Like No One Ever Was

Dragging my drenched self up, I gave Dun a few Potions and returned him to his ball to rest up after a hard-fought battle. Clay beckoned me over and I walked across the battlefield to the Gym Leader. “Well played, little miss- Nemona,” the large man said, tipping his hat to me.

“Thank you, Leader Clay. Your team was great. I didn’t know Drillbur could get Mold Breaker.”

Lacey walked up, completely dry as she had been standing back, outside of the rain zone. “Really? My Drillbur has it too.”

“He’s a special one, your Drillbur,” Clay said. “That there is their Hidden Ability. Only a couple a Drillburs ever manage to learn it.” Lacey nodded at her father’s words looking down at her starter with newfound wonder in her eyes.

“Wow… Still, I can’t believe that you lost Daddy!” Her high-pitched voice carried up, and I thought I heard a few chuckles from above at that as Clay winced. Might as well help the guy out, especially after our great match.

“It’s kinda a Gym Leader’s job to lose. They only give an appropriate challenge for the trainer’s level. Dun and Miles did great, but they wouldn’t have stood a chance if he had used even a 6 badge challenge team.” Clay gave a small shrug at my words.

“Might be oversimplifyin’ things a bit much there, but ya ain’t wrong. Still, me and my Drill- Excadrill fought hard to get where we are, and that battle was tha greatest gift ya could have given us today.” He caught my gaze, looking seriously at me. “Yer gonna go far, I ken see that now. Ya beat me fair and square, so I’ve got something for ya.”

From his pocket, he pulled out two objects passing them over to me. One was a Technical Machine, a thin brown disc. The other was a small, mostly vertical piece of metal with a gold outline. The inside sections were a scale of browns and grays, one section slightly shifted off the other. A gym badge.

Flipping it over, I saw a small note inscribed on the back saying something: “Not for official use?” I asked aloud. It's also engraved with his signature too.

“I can’t give ya a real badge as ya ain’t signed up for the Gym circuit this season. Still, ya earned it in my books, I came at you full hog and ya came out smellin like daisies!” I glanced at my sopping wet self and just raised an eyebrow, much to the amusement of Lacey, trying her best (read: Not great as a seven-year-old) attempt at concealing her amusement. Clay just waved me off. “Ya know what I mean! I hope it’ll make fer a nice reminder of our battle. The TM for Bulldoze too. Might not be as strong as yer Earthquake but-”

“It can cripple movement and lower speed! There are some good uses for it.” I said excitedly before stopping myself and giving him a small bow. “I will, thank you for the match.” Clay offered his hand out to me and I shook it, the crowd above us cheering wildly.

With the match concluded, we stepped onto the lift and began rising back up. Lacey said rather suddenly partway up “It’s still really impressive ya won against Daddy. You’re the same age as me, and I couldn’t do that!”

Before I could say anything, Clay added his two cents. “Good eye my girl, Nemona here is quite gifted. We’d love ta see ya compete in the actual gym circuit. I bet a prodigy like you would turn quite a few heads.” That elicited a bittersweet smile from me. Not all heads would turn in awe. I’m well aware that plenty will turn into envy and loathing.

Still, the offer to compete in the Unovan Gym Circuit from one of their leaders was tempting. Black was one of my favorite games, and this land would be great to explore. In the end, though, I shook my head. “Maybe in a few years. I want to try out the circuit at home first.”

He nodded and Lacey clasped her hands together, begging. “You’ll have to tell me all about it!”

Flustered, I scratched the back of my head. “I hadn’t been thinking of trying it soon or anything, but sure, I’d love to stay in touch. Miles-” Wait, they’re still out of it. Flushing lightly at my gaff I pulled out the uninhabited phone case and sent her my number. I didn’t have time to do much else before we reached the top and the awaiting crowd descended upon us.

***

My parents and sister were the first ones there hugging me, congratulating me, and bragging loudly about how I “Showed true Glitterati spirit out there!” Even they couldn’t hold off the horde forever though, and eventually, I found myself inundated with questions and comments.

One of the first was an elderly gentleman with an impressive mustache who asked me: “What breeder did you get that Dunsparce from?”

“Uh, no breeder. I just found him on the beach one day.”

“Really? Fascinating.” Ehh, not that fascinating. Any Pokemon can achieve greatness with enough training. I agree Dun is great, but it’s not that crazy a concept.

“We’ve been training together for over a year now.”

