-----That little Entei emblem gleamed like fire in the sunlight. Who knew, Kylie thought, something so mass-produced could be so mystical, and how universal this sort of symbolism really was. Back home, they put Azurill on everything.
Azurilla, bottled water brand. Inner tubes. Cereal. Because it appealed to kids in Hoenn better than any other Pokemon could. Soon enough, Kylie was seeing Azurill as emblematic of the same naivety and guilelessness as the consumers it was appealing to, and for that same reason, she didn't want any more Azurill dolls for Christmas; they became
kiddie.
-----It went either way, with people influencing perspective of Pokemon, and Pokemon influencing perspective of people, but it really emphasized how embedded these creatures were into their society. Sometimes Kylie wondered how different life would be without them. Usually when she had no choice -- either engage herself in little things or pretend to care when Ember was talking at her. Talking at her.
Talking at her.
-----"--just… weird. Just a
weird place with
weird people and
weird food. And everywhere's either
claustrophobic or
hella big, and everything in all the shops is
overpriced, and the accents make
no sense --
nobody seems to speak the same language -- and every route is
literally overpopulated. Just,
everything about Kalos is gross and wrong," she was saying.
-----Not like anyone was truly engrossed in the matter at hand. Ember herself played ardently with her hair in her photo app, fluffing ginger curls, still wet, and carrying out the diatribe more with her device, as everyone else looked down at something or other themselves. Silvia had a newspaper -- yes, one of
those, in
2014; must've been an Alola thing -- and Dixie was texting, tapping away. Slowly, methodically.
-----Ember's voice just carried out into the sterilized abyss that was the academy ground's single Pokemon Center, a stretch of seemingly-endless linoleum and white walls, white lighting, lots of scrolling screens angled against the ceiling. The G&T Daily Show had started, attracting some mild interest from the infrequent student, spaced across space; resting places crowded corners closest to the front door, and all in-between was unembellished.
-----Closest to the reception counter, a nurse bowed as she passed a Pokeball to its owner. With a rise of tone in the waiting area, they turn towards the disturbance, greeted by Ember's big hair popped above the back of her chair, then Dixie, Kylie, and Silvia in that order.
-----The two smallest girls are either reclined deep into their respective armchair -- Miss Kahale, that was her, evidently suffering -- or miming interest in stocks -- Miss Silvia Akade, nearing the end of her wits.
-----Ember was still talking, by the by.
-----Kylie maybe recalled asking where her fellow students had come from in the world. That was maybe, too, why she had Hoenn on her mind lately.
-----She looked down at the gold, maned head again, burnished with the fluorescent glow of the Center lights. What was an 'Entei', anyway? Would she ever meet one?
-----Fortunately: "Well, that's why my life sucks, anyway." Ember petered out.
-----"Cool!" Silvia spoke quickly. "Let's talk about stuff you don't hate now, Emberlyn."
-----Ember only shrugged at that.
-----Silvia had a noticeable sprightliness about herself today, shown through bright eyes unobscured, contrary to the campus tour, by a curtain of dark hair now twisted on top of her head. Her jacket still hung awkwardly over her hands -- balled into fists, Kylie heeded.
-----Luckily, Silvia's more open look wasn't contagious either, as Dixie chimed in to settle the group into a jaundiced mood again: "I saw someone threw up on the boat today."
-----"Was he wearing a Raikou jacket?" Kylie joked.
-----"Ohhh," Dixie responded with more unironic sincerity than Kylie had anticipated. "I have
no idea. I don't even know if he was wearing the right jacket."
-----"Wouldn't surprise me if Raikou's didn't know how to dress themselves, to be honest," Ember added, gazing down at her phone.
-----Kylie shrugged -- "Hey, they're 'special'" -- and chuckled a bit.
-----Clearly not meaning much by it; Silvia missed that cue and said, scowling, "Just great.
Great start to the morning, guys."
-----Kylie felt her inner smile shrivel and vanish. "Whatever, then. What have
you guys done today? That's 'positive,' right?"
