—-Anne's Point of View—
I was standing right infront of Duchess Millidiana Claes and waited until I heard her state "You may now begin"
I nodded and read aloud what was written on the paper infront of me
"Week 2: Katarina's frequency of expressing dismay over the incapability to research anything of value during the month lasting grounding has reduced, although this might be since she had found a new source of entertainment through fictional literature.
Katarina also picked up the idea to simply create battling strategies in a notebook she calls 'Battling for Dummies'.
Katarina's Pokémon have found unique ways to cope with the grounding of Katarina, Lady Onion had mastered a technique of code words that Katarina calls 'Jap-pan-eats' and Lady Onion has recently started looking at multilingual dictionaries.
Lord Durian has dedicated himself to maintaining Katarina 'garden' and Lady Purprea had started destroying trees to make instruments."
That was the end of the writing and I promptly put the paper onto the Duchess Claes' desk and waited for a response
There was a deafening silence, until the Duchess stated "Knowing this information, it seems that Katarina can attend the Prince Geordo and Prince Alan's Tea Party. Anne, go relay this information to Katarina and the staff so they can prepare for tommorow"
I bowed and made my leave to follow her orders.
When My Lady heard the news, she seemed ecstatic and then started to 'zone out' as she called it, My Lady then looked up at me and asked "Hey Anne, do you think there's gonna be strong Pokémon trainers?"
Anyone could see where this question was heading and so I told My Lady "Well… yes, but I want you to try and avoid engaging in any Pokémon Battles since you might get in trouble for being… rambunctious"
"Alright Anne, but can I at least watch? I haven't even been able to spectate Keith and Geordo's battles"
I paused to carefully consider My Lady's concept and decided to nod and tell her "Very well, its not like watching would do any harm to you or your reputation."
My Lady sighed and said "Thanks Anne. Oh wait, do you wanna see a fun game I came up with? Purprea, Onion and Durian seemed to enjoy it but now they're tired from playing too much"
'… what' I then looked behind My Lady and saw My Lady's Pokémon passed out
"I… uh I-i can't I have to decide… what your Pokémon shall wear, My Lady" and immediately went out the room
'Sorry My Lady, but I don't think I will survive your "game" '
—-Katarina's Point of View—
I was kicking my legs in excitement as I was sitting in a carriage, 'This is great! the grounding had banned everyone from seeing me but now I can finally see Mary and Geordo, maybe even get a new friend like a Book Buddy or a-'
I was interuppted by Keith nudging me and telling me "Big Sister, we have arrived!"
"Oh, thanks Keith" I said and I picked up Purprea. Me, Keith and Purprea then left the carriage and I told Purprea to drop the two Pokéballs she was holding and as the light faded away, Durian and Onion took the light's place
Around Durian's waist was a simple brown belt with blue bags attached to the sides of the belt and to top it off was a small blue bow tie around his neck, Onion wore her usual Sunhat but also got bows tied onto her antennae.
I grabbed Onion and put her and Purprea into one of Durian's bags toghether and walked in, but before we did, Keith whispered to me "Remember, Purprea that is a 'gift' " I nodded and we both continued walking indoors
As soon as we got there, I immediately rushed to the buffet and started devouring the meat, Ice cream and cheese, but then, I had to make an intense decision of epic proportions, possibly the most important and difficult situation I have ever experienced 'Should I eat the white chocolate first or the milk chocolate first?'
While I was dealing with this momentous and profound internal debate, a group of girls had walked over to chat with the girl infront saying "Oh my, is that you Katarina Claes?"
"Yah I'm Katarina, can I help you?"
"Oh good heavens, I could not recognize you with that… worn out arm"
"Oh right, my right arm broke in a training accident, kinda forgot to be honest"
Girls giggled and then the leader continued "Well, I was just wondering about that… curious Pokémon next to you, is it yours"
"Yah, he's Durian, real strong too!"
The girls looked at each other with some of them giggling, I got kinda bored and started staring at the buffet table and waited for them to leave or talk again
The girl in the front then continued and said "Now tell me about your litt-"
Suddenly, the girl quickly stopped and had a scared look on her face before she said "P-Prince Geordo, h-how are you!"
'Geordo?' I away from the buffet table and saw him, "Oh hey Geordo, how've you been?"
"Oh quite well-" Geordo then paused to give the group of girls an odd look and they all decided to quickly rush out, with the main girl saying "O-oh good heavens, it looks like I heard my name in the distance" before leaving
"- but how are you, my dear?" Geordo said
" "My dear?" I could've sworn I told you to call me Katarina?" I said
Geordo only sighed but I guess he wasn't mad since his smile seemed less forced, Geordo then told me "Well then, Katarina, I would appreciate it if answered my question; this party is for you afterall"
"… I thought it was for Alan and you to celebrate your guys' new Pokémon?"
It was at this point that I started to feel a little sick in my stomach, I figured it was just hunger so I decided to start eating some milk chocolate but it only got worse and I could feel my gag reflex starting to activate so I quickly grabbed Geordo's face and turned to me before telling him "I have to go power my nose"
I then ran out with Durian chasing after me and the last thing I heard from Geordo was "y-you mean 'powder'?"
I managed to get far enough to be away from onlookers and started to vomit in some woodsy area
I eventually finished but noticed something "I'm lost aren't I?", I decided to just wander around to try and find someone or something that could help me get unlost
I started hearing noise from some bushes so I ran over to see what it was only to see three Poochyena jump out the bushes, the Poochyenas started growling and barking and I think one of them hissed at me
I was naturally terrified and what made it worse was the fact that these were Pokémon so I could face an unforeseen bad ending if I don't run and so I did while screaming for them to "GO WAAAY, I DON'T TASTE GOOOD!"
I had attempted to climb a tree several times but the Poochyenas only destroyed the trees before I could do anything and had managed to back me into a corner with only a wall behind me
Suddenly, I flash of familiar blue fur had jumped infront of me and I cried out in joy "Durian!"
