The Burden of Destiny | Sequel to The Aura Within

07 | Everything Has Changed

The morning rays of sunlight beamed through the window of Hope's room. Her eyes scrunched up in dismay, followed by a protesting groan when the light hit her eyes. Mumbling to herself, she blindly reached for a pillow and covered her face with it. Waking up at this hour was probably a good idea, but her desire to sleep in a little longer had settled in quite quickly. After all, she had gone to sleep rather late last night.

Unfortunately for her, getting a few more hours of sleep wasn't going to happen, not when a certain Pokémon began to impatiently hop on the bed. Her eyebrows deeply furrowed underneath the pillow.

"Hope, I'm hungry!" Riolu's childish voice whined. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

The woman didn't respond, only wishing that Riolu would stop when he realized that she wasn't going to react. When the bed became still, Hope sighed contently. She thought it worked until the pillow covering her face was ripped away from her.

Awake and annoyed, Hope sat up stiffly and glared at the young Pokémon with her tired eyes. Riolu was unfazed. Rather, he was more curious about when they're going to eat breakfast.

"Are you always like this?!" Hope snapped.

"You were already awake!" Riolu countered. "Plus, you told me to not wander off alone, and I'm hungry, so..."

Hope let out a loud yawn and rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes. She was too tired to start lecturing the young Pokémon first thing in the morning. Besides, the others were probably already awake. Might as well start getting ready for whatever endeavors were planned out for the day. She flipped the covers off of her body and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. The soreness of her back had mostly left thanks to the medicinal oil the nurse administered, but her shoulder was still tense.

The woman stood up and made her way over to the bathroom, grabbing her clothes in the process. One perk of staying in this room specifically was that she had a bathroom for herself. Back in Sirena's Island, there was this unspoken rule in the Santos household that the first one who gets in the bathroom had first dibs. It was nice to have more privacy here.

By the time Hope took care of her hygiene and applied more medicinal oil to her shoulder, Riolu was itching to leave. He tried keeping himself busy by going through whatever stuff was in the room, but his rumbling stomach pestered him for food.

"Hope, hurry up!" he rushed.

"I'm almost done!" Hope yelled back as she finished weaving her hair into its usual braid.

She exited the bathroom and turned to face the full-body mirror. Despite brushing off most of the dirt on her shirt and pants, her clothes weren't as clean as they were when she first wore them before coming to the Mainland. Her only concern was the possible lecture from the others about her appearance. She even made sure to keep her fringe within her braid to look a little more put together.

Once she was satisfied with her appearance, Hope grabbed her cape and motioned for Riolu to follow her. The Pokémon's face lit up, eager to finally tame his hunger. Hope closed the door behind her before making her way to the lobby in search of a familiar face. What she wasn't expecting was to find Haku leaning against the wall wearing an irritable look on his face. His sharp eyes shifted toward her direction upon hearing her footsteps.

"It's about time," the young man snapped. "Honestly, what would Father say if he found out you were trying to sleep in?"

"After yesterday's events, I think we deserve to sleep in a little, don't you think?" Hope retorted. "Besides, we have bigger issues to worry about."

Haku's impatience subsided and was replaced with confusion. Rather than saying it out loud, Hope simply pointed down at Riolu, who shyly peeked at him from behind her leg. She watched as Haku's green eyes slowly widened in shock. When he knelt down to get a closer look at the Pokémon, Riolu withdrew in an attempt to completely hide behind Hope's legs.