“Aah! Ms. Pondcastle!” Sayuri waved excitedly. “It’s great to see you again!” Pity Zoey hadn’t signed up, but Sayrui understood. Seemed like a lot of people doing Contests had secondary jobs these days. More stable, probably. “Aah, and you have a cute friend with you!”
Raichu were so adorable! Fat little faces! “Have you been watching? I think we have a really great group this year!” Sayuri bounced, aborting a motion to touch that cute, rat face.
“Oh! Hi!” Zoey slapped the notebook shut reflexively and wracked her brain for the judge’s name. She’d just seen it, too, in the pamphlet, and yet... Well. It would come to her eventually. Probably.
“Yes, the contestants are all so cute this year! Maybe it was better I missed signing up, we would have had some steep competition.” She rubbed Chi’s head to get rid of the Raichu’s glower. “I can’t wait to see everyone in action! Dress ups are cute and all, but I really love seeing the Pokemon show off.” She knew how much fun it was for the Pokemon, too. Kaiju had nearly destroyed the house doing a replay for the other caretakers.
Chi jumped into her lap, butting into the conversation. She leaned forward, nose going, and chirped in the way she knew was irresistible. While her front half was busy being cute, her tail came around and whapped Zoey in the head.
“Ow! Uh...right. This is Chi. She was going to compete this year, but we lost track of time. You can pet her if you want, she won’t zap.” So Zoey hoped, anyway.
Settled in the corner of a bench and trying not to be noticed, Zoey watched the other audience members as they milled about between dress ups. Chi sat beside her, nose twitching as she peered over the crowd.
Chi caught sight of a contestant, decked out in their glittery garb, and turned to glare at Zoey. She shrugged back apologetically; Chi had not yet forgiven her for missing the deadline. They’d been so busy, she’d decided not to attend, and by the time she’d realized she’d have time to compete after all, it had been too late.
At least they’d made it to the show. The dress ups had been stunning so far, and she couldn’t help being inspired by all the glitz and glamour. She pulled out a notebook and started doodling, sketching up designs that, with luck, she’d get a chance to use next year. Perhaps Chi and Dawn would forgive her before then.
As she drew, she didn’t notice Chi perking up, staring at a person who was approaching their lonely bench. The Raichu’s tail twitched and her cheeks glowed with curious electricity.
Name: Zoey Pondcastle
Nicknames: Zo, Mom (as the other caretakers call her, often sarcastically)
Gender: Female
Orientation: Uh heteroromantic asexual I guess, though tbh she could be into girls too, who knows
Preferred pet names: Love and sweet, both of which her coworker Benji calls her and neither of which has clued her into the fact that he likes her (she thinks he’s just sweet lol)
Relationship status: Single and ready to....nap
Favorite canon ship: Eh...I don’t really ship with her anyone, but if anyone wants to change my mind, be my guest haha
Favorite non-canon ships: I want someone to hook her up with Benji because she’s oblivious but otherwise I really don’t care haha...just try to date her, I dare you (best of luck, for real)
Opinion on true love: She has dreamed of finding true love since she was a child. Now that she’s older, she still fully believes in it and that it’s going to find her someday, though she’s a little skeptical how that’s going to happen when she almost never socializes ever
Opinion on love at first sight: She thinks this is how love works but honestly it’s probably not going to happen that way for her haha...well, actually, the other party might love her at first sight
Ideal physical traits: Can stop a rampaging Tauros with bare hands, carry heavy bags of feed and bedding, and yet still soft and cuddly
Ideal personality traits: Funny, compassionate, intelligent, loves Pokemon with the same reckless abandon she exhibits (aka, will probably be killed by one someday because she loves them so much that sometimes she forgets how dangerous they really are)
Unattractive physical traits: Overly muscular, greasy
Unattractive personality traits: Arrogant, rude, condescending
Ideal date: She loves food and the beach, so take her for pizza and a walk by the ocean (or just take her to Alola, she might marry you on the spot). Her Pokemon have to be invited.
