Twin Colors
By tremor3258
Chapter 5: Battling doubts
Mei's eyes blurred with tears, and she couldn't blame their speed thanks to her sunglasses. Nemona's Tauros apparently had an Abra somewhere in his ancestry as he kept dashing into holes in the traffic flow that Mei would swear in court weren't large enough for the Wild Bull Pokemon.
"Future Champions don't scream at riding across town," she kept repeating under her breath as a mantra to keep from yelling. That effort went out the window when Nemona's approach to an upcoming roundabout was to keep going straight. Rose ducked behind her as she shrieked.
Mei decided later Nemona's own whoop of delight covered Mei's reaction from the Champion, as the Tauros leapt the curb. Golden light spun from the Combat Breed's horns back to cover them in a cone. The laws of motion were briefly suspended as Nemona guided a dash move that carried them across the plaza in a press of acceleration. The Tauros's hooves clicked back on asphalt without ever touching the roundabout.
Mei would applaud if she was seeing this on TV back home in Galar, rather than living with it. Neither twin was vulnerable to motion sickness, fortunately. Nemona had skillfully avoided any lateral movement or rotation, so they weren't about to start.
Mei could feel Rose squeezing where she was gripping briefly as they landed, so at least her twin had some reaction back there. Her sister was normally quiet, but this was downright stoic. And the situation should have been an odd one.
The Ride Pokemon's gear wasn't designed for three riders. Rose had shown no issues with riding bareback behind the saddle. They'd left the ranch behind when they were four and been too small to be close to the Tauros when they were there. Of course, this morning Rose had a life shoved in her brain where she'd been a ranch hand keeping the family business going until she was a year older than her actual Paldean existence.
Given Mei's share had been memories of being a nigh-emotionless weapon conditioned to obey a genocidal maniac's orders, Mei was more than a little jealous. Sure, she knew now she could be Champion, but she'd be happy to trade.
Mei risked a glance behind her. Rose's eyes glittered and she smiled encouragingly when she saw Mei looking at her. "Just a few more minutes! You're doing great!" she shouted over the road noise and the cars honking at their passage. Mei risked a nod and was pleased she didn't fall off. She turned to look forward again as the road noise increased in volume.
Dodging two Cyclizars and a refrigerated truck, Nemona turned crisply onto the main artery. Up ahead finally visible was the magnificent east gate of Mesagoza. It shone, practically glittered even, as the afternoon sun hit against it. The city was built much brighter than Galar's city of dragons in its dark stone and protective walls.
Mei felt her mood improving in spite of herself. This city was sitting on its own millennia of history, but it invited a look unlike Hammerlocke's confrontational and withdrawn architecture.
This was it. A couple minutes, and they'd be on a court, starting their careers in full. After that was practice, practice, practice but if there was one good thing about the memories of a monster; if that basket case could become Champion of a region, Mei knew damn well she could outshine her.
The Tauros clipped neatly to a stop at the edge of the city's east main battle court. He wasn't even winded, and Rose's estimate was he'd been travelling over thirty kilometers an hour, on average. And a twenty-meter Raging Bull, at least, across the roundabout. That Nemona didn't think he was up to her team's standards as a battle member yet was terrifying conceptually.
Someone had apparently beaten them to the battle court as all three slid off. Mei briefly hugged the ground before standing as Rose and Nemona landed lightly. One of Paldea's uniformed officers awaited them, holding a ticketing book and bearing a wry smile.
"Failure to obey posted way signs. Improper signaling while merging," the officer began, and then did a brief headcount. "And I think we can add insufficient seating on Ride Pokemon. Nemona, again?"
The student council president chuckled awkwardly as she recalled her Tauros.
"Paldean coppers move quick," Mei said.
"Not that many bull riders risk it in the city, and once we saw the green in the hair all we had to do was check which battle court just got reserved to know where to go," the officer explained. Nemona sighed and took the proffered ticket and read through it.
"It wasn't my battle this time, I swear, so this was to help people! Can I pay this online?" she asked.
"Yeah, the usual procedure there. It's not worth siccing your family's lawyers on traffic court. You didn't leap any cars this time so we're not even going to try recklessness in traffic," the officer reported. He looked at the two passengers. "Oh, are you twins?" Rose and Mei wryly nodded.
"Yes sir," Mei said politely, though a little confused at the ticket. She'd seen how the Cyclizar riders and actual cyclists handled traffic, and Nemona wasn't doing anything they weren't except on an easily identifiable Tauros.
"Welcome to Paldea, from the sound of it. Nemona's a bit of an institution around town. You learn to get out of her way," the officer said flatly.
"She was just offering us a ride to get us to our first trainer battle, ever," Rose said, with some intensity. Rose ignored the warning sign Mei subtly sent to her. They were so close to getting this started.
"Her heart is in the right place, true" the officer chuckled, "Take care!" the officer headed off with a wave.
Mei sighed with relief, and glared at Rose, who refused to meet her gaze.
"Well, I'm glad that went well," Mei said sarcastically. Rose shrugged, eyeing the trainer's box.
"It's okay, the tickets are never very much," Nemona assured the two. "One Tera Raid usually more than covers a week."
"Why didn't they just mail it if they knew it was you?" Mei pressed.
"Well, everyone had their eye on us in traffic, and I think I signaled everything. Oh, well, there's no signal for the jump. I guess they want to make sure I stay a good example!" Nemona said, with a shrug.
"Or it's because they can," Rose muttered. Mei nodded.
"I did beat all the Mezagoza 'Policia' on Career Day last year, so it's probably important I stay honest!" Nemona mused. She visibly shook herself and held her fist out.
"But anyway, they're gone, and we have the field! Life sometimes can be in the way, but you have to get past the small details and have your battle anyway! You were nice enough to watch my battle, so I'll watch yours. You two won't mind if I give advice afterward? Some people do."
"Well, you know, we're complete beginners," Mei began in what was technically true. Nemona looked doubtful. "So having a referee and advisor to make sure we don't go past our Pokemon's limits would be great!"
Rose bowed, low. "I'd be honored," she said, though quickly, and was sidestepping towards one of the boxes as she straightened.
"Okay, you two, take a minute to figure out your first and wave when you're ready!" Nemona said, walking to the side of the field. She sat down and hugged her knees as they got prepared.
The thing that had hurt the most before Nemona found someone who could accept her and finally, finally make her push herself after she'd plateaued, had been the accusations. That she was cheating, or that it wasn't fair somehow. She didn't understand it, but she knew she didn't like it. And most people she'd tried to help before Florian had gotten mad because of that, too.
The few who were gracious in defeat (or victory, Nemona's record wasn't perfect before Florian), even if they were outmatched, were precious. She always looked to increase it. Kieran and Arwen and even Penny and Aliquis were the most obvious since they were close to her in power.
She had high hopes for this year's class. Something had changed in Paldea because of last year after Florian came, though she couldn't name what. She suspected these two might be a part of it, and they hadn't gotten mad.
Nemona, as always, hoped she was right.
"Take north," Rose offered as she split to the south without waiting for the answer. Mei adjusted her sunglasses but made no protest as Rose started walking. Less glare as the sun moved to the west would be great. It'd been a long day.
Even so, Mei found herself skipping as she headed to the trainer box. This was time to be her. She'd fallen into the Knight's habits earlier, but she was focused now. This would be pure Mei, trained by her mother. She'd develop her own unique style from that as she gathered more partners and would end up amazing. With luck, this actual connection would burn the rest of the ghost in her head out.
She usually liked ghost stories, and Hammerlocke's old locations, rumored to be haunted. That didn't mean she wanted to be one or have one in her head.
She reached the box finally – it had seemed to get farther the closer she got – and turned. Rose was already in hers. Mei wasn't surprised, Rose had been excited about this once Nemona had offered a location.
What surprised Mei a little was both of Rose's new Pokemon were out. She was kneeling with them, huddled. For a wild second, Mei thought Rose had been so inspired by Kieran she would try a double battle on the first day.
Her sister wasn't suicidally insane though. A moment's extra thought, it was clear she was having a planning session. Mei quirked a smile at that and pulled her two Poke balls and held them close to her mouth. No need to be ostentatious.
"Well guys, here we are. Mom likes a full forward charge to build momentum. We don't have much in the way except attacks so we're going to go for it. If I start thinking a lockdown strategy, warn me. That's the Knight, we don't have the power edge to showboat like that or the move synergy for that. So today we're just going to go in there and hit hard. Terpsi is in first because she's covered against anything Rose can have. Pome, you finish anything left," Mei explained.
The Poke balls rattled briefly and Mei smiled ferally. "We've not had a chance to work together yet besides getting to walk around, but I'm confident in both of you. The battles will just get more exciting from here," she promised. She put the Poke balls back in her belt and shadow boxed a little, pumped up.
