"Here you go, your little ones are all better now. We look forward to seeing you again..." the nurse said in a voice sweet enough to give Lucas a toothache, with a sugary smile, holding out a tray with two polished Poké Balls.
She radiated a welcoming energy, and her rosy, cotton-candy hair really brought out her sky-blue eyes; and beside her at the spacious workstation was a big fluffy Blissey, like a giant marshmallow egg, carrying another tray of Poké Balls and handing it to another trainer.
"Thank you very much, Miss!" Lucas said, plucking the two cherry-red orbs and shoving them into his pocket. They had no idea how much stress they had just cured him of. Azure's cries were still echoing in his ears, as lucid as back in the forest. He contemplated bringing him on out... but that thought was quickly crossed out by fear of the bird going feral. As he was prone to.
"As for you… are you okay? You look tired and beat up. We have a few rooms left if you'd like to settle down. How does that sound, sweetie? A nice warm bed for the night?"
"Yeah! That sounds awesome, Miss, I'd appreciate it!" Lucas's face lit up, something like a Lanturn.
"Great. Single bedrooms go for an easy twenty thousand. Double bedrooms are a bit bumped up at forty. Are you traveling with anyone else?"
"Wait, what? I thought it was free!"
"Oh! My apologies, sir. If you can show me your League ID card, I'll be happy to show you to your room—"
"League ID? Like the trainer leagues? I'm not part of any leagues! Since when do I need one of those?"
"No, sweetie, we don't have special packages for trainer leagues; I meant your official League Association card. You see, all members of the PLA have special facilities and privileges in all Pokémon Centers across the region; I'm guessing since you didn’t know that, you're not a League associate?"
Lucas shook his head sheepishly. Why didn’t anyone tell him he needed to be a League associate? He knew there were the Elite Four members and the Champions, but were there other members—no, "associates"—he'd never heard of?
"Well, we still have empty rooms if you're interested, dear. It is getting late out; I'd hate for you to sleep out on the streets, especially with all the reports of theft going around lately..." the sweet nurse said.
"I don’t have enough money… no, thanks," the boy said, scratching the clotting red cut on his cheek. His body still stung from the sores and felt heavier than usual, like someone had put an anvil in his pocket. It didn't help that he had to navigate through the congested city on the way to the center!
"Well, if it's any consolation..." The nurse opened a pink metal box behind the counter and handed Lucas a plaster. "Please take care, sweetie."
Lucas nodded, turning around and walking away from the counter. The room was quite large and spacious. It smelled like love and kindness, a lovely jazzy jingle warming up the rosy atmosphere with the occasional Chansey filtering in and out of the room. People were relaxing on sofas, waiting for their Pokémon to be tended to in the back. Some people even had their Pokémon out. One man was passed out on a sofa, a little brown Swinub soundly snoozing on his lap like a pillow.
Of course, the coolest thing of all was the cool blue Lucario leaning against the wall, eyes closed and arms crossed. A lone wolf.
Talk about aura-maxxing. Well, you wouldn’t expect any less from a nonchalant, dread-headed Aura Pokémon.
Lucas could’ve passed out on one of the couches without a single worry in the world. He felt that safe. The floor was a warm peach, polished to sanitary perfection, glossy and shiny like Pecha Berry jam.
He sat down on one of the sofas and pulled out his phone for what might’ve been the tenth time in the past hour.
19:43 PM, his phone read.
He tapped on the call button once again…
Beep-beep……beep-beep……beep-beep……bee-beep……beep—
“It seems the person you are trying to call is busy—”
“Seriously, what’s going on with her? This is the sixth time,” Lucas said, frustration beginning to creep up on him like a Haunter, “She said we were supposed to meet here more than an hour ago, the library closed at seven! Is something wrong?”
A stew of wild thoughts cooked in his mind. She definitely wouldn’t have forgotten—with the way she was always crazed about time and staying organized, Lucas couldn’t imagine a timeline where Dawn neglected any form of punctuality; and the library had closed a whole 43 minutes ago.
It was then that the door dinged and slid open.
Lucas immediately turned, wholly anticipating a pretty girl in a red trench coat to walk in with a Piplup, only for reality to give him the middle finger as an astute-looking boy stepped into the building, strangely making the entire lobby feel… mediocre in comparison.
