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Young Writers Society


Pokémon: New Horizon



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Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:59 pm
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Lezuli says...



Maxine Daniels
Scene xv: Hostility and Leafeons


“...”

“...this doesn’t look right at all.” Turning away from the wooden doors stretching down the length of the massive corridor, Maxine Daniels took new stock of her surroundings. Her fists propped on her hips, her glare firmly affixed on her face like she could intimidate the hallway into giving up its secrets. “Are we lost?” she said, her voice turning from annoyed to slightly hysterical in the space of three words. “The muk did we get lost walking down to the seventh floor!?”

I told you to read the guide more carefully, didn’t I?” Max spun on her heel to glare at the pokemon speaking. Standing behind Max with her slim arms folded across her chest was a Mawile with an expression so icy anyone not used to it would have frozen up. Max herself would have been intimated if she hadn’t possessed a glare ten times as fierce.

“I did read the guide, Avarice,” Max replied with false cheer, glaring at the small yellow-and-black Fairy. “Ten times. But somehow we’re still not at the gym.”

We could always ask someone…?” A hesitant male voice suggested, obviously doing his best to break the tension between the two females. Max and Ava both slid equally unhappy glances towards the blue pokemon who had spoken. Posey looked like he regretted his decision to speak almost instantly. The Dewott’s blue fur bristled under the force of the combined glares and his paws shot up to fiddle with the zipper of the white hoodie-like vest he was wearing. “I mean if we ask someone who does know where we are, then they could help us get to the gym and arenas.” His gaze skittered all over the hallway like he was searching for a way to flee to the great sea outside. “Back me up here, Conrad!” He finally cried, shooting a desperate look at the pokemon sitting a little ways away.

Huh?” Conrad didn’t look at all impressed at being interrupted from whatever thoughts he was thinking. Rising to all four paws in smooth, languid movements that spoke of years of training, he regarded the fight happening with the cool look of someone who didn’t want to be bothered. “Who cares what we do as long as we get to the gym eventually? Standing here fighting won’t do us any good, but if you feel it’s necessary, feel free to continue.”

Conraaad…” Posey despaired, slumping down to the floor. “Come on, you're Max's starter, you’re not supposed to be so apathetic!

With a humph, Ava tossed her head to the side. She shut her eyes and with a superior sniff said: “Well, I supposed if Conrad says fighting won’t help, then we should stop.”

Max rolled her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose. She had been on this cruise for less than a full day and she was already getting the start of a headache.

“Glad that’s cleared up,” Max grumbled unhappily, “And I’m thrilled we’re not wasting time, but I must point out that we are still lost.”

You realize we could just take the stairs, right?” Conrad asked, his leafy tail brushing against her leg as he came to stand by her. “If we go back up to our room and look at the map, we can figure out where to go from there.

“Wisest thing I’ve heard all day,” Max muttered. “Pick yourself up, Posey. We’re going back to the room.”

Stepping over the fallen Water-type, Max strode towards the stairs with all the confidence she could summon. As she shoved open the door to the staircase, she had to admit that her Leafeon’s words were probably one of the wisest things she had heard all day, especially considering where she even was.

The New Horizon Tournament. Her ticket out of pokemon Trainer mediocrity and into Professionalism. After eating, breathing, and sleeping pokemon battles for all eighteen years of her life, the constant losses she faced in actual tournaments made her blood boil with humiliation and rage whenever she thought about it. She was weak, a failure, and she despised it.

Gritting her teeth as a wave of anger stole over her, she fisted the pokeball charm hanging around her neck. The cutting pain of the charm’s round edges served to bring her back to reality. She took a deep breath and focused back on the present.
The only reason she had enrolled in this tournament was so that she could finally gain the strength she needed to become a Professional Trainer and finally make her and her team’s dreams a reality. She had most definitely not enrolled to make friends or talk to people. As far as Max was concerned, all of the 63 other trainers were her enemies first and people second.

After arriving in Vancouver, a place her father had spoken about quite fondly, she had avoided any and all social interaction beyond her team thus far in the trip by choosing a table far out of the way during the ball and glaring at anyone foolish enough to come close to her. During the boarding, she had, to her immense displeasure, been introduced before she could avoid it. Of course, the only satisfaction she could take from such an incident was that her pokemon hadn't been introduced and that fancy-shmancy, gag-worthy couple riding up together at the end had ensured nobody would remember her.

She didn’t want to be introduced, she didn’t want to be liked, and she didn’t want anything to get in the way of her rise to success.

The only flaw in Max’s plan so far? That she had gotten lost on her way to the gym to train.

How one could even get lost in a confined space was beyond her, but here they were.
I know that look,” Conrad interrupted her dark thoughts. “You’re thinking unpleasant things, aren’t you?

If anyone other than Conrad had asked Max that, she would have adamantly refused to answer. But, since Max had known Conrad since he was gifted to her as an Eevee at age three, she sighed and relented. “Maybe I am, so what?”

So stop it,” the Leafeon didn’t even break stride up the stairs as he reprimanded his Trainer, a snarky smirk fixed on his split lips. “You never fight your best when you’re distracted. Focus on the here and now. We’re finally going to get the power we need and that’s all that matters.

Is Max thinking bad thoughts?” Posey asked, jumping up about ten steps to meet Conrad and Max. “Don’t think bad thoughts, Max!

Max huffed out what could have been a laugh in between breaths and closed her eyes, forcing her angry thoughts away. “I’m not, I’m not,” she said. Partially to make Conrad stop worrying, and partially to wipe away the adorably pathetic sad-otter eyes Posey was sending her way.

If we’re going up to our room, does that mean I can put my ribbon back on?” Ava interrupted the somewhat touching moment spectacularly with her vain remark.

“Should have named you Narcissa.” Max remarked under her breath to a chuckle from Conrad. Then, louder, she said to her Mawile: “Yes, Ava, you can get your ribbon. I don’t even know why you took it off in the first place.”

I didn’t want to get it sweaty.” Max laughed at the affronted tone of voice her Mawile adopted.

“Whatever you say, Ava,” Max replied, setting her hand gently against the door to the ninth floor and pushing it open. “You realize we’re still going back to the gym, though, right?”

If we keep this pace up, it’ll be dinner before we get down there,” Ava replied, walking past Max with a lofty tilt of her hand. “And I have to look my best before the enemy.

She’s got a point,” Conrad said while smirking, “You want her to look her best, don’t you?

You guys act too much like humans,” Max griped, following her smug team down to her room.

The only reason you think that is because you can understand us,” Ava replied. “We’re not the ones who decided to dedicate her high school years to being able to understand at least some of all pokemon languages.

“Oh, so now it’s my fault, is it?” Max said with narrowed eyes, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her green-and-tan hoodie.

I like that you can talk to us!” Posey offered with a smile. “You’re the best trainer we could hope for.

If she’s so great, why did she leave the problem children at home with her mother and father?” Ava tossed back.

Max’s eye twitched. Why the muk was Ava taking so many shots at her today? She was being more hostile than usual and that was saying something. Max and Ava usually got along fine! Heck, they were on great terms back at the club when Ava was making Max laugh with frank appraisals of the passing Trainers fashion choices, so why was she being like this now?

Conrad turned his head to appraise the small pokemon walking alongside him. “You appear to be angry at Max this fine afternoon. Any particular reason?

Ava sniffed. “She didn’t let us be introduced on deck. All those people who didn’t get to see how amazing I am. It’s such a waste.

