“Come on Fi, show us!” Chloe demanded, practically bouncing on her toes. She was so excited that she had forgotten to be properly cold in the freezing night air.

  It turned out that Fiona's Dad had sent three Pokemon. Fiona collected them from the counter at the Pokecenter, having presented her ID to the nurse there. Now, the group was out in the training field. It was night, but the fields were well lit in case anyone wanted to do some evening training.

  Fiona scanned each Pokeball in turn with her Pokedex, reading the results. She sighed. Finally, she turned to the others.

  “Hey El, you’ll need a Psychic Type for your travels. Got anything in mind yet?”

  Eleanor frowned, “Not really, no. What do you ask?”

  “Catch.”

  Fiona tossed her one of the Pokeballs. Eleanor yelped in surprise and fumbled it a few times before finally managing to secure it.

  “What? Why are you throwing it to me?” she asked, examining the Pokeball.

  “I’m giving it to you. I hate to agree with Chloe, but they need a home, and I don't want to use them. So, they can go to you, you could use the boost, and I know you’ll treat them right,” Fiona explained, matter of factly.

  “Fi, you can't just… throw Pokemon at me like some sort of charity,” Eleanor protested.

  “Can, did, will do it again if I have to,” Fiona replied dismissively. She hefted the remaining two.

  “Troy, left or right?”

  “Left.”

  She tossed Troy the Pokeball in her right hand.

  “I can't accept this,” Eleanor protested, “I’m not as good as you guys, but I still want to do this on my own.”

  Fiona rolled her eyes.

  “This isn't a fucking pity Pokemon. This is me finding a good home for it with someone I trust to raise it properly. If I thought you needed pity, would I trust you with this?”

  Eleanor flinched, before she sighed.

  “Okay, I can accept that. I’ll do my best.”

  Fiona turned to Chloe, tossing her the third Pokeball. Chloe caught it, examined it for a moment, then threw it back.

  “No.”

  Fiona rolled her eyes again.

  “Chloe, what did I just say?”

  Chloe rolled her own eyes right back.

  “First, do you really think I would let my rival give me an advantage like that? Second, that's not how I work. I only take Pokemon with me that ask to come along.”

  Fiona glared at her.

  Chloe glared right back.

  Fiona folded first.

  “Fine, we’ll ask.”

  Fiona released the Pokemon. Chloe’s eyes widened as she saw a small, long grey Pokemon with a big armoured scale on its forehead. She gushed immediately, bending down to shower it with love.

  “Oh, such a handsome boy!”

  Eleanor stared.

  “Fi, that's a Jangmo-o”

  “Yep.”

  “...what did you give me?”

  “A Beldum,” Fiona replied without looking back.

  Eleanor paled.

  “You didn't say you were handing out pseudo-legendaries!”

  Fiona shrugged.

  “Too late. You took it, and there's no take backsies.”

  Fiona returned to the task at hand.

  “Jangmo-o. You get to pick. Would you rather travel with the cute blonde currently smothering you with love, or the raging bitch who tried to give you away?”

  Jangmo-o looked away from Chloe, who was on her knees making baby sounds at him, and looked up at Fiona, who was standing, arms crossed, glaring at him. The choice was obvious. Without hesitation, he moved to nuzzle at his new trainer’s legs.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Fiona stared down at the little dragon rubbing his head against her leg with disbelief.

  “Looks like he chose you, Fi,” Chloe said.

  “That wasn't supposed to happen,” Fiona confessed.

  “Sorry Fi!” Chloe giggled, “No takebacksies!”

  “Of course he chose you,” Troy said, from where he was playing with his new Pokemon, “Jangmo-o are proud little warriors.”

  “Troy,” Eleanor said, “Is that a Goomy?”

  Troy looked down at the Goomy at his feet.

  “Yep.”

  Chloe squealed and raced over to prod at the little Pokemon. She giggled at the way its body rippled.

  “I shall name him Kevin,” Troy declared.

  “...right,” Eleanor muttered, going back to staring at the Pokeball in her hand.

  “What about you, Fi? What name are you picking?" Chloe asked.

  Fiona considered, before shrugging.

  “You pick.”

  Chloe's eyes lit up, “Ooh, really?”

  “Sure. Whatever you want.”

  Chloe moved over and gently picked up Jangmo-o. He dangled, long body and legs hanging loosely. Chloe looked him up and down.

  “Noodle.”

  Fiona blinked. “Noodle?”

  “Noodle,” Chloe confirmed.

  “He is the noodliest boy to ever noodle. Thus, we call him Noodle,” she declared in a tone that broke no argument.

  Fiona stared, before shrugging.

  “Fuck it, Noodle it is.”

  Noodle chirped his acceptance.

  With two of the three newcomers named, all eyes turned to Eleanor.

  “Come on, let it out!” Chloe chided, “I wanna meet it!”

  Eleanor sighed, and released the Beldum.

  Beldum entirely ignored Chloe's squeal of joy. Instead it just floated there impassively, its big red eye swivelling this way and that as it observed its surroundings.

  “Umm, hello?” Eleanor tried. Beldum’s eye swung to look at her. Its body, however, stayed completely still.

  “I’m Eleanor. Would you be okay with me as your trainer?”

  Beldum stared at Eleanor. Everyone stared at Beldum. The only noise was the gentle squishing of Troy tossing Kevin high into the air and catching him over and over.

  “Umm, do you understand me?” Eleanor tried, shrinking beneath the withering gaze.

  Beldum made a noise that was halfway between a chime and a clang. Then it floated away to begin inspecting the area. It hovered over Noodle, who took a defensive stance.

  “I think that's a yes?” Chloe said.

  “I… guess?” Eleanor muttered, “I am not prepared for this.”

