Pure White Dreams / First of the Dreams & Destiny Trilogy

Updates Every 5-7 Days

Rating: K+ for occasional minor language

Disclaimer: Despite using characters, story, and some dialogue from this lovely source material, I can only express my admiration, rather than any ownership.

Previously: After taking in Panpour, left to her by a careless owner, Touko finds herself wondering about Team Plasma. But when a similarity in their ideals is pointed out by Cheren, Touko denies it and gives in to her unfair anger with Cheren. Having ruined the camaraderie she so desperately craved, Touko lies awake on the eve of her first gym challenge…

.

Chapter Four

The First Test

.

Touko wasn't sure what time she finally ended up falling sleep, but when she woke up she knew it was a lot later than she intended to sleep. She was alone. Even sleepy-headed Bianca had gotten up first.

Even more surprising was that Bianca had left without talking to her. It was pretty obvious that Touko wasn't getting along too well with Cheren at the moment, but she hadn't thought Bianca would leave too.

Of course, I sort of snapped at her too…

She looked at Snivy and Panpour who were sitting in the corner, both awake, but still sleepily cuddled together. What an odd picture, a water and grass-type Pokémon. Perhaps not as odd as if either had been fire…In fact, outside of a battle, water and grass worked well together.

"Well, I hope you guys at least still like me," she muttered with a half-smile. Seeing that she was awake, they both got up and padded along over to her, which was enough of an answer for her.

Touko got out of her bed and started to stretch. She was already regretting not listening to Bianca's motherly comment about brushing her teeth. She felt like her breath would make even a Trubbish faint away. She'd also fallen asleep without adjusting her thick ponytail, so she was quite sure her hair resembled a partially squashed nest of some sort.

And her clothes…she'd slept in her clothes. That meant she was down to the spares.

With the damage assessed, Touko started gathering her things for a long trip to the washroom.

"Good morning~!" Bianca's happy sing-song voice called out as she flung open the door. "Oh good you're up. I bought some breakfast for us." She lifted up another take out bag. Oshawott was outside his Poké Ball and also lifted up a couple of cups. Bianca giggled, "Oshawott helped."

"D-Didn't you leave?" Touko stammered stupidly, her face a little red.

"Just to get breakfast," Bianca explained with a shrug as she set the breakfast out on their little table.

Touko stood in the center of the room, looking down at her feet. "I'm sorry about last night."

"It's fine, it's fine," Bianca brushed it off cheerfully. "You were just mad about Panpour's owner, right?"

Touko's brow knitted, in pain, for a moment. That was certainly part of it, but… "Yeah, but it's no excuse."

"It's alright. Cheren is probably feeling silly over the fight and that's why he left. He can be rude sometimes, but he usually realizes if he goes too far. Though it's rare that he picks on you so much…" Bianca babbled on, finishing with a small pout.

So Cheren really did leave, Touko thought, biting her lip. She picked up her bag and motioned to the door. "I'm just going to clean up."

"Alright, I'll be waiting!" Bianca replied, all smiles again. Touko managed a weak smile in return before heading to the bathroom. Hopefully the hot shower would calm her down a little.

How long had she even been traveling? Five days? Touko wasn't quite sure what she was getting so worked up over all the time. With everything happening, it just felt like time was flying by and she was already getting left behind.

It really started when she encountered Team Plasma. She knew at the beginning that Team Plasma was wrong, perhaps well-intentioned, but wrong. Despite what Cheren thought, she hadn't changed her mind about that.

The problem was, now that she saw the problems they were talking about truly existed, she knew they weren't going to go away. She hadn't seen the last of Team Plasma.

Touko sighed as she turned off the shower and stepped out in a towel. Less than a week and she had five Pokémon and about a hundred problems. At least I know how to battle my hair, she thought as she looked at her already frizzing wet hair in the mirror.

She tugged a brush through her tangled locks and locked it up tightly in a towel to dry. If she didn't do this quickly each time she got out of the shower, her hair would stop looking so much like hair, and a lot more like a Tangela.

She threw on her spare pair of clothing—a pair of gym shorts and a tee-shirt—and cursed her light packing. She'd just find a cleaners later that day. Right now, she was focused on training and going to the gym so she could go find Cheren quickly. Just calling him on the Xtransceiver didn't seem the proper way to apologize.

