Chapter 13 - Rey of Sunshine

The night was quiet and a pleasant breeze blew from the ocean while Cee and Aria strolled through the Moltres Promenade. They were going to meet Rey by the Ice Boutique soon. Yet, she was unsure of how she was feeling.

The boy was cute, but really, did she care? She met many cute boys and girls before. There might have even been a stolen kiss once. This moment in her life, however, was not about romance. And especially not about romance with Olga's son. The woman creeped her out.

That is why she refused to go out on a date with Rey. At least she did at first.

But then she got fired, stormed off, and got stalked by the very persistent boy. He insisted she had to go out with him. That it was the least he could do after what happened in the Ice Boutique. At some point, after he told her dinner was on him, Celeste caved in, and said yes. Then she became nervous about going on a date. Until, finally, she calmed down and got excited.

Well, not excited. More like, mildly amused by the prospect of a free dinner… with a tall boy with a beautiful smile.

Not that she cared.

What Celeste really cared about was that too much had gone wrong this week, and she was done. She was done with being useless and getting into trouble all the time. It was great that Delia got to keep her job, but she was not leaving her friend to do all the working while she did nothing the whole day. She wanted to be a trainer, right? So it was time to actually do some training. The new plan was the old plan. She was going to become stronger and have battles and get money. This was her one focus going forward, and nothing else was distracting her.

That was what this date was truly about.

Rey was a strong trainer, so she was asking him for help. Maybe they could train together, or if it was too much, she could ask him for battling tips.

A free dinner, battle tips and a new (boy) friend. It was perfect.

Taking a deep breath, Celeste looked at her reflection in a window. The 'lost and found' box of the pokémon centre had been quite the treasure trove. She found a cute blue dress that went well with the fluffy vest that somehow survived its time tucked in the lifeboat. She was quite glad to be out of her dirty and torn sea clothes. And well, she might not care for romance. But she wanted to look pretty on her date.

Cee smiled at Aria, who was marching diligently by her side.

Would Rey find it weird that she brought her eevee to their date?

Well, she tried putting Aria back in her ball like Pat and Powder, but after a few tackles, the eevee made her point clear. She wasn't too happy about the whole dating thing, but was coming along regardless.

"Eeev." Aria gestured unenthusiastically to the boy walking towards them.

Rey's walk was slow, and he shone his smooth smile and greeted every passerby. His friendliness would be cute if not a bit unsettling. Yet Celeste couldn't put into words why she thought that. It was probably just her imagination, though. Most people were smiling back at him, anyway. Some were complimenting him for some battle they had watched, and others were talking about his mother's ice cream business.

When he stopped by Celeste, she noticed his red shirt was different from the one he wore in the afternoon. The reds were darker, and it had a polka dot pattern. Like before, the shirt was still tucked in the white shorts. And, even though it was night, his luxury sunglasses were still hanging from his collar.

"For the prettiest lady on the entire island," the boy said with his musical voice, handing her a single sunflower.

"H-hey." Celeste blushed as she took the flower. "Thanks, this is lovely."

Rey smiled at his date, then moved in closer to hold her hand. Before he could take a step, however, the eevee jumped in the way and growled at the boy.

"Aria!" Celeste scolded. "Behave."

Rey arched his eyebrows and then let out a laugh. Celeste twitched a bit with the sound. But looking at his smile… it brightened up the night.

"Not everyone knows how to discipline their pokémon properly," he said with his distracting musical voice. "If you want, I can give you a few tips later."

Tips? Already?

Things were going better than she expected. She couldn't help but smile back at him. He would give her tips and training advice. Or even tell her how to beat an ivysaur. That was an evolved pokémon.

Imagine that? Beating evolved pokémon. Well, she beat a gyarados, but still.

"… we are from Four Island, but mother takes me all over when she is researching ice cream flavours. Anyway, what do you think?"

"Huh?" Celeste had got so excited about the prospect of training with Rey and battling with an ivysaur that she spaced out for a moment. How rude.

"Paldean restaurant?" he asked charmingly as the couple turned onto one of the narrow side streets. "Oh, of course, you must have never heard of it."

Celeste blinked at him for a moment.

"Pal-dea," the boy started, forcing some sort of accent. "Is a region in the west. Not the best one I have been to, but the food can be good."

