Chapter 5
The elder sister swept into driveway with her ancient Jeep like an Electrode with nothing to lose- round, fast, and explosive. The SUV had to at least be almost eighteen years old since their mother had bought it from the used car dealership and Locke had 'claimed it' as hers when she had turned eighteen, yet somehow it had survived all these years. It let out a groaning sigh as the engine turned off as Locke hopped down from the driver side door.
"What up, mah sista?!" Locke said once she set foot outside of the car, slamming the rust covered door behind her before a dark brown dog pokemon leapt out of the car. "Chip! I told you to stay inside the pokéball!" she scolded but the pokemon just barked, darting around before charging right towards Key. Key flinched back before Kitty leapt into action and caught the Rockruff with an outstretched paw.
"Since when did you catch a Rockruff?" Key asked as she watched the Rockruff struggle fruitlessly in Kitty's ironclad grip.
"I didn't," Locke sighed, finally managing to recall the puppy pokemon. "You remember my neighbors Tom and Jerry that I used to babysit for? Well, they skipped town because they got caught for illegally breeding pokemon."
"Dang, that's wild."
"Yeah, and instead of owning up to their mistake like a normal person, they abandoned him and stuck him with me."
"Aww, poor little guy," Key cooed. "No wonder he keeps trying to escape his pokéball. He's rebelling."
"Actually, I don't think he's old enough to understand what's happening. I think he just hates being cooped up for so long. Anyways, sorry that I'm late. You know us Smythes- always fashionable late to the party."
"'S alright. I was a little slow getting up this morning- TOO!" Key let out an oomph as Locke wrapped her arms around her sister in a greeting, unable to stop the reflex to shrink into her shoulders. "Good to see you too," she wheezed. They gave each other a few hearty sibling pats on the back before Key heard the disgruntled cries of a Zigzagoon being squished.
"Oh! Sorry, Pumpkin. I forgot you were still in there," Locke apologized toward her stomach. The orange Zigzagoon poked his way out of the pouch on her hoodie, giving the Incineroar a curious sniff of greeting as the tiger circled around them. "So Key, how late were you getting up this time?"
"I literally just woke up an hour ago."
"Holy shit… how long did you stay up last night?"
"Not more than the usual," Key said and felt a strong nudge by her knees. The sisters both looked down to see the large Incineroar butting her head between the two sisters, effectively separating them to make room for her.
"Hello to you too, Kitty," Locke said, giving the tiger an affection scratch between the ears that evolved into a chin scratch as the big cat stretched to sit on her hind legs to reach.
"Rawwwrr…" Kitty growled, exposing her sharp fangs in what was either a gleeful smile or a calculated look that would involve a future mauling. It was always hard to tell with her. Her claws flexed and sunk into Locke's hip in a long stretch in greeting (or a friendly warning) before turning to lead them inside.
"Always nice to see her trying to keep me on my toes," Locke said, smiling through the pain. Key fought to curb the anxiety building in her stomach as her sister followed them into the house and passed the various piles on the floor she hadn't straightened up. Her mother had instilled in her a high standard for what a house should look like to guests, and that still hadn't changed even after almost a year after her passing. It had been an adjustment, more ways than one. Locke wasn't there to help pick up the slack, having moved into an apartment three years ago due to their mother's insistence at her finding a place to live, though it was probably due to the constant clashes between the two that fueled the decision. Now that her mother was gone, all Key had was an empty house she had to take care of all by herself. With her pokemon, it wasn't really living alone-alone, but it wasn't the same as having someone you could hold a conversation with.
"Sorry for the mess," Key apologized on reflex, eyes automatically focusing on the sink full of dirty dishes and the cluttered dining room table covered with clay cups and bowls but not actually eaten on in months.
"Don't worry about it. This place is fine. My apartment is way worse."
"You only say that because you haven't seen the second story."
"…You do remember that I used to live here, right? I'm very much aware of what the second floor looks like," Key's look made Locke immediately put her hands up. "Hey, I'm not judging. Besides, it can't be easy to try to live here and try to live up to Harper's level of cleanliness. God knows I couldn't."
