“Underground!”
“Harden!”
The first seconds of battle were a flurry of motion as both trainers immediately started setting up their strategies, hoping to gain a crucial edge in the beginning moments of the fight. James’ Sandile bounded upwards in a short hop, body shimmering an earthy brown color before it disappeared into the dirt beneath him with no more difficulty than plunging into water. On Kaitlyn’s side, Ivan’s entire body gleamed white for a brief moment as the Onix tensed his body, strengthening his rocky skin with Normal TE as he readied himself for his enemy’s impending move.
“Feel him out, Ivan,” Kaitlyn called, calmly keeping an eye out for the Sandile that was now lurking under the battlefield. Most Ground-type Pokemon were able to use their innate senses to track positions underground, be that their own or that of other creatures, and Ivan was no exception to that. Surely James would know that, Kaitlyn thought to herself as she wondered what his angle was. The earth under Ivan shifted all at once, seeming to start to collapse in on itself through no action of the large Pokemon’s own, and Kaitlyn realized the game immediately.
“Out, Ivan! Stealth Rock!”
The Onix let his top half thunder onto the dirt in order to get traction, pulling his sinking lower body out of the Sand Tomb with a sharp yank before all of his body segments rotated at once at Kaitlyn’s call. Each segment threw off sharp stones coated with Rock TE that scattered around the battlefield before disappearing into the ground. In effect, Ivan had turned the entire field into a large grouping of landmines with a single move. James didn’t seem too bothered by that, or by his opening gambit being thwarted by virtue of the Onix’ sheer mass.
“Hone Claws!”
He couldn’t see his Pokemon yet, the Sandile still hiding under the ground and awaiting a good opportunity to strike, but he knew that somewhere beneath the dirt the Sandile had just sharpened its tiny claws in preparation to strike.
“Defend with Rock Tomb!”
Instead of trying to hit a target he couldn’t see, Ivan roared and lashed the dirt with his tail, causing large spires of rock to rise up from the ground in a tight grouping around himself as he coiled up again in an attempt to use the rocks as cover and force the Sandile to approach from one direction. That proved to be to no avail against his tinier foe in the next moment, however, as the sand crocodile burst from beside Ivan with claws flashing and body covered in Ground TE. The reptile smashed into the side of Ivan’s body, the energy of the attack vibrating through Ivan and sending painful tremors through the rock snake’s thick hide despite his earlier defensive move, and tough jaws latched on in a powerful follow-up Bite that dug slivers of stone from the Onix’ side before it let go to fall to the ground and scurry away behind one of the summoned rocks.
“Rock Polish, then Bind it!” Kaitlyn called, brow furrowing as she switched tactics. Sandile easily had the speed advantage as well as being able to use its comparatively small size to its benefit, which meant that she needed to find a way to negate that before it could use hit and run tactics to wear Ivan down.
A light blue glow flashed around Ivan as he searched for his foe, the energy smoothing out some of the craggy edges of his body and letting him move about a bit more easily. His tail lashed out and shattered one of the summoned rocks, reducing it to powder and flying fragments as he started to systematically eliminate the cover he’d inadvertently given his tiny foe. Two, three, then four rocks vanished under the strikes before he spotted his target, the rocky tail lashing out and just barely missing the Sandile as it skittered behind one of the two remaining boulders.
“Again, Ivan!”
The grab attempt had been close - Ivan just needed a bit more speed, Kaitlyn thought as Ivan’s body smoothed out even more. With his newfound ease of movement, he moved more like a striking Arbok than the lumbering Rock-type he was, and his tail swept through one boulder in a flash before slicing out and encircling the Sandile, latching on to the much smaller Ground-type before it could react.
“Grell!”
James watched as Kaitlyn’s Pokemon snatched up his smaller partner in an instant, the end of the tail wrapped firmly around the little Pokemon’s midsection as it squeezed him tightly. Ivan pulled the Sandile from the ground with ease, lifting it into the air as it kept slowly constricting the life out of the opposing Ground-type.
“Punishment, now!”
Kaitlyn’s eyes widened in horror as she saw Sandile’s entire body start to seethe with Dark energy, and she opened her mouth to tell the Onix to drop his foe as she realized what it was up to. The warning came too late as Sandile’s head reared back before slamming ferociously into the part of Ivan’s tail that it could reach, and the Onix roared in tremendous pain as the attack’s energy reverberated up and down through his body, little flashes of light blue and white flickering around him like sparkles that popped on his rocky skin in small explosions. He reflexively dropped the Sandile and curled in on himself as the energy seared his body, letting the Ground-type bury itself back into the sand once more.
