Of Lingering Pasts and Hazy Futures
THE CASTELIA TIMES
THE RETURN OF THE STRIATON GYM LEADERS
And the emergence of a brave new generation of trainers!
Upon the return of Striaton's Cress, Cilan, and Chili, Hilbert Douglas, son of late and renowned former gym leader Harvey Douglas, challenges the brothers to a battle. Standing with him is Andrea Whitelea, a friend of the young Douglas who stood up for him when he was momentarily denied a battle. (Pictured right)
"Can you believe it Drea?! You're famous!"
"I guess so!"
Andrea and Bianca giggle as they sit at a small café on Route 3. The girls are traveling through the route at a fast pace, so they decide to take a break. At the café they almost pass a stack of The Castelia Times paper, only to find a picture of Andrea and Hilbert next to the gym leaders plastered on the front page. The article continues a couple pages into the newspaper and features brief profiles of some up and coming trainers.
"Look!" Bianca exclaims, "There's that guy who's like, in love with you!"
Andrea follows Bianca's finger curiously and finds a picture of the strangely familiar green-haired teen. Ignoring Bianca's embarrassing (and completely wrong, Andrea notes) comment, Andrea eagerly scans the excerpt next to his picture. Naturally, the newspaper focused exclusively on the young man's unorthodox beliefs and how that conflicts with his role as a trainer. It mentions nothing about his upbringing or origins.
"What was his name again?" Bianca asks, breaking Andrea's focus. "M?"
"N," Andrea corrects. "How could you mess that up?"
"It's like, the same thing!" Bianca whines defensively.
"Hey, there's that girl who gave us pokémon!"
"Oh, Quiana!" Bianca gushes, looking fondly at the picture of the dark eyed girl. "What does it say about her?"
"Ok, how can you remember Quiana but not N?"
"Because Quiana gave me Fern, duh!" Bianca exclaims. "And N was just some random guy we met who only wanted to talk to you."
"Uh—"
"And M sounds so similar to N!"
"I mean...you're not wrong, but—"
"Of course I'm not!" She declares proudly. "Anyways, what does it say about Quiana?"
"Oh, right! Let's see…"
Quiana Davis, 15, is unlike other trainers: she does not travel the region to collect gym badges and challenge the League. Rather, she battles various trainers in Southeast Unova to support her family. "Of course I want to go on a journey," the girl explains, "but my grandma is in a very tight situation as far as money is concerned. I'm going to do everything I can to help her out, even if it means I would have to leave her for a well-paying job."
"Wow," Andrea whispers to herself, taking one last sip of her coffee.
"I could never be that responsible..." Bianca confesses.
"Same…"
The two sit in silence, stewing in thoughtful rumination when the waiter brings them the bill.
"Whenever you ladies are ready I'll be at the cashier!"
Bianca and Andrea snap out of their thoughts and look to each other decisively.
"Dine and dash?"
Bianca gasps. "No way! I'll cover it if you're really that desperate."
"Nice."
Bianca stands up from her chair and swiftly walks over to the waiter towards the front of the building.
"Hey, I was just kidding!" Andrea laughs. "We can split it!"
"Gosh Drea, what is it with you and always trying to trick me?" Bianca says as the girls each hand the waiter their trainer cards.
"Aw, come on, it's funny! And it's not like you're innocent."
Bianca giggles. "I know."
As they walk out of the café and onto the route, Bianca comes to a shocking realization. "Hey! How come we weren't interviewed for the newspaper? We're trainers too! I want to be famous!"
Andrea chuckles. "I dunno. Personally, I'm offended as you are."
"Don't worry, Drea. Someday we'll both be super famous!"
"Maybe you will. But I'd rather stay out of the limelight."
"Aw!" Bianca pouts. "Now the opposite is gonna happen just because you said that!"
"Doubt it."