The girl tilted her head for a bit. "Yeah, Paldea is—"

"Pal-dea…" He cut her off, stressing out the syllables. "Anyway, they have this delicious dish called a tort-illa. It's one of their staples."

Seriously? Celeste thought.

"I would say it is a lot like an omelette," Rey continued explaining, not giving time for his girl to mutter a word. "Of course, the ones in Pal-dea are much better than the ones in here… I suppose they have fresher eggs… I took part in a tournament there once, you know? Did very well too. Almost made into the finals."

"It's made with potatoes," Celeste muttered. Her grandad was Paldean, and he used to work at a restaurant. Plus, if there was something she loved, it was tasty food. This conversation should be right in her comfort zone… right?

Well, not right.

Not with the way Rey was looking at her. As soon as she finished saying potato, Rey's smile vanished. He held his head up and looked down at her. Well, he was taller. Even so, his gaze made Celeste shiver. She still could not put it into words why. But it felt… uncomfortable?

"Ah… tournament, huh?" She tried changing the topic of conversation. "You must be a really strong trainer if you got almost to the finals."

As if a light switch had been turned, the boy's sunny smile returned. And it was even brighter this time. Rey loved to talk about his many accomplishments as a pokémon trainer. Be it a tournament in Paldea, or the time he beat a very menacing walrein. It didn't take long for him to flash out his two Kanto badges.

"They are called the Boulder and Cascade badge. I won against incredibly powerful gym leaders. But neither was a match for me," Rey gloated. "Of course, I would have many more already if mother didn't make me come home so often to help with her business. But she needs a business savvy man to help her out, so here I am."

Barely registering what he was saying about Olga, Celeste marvelled at the badges. She had told Surge she would try the gyms, but she never had a lot of conviction. But seeing the badges was different, it made the gyms more real. Could she train to be strong enough to win against gym leaders? They were supposed to be the strongest trainers in the region. Even more so, they were leaders, mentors, and even heroes. Tasked with guiding and protecting the local population. An inspiration to all. Getting one badge must be hard… but two?

The girl beamed at Aria, who was walking closer to her than usual. She imagined the bright lights she had seen back at the Hammerlocke gym flashing in her eyes. On the battlefield, her best partner would battle for the Boulder badge. Well… it wouldn't be a Boulder badge in Hammerlocke, but that was the only gym she ever bothered visiting in person. It didn't matter, though. Whatever the gyms in Kanto were like, however strong the gym leaders were, it would be amazing to battle for badges.

Would Rey want to train together next time they went out? That would be fun.

The boy cleared his throat, calling his date's attention. Once more, he had the same intense glare and once more Celeste felt uncomfortable. This time, he had only one eyebrow up. As if he was demanding some sort of explanation… To what, though?

Celeste glanced at the eevee. "I was just thinking about how awesome it will be once me, Aria and the rest of our team, start getting gym badges."

Rey snorted. "You and your pet? Getting badges?"

The eevee let out a sharp hiss. But Celeste stopped her pokémon from misbehaving. They had just got to the cutest restaurant, and Aria was not causing a scene.

The small restaurant was in the corner of a narrow street lit up by some pinkish lamps that made the atmosphere cosy and romantic. Much like the region it was trying to emulate, the inside of the restaurant had only a counter and a few tables were cluttered in the little space the street offered. Maybe it was the lack of space, but the place looked packed. There were almost no free tables left.

A friendly looking waiter squeezed his way through the clutter of tables, followed by a pink, long-necked bird.

"Hola flamigos!" he greeted with a grin so wide that Celeste couldn't help but join in. Then he gestured to a small table in the corner. "Table for two love-tandemaus?"

The girl giggled. This place was too perfect. If she brought her family in, would they be offered a maushold table?

"Hey Rey," she started, "this place is so—?"

But when Celeste looked at her date, he had turned his back to both her and the attendant and was gesturing to a bigger table by a lamp. The table seemed more spacious than the others, and it would be nice not to be cramped in the corner. Even so, the restaurant was full and that table would suit better a larger group.

"You should know I always sit here," the boy said, wrinkling his nose.

