Poké Pals

Chapter 3: Lunch

Emolga hadn't seen the bell before, but when the ringing sounded for lunch her eyes were instantly drawn to the red metal circle. Everybody hopped up and ran outside. Emolga grabbed her lunch and went to join them but remembered the cookies that her mother packed and grabbed those too.
Outside, Litten was waiting, taking in the midday sunshine like she was photosynthesising from it. Emolga ran up to her, being careful not to drop the cookies.
"Where's the playground?" Emolga asked.
"At the bottom of the hill. Come on!" Litten nodded.
The hill was steep, and Emolga looked at the situation she had in her arms. Her lunchbox was balanced on the box of cookies. She was so gonna drop at least one of the boxes... Emolga saw Litten with her lunch in a reusable bag, watched her stop and then watched her go back.
"Need any help?" Litten grabbed the lunchbox and put her own lunch bag in her mouth, "Now come on!"
Litten flopped down on the hill and slid down towards the small dirt play area. Emolga could see a small forest area, play equipment and benches, as well as the other Pokémon in her class either going straight to play or going to eat lunch. Behind her, Emolga could hear Miss Beautifly leaving the classroom.
It was now or never! She threw herself down the hill too, and the excitement hit her like a wall. The adrenaline! The rush! The wind blasting past her face! And Litten cheering along with her... Emolga finally knew this fresh start would be as amazing as she thought it would be!
At the bottom of the hill, Litten ran up to a group of Pokémon sat in a circle on a patch of grass. They were all eating lunches, and each lunch was slightly different. Emolga wanted to try it all, but they weren't her lunches. She'd have to ask Litten to make something for her at some point.
"Hey Cottonee! Hey Buizel!" Emolga waved to both of her friends as they smiled back whilst chewing their food. Emolga noticed that Buizel had a particularly large lunch.
Straight away, a Pokémon walked up to Emolga and shook her hand. He had blue-grey skin, beige things sticking out of his head which reminded Emolga of the many shark Pokémon's head tips. He also had ruby red eyes, a small tail and small, developing muscles.
"I'm Machop! Pleased to meet you." he greeted her.
"Oh, you're Machop! Aren't you in a team with Litten and Snow?" Emolga awd excitedly.
"It's Snom, but yeah, you're right. How'd you hear about that?" Litten asked.
"Burmy told me." Emolga answered, "Speaking of which, where is she?"
"Oh... we don't hang out with her." Machop shrugged.
Emolga looked around for Burmy in the playground. She found her sat alone at one of the benches, eating a salad and looking like an absolute loner. Or like she had the Cheese Touch from Diary of a Wimpy Kabuto. That was one of Emolga's favourite books, among many others; reading was one of her favourite activities!
But that wasn't important. Why was Burmy all alone. No, could Emolga be her... only friend? Surely not. Burmy was cool! No way she just hung out by herself! Surely not, surely! Or maybe she did.
"Why not?" Emolga asked.
"We just don't." Machop shrugged, "Um, did your mum make those cookies?"
"Yes, help yourself. And can I ask Burmy to come here?" Emolga asked.
"She's fine by herself. I asked her to join us too, once."
Emolga turned her head to another Pokémon sat next to where Machop had been sat. She was a small diplodocus-looking Pokémon with skin that was the colour of grass with morning frost on it. She had a leaf growing out of her head that had the appearance of a topknot, and the eyes below that were the same red as Machop's.
"She just doesn't like people." she continued, "Also, my name is Chikorita. Welcome to our class!"
"Hey." Emolga smiled half heartedly.
Defeated for now, Emolga sat down between Machop and Litten. Emphasis on the 'for now'; Emolga always believed that challenges could be overcome, and this challenge was one that shouldn't be so bad. Emolga turned to Litten to try and brighten her mood.
"Will I be joining your team?"
"Most likely, or you'll be joining the Wooloo twins and Mudkip's team, because that'll make our threes a four." Litten answered.
"Who are they?" Emolga asked.
"I'm Mudkip, hey."
Mudkip had a chirpy little voice that still appeared shy. He stood on four legs like Chikorita, but didn't appear like a dinosaur. Instead, he had on of Machop's beige head thingies but larger and blue, like the rest of his body. His belly was a big more of a baby blue than the top of the body's water blue. These blues were split by vivid orange cheeks with fin-looking things on the edges. Mudkip also had a light blue tail that was the same length as his head fin.
"Oh, hi! And what about the Wooloo twins?" Emolga asked.
Litten nodded, "They're playing with Treecko over there."
Treecko turned about to be the green lizard which Emolga had seen earlier that day. She hadn't noticed his red belly, though. The Wooloo twins themselves were sheep Pokémon. One of them was white with a black face, and one of them was black with a white face, a scientific phenomenon which Emolga had heard of called a 'shiny' Pokémon.
"One last thing, who's Snom?" Emolga asked.
"Over there, he joined last term, so he's fairly new like yourself." Chikorita pointed to the forest.
Emolga didn't know why. Maybe she'd never know why. When she saw Snom, her blood froze. Maybe it was just because he might've been an ice type, but Emolga couldn't be sure if that was the reason. And it wasn't an icy feeling. When she looked at the snowy bug in its bumpy ice shell, she felt fear. A nasty, eldritch feeling. But why?
"Emolga?" Litten put her hand on Emolga's shoulder.
"What's Snom like?" Emolga asked quietly.
"He keeps to himself, even more than Burny does. Why?" Chikorita answered.
"...He's creepy."
"Totally."
Machop was now stood beside another Pokémon. A lizard with scales as orange as the fire on the tip of his tail. He had a stance like he was ready to run and start an adventure on a moment's notice. Emolga had to be honest that she would hate to be his parent if that were true.
"Charmander, you need to introduce yourself." Machop prompted.
"Nah, can't be bothered." Charmander shrugged, "Do you want to play tag with me?"
But since Emolga, Litten, Cottonee, Buizel, Mudkip, Machop, Chikorita or any of the other three Pokémon hanging out with the group hadn't eaten their lunch yet, Charmander was left to vibe by himself. Not that Emolga was even hungry, but she didn't want to play either.