As the hazy sun sets on the plains of Route 3, the two girls continue to talk about their future. The grains of the fields dance with the wind as their shadows shift towards the east. Wild Pokémon scurry about the wheat and shrubs as bird pokémon fly in formation overhead. The girls are attuned with nature, their hearts warm, fuzzy, and floating in their chests as they admire the beauty of a world untouched by modernity.
dear dad,
i started my journey across unova a couple weeks ago! i love it! i feel so free traveling with my pokemon, oshawott. i named him Kai just like your rockruff (i hope he's doing well, by the way!)
i thought about you a lot today but i kinda realized i dont know a lot about you and mom. like what made you fall in love with her? what was she like as a teen? did you ever feel guilty for loving her because she was so young? how did you ask her out? did people judge you? how did you deal with that? when and how did you decide you wanted children? (i wasnt an accident, was i?!) what were your parents like? what was your childhood like? i want to know everything. maybe then i'll feel close to you again.
i miss you, dad. i wish you never left. part of me understands why you missed travelling without any responsibilities. but i don't think i can forgive you for choosing that over me and mom. even if you come back part of me will always be mad at you for what you did to us. it's hard to grow up without you. everything is so confusing! sometimes i wish you were here so you could hug me and help me out.
wherever you are, i hope you're safe. i hope you're ok. i don't know if i hope you're happy because a lot of the time i'm not, and that's because of you. but i do hope that you think of me and mom sometimes.
love,
Andrea
Andrea folds up the lined paper and tosses it into a nearby river.
"Drea, you're littering…" Bianca murmurs, half-asleep in the tent they share.
"I know, but...when I release it to the water, I feel like I'm giving it to him, somehow…"
The memories come rushing back like a waterfall over jagged rocks: stories of her father's life as a sailor, and how he traveled the oceans in search of new regions and adventures. How he helped people, how he discovered mysteries, how the people he helped made him discover himself. Each new destination was a chance to become a new person, forge a new life, drown out the past.
Is that what he's doing now? Is that what I'm doing now?
"Ok…" Bianca barely manages to say before collapsing into her pillow. The sleeping blonde makes small humming noises as she dreams of new adventures.
Andrea chuckles, closing her eyes and shaking her head in fondness towards her friend's exhaustion. When her eyelids lift, she comes face to face with her reflection in the dark water of the river. And suddenly there's a tear that slides down her cheek, and more follow swiftly afterwards, and then she's thinking about how much she hurt Cilan's poor pansage and how maybe N was right about trainers and how her father maybe had beliefs like N and the tears cannot stop falling.
Suddenly something is tugging at her pajama shorts. Andrea looks down to meet the concerned gaze of her oshawott, who is lifting his hands up towards his partner. Andrea picks him up, holds him close to her chest, and sighs.
"Oh Kai, what am I gonna do?" She sobs, burying her face into her Pokémon's neck.
The pokémon, knowing his partner cannot understand him and thus is unsure of what to do, snuggles into her hold and begins to knead into her chest.
"Ouch, hey—that hurts."
Kai cocks his head to the side and stares up at Andrea with wide and confused eyes. She has momentarily stopped crying, but the tears still remain on her face. He stretches up to hover towards her face.
"Kai?"
Then he's licking her tears away and she cannot help but giggle. "Hey!"
She smiles down at the pokémon, who is staring back with the most sincere love in his eyes. Andrea feels her eyes get watery again, but this time the tears flow because she's so thankful and happy to have formed such a beautiful friendship with her starter pokémon.
"Let's get some rest, ok? It's been a long day."
Oshawott hums in agreement. Holding him, Andrea stands up and makes her way back to the tent. Across the river, she hears the crunching of leaves. Andrea whirls around in fear, finding nothing but the lone tree the crunched leaves had fallen from and bare plains that stretch on for miles. Reluctantly, she enters the tent and crawls into her sleeping bag. She feels herself easily nodding off, surrounded by her best friend and all of their pokémon.
Still, she cannot shake the feeling that, somewhere outside of the comfortable confines of the tent, she is being watched.
Within a couple of days, Andrea and Bianca are deep into Route 3. They are sure they're not far from the next city: the grass is greener and the roads have become more paved. They have been following a subway track that appeared from underground about a mile ago.
"I had the craziest dream last night," Andrea says, wanting to quell the boredom left from walking for miles in silence.
"Oooh! Do tell," Bianca exclaims.
"Well, I was in a museum. It looked like the one at Nacrene but I'm not sure because dreams are weird."
"True," Bianca chimes.
"Right, so, I was in the museum and then I found a secret passageway underground! Obviously I went down. But then I was challenged to a battle by some random woman and after I won there was a bunch of screaming so we ran upstairs and Team Plasma was there! They gave this big long speech and then set off a smoke bomb! I tried to run after them but you know how you can't run right in dreams?"
