Episode 43: An old friend
Humilau City was largely a resort city, characterized by the buildings floating on the water, almost looking like small islands in the eastern sea. In fact, half of the city sat on these islands. The exceptions were the much larger, nonresidential buildings, such as the Pokémon Center, the Humilau City Gym, and some small stadium-like building that sat in the southern part of the city, along with a variety of small businesses.
The first thing they did was head to the Pokémon Center to get a room for the night—Niko anticipated only having to stay there for a night, possibly two. He was that confident in his abilities to win this final gym, regardless of the type specialty of the gym leader.
However, as soon as he entered he immediately froze, nearly causing Charlotte and Warren to run into him from behind. They both looked at Niko with curiosity, unsure why he stood completely still, his face contorted in confusion.
Just ahead of them, talking to Nurse Joy, was a brunette woman of roughly average height. She wore her hair down, and had a floral t-shirt and denim shorts on, with sandals to complete the look. As soon as she turned to exit, she also froze.
"Niko?"
"Brittany?"
The two continued to stand there for a moment, still unsure of how to react to one another. Warren attempted to whisper to Charlotte, only to be silenced quickly.
"Uh…hi." Niko eventually said, walking up to shake Brittany's hand. Instead, he got a firm embrace from his old friend.
"I've missed you." Brittany said, not letting go for a while. "We were all worried about you."
"O—oh…" Niko said, waiting until Brittany let go.
"Wow…we have so much to catch up on!" She said excitedly. She seemed to be treating everything as if it were normal. As if nothing had changed. Almost…as if Niko had never left. "C'mon! Let's go get lunch!"
"O-okay…" Niko said, allowing himself to be dragged by Brittany. He quickly motioned for Warren and Charlotte to follow him, and they did without question.
Brittany eventually led him to a small diner on the water, just off the coast of the island Humilau was situated on. They quickly sat down and ordered food. Then, Brittany put her hands on the table and looked at Niko.
"What happened to you?" She asked, almost in a demanding tone. It was a stark change from her previously cheery demeanor earlier. "Where did you go? Why did you not go to your dad's funeral? And what are you doing here?"
Niko took a deep breath. "First of all, I'm very sorry I—"
"Sorry doesn't begin to cover it, Niko! You abandoned your family! Your mother was an absolute wreck after the funeral, when she realized you had gone. Jake was erupting in rage. And your Pokémon…they were the saddest I've ever seen them! We spent the rest of the summer consoling everyone, all because you couldn't face the music!"
"Who's 'we?'"
"Me, Fay, JJ, even Elliot at one point. Lauren stopped by Pallet Town to see you, and of course you were nowhere to be seen. We had to explain that to her, too."
"It sounds like, no matter what I say, you won't forgive me." Niko said in an oddly defeatist tone.
"I don't even know where you went or why you left? What's there to forgive? If you mean consoling literally everyone that cares about you, then no. I don't forgive you. Not yet."
"Then I have nothing to say to you." Niko said, crossing his arms.
"Nothing? You're not going to answer my questions?"
Niko took another heavy sigh. "I quit being a Pokémon Trainer. That's why I left—I needed to escape. I had had it—Hunter, forfeiting to Palmer, breaking up with Lauren, and then my Dad's death—I had no will to continue onwards. I felt like everything in my life was a falling apart, and that I was a failure. So I left Pallet Town, and moved to Castelia City, here in Unova. That's where I met these two." He pointed to Warren and Charlotte, who were sitting on both sides of him. "Warren, Charlotte: this is Brittany. We travelled together for some time. Brittany, these are the people I've been travelling with recently."
"Pleasure." Brittany said curtly. "And…I just don't get why you gave up on everything. Why didn't you just stay home and raise Pokémon, instead of battling with them?"
"Because everything in Pallet Town reminded me of what I saw as my own failure, Brittany!" Niko said, slamming his fist on the wooden table. "I don't expect you understand that, or to sympathize with it, or even to forgive me, but that was my reasoning!" He then calmed down a little. "Does that answer your question?"
"Yes, yes it does." Brittany said quietly.
"Why are you in Unova?" Niko asked.