Now Conrad looked like his eye was going to start twitching. Before Max got a chance to tear into her selfish little brat of a Fairy-type, Conrad took the initiative for her. In fact, he stopped dead in his tracks and spoke in a voice so dark it lowered the temperature in the hallway a few degrees. “What do you mean ‘It’s such a waste’?

Max skidded to a stop as Posey ducked behind her legs with a ‘meep’ of fright. Uh-oh, Max thought as she watched this catastrophe unfold. Conrad’s gone into total hostile mode. I just hope he doesn't actually end up using any moves this time around, I don’t know what this ship’s policy on hostile Leafeon attacks are.

Even Ava had gradually come to the belated recognition that she was in terrible danger, she shuffled from foot to foot and even took a few steps back as she formulated her response. “Well…er..I just mean that...the enemy should see me being fabulous and Max shouldn't have taken thatawayfromme?” She was rushing at the end because with every word, Conrad’s expression grew more murderous.

Oh?” Conrad took a step closer to Ava, his amber eyes glinting with something dangerous. “You mean to tell me that your own personal vanity and pride is more important than our trainer’s?

Ava took several more steps back, then the jaws on the back of her head hit the wall and she was forced to stop as Conrad kept advancing on her. He looked for all the world to be a hunter cornering prey. “Max has made it perfectly clear that she does not want anyone to know of her yet, as to better have the element of surprise when she attempts to beat them. Getting announced in the first place put a sizable dent in her plan, but by now most people should have forgotten her. Announcing your presence in an ostentatious way would undercut that plan to stay under the radar quite spectacularly, don’t you think?

Max would have liked to see where Conrad would have gone with this, but she saw the beginnings of leaves beginning to flicker to life in the air around him and decided it was best she step in before any actual corporate damage was done to the ship.

“Annnnd that’s enough,” Max announced, putting herself between her furious starter and terrified second. “Not that I wouldn’t like to see where this was going, I don’t think any of us want to test the higher-ups’ tolerance of Razor Leaf damages to the ship, right?” she cast a sharp look at both Conrad and Ava.

Conrad instantly backed down with a nod of his head and the air in the corridor returned to normal temperature. Max and Posey breathed identical sighs of relief. “Ava,” Ava jumped when Max addressed her. “Sorry that you couldn’t get your grand entrance,” Max apologized, meaning every word. “If I had known you would feel this mad about it, I would have told you that you were going to have to stay in your ball.” She played with the green ends of her ponytail and shrugged, “Still doesn’t give you the right to act like a brat, however.”

Ava nodded sheepishly. “Sorry, Master.”

“You’re forgiven. But don’t call me ‘master’.”

Sorry, Max.”

“Much better.” With a nod of satisfaction at her successful disarming of a teniouse situation, Max turned to walk the final stretch of the corridor and arrive at her room in the middle of Deck 9.

But of course, since Max’s luck sucked that afternoon, that wasn’t to happen. Instead, all four companions froze like statues when an ear-piercing shriek echoed through the corridor from the front of the deck.

“What in Arceus’ name?” Max muttered, turning around halfway to glare at the directions the sound had come from. There was a lounge that way that only trainers had access to, right? “You all heard that, right?”

That sounded like…” Ava started, her expression confused.

Someone’s in trouble!!” Posey cried, his fur bristling like someone had used an otter-whistle in his ear. “We have to go help them!”

“Nooo, we don-” Max tried to say, but it was too late. Her Dewott was already making for the lounge at the end of the hallway faster than a Jolteon on Diet Mountain Dew. “NO!” Max cried, her arm shooting out like she could use the Force to pull her pokemon back at her. “Dang it, Poseidon, we just had a conversation about how we don’t want to deal with other people!” She yelled after him. He ignored her completely.

With a noise of abject frustration and irritation, Max shook her head wildly and then broke into a run to follow Posey, “Screw this! Come on, Conrad, Ava, we have to catch him before that idiot does something we’ll regret!”

Conrad instantly shot forward to catch up to Max without any complaints, though the return of the dark look in his eyes promised Posey merciless retribution when they got him back.

But my ribbooon!” Ava wailed behind them, then she used some choice words that a lady should not even know, and soon the staccato thumps of her feet joined Max and Conrad’s.

Dang it, Posey, Max thought as she darted down the hallway. You and your stupid hero complex, we had better not be dragged into anything because of this!





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Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:47 pm
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Ventomology says...



Peony Lin
Scene xvi: When One Pokemon Is Found, Another Is Lost


Peony did not remember picking up a Spinarak. She had never in her life wanted to pick up a Spinarak. She had never in her life possessed a milligram of desire to interact with insects or arachnids or any pokemon of the general arthropod variety. Common house pests she could slap and viciously murder. Insect pokemon? No slapping.

So there she was, sitting in one of the ship's lounge rooms, in fresh clothes that were not fancy and definitely not Arcanine-dried. Time had slowed. The space between ticks on her analog watch drew out into hours. And it was in this horrible, slow moment that she felt the tickle of insect feet. She noticed the tiny little hairs keeping the feet glued to her skin.

Peony turned, looked down, saw the Spinarak, and screamed.

A lot of things happened after that.

Whisk burst from his pokeball and landed right on Peony's head. The sudden, surprise weight forced her head down, closer, unfortunately, to the Spinarak. He too noticed their unwelcome arthropod guest and reached down, claws out, to swipe. Socket, who had been napping, yelped awake. She took in the situation, blinked at the absolute chaos, and immediately went teary.

So there Peony was, shrieking her head off in one of the ship's lounge rooms, wearing her Skitty on her head, trying desperately to calm her crying Shinx, and also very much freaking out about how to get a spider off her arm without causing it undue harm. It was someone's pokemon, after all. She couldn't just swat it like Whisk was doing.

A storm of footsteps rumbled through the thin ship walls, and the sounds of a scuffle echoed through the door.

"Ow!" someone said.

"Sorry!" someone else yelped.

Oddly, both these voices came from outside, which meant two things: one, help had arrived, and two, the help had injured itself. Great.

With a sniffle, Peony stopped screaming. She coughed, just to get the scritchy screaming feel out of her throat, and reached up with her non-spidered hand to remove Whisk from her head.

"You are terrible," she told him in Mandarin.

Whisk only meowed and swatted at the spider with his tail.

The helpful other trainers stumbled in, one after another, and Peony tried her best to compose herself. She straightened her back, lifted her chin and shook out the jitters, which only made the Spinarak crawl further up her arm. Peony forced herself to smile despite the awful tingly feeling.

"Hey," someone asked, "are you okay?"

Peony winced. Time for English. She looked up with a nervous giggle and found two unfamiliar faces peering at her. Both sported bumps on their foreheads, probably courtesy of whatever chaos had occurred outside, and both frowned in such sincere concern that Peony felt her brave face falter.

"I am doing well," she squeaked.

The person on the left, a girl with blonde hair and an excellent green dye job, frowned. "Are you sure? That scream was louder than someone getting attacked by a Beartic and an Ursaring at the same time while falling off a cliff. Anyway, have you seen a Dewott around here anywhere?" She glanced around, already seeming to have forgotten Peony had screamed.

Also, what a long metaphor! Surely the English language was not so... descriptive. "Haha. I am sure it was not so loud. And no. I was preoccupied."

"Dang it," the girl muttered, "Where the heck did he go? Conrad, Ava!" she yelled to the Leafeon and Mawile behind her, "Go look for Posey, please."

