Equitial
Ace Trainer
- Pronouns
- he/him
- Partners
-
Morgan, a runaway, and Amanda, an autistic girl who barely managed to start her journey, meet and become lost together after a cave-in. Although at first their personalities seem unreconcilable, they realize just how much they have in common as they try to find their way out of Chargestone Cave.
A character-focused fic about LGBT+ and neurodivergent friendship.
A character-focused fic about LGBT+ and neurodivergent friendship.
Rated T for infrequent language, some injury, prominent themes of abuse and mental health, and remembered/internalized homophobia, transphobia, and ableism.
All these detailed warnings come from the first draft of the fic, so some details may change during the rewrite. I'll note it if there are any major changes in content. I may provide content warnings for individual chapters, but as of now I don't think it's necessary.
Language - There is infrequent use of mild swears like "damn" and "piss". There was one instance of strong language (the f-bomb). A character recounts how they were called a homophobic slur by their abusive father. The slur (d*ke) is spelled out in the text.
Injury - Blood/bleeding from minor injuries is described but not overly detailed. One character is seriously injured; their injuries are shortly described, but not significantly detailed.
Abuse - Both protagonists have emotionally and verbally abusive parents. Said parents do not appear on-screen, but specific words/actions are remembered or recounted. Remembered verbal abuse may contain swearing/threats of violence. Physical abuse is brought up; a character (truthfully) denies it, but internally worries it may happen. Characters have also experienced bullying from peers/siblings -- some of that is remembered as well.
Mental health - Characters engage in negative self-talk. Panic attacks/meltdowns/shutdowns are depicted onscreen and in-POV. A character has thoughts of almost wanting to be injured or to "disappear", and there is one instance of impulsive self-harm. There is implied disordered eating, and a character remembers snide comments about their weight.
Bigotry - Characters remember/recount how they were bullied/abused/stigmatized for being LGBT+ and neurodivergent. A character recounts how they were called a homophobic slur by their abusive father. The slur (d*ke) is spelled out in the text. Characters express thoughts stemming from internalized oppression -- e.g. "Why can't I be normal?" One POV character thinks a couple borderline ableist thoughts about the other before they get better. A character recalls fatphobic comments made at them.
Language - There is infrequent use of mild swears like "damn" and "piss". There was one instance of strong language (the f-bomb). A character recounts how they were called a homophobic slur by their abusive father. The slur (d*ke) is spelled out in the text.
Injury - Blood/bleeding from minor injuries is described but not overly detailed. One character is seriously injured; their injuries are shortly described, but not significantly detailed.
Abuse - Both protagonists have emotionally and verbally abusive parents. Said parents do not appear on-screen, but specific words/actions are remembered or recounted. Remembered verbal abuse may contain swearing/threats of violence. Physical abuse is brought up; a character (truthfully) denies it, but internally worries it may happen. Characters have also experienced bullying from peers/siblings -- some of that is remembered as well.
Mental health - Characters engage in negative self-talk. Panic attacks/meltdowns/shutdowns are depicted onscreen and in-POV. A character has thoughts of almost wanting to be injured or to "disappear", and there is one instance of impulsive self-harm. There is implied disordered eating, and a character remembers snide comments about their weight.
Bigotry - Characters remember/recount how they were bullied/abused/stigmatized for being LGBT+ and neurodivergent. A character recounts how they were called a homophobic slur by their abusive father. The slur (d*ke) is spelled out in the text. Characters express thoughts stemming from internalized oppression -- e.g. "Why can't I be normal?" One POV character thinks a couple borderline ableist thoughts about the other before they get better. A character recalls fatphobic comments made at them.
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Author's Note: Hello, welcome to my fic! I've been writing for years, but this is my first time posting anything in a good while. I appreciate absolutely any feedback, even if it's only few sentences, especially if it's constructive criticism. Don't worry about seeming too harsh -- my main purpose of posting this fic is to improve.
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Chapter 1
MORGAN
Morgan stared at the phone in her hand. She knew she should have expected something when she logged into her old email, but her hand shook as she scrolled through the long line of messages. The oldest was from three weeks ago. The latest — Meredith, it’s your mom — was sent less than two hours ago.
