Chapter 9: Cheren's First Challengers
April 21
Aspertia
It was an exciting day for them, but for Aspertia it seemed like more or less another regular day. Rosa came back with Nate on the day that the Gym officially opened. While there was a notice on the electronic board in the gatehouse, there wasn't much in town about it. “You'd think there'd be some celebration for the city getting its own Gym,” Rosa said.
“Maybe there'll be one later,” Nate said. “It is still daytime and most people would be at work.”
“Right, I hope so. Cheren worked really hard at his studies and so he deserves this.” They kept walking along the street to the school, where the Gym was stationed until the League could buy up a space to build one. That is, if they decided to do that.
After going around the school and through a gate, they ended up in the old playground where Cheren had set up. He was there in one of the painted battlefields, talking with six of the students from the regular school. There was a statue from the Pokemon League at the edge of the playground, with a screen that would list the current winners. Since it had just opened this morning, it was an empty list.
“This is extra credit, so you need to still keep up on your regular classes,” Cheren was telling the two kids. “I'll be expecting all of you who opt for this to do well. Hmm, what is it?”
“Someone's here,” a girl said, pointing to them. “Hi Rosa!”
“Hello!” she said, waving back.
Cheren turned to them and smiled. “Ah, it's you both. I was expecting to see you. Nice to see that you managed to be my first challengers. That is what you're here for, right?”
“Of course,” she said, smiling. “We're all going to do our best.”
“Great,” Cheren said, reaching down and picking up a machine. He spoke briefly to his two student Trainers, “Okay, you all pay attention to this,” then turned to them. “First things first; I need to scan your League ID cards and the Pokeballs to the team you'll be using. Right now, we're only accepting low-level challenges, but I'm sure that's no issue.”
“Sure,” she said, handing over her card, then taking out the three Pokeballs to her team.
“The ID checks gives you their badge count and registration data,” one of the boys said. “And the Pokeball scan makes sure all the Pokemon are legal and healthy competitors.”
“Exactly,” Cheren said. “So it says Rosa has three Pokemon and no badges yet. What's that mean for you?”
“That she has to defeat two of us before she can challenge you,” the boy replied.
“Good,” he said, handing back Rosa's team. “Sorry about using you guys as an example, but we're all settling in here. Okay, you handle Nate, and two of you stay in the fields to challenge her. Rosa, I’ll be at the back of the playground when you're ready.”
“Okay!” she said as she headed over to the nearer of the two battle fields. One of the boys and one of the girls headed over to act as her opponents.
“May I scan your ID and Pokeballs?” the boy who had been assigned that duty asked Nate.
“Sure,” he said, pulling out his card to hand over. This was a part of the process for every Gym, so it was something to get used to.
“Okay, well,” the boy looked back to the grounds when he was done, “I know you heard, but since it's your first time in the Gym, I gotta tell you that you need to defeat two of us to challenge Cheren. Okay?”
To humor him, Nate nodded. “Sure, thanks for telling me.”
The boy grinned. “Good luck. You're gonna need it, especially against the Leader.”
Nate then headed for the other battle field where two other kids had decided to be his opponents. He had his Mareep Snapper lead against both of them. As Rosa had found out first hand, Mareep had a potent static associated with their wooly coat. On physical contact, an opponent Pokemon could become paralyzed. It didn't happen with every hit, but it happened often enough to be of good use. If he really needed to paralyze, Snapper had a move for that as well.
As the kids didn't have many Pokemon, Nate was able to beat them readily. When those battles were done, he looked across the playground to see that Rosa had gone ahead and challenged Cheren. He wasn't sure how long she'd been in the battle, but Bard was fighting a Lillipup. The Oshawott hit the Lillipup with a Water Gun, but then was knocked out with a Tackle. Not only that, but it seemed particularly powerful, even enough to knock Bard back behind Rosa.
She seemed worried from the way she nearly dropped her next Pokeball. But then she called out her Sewaddle. The little Bug trembled at first, but hurried over obediently when Rosa called for an attack. But Cheren had healed up his Lillipup, so the biting attack didn't do much. Especially not compared to the powerful tackle that knocked into Angel.
But it didn't knock her out. Angel held on bravely, biting the canine again. She couldn't resist a second tackle and was knocked out. Cheren bowed his head. “You did pretty good, but not good enough. Sorry Rosa.”
“What, we lost?” Rosa asked, seeming shocked. “Um, wow, you really are great even with restrictions, but...”
“You'd better go to the Pokecenter,” Nate suggested. He glanced over at Cheren. “Mind if I go with her?”
“You're free to come and go as you need,” Cheren said, nodding. “You'll need to be rescanned when you come back in.”
“Sure,” Nate said, then took Rosa's hand and walked with her back to the Pokecenter.
It wasn't the first time that Rosa's team had been wiped out, Nate reflected. Maybe it was just doing so against Cheren, who she surely wanted to impress still. They came into the Pokecenter, which had another Trainer at the Pokemart counter but few others. So Rosa's four Pokemon were able to get immediate care.
“Oh, hello Rosa,” the nurse said. “What's wrong?”
“I, I need to get my Pokemon healed,” she said, handing over a couple of the Pokeballs.
“Of course,” the nurse said kindly, taking them and putting them in the machine while Rosa got the others. “It's nice that your boyfriend came over with you.”
“We're not dating,” Nate said calmly. “Just helping each other out.”
“Ye-yeah,” Rosa said, then turned to him. “Wow, I always knew that he was a great Trainer, but it was something else to actually go up against him! I hoped I had a chance because he just had two and he didn't attack right off. But then both of them became so powerful. Am I just not good enough to win that?”
“I don't think it's like that,” he said. “It's his duty as a Gym Leader to give every person who comes to him a challenge, even those of us who are his friends.”
“Here you go, Rosa,” the nurse said. “Your Pokemon are all better. What about you?”
“Yeah, they could use some healing,” Nate said, handing his two over. Not as much as Rosa's needed, obviously, but coming up against a strong opponent, he could use every edge he could get. Then he turned back to Rosa. “And that was just one try. We can go back to the ranch and train up some more.”
“I could,” she said. “Thanks. But, don't you want to try today too?”
“Yeah, I was going to head back. Don't let him see you discouraged; your spirit is one of the best things going for you.”
That did the trick and she smiled. “Aw, okay. We'll make ourselves strong and come back.”
The nurse then came back with his Pokemon. “And here you go. Oh, and if you're friends with the Gym Leader, there's going to be a celebration of the opening up on the overlook this evening.”
