next to other houses and apartments.
You forgot that since your rent was so cheap it was because there was someone else also living there too, but apparently doesn't stay there too often so you were fine with that. It takes you a bit to find it, but when you do, you see it's quite spacious, yet looks rather normal and plain. Walking up to the door, you see a note taped onto the door.
"The left side of the house is yours, the code to the door is xxxx." You read it and place it in your bag. You see the keypad attached to the door handle. You recite the code onto the pad, unlocking the door. It swings open, revealing a hallway, in the middle a taped up page with writing.
‘I had your furniture and belongings placed in the biggest room to the left. You can rearrange anything there, there's a kitchen and bathroom already set up though. I'm usually very busy so you don't have to worry about me, just when I am here, please be quiet.’
You take the note in your hands and place it in your bag as well. “Very particular I see…” you say aloud quietly, unsure if the owner is here or not. Down the small hallway, you see a door labeled as ‘LEFT’, you snicker a bit, you hadn't considered that there would be directions for a house.
Inside are vast (empty) rooms big enough for a small family. You hunt down for the biggest one which supposedly held all your belongings. A minute of searching, you finally find your stuff neatly placed in the middle of the floor, with an average sized bed in the corner, a note placed on it. ‘This was already in my possession, I didn't need it, so you are allowed to use it.’ You place the last note in your bag. “Well… that's nice…” you whisper to yourself, placing your hand on the bed.
You check your Rotom phone, showing it's 8:43 pm, feeling already pretty tired. You just put your current handhold items next to your bed. You go digging in the pile of your stuff and find the tub of all your clothes, opening it to put some pajamas on.
You take off your sweater and pants and put on some shorts and a shirt. You plop yourself onto your bed to sleep.
You're drowning
Not sure in what, but you can feel yourself sink into something.
Water? It's too thick to be water.
You can't see anything.
You need to get out.
You start swaying side to side, kicking the walls around you.
Swimming in the thick liquid you continue to wrestle yourself through.
Suddenly, you burst out into the air.
You blossomed into a flower.
You see the outside word as the stigma
Being pollinated by others and guided.
You don't want to be guided by anyone any more.
You want to leap out of this flower and breathe.
But as you attempt to do, your legs are glued together by the ovary, the style forms as your legs.
You need to get out
You break and pull
Push
Shove
Scream
Push
Shove and scream
You can feel the rips of the style
You're so close
Twist
Break
Scream
Twist
Break and scream
You're so close.
You need to be out of here.
…...
Everything goes black, you feel your world end.
Teeth, teeth cut into you.
You wake up shaking, sweat sticking onto you. You feel out of breath, as if you were just screaming. ‘I hope I wasn't…’ you think to yourself as you try to console yourself. You sit up and see the sun outside, it's already morning. You cradle your legs into your arms, as you sooth yourself. You send out Ziggy to pet. Also immediately it felt something was wrong and curled in your lap. You sit there and pet Ziggy, mentally contemplating the dream. It scares you, cause you feel like it means something, yet you don't know what.
Ziggy licks your face, if it were asking if you were okay, you nod your head yes. Calming yourself down more, you take your phone out and read the time 9:30 am, a little early, but that just means you can explore more today. You sigh out, trying to think of what should be the plan of today. Looking around the room you get flashed with the horrendous piles of items scattered around, you really need to clean up and get yourself situated.
“Okay Ziggy, let's clean this space up.” You pet your linoones’ head as you sit up more to get you ready for the day. Carefully pushing Ziggy off your body and onto your bed, you stretch your muscles as you slowly get up.
Standing up you look around, examining the room and mentally placing different items of yours. You're thinking of making the kitchen a split of a weird dining living room situation. A game room for the extra spare (to what you assume is or would have been a guest room) as a hang/game room, since you tend to carry tons of electronics and board games for fun. Your bedroom can partially be your office, since you do art and commissions for people.
Half the day passes and you finally have ‘your house’ done. You sit in it proudly, glad you were able to achieve this much. Though dissatisfaction washes over you as you remembered you still need to take on the Artazon gym, ‘train.. Every day..’ You remind yourself. Standing up you go to your bin of clothes, searching for a new outfit to wear for the day. You grab a graphic tee, baggy pants and a jacket.
You get changed pretty quickly, slipping into everything like butter. “Let's go to the second gym, I need to get my next badge.” You throw on your bag, securing all the pokeballs that are hooked onto it. Ziggy growls in glee to you, jumping up and down, waving his tongue everywhere. You giggle at the sight, petting Ziggy in affection.
Walking out of the room, you glimpse at your Rotom phone, the time reading 2:30pm, sighing a bit, disliking how much you spent tidying your house instead of being outside.
