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8:00 A.M. July 3, Friday, 106 PH (Post Hoopa Event)

Events:  The Joint Kanto and Johto Indigo Summer League have concluded; Saria Surge has become the new Vermilion Gym Leader, converting it to a Fairy Gym.  It will take about a week for the transition to happen before it is open for challenges.

Our girl started her journey on the 9th of June—she’s been a Trainer for 24 Days (23 officially; 24 since getting Maya and Nova).

 

Samiya’s musical note filled the air, rousing Rhea’s dull mind to stretch out on the futon she’d been given for the night; Nova’s paws tightened around her calf, Alice’s ears tickling Rhea’s chin as the bunny threw out her arms between her bust—Mya had swapped places with Nova during the night to show she could share—Mya taking a big step in knowing both the Eevee and Buneary were huge snuggle-buddies.

Blurry vision opening, she smiled at the shimmering light brightening throughout the liquid overhead; the People of the Water had crafted this room to have the sea overhead, and the morning shine of the waking city caused a dazzling display.

“Wow…”  Amira whispered, following the radiant beams, some unique material Samiya was made of illuminated the city beautifully.  “I can’t believe we all slept in.”

“Mmgm!”  Lori pulled off her light blanket, the metropolis keeping a relatively lower temperature of 19°C compared to what they were used to.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about; heh, 8 A.M. sounds normal for me!”

“If you go to sleep around 12 or 1 every night, I suppose,” Rhea giggled.  “Until this month, I went to bed around the same time every day—10 P.M.”

“It’s like you’re a little kid—eh?” Lori snickered, tossing her pillow at her for Alice to reactively jump off Rhea’s chest, spin, and send a blast of Fighting-Type energy to the fluffy object.  “Oof…”

“Pfft!”

Amira and Rhea cracked up as the bunny sent the pillow straight back into the Unova girl’s face, a sleepy Roxie and Miky dully watching it.

“Haha!”

“C’mon, guys…”  Lori mumbled, dull violet irises dropping to her stretching Pokemon.  “Alice was on point, but you’re all still—did you just fall asleep again, Roxie?!”

Miky snickered as the pup sank to her side between Lori’s legs.

Rhea threw back her own blankets to bring a chirping Nova up to nuzzle her cheek.  “Hehe.  Seems Roxie and Serenity stayed up late talking last night.  Oh, wanna evolve real quick, Nova?”

Her Eevee’s bright pink eyes lit up, swiftly nodding as she drew from Rhea’s fortitude before she could set her down; as could be expected, her weight more than doubled, Nova’s smooth white and black Glaceon figure expanding in Rhea’s arms.

“Aww, you’re so cute!”  Rhea grinned, Nova’s two hair-like extensions wrapping around her neck to pull herself into a hug.  “Yup, super cute!”  she reaffirmed at her little girl’s inquiry, blade-like tail wagging.

Alice was finishing up her morning routine to limber up and called out to Nova, whatever she said drawing attention from the other Pokemon, including the hovering wild Pokemon in the water observing them above.

A little curious as to what they were doing, Rhea got up to stretch herself, Mallory and Amira doing the same while all their Pokemon gathered near one of the water walls.

“Oh, creative!” Amira complimented as some of the water Pokemon sent bubbles inside for Nova to proudly blow frigid wind to freeze them.  “Making balls you can play soccer with?”

“Oh, nice—heh, even got Roxie up to play,” Lori mused, Alice cheerily motioning to Miky to be one of the team captains as she took up the other role.

It warmed Rhea’s heart; Miky was having a rough time, feeling less than adequate for Lori when everyone else had so many more Moves than him.  Amber and Gables weren’t that far off, but only having four Moves was tricky; although Roxie had the least out of the Pokemon Rhea’s mother had given them, they were strong and diverse.

Still, Mallory was super patient and supportive, trying to build up the Impidimp’s confidence; apparently, the other day, he’d been playing with Lori’s phone with Gables and learned from the Pokedex App that it was considered a very difficult starter since it didn’t evolve until mid-Gold-tier, which hurt its already low Move Pool and low stats.

