A/N: I feel like this took way longer than it should have, but that may be because I'm not used to writing 10k+ chapters. I'll get better at it, I swear. Especially since I found out how to work Fighter's Block.
Anyway, we were introduced to Jaz and Aaron in our last chapter, and now we move to the rest of our cast.
(Also thank you to everyone that reviewed the last chapter, and I hope everyone had a great holiday season and a great new year's).
"And then Greninja-"
"I'm going to whack you with this pillow if you don't get out of my room."
"And what if I don't?"
"Then I'll tell Mom and Dad that you're bugging me."
"Oh wow, favorite child threats, I'm so scared."
"MOM, BRENDAN IS PATRONIZING ME AND HE WON'T GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"
Brendan scoffed, "DAD, MEREDITH'S USING HER FAVORITE CHILD PRIVILEGES TO TRY TO GET ME IN TROUBLE FOR DOING NOTHING WRONG," he shouted.
"PARENTS, MY IMMATURE SIBLINGS WON'T SHUT UP AND LET ME READ IN PEACE AND THEY SHOULD BE GOING TO BED BECAUSE THEY LEAVE FOR KANTO TOMORROW!" Another shout rang out through the house, originating from inside one of the rooms just down the hall from where Brendan and Meredith.
"KIDS GO TO BED!" Their dad yelled from downstairs.
"BRENDAN STOP BUGGING YOUR SISTER OR YOU'RE GROUNDED AND YOU WON'T BE LEAVING FOR KANTO TOMORROW MORNING!" Their mother shouted also from downstairs.
Meredith smirked, "Dad only said that because Darcy yelled too."
Brendan rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, whatever Mer. You just don't want to admit that your favorite child privileges are slipping now that we're becoming independent pokemon trainers."
"Oh whatever. Mom and Dad love all of us equally."
"Says the favorite child."
"MOM!"
"BRENDAN!" Their mother shouted again, with more warning in her voice.
Brendan scowled, "Favorite child," he muttered under his breath, slamming Meredith's door behind him. He lumbered down the hall, as one of the doors squeaked open, revealing Darcy with a tablet tucked under her arm and her reading glasses askew on her face, "If it makes you feel any better," she said, adjusting her glasses, "Twenty-three percent of parents have a favorite child, so you aren't alone in non-favorite land."
Brendan snickered, ruffling his little sister's green hair that she had so tightly and methodically pulled into two identical braids on either side of her face. "I haven't been for seven years, if you've been paying attention."
"So when's Cori flying in?"
"Hate to break to you but dear cousin Cori is too busy. I know you were excited to see her too."
"Doing what exactly? She's never at the Shalour City Gym anyway. The Kalosian media call her the 'wandering leader' because she's never at the Gym."
"Don't let Aunt Korrina or Uncle Clemont hear you say that," Brendan said, leaning against Darcy's door frame. He ran his finger along the wood and held up to his face, "You dust your door frame?"
"At least I don't run the risk of a trubbish forming from all the garbage in my room," Darcy said, waving her hand dismissively and turning around. "Too bad the ticket goes to waste."
"Don't you wanna come? Mom and Dad are already trying to force you into coordinating, and it's only gonna get worse as you get older."
Darcy froze, "I'm already so busy here in Hoenn. With helping Professor Birch and everything and-"
"Come on, Dar-Dar. You'd have fun. And Mom and Dad can't force you to pursue coordinating if you don't live with them."
"But I-"
"Sure you aren't scared of not going to bed with your perfectly identical braids every night?"
Darcy narrowed her eyes, "I'm not that kind of person, that's Meredith."
"I HEARD THAT!"
The two of them exchanged a glance and snickered at Meredith's exasperated tone. Brendan held up a hand for a high-five, which Darcy returned.
"BRENDAN, WHAT DID I SAY!"
"I'M TALKING TO DARCY, MEREDITH IS JUST BEING DRAMATIC!"
He heard the muffled debate between his parents, he had to strain more as time went on. After a few seconds of silence, Brendan rolled his eyes, "Meredith is really abusing those favorite child privileges." He moved down the hall towards another door and looked over his shoulder, "Offer still stands if you wanna come."
Darcy turned back to her room and rested her hand on the door knob, "I'll-"
"DARCY, COME DOWN HERE PLEASE. YOUR FATHER AND I WANT TO TALK TO YOU."
"Ugh, of course. Just when I was about to finish reading Professor Birch's research paper he asked me to proofread."
"You're seven, when did you start proofreading research papers for world-renowned pokemon professors?"
"Since I had no family members that shared my interest in pokemon research like Mom and Dad share Mer's interest in Coordinating. Our Aunts and Uncles are battlers like you want to be, I mean, Uncle Max is literally the Champion of Hoenn. You can't be in a better position- unless you're a champion child or something-"
"DARCY!"
"I'll be down in a second!" She shouted back, turning to Brendan, she asked, "Can you put this in my room? I have a feeling that this talk is going to be more unwanted career pressure." She handed him her tablet and slinked down the stairs to where their parents were waiting.
Brendan turned the handle and jumped over the small pile of laundry that had been lying neglected for days. In fact, the carpet floor seemed to be covered in a blanket of laundry, whether it was dirty or clean didn't matter to him, as long as it smelled good. He danced over them, finding small patches of exposed carpet to put his foot down. He moved the dirty clothes that had been piling up over to the pile of clothes that, at least he assumed, was dirty and flopped down on the twin bed that was shoved in the corner of the room and stared up at the ceiling.
He scanned the walls, which seemed to be plastered with posters to the point where you couldn't find a single part of the green walls. They mostly had graphics depicting two trainers battling under floodlights in front of a golden trophy. There were about fourteen of them, with different numerals indicating when they occurred. A few more of them had similar designs, and others showed intimidating silhouettes of people who looked like they were wearing capes.
On the wall behind his bed was a collage of photos that pictured him eagerly staring up at a man with dark blue, almost blackish hair, glasses, and dark brown eyes. The man seemed to be in some sort of uniform, with a golden pin on his collar. A few more showed a blonde woman in the frame as well, with a silver pin instead. Brendan's age varied between pictures; in some, he was only an infant, but in more recent ones, he reached the blonde woman's shoulder in height.
He flicked through a few videos that were saved to his phone: various league highlight reels, World Coronation Series battles, even battles between champions, and a few movie bloopers were mixed in throughout. His eyelids started to weigh like a groudon as he got about halfway through one of the highlight reels and nearly fell asleep until the door was forced open.
Brendan sat up to see Darcy in the shadow of the doorframe, looking down dejectedly. "Can I take that extra ticket?" She asked.
Brendan raised an eyebrow, "You sure?"
"Yes, please."
"Do you wanna wake up favorite child? Or should we tell her tomorrow morning?"
Darcy cracked a smile, "Tomorrow morning. I wanna see her face when she finds out that she's stuck with another of us."
"Mom!"
"Can I call you back? I'm busy right now."
"Ye- yeah sure. Just wanted to tell you-"
"Love you, Mimi."
The call ended with a beep, echoing against the vaulted ceilings that were almost thirteen feet above her head.
"That I was hoping you had a good flight back," she mumbled, flopping backward to lie splayed on her bed.
"Was she busy again?"
"When is she not?"
"She makes time to visit you when she isn't busy, Mira. And could you please make somewhat of an effort to contain your laundry in one part of this room."
Mira rolled her eyes, adjusting her blue hair to ring around her head like a blue halo as she snapped a photo with her RotomPhone. She sat up and leaned back against the mountain of pillows that rested against her headboard, swiping and scrolling through PokeSnap stories.
"A new masterpiece?"