"Ah! Gym clothes, because you're going to the gym today, right?" Bianca asked with a laugh when Touko walked back into the room.

"That and I slept in my normal clothes, I guess…" Touko replied with a wry smile.

"Oh…well, I brought you some coffee since you wanted to head out. I've never been allowed to have coffee before…" The happy-go-lucky friend continued undeterred.

Bianca picked up her cup and gave it a sniff. "Mmm…it smells wonderful," she said with a tranquil sigh. Then she actually took a drink and her eyes widened; she swallowed, but looked like she'd rather spit it out. "Blech! It's too bitter."

Touko chuckled as she sat down to her own breakfast. "You probably didn't put enough cream and sugar in. That's what my mom says beginners need to do." Touko picked up her own cup and took a sip, her own face souring immediately as well. She stuck her tongue out and winced as she set it down. "Egh…it really is bad…"

"See! I told you."

The two girls burst out into laughter together, fixing the tone for a pleasant and happy breakfast.

After they finished up Bianca decided to tag along with Touko to Route 2, which Touko pretended did not make her extraordinarily happy and just shrugged off. Though there was a spring in her step as they left the Poké Center.

"I wish it was summer already," Touko complained as she stretched out by the end of Route 2. "If there was just a little more day time, I could get more done."

Behind Touko, both Snivy and Panpour seemed to be mimicking their owner, which was quite amusingly distracting to Bianca who giggled rather than answer her friend. She too had taken to having Oshawott outside of his Poké Ball when possible and was currently holding him in her arms.

Touko raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask any questions. And together the two trainers set their Pokémon off to train. Laughing and joking along the way. As Touko thought, it was more fun with someone else there. This is what she had always imagined her Pokémon journey would be like…well, if Cheren were there too.

By the time they were done, Touko had accomplished her goals. Patrat had caught up a little and Panpour, who seemed slightly hesitant at first, had been quite comfortable in his last practice battle with Bianca's Oshawott. Purrloin also wasn't as completely adverse to battling. At least she had knocked Lillipup back the last time he tried to bother her while she lounged in the shade.

Bianca, on the other hand, seemed to be struggling a bit. Touko wasn't quite sure if it was her innate clumsiness that passed onto her Pokémon a little bit, but she didn't seem quite as good as she had the times she had battled Touko. She seemed especially nervous when she had to battle a wild Pokémon.

Is she scared? Touko wondered as they walked back into the city. She wanted to ask if Bianca was all right, but somehow felt it might make the problem worse. Bianca was just now learning to stand on her own without her parents. Touko didn't want to just end up taking their place.

"I'm going to the Poké Center to get ready and then go to the gym, how about you?" she asked instead when they reached the middle of the city.

"I'll come with you!" Bianca replied enthusiastically.

Touko looked skeptical. Bianca probably wasn't ready for a fight like that.

Luckily, Bianca seemed to quickly catch onto Touko's thinking without her having to say it out loud. "I'm not going to fight at the gym. I just want to cheer you on! If they let me, anyway, ya know?"

"Oh…okay then." Touko looked sheepish. She gave a small cough and gestured down the street that lead to the Center. "Well then let's go."

"On it! Go Team Touko!" Bianca cried out as she jogged down the street.

Touko felt her cheeks reddening, but decided to let it go for now. She was heading into her first Gym Battle, her first true test as a Trainer, and to be honest she didn't really mind the encouragement.

XWXWXWXWX

Touko and Bianca stood inside the entryway of the Gym. This time there had been no one waiting outside blocking the way. Touko had a feeling they were expecting her.

But as she looked around, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. True, the building didn't look like much of a gym from outside. It had looked like another really nice building, not too dissimilar from the others in Striaton. But she hadn't expected a restaurant when she went inside.

"How cute…" Bianca murmured as she looked around. "Hey, Touko! We can eat right after you win! Isn't that cool?"

"Yeah, that's…useful. Maybe not cool, but useful…"

It seemed to be okay that Bianca was coming with her. Especially since Touko informed the cashier (the cashier!) at the front that she'd just tell her friend everything that happened anyway.

