Entry #8: Misc Notes #1

The longer I'm here, the more I realize that the world around me isn't exactly the one I remember in the pokemon anime. I am trying to create a mindscape with aura so I can recall older memories better… it still has a ways to go. Lulu has been a huge help in my efforts, but she's working from scratch, too. Mindscapes apparently aren't in the instinctual power set that all Lucario have.

Anyway, about the world and the things that differ. I know not everything is going to be as I remember it, but man there is a lot that's changed. One, is there are many pokemon and regions I don't recognize. I didn't follow the anime or the games very closely after high school, but the amount of pokemon I'm finding is absurd, and more are being discovered day by day. It seems like a lot of regions are beginning to ease off of xenophobic and isolationist policies in recent years to get a cut of the international pokemon battling pie. The dawning of globalization is here with all the benefits and drawbacks that presents.

Second, is the pokemon themselves. In the games and anime, pokemon were always treated like animals… until the story called for them to be people. It was a weird flip-flop that just happened sometimes. Here, the answer to that is surprisingly elegant. To pokemon, being a person (as in the legally recognized sense) is strictly opt-in.

The Lucario pack back home is proof that if they wish, pokemon can form complex societies independent of humans that thrive well enough that members have ample time for non-survival activities and self-enrichment. I know the pack as a whole is smart enough to rise past the tribal stage of development, but they slowed down there simply because that's their preferred way of life. Now, this gets harder to see with less intelligent pokemon, but I've seen more than one Spinarak colony spin a super web with art, which stands out over anything else coming to mind.

Early in our travels, Lulu and I met a Delibird who decided he wanted in on industrialized human society, and after jumping through a bunch of legal hoops, became a successful business owner and full Sinnoh citizen. Either something in the background is getting handwaved or Sinnoh's government is very forward-thinking to have policies that make such a thing possible. No one seems to abuse the glaring legal loopholes or sidestep fair labor laws with these policies, and I'm going to chalk that up to Anime World, Anime People.

Many pokemon decide to remain wild, live the life of pets, or be trainer 'mons. I managed to ask a few why, and the answer I got always followed the same general line of thinking.

"It's easier to let humans take care of things like society."

Lulu has openly stated that she doesn't want to deal with human bullshit and is content letting me be the "manager" of the team. Aniki hasn't voiced the same sentiment, but considering he has all the life skills needed to function alone (reading, writing, math, money sense, respect for laws, etc) and is still okay with being my pokemon, I'm going to guess he's in the same boat.

Honestly, I get it. The whole "keeping sapient beings as pets/gladiators/free labor" thing seems a little fucked up, but pokemon have guaranteed upward mobility in human society, reap a lot of rewards just for being around, and get even more for being useful. It makes sense to let humans do all the tedious parts of keeping modern life going when there are almost no downsides for pokemon in doing so.

I have to wonder who the smarter species is sometimes.

Sitting off to the side in one of Jubilife's more secluded training grounds, Julian grumbles and watches Lulu and Aniki trade furious blows in a spar, rubbing his sore stomach as he does so. He turns his eyes to Paul and Elekid, the only other occupants of the training ground. The younger trainer has already done his morning training with the other members of his team, and Elekid is the last one.

Before Paul and Elekid are a number of steel rods Paul fished from his backpack and planted in the ground. Each rod is marked with a plastic, clip-on sign with a number, ranging from one to five.

"Five!" Paul barks. "Thunderbolt!"

Elekid responds quickly with a raspy cry, lightning leaping from his horns and striking the numbered rod just as ordered. The plastic sign melts a little and the rod vibrates, making a dull buzzing sound.

"One! Four!" Paul orders again.

Elekid's eyes narrow as he whirls his arms like an electric generator, throwing two more crackling bolts to strike the rods, filling the training ground with a buzz.

"Six!" Paul calls.

Elekid pauses, a Thunderbolt ready. He doesn't fall for the trick and attack one of the wrong rods.

With a snort, Paul crosses his arms. "Acceptable. Pass."

Elekid smirks, crossing his club-like arms in a mirror of his trainer. The electricity in his horns dissipates with a shower of sparks.

'I've got to hand it to Paul. Despite being a dickhead, he's actually pretty good at the whole training aspect of being a pokemon trainer.' Julian admits to himself. 'Every test Paul presents to his pokemon obviously has some kind of point, and though his criticism of any failure is too harsh in my opinion, he at least bothers to offer corrections.' Julian frowns and looks back to Aniki and Lulu. 'There is definitely more structure than 'meditate and fight'.'

Lulu ducks a punch that would have rattled her skull and lashes out with a lightning-fast kick aiming to drive the wind out of her Machoke sparring partner.

