Chapter 19 - The last day on One Island

Powder was having a very confusing day.

First, she was called into a battle. Not any battle, but the one her trainer and Aria had been talking so much about. The eevee told her how this snow haired trainer had disrespected Celeste, and she told her it was their job to make things right. The vulpix didn't understand that very well, but Aria was the smartest pokémon Powder knew, so she must be right.

Then, when she looked at the opposing pokémon, it was another Aria. From there, things got even more confusing. Powder didn't attack, but the other eevee fell down anyway, and an annoyingly hot pokémon replaced her.

Something in the vulpix stirred when she saw the fire bug. A primal urge to fight, to summon the hail and freeze the world around her. What she felt was so powerful she didn't even care about the fire hitting her. She just needed to reach a little further, and she knew something would change.

Yet, Celeste told her to go to her ball instead of attacking.

When she was let out again, they were in the pokémon centre. The nurse sprayed some medicine on her, but she was not taken in like Aria and Pat.

Once more, she was treated differently than her older brother and sister.

At least this time, she got to be with Celeste. Being hugged so tightly by the best person she knew was enough to make her happy again.

"How are your pokémon?" a boy with a coal coloured hair asked. The vulpix did not recognise him, but it seemed his trainer did.

"Powder is good, she just needed a burn heal," Celeste said as she took a sit. They were in the place humans gathered to eat. "Pat and Aria will have to stay overnight for some extra rest, but they are fine."

There was sadness in the girl's voice.

The little vulpix wriggled around in her trainer's arms until she could see Celeste's face. Their eyes met, and she saw shades of a tear forming in the corners of the girl's eyes. She asked what was wrong, but that didn't seem to work. She only got petted in return.

"And how are you?" It was Delia who spoke this time, voicing Powder's own concerns.

"I'm great," Celeste answered, sinking into the chair together with her pokémon. Her hug tightened, and she rested her cheek on the puffs on the vulpix's head. "Hey who is hungry? Let's eat something."

Powder made herself comfortable. Ever since she was an egg, she remembered wanting to be with her mother. Of course, her mother was another back then. But when she came into the harsh, cold world, it was Celeste's warm smile that greeted her. It was funny. She hated warmth, and yet she could not live without her trainer's.

"Dude, every time I see you, you are hungry," the boy said.

"This is the second time we meet, Luan," Celeste muttered, shifting in her sit. Finally, giving Powder more room to move. "Why are you even here?"

"Dunno. You girls are fun." Luan shrugged while his cheeks blushed. "You know, when I saw you were having a public battle, I got psyched. Figured I could challenge you. But, dude, I am super scared of battling you now."

The vulpix perked up at the boy's words. She let out a loud bark to tell him to go ahead. Her battle before was strange, but this time it would be different. Something in her was about to awaken, and she just needed the opportunity to let it.

Celeste somehow sank even more in her chair. "Please, don't."

"Cee…" Delia reached out across the large table to her friend's hand.

"Guys, I'm okay with losing. I just…" the girl bit her lips and shot another guilty look to Powder. "I'm angry because I messed up… I shouldn't have sent—"

She didn't finish her sentence, and for a while, the three humans kept quiet. The little vulpix was not sure what was going on, but her Celeste was sadder now. She snuggled her snout on the girl's shoulder to let her know she wanted to move, and, as soon as she could, she licked her trainer's cheek.

It will all be ok. The vulpix said, in a language no human could ever hope to understand. In response, Celeste shone her big honey eyes at her. She blinked fast, lost in some distant thought, but said nothing.

"We have some news," Luan yelled, abruptly breaking the silence.

"We…?" Celeste's eyes trailed from Luan to Delia as she let out a silent laugh.

"Yeah! We are all going to spend more time together on Four Island," he tried explaining. "And it will be great for your vulpix."

"Luan!" Delia elbowed him. "Let me tell it to her first."

Celeste was staring at the two, so Powder did the same. Everything seemed lighter now, which made Powder instantly like Four Island, whatever this was.

"Well… there is going to be this ice festival on Four Island and Olga asked me to go with her," she said, but quickly added, "She said she will pay extra, too."

"Dude, you are greedy!" Luan joked. "Anyway, we were thinking we could all go to the festival together."

Celeste snorted. "Thanks for the invite, guys, but I think I'll pass. Somehow, I don't see Olga taking me along for a trip."

Delia rolled her eyes. "Ferry tickets to other islands are not that expensive. Besides… show her Luan."

