Chapter 6: Aeroblast, Shopping, and Other Things

Thanks to Diana's Swablu, making their way through Bewilder Forest was much easier, and it wasn't long before they arrived near the outskirts of Jubilife City. The little bird pokemon was now resting comfortably in her trainer's arms. Aaron tried to pet the Swablu once, but tiny cotton ball just kept pecking at his hand. He just didn't get it. Weren't Swablu supposed to be friendly towards humans? Whatever. There was a reason why bug pokemon were his favorites.

Aaron was considering what teammates he wanted to work on for his next round of training when they passed the official Jubilife City limits sign, which read "Jubilife City, the City of Joy." The smell of the asphalt and towering skyscrapers made the surrounding area a veritable concrete jungle. People seemed to be passing by them every second, and large advertisements were displayed on billboards, display windows, and a jumbo-tron TV. Being that it was the largest city in Sinnoh, it seemed to be the perfect place to get started. "Well, we're here," Aaron announced. "So what's the plan, Diana? You're going to challenge the League, right?"

Diana, who had been pretty deep in thought whispering a random ideas for names for her Swablu like "Aria, Pit, Cloud, Altair, and Flonne" paused for a moment in softly stroking her Swablu's wings and answered, "Hmm? Oh yeah. Actually, I already registered at the pokemon center when you were running your errands."

"Good, so that's one thing to check off the list. So which gym are you going to challenge first?"

"Well, I was thinking- wait, isn't there an order?"

Aaron shook his head. "Not really. While it's true that there are some gyms that don't like to accept challenges from trainers without a certain number of badges, legally every gym leader is required to be able to fight any kind of trainer. That means that challenges can come from people with as much six badges to four badges or no badges at all. It's because most trainers don't start their pokemon journeys in the same town."

"If that's the case then which one would you recommend?"

"Hmm... Well, from here, Canalave City's gym is probably the closest, but you'd have to catch a ferry to get there. Plus the gym leader, Byron, is pretty tough. His steel type pokemon are really bulky, so I wouldn't go there unless you have some heavy artillery. Eterna City is kind of far, but it has the second closest gym and the route on the way there is really scenic."

"What about Oreburgh City?"

"Oreburgh doesn't have a gym. At least, not that I know of. I heard that they selected a new gym leader awhile back, but I'm not sure if his gym is up and running yet."

"Oh... well I guess then..." Diana began to trail off, thinking over her options.

"If you need time to think about it, let's head to the mall real quick before making any major decisions. You still need some clothes, right?"

"Yeah... Hey yeah! That sounds like a good idea," the brunette let out an excited cheer before hesitating, "but wait, how exactly am I going to pay for anything? I'm kind of broke, and I'm not very comfortable borrowing money from you."

"No problem. The mall has a Claydol's Closet, so I think you'll be fine."

"What's Claydol's Closet?"

"It's this thrift shop that has a bunch of exchangeable clothing for aspiring pokemon trainers. Since most kids tend forget their PC log-in passwords, they can't exactly call home and have it shipped through the PC from home or access their storage, so it's not uncommon for them to be without clothes or not know how to do laundry. Since this kind of became a growing problem for beginning pokemon trainers, a couple of religious groups banded together and created a charity group which grew into a thrift store which grew into a chain that's now filled with free and discounted clothes for pokemon trainers. You have to have a certain amount of low income to qualify for the free stuff though."

"So far this, and your gregarious generosity, have been the only fortune that has come from my being poor," Diana scoffed as Aaron pulled out his old pokégear. The poor thing hadn't been used officially since his Johto days and was coming apart at the seams, being only held together by sheer willpower and black electric tape. It was still more durable than the pokétch, which was always short circuiting and having to be replaced due to him accidentally losing it, breaking it, or wearing it in the shower.

He could still get the occasional spam phone call on his pokégear when in-range, mostly from politicians or a couple of Rattata owning youngsters he had regretted giving his number to, but other than that, it was only good for map reading and catching the occasional stray HAM radio station. A few clicks of a button and a small GPS map of Jubilife appeared on the screen.

"Isn't there some sort of rule that forbids men to ask for directions?" Diana asked with a playful smirk.

"That's just a myth," Aaron waved off.

"Really?"

"Yep. Up there with Mew and the Tooth-Fairy."

"You don't believe in Mew?" Diana gaped at him in shock. "But it's a pokemon that's been scientifically proven to exist!"

"I think it's a pokemon that used to exist that doesn't anymore," he corrected her.

"Well how would you know?"

