CHAPTER 2 | THE FIRST NIGHT
Arilla had spent the majority of the day just sitting and lounging around. In the early morning she had woke up way before her aunt and Nicholas. She had taken that opportunity to go outside and practice some Contest moves with her Pokemon. Unlike other Pokemon, Arilla's were not rowdy. That was one of the reasons why she had pick those three as her starters. They were calm, collected, and poised. So, naturally while they were training they were very quiet and didn't create unneeded nosies. Her Snivy had the most grace out of the three, Oshawott had the most personality and visual joy, and Fennikin had the most beauty.
Now she was sitting underneath a tree leaning against it's trunk. Her original three Pokemon were socializing with the newly added Pachirisu. The four of them were basking in a patch of sunlight that had filtered down through gaps in the tree's leaves. Arilla knew that Pachirisu didn't evolve and would stay the same forever. But her other three would eventually evolve. Arilla had done some research on starters evolved forms before she came to the Sinnoh Region. She liked Fennikin's two future evolutions and planned to fully evolve her someday. Arilla also liked Snivy's two future evolutions and would also fully evolve her. But, with Oshawott, Arilla didn't like her third/final form. It did not fit the Contest idea of what the visual Pokemon should look like. So Oshawott would only evolve into her second form, no further.
The sun was on it's way down streaking the sky with brilliant colors. Painted across the sky was vibrant areas of colors. There was some soft pinks, lush purples, a few light traces of blue, some fiery reds, bright yellows, and powerful oranges. It was a wonder sight to see and Arilla smiled when she looked at it.
Since the sun was setting that meant dinner was needed to be made. Arilla was the cook of their little group and was happy to do so. She had planned the first week of meals so that she wouldn't have to come up with things on the spot. Tonight they would be having a barbecue. Her aunt had sent her off with multiple slices of meat for their journey. Arilla had a grill sheet that she would set over the fire. But first a fire had to be made.
"Snivy and Pachirisu, you to go into the forest a little and pick up some sticks and stones for the fire pit. I'll send Robert with you two so he can pick up bigger logs." Arilla began. She turned her head to face Robert and called out to him. "Hey Robert, go into the woods with Snivy and Pachirisu and gather some firewood for dinner." He nodded and walked over to them and wandered into the trees with the Pokemon.
"Now you Oshawott, fill this bucket up with water please, just for safety reasons. Fennikin when they return with the wood you will light it okay?" She said to her other two Pokemon. They both nodded showing that they understood their tasks and Oshawott began to fill the bucket with water.
Arilla looked over at Nicholas and Sara. They were sitting in a circle with all of their Pokemon. Arilla really adored Sara's Eevee. Arilla would love to have an Eevee on her team. Thinking about her team Arilla pulled out her Contest catalog from her backpack. It had a full list of every single Contest that was scheduled to take place in the Sinnoh Region. The next one was in Jubilife City, and then there was one in Canalave City but they would have to go out of their way to get there. Another one was in Oreburg City, then one in Floraroma Town, and another in Enterna City, then two in Hearthome City, and Arilla kept reading on thru the dates. Then she got to the Grand Festival, it would be in Sunnyshore City. Arilla already had two ribbons from the Unova Region, and now she just need three more to be able to compete in the Sinnoh Region's Grand Festival. Before she had left for the Sinnoh Region Arilla had made sure to get her Contest Pass, this allowed her to compete in other Region's Contests. The two ribbons Arilla had were, a minty green with white tips and a leaf shaped golden plate in the center with the small red sphere. Her second one was a light orange with Y shaped white lines on it, the golden plated center was in the shape of a rhombus.
Arilla had been so caught up in the thought of Contests that she didn't notice that Robert and her Pokemon had returned with the firewood and stones.
"Oh Snivy you can start making a circle with the stones and if you two could just set all the wood in one pile that'd be nice. Fennikin I am going to need your fire in a minute." She said. Arilla took out a pad of paper that she kept in her backpack. She tore out two pieces and ripped them into stripes. Then she places the wood carefully inside of the circle of stones and then crumpled up the paper and placed it accordingly. "Okay Fennikin, just blow a little flame onto the crumpled paper. " Arilla instructed. Fennikin did as she was told and within the next few minutes they had a nice fire going.
When the fire was hot enough Arilla unwrapped the packages of meat. She set them on the grill that was placed over the fire and watched them sizzle and start to cook. Then she took out her prongs and spatula. Every few minutes Arilla checked the meat with the prongs and if needed she flipped it over to its other side with the spatula. Once the meet was cooking nicely she set up to start making the other things for dinner. Along with their barbecued meat they would be having a nice selection of vegetables and different kinds of berries. The vegetables and berries had been picked fresh this morning from her aunt's garden. The smell of the cooking meat brought over Robert, Nicholas, Sara, and all their Pokemon too. The three of them took out eating utensils and some disposable plates. When the meat was finished cooking Arilla took it off the grill with the prongs and set it on a platter.