Mira snorted, "Please, Brie. My lighting was off, my outfit-" she gestured to the nightgown she'd donned- "less than desirable. My hair wouldn't cooperate, and it all shows."
"I doubt it does-"
"It does show."
Brie rolled her eyes, "Whatever you say, Madame," she said, gathering up clothes from the ground in a laundry basket that she had rested against her hip. "I won't be here in the morning, just so you know-"
"What, why?"
Brie sighed, "I've told you at least seven times. My little sister is getting married and I'm her maid of honor," she explained, "Twenty-three and already married, seriously Esme, how have you done it," she added under her breath.
"Oh, how wonderful," Mira said, trying to fake interest. Luckily, she was a good actress, "I wish you'd given me some kind of notice."
"Oh, I did. To your mother at least. I'll have everything out for you tomorrow, the only thing you have to do is walk down the stairs, sound good?"
Mira blinked a few times, "Yeah, sure," she said dismissively as Brie finally left. Mira sunk back into the plush comforter and rested against her fortress of throw pillows, scrolling through her PokeSnap and PokeVision feeds.
Most of them were videos about some big battle in the Galar Region; many were commenting, there were blind reactions and an uncountable number of people analyzing every twitch they made. She rolled her eyes, scouring her feeds until she landed on a recent Contest that had taken place in Unova.
She tapped the video as it expanded on her screen and Rotom turned on its side. It showed a combination of what looked like a fire-type and a ghost-type. The girl couldn't have been older than Mira by more than a few months.
Her deep blue hair fell in ringlets that framed her face, done up in the back with a simple hairpin. Her dress looked suspiciously like a dress by a sinnohan designer that Mira had admired for years, but with enough alterations so that it looked custom made. She studied the coordinator's movements, so absorbed in her performance that she didn't realize that it had ended.
Mira could hear the crowd go silent as the judges deliberated this girl's score and the video cut off. She scanned the title, eyes widening as she saw what the girl's score had been, just shy of a perfect score.
"I'll have to use one of those combinations," she mumbled to herself, falling back against the pillows and into the grasp of sleep.
Meredith brushed her bangs out of her eyes, the morning Hoennian sun filtering through the blinds. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of her bed, interlacing her fingers and stretching her arms above her head.
She slid off the high bed, the thud of her feet muffled because of the plush white rug that was spread across the wood floors. Meredith moved over towards the delicate stack of folded clothes on top of her dresser, shaking out the blue tank top that was on top of the pile and holding it up to her chest. Underneath it was a pair of white shorts and a pair of black capris that tightly hugged her skin and stopped just above her knees.
She slid into a pair of new sneakers she'd lined up against the doors and shoved the door open, thudding against something else.
"Ow!"
Meredith poked her head around the door to see Darcy glaring at her while pinching the bridge of her nose.
"What?"
"You just hit me in the face with your door with enough force give me a nosebleed," she ran her finger under her nose, coming back with a finger coated in scarlet, "correction: you did give me a nosebleed, and all you say is what?"
Meredith pushed the door closed with her foot and crossed her arms, "Aren't children prone to getting nosebleeds, it could've been caused by something else," she argued.
"Considering the fact that you opened the door right as I was walking by and hit me directly in the face, I'm inclined to believe that the door was the reason I am now bleeding out of my nose," Darcy shot back.
Darcy glanced down at the green, short-sleeved sweater that now had a crimson stain on the front and frowned, wiggling out of it and holding at arm's length like it was toxic waste. She shot one last glare at Meredith, turned on her heel, and stalked back to her bedroom.
"Well that's a lot of sass for a seven-year-old," she muttered. She brushed a few strands of her cinnamon brown hair back behind her ear and gracefully danced down the stairs.
"You look like a dork," Brendan said as she took the final step.
"Well you're a jerk who doesn't understand that things must be done with a bit of style and poise," Meredith retorted.
"Oh shut up."
"I can't believe that I have to be stuck with you for months in Kanto!"
"No one is stopping you from leaving as soon as we land, you just know that without me, you wouldn't survive a week on your own!"
The twins glared at each other, before being shoved apart by a pair of hands on their chests. Both of them glanced down to see Darcy between them, now in a purple sweater instead of the green sweater she'd changed out of, with a crumpled tissue stuck up one of her nostrils.
"Are you okay?" Brendan asked, raising an eyebrow at Darcy's appearance.
"Meredith whacked me in the face with her door and I ended up bleeding on one of my sweaters so I had to change," Darcy explained.
"I did not hit you with my door!"
"Then what? Did I just walk into it?"
Meredith groaned and left the room, leaving Brendan and Darcy to exchange a mischievous glance.
"So have you told her?" He whispered.
"Nope."
Brendan stifled a laugh, "This is gonna be good," he said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
The two of them finally entered the next room, seeing Meredith being fawned over by both of their parents. Darcy froze, and Brendan wrapped an arm around her.
"Oh hey, Mom and Dad, it's me, one of your other children," he said, grabbing his jacket off one of the hooks by the door.
Their dad turned away from Meredith, "Good, you're both up. I was just about to go and wake you up, Brendan."
"I wasn't worried about that," he muttered.
His attention turned to Darcy as she tied her hair back, "Have you thought about what your mother and I talked about?"
"I have, and I've made the decision to instead ignore that and go to Kanto with my siblings."
"What?!"
Brendan leaned against the wall, "Yeah, she's coming with."
Their mother jumped up, "Now hold on, we don't have the tickets for-"
"No, we do. Cori is stuck doing Arceus knows what in Kalos so we have a third plane ticket, and I've decided to offer it to Darcy and she accepts."
"You didn't run this by me!" Meredith cried, "I thought I got a say too!"
"Aren't you the one that wants to go running off on her own the minute we land?" Brendan countered.
"Now hold on! We should think about how old Darcy is, she's only seven!" Their mother exclaimed.
Their father pursed his lips, "I'd agree with you, May, but remember that you let Max go with you when you were a kid."
May crossed her arms, "That was what, twenty-five years ago? The world was a different place back then, Drew."
"Yeah, it was a ton more dangerous," Darcy interjected, "Criminals around every corner, danger at every turn. Mom, you had to go head to head with Team Aqua and Team Magma, you lived these history books."
"And what does that-"
"The world is a lot safer now, and Darcy wants to come, so why don't we let her," Brendan protested.
"Oh, I see what this is," Meredith said, "This is your way of making my life even worse."
"Again, no one is stopping you from leaving as soon as we land!"
"Brendan! Meredith! Stop it now!" Drew yelled, "You two are going to stick together and take care of each other, so help me Arceus."
"I'll only take care of her if Darcy can come with us."
"Alright, alright, fine. Darcy can go with you two, as long as you stop fighting. Promise?"
Both twins tucked one hand behind their back and crossed their fingers, "We promise Dad," they said in unison. Drew and May turned their attention to each other as Brendan and Meredith glared at each other.
"Darcy are you sure that you want to-"
"Yes."
"Then it's settled. And you three should start moving, I know Brendan insisted on walking to Professor Birch's laboratory instead of us driving you two."
"How lovely," Meredith muttered.
Brendan rolled his eyes, grabbing a beige and teal messenger bag from by the door and throwing it to Meredith, hitting her square in the chest and causing her to stumble back with an "oof".
She glared at him, adjusting the straps of the bag to it hung just below her hip. Darcy slipped past the two of them, grabbing her shoes from by the doorway to wait on the doorstep.
"Come on, Mer," Brendan sighed, "We gotta go."
Meredith narrowed her eyes and turned on her heel to stalk back towards her parents. He rolled his eyes, "Five minutes, or I'm leaving without you."
"You're a jerk."
"Well at least I'm original, you just copied me."
