Chapter 3: Stunted Stories Steeped in Tea
During the lull between lunch and dinner, when the restaurant was closed and the brothers had some time to themselves, they decided to take Celeste on a short tour of their establishment. They had already shown her around the kitchen—
"You mean this thing is for washing dishes?" she'd asked curiously, examining the large metal box of a commercial dishwasher they had in the back.
"Yes it is," Cress had affirmed. "Scald, Bubble, and Soak, as I always say."
—and around the rest of the café, so of course they had saved the best for last.
There were three sets of double doors that led out of the dining area; one for the kitchen, one for their residential quarters that also led up to the second and third floors, and one other which the triplets and their new acquaintance now stood before.
"You ready?" Chili asked. Celeste nodded, curious to know what it was behind those doors that was so special. The brothers pushed open the doors and Celeste gasped in surprise; inside was, of all things, a large open battlefield and a spectator's balcony.
"A gym," she spoke. She walked out into the middle of the field and gazed around in awe. "I've never been to an actual gym before. No wonder your building is so fancy…" She turned to the triplets with a look of admiration. "Which one of you is the gym leader?"
"All three of us!" Chili pumped his fist into the air. "I fight with Fire type!"
"My specialty is Water type," Cress stated, holding his palms out.
"And I like Grass type," Cilan said, crossing his arms behind his head as he beamed.
"Wow," Celeste whispered. "I'm going to have to challenge each of you." She paused before adding, "When I have more Pokémon, that is."
"Oh?" Cilan asked curiously. "Is Eevee your, uh, only Pokémon right now?"
Celeste nodded. "I haven't exactly started my journey yet…" she admitted wearily. "It's…a rather long story."
"Would you like to join us for tea?" Cress asked. "You can tell us a little about it." He and his brothers led Celeste into the back hallway and into the tearoom. She thanked them quietly and took a seat on a cushion around a small table. She gazed up around the room while the triplets went around preparing the tea. It was nice and bright from the sunlight filtering in through the large window in the back; she quite liked it.
"So," Chili began as he heated the teapot. "Tell us a little about yourself."
"Oh, um, well I just moved to Unova from Kanto…" Celeste said.
"To Striaton City?" Cilan asked, adding in the tea leaves.
"Yeah. I just got here yesterday," she said. "When you found me," she added, nodding her head towards Cilan. "As you can probably tell I haven't really familiarized myself with this place yet…" They didn't blame her; it was a fairly large city.
"What exactly happened to you yesterday?" Cress asked.
Celeste tilted her head. "What do you mean?" Cress poured the water into the pot before looking over at her.
"I mean we heard a little from Cilan," he said, "but what of before that?"
"Yeah, that's a good question," Chili said, leaning back against the counter as he let the tea steep. "Why were you running in the rain?" he asked incredulously.
"Well…we were headed over here from Accumula Town, where…my parents were taking care of some business," she began slowly, weighing the words on her tongue. "I told them I wanted to do some training and get to our new house and…I told them it would help me get to know the area better." She paused, embarrassed by how ironic that sounded. She gratefully accepted a cup of tea before continuing. "We were about halfway through Route 2 when a trainer stopped me asking for a battle…"
"Is that an Eevee? It's so cute!"
"Oh. Thanks."
"Do you want to battle?" The trainer flashed Celeste a bright smile, unclipping a Poké Ball from her belt, clearly eager to begin.
Celeste shuffled uneasily. "No thanks," she answered, and the trainer's smile immediately turned into a disappointed frown. "We're kind of busy right now and I can't really stop for a battle." Celeste could feel the blush rising in her cheeks, but she couldn't just send Eevee into a battle; neither Pokémon nor trainer was adequately prepared.
"Please?" the trainer asked with a slight pout. "It'll be really quick! I just wanted to test out a new Pokémon I caught. I was hoping we could go easy on each other."
A wave of relief washed over Celeste. "Oh, well that sounds fine. Sure, I'll battle you."
Celeste frowned at the memory. It was best the triplets didn't know about that part of the conversation. "She sent out this adorable little electric Pokémon," she continued, skipping right to the battle. "I forget what it was called, but it could fly…"
"An Emolga, perhaps?" Cress suggested.
"Yes, that's it," Celeste nodded. "Everything was going fine…"
"Emolga! Double Team!" The Sky Squirrel quickly obliged, leaping up into the air, its entire body glowing white. It threw out its arms, creating four copies of itself, and the five duplicates surrounded the Eevee and began to spin around it until it was impossible to tell which one was the real one.
"Tackle now!" Celeste yelled. Eevee rushed forward at one of the floating Emolgas—and right through the imitation. "Sorry!" Celeste called to her Pokémon. "I meant Tackle…now!" This time Eevee's attack hit the real Emolga, pushing it back towards its trainer, its copies vanished. The trainer smirked.
"Fling, Emolga!" To Celeste's surprise the Electric-type took out a large purple orb, and before she knew it Emolga had tossed it into the air and whacked it hard with its tail, sending the ball speeding through the air and bashing Eevee right in the face. Eevee let out a pained shriek as she was knocked backwards into a tree.