Do they have a type?: Her type is someone who thinks she’s awesome even when she’s definitely not being awesome, but who also respects her as a real person and is willing to leave her alone when she needs it
Average relationship length: She’s never been in a relationship haha....but if she was, she’d go hardcore for longterm
Preferred nonsexual intimacy: Hand holding, napping together, snuggled up and reading together
Commitment level: She is all or nothing. If she’s not sure, she’s not gonna go for it, and if she’s sure, her partner sure as heck better be, too.
Opinion of public affection: Hand holding is cool, anything else is unnecessary
Past relationships: None!
Cheren blinked, completely taken aback by the invitation. he certainly didn’t expect to have anybody other than his Pokemon to spend new Year’s Eve with, but he supposed he now suddenly had plans. With a girl that he wasn’t entirely convinced didn’t hate him. But if she was inviting him to celebrate with her, she couldn’t hate him, right?
In any case, Bun-Bun jumped at the invitation, excitedly tugging at Cheren’s arm. A winner’s celebration! A perfect way to spend the holiday!
“Oh, uh… Y-yeah, definitely,” Cheren said, trying very hard not to sound unsure. “That could definitely… be fun.”
“I mean… I guess there’s fireworks and stuff around soon, huh?”
Oh. Oh. Oh, crap. She scrambled for an out and found none. Denying him now would be an insult. She couldn’t insult a gym leader, especially not one who knew who she was.
...plus his Lopunny seemed very excited at the prospect. Worse than offending a gym leader would be disappointing a Pokemon. Especially a Pokemon that she was pretty certain could punch her to death.
“Yeah, sure, it’ll be...great.” Awkward laugh. Good job. “There must be a restaurant or something around here that’s open all night...” Big cities like this usually had places that were open until early morning, right? She really didn’t get out much...she usually bought her dinners out of hotel vending machines.
“It’s been a while since I’ve watched fireworks,” she admitted. “Might be nice to catch them for once. ...do you, uh...know a place?”
Bun-Bun chattered a cheerful hello in Zoey’s direction, and she even nodded politely towards the grumpy Quilava. Cheren, meanwhile, shuffled his feet awkwardly as he struggled to continue the conversation, as politeness unfortunately dictated.
“Er, no. Not much for parties myself, actually. Just out to spend a birthday present,” he said, waving his gift card around lamely. “Thought I’d get presents for Bun-Bun and Convair to congratulate them.”
“Oh, uh… Congratulations, by the way. On taking first in Singles. I never got to tell you. Good to see Normal Types blowing away the competition. Kaiju did wonderfully.”
Bun-Bun nodded enthusiastically, thrilled that the conversation had turned towards the Festival. She beamed at Zoey, trying to express her own congratulations. A worthy successor to her Singles champion title.
Tag grumbled a greeting at Bun-Bun then dropped his head across Zoey’s chest, closing his eyes and pretending to be asleep. His usual tactic for avoiding interaction.
Zoey patted the Quilava’s head and smiled a little despite herself. The guy certainly seemed to care about his Pokemon. That was something she could respect, even if she was cold and annoyed. Gosh, that Lopunny was cute.
“Oh, thank you!” she answered, smiling for real at the mention of Kaiju. She was still super proud of that bitey little pancake. “I still can’t believe it, you know? I never expected to place, let alone win. Crazy.” She’d already spent most of the winnings replacing worn out stuff at the sanctuary. It had disappeared nauseatingly fast.
“Congratulations to you, too,” she added quickly, almost forgetting her manners. “Your appeal was amazing, you deserved the perfect score!” Her eyes turned to Bun-Bun as she said it, but she’d meant it toward both of them. She’d been sore herself the day after appeals; she hadn’t realized how hard coordinators worked during contests.
“I bet you had a big party when you got home. We certainly did at the sanctuary.” She still had bruises from Dragon’s forceful headbutts of approval. Then she said, “We should celebrate or something, two champs and all.” It had sounded joking in her head. It sounded less so out loud.
Cheren frowned down at his gift card, figuring he may as well use it. He had Bun-Bun out beside him, figuring that she would want to pick her own present out. She was kindly– and slightly overbearingly– trying to wrap her ears around him as a sort of second scarf to protect him against the cold he hated so much. Of course, she was too short for this to be effective.