They had to walk through a series of curtains by stepping on the tile picturing the element that the curtain's picture would be weak against. Though Touko couldn't help but wonder if they couldn't just step through them, seeing that they were curtains. Then Touko was challenged by a couple of Trainers after the initial confusion over which girl they were supposed to challenge ("Oshawott and I are just cheerleaders! Team Touko!" Bianca had informed each with a proper cheerleading pose).

The challengers had been a waitress and a waiter respectively. She remembered that her mom had been in their position at one point and although it would continue the mystery, she sort of hoped that it wasn't at that particular gym. More embarrassingly, the two had been rather difficult fights. Perhaps it was rude to judge based on appearances, but Touko felt that she'd rather not ever lose to someone carrying a platter.

At last, Touko arrived at the back of the gym where the true battlefield lay and found herself facing not just the young man from the stairs, but two more as well.

"Welcome to the Striaton City Gym," the familiar green-haired one said.

"I'm Chili! I light things up with Fire-type Pokémon!" the vibrant redhead informed her.

"I'm a Water-type specialist and my name is Cress. Please to make your acquaintance," the third, a young man with blue hair said.

"And my name is Cilan. I like Grass-type Pokémon," the first spoke again. Then he began to look a little unsure. "Um you see, as for they the three of us, um, are al here is well, er…"

What's his problem? He seemed fine before… Touko frowned, forgetting the fact that she really wasn't in the position to judge someone else's troubles with speaking. She had yet to say a single word since she'd walked through the first curtain. Even now, she felt as if she were shaking a bit, though that could be either nerves or excitement over this first Leader Battle.

"Oh, enough! Listen up!" Chili interrupted. "The three of us will decide whom you'll battle."

"Isn't it you, though?" Bianca piped up suddenly from the side.

"What?" Chili turned to Bianca. "Who are you?"

"I'm Touko's cheerleader," Bianca replied and did a quicker version of her pose. "But one of you earlier told Touko that she should prepare fight Fire-type, since that's what Snivy is weak against."

Cilan cleared his throat and looked quite uncomfortable as the other two glared at him.

"Oh, but a girl Touko met told her the same thing, so you shouldn't blame him. She would have found out anyway," Bianca added quickly.

Letting Cilan off the hook, the three conferred quickly, then shuffled positions, looking a bit put-out.

Chili stepped forward with a frown. "The Fire-type scorcher Chili—that's me—will be your opponent," he informed her with all the excitement of reading a sign off the street aloud. It seemed they usually put a bit more into it.

Touko glanced back at Bianca who just shrugged with a smile. She seemed to be enjoying the show regardless of the presentation.

"YEEEOW!"

Touko whipped back around to face Chili, who seemed to have regained his…spark.

"Time to play with FIRE!" he shouted with no shame over the pun and pulled out his first Poké Ball. "I'm strongest of us brothers!"

At the challenge she could feel her anxiety fall away and her face settled into grim determination. She could do this. She pulled out Panpour's Poké Ball.

But then his first Pokémon was a Lillipup, which got Touko a little panicked. Wasn't he a fire-type specialist? If she'd known she would have sent out Snivy after all. What if Panpour got too hurt to fight his next Pokémon?

"Do your best, Panpour!" she called out before ordering him to use Water Gun. Even if Lillipup wasn't weak against it, it still seemed to be her Panpour's best attack.

"Hey, that's my job," Bianca complained lightly. "Go, go Panpour!"

"As if that would work on my Pokémon," Chili replied smugly after it seemed to do little damage.

It would do a heck of a lot against your fire-type that's for sure! Touko frowned and switched it up to a Scratch.

Luckily Panpour was doing better at dodging; he was able to outlast Lillipup who finally fell to a strong burst of Water Gun.

"It's not over yet! One more left! This is where I give it my all!" Chili declared as he sent out Pansear.

Pansear, Pansage, and Panpour must be the three Pokémon the brothers used, Touko realized. Aside from being Fire-type, which worked in their advantage, there shouldn't be any nasty surprises for Panpour. Except that Pansear was a gym leader's Pokémon, he was sure to be strong.

Touko shook the uncertainty from her mind. "Alright! Now that it's Pansear, we can do this Panpour! Keep using Water Gun!"