Meredith scrunched her nose, "How do I copy someone being a jerk?"
"Oh, ya know, being a jerk, and being born after me," Brendan smirked.
Darcy shook her head, "Move it, people, we got starters to pick and a flight to catch."
"Hold on-"
"No time, you blew it on the whole copy-cat jerk thing. Let's go!" Darcy said, punctuating the words of her last sentence with claps. She tugged the cuffs of her shirt out from under her sweater and refolded the collar.
Meredith scrunched her nose in disgust, "For once, I think fashion disaster over there has a point."
"I have a name; and a nickname that you gave me."
"Don't give Mer credit for your nickname, it was my idea as much as hers," Brendan protested.
Darcy rolled her eyes, "I don't care. What I do care about is you two getting your starters and us getting out of here. Now, I'm leaving, and I know that you guys don't know the shortcut for getting to Littleroot Town, but if you wanna get on your flight on time, I'd leave with me."
Mira buried her head in the mountain of pillows, hiding from the sunlight flooding through her room from the large, eastern-facing windows across the room. It was clear that Brie hadn't left until at least an hour ago. She always tied the curtain stays in a slip knot, to make it easier when she closed the curtains in the evening.
The sun's golden light pierced the walls of her pillow cave, finally rousing Mira. She swung her legs over the side of her bed, interlacing her fingers above her head. Her RotomPhone hovered in front of her eyes and she flashed a smile. It dropped into her hand and she inspected the photo.
Luckily her hair had been covering that stubborn zit that refused to leave the exact center of her forehead. It seemed that bangs had a use, if it wasn't for fashion, after all.
She slipped her feet into her slippers and hopped off the raised platform that her bed was on. Mira grabbed a hair tie, weaving her hair into an elaborate knot that kept it off her back. She turned, admiring her handiwork in the mirror, caressing the stands of midnight blue that framed her face.
Her door cracked open slightly, and in walked one of the housekeepers from downstairs. The old, portly woman nodded to Mira before gesturing to the door.
"I should hope you don't think that I'd miss you leaving. What kind of a mother would I be?"
Mira jumped up, "Mom!"
Her mother smiled, "Honestly, Mimi, did you really think I wouldn't be here?"
Mira shrugged, "I considered the possibility, you did seem really busy."
She giggled, "Well, I hope that I've proved that I will always make time for you, Mimi. And we could have more time if you decided to start in Kalos instead of Kanto."
Sighing, Mira adjusted the jacket, "Mom, nearly every major modern success story in performing has come from a practice run in the contest circuits, and I've been dreaming of being one of those success stories since I was a kid."
"I was one of those success stories, Mira, and I never competed in any contests," her mother argued.
"You always told me that success was being the best and being unrivaled. Your stories all involved being second best to the Kalos Queen until more performers squeezed you out and the Kalos Queen stepped down. I want to be the success story, even better than any Kalos Queen that has been or will be."
Her mother narrowed her eyes, "I may never have held the crown, but I was a household name my whole career. Success in performing and success in acting is different. In performing, if you can get the most headlines, you're the most successful. There's always going to be some rival or rookie that's better than you."
"And after I get a fanbase from the contest circuit, I'll come back to Kalos and be the rookie that blows everyone out of the water," Mira said.
"Fine. And I brought the starter you wanted."
"A fennekin?"
"Yes," she grumbled.
Mira's eyes lit up as she snatched the pokeball from her mother's hand. She danced out of the room, sliding down one of the staircases into the foyer. She landed on her feet, doing a twirl and tossing the pokeball into the air.
"Fennekin, come on out!" She shouted, her voice echoing against the marble floors and the towering walls.
A red beam shot out from the pokeball and materialized into a small pokemon that had yellow fur, a white muzzle, and the tip of its tear-shaped tail was a deep red. It had large orange eyes and two large ears with tufts of red fur peeking out from them.
Fennekin landed on its feet and stared up at Mira, cocking its head to the side.
Mira kneeled down to scratch behind Fennekin's ear, "You are so adorable," she squealed, "I think I'm going to call you...Cinder."
"Fen!" Cinder yipped, jumping up into Mira's lap.
She cradled the small pokemon in her arms, standing up to see a balding man that was desperately trying to hide the bald patches by combing his hair over in a weird way.
"Ma'am, the car is ready to drop you off at the airport, your luggage is already loaded. Whenever you're ready, we'll depart," he announced.
Mira glanced to the top of the stairs, waiting to see her mother standing there. She narrowed her eyes at the empty landing and turned back to the man, "I'm ready to go."
To be better than her, Mira thought bitterly as the man escorted her outside.
Darcy hopped over another tree root, followed closely behind Brendan and Meredith, and turned to face her siblings.
"Almost there."
"Did we seriously have to go this way?" Meredith complained.
"Mer, it's a shortcut, and I wanna make this flight," Brendan snapped.
Darcy rolled her eyes, "Then again, you two haven't been to Littleroot Town, so I could be just leading you into the woods for no reason."
"Are you serious!?" The twins shouted.
She chuckled, "You two are so gullible.
Brendan and Meredith glared at her back as she continued leading them through the woods.
They came to a clearing where an old, stout man was hunched over a notepad, observing a group of swellow in the trees. Darcy slowly walked towards the man, keeping an observant gaze on the swellow.
"I thought they would have gone further south by now, it's almost winter," Darcy said.
The man stood up with a spryness one wouldn't expect from a man of his age, "Darcy! Lovely to see you!" He looked behind her to see Brendan and Meredith and beamed, "And I'd assume that those two back there would be your siblings."
Darcy looked back at them, "Yep, those would be the two of them."
He gripped a cane and hobbled over to the twins, "You two are the spitting image of your mother. Except for the eyes."
The two of them glanced at each other, "We get that a lot," Meredith said.
"Actually, Mer gets it a lot. I just get told I look like my sister," Brendan corrected. "Which isn't exactly a compliment," he muttered.
"Well having you as a twin isn't exactly a walk in the park either," she hissed.
"Nobody asked."
"And you squabble like your mother and your uncle, too."
The two of them froze, "What?"
"Oh, back when your mother and uncle were new trainers, they would squabble non-stop," Professor Birch looked at Darcy, "And from what I hear, they still squabble to this day."
"The tabloids don't lie about that, that's for sure."
He nodded before looking around at the forest that encircled them, "My apologies, I realize this place isn't exactly a professional place to be meeting. I was so caught up in the prospect of fieldwork that your arrival slipped my mind. Luckily, I had spoken to Darcy about this, and she managed to find me. Had you gone to my lab, you would've been waiting there all day."
Meredith crossed her arms. Professor Birch did not look like someone who should be doing stuff like this; in her opinion, he was practically ancient. It was a miracle that he managed to get out here in the first place.
Brendan shared a slightly similar sentiment as Professor Birch guided them along yet another trail.
He leaned over to Darcy, "I mean no offense, but isn't he a bit old to be doing fieldwork on his own?"
She sighed, "That's just Professor Birch. His entire thing is going out for weeks and doing fieldwork. You remember how Mom told us she first met him while he was being attacked by poochyena that had wandered across him in the forest. Luckily his assistants have mostly confined him to the woods around Littleroot Town."
"Confined sounds a bit strict."
"There was a time about a year ago where he overexerted himself while doing fieldwork in the Galar Region and had to be airlifted back to Hoenn. So, confined seems appropriate."
Meredith whipped around and raised an eyebrow, "'A bit old'? Brendan, he's practically a fossil. I wouldn't be surprised if they have to revive him once a week."
"You wanna talk about fossils? Professor Rowan in Sinnoh is like a hundred, and he's still working," Darcy whispered.