You won’t be in trouble. Just call us and we can sort this all out.
Morgan read the email. In her head, Mom’s words were calm, coaxing. Morgan almost thought… but she couldn’t keep up the facade if she played through the scenario. Maybe if she called, got only her mom, her mom would be able to keep her tone. But any further, and her dad’s voice butted in. Familiar, and very far from calm.
She knew she shouldn’t, but she scrolled back down to the bottom of the list of messages, sent when they realized Morgan had ditched her phone. The first was similar to the newest. Calm, reasoning. You made a mistake, but you can come back. She read it, then the second. But the third. Its tone was very different.
It wasn’t from her mom.
She read the third email, over and over. It was just text, but she heard her dad’s voice: echoing, booming, louder and louder. She remembered when she still had her old phone and couldn’t stop herself from playing her father’s voicemails on repeat. You brat, how dare —
Her eyes and throat prickled. Her vision blurred, obscuring the words.
The phone buzzed. Morgan flinched, dropping it to the grass. The same time she realized what had happened she realized her heart was hammering in her chest. She caught herself and knelt on the cold ground, next to the phone which had fallen face up.
A new email. She could tell from the first line it wasn’t written by her mom.
Instead of picking up the phone, she drew her legs to her chest and bowed her head. It didn’t even matter, she told herself, pressing her eyes into her knees. They couldn’t — but even as she attempted to reassure herself, her thoughts snagged with the idea that they could find her. Morgan had bought a new phone, and, now that she had logged in, they would be able to track her using it.
No, no, they couldn’t… but the idea played over and over in her head. She sat there, in a fetal position, and she couldn’t move. Her heart beat so fast it was almost painful. Her breaths grew so ragged they bordered on hyperventilation.
She clutched at her head, grabbing fistfuls of hair. She heard her father’s voice, screaming at her. You stupid girl. Don’t you ever think? You little brat. You should —
Morgan choked back a sob.
Something trilled behind her. Morgan jerked, but it wasn’t the phone. Nora’s wings blew back her hair as the swoobat landed on the ground beside her. Nora crawled forward, angling her head toward Morgan, emitting a questioning hum.
“Fine,” Morgan choked out. She realized she was rocking heavily back and forth; she forced herself to still. She loosened her grip on her hair, but couldn’t get herself to let go entirely.
Nora’s head twitched and swiveled. She pressed her body against Morgan’s, rubbing her soft ruff against Morgan’s side. She clicked and reached up with her wings to gently pull at Morgan’s arms.
Morgan sniffed, somehow getting her fingers to disentangle from her hair. Nora pressed her ruff against one of Morgan’s palms. Slowly, Morgan began to pet her. Nora wriggled under Morgan’s hand and let out a low, uniform hum.
Eventually, Nora clicked and retreated, taking off into the air again but remaining close. Morgan wiped an arm across their face, let out a breath.
Beside them, the phone still lay on the ground. Morgan stared at it. A shiver crawled up their spine, like any second they would hear the phone hum again with another message, another threat. How dare you —
No. Morgan stood up, rocking on their feet.
No. They were away from their parents, only with Nora now. Dad wasn’t going to jump out from a bush no matter how many messages he sent. Mom wasn’t going to find Morgan, be nice to them at first, then yell at them, blame them for everything. Morgan was on Route 6. Their parents were in Striaton City.
Morgan was safe.
Nora fluttered in front of their face, her eyes and tail flitting every which way. “I’m fine,” Morgan muttered. They stuck their hands in the pocket of their hoodie. “I was just…”
Nora darted forward to stamp her heart-shaped nose against their cheek.
“Hey!” Morgan said as Nora trilled cheerily and took into the air. Morgan scrubbed at their cheek and glared. Nora just dipped to pull at their hair with her tail.
“I told you not to do that,” Morgan said, batting her away. Nora took off but continued chirping to herself in a self-satisfied manner. Reluctantly, Morgan gave her a smile.
“Fine. We’ll leave now.”