It wasn’t just in his head either.
Everyone in the room fidgeted and turned, their eyes tracking the boy’s movements as he proceeded to the nurse’s desk with a few people pulling their phones out and pointing in confused disbelief. Come to think of it… he recognized him from the Battle Channel. Definitely—he always had highlights of his battles on TV.
Yeah, it was definitely him.
Acutely and astutely dressed, with a professional turquoise button-up tie to remind everyone he was there for serious business and not to waste time. Each step he took in his elaborate sneakers asserted his position at the top of the social hierarchy, with a look of careless annoyance cemented on his young face.
Lucas was 100% sure it was that Thornton guy Barry always rooted against. Right then, he noticed a folded piece of paper drop from a strap-on pouch around his waist.
“Mr. Thorton, sir, we’re very pleased to see you,” the nurse bowed to the boy, who paid absolutely no mind to her, tapping away at the mini tablet in his hand.
“Is my room ready?”
“Why, of course, sir. We had it prepared for you earlier this afternoon; would you like to—”
“Just a second.” He put the phone by his ear, “Yeah—why is the February calendar not in teal? What? No, this is aqua, unless you’re colorblind—I mean—what universe do you think ‘aqua’ when someone says ‘teal’? I’m almost embarrassed on your behalf, only I wouldn’t have made such an embarrassing error. No, forget it. Hey, I said forget about it. Tell Nancy to do it for me instead, I’ve changed my mind. Oh, and make it viridian; hopefully, Nancy isn’t half Zubat as well.”
Thorton turned around, irritated by the feel of someone tapping his shoulder.
“Sorry,” Lucas said, “You—”
“No pictures. Huh? Oh,” he grabbed the key, “You said my room was ready.”
The nurse flashed Lucas a look, as if telepathically trying to apologize on the boy’s behalf. “Yes, sir. I would be happy to scan your League card if you could please—”
“Here, take it… what, are you waiting in line or something?” The boy gave Lucas an annoyed stare, pointing at him with his index finger.
Lucas shook his head, putting his hands up. “No, no… I was just about to sit down—”
“You’re putting your hands up like you’re at gunpoint—I mean, I get it, but I’m not an android, dude; I’m a human too, you know—hold on,” he grabbed Lucas’s wrist, “Is that a Pokétch? Let me see—oh. It's an old model. I thought it was too good to be true; V9 models only came out last November; they’re still super expensive. I mean… relatively speaking.”
He dropped Lucas's arm and turned back around.
“Wait,” Lucas said, “Aren’t you like… one of those Frontier Brains?”
Thorton slowly turned to the boy, scanning him up and down with a hint of disrelish in his bluish-green eyes. “My, my… what an astute observation—you’ve got a set of keen eyes, don’t you; yep, I bet you never miss a thing.”
…
“Wait, so… are you?”
“Are you… on the spectrum?” Thorton put a hand on his hip.
“Jeez dude, I was just asking, sorry…”
“Yeah, like everyone in this room would pull out their phones for a stranger. You know I had to get an eye test last month after someone flashed a camera in my face? I almost had to start wearing glasses; whatever, I’m telling you that for. I’m kinda busy, kid; you mind?”
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“Kid…?” Confusion stirred on Lucas’s face.
Of course, the other boy paid him absolutely zero attention, immediately stepping away from the desk with a sleek, premium-looking black card in his hand.
“Wait—Thornton, please wait, that’s a League card, isn’t it—”
“Woah, woah, woah—back the eff up, dude—‘Thornton’? First of all: what the actual hell? Nurse what’s-her-name said my name at least six times! Thorton! I mean, I think you’d have to be a Slowpoke or something to get that wrong…”
It was then that Lucas felt a sudden buzz in his hand, and in an instinctual jolt of adrenaline, he put the phone to his ear without checking who it was. “Dawn? Where are you?”
“Dawn? Lucas, it’s me—wait, who’s Dawn?”
“Mom?? What the—Mom! Hey! Mom, it’s been so long, how are you?”
“What the hell? Did you just answer a phone call? ??_?”
Lucas turned around, starry-eyed and smiley-faced, his heart about to blow just from hearing her voice.