The person on the right, a boy with messy dark blue curls, blinked and reached out for Peony's arm. "I think the ship has some swimming pools on board," he suggested absently. "Might try those for a Dewott."

"You hear that, you two?" the girl called to her team. "Anyway," she glanced down at Peony. "What were you screaming about in the first place?"

Oh this was so embarrassing. First, Peony had gotten into a fight, then she'd fallen in the ocean, and now here she was, causing even more ruckus. She laughed. "Nothing! Nothing at all."

The girl scoffed. "Didn't seem like no-

"Oh, Myata!" the boy exclaimed. "There you are."

The Spinarak on Peony's arm started moving again, and Peony just had to look away. The legs were too much.

"I am so sorry about her," he added, walking closer to let the Spinarak crawl onto him.

"I hate to barge in," the girl said, raising an arm and an eyebrow, "But what were you doing with his Spinarak anyway?"

Peony cringed. "It was just there? On my arm?" The moment the boy's Spinarak--Myata?--crawled off her, she bent down to pick up Socket and plop the little Shinx in her lap. And of course, Whisk, being the jealous brat he was, decided he had to join in on the cuddling. A lapful of cats was better than a spider though.

"Oh, Myata just likes to wander," the boy said. After that, he fell silent, more concerned with his pokemon than with anything else. As a good trainer ought to be, probably.

"Speaking of wandering pokemon," the girl muttered, glancing around. "The muk are those three anyway? Seriously, how hard is it to find one Dewott?"

Perhaps this was Peony's chance to be something other than a massive source of total chaos. She scooped Socket and Whisk into her arms and tried for an earnest smile. "Would you like help? Two eyes are better than one. Or is it heads? Faces? I am not sure how the saying goes."

"It's heads," she said off-handedly. "And help would be-" she cut herself off abruptly. She looked down to Peony and her cats. "Actually..." a smirk slowly crossed her lips. "That might honestly be useful." Her smirk was firmly in place now, "Sure, I could use some help. I'm Max, by the way."

"Peony. And these are Whisk and Socket." Peony stood and glanced over to the boy, but he seemed lost in his own world, too busy with his Spinarak.

"My Leafeon's Conrad, don't talk to him unless you want to be Razor Leaf-ed, my Mawile is Avarice, and the Dewott I'm looking for is Poseidon," Max replied.

"Oh, excellent." Poseidon was going to be such a difficult name to go shouting out. Peony loosened her grip on her pokemon, letting them claw and scramble their ways to more comfortable body parts, and took anther look around the room. A crowd had gathered, probably also in reaction to her shrieking, and though most faces were unfamilliar, Peony did recognize a few others.

With her free hand, she waved. "Jake! Dog-boy!"

Jake, ever the easy-going prick, laughed and ushered his boyfriend over. Connor glowered.

"You know," Jake said, smiling, "we were wondering where that very Spinarak had gotten off to. She hitched a ride with me after I picked her up in the yacht club, so we decided to find her trainer. But we got distracted, and the next thing we knew, Myata was gone! I'm glad Vadim found her in the end."

Yes, yes, that was all well and good, and Peony very much wanted the spider incident to be behind her. She turned to Connor instead and pushed Whisk into his face.

He spluttered and reflexively pushed the cat away. It was great.

"Anyways, hi, hello, Max is looking for her Dewott. Can your dogs sniff him out?"

Max muttered something under her breath that was too low for Peony to make out and crossed her arms over her torso, rolling her eyes at the same time.

"It is fine if they cannot," Peony said. "Cats have better senses of smell."

"I have a dog." Connor grumbled. "Singular! Show the other canids some respect. And in fact, if you think your cats are so great, why did you even bother asking for our help?" He crossed his arms. "Is it, perhaps, because you know my pokemon will actually obey their trainer's commands?"

Actually, Peony asked because Jake and Connor were familiar faces in a room full of strangers, and there really was something to be said for having more eyes on the lookout. But also it was fun to get on Connor's nerves.

"My pokemon are getting away," Max pointed out grumpily. "While I appreciate the reinforcements, it means nothing if I can't locate Posey."

Ah, Peony should have just kept her nose out of all this. Maybe she could go find Nathan later and bully someone who wouldn't bully back. "Off we go then?" she offered. "Swimming pools first?"

"Since Ava and Conrad are probably over there, that would be awesome." Max appraised Connor and Jake with one long look. "I don't know who you two are, nor do I want to. Help if you want, but don't expect thanks." Then she turned and marched away.

"You're really hitting it off with everyone, aren't you?" Jake said, winking at Peony

"Hmph. That's one way of putting it," Connor added.

Peony glared at Connor for calling her out like that. "I will follow Max. Maybe you can look on the decks? A Dewott might like to admire the sea."

"No problem," Jake replied. "We could totally use the sunlight. Scream if you need anything! …Again." He wrapped one arm more firmly around his boyfriend and tugged him away, waving goodbye and snickering as the pair sauntered out.

Peony was so screwed. Day one, and already she was the worst person in this whole competition. With a sigh, she readjusted her grip on her pokemon and followed in Max's wake. She could really use a cat nap.
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled





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Thu Sep 24, 2020 11:20 am
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TinkerTwaggy says...



Kele Shahiin
Scene xvii: Brain Cleaner




Wow.

That single word had echoed in the back of Kele’s thoughts every step of the way, from the moment she accompanied her group to the boarding area, to when she finally reached her personal room and stood there, taking in the experiences she had witnessed and been a part of. Only after a fit of awestruck chuckles as she recalled the events of the day did she manage to calm her excitement and focus on the tasks that mattered.

First and eternally foremost: the birds.

“Karri, go!” Kele took one of her pokéballs and gently threw it on the bed in her room. Out came a Rufflet, immediately scanning the unfamiliar area with that suspicious expression Kele absolutely adored. “Careful, with your claws,” she warned, “you’ll scratch the bed.”

Shakarri gazed at the soft bed below, poking it with his feet before deciding to completely stop moving his body, with the exception of his head. Meanwhile, Kele looked down at the two bags and one suitcase placed next to a closet. She’d been told by the nice butler person that her gear was inside, so, she moved to her second task at hand: checking if everything was in place, and hopefully not broken. Kele knelt on the ground and began with the opening of the suitcase, and as soon as she did, an excited chirp came out of Shakarri.

“Hey now!” Kele exclaimed, chuckling. “You should be wanting to leave your nest, not get back inside it!” Ignoring his trainer, Shakarri hopped closer, towards the edge of the bed. Kele delicately moved the content of the suitcase away from the bag, staring at it with a critical eye.
The childishly nicknamed Neskarri was a large, almost suitcase-sized backpack. Its exterior looked like a giant, rigid brown rectangle, even though it was made of leather. There were handles on the side to carry it like a bag, but also shoulder straps to wear it like a backpack. There were also six small pockets on the outside, three for each side of the Neskarri. Kele started her checkup by opening them. There were small bottles of perfumed cleaning products designed to regulate the Neskarri’s smell, and luckily, none of them had opened during their trip. Next to the products were boxes of clean tissues for Shakarri’s excrement — also undamaged.

“Okay, we’re fine there…” Kele muttered to herself. She moved the tissues and saw the plastic bags below; that, too, was in its place. Next, Kele opened the main pocket between the straps: inside were placed a large amount of straw, pocket lights, and small toys — of hardened polystyrene, plastic, and wood.

