Staring at the cardboard box sprawled open on her dorm room floor, she wrings her hands as she mentally prepares herself. For some reason, in no way did Lily expect to be nervous when meeting her partner, she thought this time would be the exception. She is glad she has privacy. Pulling the card free from the kit, she stares at the photo of Skitty once more, and eyes the description below she has yet to read.
Hi, I'm your new partner, a female Skitty! I love to play and am full of energy, but I can be shy around new people. I'm very affectionate and love cuddling with those I trust. My favorite thing is socks, chasing my tail, and being petted behind the ears. I would benefit most from a lot of toys, attention, and social time with other Pokémon. If a trainer teaches me how to have fun while battling, I'm sure I will be the most eager student around!
I have a hard past, so please be patient with me if I'm afraid. I was found by an elderly couple after being abandoned in a dumpster. After being brought to the University, my personality has blossomed, but it may take some time for me to trust. Please take good care of me!
Lily puts down the card, choking on both the happiness and the hurt in her Pokémon's description. She's going to do her absolute best to be the best trainer Skitty can ever wish for. How such a precious Pokémon could go through such horrid treatment at the hands of humans disgusts her. So she's decided: when they go shopping, she's going to spoil her rotten. Trying but failing to swallow the lump in her throat, she puts the card back and lets her fingertips graze the pokéball that's been rattling in the bottom of the box. Skitty's life is in her hands now.
She picks up the pokéball. In the past, Lily has only held empty ones, but even with a Pokémon inside it feels just as light. Breathing deep, a vitality in her chest flutters as she expands the pokéball and releases the Pokémon inside. Bright white energy bursts from the open pokéball and materializes into the form of the Skitty she saw in the photo. The light fades and Skitty is in her dorm room with her.
"Nya?" Her head tilts to look at her surroundings, inquisitive about where she is. Lily's heart melts as easily as a stick of butter. Her pink fur is fluffy and looks unbelievably soft to the touch. Cute triangle ears twitch this way and that as she swishes her tail, gaze finally landing on Lily. She kneels closer to Skitty's height.
"Hi Skitty, I'm Lily and your new trainer." She wants to touch her but keeps her hands to herself as she's being sensitive to Skitty's tendency to be shy. "This is your new home. I know today is an adjustment period, but I hope we can be great friends."
"Nya, nya!" Skitty chirps, but then puts her nose to the floor to sniff. Lily doesn't bother her and instead watches as she begins to walk around the room, sniffing and investigating every corner. She pokes her head curiously into bags she has yet to unpack, paws at her comforter, and makes quick biscuits on her beanbag before continuing to explore.
"It's not fully decorated yet, but you definitely match with the pink theme," Lily says, talking to her to let her know she's happy Skitty is in her presence. "If you'd like to come shopping with me today, we can pick out a lot of fun toys together! I want to make sure you love being here."
Skitty glances up at her with interest, before she notices the movement of her tail behind her and suddenly breaks out chasing it, spinning and spinning until she's too dizzy and collapses. Lily giggles, how adorable.
"You're so cute," Lily squeals. "While your tail may be a great toy, I'll make sure you have plenty of fun things to keep you busy."
"Nya, nya!" Skitty runs off to check out the bathroom and Lily pulls the shopping list from the starter kit to look at while she explores. The type of food and treats she likes are on there, as well as bedding and toy suggestions. This will certainly be helpful. She's going to get her some type of laser pointer— she knows Skitty are hyperactive and anything that will exert that energy is a good idea. While she's sure the two of them will spend a lot of time outside of the room training, she still wants Skitty to be able to stay entertained inside. No one wants to be inside and bored.
Skitty bounds out of the bathroom and towards her bed to inspect. "Do you want to meet my friends and their Pokémon? They want to go shopping with us," Lily asks, and Skitty must understand her better than she thought, because she cowers under her bed frame, ears down, hiding. Lily feels almost guilty, she doesn't want to frighten her.
"I know today is a little overwhelming," Lily says, sitting down on the floor so she is closer to Skitty beneath the bed, "and I'm not expecting you to fully trust me yet. I know you've had a rough past, someone didn't treat you well."