What he didn’t expect was to run into Zoey unexpectedly. And quite literally. With the crowd it was impossible to avoid bumping into people, annoyingly enough.
“S-Sorry. Um…”
“You. Again. Zoey, yeah?”
Oh no. She knew the voice right away. She’d certainly bumped into him enough times by now. Why couldn’t she just get her groceries and go home without talking to anybody?
“Oh, uh, hey,” she said lamely, turning around. But she lit up seeing the Lopunny. So graceful and fluffy...! Look at her ears draped around her trainer...they looked so warm...
“Quil,” Tag grumbled from around her neck. He’d kindly draped himself there to stave off the cold she hated so much. Well, Chi had told him to, but he’d been agreeable enough. He was slightly less amenable to this distraction.
"It’s nice to see you again, Bun-Bun,” she said, offering the Lopunny a genuine smile and ignoring her Quilava’s complaint. Then she turned back to Cheren with forced politeness.
“What, uh, brings you out here? Headed to a party?” Gym leaders were probably invited to all sorts of stuff. They always said they were so busy, but she certainly saw them partaking in lots of frivolities.
Zoey pushed through the crowds, trying desperately to go about her business in the busy New Year’s Eve street. She should have known not to go out tonight, but she’d forgotten the date--so easy to lose track!--and really wanted to stock up on extra PokeChow. But getting to the supermarket was proving...difficult. The thought crossed her mind to let Chi zap some revelers out of the way, but--no, she couldn’t risk it. What if someone she accosted found out she was from the Rest Nest... No, a bad idea. Even if it was a good idea.
Cheren blinked in confusion at being called “Mr. Shirogane”. It was typically only his students who called him that. Half of them, anyway.
He looked Zoey over, taking in her torn and disheveled appearance. For a moment, he felt moved to ask if she was okay, but caught himself in time, understanding that it was obviously her costume. He glanced down at Kaiju and found himself smiling to see him again. He really did have a soft spot for Dunsparce, and Kaiju was a particularly delightful one. If a little destructive. He looked adorable in his monster costume, but Cheren felt that cute wasn’t what they were going for.
“Uh… Yes,” he said in answer to Zoey’s question, glancing down at his own costume. He felt rather silly in it now that he was mingling with the others. He took his mask off, a little self-conscious. “It’s our second year. Bun-Bun and I–”
His cheeks flushed as he said Bun-Bun’s name, his hand already gesturing vaguely to his Lopunny standing behind him. He paused, wondering how to finish his sentence without sounding like he was bragging.
“Bun-Bun took first in the Singles Division last year. She really loves it. So I thought I’d let Convair here give it a try, too.” His Unfezant tossed his head pompously behind him and Cheren wasn’t quite able to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. “…And you? You’re entering Kaiju?”
Zoey barely heard anything after the Lopunny’s name. “Bun-Bun?” she said, staring at Cheren in disbelief. First these costumes, now the precious name? What was this guy?
She smiled broadly at the Lopunny, who was standing--or rather, posing--next to her trainer. “That is the sweetest name I’ve ever heard,” she said seriously, not quite looking back at Cheren. “And no wonder she won, look at her, she’s beautiful.” Never mind that she thought all Lopunny were pretty. She’d always wanted to touch that ear fluff, but she’d heard most of the species weren’t keen on that idea.
In response to Cheren’s question, she nudged Bean onto her shoulder and heaved Kaiju out of the plant. He whined in protest; Bean stuck out one dainty paw and bopped him on the nose for his indecorous behavior. He whined again just for good measure.
“Yeah!” Zoey said, forgetting her discomfort in her excitement over Kaiju’s participation. “He got a perfect score in his dress-up, can you believe?!”
She eyed Bun-Bun and Convair, overwhelmed at the intricacy of their costumes. They were stunning. Yeesh. If she and Kaiju had gotten a perfect score with their kaiju movie costumes, surely these three had earned one, as well. She felt rather ridiculous next to them.