Nicholas reached for the platter holding the meat with a fork, Arilla saw him out of the corner of her eye. She slapped his hand away and said "No! You'll wait until everything is finished. Patience."
"But it smells so good, and I'm starving!" Nicholas whined. He was rubbing his previously slapped hand.
"Just wait, jeez Nicholas you act as if you've never been fed before." Arilla replied. It made Robert smirk a little. "The Pokemon food is over there, there is some for everyone." Arilla added. Because all of their Pokemon were giving her big wide eyes. They all turned around and saw the bowls each with their own PokeFood in it and they all ran over and started eating.
She started dishing out their food. Arilla gave everyone two slices of the meat and a large side dish of the berries and vegetables. Right away Nicholas began shoveling his all down his throat. Arilla just sighed and rolled her eyes. She began eating like a civilized person with her fork and knife. The four of them were all quiet except for the clattering and scraping of the silverware on the plate. Arilla looked over at all the other Pokemon, almost all of them had finished eating. Now they were lounging around, some were flat on their backs with their full bellies and some were laying across each other and were falling asleep. Arilla saw that Robert caught her gaze and followed it to the Pokemon. His three were all asleep on the grass. His Chespin was sleeping on her back and snorting softly. Robert's Tepig was curled up along with his Squirtle. Arilla watched Robert pull out his three PokeBalls and return his Pokemon to them.
The sky had turned dark now, the moon was rising and stars were beginning to appear. The fire's light was all the light they had besides the pale moon. Since Arilla was now thinking of the fire she called Fennikin over to boost it back up again, it was very small now. Fennikin pranced over and lightly blew on the dwindling flames. They swelled back to a larger size and so did the heat from the fire. Arilla hadn't realized how chilly it had gotten. The Sinnoh Region was much colder then the Unova Region, even in summer time. Sinnoh was the northern-est Pokemon Region.
"Hey Fennikin, bring Snivy, Oshawott, and Pachirisu over here." Arilla said. The fox Pokemon nodded and pranced away again. She returned with Arilla's other three Pokemon. The four of them looked up at Arilla eagerly. "Tomorrow we start Contest training. So get a good night's sleep." Arilla told her Pokemon. Their first contest was going to be in Jubilife City, which was just one town over.
Arilla looked back up at the sky again, the stars were bright tonight. Some people would take that as a sign, an omen, or even a message. Arilla thought of it as a bright future. They would always be guided by the stars during the hours of the night. Even during the day the stars were out, but they were not visible against the sun. Arilla looked up all them with wide eyes, she enjoyed the faint shimmer of them. The air here in Sinnoh was much clearer and sort of a more sense of purity. Or maybe that was because Arilla was a city girl, she was born and raised in Castelia City in Unova. Though these rural and countrysides of Sinnoh captured her eyes with joy. She liked all the free space and not having everything super crowded. She felt like she could finally stretch and take a breath of fresh air. Obviously, Arilla was not homesick. It helped that she had some of her family here too, so it wasn't full submersion.
The Pokemon Contests back in Unova were quite different too, in comparison to Sinnoh's. On the long flight from Unova to Sinnoh Arilla had watched various Sinnoh Contest battles and judge appeals that had been aired on television. She had the previous five Sinnoh Grand Festival's on recording too. Those were very interesting to watch and Arilla had taken lots of notes on them. That would be easier than having to watch the videos again just to find the same information she had already written down. There was this 'Double Performances' that Arilla had heard and seen, those were very intriguing to her. The ability to use two Pokemon in a contest was thrilling. She could use Fennikin and Oshawott for a whole fire vs. water rivalry. Or she could go for the cool and graceful water and grass with Oshawott and Snivy. Or the dazzling effect of Fennikin and Pachirisu. Or even the bright combination of Oshawott and Pachirisu together. Just thinking of all the combinations were exciting Arilla.
Now that Arilla was thinking of Contests, her mind wandered to her journal she kept. She had a record of every Pokemon pair she had bred and the offspring. Arilla sold Pokemon Eggs for money which helped pay for the fees of being a Coordinator. Arilla set her plate down and Sara picked it up as she, Nicholas, and Robert started cleaning up. One of the perks of being the cook, the others have to clean up when it's over. Arilla stood up and walked over to her backpack. In one of the pockets she pulled out her journal that she kept. The journal was a hardcover with a slip of black ribbon that was attached somewhere to the book in the binding of it, with it she marked her place. On the cover of the book there were small framed pictures of her with her Unova Pokemon. There were several, one was of the day she first went out on her Pokemon journey. They were pictures of her winning her two ribbons and some other contests that she had not won. Arilla flipped open the well worn book to her previous entry, it had been multiple weeks back before she had left for the Sinnoh Region.
