Here all all of the new recruits and evolutions up through Chapter 7!
This time we have and extra special edition in the form of Bessemer, Steven’s shiny Metagross. I base the line off of giant isopods because it was a fun idea that wouldn’t leave my head. I love how well they came out!
Lile was my Route 7 catch that I had every intention of using until I stumbled into a shiny Crogunk five minutes later, so she was boxed and became one of Tierney’s mons. Mave is the bomb dot com. I love frogs so much.
They headed northwest up Route 6 the next day instead of continuing down Route 5, which meant Serena had lost not one, but two consecutive arguments—a miracle in and of itself. So instead of heading directly to Yantreizh or Relifac-le-Haut, they were detouring to Palais Chaydeuvre.
Xoana was practically vibrating, ready to shake apart at the seams. She hadn’t expected it, not after so long. Maybe it was everything else going on as well. It took all her strength to hold it in and chat normally to Aisling, Tierney, and Tracie.
They headed northwest up Route 6 the next day instead of continuing down Route 5, which meant Serena had lost not one, but two consecutive arguments—a miracle in and of itself. So instead of heading directly to Yantreizh or Relifac-le-Haut, they were detouring to Palais Chaydeuvre.
Xoana was practically vibrating, ready to shake apart at the seams. She hadn’t expected it, not after so long. Maybe it was everything else going on as well. It took all her strength to hold it in and chat normally to Aisling, Tierney, and Tracie.
The Pokemon were scattered high and low all around them, searching for something Félicité could use as a wand. By this time, all but Justine seemed to be taking her rejections with alacrity. After all, much depended on the soundness of her weapon, and the selection criteria were impossible to communicate to those outside her line.
Serena stared off at the scenery, pretending to watch her pokemon. Yet she didn’t even notice when Justine at last pried a branch from the bushes that gave Félicité pause. She twirled experimentally and sighted down its length. Justine stared back hopefully through the fork at the end, tail twitching with nerves. At length, Félicité sighed and stowed the branch in the thick fur by her hip. Even this somewhat half-hearted acceptance elicited a whine and wagging tail from Justine, but as before, her enthusiasm with a huff and the cold shoulder as Félicité stalked back to Serena’s side.
“Hey, she’s got a proper wand now!” Xoana prompted. “I can’t wait for her to use it in a real battle.”
“We’ll see how it performs,” Serena muttered, just as skeptical as her Braxien. Her quiet surliness was expected, but for once Xoana felt no obligation to do anything about it. Although, she did wonder if all of this had eroded Serena’s determination to apologize.
Then the Allée-Paradis opened up before them—every tree, hedge, and topiary perfectly shaped and manicured—every flagstone in its proper place. And beyond on either side, tall undulating fields of wheat just beginning to golden. Better than every photograph and painting because it was alive and breathing and she was part of it.
Xoana skipped ahead with a squeal and spun around under the branches. When it all finally stopped spinning, she found Aisling smiling broadly at her.
Heat flushed her face but it wasn’t all embarrassment this time. In fact, that was rather a small quotient. She skipped back to Aisling’s side and hooked their arms together so that they might process down the royal causeway like proper noble ladies.
Aisling looked down in surprise and then her smile split her face. She puffed up—not unlike her Fletchling brother—chest out and shoulders back. She placed her hand over one of Xoana’s and her smile turned more intimate, less like a billboard for the whole world to see. Xoana felt her eyelashes flutter.
And that was too much—too close to so many fantasies she’d had before. She slid her hand out from under Aisling’s and found something to mitigate it. She grabbed Serena’s passing arm and pulled her in too.
...
Maybe she’d had it right back at the lab—the way they both settled as soon as their arms linked. Or maybe Xoana was just trying to force Aisling and Serena to get along. She had to admit they were being pretty churlish, even if she’d never back down.
But then again, Serena had given in awfully quick last night. Tough to blame her. Aisling had almost found herself begging right alongside Xoana, except that she couldn’t give Serena the satisfaction—not yet anyway.
Aisling gestured grandly with her spare hand before putting it in her pocket. “Shall we?”
They started moving again and fell in step with each other. It was a beautiful day and things could be worse.
Xoana gasped when the perfectly cubic trees fell away and the palace itself stretched before them. Aisling smiled fondly for a moment only to notice her expression mirrored on Serena’s face. Hm, that was—she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
“Wait, what’s that?”
Their heads snapped forward to look. There was an enormous furry mound where the main gate should have been.
They stopped in front of it and stared upward. A peaceful snoring filled the silence.
“What is a Snorlax doing here?” Serena asked. “Do you think it’s guarding the entrance?”
“It’s supposed to be open,” said Xoana, sinking.
“Bree, could you ask this mon what’s up?”
She nodded and went up to him. “Snorlax! Excuse me, Snorlax!” Bree called, vigorously shaking a paw twice the size of her head.
No reaction.
Tessa was next to try and climbed up on its stomach. When that didn’t work, Sprout started to tug on a leg with his vines. Some of the other pokemon started prodding and calling to it, all to no avail. Íde opened her mouth to torch one of its feet, forcing Aisling to reprimand again.
But after another ten minutes went by without success, Aisling began to think her Charmander had been right. Tessa had fallen asleep on the Snorlax’s stomach and Félicité looked ready to burst a vein trying to force psychic energy out of her new wand.
Aisling stepped back a bit to evaluate their predicament. There was no way around it. The Snorlax was completely blocking the ornate, gilded gates and the adjacent wall ran the circumference of the palace and gardens. It was past opening according to the website, but the only soul around was the slumbering beast that blocked their path.
Xoana drooped.
“Alright, I’m going up,” Aisling declared.
“Wait, what—?” Tierney began, but by then Aisling was already clambering up the Snorlax’s side, pulling herself up by its fur.
The pokemon’s head rested against the gate, squishing its already squat neck into nonexistence. It snored, mouth open and drool dribbling out. It lacked front teeth to make room for the long tongue poking just past its lips, but it did have jutting canines as big as Aisling’s thumbs. Its breath smelled somewhat comfortingly of fermented plants, but only fools thought herbivores would pass up meat if given half a chance, or that only carnivores were dangerous.
Aisling stood slowly and carefully on its chest, taking half a step back from her first idea. It was then she saw two men and an impeccably groomed Furfrou running up to the gate from the other side.
“Are you a trainer?” the older of the two called, huffing from the exertion.
“Yeah!”
“Thank the gods!” He stooped to catch his breath.
“Could you help us dislodge this fellow?” The younger man asked for him. “He’s always trying to get in at night and we can’t get the gate open with him sleeping against it.”
“Sure. My friends and I can take care of it.”
Aisling squatted back down, grabbed the Snorlax by his chubby cheeks and shook.
“MY QUEEN!” her friends chorused in horror, but the Snorlax didn’t wake. Worth it.
Aisling delivered her verdict: “I think we’re just gonna have to attack it.”
“Seems rude to start a battle when he’s sleeping,” said Emer, though she didn’t sound firmly against it.
Aisling’s Croagunk croaked.
“You know Wake-Up Slap?” Said Bree. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”
Maeve trilled, throat sack bulging, and crossed her arms.
Bree scoffed. “I wouldn’t let that happen. Come on, I’ll go up with you.”
Aisling offered her hand and Maeve hopped from foot to foot for a moment before taking it, careful not to touch Aisling with her red finger. Aisling had forgotten that hazard. She should really be reading the pokedex entries more thoroughly.
Once the Quilladin and Croagunk were aboard, Aisling slid back off. Sprout grabbed Tessa with his vines and pulled her clear. Everyone was ready. Maeve looked around at their expectant faces and wrung her hands.
“Wake-Up Slap!” Aisling commanded.
Maeve squeezed her eyes shut and struck the Snorlax across the face. The slap resounded around the courtyard, bouncing off the palace walls and back.
Nothing… not even snoring. Then a rumbling began. Bree swept Maeve up over her head and scurried down as the rumble turned to roaring and the Snorlax scrabbled clumsily to his feet.
A combined cry rang out as the pokemon rushed him in a show of force and unity. Emer blasted him in the face with Water Gun and was rewarded for her smart strategy by being punted all the way to the bushes. Xoana cried out for her, but Aisling was confident the little Marill would bounce back, which she did a few moments later.
The Snorlax took a swipe at them all but Sprout and Bree grabbed his arm with their vines, halting him for a moment before he yanked and both were airborne. Bree used the momentum to swing around and kick him in the side while Sprout reeled in to attach himself firmly, taking advantage of the confusion to drain the Snorlax with Absorb.
Tierney’s Hawlucha came to the rescue at her call, plucking Sprout from the Snorlax’s arm before he could do it himself and thus clearing Spark for and electric attack. Félicité followed up with an Ember. The tip of her wand ignited as it was supposed to, but the fire started creeping down towards her hand and she was forced to stop.
The Snorlax swung but Laoch used Counter which made him stagger and Valériane followed with a Karate Chop to his shoulder.
“Ember, Íde!”
The Charmander released a blast that looked closer to Flamethrower.
“Gust, Finley!”
The Combee zipped behind Íde and stoked her teammate’s attack into a wall of fire that all had to shy away from. The Snorlax threw up an arm to shield his face and backed away. Maeve and Froabble kicked him in the side to steer him further and he broke into a run, shaking the ground as he retreated.
“Ha! Nice work all!” said Aisling.
She offered high-fives to her fellow trainers and Bree copied by offering the same to her teammates. Íde tapped her paw a bit grudgingly, but Maeve was enthusiastic. All seemed at least somewhat satisfied besides Félicité, who rubbed at her charred wand, and Justine, who drooped in embarrassment at having provided the faulty weapon.
“Thank you all, truly!” The older man declared, helping the younger to open the gate. “We usually have a pokeflute to deal with those brutes, but, ah…” He trailed off, brow furrowing, and the younger man stepped in.
“It’s currently on loan to Fort-de-Vanitas for an exhibition.”
“Right, yes! But let us move on to introductions. I am Baron Agreste, Caretaker of Palais Chaydeuvre, and this is my eldest son, Gabriel.” Baron made sense. They were both expensively dressed now that Aisling took a moment to notice them.
Xoana looked about ready to bow so Aisling stepped forward and offered her hand, giving each man a hearty shake. If they didn’t like it, they didn’t show it and greeted the rest the same.
“We really must repay you for the trouble. Would you all care for a tour?”
Xoana stifled a squeal.
“That’s awfully kind of you. We’d love one.”
It turned out Palais Chaydeuvre was a combination of traditional museum and historical site with some rooms featuring exhibitions of various kinds while others were preserved and restored to represent what the Palace was like when it was still the royal residence. It had the typical museum staff, but Baron Agreste and his family also lived there. Apparently they had been in charge of the palace’s upkeep since it was built, and this had somehow not changed when it was seized by the government of the people. His ancestors may have sided with the revolutionaries. That part was unclear.
Xoana was delighted the entire time and the baron was pleased to have someone so enthusiastic. His son disappeared, no doubt to do whatever the baron was meant to be doing while he escorted them around instead. The Furfrou was unbelievably bored and more than once tried to slip away only to be called back before she could get very far.
Serena said little, but she knew Xoana’s tastes well. More than once she pointed out something that had Xoana skipping over to look.
Tracie stopped in front of a painting and tilted her head. “What’s this?”
“That is thought to be the earliest depiction of mega evolution. For the longest time, no one knew what is was.” Aisling stopped to give it a closer look. A small human figure stood in the foreground holding something bright and shining aloft while behind them reared what might have been a huge and monstrous Gyarados with greatly exaggerated fins and red and black mixed in with the usual blue. “It was in one of the rarely used bedrooms and no one paid it any mind. But after mega evolution was discovered, a guest identified it and we had someone come in to evaluate it. Since moving it to public display, scientists and art historians the world over have come to see it.”
Age and abstraction made the confusion understandable, but it was still evocative somehow. That would be her one day—fist raised to the sky in exhilaration and defiance as unquenchable power flowed through her and an entire stadium roared her name.
Some of that same ambition must have tugged on Serena too, because was leaning over Aisling’s shoulder now and seemed not to notice.
“Ya’ see that, Comtesse?” Serena stiffened at how close Aisling’s voice was to her ear. “Coming here was in line with our program. We had a good battle to strengthen our teams and now we’re doing extra research on mega evolution.”
Serena retreated and crossed her arms but gave a huff that made Xoana smile.
...
Xoana didn’t want to leave the luxurious halls but it would have been a shame to come all this way and not see the famously beautiful palace gardens and grand sculpture work. And truth be told they were all growing tired of staring at things on walls and in glass cabinets and getting drowsy from the palace’s stuffy air.
The baron had left them before lunch, so they were free to wander as they pleased after. It was comfortably warm out and the light breeze smelled incredible. The lilacs must have been in bloom. Xoana sighed as they wandered across the bridge and stopped to look at the bronze Gyarados fountain in the middle of the lake.
Aisling offered her arm and Xoana nearly followed the urge to take it before the baron came running up. Aisling stretched expansively. Maybe she hadn’t meant to offer it?
It was difficult to understand much before he caught his breath, but Xoana soon puzzled out that he was pleading for their help finding his “lost” Furfrou. That seemed rather unlikely, but the poor old man appeared genuinely distressed and she agreed to look.
Justine had the best nose and seemed eager to be of use after the faulty wand business earlier, so they followed her lead around the gardens. Tierney got sidetracked capturing a lily Flabébé, but caught up with them before the scent trail lead them into the grand hedge maze.
“I think we should fan out, yeah?” said Tierney.
And so they did, though a bit reluctantly.
It took Xoana a little while to realize that it was Aisling twittering and not some bird. It was hard to whistle back through her smile, but she tried her best. Tierney was next to catch on, responding with a pretty good imitation of Valériane’s hoarse croaks after each of Xoana’s calls. Then Tracie followed, cooing like a Pidove. Finally Xoana heard Serena’s patented sigh from the hedge beside her followed by her best attempt at a Swanna’s trumpet.
Aisling cracked up and the rest of them folded like a house of cards. Even Serena chuckled quietly on the far side of the hedge.
It was then Xoana saw the Furfrou standing in the t-intersection in front of her, once flawless la reine trim covered in dirt and tangled with twigs and leaves. Xoana stopped and the Furfrou looked at her, eyes wide. She gave one swift tug but her long ear was snagged in the hedge. The Furfrou then held perfectly still.
“Found her!” Xoana yelled to the others. There were whoops and the patter of footsteps as they all attempted to converge. “Let me help you get out of—”
The Furfrou yanked herself free and bolted.