You bring Ziggy back to his ball as you walk outside. Exchanging him with Atlas, “you ready bud? I need you to fly me to Artazon today, okay? We can go out to eat again after.” Mentioning food, it beams a cry, nodding excitedly. You giggle, petting its head, “you really like that, don't ya?” You smile at it as it spun around in reciprocation. “Okay then! Let's get in the air!” You rub its head in acknowledgement of its joy. You steady yourself to get on its back, once ready you rubbed your hand along its back.
It nearly jolts up in the sky in anticipation to which scared the crap out of you, you scream, startled out of your mind, to which Atlas slows back down in a normal speed in the air for you to adjust. It lets out a whine, you pat its head consoling it. “I'm so sorry for screaming, I just got scared, I promise to keep my tone down. But only if you don't go extremely fast.. Okay?” It softly nods in reply with a soft cry.
You rub its back again, signaling you're fully adjusted to start flying again. It heads up further again, this time slower. A lot of wind as you pass on through, you really hope it doesn't rain soon or anything of the sorts. You really should have checked the weather before you left.
Flying for 3-ish hours you finally arrive in Artazon, you thank Atlas once more, retrieving it in its Pokeball since you have a feeling it might rain soon. Looking around as you walk, you see the multitude of extravagant sculptures. A lot, you point out, are of sunflora. You chuckle a bit but then you consider it must be something of the town. As you walk through trying to find the gym you can't help but to ogle at all the different artistic pieces in Artazon. Reading a few, it seems that the majority are made by the gym leader Brassius.
You take out your sketch book, the sunflora statues encapsulate you, you figure that it shouldn't be too long if you did one sketch. So you kneel in the grass next to the statue, admiring the artistic beauty. You spend about 15 or so minutes sketching your drawing.
You stare at what you accomplish for a bit, feeling glad that you decided to draw, despite you being so eager to get your second gym badge.
As you are closing your sketch book, you feel a cold hand on your shoulder, you jolt and scream in both shock and horror to someone touching you unexpectedly. “OH MY GOD!!!” you scream out, bit terrified. You whip your head around to see who placed the hand. It seems to be an older man, maybe in his late 40’s.
His wrinkles deepen around his furrowed eyebrows, “I must apologize, I did not mean to startle you.” He takes his hand away from your shoulder to your relief. “I only wanted to get your attention.” You frown, ‘there are much easier ways to do that, than just touching someone.’
you shake your head, “It’s fine, it was just really unexpected.” You breathe in, standing up, to face the man. Finally registering in his face you realize that he’s Brassius. “Wait…You’re the gym leader! Holy shit, hi???” A bit terrified you awkwardly offer your hand at an attempt for any sort of formality you can pull off. He takes your hand in return, firmly so. You feel how boney and cold his hands are in the small frame of the shake.
He shakes his head a bit, his face darkly looking at you, “...Nice to meet you too…” his facial features scrunch as he seems to focus on your sketchbook, you bring it out, “this catching your eye?” You ask, curious of what he is so determined to see. “Yes, I saw you drawing and as an artist myself, I am certainly inquisitive about your work, may I?” he slightly pulls a smile over his pale slim lips as he points to your sketch book. You process this after a bit and quickly pull out the page, making sure to skip over any explicitly crude drawings you might have. “This is what I was sketching…” You felt a little anxious about another artist looking over your work, a part of you feels like dying when you can’t read his expression.
But sure enough he beams out in glee, reminding you of your teacher. “You encapsulated the sunflora beautifully! The fine strokes of the pencil and the shading being done in a cross hatching style!-truly avant-grade!” Even while having such an optimistic attitude, he looked so sharp on his face, it felt weirdly intimidating. But even so, you feel very flustered by the overwhelming compliment. ‘a lot for a small sketch’ you thought to yourself, before prompting yourself to say something back.
“Thank you truly! It’s honestly just a small sketch, but I admire an artist such as you, and how you think so highly of my own work. Honestly your statues and pieces around town are just stunning, it was my whole inspiration for my sketch really.” you smile bashfully, you’re a bit anxious how the compliment might come out, but you’re honestly very glad you were actually able to say so much about his work to him. You really do admire his craft.
You watch him stare a bit, watching his face drop a bit, but he quickly saves it, “My, you do have a way with words! I’m glad you think of my artistic skills as such. And from artist to artist, our biggest role is to inspire all of those around us, even the littlest of doodles can spark passion in another.” he flashes a smile, his wrinkles more defining around his cheeks. You can’t help but to smile back, “Never heard something more relatable.” You earn a small chuckle from the man, it makes you blush a bit.