-----Silvia met the quip with a look that twisted her delicate features, befitting some pungent smell, before being promptly eclipsed by Ember Cabal reopening her mouth.
-----"WELL… nothing—"
-----"Quiet down!" hissed Silvia.
-----"Okay, but, like—"
-----The group waited patiently for Emberlyn to compose herself.
-----"—so there's this 'assignment' going around, right?"
-----"On the first day? I thought they said we wouldn't start classes until tomorrow," Kylie interjected.
-----"Yeah, but, like, this isn't for a specific class. It's just some random-ass 'to-do' some kids in Suicune are getting."
-----"Only Suicune's?"
-----"Basically," Silvia said.
-----Dixie nodded fervently.
-----Ember elaborated, daring to tear away from her screen in the engrossment of conversation, "And it's focused on certain types. Like, I got something that was like-- lemme pull up."
-----"'You have been tasked with attempting a capture at the Lugia Dorm.' And, I am
not going to the Lugia Dorm, okay? That is
not what I'm trying to do! I'm sorry! I don't care if this is for points or whatever!"
-----"That's so weird," Silvia said. "Why would they pressure you into catching something so soon."
-----"Like Pokemon are just collectables or something," Kylie added. "That's not what I thought this school was about."
-----"I mean, it's not
abusive or anything," Silvia intended to argue, with Ember then cutting her off.
-----"Like, people in other dorms are already catching stuff all over the place. This stealth assignment stuff is completely unnecessary. Go bug the other kids who actually
want a new partner off the bat. We
literally just got here."
-----"I couldn't imagine splitting my attention between Nina and another Pokemon." This was Dixie, for so long still, staring, and silent. Now she uttered in a tone choked with anxiety, one which belied the utter expressionlessness of her posture and face: "Sometimes you love someone so much, you don't want to let them go, ever. You know about that, right, Kylie?"
-----The battle girl felt a crawling, cold sensation.
"What?"
-----"Anyway, what
I don't get is this rush to get a team mapped out before classes even officially start," Silvia said. "These are first-day students too I'm seeing with this kind of mindset. They didn't come early yesterday for the tour like we did. I would recognize them."
-----"They aced the test and think they can handle anything," Kylie deduced.
-----"But Raikou's are doing it too. I'm seeing yellow everywhere," Silvia remarked.
-----"Raikou's shouldn't even
be here!" Instantaneously, she realized the uptick in volume, in intensity; Kylie had leapt into a rigid, upright posture and hadn't even recognized.
Stay present, she warned herself in the comically-callow tonality she associated with Junn before delving back in:
-----"Look, I just think this kind of perspective is disrespectful, not just to Pokemon, but the whole relationship we have with them. They're not just party members in a video game or whatever, where you can just swap them around where it's most convenient for you. They have feelings and personal ambitions and stuff. Just picking and choosing Pokemon beforehand without considering their feelings takes away their freedom."
-----"You don't have to tell me that.
I'm agreeing with you," Silvia responded, voice stern and somewhat strained. "For the most part, anyway. I don't think it's as big of a deal as you're making it."
-----"All I'm saying is it promotes a bad mindset," the Entei countered.
-----"I think people in your dorm are doing it too," Dixie thought to mention, eyeing Kylie with a great, enraptured interest. Those eyes of hers were ever-staring, one could conclude unblinking, even, based on the obfuscating smears of her glasses lens.
-----"Well, they're stupid, and shouldn't be," Kylie decided, punctuating her ultimatum with a readjustment of posture. She leaned back further in her armchair -- Ember scrolling absentmindedly at her right -- and kicked her feet onto a coffee table with faux-confidence betraying how riled she certainly was not.
-----"What do you think they should do instead, Kylie?" Silvia asked her, lusting for debate.
-----"Go with the flow. Don't chase after certain Pokemon. Be open and try to bond with whoever approaches you."
-----"But if you're a
battler, that wouldn't be an effective way to team-build, would it?"
-----"If you can't adapt to new Pokemon, sure, it sucks. But then
you'd probably suck too."
-----"So every Gym Leader and Elite Four member automatically sucks," Silvia countered, matter-of-fact.