"Because no one has any real proof that it still exists," Aaron explained. "There have been 'sightings,' sure, but other than that, nothing. No pictures, no living DNA, no recent skeletons."

"So? Mew can turn invisible and only shows itself to those who are pure of heart."

"That's an easy excuse."

"Well then maybe that just means you're not pure of heart," Diana teased and made an exaggerated gesture, causing Aaron to roll his eyes. This conversation certainly sounded familiar. Probably because he had almost the exact same debate with Cynthia awhile back. She was always a big fan of pokemon myths, always open to new possibilities and not wanting to rule anything out. Aaron was about to respond when he overheard something that made his blood run cold.

"Oh my gosh, Tiffany! Is that guy one of the Elite Four?" he heard one girl behind him exclaim.

"Like, oh my gosh, Martha, I think you're right," her friend gasped dramatically. In that moment, Aaron blanched and wanted to bolt and facepalm at that same time. He couldn't believe his own naivete. One of the biggest downsides of being an Elite Four member was that you couldn't just go and publicly walk down the street anymore, and he had just casually strolled into the biggest city in Sinnoh, undisguised. He could practically sense the girls behind him whipping out their cellphones and trying to take pictures of him. Normally, he was excited that people recognized him, but now it made his stomach turn. His skin felt clammy and cold, his complexion was probably three shades paler since they got here.

"Hey, are you alright?" Diana asked.

"Huh...? Oh! Y-Yeah! I'm just... I'm just not incredibly fond of large crowds."

"Are you claustrophobic or something?"

"Yeah! Sure! Whatever! Anyways, here's the mall. How about you go to a couple of stores, try some things on, and meet me back at the food court when you're done?"

"Wait what? Why? How am I supposed to find you?"

"I'll find you! I have to go take a call and do some stuff. Just meet me at the food court!" Aaron explained quickly before he turned to run. He hastily left Diana and made a beeline for any random store. After swiftly debating which store had the fewest amount of customers, Aaron sprinted into Diglett's Sporting Goods and dove behind a pile of folded sweaters and ski equipment.

This however proved to be a dumb decision when he realized that he was only a couple yards away from the Aerial Ace brand table filled with bug catcher nets and other products featuring a digital advertisement of himself using one of the nets to capture a Combee. Some customers were browsing nearby, only a few feet in front of him, before they stopped at the merchandise table. A little boy picked up one of the nets and tried to swing it while the others looked at the other merchandise. Afraid he was going to be recognized, Aaron snatched a black ski hat with a grey pokeball outline off of the ski equipment dummies and ducked for cover, pulling the beanie over his head and hastily putting on a red overcoat for good measure.

"That guy has a Combee like me! So cool!" exclaimed a little boy, who had picked up one of the bug pokemon starter kits. Aaron couldn't help but smile when the child ran off with it towards the cash register for his mom to buy. A teenage biker that had stood next to the kid rolled his eyes.

"Pfft, so lame. Bug types have become so mainstream ever since that guy joined the League," the biker boy scoffed and set down the pack of Aerial Ace bug bandages. "Plus, the guy has only been in the Elite Four a little over a year and a half and already, he's signing away his soul to corporations. What a sell out."

"Yeah, like it wasn't bad enough that most trainers we come across have at least one bug type to squash," his friend, a guy in jogging gear holding up a net, joined in. "Now every trainer in Sinnoh is trying to raise bug pokemon like they're freaking dragon types, like training them will give 'em some magic gateway to the League. It isn't even worth the experience beating them anymore."

"That dude's a trend that will die out faster than an internet meme." The two guys shared a laugh and then moved onto the fishing section of the store but not before the jogger carelessly tossed away the equipment he was holding. The butterfly net collided with a sharp crack against the store mannequin Aaron was currently hiding behind and clattered to the floor. The Elite Four member tentatively picked up the discarded net and dusted it off before setting it back on the table. He pulled the dark colored beanie over his eyes and after making sure there wasn't anyone nearby, stood up and sneaked into one of the changing rooms before locking himself inside. He let out a soft sigh and slumped onto the pull-out chair, his head falling into his hands.

The endorsement seemed like such a good idea at the time. Was he really such a sell-out, jumping the gun and signing up with the first endorsement deal that wanted him so early into his career? Granted, it was a small company and it not only promoted the growth of bug type trainers and pokemon, but half of the company's proceeds went to nature preserves. He even personally liked the products the company created. Did all that really make him a sell-out?

