Marion was never meant for greatness.
It was a sad thought, but true. She lacked any sort of battling or performance skills that would be required to be a trainer or coordinator of the highest caliber.
Even with any notion of greatness in that regard extinguished, she found comfort in knowing that she was good at something different, something that didn't require battling or performing- baking.
A ding on the timer alerted Marion that her pastries were done. She jumped from the chair she was sitting on, her dog-eared romance novel left forgotten as she ran to the stove. Slipping on her green-gingham oven mitts, Marion opened the stove, pulling out the rack of cookies. The sweet aroma of chocolate filled her nostrils, and Marion let out a contented sigh.
At the sound of the baking sheet being pulled out of the oven, a yellow and black pokémon soared into the kitchen, a matching gingham apron tied around her. She gracefully touched down on the counter next to Marion, looking at her with pleading eyes.
Marion gave her emolga a quick pat with oven mitts. "Not yet Emilie! I know you're excited, but we have to wait until they cool off!"
Emilie gave a dramatic sigh, her gaze fixed on the chocolate-chip cookies. At the sound of the noise coming from the kitchen, Marion's second partner had come floating into the kitchen, his blank white eyes looking at the finished sweets. He resembled a drop of cream, his body a golden yellow. He turned to Marion, a pleading look in his eyes.
"Not you too Andres..." Marion sighed. "Recall, patience is a virtue."
Still, as Marion looked at the cookies, she too had to remind herself not to dig in. The cookies did look scrumptious, but she knew better. The last time, she'd burnt the roof of her mouth in her haste to test out her macaron recipe. She had learned her lesson from that one, with her mouth being filled with an awful chalky feeling for days.
Marion returned to her wooden chair at the table, picking the romance novel back up. She flipped to her bookmark, and returned to the spot she was reading before the timer went off.
In the midst of a rather dramatic part, the door to the bakery suddenly burst open, and Marion didn't bother looking up from her book to see who it was. Only one boy out of the entire population of Village Bridge entered so brashly.
"You're going to destroy our door at this rate," Marion scolded. "Show some restraint, Will."
Will's sheepish laughs filled the air as he set down his backpack. "Sorry Marion! I've got something really exciting to show you!"
Marion closed her book, and looked up at him. "Oh? And what is that?"
Will smiled, his bright blue eyes shining. He pulled a letter out from behind his back. "Look at this!"
Marion took the letter from him, taking a moment to examine the red seal on the front. The design was one of a large arch, surrounded by five symbols, each one representing the Elite Four and Champion. Everyone who lived in Unova knew exactly what that seal meant.
No... It couldn't be...
The top of the envelope had already been hastily torn open, so Marion shook the contents in her hand. A small plastic card stared back at her, emblazoned with a picture of Will's grinning face and messy bright green hair. On it was his full name, birth date, date received, and of course occupation: Pokémon Trainer.
"Your Trainer ID..." Marion breathed. "Oh Will, it finally came!"
Will grabbed her hands, and spun her around. "I know right?! I can finally start my journey for real now!
He stopped dead in his tracks, sniffing the air. "Ooh! Are those some of your cookies?!"
"Yep!" Marion hummed, running over the kitchen. The cookies were still a tad hot, but they wouldn't be giving anyone burns. "To you getting your trainer license!"
She offered him the tray with flourish, and Will snatched two cookies off the tray, shoving them into his mouth. Emilie and Andres wandered over, and grabbed some as well. Will took a seat at one of the wooden tables, releasing his braviary so he could be fed too.
"This all so exciting!" Will laughed. "I've been waiting so long for this, and it finally came! I'm gonna be the next Unova Champion baby!"
"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves!" Marion teased. "You've got to beat the gym leaders after all. Where are you going first?"
"Definitely Opelucid," Will answered between bites. "Head east to Mistralton... Maybe take the Clay Tunnel to Castelia so I can catch a boat to Virbank and Aspertia... Or should I go to Nimbasa first...?"
"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Marion said. "What's an adventure without some spontaneous planning?"
"That reminds me," Will drawled. "You sure you don't want to come with me? It'll be more fun with you there."
Marion shook her head. "Sorry Will. With Mom gone, Dad needs as much help as he can get. Besides, I'd just slow you down. I don't know the first thing about traveling."
What she didn't tell him was that everytime she thought of leaving Village Bridge, the sickening feeling of anxiety filled her stomach. Thoughts about everything that could go wrong filled her brain, and how she would mess everything up there.
"I don't care how slow I'd be I was with you..." Will mumbled.
"Eh?" Marion said. "What'd you say?"
"Nothing!" Will said quickly. "I understand why you can't come. I'll miss you though."
"We can chat every night," Marion promised. "And remember, if you're ever in a tough spot, me and everyone else will be here at Village Bridge."
Will gave her an easy grin. "I know. Braviary, Azumarill and I can't wait to make a name for ourselves out there! When we become Champions, we'll be sure to promote the Mitford Bakery to hell and back!"
"You don't have to do that!" Marion insisted. "Really, all I really want is for the two of us to be friends still, even if you're gone!"
Will smiled at her, and held out his hand. "Of course we'll always remain friends! I'll never leave you behind the dust!"
Marion pushed her worries to the back of her mind, and shook Will's hand.