Chili used Work Up to try and make up for the type disadvantage, but when Panpour's attack hit, a lot of damage was done.

"Keep at it, Panpour!"

After Panpour's attack, Pansear retaliated with Incinerate. Despite it being a fire attack, weakened Panpour didn't do well with the attack.

Pansear was already looking weak, about ready to fall over, but so was Panpour now. She could call him back in, but Pansear seemed strong. How well would her other Pokémon hold up if she gave him a chance to recover by taking Panpour out? Fire would absolutely destroy Snivy, and she realized now that even with the training, her others were far below Pansear in strength.

She decided to put her faith in her newest Pokémon. "Hang in there, Panpour! Just one more time!"

Panpour was looking a little drowsy, he stumbled a bit before shooting off the stream of water, missing Pansear entirely.

Chili took the moment to have Pansear get Worked Up again. With the strength increase, Panpour probably couldn't take another burn.

"Panpour! You can do it!" Touko shouted her encouragement. Please don't faint. She hadn't seen a single of her Pokémon faint so far. It would be terrible to let down her newest one first. Especially against a weaker type.

And when Panpour attacked again, this time the jet of water directly hit its mark, knocking Pansear over.

Touko stood rigid and still as she waited to see if Pansear would get up. Had she won or would Pansear come back and finish off Panpour?

"You got me." Chili hung his head dramatically. "I am…burned out…"

"R-really?" Touko squeaked in glee. She raced onto the field, picked up Panpour and started spinning around, laughing happily. She looked over to Bianca, who had forgotten all about cheering duties in the tense battle. "I did it, Bianca!"

"I saw, I saw!" Bianca cried back, jumping up and down, then racing onto the field herself. She threw herself at Touko while holding Oshawott, making a nice group hug of Water Pokémon and Nuvema Town trainers.

"Whoa ho! You were on fire!" Chili shouted, getting their attention back. Touko just smiled at the fire pun; now that she wasn't nervous it made her giggle.

He stepped off of his own platform in the gym and walked toward her. "Well, it's the Pokémon League's rule. Take this Gym Badge." And he placed the Trio Badge into Touko's waiting hand.

She looked down at it in amazement. My first badge…

"The first of many, right, Touko?" Bianca said with a wide grin.

Touko looked at Bianca and smiled shyly, giving a little nod. Right now, she felt so overwhelmed she didn't think she could even manage to speak to Bianca.

This meant something. Some solid evidence that she wasn't a bad trainer. Her fears might not fade that easily, but it certainly helped.

Then, her eyes drifted over to the first Leader she had spoken to…Cilan, was it? Who appeared to be smiling in some satisfaction when he looked at her Panpour.

"The Dreamyard…" she murmured, than suddenly, she stood upright, with wide eyes. "Ah! You knew about the Panpour, didn't you?"

"E-excuse me?" Cilan stammered, giving himself away immediately.

"That's why you sent me there…" Then Touko suddenly remembered herself and looked back down. "Thank you. Not from me so much, but Panpour. His owner…"

"No problem…" Cilan looked back at his two brothers, who seemed to be catching onto Touko's meaning.

Realizing the mess she made, Touko gave one more nod of thanks and quickly made her escape with Bianca. Just out of the gym though. They really did stop to eat at the restaurant, because why not?

But even after all of that, Touko was still transfixed by her first Badge on the way out; the Trio Badge. She could hardly believe it, despite all of the witnesses who could reassure her. She placed it into license case, which made it seem a little more real, more official. Then she ran her finger over the empty spot next to it. Nacrene Gym was next; the Basic Badge.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Bianca asked as they walked aimlessly down the street.

"Hmm?" Touko looked up from her badge. "Oh! Uh…the Poké Center is probably a good idea. Panpour got some rest at the restaurant, but he'll probably need actually healing for those burns. I know he'll heal faster as a water-type, but—"

"No, I know all of that, silly. I meant tomorrow," Bianca interrupted. "Unless you're planning on leaving tonight?"

Touko looked at her friend in disbelief. "In the dark?"

"So, then tomorrow you'll start down Route 3 for Nacrene, right?"

