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roxannarambles · 6 months

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Title: Home For the Holidays

Ship: Nemona x Juliana

Summary: Nemona doesn't have much planned for this holiday season but in the very least, when it comes to getting Juliana a gift, she wants to do things right

Nemona never had such a difficult time getting a gift for somebody before.

Getting gifts for someone was super simple, normally. Just find out what they’re interested in! Then maybe do a little checking to see what they already have and get them something they don’t. Easy, right? With the Winter Solstice coming up, giving gifts was a big part of that. And Nemona had new friends this year, so she definitely wanted to get something for each of them. It was smooth sailing for most of them. For example, Arven: he loved cooking. Nemona talked to Mr. Saguaro to learn what fancy cooking gadgets and ingredients were desirable, and she bought Arven some really gourmet salt from different regions. For Penny, she asked her about the shows she was currently into, and then she checked her shelves of DVDs to make sure what she had, before buying her a nice DVD set of her current favorite anime.

For Juliana, well, of course she loved pokemon battling. Nemona had some really rare and useful Ability Patches, five of them! She knew Juliana would love those, so it was a great gift for her. Piece of cake!

. . . but then Nemona started to second-guess herself.

Getting a gift for Juliana was different, somehow. True, Juliana would love the Ability Patches, but it wasn’t a particularly personal gift, was it? And Juliana was . . . special to Nemona, really special, and she wanted her gift to reflect that. Nemona felt like she wasn’t always really great at telling Juliana just how much she meant to her. Sometimes she would just blurt it out, true, but she usually did that just prior to rushing off in embarrassment, too nervous to see Juliana’s true reaction. And the times she did see her reaction, well, Nemona wasn’t the greatest at reading people, so she didn’t exactly trust herself to know for sure.

Oof. Feelings were complicated. But maybe gift giving could help with that. She could just show Juliana how much she cared for her. That seemed like a lot less scary way to do it. But it had to be perfect. Not too practical and impersonal, but also not too intimate, otherwise that’d be offputting and presuming too much about how close they were. It couldn’t be too cheap but it also couldn’t be too expensive, she didn’t wanna seem like she was showing off or drawing attention to any sort of expense disparity between gifts. Also it should be something creative and unique, something that really stood out, but not so unique that it misses the mark and Juliana doesn’t even like it. Something that was thoughtful and showed she clearly put a lot of effort into it, but not too much effort, something that told her how she felt but also wasn’t too raw and honest in case that was overwhelming or it wasn’t reciprocated.

She could . . . do all that, right? Nemona brainstormed for hours but every idea she had was rejected for some reason or the other. She wandered shops for inspiration, but nothing seemed quite right. She even asked Arven and Penny for suggestions and asked them what they’d gotten Juliana. (Arven had made Juliana some really nice Solstice cookies and Penny had bought her a cute pair of headphones with Umbreon-shaped ears attached) They tried their best to give Nemona suggestions, but none of their ideas really felt like the perfect answer.

Eventually Nemona just had to go with something and hope it would turn out okay. She chose something that had to be custom-ordered, a little on the pricey side but not extremely so. Once she put the order in she tried to just put it out of her mind and stop worrying.

As the Solstice drew nearer, they had to bid Arven and Penny a temporary farewell. Penny was flying back to Galar for the holidays to be with her dad. Arven’s case was a little more complicated. When he learned of his mother’s death, his next of kin had to be notified, once they’d managed to track them down. He hadn’t actually met any of his extended family before. But they did track someone down, Arven’s grandmother on his mom’s side. She lived in Kalos and hadn’t been in touch with her daughter for some time, but had seemed very warm and welcoming when Arven contacted her. She had invited Arven over for the Solstice, and so he was flying out to Kalos to meet her. They made sure to exchange gifts before they left. And so that left Nemona and Juliana in Paldea. Juliana would no doubt be spending the holiday with her mother, of course. It was nice that all of Nemona’s friends were spending time with their families. She was happy for them, truly.

Thinking about it sometimes made her feel a pang of loneliness and maybe even jealousy, but she ignored it as best she could. Her home life was not exactly ideal, true, but she wasn’t going to complain about it and bum her friends out. They deserved this chance to enjoy their time.

There was a piece of bad news that did manage to really dampen Nemona’s mood, though. It turned out that the gift she had custom-ordered for Juliana probably wouldn’t be ready in time for the holiday. They had called that morning to give her the update– they would do their best, but it might be delayed for a few days. Nemona felt very disheartened after that. Not only was she unsure whether the gift she picked out would be a good one, but it wasn’t even going to be on time. She moped in her dorm room after that, not really feeling like going out. She was leaving Mesagoza tomorrow to return to the house in Cabo Poco, since her family wanted her to tend to the house. If she wanted the chance to buy something last-minute, she should really jump on it now. Yet she couldn’t seem to muster the willpower. Seeing all the Solstice decorations and music and such seemed a bit . . . unappealing now. She didn’t want to be a grump, but she couldn’t help feeling like one at the moment.

Nemona was busy zoning out with videos of pokemon matches, munching on junk food, when a knock at her door startled her. The door swung open soon after, a girl bounding in, her voice cheery as she sing-songed,

“Happy Solstice Eve, Nemona!”

Nemona immediately dropped her tablet, her face brightening.

“Jules!”

She bounced off her bed and rushed up to her, hugging her.

“Happy Solstice Eve! How’s it going, you excited to see your mom tomorrow? Betcha she’s excited, we’ve been so busy this semester you’ve hardly seen her for months now, huh?”

Juliana chuckled,

“Honestly I think she’s been enjoying the time alone, she tells me all about the places she’s been exploring in Paldea. She’s kinda been having her own treasure hunt, haha. But yeah, it should be nice! We’re going to have a big Solstice breakfast and everything. Mom’s cooking is the best. Oh, don’t tell Arven I said that.”

“I’m sure he’d understand. Tell your mom tomorrow I said ‘hi,’okay? You still have to invite me over one of these days, I’m dying to meet her.”

“Of course! Oh, and that brings me to why I’m here.”

Juliana had an excited gleam in her eye as she set down her bags. She pulled a brightly-wrapped package from one of the bags, presenting it with a little flourish.

“To my best friend and beloved rival, heehee. I figured we should exchange our gifts now since we’ll both be with our families tomorrow.”

Nemona accepted the gift, a slim, tiny package wrapped in shiny red paper, topped with a little green bow. She felt the guilt and anxiety return.

“A-about that, I . . .”

She trailed off and sighed.

“What? What’s wrong?”

She looked to Juliana with sad eyes.

“I got you something, but the problem is, it’s, um, it’s a custom-order kind of thing and they just called me earlier today and said it’s gonna be late, probaby for a few days. I’m really sorry, Juliana–”

“Oh, gosh, that’s all? Nemona, don’t worry about it, it’s fine!”

“I really wanted to give it to you on time though, I feel really bad . . . I guess I should have ordered it sooner, ugh . . .”

“Nemona,” Juliana put her hands on both her shoulders. She spoke breezily,

“You’re being silly. I don’t even need a gift from you, you know that. Not when I have you!”

She leaned in and rubbed the tip of their noses together the way Pawmi kissed. Nemona giggled,

“J-jules!”

“Now don’t give it another thought, just open your present, okay?”

Nemona tried to ignore the tingly sensation that had spread across her entire body– if she knew any better she’d be convinced Juliana packed as much electricity as any Pawmi’s Nuzzle did– and instead just laughed,

“O-okay, okay, you win. But um, you want me to open this now? It’s still Solstice Eve.”

“That’s okay, you can open it now. Unless you wanna save it for tomorrow when you open gifts with the rest of your family?”

Nemona glanced away from her, discomfort flickering across her face briefly before quickly being replaced.

“Mmm, well, let’s just do it now!”

“Okay! Heehee, great, I can see your reaction then.”

Nemona turned her attention to the little package, excited and curious about what it could be. It was very small, whatever it was. She carefully tore the paper off and found a jewelry box within. She opened the clamshell.

Inside was a necklace. It was a pokeball encrusted in sparkling little gems, red gems on top and white ones on the bottom. The center button of the pokeball was set with a pearlescent gem that had a rainbow sheen. The little pokeball rested on a thin gold chain.

“Oh wow . . . Juliana, it’s beautiful!”

When she looked to her friend, she saw that Juliana actually looked a little nervous.

“You really like it? I know you’re not much of a jewelry kind of person, but when I saw these, I thought . . . well, it seemed like such a good fit for you.”

Nemona smiled brightly, answering,

“I love it! And yeah, you’re right I’m not usually one for jewelry, usually it kinda just gets in the way, you know? But a necklace like this is perfect. It’s so cute and it’s so sweet of you . . . oh, I hope it wasn’t too expensive though?”

Juliana shook her head.

“It was pretty reasonable. Those little gems are tera shards that pokemon drop after they Terastallize, the jeweler collects and polishes ‘em.”

Nemona’s eyes widened.

“Whaaat? That’s so cool!”

“Yeah! Oh, also, there’s a little surprise. It’s also a locket.”

“A locket?”

“Yeah! I guess it’s kinda an old-school thing, hold on, I’ll show you.”

Juliana gently pressed down on the little center ‘button’ of the pokeball. The top and bottom of the pokeball swung open on two hinges, revealing a flat compartment beneath.

“See? You can put a tiny little picture inside it. Usually people put a picture of their pokemon in these, I thought you could put a photo of Pawmot or something!”

Nemona made a delighted noise and gushed,

“That’s amazing!! Juliana, thank you so much, this is such a cool present!”

“You’re welcome! I’m glad you like it so much.”

Nemona hugged her again, squeezing her tight.

“I love it. You’re the best, Jules.”

Unfortunately, Juliana couldn’t stay for very long after that– she’d promised her mom she’d do a bit of shopping for her while she was still in Mesagoza. Juliana invited her to come along if she wanted to, but Nemona declined, saying something vague about finishing up some work. In truth, she didn’t have much work to do; she just was nervous she’d bring the mood down. Or worse, Juliana would notice something amis. But this was fine, she didn’t mind lounging in her dorm the rest of the evening. It was rare she took the time to just chill, after all.

As the hour grew late and she was sitting in bed with Pawmot, she looked up ‘locket’ online. Juliana had mentioned it was sort of an old-school thing. She found a website on the history of the locket and read aloud,

“A locket is a pendant for storing a photograph or other small memento, usually given to loved ones . . . it symbolizes something you want to cherish forever. . . ooh, Pawmot, that’s so sweet!”

It was supposed to contain a photo, but Nemona figured it probably had to be a physical photo. She didn’t have any of those. How did you even get physical photos? She did a little more searching and found out you could get any digital picture printed as a physical photo if you wanted. Great! So she could just use any of the pictures she had on her phone. She scrolled through her phone, trying to see if she had any really good shots of Pawmot. She found plenty of photos of Pawmot, but they hardly could be called ‘good.’ The majority were super blurry because Pawmot rarely stood still and Nemona wasn’t exactly great at snapping pictures.

“Urgh, none of these will be clear when they’re really small. Hold on, let’s try to get a better shot.”

She aimed the phone at Pawmot.

“Smile, Pawmot! Lemme see those cute ‘lil cheeks.”

Pawmot came closer and shoved his face into the phone.

“No, back up, silly, that’s too close. Here.”

She nudged him back and tried taking some shots, but Pawmot squirmed and squeaked at her.

“Hold still, Pawmot, just for a second, okay? Ok, look at the camera!”

Pawmot bumped the phone again and jumped onto Nemona’s chest, nibbling on her face.

“Pawmot, c’mon!”

She struggled to get a proper photo, but the pokemon was way too wiggly and refused to sit still long enough. Eventually she gave up, sighing,

“Ok, ok, fine. Maybe I’ll try again when you’re sleeping?”

Pawmot shoved his way ontop of her again, smooshing his face against hers and chirping happily. Nemona pet his fluffy head and chuckled.

“Not that I really need a photo of you, huh? You’re already in my face pretty much always.”

Pawmot purred, his big ears twitching as she pet his soft fur. Nemona let her thoughts wander as she pet him and relaxed. As her mind lazily rotated around the memories of Juliana’s visit earlier, an idea occurred to her.

A really amazing idea.

“Something you cherish . . .”

She scrolled through the photos on her phone again, until she landed on one that would be perfect.

“Yeah!”

So excited by her idea, she leapt to her feet (Pawmot slipping off of her) and grabbed her bag. It wasn’t too late yet, the shops should still be open.

“C’mon, Pawmot! This shouldn’t take us too long, if we hurry.”

On the morning of the Winter Solstice, Nemona got up pretty early to make the trip out to Cabo Poco, packing some essentials in her bag and taking the first Air Taxi out there. It didn’t snow in this part of Paldea, but it was a pretty chilly morning, cold enough for Nemona to see her breath– she was glad she bundled up. When she arrived, she walked down the familiar path and let herself into the house with her key.

The house was very empty and quiet. Truthfully, the house always felt pretty empty to her, but it felt even moreso this morning, with even the usual house staff gone for the holiday. Nemona did some basic tasks, taking in the mail and checking on some of the family’s pokemon. Her mother was particularly fond of Pachirisu, and she fed the hyper group of squirrels, all of whom seemed very excited to see her. It didn’t take Nemona long to finish the rest of her house chores. After she did, she got herself some breakfast, eating it while sitting on the couch in front of the massive TV. She sighed as she flipped through channels. A million different channels and yet it felt like nothing good was on. She left the station on some cartoon and tried not to think about anything in particular.

Inevitably, her thoughts turned to her friends, though. She wondered what they were up to. She hoped Arven and his grandmother were getting along well in Kalos. Arven had mentioned he was going to cook for her. She bet his grandmother would be very proud of whatever he made. Penny had made a big show of being annoyed about returning home for the Solstice, telling them about all the twee holiday traditions her dad was really into, but Nemona suspected that deep down, Penny was actually looking forward to it. Nemona hoped Penny didn’t take what she had with her dad for granted.

And, of course, Nemona wondered about Juliana. Just down the path from her, so close, and yet so far away. Nemona’s chest ached just thinking about it, but she refused to give into self-pity. Juliana deserved the chance to catch up with her mom and have a nice holiday– Nemona wasn’t going to interrupt that. She sighed, deciding to make herself some tea. Maybe she’d put a movie on to watch.

Nemona was sipping her tea and in the middle of halfheartedly purusing her family’s streaming services for a movie when the doorbell chimed. Huh. That was weird, she was pretty sure there was no reason for anyone to drop by the house today. She moved to the foyer, hoping it wasn’t somebody from house staff that thought they needed to work today.

When she opened the door, she found a delivery man standing there, large box in tow.

“Hello! Have a package here for a . . . hmm . . .” The man checked his tablet.

“Nemona Sánchez?”

“Oh! Yep, that’s me, although I don’t remember getting any . . . oh, oh! Is this from Dragon Claw Sports?!”

She grabbed the box to check before the man could even reply and then exclaimed,

“It is!! Oh my gosh, this is fantastic! It got here on time!”

“Happy to hear. I just, um, I need a quick signature here . . .”

“Right, of course. Sorry.”

Nemona scribbled a messy signature and thanked the delivery man before hauling the box into her house with a grin. She had completely given up on the idea that Juliana’s gift would arrive in time, so this was a really big boost to her mood. Once she’d dragged it in, though, she realized she still needed to wrap it. Dang. There’s no way there was any wrapping paper around here. She wasn’t about to give up yet, though. Maybe she could find something that would work?

After a lot of digging, she managed to find some parchment paper in the kitchen. It took a surprising amount of work but eventually she was able to wrap the box after she found some scissors and tape, although when she finished, her wrap job still looked pretty lumpy and sloppy. She groaned, unhappy with the results. Not only was it really sloppy but the plain white paper was ugly, too. She tried to think of how she might make it look better. Nothing in this house was whimsical or pretty, not in a Solstice-presents sort of way, so it seemed an impossible task.

“Oh! Maybe . . .”

Nemona rushed to her bedroom. Clicking on the light, the room was very clean and stark, much like her dorm room at school. A long time ago, her room had been vibrant and colorful, covered in posters and fairy lights and wild decorations, but that was back before Nemona had been made self-conscious over such things. She’d painted over the walls and given away a lot of that stuff since then.

But not all of it. Nemona got down on the floor and pulled a box out from under her bed. She rifled through the box for a bit, giving a satisfied, ‘Aha!’ once she’d landed on something useful. It was a sheet of pokemon stickers, bright, colorful, childish. Maybe a bit silly, but at least it was something. She went back downstairs and used the whole sheet of stickers on the box. It looked a lot better after that, and she smiled.

It didn’t take long for Nemona to think of her next problem, though. Juliana was still busy enjoying the Solstice with her mom. She didn’t want to interrupt that, but at the same time, she wanted to get her gift to her. Should she just leave the box on her doorstep, maybe? Although somebody might swipe it, that’d be awful. It would take a pretty cold heart to steal a gift like that, sure, but the possibility still made her nervous. Well, she could always give it to her after the Solstice?

Feeling very indecisive, Nemona took her phone out, typing out a text.

hi jules, sorry to bother you but I just wanted to let you know your gift arrived today

Juliana replied soon after.

oh cool!! you can bring it by if you want to :D or if you’re too busy with your family we can do it whenever

Nemona hesitated, then typed out,

ok. sure. we can do it after the solstice that’s fine.

Juliana answered,

ok, if that’s what you wanna do, sounds good.

She went to sit back down on the couch, slumping. For some reason her stomach was twisted into a knot. What was wrong with her? Was she secretly hoping Juliana would want to drop everything just for her stupid gift? Ugh.

so how are things going? enjoying solstice with your folks?

Nemona blinked at the text. Her heart picked up speed, nervous. She hated lying, she hated it so, so much. Especially if it was to Juliana. Not that she ever had lied to her before, she couldn’t think of any time she did, although she did omit stuff sometimes. She’d hoped her family situation could remain a lie of omission, but that was tough with such a point-blank question.

well the solstice isn’t a super big deal for my family to be honest

She hoped being indirect would work.

wait, really??

yeah, we don’t do much for it. but that’s fine, I don’t mind.

After a bit, Juliana came back with,

so what’s everyone doing right now then?

Nemona stared at the question for a while, trying to think of how she could weasel out of this. She answered vaguely,

they’re working

working?? seriously? you tellin me your parents cant even relax at home on the solstice, damn.

The guilt was getting to be too much. She tried to type out an excuse or just laugh it off, but she just couldn’t make herself do it any longer. She typed out her confession.

well they’re actually away on business right now

Juliana’s reply was rapid.

what?? wait so it’s just you and your sister then?

she’s with dad. family business stuff, they’re in unova. mom’s in kalos.

so you’re ALONE?!

yeah, but it’s no big deal jules, I’m used to it! I’ve spent a lot of solstices alone, so no need to worry.

This apparently was not the right way to convince Juliana that it was no big deal.

are you kidding me?? that’s horrible!! why didn’t you tell me sooner, I could have just invited you over to have solstice here!

I didn’t say anything because I don’t want to intrude on your family time. juliana, really it’s fine. it doesn't bother me

I cant believe they’d do that to you, thats so messed up

they’re just super busy is all

I dont care if they’re busy, they still should make time for their own daughter! theyre like NEVER around!!

jules, thank you for being mad on my behalf but i dont wanna make this about me. just go back to enjoying your solstice, ok? we can–

There was a knock at the door and Nemona grumbled.

brb theres somebody at the door again

As she walked to the foyer her phone bleeped again,

how am i supposed to enjoy it knowing youre sitting there all alone?

Nemona typed,

one sec ok

She pocketed the phone and opened the door. When she saw who it was, she sputtered a surprised,

“J-Jules–”

Juliana was clad in a cute Solstice turtleneck and her winter coat, a checkered scarf in her hands. She looped the scarf over Nemona’s head and gave it a little tug, pulling her close. Her hazel eyes sparkled as she said,

“You’re coming with me, tesoro, no excuses, no escaping. We’re gonna give you a happy Solstice this year.”

Nemona was doomed the moment she’d opened the door. How could she possibly resist this girl? She felt her resolve crumbling instantly, her cheeks heating up as Juliana held onto the scarf firmly with a smirk, as if daring her to try and escape. For some reason, she felt a little tongue-tied.

“I-I-”

A laugh bubbled up from her chest and she agreed helplessly,

“Okay.”

They had to stop briefly for Nemona to get her coat and her bag– and then she realized she needed to grab Juliana’s gift too– but then they were off, walking down the path to Juliana’s house. Juliana’s eyes widened when she saw the gift.

“Whoa, that’s my present? It’s huge!”

“Mmm, yeah,” Nemona mumbled, glancing away and feeling a little self-conscious.

“I love all the stickers . . . man, I wonder what it could be. And you said it’s custom-made? Hmm . . . do I get any hints?”

Juliana was poking at the box, trying to see through the paper.

“Hey! No peeking! I thought you liked surprises, Jules.”

“I do, but I also hate waiting.”

Nemona laughed,

“Well you won’t need to wait much longer, I promise.”

“Okay, but first we gotta get you some breakfast. Have you eaten anything yet?”

“Just some toast.”

“Oh, perfect.” Juliana took the steps to her house quickly and swung the door open, calling excitedly,

“Ma, we’re back, I got her!”

The woman that came to greet them was in an apron and had her hair tied back in a loose ponytail. She smiled warmly at Nemona; she had kind, hazel eyes and pretty features, the family resemblance obvious.

“It’s so wonderful to finally meet you, Nemona. Oh, let me help you with that!”

“Oh, thank you! And it’s great to meet you too!”

The woman took the large box from Nemona and helped deposit it on the floor in the living room, right beside their Solstice tree and some other gifts.

