Episode 5: Charlotte

With his new pokémon, snivy, Niko arrived back in Castelia City ready to continue life as he knew it. Along with Warren, he went back to work, leaving snivy at his apartment with poliwag and sewaddle.

The winner here was poliwag, who was no longer lonely at home when his trainer was at work. He enjoyed having the company of snivy and sewaddle. Usually the three of them wouldn't do much but sleep, eat, or chase after each other, however nevertheless it was better than solitude from the perspective of a chipper, social pokémon.

Meanwhile, Niko returned to his job with a better outlook on life. The job didn't get any easier, to be sure, but Niko felt happier more generally, and found himself engaging in conversations with his coworkers, many of whom recognized his heightened mood, even if they didn't inquire about it.

Warren returned to his job with a sense that something was missing. It was clear, not just in his conversations with Niko and Sydney, but also his interactions with others, that he wasn't exactly himself. In one discussion with his girlfriend about something funny sewaddle did, Warren's mood noticeably turned dour.

"Warren…" Sydney finally said.

"What's up?" He replied.

"You want to travel, don't you?"

Warren sat there at their lunch table, trying to come up with a response. Eventually, he just nodded. "Yeah, I do. It was so much fun, Sydney! Not just spending time with Niko, poliwag, and sewaddle. But just being out in the world! Seeing things I'd never seen before! The air was fresh, and the forests and valleys I got to walk through were so beautiful! I got to see a pokémon battle up close, and met a former gym leader!"

Sydney couldn't help but smiling at Warren's description of his travels. "Well, if that's what you want to do, then you should do it!"

"But Niko…he doesn't want to, and I don't want to leave him alone to pay for our apartment."

"You've got some money to pay for another couple months, right? All he'd need to do is get a better paying job, which he is certainly capable of doing. Or you could find another person to replace you."

"You're right. I'll talk with Niko about it tonight." Warren said, leaning over and hugging Sydney. "Thanks for being so supportive."

"Of course. But just so you know, I'm going to miss you."

"I still haven't figured out when I'm going to leave, or where I'm going!" He said. "I need to give two weeks' notice, right?" Sydney nodded.

Niko had the day off, and so he decided to spend it taking the pokémon out on a walk through the city. Sewaddle hadn't seen the city before, and was amazed—and frightened—by the sheer number of people. Snivy and poliwag, both of whom were keeping close to Niko, didn't seem as fazed by the crowds on the streets.

He had decided to start the day by taking them to a nearby park, and then a pokémon café where snivy nearly got into a conflict with the little terrier pokémon Niko had seen back in Striaton City. Obviously it wasn't the same exact one, but it was the same species. Niko had to pull his pokémon away just as the Grass Snake was about to whip out her vines.

"Snivy, calm down. It didn't do anything wrong to you. Fight when it's necessary to—now is not necessary." He said in a calm tone. Snivy, hearing this, simply glared at the pokémon and turned away. "I'm so sorry. She's still very young."

"Well, think about that next time you bring her around other pokémon!" The terrier's owner said before picking up his own pokémon and walking away in a huff.

Niko sighed to himself, looking down at snivy, who angrily ate her lunch next to poliwag and a frightened sewaddle, who quickly learned to never get on snivy's bad side. Niko then turned to his own lunch and continued eating.

"Excuse me." Niko looked up to see a short brunette woman staring at him. "Sorry. I just wanted to see if your snivy was alright. It seemed upset by that lillipup."

"Yeah, she's alright. Thanks for asking." Niko said. He then eyed the woman curiously. "Wait a second…I—"

"—recognize you from somewhere." She finished. "We met at the market like a week ago, right?" Niko nodded, suddenly remembering the woman who recommended giving snivy a vegetable. "That snivy, it's not yours, correct?"

"She is now. I recently caught her."

"Oh! Well done. Snivys are rare in Unova. Usually one has to go to Nuvema Town to get one. But, of course, that's only if they plan on going on a journey."

"That's exactly how I caught snivy, actually. I just got back from Nuvema Town. But…I'm not going on some journey or becoming a battler."

"Oh? Why not? It sounds like a lot of fun."

"Not my idea of fun, actually."

"Your name's Niko, right?" She asked. When Niko nodded, she smiled. "Good. I'm bad with names. Glad I remembered at least one of them."

"And you're…god, I forgot…sorry."

"Charlotte. And don't worry about it!" Charlotte said. "Anyways, I've got to go. I'll catch ya later, Niko!"