"Eevee!" Celeste started to run over to her Pokémon, but the other trainer stepped in her way, waggling her finger in front of her face. Celeste took out Eevee's Poké Ball to retrieve the Pokémon but the trainer easily kicked it out of her hand and crushed it underfoot.
"I don't think so." The trainer narrowed her bright blue eyes. "I don't think this poor Pokémon deserves to be treated in such a terrible manner. I shall liberate it by taking it away from its menace: you."
Celeste gaped at her opponent, flustered. "But you did that to my Eevee!"
"Tsk. Emolga use Electro Ball!" Celeste saw the little squirrel's tail begin emitting sparks that quickly formed into a bright yellow ball of electricity. With a flourish the Emolga fired the orb towards her, and she scrambled to get out of the way, but it was no use. She screwed her eyes shut as she prepared for the impact. It never came.
There was a shrill cry as Eevee was hit by the full attack; the Pokémon had managed to make its way back over to its trainer, leaping into the air to protect her, and Celeste watched in horror as electricity shot through Eevee's body. The other trainer gritted her teeth.
"How did you get over there?" she snarled, her orange hair falling over her eyes as Eevee fell to the ground. Celeste ran over to her injured Pokémon to check on it; small sparks of electricity emanated from its body, which glowed purple with poison. She looked around to see where its Poké Ball had landed, and upon locating it quickly snatched up Eevee and ran over to grab it and keep running. "Emolga stop them—!" The trainer's eyes widened when she noticed her Emolga lying poisoned on the ground—she'd let it hold the Toxic Orb too long.
"Plaaaaasmaaa!" Celeste heard the girl curse out; a crash of thunder drowned out the rest of the girl's words, but Celeste was more than certain she wouldn't have wanted to hear them.
Celeste felt a drop of something wet land on her hand, and as she peered up at the darkening sky another drop landed on her face. It started to rain, and it only took a few seconds for it to build into a downpour. Eevee groaned in pain, still flashing with sparks, and though Eevee's low whines were drowned out by the loud roar of thunder, they were the only sounds that mattered to Celeste at the moment. As such, she didn't notice as lightning split through the gray clouds, and let out a high pitched scream as the lightning bolt connected with a tree to their right. Her eyes filling with fear she began to run even faster, clutching Eevee close to her chest, hoping desperately that she'd find a Pokémon Center soon.
"And you just ran all the way here to where I found you?" Cilan asked in shock.
Celeste peered down into her empty teacup. "I didn't have another choice," she muttered.
"You had a terrible night!" exclaimed Chili, nuzzling Eevee against his face—he'd been holding her for the duration of the story. Eevee, for her part, barked in agreement. "Oh you're so soft!" Chili cooed, snuggling her closer to him. "But you're ok now. Right?" This he directed to Celeste.
"Yeah," she smiled gently. "Cilan found me, and I got to stay at a Pokémon Center, and now I'm here with all of you. Funny how these things work out." She twirled her spoon around in the empty teacup, a distant expression on her face. Cilan found himself nodding slowly in agreement as he watched the spoon's motion with a vague interest.
"I'm glad," he said. "It's nice to meet someone new every once in a while."
"It's nice to meet someone so cute!" Chili gushed, his eyes squeezed shut as he cuddled Eevee more. "Yes it is! Yes it is!"
"Yes, it is," Cress smirked knowingly. "Isn't it, Cilan?" Cilan gave his brother a strange look; Cress was always the hardest to read, so it wasn't easy to tell what he was thinking, but one look at the mad grin on Chili's face told him everything he needed to know.
"Um, well, yes," Cilan stammered, growing redder by the second. "I, um, suppose it is, uh—" A tapping at the door interrupted the conversation—to Cilan's great relief—and a waitress peered into the room.
"What is it, Tia?" Chili asked her.
"There's a trainer here who wants to battle with you," she said. "He's waiting in the gym right now."
"Alright!" Chili exclaimed, jumping to his feet. There was a sharp yarp and in horror Chili realized he'd dropped Eevee in his excitement. Eevee growled slightly from her hold in Celeste's arms, where she'd been forced to leap to during the fall. "Sorry!" Chili apologized quickly to the Pokémon and her trainer. "I just got really excited. Now you get to see us in action!"
"You shouldn't get so excited yet," Cress advised him. He motioned everyone out into the hallway and together they headed over to the gym. "We can only wonder which one of us he'll go up against," he said.
"Either way," Cilan began cheerfully, "one thing is for sure..."
Celeste watched with curiosity as the gym leaders walked up to the doors of the gym floor, snapped their fingers, and struck a pose. She gave Tia a puzzled look, but the waitress could only shrug.
"What can I say?" Tia whispered to her, stifling a giggle. "They have a certain way of doing things." She winked. "At least I don't have to watch it alone." And so they watched as the triplets exclaimed in unison:
"It's showtime!"