The Trail Forward
Jan 2, 2021 2:44:02 GMT
Post by puph17 on Jan 2, 2021 2:44:02 GMT
Summary: Plumeria tries to move on with her life in a new region, but has trouble moving on.
Some time later, Plumeria found herself in front of her front door, groceries in hand. As she opened her front door, she heard loud yelling behind her. She turned around to see several kids circled around another kid in the city park across the road. Plumeria squinted. Was that the kid she’d run into earlier at the store? It looked like he was seconds away from getting beat up. She paused for a moment as the urge to leap into action hit her. Was she really going to go down and save that kid?
A wave of doubt immediately hit her. Was she even the right person to do this? Plumeria shook her head. That kid was going to get hurt and bad if somebody didn’t intervene. She quickly set her groceries down inside her house before turning around and hurried down the stairs.
By the time she’d gotten down four flights of stairs, the crowd was still shouting loudly. While she couldn’t see exactly what was going on, there was a lot of movement at the center. It didn’t take a genius to know exactly what was going on. She released Salazzle and ran up.
“Hey!” she shouted.
The circle of kids, surprised at the sudden arrival of an adult began to disperse quickly, trying to avoid trouble. Which left three kids, still at the center. They were beating up the boy from the store, who was on the ground in the middle of their little circle. Plumeria cleared her throat loudly. One of the kids turned around.
“What are you doing!?” she demanded.
The kid’s face went pale and he began sputtering. “He was trying to tell us to leave this loser kid alone who wouldn’t give us his lunch money!”
“And why do you need that?” demanded Plumeria.
“I…I….” stuttered the kid.
“Just get out of here. Don’t do it again, you hear me?” snapped Plumeria.
“Ok! Ok! I’m out of here!”
Plumeria looked up to see the remaining two bullies staring her down.
“Hey, back off lady! This is our territory!” shouted one of them. He seemed to be the leader, distinguished with a red and black beanie. He probably thought it looked cool or edgy or something. “Don’t go picking on my squad!”
“Why are you beating up somebody for not giving you money?” said Plumeria dryly.
“What? He deserved it!” snapped the bully.
“For what? Standing up for another kid?”
“He also looked at me like he wanted to fight!” shouted the kid. “So, I beat up his stupid Bidoof and now I’m beating him up for being stupid!”
“Seriously?” said Plumeria with a deadpan look.
“Yeah!” said the bully with absolute conviction.
“I want you to apologize to him before you go home,” said Plumeria in her most authoritative voice.
“You and what Pokémon? That weak looking lizard thing?”
Plumeria raised an eyebrow. Was this kid seriously wanting to battle her?
“Yeah, you heard me! I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!”
“No. Salazzle is going to seriously hurt your Pokémon.”
“Yeah, sure!” said the bully. “That’s what a weak trainer would say! You can’t bluff me!”
Plumeria rolled her eyes. “Kid, if you know what’s good for you, you’re going to apologize to the kid you were beating up and then go home.”
The kid only reached for his pokeball. “I already challenged you! Go, Destroyer!”
A Staravia popped out of the pokeball and let out a cry. Salazzle gave Plumeria a look, trying not to laugh.
“Go easy on him, ok? I don’t want to get in trouble for mauling some rich kid’s chicken.”
Salazzle gave a dissatisfied hiss but took a fighting stance.
“It’s a Staravia! It’s a really strong evolved Pokémon! And my dad got me some really powerful TMs to teach him!” snapped the bully.
“And my Salazzle is a fully evolved Pokémon,” said Plumeria dryly.
The bully stomped his foot. “Destroyer! Use Steel Wing!”
Plumeria raised an eyebrow.
“Salazzle. Use uh…. Smog? That shouldn’t kill it, right?”
Salazzle just rolled its eyes, and belched out a blast of noxious purple gas as the Staravia swooped in. The blast of purple gas blew against the Staravia with sufficient force to stop its forward momentum and blow it back. The bird Pokémon landed with some difficulty as the cloud passed it, and wobbled for a moment, before falling over.
“Destroyer? Destroyer!?” shouted the bully in surprise.
Plumeria smirked and patted Salazzle on the head.
“Good girl.”
Salazzle purred with contentment.
“You! You cheated!” yelled the bully.
His friend nodded. “Cheater!”
“What’s all this ruckus going on?” asked a gruff voice behind Plumeria. The boy’s faces turned to shock. She looked behind her to see an older man in a long coat, walking with a cane.
“She cheated!” shouted the bully.
“Yeah!” echoed his friend.