“Hmm…” Kele frowned, realizing that the straw had clearly been flattened. There was nothing much she could do about it, for now, so Shakarri would have to deal with it. “Okay Karri, your nest is fine.” Kele gazed back, offering a thumbs-up to her partner. “Wanna hop in it at some point when I head out?”

Shakarri approved with a solemn nod.

“Nice. Lemme check the rest and we’ll be on our way.”

Opening the bag next to the suitcase, Kele grinned with satisfaction as she looked at the neatly ordered clothes placed inside in the fashion of ranger rolls — or was it army rolls? She could never remember the correct name — placed on one side, and essentials like towels, toothpaste, or body-washing gels locked in their own small bags, on the other side. She unrolled the clothes, happy to see that the underwear and socks that had been rolled along inside the clothing were barely crumpled.

Wait. Kele thought to herself. She rose from the ground and checked inside the bathroom. Inside, she could see the already-prepared showering gels, towels, toothpaste, brushes, and body-washing soap organized by size and color, right next to the bathtub so she could see it. She couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head. “Guess I won’t need to worry about hygiene,” she exclaimed out loud. From what she could see, they didn’t seem to have feather-washing gels, so, at least one of the essentials she’d brought with her hadn’t been accounted for. At any rate, she went back to the room and checked the last bag, where she could see that her DVD player, breeder, and trainer-related DVDs and magazines remained untouched.

“All set,” Kele said. It only took her a few minutes to change from her suit to her much more comfortable dark green hiking pants, black shirt, and checkered black and green shirt buttoned all the way to her chest. Then, she fumbled through the bag and pulled out a brown-colored leather-strapped shoulder piece, which she passed over her head and attached with the belt that came with it. Then, she closed the Neskarri’s pockets (leaving the main one partially opened for Shakarri to jump in and out when needed), equipped it on her back, and whistled as she put on her fingerless gloves; Shakarri flew to her left shoulder, using the shoulder piece as a perch. Then he gazed at Kele’s chest and let out a small cry.

“The- oh, yeah. But they only glow in the dark, so no poking!” Kele put a hand in one of the Neskarri’s pockets and took out a pair of glow-in-the-dark green-colored zipper earphones, putting the earbuds inside her jacket and letting the metallic thread hang all the way down to her pants’ pockets. “There!” Kele happily scratched her Rufflet’s neck. “Let’s find the gang again, now.”

Kele came out of her room with great strides, empowered by her renewed self-satisfaction. She adjusted the Neskarri on her shoulders, grinning at it. She felt like she wore her home like a turtle’s shell, through her familiar clothes, items and avian companions. Then, Kele scanned the area in search of a place to start her quest, but unfortunately, she made the mistake of looking at the sea beyond the ship. Letting out a small gasp, she promptly forgot her previous objective and approached the guardrail of the ship, staring at the wild blue yonder.

Kele had never stood on a ship before; and even she could tell that there was an unmistakable difference between looking at the sea from her seat before boarding, and looking at it from a ship. It was as if the very sound of the waves was different, as if the perpetually moving water made itself more hypnotizing, with the sun rays over it purposely shining across the vast expanse of water to give it that air of multi-shaded infinite blue. Only at that moment did she notice that, despite its massive size, the Queen Anne was also in perpetual movement of up and down, dancing with the waves it floated over. Kele slowly nodded, offering her silent respect to worldwide fans of water.
Then, she looked on her left, and a walking bird appeared in her view.

Silently praising herself for not pulling out the phone she would have most certainly dropped in the water upon witnessing that surprise, Kele forced her steps to remain calm so as not to startle the creature. Still, she swiftly approached it, a growing smile on her face as she began to caress its charming figure with her eyes.

“Mandibuzz,” Kele whispered to herself as she recognized it. The Pokémon was roughly 1.3m of height; slightly bigger than the average Mandibuzz, with a bare pink head and neck — the color was dark enough that it almost looked purple. A long, dark brow tuft rested on the back of the head, with a polished white bone of superb quality stuck in the middle. Most likely hearing the steps, the Mandibuzz turned back, gazing at Kele with its red pupils, the glare made even sharper by the eyeliner-like markings around the eyes. Looking more closely at the beak, Kele noticed that it was full of healed scratches that used to be much deeper than their current state.
That beauty was a fighter.
As if on cue, the Mandibuzz approached Kele with awkward steps. She raised her neck and pulled her head back: which Kele knew meant that she was trying to get a better look at her. So, Kele took a slow step back, allowing the bird to do just that. Seconds later, the Mandibuzz let out a small cry, to which Kele responded with a slow chirp. She then took a step forward as the Mandibuzz extended her wing, thereby allowing Kele to approach further, to the latter’s growing delight.

“Are you flirting with my girl?”

Kele removed her gaze from the Pokémon’s gorgeous pink feet to look at the pale-skinned woman who had just spoken. She had a stylish silver-colored ponytail, a black tank and torn black pants, as well as turquoise-colored armbands on her wrist. She distractedly brought a hand to her necklace, of the same color as her armbands.

“Hi!” Kele replied with a friendly wave. “No, I’d need a proper bone hairpins for that. And probably a dress, with like, more bones on them?” she smiled. “I’d also need to be a male.”

The woman stayed silent for a short second. “Oh. I thought you were.”

“I get that a lot. Her feet are gorgeous, by the way!”

“Thanks.” the lady gazed at Shakarri’s beak. “Glossy beak.”

Kele nodded. “Think it’s too much? He likes it best when polished.”

“Is he more of a feet user or a beak user?”

“Feet, for now.”

“Then keep the maintenance going. You’ll need similar products for his claws later.”

“Gotcha. Did your beauty switch her hair bone yet?”

“Not yet. Any suggestions? Cubone’s out of fashion this season.”

Kele looked at the Mandibuzz with a critical eye. “You could go for Dragon-types. Like, fully evolved? I saw that you can find some of their bones for sale super easily in local museums. Mostly Dragonites and Flygons.”

The lady frowned in what seemed to be a mildly incredulous expression. “They’re donated, right?”

“Yeah! Yeah, I wouldn’t advise anything illegal.” Kele chuckled. “I’d… probably be unable to do that anyway.”

“Not to worry. I was just making sure, since I don’t check museum goodies often.” finally, she approached Kele and held out her hand. “Sombrielle Silke. My partner is Anjaloth.”

Kele Shahiin! And this is Shakarri.”

Kélé? Fun name. Sounds Spanish. Old Spanish.”

Kele let out an excited gasp. “You’re the first person on this ship to get the pronunciation right!”

“The trip just started, though.”

“Yes, but it’s still cool! Oh, and sorry, it’s not Spanish, it’s Native American.” a side glance back at Anjaloth betrayed her interest once more as she fell silent for just a second, wondering how to bring the conversation back to the bird. Sombrielle seemed to notice, however, as she followed the gaze, then looked back at Kele.

“Do you want to keep flirting with my girl?” Sombrielle offered.

“Are we really going to keep calling it that?”

Sombrielle nodded and gave her an expressionless gaze. “Absolutely. I think it’s hilarious, so I’m going to make it canon to this reality.”

Kele chuckled. “Then yes. I want to keep flirting with your girl.”

“Alright. Well she was just out for a walk, because she likes practicing that. We were planning to have a chat in my room while putting everything in place. Help me do that, and I’m offering you a service later in return. Unlimited flirting sessions with Anjaloth are a free part of this package.”

Oh my god, she’s hilarious. “Where do I sign?”

Sombrielle held out her hand. “Another handshake will do.”

Kele vigorously shook Sombrielle’s hand. “Lead the way!”