Aniki's reply is just to bat away her leg and advance forward, raising his fists back to a guarded, ready position like a heavyweight boxer.

Growling, Lulu is forced to remain on the back step as her reach just isn't sufficient to strike her larger foe without risk of retaliation. For the entire fight, her inferior reach has left her on the worse end of each exchange, for her superior speed and technical skill have been matched over and over by Aniki's sheer strength and patience.

Finally, though, Lulu breaks the stalemate.

Holding her paw out, brilliant blue aura flows out of Lulu's pink paw pad and takes on a cylindrical shape beside her that's as long as she is tall. The aura then solidifies into a rigid, glowing blue staff. The ethereal weapon's ends are capped with two nubby protrusions each, giving the staff the appearance of a long, cartoonish bone.

Taking the staff in both paws and giving it an expert twirl, Lulu narrows her eyes and seamlessly shifts out of the nameless Lucario hand-to-hand style into a totally new stance. She stands with her legs bent, both paws on her weapon, and one end pointed at Aniki.

'Damn. Aniki got Lulu to use a named move first…' Julian blinks, noting that Paul and Elekid pause their training for a moment to watch.

Lulu's move, Bone Rush, might officially be a Ground-type move, but to Julian's 6th sense, it's filled with just as much aura as it is Ground energy. A true master of aura projection like Pops can form a Bone Rush that's nothing but aura.

Julian looks down at his own hand and molds his aura like Lulu just did hers.

In his hand, a glowing blue bone no bigger than a chicken leg slowly begins to take shape… then it destabilizes and vanishes with a pathetic whimper. The displaced man clicks his tongue and flexes his now-weakened fingers.

A projection even a Riolu can manage is beyond him. All the control in the world means nothing if it sucks down more aura than he can safely supply. He looks back to Aniki and Lulu.

With a blink, Aniki hums aloud. "Didn't see that coming…" He nods toward the Bone Rush Lulu holds. "Kicking it up a notch?"

Lulu bounces on her heels. "Normally I can work around having a shorter reach, but your skills are quite impressive, Aniki. I apologize if using a weapon comes off as distasteful, but at the same time I don't wish to disrespect you by holding back."

"Nah, I understand." Aniki smiles. "Alright boss lady, I guess I can bust out a trick or two as well to even things up." He smashes his fists together, knuckles to knuckles, and both ignite into rolling orange flames. The Machoke raises his fists back into a boxing stance, jabbing twice at the air. "Ladies first."

Lulu smiles thinly in return, then blitzes forward.

The Rule of Cool that Julian can feel tipping the scales into Lulu's favor slows when Aniki pulls out Fire Punch, but doesn't turn back. Already knowing how things are going to turn out, Julian closes his eyes, slowly circulates his aura to take the edge off of his bruised torso, and meditates on the day before.

Yesterday, they met Zoey, the anime rival to Dawn Berlitz. For a dedicated pokemon coordinator, the girl is a stellar partner in battle, and together, she and Julian's combined teams wiped up a number of other trainers before they had to call it quits. Aniki and Lulu might be superb pokemon, but even their stamina isn't without limits, and after ten or so fights each, both were beginning to tire. The minor injuries the pair of pokemon accumulated over the afternoon were fixed with a night of rest.

'And what a day it was…' Julian smirks, thinking of the five hundred extra pokedollars now in his wallet. Taking on a new team member in Aniki had him worried about finances, but several hundred dollars for an afternoon of battling isn't bad at all.

Zoey and Julian parted ways with a wave, and after a night's rest, the team is here bright and early and back to the grindstone… Or Lulu and Aniki are back to the grindstone. Julian's morning was cut short courtesy of Aniki's fist.

'In hindsight, trying to goad PokeBroly into hitting me harder was not the best idea…' The teen grimaces. It was Julian and Aniki's first time really sparring this morning, and Aniki silently protested by remaining on the defensive the entire time. Now aware of what an aura-enhanced human can do, the Machoke wasn't caught off guard like their first meeting.

"Aniki, come the fuck on!" Julian complains, backing off after Aniki lets another risky kick from him go unpunished. "You can't just sit there and softball me the entire time! I'm not the best fighter but put some effort into it, please!"

Aniki doesn't drop out of his ready stance, but his eyes flash with concern. "Jules… You're a human. I don't want to hurt you is all…" He murmurs, voice so genuine that Julian falters. "You're my trainer, bud. I don't want to be a bad pokemon and hurt you…"

Taking a deep breath and counting to ten, Julian exhales. "Aniki," he begins, feeling tired already despite the sun having only been up for an hour. "I get that, but this is a team effort here. I want to practice what I preach, and that means helping you, Lulu, and whoever else joins the team reach their full potential. To do that, I need practice as well. This is good practice for you, too. Try to use just a little above your usual level of strength, alright? I'm made of much sterner stuff than other humans, so you can knock me around some without worrying too much. You want to get a handle on your strength without going full berserker? Pushing just a little beyond what you're comfortable with and trusting yourself is where we start." Julian nods, hoping that was a sufficiently Inspiring Speech. "Let's go!"

