"Bye guys! See you tomorrow!" Juliana called out to Carmine and Drayton as they were leaving.
Drayton smiled and waved, "See you later! Hope you guys had fun. I know I did!"
Carmine side-eyed Drayton with a low growl before responding in a slightly snippy manner, "Yeah, it was fun!"
Juliana couldn't help but laugh. Not just at her tone, but at the way Carmine was giving Drayton a look that said she wanted to beat him black and blue. All with a pink blush across her face. And that told her volumes about what Carmine was feeling right then and there.
After they had gone, Juliana and Arven decided to leave as well. In the hallway, he turned to her, "I wonder how they'll be as a couple, heheh…"
Juliana was confident, "I'm sure they'll be fine! If anything, they're really funny together!"
Arven shrugged, "You might just be right about that. I mean, they are funny. A bit odd! But funny. Just look at you and I! We sure made it work!"
"We sure have!" Juliana affirmed joyfully, "And I'll never trade those moments for anything!"
"Heheh! Took the words right out of my mouth, cutie!"
The pair had stopped in front of Juliana's room. She responded, "That's right! Well, I'm gonna spend some time with my team before going to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow Arvie!"
Arven gave her a hug, "All right cutie, good night!"
"Bye!"
After he had given her a quick kiss on the head, Juliana used her key card and entered her room. Being by herself at the end of an interactive day was proving to be one of her favorite things. She used this opportunity to look at the different types of Pokeballs she had her Pokemon in.
Her beloved starter Meowscarada was in a regular Pokeball. Little firecracker Tinkaton was in a Heal Ball. Ogrepon the great friend was in a Friend Ball, Delphox was caught in an Ultra Ball, Cinccino was in a Love Ball, and Terapagos, the hidden treasure of Area Zero, was caught in a Master Ball.
And of course, Koraidon, her reliable partner, was in an ordinary Pokeball too. It remained in the back of Juliana's mind that a lot of things that happened to her had happened because she fed Koraidon a sandwich.
Every Pokemon she had was special to her. Each of them had a story behind them, even the ones she had only caught recently. Juliana smiled in pure joy. She had nothing but hope for what the future would bring.
While she was busy making meals for herself and her Pokemon, Cinccino had caught a glance of Tinkaton's hammer. She scuttled closer to the weapon and flinched at how dirty it was. She stood up straight and prepared to go to work, wanting to give the hammer a thorough cleaning.
Just as her tail was about to touch the metal, it was taken away suddenly. Tinkaton had noticed what Cinccino was about to do and moved her hammer.
"Cinccino!" An offended Cinccino barked and tried to get closer to the hammer again. But was met again with Tinkaton moving it away. This time, the pink Pokemon put her hand up and waved dismissively, shaking her head.
"Cinccino…" Cinccino growled.
Tinkaton shook her head again and let out a short, objective squeak. But Cinccino would not give up, she lunged for the hammer like a little possessed demon, "Cinccinoooo!"
Suddenly, she was stopped mid-air. Delphox stopped the fight the best way she knew how, with her psychic abilites. Cinccino protested being lifted in the air telepathically like this, flailing her little arms and feet mid-air while wailing. Delphox held her like that until Juliana came over.
"Okay, what's going on here?"
Delphox dropped Cinccino, putting on her most innocent face. Tinkaton did the same, and Cinccino gave Delphox an irritated glare as Juliana looked at all of them, "Hm?"
Cinccino pointed at Tinkaton, "Cinccino! Cinccino!"
Tinkaton appeared mildly irked, crossing her arms.
Juliana felt some slight amusement, "Let's try to get along, girls. Cinccino, here." She placed her yellow high-top sneakers in front of her, "You can clean those. Tinkaton just doesn't want her hammer touched by anyone."
Cinccino was a bit disappointed at the tiny shoes but took to cleaning them immediately. Tinkaton happily took her plate of food and carried it, plus her hammer, away.
Delphox became happier seeing the conflict had settled and smiled at Juliana.
Juliana whispered to the fire-type, "Thanks for keeping that from escalating, Delphox." Delphox nodded proudly in response.
Tinkaton had taken a seat beside Ogrepon. The little ogre decided to cheerfully reminisce about the time Tinkaton had wiped the floor with the Lousy Three. Tinkaton grinned devilishly at the thought of those wicked beings getting what was coming for them. It was a feat she wouldn't mind doing again.
