Once back out in the street, Copycat took a deep breath. "There is nothing like fresh air after hours of shopping!" He exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loud. "Copycat, we were in there for no more than 20 minutes." Olivia corrected. "Well it sure felt like hours. Girls are weird, shopping is stupid." He mumbled, crossing his arms and turning away from his friend. "No need to act childish. Aren't you 15?" Olivia chuckled. Copycat decided to end his mini-tantrum and looked back at Olivia's smiling face. Arceus, she's beautiful. Not to mention happy. Dad used to be like her when mom was still around. He thought.
Subconsciously, he grabbed Olivia's hand; her soft, warm, delicate hand. It felt so right, so perfect. "Let's go to the PokeMart. It's a busy time of night, and I don't want you getting lost. Just hold on to me." He told her, gripping her hand tighter.
When he took her hand, it sent tingles through her body, and his protective nature made her blush. So sweet, yet so corny. Almost like candy corn. Dammit, now I want some candy corn. Olivia thought, her blush intensifying. "Okay!" She replied with a smile.
Still holding Olivia's hand, Copycat ran down the street, the girl holding on all the way. "Do you think we can slow down a bit?" A tired Olivia asked. "No, we have to get home soon. We're almost to the Pokemart, it's just down the street." Copycat seemed unphased by the running. "But, I'm really exhausted, can't we rest for a minute?" Olivia whined, the two still making their way towards the destination by foot.
Suddenly Copycat came to a stop and let go of Olivia's hand. "Why'd you stop?" Olivia asked him. Instead of answering, Copycat lifted the light-framed girl off the ground and, with a bit of struggling, put her on his shoulders. "If you can't keep walking, I guess I'll carry you." He told her. If Olivia could see his face, she'd see that Copycat was blushing madly. Unbeknownst to him, she was as well. "You don't have to do this…" Copycat took both of his hands and grabbed Olivia's legs, assuring that she would not meet an unpleasant outcome. She was now in a full-fledged piggyback position, her head now peeking over Copycat's shoulder. "I do, I'm not going to make a girl get tired. Just sit back and enjoy the view." Olivia was once again shocked by Copycat's spontaneous, caring actions, even though by now she thought that she'd be used to it. So caring, and he barely knows me! Why treat someone like this if you just met them? Why is he so perfect? Why am I letting him carry me? Oh well, I'm getting a piggyback ride from a cute guy, can't really complain. Olivia internally argued as she rested her head against Copycat's back and closed her eyes, enjoying the cool evening breeze.
"Olivia, we're here." Olivia took her head off of Copycat's back and opened her eyes to see that they were now in a Pokemon Center. "Huh?" She moaned sleepily, her eyelids fluttering, desperate to stay open. "You fell asleep on me. Guess it must be comfy back there." Copycat chuckled. Olivia, who was now feeling more awake, felt her face heat up. "Can you put me down?" She asked sweetly. "Oh yeah, sorry about that." Copycat obliged sheepishly, kneeling down to let Olivia off his back.
"Okay, so what do you need here?" Copycat asked her. "Well, probably a toothbrush, and I should pick up some food for Sally and Whismur." She responded looking down, trying to go over the necessities in her head. "Is that it?" Olivia briefly repeated this same process, but eventually came to the conclusion that she only needed the aforementioned items, responding with a quick and cheery nod.
Pokemarts are a facility often combined with the likes of Pokemon Centers. This occurs in only Unova and Kalos, where the cities are more densely populated and there is less space. Since all Pokemon trainers need both facilities, they were combined into one for sheer convenience. Smaller regions like Kanto and Sinnoh aren't as crowded, so building separate facilities is not a problem and creates less of a hectic environment.
Side by side, the duo explored the aisles, searching for items. Copycat scouted for them and brought them back to Olivia, who happily put them in a shopping cart.
After about twenty minutes, the shopping was complete. Together, Copycat and Olivia picked out an assortment of items. Mostly the essentials: a toothbrush, Poke Balls, potions, etcetera. After paying for the assortment of items, the duo exited the Pokemon Center and began to walk toward Copycat's house.