“Oh no, I scared her!”
“Nah,” said Froabble, already hopping after her.
“Then why did she run?” Xoana called after her pokemon.
Justine wriggled under the hedge separating them and took off running while Serena and her other pokemon’s footfalls doubled back.
“Wait!” Xoana called, joining the pursuit, the Furfrou kept running and they kept after her.
They all met Tierney and Laoch down a corner, but the Furfrou dove down another path between them. Next Tracie and Spark had her cut off, but the section was wide and the Furfrou rushed her. Tracie dove to the right, but the Furfrou zigzagged at the last moment and jumped clean over Spark to get away.
Tierney pulled Tracie up and they were right back in it. The Furfrou tried to make a turn but Aisling and Bree were there so she skidded with a startled yelp and hurdled down the straightaway, narrowly outpacing Bree’s vine lasso. Serena and Félicité almost had her, but she escaped once again, this time towards the outer part of the maze.
“Dammit!”
“Comtesse stay on her!” Xoana yelled. The pause gave the Furfrou a lead, but Serena and her three canines took off after her. Serena was by far the best runner in any case and Xoana was confident she would catch up. The rest of the pokemon had converged. “Valériane get us an aerial view!”
“Finley you too!” Aisling called.
“Okay, we have to get her into the Chandelure quadrant,” Xoana told them. “It has the most dead ends and only five exits. My Queen, you skirt around the Delphox quadrant and try and flank her. Vicomtesse, same with the Pyroar quadrant. Baronne, take the middle path and I’ll take the hedgerow.”
They all split off again and Aisling offered her a little salute that did something to Moana’s chest as she rounded the corner. Moments later they were all out of sight. Xoana whistled and they all sounded off with their fake bird calls.
Their quarry was wily. She knew this maze like the top of her paw. But they had numbers and a strategy now. The Furfrou tried to hide in the Delphox quadrant but Aisling and Serena flushed her out. Next she took the diagonal to the Pyroar quadrant but Tierney and Tracie drove her away.
“Valériane says she’s headed towards the fountain,” Froabble informed her.
They were close and they booked it. Xoana could see the Furfrou coming but she wasn’t going to make it in time. She, Tessa and Sprout weren’t fast enough.
“Go Froabble! You can do it!”
The Froakie pulled ahead of her, a bright blue blur against the dull path.
“Water Pulse the fountain!”
He dove in and the water lit like a beacon. Xoana felt something warm and tingling and almost electric—something powerful—flow out of her and the water surged upward and spread. The Furfrou’s eyes widened in terror and her mouth gaped at the wall of water mounting above her. She turned sharply, spraying gravel, and fled into the Chandelure quadrant.
“YES!” Xoana cried with a jump as the water crashed back down. “She’s in!”
Froabble hopped back out of the fountain as a Frogadier and they high-fived as she ran past back into the maze. From their calls, everyone else had made it to one of the other entrances and it was time to close in.
The Furfrou went south first but Tracie and Tierney blocked her in. Aisling and her team had split and blocked all the west outlets, so she ran north only to be confronted by Serena. Her only remaining option was to run back towards Xoana, then turn down one of the dead ends to dodge Froabble’s leap.
Xoana chased her in and dove atop the Furfrou before she decided her plush coat could maybe make it through the hedges after all.
“I got her!”
Her friends cheered and the Furfrou groaned.
“Gods I’m so sorry!” Xoana told her, scrambling off the poor pokemon. “I wasn’t even thinking! We shouldn’t have been chasing you. Did I hurt you at all? I’m so sorry!”
The Furfrou picked herself up and grumbled.
“She’s okay,” said Froabble, hopping to Xoana’s side. “And she’s says we’re forgiven for catching her because that chase was the most fun she’s had in months.”
Xoana doubted him as the Furfrou sat tall and stiff as a guardian statue before her, but then her lips pealed back in a grin and the bedraggled ball and her tail wagged.
Sprout and Tessa finally caught up and the Teddiursa flopped down to catch her breath. They all laughed at that while they waited for the rest to find them.
...
Xoana was a little worried the baron would be angry with how filthy and bedraggled his refined companion had become—and how they’d been chasing her all around the maze like some kind of escaped convict—but he was simply overjoyed to have her back safe and thanked them all profusely for their trouble.
The Furfrou rolled her eyes and Xoana began to suspect firstly, that the baron couldn’t understand her, and secondly, that her sneaking off to be rowdy and get dirty was a somewhat regular occurrence.
“You know it is getting rather late and I feel simply terrible about enlisting you all twice in one day. What do you say to staying here for the night?”
“In the palace?” Xoana asked, certain she had somehow misunderstood.
“We have rooms set up for family visits and special events. There are plenty for each of you to have your own.”
Xoana actually felt faint and she might have wobbled because Aisling put her hand on the small of her back to steady her. Serena stepped up to answer for her.
“That’s so kind of you, Baron. We’d love to.”
“It’s the least I can do. There are fireworks after dinner to celebrate Fin-de-la-Tyrannie.” Xoana had completely forgotten that was today. “You can all watch from one of the private balconies. Once the visitors have gone, we’ll show you to your rooms.”
Xoana barely kept it together long enough for the baron and Furfrou to leave. Then she was bouncing up and down and hugging everyone and telling Froabble he was the best pokemon in the world.
...
The day really couldn’t have gone any better—ill-advised shenanigans included. Even after all the battling and running, Xoana was full to the brim. She was ready to do it all again right now, but part of what made it all so wonderful was that she couldn’t. So she swayed instead, hugging herself as twilight set in.
Aisling stepped out onto the balcony behind her and Xoana didn’t need to turn around to know she was smiling.
“I’m so excited! I haven’t seen many fireworks before.”
“Me neither,” said Aisling, coming to stand next to her by the railing.
“Today was amazing. I’m never going to forget it. We haven’t even seen these fireworks yet, but I know I’ll never forget them either. So thank you for everything you did to help make it so special.”
“It was my pleasure,” Aisling purred in one of her usual self-assured tones. Then she paused, shifted her weight, and leaned both arms on the balcony. When she spoke again, all trace of teasing, confidence, and irony was gone. “Thank you for inviting me along on this whole thing. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Xoana leaned on the balcony too, edged a little closer until they were almost touching.
“I’m glad you came.” Now that was bold and bordered on innuendo. Aisling bumped her shoulder and Xoana looked up at the sky to try and focus on something other than the warmth flaring up her side. “You add a lot to the group, something we were missing. I think we’ve all been having more fun with you. I know I have at least.” She was rambling now, but she didn’t dare stop. “You’re really something else, you know? That’s part of why this day was so incredible, and how I know the rest of it will be.”
Xoana looked down at their hands and saw Aisling’s reaching for hers. Her heart skipped a beat and the moment slowed.
Serena walked onto the balcony behind them. Xoana could pick out those footfalls anywhere. Aisling withdrew her hand and turned to slouch back against the railing.
“The Comtesse graces us with her presence.”
Serena snorted, but with less than her usual derision, and stood by the railing on Aisling’s other side. Despite everything, she’d had fun as well.
Xoana knit her fingers together and stared at them. Had Aisling really been about to make a move on her? Would she have gone through with it if Serena hadn’t shown up? Did Xoana want that?
She was chewing on the inside of her lip and sensation was leaving her fingers.
But how much of that was Aisling and how much was the want that had been aching in her for years? She’d wondered the same about Serena. She still doubted, even though she knew she shouldn’t.
“Ais—” Serena stopped herself, started over. Xoana glanced over, and Serena met her eyes instead of Aisling’s. “My Queen.” She blinked and shifted her focus to Aisling as she grunted to acknowledge she was listening. “I’m sorry for what I said about Dáire.”
Aisling’s face betrayed nothing, but her shoulders hunched and her knuckles strained on the railing.
“I truly didn’t mean to imply it was anything other than a tragic accident. I was shocked and spoke carelessly. I apologize and I will do my best to not be as insensitive in the future.”
Xoana thought she heard Aisling’s teeth grind, but a quiet thanks passed her lips.
They actually did it!
But after that there was stiff silence rather than catharsis. Maybe they weren’t ready yet, but at least they had tried. Xoana caught Serena glancing at her again. Maybe they had tried for her. They had both spent the day trying to make sure she was happy. The least she could do was try the same for them.
She dug around for the joy and energy she’d been overflowing with only a few minutes ago and slid between them, putting her arms around both of their shoulders.
“Fireworks with friends is the best! Thank you both for today.” She gave their shoulders a squeeze and they smiled.
Then the first firework went up, making any further conversation impossible. Tierney and Tracie came running out to join them and they all watched together.
Xoana cheered and applauded and hopped up and down, pulling everyone into the excitement with her. She let the bright colors fill her vision and the sound fill her chest with its booming.
It really was beautiful, even if it was over a bit too soon.
Route 5 had a skatepark of all things, but maybe that was to cut down on the number wheels in the city proper. The place itself was something to see, to say nothing of all the people using it—this one girl in a headscarf was really good! So Aisling and Tierney hung back to watch for a while. Aisling had always wanted to try skateboarding, but there was never enough pavement where she grew up to get properly into it. Might be something to pick up a little farther down the line. Maybe Tierney would be up for trying it with her—though her fascination could be more due to with some of the people in the the skatepark than the skating itself. And who could blame her?
Route 5 had a skatepark of all things, but maybe that was to cut down on the number wheels in the city proper. The place itself was something to see, to say nothing of all the people using it—this one girl in a headscarf was really good! So Aisling and Tierney hung back to watch for a while. Aisling had always wanted to try skateboarding, but there was never enough pavement where she grew up to get properly into it. Might be something to pick up a little farther down the line. Maybe Tierney would be up for trying it with her—though her fascination could be more due to with some of the people in the the skatepark than the skating itself. And who could blame her?
The smell of burning fur interrupted Aisling’s musings and she cast around to find her new Charmander crunching what appeared to be the remains of a charred Minun. Time to stop lingering and get to work.
She stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled piercingly to gather up her crew. Bree had never left her side and Gobán shot out of the grass to her, wings fluttering in readiness. Surprisingly, Finley appeared almost as fast and landed lightly on Aisling’s arm when she held it out. It was a nice change.
Aisling hated herself for thinking it.
Emer came bouncing along, babbling about a pond the wilds had told her was off to the north through the crops. Hmm. A watering hole like that was a good place to find battles.
Most of the fields were oats or lavender so Aisling forbade Ember and had her Charmander use Scratch on her wild opponents. The restriction irked her a bit but didn’t slow her much. She really was a ferocious piece of work, but that lust for battle was perfect for Aisling’s purposes. Honestly someone should be paying her for all the Bunnelbies and Gogoats she was clearing out of here.
Finley had to fly up and scout ahead to find any battles for herself and dutifully returned after each match to be checked over, while Íde continued to charge heedlessly ahead.
“Leave some for me!” Gobán hissed at the Charmander’s back.
Emer found the pond and dove in for a swim while the others took a drink. Her buoyant tail bobbed along the surface as she swam beneath, sending ripples across the water that made the lilypads dance—all but one. A pair of big yellow eyes peered out from under it and burrowed into Aisling. The head was amphibian in shape and covered in dark brown mud.
Aisling leaned over. “Bree,” she whispered, “see that pokemon lurking under the lilypads?”
Bree squinted. “Oh yeah!”
“Think you could lasso it from here?”
Bree nodded and planted herself before hauling back and firing out a vine. The pokemon ducked but Bree’s aim was true thanks to all their practice. She slid a bit in the muck near the edge and backed up onto more solid ground to reel in her catch hand over hand.
With a final yank something bright turquoise and sparkling flew out of the water and flopped heavily onto the ground. Not a Froakie, but a Croagunk of a shade Aisling had never seen.
A shiny.
The Croagunk hopped to its feet and belched lavender mist as it struck Bree in the face with its tongue. The Quilladin flinched but her vine didn’t loosen so the Croagunk kneed her with a swift dark-type attack.
Aisling had Bree meet the next attack with Needle Arm and the sting of her quills was enough to put the Croagunk on the back foot. Bree had it pinned and beaten less than a minute later.
Bree backed off the Croagunk and it sighed in relief but flinched as Aisling approached.
“We’re not gonna kill ya,” Bree assured it. “You can be on our team!”
Aisling tossed her ball and the Croagunk disappeared in a flash.
“Oh! Whatcha catch?” Xoana and the rest had caught up. “Comtesse just got a Snubbull.”
Aisling let the Croagunk back out and they all gasped. Tracie whipped out her pokedex.
“Is that a shiny?!” Xoana yelled. “I can’t believe it! I can’t believe your caught another one, holy shit!”
“Hail to the shiny queen!” Tierney crowed.
“Croagunk is nice, I suppose, even if it is doubling up on fighting-type.” Serena really needed to step up her shade.
“Toxicroak is the shit,” said Aisling, looking at her new shiny pokemon.
The Croagunk shifted nervously from all the attention and nearly jumped out of her skin when Bree clapped her on the back. But Bree and Emer spoke encouragingly to her while Aisling’s friends continued to freak out, and she settled down.
Gobán slithered up to Aisling’s shoulder and hummed in pride and excitement. Her powerful Charmander settled by her feet.
The luck god still smiled on her.
...
Serena herded them all back towards the path so that they “would reach the hotel before dark” before Xoana could really finish processing Aisling’s second shiny catch. Xoana couldn’t help glancing back again and again to check that this was real. Each time the Crogunk was still there, sparkling like the southern sea as it trailed behind them all.
Predictably there was another, almost as urgent pull at her attention. Aisling had a little more swagger in her step again and she held her head high, exposing a strip of her freckled neck above the collar.
“Korrina!”
Xoana jolted out of her contemplation with a flush rising to her own neck. Serena was already bounding forward to meet the young woman and her Lucario. Korrina waved back and hit the brakes on her roller blades, causing her long, blonde ponytail to swing forward over her shoulder.
Aisling leaned into Xoana’s periphery and nodded to Korrina questioningly.
“The Yantreizh Gym Leader. We’ve, uh, known her for a bit.”
“Nice,” said Aisling with a grin.
Maybe at the beginning it was. Now… Xoana didn’t want to think about. Though she probably should. Korrina was more or less the reason they were all here—all but Aisling anyway. Serena had wanted to enter Prof. Sycamore’s program rather than train with her mother since Korrina had taken part and come out the other side as Kalos’s youngest Gym Leader. Now she was an idol of mega evolution to rival Diantha.
“Hey Serena! Hi Xoana!” Korrina chirped.
Xoana was a little energetic herself sometimes, but Korrina made her tired.
