It had only been three days since Macey had moved to Hoenn, and she already hated it. Petalburg isn't nearly as exciting as what her sister was buttering it up to be. However, she shouldn't judge the new region just yet, as she hadn't even been outside of Petalburg yet.
"Why did Bexley leave for the Pokemon Leage as soon as we got here? She didn't even get to see her new room." Macey complained to her grandmother, who was knitting on a box of packed shirts.
Her grandmother gave her a wrinkled smile, her eyes closed peacefully, as if completely relaxed. She peered over to her granddaughter in the living room, slumping on their recently unpacked sofa.
"Bexley will come back in a few days, don't worry. She's just really excited about being a part of the Elite Four, so can you wait just a little bit longer?" Her grandmother asked her, in the sweet tone that guilt-tripped the thirteen-year old into staying silent.
We always wait for her...Not the other way around, Macey thought to herself, and laid back on the couch, closing her eyes. She could hear the gentle tapping of her grandma's knitting needles touching, which sent her on a train of thought.
I still remember the day Bexley returned from her journey, back in Sinnoh... Macey's mind was clear as the flashback played in her mind.
It was a calm day in the small Snowpoint City, the town embraced with gentle snow after a harsh blizzard, and the citizens were eagerly tending to their own business, and the children were playing out in the snow, finally able to be out of their cramped houses.
Macey stared up at the sky, laying down in a pile of snow. The sound of complete silence was enough to make her go to sleep, despite the cold and wet mattress of snow underneath her.
"Sneasel!" She heard a voice at her side. Macey turned around, only to have snow smeared onto her face.
"Ack-!" She shouted, flinching before returning to her sitting position. Her vision was blurry from the snow in her eyes but she was well aware of who the culprit was.
She laughed as she pushed the snow around her eyes off her face, before playfully tackling her Sneasel.
They tumbled into a pile of snow, and soon Macey was swimming in a pile of it. She poked her head out of the pile, only to find her Sneasel looking at her with mischief, with a claw full of snow.
However, unlike last time, Macey swiftly dodged the attack and grabbed a handful of snow, and crafted it into a mini-snowball, and smashed it into Sneasel's face. She laughed as he squirmed to get the particles off his eyes, before whipping off the snow with her glove. Soon the Sneasel also joined in her giggle party, as they played outside of Snowpoint, at the gate of Lake Acuity.
They effortlessly stomped through the snow as they went back to Snowpoint, something you pick up once you've lived there your entire life. Macey was eager to finally see her sister again, since she'd been gone for almost a year, to travel throughout the region of Hoenn. Bexley was always the exploring type, and Macey could tell she disliked being cooped up in Snowpoint.
"You think we could take her on in a battle?" Macey asked Sneasel, in which he replied with a cocky, "Sneasel!"
Macey grinned at her pokemon's confidence, but she knew she couldn't beat her sister. Bexley was a very avid pokemon battler, and she even trained with Candice, their city's gym leader, and known throughout Snowpoint as their #2 trainer, behind Candice, of course.
As soon as Macey and Sneasel approached the welcome sign to the town, shouting could be heard. The noise was followed by clapping and whistling, so what was it? Macey turned to her partner pokemon, who was following the source of the sound.
As he lead her to the noises, she caught a large crowd of people in her eye, in the center of town. She noticed they were watching something, the audience hyped with cheers and calls. The two approached a man spectating the scene, and Macey tugged on his shirt, the man peering over his shoulder to her.
"What's going on?" Macey asks the man, trying to look through the crowd of people.
The man smiles and turns his head towards the scene, "Someone's challenged Candice, and she's giving her a run for her money!" He replied, before being completely immersed in the battle in front of him.
Just before Macey could react, a Noivern flew up into the sky, with a storm of leaves homing in on it. The pokemon easily evaded the sharp leaves, before generating a shadow ball and aiming it to the ground, where it left a moderate shock wave. The crowd was silent for a second, before erupting into applause.
"Snover is unable to battle! Noivern wins!" Macey heard a woman's voice.
After the climax of the battle, the crowd quickly dispersed, and Macey finally got to see the two battlers. On the left side of the town center, Candice was gently petting her fainted Snover, before putting it back into its pokeball. She then walked up to the other side, where a familiar girl was talking to Macey's grandmother.
"Bexley!" She called towards her older sister, Sneasel following near her.
Bexley peered from her conversation, to be ambushed by a surprise hug.
"Woah, hey sis!" She laughed, releasing herself from Macey's grip. Her noivern glowered down at Macey and Sneasel, as if studying them. Sneasel immediately became unnerved, and hid behind his trainer.
"What kind of pokemon is that?" Macey asked, amazed at the large bat. Bexley stroked her noivern's fur, and it gently nudged its head against her cheek.
"Noivern's a pokemon I found in Hoenn. It's actually from Kalos, though." She explained, and Noivern's hostile glare towards Macey and Sneasel returned to a neutral one.
The rest of the afternoon was Bexley talking to Macey and their grandmother about Hoenn, how many friends she's made, and how she even tried to take on the champion, but failed miserably.
"Hoenn sounds pretty cool," Macey sat on her bed with Bexley and her grandmother, "But at least you're back in Sinnoh with us." She sighed with relief.
As soon as she said those words, however, Bexley's expression became nervous.
"About that..." She trailed off, leaving Macey on a not-so pleasant tone.
Bexley then began to talk about how she was offered to be a part of the elite four, to replace Elite Four Drake while he would be overseas.
"It's only temporary, though." Bexley reminded, "He'll be done sailing in a few years, and he'll get his position back." But none of this sounded appealing to Macey.
She got into a heated argument with her sister, trying to dissuade the older one from leaving again, but she ignored it. After a week of quarreling over the topic, the grandmother had enough.
"You can go to Hoenn, Bexley." She stated, but she put her hand on Macey's shoulder.
"But if you go, we all go."
Once the flashback ended, Macey opened her eyes, to find that it was pitch black outsidee, and all the lights were off. She could feel the warmth of a quilt her grandmother knitted, around her neck.
She heard small snores, and looked at the floor, to find Sneasel lazily napping on the carpet. Smiling a bit, she patted the pokemon's head and closed her eyes, going to sleep.
So I bet you're wondering why a Noivern would be found in Hoenn. It's a complicated backstory that will be revealed later on, so hold on!