Punishment was a move that Kaitlyn hadn’t seen very often, but it was one that worked with devastating effectiveness in situations just like this one. It used Dark-type energy to turn a foe’s stored power against them, resonating with any TE they were using to bolster their abilities and causing a spike of feedback. The more they were boosting their own capabilities, the more the move would hurt them...and with the increases in speed and defense that Ivan had given himself, the move’s feedback had hurt him quite badly in just one strike.
The ground underneath Ivan started to melt away into another Sand Tomb as Kaitlyn watched, swiftly ordering her Pokemon to pull himself out of it just as he had done before. This time, though, James was ready and waiting for her Onix to move, and he yelled out to his Pokemon the instant that Ivan began to free himself from the whirlpool of sand and dirt.
“Again, Grell!”
His Sandile leapt from the ground in a good impression of a Gible, more Dark energy surging around it as it leapt straight for the underside of Ivan’s head. In trying to pull free, Ivan had needed to lower himself to the ground to try and get more traction against the sliding earth, which put him into the perfect attack range for his smaller foe. Kaitlyn realized she had fallen for his trap a moment too late as Grell’s Punishment crashed into the bottom of Ivan’s jaw, causing the Onix to roar in pain as his head snapped upwards from the force of the strike. The massive Pokemon’s body wobbled before starting to fall, several hundred pounds of Rock-type slamming into the ground with a thunderous crash to lay unconscious on the arena’s surface as the Sandile skittered back to stand in front of its trainer with a satisfied expression across its face.
Cassie found herself shocked enough that she couldn’t speak for a moment as she watched Ivan fall to something only a fraction of his size. In all the time she’d been training and battling with Kaitlyn, Ivan had seemed unflappable and immovable, barely injured by the best that her team could bring to bear. Even with the type disadvantage Kaitlyn had, she was amazed at just how quickly and easily James’ Pokemon had picked apart Kaitlyn’s strategy.
“I-Ivan is unable to battle! Round one goes to James!” she finally called as she got her wits about her again, sparing a glance down at Orion a moment later. The pup looked almost as thunderstruck as she was, and was now eyeing the smaller Ground-type with something akin to respect as Kaitlyn started to recall her fallen Pokemon. She slipped the Poke Ball back onto her belt before reaching for the next that she kept there, enlarging it and holding it in her hand for a moment as she thought. Tera had a slightly better matchup than Ivan due to superior mobility, but his Electric attacks would be useless. She’d have to get creative to get through the Sandile.
“Tera, let’s do this,” she said as she tossed the ball out, letting it open in a flash of red light to reveal the hovering form of her Magnemite before the orb snapped back into her hand. The floating Electric-type let out a harsh, metallic cry of challenge as it focused in on the opposing Sandile, its single eye locking on unerringly to its foe as Cassie got ready to resume the match.
“Round two, Sandile versus Tera...start!”
“Back under, Grell!” James yelled, wasting no time in having his Pokemon retreat under the dirt once again to protect itself. He wasn’t sure what kind of plan Kaitlyn had, though he knew he still had the advantage against an Electric-type like the Magnemite.
“Prep Supersonic,” Kaitlyn ordered calmly, scanning the area for any sign of her foe. It would have to emerge again to attack, and Tera hovered high enough above the ground that it would be difficult to reach from ground level as it stood right now. The Magnemite flitted around in jerky motions, its eye twitching erratically as it examined the ground for any hints as to where the Sandile was moving under the earth. The magnets at its sides thrummed with energy, spinning in slow circular motions as they pulsed occasional waves of sound out around it.
The only warning that Tera got that the Sandile was approaching was a small shift in the topsoil under it before the Sandile burst upwards, Ground TE shrouding its form again in the same leaping Dig attack it had stricken Ivan with before. Tera’s single eye snapped downwards as both of its magnets slid forward, and a quick burst of motion put it just out of reach of its foe’s leap right before it intensified the sound waves it had been passively releasing into a full-on attack. The screeching tones of Supersonic blasted the Ground-type in midair, thick enough to slow its upward momentum a fraction and loud enough that both trainers winced from afar. Grell fell back down to earth and staggered as it landed, its balance and equilibrium crippled by the assault of sound, and James yelled a warning as Tera came flying down in a Tackle from above. It tried to move left to get out of the way, but its feet twisted underneath it and caused it to stumble instead of dash, letting a dozen pounds of steel crash into it with a meaty smack that sent it flopping onto its side in a daze.
