I sat down on the metal bench outside of the parlor, a large cup of white, melty vanilla ice cream held in between my palms. I set it down next to me and drew out two of my Pokeballs, the afternoon sunlight reflecting off of them and slightly blinding me. I winced from the shine, and immediately dropped the two red-and-white orbs, where they clacked onto the ground and opened, revealing a fuzzy brown Eevee and a blue-black Shinx. Crescendo immediately hopped into my lap, while the Shinx hopped up and placed her front paws against my shin, staring up intently at me with her big, bright yellow eyes. I smiled at her, before sweeping her up in my arms and placing her on my lap. She yelped out and shivered with nervousness, but Crescendo gave her cheek a lick, which seemed to calm her down. Looking at the both of them, I spoke.
"Alright, you two. I've been thinking about today, and I think... that you deserve a little reward." And indeed they did. It wasn't every day that an Eevee and a Shinx swept a Rock-type Gym Leader's strongest Pokemon, and with tackles and quick attacks, no less. The pair's eyes widened with surprise as I set the ice cream bowl down on the ground in front of my feet before kneeling down and placing them in front of it. Crescendo stared at it eagerly, having had ice cream once before at home, but the Shinx simply gave me a look that said, 'what am I looking at?' I chuckled and patted her on the head.
"I forgot, you were a wild Pokemon before, Nicole. This is ice cream. You'll like it." Crescendo dug into a side of the bowl, while Nicole just stuck her tongue out and licked at it. However, she seemed to enjoy it, and soon match Crescendo's frantic pace. I chuckled as they chowed down on the treat.
"You two deserve it." I pulled out my badge case to look at my newest prize, the Coal Badge. The dull, brown-tinted metal seemed to glow with the sense of accomplishment, and I rubbed at it a bit with my shirt to shine it, causing it to give off satisfying squeaks. After a few minutes, I appraised it again, placed it back in the case, and looked at Crescendo and Nicole, who were now roughhousing on the dusty ground, the empty ice cream cup forgotten. I picked up the plastic dish and tossed it in the trash before picking the pair of Pokemon up and giving them a good once-over. I cringed.
"Good grief, what did you two do?" The pair had a gross, sticky combination of dirt and ice cream all around their muzzles, matting their fur and simply looking bad. Quickly, I placed them to my side and pulled out Glacier's Pokeball, releasing him with a quick toss. He stood up tall and proud before looking towards the other two, and he flopped onto his back, chortling at the sight, slamming his flippers on the ground. Crescendo barked at him angrily, while Nicole looked down at her toes, embarrassed. I snapped my fingers near Glacier to get his attention, and he turned his head towards me.
"Glacier, could you just use a small Water Gun on the two of them?" He nodded excitedly, and before Crescendo or Nicole could get out of the way, the two were hit with a modestly large steam of water, drenching them to the bone. I sighed unhappily as Glacier turned to me and said "Pip!", pumping his flipper triumphantly.
"Glaicer, I said a 'small' Water Gun." He cocked his head in confusion, and I waved my hand at him. "Never mind. Thanks anyway."
I zipped open my bag and shuffled through it. Potions, water bottles, canned food, my cooking kit, my Pokegear, extra clothes... where was the towel I brought? Oh, there it was, hidden under a few jostled shirts. I took it out of the bag, letting the white fabric unfold by gravity, and I laid it on the bench, placing Crescendo and Nicole on top, and began to rub all over them to get the extra moisture out of their fur. I heard yelps of occasional dismay at the treatment, but didn't respond.
"Bill! No way!" I turned at the familiar voice, my face turning slightly pink as I did so. Wait, what? Why was that? Weird. Anyway, I turned to see a brown-haired girl, wearing a big red coat, with a Vulpix by her side.
"Rose? Hey! What are you doing here?" I stood up, Crescendo and Nicole temporarily forgotten, and I gave her a quick hug, my face reddening a little more at the contact. Again, why? She was my best friend, why was I embarrassed? I stepped back, coughing a little bit, and she smiled at me.
"I ought to ask you the same question! I came here because I heard that Sinnoh had a Battle Frontier somewhere!" My eyes lit up. Ever since the Frontier had opened in Hoenn, Rose had been a steadfast competitor in their facilities. If there was a Frontier set up in Sinnoh, then she definitely had a legitimate reason for coming. "I guess you're taking the Eight Badge Challenge again?"
"Yeah. Got bored of sitting around the house again." I turned to see a large, moving lump, edging dangerously close to the end of the bench. I hastily grabbed Crescendo and Nicole and unwrapped them, freeing them from the cloth prison. Crescendo barked at me angrily, while Nicole simply rubbed up against my wrist, shocking me with a jolt of static as she did so. I let out a quiet 'grr' of surprise as the electric current ran through me, and shuddered, goosebumps appearing on my body. I turned my head and yelled loudly as I saw Rose's face unnecessarily close to mine.
"I knew that would get your attention! C'mon! Let's battle!" She stepped back, and her Vulpix leapt out in front of her, tails curling and uncurling in anticipation. "Cara and I'll go easy on you. Promise."
