Maylene Gavali used to live in a nice house on the south end of town, until her dad lost the place due to gambling debts. They now lived in a two-storey danchi, and actually closer to where Nori lived. It was only fifteen or twenty minutes away by skateboard from the trailer park. The units had just enough living space to be comfortable, but there was no mistaking they were compact. They apparently had to get rid of a lot of their stuff and pack much of the rest into closets and storage rooms.
The small parking lot was fairly empty given the time of day. Nori stopped and looked over the brown and gray building. It wasn't much, but he'd love to live in one of these. Though little could match living in the Sunyshore Gym, he had his own room and everything. It was like a special mansion!
Maylene resided in an upper floor unit, 205. It was actually the fourth unit down, because people were crazy superstitious about the number four. Nori chuckled to himself as he thought about that; Qwilfish was his fourth Pokemon, and he wasn't scared! Well, not like that, anyway. He was about to pick up Pachi when the squirrel started to jump up the steps himself. With a nod of approval, he followed. Pachi already knew what the right door was, so he stood in front of it, his tail swishing as Nori knocked.
It took half a minute for him to get an answer. He heard the door unlatch, and as it opened, he was greeted by a balding man with unkempt pink hair. He was hairy and wearing a muscle shirt and sweatpants.
"Ah, it's you. Didn't say ya were comin' by," Mr. Gavali said, scratching his leg. Nori was never sure what to make of the guy. Maylene loved her dad a lot, and he did stuff like pay for her self-defense lessons. But other things like his hygiene made him wonder about the guy.
"Sorry, this was sort of thought up on the spot," he admitted, shuffling his feet. He leaned forward. "But it's okay if I can come in to see Maylene, right?"
"Yeah, sure," he conceded. "Just make sure your rat don't make a mess." Pachi squeaked a word, probably confused by being called a rodent.
Mr. Gavali turned and went back inside, not holding the door. Nori caught it before it shut, held it open for Pachi, and entered before locking it behind him. He took off his shoes out of courtesy and hung his black and dark green jacket on the coat rack before entering the living area.
His younger friend was lounging on the couch in front of the television. Her hair was pulled back into a single ponytail that curved slightly to the left. She was too engrossed in the show to notice him, which, judging by the explosions and hot-blooded shouting, was probably a mecha anime.
"Maylene," he called to get her attention.
She turned her head. "Nori!" she said, sitting up and slapping a palm beside her. "This is good, come watch!"
He did so, even though he didn't understand a lick of what was happening besides it looking cool. The only reason he knew it was Gundam was because he saw it all the time at the manga cafe. He wasn't that well versed in pop culture; most of what he knew about came from his friends or what he randomly picked up.
Eventually, the show shifted to commercials, after which Maylene leaned back. "This is a brand-new series! It just started a couple weeks ago!"
"I see," he said. This was probably a rerun. He went to Daikatsu enough to know that new episodes of the series were out on Sundays.
"So what're you here for?" she asked, swinging her legs. "Just came to say hi?"
"That's part of it." He rolled his shoulders. "Actually, besides just hanging out for a bit, I was hoping I could use your bathtub. Or your pool if you still have it."
Maylene tilted her head. "Huh, don't you got a shower at home?"
"I do, but I need a bath for my Pokemon. And don't worry, it should be fine!"
"Oh, for your Qwilfish?" Nori felt the blood drain from his face and the air leave his lungs. She'd heard?! Mercifully, she nodded a second after. "Okay. But I gotta ask daddy. DADDY!" Nori winced at she shouted louder than the people on the show. "Can Nori use the bathtub?"
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled from his room. Nori arched an eyebrow, more than a little perturbed at the ease, until he said, "Just don't make a mess."
That was a given. He gave his friend a quick hug of appreciation. "Thanks. You guys eaten?" He glanced at the clock.
"Just breakfast at eight. Daddy hasn't cooked yet."
"Then I'll make lunch when I'm done." He was hungry too.
Maylene returned his gesture and hugged him right back. "Thanks! But be quick, Gundam'll be back on soon!"
He laughed. "We'll see."
The bathroom in Maylene's place was super compact. There was enough space in the beige-walled room for one person in the entrance room, two if you squeezed or sat on the sink counter. Sliding open the door to the tub itself revealed that it wasn't much better. It was full size, but there was just over a meter of space beside it. Not a lot of room if Qwilfish decided to attack. But it would have to do.
He twisted the knob, and the tub started to slowly fill with cold water. Pachi pressed his paws to the wall and discharged. Then he jumped in. Nori flinched as stray droplets splashed his dark blue jeans.
"Was that really necessary?" he asked, putting his hands on his hips and talking like his mom did. Pachi usually cleaned himself like any common squirrel, with dirt baths, licking himself, or spitting into his hands and rubbing them over his body.
