Cheshire Toon

Nate swiftly pushed Peat aside and launched to his feet. “What was that? Is everyone alright?” he asked loudly, head whipping from side-to-side. People were starting to panic and push away from whatever had caused the commotion. Peat plodded forward to stand protectively in front of him. Nate ran forward and scooped him up under one arm, which the Bearble did not appreciate, if the rumbling was anything to go by. “Sorry bud! No time to let you walk right now! I’ll put you down at the first sign of danger, but we have to find Quinn and Bridget!” Peat stopped struggling against him after that. Nate sprinted in the direction that everyone else was fleeing from. It was hard to pick either of his friends out of the panicked crowd. Much easier to identify was the source of the attack; the guy who had stolen Arthur, some chick he didn’t know, and the girl who had thought he was a bodyguard. The three of them stood proudly in the smoking rubble of what used to be a wall. Nate set Peat on the ground and stepped forward. His fist was clenched so tight that it drained the blood from his knuckles, and his starter seemed to feed off his anger, hackles rising and teeth flashing. “What are you doing here? Trying to steal my friend’s Pokémon wasn’t enough?” He lifted his chin, his eyes flashing. “Or do you wanna try again? Because I promise I’ll do a lot more than tackle you this time if so.” He was outnumbered 3-to-1; probably worse once Pokémon came into play. That fact did nothing to tame his defiance. His eyes flicked toward Alicia. “Aren’t you the girl who thought I was a bodyguard?” His face fell. “I was excited to have a rival. Someone else shooting for the championship spot. It’s too bad.” His eyes sharpened into a glare. “No champion-level trainer ever had to resort to hurting other people to get what they want.” Peat rushed in front of him. Nate swelled with pride. His Pokémon was just like him. “Go ahead and send out your Pokémon so I can send you packing.” His focus landed on the bags they all had slung across their shoulders. “And put those bags down. You aren’t leaving with whatever you’re trying to steal.” The lady he didn’t recognize reached for a ball on her belt. Nate had half a mind to bounce an empty PokéBall off her head before she could release her first Pokémon. A Zubat materialized in a beam of red light in front of her. “What is with you lowlives and giving Zubat a bad name? They’re good Pokémon y’know, but all you lunatics catch them and make them help you break the law, so now everyone thinks they must be evil too.” “You talk too much kid!” the Phoenix grunt yelled. “Admin Alicia already gave me the go ahead to dispose of you, so the training wheels are off! Zubat, use Absorb!” The Zubat flapped its wings desperately and its fangs glowed with energy. A small bit of light was siphoned out of Peat, but the bear cub barely even flinched. Nate snorted. “Type effectiveness isn’t everything. Absorb isn’t a strong move and the Zubat line doesn’t use it well. Peat, use Bubble!” Peat opened his mouth like he was going to roar. A stream of soft bubbles flew out instead, pelting the Zubat and popping on contact. They left tiny welts wherever they hit. A thin, sticky residue clung to its wings, clearly making it harder for it to fly. The Phoenix grunt gasped. “Lucky shot kid! Zubat, use Supersonic!” Nate knew that there was no real way to dodge a sound-based attack. He just had to hope that Peat was able to tough the confusion out. “Peat, push through it and use Scratch!” The wave of sonic energy clearly hit Peat judging by the way his ears jerked and his eyes lost focus, but he managed to leap forward and smack the struggling Zubat out of the air with a meaty smack of his flipper. “Good job bud!” Nate glared past the grunt at Alicia. “Not so easy to dispose of a real future champ, is it?”

The hot water had washed away the worst of the funk Nate had been stuck in. The tension had melted from his muscles like wax under a flame, leaving him with the fresh feeling that only a shower and a change of clothes could bring. He had made the rare decision to leave his beanie at the Pokémon Center. Now he could—for what felt like the first time since he had stepped foot in the Korova region—feel the salty breeze tousling his still damp hair, and he smiled, breathing in the scent of the sea as deeply as he could. “Wooh! Smells like a good day to be fishing!” he declared. Nate laced his fingers together behind his head and followed Bridget through the crowd. She seemed to know where she was going, and he was busy day-dreaming. Today would be the day; he was going to add a second member to his team. “Nice outfit!” Nate grinned at Quinn, bringing his hands down to pat his own chest. He had changed into a red multi-pocket fisherman vest, a white undershirt, and loose-fitting black cargo shorts in preparation for the competition. “I brought my own! Fishing was one of the few things my Pops and I agreed about, so he got me this whole outfit for my last birthday. Look at this!” He pulled open the vest to reveal a long, thin interior pocket. “This is where the collapsible Good Rod goes! Well,” Nate laughed. “This is where it would go if I still had it! I tried to use it to train with Peat the first night on the boat, and we totally broke it.” He smiled proudly. “He snapped it clean in half. It was awesome!” Nate turned to Bridget. “Figure it kinda goes without saying after all that, but I’ve been fishing a bunch. It isn’t really that hard,” he said. “We won’t have the rods rated for the really big stuff, I checked, so any of the stuff we catch will be pretty low level. Any strong Pokémon would snap our line pretty quick.” He quickly ran through the basics of fishing for the two. His explanation was pretty great in his opinion; in reality it included a lot of “bam!” and “pow!” and one “and if they really give you trouble, Dad jumped into the ocean and wrestled them himself a few times!” which was said like it was the most normal thing in the world. Basically, to anyone who didn’t already know what they were doing, Nate was exactly zero help in learning how to fish. “Okay, I might not be cut out for teaching this,” Nate said after a minute. “How about we just go off and all get some practice, like Bridget said? That was basically how I learned anyway.” Nate wandered off and proceeded to not cast his pole a single time after that. He instead spent his time in conversation with anyone who looked local; he quizzed them on all the kinds of Pokémon that lived in the area and could be caught by the quality of rod they were using. Magikarp, Goldeen, Poliwag, a few Staryu, some kid claimed to have seen a Relicanth but followed it up with the assertion that it was “fifty feet long and could fwy!” so Nate added a few question marks beside that one on his notepad. Only one story really caught his interest. A local fisherman reported a small, purple creature that had been impossible to hook thus far. Too quick and too clever. Nate underlined and circled that one. He had found his goal. He walked to the spot that he had been told the purple flash had been spotted more often and picked up his fishing rod. The competition was about to start. Nate could feel his heart speeding up; it wasn’t very useful in something like fishing, but he lived for competition. He grabbed Peat’s ball off his belt and released the bear cub. “Hey bud. Wanna make a new friend today?” He crouched down so that Peat was able to press his cold, wet nose into his neck. The sea bear prodded into him excitedly. Nate smiled. “Thought so. Wanna help me out then? All I need you to do is swim on down to the bottom and hide nearby where this bait lands. Don’t even think about it bud,” he pushed Peat’s nose away from the bait. “I’ll feed you double treats tonight after this. For now, all I need you to do is hide nearby and chase off anything that isn’t really fast and purple. Can you do that?” Peat slapped his flippers against the dock and rumbled in his cute little way. Somewhere behind him, a whistle blew, indicating the contest had started. A dozen lines hit the water at once with a splash. Nate scratched the bear cub behind the ear. “Great. Lets get to it.” He casually cast his rod into the water. Peat dove in after it, his entrance to the water surprisingly graceful for how clumsy he was on land. Nate sat down on the edge of the dock and made himself comfortable. It was a game of patience. He pulled one leg close to his chest, propping his elbow on it, and supporting his head with the braced hand. He left the other leg dangling off the dock and kicking a few inches above the water. The fishing rod was gripped loosely in his other hand. People reeled in all kinds of Pokémon around him. Nate hummed a cartoon theme song to himself. A few times there was a commotion below the water, and then Peat would surface and rumble up at Nate, and Nate would give him a thumbs-up and a smile. The competition passed by quickly. The time limit was drawing near. There was no one left fishing in his area of the dock. Nate continued to hum to himself. He could have been mistaken for dozing off. Anyone who thought so would be disproven a moment later. The fishing line in his rod twitched. Once. Twice. Nate subtly adjusted his grip—and the fishing pole was suddenly bent in half! Nate was on his feet in a flash and yanked it back hard with one hand. Whatever was on the line fought and dove for the area beneath the dock, trying to snare the line around the wooden posts and force it to break. It was clever. Unfortunately, Peat was hiding there, and was quick to give chase. The Pokémon was forced to lose momentum as it tried to halt course and turn around. Nate reeled as quick as he could with one hand and, through sheer brute strength that belied his short height, swung the pole back hard enough that the Pokémon was torn completely from the water. It broke the surface and Nate felt a thrill as he saw bright purple scales a split second before he threw the Net Ball. The Pokémon vanished in a flash of light before Nate could even make out what it was. It fell into the water and floated on the surface, rocking once, twice, three times. It clicked. Nate jumped up and down and whooped. Peat surfaced and nosed the ball across the water, lifting it onto the dock with his flippers and then tackling his trainer to the ground to lick at his face. “That’s right, bud! We did it!” Nate laughed. He scratched his starter vigorously under the chin. “All thanks to you. You did so good! So many treats for you tonight, bud!”

