"Bronius is so burly." Jade swooned, picking at her lunch.
Annie followed her gaze to the table where Bronius sat, laughing loudly with his friends.
"Gorm is so much more handsome." replied Maisy.
Gorm was indeed handsome, with shaggy black hair, olive skin and a crooked smile. He was usually surrounded by an entourage of girls, but lately seemed to spend all his time with the ragtag band of boys Ghetsis had gathered.
"Annie, which one is better looking?" Jade asked with a smirk.
"No point asking her, she only has eyes for weedy science nerds." Maisy laughed. Annie felt her face flush.
"Do not!" Annie replied, taking a shaky sip of her soda.
"Do too," Jade teased. "Are you seeing him again tonight?"
"Yeah," Annie nodded. At his invitation, she now joined Colress in the terrarium twice a week for battling practice. Maisy and Jade exchanged a glance. "What?!"
"Annie's in loooove!" Maisy giggled. Annie let out a choking gasp and spilled her drink, causing both girls to burst into a fit of laughter.
"It's just battling," Annie muttered indignantly, drying her sweater with a napkin. "He's out of my league anyway."
"Annie, are you crazy?!" Jade almost shouted. "He's a total loser, have some self-esteem!"
"He's not a loser!" Annie shouted back. A couple of the people in the cafeteria started looking over. "He's actually really smart, he's going to Castelia University after we finish school, on some fast-track programme for geniuses."
At that moment, Colress walked in, alone as usual, and joined the queue for lunch. Annie sunk in her seat.
"Your boyfriend is here." Maisy whispered. "Shall I call him over?"
"No!"
Thankfully, Colress didn't look up as Annie bickered with her friends. He was engrossed in a textbook, balanced precariously on the side of his lunch tray.
That evening, Annie had nervous butterflies in her stomach as she made her way to the sandy battlefield. Ariados walked happily beside her.
"I was thinking, maybe we should let him win today." said Annie, letting her hand graze over Ariados' spines as they walked. Colress was yet to win a single battle against her.
Ariados hissed in response. She had an adamant nature and hated to lose.
"Don't be like that, I just don't want him to get disheartened and not want to battle anymore."
Ariados bristled defiantly in a way that screamed: "Not my problem!"
Annie rolled her eyes. She planned to throw the battle anyway.
"Good evening!" Colress called across the battlefield as she approached. Annie grinned, despite her nerves. Colress seemed to smile more with each week that passed. She loved his smile.
"Not for long, are you ready to lose?" she retorted.
"Never, but let us get it over with." Colress chuckled, adjusting his glasses.
They sent out Ariados and Klink, reminiscent of their first battle. Colress went straight on the offensive, not giving Ariados enough time to set up status moves.
"Ariados, Poison Jab!" Annie called across the beach.
Ariados shot her an impish look before tunnelling underground.
'Ariados, what are you doing?! I said Poison Jab, not Dig!'
Both Colress and Klink were caught completely off-guard by the move. Klink hesitated for a moment too long, giving Ariados time to land the super-effective attack. Klink shrieked and wobbled but managed to stay upright.
'He's gotten stronger.' Annie noted to herself.
"Klink, Gear Grind!" Colress shouted. Annie didn't give a command, but Ariados launched another attack anyway. Ariados slunk into the ground, becoming a dark blur on the sand, before bursting up and landing a Shadow Sneak on the unsuspecting Klink.
Colress and Annie both looked on in shock as Klink was defeated.
"Ariados, return." Annie said curtly, recalling the spider back into her Friend Ball.
'Ariados has never disobeyed me like that. Was I asking for too much? Maybe I should apologise to her later...'
"That was an excellent demonstration of battling. Such power..." Colress spoke quietly, almost as if thinking out loud, as he approached. "Ariados didn't even need verbal direction, it battled according to your usual style without a command."
"A very complimentary way of saying Ariados didn't listen to a word I said." Annie said, nervously fiddling with her hair.
Colress looked up, his pale-yellow eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Oh?"
"We had a bit of a tiff on the way over here... She didn't listen to me in battle because she's stubborn as a Tauros." Annie explained, omitting the part where she planned to lose on purpose.
"Interesting!" Colress' expression brightened considerably as he pulled out a notepad and began scribbling. "Your bond with your Pokémon makes you stronger, but also puts you at risk of emotional anomalies such as 'tiffs' as you call them. But in this case, the anomaly caused you to win the battle, rather than putting you at a disadvantage."
"Glad to be of help." Annie grimaced as she took a seat on her usual rock. Her heart fluttered happily as Colress sat down beside her, signalling that he was going to linger. "Do your Pokémon ever disobey you?"
"No," Colress answered without hesitation. "We also don't have tiffs. How, may I ask, does one go about having an argument with a creature that can't speak?"
"Quite easily." Annie chuckled. "Ariados is a feisty lady. I say: Do this thing. And she says: Hisssss!"
Colress laughed, then the air around them grew quiet. The only sound was the gentle lap of the waves and Colress' pen scratching on the page.
"You're always working so hard." Annie remarked, stealing a fond glance at him as he sat cross-legged on the beach, leant over his notepad.
"And yet, never hard enough." he replied with a sour edge to his voice.
"Don't say that, battling isn't everything." Annie gave him a sympathetic look, mentally cursing Ariados for being obstinate.