"Pon, pon!" The little ogre enthused.
It did cross Tinkaton's mind on where those bad Pokemon ended up after she sent them blasting off. Hopefully staying out of trouble. She wondered if another trip to the faraway land was in the cards for her trainer. For now, all she was going to do was wonder.
Koraidon decided to join the two after having already gobbled down his portion. Tinkaton and Ogrepon happily greeted the scarlet legendary.
"Agais!" Koraidon replied, it was good to relax.
Cinccino and Meowscarada were sitting together with the latter assuring the former that Tinkaton had no ill feelings. She was just protective of her signature item. Cinccino felt better, but still longed to clean that gigantic hunk of metal. At the same time, she couldn't help but feel something strange about it…
Terapagos ran around the room with a huge smile on his face, taking short breaks to bite his meal. Delphox watched and laughed. Cinccino took a moment to clean the crumbs off his mouth during one of his rests.
In the kitchen, Juliana was on the phone with her mother using the camera.
"So mom, how's the Sunflora I gave you? I got him from one of my teachers!"
Adeline responded, "He's been a wonderful asset when it comes to the garden! He just loves it out there!"
"That's good!" Juliana smiled, "Because Brassius says he'll thrive best on plenty of water and sunshine!"
"Oh, trust me. He gets plenty of both!" Adeline giggled, "By the way, look who's here!"
She focused the camera on Juliana's Maushold and Dachsbun. They both happily greeted the camera with Maushold waving and Dachsbun giving a bark.
Juliana's eyes lit up at the sight of her old partners, "Oh my goodness! Hey guys! How are you guys doing? It's so good to see you! I miss you so much!"
Both Pokemon responded positively. This made Juliana laugh, "Oh, that's so good to hear! We're doing just fine too!"
Just then, Palafin jumped into the frame and did a flip. Juliana was ecstatic, "Hi Palafin! I'm so happy to see you!"
Palafin waved with her little fin, before rushing out of view. Maushold and Dachsbun immediately ran after.
Adeline laughed, "Oh my goodness, there they go again! They've been chasing each other around the house all day. Just one of those silly things I guess!"
Juliana grinned, "I remember they used to do that all the time before I became a Champion."
She found herself recalling the days of old, back in time when she was building her team bit by bit and had no idea what she was doing. But somehow, she made it work.
"Oh, time sure does fly does it?" Adeline softly stated, "I swear it was only yesterday when you were headed off to your first day of school! Now look at you, your father would be so proud!"
Juliana instantly felt wistful hearing that, "Dad… I miss him, mom."
"I do too, dear. But I know he'll always be there for you!"
Juliana smiled a bit knowing she was right. She could feel it in her heart.
"I better get going to watch them." Adeline spoke, "I don't want them getting into something, they can get a bit too rambunctious."
Juliana giggled, "Okay mom, sorry about that."
"It's all right dear! I'll talk to you later, love you!"
"Love you too mom." Juliana replied, before hanging up. Once she put her phone away, she sighed and shook her head in amusement, confident that her mom had everything under control.
Juliana noticed Terapagos at her feet and picked him up. The two stared at each other for a moment before Juliana grinned, "It's hilarious how you're so cute, yet have so much power. Still, I can't believe that there was that much to Area Zero that we hadn't seen…"
She remembered the pages in the Scarlet Book, "Professor Sada… you've been there too, haven't you?"
Once dinner was done and she had gotten everything cleaned up, she put all her Pokemon back in their respective balls. She was just about to change into loungewear when she heard a knock on her door…
At the same time…
After some research in her room, Perrin found what she had been looking for. An online biography of the place called Area Zero. Perrin's eyes were glued to her computer screen, completely engrossed in the writings of the famous historian known as Heath.
"This'll be easy." Perrin told herself, trying to calm her nerves, "In, get pictures, out, celebrate!"
She knew it was forbidden to visit the Great Crater of Paldea without permission from the League, permission that they would never grant to a simple photographer like herself. But the temptation was proving to be too great. Especially after the photos in Timeless Woods turned out poorly.
"Ruff!"
Her Growlithe barking took her out of focus. He was concerned about his trainer, evident by his worried face. She smiled at him, "Don't worry buddy. I know we can do it! This time… I'll get some good photos! You'll see!"
She gazed at her camera, "I'll make it work…"