Brassius turned out much more important to Juliana's overall story than a few battles and an art class. Naturally, we put him in the story more.
No sooner had Florian left Mesagoza, from the other side of the city this time, than Arven called with an update.
"Vasquez, where are you?" he demanded. "I'm tracking down a Titan."
"I'm training to fight a Titan," Florian promised. "I'll catch up with you soon, ok? I just want to get Lloyd and Ralts into fighting shape."
The Sprigatito at his side looked up from the Nacli he was fighting to purr, then pounced once again. Florian hung up on his new friend and charged into battle with a whole group of Shinx.
No sooner had the last one fallen than Arven called again. "Where are you? You promised to take on Titans with me."
"I'm going to," Florian promised. "Just give me a bit of time, ok?"
He continued on his way. He didn't even get an evolution before Arven called again.
"Titan time!"
"Hold your hippogriffs!" Florian shouted back. "What could possibly be so important that you won't let me train to do what you want me to do?"
"I'll tell you later," Arven promised. "Just get your butt over here, there's supposed to be a giant Pokémon around here and I don't want to take any chances in fighting it alone."
Florian looked down at the tired Pokémon he'd been training. He could see a Pokémon Center in the distance. "I'm coming," he said. "That sandwich better be good."
Juliana's Rotom had marked Artazon on the map, and she was reading about the Gym Leader while absentmindedly making her breakfast sandwich. Koraidon was attempting to steal the ingredients from her, and she kept nudging him away.
Then she noticed that he'd gotten into one particular thing in her breakfast pouch.
"Those aren't for sandwiches!" she shouted as Koraidon managed to open her pill case and lick up a Focusyn. She snatched the case back and hit him on the nose with the case. "No! Bad dragon! Bad! Go sit in the corner and think about what you've done!"
Koraidon chirped and looked at her with huge eyes. "Not for sandwiches? That explains the awful taste."
Juliana looked over at the damage. She'd gotten one of the cases with a compartment for each day of the week so she could see when she remembered, and he'd swallowed the one for Saturday. The worst part would be dealing with a high-as-a-kite sandwich-obsessed dragon.
"Hey, Rotom?" Her phone flickered back to the base screen. "Text Mom and tell her that a dragon ate my meds."
The best thing to do was to sit and watch. Partly to keep him out of trouble, and partly for her new project.
"And Rotom, once you're done with the text, start filming for YouTube."
Nemona made it to Artazon, and had a conversation with the Gym Leader himself as he headed out to pick up supplies for his next project.
"Champion Nemona?" He looked at the calendar. "Huh. It is that time, after all. Forgive me, I wasn't expecting you."
"I'm waiting for a friend," she promised. She looked over at the door. "She should be here by now."
"Let's hope nothing horrifying happened to her."
Nemona looked up at him, expecting him to be joking. He looked completely serious. "What are you talking about?"
Brassius gestured outside. "There are rumors of a giant Pokémon lurking right outside the town's borders," he explained. "It seems to leave humans alone, and I've never seen it. However, depending on the size that classifies as 'giant,' your friend could have encountered it."
Nemona crossed her arms over her chest. "You mean you didn't take care of it? Isn't it part of your job?"
"I did tell you that I'd never seen it," Brassius reminded her. "If I couldn't see a giant Pokémon from the top of a windmill, your friend should be safe." He turned to the Sudowoodo behind him. "Now, then. If the Champion isn't waiting to challenge us, we should be on our way. 30 pounds of soup ladles aren't going to carry themselves."
30 pounds? Nemona decided she didn't want to know. Brassius was an artist, and artists, as she'd come to learn from Hassel and Juliana, were most often strange.
Still, she wondered what he was making. She'd try to stop by for the big reveal.
Juliana had sent a Nacli (that she'd named Minecraft, since it had inspired the famous game) and a Spoink back to the school, and had evolved her Starly into Staravia. Fletchling, unfortunately, kept to her first form, as did most of the others.
And Koraidon had been chasing his tail for the past hour. More embarrassing, Juliana had watched Koraidon chase his tail for the past half hour.
"Hey, Koraidon!" He stopped to chirp. She smiled. "Try going the other way."
He obeyed. She watched for another 15 minutes, then got bored of it. "Koraidon!" Another chirp, this time as he swayed a bit in dizziness. "Let's try to find Artazon. You can chase your tail later." She hopped on Koraidon's back, hoping that the Focusyn would wear off soon, and started steering him in the direction her Rotom pointed out.
He got distracted several times, but so did she. She ended up catching a Tinkatink, fighting off half a dozen Gastly, and admitting that they were lost.
Koraidon was getting over his high, silently swearing to never go into the human's stash again, when he approached the side of the cliff. The same cliff, it turned out, where Florian and Arven were staring.
"Don't move," Arven hissed, as they stared at the massive Klawf clinging to the side. "Don't make any sudden movements."
"Wasn't planning on it," Florian whispered back.
Then, when a large red blur hit the ground and startled the Klawf, Juliana lifted her head and saw the boys. Oblivious to their matching horrified expressions, she waved.
"Hi, guys! Didn't think we'd see you here!"
The Klawf's eyes rolled back to lock onto the humans.
Arven focused all his irritation on Koraidon. "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile."
"Rotom," Florian said, and his phone buzzed to life. "Give me the stats on this thing."
She scanned it quickly, barely giving it time to jump off its perch. "Klawf. A Rock-type Pokémon. This one is female and about three times the size of the average Klawf. In short...HOLY CRAB!"