The twins exchanged a glance and Brendan snickered.
"Arceus forbid we lived in Sinnoh and had to get our starters from a literal fossil. I'll settle for a regular old man any day."
"I think that's the only time I've ever agreed with you."
Brendan smirked triumphantly, as though he'd defeated an opponent in battle as Meredith scowled, attempting to elbow him as he slid out of her range.
Professor Birch glanced over his shoulder at the twins and turned to Darcy, "I'd assume that this is a normal occurrence in your home?"
"This squabbling is typically followed immediately by Brendan getting yelled at by our mom," Darcy said. "Our dad tries, but Mer is obviously both of their favorites."
"Aspiring coordinator?"
"Aspiring coordinator."
"Ah, it makes sense that your mother would try to encourage it. What with showcases slowly overtaking contests in popularity. If there were another generation of coordinators descended from prominent coordinators, it might bring back a bit of their audience."
"Or they could just be interested in the first place," Darcy grumbled.
She couldn't tell if Professor Birch had heard her or was just ignoring her comment but he didn't respond and the group spent the rest of the short walk in silence.
Littleroot Town had expanded in the last few years, but Professor Birch's laboratory had barely changed, except the outside had slowly deteriorated over the years. Plaster flaked off and covered unkempt flower beds with dust reminiscent of rare winter snow.
Meredith couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in her stomach as she saw how neglected the exterior was. Part of her wondered if the ceiling would collapse in a few hours. She shot an uneasy glance towards Brendan, who matched her stare.
They hesitantly followed Darcy and Professor Birch inside. The lights flicked on and Brendan could feel the electricity in the air as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
Paperwork towered like skyscrapers across various desks, and the room had a musty stink of stale coffee. Meredith forced herself not to gag at the negligent state the whole room was in.
"My apologies for the mess, my assistants rushed off to do fieldwork about a week ago and their work has been piling up for them when they get home. My area of the lab is a tad bit more organized, I wouldn't want any pokemon in my care to live in filth."
"Your room is cleaner than this," Meredith whispered.
Brendan blinked, "Is that a compliment?"
"It shouldn't be. Your room is a tepig sty."
"At least it doesn't look like I live in a literal museum."
"My room does not look like a museum," she protested.
"How many figurines of pokemon do you have that correlate to some randomly obscure coordinator because it looks like a lot from my point of view," Brendan retorted.
"Lisia is not an obscure coordinator, she was one of the most popular Hoennian coordinators of all time."
"And what does she do now?"
"That's not fair, not every coordinator can find some way to stick with it in adulthood like Mom and Dad could."
"Isn't there one in Johto who washed out and works as a reality show host while her only reason for staying anywhere nearly relevant is because she married the champion?"
"Shouldn't you be more confident in that answer, your hobby is basically internet stalking them," Meredith asked sarcastically.
"I do not internet stalk people."
"Were you not just talking about how there was probably going to be some sort of exhibition match in Kanto because the champion went back there after some match in Galar, and when I asked you how you knew he went home, you said 'oh yeah, it's his son's birthday, and he's like our age'?"
"Actually he's like a few months younger than us," he mumbled.
"Brendan, that's super creepy."
"It's not creepy, it's in the public domain. The kid comes up in a tabloid headline at least once a month. And with a family legacy like his, I wanna see if he lives up to it."
"Meaning?"
"I wanna battle him, duh."
Darcy cleared her throat, looking back at her siblings, "We've been standing here for like five minutes while you argue about internet stalking celebrities and their families."
"I don't stalk people," Brendan argued.
Darcy groaned, "Can we please get this show on the road so you two can get your starters and we can get moving?"
Professor Birch awkwardly glanced between all three of the siblings, gesturing them into his office.
He was truthful, his office was much cleaner than the rest of his laboratory. Though some papers scattered as a little blur of red darted across his desk. Brendan followed the blur, scanning the room, trying to find it again.
There was a blue, amphibian-like creature sitting patiently on the desk, seeming to be annoyed with the red blur that was terrorizing any loose papers in the room. At first glance, Meredith didn't find it all that cute, but water-types could do some amazing combinations in contests; and using Mudkip rather than Torchic could help her establish herself as separate from her mother.
Professor Birch let out a piercing whistle and the red blur came to a screeching halt and flared out its stubby wings with an affronted chirp. Brendan smiled down at the Torchic who jumped back up onto the desk.
Professor Birch looked up at the ceiling and shook his head, "Treecko, down."
Treecko dropped from the ceiling to the desk sitting beside Mudkip and Torchic. He smiled and nodded, looking at the twins.
"Now, I'd expect our champion's niece and nephew to recognize the three Hoennian starters, so I won't bore you with the speech I prepare for other trainers, I know you're on a tight schedule," he said.
The three nodded as he gestured to the three pokemon on his desk, "Choose whichever, oldest first."
Brendan smirked as Meredith crossed her arms, glaring at him.
"Is he really the older twin?" Professor Birch asked.
"Shockingly, yes."
"I would've thought it was Meredith."
"Nope, she acts it though. But most of that is favorite child privilege rather than actually being older."
Brendan studied Torchic, carefully observing every twitch that the small avian pokemon made. It stared back at him and jumped into the air, happily chirping as it flapped its tiny wings. He grinned, reaching out to brush the red feathers on top of Torchic's head.
It jumped out into his hands instead and he brought the small pokemon to his chest, "Looks like I was chosen instead," he chuckled.
"And a good partnership it seems to have made. That little one has been searching for her partner for the better part of a year. I have a feeling that you two will be doing great things together, Brendan."
"Oh, trust me, we will be. I've had my eye on a champion's title since before I could walk," he said.
Meredith rolled her eyes at her brother, "Ironic how someone who wants nothing to do with his parents chooses the same starter as his mother."
"It's called type advantages. When I'm in challenging for the Hoenn Champion title in the next few years-" Meredith scoffed- "I'm gonna need to have my strongest have that much more of an advantage against Uncle Max's Sceptile."
"Keep telling yourself that. I'd like to see you try something that's actually difficult."
"You think dancing on a stage is hard?"
"It's not just dancing on a stage. It's timing and choreography and improvising when something goes wrong and-"
"Sure, sure. But it's not like one wrong move can decide your results," Brendan said dismissively.
"I don't think you realize this, but Contests have battles too ya know," she protested.
"Yeah, but that's like battling but dumbed down," he muttered.
Darcy shook her head, "So, Mer, are we going to get to the airport on time? Or are you and Brendan going to keep arguing?"
"Chill out, Dar-Dar, we'll make it on time," Brendan said.
Meredith ignored her siblings, striding over to the two pokemon with an eye focused on Mudkip. It looked up at her and nodded, jumping into her arms as soon as she got close. She backpedaled, holding the small pokemon in her arms. Shocked at how eagerly it had jumped into her waiting arms.
Professor Birch beamed, "How lovely. That mudkip has almost been here as long as Torchic. I'm sure she'll be a great ally for you on the coordinating stage, Meredith."
"I think Kip is a bit more fitting than Mudkip, what about you?"
Kip nodded, jumping up so she was on Meredith's shoulder.
Professor Birch sent them on their way with their starter's respective pokeballs; the twins followed Darcy as they were guided back through the woods.
Mira didn't expect Lumiose City to be as busy as it was. She'd been to the major city a few times, for major premieres of movies her mother had starred in. Of course, that never showed her the beauty of the sprawling metropolis.
She pressed her face up against the glass, trying to steal a glance of anything that crossed in front of the window. Cinder jumped into her lap, paws up on the window, trying to see what Mira was seeing.
They kept at a steady pace throughout the city, arriving in front of the airport. Her chauffeur jumped out of the car, opening her door for her and grabbing two suitcases out from the trunk of the car.
