On her way to school, Audino Agatha had to turn back after forgetting something unforgettable. As soon as she had gotten to the sidewalk, she heard the clank from her metal feet and had to turn back for the rubber coverings.
After she had them, Agatha woke up. Prosthesis weren't common at all, so she had an adrenaline rush from the thought of someone finding out. The adrenaline would last her the day.
Agatha took her negativity along with her backpack, cloak, and huge glasses into the classroom. With her usual wardrobe, she had added the gold ring on the strand of her ear. She sat down in her usual seat in the back corner and stared at the ceiling, wishing the day was already over before the first class started.
Her thoughts continued this way until Pikachu Simone and his crystal orange eyes came into the classroom early. He flashed a smile, walked over to her, and sat on the cushion to her left.
"Hey," Simone greeted, "how're you?"
"Tired," Agatha said. "How about you?"
"Same, always. Wanna hang out later? There's a party at someone's house."
"Uhm, whose?"
"Amanda," he said. "She's a junior. A Mawile."
"Do you know her?"
"Yeah, of course. Everyone does."
"Oh brother..."
Simone chuckled to himself.
"She's rich, so her parties are just something fun," Simone said.
"How rich?" Agatha asked.
"How rich? I dunno. Just, like, rich. I don't really have a rich people scale."
Agatha would probably be able to tell if she saw the house. Even before all of the life insurance, she had more money macked away than the Veritan or Valorian royals(she looked it up out of curiosity and boredom).
Not being able to even access it irritated her, but it made sense. She still had to learn how to take care of it by herself.
"I'll go," Agatha said.
"Oh. Well, cool."
With something to look forward to, Agatha grit her teeth through the day. She stayed quiet while Simone opted to talk up a storm all day.
At the end of the day, Audino Agatha had gym. She lagged behind everyone in the hallways, wondering if she could get away with changing course to go out the front doors. Every time she did, an invisible force in her mind pulled her back to the line.
After the class filed in, she went to the stands. The teacher, Flygon Mr. Rivers, explained the rules of the one on one battles they were doing during gym today. Participation was completely voluntary, but Agatha remained as the only student sitting out. She sat on the edge to keep as far away from it all as she could.
She kept her head down at her notebook during most of the battles, but the teacher calling Pikachu Simone's name stole her attention. His battle was against a Slurpuff named Zel. She sat a short ways in front of them during class.
She could tell Simone would lose right away. His Thundershock moved slow enough for Zel to avoid just by walking to the side. When she started to run at him, his small bolts of lightning fizzled out to his own panic.
Agatha cringed when Zel tackled Simone. A dull red mark appeared on his forehead when he tumbled back on the wood floor. Zel stayed rooted in place while Flygoin Mr. Rivers floated to Simone's side.
Simone stood up, but he held his head while doing so. His jaw tensed from the pain.
"You dizzy?" Mr. Rivers asked.
"I'm good," Simone said. "Should I… go to the nurse?"
Agatha stood up and walked out on the floor, going past a line of waiting pokemon on the stands a few paces away from where she sat. Simone and Mr. Rivers glanced her way when she started to roll white energy around in her finger tips.
"Hold still," Agatha said.
She threw a gentle white light at Simone. It faded on top of his body. A realization hit his face when it seemed like the pain started to drain away. Simone flashed her a huge, surprised smile.
"You know how to use Wish?" Simone asked. "I feel great. Wow, uh, thanks!"
"No problem," she said.
Agatha walked back to her seat, but Simone followed her this time. She sat down and pulled her notebook onto her lap, then glanced at him as he plopped down next to her.
The class continued, and Simone occasionally yelled out some encouragement. Agatha flinched a few times, but he didn't seem to notice, facing away from her.
She had started flinching from loud, sudden noises recently. She used to barely react. Her family even talked about how calm she stayed during alarming noises before. Now, Agatha could barely stand it. Even towards Simone, a small bit of rage grew every time he gave even a small, happy shout.
It was during the last battle that Simone noticed her flinch out of the corner of his eye. Agatha couldn't hide her disturbed face.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Simone said. "Are you good?"
"Yeah," Agatha
The bell rang. She flinched again, then heat rose in her face.
"I'm sorry," Simone said, "I didn't realize."
"It's not your fault," Agatha murmured.
"The party's at, like, eight. If you want, I could text you the address if you give me your... thing."
"Sure."
"What're you doing till then?" Simone asked.
"Well, I have plans this afternoon."
A warm blanket of air surrounded Audino Agatha's fur as she ran. She kept on a constant swivel on her prosthetic feet, dodging trees and fireballs that would sear the tip of her tail.
Meowstic Alondra floated behind her, running away from a small mob of pokemon hiding under bushes and behind bright tree bark. It had started with one or two enemies, which Agatha didn't even expect to find. After they couldn't deal with a group, it grew as they ran away. Alondra hadn't even explained who they were yet.
"Time to go!" Alondra said.
"Yeah!" Agatha huffed.
Agatha unfurled the strand of her ear and pulled off the gold ring. She passed energy through it and stopped running. Alondra covered her back, firing Psybeam at bushes and trees while the ring grew and took shape.