Rose very carefully walked – if very, very quickly – to the trainer box. She didn't run, or jog. Just a fast walk. And she didn't draw on her partners for extra speed either, though she felt them offer. It wasn't very polite before a match where they'd need their stamina.
They were more eager than she was, but her eagerness was partially theirs to begin with. One of the issues trainers had to deal with and she'd not handled her first eyes meet well. Now that it was about to begin, she could feel a weight dropping off her shoulders from it.
There was a joy welling up in her that was surprising – not just the relief of her emotions being released. There was something in her that was looking forward to this, and not just a battle-sync getting ready to go. It felt older than that, though she didn't recognize where it was from.
Her Poke balls rattled on her belt in anticipation, and she could feel the wind around her as she unclipped them. Her team alone would get to shine, show off, compete, and maybe win – though Rose was too well-trained and (forcibly) experienced to think she could win easily on enthusiasm with a fire-type on the other side versus two baby Grass-types.
Rose knelt and held the Poke balls to the ground as she tapped their open buttons. It was a trifle ostentatious, but this was an extra-special occasion. She'd held out, and could give her sister a proper first match, on an official court in Paldea's greatest city, even! She hoped Mei was excited.
The Poke balls cracked open in a flash of light. Azucena gave an excited little curtsy, and even Ivy could only feign a bit of disinterest by checking his claws. His lashing tail gave it away.
"I know, you've been pushing for this since this morning," Rose said, looking at Azucena. Azucena was polite and trained enough to look embarrassed. Rose put the Poke balls down and stretched her fingers.
"It's all right, that's why you guys find trainers. It's what you want, and we're made to do this together. You signed on for a battle trainer and that's what you were hoping to get this morning. I should have pushed the challenge off – it's my job to gauge the fights so no one can get seriously hurt," Rose said quietly.
The two looked down at that, but Rose patted both on the head. "But there was never not going to be a battle today," Rose assured them. "We all made it here together!" The two looked back up and leaned into the petting.
"So, we all know the type matchup isn't the best, and we've just met each other so we're still getting used to each other's movement. It's not all bad though," Rose explained, "I looked up Terpsi earlier – Bounsweet's physical power really starts after they evolve. Terpsi can't have many moves yet until she gets trained more. Pome's bulky and has tough scales, but they're not as good at taking ranged attacks as dishing them out. And he's slow – and I made sure not to mention what moves you two have, so we have a couple surprises." The two Pokemon nodded understanding. Ivy had given up the pretense and was staring right at Rose, following along.
"Mom's playbook says go after them but well, I got a couple other ideas today and neither of you is a Tauros anyway. Mei may throw out Mom's too, but we want to stay out of the clutch. Ivy, you're going to start since you've got plenty of speed to adapt," Rose plotted. Ivy bobbed his head in a nod. Rose looked at Azucena who flexed in readiness.
"Azucena, be ready to come out. We both know what you have and we have plenty of sunlight for growth, to wear down whatever's left," Rose dictated. She patted the Petilil again – even with the connection starting to brighten as they got ready for battle, it wasn't how Mom had explained it all, but she'd also explained you had to work with your Pokemon.
This was new ground, but it was supposed to be anyways, right?
"I know it's going to be a challenge. We've wanted that all day, though. Thank you both for staying patient enough we made it. And thank you for not giving away my mistake to my sister," Rose said. She looked up and her breath caught in her throat.
Mei was shadow boxing now, and ready to go. "Back into the balls for this," Rose whispered hoarsely as she recalled her team. This was finally it. She stood up, shuffled her Poke balls behind her back and came out holding Ivy's firmly. She waved ready.
Nemona stood back up and waved at both twins, then dropped her hand.
"Begin!"
Even as the words left Nemona's mouth, Mei reached out to take command – for the first time and the hundredth. Curled in her ball, Terpsi gave herself over to her trainer, focusing her efforts on boosting herself off the strength Mei would give. At this moment, Terpsi was far ahead of what she'd been capable of when she'd gone into a ball Hannah had thrown a few weeks ago.
Mei was pleased as it took hold, as she tossed the Poke ball in her hand a few times. It felt right. There were some rough spots rubbing each other – she could feel both sides trying to make small adjustments to anticipate each other. It wasn't completely steady without a lot more practice together, either.
How, exactly, the energy process worked and the loop Pokemon and trainer made defied research attempts to understand it, but the rules were well known. Mei's endurance set a time limit on how long they could maintain, and Pokemon weren't willing to give control of themselves so freely outside battle without a very close relationship. While in a match trainer and Pokemon were more energy against energy than the deleterious physical effects of a wild Pokemon battle. It meant easy recovery and more matches and more power gained than the rough world wild Pokemon inhabited.
This was humanity's side of the contract that kept peace in the world. Civilization rested upon it. You could have Pokemon, partner with Pokemon without it, but battle trainers could work miracles.
It was Mei's birthright. Rose's too, admittedly.
Mei snatched the Poke ball out of the air and tossed it forward. Terpsi released out and Mei could feel the Bounsweet's exhilaration as the match began. And a real tug on Mei as Terpsi started drawing. Mei had experience to draw on that it would be like a runner's high, to shift focus past it to plan for victory.
Hannah had always visualized it as force shooting out of her, but the Knight had been ice and stone, tree limbs frozen and bound under the weight of Team Flare. Mei had read enough to be certain everyone had their own visualizations. She'd been slightly suspicious of her mother's descriptions before this morning, but now the jig was up. This was a nest of tree limbs, stiff but little pockets of growth, interwoven around both. They'd grow in number and strength with time, but this was enough.
Rose's Pokemon hit the field a second later, and Terpsi could feel her trainer's worry. Rose had led with Ivy, and Mei had been outguessed. Terpsi sent back confidence. She was plump, tough, and eager to prove that she belonged with a trainer.
The Sprigatito pawed at the field, hissing at the enemy as he sized up the situation. Mei spared a glance up. Rose still had her arm extended with the Poke ball. Her sunglasses blocked her eyes from view, and she was quivering slightly, but her expression was neutral.
If Rose had been lying about getting any sleep, this could be a quick match. If she had this could be trouble. Sprigatitos were fast and strong, more than a Petilil would manage without a lot of training. Knowing a fire type was waiting to scorch her sprouts, Mei would have picked Azucena to start. The little bulb's natural drain moves would give it some tenacity to wear down Mei's pick.
Now Mei wasn't sure what Rose's strategy was at all, since she'd apparently thrown out their mother's playbook. Mei started Terpsi forward before looking back down. The little lovable Bounsweet needed time to get up to speed for her attack move to work, so course correction would have to be in progress.
The Knight's experience whispered a dozen options Terpsi and Mei didn't have. There was an uncertainty and uneasiness to how the connection operated – experience wanted her to freeze up, be less flexible, and just use her power advantage.
Which she also didn't have. Hannah's training was still Mei's best play – push forward and strike. The tethers shifted slowly, creaking. Mei wasn't getting very good efficiency, but she'd expected that. Two little baby Pokemon were going to exhaust her. 'Good enough' was plenty for a first fight. Best could come later.
Ivy was indeed already in motion as Terpsi worked up to speed. The little bulb spun on her axis, creating a miniature gale that swept any city detritus off the court's tiles. The Fruit Pokemon spun forward in a rapid spin. Terpsi's leaves started to glow white as the move's energy construct took form. Despite the natural flimsiness, it'd deliver an impact when they connected.
The breeze had no effect on Ivy, who was leaping into the air – a long low bound just high enough to clear the tiny Bounsweet. Mei braced. There was a chance Jacq had trained the starter up enough so Ivy had the Bite pattern already. Tooth or claw might need to be deflected, and that'd mean different twists on Terpsi's spin.
To Mei's surprise, Ivy's leap turned into a somersault, his adorable fluffy tail smacking into Terpsi's face as she spun, causing the little Pokemon to chirp in annoyance. Terpsi's spin got a wobble, but no damage. It also slowed Ivy enough Teprsi was able to hop far enough to connect. Ivy's roll finished and he landed upright, hardly damaged by the brief contact.
Terpsi still had all her stamina, but Ivy had just probed Terpsi's parry. They'd need to get Terpsi off the field, drop sync, and reorient to counter it. Trying on the court would leave Terpsi helpless.
Ivy was already coming back around – her sister seemed to be having no issue utilizing her new cat's speed. Terpsi tried to swing her rapid spin around, but the cat smacked in with another tail whip before Terpsi could try to counter-attack, this time from the side.
Ivy loped wide, eyeing his opponent. The two of them were taking a moment to consider the openings, and Ivy seemed nearly fresh. The thought of withdrawing Terpsichore crossed Mei's mind, but only briefly as Ivy started forward again. Real life didn't go by turns and Rose wasn't giving her time to consider the pros and cons.
Rose had spotted her own 'good enough' and dashed in. Mei kept Terpsi moving in the same direction to build time to get another rapid spin up.