Ah yes, the other reason the house had fallen into chaos. True, their mother's Minccino had been the pinnacle of cleanliness, the perfect partner pokemon for their mother who prided herself on having a nice, clean house, but she had passed away shortly after her trainer's death, too depressed to bother keeping up with grooming and cleaning, a pokemon whose identity was obsessively cleaning dirty spaces. Key had been glad that her mother hadn't been alive to see her death. It would have broken her heart. She felt a hollow lurch in her chest and then felt it brush away as she walked to leather chair her mother had been lifted into with the patient lift when she wasn't in her hospice bed and sat down in front of the boxes, expecting her sister to follow her.
Instead, Locke been distracted by the microwave that had been blinking 'Start' with thirty seconds left on the timer for over an hour. Her sister reset it back to the clock with read 3:02pm and began flipping off lights of the pantry and bathroom that Key had forgotten she had left on. "You really need to pay attention to your electric bill, Key. Some companies charge twice as much as yours for simply running a stove," Locke chided as a chill swept over the room. Back turned, Locke didn't see the Gengar sneaking up from the floorboards behind her, prepared to grab her ankles with a horrifying grin on his face. But Key did. She was about to warn her older sister right as the older sister reached up to put away some of the clean dishes. "Don't even think about it, Gojo." Locke said, not even bothering turning around to see the Gojo's disappointed expression.
"Geng…"
"You know how hard it is to sneak up on me. It takes a lot more than that to scare me. Even if I don't like ghosts," said Locke, muttering the last part before she let out a shriek, nearly jumping a foot in the air as something purple whipped by her leg. Then she looked down. "Oh. Hey, Butters." The Espeon paused before continuing rubbing up against her leg. "God, Key, why do you have so many cats? Such needy little fucks," Locke huffed before giving the Espeon a nice chin scratch. "Hey, cutie~ I brought someone for you," she cooed as pulled out the Moon Ball in her purse and enlarged it before releasing an Umbreon in a beam of light. The Espeon mewed before affectionately rubbing her head against her mother. Locke glanced around, no doubt searching for Key's other eeveelution. "Hey, where's Potato? I figured he'd want to see his girlfriend."
"He's at Professor Kukui's. He wanted to practice a few Z-Moves on him, see if Jolteons could heal from the impact of Electrium-Z enhanced moves with his Volt Absorb ability the same way he could from regular electric type moves."
"Ahh, gotcha. How is the hot professor? Still not wearing a shirt?"
Key chuckled. "He's fine-"
"Yes, he is~" Locke purred, earning an exasperated look from Key.
"The Pokemon League's been really busy over there since the last time we were in Alola, so I don't get to talk with him much," she continued before adding, "His wife Burnie says hi, by the way," as if to remind Locke that Kukui still had a wife.
"Oh good. I hoped she was doing well, especially since she has little Lei-Lei to take care of," she smiled, unfazed by the wife comment. Professor Burnet had been one of their mother's friends that Locke and Key had remained in contact with even after their mother had died, having befriended her when Key's high school graduation present had turned into a destination wedding for her father's latest wife, and her family needed a place to stay on Melemele Island during the ceremony. While Locke had ogled the shirtless professor slash masked wrestler, Key knew that her sister respected the professors' shared partnership and would never get. Unlike their father, she respected other people enough to not go wrecking other people's relationships- and, most likely, was too chicken-shit to do anything when it came to her own feelings, even if he had been available.
"I wish Professor Elm needed my pokemon as much as Kukui needed yours," Locke lamented. "I feel bad letting them stay with all the cousins."
"Well, you can't help that your apartment doesn't allow more than two pokemon to stay with you."
"That wouldn't be an issue if I just moved back home," Locke suggested playfully, to which Key immediately shut down with a look.
"Not a chance. We would kill each other."
"Ah, right… Sure. Of course."
"You could just move to a new place?" Key suggested hopefully. "Maybe one that was bigger and would let you and Starfire run as much as you needed?"
"With what money? My job is nice, but I don't make THAT much money. Besides, you know I still don't get the monthly stipend like you do," Locke groused. "Has Callie fixed that issue yet, by the way?"