His Pokemon, who was rolling around to soak himself, stood at his scolding. He whined and bowed his head. He waded to the edge to climb out, though Nori stopped him.
"Fine, it's fine," he droned, waving a hand. "Not like you can take it back, just point to it to ask next time." Now he'd have to dry Pachi off.
With a hop and a peculiar squeak that Nori had heard often enough to know it was a thank you, Pachi did his business as the tub filled. He was a great and loving Pokemon, but Nori could admit, he could be a bit impulsive. He went to the entrance room and opened a cabinet. Cleaning supplies were on one side and the towels were on the other, separated by the pipes. But no gloves.
The boy grabbed a white towel and returned. Half a minute later, his Pokemon climbed out. Nori knew that Pachi's instinct was going to be to shake himself off, so he threw the towel over his Pokemon as he landed on the bath mat.
Pachi eeped. Nori said, "Dry yourself on that."
He would've done it himself if there had been rubber gloves, but there weren't. And he didn't favor touching an Electric-type with something that could get staticy. Sure, it wouldn't be dangerous, but it'd still be annoying to get zapped every few seconds.
As Nori expected, Pachi had enough dexterity to do so. When the squirrel was done, he looked up with a dopey buck-fanged grin. Nori laughed at the sight of him.
"Your fur's a mess," he pointed out. Pachi tilted his head in confusion. Nori tentatively pressed a palm against him. He flinched at the static, but was able to pick him up and take him over to the mirror.
His Pokemon's jaw fell open and he screamed. His shiny white fur was all over the place! Nori laughed again as the squirrel wriggled free and began to frantically brush himself with his paws. That was way too adorable.
He checked the tub again, and it was full enough to do what he needed. He turned off the tapw and retrieved the capsules from his front left pocket. They were all different, so it was easy to tell which was which. Pachi's was a normal Poke Ball, Pawniard's was painted black on the bottom, the Demon had a Great Ball, and now Qwilfish with the Dive Ball. He put the other two away and held his new assignment to his cheek.
"Okay," he whispered, more to himself than for her to potentially hear. "Water this time. Let's do this."
His arm shook as he held the capsule over the tub. It wasn't his aquaphobia, he could handle this much. It might have been the cold. He had chosen to wear an old lime green shirt with a few holes in it, in case it got ruined. But no, it was mostly nerves. With a, "You have to do this. So nothing to do but do it, Nori!" to himself, he cracked open the capsule and released her into the water.
Qwilfish immediately went rigid upon materializing in the tub, though it was not a proper Harden like before. She looked down and fidgeted with her tail fin, maybe realizing she was in her environment this time. With this, she started to relax until the moment she noticed him. She swam to the far side of the tub and bumped the faucet. The pufferfish emitted a strange sound of panic, like a balloon deflating while you pinched and stretched the bottom of it.
"Are you okay?" he asked. He didn't dare lean in to check; he actually took a step back. But he tried to sound as comforting to her as he could.
She stared at him. Then she started talking. It sounded like a series of rapid creaking noises.
"Sorry about earlier. I didn't know you weren't used to land," he said, first things first. "I'm Nori Carino. I'm your new trainer, I guess."
She interrupted with even more of those sounds, even faster. Her body expanded and contracted as she practically hyperventilated. Asking questions? Ranting? Having a panic attack?
"C-calm down!" he raised his palms and squatted a little in case he needed to take cover. Why did this room have to be so small?! Maybe he should've asked for the pool after all, but it was too late for that. "Just take a deep breath, try to relax." He followed his own advice too, for that matter.
She shut her eyes and started to splash with her tail. Was she throwing a tantrum or something? Or panicking worse? He had no idea what to say or what to do about this! Who said you can learn to fully understand Pokemon in time, anyway? Even if that was true, it was time he didn't have. Luckily, that's why he had someone to vouch for him.
"Hold on." He sprang for the entrance room, shutting the door behind him just in case. The electric squirrel had just finished drying himself off and seemed to have been too busy to pay attention to their conversation. "Hey, Pachi?"
The squirrel looked up at him and cast the towel aside. He squeaked and stood with his tail raised.
"Can you talk to her?" he asked. It was that simple. Let a Pokemon talk to a Pokemon. Nori was trained by the Officials enough to at least get what Qwilfish was feeling. Someone who could fully understand could do the rest.
But Pachi did something Nori wasn't expecting. After a long blink, he turned away and shook his head.
"No?" That was pretty clear. "What do you mean no?!"
Pachi chittered away. He realized the problem with that after a second, and started pointing at his head.
"You?" Nori asked.
Pachi shook, no. He tilted his head as far as it would go and tried to point to the top of his head. Was his Pokemon playing charades with him? The only thing on top was…
"Your ears?" They jutted out from his head, the surrounding fur a sleek and bright blue. "I mean, she was speaking quiet. Is she, um, out of hearing range?" He was unsure of the technical term.