"Ohh, I hate that!" Bianca groans.
"Yeah, it feels like your stuck in honey or something. Anyways, the smoke cleared and everything and everyone from the museum was missing! And then I turn around and see N and wake up!"
"That's so crazy!" Bianca yells.
"I know, right?!"
"What could it mean?"
Andrea shrugs. "Maybe nothing? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
"Huh?"
Andrea looks at her friend. "You've never heard that saying before?"
Bianca shakes her head.
"It means, like, sometimes a cigar can represent something else, but other times it doesn't really represent anything at all."
"That's weird," Bianca says. "What could a cigar represent?"
Andrea blushes. "Uhm—"
"Oh!" Bianca interrupts. "Maybe it means that N has a big secret! Cuz you found a secret passage underground and all."
"Hmm, maybe," Andrea says. "He is really mysterious.
"Or maybe Team Plasma has a big secret and N is just a cigar?"
Andrea chuckles. "Could be."
"You know, when something appears in your dreams it means it's been on your mind a lot lately…"
"Yeah, and?"
Bianca smirks deviously. "Has N been on your mind a lot lately?"
"Of course not!" Andrea stammers, feeling her face heat up with the embarrassment of discovery. "S-sometimes dreams are—dreams are just random like that!"
"Mhm, sure…"
The girls reach a subway station that appears to be in the middle of nowhere.
"Wait a sec...this looks really familiar…" Andrea ponders.
"Really? That's weird," Bianca says. "Anyways, about N…"
They continue to follow the subway track westwards, leaving behind the secluded station. Andrea takes one last look at the subway stop as Bianca babbles on. To the north of the stop there is a large hill.
And then it clicks.
"The daycare!" Andrea yells.
"Huh?"
Andrea sprints back to the station, without warning, leaving her poor friend behind.
"Hey, wait up!"
It is only after she has reached the top of the hill that she catches up to her friend, who is waiting impatiently for her.
"Come on, let's go!"
"Yeah, just—" She pants. "—Give me a sec…"
"Ugh, fine…"
"Wow, Drea…"
"Just kidding!"
"You better be!" Bianca playfully retorts.
Once Bianca recovers, the two girls walk into the brick red building. They are greeted by a kind woman at a reception table.
"Hello, welcome to the pokémon daycare. How may I help you girls?"
"Um...I just...my mom used to work here."
"Is that so? What's her name?"
"Evelyn Whitelea."
"Oh my goodness!" The woman gasps. "You wouldn't happen to be little Andi, would you?"
Andrea tries to disguise an instinctive cringe as a smile. "Y-Yeah."
"Oh my goodness how you've grown!"
It's only been four years… Andrea laughs nervously, wanting the ground to swallow her whole. Bianca seems to think this is cute.
"How is your mother doing?"
"She's…" Arceus, how is mom doing? "She's good."
"I'm sure she's very proud of you, all grown up and going on an adventure of your own!" The woman gushes.
"Yes, um, what's the building next door?" Andrea asks, trying desperately to shift the focus away from her.
"Ah, that's the elementary school," the woman explains. "It's a recent development, but one that's been very beneficial; it's very healthy for the pokémon to have human companions."
"Wow, really?" Bianca interjects. "That's so interesting!"
"Is it…" Andrea pauses, bracing herself. "Is it still healthy even if they're battling and pokémon get hurt in battles?"
Bianca looks towards Andrea with concern.
"Why, yes, I believe so. And I'll tell you why," the woman smiles graciously. "A couple of days ago one of the gym leaders from Striaton came to talk to the children. Let's see, what was his name...he was the one with green hair—"
"Cilan?" Bianca offers.
"That's the one," The woman replies. "Thank you dear. Anyways, he came with his darling little pansage and it played all day with the kids."
Andrea's eyes widen. So Pansage is alright? I didn't...hurt him too much?
The woman continues. "One of the teachers asked him "Now, how is it that that pokémon has so much energy after going through all those battles?" And you know what he said?"
Andrea shakes her head, encouraging the woman to continue.
"He explained how after a hard battle he takes care of his pokémon so they're loved and healed, and in turn they grow closer to him. Ever since the birth of our species, pokémon have longed to protect us and show their respect for us though battles. Or so the legends from Sinnoh go."