May
A fellow Coordinator gave me her two Pokemon, a female Vulpix, and a male Growlithe to breed. I let the two Pokemon do their thing and I checked on them a few hours latter, they had an egg with them. When they were finished in total there were four eggs. Three Growlithes, one male and two female, and one female Vulpix. The Coordinator was very happy, she paid me extra for what we had agreed on.
Arilla read the entry and remember the other Coordinator, she had short brown hair and brown eyes, she was tall and liked fire types. Arilla turned back a page and proceeded to read more of her entries.
Today I bred a Glameow, female, and a male Leafeon. They had already been a nice breeding pair for me and I can come to rely on them for there services. After they had finished breeding, and after I had gotten them set up, there were a whopping six eggs. Evenly split between them, three Eevees and three Glameows. Of the Eevees they ended up all male. And the Glameows, two female and one male. Of the three Eevees, I sold one to a couple who were going to give it to their son on his birthday which was the next day as his present and he would start his journey too. The second Eevee was sold to a Coordinator, he told me that he planned to evolve it into an Espeon someday. The third Eevee went to an elderly lady who had a whole bunch of Eevees and their evolutions. She said that this one would complete her long search to attain all the Eevee evolutions. She paid me double then what I had set for the price. As for the Glameows, one male went to a female trainer who was looking for a good normal type Pokemon for her team. One of the female Glameows one was bought as to be more of a stay home Pokemon. And the last one was sold to a young trainer girl who was claiming to be the best.
This afternoon brought me another breeding. I came across a Poliwrath, female, and a Golduck, male. They two seemed to like each other so I had them breed. They had made a small amount, only two. And both were Poliwags, both female two. The lady who bought them said she was going to have them in her large garden to have a easy and relaxing life.
"What'cha reading?"
The voice broke Arilla out of her phase and she looked up in the dim light to see Sara standing next to her. She had changed clothes into some nightwear, she was wearing some charcoal grey sweatpants and a t-shirt that had a faded image on it, the t-shirt looked big on her. Her hair was down and came to her chest. The fire light was flickering in her eyes, the flames were dancing in her pupils.
"Oh, it's just my records of all the Pokemon I've bred." Arilla said. She sat down next to her backpack, slightly rattled since Sara snapped her back to reality.
"Can I see it?" She asked as she sat down next to Arilla. Arilla handed the journal to her. Sara held it gently and flipped through the pages and skimmed through them. Sara read them the entries rather quickly and then handed the book back to Arilla. "That's really neat. Cool that you've bred so many Pokemon and had lots of positive outcomes." Sara said. Arilla nodded.
"You know, we do have a good amount of pairs that can bred just with our own Pokemon." Arilla said, a hint of excitement in her voice.
"Really? I don't know much about breeding, really I all know is that you see a male and a female Pokemon, and something about egg groups." Sara said with a smile.
"Yeah I know all the special needs for breeding Pokemon. But I think you know that already. From our Pokemon these are the ones that I think will breed nicely." Arilla said, and then paused before going on. "Turtwig and Snivy. Charmander and Treeko. Torchic could bred with Fennikin, Shinx, Eevee, or Pachirsui." Arilla said finishing her list.
Sara was silent for a few moments while she thought, then she spoke. "I think that we should do all of them that you said! But for my Torchic I think he should only breed with Fennikin and Eevee." Sara proposed.
"Sure, why not! I'll get my materials ready." Arilla said. Normally she never did three different breedings at one time, but hey she would have help with this. Even though Sara didn't know much about it. Plus this way they would get a lot of eggs to sell or maybe keep. Arilla pulled out her breeding things from her bag. It really only had a few things, most of the breeding just needed the Pokemon to follow through. Arilla had her egg cases, some blankets and Pokemon treats. While Sara explained to Nicholas what they would be doing and getting the Pokemon over to Arilla, Arilla went into the woods a little bit to make the four different little sections for where the breeding would be happening. They were only four feet in lengths and width. The Pokemon liked to be cozy and close. But for the space in between each spot she did approximately twenty feet.