Nate rubbed at his head as they walked into town. Things had been…strange, since the battle with the Malamar. Winning had felt great—the adrenaline rush from defeating such a powerful Pokémon as a team was indescribable—but once they were back on the road, it had been hard to focus. His head hurt, his body felt sluggish, and his eyelids were heavy. He felt like he was stuck in that strange state people were in after just waking up. His brain was functioning, but it hadn’t sent the signals to let the rest of his body know it was time to get a move on. Even the smell of fish, strong enough to be considered a scent-based attack, was barely enough to get a reaction out of him. He dutifully trudged beside them. One foot in front of the other… I’ll be able to rest soon. Maybe a hot shower will help. It felt like a longshot. Nate resolved to see a doctor if he still felt weird after his shower. These thoughts, coupled with his grogginess, were what occupied him for most of the conversation his team had been having with… someone. He had missed their greetings. If they had done any. She seemed to be leaving though. Which was good. He was normally very warm and welcoming, but he desperately wanted to get somewhere to shower and rest. At least until she said something about a competition. Nate’s reaction was visible. He stood up straight for the first time and forced his eyes fully open. There were heavy bags under them, and they were slightly bloodshot. He took a step toward the redheaded girl. “Did you say something about a fishing competition? Today? Where? Can we still sign-up?” He stared at her, waiting for an answer, before suddenly blinking and shaking his head. Having jumpstarted his brain awake for the time being, parts of the exchange he had missed flooded into his brain. "And uhh... I'm not a ghost. By the way. Or their bodyguard. I'm Nate. From Kanto."

A lot of things were going on. Too many things to keep track of. Not that Nikolaos was really trying; his thoughts were utterly consumed with staying away from the Crowdent on the way to Anna. Another one broke away from the pack and leapt at him. Nik yelped and swatted it out of the air with his flashlight. It sailed a few feet, but the impact of the blow had his flashlight flickering for a few terrifying seconds as he ran. “Stay away from me!” He screamed, his voice high-pitched and stretched. He nearly collapsed from the relief of reaching Anna. A cool wave swept across him from his head to his toes at the sight of the box that Anna was bravely holding out to him, in spite of the Crowdent crawling on her. Nik would not be proud of his next two actions when he laid down to go to bed that night. It would be something that he remembered for years to come. He wanted to be a brave trainer. Someone that went down in the history books as a hero among heroes. Someone whose bravery was never called into question. Plus he wanted to impress girls. That was a motivating factor. Nik believed that women liked bravery and all the other action hero traits he had grown up watching on television. His sister was brave like that. His role model above all others. His role models, his desire, the media that surrounded him, it all pointed to one course of action. So of course Nik did the only thing he could—he hesitated zero seconds when the chips were down and Anna needed help ridding herself of those gross, creepy, unsanitary little beasts. Nik grabbed the container and spun on his heels to heroically retreat back the direction he had come from. It made the most sense, some part of his brain rationalized. The quickest way to help Anna was to handle the crisis at hand. Which was the first thing that would stoke his anxiety. His cowardice. A few rats had him abandoning a defenseless girl. The second thing that would haunt him was… Something slammed into his back. Strong and furry and he could feel the nails digging into his back through his jacket. The force itself was enough to send him stumbling, but it probably wouldn’t have been enough to cause him to drop his precious cargo—at least if Nik was anyone else it wouldn’t have been. The scream he let out would be reported on later that evening by a local research team pursuing legends of the Banshee; none of them would ever discover it was just one very frightened teenage boy. Nik all but threw the container onto the ground in his panicked flailing. The beam of his flashlight swung around like a rave light as he desperately tried to rid himself of the little rodent hanging off his jacket. “GETOFFGETOFFGETOFFGETOFF!” His fear was so great that he mostly missed the Pokémon being released. He caught none of the Felight being claimed or joining the fight. He missed Calfin and Chigusa’s comically laidback introductions. He honestly missed the entirety of Anna explaining the names and origins of the Pokémon that had been released in front of him. All he could think about or focus on was the Crowdent hanging onto his back for dear life. Feeling the rodent’s cold nose pressing against his lower back where his jacket had started to ride up from his flailing nearly sent the boy into cardiac arrest. He was preparing to throw himself on the ground and roll like he was on fire when there was an unfamiliar noise. It pierced through his panicked haze. Tsst-tsst-tsst. It sounded like a pill bottle being shaken softly. It happened again. Then: hsssss. The Crowdent on his back stopped struggling. Nik was unable to move. There was a flash of green out of the corner of his eye, the Crowdent on his back yowled and spat and then let him go and scurried away. Nik turned around to face his savior. He was panting heavily. Adrenaline and fear were still coursing through his body with enough potency to kickstart the heart of a Snorlax. “Was that… was that you… Anna? I really owe you… on--AAAGH!” Nik screamed and stumbled backwards so fast he fell on his butt and was forced to continue scooting away with his hands. The creature behind him was a snake. A big, bright green snake, with an angular head and huge yellow eyes. A forked pink tongue slithered in and out of its mouth so fast that Nik struggled to identify it at first. “Where did you come from?! What even are you? Do you live in the warehouse too? Do you want me to turn the flashlight off? I’ll turn the friggin’ flashlight off!” The rest of his rambling slipped into full-blown Greek that only Anna would somewhat understand, a string of swears and panic that was only vaguely coherent. The snake slithered closer to him. Nik froze again, turning into a statue. Grissy slithered up his arm and coiled part of the way around it, head and neck dangling off and staring at him from an inverted angle. Another Crowdent approached. Grissy tensed coiled further up Nik’s arm so that his sharp, angular head was the right way up, and stared down the Crowdent with his huge piercing eyes. His tongue flickered out, and his tail rattled softly again. Once. Twice. The same way it had before. “Are you… are you protecting me?” he forced out through gritted teeth. He flinched when the snake turned to make eye contact with him. The piercing effect of the creature’s gaze faded immediately. Nik realized with a start what was going on. “You’re… you’re one of the professor’s Pokémon?” Grissy stared back with those huge unblinking, unnerving eyes. Nik shuddered. “I guess… I guess that means you’ll be my partner?” He tried to sound more excited than he was. Grissy was so… so… inhuman. Hard to read. It was nothing like the cute little creature his sister had brought home. Grissy flicked his tongue out across his nose and swayed his head from side-to-side. He coiled a little tighter around Nik’s arm. “Is that… is that a yes?” The sound of battle and Lini shouting a command brought Nik back to his surroundings. “Oh. Oh crap! We gotta help them! Quick, snake, use, uhh… Just help Anna!” Nik pointed the arm the creature wasn’t coiled around at the professor’s assistant. Grissy seemed to recognize the name. Long, leafy green appendages grew out of somewhere Nik couldn’t make out and reached across to swat at a handful of the rodents clinging to the girl. Nik smiled nervously at Grissy. “Good, uh, good job?”