"Well, it's finally a longer route, so it should take me at least a few days to get there. And that's if I leave early tomorrow. I think…" Touko tried doing the calculations in her head, but math and she had never quite gotten along. She frowned when she multiplied eight and twenty-four. That couldn't even be close to what she wanted so she gave up for the moment.

"I don't really know, but I guess I probably should." She glanced at Bianca, wondering if it was really right to leave her behind, considering how much she'd begrudged it in Accumula Town.

Bianca stopped walking and put on her toughest face, which really just looked silly to Touko. "Then I'll have to do my best so I can catch up with you and Cheren. I already saw what I'm in for, so I'm sure I can do it." She smiled and gave Touko a V-sign.

Touko returned the gesture with a wink. "Do your best. Make Nuvema Town proud."

"Of course!"

The girls were laughing as they returned to walking down the street, when a voice came from behind. "Excuse me? Did you say Nuvema Town?"

Bianca turned around first, used to being the one to speak for Touko when they were together. "Yes?"

Touko turned around to see a pretty young woman in a lab coat. Isn't she a little young to be a scientist or whatever?

"Then you must be Bianca and Touko. Excellent!" The woman continued on before they gave confirmation. "Professor Juniper asked me to give you something. Please follow me!" Once again, without bothering for a response, the woman started walking down the street.

Bianca and Touko exchanged glances. Touko shrugged and they followed along. It wasn't too far of a walk until the came to what looked like an ordinary building.

"Are you Fennel, by any chance?" Bianca asked once they were inside.

"Oh! I never did introduce myself. Sorry, sorry. So much has been happening lately. And you two are working on completing the Pokédexes for Unova, am I right? Stairs are right over here." And she disappeared up the stairs.

Bianca followed along immediately; it probably wasn't too difficult for someone like her to go along with her flow. Touko was a bit more hesitant, noting to herself that probably-Fennel never really had confirmed that was who she really was.

She motioned to the table, where there were actually cushions waiting for their Pokémon as well as chairs for them, which did a lot in Fennel's favor for Touko. She hurried around, getting tea from a pot that seemed to be waiting just for the two of them.

She smiled as she set two mismatched cups in front of them. "I hope you don't mind it plain. All of my milk and sugar seems to have run off while I've been busy," she said with a lilting little laugh.

"Oh, that's all right. I've tried coffee now!" Bianca answered with a confident nod.

"Well, you can handle anything then," Fennel replied, playing along. She turned her attention to her other guest. "And you, Touko?"

Touko didn't answer for a while, until she realized Fennel was actually waiting for her to do so this time. "Oh, it's fine," she answered quietly.

"Excellent." Then she made herself comfortable in her own seat with her own cup. "So, like I said, I'm Fennel, and as you can see I'm a scientist."

Touko kept silent over the small detail that Fennel never really had said anything of that nature and just nodded politely.

"In fact, the subject I'm researching is trainers!"

"Ehh? That's pretty rare, isn't it?" Bianca asked in amazement.

"Indeed. In this Pokéworld it's quite a lonely field. Which is why I'm quite so busy, you see! I have to grab colleagues from other specialties when I need help. Like, Professor Juniper. She's my friend from college."

Touko choked on her tea at that last tidbit of information.

"Oh dear, are you alright?" Fennel asked, looking quite concerned.

"F-fine, please continue," Touko said hurriedly. She couldn't possibly say what had been thinking. She knew Juniper wasn't even close to an old woman, but she wasn't quite sure the story would relate back to her without that connotation.

"Anyway, as a good colleague, I'm returning the favor. She asked me to help you guys. So! I'll give you something to help out. An HM, you do know what that is, right?"

Both girls nodded, it had been one of the things Cheren had lectured them on in the days leading up to their journey.

"Excellent, this one is Cut, so it should be quite helpful in all sort of places! Like to cut down a small tree!"

"Coool~!" Bianca exclaimed enthusiastically as she took hers and immediately started looking it over. "I'm glad I got this before my Gym battle!"

"And I'd like to ask you a favor, too!"

"Of course, we'll do anything as thanks, right Touko?"

Touko looked up at Bianca, frowning slightly. This probably meant she was going to spend more time here, but considering the gift it was only fair. She glanced at Fennel, and though it might have been a trick of the light, she thought she saw a sly little gleam in her eye. Maybe that was the entire purpose of the gift.