"Nya, nya nya..." Skitty responds, downcast.
"I'm overwhelmed too, this place and even the friends I've made are super new to me: you're not alone. I get scared of being awkward or embarrassing myself. If I don't think twice, I tend to come on a little strong to others," Lily confesses, and Skitty pokes her head out from under the bed. "But you're not alone! I'm sure you want to have fun just like I do." Lily nods her head with a genuine smile and Skitty watches her with curiosity. "We'll take it slow, there's no rush on this."
Skitty crawls out from under the bed, taking little steps towards her before she sits down in front of her. "Nya!" At the sight, Lily feels like crying.
"You'll come? That's great! Let's do this together!" Lily feels a lightness at Skitty being heartened by her attempt to soothe her. Preparing to leave, she pockets Skitty's pokéball and slings her backpack over her shoulders, making sure she has her wallet and room key. Skitty trails behind her shyly when she heads towards the door.
"They live right across the hall, Skitty, and we're going to say hi and then head out together." Skitty trills in response and they head out of their dorm to stand in front of May's and Dawn's. Lily can hear Pokémon cries from beyond as well as two girl's voices as Lily knocks.
"Oh! Coming!" She hears from beyond the door and then there is the pitter-patter of feet approaching. Dawn opens the door, hair disheveled with flyaways as the elated footfalls of Pokémon running behind them in the room makes Lily try not to laugh.
"Oh my gosh, hi Skitty!" Dawn coos. "So pink! Come on in, Piplup and Torchic are... kind of crazy, but we're working on it," Dawn says, scratching her head, but she moves aside for them. Lily and Skitty squeeze by and are greeted with chaos.
A Torchic is sprinting after a Piplup around the room, and May is chasing Torchic to try to get it to calm down. "Hey! Torchic! You're scaring Piplup!" May's foot knocks over their fan, and it rattles to the floor, now pathetic and buzzing and unable to do its job.
Piplup nears Dawn and allows itself to be picked up by her to dodge Torchic's pecking frenzy, which is unleashed on Dawn's pink boots when its target is unreachable.
"Looks like Piplup took a blow to his ego to be picked up rather than to be picked apart by this menace," May huffs out, panting. She picks up her new Torchic and it fusses the whole time, feathers frilled and unable to contain its excitement. "It's a good thing you're cute. Ouch!" He pecks her on the arm.
Dawn laughs, setting down Piplup who she knows is too prideful to be kept in her arms like a plush toy for long. The Piplup puffs out his chest when she releases him, trying to keep his ego intact. Skitty timidly enters the room, sniffing at the floor as she did in Lily's dorm.
"Oh my goodness! Cutie!" Dawn exclaims, reaching down to pet Skitty, but she takes off away from Dawn's grasp to hide under her bed.
"Yeah, she's a little shy," Lily explains. Dawn nods, letting the Pokémon have its space. Piplup waddles towards where Skitty is to investigate the new visitor under Dawn's bed.
Torchic is finally settling down as he realizes he likes May's petting and current attention on him, and May lights up with a smile. "That's better! See, I knew you have some goodness inside of you." Lily can't help but laugh.
"So, we going shopping?" Dawn asks the group, putting on her pokétch, and Lily mirrors Dawn's intent to go, heading over to check on Skitty and Piplup.
"Yes! Sounds good," May says, bouncing Torchic up and down on her lap. It squeals in delight. "Just let me grab my bag." She sets Torchic down and he fluffs his feathers, beginning to preen as Lily notices Piplup coaxing Skitty out from under the bed. What a good leader. Skitty gets the nerve to head closer to Lily but keeps a wary eye on the spunky Torchic.
"Alright, let's go!" May cheers, Torchic running after her on its wiry legs. The three and their Pokémon head out to leave the dorm, and Lily keeps thinking how proud she is of Skitty for being brave.
"You're doing great, Skitty," Lily compliments, and Skitty smiles up at her for the first time, which is a moment Lily is sure she will remember for a long time.
"Nya, nya!"