Lori reminded him that he was Dark/Fairy, meaning he only has two weaknesses, Fairy and Steel, and there aren’t too many of those Types around.  Additionally, he’ll have a killer Attack when he evolves, plus a ton of Physical coverage Moves.

He got hung up on what experts argued were his weak points at having low Speed and Defense stats, but Lori countered that everyone had their weaknesses, which is why they were a team; he wasn’t alone.

It made him a bit happier, and their Pokemon had tried to incorporate him more into their playtime, even if he played pranks from time to time that exasperated them.

Readjusting her bikini after stretching, Rhea watched their Pokemon pick their teams for the soccer, including some of the friendly Wild Pokemon; Miky’s first pick was naturally Nova, Alice selecting an interested Vaporeon, which had her Glaceon fired up—she so wanted to be a Vaporeon next—and Miky chose Roxie next.

In the end, it was a five-on-five.

Miky with Nova, Roxie, Amber, and a Squirtle.

Alice with a Vaporeon, Serenity, a Totodile, and Horsea.

Nova reinforced their ball of ice before Alice kicked off the start of the match, using the open water pillars as goals in the long room.

Rhea let them have their fun, heading to the facility shower area in the female guest section to get ready; Bianca hadn’t returned yet, as Rhea figured.

Lori was excited to reveal her sister was cool to hit up a dance club, selecting one that didn’t serve alcohol so they didn’t have to sneak in; some of Cass’ party weren’t comfortable with it, and, naturally, Amira was totally against giving the media any ammunition against them.

The reminder about dancing in a public club with boys they’d only met less than a week ago made Rhea feel a tad ill, but she’d never chickened out of anything before, and it was a new experience; if it had just been them going to hang out and have fun, Rhea would have been fine with it, yet for this to be her first time, she was petrified.

As they got ready, meeting several other teenage girls who used the less-populated area, Lori threw on some music to show them the Unova shuffle dancing that had enthralled the fourteen and fifteen-year-olds.

It was faster than what Rhea was accustomed to from her earlier showcases, the purple-haired girl’s body and bound locks a flurry of activity with her rapid footwork.

After several minutes of showing them it wasn’t quite as difficult as they thought, she got into a much faster and more intense song to demonstrate a more advanced style, explaining it was about getting into the rhythm of the beat, letting your body freely flow.

Rhea began to get it as they went on, increasing her excitement.

Laughing as they went through various songs and tempos, Lori demonstrated how to shuffle dance with someone else, assuring them that Cassey had selected a club that had a shuffle night.

It was more about getting into lockstep with the person next to or across from you, which was more about getting into sync with your partner.  There was also style-oriented where you showed what you had, and the group tried to mirror your flow in the circle, branching out.

Rhea and the other teens had fun trying to find new ways to move their bodies, and being a small party, it wasn’t so constrictive or overwhelming.

They spent the hour practicing before the teens were forced to head off to classes since it was Friday and they weren’t free; washing their sweat off and heading for the cafeteria to get breakfast, their Pokemon joined them, ending their game, Alice 7 wins to Miky’s 4 wins—generally, Alice’s teams tended to win more often than not in soccer.

It was the first time Rhea had been so far away from her Pokemon when they drew on her fortitude, and there was a diminishing return for distance that she had to remember.  Still, since it wasn’t anything super stressful, their Pokemon mainly used far weaker versions of their Moves to play longer.

At this point, it would be a bit before Rhea, Lori, and Amira were rested enough for them to play like that again, but they figured exercising their fortitude like this was a good way to stretch themselves.

Meeting up with Len and Jason—Lucian and his mother were exploring the city together—they decided to find new interesting things about the mythical Sea Temple while having the opportunity.

Many of the waterways used by Manaphy and other Water Pokemon were slick enough to be used as extremely long slides; a few rebellious teens showed them how to get to the highest point to have the most fun, which their Pokemon thoroughly enjoyed.  Lori declined since the end was being dumped into the docking portion of the city, or in other words, the open sea.