Claws glowing white, Ivy delivered a drive-by scratch. The momentum carried him past, minimizing the counter hit. Terpsi wobbled as Mei's concentration dropped. This was the first time they were experiencing damage in a trainer battle and the tether flexed briefly as they adjusted. It wasn't pain exactly, that Mei and Terpsi were getting, but something like it. Mei grappled on to the boughs between them as they shifted and tried to hang on.
Hannah preferred bulk and outlasting her opponents, trading hits. Where had Rose learned all this speed defense? Mei fumed internally, then stamped her foot as she came to a quick conclusion.
The Ranger's team had been half fragile speedsters. After making a big show of trying to throw off the memories earlier, no less.
Ivy dashed by, delivering another strike Terpsi couldn't maneuver in time to compensate for. Each hit wasn't much but they were adding up faster.
Mei was starting to get nervous she may lose this. Pome was still in reserve but Rose was controlling the pace of the battle so far. Terpsi's straight attacks weren't working so it was time to look at the armory.
And two could play at that game – she let the branches solidify, pouring power down their interiors as the exteriors creaked – more than they'd take otherwise. She forced it with alien experience to hold together more than she'd be capable otherwise.
Her knees were weak, but she held on. Terpsi, coming to a stop, yelped in surprise as the move started to break down and she struggled to build on top of it fast enough to get a lot more than she'd expected her trainer to handle.
The little Bounsweet was impressed, and desperately tried to keep up as she turned it into something usable and was finally allowed to let it loose.
It was a dance. She hadn't expected it but as it'd started it was a dance. There were missing steps and strings tangled around each other but synching in it was a flow of constant motion, strands trailing off and on. Being part of it was joy, compounded by Ivy's glee. Rose understood Nemona's delight in battle. She'd be happy to move with her partners and launch attacks until she was exhausted, learning all the steps.
The remnants of the challenge-lock and some gentle reminders from her Pokemon kept something of a focus to it. They were here to compete, not just amuse themselves.
The spider-web of tracery was like gossamer film or blades of grass. Each one couldn't bear much load, so they had to time flow across it and Ivy's actual position to maximize.
And they weren't very good at it yet. Most of this was theoretical, for every step that felt right, Rose felt like a clumsy buffoon for four more. Ivy was trying to open himself to draw at the right moments, but their sync was off. He was having to husband what power he could to keep their speed advantage in positioning. If they knew the beats all together, they'd be doing a lot better.
She was drawing a lot of inspiration from how she'd seen Milo's team move last Championship Cup when he'd triggered the sun, but it was a faded imitation. There was a bit of how Maractus moved in the Hammerlocke Hills, from some happy hours out in the Wilds. They'd have to find their own beat.
Ivy felt as irritated at himself as Rose was as they delivered another half-faded scratch. Feeding too much power to hold it wasn't good either, the strands had gotten 'hot' – Ivy's natural cat pride had stopped their stumble on the first tail whip from being obvious, but the feedback from her botching it until one blew wouldn't be pleasant for either.
Even if they stayed conscious. The little surprise bursts coming through as Ivy took minor hits were surprising enough.
Her mother's advice would be bundle them all together to share the load but they flared and snapped at that, being pulled so bluntly. She suspected her visualization was off a bit, caught up in the dance. The Ranger's memories had her as a meadow, energy welling from the earth to the Pokemon. There was a little feeling of it dancing like petals she was catching and sending to her Pokemon, but that metaphor wasn't translating to the connection exactly.
If Rose had been the Ranger, it was clear the differing laws of physics and biology meant that experience wasn't applicable to this little girl from Solaceon.
Ivy delivered another hit and Terpsi wasn't ready yet – he was starting to figure out her cadence. Coupling a squishy ball toy with being in an actual trainer battle with an actual trainer bonded to him instead of looking after the Sprigatito was burning through his irritation.
And Rose was having fun. There were tons of mistakes, but it was what practice would fix. And Ivy and her were matching up well so far, their concentration laid on top of each other. She'd been prepped to grab on to the decision when it'd been presented years ago, and it was gratifying that it was more satisfying than she'd dreamed.
She was going to be kicking herself a lot later though, she was sure. Maybe it was Azucena but while they had to keep dancing through the mistakes, there was a little list being built to critique later.
Compared to what the Ranger could do, the moves a little Sprigatito could do with his training felt crude. And with all the expectations on her for being so grass-aligned, her actual strength felt ephemeral to the type-experts she'd seen in the Galar cup. There was a lot of work to do in the future.
Right now, letting Ivy, well, cat, was working all right as they kept Terpsi at the center of a web of glancing hits, the little bulb having trouble maneuvering to fight back.
The important thing was to keep the connection up right now over delivering any particular hit. If it dropped, Ivy would be defenseless instead of just having his stamina flag. They had gotten several hits in now, though. Rose had a vague sense they'd knocked Terpsi's own stamina down a decent amount. She couldn't spare the attention to Terpsi and Mei's link, and whatever they were sending, but she was getting … flares occasionally to put it into words.
Rose didn't have time to try out another completely different strategy – if you could call this a strategy. Keeping moving seemed to be working, with the early tail whips leaving the Bounsweet wide open. Rose was too focused on the battle to try and comment to Mei, or even check her reactions.
In theory, at this point, it was a numbers game. Just keep letting the hits here and there add up until it was enough. Rose knew Mei wanted to win though – she'd be trying something soon.
True enough, Terpsi finally stopped spinning, and Rose bounded Ivy backwards as Terpsi trilled in either excitement or shock. Mei was trying something new.
Instincts that were still trying to settle in as a battle trainer said something was coming. Ivy suggested just charging into it, confident their prowess was sufficient.
Whatever Mei saw, Rose wasn't sure what it was. Even if Ivy could take it, Rose didn't want a slugging match if she could (though that thought carried some guilt like she was letting down her mother) for her partners.
She didn't say it out loud – thinking it and holding the Poke ball up were enough. Nemona looked over in surprise and nodded as the command went out.
Return.
Mei was somewhere between impressed with herself and a little terrified this was holding as she fed into Terpsi. There'd been leakage as Terpsi hadn't been ready for all of it, but they'd built it up. The little Bounsweet jumped, a huge cascade of affection, pollen and sparkles flying out of her, forcing the two Pokemon to connect and making it hard for the opponent to attack physically, despite their wishes.
It was the most Terpsi had gotten from a trainer – Hannah had kept her at a distance. Mei could feel her partner fatiguing a bit – this was costing much more of both their stamina then what Terpsi considered a usual expression of the move. They both stayed up and the beautiful pattern held and continued. Mei grinned as it cleared.
Its target wasn't there.
The smile fell off Mei's face as the sparkles cleared. Rose's own little bulb Pokemon stood there instead of Rose's cat. Her movements were hesitant after that epic Play Nice, but Petilil didn't use muscles to fight. Instead, her bulb was angled to the afternoon sun and green energy flowed over her briefly, powering her up her later attacks.
Mei pushed to get into motion, but the effort to hold everything in place meant it was chilled – she could feel there was still the undercurrent flowing through the branches and the connection was there, but after that big push, they needed time before they could move.
She'd gotten frustrated and she'd gone for the easy route here. Maybe she should have called the switch when she first thought of it? How had Rose traded out so smoothly that the Petilil was already transitioned into a move?
Mei cursed internally briefly using words she wasn't supposed to know. That was her first day and she'd decided not to act like it, and just wasted a big chunk of her energy. Which was sort of a first day mistake, but not the one she wanted to make.
And, at some level, it was just raw irritation that she'd expected to be winning this already. Just because. Even though they'd trained the same amount, but this was her quiet twin, usually a shadow.
Green leaves swirled around Azucena briefly before a green bolt appeared between her 'hands' leaving a line briefly connecting the two grass-types. Plant trying to drain plant didn't work too well. Terpsi was able to sync with the energy to avoid too much being pulled out, but Terpsi had taken a lot of damage already.
Things finally started to move for Mei again, but Azucena got another Absorb shot off by the time Terpsi collided with her. Which sounded like two angry leaf piles. It'd be funny if it was on TV but here Mei would prefer a more satisfying collision.
Mei glanced up off the field again as Terpsi spun up. Rose's stance was taut, but her sunglasses were hiding most of her expression. If you weren't her sister who'd lived with her for ten years. Rose didn't think she was doing that well, either, for some reason.
Mei snapped herself back into focus. They were moving again. She sent encouraging thoughts to Terpsi. Terpsi had taken multiple hits, but they were all small ones. And Azucena couldn't do much even with Growth boosting her Absorbs. There just wasn't that much the move could do against the same type.
The Petilil was clearly taking more damage than she was healing herself with each collision, even as fast as she was firing the Absorbs off. The stasis of the current status quo gave Mei more time to think.
Pome could switch in and have the same advantage against Azucena, but more so. As fast as Mei was realigning, Rose would have an opening with the switch, though.
