Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon Black and White or any of the references contained herein. I am making no profit off this fanfiction whatsoever.
Authors' Note: This is a novelization of the Pokémon Black and White games (which used to be called The Domino Effect, though I've changed the name to something more fitting), as you may have gathered, although (however it may seem at first) it will not be a strict novelization. I am taking as many liberties with the plot as I see fit, and as such, it will be quite a bit darker than the original games. Either way, I hope that you enjoy it—and if you read it, please leave a review.
The names "Whitlea" and "Blair" come from the names used for the main player characters during the North American mall tour. I enjoyed those names more than the names "Hilda" and "Hilbert," and as such, they stuck. Also, though it is certainly not required, you might want to check out another fanfiction of mine, Absolute. It contains some background on the Shadow Triad, and while the sequel games might have rendered that non-canon by this point (as if there was any chance of them doing otherwise), that is still the version of the Shadow Triad that I will be using in this fic.
Anyway, as I said, please leave me a review if you read.
Book One: Reversi
"I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning." -J. B. Priestly
Chapter One: The Set-Up
Sixteen-year-old Cheren Alabaster stood in the doorway of what he was pretty sure was the messiest room in Unova, if not the entire world.
It looked like the bedroom of a frat boy, or perhaps a tornado based pokèmon. To start with, there were clothes everywhere. The largest pile was in the corner, overflowing from a wicker hamper that was sitting by the window, spilling down onto the hardwood floor. Mismatched socks hung from random surfaces: the top of the lamp, down from the ceiling fan blades, from the edge of a mini orange basketball hoop stationed above a small wire trash can by the desk. The desk itself – pressed up against the wall between the bed and the wicker hamper – was covered in random papers, from old, half-completed homework assignments, to poorly marked essays, and a laptop bearing a Steel Samurai/Jammin' Ninja wallpaper was sitting dead center the abandoned homework zone. The low-rise bed wasn't made, its covers halfway pooled onto the floor, and a myriad of soda cans dotted the room, sitting on the bedside table, what space there was on the desk, and on the television stand set up along the right wall. Said television stand had various game consoles plugged into it, and there was a bookshelf beside that, lined with an extensive collection of comic books (the only organized things in the room) and collectible figures. The back wall, meanwhile, sported Lea's dresser, which housed a large stereo and several half-open drawesr with clothes spilling out, and mounted on the wall next to the dresser was a full length mirror with a spider crack in it, random stickers plastered all over the glass. Any wall space that wasn't covered by furniture, meanwhile, was covered by posters, either for various bands (Dragonite Force, Iced Ground, Rhapsody of Fire Types, et cetera), or various video games and superhero movies (Assassin's Deed: Sisterhood, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Zubatman: The Dark Knight). The room vaguely smelled of nacho cheese, and after a moment, Cheren spotted why: a plate of nachos was sitting on top of the dresser, balancing precariously on the edge.
And amongst the chaos, chewing gum and tying her long, dark brown hair into a high ponytail to tug through her baseball cap, was the owner of the supposed bedroom (more like disaster area): Whitlea "Lea" Fiona Fair.
"Oh, hey, Cheren!" Lea called, grinning brightly. Cheren raised one hand in greeting, and was about to verbalize said greeting, when she spoke again. "You're early!" He frowned.
"I'm actually a couple minutes late, which means that you should have had enough time to clean this place up." He adjusted his glasses, coal grey eyes sweeping the room. "Please tell me all of those soda cans are empty, and that those nachos are from today. Honestly, Lea, I don't see how your room isn't overrun with bug pokèmon." Lea rolled her eyes.
"Oh, c'mon, it's not that bad. Most of the soda cans are empty, I think, and the nachos are from today. Don't be so prickly." Cheren rolled his eyes in turn, and stepped around the fallen clothes to try and make his way over to the bed. For a moment, it appeared as though he was going to sit, but seemed to think better of it after a moment and refrained.
"I'd rather be prickly than incorrigible."
"I don't even know what that means," Lea said, folding her arms across her chest as she stared at him, "but I'm going to take it to mean that you're a jerk."
"That's fine by me."
Standing side by side, Lea and Cheren couldn't look more different. There were the obvious differences, naturally: Lea was a girl while Cheren was a boy, and Lea was tall, with clear muscle definition in her arms and legs (standing at a proud 5'6"), whereas Cheren was short and slight (standing at a modest 5'1"). Cheren's skin was pale enough to sometimes be compared to that of the dead, whereas Lea usually sported a modest tan, earned from spending so much time out in the sun. Cheren's hair was black, short, and fine, whereas Lea's hair was brown, thick, and long. Cheren's eyes were pale grey, and Lea's were a strong blue.
But there were other differences, too, that didn't come from their physical appearance alone. Cheren dressed sharply. Despite the fact that he was only sixteen, he chose to wear blue, expensive shoes and black slacks, a taut black leather belt holding the slacks in place. His shirt was white with a red design down the front similar to a tie (most likely because Lea had teased him something fierce the time he decided to wear an actual tie), and his blue jacket – which matched his shoes – had a smart collar complete with cufflinks. His glasses, too, had red metal frames, pulling his entire outfit together. Cheren wasn't a businessman—he was a teenager—but he dressed as if he was ready to walk down Castelia City and enter the white collar job market.
Lea, on the other hand, dressed and acted every bit like the sixteen-year-old she was. Her thick hair was rarely combed properly, and she had it pulled through the back of a pink and white baseball cap sporting a pokèball logo. Her shirt was white and sleeveless, and her vest was sleeveless as well, though black in color. She wore black wristbands with a pink stripe on both wrists, and her blue jean shorts had holes in them, the pockets sticking out from the bottoms. Her socks didn't match—one was purple with lime green polka spots, and the other was yellow with orange stripes—and the very top of them could be seen out of her black high-tops, which were laced with hot pink laces. Whereas Cheren looked ready to enter Wall Street, Lea looked ready to party-crash a festive parade.
Despite their differences, however, when standing side by side, it was evident that there was something connecting them, too. Some sort of thread, something invisible, intangible, but definitely there . . .
"Lea, you did bathe today, didn't you?"
"Shut up, Cheren. Of course I did."
. . . even though they couldn't stop bickering.
"I was just making sure." Cheren looked at Lea's alarm clock, which was positioned on the floor by her bed, and – upon noticing that it was broken – checked his watch instead. "I wonder where Bianca is," he mused, and he tapped his foot a bit impatiently against Lea's messy floor. Despite the fact that she was chewing gum, Lea swiped a couple nachos off the plate on her dresser and popped them in her mouth. "She should have been here by now. Also, that's disgusting."
"Fwhat's difgufting?" Lea asked, around her mouthful of nachos. Cheren made a face of disgust and didn't bother to give a response. Of course, even if he had planned to verbally express his revulsion, he didn't get the chance; thundering footsteps sounded from the doorway, echoing down the hall, and a moment later Lea's bedroom door burst open with enough force to knock against the back wall. And as if the sound of the footsteps and the door banging open wasn't loud enough:
"SOOOORRRRYYYYY!"
Bianca Black's voice certainly was.
It was surprising, given that she was a relatively small statured, ladylike girl, but Bianca had a voice that could hit volumes louder than Lea's and pitches higher than an opera singer's when she wanted it to. Truly, she had a great voice, and both Lea and Cheren enjoyed hearing her sing, but sometimes, her sheer volume and shrill pitch could be deafening. This was one of those times, but in volume rather than pitch.
"Hehe, sorry." Bianca smiled sheepishly, and might've put a fist up to hide that smile if it wasn't for the blue box, tied together with green ribbon, that she was carrying in her arms. "I just wanted to apologize for being late, since I am. At least I'm not too late, though! At least, I hope I'm not. I just had a late start setting out for Professor Juniper's lab, and I got a bit caught up with playing with the baby patrat that she has there . . ."
Appearance wise, while Cheren and Lea were stark contrasts of each other, Bianca seemed to rest firmly in the middle in nearly every aspect. True, she shared some traits with her peers – she was, for example, a girl – but for the most part, Bianca sat dead center.
She was, for starters, the second oldest out of the three (with Cheren being the oldest, and Lea being the youngest). She was of average height (standing at 5'4"), and while she wasn't heavy, she had broad, sashaying hips. She had, as mentioned earlier, something of a ladylike dress; she wore a nice, conservative white dress which buttoned along the sides and fell to about two inches below her knees, leggings, flats, and a vest. Her manner of dress was quite conservative, and seemed more appropriate for a situation closer to Cheren's than Lea's.
