Chapter 217

Chapter 217

CHAPTER 217

The sound of Erin Atwood's alarm had always been obnoxious, but it was especially so when she hadn't slept a wink. The girl groaned and rolled to the left to grab her phone and saw that it was already eight. How had she been supposed to sleep, with the people she was meeting today? Even now, she was nervous she was going to mess something up.

"Good morning Comet," Erin sighed. "Mornin' Sat."

Comet and Sat were her Bidoof and Glameow, and they were just as tired as she was despite having slept all night. Comet kept snoring at the foot of her bed while Sat lazily stretched on top of her wardrobe and swayed her tail from side to side. And like clockwork, now that Erin's alarm had rung, she was starting to feel tired. Erin lay in bed for five more minutes and considered sending a message to tell Grace Pastel and Cecilia Obel that she felt sick. All of New Wave had already sung her praises and begged to come with her, and she'd told them that they'd only asked for her because she was their leader. Not going would be betraying her club.

But still, maybe—

"Erin! Are you awake yet?!"

Her mom's voice sapped all of her tiredness away in less than a second and woke up Comet, who nearly fell off the bed. Before Erin could answer, her mother barged into the room. Sat jumped off the wardrobe and rubbed herself on the woman's legs.

"Mom, don't just come in!" Erin stammered.

"Didn't you tell me to wake you up no matter what yesterday in case you slept through your alarm? That you were meeting some new friends and that this was really important, and not to let you miss this for anything in the world?"

"I did say that..."

"Then chop chop!" Her mother yelled. She walked toward her blinds and opened them wide, letting the sunlight through. "I made some chocolate chip cookies for these new friends. You said they were a big deal? You better make a good impression."

"Mom."

"What? You never know where connections can bring you in life. You need to wine and dine them— with my cookies. Go get ready. I'll make more for your friends at New Wave later today."

"Thanks," Erin muttered as she hopped off her bed.

They were a big deal. Celebrities, you could say. Not just because they were among the best first years in the Circuit, but because of their strange closeness with the League. They'd spoken to Cynthia herself, which meant that Erin was basically one person removed from having spoken to the Champion. She was sure they'd be fast-tracked to a job there as soon as the year finished, and many agreed, according to a whole lot of posts on the forums. It was how Flint got his job too! But Erin didn't care for herself. What she wanted was success for New Wave.

The minutes passed quickly. Too quickly. Her club's group chat was alight and the early goers on route 222 were telling her that the Wild Tamers were keeping their distance and all harassment had disappeared. Erin placed her two Pokemon in their balls, made sure she had everything in her bag and sat by her window upstairs to wait. Five minutes before nine in the morning, they just appeared with an Alakazam next to them. Erin had to do a double-take to make sure she wasn't just seeing things. Was she going to Teleport?

"Oh Arceus," she whimpered. Erin had never Teleported before.

Her mother yelled from downstairs, "Your friends are here—"

"I know!"

Erin ran down the stairs and told her mother goodbye, although she told her to be back by eight at the latest. Erin honestly had no idea if she was going to be able to fulfill that promise or not. To her mother and most members of her club, Pokemon training was just a social activity for people to bond and make friends. Most trainers knew that they weren't going to make it big and were just in it for fun. Maybe they'd get a badge or two along the way. Erin's mother herself had forbidden her from ever going further than Veilstone or Pastoria if she ever did go on a journey, and most parents were the same.

Erin didn't exactly know what she wanted in the long term. For now, however? She wanted to beat Volkner before the year ended—

"Are you going to open the door?"

"I'm going," Erin hissed. She pressed down on the handle until her knuckles turned white and pushed it open.

Cecilia and Grace waved at her as she walked through her small garden, and the latter even patted Alakazam on the back like it was just another human and not an all-powerful Pokemon capable of squeezing her brain like a grape. Erin also noticed the scars they both bore. A leg mangled beyond recognition and a body half-burned. It was a reminder of the dangers that lurked behind what Erin knew and had known her entire life, yet they flaunted it like it was nothing.

Well, it wasn't like there was a way to hide the burns anyway.

"Erin! How're you doing?" Grace asked. "Ready to get your feet wet?"

"Sorry to do this so early. We're morning people," Cecilia said. "Next time if you want, we can meet later."

They were going to do this again? Erin thought. They must have really been serious about this.

"That's Alakazam. Mira's. He'll be carrying us around today," Grace said. "Oh, and don't mind the looks, he's actually very nice even if he doesn't look it."

The psychic must have said something through telepathy, because both Grace and Cecilia laughed out loud.

"Um, nice to meet you," Erin greeted Alakazam. "So we're Teleporting? Does it— what does it feel like?"

"Oh, nothing," Cecilia waved. "One second you're somewhere, and the next you're someplace else. It really isn't bad. A little disorienting at most."

"Okay. Sorry to spring all of this on you, by the way."

"This is like a holiday for us, so don't worry," Grace smiled.T/his chapter is updated by nov(ê(l)biin.co/m

Erin blinked, not knowing what to say.