“Sweetie, where are you? Why is it so noisy?”
“Where am I? Wait, are you at home? Sorry, there’s a guy I’m talking to about something.”
“A guy? Where? Wait—am I home? Lucas, do you have any idea how late it is? What on Earth are you doing in Jubilife? Are you by yourself?”
“Well, yeah, but—”
“Lucas!”
Thorton watched the boy wince at her voice’s sudden spike in volume. Even he could hear that. More importantly: ‘Lucas’? So that was his name—not that he paid attention to random strangers… even if they looked around his age. Relatively speaking, he meant.
“Sorry, mom—but I tried to tell you Professor Rowan asked me to—”
“Professor Rowan? Lucas, you never told me anything about Professor Rowan! Arceus—how did you even get there—you don’t even have any Pokémon, Lucas!”
“What? But I told you the Professor gave me a new partner the other day, mom—didn’t you hear me?”
“Lucas, you know I was very busy when you called; you heard me speaking to Keira on the phone! More importantly, how come I didn’t know anything about Professor Rowan—what is he making you do, Lucas?”
“Nothing, he just asked me to help him research the Sinnoh Myths across the region. I was supposed to meet another assistant here so she could show me something in Canalave Library.”
“Oh my goodness, Lucas—you can’t agree to this sort of stuff without me there; I thought I taught you this a long time ago.”
“Well…” Lucas’s grip on the phone tightened, as did his chest, “It’s… it’s not like you’re ever here in the first place…”
“What did you say?”
“Sorry, I mean—”
“No, no, no—don’t try any of that funny stuff with me, Lucas. Do you know how many hours I work here so you can eat? I swear to Arceus this child’s gonna make me pop a vessel—Lucas, is there a nurse nearby?”
“Huh? Yeah—yes, mom, there’s a nurse.”
“Good, put her on the phone.”
The pink-haired lady behind the counter watched the boy suddenly walk up to her with an almost fearful look on his plastered face before strangely handing her his phone.
Lucas balled his hand into a fist, feeling his heart bubble and bulge with what felt like magma after that exchange with the woman he called his mother. In that moment, all he could hear was her annoying “do what I say, I’m right, you’re wrong!” voice that made him question if he even missed her to begin with. In that moment, he was ready to punch anything that moved.
That was when he locked eyes with him. Thorton. “The hell are you looking at?” Lucas asked.
“The what? Who’re you talking to like that, Lucass?” the snarky boy pointed at him.
“Lucass?”
“You heard me, mama’s boy,” he stormed up to the boy in a tacky blue jacket, “And who the hell uses their phone for a phone call? Ever heard of Device Sync? Oh shit, I forgot you’re using the outdated V7 model Pokétch.”
“Look, dude, I’m not in any sort of mood right now, okay? Sorry I called you Thornton, okay? I made a mistake, and I didn’t know—and hold on: I just saw you answer a phone call on your phone!”
“Uhh, duh—that was by choice. I mean, that was pretty obvious. Relatively speaking…” he swiped his tablet, the blue light reflecting on his focused eyes.
…
“What the hell does that even mean?” Lucas asked.
Thorton raised a finger to stop Lucas from speaking any more nonsense, typing something important on his phone, something extremely urgent, before sliding the slab into his back pocket and flashing his League card in Lucas’s face. “You asked about this before mommy called.”
Lucas’s brows hardened in irritation. “You're not serious.”
“I'm very serious, Lucass; and by the sound of it, mommy was too.” He sighed, pulling out his phone once again to tend to something extremely important, “Lucas! Lucas! You never told me anything about Professor Rowan, Lucas! ?╭╮?.”
“Oh, shut up! She was yelling at me for no reason anyway; it’s not like I didn’t tell her—well… I told her part of it.”
Lucas snapped at the other boy… who wasn’t paying him a single cent of mind with his face wholly committed to the urgent task on his tablet.
“Sorry, Lucas?”
Lucas turned to the nurse’s sweet voice calling him from the front desk and immediately rushed over to her, thoughts racing across his mind as he took the phone from her and mentally prepared for his mom to use another super-effective boom-burst again.
“Hello?”
…
“No, dear. She already cut,” the nurse said, typing a swift barrage on her little computer before swiping a black plastic card across a scanner, “This is your room key.”
