When Naeya woke in the room she fell asleep in with Xhasca, the room was warm, but only in the sense that the morning sun was warming it. She didn't feel Xhasca near her. Only Froakie and Honedge who were sleeping next to her on the side Xhasca wasn't on. When her eyes finally gained the strength to lift their lids, she saw that indeed, Xhasca wasn't where she had been, hadn't stirred in her sleep and ended up on another part of the bed away from her.
Naeya sat up in the bed, immediately stirring Honedge and Froakie from their sleep. None of Xhasca's Pokemon were left in the room aside from a Pokemon who didn't come from her team belt the evening before. A Liepard slept at the care station, curled up comfortably.
The room was definitely the same room, and Naeya could...smell Xhasca on the bed where they slept. It made her conscious that she was able to tell Xhasca's scent so easily. Her stomach growled, and as well did Froakie's. Honedge, as she remembered with her father's Aegislash didn't consume food. Didn't need to or have a means of doing so.
Froakie croaked in response to hearing her stomach growl, and when Naeya turned to look at Froakie she was surprised to see the medical slime used in her mouth sitting on the bed – making a mess. She pulled a tissue out of her bag and grabbed the slime, bringing it to the waste bin beside the care station. There, on the table of the care station, there was a note. A pink sparkled piece of paper with cute, bold and cursive writing. A note left for Naeya.
Good morning sleepy head. I got a call while you were asleep for me to check on something with the court. I should be done with them around ten this morning, so have some breakfast and relax in the room, maybe do some care on your Pokemon at the station where I'm leaving this note. I'll be back before lunch time, so please wait for me. Please be careful. Oh, and the reception has marked you as my spouse, so your breakfast downstairs will be free. I didn't ask them to mark you as my spouse, must have been assumption from how we were yesterday...not that I'm against that if you want to go that far with our relationship.
I love you. I'm looking forward to lunch together.
Naeya was hot with embarrassment at the suggestion of them already being married, although it only made her incredibly happy when she imagined a future with Xhasca the same as she had experienced with her so far. It was incredible how much feeling she had developed over such a short time. Naeya wondered if there was something wrong with her.
She smiled and turned to Froakie and Honedge who were looking up at her. She was reminded of her Horsea who was sitting in a Pokeball in her bag which was on the bed. She walked over and grabbed her bag before she beckoned Honedge and Froakie to take their positions on her like they were the day before. It was strange. She was adapting in such a strange way. She was so quickly becoming used to having Pokemon with her, and her mind was turning focus from what her life was, to what it might become. She was becoming happy from things she never knew she could.
When Froakie and Honedge were ready secured to her, she opened the door, only to find Xharye on the other side of the door confused.
"Ah! Wait...sorry...guess...never mind."
She was flustered and seemed ready to say something, then stop until she turned around saying to not mind her presence.
"Join me for breakfast?"
After Naeya said those words, Xharye stopped running away. She turned and smiled.
"I really am the baby sister aren't I? Of course you two might be like that...I just thought..."
It seemed Xharye was expanding on her imagination of what might have happened.
"Please, I don't know this apartment complex very well. I'm not sure where the restaurant is. Xhasca left early this morning for some court business."
Xharye seemed to calm down a bit after hearing that Xhasca wasn't around.
"Right, you're still new here. Anyway, let's get going."
She seemed calm for a second, but it didn't last long before she was flustered again.
"Y-you...might want to clean your face...and change your clothes."
Naeya was reminded of the lipstick Xhasca was wearing. How it left marks...then... She turned around and went back into the room, waiting for Xharye to get inside before closing the door. She stopped for a second outside the room, looking at the plaque for room ownership beside the door. After that second, her face was beat red. Naeya became curious why Xharye became red.
"Wh-what...?"
"Why does the ownership plaque show you and sis as a married couple?!"
Naeya sighed and grabbed up the note left by Xhasca. She handed it over to Xharye, who looked it over with the kind of sense about her she wasn't likely paying much attention to it.
"Why would the apartment staff change the ownership of the room so easily? You aren't actually married... Never mind. Get ready. The first buffet will be replaced shortly with a fresh batch, so let's get down there in time for the fresh batch."
Naeya nodded her head and looked around the room confused. She didn't know where a rest room to see to her appearance was. There were a pair of small doors at the far end of the room from the bed. When she took a peek in the first one, she noticed it was Xhasca's wardrobe. After nodding that it was definitely all similar, she closed the door and moved to the other door. When she confirmed it was a washroom, she had Froakie and Honedge wait outside the door for her to finish. She was thankful she packed the compressed clothing with her at all times in case of messes like on her current outfit.