He was used to the cracks about bug pokemon -in fact, a small part of him accepted the League position just to prove the naysayers wrong- but the other stuff was cause for concern. He didn't want to be some trend or a meme or some burn-out that couldn't amount to anything but selling out for a load of cash because he peaked too early. Wanting a second opinion, Aaron fumbled around in his backpack and flipped open his private cellphone, which still looked almost brand new minus the scratches caused by his own backpack clutter. Two missed calls and three notifications. Aaron sighed before hitting redial on his phone and listened for the tone.

"Hey, champ-in-the-making! Been trying to get in contact with you. How's my favorite 'leet?" spoke a boisterous male voice from the other line.

"I'm okay, I guess," Aaron shrugged quietly, not wanting to give away his presence. "I'm looking at a large picture of myself using a bug catcher net."

"You saw the new Aerial Ace ads! Great! You love 'em, right? I told those backwater big wigs that 'this kid is the one you want promoting your goods.'"

"Actually, Mr. Conners-

"Kid, I told you, call me Clyde," his agent corrected him.

"Clyde... Anyways, about the ads-"

"Whaaaat? You don't like them? I thought you liked them. You use the nets and approved the photos we sent in."

"I do- I mean, I did! It's just-" Aaron cut himself off. He might have been overthinking his criticism. It was just one guy's opinion, plus how would complaining about something so small as one bad comment make him come off to his agent? What would people think of him if he freaked out over every little comment? Better to just grin and bear it. "...never mind, it's fine. I was overthinking it."

"Figures. I shoulda known. You're like me, kid. You like to be the best and wish to only be the best, and that's what I like to work with: the best."

"Yeah sure. Anyways, I saw a couple messages from you earlier. What was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Right! Glad you remembered. I've got another job for you. You remember that new gym leader, Rock or something?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, the League wants you to do an exhibition match with him in Oreburgh City. They say it'll really help promote the underdog image you've got going on, since he's a rock type gym leader and you specialize in bug types."

"I'd love to do this for you, Clyde, but you know I've been taking this time off to train with my pokemon-"

"And I get that! I completely understand! I would go and train with my Glameow in a heartbeat if I could, but I've got to put food on the table."

"Isn't his gym still under construction?"

"I believe it's already built, but it's undergoing renovations. He's trying to incorporate some sort of museum or theme park attraction into it, I don't know."

"Well I dunno..." Aaron trailed off.

"Aaron, Aaron, my main man! I can sense your hesitation, but you know how this works. You have to make sure you keep up your public image. Everybody loves you right now! You're the youngest Elite Four member in the history of Pokemon League, but that will only get you so far in life! Some people have been questioning on whether or not you're good enough to be part of the E4 because you're so young, especially with your performance in the Fall Tournament."

Aaron couldn't help the involuntary flinch that came with the memory of his Beautifly lying face down in the dirt. His eyes cast down towards the decorative Diglett patterned carpet. He didn't want to disappoint anybody, especially his team. Was he really not doing enough? Would this affect his pokemon as well?

"...Okay. I'll try and work harder."

"Great! I'll email you all the details!" There was some office noise feedback cutting in from the background before his agent spoke up again. "Listen, I gotta let ya go, champ. There's this idol chick who's been acting like a real diva, driving me nuts with her gig complaints and her Clefairy's hair budget. Next time you're in Jubilife, we should do lunch. Call ya soon, champ!"

"Sure. Talk to you later," and then Aaron hung up. He didn't know why he didn't let his agent know he was in town. It would have made this conversation a lot less one-sided. All he did was sit there, locked in a Diglett's Sporting Goods dressing room. He did that for a while, processing and planning everything, before he suddenly realized he was wearing a girl's overcoat. It was then that he stood up, fished around in his pockets and, after unlocking the dressing room door, he yanked the tags off of his clothes, slammed a large sum of poke on the counter and muttered "keep the change" before walking out of the store.

Despite the fact that she had been abandoned in a shopping mall, a situation not completely foreign to her, Diana was weirdly comfortable strolling around the mall at her leisure. To Diana, the Jubilife City Center Mall was just like any other shopping mall in the real world. In fact, the more time she spent trekking down the hallways, the more she realized how bizarrely similar and parallel her world was to the pokemon world. It was like walking in a mall full of the usual stores, but everything was renamed with pokemon puns. What used to be Banana Republic and Victoria's Secret were now Banette's Republic and Victreebel's Secret. Hot Topic was Hot Torchic, Aéropostale was Aéroblastale, Dick's Sporting Goods was Diglett's Sporting Goods and so on. They even had an exact clone of Auntie Anne's pretzels called Auntie Anorith's! Diana couldn't help but smile at the funny similarities, only stopping to admire the pokemon that casually walked next to their trainers, some of which she recognized and some she didn't. She was simply glowing. This was going to be such a great world to be in!