Morgan hiked up their backpack, ready to go. But wait. Their phone.
It was on the ground where they had left it, screen gone dark. They took a breath, then picked it up. They logged out of their account, leaving their father’s newest message unread. It didn’t matter, and they shouldn’t have to deal with it. Their parents were still at home and Morgan wasn’t. Their parents couldn’t do anything to them. Morgan had left.
Nora landed on their shoulders. She didn’t pull at their hair, so they let her stay. Morgan reached back to pet her, scratching just under her neck where she liked it best.
Them and Nora, finally off on their journey. And they weren’t going back.
***
Morgan and Nora reached an opening into Chargestone Cave.It wasn’t the entrance, the official one most trainers used. Morgan had scouted this one out at the previous town, using a map they had then downloaded onto their phone. This entrance was more to the south than the official one; it was a wide, low mouth, half-hidden behind trees at the end of a vague path.
Nora squealed when she saw the entrance. She swooped ahead of Morgan, flapping in circles near the opening. She called joyfully to Morgan. Morgan sprinted to her, smiling. They supposed it made sense. Nora was a bat, so she should like caves, right?
“Chargestone Cave,” they told her once they caught up. “It’s big. It has floating rocks, because of the electricity.” They waved their hand vaguely as they explained.
Of course, just from a glance into the cave, Morgan didn’t see any electrically charged rocks, hovering and glowing blue like they had seen in pictures and on TV. They would have to go further in. They frowned, tapping their hand against the leg of their pants. Nora seemed delighted now, but would she still be when they reached that part of the cave? Woobat and swoobat didn’t live here, Morgan knew.
At least she seemed happy now, trilling above Morgan’s head. Morgan took one last look at the natural light that trickled through the leafy filter above, then nodded.
Into Chargestone Cave they went.
***
It didn’t take long for the atmosphere to feel charged as Morgan and Nora continued on. No glowing rocks yet, though. Their path was lit by man-made lights, embedded at semi-regular intervals, and the occasional openings letting in fresh air and sunlight.
Morgan stopped for breakfast under one of those openings. They opened up a tin of food for Nora, hesitated, then got out something for themself.
They gnawed on a stick of tough jerky as they watched Nora take her own meal. If the feel of the cave bothered her, she didn’t show it.
About an hour farther in, Morgan saw the first of Chargestone’s most famous features. They came across a glittering wall, sparsely dotted with larger blue pinpricks. The pinpricks turned out to be mostly tiny stones embedded in the wall. However, some of those bits of stone — the biggest smaller than the nail of their pinkie finger — were stuck like magnets to a fridge.
They studied the wall while Nora swooped off to examine the cave for herself. Carefully, so their nails wouldn’t scrape against rock (Morgan shuddered at the thought), they plucked off a pebble. It came off with the slightest of resistance.
It tingled their fingers at first, but the sensation faded after an instant. Morgan let the pebble roll into their palm, then rubbed it with their thumb. Felt pretty normal, a bit smoother than they were expecting. There was metal in it, flecks of it, which was why it stuck to the wall and collected electricity. They tried sticking it back to the wall; it fell once, then stayed the second time.
Morgan eyed the wall. Impulsively, they pressed their hand flat against a smoother section of it. They felt the same mild shock as with the pebble, just startling enough that they instinctively recoiled.
They recovered and put their hands to the wall again. Possibly because they knew what to expect, the sensation seemed weaker than before. That was disappointing because… it was interesting. Unique. Kind of crunchy on their skin. They tried rubbing their hand along the wall, and now the sensation came back. It was there, all over their hand and fingers, buzzing and dancing like pins and needles but not so uncomfortable. Textured, interesting.
The cave rumbled suddenly, only softly, but enough to make Morgan turn and look around. The rumbling subsided, and they realized: god, wait, what? Had Morgan really just been rubbing their hands all over a wall?
Morgan shoved her hands in her hoodie pocket, her face growing hot for no reason. Memories of her mom yanking her shoulders — people are looking, she hissed in Morgan’s ear — flooded her mind. Mom wasn’t here now but… stop being a weirdo.
