"Come on, Touya, we need to get off this beach. It's starting to rain!" I ran towards the town in front of us, dragging Touya by his arm. My boots sank in the wet sand; the sand finding a way to wedge itself into the crevices and cracks of my boot. It squished underneath me as I ran.
"If we stay out here any longer I'm going to get a cold!" I complained.
"Then just take my jacket," Touya offered, pulling off his jacket.
"No, no! I will not. Not again," I assured him, putting my hands out in front of me to stop him from even attempting. He pulled his arm off of my grip and wrapped the coat around my shoulders.
"Come on, let's keep going before I get a cold," he poked. I sneered at him, knowing that if he got a cold all he would do is whine and complain and ask me to bring him cafeteria soup, which would definitely extend our trip to Nimbasa City even longer than it already has been.
It's a good thing we got here from Humilau pretty quick! I thought to myself, as the sounds of the sea churning became more evident as the powerful waves crashed along the shore.
"Come on!" I yelled over the cacophony, grabbing Touya's arm once again, and barely holding onto his coat on my shoulders. We ran into Undella Town, where we looked around desperately for the Pokémon Center. Although we had been here numerous times, the darkness brought by both the late afternoon and storm clouds made it hard to see. The rain was starting to come down harder, and the little shower that started it off had turned into a huge storm. Palm trees swayed with such force, I thought they might snap. Thunder and lightning crashed off in the distance, making me shiver a little from fear, the whole "being drenched" thing probably didn't help either.
"There it is!" I yelled over the claps of thunder.
"I see it too! Let's go!" This time he was the one to drag me. I had stepped in too many puddles to count, and my socks were starting to get soaked through my boots, the sand from before obviously not helping my situation. Luckily, it didn't take us to long to get across the vacant street and run for cover inside the Pokémon Center. The automatic doors opened and we both jumped inside, anxious to get out of the storm. I collapsed on the floor, just as soon as I knew we were in, sitting a few feet from the front door. Exhaustion heaved on my chest.
"Welcome, welcome!" Nurse Joy greeted us. I looked up from where I was sitting, and smiled tiredly at the amiable lady.
"Can you help me up, Touya?" I asked, holding out my arms.
"Yeah sure," he mumbled, grabbing my arm and pulling me off the ground. We started making our way to Nurse Joy's counter.
"It's pretty crazy out there, yeah? It's not normal for us to have such a severe storm in the summer," she enthused, trying to create small talk.
"Yeah, no kidding. Touya and I are here a lot, and it's never this bad, even in the springtime." The young, pink haired nurse laughed softly at my words.
"Do you have any available rooms for us?" I asked kindly. Nurse Joy nodded and started scrolling through her computer.
"Yes, it looks like I have a couple available. Would you like to take a room?"
"Yes please." I pulled out my Pokedex in knowledge of what came next.
"Can I see your Pokedex's?" I handed her my own, as Touya pulled his out of his bag and did the same. Nurse Joy placed them on the Pokedex reader and entered our information into her system.
"Wow, you two have been everywhere, haven't you?" she acknowledged our trainer's information. "You both have all eight badges too! Wow! That's pretty incredible for trainers as young as you both are."
"Yeah," I grinned cockily. "I just recently won the Pokémon League about a month ago as well. I didn't want to take Alder's place, but I still won," I boasted.
"That's great! What do you plan to do now?" She returned our Pokedex's and handed us our room key.
"At this point, I'm not really sure. I'd like to visit all the Pokémon regions, but right now we're on our way to Nimbasa City. I've always wanted to participate in a Musical, and so has Touya, so...I guess for now that's my plan." I felt a smile start to creep up my face, but I couldn't help it. My Milotic and I have been waiting to do the Musical since we were in Nimbasa for a gym battle against Elesa. We couldn't do it at the time since I was so caught up with receiving my badges, but after winning the Unova Pokémon League? I had all the time in the world to explore and participate in different activities and events.
"Well that's just wonderful!" she chirped. "Now then, do you guys need anything else?" I looked at Touya, he just shook his head.
"Nope, I think we are fine! Thank you," I bowed my head a little in thanks, and she smiled. I started to walk away.
"Oh!" she peeped up. I turned around to face her once more. "The Cafeteria is open 24/7 if you get hungry, or want any snacks. My services are always open as well for Pokémon, so anytime you need me, or have any questions just come visit me and I can help you."
"Okay, thank you again," I waved.
In our room, the first thing I did was change out of my soggy, wet clothes. Touya offered to change in the bathroom, so I quickly changed in the main room. Didn't take me too long, but it did come to my attention that I would have to do laundry really soon. I looked around the room, scoping it all out. All of the Pokemon Center rooms were designed the same, so this room, like every other room, had a TV, two double beds, two dressers, and a half bathroom. It was the perfect place for trainers to stay on a journey together. Plus, if we needed to wash our clothes, take a shower, or anything of the necessity sake, there were bathrooms at the end of the Trainers' Hall.
