Broken Souls

Victory In Our Sights

It's not much longer until that final ting signifies the conclusion to all we've been working for, the resolution to what must have been months of tedious, boring grinding. Frankly I'm impressed the team stood up with it, and though some days have been worse than others, there's a unanimous cheer as I hold up the Pokedex, the brightness so high that it lights up the whole cave like Flash.

"That's it! We're done!" I call, and Fang, recipient of the new level, grins toothily. He's a little battered, likely in need of a Hyper Potion, but he's been refusing help all day. I just think he's glad to know he's not holding us up anymore.

The others are celebrating as soon as they hear the ding, with Pisces showing slightly more emotion than usual and Minerva rushing up to Fang to nuzzle him directly. The two of them, Fang's mentor and coach respectively, have spent a lot of time with the perky Umbreon, and they're glad to be done with it too.

"Level 50, all around." Reginae says, by my side. "Not bad, not bad."

"Not bad?!" Fang says, practically ecstatic. He jumps with joy around the cage, pantomiming the ensuing battle. "We're incredible. We're going to walk in there and all the Elite Four members will be on their knees. We're gonna-"

"We're gonna take a break, now, right?" Minerva asks with a nervous laugh. "Please."

"Why don't we celebrate back at the hotel?" I ask, and the whole team perks up.

"What do you have planned?" asks Ten.

"Food," I say, "And going to sleep."
Another unanimous cheer. I'm on fire today.

It's not even sunset when we get back, though for Pisces, we've come to the end of the line. She's long since resigned herself to her fate, and bears no ill will to those of us small enough to use most of the amenities provided by society, but I still feel bad patting her down and promising to see her again tomorrow.

"Get me something good for breakfast," she tells me, then turns to the rest of the group with her usual shrewd expression. "As for the rest of you, don't go too crazy on the food. Tomorrow may not be the day we challenge the Elite Four, but I can assure you that bulking out on junk food just after all that training will carry its own consequences."

"We won't," lies Fang.

She sees right through him, but just flares her nostrils and taps the Pokeball to her head.

The rest of the team, giddy with excitement, runs through the revolving door and skids to the right, turning into the lobby. The Indigo Plateau's hotel is decorated in (what else?) glorious purples, with irises in every vase and dark rugs beneath the furniture. There's also typical fancy hotel fare, with chandeliers spanning half the ceiling and exuberant wealth on display everywhere. I was convinced for most of my childhood that places like this were made up, like palaces, and now I'm staying in one.

My team takes no such time to admire the lobby. Instead, they cram themselves into the elevator, which is specially made for Pokemon and without Pisces can fit us easily. The elevator takes us up to the third floor, and we all plunge into our respective beds in the hotel room.

The room itself is mainly cream, with large down blankets and even larger pillows. It's built for comfort and even features sweets and a few spare Potions on one of the tables, bought there for our time to unwind (as written in large cursive letters on a notecard) by the hotel staff.

"Feel like going out?" I ask, sinking a few inches further into the bed.

"Nah." say all the remaining Pokemon, in unison, and I call up room service.

We order pancakes, because damnit, health food is for chumps and people who didn't just finish grinding. Then we order some ice cream to go with our pancakes, the fancy kind you see other people eating at restaurants and wish you had the kind of financial resources to order on a whim.