“Sand Tomb! Cover yourself!” James shouted hurriedly, knowing that the Magnemite was likely going to wind up for another go since its Electric attacks would be ineffective. Kaitlyn, however, had a different idea in mind.
“Sonic Boom!”
Magnets snapped forward again as Tera took aim, letting loose with a condensed burst of sound in the form of a white shock wave that sped towards Grell. The dirt and grass around the Sandile erupted upwards, spinning into a defensive layer around itself that caved inward as the Sonic Boom slammed into it. Some of the attack’s energy petered out with the effort of moving through the swirling wall of sand, but enough still got through to launch Sandile into the air and nearly back to James’ side of the barrier, leaving the Sandile wincing and panting hard as it tried to stay steady on its feet.
“Grell, take a breather,” the brown-haired teen ordered, causing Kaitlyn to pause as the Sandile skittered back over to its trainer’s side. The Pancham beside him looked up eagerly, glancing from his trainer to the Magnemite out on the field before James chuckled. “Nuro, want to close this out?”
The Pancham happily jumped forward into the arena, having been itching to get into the fray from the start. It clearly loved to fight, Kaitlyn saw, though it seemed to just be from a place of competitiveness and eagerness to test itself rather than any kind of cruel inclinations. Tera was going to have a much harder time with this one, she knew, even if its Electric attacks were effective. James’ starter was clearly very athletic, and even with its small size it was likely much more able to chase down Tera than Grell would be.
The dirt of the arena rippled a few seconds after Nuro entered the arena proper, and James watched intently as the Stealth Rocks that Kaitlyn’s Onix had laid around the area at the beginning of the fight suddenly burst forth to fly at Nuro. The Pancham grinned before starting to throw punches at the swarm of tiny rocks assaulting him all at once, not bothered in the least by the surprise attack of the arena hazards. Bits of dust flew around him as he lashed out wildly at the rocks like they were a swarm of stinging bees, and in only a few seconds he had ground the majority of them into powder with a few cuts and scratches to show for the assault.
“Ready when you are!” James called as Nuro finished dealing with the last of the rocks, giving a thumbs-up to Kaitlyn from across the field. Kaitlyn knew that with Cassie never having refereed before, she wouldn’t know to call or signal for a pause in the match for a substitution, so she’d simply hung back instead of calling any attention to it and inadvertently embarrassing her somehow. In a practice match like this, it wasn’t particularly important anyhow, she thought as she gave her own thumbs-up to show her readiness.
“Tera, keep your distance and Thunder Shock!”
“Taunt, Nuro! Don’t let it hang back!”
Tera lit up with a brilliant yellow glow before launching a small bolt of electricity at the now-advancing Pancham that lanced into its body, jolting it and causing it to stumble briefly as its muscles spasmed before it regained control of itself. It lost only a step or two as it kept running, yelling something harsh-sounding at Tera with a voice infused with Dark energy as it punched its fists together, and Tera responded with a loud, angry-sounding screech as it dove at the Fighting-type.
“Stop, Tera!” Kaitlyn commanded, trying to break her Pokemon out of the Taunt’s effect, but it was no use. Tera might have been a mechanical Pokemon with a much different ‘brain’ than her other team members, but the Dark-type energy was still fully capable of affecting its ability to think clearly. It met Nuro’s charge blindly, magnets whirling frantically around itself in a spinning arc like a battering ram, only to have the small Pancham slam a glowing fist into it with ferocity and stop the charge entirely. Steel shuddered and dented as the Karate Chop hit home, and Nuro reached out to clutch at Tera’s body with both stubby arms as James gave his next order.
“Circle Throw!”
“Thunder Shock again!” Kaitlyn responded quickly, hoping that the Electric attack would be enough to force the Pancham to break the hold. Tera’s entire body lit up like a taser, a bright yellow aura of Electric TE engulfing both itself and Nuro with the loud snap-crackle of electricity, and Nuro finally broke the hold to stagger back a few steps with a few wisps of smoke curling away from its fur after the discharge.