“How have you been?” Neither got a chance to answer. “I already know! I heard you both got into the mega evo program! That’s so awesome! Up top girls!” She offered them both a high five which Serena eagerly accepted. “I’m so pumped for us to have a real battle, so work hard okay?”
“Of course! I look forward to it!” Serena chirped. Gods the bald-faced admiration and need. It was like looking in a mirror—or a window into a past she was not keen to return to. Which is why Xoana looked away and noticed the Lucario getting up in Aisling’s space. She held her ground even as the pokemon’s aura sensors stood on end and her Dunsparce hissed from her shoulder.
“Artemis!” Korrina reprimanded. A sharp look passed between them before the Lucario reluctantly stepped back. “Sorry about that…?”
“Aisling.”
“Aisling,” Korrina repeated. “Nice to meet you! You’re in the mega evo program too.” She held out her hand and glanced at her Lucario again. “Artemis says you have an interesting aura. She’s never seen anything like it.”
“Really?” said Aisling, betraying nothing. “Neat!”
They didn’t get to talk for long before Serena butted back in and Xoana tuned right out. The jealousy was more than she could take. Sure Korrina was gorgeous and talented, but that kind of laser focus came at the expense of other things. Xoana just didn’t see the lasting appeal.
At some point Korrina noticed the bright turquoise frog with them and that understandably derailed the conversation for a while, though of course Korrina would never be gauche enough to ignore Serena entirely—just Tierney and Tracie.
Xoana’s gaze drifted from Korrina to her Lucario. Having been forbidden from investigating Aisling more thoroughly, Artemis had turned her attention a little more covertly on Aisling’s team, scrutinizing each in turn. If there was something odd about Aisling’s aura, would it effect her pokemon? Was that a thing? The whole aura business was more in the realm of pseudo-science except for the fact that some species of pokemon could very clearly see them. Maybe unexplored was a better term.
“Well, Artemis and I should be going but I’m so glad we ran into you all!” Good. It was almost over. “I’m sorry again about Artemis. She forgets about the proximity thing.” The irritated flick of the Lucario’s ears suggested otherwise, but she dipped her head in apology as required. “I can’t wait to see you all again in Yantreizh, especially you, Aisling.”
She skated leisurely away and her Lucario jogged behind her after one final lingering look at Aisling. Serena waved even though Korrina didn’t look back.
“So,” Aisling began in that tone that meant she was about to start something. “How long you been nursing that crush, Comtesse?”
Xoana turned her head slowly. It was like she was being transported to a parallel universe.
“Wh-what?” Serena stuttered.
“You heard me.”
Xoana was clearly imagining this. She was having an intrusive daydream, nothing more.
“It’s not—!” Serena paused and adjusted her tone, “a crush.”
Aisling nodded, lips tightly sealed and eyebrows hitched all the way to her hairline.
“I just admire her.” Serena started walking again to avoid Aisling’s increasingly triumphant expression but didn’t have the sense to stop digging herself deeper. “She’s not that much older than us but already so accomplished. And she’s so nice, you know? And she always has been. Xoana and I have known her for years.”
Serena continued but she was no longer looking their way so Aisling leaned over and whispered to Xoana: “So I’m hearing,” she counted off on her fingers, “absolutely a crush, totally legal, deeper than that hot bod, and years now. That about sum it up?”
Xoana covered her mouth but still snorted audibly. Serena came back to earth and Aisling covered her with a cough.
“Sorry.” Another totally phony cough. “Please do go on. I’d like to hear more about her.”
Serena’s eyes narrowed suspiciously but she couldn’t resist the urge to monologue about Korrina for very long. Tierney and Tracie pulled ahead so that they wouldn’t have to participate and Xoana and Aisling stayed a step behind. Aisling leaned in again when Serena was sufficiently distracted.
“Have you tried telling her how gay she is?”
Yes, but it wasn’t something she could do again. “Have you tried telling Serena anything?”
Aisling laughed.
“Maybe we should go straight to Yantreizh?” Serena fretted, turning to them.
Xoana and Aisling leaned away from each other to look a bit less like conspirators.
“Sounds great! Just a quick trip over the mountains!”
“We could—”
“I’m joking,” Aisling cut her off. “I wanna see the beach this summer.” Serena threw Aisling her dirtiest look and opened her mouth to argue. “Besides which, we’re not ready. Don’t you think we should have at least one more badge under our belts before we face her?”
Serena swallowed whatever she was going to say and gave it another moment’s thought. “You’re right. It’s important that we be well-prepared for the Yantreizh Gym. We need to make the best impression possible on Korrina—since she’ll be judging whether we’re ready to proceed in the program.”
Xoana and Aisling nodded, trying to keep their faces serious. They let her keep talking and slowly the vision began to fade. It was slipping away like a dream upon waking, and Xoana snatched at it.
“You—you see it too, right?” she asked softly.
“Oh, absolutely.”
Aisling’s unqualified confidence loosened something in Xoana’s chest. Perhaps it was more than one thing. She’d been ignoring that tightness so long it was difficult to say. There were ugly emotions, tangled with the rest. She couldn’t tease out one without bringing the whole mess to the surface. Or she couldn’t before. Maybe with some more time, some more gentle loosening, she could unravel a bit more of herself. She could find where it belonged and weave it in properly.
“What’s so interesting about your aura?” Serena asked as casually as she could muster—which approximately equated to the demeanor of a detective in an interrogation.
Aisling shrugged. “Donno. Can’t see ’em.”
Serena’s eyes narrowed again. Aisling pretended not to notice, but that wouldn’t stop Serena—not when there was a challenge before her.
“Maybe we should have another battle. A rematch.”
“Sure. Sounds fun.”
They sent their new catches out first and Serena had her Snubbull use Charm right off the bat to even the playing field. Aisling had her Croagunk counter with Astonish, which succeeded in tripping the Snubbull up and reclaiming the advantage until she made the mistake of using Mud-Slap. Sure it rendered the Snubbull half-blind, but it also sent her into a frothing Rage that spooked the poor Croagunk, setting her up for a Headbutt to the gut that knocked her right out of the battle.
Aisling flinched a little and withdrew her before sending in Emer to hose the furious Snubbull down.
Serena and her new catch didn’t much appreciate the consideration. She sent in her Squirtle, only it turned out to be Justine using Illusion to close. Emer was tougher now, but Justine fought furiously to take care of the water-type and prevailed with Serena’s quick orders and encouragement.
Xoana called Emer over and tended to the downtrodden Marill rather than let her be withdrawn looking so disappointed.
The triumphant Zorua lasted mere seconds against Aisling’s Charmander, who didn’t even flinch as Serena’s actual Squirtle stepped up to face her.
“Wait for an opening and use Scratch,” Aisling commanded clearly and calmly.
“Water Gun, Laurent!”
The moment of hesitation made it clear that these two knew each other. Shockingly the Charmander did as she was told and dodged the first volley before raking the Squirtle. He withdrew into his shell but she continued her assault until he was able to use her wind-up to nail her right in the face with Water Gun. Even the point blank hit wasn’t quite enough and she struck him savagely across the face, laying him out.
Aisling whooped and her Charmander looked down at her opponent in satisfaction, tensing in gleeful anticipation as Félicité stepped up to challenge her. Serena’s brows set and the Fennekin blasted into Íde with Flame Charge, not to do damage, but to gain speed. She danced clean away from the Charmander’s slashes with the boost and scratched up her chest and face until she fell.
Félicité evolved from the victory, rearing onto her hind legs as she transformed. She flexed her far more dexterous paws experimentally, ignoring Justine’s excited yipping and hopping behind her, but sharing a glance and a smile with Serena.
Aisling looked to Gobán, still on her shoulder, and nodded. The flattened serpentine creature leapt gracefully down and Félicité met her with an Ember. Gobán emerged from the blaze covered in rock and knocked Félicité clean off her feet. She used Flame Charge to get clear of the next hit and scramble back up onto two legs. She danced to the side and roasted the Dunsparce again, but it didn’t do much but warm the rocky armor before Gobán rolled back out of range. Félicité took a deep breath as Gobán went into the turn, gathering herself, and blasted the Dunsparce with one continuous stream as she came in again. Serena’s fists clenched tight, willing strength into Félicité’s flames. Gobán barreled into her head, knocking her down again and slamming into her a third time as she tried to rise. Félicité yelped and Justine whined.
For a moment Serena paused, but then her eyes met Félicité’s and she hung her head.
Gobán came to a halt and shed her rocky casing. Heat haze drifted off the pebbles and some of the Dunsparce’s scales were discolored. But she slithered back to Aisling, wings fluttering and pleased as anything.
Félicité forced herself to sit up, clutching at her side. Serena knelt to look her over, and Justine fretted by her side.
“Good battle, Comtesse. That was even closer than last time,” Aisling remarked. “You nearly had us.”
But of course that was no consolation to Serena, who thought she should have had it in the bag. Xoana stepped in to shift her focus.
“Félicité evolved! That’s so awesome! We should all keep our eyes open for a stick she can use as a wand!”
Serena was still sullen after that, but it did get her moving on towards Fort-Vanitas.
I post sprites of the pokemon teams with each chapter on the Nuzlocke Forums and AO3, so I decided to make some trainer sprites to go along with them. They’re all based on gen 4&5 sprites that I’ve modified. Sprite art is a good time and I’m getting better at it.
From right to left: Aisling, Xoana, Serena, Tierney, and Tracie
I made the trainers’ character sheets too with @sangled’s great picrew which she now has a blog for @sangcrew! I’m still very happy with how close I managed to get with all of them!
Aisling was my player character for the nuzlocke run and the others are my versions of the XY rival squad in the story. What do you mean they’re not all girls? That’s not how I remember it :V They’re a bit lackluster in-game so I’m having a good time fleshing them out.
This is one of my favorite bunches of redesigns. I’m having a lot of fun with the Chespin line, and I had lots of ideas for the three Kanto starter variants. Bulbasaur is based on the European green toad, Charmander is based on a juvenile Eastern newt (also called a red eft), and Squirtle is based on an Alligator snapping turtle. Three of my favorite species as a kid and remain so to this day.
Here are the new pokemon from chapters 3&4 of Tightrope!
I love all the original designs for these mons, so it was almost hard to change them, but I like how they turned out. If you read the run you’ll eventually see why I made Combee a single bee and not three together.
Aidan is based on my actual first catch who got swapped out immediately when I caught Dáire (right before the first Gym). A (sorta) casualty of the shiny clause. So that’s why I gave him to Tierney in the story. All the girl squad’s teams are full of my boxed and barely used mons. This way they still get a feature.
Aisling was back the next day with almost as much punch and panache as the day they met—almost because she didn’t have quite the same spring in her step, because she stopped to admire the mosaics that gave the the Jardin de Tuiles its name, because she looked wistfully after the wild Vivillon that held nothing for her the day before.
But judging by the way Serena’s eyebrows loomed low on her forehead, didn’t notice these subtleties. Instead she was confounded and bemused by Aisling’s liveliness, and Xoana could practically see the remorse of last night evaporate like dew in the warm morning sun. Then any remaining sympathy vanished in a flash of red as Aisling sent out a queen Combee—apparently caught yesterday in the same gardens they were currently passing through.
Aisling was back the next day with almost as much punch and panache as the day they met—almost because she didn’t have quite the same spring in her step, because she stopped to admire the mosaics that gave the the Jardin de Tuiles its name, because she looked wistfully after the wild Vivillon that held nothing for her the day before.
But judging by the way Serena’s eyebrows loomed low on her forehead, didn’t notice these subtleties. Instead she was confounded and bemused by Aisling’s liveliness, and Xoana could practically see the remorse of last night evaporate like dew in the warm morning sun. Then any remaining sympathy vanished in a flash of red as Aisling sent out a queen Combee—apparently caught yesterday in the same gardens they were currently passing through.
The new catch wasn’t quite as rare as a shiny, but still warranted the explanation Serena demanded. Aisling offered only the predictable “I got lucky” with what might have been the slightest undertone of irony. Serena steamed but not her tongue.
“So Finley,” Aisling called to her latest acquisition, “got any friends here you want to join your hive?”
The Combee swiveled to attention, and her wings stopped beating for a second in shock as Bree repeated the question.
Aisling laughed. “You’ll be evolving soon now that you’re with us. We can find you a mating partner if you’d rather lay your own, but I wanted to make sure we didn’t leave anyone behind if you wanted a sorority hive. We won’t be back this way for a long time.”
Finley was visibly flustered considering all of this, but eventually she just shook her head.
“It might be a bit much for her to think about right now,” said Serena. She couldn’t well resist all this bug-type talk no matter how jealous she might be. “Queen Combee never form the bond with their parent hive. She might not understand until she evolves.”
“Well, You’ve got some time to think about it,” Aisling told her pokemon. “Just keep it in mind, yeah?”
Finley nodded and went back to visiting flowers as they drew ever closer to their destination. The heights were already looming above them and the distant hum of traffic carried on the breeze.
Aisling underwent yet another transformation as they all passed through the shadow and stone of Illumis’s south gate. By the time Xoana’s eyes had adjusted, light had broken over her again, and a grin parted her lips, threatening to split her face wide open. There was glee and hunger in her eyes. She’d never been to the city before.
“Welcome to Illumis!” Xoana hopped into Aisling’s view to frame the vista with fluttering hands.
A chuckle! “Wowee!” Somehow it wasn’t even that corny coming from her. Maybe it was just the genuine radiance of her expression that made it so charming. This light played wonderfully on her freckled skin and the cloud of natural she had wrestled into a gold hair tie. It was even better than the Gym photo somehow—so much so that it took Xoana a moment to notice Aisling was staring right back at her.
“Wait until you see the center!” said Tierney.
“I’m gonna see it all!” Aisling declared, releasing Xoana from her hold.
But they had to report to the lab first and withdrew their pokemon to take up less space in the city streets. Serena was impatient and always a little ahead as they threaded their way west, but stopped short of hurrying them since there was plenty of time. Aisling, meanwhile, lingered at the back, pausing now and again to take it all in, but never asked them to stop for anything. Her nose lifted as they passed a cafe and she saluted a passing Gogoat shuttle, who blinked at her in return. She almost bumped into Tracie when they stopped she was so distracted, but recovered smoothly.
“This is a lab?”
The disbelief was justifiable. Sycamore Labs was situated in one of the only remaining distinguished hôtel particulier that once lined Boulevard Méridionale. The Professor had inherited it from his aunt through an unbroken line of nobles older than the house itself—because money couldn’t buy a building like this, not anymore.