"Pokémon Contests, actually."
"They have those here?" Niko wondered in surprise.
"Yes, Niko. They do." She turned to Charlotte and Warren, who were both confused. "I'm a coordinator, by the way."
"I guess I just didn't notice them when we were passing through…" Niko admitted, shrugging. "How is that going?"
"Good. Contests are new here, compared to Hoenn and Sinnoh, but my Pokémon and I are doing well. We have two of the three ribbons necessary to enter the Grand Festival, which is being held in Nimbasa City in a few weeks' time."
"That isn't too far from here." Charlotte said. "You just go south from Undella Town, and then west."
"Precisely. But there is a contest here in Humilau this evening. It's one of the last ones in the region before the Grand Festival, so the stakes are high for me."
"Well, you've always met them." Niko said, this time with a smirk. "Miss 'Top Coordinator.'"
"Woah, you're a Top Coordinator?" Charlotte said in wonder.
"Mhmm. In Sinnoh, too." Niko said. It was clear Brittany wasn't going to readily admit it. But she did smile shyly in response. "She's very talented, and so are her Pokémon."
"Thanks, Niko. I appreciate that. It's in the Contest Hall at the southern part of the city, if you three want to come and watch it. It's actually in a few hours."
"Sure! I've never seen a Pokémon Contest in person before!" Warren said. Charlotte nodded in agreement, also with an eager smile. Lastly, Niko nodded too, but without a smile.
"Welcome, one and all, to the Humilau City Pokémon Contest!" A young woman in a floral dress and sandal-esque high-tops said into her microphone. "I'm your host, Alana, and today we've got coordinators from all over Unova and beyond competing with style and grace befitting a coordinator. For those of you who might not know about Pokémon Contests, let's run through the different parts…"
As it turned out, the Pokémon Contests in Unova were strikingly similar to those in Hoenn and Sinnoh. Niko didn't really notice much of a difference in them. Alana then proceeded to call out nearly a dozen different coordinators, all from around the region—Castelia, Lacunosa, Striaton City—each demonstrating a different type of Pokémon and style of performance. At one point one of the coordinators was flying through flaming hoops with the assistance of his Pokémon, one that Niko didn't quite recognize but looking like a fire and flying type.
Eventually, it was Brittany's turn. She sent out a Blastoise, which Niko had no idea evolved. He smiled at the sight of the Shellfish Pokémon standing on stage with his trainer. Niko distinctly remembered meeting it as a small Squirtle. Now, it was fully evolved and, from the looks of it, incredibly powerful.
Brittany's performance involved Blastoise shooting hydro pumps into the air and then using a combination of skull bash and rapid spin to blast them away. It was, in Niko's opinion, not Brittany's best performance, but it was enough to garner applause from the audience.
Warren loved the performances, constantly talking to Niko and Charlotte about how wonderful they were. It got to the point where Niko had to put his finger up to his mouth to silence his friend, but smirked because he nevertheless appreciated then enthusiasm for his friend, from his friend.
"And that concludes the Performance Round! Now, let's see which coordinators advance to the Battle Round! Remember, in this contest, only eight will proceed!" Alana said excitedly. The audience and, presumably, Brittany in the back room, all watched as the profiles of eight coordinators revealed themselves.
Brittany, fortunately, was one of them. She was up against a young, redheaded woman who Alana later revealed to be from Aspertia City.
"For our first match in the Battle Round, please give a round of applause for Sara from Aspertia City, and Brittany from Vermillion City!" Alana said excitedly. Both Sara and Brittany walked onto the raised platform, and began to battle.
"Escavalier, I choose you!" Sara shouted, summoning an insectoid Pokémon with a knight's helmet that sported red horsehair and a visor underneath. It was seated in a metallic snail-like shell, and bore two red-striped protrusions that resembled jousting lances.
"Blaziken, I choose you!" Brittany called out. Smirking, she began the match. "Blaze kick!"
"Escavalier, iron head!" Sara commanded. However, the blaze Pokémon was far quicker, closing the distance between them in seconds before spinning around and slamming her foot into the side of Escavalier's body, launching it into the ground on the edge of the battlefield. "Err…slash!"