“Good, that's what I was hoping to hear,” Rosa said. “If that's so, maybe we'll just try training on Route 19 for today, so we don't have to go all the way out there and back.”
“Have a good day, both of you,” the nurse said. Then she winked at Nate. “And you take good care of Rosa, young fellow.”
“We're just friends,” Nate said, but bowed to her. “Thanks.”
On the way out, Rosa sighed. “Aah, why do they all think you're my boyfriend? It's not like you're the only boy I’ve ever hung out with. I wonder if Mom said something.”
“Probably just some gossip that's hard to kill,” he replied. “Don't let it get to you.”
“I guess. But I do like having you as a friend, don't get me wrong about that.”
“I like having you as a friend too,” he said, giving her a smile.
Back at the Gym in the playground, Nate rescanned his ID and team so that they knew he hadn't changed any of it on them. Rosa wasn't battling now, so she didn't have to. Since he'd already beaten two of the student Trainers, Nate went straight to the back of the playground where Cheren was waiting. There was another Trainer there, the red-haired girl who had been at the Pokemart counter. Because of that, Nate and Rosa had to watch that battle (Cheren won), then wait for Cheren to heal up with the Gym's healing device.
Then, it was time. “All right, I’m ready to challenge you now,” Nate said, giving him a friendly nod.
“Good, I was looking forward to fighting you,” Cheren said, returning the gesture. “As your mind has begun to clear, I want to see what you're really like as a Pokemon Trainer. So then, do you believe in your Pokemon? Then give your best effort to battling me. Declare your Pokemon. I have two.”
“I have two,” Nate said. According to what he'd read, this was traditional battling etiquette that had its strongest hold in the Pokemon Leagues.
“Then let's begin,” Cheren said, releasing a Patrat.
Like he'd been looking for during last semester finals, Nate recalled, but whether that was related to this wasn't important now. He called on Ruby. If he worked at training her for a few more levels, then she'd evolve and gain a Fight typing and move, which would be valuable in a match like this. But, that would be overdoing it. He believed that his team could do this now. Although, Rosa's talk about her match lingered in his mind.
Cheren called out a move named Work Up. In the data lists he'd memorized in another world, this was a stat boosting move that would counter the stat dropping move Ruby knew. Having a split second warning of what Cheren was doing, he had the Tepig simply tackle the Patrat. It was a little stronger than Ember here; a second tackle took out the Patrat.
When Cheren had to swap out, Nate opted to swap Ruby for Snapper. Trainers like Cheren wouldn't put their strongest Pokemon out first, that was how he thought of it. The chance of paralysis would help in this second match, as the Mareep came up against the Lillipup that had taken out Rosa's team. Cheren started with Work Up again, so Nate stuck with an electric attack. When the Lillipup attacked, it made a powerful hit against Snapper, but not enough to knock him out. It also didn't activate Static, so Nate healed up his Pokemon in the same round that Cheren did.
The next attack by the Lillipup did activate Static, causing it to suffer from paralysis. But it also knocked Snapper out. Keeping calm, Nate called Ruby back out and had her finish off the Lillipup before it could get past its paralysis to hit her. “Good work, Ruby,” Nate told her. “I need to tell Snapper the same later on.”
“You really are the tactical type,” Cheren said, coming over to him. “Well done; you've already grown a lot as a Trainer, even from when you and Rosa set out to train a couple weeks back. And here's proof of your victory: the Basic Badge.” He handed over a small metal, like a decorative pin without the pin backing. It was set in gold, with a red and black centerpiece that made it seem like the spine of a book.
“Thanks,” Nate said, taking it. In a way, it didn't look like a lot. But in this world, it held such great significance, earning its holder the respect of humans and Pokemon alike. And it was from a battle that was much more difficult that then those he'd gotten from other young Trainers around Aspertia and Flocessy. It made him excited to think of what challenges lay ahead.
Cheren put his hand to his chin. “Interesting that you should make it as the first Trainer to earn a badge from me, when it's likely thanks to you that I got the chance to be a Gym Leader.”
“How would it be due to him?” Rosa asked, coming over. “Congratulations, Nate! You need to give me some tips now.”
Nate laughed, “I already did.”
Cheren laughed too. “Well it's not like Nate could recommend me or anything. But, you remember how you asked me to help teach him about Pokemon? I actually did a lot of thinking and researching to figure out how to do that, and I wrote an essay about it that I sent to an academic journal for students. Seeing that essay led Lenora to considering me, asking my teachers for projects I done for my League related courses and such. So yeah, if you hadn't come along like you did, Nate, I wouldn't have been a person considered.”
“I hadn't thought my being amnesiac would have such a positive effect on someone else,” Nate said, scratching his head. “But hey, I think this job came to a good guy.”
He shrugged. “Maybe you don't see it, but it is going to keep me busy. It's a good busy, though. Oh, and Rosa, I noticed something in your battle,” he turned to her. “I hadn't expected to see you with a Grass Pokemon, with how you feel about them.”
“Oh, you remembered that?” Rosa said, turning slightly pink. “Well, I decided to give her a try because, you know, it's not like I can avoid them all the time. I'm still not sure about her, sorry.”
“But you're trying,” Cheren said in encouragement. “And, I think she's starting to open up to you. Bianca would be able to read her better than me, but I saw how that Sewaddle hung on like she did. Some Pokemon will hang on in determination for their Trainer. She was working hard for you. Make sure that she knows you appreciate that.”
“Okay, I'll do that,” she said.
-+-
That night, Rosa and Nate came back to Aspertia's school yard for the celebration about the Gym's opening. There were a good many people here, from the students who were acting as the Gym Trainers and their families to other Gym Leaders, even some friends of Cheren's like Bianca. “Hi you two!” the blond haired girl said happily on seeing them, waving them over. “Hey, I heard that Nate was the only one who managed to get the badge today despite a lot of people trying to challenge Cheren. Congratulations! Did you treat your Pokemon for it?”
“Sure did,” Nate said. He had bought them some Pokemon treats from a local store, although they ended up buying Rosa's Pokemon some too so they didn't feel left out. “Thanks, although I hadn't heard about being the only one.”
“There were some close matches,” Cheren said. “Especially in some of the higher level challenges later in the day, when my high level Trainers were out of class. I'm pretty sure I’m still within bounds, though I'll know for sure in the first week review later on.”