A few more stores passed by before the brown, red, and white Claydol's Closet sign stood in all its luminescent glory. After setting foot in the store, it was easy to get lost in the stacks of clothing. Outfits of all sizes, shapes, and colors were hung on the clothing racks and anything that wasn't hung up or folded into piles were crammed into every nook and cranny of the shop. Items that were unwanted by previous shoppers were discarded onto the ground, refolded haphazardly, or shoved back into the pile or clothing rack they had probably not originally come from. It reminded her a lot of Goodwill.

Regardless, Diana was kind of excited getting to pick out her own clothes without her mother's help. Most of the time, her mother did random shopping sprees and brought back a bunch of clothes for her to try on, ninety percent of which would get sent back. Diana didn't do it to be mean and she wasn't picky. She just had certain... conditions her clothes to adhere to. If the fabric was too uncomfortable to her skin or smelled funny, it was an automatic discard. Anything too small had to go too. Also, no wool or pantyhose or anything that felt scratchy or hugged her legs too much that it felt like she was wearing tights; it gave her the heebie-jeebies. Also, no long sleeve shirts.

Unfortunately, her pickiness didn't leave her with a lot of options. Aside from the fact that her preferences limited her, most of the clothing sizes were too small for her. That was because almost the entire store was filled with clothing for kids. Rows upon rows of clothing racks were filled with overalls and cartoon-y t-shirts and shorts that were probably donated from someone else's hand-me-downs. At least there wouldn't have to be a middle-man. She could at least choose to be positive about that.

After grabbing a shopping cart, Diana set her Swablu down into the basket and scoured the rows and racks for clothes. She sifted through all the different kinds of outfits on the hangers, but aside from a white polo t-shirt, blue vest, and a red pleaded miniskirt, nothing appeared to be in her size. Finally, after twenty minutes of sifting, she managed to find the discarded bin of teenager clothes that was shoved in the corner. Now she had the opportunity to pick out her own clothes without having to be judged for her fashion choices or hear her mom complain about having to take back stuff she didn't want or need. She picked up two t-shirts that she managed to find in her size.

"So Flonne, which one do you think should I get? The grey top that says 'I Like 'em Tall and Dark Type' or the horrid yellow one with the Sharpedo that says 'Snack Attack?'" she asked her pokemon, lifting up the appropriate tops. The bird pokemon gave her a confused head tilt, sniffing at the grey t-shirt. "Grey it is, then!" Diana smiled, placing it in her shopping cart. She actually had an amounting collection of tacky t-shirts with cheesy catchphrases she wore back home. Originally, it was just so she could piss off her mom with her embarrassingly high amount of tacky clothes, but later it had become a weird hobby of hers. Must have come from her strange affinity for dad jokes and terrible puns.

She noticed two tank tops dyed with her favorite color purple and tossed them in for the try-on pile, along with a pair of discontinued army cargo pants. Wanting to plan ahead, she snagged an old, black, jean jacket with a Gyarados bedazzled into the back with a pair of black sweatpants that had 'Juicy' written on the butt with an icon of a Cheri berry next to it, and some rubber snow boots for colder weather. After throwing in a couple more miscellaneous items and pacing around the store for what felt like forever, Diana decided she had enough and flagged down a retail worker to unlock one of the dressing rooms so she could try everything on.

"No pokemon in the store, please. We have to keep things clean for the customers," the attendant said briefly before swiping the door open with an electronic lock. Diana gave the middle aged woman a look before reaching into her pocket for Flonne's pokeball and recalled her. Guess this place was more understaffed than she thought if they were only noticing her Swablu now. After putting a hook stating the number of clothes she had to try on, she shut the door and began to shimmy off her t-shirt and jeans.

So far, nothing in her pile seemed wearable aside from the short Buneary pajama bottoms and the cream baby blue Swablu tank top. The winter gear she had mismatched together also fit, but since it was a little hot for her to be wearing any of this at the moment, she changed into the only thing she could wear: the school uniform. At least it appeared to have been washed before being donated (Diana had found the dry cleaning receipt pinned to the lapel). Stepping out of the dressing room, she just checked out her items when a girl with teal dyed bob stopped in front of her.