"Nah, she hasn't really said much to me, but she did give me a check to get to you to help make up for it."
Locke's eyes lit up like her whole body had just been jolted awake with a Thundershock. "Oh my god, really!?"
"Calm down! Don't get too excited. It's just the amount you're owed."
"How much is it?" Rather than tell her the amount, Key held out the paper that their mother's lawyer had given her that had been sitting on the baker's rack for about a week along with the various HOA letters complaining about her lawn and the trashcan being left out on Wednesdays and handed it for Locke to read. A few seconds went by before her sister's mouth dropped open. "Holy shit…"
"Now that's not just for you to spend all willy-nilly. It's for bills only," Key chided. She knew how bad her sister was with money- both of them were, really. The vast majority of the clothes upstairs had been Key's, each from various thrift stores and eco-friendly online, indie stores, unable to turn down a cute top on clearance that was size inclusive.
Locke bobbed her head, most likely only having heard every other word she had said. "Absolutely."
"I'm serious, Locke. I want you to pretend that that money doesn't exist. It's for emergencies only. It's supposed to help us last until we get access to the trust when you turn thirty."
"I know…" Locke rolled her eyes before she lurched at the fidget storm going on in her midsection. She reached in and pulled out the tiny raccoon pokemon and held him up to eye-level. "Oh, I'm sorry. Have I been too boring for you?" She scrutinized before breaking into a smile at his goofy grin. "Just kidding. You know I love you." She placed a kiss on his forehead before setting him down on the ground. "Why don't you go play with Gojo outside? I'm sure he needs to get his own zoomies out." Pumpkin waggled his tail back and forth and let out a yip as Locke slid open the back screen door to let the two pokemon outside.
"Please make sure they don't burn down the backyard," Key muttered to the Gardevoir that had swept into the room. Eden nodded and followed after the duo as they began darting across the lawn of overgrown grass. Then she, leaving the glass door open to let in the cool spring breeze and the smell of freshly bloomed magnolias. Something her mother always looked forward to every year. Except this one. Key forced back another dry swallow and cleared her throat. "Anyways, here are some of the boxes I've already gone through. A few of the photos are duplicates so you don't need to keep them if you don't want to."
"Sure sure, just gimme the box." Key glanced skyward and handed Locke one of the cardboard boxes with the word 'kitchen' scribbled on in black Sharpie.
"And please don't go crazy and pull things out all willy-nilly. I still haven't shown any of the aunts and cousins the photos, and some of these are in order by year."
"Fine," said Locke, not looking up from the box as she started sifting through the pictures like a Filofax. She was only about a couple photos deep before she pulled out her first photo. "Aww you remember this one with Grandpa at the fair?" She lifted up a picture of their grandfather holding the reins of a Mudsdale with Locke, Key, and two of their other cousins sitting in the saddle. "Ooh and this one!" She showed another photo, this one with Locke and their grandfather sitting in a buggy with a Rapidash pulling the cart. "Remember when me and Grandpa would throw candy in the Prairie Days parade? He'd always give me a huge ice cream bucket full of the leftover tootsie rolls when it was over."
"Don't you hate tootsie rolls?"
"Yeah… they were so gross," Locke smiled, placing the photo in the pile to keep.
"Don't you already have that photo?"
Locke turned to give Key a deadpanned look. "You can never have too many horse photos."
"But don't you want to leave some of them for the cousins?"
"Why? It's just of me and Grandpa. None of the family even cares about horse pokemon like he and I did. That was why he left Tanner to me in his will. Him and, well, you know."
"Yeah, I know." Key rolled her eyes, like she hadn't heard this brag for the ten thousandth time. "But maybe some of the cousins want photos of Grandpa too. Why don't you take this picture of Mom? You've got enough photos of Grandpa Paw." Key held out a sepia-colored photo of a fourteen-year-old girl with short brown hair holding a blonde baby in a white silk gown.
"That's not Mom. That's me holding Baby Maddie," she examined the photo closely and frown. "Why am I wearing an Easter dress and holding Maddie in a baptismal gown?"
"That's because that's not you," Key corrected, pointing to the thick cat-eye classes and bangs with a strong tap of her finger. "That's Mom holding cousin Fannie when she got baptized. She was her godmother, remember?"