Nate nodded. All Gym battles were taped, although they were kept private in League files until the challenger authorized them being released to the public site. It was through that that he had been able to find records of most of Hilda's battles in the League, to try and figure her out. He had gone ahead and allowed for his tapes to be publicly accessible, as it didn't seem harmful.
Thinking of her, he decided they should be kept up to date, since they were her old friends. “I had some things to tell you about Hilda, not a lot,” he said. He then told them about how they'd determined that she'd disappeared within a week of visiting Alder, and that she had been actively searching for Keldeo at that time.
“Keldeo, huh?” Bianca said.
“Oh yeah, and there was something you were saying about him,” Rosa said. She had her Basculin Finn in her arms, a habit she'd gotten into for reasons Nate didn't know. “Do you remember, when we were at that big rock? You said that Keldeo had been reborn around fifteen years ago but his powers got buried so deeply that no one could sense him until recently. And that it's likely that even the legendary Pokemon wouldn't realize where he was until they came in direct contact with him.”
“If he's been reborn, I'd check places around bodies of water, like the coastline or the rivers,” Bianca said. “Because most legends you hear of him, he loves being in those places.”
“That'd be a good place to start,” Cheren said. “You might have some trouble identifying him. But then, maybe your Pokemon will be able to notice something that you can't. Or even some of the other legendaries might help, if you could find them. I used to know Meloetta, and traveled with her for a while. But I let her go when she asked, so I don't know where she is.”
Bianca nodded. “She's probably in a place with a lot of musicians again. Oh, and I traveled with Victini for a long time, but he asked to head out on his own after Team Plasma fell. If you find them and let them know what you're doing, they might be willing to help you too.”
“You both traveled with legendary Pokemon?” Nate asked. It was surprising. He'd known that Hilda had been under Kyurem's protection, but hadn't heard about them too.
“Well when the lands become troubled, the guardians will come alert and seek to help solve things,” Bianca said. “It happens in many other lands too. Many legendary Pokemon have sworn oaths to protect their homelands and they will do what is necessary to help bring peace and stability back.”
“Still, it'd be better to focus on your given quest, to find out what happened to Hilda and help her back home,” Cheren said. “But should you come across another of Unova's guardians, it wouldn't hurt to ask for their help, or even just their blessing.”
-+-
As the party continued, Rosa went to talk to various people she knew. Nate felt a bit of loneliness at that. Who had he known? Would he meet them again? But then a thought came clear to him, that there was no way that he wanted to go back to his old world. There was something…
It wasn’t utter destruction, but it might as well have been. Everything that was familiar was gone or changed greatly. There were dangers that, long ago, would have been unthinkable. There was talk of the end of the world, dangerous to look into. While he had been close to one person, that person too was changed beyond recognition with the collapse of order. There was no reason for him to stay, other than to wait for his own end.
..more of a feeling than anything else, but the pain of that was almost more than being lonely at this party.
But that was behind him. He needed to be here now. Nate tried to strike up a few conversations with others, but having only been here for a few months, there weren’t many that he knew.
At one point, he met with a man wearing a green bandana over his head. “Well I have Pokemon, but I’m a breeder more than a battler,” he said, patting the head of a Girafarig that was by his side. “I take in endangered species and try to help their numbers build. Most of the ones I raise eventually go into adoption or to Safari Zones.”
“That sounds like a good cause,” Nate said. “How long have you been doing that?”
“About two years, which isn’t long but I’ve already gotten high marks.” He smiled. “I even was able to give a couple of Pokemon over to the Pokestar Studios, in order to make movies. I hope they get used for films that make people think about how they interact with Pokemon.”
“I wouldn’t know much about that,” he said. “I hope they treat them well. Pokemon are intelligent and loving creatures, from what I’ve seen, so we need to respect and love them.”
“Yeah,” the breeder said, but he seemed distracted in a sudden thought. “Look, don’t take me the wrong way, but you remind me of someone, or maybe it’s your words. Can you, um, understand Pokemon?”
Puzzled by the remark, Nate shook his head. “No. But I try my hardest to understand them. I was involved in an accident that messed up my mind a few months back and I had to relearn a lot, even about Pokemon.” He shrugged. “I guess I see them in a different light, especially when my Tepig here has been so supportive of me.”
“Te oink!” Ruby said, wagging her tail. She kept close to him, while Snapper wandered around checking other people out.
“I see,” he said, a little disappointed.
And then something came to Nate. It was like his premonitions, but not quite. There was a connection here to someone important.
…
The route was lit primarily by moonlight, since the lights by the daycare didn’t extend to this area. He walked down the dark route, coming from the cave where they were gathering Pokemon they had liberated from others for health checks. Maybe it was a little dangerous to be walking out so late, but he needed to be in the next town by morning.
While walking by a low ledge, he came upon a surprise: Lord N was lying on the ground nearby, looking up at the stars. He knew the young King was out on a mission, but they had not been told that he’d be in this area. “My lord?” he called, stepping up onto the ledge.
N sat up to see who it was. If he’d been anyone else, the knight would have thought him upset or sad from how he looked. But was he? N was a special person and he’d heard from others that he wasn’t like anyone else. “Oh, it’s one of you. Are things going well?”
He nodded. “Yes, things are going smoothly.” He wondered if he should dare ask, conflicted between respect and sympathy. The latter won out. “Are things well for you? You seem troubled.”
“Do I?” He got up. “Don’t mind me. I was just… I released the Pokemon that were assisting me a short while ago.”
That puzzled him. Then again, quite a few things about Plasma had puzzled him since he’d joined a month back. But they were doing the right thing, he believed. “You did? Why? I heard you were to win the Championship to get the people to listen, but most Trainers keep their Pokemon along the way, to keep building their bond.”
N was quiet for a moment, then said, “I’m aware of it. But even if I must do this, I can’t stand to see the Pokemon in pain. So once they’ve helped me, I’m letting them go back to their lives. That way, they don’t have to suffer.”
So things like ordinary battling hurt Pokemon? Recalling his younger days when he’d tried to make his way through the League, he felt bad about not considering that. “Really? Should I let my Pokemon go too after they help me with a mission?”
“No, you keep yours,” N said. “Your missions won’t be as difficult on the Pokemon. Keep them until I can call on the legendary dragon to order everyone to release their Pokemon.”
“All right, then I’ll be careful with them,” he said.