That was, of course, until one managed to look past the articles themselves and instead look at the color scheme. While her dress was white, her leggings and vest were bright orange, and her flats were yellow, clashing with the orange parts of the rest of her outfit. Likewise, the hat that she had perched upon her short (yet thick) blonde hair was clover green with a white stripe, matching her smiling eyes. While she looked as though she could fit into a business situation with Cheren, she also looked as though she helped plan the parade that Lea decided to ambush, and could very well be dragged on top the nearest float without a moment's notice.
In other words, she formed the perfect balance between her two best friends, and the intangible link became all the more noticeable when the three of them were together. Lea, for her part, started beaming the second Bianca burst into her room, and even started to bounce a bit from foot to foot in excitement. While it could have merely been excitement to see her best friend, however—and while part of her smile certainly could be contributed to that—her eyes were riveted on the box Bianca held in her arms.
"Bianca . . ." Cheren looked as though he was about to scold her—perhaps for being late, perhaps for acting like a rampaging rhyhorn in the house—yet then sighed, and shook his head. "Whatever, it's fine. Is that the box of starter pokèmon from Professor Juniper?"
"Yes!" Bianca walked carelessly across the messy floor, carrying the precious box to Lea's desk. Naturally, there wasn't any room, but Lea—having about as much care for her homework as one would a pile of fallen leaves—shoved the papers onto the floor and moved her laptop back, creating just enough space for Bianca to set the box down. "She said there's one in here for each of us, and that we should come by the lab once we've made our decisions. I think she wants to see which ones we pick."
"Whatevs, whatevs, that's fine, I don't care!" Lea was still bouncing from foot to foot, and wiggled her fingers in claw like motions in front of the box, as if she was ready to tear it apart at any second. Her large, exuberant grin almost looked feral. "I'll go anywhere she wants! Let's just get that sucker open and get our first pokèmon! Dibs on first pick!" With that, Lea pounced for the box, claw-flexed fingers first. Before she could reach it, however, Bianca let out a gasp of denial, and quickly moved to shield the box with her body.
"No! Wait!"
"Huh?" Lea jerked back in a fashion that was almost comical, eyes wide, as Cheren adjusted his glasses and looked at Bianca curiously. While he didn't show his impatience in his expression, Lea did, her eyes and mouth settling into a pout. "Bi? What's up?"
"There's a card." Bianca turned, and pointed to a white envelope out from underneath the shiny green bow. Lea groaned in an exaggerated fashion and rolled her eyes, tossing her hands up into the air.
"So?"
"So, you always read the cards when someone gives you a gift! That way you know who to thank!"
"But I already know who to thank, Bi! These pokèmon are coming straight from Juni-baby, right? So I'm going to thank her." Lea's voice was almost a whine, and while Bianca frowned a bit in uncertainty and twisted the green strap of her travel bag in her hands, Cheren rolled his eyes and carefully slipped the envelope out from under the green ribbon.
"Yes, but it's still basic courtesy to read a card before shredding a package like a starving purrloin."
"'It's still basic courtesy to read a card before shredding a package like a starving purrloin,'" Lea mocked underneath her breath. Bianca smiled faintly, and Cheren ignored her, instead slipping the card out of the envelope before he started to read it.
"'Dear Lea, Cheren, and Bianca,
"'Congratulations once more on graduating and passing the Pokèmon Trainer Certification Exam. I'm so proud to call you three my students, and watching you all grow over the past eleven years has been a truly rewarding experience for me as your teacher, even during the times when I thought my lab might never recover due to the damage caused.'" Cheren looked up at Lea with a pointed stare, but Lea feigned innocence with a wide-eyed look. Bianca giggled, and Cheren continued reading.
"'Inside the box are three pokèmon that I have carefully chosen to be your starters. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, but all three create a careful elemental balance. Though all three of you have graduated, I want you to take one more lesson from this–'"
"One more lesson?" Lea cried, and then groaned, tossing her hands up in the air. "Really? No way am I doing more homework! We're supposed to be done!"
"She didn't say anything about homework, and out of the three of us, you're the one who could stand the most from learning something," Cheren snapped. "Now shut up and let me keep reading." Lea, knowing that he simply hated to be interrupted, stuck her tongue out at him and waved him on. Clearing his throat, he continued.
"'–I want you to take one more lesson from this, and that lesson is thus: balance and teamwork are the keys to success. Just like the pokèmon you three have to choose from, all three of you have your own strengths and weaknesses. None of you are better than the other two. In fact, when you three are together, that is when you truly shine. Never forget that in addition to having your own strength, as well as your own pokèmon, you three will also always have each other.
"'The three pokèmon that I have chosen for you are the grass-type, snivy; the fire-type, tepig; and the water-type, oshawott. I will leave it up to the three of you to decide who gets which one, and I'll trust you all not to fight over the decision. That means no bossing the other two around, Cheren,'" Lea shot a smug grin at Cheren, while Bianca hid her smile behind her fist, "'no wrestling the other two in order to get your way, Lea,'" Lea's smug smile fell, and Cheren picked it up instead, "'and no letting the other two make your decision for you, Bianca.'" Bianca smiled sheepishly, and nodded though the professor wasn't actually there to see it. "'I have the utmost faith that you three will be able to make this decision fairly, so please, don't prove me wrong.
"'When you've selected your pokèmon, please come to my lab. I'll be waiting. Professor Juniper.'" Cheren set the card aside, and Lea let out a long sigh of relief.
"Jeez, that was the longest thing I've ever had to listen to. I think it was even longer than the speech she gave us on the day we got our Licenses. How did she even fit that on one card?" Cheren picked up the card again, and held it out to Lea.
"You can read it for yourself if you'd like."
"Pass. When it comes to reading, comic books or bust. Anyway, since the card's done, we can finally pick our pokèmon, right? Right?" Lea danced from foot to foot again, and Cheren looked over to Bianca with a small grin.
"I don't know, perhaps we should send Professor Juniper a thank-you card first. What do you think, Bianca?" A dawning look of horror appeared on Lea's face as Bianca tapped a finger against her chin in speculation.
"That might be the best thing to do, I wouldn't want her to think us rude. Ooh, and I actually just bought some really cute stationary! It's back at my house, though, I'll have to run home and get it."
"NOPE! Nu-uh, no way, Josè! It's way too late for that business! Hiyah!" In a motion that looked not unlike a cat hopped up on speed shredding a particularly offending object, Lea pounced upon the box and began to shred it. Her nails weren't particularly long, but she was still able to tear through the ribbon and wrapping paper easily enough, throwing the trash down to mingle with the homework assignments, clothes, magazines, and other objects on her floor. Cheren sighed as she made her room an even bigger mess than it already was, especially as Lea pride off the box top and tossed it over her shoulder, where it landed on a wrinkled pair of jeans and a scarf. "There! All done! Box open!"
"You are a barbarian," Cheren said, but despite his words, he was smiling. Bianca was grinning as well, and Lea gave both of her friends a bared-tooth grin.
"Yeah, I know. But look! Pokèmon!" Lea looked down into the box, and Cheren and Bianca crowed in close around her, their gazes joining hers. Despite being such a large box, the contents were rather small: just three red and white, minimized pokèballs sitting in the very bottom, forming a small little V-shape, secured in place with styrofoam. Taped to each pokèball was a little name card, and labeled pictures sat inside the box as well, so that they could see what each pokèmon looked like before they made their decision. "I get to pick first, right?" Lea asked, and she was gripping the box so hard that she bent the corners. "I called dibs on that, right?"
"Well, it is your house," Bianca said good-naturedly, as Lea's smile grew. "So I think it's only fair that you get to pick first." Lea looked over at Cheren, whom she partly expected to refuse her request, but he smirked a little and shrugged.
"Naturally."
"Suh-weeet!" Lea sang, and swiped the box off her desk altogether. Without warning, she spun around and dumped the contents of the box onto her bare mattress, the pokèballs bouncing a little as they fell, the labeled pictures fluttering down in their own time.
"Lea!" Cheren admonished, as Bianca hurried over to look at the pictures and pokèballs. "What did you do that for? You could lose them."
"Oh, relax, I'm not gonna lose 'em!" Lea crawled up onto her bed, and organized the three pokèballs in front of her. "See? They're right here. This one on the left is snivy, the one in the middle is tepig, and the one to the right is oshawott." She paused, and tilted her head to the side. "Or, I guess for you guys, oshawott is on the left and snivy's on the right. But it's whatevsies, right?"