Mei decided firmly against switching this time. This wasn't going to be a pretty slogging match, but they were pulling ahead. It'd all turn out fine.
Rose was hesitant to call her switch a strategy per se besides changing up the situation. Azucena was trying, but the two of them couldn't get moves off much faster than Terpsi, especially compared to how fast Ivy snapped them together. The Absorbs, from the internal perspective, were a mess compared to what they wanted to do but it was consistent and letting them pay more attention to defensive blocks.
The problem was Terpsi let most of the 'pull' just splash into her own energy reserves instead of returning to Azucena. They were sipping stamina, at best, and the little rapid spins were adding up. Petilil didn't have a lot of physical toughness.
Especially since Terpsi's own attacks, while not especially strong, didn't have the typing issue they were hitting. And besides move speed, the two little bulb Pokemon's tiny little legs gave them similar maneuverability. Azucena could move to brace but couldn't jump around the field like Ivy could.
There was a dance, but it was mainly of energy and in their minds. The steps taken to dodge and deflect were just as hesitant as the rest and Azucena was paying a price.
There was one thing making up for it.
She'd read it, and the Pokemon she'd been able to talk to (she and her sister were very lucky to get a clear read even for one type) in the wild or in the city had told her, but it was still surprising to experience over battle-sync.
Azucena was losing this fight, but still having a good time. Sure, she was irritated she was losing, but the sheer joy of being in a match was very strong. She'd be sad if they lost after everything but it did add to the clumsy dance. Rose really hadn't thought she'd get so much excitement out of the link. Maybe the Ranger did, but those memories were dulled.
Azucena was giving the best the two of them were able to, and there were no real regrets. Rose held that in mind, but she'd still rather win. So would Azucena.
As much as Mei was able to build up when she had time, I can't let Ivy be flat-footed if I call him back in, Rose realized. Azucena, we're going to switch up.
The little Petilil was game as Rose sent the visualization. The next hit from Terpsi, Azucena flexed and grabbed no to the petals as the spin slowed. Terpsi stopped moving, either she or Mei stunned momentarily. Azucena glowed green, firing the absorb directly in. Even with the proximity, it wasn't much.
Terpsi wasn't having it though, and shrieked, irritated. She did a rapid spin in place, directing all the energy to spin speed instead of moving for a hit.
Azucena let go, letting herself be flung in the air. Terpsi came to a sudden halt, fighting some mild dizziness (it wasn't really a defense move as a construct). Still, her eyes clearly followed Azucena's arc in the air, and the Bounsweet braced, getting ready to dash to shred Azucena on her landing.
Azucena though, folded her arms and stuck her tongue out as she flew through the air. Terpsi squeaked in surprise as Rose's recall snapped Azucena out of the air. Ivy hit the field, yowling and dashing forward unmolested.
"Rapid spin!" Mei vocalized quickly.
It was bad form. It still felt good.
Terpsi, shaken, started to spin up to speed, but Ivy still reached past to scratch with his claws before she'd gotten to more than a wobble. Azucena had still delivered some damage, and her defenses were still down from Ivy's tail whips earlier, with no angular momentum to take the blow.
Terpsi, bless her heart, tried to stay on her feet, but her stamina reserves gave out. Mei could feel the snap and disconnect as the sync collapsed to normal levels as the Bounsweet slumped down, fainted and spent. Mei was bringing the ball up as the backlash of the shock hit her.
Pome being there helped cushion it – the emotional shock spread out across the team. It still left her wincing, and more fatigued. She could feel the little Fuecoco's anger at his teammate's loss radiating like heat from his Poke ball.
"Bounsweet is unable to battle!" Nemona shouted, raising a hand in the air.
As if Mei needed confirmation. She shook her head, she wasn't being the best sport to her sister or Nemona. They were playing their parts in the match.
She held Terpsi's ball briefly – safely ensconced she was still out but could reach out faintly that she was there. And a bit mad at the loss but Mei sent a mental promise there'd be treats later.
Mei looked up at Rose after making sure her partner would be fine. Her sister offered a tight smile after a few seconds, feeling the gaze, but remained focused on her cat.
Mei was starting to suspect her sister was less taut of worry and just instead intense. Had she gotten in some training somehow while Mei was asleep? It didn't seem likely – Rose had been almost as much of a wreck before caffeine as Mei had felt when she went to wake Rose up.
And if Rose had gotten some power-up from the Ranger it hadn't showed when they entered battle. This was just Rose, apparently. It was Mei's battle to lose.
"Finish this, Pome," Mei yelled, putting in all the bravado she could. The little croc Pokemon came out and did his best angry dance, glaring at Ivy, who dropped into a crouch, tail lashing.
Nemona put the hand she'd been holding up back down. "Restart!" she commanded.
Ivy leapt forward in a zig-zag line. Pome shot a small batch of ash and flame, impacting where the cat had been, and growled slightly as the Sprigatito delivered a glancing hit. Against the Fuecoco's scales, it didn't amount to much.
Mei nodded. After Ivy's dashing with Terpsi, she hadn't expected the first hit to connect. She'd needed to see Pome's fire in motion though, to get an idea of the timing. Still, if Ivy wanted to hit, he had to get close.
He's mobile but fragile and taken some damage. We're going to have to take a couple hits, but sit and spin and he'll be toast soon, Mei thought to Pome. The little croc Pokemon burbled acknowledgement, and waddled around to keep the Sprigatito in view.
Flames started to lick out of his jaws, the 'hair' on his head growing bigger and brighter as he built up power.
Ivy's eyes widened briefly, but he dashed forward again at his trainer's command. Rose kept him in a zig-zag that wasn't letting him build up as much speed, but the expected hit didn't come.
Mei tried something like she'd tried earlier – but in more sensible amounts. Pome kept building up the heat, but after Terpsi's experience they were pacing it better. They couldn't shape it into something longer-ranged or hotter like Flamethrower, but what Mei needed was bulk.
Ember wasn't advanced enough of a move for the little flares and soot to get much hotter, but Pome had a big mouth. He could pack a lot of density in there.
As Ivy finally got within a meter, claws starting to glow in preparation; Pome exhaled, forming a big cloud of embers covering the field near him.
Rose moved fast and Mei really needed to ask her about that. Ivy pushed the scratch into the court base (little colorless bits of energy splashing on the tiles) to try and backflip to get out of range.
If it'd been a normal sized cloud, it probably would have worked. But Pome had done well and Ivy was caught regardless, little bursts and flares of fire smacking into and around the cat. It wasn't everything, but with Ivy's earlier hits and the type disadvantage, it was enough. Ivy hit the ground in a dead thump, knocked out.
Rose's vision suddenly filled with tears as the snap of Ivy's stamina breaking whipped along their connection. He was still there, but most of the strands they'd just been using felt like they'd been torn from their roots on each side. Azucena clutched a few at her side, and they'd all seen it coming in the last few seconds. Both helped but it hurt.
Rose took several raspy breaths and took her sunglasses off. She rubbed her eyes with one arm before she recalled Ivy.
That part of her that was old and alien whispered having this level of reaction was going to be a problem, professionally. She'd guessed at that. Being a battle trainer meant being in the wild. If one Pokemon down was incapacitating, she could get herself and her fallen partner killed if she couldn't bring another out.
She knew what she'd done wrong, she'd tried to flood it at the last second to keep him up and it'd upped the backlash. It'd been instinctual to reach out, but instincts weren't always correct.
At least it was her mistake instead of the Ranger's. Some of that was bleeding through, not directly on bonding but a situational awareness on the intersection of timing on the two Pokemon and trainer. She was trying to use Milo's style but the pacing wasn't something she'd gotten on her own yet. That has never come through on TV.
"Sprigatito is unable to battle!" Nemona shouted, for anyone watching, and raised her hand again. This time she held it up as a palm, watching Rose intently for a few seconds. Rose looked around at the pause. A few passersby had stopped, interested. Any battle on the courts attracted attention, apparently.
"You okay?" Nemona asked kindly. Rose though it over for a few seconds.
Azucena pulsed ready, if nervous. Fire beat grass, sure, but it was another thing to see super-effectiveness in action instead of just knowing it.
"I think so," Rose replied, her first spoken words during the battle.
We still have one card, Rose thought back to her partner, but it wasn't much of one. She brought Azucena's Poke ball to her lips, reassuringly, before giving it the throw. The dance was still on.
Rose had reeled back as if struck herself from the super-effective hit. Mei reached a hand out in her trainer box, but dropped the arm back to her side when it was clear the feedback wasn't causing a disconnect, and Rose was on her feet. From the way Rose rubbed her eyes before recalling Ivy, Mei doubted she'd even seen it.
She did say she was ready, and Nemona held her arm fully up in the air, signaling Rose was clear to continue. Mei's sister went a bit fancy on her throw (the hypocrisy escaped Mei) but showmanship wasn't going to win a trainer battle. Azucena was slower to build moves and on the field to Ivy. Pome had a much closer hand speed wise, on top of his other advantages. Mei grinned a little.