Right. We'll always be friends, even if Will is gone on his journey. Nothing will tear us apart, ever.
"You better not get hurt on your journey."
Marion jabbed Will's forehead with her nail as she spoke those words, a serious expression painting her face. Will rubbed his forehead, before giving her his signature grin.
"No worries Marion!" he assured. "I've got Braviary and Azumarill by my side. What could possibly go wrong?"
"A whole slew of things!" Marion protested. "Falling off cliffs, drowning, attacks by wild pokémon... There's a reason why you have to be so old to get a trainer license now!"
"I didn't know you cared so deeply for me," Will teased. "I'm flattered."
Marion's cheeks flushed bright red, and she shoved a bag of treats in his direction. "Dammit Will! It's called being worried for those with no self-preservation skills! Just try to be safe for once!"
"Well, I can't promise that," Will said, taking the bag from her. "I'll try my best though. It'd be a shame if I died before becoming Champion."
A woman's voice drifted from the living room. "You ready to go Will? You sure you haven't forgotten anything?"
"I've got it all Mom!" Will shouted back. He turned back to Marion, and gave her a bone-crushing hug. "I'll miss you on my journey. Have a good time here, okay?"
Marion nodded, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "I'll miss you too. I'll call every night."
"I'll do the same!"
From there, everything felt like a blur to Marion. Will said his farewells to his parents and Marion's father. He waved goodbye to all of them as he disappeared past the gate, Braviary and Azumarill by his side. Village Bridge had lost a member of it's close-knit group.
Will was gone.
The first few weeks after Will left were odd to Marion. He was once an ever-present piece of her life, and now they could only call and video chat with each other.
It wasn't bad, and their friendship was still as strong as ever. It was just different to Marion, who had fallen into a routine of slow life at the Village Bridge. Meanwhile, Will was constantly on the move all over the place, training and battling.
"...And then, I smacked into the wall because I couldn't get behind one of the barriers in time!" Will finished. "Skyla was a piece of cake with my new Zebstrika though!"
Marion nodded, entranced by the gleaming blue badge in Will's green case. Beside it was a black and red badge, the one given out by Draydon. "Congrats Will! It sounds like you're doing amazing so far!"
Will scratched his head, an embarrassed smile on his face. "Well, I had some motivation. I didn't want a repeat of Drayden. Losing five times in a row to him was pretty humiliating."
"Well, Drayden's been a gym leader for a long time," Marion assured. "He's got a lot of experience under his belt."
"Yeah..." Will admitted. "On the other hand, I've got a rival!"
"A rival?" Marion said she raised an eyebrow. "You're really going for the classic trainer archetype, aren't you?"
"It was by accident! I was training for the gym in Celestial Tower, and I ran into this girl at the top. She was training too, and we got into an argument..."
"And you settled it the only way trainers like you can." Marion finished.
"You read my mind!" Will laughed. "She was a strong trainer. I just barely won. Afterwards, we deemed each other rivals!"
"Really?" Marion said. Knowing Will, the girl didn't have a choice in that matter. "What's her name?"
"She's called Lydia!" Will hummed. "She's kind of mean, but I'm sure she'll be an amazing motivator for me.
His eyes sparkled as he made waving motions with his hands. "It's weird, you know? The adrenaline rush, the fact that it's insanely difficult to come up with a strategy against them on the spot...
Will fell back onto the chair behind him. "It's incredible."
"Well, that battle certainly invoked some strong emotions in you," Marion deadpanned. "You're pumped aren't you?"
"Yeah. I have no idea how I'm going to sleep like this," Will admitted. "You always do a great job calming me down though. I appreciate it a lot."
"One of us has to be the voice of reason," Marion replied, "I've got to head to bed. It's been good talking to you!"
"Bye!"
"You've been a bit quiet lately."
Marion looked up from the mound of pastry dough she was rolling out to face her father. "It's more that Will's left home. He was always the one making the racket."
"Hm? I seem to recall both of you screaming at the top of your lungs as you lobbed frosting at each other that one time," Alan laughed. "Took forever to clean that off the walls. You two were inseparable."
"Fair enough," Marion admitted. "But you do know there's not any other kids my age here. Will was the one person I could relate to."
Alan nodded. "I'll admit it, I was surprised when you didn't leave to go with him."
Marion looked down at the pastry dough. "I was never interested in battling or going on an adventure. That was Will's dream. Besides, I want to help out around the bakery."
Alan didn't look convinced by her answer. "I don't know. You used to rave about traveling around Unova as a child."
"People change." Marion said shortly. "Just because I wanted to travel as a child doesn't mean I want to do it now."
"Fair enough," Alan said. "I just thought that'd you'd like it, with you teenagers being obsessed with seeing the world these days."
Marion bit back a comment about how, if anything, teenagers traveled even more back in his day when trainer laws were far looser. She knew the stories about him and her mother backpacking around Hoenn for weeks. Or the time the two of them toured every major sweet shop in Unova to scope out their competition before deciding to settle in Village Bridge.
How was she supposed to explain to them that the idea of leaving home for God knows how long made her feel absolutely terrified? She didn't care if everyone her age wanted to travel. She was happy exactly where she was.
She didn't need an adventure, and that was that.