“I have to say it feels like I already know you, in a way. Juliana’s talked about you probably every single day since we’ve moved here,” the woman chuckled, wiping her hands on her apron.

Juliana’s eyes widened and then she squirmed, looking embarrassed.

“Mommmm! C’mon, I don’t talk about her that much. . .”

Her mother smiled mischievously, ruffling Juliana’s hair.

“If you say so, dear. The two of us have already eaten, Nemona, but there’s plenty left over. Why don’t I serve you something, Juliana and I can enjoy our tea while you eat. Does that sound good?”

Nemona nodded, somehow feeling a bit more shy than usual. Well, it was Juliana’s mom– it was important that she liked her, she wanted to leave a good impression.

“Y-yeah, that sounds great. Thank you!”

Nemona was treated to a full Unovan breakfast; eggs, bacon, crispy potatoes, toast with jam, and fluffy pancakes covered with fresh fruit. It was a much heavier meal than Nemona was used to for breakfast, but she had to admit that everything tasted amazing. She spent the time chatting with Juliana’s mother, learning more about where they used to live in Unova and where Juliana’s mother used to work; Juliana’s mom also had plenty of questions for Nemona, excited to hear more about her experiences during her first year at Naranja as well as the more recent adventures she’d been having, including a new school club she and Juliana were trying to start up. Juliana mostly let the two talk and would put in the occasional comment or exciting detail.

Nemona found Juliana’s mother to be a very smart and surprisingly very funny woman– not to mention incredibly kind– and she took an immediate liking to her. And judging by just how much she already knew about Nemona, she was perhaps not exaggerating about how much Juliana had talked about her. It felt a little foreign for an adult to listen to Nemona so very intently and to clearly care so much about all the details of her life, for somebody to be so warm and encouraging and present. Well, it wasn’t entirely foreign, because Nemona had some wonderful teachers of course, but that wasn’t quite the same. Nemona found herself actually getting a little emotional over how quickly she felt welcomed into the household, how easily and effortlessly she already felt at home here.

After a very leisurely breakfast, Nemona helped clean up and then they went to the living room to open gifts. They had a little tree dressed in fairy lights and tinsel and a modest number of gifts sitting below it; the room was decorated with pinecones and sprigs of evergreen, a snowglobe on the coffee table and candles flickering merrily on shelves. The house was quite small compared to Nemona’s– the entire downstairs could practically fit into Nemona’s foyer alone. It also felt like the coziest, nicest home she had ever been in, and she was so grateful in the moment that she was here instead of sitting in the cold, empty house just down the path.

Opening gifts didn’t take too long, but it was very enjoyable to watch Juliana and her mother open their presents, especially to see Juliana’s reactions to Arven’s and Penny’s gifts. They had saved Nemona’s contribution for last, at Nemona’s insistence. In truth, Nemona was still nervous about Juliana’s reaction to her gift, even though there was no reason to be. When the time came, though, Nemona realized she still had another present she’d almost forgotten about.

“Right, one sec! I got something for your mom too.”

She got up to rush over to her bag and dig through it. She took a tiny box wrapped in gold paper and handed it to Juliana’s mother.

“Oh, that’s so sweet of you, thank you dear.”

“It was kind of a last-minute purchase,” Nemona confessed, sitting back down with a nervous smile. She’d seen it in the shops last night when she had gone out and they’d been good enough to wrap it there; she never expected she’d be able to give it to her in person, though, so this was a pleasant surprise.

Once Juliana’s mother had torn the paper open, she exclaimed cheerfully,

“Oh, how lovely! Juliana, look.”

She held the box out for Juliana to see; it was a glass ornament in the shape of an Ice Tera Jewel.

“They’re really popular in Paldea, a lot of people put them on the very top of their trees. Like, erm, like the same way a Tera Jewel sits ontop a pokemon’s head, you know?” Nemona explained. Juliana laughed,

“I love that! What a good idea. We should put it up now!”

She fetched a stool to stand on and lugged it over to the tree.

“Careful, dear. Why don’t we have Nemona put it up there?”

“Oh, yeah, good idea. You do the honors, Nemona! Your arms are longer than mine anyway.”

Nemona laughed and took the ornament from her. She carefully placed it on the top, adjusting it until it looked perfect. They all admired it for a few moments. Juliana’s mother said,

“Very nice. It looks beautiful, Nemona.”

Nemona smiled,

“Yeah! Your tree’s terastallized now, heheh.”

“Okay okay but now it’s time for my last gift!!” Juliana said, clearly with other priorities in mind. She got down on the ground and grabbed the large box, her eyes glinting with excitement. Nemona sat back down on the couch and watched Juliana poke and prod at the gift, trying to see through the paper.

“I thought you wanted to open it,” Nemona commented, amused.

“It’s part of the ritual, okay?” Juliana said, knocking on the box as if that would somehow give her more information. Nemona gave a little snort.

Apparently finished with her assessment, Juliana proceeded to tear the paper off with gleeful abandon, finding a plain box inside. She grabbed the pair of scissors to cut through the tape and open the box, rifling through the packing peanuts and flinging them all over.

When she pulled out the contents of the box, her eyes grew wide.

“Whoooa . . .”

Her mother said,

“Oh, goodness. Look at that!”

Juliana held aloft a large saddle. It was made of a rich, beautiful black leather and had a wide, comfortable-looking seat, looking similar to the higher-end saddles that Cyclizar were sometimes fitted with. Juliana seemed speechless, just gazing at it, and Nemona started to nervously ramble.

“It’s for Koraidon. Um, you remember the day I borrowed him? I took him in so they could take measurements and everything. They normally made saddles for Cyclizar so this was a bit unusual for them, but they were very thorough with it. It should fit him perfectly if they did their job right–”

Juliana cut her off with an excited,

“Nemona, this is incredible!”

Nemona smiled, relieved at her reaction– maybe more than she cared to admit. Juliana set the saddle down on the couch beside her, smoothing her hands over it.

“It’s so soft!”

Nemona nodded.

“Yeah, w-well, you know how you’re always saying your butt hurts after you ride Koraidon for too long, I wanted to fix that. It should feel even better once it’s broken in a little. Oh, and it should be more comfortable for Koraidon too! They made sure to make it well-padded. I also made sure they made the seat big enough for when we– uh, when we both ride him together . . .”

Juliana gave an excited squeal,

“It’s perfect! We should go try it on him now, let’s go!”

She started to haul the saddle to the door, Nemona laughing and following after. Juliana’s mother called,

“Juliana, don’t forget your coat! Goodness, that child is always in such a hurry . . . don’t forget your coat either, Nemona, dear.”

Nemona was grateful that the saddle fit Koraidon just as it was supposed to; she helped Juliana put it on and then they went out for a ride together. They raced along the path all the way to Los Platos, tearing through the sleepy town at high speeds, laughing all the way. Juliana wanted to go further but Nemona made her promise to not overdo the first journey out so they could break the saddle in gradually. They spent some time fooling about in Los Platos, enjoying the Solstice decorations and letting their pokemon romp around, then returned home. It was surprisingly still quite chilly out, the overcast skies and nippy breeze suggesting it might rain later.

When the girls returned, Juliana’s mother made them some hot chocolate, and the two went up to hang out in Juliana’s bedroom. Juliana said she used to sit in front of a fireplace back in Unova during the Solstice, but her new house didn’t have one, which kind of bummed her out. Nemona joked she could always just sit in front of her Volcarona, but Juliana loved that idea. They gathered a bunch of pillows together on the floor and Juliana let her Volcarona out so they could sit there together, sipping their hot cocoa. Rain began to gently patter against the windows, and Nemona had to admit it felt incredibly cozy.

“So how’s your butt?” Nemona suddenly asked with a smirk.

“Whuh? Oh, pffft. It’s great! Way better than riding bareback. I could tell Koraidon liked it better too. Thank you again, Nemona, I love my present so much. And I love that it’s something we can enjoy together.”

Nemona's expression melted into something soft.

“I’m glad. To be honest, I was kinda nervous about getting you a gift. I must have spent weeks agonizing over it, so it’s a relief I did an okay job with it. Hold on, oof, getting too warm here.”

It was very toasty in front of Juliana’s snoozing Volcarona, so Nemona pulled her sweater off, tossing it aside. Juliana leaned against her and giggled,

“An okay job? You did fantastic. Also, you worry too much, I meant it when I said I would have been happy with anything, Nemona."

“I knooooow, but I still wanted to–”

Juliana’s eyes brightened as she suddenly exclaimed,

“Oh, yay! You’re wearing it now, that makes me so happy!”

Nemona glanced down and realized she was referring to the necklace she’d given her.

“Oh, yeah! Of course. I’m gonna wear it every day.”

“What?? Aaaa, that’s so sweet, Nemona, you don’t have to!” Juliana buried her face into Nemona’s shoulder bashfully and Nemona laughed,

“Of course I don’t have to, I want to!”

“Heehee, I’m so glad . . . oh!” Juliana looked at her with bright eyes, asking,

“Did you decide yet what you wanna put inside it? I thought I could help you take pictures of Pawmot if you want.”

Nemona’s smile disappeared and she glanced away, suddenly looking very shy. She mumbled,

“Oh um, well . . . I kinda, um, already put something in there . . .”

Juliana’s eyes widened.

“Oh wow, already? Can I see?”

Nemona looked to her, hesitating. She knew that of course Juliana would want to see, she’d always planned on showing her, of course she did, but now that she was faced with it in the moment, there was a sudden terror gripping her. What had seemed like such an incredible, brilliant idea late last night was starting to look like an awful, horrible idea now that Juliana was looking at her and wanting to see, oh god, what if she thinks it’s weird–

“What’s wrong?”

Nemona forced a laugh, grinning,

“Ahaa, nothing! ‘Course you can see, here . . .”

She took the little pokeball up with shaking fingers and depressed the button, revealing the little photo beneath. Juliana leaned in to see.

Then her eyes grew wide and she held a hand to her mouth in shock. The little photograph of Juliana’s face was very crisp and easy to make out– the photo printers at the store did an excellent job with it– so there was no mistaking what it was. Nemona’s heart was pounding and she was trying so hard not to start on her usual nervous rambling, but every second Juliana spent staring in silent shock was just killing her.

Finally, Juliana’s brows curved inward and she squeaked in a high-pitched voice,

“Nemona . . .”

The trouble was that still did not clarify anything- was that good? Was that bad?? Nemona opened her mouth to start backpedaling like a champion, but before she could get a word out, she suddenly found herself in the tightest grip of her life, Juliana squeezing her so hard that it felt like she was trying her absolute best to suffocate her. Nemona grunted,

“Ulllk!”

With her face smooshed against her, Juliana squeaked,

“Nemona this is the single sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me ever in the history of ever??”

“J-jules– n-need air–”

Juliana loosened her grip a little, saying,

“Sorry, sorry, I’m just– gahhhh!” She buried her face in Nemona’s neck and squeezed her again, making adorable and completely indecipherable noises of joy. Nemona decided if she was going to suffocate this way, it was entirely worth it and she had zero regrets.

Eventually Juliana managed to pull away, though, her face flushed and her eyes just a little teary.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me sooner, you coulda just– oh, my god, you– you were worried about it, weren’t you! You acted all worried when I asked, you silly Zangoose, why?”

Nemona smiled self-consciously and glanced away, answering shyly,

“I dunno, I guess I was worried that it, um, y’know, maybe you’d think it was a little . . . a little . . . too much? I-I–”

Juliana quickly hugged Nemona once again, saying earnestly,

“Never. You’re never too much, Nemona. Never hold back for me, never.”

Nemona felt as though a soft, rhythmic static was rumbling pleasantly inside her, echoing through her head and crackling under her skin, making it quite impossible to string a coherent thought together. She hugged Juliana back, not trusting herself to speak.

Still hugging her, Juliana giggled,

“To be honest, now I kinda wanna get a necklace too so we can match, and put a 'lil picture of you in there, tesoro."

Nemona’s face grew incredibly warm and the static grew impossibly louder, her heart stuttering in her chest. Some distant part of her mind managed to wonder if this was what people meant when they used the word ‘bliss.’

Juliana finally pulled away so she could look at her and ask,

"Would that be okay? I don't wanna make your present seem less special, so it's fine if you don't want-"

"Of course it'd be okay that'd be AMAZING!" Nemona blurted quickly. Juliana laughed, then said,

"Okay! Oh, wait, I gotta tell mom!! C'mon, let's go show her!"

Juliana bounded up and grabbed Nemona's hand, pulling her along. Nemona stammered,

"O-oh, um, w-we- okay-"

Juliana rushed downstairs, finding her mother in the living room, reading a book.

"Mom, look what Nemona put in her locket!!"

Nemona laughed nervously, not at all prepared for this but apparently this was a thing that was happening now. She held up the little pendant awkwardly and glanced away as Juliana's mother carefully examined it. She felt a blush rapidly spreading across her face.

"Well, now. Would you look at that."

Nemona's gaze flicked briefly to Juliana's mother. When they made eye contact, there was something very knowing in the older woman's eyes. Nemona quickly looked away again, reddening further.

"What a bold statement of devotion. Very beautiful, Nemona."

"Thanks," Nemona mumbled. Juliana exclaimed,

"I'm gonna get one too so we match! I gotta find the perfect picture for it."

Juliana's mother returned her focus to her book, smiling fondly.

"Why don't you borrow my camera, dear? I'm sure you'll be able to get a very lovely photo of Nemona with that."

"Ooh, yeah! Good idea! Thanks ma!"

The rest of the day was spent very comfortably: helping Juliana's mother with cooking, playing games in the living room while Juliana's Gengar and Nemona's Pawmot rough-housed, and later, when the rain eased up, walking along Nemona's litte piece of private beach. Juliana snapped so many photos, but her favorite one was a picture she snapped at the top of the lighthouse when the skies had cleared and the sun was beginning to set. She'd angled it so that the setting sun had given Nemona an orange, radiant glow. She said it suited her perfectly. They stayed out there on the lighthouse until the stars came out, just talking, breathing the sea air, and enjoying each other's company. They could see all the houses below glittering in their multicolored Solstice lights, in Cabo Poco, in Los Platos, and even further beyond into Mesagoza. It had never looked so peaceful and beautiful to Nemona before.

It turned out that it was a much, much happier Winter Solstice than Nemona had ever dared to dream.

#fluff #tropey #someone online said 'what if nemona's family is away on business during the holidays bc they're just barely ever around'#so here you go #pokemon #pokemon s/v #pokemon scarlet/violet #julinemo #terajules #julinemo fanfic

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roxannarambles · 6 months

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youtube

GUYS THEY HAVE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF BIRI BIRI NOW

#pokemon s/v #julinemo #this is not a drill #terajules #nemona #juliana

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roxannarambles · 6 months

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Title: The Bloodmoon Graves (Part 7/7)

Summary: Nemona learns about the rumors of a fabled "Bloodmoon Beast" and decides they should all go for a camping trip out in the Timeless Woods to search for it. They end up finding a bit more than they bargained for.

(See Ch 1 for tags & other info)

Chapters: Ch 1 - Ch 2 - Ch 3 - Ch 4 - Ch 5 - Ch 6 - Epilogue

Fortunately for the exhausted group of travelers, their camp had not been disturbed since they left it. As tired as they all were, it was almost tempting to try to go back to sleep, but there was no telling if the Bloodmoon Beast would be able to take care of all the wolves– and whether it might decide to come after them once it was done. So after a short rest, they hastily packed up camp and left, hiking back into the Kitakami Wilds.

Once they were out of the woods, they pitched their tents again and tried to get some rest, Mabosstiff standing guard, just in case. The next morning, while eating breakfast (which was whatever was left of their food supplies), they debated whether they should go back into the woods to track down the rest of their missing supplies– their cell phones were the things they wanted most to find. Eventually they decided they would return later for them. For the time being, they hiked the rest of the way back to Mossui Town. The hike felt much, much longer on the return trip, and it was a relief when they finally rounded Apple Hills and spotted the buildings of the little town.

The first thing they did was hand their pokeballs off to the nurse. She was able to clean the awful mess off their pokeballs and get them back to normal, but the job did take her several hours and some helpers. In the meantime, the kids got a proper meal at the Community Center and then just crashed for most of the remainder of that day. They definitely needed the rest.

The following day, Juliana felt a hundred percent better, and it seemed Nemona did, too. After breakfast they took a walk to Loyalty Plaza and planned out their return trip to the Timeless Woods (they were going to fly on Juliana’s Corviknight, this time). When they returned to town they finally found Arven and Penny awake in the Community Center.

“Heyyyy, there they are!” Nemona said, dropping down on the bench beside them. Juliana sat down too, saying,

“We thought maybe you guys were gonna sleep all day.”

“I wasn’t asleep. Just didn’t feel like leaving my room,” Arven answered curtly, sipping some coffee and petting the dog lounging by his feet. Juliana teased,

“Wait, seriously? Arven staying in his room all morning? That doesn’t sound right. You okay, Arven? Did this trip turn you into Penny?”

Nemona laughed a little. Penny had her nose in a laptop and barely had the energy to send them both a withering glare. Arven replied,

“I’m fine. Jeez, I can’t take it easy for one morning? We’re on vacation, aren’t we?”

Juliana shrugged,

“It’s more of a field trip, but sure.”

She leaned down and pet Mabosstiff for a few moments and then looked back to him. In a softer tone, she said,

“But . . . um, are you actually okay? I just wanted to make sure, after . . . well, everything.”

Nemona watched quietly, also looking concerned. Arven sipped his coffee and sighed. After a while, he said,

“Yeah. I won’t claim that was my favorite trip, but I’ll be fine. Mabosstiff and I have faced worse. And it’s gonna take a lot more than some pesky ghost types to turn us off from camping.”

He patted Mabosstiff’s head and the dog’s tail thumped the ground.

“Good,” Juliana said, smiling. He gave her a smile in return, small but genuine.

“What about you, Penny?” Nemona asked, turning to her.

“Yeah, no, I’m never stepping foot outside again,” Penny replied blandly. Arven snorted.

“Aw, Penny! Don’t say that . . . I know you didn’t have much fun, but it wasn’t all bad, right?”

Penny didn’t even hesitate to reply,

“Yeah it was. You trying to tell me there were parts of that you enjoyed?”

Nemona exchanged a look with Juliana, then answered confidently,

“Well, yeah! I mean, not the almost dying parts obviously, but, think about it. We got to see a brand-new pokemon nobody’s ever heard of before, and all those weird tar pits, and that’s pretty cool, right? It’s like we’re on the cutting-edge of discovery and stuff!”

“I think I’ll stay away from the cutting-edges, they’re a little too cutting.”

With an excited gleam in her eyes, Nemona added,

“Plus, we saw the Bloodmoon Beast! And it was every bit as awesome as we thought it’d be!!”

Juliana chimed in,

“Yeah, I think it finished off that entire hoard all by itself, it was unreal! I can’t believe we got to see that.”

Penny shook her head, returning her focus to her laptop.

“I’m not saying I’m unhappy it saved our butts out there, but you two are still crazy. That is not something I want to get near again, not by choice.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised you’re both not already back there trying to catch it,” Arven chuckled dryly. Nemona hesitated, looking thoughtful.

“Well . . . I dunno.”

They looked to her, waiting for her to continue. Eventually Nemona ventured,

“I kinda got the sense maybe the Beast was sorta . . . the guardian of the forest, in a way? He came in and saved us right when we needed it most. I don’t think he wants to hurt anyone, not really. Maybe he’s happy where he lives, and just wants to be left alone. Maybe . . .”

She smiled self-consciously,

“Maybe not every super strong pokemon needs to be caught?”

Arven’s phone made a little bleep and he checked it. Juliana could see the screen display:

carminesandiego: what the heck is this crap

Arven typed,

its the ursaluna we saw when we were camping in the timeless woods

carminesandiego: sure arven whatever you say

what? its true

carminesandiego: what did you do, strap a flashlight to your head and take a pic of yourself in the bathroom with the lights off

carminesandiego: cant see shit

“That’s actually a nice outlook, Nemona,” Penny said with a smile,

“So I take it once you guys find the cell phones you’ll be leaving right away then?”

“Oh no, we’re still gonna try to find one of those ghost wolves to catch.”

Dismayed, Penny stared at them.

“What happened to letting sleeping dogs lie?”

Nemona shrugged, “I dunno. Those things were freaky, I gotta learn more about them.”

When Juliana and Nemona later returned to the Timeless Woods, they were able to recover their phones and a few other odds and ins that had been missing. They combed the forest thoroughly, searching for the strange tar pools they had seen a few nights ago. They also went back to the cave where Ogerpon had discovered the original tar pool.

However, all signs of the tar pools and the ghostly wolves had vanished . . . without a trace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bonus Content: Official Stats Sheet

Name: Oozing Bones - Ghost/Ground (Past Paradox Houndstone)

Abilities: Liquid Ooze/Sticky Hold/Prankster (Hidden)

Appearance:

(Dire Form) - A ghostly wolf (based on a Dire Wolf, Aenocyon dirus), around the size of a Mabosstiff. Its fur is pitch black, oily, and drips in some places. In a few spots, there are bare patches that expose bone beneath, including on the tail, by the ribs, and a leg. Its eyes are open eye sockets that are empty, but a flickering, ghostly purple light is inside them to act as pupils. It has very large fangs.

(Desiccated Form) - Mostly a bare skeleton of a wolf, dripping in dark, sticky tar in many places. Its eyes still have the purple light.