The old man turned to Plumeria. She shrugged. “They were beating up that kid over there. Apparently, he stood up for somebody else and so they beat him up. I tried to break it up and these two decided they wanted to have a battle over it.”
“She’s lying!” shouted the bully. “She was trying to beat us up! You gotta listen to us, Mr. Peterson!”
Mr. Peterson shook his head. “Unfortunately for you two, I saw the whole thing. This lady here just got here a little more quickly then I did. I’m really disappointed in you two.”
The two bullies hung their heads in shame.
“I’ve also taken the liberty of notifying your mothers as well of your actions.”
The two bullies froze.
“And I believe that’s them approaching,” said the old man, as the footfalls of two angry mothers began stomping towards them.
Plumeria ignored them and rushed over to the kid who they had been beating up.
He was flat on the ground, crying and curled up in a ball, most likely from the beating he had received.
“Hey kid. Kid. You all right?” asked Plumeria, taking a knee next to him.
The kid sniffed for a little bit.
“Are you hurt? Is anything broken?” Plumeria paused for a moment. That probably wasn’t a helpful question. “Does anything hurt more than everything else?”
The kid shook his head. Plumeria eyed his attire critically. His coat looked somewhat frayed and his hat didn’t look much better. A pokeball lay on the ground near him. Plumeria picked it up and inspected it. Sure enough, there was a rather beat up Bidoof inside. He’d had the sense to recall his Pokémon before it got more hurt. This kid had a good head on his shoulders.
She caught a cane out of the corner of her eye to see Mr. Peterson walk up next to her.
“Ah, Jake. You did a very brave thing back there. It takes courage to fight an opponent you know you cannot beat.”
“I lost, Mr. Peterson,” whimpered the boy.
“But you stood up for somebody. That was very brave of you.”
Plumeria extended a hand to the boy and helped him to his feet.
“Who are you?” the boy asked with a sniffle.
“Plumeria,” she said.
“You’re really strong, Ms. Plumeria!” said Jake. “It was really cool to see you take out Brian with your Pokémon’s weakest attack!”
“Thanks, kid. Salazzle is pretty tough,” said Plumeria.
“It takes a tough trainer to control a tough Pokémon,” said Mr. Peterson.
“Ah, I used to be a league challenger.”
“In a different region?” asked Mr. Peterson.
“Alola,” said Plumeria, wincing a little bit on the inside. She was hoping not to have to say so much. “I was one of the wash outs.”
“A wash out!?” said Jake in surprise. “Then the ones who beat all the gym leaders must be really strong!”
“Island Trials,” corrected Plumeria. “We don’t have what you would call a proper league back there.”
“Wow! That sounds really cool!” said Jake.
“One could say that,” said Plumeria noncommittally. They weren’t so cool when you couldn’t pass them time and time again because of an oversized fish with a type advantage.
“Could you teach me?” asked Jake.
“What?” asked Plumeria in surprise.
“Yeah! If you taught me how to battle, I could totally take down Brian!”
“I…uh….” stammered Plumeria for a moment. Her? A teacher? Was she really up to this? Should she even be teaching anybody? After….how the people she used to lead turned out? Not to mention she’d never taught them anything. She hadn’t needed to, the kind of people who joined Team Skull were mostly reasonably strong trainers who had been self-sufficient for some time. Anybody who didn’t know something was usually filled in pretty quickly by one of their fellow grunts. Her job was all about making them feel like they were part of the group.
“You have some doubts,” said Mr. Peterson. “It is not uncommon for people to have them. But I think you should consider it. You are a splendid battler.”
Plumeria paused. She considered it for a moment. She sighed. She knew what she had to do.
“All right, I’ll teach you. Jake, was it? Let’s meet out here after you get out of school. What time is that?”
“I get back at 4:30!” said Jake.
“Jake? Jake!?” called a woman’s voice. The older woman from earlier was walking as fast as she could towards them. Some distance away, Plumeria could see two very angry mothers dragging the two bullies home.
“Grandma!” shouted Jake.
“Are you hurt?”
“They beat me up, but Miss Plumeria is going to teach me how to battle better!”
“If that’s ok with you,” said Plumeria quickly.
Jake’s grandmother paused. “Thank you for being willing, let me think about it.”
Plumeria nodded. “Of course. I don’t want to impose.”
Jake’s grandmother smiled and nodded, before leading her grandson away.
“You did well, considering your situation,” said Mr. Peterson.
Plumeria jumped, not having noticed the man walk up next to her.
“You’re not entirely sure of yourself, are you?” he asked.