“Electro Ball!”
“Dodge it and Arm Thrust!”
The ball of crackling electricity formed in front of Tera faster than Nuro expected, and with only scant feet of space separating them, the Pancham did the only thing it could do as its Magnemite foe let the ball fly in its direction.
It fell backwards, flattening itself to the ground as the orb whizzed by its face with inches to spare and crashed into the psychic barrier around the field. Kaitlyn’s face twisted into surprise as Nuro flipped upright again, paws and claws already glowing the dull color of Fighting TE once more, and Tera somehow managed to vividly express its shock despite possessing nothing but a single eye to emote with right before Nuro punched it in the face. It flew backwards, screeching painfully as the Pancham jumped after it to land one, two, then three more strikes to its body that launched it into the barrier on James’ side. It crumpled to the ground, its single eye blank and rolled back in its metal shell, and Kaitlyn bit down the spike of frustration that bubbled up at having both of her newest team members being beaten with relative ease.
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“Tera is...unable to battle,” Cassie called, leaning over to make sure she could see that Tera was well and truly out of the fight before confirming the victory. “The match goes to James!”
Kaitlyn sighed, raising her Poke Ball and recalling Tera from across the field as the watching Xatu lowered the shield around the arena again so that Cassie and Orion could get in. “Good match,” she called over, watching as James and Grell met up with Nuro again and got a high-five from the tiny panda Pokemon.
“Same,” James replied with a grin, reaching out to shake Kaitlyn’s hand. “Sorry if Nuro roughed up your Magnemite a little too much. He gets pretty eager sometimes.”
“Tera should be fine,” Kaitlyn said quickly, waving off the apology. “It didn’t look like anything more than some dents from what I saw, so a trip to the Pokemon Center ought to have him feeling better in no time.”
“That little guy is pretty strong,” Cassie chimed in, causing Nuro to flex teasingly and James to roll his eyes at his starter’s antics. “I haven’t seen Ivan or Tera knocked out in...actually, ever, I think.”
“The Fighting weakness didn’t help there, but...yeah, Nuro trains a lot,” James said. “Too much sometimes, really. I have to keep reminding him to stop and actually sleep every now and then.” It was quite obviously a recurring thing, and Nuro’s attempt at downplaying it was quashed as James jokingly and softly bopped him on the head with a fist, causing laughter from the Sandile nearby.
“It shows,” the Steel trainer added with a nod. “Maybe we can meet up for another spar before you have your challenge?”
“If I’ve got time, sure.” James shrugged, reaching for his phone and pulling it out before flipping it open as they all began to walk off the field. It was a much different design than either Cassie’s or her own, Kaitlyn noted, a hinged device with the Silph Co. logo prominently stamped on the casing. He poked at the device for a moment before looking back up towards Kaitlyn. “What’s your number? I’ll give you a ring if I’m free sometime this weekend.”
Kaitlyn rattled off the number with practiced ease, and Cassie found herself wondering exactly how common it was for trainers to exchange numbers or other ways of contact for things like practice matches, team training, or just as a source of advice. She’d never really considered just how important the simple act of making connections might be to a trainer’s overall journey, and it left her thinking that she probably needed to try and be a bit more outgoing, more open, so that she could try and give herself as much help as possible. She’d lucked into the contacts she had, if she was being honest with herself, and she wryly wondered if Arceus or whoever was up there had been looking out for her so far and helping her get a foothold on her new life.
“Ready to go, Cassie?” Kaitlyn asked, dragging the younger girl out of her thoughts once again. Inwardly, Cassie kicked herself; she hadn’t even said goodbye to James as he was leaving.
“If you are, sure,” she replied. “Heading back to the Center?”
Kaitlyn nodded. “I’ll leave Ivan and Tera with them, and we can head back to the rooms. Probably a good idea to just relax before our matches tomorrow.”
Orion barked his agreement; the pup was clearly excited for the gym battle, but definitely seemed like he wanted nothing more than to curl up into a nice ball and take it easy for a while. Cassie nodded as well, glancing down at Orion for a moment. “Want to go in the ball?”
He hesitated for a few seconds in thought before finally nodding, the desire to be off of his tired paws overruling his desire to stay by his trainer’s side given that he knew she would be safe in town alongside Kaitlyn. Cassie reached for his Poke Ball and swiftly recalled the Fire-type, clipping the ball back to her belt alongside Paulos’ as the two of them headed back towards the eastern side of town to the nearby Pokemon Center.