"I...I like that," Andrea admits, a small smile growing on her face.
"Me too!" Bianca beams.
"As do I," The woman nods. "I'm happy I could answer your question. Speaking of the children, would you girls like to play with them and talk about being a trainer?"
Bianca gasps in excitement. "Yes! I'd love to!"
"I'm…" Andrea winces. "I'm actually good."
"What?!" Bianca exclaims.
"I-I'm just not really that great with kids," Andrea whispers.
"O-oh, alright, um...what's the next big landmark? We could meet up there when I'm done!"
Andrea's blinks, trying to register her friend's newfound comfort with being left alone. "Um, let's see…" she pulls up a digital map of the route on her cross-transciever. "It looks like there's a place called Wellspring Cave half a mile from here."
"Ok, I'll call you when I'm done!"
"Sounds good," Andrea says, "Have fun!"
Bianca grins. "You too!"
"Thank you for the help, Ms…"
"Greene," the woman says. "And say hello to your mother for me."
"Will do!"
Andrea walks out of the building into the fresh air. She walks a few steps, descending the long hill. She thinks about her mother, and how she doesn't really know all that much about her or her relationship with her father. She decided she'd give her a call later and ask how she was doing.
As she reaches the base of the hill, she swirls around suddenly, feeling eyes on the back of her neck.
But no one is around.
Andrea walks until she sees a familiar figure standing ahead, facing towards the entrance of a cave in the distance.
"Hilbert!"
The boy turns around and smiles upon seeing his friend!
"Andi! Wassup?"
"Not much!" she grins playfully. "I can't wait to battle the next gym!"
"Ah right, you have a trio badge too! You know what that means."
"Damn right I do! Isn't that right, Kai?"
Kai chirps in response, hopping off of Andrea's shoulder and onto what is to be their battlefield.
"Eager to start, huh?" Hilbert smiles, pulling out a poké ball from his pocket. "That's what I like to see! Go, Patrat!"
"Water gun!"
Patrat is soaked to the bone by the attack, the force of the water so strong it knocks him over and nearly keeps him down. As he shakily gets up, Kai rushes over to tackle him. Patrat manages to scratch Kai on the cheek before he is knocked over by the otter pokémon's body weight.
"..." Hilbert stays silent as his pokémon lay on the floor. "...Buddy?"
No response.
"Damn...that's it?!" Hilbert exclaims.
Andrea's mouth drops in surprise.
"Well...there's no way in hell you're getting away with that! Emolga, go!"
Andrea shakes herself back into reality. "Kai! Amazing job!" she squats down and gives her partner a high-five. "Take a break," she says, offering her arm out for Kai to climb up. Within seconds he is perched atop her shoulder.
Andrea pulls a poké ball out from her bag. "Come on out, Bernie!"
"Emolga, quick attack!"
Before Andrea can even blink, Emolga knocks into Bernie and glides away at lightning speed. The electric Pokémon hovers high over the battlefield with a mischievous smile plastered onto his cheeks.
"Bernie, incinerate!"
The fire pokémon breathes out the fire attack at his opponent. Emolga glides higher into the sky, evading the stream of fire with ease. Andrea curses under her breath.
Hilbert grins confidently. "Thunder shock!"
Andrea winces as she watches her pokémon get hit by another strong attack.
"Hang in there, Bernie! Try incinerate again!"
Emolga once again effortlessly dodges the attack.
Hilbert's smile stretches. "Finish it off with quick—"
"Now!" Andrea yells emphatically.
Just as Emolga is about to slam into Bernie, the fire pokémon uses incinerate. Emolga is thrust backwards. It crashes brilliantly into the dirt and slides back into Hilbert's feet, sending a cloud of dust flying up into his face. The boy instinctively backs away and waves his hand in front of his face. Struggling with severe burns, Emolga struggles to get back into the air. Bernie, taking advantage of this moment of weakness, dashes up to the electric pokémon and repeatedly scratches it.
"Yes!" Andrea exclaims, heart jumping at her pokémon's comeback.
"Emolga, no!"
With renewed strength, Emolga bursts into the air, weakly and lowly hovering above Bernie.
"Alright, Bernie! Use—"
"Drea! Hilbert!"