Aniki takes a deep breath before a small smile rises to his muzzle. "Alrighty, Jules. I'll play by your rules."

The spar wouldn't last too long. Julian, long since used to fighting foes who physically outclass him, pulled out many of the tricks he uses on Lulu, just barely managing to remain on even footing with the Machoke. One slip, though, led to a bowling ball-sized fist in Julian's solar plexus that knocked all of the air out of him. Lulu called for the end of the bout and took the edge off of Julian's bruised… everything with a round of Heal Pulse.

To Aniki's credit, he withheld saying "I told you so, Jules" even if Julian knew he badly wished to say it.

Returning his attention outward, Julian watches as Lulu and Aniki's spar comes to a close.

With the reach advantage afforded to him by his longer arms gone, Aniki struggles to keep pace with Lulu, who uses her bone staff like an expert. She bashes his wrists, deflects punches with deft twirls, and remains unfazed by the crackling flames surrounding Aniki's hands.

Finally, Aniki makes a mistake.

The Machoke raises his hands over his head in a crossblock to stop a grossly projected overhead swing from Lulu, but the strike turns out to be a feint the entire time. Lulu lets the staff in her paws slide down to the ground, then pole vaults over Aniki, landing gracefully behind the Machoke. Before he can turn and face her, Lulu sweeps his feet out from under him with a low kick, sending him tumbling to the ground back first. With a final flourish of her staff, Lulu presses the nubby end right against Aniki's throat.

"Damn…" Aniki breathes, his chest rising and falling deeply. "Alright, I know when I'm beat…" He lays his head back with a groan. "This one goes to you, boss lady."

Lulu steadies her own breathing and dismisses her Bone Rush in a shower of blue sparks. She offers Aniki a paw that he accepts and pulls him to his feet. "Well fought, Aniki," she smiles, giving her teammate a respectful bow at the waist.

Looking up at the sun, Julian rises to his feet with a groan, pulling Lulu and Aniki's attention to him. "Decent enough for a morning warm-up, yeah?" He asks, not rubbing his still aching stomach so the ugly guilt remains out of Aniki's aura. "You two ready to head to the contest hall?" He asks, giving Aniki a pointed look.

"Don't worry about another ticket, Jules." Aniki waves him off once more. "Just keep my pokeball in your lap or something. I can see fine through it."

'Why do I get the feeling this is only the beginning of the 'self-sacrifice' business?' Julian doesn't voice his complaint and just nods. "If you insist…" He takes Aniki's ball from his belt and points the sphere forward. "Return."

The Machoke offers Lulu and Julian a wide smile and a thumbs up as he's recalled to his ball for a rest.

Shrinking the ball back to its travel form and replacing it on his belt, Julian looks over to Paul and Elekid, who are pulling their target rods from the ground and dropping them into the younger boy's backpack. "Hey, Paul! Ready to hit up the contest hall?"

The purple-haired boy ignores Julian entirely, waiting until Elekid drops the last rod in his backpack with a clatter. Then with no fanfare, Paul holds up Elekid's ball. "Your performance today was adequate. Return."

Although Elekid's face stays in a resting smirk, his aura jumps in obvious happiness at Paul's words. A flash of red later, and he's back in his ball.

Finally, Paul looks over to Julian, his usual scowling face somehow falling into something more dour. "Why did you get me a ticket without asking?" He asks grouchily.

"Because there is plenty to learn, duh," Julian sniffs and begins walking across the field back to Jubilife. "You want to be a great pokemon trainer? Then studying how other trainers do their thing is a great step towards that."

"I already do that," Paul snips, but he still falls into step with Julian and Lulu. "I research notable trainers and dissect their style, adding whatever is useful to my own," he says, adjusting a strap on his backpack. "I study something useful each night before bed, unlike you, you pushy moron."

Julian smiles even if he wants to bristle at the insults. He can feel Lulu's aura prickle in offense on his behalf. "Yet you had no idea who Ash Ketchum was."

Paul says nothing, but his eyes narrow.

Like it often does between the pair of boys, the conversation falls into silence for a while, all the way back to Jubilife proper.

'Am I pushy?' Julian wonders to himself. 'I don't think I am.' Part of him wants to ask Lulu what she thinks… But another part doesn't want to hear the answer.

"The way I do things, does it annoy you?" Julian eventually asks Paul, giving the younger trainer a sidelong glance.

Paul just grunts.