Rose's little Petilil did indeed appear in a flash of light. She looked a little battered around the stems. Nonetheless, she balled her tiny fists to continue.
Nemona looked back and forth and brought her hand down. "Begin!"
Mei didn't have a need for showmanship here with Pome on the field. Pome simply breathed another cloud of embers, and Azucena didn't have the foot speed to get out of the way. Instead she tucked and rolled, trying to race through it.
The embers burst around the little bulb Pokemon, but as small as she was, she was built better to take the ranged hits than Ivy was. With the little bit of a rest, she just came through the supereffective hit, battered and slightly ash-covered, but on her 'feet', breathing heavily.
Pome did a little happy dance as he started to draw in more breath for another round of sparks – Azucena wouldn't stay up from this.
That's when the little Pokemon leaned forward and shook her leaves. Gold powder sprinkled out and was drawn in by Pome's breath. Mei got his jaw clicked shut too late and his hands went to his throat, suddenly gasping.
Mei felt the change, the branches and flow to Pome suddenly partially blocked, like static on the line – paralysis. It was going to take them longer to get moves together even if they didn't dissipate, and Mei really wished she'd given Rose more consideration before this match.
Terpsi had been trained up by Hannah enough to reach rapid spin. Azucena had been with their mother at least as long, and the next easiest move for Petilils to learn after Absorb naturally was Stun Spore. Mei's retention was good but memory wasn't enough here. Rose had flat out said there was some sort of powder move in Azucena's mind, but she hadn't said it explicitly and Mei had discounted it with everything else going on.
Azucena was taking advantage of Pome's slow-down to start throwing balls of Absorb again. Her leaves smoothed and brightened as the energy back, small as it was as the Absorb burned against Pome's natural furnace, flowed into her.
Mei tried to get Pome into motion but the static overwhelmed it for a second, the energy building up for Ember dissipating. Heat, not flame, or Fire-energy, washed out the sides of Pome's jaws, as he waddled – very slowly- sideways to try and avoid the grass-type balls Azucena was slinging.
It was a small victory for Rose. The next time, the connection proved smooth enough, and Pome got the ember off. The little sparks exploded around her. The little stamina Azucena had stolen from Pome wasn't enough. When the embers finished and the smoke cleared, the Petilil was down.
The battle and match were done and the branches cleared out of Pome's mind as the battle-sync ceased. They were back to being partners instead of a unit. Pome whistled happily and did a happy victory dance.
Mei cheered, bent down, and slapped the tiles to get Pome's attention to bring him over for a hug.
Once her Fuecoco was in her arms, she looked up and over. Rose had her hands on her knees, breathing heavily, and gone paler under her tan. Mei stepped out of the trainer box to cross the field, and Nemona went over as well.
Before they reached her, she did get enough control to recall Azucena, though otherwise she kept herself braced as her breathing slowed.
"That first full knockout can be a bad drain. Are you okay?" Nemona asked loudly as she approached. Rose nodded, but still didn't stand up straight. Not that it'd make much of a relative increase in height against Nemona.
"And you and your Sprigatito reached out to try and cover for each other on the first knock out. Until you're really in sync, that just makes it worse," Nemona said glumly. Rose looked up at that.
"You're really amazing," she said, still gasping a bit.
"I notice a lot of stuff," the older girl replied, flatly.
"You played me!" Mei said accusingly as she got close. Nemona looked at her curiously. Rose shrugged, and muttered something Mei couldn't hear. Realizing this, Rose looked at her and said louder.
"It shouldn't have worked!" Rose snapped, and then dropped her head again to breathe.
Mei flabbergasted, dropped her jaw open.
Rose looked away. She didn't usually raise her voice, especially or even to her sister.
That had hurt. Mei had to admit, she was right. She gritted her teeth and started to speak, Rose looking up in surprise as Mei admitted it.
"You're right, I should have seen it coming. You've been focusing on the debilitating side of grass, and I left a huge opening for it. And I wasn't doing enough with support moves either, and was too slow charging up when I did. And you were really fast on your switches," Mei praised. By the end, she was smiling. It'd been exciting. And winning didn't hurt.
"It's easy to get caught up and see damage as the end-all," Nemona said brightly, then stared at Rose, who managed to recover enough to stand back up. She looked between the two of them and her eyes dropped down shyly.
"I've got plenty to work on too. Power's going to be a problem for more complicated moves and maneuvering was a mess," Rose stated/
"Really?" Mei asked.
"I don't know how it looked out here but oh it felt ugly for what maybe I should be. And… diffuse, like I thought earlier. Not what Mom has," Rose said.
"I'm locked up – or lock up easily. It goes every which way to connect here too. I was making it up as I went along," Mei said.
The twins shared a look. Something smelled with their Mom.
"You had the right moves to hit me hard, you did deserve this win," Rose said.
"You made me work a lot harder than I thought," Mei paused a few, "Thanks. I was just expecting to stomp you cause… I thought I would everyone."
"Good, everyone's happy!" Nemona said brightly. Rose looked doubtful behind her sunglasses but didn't say anything. "Let's get your partners checked out and I promised to get you back to the Academy for the floor meeting."
"I hope this wasn't too boring for you to watch," Mei said anxiously.
"I'd rather always be in the battle, but it's not bad to watch newcomers. Especially as you two were learning during the battle. Watching on the sidelines isn't as fast to gain experience but it can be a good teaching method to see the trainers and the Pokemon. You can't really do that in battle," Nemona explained.
"Any tips?" Mei pressed, then yawned unexpectedly. The battle was catching up with her, taking more than she thought. Rose tapped her arm and had her phone held out, screen showing the cash transfer app.
"Rose, we're sharing accounts," Mei started to say. Rose shook her head.
"We're doing this proper. Trainers give forfeits," Rose said. Mei sighed and tapped a button on her phone to accept it.
"Now the battle's over," Rose said, smiling. She'd done it, all the way through.
The trio started walking to the Pokemon Center.
"if I had a tip, you're really new, so you know, you're still finding what you want to do. You're going to see a big rise in power once you start practicing, that'll go right to the Pokemon. What are fundamentals to pet owners you're going to blow past, but you two know that. You'll have natural moves come fast for a little bit as the Pokemon adjust, and at that point you can figure out what cadence you want to train them for and how you want your team to work together."
"Too many big problems to think on the small ones this early?" Rose asked. Nemona nodded brightly.
The Pokemon Center was conveniently nearby – though still an open-air model. The twins dropped the Poke balls off for examination and sat down at a table with Nemona, who despite what she'd said, was listing a bunch of recommendations for things to work on in the basics. In celebration of the battle, she'd bought drinks.
"This isn't how our mother described things," Mei commented after one tip on how to practice upping and lowering the power of a move.
"Oh? There's a lot of styles," Nemona said, "Each Pokemon's different so a lot of what I've learned I've had to look through to find the basics. And I still have a lot to learn too!"
"The stronger you get, the easier it gets to feed power. The stronger the Pokemon gets, the easier time it has to work with it. And as you both train, more complicated moves start to get easier. I could do a strong tackle, but why do that when I can headbutt, or even giga impact, which are a lot more power in the same amount of time," Nemona finished for the moment.
The twins nodded politely. The last bit they'd known – there were points where you started trade-offs like accuracy for power, but what their Pokemon had at the start were below that.
"What do you recommend for move teaching?" Mei asked.
"The League is good. It's pricy starting out and they badge-lock the best stuff. And the good stuff. But training with a technical machine is a lot faster than tutoring the move the first few times. So unless it's a move you plan a lot of your Pokemon to use, it's the fastest way," Nemona said.
"You've Champion certification and done the gym circuit, obviously," Rose said, "One thing I got a little confused on. The Galar circuit is an elimination event, not a traditional training journey. Paldea's is a journey but there's an order?"
Nemona's face clouded momentarily before her usual sun took over. "La Primera set up a power tier system so the gyms wouldn't have to train as many teams as gyms do in most regions. They're understaffed to take care of that many Pokemon. Most serious Paldean trainers take at least some courses at the Academy during their lives, so the 'starting' gym is close by in Cortondo. Katy's really good at making sure people know the basics, too. Half the trainers give up by the third gym, though," she explained.
"Kabu likes to be third to be the wall in Galar too," Mei noted.
"You don't have to start over next year here if you lose a badge match here, do you?" Rose asked.
Nemona laughed at that. "It's some great matches, but it's not that mochi. You can rechallenge but the gym leaders force a few weeks delay so you can think over what to do different before they'll accept you on the schedule," she said.
"Fair," Mei said. Nemona looked around and leaned closer. The twins shared a glance and mimicked the move.
"Okay, since you mentioned gyms, and you're from Hammerlocke I have to ask. What happened there last year? All the feeds got cut, and Florian's from Wyndon," Nemona asked.
