Entamer
(verb)
—French for "start", "begin", "lead", or 'embark"
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Two days later
Shauna poked her head in through the doorway. "Celie, she's here!"
Celestine wrinkled her nose at the nickname ("Celie", so juvenile, you would have never guessed Shauna was seventeen and not twelve), but responded in a grunted "kay be down soon". Shauna hesitated for a fraction of a second before she slipped out the door.
After she left, Celestine took the time to do up the last button on my shirt and stole a glance from the nearby mirror. An adolescent girl—a young woman, really—stared back, with a cape-like mane of icy black hair, an austere, alabaster face, an unsmiling mouth, and cerulean eyes like jewels. She wore a look of grim determination, like she was about to march up to stronghold and bust down the front door, launch an all-out assault that would leave the floors and walls painted a deliciously moribund shade of red.
Today is the day, Celestine told the girl in the mirror, and the girl nodded.
Hakase's assistant had arrived with her starter in tow and a licence fresh off the printing press, which meant that the minute both were in Celestine's hands, she could begin her Trainer's Journey. All of Kalos was going to unfold before her today, brimming with endless possibilities. The thought was daunting, despite Celestine's seventeen years and her extensive experience in battle, because this was her first Journey. And yeah, okay, "late bloomer" totally applied here, maybe a little too much. She had never experienced the luxury of camping under the stars or trotting along well-worn Routes or wiling away the days in the sole company of a team of adoring Pokemon. It would be a lie to say the thought didn't have her curling her toes in anticipation.
She was quick to tamp the feeling down though. Because Celestine was seventeen and extensively experienced in battle, and not some starry-eyed girl with delusions of grandeur and fame and glory. Journeys were not easy—they were dangerous and everyone knew it. And there were those like Celestine who actually acknowledged it, didn't gloss over the reality of death and injury and PTSD because she thought it wouldn't happen to her. No, she was not one of those people. She knew and acknowledged that a nearly constant fraction of Trainers had their licences nulled, either because they retired or because they were forcibly revoked by the League (for a number of gory reasons she would rather not get into). And that didn't even factor in the death toll. After all, the wild had not earned its name, "the wild", for being hospitable. There's a reason ancient civilizations prospered after building vast cities with impenetrable walls and a fierce army lying in wait behind them.
Well, Celestine thought as she left the Gabena's cozy guest room behind and descended the stairs, here we go, Lavieaux.
Voices fluttered up from the kitchen. Excited, anxious. Celestine wasn't the only one setting out today. Shauna and her friend group had, quite coincidentally, chosen today of all days to begin their own Journeys, though Celestine suspected that there was more to the story. Not that she was in any position to judge. They were all late bloomers.
Technically not true, she chided herself, pausing at the foot of the stairs. She could see the kitchen from here. In Kanto, we'd be late bloomers. You can get your licence as early as eleven and then set out a year later. In Kalos—no, the whole New Continent won't even let you apply for a licence until you're sixteen. Even then, you're encouraged to wait until you finish school first. Even in Hoenn, most Trainers set out as sixteen, and in Alola, you can't take the trial until you're thirteen.
She laughed inwardly at her Old Continent mindset. Here in the New Continent, everything was topsy-turvy. The Old Continent expected children to grow up too fast, to strive despite their youth for better things, reminding them that their lives were fragile, tentative, and to seize the moment. The New Continent, meanwhile, encouraged children to enjoy their youth, take their time, laze around under the sun, and overall make the most of their lives because there was so much of it. In all honesty, Celestine could see the value in both philosophies, but she had been born in Kanto, had breathed its air and spoke its tongue, so it was only natural that she favored one over the other. After all, it was the same philosophy that had—
Celestine killed that train of thought before it could go much further. No offense, train of thought, but it was time she got out of her head and started moving forward. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and she had a step to take, so enough procrastinating, let's get moving.
When she poked her head through the doorway, the first thing Celestine saw as Grace-san, Shauna's mother, stood over the stove, making something, judging from the shimmer of heat, the sound of something sizzling, and the smell of something delicious cooking. She was the only adult there, her husband Maurice-san off working for the day, though she didn't entirely look the part. Her face was young, her brown hair done up in a sloppy bun, and her eyes sparkled very much like her daughter's. The expression "young at heart" could not apply more so than to Grace Gabena.
Still, it seemed she had taken it upon herself to chaperon the three teenagers who were standing around the breakfast table. One was Shauna, her trusty Chespin Mint lazing about atop her head of mocha hair, apparently asleep. The other girl Celestine recognized from her time indulging in Hakase's hospitality, and was doubtlessly the aide he'd spoken of over the phone. The girl's name was Serena Devereux, Celestine believed, and her loose waves were a nice honey-brown shade, which she had pulled back into a low ponytail so that her pretty face was visible, though her bangs and a few locks were loose to give her a rather artsy look. She was younger than Celestine by about a year, with grayish blue eyes that sparkled and a no-nonsense attitude Celestine could admire. Unlike Celestine, smiles came to Serena naturally, her face meant to look more beautiful while laughing rather than scowling. The Kalosian was dressed in a tasteful dress-and-jacket combination, with a beret that brought to mind various caricatures and stereotypes involving Kalos fashion.
The third, though, immediately drew Celestine attention. He was the only boy, easily the tallest there, his face fair and angled, and the flinty grayness of his eyes was visible even from where she stood. His dark fringe—dark brown, not quite black but almost, almost—fell over the left side of his face, and his hair came down to his chin, if not a just a little passed. Kid needed a haircut, Celestine couldn't help but think, even though calling him "kid" wasn't entirely fair, considering that he was a few months older than Celestine, according to Shauna, and they were around the same height. No, this boy with the lean, lithe stature and sharp cheekbones was no more a child than Celestine was—physically, anyway. But last they'd met, she'd accused him of acting like one.
He must have caught movement from his peripheral, because he turned. Once he caught sight of her, his eyes narrowed dangerously. Celestine narrowed her own eyes back.
Calem Lafayette was, in fact, the friend of Shauna's that Celestine had the misfortune of getting on his bad side, all because of some miscommunication. From there, it had only gotten worse, because when she'd gone back to apologize, she was met with venom and ice, and she'd fought back with fire and acid. She'd gone to swallow her pride and had left with the desire to never see him again. She had even told Shauna as much.
Which is why she immediately swerved to aim a glare at said brunette, words poised, What is he doing here—
"Celie!" Shauna trilled, seemingly oblivious, except, how could she be when she'd been in the room when the two of them had last had it out? "Over here. Serie has your starter!"