"So," Olivia began, breaking a five minute silence. "I've decided that I'm going to go on another adventure." Olivia announced. "Oh really?" Copycat replied, wide-eyed. "To where?" Olivia smiled. "I think I told you about Hoenn, right?" Copycat thought for a moment "Yeah, I think you did. You're thinking about going on a journey there?" Copycat asked. "Yeah, I've been away from home for a year and a half. I need to see my dad again." Olivia explained. "Oh, is there anything cool in Hoenn?" Copycat asked sparkly-eyed like a kid. "Uh, yeah," She replied. "There's Meteor Falls, The Battle Frontier, Mt. Pyre, and Mirage Island. They say Mew lives there. I really think Hoenn would be good for you." Copycat smirked. "Yeah, I know," He chuckled. "That's why I'm going there tomorrow. I thought about what you said earlier. Hoenn seems like a good fit for Flygon." Yay! He's coming to Hoenn! Does that mean he wants to travel with me? I hope so… Olivia thought. "That's great! Are you going to go with anyone or do you just want to go by yourself?" Olivia asked, hinting around her question. "Actually," Copycat began. Olivia was screaming in her head. "Leo and I are going to travel together." Copycat announced happily.
Olivia felt as if everything was going along so nicely, like a good song on a record player. When all of the sudden, the famous sound of a vinyl disc being scratched reverberates through her head like an echo. "WHAT?" Olivia shrieked, causing strangers' heads to turn, facing her. "Why would you want to travel with Leo? He's an ass!" Olivia asked. "Well, Leo is actually a nice guy." Copycat stated. Olivia looked at him, puzzled. "You see, Leo and I had a talk." Olivia facepalmed. "Oh Arceus." Olivia sighed, her hand muffling what she said.
Copycat recalled the past conversation: how Leo gave up his chase after Olivia because he saw something between the two. Copycat didn't, and he certainly didn't think Olivia did. But, he needed to tell Olivia why he's going to travel with Leo. I'm this deep in now, no turning back. He thought. With a sigh, Copycat told Olivia of what happened earlier that day; cleverly leaving out the part about how Leo said that Olivia was now Copycat's, as if she was some sort of object.
"So he's not gonna hit on me anymore?" Olivia asked. Copycat smiled. "No, you should be good." Olivia stopped walking to look up at the sky. For a few seconds, Copycat kept walking, but soon realized his new friend was not beside him. "You ok?" He asked in a concerned voice. "Yeah, but why did he say that? What did he see in you that made him stop?" Olivia asked him. Copycat started to blush. Getting the message, she began walking again, her shoulders facing inwards towards her chest and head downward.
After walking through Magenta Plaza, the duo crossed through Estival Avenue to reach the middle of the entire city: Centrico Plaza, where the famous Prism Tower is located. Copycat thought back to just hours earlier, when he, Olivia, and Leo stopped Silph from stealing all of the citizens' personal data. "H-hey Olivia?" Copycat said, trying to get his friend's attention. "Yeah?" She replied as she turned to face him. "You remember being over here earlier right?" She nodded. "Well, it's a little less crazy right now, and you did tell me you came here to sightsee. Since Prism Tower is kinda the most famous landmark of Lumiose City, I thought that maybe you'd want to check it out before we went back." Copycat offered. "Uh, yeah that'd be great!" Olivia said with a smile.
