"When it came down to it, you didn't care about me at all… The only thing you wanted was someone to battle with, wasn't it!?"
Nemona sighed.
'How did I let this happen?' She thought. 'I messed up, and now…'
Now she might have lost someone dear to her.
"...No." Said Nemona. "I can't give up now. I need to do something… but what?"
She had no idea. To begin with, dealing with people was not something she'd ever been good at. Battling a titan pokemon? She could do it with her arms behind her back. Having a heart to heart conversation with someone? That may as well be impossible. Nemona simply couldn't do it on her own… thankfully, she had friends. So she sent them a text.
[Meet me at the Treasure Eatery.]
The Treasury Eatery was the most famous restaurant in Medali, which is saying something. The town is known for fine dining, to the most expensive of restaurants to even the street vendors, food is something the locals took very seriously. To be able to casually enter and reserve a table, even though the restaurant wasn't full, is just not something the average person can do.
Of course, Nemona wasn't the average person. Nothing about her, good or bad, was average in any way. Which is something she had come to accept over the years.
It didn't take long for her to make the trip, she was pretty much there already by the time she sent the message, already reserving a table for three… no, four. Just in case. Even though she knew it would be a waste… It's not like Nemona ever cared about money. If pressed, she would shamefully admit to being one of those people who had more money than sense, but that had never mattered. Money is something easily replaceable. But people?
"Yo, I'm here." Said Arven, entering the restaurant. "And so is the pipsqueak."
Penny frowned as she made her way in.
"If we're giving people nicknames over physical features, I have over a dozen for you. Of course, none are positive, but I won't lower myself to your level and say them out loud."
Arven rolled his eyes. He knew damn well she was absolutely going to say them out loud.
"So, what's the emergency?" Penny asked as they took their seats.
"H-How did you know it was an emergency?" Nemona asked.
"You never call us out to hang out. Not if it's a simple dinner." Penny said as Arven nodded.
"Yeah, how can I put it? If you texted something like 'Hey, guys, I found some new ruins to explore.' or 'Let's have a big pokemon tournament.' That'd be one thing."
Nemona flinched. Could it be… was Juliana correct all along?
"Exactly." Said Penny. "If it's a casual hang out, Juliana's the one inviting everyone. And she's clearly not here. I'm assuming she's not late?"
Nemona shook her head.
"N-No… She… She isn't coming."
Arven and Penny exchanged a look.
"Did you two have a fight?" He asked.
"...Something like that." Said Nemona.
She was here in the restaurant with the two of them, but her mind was still in the past, still in that conversation.
"I…I…"
She took a deep breath.
"If someone showed up who was stronger than me, you'd just be going after them instead, wouldn't you?"
Nemona didn't even know how it all started. They had just finished a battle and were talking as they ate Juliana's sandwiches.
"I'm really glad Nemona is my rival."
Her face then… her smile was so pure, so happy.
"And I'm glad I picked you to be my rival, mi cariño."
But later, that face would turn so sad.
"What do you mean you picked me?" She asked.
Nemona regretted answering the question. She didn't notice the slight change in her tone, didn't notice the small pause as Juliana talked, didn't notice that she had stopped eating her sandwich.
"I didn't really have any friends before you moved in." Said Nemona. "I couldn't really battle with anyone; even if I held back, they'd probably lose. Besides, holding back is no fun. I like battles like the one we just had, where we give everything we've got… but there wasn't anyone in the academy I could really battle like this. It's like… I have this itch that I couldn't scratch."
"An… itch?"
Was that really the best way to put it? Were there not different words she could have used then?
"Yeah." Nemona said confidently. "I love battling, so being unable to really do it… Well, it sucks. I wanted nothing more than to have a rival, to have someone I could battle over and over again and just use all my skill… I don't even care if I win or not, I just want the taste of battle; that feeling of adrenaline when I'm doing the thing I love without holding myself back. I needed someone who could keep up with me."
Nemona had the biggest smile on her face, looking up at the sky like an idiot, not realizing, not seeing, that the person next to her didn't share that smile.
"So that's… what I am to you? A way to scratch that itch?"