Classic Shauna, diffusing the tension before it reared its ugly head. This was her way of saying that the whole Calem thing could wait, should wait, had to wait. Celestine glanced at him from her peripheral, was met with a murderous glare, and decided, fine, whatever, she wasn't letting this get in the way of her Journey-to-be.
Celestine made her way over to the table, where Serena, now smiling politely, had set down her bag on the table. A stylish bag—a purse, really, something that was way too casual to belong to someone who worked somewhere as professional as a research lab—with a Poke Ball clipped to the side, shrunken down to the size of a Ping-Pong ball.
"Celestine Lavieaux, non?" Serena held her hand out. "Serena Devereux. The Professeur talked about you quite a bit. It's nice to finally meet you."
Celestine didn't accept her hand readily. Rather she stared at it, eyes calculating, then affixed the blonde with a similar stare. "We've met," was the Kantonian's cool reply. "In a way. I overheard you asking if I was a whore Hakase had hired."
The reactions around the room were instantaneous—Serena's jaw fell open and her face turned bright red; Grace-san visibly flinched and glanced over her shoulder to gawk at the teenagers; Shauna blinked several times in rapid succession, her face blank with shock; Calem arched a brow, like, yeah, that doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Celestine frowned at that last one, wondering if it was really possible for someone to have such a low opinion of her after having met her only once.
"W-Well," Serena stammered. "I was wrong about that, clearly."
Calem muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "we don't know that for sure".
Irritated, Celestine leveled him with a narrow-eyed look. "Why are you even here?"
"Me and Cali were the ones who walked Serena here," Shauna piped up just as Calem was opening his mouth. He immediately cringed when the word Cali popped out of her mouth. Celestine could at least sympathize with him there—she was no fonder of Shauna's nicknaming penchant than he was. "Gave us time to catch up, too."
Celestine arched a brow in bewilderment, tossing a glance from Calem and Shauna to Serena. "You know each other?"
"Uh huh. Me and the guys spent a summer in Lumiose, which is where we met Serie."
"Not to mention that Calem and I are cousins," Serena added sheepishly.
"Oh?" Celestine looked between them, carefully scrutinizing their features. Aside from eye color and a vaguely similar slope to their noses, the two did not look too much alike. She would have never guessed. "Huh."
"And what do you mean by that?" Calem snapped.
She stared at him. "You're seriously going after me for a 'huh'?"
He responded by glaring at her with enough acid to melt steel. She glared back just as fiercely, if not more so. For a few seconds, the air became charged with venom.
Serena stepped between them, and even though she was five inches shorter, she somehow managed to divide them quite effectively. "Okay. Hey, Mademoiselle, do you want to meet your starter? I'm sure he's eager to meet you. After all, you're going to be partners, s-so..."
Right, yes. Don't let that baka ruin your plans, Celestine. You've waited for this too long to screw it all up now.
She nodded.
Serena immediately darted over to the table, grabbed her purse, and unclipped the Ball, holding it out for Celestine to take. It was the same type of Poke Ball that you'd see in Kanto, the universal red and white hemispheres split by a black stripe and a white button. These were the ones that were mass-produced worldwide, used by veterans and rookies alike.
Celestine accepted it. For all her experience handling Pokemon and Trainer equipment, she still found herself surprised by the warmth radiating from the metal surface and the faint thrumming against her fingers, almost vibrating. It was alive. That was probably the only way one could differentiate an unused Ball from one that carried precious cargo. Outwardly, they looked identical, but the feel—the feel of a life in your hands, as if the metal itself was breathing, as if a little heartbeat was resting in your palms—that was not something you could ignore.
Serena held out something else—a thick plastic card with a glossy finish, green with white lettering and a picture of Celestine's unsmiling face printed on it. Celestine took it gingerly, realizing that this was her ticket, her chance to start over. This little piece of plastic would allow her to finally leave, to train, to hold a Poke Ball in her hand and wield it like a true Trainer. She balanced the card and Ball in her hands, two sides of the same whole, two keys to one door she had been standing in front of, tapping her foot impatiently, for a little too long.
Celestine turned to Serena, pocketing the card and gesturing to the Ball. "Before I open this, can you give me a hint of what kind of Pokemon I should be expecting?"
Serena arched a brow, half playful and half incredulous. "Not eager to find out for yourself?"
Little tip: only people with something to hide answered a question with a question. Celestine's brows lowered and her mouth pressed itself into a thin line. "I've never been a huge fan of surprises. They tend to blow up in your face at some point."
At this, Serena laughed weakly, awkwardly, and turned away.
Celestine straightened indignantly. "What did Hakase give me?" she asked slowly.
Serena chewed on her lip, not meeting Celestine's eye. "...well—"
The Kantonian stopped listening and instead ran her thumb over the white button in the Ball's center. As expected—the Ball must have been registered to her, or at least to a Trainer card that had finally been set up—a holographic screen cropped up with the stats of the Pokémon within. It had on its flickering list all the basics of what every Trainer needed to know about their Pokemon—stats, ability, species, nature, characteristic—the works. Celestine skimmed it—
Name: Delphi
Species: Fennekin, Fox Pokemon
Type: Fire
Location of possession: Vaniville Town
Sex: Male
Ability: Blaze
Nature: Docile
Characteristic: Takes plenty of sies—
—and stopped reading. Don't get her wrong, she liked Fire Types. Of the traditional beginner's trinity, Fire and Water and Grass, her preference was Fire, hands down. But this Fire Type, this "Fennekin"—great Birds. Celestine had never heard of it, and that in itself of would only create problems. Her own, rather humiliating, ignorance was exactly why she'd asked Hakase to give her something she could work with, like of the three Kanto starters she knew that he kept in his lab for research purposes. It didn't even have to be a starter, either! Anything would do as long as she was familiar with it! And as if that wasn't bad enough, this "Fennekin" possessed a Docile nature, of all things. Now, the nature data is actually pretty important, as a correlation between stat growth and certain personalities had been observed by various experts, including Sinnoh's Holly-Hakase—Birds rest her soul—before her passing. According to this data, though, there would be no growth change, beneficial or harmful, of any kind. In layman's, her starter was, for all rights and purposes, average. Painfully so.
No wonder Serena had sounded so nervous.
Celestine was going to strangle Hakase.