Following up on his offer, Copycat took Olivia inside of the famous Lumiose landmark. There was caution tape in front of the entrance, but Copycat completely disregarded it. "Are you sure this is ok?" Olivia asked, hesitant on going any further into the tower. "Probably not," Copycat chuckled. "But you wanted to, so I'm gonna go through with this." He told her. Olivia lightly kicked the floor out of anxiety. "Isn't this illegal?" She asked, a hint of fear in her voice. "Probably." Copycat responded. He ran towards the pillar in the middle of the room and pressed a button on the side of it. Almost magically, the outline of a doorway was lit up in an aquamarine LED light, and the door slid open, disappearing into the floor as Copycat entered the pillar. Olivia was initially hesitant, but eventually followed. "So this is an elevator?" She asked him, looking around the elevator. "Yeah, it'll take us to the top." Copycat confirmed. He then proceeded to press a few buttons. The door to the elevator slid back up and shortly after the two felt the elevator begin to move upward. The LED light near the door read: FLOOR ONE. Soon after it changed to FLOOR TWO. Then FLOOR THREE, and so on and so forth until it reached FLOOR SIX and the two heard a loud "ding". The door to the elevator slid down into the ground once more to reveal the breathtaking view of Lumiose City at night. "Wow." Olivia muttered in awe. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Copycat said to his friend, who was wide-eyed. "Really beautiful." She sighed. Copycat looked around and spotted a bench near the entrance to the elevator. He made a gesture to it and began walking toward it, Olivia promptly following. "The view up here is just… Fantastic." Olivia sighed once more as she sat down on the bench with Copycat. "It is," Copycat replied, looking up at the stars. "Sometimes at night I'll sneak out just to come up here. It's really soothing." Olivia smiled, unbeknownst to Copycat because of how dark it was. "From so high up you can see the entire city, just observing everyone below. The lights, the cars, the Pokemon. It's quite humbling to look down and see a whole world underneath you." Copycat explained. "And I think that's a great reason to come up here." Olivia replied softly. "In my hometown of Littleroot, there's this hill where you can see the entirety of the forest in the next city over. Before I left for Johto last year I would always go up there when I was depressed," Olivia told him, imagining her hometown. "It's actually where I met Whismur." Copycat stood up to look around. "Speaking of Whismur, where is he?" Copycat asked as he continued to look around for the little purple Pokemon. "I left him at your house with the others. I didn't want to lose him and he doesn't like his Pokeball." Olivia explained. "Oh, well my dad is great with Pokemon, so I'm sure he's fine." Copycat assured her. "So, your dad works at the Lumiose hospital?" Olivia asked quizzically. "Yeah, he's the main surgeon of the best Pokemon Healthcare Center in the country. I'm really proud of him. He managed to rebuild himself after my mother left." D-does he trust me? But he barely knows me… What do I do? Olivia thought. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened?" Olivia asked her new friend. She spotted a single tear running down his face, glimmering in the moonlight. "I don't mind at all." He told her, wiping his tears away. "My mom used to be the Pike Queen of the Battle Frontier. She-" Copycat was cut off. "Wait, your mom is Pike Queen Lucy?" Olivia asked, her eyes glimmering in awe. "Yeah, she was. I don't know where she is now. She met my dad when he was out adventuring in Kanto with a couple of friends. She really liked him but he had no idea, so he just continued along on his journey. After his friends left, my mom caught up with him and they started dating, then got married, and then they had me. When I was 11 they started fighting. Mom said that we were holding her back from reaching her true potential. My dad was an assistant nurse at the Lumiose Pokemon Center, and my mom was the administrator of the battle test facility. As you can probably tell, my dad was on his way to where he wanted to be, but my mom gave up everything she had by moving to Kalos. She realized that she still wanted to battle, so she left us, and stole half of my dad's funds so she could move. Ever since, I've hated her. I never want to see her again." Copycat explained, now hunched over, his head resting on his knees. Olivia could hear muffled sounds. It was obvious that he was crying. Unsure of what to do, Olivia wrapped her arms around him. "I can't even imagine what it feels like for that to happen. But it'll be okay, everything's okay now, right?" Olivia comforted, still holding him. Copycat sat back up as Olivia released her grasp on him. "Yeah, I guess." He responded with a sniffle. "Here, let's get back to your house." Olivia said, taking out a Pokeball and tossing it in the air. "Salamence, we need to get back to Copycat's house. Can you take us?" Olivia asked her partner. The dragon grunted as Olivia got on her back. "Copycat, c'mon!" She said to him. He got on Salamence behind Olivia, and they flew off.
Olivia controlled Salamence while Copycat tried his best to keep it together so he could point out the house. Thanks to Salamence's fast flying, once Copycat spotted his house it was only minutes before they made it home. Salamence landed in the backyard (where Leo and Copycat battled earlier), almost silently. "Thanks Salamence!" Olivia said cheerfully as she returned her friend to her spherical home. "Let's get you to bed." She said, turning to Copycat as she put her hand on his shoulder. Copycat nodded, trying to cover up his puffy eyes.