The squirrel hummed and put a paw on his chin. He then stood on his toes and stuck out his tongue. Nori thought he was about to do an akanbe gesture, but he didn't pull down his eyelid. "Tongue? Mouth? I don't get it."
The squirrel huffed, pacing back and forth. The language barrier sucked. Eventually, Pachi stood in front of him. He squeaked two syllables and pointed at himself. He repeated what he said. From the way he held the squeak, it was like it had a long E sound at the end. But it wasn't Nori's name, since the first part wasn't right. Come to think of it, it actually sounded like…
"You? Pachi?" The squirrel nodded. That was why the squirrel pointed at himself. He was saying his own name. "What about you?"
Pachi shook his head. "What do you mean, no?" He shook his head more vigorously. "Do you mean, no?" He nodded, yes, it was no.
Nori chuckled to himself. This had to look insane. It arguably actually was. If only Pachi could actually talk. Pronunciation was apparently the big problem when it came to Pokemon learning to do it. Their mouths and languages were simply too different and vice versa (with the added problem of hearing in people's case).
Again, the squirrel gestured to his ears. "Ear." That was easy. And he finished by sticking out his tongue. "Tongue," he repeated.
Pachi nodded, then repeated his actions in a loop. Pointing and saying his name, shaking his head, pointing to his ears, then his tongue.
"Pachi no ear tongue." Something about him and ears and tongues in the negative. He said the phrase out loud several times in hopes it would help. "Pachi no ear tongue, Pachi no ear tongue, Pachi no ear–wait!" Was that it? Hearing? Tongues? "Pachi does not hear tongue. Are you saying she's speaking another language you don't understand?"
The squirrel hopped, closed his eyes, and squealed with joy. He came forth and gave Nori a hug on the leg, patting it in a sort of congratulatory gesture. The language barrier sucked even more than he thought. This was the first he was hearing that Pokemon had different languages among themselves. But it made sense that they did. People had their own, and though the governments established a global language for cross-regional battling and business, things like Japanese and German still existed and saw use.
"Well, can you give it a try anyway?" he requested. "Like we say, you don't know unless you try. Maybe she just isn't talking in your language?"
It took only a second of thought before Pachi agreed. Knowing his Pokemon, the odds were that he really didn't know and was just going to try his best.
Nori needed help! If he needed help, all Pachi could do was try! He wasn't sure if he'd help or make things worse, but Nori was counting on him!
Having grown up around people, Pachi would call himself pretty fluent in their common language. So he heard and understood many of the words, even if he couldn't speak them. That was the big problem with Pokemon speaking human language. Either way, they always understood words from people with their heart as long as it made sense in their language. Like when a person said Pokemon, a Pokemon like him would understand Akerasa. But it only worked that way for them hearing people, or manh as they sometimes called them in terrestrial. Not the other way around or between their languages. But Nori was right! Maybe she did know their common language and just wasn't talking it!
Nori opened the door for him, and Pachi came face to face with the bathtub. He learned about something new today! It was a handy little water container for taking a swim and getting clean! But he couldn't see over the side of it where he was. He waited for Nori to give permission this time.
His friend appeared to realize too from the way his eyes and feet went. "Sorry for leaving you," he apologized to their new Fenadh. Pachi hoped she would turn out to be a friend like Demon was, and not like that killer. "I have someone who might be able to talk to you here." He turned and raised his thumb.
Pachi hopped onto the ledge, causing the Akerasa to suck in water to increase in size and attempt to glare. But the spiny sphere which they called a Qwilfish shivered as their eyes met. She started talking, but the rhythmic sounds held no meaning to Pachi. His ears picked up six, maybe eight different syllables?
So Pachi did the only thing he could. He spoke a basic phrase that almost every species who lives above ground knows: Syl A'ruKo umt? Or literally translated word by word, "you this language speak?" Used as a polite greeting, especially with the aquatic and underground, sometimes as a formality with flying things. There were many replies to it from confirming fluency to knowing only basic words. But the spiny sphere only floated silently, looking like a ghost hit her with a light of mind delirium.
Once again, she said words in her language. The underwater language? He heard some of Volkner's Pokemon at Sunyshore Gym speak it! Usually when they were making jokes between themselves from how they laughed after. All he knew about that was there were two main dialects.
Pachi looked up at Nori, who was standing in the door with his hand on the handle. With a shrug, Pachi tried waving and smiling. Those were universal, right? A friendly smile could tell anyone you were happy and friendly!