The boy produced a flyer and placed in on the table. The words Ice Fall Festival were written in big, round orange letters. Powder could not read, of course, but she jumped on the table to look at it, anyway. In the middle of the paper was a cute illustration of several pokémon bursting out of a giant pumpkin. She recognised a lapras and a vanilite.

Celeste picked up the flyer and turned it around. "Arts and Crafts, Ice Princess beauty contest, Pumkaboo night, Snowflake Cup and much more," she read, both trying and failing to make her voice emotionless. "So, is this an autumn festival or an ice festival? "

"Both," Delia said, with a knowing look. "Apparently there is this place there called Icefall Cave, where many ice types live. According to Olga, the entire economy of Four Island is based on it. So once a year, they make a festival in honour of the ice pokémon… or something like that. "

"Got it," Celeste laughed. "They are punny."

Powder was not sure what a festival was, but she liked the sound of this one. Not only it was making Celeste happier, but it was also for ice pokémon like her.

"I know you loved it." Delia said while gesturing to the vulpix standing on the table. "Besides, we think it will be perfect for you two."

"Yeah!" Luan jumped in. "There will be lots of ice type specialists and even a tournament. It is a perfect opportunity for you to train your vulpix!"

Powder's eyes shone with excitement. She repeatedly cried yes as she jumped around, wiggling her tail. As usual, people stopped to say how cute she was. Celeste seemed perfectly content to show her pokémon off, but the vulpix tried to keep the focus on the flyer. She liked to play cute, but this was more important. This was the first time in her short life she was truly excited to do something.

"Right…" Celeste said, averting her eyes from everyone, but mostly from Powder. "Well… I don't think we should waste money on this… We can't stay here forever…"

"I wouldn't mind staying longer," Delia said, and grinned as Powder barked in agreement. "And I think she is already more than onboard."

"What are you talking about?" Luan asked, annoyingly changing the subject.

"We got stuck here. It's a long story." Delia said.

"Huh…" Luan scratched the back of his neck. "I told you I was travelling around with my cousin, right?"

Delia nodded.

"Guess I didn't mention we are sailing, huh?" The boy blushed again. "We are going to check the festival and then probably go back to Kanto straight away."

"Are you saying what I think you are saying?" Celeste blurted before he even finished.

"Mia thinks it saves money if our transportation can double as our house. So we actually have plenty of space if you guys want a ride," the boy said with a nod. "I need to ask her, of course. But like I told Delia, Mia got promoted and will stay around Kanto for a while. Since we are just going home after this, I know she won't mind."

Celeste laughed, and for a while she did not stop.

"Well, Four Island, here we go," she finally said, while scooping Powder from the table into another hug. The vulpix tilted her head, trying to understand what was going on.

This had been a very confusing day indeed.

—*—*—

Patrick moved slowly through the sand. The slowpoke needed to be careful not to drop the huge basket attached to his back. That was what his human asked him to do, after all. And she was happy when she said it, which made him happy, too.

He slowly looked up at Celeste and saw not her face, but a big paper bag. She was hugging it with her two very long arms and shifting it up every time it slipped, which happened constantly. At least that made her walk slowly.

Pat liked his human, but she was too fast sometimes. Fast words, fast tangled thoughts, fast walking. He liked it best when they were in the same rhythm.

"Here you go," his trainer said, placing the bag in a plaided blanket. The light of day was fading and Celeste shivered as the breeze blew from the ocean. How would the human survive the winter with so little fat?

"Where is Delia?" the dark-haired boy asked. He was crouched by some logs, doing the ritual humans did to summon fire. Pat did not understand it very well. Fire pokémon could make fire as simply as he could make water. But humans were mysterious in their ways. "I thought you two would come together."

Celeste petted the slowpoke's snout, in the place he loved the most, before picking up the basket. "Thanks, buddy. I wouldn't be able to carry that all by myself," she said before turning to the boy again. "When I left, she was battering the cake mix. Should be done by now."

"I hope she gets here soon…" the boy muttered, as embers finally started dancing around the logs.

Close to the boy, on one end of the blanket, was the munna who the humans called Rev. He didn't know the boy or his pokémon very well. But Rev seemed like a kindred spirit, so he plodded closer.

"Well, she wanted to make our farewell party special. Apparently that involves home-baked cake, and being late," the slowpoke could hear his trainer say. "I can't believe tomorrow we are finally leaving One Island."

