Note - Xanora is pronounced as Zan-ore-uh
Route 29 was mostly uneventful. After hearing that Pokémon were being more aggressive than usual, Xanora had expected to end up being attacked constantly. Instead, the opposite was true. Every single Pokémon they came across fled if they got close, and those further away just watched the two. The new trainer was feeling a bit on edge, having pidgey, ratatta and sentret nestled inside bushes or on branches, watching their every move. It was almost as if they were waiting for something to happen, maybe for the girl to attack them.
As uneasy as the black-haired girl was, she hurried along the path. She was hoping that it was only the Pokémon here on Route 29 that were acting so strange. Shard, her partner umbreon, also seemed perplexed at the behavior of the other Pokémon as he kept close to his friend. He vaguely recalled back when he was an eevee, wandering around the woods. People were strange to him, but nothing to be afraid of. None of the other Pokémon he ran into back then were so cautious, either. What he noticed that his trainer likely didn't was how the Pokémon here were also keeping distance from each other, not just the two of them.
Reaching Cherrygrove City, Xanora paused to catch her breath, leaning over to have her hands on her knees. She wasn't used to walking that fast for such a long distance. Running a bit out of breath was better than taking it slow and giving the strange-acting Pokémon more time to do something weird, though. To her slight irritation, Shard was next to her, sitting calmly as he waited for her to catch her breath. He showed no sign at all of being tired. "Sure, show off how fit you are." She gave a slight frown to the Pokémon as she spoke, to which he gave a small chuckle-like purr from his throat.
"You little show off." The girl laughed lightly, ruffling the fur on the Pokémon's head. Standing straight again, she took a look around at what she could see of the city. It was larger than New Bark Town, that much was for sure. Not used to being anywhere but the forest and her small town, she was just a bit anxious. Surely the city wasn't large enough to get lost, though. "Keep an eye out for the Pokémon Center," she instructed both herself and her partner as she began forward.
Much to her relief, the destination was found within mere minutes. No thanks to her, however, as she was distracted by just how many people were bustling about. It was Shard tugging on her pant leg that brought her attention to the building they was looking for. Giving her buddy a thankful pat on the head, they headed inside the building.
Being a place to heal your Pokémon, she had expected to see more than just the one single person sitting among the many chairs. Was everyone in this city so strong that no wild Pokémon could injure their partners? She shook her head at the thought. That was just silly, and obviously not the case.
Stepping up to the counter, she slid her new Pokedex from her pocket and held it up for the nurse to see. "Hello, I was told I needed to register here for being a trainer. How do I do that?"
The nurse with pink hair stepped over, her smile a somewhat tired one. "A new trainer? That's fantastic, that aren't too many anymore." She gave a short giggle. "You don't need to register to be a trainer, though. Just to enter the Pokémon League Challenge, where you collect eight badges in order to enter the Pokémon League."
"Oh." Xanora stared for a moment, considering the information. That assistant back at the lab hadn't told her much, but it would've been nice if he explained this sort of thing to her so she didn't look like a moron. Glancing down to her partner, she considered the idea of challenging the gyms and entering the League. Shard would get a lot stronger, and she'd catch and train other Pokémon as well to get through the challenge. She already planned to challenge at least one gym, just for the sake of seeing how well she could do with training her partner, but going through an entire challenge wasn't something she'd thought to do before. A smirk spreading, she looked back to the nurse with a nod. "Yes, please. I'd like to register for that." This journey just got a lot more exciting.
Nodding, the nurse motioned to a machine on the corner of the counter with a wave of her arm. "Just put your Pokedex inside the slot, and you'll be registered."
"Thanks," Xanora responded with a small nod while stepping over to the machine. An entire challenge awaited her, and all she needed to do was register for it. Her excitement growing, she slid the handheld into the slot and waited. It didn't take long, just a few moments, before the machine beeped and announced that she had been registered for the League Challenge. Taking her Pokedex back from the slot, she once more slid it into her pocket.
Glancing outside, she took note of the sky beginning to darken. If only she hadn't woken up early to start the day as quickly as possible. Night was her favorite time of day, as her partner clearly showed. Knowing she'd end up not getting far before being too tired to continue, she gave up on the idea of continuing right that moment. Instead, she walked over to one of the corners of the lobby and sat in the chair there. Shard tilted his head, curious what she was intending. "Come on up, buddy. We're gonna catch a nap, then get going again."