"See ya." Niko said plainly as he continued with his lunch, paying no mind to the young woman he met. After several more minutes, he finished his food and left the café with the pokémon, sewaddle in his arms.

The small group continued walking around the city, including taking a trip to the docks. The pokémon took turns getting picked up to get a better view of the ocean beyond. Each time, Niko would pay attention to their reaction. It was similar to how they felt while on the boat from Nuvema Town, but this time it seemed different.

"I come from the other side of that ocean." Niko said. This wasn't necessarily true—he didn't really know which direction Kanto was in. But it was enough to stoke wonder in snivy's mind. She couldn't communicate with Niko, but he noticed the wonder she expressed with that information in mind. "It's a long ways away, but I came to Unova from that ocean." He put snivy down and picked sewaddle up again. "C'mon guys, let's start making our way back to the apartment. Warren's going to be home in an hour or two."

They were walking back down the streets for some time, weaving in and out of human traffic on the sidewalks, until they made it to a relatively silent street. This was normal—there would some parts of Castelia City that just weren't as populated constantly. As the group walked through, suddenly Niko heard someone yelling, and then a loud thud.

"What was that…?" He asked, looking down at snivy and poliwag, both of whom turned in the direction of it. "Let's go check it out." He broke into a jog, running down the street until he found the origin of the sound—in an alleyway.

There he saw Charlotte leaning over what looked like a smeargle surrounded by a number of men in black leather clothing.

"Sewaddle, string shot!" Niko yelled without hesitation, throwing the Sewing pokémon into the air. "Snivy, vine whip! Poliwag, water gun!"

Snivy charged forward, unleashing her green vines and slapping the man on the left while poliwag shot a jet of water at the right. Sewaddle, meanwhile, managed to tie up all three together, swinging around all three of them and finally landing in front of Charlotte and the smeargle, looking quite pleased with herself. Snivy and poliwag then ran over to join sewaddle as the gang's pokémon turned their attention to the trio.

"Sewaddle, razor leaf! Snivy, vine whip! Poliwag, hypnosis!" Niko shouted from the opposite end of the alley. Sewaddle conjured a torrent of sharp green leaves that slashed and cut at the enemy pokémon—two zubats and a purple cat pokémon Niko recognized from Striaton City. Snivy charged forward and slapped the vines at the cat-like pokémon, who retaliated with scratch while the zubats attempted to use leech life on snivy, but quickly found themselves put to sleep—along with their trainers—by poliwag's hypnosis. "Great job, you three." Niko said as he ran over to Charlotte and the smeargle.

"Are you two alright?" He asked, crouching down to their level. Charlotte looked completely unharmed. It was the smeargle, however, that wasn't fine. It was bruised and cut in a few spots.

"Those thugs attacked smeargle with their pokémon…" She said.

"We need to get smeargle to a Pokémon Center, alright?"

Charlotte nodded. "I can't carry him, though. Too heavy."

"I'll put him on my back. Can you carry my roommate's sewaddle, though?" Charlotte nodded, and Niko threw smeargle over his shoulders and walked off, Charlotte walking closely behind. It didn't take too long to get to the Pokémon Center, but Niko was certainly exhausted by the time he got there, throwing smeargle off of his back and onto a stretcher that took it into a backroom.

Charlotte handed sewaddle back to Niko as they sat down in the lobby. "Thanks for helping me out back there. I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, no problem. We're just lucky to have been close by."

"What were you doing in this part of the city?" Charlotte asked.

"I was on the way back to my apartment, actually." Niko mentioned. "What exactly happened to you?" He continued after a while.

"I was walking alone down the street—which I never recommend to anyone at sunset or even nighttime—and those gangsters cornered me, forced me into an alleyway, and wanted my pokémon. So I sent out smeargle and tried to fight them. Guess it didn't work." She said, feeling unhappy with herself. "I've never been good at battling! We should have been stronger, but we weren't…"

"Don't worry about it. I'm no good at battling, either."

"But you stopped them. You commanded three pokémon at once." Charlotte said.

"It was the adrenaline at work." Niko replied. "Trust me—I'm no good at battling."

"You're still better than I am…" She said, looking down. "I've always wanted to get better at battling, but could never go on a journey to do it. My Mom—who I still live with—wanted me to continue with my education instead. And now that I've just graduated, I have to look for a 'real job.'"

"I hear ya." Niko said. "For a while I wanted to go on a journey, but school was more important."