***

On the way home, Emolga still found herself thinking about Snom. She was glad that the dirt path didn't turn, otherwise she would've walked straight into one of the houses either side of the path. What was up with Snom? It was like he was haunted, and that ghost was in turn haunting her.
It was that feeling you got when someone was watching you but you couldn't see them.
"Hey! Emolga, wait up."
Ironically, it was a ghost type Pokémon who was following her. Emolga recognised him as being in the friend group she had eaten with. He was a black spirit, with a dark oak stump for a head. The Pokémon's red eyes poked out of the stump, though.
"It's me, Phantump! Remember?" Phantump asked.
"Oh, yeah, sorry, I forgot your name. I'm terrible with names." Emolga laughed.
"I feel you." Phantump smiled, "You forgot the box you bought the cookies in."
Emolga accepted her box, "Oh! Thank you. I can't believe I forgot that."
"Don't worry."
"So, do you have plans tonight?"
"I do, actually. That's another reason why I came; myself and Litten were wondering if you wanted to hang out in the town square." Phantump asked, cocking his head to the side.
Emolga considered his proposition for a moment before saying, "Not today. Maybe another time?"
"Emolga - you're the sort of person who wants everyone to be included, but you can't include everyone without including yourself." Phantump frowned.
Emolga looked into Phantump's ghostly red eyes. For a moment, Emolga found herself convinced to go, but then remembered that she was drained, and also that she had some thinking to do about Snom, and which friends she'd team up with in a sport class and the like.
"I really can't, sorry."
"Oh... I'll be seeing you, then." Phantump nodded and then left.
As Emolga continued on her journey home, she was aware that she thinking a lot more about Phantump than she was Snom.

To be continued...