"Look, Paul…" Julian sighs. "I'm trying to offer an olive branch here. Meet me halfway."

Paul says nothing for a moment, then; "You talk big game about being a trainer, Angelo, but you don't act like one." Paul turns his head to glare at Julian. "You fight with your pokemon, meditate, and preach your magic friendship stuff, but that's it. Maybe you make some points here and there, but you're not acting like a real trainer. I've never seen you crack open a book on any kind of relevant subject, pay attention to the news, hunt for pokemon, or anything like that. Hell, sometimes you just stare at the wall thinking so hard I can hear your brain cooking." Paul shakes his head. "Now you're dragging us both to a contest. The only reason I'm going is so your money isn't a waste."

Julian opens his mouth to reply, but stops short. 'I… I didn't really expect such a nuanced complaint.' Aware of both Lulu and Paul waiting for a reply, Julian clears his throat. "So…" he begins with faux leisure, stalling to think of something to say. "Does any of that matter when we can produce results? I told you how we swept like five teams back-to-back yesterday, right?"

That just sours Paul to the point that his aura dips into an angry simmer. He turns away with sneer, not replying.

"What?" Julian blinks. "What? Don't go all melodrama on me now. What did I say?"

Despite Julian trying to badger a response out of Paul for the entire walk to the Jubilife Contest Hall, Paul keeps his eyes locked forward. All the while, his aura remains in that upset boil and Julian is dying to know why.

Once, Julian looks to Lulu for support, but she seems torn for some reason that he can't place. She obviously wants to say something, but can't quite formulate it. Or maybe she's holding what she wants to say back?

The contest hall comes into view before long, as the dome-like arena dominates the end of one of Jubilife's main streets. The road leading up to the hall is lined with different stalls and stands, each one with a smiling, hollering shopkeep trying to hawk wares of all sorts to the people filtering into the contest hall. Lost in his thoughts, Julian pays none of them any mind.

'What did I say?' Julian asks himself for what feels like the millionth time, and to his frustration, he is no closer to an answer. 'And why would Lulu not have any input? I wasn't offensive or something, was I?'

As they pass the sliding glass door, a floor sign directs them off to the side towards the arena seating, where a young woman wearing a shirt labeled 'Staff' is checking the tickets of passersby.

Walking up to the woman, Julian pushes away the discomfort brought on by Paul and Lulu's silence to smile and withdraw their tickets from his back pocket. "Three going in," he says, presenting the slips of paper.

The staff woman blinks, seemingly confused, but she takes the tickets and punches a hole in the corner of each one with a hole punch held in her other hand. "I could have sworn you were a contestant with the accessory on your Lucario," she comments, handing the tickets back as she looks at Lulu's gauntlet. "It might work better if her stone matched your necklace, though. Enjoy the contest!"

'Shit,' Julian withholds a grimace. 'I still need to call the number Rowan gave me and talk to whoever that is about the keystone and the gauntlet. I totally forgot in the excitement of… Well, just being in Jubilife. I'll do that either tonight or first thing tomorrow.' Outwardly, he just nods and puts the punched tickets away.

The general seats are first come, first serve, so Julian, Paul, and Lulu find spots roughly in the middle. Julian takes the middle seat with Lulu on his right and Paul on his left.

There are still a few minutes before the contest actually starts, so the arena is filled with the dull roar of low conversation. Hazarding a glance to his left, Julian looks at Paul.

The younger teen is slouched in his seat, his Pokedex out and one thumb depressing the 'down' button. From his angle, Julian can't see what Paul is looking at, but at least his aura has settled into something slightly less angry.

'Fuck it…' Julian leans ever so slightly towards Lulu and begins whispering, knowing her sharp ears will be able to pick his voice out of the din of the arena. "Lulu? I need your help here. Did I… say something wrong earlier? If I did, then I missed it. I was just trying to say that it doesn't really matter what the means are as long as-" He stops. "Am I pushy?"

While this is Paul of all people, and Julian is sure he shouldn't be worrying too hard about it, the younger boy's flare of anger earlier had a bite more unpleasant than any other that has come before it.

Lulu's ear twitches. She works her muzzle as if testing each word before it leaves her mouth, then finally she speaks. "You can be pushy sometimes," she begins, voice even and measured.