“One of the original interiors is in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.”
“Now that I believe,” said Aisling. “What a façade! That cartouche above the door is positively emblematic of Kalosienne Renaissance classicism.”
Xoana’s stomach did a little flip and she swallowed dryly. Was Aisling a secret architecture nerd, or had she looked that up because Xoana had mentioned being somewhat versed in the subject exactly once?
Then Aisling winked at her—winked—and Xoana’s brain short circuited. She shouldn’t be allowed to do that! It was simply unconscionable!
Before Xoana could properly address the legality of the situation, Aisling had bounded up to the door.
The entrance hall had been carefully maintained and restored and still boasted the incredible style of its heyday complete with parquet flooring, a coffered ceiling, mixed sculptural and painted decoration, and caryatids on either side of a far more recent but nonetheless antique elevator on the far end. Xoana knew that one of the doors must lead to the only original parlor—the grander sister of the one she had seen herself—which had been kept as a venue for the lab’s small fundraisers. She sorely wished she had time to look for it.
Xoana felt there must be at least two perfectly serviceable stairwells in a building this august, but they were waved into the elevator by the woman who had met them at the door. Strictly speaking there wasn’t space enough for five, but that didn’t stop the woman from sliding in after them and pressing Xoana right up against Aisling’s chest so that she had enough elbow room to work the lever.
Xoana smiled apologetically up at Aisling’s exceedingly proximate face and glimpsed what may have been the beginnings of a blush coming to her cheeks before the elevator halted and they piled back out.
Prof. Sycamore’s office was on the top floor in what was once a grand bedroom, and it still retained an oddly intimate vibe post-conversion. Tall windows overlooked the lawn and gardens below and warm, late-morning light flooded the room, starkly highlighting the man sitting behind a grand sycamore desk—the distinctive ray fleck was unmistakable. Xoana stifled a giggle.
The professor rose languidly from his plush office chair. “You must be the new interns for the trainer magnet program. At last we meet!” He went down the line shaking each of their hands in turn. “Such a pleasure! Are you all getting along with your starters?” He nodded at their chorus of assent. “Wonderful! My report says you all earned your first badge already, is that correct?”
“Yes, Professeur!”
“Please, call me Sycamore.” He waited for at least one of them to amend themselves before continuing. “That’s excellent, just fantastic! This evaluation should be nothing for you then. What say we get on with it?”
Aisling’s enthusiasm buoyed up the more nervous murmurs of agreement and Sycamore led them down a flight of stairs and out into the garden, chattering all the way.
The lawn beyond the flowerbeds was bordered by roses and topiary. Ancient sycamores stood at each corner and there was a sizable fountain at the middle back where some young Froakie and Squirtle played. There were a good number of pokemon sprawled out in the sun, including a hulking metallic species Xoana didn’t know the name of. The burnished silver and gold was too bright for Xoana to focus on, but Aisling stared with wide eyes.
“A shiny Metagross,” Tracie murmured.
“Bessemer!” Sycamore called to it. “Would you clear a little space for us?”
It couldn’t be his pokemon. Xoana would have heard about it.
The Metagross rose, gave them a nod, and then floated under one of the trees. Xoana gasped as a Garchomp stepped out from the shade to make room. Serena had talked about it enough for Xoana to know who she was. She was Sycamore’s starter and a pioneer of mega evolution. Xoana had watched some of her exhibition matches as a child. She surveyed them all with cold yellow eyes, then growled so low it shook the ground.
Several Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander came running, gathering by Sycamore to await the call to battle. The Bulbasaurs were pale with dense markings and bright bulbs, the Squitles had pointed shells and strong jaws, and the Charmanders glowed with intense color and sported a row of dots down each side. Even Xoana could tell they were no run-of-the-mill variants.
“Send out your teams,” Sycamore commanded.
Froabble, Bree, and Félicité greeted Sycamore’s Garchomp and she nodded to them while the others looked up at her in awe. Xoana found both her legs embraced by furry bodies. One by Tessa, who was standing in front to protect her despite being terrified. The other was Emer, who could almost reach around now and peeked out curiously.
“Each of you will battle a balanced trio and can use up to three pokemon of your own. I may be a little rusty, but don’t let your guard down.” Sycamore winked, but it was far less affecting than the one Aisling had given her earlier. “Who wants to go first?”
Aisling was quicker on the draw. Serena pretended to be gracious.
One of the Bulbasaurs trundled forward and wiggled in readiness. To the surprise of all, Aisling sent in the Combee she’d had on her team less than twenty-four hours. Finley kept her distance and dodged the Bulbasaur’s reaching vines as best she could until her Gusts wore him down.
Next was a Charmander, lean and sharp-eyed. Aisling switched for Emer—the only sensible counter at her disposal. The Charmander surveyed Aisling and her team and gave a derisive snort that blew steam from her nostrils. Her claws flashed the moment the attack order was given and Emer squeaked in surprise at her ferocity. The Marill was forced to bounce, roll, and bide her time until the Charmander became frustrated enough to use Ember. A well-timed Water Gun doused it and left the Charmander spluttering long enough to get in a double Tail Whip across her face. The Charmander knocked her away with a lunge, but another sustained Water Gun blast brought her down.
A blithe Squirtle stepped up to replace her and Bree cracked her knuckles. The turtle’s Withdraw and ridged shell gave the Chespin some trouble, but she shrugged off the Tackles with her woody plates, and once she got a firm grip, it was over. The Squirtle held out for a while, but the combination of nausea from being slung around and repeated violent meetings with the ground were eventually too much for him. Bree flexed like Aisling had shown her and evolved on the spot.
The burst of light and wind jolted Xoana back to herself and even drew the attention of the Metagross from across the lawn. Sycamore smiled to himself while Serena tried not to look pissed. Xoana and the others offered their congratulations to cover for her.
Meanwhile, the Quilladin marveled over her her new bulk, armor, and needles.
“Nice battling, Bree! You look awesome!”
Her ears perked at Aisling’s words of praise and she chittered back at a lower register. They performed their now signature fist bump and Aisling made a big show of how much the Quilladin’s hardened knuckles hurt. Bree gasped but it turned into a giggle as she realized the joke.
Serena went next of course and Félicité dispatched her Bulbasaur in a single fiery blaze. Justine had disguised herself as a Marill right out of her ball to intimidate the Charmander. The trick let her get close enough to land two good hits without getting singed, and Sycamore was thoroughly surprised and appreciative when the jig was up.
Serena was pleased, but Justine looked to Félicité for approval and received no reaction at all. She tried her best against the Squirtle, getting up once more than she should have so that Félicité wouldn’t have to face her weakness all to no avail. The Fennekin brushed past her fallen teammate and wore the Squirtle the rest of the way down with her superior agility.
Xoana didn’t mean to go last, but Tierney was jittery with nerves by the time Serena was through. Valériane, Laoch, and Aiden made fairly short work of it, but by then Spark was getting very bored and Tracie had her battle before the Pikachu fell asleep. Bulbasaur was a rough start typing-wise but Tracie and Spark had long since solved that puzzle: paralyze, weaken, spam Quick Attack. Charmander went down faster and Squirtle only took one sustained shock before keeling over.
“Ready, Mme Bellamy?”
Xoana jolted back to herself and sent in Tessa. Once again she needed some prompting, but the Bulbasaur they were up against was quite obliging in that department and did a quick warm-up with his vines while Tessa sized him up. He was focused and confident when they got to it though, keeping Tessa at bay with his vines until she grabbed on and reeled him in. Even then he held his own, claws shredding turf down to the last inch. But Tessa hit hard and tenaciously once committed and he surrendered when she somehow hoisted him by the bulb after a thorough pummeling.
Tessa eagerly tapped out when Froabble croaked his willingness to take over.
“Thanks, Froabble,” Xoana whispered to him as he hopped forward. “Use Bubble!”
“Ember!”
For an instant, Xoana thought it would be over right then—after all, that was how Emer had beaten her Charmander—but while Bubble had superior concussive force when it landed, there wasn’t enough actual water to power through the flames. Instead the move burst into a thick cloud of steam that the Charmander came barreling through, claws raised and ready to Scratch.
“B-Bubble!” Xoana stammered. “But get behind first!”
Despite her stumbling, Froabble was quick on the uptake and dodged the scratch, zig-zagging until the Charmander unbalanced himself and stumbled long enough for Froabble to get behind. The bursting bubbles sent the Charmander spiraling and he shook his head in momentary disorientation. Froabble sucked in another breath and shot out an even denser cloud of bubbles as the Charmander scrambled back to his feet. He swiped furiously, popping a few on his claws, but he couldn’t stop others from bursting on his face, and he toppled once more.
Froabble returned to position, ready to face the final pokemon, but Xoana didn’t like his chances against Squirtle’s high defences and sent Tessa back in. The Teddiursa was ready this time, but her claws bounced off the Squirtle’s carapace. Tackle did almost as little since he seemed happy enough to bounce around in his shell. Grappling it proved to difficult and when Tessa paused for breath, the Squirtle slapped her across the jaw with Tail Whip. He wet the ground beneath her and tackled her with his shell. She slipped and went down in a great groaning huff.
Tessa was too tired from her first battle. Xoana had no choice but to overturn her doubts with the surety Froabble displayed as he leapt back in.
Speed was everything now. It was all they had since the Squirtle could take a hit that would lay Froabble out and deal almost as good. She focused on every movement, trying to stay with him as he hopped, flipped and sprinted. The Squirtle’s shell was more hazard than target, so Xoana gambled for the legs. They were short, low, and difficult to hit, but Froabble enjoyed the challenge. Despite his frankly incredible agility, the proximity necessitated by this strategy earned him two consecutive Tail Whips.
The telltale shimmer of his magic defense being ripped away set Xoana’s heart hammering in her chest, and it near skipped a beat when the Squirtle dove at him, but he slid smoothly underneath across the slick grass and landed a solid kick to his intended target.
For a moment, Xoana thought they might win—the Squirtle was becoming unsteady on his feet—but it was not to be. A full body Tackle with that brutal shell knocked Froabble flat on his back. She heard the wind forcibly eject from his lungs with each consecutive impact as he skidded to a stop in front of her.
But she also saw what the relieved Squirtle did not: Froabble dig a hand into the grass. And she couldn’t give up on him, not after the promise she’d never even voiced.
“Froabble, use Lick!”
His tongue shot out and wrapped the Squirtle’s head. The pokemon was too distressed by the lavender flames to rally and Froabble used his prone but anchored position to yank the Squirtle forward.
“Pound!”
Froabble released his hold, flipped, and kicked the stumbling Squirtle with both legs. The force sent the Squirtle right over Sycamore’s head. Everyone’s gaze followed the arc and came to rest on his spinning shell—all but Froabble, who regathered his legs into his customary squat.
“You alright, Froabble?”
He nodded. “Thanks for the boost. That was a good kick.”
“That was an awesome kick!” She almost laughed and gathered him up in her lap to check his chest.
“You all did very well!” Sycamore congratulated them. “I’m pleased and excited to keep working with all of you. Mme Quinn, you expressed an interest in the Mega Evolution program and that battle showed me exactly what I want to see in a prospective candidate. Therefore, I’m going to move you over right away, which means you can choose one of the pokemon specially bred for the program!”
“Thank you, Sycamore!” said Aisling, voice a mix of excitement and triumph.
“Not at all! It is I who am grateful!” The professor waved airily, but his lips twitched, and he continued with less ease. “Now, I was rather hoping you might consider taking the Charmander you battled. She’s a prodigy but may take… confidence to handle.”
“She’s just the one I wanted.”
“Excellent!”
Sycamore’s relief was palpable and that was concerning, but Aisling grinned from ear to ear as she shook his hand. Xoana glanced at Serena, but she was too eaten up by jealousy to notice anything amiss. He jaw was taught and Xoana could almost hear her teeth grind.
As for the Charmander, she looked between the professor and her new trainer in disbelief before appealing to Sycamore’s Garchomp. The huge pokemon’s lip peeled back, revealing her saw-like teeth and she growled low. The Charmander snorted steam and sulked over to Aisling’s side, ignoring Bree’s offered paw. She certainly seemed like a handful.
“And Mme Pascal, you wanted to be in the mega evolution program as well, correct?”
“Yes, Professeur.”
“And so you shall be!” Thank the gods. “Choose any that you want.”
Xoana wasn’t surprised when she picked a Squirtle. He reached up to shake his trainer’s hand and waved at his new teammates.
“Mme Bellamy.” She looked up at the professor. “You did not express interest in the mega evolution program on your application, but I would love for you to participate.” Xoana gaped at him. “I think you’d make an excellent fit.”
“I—b-but we barely won that battle!”
“But you did win, when by all rights you should have lost.” Now that was a backhanded compliment if she ever heard— “Your Froakie was finished, but you gave him the energy needed to continue and execute one of the best critical hits I’ve seen in a long time. That demonstrates a remarkably strong connection for a trainer so green and impressive inner power.”
Viola had something similar but—
“He’s right,” Froabble croaked. She looked down into his eyes. “That’s why I thanked you.”
“You… really think I can?”
“Of course!” Sycamore answered her warmly, though she hadn’t meant to ask him.
Froabble gave her a quick nod.
“Alright then—I mean, thank you! It’s such an honour! I’m very excited to—I accept—”
“Very good!” Sycamore interrupted before she could spew any more nonsense. “Select your new companion.”
Xoana considered carefully, but it wasn’t a difficult choice. Bulbasaur were the cutest and the one she had battled seemed mellow enough to get along with. He shuffled over when she pointed and used a vine to greet her and his new teammates.
“Mme Chastain, I notice you have no additional pokemon yet, which is understandable given the nature of your research, but I believe I have a solution for you. And Mme Fitzroy, I can’t tell you how delighted I was by your idea for a project! Very thoughtful and creative! One of my graduate students may have some interesting information to impart with regards to your chosen topic.”
“What did I tell you?” Aisling asked softly while Sycamore’s attention was elsewhere. She tried to smirk but it fell apart when Xoana beamed back at her. “Congratulations, Marquise.”
She offered her hand and pulled Xoana in for a shoulder bump. Something like a giggle escaped Xoana and she clasped Aisling’s arm for a moment to steady herself after.
Serena was right there waiting and Xoana turned expecting a handshake and was swept up in a hug instead.
“That was awesome, Xo. I’m so glad,” Serena said in her ear.