Something brushed her arm. Morgan flinched and spun. But it was just Nora, of course.
“What’s wrong?” Morgan whispered at her, still feeling that rise of spontaneous embarrassment. The swoobat flapped in Morgan’s face, clicking and looking conspicuously behind herself.
Morgan frowned, following Nora’s glance. At first, the place seemed empty, but then a flash of white flicked out from behind a stalagmite.
Morgan started forward. Nora bristled and squeaked, but Morgan held out a hand to hush her. Morgan slowed and edged closer, internally telling Nora to remain calm and quiet.
There, behind the stalagmite, hovered a small, eel-like creature with a film of outer skin translucent enough to reveal the yellow and blue organs underneath. It jolted and hissed when it saw Morgan.
Morgan let out a breath. “It’s fine, Nora,” they said as the pokémon, a tynamo, burst off. It fled to a corner of the ceiling, wriggling in the air and pressing its face against the wall. It made a scritching, scratchy sound as Morgan followed it. Eventually, it found some sort of opening, which it squirmed into and away.
Nora landed on Morgan’s backpack, clicking in their ear.
“It was just a tynamo. It — wait.” Morgan hesitated. “There’s something I want to show you.”
Morgan sat down and pulled out their phone. They noted distantly that they had no connection in here. Well, to be expected. The phone had only worked on and off on Route 6. They navigated to the entries they had saved.
Nora landed at Morgan’s side. “I… want to catch another pokémon,” they said, turning the phone’s screen to Nora. “So we can have another teammate. Here, it’s a joltik. They live here.”
Nora peered at the phone’s screen, her ears twitching. She studied the picture of the small, fuzzy yellow spider pokémon. Just a plain picture. Morgan switched to another, showing a couple joltik on a sparkling web. Nora clicked thoughtfully.
Morgan envisioned it. Not just them and Nora, but a galvantula. They saw the pokémon following after them, antennae twitching. They saw its fuzzy body crackling with electricity when they called it to face an opponent. Their first pokémon caught on their journey, the first added to the team they would travel across the region with.
Nora flapped her wings. “You like that?” Morgan asked her.
Nora cocked her head, slapping her tail against the floor. Then, suddenly, she squeaked and took into the air. She flew around Morgan’s head before swooping toward the other side of the room.
Morgan stood. Did… that mean Nora was good with having a joltik join them?
Nora fluttered in front of a passageway, calling out loudly. Wait a minute. Morgan shoved the phone away, following her.
Nora squealed and circled over Morgan before swooping ahead. She led Morgan down a narrow corridor and into a room with intricate rock formations: bundles of stalactites and stalagmites, twisting columns and spires. Some seemed natural, others purposeful — created by trainers who had their pokémon show off their artistic talents, probably. Holes in the ceiling let in natural light. A big rusty plaque was nailed onto one wall, but Morgan didn’t read it.
Instead, they followed to where Nora chirped at them from a corner. Below the swoobat, there was a small hole near the ground, about the length of Morgan’s hand. Morgan crouched and peered inside. Dark, and appeared empty even after they pulled out their phone to shine its light into it. But.
“There was a joltik here?” they asked, showing Nora the screen. Nora clicked, which Morgan took as a yes.
Morgan stood. If Nora did see a joltik, it probably escaped through the hole. But could there be more?
They wandered around the stone formations. They glanced at a tall, twisting spire, embedded not with charged stones but with some sparkly, marbled gray and blue kind. It was kind of pretty; Morgan wondered why people stopped coming over here. Maybe because there weren’t very many pokémon, just Morgan’s luck.
Nora swooped over their head. They moved on and — there! Previously hidden behind all the jutting columns. Sparkling yellow webs strung between dripping stalactites, hanging just over the floor. “Look!” Morgan said, rushing forward.
The webs were big — the biggest of them almost a yard tall — with threads thick like cables, but they were still delicate, elaborate. Electrified threads, carefully strung and woven into complex structures.
