Hello there! This is a four-part story involving the Striaton Trio post BW2. This first entry, from Chili's POV, is actually a polished-up drabble from an old drabble tag, but it felt like the best intro to this story.

This story is dedicated to my friend reppad98 :). It is also for the General Prompt Challenge on Pokemon Fanfiction Challenges (where I also met reppad) using prompt 83 - Figment.

Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon, I'd have the Striaton Trio as my three chefs :D. But I don't, so popcorn and Doritos it is..

Rootbound

Pokeball 1: Chili

"Hey, everybody, look at me!" Marth, Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Chili had a problem. It was a problem worse than poor tips, spoiled meals and lost battles. It was worse than cold days, rude customers, and getting lost in Castelia City after dark. It was even worse than that one time when he got burned by his angry Pansear, and neither Cilan or Cress were home.

He wanted out of the Striaton Gym.

He hadn't told his brothers, those siblings he was supposed to be perfectly in sync with. "In sync" didn't mean being exactly like them: they had always been different from each other. But it was because of those differences that they could perform perfectly together, balance each other out. Others joked that they were weak because it took three of them to run a single Gym, but that was the point. Their Gym went beyond a single type of Pokemon. Their badge represented teamwork and unity. That was just as important for beginning Trainers to learn as type differences, wasn't it? So those other Gym Leaders could jeer all they wanted, because it was never going to change. It was the way it had always been. It was the way it should be.

So why did he want it to end? Why did he want to tear through the walls like a rampaging Boufflalant and rush into the wilderness? Alone? He had never been alone, and had never wanted to be alone. Until now. He didn't understand it.

Did he want all the glory to himself? He always liked attention, and it didn't matter who it was from, whether children, adults, or Pokemon. Even Cilan had said what a ham he could be. But geez, that was nothing compared to Cress's ego, wasn't it? Why was he being blamed for something that was more Cress's problem? Why did Cilan lecture him, as if he were a parent instead of a brother only a few minutes older than him? Why couldn't he just be himself. Why couldn't he…

…Maybe it would be nice to strike out on his own, and not have to share anything with his brothers. But that was selfish, wasn't it?

But he began to notice something. The way Cilan was especially quiet. The way Cress's elegant words started having a trace of curtness to them, even when he smiled. How Cilan preferred to do the cleaning by himself in the evening, even though their extra help would have finished the job much faster. How Cress glared at Chili when he dropped and broke a dish

It wasn't just him. They were all breaking. They all wanted out.

That unity…When did it become just a figment?

IIIIII

I always found that sudden competitiveness the Striaton Trio had post-BW2 strange and kind of sad. But natural too, I suppose.

I'll try to update this fairly quickly. I'll see if I can have this complete by the end of January.

Happy New Year everyone! :D