Juliana, oblivious to the danger, tilted her head as she looked at the image on Florian's phone. "Klawf," she repeated. "Huh. It'd be cute if it wasn't for the giant nose hair."
As if she knew that her appearance had been mocked, the Klawf attacked, choosing Juliana as her opponent. Juliana, who had been training to fight a Grass-type expert, gulped.
Ok, she told herself. Ok. This is just training. It's a normal Klawf, it's just...so...big. Start with type advantage, and maybe it won't eat you like a meatball.
She threw out the wrong ball in her panic. When she blinked her tears away, she saw a Pokémon that was not her loyal starter, but another one with the ability to use Water-type attacks. Then she remembered she'd sent Webby to Jacq to focus on training her Flying-types. "Um...Azurill! Use Water Gun!"
When Jacq got a frantic call six minutes later, and received a badly beaten Azurill and Staravia, he didn't have the heart to scold her when he noticed she was crying. He just sent Webby, Hoppip, and Tinkatink on over.
Florian had no faith in Lloyd to take on a Klawf that size alone. He had no faith in Ralts, either. He didn't know why he had faith in Juliana, or Arven's tiny Shellder.
His faith in Juliana could be explained by her having a badge and a lot of experience. Even as she was crying in fear, she still choked out directions to Webby that left the Titan retreating after defeat. As Juliana faceplanted into the dirt, Arven pushed past her to get into the cave that guarded the Sweet Herba Mystica, the snack the Klawf had used mid-battle to go back to full strength.
Florian helped her up. "You ok?"
Juliana looked over at him, eyes wide. "You volunteered to fight those things regularly?"
"More like got volunteered," Florian admitted, "but his mom is in Area Zero. It's an archaeologist's dream job."
"So Professor Sada's an archaeologist?" It was a bit different than the biologists and ecologists that populated the Pokémon professor world.
Florian shrugged.
Arven's triumphant laugh echoed off the cave walls. "Come on, guys!" he called. "There's enough for three in here!"
He may have pushed his new friends into things they weren't willing to do, but at least he was generous enough to split the rewards.
Arven did explain the benefits of the Herba Mystica, but Juliana's attention budget was spent. He put together three delicious-looking sandwiches, and of course, Koraidon decided to pop out again.
"Hey," said Juliana, taking her sandwich from Arven. "You done with the drugs?"
Koraidon looked embarrassed. Arven looked confused.
"You mean that thing's been on drugs this whole time?"
"He took my ADHD meds by accident."
Arven stared at her. "That explains a lot," he said, and she shrugged it off.
Koraidon was focused on her sandwich, as always. With a dramatic sigh, she handed it over, once again watching as he practically swallowed it whole.
"Hey!" Arven slammed the table in anger. "There was only enough for three! You, me, and Vasquez!"
"You, Florian, and Koraidon," Juliana corrected. "Trust me, ok? I get twitchy sometimes when my meds wear off, I know what he's going through."
Koraidon twitched. Then he glowed, almost like a form change, but it stopped at once.
Arven stared for a moment, then turned back to Juliana. "Since you did most of the work fighting the Titan, I can give you half of mine. Florian, since you did nothing, give her half of yours."
"I told you I wasn't ready," Florian grumbled to himself. "I didn't even want to do it in the first place, but now it's my fault..."
Juliana ate her sandwich half, and it was just as good as it looked. She saved Florian's sandwich half, however, ready to take to school and put in her fridge.
And when Professor Sada called when she left the cave, she explained the glowing.
"I have detected that Koraidon has regained some of its original strength," she explained, and Koraidon chirped at the sound of her voice. "Koraidon, could you demonstrate your strength for our new friend here?"
Koraidon started chasing his tail again, getting faster and faster until he was almost a blur. Juliana smiled, and returned to the professor.
"So, do you want me to go get Arven for you?"
The line was silent. Juliana didn't even hear the professor breathe. "Perhaps...another time," said Sada, and she ended the call.
Juliana wanted to sleep, but she didn't want to run into the Klawf again. She explained this to the others, and Florian nodded along.
"Clawsette was huge," he agreed.
"You named it?"
"She needs to be recognized above other Klawf," he defended himself. "She's a Titan!"
"I think her size would be recognized enough."
But she said goodbye to the boys, and wandered away, taking Koraidon once again and letting him jump up cliffs as well as jump down them.
So when Nemona found them late Friday afternoon, sleep-deprived and barely functioning, her relief was quickly replaced with irritation.
"Did you get lost again?" she complained, and when Juliana nodded, she sighed.
"It's too late to get you to the Gym," she explained. "But we can at least get you to Artazon! Come on. This way we'll only have to take a taxi."
"But I want to stay in Artazon!" Juliana complained. "I'm an artist! My mother is an artist! It's our true home!"
On the outskirts of Artazon, the Gym Leader watched as a Champion dragged her friend across the border. "Well, that looks important," he said, and he and Sudowoodo left, carrying the last 5-pound boxes of ladles into the studio.
TEAMS
Juliana: Webby (Quaxwell, female) Lechonk (male) Tarountula (male) Fletchling (female) Tinkatink (female) Hoppip (male)
Juliana's reserves: Fidough (female) Pawmi (male) Igglybuff (female) Minecraft (Nacli, male) Spoink (female) Azurill (female) Staravia (female)
Florian: Lloyd (Sprigatito, male) Ralts (female)