Cheren muttered something beneath his breath that Lea didn't quite catch (but which she assumed was a comment about her troublesome nature, given that it was a favorite topic of his complaints), but Bianca nodded, and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Yes, it's fine," she said pleasantly. Reaching out, she picked up the three pictures, and turned a bit so that Cheren and Lea could see them, as well. "It looks like these are the pokèmon we have to choose from. Oh, look at oshawott! He's so cute, isn't he?"
"Yeah, yeah, he's adorbs." Lea had glanced at the pictures briefly, yet had then looked back down at the pokèballs, staring intently. For Cheren's part, he could hardly remember her ever looking so deep in thought. Regardless, after a moment Lea looked back up, and without warning snatched the pictures out of Bianca's hand.
"H-Hey!"
"Sorry, Bi, I'll give 'em back in a second." She stared at them for a moment before setting them down in front of the pokèballs, yet facing her. "Okay. So it looks like we've get snivy, tepig, and oshawott."
"Yes, Lea. We knew that already," Cheren said, a bit mockingly. Lea stuck her tongue out at him, yet then looked back down at the photographs.
"Snivy could be cool, because he's a total smug snake. Just look at 'im! I'd name him Liquid. Doesn't he make you think of Liquid Snake?" Lea looked back up at Cheren and Bianca, the former of which had actually played the game Lea was referencing, the latter of which had watched Lea play. "He could totally prance-dance on top of some banisters in some top secret military facility or something. Don'tcha think?"
"Not really," Cheren said, and Lea mocked him once more (silently, this time) before she looked back down at the pictures.
"So, snivy could be cool. It'd be kickin' to have Liquid on my team. But then there's oshawott—and if we wanted to keep getting all Steel Gear up in here, we could totally call him Revolver Oshawott. Wouldn't that be cool? Huh?!" Once again, Lea looked excitedly up at her best friends, but while Bianca gave her a small smile, Cheren just gave her a flat stare. Lea's smile fell, and then she shrugged. "Well, but he doesn't exactly look like Revolver Oshawott. He looks too woobie-ish for that. So maybe he could be . . . uh . . . jeez, I don't know. I guess I'm not picking oshawott, then.
"So that just leaves us with tepig, the little fire piggy." Lea grinned. "A fire piggy. How cool is that? I mean, sure, it makes you think of bacon, but c'mon! He's a fire piggy! You could be all, 'go, fire piggy!' whenever you wanted to battle with him! And—!" Lea suddenly gasped, eyes wide. "Better than that! Who's the best fire piggy you know, huh? Who's the biggest, baddest fire piggy of them all?!"
"I haven't the foggiest," Cheren said. His expression suggested he clearly wanted her to hurry up. Bianca put her finger to her chin in thought for a moment before she shrugged.
"I . . . don't know, Lea."
"Ganon! Duh! Ganon is totally the biggest, baddest fire piggy in the world!" Lea picked up tepig's pokèball, and held it up above her head in a gesture of triumph. "He's the King of Evil! The Lord of Darkness! And he shall be mine—he shall be my fire piggy! And together, we will rampage about the countryside! Aww yeah!"
"Congratulations on your future rampage," Cheren said dryly. He had his arms folded across his chest and was beginning to tap his fingers against his arms, but all the same, he turned to catch Bianca's eye, and then nodded his head toward the pokèballs. "Bianca, you can choose next."
"Huh? Are you sure?" Bianca's eyes drifted briefly to Cheren's fingers, tapping so impatiently against his arms. "You can go next, if you want! I don't mind waiting!" Cheren shook his head.
"No. You should get to choose next." When she still hesitated, he added, "The longer you hesitate, the longer I have to wait." Her eyes widened, and she quickly dove to scoop up the pictures of the two remaining pokèmon.
"Oh! Sorry!" While Bianca stared back and forth between snivy and oshawott's pictures, Lea made a face at Cheren.
"Jeez, Cherry-berry, you don't have to be so uptight about it. And you don't have to try to rush Bi, either."
"If you were the one waiting, you would be acting far worse than I am, Whitlea," Cheren retorted. Lea's eyes narrowed as Bianca stuck the tip of her tongue out of the corner of her mouth.
"Don't call me 'Whitlea,' Cheren." Cheren glared right back.
"Then don't call me 'Cherry-berry,' Lea."
"I've decided!" Bianca's clear voice drew their attention away from their glaring contest, and both Cheren and Lea looked over to see Bianca scoop up oshawott's pokèball. "I think I'm going to choose this little darling, and I'm going to name him Wotter. Isn't that a cute name? I think it's an absolutely perfect name for my little Wotter, oh yes I do." As Bianca delved into baby-speak to communicate with her oshawott through its pokèball (something that caused Lea to make a face of disgust, similar to Cheren's reaction to gum-plus-nachos earlier), Cheren reached down and picked up snivy's pokèball, a little smile playing on his face.
"Excellent. I wanted snivy, anyway." Examining the gender marker on the name card before pulling it off, he added, "I'll name her Nagini."
"Awesome sauce. So!" Lea bounded off her bed, upsetting the pictures and discarded name tags, and looked at her two best friends, practically brimming with excitement. "Who's up for a battle?!"
"Ooh, I am!" Bianca bounded up as well, her green bag swinging around her, and Cheren gave them both an unimpressed stare.
"Hold it. Do you really think it's all right to battle here?"
"Sure, why not?" Lea shrugged, and before Cheren could open his mouth, she said, "Oh, don't worry about my Mom. She's downstairs watching her soaps or whatever. She probably won't even notice!"
"That's not what I was concerned about." Cheren sighed. "Lea, if you would, please take a look at your bedroom."
Lea did as requested. She took in every aspect, from the whirlwind of clothes to the potentially empty soda cans that lined the various surfaces. After a moment, she looked back to Cheren with a blank stare. "Yeah? So?"
"Your room is a disaster area," Cheren said flatly, and he folded his arms across his chest, Nagini's pokèball held between two long fingers. "I actually think that it might be a biohazard zone and that we should wear haz-mat suits. There's no space for a battle here."
"Psh, there's plenty of space. Here, I'll even clean up a bit, if it makes you happy." As she spoke, Lea moved to "clean up" as she said she would. However, Lea's brand of cleaning involved kicking the papers and clothes nearby under her bed, and grabbing another armful of clothes off the floor and slinging them toward the wicker hamper in the corner. As Cheren continued to give her a flat stare (and Bianca giggled behind her head), Lea rolled her eyes in an exaggerated fashion and dragged the wicker hamper—losing clothes in the process—over to her closet (which was already quite full with sports equipment—roller blades, hockey sticks, baseball gloves, soccer balls—and other random items), so that she could cram it in. Once it was in enough, Lea forced the closet door shut, and then turned to Cheren with a bold grin, her hands fisted on her hips. "There! Done! All clean!"
"You call this clean?" he demanded in a deadpan voice. Before she could answer, he sighed. "Never mind. Don't answer that. I know you do. I guess, in regards to making space for a battle, this is a . . . bit better."
"Exactly! So c'mon, Bi!" Lea skipped over to the middle of the room, pressing the center button on Ganon's pokèball twice. Her tepig materialized in the middle of the room, let out an excited oink, and wagged its corkscrew tail. "Let's battle!"
"Okay!" Bianca bounced over to stand opposite Lea, and—just like her best friend—pressed the center button on her pokèball twice to summon her oshawott to the floor. Wotter tossed his scallop from paw to paw, looking curiously around the room, his large red nose sniffing the air. Lea grinned, and without warning shouted:
"Ganon! Tackle!"
"Huh? Oh, no—Wotter, dodge!" Bianca cried. Wotter, thankfully, was on top of things, and dove out of the way as Ganon threw himself forward. Despite being decidedly pudgier than Wotter, Ganon managed to recover quickly, and spun on the spot in time for Lea to yell:
"Keep on keepin' on, Ganon! Tackle, Tackle, Tackle!"
"Wotter, don't let it hit you! Oh, and, um, Tackle back!"
The "battle" ended up being less of a battle, and more of a lengthy game of tag. Ganon chased Wotter around the room, tackling whenever he got near, and while Ganon regained his balance, Wotter tried to steal his chance to attack in turn. In the end, the battle only ended when Ganon landed a successful hit that sent Wotter careening into the dresser, which knocked Lea's plate of nachos onto the floor. The plate shattered, and both Ganon and Wotter made cries of surprise and darted away, Bianca hastily running forward to scoop Wotter into her arms.
"Oh no, Wotter, are you okay?" Bianca carefully looked her oshawott over for injuries, only relaxing when she saw that there was no real damage. "Oh, good. You're not hurt. I'm so glad!"