-----"No, because they're already veterans. They know what they're good at because they experienced what they weren't so good at first. They built themselves up."
-----"And I bet they went in without knowing precisely which Pokemon they'd use on those final, veteran teams."
-----"I mean… those Pokemon had to
like them and
know them in the first place--"
-----"Yes, but
your argument is that good battlers utilize variety unconditionally, when our international league system works contrary to that. And unless you can produce evidence refuting the foundation of said league system, you don't have a case for any further debate."
-----"Oh,
screw you, Silvia!"
-----Rebuttal-less, the Entei conceded, sinking further into her chair. If there was one thing Kylie had learned about Silvia, it was how deeply displeasing losing to her felt.
-----"What point are you even trying to make?" she said, exasperation quickly building in the presence of her compatriot's Gengarish grin.
-----"Dunno. I forgot." Her voice sickly sweet an innocuous, Silvia stated nonplussed, head cocked to the side, "Your dorm sucks, I guess!"
-----"How even."
-----"Soo, think about it." The Suicune started up from her chair -- Ember and Dixie dared peer up at the brief disarray. As Silvia began her diatribe -- "Raikou's got in through nepotism and or being liked enough by the judges. Entei's got in from acing
only the battling section of the exam. Suicune's got in from doing well on
both the written portion
and the battling portion" -- they ducked back into their phones.
-----"So, basically," Silvia continued, motioning to the brilliant blue badge on her chest for emphasis,
"my theory is that the Suicune dorm is the only intended audience of the academy."
-----"Is this a conspiracy theory?"
-----"Keep asking questions," Silvia said, bafflingly elated for a statement Kylie what otherwise just pass off as a meme. "'Cause we actually
succeeded on the test. Technically,
you failed, and the Raikou's
definitely failed. What's more, too, Suicune's are the one getting that 'secret assignment' thingie, right?"
-----"Silvia, stop it. This is stupid. People are gonna think we're making a meta statement now."
-----"No, this makes too much sense!" the raving girl retorted. "
We're the ones who are going to actively get an education here: the Suicune's! Remember how
long that tour was because of how
massive the island is? There's a dedicated town here with businesses and everything. You could
live here, Kylie, with the
illusion of 'freeform education.' And while you fluff around, the
dominant dorm will--"
-----"'Dominant dorm.' Holy Magikarp, you're absolutely insane."
-----"--be the ones actually learning and progressing. And
that is how you restrict upwards mobility to an elite minority!" Silvia finished.
-----Kylie wanted to end this conversation.
"You're exhausting."
-----"Come again," a woman called in their direction.
-----The girls looked onto Dixie's breezy return; in a fit of metallic jingling and obstinate snarling from her beloved Nina, the Trainer and Poochyena pair readjusted themselves in the seating area. Silvia was quick to kick her bloated handbag to the side for Nina's comfort -- also, ideally, to avoid the flow of dribble down her muzzle to land on anything Silvia owned.
-----"She's got a cleft lip, so it's hard for her to manage her saliva expenditure," Dixie elucidated as she fidgeted with her Pokemon's bright pink leash and matching harness.
-----Silvia hummed a note of understanding. She let G&T's ceased commercial break lead her eyes wayward.
-----Kylie, in bolder spirits, dared to acquaintance herself. "She looks pretty good, considering." Choosing to ignore the wild look in Nina's eye, the Trainer offered her hand--
-----"She bites."
-------towards the Poochyena's snout, and with that, drew back immediately.
-----"Damn, Dixie, what's up with your pooch?" Ember inquired without looking up.
-----"There's nothing wrong with her," said the bespectacled Suicune patiently.
-----"She meant why Nina was admitted into the center," Kylie followed quickly.
-----"Oh. We got jumped."
-----"Really!" Kylie and Ember's reactions were more or less the same -- equally sardonic.
-----"Was somebody too aggressive or something?" questioned Silvia.
