BEL

The reason we're able to hear the wind it because it dances across the earth. My dad told me this as a child, and about a country with no trees, so few things for the wind to dance with, only rarely you can hear it dance with newly fallen snow.

Now I'm defying my dad. I'm a bit terrified. The moon was still high on the sky, even though in the horizon the first rays of sunshine was welcoming a new day. The wind was whistling through the trees and carrying the waves towards the shore. Here in Nuvema it had many dance partners.

I carried my backpack as I climbed out my window. We'd all decided to meet up at the outskirts and embark on our journey together. I had to convince Cheren to at least travel to Accumula together. He can be so stubborn. When Touya agreed to go together, he changed his mind and said we should compete to see who catches the most pokemon. Or the strongest. I can't really remember, and I know it won't be me. I barely have any pokeballs to use. I'm not even supposed to go.

With every sound I made I expected my dad to come running after me every second. I can't even count how many times I looked back over my shoulder, expecting a hand to grab me and drag me home.

The sky had slowly started to change color when I saw Touya and Cheren walking together towards me. They chatted in low voices, and I could slowly begin to discern what the conversation concerned when they got closer. Their Dream Team. The most popular dex* searches around graduation always consisted of what teams the Elite Four, League President, Champion (of course) had, the most well-rounded teams, where to find pseudo-legendaries fully evolved, how to train dragons, and which pokemon was the strongest.

"Good morning, guys," I chimed and raised a hand in the air to do a little wave. I was getting nervous they had forgotten. "Let's go!" I started running towards the sign marking the beginning of route 1.

"Hey Bel! Wait up!" I could hear them shout behind me. They both ran in my heels and quickly made their way up next to me. We all panted by the time we stopped right past the sign. I leaned over my knees with my little green beret tucking in my hand. "It feels so good! I can't believe we're finally going!"

Cheren pushed his glasses up and ran his hand through his hair. It looked better slicked back; I wish he would stop being so stubborn. "Good morning to you too, Bel." He turned to Touya and pushed him slighty. "Seems like you were a few steps behind this time."

Touya snorted. "Care to let me fix your glasses?" He raised a fist mockingly before fixing his backpack up. "Let's continue, I would like to arrive at Accumula before the weekend." He gave me a little nod. "It was a good call to start this early, Bel." My stomach fluttered. He rarely ever gave out approval that easily.

We walked side by side when the road allowed it, the boys sometimes venturing into taller grass. Some of the roads along the way were dirt roads, when we took detours, we happened up roads consisting of short trotted down grass. It was very peaceful walking together enjoying the scenery. I had never walked the route without my parents before. It was like the grass seemed a bit greener, the trees giggled as the wind passed through them, and we spotted a few pokemon on the way, exciting all of us.

By the time the sun was high on the sky gleaming down, we settled under a few trees who looked to have grown up huddled together. We each released our starters. With my sponsorship, I had received a tepig from the pokemon professor. He was already a little plump boy full of excitement and love, and the moment he appeared, he jumped on my lap and pressed his little snout to my hands.

"Oh Cor, you're so sweet." I fished a container up from my bag and took out a cookie. He munched it down in a second and licked my fingers. I couldn't help but giggle and gave him another.

Cheren had also received one of the three national sponsorships from the professor. His starter was a snivy. It reminded me of him. With a reserved attitude it sniffed some of the snacks he presented it, and after it had calmly examined them all, it chose to nimble on some flower buds.

The oshawott and Touya were both drinking from water bottles. It seemed like his starter tried to mimic its trainer. He'd even gotten matching blue water bottles in different sizes. It was so cute, I wanted to run my fingers over its head, but I'm afraid it would cut me with the scallop. It would also be terribly rude to do that to another trainer's pokemon without permission and I'm certain Touya would never agree.

When the pokemon had their bellies full, they began to interact with each other. At first they were a bit vary of each other, but seeing their trainers getting along they soon started to play tag around the trees though they never strayed too far.

"Oh what did you pack for lunch?" Touya looked down at Cheren's lunchbox. It was filled with different small dishes and delicacies, surely made by his mom. "Let me try that." He picked a strawberry covered in white chocolate and popped it in his mouth before the other could object.