Even though she had tallied up the scores on her own beforehand, Zoey still found herself shocked to hear her name called as the victor. She had come here mostly on a whim, thinking it would be a longshot chance to win some extra funds for the sanctuary. Really, the thing that had spurred her to come at all was the other caretakers’ doubt in Kaiju. They all loved him, of course, but to compete successfully in a contest? Hah!
Well, she’d certainly have a surprise for them. Only her second-in-command Benji had believed in Kaiju, and he’d be sure to have lots of treats waiting for them once she texted him the news. To think their silly homage to monster movies had netted a win! Thinking back on the competition, she was still surprised they’d come out on top. She was just lucky she hadn’t been in doubles, she supposed. No way she’d have had a chance there with her and Kaiju’s campy performance.
Kaiju, for his part, had no idea what was going on; he had never been very wise on human speech. He did respond to her excitement, though, wriggling and chirping quite unprofessionally. She smiled at him, wishing she had half his carefree attitude. She couldn’t wait to pin that ribbon on him and show him off.
Cheren had decided to release Tam from his Pokeball to join in the post-dress up celebration, but was confused when he immediately began streaking down the hall. He gave chase, with Bun-Bun and Convair following close behind (both rather annoyed, as they didn’t want to mess up their costumes).
When he finally caught up to his Stoutland, however, he found himself face-to-face with someone very familiar.
“O-Oh… You’re here?”
It was all he could manage to say. Their last meeting had been rather awkward, after all.
Tam, however, wasn’t awkward in the slightest. In fact, he was beyond thrilled to be reunited with his friend Kaiju. He was wagging his tail madly and already making to help him dig some more soil out of the poor ravaged houseplant.
Zoey didn’t have time to recognize the person as they hurried up to her. As soon as the Stoutland had pelted into their space and stuck his nose in the planter, Bean had poofed up to twice her normal size and bolted up Zoey’s leg. Zoey yelped–more out of surprise than pain, though there was plenty of both to go around–and wrapped her arms around the shivering cat. She looked up sharply, ready to berate the dog’s trainer for scaring her Skitty.
But when she looked up, she realized the person was another coordinator, judging by his apparel. A few moments later, his words registered, and her annoyed scowl disappeared as she recognized him. Was that really Cheren, with the fancy getup? And were those his Pokemon? That beautiful Lopunny! The stunning Unfezant! What gorgeous costumes! Had he picked them all on his own?
She felt a little grungy in comparison. Scratch that, a lot grungy.
“You?” she said finally, afraid she would say his name wrong again in her surprise. She repeated it in her head, but she still wasn’t overly confident. “I, uh…didn’t expect to see you here, um. Mr Shirogane. You’re...competing?”
In her arms, Bean hissed at the Stoutland and then buried her face in Zoey’s chest.
[MOVES] SCREECH, IRON TAIL, FLAMETHROWER, BULLDOZE
[ITEMS] PARTY SNAPS, REPLICA TOY PLANES
[MUSIC] GODZILLA THEME, EXTENDED (GOJIRA, 1954)
Zoey stared out across the stage, tapping her leg nervously. Kaiju kept looking at her, flicking out his tongue, waiting for her to say go. She thought he had learned more, command-wise, preparing for this contest than he had in years of training. She’d have to try some of her new tricks with the other Pokemon back home.
The stage was dark, but she could just make it out. A platform had been built up, rising like a cliff, allowing enough space for her to move around it. Atop the platform was a miniature city, the several-foot-tall buildings ranged most heavily around the sides where they wouldn’t obscure the performance. A smattering of buildings was in the middle, too, leaving just enough space between for Kaiju to move. Behind the platform, taking up the entire space floor-to-ceiling, was a massive backdrop. It was painted with a city scene, extending the three-dimensional setup on stage.
Bluish lights at the front of the platform flicked on, giving the audience a good view of the tiny city. It resembled her native Johto, with shiny skyscrapers poking up beside tiered-roof pagodas. The lights were pointed up just a little, casting the shadows of the miniature buildings onto the backdrop and allowing darkness to pool around the foundations, obscuring the platform floor. The hued lights gave the city an eerie sort of glow.