Shiny Colors: Dark purple fur with orange lights for eyes

Stats:

Dire Form: HP (72), Attack (111), Defense (95), Spec Attack (55), Spec Defense (122), Speed (45), 500 total

Desiccated Form: HP (72), Attack (130), Defense (37), Spec Attack (120), Spec Defense (122), Speed (19), 500 total

Learnset:

Start Moves: Lick, Tail Whip, Smog, Sand Attack, Destiny Bond

Lvl 1: Tackle, Growl, Tar Shot

Lvl 4: Mud Slap

Lvl 8: Bite

Lvl 13: Howl

Lvl 16: Curse

Lvl 20: Dig

Lvl 25: Sand Tomb

Lvl 28: Crunch

Lvl 32: Echoed Voice

Lvl 37: Shadow Bone

Lvl 40: Shadow Sneak

Lvl 44: Toxic

Lvl 49: Phantom Force

Lvl 52: Spikes

Lvl 56: Bonemerang

Evolution: Tar Ooze (Signature Move, changes forms between Dire and Desiccated, also drops foe’s speed 1 stage, Basepower 10/Ground move)

TM Movepool:

Mud Slap, Scary Face, Protect, Mud Shot, Confuse Ray, Bulldoze, Hex, Snarl, Night Shade, Endure, Sandstorm, Sand Tomb, Dig, Sleep Talk, Rest, Stomping Tantrum, Sludge Bomb, Shadow Ball, Substitute, Crunch, Phantom Force, Earth Power, Will-o-Wisp, Sand Tomb, Toxic, Spikes, Roar, Poltergeist, Toxic Spikes, Venoshock, Acid Spray, Fling, Rock Blast, Taunt, Imprison, Leech Life, Stealth Rock, Fire Spin, Fire Fang, Tera Blast

#pokemon #pokemon s/v #pokemon scarlet/violet #the teal mask #kitakami #julinemo #terajules #nemona #juliana #arven #penny #julinemo fanfic

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roxannarambles · 3 months

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Title: Wings of a Butterfly, Eye of the Tiger (Part 3)

Ship: Nemona x Juliana (Julinemo/Terajules)

Summary: Nemona and Juliana just can’t resist returning to Area Zero once more. They find new places to explore, new pokemon to discover, and a new things to learn … about pokemon battling, but also about each other. (Sequel to Picnic in Paradise)

Chapters: Part 1 Part 2

Tags: Slowburn, Romance, Friendship, Crushes, Action/Adventure, Pokemon Battles, Fakemon

The cave you were in seemed a lot quieter than the rest of the cave system, probably because there weren’t pokemon everywhere you turned. You could hear the occasional drip of water and the distant cry of a pokemon from somewhere, but that was about it. It felt exciting and a little eerie. Hellcat set the pace, creeping forward into the dim cavern, and you both followed close behind.

For about five minutes, your walk was uneventful. You passed by tera crystals that were growing from the ceiling and dripping water like stalactites, and followed the cave in a gradual downward slope deeper into the earth. Then you began to encounter pokemon again; only some Glimmets and Glimmora at first, until the pathway you’d been following led to a larger chamber, and then some Paradox Pokemon began to show up once more. It was nowhere near their usual numbers, though. As you passed by a Great Tusk plodding through the cave, you commented,

“It’s interesting there’s fewer pokemon back here. I wonder why. I guess because we’re so far in?”

Nemona agreed,

“Yeah, probably. Life’s a lot scarcer the deeper you go into caves or the deeper you go into the oceans.”

“Yeah, that’s true. That’s because there’s less food available, right?”

She nodded.

“Basically. I mean, most food chains have plant life at the bottom, and when there’s no sunlight, well, there’s no plants. There’s pokemon with a mineral-based diet like Carbink or Sabeleye of course, so they can live really deep in caves. But most pokemon eat other plants or animals.”

You gazed around the cave you were traversing.

“Seems like there’s no plants at all though, how do any of these guys eat?”

Nemona hummed,

“Well, there’s a few ways. Some pokemon species don’t live in caves full-time, they just roost in them or raise young there. They leave the caves at some point to eat. I think a lot of the pokemon we’ve seen probably do that since we see ‘em on the surface. Annnd, sometimes resources get washed into caves. Like those waterfalls that dump directly into here? Probably a lot of plants and fish in there. Also poop! Bacteria break it down and bug types can eat the bacteria and bigger stuff eat the bugs . . .”

You looked at her as she trailed off. She added on sheepishly,

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to ramble.”

“No, I was just thinking you really know your stuff!”

She laughed.

“Well, I’ve done a lot of reading, and I’ve listened to Jacq’s lectures for longer than you have. Gotta work hard if you wanna understand pokemon! But I’m sure you’ll pick it all up too.”

You noticed a small pod of Scream Tails ahead of you, floating in the air like weird pink balloons. When they noticed you, they turned to glare with big yellow eyes and hissed. Hellcat hissed in return at them.

“Let’s leave ‘em alone, Hellcat,” Nemona said, trying to guide the tiger away. The fact that Paradox Pokemon seemed to all have such aggressive dispositions certainly didn’t make exploring any easier. The pod of Scream Tails broke apart, floating their separate ways, apparently unnerved by Hellcat. However, one of them remained, an especially large one.

Now that you were looking closer at it, though, it wasn’t just larger; it also seemed to have longer hair. Instead of a tuft of hair on top of the head leading into a single long ponytail, it had three of them, the tails obscuring most of its face and covering its eyes. Its ears were longer, too, more like a rabbit’s.

“Umm, Nemona–”

“Yeah, I see it, what is that?? Is that just a Scream Tail or . . .”

The pink pokemon drifted closer, causing Hellcat to bristle and growl.

The wild pokemon also growled– the sound much deeper than you’d expect from a pink puffball. When it did, it showed its long, sharp fangs, much bigger than a Scream Tail’s. You nervously said,

“I think the answer is definitely ‘or.’”

Nemona enthused,

“Oh man, we found something good already? We’re so lucky!”

A soft pink glow began to surround the wild pokemon, the ‘tails’ drifting upwards at the same time, revealing the huge yellow eyes beneath, pulsing with dangerous energy.

“N-nemona . . .”

“Oh right, sorry. Hellcat, Dire Claw!”

Hellcat leapt into the air, striking a vicious blow before the pokemon could use its Psychic. The pokemon took massive damage and seemed to slowly deflate like a balloon, giving a strangled cry. Nemona praised,

“Great shot, Hellcat!”

You had a pokeball handy, so you gave it a toss, seeing if the pokemon was weak enough to catch already. It clicked with no problems.

“Great shot for you too, Jules!”

“Thanks.”

You both decided to immediately send the pokemon back out so you could heal it up and inspect it more. Hellcat watched over it in case it tried to misbehave.

Leaning against the wall of the cave as she studied the floating creature, Nemona asked,

“So we agree it’s gotta be an evolved form of Scream Tail, yeah?”

You nodded.

“Probably. It’s funny this is the first we’ve seen of it though, considering Scream Tails are everywhere.”

“Well, Jigglypuff can’t evolve unless they have a Moon Stone.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. So you think these are the same?”

“Seems like there’s a good chance. Oh, and maybe there are Moon Stones deep in these caves! And that’s why we’re seeing these guys here but not elsewhere.”

“Hmm. I guess we could always try to test it on one of our own Scream Tails sometime.”

“Good idea! We’ll definitely try that out sometime.”

You spent a couple minutes instructing the new pokemon, trying to check out its movepool and abilities. It showed you Psychic and Dazzling Gleam, nothing too unexpected.

Eventually Nemona said in an eager tone,

“You know, if it’s a new pokemon species, we’ll get to name it. Since we discovered it and all. That’s how it works, right?”

You smiled at the idea, but pointed out,

“IF it’s a new species. It’s possible Sada might have known about it already, especially if she thought to evolve a Scream Tail.”

“Aw, c’mon Jules, let a girl dream!”

You laughed.

“Okay, okay. What do you wanna call it, then?”

“Ummm . . . hmm. Well . . . I guess the name should be kinda similar since it’s an evolution . . .”

You watched the weird pink creature for a bit before suggesting,

“Maybe like, Screech Tail? Or Tails, I guess, it has three of ‘em.”

She shrugged,

“Works for me!”

You held up your pokeball and recalled the new pokemon. You answered,

“Great. At the very least, it should come in handy when we’re catching Roaring Moon.”

Nemona grinned.

“Good thinking. Okay, Hellcat, onward! To adventure!”

You both continued along the path with enthusiasm, despite the general gloomy atmosphere of the dim cavern. The trail led you deeper and deeper into the earth, growing steep and awkward to traverse before long. The ground was also slick with damp and slime; you fumbled your footing more than once, and Nemona had to catch you one of the times before you could fall on your face.

“You okay, Jules?”

She had an arm wrapped firmly around your side, her amber eyes full of concern as she gazed down into your own eyes.

You swallowed.

“Y-yeah! Fine. Thanks. It’s u-uh, it’s slippery.”

You were full of brilliant observations, as usual. Nemona let go and made sure you were steady before turning and agreeing,

“Yeah, it is getting kinda bad, plus it’s a bit dark . . . oh, I know.”

She pulled her Rotom phone out, hitting a few settings. The phone’s light switched on and it floated in the air, just above her head.

“There we go! Should be safer now.”

You looked at the phone, surprised.

“I didn’t know they could do that.”

“Yep! If there’s one thing I hear a lot about it’s all the dang features on these phones, I can show you all the other features sometime if you want,” she chuckled. You were too distracted noticing Nemona had apparently swapped her plain black phone case out to an orange one with little pictures of Pawmi and oranges. It was very cute.

She continued,

“Anyway, careful through this part, there’s sort of a step here.”

You made it past the steep bit just fine, but not too further along, you felt a bit off-balance again, wobbling, and started to wonder if your feet were intentionally betraying you. You swore this wasn’t on purpose–

Nemona asked,

“Whoa, is the ground moving?”

You paused, realizing it wasn’t just you; the ground really was trembling slightly. You answered,

“I think so . . .”

As soon as you’d finished speaking, it seemed to stop, though.

“Hm.”

You both continued on, curious and cautious. It had been a while since you’d run into another pokemon, but you spotted a Brute Bonnet trundling along up ahead. Hellcat bristled at it.

The ground began to tremble again, this time accompanied by a distant rumbling sound.

“Er . . .”

The Brute Bonnet moved faster, hobbling as quickly as it could on its stubby little legs, wanting to get the heck out of there. Water fell from the ceiling in big droplets. Hellcat shook its head, flicking the water off.

“Is it an earthquake?” you asked, trying to keep the anxiety from edging into your voice. This wasn’t the best place to be during an earthquake. Nemona answered,

“I dunno, maybe? But it hasn’t . . .”

The rumbling sound came again, this time much closer. In fact, it sounded as though it was echoing through the cave itself. You quickly realized the rythmic thumping wasn’t an earthquake at all.

They were footsteps. Approaching footsteps.

“Nemona–”

Nemona squared her shoulders, calling,

“Hellcat, get ready!”

You reached for your pokeballs, ready to back her up if need be, and the pair of you waited to face whatever was coming. The vibrations rattled some smaller stalactites loose from the ceiling, the crystals dropping and splintering, and the rumbling drew closer and closer. Further ahead in the gloom of the cave, you could see small bits of yellow flashing, lights flickering along the floor of the cave in little electric ripples.

And then you could make the creature out: just a dark figure at first, charging through the cave in your direction, although fortunately it wasn’t especially fast, just very noisy as it lumbered along. As it got closer you had the time to take note of some basic details. It was running on all fours, it was dark red with sooty black paws and legs, and it had zigzagging black stripes down its back. Its long black tail was held aloft and tipped in a jagged yellow spike in the shape of a lightning bolt; its ears were pointed and long, and it had a big spike protruding from its forehead, as well as a big ruff of spiky yellow fur around its neck. As it moved, its paws thumped heavily along the ground, leaving little ripples of electricity in its wake.

You exchanged a quick glance with Nemona.

“Is that a Raichu?” you asked, knowing it wasn’t one, but it bore a passing resemblance to one. A really big, spiky, angry one, anyway.

“Maybe an ancient Raichu? Hellcat, get ready to use Thorn Fang!”

The tiger crouched, baring its fangs, ready for the foe lumbering towards it. The ancient Raichu gave a cry, the sound more akin to rolling thunder than the high-pitched noise from a usual Raichu. You could see its beady black eyes now as it approached, and the sharp little fangs protruding from its mouth. The ruff around its neck seemed to be charging up with energy, a dangerous yellow-orange flickering of power between the pieces of spiky fur. Something about it struck you as sort of odd, but you didn’t put it together fast enough.

Nemona, however, did. Her eyes widening, she called,

“Hellcat, wait!”

Her hand quickly moved to her belt and she spent a half-second choosing a ball, then snatched it up, throwing it. Her Great Tusk materialized right in front of Hellcat, just in time for the ancient Raichu to charge into it with an earth-shuddering crash. Electricity and flames were thrown off from the impact, crackling in the air, but Great Tusk’s body shielded you, Nemona and Hellcat from any crossfire.

“Great Tusk, use Close Combat!”

The mammoth swung its trunk, smacking its foe across the face, then reared up, kicking at it with its hefty feet. The ancient Raichu gave a guttural cry, staggering backwards before standing up on two legs, its tail lashing back and forth, beady eyes glaring. Energy started to build around its ruff again, and you got a better look at why it seemed so strange. The yellow-orange ripples of energy flowed between the spines of fur in serpentine squiggles, and it was hard to tell if it was electricity or fire– or possibly both, as seemed to be the case.

“Great Tusk, Knock Off!”

You silently noted that Nemona was intentionally holding back with her attacks, probably with the aim of wanting to capture this pokemon. Great Tusk whacked its foe once again with its trunk. The ancient Raichu recovered from the hit and then rushed forward, butting hard into Great Tusk with the horn on its head, sending out another mighty sputter of flames and electricity.

“Knock Off, again!”

When Great Tusk brought its trunk down once more, it knocked its foe clean off its feet, dropping it back down to all fours. The ancient Raichu gave a rumbling cry, sounding tired.

“Now’s our chance!” Nemona yelled, reaching for an empty pokeball from her bag. She took aim and threw it.

However, the wild pokemon was not intent on cooperating. It dodged the pokeball, then turned tail and began to run. Nemona shouted,

“Wh-uh?! It’s running? Oh no you don’t, get back here!”

Nemona quickly recalled her Great Tusk and then took off after the pokemon. It was stomping away at a pretty good pace, but Nemona was fast.

“N-nemona, wait!”

You and Hellcat chased after her. Of course, Hellcat outpaced you very quickly and then you were alone, splashing through puddles and slipping over rocks in the dim cavern, trying to keep up. You turned a bend in the path and saw the fleeing pokemon was rushing towards a round hole in the cave wall, which was encrusted in tera crystal. When it reached the hole, it got up on two legs and then jumped through, vanishing from sight.

“Hey! You’re not escaping that easily!” Nemona yelled, charging after it and jumping into the hole without hesitation, like an absolute madwoman. You could hear a startled yelp from her before she vanished from sight. You cried,

“Nemona!”

Hellcat had stopped at the hole, hesitant, but you couldn’t afford to hesitate when Nemona could be in danger. You reached the hole in the wall, finding it was a tunnel coated entirely in smooth rainbow crystal, dripping in water. You hopped up and climbed in, calling,

“Nemona?”

You tried standing, but almost immediately you felt yourself slipping on the wet crystal. Your shoes gave way and you landed on your butt– and then, to your horror, felt yourself sliding through the tunnel. You yelped and tried to stick your arms out to brace yourself, but your slide was way too rapid, and you went shooting through the tunnel on your back like some kind of terrifying water slide. You gave a prolonged shriek as the slide swooped you down in a huge drop, then swooped up again and twisted around and around. The world was spinning in sparkling rainbows, completely disorienting you.

After one final drop and swoop upwards, you felt yourself flung free from the slide, which mercifully spat you out at a speed and distance that was relatively gentle.

You landed on your stomach, colliding with something soft.

“Ooof,” the something grunted, giving you a pretty good idea of what you’d probably landed on. You pushed your torso up with your elbows and met with Nemona’s wide, honey-amber eyes, your faces hardly more than a breath apart.

“Gkkk,” you said, the blood rushing to your face so fast you could hear it roaring in your ears. Nemona giggled. You could feel the giggle ripple through her chest and vibrate your own.

“Hi,” she chirped. You tried to remember how your vocal chords worked. Nemona’s brows quirked up higher in amusement while you struggled, which was frankly making it worse.

“Hhhhiiii,” you finally uttered, proud to get the syllables out. You were briefly lost in the details of Nemona’s eyes, realizing her streaks of golden amber had flecks of tangerine in them. Gosh you were close. Have you ever been this close to her before? You were pretty sure you hadn’t.

“You, um, you need a minute?”

You blinked at her question, confused. The bridge of her nose and cheeks pinkened a little, highlighting her freckles all the more. Her voice was light and playful when she continued,

“‘Cause I don’t exactly mind resting here with you, but we should proooobably get up before that pokemon gets away . . .”

Your brain finally caught up with what she was saying and you squeaked, scrambling to get off your poor friend. It was an entirely graceless affair, but you finally righted yourself and helped Nemona climb to her feet as well, stammering out an excuse to her.

“S-s-sorry, I-I– ummm– I was, uh, a bit dizzy from the slip-n-slide?”

It wasn’t exactly wrong. She laughed,

“Yeah, that was a pretty wild ride, wasn’t it? I was thinking of going again–”

An awful noise interrupted her, shrieky and shrill, coming from the crystal-lined tunnel. The both of you managed to get out of the way before a bright green tiger was expelled from the slide, splatting onto the ground. Its claws were all stuck out and its fur was all frizzed up, its eyes gone huge. Nemona’s Rotom phone went shooting through the slide next, smacking lightly into Hellcat and causing the tiger to jump. The tiger grumbled and shook itself off, looking incredibly disturbed and disgusted with its experience.

“Oh, Hellcat! Aaw, you came down here for me? Are you okay?”

You watched Nemona try to comfort the tiger, feeling grateful for the distraction. Maybe your face would stop burning in like an hour. Nggh. Hellcat still refused to let Nemona actually pet it, and it withdrew to lick itself and sulk, but at least it wasn’t growling at her or anything, so it was honestly progress. Nemona seemed to recognize this fact, telling the pokemon,

“Okay, you need your space, I’ll let you recover from the scary slide. I’m sooo proud of you though Hellcat.”

She moved back over to you, looking you over carefully and asking,

“And how ‘bout you? Still dizzy or anything?”

You glanced away bashfully under her scrutiny, murmuring,

“N-no, I’m good now, I think.”

She nodded and grabbed her backpack off the ground, answering brightly,

“Great! Let’s go find that pokemon before it gets away then!”

She took off before you could respond or even think about mentioning that running ahead and leaping blindly into tunnels was maybe a bad idea. Exasperated, you shouted after her,

“Nemona!!”

Once again you gave chase, following her down the rocky corridor. At least it wasn’t too dark in this part of the cave– if anything, it seemed even brighter, probably due to a larger number of glowing tera crystals. You were grateful when you caught up to Nemona not too far along the path ahead, having apparently cornered the weary Raichu lookalike. Honestly it was impressive how fast she’d tracked it down. She had her Great Tusk out again, but she was busy digging through her bag. When she noticed your approach, she called,

“Oh, Jules, I found them! Come quick!”

You hurried to join her, and she said,

“I’m so glad it didn’t slip away, that would have sucked. Ugh, do you know where your empty balls are, mine kinda rolled around in the chaos–”

“Got you covered,” you answered, grabbing a Dusk Ball from your bag and chucking it at the ancient Raichu. The pokemon resisted and popped out of the ball, but after a few more, the ball finally clicked shut. Nemona cheered and went to pick up the pokeball off the ground, while you tried to catch your breath and get your heartrate back under control. Chasing after Nemona was definitely an experience.

After grabbing the ball, Nemona rushed to you with an excited gleam in her eyes, asking,

“Do you know what this means, Juliana?”

You looked at her, trying to think. After a bit you said,

“Uhmmm, that I probably should have brought more Dusk Balls with me?”

She laughed.

“Well, that too, yeah, but also, Hellcat wasn’t the only new pokemon in Area Zero! There’s more to find down here, I bet a bunch more if we keep going!”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, we’ve already found three species, there’s bound to be more, right? And none of them were mentioned in the Scarlet Book at all, or any of Sada’s notes we happened to read.”

You nodded thoughtfully.

“That’s true . . .”

Nemona pressed the Dusk Ball into your hands, gushing,

“Which means we might be the first trainers in existence to have seen and captured these pokemon!!”

You weren’t entirely convinced you two were the first, since it was always possible Sada had records about them you simply hadn’t noticed. However, it was also equally possible you were the first, and Nemona’s excitement was terribly infectious. You broke into a grin, admitting,

“That is a pretty awesome thought.”

“I know, right?? It’s so cool, I–” She squeezed her hands into excited fists and gave a giddy little giggle, then impulsively grabbed you and hugged tight, your cheeks smooshed together as she exclaimed,

“I’m so glad we got to discover them together!!”

Your skin rippled pleasantly in icy-hot goosebumps, but she released you before your brain had the chance to shut down entirely, which was probably for the best. Then she looked a little self-conscious, saying,

“Sorry. Got a little excited there, heh.”

You hastened to reassure her.

“No, you– you have every reason to be! It is cool, I think I just have a habit of being afraid to hope for things I really want. But if we really are the first . . . that’s incredible. Like, it’s not just finding a new species, it’s finding an ancient, otherwise extinct species. Which is just nuts. And it’s honestly totally possible, since the Time Machine was transporting pokemon completely on autopilot until we finally shut it down.”

She nodded with enthusiasum.

“Yeah, exactly! Okay, I’m glad you get it, I woulda felt weird to be the only one this psyched.”

You smiled and looked down at the pokeball in your hands.