After having a bit of fun, Rhea secretly went to Lori and offered to help her, breaking away from Jason, Len, and Amira; the redhead was having a shockingly great time learning how to maximize her speed.

Ushering Lori off, she took the girl to the training pool—meant for four-year-old children—and helped Lori further her swimming lessons so she wouldn’t feel left out or embarrassed staying behind.

It made Rhea happy to see the nervous girl smile as she swam without touching the ground or bobbing; she’d come so far, and quickly, seeing as the Unova girl had been petrified of anything beyond a hot tub before this.

Samiya was the perfect place to help her get over her fears, and it didn’t take all that long to learn how to swim; it was mainly supporting Mallory to get over her fear.

By the time lunch came around, Lori’s resolve had firmed, pledging that before they left the underwater metropolis, she’d swim at the docks—if Amira, Rhea, and one of the People of the Water’s Gyarados was nearby—oh, and she got to wear the bracelet to fly out if needed.

It was huge; even with all the life-lines, the fact she was willing to put herself out there showed how far she’d come from their first kayak ride.

Bianca arrived in the cafeteria for lunch, yawning but still full of life; her cousin set her tray of clam chowder, bread, and vegetables beside Rhea’s, Amira’s group still hadn’t returned from their own split adventure.

Rhea looked at her phone as Bianca settled in next to her, a forced smile lifting her lips at Amira’s question hours earlier.

 

10:25 A.M. Amira:  What were the intentions by leaving me with Jason and Len?

10:27 A.M. Amira:  Hello?

12:45 P.M. Rhea:  Eh-heh, my bad.  I didn’t want to embarrass Lori.  I went to teach her how to swim more.  She’s going to swim at the docks before we go!  Right now, we’re in the cafeteria.  Bianca just showed up.

 

Her cousin leaned in to see what she was typing, Lori returning with her second helping of chowder; Miky and Gables were out now, the Rock Pup going back into her pokeball to sleep.

“Hmm?”  Bianca smirked.

“What?”

“Leave Amira to spend some personal time with Len and Jason?”

“C’mon, Bi,” Rhea sighed, scratching the back of her neck.  “Not everything is about romance.”

“Romance, huh?”  Lori muttered, plopping down beside her and setting the other two bowls for her Pokemon beside it.  “We talkin’ about Heneli and you?”

“What?  No!”

Bianca giggled.  “Aren’t you popular, Rhea?  Heneli and Jason.  Hmm, which are you going to pick?”

“No one!”  she hissed, face flaming as she thought about the two boys.  “I’m just friends—I’ve only spent like a few days with Heneli.”

Lori shrugged.  “I’ve kissed boys in less time.”

“Oh, nice,” Bianca grinned, leaning forward to look at the Unova girl.  “You are pretty forward, though—I was always a shy girl.  I didn’t kiss Hilbert until… Arceus, two years after we left on our journey together?”

“Your first?”  Lori asked, eyebrow lifting as she ripped her bread to dip it in the soup.

“Yeah!  Crazy, huh?  I mean, we were childhood friends—grew up around each other for a while.  Hmm-hmm… kind of like Rhea and Jason.”

“Stop!”  Rhea groaned, not liking being in the middle of Lori and her cousin.

Mallory popped the soaked bread in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed.  “Mmh—so good.  Anyways, I had my first kiss when I was twelve—Matt Chaffer.”

Rhea almost choked.  “T-Twelve?!”

“Mhm.  He was pretty cute and could dance—I think he turned fourteen a week earlier?  Yeah, heh, we didn’t know what the Muk we were doing, but it was interesting.  It was a one-and-done thing, but we were friends after.”

“How can you—why is it no big deal for you, Lori?”

“Eh… well, I mean, hmm…”

Rhea and Bianca leaned forward to see the girl’s lilac irises centered on her bread as she thought for a time, looking a tad melancholy, but she swiftly bounced back.

“Heh, eh, you see, I didn’t know how much time I had to do stuff—you know, life is short—so, I kind of did a lot of stuff to see how it was.”

