"Absol..."
"No."
"Absol..."
"Aggie, I said no."
"Abso-"
"I swear to freaking Arceus, Agatha, if you keep telling me whatever it is you're trying to say I will return you to your Pokéball - and believe me, I will not let you out until I'm done."
The aforementioned Pokémon proceeded to turn away and sulk near the door.
April sighed. She didn't mean to make her Absol mad, but Aggie was really getting on her nerves. Arceus knew she was nervous enough as it was: becoming a trainer was no small thing.
She sunk further into her beanbag; her laptop lay idle in her legs, forgotten. What if she had to give up like last time?
April bit her lip, filled to the brim with anxiety. She wasn't sure she could handle disappointing Dad again. Mom wouldn't mind much, and she was sure Grandma and Grandpa would support her no matter what - but Dad? Definitely not. He only wanted the best for her, she knew, but still...it was nerve-wracking.
How a man could make her feel so guilty from miles away was beyond her.
April stared across the room, where her suitcase sat - fully packed. Right next to it was her own Pokémon's travel bag, filled with Pokémon food, as well as various assortments of Pokéballs from Mom and a whole collection of TM's from...Dad...
She felt a familiar pressure on her legs and realized Agatha had moved from the door and was now staring at her. She wondered when that had happened and worried, not for the first time, whether she was developing some kind of subjective amnesia. She raised a hand to stroke her friend:
"Sorry, girl. I was getting weird again, wasn't I? I'm fine, now."
She expressed her disbelief with a snort.
"I am!" April protested.
Agatha had the nerve to roll her eyes. April opened her mouth to deny all, once more, when the Absol decided to lick her face. If April was honest with herself, she'd admit how gross it was, but currently she was too absorbed in the sweetness of it all to notice.
"Thank you."
"April! Are you done?"
"I'm coming, Mom!"
April looked back at her old room, taking it all in. She probably (hopefully?) wouldn't be seeing it for a long time.
She'd been through so much in this room: pillow-fights, "Just Dance" failed choreographies, that one awkward crush...
...actually, that was pretty much it.
No! Wait, no - how could she forget Aggie?
Just thinking about that day made her tummy feel fuzzy with happiness. She'd been so surprised she couldn't keep her hands off her mouth, though her Pokémon quickly fixed that problem: it was hard to have your hands on your lips with a fifty-kilo Dark-type smashing your ribcage. She'd laughed through the pain, for some dumb reason.
She still remembered how long she'd taken to stick with a name. She cringed at the memory of the prototypes. 'Lala' she mused. 'What was I thinking?'
Her current Pokémon whined, bringing her back to the present.
April raised her hands in self-defense, smiling nervously. "I'm good!"
Agatha looked her over, assessing the situation and, satisfied, went downstairs on her own. April spared one last glance to her room and followed.