“Good, it’s good to hear that from you.” However, he still seemed troubled, not looking at him while talking.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m letting these Pokemon have their freedom,” N said. “Then why did she seem so sad and upset to leave me? And then there was that Trainer in Accumula; the Snivy seemed so excited to be with her, happier than I’ve seen any Pokemon. And what did she mean by calling that boy Kyurem? It couldn’t have been…” he shook his head. “What is the meaning of this, Hilda? Humans and Pokemon… I feel like not a part of either of them, just on the edges of both, between them. But I will save them, and make this world better.”
“My lord?” On one hand, he could see some Pokemon being unhappy to leave a Trainer they liked. But that’s not what N had been talking about before, nor the ones who had recruited him into Team Plasma. What was really going on here?
He looked surprised to realize that he was still there. “Oh… don’t mind me. I’m just thinking out loud. Things are certainly different out here. Your Pokemon are doing a big favor to us all by helping you now, so treat them well while you have them.”
He nodded. “I will. I’d better move on to get in place for the next mission. Take care, my lord.”
…
It seemed real, like the other two visions he had seen. Had it been a memory from this guy? Nate glanced around, then lowered his voice to ask, “Excuse me, but were you a part of Team Plasma?”
The breeder paled, drawing back a little. “Ho-how did you know? Please don’t tell anyone; I came back to my childhood home to start my life over, but no one here knows that I was a part of it.”
“It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone if that’s what you want,” he said. “Did you know their leader?”
“Lord N,” he said quietly, with reverence. “Not really, but I did speak with him alone once. Maybe it wouldn't be important to you, but his words influenced me greatly. I remember, when things first fell apart, many of us didn’t know what to do. People were being arrested and everything that we had been building towards had just fallen apart in minutes. There were some people who were getting bitter about him. But even at that point, I believed in him. I still do.”
“What was he like?” Nate asked, although he was almost certain that he just saw it. Maybe if he knew more about this too, he might get closer to figuring out what happened to Hilda. How he didn't know, but his intuition suggested it was good to pursue.
“He isn’t like anyone I’ve ever known, before or since,” the breeder said, reminiscing with fondness. “I mean, you hear people talking about others having good hearts, or even pure hearts, but things may not be as they appear. But N had a pure heart, and I can say that with absolute certainty. He wanted to help everybody live in a better world, and never wanted to see another suffer. I wouldn’t admit it back then, but he didn’t really understand the world.”
“Few people can understand the world,” Nate said. Although once he said it, he wondered why. It was something he felt and yet knew that someone his age was unlikely to realize it fully.
The breeder scratched his head. “Possibly. Maybe it’s better said that he didn’t understand the normal world. He grew up without a lot of people around him, and for a while lived with only Pokemon in a forest. He thought there was only one proper course to life. So when he acknowledged that he had been wrong in that and agreed to stop his pursuit of the cause, I could understand why. But there were a lot who were angry about it.” He shrugged. “I don’t know where my colleagues have gone. When they started talking of him as a traitor, I ran away alone. I was really lost for a while, not knowing what to do with myself. But I remembered that one time I was able to talk with him, and he said that Pokemon need to be treated well.”
“So you ended up taking up breeding to help them out,” Nate guessed.
He nodded. “Right, and I’m happy with where I am now. Sometimes I wonder what Lord N is doing now. Later I heard that he had gone into hiding with his twin brother Hilbert, and they were going to learn things from the legendary dragons. Maybe we will see him change the world someday, in a different way then he intended back then.”
“That might be interesting,” he said. “Hey, thanks for telling me that.”
“No, thanks for listening without judging me,” the breeder said, bowing his head with relief. “I’ve been scared about people learning what I did but… not yet, but maybe I can tell other people in the future. There is something about you that reminds me of him. Maybe you might meet him too someday. I hope you can find your memory.”
Nate nodded in thanks. He wasn’t sure how useful knowing this would be. But the puzzle wasn’t clear yet, so anything might be a piece to it.
-+-
By the time the party was over, it was late. Janine had invited Nate to stay over at their house in a guest room; Rosa was sleeping in her old room for tonight. Well, not sleeping yet. Bard was asleep, curled up on one end of the bed. River was doing her balance exercises on the end of Rosa’s bed; she wasn’t sure what the Riolu was doing with this particular exercise, but she did it often. Finn was back in his Pokeball, as he seemed to prefer sleeping there.
And Angel was on the lamp near Rosa’s bed, partway up the post and looking up at the light. “Careful,” Rosa said, putting her hand on the Sewaddle’s body. “You shouldn’t hurt your eyes by looking directly at the lightbulb.”
“Sshhufff,” Angel replied, letting go of the post and dropping into Rosa’s hand. She righted herself as the girl brought her closer and sat up on the bed. Then she started snuffling Rosa’s hand.
“Are you really starting to like me like Cheren thinks?” Rosa asked. “You did really well, he even said so. You’re at least getting used to me, it seems, cause you don’t try to hide when I get loud as much.”
Angel looked at her, then licked her forelegs and started cleaning the hood of her leaf clothes. Since she didn’t have a lot of room balancing on her hand, Rosa put her down by the pillow. Angel even gave her a little lick on being put down.
“Aw, thanks,” she said. “You’re nice, at least. And you’re still not too much like a plant.” She paused. “I don’t know. I know other girls think the flowery Grass Pokemon are so pretty and elegant, but I’ve always been spooked by them. It’s not like I was attacked by some rogue Grass Pokemon or something. Because my Mom works in Pokecenters, I've met a lot of Pokemon and not all of them were nice. And my Dad is a photographer; he works for a big magazine in Castelia, but he goes all over the world to get pictures of nature, really deep in the wilderness where most people wouldn’t dare go. When he comes home, sometimes he takes me out on a hike to see wild Pokemon. But no matter how many Pokemon I met, I was always scared by the Grass types.”
At that point, Angel paused in her cleaning and looked up at her. “Tssil.”
“Wish I knew what you guys meant,” Rosa said, plopping down on her pillow. “Most girls would say they were scared by Bug types, but that doesn’t bug me about you. Or they’re scared of Ghost or Dark types. I got teased sometimes because I didn’t like Grass types. Oh, but don’t take me wrong. I’m getting to like you too.”
She sighed, then sat back up to turn her light off.
“Well, we’ve got to get back to work and toughen up so that we can beat Cheren too. Maybe I’ll ask Nate what level his Pokemon are and we’ll aim for that. I just hope Cheren isn’t disappointed in me. I thought that maybe, if I got the badge from him first, then he’d get more interested in me. Ah, but he was friends with Hilda, wasn’t he? Maybe he likes her better than he says.”
Rosa tried to put that out of her mind for now, but she had an uneasy night.