Bianca puffed out a long stream of air.  “Life is short, huh?  Not wrong…  Yeah, still, my lips have only been touched by Hilbert, and heh, I don’t know if I should feel proud about that, but I do!”

“Haha!  Good for you,” Lori cheered.  “It’s nice being so confident you’ve found the right partner.  How’d you know, by the way?”

Glad to have the focus off her, Rhea quietly picked at her food, a tad hungry after Nova and Alice’s liberal use of her fortitude.

“Hmm… good question,” her cousin whispered, tapping her piece of bread against her bottom lip before biting into it; finishing the mouth full, she shrugged.  “Let’s see…  I don’t know.  I suppose I didn’t really know, but just like in a relationship, you pull the trigger and make it work—heh, marriage isn’t easy—no, ma’am!”

“Oh?  I, eh-heh, guess I do have some experience with that when it comes to my parents.  What’s hard about it with Hilbert, though?  Silver and Lyra seem to totally get along, and you have a lot of good things to say about Hilbert—eh, besides him being away.  Haha!”

“Well… mmh, that’s kind of the problem, I guess,” she mumbled.  “Hilbert’s a Champion-tier Trainer, and you don’t get there without sacrificing a lot…  I’m, eh, not trying to sound jealous—maybe I am a bit, I admit—but I think he’s spent almost more time with Hilda than me some years.”

Rhea hadn’t heard this from her cousin before; all she tended to talk about when it came to her husband was how amazing he was, and he went above and beyond to try to make it back for weeks at a time, yet it was true, always competing for the Champion seat with Hilda, and now Iris taking his attention away must have been rough.

Swallowing the bread in her mouth and clearing her throat, Rhea shifted a tad to better look at Bianca.  “You okay, Cuz?”

“No, yeah!  Of course, I totally understand why Hilbert’s always away, and if I had chosen to continue training with them, I’m sure I would have had a ton more time with them…”

“But you enjoy researching more than Training,” Rhea answered.

Lori nodded.  “Rough.  Your work doesn’t take up all your time like Training does, right?”

“Yeah.  True… I try to busy myself with learning more about cooking—which, heh, is kind of a science in itself—but it can get lonely up in the Unova mountains.  Still, it’s better than living in a big city where everyone stalks me, and I get harassed.”

“If you ever feel lonely, you can come and hang with us,” Rhea offered, reaching over to hug her cousin.  “Seriously, you can leave your Pokemon in Unova to guard the village—or bring one or two—just if you’re feeling low.”

“Hehe.  Thanks, Rhea,” Bianca chuckled, returning the hug.  “No, I actually feel a little bad—I, eh, kind of ditched you yesterday, and I haven’t even taught you that lie-less braid!”

“I can do that,” Bianca nodded.  “I call it an organic braid.”

“Oh!  Yeah, that sounds awesome,” Lori jumped in.  “Eh, Rhea, your phone…”

“Amira… she says she’s heading this way with Len and Jason.  I guess after they eat, we should prepare to leave and meet up with Cass, right?”

“Eh… yeah, there’s some stuff we can do before meeting up with the Alola boys; we gotta stop by the Center to grab the packages.”

Her mother’s previous proposal popped back into Rhea’s head.  “Wait, what about the Master Ball thing; what did you guys decide?”

“Ah, right, right.  Amira made a pretty compelling argument regarding it, and she thinks by the time we end Bronze-tier, we might even out level Silver or be on the verge of Gold if we keep at this pace.”

“For real?”

“Oh, it’s not that outlandish,” Bianca added.  “Heh, a lot of Trainers test out of Bronze by the time they get to the League, and even if they ‘officially’ make it to Silver, they generally are strong enough to test out of it, which most of the final League contestants do.”

Thinking back on all the Masters’ statements and stories she’d heard in the past, Rhea started to connect the dots.  “Okay…  Wait, so a lot of the Masters complete all the Encrusted challenges, though… is that why they’re missing some in-between?”

“You seriously didn’t know?”  Lori questioned in surprise.