"But we're still taking it very seriously," Cecilia added. "Right?"

"Oh, yeah, of course. Alakazam? Take it away."

The air around Erin suddenly felt colder as the psychic Teleported them... somewhere up a mountain. Erin didn't really recognize this place, and she felt a surge of panic.

"It's route 214, no worries," Grace said. "Still safe."

Erin breathed a sigh of relief, but the blond girl kept going as she turned around.

"Hey, Cece, this is what I was telling you about last night. Isn't it awesome?"

Erin couldn't help but stare as well, and she felt her throat tighten at the sight. The mountain's facade had been destroyed beyond recognition. Large portions of it had collapsed, leaving debris and chunks of rocks at its base, fragmented and disintegrated into a thousand pieces. Layers of sediment and soil, each a different shade had been displaced and large fissures ran up the side of the mountain.

What had done this? Some kind of rampaging wild Pokemon? Was it still on the loose?

"A single Thunder did this?" Cecilia asked in awe. There was a certain glint in her eye that Erin couldn't place.

"I wish. It was three," Grace huffed. "Honey'll get there one day, though. Anyway, Erin! Why don't we start off by greeting your Pokemon?"

Oh.

It had been her?

Erin stared at Grace, who innocently stared up at her. Cecilia had walked toward the destroyed wall and ran her hand over the wounded facade with a grin.

These people, Erin thought as she gulped. They were insane.

—

"A Bidoof and a Glameow. Aren't they cute?" I gushed. I tried to pet the feline, but she turned away from me and jumped on Erin's shoulder while Bidoof just watched. "Are you trying to be a normal type specialist?"

Alakazam suddenly became interested in the conversation, no doubt because of the TE implications this had.

"No, it was just random," Erin stammered. "My mom gave me Comet for my birthday and Sat is hers, but she's lending her to me for battles."

Alakazam deflated and went back to practicing his telekinesis with Psychic.

"Interesting. May I know their moves?"

Erin listed off some common moves that were to be expected from inexperienced Pokemon. Tackle, Scratch, Leer, Growl, et cetera. The usual. Cecilia listened intently as well, although I knew she was thinking further ahead than the basics. Today, we'd stick to those basics, however. I released Angel and grabbed my laptop.

"That's Angel. He's one of my friendliest. Angel, no touching her."

The grass type's vines drooped, but his entire body nodded as I sat on his vines. I'd wanted to get my entire team to train while we were here, but I realized pretty quickly that Erin was far too skittish for that. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her off.

"My mother baked us some cookies too, if you want some," she added.

"Oh, really? Thanks a ton, I haven't eaten today!" I cheered. The girl quickly handed us some and they were delicious. "Now, Erin, how many times have you fought Volkner this year?"

"Only once. The other three times, I fought a Gym Trainer, and it also took me multiple tries to get past the Gym Trainer that allows you to sign up for the real deal," she embarrassingly said. "I got decently close last time, though. I took down his Shinx, but then he pulled out a Magnemite and Sat and Comet don't have much to deal with anything that floats. Every time, they use those against me. Twice I fought Magnemite, then once a Tynamo and another time an Emolga."

"That's your test, then," Cecilia nodded. "You might be able to deal with them power-wise, but he's asking you to think outside the box to deal with something you think you can't. It's a lesson."

Erin turned toward me. "Uh, is what you're writing... good?"

"You're plenty charismatic already," I said.

"I know. Speaking of, you're going to go after the badges, right? In Unova?"

"Yeah! There's ten, so that sounds like fun."

"Do you want the position at all, though?"

"No," I said right away. "I mean, I'll still fight for it, but if I get there somehow I'll turn it down. I sure as hell don't want to be a politician, I just want to fight strong people."

"I'll have to go through you, then."

"If the brackets line up that way," I said. "By the way, have you always been this good at massages?"

"Am I? I'm just winging it."

"Well, keep winging it please. My back's been pretty tense lately. Maybe I'm growing?"

Cecilia guffawed, "No."

"You could have entertained it!"

—

There was a storm brewing in New Wave, and Erin was desperately trying to contain it. She'd locked the doors to her office from the outside so no one could sneak in and interrupt those two terrifying girls. They were nicer than she would have expected from celebrities, and they gave good tips, but Arceus, sometimes they just said things.

During training, Erin caught a glimpse of Grace's computer and saw that the most recently opened note document was labeled 'LAVA STRATEGY - LETHAL VERSION.' All she had wanted to do was check if her new teacher was writing nice things about her or not! And her other teacher Cecilia wasn't any better either! She kept saying that every time she saw the beach, she felt the urge to glass it. Glass it! Erin had to look up what that implied, and the internet redirected her to a horrifying battle at the Solaceon tournament. And the worst part was, Grace had answered that she understood completely and they both giggled about it afterward like it was a joke. They were completely insane.