Durian looked back at me a gave a happy "Snorlax!" Before looking to the Poochyenas and glaring
Durian ran over to the Poochyenas and grabbed two of them by their tail, the third Poochyena didn't like this and attempted to charge at Durian with Crunch but Durian merely kicked the Poochyena and caused the Poochyena to be around a hundred feet in the air, Durian then started spinning the Poochyenas in his hands like a Yo-yo before he then threw them up into the air aswell
"Thanks for saving me Durian, but you should be more carful and use moves against angry Pokémon, it can be dangerous" I said
Durian nodded and I started petting him on the head before saying "Throwing them that high is kinda overkill, and they're Dark types so its not like they could-" I then realised something and stopped petting Durian and told him "DURIAN, THEY CAN'T GET BACK DOWN!"
Durian then immediatly started to panic as he realised his mistake and got on all fours but used one of his arms to point to his back and said "Snorlax lax!"
'… oh like a horse!' "Got it!" And I climbed onto Durian as he immediately started running "I'll focus on where the Poochyenas are, you focus on running and avoiding obstacles!"
"Lax!"
After a while, we exited the forest area and entered the banquet zone where there was a ton of people so I immediately shouted "Watch Out!, Coming Through!, Emergency, sorry!"
And we soon found ourselves chasing the Poochyena into another foresty zone but I saw some small Pokémon up ahead so I shouted "Durian, look out for the Salandits!"
"Lax?" unfortunately, Durian wasn't able to stop and had accidentally landed on them, but they only fainted which caused me to sigh in relief
I then looked to my side and saw several noble children behind the Salandits and another child across them
'Oh shoot, I stopped something private' I decided to try and fix my mistake by rummaging around in Durian's bag and giving the Salandits some revives
One of the children said "H-Hey!" So I looked over to them and for some reason they didn't continue so I just finished healing the Salandits and let the Salandits scurry away to their owners who immediately ran away for some reason, but I figured that they must've been in a hurry
I then noticed a shaking girl with white hair and red eyes
"Oh, sorry I don't have any more revives" I said and so I grabbed a big red ruby from Durian's bag and threw it infront of the girl
Durian immediatly nudged me and pointed to the sky to remind me of the Poochyenas and said "Snorlax!"
"Oh right! gotta go bye" I said and hopped back onto Durian and continued to chase after the Poochyenas.
Durian somehow managed to catch up with the Poochyenas, again, but I saw that in the distance was a battle going on so I told Durian "Durian, theres a battle going on so I need you to try and jump to avoid the blast, On the count of three, I'm gonna jump off and so you'll jump to catch the Poochyenas by having less weight, Kay?"
And I saw Durian nod in understanding so I counted down "One… Two… THREE!" And I immediately jumped off and saw Durian jump into the air
Durian grabbed the Poochyenas but then I saw a massive beam of light coming towards the landing area of Durian so I shouted out "Durian, use Hammer Arm!" and saw one of Durian's arms start glowing white and Durian managed to punch the beam of light and landed safely onto the battlefield
I sighed in relief as I saw that Durian and the Poochyenas were safe and instinctively sat down 'Man, I don't think I ever used that much brain power for something other than a test'
I then looked up and noticed a crowd of people looking at me 'ohh, right I interuppted a battle, that's definitely taboo'
I got up and was about to explain myself, but then noticed some fire from the area and so I looked over there and saw that a Lucario was charging towards Durian with one of its foot on fire and proceeded to attempt to kick Durian, but then I heard a voice from the edges of the area say "Stop" and the Lucario immediately stopped running
I looked over to the source of the voice and saw a boy with black hair who looked my age and also looked kinda familiar but I didn't question it any further and decided to use everyone's attention to the arena by running in and announcing "I am so sorry for interuptting this battle" and I bowed for forgiveness with Durian copying me and dropping the Poochyneas in the process
I then nudged Durian's side and ran out the arena with Durian following me
After a few moments of silence, I heard an announcer say "Uh, let the match continue"
And the Pokémon in the arena had gotten into some positions
I decided to climb a really tall tree and sat in a comfortable spot that could also see the arena
'I might aswell see a cool battle while I'm here'
In the arena was a Lucario on the right side with an owner who had black hair and black eyes, he had an emotionless expression and didn't look to be paying attention to the battle
On the left side of the arena was a Hakomo-o and a boy with brown hair and blue eyes
The Lucario had immediately ran towards the Hakomo-o and started having its fist surrounded in ice
The Hakomo-o managed to catch Lucario's Ice Punch with its hand but then got Headbutted along with Lucario using its other hand to use some mysterious move that caused Hakomo-o to be pushed back with a bright light appering in the process
I then heard the Announcer say "Ohh~, would you look at the damage of those two moves! A Zen Headbutt and Force Palm are definitely gonna hurt!"
I then heard the boy with the Hakomo-o say "Hakomo-o, use Dragon Tail!"
And Hakomo-o attempted to get up, only for Lucario to quickly run behind Hakomo-o and kicked Hakomo-o's legs with some move and then grabbed Hakomo's tail and started swinnging Hakomo-o around,
The owner of the Hakamo-o looked worried and shouted out "Hakamo-o, use Dragon Pulse!", the Hakamo-o immediately started shooting out dragon-like beams of purple light but they had the side effect of most hitting the ground and so started to create a mini dust storm thing
I was interested in seeing what happened next but couldn't because of the dust, I guess the crowd couldn't either since people were taking this time to discuss what's happened so far
I was considering leaving since I only stayed to see a battle but I quickly overheard something that interested me, a stranger in the crowd had said "I heard that Nicole and Prince Geordo spar constantly, who do you think wins?"
The man next to the curious stranger had replied with "Hmm, gotta be Nicole. I hear people talking about how he's totally becoming Junior Champion all the time"
'Wait, someone who can beat Geordo in a battle!'
Katarina's Doom Avoidence Council. Meeting #6
Chairman Katarina, like usual, announced the intent of the meeting by declaring "We've discovered a person by the name of 'Nicole' who not only spars with Geordo but also wins, what should we do?"
Happy Katarina decided to make the first talking point by asking "Wait… why do we need a meeting for this?"