"I told you battling in here was a bad idea," Cheren said, his tone flat. Despite the fact that both girls had wanted to battle, his displeasure seemed primarily aimed at Lea, who recalled Ganon into his pokèball after ensuring that he, too, was all right. Lea gave him a flat look.
"Are you really gonna start in with the 'I Told You Sos,' Captain Buzzkill? 'Cause I really don't wanna hear 'em. It's fine." Cheren's eyes flicked down to the shattered nacho plate, and Lea looked at it as well, shrugging. "Well, yeah, that broke. But that's cool, 'cause I was kinda over those nachos, anyway."
"That's not the point," Cheren said as Lea's bedroom door opened again. This time, Lea's mother stood in the doorway, and from a single glance it was obvious where Lea got her features from (even though Lea had a sharper jaw and a more toned body, the former of which was inherited from her father, the latter built up from years of burning off energy). Still, while Lea was still young and hyper and active, her mother had an expression aged with maturity and weariness. Her eyes were certainly her sharpest feature, and the moment the door opened they zeroed in on the broken plate and spilled nachos.
"Whitlea Fiona Fair, what exactly are you doing up here?"
"Battling," Lea answered promptly. She was never the type to lie unless it was to cover Cheren or Bianca, and the excuses she usually did come up with weren't ever very good, anyway. Her mother sighed. "Bi and I decided to battle with our new pokèmon, and guess what? I totally won!"
"Only because the plate broke," Bianca said, and while Lea sounded like a five year old with a new toy, Bianca seemed to be pouting a bit jokingly, herself. "If the battle had continued, I would have kicked your butt, Lea!"
"Nu-uh," Lea said, and Bianca – certainly smiling, now – opened her mouth to possibly continue the childish argument when Lea's mother interrupted.
"It doesn't matter who won. What does matter is that you broke one of my dishes, Lea. Again." Lea looked back to her mother, who was fixing her with a stern stare, and grinned—and for once, she had the decency to make her grin a bit apologetic.
"Yeah, I do that a lot, huh? Sorry, Mom. But on the plus side, I'm totally awesome when it comes to battling! So I can just win a bunch of battles, get some prize money, and buy you some new dishes. Piece of cake."
Lea's mother sighed, and shook her head. "No, no, Lea. Don't worry about it." Her tone suggested they'd had this talk plenty of times, and that she'd believe Lea's claims when she saw them come to life. "Here, why don't you three come downstairs? You're all set to leave soon, and I took the liberty of packing your bag last night, Lea. It's all ready to go."
"You did?" Lea stared at her mother in amazement, and looked around. "Cleaned up" though her room was, it still looked like the crash site of a few freight trains, and she tilted her head in bewilderment. "Really? What did you pack in it? I don't even see a difference."
"You wouldn't," Cheren muttered, and Lea reached over to smack him on the shoulder as her mother shook her head.
"I packed the essentials. You'll want to travel light, after all. Just come on downstairs. I'll clean up that mess in a minute."
"Mrs. Fair, are you sure you don't want us to clean it?" Bianca asked, and she returned Wotter to his pokèball to free up her hands, thereafter stowing his 'ball in her bag. "It was our battle that broke the plate, after all . . . I'm really sorry."
"I'm sorry, too," Cheren said, and he bowed once. "We should have known better. If you need new dishes, I'm sure we can all pitch in to buy new ones." Bianca nodded fervently.
"Yes, we definitely can!"
"No, don't worry about it." Lea's mother smiled faintly. "Trust me, one broken plate isn't going to prevent me from eating. Besides, you all just got your pokèmon; I know how excited you are." She gave her daughter a weary look. "You especially. You're excitable enough ordinarily. Now that you have a pokèmon . . ."
"A fire piggy," Lea said. Though she should have shared the same shame that her two best friends did—and she did, to some extent—she seemed more inclined to focus on the highlight of her day. "I picked tepig, Mom—the fire piggy!" Lea's mother groaned.
"The fire-type? Perfect. I definitely want you out, then." She motioned them to follow her, and – Lea and Cheren stuffing their pokèballs into their pockets – the trio finally followed. "For the last time, come on. You're wasting daylight, and I want you three to be able to reach Accumula Town before dark."
The Fair household wasn't particularly large, but it was still a split level home. The stairs entered into the living room, where the television set was set to a soap opera of some sort (as Lea had predicted), and a red messenger bag sat on the couch. Lea's mother entered the living room first, and grabbed the messenger bag to pass to Lea, who slung it across her chest and shoulders. Her mother then held out a X-transceiver, which she snapped onto her wrist.
"Make sure to keep that charged, Lea," her mother told her firmly. "You need to be able to call for help if you get into trouble, and I don't want to call you only to find out that the battery is dead when I try." Lea rolled her eyes.
"I will, Mom, sheesh! You've told me all this stuff about a gajillion times before—"
"That isn't a number," Cheren said.
"—and I don't need to hear it now, again, for the trajillionth time. Besides, Professor Juniper had us learn survival training and stuff, right? I can even cook now! So I'll be fine."
"I wouldn't exactly call what you do 'cooking,'" her mother said, and her lopsided grin—so much like her daughter's—held a hint of teasing. "Setting a packet of ramen to boil for three minutes isn't cooking."
"Psh. It's food, and I make it, so that makes it cooking." As if she could sense Cheren's look of disapproval behind her, she said loudly, "It's totally a consumable item that nourishes you and keeps you from starving and stuff, Cheren! That makes it food!"
"You know the word 'consumable?'" Cheren's tone was laced with mock surprise, and both Lea's mother and Bianca laughed as Lea puffed out her cheeks in irritation. "I'm impressed. I'll have to let Professor Juniper know so that she can give you a gold star."
Lea swung around and kicked Cheren in the leg, and though he hissed in pain, he retaliated by shoving Lea into the end table, which caused the lamp to shake precariously on its stand. As Lea drew back her fist to swing at Cheren again (Bianca wisely getting out of the way, being all too used to this), Lea's mother grabbed her daughter's wrist, giving her daughter a firm look.
"Lea, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. No roughhousing in the house."
"But Mom, the word 'house' is in 'roughhousing'! It should be totally legit to roughhouse in here!" Lea whined. "Besides, Cheren started it."
"Did not," Cheren muttered, though it was a bit immature of him. Lea grinned, and her mother released her wrist.
"The three of you are responsible for every single gray hair I have," she sighed, but then paused and looked over at Bianca. "Well, not Bianca as much." Bianca smiled, and curtsied.
"Thank you, ma'am!"
"Yeah, yeah, Bi's totally an angel baby," Lea said, waving the complaints off. Bianca wasn't quite sure what being an "angel baby" entailed, but she knew Lea well enough to know that nothing bad was meant by it. "Anyway, we're gonna take off, okay? We have to go see Professor Juniper, and then we're gonna hit the road."
"Not so fast," her mother said, and Lea groaned, large and exaggerated. "And don't be like that either, Lea. Cheren and Bianca have to say goodbye to their parents, too." Lea blinked, caught a bit off-guard, looking for all the world like that thought honestly hadn't occurred to her. In all actuality, it hadn't. Cheren, however, nodded when she looked over at him.
"I was planning on stopping by my house before we headed to the laboratory, if it was all right with you." He paused. "Well, actually, I was going to do it whether it was all right with you or not."
"Me too," Bianca said, and she smiled a bit nervously as she fiddled with her bag strap again. "I figure, well, we're going to be leaving right after we see Professor Juniper, right? So we should say goodbye while we can." Lea thought for a moment, and then nodded.
"Yeah, that seems like a good idea. Otherwise your parents'll probably freak and stuff." She looked back to her mother. "So, yeah. We're gonna go to Cheren's house, and then Bi's house, and then Professor Juni-baby's lab, and then we're finally gonna hit the road. That's the master plan."
Her mother smiled. "That sounds like a good plan." She hesitated a moment, and then put her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "You know, even though you've studied for this for the past eleven years, somehow it still feels so surreal. I always knew you'd leave on a journey someday—in fact, I hoped you would, so you could learn about the world. But still . . . it feels so strange to think that you won't be here when I wake up tomorrow, or the day after, or even the day after that."
"Mom . . ." Lea shifted uncomfortably on the spot. "Do we have to do all this wishy-washy, sippy-sappy junk right now? I'd kinda rather do it half-past never." Her mother laughed.