“It’s definitely not just you. Plus, not to get too hopeful but I um, I think maybe this ancient Raichu might be pretty special? Was it just me or did it look like this guy was using electricity and fire at the same time? I dunno if that’s even possible, can pokemon moves be, like, dual-type?”

Nemona nodded again.

“I did notice that. Well, I noticed something funny at any rate. I always thought it was impossible, at school they always told us moves can only be one type. But . . . who knows? We’re in uncharted territory here, so I feel like anything’s possible, you know?”

You thought about that for a bit, rolling the pokeball in your hands. It was incredibly tempting to let the pokemon out and study it to try and learn more right then and there, because it intrigued you so much. But you also wanted to keep exploring the cave, and you knew Nemona would want to, too.

You looked at her.

“Guess we’ll find out more when we battle each other later, huh?”

She grinned.

“I like the way you think.”

You heard a quiet little chirp and glanced up, noticing Hellcat had caught back up to the two of you. Funny, you hadn’t noticed the pokemon make that kind of noise before; it seemed to be some kind of greeting. The tiger’s ears were perked and it looked at you both attentively. Nemona greeted,

“Hi Hellcat! You all dried off and ready for more exploring?”

The tiger made another quiet chirp, as if responding.

“I think they’re starting to like you, Nemona.”

“Really?” She sounded hopeful.

“Yeah. They don’t even try to bite you any more!”

She chuckled.

“Well, I guess it’s something.”

You took the opportunity to finally look around at the cave you’d ended up in, since you hadn’t really had the chance to yet in all the rush. The space was relatively narrow and cramped compared to other parts of the cave, but it was packed full of tera crystals glowing from all sides. The ground was sloped downward, the cave ahead leading ever deeper into the earth.

“How far down do you think that tunnel brought us?”

Nemona was busy quickly re-sorting the empty pokeballs in her bag. She answered,

“No clue.”

You took a glance at your Rotom phone, but as expected, there was no service down here. Obviously. It was a good thing the caves you’d been following so far were generally one-way and not some confusing mazes, or else you’d be worried about getting lost. Getting back up that water slide tunnel would be a bit of a pain on the return trip, but you felt confident Scarlet could carry you guys up if need be.

Turning your focus back to the path ahead, you asked,

“How much deeper do you think it goes?”

Nemona zipped her bag up and slung it back over her shoulder. She smirked,

“No clue. Only one way to find out.”

You couldn’t argue with that logic. As you both began to walk again, you started to tell her,

“So, I was gonna mention, maybe next time when there’s a pokemon or a mysterious tunnel leading somewhere, you could–”

Nemona suddenly stopped, staring ahead intently.

“Wait, did you hear that?”

You frowned.

“Hear what?”

There was a very distant noise echoing in the cave, a low chattery kind of sound that could have been a pokemon cry.

“Geez. You know, your hearing’s scary good.”

“That’s a pokemon! C’mon, let’s go see!”

Nemona started to run, but you lurched forward and grabbed her wrist before she could get away.

“Wait, wait, this is exactly what I’m talking about, Nemona!”

She turned to you, blinking.

“What?”

“You can’t just . . .” You hesitated and sighed, starting again,

“Well, you can, but I’d prefer it if you didn’t just run ahead every time there’s something going on. I get that you’re excited, but you might be charging right into danger! I was really worried when you jumped into that tunnel blindly, that could have ended up pretty badly if it had spit us out from a bit higher up!”

Nemona looked at you a moment, then slumped a little, looking guilty.

“Sorry, Jules . . . I wasn’t trying to worry you. Or, uh, do anything risky. I guess I just was really focused on not letting the pokemon get away . . .”

You smiled gently and said,

“I understand. You don’t have to feel bad about it, I just want to make sure you’re safe, you know? And also, well . . . I’d rather face things together on this adventure. We’re a team, after all.” You suddenly felt a little unsure after saying it outloud and added, “Uhm, I mean, we are, right?”

Nemona studied you a moment, a soft smile forming on her face. Then she reached out and took your hand.

Her voice was clear and certain when she answered,

“You’re right. I’ll remember from now on.”

You returned her smile, relieved.

“O-okay! Then, um . . . let’s go see what that noise was.”

“Yeah!”

You both forged ahead, following a path that continued downward and grew more cramped the more you traveled. At several points it was necessary to squeeze past some large rocks blocking the way; it appeared as though there had been some partial cave-ins at some point in the past. It was an unnerving reminder that you were indeed beneath an enormous amount of earth and rock that could crush you like a bug if something cataclysmic occurred. Thankfully Nemona’s excitement for adventure was an easy distraction, keeping you from dwelling on such thoughts for long. Besides, your curiosity overrode the nervousness you felt. The path seemed to meander down into the earth forever, and for a long time, there was not much to see but rock, dirt and tera crystals. There was nary a wild pokemon in sight, but you kept going anyway.

Then, with very little fanfare, the tunnel you’d been following emerged into a massive space, the ceiling towering above you like an enormous vault of crystal, the path soon leading to a narrow catwalk. On either side of the catwalk was a sheer drop, the ground so far below that it was impossible to even see exactly where it ended. Huge columns of crystal jutted up from the pits, growing at random angles, like the world’s prettiest death trap. For a good thirty seconds you and Nemona just stared silently in awe, taking it all in, eyes wide.

“I don’t know how Area Zero manages to keep getting more and more impressive,” Nemona finally said, her voice hushed, almost as if she were worried that speaking too loud would disturb the peace here. You were gazing down into the pit.

“How does it just keep going down? I bet you’d fall into the Earth’s core if you fell down there.”

Nemona gave a nervous chuckle, taking your hand again.

“Let’s not test that theory. We’ll just take the path nice and slow, okay?”

“Yeah. That sounds good.”

Hellcat moved ahead of you both, not intimidated by the enormous drop. It quickly crossed over the catwalk, reaching a broader area beyond. You and Nemona took your time, mindful of your steps so that you wouldn’t go tripping into the blackness. The air that rose up from the pit was cool and pleasant-smelling, like musty, damp earth. When you reached the other side of the catwalk, you found Hellcat was slinking about, ears perked and nose sniffing the air. It lowered into a crouch and began to stalk forward. Nemona muttered to you,

“I think they found something.”

You both carefully followed after the tiger. Hellcat was approaching a large patch of crystals that were sprouting from the ground. The crystals grew in long and thin columns, almost resembling some kind of plant from the way they were growing, like an aloe vera or some other succulent. You couldn’t see why Hellcat found it so interesting, but as you drew closer you noticed a quiet little chattering noise emanating from the crystals. It sounded a bit like the noise Nemona had noticed earlier, in fact. Perhaps you’d finally caught up to it.

The cry sounded vaguely familiar to you, and you were busy trying to figure out what it reminded you of when you finally caught sight of some movement: a slithering black shape, coiled among the crystals. Hellcat’s eyes narrowed to slits and it looked as though it was preparing to spring. You glanced to Nemona; it seemed she saw no reason to interfere, since Hellcat was basically doing all the work in tracking down the pokemon. You both watched and waited.

Hellcat lunged, striking at the mysterious pokemon with its claws, but the tiger’s paws impacted hard with a crystal instead of a pokemon. There was a harsh cry, raspy and aggressive, and the serpentine black shape reared upwards, a vivid, glowing stripe of orange suddenly lighting up along the length of its body; there was a flash of teeth and glaring eyes as the body swayed, and you realized the pokemon was being reflected over and over in the array of tera crystals, making it extremely difficult to tell where it actually was.

“Uh-oh. Um, any guesses, Nemona?”

The wild pokemon hissed, and you could see a purple tongue flicking around curved, black teeth. From all the reflections, you honestly couldn’t tell how many heads the snake had, because at the moment it seemed like you were staring at a very angry hydra.

“Uuhm, I . . . there! I think. Hellcat, Dire Claw, there!”

Hellcat lashed out where Nemona pointed, but once again was foiled by the fakes, cracking a crystal instead of hitting a pokemon. Despite that fact, the snake didn’t take kindly to the attempted attack. It opened its mouth and spat a fireball. Hellcat tried to dodge but was partly singed by the attack, and it gave an angry shriek in response.

“Oh man. Another fire type? This just isn’t your day, Hellcat, I’m sorry,” Nemona said, looking guilty about the hit Hellcat had taken.

“Don’t worry, Nemona, I have an idea,” you said, quickly checking through your pokeballs for the right one.

“Got it, partner. Let’s back off for now, Hellcat, let Juliana handle this one.”

You grabbed up the ball you needed from your bag and tossed it. The purple form of your Gengar took shape. The ghost looked around at the situation, curious, and then turned his eyes to you.

“Gengar! There’s some sort of . . . uhh, something in that patch of crystals. I want you to use Dazzling Gleam!”

Gengar grinned and nodded, then turned to face his foe. Nine different heads hissed at Gengar, but the ghost was not easily intimidated. He floated forward, a small light starting to build as he charged his attack.

“Cover your eyes, Nemona!”

Gengar unleashed his move, a brilliant white light flashing, reflecting in the crystals dozens and dozens of times; you could see the incredible brightness even behind your closed eyes. The wild pokemon’s cry was loud and grating, and you got the feeling Gengar had hit it hard.

When you opened your eyes, you saw the snake spew a stream of fire in retaliation, engulfing Gengar in flames. The ghost grunted, looking charred and wounded, but stuck it out. You ordered,

“Again Gengar, Dazzling Gleam!”

Your pokemon unleashed another sparkling attack, his foe crying out in pain once more. The snake uncoiled from the tera crystal it was wrapped around and began to slither out of the patch of crystals, perhaps starting to think the better of its hiding place. As its head peeked out, you could see it much better: it had a long, toothy snout and a pair of narrow, purple eyes. The stripe of orange that ran along its body continued up back its neck and onto its head, splitting into a pattern with several prongs on the top of its head. The shape almost made it look as though it were a glowing, orange crown.

The orange crown began to glow brighter and brighter, a sphere of orange energy forming there. The pokemon flicked its head upwards, shooting the ball of energy up into the air over your heads. Your eyes widened. You’d seen this move enough times to recognize it by now.

“Draco Meteor?! Gengar, watch out!” The orange ball of energy exploded, creating a volley of meteors that began to rain down. Neither you or Nemona had expected such a move, so Gengar wasn’t the only one trying to dodge; Hellcat, you and Nemona all scrambled to get out of the path of the meteors as well. You slipped on the ground in your haste, managing to catch yourself before crashing down too painfully. You grunted and twisted around to quickly assess the others– thankfully, it seemed there weren’t any casualties. You yelled,

“Gengar, Dazzling Gleam, one more time!”

Gengar sprang ahead, the flashes of pure fairy energy overwhelming his opponent. Despite how exhausted the snake was by now, it still managed to spit a fireball in return. Gengar trembled and then fainted, and you called,

“That’s okay Gengar, you did great!”

You returned Gengar to his ball, quickly trying to assess if the wild pokemon was catchable by now– it probably was. You reached for your bag, only to realize it had slipped off while you’d been dodging meteors. Aw, nuts. You glanced up when you heard the snake hiss again. It was slithering towards you.

“Nemo–”

“Got you covered!” she responded immediately, throwing a pokeball. The ball hit its target and shook twice, then the snake popped out again, still hissing. She yelled,

“Don’t be stubborn, get in there!”

The second ball she tossed successfully captured, causing you to sigh in relief.

“Thanks, Nemona.”

“Yeah, of course! Great job handling that, by the way– Dazzling Gleam was such a great idea.”

She picked the pokeball up and tried to hand it to you, but you shook your head.

“Keep it, I took the last two.”

“You sure?”

“Yep.”

“Okay! Heheh, this is gonna be so fun to use. I’m guessing it’s Fire/Dragon? I’ve never seen anything use Draco Meteor other than dragon types before, so that’s my best guess.”

You nodded.

“Yeah, seems a good bet to me. It really surprised me, though.”

“I know, right? But then again, you never know with pokemon. Especially these Paradox Pokemon, they seem to have a lot of surprises.”

That certainly was the truth. You surveyed the damage caused by the Draco Meteor. A number of impact craters in the ground but nothing too serious– no catastrophic cave-ins or anything. You were glad none of you had been struck by the attack, though.

“Guess we should make sure to really be on our toes from now on, huh?”

She answered, “Yeah, for sure.” Then, with an excited gleam in her eyes, she turned to you and added,

“But what I tell ya, Jules? We’re already on our third new pokemon, I knew we’d keep finding more!”

You laughed,

“You were right. At this rate we’re gonna be able to write a sequel to the Scarlet Book.”

It was just a joke, but Nemona looked thrilled with the idea.

“Oooh, that’d be so cool! Well, La Primera would have to be okay with releasing information about Area Zero to the public first, I guess . . .”

“And that’s assuming she doesn’t kill us if we tell her that we keep coming down here.”

“Oh come on, she wouldn’t kill us! She wouldn’t be that mad . . . would she?” Nemona looked suddenly uncertain. You shrugged.

“I dunno, you know her better than I do.”

Nemona seemed to consider for a few moments, then said,

“Um, let’s keep exploring!” You didn’t have a problem with leaving thoughts of punishment for another time– you were already down here, and you were going to enjoy it to the fullest while you could. You and Nemona continued onward, mindful to check any patches of crystals from now on in case they contained any surprises. However, nothing else unexpected seemed to be lurking. There seemed to be very few pokemon in general at these depths, in fact. You passed by a few docile Carbink, then walked a path that wasn’t as narrow as earlier, but was close enough to the dizzying drop that you both continued to be careful and take your time.

Eventually you met with another tunnel, covered in smooth tera crystal and leading ever-deeper into the earth. This one was different, though, as it was blocked by a very large collection of crystals. The crystals that composed the roadblock seemed to be denser and more opaque than the usual tera crystals.

“Can you squeeze by?” Nemona asked, trying to see if she could wedge herself between the crystals and the tunnel. You attempted to do so on the other side, but the crystals had grown far too close, almost sealing off the tunnel entirely.

“Nah. We’ll have to use Scarlet.”

You both backed off and sent out Koraidon, then ordered a Rock Smash. Scarlet gave the crystal a good thwack with his tail, but the crystals remained solid.

“Try again, Scarlet!”

He hit it again, but to no effect. Several more attempts, each time with increasing intensity, also ended in failure. Scarlet backed off and licked at his bruised tail, giving a little whine.

“You okay, Scarlet? Hmmph. I don’t think this crystal is gonna budge. Don’t worry, boy, I won’t make you keep trying.”

You returned him to his ball. Nemona crossed her arms, complaining,

“Well this stinks! I wonder why this crystal is so much tougher than the other ones?”

You shrugged.

“It’s pretty big. Maybe it’s older and thicker? At any rate, this might be the end of the line for us.”

She sighed sadly.

“Yeah. It’s starting to look like it.”

Your hand was still resting against the large crystal when a familiar sound echoed within the cavern: a loud, feral roar. Your eyes widened, and you both quickly turned.

Floating high in the air above the pit was a pokemon with crescent-moon shaped wings tipped in a row of feathers. Its forearms had long, sharp talons and its armored head had spiky tufts of feathers and crocodilian jaws. A pair of yellow eyes peered down at you from above.

“Roaring Moon?” Nemona whispered. You nodded silently.

That wasn’t the strangest part, though. The Roaring Moon was Terastallized, which in itself was not unusual. But it wasn’t like any Terastallization you’d ever seen. The pokemon’s body was glittering in an entire rainbow of colors, and its Tera Jewel was . . . more of a Tera crown, studded with a whole slew of shimmering hexagonal gemstones.

Hellcat bristled and growled at the pokemon while you and Nemon exchanged a look, dumbfounded.

The dragon gave another roar.

#pokemon #pokemon s/v #pokemon scarlet/violet #2nd person Juliana POV #julinemo #terajules #juliana x nemona #nemona x juliana #julinemo fanfic

14 notes · View notes

roxannarambles · 3 months

Text

Title: Wings of a Butterfly, Eye of the Tiger (Part 4)

Ship: Nemona x Juliana (Julinemo/Terajules)

Chapters: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Tags: Slowburn, Romance, Friendship, Crushes, Action/Adventure, Pokemon Battles, Fakemon

“What the heck kind of Tera type is that?!” Nemona yelled, eyes wide.

“Umm, I have no idea!”

“So we’re seeing a brand-new type?! Holy crap! Jules, this– this is incredible!”

Nemona’s eyes were gleaming nearly as bright as the Terastallized pokemon.

“Y-yeah, but–”

The dragon opened its mouth and expelled a cloud of flames. You yelped and backed away, grabbing Nemona’s hand and dragging her with you. You were able to escape the reach of the flames, although you could feel the wall of heat they put out. Hellcat snarled, agitated by the attack. Nemona said,

“Aw geez. I’m sorry Hellcat, this has been a real trial by fire for you, hasn’t it?”

Hellcat clearly wanted to fight back, but the Roaring Moon was still out of reach, floating above the pit of blackness.

“Jules, what secondary type did this thing have?”

“Dark! I think.”

“Ok. Hmm, if it’s gonna keep us at arm’s length like this, we’re gonna have to send something out to meet it!”

You looked at your assortment of pokeballs, exclaiming,

“But what? We have no idea what Tera type it is!”

“That’s true, but it’s okay, we’re just gonna have to improvise!” She selected one of her pokeballs and looked to you, asking,

“You ready?”

“I-I, um . . .” You struggled to make your selection, flustered over having to deal with so many unknowns.

From the sky, Roaring Moon began to fly in several looping circles, its body glowing in a purple light. Nemona’s confident expression slipped.

“Crap, it’s Dragon Dancing! Juliana, we gotta hurry!”

“Right, right, sorry, ready!”

You both tossed a ball, Nemona releasing her Flutter Mane, you sending out the new Screech Tails.

“Moonblast!”

“Dazzling Gleam!”

The pair of fairies floated out to meet the dragon, one on either side of it. Roaring Moon shrieked, lunging forward and swinging one of its mighty forearms, its glittering talons shredding into Flutter Mane like it was tissue paper. It fainted instantly.

“Dangit!”

Nemona’s pokemon may have been cut short before it could get an attack off, but your Screech Tails took advantage of the momentary distraction, firing off a Dazzling Gleam before Roaring Moon could do anything more.

You could hear a loud crash like shattering glass, and the air was filled with shards of crystal spraying in all directions. You and Nemona watched in shock as Roaring Moon returned to its usual form, looking momentarily stunned as it drifted there in the air. You said,

“Already? Whoa, that didn’t last long.”

“Guess Roaring Moon doesn’t have much stamina. Try to lure it over here with the next attack so we can catch it!”

You nodded.

“Okay. Uh, I don’t think it can take another Dazzling Gleam, though, and Psychic won’t work. Uhmm . . . Screech Tails! This way, come back over here!”

You waved a berry at it, trying to draw it over. You’d literally just captured this pokemon, after all, and hadn’t had much time to train it yet. Fortunately, Screech Tails slowly drifted back towards you, drooling.

Unfortunately, Roaring Moon had finished shaking itself from its daze. Its yellow eyes narrowed, locked onto the puffy pink fairy.

“Uh-oh. Screech Tails, use . . . umm, something else!”

You hadn’t actually had the chance to see its full moveset yet. Screech Tails’ eyes began to glow pink, its tails drifting upwards.

“No, no, not Psychic–”

The ferocious dragon swooped at your pokemon, roaring as it closed in, but its body phased clean through Screech Tails as if it wasn’t even there. The dragon slammed into the cave wall, the ground trembling with the force, causing you and Nemona to jump. Screech Tails unleashed its energy at its foe, but it was a futile effort.

“Try again Screech Tails, use something else, quick!”

Roaring Moon righted itself and turned about, apparently too bent on revenge to bother with anyone else for the moment. It slashed its long claws into Screech Tails, doing some heavy damage. In return, Screech Tails fearlessly bit down on the dragon’s arm, latching on with its fangs. This only seemed to tick the dragon off, though, and it bit and slashed at Screech Tails with its other arm, wrestling in the air above you and Nemona. Your friend called,

“Now’s probably our best chance, start throwing balls!”

Your Screech Tails fainted soon after she’d shouted it anyway; she chucked a pokeball and it drew the dragon inside. It released immediately and you started throwing balls as well. Eventually, one of your Dusk Balls captured it successfully. You picked up the ball, then turned to Nemona. With a little smile, you said,

“Well . . . looks like you got your Roaring Moon.”

Nemona grabbed you and answered gleefully,

“Not just a Roaring Moon, but a new Tera type too?! Let it out, we gotta see it in action!!”

You laughed,

“Okay, okay. I guess since we can’t explore further anyway, we might as well . . . um . . . uh . . . N-nemona?”

“What?”

You pointed wordlessly behind her. She turned to face the tunnel that had been previously blocked by the large, dense cluster of crystals.

There was now no trace of the crystals.

“What??” She turned to you. “How–”

“I don’t know.”

She went to stand in the tunnel, looking around.

“We’re not crazy, right? They were just here!”

You went to stand beside her.

“Yeah, they were. I dunno what to say.”

It wasn’t like they had broken up during the course of the battle, either; there would have been shards all over if they had. It was like they’d just . . . vanished. You both scratched your heads a bit puzzling over it. Nemona guessed,

“Maybe it had to do with the Roaring Moon we fought? That’s the only thing I can think of. It did have that weird Tera type, so maybe it’s connected somehow?”

You shrugged.

“Honestly, in the absence of any other information, that seems as good an explanation as any. It’s the only thing that really changed since I last saw the crystals . . .”

Nemona hummed, nodding. Then she turned to you and said brightly,

“Well, let’s not look a gift Mudsdale in the mouth, we can keep going now!”

“You sure? I thought you wanted to check out our Roaring Moon.”