Bianca snickered as she shook her head.  “Rhea only really follows her brother when it comes to journeys or Training; he’s completed every Encrusted Gym on every tier up to Platinum, many times training up secondary teams to take on the lower brackets to not outclass them.”

“I just thought he liked to diversify his roster,” Rhea mumbled, feeling a tad self-conscious she’d been totally oblivious to the real reason.  “Kate likes to help Wild Pokemon that are struggling, and my brother has a ton of Pokemon he trains together…”

Her cousin slid her tray to the side, leaning forward to rest her head against her hand while smiling at her.  “Your brother’s really kind—it’s actually to stay pace with Kate—if he didn’t, they’d outpace her, and he doesn’t want to do that.”

“Aww, that’s sweet,” Lori cooed at the real reason.  “No wonder he was so strong when he came to our rescue; should he really be Master-tier?”

“Roughly, yes.  He’s breaking into the lower field of Masters.  Katelin has a very kind heart and is more of a Ranger at her core, but likes to feel that personal connection to each of her Pokemon to have a more personal approach than what the Rangers do—it’s more centralized for a specific kind of support a Pokemon might need.”

Rhea stared at her half-finished portion of clam chowder, recalling the dozens upon dozens of Pokemon Kate had bonded with and separated from.  She’d heard it was on good terms, but didn’t know it was that deep, showing how much she really knew about her brother’s girlfriend, her rival for his attention, as she’d previously seen it.

“So… Kate struggles to keep a balanced team and is always bringing up Pokemon unaccustomed to professional competitions?”

“Muk,” Lori mumbled, processing the implications.  “She must be an amazing Trainer if she can turn Wild Platinum-tier Pokemon—totally unaccustomed to the competitive scene—into contenders with so little tactical and cooperative experience.”

“She is very skilled,” Bianca chuckled.  “So, given how much potential your Pokemon have, and if you continue to train with one another, as you get more experience, very few Bronze-tier Trainers will stand a chance.”

Rhea forced a laugh.  “Yeah… we also learned the Gyms have to make our challenge a lot harder because of how strong our Pokemon are.  Really… a lot of my success so far has been totally due to how strong these guys are,” she said, reaching out to pet her chirping Eevee and Buneary.  “I have a lot of growing to do, myself.”

Lori lifted her hand for Miky and Gables to give it a high-five.  “No need to be hard on yourself, Rhea—Bronze-tier is all about finding your footing.  Right, Bianca?”

“Mhm!  It’s why there are ways to advance beyond Tiers; each one is designed to help you advance certain aspects of your Training—from Weather, Field Effects, Stat reduction, teamwork… as you grow, so do the challenges.  Bronze is to get you ready for the real stuff.”

Pulling up their Training record, Rhea grimaced, noticing their Bounty had gone up to 20k again.  “Well… the League has certainly made it more difficult for those who are strong,” she mused, showing them the credits against their loss.

“Competition,” Bianca giggled.  “I’m personally not for that decision, but it does put a target on your back and shows people want to see you battle—big matches like that are generally spread on social media.”

“True!” Mallory laughed, showing them a long list of cuts and commentary on their public battle against the Alolan gang a few days earlier.  “Almost 300k views in a few days—we were trending.”

“Why didn’t I notice…”

“Haha, because you’re all about that Gossip App,” Lori pointed out.  “You’re not on Poketub or other social media platforms besides a private Pikabook account!”

“I just… never really had any friends that used it,” she mumbled.  “Plus, I was always outdoors, doing stuff with Jason, my brother, or my dad.”

“In other words, a sheltered mountain girl!”  Lori snickered.

“Mmgm… I like to think I was a proactive, outdoorsy girl,” she huffed.  “I had a lot of fun growing up.”

“Hehe.  I didn’t say you didn’t!”

“You didn’t make it sound good…”

“Just different!  Erm… to be honest, I think Cass might have been better like that—social media is cancerous to some people…  Anyways, umm—I think Amira should be here soon.  Want to take one last tour around this place and head back up to grab our stuff at the Center?”