"I know you would, but yes, we do." She pulled her daughter into a tight hug, which Lea had enough sense to reciprocate. "Be safe, all right? I know you're going to travel the entire region, and by Arceus I know you're going to make a mess of it as you do, but I still want you to come back in one piece, you hear me? One piece. Not several."
"I will, I will!" Lea squirmed out of the hug, and brushed herself off, as if the hug had contaminated her. Fortunately, her mother saw the humor in it, and her smile didn't fade. "But now we've really gotta go, okay? For seriously. Cheren, Bi? Let's bounce!"
"'Let's bounce'? Who says that anymore, Lea?" Cheren demanded, though he did turn toward Lea's mother long enough to say, "Goodbye, Mrs. Fair," before he continued to follow Lea out of the front door. Lea scoffed.
"I do. Who're you to talk about what's current slang-wise, Mr. I'm-So-Uptight-I-Wear-A-Shirt-That-Looks-Like-It-Has-A-Tie-On-It?"
"This shirt is classy. Just because you lack class to the point where even an 'F' would be too high a mark for you . . ."
Cheren and Lea's bickering continued out of the door, though Bianca lingered behind, looking back to Lea's mother. Perhaps before she could change her mind, she darted forward and gave Lea's mother a hug, which the other woman reciprocated warmly.
"Bye, Mrs. Fair," Bianca said, yet then seemed to think better of it, and shook her head as she drew away. "No—see you later. Because I will see you later—we all will."
"You'd better," Lea's mother said, but her smile took off any edge that might've been on her words. "Keep an eye on that rambunctious daughter of mine, would you?" Bianca laughed.
"I'll do my best!"
"BI! C'mon, hurry up! We've still gotta get to Cherry-berry's house!" The sound of a smack followed Lea's words, which was punctuated with a cry of, "OW!" from Lea, and then followed by the sounds of a scuffle. Bianca shook her head, and tugged her hat down to shield her a face a bit.
"Well, maybe it'll take more than my best . . ."
"Maybe," Lea's mother agreed, "but your best is all you can do." With that, she gave Bianca a light, motivating push to the door, and though Bianca turned in the doorway to wave, she quickly darted out, shutting Lea's front door behind her.
Nuvema Town was, at its heart, the epitome of a small town. Not many people lived there, and the largest building in town was easily the laboratory, which was visible no matter which street you were on due to the fact that it rested at the top of a small hill. All of the other buildings were small houses—even the general and grocery stores, which imported their wares from the larger cities around Unova. There were no concrete streets—only dirt roads, lined with brightly green grass, and vividly painted houses. For though Nuvema Town was small, it didn't look old; the presence of a general store operating out of an old house instead of a larger chain mart aside, the townspeople put effort into keeping the buildings looking fresh and modern, and staying up to date with the rest of the region as far as technology went. In addition, due to being such a small town, everyone knew everyone else, and as such, they looked out for each other, even if they didn't like each other much.
Fortunately, not liking each other much wasn't a problem most of the townspeople had.
The sun was bright that afternoon, and so Bianca squinted a bit as she stepped down from Lea's porch, only to find that Lea was holding Cheren's wrists apart, much to his consternation. Her friends broke apart as she drew near, and she grinned at them, looking over at Cheren. "We're going to your house first, right, Cheren?" He nodded, and Lea tilted her head.
"Hey, you know, it's kinda early in the afternoon. Will your parents even be home?" Cheren adopted that odd look he sometimes got whenever she referred to the couple who'd adopted him as his parents, but nodded nonetheless.
"Yes. They've been working from home all this week since they knew I'd be leaving today. They should be there if we check in." Lea nodded.
"All righty, then. Let's go!"
The trio walked in comfortable silence to Cheren's house, which was just down the road from Lea's. It was funny, in a way; Lea's house was at one end of the street, Cheren's was at the other, and Bianca's was on the next street over, dead center between their two homes. It was funny how those things worked out, though it was highly likely that not a single member of the trio – not even Cheren – would recognize it.
Cheren led the way up the red wooden steps of his home, reaching automatically for the door handle as he did so. It was midday, and so the door wasn't locked, and as such it opened with a simple twist. Habitually, Cheren wiped his feet on the doormat before he entered, and Bianca did the same, Cheren blocking Lea's path until she followed suit. By this point, however, he didn't have to; Lea had been to Cheren's house enough times over the past eleven years to know how it was: spic, span, and spotless.
And honestly, it was. Lea's home was filled with hardwood flooring and area rugs, but Cheren's was filled with plush white carpeting that looked as though it had never seen a single stain. The furniture was covered by plastic covers, or else dotted with coasters for the surfaces, and the house perpetually smelled like flowers and cleaner. Any wooden surface gleamed when the light hit it, and the light bulbs were usually flesh and and almost blinding. Cheren's house was certainly larger than Lea's, too, which was a bit odd, considering most of the houses in Nuvema Town were the same size, and only three people lived in Cheren's home. Still, though his house was nice, Lea had to admit that something about it always did make her feel a bit uncomfortable. It was simply too clean.
"I'm home," Cheren called, walking toward the kitchen (though he stayed on the linoleum in the hallway, knowing better than to trek across the living room's carpet with his shoes). Lea and Bianca followed suit as a light female voice called:
"Oh, Cheren—we're in the kitchen!"
"I gathered."
Where Lea's kitchen was a bit on the small side, Cheren's kitchen was wide and open, and – as always – the gleaming countertops and bright lights hurt Lea's eyes a little as they entered. Cheren's adoptive mother was standing over by the counter top, slicing carrots, as his adoptive father sat at the kitchen table, working on a laptop. Both parents looked up as the trio of teens entered, though Cheren – rather than looking at either of them – headed straight to the back of the room to grab his laptop case from the back of a chair.
"Did you already receive your first pokèmon?" Cheren's mother asked mildly. She didn't look up from chopping her carrots, and Cheren's father – after waving to the girls – looked back down at his laptop. Cheren adjusted the strap of his laptop case so that he could comfortably carry it, and then nodded, not looking at either of his parents.
"Yes. I did. I chose snivy, a grass-type."
"That's good, dear." His mother finished chopping the carrots and put them into a bowl, thereafter reaching for some parsnips, and Lea and Bianca exchanged uncomfortable looks. "So . . . will you be leaving town after you visit with Professor Juniper, then?"
"Yes."
"I . . . see." More uncomfortable silence followed as his mother began chopping the parsnips, her hands moving a bit more quickly and clumsily than perhaps they ought to, and Lea could tell by the way Cheren gripped the strap on his laptop case that he felt uncomfortable as well. He cleared his throat.
"Well, we should be going then. Goodbye—I'll see you when I return."
"Take care," his mother called, and his father finally looked up from his laptop screen.
"Make us proud," he said. "You always do." Cheren nodded.
"I will." Cheren looked to Lea and Bianca, then, and motioned back down the hallway. "Come on. We should go."
"Right." Lea led the way down the hallway and was the first to exit the house, taking a big gulp of fresh air as she jogged down the wooden steps. Cheren's house really was too clean for her tastes—far too sterile. And in a way, so was his relationship with his parents, right down to the fact that he rarely referred to them as such himself. They were lovely people, and they treated Cheren with kindness—they practically let him do whatever he wanted without question. But there was no warmth there, no solidarity, and it always made Lea feel awkward in their presence, like her every move would be frowned upon.
Well, her every move was frowned upon generally, but it just felt awkward there.
In any case, she was free of that house once more, and any tension the three had gained while within it melted away once they were back outside. "To Bi's house next, right?" Lea asked, and without waiting for an answer, punched her fist into the air. "Yep, to Bi's house! Race ya there!" With that, she took off at a sprint, cutting across lawns in order to get to Bianca's house. She was easily the fastest of the three, but that didn't mean the other two would give up. Indeed, after sharing a look of exasperation with Bianca, Cheren took off running after Lea, determined to give it his all despite his short legs. As such, neither of them noticed that Bianca looked less than thrilled about visiting her home, and that she didn't put much effort into running even as she hiked up her dress to follow after.
Bianca's house was far more picturesque than Lea's or Cheren's. Its wooden steps and railings were painted a pristine white, and they had a swing on their front porch, where the three would often sit as kids, eating popsicles or drinking lemonade. It, too, was a split level home, painted light blue with dark gray shutters, and as they neared, Bianca jogged up the steps before them, and turned to stop them from entering.
"Um, guys?" she said, and her voice was a bit higher-pitched with her nervousness. Cheren raised his eyebrows, and Lea blinked. "I think I'll go in alone, okay? It's just—I kind of—I might be awhile, because of Daddy."