Sombrielle didn’t even move: Anjaloth just naturally walked towards them, opening the half-opened door left behind Sombrielle with a graceful push of her wing. Only then did Sombrielle turn around to enter, having kept Kele’s hand within her own to lead her inside as the latter briefly stared into Anjaloth’s confident eyes with awe and amusement.

The room was exactly like Kele’s, which wasn’t much of a surprise. There were five bags sitting on the ground near the balcony, two of each had already been emptied. While Kele helped Sombrielle deal with the rest, she began to ask a flurry of questions to her host and a potential new friend. Kele first learned that the two empty bags originally had a variety of clothes in them, because Sombrielle was a sucker for quirky fashion. She had gained extensive knowledge on clothes material because of an important project she had previously participated in, and it stuck with her ever since, every time she went to a new clothing store — usually during sales.

“You gotta learn to wake up very early.” Sombrielle elaborated. “People always shoot for sales, so being ready as soon as possible is important. I got Anjaloth though, so, I can fly over traffic if I make sure not to reach plane road altitudes. Would be super cold anyway.”

“So, they weren’t kidding on TV?” Kele inquired, awestruck. “Sales really are like these giant stampedes of people just… Pushing each other to get in a store?”

“Less true where I’m from, but definitely that. Also less true from my experience because we’re usually just a squad of around fifteen people max. By the time the rest of the army comes in we’re already gone.”

Wow. But then, why d’you need so many clothes if it was just for a project?”

Sombrielle removed a black, small folding table from one of her bigger bags and gently placed it in front of her room’s couch, briefly lost in thought. “Interest, habit, hobby.” she finally replied. “At first, I knew nothing about clothes, but I wanted to learn. Because the project in question was the re-insertion of resurrected Amauras into a cold region of the Andes.”

Kele blinked, her eyes widening as she realized what had just been casually mentioned. “The Andes? Like… The mountain chain?”

“Yep.”

“Wait— I just— the place with the cloud forest, and the salt lake, and the rapidly changing climates?”

“Yep.”

“...You live next to that?”

“Sure do.”

“I…” Kele put her hands in her hair, while Shakarri looked at her repressed agitation with curiosity. “I mean, this place is awesome, you know that?”

A tiny smirk appeared on Sombrielle’s face. “I get that a lot.” then, she switched back to her emotionless expression. “I’m extra happy because I just stole your line and I think that’s swell.”

Kele chuckled. “You know, if you explain a funny moment, it kinda just… sucks the funny away from it.”

Sombrielle nodded. “That is what I do best. To even participate in a project like the re-insertion of Fossil Pokémon back into the wild, you need to know at least a little bit on what to expect in the Andes, be physically fit, know your supplies, stuff like that. In my case, I always wanted to make sure I had the right clothes with the right material for the job, to make sure I’d switch outfits whenever necessary. And after the whole thing, it just… stuck with me. I do this whenever I travel, so I figured I’d have fun with all this and make it a style thing.”

“Oh, I totally get that!” Kele touched her earbuds. “It’s the same with these. My partners like to play with them when they glow, and I like to listen to music. Since they glow better if they absorb sunlight and all, I just let them recharge during the day. I made sure to buy green ones though because it fits with my outfit.” a smile. “And also, I bought the sturdiest ones I could so they wouldn’t break.”

“Yeah, that works. Personalized style is also what I was shooting for.”

At that moment, Anjaloth let out a chirp. Sombrielle gazed at her, then rolled her eyes. “Okay. Also this girl over there really wanted me to get into fashion. I agreed as long as I could still select stuff based on my own criteria.”

Anjaloth nodded, satisfied. She waved her wing towards her trainer, signaling to her that she may proceed with the socialization.

“She has sass.” Kele commented, biting her lip with restrained glee.

Sombrielle gazed at Kele. “We need to talk about this thing of yours.”

“Can I have more cool stories first? Like, why do you travel with a table?”

Sombrielle almost raised an eyebrow. “I have a laptop. And I’m on a ship. I didn’t expect my room to come with a table, and it didn’t. But if you must know, it’s because I like my laptops stable, since I play games on them.”

“Ooh! What games?”

As Kele continued to pass items — including the laptop that had just been mentioned — to Sombrielle for her to place in the room, she learned that Sombrielle had taken her training for Anjanath very, very seriously — and the games were an integral part of it, as well as another habit that had turned into a hobby. Anjaloth was her first Pokémon, and she had kept it for longer than any other. Not only did Sombrielle have no knowledge on how to handle a Flying-type, she was also stuck with a Vullaby, one of the few Flying-types that only learned how to use its wings after its evolution.

“Wait, so… You couldn’t actually practice any flight patterns or techniques before going to the Andes?” Kele asked.

“Didn’t have time. I had to speed up her training to make sure she was evolved and healthy while making sure that I was fine with supplies, money, clothes, and all that stuff.”

Kele eventually sat on the couch, having finished her part of the job. Sombrielle joined her there after rechecking her clothes and making sure they hadn’t suffered too much from the folding. “So, I had to learn everything through simulation.” Sombrielle continued. “I had to understand how she’d use her wings as a Mandibuzz based on her behavior as a Vullaby, understand the techniques via flight simulators, and make sure to watch a lot of videos with her so that she’d know what she wanted.” Sombrielle put a hand on her partner’s wing, while Anjanloth began to fondly rub her beak on her hair. “The rest was just… learning on the field, really.”

Kele gazed at the computer in front of them, its black screen reflecting her incredulous face as she imagined just how hard such an experience would be. “But what about the wild Pokémon there?”

“I wasn’t alone, so they weren’t going to attack me all the time. And Anjanloth's got bulk. Her goal was to absorb damage, and mine was to gradually understand how she could fight back after doing so.” Sombrielle fell silent for a few seconds, before adding: “We had to grow fast. It wasn’t a problem, because we didn’t have a choice. The Pokémon there… It’s like this: the ones we trained with were accustomed to humans. They saw me and freaked out, then saw a Vullaby and saw an opportunity to fight. But the ones on the Andes?”

“Food.”

“What?”

Kele nodded, more to herself than to Sombrielle. “Food. They see you as nothing but food. With battle being a means to get it.”

“You’ve met some of those.”

Kele nodded once more, her expression darkening ever so slightly. “A few.”

“Well, that’s a good description. I was food, she was food, so we had to be a good team. It was easier than we thought to apply what we learned, though.”

“I didn’t know games could be used like that,” Kele said. “It’s news to me, but I guess it makes sense.”

“Ah, you’re on the traditional side of things, huh?”

“Uh… I think so? I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Alright, well: have you heard of the Multi-Eye Feedback theory?”

“Absolutely!” Kele took a studious tone. “The Multi-Eye Feedback theory comes from the observed fact that Flying-type Pokémon require sharper-than-average eyesight in order to hunt and battle from angles unknown to ground-based Pokémon, as well as work within a wider field of view. When partnered with human beings, They have a tendency to look down towards them in search of precise instructions, which suggests a need for specialized communication between human and Pokémon so that they form a synchronized entity: one acting as the brain, and the other, the brawn. Gestures and whistles are usually used for the form of specialized communication, and while the Pokémon look down to rely on the trainer, the trainer looks up to guide the Pokémon.”

Sombrielle nodded. “Levels of vision?”

Kele frowned, fiddling with her earbuds as she tried to remember. “Still three, right?”

“Still three.”

“Okay. I haven’t focused on them as much yet.”