Morgan leaned in closer, taking in the webs’ smaller details. Their eyes traced the webs’ intricate patterns: arches, gently curving in concentric loops, repeating and repeating, in so many even layers. Their breath twitched the strands. The sunlight coming in from above glinted off them. Behind the webs, interlocking shadows decorated the stone and created yet more carefully crafted patterns — phantom images, cast in steep angles…
Nora brushed Morgan’s arm, breaking them from their thoughts. Morgan tore their eyes away. Nora had landed next to them, and she now clicked questioningly.
They turned back to the webs. Now that their initial excitement had faded, they could see that these webs also sagged with dust and caught debris. Some sections had collapsed completely, leaving strands to hang untethered. Old. Despite that they had probably been made some while ago, they still produced errant sparks and the softest of hums.
Morgan shook their head. “Webs,” they explained to Nora. “Joltik, the pokémon we’re looking for —” they held up their phone again “— make these. They mean joltik are around. Or were around.” They tapped the phone screen for emphasis.
Nora fidgeted, leaving Morgan no indication as to how much she understood. However, then she took into the air, clicking at Morgan like she wanted them to follow. They didn’t have to go far because into another passageway was another web, or the remains of one, at least. It was basically just some strands barely connected to the wall. But still. Nora looked at Morgan expectantly.
They grinned; their hands flapped once at their side. “Yeah, like that. Great job.”
Nora trilled, almost singing in pleasure, and Morgan laughed. They almost couldn’t believe it. They were so… happy. A few weeks ago they wouldn’t have been able to imagine they could be like this, but now they were. And all they had had to do was leave.
“We’ll keep looking,” they told Nora, straightening. “For joltik or webs. We’ll catch one before we leave Chargestone.”
This was really happening. Morgan was a trainer now. Not officially, but still. They were going to find and catch a new teammate. For so long it had been just Morgan, and then they had met Nora in secret, but now —
“Soon we won’t be alone.”
Nora cooed, circling around Morgan. She took off, and Morgan smiled and followed her.
***
No webs, no webs, no webs. They came across some other pokémon — a few ferroseed, a couple of drilburr who darted off as soon as they spotted Morgan and Nora — but no more webs or joltik. Nora’s spirits didn’t appear to flag, but Morgan’s fingers drummed on their pant legs. They hadn’t expected they would catch a joltik the instant they walked into the cave, but still. Seeing those webs had gotten their hopes up, and —
They shook their head. They plopped on the ground and decided it was mealtime. They paced while Nora ate. The image of the gavantula reappeared in their mind. It swaying its antennae in response to Nora swooping and singing around it; it curling near Morgan at night. It would burst out with electricity at Morgan’s command; it would bristle with satisfaction after a battle, as Morgan wrapped their arms around its furry abdomen.
The atmosphere became more and more energized the further they went in, sparkling walls and electrified stones now common. Soon, the charged rocks provided all the light they needed. Every once in a while Morgan paused to take in the lights, sparkling against the walls and shifting in the air.
Nora still seemed happy, singing as she flew, though she didn’t go off ahead anymore. A few hours after lunch, she twitched. She clicked and led Morgan off onto another path.
Morgan’s anticipation buoyed, but it was just a couple of roggenrola, waddling around in an off-to-the-side chamber. Roggenrola lived in Wellspring, so they weren’t anything Morgan had never seen before. But Nora seemed to like the pokémon — she flitted around them, trilling, brushing against Morgan’s arm and hair.
“Okay. We can play with them for a bit.” Morgan settled back to watch Nora and the roggenrola, who ground out grunts and circled the room.
Where were they, by the way? Morgan pulled out their phone. They had drifted away from the trainers’ path, but not enough to be problematic. Probably.
The cave rumbled, causing Morgan to glance up. Handfuls of dust sprinkled down from the ceiling, and the roggenrola grunted and stamped in place. Nora clicked at the pokémon, but they ignored her. They chattered at each other, then started away.
Nora chirped after them, and Morgan frowned. "Let them go, Nora. They want to leave now.” They stood, sticking their phone back in their pocket.
Nora snuffled and flew to Morgan. Morgan held out a hand, but she kept fidgeting and looking toward where the roggenrola went. Morgan wondered, maybe… the roggenrola reminded her of home?
