Chapter Two - A Friend Who Was Promised
A long time ago, Tohjo went to war.
Well, everyone acted like it was a long time ago. Nikolai had been two when it had started to taper off. It hadn't really ended for another five years. By that time, the culture of the League had been integrated, in memory of the young children who had gone to battle and had died before adulthood. Henceforth, children were sent out for real at ten by the schools, eleven if governing bodies decided it, and only any older if the families kept up a fuss. This had spread to most, if not all regions in some form or another. Except for one in particular, but you wouldn't find Nikolai there unless he was dead.
Screw Hoenn.
Nikolai, Nikolae, officially, had gone at twelve. But the Darius were wanderers in origin or had been. He had no hometown. He had no birth certificate. Noelani did, Her mother would have had a fit if she hadn't. He looked over at his daughter as she busied herself with her food, looking for all the world like she hadn't vomited the night before. He couldn't help but envy her that.
You could start younger, there were 'School Kid' and "Youngster' classes for that very purpose. It just wasn't particularly smart.
But then, most pokemon trainers weren't smart. That was why they had to make schools so less of them died on the way down. Did that work? Theoretically, he assumed or most of them wouldn't be in business. Wouldn't have the entirety of Kalos attempting to be easy mode (which they actually weren't, whoever went all the way into the fairy trees never came out the same) if it wasn't working on some deluded level.
Nikolai was certain that if this didn't work, his Noel wouldn't be a trainer at all, ever. And call him culturally brainwashed like the rest of society, but that just sounded like a mistake. A life where she wasted away with someone else's pokemon -not even her own!- with no taste of adventure and delight. They hadn't been his cup of tea, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it.
"We'll be going to see the professor today," he said as she finally gave up on attempting to like the red hell seeds called cheri tamatos. "We're going to get you registered."
"'M not ten." Noelani looked thoroughly disgruntled at the concept. "'M seven, daddy. Gotta learn countin'."
I haven't stopped counting when it comes to you. ""Your dad's never been great at mathematics and numbers, but we're going anyway. Got a special pass for you."
"For the trip?" She looked at him with her big, bright eyes. Full of curiosity and wonder and he could imagine every foot waiting to squash them like bugs.
But he only smiled and nodded. "Yeah. We're going to get you a friend."
He felt her joy from the other side of the room and the pain stabbing into his chest was worth it, so worth it.
In Sandgem, there were two things you could count on being interesting: the professor and his lab, and the route to Pal Park. The existence of Pal Park made him nauseous. Too many camper children in ugly green hats and their level seven bidoof for his taste.
So, obviously, their destination was the professor's lab.
They arrived in the usual bedlam and chaos. Old Rowan was finally going through the final stages of retirement, which meant altering (and finally) upgrading their systems to match that of Alola and Kalos. The National Pokedex had simply been too much of a toll on these old mechanics without a Cloud system to regulate all the new information. For whatever reason, Rowan had been against doing so. Possibly because of this eventually required system overhaul. In any case, they weren't here for that.
Noelani trembled at the sight of the great, sliding doors, the shakes likely mostly from nerves. He made sure to have her exercise once a day to sweat, to delay. So it was unlikely that they were from exhaustion. But this was anxiety up to eleven. Most trainers did not get a starter before the turned ten for a reason.
He squeezed her hand gently. "C'mon girl, it's gonna be fine. They'll love you." Because they were bred to love a human, if not the one that first chose them. He wouldn't say that, heck, he wouldn't be surprised if Cynthia had told her that already. Still, she straightened up and nodded. They walked inside together to absolute bedlam.
Papers were everywhere, scanners and other machines spewing more as assistants ran about trying to fix it and bring some semblance of order to the room. In the middle sat Lucas Diamond, folding more pieces and crumpling others. His grey hair had become a mess of curls and apparently scraps of shredded paper
Nikolai cleared his throat. The young man immediately looked up and smiled. "Mr. Darius."
"No formalities, Professor," Nikolai replied with a polite dip of his head. "I don't have a fancy title, just a couple quick degrees and some tools. You're not that much younger than me."
"True." Lucas rose from his chair. "Still, you are noteworthy. But you're not the heroine of the hour. This must be Noelani with you, yes?"
He looked right at her, which miraculously, Noelani looked right back. "Yes, sir."
Lucas smiled a bit wider. "I'm going to guess your mother taught you the 'sir' part."
Noelani made a face. "Daddy did!" Righteous indignation sparkled in her eyes and Nikolai bit back a laugh.
"He's kidding, Lani. I'm the last person you need to learn manners from." He leaned to whisper. "I'm actually very bad at them."
His daughter giggled, seemingly appeased. Lucas chuckled and straightened up again.
"Well then. No time like the present." His soft gaze, which was normally full of youth and vibrancy, seemed to sober up. "Would you like to meet your first pokemon?"
Noelani nodded, smiling from ear to ear. Nikolai gave her hand another squeeze.
Lucas led them to the back of a small field. Inside, pokemon ran or lazed about by trees or springs of water. Noelani trembled once more, fingers itching away from his. But her attention returned to Lucas as he pulled three pokeballs from the pockets of his coat.
"Well then," He tossed them into the air. "Take your pick, young trainer!"
When the flashes of light faded, there sat the small green turtle, an orange monkey, and a blue penguin. The typical starters of Sinnoh, and for good reason. Each could be raised to weather the harsh weather and mountainsides. No matter which one you chose, they could all survive the route to Snowpoint. It was what made them so valuable.
Noelani knelt down to look at them, her eyes wide. "Wow…"
Nikolai left her to it. He wasn't going to influence this decision. Instead, he snapped a photo and sent it to Cynthia. Her immediate response made him laugh.
"You just made this battle so much more tolerable."
"Daddy!" Noelani raced up to him, the acorn turtle in her arms. "I wanna have Turtwig!"
Nikolai took another photo.
