Hello ^.^' Long time no see?

Before you kill me for not updating in forever, let me explain a few things. Junior year is hard as heck, especially when it nears the end of the year. Spring Fever is a killer. And Finals. Ugh. But hey, my ACT results came in and I got a 33! Apparently I have my life a bit more together than I thought I did.

I also mentioned in the last chapter that my grandpa had passed. I was alright for a few days, but I lost all motivation to do anything after that. He was my first best friend, and it was really hard to lose him. I finally found the willpower to write this chapter, and I apologize that it may not be up to my usual standards.

I also got a kitten. Her name is Penny.

And on top of that, I got asked to the Senior Prom. Which meant finding a dress, getting alterations, going tanning because I am literally transparent, and a whole lot of other things that take up a lot of my precious free time.

You could say that I have a lot on my plate.

I am also blatantly disregarding Team Rocket in this chapter, mostly because I don't feel like writing their parts.

Onward ho!

black angel's wing does not have anything to do with owning the pokémon franchise. All she does is play the games. And watch the show. And write this story. Cora's hers, and that is it.

Chapter Seven

"Wow, so this is Jubilife City!" Dawn squealed, her hands clasped tightly together near her chest. A starry look had entered her blue eyes, and they flitted quickly from one incredible sight to the next, never landing on the same spot twice.

Ash was nodding his approval as his own eyes roamed the streets.

"Jubilife is the largest city in this region," I told Brock. He had graciously accepted a brochure from a city guide, and he was thumbing through it absentmindedly. I nodded off to my right. "The Pokémon Center is that way. There's space in back that we can train in, and we can walk around the city later if we want to."

He looked up from the pamphlet at my words and sent a small smirk my way. "I wonder if those two would notice if we just walked away."

Ralts and I shared a sly grin. Dawn and Ash were completely in awe of the bustling city, and hadn't even noticed that we had moved a few paces away from them.

"In all honesty, they probably wouldn't," I allowed after a moment. "It wouldn't be very nice of us though."

Ralts hummed from my shoulder, and I shot him a sideways grin as Brock studied his brochure a bit more closely.

"Hey Cora?" he said after a moment or two. I nodded and he continued. "What's a Pokétch?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but was beat to the punch by Dawn. She had somehow overheard, and had stolen the pamphlet from the startled boy's hands. A colorful ad for the Pokétch Company was on the bottom corner of one of the pages, and she squealed at the sight of it.

"A Poéktch is only the greatest thing that's ever happened to accessories!" she nearly shouted. "All of the best Coordinators have one, which means that I just have to have one too!"

"It means Pokémon Watch," I explained with a sigh. Ash had wandered over to stand with us, and he and Brock tore their amused gazes away from the overly excited Dawn. She was busy scanning the ad for the location of the nearest store.

"So what exactly does it do?" Ash wondered aloud.

I shrugged. "It does a lot of things. It tells time, of course, but there are a lot of different apps that can be installed. One of the favorites is the Move Checker. It simulates a battle where you can input the types of the attacker and the defender."

"So it tells you the effectiveness of different moves against a certain pokémon?" Brock guessed. " That's really smart."

"Woah, so you could go into a battle and figure out what moves to use with that app!" Ash seemed more interested than he had before, and I could see the little wheels in his head turning faster and faster.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "Although it's always best to know those things going in to a battle, isn't it?"

His sheepish look made Ralts laugh, and I shrugged him off of my shoulder. He landed easily on the ground, and took a few steps in the direction of the Pokémon Center.

Before I could move to follow him, Dawn caught my arm.

"Wait, do you have a Pokétch?" Her eyes were glittering, and I struggled to remove her viselike grip from around my wrist.

"Yeah, I do actually."

Her hands were suddenly on my shoulders, shaking me. I felt my eyes widen slightly at her intense expression. What was her deal?

"So can I see it? How many apps do you have? What color is it? Where can I get one? What color should I get? Can we go now?"

As she rattled off her string of questions, a blue glow began to surround her. I felt Ralts's weight settle back on my shoulder, and with a wave of his hands, Dawn was thrown into an unsuspecting Ash. The two of them fell unceremoniously to the pavement, Dawn on top of the poor boy from Pallet Town.

His hat had been knocked off of his head in the collision, and Picachu, who had been smart enough to jump from its perch on Ash's head when it saw Ralts exerting his power over the girl, picked it up in its little hands. With a wide grin, it plopped the red and white cap on its own head, and scampered over to Brock and up his body to rest on his shoulder. Brock had watched the whole exchange with an unreadable expression on his face.