"They weren't trying to censor – at least deliberately. I don't know if that part got out. Galar fell into a full blackout when the Power Spots went crazy," Mei explained.
"The gym leaders evacuated the city, and the clouds and the tower blocked anyone from being able to see much of whatever was going on with that dragon," Rose clarified.
"Did you see the interviews the Champions did?" Mei said. Nemona nodded. "You know what we know – they summoned the hero Pokemon from the Slumbering Weald and were able to stop the ex-Chairman and the poison dragon."
"It's really a shame the Chairman went mad. There's still a lot of lawsuits pending," Mie said, reflecting.
"We got two weeks in the Wild Area to train because of the check Mom got, though. That was nice," Rose noted.
"Yeah, he went around the bend. A steel specialist not ready for fire at all?" Nemona said, shaking her head. The twins blinked a bit.
"Oh that had a reason," Mei stated, recovering first. She pointed to herself, "I've read Galar: A History cover to cover. One of the highlights discovered was that the poison from Eternatus was a huge problem before the legendary heroes appeared. So Macro Cosmos really was preparing for that."
"Three thousand years ago. No general antidotes, no factories to make potions, and no Poke balls to build full teams," Nemona said, "It's amazing Galar held out."
"From Professor Sonia's analysis, she's not sure they did everywhere. Some towns were resettled. And with all the death, everyone wanted to move past it and it was easy to cover up," Mei said. She snapped her fingers.
The two stared at her, and she sheepishly opened her mouth to explain before being interrupted by a yawn. "I may not make it to the meeting, Rose," Mei warned. Her sister nodded understanding.
"Anyway, that's another Treasure Hunt idea I had to follow up on – a lot of the Paldean Empire expeditions were pre-Apricorn, so would be another reason to explain why the expense drove it to collapse. One Pokemon at a time and 'apprentices' still then."
"History outside how the League rules change doesn't interest me," Nemona stated factually, "But that does sound like a good Treasure Hunt for someone who's interested."
Rose glanced over at the counter, and back. She tapped her necklace and said, "I'm going to interrupt a bit but shouldn't our Pokemon be finished with their check-ups by now?"
Nemona's gaze swept the Pokemon Center, which wasn't very busy. "Probably. Science is pretty amazing for how fast they usually are," she said, "You're the trainers, you should go get them – for some reason Florian and Arwen seem to have better luck with the staff then I do."
The twins nodded and stood up, Mei yawning again. "I lost and I'm steady on my feet again. How much did you put into that Play Nice?" Rose asked, offering an arm, that Mei waved off.
"Way more than actually went into Terpsi," Mei said. "Stupid mistake, but I made a few, like walking right into that stun cloud. Did I snap at you afterward or did I imagine it? Are you mad?"
"Mad about that? Or you? Really no. I'm happy the pr-" Rose stopped speaking for a second then continued.
"I'm not liking you yelled at me over something you did, but I'm not mad at that. Or you. There's plenty I'm mad about," Rose said, her jaw setting briefly.
"You want to talk about it?" Mei offered as they reached the counter. No one was immediately there and no bell so they waited for the moment.
Rose toyed with a pen on the counter for a few seconds. "We should probably wait on most of it. And otherwise…" Rose trailed off, looking around.
"You ok?" Mei asked, concerned.
"I did something stupid today," Rose said hesitantly.
"First battle jitters?" Mei asked.
Rose closed her eyes briefly and opened her mouth to admit.
"Cause I know I did," Mei continued. Rose's jaw closed with a click and, with a quick glance at where Mei was looking, rolled her eyes unnoticed.
"I mean – I thought with the pick, I'd have it, at least the first time. But I also half expected to knock myself out after the shock earlier today," Mei said, talking faster and faster.
"I was worried, when I called out earlier on the cold. You seem more yourself now," Rose said.
"Pome and Terpsi are helping a lot with that. It gives context to reality? We really can't let up training or I don't know what will happen," Mei said, in a rush, then closed her eyes to get herself under control. She touched Rose's arm, who jumped a little.
"You too?" Mei said, wincing.
Rose grabbed at her necklace before rubbing her arm, "A lot of me expects to react badly, and I don't quite or want to. My reflexes don't know what to do then. I'm digging into some stuff and I can't stop because it's too useful," Rose said. "But it's also not me."
"All day," Mei interrupted in wonder, "You've been running yourself ragged for me with that. I've got to do something nice for you."
"We usually split," Rose insisted.
"This day sucked hard, and you've still been mainly worrying about me. And you almost never complain," Mei said.
Maybe I almost never get the chance? Rose thought to herself and blinked a little. That had sounded more bitter than she thought she was.
"I'm going to have to come up with something," Mei fretted.
"If you can find our Pokemon that's a start?" Rose said aloud, looking around. There was some sort of back room, but no one had come out of it.
"Cover your ears," Mei directed. As Rose did so and Mei cupped her hands and shouted, "Is there anyone on duty?"
After a few seconds, a door cracked slowly open, and a Center nurse popped her head out. "Oh, you're not Nemona," she said, mainly to herself, in surprise.
"What does that have to-" Mei started to say. The nurse forged ahead.
"Your Pokemon came out of exam fine. You may want to favor the Sprigitato's side for a few days, there was some light bruising near the right hindquarter from an impact. They are going through the recovery machines now," the nurse said.
"Thank you?" Rose said tentatively to the nurse's back as the nurse disappeared again.
"What's that about?" Mei wondered aloud. She glanced over to Nemona, who waved cheerily.
The twins waved back. Rose commented, "Everyone outside the Academy keeps acting like she's a bomb that goes off, but she hasn't been that at all."
"Kieran did not seem the type to put up with that," Mei argued. Rose shrugged.
After that, their Poke balls were returned quickly, with no further word on whatever was going on. Nemona chatted a bit longer as Rose and Mei took notes. She was a fantastic resource and Mei was sure she would kick herself later for not knowing the best questions to ask.
Another Tauros ride (fast but more appreciative of local traffic laws thanks to lighter traffic) saw them back up the steps in the Academy's courtyard.
Rose hopped off along with Nemona, and the two of them helped Mei slowly climb down. She'd nearly nodded off during the straight lines on their way back. From up above, Nemona's Pawmot and Azucena guided her hands down.
Mei glanced blearily at the battle court down the steps below them. It had cones and caution tape put around it. "Does the city have a notification feed when they're going to dig that up? I want to look at it," she said, dazed
"Later," Rose said, mouth set, grabbing her sister by the shoulders and pointing her to the dorms. The two Pokemon up top hopped down and Nemona recalled both of hers.
"I know you still have an hour or so, and the floor meeting is useful. But I wouldn't call it mandatory like the assembly and homeroom meeting tomorrow," Nemona prompted.
"Yeah, I can take notes. Mei's headed to bed," Rose said, with a determined look in her eyes. "Mei, I'm going to be a bit rude."
"Huh?" Mei said. Rose pulled a Poke ball off Mei's belt at random and tapped the release button. Terpsi appeared and squeaked thanks.
"You think you can help keep her upright?" Rose asked. Grass to grass, the message go through easily even if not her Pokemon. The little Bounsweet puffed up, and clambered up the disoriented Mei to her shoulder, and pointed onwards.
"Good idea," Nemona said.
Rose bowed to the student council president. "Thank you for your help with the battle and seeing us back to the Academy. If you need our help for anything, please ask. I hope you enjoy your dinner," she said.
"Oh, it should be great. And Florian will be all fed and ready to battle!" Nemona enthused. She waved and set off on a jog then stopped and jogged back.
"It can't be easy losing your first battle, but keep it up! You did really well with a bad hand and were a good sport to point out how your opponent could improve! Especially with how your partners were flooding you earlier. I like battle, but it's not comfortable when they aren't your feelings," Nemona said. Rose nodded.
"I wasn't making her, really. I just thought it'd be great if we started together, not telling her," Mei mumbled, still dazed. The other two girls looked at her.
"Okay, I've got to get her to bed. Thank you again," Rose said. Nemona nodded and waved again, before jogging off towards her friends.
"Your legs feel okay after the ride?" Rose asked. Mei gave a tired thumbs up.
"I'm sure you don't want to go to the nurse or me to get an adviser, but if you look like you'll fall I will," Rose warned. Mei nodded, and sent a mental note of thanks to Terpsi that she didn't fall forward.
She started plodding towards the dorms, Rose and Azucena staying behind her to catch her if needed.
Leaving Terpsi and Pome with a firm suggestion to jump on Mei if she tried leaving the bed, Rose left Mei in her room after their slow walk.
Headed back into Rose's own dorm, she sent Ivy out too. It really didn't feel like her own room yet, even with the posters.
She picked up both little grass Pokemon and put them on the bed and sat down on the floor to look at them eye to eye. The two stared back, curious.