A young blonde woman cut into the conversation. “Oh, you have to tell us your training method! My cousin, he reached the top eight of the Vertress Conference two years ago.”

“Oh really? That’s cool, I entered a Junior Tournament back home. Made it to the semi-finals before DQ, but the judge was-”

“Yes, my cousin’s the Anthony Zabraski, you may have heard of him,” the woman interrupted me. “He said he needed to train daily with Power Braces on all of his Pokemon, is that true?”

“Well, some people might-”

“But Tony always takes the time to carefully care for his Zebstrika’s fur. It’s so important and…”

Recognizing that she was going to keep on going on like this I slipped away while she was still too enamored by the sound of her own voice to notice my disappearing act. The rest of the guests did not, however, many more hounded me with questions. More often than not it was just to get their photos taken with me and occasionally Dun.

I wasn’t the only one under a lot of scrutiny, plenty of people going to talk to Clay about the match. There were a lot of people congratulating him for the show or appreciating the match, the look at what a gym battle was like. Some of their comments were a bit more critical, though not of Clay…

“I didn’t even know Dunsparce could evolve.” A voice carried out through the crowd to my ears. It was soon joined by another, deeper voice.

“Not much to look at though, just a bit longer. It was quite nice of Clay to let the little girl win, but I fear she’ll develop a bad mindset if she thinks she can truly succeed with that.”

At this point, I had to drop down and hug Dun. Many people thought it was a cute photo and snapped a few shots with their Rotom Phones, not realizing I was barely holding back my starter from ending that man who insulted him. “It’s alright Dun, don’t listen to the haters.”

Part of why I was stopping him was the fact that I could hear the angry exhale from Clay as he heard the ignorant guests voice their opinions next to him. As expected, a minute later he was tearing a (verbal) strip off of them, quite loudly too. The two rude guests were tripping over themselves to apologize and practically running away from the party in shame.

I doubt they’ll be able to show their faces again in ‘polite society’ for a while. At least not till the gossip mill kicks up something else good. I didn’t like them insulting Dun and was quite happy to hear Clay tell them off, overhearing so many other guests whispering about them, talking about how they were going to tell everyone and what it might mean for them in the future made me feel uncomfortable.

“Dudun?” Dun asked and I shook my head helplessly.

“Nothing important just… I’m glad they got a comeuppance, but annoyed with why. Not because what they said was wrong, but because Clay was the one to call them out.”

“Ar?” He tilted his large head at me. Looking down at him, I noticed him shifting his body around, getting accustomed to his extra length and trying to avoid bowling over anyone behind him with his new segments and longer tail.

“He’s more famous and important than them, so their social status is hurt. Not because what they said was wrong, which it was, but just because of who called them out. It’s annoying because it isn’t… right.”

“It’s good to have a solid moral framework.” A new voice said, and turning around I saw a man in a white suit with the oddest hair I’d ever seen. It was mostly yellow, with a few gray hairs poking through on the top, but then there was this long blue strand of hair that looped up around one side of his head and all the way around to the other before swooping down.

“Um, hello?” I said, somewhat distracted by his hair. Why does that feel familiar? It’s so weird, I can’t have ever seen that style before, right?

“I noticed you brought out your Dudunsparce’s power quite well. They’re a species known for running away at the first sign of trouble, as well as being somewhat rare in general. There’s very few cases of them evolving in the wild, so I’m curious as to what you did to bring out his power to that point.”

“Oh, well I’ve added special nutrients to his diet and made good use of Technical Machines, his Normal Typing giving him a wide range. Though, it’s about his drive. He wanted to become strong, so I did my best to let him grow. We train daily, consistently working on getting stronger together, and, well, here we are.” I finished reaching down to scratch the top of his head.

“Duun.” My starter warbled, and the strange man smiled at us.

“I see. Thank you for satiating my curiosity. If you’ll excuse me.” He then walked past us, heading straight out of the party. Wonder who that guy is?

***

“I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him!” I wailed for the umpteenth time to Miles the next day. After my family made our excuses to leave (mostly by citing me, who hadn’t had the chance to deal with all the water and being soaked) we went back to the hotel. By the morning, Miles was already back and ready, inhabiting their phone once more.

When I awoke in my hotel room, I told them about what happened after they were knocked unconscious, they helped me go through some of my memories and pointed out who the mystery man sounded like. “Colress, just there, hanging out at a party. I wonder what he was even doing there?”