Cold, piercing wind came from the ring. A jolt of electricity aimed towards Agatha's feet made her scurry and jump into the field of white anyway.
Agatha landed on top of snow. Freezing cold seeped through her prosthetic feet, stopping any sweat she had. She looked behind her and saw the ring falling into Meowstic Alondra's paws.
Dark clouds covered the sky. Light snow and winds prevented Agatha from seeing very far, but she could make out the shadows of trees surrounding them.
"Check your phone and see where we are," Alondra said.
"My phone?" Agatha asked. "The Old World doesn't have cell service."
"We're not in the Old World."
Agatha pulled her backpack off from her shoulder and rummaged through until she found her phone. She checked the map.
A mountain in a country named Truro. Agatha first thought it was a glitch or mistake, but her eyes snapped back to Alondra after remembering what she just said.
"Okay," Agatha said, "how?"
"The Old World is connected to our world at random. So, ideally… we'll check to make sure we don't jump into the north pole and freeze to death," she explained.
"But I tried to bring us back to the tree."
"We were in a bend in reality called a mystery dungeon. Those 'pokemon' were energy given form and animated into bodies. They weren't real. I doubt leaving in the middle of a dungeon will ever lead where we mean to go, but it's possible at any time for this to happen. Just like using the machine, we could end up anywhere."
"Well, hopefully next time we can randomly be somewhere a little more worth looking around."
"Agreed… Let's head out for today. It's cold here."
Agatha tossed the ring down on the snow. The ground below it became a jungle as the colors formed.
They both hopped down. They were in front of the huge tree with neon leaves again. Agatha bent over with her arms on her knees while her pulse settled. She appreciated the rush of heat from the jungle more than she did before.
"Those woods were like a maze," Agatha said, straightening out. "Is there some sort of way that mystery dungeons work?"
"Not consistently," Alondra said. "I just have to kind of feel our way through. It'd be best not to go anywhere in here without me, though."
"But we couldn't get past it without more help."
"Then we'll just train for now and try again. What moves did you say you wanted to learn?"
"Heal Pulse and Refresh. Maybe Dazzling Gleam, then Charge Beam, Psychic, Surf, and-"
"Okay," Alondra said. "We'll start with healing moves, since those will be easier with what you know."
While Agatha started to practice, Alondra found a tree root to sit on and watched. Agatha's muscles felt stronger, but they always turned to jelly when she tried using her energy for too long. As she continued to use moves, both ones she knew and ones she didn't, they turned to jelly within minutes. She kept continuing as long as they would allow every time, but progress felt too slow to satisfy her.
"It's very peaceful here," Alondra said.
"Yeah," Agatha agreed.
"On days no one else can come, we should just train here. Avoid unnecessary risks."
"Yeah. That's probably for the best."
"Have plans this afternoon?" she asked.
"Oh, well, I do have a party to get to around eight. At some rich girl's house."
"Need to go shopping?"
"No," Agatha grunted. "What I wear to school will be fine."
"Have you gotten bullied yet?" Alondra asked.
"Yet? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, I understand your opinion of the scars and stuff. But the glasses are really… extra..."
"They keep attention off of my feet."
"Why are you so concerned about whether or not they find out about your feet?"
"Because it's embarrassing?"
"I hope you won't feel that way forever."
"Okay?"
"It's getting close to six. If your party's at eight, we should head back."
Agatha went back to her room on the second floor of her house. She double checked the route one last time. It was a short route; double the length of her walk to school, but still not far away at all. Agatha had already decided she wouldn't bring her backpack and just have her phone and some money in her cloak's pockets. She brought her huge glasses with her, too.
She had a little to eat before heading out. Claire still hadn't returned from work yet, but there were plenty of leftovers around. She had already texted Claire her destination, so she had that extra safety leaving by herself.
Walking on the sidewalks at dusk, Agatha's hands clenched together to put her tension somewhere. Passing electric carriages made her walk faster without a reason, and she constantly swat away gnats from her eyes. The air grew cooler on her way, hurrying her steps.
As the stars started to show phantoms in the dimming sky, she arrived at her destination: a large home made out of artistically laid brick and mortar and a triangular roof. Street lamps illuminated the path up to the door. Audino Agatha walked up and knocked on the dark wood and waited with her arms folded behind her back.
A Midnight Lycanroc answered the door. He scanned her up and down and then smiled. Agatha remembered him a bit from class, but didn't know his name.
"Yeah. We got books, professor," he said, "c'mon in."
"Uh… Thanks."
Jazz music enclosed around her when Lycanroc closed the door. Dim lights, too soft to create glare against the bright wood floor, surrounded her. When she entered, a ramp led up to the second floor with a kitchen and living room on either side of the white, cement walls encapsulating the rampway.
Agatha leaned to the living room to her right. She saw Pikachu Simone talking and laughing on the edge of a couch facing a large TV on a short drawer. Mawile's second mouth hung over the back of the couch, and a Piplup and Persian sat on the other side.
When Agatha got around the back corner of the couch, she saw they were all holding popcorn in their laps. Simone sat just to the left of the Mawile with the Persian and Piplup on her right.