An uncomfortable lump formed in Morgan’s throat. “It’s alright. We… we’re going to find another teammate. That’ll be better, because then you’ll always have another pokémon to play with.” Nora clung to Morgan’s backpack, and they reached back to pet her. “…Is that okay?”
Nora chittered, then pressed her nose against Morgan’s neck.
“Alright…” Morgan shifted. Nora lifted off and flapped in front of the passageway. “Let’s go then.”
As they walked, a low guilt simmered in Morgan’s stomach. Which was stupid, they hadn’t done anything. Still, no matter how hard they tried to shove it down, it wouldn’t go away. Nora started clinging to them again. “I’m fine,” Morgan told her. But she didn’t stop worrying until she suddenly jumped up and pulled on Morgan’s hair.
“Nora.” Morgan jerked away.
But Nora continued to pull at them… wait. Nora swooped off. They followed her lead and —
More web.
“Nora!” Morgan squealed. They ran to the glittering webs strung up in a ceiling corner.
Unlike the ones from before, these were new, humming and sparking with electricity. They stood on their toes and squinted. Was there anything caught in the webs? They didn’t see anything. If there was nothing yet, then maybe…
They whirled to Nora. “Do you hear anything?” They drew out their phone, pulled up the picture of joltik. “A joltik was here.”
Nora only chirped, fluttering around Morgan’s head.
“Joltik,” Morgan muttered to themself. “Joltik, joltik, joltik.” Their fingers drummed energetically against their side. They searched the room. Joltik were small — one could be hiding anywhere. Nothing there, but around the corner: another web. It was smaller. Half-finished? Maybe… maybe a joltik had been building it, then had heard something — a human and their swoobat — but was still around somewhere, lurking nearby.
Morgan gestured Nora close. “Stay with me.” They put a finger to their lips. Nora obediently flapped to their side. Morgan went quiet as well, though inside their brain buzzed: joltik, joltik, joltik.
In a corridor, a narrow crack spanned from the floor to the ceiling, inside dimly lit by charged stones and particles embedded in the rock. Nora clung to the wall near it, chirping quietly.
Holding their breath, Morgan peered inside. Nothing at first, but then: movement. A light-colored blotch shifted, then crawled forward, revealing its small yellow form, its four, electric-blue eyes.
Morgan froze. Joltik joltik joltik joltik. Their hands tapped-tapped-tapped, then rose, fluttering at their sides.
Morgan waited. You could only catch a willing pokémon; Morgan might be an illegal trainer, but they would never take a pokémon illegally. The joltik twitched but didn’t run. Nora took into the air to hover behind Morgan’s shoulder, but Morgan didn’t dare move.
The joltik scuttled a body length forward, froze, then scuttled another. It advanced that way, stopping about a forearm’s length away from the main passageway. For a moment it held still, then it began to hum, its yellow fuzz lighting with static.
A challenge.
“Nora,” Morgan whispered. Their hands flapped vigorously now; they bounced on the balls of their feet. The cave floor vibrated under them as if mirroring their emotions. As the joltik inched forward, Morgan’s heart pounded, and a grin bloomed on their face. “Get ready.”
Then a mass of writhing, squawking feathers rocketed out from around the corner, aimed directly at Morgan.
Morgan hit the ground with a grunt just before a weight landed on their chest and knocked the air from their lungs. They gasped, struggling to find their breath. Above them, a bird with wild eyes squawked in their face.
“Tranquill, stop! Oh no. Oh no!!”
Nora swooped in, releasing a watery, air-distorting cry. The pokémon — a gray bird, a tranquill — flapped off Morgan’s chest barely in time to dodge the supersonic. It retreated, hissing, as Nora hissed back, hovering protectively between it and Morgan.
Morgan sat up, blinking to clear their eyes. What the —
“No, Tranquill!” a voice yelled. “Did you attack a person? Oh no. Back in!!!”
A voice. Morgan scrambled to her feet.