"What about your father?" Cheren asked, tilting his head to the side. Lea twisted her lips in thought for a second and canted her weight, speaking before Bianca could.
"You didn't tell 'im yet, didja?" Bianca looked away guiltily, and Cheren's eyes widened.
"You didn't tell him? Why?"
"It just never seemed like the right time!" Bianca all but wailed, tossing her hands into the air. She then quickly returned them to her bag strap, nervously twisting it in her hands. "I thought—well, you know, Daddy's never been very keen on me studying to become a Pokèmon Trainer. He always said he just let me attend classes so that I wouldn't feel left out. Did you know, he even told Mom not to pay to let me take the exam for my License. She did it anyway using money out of her savings account so that he wouldn't notice." Bianca hung her head miserably. "I meant to tell him before today, honest—I meant to tell him once I found out I passed the test and was getting my License. But I just . . . I don't know. Everything happened so fast. I didn't realize it would be today until it wastoday."
Cheren and Lea exchanged looks before Lea looked back to Bianca. "Bi, are you sure you don't want us to come in? We can be pretty kickass awesome moral support when we wanna be, I'm just saying."
"I even promise to keep Lea on a short leash," Cheren said, and Lea smacked his arm. For once, he didn't retaliate. Bianca smiled weakly, and shook her head.
"No. I'm—I'm sure I'll be all right. Daddy would get upset if I brought you two in, anyway. He'd think I was making an audience." She threw her shoulders back, and took a deep breath. "Well, I'm—I'm going to go tell him, now. Wish me luck?"
"Only the best of," Cheren said, and Lea held out her hand.
"Good luck high-five!" she said, and Bianca – laughing a little – raised her hand up to smack her palm against Lea's. Lea brought her hand back with a fingersnap, which Bianca mimicked. "All right! You're all set to go, Bi!"
"Thanks, Lea. And Cheren, too." Bianca took another deep breath, and then turned back toward the door. "I'll be out again right quick, okay?" Though this was in contrast to her earlier words, neither Lea nor Cheren argued it, and Bianca disappeared into the house. In her haste to make it inside, she left the door slightly ajar, and Lea – seeing an opportunity – moved closer to crouch down near the frame. She could practically feel Cheren's disapproval burning into the back of her head.
"Lea."
"What? I'm not going inside, I just wanted to listen, so shush." Lea leaned closely to the slightly open front door, and despite the disapproval he'd shown, Cheren moved close so that he could do the same. At first, they didn't hear anything, but after a moment they heard some muted arguing, and finally the shouting began.
"NO! No, no, no, NO, absolutely NOT!"
"Jeez, Bi's dad is even louder than me," Lea muttered, and Cheren nodded grimly.
"Daddy, why not?" Bianca's voice was loud, as well, and was starting to get shrill—it was also slightly choked, as if she was holding back tears. Lea scowled, and Cheren, she noted, was wearing his Not Pleased face. "I went to school, and I passed all the tests, and I got my License, too! I even have my own pokèmon! And Cheren and Lea are both going, and–"
"Oh, so this is all that Lea's fault, is it? I shouldn't be surprised!" Lea's scowl darkened, but Cheren laid a hand on her arm to stop her from going inside. "That girl has been a bad influence from day one, and I will NOT have my daughter risking her life because some vagabond rapscallion from across the street–"
"She's not a vagabond, she's not a rapscallion, and she doesn't live across the street, she lives behind us!" Bianca shouted. Her voice was certainly shrill now, getting close to glass-shattering levels. "She's my best friend, and Cheren is, too! And they're both going on journeys with their pokèmon, and so I wanna go on a journey with mine! Mom already said it was okay!"
"She WHAT?!"
"She did! And so I'm going, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Quick footsteps followed those words, and Lea and Cheren hastily scrambled back, trying to look as though they'd been waiting on the edge of the porch instead of right by the door. Just as they made it to the railing, Bianca burst through the door, and she looked at them both in startled surprise, as if she'd forgotten they were there. Her green eyes were wet.
"Oh, Lea, Cheren, I guess you . . . um . . ." She wiped at her eyes, and then forced a big smile. "It's okay! It's fine, really, I'm fine! We should probably go see Professor Juniper."
"Yeah, before your dad runs out here breathing fire and rampaging like Charzilla." Cheren smacked Lea's arm, and Lea looked over at him with an affronted look. "What? It's true! I could practically hear him spitting fire from out here!"
"Whitlea." Cheren's stare was firm, but Bianca laughed, and took each of her friend's hands in her own. Her hands were shaking a little, and though neither was aware the other was doing (or perhaps they were), Cheren and Lea gave her hands gentle squeezes.
"No, it's okay, really. Thank you, guys." Bianca's voice was sincere, and coated in gratitude. "Let's go see Professor Juniper; I feel just awful for keeping her waiting for so long." Lea put on her trademark grin, not that it was hard; she'd been riding a high ever since she received Ganon, and that—combined with the fact that she could tell Bianca didn't want to dwell on what just happened—sealed her mood.
"All right, let's go!" She pointed her free hand to the sky in a dramatic point, and put on her best superhero voice. "To Juni-baby's lab!" Taking the lead once more, she tugged Bianca (and therefore, Cheren) back down the steps just as more shouting rang out from Bianca's house, this time through an open window. It was her father, again, this time yelling at her mother, and though Bianca bit her lip and shut her eyes tightly, Lea and Cheren managed to guide her quickly along the path, looping back to cut through yards as they made their way to the professor's laboratory.
Simply calling the laboratory a laboratory was not entirely accurate. Though the large building was known all throughout Nuvema Town—and quite possibly throughout Unova as a whole—as Professor Juniper's laboratory, it was also her home. The grand building, set up on a slight incline, primarily did function as a lab; but a half-spiral staircase hidden behind a door in the back of the lab led up to an apartment, which took up the entire second floor. In any case, as the trio of teenagers walked up the steps, Lea craned her head back to try and get a glimpse in through the upper story windows, to see if Professor Juniper was up there, or down on the lower level.
"She's going to be where she always is, Lea," Cheren said, knowing exactly what Lea was doing without her having to explain, by virtue of the fact that she did it every single time. "She's expecting us, so she won't be up there."
"Doesn't hurt to check," Lea said, shrugging. "'Sides, it just kills me. Why can't we go up there, huh? We're her students! That makes us, like, her apprentices. We should totally get to see the Zubat Cave!"
"If you want to see a zubat cave, go to Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, or Sinnoh," Cheren said, knowing just enough about comics (through osmosis, from being friends with Lea) to know what she meant, yet choosing to ignore it regardless. "There are plenty of them there. You don't need to see Professor Juniper's private quarters." He was the one to reach out and open the door, and it was only then that the three of them stopped holding hands, filing in one by one into the lab.
"Except I totally do need to, because the suspense is killing me," Lea said, walking backwards into the front entrance room of the lab. The lab was just as shiny and clean as Cheren's home, yet in a different way; the polished tile floors and shiny metal surfaces didn't seem unnaturally shiny, and as such, they didn't hurt Lea's eyes. The entrance room was primarily free of the heavier research, only boasting a few tables with various clipboards and other research materials on them, and a few paintings on the wall. A potted plant was in one corner. Three rooms branched off from the main room, with the door to the right leading to the classroom, the door to the left leading to a series of interlocked rooms where various aides researched, and the door to the front leading to Professor Juniper's main lab, as well as a few other rooms branching off here or there with different research samples contained within. Ordinarily, the three teens would go straight to the classroom, but this time was different, and as such, Lea cupped her hands around her mouth. "PROFESSOR JUNIPER! WE'RE HERE AND STUFF!"
Bianca winced a little due to Lea's shout, which was made even louder by an echo effect. Cheren scowled, rubbing at one of his ears. "Holy mother of Mew, Whitlea. That was completely unnecessary."
"Says you, Cherry-berry. I don't wanna wait around all day, and this way, she can hear us."
"No, I agree with Cheren, Lea. That was completely unnecessary, because I was just finishing some work up in the next room. Just because you graduated doesn't mean the Indoor Voice Rule is completely null and void, you know."
The three teens turned to find Professor Juniper standing in the doorway, her arms crossed, an amused smile quirking her lips. Her dark green eyes, which were usually scolding when they fell on Lea, were alight with mirth, and her coffee colored hair was done up in a beehive bun on her head. Despite the admonishment, Lea grinned, and Bianca offered a friendly wave.
"Hi, Professor Juniper! Sorry we took so long!"