With as much disdain as she could pack into her tone, Celestine turned to Serena and deadpanned, "Why."
The Kalosian held her hands up placatingly. "Hey, don't look at me. The Professeur was the one who chose."
"I know, but. Why."
Shauna craned her neck in an attempt to glimpse the screen, but she ended up brushing up against Celestine, making the taller girl tense. Celestine was not a fan of invasions of personal space, arigato. "Doesn't look so bad to me. Besides, you two might end up getting along really well!"
Celestine growled in frustration. "That's not the point."
Okay, yes, Shauna had a point—it was entirely wrong to dislike a Pokemon simply because of its species and nature. Celestine had no control over either. But this, this—the exact opposite of what she'd asked Hakase for! This wasn't what she wanted, what she needed. No, she needed a partner that she could mesh with instantly, if not then one that could work well with her. This thing in her hand? It would only result in all sorts of problems that could only be worked out through long hard, weeks, maybe months, spent ironing outa relationship and learning, growing, having adapt. But she didn't want to have to adapt. She wanted something she could work with from the get go. She didn't have time to adapt, to learn and grow and bond. She wanted—needed—a strong starter and she needed it now.
Calem, of course, felt the needed to put in his two cents. "Forget it, Shauna. My guess is that she's interested in power level more than anything else." When Celestine shot him a glare, he arched a brow, as if in challenge. "Well? Am I wrong?"
"Can I help you?" she asked, trying to sound less snarky and largely failing. "Or are you just here to be an ass?"
"Alistair's fine, thanks for asking," he growled back.
"Good. I'd be so torn up if your bird hadn't made a full recovery, which, given the sheer advancement of healing tech these days, would have been a highly unlikely tragedy."
Shauna started to say something, probably to break up the fight, but Calem's sharp words silenced her. "Do you even care that he got hurt? You could have killed him."
"But. I. Didn't."
"Are you even listening to yourself?"
"Yes. My voice is birdsong and honey. Also, your passive-aggressive questions are really pissing me off." See how she hadn't answered that question with a question? That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you be evasive without drawing suspicion.
Calem's brow twitched. Serena and Shauna exchanged exasperated glances. "You're. You're unbelievable. How can the Professeur even think about giving someone like you a Pokemon?"
"Someone like me?" Celestine repeated slowly. She brushed her thumb over the central button again, dissipating the status screen, and tried unsuccessfully to tamp down her indignation. "What exactly do you mean by that?"
Calem attempted to look down his nose at her, but her were close to the same height, eye-level, and if he looked too far down he would end up with a perfect view of her cleavage. Celestine's hand was poised to slap him, just in case. "You know exactly what I mean! There are Trainers out there, like you, who think that Pokemon are a joke. Like their lives mean nothing and they're expendable. That's it's okay to subject them to pain!"
"Isn't every Trainer who battles like that?" she asked dryly.
"That's—"
"But I know what you're referring to," Celestine interrupted. And indeed, she did. There were those out there, they were called "Berserkers", who seemed to enjoy the carnage of Reaper Battles to a morbid degree; who Reaped always, regardless of parameters; who enjoyed the sound of agonized screams and broken bones and were aroused by the red of blood. They saw Pokemon as dolls and puppets, chips on a board game that they always had to win, no matter what they had to sacrifice. Pokemon trained by Berserkers eventually became no more than cruel, mindless war pieces, so she could understand his concern, to an extent, given his impression of her.
Still, though.
Celestine crossed her arms. "Can I ask a stupid question?"
Serena tried to squeeze her way between them (they had been gradually getting closer during our argument and were now practically in each other's faces). "Calem, don—"
Ignoring her vain efforts, Celestine continued. "You have beef with me because I caused your bird pain. I'll admit, I went overboard. I misread the situation. I'm sorry." Calem narrowed his eyes, clearly not buying it. Not that she wasn't genuinely sorry. She was, having only attacked so brutally because she'd thought it was a kill-or-be-killed situation. Though it would make sense if he didn't believe her, because the annoyance coloring her tone certainly didn't make her sound particularly apologetic. "However, what I'd really like to know is how you can be such a hypocrite."
"What—!" he started, but she cut him off.
"You claim that anyone who causes unnecessary suffering or prolongs suffering is a horrible person." She paused, waiting for a confirmation. His brow twitched, and she took that as all she needed. "Okay. Fine. I caused your bird—Alistair—to suffer. The battle probably broke a few bones. Maybe bruised some more. And yet, rather than take him to the healer or whatever the hell you have here instead of a League-sanctioned Center, you chose instead to confront me. While I admire your dedication to your principle—and I mean that, I really do—you seem to forget that it's a Trainer's job to put their Pokemon first."
As Celestine spoke, a fierce, cool fury gripped her. Fury at his negligence, at his unwillingness to listen to her, at the demonized image of her he had of her, and not just him, either. She was furious at Hakase for setting her up for failure, she was furious at Shauna for not warning her that Calem was here, and it all accumulated into a cold burn against her sternum, which she focused on Calem. Calem frickin' Lafayette and his Birds-damned stubbornness.
She leaned in closer and he flinched back (good, you should be afraid, she thought)—their eyes locked, blue and gray, cerulean flames and polished steel. Fire and steel, fire and steel.
"The whole time you were yelling at me? Your bird was suffering. You didn't even bother to put it in its Ball. At least the stasis would have prevented him from suffering needlessly. But instead, you ignored it."
She punctuated her words by jabbing her finger into his chest, just above his heart.
"It was in your arms, in extreme pain, and you ignored it. So, my question is that, if I'm a such horrible person, then what exactly does that make you?"
A hand clasped her shoulder, jolting Celestine out of her ranting. She swerved on her heel to verbally assault whoever decided it was their place to interrupt our argument, expecting either Shauna (who seemed fully convinced that Celestine's business was also her business, for whatever reason) or Serena (most likely to come to her cousin's aid). When Celestine saw that it was neither, however, her jaw snapped shut and she stared blankly in shock.
"Alright, that's enough," Grace-san said evenly. Celestine was taller than her significantly, just like her daughter, but her face was stern enough that it didn't matter.
Celestine backed down immediately. Besides, she'd said what she'd wanted to say already and—if the way Calem was glaring in frustration at his feet was an indication—it seemed she'd won. She took a few steps back, hoping that the rush of satisfaction she felt against her sternum didn't show on her face.