“Not exactly,” said Plumeria wryly. “But the kid’s got heart, and it's gonna get him into trouble if somebody doesn’t teach him how to battle properly. Wait, how could you tell?”
“You strike me as somebody who isn’t so sure of themselves. Call it a mixture of experience and intuition if you will. What the reason for it is, I haven’t the foggiest. But all the same, I saw your hesitation. I wonder why you chose to help him?”
Plumeria shrugged. “Because once upon a time that kid was me. I ended up taking a bad path because of it and it came back to bite me. I don’t know if I’m really qualified because of what I did in the past, but the least I can do is try to make sure he doesn’t do the same stuff I did.”
Mr. Peterson nodded. “A good answer. With a spirit like that, I think you’re more qualified than you know.”
He exhaled into the frigid air and shifted his weight. “Ah, forgive this old man for asking too many questions. But all the same, you’re quite the battler. You wouldn’t do too badly here in Sinnoh’s Pokémon League, if I’m not mistaken.”
Plumeria managed a halfhearted smile. “Thanks.”
The old man smiled. “You’re already on the right path. I think you’ll do just fine, and that young Jake will become quite the proficient battler. Well, I’ll be on my way now. It was good to meet you, Plumeria.”
Plumeria nodded as the old man waved. She decided to make her way back to her apartment building before she got any colder. As she walked, she watched her frozen breath plume into the air. Did she actually believe that line she spat out reflexively to the old guy?
Well, it wasn’t totally fake to be sure. She had been that kid at one point in her life. Did she really want to give back to the community? Of course, she was doing it as penance, but did she really want to do it?
She looked over to see Jake and his grandma walking back to their apartment building. Plumeria could see Jake jumping up and down as they walked.
Plumeria cracked a smile. Yes. Yes, she did want to do it. Maybe the old guy was right after all.
“C’mon, Salazzle. Let’s go home before we freeze.”
AN: Well, I’m really late on this, but this is my Yuletide fic, written for Complete Wingback! The prompt was a fic that focused on self reflection and growth.
Plumeria sighed and stared at the mostly eaten meal in front of her. It wasn’t great, but at least it was hot food. Well, previously was hot, considering how long she’d been sitting here. She poked at it with her fork with little enthusiasm.
Coming from Alola, she could have barely pictured a land in which heat was a commodity a year ago. Well, now she was here, in the land of Sinnoh, where ice and snow seized the entire land with an iron grip during the winter. She’d had to totally revamp her wardrobe, opting for warmer clothes. The boots, scarf and coat she’d purchased were a far cry from the flip flops and light clothing she’d been wearing when she left Alola. Thankfully, she’d had enough money to buy what she needed. Barely enough, but enough. She’d learned to be very thankful for that.
Plumeria poked at her food again. She couldn’t say much about it other than it fit her budget, which didn’t have a ton of wiggle room at the moment. Only a disappointing and fairly cold bit of mashed potatoes and broccoli remained of the prepackaged dinner. She grumbled and shoveled the rest of it into her mouth. She couldn’t afford to waste it.
She supposed she deserved this for all the trouble she caused back when she was part of Team Skull. Plumeria remembered how it had all started. There were the arguments with her mom and dad. All of the times her sister had tried to reason with her. They wanted her to settle down and focus on building a normal career. She had wanted to be a trainer. She had wanted to prove them all wrong. She’d been bullied as a kid, and rather badly. Which was why she wanted to take on the island challenge and become the Champion of Alola to show up everybody. That simple goal had set her out on her ill-fated league challenge.
Oh, she had been full of smiles and excitement when she’d left on her adventure. She was going to be the one to conquer the island challenge and become the new champion! If only she’d known what was to come. It had taken her four tries to pass the Gumshoos trial and while it had only taken her two to pass the Lurantis trial and 3 to pass the Salazzle trial, it was the Wishiwashi trial that had proven far too much for her. Her Pokémon just couldn’t cut it, especially when her ace was her Salazzle. After several weeks of training, she returned, only to be defeated even more quickly.
She had been in tears when she called her parents that night, but the conversation had soured quickly. She wasn’t doing well enough in the trial, they said. She clearly wasn’t cut out to be a Pokémon Trainer, they said. Maybe that had been a red flag. If it had been one, she’d sped past it without a second glance.
The conversation had ended in an explosive argument. Plumeria had gone to bed with red eyes, her face streaked with tears. If only she knew how the next day was going to change the course of her life. Because it was the next day that she met a guy with a shaggy mop of white hair and a black getup. He understood like nobody else. He offered her a place with people like her. With dreams like her. Trying to make their way in the world. It was the day that Guzma had invited her to join Team Skull.