"Oh my gosh, I love that top." Diana quickly looked down at her top, suddenly forgetting what t-shirt she was wearing, before giving the girl a hesitant smile as the latter handed her her shopping bag.

"...Thanks?"

"It's so nice to see people thinking about the environment," the teal girl beamed, carrying a certain brightness in her tone, "donating their clothes rather than buying clothes from corporate clothing chains that utilize sweatshops and underpaid workers."

"Yeah, I mean it's cool, saving the planet and all," Diana agreed. Uh oh. She was one of those kind of people. Had Diana's sudden switch to vegetarianism attracted this environmentalist? Could they smell it on her?! Speaking of which, she was freaking starving! If she scrounged enough cash together, would it be considered cheating on her new diet if she grabbed a pretzel from Auntie Anorith's?

"I'm Helene," said the girl as held out her hand, momentarily breaking Diana's sudden reverie. Out of politeness, Diana gave her brief eye contact and shook her hand.

"I'm Diane, but my friends call me Diana."

"Very cool name. Like the goddess of the moon. I'm named after a moon too," Helene smiled, seeming to go through a bit of her own reverie as her eyes turned glassy for a moment before she came to. "You know, Diane-

"Diana."

"-we have this cool eco-group meeting downtown next Friday. You should totally come. There's going be free food and games and prizes. We're even getting some evolution stones for the prizes."

"Evolution stones, huh?" she hummed thoughtfully. She wasn't sure what kind of evolution she wanted her Eevee to evolve into, but it wouldn't hurt to have a stone or two on-hand; she did like options.

"Oh yes! Evolution is one of the cleanest forms of energy there is!" Helene declared excitedly and held out a pamphlet. "I can count on you being there, right?"

"Hmmm sure, why not? Fun and free food? I'm there!" Diana shrugged.

"Excellent!" Helene cheered, happily clapping her hands together. "Also, we're trying to get the word out to everyone about our event, so write down some of your family and friends names and numbers so that we can contact them."

"Ooookay..." Diana shrugged as she wrote down her mother's land line, something that had been disconnected years ago and was probably unreachable where she was, regardless. "Anything else, Bubbles?"

"Awww cute nickname! I love it! You know, you seem kind of cool. Maybe we should go grab some coffee and talk some more?" Diana blanched. Did I just pick her up!? That was barely a compliment! She was flattered, sure, but she didn't want to lead Helene on -she was straight- but Diana was so hungry, she was ready to go to second base with Ellen DeGeneres if it meant getting some scones or at least a hot pretzel.

"Only if you're paying, and it's pretzels instead of coffee."

"Sure I can. Money's no object with my galaxy card. They give me free funds." Who's "they?"

"Excuse me, young lady, what do you think you're doing?" Diana turned around to see a cross Officer Jenny standing behind her. The policewoman irritably tapped her foot.

"Umm, shopping?" Diana said slowly, as if the cop was stupid and hard of hearing. Who the hell spiked her coffee and donuts this morning?

"Oh, I bet. You're coming with me, young lady!" The policewoman's hand then clamped around her upper arm and started to haul her out of the store.

"W-Wha-? What'd I do?!" Diana exclaimed, starting to dig in her heels after the initial shock had worn off.

"If you're going to ditch school, next time don't wear the school uniform in public." Diana gave her the most perplexed stare. What was the cop talking about? How did she know about her school? It took Diana a couple seconds to realize that Jenny wasn't talking about her interview at Berklee and was, in fact, referring to the school uniform she was wearing now.

"But I'm not a student here! I just borrowed these clothes from a retail store!" the brunette cried out, looking desperately at the store entrance. "Ask Helene! She'll vouch for me!" But when Diana turned to look for the girl, the teal haired girl was nowhere to be found.

"Suuuure you did," Jenny rolled her eyes sarcastically before pulling her away from the store and out of the mall. Diana paled as she was hauled and shoved into the sidecar of a blue police motorcycle. Did this count as child kidnapping if it was a cop? Before she could try and escape, she was buckled into the car and wheeled off to places unknown, away from the mall and way past the pokemon center.

Well, whaddaya know? This fic isn't dead. Sorry about the slow updates. I keep joking to my friends that I only update this story annually, but now I'm terrified it will actually come true. I swear, I have a mapped out progress for this story. It just keeps making a few tailspins when it comes to Diana's party and where she goes that still fits within the established story-line. Thank you again to those who have been loyal since the beginning and to those who are just tuning in. I love writing fanfiction, but it's your reviews and support that feed my soul.

Swablu is named after Flonne from the Disgaea series.