Sliding past the comments about her childhood and teenage activities, Rhea nodded.  “Ready to swim for the first time in open waters—virgin swimmer?!”

“Ooh!”  Bianca snickered.  “On the offensive!”

“Nice one!”  Lori laughed.  “Ugh… this is going to suck… but let’s do it!”

Getting up, they met with Amira, Len, and Jason—they’d been getting a tour of more secret areas by the local kids—and went to the best spots to post various screenshots on Pikabook.

Amira was reasonably proficient at finding the right filters, lighting, and positions to take stunning pictures.  Apparently, her mother dabbled in amateur photography—an excuse, according to Amira, to force her into participating—evidently, Lyra was the founder of the hashtag Crafty_Mothers_Unite.

Lori looked it up to find it shockingly active across regions, and sure enough, Lyra’s social media profile was attached to it; tens of thousands of mothers were sharing memes, funny stories, and advice for aspiring crafty mothers.

Having their fun, Bianca told them what she’d found at the ruins as they got things ready for Lori’s big test.

It was the entrance of a secret Pokémopolis research outpost that required some kind of activation to reach the lower levels; interestingly, it was protected against teleportation, much like Samiya’s defenses.

There was a passcode of sorts that needed to be used, but there was the possibility of brute-forcing it, and as it so happened, they had one of the strongest teleport Pokemon in the entire world nearby.

On request, Diantha promised to help Bianca reach it on the last day she’d be able to stay in Kanto—the 5th, the day after tomorrow—since she was here for her son.  It would be the day after Lori and Amira challenge Misty; she’d also invited them to join if they so wanted, the Kalos Champion acting as their escort in the potentially dangerous, ancient zone.

Excited to find another hidden mystery by visiting the secret, underwater metropolis, they set it on their calendar; the ruins of an ancient civilization’s research center with her cousin?  Rhea was ecstatic!

Gathering at the edge of the docks, Rhea helped Lori get into the water; the girl’s usual relaxed attitude now shakes and stammers.

“S-So… you’ll get me if I go under—and no Pokemon will, you know…”

“No.  I got you—see Jonesy?”  Rhea reassured, directing her attention to the big, sea snake-like dragon that could easily rise out of the water and carry her to safety.

“Mhm…”

“Yup, he’ll make sure you’re 100% okay!  We got you!”

“You’ll do great!”  Bianca cheered.

A big grin came across Len’s face.  “If you drown, can I have your guitar?”

“Shut up!”

“At least a pick—c’mon, don’t be stingy—ya won’t need it!”

“Yeah, sure, whatever—I’ll be dead…  Muk!  You suck Onix, Len!”

A few people winced at her language.

“Hehe.  You’re fine!”

Getting in beside her, she slowly got the girl’s white fingers away from the dock and into the water.  “Calm… slowly—remember…”

“I… I know…  I-I think I’m going—Rhea!”

“You’re fine—see, Jonesy’s below you…”

“Okay…  I’m—I’m doing it?”

“Yup!  Just remember to kick with your legs and cup your fingers… Good!  Look at you!”

“I’m doing it!”

“You totally are!  You’re amazing!”

“N-No, you’re amazing!”  Lori cried, choking up and getting emotional.  “I’ve…  I’ve never swam like this before…”

“Don’t stop—keep going!”

“Y-Yeah…  Thanks, Rhea.”

“Hehe.  Now, just don’t leave me hanging with the dance—okay?”

“Totally…  I can swim now…”

Chest burning with pride at seeing how overwhelmed her teammate was at finally conquering much of her fear of water, they spent a bit longer before she needed to get out.  It would take time to build up her confidence without having at least some support at sea, but this was big.

Now, it was Rhea’s turn to get over her fear of dancing with boys; her own titanic opponent would be showing up soon, and she could use everyone she could in her corner, just like Lori.

Saying goodbye to some of the teens and Lizabeth—who came to see them off—they returned to the surface via Diantha’s teleport; it had been a magical stay in the underwater Sea Temple.

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