What a load of crap that had been. Maybe the disorganized shambles of Po Town should have been a red flag. Or maybe the red flag had been the fact that Team Skull had to steal their supplies just to survive. Perhaps the actual red flag was the gang like structure of the team. Who was she kidding, all of them were major red flags. And she’d ignored every single one. In fact, she’d risen through the ranks and become one of the leaders. Some Big Sis she was.
Hala, the stubborn old Kahuna he was, had done his best to help her and get her to stay after Elio and Selene had taken down Team Skull and bailed them and all of Alola out of the Ultra Beast mess. For whatever reasons he had. Probably thought it was the “right thing to do” or something. Sure, maybe the grunts deserved a second chance. But her? No. After leading Team Skull, stealing on a regular basis for years and backing Lusamine’s crazy plans? She didn’t deserve a second chance. It was why she had left Alola after all.
Sure, she’d given it a shot, like Hala asked. She’d even completed the Island Challenge this time and challenged Selene for the championship a few times, in the hopes that maybe she could reclaim her old dream. But that kid was something else. She had never stood a chance. And with that, her last reason to stay in Alola evaporated.
Plumeria had wanted to get as far away from those islands as she could. Which was why she’d ended up in Sinnoh. No islands? Check. No people she knew? Check. No friendly neighborhood Kahunas nearby to check in with her every couple of days? Double check. Kahuna repellent weather to discourage surprise visits? Triple check. Hala absolutely couldn’t stand the cold. She should be safe till April, when the weather started warming up and it started becoming more bearable for visitors. Should. Hala was pretty stubborn when he set his mind on something.
She pulled herself to her feet listlessly and walked to the window of her apartment. She stared out over the buildings of Veilstone City as the thick blanket of clouds obstructing the sky grew gloomier as the sun set. December in Sinnoh was a miserable prospect, especially for somebody used to the eternal sunshine of Alola. The alarm on her Poketch began buzzing, shaking her out of her thoughts. Grumbling under her breath, Plumeria turned off the alarm and shoved her phone back into her pocket. She’d almost forgotten that she needed to go to the grocery store. She was running low on pokefood for her Pokémon, among other things.
Only Golbat and Salazzle were out, as the other three members of her team preferred the relative warmth of their pokeballs. Said Golbat was hanging from the coat rack she’d got him, which sat in what normally would be the spare guest room. At least with her job, it had been easier to acquire a brand-new freestanding coat hanger and proper light blocking curtains from the store, an upgrade over the cheap coat rack and thin blankets she’d foraged from the dumpsters back in Alola.
Salazzle was probably curled up on her Pokebed next to the space heater. That lizard loved her heat, probably due to being part Fire type. Plumeria was probably a bit prouder than she should have been that she’d been able to buy the bed properly this time. And the space heater was a bonus on top of all of that.
Plumeria grabbed her knit beanie and yanked it over her head before throwing on her coat and shoving on her shoes. She turned around.
“Hey Golbat, Salazzle, you guys wanna come with me to get some food?” she called.
Plumeria heard a thump as Golbat dropped off his perch and some scuttling as Salazzle clambered out of bed. A moment later, the two scurried up to her, screeching happily.
“All right, you two,” said Plumeria with a small smile. At least she could count on her Pokémon.
She quickly pulled out their pokeballs and recalled the two, before stepping out into the frigid night.
Plumeria sighed and stared at the mostly eaten meal in front of her. It wasn’t great, but at least it was hot food. Well, previously was hot, considering how long she’d been sitting here. She poked at it with her fork with little enthusiasm.
Coming from Alola, she could have barely pictured a land in which heat was a commodity a year ago. Well, now she was here, in the land of Sinnoh, where ice and snow seized the entire land with an iron grip during the winter. She’d had to totally revamp her wardrobe, opting for warmer clothes. The boots, scarf and coat she’d purchased were a far cry from the flip flops and light clothing she’d been wearing when she left Alola. Thankfully, she’d had enough money to buy what she needed. Barely enough, but enough. She’d learned to be very thankful for that.
Plumeria poked at her food again. She couldn’t say much about it other than it fit her budget, which didn’t have a ton of wiggle room at the moment. Only a disappointing and fairly cold bit of mashed potatoes and broccoli remained of the prepackaged dinner. She grumbled and shoveled the rest of it into her mouth. She couldn’t afford to waste it.