Grace-san crossed her arms and stared them down. Birds, her stare was worse than that of the Rhyhorn she kept in her backyard. "Now I don't know what this is about, but I'm ending this right here and now. Apologize to each other, now."
Calem snapped his head up. "But—"
"Now."
It didn't work like that, though. The two of them, Calem and Celestine, they were proud people, the kind who held their heads up high and were convinced that, even if we were in the wrong, the other should be the first to bridge the gap. It was people like them that had waged wars in ancient history, had been the ones to tear up the land and bring either great change or great ruin.
The pair each other contemptuously, waiting for the other to break, to swallow their pride and bow their head. It was a waiting game, and it was one with too much on the line to lose. Whoever bowed first—they would be declaring themselves inferior to the other, that the other was in the right, regardless of the truth.
"Celestine," Shauna hissed, as if to say, this is your cue, girl, say something.
But y'know what? Screw it. She'd tried to apologize to him two days ago. Two days ago, she had been willing to swallow her pride, to hang her head in shame and admit she was wrong. But instead of at least hearing her out, he had fought her at every turn and, in the end, another one of Shauna's friends had to break them up. Her frustration had been palpable, then, and just like now, it had overshadowed her remorse. Shauna had insisted that Calem would need a while to calm down—they both needed time to cool off.
And yet, two days later, he barged in here—the day she had been anxiously awaiting for the last three weeks, since she'd first arrived in Kalos—acted towards her with nothing but hostility, had practically openly called her a horrible human being, and now she was expected to apologize? Hell no. That ship had sailed. She might be sorry, hell she might be willing to lacerate her wrists and mar her back just prove she was apologetic, but dammit, you can't expect someone to be apologetic after you treat them like crap. Grace-san couldn't seriously expected her to make the first move on this, could she? It was absurd. Celestine may have screwed up two days ago, but this fight was entirely on Calem.
It was a minute and a half before he broke eye contact and muttered something that sounded vaguely Kalosian. "Je suis desole", or something of that nature.
That... was an apology, wasn't it? Honestly, Celestine was Kalosian, technically, but only by virtue of her mother's lineage. She had been born and raised in Kanto, had learned the mother tongue of the nation and its culture so much so that it was more her homeland than Kalos was. Her mother had tried to teach her the Kalosian language, but Celestine had never been able to grasp it. And yet, there was universality to apologies that made them recognizable, no matter the language. And that definitely sounded like an apology, no matter how grudging.
Celestine knew she should apologize herself, but, hell, she was still pissed. He'd accused her of being a Berserker, of Bird's sake! A half-assed apology in an obscure language wasn't about to pacify her.
But Grace-san was expecting them to be mutually apologetic and Celestine owed the woman for opening her home. So, as tight as her throat was with fury, she managed to choke out a "sorry" of her own. It sounded broken and bitter, but Grace-san sighed, which was basically her way of saying "fine, whatever, at least you said it, but I expect more effort next time".
Celestine wasn't sure if she could promise that.
Shauna, who had been standing to the side and watching the whole exchange rather warily, suddenly clapped her hands loudly. Probably an attempt to break the tension. It failed miserably, but it drew everyone's attention, at the very least.
"Okay, I know you guys are still pissed off at each other and I know it's probably gonna take some time for you to stop being pissed off, but"—And here, Shauna paused for dramatic effect—"we're all gonna set out on our journey today, so no negativity allowed."
There was a long beat of silence.
Calem pinched the bridge of his nose. "Shauna, you can't just decide to—"
"YesIcanshutup!" Shauna swerved on her heel. On her head, Mint started to stir (lazy as hell, the Chespin was), blinking sleepily. "Celie, battle me!"
Celestine snapped to attention, blinking in bewilderment. "Nani?"
"Wha...?" Mint mumbled. The Grass-Type's jaw parted in a yawn. "Wuz goin' on, now?"
"C'mon! Trainers and Pokemon can learn so many things about each other through battle. You can use this experience to bond with your new starter! And who knows? Maybe you two will, like, insta-bond or whatever."
Instantly, Celestine's thoughts tumbled back to her undesirable starter and she grimaced. Right, she still had to deal with that. She wanted to remind Shauna that battling was about more than just Trainer bonds, though that was an important part, and that another huge factor was a Pokemon's capabilities, which no amount of bonding could change, not even this "insta-bond" Shauna was babbling about. But, there was a stern, almost desperate light in Shauna's eye—the light of someone who was trying, someone who was reaching out their hand and asking you to help them because they need your help to go the whole way. And, dammit, Celestine wasn't heartless. She wasn't going to turn away when Shauna was trying so hard to salvage the situation (which Celestine had kinda ruined with this stupid feud with Calem and her inability to swallow her pride). Plus there was some truth to what Shauna was saying, in how a Pokemon's temperament could be understood through battle alone. Perhaps what Celestine's new starter—this "Fennekin"—lacked in stats he would make up for in guts.
"Okay."
Shauna blinked dumbly. "...wait, seriously?"
"You don't want to, now?"
"No. I do, just..." Shauna shrugged. "Didn't expect you to agree so quickly."
Celestine arched a brow. "Would you rather I argue vehemently?"
"...never mind."
"I can be the ref," Serena piped up. She sounded oddly eager.
Calem sighed and reverted back to what Celestine assumed was his default expression of general distaste. "You realize you risk the chance of your Pokemon getting hurt."
Celestine's lip twitched into a scowl. "Yeah. Not like there's a healing center in Aquacorde, like a fifteen-minute walk away, or anything."
Grace-san was intervening in a heartbeat. "If you're going to battle, take it outside, alright?"
Shauna had already taken hold of Celestine's arm in that goddamn iron grip of hers. "'Kay. Thanks Mom!" And she was ushering Celestine out the door before the Kantonian could protest, with Calem and Serena at their heels.
"And steer clear of the flower beds!" Grace-san called after them, "And the paddock!"
"Will do!" The door to the kitchen slammed behind them, and the kitchen was suddenly silent, save for the sizzle of something cooking on the stove.
"So, standard rules, apply," Serena announced. She had positioned herself on the side out a makeshift battlefield (which was far away from the flowerbed and paddock, so it was really right in the middle of the yard) and seemed to be getting way too into this, at least in Celestine's opinion. It was just a starter battle, so there was nothing that justified the excited shimmer in the Kalosian's eye. "Non-Reaper, no battle items, and the battle ends with either Fainting, forfeit, or if either Pokemon is knocked out of bounds."
