The Dark Noon- A Pokemon Story

Chapter 3

"Swin?" Swinub was calm when he first came out of his Pokéball, sniffing at the ground.

"That's a good start, I guess," I mumbled under my breath, taking a few steps so I could pick him up.

Unfortunately, that was when Eris decided to send out her Rotom, and right where Swinub was, was where she decided to send it out.

"Rotom!" The ghostly creature burst out of its Pokéball with the energy she had mentioned before, startling my Swinub. Instead jumping into my arms, however, he ran to a nearby bush, retreating into its dark underside. I froze as I witnessed this, wondering how I got so unlucky as to get a Swinub like this.

"Eh, I'll be right back." I avoided all eye contact as I slipped away from the circle, feeling my cheeks getting hot. Making sure I brought my backpack with me, I hurried over to the bush Swinub was hiding under, kneeling down and trying to make myself look as non-threatening as possible.

"Swi, swi..." Swinub moved more into the bush, trying to stay out of sight from me.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm not here to hurt you." I opened my backpack, fishing through it and grabbing a container of Pokémon kibble. Opening it, I fumbled as I poured some into my hand, remembering that Candice always used food to calm Swinub down.

This should work the same for me, right? I thought, biting my lip as I brought my hand towards the bush.

"It's safe, Swinub," I hesitated in my words for a second, wondering if "safe" was even a word I could back up at the moment, "It's different, but it's safe."

Swinub wouldn't budge, though, even with the food in my palm. I laid down fully in the dirt now, trying to think of how I could possibly get Swinub out.

Maybe if I leave the food next to him, I thought, reaching my hand a bit more into the bush, at least, I think that's what he needs.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, startling me a bit as I looked up awkwardly to see who it was. It was the kid that I had saw calling after the boy, Markus, earlier, as I could tell by their chin-length, dusty blonde hair. Next to them was a Chimchar, peering under the bush at Swinub.

"You know you can just, you know, just pick up your Swinub, right?" The kid said, reaching out and nudging their Chimchar closer to them. "I don't think it'll hate you for it, really."

"Eh..." I moved the kibble I was holding into my left hand, looking back at Swinub. A force in my gut was telling me that this was not a very nice thing to do, but I listened to the kid anyway. The ball of fluff squirmed in my hand as I pulled him out of the bush, but I didn't want to have this go on any longer, so I just shut my eyes and pulled Swinub into my chest.

And for a moment, I just stood there.

"Um, are you okay?" I felt a hand against my cheek, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the kid wiping away a tear that I didn't even realize I had been shedding.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I pushed their hand away, standing up and looking down at Swinub. He was curled up close to me, but was now a bit more interested in the kibble I was holding. I moving my left hand towards him, and watched as he nibbled quickly on it. "I'm heading back to the others." I picked up my bag after Swinub finished, not making eye contact with the kid as I hurried back over to the group.

"And what's your name?" The teacher, who I still did not know the name of, asked me as soon as I stood next to Eris again.

"Clara." I kept my sight down, not even wanting to imagine what I looked like at the moment.

This day better not get any worse, or else I'm going straight home, I thought, knowing that thinking in that way was just challenging fate, but almost wanting that to happen.

"Well, now that we all know each other's names, I should go over a few things." I felt Eris's arm wrap through mine as the teacher spoke, almost making me drop Swinub. "To start off with, as you should know already, there are two parts to the test..."

"Hey, Clara, I'm sorry about what happened," Eris whispered in my ear as the teacher's voice droned on in the background. "I should've done something to help, but..." She trailed off, but I didn't ask why. In fact, I didn't really want to talk at all; I just wanted to get into my bed and pretend this day never happened.

"So, we'll be starting tomorrow with a battle demonstration between two of Professor Rowan's helpers, and then we'll get right to our readings so then we can get smarter, and hopefully you all will get to challenge the gyms one day!" The teacher finished her speech, which I was pretty sure everyone only half-listened to, and sent us off back to the dorms, talking about food probably being served soon.

As it turned out, my bus buddy, Eris, was also my dorm-mate for the Trainer School's dorms. Which meant, that no matter what, there was no way to get away from her.

"Clara, you can't just hide in your bed for the rest of the day, acting like that's going to help." And there she was, standing over my bed about an hour after the disastrous first meeting of my trainer school career, trying to get me to go to dinner.

"I'm not hungry," I said, rolling over and facing away from Eris. "I'm just spending time with Swinub." I looked over at the small Pokémon, who was asleep next to my pillow, looking much more peaceful now.

"Well, I think maybe Swinub there would like some food from downstairs." I saw Eris's hand press down on my mattress next to me, and when I looked up, she was leaning over me, trying to get Swinub to work for her cause.

And of course, in true Swinub fashion, he worked with her. Nearly as soon as she mentioned the word food, Swinub perked up, giving a small squeal as he butted my head a few times.

"You've got to be kidding me. Now you're on her side?" I sat up, picking up Swinub and holding him close to my face. "There better be a day where you actually go on my side for once."

"Now you're perking up a bit," Eris said. She picked up my hairbrush from the nightstand, where I had left it after I had unpacked. I stayed still, watching her out of the corners of my eyes as she moved behind me, gently taking my hair in her hand and brushing through it. "Everything's going to be fine, okay?"

"I know, I know, it's just—" I waved my hand in the air, trying to form the words, "whenever I get into a situation like that, I just feel paralyzed."

"I have an idea." Eris turned me around, and I saw that she was grinning from ear to ear, in a way that I knew I should be afraid of it. "Let's get food, and then meet me by the entrance."