"You went to Castelia University too?"

"No. I'm not from Unova. And I don't have a college education." Niko added.

"Where're you from, then?"

"Pallet Town in Kanto." Niko said curtly.

"Wow. That's really far away. What's Kanto like?"

"What do you mean?" Niko asked.

"I don't know—I've just never left Unova. Or really Castelia City, for that matter. I know people in other towns, but I've never gotten the chance to visit them. Of course, that's because I can't travel."

"My roommate really wants to go travelling. And he keeps trying to get me to do it with him. But I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"Not interested anymore. It's more personal than that, though." Niko said, looking down at snivy, who was asleep next to poliwag and sewaddle. They had had a long day.

"Oh. Sorry for asking then." The two were silent for some time before Charlotte eventually spoke again. "Random thought, but you remind me of someone."

"Oh, who?"

"This trainer that I watched battle in the Lily of the Valley Conference. He looks really similar to you. I forget his name, though, but he's also from Pallet Town."

Niko—who looked nothing like the person he was months ago—began to internally panic. "Wh-what battle?"

"I was preoccupied with a paper when I was watching, but this trainer was using a prinplup against his opponent's toxicroak, I think. I don't think he won—didn't see the entire battle. But I could have sworn he looked like you."

Niko was silent, and then smiled while he shook his head. "Wasn't me. I've never participated in a Pokémon League."

"Oh, alright. Sorry…"

"Stop apologizing, Charlotte. It's a fair thing to ask."

"Do you want to join me for dinner, as a way of repaying you?" She asked.

"Sure, why not. Where would we go?"

"You and your pokémon can come over to my place. I don't think my mom will mind having guests over. I don't have a lot of friends, anyways, so I don't have many people over."

"Same here. When I left Kanto, I kind of left my friends back there."

"Oh…" She said.

"It-it wasn't on bad terms, though!" Niko said. Just then, smeargle and Nurse Joy appeared in the lobby, and an excited Charlotte got up to hug smeargle.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy! Smeargle, this is Niko and his pokémon, snivy, sewaddle, and poliwag. They helped us out."

Smeargle turned to the recently awoken pokémon and shook their hands—or pat their back, in the case of poliwag. It then looked up at Niko and shook his hand as well. "Nice to meet you, smeargle. You've got a great trainer." He said, turning to Charlotte. "Anyways, let's get going."

Charlotte didn't live too far from the Pokémon Center, in a duplex apartment in a rather quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of downtown Castelia City. Upon entering, Niko saw an ordinary living room with a couch, TV, and shelves upon shelves of movies and other miscellaneous CDs. In the adjoining kitchen, a woman only a little taller than Charlotte walked out to greet them.

"Hello—Charlotte, who's the boy?" She asked kindly.

"Mom, this is Niko and his pokémon. He helped smeargle and I get out of a…situation."

"What 'situation?'" Her mom asked. "What happened to you this time?"

This time? Niko thought to himself. Was this not the first time Charlotte's been attacked?

"Yes…but we couldn't have gotten out of it without Niko!" She said.

"Well, in that case, Niko—thank you. I can't express how grateful I am for what you did. Charlotte, well, she has found herself in confrontations before, and her smeargle isn't strong enough to stop any attackers."

"It was no problem. We were lucky to be there."

"Anyways, Mom, I owe it to Niko. Can he stay for dinner?"

"Of course he can. It's not often you have people over. By the way, my name's Emily." She said, and Charlotte guided Niko over to the couch where they sat for some time, watching mindless television. The pokémon sat on the couch as well, eager to see the moving images on the screen. Smeargle, on its part, was relaxing on the longer edge of the couch lazily.

Niko and Charlotte didn't make much small talk until Emily walked into the living room and sat down with them. She then began to ask Niko questions, mainly pertaining to where he was from, what he did for work, etc. He answered each one in turn politely.

"Charlotte has always wanted to travel through Unova, but never did."

"Because you wouldn't let me!"

"Well, of course I won't. Take a look at today! Your pokémon isn't strong enough."

"But if I travelled then smeargle would get stronger, and I would be able to catch other pokémon, too!" Charlotte said in protest. She looked to Niko, thinking about what he said about travelling. He didn't want to.

Dinner didn't take too long, and before they knew it, Niko was on his way back home with his pokémon. As he was about to leave, Emily proposed driving him back, which he readily accepted after walking all day.

"Thanks again. We should hang out sometime." Charlotte said as they approached Niko's apartment.