“Bzzt, perhaps he got invited to the party because he helped with some of the construction below?” Miles guessed. “Though I haven’t seen any sign of him being listed on the team that’s working on that, bzzt.”

I shook my head. “Not a bad idea, honestly. Colress may not be an architect or a construction worker, but he’s one of the smartest people aside from Pokemon Professors. Probably even including them. He’s likely a bit of a touchy subject around here.” Understatement of the century there.

“Why?” Miles inquired.

“He used to be on an evil team. Heck, used to run it, sorta, for a time.”

“Whaaaat?” Miles shrieked so loud I winced a bit. Ok, maybe some downsides to teaching them Hyper Voice. “Bzzzzzt, how can you be calm knowing you were around a man like that?”

I shrugged. “That was a long time ago. Besides, he’s always been a researcher more than anything else. He worked with Team Plasma to find ways to strengthen Pokemon, not because he ever agreed with their goals, but as a means to his ends.”

“So, is he a bad guy, bzzt?” Miles asked, confused.

“That’s… complicated. I don’t think he is, not anymore at least. He seems to have reformed after the end of his time with Team Plasma in most media. In Ultra Sun and Moon, he even helps the player stop Rainbow Rocket. That uh, probably didn’t happen in this reality,” I added sheepishly. The Ultra Wormholes and any crisis on Alola aren’t talked about much online, so I can’t be certain. “I don’t think he’d just be going to parties if he was still a wanted criminal, so he must have made some deals with the League.”

Part of me wondered what those deals would entail, and why he was so interested in Dun. I mean, bringing out a Pokemon’s power is generally what he’s always been looking for. It’s funny, I wonder if, in a different time or situation, he would have just been an unnamed scientist working in the background, making battle items or the like. What people have accomplished with those is kinda insane.

“Enough of that for now, you gotta see what happened to Dun!” I said brightly. In telling Miles what had occurred, I had glossed over Dun’s evolution to leave it a surprise. Holding up my Pokeball I said: “Presenting-”

“He evolved, didn’t he bzzt?” Miles interrupted me.

“Wha- how?!” At that, Dun released himself from the Pokeball, his new body taking up much more space and leaving me feeling a bit crowded by the hotel bed and dresser. He glared up at Miles, the plasmic Pokemon vibrating mischievously.

“Bzzt, apologies, but it was fairly obvious. You said he was on the verge of evolving for a while now, and it sounded like quite the tough battle between him and that Excadrill. She beat me even as a Drillbur.”

“Du. Sparce dun.” Dun fired back, causing Miles to figuratively puff up.

“Bzzzzzzt, I was tired from handling the other two, I could have taken her down if it wasn’t for that!” I chuckled at their competitiveness, glad to see they were still getting along, in their vitriolic fashion. Then Miles took a better look at him and his ghostly jaw dropped. “Th-three segments! Then that means…”

That this is the Dunsparce the real Nemona would have picked? “It could be. Could still be random chance, 1 in 100, and all that. But whether you're ‘the same’ Dudunsparce that would have been picked or not, I feel like this is a sign. A sign that we’re on the right track, and that you’re going to be the best.” Dun nuzzled into me affectionately at my words of support, his new mass nearly enough to knock me over. “Whoa!”

“Dudun.” He said, and I couldn’t fully understand his message, but knew that he was proud to be standing at my side as well.

Wiping my eyes as they got a bit watery I said: “Alright guys, let’s head out. There’s bound to be a bunch to see here.” Miles returned to my pocket for the time being, while Dun was happy to stretch his ‘legs’, so to speak. At almost five meters in length, he was large enough that he had to curl around a few times to fit in the elevator alongside me. Well, at least he still fits. Means I should be able to have him out when I need to fight Turo.

The hotel we were staying at was incredibly fancy, as to be expected given my family. Marble columns dotted the entrance hall, a fountain in the center, and the dining room was set up with a grand buffet.

Cyan waved me over to the table she and my parents were at. While they had all seen and admired Dun’s new stature, Popplio hadn’t been out to see it yet. When he did, he backed up a bit, slightly nervous around the large Pokemon peeking out behind Cyan’s legs. He soon realized it was his old friend when Dun gave a low “Dun. Dudun.” In no time at all the Water Type had scampered onto Dun’s back and was riding him around the dining hall.

“They seem happy,” my sister commented as she finished up her breakfast. Mom and Dad were already done with theirs, so I must have slept in a bit from all of the excitement of the night before.