Chairman Katarina was about to defend her reasoning, but was interuppted by Fearless Katarina who said "Because, If we can beat the guy who beat Geordo then we're better than Geordo"
The entire council room nodded in agreement except for Chairman Katarina as she once again attempted further explain the calling of this meeting, but was stopped by Competative Katarina as she asked "You guys think this Nicole guy is Geordo's rival, like how Keith and Geordo seem to be?"
The entire council was considering this and Chairman Katarina decided speak "Well bef-", but was disrupted by Smart Katarina questioning "Maybe, but if that's the case then does Geordo even like Nicole? Like Ash and Paul or something"
Lore Katarina decided to try and answer Smart Katarina's question by saying "Well, I think tha-" but she paused once she heard the loud noise of gavel being slammed
All of the Katarinas' attention was on Chairman Katarina as she tried to announced "Back to the first question, 'why do we need a meeting for this?', I wanted say that we should also consider the fact that this Nicole might be the Fourtune Life/Fortune Lover Nicole Ascart"
Fearful Katarina then decided try and say something "But didn't Acchan say something about Nicole being Geordo's friend since their childhood, why would Geordo and Nicole constantly spar like Rivals?"
Smart Katarina countered, saying "Rivals doesn't always mean enemies, Keith and Geordo constantly had battles like Rivals before I got injured and they don't hate each other"
"Plus-" said Competative Katarina "-If this Nicole guy likes to battle, then that means we can have a Rival ourselves, aka, a new source of exp. Our safety from Doom would be basically assured then"
Fearful Katarina then brought up a concern "But since Fortune Life is different than Fortune Lover, what if Nicole's route has a ending that involves us dying like the others, this universe does have much bloodier endings for Keith and Geordo's Bad-End"
The room was suddenly silent as they remembered that Fortune Life had a tendency to have Katarina mauled in the Bad Endings
Happy Katarina then said "What if we be as friendly as possible to any rivals we have, like how we smother Keith in attention, but like, ten times that"
Competitive Katarina then raised her hand like they were in a classroom and said with a confused look on her face "Why can't we battle Keith? If battling both of them Nicole and Keith could trigger a Bad End then what makes Nicole better than Keith?"
Smart Katarina then looked at Competitive Katarina with a dumb founded expression and told her "One confirmed and the other isn't, plus the latter is gonna be smothered in attention to not attack us so it'll probably be fine"
Lore Katarina than chimed in "And the Nicole that Geordo faces could be a different dude than the Nicole Ascart who's a love interest"
"Oh, good point" said Competitive Katarina as she nodded in understanding
Chairman Katarina decides to dramatically cough to get everyone's attention before saying "so, Katarina shall try to get a Rival in the form of Nicole along with other Rivals should the opportunity arise and, to avoid annoying these Rivals, Katarina shall smother them in affection. All in favour say 'Aye!'"
The entire council said "Aye!"
Chairman Katarina then announced "Then I declare this meeting ajourned!" and slammed her gavel
—-Katarina's Point of View—
I suddenly heard a voice from outside the audience who said "Sister! Big Sister"
'Oh no, someone lost their sibling'
But then I heard the voice again "Big Sister Katarina!"
'…wait. That's my name!'
"Durian!" I said before putting my hands together in a praying position and continued "-Can you please give me a ride!"
Durian looked over to me a gave a thumbs up and went on all fours, allowing me to climb up on Durian and back into entrance and meet up with Keith
Keith had scrolded me for doing something as reckless as riding a Pokémon through a populated area that everyone could see, I decided not to tell him that Durian kinda threw a bunch of Poochyenas into the sky so I just nodded and said I was sorry
After a while, Keith was finished and said "look, it's not that I hate you Sister, but you should try and be more careful" and looked directly at my broken arm as he said the last part
Keith was eventually forced to continue mingling with guests since the party wasn't over and the stunt I pulled had made the other guests shy away from me
'which means it's time for swe-'
"U-um, excuse me?", I was suddenly pulled away from thoughts as I heard a meek voice from behind me, I turned around to see a girl with white hair, bright red eyes and a big ruby in both her hands
"Oh! You're the girl from middle of the woods, right?"
The white haired girl nodded and then moved the ruby in front of my face and said "T-this is yours"
'Oh yah, I gave that to her, but it'd be a shame to take it back and it really matches her eyes too'
"Well yah, but I gave it to you because I hurt your friend's Pokémon"
The girl shook her head and said "N-no, those they weren't… a-anyways I'm sorry for tricking you, so please accept it back"
'Man, this reminds me of that scene from 'Sophia and the Emerald Princess' where Sophia was giving back the Emerald of life to the Princess but the princess pushed the jewel back and said-'
"-Do not fret my dear, for this emerald would shine brighter with a star like you" I had accidentally blurted out the quote and I didn't even notice until I looked to see the white haired girl look at me in shock
I immediately covered my own mouth in shock but then stopped and told her "Oh wait, I'm sorry it was just a quote from a novel because I was reminded of it because of the situation and it uh just a book called-"
The girl said curiously "Sophia and the Emerald Princess?"
"Yes! That! And I'm so sorry that I did somethi-" but then I paused as I realised something 'wait, how would she know I was quoting that novel, unless'
I then grabbed the white haired girl's shoulders out of excitement and asked her "hey, have you read Sophia and the Emerald Princess?"
The girl didn't talk but gave a meek nod but that was enough to make me excited at the process of getting a book buddy so I asked her "Really! Who's your favourite character? Which of the books are you on? What do you think the Ultra Alpha Dragonite's plans are? What's your favourite scene?"
The girl looked a little startled but was about to answer my questions until we both heard someone yell "Okay folks! party's over, get out!"
'Is that Prince Alan on a…? Wait whatever, I gotta secure my new book buddy'
I turned towards the white haired girl and said "Looks like times up huh. Hey, i'm Katarina Claes, you wanna talk about Sophia and the Emerald Princess at my place, Lady…"
The girl understood what I was asking and said "ah, it's Sophia"
"Okay then Lady Sophia, see you tommorow at my place, bye!" I said and walked off
I decided to look for Keith so we could leave together, not before working with Durian to stuff as many sweets as possible inside of his bags though 'I'm such a genius'
I eventually met back up with Keith and went into the carriage, I talked with Keith about how I wanted to invite Sophia over and he said "But Katarina, won't you have to convince Mother and Father to temporarily lift your grounding?"