“I do! I’m so excited I could puke, but I also wanna keep exploring just as much. I mean, we don’t have endless time down here and we’re already this far in, right? It might be now or never.”

She had a good point; you weren’t even sure if you two could return again after today, if your transgressions were discovered somehow.

You nodded.

“Ok. No getting side-tracked, let’s keep going until we no longer can.”

“All right! Let’s go, Hellcat.”

The tunnel took you down to another room that was more confined, with a much lower ceiling. The good news was there were several directions with additional tunnels in here. The bad news was they all seemed to be blocked by the same dense crystal formations. You and Nemona looked around for a while, frustrated to be met with more roadblocks so soon. There weren’t any wild pokemon lurking about, but you did eventually notice a small gap much higher up, towards the ceiling.

“Hey what about up there?” you asked. Nemona looked to the corner you were pointing towards.

“Oh, hey, nice eye! Maybe there’s a way through.”

It took some climbing to scramble up there, but it was only the work of a few minutes. Well, for you and Nemona, anyway. Hellcat bounded up there in just a few clean leaps, taking mere seconds. You were jealous.

“Man, you ever wish you were a pokemon?” you asked, watching Hellcat venturing ahead of you.

“Oh my god yes, like all the time!” Nemona answered immediately,

“Can you imagine battling as a pokemon?! That would be SO much fun.”

You chuckled. Of course that was the first thing she’d think of. The pair of you followed after Hellcat into the small gap, going deeper into the cave.

“What pokemon would you be if you could choose?” you asked her.

“I dunno, there’s too many to pick from! That’s like trying to decide my favorite type, I’ve never really been able to. Mmm, it’d be so cool to be a giant dragon with all that raw power, but what about something small and super agile that can shoot lightning? Or something that breathes fire? Or can punch a hole through a mountain! And that’s not even touching on all the cool abilities . . .”

“I think I’d wanna be something that can fly.”

“Flying, yeah!! Oh man, there’s just too many choices.”

The small tunnel you were following kept narrowing and snaking around.

“Well maybe they’ll make a machine one day that lets us be a pokemon for a while.”

“Haha, if they do, I’ll be the first in line, I can promise you that!”

The tunnel finally fed into a room: as you entered, you found it was a cramped space with a low ceiling coated in a ton of tera crystal. The crystals occurred in big lumpy sections, covering the floors, walls and ceiling in seemingly random places.

The most eye-catching thing about the room, however, was that the ground was absolutely covered in tera shards.

Normally, whenever a Terastallized pokemon battles and their tera form is broken, it sheds a bunch of tiny pieces in the process. Usually those pieces are tiny and brittle, though, and people call those tera fragments. Tera shards, however, were the much rarer, higher-quality pieces that sometimes were dropped by pokemon. These pieces were of such high quality that if you collected enough of them, a Pokemon’s Tera typing could be changed with their power. That made them incredibly valuable. Finding them was very uncommon, though– normally it takes a lot of battling, although if you were lucky you’d occasionally just find them laying around.

This was most assuredly not a normal number of tera shards to just happen across, though. There had to be hundreds of pieces packed into the small space you were now standing in. What’s more, they were shards of almost every type; dragon, fire, psychic, bug, rock, poison, ice . . . the floor covered in an assortment of colors, shimmering like stardust.

“Uhhmmm . . .” you said, staring in disbelief at the cache. Hellcat was sniffing around curiously at the ground. Nemona’s eyes were as wide as saucers.

“Is this for real? Juliana, there’s . . . this . . . there’s hundreds of them . . .”

You reached down and picked up a handful of the precious gems as easy as grabbing a handful of sand. Something suddenly sprung into your memory from your classes from months back, when you’d first arrived. “Remember the rumors that there was treasure hidden in Area Zero?”

Nemona laughed. She still sounded in shock.

“I never imagined they were true. We could change the Tera type of any of our pokemon with all this! Multiple times over!”

That sounded pretty good to you; there were a few ideas you wanted to experiment with in terms of the tera typings on your team. You pulled the bag off your back and zipped it open.

“Guess we better start collecting, then!”

You both started to stuff tera shards into your backpacks like hungry Sableye grabbing fistfuls of treasure. Before long your bags were laden heavy with them.

“I’m actually starting to feel kinda bad about this. I don’t think we should take them all . . .” Nemona said, looking down into her backpack. Your backpack was much larger than hers, but even yours would soon reach its limit.

“I don’t think we can take it all, anyway. But I don’t see a reason to feel bad, I mean, it’ll just sit down here in the dark if we don’t take them, right? Might as well put them to use.”

“I guess . . .”

You headed over to another part of the small room that had an especially large pile of Steel shards and began to shovel them into your bag.

“I can’t help wondering if there’s a reason they’re here, though. It’s almost like they were put here on purpose? There’s so many of them,” Nemona said, still sounding reluctant. You answered,

“Maybe. But if somebody put them down here, it was probably a really long time ago. Area Zero’s been off-limits to most people for ages now.”

You were digging deep into the pile of steel shards, and were uncovering what looked like some shimmery rainbow shards beneath it. Ooh, you’d never seen shards like that before? From behind you, Nemona said,

“Yeah . . . but it’s also possible whoever put these here weren’t human . . .”

When you tried to grab the rainbow tera shards, you realized the shape didn’t feel right– and then they moved in a sudden jerk, and there were a pair of eyes staring back at you. You yelped, falling backwards as a brilliant flash filled the room. Nemona commanded,

“Hellcat, in front, quick!”

The large tiger leapt in front of you, snarling as the bright rays of light struck it in the chest, the air sparkling with tera energy from the attack. Nemona was at your side a second later, helping to pull you to your feet.

“Jules, are you okay?!”

You nodded quickly, looking back at what attacked you.

“What was that?”

Beneath the pile of tera shards, the glittering figure of a Terastallized pokemon appeared, pieces of shards falling aside as it stood on all fours and shook itself off. Its body was small and slender and very catlike: it seemed to be short-haired, but it had jagged, star-shaped tufts of fur on the tips of its large ears, by each of its paws, the tip of its tail, on its cheeks and at a small ruff of fur around its neck. Its almond-shaped eyes were bright like polished opal, and it had a small spiral horn at the center of its forehead. It was crowned with the same Tera Jewel as the Roaring Moon had been, decorated in a rainbow of colors.

Hellcat looked eager to attack, growling at the pokemon and bearing its long fangs, but Nemona held up a hand, saying,

“Just a second, Hellcat, let’s take a look at it first. Whoa . . .”

The wild pokemon blinked its eyes, a soft, ethereal light glowing gently around it. You didn’t recognize the move, but at least it seemed to be fairly passive.

“Nemona, am I crazy or does this pokemon look like–”

“--an Eeveelution?” “Y-yeah!”

“Yeah, no, you’re not crazy, it looks exactly like one.”

“Oh my god.”

She nodded, grinning.

“My thoughts exactly. Okay, Hellcat–”

You touched her wrist, saying,

“Wait!”

“Hm? What?”

You looked back at the pokemon, which was simply standing there, its piercing gaze watching the three of you closely as its tail swished back and forth.

“It seems pretty peaceful. I think I just startled it, when I thought its ear was a tera shard and I tried to grab it.”

Nemona turned to you and answered,

“Well yeah but you still wanna catch it, don’t you??”

You nodded,

“Yeah, of course, I just. I dunno, for some reason I feel kinda bad. We came into its home and robbed it, woke it up and now we’re gonna battle it?”

Nemona blinked at you for a few moments and you felt silly for even saying it until she answered,

“Well when you put it like that, I feel a little bad too . . .”

You looked at your backpack, slumped on the ground and spilling out treasure.

“I guess we could try to leave it be . . . give it back its tera shards?”

The thought clearly seemed to pain Nemona– mostly the idea of not catching the new pokemon, you imagined– but after a few moments she smiled a little and nodded.

“Okay.”

She turned and called out to the pokemon.

“Sorry for disturbing you. We, um, we didn’t know this was your home. We’ll go if you want us to . . .”

The pokemon stared at her, motionless. You went to cautiously pick up your bag, backing away.

“Yeah, and we’ll give you the shards back if you–”

The pokemon jerked, turning to you and giving a cry. It sounded very high-pitched and rhythmic, like glass wind-chimes, but it didn’t sound happy. You looked down at the bag in your hands and stammered,

“N-no, wait, I’m going to give them back, I was just–”

“Jules, look out!”

Colored little balls of light began to fill the air above the wild pokemon. They looked quite beautiful, actually, but you knew better than to be fooled. You scrambled to get out of the way as fast as possible. Nemona yelled,

“Hellcat, quick, Dire Claw!”

Hellcat sprung forward, raking its claws across the mysterious Eeveelution. The colored balls of light started to rain down on Hellcat in quick streaks, like shooting stars, each strike sparkling with tera energy as it landed. The accumulated damage was incredible, the tiger swaying weakly on its paws by the end of the onslaught.

“Holy crap. This thing’s no joke!” Nemona said, eyes wide.

The Eeveelution cried out again, a vengeful little melody. It looked at you and Nemona, its eyes shining like diamonds, power gathering around its body from all around in a big, glittering swirl.

It looked like it was preparing to Tera Blast.

“Oh my god. Hellcat, I need you to Thorn Fang! Now!”

Hellcat was weary but still obeyed immediately, leaping forward and biting down. The wild pokemon screamed and staggered back and there was a loud crash, fragments of tera crystal exploding in the little room as its Terastallization was broken. It seemed the wild pokemon had been stunned, interrupting its attack. You breathed,

“Geez, that was close.”

“Great job, Hellcat!” Nemona quickly turned to you, asking,

“You still want to leave it be, or should we go ahead and catch it?”

You looked back to the pokemon briefly. It looked very weak and vulnerable, and you could see poison seeping out from the wounds marring its shimmering rainbow fur. It was clear that at this point, it was much better to take it with you than to leave.

“Catch it,” you answered. You didn’t need to tell Nemona twice; she whipped out her pokeballs and immediately started throwing. After around six attempts, the ball clicked shut, and the little room you were in fell eerily silent.

You both stared for a few beats. Then Nemona went and retrieved the ball before turning to you. She held a hand over her mouth and made a muffled, excited little squeal.

“Did that really just happen? This is getting so unreal, I swear.”

“Penny’s gonna be so jealous.”

“I know! Man, I’m glad we interrupted that Tera Blast though, that probably would have been very bad in this confined space.”

You choked on a laugh.

“Yeah, we might not have been around to enjoy this.”

Nemona carried on blithely,

“And that move it used, with the colorful lights! I had no idea what it was, but wow it packed a punch. Whatever pokemon this is, it’s tough.”

You looked down at the pokeball in her hands.

“What do you think it is? An ancient version of Espeon, maybe? Or maybe Sylveon . . .”

Nemona shook her head.

“I really don’t know, it’s hard to say since it was Terastallized into that mysterious type! And it’s not like the moves it used can help us to figure it out. I saw it use Swift, Cosmic Power, and that unknown move of course. And then Tera Blast! Which . . . honestly, I thought no wild pokemon could know. I thought Sada developed the move herself.”

You gave a thoughtful hum.

“That’s a good point . . . that is weird. But I guess maybe tera energy came from a long time ago, and so these ancient pokemon know how to wield its power? She might have developed the move from them.”

“True, that would make sense! Although it doesn’t help us narrow down what this Eeveelution is.”

“Mmm, yeah. Well, I guess it doesn’t have to be an ancient version of something we already know. It could be a brand-new evolution, too. Like a Rock-type Eeveelution, maybe!”

Nemona’s eyes widened as idea struck her and she said,

“Or, or! What if it’s an evolution of whatever this new mysterious type is?? So its actual type matches its tera typing. This new tera type is all rainbow colored and stuff, right? That matches this pokemon pretty well . . .”

Your eyes widened too.

“Oh my god, yeah, that might actually be it, Nemona!”

“Heheh, right? Wouldn’t that be cool?”

You gestured at the space around you, saying,

“Well let it back out, maybe we can figure out more–”

She held up a hand, interrupting.

“Ah-ah, Juliana! Remember what we said earlier?”

You blinked, thrown off for a moment before recalling.

“. . . oh, yeah. Um, no more getting side-tracked?”

“Yeah, c’mon Jules, you know you’re like 85% of my impulse control, you can’t tempt me like that–”

You laughed,

“Okay, okay. You’re right, we shouldn’t get distracted now or we’ll never get any further.”

Nemona nodded.

“Right, and things just keep getting cooler and cooler. I wanna see how deep this rabbit hole goes.”

You grinned.

“Let’s back out of this part of the cave, then. If our theories are right about those weird crystal roadblocks, maybe a new way’s opened up out there.”

“Okay! Hellcat–”

She turned and saw Hellcat was laying on the floor, looking completely exhausted. The tiger gave a pitiful little chirp when Nemona said its name. Nemona’s eyes widened and she held a hand to her mouth.

“Ohmygosh, I’m so sorry Hellcat! I completely forgot– ugh, here, let’s get you fixed up!”

She pulled a potion from her bag and went to tend to the tiger’s wounds. Hellcat clearly wasn’t a fan of being potioned since it apparently stung.

“Come on, now, I know it’s smarts, but if you hold still it won’t take me very long . . .”

She sprayed again and the tiger snarled, bearing its huge fangs at her in a threat.

“Don’t you take that tone with me, buster! Sit down. Now.”

Hellcat backed away and sat, making a miserable grumble. She continued to gently spritz potion on the pokemon.

“Easy now, okay. We’re almost done, I promise.”

When Nemona finished, she gave Hellcat plenty of berries and praised it.

“There you go, that’s such a good kitty! These are your favorite kind, right? You like the bitter ones. You did such a good job, thank you for all your help.”

After the treats and the praise– and the potion working its magic– Hellcat seemed much happier, perking right up.

“Oh here, let’s get you a couple Leppa berries too, okay? Guess if we keep coming down here to battle and we’re keeping you a secret, we’ll be needing a lot more Leppa berries, hah. Here you go.”

Hellcat snapped the berries out of midair when Nemona tossed them.

“Sorry again for forgetting you for a minute there. I, um, I kinda get distracted sometimes.”

You spoke up,

“To be fair, so did I. I think most people would be, this is some pretty exciting stuff.”

She glanced to you.

“Mmm, still. . .”

Hellcat bumped its head against Nemona’s leg and rubbed against it, making a small rumble, before walking off and wandering back out into the connecting tunnel. Nemona stared wide-eyed after the tiger.

“Did they just . . .”

You giggled.

“I think they forgive you.”

Nemona bounded up to you and cheered,

“They like me!! They actually like me!!”

“Of course they like you, you’re amazing.”

She laughed, looking a bit shy at how readily you praised her. She glanced away and said,

“Um, let’s finish getting these tera shards, we might as well since we have the pokemon now!”

So the two of you finished filling your bags with tera shards, to the point where you had plenty but weren’t weighed down an excessive amount. Then you headed out of the secret little treasure cache room. Once you’d climbed back down to the main portion of cave where Hellcat awaited, you found that one of the paths was indeed now unblocked.

“We were right! Yessss, let’s go!”

Nemona grabbed your hand and rushed ahead with you. You laughed, Hellcat chasing after you both. When you entered the new tunnel, you found it sloped gently downwards as you traveled. There was the sound of rushing water from somewhere, and the air felt noticeably damper.

Your voice echoing in the damp, cold space, you said,

“Oh, hey, I can hear water?”

You both slowed your steps so you wouldn’t trip on the slightly wet ground.

“Yeah, it’s been a long time since we have. Guess all that water’s gotta go somewhere though, right?”

You nodded. After walking for a while, you commented,

“We really just keep going deeper, don’t we? All these tunnels have been going steadily downward.”

“Mmhmm. They keep getting more and more crystally, too, I noticed.”

You glanced around, noting just how much of the walls and ceiling were coated in tera crystal now.

“Yeah, you’re right. Plus, I dunno if this is just my imagination, but I feel like even the air is . . . more shimmery down here?”

It was the same sort of gleam that the air on the surface of Area Zero had, but it seemed thicker here, like a dense cloud of dust motes suspended in a sunbeam. Nemona agreed,

“Yeah . . . I wonder where all this stuff comes from, anyway.”

You both fell quiet for a bit, pondering the mysterious origins of the tera crystals and energy. But before your idle thoughts could formulate into anything particularly solid, the tunnel had led you to a space that opened up again to a huge ceiling and a large drop. The path led into a continuous curve heading downwards, like a massive spiral staircase. From somewhere above you, water leaked out from the ceiling, forming a waterfall that dropped down the center of the room.

“Whoa,” you said, peeking over the edge of the path. You could see the waterfall crashing into a pool of water far below. The glow of all the tera crystals reflected in the water, bouncing and shimmering, casting all kinds of mesmerizing little rainbow flecks on the cave walls.

“Forget the Ten Sights of Paldea, they don’t even come close to this,” Nemona mused.

You both began to descend the spiral path, but the floor was uneven and slippery from the damp air and so you had to be very careful. There was a portion where the stone had fallen away entirely, but a big chunk of tera crystal had fallen across the gap, acting as a precarious bridge. This was by far the most unnerving section, especially since it was too narrow to comfortably walk side-by-side holding hands. There was a pool of water below you, of course, but you couldn’t actually tell how deep it was, so there was no way knowing if it was safe to fall into. Hellcat took the bridge first, and then Nemona, and finally you, each step careful and measured on the slippery crystal. After that point, the path was comparatively easy, and you worked your way down until finally reaching the bottom.

From down here, you could see the waterfall was crashing into an elevated portion of ground, and the water was relatively shallow and rocky. In fact, you could walk along some parts of the ground until you were practically right beneath the waterfall. The elevated ground continued on for some ways like this, but you could see the water was running off into a deeper pool a bit further ahead. You both worked your way over to stand as close to the waterfall as possible, looking upwards into the room you just descended from.

“Too bad we can’t dive from the top up there,” Nemona joked. You snorted.

“I’m okay with not jumping that.”

Nemona reached her hand out and through the waterfall.

“This is incredible, though, Jules, it’s like some kind of fairy tale down here or something.”

“I know. I wonder if Sada’s ever been down this far. Or anyone, for that matter.”

Hellcat was not as impressed with the splendor laid out before you. The tiger was sitting on the highest portion of the damp rocks, looking displeased with all of the water and licking its paw. It made a little ‘hrrumph’ sound.

Nemona shook her head.

“You’re gonna have to face your fears sooner or later, Hellcat.”

The tiger glanced at her briefly, then returned to licking its paw, ignoring her. Nemona shrugged.

“Have it your way. You can hang out here while Jules and I check ahead.”

The pair of you walked as far as you could on the raised ground, sometimes hopping over rocks as stepping stones where the water was deeper, until you came across another tunnel. It led into a portion of cave with a very low ceiling and tera crystal formations that were growing wildly out of control, incredibly thick layers built up on the walls and ceiling– way more than you’d seen anywhere else. At its center seemed to be another tunnel entrance, but it was blocked by another one of the crystal roadblocks.

“Wow. The crystals are getting a little intense here, aren’t they?” Nemona said, touching the walls covered in the dense layers of pearlescent sheen.

“I’ll say. I wish it wasn’t blocked off, though. I feel like it must look really cool in there.”

“Well, maybe we can find another one of those weird Terastallized pokemon! I bet there’s one around here somewhere.”

You chuckled,

“Your hunches have all turned out correct so far, so I have no reason to doubt it. Let’s keep looking.”

Nemona seemed to love the prospect of finding yet another new pokemon.

“All right, sounds like a plan! Ooh, plus we can learn more about this mysterious new type at the same time. Hm, we need to give it a name, we can’t just keep calling it ‘the weird type,’ huh?”

You suggested,

“Maybe ‘Rainbow Type?’”

She beamed,

“Oh yeah, I love that! Or maybe ‘Light’? Since rainbows are made of light. I mean, we have Dark types, it would be so cool if there were Light types too, maybe Light would be supereffective on Dark? Oh, but that reminds me–”

She stopped walking and turned to you, excited by her new train of thought.

“The Terastallized pokemon have been confusing me. That Roaring Moon used a move that used tera energy– you can always tell when a move does ‘cause you can see the air swirling with the tera energy, you know?– I wasn’t sure what move it was though, so I thought it must be this new type, Light or Rainbow or whatever, right?”

You nodded. Nemona continued,

“But I swear when it used the move a second time, it wasn’t powered up anymore. And then that Eeveelution used Swift and it looked like the move used tera energy, too, which is like, what the heck?! Then it used that mysterious move of course, which also used tera energy. So now I don’t get it! Does it get something similar to Pixilate? Or maybe I was just seeing things, I dunno. Did it look to you like that Swift was powered up with tera energy?”

You scratched your neck and answered sheepishly.

“Well, uhm, I was kinda busy panicking at the time, so I’m not sure . . .”

“Oh, right. Pshh, sorry, of course you wouldn’t have noticed. Well it’s fine, I’m sure we’ll find out more soon. Honestly I’m so excited to face an unknown type, part of me doesn’t wanna figure it out too fast.” She laughed and added, “Is that weird?”

You thought about it and shook your head.

“Not at all. When I was exploring Paldea, every time I came across a new pokemon I loved trying to figure out what it was all about.”

You’d been ambling along the tunnel at a leisurely pace while chatting, not really in any hurry. Nemona clasped your shoulder and grinned, saying,

“Exactly, it’s like that! You don’t really want it to end, do you? I was thinking, before we battle later with our new pokemon, we should make sure to train far away from each other. That way we’ll know as little as possible about each other’s teams and there’s more surprises.”

“Sure. I like surprises.”