The music would soon begin, so Zoey nodded to Kaiju, and he leapt forward with zeal, taking the path she had shown him earlier. She stepped out, too, waiting at the edge of the platform’s base, obscured in the gloom that surrounded the makeshift cliffs. Kaiju still wore his costume from the dressup, but Zoey had covered herself in a long black cloak, hood pulled up to keep the audience from seeing her too clearly. She carried a bulging bag over her shoulder.
The music started with a monstrous roar, and Kaiju lunged forward into the light, taking out a low building on his way, adding his own deafening Screech to the soundtrack. He was the same height as the buildings, but his shadow loomed huge over him on the backdrop. He stayed still for a moment, the front half of his body raised off the ground, allowing the tension to rise with the music. At the first cymbal crash, he lashed out his tail, which had taken on a metallic sheen, making it glow blue in the light. The Iron Tail struck a skyscraper, decimating it, scattering pieces. He swung around, striking again, taking out another building. He Screeched again in time with the next cymbal. Zoey’s cue.
Digging in her bag, Zoey came up with a pouch of party snaps. She had instructed Kaiju to stay back during this part; she didn’t want to accidentally hit him, even if it wouldn’t really hurt. She seized a few and threw them, aiming for the buildings and the very edge of the platform. They hit, snapping like miniature gunfire, some of them even getting lucky enough to emit a tiny spark. She threw a few more handfuls, and Kaiju finally Screeched angrily at the faux artillery.
Time to up the ante. She reached into the bag again and pulled out a toy airplane, designed like an old fighter jet. It was to scale with the buildings and built to soar once thrown. She aimed briefly and then launched it. To the audience, it must have looked like the plane flew out of the dark ether around the city.
Kaiju, eager to play the game they had planned, turned on the plane instantly. He Screeched at it as it glided toward him. When it got in range, he opened his mouth wide, and an orange light burned in the back of his throat. The music dropped into a more urgent beat. A moment later, a Flamethrower burst from his maw, burning the plane to ash.
Zoey sighed in relief; she had been worried about that move. She fished out two more planes and tossed one, then took a few steps and tossed another. She hurried around the stage, heart beating faster with the music, as Kaiju Screeched and incinerated them. His Flamethrower was surprisingly bright, casting an orange glow over the city.
In between plane launches, Kaiju rampaged through the middle of the city, knocking aside buildings with his drill tail. His shadow on the backdrop thrashed with him, giving the impression that he was larger even than he seemed to be amongst the tiny buildings. When three new planes soared toward him, all from different origin points, he shot a Flamethrower and flung his head to the side, obliterating all three with one move.
As the music grew more frenzied, so did his swipes with Iron Tail. Zoey kept tossing planes, darting around the edge of the stage, trying to keep them coming from all directions. Kaiju didn’t miss a single one, always coming up from his physical attacks just in time to end their flights with a burst of fire. It was a glorious game for him, one he was intent on winning. Whatever their score in the end, he was having the time of his life.
She reached into her bag once more and found only one plane left. It was perfect timing; the second verse had just started over again. A heartbeat later, she threw the plane as sharply as she could, and it veered out of the darkness toward him, faster than the others. He dropped low on his belly, whirling around with his shimmering metallic tail, raising it high in the air. The little plane stood no chance, exploding into myriad pieces.
As Kaiju continued to shoot Flamethrowers into the air, the blue-tinted lights changed to orange, and bright, flickering lights turned on amongst the buildings clustered around the sides of the platform. It looked as if the miniature city was on fire, burning around the beast who had come to destroy it. Kaiju Screeched in victory, but it wasn’t over.
Scrambling to get there in time, Zoey ran back to her starting place, shedding the empty bag as she went. She tossed it to the ground as she dashed onto the path Kaiju had taken. He was still in the midst of the wreckage, blasting Flamethrowers and wreaking havoc with his tail. She emerged just in front of the backdrop screen, hidden in the shadows.
As Kaiju turned toward her in his rampaging, she flung back the cloak’s hood and lifted her arms. Beneath the hood was a second one, part of the dark clothes she wore under the cloak. This hood had been patterned to look like a monstrous head, with shiny teeth and eyes that reflected the stage’s lights.