Moments like this had become rare—Serena had never been the touchy-feely sort and they no longer had quite the same casual intimacy as a year ago. Xoana hadn’t even realized how empty she’d been until the embrace filled her to the brim. And Serena wasn’t tense in her hold, instead squeezing with genuine fondness. She held on tightly. Maybe she couldn’t have everything, but she could have this.
...
Maybe there was something there. Xoana seemed the type to hug with her entire being, but the quiet gasp and clinging fingers said more. The tension between them might be more than that of longtime friends drifting apart. Perhaps something felt but not yet spoken.
“Ah, there you are!”
Aisling turned to see who Sycamore was greeting and found a young man in a nice linen suit walking out of the lab towards them. His hair was silver at the root fading into light blue and tied in a neat bun at the back, leaving a few loose curls to frame his face.
“Bonjour!” He greeted them with a wave and brilliant smile. “Bes told me you had some new mega evo candidates.” Aisling couldn’t place his accent other than that it was foreign.
“Yes indeed! This is one of the senior program members, Steven Stone. He researches the mega stones and keystones themselves and what properties allow them to unlock a pokemon’s true potential! He and his partner Bessemer recently achieved mega evolution!”
So this was the guy with the shiny Metagross. Aisling offered her hand.
Steven greeted each of them with warm interest and impeccable manners. Wherever he was from, his family had money. Aisling wondered about his age. To be working here, he must have his license at the very least, but four or five years older seemed too many.
“Steven’s father owns a fossil revival facility, so he may be able to connect you with the proper resources, Mme Chastain.”
“I’d be delighted,” he declared. “Always happy to help out a fellow fossil enthusiast!”
Tracie could only nod and Spark bounded into her arms to press up against her chest. Steven patted his Metagross’s leg to give her space and they gave him an appreciative rumble in return before they all headed back inside for the tour.
Science wasn’t Aisling’s aim and she let herself fall to the back by Steven while Tracie pressed forward to listen to Sycamore’s explanations as they entered each lab room in turn.
“So where are you from?” Aisling asked.
“Rustboro City, Hoenn.” That explained the accent. “Forgive me for saying anything rude or strange. I’m still learning the language.”
“Oh, but you speak so well!”
That made him laugh. “I know I butcher my vowels! But you are very kind, thank you.”
“Don’t listen to the central Kalos folk! They tell us provincials we don’t speak the language right either.”
They entered a new room and she let their conversation lull for a moment while Sycamore turned to them. This place was quite an interesting mix of old and new, art and science. The humming machinery was sleek and chrome with holographic touch screens while the walls were covered in ornate wallpaper and bordered by fanciful moldings.
“How did you meet your partner?” Aisling asked when she was at liberty to.
“My father acquired Bessemer for me when I was a child,” Steven answered quietly. “I have always been—” he paused, grasping for the right word, “a gigantic nerd of rocks and metal-type pokemon.” He held up his hand to show the titanium cuff and assorted rings that adorned it. He also had a single earring set with a rainbow stone. Aisling could hang with this guy.
Their banter carried them through the rest of the tour. The current earring was ammolite, but he also had bismuth and opal ones he wore regularly. His hair had gone silver as a teen, and he had finally scraped together the confidence to stop dyeing it blue, resulting in the dual tone while he waited for it to grow out. He was twenty-two and had all ten badges in his home region. He was raised by his father like she had been raised by her mother.
He returned her interest and took her playful jabs with good humor, further cementing her decision to befriend him.
“I like to look good,” he said of his tailoring. “And that’s not a very suitable comment from someone sporting a jacket as interesting as yours. Why Lord Jirachi?”
“Diádh is my patron,” she answered honestly, momentarily disarmed by the pun and teasing.
Xoana looked back at the mention of the luck god. She had never asked about the design, but perhaps she was curious. Aisling left her with that one tidbit of information and steered the conversation away.
When they arrived back in Sycamore’s office, a pair of scientists were waiting for them. The man was tall with a mop of golden curls, while the woman was quite short but looked as though she could and would snap the man clean in half over her knee. She slid off the desk and tossed her dark cascade of hair like she was reenacting a shampoo commercial.
“This is Sina. She’s researching the energy released by mega evolution.” She lacked the definition and sculpting of a bodybuilder, and her exceptionally firm handshake suggested strength training as the source of her physique. “Dexio is looking into the enhanced bond between trainer and pokemon while the mega form is active.”
Everyone here was a regulation hottie. Dexio was by far the least attractive of all the lab employees she’d seen, but he was still a twink adonis if one was into that sort of thing. And other than Steven and Sycamore himself, he was the only man. Aisling was beginning to suspect some bias in the hiring process.
A knock came at the door and Steven opened it to let another man in. Forget Dexio, this asshole was towering. He would have had to duck through a standard door frame. His outfit was too fashionable not to be custom and must have therefore cost a fortune. Though to be fair, there couldn’t be many places that stocked his size. He also sported an elaborate and immaculate mane of red hair, as if he needed to strike a more imposing figure.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything, Arsène,” he said, though he obviously was.
“Not at all Thierry!” Sycamore said warmly, weaving through them all to be closer. “But you’ll be pleased to hear the Mega Evolution program has three new trainers.” The giant looked them over and Aisling evaluated him right back. He stank of privilege—or maybe that was perfume. “May I introduce Thierry Lysandre, esteemed entrepreneur and philanthropist.”
The looks on her friends faces showed that they knew who he was and were awed simply to be in his presence. The name seemed vaguely familiar to Aisling, but stirred none of the same emotions. But he was clearly very wealthy, close to Sycamore, and perhaps directly involved in the program, so she decided to behave.
Sycamore introduced them all, and once the pleasantries were dispensed with, Lysandre launched into a speech so tiresome it almost made Aisling break her good behavior right them. They were “the future” and “had the power to change the world”. It was like being at her lycée graduation all over again. So of course she didn’t listen to much of what he said, just kept her mouth shut and nodded when it seemed appropriate. Steven shifted to obscure himself from Lysandre and looked very much as though he was tuning it out as well. Xoana’s smile had turned hollow. Sina and Dexio were either good at faking it or at least somewhat invested. Tracie and Tierney were getting bored. Serena, on the other hand, hung on every word and Sycamore displayed a frankly embarrassing level of adoration. He knew they weren’t alone, right?
At last Dexio offered to take Lysandre to see whatever he was actually there for and they left, allowing the rest to talk about their projects and fill out the forms that needed doing.
Aisling tried to talk to Steven while Serena all but interrogated Sycamore, but he was already engaged with Tracie and she let them be. Sina saw to the rest of them, switching back and forth from Tierney to Aisling and Xoana.
Besides the timeline, there wasn’t a ton to absorb, so Aisling continued to watch the others out of the corner of her eye. Evidently Steven had divined that Tracie didn’t like eye contact and repositioned himself shoulder to shoulder facing her screen to take the pressure off. Luckily Sycamore was charmed by Serena’s intensity and gladly answered all her questions. Aisling had to admit she could be engaging, even if she was a stuck-up asshole.
She noted Xoana ogling Sina’s impressive bod with amusement and Tierney coloring every time the scientist focused on her with mild surprise and satisfaction. She kept finding ways to obscure her face and could barely string a sentence together. It occurred to Aisling that Tierney might be sensitive about her appearance. She was quite heavyset and vitiligo was rare and stark against skin as dark as hers. Something to keep in mind going forward.
“If that’s all taken care of, perhaps it’s time to—”
“Arrange for your accommodations while you are in the city,” Sina finished for him.
Sycamore gave an embarrassed half-chuckle. “Exactly so.”
“Well,” Xoana began. “We were hoping to stay at the Hotel—”
“That won’t be necessary.” Everyone looked at Tracie, which made her look down. “Everyone can stay at my house.”
“Tracie, are you sure?” Tierney asked in a careful tone.
“My parents are out of town, but they extended an invitation to you all and there is plenty of space.”
A beat of silence followed.
“Excellent! Well, if that’s settled you are free to go.”
They delivered their various farewells and meandered out into the hall. Steven gave Tracie his number, which Aisling was tempted to ask for as well, and Sina gave hers to a blushing Tierney. After that, she took off while Steven remained in Sycamore’s office.
“Aisling,” Serena said tentatively.
Aisling ignored her.
“My Queen?” she tried, though it pained her.
“Yes?”
“I was hoping you might agree to accompany me to the Café Soleil for some coffee and pastries? On me?”
If Aisling didn’t know better it rather sounded as though Serena was asking her out. Too bad she didn’t care.
“Naw, I’ve got an appointment. Y’all go on without me. I’ll catch up later. Just text me your address okay, Baronne?”
Serena’s barely concealed rage was almost worth Xoana’s disappointment. She grabbed Serena’s arm and pulled her away before she could blow. Aisling waved.
She leaned back against the wall by the door and pulled out her holocaster to look at a map.
“A somewhat rude and invasive personal question, if I may?” Steven’s voice floated out of the crack in the door.
“Of course!” Sycamore said warmly. “You know they’re my favorite.”
“Have you slept with all of your friends?” So she wasn’t the only one who had noticed. Maybe she would ask Tracie for Steven’s number.
Sycamore laughed. “Hoenn must be so uptight! Loosen up, mon ami. You are in Illumis, City of Love!”
“I’m fairly certain Illumis is the City of Light,” Steven muttered.
“Nonsense. Only tourists say that.”
...
“Where the hell is she?” Serena asked for the third time that evening. “I thought you said it was a hair appointment. It’s been hours! What could possibly be taking so long?”
“A lot of things!” Xoana didn’t mean to sound so huffy, but she wasn’t in the mood to address Serena’s ignorance politely. She didn’t have time to explain hair texture to her. She was too busy worrying if Aisling would notice, how they would all handle the subject if it came up, how Aisling would react.
Tracie hadn’t said anything—Tierney was doing a good job of distracting her with video games—but Xoana had to think she was just a little nervous under there. Then again, they had the house to themselves, so maybe she was getting all worked up for nothing.
The bell rang downstairs and they all poured out of Tracie’s room. Joffrey, the Chastain family’s Gothitelle had already answered the door and Aisling stood in the grand vestibule, hair transformed from barely contained cloud to a cascade of ropey strands pinned neatly back. Locks looked good on her—right even. But where the hell had she gone that they finished in just one sitting?
Their eyes met across the double staircase and Aisling’s face took a moment to go from gaping but understandable awe to that too-big grin of hers.
“I really cocked up the nicknames, Baronne. You’re clearly the Queen of this group.” Tracie shifted her hands behind her back so Aisling wouldn’t see her wring them. “Why didn’t you tell me you were filthy rich? Like damn! Look at this fucking house!” She was laughing now.
Tierney chuckled too. “You should see the estate!” Xoana and Serena gave her reproachful looks, but she ignored them.
“Of course you have an estate. No one could have this kind of house in the middle of the capital without having a country estate. It’s only natural!” Aisling laughed again. “This is awesome!” she declared, throwing up her arms, not the least bit caring that Joffrey was still standing there. “Ya gotta show me around your pad!”
That shattered the tension and Tracie started down the stairs.
Then the doors opened.
There was no bell this time and Joffrey jumped to assist Tracie’s parents as they entered. They piled their coats into his arms which he ran to the closet before hefting their suitcases with psychokinesis and floating upstairs. Everyone remained frozen where they were as he passed.
“Théo darling!” her mother called and all four of them winced. How was it the woman never noticed? “What on earth are you wearing? Did you girls dress him up again?”
“We went shopping!” Xoana said with all the excitement she could muster, nearly jumping down the steps between them to be by Tracie’s side. “We haven’t been in the city in so long!”
Tierney nodded vigorously to back her up. She already had a hand on Tracie’s shoulder.
“Well, that’s what you get for having only female friends,” said Tracie’s father.
“So sweet of you to always indulge them,” her mother added. “Oh, but you haven’t even introduced us to your new friend!” She turned to Aisling. “You’re in Prof. Sycamore’s program too, correct?”
“Yes!” Aisling stepped up and offered her hand. “Aisling Quinn. Wonderful to meet you.”
They both seemed pleased by her politeness and firm handshake.
“I thought you were supposed to be in Flusselles until the end of the month?” Tracie ventured.
“Yes, well, Antoine called because there’s some big issue with the supplier so your father had to come back to town to sort it out. We’ll just have to take the trip next week or whenever this blows over.” Silence again. “We had a long journey and I need to recover for a bit. You all have fun. We’ll see you at dinner!”
They all stayed where they were while Tracie’s parents climbed the other side of the staircase to their wing of the house. Tracie turned back and Aisling waited at the foot of the stairs until Xoana beckoned her to come with.
Aisling spoke to Tracie as they went down the hall. “Can I ask you something?” Fuck.
Tracie nodded.
“Do your parents know you’re a girl?” Oh… That was good.
Tracie shook her head.
“Do you want me to correct them?”
Tracie shook her head again.
“Okay.”
There was a palpable sigh of relief from the group.
“Can I still call you Baronne around them?”
Tracie smiled just a little. “Yes.”
Aisling let out a rather loud expletive as they entered Tracie’s room. She kicked off her boots and dove onto the king-sized four-poster, rolling back and forth before settling on her side with one knee crooked and her head propped up by her elbow.
“Is this where we’re sleeping?” Then she had the gall to wiggle her eyebrows.
“You’ll have Timothée’s room,” Tracie answered, going to her night table for the remote.
Aisling’s exaggerated disappointment was cut short when the enormous screen descended from the ceiling so that Tracie and Tierney could continue their game.
“Awesome! What are we playing?”
“Super Pokken Ultimate.”
“Nice! I’ve only ever played Royale.”
Aisling sent out her team to hang with the rest of the pokemon while they got set up to play. Xoana and Serena sat up on the bed, and the other three sunk into bean bag chairs. Spark retrieved her extra small controller and arranged her own mini bean bag beside Tracie’s.
Aisling was crap at Pokken.
“I can’t believe I’m getting beaten by a Pikachu!” She cried after yet another sound defeat. Spark leaned around Tracie and chattered. “Is she shit-talking me?” Tracie didn’t answer but her face must have given it away. Aisling laughed. “You’re going down, rodent!”
Spark then proceeded to utterly thrash her for the next few rounds. Aisling yelled and laughed and fought her hardest all to no avail. When she got KOed early for the fourth time in a row, she put down her controller and rocked out of her seat.
“Fuck this noise. I’m gonna play some real Pokken!” Spark’s cheeks sparked. “Come here, Bree!”
