Trainer Finals

When Miya started to wake up, her glimmering sun catchers cast patches of rainbow light on the musty attic floor. The windows vibrated in what must have been a strong wind outside.

"Hey, Miya!" called Anna from downstairs. "Miya! Are you up yet?"

Miya jerked awake. "Crap," she said, glancing at her alarm. "Monday morning! Oh no, don't tell me I forgot to set it again," she whined to no one in particular.

"Miya?" Her mother's voice was accompanied by the dull thuds and creaks of the staircase. Behind her door now, covered in posters: "It's 7:30, you know. Hurry up! I made you breakfast. Gotta eat up before exams."

Miya yawned. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." She stood up and trudged over to Milo's tank where the tirtouga was still sleeping. His onyx grey shell was dappled orange and blue by a mudkip-shaped sun catcher from the window. He didn't wake up. "Ya lazy bum," chided Miya, reaching for his poké ball. "It's not like you haven't spent a couple thousand years sleeping already," she added, as Milo Returned in a flash of light. Professor Juniper had Revived Milo from a fossil and given him as a gift to Miya for all her hard work at the lab – being fossilized for thousands of years is plenty of time to sleep! Miya mused.

She glanced remorsefully at the clock on her nightstand and dressed hurriedly. She pulled her hair into a sloppy ponytail, grabbed her bag, and thundered down the stairs to breakfast.

"Sorry I'm late," she said to her mother. She shoveled down cheese eggs as fast as she could.

"Miya, you really need to get better about setting that alarm," Anna said, laughing at her daughter.

"Mff. Nn-know," Miya agreed through a mouthful of eggs.

"So you have your math exam today, right?" Miya nodded. "And when do you find out if you made the trainer program?" Miya almost choked on her eggs. She'd been fretting about it all week.

Anna tried not to laugh, and patted Miya on the shoulder. "Tomorrow, right? Don't worry about it; there's nothing you can do at this point." Miya swallowed breathlessly.

"Ugh, mom, if I don't make it, it's gonna suck!"

"Well, you always have Professor Juniper... right? Or, you can stay with me and ... I don't know, soften up the sewing club? And the garden always needs help!"

"Um... I'd rather not think about that." With a piece of toast between her teeth, Miya slipped on her shoes, picked up her bag, and ran out of the house. "Bye, mom!"

"Bye, Miya! Good luck!"

Miya leaped onto her bike at breakneck speed. It was a yellow beach cruiser that was older than she was. Batting at the tassels, she put the bike into a low gear and coasted down the hill towards her school. Agh, late again. She rounded corners so tight her pedals nearly scraped the ground and her legs burned with the strain of pedaling up and down the hills of the coastal town.

At last, a gale of wind pushed her up the final hill to her school. Miya threw her bike at the bike rack and ran, sandals flapping against the hot concrete. She pushed through the double doors of the gymnasium, where the exam took place. She slid into a seat in the back, collecting herself quickly, and glanced at the clock propped hastily up on the wall. Right on time. Phew.

"Hey, Miya!" whispered a bright voice to her left. She looked over.

"Hey, girl," Miya said as she looked over. Lara, Miya's best friend, leaned towards Miya, blue eyes sparkling. "Think this test will put you in the trainer program?" Lara asked.

"I hope so!" Miya replied.

Lara chuckled and nodded, her pink hair bobbing. "Me too! But we're both so in." The girls received a stern look from the sharp-nosed teacher passing out exams. Lara winked at Miya and settled back into her seat.

Miya bit her lip. Don't worry about it; there's nothing you can do at this point. Her mother's words echoed in her head. She nodded to herself. Yep, no sense worrying about it, best focus on the exam, he told herself. Pretending to smile at the teacher who handed her the exam, she twirled her pencil around her thumb and wrote her name at the top, sighing and hoping for the best.

When the exam was over, everyone filed out of the gym, chattering. Lara nudged Miya in the ribs. "Oh, cheer up, Miya, you don't need a perfect math score to be in the trainer program."

"No, but you do need a passing score," Miya muttered, but Lara didn't hear.

"Oh, this is so exciting! Just imagine. Us! Trainers! It'll be a dream, come true! Oh, I do hope I get paired up with someone nice for the journey," she sighed wistfully.

"Like... Jiro?" teased Miya, referring to Lara's current crush.