The man's face got as pink as his flamigo for a moment. Yet, Celeste refrained herself from arguing and just looked at the waiter and his pokémon apologetically. It was just a table and not really worth an argument, right?

"Gracias, flamigos!" she smiled shyly at the man as she petted the pink bird.

After a chirp from the flamigo, the man lightened up again and gleefully led Celeste to the table Rey had chosen.

"Una botella de agua, por favor?" the girl asked, smiling at their Paldean server. She knew everyone spoke the common language. But also, her parents always taught her how good it felt to use your native tongue. Especially when you were far away from home.

As the man and pokémon left, Rey huffed. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. For an instant, he looked just like his mother. "Are you trying to show off?"

"W-what?"

"I'm offering you a chance to be my date, and you are trying to make me look bad."

The eevee, picking on the situation, let out a quiet growl.

"I brought you out to a nice dinner, and I even offered to pay." He fiddled with his luxury sunglasses as he stressed the word pay. "The very least you should do is look pretty and not embarrass yourself like that."

The girl could only blink at the boy. Did she miss something? He couldn't be implying…?

"It's an opportunity for you, my dear. I am a big deal in these islands, as I'm sure you noticed. And I'll be an even bigger deal once I'm champion."

Aria, who jumped in Celeste's lap, had her gaze fixated on the boy.

Rey took a deep breath. "Look, I'm not even complaining about this cheap ass dress you are wearing, because you are pretty and that is only our first date. But really, no more poor attempts at speaking Paldean."

"Spanish," Celeste said dryly.

"What?"

"Paldea is the region. Spanish is the language," she explained.

"What are you talking about?" Rey said under his breath as the friendly waiter came back with the water.

"I'm showing off, I suppose," Celeste answered with all the calm in the world. Then, forcing a smile, she turned to the waiter. "Gracias."

Turning back to Rey, she kept smiling.

"What do you think you are doing?" He clenched his jaws and glared at the little eevee, who was outright growling at him now. "Would you please take that untrained pet—. "

"She is trained," Celeste cut in, scratching Aria's ears. "I trained her."

Ray scoffed. "Of course you did, dear. I'm sure you have a lot of badges too, don't you?"

Celeste shrugged. "I haven't started collecting them yet."

The boy smiled menacingly. "Well, what a shame. How can I really believe you are a good trainer if you don't have a single little badge?"

The girl held on to her eevee. She felt her body wanting to tremble. But she was not losing her composure now. That is how you deal with this sort of people.

"I know!" the boy started saying in an unsettling tone. "If you are such a great trainer, Ce-les-te, then let's have a battle."

She choked. Aria growled louder.

"F-fine," Celeste tried to put on her bravado. How the hell would she beat him?

Picking up on the situation, Aria tensed her body. She was ready for any fight.

Wait, who was Aria going to fight?

When the trainer noticed her eevee's motion, Aria had already hit Rey. That was a quick attack. A very quick attack. It would have been impressive if her opponent wasn't on the floor by a broken chair.

Celeste wanted to be worried about the human. But somehow she suspected he bruised his ego more than his body.

"Vaya! What are you two doing?" The friendly waiter showed up with his flamigo, who quickly picked Aria up before she could do anything else. Pokémon attacking humans was something people frowned upon. And well… the whole restaurant was frowning at them. "You two are not having a battle here. Vete!"

The boy snorted as Celeste picked Aria from the flamigo's beak. He stood up, cleaned his shirt, and checked on his sunglasses. "You and your untrained pet have no discipline. You better apologise while I still have some sympathy for you."

The girl didn't say a word. She was not apologising to him.

Rey narrowed his eyes, which seemed to glimmer with an idea. "Tell you what, dear. I'll give you another chance," he said. "I'll be on the island until the end of the next week. You have almost two weeks to decide if you want to battle me or apologise. If you make the right choice, I can still consider having you as my girlfriend."

"And why should she battle you? I'm sure the young lady has better uses for her time." It was the waiter that spoke up this time. He didn't like Rey at all.

"Because if she doesn't, I'll make sure mother fires her little friend."

Rey turned away to leave, ignoring all the stares on him. "It's your choice, my pretty Celeste. Make it a good one."

A/N:

I swear I didn't really plan to release thin on valentine's day! Hahahaha.

NEXT CHAPTER: Digging for Greatness