"For sure. Next time you can come over, and my roommate and I will make something." Niko suggested.

"Sounds like a good time." She said with a smile as Niko and his pokémon got out of the car. He thanked them, and then walked up to his room, where Warren and Sydney were waiting for him.

"Niko! There you are! Sewaddle, poliwag!" Warren said cheerfully, opening his arms to embrace his pokémon. "Where have you been?"

"Long story." Niko said as he sat down in a chair, snivy in his lap. "What's up?"

"I, err, have something to tell you." Warren said. "But first, tell me about your day. What'd you all do?"

Niko recounted his day with the pokémon—the café incident, seeing the park and docks, and then everything relating to Charlotte. By this point, Sydney shot him a suggestive look. "No…no no. Sydney…I recognize that look." Niko said, aggressively shaking his head. "It's not like that, though!"

"Sure it isn't…" She smirked.

"I swear it isn't. I literally just got to know her today." He then continued despite her glare. When he finished, Warren took a deep breathe.

"Well, it's a shame you don't want to travel, bud, because it seems like your new friend wants to. And, well, so do I." Warren then explained his decision to leave Castelia City and go on a journey. When he finished, he discussed the logistics of his leaving with Niko, who didn't give any indication of how he felt. When they finished talking, Warren asked Niko how he felt about it all.

"I don't really know how I feel." He said.

"I get that. It's a lot to take in." Warren said. "But, I'll ask you once again—do you want to join me?"

"No. And here's why." Niko said. He didn't want to explain the real reason for why, but he would give them a better reason—hopefully—than he had before. "I'm afraid of travelling." When he saw the couple's confused look, he elaborated. "I'm not a battler, and I feel like if I went on a journey, I'd be tempted to compete in gyms and such."

"But why? You haven't tried them before, right?" Sydney asked.

Niko nodded in response. "I—I guess I'm afraid of losing. Or not being good enough."

"Niko…" Warren began. "If that's what you're afraid of, then I understand. How about this—if you wanted to join me, you could give one gym battle a shot. And if it isn't for you, then you could come back to Castelia City, or you could continue just travelling with me. No pressure, but I would love to have you with me."

"I'll think about it. How does that sound?"

Warren nodded.

Niko didn't get much sleep that night. He kept running the decision through his head—weighing the pros and cons, choosing to go one moment and then changing his mind the next. Images of the Lily of the Valley Conference, his final battle against Palmer, Lauren, each reminding him of what he had lost in his decision to quit being a trainer. It had hardened the person he was—he hero his friends portrayed him as. He was no longer the person that helped Zinnia stop Team Aqua and Magma, or the person that stopped Hunter J on Mt. Coronet.

No, he was the person who forfeited a match because he lost faith in himself. He was the person who left behind his friends, family, and pokémon because he couldn't reconcile with the fact that his rival—his total opposite—had won, and in more ways than one. He saw himself as a failure, and his past self as an entirely different person. Brittany, JJ, Fay, Lauren, even Jake were all a distant memory to him, or they at least seemed like one.

Niko looked at snivy, who was laying down on a bed sound asleep. He thought of her. What did she want to do? He knew snivy was ambitious, and wanted to be stronger. To do that, she needed to battle. But was Niko still the best bet for her to achieve her goal? He didn't know, but he owed it to her to at least try.

He owed it to Warren to give travelling—and battling—another shot.

He owed it to himself.

Warren woke up for work the next morning to see Niko sitting at their kitchen table. With Sydney close behind him, he looked at his roommate.

"So?" He asked.

Niko took a deep breathe, and nodded. "I'm in." In that moment, he had never seen a wider grin on Warren's face. "When do we leave?"

"Two weeks. I want to give my boss some time to hire a replacement. And I'm sure yours feels the same way."

"Yeah. And it gives us time to figure out what to do with this place." Niko said, extending his arms out. "Plus…we also have another logistic to figure out, but I'll get back to you on that."

"Niko! What's up?" Charlotte said as Niko and snivy appeared at her door, several days later. "Come on in. How're you?" She was alone; presumably her mother was working.

"I'm alright. You?" He asked, sitting down on her couch, snivy still in his lap.

"I'm good. Did you want to hang out today? Because I have somewhere to go with my mom in a couple hours, so I don't have a lot of time."

"No, I came here with a question to ask you." Niko said. He suddenly felt nervous, for whatever reason.

"What…is it?" Charlotte asked, looking slightly anxious.