It hadn’t taken long for Cassie and Kaitlyn to get their teams checked out in the Pokemon Center’s lobby. Cassie’s two Pokemon only had to take a few minutes’ rest in their restoration machine to heal over some minor cuts and scrapes, while both Ivan and Tera were checked in properly so that they could spend a bit more time getting care. With the news that they would likely be released in an hour or two, the pair had dropped by the upstairs cafeteria to grab drinks before heading towards their rooms.
“So...do you have a new rival?” Cassie asked as they headed down towards the trainer rooms. Kaitlyn lifted an eyebrow in curiosity.
“Who, James?”
“Yeah - you guys seemed like you got along pretty well, and he seems like a good training partner. Why not?”
Kaitlyn shrugged. She’d never much cared about rivals, or other people’s opinions in general besides those of her sister and family. Still, James seemed nice enough, and maybe it was a good idea for her to keep in touch with someone who would be a good training partner for her team.
“Maybe. I don’t really think of other trainers like rivals, just...other competitors?” she said, trying to figure out how best to word the thought. “Like, they’re not my rival specifically, just that they’re also conference goers that I need to beat.”
“Do you think that way about me?” Cassie asked after a moment, genuinely curious.
“Sort of,” Kaitlyn replied. “I know that I’m training you and that we might eventually meet in the conference, but that doesn’t matter to me. I’d probably be just as glad to see you make it into the top placements as if I were to make it myself. Not that I won’t be bringing my best to try and beat you if we do meet, though.”
“It wouldn’t be any fun otherwise,” Cassie remarked with a grin. “If I’m going to face you, I want to beat you at your best.”
Kaitlyn couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face. It was interesting to see just how much Cassie had changed in such a short time, from a brand-new trainer who constantly worried over how she was doing in battle and what else she could learn to get ahead to someone who was becoming more confident in her actions and eager to do more, see more, learn more. She still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still bothering her deep down inside, though, more so lately than before they’d left Eterna.
At first, she’d chalked it up to the pain of leaving the place she called home, but it seemed like more than that the more she paid attention. Her smiles seemed...brittle sometimes, like she was putting on a front to pretend that everything was fine when it wasn’t. Even before they’d left, Kaitlyn had noticed that about her. She would smile and laugh and say it was okay, that she was just tired or hungry or distracted, but it always felt forced, fake. Not only that, but she knew something had happened while they were out in the woods that Cassie wasn’t sharing. There was one day in particular where she just seemed lost, like her mind was entirely focused on something else and barely paying attention to anything around her. She’d told Kaitlyn that she hadn’t slept well, but Kaitlyn knew that was a lie - or if not a lie, at least not the whole truth.
“Hey...Cassie?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you...sure you’re okay?” Kaitlyn’s voice was hesitant, as if she wasn’t entirely sure how she wanted to voice the question she wanted to ask. Cassie’s face was the picture of confusion as she looked over at Kaitlyn, not sure what prompted the question from her friend.
“...Why wouldn’t I be?”
Kaitlyn took a deep breath as they turned the corner towards their rooms, eyes sinking towards the carpeted floor instead of meeting Cassie’s gaze. “It’s just...look, I don’t know how to describe it, but I can tell something’s been bothering you for a couple days now. You’ve seemed a little out of sorts ever since we left Eterna the second time, and I’m a little worried. Are you sure there isn’t anything you want to talk about?”
Cassie’s head drooped almost imperceptibly, and the smile that Kaitlyn had grown so accustomed to seeing her use as a mask returned to her face an instant later. “I’m fine, Kaitlyn, really. It’s not -”
“Cassie, please,” Kaitlyn interrupted, stopping in her tracks and reaching out to put a hand on Cassie’s shoulder comfortingly. “I’m serious. If there’s something that’s worrying you, can’t you just tell me? I might be able to help -”
“I’m fine,” Cassie repeated, annoyance leaking into her voice. She’d finally managed to put the thoughts of the weird dreams behind her, and the last thing she wanted was for Kaitlyn to cause all of that to come back to the surface again. “Can you just drop it, please?” There was an edge to her voice that was almost pleading, and she turned away from Kaitlyn again to start walking back to her room. Kaitlyn froze in surprise, feeling almost like she was looking at her sister more than her friend at the moment, and Cassie was fishing out her room key before she managed to catch up to her again.