The underside of the cloak was orange and gold, shimmering and metallic, and it sparkled brilliantly in the lights. The pattern was reminiscent of a moth’s wings, with bold eye spots and stark shapes. She moved her arms just a little, making the pattern shimmer and shake and throw off sparkles of light.
Kaiju Screeched furiously at his new rival as she stepped away from the screen to walk amongst the apparently burning buildings. She kept her wings always in view for the audience and for Kaiju, so she could be tracked. As the first verse repeated, she walked amongst the false flames, and Kaiju lunged toward the buildings, launching Flamethrowers. He kept his distance, both for safety and to keep their size difference from being too closely compared.
He followed her around the stage, shooting flames that seemed close but in reality were aimed well over her head. They made a circle around the edge of the platform until she was back where she had begun. He watched her there for a moment, apparently stumped by her immunity to his fiery attacks. He thumped his tail on the ground as if frustrated.
She moved her wings and thrashed her head, gloating, apparently thinking she had defeated him. But as he continued to thump his tail, the sound became rhythmic, building up to something. She stopped moving, as if sensing danger, and turned her false head toward him, watching, waiting.
Suddenly the thumping stopped, and Kaiju reared up, tail high in the hair. He belted out an intimidating Screech and slammed his tail against the platform. The powerful Bulldoze leveled the remaining buildings, scattering pieces to the stage below. The platform shook, but it was as stable as she’d asked for and stood up admirably. Zoey collapsed to the ground, a little harder than she had intended, and flailed there, throwing the wings around as if in death throes.
Kaiju pounded his tail a few more times, unleashing weaker Bulldozes, until Zoey stopped moving and lay still, the cloak falling across her, dark side up. Finally, truly victorious, Kaiju turned to the audience and Screeched. As the lights cut out, dropping the stage into darkness, he released one last Flamethrower, exposing himself and the wreckage for a final time.
Zoey sat down in the lobby in a daze, stunned at the score they’d received. Kaiju paraded around her, striking poses and swinging his tail. She didn’t think he had any idea how well they had done; he was just excited to be dressed up and cooed over. She’d have to reattach the hood before the appeal, she was sure of it. Cute he may be, but gentle he was not.
Bean sat on her lap, gazing around nervously at the other contestants. Though the Skitty was too shy to compete herself, she had been excited to help Kaiju train for the contest. Now she huddled against Zoey’s belly, sizing up the competition, mewling advice to Kaiju that the Dunsparce clearly didn’t hear.
Zoey looked around, too, ignoring the people, admiring the other fancied up Pokemon. There were some great costumes around, certainly. She felt suddenly and overwhelmingly proud of Kaiju for doing so well. She smiled down at him...except she smiled at open floor. In a panic, she looked around and was somewhat relieved to find he had only crawled into a planter again.
With twin sighs, she and Bean got up to haul him out. At least she could be glad she’d made the dirt part of their costumes....
Zoey made some final adjustments to Kaiju’s costume and stepped out to be judged. The Dunsparce, who had been delightedly showing off his costume to every person who stepped into his line of sight, wriggled excitedly. Her own fidgeting had less to do with anticipation and a lot more to do with anxiety. She put on a brave face anyway, doing her best to affect cool stoicism. She didn’t want to let Kaiju down, though if she was being honest, he probably wouldn’t recognize if he won or not. In his own mind, he was a champ already.
After seemingly endless phone debates with her coworker Benji, she had settled on the obvious: make Kaiju into a kaiju. He wore a prosthetic cobra-like hood, painted with faux eyes that she hoped were slightly more intimidating than his real ones. She had painstakingly attached spines in a line from his snout to the middle of his back, often repeating the process as he squirmed to look at her work. To hide his decidedly not-tough little wings, she had pasted a series of wing-like spikes over them. The spikes bristled up when he lay flat on his belly, reminiscent of a Tyranitar.
