Happy New Year's Eve!
It's been 8 years since Chance first began publication! Big shoutout to everyone who's found this story in those 8 years and stuck around!
If my current writing rate keeps up, Chance will reach its conclusion in 2024. But it's not over yet! Here's the beach episode :)
Tricia and I met up for coffee the next morning (again, by this I mean I ordered a mocha and she had some earl grey tea).
I brought her up to speed on everything, although I'd been doing a much better job of it lately, and so it was just the past week of training for Volkner I had to update her on. "I challenge him tomorrow," I said.
"Wow, sounds exciting. That's really sweet of everyone to help you out," she said.
"It really is. They keep telling me they have their own motivations of like, getting him to start taking trainers again, because of the wager he and I set up, but I think a lot of it is really just collective kindness and community."
"I love that they're trying to make themselves sound more selfish than they are."
I laughed. "I didn't think of it that way."
She took a sip of her tea.
"Megan's making me call her after I fight him, by the way, if you wanna join," I said.
Tricia's eyes brightened. "What time?"
"Mm… sometime midday? The gym opens at 10, so I should be done at 11, but if it's later I might need to grab lunch first." I realized something and groaned. "If Volkner's an asshole about it, it might be much later, though."
"Okay. I'm free in the evening, but since it's spring break, Maya and I are putting in more hours at the lab."
"Oh, okay. I can call you later, then. When's good?"
"After 7?"
"Sounds good to me. How's Maya?"
"Doing well. We've started learning how to crochet together," said Tricia, reaching into her bag. "Here's what I've got so far."
She pulled out a brown circle of yarn attached to a crochet hook. "Cool," I said. "What is it?"
"It's gonna be a sunflower eventually."
"Ohhh. Cool."
"I'm sure you could totally tell what it was just by this brown blob," she laughed.
"Oh, yeah, definitely," I replied, grinning.
"You could crochet too," Tricia suggested. "I know trainer life is fast, but I'm sure there's downtime sometimes."
I grimaced. "My bag is gross and has no space for more stuff," I said. "I should probably clean it out, actually…"
"Understandable," Tricia said, nodding.
"I'd love to hear more about your crocheting as it happens, though," I said.
She beamed. "Will do!"
And it was odd, but I thought of Flint. I thought of him losing a best friend, and of how devastating it was for his best friend to be his entire world.
I'd been jealous of Maya, but if not for Maya, Tricia would have been without friends at the lab. Maya's presence not only meant that Tricia had someone to laugh with in a sphere Megan and I were absent from, but also that even when Megan and I were absent from the sphere we did share, Tricia still had a close friend around.
Besides. If Megan and I were increasingly becoming each other's #1, then it was only fair that Tricia had someone to be her #1 as well. Like, don't get me wrong – I love Tricia to death, and still consider her one of my best friends, but at the same time, Tricia deserved to be the best friend of her best friend. Tricia and I could be important to each other without anyone competing for most important friend.
"I'm glad Maya's around," I said out loud.
Tricia nodded vigorously. "Me too."
I returned home briefly before heading out (Def had trouble falling back asleep the night before, so I'd left him at home to sleep in).
"Oh, there you are," my mom said when I walked in. "Good morning."
"Morning," I said, heading upstairs.
"Were you hanging out with someone?"
"Tricia."
"Did you have fun?"
"Yeah," I said, fully in my room already. Def was awake. "I'm heading out now."
"Okay." Mom had followed me upstairs. "How's training been?"
"Good."
"Any new badges lately?"
"I fight Volkner tomorrow."
"Ooh, good luck."
"Thanks."
Mom lingered in the doorway of my room. "We should catch up sometime," she said, fidgeting with her sleeve's elbow. "It's been a while."
"Yeah, maybe."
She didn't say anything. I felt guilty for being so cold. I shouldn't have felt guilty; I was only protecting myself from getting lectured over things I already felt bad about, after all.
"Okay, well." She took a step back out of my room. "Safe travels. I love you."
My hard heart softened. "Love you too."
Def and I vanished.
Since we had the day off, my pokemon and I headed to the beach in Sunyshore.
The beach had some volleyball nets set up, so I went and got an inflatable beach ball and we had a match. After some deliberation, we went for me, Prom, and Def versus Trust, Coeur, and Faith (Hope decided to fly back and forth between sides, playing for both teams).
I expected my team to have the advantage, but between Faith popping out of the ground itself to bump the ball, Coeur jumping straight up to headbutt sets, and Trust being absolutely the best pokemon at spiking, they were actually kind of busted as a volleyball trio.