"Whoa… they look just like Maddie and I did when I held her a baby."
"Yeah. You two are the spitting image of your mothers..." Key said, feeling a lump growing in her throat.
Locke gazed at the photo a moment and then threw it onto the keep pile. "Too bad that's the only way we're similar. I'm more like Mom's evil twin than an exact clone."
"Oh, come on. You and Mom are so alike. You both like reading, you like to teach, and you're both crazy stubborn."
"That's not true."
"Sure, it is! Why else do you think you butted heads so much? You both were so set on how you did things- what to wear, how to do the dishes, when to do the laundry, when to dust. You both refused to pull weeds from the lawn until I had to play mediator between the two of you."
"…You were a pretty good translator for us," Locke admitted. "I guess I wouldn't have gotten so good at being a pokemon trainer if I didn't grow up with her being such a great teacher and Move Tutor. You know, I still have that starter set of TM and HM discs she gave me for my birthday, along with the portable Teachy TV player."
"I do too- minus the Teach TV player." That had died years earlier while she was still in high school.
"Yeah, you couldn't keep a DVD player alive to save your life."
"Can I help it if I need to watch movies to fall asleep? You know how dark it gets at night."
"Not if you pick the ones that won't let the DVD player fall asleep after going back to the main menu. You nearly ruined my The Princess and the Froakie DVD with your midnight playthroughs," Locke said pointedly, "Plus, you're the one who continues to watch horror movies right before bed. Not my fault that you got dad's taste in horror movies."
"See?"
"See what?" Locke took a moment before realization set in. "Okay, sure, Mom and I are alike in how we're both smart enough to hate horror movies, but you're still much more like Mom than I ever was. You both loved doing the same things and hobbies. You liked clothes shopping and watched the same shows, eating the same food, trying new fashions, not to mention you loved going to social events like home-shows and the annual tulip festival-"
Yet another thing she was going to miss out on this year… Key swallowed, "But you look like her. I'm the one who got Dad's and Grandma Ellie's wild hair," she said, pointing to the blonde-brown curls she had in a massive topknot on her head.
"I don't know what you're complaining about. You got the freckles and the thick hair, and the boobs. Your chest is definitely bigger than mine."
A startled choke turned into a laugh escaped as Key sat down the coffee she had been drinking onto the coffee table. "Yeah, well I would trade all that for your great skin any day."
"I'm telling you makeup is overrated."
"You only say that because you don't need it."
"…I still get blackheads and stuff," Locke mumbled, shuffling through another few photos. "Oh man, you remember this?" Key leaned over to see the family Christmas photo when they had been six and eight years old. It had the two sisters sitting with three pokemon: a Lillipup, a Litten, and a Skitty. "I forgot how small Strider was when he was just a Lillipup."
"I forgot that we had a picture with all three of the pets."
"Me too… Minus the Goldeen, Finneon, and Magikarp we had in the fishtank."
"We were spoiled with pokemon."
"Yeah… then Charlie ran away, and Mom decided to give Strider to Aunt Paula-Jean without telling me. Meanwhile, Princess got to grow up into a Delcatty and live with you for another twelve years before she passed away."
Key felt the atmosphere turn at the mention of the age-old argument. The relationship between her mother and Locke had always been a bit precarious. Her autistic quirks and mannerisms rarely meshed well with the old-fashioned, ableist upbringing their mother enforced, having delayed, or even outright prevented Locke from pursuing her pokemon journey or even getting her own pokemon when she had turned ten. But the incident with Strider had definitely been the turning point of their strained relationship. "You still can't be bitter about that."
"He was my dog, Key. My first pokemon. Even if he wasn't truly mine, even if he was just a pet and registered under mom's trainer ID, he liked me the most in the family. He chose me, and Mom just decided to trade him to Aunt Paula-Jean when I was at Pokemon Camp without even consulting me, after I specifically asked her to let me take him with me."
"…You know he would have hated living in that condo. He was much happier living with Paula-Jean."
"Maybe… but she could have at least asked me about it first. I didn't even get a say on the matter. I wasn't even there with him when he got sick… I had to find out three months after that that he'd died."