Sara brought over the seven Pokemon that would be doing the breeding. She had them next to their partner. She had evenly spaced them out and they looked ready to go. Arilla took each pair one by one to their little spot. She would start with Turtwig and Snivy. She fed each of them the special treats that were only supost to be used during breeding. Once the two of them were situated she left them to it and went back to Sara and the waiting Pokemon. Next she took Charmander and Treeko, surprisingly they shared an egg group. They ate the treats and could hardly wait before getting right to it. Since they were off to a good start Arilla went back for Torchic, Fennikin, and Eevee. Arilla was not worried about them getting hurt or anything or which female would be receiving Torchic's attention, Pokemon had a weird way of working that stuff out and everyone ends up happy. The three of them ate their share of treats and proceeded with the breeding.
Arilla returned to Sara and smiled. "Now we wait."
...
...
An hour and a half later is when Arilla went to check up on the Pokemon. While they were waiting the four of them, her, Nicholas, Robert, and Sara had been chatting and enjoying the evening. The fire was still going, they had added a few more logs to it. During that time Arilla had changed into her sleepwear and prepared herself for bed. She pulled on her slippers or as she prefers people call them, her super comfortable light weight shoes.
Sara hopped out of her sleeping bag and followed behind Arilla to check up on the Pokemon. Arilla thought that they would all be done by now since none of them have ever bred before. But who knows, maybe some of them were super shy before proceeding. She planned to start in the order of how they began. The two of them walked over to where Turtwig and Snivy where, they were laying down next to each other, almost asleep. With them were three eggs. Arilla was so happy, her little Snivy had done very well, and thanks to Turtwig too. Arilla pet the two Pokemon. She knew from past experience that they would both want to sleep next to their eggs.
Arilla picked up one egg and handed it to Sara and picked up the other two. They walked back to where Nicholas and Robert were and had the two sleep grass type Pokemon daddling behind them. Arilla had grabbed the blankets too and told Nicholas to make a nice comfortable nest for the Pokemon to sleep in along with their eggs. Snivy and Turtwig slipped right into the circle blanket nest and curled up next to each other while making sure that all of their eggs were in good condition.
Arilla and Sara walked back to where Charmander and Treeko were. They had two eggs and were awake, but they seemed kind of tired. Arilla saw that Sara was really proud of her Treeko and praised it. They each carried an egg and made their way back to the guys where they had made a second nest. The fire and grass type Pokemon went to bed just like Turtwig and Snivy.
The last three were still waiting and had separated their eggs. Torchic was in the middle, right in between the two clusters of eggs. On his left side Fennkin had two eggs, and on his left side it was Eevee with three. Arilla picked up Fennikin's eggs and watched as Sara managed to get Eevee's three. They walked back with the three Pokemon and thankfully Robert was making their nest bigger since it had to fit more eggs and three Pokemon. They fell asleep just in the same positions as how they were found.
All seven Pokemon were fast asleep now and some how touching all of their eggs with some part of their body. To keep the heat in, since eggs need splendid conditions, they put a blanket across the top of each little blanket nest. This way the Pokemon and their eggs would stay nice and warm. The blankets were great for keeping the heat in and they were keeping all the Pokemon and eggs close together.
"Wow. You two did really well. I've never seen so many eggs at one time." Nicholas said with a yawn.
"Nicely done. Are you planning on selling all of them?" Robert asked them.
"Maybe, it depends." Arilla answered him and she yawned too. "Dang it Nicholas, now you've made me tired."
"Sorry..." he mumbled. His head was buried in his pillow while the rest of him was hidden by his sleeping bag.
"Haha." Sara laughed weakly, she was not yawning, yet. They were all tired. Even though they had not really traveled that far today.
"Goodnight you guys." Sara said as she slipped back into her sleeping bag. They each responded, but Nicholas had some kind of mumbled reply that was drowned out by the pillow. Arilla went into hers and laid on her stomach. Nicholas was face down into his pillow, he was probably sleeping already and he was to Arilla's right. Sara was to her left and lying on her back which left Robert across from her. The fire that was in front of them was down to the last little bit. Just embers and a few cinders left. Arilla rolled onto her back and once again looked back up at the stars. They were even more visible now from the darker sky, and the fire was basically gone now. She could see them twinkling and others had a shimmery glow.
"Arilla?" Robert asked quietly.
"Yeah?" she whispered.
"I hope you have a good idea for breakfast. Nicholas never stops eating, and he was talking about it earlier while you and Sara were getting the breeding situated." He replied.
"Yeah I do. If you want one of the eggs you can, or if you want to have an egg but sell it or maybe even trade it for another Pokemon. I heard Sinnoh does a lot of trading." Arilla responded.
"Yeah. Okay. Goodnight Arilla, see you in the morning." Robert said.
"Goodnight." She said. Arilla looked up at the stars one last time before closing her eyes. She had no idea that there was someone in the bushes watching them.