Lara flushed as pink as her bubblegum-colored hair. "Oh... well, he's a boy so they probably won't," she said, trying to sound smooth.

"You two have so much in common! I totally think there's a chance they'll put him with you."

"You think so?" Lara grabbed Miya's hands eagerly, brightening.

"Yeah! You're both really outgoing and brave and you want to join the Pokémon league and you both love pokémon... They'd be crazy to not pair you up."

Lara giggled. "Ohh, you're nice, Miya. I wonder who they'll pair you with!"

Miya shrugged. "I don't know, I've only been here for like, two months."

"Yeah, but everyone totally loves you!"

Miya snorted. "Something like that!" She laughed.

"You really are too rough on yourself," Lara scolded playfully. "Let's go get ice cream or something. Just think! This could be our last exam in this place, ever!"

"That would be nice," agreed Miya;

The ice cream parlor was painted cotton candy pink and blue on all walls and smelled like sugar. Milo stole a lick from the cup of Miya's peach ice cream. It's very good. Miya should try some instead of letting Milo eat it all. Milo nudged Miya with his flipper.

"No, thanks, Milo," said Miya. "I'm too nervous to eat."

But... food.

Miya laughed. "Nothing will ever separate you from food, will it, Milo?" She took the spoon out of the cup and surrendered her ice cream.

Well, more for Milo.

Lara laughed, too. "Milo sure loves that ice cream, huh?" she asked, stroking her own pidove, Uffie, who was perched on her shoulder. Uffie had been Lara's spoiled family pet for years, and if Lara became a trainer, Uffie will be her starter. "Uffie's not a fan of people food. Are you, baby?" she cooed.

"Well, to each his own, I suppose," Miya chuckled.

"Or her. So tell me, why did Professor Juniper give you a tirtouga? Just out of the blue?"

"Um, you emknow/em I intern there-"

"Well, yeah, of course I know that," Lara said, waving away Miya's first sentence. "But what did you do to get him? That is so lucky to have a professor that totally loves you."

"I honestly don't know, really," Miya laughed. "I'm her youngest intern, and I haven't really done anything the older interns haven't. I guess she just felt sorry for me when my parents split up."

"Gahd, I'm sorry. I forgot- I shouldn't have brought it up," Lara apologized quickly.

"Oh, don't worry about it," said Miya. "It wasn't very bad. They were really quiet about it. And with my little consolation gift, now I don't have to go through the trouble of choosing a starter!"

"Me neither! Thank goodness."

"Which would you choose, Lara?"

"Oh, I'd pick tepig. It's so cute! How about you?"

Miya paused pensively. "Eh... I'm kind of partial to water pokémon, so maybe oshawott... But the others are so nice too! Tepig emis /emtotally cute! But snivy definitely has the best attacks. Grass types are so elegant. Jeez, I don't know. I'm just glad I already have Milo." She flicked his shell affectionately. "Hey, slow down on that ice cream, fatty. You're going to get a stomachache." Milo? Fatty? Stomachache? Never.

"Whatever," Miya sighed. Uffie turned up her beak. Any good Pokémon listens to its trainer, so Milo should listen to Miya, especially if she was going to be his trainer. It's what any respectable pokémon would do.

Milo is a good pokémon, thank you very much. Right, Miya?

Uffie guffawed and flapped her wings in mirth, batting Lara's pigtails accidentally. "Hey-y-y, watch out, Uffie," Lara complained light-heartedly. "Oh, pokémon," Lara sighed. "I guess I'm going to head out, Miya. I'm going to Kokoro's pool party later; you want to come?"

"Ah, no thanks, Lara. I promised my mom I'd help her with her garden."

"Well, okay then. I'll see you tomorrow- when we'll both be trainers!" Miya smiled as Lara stood up and left the ice cream parlor.

Milo looked up. What a snobby little pidove.

Miya ignored the comment. "Milo, what are we going to do if I don't make it?" Suddenly serious, Milo looked up at Miya. He climbed up onto the table. His eyes shined with determination. "Would you stay with me anyway?" Milo nodded vehemently. "Really?" Miya was the one with all the best food, anyway. "Milo!" Miya laughed out loud. "Thanks, though. Really. Now let's go home and help mom."

She stood up and dumped her trash, and Lara's, into the trash can. She picked up Milo, placed him in her practically decaying wicker bike basket, and pedaled home.