"…I'm sure Mom was just doing what she thought was best."
"I guess…" Locke trailed off. Key shuffled in her seat a bit before slapping her thighs to get up.
"Anyways, not to change the subject, but I have a few of Mom's clothes I want you to try on before I donate them to Claydol's Closet." Locke rolled her head back and let out a long, drawn-out groan. "I know you don't like trying on clothes, but I can't do anything with them until you decide what you want. Plus, you need more outfits that you can actually wear to the office."
"I don't know... Half of my time is spent at home-"
"And the other half is you going into the office," Key finished. "You need nice things to wear, things that don't have holes in them." Key swore if she let her, her sister would wear her clothes until they caught fire and burned off her body (which, given what her first pokemon actual, was entirely possible.
Locke puffed out her cheeks and blew out a soft raspberry in defeat. "…Fine. Where are they?"
"They're in the loft," Key smirked before holding out a hand to keep her sister from getting up. "Don't get up. I'll get them."
"What? Is this suddenly Aunt Trisha's house now? Am I not allowed to use the second floor anymore?"
The knot from earlier tightened in Key's chest. It made her want to hum and straighten out her posture and a whole mess of other things that her Tourette's made her want to do. She settled for stretching out her arm muscles. "I just don't want you going up there and being around the mess, okay? I know you don't care about it, but I've got a bunch of stuff and piles of clothes up there that I don't want you messing with, and it give me anxiety thinking about you just being up there so please just-"
"Okay, okay. Chill! Just go get me whatever it is you want me to go through, and I'll sort through it." Key stood up from the leather chair, knees popping like the sounds of static electricity before she paused at the foot of the stairs, her mouth suddenly going dry. In, out, in, out, she chanted, commanding herself to breathe in a syncopated rhythm and forcefully blinked twice. Before she could take a single step, Kitty cut in front of her. Key mouthed a 'thank you' to the Incineroar and motioned to the pile on the couch still wearing their hangers. The heel pokemon nodded and began prowling up the stairs on all fours. "Kitty's getting it. You keep sorting through boxes. I'm going to start putting away some of the dishes."
Locke shrugged and sat back down on the couch to go through the next box of photographs. Key, on the other hand, tried to put on an impassive face as she busied herself with gathering up the now empty food bowls. She would have to make a note to explain this incident in her next group session with the grievance counselor. A couple moments later, Kitty came down with the hangers in her mouth, dragging the clothes behind her on the dust-bunny covered floor. Realizing her error, Key quickly swept the clothes out of Kitty's mouth away from the dirty floor. Maybe she should have let Eden and Gojo do it when they had offered earlier. Instead, they were outside training in the backyard, trading Shadow Balls with each other in a strange game of catch with Pumpkin running between them like they were playing Mankey in the Middle.
"Here. Get rid of whatever you don't like. Just remember to exchange it out. This isn't just an excuse to give you free clothes. You need to exchange it out for something already in your closet that you don't wear anymore or that has too many holes."
"Okay, Mom," Locke teased before she began feeling through the different sweaters, tops, and bottoms with her fingertips. "This feels nice," she commented, stroking a pair of leggings before tossing over her arm. Locke's hands went to the grey sweater in the pile and dropped it like it had burned her. "NOPE!"
"Too scratchy?"
"Yeah… Sorry, I don't see a lot of what Mom has that would fit me or feel comfortable."
"Well, go take what you have right now and try on the rest later. Plus, I got these at Stitch Fix for you. I figure you'd like them." Key held out a pair of dark she had uncovered from behind one of the couch's throw pillows.
"Ooh these are cute!" Locke held them out against herself and posed in the large wall mirror. "These would go great with my leather chaps. How'd you know I was needing a new pair of overalls?"
"I remember hearing you talking about how you missed wearing overalls and figured you'd like them."
"Well, I certainly can't wear my old daycare ones. They all had holes on the inner thighs- plus I can't really sit in them anymore. Stacy made that impossible," Locke said, biting the last sentence with a bit of venom.
"Fuck Stacy."