Pat greeted the munna, who barely lifted his trunk in response. He was standing by some device that was playing music and his body was shaking with the beating sounds. The slowpoke thought the munna's behaviour was peculiar. He thought about inviting Rev to take a nap, but somehow felt embarrassed to do so. Strangely, he had never felt embarrassed to invite Powder, or even Aria, to take a nap before.

"Fairy lights, Luan?" Celeste laughed in the distance. "How romantic."

The munna floated closer to Pat and poked him, gesturing to the sound making box. The beating changed to something happier and Rev changed his motions immediately to match the new rhythm. He moved his little trunk up and around as if he was commanding the sounds.

The slowpoke only stared for a while.

"I just want to make our party nice," Luan said as he approached the pokémon. He placed a string of small lights over the sound device and around the blanket they were standing in.

"Riiight…" Celeste said, laughing, as she finished organising their picnic. In front of her there was a plate of french fries and a green sauce that the slowpoke was weirdly attracted to.

Rev poked Pat and once more gestured to the music device. His movements, as he did so, were more pronounced. There seemed to be a silent agreement between the pokémon not to talk over the music, but that was never an impediment to a psychic. Or at least, not to most…

Join me.

The slowpoke slowly looked around, unsure of what to do. Then, for good measure, he looked around once more. It was only when the music changed again, this time to something slower, that Pat decided he was going to move around too. He beat his tail on the floor once, and then, almost instinctively, he beat it again and again, in a tempo all of his own.

"Is your slowpoke… dancing?" Luan asked, amused.

Celeste stood by the boy's side and studied her pokémon for a while. Pat could feel his trainer's happiness as well as his own.

"I guess we are having a dance party."

After another music change, the slowpoke felt daring, so he moved his head too. The munna in front of him went along and moved his head and his little legs along his new friend.

"He is not very good at following the beat though, is he?" It was Delia who asked. By her feet was the mysterious Shelly. Pat wasn't allowed near her, unfortunately. Most of the times they couldn't even be out of their pokéballs at the same time.

"D-Delia?" Luan was startled at the girl's sudden arrival. "H-how is it going?"

Celeste giggled as she took the cake from Delia's hands and placed it on the blanket. She then sat near her dancing slowpoke and the munna.

"You guys rock," she said, petting both pokémon. Her attention was elsewhere, however. From the corner of her eyes, she seemed to observe her two friends intently. "What do you say we make this a proper party?"

With those words, the trainer released Powder and Aria. Luan followed her and let Lulu and Menace out as well.

"Behave," she said, standing up to give space for the other pokémon.

The eevee instantly noticed the pokémon dancing and started to laugh. Nearby, Menace, the hoothoot who was pecking at Luan's head, flew over to check the commotion out. She perched herself on Aria's head and curiously asked if the slowpoke was trying to squish something with his tail.

We are dancing. The lunatone answered, as it rhythmically spun around towards the two pink blobs. And you are missing out.

The hoothoot laughed. Pokémon like you are not made for dancing, the owl said in her high-pitched voice. Aria agreed with a smirk, but the slowpoke was not intimidated. The eevee, he had learned, was always searching for a good laugh and didn't always remember to be considerate toward others. Still, she was a good pokémon most of the time.

As the music changed, Pat and the other two psychics changed their dance once more. Now he tried dancing by tapping his front legs up and down. He was discovering a whole new world of experimentation and fun.

After another mean joke from the hoothoot, and a subdued laugh from Aria, Pat noticed Shelly opening and closing her shell. She was as awkward as the trio of psychics and seemed to be having just as much fun.

She is really getting out of her shell, Aria chuckled, shaking the hoothoot from her head. The owl whistled in annoyance when the eevee asked the curious vulpix if she ever danced before. And when she shook her head, Aria wiggled her tail up. Come on, Pat can teach us his moves.

The eevee shrugged when the other pokémon looked at her suspiciously. But was taken in as soon as they all realised she made as much fun of herself as she made of the others. She instructed Powder to move her tail back and forth while she over-excitedly jumped around way too fast for the ballad playing.

When the music changed once more, Pat observed the hoothoot. The owl was anxiously circling above them in the air, her little feet bending and her wings flapping with every beat. She would sometimes dare to get close, but as soon as any glanced over to her, she would sneer and fly higher.

She was having fun in her own way.

"Wanna dance with me?" Celeste asked, slowly approaching her pokémon. She was radiating excitement, but beneath the surface, there was worry and fear.

Pat blinked at her as he processed her words. Yes, he would like to dance with his trainer.