Hearing it from Lulu hurts, and she definitely feels his aura recoil, as her red eyes lock Julian's greens in place with a silent plea to keep listening. "You're confident and eager, Julian, and that can sometimes come out as you wanting to do things your way and only your way. There is no shame in being decisive." She leans in a bit further until their shoulders are touching. From the little bit of contact, some of her aura flows into him. The flow smoothes over the needle-like peaks of his own aura, and the tightness in his chest eases. "On that note, however, being decisive on behalf of others might be offensive to some. While Paul's interpersonal skills with his pokemon need work…" Lulu frowns. "A lot of work, his way of doing things minus that bit are just as valid as our own. Rebuffing his complaints without actually addressing them implies a lack of respect for his methods, and for someone so serious about pokemon battling, it's a slap in the face." Lulu sighs. "He's likely frustrated with how we're obviously withholding information from him as well, as if he's not worth it or can't handle it. That one we can't do much about, but acting as if it makes us better invites conflict. After the contest, you may want to apologize."

For a long minute, Julian is silent as he digests his starter's words. There are so many advantages to be had by being the Mysterious Stranger, the passive Rule of Cool chief among them. As loathe as he is to part with such a role, and thus an advantage over Paul, it feels as if he's going to have to ease up on being cryptic and insistent that friendship trumps all. Slowly exhaling, Julian nods slowly. "I understand…" he whispers back. "You're good at this whole cooperation and conflict resolution thing, aren't you?"

Lulu smiles mischievously. "It comes with the territory of being your partner."

With a snort, Julian straightens up, pulling his shoulder from Lulu's. "Gee, thanks," he snarks without any real heat. After another silent moment, he continues. "...Lulu, if I didn't ask, would you have called me out?"

"I would," she confirms with a nod. "I wouldn't be a good friend if I allowed you to make mistakes like this. I said nothing at first because I wanted to see if you actually needed me to step in." She smiles a gentle, pretty smile, and the open pride worn on her aura melts Julian's worries. "I'm glad you asked for help. It really shows my faith in you is worth it and then some."

Julian clears his throat into his fist and looks away, feeling his face grow warm at the heartfelt praise. He places a hand over his keystone necklace so the sudden Friendship-powered glow isn't noticed by anyone.

As the conversation peters off, the arena lights begin to dim, quickly shutting down all conversation in the arena until everything is silent.

"Here we go…" Julian grins, eager to see a live pokemon contest.

Down on the contest stage, a brunette woman in a long yellow coat, a pink skirt, and pink top steps out from behind the curtain, a microphone held in her hands and an overhead spotlight following her. She raises her head and gives the crowd a winning smile, raising her microphone as she does so. "Greetings, and a warm welcome to coordinators and contest fans of all ages! We've all come here to find out who will take home the coveted and fabulous Jubilife Contest Ribbon!" She says, voice echoing through the speakers overhead. "You've all been waiting patiently, folks, and now it's time for you to be rewarded!" She raises her mic high and does a twirl on her feet. A pyrotechnics display of sparks bursts from the edge of the stage, and the crowd bursts into eager cheers.

Overhead, light begins to stream in. Looking up, Julian watches the glass ceiling of the stadium depolarize, going from opaque black to perfectly clear.

"We're coming to you live on-stage here in Jubilife, and our first contestant is nearly ready. While we wait, allow me to introduce our judges," the hostess smiles and waves an arm behind her, where a secondary curtain on stage is drawn back.

Julian taps his foot as Marian, the contest hostess, introduces the trio of judges. One is a suit-clad man named Contesta of all things, the apparent head of the Pokemon Contest Judging Committee. The next is a shorter man with a buzzed head and a very Brock-like squint named Suziko, the head of the Official Pokemon Fanclub, and the final judge is Jubilife's Nurse Joy. Silently, Julian files the names away and wishes they'd just start already. 'Gah. Being a kid again has made me impatient…'

Finally, things get moving.

"Okay, everyone!" The contest hostess smiles. "Give it up for our first contestant! From all the way up in Snowpoint City, please welcome Zoey!" She points dramatically to the stage curtain behind her and steps off to the side as it begins to rise.

Behind the rising curtain is Zoey, the same pokemon coordinator Julian met yesterday. Her day clothes have been replaced with a show outfit, one with a long white coat overlaid with gold-stitched vines, slim turquoise pants, and white dress shoes. Despite knowing nothing about fashion, the ensemble works in Julian's eyes. It just presents Zoey's confident, tomboyish charm well. 'Maybe that's what she's going for, and that's why she picked it.'

Stepping forward and waving to the crowd, the orange-haired girl scans the stands, and upon seeing Julian and Lulu, she smiles a little wider.

Julian grins back, mouthing 'knock 'em dead.'

Zoey draws back her arm, pokeball in hand. "Misdreavus, curtain!"

The pokeball flies up and then bursts open with a large plume of purple smoke. Inside the smoke, Misdreavus' ghostly, sinister silhouette smirks down at all the people in the stadium. Then the silhouette splits into four more ghostly forms with one floating in the center.

"Confuse Ray!" Zoey's confidence glows through her high, giddily vibrating aura.