A few people turned their heads, whispering as they watched Mira adjust the pair of sunglasses she'd been wearing on her head to cover her eyes.
"Your boarding pass and luggage, Ma'am," he said, handing a piece of paper, stuck between the pages of a small booklet.
"Thank you," she said, grabbing the handle of her bags and wheeling them behind her as Cinder jumped out of the car, strutting beside her trainer. She entered the airport, waiting in the seemingly endless line of security.
Even more people sent questioning glances her way, whispering indistinctly under their breath. Cinder was now curled up on one of her bags, dozing off because of how long they'd been standing there.
"Excuse me?"
Mira turned around to see a boy about two or three years older than her standing there, hand up like he'd been waving at her. His reddish hair fell in his eyes, and there was a chespin poking out of the canvas bag on his bag.
She lowered her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose, "Can I help you?"
"So you are Mira Millefuei, called it," he said, sounding almost congratulatory to himself.
"Yes, and?"
"Sorry, guess I should introduce myself. Steven Blanchet, Professor Blanchet's son," he said, extending his hand to shake hers.
"Oh, the professor for the Kalos Region, that Professor Blanchet?" Mira asked.
"The one and only."
Mira nodded slowly, "So how'd you know it was me?"
"A. you're an internet celebrity and can almost rival one of Ketchum siblings for popularity here-"
"Which one?"
"I think it's the one that's being trained by the Unovan Champion. Her name's Laura, I think," Steven said, scratching his chin. "B. your mom is a movie star."
Mira rolled her eyes, "B-list at best."
"But it's the B-list celebrities getting onto the talk shows. You don't often get Diantha Stone on a late-night show talking about a movie she's working on."
"Isn't she like fifty?"
"Forty-something, actually. She was in Kalos meeting with my parents not too long ago," he explained.
Mira hummed, "So what's the professor's son doing in an airport?"
"Trying to get to Sinnoh. My dad is working with Professor Rowan on something and as his assistant, I'm on my way to help him."
"You're like thirteen."
"Elaine Ketchum became Sub-Champion at eleven."
"That's cause she was born a battling prodigy," Mira said.
"That, and whatever kind of discipline she has. I've met her a few times and unless you can get her in a casual setting, she's always acting like there's some sort of camera pointed at her. It's kinda freaky."
"Well, she makes headlines at least once a month, that's her reality."
"I guess you would know, being a celebrity yourself."
"I'm not her kind of celebrity, the only cameras being shoved in my face are the ones on my RotomPhone."
The two of them made it through security, maintaining their conversation as Steven followed Mira to her gate. They were interrupted by the voice of the flight attendant stationed at the desk announcing that boarding would begin.
Steven looked back to her and waved, "Well, have fun in Kanto. I've gotta catch my flight which leaves in-" he checked the time on his RotomPhone- "seventeen minutes, see ya."
Mira's gaze followed him as he disappeared into the crowd, scooping Cinder into her arms. She turned back to the group of people huddled around the jetwalk and was tapped on the shoulder.
A flight attendant was hovering over her, her eyes flicking between Mira and her bags.
"I'm afraid those are a bit too big, we'll need to check them."
She nodded hesitantly, not sure exactly what the woman meant but let her take her bags without any protest. As soon as she walked away, Mira was caught up in a wave of people all trying to board at once.
She lowered her glasses so they covered her eyes, hugging Cinder close to her chest as she was funneled down and onto the plane. She awkwardly shuffled as people who had already boarded stopped the entire line so they could stow their baggage.
Mira managed to settle herself into her seat, zoning out through the spiel about safety procedures. She glance out the window, seeing the bit of Kalos she'd see in a year, or maybe even more.
Sometimes, the little tree has to move out of the bigger one's shadow to grow to its full height.
Viridian City was underwhelming. At least to Meredith; Brendan on the other hand, seemed as though he'd just been handed a million dollars. Darcy seemed relatively interested but simultaneously annoyed with how hyper her older brother was.
"Can you guys believe it? This was a starting point for hundreds of famous trainers!" Brendan exclaimed, taking a deep breath through his nose, "You can almost smell the air of achievement."
Meredith and Darcy exchanged a glance as Brendan continued taking in the scenery.
"It's no secret that Brendan is my favorite sibling, but that was weird," Darcy said.
Meredith shrugged, "Par for the course. You so much as say the word 'battle' and Brendan becomes an extreme fanboy. It's ridiculous."
"Have you seen yourself when someone mentions a contest?"
She rolled her eyes, "I'm not extreme like that. He's treating the whole city like a museum," Meredith said, gesturing to how Brendan was staring at even the most menial of things.
"Hey, at least I respect the past of people! We could be breathing the same air as one of the next great trainers at this very moment! Heck, we could accidentally bump into the first member of one of the world's next major battling legacies!"
"Battling legacies would be like…?"
"I mean, I'm technically part of one because of Uncle Max. Cori is part of one too, but hers is much older. A battling legacy would be like the Ketchum's or Shinji's or Colbert's, people whose parents are super prominent in the battling world, and they had enough common sense to become a trainer like their parents," he explained in a matter-of-fact tone like he expected Meredith and Darcy to know this.
"So how are you part of a 'battling legacy?'" Meredith asked sarcastically, "Sounds to me like you're just making stuff up."
"Uh, I'm the nephew of the Sub-Champion and Champion of the Hoenn Region, and Grandpa is still a gym leader."
"Even though he's as old as 'Professor Fossil.'"
"So would that make Mer part of a 'coordinating legacy?'" Darcy questioned.
"In theory, yes. But nobody cares about contests anyways so not really."
Meredith scoffed, adjusting her bag before stalking off.
"Where are you going?"
"Somewhere where you're not!"
Brendan looked down at Darcy, "Eh, she'll be at the pokemon center by dark, we'll see her then."
Darcy shook her head, "Honestly if either of you survives to see your first competition, it'll be a miracle from Arceus."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"That I have no faith in your or Mer's ability to survive in Kanto by yourselves," she deadpanned.
"Rude."
The two siblings made their way through the bustling city, almost coming up on the sunset. Brendan felt into the pocket of his jacket, bringing out Torchic's pokeball.
"Welcome to the Kanto Region, Torchic!" He announced, earning questioning glances from passing people.
Torchic looked up to her trainer with wide eyes, cocking her head to the side with a small chirp. Brendan sighed, scooping his partner up and resting her on top of his head, "Be careful up there."
Darcy led her brother, reading off the occasional direction from her RotomPhone, through the winding streets of the city. The sky began to paint itself in beautiful pinks and oranges as the sun lowered, signaling the awakening of the nightlife of the city. Multicolored lights began to illuminate the streets and more people began to emerge from apartments, crowding the sidewalks once again.
Finally, the two arrived in front of the doorway of the pokemon center. Caught up in staring at the massive structure that the Petalburg City Center, neither noticed the boy, roughly Brendan's age, that was hurriedly rushing out of there, eyes glued to the ground.
He bumped into Brendan, causing both boys to stumble, ultimately resulting in Brendan turning his back to the doors and the other boy staring directly at him.
His eyes were wide, as though he was scared of some possible retaliation from Brendan. Darcy tried making out more of his features but he had wild black hair, along with the brim of a baseball cap, shading his eyes. The shadows from the massive building also didn't help.
She did notice that there was a Charmander, tale alight, standing beside him; and his white-knuckled grip on what looked like a magazine or tabloid.
"Sorry about that, it's my first time in Kanto, and the pokemon center is much bigger than the one in my sister and I's hometown," Brendan began.