Despite the decisive moment of battle, Andrea abandons the scene, whirling around at the sound of her friend's helpless voice.
"Bianca!" Andrea dashes over to Bianca, Bernie eagerly following closely behind. "What's going on?"
The blonde stands with a puffy faced toddler, who is still crying uncontrollably. Bianca kneels down to hold her and rub her back.
"Don't worry, my friends Hilbert and Drea are gonna help you, I promise," Bianca soothes. "Can you tell them what happened?"
"A weird man took Pookie!" the girl wails.
"Her lillipup," Bianca explains.
"I-I saw him running towards the cave!"
Andrea freezes; a light flashes before her eyes. It's as if she's transported to another world, a world where Bianca is before her, on her knees crying with skyscrapers menacingly looming over her. It is dark and starless in this world.
Hilbert steps forward, contributing Andrea's stiffness towards her awkwardness around young children. Bianca is much more perceptive, though; she stares at Andrea with significant concern. She is about to say something when Hilbert interjects.
"What's your name?" he asks the girl.
The girl sniffs. "Cheri."
"Hi Cheri, I'm Hilbert," he says, squatting down to her height. "Me and...Drea will get Pookie back for you, ok?"
Andrea starts at the exclusive nickname coming from Hilbert's mouth. It sounds foreign and wrong. However, the strange vision still clouds her thoughts.
The little girl nods at Hilbert as she wipes a grimy hand to her eyes.
"Ok," Hilbert continues, "now you said he ran towards the cave?"
"Y-yeah! He took the shortcut from school!"
"That's great," Hilbert sincerely replies. "Thank you, Cheri. Me and Drea are gonna go now, but Bianca will stay here with you, ok?"
The girl nods again, lip trembling with anxiety.
"Ok," he stands up. "C'mon Andi. Let's go."
Andrea blinks harshly. "R-right. We'll be back soon."
As the two run off to the cave, Bianca soothingly pets Cheri's head.
"That boy was really nice," Cheri said, tear-stained cheeks turning pink.
Bianca giggles. "Yup! And they're both really strong; they'll get Pookie back no problem."
Bianca stares ahead, seeing her friends grow smaller as they near the mouth of the cave.
Right?
Hilbert and Andrea reach the mouth of the cave. Hilbert braces himself; truth be told, he's never been fond of the dark, but he would rather die before tell Andrea that. He was pretty sure the girl had, like, zero fears.
"S-so, about that battle back there," Hilbert gulps, trying to brace himself as they walk into the dark cave. "That w-was totally a draw, right?"
Andrea scoffs, trying her best to ignore the earlier phenomenon. "As if! If Bianca hadn't showed up your team would've been dust!"
Hilbert shivers as he hears swoobat chirping; he tries to locate them, yet he is unable to see them through the shadowy ceiling of the cave. "T-there's no way to—to know for sure! I—I could've—I could've pulled off something really badass at the last...last moment!"
Andrea shines her cross-transciever flashlight into Hilbert's face. He squints defensively and holds his hand up over his eyes.
"Dude, what the hell!"
Andrea cocks her head to the side. "You good?"
"Y-yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Hilbert laughs sheepishly. "I'm just worried about that girl."
Andrea hums, willing to accept his excuse and willing to distract herself. "You're really good with kids."
Hilbert turns to her, following her voice through the depths of the cave. "Well, I had to be. I had to take care of my twin cousins from Aspertia even though I was only a couple of years older than them!"
"Shit," Andrea replies, waving a cobweb off of her arm. "That must've sucked."
Hilbert shrugged. "It is what it is. Anyways, do you think we'll find the bastard who did this?"
"Arceus, I hope so."
Hilbert looks at his friend thoughtfully, reminiscing her earlier stiffness around the little Cheri. "Are yo—"
Crunch
"U-uh, Andi?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Andrea asks nonchalantly.
"I-I dunno, it sounded like something moving—"
The girl whirls around, once again shining the bright light into Hilbert's face.
"Where?"
"Maybe, like, over th—Hey, wait!" Hilbert hisses as Andrea dashes off in the direction he pointed out. He nervously fumbles in his bag for his cross-transciever and shakily turns on the flashlight. He then chases after the light of Andrea's cross-transciever glowing in the distance.