"I'll give you two a snack in a moment. I wanted to say thank you for the first battle. We'd all rather have won, but you both did great," Rose said, smiling. Ivy sniffed and looked up but kept side-eyeing to see Rose's reaction. Azucena clapped her 'hands'.
"We all have a lot to work on; Mei won't have it so easy next time," Rose promised, "I think we'll make a great team." She stood up, and stretched, stifling a yawn herself. Azucena chittered.
"I'm good for a bit longer. Poor Mei with that trainer shock, it really upped the drain. I know I can't support a third partner right away after today," Rose said, walking to the cupboard where she had a small bag of snacks and a dish of potting soil she'd set up for Azucena.
Ivy and Azucena vocalized their assurances that Rose didn't need a third partner as she poured a few snacks out for Azucena besides the soil, and a larger bowl for Ivy. Azucena planted herself and gave a sigh of contentment.
"Tell me when that needs more water, okay?" Rose said. The little bulb gave a thumbs up.
"Okay I want you two to be all set before the meeting. I bought some brushes so I should be able to get you two all smoothed out now for bed," Rose said, and sat down behind the two to get to work.
She continued to speak as she rubbed Azucena's leaves, "I know you two want to be the very best but for competition level battling, we're going to need more friends. And maybe Mei wants the Cup more than I do, I don't want people to look at us because I have lucky genes giving me a knack. I want to be better than just that for you two, especially after battle. That was great," she said, smiling.
The two Pokemon nodded agreement and Ivy meowed a question. "No I don't have any species or anyone in mind exactly," Rose answered, "I think it'll be when we find someone who… feels right, at least for the next one. But I'm sure you know the old saying, Ivy. Capturing is easy, training is hard. We'll have a lot of time this semester – this year – to make new partners."
"It's almost time for the meeting. Mei and I were going to do nails, but that's off," Rose said. She glanced at the clock. "Well, I can probably do them myself. Or should I wear gloves? There's going to be a lot of people around tomorrow and touching is weird," she fretted. Her two Pokemon glanced at each other and gave no reply.
"I'll think on it," Rose promised, half talking to herself.
The 'floor' was more of a floor section in the labyrinth of Naranja. But people are lazy on words. Technically twenty-four rooms arranged with a nearby larger kitchen and common area made a 'floor'. Rose's understanding was there were at least four 'floors' on this floor. Hannah had made sure they were in a women-only section.
Rose found a spot near the wall to the larger kitchen. Glancing at it, it had a proper stove and oven, so that was worth keeping in mind. The common area had only two pummeled looking couches, a table with some tethered remotes, and a large widescreen TV. Most people were standing around the edges of the room instead of going for the couch. Rose mainly kept her eyes down (only a little to avoid what happened with Miriam earlier) but risked a few glances. It didn't seem anyone else was looking at each other either.
No one seemed to know each other, but most of the ages looked to be her age or nearby. A couple people had small Pokemon they were petting or soothing to keep themselves occupied. Rose wished she'd done the same, but she'd asked a lot of them already today. Bringing them into such a crowded space after a loss would feel like punishment. Everyone was wearing the Naranja Academy uniform in some variation or the other; to get it over with.
At eight on the dot, a young lady with straight red and yellow hair walked into the room and clapped to get everyone's attention. Startled, Rose looked up. The woman goosestepped onto the table and clapped again to make sure she had everyone's attention. From this side, Rose could see a yellow streak in her hair, and there was a definite sense of power as she walked. Color that vivid and varied was either dye or the floor warden was Rose and Mei's equivalent for Fire-types.
And if Rose didn't have her own experience with her genetic roulette, there was a small fire Pokemon resembling a humanoid lump of charcoal, simmering alongside his trainer. The heat was held tight, somehow, banked like the retrained body language of the apparent floor warden. It could be flared out if necessary (Rose just gave up and went with fire stereotype metaphors internally at this point). And there was a lot of heat banked if Roses's assessing wasn't completely broken. The floor warden was a battle trainer, and a serious one.
"I'm Mela – the floor warden on this part. Doing this for some extra credits to catch-up so let's not hassle each other, okay?" Mela drawled.
"They had a couple things for us to go over – so let's get that out of the way so we can heat up to something more interesting," she continued.
"First – I get to see some of the paperwork on your entries. No one on the floor has anything big registered yet but they're serious about the four hundred kilo limit. Keep 'em in balls for the big boys until you can stretch outside," Mela listed off.
"Second – see my little trainee Charcadet here?" Mela gestured to the little fire Pokemon, who saluted in response. "Be like him – keep those fires banked when inside. You get one mistake with the sprinklers. Then they start looking into limiting your trainer license for property damage. Don't set off regular fires either of course. And great Cycle, watch your popcorn in the microwave. The smell lingers forever and it's always in the middle of the night when some moron sets off the alarms for popcorn," Mela huffed.
"Third, this floor's got a section on the school computer boards. If someone reserves the TV or the big kitchen there, it's there's. Don't make me come over if you think it should be yours instead," Mela warned.
"There's a cleaning staff to help keep the bathrooms in the suites up to code, but don't make their lives hell, or they have ways of getting back at you," Mela said, rolling her eyes. Some sort of personal experience was in play there, and several people chuckled.
Mela gave a faint smile at seeing the reaction and marginally unstiffened. "That's the biggest thing, besides don't be jerks. Everyone should know that already, but Naranja prides itself on education, and there's a few people who need it to be taught," she said, closing her eyes and sighing.
"Anyone got any questions?" Mela asked.
A few softballs about tomorrow's schedule got lobbed, mainly for shortcuts for navigating the labyrinthine school. Then what was the best thing to get in the cantina.
"Sandwiches; toasted, chilled. Filled with tofu, rice, slowpoke tail, whatever the cantina staff decides. The sandwich of the day is always the best thing to buy. Professor Saguaro loves baking and he oversees the ovens. The bread's fantastic. Main thing I missed on ISA," Mela answered definitively.
"How do the dorms get handled while we're supposed to be travelling Paldea? Are they locked up, or could we get stuff if we needed or had to drop something off?" an older teen asked.
"Good question. Keycards will still move the elevator, but the general public won't be able to get in or call up – the front desks are closed. Most of the faculty spread out to base in the Gyms to spot-check how students are doing and be closer for questions. The staff is here so you can reserve lab or workshop time or access the library," Mela explained.
She rolled her eyes and continued, "Officially, you can stay in the dorms depending on what 'Treasure' you're looking for. In reality? The faculty wants us to go out and see the region, and overnighting at the Academy repeatedly during the Hunt doesn't reflect well on the final grade."
She snapped her fingers. "That reminds me – flower girl, near the kitchen." Mela pointed and Rose started as she realized the older teen was pointing at her.
"Yes?" Rose asked, pushing up against the wall a bit as she felt the room looking at her. She grabbed her necklace
"Where'd you leave them?" Mela asked, without rancor.
It took Rose a few seconds in anxiety to realize what the warden meant. Her hands dropped to her side "They're settling into sleep in my room. We had a long day and lost a battle; I didn't want to bring them into a crowded room," she explained.
"Fair," Mela said after a moment, grudgingly, and mercifully let her gaze burn over the rest of the room instead of Rose. "But I know most of you are new or have never bothered to get full trainer licenses before. And a lot of you are getting ready to face the big question. Pokmeon can do a lot more than they do as pets, but even if they're pets, bring 'em with you when you leave the Academy. Best practice anytime you're out of your room."
"Is the city not safe?" To her shock, Rose realized that was her voice asking the question.
"Yeah. And having Pokemon on you keeps it that way. Crime's low in Mesagoza but you don't want to be an outlier. Speaking as a Paldean, a lot of us are bad about helping with other people's business. Even when she should. And we can spot outsiders, even if they've lived in the region for years," Mela said.
"TV may keep it clean, but outside formal matches; trainers don't have to stay still. Even a rookie partner is enough to buy time to hit the panic button on your phone or run away to a more public space. I don't want to scare you off Mesagoza, but it is a big city. You get me?" Mela asked, sweeping the room once more.
There were slow, hesitant nods.
"Good," Mela said, and waited a beat before smiling. "Now that I remembered the safety lecture, let me show you a trick a friend of mine did for getting the good movie channels on the TVs in here…"
The meeting broke off a little while after that, and people generally headed back for their dorms.
Mela stopped her as she was leaving the room. "Your sister okay?" Mela said sounding like it was a half apology.
Rose quickly explained, and Mela nodded.
"Rough, but if she's got the right guts she'll bounce back tomorrow with more energy," Mela declared. "You able to tell her on the meeting?"
Rose tapped her head, "I've got a good memory. I was going to write up notes." Mela nodded approval.
"Have a good night then," Mela said, and started stepping away in large sweeping steps again – not the oddest habit Rose had seen from a serious trainer.
Rose started towards her room, but then Mela called out from behind again.
"Was she the one you lost to?" Mela asked.