April 21
Aspertia
It was an exciting day for them, but for Aspertia it seemed like more or less another regular day. Rosa came back with Nate on the day that the Gym officially opened. While there was a notice on the electronic board in the gatehouse, there wasn't much in town about it. “You'd think there'd be some celebration for the city getting its own Gym,” Rosa said.
“Maybe there'll be one later,” Nate said. “It is still daytime and most people would be at work.”
“Right, I hope so. Cheren worked really hard at his studies and so he deserves this.” They kept walking along the street to the school, where the Gym was stationed until the League could buy up a space to build one. That is, if they decided to do that.
After going around the school and through a gate, they ended up in the old playground where Cheren had set up. He was there in one of the painted battlefields, talking with six of the students from the regular school. There was a statue from the Pokemon League at the edge of the playground, with a screen that would list the current winners. Since it had just opened this morning, it was an empty list.
“This is extra credit, so you need to still keep up on your regular classes,” Cheren was telling the two kids. “I'll be expecting all of you who opt for this to do well. Hmm, what is it?”
“Someone's here,” a girl said, pointing to them. “Hi Rosa!”
“Hello!” she said, waving back.
Cheren turned to them and smiled. “Ah, it's you both. I was expecting to see you. Nice to see that you managed to be my first challengers. That is what you're here for, right?”
“Of course,” she said, smiling. “We're all going to do our best.”
“Great,” Cheren said, reaching down and picking up a machine. He spoke briefly to his two student Trainers, “Okay, you all pay attention to this,” then turned to them. “First things first; I need to scan your League ID cards and the Pokeballs to the team you'll be using. Right now, we're only accepting low-level challenges, but I'm sure that's no issue.”
“Sure,” she said, handing over her card, then taking out the three Pokeballs to her team.
“The ID checks gives you their badge count and registration data,” one of the boys said. “And the Pokeball scan makes sure all the Pokemon are legal and healthy competitors.”
“Exactly,” Cheren said. “So it says Rosa has three Pokemon and no badges yet. What's that mean for you?”
“That she has to defeat two of us before she can challenge you,” the boy replied.
“Good,” he said, handing back Rosa's team. “Sorry about using you guys as an example, but we're all settling in here. Okay, you handle Nate, and two of you stay in the fields to challenge her. Rosa, I’ll be at the back of the playground when you're ready.”
“Okay!” she said as she headed over to the nearer of the two battle fields. One of the boys and one of the girls headed over to act as her opponents.
“May I scan your ID and Pokeballs?” the boy who had been assigned that duty asked Nate.
“Sure,” he said, pulling out his card to hand over. This was a part of the process for every Gym, so it was something to get used to.
“Okay, well,” the boy looked back to the grounds when he was done, “I know you heard, but since it's your first time in the Gym, I gotta tell you that you need to defeat two of us to challenge Cheren. Okay?”
To humor him, Nate nodded. “Sure, thanks for telling me.”
The boy grinned. “Good luck. You're gonna need it, especially against the Leader.”
Nate then headed for the other battle field where two other kids had decided to be his opponents. He had his Mareep Snapper lead against both of them. As Rosa had found out first hand, Mareep had a potent static associated with their wooly coat. On physical contact, an opponent Pokemon could become paralyzed. It didn't happen with every hit, but it happened often enough to be of good use. If he really needed to paralyze, Snapper had a move for that as well.
As the kids didn't have many Pokemon, Nate was able to beat them readily. When those battles were done, he looked across the playground to see that Rosa had gone ahead and challenged Cheren. He wasn't sure how long she'd been in the battle, but Bard was fighting a Lillipup. The Oshawott hit the Lillipup with a Water Gun, but then was knocked out with a Tackle. Not only that, but it seemed particularly powerful, even enough to knock Bard back behind Rosa.
She seemed worried from the way she nearly dropped her next Pokeball. But then she called out her Sewaddle. The little Bug trembled at first, but hurried over obediently when Rosa called for an attack. But Cheren had healed up his Lillipup, so the biting attack didn't do much. Especially not compared to the powerful tackle that knocked into Angel.
But it didn't knock her out. Angel held on bravely, biting the canine again. She couldn't resist a second tackle and was knocked out. Cheren bowed his head. “You did pretty good, but not good enough. Sorry Rosa.”
“What, we lost?” Rosa asked, seeming shocked. “Um, wow, you really are great even with restrictions, but...”
“You'd better go to the Pokecenter,” Nate suggested. He glanced over at Cheren. “Mind if I go with her?”
“You're free to come and go as you need,” Cheren said, nodding. “You'll need to be rescanned when you come back in.”
“Sure,” Nate said, then took Rosa's hand and walked with her back to the Pokecenter.
It wasn't the first time that Rosa's team had been wiped out, Nate reflected. Maybe it was just doing so against Cheren, who she surely wanted to impress still. They came into the Pokecenter, which had another Trainer at the Pokemart counter but few others. So Rosa's four Pokemon were able to get immediate care.
“Oh, hello Rosa,” the nurse said. “What's wrong?”
“I, I need to get my Pokemon healed,” she said, handing over a couple of the Pokeballs.
“Of course,” the nurse said kindly, taking them and putting them in the machine while Rosa got the others. “It's nice that your boyfriend came over with you.”
“We're not dating,” Nate said calmly. “Just helping each other out.”
“Ye-yeah,” Rosa said, then turned to him. “Wow, I always knew that he was a great Trainer, but it was something else to actually go up against him! I hoped I had a chance because he just had two and he didn't attack right off. But then both of them became so powerful. Am I just not good enough to win that?”
“I don't think it's like that,” he said. “It's his duty as a Gym Leader to give every person who comes to him a challenge, even those of us who are his friends.”
“Here you go, Rosa,” the nurse said. “Your Pokemon are all better. What about you?”
“Yeah, they could use some healing,” Nate said, handing his two over. Not as much as Rosa's needed, obviously, but coming up against a strong opponent, he could use every edge he could get. Then he turned back to Rosa. “And that was just one try. We can go back to the ranch and train up some more.”
“I could,” she said. “Thanks. But, don't you want to try today too?”
“Yeah, I was going to head back. Don't let him see you discouraged; your spirit is one of the best things going for you.”
That did the trick and she smiled. “Aw, okay. We'll make ourselves strong and come back.”
The nurse then came back with his Pokemon. “And here you go. Oh, and if you're friends with the Gym Leader, there's going to be a celebration of the opening up on the overlook this evening.”
