Cora surveys the outfits with a critical eye. Not her best work, no, but they're eye-catching and girly and they'll fit the song well. At least this time she doesn't have to design matching outfits for the pokémon too.
Mimi's got the bellossom dress, of course – as the youngest, she's the cute one, as well as lead singer and center stage. Jade's the beautiful one and so she gets gardevoir, and Teresa's obviously got gothitelle as the dark one. Sera and Sunny flank them as sexy and flirty respectively, with jynx and lopunny.
Cora nods. Capture*Heart's all set for tomorrow.
Val's keyboard clacks furiously as she types, then stutters to a halt. What next? She's got her heroine all set, brave and bold and curious, but what for her hero? Dark and smoulderingly sexy, of course – bad boys are popular right now, and she ever aims to please – but…
Her mightyena whines at her from the kitchen, and an idea sparks. Not an actual pokémon (she does have standards), but perhaps a pokémorph, with furry ears and sharp fangs and arrogance hiding a wounded heart. Yes.
"I could just eat you up," he murmurs, and her keyboard clacks once more.
The warehouse is eerily quiet, even for midnight, but Neri's not really worried. Devon put way too much faith in their electronics, and unlike that idiot Gaston, she's come prepared. Gastly hides her passage with illusions, Noctowl's her getaway pokémon, and finally there's her trump card – a porygon. Sure, she had to cash in a few debts over in Celadon to get one, but this is worth it.
It zaps into the eye scanner and the door's open without a trace of her passage. Neri nips in, grabs the prototype, and is out of there before the dust settles.
Perfect.
Yvette sighs at the sight of the litleo. "Excuse me, miss," she calls to its trainer, and points to the sign that says 'Cyllage City Library – fire- and water-types restricted from access'.
"Oh! Oh, um, I'm sorry, I didn't see that," the girl stammers. She's quiet for a moment, then her face brightens. "Um, could you maybe help me with something?"
"Sure."
"I'm, um, challenging Grant soon, but I've only got Blaze. Do you know…" and she trails off, flushed with embarrassment.
Yvette smiles warmly. "I think you'll want this section over here," and leads her to 796: Battle Strategy.
The witness is babbling something about punishment from Arceus, but Adila is having none of it. She slams her hand on the desk.
"Your Honour, my client has never owned a pure poison-type!"
"He could have released it," suggests Prosecutor Cage, but she shakes her head.
"There's no record of such on his trainer ID. Furthermore, it is impossible that he would have ever used a poison-type, as my client suffered a horrific poisoning as a child that still traumatises him to this day!"
The courtroom breaks into excited whispers, and she grins. Looks like things are finally turning around.
The first time she teleports, Reina throws up and then sits in a corner shuddering for a good half-hour. It had felt – it had felt like she'd stopped existing for a second, and then she and her xatu had blipped back in as though it were just another Sunday.
"Most people feel the same. You get used to it," her commander says sympathetically, giving her and the rest of her squad leave for the afternoon. But even though she's apprehensive, she needs to master this.
Reina's a soldier – she made it through rookies, and she'll make it through this, too.
It's Eterna's tri-annual Junior Catcher Weekend, and since Yun Hee doesn't have anything better to do, she figures why not join in. The idea's that children without a pokémon can go with a senior trainer into the local forest and have help in catching something – it's volunteer work, of course, but anyone who helps out gets a free pizza coupon, and that's a good enough cause for her.
Then again, she reflects wryly, looking at how the kid's eyes shine with joy at the new kricketot clutched in his arms, maybe I am doing it for more than the pizza.
Brynja grimaces when they bring the next one, a shuppet with a gash in its skirt. She hates operating on ghost-types – even with psychic reinforcement, they always phase through the table. The wound's only seeping black gas, though, so stitches will be probably enough.
Once the shuppet's solid enough, Brynja takes a needle (true-forged steel to pierce) and thread (salt-soaked shroud to bind) and skillfully closes the incision. Then she closes her eyes and thinks darkly about her brother, who only works fifteen hours a week instead of fifty.
When she opens them, the shuppet's grinning and healthy once more.
"Okay, so Matt is Groudon, Tia Kyogre, and Yuri Rayquaza. Tori can be Team Magma, I'll be Team Aqua, and Badria will play May. Everyone okay with that?"
The other students nod. "My mum said she'd help with costumes," Matt offers.
"Oh! And our big sister said we can borrow one of her contest pokémon!" says Tori.
"For special effects, you know?" Tia chimes in. "Like making it misty or windy or something."
"I'll help with the script," Badria says softly.
Thanh grins at her friends. "Looks like we're all set, then! This is gonna be the best school play."
"I'll give you a treat later," Kahu wheedles, trying to entice her recalcitrant luxio into working again. They've well and truly finished their hourly break, and the supervisor's tapping his watch. But Haki just huffs at her and rolls over. Kahu sighs and marks it on her timesheet.
Aihe is still running around, sparking playfully at pokémon and workers both, so Kahu scoops her up and takes her to where her manectric, Ira, is waiting patiently by their collector harnesses. Kahu buckles them both in, and the air crackles with static discharge as second shift at the power plant begins.
"So, are you ready to fly with us today?" Gwen asks cheerfully. The girl, Marie, looks terrified – she can't be older than eight – but gives her a resolute nod. "Great! Seeing as how this is your first time, we'll be on pidgeot – I know, I know, you were probably eyeing the charizard, but those guys are pretty temperamental. So first step is literally that – put your foot in the stirrup here, and swing your other leg over."
She helps the girl up, shows her how to lean forward correctly, secures the carabiner between harness and saddle, double-checks Marie's parachute (Gwen's never had an accident, but you can never be too careful) and then finally she mounts her own bird. "Ready?" she calls.
"Yes," Marie manages to croak.
"Great! Samiel, Simoon, take-off!" Wind and dust buffet her goggles as the great wings beat and they slowly, jerkily lift, then the two pidgeot stabilise and they're soaring over the Kanto countryside.
"This is incredible!" Marie screams to her across the gap, her whole face and demeanour transformed by her beaming smile. And yeah, maybe being a recreational flight instructor doesn't really pay the bills, but that doesn't mean it's not worth it.
Note: Despite what the word-count says, these are actually proper drabbles at a hundred words each, save the last which is two hundred. Anyway, please let me know what you thought of them.