And with that single sentence, my cute little brother had not so cutely destroyed my plans 'Why Keith? Why!'
But I wasn't deterred since my new mission was a book buddy and I was going to get it, so I frantically started brainstorming with Keith about what to say to my parents and after around an two hours of thinking, we had arrived back home and I had a grand strategy
After putting my stuff away, getting changed, etc, I asked Anne if she could call my Mother to a guest room while I fetched my Father
Then put into motion my grand plan "PLEASE,PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEAAAASE~ LET ME INVITE HER ILL DO ANYTHINNNNGGGGG!" I pleaded as I entered a kneeling position with my hands balled together to beg
Mother didn't look happy as she said "Katarina Claes! You are a noble and a member of the mighty Claes lineage, you should never beg for anything!"
Meanwhile, father was giving me a look of pity and turned towards mother and said "Miri, dear, how about we just let Katarina invite this guest she wants, maybe banning others was a little too far?"
Mother didn't look impressed and told him "Just look at her arm, Katarina needs to learn that her reckless actions have consequences"
Mother then turned to me and said "And who exactly do you think is important enough to bypass our strict rules?"
"I just wanna invite this girl named Sophia"
Father looked shocked for a moment and asked me"Did this girl have white hair and red eyes?"
I nodded and Father turned towards mother and said "Miri, it seems that our daughter is attempting to become closer to Sophia Ascart, you are aware of the power that family has, correct?"
'Ascart, Sophia Ascart… I feel I heard of that person before'
Mother nodded and said "Of course, but what about the rumors?"
"Katarina seems to already have rumours about her so it won't be too bad if she starts mingling with Sophia and we might be able to start building closer relations with the Ascart family"
'Wait I have rumours?'
"It seems that benefits do outweigh the costs, but Katarina must have some caveat to enjoy this excemption we're giving her" mother then turned to me and said "Katarina, you can enjoy your Playdate, but only if start expanding your aptitude for the arts"
'But I'm terrible with instruments, oh wait, drawing is apart of the arts and I'm good enough at that' so I nodded and said "Okay, mother" and left
—-Sophia's Point of View—
It was the day after the tea party and I could barely contain my excitement 'this is going to be my first play date and I get to talk about my favourite books'
I wanted to make sure nothing bad happened so I and turned towards Lucario and said "Lucario, I know brother told you to protect me, but can you please try and be freindly, Lady Katarina really seems like a kind person"
Lucario only grunted and started to get out the carriage, I sighed but decieded to follow Lucario and returned Baltia into her Pokéball
We made our way inside after engaging in the standard process and I was eventually escorted into the designated room by a maid named Anne
As I stood infront of the door I took a deep breath to calm my growing nerviousness and knocked on the door and said "L-Lady Katarina?"
I had immediately heard a big thud from behind the door but then it flew open as I was shown an excited Lady Katarina who immediatly said "Hey there Sophia! How are you?" And grabbed my hands to somewhat forcibly guide me into the room
'No honourifics?!'
While I was internally questioning why Lady Katarina forgot the honourifics, Lady Katarina had stopped and asked "Woah, that your Lucario?"
Because of the question, I had looked over to see that Lucario was actually glaring and was making a low growling sound
I was absolutely mortified and immediatly told Lady Katarina "M-my sincerest apologies about Lucario's behavior, Lady Katarina. It's just that Lucario can be a little protective of and he's only here in place of my brother because he was busy a-and I know that it isn't much of an excuse bu-"
"Oh don't worry about it, I totally understand" Lady Katarina then took another look at Lucario and but this time looked to be deep in thought and then asked me "… Hey Sophia, I know this is sudden but, was Lucario at the Tea Party yesterday?"
I nodded and said "Yes indeed, although you might not have seen him since he was used in a tournament"
Upon hearing my response, Lady Katarina looked a bit shocked aswell as somewhat mortified
'Oh, I guess Lady Katarina does not like Pokémon battles'
I was pulled away from my nervous thoughts from the sound of Lady Katarina clearing throat and saying "Anyways, how about we sit down and talk about 'Sophia and the Emerald Princess', I wanna know what you think of it"
I was happy to have Lady Katarina change the subject and so I nodded and walked over to take a seat and started chatting about the book along with going over novels that we both liked and some recommendations
Eventually, it had been well over two hours and heard the Goomy on Lady Katarina's lap yawn as it woke up
Lady Katarina had paused her scentence as she looked down at the Goomy and said "Oh hey Onion, are you up now?"
The Goomy had nodded in response and Lady Katarina had then looked up at me and asked me "Hey Sophia, do you have any Pokémon that Onion can play with?"
As soon I heard that question, I knew I had to lie to Lady Katarina so I told her "N-no, I have no Pokémon under my command"
Lady Katarina was, predictably, shocked as she asked "Really? How come?"
"I-I just haven't come up my decision" I could hear my voice cracking up as I was starting to get more and more uncomfortable and started internally praying for this topic end so Lady Katarina would not become like the others
But, to my dismay, Lady Katarina continued "Hmm, don't you need a Dragon Type to enter the Academy?, although I might be forgetting something"
I didn't trust myself to make a coherent scentence so I just nodded as I thought to myself 'Please change the subject, please don't do this'
Lady Katarina looked to continue her questioning but then we both heard a loud bark coming from behind me and I recognised it as Lucario's voice
I looked over to see him vocally growling at Lady Katarina, I still wanted to salvage any friendship that could still be formed and so I grabbed Lucario's snout and said "I'm so so regetfull a-and ashamed about this Lady Katarina, please forgive us"
The previous situation was already starting to make me closer and closer onto the verge of tears but Lucario's protective outburst had only pushed me to edge and make start to cry a little
'No, stop crying, Sophia! You cannot do this infront of Lady Katarina, stop being so-' as I was internally scolding myself, I didn't notice that Lady Katarina had moved closer to me until I was embraced into a hug as she told me "Don't worry about it I'm not even close to mad in the slightest"
I couldn't stop myself from crying further and I continued for an unknown amount of time, but after awhile, I had stopped crying and started feeling embrassed about the entire situation, after all, I had just broken down into tears and had to be hugged and comforted by someone I had only met yesterday and for who knows how long
I Immediately exited the hug and told Lady Katarina "I-I am so sorry about my sudden outburst"
Lady Katarina only gave me a smile and said in response "Don't apologise, should me saying sorry. plus, its a perfect excuse to touch your beautiful hair"
'Ah right my hair, that's a nice way of putting it' so I shuffled away from Lady Katarina to stop forcing her to touch it, but then I remembered the former part and was confused by this response so I nervously asked Lady Katarina "Why are you apologizing?"