"Yeah, fuck Stacy! Stupid bitch ruined my life," Locke chimed in with zeal, somehow holding even more hatred in her expression than she did from touching the wool sweater.
Stacy Reeds had to be one of the most despicable human beings alive. Not only had she repeatedly gaslit and criticized her older sister during her time as a daycare worker, she had sent Locke into such a severe downward spiral that Key had been afraid for her sister's wellbeing. Everyone had been relieved when Locke had finally quit her job, but the damage had already been done. It didn't take a psych degree for Key to know that there had been some lasting trauma from the breeding center.
"Well, the point is you're not at that job anymore. Now that you have that fancy new office job, you don't have to put up with all her crap anymore."
"Yeah…" Locke's expression dulled somewhat before readjusting her bag. "Speaking of which, I wanted to ask you something."
"Go ask me once you finish trying on the overalls."
"Urgh, fine. I'll go try on the stupid clothes," Locke huffed in a not so older sisterly way, snatching the pair of overalls and marching towards the bathroom with the other clothes. Then, despite that the door closed, Locke's voice rang, "You're still planning on visiting your friend Miley in Freezington sometime this year, right?"
"Maybe… that was the plan. Why do you ask?" Key asked.
"Well, I was wondering if… maybe… I could come with you?"
"What?"
"I know it's supposed to be your trip to go see your friend, but you see there's this big league tournament in Galar that's going to be happening this summer, and I think you and I should enter it."
"What?!"
"Here me out- my job lets me work remotely and gives me flexible vacation days. You're currently not working right now. We both still have the money left over from Mom's life insurance to help pay for expenses for a little bit before we start getting the small stipend from the trust. Besides, when's the next time we'll both be able to take on another pokemon league? You know Limston is never going to have one here. It's too big, and we'd have to pay for hotels and gas for months on end. Pokemon Centers don't exactly like to house adults for free. Kids tend to get first dibs. If we stay with Miley, it helps cut down on costs."
"But Miley might not want us to be hanging out the whole time. She might have a summer class."
"That's the point of the life insurance. Plus, if we go into together on a hotel room during the travel days and split the difference, that's even more money we're saving."
"I don't know… Why would you want to go all the way to Galar for some pokemon tournament? You could just do a tournament around here in America. Orre always has a bunch of colosseums and Unova are much closer than the United Kingdom." Key hummed before her eyes lit up at the sight of Locke strutting down the hallway. "Ooh you look so ka-yewt~!"
"I know, right? They don't even suffocate me when I sit down," Locke gushed, thumbing her suspenders and doing a twirl before shaking her head. "Anyways, those tournaments are months away from now, and you know Orre doesn't have an official pokemon league, just like Limston doesn't. Everything has a waitlist here to battle with so many trainers in the pre-lims."
"But why go now?"
"Because it's Galar- home of the Wild Area, Harry Potter, Outlander, and Galaric myths and legends! Keldeos and Galarian Ponytas are from there, Key! Freaking fairies, water horses, and unicorns- it's the land of horse pokemon! And I didn't even tell you the best part-" Locke bounced in place as she sidled up to her, "-the prize for beating the Galar League is one million dollars."
Key nearly dropped her caramel frappe. "One million dollars!?"
"Yep."
"Holy shit…"
"Right?! It's perfect, isn't it!? Apparently, they have this champion over there that's gone undefeated for the last ten years or so. I guess they're really trying to stir the pot to get somebody to beat him. It's like a powerball lottery- all that money and fame has just been building up over the years. Imagine what we could do with the money if we win."
"Now just slow down and hold your Horseas for a moment… If the prize money is so big, why would you ask me to participate?"
"I figured that if there's two of us competing, one of us is bound to win. With two pokemon champions eliminating the competition, winning the Galar League will be a piece of cake! Then afterwards, we can relax, do a bit of sight-seeing, some shopping, and you can visit with Miley to your heart's content during her last year of study. Then whichever one of us wins the tournament splits it with the other person, 50-50. Even with taxes, it's still a lot of money. You could start your own art studio. You wouldn't have to wait eleven years to build a repartee by only working at Crystal's retail store everyday like you used to just to use her pottery studio. You could be your own boss, hire your own workers to help throw your pottery or spend the whole day painting murals- whatever it is that you've always wanted to do! Hell, you could hire people to clean your house and never have to worry about it again."