The massive warehouse is bustling with new trainers, but Pokéversity has prepared in advance for the swell of business today. Lines tended to quick with the max amount of registers open, and it's lucky that the building is so big as there is plenty of room in the aisles.
"Wow!" Dawn gawks, a sparkle in her eye as she takes in the massive Pokémon supply store. "I don't know if we will be able to look through all of it."
"I don't think so either," May comments, "let's all split up and then meet back out front. Let's just get the essentials today since it's busy." Lily and Dawn agree it's a great plan, plus she doesn't want to stress Skitty too much today. A quick shopping spree and then the rest of the night in the dorm is a good compromise to not overwhelm her new partner.
"C'mon, Skitty," Lily says, and Skitty bounds after her. "Don't worry— we're going to get everything you need but be fast so you can relax at home with your new things." Skitty seems relieved at that, her tail high and content. Lily grabs a cart at the front of the store and they head down the first of the aisles that displays a lot of different types of Pokémon food. Lily glances at the list she brought and finds the pecha berry mix Skitty likes and puts a good-sized bag in the cart. Skitty seems to approve of her choice, pawing at the same product on the shelf. At the sight, she makes a mental note to feed Skitty when they get back to their room. She also buys some pre-cooked pecha poffins and pink pokéblocks for treats— she's definitely going to buy the ingredients to make some of her own sometime.
They come across rows and rows of all types of food bowls. She finds a light pink food dispenser and a matching fountain water bowl since feline Pokémon don't prefer still water and can tend to get dehydrated. It's a fact she learned from a post on Instagram, believe it or not.
"What do you think," she shows Skitty, and the Pokémon seems satisfied with the choices, tail swishing in glee. She wants Skitty to always have plenty of food if she ever decides to let her be alone in the room, so this is a perfect solution.
They finally reach the toy aisle and Skitty is jumping for joy. Lily decides to let Skitty choose so it'll be for sure something she likes. There's a set of bell balls hanging from a peg on the lowest shelf and she pushes against the packaging with her nose, purring at the delicate chiming that comes from inside at the movement.
"You like these?" Lily asks, and Skitty replies with an encouraging "nya," so she puts it in the cart. Next, they reach a basket of toys and there's a soft stuffed Ditto on the top. Skitty bats it out of the basket with her paw, and picks it up in her mouth, carrying it around the aisle. "Okay, that one too."
Lily also grabs a feathered rod toy and puts it in the cart for when she feels like playing with skitty more intimately. Her next mission is looking for a laser pointer, and she gasps when she finds an automated one that beams the light at certain times for the Pokémon to chase. They struck a gold mine. Lily puts that one in the cart, excited to see how it works.
"You're going to have so much fun with these, Skitty." The Pokémon's spirits have risen and her playful personality coming out. There's a more bouncy pep in her step as they head for the bedding aisle. There's a ton of beds to choose from and in all different sizes. Skitty bounds down the aisle, staring at the ones on the shelves, before mewing at a pink one with Jigglypuffs on it on the middle shelf. It's a smaller bed, but it seems to be Skitty's size.
"You like this one?" Lily takes it off the shelf. The material is plush and fuzzy. She sets it on the ground and Skitty steps a tentative paw on it before chirping in approval.
"Alright then, you have good taste!" Lily laughs, as they head for what Lily thinks the last item on their list is. A scratching post. There's a lot of options, but Lily thinks a smaller one is a good bet since it doesn't take up too much space and she also has to carry it back to the dorm. She finds one that has a neat hideout on the bottom, and then the actual scratching post that holds up one jumping platform. It's not as heavy as she anticipated, so she makes room in the cart and drops it in.
They're heading to the checkout aisle when she stumbles across a display of soft, small blankets. There's no way she can resist getting Skitty one. Fuzzy blankets soothe her tired mind in a way nothing else can. It's safe to assume it will do the same for Skitty.
"I'm sure you've never had your own blanket, Skitty! Which one do you want?" Skitty noses the display rack, looking at all the different designs and colors. She finds a soft brown one with Eevees printed on it that she nuzzles, so Lily gets the hint and adds it to the cart. She's not even going to be mad if the bill is high— Skitty deserves it all more than anything and she's excited about the items, too. They head up towards the register, and Lily beams down at Skitty.
