This gives us another reason to keep track of the teams.

On a side note, Miss Eevee is a "Kalos-created" comic book series that takes place in Sinnoh. I'm working on writing it to post to Tumblr so you can read it too.

With Juliana's first battle ending in her victory, and Clavell stopping Nemona from continuing, he led the girls back to the front of the house. Technically speaking, Sprigatito led them, as he was leading Clavell, but it was Clavell that they were paying (enough) attention to as Nemona talked on and on about Pokémon battles and Juliana drifted in and out between the other girl's speech and her own thoughts.

"...and here in Paldea, it's considered rude to not tell your opponent which Pokémon you're sending out after they've defeated the last one. Even Gym Leaders and the Top Champion..."

I should totally get Clavell to play Ace Attorney. Then he'd probably laugh if I slipped and called him Mr. Edgeworth and I wouldn't die of embarrassment.

"...but if we're going to be true rivals, Juliana, you have to take the Gym challenge. They're all good people, even though Brassius is kind of weird and Grusha's a bit..."

Ah, crap, I left my Miss Eevee comic at Dad's house. At least I hope it's at Dad's. I'd hate to leave it in a park, I was just getting started on the series...

Juliana spotted her mother waiting by the gate. Forgetting that Nemona was explaining things, she ran forward, proudly declaring that she'd won her first battle and introducing Webby to Sofia. Nemona stared after her, mouth hanging open.

"It seems your rival isn't yet as determined to battle as you are," Clavell chuckled, to which Nemona just grinned.

"I'll get her there," she promised, as Juliana gestured to her, now, and called her a friend.

"So," said the woman, looking at Nemona and attracting her attention, "I take it you were the one who battled my daughter?"

"I was," Nemona confirmed. "We're already becoming friends!"

"Then I would like to say hello, and that you're welcome to come over any time. Juliana, you forgot a few things."

"I figured," Juliana sighed. "What were they?"

Sofia dug around in the shopping bag, handing items to her daughter as she pulled them out. "Your medication, properly contained and childproofed. I made you a sandwich for the trip to school. I bought you a Rotom phone to remind you to take your pills when I'm not there..."

"You got me a phone?"

Sofia laughed. "Yes, I did. I got the Rotom model because everyone has one, and it would be easier for you not to lose it if it could look after itself."

The Rotom flew up to Juliana, and spoke in a quiet, feminine voice. "It's nice to meet you. I'm not the greatest at conversation, but I have a good memory, and not just on the memory card."

"You can fit a ton of apps in these," Nemona confirmed, as the Rotom settled into the pocket of Juliana's shorts. "Do you have the Pokedex app installed?"

"No, ma'am," Rotom said, voice quieter than before. "Only a map, a taxi service, and Sofia's phone number."

"Then put in my number," said Nemona as her own phone flew out of her pocket, "and download the Pokedex app." She nodded at her new friend. "One of our teachers made the Pokedex app, he gets excited if you use it."

"Then maybe that will be my goal as a trainer," Juliana laughed. "Not complete the Pokedex, but at least catch the cute Pokémon in Paldea." She giggled. "Completing the 'cutiedex.'"

"Sounds like a plan," said Nemona, holding out a fist for a fist bump. "Time to prepare Paldea for a future Champion and her army of adorableness."

"To catch a Pokémon," Nemona was saying, "you have to battle it to a point where it's willing to be caught, but not to the point of it fainting. A Pokeball doesn't register the difference between a fainted Pokémon and a dead one, so it doesn't catch either, just to be safe." She laughed, embarrassed. "That's why I kind of suck at catching Pokémon."

"You keep knocking them out, huh?" Juliana rolled the empty Pokeball in her hands, thinking it over. "Do we have to battle them? What about Quick Balls?"

"Quick Balls get expensive, and -"

"Or," Juliana interrupted, taking the ball in her dominant left hand, "why can't we just do this?"

She threw the ball at a passing Lechonk. The creature squeaked in surprise, but it went in without difficulty, and after a few shakes, it stayed put.

Nemona stared at the ball on the ground. Then she stared at her friend.

"Do it again," she ordered.

So she did. She caught a Tarountula and a Hoppip, and was chasing down a Fletchling when she bumped headfirst into a boy around her age.