The Quilladin came over and Aisling tackled her. Bree was confused at first but caught on quick and giggled and snorted as she and Aisling rolled around on the floor trying to pin each other. The ruckus was too much to play over and they all turned to spectate. Aisling threw her jacket to Xoana as sweat began to bead across her brow and Xoana clutched it tightly despite herself. Aisling held out surprisingly well as the two alternated between competitive and silly. Spark cheered shamelessly for Bree and even Serena had to stifle a laugh. It was almost enough to forget about the dinner looming ahead.
...
They reconvened in Tracie’s room after they were all clean and changed into their pajamas. Tracie’s parents had taken the nickname thing in stride. Her mother even found it cute. Sharing a meal with them was so much easier when Xoana and her friends could counter every instance of “Théo” with something she’d chosen, assure her that she was a girl even if her parents didn’t realize it. Xoana wished she’d thought of it a long time ago.
The pokemon had been served their evening meal separately but were now allowed out to nap or play at their own choosing. Xoana had filled up the tub in Tracie’s bathroom and Froabble was in there now along with Serena’s new Squirtle. Sprout was getting along like he’d always been there. The only one who didn’t seem the least bit interested in socializing was Aisling’s Charmander. Once it was made clear to her there were no battles allowed in the house, she installed herself in the windowsill and sharpened her claws with her teeth.
“Hey, Tracie, do you have DDR?” Aisling asked.
“Yes.”
“Tierney!” She jumped. “I challenge you to a dance off!”
It took her a few moments, but she smiled. “You’re on!”
They cleared the floor and rolled the bean bags to the other side of the room. Aisling might have expected mercy when Tierney selected a lower difficulty, but Xoana and the others knew that meant she was about to show off. At the higher difficulties there wasn’t any room for flourish. At a low rank one could dance and that was exactly what Tierney did.
She was good in recitals but always best when she was freestyling her own thing—at least in Xoana’s opinion. All that mildness melted away as she hopped and spun and swung her hips.
Aisling cheered and lycan-whistled even as she tried desperately to keep up. Xoana was surprised when she managed a halfway respectable score.
“Best two out of three!” she yelled like she had a better chance than a Durant against a Heatmor.
Usually Xoana was happy to watch, but something moved her and she hopped off the bed into the game. Aisling grinned and Valériane shuffled over as well now that it was no longer a one-on-one. They moved down so the Hawlucha could be next to her trainer and played on medium. Valériane got a few laughs flapping her wings, wagging her tail, and flaring her crest in her own version of dance moves. It goaded all of them to let loose a little more, which meant Xoana and Aisling sacrificed their scores to bop while Tierney continued to mercilessly flex on them.
It wasn’t long before Aisling demanded hard mode and Xoana bowed out to make room for Serena. She was no dancer, but precision, tenacity and practice made her pretty good at DDR. Good enough to beat Aisling’s score anyway, which was all that mattered. That victory was enough to dispel the last of her irritation and ease that last bit of tension between them all.
Tracie jumped into a round, as did Loach and Bree after Valériane explained it to them. The Riolu did well enough all things considered, but even the easiest setting was too much for Bree. She laughed along anyway and Aisling helped her through. Emer, Aiden, and Justine couldn’t play but bounced around in solidarity.
The rounds flew by one after another and their limbs grew heavy while their minds became more and more awake. When the rest of them were finished, Tierney and Valériane did one last duel on expert. What the Hawlucha lacked in grace, she more than made up for in speed and rhythm and she came out on top to cheers and applause.
By then it was late, but they were all far from sleep, so Tracie put on one of her favorite movies and they all sat on the bed to watch. Xoana barely noticed when Aisling lay her head in her lap—that is until she reached out to braid the hair and found it wasn’t Serena’s. Suddenly the contact sent a violent tingle up her spine.
But was it really all that different? Despite all Xoana’s fretting and the little power struggles, Aisling had slid near seamlessly into their midst. It was like she’d been there since the beginning. It was like it had always been but maybe just a little bit better because she brought something to the group that they lacked—filled a hole they didn’t even know was there.
Aisling rolled to look up at Xoana and threw a cheeky grin at the blush that was no doubt suffusing her face. But this time it wasn’t overwhelming. It just felt good. Really, really good.
“So, I know the plan was to stay here for a while, but should we really still be doing that?” It took Xoana a moment to realize Aisling was addressing the room and not just her. “Don’t get me wrong, this is great but…”
Things had changed.
“None of the other gyms are close,” said Tracie.
“And none of us are going to be ready for our second badge soon,” Aisling gently insisted. “I don’t wanna make you stay with your parents that long.”
The warm fluttering in Xoana's gut returned in force.
“It doesn’t matter what order we go in,” Tierney assured, lifting her head from the pillow snuggled under her. “Let’s just pick a direction.”
“How about west?” Aisling suggested, stretching luxuriantly. She settled even further into Xoana’s lap and rested her legs across Tierney’s back. “We could hit the beach before summer’s over.”
Now that was an idea.
“We could do Relifac-le-Haut Gym next. That’s right on the water,” said Serena.
Xoana would have to call Clément—he was expecting them—but she couldn’t say she was sorry to push that particular Gym battle down further down the line. In fact, she began to feel something heavy lift off her shoulders, that last bit of weight she hadn’t remembered she was carrying after everything else.
“It’s settled then! We’ll leave in the morning!”
There was only one day left before they were scheduled to report to the lab, so they spread out across the grand park on Route 4, looking for battles or simply admiring the well-manicured scenery. It really was quite lovely and Aisling could understand why Xoana had wanted to spend a full day here instead of breeze by on their way to Illumis. The plantings were all in sharp color groupings that together formed designs, mirroring the bright mosaics that adorned the many paths, pools and fountains. The density of blooms made a perfume so thick it was difficult not to get drowsy.
Three members of Aisling’s team scampered around looking for wilds and other trainers to fight while Dáire flitted from flower to flower, sipping up nectar. She didn’t wander far and watched her teammates dutifully, but avoided Aisling’s eyes. The only battle she’d had all day was when she blew away one particularly ornery poppy Flabébé that crossed her path. Otherwise she swooped behind the keen Bree and Gobán whenever another trainer approached them.
Aisling collected their awe and compliments on her shiny pokemon with ever-diminishing enjoyment.
There was only one day left before they were scheduled to report to the lab, so they spread out across the grand park on Route 4, looking for battles or simply admiring the well-manicured scenery. It really was quite lovely and Aisling could understand why Xoana had wanted to spend a full day here instead of breeze by on their way to Illumis. The plantings were all in sharp color groupings that together formed designs, mirroring the bright mosaics that adorned the many paths, pools and fountains. The density of blooms made a perfume so thick it was difficult not to get drowsy.
Three members of Aisling’s team scampered around looking for wilds and other trainers to fight while Dáire flitted from flower to flower, sipping up nectar. She didn’t wander far and watched her teammates dutifully, but avoided Aisling’s eyes. The only battle she’d had all day was when she blew away one particularly ornery poppy Flabébé that crossed her path. Otherwise she swooped behind the keen Bree and Gobán whenever another trainer approached them.
Aisling collected their awe and compliments on her shiny pokemon with ever-diminishing enjoyment.
Meanwhile, Tierney’s new Vivillon rushed eagerly into battle, flattening the abundant plant and bug-types with ease. Which was to be expected since he was raised in Viola’s Gym where battling was relatively safe and commonplace. Knowing a Gym Leader personally certainly had it perks. Even at a distance, Aisling could tell that he enjoyed his victories. Aisling hoped the wild-born Dáire could be taught the same attitude, but merely watching the others wasn’t doing the trick.
Tierney and her team strode out of sight and Aisling turned back to her own battle. Emer doused the opposing Bunnelby and it keeled over, much to the disappointment of its trainer. The pleasing chime of fresh wealth being transferred into Aisling’s battle account was quickly drowned out by the wind and light of evolution.
“Hell yeah!” Aisling pumped her fist. “Evolved on your first solo victory. How’s it feel?”
Emer squeaked and wagged the tail she had just grown into. Aisling assumed that was good.
“You’ve earned yourself a break, kid.”
But Emer was already celebrating with her teammates. Bree offered her a fist bump, Gobán slithered circles around her, and Dáire chirped something to her. They went back and forth and Dáire even alighted on the ground so that Emer could compare how much she’d grown. Aisling thought she’d never heard the Vivillon titter quite as sweetly. She might still be giving Aisling the cold shoulder, but she was growing attached to the others. Now that was something to work with.
“Oh, thanks for the battle by the way!” Aisling added, belatedly remembering her opponent was still present. The trainer muttered something similar but without the same sentiment and slunk off. She let her pokemon socialize for another minute before getting them back on task.
“Who wants to go next?”
Gobán hummed in anticipation—no, not Gobán. It was the wrong pitch. Aisling’s head swung around to find the source and something red caught her eye, more specifically the red gem that crowned an exceptionally rare queen Combee. She was investigating a flower barely a meter away to Aisling’s right.
“Yawn, Gobán!” Aisling whispered.
The Dunsparce slithered surreptitiously closer before leaping up and puffing sleep-inducing gas into the Combee’s face. She buzzed in annoyance and kicked up a Gust, but as soon as that faded, she dipped drowsily. Aisling threw a ball.
“Hey!” It was some boy—or teen probably—with a Riolu at his heels. “I’ve been hunting that queen Combee for an hour!”
The button on Aisling’s ball flashed green and Gobán curled around it with a hiss.
“Oh.” Aisling swallowed her next remark in favor of, “Sorry about that. Didn’t know.”
Silence hung between them and the trainer glared. If he wanted to pursue this further, he was going to have to do better than that. He faltered beneath Aisling’s impassive blinks.
“How about we battle for it?” That was more reasonable than expected.
“Sure. Seems fair.” Why not indulge him?
“One-on-one!” he hastily tacked on. “I’ve only got Cyril.”
Fine. “No problem. I like a duel.”
Gobán perked up but no way was Aisling risking the type-disadvantage. “Dáire, this is all you.”
The trainer and his Riolu winced at the prospect of facing a Vivillon, but it was Dáire who backed down.
Fuck.
Aisling grimaced. “Could you give us a minute?”
The guy nodded and shared a glance with his Riolu. Aisling turned on her Vivillon.
“You can’t keep doing this!” she hissed.
Dáire squeaked back and flashed her wings.
“Look, I know you had a rough start there, but you haven’t had trouble in a fight since you evolved. What’s the problem?”
Dáire chittered, gesturing to the trainer and his pokemon.
“Trainer battles are safer than battling wilds. You’ll be fine.”
Dáire shook her head, the stubborn git.
“This is the easiest battle I can give you! You have a double resistance to fighting-type and that Riolu is weak to your Gust. This is a cakewalk.” Maybe she shouldn’t be saying this in front of her opponent, but if he wasn’t a total dumbass he knew already.
Dáire seemed unconvinced.
“Don’t you want to get stronger? Just look how much you’ve grown since we met. Isn’t it better to be evolved?” Dáire fluttered to and fro, mulling it over. “You’ve got a real knack for special moves, I’m telling you. You could carry this team instead of letting your teammates carry you.” Dáire tilted her head towards them. “But not if you don’t battle.”
They stared each other down, and, after a few moments, Dáire let out a huffy exhale and swooped around Aisling to face the Riolu.
Finally got through to her! Or wore her down. Whatever.
“Ready?” the trainer asked. He could be snide all he liked. She had already won.
“Yep! Dáire use Gust!”
“Quick Attack, Cyril!”
Dáire was too low and slow to avoid the swift sock to the gut, but she used Gust to get some altitude and nearly knocked the Riolu off his feet.
“Endure!” He was stalling for time, but it wouldn’t work.
“Just keep it up, Dáire!”
The Vivillon beat her wings, drifting closer again to pierce the red glow of Endure. The Riolu shuddered. Any moment now his strength would fail.
“Counter!”
The Riolu rocketed towards Dáire, throwing his whole body into the punch, but Aisling was still shocked when Dáire plummeted to the ground. Blows like that had bounced right off her ever since she sprouted wings. The Riolu fell to a crouch, spent and shaking. If Dáire only got up they could still win this.
But she did not get up. She was perfectly still. Emer had stopped bouncing. Something was wrong.
“Dáire?”
A step forward revealed that the Vivillon’s chest was dented in like a car that had been broadsided.
No. No no no! There was no way—
Dáire twitched and Aisling fell to her knees. She rummaged through her bag with shaking hands for a potion. Dáire rattled as the spray hit her. Liquid oozed out of a crack.
“Hush, easy,” Aisling told her in a voice that didn’t belong to her. She scooped Dáire up as gently as she could.
“Arceus, I’m sorry,” the trainer stammered.
Aisling glared at him over Dáire’s wing but nothing came out. She stood and stumbled into a run.
After that everything became automatic. Her legs pounded down the path, her heart pumped furiously, and her lungs fed them of their own accord. Aisling couldn’t tell if Dáire was moving or if it was only her jostling. Was she clinging to Aisling’s top or was it just her barbs snagging in the fabric? The walk that had taken over an hour this morning took perhaps a quarter that time and yet so much longer.
Aisling almost collided with the Pokemon Center doors and the nurse behind the counter ushered her into one of the emergency rooms.
She knew by the look on the nurse’s face when she set Dáire down on the table. But she couldn’t even hear what she was sobbing as Audinos ushered her out of the room. She slumped to the floor of the hallway and shook. She couldn’t control her muscles anymore. She couldn’t control anything. She gave over to the tears and tremors and gasping.
Green swam before her vision. Bree pushed a pokeball into her lap before coming around to nuzzle up against her side. Emer pressed into her other side, and Gobán curled around her feet. Together their weight and warmth gradually eased her shivering.
By the time someone came out of the room to talk to her, she was as still as Dáire had been.
“I’m so sorry. Your Vivillon was gone before you arrived. We weren’t able to revive her.”
Aisling nodded.
The beluarian crouched to put her face into Aisling’s line of sight and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “You did everything you could. Your Chespin said you ran all the way from the Jardin de Tuiles.”
Aisling nodded.
“We offer cremation and can send you the ashes, arrange public or private burial, or send them to a gem maker.”
Bree pawed at her.
“You have plenty of time to decide. I’ll have a nurse give you the literature. I’m so sorry for your loss. Do you need to stay overnight here? I can arrange for a room nearby.”
“I have a room,” someone croaked. Aisling took a deep breath, swallowed, sat straighter. “I’d like to register my Combee.”
“Of course.” The beluarian stood and Aisling followed suit, using the wall for support. “I’ll have Cerise escort you.”
Aisling withdrew her team and let the Audino take her back to the front.
...
The waiter gave Xoana a look the second time she sent him away, but she didn’t want to order without Aisling. She wouldn’t want her to feel excluded, not when everything was still so new.