Lady Katarina clerified, saying "I was being thoughtless and didn't consider that you didn't want to go to the academy, that's why you were sad right?"
I was so confused that I could not help but blurt out "What?"
Lady Katarina started to look worried and said "Oh no, did I misinterpret it? Okay, was it that you were mad that I was being too nosy or… man I'm really not good with these situations"
'No, its too good to be to true… but just maybe' so I asked Lady Katarina with hopeful eyes "Lady Katarina, you do not care if I don't have any Dragon Type Pokémon or any at all?"
"No, why should it matter if you don't want to?"
'W-wait… what? Lady Katarina doesn't care, she doesn't look down on me for being indecisive or-or annoyed that I'm afraid of Dra-' I was pulled away from my thoughts when I suddenly heard a loud knock on the door
Lady Katarina then said "Come in" and in came the maid from before, Anne, and the maid said "Sorry to interrupt, My Lady, but it seems that Lady Ascart's carriage has arrived"
Lady Katarina nodded and then proceeded to walk with me back to the entrance, I then started walking away as Katarina started waving and saying "Bye, Sophia!"
But something didn't sit right with me 'I still hadn't told Lady Katarina the truth' and so I turned around and yelled to her "Lady Katarina! Before I go I have to tell you this, I do have a Pokémon and she's called Baltia, Baltia the Mawile!"
Katarina looked shocked for a moment but then smiled and yelled back "Great name! Bring Baltia next time, okay!"
I nodded and went into the carriage with Lucario
'She doesn't hate me for lying, she wants to see Baltia and she said next time aswell! I can't wait to see her again'
—-Nicole's Point of View—
Sophia had just returned from trip to the Claes estate and was now sitting across from me and talking about the events that had happened
'It seems that Sophia likes Katarina a lot' however, I didn't entirely trust this and wanted to see Katarina for myself, luckily, I had Lucario and so once Sophia was finished and had decided to go read some novels, I had called in Lucario to discuss what he had saw
"Lucario, Katarina's aura, what was it?"
Lucario then telepathically told me "I mostly saw Anger and, for some reason, fear or it could've been pity, but I don't trust it"
"Why fear?"
Lucario then answered "Well, it turned to fear when Sophia started crying"
"Sophia cried and you let it happen, how and why?"
Lucario looked nervous but then explained "W-well I they would probably to something terrible to me if I hurt Katarina, like torture or execution or forced release or prison, also Sophia was crying because Katarina was asking all these questions about where her Dragon is and why and what not"
I was somewhat angry and asked Lucario "Doesn't she know about the incident"
"Maybe, maybe not, but she was probably not cool with Sophia since Katarina was making fun of her hair too so you know, untrustworthy and a massive liar"
"I see, I should have accompanied Sophia in the first place, but I can still scare Katarina away. Lucario, when is their next Playdate?"
"I dunno, but you can probably ask your parents to schedule one tommorow"
"Very well, night Lucario"
"Night!"
I was now waiting outside the Ascart estate along with Sophia, Lucario and Baltia
Sophia was wearing her normal green dress but also wore a necklace with a ruby and big green hat, Baltia was wearing a miniature version of the dress that Sophia had on and was wearing a hat and a pink bow around her neck too match her pink hair
We eventually saw a carriage drawn by Mudstale and out came Katarina Claes along with a Goomy on her head, but what shocked me was not the Goomy but the fact that I recognized her
Katarina walked towards us and upon seeing Sophia, Katarina had immediately said "Woah, you two are matching, that's amazing!"
Sophia meekly said "Thanks"
Katarina then looked over at me and immediately looked horrifed and said "Oh my god, I am so sorry for interrupting your battle"
Sophia had asked Katarina "Wait, you two met before?"
I started guiding us to the designated room as Katarina talked about a, most likely fake, story of Poochyenas being thrown and having to chase them on a Snorlax named Durian, I didn't like that Katarina was lying to my sister but Sophia looked as if she was enjoying a good book so I decided to let it slide
We eventually reached the room as Katarina finished talking about her "experience" with being kidnapped by a Driftloon and decided to talk about romance novels instead
After awhile of talking about some romance novels, they reached the topic of fight scenes as Katarina was mostly gushing over how great she perceived it as
Katarina then asked Sophia "Oh wait, I have an idea, why don't we have a Pokémon battle, I haven't had one in a while and it's super fun!"
Sophia looked a little nervous as she said "Sorry Lady Katarina, I'm not very familiar with battling, but big brother is super talented"
I wasn't interested in doing a pointless battle no matter how quickly I could beat her, but suddenly, the Goomy on Katarina's lap had grabbed a pen and paper from Katarina's bag and started using its Anntenae to scribble something
The Goomy then showed the Paper to Katarina and said "Goomy!"
Katarina said "Onion, why~?"
Sophia looked to have gotten curious as she asked "What does it say, Lady Katarina?"
Katarina sighed and said "It's a recommendation for a bet "loser has to do whatever the winner says for the rest of the day, Pokémon included", Onion really likes bets and challenges, sorry"
'Using your Pokémon to hide your greed, bold move'
But Sophia didn't see it like this a natively trusted Katarina and said "No, I think it's a great idea it'll make it more exciting, right brother!"