“Good, that's what I was hoping to hear,” Rosa said. “If that's so, maybe we'll just try training on Route 19 for today, so we don't have to go all the way out there and back.”
“Have a good day, both of you,” the nurse said. Then she winked at Nate. “And you take good care of Rosa, young fellow.”
“We're just friends,” Nate said, but bowed to her. “Thanks.”
On the way out, Rosa sighed. “Aah, why do they all think you're my boyfriend? It's not like you're the only boy I’ve ever hung out with. I wonder if Mom said something.”
“Probably just some gossip that's hard to kill,” he replied. “Don't let it get to you.”
“I guess. But I do like having you as a friend, don't get me wrong about that.”
“I like having you as a friend too,” he said, giving her a smile.
Back at the Gym in the playground, Nate rescanned his ID and team so that they knew he hadn't changed any of it on them. Rosa wasn't battling now, so she didn't have to. Since he'd already beaten two of the student Trainers, Nate went straight to the back of the playground where Cheren was waiting. There was another Trainer there, the red-haired girl who had been at the Pokemart counter. Because of that, Nate and Rosa had to watch that battle (Cheren won), then wait for Cheren to heal up with the Gym's healing device.
Then, it was time. “All right, I’m ready to challenge you now,” Nate said, giving him a friendly nod.
“Good, I was looking forward to fighting you,” Cheren said, returning the gesture. “As your mind has begun to clear, I want to see what you're really like as a Pokemon Trainer. So then, do you believe in your Pokemon? Then give your best effort to battling me. Declare your Pokemon. I have two.”
“I have two,” Nate said. According to what he'd read, this was traditional battling etiquette that had its strongest hold in the Pokemon Leagues.
“Then let's begin,” Cheren said, releasing a Patrat.
Like he'd been looking for during last semester finals, Nate recalled, but whether that was related to this wasn't important now. He called on Ruby. If he worked at training her for a few more levels, then she'd evolve and gain a Fight typing and move, which would be valuable in a match like this. But, that would be overdoing it. He believed that his team could do this now. Although, Rosa's talk about her match lingered in his mind.
Cheren called out a move named Work Up. In the data lists he'd memorized in another world, this was a stat boosting move that would counter the stat dropping move Ruby knew. Having a split second warning of what Cheren was doing, he had the Tepig simply tackle the Patrat. It was a little stronger than Ember here; a second tackle took out the Patrat.
When Cheren had to swap out, Nate opted to swap Ruby for Snapper. Trainers like Cheren wouldn't put their strongest Pokemon out first, that was how he thought of it. The chance of paralysis would help in this second match, as the Mareep came up against the Lillipup that had taken out Rosa's team. Cheren started with Work Up again, so Nate stuck with an electric attack. When the Lillipup attacked, it made a powerful hit against Snapper, but not enough to knock him out. It also didn't activate Static, so Nate healed up his Pokemon in the same round that Cheren did.
The next attack by the Lillipup did activate Static, causing it to suffer from paralysis. But it also knocked Snapper out. Keeping calm, Nate called Ruby back out and had her finish off the Lillipup before it could get past its paralysis to hit her. “Good work, Ruby,” Nate told her. “I need to tell Snapper the same later on.”
“You really are the tactical type,” Cheren said, coming over to him. “Well done; you've already grown a lot as a Trainer, even from when you and Rosa set out to train a couple weeks back. And here's proof of your victory: the Basic Badge.” He handed over a small metal, like a decorative pin without the pin backing. It was set in gold, with a red and black centerpiece that made it seem like the spine of a book.
“Thanks,” Nate said, taking it. In a way, it didn't look like a lot. But in this world, it held such great significance, earning its holder the respect of humans and Pokemon alike. And it was from a battle that was much more difficult that then those he'd gotten from other young Trainers around Aspertia and Flocessy. It made him excited to think of what challenges lay ahead.
Cheren put his hand to his chin. “Interesting that you should make it as the first Trainer to earn a badge from me, when it's likely thanks to you that I got the chance to be a Gym Leader.”
“How would it be due to him?” Rosa asked, coming over. “Congratulations, Nate! You need to give me some tips now.”
Nate laughed, “I already did.”
Cheren laughed too. “Well it's not like Nate could recommend me or anything. But, you remember how you asked me to help teach him about Pokemon? I actually did a lot of thinking and researching to figure out how to do that, and I wrote an essay about it that I sent to an academic journal for students. Seeing that essay led Lenora to considering me, asking my teachers for projects I done for my League related courses and such. So yeah, if you hadn't come along like you did, Nate, I wouldn't have been a person considered.”
“I hadn't thought my being amnesiac would have such a positive effect on someone else,” Nate said, scratching his head. “But hey, I think this job came to a good guy.”
He shrugged. “Maybe you don't see it, but it is going to keep me busy. It's a good busy, though. Oh, and Rosa, I noticed something in your battle,” he turned to her. “I hadn't expected to see you with a Grass Pokemon, with how you feel about them.”
“Oh, you remembered that?” Rosa said, turning slightly pink. “Well, I decided to give her a try because, you know, it's not like I can avoid them all the time. I'm still not sure about her, sorry.”
“But you're trying,” Cheren said in encouragement. “And, I think she's starting to open up to you. Bianca would be able to read her better than me, but I saw how that Sewaddle hung on like she did. Some Pokemon will hang on in determination for their Trainer. She was working hard for you. Make sure that she knows you appreciate that.”
“Okay, I'll do that,” she said.
-+-
That night, Rosa and Nate came back to Aspertia's school yard for the celebration about the Gym's opening. There were a good many people here, from the students who were acting as the Gym Trainers and their families to other Gym Leaders, even some friends of Cheren's like Bianca. “Hi you two!” the blond haired girl said happily on seeing them, waving them over. “Hey, I heard that Nate was the only one who managed to get the badge today despite a lot of people trying to challenge Cheren. Congratulations! Did you treat your Pokemon for it?”
“Sure did,” Nate said. He had bought them some Pokemon treats from a local store, although they ended up buying Rosa's Pokemon some too so they didn't feel left out. “Thanks, although I hadn't heard about being the only one.”
“There were some close matches,” Cheren said. “Especially in some of the higher level challenges later in the day, when my high level Trainers were out of class. I'm pretty sure I’m still within bounds, though I'll know for sure in the first week review later on.”
Nate nodded. All Gym battles were taped, although they were kept private in League files until the challenger authorized them being released to the public site. It was through that that he had been able to find records of most of Hilda's battles in the League, to try and figure her out. He had gone ahead and allowed for his tapes to be publicly accessible, as it didn't seem harmful.