She supposed she deserved this for all the trouble she caused back when she was part of Team Skull. Plumeria remembered how it had all started. There were the arguments with her mom and dad. All of the times her sister had tried to reason with her. They wanted her to settle down and focus on building a normal career. She had wanted to be a trainer. She had wanted to prove them all wrong. She’d been bullied as a kid, and rather badly. Which was why she wanted to take on the island challenge and become the Champion of Alola to show up everybody. That simple goal had set her out on her ill-fated league challenge.
Oh, she had been full of smiles and excitement when she’d left on her adventure. She was going to be the one to conquer the island challenge and become the new champion! If only she’d known what was to come. It had taken her four tries to pass the Gumshoos trial and while it had only taken her two to pass the Lurantis trial and 3 to pass the Salazzle trial, it was the Wishiwashi trial that had proven far too much for her. Her Pokémon just couldn’t cut it, especially when her ace was her Salazzle. After several weeks of training, she returned, only to be defeated even more quickly.
She had been in tears when she called her parents that night, but the conversation had soured quickly. She wasn’t doing well enough in the trial, they said. She clearly wasn’t cut out to be a Pokémon Trainer, they said. Maybe that had been a red flag. If it had been one, she’d sped past it without a second glance.
The conversation had ended in an explosive argument. Plumeria had gone to bed with red eyes, her face streaked with tears. If only she knew how the next day was going to change the course of her life. Because it was the next day that she met a guy with a shaggy mop of white hair and a black getup. He understood like nobody else. He offered her a place with people like her. With dreams like her. Trying to make their way in the world. It was the day that Guzma had invited her to join Team Skull.
What a load of crap that had been. Maybe the disorganized shambles of Po Town should have been a red flag. Or maybe the red flag had been the fact that Team Skull had to steal their supplies just to survive. Perhaps the actual red flag was the gang like structure of the team. Who was she kidding, all of them were major red flags. And she’d ignored every single one. In fact, she’d risen through the ranks and become one of the leaders. Some Big Sis she was.
Hala, the stubborn old Kahuna he was, had done his best to help her and get her to stay after Elio and Selene had taken down Team Skull and bailed them and all of Alola out of the Ultra Beast mess. For whatever reasons he had. Probably thought it was the “right thing to do” or something. Sure, maybe the grunts deserved a second chance. But her? No. After leading Team Skull, stealing on a regular basis for years and backing Lusamine’s crazy plans? She didn’t deserve a second chance. It was why she had left Alola after all.
Sure, she’d given it a shot, like Hala asked. She’d even completed the Island Challenge this time and challenged Selene for the championship a few times, in the hopes that maybe she could reclaim her old dream. But that kid was something else. She had never stood a chance. And with that, her last reason to stay in Alola evaporated.
Plumeria had wanted to get as far away from those islands as she could. Which was why she’d ended up in Sinnoh. No islands? Check. No people she knew? Check. No friendly neighborhood Kahunas nearby to check in with her every couple of days? Double check. Kahuna repellent weather to discourage surprise visits? Triple check. Hala absolutely couldn’t stand the cold. She should be safe till April, when the weather started warming up and it started becoming more bearable for visitors. Should. Hala was pretty stubborn when he set his mind on something.
She pulled herself to her feet listlessly and walked to the window of her apartment. She stared out over the buildings of Veilstone City as the thick blanket of clouds obstructing the sky grew gloomier as the sun set. December in Sinnoh was a miserable prospect, especially for somebody used to the eternal sunshine of Alola. The alarm on her Poketch began buzzing, shaking her out of her thoughts. Grumbling under her breath, Plumeria turned off the alarm and shoved her phone back into her pocket. She’d almost forgotten that she needed to go to the grocery store. She was running low on pokefood for her Pokémon, among other things.
Only Golbat and Salazzle were out, as the other three members of her team preferred the relative warmth of their pokeballs. Said Golbat was hanging from the coat rack she’d got him, which sat in what normally would be the spare guest room. At least with her job, it had been easier to acquire a brand-new freestanding coat hanger and proper light blocking curtains from the store, an upgrade over the cheap coat rack and thin blankets she’d foraged from the dumpsters back in Alola.
Salazzle was probably curled up on her Pokebed next to the space heater. That lizard loved her heat, probably due to being part Fire type. Plumeria was probably a bit prouder than she should have been that she’d been able to buy the bed properly this time. And the space heater was a bonus on top of all of that.
Plumeria grabbed her knit beanie and yanked it over her head before throwing on her coat and shoving on her shoes. She turned around.