Lucario then telepathically recommended to me "Master Nicole, it might be a method to get Katarina to say what she really thinks for once"
'I guess it's worth a shot' so I nodded and said "Yes, it is a fine idea. Katarina agree to your bet and battle offer"
Sophia looked happy to hear this and said "Perfect, can I be the referee?"
Katarina then smiled and said "Of course, so where are we gonna battle"
Sophia then hopped out her chair and said "Follow me, we have the perfect arena outside"
Katarina nodded, grabbed 'Onion' and started to follow Sophia and I did the same with Lucario following behind me
We were guided to a professional battlefield.
The battlefield was rectangular and the ground was made of steel, in the middle of the battlefield was painting that depicted a simplified version of a Pokéball but the button had its outline be cut out
I walked over to the outside of the battlefield and Lucario walked inside the battlefield, Katarina decided to do the same and put Onion across from Lucario
Sophia then grabbed her whistle and blowed on it, causing the Pokéball button in the Battlefield to rise as over a hundred Durants had risen from underneath the arena
The Durants then rushed over to Sophia enmasse
For some reason, Katarina had ran over to the Sophia and shielded her from the Durants but the Durants, predictably, stopped once they were a small distance from Sophia
'Why would Katarina do this, wait no, Lucario's Aura reading isn't that inaccurate so this must be some trick'
Sophia looked a little shocked but then giggled and said "Lady Katarina, those Durant belong to the Ascart Family and they're here to help me set up the Battlefield Border"
Katarina nodded and said "Oh~ that makes sense, but how are they gonna help?"
Sophia only smiled and said "Just watch and see!"
Katarina nodded and re-entered her spot, Sophia then blew her whistle again and caused the Durant to move around the area and start using Protect all across the arena and this made massive walls around every side except for the arena with the exception of a roof, the Durants also made a wall of Protects for me and Katarina for our protection
Katarina looked impressed and said "Wow, I only ever had a no borders battle!"
"Well then, I am happy to be able to show you something new, Lady Katarina" Sophia happily answered
Katarina smiled at Sophia and then turned towards me and asked me "Hey Nicole, how many Pokémon do you have?"
'I'm not engaged' but I still humoured her answer and told her "Two"
Katarina nodded and said "Great, then it's a two on two-" Katarina then turned to Sophia and asked her "Hey Sophia, We're ready to start!"
Sophia nodded and said "Okay! Begin!"
—-Lucario's Point of View—
I looked over to Nicole and saw that his Aura wanted a Bullet Punch so I ran over punched the Goomy into the air using my Bullet arm
The Goomy was still conscious and I heard its owner say "タマネギ, あまごい と みずのはどう"
'…What? You know what, I'm going to ingnore Katarina's comments'
I suddenly felt rain start to fall down and saw that the Goomy was using an attack that looked to be Water Pulse
Luckily, I dodged it and looked over to see that Nicole is commanding an Aura Sphere, so I used my hand to charge up an Aura Sphere and launched it towards the Goomy
I heard the sound of a loud boom and saw smoke, I thought that the Goomy had gotten hit but the Goomy started falling further down and was unharmed
"Lucario, catch Onion's fall with Ice Punch"
"Got it" I said and immediately charged towards Onion with an hit it with my icy fist, causing the Pokémon to be slammed into the ground below me
I thought it would take awhile to recover but I quickly felt slimy Antennaes start to wrap around legs and slammed me into one of the Border walls on the other end of the arena and forcing me into a crouching position
I saw that Onion was covered in an orange light for a split second and deducted it must've been Counter, a Super Effective move
Then saw that the Goomy had used a move which caused it to magically form glowing water and ate said water
Nicole then told me "Lucario, that move was Life Dew so I want you to regain your strength aswell with Drain Punch"
I got up from my crouch and started running towards my target while powering my fist and causing it to be enveloped in red energy
Onion had started shooting a rapid fire amount of Dragon Breath towards me, causing me to have to keep dodge in and stopping me from making contact with her
Suddenly I heard Nicole say "Lucario, they're trying to make you keep your distance by dodging, don't let them with Vacuum Waves"
"Right!" So I used my other hand to use a series of Vacuum Waves that allowed me to get closer a closer without focusing on dodging them
Then I managed to get into close contact with Onion and attacked her with several Drain Punches, I then tried to get a clear look at Onion but then realized "A substitute!"
As soon as I realised it I quickly looked around to find where Onion had gone but it was too late as I was bombarded with who knows how many Mud Shots from behind me
I quickly turned around and insinctually hit Onion with an Ice Punch but, to my surprise, Onion had managed to dodge the attack
'But I'm definitely more faster than a Goomy so how?'
I soon had my question answered as I heard Katarina laugh before saying "Wow, you guys should see the looks on your faces, Lucario is now slower than Onion because of the Mud Shots, silly. So are you two having fun now?"
I myself was enjoying the challenge but I was curious about Nicole so I looked over to see that he was actually smiling, albeit slightly
Katarina then said "Great! Onion, use Water Pulse!"
I looked over to Nicole and saw that his Aura commanded a Sunny Day so I made my hands glow yellow and slammed together and with a loud clap, the rain had ended and harsh sunlight shone
The Water Pulse still hit but it barely scratched me so I was able to ingnore it
I noticed that Onion looked to be attempting to use Rain Dance once more and so did Nicole as I heard him say "Lucario, use High Jump Kick", I nodded and jumped into the air and had my leg engulfed in a white and glowing energy
I was able land the move and knocked Onion across the the arena and into the ground
I looked over to see that Onion was near fainting and could bearly keep itself stable as it was wobbling
I started walking over and powered up a Drain Punch to finish this battle, but suddenly, I noticed a massive red Aura surround Onion and I saw that Onion's eyes had started glowing red
Suddenly, Onion started attempting to hit me with its anntenaes and so I responded by using Close Combat over to defend myself against Onion's onslaught and so we were locked into a battle of who could get a hit in against the others defense
After a while of striking and defending, Onion had suddenly let her gaurd down and looked to be confused as to where she was but I didn't let it slide and used this sudden confusion to hit her with a Ice Punch and finally, Onion had fainted
I could feel myself breathing heavily but I still wasn't finished since this was a two on two battle
I saw a red light take Onion away and return her back into her Pokéball and then saw another Pokéball enter the arena though a temporarily open hole
I turned to see what my new opponent and then I saw him "YOU! You're the one who interrupted my battle last time!"
