Spoilers for Let's Go are ahead. My Spanish is definitely not perfecto, so if you see something wrong, please correct me!

And I know, realistically, that Kanto would probably speak Japanese if anything (and Alola would speak Hawaiian, Unova English, and Kalos French), but just - roll with it, because I don't know Japanese and would never play the game in Japanese. You'll get used to it. Also, I know I'm going to get yelled at for capitalizing the names of Pokémon species and certain other things, so just - don't waste your time telling me not to, because I'm doing it.

Get ready for a lot of Spanish.

Elaine blinked.

"Tu nombre es... Tres," she repeated. "Tres. Como el número. Tres." She held up tres fingers. "¿Verdad?"

The chico in front of her nodded, smiling gently. "¿Hay una problema?" he asked, as if genuinely curious. She decided not to push the issue further.

Already Elaine was feeling the pull of homesickness. It had taken a lot of convincing to get her to sign up for this program, and she was quite ready to get back home. It was true: she loved learning Kantonian - if she had not, she would not have taken it throughout her four years of high school - but learning a new language was hard. And she loved Alola. But her parents insisted, and here she was, holed up in Pueblo Paleta with a Kantonian teenager named Tres.

He seemed nice enough. Not that much younger than her either. He and his family had accepted her into their home with open brazos, their first time hosting a foreign exchange student. Which was fair, considering this was Elaine's first time being a foreign exchange student.

Elaine had no real desire to be an entrenadora, or else she would have taken the Island Challenge years ago, but as per the program, she was to start off with a Pokémon in the mañana and, with Tres's guidance, take on the Gyms of this region.

Which might not be so bad, Elaine guessed, staring at the ceiling the first night. Felícia, the Eevee she was allowed to take along, was curled up next to her, snoring quietly. Elaine had hardly known the creature for a week before the plane ride here, but she was the one living thing the girl had to remind herself of Alola and her familia. Before all this she had no interest in actually seeing Kanto, but maybe now at least her culture studies classes would be paying off. This experience would be interesante, at least.

"¡Elaina!"

It was hardly ocho in the mañana when Tres removed the pillow from over Elaine's face. "¡Voy a recibir un Pokémon hoy!" he exclaimed, clearly excited. He was already dressed and everything. If she had to get up, Elaine at least wanted desayuno before she left, though; and Tres's madre provided. They were not the round, fluffy panqueques that Alola had prided itself on, but they were her first taste of native Kantonian comida.

Elaine already had Felícia, so dropping by Profesor Oak's lab was really just for Tres's sake. The boy received his Pikachu, and they had their first battle.

Felícia the Eevee was a strong one, and knew how to respond to commands in Alolan. For that, Elaine was grateful. She only knew the names of some of the more common moves in Kantonian, and was not looking forward to learning more.

For that reason she refused to use any other Pokémon in battle than Felícia for the first few Gimnasios. Oh, she caught others. She caught every new Pokémon she could find. But Felícia was her Alolan treasure, and one day she would find a mossy rock and evolve her into Leafeon. Until then, she would remain an Eevee, even if it meant waiting for this six-week trip to be over.

Sure, it had been - somewhat - exciting so far, Elaine would admit. She witnessed evolution in person for the first time when the Weedle she caught became Kakuna in Bosque Verde (Green Forest, what a creative nombre). It was a surprisingly emotional experience, considering how little she cared about the little insecto. But that was not even the most exciting thing to happen before she cleared the bosque.

She squinted as something on the ground caught her ojo. She noticed the glimmer first, then the golden coloration.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Elaine specifically wanted to avoid finding any shiny Pokémon while on this trip, as she had previously sworn against taking any foreign Pokémon home once this was over. If she showed up at Hau'oli Airport with so much as one Poké Ball, other than Felícia's, she would nunca hear the end of it from her father.

That was what was going through Elaine's head as the Ball she threw rocked uno, dos, tres tiempos and clicked shut.

Well, she had a shiny Caterpie now. If she had to get one of the rare color variations while she was here, por qué could it not have been something stronger?

She left the forest with the thing following at a worm's pace behind her. Trainers she passed by would whisper to each other the word "Variocolor," when they saw the bug, so that was what Elaine named her.

Trainers needed a Pokémon de tipo Agua o Planta to get into Brock's Gym, and the Bellsprout Elaine caught on the way did just fine. She refused to use it in the battle though. Felícia, who had been soaking up all the Puntos de Experiencia from battles so far, was fuerte enough to Doble Patada her way through Brock's equipo.

Upon leaving the Gym the first thing that genuinely made Elaine feliz she came here happened. The legendary trainer Azul, former Kanto League Campeón, was waiting outside to meet Brock's latest challenger. And he actually talked to her. In Kantonian, sure, but he talked to her! She had read about this trainer in clase back in Alola, and now he was aquí in front of her.