“Too soon, right?”

“Yeah! But you’ve already started, right? Can you remind me?”

“You don’t mind?”

“Not at all! I mean, I did just do that to you, right? I’ll just take it as homework revision.”

“Alright. Well, the first level is the ally Pokémon, the second level is the oncoming attacks, and the third level is the enemy Pokémon. If a trainer can keep his eyes entirely on the enemy Pokémon while his ally is in flight, AKA third level, it will become easier for the Pokémon to anticipate enemy maneuvers if he alternates between keeping his eyes on the enemy and the trainer’s gestures, while the trainer keeps his eyes on the enemy. However, this required training, trust, and knowledge for both Pokémon and humans.”

“Okay, thanks. Have you reached level three?”

“Yeah, but I can’t use it all the time. It’s also when you start to realize why it’s a theory. There’s a lot of factors to take into account while you’re fighting, and in my case, flight techniques are one of them.”

“Right. Which ones?”

“I mostly trained on aileron rolls, barrel rolls, kulbits, and u-turns. Advanced stuff is for later.”

“What are those?”

Sombrielle stared at Kele. “...Aerial maneuvers?”

“Oh. Sorry, none of those ring a bell. Are they gamer terms?”

Something in Sombrielle’s gaze changed, as a slight frown appeared on her face. “No? They’re flight-related terms. Planes?”

Oh! Oh I’m sorry, I know nothing about planes. Is that… what you meant by traditional? Because I only focused on birds and their aerial maneuvers. So, gliding flight, flapping flight, bounding flight. With types of wings, speed orientation, endurance.”

“And I get that, but it’s limiting.”

Kele took a thoughtful expression. “I don’t think it is. Flying-types fly according to their natural instincts. If we’re to properly train them for combat, shouldn’t we try our best to relate to these instincts and maximize their efficiency? I mean, we guide them, but they’re the ones flying.”

Sombrielle nodded. “That’s the limiting part. Because the Flying-types are the ones doing the flying, you’re assuming that all you should do is observe how they fly and then keep developing that.”

“Isn’t that the whole point?” Kele interrupted. “To keep developing their potential until they reach it?”

“No — and that’s what I’m getting at. Pokémon that belong to trainers are different than those in the wild. You can’t treat them like they’re wild Pokémon, because they’re not that anymore. They work together with us. If there are new ways they could do things, new abilities they could learn that are outside of their natural range, they can learn them, because we’re there to teach them.”

It was Kele’s turn to frown. “But that deviates them from their actual flight patterns, their actual, natural learning curve. The reason Pokémon are even able to work with us is, at least in part, because they can be themselves. We can’t command creatures that think or move in different ways than what they’re supposed to be doing. They could get extremely confused, and that would make them perform worse.”

“That highly depends on their personalities.” Sombrielle countered. “If your bird wants to fly like a plane and use warplane tactics on top of what it can already do. Why would you stop that? Because you want it to respect what you think it should do just because most of its species does it? What about your Pokémon’s opinion and tastes?”

“I…” Kele fell silent. She knew what to say to that. The human was the guide: so, it would be very easy for a human to override that opinion and educate the Pokémon in a way that would remove such divergent thoughts to focus back on more orthodox training. But there was something about Sombrielle’s words that rang true. “I can’t imagine any bird that would naturally want to look at a plane and want to move like it, when birds are the entire reason we have planes.” she finally said, gazing into Sombrielle’s eyes with as much honesty as she could muster. “The Pokémon would have had to be already… changed, in some way, to want that.”

“Not necessarily. There are things to admire in humans too, you know. We, to a Flying-type, could appear exotic or curious. And both of these things breed interest, which can then breed what’s known as the highest form of flattery.”

Kele thought about it. “...Oh! Imitation?”

“See? You get it. We’re inspired by nature all the time but eventually created our own things. Why wouldn’t creatures like Pokémon eventually want to inspire themselves from us?”

Kele’s heartbeat began to rise, as she altered her gaze between Sombrielle and Anjaloth, whose glare hadn’t left her ever since the argument began. “Okay. Okay, okay. Can I ask for something selfish?”

“Shoot.”

“Is there a way for you to just… like, show me what you mean?” Kele gazed at Shakarri. “I still disagree with you, but… Okay so, my parents are Breeders. Through them, I’ve seen that there are countless different ways to raise a Pokémon, and I know that everything I’ve studied isn’t some sort of global truth or something. And I see your Anjanloth, and I see she’s healthy and strong and very smart. If you’ve raised her your way, then there has to be some truth to it all. I can believe that! But I want to just… learn something. You know? I want to see that truth that you’re telling me about.”

Sombrielle blinked. “Girl, I have to level with you. If your Pokémon are all on the level of your partner here, Anjanloth's gonna wipe the floor with all of them. You won’t get to see much.” she raised a hand in a gesture of appeasement. “No offense. I mean that.”

“No, none taken!” Kele smiled. “I can tell. Maybe just show me how she flies?”

“Hmm…” Sombrielle gazed at Anjaloth, while the latter let out a peculiar sound, midway between a whistle and a rolled “r”. She repeated it twice more before pointing at the door with her wing. “...Anja’s right.” Sombrielle rose from her seat, abandoning the sofa as she stared at the door. “There’s a way. I gotta go see my dad.”

Kele rose after her, excited. “Your father’s in the crowd?” she inquired. “That’s so cool! My parents couldn’t make the trip.”

“He’s off work for a bit, so he’s got time. There’s this Murkrow we’ve got — Lombardi — that I take care of a lot when Dad’s on a business trip. I’m thinking of getting it back on my team so your Shakarri can play air-tag with it? Best way we can give a test drive to our flight methods.”

Kele nodded several times as Shakarri’s clawed feet dug slightly deeper into her shoulder guard. “We are down for that.”

“Then follow.” Sombrielle moved towards the door, before stopping abruptly, her back turned towards Kele. “This next bit, I’ll say just once. I don’t like traditionalist stuck-ups. Mostly because I was forced to be unorthodox for my girl’s sake, and it worked out because she and I put in the effort for it to work. We’ve wiped the floor with all the idiots who insulted us for being who we are. You’re a traditionalist. But you’re also a breath of fresh air. So, thanks for the debate.”

Kele felt as though her smile grew a hundred times larger. Funny, smart, confident, and talented, all in her own way. These were all aspects of Sombrielle that Kele was only just beginning to notice, and that she believed were to be worthy of respect. These were qualities that surely belonged to every single participant of the tournament, as well as traits that Kele herself wanted to achieve alongside personal growth.
But these were all big, distracting words; ones that Kele wanted to blurt out alongside thousands of others. They would, however, only mask the ones that she truly wanted to share.

“You’re welcome.” Kele simply replied, voice vibrating with care.


Image



Kele’s steps were light and bouncy, appearing as not-so-discreet extensions of her happiness; she was, after all, surrounded by her favorite creatures. Shakarri remained on her shoulder, gazing at Anjanloth with suspicion and awe, while Kele was allowed to hold Anjaloth's wing like it was a hand, helping the big bird to keep her balance as she practiced her walk cycle. Sombrielle, far away from their position, speed-walked as well as she could, looking for her father as she spoke in Spanish with him on the phone. She eventually told Kele to stay with Anjaloth as she disappeared to another part of the Queen Anne, while Kele kept company to Anjanath and helped her walk back and forth, to the Mandibuzz’s delight.

“We’re good to go.”