"You did amazing, Skitty, we're almost done!" Skitty vocalizes delight, patiently waiting in line and chasing its tail while they wait. Finally, it's their turn, and Lily pushes the cart towards the register. Behind it is a handsome man with blue hair and green eyes. His nametag affixed on his shirt reads: "James." A Chimecho floats behind him, smiling like customer service is in its lifeblood.
"Hi, find everything okay?" He asks, scanning her items one by one. Lily nods her head.
"Yes, we found everything we needed!" She reaches to help him prop up the heavier items to scan, but suddenly Chimecho uses psychic and moves it closer to James for him.
"Oh wow! What a helpful Pokémon!" Lily compliments, and Chimecho beams, twisting its own body, playful. Chimecho helps James bag the items and return them to her cart.
"My Chimecho is so wonderful, she keeps my spirits up even as it's busy!" His eyes shine so fully with love it almost seems like he could burst into tears. Lily smiles at him as she puts her debit card into the chip slot.
"That's wonderful, James," before she puts away her wallet, she slips him a 10 dollar tip. "Thanks for helping me and everyone here on such a busy day!" When she sees the happiness split across his face, she knows her gut feeling to boost his morale was right.
"Thank you so much, have a nice rest of your day!" He and Chimecho wave goodbye as Lily and Skitty make their way out of the store. Before they head out, Lily picks up the bag of Pokémon food and tucks it in her backpack, and then picks up all the bags and returns the cart.
"Great! Now we just need to look for Dawn and May." They step out of the automatic sliding exit and she spots May waiting out by a bench with Torchic, who is feeding him pokéblocks.
"Hey, Lily!" She greets. "Get anything cool?" Skitty pipes up at her question.
"Nya, nya, nya, nya, nya!" Skitty speaks up as if answering the question for her trainer. Lily and May laugh.
"We sure did, I think Skitty's excited about it, which is great."
May nods. "Torchic is pretty excitable too. I don't know if he's ever had pokéblocks before." He's pecking at one offered to him on her gloved hand. Lily watches Torchic being more gentle with her than he was before they left.
"Hey May, are you nervous about finally being a new trainer?" Lily asks. There's a lot of excitement involved, yes, but she wonders if she's the only one who's nervous.
"Of course! I have my parents and little brother, Max, all rooting for me! Max would talk my ear off if I do any less than my best," May responds, petting Torchic as he finishes the pokéblocks she gave him. "And also, I have a fear of disappointing him, I'm his older sister, I want to set an example. But I'm also nervous for myself... contests involve a lot of putting yourself out there, I'm scared of failing," she says, eyes sad, and Lily feels her anxiety crawl out around in her gut at May's confession.
"I'm feeling uneasy myself, that's why I asked," Lily says, taking a seat next to her on the bench. She puts down her purchases and Skitty pokes her head into the bags, content to sniff at her new items. "I'm worried I won't do right by Skitty, and myself..."
"We just have to try," May reassures her, patting her shoulder. "I'm sure we're going to be great trainers. We can't avoid making mistakes, because everyone does— but we should do everything with our Pokémon in mind." Lily puts her palm on her cheek, staring down between her feet at a patch of grass growing through a crack in the cement sidewalk. After a moment to contemplate, she turns towards May again.
"Thanks, May," Lily's eyes shine with thanks, "I know we just met today, but I can already tell you're a good person." May's eyes crinkle up at that. She lowers Torchic on the ground to see Skitty, and the two smell each other hesitantly.
"It's no problem. Doing this with friends means we need to support each other."
Dawn rounds the bench, interrupting their conversation, gasping from the sheer amount of bags she's carrying. It doesn't seem to put a dent in her enthusiasm, though. "Hey, guys, look at this." She pulls out a tiny top hat from one of the bags and plops it on Piplup's head, and he strikes a proud pose.
Oh, yeah. They're going to be just fine.
Trekking back to dorm Decidueye feels like a longer trip than it did on the way to the warehouse— the weight of the sheer amount of bags is to blame. The good news is they will only have to bring this amount of items back to their dorms once. Having finally made it, the three girls spill out of the elevator door when it opens onto the third floor and all say goodbye for the night so their Pokémon and them can all settle in before they make plans for tomorrow.