Her shoes splashing through the shallow water, Nemona enthused at you,

“Yeah, me too! I can’t wait to–”

A sudden, sharp cry caused the both of you to stop in your tracks and look up. Just ahead of you was a Terastallized pokemon, its colors and jewel immediately demarking it as the new Rainbow type. It stood on two legs and appeared to be some sort of raptorial dinosaur, although its slender body was covered in feathers, which included a feathery crest on its head, furls of feathers on its arms, and a long train of feathers on its tail. The pokemon stood quite tall, looking down at you and Nemona over a narrow snout with its pinched eyes and an expression that left you feeling as though it was regarding you with disdain.

You and Nemona exchanged a brief look.

“Speaking of surprises,” you said quietly. Nemona turned back to the pokemon and gushed,

“This is so cool, we’ve had the best luck with finding awesome stuff down here!”

The pokemon lowered its head a little, lips curling back to reveal sharp, needle-like teeth. A cry vibrated in its throat, rhythmic and strange-sounding, almost like a sound an exotic bird might make. Nemona was standing a little closer to the pokemon than you were, and you didn’t like the way it was looking at her at all. You muttered,

“Nemona, careful.”

“Of course. Hmm, what should I use . . . oh, I know–”

She reached to her belt to select a pokeball, but the raptor’s eyes followed the sudden movement and it reacted instantly by unfurling its massive tail.

The sight was breathtaking, dozens and dozens of long, elegant feathers creating a collective shape like a huge blooming flower or a setting sun, each feather tipped in round spots that shimmered with a brilliant, ever-shifting light; the effect was only heightened by its rainbow Terastallization. The pokemon’s tail shivered, causing the feathers to sway and bob in a very hypnotic way. In fact, the more you stared, the stranger you felt; your head grew heavy and you started to feel a sense of vertigo creeping in.

Uh-oh.

“Nemona!”

Nemona was staring at the pokemon’s tail as well, transfixed, her hand still frozen in place from when she’d been reaching for her pokeballs.

“Nemona, don’t look at it, I think it’s–”

“–too late, I, nghhh– I can’t– move,” she said through grit teeth, her body quivering with the effort, her fingers unable to even curl around her pokeball. You also tried to move and gasped, your limbs suddenly feeling as though they were as heavy as lead.

“No, no! Fight it, Nemona, one of us has to send a pokemon out!”

She grunted,

“I’m trying!”

You were trying too, but the mere act of lifting your arm was overwhelmingly difficult. You could flex your fingers but that just wasn’t enough, because you had your pokeballs all in your pockets. You slid your hands up a few inches and couldn’t get any further– it was like your body just refused to listen. It was terrifying, and you wondered if this was how pokemon felt whenever they got paralyzed.

The raptor pokemon took a few slow steps forward, its tail swaying as it moved, its eyes locked on Nemona. Power began to gather around the pokemon’s body, its tail glowing with a warm pink light. From the color you guessed it was charging a Psychic move.

“Stay away from her!” you screamed, your voice high-pitched in your panic. The pokemon didn’t listen, its tail glowing brighter and brighter, its power rapidly reaching its peak. Nemona was staring at the oncoming move with the expression of someone who realized they’d really screwed up.

You battled hopelessly against your numbed body, your head spinning as you cried,

“Nemona!”

Just as the air began to ripple with the strange energy of a psychic move, there was a shrill, furious scream and the advancing pokemon crumpled under the weight of the tiger from hell leaping onto its back. The pair crashed to the ground, Hellcat clinging to the raptor with its claws and trying to bite it, but ended up getting a mouthful of tail feathers instead. The two grappled desperately for a few moments and somehow the lithe dinosaur was able to slip away from Hellcat’s grasp, although bunches of feathers were left behind in the tiger’s claws. The raptor righted itself and turned to face its foe, flashing its mesmerizing tail feathers in Hellcat’s face.

Nemona shouted,

“Hellcat, be careful, don’t look!”

Hellcat was crouched, ready to leap and pounce, but its pupils widened and it snarled, struggling to move.

“Damnit,” Nemona cursed quietly. The raptor opened its slender mouth and let loose an enormous blast of water right into Hellcat, the force of the hit pushing the tiger back and crashing it into the wall. The air whirled with mist and glittering tera energy in the wake of the move. Nemona yelled,

“Hellcat! What the heck, now Hydro Pump gets powered up too?! This makes no sense!”

In your efforts to better see the pair of battling pokemon, you realized you were starting to get movement back in your limbs– they prickled with a painful pins-and-needles sensation but you could actually drag them along slowly.

“Nemo, I think I can move again, sort of!”

Nemona answered quickly.

“Perfect! See if you can get into my bag, the side-pouch on the left side.”

You were confused why that was a priority but you trusted her, so you inched along the ground until you reached Nemona’s back.

“Left side?”

“Yeah, there should be a yellow bottle!”

You lifted your arms slowly. A bit further ahead in the tunnel, you could see the raptor was skulking its way back up to Hellcat. Hellcat hissed. You grasped the zip of Nemona’s pack and dragged it open, fumbling about for a bit before pulling the bottle from her bag.

“That’s it, that’s it! It’s a Paralyze Heal, squirt it on yourself! Then you’ll be able to use some on me.”

“Right, okay!”

You pointed the nozzle at yourself and struggled with squeezing the handle, which they made way more difficult to use than they needed to. You could hear another blast of highly pressurized water and glanced up, seeing Hellcat snarling in pain.

“Hurry, Jules!” Finally, the dumb bottle released its contents, dribbling the medicine on your hands, which immediately made it easier to use. You were able to douse yourself quickly after that, and it felt like magic, the numbness and pins-and-needles melting away, your muscles loosening up again.

“I got it, I’ll do you now!”

You came around and used the rest of the bottle to spray Nemona all over.

“Great, perfect! More on my legs, they’re still rubbery!” You heard a vicious cry and briefly turned to see Hellcat lashing out, raking the raptor across the face with its toxic claws– then you turned back to finish dousing Nemona with the potion.

“Okay, great job Jules! Let’s go help Hellcat!”

You both approached the pair of pokemon further down the tunnel. The raptor had recovered from Hellcat’s attack and was glowing hot-pink again, preparing another move. Nemona fished around in her bag and pulled out another Paralyze Heal.

“Crap, we’re kind of on the wrong side of the battlefield here,” she realized. The raptor’s back was turned to you both, Hellcat on the other side.

You reached for your pokeballs.

“We can double team this jerk,” you suggested. The raptor finally released a ball of energy, but instead of hitting Hellcat, the energy drifted upwards into the air before simply vanishing away. It was very odd, but you didn’t have time to ponder it, because the next thing you knew, Hellcat sprang forward, sinking its fangs into the dinosaur’s neck.

The Terastallization shattered, coating the ground in little rainbow fragments. The wild pokemon staggered backwards, groaning.

“Or, um, nevermind, looks like Hellcat has it covered,” you laughed.

“Great work, Hellcat! We’ll take it from here,” Nemona shouted, chucking a pokeball at the raptor. The ball missed, bouncing off a rock instead. Nemona’s eyes widened and she looked embarrassed.

“Uh, hm, whoops– I haven’t bungled a throw like that for a while . . .”

You looked at how she was holding her braced arm and said,

“I don’t think I potioned you enough, it might be the lingering effects of paralysis. Don’t worry, I’ll get this one.”

She nodded,

“Right, thanks Jules!”

A few Dusk Balls later, and the raptor was safely contained in your pocket. Nemona quickly went to Hellcat once the coast was clear. The tiger was limping from the paralysis and drenched from the Hydro Pumps, looking quite pathetic, but it still allowed Nemona to crouch down and douse it with a Paralyze Heal.

“There you go, this should help. You did so good, Hellcat! You really saved my skin, thank you so much!”

When she’d finished with the potion, Hellcat could move freely again. It shook water from its body vigorously, then butted its head affectionately against Nemona’s. The tiger wasn’t quite aware of its own strength and had bonked Nemona hard enough for her to land on her butt with an “oof,” but she didn’t seem to mind in the least; in fact, she seemed over the moon.

“You’re such a good kitty, you faced all that water and battled through the paralysis just for us,” she said, petting the oversized cat behind the ears. You could hear a deep rumble and at first you worried Hellcat was growling, but then you realized it was purring.

“Jules, do you hear that?” Nemona whispered, eyes wide with wonder and joy. You nodded.

“I guess it took almost dying for them to realize they like you,” you teased.

“Oh pssh, we didn’t almost die, it was just–”

She paused when there was a strange crackling noise. You both looked up to see a sphere of pink energy materializing out of nowhere in the air above your heads. Nemona’s eyes widened.

“Crap– Hellcat, MOVE!”

You didn’t know what was going on, but Nemona was sitting on the ground and there was clearly very little time, so you lurched forward and helped yank her to her feet and scramble out of the path of the oncoming orb of energy. Hellcat leapt aside as well, and the orb smashed into the ground, a wave of pink tera energy swirling and sizzling before dissipating, leaving behind a sizable impact crater.

You just stared at the crater for a few seconds, blinking. Nemona let out a sigh. At your confused look, she said,

“Future Sight. Forgot about that, haha . . .”

“Oh,” you said, once it had sunk in,

“Isn’t that a base 120 power move?”

Nemona nodded. You added,

“And uhm, it seemed powered up with tera energy . . .”

She laughed weakly.

“Apparently.”

You looked at Nemona again, your expression one of great dismay.

“Nemona, I think that maybe counts as almost dying!”

“Well it does now. Maybe she should, um, take a quick breather.”

You nodded.

“Yeah, good idea.”

The pair of you walked back to the chamber with the really intense crystal growth to check and see if the way was now clear for travel. However, oddly enough, the crystal roadblock had not budged. It didn’t make much sense, since you’d captured the Rainbow Tera pokemon in the area. You both took the opportunity to rest for a bit, though, sitting on a crystal and snacking on trail mix. You helped apply more Paralyze Heal to Nemona and Hellcat groomed itself so that its fur was all fixed up from its last encounter.

After your rest, you walked back to the section of cave with the big waterfall, searching for any more pokemon along the way. There were a few Carbink and Glimmora drifting around, but no other Rainbow Teras in sight.

“I’m not sure where else to look. It’s so weird that the one we captured didn’t do it,” you mused, sitting by the waterfall and watching the Carbink floating around. Nemona peered further into the cave and suggested,

“Well, how about we explore this river? It looks like it goes for quite a ways back there, we might find something.”

You stood and came beside her, looking into the water.

“Worth a try. Looks like it goes pretty deep, I’ll get us some help.”

You pulled a pokeball from your pocket, sending Koraidon out. The big lizard looked excited to be let loose again, trilling happily and stomping through puddles, sniffing around.

“Okay, Scarlet, you ready to go for a swim?”

He immediately turned and ran up to you, eager. You patted him and then hopped aboard, followed by Nemona, who settled onto Koraidon’s flat back right behind you.

“I doubt Hellcat’s as excited for a swim as Scarlet is, so I think it’s time they rested in their ball for a bit,” Nemona said, pulling out a pokeball and recalling the tiger.

“Probably a good idea. You all set, then?” you asked.

“Yup!”

“Okay then, let’s go, Scarlet!”

Koraidon waded out into the still waters. The water got deeper very quickly, so the pokemon switched to a dog paddle. It was impossible to tell exactly how far the underground river continued on; when you gazed ahead through the narrow channel, the view was eventually obscured in the dimness of the cavern. You felt a little thrill over venturing into the unknown, despite the fact you’d been doing it for a while now; maybe it was the sort of thing that just never got old. As Scarlet carried you both onward through the waterlogged tunnel, the ceiling grew lower and lower, until it was barely higher than your heads. The number of crystals in the cave walls and ceiling also decreased, so there were far fewer gems to throw out their light– as a result, it became much darker. Most of the light came from the tera crystals growing under water, casting a soft, ethereal glow to the cave around you that was more diffused and mysterious than the usual glow from the rest of the cave. You told Koraidon to slow down, moving through the narrow, dark tunnel at a leisurely pace. For a while, there was only the sound of water dripping from the ceiling and the gentle, soothing paddle of Koraidon’s feet through the water.

“It’s so pretty here,” you said softly, gazing around at how the water cast rippling shades of green and blue onto the walls. It reminded you a little of photographs you’d seen of the aurora borealis. Nemona agreed,

“I know. It feels so magical and secluded through this part, doesn’t it?”

“Mm-hmm, exactly.”

You breathed the damp air deeply, just enjoying how peaceful it felt to drift through the tunnel. The slowly shifting colors of the water were almost hypnotic to watch. You relaxed in your seat, letting yourself lean back a little against Nemona. She didn’t seem to mind at all, wrapping her arms around you in response, in a way she sometimes did when you were both racing on Koriadon’s back together. You secretly reveled in the feeling whenever she did it, probably far more than she realized.

Nemona giggled,

“I just thought of what this reminds me of, it’s kinda like one of those Tunnel of Love rides, right? Like the ones at the fairs.”

You froze perfectly still, the heat rising to your cheeks. Why’d she say that at this exact moment?

“U-uh . . . y-yeah,” you said, trying to fake a laugh, but it came out sounding more like a squawk. Nemona seemed to sense your unease.

“Oh, sorry if that was weird, it just popped into my head . . .”

You forced your voice to sound more normal and quickly answered,

“N-no, it’s not weird, I-I mean you’re right, they are kinda similar!”

It came out a little more forcefully than normal. Damnit, over-compensated. Lucky for you, Nemona didn’t pick up on it. Instead she just said,

“Yeah! Although I’d say this place is way prettier. Feels more special, too.”

You cleared your throat and agreed,

“Definitely.”

Koraidon slowly followed the bend in the tunnel, curving around a large crystal growing out of the water that had managed to reach the surface and grow beyond it. There was something brighter you could see up ahead, and you both subconsciously leaned forward, curious. Koraidon carried you until the narrow tunnel fed you into a room that opened up wide, your view suddenly expanding to a dazzling underground lake filled with long, sloping tera crystals framing the cave walls. At the center of the lake was a small island, dominated by a single, lonely oak tree.

The tree was completely encased in tera crystal, everything from its trunk to its branches to every one of its leaves– all of it translucent-blue, a rainbow of colors reflecting along all of its smooth surfaces. It looked frozen in time, a silent witness to bygone eras.

“Oh my gosh,” Nemona murmured from behind you. Koraidon paddled slowly out to the center of the lake, affording you a great view of the entire area. It was almost impossible to tell which crystals were growing beneath the perfectly clear, still waters and which were reflected from the ones growing on the ceiling above. It was an incredible feeling, just being in this place and taking it all in, perhaps the first living creatures to be here in eons. Your skin prickled in goosebumps at the thought.

You felt Nemona’s arms squeeze gently around you, and her voice came in a gentle hush in your ears.

“I’m so glad we slowed down to enjoy this, tesoro.”

Your goosebumps spread further, but now for different reasons.

“Me too,” you answered her softly. Nemona’s chin came to rest against the top of your head, her body pressed entirely against your back, and as you floated together in that sparkling cavern, you thought perhaps this was the best moment you’ve had in life for a while now.

Neither of you saw the triangular dorsal fin sticking up out of the surface of the water, silently slicing through the smooth, still waters. Even Koraidon didn’t notice, not until it was too late.When the calm waters were torn asunder with an ear-splitting roar, you and Nemona tossed violently from Koraidon’s back, the only thing you could think was Are you kidding me, NOT AGAIN–!

#pokemon #pokemon s/v #pokemon scarlet/violet #2nd person Juliana POV #julinemo #terajules #juliana x nemona #nemona x juliana #julinemo fanfic #fakemon

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roxannarambles · 7 months

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Well, I might be committing to something I regret, but I'm going to try and clean up the English auto-translation of the Julinemo short story just so that it's a little easier for people to read. (I don't know Japanese, by "clean up" I mean just clean up the Google translation to fix things like incorrect pronouns, funky grammar, weird spacing, etc) This thing takes up 57 pages on my GoogleDoc and I spent, er, what, 45 minutes on 5 pages just now? Eheheh . . . it's gonna take me a while, but if I get a little work done each night, it won't be so bad. Maybe take a week at most?

I dunno if this will be wasted effort if somebody out there actually knows Japanese and wants to painstakingly translate/localize this properly into English, but considering how niche the pairing seems to be (for some reason?), I'm guessing the odds are low. Especially if it's gonna be done officially. But I figure we may as well have something unofficial in the meantime.

edit to add:

btw if you want to read it in the meantime while I continue to work on the doc, head here

#julinemo #terajules #nemona #nemona pokemon #juliana pokemon #juliana #pokemon #pokemon scarlet/violet #Ayano Takeda #(please do give me a holler if you're out there and you've already localized this of course)

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roxannarambles · 9 months

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Guess what I found when I was wandering Etsy.....

Julinemo Merch

(sticker)

This is goin' on the fandom board! :D

#pokemon #nemona #julinemo #terajules #pokemon s/v #アオネモ #ネモアオ

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roxannarambles · 4 months

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Title: Wings of a Butterfly, Eye of the Tiger (Part 1)

Ship: Nemona x Juliana (Julinemo/Terajules)

Summary: Nemona and Juliana just can't resist returning to Area Zero once more. They find new places to explore, new pokemon to discover, and a new things to learn . . . about pokemon battling, but also about each other.

Notes: Okay guys, so there's a story I started on but I got a lot going on in life atm, so I may not finish this story anytime soon (or at all). Burned out on writing and got IRL stuff to deal with, you know how it goes.

That said! I decided I want to post the first chapter anyway, because it was fun to do and I thought folks might enjoy it on its own. So here you go. :D This is meant as a sequel to my story Picnic in Paradise.

You were in the middle of history class and you were so bored. Professor Raifort was on a tangent about some musty old ruins she’d studied in Kalos, and you could tell she wasn’t going to get back on track anytime soon. It wouldn’t be so bad if you were sitting next to Nemona, but Raifort assigned seats to students specifically to prevent friends from chatting during class. It was ruthless, cruel. You didn’t dare pull your phone out either, Raifort went into a rage if she saw any student fiddling with their “damned technology” in the middle of her class. You heaved a sad sigh, drooped over with your chin resting on your desk, gazing at Nemona’s ponytail and wishing you could talk to her. If only you could text her without Raifort noticing . . . ugh . . .

A silly idea popped into your head. You sat up and looked down at your notebook, then glanced up at Raifort. Hmm . . .

You picked up your pencil and scribbled out help me nemona my brain is going to melt into goop if I have to listen to her talk about excavation units for any longer

Slowly, you tore the piece of paper out of your notebook, so as not to make any noise, then folded it up. Nemona was sitting two rows ahead of you, but you knew the student sitting between you fairly well, they liked to talk to you about bug types sometimes. You tapped their arm gently and showed them the note, giving your head a little nod in Nemona’s direction and flicking your eyes back to them, trying to broadcast your intent. They seemed briefly confused but then quickly got the idea, taking the note and passing it without question. You watched Nemona accept the note with a puzzled look and unfold the paper, reading it. Then she cast a quick glance behind her, catching your eye. You grinned at her and she stifled a giggle.

After about a minute, you saw Nemona slide a note onto your classmate’s desk with a nervous expression, and they passed it along to you. You unfolded the paper.

there’s only 20 minutes left girl, you can survive. we can have a battle after class :)

That did sound nice, but 20 minutes felt like an eternity in this classroom. You wrote out another note.

okay sounds good. btw I can’t wait to go back to our secret place, think we can do that anytime soon? been thinking a lot about what we’re gonna do there next.

Then you spent some time doodling some pokemon, a large tiger with sabre teeth and angry eyes and a Pawmot facing off against it, punching it with an Ice Punch. You added a Rockruff behind the Pawmot, wagging its little tail and panting. You wrote out ‘You’ next to the Pawmot with an arrow and wrote ‘Me’ next to the Rockruff. Then you folded up the note and passed it forward.

You couldn’t see Nemona’s reaction, but eventually she passed another note back to you.

jules if the teacher catches us we’re gonna get in so much trouble. we’re champion rank trainers we’re supposed to set an example and stuff!

also I can’t wait to go back too, maybe this weekend?

You snorted, amused at the mixed messages she was sending. She even included a little drawing too, it looked like her Pawmot and your Gengar holding hands and smiling, under a little rainbow. The word Us was scrawled above them.

Nemona was not good at drawing. You still loved it more than any other piece of art on earth. You folded it up carefully and tucked it away in your pocket to keep. Then you wrote out another note.

if you can do it this weekend then heck yeah I’m in. can’t wait <3 <3 I love your drawing.

You handed it to your classmate to pass forward. They accepted it with a sigh, looking a little weary by now with being used as a messenger, but passed it on anyway. Raifort had finally finished with her tangent and was writing stuff out on the chalkboard, but you couldn’t be bothered to care. You were too busy watching Nemona drawing something in her notebook, apparently concentrating very hard. It took her a good five minutes, but she finally finished, folding it up and turning to pass it back.

Except she didn’t manage to get that far. Professor Raifort had finally caught wise to the funny business and grabbed hold of Nemona’s wrist before she could pass the note. Nemona gasped, her eyes growing wide.

“Ms. Sanchez, I’ll be checking that, if you don’t mind.”

The teacher snatched the sheet of paper from her hand and released Nemona, unfolding the note. She scrutinized it a moment, scowling. Folding the sheet of paper back up, she spoke in a stern tone,

“Ms. Sanchez, in case you have forgotten, art class is at 3:00 on Thursdays with Mr. Hassel. We are currently in history class, and I ask that you keep your focus on the subject for the duration of my class. Understood?”

“Y-yes Ms. Raifort,” Nemona stammered, shrinking a little in her seat, while a few people in class giggled. Raifort sighed wearily, pacing away and depositing the note upon her lectern.

“Now where were we . . . ah, yes. So there were a number of factors that contributed to the decline and eventual collapse of the empire . . .”