"Blaziken, flare blitz!" Brittany shouted. The fire type lit herself on fire and charged at Escavalier once more, this time engulfing it in flames as she dragged her opponent across the ground. Style points seemed irrelevant in this match, as it was quickly decided in Brittany's favor.
"Escavalier is unable to battle, Blaziken is the winner! And Brittany will proceed to the semifinals!" Alana said with a cheer, throwing up an arm in Brittany's direction.
"Wow…she's good at battling, too." Charlotte added, turning to Niko.
"She's had a lot of practice." He said, chuckling a little. "And her Blaziken has only gotten stronger, too."
They continued to watch the other three battles in the first matches of the Battle Round, eventually deciding the final four coordinators who would proceed. In these matchups, Brittany and her new opponent would go second, and so Niko and his friends sat through a match between a Serperior and a Raichu, in which the Raichu ultimately won by out-styling the Serperior.
If my own Serperior had seen this, she wouldn't have been happy, Niko thought to himself. They then noticed Brittany and her opponent—a young, dark-skinned male named Ken, walk onto the field. While Ken sent out a Lunatone, Brittany went with a new choice, one that Niko hadn't seen before.
"Dewott, I choose you!" Brittany shouted, summoning a blue-skinned otter-like Pokémon with two seashells on each side of its legs. "Use razor shell!"
Dewott grabbed the seashells from its waist and quickly tossed them both at Lunatone, who reeled from the attack before using a psychic attack in response. It picked Dewott into the air and threw it around before using a move called cosmic power, which created a mock representation of space around it. It was a lovely move to use in a contest, at least from Niko's perspective. He then saw Dewott shoot off of the ground, covered in a coat of water, and crash into Lunatone, knocking it to the ground.
"Water pulse!" Brittany commanded. Dewott cried out, conjuring an all-too familiar pulsating blue orb and collapsing it on Lunatone's face, splashing water everywhere. "Now, aqua shell!"
"Huh? That isn't a move…" Charlotte said curiously.
"Just wait…" Niko said, figuring that it was likely a combination move. He was right; Dewott leapt back into the air with aqua jet before sticking both of its hands out of the water and taking a quick dive towards Lunatone. Dewott then began to spin, with white tendrils releasing from the seashells as they spun around in circles, creating white twists and twirls in the air before the Discipline Pokémon crashed into Lunatone, completely depleting its yellow bar on the monitor above them. Niko smiled.
"Lunatone is unable to battle, Dewott is the winner! And Brittany will now proceed to the final round of the Humilau City Pokémon Contest!" Alana cheered.
Niko could hear Brittany congratulating her Dewott before returning it and waiting for her eventual final opponent. It was then that he reflected on Brittany's performances. It was clear to him that she was no longer the shy, socially introverted young girl he had met four and a half years ago on the S.S. Anne. She was now a Top Coordinator in a region, and likely ranked as one of the best active coordinators in the world because of it. And she was his friend!
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to announce the finalists for this contest! Brittany from Vermilion City and, from Humilau City…Adora!"
A pale-skinned, dark-haired, short girl appeared on the stage opposite of Brittany. She wore large, thin-rimmed and trendy-looking glasses. For her choice of Pokémon, she summoned an unfamiliar Pokémon called Lilligant. It was a short, green Pokémon with a pale green, plant-like dress and a scarlet flower on its head.
"Vespiquen, I choose you!" Brittany shouted, summoning her Beehive Pokémon. "Use sweet scent!"
"Quiver dance~" Adora said in a melodic tone. Lilligant then began to slowly dance back and forth cheerfully. Niko watched as the crowd—including Warren—marveled at the show Lilligant was putting on for them. It seemed to decrease Brittany's yellow bar—an indication of how well her performance in the battle was—a little bit. By contrast, Adora's bar went down by less, despite the powerful allure of sweet scent.
"Attack order!" Brittany shouted. Vespiquen then commanded a horde of bees to attack, to which Adora and Lilligant retaliated with a petal dance from the latter, blocking most of the bees. As it turned out, though, this was all a façade—Vespiquen charged forward and bit down onto Lilligant with bug bite, picking the Flowering Pokémon into the air and tossing it. "Now, attack order!"