But she couldn't deny that she had improved more in that one training session alone than she had in the last few months. A single day, and it felt like the wind was in her sails and Comet and Sat could potentially win at Volkner's Gym if given another few days of training, and if she fixed her own issues they had outlined.

"Erin, when are they coming out? I didn't get a picture?"

"Can they train me too?"

"Are you hogging them for yourself?"

"Are they joining New Wave?"

"Who cares? Lauren Goodwill's better!"

Erin inhaled. "Listen up! Right now, they just came to greet you all. I don't know what they intend to do but it's certainly not join New Wave. Maybe they'd be willing to help out the club temporarily while they stay, but that's it. If you want, I'll outline what they tell me during training and bring it back to you, does that work for everyone?"

"But they're training you specifically. Most of the advice won't apply to us," June yelled in the back.

"I'll ask them for some general advice, then. If you have any specific questions, send them to me and I'll see what I can do, okay? I can't guarantee anything, though, so don't expect much, or you'll be disappointed!"

That seemed to have calmed them down somewhat. Erin created a separate chat where each person could send one question at most. They had three hundred and fifty-six members, so even that was too much. Erin looked the questions over a few times, but an older girl— Sandy— tapped her on the shoulder.

"There are more trainers outside. They heard that Cecilia and Grace were here."

"Heard?"

"It's all over the Sunyshore forums— and the forums in general. They're both usually so private that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"You can't ambush them, Sandy."

"Don't call it an ambush, it's just fans wanting to meet them. Denzel Williams does it all the time— and did you hear he was on his way here? I'm his biggest admirer, I can't wait!"

Erin pushed a thumb against her forehead and sighed. "Keep them out. Don't disturb them ever. We don't know what they'll do if they get angry."

"Why do you look like that? Like you're scared?"

"I'm not scared, I'm just nervous. It's not like they laugh about blowing things up or glassing beaches or anything—"

"What?"

"I'm just joking. Haha. Isn't it funny? Please laugh."

Sandy frowned and just stared at Erin like she was insane.

"Okay, I'm going back in there. Keep them out, Sandy. Keep them out no matter what."

—

"Okay, but fossils cost a bajillion to buy, let alone revive. I bet your dad had some fossil sitting in one of his mansions," I said.

"Yes. A Plume Fossil," Cecilia smiled. "It's behind a glass display near the entrance of our home in Castelia to impress the guests. He never did want to revive it, though. I'm just saying that fossil Pokemon are interesting. They function on a completely different mindset and are a lot more aggressive, even with their trainers."

"Byron has one, right? Bastiodon."

"Yes, and Roark has Rampardos. I just think it'd be an interesting challenge—"

Erin knocked on the door of her own office and then entered when we told her to.

"You don't need to knock, Erin. This is your place," I said. "So, what now?"

"Um, could we get Alakazam back?" She muttered.

"I'd have to call Mira," I said. "He'd probably be pissed at me for asking him to come when I told him he could go. Do you want to go back to the route?"

"Oh, no, it was just to ask. Um, there might be a huge crowd of trainers outside. They aren't from our club. And, uh, I don't want you to get mad or damage our building."

I frowned. "Damage your building? Why would we even— even if we're mad, we wouldn't do that. The Poketch Company would hate me, and I'd be arrested!"

"And you know, there are people in the building," Cece said.

"Yes, but that's obvious, so it's beside the point."

"You said you wanted to glass a beach, so I didn't know—"

Cece grimaced. "Erin, you weren't supposed to hear that. It was just a flirty joke, nothing serious."

"Flirty?!" She coughed. "O—okay, yeah. Flirting, got it. Okay, let's go ahead and leave, then. Sandy's keeping them out, so I'll clear the way for you."

Even with Erin here, avoiding the crowd was impossible, but she seemed to have a lot of authority even with non-club members in the city. When she yelled, people listened, and we were through easily.

—

"See you later, Erin. Cece will take care of you tomorrow, and we'll be together the day after that, alright?" I said. "Thank your mother for the cookies for us!"

"I will!" She yelled as she waved. "Sorry for the misunderstanding!"

"We apologize too!" Cecilia exclaimed. We waved until Erin returned to the street the New Wave building was situated on. "Arceus, that was a disaster."

"Hey," I said with an air of smugness as I bumped her arm with mine. "You're the one who scared her in the end. I was completely innocent."

"She wasn't supposed to hear it," Cece groaned. "And you started it with what you did to that mountain! You could have fixed it with Princess, but you kept it there to show me when you knew I'd love it!"

"Are those excuses I hear? It's okay, I'll just bask in this superiority for the next week, don't mind me," I teased. "Don't worry about it, we'll grow on her. Hopefully. She didn't refuse to meet us again, at least."

"I suppose so," she shrugged. "She has potential. She's a planner like you are."

"She is," I agreed. "Let's hope we manage to nab her a badge."

We walked back to our Pokemon Center, and while Cecilia left to meet with Chase for some theory crafting about dark TE, I stuck around and secluded myself in my room.

It was time to see how Volkner functioned in detail.