It was a mercy when the bell finally rang, students packing up as quickly as possible so they could escape. By the time you’d made your way to the front of the class to Nemona, most of the classroom had already emptied. Nemona had slung her bag over her shoulder and was looking very anxious. You leaned in to mutter,

“What’s wrong?”

“Do you think she’s still mad?”

You shook your head,

“She’s probably forgot about it already.”

“I-I dunno . . . I think I’m gonna go apologize.”

“Nemona, you don’t have to–”

She’d already gone to the front of the classroom, though.

“M-Ms. Raifort? I’m sorry about before, drawing in class I mean. It won’t happen again.”

The instructor glanced up from clearing the chalkboard. She had a disapproving look in her sharp eyes as she sighed,

“I certainly hope not. I expected better from you, Ms. Sanchez–”

You hastened to the front of the room, interrupting her,

“Don’t blame Nemona, Ms. Raifort, I’m the one who started it.”

The teacher’s shrewd gaze switched to you, her eyes narrowing.

“I see. Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. You may still be a new student, but know that I hold you to the same exact standards of behavior as your peers.”

You nodded and answered quickly,

“Of course, and I’m really sorry. But um, would it be possible to get Nemona’s picture back? It would really mean a lot.”

Nemona’s eyes flicked to you, looking as though she thought you were crazy and she expected Raifort to bite your head clean off. Raifort looked briefly thrown off by the request

but then she just turned back to cleaning the blackboard, sighing,

“Take it and leave.”

You went up to the lectern and snatched the sheet of paper up, saying cheerfully,

“Thanks Ms. Raifort! See you next week!”

As you and Nemona rushed out of the classroom, Raifort muttered gravely,

“If the youth are our future, I fear for the future.”

Passing through the halls, you unfolded the sheet of paper to find a large, slightly asymmetrical heart. It had a lot of lines drawn through it at random angles, which confused you a little. You said,

“Oh, I like the . . . heart?”

Nemona looked down at the drawing and clarified brightly,

“That’s my heart! When I met you.”

You studied it, your brow furrowing.

“It, um . . . broke?”

“What? No! It’s not broken, it . . .”

Suddenly looking very self-conscious, she glanced away. She mumbled,

“It’s supposed to be terastallized . . .”

Your eyes widened as you finally recognized the rough lines as facets to a jem. You squeaked out,

“Oh.”

What were you supposed to do with this revelation? Did your best friend and crush just casually drop this bombshell on you like it was nothing?

“I-I-I, uhm, I– N-nemona, that’s– that’s–”

You were trying to get out, Meeting me terastallized your heart? but your face was heating up fast and you couldn’t manage to utter something so sappy and wonderful, in part out of fear you were misunderstanding somehow.

Nemona seemed a little antsy and uncomfortable, and she cut in, quickly switching subjects.

“Hey, you wanted to battle after class, right? C’mon, let’s go to the Schoolyard!”

“Oh– uh– r-right–sure!”

She grabbed your hand and headed towards the stairs eagerly. You made sure to carefully tuck the note away into your pocket.

By the time you both reached the Schoolyard and took your positions, students were already crowding round to watch. It was pretty much a guarantee that when two Champion-rank students were having a battle, it was going to draw some attention, even if it was spur-of-the-moment. It used to make you feel uneasy, being under the spotlight like that. But it didn’t bother you any more, because these days your sole focus was on the battle and Nemona’s infectious energy– everything else just seemed to fall away.

“You ready?”

She held out her first pokeball and her eyes were glinting with that familiar thrill. You nodded, grinning.

“All right!” she said, throwing the ball.

“Orthworm, let’s go!”

You threw your own pokeball, sending out Krookodile.

“Krookodile, Stealth Rock!”

“Orthworm, Shed Tail!”

Both of your teams had seen a lot of action over the past few months, and you’d faced off against each other many, many times. As a result, there was a lot of familiarity, but things were hardly what you’d call predictable. You’d both made changes to your teams continuously as you learned and adapted and tried new things. For example, Nemona switched up her leads a fair bit. Starting with Orthworm’s Shed Tail was a relatively new development. She’d been using it very effectively as a way of setting up in the early game.

You were on the watch for that possibly now, as Nemona switched into her Palafin next. You quickly swapped in your Bellibolt, which easily tanked the Jet Punch. Then you ordered Bellibolt to Thunderbolt, eager to break the Substitute before her Palafin got up to any funny business with Bulk Ups. But Nemona opted instead to just order Flip Turn, and then sent out Pawmot to eat up the attack. The bolt of electricity struck her Pawmot, charging it with power, and the audience gave an excited little ‘oooh’ in response.

You narrowed your eyes, thinking; you were considering staying in to use a Mud Shot, but you knew Nemona’s Pawmot hit like a truck. Instead you decided to switch in Gengar.

You watched as Pawmot’s furious punches phased harmlessly through Gengar, the ghost giggling when Pawmot passed through him and flopped onto the ground. The Close Combat was an easy prediction, honestly, but the audience cheered anyway, loving the spectacle.

Nemona called,

“It’s all right Pawmot, we got this! Get ready!”

The energetic pokemon leapt back to his feet, fists raised, facing off against your ghost with a glare.

You smirked a little, thinking to yourself that Nemona shouldn’t be so quick to assume Pawmot had this. You pointed and issued your order,

“Gengar, Dazzling Gleam!”

Nemona looked surprised, but she still took it in stride, quickly ordering,

“Double Shock!”

The two pokemon charged at each other, meeting in the middle of the battle court in an explosion of dazzling lights and crackling electricity. Your vision was bleached out from the brightness and when you could see again, Gengar had fallen, Pawmot panting and very weak but still standing. The audience gasped while Nemona cheered,

“Good work, Pawmot!”

Gengar returned to his ball; you were honestly shocked that the Dazzling Gleam hadn’t been enough to take Pawmot out. Though by the looks of it, he’d been very close. You sent out your Tauros Aqua Breed. Nemona eagerly ordered Pawmot to Volt Switch, but you called out,

“Aqua Jet!”

The shot of water struck Pawmot first, knocking the weakened pokemon out. Nemona laughed,

“Darn. Didn’t think you’d mess up there but was hoping anyway.”

You smiled and shrugged,

“You’d be disappointed if I did something that silly.”

“True, haha. Okay Meowscarada, go!”

You considered things for a moment. Nemona probably didn’t expect you to do something so silly as to keep Tauros in on her Meowscarada, either– she’d probably expect you to swap to your Volcarona. You knew she loved swapping to Palafin for that, so you decided to switch to Bellibolt.

Unfortunately, it seemed you ended up over-predicting her. The Flower Trick that landed on Bellibolt hit hard, weakening it far too much, well past the point of recovery. With a sigh, you decided to leave him in, letting him faint to the next Flower Trick.

You swapped to Volcarona then– you wanted a clean switch for her anyway. This was also a beautiful opportunity. As Nemona recalled Meowscarada, you ordered,

“Quiver Dance!”

“Palafin, you’re in charge!”

The dolphin that materialized on the battle court was now in his fully-powered state, rippling muscles and tall, proud stance. He was a menace for your team and had often been the one responsible for your losses against Nemona. With your best counter already fainted, Nemona was looking pretty smug.

“Becha you wished you didn’t throw away Bellibolt so soon.”

You shrugged,

“Eh, easy come, easy go. I’ll manage.”

Nemona turned to her pokemon.

“Well, there won’t be any more Quiver Dances on my watch. Palafin, you know what to do!”

You pulled a small, glittering orb from your pocket. God, you’d waited for this moment for weeks. You’d laid in bed at night giggling about it as you imagined your silly plan, and you’d spent hours and hours painstakingly gathering the tera shards, bit by bit.

Now it was finally time.

Settling your nerves, you carefully threw the tera orb, the energy crashing into your Volcarona.

You called:

“Volcarona, Solar Beam!”

The audience gasped at the mid-battle terastallization, the tera energy gathering around Volcarona and the crystals spreading rapidly across its body, finishing at the top with a glittering crown, her tera jewel: a bouquet of flowers. Then Volcarona glittered and shone even brighter as she gathered up sunlight for her Solar Beam, the Power Herb gripped in her little legs melding into the light as she charged, brighter and brighter, until it was almost painful to look.

You could see Nemona’s eyes were wide, the light of your pokemon reflected in them.

Palafin’s Jet Punch struck your pokemon, but the move hardly even phased it.

Then Volcarona unleashed its attack in return, the blast of energy engulfing the dolphin entirely.

Palafin didn’t stand a chance, fainting immediately, and the students around you let loose some wild cheers. However, Nemona looked more excited than any of them by far. She leapt and cackled,

“Oh my god, Jules! That was incredible!!”

You grinned proudly, giggling,

“Thanks.”

“Seriously, I had no idea, when did you change her tera typing?!”

“Just last week.”

“Oh my god. That was so cool, and the Power Herb too!– it was genius, gahh! I can’t believe you– grhh, okay, we still have a battle to finish, but we’ll talk later, okay?”

You laughed,

“Okay.”

While your mid-battle victory over Palafin filled you with giddy energy (if you were honest, though, it had more to do with Nemona’s unrestrained glee than your victory), it was hardly a decided match. After Nemona had finished gushing over the cool moment, she got her head back in the game and sent out her Talonflame. You weren’t gonna sacrifice your Volcarona recklessly, so you swapped to your Krookodile. Nemona took advantage of the moment to get a Swords Dance off. She then ordered a Brave Bird, seriously weakening your Krookodile. Staying calm, you ordered,

“Stone Edge!”

“What?!”

The move fortunately connected with the bird, dropping the pokemon instantly.

“I thought you were gonna Taunt! Since when are you packing Stone Edge?!”

You shrugged again, smiling.

“Told ya I made a few changes.”

Nemona groaned.

“You’re turning into a downright terror. Looks like I gotta get serious here.”

She tossed a ball, calling,

“Dragapult, time to get to work! Draco Meteor!”

After Krookodile fainted, you sent out your Tauros. Unfortunately, Nemona correctly predicted the Outrage, swapping into Orthworm on the hit, who took the attack easily. While your Tauros was still in a frenzy, she got up some late-game Stealth Rocks. Luckily Tauros calmed down soon after that, although he now was dizzy from the overpowered attack. You knew he needed a chance to rest, so you switched to your Corviknight, while at the same time Nemona brought Dragapult back in.

You thought carefully about your next move. You only had Corviknight, Tauros and Volcarona left– she had Meowscarada, Dragapult, and Orthworm. It was a little awkward dealing with Dragapult, though. You decided to just go all out. Corviknight would live a Thunderbolt and get an attack off and Tauros would have to finish it off– he could do it, he had an Assault Vest– and you’d save Volcarona for the other two.

“Corviknight, Brave Bird!”

Your pokemon flapped her wings, rising higher and higher into the air, then fell into a swoop. From the other side of the battle court, Nemona shouted,

“Dragapult, Fire Blast!”

Your heart skipped a beat, not expecting that move at all. You watched as the bird dove directly into a massive fireball, the pokemon crying out in shock.

Corviknight never even reached Dragapult. The fainted pokemon returned to your ball.

“Fire Blast?”

Nemona smiled, hands on hips.

“I made a few changes too.”

“Mnnn . . .”

You sent your Tauros out. You ordered Outrage, desperately needing to take care of this Dragapult. Unfortunately, Nemona didn’t want to give you that chance, and swapped back into Orthworm once more, using Earthquake. The big Steel-type worm had been worn down enough by now that the Outrages managed to finish it off, but at what cost?

Nemona sent her Meowscarada back out once Tauros’ rage had quelled. You were pretty sure it was over, but maybe you still had a chance with Volcarona. You ordered Tauros to Aqua Jet for some extra damage, waiting for the Flower Trick to finish him off.

But Nemona hesitated. She seemed to think a moment, and then instead of Flower Trick, she commanded,

“Play Rough!”

You watched as Meowscarada’s cape shifted colors from green to light pink, and then the cat leapt forward, striking your Tauros down on the spot. You stared for a few moments in disbelief.

Then you looked up to Nemona.

“Your Meowscarada has Protean now?”

She looked so psyched, immediately answering,

“I’ve been waiting so long to show it off, I found an Ability Patch in a tera den!! It’s so great to finally tell you, I also equipped her with a– oh, whoops, probably shouldn’t blab that part yet. You’ll see, heheh!”

You chuckled, saying,

“That’s honestly awesome, but I think it’s gonna be a GG for me.”

You released your final pokemon, the Volcarona still sparkling with its crown of flowers.

“C’mon Jules, you know what I always tell you, never call it early–”

“Yeah, yeah, it isn’t over ‘til it’s over. I know.”

Still, you knew that Protean sealed the deal. You could have taken out a grass-type Meowscarada in one hit, but not a Fairy-type Meowscarada. There was Dragapult waiting in the wings anyway.

Releasing a little sigh, you smiled gently. You issued your command to Volcarona.

“Ok, Volcarona. Quiver Dance!”

Nemona shouted,

“Go, Meowscarada, Play Rough!”

The nimble feline charged as your Volcarona fluttered her wings and began her graceful dance. Meowscarada leapt into the air, claws extended, teeth bared . . .

But she missed. Your Volcarona swooped out of the way just in the nick of time. The gathered students uttered a collective ‘oooh!’ and Nemona gasped before yelling,

“Quick, Meowscarada, again, Play Rough!”

“Volcarona, Flamethrower!”

Volcarona was a lot faster now, and Meowscarada went down in flames before she could get her attack off. And suddenly the match was down to one-on-one. Nemona released her Dragapult while the crowd murmured.

Even though misses were always a part of matches, you still felt bad, saying,

“Dang. Play Rough almost never misses, it should have been a safe bet . . .”

“Hey, no worries. Like I said, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over!”

She grinned, pulling her tera orb from her pocket. Right, hers was still charged. And her Drapagult had Choice Specs. Crap.

“Wait, your Dragapult’s still Tera Dragon, right?”

You knew she’d been toying with the idea of changing it to Tera Ghost, but you had no clue if she actually did.

Nemona just winked at you. She replied sneakily,

“Not telling.”

You groaned, then shook your head.

“O-okay, that’s fine, I don’t need you to! Let’s finish this.”

She took aim with her Tera Orb, and you made your choice.

Nemona flung the Tera Orb.

“Volcarona, Flamethrower!”

“Dragapult, Draco Meteor!”

Nemona’s pokemon transformed into its splendid, terastallized state, and your heart sank when you saw it still was crowned with a Dragon Tera Jewel. The Flamethrower struck the dragon but didn’t take it out. Oh boy. The massive meteors roared in the air, crashing into your Volcarona with a flurry of purple sparkles . . .

But once the dust settled, Volcarona was still flapping, tired but conscious! Not wasting another moment, you triumphantly shouted,

“Volcarona, Bug Buzz!!”

The final attack struck Dragapult down for good, to the jubilation of the crowds.

Afterwards, you both headed to the cafeteria for lunch, Nemona ranting and raving about the match the whole way there. When you spotted Arven and Penny already eating, Nemona hurried over to their table to excitedly recount the story for them. You ate lunch and watched her with a silly smile, because few things in life were as wonderful as listening to Nemona talk about pokemon battling. She was so incredibly animated, putting her whole body into the story and acting out the key moments, her eyes crackling with a fiery spirit and her energy so overflowing that she kept squeezing her hands into fists and giving happy little jumps.

It was so adorable and joyful that you could hardly stand it.

“And then, then!” She swung her arms wide, making explosion noises,

“Blammgmmgmgm! Solar Beam blows Palafin straight outta the water, she had a Power Herb!! Not even a second to react, he’s already gone, my jaw hit the floor! You guys you have no idea how awesome it was, I’ve been telling people forever now that Terastalizing can give us these ridiculously cool game-changing moments but all the Gym leaders are always like ‘Bla bla bla, we can’t Tera into anything other than our chosen monotype, bla bla bla’ like c’mon!! How are we supposed to get trainers excited for battle with terastallization if it’s always like that! Jules did exactly what I’ve been wanting people to do for so long, it felt like, like, something I’m gonna remember forever, you know?”

There was a moment’s pause when Nemona stopped to catch her breath.

“So I’m getting the impression Nemona liked the battle,” Arven said dryly, sipping his drink. Penny chuckled.

“I’m not even finished yet, wait ‘til you guys hear the rest!!”

You somehow managed to make it through lunch without perishing from either Nemona’s praise or her adorable antics, but when you made it back to your dorm, you flung yourself onto the bed with a huge sigh. It was getting harder all the time to keep a lid on your feelings. It was gonna start affecting your battles soon at this rate, and Nemona was sure to notice that . . .

You felt a lump in your pockets and pulled out a sheet of paper.

“Oh, god, right.”

You unfolded the scribbly heart Nemona had drawn for you during class. You stared at it for a long time, and the other note you’d saved of the two of you as pokemon holding hands under a rainbow. It certainly felt like solid, undeniable proof that she returned your feelings, but at this point you second-guessed everything. Nemona had the habit of making some incredibly strong statements of affection about you. After you beat the E4 and had your first battle together as equals, she asked if you wanted to be rivals for life, and it practically felt like a marriage proposal. She’d only doubled down since then, casually telling you stuff like ‘I’ve relished every single day since you’d moved here’ or done stuff like rearrange her classes and delay her graduation just so she could graduate at the same time as you. You know, simple things like shift all her life plans just for you.

You hopped off your bed, a determined look in your eye. You were gonna stop waffling. It was time to finally tell her.

You had to do it right, though. Nemona was doing stuff like proclaiming that meeting you terastallized her heart. So you had to be big and bold too. You wanted to match her energy, and you wanted it to be unmistakable. You picked up some of your pokeballs, then headed back out to the Schoolyard.

Once you’d stepped out into the open-air solarium, you immediately headed over to the garden area and found a quiet corner to work on your little project. You let your Frosmoth out of her ball.

“Okay, Frosmoth. Let’s get back to work. Ice Beam. Nice and slow, just like we practiced.”

Your plan was pretty simple. It was something you saw on social media a few weeks ago: somebody had trained their Glaceon to create ice sculptures with its Ice Beam, and one of them was a big heart. It had seemed perfect to you, because what better time to confess to Nemona then in the middle of a pokemon battle? You’d envisioned it then, sending Frosmoth out and creating the sculpture, the look of Nemona’s surprised delight, and then you’d finally come clean to her, tell her everything. You’d tried to confess to her a ton of times already, true, but something always happened. Either it was misunderstood or you chickened out or your plans got derailed somehow. Most recently, you had planned to take her to Cortondo for those little lemon cakes she loved so much and tell her then. That had been right after you’d returned from your Area Zero picnic. But you’d both gotten so busy with exams after that, so it hadn’t happened.

But it was fine. You had a better plan now and you were going to follow through this time. Frosmoth just had to perfect her technique and produce something other than lumpy ice blobs. It was rough going but you believed in her, you knew she’d get the hang of it. Eventually.

Probably.

“Okay, Frosmoth, good effort! Let’s try again, I think if you slowed down a bit more and made sure to go back and forth, it won’t end up so lumpy . . .”

You glanced down at your phone, re-reading the blog post about teaching your pokemon to make ice sculptures. Nobody had ever tried to teach a Frosmoth before. You wondered if that mattered. Slowglobe had very different eyes from Glaceons, it might affect things. Hm.

You eventually looked up again from your reading.

“Oh my gosh, Frosmoth! That’s so good!”

It was hardly as impressive as the photo in the blog, but it was way closer to a heart than she’d ever gotten before. Very lumpy and asymmetrical still, but if you squinted, it was almost recognizable!

While you were examining the ice sculpture and thinking about how to improve things, a familiar voice rang out from across the Schoolyard.

“Hey! Juliana, there you are!”

Your heart leapt in a panic. Oh, crap, crap, no– she couldn’t see this now, it wasn’t ready! You glanced around for a few moments trying to think of what to do, until some quick thinking saved you. You chucked a ball and said,

“Volcarona, u-uh, Flamethrower, right there! Quick!”

The large insect obediently released a fireball, melting the ice sculpture down. A few moments later Nemona had finished jogging over, saying,

“Oh, sorry, didn’t know you were training!”

You spun around, the pair of moths hovering behind you.

“Ahaha, i-it’s fine! We’re mostly just fooling around . . .”

Nemona nodded, crossing her arms and grinning.

“Great! ‘Cause I wanted to ask you about this weekend, when we go to Area Z– er–”

She suddenly stopped and glanced around furtively, then stepped closer, dropping her voice.

“I mean, our secret place. What time were you thinking?”

You blinked. Oh, right. You’d forgotten about that already.

“Um . . . is Saturday morning okay? Early?”

You toed the gravel under your shoe and repressed the urge to say ‘as soon as possible for as long as possible.’

“Yeah, that’s fine! Like 8:00? We could go right after breakfast!”

You looked up at her and smiled,

“Sure!”

Nemona seemed very pleased.

“Awesome. Man, it’s gonna be so great to finally head back again. Poor Hellcat’s been waiting in their ball, I haven’t even been able to heal them since the nurses at the Pokecenters would notice something weird’s up . . .”

You nodded.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, we’ll bring lots of potions and food for them. And we can work on training them.”

Enthusiastically, she agreed,

“Yeah! Plus we can look for Roaring Moo–”

You held up a finger to your lips to hush her and she quickly stopped, giggling,

“Whoops, sorry.”

She stepped even closer to you and leaned in, whispering,

“We can look for Roaring Moon. And maybe whatever other exciting things we can find, heheh.”

Having Nemona this close and whispering sweet nothings to you– well, all right, they weren’t sweet nothings, but at this proximity they may as well be– was a lot to handle. You felt your cheeks warming and the world felt just slightly off-balance.

“Y-yeah! Okay, yeah! That sounds, um, good!”