The Snorlax looked over to see me and said "Oh hey, its you. Sorry about interrupting your battle again but I guess we're battling now, good luck!"
'Wha, who says good luck to their opponent!' I didn't know what else to say in response so I just grumbled and walked over to my side of the Arena
I then heard Sophia say "Okay, Round two, begin"
I immediately looked to Nicole and saw that his Aura commanded a Focus Blast , and so I put my hands together and formed a massive ball of blue light and then threw the ball of the light towards the Snorlax, I predicted the move would be dodged so I ran around it and let the Snorlax get distracted while I stuck up behind it
To my surprise, I heard Katarina say "Durian, use Zen Headbutt" and the Snorlax complied with the ridiculous command and attacked the Focus Blast
Miraculously, Durian had managed to actually destroy the Focus Blast and looked basically unharmed by the attempt, but it still didn't notice me behind it and I quickly charged up a Drain Punch attacked him
But then I suddenly heard Katarina say "Durian, Dynamic Punch" and Snorlax quickly turned around and entered a clash against my Drain Punch
'How much strength does this bear have?!' I decided to use my other fist to hit Durian with an mean Bullet Punch which managed to catch him off gaurd and pushed him away from me
Then I heard Katarina say "Durian, Use Bulldoze", Nicole then said "Jump to mitigate the damage"
I immediately jumped as high as possible and managed avoid the move, but then, I was pushed into a wall by a beam of white and cold energy, it didn't hurt much but it caused me to fall onto the ground and come into contact with another Bulldoze
I could feel that I was close to fainting and struggled to get up and couldn't even comprehend what Katarina or Nicole were saying, I managed to look up and saw that Durian had readied what looked to be a Focus Punch as it's had started glowing a cloudy blue
But I wasn't finished yet and I preformed a Low Sweep and attempted to use a Drain Punch only for Durian to start glowing orange, grab my arm and slammed me into the ground and after that I couldn't maintain consciousness and passed out
—-Durian's Point of View—
The Lucario had fainted and was taken by a bright red light, I decided to walk closer to Katarina and waited for my next opponent, if there was one
I sat down and saw the Pokéball come into the room and go and then I saw a massive Pokémon, It looked like what Katarina's books called a Tyranitar but one that was made of steel and it had much stranger and longer arms and legs
Then I heard Nicole say "Archaludon, use Solar Beam"
I immediately heard Katarina "Snorlax, you too!"
And I immediately summoned a ball of yellowish-green from my mouth and shot a beam of light towards Archaludon that was returned by another
The collision of the Solar Beams caused a massive explosion but could still hear Katarina who then said "Durian, use Ice Punch" I then quickly shot a beam of ice towards my paw and then ran towards Archaludon
Archaludon managed to avoid it and then I heard Nicole say "Use Flash Cannon" and I suddenly was blinded and hit by a bright beam of white light
I was knocked over but managed to get up on all fours and shook the damage off "Use Dig"
I nodded and started hitting the steel floor until I reached dirt and was able to start burrowing underground, I started trying to use smell to detect where Archaludon was but then I stopped attempting to rise as I suddenly heard Katarina's voice say "Durian, stay underground, Archaludon's using Draco Meteor!"
I was confused about what to do but I decided to trust Katarina's decision and stay, but then, with little warning, I felt the ground start to violently shake and it started to hurt, causing me to verbally say "Ouch"
This told Archaludon my location and resulted in Archaludon's tail grabbing me, I realized that I couldn't escape using physical attacks so I started charging up my best long range attack from inside my mouth to hide it from Archaludon
I then heard Nicole say "Archaludon, use Thunder" and I was struck by a sudden surge of lightning from the sky
It was very powerful but I still wasn't done, so I released the Hyper Beam I charged up and shot it towards Archaludon's head and caused it to let go of me and I fell down onto my back
I then heard Katarina say "Great Job, Durian! Now use High Horsepower!"
I quickly got sit up and went down on all fours and started glowing a light brown and slammed my body into Archaludon
"Archaludon, grab Durian with Dragon Claw" Archaludon then grabbed my head with its teal and glowing arms that started to severely sting
Then I noticed from the corner of my eye, Archaludon's tail turning purple and starting to glow and Nicole said "Breaking Swipe" and Archaludon smacked me into a barrier
"Durian, Use Counter!" And upon hearing it, I got up and started glowing orange and said "Right!" as I started charging towards Archaludon on all fours
"Archaludon, Use Double Edge" and he started to have streaks of white and glowing energy form around him and started charging towards me
We then clashed at each head on and I was forcefully pushed backwards and crashed onto the ground and layed on my stomach, I felt every part of my body ache as I thought that I was going to faint at any moment
I could barely see across me but I noticed that Archaludon was also on the ground and looked to be struggling to get up and so I tried to get up aswell, I starting attempting to stand up and so did Archaludon, I could somewhat hear the cheering of Katarina who was trying to encourage me and so I mustered the strength push myself upwards but the surge of pain was too much and I quickly fell onto my back and could feel my consciousness fading and finally I closed my eyes and passed out
—-Nicole's Point of View—
I looked at the arena and saw that Durian had collapsed while Archaludon managed to get back up and so I heard Sophia say "Durian has fainted meaning, therefore, the winner is Nicole and his Pokémon"
Sophia then blew on her whistle and that caused all the Durant to cancel the wall of Protects and re-enter the hole that they came from
I then saw Sophia then ran over to Katarina and started praising Katarina for her preformance
While Sophia did that, I went over to Archaludon but before I could return him back to his Pokéball, Archaludon asked me "Hey, that Durian fella was really strong, are we gonna battle them more often cause it was kinda fun!"
This caused me to remember what Katarina said during the battle '"So are you two having fun now?"'
