Pokemon: Destiny Evolved - The Complete First Chapter

Part 5

"So, that about wraps things up then?" Tony flips his hair to side majestically, and sparkles seem to form in his gorgeous eyes as he shines his cocky smile.

Cecilia feels her face, fire red as his gaze seems to meet hers. "I'm sorry, wh... What's the plan?"
"Cecilia!" Tony gives a huge smile, consuming the majority of his face. "So glad of you to join us!"
"O-of course!" Cecilia blushes hard, placing her balance on the tips of her toes as she shifts her body to the side and gives him a sidelong look.

"Get a room already..." A chubby man Cecilia doesn't recognize, with a brown spark of hair and yellow overalls, gives a full hearted laugh, and pats his belly.

"Shut up Watson!" Tony giggles, and then turns back towards Cecilia. "You're gonna be going out and training with Steven! We need you to be a strong member of our team for what's ahead!" He smiles at her flirtatiously, and then adds; "there's no doubt in my mind it'll be no problem for you."

"Just stop," Cecilia laughs shyly, enraptured in Tony's insurmountable amount of cuteness. "And Eevee?"

"Right here!" Tony throws her a pokeball. Cecilia jumps into the air, catching it, but fumbles around as she tries to get a solid grasp. "Thanks!"

A silver haired boy in a white dress shirt turns to Cecilia, and waves. "Hey, name's Steven."

"Hey! Nice to meet you!" Cecilia makes her way over to Steven, and shakes his hand awkwardly.

"Here," Steven throws Cecilia a fresh pair of new trainer clothes, complete with gloves, a hat, jeans, and a skinny black vest. "You're a trainer now, time to start dressing like it!"

At that, Cecilia finds herself on a bit of an odd note with Steven. She looks down at her tattered, ragged clothing, and feels as if the room is silently judging her. "It's not like I chose to dress this way...."

"Not at all! My apologies for being insensitive. I just meant that it's a rite of passage, you know?" Steven attempts a slight smile, which falls somewhat flat on his inexpressive face.

Cecilia giggles slightly at the attempt. "Okay, but where do I put them on?"

Steven points to a nearby door. "It's a bathroom. Make sure to shower in there as well."

"So now I stink too?!" Cecilia whisks around, giving Steven a devious eye. Steven places two fingers on his nose and squeezes, smiling. "PU."

Cecilia laughs, then twirls around to make her way into the bathroom.

The shower is unlike anything she had experienced for practically as long as she can remember. As she basks in the warm water, feeling it flooding down on her, she recalls just how crazy the past days have been, and how much her life had been changed forever. Where her fate had once seemed definite, it was now an ever changing cornucopia of new and exciting at every turn.

She didn't know where she would go next; but wherever it was, she found that for the first time in a long, long time, she was happy to just be on the journey.

Cecilia returns, donning her new outfit. Steven remains outside, leaning against the wall next to the bathroom.

"What, you were here the whole time? Pervert." Cecilia raises her eyebrow, smiling.

Steven remains calm and composed, simply responding with "let's get going!"

"Whatever you say pervert!" Cecilia chuckles to herself as they make their way to the stairway.

"So, Rustboro is safe now?" Cecilia asks Steven as they make their way up the stairs.

"It is! Team Celestial is gone for now. The other's will worry about them, and rebuilding the gym. In the meantime, we'll be training and catching Pokemon to strengthen our teams. I'm actually quite new to being a trainer myself."

"But already confident on taking down that glorious hunk of man at his own game I hear?" Cecilia raises her eyebrow at Steven again, giggling.

"Tony?" Steven laughs. "That cocky bastard won't stay champion another week."

"I doubt that," Cecilia replies, swooning.

"Whatever lovebird," Steven gives another unnatural smile, and opens the door guarding the stairway to open up the upstairs of the Devon Corporation, light streaming through the windows.

"Hey, how are your injuries holding up?" Steven asks, looking at Cecilia's cast. "I heard you sprained your wrist."

That's what it was? Cecilia nods slowly. "Yeah, I guess I did. I'm fine, shower felt nice."

Steven simply nodded, and they made their way out of the Devon Corporation and towards route 116.

As they walked, Cecilia marveled at the wonders of the city; tall rustic buildings scattered throughout. "It doesn't look like there's that much serious damage from the attacks?"

Steven nodded. "Only the gym."

Cecilia nods slowly.

As they reach the entrance to route 116, Cecilia, quickly spots a Taillow hiding in the grass. "I got this!" Cecilia throws her pokeball into the air, from which Eevee is released.

"Glad to have you back buddy!" Cecilia winks Eevee's way, to which Eevee responds by jumping onto Cecilia's shoulder, licking the side of her face incessantly. "Okay, okay now! Calm down!"

Cecilia points at the Taillow hiding in the grass. "Now, hit it with a tackle!"

Eevee slams into it's target, startling it as it's knocked hard on the grass. It retaliates with a peck attack, which Eevee easily shakes off.

"Now!" Cecilia declares triumphantly, pulling a Pokeball from her pocket. "You're mine!"

The Pokeball shakes, once, then twice. But the Taillow, determined to keep in the battle manages to break free of the pokeballs bounds.

"Dammit!" Cecilia exclaims, gritting her teeth.

"Try again," Steven says plainly, lifting his hands behind his head as he sits back on the grassy underbrush.

Cecilia throws another ball, determined to make her claim this time.

The ball shakes three times, and then settles down.

"Yes!" Cecilia jumps in the air in delight, running over to her newly caught Pokemon, cherishing it.

"Nice one!" Steven nods approvingly.

"Man, you're really not expressive!" Cecilia laughs, as Steven's cheeks ever so slightly light up. "Let's head to Petalburg woods!"

"Sounds good," Steven replies. "I'm mostly interested in steel types, actually. From what I've seen they're not really around here."

"Steel types? Sounds boring. Like you." Cecilia giggles, to which Steven pouts in shame.

The duo arrive in Petalburg woods, and Cecilia scours the landscape in hopes of finding a Pokemon, but finds none in her line of sight.

"I don't think there ar-"

Suddenly, a shroomish drops from a tree Cecilia stands under. Caught off guard, she falls to the ground hard. Wincing in pain, she twists her body into position, pointing towards the Shroomish as it scurries off. "Eevee, Swift!"

Eevee sends a plethora of stars at the Shroomish as it scurries away, knocking the Pokemon flat on it's face. "Thought you could get away, huh?!" Cecilia throws a pokeball at the Shroomish, wincing harder as she feels the pain in her wrist getting progressively worse.

The ball hits the Shroomish in the head, shakes three times, and settles down.

"Another one in the bank!" Cecilia shakes her butt from side to side and throws her arms in the air, as Steven stares at her with a blank expression.

Cecilia sighs, smiling. "So, what's next?"

The two train, Pokemon after Pokemon, long into the night, before heading back to the Devon corporation for some rest.

As Cecilia lays in bed thinking of all the events that had transpired in that one day, she can't help but feel overwhelmed. The thoughts swam through her head in a seemingly endless frenzy, tormenting her for what seemed years before she finally drifted off to sleep...