Destiny [Pokémon]

❥ chapter VII

While you were nibbling on your lower lip and letting out a quiet, continuous hum, absorbed in thought, your gaze unconsciously wandered to the Rainbow Pokémon's multi-coloured feather lying next to the empty mug on your nightstand. It was dazzling, and you were left blinking as it caught the light of the sun oozing into your room and began sparkling.

Hell, maybe there was something like fate. Maybe your mom had guessed right. Maybe the time had come for you to become a Pokémon Trainer. What was there to lose anyway? If travelling across the region turned out to be not your thing after all, you could just come back to Hydrus Village and pick up where you had left off in school and your life, as simple as that. The same went for when you had completed your Pokémon journey and wanted to return to your former life.

This was your chance. This was the perfect opportunity. Every Pokémon Trainer needed a Pokémon to accompany them when they started their journey; some of them were hand-picked by their region's respective Pokémon Professor to complete a task for them—such as gathering information for the region's Pokédex—and got a starter Pokémon from them to do so.

You had originally planned on going to Apus Town, located on the coast north-east to Hydra Town, to visit the Pokémon Lab there and try your luck at asking Professor Hyperion to let you have one of his starters. But now here you were, with not only one, but with two Pokémon offering to be your starters. If you accepted, you could save yourself the trouble of having to go all the way to Apus Town for what might turn out to be absolutely nothing—because who knew if the Professor would really give you one of his starter Pokémon ...

You probably wouldn't get such a chance ever again. And let's be honest here, who could say no to Pokémon as cute as these two? It seemed like today was the day you would overthrow all the plans you had made for the time after school. Scrap waiting two more years. You would do it now. With your age of 16 years, you could already be considered quite old for someone to start their Pokémon journey, seeing as most kids started theirs at the tender age of 10. But something as trivial as that wouldn't stop you from making your dreams come true.

You still had to make lots of travel preparations, though, like stocking up on Poké Balls, herbal medicine—they were your specialty as a nurse after all—and a couple of other items. (You had begun saving money to be able to afford them all some time ago; you just hoped the money would be enough.) Luckily, you already had a PokéNav Plus, so you didn't have to spend money on that. You had gotten it from your parents as a birthday gift several years ago, but up until now, you had merely used it to call your friends and video-chat with them. But most importantly, of course, you had to tell your parents about all this, tell them that you had now made up your mind.

"Well," you began, looking down at the two Feeling Pokémon on your lap who both returned your look with a spark of curiosity in their eyes, "when you put it that way, I can't say no to that."

Near-instantly, radiant smiles worked their way across the Ralts siblings' faces and into their striking eyes. They seemed to be equally delighted by your positive answer, though the female dual-type Pokémon expressed her elation in a much more obvious manner, practically squealing in joy whilst jumping up and down on your legs. Her brother, on the contrary, continued to stay put, seemingly a bit embarrassed by her behaviour.

"Great!" she exclaimed cheerily, having stopped in her jumping just to be able to speak to you in an intelligible manner. "When will we leave? Today?"

You chuckled at her adorable display of excitement. "My, my, aren't we eager? But I don't think so. My parents will finish work this evening around seven o'clock, and I have to wait until then before I can talk to them. I've got to tell them about my decision, but I don't want to disturb them at work. And I want to get a good night's sleep before we set off. That's why we'll leave tomorrow."