"That's right, mi cariño." Nemona wished she could take back those words. She didn't mean anything bad by it, of course, but that didn't change the fact her words had hurt someone important to her. "When Professor Clavell asked me to show you around, I knew I had a golden opportunity. I could train alongside you, watch you grow into a champion level trainer who I could fight with my real team and just give it my all."
"Your rival, huh?"
That's when Nemona noticed it. Only then did she look back and saw Juliana's face. She could easily predict her opponent's movements in battle, but reading people was a whole other story.
"Is that all I am to you?"
It was full of tears. It didn't look right. Nemona was in shock seeing that face, she couldn't really process what was going on. As soon as she saw Juliana's face like that, it was as if her mind stopped working.
"When it came down to it, you didn't care about me at all… The only thing you wanted was someone to battle with, wasn't it!?"
Seeing her face like that, and realizing it must have been her fault somehow… it broke something inside Nemona.
"If someone showed up who was stronger than me, you'd just be going after them instead, wouldn't you?"
Nemona knew she had messed up. She didn't understand exactly how, but she did. She also knew she had to fix this, had to say something to calm Juliana down.
"Tha… That's not true! I-It's not… It's not like that…"
"IT IS LIKE THAT!"
Nemona didn't know what to do, what to say. She didn't know how Juliana had misinterpreted her words so badly, and she sure didn't know what to say to get her to understand, to believe her.
She couldn't handle Juliana yelling at her like that. That… that never happened. It couldn't happen. It was something so new, so unexpected, that Nemona was left without words.
"Ah….. I'm sorry."
But words were exactly what she needed at the moment. Staying silent, withdrawing like that, it only made things worse.
"I thought… I thought we had something special, Nemo."
Seeing her rival's face like that, full of despair and sadness and misery… it made Nemona feel a sharp pain inside her heart.
"Y-You are sp-pecial…." Nemona reached her hand towards Juliana. "Mi cariño-"
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Juliana stood up, letting her sandwich fall on the picnic towel and roll towards the grass. "I'm… I'm just some trainer to you, right Nemo? I'm just some idiot first year you're using for your own selfish needs."
The tears falling from Juliana's face… Nemona wanted nothing more than to reach out her hand and wipe them away. But she was scared… scared that if she tried that, her Juliana would recoil from her hand again.
Nemona couldn't handle that a second time. She just couldn't.
"...I'm sorry."
Once again words failed her. Nemona didn't truly understand what Juliana was saying, it didn't make any sense to her, so she could do nothing other than apologize.
Juliana wiped her tears with her hands, but it wasn't enough, they just kept pouring. And seeing that made Nemona's own tears start to fall.
"I…" Juliana stammered. "I don't ever want to battle with you again!"
Those words… they were like a slap to the face. Nemona felt real, physical pain when she heard them, and now again just by remembering them.
After that, Juliana turned around and ran away. Nemona couldn't bring herself to go after her, so she just watched… she sat and watched with tears in her eyes as her special person ran off, until she could no longer see her back past the horizon.
"...and that's what happened."
Arven offered Nemona a handkerchief to dry her tears, which she happily accepted.
"After that… mi cariño won't answer my calls anymore. She didn't block me, but…"
She let silence complete her sentence.
Penny, with all the tact of a particularly dull spoon, said what was on her mind.
"...Yeah, you messed up." She stated factually. "A lot, actually. I'm somewhat impressed at how badly you messed up here."
"Penny…" Said Arven. "You're not helping."
"The first step to fixing the problem is recognizing the problem." Penny continued. "Is there any truth to what she said? Did you really groom her to be your rival?"
"No, I didn…" Nemona was ready to deny it, to say it wasn't so. But… it really had been like that, hadn't it? "Well… kind of?"
She subconsciously reached for her ponytail and began to play with it nervously.
"I… did try to push her into doing the gym challenge." Nemona said. "And I did battle with her every now and then so she could grow stronger." She continued. "I… I kept training with her, hoping she would become someone truly great, someone who could battle me as an equal…"
Nemona sighed.
"I… I didn't use her." She said firmly. "...but I guess I can see how it could be interpreted that way."
"And there we have it." Said Penny. "You're such a meathead who only thinks about battles that Juliana probably feels you don't appreciate her as a person."
"But I do appreciate her!" Said Nemona.