Truth be told, she was beginning to worry. They had scoured the gardens earlier before eventually walking back to town without her. Xoana had hoped to find her lounging here already, sipping smugly on some beverage, but there was only an empty table and string of unread texts.
“Do you think she might still be at the Jardin de Tuiles looking for us?”
Serena swallowed her wine. “If she is, I doubt it’s because of us.”
That wasn’t very charitable, but probably true. She had snuck off to challenge the gym without telling them.
“I’m sure she’s on her way,” said Tierney.
The door of the restaurant swung open and the hostess showed Aisling to where they were sitting. She had put on fresh makeup but it couldn’t cover the distance in her eyes.
“There you are, my Queen! We were wondering where you got to.”
Aisling took a seat. “Sorry I’m late. I had to go to the Center.”
“No problem!” said Tierney.
Serena twisted in her seat to hail their waiter and Aisling stared down at her menu.
“Is everything alright?” Xoana ventured.
Aisling blinked at her, then looked down again and stared right through the table.
“No.”
That got the rest of them invested. Serena turned back to the table. Aisling, who had until this moment basked in all forms of attention, shifted uncomfortably beneath their gaze.
“I’m fine… but Dáire got hurt in a battle. She didn’t make it back to the Center.”
The others were as aghast as Xoana was, Serena even more so.
“Your shiny Vivillon?” said Serena incredulously. “What happened?”
“It was some asshole rookie and his Riolu. Caved her chest in one hit.”
“But Vivillon has double resistance!” Serena argued as if Aisling hadn’t certainly thought the same thing. “How could—why was she even low enough?”
“Serena!” Xoana tried to cut her off.
“She was trying to break his Endure,” Aisling answered anyway. “Then they went for Counter.”
“Arceus!” Serena rubbed her temples.
“They didn’t have any fucking control! They shouldn’t be battling if they can’t hold back at all.”
“Accidents are pretty common at our level. We should all be taking extra care.”
“I’m sure—” Xoana began, but it turned out she was absolutely correct about how Aisling would take Serena’s remark.
She stood abruptly, bumping the table a little and glaring bloody murder at Serena before storming out. The door swung wide and slammed behind her. The whole restaurant was quiet for a moment.
“Will your friend be joining us or are you ready to place your order?” the waiter asked Xoana.
They all knew she wouldn’t be back and finally gave the waiter the selections made nearly half an hour ago. When he was gone, Xoana glared at Serena.
“What?” Serena had the gall to look confused. Xoana contorted her face even further. “Was it me?”
Xoana’s face hit her palms with and audible slap. “Ser”
“But—I just—What did I do?”
“Maybe it was the part where you sounded like you were blaming her for her pokemon’s death!”
Serena’s eyebrows did one of their incredible feats of acrobatics as she processed. “I didn’t say that!”
“We know you didn’t mean it like that,” Tierney clarified. And that was a blessing because Xoana had her napkin in hand and was on the verge of beating Serena with it yelling Yes! You! Did! “But it came out super judgemental.”
“But we should all be careful,” Serena insisted. “I don’t understand how she lost her Vivillon to a Riolu.”
“Exactly!” Xoana strangled the air in front of her instead of her friend’s neck. “Don’t you think she’s in shock too? Maybe she did something stupid or reckless, but what reason did she have to expect Dáire would die because of it? What are the odds?”
“Very slim,” admitted Serena.
“Plus she probably already felt super guilty and came here for support. And then you go and pile more on like she doesn’t feel bad enough!”
Serena had scooted all the way back in her seat and now she bit her lip in that way that undid Xoana every time. She did her best to brace for it.
“Gods I fucked up.”
“Ya think?” Xoana’s voice had the decency to still sound angry.
“You’re right. My intention is not important. That was insensitive and needlessly cruel of me. I will apologize to her tomorrow.”
Xoana would never be over the way she could just swallow her pride like that. And Serena was proud and stubborn to a fault. But she always did what was right. She was noble—not in the sense their silly nicknames represented, but in the second sense of the word, the truer one to Xoana’s mind. People like her weren’t supposed to actually exist, not really. Yet here she was, a knight of honor in a cap-sleeve blouse and high-waisted skirt.
“I just hope she’s alright.” Tierney sighed. “That’s a lot to deal with right before our first eval.”
...
Aisling’s room at the bed and breakfast was “cosy”, but without Daire there was plenty of room to let her whole team out. The only one who wasn’t still was the Combee, who Aisling dully recalled hadn’t been let out of her ball since her capture. She buzzed in a restless hexagon, evaluating them all in turn.
“Dáire’s dead.” Bree flinched, so Aisling adjusted her tone. “There was nothing they could do for her. There was nothing any of us could have done.”
Silence. The Combee had set herself down on the little table in the corner.
“Do you all understand that?”
They all nodded except for the Combee, who cleaned one of her antennae instead. She knew she was exempt.
“But it shouldn’t have happened.” Aisling’s hands balled up in the sheets at the edge of the bed.
Bree and Emer’s ears drooped and Gobán was flatter than usual.
“She was strong, she had every advantage, but we were— I got cocky. I didn’t play the match carefully. I never thought she might—” Her knuckles were white. She willed her hands to let go, laid them in her lap. “I’m the trainer. So it’s my responsibility.”
Silent stares.
“My responsibility.” She repeated. “I made a mistake.”
Bree looked down and shuffled her paws.
“I think I’ve been going about this the wrong way. I shouldn’t have pressured Dáire. She didn’t want to do it and I all but forced her.” Aisling’s throat closed, almost choking the final syllable. She took a breath— waited for it to clear. “I should have listened to her. Viola was right. Communication is important and I haven’t been listening…” Aisling bent forward and talked to her knees. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being pushy and careless and losing a teammate. I’ll try to do better. I’ll listen better from now on.”
Bree looked at the other two, then stepped forward and put her paw on Asiling’s knee. “It’s okay, Aisling.”
For a moment it almost didn’t register. But she didn’t imagine it. She couldn’t have. What she had imagined was nowhere near as kind.
“Accident happen in battle. We all know.” Bree’s speech was stilted, just like Cináed’s had been at the beginning. “You good trainer!” Bree shook Aisling’s leg a little, willing her to understand. “Helped us get stronger, Dáire too.”
“Yes!” Piped Gobán. “Strong trainer!”
“I evolved!” Emer squeaked. “Not weak anymore.”
She had told them she would listen to them—said it and meant it—and now she could hear them. Battling was what forged the bond. Everyone knew that and Aisling had felt it, but there was something more, something they didn’t teach in trainer school.
Aisling stood up and squared her shoulders.
“Alright then, but this isn’t going to be easy. I’m aiming all the way for the top. We’ll have lots of tougher battles ahead of us.”
“Good!” Gobán hissed, wings humming.
“I can win now!” Emer squeaked, tail wagging.
“We ready!” Bree assured her and put up her fists.
“Glad to hear it!”
Aisling turned her attention to the Combee, who had watched everything unfold with keen interest. This was one hell of an introduction and Aisling couldn’t begin to fathom what the Combee must be thinking. She found herself wishing once again that bugs were a little more emotive. Nothing to do but try.
“I’d like your help.” There was a bug/flying hole that needed filling. “And I’d like to call you Finley.”
The Combee nodded.
“Welcome to the team.” She smiled. “We have an evaluation to ace!”
Chapter Three: Bring Wings to the Weak and Bring Grace to the Strong
Neuvartault was larger than Quarellis and far busier even at this early hour. The streets were straight, regular, and lined with stately townhouses that smelled of musty old money. Clearly the municipality contained hordes of wealth deep enough to have the flagstones relaid all neat and flat, enough to maintain the wall around the old city and the château on the hill that still reigned over them long after the lord himself was gone.
Aisling would have to hold out hope for Illumis because none of it held much appeal. However, since looking it up, she had come to appreciate the curving vine motif of all the signs, lampposts, and public benches leftover from the city’s Art Nouveau period. They did a lot to counter the rigidity and dullness of the place. She’d never spared much thought for it before, but maybe there was something to this decorative arts business.
Chapter Three: Bring Wings to the Weak and Bring Grace to the Strong
Neuvartault was larger than Quarellis and far busier even at this early hour. The streets were straight, regular, and lined with stately townhouses that smelled of musty old money. Clearly the municipality contained hordes of wealth deep enough to have the flagstones relaid all neat and flat, enough to maintain the wall around the old city and the château on the hill that still reigned over them long after the lord himself was gone.
Aisling would have to hold out hope for Illumis because none of it held much appeal. However, since looking it up, she had come to appreciate the curving vine motif of all the signs, lampposts, and public benches leftover from the city’s Art Nouveau period. They did a lot to counter the rigidity and dullness of the place. She’d never spared much thought for it before, but maybe there was something to this decorative arts business.
Aisling passed by the grand square with its patinated copper Roselia fountain in favor of the little park on the quieter east end of the main boulevard while Cináed continued to snooze on her shoulder. The Neuvartault Gym was a far more modern building than most of the others, but the architect had been sensible to its surroundings and created a design that reflected the park around it as well as the older buildings across the street. The front was large, regular stonework with tall, arched windows while the back was an enormous glass dome held up by a webbing of steel.
“Why exactly are you doing this now?” Cináed asked with a yawn. “I thought for sure you’d want to show off for your new friends.”
“Because I want to be first and Serena will wake up any day now and realize she’s more than ready. I can show off the badge to them later.”
Cináed eyed her. “Suit yourself.”
Aisling glanced down at her belt to turn her face away from him and brushed her fingers over the pokeballs there, settling on the one with a little Lepidopteran motif engraved into the top.
It turned out that shininess did not influence the coloration of Vivillon wings beyond giving the scales a more intense iridescent sheen. Dáire had the same deep blue and white of any other polar pattern variant. But her body had stayed a pale cream rather than turn gray, which complemented her wings quite nicely.
Which was why Aisling sent her out as they approached the bug-type gym. Although she was now significantly larger than Cináed, Dáire fluttered nervously to Aisling’s other side to avoid his gaze. At least she hit hard since evolving.
“I was thinking—” Aisling began.
“Dangerous,” Cináed cut in.
“What if you battled for the badge?”
“Aisling,” he groaned.
“It would be so easy for you! You’re already way strong enough and you have every type advantage in the book! We’d be in and out in minutes!”
“Aisling, I’m not your pokemon.”
“We can go to the Pokemon Center first and get you registered!”
He turned away from her. “We’ve been over this. I’m not a battler.”
“But you could be!”
“I don’t want to.” He took off and landed on a nearby bench.
She skipped forward into his line of sight. “But we’ve never even battled against any trainers together. Just one gym and then if you—”
“I’m not doing it, Aisling!” He flared his wings for emphasis and his clear note struck her quiet. “I said I’d see you to the first gym and I have! After I watch your match, I’m going home.”
Aisling clenched her fists, but couldn’t make her tongue form any words. Dáire fluttered by her shoulder. Aisling could never get a read on that stiff face of hers, but she was watching now instead of hiding.
“You’ve got jitters.” Aisling had thought it, but it was Cináed who said it. He bowed slightly, placating. “And I understand, believe me.” She remembered how nervous he had been when they had first started battling, how much she’d needed to reassure him, how she’d punted that one Bunnelby herself when it wouldn’t get off him. “But you don’t need to be. I helped you put this team together and they’re strong enough. They’re ready for this badge. And you have your own strength too—I’ve felt it.” He gestured to his chest, to their bond, to the energy she poured into him when they battled. “That will take you anywhere you want to go.”
He was right, she told herself, but she wavered.
“You could stay on as a companion pokemon. I wouldn’t make you fight anymore.”
Cináed sighed and shuffled his wings.
“This move and then this trip with you is more than enough for me. I miss Grace and Raleigh and home. I wasn’t made for adventure.” Her eyes fell and her jaw clenched almost painfully. His white wingtip flitted in front of her nose as he pointed to her. “But you, you’re destined for greatness.” She let her gaze be guided back up to him and he puffed, standing up on his toes with his wrists up to look as big as possible. “You’re gonna show this region things they’ve never seen. You’ll bring them to their knees and carry them on your shoulders. And I’ll be watching. We’ll all be watching you the whole way.”
She wasn’t going to cry… And she wouldn’t insist anymore either.
“I’m going to miss you terrible, Cináed.”
“Same here, Rough Rider. But you’ll call home, won’t you?”
“O’course.”
“And you can wear my feathers, so I’ll always be with you.”
Aisling smiled and sat down on the bench next to him. Cináed hopped back onto her shoulder and nuzzled up against her cheek. She tickled him and then slumped in her seat, letting her head loll back and exhaling a long sigh.
Cináed chuckled good-naturedly and Dáire alighted on the lampost to their left. Aisling should never have let her out before she talked to Cináed. Would Dáire say anything to the others? What would she tell them?
“Excuse me, Mademoiselle, is that your Vivillon?” It was a gorgeous woman, probably in her thirties, with a pen tucked behind her ear. She wore a short-sleeve jacket with a generous opening at the top and one of those asymmetric, short haircuts that were practically illegal for straight women.
“Why yes, she is, Madame.” Those silver jeans should have been illegal too.
“I’ve never seen a shiny one before. She’s just lovely!”
Aisling hummed and nodded in agreement, sparing not a glance for her pokemon.
“Are you going to challenge the gym?” the woman asked, indicating the imposing facade to her right.
Aisling straightened from her comfortable sprawl. “Oh, uh…”
“You seem like a capable trainer.” A damn sight more than capable. “Why not give it a go?”
She could still do this. What the hell was she even worried about? “Yeah, alright.”
Cináed snickered on her shoulder, which was fair honestly, but she still brushed him off.
“Excellent!” the woman declared, fist raised triumphantly, and Aisling hopped right out of her seat to that rallying cry. “This ought to be good. Let me walk you in.” That seemed a bit odd, but Aisling wasn’t about to argue. “I’m Alexa by the way. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She eagerly accepted the hand offered her. “Aisling. A pleasure to meet you too.”
Alexa put her hand on the small of Aisling’s back and she let herself be guided inside and right up to the front desk where she handed over her trainer card to whoever was working there. Cináed alighted beside her and she glanced over her shoulder to see Dáire almost get clipped by the automatic doors for her hesitation. She turned and slouched back against the counter.
“Come here often?”
“Like a second home,” Alexa said brightly, paying more attention to her registration than Aisling was. “Oh, is this your first gym battle?”
“Yeah.” The clerk placed Aisling’s trainer ID back in her open hand.