-----"No, no…" Through those grimy, little lenses, Dixie's gaze had irrefutably shifted outwards into the great beyond. She recounted, almost wistfully, "A Pokemon popped out from the grass. Nina rushed to defend me from the sudden ambush, and was beaten badly. I used a trick my father taught me to escape the wicked, surly creature, and managed to succeed. That's why I called you three here, to await Nina's recovery."
-----The account did little to correct Kylie's skepticism. "I really don't think a Pokemon would just leap out at you for no reason."
-----"I suppose it sounds a bit impossible, doesn't it?"
-----It suddenly occurred to Kylie that she wasn't being spoken to.
-----"Hey, Dixie, maybe if you described the creature to us, someone could stop it from harming other Trainers' Pokemon."
-----Silvia's suggestion landed on deaf ears for a moment, but the subject of such eventually awoke from her trance, musing, "Yes, I suppose that would be the polite thing to do. At the very least we could warn others of the danger. And yet, I can only tell you one thing, the only aspect of it that I haven't barred from my memory."
-----With both hands, after resting Nina's leash beneath her elbow, she formed circles with her thumb and pointer finger, slowly raising the formations against her glasses. And in a sonorous voice:
-----"BIG. YELLOW. EYES."
-----A moment of silence, brazenly broken by Emberlyn.
-----"This is getting weird. I'm heading back to the dorms," promptly getting up and following through. "Great talk, guys."
-----"Bye, hoe," Silvia muttered under her breath.
-----Kylie waved Ember off less vindictively before meeting Dixie's expectant stare. Her eyes eventually slid past the girl's, circling the center critically, her head propped against her fist, in an act of steady consideration, until she finally, assuredly announced, "...I bet my dorm could stick it to 'em."
INITIATE: SQUAD-BUILDING
Pursuing a beneficiary partnership between like-minded individuals!
-----"You don't even
know the people in your dorm." Silvia was critical; most people were of simplistic ideas impeccable all the same.
-----It all came naturally to Kylie. "The point of dorm mates is that you
get to know them. You went off on Entei earlier. Well, we'll see what Entei's can do."
-----Lackadaisically, she rose from her spot, stretching her arms behind her head -- secretly relishing in Silvia's bewilderment.
-----"So… you're
really going to entertain Dixie's stupid story, and get all the Entei's together to defeat a vague, 'yellow-eyed' Pokemon somewhere on campus."
-----Kylie said, "Nope.
I'm gonna get the Entei's together to train. Because that's what I wanna do."
-----"Great. So why the set up with Dixie."
-----Dixie explained that herself with a cryptic, toothy smile -- not a true explanation, then, and therefore thoroughly useless to Silvia who, with an exaggerated sigh, removed herself from interaction entirely. She flipped her newspaper up to her face and pretended to read.
-----"How will you know who you're looking for?" Dixie then asked Kylie, her keen interest in the battle girl's business piqued.
-----"I dunno, I'll probably just ask around, looking for the jacket. Newbies better be wearing 'em." Already alert, Kylie gestured to a figure seated a distance away.
-----"He's got it."
-----From Dixie, quiet contemplation. Kylie stood in scrutinizing silence as her schoolmate ogled from their safe, unrecognized position. Still, Kylie feared the student turning to realize he was under ready surveillance. She waited, then, with bated breath, before Dixie announced without provocation:
-----"He's cute."
-----Kylie was speechless for a second. "You're… serious." He had an unremarkable face and equally-commonplace swath of bangs across his forehead, a worn and tired look to the wrinkles in his clothes and flagging corners of his eyes. But she did like his fashion sense, and it was good to see someone else recognizing print pants were in season.
-----This still rung as totally ridiculous to her. "Dixie, you're
serious."
-----It had taken an eternity, but finally, Dixie Mae Joon came alight with pure, amorous enthusiasm, turning to Kylie and whispering madly:
"You should flirt! He's in your dorm! This is perfect!"
-----"I'm not doing that."
-----"You have
to, Kylie! This is so great!
-----"No."
-----She stormed in her dorm mate's direction with nary an unfeigned sliver of Dixie's intention taken to heart or patent on her face. This was pure, raw professionalism she was primed to unleash on her fellow Entei.
'Let's train. You have nothing better to do.'