"That last point isn't standard," Calem called over from where he'd seated himself on the squat, stone wall separating the Gabena's yard from the neighbors. Vaniville was absolutely covered in those stone walls, a crisscrossing maze that seemed to divide up the suburbs into neat little plots, but were low enough for someone to jump over. "It usually only applies to League-official Battles which have stadiums for spectators. If you get too close and start endangering people, you forfeit."
Celestine watched as Serena's brows pinched with a twinge of irritation. "Thanks, Cal."
Calem shrugged and muttered, "Just saying."
"I know how battles work," Serena snapped, a little exasperated.
"Okay, but, you can't say it's standard if it's not."
"Y'know what—"
Calem held his hands up defensively. "I'm only saying because this is your first time refereeing."
Shauna glanced at Celestine, looking a little annoyed herself as Serena fired back something about Calem being pedantic. "Wanna just start? These two may be cousins, but they bicker like siblings."
Celestine watched the exchange silently from under her lashes. "...sure."
"You okay?" Shauna asked, but Celestine was already striding over to her side of the field. She sighed herself and went over to the other side.
The cousins, having noticed the two taking their positions, decided to take a rein check on their argument. Serena announced the rules again (pointedly excluding the part where she proclaimed the rules to be "standard" and casting Calem one last irritated look), but Celestine was hardly listening.
She turned the Ball containing her partner over in her hands, fighting back a strange surge of anxiety and anticipation. Knowledge of the nature was one thing, but natures didn't necessarily constitute everything about a Pokemon's personality. Key personality traits designated natures, sure, but there were other, subtler personality traits that didn't necessarily translate into the nature system, and even then, there were various combinations and ways that these natures could manifest themselves. All she knew about her starter so far was that it possessed a Docile nature, which translated into a Pokemon that was relatively loyal and amicable toward their Trainers, but was that the whole story? How much more was there to this starter she had been so quick to judge?
"Ready?" Serena called out.
Shauna was stretching, as if she herself was the one about to battle. Mint was at her feet, mimicking her Trainer's actions, but she pushed herself a little too far and ended up toppling over on her back. Shauna giggled as the Chespin struggled to sit up, and before long they were both laughing.
Celestine ran her thumb over the Ball in her hand.
"Battle begin!"
She pressed the central button before tossing the Ball lightly—it split down the hemisphere and spilled forth a stream of white light with a hiss. It calcified, midair, into a small vulpine quadrupedal that landed on dainty paws. The first thing she could make out as the light dispersed was a golden pelt, then a long tail and ears, and then thick tufts of orange fur. It glanced over at her, revealing a long, white snout and gleaming amber eyes, as the Ball fell back into her waiting palm.
"Um," it—he—said, and he sounded oddly young. "Are you—"
"Yes, I am your Trainer," Celestine interrupted. "My name is Celestine Lavieaux, but I have a feeling that Hakase already told you that. Your name is Delphi, if I am not mistaken?"
"Well, um, yeah, but what's—"
Celestine held up her hand. "Now isn't the time for questions. We're going to battle and you're going to prove to me that you're actually competent. Lucky for you, this is pass-fail and we can address nuances of improvement later."
Delphi blinked. "What—"
Celestine turned to Shauna. "You can have the first move."
"Really?"
"Sure. What the hell."
"I still don't understand," Delphi said, but the battle was already beginning.
Shauna pointed dramatically at Delphi, the kind of dramatic pointing that was usually accompanied by harsh backlighting and a dynamic background, like in movies or cartoons. "Okay, Mint, let's start off with Rollout!"
What.
Before Celestine could ask why Shauna never mentioned the fact that her Chespin knew a potentially fatal move, Mint leaped into action, curling up and racing forward to plough into the Fennekin. The Fire-Type, quite foolishly, froze, and his expression lit with panic.
"WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo?"
"Stay calm for one thing!" Celestine snapped. She turned back to Mint—now moments away from hitting Delphi—and noted how the Chespin was subtly turning to the left. "Okay, go to right! Put about a meter or so of distance between you!"
Delphi turned back to her, utterly clueless. "What's a meter!?"
Oh, right. They had a different measurement system in the New Continent. Inches and feet or something.
But there was no time for that right now. Mint was literally right there and why the hell was Delphi just standing there!? "Eyes on the—"
Too late. Mint bowled into Delphi and knocked him to the edge of the battlefield. He was still in bounds, technically, but that hardly seemed to matter. It took him a full fifteen seconds to get up, shakily, shake his head, and stop swaying. In that time, Mint had already retreated back to her side and was gearing up for another go.
Celestine held the Ball up again and frantically called up the status screen. Power level, power level, where the hell is it—aha!
Nature: Docile
Characteristic: Takes plenty of siestas
Moves: Tackle, Growl, Ember
Level: Five
Five. He was level five.
"He'd going to die," Celestine realized aloud, but her voice came out too hoarsely to be heard. Mint was already moving again. Delphi flinched, ears pressed back against his skull.
Oh no. Oh no.
Celestine opened her mouth to speak again, hoping to relay a last-minute command—something, anything—but to her surprise, Calem's voice shouted, "Shauna! Call Mint off! Now!"
Bewilderedly, Shauna did so. Mint slowed to a stop in front of Delphi, and the Fennekin opened one eye tentatively, still braced for impact.
"What's going on?" Shauna asked, crossing the field to collect her Chespin. Serena and Celestine went to meet her.
Calem leaped off the wall and approached them, though his pace was a little more hurried than the girls'. "Do you not know that Rollout gets more deadly the more rounds it's used?"
"But we're not Reaping," Shauna said, uncomprehending.
"There are some moves where it's harder to deal non-lethal blows, simply because of their nature," Celestine explained. Now that the danger to her starter had passed, it was easier to keep her voice level. She chose to look down at Delphi, who was just starting to relax with the realization that the battle was on pause, rather than Shauna. "Rollout is one of those moves, especially the more you use it. The fifth hit? Almost always kills."
Celestine heard Shauna squeak. "OhgreatLeviathanIhadnoideaCelestineI'msosorry—"
"I believe you," Celestine cut in. She was too exasperated the listen to Shauna's rambling apologies right now. She tore her gaze off Delphi and fixed Serena with a glare. "Serena, do tell what the hell Hakase was thinking when he gave me a level five starter."
"Level..." Serena did an incredulous double take between Delphi and Celestine. "Wait, he gave you a beginner-level Pokemon?"
"You didn't know?"