The battle was turning in their favor. Nate could recognize the signs of a tired Pokémon; fatigue was surprisingly consistent across species. Even a human boxer expressed most of the same signs of being on their last legs. “He’s on the ropes, guys,” Nate shouted. “Just a bit more! We’ve got this!” A little green bubble he had never seen before slid between Normandie and the charging Malamar and used a Protect. The Tackle bounced harmlessly off of the barrier. Peat growled when he saw the Solosis. “Seems like he’s with Bridget bud. It’s alright,” Nate assured his companion. Peat stopped growling but his fur remained bristly and his eyes were focused on the Malamar. He had never been in such an extended fight with a powerful enemy. “Just a bit more,” Nate repeated. He turned his attention to the battle. “Good job Bridget!” Nate shouted loud enough to be heard over the melee. “Follow Normandie, Peat! Go in with a Scratch!” Peat sloshed through the water with ease and charged toward Malamar. His fur was still glossy and clean; Nate made a note somewhere in the back of his head that it must have some property that caused water and grime to not stick to it well. “Now! Go low!” Peat dove forward and scratched at the Malamar’s lower half. There was no way he could escape both attacks.

Nikolaos had decided that he was the stupidest person in Lemu. He was a complete and utter dunce. His spirit Pokémon was a Dunsparce—no, Dudunsparce—and even amongst his dopey kindred, he was particularly empty-headed. Stupid. Stupid. How could I miss a thing as obvious as that? What am I gonna tell Vasia? Sorry I couldn’t come and find you, I was dumb and failed my journey on my very first day. How? Oh I just ignored all of the stuff you ever taught me. A little kid would have done better. To understand what had caused such a revelation, though, one would have to turn the clock back a few minutes. “Chomper is awesome!” Nik crowed. He swooped in and leaned as close as he dared to the Totodile. “He looks tough. Is he native to Galar? Have you ever battled together before?” His amber eyes were alight with awe and, to a lesser degree, envy. “I hope my starter is half as cool as Chomper.” He had wanted to ask more questions about Chomper when one of the girls collapsed. She treated the whole ordeal like it was totally normal for her, not even bothering to roll over so that her face wasn’t smooshed against the floor. “Hey. Uh, Chi, Aki, uhh… is the desu part of your nickname? Or was that separate? Because you kinda paused between the two.” Nik used his flashlight to start rummaging in his backpack for some pre-packaged snacks he had tucked away. “Are you okay? Do you need help? Is it a blood sugar thing or something? I have some snacks with sugar in them. You can have them if you want.” His hand was still shoved into his backpack when Dahlia approached. Nik frowned. That was the girl that had jumped to blaming him for abandoning Anna. “I’m not causing her any trouble,” he said defensively. Even to his own ears it sounded petulant. “I’m being careful not to point it where it will blind anyone. The dark is a danger too, you know. Someone could trip and break an arm or a leg. But if it bothers you I can turn it down. It’s adjustable,” Nik twisted the cap near the end of the metal flashlight counter-clockwise and the light dimmed considerably. “Happy?” Dahlia gave him a thumbs-down and walked away. Nik rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and muttered something rude in Greek under his breath before he went back to rummaging through his bag, triumphantly pulling out a package of peanut butter crackers just as Dahlia started to introduce herself. She was apparently a performer. A street magician. Nik had questions he wanted to ask, but he was too stung by her attitude and repeated attempts to make him look bad to put voice to them. He was a performer too. He had made some of the money he used to put towards his journey by playing on street corners and singing popular songs. That was exactly where the money for his flashlight had come from. He would have assumed they had a lot in common, but she was more than happy to throw him to the Woofes. Did I do something to her? Was it some kind of cultural boundary I overstepped? Am I just being too sensitive? Nik was glad when Linni the psychic released a munna that she called Pinky. It was a welcome distraction. “A service Pokémon to help you master your powers?” He wasn’t a very learned person. School was hardly his favorite subject, and the feeling was mutual if his test scores were anything to go by, but even he knew that service Pokémon were hard to get. There was a whole process that involved proving to the government that one was needed and also that they were properly trained. Once the process was done, that Pokémon had a lot of privileges that a normal one lacked. Access to Pokémon resisted areas. A pass to travel through most international borders. Nik shook his head. “Being psychic must be a lot harder than I thought. I always figured it was just cool powers and no drawbacks. Glad to know the secret of my underwear is safe at least, I guess.” Chomper and Pinky tensed and moved in front of Shawn and Linni. Nik blinked, shocked. He recognized a danger response when he saw one. “What’s going o-” Anna sucked in a deep breath and then cut him off. Her tone was even, but he could still see how tense she was. Nik watched her leave and walk into the darkness. She started to talk to nothing. Again. She had done that several times on the trip to the city. Nik was beginning to wonder if she was crazy. She was saying something about not hurting… someone? It was hard to hear. Then something about the light. His irritation flared again, unsure why his flashlight of all things was such a contentious subject. The moment that made him realize he was such a dunce struck. He heard something the moment after Anna stopped talking. Faint, easy to miss, but when he really strained his ears he could make it out. Squeaking. Chittering. Nik gasped. He knew that noise. Crowdent. It was just a pest. They got into houses and had to be removed by traps or by being caught, but they weren’t a threat. They were scaredy-rats on their own. The only time Crowdent would pose a problem was if they had formed a swarm. Which never happened domestically. It only happened in… in… "Come on, listen to me. Wait, no, hey, turn off the light—" Something slammed into Anna and knocked her