"Hey!" He hears Andrea yell. "You—Shit." Suddenly she is sprinting further into the cave.
Hilbert groans and chases after his friend for what feels like an eternity of twists and turns. Then he sees his friend shining her light at a group of strangely dressed men.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," Hilbert pants, resting his hands on his knees and trying to recover his breath. "Team Plasma?! You took that girl's pokémon?!" He inhales. "What does that have to do with your whole liberation scheme?"
"Do really think that a child can actually take care of a pokémon and bring out its true potential?" one of the men questioned. "Of course not! The pokémon is bound to feel sad and trapped."
"That's not for you to decide!" Andrea exclaims.
"Y-yeah!" Hilbert stammers nervously.
"Hm," another says. "It seems like neither of you are capable, either! Looks like we'll have to take your pokémon from you too!"
"I'd like to see you...try…" Andrea trails off as more men appear from the shadows.
"Andi…" Hilbert murmurs. "What's the plan?!"
"Uhhh…" she gulps. "You take three I take three?"
"We only have two pokémon each!"
Andrea winces. "I know. But it's better than not trying."
Hilbert curses under his breath.
"Or I could help."
Andrea and Hilbert whirl around at the sound of the familiar voice.
"Cheren!"
Cheren steps forward and joins their sides. His face looks tired, weary. "If there's one thing I learned from you fools—"
"Hey!"
"...it's that friends are always there for each other."
Andrea's face softens at Cheren's sentiment. Hilbert resists the urge to laugh at the cheesiness.
"I'll take these two," Cheren motions to the men closest to him.
Andrea nods. "I've got these guys!"
"And I guess that means I'm left with these two."
"Show 'em what we've got, Kai and Bernie!"
"Emolga, Patrat, let's show 'em how it's done!"
"Go, Snivy and Roggenrola!"
The Team Plasma members sent out their pokémon—patrats and purrloins.
Discordant voices overlap each other as brilliant lights from Emolga's electric attacks light up the cave. Rocks and gravel from the cave flies up with each attack.
"Ah!" Andrea exclaims, squeezing her eyes shut and rubbing them furiously. "Watch out for the rocks, guys!"
"Hold on for a bit! We're almost through!" Cheren yells.
Andrea squints through the dust. She sees her pokémon fending for themselves, doing just fine on their own. She smiles proudly.
"Roggenrola, headbutt!" Cheren commands. "Snivy, use vine whip!"
"Emolga, thunderbolt!" Hilbert exclaims. "And Patrat, tackle!"
"Purrloin," the man Cheren was battling flings his arm passionately across his body. "Scratch!"
"Snivy, dodge!"
"Kai!" Andrea exclaims, sensing her friend might be in a tight situation. "Water gun!"
Kai blasts a cold jet of water at Andrea's opponent, causing the purrloin to faint from exhaustion. Andrea praises her pokémon and rushes over to Cheren.
"Snivy, return," he states, anger brimming underneath a calm facade. "Roggenrola, rock blast, now!"
With the last of its strength, the rock pokémon heaves a giant rock at the foe's purrloin. The Plasma grunt angrily returns the fainted cat pokémon to its poké ball.
"Hey, nice job." Andrea says.
"I'm fine!" Cheren retorts defensively. "How's Hilbert doing?"
As soon as Cheren asks, a searing light flashes before his eyes.
"Good job, pal!" Hilbert exclaims to his worn out Emolga. "Get some rest; you deserve it."
The trio of friends turns to the defeated Plasma grunts.
"H-How did we lose to a bunch of kids like them?!" one cries.
"Unacceptable!" another yells. "How will we deliver this news to—"
"The girl's pokémon," Andrea demands, hands on hips. "Hand it over."
"Fine," yet another grunt replies, fishing around in his pockets until he finds a pink heal ball. He scoffs at it and hands it to Andrea. "This battle may have been lost, but the ultimate victory will be ours."
"Riiiight." Hilbert smirks.
The grunt scowls. "No one messes with Team Plasma and gets away with it. This isn't over!"
Team Plasma disappears further into the cave, away from the entrance and the three teens.
"That reminds me of a weird dream I had last night," Andrea says nonchalantly. "So I was at the Nacrene museum and—"
"How do we get out of here?"
