Shauntal frowned over her books. She was flipping through some of her old works to get a sense of what kinds of things she'd already touched on. She reflected on how much she loved talking about relationships between Pokémon and their trainers, but even so, she found herself in a writer's block. Suddenly, she heard a challenger making his way up to her platform, and she quickly leaped over her desk to stand at attention where she was supposed to. In doing so, she inadvertently knocked over a few books onto the floor, but she hadn't time to right them before the challenger appeared. Shauntal opened her mouth to introduce herself, as was customary, but before she could do so, the challenger spoke.
"I'm Ingo, the trainmaster. I'm here to master the Elite Four and champion!"
Shauntal raised her eyebrows and cracked a smile. "I am Shauntal. I enjoy writing about the relationships between trainers and their Pokémon. I haven't got a passage to read for you, because I haven't got any works in progress, so let us begin!"
Shauntal remembered that day like it was yesterday. From the way he sent out his Chandelure so confidently, to when he lost and consoled his Pokémon so. Surprisingly, Ingo himself didn't seemed crushed at all—rather, it seemed to be the Pokémon's dream to conquer and fight, not the trainer's. Shauntal thought it was a very strange but honorable thing for a trainer to do for his Pokémon. Because of that encounter, she'd managed to strike up an idea, and carefully fanning the embers, she'd created a book that became a best-seller. Even now, brooding over her coffee, which she normally never drank, Shauntal was thinking of a year ago.
"Maybe I'll visit him," she wondered out loud.
Alder laughed boisterously. "You've been saying that for the past eleven months!"
Shauntal blushed, and tried ducking behind her coffee cup, which didn't work, given the size of the cup. Ducking under things worked better with books, she found.
Alder shrugged. "Well, we're leaving this coming week for the Hoenn championships. Maybe instead of going, you can take a sick leave and visit around." He winked at her playfully.
"Could I?" she wondered shyly.
Alder cocked his head. "Missing work for recreation? Where's the real Shauntal, missy?" he laughed, but sobered up and messed with his hair. "I suppose you could. I wouldn't mind. To be honest, I hear there might be storms when we get there. Something about orbs...I don't even know!" He flipped a page of the newspaper on the table idly before getting up at heading for the cookie jar.
Shauntal nodded and quietly went back to sipping her coffee. She didn't like the liquid, but the thought of seeing her muse again was enough to make her smile wide.
"Hey, Ingo, why so quiet today?"
Emmet and his twin were out strolling around near the water's edge. At current, Emmet was trying to skip some rocks across the water, but some Stunfisk were beginning to give some cranky looks.
"Oh wait, you're always quiet." Emmet stuck his tongue out at Ingo, who took a swipe at his brother, laughing.
"I'm just thinking about that Elite Four girl who beat me," he said.
"Still can't believe you're not unstoppable?" Emmet teased.
"My Pokémon were the ones who wanted to go; I just gave it my all," Ingo said. "It's just, there's something about the way she was into the battle. It was like she was memorizing it or something. I just wish I had that depth."
Emmet gawked at his brother. "Are you kidding me? You have the most depth I know!" A loud kersplunk punctuated his statement.
Ingo shrugged. "She seemed so interesting. The thing was, even when she won, she looked happy."
Emmet stared more at his twin. "Ingo, lots of people are happy when they win, you know."
"No," Ingo muttered. "It was a different kind. Like the kind of happiness you get from when you understand the world a little more."
Emmet was silent for once, pondering what his brother said.
"I think I get it," Emmet nodded. "I totally felt that way when I learned Psychic was effective against Poison."
Ingo smiled a bit sadly and laughed along. Maybe he was just seeing things.
Shauntal tried several times to ask for directions—she really did! But every time she opened her mouth, the stranger just continued on by.
She looked around, almost ready to give up, when she noticed an official-looking man dressed in white. She decided to ask him for help, and steeled herself for the task.
"Excuse me," she asked timidly, but the commotion around the subway hub drowned out her voice shamelessly. The man began to walk away, but by this time, she'd had enough.
"Excuse me!" she said as loud as she could, grabbing onto the man's long coat. "I need help!"
The man turned around with a smile. The resemblance to him made her stagger back in shock; the unfamiliarity froze her in place.
"Yes? How can I help?" he said.
"I-I need help finding the, um, trainmaster?" she mumbled loudly.
"That'd be me! I'm Emmet!" he proclaimed, jabbing his thumb into his chest.
"Emmet? I thought your name was Ingo..." Shauntal blushed and reflected on the year. Every time she thought of her muse, had she been calling him by the wrong name?
Emmet's face blanked, before he started laughing. "Oh, that's my brother! We're both trainmasters! But he's not here today!"
"Why's that?" Shauntal asked, disappointed.
"Why? Oh, he's...sick," Emmet lied. More like love sick, Emmet thought, shrugging.
"Oh, I sure hope he feels better," Shauntal said loudly, over the din of the subway.