The boy blinked a few times. "Sorry," he said slowly, "I didn't see you there."
"No worries," Brendan looked back over his shoulder at the center and then back at the boy facing him, "Everything alright?"
He quickly glanced down at the tabloid in hand, "I'm fine. It was just a bit too crowded in there for my liking. Nurse Joy has plenty of room for trainers though."
"Great!"
The boy stood there for a few seconds before breaking the silence, "Have we met before?"
"I wouldn't know, I don't even know-"
"You look familiar. Are you related to a celebrity or something?"
Darcy and Brendan exchanged a glance.
"Wait, don't tell me," the boy interrupted, "You've shown up in the news next to Champion and Sub-Champion Maple, haven't you."
"Finally! Someone knows who I am!" Brendan exclaimed, "Brendan Norman Hayden, the sole nephew of Champion Max Maple and Sub-Champion Bonnie Maple, in the flesh," he lowered into a sweeping bow, much to the exasperation of Darcy.
"Also the only person to carry that battling legacy," he added.
"What's a battling legacy?"
"Ya know, like Champion Ketchum's family."
The boy chuckled, "That's not a thing."
"It totally is!"
"No, Brendan, trust me, it's not."
Brendan muttered something like 'it totally is' and checked his phone.
Where in the heck is Mer, he thought, scanning the area around him.
"Well, I need to get going," the boy said, "Nice meeting you, Brendan."
He looked up from his phone, about to ask the boy's name but he'd disappeared into the crowd of people on the streets. He looked back at Darcy.
"That entire conversation wasn't just a figment of my imagination, was it?"
"If you're crazy, then I'm crazy too because I saw the whole thing."
Mira had never had someone she genuinely hated (that was her age, she'd hated plenty of nannies and babysitters she'd had over the years) except this girl at the hotel she was trying to check into.
They'd run into each other just outside the front entrance and had raced inside, arriving at the front desk at the same time. Now both girls were waiting for the worker to search for any open rooms and shooting the occasional glare at one another.
"My apologies, young ladies, but it appears we only have one room-"
"There is no way!" They shouted in unison, glaring at each other afterward.
"With two beds," he finished, "I can split the cost between the two of you, or one of you could just go to the pokemon center."
Mira looked the girl up and down, "Why can't you go?"
"Because there's someone at the pokemon center I want to avoid."
"Ex-boyfriend?"
"No."
"Ex-girlfriend?"
"Worse. My battling obsessed twin brother."
"Arceus above, people who obsess over battling are annoying. I may dislike you, but I'll spare you from that," she turned to the worker, "We'll take it."
"Excellent! Names please?"
"Meredith Hayden," the other girl said.
"Mira Millefuei, that' i," Mira clarified.
The man nodded, typing in the girls' names. The two presented separate cards to split the cost. He pulled out two room cards and handed them to Mira and Meredith.
"Check out is by ten in the morning tomorrow."
The two of them nodded and left towards the elevators. A ding sounded and the doors slid open, allowing both girls to enter side-by-side.
Cinder, who had taken to hiding out in Mira's bag, poked her head out, yipping at the sight of Meredith. She flinched away, staring at the little fire-type starter.
"You're not from Kanto, are you?"
Mira shook her head, "No, Kalos, actually. The land where people can so easily lose the bags you had to check before boarding your plane," she muttered.
Meredith snickered, earning a scowl from Mira. Cinder also let out a soft growl, bearing her teeth at the young girl.
"Well, considering you're staying at a hotel instead of with family, you're probably not from Kanto either."
"Actually, I'm from Hoenn. I just came to Kanto to get a headstart on the contest circuit. If I were to start in Hoenn, I'd never be able to go anywhere because of my parents' reputation."
"Were they coordinators?"
"My mom was literally called the 'Hoenn Princess' because of how good she was."
Mira raised an eyebrow, "I mean no offense but that sounds like a rip-off of the whole concept of a 'Kalos Queen' in the showcase world."
Meredith scoffed, "Uh, showcases didn't go worldwide before contests."
"Yes, but they were always better."
"Definitely not."
The elevator dinged again, the doors again sliding open to a monotonous hallway, identical doorways lining each wall at identical intervals. Mira looked down at the abstract style carpeting and cringed.
Meredith looked at the sparsely decorated foyer and the ornate (and tacky in Mira's opinion) wall sconces that illuminated the hall, "This is probably one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in."
"Shockingly, I've stayed in worse," Mira countered, "Three stars are definitely not accurate," she added under her breath.
"Snob," Meredith hissed under her breath. She followed behind Mira as she stalked down the hall, keeping an eye on the pokemon that was rested on her shoulder. It stared back at her with narrowed eyes and slightly bared teeth.
There was a whirring sound as she held the room key up to the sensor on the doorknob. It blinked with a green light and clicked, allowing Mira to turn the handle and push the door into their shared room open.
It was equally sparse as the hallways, just two beds, a table that filled the space along the wall between them, decorated with two plain lamps, and a corded telephone between them. There was a dresser across the room from the beds that had an outdated television that Mira doubted even worked.
Meredith squeezed past her and flopped down on her back on the bed closest to the decently sized window.
"Dibs!" She called.
"You're…oddly excited about a sub-par hotel," Mira observed.
"This is like the first time I've been able to have a night without my brother cheering on a battle through the walls."
"I pity you."
Meredith shot up, almost jumping up to her feet, "I don't need your pity!" She exclaimed.
"I'm an only child, having to share the little attention I already get from my mother sounds like living in the distortion world," Mira said absently as she dumped out the contents of her bag onto her bed, sifting through her belongings to see how much she'd lost with the loss of her bags.
"So you must be close with your dad."
"Don't have one."
"Well then," Meredith began, "I guess you need my pity more than I need yours."
Aaron looked behind him at the bright lights of the city. He was probably a good mile out from the outskirts, finding that the path began to weave into the cover of the Viridian Forest that surrounded the city. Charmander looked up at him, hovering right by Aaron's leg and giving off some extra warmth fom the flame on his tail.
"Well, I think we're far enough outside the city to not risk waking up to a whole troupe of paparazzi outside our tent. What about you?"
Charmander nodded, trotting off into the underbrush to collect a few spare twigs. Aaron dropped his bag on the ground, digging through it to find the tent that his mother had nagged about for weeks. He unrolled it, pitching it nestled just barely inside the forest.
Charmander came back out of the underbrush, arms full of twigs, and dropped it in the little pit that Aaron had surrounded with tiny stones. The boy reached into his jacket pocket for the crumpled-up tabloid he'd been holding earlier. He uncrumpled it, staring at the front cover collage of photos of his family saying goodbye to him.
His RotomPhone flew out of his pocket, "One new message from: Lainey," it chimed in a robotic voice.
"Let me read it," he said, letting it drop into his palm. He tapped the message icon, clicking on the conversation with a red dot beside the name.
Lainey: You've been out for less than 48 hours and you're already on the front page of at least twelve tabloids and counting
Lainey: Update: you're on a thirteenth one in Sinnoh
Aaron: Ughhhhhhhhhh
Aaron: Tori and Ry did not get this much of a deal made about them
Lainey: That's cause Ry was the second child
Lainey: And Tori is shielded from the paparazzi by her dad, you know this
Lainey: Also you're the last champion child
Aaron: Well, with that logic, I'm the fourth child
Lainey: People want legacies, bud
Lainey: Does not help that you're a literal carbon copy of dad
Aaron: Am not
Aaron: I've got blue eyes
Lainey: That's literally the only thing separating you from dad
Lainey: Btw, where are you right now?
Aaron: Bout a mile outside Viridian, why?
Lainey: Tabloids spook ya?