Dawn peered at Ash through her lashes, a faint blush painting her cheeks. Ash pushed himself up so that he was resting on his elbows, unintentionally bringing his face inches away from Dawn's. Her blush deepened.

He, however, was oblivious to their situation. Blinking twice, he patted his head with a hand, noticing the absence of his hat for the first time.

"Where'd my hat go?" he questioned innocently. Looking around, he gave Dawn the opportunity to scramble to her feet. She frantically brushed the dirt from her skirt and resituated her knit cap over her hair until she was satisfied. Wordlessly, I held up a hand to my pokémon, which he high fived with a small noise of triumph.

The small display had brought Dawn's attention to us though, and I had to take a small step back at the murderous flash in her usually bright eyes.

"Cora." she seethed, speaking through her teeth. "Why did you do that?"

I chuckled nervously, and held up my hands in an attempt at calming her down. "Well technically I didn't do anything-"

"You pushed me into him!" she erupted, gesturing at Ash. He was still sitting on the ground, Pikachu back in his arms and his hat in his head.

"That was Ralts, Dawn. Not me." The pokémon in question let out an annoyed sigh, but I shushed him quickly. I didn't want to throw him under the bus, but I was not a fan of the look she was giving me.

"Well he's your Pokemon, which makes it your fault!

Brock, Arceus bless his soul, decided to step in at that moment.

"Why don't we just head to the Pokémon Center and rest for a bit." He laid a hand gently on Dawn's arm, and she huffed, crossing her arms and turning her nose up at me.

As she was led away, I took the few steps over to Ash. I offered him my hand, and he took it with a wide grin.

"I'm sorry about that," I said softly, ducking my head to look at my shoes. My bangs fell into my eyes at the movement, and I ran my fingers through them, tucking them behind my ear. "Ralts can be weirdly protective like that sometimes."

I saw his feet shuffle. "It was actually pretty funny," he admitted with a chuckle. "But what's the deal with Dawn? She was really mad about it."

I glanced up at that. He really couldn't tell?

"She was just embarrassed is all," I said slowly. "And she's mad at me because Ralts and I were the reasons for it."

Realization flashed briefly across his face before becoming clouded by confusion once more.

I interrupted him before he gave me the chance to question his ability to understand feelings. Again. "Why don't we follow them? We should rest a bit before we go exploring." I started walking, knowing that he would follow.

We walked in a comfortable silence, Ralts and Pikachu chatting with one another across our shoulders. It took a few minutes, but the Pokémon Center finally came into view, and we could see Brock and Dawn entering through the sliding glass doors. We silently quickened our pace to catch up to them.

By the time we reached the building, our friends were already seated at some of the couches that surrounded a table. Brock was rummaging through his backpack, pulling out various berries and other supplies for a quick snack, and Dawn held Piplup in her lap and was gently stroking the top of its head.

I wisely chose to take the open seat next Brock, leaving Ash to deal with Dawn. We eyed each other warily, but said nothing.

"So," Brock decided to try and break the growing silence. "Cora, what's there to do in a big city like this?"

I stared at him blankly. I had seen him reading that brochure; in fact, it was sitting open on the table.

"Well, I guess I could show you guys around first," I mused. I slid my backpack off of my shoulders and onto the ground by my feet. As I continued, I pulled out a little jar of pokemon food and Willow's pokeball. "There are a lot of little shops around here that sell anything from differenet kinds of medicine to Amulet Coins."

"Ooh, what's an Amulet Coin?" Dawn seemed to set aside her annoyance for a moment to ask the question.

I nodded as I called Willow out to eat. "Amulet Coins are pretty uncommon, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd never heard of them before. They're really just a symbol for your status, and are commonly used as accessories, but they're useful for other things too."

Ralts was using Psychic to float his food around in the air, and I paused in explanation to shoot him a bemused look. Willow was jumping on the table, trying to catch the flying pieces in her mouth. I took the tiny leaf pokémon in my arms, and grabbed a handful of food to feed her. I could feel her chest rumbling in response, and I stroked her head absentmindedly.

"I know people who have used them to get into the Casino in Veilstone City, and others just sell them. They always go for a high price. There's also a place in Sunnyshore City just for those with Amulet Coins. It's like a resort for the elite members of society."

My companions nodded, and Dawn got a faraway look in her eyes. "Wow, it would be so cool to get in to that resort," she sighed. "Where is Sunnyshore City from here?"