“The first time is always the most exciting!” Alexa leaned on the counter too, resting her chin on her palm. “Are you going to use your Fletching?”
“Oh, Cináed?” she asked, pointing her thumb at him. “He’s just a friend.”
Alexa laughed at that and Aisling laughed too. Holy shit, she was doing it!
Aisling declined the opportunity to battle other trainers first and made sure Dáire was following as Alexa took her past the photo gallery to the middle of the greenhouse where there was a packed-earth battlefield. The air was heavy and full of buzzing wingbeats. Another woman emerged on the other end of the field in a white tank, dull green cargos, and heavy hiking boots. She had an expensive professional camera slung around her neck.
“Hey Vi, look what I found!”
The woman’s face fell into her hand at the sight of Alexa with her arm around Aisling’s shoulders. “I’m sorry, I hope Al didn’t drag you in here—” In an instant, exasperation and embarrassment gave way to purest excitement. “Is that a shiny Vivillon?!”
“Sure is!” Aisling declared with almost as much enthusiasm.
“I’ve only ever seen one before, and he was an elegant variant. The shininess plays so much better against the blue here. She’s gorgeous!”
Aisling was sorely tempted to say the same thing about the woman in front of her, who was somehow even more attractive than the one she’d come in with. But flirting with the Gym Leader was a bold move even for her, so she just said “thank you” as if it was a compliment about her own appearance… Oops.
Viola’s hands were already on her camera. “Would you two be open to some photos?”
“I’d be honored, Maîtresse.”
“Vi, shouldn’t—” Alexa began to interject.
“Right!” Viola let her camera fall back against her chest. “I’m sorry. You’re here for your first badge.” Aisling nodded with somewhat less enthusiasm. “We can talk about my hobby after the match.”
“I’d love to.”
“But where are my manners?” She offered her hand. “It’s great to finally meet you, Aisling. Xoana and my daughter have been talking about you non-stop. I’m excited to see what you can do!”
WHAT?? Why had no one told her this? They probably had and she just wasn’t paying attention. She should have realized it the moment Viola came in. She was literally an older, hotter Serena. Same pale blonde hair and blue eyes, same cheekbones, same perfect hands, same broad, dark eyebrows. The resemblance was uncanny. And now that she had been pulled back to reality, they also looked a lot like the woman she’d come in with.
“You gonna stay and watch, Al?”
“Of course! Wouldn’t want to miss my big scoop!” She gave Aisling’s shoulder a squeeze before retreating to the edge of the arena.
“You’ll have to forgive my twin her terrible journalism jokes. She works for Illumis Press.”
Twin? No way. No fucking way! Well, fraternal twins were a thing so it was actually totally possible— For once she stopped her mind from going down that road. She couldn’t afford it right now. She felt hot all over and she couldn’t tell if it was the humidity, confusion, embarrassment, or other feelings anymore. Probably all of it at once.
She only barely caught Viola mouthing some kind of reprimand to Alexa as her head stopped swimming. Viola smiled awkwardly to cover it and Aisling was saved from having to try and continue the conversation by Viola’s own readiness to move past it. “Let’s begin!”
Viola paced back to her side of the battlefield and put her hands on her hips.
This family was going to be the death of her. She could feel it.
“Ready Aisling?”
It was going to take days. “You know it!”
Viola pulled a ball from one of her many pockets and released a Surskit onto the field.
“Alright, Dáire, let’s go.”
The Vivillon dipped in the air and turned away from the field to look at Cináed, perched on a branch. Her antennae bobbed nervously and then she shook her head at Aisling.
“Come on, not now,” Aisling hissed. “You’ll do fine!”
Dáire backed away and shook her head even more emphatically.
“You’re embarrassing me!” Aisling whined as quietly as she could.
Dáire beat her wings, blowing air in Aisling’s face, and let out a chirping click.
“She’s not going to do it Aisling,” said Cináed.
Aisling glared at her for another beat and the Vivillon didn’t budge. “Fine.” But they were going to have a talk later.
“Everything alright over there?” Viola called.
“Fine! Dáire’s just a bit sensitive about getting wet. I’ll use someone else for the Surskit!”
Aisling considered the other options on her belt. Emer was willing, but couldn’t take a hit worth a damn and couldn’t really deal one either. Bree could probably handle it, but her accuracy wasn’t great yet and she had a type disadvantage. Gobán had the least experience, but the Dunsparce had proven hardy.
Aisling let her out.
“You ready to win the badge for us?”
Gobán looked between Aisling and her opponent, and her wings vibrated. She did one of her little spins that meant she was not only ready, she was stoked. Good.
“Gobán use Rollout!”
The Dunsparce covered herself in a rocky shell and barreled forwards like a runaway tire. The Surskit was fast and light on her feet, so she waited until Gobán was almost upon her before dodging easily out of the way. By all accounts Rollout was a bit crude in the hands of a beginner and quite difficult to master, but Gobán was almost serenely graceful. She turned on a dime, drifting like a pro racer and kicking up an elegant wave of dirt that Viola captured on her high-speed camera. The Surskit pelted her with explosive bubbles, but it wasn’t even enough to slow her down and this time there was no escape. The torque sent the Surskit arcing through the air and spinning on her antena where she landed.
Viola let go of her camera long enough to withdraw her and send out a Vivillon of her own. This one was shades of pink and not really Aisling’s aesthetic, but pretty nonetheless. The palette would suit Xoana well.
“Keep up your momentum and wait for my signal!” Aisling commanded.
Viola and her Vivillon went for Bug Buzz to weaken and disorient Gobán, but it didn’t matter. When Aisling called, the Dunsparce launched herself into the air with a flick of her tail, coiling again before impact for maximum speed and spin. The Vivillon plummeted like a stone while Gobán glided lightly down on her small, translucent wings, shedding the rocky remains of her attack onto her opponent as she spiraled.
The Vivillon fluttered one wing weakly, unable or unwilling to rise. Viola withdrew her pokemon.
“Good work as always, Gobán.”
The Dunsparce hummed as she slithered back to Aisling’s side.
“Fantastic! Just fantastic!” Viola cried, striding across the arena. “You had me worried with that last-minute switch, but it looks like you’ve been working with your whole team.”
“O’course.” It didn’t matter that Aisling had made Gobán practice Rollout mostly to improve Bree’s skill with the move. Or that she had never intended to have her Dunsparce in this battle. She had proven herself and so had Gobán. Maybe it was time to consider a new role for her.
“I must say that was quite impressive for a first badge match, even with that little snag at the beginning.”
Aisling tried not to wince. Of course she noticed. How could she not?
“Hopefully your Vivillon will be more up for a battle next time. Pokemon all have their own fears, quirks, and preferences but sometimes all they need is a little encouragement to expand their horizons. Being on a trainer’s team is very different than being wild, after all.”
Aisling was beginning to think Dáire might need more than encouragement.
“And it’s very important to listen to your pokemon the way you did. I don’t imagine you can understand them perfectly after so short a time, but you are communicating and that’s essential.”
Aisling would be doing plenty of communicating with Dáire after this was over.
“You and your Dunsparce are really quite in sync for how green you are.”
It was a lucky shot, but Aisling was good at those.
“Even more impressive considering you have five pokemon already. That’s a lot for a beginner to handle and normally I’d advise against it, but you’re clearly managing them well. Here’s the Bug Badge.”
Aisling accepted the bright, beetle pin and took a moment to admire it against her palm. Her insides twisted, but not in a nice way—not the way they should be after being complimented by a gorgeous woman and winning her first badge.
“Thank you.”
“Now I know your Vivillon wasn’t up for getting doused, but would she be willing to do an impromptu photo shoot?”
“She’d love to.”
...
Xoana tapped her foot against the polished wood of the gallery floor as she looked up at Aisling’s confident grin. She probably should have known this photo would be up already after how excited Mme Pascal had been at dinner the other night.
Xoana always liked coming in here, seeing what Viola was working on and what sort of pokemon had come through. Serena’s attempts at photography had long since been taken down as per her request, though a few were preserved among the family photos in the family’s front hall. A few of Xoana’s were there too. Serena had never really had the patience to follow her mother down that path. Xoana had pursued it for longer, surpassed where Serena had stopped, but she had never done anything for long enough to become truly skilled. Nor did she excel at anything the way Serena excelled at sports and academics and battling.
Viola had taken decades to hone her craft, worked until she could capture motion, vitality, and spirit with a still image. It was almost like meeting the pokemon and people in the photographs, except that one had permission to study every detail.
Dáire really did look stunning with that beam of sunlight making every scale of glitter shine like a dewdrop. Aisling was in matching colors with gold dust twinkling between her freckles. She looked like a model—or like how a model should look: all self-assurance and pleasure, staring right at the viewer in challenge with just a hint of warmth in her cheeks.
“Mme Bellamy,” Andre announced over the speaker, “Gym Leader Viola is ready for your badge battle.”
Xoana looked down at Froabble, who blew bubbles out of his nose at her. She took a deep breath and walked into the greenhouse.
The air inside was always wonderfully full of life and smells and oxygen. The heat and humidity may have been a bit much for some, like Tessa who yawned loudly to adjust to the change in atmosphere, but Xoana and her Froakie welcomed it.
Viola was waiting for them on the opposite end of the arena and Xoana’s friends waited on the park benches on either side. Tierney cheered and the others followed suit. Even Tracie clapped, from the safety of her oversized hoodie and legs pulled up inside her skirt while Tierney hollered next to her. Serena felt obliged to pile assurances atop Tierney’s from her perch beside a comfortably sprawled Aisling.
“I’m excited to finally face you, Xoana,” said Viola warmly. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, Maîtresse!”
Xoana didn’t breathe until her first opponent was released—a Karrablast. He brandished his horn, thick carapace gleaming in the sun.
“Go Tessa!”
Nothing happened. The Teddiursa wasn’t paying attention.
Viola didn’t wait for Xoana decide what to do about it. The Karrablast charged. And suddenly, barreling right for her with violent intent, it wasn’t cute anymore.
This was crazy! What on earth was she doing here? What should she do??
Fortunately, the Karrablast’s aggression did hold Tessa’s attention and she planted herself between Xoana and the oncoming beetle, teeth bared in an uncharacteristic snarl. She grabbed him by the horn and threw him to the ground.
The Karrablast rolled right back to his feet but by then Xoana had the presence of mind to issue an actual command.
The two pokemon boxed back and forth with Fury Swipes and Fury Cutter, neither gaining the upper hand—or paw. Tessa was slugged repeatedly but she stayed standing and kept herself between Xoana and her opponent with a relentless and wild fervor. Tessa’s usually round face pulled into angry lines as she bellowed. Her once soft paws stretched into claws. Her cuddly frame knocked the Karrablast to the ground like a battering ram splintering a castle gate.
Xoana yelled encouragement even as her gut twisted up watching it. Was this the same pokemon she had befriended?
It couldn’t be. Tessa wouldn’t be here without her. She wouldn’t be battling at all. She wouldn’t be rearing and smashing the Karrablast into the dirt over and over until he squeaked in defeat.
Just like that, she was back—limping back to Xoana with a cautious smile and soft eyes searching her face, making sure she was okay.
Xoana kneeled and hugged her and told her how well she had done. Tessa snuffled her ear and patted her between the shoulders.
But the battle wasn’t over. Froabble had already taken his place on the field and Viola sent out a Vivillon—a garden pattern decked in warm shades of green.
Froabble leapt the same moment she called to him. The Vivillon’s Gust missed but made Froabble’s Bubble go wide. The Vivillon dipped back and forth, re-evaluating, and when Frobble leapt again, she anticipated his move and hit I’m dead on with Infestation. Froabble hit the ground hard, writhing as the tiny insects swarmed him.
There was nothing she could do to help him. The Vivillon hovered over him, eyes glowing as she urged her minions on.
“Come on, Xoana!” Aisling was sitting up now, both feet planted and leaning towards the edge of her seat. She met Xoana’s eyes boldly, poured something into her with that stare.
Heat coursed through her.
She could help Froabble by finishing the battle, by winning. She had a strategy. Last night Serena had noticed the nervousness in her face and shoulders and addressed it in that almost tactful way she sometimes had. She had endured Xoana’s babbling and frantic pacing with the patience and equanimity she kept stored for her friends and pokemon. She had been gentle where she could be, direct when she needed to be.
And now Serena was there cheering for her. She always was.
Xoana commanded Froabble with borrowed confidence and turned the battle with borrowed smarts. Froabble zigzagged with his signature speed, dodging any further attacks and getting close enough to repeatedly soak the Vivillon’s wings. She sunk under the added weight and when she was low enough, Froabble leapt above her and bore her to the ground. The infestation left him, signaling the Vivillon’s surrender.
Xoana’s friends whooped, hollered, whistled, and clapped. The pokemon cheered too. Emer was bouncing high on her tail and squeaking at the top of her voice. Froabble jumped into her open arms.
“Nice battle!” Aisling’s compliment somehow rang above the others. “I wasn’t expecting that awesome strat after you and Tessa just brute-forced the Karrablast.”
That was because it wasn’t hers. Or maybe she was being a bit unfair to herself. Serena hadn’t actually told her what to do, just steered her thinking in the right direction.
“Thanks!”
“Well done, Xoana!” Viola congratulated warmly. “You’ve got a great connection with your pokemon already. I couldn’t be prouder.”
Aisling smirked at her over Viola’s shoulder, smug vindication smeared across her visage. But the reason for it and the faint glow rising to Aisling’s cheeks forced a grin onto Xoana’s face. She’d yet to stop insisting that Xoana had real potential as a trainer and this battle hadn’t convinced her otherwise.
It was tough to be sure about Tessa, but Froabble was a natural battler—that focus, assurance, and pure athleticism. If he hadn’t gone to her, he would have gone to some other trainer. He was going to be great and maybe she could help him get there.
“That was fun,” Froabble declared as if he could read her thoughts. “Thank you, Xoana.”
Xoana startled all of them with her giddy shriek but she didn’t care. She danced around with Froabble held high, yelling “he talked!” over and over. It was stupid, because all pokemon talked, but she finally understood him.
And she couldn’t wait to have a conversation.
While I’m saving up money for more art of the squad, someone linked me @sangled’s awesome icon maker to try. I didn’t think I’d be able to get so close a match for all of them, but it has so many options! I’m so happy with how they turned out so a big thank you to Sang!!
I gave Aisling and Xoana the pride buttons because they’re out but Serena, Tierney and Tracie the backgrounds because they’re all still closeted to varying degrees. Hopefully that changes by the end of the story ;)