Aaron: They were everywhere
Aaron: Also do Max and Bonnie have nieces and nephews
Lainey: Haven't you met Cori?
Aaron: Yeah but she's an only child
Aaron: I met a kid my age who claimed to be their nephew
Lainey: Did you get his last name?
Aaron: Yeah it was Hayden I think
Lainey: Oh yeahhhhh
Lainey: Max has a sister named May who was one of Mom's old coordinating rivals, married another coordinator named Drew Hayden if I remember right
Aaron: If she was Mom's friend then why haven't we ever seen her
Lainey: She was Dad's friend too
Lainey: Same reason I'm sure Tori has never met her, too busy working
Aaron: Tori's mom knew her?
Lainey: Yeah, May, Dawn, and Mom, the three of them always had some sort of spotlight in the coordinating world, Dawn even did a run in the showcase circuit once
Aaron: How close did she get?
Lainey: Mom won, by the skin of her teeth
Aaron: Dang, she must have been good
Aaron: I kinda feel bad for Tori, she's got even more expectations than me
Lainey: Just because the tabloids aren't obsessing over her like they are you doesn't mean she has it any easier
Lainey: Gotta go
Aaron: Why?
Lainey: Urgent Champion meeting
Lainey: Call me when you beat Forrest, Dad will want to hear from you too
Aaron: Yes ma'am
Aaron tucked his RotomPhone into the pocket of his jacket, tearing up the tabloid into small pieces and scattering the bits of paper over the twigs. He looked towards Charmander, gesturing dramatically towards him.
"Would you do the honor of lighting the fire?" He asked.
Charmander snorted happily, blowing a little bit of flame onto the pile of twigs and paper, setting it alight. The warmth pricked at his fingertips and he relaxed, sinking into the cushion of dirt beneath him.
His starter trotted over to him, plopping down in the dirt beside him.
"Well, early start tomorrow. We need to get to Pewter City so we can challenge Forrest as soon as we get there. It'll be our first ever gym battle, you excited?"
Charmander nodded, and Aaron grinned.
"It'll be our chance to show what we got!"
Brendan and Darcy both perked up at the sound of the doors of the pokemon center sliding open. Standing there was, just another person, clearly not Meredith. She made eye contact with Brendan and grinned.
"Should I be insulted about how disappointed you looked after seeing me," she said. "I'm clearly not whoever you were looking for, but did you have to look that depressed about it?"
"Sorry," Brendan began, "My twin sister and I split up after an argument and I was expecting her to come here, but Nurse Joy said she never checked in and I haven't seen her."
"So you were hoping that I was her. I get that feeling," she said, eyes downcast.
"I'm Brendan, Brendan Hayden of Petalburg City."
"Jasmine Kojiro of Valencia Island, and whose the little one back there?"
Darcy rolled her eyes, "Darcy, the little sister that didn't take off."
Jasmine nodded slowly, looking back at Brendan, "So you're the older twin?"
"Much to my sister's annoyance, yeah. I've got her by a solid three hours."
"Cool, my older brother is- was…" Jasmine trailed off, avoiding the questioning looks from Brendan and Darcy. "Let's just say that we definitely aren't twins. He's got…about four years on me."
"Trust me, you're the lucky one here. Being a twin is a curse."
She raised an eyebrow, "You seem awfully worried about your sister though."
"It's cause she's the favorite child and it was my job to make sure she didn't run off and get herself hurt. My parents would kill me."
"That's an exaggeration, right?"
"Not really," Darcy chimed in. "Our sister Meredith is our parent's golden child. If she disappeared and got seriously hurt on Brendan's watch, they'd probably kill him."
"Why is she the golden child though, you two seem pretty cool."
"Our parents are coordinators, and Meredith is an aspiring one. Brendan is an aspiring battler and I want to be a researcher."
Jasmine paused, "That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But that's probably because my parents definitely didn't want my brother or me to turn out like they did."
"What did your parents do?" Brendan questioned.
She sighed, "It's complicated at best. They weren't the greatest people, that's for sure."
With that, noticing Jasmine's pained expression, Brendan changed the subject, "So are you planning to compete in the Indigo League?"
Her face lit up, "Duh, of course, I am!" She slid even closer to the siblings, gesturing for Darcy to come closer. "I even just so happen to be the Champion's son's best friend," she whispered.
Brendan's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as Jasmine jumped to her feet, scanning the area. "He actually said he'd meet me here but I don't-" Jasmine paused, staring directly at a magazine stand in the corner of the room. She squinted, trying to read the cover from afar.
"Everything alright?"
Jasmine wordlessly walked across the room, her features giving away her frustration despite her attempts to look emotionless. Brendan and Darcy exchanged a confused glance and followed behind her.
She snatched the magazine off the rack, scrunching her face as she read the headlines and saw the photo. "Arceus above, even his sisters didn't get this much attention," she muttered.
Brendan and Darcy looked over her shoulder and Brendan blinked.
"Isn't that Aaron Ketchum?"
"Yup," Jasmine pointed to one of the photos, "and that's his mom there to send him off." Brendan and Darcy looked over the magazine, seeing in the corner, a woman whose curly, honey-blonde hair was tied into an updo.
"Wait, doesn't that look like one of the girls in Mom's photos from when she was a coordinator?" Darcy asked Brendan.
"Maybe it is," Jasmine said, earning confused glances from the siblings. "You two know who that is, right?"
She was met with shrugs.
"Have you two been living under a rock or something? That's Serena Ketchum!"
Silence.
"She was regarded as one of the greatest performers of her time. And she's the person that started expanding showcases outside of Kalos. And she's a huge producer, any movie in the past ten years you can name, she's produced."
"That sounds more stalkerish than my brother looking up champions."
Jasmine shrugged, "I've known Aaron since I was seven, of course I know about his mom."
Brendan looked impressed at Jasmine's knowledge. The three scanned the magazine racks, but Brendan's attention shifted as he caught a glint of the fading sunlight that shone through the large skylight in the center of the atrium, reflecting off of something on Jasmine's belt.
"Is that-"
There was a click as she unclipped the pokeball from her belt. She held it up in front of Brendan, the dying daylight almost causing the red half to glow. Darcy glanced over at it but reserved herself to scanning the magazine racks.
"So what are the starters over in the Orange Islands?"
"Same as Kanto, but I didn't end up choosing one of them."
"Why not?"
Jasmine put her hands on her hips, "My parents had a starter picked out for me. Not in a bad way. It wasn't like they were forcing me to start my journey with it. They picked it because they didn't want my brother and me to start with traditional starters. Neither of my parents did."
Brendan nodded, "So what did they pick out for you and your brother?" He asked.
"I got an Ekans, and my older brother got an Inkay," she answered.
Darcy turned around, "What did your parents start with?"
"My mom actually got an Ekans as a gift. Same way my dad got his Koffing. They've released them now, so I've never seen their evolved forms in person. Only on TV and stuff. What about you, what starter did you pick."
"A Torchic. My mom had one and my uncle has a Sceptile and I want to be able to beat him!" Brendan declared.
"Why your uncle? Most people always want to defeat their parents?"
"My parents aren't worth defeating. Also, they're coordinators and I've had my eye on a champion title since before I could walk."
"What did you say your name was again?" Jasmine said, pulling out her RotomPhone from the pocket of her gray jacket.
Brendan brushed a few stray pieces of brown hair away from his eyes, "Uh, Brendan Hayden."
Jasmine gave a quick nod, typing his answer into the search bar and scrolling through the results. She tapped on one that seemed promising and skimmed it quickly, her face lighting up with success. "You want to beat your uncle because he's the Champion of Hoenn, right?"