"Sure, you say that." Penny adjusted her glasses with a bored look on her face. "But did you ever tell her that? Think back on every time you two talked, every time you complimented her… Was there anything that wasn't about battles?"
"Of course!" said Nemona. "There was that time when…"
Nemona furrowed her brow and tried to remember.
"You already got your first badge? You're so good at this!"
Surely she had talked about other things, right?
"You have such a natural way with battles!"
Surely she had mentioned how much she cherished their friendship.
"I can tell you've been training hard. Why don't you show me how much stronger you've become?"
Surely Nemona hadn't let her passion for pokemon battles get too far.
"No, you mustn't battle other people. You can have all the battles you want with me."
Surely… surely… she hadn't been a bad friend…
"That was impressive, mi cariño. That battle really got my heart pumped. Why don't we have a go at it right now?"
Right?
"..."
Nemona hung her head in silence.
"Yeah, thought so." said Penny. "I figured you wouldn't be so much of a meathead around her. Do you not know how to make small talk?"
Nemona didn't answer. Arven scratched the back of his head.
"...How am I the one with the most social skills out of us three? That's sad."
Penny sighed, but Arven had something to say.
"I think… she just wants to be appreciated, to be seen. To be… noticed." he said hesitantly. "Don't try to overthink it, just go do something fun with her."
Nemona lifted her head from the table.
"We could have a battle by the beach, next to the ocean."
Penny laughed. Arven… less so.
"Whatever you do, do not battle her today."
"But it's fun. We enjoy it." said Nemona. "Didn't you say we should-"
"Anything but that." he said. "You can battle her tomorrow. Right now you need to show her that you care about her as a person and not just a trainer."
Nemoma had never thought about that at all. It's obvious she cherishes the relationship she has with Juliana, so obvious it didn't need to be said.
"I.. see."
Yet now Nemona knew that if she wanted to salvage that relationship, she needed to do something special.
"I know what to do. I'll go talk to her."
"Good." said Arven.
"But how can I do that? She's not answering my texts and I don't know where she is."
Penny grabbed her phone.
"I can track her location."
Arven looked at Nemona.
"Is your bond really that weak? If you're as close as you say, you should be able to tell where she is."
Nemona stood up.
"You're right. You're absolutely right!"
Incidentally, what Arven had actually said was: "Sounds like a good idea." What Nemona heard was her own internal voice. And following that voice, she rushed out of the restaurant.
"Well, there she goes." said Penny. "You think they're gonna be okay?"
Arven thought for a moment.
"I hope so."
And so, the two were left by themselves.
"Hey…" said Arven. "Should we order something? I'm a little hungry now."
"Sure." said Penny. "I bet I can put this into her tab."
This hadn't been the first time Nemona went out to search for Juliana. She had checked their respective homes first, of course. But since she wasn't there, there was only one place she could be.
"...eh?"
But before she could move, she felt a chill deep down her spine. It was like all the courage she had summoned just now had vanished and her legs turned to jelly as she began to sweat. She looked around, trying to pinpoint where this feeling had come from, but there wasn't anyone suspicious near her. Even though Nemona was in the heart of town, surrounded by people, they all just went their merry way without sparing her a second glance. The only noteworthy thing near the girl was her own shadow.
"...wait."
A dark creature with red eyes emerged from her shadow and stared directly at her face.
"A Gengar!?" She took a step back… before furrowing her brow. "No… I know you. You're mi cariño's Gengar. Do you know where she is?" Nemona asked. "She won't answer my calls."
Gengar simply began to float away. Nemona, not one to wait for anything in life, sent out her Cyclizar and rode right after it.
As it happens, they wouldn't need to travel all that long; because their destination ended up being…
"The Pokemon League building?"
Gengar vanished into thin air after the girl arrived, so Nemona knew she was right. She could feel it in her bones, Juliana was here.
She rushed inside immediately.
The Pokemon League building wasn't somewhere Nemona frequented often. She had already gotten the rank of champion, so there wasn't much reason to do otherwise. She'd rather spend her time either at the academy or exploring the region, mainly the latter.
She didn't like confined spaces much.
As soon as she entered the building, she saw the familiar face of Rika behind the desk.
"Have-"
Rika pointed to the door behind her.
"Thank you!"