"No." The Kalosian bit her lip. "I didn't have access to his data. That's... oh. That explains why he didn't want me using him in battle on the way here."
Shauna looked totally lost. "What's wrong now?"
Celestine growled, turning away and tearing a hand through her bangs, fury welling inside her gut. A beginner-level starter. Un-fucking-believable. Did Hakase think this was funny? Forcing her to start from scratch? She didn't have the time or patience for this...this...whatever this was that was happening right now. Sacred Birds, this was practically a defilement of the natural order! Only beginners got Pokemon of this level. A veteran like herself should at least be given a starter that was close to evolution. This one was painfully inexperienced, by the looks of it, as well as timid in battle. Like, hello, it's like this is your fir—
Wait a second.
She whirled around to face the Fennekin, who immediately cowered at her glare. "How old are you?"
"W—"
"How. Old. Are. You."
Delphi made the clever decision not to piss her off any further. "L-Like three..."
"Years?"
"Uh-huh."
Okay. That was fine. Most Pokemon didn't live as long as people anyway. She expected that, honestly. "And how long does your species usually live?"
"U-Um..."
"Faster, please. And less stuttering," Celestine snapped. She caught Calem frowning at her and sent him a peripheral glare.
Delphi flattened his ears against his skull. "Like— Like sixty?"
"Are you asking me or telling me?"
"T-Telling you?"
Celestine glared.
The Fennekin shrank back. "Telling you. Yup, telling you."
She nodded. Sixty, okay. Okay, so three out of sixty was...one twentieth, wasn't it? The average human lived ninety or so years, and one twentieth of that was four-point-five. Now, factor in the fact that Pokemon tend to mature twice as fast as humans do—
...and she was stuck babysitting a fox with the maturity of a nine-year-old.
Celestine fought down the overwhelming urge to scream. "Was this your first battle?"
"I. W-Well, I—"
"Yes or no. "
The Fennekin cowered. "Well, s-sorta, yeah, but—"
Celestine cut him off with a frustrated scream. She turned around, a stream of rapid-fire Kantonese cascading from her lips and her arms flailing around in wild gestures. As she went on, it got steadily louder, to the point where the three backed away to give her space and Delphi took shelter behind Serena's legs.
"...does anyone have any idea what she's saying?" Mint asked, craning her neck to glance at her Trainer.
It was one thing for Hakase to give her a Pokemon that she had absolutely no knowledge of—it was troublesome, more so than she was willing to admit—but this was just insulting—
Serena shrugged. "No clue."
—did he think she was no better than a beginner? Did he think she wasn't strong enough to handle one of his higher-tier starters? Because she was! She had years of experience! But apparently that didn't matter. Apparently that translated to being saddled with a rookie, a child with no experience and was likely to prove incredibly difficult, especially given the severity of her goal. After all, she was trying to—
Calem eyed the Kantonian warily—her red, livid face and her burning eyes and the way she occasionally tore at her hair. "...y'know, that might be for the best."
—but apparently that doesn't make a fucking difference. Nope! No siree! Reasons didn't matter. Experience level didn't matter. What the hell did? What the hell made it okay to treat her like a beginning Trainer when she so wasn't? When she had years under belt? Didn't that matter!? Yeah, she was grateful and all for him pulling strings for her like this, but if he was just going to go and basically tell her she needed to start from scratch because she wasn't good enough to start higher up, then he could just—
"Totally," Shauna agreed. "I've watched enough subbed anime to recognize that there's a whole lotta cursing in there."
—and what the fuck was a Fennekin, anyway? How could she battle with something she didn't know about? Basic things—stats, capabilities, moveset, temperament. All the things that a Trainer needed to know about a species, all the things that were usually taught in school, but she hadn't learned because she wasn't from Kalos. Did Hakase honestly expect her to be able to battle with—to protect—something she knew absolutely nothing about? It was like throwing her into the deep end and the only thing that was to keep her from drowning was a solitary water wing with a little hole in it so all the air could leak out. Hakase must be insane to think she could handle this—
Behind Serena's legs, Delphi emitted a whine.
"I'm going to kill him," Celestine announced, switching back to Common. Her face was still wrathful, and her eyes glowed with fury. "I'm going to take his scrawny neck into my hands and I'm going to wring it out like a washcloth. I don't care if he's a famous researcher, he is going to die slowly and painfully, I swear to god."
Shauna glanced over at Serena and whispered, "I still don't get what the big deal is."
Calem sighed. "It's because she doesn't want to start over."
Celestine paused and curled her hands into fists. The hell did he know about how she felt? He came here, purely argumentative, and then talked about how she felt like he knew her?
That's it, she thought. He's on the list right after Hakase.
"What do you mean?" Shauna asked, oblivious to Celestine's mounting irritation.
"Well, strong Trainers, they get used to being strong, y'know? They usually want to keep that strength." Celestine shot Calem a sidelong glare and comforted herself with fantasies of his death. "Y'know, like climbing to the top of the mountain, or at least getting pretty damn close. But say you had to start over again and climb back up to the top again. Would you rather start closer to the top, or closer to the bottom?"
"Top," Shauna answered immediately, apparently not realizing the question was rhetorical until Calem arched a brow condescendingly. She flushed. "Well—! Just 'cause it'd be a pain in the ass to go through it all again!"
Exactly! Celestine thought, relieved that at least someone was on her side.
Mint scampered out of Shauna's arms and climbed back to her original position on Shauna's head. "Okay, so, she's pissed off because she's starting closer to the bottom? I can dig it."
"Precisely," Calem said, his tone annoyingly flat to the point of being patronizing. "Though, I think 'pissed off' is a bit of an understatement."
At that, Celestine rounded on him. "Okay, look. I get that you don't like me. I don't really like you either, but you don't see me taking every opportunity to antagonize you."
"Yeah, you ooze maturity," he drawled, the sarcasm too thick to miss. "Like that tantrum just now. The mark of a real adult."
A rush of indignation consumed her. "I already told you I didn't mean to hurt your bird!"
"I'm not talking about Alistair-but I am still pissed about that. No, what I'm talking about is you having unrealistic expectations of your starter!" He was raising his voice now, and there was something strangely satisfying about being able to rile him up. Calem Lafayette, the picture of maturity, eh? Hypocritical little bastard. "You're expecting him to place you, like, a few feet from the top, but that's not how it works. Starters are supposed take you to the base of the mountain. That's why they're called starters."