Lucas’s head jerked back in confusion. “What? Sorry, what do you mean?”
The nurse smiled. “Well, mommy says I should give her careless brat a room and something to eat. That there is your room key… well, her room key, but it’s yours for tonight. Room 297, just go down the escalator and turn left, and you should see the rooms. Do you need Angel here to show you?" The nurse asked, pointing at the gentle giant Blissey, who looked more than pleased to assist the boy.
“No, no, I’ll… I’ll figure it out,” Lucas said.
“Alright then. A Chansey will be down there in a bit with your dinner. Please enjoy your stay—oh! Mommy told me to tell you to go straight home tomorrow morning.”
Lucas balled his fists like a Primeape upon hearing what “Mommy” said. Did she think he couldn’t take care of himself? What the hell was wrong with her? He felt a vein bulging on his cranium as he took the card from the nurse’s hand and made his way to the escalator, arriving on the second floor, which was just as scarcely populated…
Save for a familiar Lucario leaning against one of the walls with its arms crossed that gave Lucas a steely beam with its cold red eyes; it seemed to be waiting for a man who was speaking to one of the center attendants standing behind an office box-looking thing.
That was before his attention was swallowed by the sight of Thorton sauntering through a corridor of rooms, prompting our young adventurer to chase after him, key card still in hand.
Thorton didn’t budge his neck, still gazing at his phone even as the sound of shoes hurriedly squeaking against the floor. Obviously, he had an idea who it was. Of course, he had more important things to do. Plus, he was sick of mingling with rookies after being at the school the whole day; plus, he had to go to a meeting later as well! What a waste of a perfectly good day he could've spent working on his tablet, you know, doing things that actually mattered.
“Hold up, Thornton!” Lucas called, catching up to the boy (who didn’t even think of borrowing a dime of his mind), who tapped away at his tablet.
“So you’re following me? You know these rooms are for League members and the like only, right, Lucas?”
“The nurse said to go down here. See? Room 297.”
Thorton raised his finger, finishing up some business before finally sliding his phone into his pocket.
“Bring that here; you think I need you to hold that for me?” He swiped the card out of Lucas’s hand, “What? Where’d you steal this from?”
“What do you mean?”
“This is a League card,” Thorton said, scanning it with scrutiny, “Yeah, these black room keys are only for guys like us! I mean, see the shiny Bidoof logo? That means it’s special, so why’d they give this to you?”
“For real?” Lucas reached for the card, only for Thorton to pull it away and extend his arm to distance Lucas from him.
“Who said I was done looking?” Thorton pushed him.
“What? It’s my card—”
“Yeah, that you stole! I mean, look at you—no way you’re a League member—or an associate!”
“What? That doesn’t have anything to do with anything! Besides, that card’s my mom’s and the nurse said I could use it!”
“Right, what is your mommy anyway? She's probably just someone's PA!”
"No! She's a super popular coordinator and she's way cooler than you, Thornton!"
"Oh you piece of—"
BBbbZZzT!
Thorton dropped the little meaningless card and pushed Lucas out of his way, pulling his phone out of his pocket; simultaneously scaring Lucas with the sudden shift in gears, who picked the special card from the floor and gave the other boy a confused look.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?”
“Shut up; you care too much,” Thorton inserted his card into a scanner installed next to the door and pulled the handle, vanishing behind the door, which slammed behind him while his blasé face was planted in his screen, leaving Lucas behind in the corridor to contemplate what the hell he’d just seen.
It was around that time that he remembered how much his body hurt and how heavy his legs were; he could already feel himself losing his sanity after everything that had happened on that day—now he had to deal with a snarky piece of poop like Thornton?
Lethargy finally catching up to him, he made his way five doors down from Thornton’s, and after more tries than it should have taken him (relatively speaking), he finally got the door to open and stumbled into the room.
Of course, before he could sleep, there was one more thing he needed to do.
No, not shower.
He unzipped his bag, thanking Arceus that he hadn’t thrown it out in a panic back in the forest, tossing out a little blue CD and a poorly opened pack of Poké Balls.
Finally, he pulled out a tired brown journal with a pen clipped onto one of the pages and got to writing.