A pink glow overtakes the smoke, casting a beautiful light just the right brightness to peer directly at without pain, then from the smoke, four separate Misdreavus spread out with ghostly giggles, flying over the crowd and trailing smoke in their wake. Halfway, the spectral clones vanish, leaving a thin, purple mist floating over everyone. Back on the stage, the real Misdreavus floats over Zoey's head.

"Shock Wave!" Zoey calls next, her aura reaching a peak filled with anticipation.

With another giggle, Misdreavus' entire body lights up a golden yellow, then electricity erupts indiscriminately around her. No wait…

Julian blinks as he watches Misdreavus' Shock Wave travel through the smoke hanging over the crowd like a conductor. Almost perfect circles of sparkling lightning fly from Misdreavus, jumping from smoke particle to smoke particle before safely stopping at the edge of the smoke. All the while, whatever solid sooty bits are floating in the smoke pop and explode into shining, golden sparks like a fireworks display.

Once the last of the smoke is vaporized, Misdreavus powers down her Shock Wave and floats down to rest in Zoey's dramatically raised hand, signaling the end of the show.

The crowd goes wild, with many people giving a standing ovation. So swept up by the tide of everyone's amazement, Julian stands and applauds almost without meaning to. Looking to his right, he sees Lulu standing as well, bringing her paws together with a mystified expression on her face.

Looking the other way…

Paul isn't clapping like the rest, but he is looking at the leftover wisps of smoke in the air with a thoughtful expression.

"It's like Misdreavus and Zoey are joined at the hip!" Marian the hostess says into her microphone, eagerly keeping the hype going. "Electrifying!"

Julian stops short when he feels it from Zoey and Misdreavus, down there on the stage basking in the applause.

Just like yesterday with Zoey and her Glameow, there is a pulse of Love between the orange-haired coordinator and Misdreavus, one much deeper than what exists between himself and Lulu.

Sobered, Julian slowly sits back down.

Zoey sets the bar for the entire contest, and everyone else struggles to match her. A Scyther demonstrates his speed by cutting down tatami mat targets, a Bidoof quickly chews a rough sculpture of himself from a log, and a Buizel acts like an adorable attack helicopter, spinning his tails like propeller blades to hover as he shoots Water Gun attacks down at targets below. All good shows, but Misdreavus and Zoey are still the obvious crowd favorites.

'Is that Jessie from Team Rocket?' Julian frowns as one of the contestants, one Jessalina seems far too familiar. With distinctive red hair pulled into two pigtails, a rather conservative orange dress, and large faux glasses, the disguise isn't very effective. 'Yeah, that's her. I recall that she uses James' Carnivine for this one.'

Jessie shows off her borrowed Carnivine's Bullet Seed attack by tossing targets shaped like lollipops high, and letting Carnivine's botanical barrage shoot them down. The whole routine ends with Carnivine… biting down on a shrieking Jessie's neck and engulfing her whole head in his mouth. Despite how her head should have been instantly removed from her shoulders, the Rocket is unharmed and plays off the blunder like it's supposed to be comedic, drawing equal parts laughter and applause from onlookers.

Memory jogged, Julian sits back and watches the contest play out virtually the same as it did in the anime, noting the interesting tricks displayed along the way. Ash (who Julian forgot was competing until he felt the boy's monstrous aura behind the curtain) puts on an interesting show with his Aipom, and Dawn wraps up the appeal rounds. Zoey, Ash, Dawn, Jessie, and four nobodies move on to the next round.

Into the battle rounds, Ash goes on to lose to Zoey, who plays it smart and has her Glameow focus on countering Ash's Aipom in a cool, calculated fashion. A few nobodies battle, then it comes to Dawn versus Zoey. Although Dawn tries to be creative with her Buneary's Ice Beam and has Zoey on the backfoot here and there, Dawn's Buneary loses to Glameow as the skill gap between the two coordinators is just too great. The finals boil down to Jessie and Zoey. With so much Cool momentum built from her wins, Zoey and Glameow win out even if Jessie and Carnivine put up a surprisingly good fight.

"We have a winner!" Marian calls out as Jesse reluctantly recalls her knocked-out Carnivine and is ushered off the stage. All the contestants are directed to the stage for a final bow as Marian leads Zoey to the center of the stage. "Everyone give a big round of applause for Zoey, your Jubilife Contest winner!"

Marian turns and presents the Jubilife Ribbon to Zoey, and Julian has to sharpen his eyes with a pulse of aura to see it.

The ribbon is a pretty thing, a golden diamond shape with a three-pointed crown jutting from the top, and two actual ribbons colored blue and white hanging from the sides.

Smiling wide, Zoey raises her prize over her head, and the crowd once more rises to their feet to applaud.