"The base?" Celestine let out a sharp, sardonic laugh. "I wish. As it is, this thing only takes me to sea level at best."
Delphi let out a whimper and Calem's eyes hardened. "'This thing' has a name, and you're really hurting his feelings."
She ran a hand through her bangs in exasperation. Okay, fine, she was a bitch. She was willing to admit that, at least. But at least she wasn't being argumentative for the sake of being argumentative. "We can discuss my insensitivity issues later. In the meantime, I'm still stuck with a starter I have absolutely no compatibility with."
"You haven't even given him a chance!"
"Yes I did!" she shouted back. "We battled and he fucking blew it."
"Because you put him on the spot!"
Off to the side, Shauna muttered something along the lines of "you kinda did."
Celestine gawked at the shorter girl, the initial shock quickly combusting into indignance. "You're taking his side!?"
"Wha— No! No no no!" Shauna spluttered, holding her hands up defensively. "I'm on no one's side!"
"And why not?" Celestine demanded. "You're the one who got me in your guys' fight in the first place."
"Which I still think was insensitive on her part," Calem added shortly.
Celestine snapped back to him. "Which you covered extensively. You almost made her cry."
Shauna looked up at Mint helplessly and muttered, "Are they fighting over me? How did this go from Delphi to me?" To which Mint shrugged, Delphi poked his head out from behind Serena's legs, and the aforementioned blonde stifled a groan while facepalming.
Calem pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's not even what we're talking about. What we're talking about is you being overly critical of your starter after knowing him for less than five minutes."
"I'm being critical based on a mediocre performance in battle," Celestine retorted.
"Justified by the fact that he was at a huge disadvantage." Calem turned to Shauna. "What level is Mint?"
"Uh, l-like... Uh..."
"Twelve. I'm level twelve," Mint interrupted. She looked down at Shauna meaningfully. "I'd be higher if we battled more, though."
Shauna muttered a long, rambling soliloquy about how she wasn't exactly a super-experienced Trainer and couldn't technically battle until last year and that Mint was just a pet before then and there weren't a lot of Trainers around these parts to battle with anyway, so it's not like it's her fault, okay?
"Okay." Calem turned back to Celestine, annoyingly calm like he had just found conclusive proof that she had lost the argument. "Twelve versus five. That's a huge level gap. There was no way Delphi was going to win that, especially given that Mint knows Rollout."
"Thanks Calem," Mint chirped cheerily.
"You're welcome," he deadpanned back.
"I didn't expect him to win," Celestine retorted. "I expected him to fight back, at the very least. Instead, he froze up, panicked, and proved he has absolutely no talent for dealing with pressure."
"He turned to you for a command," Calem shot back. "Last I checked, that was normal for Pokemon during a battle."
"Yes, it is normal to follow commands," she conceded, her voice falsely saccharine. Her over-pronunciation of her syllables, as if talking down to a child, made Calem narrow his eyes. "Very good, Calem. You know battles work! Now, for bonus points, tell if it's normal for the Pokemon to lose his nerve, let himself get beaten into submission, and expected me to do all the legwork. And is it normal for the Trainer to have to tell their Pokemon to dodge an attack that's coming right at them? Doesn't logic dictate that you should move out of the way and not sit there complacently?" And at this point, the sweetness was so thick with frustration that it was practically nonexistent. She reverted back to her earlier tone of condescension. "I'm sorry, I don't care how insensitive it sounds, it needs to be said—I can't work with a starter that can't or won't think for themselves."
Calem glared wordlessly, and even after having met him only twice, Celestine could tell that it meant she'd won. He turned to Serena in exasperation. "Rena, help me."
Serena snorted a laugh. "Oh, I'm so not getting involved in this. You're on your own, Cal."
"Fine." Calem turned back to Celestine. "Alright, you guys don't click. That doesn't mean he's a bad starter, it just means you have to find ways to work together. And if you're really a great Trainer, like you claim, that shouldn't a problem."
Was he seriously turning her own argument from two days ago back on her? The bastard.
Shauna made a move to step between them but Celestine was done trying to be nice to him. Screw amicability. Screw friendship ties. Screw it all! Y'know what, maybe she was glad his bird had gotten hurt. Maybe she was glad she hadn't made the mistake of actually being nice to him in the first place, just so that he might stab in the back later on if she were to fuck up. Now, though, she had the luxury of saying she could completely and utterly despise him, no strings attached.
"That is exactly my point," she snarled. And there would be no trace of remorse as she tore into him—this was the Trainer who Reaped and did not apologize, the ruthlessness he so despised. He wanted a monster? Well, then, fine. He was going to get a fucking monster. "I'm a Trainer, not a fucking babysitter. Why Hakase thought it was such a brilliant idea to give me a kid, I'll never know, but it fucking isn't. I can't work with a starter this inexperienced! I don't have the time or the patience for it. I'm not that kind of Trainer. Y'know, people like you who think it's totally okay to coddle and pamper and spoil their team—and then blames the other person when they die. Does it ever occur to you that, sometimes it's not the other person's fault.
"Sometimes, crazy as it is, a Pokemon just dies because the Trainer didn't do their fucking job right. Sometimes all that coddling and spoiling doesn't prepare them for the real thing. Y'know, death, Reaper battles, all the things you Kalosians are so fucking scared of. But y'know what? They exist and it can happen to anyone. Anyone can fucking die. And, sorry to break this to you Lafayette, that includes your precious bird. If I don't kill him, then someone else probably will, because you're not fucking prepared. That's the only reason your bird is so injured! That's the reason he's laid up the way he is! Because you expect everyone to play by your rules like your rules are the only ones out there! Well, news flash—they're not! There are gonna be people out there who won't fucking care if you're a rookie or a veteran! They won't fucking care if you're fighting with a level thirty Pokemon or a level five Pokemon! They won't fucking care that you know shit about this region because you're a foreigner! And they won't fucking care that your partner is a kid and that he's too inexperienced to train properly and then it's your fault he fucking died!"
A stunned silence enveloped the them. Calem was absolutely stunned and it was the first time Celestine had seen him look at her with something that wasn't outrage. Serena and Shauna looked at her with something that disgustingly close to pity, while Mint wouldn't meet her eye. Delphi looked up at her with an eclectic mix of fear, shame, disappointment, and reverence.
"They won't fucking care," Celestine said hoarsely, and it was just then that she realized her voice was breaking and her eyes were wet and her hands were shaking and what the hell she wasn't supposed to be this weak. "And I am nothaving this kid's death on my hands. I just... I can't... I can't..."