Prom and Def got creative – Prom initially hit with his tails, but found he could get more momentum into the ball with watergun. Def nudged the ball with psychic a few times until Coeur clocked the pink energy and protested. I just kinda did my best at whatever role was needed – my job as a trainer was more mental than physical, so I wasn't bothered that I was easily the worst player there.
Hope actually got a few consecutive hits in by bumping the ball on one side and then zooming around to bump it again on the other, but for the most part she glided over to one side and stayed there awhile before swapping over again.
We played for a little while, but at some point Def managed to put his sword clean through the beach ball and there kind of wasn't any coming back from that.
So we went swimming! Trust waded in the water and splashed everyone else from a distance. Hope fully turned into a mantine, diving and jumping out of the water (I kept a close eye on her, since I knew she couldn't really fly with wet feathers, but she took to swimming like she'd been born underwater? You learn something new every day).
Prom went out to sea with Hope and Faith, which made me nervous, but I knew Prom could rescue them if the need arose. The next time I saw them, it was on an approaching wave that had clearly been summoned by Surf. Prom was riding the wave belly-down, while Faith was standing on Hope's back, using her as a surfboard. It was very cute, and the only issue was that the wave was much too tall, and the rest of us only realized it when it was too late to avoid getting drenched.
Def revived Trust (this may come as a surprise, but even a very strong fire type will be taken down by an ocean-sized surf attack) and we played that one game where someone closes their eyes and tries to find everyone else via call-and-response. Coeur was so good at it that Prom and Def and I questioned multiple times whether she was using aura to see us through her eyelids, but she insisted she wasn't. Faith didn't really understand the game and used her turns to pop out of the water behind someone and scare them.
At some point, we retired to the sand, where Prom, Faith, and Hope built a sandcastle. Def mainly observed, but every once in a while pitched in when they needed some form of psychic dexterity to shape a tower or catch a falling wall.
Coeur and Trust kept me company under a borrowed beach umbrella.
"You're happier today," Coeur observed.
I smiled. "Yeah. It's been a good day."
We sat there a little while, watching the others build.
"I know it's been a rough month," Coeur said, "but you made it a really good month for the rest of us, and I appreciate that."
"I'm glad," I said softly.
"I mean it," she said. "I got to learn so many new moves. Def's improved his healing abilities. Hope can zoom more effectively without immediately falling down."
"Is that where the bar is?"
"Let's be real, it was a big issue for her."
"I've never seen Prom so carefree," Trust said, joining our conversation. "This month has brought out his inner child."
I glanced over at the sandcastle builders – Prom and Hope were piling sand next to the castle they'd built, while Faith had begun digging a moat. Def was fiddling with the castle walls, giving it scalloped edges for archers.
"He's closer in age to Faith than to you guys, huh?" I said.
"Yeah. Even by buizel standards, he's still pretty much a kid. He just had to grow up really fast."
Prom glanced over his shoulder at a particularly large wave, keeping an eye on how close it got to the castle. Seeing it crash and wash back out, he switched to digging the moat with Faith.
"You guys have all been through a lot, huh?" I said. "Prom and his family. Faith and the fire."
Trust snorted audibly. "Yeah, I'm super traumatized from growing up sheltered at the professor's lab."
"Oh yeah, me too, it was so comfy at Bebe's house, my life was so hard," Coeur added dramatically.
I shook my head. "But since then. With me, you've had to fight an evil team for the fate of the world. I know Trust's almost died before. I know it weighs on me; does it not weigh on you guys?"
"No, it definitely does," Coeur said, "but… I dunno. It makes me feel like I have a purpose. At Bebe's, we used to talk about the trainer teams we'd someday be a part of. I never imagined the team I'd join would be so tightly knit or involved in saving the world. For me, that's worth it."
"Is it worth it across the board?" I asked, turning to Trust.
He considered it. "In different ways for different team members. Prom's motivated by avenging his family's deaths. I'm not sure Hope and Faith fully understand what's going on, but Faith and her father died because of Team Galactic's actions, and fighting for the forces of good against evil makes sense no matter how young you are. Def cares a lot about his usefulness, so the external purpose of saving the world matters a lot for him, as does the companionship."
"And you?"
Trust gazed at the cloudless sky. "I'm just along for the ride. I'm here for the friendship and the experience. I dunno if I have as much actual motivation as everyone else, but I'm having a good time."
"Friendship can be motivation," I pointed out.
"Then it's mine."
We watched as a wave came in. Faith and Prom dug furiously to deepen the trench in front of the castle, adding the sand they scooped out to Hope's mountain on the side. When the wave hit, water gushed into the trench, leaving the castle a little soggy on the bottom but otherwise untouched. Prom and Faith and Hope cheered, and even Def celebrated with them.
There was still a rift in space, shoved a little off to the side but present nonetheless. But with my team around me, I didn't feel so alone.