"Hey Agatha," Simone said.
He stood up when he noticed her on his side.
"Want a seat?"
"Oh, I'm good," Agatha said.
"I insist," Simone said, smiling.
Agatha nodded and accepted. She sat on the very edge to keep a bigger distance between her and the Mawile.
"That's Amanda," Simone said, gesturing to the Mawile, "and the Persian and Piplup are Romania and Bianca. And this is Agatha, guys."
"Nice to meet you," Agatha said.
"You too, Agatha," Amanda said "Need a place to put your cloak?"
"I'm fine. Thanks."
Amanda turned back to the TV with a gentle smile on her face. She had both of her legs up on the couch while lying on her side and keeping herself up with a straight arm.
Simone hopped to the top of the couch and lied on his belly.
"So, what're we watching?" Simone asked.
"Isn't it horror night?" Romania asked.
"Well, let's mix it up."
"Okay," Bianca said, "but, like, with what?"
"I dunno," Simone said, "look at the list."
After a minute of them discussing, Agatha realized sat up a little too straight. She forced herself to lie back against the couch and relax.
They chose a romantic comedy between a Zangoose and Seviper. Agatha put her arms folded on her stomach, but there were commercials first.
"I miss the Olympic ads," Simone said.
"Which one?" Amanda asked.
"I don't know. I just... miss them. Some of them are still playing. Oh. Oh! This was one of them!"
On screen, A Jigglypuff got thrown back by a Thievul's attack. He picked himself off the dirt of an arena floor, huffing for air.
"Uh oh! Hungrybox is in need of a major comeback!"
"I got you son!"
A Wigglytuff came to the Jigglypuff's side from off-screen.
"Wow! An incredible save from Hungrybox's... Mother!?"
"Mom?" Hungrybox asked.
TWigglytuff vanished and appeared behind the Thievul. She grabbed its tail and rotated around on her heels, building up momentum before throwing it.
After Thievul crashed into the arena wall, Wigglytuff ran back to Jigglypuff.
"Your moves were a little bit off, son," she said. "Fuel up on Doug's Chunky Soup."
Wigglytuff handed Jigglypuff a metal can with red and white wrapping. His face rose as he took a bite of the soup inside with a heavenly chorus playing.
"Thanks mom," Jigglypuff smiled.
"Now let's smash this noob!"
"Super victory!"
Agatha looked to the others for their reactions. Simone noticed in the corner of her eye.
"That's Hungrybox," Simone explained. "He's an arena fighter. Have you ever wanted to compete?"
"Well, uhm..." Agatha murmured. "I don't think I have the talent to compete with... his mom."
"Maybe we'll get you to watch some of these arena battles sometime. While Mr. Rivers is going off about something."
Agatha smirked as the openings of the movie started.
After some time, Agatha's eyes drooped and dried out from the uncomfortable light from the screen. She closed and rubbed them. She enjoyed their banter more than the movie. Everything she laughed at to herself was from Amanda and Simone making fun of it. After a while, they stopped focusing on it altogether.
"How are practices going, Simone?" Amanda asked.
"Pretty awful," Simone sighed. "All my attacks are crappy weak."
"You're an athlete?" Agatha asked quietly.
"The weakest one on our varsity team," he answered. "Being honest, I want to quit. But I also want to be stronger, so it just sucks."
"Just relaaaax," Bianca said. "It'll happen one way or another."
Agatha's leg cramped up. She brought it up off the floor and held it as quickly and naturally as she could. She bit her lip trying to keep a straight face. Her limbs still felt weak from a few hours of fighting and training. It was probably why her leg cramped up.
The Mawile next to her left the loud conversation they started about the different high schools and whispered.
"You good?" Amanda asked.
"Yeah," Agatha muttered, "just my leg."
"Want me to help?"
The arm Agatha used to rub her leg started to cramp. She hunched over.
"I'm good," Agatha squeaked.
"Uhm, do you have a birthmark or something?"
"I have... Birthmarks. Yeah."
"Well," Amanda said, "offer still stands. I won't judge."
"I'm good," she said. "Just might head home soon."
"Well, I insist you let me call you a taxi. It's cheap."
"Oh, well… Thanks."
After a few minutes, Amanda stood up and walked Agatha out. The tight, hot pain disappeared over time, but her limbs almost felt even weaker from it.
While on the walkway through the lawn, Agatha almost felt like she had to stop and catch her breath. She made it to the street where there was a carriage with four rubber wheels.
A Watchog on a short stand in front of the wooden box gripped the wheel. Mawile guided the Audino to the back where she would step in under the roof for the ride.
Amanda pulled open the doors and gave a quick smile.
"See you."
"Thanks," Agatha said. "Uh, good night."
"Good night."
Agatha gently closed the doors behind her while Amanda smiled.
As soon as she was alone, she fell on her back. Her cloak fell under her while she covered her face and touched her knees together.
Agatha definitely wanted Amanda's help earlier. Her arm and leg felt awful, but it would be an embarrassing, weird conversation to be seen with her cloak covering all of her scars. At least she was heading home now. She'd be able to take the thing off soon.