"Here we are, Skitty," Lily says, unlocking the door and dragging herself into the room, her energy fully spent. Skitty prances into the dorm, standing on the beanbag as she watches Lily take the items out of the bags one by one. Once she pulls free the bag of pokéchow and her new bowls, she gets to work opening the packaging and cleaning the bowl in the sink.
"I assume you're hungry, huh Skitty?" She asks, and Skitty mewls in response and begins grooming herself. Lily sets the dispenser onto the ground and fills its storage with kibble. The mechanism inside buzzes and then lets a serving of pokéchow tumble into the bowl. At the sound, Skitty bounces up and investigates before beginning to eat, making contented noises while she chews. Lily giggles. "I would take that as a yes."
She wipes out and sets up the water bowl next, filling it with filtered water before lowering it to the floor and turning it on. The movement on the water's surface catches Skitty's attention and she laps at the ripples, quenching her thirst.
"Great!" Lily sighs in relief. She's eating fine and seems to like these buys so far.
Out of nowhere, a buzzing comes from the air conditioning unit in the room's wall and cool, refreshing air begins to spill into the stuffy space. Lily can hear Dawn yell excitedly in the distance, and she can't help but laugh. The AC is back on, and it'll be super comfortable for getting acclimated and sleeping.
A natural smile is on Lily's face as she opens the fridge and puts the takeout her mom ordered for earlier today onto a plate. She puts it in the microwave to heat up as she puts Skitty's scratching tower next to her TV and her bed at the foot of hers with her Ditto plush toy and Eevee blanket. Lily worries Skitty won't sleep well tonight in a new environment, but she's going to make it as comfortable as possible. Taking Skitty's new toys, she puts them on the rug for her for later and begins setting up the automated laser pointer. She checks out the instructions for how to set timers on it at an interval and plugs it in. A red dot beams out of the device and begins traveling over the rug. Skitty, who just finished eating, stills at seeing the intruder, making a hunter's stance before chasing the dot in a frenzy, the sound of tiny footfalls filling the room as Lily sits down with her hot takeout, watching Skitty chasing the dot and loving her new toy. Wow, she's really fast— she moves in a pink blur around the room.
She already has so much affection for Skitty: what a sweet Pokémon. She takes a bite from her lo mein and reminisces on her day today. Beyond her expectations, she's already made two new friends who she clicked with right away. She's met so many new Pokémon in her first day alone and taken the first steps in bonding with her own. To be honest, Lily can't imagine herself receiving a different Pokémon than Skitty, especially after today. They seem like a good match— and she's always thought Skittys are absolutely adorable whenever she's come across them in photos or while studying. She's going to be perfect for contests— for sure she will work on bringing out that charm during appeals. As for battling— she's going to have to come up with some interesting strategies.
Skitty examines her new bed and steps into it, sniffing and biting at her new plushie. Then she begins rolling around on it on her back, spreading out and enjoying the soft bed and blanket. She stills for a second before getting up and pushing around her new bell ball toys with a paw.
"Hey, Skitty," Lily begins, dropping her empty takeout fork and box into the trash can. She heads over to where Skitty is and takes a seat next to her on the rug. Skitty looks up at her with a smile, seeming to enjoy her new items and is warming up to her company. "I didn't tell you yet, but I'm a contest and battling student." Skitty's head tilts to the side. "So we might have a lot of work and training cut out for ourselves, but I promise, it will be a lot of fun! I don't know how much experience you have battling, but we are going to find ways to make your abilities shine."
Skitty swishes its tail. "Nya, nya?"
"I will be with you and training by your side the whole time. And if we do well, the university will let us have more Pokémon friends, and we'll get funding from the university for essential items if we rank high in contests and tournaments," Lily explains. "We'll be able to go to a lot of fun places and live as comfortably as possible here."
Skitty nods: "nya, nya, nya!" As if agreeing with the prospect.
