After realizing how much time I'd spent standing out in the cold, I decided that I should probably go inside if I ever wanted to regain feeling in my extremities. I headed to the Pokémon Center to see if they had any rooms available and of course, they did. Although Snowpoint City has a gym, it's still not an incredibly popular destination for tourists or trainers. Of course there will always be some that are training at the gym, aiming for a badge, and/or visiting lake Acuity; but there are always at least a few vacant rooms at the Pokémon Center.
Upon arriving, I checked in with Nurse Joy and picked an empty room, subsequently collapsing onto the small, white bed. It was a firm mattress that wasn't all that comfortable (same goes for the matching pillow), but I was too exhausted to care. Tired and ready for sleep, I crawled under the covers and attempted to sleep. I always have a hard time falling asleep, but I managed to drift off before too long due to the fact that I was cold and worn out. I didn't have the motivation or desire to leave the warm bed (of course, everything seemed warm compared to the temperature outside), so I slept with my clothes on. It had been a long day, and it felt good to finally rest.
The next morning I awoke to my cell phone's alarm going off. Reluctantly, I sat up and silenced the phone's incessant chirping. It was a good thing I always set the alarm on my cell phone as a back-up because I'd forgotten to set the room's alarm clock last night.
I was never a morning person, but I learned to deal with being up early in the morning because throughout our childhood, Jun would wake me up at the crack of dawn constantly. It would always be for something ridiculous like he was bored, or wanted to go on an adventure and couldn't wait for me to get up on my own. It used to annoy me, but at some point I became accustomed to it; and despite myself, maybe even looked forward to it a little bit. He'd always climb up to my window and open it, inviting himself in. (He'd done it so many times that at some point, I stopped locking my window.) But his face being the first thing I saw when I woke up started to make me enjoy getting up earlier. Just a little bit. Even if the first thing I heard every day was him yelling at me to wake up already, I still liked it; I liked our routine. Sometimes I still wonder why it ever had to change. Why we can't go back to those days.
Something soft nudging my hand snapped me out of my thoughts. Looking over and realizing what it was, I rubbed my pachirisu's head. "You really are good at getting out of your pokéball aren't you?" I said as I continued patting her head. "And you love doing it."
She gave me a look that said 'duh' and jumped off the bed, scurrying over to my bag to indicate that she was hungry and ready to be fed. I told her that she could wait five seconds for me to get out the other pokémon before I fed her. By the look she gave me, I could tell that this displeased her. But that was too bad; waiting wouldn't kill her.
I proceeded to let the rest of my pokémon out of their pokéballs and gave them their food for the day. Since I decided I would take a break from my journey once I reached Snowpoint City, I only had three pokémon with me.
My three favorites to be precise: my infernape, glaceon, and pachirisu. They were my pride and joy. No one asked questions about my glaceon or infernape because I guess they assume, "Oh, they look strong enough to belong to a trainer with six badges," but I would always get asked about my pachirisu. "Why do you have such a weak pokémon?" or, "You can't win with that pokémon." Yet somehow, I seemed to manage to do just that every time, which shut them up rather quickly.
And for the trainers that don't insult my pachirisu's strength, they instead attack her looks. I can't stand some of the horrible insults she's received from superficial, ignorant trainers. The reason for their cruel comments is that the right side of her face was somewhat marred. She had a long, narrow scar across her right eye, and was missing the majority of her right ear. I'd never thought it should matter, but everyone else seemed to think that it did and that bringing it up and commenting on it was necessary.
Truth be told, I didn't want a pachirisu when I started my journey. All the trainers I had met with pachirisu chose them solely based on appearance. Those same trainers would then challenge me immediately after obtaining the newest member of their team, lose miserably, and then wonder why their pokémon weren't strong and didn't win. Needless to say, I found this stupid and disagreed with it. I despised those trainers. In fact, I never would have caught my pachirisu at all if she hadn't been so different from all the others.
The first time I heard about her was right after I'd arrived in Floaroma Town after receiving my first gym badge in Oreburgh City. I heard people in the flower shop talking about a rabid pachirisu that was supposedly aggressive and unbeatable. Curious, I asked trainers that I encountered on the way to Eterna City about it. (Of course, I had to battle most of them because the trainers that hang around routes to train are really persistent about battling, whether or not you share the feeling. If you cross their path or make eye contact, you've just killed any chance you had of escape.)
Anyway, all of the ones that had heard of the infamous pachirisu said the same thing: it was violent and aggressive. Which, looking back on it, might've just been because those that actually battled the pokemon had lost. They also made more than a few negative remarks about the pachirisu's appearance, saying that its face was grotesquely marred.
Hearing more tales of the pokemon intrigued me further and I went off in search of it. After several hours of hunting for it, I finally found the pachirisu I was looking for.