into the ground. That was the moment Nik decided he was a total dunce. Of course this warehouse has a Crowdent infestation. Anna tried to warn me. Even Dahlia realized something was wrong and she isn’t even from here. I’m supposed to be the one that knows this area, but all I did was make everything worse. Nik was frozen. His flashlight hung limply at his side, still casting a dim beam of light forward toward where Anna had fallen. The pack of crackers slipped from his grip. This is my fault. I have to fix this. I can’t let everyone else get hurt because I’m stupid. What would Vasia do? Dahlia tried to bludgeon a few Crowdent away with an umbrella. Several more leapt onto her and pulled her to the ground. Come on! Think! Vasia would say that all the best trainers would make the best of a bad situation. Know your environment so that you can avoid danger. Not like that helps now. I shoulda been paying attention. Nik growled and slammed the heel of his hand into his forehead hard enough that it broke skin. What else did she say? Improvise. Use what you have. All I have is this dumb flashlight. I don’t even have a Pokémon yet. Getting a Pokémon is why I came here. Gah! Why did Anna not hand them out yet?! Nik jolted like he had been hit by a super-effective Thunderbolt attack. “I’m so stupid! Anna, where are the Pokémon the professor promised to hand out? Please tell me you brought them!” “Oh! Yeah, they’re right here in my bag!” She shouted from somewhere in the darkness. “We have to get to them! Crowdent are cowards! They’ll run if you have enough Pokémon out!” Nik hadn’t wanted to admit before that part of the reason he had been so quick to pull out his flashlight was that the dark scared him. It wasn’t a phobia, but it made him uncomfortable. A lot of the Pokémon that dwelled in the dark did too. They were just so… different. Unlike any of the daytime Pokémon. They scurried and scavenged and hid. They were attracted to messes and superstition said they carried all kinds of diseases. He knew that had been disproved, but the connotation was still there. No time like the present to suck it up. I need to get over it anyways. Vasia always said that there were plenty of awesome nocturnal Pokémon. Nik shucked his bouzouki case off his back and put it on the ground between the two people with Pokémon. “Hey. Watch this please. It’s really important to me.” Nik said loud enough for Shawn and Linni to hear. He didn’t wait for a response. He turned and cranked his flashlight all the way up to max. The beam of light tripled in intensity, shining all the way to the other wall of the warehouse. It revealed a swarm of Crowdent rushing toward him. His hand shook, but he pointed it directly at the group. The bright light caused them to hiss and spit and stumble, freezing. “Cover me, if you can!” Nik shouted. His stomach churned. His skin prickled up into goosebumps. You caused this. Fix it. A good trainer cleans up his messes. He summoned all of his courage and rushed forward, toward the Crowdent swarm. At the last possible second he jumped and soared completely over the swarm he had stunned. A second later they recovered and turned to chase after him. One of them jumped for him and Nik swatted it away with his flashlight, sending it sailing across the warehouse. He kept moving toward Anna without stopping. He knew that if he stopped his legs would quit working.

Peat surged and convulsed from the unseen psychic assault. Nate grit his teeth and his hands balled into fists, a hot and unfamiliar feeling burning in his chest. He loved every Pokémon he had ever met. He thought they all looked awesome. He wanted to know the environment they lived in, the role they played in that environment, the mythology and all the rumors that circulated around their existence. Nate had never met a Pokémon he didn’t like. Watching his beloved starter seize from a mental attack had him awfully close to not liking this one though. “Peat! Nate shouted. The Bearble turned his head toward his trainer, tongue hanging out as he struggled for breath. “Hang tough buddy. This is almost over, I promise. Just give it one more good Bubble!” Nate knew that if Bubble slowed again it might be terrible for them, but he had run through the risk assessment already. Malamar was showing signs of pain and they needed to hit it with their strongest attacks, and Peat’s Bubble was far stronger than his Scratch. Peat sucked in a deep breath and then let out a high-pitched roar in the direction of the Malamar. A loosely packed stream of bubbles flowed from his mouth, moving toward the Malamar at an angle that would intercept it before it hit Normandie.

Anna doubled down on blaming him and accused him of leaving her behind in the rain. Which… isn’t… the furthest thing from the truth. Nikolaos looked away from her sheepishly. “I thought you were behind me. Honest.” He mustered his courage and met her gaze. “But that doesn’t mean this is my fault! There is no way you were two hours late because of me! You probably ran off after another Pokémon! And you never even said this is where you were going!” He was saved from the conversation by the fallen boy rejecting his hand and getting to his feet on his own. Nik frowned and let his hand drop back to his side. “Just trying to help, fílos,” he said. His amber eyes followed the grumpy boy’s frantic gestures to the now de-hinged door of the warehouse. “Huh? Of course it didn’t come off on its own. That sleepy-eyed girl from Borya Town used her psychic powers to knock it down.” He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Psychic powers were very rare, but they were far from the craziest thing someone could have. “She isn’t reading our minds though. At least as far as I can tell. She didn’t react when I thought about my underwear.” He smiled at said sleepy-eyed girl when she invited them inside. “Sounds like a good idea to me.” Nik followed Anna into the building. Most everyone else seemed to shuffle in not long after him, but it was too dark for him to be sure. “Well, I think I already told most of you, but my name is Nikolaos. I’m from Carpho Town nearby. And,” there was the sound of fabric ruffling in the darkness. Then… Light! Nik appeared at the center of it, holding a heavy-duty flashlight. “I brought a flashlight! I actually brought two, just in case, but the other one is a little keychain light. This one is supposed to be like 40,000 lumens or something and last for 12 hours.”