She had also buckled a heavy leather collar around his neck and a smaller one around his tail, both studded with metal rivets. From the one about his neck hung the remains of a chain, an attempt to hint he had once been contained but had broken free. With force. She couldn’t do much about his pastel coloring without painting his whole body, so she’d left it alone, hoping the spikes and spines would be intimidating enough. The dirt smeared on him in patches was real; she’d taken advantage of his foray into a potted plant in the lobby.
For herself she had chosen the character of the misguided-scientist-turned-makeshift-soldier. She wore her work boots, already well-worn and muddy. Her khakis were torn and hastily repaired in places, as was her shirt. The shirt was half-untucked to give an air of hasty disarray, and the lab coat she wore was similarly disheveled. A burn in the coat hinted at one of the dangers hidden within her Pokemon partner. Her fingerless gloves had metal guards riveted to the knuckles, some small protection donned in her hasty career shift. She carried a length of chain that matched the remains dangling from Kaiju’s collar, a symbol of her duty to contain that which she had inadvertently set free.
As if to cement his vision of toughness, Kaiju struck his best scary pose, lifting his body up and opening his mouth in a hiss to show off his fangs.
Zoey never passed up a chance to talk about her Pokemon, and seeing the phone in the person’s hand reminded her of the chat she’d just had the night before. Benji, her second-in-command of sorts at Rest Nest, had just had to give her a video call to show her Beta’s new trick. She didn’t talk about that Porygon enough.
“So I bought this Porygon a few years ago, his name is Beta, isn’t he adorable?” she gushed, quickly pulling up a picture to show them. “Anyway, he’s like…the best little helper, I trained him to communicate with our phones so he can tell us what’s wrong with the other Pokemon.” The fact that she had mentioned nothing about the sanctuary was lost in her excitement.
“He was really shy when I first got him, but now he’s a bit of a jokester. One time he got into an old computer and totally fried it, we couldn’t get him out. Had to take the Magnet Train from Goldenrod and meet a specialist in Saffron. Lugged that darn computer the whole way only to find out he was just playing a joke on us and could have come out any time. Little urchin,” she finished fondly, smiling. She sure did miss Beta when she was away.
She paused. “Wait, this Zorua isn’t a wild?” That completely changed the situation except for one thing. “I mean, I absolutely will help, but, even if you’ve done the camping thing for longer than this, I’m kind of concerned…?” She did a tally of who could do what on her belt - Felis and Regina could smell, Zorua couldn’t hide smell. Munmun and Noir could sense the blank spot of a Dark Type resonance. The ghosts could search through things to cover more ground.
“Like, have you eaten? Have you slept? It’s hard to search if you yourself aren’t operating on all cylinders, y’know? Maybe go settle in a Center somewhere, and I’ll continue the search for you?”
Oh, whoops. “No, no, he’s not wild! His name is Toto. Y’know, like the movie.” Or the book, whichever. ...or the band? Huh. Which was he named after? Anyway. She hadn’t looked for a legitimate wild Pokemon in years. That was a less-busy person’s passion. “He belongs to my coworker’s little brother.”
Concerned? She had to bite back a laugh. That would be rude, to laugh at someone who was expressing concern for her well-being. Still. Being out here was basically a vacation. Albeit one with poor accommodations and more Berries than a human was probably supposed to eat.
Wait. Did this girl just suggest Zoey go home and she search for Toto on her own? Excuse? Who in their right mind would leave the well-being of a Pokemon they’re responsible for in the hands of a complete stranger? ...well, okay, so she basically did that with Kaiju, but she was never far enough away that he was in any real danger. And well...hm, okay, so maybe she wasn’t the best person to preach that particular opinion. But it still stood.
And anyway, this was a different story. Toto wasn’t even her Pokemon, and he was probably scared and possibly injured. She was not going back without him.
“I’m really fine,” she said finally, telling herself that the girl was only being polite. Probably. “I think I’ve had more sleep out here than I get in a few weeks at home, haha. I’m really a lot more concerned about Toto.”
Oh, right. “My name’s Zoey, by the way.” She glanced at her hand. Only a little dirty. She wiped it quickly on her shirt and held it out for the girl to shake. Had to make a good impression, in case the sanctuary came up.