Darcy snickered at her brother's shocked expression. "You found that out fast," she said. "It's been Brendan's goal his whole life to beat our aunt and uncle and become Hoenn's Champion."
"And it says here," Jasmine began, waving her screen in front of Brendan and Darcy's faces, "that your aunt just so happens to be the Sub-Champion of Hoenn." She proudly smirked as Darcy nodded in confirmation. "That's so cool."
"You're the one who's friends with the son of the world's first and only tri-regional champion. And whose sister is the youngest Sub-Champion and youngest member of the Master's Eight."
"Elaine and I never talked much. She was always busy with something. Half the time, whenever I was visiting Aaron, she'd be off in Kalos or Alola doing some important business with the Elite Four or something. Even his dad wasn't around much," she said, twirling the end of one of her lavender pigtails around her finger. "After his sisters started their journeys and moved out it was mostly Aaron and his mom."
"Seems lonely."
"I guess, and he didn't do much in Kanto. Aaron's only technically lived here full-time for a few months."
"But he's Kanto's next star trainer, I thought," Brendan hesitated.
"Sike! He was born in Alola!" Jasmine exclaimed, earning annoyed looks from other trainers nearby.
Darcy smirked at her brother's surprised expression. "Looks like Mr. I-know-everything-about-the-champion's-and-their-families has been stumped," she declared, earning an eye roll from Brendan.
"I can introduce you to him in Pewter City, maybe we'll find your twin there."
"Maybe we will."
"How's Aaron doing with all the tabloids?"
"Spooked him. He said he was about a mile out from Viridian City."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "Alone?"
"Not sure. He did mention something about meeting May's kids," Elaine said, adjusting her ponytail.
"That's someone I haven't talked to in a while," he mumbled. "I should stop by sometime soon."
"Mom talks to her everyone once and a while, ask her what she's up to," she suggested, making last-minute adjustments to her clothes and her pin, secured on the high collar of her jacket.
"You've met the other champions before, don't stress out too much."
"Yes, I have, but this is one of the few times where I'm going to be in the same room with all of them at the same time. It's bad enough I'm the youngest Sub-Champion," she added the last bit under her breath.
Ash shook his head, "You made it on your own merits. Not because I gave you any favoritism."
"That doesn't change the fact that everyone has no issue reminding me that I'm a thirteen-year-old who barely knows anything."
"Says who? You're on track to be one of the youngest fully-fledged Aura Guardians in history according to Riley, not to mention that you mastered SynchroEvolution faster than I did; and I had Professor Sycamore looking over my shoulder as I was working on it."
They approached the solid wooden doors, guarded by men in identical uniforms stationed on each side of the doorway. The shoulders of the uniform were emblazoned with the tri-regional crest that matched the pins that both Ash and Elaine were wearing.
"They're waiting inside for you, sir."
Ash looked down at Elaine, "It's a standard summit-"
"That was called as an emergency," she interrupted.
"You've done these before. And no one is in any real danger," he reassured. "We're calling this one preemptively. You and I have eyes and ears on the inside already, we're obligated to share what we know. And remember-"
"It's official business, so I'm the Sub-Champion of Kanto, Kalos, and Alola first; your daughter second," Elaine finished.
Ash nodded in agreement and the guards swung open the doors. While Elaine had had thousands of eyes on her, the attention of tens of thousands of fans on her during a battle was nothing compared to the intense gazes of the ten people in that room.
There was silence for a few moments before it was broken by one of them. Iris cleared her throat and looked around at the other champion's around at her. "So are we going to just stand here in silence or are we going to have this meeting because I did not postpone my exhibition match with Grimsley just to stand around and do nothing."
She unceremoniously plopped into one of the chairs around the table, motioning for another woman, who wore her mousy brown hair in two pigtails that stemmed from two buns on either side of her head, to sit in the chair beside her. The woman sat down with more grace, the light reflecting a silver pin attached to her jacket that matched a gold one Iris wore on her collar.
On her right side, two more chairs were filled by Gloria, who was adjusting her green beret and the crowd that was attached on top of it. Her brother Victor sat on her right side at the end of the table, nodding to Iris.
The next to follow suit sat across the table from Gloria and Victor. Elaine recited their names in her head quickly: Champion James, though he preferred Jimmy, Kenta, and his Sub-Champion Vincent, she thought.
Paul and Tobias followed suit, with Tobias taking the seat on Paul's left, rather than following the previous pattern of Sub-Champions sitting to the right of their Champions. Elaine tried to mask her shudder as his attention once again turned to her and her father.
Max and Bonnie sat down next to the open seats at the head of the meeting table and the chair; leaving those to Ash and Elaine. Bonnie flashed a smile to the young Sub-Champion as Elaine took a seat next to her.
"So are your 'eyes on the inside' joining us today?" Tobias asked before Ash could even open his mouth.
Elaine shook her head, "We'd like to keep them anonymous for as long as we possibly can. Unfortunately, that also entails keeping them in deep cover so they don't get to choose when they report in-person, but we receive scheduled updates from them weekly."
She ignored how he narrowed his eyes at her and folded her hands in front of her, trying to look as professional as she could. Ash nodded at his daughter and cleared his throat. "As Elaine said, we aren't able to bring them in without risking their cover and ultimately their safety, but we still have enough information."
"I thought these guys were just an unorganized group of disgruntled citizens," Jimmy said. "But you're saying there's an organization behind them?"
"Currently, their hub seems to be off the coast of the main archipelago, in the Orange Islands to be exact. But the growing number of ex-terrorists that are slowly joining their ranks is a cause for concern."
"Ex-terrorists being…?" Gloria piped up.
"Team Rocket loyalists, some of Lysandre and Cyrus' disciples, ex-Team Plasma extremists, even some old executives of Macro Cosmos and the Galar League from Rose's era as Chairman."
Iris gagged, "I thought the whole point of taking out Team Rocket and investing so much time into hunting every last sleeper cell was so we wouldn't have to worry about this. We were thorough!"
"But criminals have a habit of evading even the most thorough of pursuers," Paul said.
"Don't you blame Cynthia for that incident?"
"Entirely."
Ash looked between the two, "Moving on. Their goals apparently have something to do with having some sort of grudge against the champions-"
The room devolved into protests and Elaine glanced between them. She didn't know why she expected them to be arguing amongst themselves, even though there was really only one way to interpret a grudge against champions. She almost found it funny that the people who could silence an entire room just by walking into it were arguing amongst each other for the right to talk over each other. She made eye contact with Bonnie who dramatically rolled her eyes at the other champions and Elaine suppressed a laugh.
"But if they're meeting in a regional republic, shouldn't that mean that their chance of demonstrating their opinions of the champions in violent ways are reduced?"
Iris stood up, drawing attention to herself, "We're dealing with ex-criminals. People who followed the ideals of borderline, or complete, psychopaths, without question. Every group had a region that was their home base, and because of that have a Champion they don't like. Ex-Plasma members probably hate me with a burning passion. Ex-Rocket members would love to get the chance to attack Ash whenever they could."
He nodded solemnly in agreement, and Elaine found herself awkwardly shifting in her seat and trying to sit up straighter, as though she was trying to compensate for an invisible weight on her shoulders.
"We may not know much yet, but there's always going to be some organization causing chaos and harm to innocent people," Iris' eyes flicked over to Elaine, "and we might be at the beginning of the ending of our little era of peace."
A/N: *intense foreshadowing*
Well, I was hoping that this chapter would just be Brendan, Darcy, Meredith, and Mira, but unfortunately, they were too boring on their own so I had to combine chapters 2 and 3.
Hopefully revised chapter three will come out sooner, but I need to spend time on the Alola Adventures too.
Thank you for reading and have a great day!