Andrea blinks in surprise. "Oh. Shit. I totally didn't keep track of all the turns."
Hilbert groans. "That's for sure…"
"I'm so-rry for focusing on chasing after the bad guys!"
"About that: There's no way you could've known they were the bad guys!" Hilbert emphatically exclaims.
"But they were!" Andrea retorts.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're too—"
"Guys," Cheren interrupts.
"No no, let Hilbert finish. I wanna know what he was about to say."
Hilbert pales. "Y-you're too—"
"Enough!" Cheren yells. The two stare at him in silent shock. "I...I know this cave like the back of my hand."
Andrea notices the dark circles under Cheren's eyes.
"Ok then, get us out Mr. Genius!"
Cheren silently glares at Hilbert for a long second before turning around and leading the hasty duo away from the depths of the cave.
"What's up with him?" Hilbert murmurs.
Andrea shrugs. "Looks like he's had a rough couple of...weeks…"
Hilbert and Andrea silently stare at the back of Cheren's dirty blazer.
"So what was your crazy dream about?"
"Oh yeah!"
Cheren is the first to emerge out of the cave, and the first to eventually approach Bianca and the child.
"B-Bianca…"
The blonde looks up and her mouth drops in shock. "Cheren?!" She immediately stands up from her seated place next to Cheri and stands in front of him. She reaches her hand out to his face, only to instantly retract it back. "W-what happened to you? You look—"
"Terrible?"
"A-a bit…" Bianca murmurs.
Cheren cannot stop a small smile from embracing his face at the honesty of his friend. "I've just been training in that cave for a while."
"Arceus…"
"Is that your boyfriend?" Cheri asks curiously.
Cheren's face reddens.
"Well, he's a boy and a friend, so yes?" Bianca smiles.
"Noooo!" The girl whines. "I mean are you guys in love?"
Bianca turns to Cheren, emerald eyes shimmering curiously.
"Uhmmm…"
Hilbert and Andrea approach quietly.
"Are we interrupting?" Andrea asks.
"No, you're not," Cheren turns to them and rolls his eyes, yet is thankful to have found an escape.
Cheri gasps. "Did you find Pookie?"
Andrea nods with a smile and hands the girl the pink heal ball.
The girl's eyes well up with tears of relief as she opens up the poké ball and a lillipup jumps out. "Pookie!" She kneels down and hugs the dog pokémon. It jumps up into her lap and relentlessly licks her face. "I missed you so much!" Cheri giggles. She gets up from the floor, dusts the dirt off her knees, and hugs everyone in the group. She spends the longest time hugging Hilbert and Bianca. "I have to go home now!"
"Be careful Cheri!" Bianca exclaims.
"Thanks so so so so much!" The girl smiles brightly. "I'll see you guys later!"
"Bye, Cheri."
The teens fondly watch the girl and dog pokémon run off into the sunset, away from the cave, away from Team Plasma, away from grief.
"That was insane!" Hilbert exclaims.
Cheren nods. "Looks like we won't be avoiding Team Plasma anytime soon."
"Ugh," Andrea sighs. "I can't wait to sleep!"
Her friends laugh with genuine fondness.
"When was the last time we were all together?" Bianca asks, a wistful look shimmering over her eyes.
No one answers for a while.
"Accumula?"
"No, it couldn't have been that long…"
"It was."
The teens turn towards Cheren, who is staring intensely at the ground.
"...it was."
Bitter silence invades the scene.
"I know!" Bianca exclaims. "We should all go to Nacrene City together! It's only half a mile from here!"
"I can't," Cheren grits his teeth. "I...I need to train more."
"Oh Cheren!" Bianca cries. "Don't go back into that grimy old cave!"
Moved by Bianca's plea, he promises he'll train out in the open world as long as he is left alone.
"Ugh, fine…" Bianca rolls her eyes. "You can be so serious sometimes Cheren!"
He sighs. "Sorry. Anyways, you guys should get going before it gets dark."
"Yeah…"
"We'll see each other soon," Cheren says. "Promise."
"Ok. Bye Cheren," Bianca says.
"Goodbye."
"See ya, Cheren!" Hilbert and Andrea exclaim.
He waves, seemingly more at peace with himself, before he follows Cheri's path into the sunset, away from Team Plasma, away from grief.