Thinking of her, he decided they should be kept up to date, since they were her old friends. “I had some things to tell you about Hilda, not a lot,” he said. He then told them about how they'd determined that she'd disappeared within a week of visiting Alder, and that she had been actively searching for Keldeo at that time.
“Keldeo, huh?” Bianca said.
“Oh yeah, and there was something you were saying about him,” Rosa said. She had her Basculin Finn in her arms, a habit she'd gotten into for reasons Nate didn't know. “Do you remember, when we were at that big rock? You said that Keldeo had been reborn around fifteen years ago but his powers got buried so deeply that no one could sense him until recently. And that it's likely that even the legendary Pokemon wouldn't realize where he was until they came in direct contact with him.”
“If he's been reborn, I'd check places around bodies of water, like the coastline or the rivers,” Bianca said. “Because most legends you hear of him, he loves being in those places.”
“That'd be a good place to start,” Cheren said. “You might have some trouble identifying him. But then, maybe your Pokemon will be able to notice something that you can't. Or even some of the other legendaries might help, if you could find them. I used to know Meloetta, and traveled with her for a while. But I let her go when she asked, so I don't know where she is.”
Bianca nodded. “She's probably in a place with a lot of musicians again. Oh, and I traveled with Victini for a long time, but he asked to head out on his own after Team Plasma fell. If you find them and let them know what you're doing, they might be willing to help you too.”
“You both traveled with legendary Pokemon?” Nate asked. It was surprising. He'd known that Hilda had been under Kyurem's protection, but hadn't heard about them too.
“Well when the lands become troubled, the guardians will come alert and seek to help solve things,” Bianca said. “It happens in many other lands too. Many legendary Pokemon have sworn oaths to protect their homelands and they will do what is necessary to help bring peace and stability back.”
“Still, it'd be better to focus on your given quest, to find out what happened to Hilda and help her back home,” Cheren said. “But should you come across another of Unova's guardians, it wouldn't hurt to ask for their help, or even just their blessing.”
-+-
As the party continued, Rosa went to talk to various people she knew. Nate felt a bit of loneliness at that. Who had he known? Would he meet them again? But then a thought came clear to him, that there was no way that he wanted to go back to his old world. There was something…
It wasn’t utter destruction, but it might as well have been. Everything that was familiar was gone or changed greatly. There were dangers that, long ago, would have been unthinkable. There was talk of the end of the world, dangerous to look into. While he had been close to one person, that person too was changed beyond recognition with the collapse of order. There was no reason for him to stay, other than to wait for his own end.
..more of a feeling than anything else, but the pain of that was almost more than being lonely at this party.
But that was behind him. He needed to be here now. Nate tried to strike up a few conversations with others, but having only been here for a few months, there weren’t many that he knew.
At one point, he met with a man wearing a green bandana over his head. “Well I have Pokemon, but I’m a breeder more than a battler,” he said, patting the head of a Girafarig that was by his side. “I take in endangered species and try to help their numbers build. Most of the ones I raise eventually go into adoption or to Safari Zones.”
“That sounds like a good cause,” Nate said. “How long have you been doing that?”
“About two years, which isn’t long but I’ve already gotten high marks.” He smiled. “I even was able to give a couple of Pokemon over to the Pokestar Studios, in order to make movies. I hope they get used for films that make people think about how they interact with Pokemon.”
“I wouldn’t know much about that,” he said. “I hope they treat them well. Pokemon are intelligent and loving creatures, from what I’ve seen, so we need to respect and love them.”
“Yeah,” the breeder said, but he seemed distracted in a sudden thought. “Look, don’t take me the wrong way, but you remind me of someone, or maybe it’s your words. Can you, um, understand Pokemon?”
Puzzled by the remark, Nate shook his head. “No. But I try my hardest to understand them. I was involved in an accident that messed up my mind a few months back and I had to relearn a lot, even about Pokemon.” He shrugged. “I guess I see them in a different light, especially when my Tepig here has been so supportive of me.”
“Te oink!” Ruby said, wagging her tail. She kept close to him, while Snapper wandered around checking other people out.
“I see,” he said, a little disappointed.
And then something came to Nate. It was like his premonitions, but not quite. There was a connection here to someone important.
…
The route was lit primarily by moonlight, since the lights by the daycare didn’t extend to this area. He walked down the dark route, coming from the cave where they were gathering Pokemon they had liberated from others for health checks. Maybe it was a little dangerous to be walking out so late, but he needed to be in the next town by morning.
While walking by a low ledge, he came upon a surprise: Lord N was lying on the ground nearby, looking up at the stars. He knew the young King was out on a mission, but they had not been told that he’d be in this area. “My lord?” he called, stepping up onto the ledge.
N sat up to see who it was. If he’d been anyone else, the knight would have thought him upset or sad from how he looked. But was he? N was a special person and he’d heard from others that he wasn’t like anyone else. “Oh, it’s one of you. Are things going well?”
He nodded. “Yes, things are going smoothly.” He wondered if he should dare ask, conflicted between respect and sympathy. The latter won out. “Are things well for you? You seem troubled.”
“Do I?” He got up. “Don’t mind me. I was just… I released the Pokemon that were assisting me a short while ago.”
That puzzled him. Then again, quite a few things about Plasma had puzzled him since he’d joined a month back. But they were doing the right thing, he believed. “You did? Why? I heard you were to win the Championship to get the people to listen, but most Trainers keep their Pokemon along the way, to keep building their bond.”
N was quiet for a moment, then said, “I’m aware of it. But even if I must do this, I can’t stand to see the Pokemon in pain. So once they’ve helped me, I’m letting them go back to their lives. That way, they don’t have to suffer.”
So things like ordinary battling hurt Pokemon? Recalling his younger days when he’d tried to make his way through the League, he felt bad about not considering that. “Really? Should I let my Pokemon go too after they help me with a mission?”
“No, you keep yours,” N said. “Your missions won’t be as difficult on the Pokemon. Keep them until I can call on the legendary dragon to order everyone to release their Pokemon.”
“All right, then I’ll be careful with them,” he said.