Brock pulled out his map of the Sinnoh Region and laid it out on the table. I sat back, content with letting them figure it out for themselves.

"Well, we're in Jubilife City, which is over here," Brock explained, pointing to a spot on the western half of the map. "And it looks like Sunnyshore City is all the way over here." He drew a line across the entire region, landing at a point on the eastern-most shore.

Dawn deflated. "That's really far away though..."

"But look!" Ash jumped up and jabbed at the top corner of the map, where the key was, and then motioned back to the city. "There's a gym there too! For me to enter the Sinnoh League, I'll have to beat that gym."

"Which means we'll be going to Sunnyshore City anyways!" Dawn had caught on, and the dreamy look had reentered her eyes.

Brock turned to me. "What's the Sunnyshore Gym like, Cora?"

I felt my body stiffen slightly. He just had to ask, didn't he. Refusing to meet anybody's eyes, I traced the pattern on Willow's shell.

"Don't know. Never been." Inwardly, I winced. My voice had sounded uncharacteristically cold, and I felt as if it was glaringly obvious that it was a lie. I also hoped, however, that they could tell that it was not something that I wanted to talk about.

"Hmm..."

I stole a quick glance up to see Ash rubbing his chin.

"I guess we'll find out when we get there," Brock decided. His head was cocked a bit to the side. He was curious. Wonderful.

"Meanwhile," I announced, standing up suddenly, "I think its time to show you guys around."

"And that over there is the way to Route 203." I pointed over to my right, where the street seemingly ended, giving way to a lush, green field. A few people were playing with their pokémon in the space, and others could be seen walking father towards the horizon. "There's a path that way that will take us to Oreburg City, so we'll come back this way when the Contest is over."

Brock and Ash nodded, and went back to staring up at the sky-scraping buildings that loomed overhead. The former gestured to one.

"What building is that one? It looks vaguely familiar," was his query.

I peered up, searching for the logo. Oh, we were here already?

"Yeah, you probably recognize it from that ad in the brochure from earlier." I stole a glance at Dawn, who had perked up at my words.

"Do you mean that this is it?" she whispered, staring up at the glass walls.

I stifled a laugh, and grinned at her childlike appearance. She had her hands folded together just under her chin, and was biting her lip as if she was afraid of the answer.

"This is the Regional Headquaters for the Pokétch Company."

Ash groaned from behind us, and we both shot him bewildered looks.

"I hate shopping," he mumbled. Pikachu patted him twice on the head in sympathy.

Brock laughed out loud, and rested his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You'll survive, Ash."

I took Dawn's arm and dragged her through the sliding glass doors, into the main lobby of the building. People in suits were bustling all around, flitting from one place to the next. The girl beside me looked overwhelmed, and I rolled my eyes.

Leading her through the crowd up to the front desk, I rang the service bell to call an attendant to aid us. As we waited, the boys caught up to us, and stared arguing with Dawn about being left outside.

"Well if somebody hadn't been complaining about having to come with us, maybe they would have noticed that we had left!"

"Well if somebody didn't need this stupid thing I wouldn't have had to complain in the first place!"

Ralts groaned, and I grabbed the bridge of my nose, beginning to regret my decision to bring everybody along.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting, Miss. How can I help you today?" came a cheery voice from behind the desk.

I turned quickly, grateful for the interruption. A young woman stood before me, a genuine smile on her lips, but a confused gleam in her eyes as she took in the sight behind me.

"Yes, hi, I'm here to pick up an order?" I smiled back at her, choosing to ignore the cautious look she cast at my companions. "We would also like to see what else you have on hand, if that's possible."

The woman nodded, and moved to her computer. "Right away, Miss. Do you have a name for the order?"

"Coraline Morset."

After a few quick stories on the keyboard, she nodded, and grinned back up at me. "Alright Miss Morset, your order has been payed in full by Professor Rowan, and I have a message here saying that any expenses for your companions are to be wired to him as well. Does that sound right to you?"

I smiled softly and shook my head. That was just like the Professor, to be watching out for me, even after I had left.

"That sounds exactly right to me."

"Alright then, if you could take the elevators over there," she pointed to her left, "up to the 16th floor, there will be another associate to get everything squared away for you."

I bowed shortly, and thanked her for her time. I called out to my friends as I walked past, catching their attention, and leading them to the elevators.

"Where are we going now, Cora?" Dawn asked with her usual excitement.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Ash chimed in.