He nearly fell back when the spiny sphere grew to twice her usual size and let out a screech of distress. She sprayed out salty-smelling water from her lips, which missed him entirely. But it would hit–
Pachi heard Nori scream and that was all it took to make him act. He jumped off the ledge, moving backwards yet flipping forwards. As he was doing so, he focused his electricity and tucked his tail inward. He formed an orb infused with his swiftness, and as he spun, let his tail bat it directly at their attacker. "STOP!" he screeched with as much authority as he could.
There was a loud bang followed by the sound of crackling as the attack made direct contact and surged through the water. He didn't bother to look back. He just turned around, pulled on the half-shut door, and went to check on his friend.
"Nori! Nori! Nori!" he called. His friend was standing, drying his head with the same towel he had given him. His breathing didn't sound good. He was even coughing a bit.
"I'm fine, I'm fine!" he insisted, peering at him from over the towel. His friend was shaking and Pachi even thought he saw his eyes were crying. Nori gave himself one last pat down before looking over at the bathtub. "What–AHHH!"
Nori nearly accidentally kicked him as he dashed to the side. He picked up the spiny sphere called a Qwilfish. She was at her usual size and she wasn't moving. The attack had beaten her just like that!
"Pachi, why did you do that?!" he cried out, trying to shake her awake. "I don't have Potions. What now? What now, Nori? Ugh!"
"I'm sorry! I didn't want her to hurt you, Nori!" Pachi squeaked, embracing his leg. He hoped that the gestures and the distress in his tone would carry his meaning to his friend. He didn't mean to upset him! "I don't know why she did that! I was just talking! And trying to protect you!" When that Pawniard tried to attack him he wanted to run, but Nori said to defend himself! So he did! Even if it was defending Nori!
"Hey!" came the shout of the pink-haired parent of Nori's friend. He sounded funny, like how an Akeresa would hold a sound if they couldn't make a long or hard consonant to represent the opposite one. "{Impolitely asking what is happening}" It was so bad, Pachi only got his intent.
"Nothing!" Nori yelped and put his arms up, accidentally dropping the spiny sphere into the water. "It's fine! It's under control!" he shouted.
"If you made a mess, {clean it}!" came the slurred reply. Pachi double-checked, it was only water. But his friend's eyes were locked onto what was floating in the water. He had no words.
Pachi again jumped on the ledge and lowered his head in shame. "I'm sorry," he said again, not just to Nori, but also to Qwilfish.
From his friend patting him on the head, at least he wasn't too upset about it. Nori asked, "What are we going to do now?" It was a good question. If only they had the answer.
Nori hung out with Maylene for a couple of hours after that disastrous meeting. He didn't blame Pachi for attacking, he knew it was a protective instinct. But it was going to make things way worse with Qwilfish. Why did she try to attack?
He made Maylene and her dad lunch as promised – miso soup and tuna sandwiches. The thought of staying the whole day had occurred, and they would probably have let him. But no, he told himself. He needed to get going. First to a Pokemon Center, then he wasn't sure where.
Maylene ran up and threw her arms around him as he went to leave. Nori gasped, not at the suddenness, but at how tight her grip was. He was only able to reciprocate with his hands; she was pinning his arms! "Bye, Nori! See ya later!"
"See ya…" he squeaked out. He knew she was taking self-defense courses. But that was like a martial artist's death grip or something. Pachi looked up at them, tail slack and front teeth showing.
She released him with a giggle. Nori had to shake his head afterward, but there was warmth in his face and a sheepish smile on his lips that he was glad no one else was around to see. That was a good hug. Nori might have been an only child, but Maylene was like a little sister to him. She looked up to him, and it always felt good to know that someone did.
There was a spring in his step as he walked through the entrance hall with Pachi by his side. He grabbed his shoes and leaf-patterned coat and sat down to put them on. With that, he opened the door and stepped out into the fresh air.
His mood soured the second he stepped outside and saw who had been waiting for him in the parking lot.
He had only seen her a handful of times and had never met her in person, but he knew who she was. The auburn-haired teenager, who wore jet black jeans and a black-sleeved cyan jumper, certainly knew him as well. And from the icy blue eyes and colder sneer on the face of Emi Pikaru, it was clear she wasn't here to talk pleasantries.
As a quick aside, the Pokemon language idea is recycled from an unwritten fic. Breaks canon in some ways but it just made sense to me. There's too much to go over in a notes section, I basically reused it here to make the easy solution not so easy - or so that I wouldn't have to force conflict to rule it out. Thus, why language barriers are one of the themes here.
Quick terrestrial primer: pronunciation is syllabic in vowel-consonant order (can have two consonants if it goes soft-hard). Soft consonants can start words, hold the sound. Capitalization is important and there's no start of sentence rule; i.e. lowercase p is a b-sound, A is like acorn and a is like apple. No strong syllables. Untranslated words are a stylistic choice or if they convey a complex meaning. And actually very technically, terrestrial has no standardized written language.