"Ooh… that is tempting," Key hummed, the knot in her chest relaxing at the thought of never having to worry about the lawn getting too long or picking up around the house or trying to remember when the last time she had dusted the place. "But I haven't competed in a pokemon league since I was eighteen. I might be a little rusty, plus you're a way better pokemon trainer than I am."
"True-" Locke admitted, earning a scoff from Key at her blunt arrogance, "-but it's not like you don't still have your team with you. Plus, the final deadline for the tournament is not until August, plenty of time to sign up, get back into shape, and collect the eight badges to qualify."
She was old too, spending most of her days sleeping curled up on the couch with her Espeon, Butter, who was also getting on in years. Despite the fact that she had, she was still paranoid that because she was a lonely, single woman, someone would break into the house one night. Despite the fact that she owned a walking flamethrower, she was concerned that she and her pokemon would get hurt should. She kept a Louisville slugger with a fuzzy, pink sock on the end propped up against the couch just in case.
"So what do you think? Do you want to do it?" "With both of us competing, it's got to have better chances at doing it, Just think- when are you going to have this kind of opportunity again? We're not kids anymore. It's not like we can go out and travel the world every other year."
A sad realization to be reaching despite both of them being in their mid to late twenties. "I suppose Mom did leave us a little bit of money," Key admitted. Even without the trusts, they would still have a life insurance, which would leave them with a good-sized nest egg. Hardly rich but not destitute either. "What about work?"
"Oh, they don't mind me taking a few days off to travel. Besides, I work off of a laptop most of the time anyways. I'll just work from there instead of going to the office," Locke waved off before stopping mid-rant, "Crystal and Heather still said you can come back to work whenever, right? You don't have to show up at the first week of May or something?"
Key thought for a moment. During the last year, Key had been the primary caregiver for their mother as part of her at home hospice care, and since that meant being around her mother 24/7, it meant taking time off of her job. Her bosses had been very understanding, being some of the most kind-hearted people she had ever worked with. Not only had they been understanding, but she'd also been allowed to work as many days as she wished and was free to use the kiln to make her own pottery work in her off-hours. It had been a while since she had worked a full-eight hour day at their retail store, let alone in their pottery studio. Surely, they wouldn't miss her if she waited a few more months before she suddenly had to start worrying about bills.
"No… they said I can just come back whenever I want."
"Soooo?"
Key thought for a moment. It would give her more motivation to visit Miley. Her trip to visit her before had only been furloughed because of her mother's health, mainly because she knew she couldn't trust Locke to watch over their her while she was gone, and she couldn't ask her aunts and cousins to come down for weeks on end just to visit with her. Besides, she didn't have to compete in the pokemon league. Her motivation to do anything outside of a five mile radius of her house had been relatively low as of late, and if she flew to Galar to compete in the Galar league on top of visiting with her friend Miley and found she wasn't up to it, she could just let Locke do all the hard work. She was a much more experienced trainer than she was, having been more interested in being one than she had ever been. In fact, she couldn't recall there ever being a time where Locke didn't beat her in a pokemon fight. Yes, despite how much she knew her sister would beg and plead, if Key decided she wasn't going to compete then she wouldn't.
"I'm not promising anything," Key said with an air of caution, "But I suppose that you could come with me to keep me company on the flight there."
"Really!? Oh, thankyouthankyouTHANKYOU!" Locke squealed and forced Key into another tight sibling hug. There was no rule that said that Key would have to compete in the pokemon league if she travelled to Galar, just like there was no rule that said Locke wouldn't back out of flying there in the end. Despite all the pomp and circumstance, Key knew Locke hated flying and travelling long distances. It messed with her IBS and general anxiety. Yep, she would buy a plane ticket and then back out at the last second, probably the night before the trip. Just like she had during all the other holidays and travel plans she had made with her mother that were supposed to be family trips.
If, somehow, Locke didn't back out and Key was stuck flying to Galar, well… at least she could still visit Miley. After all, what else did she have going on?