Nikolaos ran after the departing trio before they could get very far. “Hey! Wait up!” He stopped when he caught up to them and smiled. “You guys said you’re staying at Hotel Atlantica, right?” “Yeah,” Isaac replied with a smile. “What’s up?” "I'll try to send a message to the front desk for you when the professor finally gets here. Just in case you want to come back. It's only like an 8 minute trip if you hurry. The professor is a good guy. He wouldn't stand us up, I promise." Isaac cast him a look. “Man, I’ll be real with you. At this point, I don’t want anything to do with the professor. He can keep his reward. Thanks anyway, though.” The others nodded their agreement. “Ah, yeah,” Nik pushed his soaking hair back out of his face. “I don’t blame you. This rain really is something else, and, uh…” he looked back at the girl from Borya Town who was currently trying to bash the door down with her freaking mind. “Things are starting to get kind of crazy here.” Nik gave a farewell salute. “Was nice meeting you all! Order some avgolemono soup from the kitchen when you get back to your room. It’ll chase the chill out of your bones faster than a Fire-type.” “Yeeeah,” Isaac drawled the word out. “Not sure I want to stick around for that. I’ll try it though, thanks for the recommendation. Hope I see you around!” He waved before continuing to walk back. Reina gave one last glance at Selini and shook her head before leaving as well. Qadir just turned and left. Nikolaos shouldered his carrying case and walked back toward the waiting group. Most of his attention was on the girl from Borya Town he had spoken with before, who had not mentioned in their conversation she was apparently a PSYCHIC. Which to be honest he thought was fair. It wasn’t exactly something he would tell just anyone if he had been born a psychic. A lot of superstition surrounded the whole thing and people tended to treat psychics differently once they learned about them. Hey. Heeyyyyy. HEY! Can you hear this? Are you reading my mind? Helloooo! I’m wearing pink boxers with moons and little howling Woofes on them right now! Nikolaos watched the girl closely to see if she reacted, but if she had been reading his mind, she was a great actor. She continued to mentally rail against the warehouse door. The frame was giving way though. It was bending, and then, just as it was about to give way, Nik heard a familiar voice shouting. “Anna?” Nik spun around just in time to see the cotton-candy haired girl slam into the boy from Galar he had been talking with earlier, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Behind him he distantly heard the sound of the warehouse door slamming into the ground. The whole situation was rapidly devolving into chaos. It only got worse once the street magician from Kalos helped the girl up and the two quickly came to the conclusion that—”You’re gonna blame me?!” Flabbergasted was not a word that Nik used lightly. Mostly because he thought it was a very silly word, and he couldn’t say it with a straight face, but also because it was not an emotional state that came over him with any frequency. His day-to-day life was usually a very predictable thing. Nik was utterly flabbergasted. He was so shocked that when his hair fell past his bandana into his face and became a soggy red curtain that blocked his vision, he barely noticed. “What did I do?” His experience traveling with Anna had been confusing from start to finish. She had stopped them both to chat with wild Pokémon no less than three separate times. “I started running when the rain started and then when I looked back, you had disappeared! I thought—” Nikolaos shook his head like a wet dog and sent tiny drops of water scattering in every direction. “That isn’t important right now. Are you okay man?” Nik walked over and crouched down to offer Shawn his hand, his expression kind and concerned. “Here, take my hand. That was a nasty fall.”

Nikolaos stared up at the fat rainclouds above him with a smile. His jacket—one of a handful of things he had splurged on with his savings in preparation for his upcoming journey—was one of the expensive brands that marketed to trainers and was water-resistant and insulated. It did an admirable job of fighting off the chill that many of the other trainers were surely feeling, but water-resistant was not waterproof, and the rain had long since soaked through his jacket and into his t-shirt and jeans. He had styled his hair so that he would look cool when he met all the foreign trainers and travelers, but all the hair products had been washed out and now it hung over his bandana like the shaggy coat of a Stoutland. The only things not drenched were the sleek back carrying case that was slung across his back, protecting his beloved bouzouki from the elements, and his army green Pokémon League backpack. Those were the other two things he had splurged on for his journey, and they were waterproof. Still, his spirits were high. He continued to smile defiantly at the sky. Not even the Fates would rob him of his good mood that day. The world itself had been aligned against him starting his journey. His Mom’s car had broken down and forced him to make the three day journey to Khalk Harbor on foot. One of his neighbors had volunteered to escort him, since they had a Pokémon, but when they had been setting up camp at the halfway point between the two settlements they had received an emergency call and been forced to rush off. Nik made the rest of the journey by himself. Some of it was relaxing. He played his bouzouki and sang the first day, which had caught the attention of a pretty girl with two-toned hair and a smile that made his stomach flip. The nervous that came with being around pretty girls died not longer after she started talking, though. They traveled together for some time before they got separated. The third day it started to rain. He put away his bouzouki and ran the rest of the way into the city, making it to the meeting point the professor had given breathless with only a few minutes to spare. He had been worried that they would leave him behind. Two hours had passed since that point. His worry had faded. The ache in his side and his legs from his mad dash into town faded. Many people’s interest had faded and they had wandered off. Really, the only thing that hadn’t seemed to lose interest was the rain. Nikolaos had distracted himself by chatting with anyone and everyone that would listen. “Where are you from?” He asked anyone he thought was foreign. “Oh that’s awesome! I hear the weather there is a lot different. Is it true that—” What followed was a toss-up between a real, serious question about the environment, culture, or local Pokémon, or a completely insane question that to anyone local to whatever area they were discussing would sound totally absurd. The most recent person he had been talking with, a boy with dark skin and cropped hair that had been from Unova, had gotten bored and left not long before. Several of the people remaining were discussing doing the same. “I’m gonna stay,” Nik said firmly. His fingers drummed a tune against his thigh, a sign of his own restlessness. Still he smiled at the others. It looked somewhat comical with his wet hair hanging limply in his face and blocking his eyes. “It’s not like we can get anymore wet, right?”

Nate spotted the difference in speed instantly. Bubble should have slowed it down. Why did it get faster? Nate wracked his brain for any reason the effect of a move would have been reversed, but he was drawing a blank. His brain was cycling through battle strategies and plans to defeat the Malamar. There was no processing power left to dig through his memories and try to find the answer he was looking for. “Peat! Dodge to the left!” Just like the battle with the Rattata that had spammed Quick Attack, Nate’s familiarity with motion and movement let him warn Peat a moment before the Malamar was upon him. Peat threw himself to the side and the Malamar stumbled past where he had been a moment before. Nate grinned. “Good job bud! Now Tackle him before he can throw Artur off! We gotta keep the pressure up!” Peat glided through the murky water beneath him like he was on solid land, launching himself at the Malamar with a growl.