I sighed, and stepped onto the elevator. "Well if you had been paying attention instead of bickering, you would know that we are going upstairs to get our Poketches. Floor 16, please," I added, speaking to the man operating the elevator.

The doors slid shut, and we rode up in silence.

When they opened again, an older woman greeted us with a forced smile. "Welcome to the sales room," she ground out as we entered. "My name is Grace. If you have any questions, please, do not hesitate to keep them to yourselves."

She stalked away at that, leaving us dumbfounded. I blinked, and turned to Ralts. He had a scowl on his face, and I felt the temperature around us drop.

"Maybe later," I whispered to him. "She still has what we need." His scowl deepened, but nodded.

"Wow," Dawn breathed. "Look at all of the colors!"

She was walking around, peering at the different glass cases that held different versions of the Pokétch in a rainbow assortment of colors. I couldn't help but grin at her bubbly attitude.

"Remember, you only get one," I chided. "Choose wisely."

Her wide eyes found mine, and she motioned me over.

"How about this one?" It was the latest model, a higher technological grade than the others, and in a pale pink color.

I nodded my approval. "Why don't we call over our pal Grace to pull it out for you?" I looked around the room, searching for the sales representative. Grinning wickedly, I raised my voice. "Oh Miss Graaaaace!" I sang. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

Dawn gaped at me, and Ralts snickered from my shoulder. Yes, that was incredibly childish, but no. I didn't really care.

The woman in question strode out from behind a door that read 'Employees Only,' a glare that promised death already in place.

"Yes child?" she asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "What can I do for you?"

I bristled at being called a child. "Well first off," I said through my teeth, trying to sound sickenly sweet, "my friend here would like to try on this lovely Pokétch."

The woman scowled, but pulled out the key to unlock the glass case. Gingerly, she pulled the device out and handed it to Dawn. The girl took it in her hands, and immediately slid it onto her wrist.

"Oh, it's perfect!" she sighed. "I just love it, Cora!"

I gave her an honest smile. "I'm glad." I turned back to Grace. "I'm also here to pick up a custom order. The name should be Coraline Morset, so if you could go grab that for me, we'll get out of your hair a heck of a lot faster."

The woman sniffed, and disappeared behind her door again. She reappeared a few moments later, a small box in her hands. She tossed it carelessly at me, and I caught it with relative ease, much to her obvious annoyance.

I slid my finger under the tab, and lifted the edge of the box, a bit anxious to see my new Pokétch.

It was a pearly white color, with highlights of hot pink lining the edge of the screen and buttons. It was perfect, just the way I had imagined it. Smiling, I secured it to my own wrist and offered a shallow bow to the sales associate.

"Thank you, Grace, for your time." This time my voice was the sarcastic one, and I wasn't ashamed to admit it. Before she could respond, if she even intended to that is, I had already pushed the button for the elevator. I felt the others join me, and the doors slid open.

I breathed a sigh of relief once we were all on the elevator, and the doors were once again shut.

"Wow Cora," Brock teased lightly, "you really didn't like that lady, did you?"

I turned a blank stare at him, which only served to widen his impish grin.

"Why Brock, I haven't the slightest idea as to what you mean. I was perfectly pleasant to her."

Ash laughed out loud, and Dawn hid a smile behind one of her hands. I felt Ratls shaking with his own silent laugher, and I suppressed a happy sigh.

"So what are we going to do now?" Dawn wondered after we had exited the building.

"Let's eat," Ash proposed, rubbing his stomach. "I'm starved!"

Brock shook his head, but agreed. "Let's head back to the Pokemon Center."

Dawn nudged me, and I turned to her curiously.

"We have three days to prepare for the Contest, right?" I nodded. "Well how about you and I have a battle for some practice?"

"Yeah! I'd love to see you compete under Contest rules, Cora," chimed Ash. "I bet it'll be totally different than the style you used to battle against me."

I shared a knowing smile with Ralts. There wasn't a huge difference in my styles from one type of battle to the next; rather, they seemed to combine in a way that I found rather fascinating.

"I would be honored to battle you, Dawn." She didn't know what she was in for.

"But we're going to eat first, right?"

Oh Ash.

Well folks, that's that. Again, sorry for the incredibly long delay. I should be back to my usual schedule soon. Hopefully.

Brownie points go to Applejax XD! You know what that's for ^.^

Up next: Contest Prep and an unusual friend(maybe)

And more brownie points to anybody who can figure out my reasons for the color schemes for her cases and her Pokétch!

Until next time!

Lots of love! -black angel's wing