IX. Kalos I

Jileya stepped off the ferry in Coumarine Town, holding a hand against her eyes to shield them from new newfound sun. The boat trip to Kalos from Sinnoh was only four days, but she had become used to the artificial light again. Beautifly fluttered on her head, snapping her out of it. She had a few jobs to do while she was here, and all of them relied on finding a specific person.

She walked away from the flow of traffic, stopping by the lighthouse to look around. Tall Blonde girls didn't seem to be in short supply in Kalos, and while she could probably pick Aria out of the sea of people a few years ago, they hadn't been able to meet in person for nearly a year. She let her thoughts drift into the past, thinking about her friendship with Aria.

She had been travelling with Carson since they set out, and four years later they had met Aria near Celestic Town. She had travelled there from Hoenn to participate in contests, something that had largely become too expensive for her own region to hold. Even then, Hoenn was starting to sink. She and Carson had met her when her Kirlia accidentally attacked them during training, and after that was cleared up they bonded. Aria won the Celestic contest that year with her Kirlia and Dratini, and for the next eight months they had travelled together, Carson approaching his dream and Aria approaching hers.

That all changed when her parents died, and Aria went back to Hoenn to try and take care of her younger brother. Once she became an adult, she moved to Kalos to try and save up for her own place, to take her brother out of Hoenn. That was a year ago, and Jileya knew that from then, she began to work two jobs and a modelling gig while sharing an apartment with two other girls. And after that, she didn't know much. The combination of timezones and Aria's work schedule meant the two talked far less now, but at least Aria had stable internet now.

"Jilly!" Someone yelled. Jileya turned and saw her: a tall girl with mid-length blonde hair running towards her. She was dressed in a black sleeveless halter top that bared her stomach and jean shorts, looking like she had just run off of a photoshoot. Knowing her, she probably had. Aria enveloped her in a quick hug before looking at her, and Jileya regretted not at least doing something with her hair. She still looked like she hadn't slept in weeks, which was partially true.

"Sorry, I just got off a shoot. I shouldn't have gone, but it was going to pay well and it's about the time of the month where I need to send money back to Valen." She apologized, although they both knew it was unneeded. "How've you been?"

"How do I look?" Jileya said. "Because I feel dead on my feet."

"Good, because you look dead on your feet. Are you even sleeping?"

"A little. Global crises don't sleep, and I'm a Professor's Assistant, so I have to do my part."

Aria nodded. "Have you talked to Carson since you got on the boat?"

"No."

"Can't you two go a few days without fighting anymore?" She sounded resigned, as they'd had this conversation many times before. "I mean, what happened?"

"Never mind. Come on, I want to meet your friends." Jileya deflected. Aria knew full well what happened. Aria let it slide and started pulling her towards the train. Kalos had also implimented flying restrictions, but as far as she knew none of them had Pokémon that could fly anyways.

Once they were on the train, Aria began talking again. "So, what brings you out here? I'm glad to have you, but you've been so busy doing research that I'm surprised you took time off."

"Well, I'm here for research, sort of. Nobody I've talked to that's afflicted is actually willing to be studied by Professor Rowan's team. A lot of people are even treating it like a game, seeing how far they can get with as few casualties as possible. Isn't that awful? People and Pokémon are dying from this, and some people think it's fun."

Aria nodded. "It's horrible. One of my coworkers had a brother who did that, and he died early onto his journey because of it. Not that there's any gyms back home anymore, but I've told Valen he can't battle unless it's absolutely required there. Just go to school and come back, and hopefully he doesn't get jumped."/span/p

"Can't you bring him over yet?" Jileya asked.

"I wish, but so many people are moving to Kalos and Unova now that I can't find anywhere to live I can afford that could also fit him. I'm sharing a one-bedroom with two other people right now, and even then because it's in Lumiose city it takes the three of us to pay for everything. Even the small towns are really expensive because they're in Kalos. It's insane, but it's the best place in the world to make opportunities happen, so here I am." Aria sighed. Jileya sympathized, silently grateful that her own salary could cover an apartment in the less-coveted but still decently busy Jubilife city. "I want him to have a future that doesn't include making sure the house hasn't been robbed every time he leaves it."

Before Jileya could respond, the train stopped, and she and Aria rushed to stand up as they got swept out by the traffic.

Shortly after, Aria had led Jileya to a small apartment building near the outside of the circular city. It was small, probably only twelve floors or so, but looked well-maintained, with a No Vacancy sign on the window. Aria's apartment was on the fifth floor, behind a door called 5C, and opened it.

Instantly, Jileya felt a wave of guilt. The apartment was tiny, with a kitchen to the left of the door and a bathroom to the right. The rest of the space was taken up by a small living room, with a couch, a TV, a desk/dresser, and a bookcase in it. There was a small deck outside and another room that was presumably a bedroom behind another door. Her own apartment was much bigger than this, and she wasn't sharing it with two other people. There was a darker-skinned girl with brown pigtails and a pink shirt doing her makeup in a hand mirror on the couch, and noises from the bathroom suggested someone was showering. The girl doing her makeup jumped up once Aria and Jileya entered.

"Hey! Guess who got a date tonight?" She exclaimed.

"No. Way. He's in town?" Aria gasped. Shauna nodded, and Jileya already felt lost.

"Yeah! His troupe's doing a show in Laverre City and he's here today!" Shauna said, giggling a little. She turned to look at Jileya, and Jileya noticed they were roughly the same height. "Hey, you're Jileya, right?"

Jileya was relieved at the subject shift, but didn't show it. "Yeah, what's your name?"

"I'm Shauna. Aria's told me a lot about you. It's really chaotic in here, but that's what living like this is like. It's a lot of fun, really."

"Nice to meet you, Shauna." Jileya relaxed a bit. The three of them walked towards the living room, where Aria pulled a chair out from the kitchen and sat down on it. Shauna went back to her makeup, and the three of them talked about whatever came to mind. Eventually, the bathroom door opened and another girl, with blonde hair even longer than Aria's and blue eyes stepped out. Despite having clearly just showered, she was fully dressed, and smiled when she saw the scene in the living room.

"I thought I heard something. Jileya, right? I'm Serena." The girl said, extending a hand, which Jileya took. After some awkward conversation, she picked up a hairbrush and sat down on the floor to start working on it, and the conversation flowed freely again, about Jileya's work, Shauna's night, and more. Eventually, Aria's Pokégear rang, and she picked it up and swore.

"Right, I said I'd cover for someone tonight since they're sick and I needed the money. It's only a five-hour shift, so I'll be back around dinner. Sorry, Jilly, and good luck out there, Shauna! Bye!"

"And just like that, she was gone. Jileya turned to the other two./span/p

"She's eating and sleeping, right?"

Shauna shrugged. "She works a lot of night shifts, but there's always food missing from the fridge when we wake up if she isn't here. So I think so?"

"She's got a lot on her plate." Serena said, and Jileya nodded. "What's your plan for tomorrow, for your research?"

And just like that, the conversation started up again as Jileya went through the ideas she had and her research. Tomorrow she had to be professional, but today she could just be her.

Notes:

I am 100% blaming Smash Ultimate for this taking forever. That game's amazing and completely addicting. We're still not done with characters, but not all of the characters introduced so far are actually important to the overall plot. They're all important in building the main characters or the world, though.

Enjoy!