Contrary to what everyone had told me, it wasn't ugly at all. Scarred, yes, but not hideous or disfigured as I had been led to believe. Seeing the pokémon made me change my mind; it was different than the others I'd seen. Instead of battling it, I decided to feed it, laying out all of my poffins before it. As the pokemon hesitantly came closer, I was able to see its scars in more detail. The majority of her right ear was missing and, based on the marks around it, appeared to have been bitten off. The slash across her right eye was thin, but long, and looked somewhat recent. I cringed, imagining how painful getting those scars must have been. Seeing the pachirisu up close, I was also able to see that it was a girl, even though all the trainers I'd spoken to had referred to it as a 'he'.
The pachirisu looked at me strangely for a moment before sprinting to the poffins, shoving as many as possible into its mouth, and then immediately dashing away. Noticing that she had only taken the sweet poffins, I packed up all my other poffins and headed back to the Pokémon Center with a small smile on my face. How interesting that a pokemon everyone believes to be mean and bitter only loves the sweet flavor, I thought to myself.
Over the next week, I trained my pokemon and visited the pachirisu every day. I always brought food (only sweet, of course) and talked to her a little bit. At first, she still just eyed me suspiciously, stuffed her face, and ran off; but after a while, she grew more comfortable with me and I saw that it wasn't that she had been out rightly aggressive toward other trainers for no reason—it was simply because she had been scared. I couldn't blame her for that, knowing that she'd been through some terrible things and probably didn't trust very easily. I tried my hardest to make her like me and feel safe with me. I think it worked because one day, when I was about to leave, she ran in front of me, blocking my path.
"What is it? What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.
She looked up at me with sad eyes that begged me not to go, not to leave her all alone; and for the first time I realized that she didn't like being out here by herself. That she dreaded me leaving after every visit because she was lonely. After catching that glimpse of me in her, I couldn't leave her alone. Kneeling down as close as I could get to her eye level, I asked her if she'd like to join my team. She blinked up at me several times, surprised.
"Well," I started again, "how about it? I'd love to have you on my team."
After a few seconds, she slowly began to nod her head; then she rapidly sped up, enthusiastically nodding her agreement. I laid a pokéball near her feet and she happily jumped in. Since she wasn't fighting against the pokéball, it quickly clicked its success. I then released her from the ball and walked back to the Pokémon Center with her at my heel.
That night, she slept beside me, outside of her pokéball. Before we fell asleep, I asked her what she wanted her name to be. She gestured toward me, indicating that she wanted me to choose her name. After thinking for a moment, I said, "Scarlet. Because it's a unique shade of red, and even though you're an electric type pokemon, you've got a lot of fire in you, and that's what I love about you. And also, the name Scarlet makes 'scar' sound…beautiful." As I finished my explanation, I brought her closer to my chest, hugging her tighter. She nodded her approval before curling into me and beginning to snore. I smiled at her before falling fast asleep myself. I'll never forget how I met her, and we've only grown closer since.
The sudden lack of a crunching sound in the background pulls me from my reverie and back to my pokemon, who have just finished eating. I put away their food bowls before forcing them back into their pokéballs despite their protests. It's not as if I ignore their arguments to remain outside; it's just that I can't always have them outside. I wish I could, but I can't. I try to let them out as much as possible, though. Unfortunately, Pokémon Centers usually don't like pokemon being outside their pokéballs when they're not in their trainer's room or being treated by Nurse Joy.
Grabbing all of my belongings, I prepare to head out for the day. After double checking to make sure that I have everything, I close the door to the room behind me and head down the hall. I absentmindedly scan the narrow corridor, noticing that its red and white pattern has been repainted. I wonder why I didn't notice that yesterday? I'm normally pretty detail-oriented.
As I reach the end of the hallway, I hear two voices having a conversation. One of them sounds very familiar; so familiar that it stops me dead in my tracks. It couldn't be…..right? I try not to breathe or make any noise as I attempt to eavesdrop on the exchange taking place at the counter, so that I can see if the voice actually does belong to who I think it does, or if I'm losing my mind and hearing things. Please may I be losing my mind and hearing things. To my dismay, a quick glance around the corner of the hall shows me that it appears I'm right.
"Did you just arrive in Snowpoint City?" I hear Nurse Joy ask, making polite conversation as she heals the trainer's pokemon.
"Yeah. It was quite a trip trying to get here. I'm glad I finally made it before I froze to death out there," the familiar voice says in response. The voice has lost most of the high pitch it possessed when it was younger, beginning to even out a bit, becoming somewhat lower and charming.
"I'm assuming you're here to get our city's gym badge, right?" the nurse asks, smiling. "Almost all of the trainers that visit here come for that reason."
He nods in response then pauses, contemplating something for a moment. "But I'm here for another reason, too. I'm looking for a friend of mine. We're on separate journeys, but we normally meet up at the towns and cities with gym badges. I couldn't find her anywhere at the last two, though, and I can't seem to get in contact with her." Pulling out an orange cell phone, he begins clicking the buttons, searching for something. Upon finding it, he turns the phone toward Nurse Joy so she can see it. "This is a picture of her. Do you think she might've passed through here?" As I hear the words leave his mouth, I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. Reassuring myself that distancing myself is the best thing for both of us, I spin around and run as quietly as I can down the hall before Nurse Joy can respond.