She had spent countless nights sleeping outside, usually using a tree as either a seat or a bed, so an actual seat was easy enough to sleep in. The first time she decided to sleep outside, she'd worried her father sick. He told her not to do it again, but she didn't listen. Nature was more her home than her room was, so she'd spent most of her time outside. Which was how she'd met her best friend, actually. The little eevee had stumbled upon her while she was using a flower patch as a bed.
Closing her eyes, the new trainer wiggled around slightly to get into a more comfortable position in the chair to get some sleep. She heard her buddy jump into the chair next to her, curling up in a ball to get some sleep as well. Unlike her, he fell asleep rather quickly. It was his soft, rhythmic breathing that finally lulled her to sleep.
A soft growling woke Xanora from her light slumber. Blinking her eyes several times to get her vision right, she yawned and stretched her legs out from her balled up position in the chair. It was good to be small, she could ball up just about anywhere. "What is it, Shard?" Looking to her buddy, she saw that he was mostly sitting, but slightly crouched, growling softly at something in front of them.
Not alarmed in the least, since she knew she had chosen a safe place for their nap, she glanced over to the pink ball of a Pokemon, which was standing next to the pink-haired nurse, who was holding a blanket. Not the scene she'd expected to see upon waking. Rubbing her eyes, she adjusted herself to be sitting upright. "Something wrong, miss..." She didn't get the lady's name before, come to think of it, so she went with what she was. "Nurse?" The umbreon glanced at his partner, his growling halted as he took note of just how calm the girl was with being confronted by the two. He did return his crimson gaze to the pink duo, however, his keen eyes watching for the slightest hint of danger.
With the growling stopped, the nurse smiled slightly. It was an uneasy smile, but a smile nonetheless. "We have a few rooms for trainers to stay in when spending the night. All Pokémon Centers do, really. But when Chansey here tried to pick you up to move you to one of the rooms, your umbreon started growling." She glanced to the black Pokémon, her eyes showing her unease, then looked back to the girl again. "I was going to at least give you a blanket instead, but it started growling again, and even got up when I got close."
The nurse was obviously thinking more about Shard's growling than the girl not knowing her name. Curious, Xanora looked down to see just how close Shard had allowed them to get before he warned them against coming any closer. The pink ball Pokémon, Chansey it was called, was five feet away. The nurse was four feet away. "Sorry about that, nurse, Shard's a little on the protective side." She offered a smile to the woman, hoping to ease her nerves. After all, being nervous or scared around the umbreon only put him even more on guard.
Letting out a soft sigh, the nurse returned her smile, lowering the blanket instead of holding it up like a flimsy shield. "If you want to get some more sleep, I can show you to one of the rooms. Oh, and my name's Joy." Finally, her smile was without worry. That worry gone, Shard lowered himself to a natural sitting posture instead of a semi-crouch.
Reaching over to stroke her partners head, Xanora couldn't help but feel grateful to him. Sure, he was a bit of a worry wort, but it was with good cause. If not for him, she more than likely would have died a few years back. She could hardly scold him for worrying, after that experience.
"Thanks, nurse Joy." She tilted her head slightly, finally noticing that the lobby only had dim lighting. "Actually, what time is it?"
Her smile turning apologetic, the nurse responded with, "around midnight."
Taking the slight apology to mean she was sorry for waking her up at such an hour, she laughed a little. "Great. I only wanted a nap, so the time's perfect. Thanks for the offer for a room, though." Getting up from the seat and stretching out once more, she headed for the doors. The umbreon leaped from his chair and stretched out as well before following after her.
"Are you sure?" The nurse sounded a little worried, considering most people wouldn't want to even go near the forest while it was dark out. Receiving only a wave in response, she shook her head before calling out to be careful.
Stepping into the cool, crisp night air, Xanora glanced up to the moon and stars. If the moon was full instead of a crescent, this would be a perfect night for catching her first new Pokémon. Still, a crescent was nice to look at. She then remembered how all of the Pokémon had acted on Route 29, which had her frowning slightly. Shaking her head, she grinned and looked toward the direction of Route 30. Surely the Pokemon there wouldn't be as timid or uneasy as the others.
Turning her grin to her partner, she said, "alright buddy, light the way." Once Shard's golden rings began to glow, she followed the Pokémon out of the city. Sure the glow wasn't as good as a flashlight, but she trusted her Pokémon to know the way, and so following him was just fine for getting where she wanted to go. Not to mention she had pretty good night vision herself, loving the dark as she did.