"There's no need to worry about it, Bianca. You three, come on back." Professor Juniper turned and walked back into her main lab, heading past the various test tubes and blinking monitors to walk to the desk set in the very back of the room. Though she knew she wasn't supposed to run in the lab, Lea charged ahead of Bianca and Cheren anyway, with Bianca half-running to keep up, and Cheren keeping a more sedate pace behind them. Professor Juniper turned to face them once she reached her desk, and when she saw that none of them had their chosen pokèmon out, she gestured impatiently to them with her hands.
"Well? Come on, let's see 'em! Which ones did you pick?" Bianca rummaged around in her bag for her pokèball while Cheren and Lea pulled theirs easily out of their pockets, and together, the three teens summoned their pokèmon to the floor.
"I picked oshawott, see? I named him Wotter." Bianca scooped Wotter up off the ground, almost causing him to drop his scallop. He huffed in irritation, but nonetheless snuggled against her chest. Lea flashed Professor Juniper a thumbs-up.
"The fire piggy was best in my book, Juni-baby. I'm callin' him Ganon." Her tepig snorted in approval, corkscrew tail bobbing against the floor. Cheren merely canted his weight to one side, his snivy curling around his ankle.
"That left me with snivy, which would have been my choice regardless. I call her Nagini."
"Excellent. I thought those would be your picks." Professor Juniper beamed at them, and leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially, "I actually made a bet with one of my aides about which one each of you would pick, and since I was correct, I just won one hundred and fifty pokèdollars."
"You bet on us?" Cheren asked flatly, as Bianca's eyes widened and Lea held up her hand for a high-five.
"Way to go, Juni-baby! That's what I'm talking about! Score those big bucks!" Professor Juniper returned the high-five with good humor, and straightened back up to address them at a normal volume.
"Well, anyway. I'm glad to see that you and your pokèmon seem to be getting along so well! I had full confidence in you three as Trainers. And actually, that being said, there's something that I wish to give you all."
"The Pokèdex, right?" Cheren asked, as Professor Juniper turned back to her desk. She paused, and then looked back at him with a small sigh.
"You have to take the surprise out of everything, don't you, Cheren? You're as over-prepared as always."
"I wouldn't say over-prepared. I prefer to call him a Grumpy Gus," Lea said, and Cheren rolled his eyes. Professor Juniper smiled.
"Well, whatever you wish to call him, I'll just go ahead and call him correct. Yes, Cheren, I wish to give you each your very own Pokèdex. Lea, Bianca, I trust you both remember what these are?"
"They're electronic encyclopedias, right?" Bianca asked, taking hers from Professor Juniper as Cheren and Lea did the same. "They were created by . . . um . . . by Professor . . ."
"Oak," Cheren supplied, slipping his into his back pocket. "The Pokèdex was created seven years ago by world-renowned pokèmon researcher Professor Oak, who hails from Pallet–"
"YAWN," Lea said loudly, cutting him off. "BOOORING. No one asked for a history lesson, Cheren!" Holding her own Pokèdex in her hand, Lea frowned at Professor Juniper. "Hey, Juni-baby, this sounds an awful lot like homework, so, uh, I don't really need one, you can take this–"
"It's not homework, you're keeping it, and if you complain about it I'm going to revoke your nicknaming privileges," Professor Juniper warned. Lea frowned, thinking that it was decidedly unfair, but stuck her Pokèdex into one of the side pockets of her bag regardless. "Both Bianca and Cheren are correct. The Pokèdex is an electronic encyclopedia that will automatically update with information on pokèmon that you see or catch. It's an invaluable resource for any aspiring Pokèmon Trainer, but not every Trainer gets one, so the three of you should feel incredibly lucky and grateful." With that, she gave a pointed look at Lea, whose eyes widened.
"What? Oh, fine, fine. Yes, Professor Juniper, I'm very happy you gave me additional homework on this otherwise awesome day, I'll be totally sure to fill up this super special awesome Pokèdex with all kinds of information on different pokèmon. Definitely."
"Good." Despite Lea's sarcasm, Professor Juniper seemed to accept her words. "Well, in that case, I want the three of you to travel across Unova, searching far and wide, and–"
"AbsoLUTEly NOT!"
"Daddy!" Bianca spun around as soon as she heard her father's voice booming across the lab, and both Lea and Cheren turned as well. Walking in long, furious strides, Bianca's father walked up to stand right in front of his daughter, glowering down at her. Lea and Cheren both frowned, and moved to stand a bit closer to Bianca; Bianca's father ignored them.
"You're coming home with me this instant! There is no way in Hell I'm letting you go off to fill up some little gadget when you don't have a single clue of how this world works!"
"I do too know how the world works!" Bianca shot back. "I'm not stupid, I–"
"Damn straight you are!" her father bellowed. "You don't have a clue about anything! You've got your head filled with all these cotton candy fantasies of puppies and rainbows—you're nothing but a naive little girl who's living in a fantasy land, and I won't have it, I won't have my daughter running off to get herself killed on some kind of–"
"That's enough."
"Excuse me?" Bianca's father looked up at Professor Juniper, and as one, all three teenagers turned to look at her as well. She was glaring at Bianca's father, who stared just as wildly back.
"I would appreciate it if you would not continue to berate your daughter in the middle of my laboratory," Professor Juniper said, her arms folded across her chest. "Especially when what you're saying isn't true. I have taught Bianca myself these past eleven years, and I'll have you know – as you should already know – that she has made either perfect or near perfect marks on every exam she has taken, including the exams pertaining to geography and the care and raising of pokèmon. Her only problem is a lack of confidence in herself, and that's something that isn't helped at all by you tearing her down for no good reason."
"I'll have you stay out of my business, including how I raise my daughter, thank you," Bianca's father snapped.
"Then I'll have you not bring your parenting techniques into my presence," Professor Juniper replied coolly. "Remember, Mr. Black, that while it's never appropriate to berate your daughter as you've just done, it's especially inappropriate to do so in public."
Bianca's father looked as though he wanted to say something more, but although his mouth opened and closed several times and his face turned a deep shade of reddish-purple, no sound came out. Finally, he settled for turning his bulging eyes back on Bianca, who stared back through tears, but no less solidly. "Bianca," he spat, "let's go." He turned, but before he could take more than a single step, Bianca squeaked:
"N-No."
"Excuse me?" He turned back to look at her, but instead of backing up or quailing under his angry stare, Bianca straightened, and shook her head.
"No!" she repeated in a stronger voice. "I-I love you, Daddy, and I love Mom, and I love . . . I love everything about living here. But I love Wotter, too, and I want to go on an adventure. I know that I can be scatterbrained sometimes, and I know that I'm late a lot, but I'm . . . I'm not stupid. I'm sixteen now. I can take care of myself, and I know what I need to do. And what I need to do is go on an adventure and find out just what it is that I'm going to do with the rest of my life. Besides . . ." She looked down to the little oshawott in her arms, and the tiny creature licked her wrist. She smiled. "I won't be alone. I'll always have Wotter with me, and any other pokèmon I catch, too."
Bianca's father was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet, but no less dangerous. "Bianca, you come home with me right now."
"What?" Bianca looked back up at him in surprise. "Daddy, didn't you listen? I said–"
"I know what you said. But here's what I have to say." He wagged his index finger at her. "I say that if you don't come home with me right now, and you leave on some journey instead, then I don't want you to come back, you hear? If you leave, then you leave for good. Don't come back."
"But–but Daddy, I–"
"Are you going to leave, Bianca? Are you gonna go on a journey, instead of staying at home where it's safe, with your Mother and I?"
"I . . ." Bianca looked at Professor Juniper, Cheren, and Lea. Neither Professor Juniper or Cheren showed much outward reaction, but Lea offered Bianca a small smile. Bianca nodded. "I'm going to go on a journey, Daddy. Just like I said I would."
Bianca's father pressed his lips tightly together, and then turned to leave. "Fine," he said, striding toward the door. "Fine. Have a nice life, Bianca. Hope you don't get yourself killed."
"I won't, but – Daddy! Daddy, wa–" The door to the lab slammed shut behind Bianca's father, even though she'd taken a few steps forward as she called out to him, and she hung her head as soon as the door was closed. Lea and Cheren instantly moved to her sides, and Lea patted her back a couple of times.
"Aw, don't worry about it, Bi. Your dad's a jerk-face anyway. And you know what you'll do? You'll show him! You'll survive, and be awesome while surviving, and someday you'll become some majorly famous Pokèmon Trainer, and that'll show him."