“Hah, I think we may just think similarly, do we not?” he remarks, holding… a whip in his hands..? It startles you a bit, very unsure how to process someone handling such an item so casually. “What… what do you do with that…?” You cautiously point to the whip, unsure what he is planning to do. “Oh this? It's for show, do not worry, I will not put you in danger unless I need to.”
You tilt your head to ‘unless I need to’ which does not settle your fears. “Oh.. Kay..!” You managed to peep out, shaking ever so slightly. “um.. I need to leave anyway… I need to get to the gym.. You know! To uh.. Battle..!” you try to say, wanting to get out of this very awkward situation. “Let me come with you, you can't battle the gym if I'm not there.” you sigh, you awkwardly agree by nodding. “Good, come a long then, your gym test awaits you!” He sets a very quick pace, you barely keep up. ‘Jesus does this man take steroids? Or am I SERVERLY out of shape… ?’ You think to yourself, but you quickly shake your head and push it aside as you speed walk up to him.
Catching up to him, you continue to walk hastily at his pace. “How… Do you do this.. Aren't you like fourty…” you Huff out as you barely catch your breath. ‘Maybe I truly am unfit for this’
“To be a gym leader, you must not only strengthen your pokemon, but also your body to achieve your goals and motives. I may be an artist, but I have high standards in health.” Brassius sternly states, almost like lecturing you. You slightly roll your eyes and nod in understanding.
Moments later, you're in front of the Artazon gym with Brassius, “go in and get yourself registered, I have to attend another battle in the meantime.” He waves you off as you just try to catch your breath.
Once again, the gym test was quite easy, taking Ziggy out to help round up all the hiding sunflora. heading back to the Artazon gym, to get yourself registered for the gym battle.You see two kids meeting up, one cheerfully declaring out how they just won their second badge. It was the same kid in Cortanado, you feel your face scrunch up in bitter anger. It's almost as if they're mocking you by always being one step ahead. You really hate it. But you suppress the feelings anyways, saying it's irrational for being upset at someone you don't even know.
You breathe in, trying to ignore your mind, the same one screaming at the top of its lungs. “I came here to win, and win I shall.” You remind yourself as you push through the doors of the building.
Stepping inside you head to the lady behind the desk, telling her you finished the test. She nods and asks if you're ready to take on the Gym leader to which you nod and say absolutely yes.
You feel frustrated as you walk onto the court, feeling irritated for being there
You're so focused on the ground you don't even notice the man jumping from above, you only heard his feet thumping onto the court. “I would appreciate a response of some kind…” he dryly says aloud, trying to get your attention. You look up to him and nod, you feel so empty going into this battle.
“Let's have an inspiring battle, shall we?” He remarks, referencing earlier today. You can only nod as you take out Chandelure. You press your forehead to the ball, showing your emotional connection to your pokemon before you throw it out to battle. “Face the spirits! Chandelure come on out!” With that a flash of light reveals your pokemon.
Brassius hits his whip against the floor, a small crackle coming out. He throws out his pokemon so urgently, the pokemon that comes out is pettlili. “Chandelure use inferno.” You command, pointing out a finger and placing a hand on your hips, it does, burning the pettlili up, causing it to faint.
It's funny how emotionless you feel about everything, yet you still try to show off as such. Brassius cracks his whip again, sending out Smoliv. And once again, you command your pokemon to use inferno. Taking it out immediately, the same thing happens when he sends out sudowoudo, once teralestalized you easily took it down once again. You performed with your pokemon yet you felt no passion behind it.
Brassius looks enraged after losing, he comes up to you hastily, “why do you do this! Why do you battle so stylistically yet you have no heart to it! Why battle at all if you won't treat the field as your canvas! I thought you were an artist!” You shrug, you genuinely don't know why you're so disinterested in this, usually you would be enthusiastic, yet you aren't. “Don't just shrug! Give me a solid answer!” Brassius commands you.
You sigh and your lips spread apart, “I don't know why I'm like this, I just simply am.” You dryly answer as you look over to Chandelure and scratch at her where her cheeks would be. “I love battling and usually I'm eccentric about it, but I don't know.. I guess I'm simply not in it today.” You gave an honest answer, the best you can come up with. Brassius looked at you sternly, as if he's searching you, seeing if you're hiding anything, but he sees you're not. He sighs and lets go of his confrontation. “I see.. Well. You're welcomed here whenever you wish.”
He starts leaving before you pull on his hand, to remind him of the badge, “wait, the badge! You haven't given me the badge.” he stared at you, and then your hand, seemingly irritated. You awkwardly let go as he goes back to you. “Ah, yes, your badge, I presume you want a photo too?” You nod, even though you don't actually need or want one you still feel as if you should.