I shook my head and said "This person seems dangerous, sorry" and I sent Archaludon back to his Pokéball to rest
'Right, I have to remember that she's dangerous and that she's a liar, no matter how entertaining it might've been' so I got up and headed inside to heal up my Pokémon with Sophia noticing and making Katarina follow me along with her
Me and Katarina had handed our Pokémon over to a nearby maid who made sure to take them to someone who could heal them, we then made our way to the room we were in
But before we reached our destination, I whispered to Sophia "Sophia, could you pretend to leave the room but hide behind the door until I say so?"
Sophia looked confused and somewhat worried but nodded and said "Okay brother, I'll do it"
We were now infront of door and Sophia decided to say "Hey guys, I have to go to the restroom, I'll be back soon" and left to a corridor that didn't have a restroom, that told me that she was following the plan and so I entered the room with Katarina and sat down
On the table was four Pokéballs and so I grabbed Lucario's Pokéball and sent him out, I noticed that Katarina had decided to send out her Snorlax and Goomy and allowed the Goomy to rest on her lap
I turned to Katarina and said "The bet you made"
Katarina nodded and said "Oh right, yah I'll keep my word don't worry"
"Then answer my questions truthfully; First, what colour is the sky, and I'll know if you're lying because Lucario can read your aura"
Katarina nervously laughed and said "This is like the ultimate truth or dare" I only looked at her with a slightly confused expression since I didn't get her odd reference and upon seeing my face, Katarina sighed and said "Alright, the sky is blue and don't know why you're asking that"
I looked over to Lucario and he telepathically said "Her aura has blue outlines when telling the truth you can now ask away"
I then looked towards Katarina and asked her "Why did you approach Sophia?"
Katarina then said "I approached Sophia because Sophia likes Romance Novels and I had wanted to have a Book Buddy"
Lucario confirmed, telepathically saying "She is telling the truth, it is still blue"
I was still concerned and so I asked Katarina "What do you think about Sophia now and her appearance?"
"Sophia? I absolutely adore her! She's super nice and she really has some interesting theories and thoughts on the books we read, she's absolutely delightful and her hair is so beautiful, like fine silk, and those eyes are like the most beautiful rubies I've ever seen! You're very lucky to have such an adorable sister!"
And Lucario nodded as he said "Still blue, she's telling the truth"
'I guess she isn't dangerous afterall' I internally sighed and told her "That is all my questions, I apologize for the tense questioning, I was simply worried about my sister being manipulated, I hope you'll still stay friends with Sophia" and I looked downwards to show my shame since my face wasn't good with making complex expressions
I then heard Lady Katarina say "I can't do that!"
'Right, I have been terribly rude Lady Katarina, what am I going to say to Sophia' but I had to accept her answer and so I nodded and said "I understand"
But then Lady Katarina said "No, not you! Sorry, I was just rejecting something that Onion had recommended, I would love to stay friends with Sophia"
I nodded but it made me curious as to what made Lady Katarina react like that so I asked her "What did Onion say?"
Lady Katarina then sighed and said "She wrote down that I should make you become my rival in exchange for Sophia"
I was unfamiliar with this term and so I turned my head to show my confusion and Lady Katarina thankfully clarified "A rival is, uh, a person who you compete with to try and become stronger than when battling and its super important for your rival to be really strong so you can have healthy competition and stuff"
I then nodded in understanding and Lady Katarina decided to continue "To be honest, when I heard that you were able to defeat Prince Geordo, I thought that I'd be cool to have you as a rival so that's why Onion was telling me this, sorry"
'Hmm, this is a very interesting situation, it would be interesting to have a healthy competition but it is also very common for noble women to become disinterested in Pokémon battling and if that's the case then it'll be pointless to have a rivalry if the other side always loses'
But before I could tell her that I am not interested, Lady Katarina suddenly said "Sophia's been in the bathroom for awhile, should we go check on her?"
Then, right on cue, Sophia had entered the door and Lady Katarina asked "Sophia! What took you so long?"
I then saw Sophia blush upon seeing Lady Katarina but responded with "Oh, um, I-uh was distracted by a really pretty flower"
Miraculously, Lady Katarina had somehow fallen for Sophia's lie as she said "Oh~ that makes sense, was it Lavender Woman flower cause my friend Mary always gets distracted by that one"
Sophia then said "I-I'm not sure, I'm not familiar with flowers." Sophia then looked at me and said "Hey Lady Katarina, do you mind if I talk to my brother for a moment?"
Lady Katarina nodded and said "Yah of course" and Sophia pushed me out the room with Lucario following us
Sophia then told me "Brother, you should accept it!"
"Why?"
"Because, I believe that Lady Katarina won't leave her rival undefeated so she'll probably visit us more often; and I saw you during your battle, you were having tons of fun and you saw how strong she was, if you start training with her then maybe you'll be able to defeat Geordo thanks to the extra training"
I still wasn't entirely convinced but then I heard Lucario telepathically tell me "Hey Nicole, if Lady Katarina does become your rival and starts visiting more, then that means that she'll start becoming closer to Sophia and possibly start defending her from bullies when your not available"
Hmm 'I guess there is not really any down sides' so I looked towards Sophia and Lucario and said "Alright, I shall"
"Thank you, brother!"
I then opened the door and sat back down and told Lady Katarina "Lady Katarina, what do you think about becoming rivals?"
"I'd be glad to be your rival, Nicole, and I will definitely make sure you won't get bored"
I nodded and gave a small smile to Lady Katarina, but then, I was surprised by when Lady Katarina said with a panicked tone "Oh shoot! The sun is setting! Gotta go bye Nicole, bye Sophia" and she grabbed Onion and had Durian following behind her
Lady Katarina then suddenly ran back and said "By the way, could you keep it a secret that I battled you? Mother wouldn't like it if I was battling the Prime Minister's son"
Sophia laughed in response while I told her "Very well" and Lady Katarina had ran back out upon hearing my response
Hi, the following is some author notes that I wanted to add.
1) I am so sorry for being late, this is the latest i've been for making a chapter and for that I am sorry.
2) I wanna tell you some more information about the planning which is that the childhood period will be over by chapter 13.
3) how do you guys like the battles, should there more or was it too drawn out and boring and I should just cut it?