Touya came out of the bathroom, fully dressed, and his wet hair dripping down his face. His red and black Pokeball hat wasn't perched on his head like normal, which was an odd sight to see, but then again, my identical pink and white Pokeball hat wasn't to be seen on my head either. Stupid rain soaked out hats to the bone. Although, thanks to our handy-dandy waterproof trainer bags, we both wore our bags across our bodies. Those things never left us, they carried anything AND everything.
"You hungry?" Touya asked, obviously anxious to visit the Pokemon Center's cafeteria.
"Yeah, actually," I realized. The last time we had eaten something was when we were still in Humilau, eating waffles. Although the waffles were delicious and quite filling, that was our breakfast, and it was now dinnertime. Late dinnertime at that too.
We headed down the hallway, and into the cafeteria. There were only two other trainers in the cafeteria, and they were socializing by a fireplace, huddled in to create a warmth to counteract the cold front the rain had brought in. That's when a bright blonde head of hair started to stick out.
"Bianca!?" I asked, getting excited at the thought of seeing an old time friend I hadn't seen in over year. The blonde turned her head and so did her friend, that's when I realized I knew the other trainer too.
"Cheren?!" Touya gasped.
"Touko!!!" Bianca screeched. She flew like the speed of light, and wrapped herself around me, engulfing me in her one-of-a-kind Ursaring hugs (that's what Cheren, Touya, and I called them anyway). "It's so good to see you! It's been almost a year now! I can't believe it's been so long..." She continued to ramble on, while Cheren and Touya caught up. I loved Bianca with all my heart, but goodness gracious could that girl talk.
When Bianca finally realized Touya and I had come to the cafeteria to eat dinner (which was a good thirty to forty-five minutes later), she invited us to sit with herself and Cheren by the fireplace. I happily, and quite desperately gulped down a bowl of Tamato Berry Soup, and had some perfectly cooked, melty grilled cheese, with a nice, refreshing glass of milk to tide everything over. Although, the nine chocolate chip cookies I inhaled in a matter of minutes probably tasted the best. I have a little bit of a chocolate chip cookie addiction...just a little.
Bianca, Cheren, Touya, and I caught up on everything that had happened over the last year. Cheren had become a gym leader, and Bianca worked under Professor Juniper as her assistant. It turned out that Bianca had run into Cheren in Aspertia City just a couple days before and invited him on a small journey like the good old days. It couldn't be a long trip, since lives of gym leaders were quite demanding, but Cheren needed that time away for awhile, as he had been vigorously training and fighting trainers. Bianca later told me personally that she was planning to ask Cheren out on a date later that night in their room. Man, did that girl have some guts, and was I glad to have seen her the day she was finally going to do it. Bianca and Cheren always had a thing for each other, but never had the nerve to talk or go forth about it. I had shipped them together since the day I met them. Their geeky, kind of awkward personalities blended so well, and their quirks complemented each other!
We said our goodbyes a little while later, but not before planning a small get-together at a cafe the next morning. Bianca gave me another one of her crushing, but loving signature hugs.
"Good luck," I whispered in her ear. I felt her face get warm on my cheek as blood rushed up. "It's gonna go great." She smiled, then literally skipped off to catch up with Cheren in their room.
"What was that about?" Touya asked curiously.
"Nothing." I smirked slyly. He just shook his head at my weird actions.
I followed Touya into our own room, and shut the door behind us. The first thing I did was jump right onto my bed, face first.
"Obviously someone's tired," he pointed out. I had to admit, I was beat, but there was something else I had to do, and the Pokeballs rolling around in my bag (still on my side) reminded me of that.
"Oh crap!" I exclaimed, rolling over on my back. I dug through my bag, pulling out my six occupied Pokeballs. "I forgot to feed!" I groaned, as I fell into my palm with a loud slap.
"Just feed them in the morning, Touko, it's not like they are going to starve in their Pokeballs. Pokeballs have some pretty amazing features, one of them being allowing the Pokemon inside to be healthy and comfortable. They'll be fine," he assured.
"You forgot to feed them too, didn't you?" I asked, knowing my best friend.
"Yeah," he scratched his head. "Let's just treat them tomorrow with a deluxe breakfast at that cafe tomorrow. If I remember right, the one we made plans at has a special Pokemon buffet area. We can just give them a little surprise tomorrow, they obviously deserve it after all their hard work, and well, maybe they'll just overlook the whole 'not feeding them all day' thing... Yeah?"
"Yeah, sounds like an expensive idea, but they do deserve it." I pondered the idea for a second.
"Yeah, that's good. Tomorrow morning then." I shoved the Pokeballs back into my bag.
"Yup," he responded softly.
"Yup," I mumbled back. An awkward silence filled the room.
"Well, it's getting kind of late. I'm gonna go ahead and get some sleep, and you should too. Night, Touko," he whispered sweetly, laying his ruffled head onto the soft, cushiony pillows.
"Good night, Touya," I whispered back.