He pulls out the badge from his pocket, neatly sitting in a small case. “Take it, you deserve it.” you collect your second badge, putting it in your very own case in your bag. “And this, for your pokemon,” he hands you a TM similar to the bug gym. “Thank you” you place the TM in your bag as well. He snaps his fingers like a camera, signalling to the photo, you pull out your phone and take a picture smiling ever so slightly. “Thank you again..” You shyly say, embarrassed how quiet you've been. He nods and this time you let him fully walk away.
You think about the battle, , it’s the first time in a long time you were so out of it while battling, the first time where you were so emotionless about a battle was back in Galar when first starting out.
Yet.. Now out of nowhere, you were so empty. Avoid of emotion. It's seemingly eerie to you, much like those kids. You hate that. You hate that you were so different, you hate how much you didn't care. You wanted to care, yet you couldn't. You balled your fist and hit yourself. Multiple times on the leg till you felt satisfied. You hated this feeling, you needed it to go away.
You take Atlas out instantaneously, you whisper to go to Medali, you're getting food there. You hop on its back and rub it once you're ready. Flying up to the sky you feel tears pull under your eyes. You threaten them to not come out, you couldn't let that happen, and so you don't. You let your eyes stay heavy and full.
You watch the dark clouds shift around you and you can feel the rain coming in, it tickles your back, but you ask Atlas to persist anyways. Atlas speeds up a bit more which you allow it.
Only in two hours Atlas lands in Medali, you're drenched, covered in rain. You cough a bit as you walk out into the town seeking shelter and food. All the stands are closed, leaving you with the treasure eatery. Atlas cries out in discomfort for being in the rain this long, so you figured to run the rest of the way there. “Lets go Atlas, follow me!” You run through the streets carefully, watching out for puddles. You find the restaurant in time and Atlas is right next to you luckily.
Entering inside you shake off all the rain on the welcome Matt, and Atlas shakes its whole body as well. Walking up to the waiter in the front you're about to ask about food when they interrupt you, “sorry, but we are currently not hosting the test battles nor the special item due to the rain. Please forgive us for this inconvenience.” He bows apologetically, you shake your head and explain you only want food to eat. “Oh no, I'm actually here just for dinner, I was wondering if there's any seating available?”
The man perks up and nods his head, “yes! Plenty, please, if you and your pokemon can follow me!” The man takes you to seats up front by the chef. Sitting down, you see a challenge going on.
“Thank you for doing business with us today.” The man chimes out at the kid fighting him, they send out an unfamiliar pokemon, it looks like primeape, but ghostly. Which intrigues you. But you are here to eat. So, you put your focus back onto the waiter. You order rice balls and pokemon food for Atlas.
“Drinks?” He asks before finalizing the list, “lemonade please.” “Alright! Your meal will take only a moment!”
As you wait, you turn around to watch the battle between the kid and the man. The man was dressed up in office wear head down, cleanly pressed suit and pants. You notice a cute blue tie, it reminds you of the sky, you think it matches his messy hair, as if he seemingly just got out of the sky.
Even though he seems so dull, he has this intensity as he is battling. That grows an interest in you, making you even more engaged in the battle, the kid sends out a new pokemon as it was defeated by his dundunsparce.
Watching even more the kid finally matches up to his dundunsparce and gets it to faint. ‘If the man doesn't act now he's so screwed.. Well, unless the kid doesn't have any more pokemon..’ Which you definitely were unsure of, but it's keeping you on the edge of your seat, so much so Atlas cries out to get your attention. You look down at it, it seems jealous of how much energy and time you're giving this. “Sorry bud, I promise to get back to you after I'm done watching, okay?” You scratch its head earning a small cry in response. You hum in acknowledgement.
You can’t help but to intently watch again, he seemed so focused. He was so into it, yet seemed so uncaring and bored, it really amazed you how easily he accomplished that. “COME ON LARRY! GIVE US YOUR ALL!” a yell from the chef startles you. “Larry…” you hum out, “Such a basic name, yet it suits him perfectly..” you say in a daze, watching him terastylize his staraptor.
“Might as well…” he stretches a bit before he focuses his attention on his terra orb, it shines so brightly, it's enticing. His Starraptor absolutely obliterates the kids team, facade after facade.
Someone calls out your name, “COME GET YOUR FOOD BEFORE IT GETS COLD!!” You turn around seeing your plate and Atlas’s plate of food in the chef's hand, a tinge bit embarrassed, you apologize and grab the plates. Handing the pokemon food to Atlas who quickly accepts.