“Cassie...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry,” she said quietly. “I really am worried about you, though. I don’t want whatever’s bothering you to just keep...eating away at you like this.”
How hypocritical of you, her voice whispered in the back of her mind. Here she was, telling someone else not to keep something bottled up inside when she could often be the poster child for that herself.
“I know,” Cassie whispered, looking down at the floor with unfocused eyes, “but...I don’t even know how to talk about it.”
Kaitlyn blinked in surprise. She hadn’t known Cassie for very long, but she didn’t know of anything that had happened to her that would qualify as something she might not know how to talk about. The choice of words was distinctly unusual, not to mention more than a little concerning to the older blond. They both stood in silence, neither one moving or breaking the uncomfortable tension that had settled between them until Kaitlyn finally found her voice again.
“Cassie...look. Whatever’s bothering you, I don’t want you to have to face it alone. If you need time to think about it, that’s fine. Whenever you want to talk, I’ll be ready to listen. Deal?”
A gentle exhale fell from Cassie’s lips, and she looked back at Kaitlyn with a gaze that had more pain behind it than the Steel-type specialist had ever expected.
“...Deal.”
Her hand rose to slide the keycard through the door lock before pushing it open in a swift motion, and Kaitlyn just barely heard the last thing she whispered before it clicked shut behind her.
“Thanks, Kaitlyn.”
“...You’re welcome, Cassie,” she murmured, turning and sliding her own card to open the door to her room and leave the tense atmosphere behind.
Cassie numbly walked over to the small sofa in the room and practically collapsed into it, sluggish motions detaching the egg carrier from her body and letting her place it gently on the small coffee table just as it had been before. Her mind was a whirl of emotions, and she was doing all she could to not just lay down and cry at the thoughts. She’d known Kaitlyn for weeks now, but she couldn’t even bring herself to entertain the idea of telling her where she was really from and what had really happened that first day. What would Kaitlyn think of her? That she was crazy, delusional, a liar? How would she even begin to explain the little that she knew without sounding completely insane? She was afraid that Kaitlyn would leave, abandon her and leave her alone once again with no friends or family here.
A part of her knew that she couldn’t put it off forever, though. She’d already slipped up, forgotten that she wasn’t back home where everything was normal and boring. She wasn’t sure how much longer she’d be able to keep up the facade of just being an everyday trainer without it all crashing down around her with a single slip of the tongue. It weighed on her, having to constantly keep in the back of her mind every waking moment that she needed to watch what she said, what she did, to keep from arousing suspicion in her friend.
She let out a long sigh of equal parts sadness and frustration, pulling herself from the sofa again and walking over to the bed to reach for her pack. Her body felt like a lead weight, though more from emotional stress than any physical exhaustion. She opened it up and rummaged in one of the normal, non-space-bending pockets for a small notebook and a pencil, sitting down on the edge of the bed and flipping it open. Inside was a jumbled mix of thoughts that read almost like diary or journal entries, pencil sketches of things she’d seen, and random notes about interesting topics she’d meant to go back and research more later, and she quickly flipped to an open page before starting to run the pencil over the paper unthinkingly. When she was stressed, she’d often let her mind wander, drawing without really thinking about what she was working on and just letting her emotions run free on the paper. It was a kind of emotional release, a way for her to get out all the thoughts and feelings that threatened to explode out of her heart and mind without hurting anyone around her.
The ‘snap’ of a Poke Ball opening startled her, red energy from her waist forming into the shape of her Growlithe as he emerged from his ball onto the floor beside the bed, and the look in his eyes made Cassie’s heart twist. Orion had never come out of his ball by himself before, and the look on his face suggested that he knew exactly how Cassie was feeling right now and wanted to help. Without preamble, he hopped up onto the bed and made himself comfortable, snuggling into the side of her waist without any Poke Balls attached with his head up just enough so that he could watch what she was doing.
“...Thanks, Orion,” Cassie said, wiping a tear out of one eye quickly before reaching over with an arm to give him a short, gentle hug. He didn’t say anything in response, just gave a slow nod and settled in to watch, content to just be with his trainer.