“I think Dun will be on cloud nine for at least a week. I can’t wait to get to training and see how strong he’s gotten!” We got a minor glimpse last night, but the battle ended immediately afterward. There are more Moves he can learn now, from Technical Machines and naturally. His strength and toughness will have improved tons, but there will be general improvements all around. Then there are the little things, like checking how his flexibility and general range of motion have changed, we’ll need to-

My musings were cut off by my mother clearing her throat rather pointedly. “Yes, that’s all good and well dear, but…”

As my mother trailed off, Billy valiantly picked up. “Your Glitterati spirit shines brightly, but there’s such a thing as shining too much, you understand? A candle that burns at both ends-”

“We’re giving you an intervention,” Cyan deadpanned. Our parents nodded their heads at that.

“What? Wait what?” I was having trouble wrapping my head around the words they were saying. Taking a moment, I sat down at the table they had commandeered, suspecting this might take a minute.

“You train waaaaaay too much.” Cyan clarified, stretching her arms out wide as if to emphasize just how much I was training. “You and Dun, and Miles too, all train every day.” She gave me a sad look and added “Just, take a break.”

“I do take breaks. I would never work Dun or Miles too hard,” I defended. “And look at all the time I spend not training now! I do martial arts and music, and look up things online…”

O’Nare said, “Nemona honey, training yourself still counts as training.”

My sister unhelpfully added “And most of the stuff you look up online is just to help train further.” I couldn’t help but wince at that. Sometimes I look up mechanical designs or scientific discoveries or global politics… ok, that is a lot of work, especially from the perspective of me being a seven-year-old.

“Ok, it is a lot, but… think of how many people want to be a Champion? I have to work that hard if I want to reach my dream.”

“Ah, to see our daughter dreaming so far, it’s…” My father caught a glimpse of my mother shaking her head. “A wonderful example of youthful enthusiasm that may need slight curbing.” With a sigh, he added “We want you to know we’re oh so proud of you, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the time to take a break.”

“Even trainers like that Hassel fellow take time off,” O’Nare added, and I reluctantly nodded.

“Still-” My words were cut off by Dun knocking his head into my side. He underestimated his strength, so what was meant to be a gentle prod became a force that sent me toppling off. Luckily, he was fast enough to correct this, whipping his body around and letting me bounce off his soft scales.

“Dun dun.” He replied solemnly and my eyes nearly fell out of my sockets.

“You? You’re telling me I ought to take a break?” I asked incredulously, recalling the hissy fit he had thrown before when I had suggested taking it easy before. He at least had the decency to look sheepish at that but added:

“Arce.”

“Yeah, I get it.” At my family’s questioning looks I clarified “Dun just said ‘Yeah, and if I’m saying it, then maybe it’s important.’ Or ‘maybe I know what I’m talking about.’ Something along those lines at least.” Dun nodded his head, agreeing that I had gotten the gist of what he was saying. We’ve gotten a lot better at understanding each other, but I have no clue how someone like N managed to be perfectly fluent in Pokemon.

“Ah, our youngest has the heart of a true Glitterati to be able to understand the heart of her Pokemon so!”

“Thanks, Mom,” I said with a small smile as I tried to adapt to this. “Ok, vacation, vacation. What to do on a vacation…” I thought out loud for a minute before an idea came to me. “Hey, could we go to Nimbasa City? I heard they have a huge amusement park there-”

“That’s a wonderful idea! Oh, to see the dazzling sights from atop the Ferris wheel!” Billy interrupted.

“I want to go on the go-carts,” Cyan added.

“It’s settled then,” O’Nare declared. “To Nimbasa City we go!”

“Thanks, guys, I really appreciate it- wait, don’t start leaving already! I still need to pack up my things and get some food!”

***

Shortly thereafter, we were heading over to Nimbasa City. Can’t believe they considered taking the private jet to the next-door city. I managed to argue them out of it by pointing out we could see some of the sights as we went across the bridge connecting Driftveil to Nimbasa, so they ordered a limousine to take us across.

While supposedly not as incredible as the Skyarrow Bridge (which I could only agree with based on my memories of the games, not reality), the Driftveil Drawbridge still had quite the view. Small ships passed beneath, alongside all sorts of Water Pokemon drifting atop the waves. Off in the distance, massive freighters held back waiting for the people like us to finish crossing so the bridge could be raised and they could pass through.