A fat girl with reddish-blond curls and a long red scarf trailing behind her burst onto the scene. The tranquill whirled and reared back as the girl thrust out a pokéball. “In!!!” she cried. The hissing bird burst into the air, retreated as it screeched and cawed. Before it could go far, a beam shot from the girl's hand. The beam hit the tranquill's tail feathers; the bird dissolved into light.
“Don’t do that, Tranquill!!” the girl shouted at the pokéball once it clicked shut. Behind her, a light blue pokémon with wings like clouds wafted in, humming a discordantly peaceful tune. It landed on the girl’s head; the girl didn’t seem to notice. She jabbed her finger on the pokéball’s plastic. “Attacking people for no reason is bad!!!”
Morgan stumbled backward, staring wide-eyed at the girl scolding the pokéball. Her presence was out-of-place, jarring. What was she even doing here — Morgan had made sure to keep off the main path. This was the first time Morgan had seen a human since —
The girl looked up, straight at Morgan. “I’m so sorry!!” she said. “I let Tranquill out but then he got angry at me and ran away. Are you okay???” She spoke very quickly, very loudly, very emphatically, like her sentences ended with excess punctuation. She had a bit of a lisp and a sort of sing-songy cadence. Her eyes blinked rapidly behind thick-framed glasses.
Morgan stood there, shoulders hunched and mouth hanging open, struggling to process what was happening. There was a person here now, so Morgan had to say ‘hi’ or — wait, the girl had asked a question. Answer that.
“I’m fine,” Morgan choked out.
The girl sighed in relief. “Oh good. I’m sososo sorry. I didn’t think he would run, especially into a person!!! I’m so sorry. What’s your name?”
This girl talked very quickly.
Morgan’s heart began to pound. Which was stupid. She just had to say words and leave. “That’s okay. I’m Mor — Mere —”
Oh god. Why. Why was this happening.
Suddenly, the girl’s head jerked off to the side, the pokémon on it having to flutter its wings to keep its perch. Morgan jerked and turned too. There was Nora, clinging to the wall and slowly creeping her way forward. The swoobat cocked her head, clicked quietly, and glanced at Morgan.
“And that’s my partner,” Morgan blurted.
“Oh.” The girl beamed. “I love swoobat!!”
Nora jumped off the wall and flew forward. “Oh wow.” The girl giggled as Nora circled her, clicking curiously. “Swoobat are so friendly. I think yours likes me!!”
The pokémon on her head chirped and took to the air as well. It flapped up near Nora. Nora clicked down at it, hovering closer.
“I think they like Blue too!!” A loud laugh, and then the girl turned her attention back to Morgan. “Swoobat’s so nice! What’s their name??”
“Uh, Morgan — wait no, um —” Morgan’s face went hot. “Swoobat is Nora. My name is Morgan.”
The girl giggled again. Nora and the girl’s Pokémon — Blue —started chirping and clicking together, making a kind of dissonant song. “I love Nora!!!”
The girl clapped her hands, watching the pokémon. Blue hopped on the ground, waving its wings and chirping out short melodies. It seemed like Nora was trying to copy it — though she wasn’t quite as harmonious. She glanced at Morgan and swung her tail happily.
Suddenly the girl was talking again. “Nora’s pretty small. She just evolved, right? You must be really good friends with her!! Partners only evolve when they have good humans — did you know that almost no swoobat join trainers if they’ve already evolved?? That’s because they don’t want to leave their friends!!! Is she your first pokémon? Where did you catch her?? Oh, she’s a girl, right?”
Morgan blinked, trying to process. Why did this girl talk so fast?
“Oh,” the girl said, “oh wait.” She gave a short chuckle and twirled her fingers around the tassels of her scarf. “I was talking too much, wasn’t I? I’m sorry, I just really like Flying-types and —” She broke off.
“Um, that’s okay,” Morgan responded. Thank god, the girl slowed down. The back of Morgan’s brain still struggled to sort through all the questions she had asked. “Nora’s from Wellspring. I caught her —”
Wait, catch.
Morgan whirled. The joltik.