Still, a gift was a gift, so Touko agreed.

"Wonderful! There is a place called the Dreamyard on the outskirts of the city…"

Where horrible little brats give away their Pokémon.

"…I'd like some of the Dream Mist that a Pokémon there called Munna gives off."

"Oh! Did you say Munna?" Bianca asked excitedly. "I love Munna! I've always wanted one."

"What a wonderful coincidence then! I hope you don't mind, Touko."

Touko stiffened, shocked to be brought back into the conversation so suddenly again. She realized she was still frowning and smiled quickly. "S-sorry! I don't mind at all. I'm just distracted."

"Touko won her first Gym Battle today," Bianca informed Fennel as proudly as if it had been her own victory.

"Then you two should hurry along so that Touko can head off to Nacrene City next."

"Sure thing, we'll do it first thing in the morning!"

"One more thing, if that's all right," Fennel stopped them as they were standing up. "I don't suppose either of you know where your other friend is."

The two girls sighed in unison. With an exchanged look, it went to Bianca to explain, "Cheren already headed off to Nacrene. He's so impatient about 'getting stronger' and all that."

"I see…" Fennel said with a sigh of her own. "…Then I'll just have to catch up with him later. I suppose I'll ask a different favor of him. Professor Juniper said he was quite smart, so I wouldn't mind getting inside his head…"

Even Bianca looked a bit alarmed at that statement. She glanced at Touko and mouthed, "Is she serious?" But Touko just shrugged. Bianca laughed uneasily and began inching her way to the door. "Well, we'll be on our way out then."

"Mmm…" Fennel seemed scarcely aware of their presence now.

The two kept up a steady pace all the way out the front door, where Bianca let out a deep breath once the door shut behind them. "She's a little weird," she whispered to Touko.

"She's a scientist. It probably comes with the degree," Touko replied as she skipped down the stairs. "Come on, I want to get to the Poké Center and to sleep before it gets too late."

"Coming~!" Bianca padded along behind her.

As they walked down the street, Touko couldn't help but think about the Dream Mist and wonder what sort of experiments Fennel was using it for. Although Fennel seemed a little flighty, she was sure she was quite harmless.

I wonder if it only shows the good dreams, Touko thought as she looked up at the starry sky. It had been quite some time since she dreamed at all. Even longer since they'd been pleasant. Over two years. So, she wished a little, that she might have a good one that night.

Bianca seemed to note her silence. "What are you thinking about?"

"What do you dream about, Bianca?"

"Hmm…well, last night I had a dream that I was trying to catch a banana in my Poké Ball, but he was just too fast for me. So, I chased him all the way—"

"Sorry, I mean, what do you want to dream about? Like your hopes and wishes?"

"Let's see…" Bianca looked thoughtful for a moment. Then she grimaced before answering. "My father…saying he's proud of how strong I've become."

Touko was surprised at the honesty. "I'm sure that dream at least, you can make come true someday."

Bianca smiled weakly. "Yeah, maybe." And they were walking in silence. Bianca didn't return the question, probably because she knew the answer.

Touko would want a dream where she talked to everyone easily, she didn't get into silly fights with Cheren, and most importantly, no one abandoned their Pokémon. But really she wanted a dream where she could see her dad again.

She smiled sadly and looked at the sky again. "It would be nice to dream at least, right?"

"Yeah…"

Author's Note on Battles: The absolute hardest part about writing Pokémon fanfic in my opinion. In the game, it's just your turn/my turn until someone faints. Rarely does a Pokémon miss or dodge unless you're doing some stat changing. It does not adapt into a logical world.

Now we can imagine it works a whole lot like the battle between Mei and Cheren in the B2W2 animated trailer (awesome, btw). But I've never been great at writing action scenes, and you can't put the same level of detail into writing as you can in a drawing or animation. It can have the opposite effect and get boring. There's a reason a picture is worth a thousand words…

So, basically, this is a weakness. Perhaps I'm shooting myself in the foot by pointing it out and now you're all going to talk about how awful I am, but I like to note what I need to focus on. I have time to improve since I'll be cutting back on depicting battles from now on. I'll just be doing the important plot and character developing ones. Which means it's important for those ones to be good.