As you place your plate down, Larry comes over, sitting next to you. You can’t help but blush a bit out of anxiety. You stare at him, as he orders his food, to which he picks out on, “You know I can see you staring at me, right?” his monotone voice strangles you, you feel so embarrassed you might die.
You try to say something, but you choke on your words. “God damn it. Why do i have to be suuch a creep” you accidentally say aloud. You cringe and hit your head. “Wait. I didn’t mean to say that. I'm um sorry, I'm just really autistic and weird, I really didn’t mean to stare. uh im reallyyy sorry.” You look down to your food, feeling so ashamed and embarrassed. “It's..okay..” Larry' s monotone voice strangles you even more out of guilt, you swear you’re never this damn awkward. Atlas nudges its head into you, it feels upset that you're so down.
You try to eat a bit, but it just feels too embarrassing to just do that, so to try to save yourself sociably, you give compliments a try. “Uh..your battle was really great, i really adore your techniques and skill you had. You did really well..” you say the last part quietly as you dig your face into your hands from embarrassment. “Thanks. You should probably eat before your food goes cold.” the man dryly responds, nudging you a bit to get your head out of your hands. “yeah.. I’ll try..” you quietly say, once more.
Lifting your head up, you pick up one of the tender rice balls. You take small bites into the dish. The sticky rice sticks to your lips and fingers a bit, you lick it off, savoring the warm cooked rice, the flavor blends in really well with the meat inside. You make a small hum of enlightenment.
“It’s good, isn’t it?” The man remarks, looking over to you ever so slightly. “Yeah… the meat mixes really well with the rice.” you hum out in response, shaking a bit anxiously. “You should try some lemon with it, it ties the dish together really well.” Larry suggests, handing you a small lemon slice. You look over it, debating whether or not it would be polite to take it. “You.. Sure..?” You ask suspiciously.
The man places the lemon on your plate, “I'm sure.” His expression is unreadable, but his voice sounded so tired. You're still a bit hesitant, feeling a bit bad he was giving you his food, but you don't argue against it, and simply take the lemon under your fingers and squeeze lightly. The juice lightly covers the rice, earning a small glistening look to it. You pick up the ball and take a bite. The lemon creates a perfect sourness to the savoury dish, it melts in your mouth, before you know it, you finish the ball in one big bite. You hum in delight as you squeeze the rest of the lemon across the other rice balls.
“See, wasn't bad” Larry dryly remarks, you can see a small smile on the man, his wrinkles slightly softening. You nod to his statement, face stuffed with food.
“Well… I better be going now, before I'm late for work.” The man wipes his mouth with a cloth, placing the dishes on a counter for the waiters to collect. You nod once more, waving him a farewell. He nods silently in recognition to you as he stood up to leave.
Now, sitting alone, you bring your attention back to Atlas, making sure it was eating well. You see the plate completely clean, “guess you were starving, sorry about that..” You pet its head as looked up to you and cried, you think it's in relief or something, but you honestly can't tell.
You go back to eating your food as you thought about Larry and his battling, it made your stomach tingle in excitement. You really want to battle against him, and soon.
30 or so minutes goes by and the rain stops, allowing you to go back home. “Ready to go home bud?” You ask the Dragapult as it happily whines. You pet its head before you start to walk out of the building. Checking the time it's 8:45 pm, hella late for someone who's going to continue to train the next day. You yawn as you step outside, seeing puddles everywhere. The dark clouds still over the sky but this time it's lightly scattered, now able to see the moon.
Walking through the streets you see Larry's staraptor fly over the houses. You figured he must live nearby. Though the closer you got to the house you were quickly met with the gym leader's face. “Stalking me too?” He says maybe in a joking manner, but you're convinced he's serious about it. “NO! No.. Absolutely not! I was just going home.. Which is here…” you blurted out hurriedly, you honestly never expected him to be the one letting you rent part of the house.
“Ahh.. I see you're the new renter, well… you can ignore what I just said then.” You bow, and nod your head apologetically, “yes sir, again I'm so sorry about how I may have come off.” Atlas cries out to you in confusion, you shake your head to it. “You.. Don't have to bow, nor call me.. ‘Sir’, I don't like fancy titles.” You fix your posture immediately, nodding in acknowledgement. The man sighs and opens the door. “Well.. Are you just going to stand there like a lost lilipup?” He offers for you the door, you quietly take the door and walk inside. Quickly making your way to the left.
“Make sure you stay quiet, I am quite tired” Larry dryly responds, you again, only nod in acknowledgement. As you opened your door and went in.
That was the most embarrassing interaction ever.