Cheren just glared at him but went back to eating his own food. Again Touya picked another piece. This time a piece of grilled fish. "Keep your dirty fingers out of my food."

"Your mom really makes the best lunchboxes." He ignored Cheren and took another piece.

I could see Cheren hide a small smile as he pushed his glasses up and switched lunch with the other guy. "You've contaminated it by now. At least wash your hands next time or you'll spoil my appetite."

Touya's face lit up as the lunches got switched. He blew a kiss towards Cheren, making his face turn red. In return we laughed at him. "Let me know if your mom ever becomes single for real."

"Give me my lunch back now."

He laughed again. "Nope. Never. Bros don't take back like that."

It went quiet for a short while as we sat and ate our lunches. I decided to grab the moment. If not, who knew how long I would have to wait before another squabble would rise. "You see, I was thinking…" They both turned their gaze to me, mouths stuffed. "Our Trainer ID got the function of nicknames. Let's all pick one together here."

Touya had just taken a big bite and nodded as he chewed, but Cheren beat him to it. "Sorry, I prefer being known by my name."

"Ahhh, come on, we should all pick one." I tried to pout a bit; it seemed effective when other girls did it. He just stared at me with a dead look on his face. It was super-duper not effective!

As he finished chewing, he held up a finger, as if it would magically make us silent and wait on him. Cheren rolled him eyes at the gesture, but we remained silent, waiting for on him. "I think it's a great idea. Perfect opportunity to distance myself from my name. Nobody recognizes me by my dashing looks without my sister around, so it really only is the name. Have you thought of some names already?" He ignored Cheren's grumbling and turned to look at me.

I clasped my hands together. "Yay! I think something starting with B would be nice, not too far from my own name but still different."

And so the discussion of trainer nicknames have begun. Cheren remained silent, but Touya said he would like to pick a color. All the previous big shots started out with a color nickname. Even though his favorite color was blue, he could never choose that. It would just be a fat imitation of the Oak grandson.

I scratched my hand as I thought. "What about azure or cobalt? It's still blue, but different.

He shook his head. "Makes me sound like a wuss. Next thing you gonna ask me to wear a dress and do a split."

"Black." Cheren said. He'd just been silently listening to our brainstorming, leaning back against a tree. Every now and then his snivy had graced him with his appearance, he'd told me earlier it was male, and had fed it a few flower petals.

Stars were glistening in Touya's eyes after the suggestion. "Black! You're right, it's both sexy, mysterious and cool while remaining a color."

"Black is a shade; it is not a color." He retorted.

Now it was just my nickname missing. I bit my inner cheek thinking, tapping the cheek with a finger from the outside.

This time it was Touya who came with a suggestion. "What about Bianca? Your birthday is around winter, and I just searched on the dex. It supposedly means winter."

I loved that. And he remembered the season of my birthday. I nodded rapidly while a smile grew on my face. "Definitely that one." Then I turned to look at Cheren. "Did you come up with a nickname for yourself?"

He nodded back at me, mocking the gesture. "You bet."

We all pulled out our VS Recorder and changed our nicknames. A few days back we had already registered each other as known trainers. It boosted the reward system, making us pay less in taxes* if we battled together. A few seconds later I checked and saw my Trainer ID identifying me as Bianca now. Touya's said he was Black and Cheren… just said Cheren. It had literally just removed his surname from the ID.

"You think you're so slick." I gave him a halfhearted scowl. In the end, if he didn't want a nickname, we shouldn't push one on him. He couldn't change it now anyway.

Another round of bickering, and we started packing up to continue onwards to Accumula.

.

* dex: Search engine on the pokedex. General knowledge is available to all users, but the more approved content one uploads, the better archives becomes available to the user.

* VS Recorder tax: For every battle issued with the VS Recorder a 5% tax of the total winning prize goes to the League. It is used to officially accept and deny requests, and it helps secure more fair play in challenges between trainers. If the trainer battles against another trainer that has been registered in their VS Recorder for more than a month, the tax is reduced to 3%.