Jukebox Hero

hi 1. local but am fine with non-local too 2. fakemon 3. darker, but i don't love anything dark just for the sake of it

Psychic-type Pokémon had a presence that was distinct from any other type that Nate had met. His reaction time was fast. Trained. He had been slipping punches and returning jabs since he had first learned to walk—with no exaggeration—so it was only natural that his reflexes were as sharp as a Scyther’s arms. Yet something about the presence of a Psychic-type weighed on him. With something like an Abra it was very light, a gentle breeze in his head, but whatever creature he was facing now felt like a barbell crashing into his skull. He had barely registered what it was he was staring at before a battle had started. Artur and Casseopia charged into battle with the Malamar. That must have meant Bridget and Quinn were nearby. Nate knew they would need his help. Peat was strong. The three of them together could fend off the Malar. All he had to do was issue a command…but his mouth wasn’t working. In fact, his body felt very heavy. It was a struggle to keep his eyelids open. Must have… done… something… he realized. Psychic-attack… The boxer would have fallen asleep if a wet nose hadn’t suddenly pressed into his bare leg, cold and prodding. A sound between a growl and a bark followed it. Once. Twice. BAM! Something smacked into Nate. He stumbled and fell, the murky water completely covering his face. A second passed. Two, then three. Peat had just started to worriedly poke around in the bog when Nate exploded out of the water with a gasp. “Blegh! Thanks, bud! Really needed that!” He saw Quinn and Bridget and ran over to them, throwing water haphazardly. “I’m good now! Peat, we gotta pull our weight too! Bubble!” The little Bearble waddled up to his side and launched a thin barrage of bubbles at the charging Malamar.

Nate and Peat rushed into the water of the marsh without hesitation. The water went up to Nate’s ankles, soaking into his sneakers and socks. The mud beneath clung to his shoes like it was reluctant to relinquish him. Nate bulled forward. Peat, beside him, cut through the water with far more grace than he usually had on land. He barked and smiled and raced past Nate. “Oh no ya don’t!” the trainer shouted, pulling a burst of speed he hadn’t had a moment before. Wild Pokémon scattered into cover as the two raced by. Nathan was not a perceptive man on his best days, but even he might have noticed how the amount of Pokémon dropped severely the closer they got to the statue, if he hadn’t been so distracted. “Ha! Caught ya!” Nate was winded when he caught up to Peat. “Not as fast as ya thought, are ya, bud--bud? Peat?” Peat had stopped running. His teeth were bared and he was staring ahead at the statue in the marsh. It was probably only a few yards in front of them now. It was much more interesting up close; towering over the area and chiseled with the skill of someone that had obviously been a master of their craft. Nate felt the sudden urge to touch the statue. Which wasn’t that weird. His Mom had told him a thousand times throughout his life that he didn’t need to touch everything when he went to the store, but he lived in the physical world. His senses were driven by touch. He hadn’t ever felt the need to touch a statue though. He could guess how they felt. Smooth. Cold. Wet, in the case of the statue before him. Still, his Pokémon had stopped for a reason. Peat seemed unwilling to move even a step closer. “Wait right there, bud,” Nate said, moving toward the statue. “I won’t be long. I just… I just need to look. To get my hands on it. What if it has something to do with that rare Pokémon we heard about?” Peat gave him a look that he interpreted to be uncomfortable, skeptical, but he barked again and took a fighting stance. Nate usually trusted Peat. He trusted the instincts of Pokémon more than he did his own. They were connected to the world in a way that humans could never hope to be; more than one trainer had lost their lives by not listening to the Pokémon around them. But something was calling him forward. A tugging in his thoughts that demanded he investigate. “I’ll be right back.” Nate jogged toward the statue.

“A professor?” Nate beamed at Bridget. “That’s awesome. I’ve never met a professor before. Back in Kanto, they ran a lot of radio and tv shows that had Professor Oak or one of his assistants, but most of the stuff they said went over my head.” He started to walk beside Bridget, directing Peat to start training. The way they trained was different from a standard trainer. It involved a lot of what Nate liked to call “shadow boxing”; he would have Peat follow beside him and practice the motions of his attacks against an invisible opponent. Scratch. Scratch. Growl. Dodge! Bubble. Bubble was notably the weakest and least coordinated of his moves, seeing as how Peat had only learned it the day before. “Does being an aspiring professor mean you know a lot about caring for Pokemon? Is there any advice you could give me with Peat? I make sure to brush and oil his fur every night, and I help him pick his teeth and claws clean too. What kinda stuff do you have to do for Artur?” Nate would pause sporadically throughout their conversation to shout a sudden command to Peat. A few times, this was to shout a surprise attack his invisible opponent was doing to catch him off guard. Most of the time it was to direct him to battle a nearby wild Pokemon. A keen eye would notice that Nate was selective in his targets. He only had Peat battle Pokemon that were bigger and stronger than most of their species. He avoided anything that looked little, or skinny, and on a few occasions threw a bit of food to small families of Pokemon. He was cautious with Peat as well. After every battle Nate called him back to inspect him for injuries, and called him off any time he tried to chase a fleeing Pokemon. He stopped to watch Quinn in zir battle. He was grinning and pumping his fist by the time she won. “You did great! That was awesome!” Peat ran up and nudged Normandie with his nose and barked playfully. “Dibs on the next battle!” His face lit up when Quinn pointed toward the statue and declared their intent to catch a Pokemon. “Oh no ya don't! Not this time! I’ll come with you,” he said, pulling out his notebook and looking over the notes he had taken earlier. “That guy at the daycare said that was around where people had been reporting sightings of a strange Pokemon. You won’t beat me to the punch this time!” His expression and tone made it clear that he wasn’t harboring any harsh feelings about Normandie’s capture. Nate and Peat, in typical fashion, charged ahead toward the statue and the swamp.

Nate struggled to follow the conversation between Quinn and the newcomer. The woman had an incredibly thick accent, and he had no idea what region she must have been from judging off of it. No one in Hoenn or Kanto or Johto sounded like that; he had met or been to all three places at different points in his life. Quinn didn’t sound like that, and she was from Sinnoh. That left Alola, Galar, and, uhh… Nathan blanked. There’s so many regions. How can they expect me to remember m’all? He really had tried to get it down back when he was in school. It was just, well, studying individual climates and weather patterns and the best ways to survive in them had seemed so much more worthwhile than studying the cultures or the names of land masses. Nate realized he was zoning out of the conversation when he heard Quinn say, “Of course he is alright with that,” while gesturing to him. Wait, what was he alright with? Oh well. He was sure Quinn wouldn’t agree to just anything on his behalf. The boy seemed smart enough to trust. A moment later he pieced together that the new person was asking to travel with them. Nate smiled at her and stepped forward eagerly, offering her his hand to shake. “Yeah! ‘Course you can! Journeys are better with good company, right?” If the woman accepted the handshake, she would find that his grip was firm, and his hand surprisingly calloused for a trainer just starting on his journey. Nate would pull his hand back and immediately reach for the Poké Ball on his belt. He clicked the button once to enlarge it to full size, then again to release Peat. The sea-bear materialized in a glow of light and butted his flippers into the ground playfully, rumbling when he saw the newcomer and waddling up to her to push his cold nose into her leg. “This is my best bud, Peat. He’s the only Pokémon I got right now, but he has enough personality for a whole team!” Peat showcased this by rumbling again and blowing a stream of bubbles into the air, showing off his newly learned move. A thin mist of water showered down on the party. “We’re aiming to be champions!”