Kele and Anjaloth turned for another round of walking, only to realize that Sombrielle was back, a Pokéball in her hand. “Welcome back!” Kele exclaimed joyfully. “So, where do we go now?”

“Dad I and I asked around: apparently we can have a game of air-tag somewhere on the thirteenth deck of this ship. Not many people are there right now, so we wouldn’t be bothered.”

“Okay! Lead the way, then.”

Sombrielle did just that, seemingly familiar enough with the layout of the Queen Anne and its corridors to confidently walk towards their shared destination at the foreside of the ship.

“Are you used to ships?” Kele asked, happy to let Anjaloth begin to play with her hair using her beak.

“Not really. Just used to finding my way. Dad likes to ask for directions whenever he’s somewhere new, too, so we figured we’d do that.”

“That makes sense! I kinda just go with the flow and gradually learn to make wherever I am more familiar. I’ll be a bit useless with directions for a few days, but that’s why I explore.”

“Not to worry. I’ve been told I’m a decent guide.” Sombrielle slowed down a bit to walk at the same pace as both Kele and Anjaloth. “You can start explaining your thing, now. You do love Flying-types as a whole, right?”

“Oh yeah! Absolutely. I love birds. I mean, I can accept non-bird Flying-types just fine, but I’m trying to make a full bird monotype team? It’s just my thing.”

“I doubt that,” Sombrielle said, briefly gazing at Kele. “You’re a bit too passionate for it to just be your thing, girl.”

“I mean, you’re right, but it’s the simplest way I can explain it. Basically, I just see Pokémon as people. Like, I genuinely, truly think of them as people. And working with my parents made me realize that most people just… don’t, even among trainers. And that’s fine! It’s fine as long as they don’t make them suffer for no reason, you know? All I’m saying is that I go the extra mile.”

“And why Flying-types, specifically?”

Kele smiled. “I met a Fletchling when I was a kid. A professional trainer let it rest on my wrist for me to get a feel for what Pokémon were like for real. And it stared into my eyes, and I just knew that I’d love anything that had that look for the rest of my life.” she caressed the feathers of Anjanath’s wing. “It just happens that birds are usually the ones with that awesome glare that I’m looking for, really. So, I got into it!”

“Sounds pretty neat, to be fair,” Sombrielle said as she opened a door, leaving it open for Kele and Anjanloth to pass before closing the door behind them. Before their eyes stood a rectangular battle arena drawn on a wooden ground, with a pokeball symbol placed in the middle. Anjaloth calmly pushed her wing away from Kele’s friendly grip, moving to reach her trainer’s side.

“Wow, they really went all out with these,” Kele commented. Looking up, she noticed that she had no problem seeing the sky from her position. It would be easy for Shakarri to fly freely. Then, a familiar sound came to Kele’s ears and she looked back down just as Sombrielle threw her pokeball in the air. Out came a Murkrow — Lombardi. From the size of its feathery crest, Kele could tell that the creature was a male. He reached for the ground as Sombrielle put away her Pokeball and knelt to attach a long blue ribbon at the base of its tail.

“For the air-tag?” Kele deduced.

“Yeah. You can take the other one.” Sombrielle stood up and stretched her arm. Kele walked to take the ribbon from her hand. She let out a brief whistle and Shakarri flew down to the ground, letting Kele attach the red ribbon to the base of his tail. “Okay! All set.”

“Then let’s go. Good luck and have fun, girl.”

“You too!”

The two walked to the squared spots at each extremity of the arena. Then, their respective birds flew above them, leisurely circling around each other as their ribbons flew like graceful snakes behind them. Kele ordered Shakarri to slightly decrease his speed to match Lombardi’s, then gazed at Sombrielle across the arena. The latter nodded, then pulled out a six-faced die from her pocket. Understanding the message, Kele grinned, swiftly placing her Neskarri on the ground to relieve her shoulders as she stared at the die. Sombrielle threw it far above her, and as it turned and turned in the air, a silence, interrupted by the surrounding wind every now and then, fell onto the space of the two trainers. Kele’s smile disappeared as both she and Sombrielle looked at the sky.

Then, a resounding tap poked the ground, signaling the landing of the previously thrown die.

“Karri, Fury Attack!

Following Kele’s order, Shakarri closed the distance between himself and Lombardi with a single, strong flap of his wings. This took Lombardi by surprise, as the bird had no time to dodge despite his trainer’s shouted order. Shakarri unleashed a flurry of thrusts from its beak straight to Lombardi’s sides; but after the third one, the black bird managed to free himself from the onslaught.

“Karri, Peck! Reach for the tail!”

As Lombardi lost altitude, Shakarri followed his foe down as he dived to catch the Murkrow’s ribbon. His beak closed onto the ribbon, ready to rip it away.

“Lombardi, kulbit Ata-Mareo!”

Kele frowned and couldn’t help but hesitate: she couldn’t remember having heard those words before, and could only assume that it was an attack she didn’t know about. But before she could think of anything else, she witnessed Lombardi switch positions to have his back turned towards Shakarri. Then, he sped up, finding enough momentum to reach a lateral position once more.

“Keep at it, Karri! Rip it!”

Shakarri was close behind, beak still closed around the tip of the enemy ribbon. But then, Lombardi began flapping his wings before performing an action that made Kele’s eyes widen with awe: an extremely tight loop, barely wider than Lombardi’s own body size. Shakarri’s grip wasn’t strong enough yet to rip it away, nor was he confident enough to execute the same maneuver as Lombardi; so, without even needing Kele’s input, he dropped the ribbon.

“Karri, turn back and—” before Kele could finish her sentence, she saw Lombardi disappear in a sudden burst of speed before he even completed his loop. Then, a glowing trail of purple light popped on Shakarri’s side as Lombardi tackled the Rufflet, hitting its belly along with its right wing.

That’s… That’s Feint Attack, right? Kele thought to herself, astonished. How did he do that without orders? Is she a student of Sabrina too?

“Lombardi, Picotazo!”

...Oh! She’s speaking Spanish! “Karri—” Lombardi, still close to Shakarri, flapped his wings to gain speed and struck Shakarri with his beak. “—Use Wing Attack!”

But Shakarri was already spiraling down towards the ground, unable to obey the command. Kele took a deep breath and let out a high-pitched whistle. Immediately, Shakarri’s eyes shot open as the little Rufflet used his wings to reposition himself, already gaining some height.

“Lombardi, Buena Baza!”

Devoid of immediate knowledge, Kele decided to look at Lombardi instead of her own Pokémon. The Murkrow took a diving motion.

Whatever it is, it’s physical. Kele thought. “Karri! Flapping flight! Away!” Shakarri took a short gaze upward, then frantically flapped his wings to dodge the enemy tackle at the last second, speedily moving to his left.

Too slow for Aerial Ace. Murkrow’s Dark, so could be Assurance. Maybe Pursuit? “Karri, hover!” Thought it was the most difficult maneuver in Shakarri’s arsenal so far, he still managed to pull it off: flapping his wings with such speed that they became blurry, allowing him to remain in an upright position for just a few seconds.

“Dive after him, then use Leer!” Kele exclaimed.

Shakarri now stabilized, he placed his body downwards and let his wings remain close to his body as he dove behind Lombardi. As the Murkrow began to fly back up, Shakarri cut off his flight path and forced him to stop in mid-air. Then, Shakarri’s eyes began to shine with a faint glow as he stunned his foe with a bone-chilling glare.

Alright, defense dropped. Kele opened her mouth to scream the next order.

“Lombardi, Nieblina!”