  “You’ll do fine, El,” Troy said cheerfully, rising with Kevin under one enormous arm.

  “Once more I am disgusted to agree with Troy,” Fiona added, “Now, I need to get to bed. Boat leaves early. Are you sure you want to come, Chloe?”

  Chloe nodded enthusiastically, “Definitely. I’m not letting you go off alone. You’ll probably spend the entire time trying to pick fights and hate yourself.”

  “I…,” Fiona started.

  “You know I’m right,” Chloe said.

  “I don't hate myself,” Fiona finished lamely.

  “But you do pick fights,” Troy supplied helpfully.

  “Fuck you Troy.”

  “Girl, even if we were both straight that wouldn't happen and you know it.”

  Chloe giggled. “Sorry Fi, you have to endure friendship a while longer.”

  “Urrg,” Fiona groaned. But she couldn't hide her smile.

  “Alright!” Chloe declared, “Bed time, and tomorrow, the boat!”

  Chloe stood on the dock with the others, her bag slung over her shoulder. She was crying. She hadn't planned to cry, but here she was.

  “I’ll miss you,” she sobbed into Eleanor's shoulder. The shorter girl awkwardly patted her shoulder, her eyes meeting Fiona’s in a silent scream for help.

  “Chloe, it's only going to be like, two or three weeks, tops,” Fiona pointed out.

  “But that's so long!”

  Fiona shrugged an apology at Eleanor. She had tried.

  Eleanor turned to Troy, her last hope.

  Troy gave her a big wink, before he spoke.

  “Chloe, do you know what the temperature in Sunnyshore is today?”

  “N-no?” Chloe said, looking up at him with eyes filled with tears.

  “Twenty-six degrees,” Troy told her.

  “Celsius?”

  “Celsius.”

  Chloe's eyes widened. She disentangled herself from Eleanor and turned towards the gangplank leading up to the ship.

  “Come on Fi, we’re going to be late! Bye guys, see you in a few weeks!”

  Eleanor blinked.

  “Good luck Fi,” Troy said, flashing her a thumbs up.

  “Right, thanks. You uh… you too. Smash that badge, okay?” Fiona replied awkwardly.

  “Fi! Hurry up!” Chloe called, halfway up the ramp.

  “Guess I better go, see you in Sunnyshore,” Fiona said, turning to go.

  Chloe flopped onto her bed in their twin cabin, their home for the next couple of days. She rolled over to look up at Fiona, who was placing her bag on the other bed.

  “So, a tournament huh. Think you will win?”

  Fiona shrugged, “Maybe? I’d expect at least the semis. But I actually wanted to talk to you about that.”

  Chloe frowned, “What about? Did you want me to enter or something?”

  Fiona shrugged, “Sort of? I looked it up. Dad just said I needed to enter. He didn't say how, or what division.”

  “What do you mean? There's more than one tournament?” Chloe asked, confused.

  “There's two, actually,” Fiona said. “There's the singles, open to trainers with one badge at minimum, and the doubles, same deal.”

  Chloe nodded, “So you think you might enter the doubles? Who’s your partner?”

  Fiona just stared at her.

  “Oh… right. You want us to enter together?"

  Fiona nodded, “Unless you don't want to?”

  Chloe shook her head, “No, no. I’ll do it. It sounds fun. I’m just confused about why. What's the difference?”

  “Well,” Fiona said, “First, it sounds fun. Something different. Second, I get to annoy Dad because he wanted me in the singles, but can't complain because I am technically doing what he asked.”

  “Malicious compliance, I like it,” Chloe said with a smirk.

  She sat up, crossing her legs on the covers.

  “So, how does it work? What's the format?”

  “Two on two, two Pokemon each,” Fiona explained.

  “Cool, how try hard do you want to be? Do we go all out? I know you’re supposed to win.”

  “Let's try to have fun with it. It's good training, after all.”

  “Cool. Do we have to decide who we enter with now, or as we go?”

  Fiona held up a finger and grabbed her phone. She scrolled quickly before she found the answer.

  “We pick per battle. Choose two each. We can change between rounds as we like, but we can't use the same Pokemon in back-to-back rounds,” she said, reading off the screen.

  Chloe pondered the implications.

  “That means I have to use Growly,” she said after a moment.

  Fiona looked up, “Shit, yeah. Is he ready?”

  Chloe shrugged, “Maybe? I suppose I can pair him with Reinette and just try to sweep. Or maybe I’ll get a new friend on the ride, who knows?”

  Fiona nodded, “Not a bad idea. We can pair him with Tank as well. Or maybe Star, if I can convince him. This is important, so he might do a round for us.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Chloe agreed, “This will be fun!”

  Fiona grinned, “Yeah, it will be. I’m looking forward to talking shit and kicking ass.”

  Chloe glared at her, “No, you will be nice. They're my opponents too.”

  Fiona rolled her eyes, “Fine. I’ll be nice… for me. Which means some shit talking.”

  “That's fine, just no making anyone cry.”

  “What about crushing them so hard they cry?”

  Chloe considered, before nodding with a wicked grin, “It wouldn't be the first time I did that.”

  Fiona blinked with surprise, “Wait, really?”

  “Yep, in the Ace qualifiers. I felt bad.”

  Fiona laughed, “Good shit Chloe. These fuckers won't know what hit them.”

  “We’ll have to co-ordinate,” Chloe said.

  “Yeah, we’ll practise,” Fiona agreed.

  “Oh, that too. But I was talking about outfits.”

  “I’m not sure we have anything that matches,” Fiona admitted.

  “That's okay, we can go shopping!”

  “Let me guess, I’m paying again?”

  “It's your tournament, isn't it?”

  Fiona opened her mouth to reply, before shutting it again.

  “Yeah, sure. Whatever.”

  She really couldn't argue with Chloe.