Whuff. Whuff. Whuff. A hiss of exhaled air came alongside every flipper-smack that Peat delivered to the pads. Nate was pleased to see that the little cub was starting to get his breathing under control. It was one of the first things any fighter learned; human or Pokémon, Fighting or Psychic type, breathing control was crucial to being successful in battle. Nate angled the pads toward the ground to signal for Peat to pause. A flipper froze mid-air, just before it would have struck the trainer’s arm. “Good job,” Nate whispered to Peat quiet enough to not interrupt the conversation going on nearby. “You’re really getting the hang of those breathing techniques I showed you. I can feel the difference in your hits. Plus, look!” He ruffled Peat’s furry head. “You aren’t even winded, bud. See how big a difference it makes? Remember—A.B.S. Always breathe, silly.” It actually stood for always breathe, stupid, but Nate had softened the tone for his partner. He would never agree with his dad. Kindness had a place in training. Peat barked happily and charged forward to tackle him. Nate managed to keep his knees from buckling, but he stumbled backwards. “Whoa!” he giggled, scratching Peat under the chin. “Wish everyone got this excited about training.” Nate congratulated and praised Peat for another minute before he returned him to his Poké Ball and made his way over to the table. Quinn and Billy were discussing the day's events. He had been listening off-handedly during his training, but now, he felt like a great weight had lifted off his shoulders. “Didja say there had been rumors about a really strong Pokémon on Route One Oh Two?” Nate asked after hastily washing two pieces of toast with a whole glass of orange juice. His notebook had appeared in his hand out of nowhere. “What kind of rumors? Where exactly? Did any of that mention what the Pokémon looked like?” Billy rubbed at his chin like it was a magic lamp he was trying to coax the answers out of. “Well that spot of marshy area I mentioned? Seems some folk encountered something stronger than normal around there. Dunno exactly what it was but I remember hearing something about Pokemon being put to sleep. Course not everyone passing through saw it so either it's nothin’ or there's more to it than simply passin’ by." Nate frantically scribbled all of the information down in his notebook. “Gotcha. Thanks. I’mma look for it and see if I can catch it. I gotta get more teammates if I wanna compete with Quinn to be champion!” He shoved his training pad and his notebook back into his backpack. “Right, well, guess we’ll be heading out! Thanks again for the hospitality. I—oh crap. I totally forgot!” Nate reached down to his waist and snatched the extra PokéBall the thief had bounced off his head. “There’s someone’s Pokémon inside this. The guy hit me in the head with it before he ran off. Any idea what I should do with it? Should I leave it with you guys?” Billy took the ball from him to inspect it. He rubbed at his chin again, thought for a minute, then released the Pokémon inside of it. A small orange bug-like creature with gigantic jaws appeared in a flash of red light. It immediately started trying to bite the nearest structure, but thankfully Billy was quick to recall it. “Well. That’s a trapinch in there. Don’t see too many of those around these parts, so I remember when we do. Someone stayed here recently with one. I think she said she was headed for Route One Oh Two when I talked with her. Maybe you could return it to her, since you’re headed that way?” Nate nodded and clipped the ball back onto his belt. “Leave it to me. We’ll find her.” He threw his bag over his shoulder and looked over to Quinn. “I’m all set. Ready to hit the road?”

Nathan had welcomed the distraction of the morning, as terrible as it had been. He was happy that they had stopped the thief from getting away with the egg too. It normally would have left him on cloud nine to have been so useful and to have stopped a real life bad guy. All of it was dampened by the absence of their other—former—teammate, though, a bitter taste in his mouth that the boxer seemed unable to wash away. He and Belle hadn’t been close… but she was his first friend he had made on the boat. He had mistakenly thought they would become fast friends by the end of their journey. That’s how all the stories showed it was supposed to go; unlikely pairs that somehow stayed together and came out on top of the world. People threatened to quit, they got close for drama, but they always stayed. Except Belle had left. She had left and Nate knew there was nothing that he could do to change that. Life wasn’t a television show and it wasn’t even his place to chase after her. Hell, Nate could admit to himself that he really barely knew the girl beyond a day of travel. He had just… Well, he thought it would be different, that was all. Nate never imagined his journey would start on such a sad note. Maybe his parents were right. Maybe he had no idea what he was getting himself into. Nate reached for the Poké Ball on his belt and pressed a button to release Peat. The sea-bear cub appeared in a flash of light, snoring noisily, but he perked up immediately when he saw Nate in front of him and growled out an affectionate greeting. “Hey,” Nate said, kneeling down to scratch him beneath the chin. Peat purred. “We’re gonna do some morning training, bud. Just like on the ship. Okay?” The bear cub clapped his flippers together and assumed a battle-ready stance. Nate turned toward Quinn and Billy. “Is it alright if we do this here?” Nate fished the training pads he put over his hands out of his bag to show them. “I just have him hit pads to warm up in the morning. I figured I can just listen, while you two talk. I’m not… I’m not really in a super talkative mood.” He beamed at Quinn with a smile that was just a bit too bright. “Great job this morning though! I saw you out there, you were awesome!”

Nate grabbed for Peat's ball at his waist, prepared to battle. "Gah!" he grunted when instead of releasing a Pokémon, the PokéBall struck him in the head, and then fell to the ground. "What--what's wrong with you?" Of course the man had already started running. Nate started to chase after him, ignoring the pain lanciing through the knot already forming on the side of his head, then thought better of it. He looked at Quinn. "Nice catch," he said, smiling at them. Then, "Are you okay? That dude was crazy. I can't believe he just dropped that egg. Plus," Nate knelt down and picked up the PokéBall that had been thrown at him. It was slightly heavier than normal; one of a few clear indicators that something was inside of it. "He just left his Pokémon behind. Didn't even release it. What kinda scumbag does that?"

Nate was a boy that possessed a very one track mind. That was sometimes to his detriment; he struggled to multi-task well, and he could miss the greater scheme of things because he was too focused on the basic details. The thief with the egg was one such example. He was running too quickly, his body too tensed, to adapt for the fact that the thief had tripped and released the egg. Instead his attention remained solely on the man, the thief, who had become the outlet for all the anxious energy Nate found himself filled with. He tackled the man just as he started to fall. Nate was used to getting hit, and had taken a lot worse during sparring than a small fall could deliver unto him. That would give him the edge in the scramble when they fell. He would put all his effort into restraining the thief, to hold him down and prevent him from moving, and if the force of the tackle and the fall hurt him... well... Maybe don't steal things.