The girl laughed as he nodded and picked him up. He was heavy for her, but she seemed not to care as she spun around with him, failing to match the beating of the music. In the distance, the other two humans were laughing. She laughed too.

"Pat, thanks for making things so fun."

—*—*—

Aria waited below the earth, carefully listening in on the movements of the enemy up ahead. Her ears twitched as she heard soft steps above. In response to the sound, she stiffened the muscles of her hind legs and got ready for a quick dig out.

The world moved in a blur as she unleashed her combination onto her opponent. It was a perfect hit. The enemy eevee, Mag, got tossed around like a helpless toy.

Perfect, she hissed as Mag hit the ground, already fainted. Rey cursed Aria for being such a powerful eevee and promised never to underestimate her or her human again.

"No one should underestimate the greatest eevee in the world," Olga said as her vanilite handed over a giant trophy to Aria.

The proud eevee looked back at her trainer, but Celeste's smile was quickly replaced by a gasp.

The pokémon opened her eyes in alert. Her beautiful dream replaced by the dark pokémon centre bedroom where her human sat on the bed with heavy breathing and a hand placed over her mouth.

Their eyes met. The girl seemed apologetical for having woken Aria up, but the eevee was only worried. This was the second time this week Cee had woken up like that.

Aria jumped out of bed, making sure she was quiet enough not to wake Powder up, and Celeste followed her pokémon out of the room.

"Vee?" Aria asked if it was the tentacool again. She felt guilty she wasn't there to help her trainer when the water type almost drowned her.

"I don't remember…" Celeste moved past her eevee. The human placed a hand on the wall to feel her way around the dark pokémon centre corridor. "I guess I'm just nervous about us leaving in the morning."

Aria gently tackled her trainer's leg. Talk to me, the eevee urged, which gave Celeste pause.

The girl kneeled by her eevee and showed her a bright coin. "Help me find the vending machine and I'll buy us chocolate."

She wouldn't be arguing about a late-night snacking, much less about chocolate. So the eevee, ever thankful for not having to deal with shitty human eyes, did as the girl asked and found her way towards the centre's lobby.

"There it is!" Celeste beamed as they walked into the empty room. The outside street-lights shone through the windows and glass doors, but the silence around was unnerving. It reminded Aria too much of the time she lived in the streets and went scavenging for food at ungodly hours. She wondered if there would be another predator around.

Celeste looked outside as she handed Aria a piece of the chocolate. "Feeling nostalgic?"

The eevee huffed and tackled her trainer's leg in response. However, before she could yank the chocolate away, her ears twitched as she heard a crackling sound.

The trainer studied her eevee with a curious expression. "What is wrong?"

Aria closed her eyes and listened more carefully. The sound of nails tapping in metal… A pokémon whose paws weren't as soft as hers was around.

Quietly, the eevee walked over to an air-duct, and listened again.

Tap, tap, tap, thump.

"I heard that!" the trainer said. The thump was loud enough for a human to hear. The pokémon who entered the centre would be on alert now.

Aria tackled Celeste's leg gesturing for her to follow along. Before long, both were walking through the pitch black corridors once more.

"The kitchen," Celeste whispered, pointing to a faint light in a corner. Aria nodded. Once upon a time, that had been her life. Where else would a hungry pokémon go?

The eevee went in ahead. She understood the struggles of living on the streets, but she would not underestimate how dangerous pokémon could become when in desperation. If there was danger, she would be there to protect Celeste.

She jumped into the kitchen, ready for a fight. But all she saw was an opened refrigerator and a jar of jam spilling on the floor.

"There is nothing here," the trainer said, tiptoeing inside and closing the refrigerator's door. Aria nodded. There was nothing there… not anymore.

But a clue pointed the eevee forward. A small footprint made of strawberry jam followed by lighter and smeared footprints that disappeared right before the cafeteria's door.

Both the trainer and pokémon walked together into the cafeteria. Aria knew the pokémon would be around the area, and she suspected they would be aggressive. In the lack of clues, the eevee turned to her senses again. Even if there were careful about sounds, they would not be able to hide the smell of strawberry jam.

She sniffed and picked up the fruity trail leading to a cupboard. The big door had a slight opening, which was good news. The pokémon inside could not be too big. She approached the door, ready to jump to her prey, and, in doing so, failed to notice the scout on the side.

The quick purple blur darted past her, surely looking for an easier target.

"Let go," Celeste hissed from behind the eevee as she violently shook her leg. The rattata biting her drew some blood before it let go.