"No, I didn't mean it like that, it's not you." Colress looked up, his eyes apologetic. "My parents aren't going to be happy until I'm the best scientist in Unova. I spend every waking minute trying to be smarter, but it's never enough... I don't know why I'm telling you this." Colress stopped speaking abruptly, his shoulders drooping inwards. He suddenly looked so small and so sad.
Annie slid down off the rock to sit beside him. She tentatively placed a hand on his arm, trying to ignore her heart hammering. "I'm sorry." she said quietly.
Colress visibly tensed at her touch, so she quickly withdrew her hand and tucked it in her lap. For a while they sat quietly together, looking out at the artificially blue sea.
"Have you thought any more about becoming a Gym Leader?" asked Colress, finally breaking the silence. Annie looked at him, wondering what he'd been thinking about that had led to his question.
"Yeah, I think I'm going to start the gym challenge in September. Hopefully, by the time I've finished travelling the region, I'll have decided what I want to do."
"In Galar?" asked Colress. Maybe Annie was just being hopeful, but she thought he looked a little sad as he asked that.
"No, Unova." Annie corrected, "I have unfinished business here."
"What kind of business is that?" Colress turned to her, his downcast expression gone as quickly as it had appeared.
"I'm hoping to find my father. I've never met him, I don't know his name, I don't even have a picture. I know it sounds stupid, but I'm hoping if I travel Unova, I'll learn something useful." Annie confessed.
"How do you know he's in Unova?" asked Colress.
"I don't," Annie shrugged. "I know he was in Unova seventeen years ago. My mum came here on holiday and met him in a bar. She didn't think she could have children, so I was an unexpected souvenir from her trip."
"That's terrible," Colress said quietly. His hand hovered in the air between them for just a second before he put it back in his pocket.
"It's fine. I have the best mum anyone could ask for. I just can't help but wonder if there's a whole other part of me that I don't know about. Maybe that's why I can't commit to the idea of being a Gym Leader. I have to find this out first." Annie explained.
Colress was quiet for a moment. Finally, he spoke, "You were a happy accident."
Annie laughed, feeling just a little bit homesick as she thought of her mother. "Yes, that's what I've been told. Do you think it's silly to search all over Unova for a guy that doesn't know I exist?"
"Maybe," Colress said, his expression thoughtful. "What else do you know about him? If you're looking for any man that was alive seventeen years ago, you could be searching for a long time."
"They met at a bar on Narrow Street in Castelia City. He had red hair, like me. He was a very serious person. He was doing the gym challenge." Annie rattled off her facts. Colress seemed to be waiting for more.
"That's everything?" Colress asked.
Annie shrugged in a dejected confirmation.
"It could be a long search. But if you're doing the gym challenge, you may as well ask around. I'll be on the lookout for a serious red-haired man while I'm at university."
"Thank you!" Annie squealed. "With two of us looking, maybe we'll find him! Give me your notepad."
She held out her hand expectantly until Colress handed it over.
"This is my Xtransceiver number, make sure you keep in touch when we finish school, okay? And tell me if you find any clues about my dad." She scribbled down her number and then handed the pad back.
"I will," Colress said quietly, staring down at the number on the page.
"Thank you, Colress." she said sincerely, catching his eye. Annie's heart was thumping as she realised how close they were sitting, their knees almost touching. As he looked away, Annie wondered if he felt nervous too.
"So, how long has Ariados known Shadow Sneak?" Colress asked, shifting his body just a fraction further away. It was a barely noticeable movement, but Annie felt it keenly. She leant back and answered him, allowing the space to grow between them as their conversation veered back into the familiar territory of Pokémon.
When Annie returned to her dormitory that evening, she flopped onto her bed with a sigh. Ariados excused herself from her Friend Ball and prodded her.
"Oh, look who it is." Annie teased, raising an eyebrow at the spider. "Ms. Too-Good-For-A-Trainer."
Ariados gave a small hiss.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry I asked you to do that." Annie reached out and petted Ariados lightly.
"Ari!" she piped happily, nuzzling Annie's hand.
"He just looks so disappointed in himself when he doesn't win. I'd rather see him happy." Annie sighed.
Ariados gave another derisive hiss.
"I know. You don't care, do you?" Annie chuckled, running her fingers absentmindedly over Ariados' legs. "But I do."
Annie then rolled over on the bed, burying her face in her pillow with an exaggerated sigh. For a moment, she just lay there, letting the tension of the day melt away. Then, without warning, she pressed the pillow even tighter and let out a muffled, dramatic groan.
"I'm in love!" she wailed into the pillow, her voice barely audible through the fabric. She flopped over onto her back, staring up at the ceiling as she caught her breath, a goofy smile slowly creeping onto her face. "I know, I'm being silly, but we've been spending more time together lately. And it's not just battling. He actually talks to me... about real stuff. About his life. His family." She counted the two things off on her fingers as if it were a long list. "I don't know if he sees me that way, but it feels different now. Like, maybe he's starting to... I don't know. Like me."
Ariados blinked at her, unimpressed.
"Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?" Annie said with a teasing grin. "Mrs. Achroma... it has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"
Ariados rolled her eyes - if a spider could even do that - and curled up beside her trainer, resigned to listen to more of her stupid fantasies.