"Drea, are you alright?"
The brunette turns to the blonde curiously.
"Yeah, why?"
"It seemed like...something was bothering you earlier," Bianca reveals, "when I first brought Cheri."
Andrea stares ahead at Hilbert, a few paces ahead of the girl's, making his way towards Nacrene City, a mere quarter mile from where they are.
"Nah, I'm good," Andrea grins in what she hopes is a convincing way. "Thanks for asking though."
Bianca stays silent. She knows Andrea is withholding something from her.
But what?
Andrea vastly exhales as she flings herself onto the hotel bed. Conveniently enough, the Nacrene pokémon center only has single rooms available. Perfect for what she is planning to do.
After her pokémon are settled at the foot of the bed, Andrea taps a sequence of numbers into a cross-transciever and sets it up in front of her. Within the first couple of rings, her mother's kind face appears on the grainy screen before her.
"Andi!" Her mother coos. "How have you been?"
"Amazing!" The girl gushes. "Traveling with my pokémon is so much fun! There's already so much drama and adventure!"
"Care to share?" Her mother asks, sipping a cup of tea.
"Well, today I got in a battle with some members from Team Plasma! And a couple of weeks ago too, back at—"
Her mother's face falls into a solemn expression. "Andi. You really shouldn't get involved with that crowd."
Andrea's eyes widen. "I was trying to save the pokémon that were in trouble, mom!"
"What about saving yourself?"
The girl pouts, unable to create a good response.
Her mother sighs. "I'm sorry mija, I should be more supportive. I just...worry about you."
"I know."
"...But I am so proud of you for doing the right thing."
Andrea's face brightens at the motherly praise. "Thanks mom!"
A peaceful silence embraces the two as they simply stare at each other fondly.
"Something about that Team Plasma though…" her mom purses her lips in thought. "It seems familiar…"
Andrea blinks in surprise. "Really? Tell me how!"
"I-I don't know...it's just, your father and his weird ideas I guess...he had some weird friends too that were kinda like that—"
Andrea gasps. "Woah! Do you think dad, like, knew people from Team Plasma?"
"Let's not jump the gun here, Andi. I was just saying—"
"That would be crazy…"
Andrea's mom sighs wistfully. There is a moment of silence before something jumps into the holographic frame relaying Andrea's mother's image to her.
"Kaipo!" Andrea coos. "Hi kitty!"
The litten looks at Andrea with disinterest before settling itself on the kitchen table in front of her mother, who giggles at the Alolan cat's antics.
"I guess it's bedtime already," Andrea's mom states. "You should get to bed soon, sweetie."
Andrea sighs. "Fine…"
Her mom giggles. "Ok mija, sweet dreams. Buh-bye."
"Wait!"
Andrea catches her mom just before she is about to hang up.
"Yeah?"
Andrea looks her mom in the eye. "How are you?"
"Oh, I'm fine. You know, same old same old, cleaning around the house, running—"
"No, I mean really."
Andrea's mom blinks in surprise. "I'm ok, sweetie. Don't worry about me. You just have fun on your adventure."
"I will," Andrea replies. Her eyes suddenly widen as memories of earlier in the day come flooding back. "Oh yeah! Ms. Greene says hi!"
Her mom's lips curve into a genuine smile. "You saw her? How lovely. Is she doing alright?"
"Yeah, it looks like it!"
"Good."
Andrea lets out a languid yawn, unbothered to cover it with her hand. Her mother giggles.
"Get some rest, ok hun?"
"Ok mom. Goodnight."
"Night."
The hologram zips away, leaving Andrea with an empty hotel room to look at. She gets up from bed and opens her window, letting in the fresh scent of pine and mountain air. The brown rooftops of Nacrene are scattered among trees and flowers. The small city, Andrea learned from a tourist sign, is not even big enough to technically be considered a city. A dense forest lays beyond the town, piercing into the horizon of the starry night sky. Perhaps this is what gives the town a creative and youthful energy; innovation bordered next to nature. It is a town for artists and dreamers.
Andrea can feel fresh energy rushing through her bones as she thought about challenging the new gym leader, and her journey from here on out. She is so excited that sleep is the last thing on her mind. So she brings a chair to the window, sits down, and rests her cheek in her hand as she watches the stars shimmer endlessly throughout the night.