“Nora!” she called as she pulled out her phone. She aimed its screen toward the crack in the wall, trying to angle the light around the crags. The charged particles in the wall shimmered, but that was the only movement. Morgan held her breath, waited, but no pokémon came out.
“What’s wrong?” the girl asked, right behind Morgan’s ear.
Morgan turned, backed away. “There was a joltik.” Her stomach clenched, accompanied by a sinking feeling in her chest. “Nora and I were going to catch it.”
“Oh no. That’s — wait. Oh no. Did Tranquill make you miss it??”
Clearly the answer was obvious. Morgan didn’t say anything.
The girl made a sound of dismay. “Oh no, I’m so sorry, I messed everything up. I — um, wait! I saw some joltik before!! Not too many, but a few! Near the main path. I could lead you to them!!”
Oh god — “No,” Morgan said quickly. Maybe too quickly. She stuck her hands in her pocket and tried to downplay it. “I want to travel alone. It’s fine.”
The girl frowned. “But… we’re supposed to travel together. Didn’t your pokédex get the alert??”
Morgan didn’t have a dex, so no. She stayed quiet.
The girl pulled out her own pokédex, light blue and covered with stickers. “I thought it was supposed to go to everyone!! Things are okay, probably, but we’re supposed to stay in groups and keep on the main paths because of those rumbles.”
“I didn’t get an alert,” Morgan said. She remembered her plan: say words and leave. She tried to think fast. “And I haven’t felt any rumbles. Maybe we’re far enough away that —”
The cave shook again, as if it had been waiting for Morgan to speak. Morgan stumbled; the girl yelped and covered her head as the pokemon looked around in confusion. The ground rocked under her feet, and Morgan thought she could hear some kind of low, churning sound emitting from the walls.
As quickly as it had come, the shaking subsided. The girl hesitantly lowered her arms. “That’s a rumble!!!”
Morgan didn’t say anything. Her jaw had clenched with the arrival of the quake, and she clutched her hands together tightly in her hoodie pocket.
The girl continued: “We’re supposed to get to the main path because it’s safer there. These rumbles could be dangerous!! I was trying to get back to the main path myself, so maybe running into each other was a good thing. Not that Tranquill messing up your catch was good! I’m still so so sorry about that!!”
Morgan’s mind raced. There had to be reasons why a perfectly legal trainer would not want to travel with another in these circumstances, especially this very bubbly, very loud girl. “I…” Morgan began, but the girl had already turned away.
Nora and Blue apparently didn’t care much about the shake. They swooped about near the ceiling, playing some kind of game where the goal seemed to be to turn circles as quickly as possible. The girl’s pokémon lost its bearings and fell, squealing musically as it went. It landed with a gentle bounce as Nora clicked triumphantly down at it. Blue chirped back indignantly, puffing out its wings.
“Those sillies!” The girl laughed. “And our pokémon like each other too, so that’s good!!”
Nora noticed the humans watching her. She broke into a toothy grin and let out a series of happy chirps. Blue fluttered up and began to loop again as Nora trilled in approval, her tail swinging. The swoobat gave Morgan one last look before starting to play again…
Morgan sighed. Fine.
She turned to the girl. “Where did you see the joltik?”
“Oh, the joltik?” The girl looked back to Morgan. “Not too far away. I think we should be able to find them before bedtime!!” She smiled. “Did I forget to tell you my name? I’m Amanda!!!”
“I’m Morgan.”
Amanda giggled. “You already told me that.”
Greaaaaat. “Sorry,” Morgan muttered.
The girl laughed again for some reason. Morgan blushed hotly, but she was locked in now. Still, maybe this was for the best. They had been traveling with Nora only having Morgan for company for quite some time, and the girl was right when she said Nora liked Blue. Let it and Nora play together until Amanda helped Morgan find another joltik, and then —
Morgan thought again of a large, electric spider following after them. A new pokémon, a new partner, a new friend. For both of them.
Soon.
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Made several minor edits on 9/8/2020 to fix typos and slightly change the tone of some character interactions.
Several minor typos/clarity issues corrected on 10/10/2020.
Several minor typos/clarity issues corrected on 10/10/2020.
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