Nate was not the best at reading. His mind was too much of a livewire, his eyes too high-strung, to sit and absorb words on a page casually. He COULD read. He had read all about Pokémon, and he had already gathered quite the impressive collection of knowledge and trivia on them, if he did say so himself. It was just that being able to focus and read something required him to be EXTRA interested. He read the letter three times. His grip on it tightened and the paper crumpled between his fingers and started to tear; Nate read it again. “We gotta… I gotta…” he spoke softly, but it was through clenched teeth. He wanted more than anything to chase after her. To catch up to her and drag her back and demand that she stay with them. He hadn’t known her long, but he knew that she was in need of a friend, and he hated the idea of someone being on their own like that. He had grown surprisingly attached to the slovenly girl and her little Grass-type starter. He also knew that the only thing to do was respect her wishes. He really hadn't known her long enough to do anything so dramatic. The distraction was welcome when it came. Physical action. A place to direct the overwhelming need to act that roared through his veins. “Leave it to us! We’ll catch them!” Nate exploded out of the building like a Thunder Bolt. The hinges of the door creaked in protest, the force he had used to exit the building entirely unnecessary, and his feet pounded down the road in the direction the man had indicated.

Nate was excited about the prospect of talking to someone knowledgeable about the care of Pokémon. “That would be great! I wanna know all about Pokémon food,” he said. “Proper diet and care is half the battle when it comes to training.” Hard-work was a lubricant when it came to getting stronger. It made things easier, but if your foundation (your body and your mind) began to fail, hard work would never be a proper substitute. As they went their separate ways into the rooms, Nate waved goodnight to both his teammates. His eyes lingered on Belle longer than Quinn. Something seemed… off. He had a bad feeling in his stomach, but he was sure that sleep would fix it. So sleep was what he planned to do. He released Peat and started their nightly routine. Grooming (himself and Peat), brushing teeth (his own and Peat’s, flossing, and a calm nightly workout that consisted mostly of stretches that he took to more easily than Peat. It was a relaxing way to wind down from the stresses of the day; it expended the last of your energy while giving your muscles a stretch that helped dissolve any excess tension from walking. It gave him time to reflect on the day. A lot had happened. His first real battle, his first experience traveling with friends, and his first time meeting a Ranger to boot. Nate decided that he wouldn’t let not catching a Pokémon on his first day bum him out too much. Belle hadn’t either, and she was already proving to be a stronger trainer. He would have to work twice as hard to keep up with both her and Quinn. “Sweet dreams, Quinn!” he called when they knocked. Peat rumbled his goodnites as well, and then the both of them prepared for bed. Peat climbed into the bed and curled into Nate’s chest. Nate breathed a contented sigh and was almost immediately claimed by sleep.

Nate was sad to see the daycare appear on the horizon. He had been enjoying the journey. His skills were limited and training was one of the few things he was knowledgeable about, so it had been fun to share all the information that had been drilled into his head since he was a kid. His disappointment did not last long once they met the owner of the daycare. Nate stepped forward and extended his hand to shake Billy’s firmly. “Hi Billy! My name’s Nate. You already met my friend Quinn, spooky, right? The girl over there is…” Nate glanced around until he found Belle. During the journey, he had been sure to pace himself and never leave anyone behind, but he supposed he might have sprinted toward the house. “That’s Belle! Don't worry, she's looked like that since we got off the boat, but she's actually super nice.” He gestured at himself with his thumb and smiled. “We’re Pokémon trainers!” Nate toed off his shoes and followed Quinn inside. “I was pretty spooked by whole ghost thing at first too, but Quinn is just as nice as Belle.” The boy glanced around at the inside of the house with amazement. “So this is what a daycare looks like. We have one in Kanto, but my family would never let me visit. Do you guys have any special techniques you use to care for your Pokémon? Do you feed them any specific food?” Nate fished his notebook and pencil out of his pocket. “Have you ever heard of a Pokémon called Bearble? My partner is named Peat, and he’s a Bearble. I was hoping you guys might have some advice on how I was supposed to take care of him. He worked real hard today so I wanna make sure his fur and his teeth and fins and stuff are all taken care of the right way. Right now I’ve been brushing him every night, and cleaning his teeth whenever I brush mine. He hates it, but I saw a documentary once talking about how most trainers don’t give their Pokémon proper dental care, so I wanna be extra careful.” Nate stopped when he realized that no one else was talking, then he laughed, his face flushing as red as a cheri berry. “Sorry about that…” he said, awkwardly rolling his pencil between his thumb and forefinger. “I get a little excited sometimes.”

Nate grinned at Belle once the matter with the Rattata had been settled. “So, you really have all of the anniversary stuff for the rangers?” he asked as they walked back to the Pokémon Center. It felt like a great weight had been lifted off of his chest now that he no longer had to worry about injured Pokémon, and he was happy to talk about something more light-hearted. “My Mom has a few too. She grew up in Hoenn so she was really into the show, so she watched it with me a lot. I only ever wanted stuff with the Red Ranger in it though.” His face flushed and he scratched at the back of his neck and looked away, still smiling. “I just thought he was cool. What about you? Got a favorite?” Nate would continue the conversation if Belle responded during the trip back to town. If she didn’t, he wouldn’t press the issue, and instead focus on the scenery around them. When they arrived back at town Nate would head inside and have the nurse quickly heal Peat. Unlike earlier that morning, there was no paperwork involved, and the whole process was a quick and easy thing. He clipped the Poké Ball back to his belt and took a seat to wait for his friends to be ready. Well… he sat for about a minute. Nate was never good at being still. After a few seconds he was bouncing his leg. Then a minute later he was on his feet pacing. By the time Quinn reunited with them outside the Pokémon Center, Nate was shadow boxing with the air, slipping and sliding his shoulders to roll away from imagined punches. His movements were crisp and fluid, and when he struck back at his invisible opponent, the blows were snappy and the air cracked around his knuckles. It was clear even to someone untrained that Nate was a very experienced boxer. “OH! Quinn!” Nate paused mid-punch and grinned. “You get the nurse to check on you guys? I’m used to getting roughed up by Pokémon, but that bruise looked nasty.” When the potential specter mentioned training, Nate pumped his fist with excitement, then paused suddenly. “I think Peat could use a break. We’ve been training the whole time, and I haven’t managed to catch any Pokémon yet. You went and beat me to finding the Rat King!” The momentary pause was not enough to keep his spirit down. “I can help you train though! Mom and Dad ran a dojo back home, right by the Saffron city gym, so I’ve been training since I was a kid. Oh, and Belle and Moo can join too! This’ll be great.”