"I have to get going now, but feel free to ride the subway and battle me instead!" he answered, before sidling off to start driving his train.
Shauntal smiled and waved, but dropped the facade when he disappeared from view. She didn't want to battle Emmet—she wanted to see Ingo and battle him again, outside the pressures of the League. Shauntal headed outside sadly, and began wandering around. Seeing a couple of stadiums, she wandered inside, curious to see what was going on. Shauntal saw some people loitering around, waiting for a battle. She approached a pair of fans and smiled.
"Would you like to battle?"
"Oh come on, what do YOU know about offside?!"
Shauntal blinked, and shrank back. She watched on in horror as the two cheerleaders began bickering. She started backing away from the scene when she bumped into someone.
"I'm so sorry-oh!" Shauntal looked up at their face before blushing as madly as she ever had. Ingo!
Ingo, likewise, seemed equally surprised. "Shauntal?"
"What are you doing here?" they both asked at the same time.
"Oh, two people! Now we can double battle like an offside!" said one from the fan pair, sending out her Pokémon.
"If you even know what that means!" said the other, sending out hers.
The two Pokémon masters blinked before sending out their own Pokémon.
The battle was quick, the quality poor. It was obvious from the beginning that the fans cared too little about their Pokémon. At the conclusion of the battle, the fans paid up, but promptly began complaining about their Pokémon's "offside" behavior.
Shauntal had enough.
Ears burning, she closed her eyes and managed, "Can't you see your Pokémon are tired of you?!"
Once she said that, she regretted it. "No, I mean—"
"That's so offside!"
"Yeah, you're such a penalty serve!"
"No, she's right," said Ingo, in his strong voice. "Your Pokémon obviously desire so much more. Look at how they fought to the bitter end, even though they had a clear disadvantage against a Fire type, let alone two. And yet, they kept fighting, because that's their passion. And yet you're ignoring that!"
"Look, it's offside enough to cheer for the game, why can't our Pokémon be happy just being with us?"
"Yeah, penalties!"
Ingo shook his head. "Having a relationship with your Pokémon isn't about taking. It's about taking and giving." He snuck a glance at Shauntal, who was brave enough to speak up for what she saw and believed. "You can't just go around selfishly indulging in your own desires. Your Pokémon are your partners, and they deserve happiness too! They enjoy you, but they also enjoy other things, just as you enjoy them and those sports!"
Ingo paused, before speaking again. "Stop being so...offside, and look at things from your Pokémon's perspective."
Shauntal and Ingo saw the Litwicks in their eyes light up, as the pair began to comprehend.
"Ohhh, if you say it like that...we were being pretty penalty about this offside."
"Yeah, I think we'll go reflect on our offsides offside." As the two left the stadium, Shauntal turned to Ingo.
"That was great," she sighed. "The way you stood up for those Pokémon's happiness...It was amazing! And battling against you was nothing compared to battling with you!"
Ingo shook his head. "No, you were the one who spoke up first. If you hadn't said anything, I wouldn't have said anything either." He smiled at Shauntal. "I thought you were the braver one today. It's easy to follow in someone's tracks, but it's harder to actually start laying them down."
Suddenly, Ingo had an insight. "Why are you here, anyway?"
Shauntal's first reaction was to hide, but she hadn't brought any books to duck behind, so she had to stand her ground.
"Well, I know it's been such a long time, but I just really wanted to see you again. You were so inspiring to me, and you lifted me out of a writer's block." She shifted her weight uncomfortably. "I just wanted to see you again..." But why?
Ingo looked as though he was torn between saying something and waiting for her to collect her thoughts. If she can be brave enough to speak her mind, I can be brave enough to speak mine.
"Do you want to go to the park—?"
"—I like you."
They both looked at each other in surprise, then turned away in embarrassment.
"I...I want to spend more time with you," Shauntal said shyly.
"I want to get to know you more, too," Ingo blushed. "I'm going to confess, I should actually be somewhere else right now, but I couldn't stop thinking about you," he said. "Since it's our one year anniversary of meeting," he added.
"Yes, but Emmet seems to be holding up fine," Shauntal said, reflecting.
"You know Emmet?" Ingo asked in surprise.
"I-I asked for directions from him. He seemed nice," Shauntal said.
Ingo's heart almost broke. If Shauntal got to know Emmet, his brother would probably overshadow him.
"But he doesn't compare to you," she whispered.
And so, for the most times she'd ever been brave in her life, Shauntal steeled herself and hugged Ingo. Not only because she felt he needed it, but because she felt he wasn't prepared to do it himself, and more than anything, she wanted to spend time with this wonderful man, as close as possible. Ingo's features softened, and soon, his face melted into a smile that had never expressed so much happiness.
"Thank you, Shauntal," he said to her, as his arms wrapped around her.
"Thank you, my muse," she said back.
They left the stadium, encircled in each other's arms, feeling closer to each other than anyone else in their lives.
The end