A Tale of Two Rivals

I Shouldn't Do It, Not Just Yet

I finally relaxed in my seat, but I could not relax in my brain. Truth be told, I was planning on using my new Masquerain in Fallarbor Town to at least get him used to performing on stage. But now, that just was not an option.

If Soledad saw me performing with that pokémon as soon as Fallarbor, she would never let me hear the end of it; especially if I started off in the Fallarbor Contest by showing off its already mastered Silver Wind.

I guessed that it was nothing short of a sign. I did need to develop a bit more practice with Masquerain, but with the ease I had in winning my last ribbon, I supposed that I could afford to take a little bit of a chance in Fallarbor Town and use a new pokémon.

Roselia it was. After all, I had been unstoppable with her all season, save for that one loss in Slateport City, but my system was working. As the old saying goes, 'if it is not broke, do not fix it,' right?

Then, I pulled my credit card from the video phone machine and bid goodnight to the concierge at the front desk. I headed back up to my hotel room afterwards and looked up at the clock. It was almost one a.m. and between training for contests and competing in contests, themselves, not even all of the coffee I ever drank even in the evening could keep me up long enough to stay up later than I should. I had had a long day, anyway.

I pushed the door to my hotel room open as quietly as I could so as not to disturb my pokémon in the room who were still sleeping soundly. Roselia took up one side of the bed while Masquerain rested on the lounge chair in the corner. I could not help but smile at both of them. The two of them had both worked so hard that week alone, that they deserved to take a day off tomorrow.

The next few days were going to be all about traveling, anyway. Besides, I had always preferred arriving at my destination before I would start training my pokémon for any contest. That way, I could get to my destination quickly and not have to worry about my pokémon training regimen until I reached my final destination. I would also have a lot more time to observe the people I would be competing against for the ribbon.

I slipped on my most comfortable night wear and settled down onto the bed gently so as not to disturb Roselia's sleep. The softness of the mattress and the coolness of its sheets forced a yawn out of me, though. Luckily, my yawn went unheard by both Roselia and my other, newer pokémon. I still worked to get comfortable in bed, however, as I shifted onto one side of my bed and reached for the bedside table to turn off the light. That was when I noticed my new pokémon friend sprawled on the lounge chair.

Masquerain... a Masquerain... out of all the pokémon in the entire Hoenn Region, why did I suddenly seem to want a Masquerain? After much consideration, my tired mind then wandered back over to my conversation with Soledad.

Soledad: I gotta admit that I was kinda surprised that you had caught a Masquerain, since I have never really known you to go for such a pokémon.

Soledad: It still doesn't sound too much like you. You don't usually make a habit of taking any risks.

Soledad: I don't doubt it, but I'm still curious as to what exactly inspired you to catch a Masquerain, of all pokémon, in the first place.

She was not really wrong about that certainty about me. I rarely ever took a risk, nor had I ever seen much appeal in a Masquerain before the Slateport Contest. Of course, the excuse I had handed Soledad as much as myself was that I wanted to be able to perform Silver Wind, but at the same time I knew for a fact that that was not the whole truth about my situation. I would never have even gone and caught Masquerain at all if I had planned to use him in my contests based on one-single move alone.

I could not and would not buy what Soledad suddenly seemed to think about my newest pokémon. There was absolutely no other reason than combination appeals that I would ever have caught Masquerain, at all.

I suddenly felt weirdly warm for a reason even after I clicked the light off. I tried to blame it on being under the covers, but at the same time, I knew it was for a very different reason than that.

This kind of thinking was disturbing my sleep, and it would have wound up disturbing the sleep of my pokémon if I had anymore of this wasteful thinking. It was not like it even mattered, anyway.

Eventually, I finally found it within me to at last drift off to sleep. I had some really weirdly 'in heat' dreams, however. Yes, they all involved Silver Winds and red bandanas. I swear that if I ever let Soledad know I had such nightly fantasies, she would positively never let me hear the end of it.