Recovering from his temporary stop, Lombardi opened his beak and released a heavy black mist that surrounded Shakarri and blocked his vision. With powerful beats of his wings, Lombardi flew above Shakarri while continuing to dump his mist down towards the Rufflet.

Definitely Haze, so his defense’s back to normal. Let’s bait her. “Karri, Hone Claw! Stay inside!”

Shakarri, though blind inside the mist, began to spin around as the claws of its feet took a reddened glow. From within the mist, Kele could clearly see a brief orange aura flashing before dying down: a sign that the Hone Claw had properly activated.

Attack and accuracy up. A focused frown appeared on Kele’s face as she slowly clenched her hand into a fist. Come at me. Kele’s eyes locked on Lombardi. Sombrielle hadn’t yet tried to take the ribbon, meaning that she was trying to knock out Shakarri before that. She could simply order Lombardi to use Haze again; but the second that Murkrow would fire the move, Shakarri would be ordered to attack it, finishing the job with a powerful Slash — Shakarri’s current strongest move. Kele knew that the move was also stronger than Lombardi’s Feint Attack, provided Shakarri could properly see it coming, which was why Hone Claw had been used in the first place.
Sombrielle was most likely aware of all this, because a silence, as imperfect as the previous one, had begun to stretch across the battlefield.

“Lombardi, upward momentum!” Sombrielle suddenly shouted.

Why in English? Kele kept watching, noticing the Murkrow elevating itself once more. “Karri, pursue him! Slash!”

As the Haze dissipated, Shakarri began to move after Lombardi, readying his feet for his next attack.

“Lombardi, aileron roll Aletazo!”

Lombardi’s wings shone white as it plunged down to Shakarri’s encounter, confirming to Kele that it was Wing Attack. As she registered that piece of knowledge, Shakarri arched his body to place his feet forward to Slash. Then Lombardi, right before the clash of moves, performed a full, three hundred and sixty degrees revolution, rotating with perfect timing first to dodge the Slash, then immediately counter with his Wing Attack: one wing hitting Shakarri as Lombardi passed next to him, followed by another strike at the same spot from the other wing.

Kele’s breathing briefly stopped as she witnessed her bird slow down in mid-air before moving towards the ground once more; but this time, unconscious, his body turning in various directions.

“Lombardi, Ata-Mareo! Ribbon!”

Kele flinched upon hearing the order, then slightly relaxed upon seeing Lombardi approaching not for a new attack, but simply snatching the ribbon away from Shakarri’s tail. Kele ran towards her bird and pulled out her Pokeball, throwing it towards Shakarri as he fell. A familiar flash of light later, Kele caught the ball with both hands, her Rufflet safely put inside. She couldn’t help but look at Lombardi again and smile as the Murkrow glided in circles above her.

Brazo.

Lombardi suddenly folded his wings along his body, then dropped from the air. Kele watched as he performed a front flip right before landing on Sombrielle’s stretched arm, eyes closed, with evidently practiced accuracy. Then, Lombardi opened his eyes again to look at Kele. Even she couldn’t tell if the bird felt proud, smug, or simply happy.

“That’s that,” Sombrielle said as she approached Kele, one arm still stretched for Lombardi to stand on, and the other remained in her pocket. “Good game, girl.”

“Good game!” Kele let out a chuckle. “I… I have so many questions.”

“Ask away, but only one at a time.”

Kele nodded. Easy enough. “Why do you speak Spanish to give orders to Lombardi?”

Sombrielle raised an eyebrow. “Why do you speak English to give orders to Shakarri?”

Kele blinked. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, but then why do you switch to English at times?”

“Better. Lombardi’s fine with Spanish orders; he’s more used to them. But precise maneuvers, well, he learned those in English first, so, he’d get slower if I kept using Spanish for them.”

“Okay, and what were those maneuvers? I had never, ever seen a bird move like that before.”

“Birds, no. But planes? All the time.”

Kele let out a gasp. “Is that what you were talking about earlier?!”

“Yep.”

“You taught Lombardi to move like a plane?!”

“Sure did.”

“Sombrielle, you’re amazing.”

“Thank you. I needed a test pilot, is all. He’s the one who wanted it, though, so, we’re both amazing, okay?”

Kele gazed at the Murkrow. “You’re one heck of a bird, Lombardi.”

Lombardi roused with satisfaction, letting out a long, thankful chirp. He then hopped on Sombrielle’s arm, which proved to be a fatal mistake: for Anjaloth, who had remained by the door to enjoy the game from a unique spot, flew to her trainer’s side and gave him a disapproving glare. Lombardi gazed back, and suddenly his confidence and satisfaction vanished. He moved from the arm to Sombrielle’s shoulder, making sure to hide behind her head.

“Anja doesn’t like Lombardi tiring my arm more than necessary,” Sombrielle explained.

“Is he… scared of her?” Kele couldn’t help but ask, amused by the display.

“My entire crew is.”

Kele’s eyes widened. “Wait, really? But she’s a mom, not a tyrant!”

“I know. I had a coach in the Andes — we all had one — and he told me that other members of my team would likely be scared because of the power difference.” she put a hand on Anjanloth's neck to caress it fondly. “They see her as a predator more than a companion.”

Kele nodded. That made sense. Looking at Anjanath, she couldn’t help but wonder just how strong she was if she could make even a well-trained Pokémon like Lombardi cower so quickly. “Um… Oh, yeah, next question, how did I do?”

“Pretty good, I think. Part of that is because of that first hit. Sometimes, I forget that Lombardi can’t just shrug off hits like Anjanloth can, so, I didn’t react in time. You still did pretty good, though, this one’s my b. You actually used some of the vision levels to fight better. So, kudos for that, though do avoid skipping straight to level three. You slow down when you’re surprised. Great coordination with your bird, though.”

Kele smiled. “Thanks. It helps that I raised him from the egg.”

“Makes sense. Any more questions?”

“Could you… Show me more? About the plane stuff?”

“Sure can. I’ll go back to Dad to give him Lombardi. Meanwhile, why don’t you go get your partner healed?”

“I... definitely won’t find your room number again by myself. Still need to get used to the ship, remember?”

“Sure can. Why don’t you flirt with Anjaloth some more while I give Lombardi back to Dad? That way you’ll get to meet him, then we can go back to my room and I can show you stuff, please stop laughing.”

Kele managed to turn her laughter into a fit of giggles, then finally looked at Sombrielle again. “You didn’t need to restart your sentence as if you hadn’t said anything before my objection.” she chuckled. “But you did it anyway.”

“Glad you appreciate it. Coming?” Sombrielle began walking towards the door as Kele looked at Anjaloth. The latter looked back, slightly shaking her head in a knowing fashion. She then extended her wing for Kele to take, but before the two could follow, they realized that Sombrielle had stopped her advance to stare at them with a half-worried, half-surprised look. “...Kélé?”

Kele blinked as she placed her Neskarri back on her shoulders. “Yeah?”

“...I’ve been calling you ‘girl’, haven’t I?”

“Yeah!”

Silence.

“Your pheromones are off the charts.” Sombrielle declared.

Kele tilted her head on the side in a gesture of curiosity. “Meaning?”

Sombrielle opened the door, waiting for the duo to pass her. “I only call my girl that.”
"Is there a limit to how much living I can live with my life? How will I know if I've gone too far?
And why did I spend my life savings on sunglasses for a whale?
I shall find the answers... to these questions."








GET ON IT PEEPS
— Nate