Aria was furious. This coward rat preferred attacking her human than having a real fight?

Before the rattata could recompose itself, the eevee shot a Swift in its face. To her surprise, it fainted instantly.

The pokémon huffed in triumph, but Celeste didn't seem as pleased. "We have a problem."

The hinges of the cupboard door squeaked as it slowly opened and the faint light from outside made only the large incisors visible at first.

Aria jumped in front of her trainer and growled before any pokémon could attack her again. Two more ratatta tried jumping on them, but both trainer and pokémon dodged.

"Quick Attack!" Her human was also all ready for a battle. In such a short time, she had come a long way.

The eevee nodded and launched herself toward the first rat and used the impact to propel herself to the second. Neither pokémon had time to react, and they both fainted as quickly as the first.

Finally, the big boss showed up, an angry raticate with hungry eyes. The pokémon chattered its teeth as dark energy formed around its mouth. Before long, it jumped towards Aria, ready for a bite.

The eevee was faster, though. She dodged it just in time for the human's voice to reach her. "Use Swift. If you do it point-blank, it will do more damage."

Aria didn't waste time. The raticate was closing in again, ready to bite. So she shot her stars right in its wide open mouth. The enemy squeaked but fainted.

"You are getting stronger," Celeste petted her partner before turning to the fainted mouse pokémon. "These poor pokémon… They just wanted food but got a beating instead…"

Aria could not help but snort. But before she could try to tell Celeste that this is what life was like, the girl had already vanished back into the kitchen. Only reappearing a few minutes later with a bowl filled with berries and a plate with their chocolate crunched into small pieces.

Of course, she was rewarding the thieves.

"Hey," she said softly as one of the rattata opened its eyes. "Want some fruit and chocolate?"

With another huff, Aria complained. She already was giving the pokémon berries. Did she also need to give away the chocolate?

"We had a picnic earlier today, and you stuffed yourself with cake." She tried to soothe Arias mood, but her attention was on the other two rattata who were now nibbling the chocolate. "You can live without more sweets."

The raticate got up and carefully approached the berries. It looked in confusion at the other mouse and the eevee, but soon was enjoying the food as well.

"I know you guys were hungry," the trainer said, bringing in confused looks towards her. "And steeling is better than starving, for sure. But not everyone will be understanding about that, you know?"

Celeste looked at her eevee for support, but Aria huffed once more.

"What I'm saying is that maybe you guys can find another way to get food?"

The four pokémon shook their heads violently.

"I don't mean you need to find a trainer," Celeste said, exchanging looks with Aria. Finding a trainer worked out for the eevee, but that was only because she connected to this human, and all her strange quirks. "But you can find other arrangements. I can talk to nurse Joy tomorrow. I'm sure she won't mind helping you out."

After another hefty bite of an oran berry, the raticate looked at the other pokémon, still unsure, but nodded.

For a moment Aria thought about making a joke about never trusting a rat, and while the pokémon got outraged, she could sneak in and get some chocolate. But Celeste was trying too hard to help these pokémon out, so she barked to support her trainer instead.

"Great!" The girl jumped up and gestured to the messy cupboard. "But if you want me to make your case to nurse Joy, we gotta clean that up."

Aria snorted as the pokémon nodded once more. Back when she was the one raiding pokémon centres, she wouldn't have sold herself to the humans for so little…

Well… maybe to Celeste, she would have.

As the eevee followed her trainer and the raticate, the blue light of morning timidly lit up the area, casting faint shadows around the still dark room. Aria yawned, realising there would be no more sleep for them.

And that is when the strangest thing happened. Celeste's shadow blinked.

With wide eyes, Aria looked closely at it once more.

"Come on Aria, you are helping too," the trainer called, and the eevee, deciding to pay no mind to a trick of the light, ran to her human's side.

A/N:

Sooo this chapter is a little different. :D

It kind of started out as a normal one to be honest, but I wasn't happy with it. So, I figured it could be fun to try writing it from Cee's pokémon PoV. And, well, I already had two sort of little stories from her pokémon PoV and it just made sense to add a third (that is why the chapter is bigger).

This is not a thing I'll be doing often, but I had fun with my little experiment, and I think it actually helped to develop the pokémon a bit more. So who knows, might do it again in the future.

Anyway, the next chapter is back to Celeste as she has a very annoying trip to Four Island. I'll try to post it on the weekend. (Gotta finish a paper too, but I think I can manage both) :)

NEXT CHAPTER: Four Hours to Four Island