Cassie’s pencil flowed over the paper as her mind wandered, light strokes of the lead tracing delicate lines across paper like the strokes of a brush. She lost herself in the repetitive motions, touching up an errant mark here and there with practiced fluidity as her hand drifted across the notebook in smooth gestures. Every line painted a piece of the scene, each curve and accent bringing together more of the picture her mind didn’t realize it was creating bit by bit. It was soothing, hypnotic in a way, and the minutes ticked by and flowed together in a blur of distant recollection as she continued to sketch with Orion by her side.
She didn’t know how long she sat there on the bed, pencil lazily working its way back and forth across the paper almost as if by magic, but the growling of her stomach and the crick in her neck from bending over for so long finally pulled her back into reality and away from the trance she’d slipped into. She put the notebook down and stretched, working fingers over stiff neck muscles to try and ease the pain there for a few seconds as Orion let out a jaw-cracking yawn beside her, the Growlithe having almost fallen asleep watching the soothing movements. She stood up with more effort than she felt like she needed, still feeling a bit stiff from all the sitting, and absently picked up the notebook again to see what her mind had conjured up from the depths of her emotional turmoil.
It took her a few seconds of study to figure out exactly what the sketch was, but the sloping lines on the page painted a picture of a lake surrounded by rocky, mountainous terrain and sparse trees, a single stony island sitting in the middle of the expanse of water like a silent monolith. She couldn’t be sure, but the way she’d drawn the scene made it seem that it was winter, branches of the tree in the foreground suggesting thick clumps of snow hanging from their boughs. She’d even drawn in what looked like crude sketches of herself and Orion at the water’s edge, tiny and distant compared to the foreground details.
‘A lake...another lake,’ she thought, dumbly staring at the page in a vain attempt to try and make sense of it all. ‘But this one’s different...’
A sudden spike of anger filled her at the sight of the image, and she slung the book back onto the bed without looking as she squeezed her eyes shut and clutched at her head, the motion causing Orion to jump to his feet and off the bed in surprise as the book came to rest across from where he was sitting. “Just go away!” she exclaimed in frustration, not sure all of a sudden whether she wanted to scream or cry. Orion winced at the shout but pressed himself into Cassie’s leg soothingly, trying to comfort his trainer somehow as she sank to the ground to sit on the floor.
“I’m sorry...” Cassie whispered to Orion, reaching out to pet her starter’s head gently as she took a deep breath to calm herself down. “I didn’t mean to yell. I just...I feel like I don’t know what to do. I keep having these weird thoughts lately, like...”
‘Like I’m going crazy, losing my mind,’ her mind finished for her. ‘Like none of this is actually real.’
Orion didn’t say anything, didn’t make a sound, just moved to put his head into Cassie’s lap as she sat on the carpet underneath her so that he could lay down properly. The Growlithe could almost feel the stress coming off of his trainer in waves, and he honestly wanted to kick himself for not noticing how much it was getting to her sooner. Whatever had happened out in the woods had obviously bothered her no matter how much she tried to hide it, and when you added in the problem with Skarmory, her impending gym match tomorrow, the drawing...
“I shouldn’t be bothering you with all this,” she said quietly all of a sudden, stopping her motions on the Fire-type’s skull and looking down at him with sad eyes. “You’ve got a big match tomorrow, I need to toughen up and get ready to help you -”
Orion gave a short, sharp bark in reply, a clear ‘no’ that traveled around the room even as he stood back up and grabbed the edge of her shirt gently in his jaws. She wondered what he was doing for an instant as he started to lightly tug her towards the door, letting her get up before nipping at her clothing again and leading her over towards the stove.
“You’re hungry?” Cassie asked, voicing the obvious question only to have Orion shake his head with another bark of disagreement, then bump his head into her leg and look up at her before barking again. “You’re telling me to eat something?”
The Growlithe’s nod this time was vigorous, and Cassie realized all at once that she’d been sitting on the bed for a lot longer than she’d first thought. It was late into the evening now, the nice lunch she’d enjoyed with Kaitlyn long forgotten by her body now, and she nodded back at Orion before heading for the tiny fridge to grab a pre-packaged meal to eat before she went to bed. “Thanks,” she told Orion, letting the door slip shut again as she peeled the corner up on the meal in her hands. “For helping take care of me too.” Orion’s face, which had been locked in uncertainty and worry for his trainer, beamed at the praise. She still wasn’t feeling too good about everything that had happened today, but she swore that she was going to try her best tomorrow. Worry and regrets could come after she had a second gym badge in hand.