Vespiquen then unleashed a second horde of bees at Lilligant just as she was about to descend back to the ground. Finally, Brittany commanded her Vespiquen to use power gem. The Beehive Pokémon obliged, conjured small pink rocks from underneath her abdomen and shooting them at Lilligant at a close range. This created a small explosion that repelled both of them in opposite directions.
Brittany's bar was now higher than Adora's, since the latter's Pokémon has now taken significantly more damage, and was also slower to get up than Vespiquen, who used sweet scent once more before finishing off with another power gem.
"Lilligant is unable to battle, Vespiquen is the winner! And the victory in the Humilau City Pokémon Contest is Brittany!" Alana announced excitedly, once more throwing her arm up in Brittany's direction.
Niko and his friends all clapped loudly—Warren even verbally cheered. Brittany, who had just finished hugging her Vespiquen, turned to see her friend and flashed a brief smile before turning to Alana to receive her ribbon.
Brittany met up with Niko and his friends in the lobby, where the latter gave her a brief hug. "Congrats, buddy. You earned it. And you're going to the Grand Festival!"
"I am, I'm so excited!" Brittany said. "Thanks for coming to watch, by the way. I really appreciate it."
"It was so cool!" Warren said, hardly able to contain his own excitement. "Your Pokémon are hella impressive!"
"Thanks, Warren." Brittany said, side-hugging Niko's friend.
Later that evening, just after sunset, Niko found Brittany sitting out on a ledge by the Pokémon Center, overlooking to sea to the east. Sitting down next to her, he sat there and watched Pelipper and Wingull fly past them in the distance.
"Every time I see a Pelipper, I think of Melinda." Niko said quietly.
"Really?" Brittany asked. Niko nodded in response.
"Yeah. It's weird how fast time moves by. That was only a couple years ago, but to me it seems like an eternity."
"Time is certainly weird like that."
"…I really am sorry, about everything. I didn't consider how all of you would feel. I only thought about myself, and it was selfish of me." Niko admitted. "I know that actions speak louder than words, but I do regret it."
"Niko, we all make mistakes. I'm sorry for raging at you like I did. I didn't take time to consider that you've had so much time to think about all of it. And I can tell you're trying to atone for it."
"I am. I just…don't know if I can even go back to Pallet Town now. Would Jake ever forgive me? Would my Pokémon accept me as their trainer again?"
"I think they would." Brittany said, patting Niko's shoulder. "It might take some time, and obviously some will forgive you faster than others." She leaned over to the side and laid her head on Niko's shoulder. "But they will all take you back in time. I'm sure of it. As for Jake…when I left Pallet Town he was pretty miffed. Like, even the mention of your name was enough to set him off."
"Geez." Niko said exasperatedly.
"Yeah, I know. We kind of all were like that. Except your mom. She never stopped loving you, and in fact she was more miserable because she didn't know where you were, rather than you ignoring your dad's funeral and abandoning everyone."
"Hmm." Niko said. Brittany finally took her head off of his shoulder.
"So…you're challenging gyms, then?" Niko nodded. "And I assume that's why you're here—because there's a gym here, too?"
"Yeah. It's my eighth and final one." Niko said with a half-smile.
"And that means the Unova League is coming up…?"
"Yeah! It'll be hard, though, with just the Pokémon I'm raising now. But I think we'll go far. They're really awesome, Brittany. I've met some quality Pokémon here in Unova."
"I'm glad to hear that, Niko. I think you could win a Pokémon League here. Especially with your reserves."
"If they even want to battle with me again."
"And I think they will. But you'll have to have a real, hard discussion with them." She said with an empathetic expression.
"I will when the time is right." Niko said. "Hey, since you invited me to your contest, would you like to come watch my gym battle tomorrow? You'd get to see my new Pokémon in action."
"I'd love to, Niko." Brittany said, and the two simply sat there, watching the sunset and exchanging stories of their travels well into the night. Just like old times.