'Oh yeah.' Julian props his elbow on his seat's armrest and rests his chin on his fist. 'This was worth it for the entertainment alone. I said it once and I'll say it again. I love this world.'

In the lobby of the contest hall just as he, Lulu, and Paul are preparing to leave, Julian sighs and prepares himself for an awkward talk. "Hey, Paul? I've got something I want to discuss. Real talk."

The younger boy raises an eyebrow, but follows along when Julian leads the group to a less busy section of the lobby, away from the throngs of departing people still chattering excitedly about the contest.

Leaning against the wall, Julian mulls over what to say. "Look, I know I really pissed you off earlier, and I want to say I'm… sorry." He forces the word out. "I get that I haven't been the most cooperative and I've kind of been dragging you along for stuff, and maybe I shouldn't be doing that." He stops, looking to his right at Lulu.

The Lucario smiles and nods, encouraging him to keep going.

"And it probably feels disrespectful to you, like I'm saying your methods of being a trainer are wrong. That wasn't my intention. You've definitely got things you're better at than I am…" The last part is reluctant, and more for Lulu's approval than anything else. "So I wanted to ask, no hard feelings?"

Paul's scowl slowly drops off of his face, traded for open surprise. "Where did that come from?" He asks, seemingly lost.

"I got a second opinion from Lulu, and decided I should practice what I preach a bit harder," Julian crosses his arms. "The friendship and teamwork thing isn't just for trainers and pokemon. The whole mutual benefit and discovery thing we're going for won't work if we can't at least tolerate each other. In fact, this whole trip across Sinnoh will be shit if we can't work out issues like adults."

"Not the most eloquent way to put things, but it works I suppose," Lulu hides an amused smirk behind a paw as she listens to the exchange.

Paul's face remains surprised, but his aura tells another story. At first, it's pleased, then it dives into spite, like the serious boy is about to reject the peace offering. When nothing comes from Paul's mouth, his aura lightens back up into something pleased once more. "Hmph…" Paul crosses his arms. "Whatever. Apology accepted I guess."

Julian rolls his eyes. "Glad you're so enthusiastic about it," he mocks. "For real, though. You do have some solid ideas when it comes to training pokemon, so how about some cross-training?"

"Cross-training?"

"Yeah," Julian grins. "Compare notes, mock battles, train each other's pokemon here and there, things like that. I think it could be a good time. What do you think?"

Paul looks off to the side, tapping his foot as he thinks. His expression settles into something neutral. "Fine, so long as we actually use a plan here. You're not allowed to fly by the seat of your pants and fill my pokemon's heads with nonsense."

With a grin, Julian offers a hand for Paul to shake, and although the purple-headed trainer eyes the hand distrustfully, he still reaches out and clasps it.

"Feels like I just shook hands with Giratina…" Paul mutters, putting his hands in his pockets. "Let's get going. We're burning daylight and need to plot our route for tomorrow."

"Hey! Just who I was looking for!"

Before the two boys and Lucario can leave, someone calls out to them from the direction of the contest changing rooms. Turning, Julian smiles a bit.

Zoey, back in her street clothes and with her Glameow at her side, walks up to the trio with a megawatt smile in place. She stops between Paul and Julian and opposite of Lulu, forming a loose square of bodies with them.

"Hey, Zoey. Congrats on the well-deserved win," Julian says, making Zoey's aura do a pleased jump. "You said you were looking for us?"

She nods, making the sunglasses resting on her head bob. "Yeah. You said you were traveling around Sinnoh taking the Gym challenge, right?"

"That we are," Julian nods to himself, then to Paul. "Zoey, meet Paul Shinji. We're going through the circuit together to split costs, broaden horizons, and all that good stuff."

"Nice to meet you, Paul," Zoey greets the other teen with a smile. "Zoey Nozomi, Top Coordinator in the making," she boldly introduces herself.

Paul just nods, his face not shifting. "A pleasure," he replies, voice filled with a sterile sort of politeness.

"I guess this involves you too since you're traveling with Julian," Zoey says, looking between Paul and Julian. "Would you mind if I go with you?"

Julian's eyebrows rise. He turns his eyes to Paul, who looks back skeptically. "Huh…" Julian begins. "What brought this on?"

Zoey masks the tiny bit of nervousness within her well. "Yesterday, after we won all those battles, I was thinking to myself when I got back to my hotel. Traveling alone is fine and gives me a ton of freedom, but yesterday was a ton of fun, and I've never really met a dedicated battler like you. You really seem like you know the full merit in how pokemon coordinators conduct themselves and train their teams." The bit of nervousness in Zoey's aura vanishes as her dark red eyes take on a confident gleam. "It shows with your pokemon, too. Your Lucario and Machoke were just as stylish as they were effective, and that's something you just don't see often." She raises a clenched fist to chest level and nods resolutely. "So if it's okay, I'd like to come along. Many of the contests I want to hit follow the recommended gym path, and you can bet I'll pull my weight."

