Chapter 4: Daidaiiro, the most boring place in the world, home of the Trollceptionist

As we walked to Daidaiiro, we talked about future teams.

"I really have no clue what I'd like," I told my new companion. "Any Pokemon that I feel a strong attraction to, I guess. That's how I got Zander, after all." Ella nodded.

"I feel the same, but I have way less options. I'm a Fairy type specialist, by the way."

"Oh? What other pokemon do you have right now?" I asked. She just winked and said

"You'll see." I wanted to ask more, but was cut off by her.

"Hey, look! We're here!" The term "here" was technically correct, but in all honesty, we weren't, really.

The town was the definition of the "middle of nowhere." There was nothing interesting. Like, at all. Even boring old Kiiro had the lab, but this place had nothing. There actually was something incredible about the town: the lack of any and everything interesting. At all. Really, it sort of boggled the mind. It was so… boring.

Wow, I never thought there would be a time I was happy to live in Kiiro. But now, I realize that I never would've met Professor Holly, and therefor never would've gotten the chance to go on this journey. Also, I can just be glad Mom didn't choose to move here. I had a lot of free time back in Kirro, but that boring old village was Lumiose compared to Daidaiiro. I feel sorry for the people who live here…

"Why is it so empty here?" I asked Ella, only to have her giggle in response.

"It's not that boring. Besides, the people are nice, and there's a Pokemon Center right over there." She ponted through a gap between two plain, single story, white houses with white picket fences and perfectly trimmed lawns. Even the smoke from the chimneys was identical. This place is getting creepy… I thought as we walked to the PC*1. All of a sudden, Ella stopped, looking like she had just remembered something.

"I-I have to go! I'll meet up with you at the PC! Bye!" And with that, she ran off, out of my sight. What's going on with her? I'll have to talk to my new traveling partner later…

At the PC, the first thing I noticed was the lack of people. The only ones in the building that I could see were me and a strange woman at the desk-table-thing directly in front of me, who had pink hair. There are probably no trainers here, considering how boring this town is. I walked up to the receptionist. Before I could say anything, she cut me off as my mouth started to open.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokemon Center. Would you like us to heal your Pokemon?" she asked in the happiest and most monotonous voice possible. "U-um, sure."

"All right then, I'll take your pokemon for a few seconds." I held out Zander's ball for her to take, and she swept it away, placing it in the healing machine. Strange flashing lights quickly appeared on the pokeball, causing me to jump in surprise. I immediately felt foolish, as I knew it was just healing my pokemon. After just a few seconds, the lights stopped, and the receptionist took my first and currently only pokemon off the machine and handed it back to me, then bowed slightly.

"Thank you for waiting," she said, once again in a voice that was practically a robot. "We've restored your pokemon to full health. We hope to see you again!" I walked to the PM*2 section of the PC and suddenly remembered that I, and Ella, once she came back, would need a room for the night, so I walked back to the receptionist desk.

"Um, Miss… receptionist, could I-"

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokemon Center. Would you like us to heal your Pokemon?" she said, cutting me off.

"No, I'd like-"

"We hope to see you again!"

"Look, lady, I-"

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokemon Center. Would you like us to heal your Pokemon?"

"No! I need-"

"We hope to see you again!"

"Oh my Arceus, I need freaking-" Before I could yell at the trol- I mean, receptionist, I was cut off AGAIN, but this time by a familiar voice.

"Hey James! I'm back!" Ella exclaimed. "Um, are you yelling at the receptionist?"

"YES!" Ella covered her mouth with her hand. For a minute, I thought she was appalled, but I then realized that she was trying, and failing, to hold in laughter. Then, not able to stand it anymore, she collapsed on the conveniently placed couch, guffawing in a very unladylike manner. Naturally, I was confused at this.

"What? WHAT?!" She slowly recovered, sitting up.

"J-Jamie," she started, after calming down enough to speak. "You know she's a robot, right?" I froze, too shocked to say anything. I guess my expression must've been priceless, because Ella started up laughing harder than ever. Getting slightly annoyed, but mostly at myself for not seeing it earlier, I waited it out until Ella was finally able to form comprehensible sentences again.

"Ella, how do we get a room for the night?"
"Oh, you just use the clipboard right in front of the receptionist."

"Oh, that's easy." After hearing this, I walked up and signed the two of us in. After we stepped through a door to the left of the receptionist leading to a hallway with various other doors, we chose a room at random after seeing that the rooms were all the same.

"Hey, I'm gonna take a shower," Ella told me after we stepped in, walking toward the the bathroom.

"'Kay. I'll take one tomorrow morning, so you can take as long as you want. She nodded in appreciation. I put my backpack at the foot of one of the two small, but comfortable looking beds and started brushing my teeth and taking out my contact lenses, neither of which was an easy feat without a sink. Of course, there was a sink, but it was in the bathroom Ella was showering in. Oh no… images, get out of my head! May you rot in the Distortion World, ye accursed overactive imagination! I shuddered at the thoughts. Trying to take my mind off it, I changed and called out Zander in hopes of getting to know the little guy better.

After about a half hour of playing and bonding in which I learned that he was basically me in Charmander form, Ella knocked on the bathroom door from the inside.

"Hey, you decent?" she asked, her voice muffled by the door. "You're not one of those guys who just sleeps in boxers, right?

"It's fine, you can come out." The door opened, and Ella came out in her pink (of course) pajamas, her blonde hair still wet. However, she was still covering her eyes with a hand.

"That doesn't answer my question." she stated. I sighed.

"I am fully clothed in standard nocturnal apparel."

"Oh, okay then!" she uncovered her eyes and hopped onto the empty bed with her backpack at the foot. "I was a little worried I was gonna be stuck traveling with one of those guys, you know? Oh, you two were bonding?" she asked, noticing Zander. "That's always a good thing."

"Yeah, but I think we're both pretty tired." Zander and I yawned at the same time, and I couldn't tell if he did it on purpose or not. "Gonna hit the hay, lil' buddy?" He nodded in response. "Yeah, me too. What about you, Ella?"

"Yeah, better wake up pretty early tomorrow if we want to get to the next city."

"Oh, finally a city instead of a boring little town? Thank Arceus."

"Yeah, and it's a pretty awesome one too. Say, you don't mind if I call you Jamie, do you?"

"Hmm… actually, I think I like Jamie better than James. So please do. But for now, sleep."

"Sounds good. G'night- partner.

I smiled. "Night...Elle."*3

Author's note:

*1 The Pokemon Center is referred to as the PC commonly. When talking about the computer that stores pokemon, it will be called the PSS. No, that doesn't mean Player Search System, it means Pokemon Storage System.

*2 The PokeMart section of the PC is called the PM for short.

*3 Ella's new nickname is pronounced exactly the same as the letter L.

As always, thanks for reading! If you enjoyed reading this, review, follow, or favorite. If you didn't, then… just do whatever. I'm probably gonna keep writing this fic one way or another, so I really don't care what you do, unless you flame mindlessly. That'll just get annoying. But I will care if you review, fav, or follow. Care... in a good way. Okay, I'm done for now. Sayonara!