“Hey Golbat, Salazzle, you guys wanna come with me to get some food?” she called.
Plumeria heard a thump as Golbat dropped off his perch and some scuttling as Salazzle clambered out of bed. A moment later, the two scurried up to her, screeching happily.
“All right, you two,” said Plumeria with a small smile. At least she could count on her Pokémon.
She quickly pulled out their pokeballs and recalled the two, before stepping out into the frigid night.
Plumeria quickly hustled into the store. The air was cold, but it was a vast improvement over the icy winds that tore through the streets outside. With a sigh of relief, she pulled up a cart and made her way to the pokefood isle. She walked briskly down the aisle, past the gourmet pokefoods and stopped when she came to the economy section. After a brief scan, she found her preferred brand and hefted two bags of it into her cart. She heard a rather heavy thud next to her and saw a fairly skinny kid trying to pick up another brand of Pokémon food and put it in his grandmother’s cart.
She paused for a moment, before moving to assist the kid.
“Here, let me help you,” she said. Plumeria grabbed the bag with a firm grip and hefted it into the cart.
“Oh, thank you so much,” said the elderly woman.
Plumeria forced a smile quickly. “Oh, it’s no problem, ma’am.” She quickly checked her wrist, even though there was no watch there.
“Oh! I’m sorry, I’m running late, I need to get going!”
And with that she hastily scuttled down the aisle and rounded the corner. She stopped in the next aisle, breathing somewhat heavily. After a moment, she calmed down and sighed. The whole do-gooder thing just didn’t sit right with her. She didn’t deserve so much as a thank you after everything she’d already done. Why did old grandmas have to be so nice?
After a moment of composing herself, she shook her head and looked up. She was in the Poke Toy aisle. With a weirded out young couple. With a brief apology, Plumeria quickly moved out of the aisle, head down. She internally hissed at herself. What was she doing making such a scene? She just sighed and went back to her shopping.
She paused for a moment, before moving to assist the kid.
“Here, let me help you,” she said. Plumeria grabbed the bag with a firm grip and hefted it into the cart.
“Oh, thank you so much,” said the elderly woman.
Plumeria forced a smile quickly. “Oh, it’s no problem, ma’am.” She quickly checked her wrist, even though there was no watch there.
“Oh! I’m sorry, I’m running late, I need to get going!”
And with that she hastily scuttled down the aisle and rounded the corner. She stopped in the next aisle, breathing somewhat heavily. After a moment, she calmed down and sighed. The whole do-gooder thing just didn’t sit right with her. She didn’t deserve so much as a thank you after everything she’d already done. Why did old grandmas have to be so nice?
After a moment of composing herself, she shook her head and looked up. She was in the Poke Toy aisle. With a weirded out young couple. With a brief apology, Plumeria quickly moved out of the aisle, head down. She internally hissed at herself. What was she doing making such a scene? She just sighed and went back to her shopping.
Some time later, Plumeria found herself in front of her front door, groceries in hand. As she opened her front door, she heard loud yelling behind her. She turned around to see several kids circled around another kid in the city park across the road. Plumeria squinted. Was that the kid she’d run into earlier at the store? It looked like he was seconds away from getting beat up. She paused for a moment as the urge to leap into action hit her. Was she really going to go down and save that kid?
A wave of doubt immediately hit her. Was she even the right person to do this? Plumeria shook her head. That kid was going to get hurt and bad if somebody didn’t intervene. She quickly set her groceries down inside her house before turning around and hurried down the stairs.
By the time she’d gotten down four flights of stairs, the crowd was still shouting loudly. While she couldn’t see exactly what was going on, there was a lot of movement at the center. It didn’t take a genius to know exactly what was going on. She released Salazzle and ran up.
“Hey!” she shouted.
The circle of kids, surprised at the sudden arrival of an adult began to disperse quickly, trying to avoid trouble. Which left three kids, still at the center. They were beating up the boy from the store, who was on the ground in the middle of their little circle. Plumeria cleared her throat loudly. One of the kids turned around.
“What are you doing!?” she demanded.
The kid’s face went pale and he began sputtering. “He was trying to tell us to leave this loser kid alone who wouldn’t give us his lunch money!”
“And why do you need that?” demanded Plumeria.
“I…I….” stuttered the kid.
“Just get out of here. Don’t do it again, you hear me?” snapped Plumeria.
“Ok! Ok! I’m out of here!”
Plumeria looked up to see the remaining two bullies staring her down.