"Tomorrow, I want to try out some of your moves together with you, and maybe May or Dawn will battle with us! Sound like a plan?" Skitty chirps, jumping up and down at the potential fun they will have tomorrow morning.
"Okay. Tonight I think I'm going to check you out in the pokédex and see what moves you know. Maybe I can come up with some strategies to try. You can never be too prepared." Lily reaches out on instinct to pet Skitty but pulls her hand back. She's going to let Skitty decide when she's ready and okay to be shown affection.
Skitty goes back to playing with her toys and Lily pulls out her pokédex. She scans Skitty and is excited about what the dex will reveal about her. The automated voice of the device speaks:
"Skitty, the Kitten Pokémon. Skitty has the habit of becoming fascinated by moving objects and chasing them around. This Pokémon is known to chase after its tail and become dizzy."
Gender: female
Ability: Cute Charm
Moves:
Double Slap
Attract
Double Team
Disarming Voice
So far, Skitty only has four moves, but that's to be expected. As she grows in strength she can learn more— but with this moveset alone, there's a lot of leeway for potential strategy. She knows disarming voice is a long-range move that always hits, which is excellent. Double slap is great for a close-range attack, as well as possibly using on terrain to gain height and dodging. Attract will be a great appeal move as well as possibly disarming if used on opposite-gender opponents— and double team will make evasion easier.
For a starting point, Skitty can be formidable against the other beginner trainers she is going to be facing. Lily heads to her desk and pulls out a pen and pad of paper, and starts jotting down ideas for appeals and battle strategies with the moves she has. On her laptop, she googles strategies elite trainers have used with the moves Skitty can use and questions about whether she can replicate something similar. Skitty has curled up on her bed, snoozing, but Lily's excitement can't be contained as she works hard to make a starting point for herself.
By the time she closes her laptop, it's around 8 PM. She gets out of her chair and stretches, a pop coming from her back and she sighs. Perhaps now would be a good time to shower and get ready for bed, she wants to get up early tomorrow and maybe take Skitty for a jog. She's decided that Skitty's main focus at first will be her speed, which seems to be her strong suit. If she can outspeed her opponents and immobilize them, they will be able to win battles. To dedicate herself more, she's going to be training as much as she can alongside Skitty. Even though she hates running, she's been meaning to get healthier and it'll be a great way to bond.
Lily heads into the bathroom with a change of clothes, and the bright white light flips on. She rubs at her eyes and heats up the shower, shucking her clothes to step into the warm stream. The water pressure is nice and Lily groans as she cleans the sweat away from a long, but exciting day. Drying herself off, she slips into an oversized t-shirt and shorts and steps back out into her cool room. She checks on Skitty and sees she's still fast asleep. Reflecting on her day, and how badly it started versus how it ended, Lily opens a new group chat and adds May and Dawn's contacts to it. Before she regrets it, she decides to show vulnerability.
Lily: Thanks for making friends with me today, I had a lot of fun and I'm so excited to get to know you two better :)
Just as Lily is snuggling under her comforter, her phone dings as she receives a new message.
Dawn: I'm glad I met you, you're super sweet and it helps a lot that your Pokémon is pink ;)
Lily laughs to herself, unable to stop the smile that comes to her face even though no one can see it.
May: the three of us are gonna take this university by storm, just you wait!
Beneath her text, May sends a blurry picture of Torchic rushing at the camera and Lily immediately saves it to her camera roll. Absolutely iconic.
Dawn: and the male population!
May: that's a given, have you seen us?! Baddies
Lily gets up as she realizes she forgot to turn off the light and snaps a picture of Skitty curled up on her bed to send to them before flipping off the switch and getting back into bed.
Lily: I think both her and I are just as sleepy. I'm going to bed, but I just wanted to let you guys know I'm thankful 3
Dawn: So are we for you! Have a good night :)
May: goodnight, see you tomorrow!
Lily reads the messages over again a second time, before turning off her phone and plugging it into its charger. There's still nothing from mom, but she tries to not let that get under her skin. She tussles around with her blankets to get comfortable, before allowing her body to relax into sleep. Her mind spins with thoughts of tomorrow and Skitty before she drifts off into a deep sleep.