They looked remarkably similar, she noticed as she got a better look. He was wearing his 'summer' uniform, too, with a slightly different hat. He had brown hair and brown eyes, like she did, with pale skin. They could have passed for siblings.

Nemona caught up to them quickly. "Oh, another new kid?" she said, distracting them both from the awkwardness of bumping into their opposite-sex doppelganger. "This is Juliana, she's the other new kid at our school. And you would be?"

"Florian," said the boy, with the exasperation clear on his face. "Florian Vasquez. Same as last year."

"You went to our school last year?"

Florian's exasperation turned to offense. "I'm the guy who found the -" he stopped, shaking his head. "Better yet, let's not go there. Hi, I'm Florian Vasquez. I'm...new."

"But you just said you went to the school last year."

"For a day. Then I...got rabies."

The excuse was stupid, he knew that as it was leaving his mouth. However, both girls seemed to be distracted for a moment.

"I already had rabies when I was seven," said Nemona, then she stopped. "No, I'm thinking of chicken pox. What's rabies, again?"

"We're wasting time," Florian interrupted. "All you need to know is that I'm not new, I just didn't do the Champion thing last year."

"That explains why I don't remember you," Nemona admitted. "So what did you do instead?"

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"Come on! Juliana here needs to know!"

Juliana, who had wandered off after another Fletchling, returned at the sound of her name. Nemona, who had not processed Juliana wandering off, continued to speak.

"Anyway, it can't be worse than that kid who found a bunch of pyrite and let it leak out of his bag, leaving a trail that someone found leading right to the pyrite supply, ripe for them to take." She paused. "Unless you're that guy who never came to class, forgot we were doing a Treasure Hunt, and turned in a jar of toenail clippings."

"No," Florian said with a disappointed sigh. "I'm the Jackpot Joke - the pyrite kid."

"Oh. Sorry I brought it up."

"You found pyrite?" Juliana was impressed, despite her new friends clearly dropping the subject. "My mom has a pyrite bracelet! You could make money off of it! I mean, not as much as on gold, but -"

"Show her what pyrite you brought back," Nemona said carefully.

Florian groaned and pulled something from the pocket of his shorts. Opening his hand, he revealed three nuggets of medium size. Juliana was momentarily distracted by the sparkle, before she remembered the boy.

"Ok, so maybe you'd make a few bucks."

"That's not it. I found SO MUCH. But I lost it all...and the rest was stolen."

Juliana went quiet. "That's rough, buddy."

"Better than toenail guy," Nemona offered.

"Yeah, toenail guy made me just a drop of embarrassment in an ocean of shame." He shook his head and shoved his rocks back in his pocket. "I'm doing something else this year."

"Like what?"

He was spared from answering by a roar, and the three immediately raced to a cliff to see what had happened.

The dragon had been fine, for a while.

It had escaped. It had found the trail it recognized. It had been on its way home, to its boy and to its lighthouse.

And then its injuries had caught up with it, and it had plummeted from the sky.

It had spent years in that crater. The professor had cared for it and protected it. So when it was sent on a mission to go back to her son, the little boy it used to play with, it had jumped at the opportunity.

Of course, it had reasons other than nostalgia to go back to the surface. But those, too, were failing in the presence of the very real injuries and the very real Houndour sniffing at it.

It snapped at them, a warning. One of the Houndour bit back.

And that was when the dragon heard the voices.

"What do you think it is?"

"It looks like a big red Cyclizar."

"A Cyclizar wouldn't be red. Even shinies aren't red."

"What's a Cyclizar?"

It made another sound, searching for the source of the voices. It spotted three children, but none of them were the boy it remembered - it knew humans were supposed to change as they got older, but it liked to think it would recognize its old playmate. The boy looked just like his mother, and none of them had the proper color. In fact, from the dragon's limited understanding of human biology, two of them seemed to be female. Perhaps all three - some human females kept their hair short, and they were all dressed alike.

Then again, some human males kept theirs long. But whatever gender they were, the dragon didn't recognize any of them.

One of them stepped forward, despite her friend's warnings, and plummeted down the cliff.

TEAMS

Juliana: Webby (Quaxly, female) Lechonk (male) Hoppip (male) Tarountula (male)

Florian: Lloyd (Sprigatito, male) Vivillon (female)