'Well then…' Julian smiles inwardly. 'I guess I'll get to see that bond between Zoey and her pokemon more this way… and maybe figure out what I'm doing wrong with Lulu. More pooled money is also good, and Zoey is honestly good company. I don't see why not.' Julian scratches his chin with a theatrical hum. "Well, Paul and I were just discussing the merits of cross-training, and a winning coordinator seems like a perfect addition to that plan…" He turns to Paul. "What say you, ol' buddy ol' pal?"

"I'm not your buddy," Paul snips. Nevertheless, he gives Zoey a hard look that she doesn't back down from. "Do your part and we won't have any problems."

Zoey's smile lights up the room.

"Nyaaa, it's about time you found some eye candy to travel with, Zoey," Glameow finally speaks up, sending looks that are a little too appreciative to Paul and Julian. "Now, bad boy or hunk, which to pick?" The cat pokemon openly purrs.

Julian twitches. 'No. No, we don't like that one bit.'

After a short lunch, the new group of three returns to Julian and Paul's hotel room to plan for the trip to Oreburgh City, a city several days east of Jubilife and home of the Oreburgh Gym. Considering the trip requires either a detour north or south to avoid the mountains or a trek in a cave through said mountains, planning of a more meticulous sort definitely has its place here. All seated cross legged on Paul's bed, Julian, Paul, and Zoey pore over a map Paul has laid out. Lulu sits on the floor in front of the bed, trying to meditate. Aniki, meanwhile, busies himself reading a weightlifter magazine in the corner chair.

"Taking the cave route is faster…" Zoey muses aloud. "But it's also risky. Oreburgh hasn't been maintaining the cave all too well since they expanded their mining operations around their borders."

Paul clicks his tongue. "Angelo's fighters and Torterra will be sufficient for clearing out any debris in the way."

"I was more concerned about the cave-in danger," Zoey sighs.

"C'mon, Leafy! It's Paul the bad boy, isn't it? You like the broody dark ones, nyaa?"

"No, Glameow…" 'Leafy' lets out a long-suffering sigh. "Should you be saying such things openly? Angelo's team is out here with us."

Julian twitches again.

Perhaps it's more appropriate to say Zoey and Paul are planning the route, as Julian is forced to sit through the chatter of Zoey's pokemon, destroying any kind of focus he might have.

On Julian's bed, Zoey's Glameow, Leafeon, and Shellos all sit together. Above them, Misdreavus hovers like the specter that she is. Glameow has done the lion's share of talking, with Leafeon unenthusiastically trying to keep her teammate on appropriate topics and Misdreavus giggling along. Shellos, the only male on the team, wisely keeps quiet in the midst of the girl talk.

"C'mon Leafy," the cat pokemon meows. "None of them catch your eye? Our dear Zoey is growing up and noticing boys, finally bringing some much-needed testosterone to this clam-slam of a team, and you've nothing to say?" Glameow pauses and looks at Shellos. "No offense to you, honey."

"None taken," Shellos burbles.

"I'm certain Lulu can hear us and is just politely ignoring what we say," Leafeon lays down and rests her head on her front paws as the afternoon sun beats down on her through the window. "Maybe we should be courteous and not indirectly hit on her trainer and her teammate?"

Glameow rolls her eyes and raises a paw to her mouth, giving it a grooming with her tongue. "Leafy, I think she would have said something by now," she lowers her paw. "And what is this indirectly, business?" Glameow smirks and looks over her shoulder at Aniki… who is genuinely too engrossed with his reading to notice. "The dense ones are so cute. I noticed you didn't include Paul in that last complaint, there. Trying to say something~?"

Leafeon sighs once more, and damn Julian can relate to the sheer exasperation in such a simple gesture.

"C'mon, Leafy, we're just having some fun here." Glameow touches a paw to Leafeon's shoulder. "If you had to have one of the three, who would it be?" When Leafeon refuses to engage with her shenanigans any further, Zoey's starter looks up to Misdreavus. "Missy? What do you think?"

The ghost smirks, and Julian does not like it. "I think you should look under your other paw," she says mysteriously, her raspy voice little higher than a whisper.

With a confused blink, Glameow lifts her other paw and looks down… right at a few blue hairs in the bed comforter. The cat pokemon gasps. "Lucario fur in Julian's bed? Scandalous!"

Lulu, still trying to meditate, screws her face up in an embarrassed scowl. A red blush crosses her muzzle and a growl bubbles out of her throat.

Inwardly, Julian cries to himself 'This was such a fucking mistake.'