Nimbasa looked like a nice and festive city, with many lights and streamers hanging about. A lot like Mesagoza actually, though I imagine they look way different during the night, given all the lights here. Electric Types were a common sight, Emolga’s gliding from wire to wire. I wonder what’s done to regulate Electric Types in cities? In a place like this, they have Elesea, the Electric Gym Leader, but other cities must draw the attention of Electric Types as well, given their nature.

There were all manner of attractions we passed by as we went East through town. Contests, Movie studios, and even the Gym. My hand itched towards Dun’s Pokeball at the last one, but I forced it down. Time to have tons of fun, like… on the Ferris Wheel!

I could see it in the distance and the thing was massive. “Wow.” That was all I could say. My sister was a tad more eloquent.

“Quite the unique design, it’s over a hundred meters tall. Do you want to ride it?”

“I do, but maybe later. It’s just noon now, I think it’ll be best at sunset or in the evening.” Our driver pulled to a stop at the entrance to the amusement park. We were so close we were blocking the way for people to get in or out. I feel like this is illegal, but I guess that isn’t a problem when you’re rich. We got off and I made sure to leave quickly to try and encourage the driver to get out of the way soon.

“Saving it for the evening sounds good. So where to first?” My sister asked.

“The rollercoaster! C’mon!” I shouted running a few meters ahead only to turn back and see our parents had stopped still, shocked by what lay before them.

“My word, could it be…?”

“So many commoners…”

“All together!?”

They shouted the last line in unison, looking like they had just stumbled upon a Legendary.

“I think they’ve got their distraction,” I said wryly, which caused my sister to nod her head and laugh.

“Alright, let’s go!”

“Pop!”

“Dun!”

The rides were a bunch of fun, reminding me of the amusement parks and rides I had gone on in my past life. Almost everything felt exhilarating and great, from tossing my hands up as the rollercoaster looped around, to dancing through the hall of mirrors, to racing up and down a massive jungle gym-type structure.

The slight issue with it was that Dun could not join us for the attractions themselves. Popplio was only allowed on a couple where he could be properly secured (so not the rollercoaster), but Dun was just too big now to go with us on most of them. He didn’t seem too upset by that however as he slithered by my side between each attraction, catching the eyes and phone cameras of many passersby.

“Wow, you’re sure popular, aren’t you?” I said and he preened at the throng looking at him, letting out a deep growl. “I guess they don’t have many Dunsparce here, let alone a Dudunsparce.” Unova in the games had few other regional Pokemon to be found in the wild, and while that had changed over time with greater globalization, my research said that outside of a few sites, that trend persisted.

We got sugary snacks from the stands nearby as we spent the day just relaxing and enjoying all the attractions. Miles was small enough to go with us on the rides, but given their ability to levitate, didn’t get the same experience we ground-bound people did. Still, they were content to spectate and take pictures, something I made sure to thank them for. I always get too caught up in the moment when vacationing to take pictures myself, but I love looking at them afterward.

Eventually, the day was coming to a close and we managed to meet up with our parents, who had gathered handfuls of ‘commoner autographs’ which they were treated like prized possessions. At least they’ve stopped gawking at every passerby. With them, we headed to the Ferris wheel.

This ride was actually big enough for Dun to fit on, and the rest of us, if we all squeezed a bit and no one else was on with us. Given it was one of the busiest times of operation, I thought this might be a challenge when I voiced the thought to my family, but apparently not for a Glitterati.

“You two commoners. Yes, you two,” my Mother called out while Cyan and I cringed at O’Nare’s behavior. “We will be needing the entirety of this capsule for our family,” she stated imperiously. “Please take these pearls as recompense for sacrificing your spots,” she added, pulling out two large strings of pearls.

The teenagers she was talking to exchanged a glance and quickly snatched the pearls, stepping off of the ride to let us go.

Dad was wooing about her generosity while the door closed and I released Dun. He squeezed around over the floor and chairs but was able to lift his head to the window and stare outside. Slowly we rose as the wheel turned and we were presented with a gorgeous vision of purples, reds, and oranges on the horizon as we stared out at the setting sun.

“Duuuu.”

“You said it, Dun,” I agreed before glancing at my family as caught up with the wonder of it all as I was. “It’s incredible.” I sat down on top of Dun and we watched the natural light fade, only to be replaced by the dazzling glitter of the artificial lights that covered the city below.