“Hey, back off lady! This is our territory!” shouted one of them. He seemed to be the leader, distinguished with a red and black beanie. He probably thought it looked cool or edgy or something. “Don’t go picking on my squad!”
“Why are you beating up somebody for not giving you money?” said Plumeria dryly.
“What? He deserved it!” snapped the bully.
“For what? Standing up for another kid?”
“He also looked at me like he wanted to fight!” shouted the kid. “So, I beat up his stupid Bidoof and now I’m beating him up for being stupid!”
“Seriously?” said Plumeria with a deadpan look.
“Yeah!” said the bully with absolute conviction.
“I want you to apologize to him before you go home,” said Plumeria in her most authoritative voice.
“You and what Pokémon? That weak looking lizard thing?”
Plumeria raised an eyebrow. Was this kid seriously wanting to battle her?
“Yeah, you heard me! I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!”
“No. Salazzle is going to seriously hurt your Pokémon.”
“Yeah, sure!” said the bully. “That’s what a weak trainer would say! You can’t bluff me!”
Plumeria rolled her eyes. “Kid, if you know what’s good for you, you’re going to apologize to the kid you were beating up and then go home.”
The kid only reached for his pokeball. “I already challenged you! Go, Destroyer!”
A Staravia popped out of the pokeball and let out a cry. Salazzle gave Plumeria a look, trying not to laugh.
“Go easy on him, ok? I don’t want to get in trouble for mauling some rich kid’s chicken.”
Salazzle gave a dissatisfied hiss but took a fighting stance.
“It’s a Staravia! It’s a really strong evolved Pokémon! And my dad got me some really powerful TMs to teach him!” snapped the bully.
“And my Salazzle is a fully evolved Pokémon,” said Plumeria dryly.
The bully stomped his foot. “Destroyer! Use Steel Wing!”
Plumeria raised an eyebrow.
“Salazzle. Use uh…. Smog? That shouldn’t kill it, right?”
Salazzle just rolled its eyes, and belched out a blast of noxious purple gas as the Staravia swooped in. The blast of purple gas blew against the Staravia with sufficient force to stop its forward momentum and blow it back. The bird Pokémon landed with some difficulty as the cloud passed it, and wobbled for a moment, before falling over.
“Destroyer? Destroyer!?” shouted the bully in surprise.
Plumeria smirked and patted Salazzle on the head.
“Good girl.”
Salazzle purred with contentment.
“You! You cheated!” yelled the bully.
His friend nodded. “Cheater!”
“What’s all this ruckus going on?” asked a gruff voice behind Plumeria. The boy’s faces turned to shock. She looked behind her to see an older man in a long coat, walking with a cane.
“She cheated!” shouted the bully.
“Yeah!” echoed his friend.
The old man turned to Plumeria. She shrugged. “They were beating up that kid over there. Apparently, he stood up for somebody else and so they beat him up. I tried to break it up and these two decided they wanted to have a battle over it.”
“She’s lying!” shouted the bully. “She was trying to beat us up! You gotta listen to us, Mr. Peterson!”
Mr. Peterson shook his head. “Unfortunately for you two, I saw the whole thing. This lady here just got here a little more quickly then I did. I’m really disappointed in you two.”
The two bullies hung their heads in shame.
“I’ve also taken the liberty of notifying your mothers as well of your actions.”
The two bullies froze.
“And I believe that’s them approaching,” said the old man, as the footfalls of two angry mothers began stomping towards them.
Plumeria ignored them and rushed over to the kid who they had been beating up.
He was flat on the ground, crying and curled up in a ball, most likely from the beating he had received.
“Hey kid. Kid. You all right?” asked Plumeria, taking a knee next to him.
The kid sniffed for a little bit.
“Are you hurt? Is anything broken?” Plumeria paused for a moment. That probably wasn’t a helpful question. “Does anything hurt more than everything else?”
The kid shook his head. Plumeria eyed his attire critically. His coat looked somewhat frayed and his hat didn’t look much better. A pokeball lay on the ground near him. Plumeria picked it up and inspected it. Sure enough, there was a rather beat up Bidoof inside. He’d had the sense to recall his Pokémon before it got more hurt. This kid had a good head on his shoulders.
She caught a cane out of the corner of her eye to see Mr. Peterson walk up next to her.
“Ah, Jake. You did a very brave thing back there. It takes courage to fight an opponent you know you cannot beat.”
“I lost, Mr. Peterson,” whimpered the boy.
“But you stood up for somebody. That was very brave of you.”
Plumeria extended a hand to the boy and helped him to his feet.
“Who are you?” the boy asked with a sniffle.