The washroom was...normal, surprisingly when thinking of the room it was attached to. All Naeya really needed though was the mirror and the sink to wash her face of the lipstick. She had some makeup remover in her bag thankfully, because the lipstick really stuck to her. Which meant it would be unfortunate for her clothes unless she could get the colour out from her clothes with the makeup remover and then have the makeup remover stay when she compressed the outfit so that it would continue to clean until she next removed it from her bag for wearing. She really enjoyed the clothing compressors her parents had gotten her for her recent birthday a few months before, in anticipation of how useful it would be on a journey as a fresh trainer.
Naeya wasn't nearly as fond of her reflection as she was seeing other people. Even when she had some anxiety from being around a lot of people. She wished that she hadn't tanned as much as she had living on Xhova. When reminded of the word tan, she dug into her bag and found something else her mother added in with the clothing compressors. Sunscreen with the added function of lowering the tan level of skin. It was apparently something that her mother needed a lot, because the trait of tanning easily was definitely passed through her. Naeya's dark brown hair seemed it would fit more with a lighter skin tone, and her eyes definitely made her base genetics show through the tan. Normally, she should be pale as a ghost. Like her father, or like the young pictures of her mother.
She was reminded that she had recorded the important pictures in her phone and sighed. She applied the lotion everywhere she was comfortable with, which was nearly everywhere, then grabbed the lighter colour outfit, primary white outfit with violet. She made sure the lotion was setting into her skin, and it eventually stopped toning her skin tone down a little short of the pale complexion her parents would naturally have. Making sure the tone down made it everywhere she applied the lotion, she took note of how well she was able to stay in shape, to become as strong as possible for the day she might have to fight alongside a Pokemon and support them in battle. It was originally to honour Honedge, but now she was determined to fight alongside her Pokemon.
She finally put on her clothes. Long light violet knee socks, white pleated skirt with matching violet bottom and top ring, white elbow sleeve shirt with collar and elbows as violet trim, and a white cycle hat she received a long time before from her mother with a purple ribbon dragging behind. She tied her hair into a hanging tail behind her before putting the hat on. Her near-white blue eyes stared back at her in the mirror, saying she was ready to confront the Taffola region as a Kalos born trainer. She was ready to go, especially as she heard her stomach growl at her for taking so long.
On the other side of the door, Xharye was pacing back and forth, Froakie and Honedge following her like some kind of comedy act. Naeya giggled at the sight of them.
"Sorry I took as long as I did. The lipstick really takes effort to get out. I'll get Xhasca to look into the less intense balms if she insists on keeping stuff on her lips. I rarely wear makeup, but thankfully I had the remover in my bag, or I'd still be in there."
Xharye stared at Naeya as if she was seeing a different person.
"Who are you and what did you do with Naeya?"
Honedge and Froakie knew right away and took their positions on Naeya right away. They happily nodded away at the change of pace with Naeya's appearance.
"It's still me. If you're curious about my tone change, thank the sun lotion my Mom used to use. It only took a minute for that to set. Ah, and my clothes, they're from Kalos. My natural tone is originally supposed to be really pale by the way, but living on Xhova made me tan a lot."
"Not your appearance, even if it is really shocking. You're talking more now. Maybe you're just in a weird mood..."
Xharye seemed ready to give up on the concept of logic. She sighed and started walking away to the door leading out of the apartment. Naeya followed behind her, and the group of them and the Pokemon riding Naeya's shoulders made their way up through the elevator a single level to a massive restaurant. The ceiling of the restaurant was just as high as Xhasca's room, and just as far to the windows. It was different though in the sense that the restaurant took up the entire floor. The inner section of the floor was a kitchen with another elevator in the middle of it, lots of stoves and other cooking and cooling devices that Naeya was surprised yet not quite that she didn't recognize them all. The outer ring of the kitchen area was a calculated assortment of foods, in order of coldest to hottest.
Xharye led Naeya to the buffet service section where there was a cashier waiting to ring in new guests to the buffet. The cashier looked up and nodded when they saw Xharye, apparently she didn't need to pay for her food either with her positions. They almost stopped after just nodding the same way at Naeya.
"You are the wife of Champion Xhasca? Your picture shows you a little more tan..."
