Seventeen: The Hunt Begins
Elaina woke up cuddled up next to Penny in her own dorm room. She grabbed Rotom from its charging pad and checked the time. 8:00 in the morning, fuck why am I so tired? There was a pause, then a thought echoed through her head. That's my fault. We went out clubbin' Elaina paused for a second, then decided to engage the voice. Who are you? She thought as she wrapped her arms around her sleeping girlfriend.
I'm Amara. I'm your headmate. It seems like you can hear me now. Do you have any memories of last night? Elaina tried to conjure up where she'd been or what she had done, but it was too hazy. It's like looking at an undeveloped Polaroid. She thought to Amara. Penny stirred and sat up. "Good morning, you two. Who woke up this morning?" Elaina sat up next to her. "It's Elaina. Did you and the Goon Squad go out clubbing with my body?" Penny sighed. "Yeah, it sucked. Amara made like two thousand Poké selling someone a Balm Mushroom as a drug though, so we all got ice cream."
What the hell, Amara? Elaina thought as she turned to Penny. "But it's my body. Why does she get to use it?" It's my body too, Elaina. Came the voice in Elaina's head. "It's not just your body. You have someone you share it with. The body belongs to you both." Penny told her. Elaina shook her head and went to get a glass of water.
And yeah, if you check your account, I made like two thousand or so Poké off of that mushroom. I didn't tell Penny it is a drug if you heat it up. Elaina let out a whimper. Penny had stood to reveal a pair of sleep pants and an oversized tee shirt. "So she fell asleep next to you?" she looked down to her own body to reveal one of her pairs of shorts and her own oversized tee shirt. "I guess so." Elaina drained her glass of water and checked her email.
Elaina,
I had to make an impromptu trip to Orre, I've attached my recommended order of gyms for you, since they don't build teams based on your badge count like they do in literally every other league. Good luck on your first week of independent study. Kick all kinds of ass and catch 'em all.
Mr. Vaughn
She shrugged and sat Rotom on the counter. "Is this going to strain our relationship at all?" she asked Penny. Penny shook her head and pulled Elaina into a deep kiss. "Guess that's as thorough of an answer as I need." She hugged Penny and went to change her clothes. As soon as Penny and Elaina had dressed, there was a knock at the bathroom door. "Yo, 'Layna, 'Mara, Penny. Can I come in?" Elaina opened the bathroom door to find Nemona, who quickly stepped into the room. "Hey, 'Layna, how are you two feeling after last night?" Elaina shook her head. "I feel fine, aside from the gap in my memory." I'm working on that. Amara's voice echoed through their head.
"Yeah, 'Mara mentioned that would happen." She shrugged and turned to Penny. "Are you all ready for our first day of independent study?" Penny nodded and Elaina grabbed her bag. "Let's hit the road, everyone. Are we grabbing Arven and Trish on our way out?" Nemona nodded. "Trish is at the door waiting for Arven, Allie is throwing on a bra right now, she'll be here soon."
"I'm right here, Nemona." Allie stepped through the bathroom door. "I hope I was good to come in. The door was open." She gave a sheepish grin. "Morning, Penny, Morning 'Layna and 'Mara." Elaina smiled at her. "Now let's get our asses in gear. I'm going on a survey." The four of them headed out of the building. After they met with Trish and Arven, the crew got a quick round of breakfast sandwiches from the dining hall and headed out the front gate and down the Great Staircase. Elaina pulled up the recommended order of the gyms that Mr. Vaughn had sent over. "So, Cortando looks like my first stop." She told the group as she opened up her map. What about you, Arven?"
"I'm heading in the complete opposite direction. Locals have reported a gigantic Klawf crawling around the cliffs in the east province. I'm going over there to check it out." He pulled out his map app and sent the data to Elaina. "In case you want to stop in and lend a hand." Elaina turned to Allie. "I'll be down in South Province. There's apparently a sealed door in one of the cliffsides down there. I need to figure out what's going on." She sent Elaina the map data as well, then the group arrived at Mesagoza plaza. Trish bid the group farewell and headed toward the east gate. Arven made his way to the west gate, and Allie toward the south gate. Nemona, Penny, and Elaina were left in the plaza.
"I'm actually on my way to Artazon," Penny mumbled. "An old friend of mine is up around there." She pulled out her phone and sent map data to Elaina. "Meet me around these places and we'll meet my friends." She said as she made her way toward the east gate. That left Elaina and Nemona.
"I can head toward Cortando with you if you want. After all, I am hopeful that you'll turn out to be the rival I'm looking for." Nemona suggested, and the two girls made their way toward the west gate. Give 'em hell, 's voice echoed in her head. As the two walked out of the gate, Elaina let Miraidon out of its Pokéball, and the two girls hopped on and rode out.
They arrived to Cortando in about thirty minutes. As they arrived, Elaina and Nemona climbed off Miraidon and Elaina returned it to its ball. "Alright, I'm guessing that tall, square building is the gym." She pulled her map out to double check. "Yep, cool. I'll be inside registering for the gym challenge." She walked toward the building and Nemona waved her farewell.
As Elaina entered the gym and got her registration forms filled out, she let her mind start to wander. "Alright, now you'll need to pass our Gym Test. When you're ready to start, head up to the olive court northwest of town. You'll find it there, and our staff member will go over the rules. Good luck." The receptionist filed Elaina's form and she did as instructed, following the directions to the northeast.
"Your challenge is to roll this olive balloon into that goal within sixty seconds." The staff member told Elaina. "Watch out for obstacles and Fidough. They'll really set you back." Elaina looked to the man, then at the olive court, and smiled. "Yeah, I got this. Let's get it set up?" She asked, and the staff member blew his whistle.
"Alright, proceed to the starting zone and we'll get the ball rolling." He paused for a second. "Ah, ah, ball rolling. It was funny." Elaina rolled her eyes and made her way to the starting zone. Good call, Elaina. Another minute and he might have warned you not to let the challenge go to the dogs. Amara's voice echoed. By Uxie, I hate puns so much. "That much we agree on, I guess." Elaina muttered as the olive balloon was delivered. The staff member blew his whistle, and the contest was on.