“Plumeria,” she said.
“You’re really strong, Ms. Plumeria!” said Jake. “It was really cool to see you take out Brian with your Pokémon’s weakest attack!”
“Thanks, kid. Salazzle is pretty tough,” said Plumeria.
“It takes a tough trainer to control a tough Pokémon,” said Mr. Peterson.
“Ah, I used to be a league challenger.”
“In a different region?” asked Mr. Peterson.
“Alola,” said Plumeria, wincing a little bit on the inside. She was hoping not to have to say so much. “I was one of the wash outs.”
“A wash out!?” said Jake in surprise. “Then the ones who beat all the gym leaders must be really strong!”
“Island Trials,” corrected Plumeria. “We don’t have what you would call a proper league back there.”
“Wow! That sounds really cool!” said Jake.
“One could say that,” said Plumeria noncommittally. They weren’t so cool when you couldn’t pass them time and time again because of an oversized fish with a type advantage.
“Could you teach me?” asked Jake.
“What?” asked Plumeria in surprise.
“Yeah! If you taught me how to battle, I could totally take down Brian!”
“I…uh….” stammered Plumeria for a moment. Her? A teacher? Was she really up to this? Should she even be teaching anybody? After….how the people she used to lead turned out? Not to mention she’d never taught them anything. She hadn’t needed to, the kind of people who joined Team Skull were mostly reasonably strong trainers who had been self-sufficient for some time. Anybody who didn’t know something was usually filled in pretty quickly by one of their fellow grunts. Her job was all about making them feel like they were part of the group.
“You have some doubts,” said Mr. Peterson. “It is not uncommon for people to have them. But I think you should consider it. You are a splendid battler.”
Plumeria paused. She considered it for a moment. She sighed. She knew what she had to do.
“All right, I’ll teach you. Jake, was it? Let’s meet out here after you get out of school. What time is that?”
“I get back at 4:30!” said Jake.
“Jake? Jake!?” called a woman’s voice. The older woman from earlier was walking as fast as she could towards them. Some distance away, Plumeria could see two very angry mothers dragging the two bullies home.
“Grandma!” shouted Jake.
“Are you hurt?”
“They beat me up, but Miss Plumeria is going to teach me how to battle better!”
“If that’s ok with you,” said Plumeria quickly.
Jake’s grandmother paused. “Thank you for being willing, let me think about it.”
Plumeria nodded. “Of course. I don’t want to impose.”
Jake’s grandmother smiled and nodded, before leading her grandson away.
“You did well, considering your situation,” said Mr. Peterson.
Plumeria jumped, not having noticed the man walk up next to her.
“You’re not entirely sure of yourself, are you?” he asked.
“Not exactly,” said Plumeria wryly. “But the kid’s got heart, and it's gonna get him into trouble if somebody doesn’t teach him how to battle properly. Wait, how could you tell?”
“You strike me as somebody who isn’t so sure of themselves. Call it a mixture of experience and intuition if you will. What the reason for it is, I haven’t the foggiest. But all the same, I saw your hesitation. I wonder why you chose to help him?”
Plumeria shrugged. “Because once upon a time that kid was me. I ended up taking a bad path because of it and it came back to bite me. I don’t know if I’m really qualified because of what I did in the past, but the least I can do is try to make sure he doesn’t do the same stuff I did.”
Mr. Peterson nodded. “A good answer. With a spirit like that, I think you’re more qualified than you know.”
He exhaled into the frigid air and shifted his weight. “Ah, forgive this old man for asking too many questions. But all the same, you’re quite the battler. You wouldn’t do too badly here in Sinnoh’s Pokémon League, if I’m not mistaken.”
Plumeria managed a halfhearted smile. “Thanks.”
The old man smiled. “You’re already on the right path. I think you’ll do just fine, and that young Jake will become quite the proficient battler. Well, I’ll be on my way now. It was good to meet you, Plumeria.”
Plumeria nodded as the old man waved. She decided to make her way back to her apartment building before she got any colder. As she walked, she watched her frozen breath plume into the air. Did she actually believe that line she spat out reflexively to the old guy?
Well, it wasn’t totally fake to be sure. She had been that kid at one point in her life. Did she really want to give back to the community? Of course, she was doing it as penance, but did she really want to do it?
She looked over to see Jake and his grandma walking back to their apartment building. Plumeria could see Jake jumping up and down as they walked.
Plumeria cracked a smile. Yes. Yes, she did want to do it. Maybe the old guy was right after all.
“C’mon, Salazzle. Let’s go home before we freeze.”