Xharye shook her head in exasperation.
"Right, I have this sun lotion which lowers skin tone. This is closer to my natural tone."
The cashier waited, Naeya got the hint right away that she was supposed to provide the visual proof of the lotion. After pulling it out of her bag and showing it to him, he nodded his head, then stared at it with a shocked expression.
"Kalos brand...unique ownership of Navella of the Elite Four... Are you Navella?!"
Naeya sighed. Of course that would be the assumption of someone who didn't know how long ago her mother was part of the Kalos Elite Four. It had been over twenty years since she was in the Kalos Elite Four.
"No, I'm Navella's only daughter, Naeya. Mom was in the Kalos Elite Four before I was born, so all I have are pictures and such to show of her."
The cashier became excited at the mention of having the chance to see an Elite Four member. He nodded his head and waited for Naeya to produce the pictures through her phone.
"Wow...you really look like her in the picture. With the outfit and the lighter complexion...yup. Wow though...she has an incredible team with her in the picture. She was a Psychic type master, right?"
In the picture, her mother was in the Psychic type zone of the Elite Four back then based around her addition to the Elite Four. Before, there was a Steel type member she replaced. She was surrounded by her restricted team of five Pokemon as member of the Elite Four. Her Meowstic, Delphox, Malamar, Medicham and Metagross were well known and feared by challengers of the Elite Four. For a long time, challengers had their challenge ended with their battle against her.
"How is she doing?"
Naeya was brought back from the memory of before she was born, memories she was told of by her parents about how amazing her mother was back then as a trainer. Naeya's mood soured when the subject of her current condition was asked.
"That's...not something I'd like to talk about."
Xharye noticed how the mood had turned because of the topic, what she'd heard from Naeya the previous afternoon when they were headed from the park to the normal type zone. She stepped in.
"Well, we'd really like to get to our breakfasts. How's the temperature of everything right now?"
He noticed how they were reacting and became nervous. She trembled as he nodded his head and shakily responded.
"R-r-right, th-the last f-fresh batch. Just came up. Everything is fresh in the banquet. Help yourselves."
He nodded his head and the two made their way through the banquet, filling dishes for themselves and dishes for Froakie and Horsea. Xharye explained as they fixed plates for Naeya's Pokemon that she fed her team before heading over to Xhasca's room. It was fine for Pokemon to be brought to the restaurant and eat there, but it was preferred that Pokemon have their food ordered and brought to the trainer's room, to avoid over crowding in the restaurant.
"That...was satisfying."
Froakie and Horsea tipped to their backs and sighed in agreement to the satisfaction.
"Are you not used to this kind of food? Considering that your mother was in an Elite Four, I find it hard to imagine you having anything less than amazing food most of your life. You seemed really surprised at the taste of the food though."
"Stop there. Just because Mom was in the Elite Four in Kalos, doesn't mean I was raised on the kind of prestige she had. My entire life was spent on Xhova, meaning my source of food was whatever my parents could afford or make themselves. Neither of my parents were...nearly as good at cooking as this food tastes. Sometimes Mom would let her Medicham and Delphox cook meals together, but they weren't much better than either of my parents at cooking. Delphox sometimes overcooked stuff, and Medicham had some times she was a little too strong at what she was doing and broke the kitchen."
Xharye laughed at how ridiculous it sounded. That someone could suffer bad food even with great trainers for parents.
"Keep in mind, not all trainers take a side journey into other things like learning how to cook. Mom was a trainer most of her time, barely exploring a little into Dad's interest of history. Dad was obsessed with history and sometimes concerned himself with training his team. Neither of them had much time at all in the kitchen aside eating the food that was prepared there by other people. I learned how to cook during school on Xhova, but it's traditional boring recipes that don't have much taste."
Xharye finally stopped laughing at how dismal the food situation was for Naeya. She knew then how big the event was for Naeya to have luxury food at a high class buffet.
"Well, it's getting close to ten, and sis'll be back shortly. Let's head back up to her room? I want to hear more stories about life on Xhova."
"Only if you'll tell me about life here."
Agreed, the two stood up, Horsea returned to her Pokeball and Froakie returned to Naeya's shoulder. The group headed back to the elevator to head down a floor to the room.
When the door of the elevator opened, it happened faster than a drugged Alakazam using teleport. Naeya, Xharye, Froakie and Honedge were splayed on an unfamiliar floor in a dark room which was stuffy and cramped. Were they abducted?