Smiling, she said to you quietly,

“Perfect. See you then.”

She gave you a wink for the second time today, and you knew it made sense in context but man, she had better stop doing that. It was too dangerous for your heart.

Once she’d departed, you turned back to inspect the slushy puddle that had been your ice sculpture. You sighed.

“Guess we gotta put this plan on hold ‘til after our trip.”

You returned your pokemon to their balls so you could start making preparations for your journey back to Area Zero.

#pokemon #pokemon s/v #julinemo #terajules #2nd person Juliana POV #fluff #pokemon battles #dorks in love #julinemo fanfic

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roxannarambles · 4 months

Text

Forgot to post this to Tumblr yesterday but I got a special delivery in time for Valentine's Day!!

#they are in love your honor #pokemon #pokemon s/v #julinemo #terajules #(I didn't buy all these at once the new things are Nemona figure and the julinemo plushies)#the figurine is so good it's so much smaller and cuter and more detailed than I imagined #perfect alongside the pokemon figures #I guess this means I have to get the juliana figure too when she releases tho XD

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roxannarambles · 1 year

Text

title: tesoro

ship: nemona x juliana (fluff, pre-romance)

summary: mr. jacq’s students give their final reports on their treasure hunt

notes: edited the story, tweaked a few things, I like it better now! (also, it’s in second-person POV now. apologies if second person isn’t your thing. but I kept accidentally slipping into that pov a zillion times so I just went with it)

It was time for the class to give their oral reports on the Treasure Hunt, and you were nervous as heck.

Yes, the time spent during your independent study had been incredible, but it did come with one downside. It was still technically part of your class curriculum, so every student was expected to write and submit a paper about their experiences, as well as deliver an oral report to the class. Honestly, it wasn't particularly difficult. Most students simply went up there and rambled a bit about whatever they spent the past six months doing.

A lot of students talked about trying out the gym circuit, or about the different towns they'd visited, or about a really cool and rare pokemon they'd stumbled across while out hiking, or what-have-you. One student loved fishing so they talked about all the different places they'd fished, another student was obsessed with hunting shiny pokemon, another student had researched the historical ruins scattered throughout Paldea. It was actually kind of fun hearing about everyone's experiences.

Or at least, it would have been, if you could have focused at all. But you were too busy feeling anxious about your own presentation. Giving talks in front of a class had never been one of your strong suits. Your stomach was tied up in knots, and you were trying very hard to ignore your nausea. Beside you, Nemona gave a sympathetic smile and patted your shoulder. In a quiet voice, she said,

"It's gonna be fine, Jules. Just imagine it's like a pokemon battle! You don't get nervous when everyone's watching you battle, right?"

You gave her a weak smile.

"Actually, that makes me kinda nervous too."

Nemona's eyes widened a little.

"Wait, seriously? No way. I had no idea. You always seem so calm and collected."

"Mmm," you mumbled, closing your eyes. Nemona patted you again, reassuring you,

"You'll do maravillosa, I know it."

You hadn't been paying any attention to the student currently talking, but they must have finished their report, because the class abruptly launched into polite applause. You snapped your eyes open and politely applauded along with everyone else, watching the student return to their seat as Mr. Jacq praised their efforts.

"Thanks again, Lorenzo, for such an engaging review of the restaurants of the west province. I definitely learned of some new places to try when I'm in the area! Now, let's see . . ."

The professor glanced down briefly at the clipboard in his hand.

"Ah! Yes, it looks like it's Juliana's turn next. Wonderful!"

You felt her heart give a sudden lurch and you swallowed, feeling the eyes of the class drawn to you. Ok, well, at least you're finally getting this over with, right? Timidly, you stood from your seat and brought over the little flash drive that had the slides for your presentation. It only took you a minute or so to plug into the computer and launch the file, but you had to focus to try and keep your hands from looking jittery.

Once the first slide appeared on the overhead projector, you turned and gave the class a nervous smile. You forced out,

"H-hi everybody . . . my name's Juliana. As. Most of you already know."

Well, yeah. You'd all spent the entire semester together by now. Not to mention you were the youngest Champion in all of Paldea, too, that kinda had been announced to the whole school.

You coughed, stammering out,

"A-anyway! Eheheh, this, is my report on my Treasure Hunt!"

From the middle of the room, Nemona gave a spirited,

"Whoo!"

There was an awkward silence. You laughed nervously before changing the slide.

"R-right, anyway . . ."

You did your best to just focus on your notes and get through the material you'd prepared. You started by talking about all the gyms you had visited and challenged, and the things you'd learned from your successive battles, each of the gym leaders offering interesting new perspectives on pokemon battling and on life in general. The same was true of the Elite Four and the Top Champion. Then you delved a little into your adventures with Arven, tracking down and battling the massive Titan pokemon and locating their secret dens with rare, exotic herbs. The battles themselves were noteworthy, but you also talked about the stuff you learned about backpacking across the wilderness and roughing it in the wild, as well as getting to know Arven better. You dedicated a portion of your talk to Koraidon, as well, because he was your precious baby boy and you loved him more than anything (well, your whole team was dear to you, too, of course). You also talked about the experience of finding and helping out the members of Team Star. It took time to earn their trust, but eventually you learned about them and about the history of Naranja Academy, both the good and the unpleasant. Eventually, you were able to help the members of Team Star gather the courage to face their pasts and return to school, mending the bridges they had thought had been burned and unmendable.

The events that had transpired in Area Zero had to be omitted from your talk, of course, but even glossing over all that, there was plenty to talk about. It had been a very, very busy six months, packed to the brim with adventure and excitement. And to your relief, the report went fairly smoothly. Once you'd gotten into things, it had become much easier to just focus on what you wanted to say and get through the talk you'd carefully practiced.

However, the main portion of the talk wasn't really the thing that had caused you the most anxiety. It was the ending of the speech that truly worried you. The ending that was now rapidly approaching.

You flipped the slide, struggling to keep your cool. You glanced at the bullet points on your slide and continued talking.

"So, ah, as I've been explaining, a lot happened during my independent study! And there are a lot of things I found that I would call my treasure. Like, for instance, my friends. I met so many new friends on this journey and they've all been so amazing. Also, my pokemon. I've raised these little guys from the itty bitty babies I found toddling around in the wild and . . . honestly, I'd do anything for them. We've been through so much. And, of course, all the experiences I had. The big exciting moments, but also all the calm, soft ones. Just having picnics out in the South Province, or walking on the beach, or seeing the sunsets from Levincia, all that stuff. I treasure all of those things. I've been really lucky."

All right, here it comes. You pulled in a nervous breath and hesitated, glancing around at your audience. Were you really doing this? Truthfully, it was probably gonna be fine. You were probably worried about nothing. It's not like there was anything weird about what you wanted to say or anything. But, well, part of you was still scared it might come off as too . . . too sappy or something.

Urgh. You just needed to quit second-guessing yourself and just do it.

Clearing your throat, you say,

"B-but, uhm, when I asked myself what my greatest treasure was, uh, there was something that . . . did come to mind. That's not to devalue any of the other things I've mentioned, of course! They are all deeply important to me. But there is something that makes me feel the most excited, that feels . . . that feels the most precious to me."

Ah, jeez. As the students watched you with intent curiosity, you could feel your heart picking up speed and a blush began to creep onto your face. Okay yeah maybe this was too sappy, but it was too late now, oh god.

You forced yourself to reach over to the laptop and hit the button, changing the slide, and a large photo of Nemona appeared, her auburn eyes bright and her grin positively jubilant, as usual. Doing your very best to speak in a normal voice, you squeaked,

"A-and t-that's my friend Nemona!"

You tried very hard to not make eye contact with anyone in the classroom and just stay focused on your report, although you couldn't help but hear a startled little gasp from somewhere in the middle of the room, which definitely sounded exactly like Nemona.

Okayjustfocusjustkeeptalking

You opened your mouth and forged ahead, the words tumbling out.

"T-the truth is, I've had a lot of difficulties in my life with anxiety and, other mental health issues. Most people don't know that, probably none of you do, I don't really talk about it. But yeah, when I first moved here, Nemona was so welcoming the moment I arrived, and she, she was . . . willing to get to know me and see me for who I am, I guess is the best way of putting it. And she actually liked that person she found? And it meant so much to me, and she became my best friend, but to be honest, she was also my first friend, the first one I was close to, I mean-- like, truly close to. And I can't even begin to say how special that is to me."

You paused to suck in a breath, the thoughts swirling in your head, and continued ardently,

"And she's such a wonderful person. She's full of so much love for life, so much contagious energy, you know? She reminds me of the important things in life, of the stuff that matters most-- which is going after the things that you love, the stuff that makes you feel alive, and pursuing it no matter what! I feel like I'm a better person around her, like she brings out the best in me. And I admire her so much."

You had no idea if your thoughts were coming out coherently or not, but you could only hope so.

"That's not even going over how she re-ignited my interest in pokemon battles and a bunch of other stuff, but I don't wanna ramble or anything, heh . . . I just, uh . . . well, knowing that we're always gonna be there for each other, it's . . . it's the best feeling in the whole world."

You cleared your throat and glanced to the floor, adding quietly,

"S-so, um, yeah. She's. My greatest treasure."

There was a pause, the room completely silent, and you felt like you could hardly breathe. You turned and smacked the button on the computer, flipping to your end slide, and blurted quickly,

"Anyway that's my presentation, the end, thanks everyone, okay bye!"

You were about to just bail, but a smiling Mr. Jacq stepped in the way before you could, so you remained rooted to the spot.

"Thank you, Juliana! That was wonderful! Such an insightful and heartfelt report. Wouldn't you agree, class?"

There was an enthusiastic smattering of applause from the class, and you ducked her head, embarrassed but relieved at the same time. Your teacher continued to praise you for a bit, and you took the first opportunity to quickly return to your seat and exit the spotlight.

Although, returning to your seat was certainly a little awkward, considering you were returning to sit beside Nemona. You didn't have the guts to look at her during the presentation, but you could now see Nemona was blushing quite the intense shade of pink, her eyes glued to her desk, while the students around you casted glances and giggled. You sat down, feeling terrified you may have upset your friend. Did you embarrass her too much? Or . . . god, you should have asked her first if she'd be okay with this, damn it, damn it. Feeling awful, you turned to Nemona and stammered quietly,

"S-sorry if that was embarrassing, I uhh I was just, well, I was trying not to ramble or anything but I just, w-wanted to-- I'm sorry, I should have asked if you--"

Nemona's eyes darted up to yours, wide and disbelieving, and she quickly cut you off.

"Don't say sorry, Jules, that was, it was-- so sweet, I-I-- nobody's ever said anything that nice about me before! Don't you dare apologize for that, that was incredible!"

Nemona's voice had sounded so raw, and she looked nearly on the verge of tears. The fear gripping you immediately evaporated, and you released a breath. With a shy smile, you stammered,

"Oh, o-okay, good! I'm-- I'm glad you liked it . . ."

Nemona huffed, grabbing your arm and leaning in close, muttering so the class couldn't overhear;

"You're lucky I have the self-restraint to not make a big ole' scene in the middle of class, cos I am going to hug the stuffing out of you the second I get the chance, you know that? I'll be sobbing and it's gonna be sooo embarrassing."

You felt a grin edging onto your face.

"I mean, if you wanna make a scene right here, I wouldn't exactly mind . . ."

You hesitated, and then the words slipped out softly,

". . . mi tesoro."

Nemona's pretty auburn eyes went completely wide, her fingers tightening around your arm, and her entire being seemed to positively shake from the force of trying to keep quiet. Her voice was rough and squeaky when she uttered,

"Wh-what-- Jules, I-I--"

You felt worried Nemona was going to break down right then and there; her eyes were watering and she looked as though she was seriously considering picking you up and carrying you right out of the classroom, but a voice suddenly interrupted the moment, causing you both to jump.

"A-hem, now, class, I know you're excited to talk about these wonderful presentations, but I'll need to remind you to save most of that for the end of class, okay?"

You turned to see Mr. Jacq was side-eyeing you both with an amused expression.

"Y-yessir," you say, while Nemona nodded mutely. Slowly, as if it was physically painful to do so, Nemona detached herself from you. She looked so sad, like an excitable puppy that had been scolded for jumping up on someone.

Mr. Jacq had already moved on, checking his clipboard.

"I believe that Isabella is next? Do you have everything ready to go, Isabella?"

"The second after class, Jules," Nemona's whisper in your ear was so terse it practically sounded like a threat, although with the way she was struggling to maintain composure, it was a very emotional one. You suddenly felt very bad for flustering her so much, but the truth was you hadn't really intended to. Unfortunately, there were still like ten or so students left to give their reports, so you both had to keep quiet and behave for just a while longer.

Although you weren't gonna lie, you couldn't focus much. Nemona maintained a facade of listening to your fellow classmates, but she kept shooting you lingering glances, her warm eyes full of such soft adoration, and it was honestly really distracting, because you felt like your heart was melting into goo. You were pretty sure you did not absorb a single thing the presenters were saying, and boy it felt like they were taking forever.

The funniest part was, Nemona had yet to give her presentation. Which you had completely forgot. Until Mr. Jacq checked his clipboard and announced,

"And it's finally time for our last student! Nemona, are you ready?"

Nemona bounced up from her seat faster than you'd ever seen her move, as if struck by a live wire. She gave an exuberant,

"You bet I am!"

Some of the class laughed and you struggled to quash your startled expression, because how in the heck did you forget Nemona hadn't gone yet? You'd been the one to help her work on her rough drafts for weeks, jeez!

Now you felt especially bad for distracting Nemona so much before her big talk. However, as it turned out, it didn't seem to be a problem. As Nemona bounded to the front of the class, she seemed perfectly focused on giving her report. She quickly fired up her slideshow, eyes gleaming.

You felt a flash of admiration at her ability to focus so sharply. Perhaps it was all of her experience with pokemon battles. It would make sense, honestly.

Nemona proceeded to launch into her talk, positively brimming with energy.

"All right, class, time to strap in! Because we're about to take a trip on the Nemona Roller Coaster, guaranteed to be full of the biggest ups and downs and shocking turnabouts you've ever seen on a Pokemon Gym circuit since 2021! (That was my first time to complete the gym challenge) It all started when I met Jules and Director Clavell gave me Sprigatito, to build a new team from scratch! As you'll see from this slide, here are little Spriggy's stats, and here's his nature, which is Jolly. Now, Jolly's a great nature for this pokemon, especially if you take a look at these IVs. . ."

You glanced around at the rest of class, amused by their mixed responses. Some students looked excited and interested while others were clearly mentally checking out already. Nemona had a reputation of getting down into the nitty-gritty details of pokemon battling, including some rather lengthy blow-by-blows of her battles and strategies, which some students found to be intensely boring. However, she also was very good at making the battles seem very dramatic and exciting, so plenty of other students seemed to really enjoy it when she had the spotlight. You didn't care whether Nemona was recounting an especially pivotal moment of a match or presenting spreadsheets on her EV training; whatever she was discussing, she did with a passion that was peerless, and you could listen to her for hours. And even though you'd already seen most of this presentation content while helping her out, you still enjoyed seeing her recite it for the class, covering an incredible amount of material packed into such a short timeframe. Nemona's focus was her journey re-challenging all the gyms, although she highlighted other significant battles along the way, too, including especially feisty trainers she'd met at random or her battles with you, of course.

You knew what the pièce de résistance, the crowning jewel of Nemona's talk was. She had built her presentation's narrative carefully, to climax with the battle that the two of you had shared in the middle of the Mesagoza square; the very first time Nemona had gone at you with everything she had. During this portion of the talk, Nemona dropped most of her technical analyses, opting instead to focus more on the drama and the feelings elicited by the battle, which managed to draw in even the most bored of students in class. Nemona was practically vibrating as she recounted things, and you couldn't help feeling swept up again in the memories, the way your heart pounded, the way your hands shook when you took the pokeballs from your belt, the way your chest squeezed when you saw the fire burning in Nemona's eyes as bright as a Volcarona from across the battlefield.

When the last pokemon in Nemona's story had been felled, she rolled into her final slide, providing a conclusion that was short but sweet.

"And that's when I realized; I'd found my greatest treasure. A true rival. I'd gotten so used to holding back whenever I battled, because I was so worried about making sure people were having fun, and making sure people actually wanted to keep battling me. But it was never really satisfying, deep down. And now, I've finally found someone who can meet me exactly at where I am, an equal. Someone who really gets me!"

She looked across the classroom at you, beaming. With absolute convinction, she said,

"A battle partner for life. Mi tesorita. That's Juliana."

You blushed at her words, glancing away from her intensity. Aughhh, she was trying to kill you, you should have seen this coming.

The students began to clap enthusiastically at the report's completion, but Nemona's voice piped up over the applause.

"But wait wait wait, that's what I put in my report, that's how I ended it, but Juliana's talk, she made me realize my report isn't entirely complete!"

The class quieted down again and you watched as Nemona stepped forward, ignoring her slides and speaking off the cuff.

"Yes, I'd finally found my rival, that's true, and that's fantastic! But it's more then that. Juliana's not just an amazing rival, she's someone I trust more than anything and someone who makes me stronger, makes me better! And she always keeps me on my toes and is always surprising me, no matter how much I get to know her! And she's someone who shares my burning passion, and she makes me laugh, and she makes my heart race, even when we're not battling! Heck, just being around her is exciting, it kind of reminds me of that one time I was exploring the Alfornada cave and I had a team of like level 20's but I accidentally ran into a level SIXTY Garchomp, and it terastallized and I was shaking and--"

At this point, quite a number of students where giggling and whispering, shooting you glances, and you were quietly trying to sink into the desk, face hot and cheeks red, but Nemona kind of had a hard time noticing social cues, so she remained blissfully ignorant of her classmates. Fortunately, Professor Jacq was more perceptive in that area and coughed, stepping in.

"R-right, well, we're running a bit short on time, but thank you, Nemona, for such a beautiful talk! Class, let's thank Nemona for her incredible effort and the perfect conclusion to our Treasure Hunt reports!"

You kept your head down as the class dissolved into applause; a few moments later, the school bell chimed. Shouting over the suddenly rowdy noise of the students eager to leave, Mr. Jacq called,

"All right, class, that'll be it for today, but don't forget Monday's reflection paper, due at the start of class! Check the website if you need a reminder of the guidelines. And have a great weekend!"

Nemona returned to her desk like a streak of light, grabbing up her backpack and then seizing your hand.

"You're coming with me, tesorita. I think if I gotta wait any longer to hug you I'm gonna actually die."

You grab your backpack as she pulls you along, your heart fluttering, and you answer,

"O-okay, haha, Nemona, I'm coming, I'm coming!" Your classmates kept shooting you both glances as Nemona hauled you quickly down the halls, and you knew they were gossiping, but you couldn't seem to bring yourself to really care.

The moment you step outside, she swings you into the promised hug with such force she actually lifts you into the air a bit, and you can't help but dissolve into laughter. She squeezes you tight, so tight it almost hurt, but it's lovely and it's fierce and you don't want it to stop, but eventually you have to beg her to let you breathe again.

She released her death-grip, but switched to kissing the top of your head, over and over, and you squirmed and laughed. She eventually paused to say,

"That's for using the most adorable nickname on me in the history of ever in the middle of class! You're terrible, you know that?"

You grin up at her, and it's like gazing into the sun, her energy always filling you entirely whenever she was around, almost too bright to handle. You answer,

"To be fair, I think you managed to get pretty decent revenge during your report."

Nemona laughed, shifting into a satisfied smirk.

"True! I think I did a pretty good job, considering how hard you were trying to distract me."

Your mind echoed back the tangent that Nemona had gone on at the end of her report, and you felt a blush threatening to return at the thought of it. Before you could think the better of it, you blurt,

"U-uh, about that . . . stuff you said at the end, about the Garchomp and everything . . ."

She lit up with a smile.

"Oh, you wanna hear more about it, yeah? Of course! So, it all started when I was visiting Alfornada, and I heard people talking about a nearby cave with really strong pokemon--"

"N-no, not that," you interrupt, feeling mildly exasperated, because of course that's the part she'd focus on.

"I meant, um, the part when you said that . . . uh . . . being around me felt like facing down the level 60 Garchomp?"

You felt embarrassed repeating it, because maybe you misunderstood, maybe you were just making a fool of yourself-- but her expression shifted, just a little bit, and she hesitated for a half-second.

"Y-yeah! Well, you know! It's always an adventure with you around. You and me, we can take anything on when we work together, and it makes me so jazzed. You know what I mean, right?"

And then she was back to normal. It had been so subtle, just the briefest of hesitations, the slightest waver in her voice, it was entirely possible you'd just imagined it.

You nodded,

"Yeah, of course."

You had a funny, prickly feeling, then, like someone was watching you, and you glanced around. Almost immediately, you spotted some of your classmates, who had probably exited the building around the same time as you. They were loitering suspiciously nearby and looking kinda entertained.

Oh, right. Forgot about them. It seemed Nemona's efforts to not make a scene may not have entirely worked out. To be fair, she did tackle you the second you left the building, pretty much right in the central path everyone took, so. Um.

You quickly suggest,

"Maybe we could continue this conversation somewhere else?"

Nemona was unconcerned with your classmates (or perhaps unaware), but still seemed to love the idea.

"Sure! Y'wanna grab some ice cream? We can go hang out on the rooftops!"

That sounded perfect, so you agreed.

She grabbed your hand and you were off, to enjoy the rest of your Friday afternoon, and to make some more treasured memories.

#pokemon #pokemon s/v #fanfic #nemona #nemona x juliana #juliana x nemona #pokemon scarlet/violet #rating: G #fluff #julinemo #julinemo fanfic #terajules #mystuff

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