"My partners are a Sprigatito and a Petilil. My sister has a Fuecoco and a Bounsweet. Is it bad I went in knowing what was going to happen?" Rose asked.
"As long as you didn't just let her burn you up. Losses happen to all but the very best of us, kid, but that's how we hammer out our mistakes. Don't let yourself linger on losing but pick out the things you can do better," Mela advised.
"Thank you," Rose said politely. It wasn't bad advice.
"Sorry for putting you on the hotseat," Mela said.
"Can I ask on the hair?" Rose said quietly, pointing at her own then Mela's. Mela's eyes pointed up to look then smiled, realizing.
"Oh. You get it too, huh? And your sister? Skipped right to it?" Mela asked. Rose nodded. Mela smiled, thinking on some memory
"It was a big part of you going into place once the adults finally let you connect, wasn't it?" she asked.
"It's still settling in," Rose admitted. "You clearly know what you're doing. My partners were asking a little about when I was ready to expand. Everyone always just pointed to me being grass. I know how much of it is in here, so how did you…?" she trailed off, not sure how to phrase it.
Mela got it, however, "You're never getting away from your Type if you don't want to feel like you're itching all over. You don't have to be fully married to it, either. I am, but that's me, not whatever… pushes us closer than most people get at the start. You still get to be you, whatever that is, with it."
Rose bowed, "Thank you again."
Mela smiled, "Just don't suck." She goosestepped away. After a moment, Rose headed back to her room, smiling.
Rose closed the door to her room and checked first her partners – who looked up from where they were resting. Ivy lay in Rose's suitcase, daring her to comment – as opposed to the nice blankets Rose had arranged. Azucena sleepily waved from inside her pot.
Rose shook her head in bemusement, and then as a thought, wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. She wasn't surprised there was sweat there after she'd have everyone focus on her. No wonder Mela apologized.
"How am I supposed to be an arena champion, Mei?" Rose muttered, wiping her hand. That got Azucena's attention, who burbled.
"No, don't worry, we're going to do the gym challenge, and win – but that's a big difference here than something with ten thousand fans," Rose said with a sigh.
She sat down at her table and typed for a while, doing a summary of the meeting for Mei, and sent that on its electronic way.
She checked the time, half past eight. Too early with her thoughts churning to go to sleep, even if she was physically tired. She'd had some other ideas of what to do today but they'd all been made with Mei.
She looked at one hand critically, tapping her nails on the table with the other, and felt a brief wash across her connection. Azucena was looking up, staring at her, though still a bit bleary.
"Am I keeping you up?" Rose asked. The little Petilil shook her head and chittered a bit.
"You're right, I'm just letting myself fret," Rose answered, then looked at her hand. "And this is something I can fix for just me," she proclaimed.
Azucena sleepily asked a question. "Oh, no the nails still look fine – it's only a day, but I just have purple on. You two both have green, and I've got time. Let's get you some representation."
Ivy purred a soft question. "The gloves are probably the better idea," Rose admitted, "But having the Ranger is already pushing enough with everything else. We proved we're us, at least a little, today. I don't want to give up more space to everything. So if I have a mental breakdown tomorrow, I'll look good and we'll match." Ivy and Azucena cheered her on.
Rose tapped something pop on; she'd hit random and wanted the white noise. She then hit random again as she'd gotten something with a Pikachu chorus and that was too much white noise at the moment. With something bouncier on, she hummed along briefly and set to work. Her Pokemon crawled up to watch her work, somewhat incredulous of the effort humans put in to look distinct despite their enthusiasm at their trainer taking steps.
It was almost half to ten by the time she was done. She spent a little time looking at her redone nails in the light, then showing the Pokemon, who made appropriate noises of agreement. She then glanced at her phone. Her mother or Mei hadn't texted, so nothing major was happening there. Her sister was hopefully asleep for the night.
She did some mental math. If she was right, Sinnoh was about seven hours ahead of where she was. She should probably do this in the morning, but ranchers got up early… and she was still feeling brave after earlier.
Her Pokemon looked up at her as she stared at the phone's clock. "I know, I'm going to go for it – I couldn't ask this if Mei or Mom was here, so this is my chance."
She pulled the number from her contact list, and after hovering over the connect button for a few seconds, stabbed it decisively.
The phone flew into the air and rang but remained dark. She was about to give up and try tomorrow when a voice rang out.
"Hello?" Rose relaxed at recognizing the voice
"Aunt Ava? This is Rose – there's no video. Can you hear me?" she replied, switching over to Kantonian. Ava wasn't technically her and Mei's aunt, but she and her husband Olive had been a big help when the two were toddlers before Hannah sold the ranch. They still exchanged cards.
"Rose are you sure that's you?" the voice said doubtfully. Rose sighed.
"I had to learn Paldean quickly and it messed Mei and I's phonetics up," Rose summarized, "Can you hear me clearly? I think my camera's on."
"Your voice is fine. The camera? I'm just getting breakfast ready for the day. I'm a frightful mess and on speaker. We're moving a bunch of the herds to the east pastures today, so an extra early start. What time is it in Paldea?" Ava asked.
"Getting close to ten at night. I am sorry for calling so early, but I thought this time of year you'd be out in the fields later," Rose said.
"Got to enjoy the daylight while we have it!" Ava said brightly. "You sound tired. You moved into the new school?"
"Today," Rose confirmed, "Mei and I have partners now! She's asleep. You're right, it was a busy day. Is Uncle Olive there?"
"He's checking the trucks. We don't have to use them a lot in summer, usually. I'll fetch him," Ava said.
Ava's voice went distant as she called. Rose waited patiently, holding her nails up to ward off Ivy as he moved in for pets; she didn't want to risk if they weren't completely dry on his grassy fur. Especially since she'd seen him grooming. Ivy grumbled but understood.
Eventually, the voice returned to clarity, joined by an older gruff male voice. "Rose? Ava said Mei's asleep. Are you both alright?"
"Not especially, Uncle Olive," Rose answered, and sighed as she summarized the day using the 'safer' bits of trouble the twins had had.
"It was a long first day. We did get Pokemon from Mom and the Academy! Mei beat me in our match, but I think she overdid it after everything else. She was cut off at the roots on the way back to the dorms. She hasn't even really unpacked," Rose finished.
"Hannah had that problem starting out. Overpacking power for what she and the Pokemon could handle. It's an easy bad habit to start with," Olive warned.
"Really? She never said anything about that," Rose said coolly, filing that little factoid away with others.
"Probably embarrassed. It's an obvious problem, as you saw." Olive said. Ivy prodded her with one of his paws, and Rose nodded. It was better to be able to tell someone, especially too far away to make fun of her about it later.
"Not that Mei was the only one making mistakes. I got challenge locked first thing in the city," Rose said.
"Strange feeling, isn't it?" Olive said neutrally. "It doesn't sound like you behaved too badly under it, or you'd have said that first."
"The lock, Mom did warn us about," Rose said glumly. "I feel stupid."
"You're young. Making mistakes is one of your great privileges," Olive said, jolly.
Rose looked at her two Pokemon, who nodded back. This was as straight a line as she was going to get.
"Speaking of mistakes and youth," Rose began.
"Uh oh," Ava commented.
"I'm not sure if it was actually a mistake," Rose continued, trying to phrase this correctly. "But, um, Mom let slip her side job. In Solaceon. Before we moved."
The other end of the call was quiet for several seconds. Rose really wished it was a video call.
"I see," Olive said at last.
"Just that she had it," Rose added.
"Ah," Olive said, more relaxed.
Rose closed her eyes in relief that she hadn't been frozen out here and now by them.
I know what happened when it was just one Rose. And this is supposed to be Mei's. So I have to check.
"Did… we mess it up for her? Is that why she went all the way to Galar? Was it something with having twins?"
Notes: And battle finished. Big descriptive since this one's more internal. Others will probably be more sped up in the future. This was fun to write but a bit exhausting.
Rose got a bunch of memories for a different mechanics system then she lives in and that apparently, she's the extra. With Mei so exhausted to near-collapse twice in one day, she'd feel bad enough if it'd been the day before. She's getting more assertive even if she's quiet.
Mei's overdoing it but half her brain's telling her 'level 5s' should hit like they're 'level 50'.
There may be some level references but I don't think it'll be so quantitative in story, so I don't know if there'll be a full team listing. Video games tend to invade word culture.
You can thank Pokemon Legends Arceus for the faster 'cadence' instead of pure turn-based for something that feels a little less video gaming than the exchange.
Mei didn't list them out, but the 'Knight' Rose had her Team Flare team of Mamosiwng, Ferrothorn, Aegisslash, Delphox, Lucario, and Abomasnow. It was specifically to give Diantha as hard a time as possible, regardless of its trainer's personal preferences.
Mela was fun to show up. Team Star has some ground to make up academically and the Admins showed strong natural leadership capability.