Nemona said as she sprinted through the door.
It didn't take long to hear Juliana's voice, and through that, find out where she was. As it happens, she was in Poppy's room.
"...and that's why Poppy's glad you're playing with her."
Nemona carefully inched towards the door, opening it just slightly to find… Poppy, her Tinkaton and Juliana; all playing house.
"Oh…"
Nemona must have opened the door a little too much, because she was heard, and the room's occupants all turned to look at her.
"Nemo?" Juliana looked surprised, and then her face turned angry. "Why are you here? I don't want to talk with you."
Poppy smiled as she stood up.
"Everyone is welcome to Poppy's tea pahty." She said simply. "Now Poppy has to go talk to Rika, so you two play nice, okay?"
Poppy and her Tinkaton began to make their way to the door.
"But… I thought Rika said she was busy."
Poppy giggled, her voice pure and innocent.
"You're so silleh. Rika's always busy."
And so the duo left.
"..."
Meaning Nemona and Juliana were left by their lonesome.
"...I think I just got tricked." Said Juliana.
"What do you mean?" Asked Nemona.
Juliana sighed.
"I came here to remove myself from the League, to get rid of my champion level rank, but Rika said she was busy and asked me to wait with Poppy for a while…"
Nemona couldn't believe her ears. Had Juliana really said that just now?
"No way… You can't do that!" She said. "After everything, you can't just quit now!"
This got Juliana's frown to return.
"Of course that's what you care about." She said bitterly. "It's my choice, Nemo."
Nemona started to panic. She had just gotten here and everything was already going bad.
"How did you even know I was here?"
Just then, Gengar leaned over from behind Nemona, despite there being no physical way the larger being could do so, and showed its tongue to its trainer.
"...traitor." Said Juliana without any malice.
Gengar simply walked forward and melted into its trainer's shadow.
"So," Said Juliana, staring back at Nemon. "What do you want, Nemo?"
The ponytailed girl took a deep breath. She knew that if she messed up now, she wouldn't get another chance.
"I… I wanted to let you know that… I appreciate you." She started.
Juliana rolled her eyes.
"I'm sure you do. It's good to have a sparring partner, huh?"
"No!" Nemona yelled. "I mean, yes. But… it's more than that." Nemona approached Juliana, step by agonizing step. "When I call you my rival, I mean so much more than that. You're… someone who pushes me forward, someone who forces me to improve."
Juliana crossed her arms.
"And yet again, that's all I am. Just a wall for you to bounce off from-"
"N-No!" She yelled again. "It's not just battle. I mean… to improve as a person."
Nemona finally made her way across the room, standing face to face with her rival.
"Before meeting you, I was all alone." She said. "Even now, my friends… they're really your friends that I came to meet. I wouldn't have been able to meet them, to get along with them, if not for you. You…" Nemona took a deep breath. "You are special to me, my number one. My first ever friend and the most precious."
Nemona began to tear up.
"I'm sorry I made you think otherwise, mi cariño. I may love battles, yes, but I love battling you specifically." She said. "Every time we face one another, I feel so much joy my heart feels like it will explode. I want to battle you every second of the day, for every day, of every month, forever and ever. I don't ever want you out of my sight, I don't want to share you with anybody, don't want anyone else to battle you… I want this to be something special between you and me."
Nemona wasn't just tearing up now, she was full on crying.
"I'm sorry I hurt you, mi cariño. I'm not good with words… but there are no words that can explain how special you are to me. If there's anything I can do to make you feel appreciated, just say it." She wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
Juliana's face also erupted with tears as she began to match Nemona's expression.
"...can we go eat a sandwich together?"
Nemona smiled.
"Nothing would bring me more joy right now, mi cariño."
Nemona extended her hand towards Juliana. For a brief moment she wondered if the latter would step back… but of course that didn't happen. Instead, Juliana smiled and gladly took Nemona's hand in hers.
As the pair walked out of the Pokemon League building together, Rika and Poppy watched from the inside.
"Poppy loves a happy ending."
Rika smiled.
"Me too, kiddo."
Poppy looked up towards Rika.
"Do you think Poppy will have a friend like that too one day?"
Rika patted Poppy's head.
"Of course you will."
Poppy nodded.
"...yeah."