“Good, it’s good to hear that from you.” However, he still seemed troubled, not looking at him while talking.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m letting these Pokemon have their freedom,” N said. “Then why did she seem so sad and upset to leave me? And then there was that Trainer in Accumula; the Snivy seemed so excited to be with her, happier than I’ve seen any Pokemon. And what did she mean by calling that boy Kyurem? It couldn’t have been…” he shook his head. “What is the meaning of this, Hilda? Humans and Pokemon… I feel like not a part of either of them, just on the edges of both, between them. But I will save them, and make this world better.”
“My lord?” On one hand, he could see some Pokemon being unhappy to leave a Trainer they liked. But that’s not what N had been talking about before, nor the ones who had recruited him into Team Plasma. What was really going on here?
He looked surprised to realize that he was still there. “Oh… don’t mind me. I’m just thinking out loud. Things are certainly different out here. Your Pokemon are doing a big favor to us all by helping you now, so treat them well while you have them.”
He nodded. “I will. I’d better move on to get in place for the next mission. Take care, my lord.”
…
It seemed real, like the other two visions he had seen. Had it been a memory from this guy? Nate glanced around, then lowered his voice to ask, “Excuse me, but were you a part of Team Plasma?”
The breeder paled, drawing back a little. “Ho-how did you know? Please don’t tell anyone; I came back to my childhood home to start my life over, but no one here knows that I was a part of it.”
“It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone if that’s what you want,” he said. “Did you know their leader?”
“Lord N,” he said quietly, with reverence. “Not really, but I did speak with him alone once. Maybe it wouldn't be important to you, but his words influenced me greatly. I remember, when things first fell apart, many of us didn’t know what to do. People were being arrested and everything that we had been building towards had just fallen apart in minutes. There were some people who were getting bitter about him. But even at that point, I believed in him. I still do.”
“What was he like?” Nate asked, although he was almost certain that he just saw it. Maybe if he knew more about this too, he might get closer to figuring out what happened to Hilda. How he didn't know, but his intuition suggested it was good to pursue.
“He isn’t like anyone I’ve ever known, before or since,” the breeder said, reminiscing with fondness. “I mean, you hear people talking about others having good hearts, or even pure hearts, but things may not be as they appear. But N had a pure heart, and I can say that with absolute certainty. He wanted to help everybody live in a better world, and never wanted to see another suffer. I wouldn’t admit it back then, but he didn’t really understand the world.”
“Few people can understand the world,” Nate said. Although once he said it, he wondered why. It was something he felt and yet knew that someone his age was unlikely to realize it fully.
The breeder scratched his head. “Possibly. Maybe it’s better said that he didn’t understand the normal world. He grew up without a lot of people around him, and for a while lived with only Pokemon in a forest. He thought there was only one proper course to life. So when he acknowledged that he had been wrong in that and agreed to stop his pursuit of the cause, I could understand why. But there were a lot who were angry about it.” He shrugged. “I don’t know where my colleagues have gone. When they started talking of him as a traitor, I ran away alone. I was really lost for a while, not knowing what to do with myself. But I remembered that one time I was able to talk with him, and he said that Pokemon need to be treated well.”
“So you ended up taking up breeding to help them out,” Nate guessed.
He nodded. “Right, and I’m happy with where I am now. Sometimes I wonder what Lord N is doing now. Later I heard that he had gone into hiding with his twin brother Hilbert, and they were going to learn things from the legendary dragons. Maybe we will see him change the world someday, in a different way then he intended back then.”
“That might be interesting,” he said. “Hey, thanks for telling me that.”
“No, thanks for listening without judging me,” the breeder said, bowing his head with relief. “I’ve been scared about people learning what I did but… not yet, but maybe I can tell other people in the future. There is something about you that reminds me of him. Maybe you might meet him too someday. I hope you can find your memory.”
Nate nodded in thanks. He wasn’t sure how useful knowing this would be. But the puzzle wasn’t clear yet, so anything might be a piece to it.
-+-
By the time the party was over, it was late. Janine had invited Nate to stay over at their house in a guest room; Rosa was sleeping in her old room for tonight. Well, not sleeping yet. Bard was asleep, curled up on one end of the bed. River was doing her balance exercises on the end of Rosa’s bed; she wasn’t sure what the Riolu was doing with this particular exercise, but she did it often. Finn was back in his Pokeball, as he seemed to prefer sleeping there.
And Angel was on the lamp near Rosa’s bed, partway up the post and looking up at the light. “Careful,” Rosa said, putting her hand on the Sewaddle’s body. “You shouldn’t hurt your eyes by looking directly at the lightbulb.”
“Sshhufff,” Angel replied, letting go of the post and dropping into Rosa’s hand. She righted herself as the girl brought her closer and sat up on the bed. Then she started snuffling Rosa’s hand.
“Are you really starting to like me like Cheren thinks?” Rosa asked. “You did really well, he even said so. You’re at least getting used to me, it seems, cause you don’t try to hide when I get loud as much.”
Angel looked at her, then licked her forelegs and started cleaning the hood of her leaf clothes. Since she didn’t have a lot of room balancing on her hand, Rosa put her down by the pillow. Angel even gave her a little lick on being put down.
“Aw, thanks,” she said. “You’re nice, at least. And you’re still not too much like a plant.” She paused. “I don’t know. I know other girls think the flowery Grass Pokemon are so pretty and elegant, but I’ve always been spooked by them. It’s not like I was attacked by some rogue Grass Pokemon or something. Because my Mom works in Pokecenters, I've met a lot of Pokemon and not all of them were nice. And my Dad is a photographer; he works for a big magazine in Castelia, but he goes all over the world to get pictures of nature, really deep in the wilderness where most people wouldn’t dare go. When he comes home, sometimes he takes me out on a hike to see wild Pokemon. But no matter how many Pokemon I met, I was always scared by the Grass types.”
At that point, Angel paused in her cleaning and looked up at her. “Tssil.”
“Wish I knew what you guys meant,” Rosa said, plopping down on her pillow. “Most girls would say they were scared by Bug types, but that doesn’t bug me about you. Or they’re scared of Ghost or Dark types. I got teased sometimes because I didn’t like Grass types. Oh, but don’t take me wrong. I’m getting to like you too.”
She sighed, then sat back up to turn her light off.
“Well, we’ve got to get back to work and toughen up so that we can beat Cheren too. Maybe I’ll ask Nate what level his Pokemon are and we’ll aim for that. I just hope Cheren isn’t disappointed in me. I thought that maybe, if I got the badge from him first, then he’d get more interested in me. Ah, but he was friends with Hilda, wasn’t he? Maybe he likes her better than he says.”
Rosa tried to put that out of her mind for now, but she had an uneasy night.
Am I onto something here?