"Your father can't just kick you out, anyway," Cheren said quietly, and as Bianca sniffed, he reached forward to wipe a few tears from her cheeks. "Your mother would never let that happen. What he said he said out of anger, but he'll come around. You'll see."
"And if he doesn't, you're always welcome to come live with me! I'm sure my mom wouldn't care, and my dad's pretty much never home 'cause he's always away on business, but if he was home then he wouldn't care, either," Lea said. Cheren nodded.
"You're always welcome at my place, too. You're already my sister in every way but blood; having you move in would just make it more official."
Bianca laughed a little, and reached her hand up to wipe the rest of the tears away herself. "Thank you," she said, and when she looked up, she was smiling at both of them. "Both of you, thank you. I don't know what I'd do if–well–" As her voice choked up along with her words, she reached forward and pulled both of them into a hug, which they returned—even Lea, for while she wasn't too open to receiving hugs from most people (she just didn't have time for the sippy-sappy moments), she was more than happy to receive them from Bianca, Cheren, or both, especially when one of them needed it. Professor Juniper, who'd watched the proceedings in silence up until that point, reached forward to put one hand on Cheren's head, and the other on Lea's.
"That's what I like to see," she said, grinning at them as they broke apart. "Camaraderie. Just as I said in my letter, the three of you need each other. Even if you separate on your travels, keep this bond," she gestured to the three of them, "strong, you hear me? Nothing's more important than friendship, especially in the journeys that lie ahead."
"Yeah, yeah, we got it! It's not like we need you to tell us to stay friends, you know." Lea rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I mean, we're perfect! Awesome! Awesomely perfect! Nothing could ever break us apart! We're true companions, you know? Forever and always!"
"'True companions' sounds cheesy, Lea," Cheren said, and Lea stuck her tongue out at him.
"Bite me, Cheren."
Bianca giggled. "You guys!" Looking back at Professor Juniper, however, she nodded. "You're absolutely right, Professor. Thank you."
"You're welcome, Bianca. Oh, before I forget . . ." Professor Juniper turned back to her desk, and swiped three soft pouches off it. "I have one more thing to give each of you. Here you go!"
Lea caught her pouch, and quickly opened the drawstrings, peering inside. "More pokèmon?" she asked in bewilderment, and Professor Juniper laughed.
"Of course not. Those are empty pokèballs, used for capturing pokèmon." She paused, and then eyed Lea suspiciously. "You do remember how to capture pokèmon, don't you?"
"Of course I do!" Lea shot back, offended. "Jeez, what kind of idiot do you take me for?"
"A special one," Cheren replied, and Lea reached over to smack him on the arm, to which he retaliated by pushing her. Before Lea could retaliate by punching him in the face, Professor Juniper stepped between them, placing one hand on each of their arms to pull them apart.
"All right, all right, that's enough! All three of you are now set to start on your journeys. Make sure that you have everything that you need, and then head for Route 1." Cheren recalled Nagini into her pokèball, and Lea and Bianca did the same for Ganon and Wotter. "Route 1 is a straight shot from here to Accumula Town, so you shouldn't get lost, but if you do, you have my number. Feel free to call me any time."
"We will, we will! Probably, maybe, you know." Lea shifted her weight from foot to foot impatiently. "Can we go now?"
Professor Juniper laughed. "Yes, you may go. Be safe, all three of you."
"Right! Cheren, Bi, let's boost it on outta here! Bye, Professor Juniper!" Without further preamble, Lea grabbed Cheren by the collar of his jacket and Bianca by her wrist, and hauled them both bodily out of the laboratory.
Of course, Cheren wasn't one to letting himself be dragged for long, and as such as soon as they were out of the lab, he pulled himself free from Lea's grasp. But while Lea managed to drag Bianca hell-pelt toward Route 1, on the northern edge of town, as they neared it, Bianca dug her heels into the dirt and pulled Lea to a stop.
"Lea, wait! Wait!"
"What?" Lea asked impatiently. "C'mon, Bi, we're almost there!"
"I know, but–" She stopped, as if unsure how to word what she wanted to say, and then looked at both Cheren and Lea seriously. "Look, we're starting on a whole new adventure, right? I mean, this is our first adventure ever."
"Right . . ." Lea agreed, nodding. Bianca nodded, too.
"Well, we're probably not going to travel together the whole time. We each have things that we want to do, and so we'll probably split up soon after this."
"Logically speaking, we'll probably split up once we reach Accumula Town," Cheren said, and Bianca nodded again.
"Right. Well, I think that since we're all together now, and since we've been together all our lives, and since we're starting this journey together . . . then we should take our first step onto Route 1 together, at the same time. You know, because it's so special."
Lea and Cheren glanced at each other, and then back at Bianca. Cheren was the first to speak. "I think it's an excellent idea," he said. "We're in this together, even if we're separated, after all. Why not start at exactly the same time?"
"Yeah!" Lea said, punching the air with her fist. "We're Team Awesome, right? So as Team Awesome, we should totally take the first step together. It's practically tradition."
"Tradition? Since when?" Cheren asked, and Lea grabbed one of his hands, reaching out to grab Bianca's hand as well.
"Since now. Let's go! Are you ready guys?" They lined up on the very edge of town, hand in hand, and nodded.
"I'm ready. On the count of three, right?" Bianca asked, and when she saw the other two nod, began with: "One–"
"–two–"
"–three!" The three of them took one large step onto Route 1.
And if there was some sort of predestination, if there really was some big yarn of fate that was getting ready to tumble, that would have been the moment it did. That moment when they each took their first step out of town, hand in hand—that was when the first domino fell.
Not a single one of them noticed it.
"We did it! We really did it!" Bianca chirped, and she was so excited that her voice shot up an octave. "We officially left town, we're officially Pokèmon Trainers – we did it!"
"I've waited my whole life for this," Cheren murmured, and his smile was one of the widest it had ever been. "I'm finally a Trainer . . . Finally . . ."
"Awww yeah, we're ready to kick some ass and take some names now!" Lea cheered, and she did a little dance on the spot. "The world seriously isn't going to know what hit it. Seriously. We're going to rock every single town we come across! They're just not going to be able to handle us, wait and see!"
"Yeah!" Bianca agreed, and then her eyes widened. "Oh! Um, before I forget, I actually got you guys something . . ."
"What?" Lea exchanged a bewildered look with Cheren as Bianca began to rummage in her bag. "Bi, that wasn't necessary, you didn't have to get us anything . . ."
"Oh, I know, but I got one for myself, too, don't worry. If I could only find . . . here we go!" Bianca finally pulled out a small, square velvet case. As Cheren and Lea watched curiously, she pried the top of the box off, and then carefully examined what was inside before handing one of each to both Lea and Cheren.
"One of each" happened to be a small silver bracelet. Lea took hers carefully, examining it from every angle. It seemed pretty ordinary, at first – just a silver chain bracelet, with two small, flat, rectangular silver plates hooked in at two different points on the chain. But as she examined it, Lea noticed that each small plate was engraved with a name: one of them read Cheren, and the other, Bianca.
"They're friendship bracelets," Bianca explained, talking a little faster, likely due to nerves. "I had them made for us—well, I special ordered them, normally they make bracelets with only one nametag instead of two, but—well, anyway, I had them made for us since I knew that we wouldn't always be able to travel together, but I figured this way we could always—I mean, I know that we'll always remember each other anyway, because I love you guys and I know you feel the same, but I figured this would be a way to keep a little piece of each other always by us, you know? You don't have to wear them if you don't want to, but I just figured–"
"Bianca, you're still as ridiculous as the day I met you," Cheren said, and Lea looked up to see that Bianca was eying him in worry – worry that quickly gave way to happiness as he hooked his bracelet – one which Lea saw bore her name as well as Bianca's – around his wrist. "Of course I'll wear it. I'll never take it off. Thank you."
"Yeah, seriously. This is awesome. Thanks, Bi!" Lea fumbled with hers a little, but quickly got it around her own wrist as well. Bianca beamed, and hastened to clasp her own bracelet around her wrist.
"Thank you, guys—I mean, you're welcome! I mean—ah, well–" Bianca finally managed to get her bracelet clasped, and then looked up at her two best friends with a bright smile. "Well, you know."
"Damn straight we do." Lea gave Bianca a bare toothed grin, and glanced back to give the same to Cheren. "So guys, off to Accumula Town, then?"
"You bet." Cheren grinned, and Bianca – all traces of nervousness gone now – bounced a little ahead of them, clapping her hands in excitement.
"All right, you guys, let's go! And actually, I have a little idea for a contest . . ."