Calem opened his mouth to say something, but Mint piped up, shakily, "Hey, guys? I— I t-think the neighbors are...starting to...notice, yeah..."
Celestine glanced around and saw that, in fact, some of the neighbors were beginning to poke their heads out. Perfect. Fucking perfect. She let out a string of Kantonese curses under her breath before making towards the house. "Okay, we're finishing this inside."
Calem looked around, flushed, and said nothing—just made a B-line for the house. Serena trailed after him, her shoulders a little hunched. Shauna followed at Celestine's heels while casting self-conscious looks over her shoulder.
The door slammed behind them, loud enough for Grace-san to notice and look up from what she was cooking. "Hey, you fou— Oh." She paused, taking in everyone's disgruntled expressions. "Did it not go well?"
Another silence. No one was willing to talk about Celestine's quote un-quote "meltdown".
Calem turned to her, his eyes for once not cold or hard or furious. "Celestine—"
"I'm going upstairs to pack," Celestine heard herself announce, and she was running up the stairs before anyone could stop her.
Once she was alone, safely ensconced inside the silent sanctuary of the guest room, a groan broke from her throat. She pressed her back against the door and slid down until she was sitting, curling her knees to her chest, burying her face in her hands. Oh, Birds, this was just too much to process all at once.
What the hell had that been? What was wrong with her? Exploding like that, dumping all that emotional sewage on Calem Lafayette, of all people? And Serena, whom she hardly knew? And, most of all, Shauna-sweet, innocent, too-nosy-for-her-own-good Shauna. No doubt she was going to take it upon herself to fix Celestine, like she had a fucking problem. God, Shauna was never going to leave her alone now. From this point on, it was going to be an endless barrage of suffocating concern and pestering and are you okay Celestine, you look like you might have another meltdown today, I'm going to stick to you like fucking glue because you're another charity case in need of constant supervision. Fuck no! She was not going to endure that!
This was all Hakase's fault. Right. Yes. He was the one who had given her such an inexperienced starter. What the literal fuck had he been thinking? Was he out his fucking mind!? Giving her a kid, of all things. A kid. A literal four-year-old with the mental capacity of a nine-year-old. How he expected her to deal with that, she hadn't the slightest clue. She wasn't a fucking nanny. She was a Trainer, and she trained warriors. That's it. End of story. Hakase knew that. She'd told him that herself. She'd made it crystal clear what she needed, and he still sent her this meek, naive little fox, who doubtlessly had delusions of a Journey full of sunshine and rainbows and everything being all honky-dory. Why!? Just, why!? It was glaringly obvious that the kid had confidence issues and a Journey was not an instant fix to that! Journeys were fucking dangerous, goddammit! Especially her Journey. How was she supposed drag him along in good conscious? It was one thing to have an older, more experience and cantankerous starter that would be immune to a cynicism catalyst because they were already aware of how dark the world could be but this kid-this little kid, timid and docile and eager to please, still learning how to be confident without the approval of others or to stand up for themselves—no. Great Sacred Birds, no no no no no. She was not the answer to confidence issues! She was a bitter, cynical teenager who breathed in sarcasm and exhaled snark and didn't care whose feelings she trampled on when she was pissed off enough.
So that settled it, then. Hakase was out of his fucking mind.
A steady, painful thumping built behind her skull. Celestine hissed and massaged her eyes with her palms, but the pain was already moving down her spine and spreading to every inch of her body—
Dammit, this shit's still in my system!?
She clenched her teeth, slammed the back of her head against the door and tried not to writhe against the flood of dull agony. It would fade, it would pass, it just took a minute, was all. In the meantime, Celestine was fighting the urge to scream by rocking back and forth.
Dark shapes shifted beneath her eyelids and she squeezed them tighter in an attempt to dissipated them. They started to take humanoid shapes—she jammed her palms against her eyes.
They're not real, they're not real, they're not real, they're not fucking real—
Just when she thought the pain crescendoed to the point of being unbearable—it stopped, suddenly and all at once, so quickly that it left her almost numb. She gasped, slumping against the door, her breaths coming out in desperate gulps.
Celestine opened her eyes slowly. Her lashes were sticky and her vision blurred, wetness having appeared on her face in streaks. She sniffed, wiping it away with the back of her hand and cursed in hushed Kantonese.
She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. The girl that had once stood so tall and fearless now seemed small and powerful and so unbearably scared.
"You are fucking screwed," Celestine told her, and the girl buried her face in her hands once more.
Current Team:
Delphi, Male Fennekin (Lv 5)
Docile, Takes plenty of siestas
Ability: Blaze
Moves: Scratch, Tail Whip, Ember
Met: Vaniville (Aquacorde) Town
Author's Notes:
So, I was going to have some lyrics up here, but FFnet has a policy against publishing things like song lyrics. It's no big deal. If you're really dying to see them, though, C'est La Vie is also on Zetaboards and Ao3.
Serena pretty much replaces Sina in CLV (though Dexio does exist, and this was planned long before Sina and Dexio showed up in Sun and Moon so fite me).
Okay, I'm the queen of slow exposition. I'm so sorry. I tend to go nuts with exposition and introspective parts because that's where I shine, and then struggle with dialogue pieces because they feel too sparse. I'm weird like that. But thank you all for putting up with it and I promise that it will get less expository as time goes on.
And BTW, the reason Serena thought Celestine was a prostitute is because Sycomore is known to be a bit of a player and, well, wouldn't you this it was weird if this really pretty but underaged girl was staying with a middle-aged man for a couple weeks? What exactly would they be doing behind closed doors? And that's where Serena came to her conclusion. It was wrong, of course, but justified, given her lack of information. Sycomore has yet to explain his relationship with Celestine to others, for reasons that will become apparent in later chapters.
And the language stuff:
—The part in which Celestine says "Nani?" is actually her saying "what?" in Kantonese. She was so shocked by Shauna's request that she slipped back into her first language. (Yes, her name is Kalosian because she's technically Kalosian, but she grew up in Kanto, so she considers herself Kantonese at heart).
—"Je suis desole" is "I'm sorry" in French, particularly after you've wronged someone or apologizing.
—"Professeur" is French for "Professor". I have no idea why French has so many words that are similar to English but are spelled differently, don't ask me. French spelling and pronunciation are the bane of my existence.
EDIT: Thank you to Thelonewolfk for the French correction.
Until next time,
Luna