Fight a hopeless battle against a Vulpix trained for countless years, or get reminded about battling her every minute I spent in her company? Easy choice. I was stoned-faced as I stood. "...alright, fine. But only because you won't stop bothering me about it if I don't. Crescendo, let's go!"
As Glacier fell onto his side, holding his head due to the effects of Cara's powerful Extrasensory, I held up his Pokeball, recalling him in a beam of red light. Sighing, I pulled my wallet out of my jacket, plucked a few bills from inside, and placed them in Rose's waiting hand.
"See? I told you it was a hopeless battle." She smiled cutely as she pocketed the cash, and I blushed again.
"Oh, come on! It was fun, wasn't it? And it looks like your Pokemon had a good time." She tousled Cara's tuft of headfur, eliciting a purr from the fox, and I stared at the Pokeball in my hand.
"Yeah, well, maybe." I retorted lamely, and she laughed a merry twinkling laugh, making my stomach flip.
"You're silly sometimes. Of course they had fun! C'mon, let's go to the Center to get your Pokemon healed up." And so we did.
As I handed my three Pokeballs to the resident nurse, who slipped them into the scanner with practiced ease, Rose sat down at a table near the door. I sat down across from her, and Cara jumped into my lap, putting her weight on my legs. As soon as she was comfortable, she licked my hand once and lay down, purring contentedly.
"So you've already gotten your first badge, huh?" I nodded, flipping open my badge case to let Rose see. "Nice! Though you ought to be a pro at this by now."
I blushed at the compliment. "I'll never be as good at battling as you, Rose."
I thought I saw her face turn a little pink as well, and I smiled warmly in response.
"Uh... w-well, thanks for the vote of confidence, Bill." She pulled out a map and began to look it over, occasionally rotating it ninety degrees. "Oh, dammit! This place is too confusing."
I laughed at her as I picked Cara up and moved over to sit next to Rose, placing the Vulpix on her lap and taking the town map out of her hands. "Elia has a better sense of direction than you, Rose. Let me look over this. Where are you trying to get to?"
"I want to get to Eterna City, but I can't find it anywhere on this map!"
After a few seconds, I pointed to a spot north of Oreburgh on the map. "This is the way you need to hold the map, and that's where Eterna is."
She looked at it, and watched my finger trace a path downwards to another dot on the map. "And here is Oreburgh, where you are right now. Now, if you go north up Cycling Road, you should be able to make it to Eterna. You have your bike, right?"
"Yeah."
"Good."
"Okay." I handed the map back to her, and she roughly jammed it back into her bag, probably crumpling it in the process. I sighed.
"It's no wonder you can't make heads or tails of a map - you're always crumpling them like that." She didn't respond until after she had zipped her backpack closed.
"Sorry, what did you say?" I grunted out a quick 'never mind' and stood up, and she did the same.
"Well, thanks, Bill!" She gave me a quick, but squeezy, hug before dashing out the door. "Don't get into trouble now! See ya!"
I stood there, blushing heavily, and I only broke out of my trance when a youngster pointed out that my Pokemon were healed and waiting. Plucking the Pokeballs, I headed outside and walked west, to the outskirts of the town. Only when the buildings were out of sight did I pull out my Pokegear and tap down my home number. I heard ringing for a few minutes, before my mother picked up the phone.
"Oh! Bill! Good timing! Crescent and Vivian want to see how Crescendo's doing." She looked at me before her voice changed, now concerned at my apparently noticeably confused face. "What's wrong? You're all red."
"It's nothing. Here," I started, pulling out Crescendo's Pokeball and opening it, and in a flash of light, Crescendo appeared. He immediately started to bark at the screen, and Crescent's face popped up. The Espeon began to glow, and my mom spoke again.
"He said that Crescendo seems unhappy. Did something happen?" I grunted.
"It's nothing. We just lost a battle." If it weren't for Crescent being an Espeon, I'd have sworn that he would have raised an eyebrow, and he began to glow again. My mom walked over and picked him up, setting him in her lap and scratching him behind one of his ears.
"Yeah, he's right. You haven't lost a battle in a while. Are you sure you aren't in over your head this time?" I shook my head.
"No, it's nothing. She just had a really strong Pokemon." Mom gave me a funny look, and I let out a huff. "Really! It's nothing. Don't worry, we're fine."
My mother sighed. "Well, alright. Don't work yourself too hard." She abruptly ended the call, and I lay on my back, the uneven ground serving as my resting spot for a couple hours. Crescendo sat on my chest, wagging his fluffy tail, and I wrapped him into a loose hug. He quietly said "Vee." and looked at me solemnly.
"Huhhh. Crescendo, have you ever had a weird feeling around your friends?" He didn't answer, so I continued. "Like, you're blushing for no reason and you feel really strange?"
He hopped off of me, nodding, and dug into my bag, rolling a Pokeball out with his snout. I watched him as he pressed the button on the ball, releasing Nicole, and he pounced her playfully before scampering towards the town. Nicole looked after him for a second before zooming off to follow him. Quickly picking up Nicole's Pokeball and grabbing my messenger back, I took off after the pair.
A/N: I don't particularly like this chapter - I think it's too dialogue-heavy and it's too unplanned. Since I've got a good premise for the other chapters, this shouldn't happen again.