"My roommate and I are going on a journey soon, and I was wondering if you wanted to join me." Niko finally said. Charlotte looked down at her hands in her lap, only answering a few minutes later. "If you don't want to, I get it."

"No, I do. It'd be fun! But…I'd have to run it by my mom first." Niko nodded in understanding. "But she'll be home in a couple hours."

"I can wait." Niko said, laying back on the couch and placing snivy next to him. And so they waited, watching television until Emily appeared through the door.

"Oh, hi Niko. How are you doing?"

"Niko wants me to join him on an adventure!" Charlotte blurted out before Niko could respond.

"Really now…? Where would you be going? How long would you be gone?" She seemed more concerned than anything.

"Charlotte would be coming with my roommate—Warren—and I. We were thinking of taking a boat to Aspertia City first, and then working our way around back to Castelia City. It wouldn't be a long trip, maybe a week or two at most. That's all we have planned so far. Warren wants to travel for a longer period of time, but I'm not really up for that, so I'll probably be coming back to Castelia City."

"Oh, well if it's only for a couple weeks I'm sure it'll be fine. And the area around Aspertia City isn't too dangerous. So if that's what you want, then I'm okay with it, Charlotte. When do you all plan on leaving?"

"In about a week at this point. Warren and I are leaving our jobs. He is because he wants to do this for longer, and I also need to find some work that doesn't involve dishwashing." Niko admitted.

Her mother smiled. "I get that. You need some time to figure out your next steps. Taking a trip is a good way to clear your mind a little." She sat down on the couch with the two. "Well then, when you come back in a week, I'm sure Charlotte will be ready to go."

"I definitely will be!" Charlotte said excitedly. "This'll be fun, even if it's only for a week or two."

"Yeah…" Niko said. He couldn't help but smile. "Well, you know where we live. If you need anything between now and then, stop on by."

"I will, Niko." Charlotte said as Niko and snivy got up and left the duplex for their own apartment. Charlotte turned to her mom. She couldn't stop smiling.

A week later Niko, Warren, and their pokémon packed upthe last of their supplies into their bags. They weren't any larger than what they took to Nuvema Town. Niko then looked around at their apartment. Warren had decided that he would make one final trip to Castelia City before he completely moved out of the place. Sydney would take their keys in their absence, and generally take care of the place while they were gone, including finding a replacement for Warren while they were gone. Niko had planned to come back, so she didn't consider finding a replacement for him as well.

"Off to the port?" Warren asked.

"Off to the port." Niko said. They decided to take a boat to Aspertia City, the place that Professor Juniper suggested they start if they wanted to take a journey through Unova. After looking at the map, it made sense to start there—they could visit Aspertia City, then Floccessy Town and Virbank City before coming back to Castelia City. From Niko's perspective, it would satisfy both Warren—who wanted to travel with him—and Charlotte, who just wanted to travel more generally.

Half an hour later, they trio met up with Charlotte and her mother at the port that Niko specified to her only a few days prior. "Warren, Sydney, this is my friend Charlotte and her mother, Emily. Charlotte, this is my roommate Warren and his girlfriend, Sydney."

"Pleased to meet you!" Warren said, shaking Charlotte's tiny hand. "So you're joining us?"

"Yes!" Charlotte said, holding a bag over her shoulder. "I'm really excited."

"Same here. Glad we finally broke Niko down enough to get him to join us." Warren said with a wink.

"Oh, please…" Niko said. He then turned to Sydney. "Thanks for helping us out."

"No problem. Please keep an eye on Warren, will you?"

"Of course." Niko said before hugging her. Warren then replaced him, and the couple made small talk while Charlotte and Emily said their goodbyes as well.

"Please made sure she's okay." Emily said, looking wearily at her daughter. "She can get overexcited sometimes. Which is a stronger suit of hers, I believe."

"Yeah, for sure. I'm glad she's joining us." Niko said politely before shaking her friend's mother's hand. The trio—Niko, Warren, and Charlotte—then turned to the boat as it began to load passengers. They all turned to Sydney and Emily, giving them one final look before boarding.

Niko was about to set out on another journey. It would be brief, but he was nervous all the same, even if there was no reason why he should have been.

Author's note: A lot happened in this episode. To be fair, it lasted longer than I thought it would, as I hastened the plot a little more than I had originally planned. Hopefully it all came across smoothly enough and that you all enjoy it.

Let me know what you think, catch ya later.