And to be completely honesta with herself... in person, he was actually, just a little - atractivo.

And he gave her five Super Balls. Up until that point she forgot that that was what they were called in Kanto, and once the words left Azul's boca she burst out laughing. It was actually really embarrassing, making such a fool out of herself, but those words... in a Kantonian accent... from such a formidable trainer as Azul... she could not handle herself.

She accepted the Super Balls with vigor. She may not even use them to catch anything, keeping them as souvenirs instead. She would have to see.

Elaine caught a Clefairy in Monte Moon. She liked Pokémon de tipo Hada, so she kept her on the team. By the time she cleared the cave, she had had her first Double Battle against a couple trainers who called themselves el Equipo Cohete. For the first time, a Kantonian Pokémon - Variocolor the Caterpie - joined Felícia the Eevee in battle. And she never even fainted, despite Elaine only knowing how to tell her to use Placaje.

North of Ciudad Celeste, Elaine found Tres again. He was out of breath, looking like he had seen a fantasma. He was speaking too fast for Elaine to have understood even if he was speaking her language. To shut him up, she challenged him to another battle, and once Felícia defeated his team he calmed down a little.

He explained he had seen a Pokémon up norte that had spoken Kantonian words to him. Elaine did not believe it at all, so she battled her way north to see for herself. Sure enough, in one house she encountered a Nidorino who opened his mouth and started speaking.

Even the Pokémon of this region speak this darn language, she thought as she started up the machine to separate the poor Pokémon from the human who had apparently been combined with him.

But the nice hombre had given her two tickets to some fiesta on a boat harbored in Ciudad Carmín. So that was where she would go after clearing the next Gym.

In the Pokémon Center of Ciudad Celeste was a man who seemed to be an expert in training Eevee, and with a little coaxing Elaine allowed him to teach Felícia three more moves: Vapodrenaje, Joltioparalysis, y Flarembestida. Along with Golpe Cabeza (Head Hit), Felícia now had a rather fleshed-out moveset. The other trainer explained - slowly, so Elaine could understand him - that these would make Felícia one of the most powerful Pokémon available to her.

And he was right about that, apparently, Elaine realized as she received her second Medalla, solely the work of Felícia and her new Electric-Type move.

On Ruta Cinco Elaine saw a Fire-Type Vulpix. What a sight. Any true Vulpix was an Ice-Type, Elaine knew. Sure, she had learned about Kantonian variants in school, and knew she would probably encounter one on this trip, but actually seeing one in person for the first time just felt so... unnatural.

So she caught the Vulpix and added her to the team. She needed to be... studied.

Elaine battled her way along the routes surrounding Ciudad Carmín, and eventually found her way to the harbor and to the S.S. Anne, the boat for which she and Tres had tickets.

She met up with her host brother and went in. They were barely onto the boat before they both halted at the same sight.

"¡Mira, Elaine!" Tres exclaimed. "Ese es... ¡Es Azul!"

But Tres needed not to say it, for Elaine was already enraptured by the stronger trainer's presence. Soon enough he saw the two and even began charlando with them.

Tres had the advantage of speaking Azul's native language, and they talked so seamlessly that Elaine had trouble keeping up. Apparently Azul had been invited to a party for a bunch of top-notch trainers here, but decided after a bit that he was too cool for them and ditched (but welcomed Elaine and Tres to check it out if they so desired). Elaine mentally agreed that he definitely was too cool for them, claro. Unless Rojo was there, naturally.

Wait - is Rojo on this ship!?

She would have stood there pondering that for the rest of the conversation if not for Azul turning his attention to her. "¿Y tú?" he was asking, "¿Cuál Pokémon usas?"

"Ah... Solamente Eevee para ahora," she admitted slowly. It was certainly hard talking straight in another language around such a legend.

He smirked. Oh, dang, he smirked. "Debes pensar sobre usando otras Pokémon," he advised. "Hacer un equipo real. Ese es como ganas, tú sabes."

Elaine's cabeza was spinning. Azul was giving her advice. She had to remember to use it.

This time, Azul gave them each a Galleta Yantra to remember him by, which he said he picked up in Kalos. So Azul was a world traveller, too.

Just like me... Elaine giggled inwardly at the thought.

And just like that, he was gone again. Then Tres turned to her. And accused her of not knowing who that was.

"¿¡Perdón!?" Elaine almost shouted. "¿Piensas que soy estúpida? ¿Piensas que no sé quién eso fue? ¡Yo aprendía sobre Azul en la escuela! Ese hombre es una leyenda. Un Campeón. Debes mostrarle un poco respeto."

To say Tres was taken aback by this was an understatement. "Guau..." he said softly. "Lo siento. Yo-"

She met his eyes. "No, no. Yo lo siento. Yo sólo... pienso que él es muy interesante. Perdóname. Vamos dentro de este barco."

Elaine was sure her Kantonian was not perfect. She hesitated with every word she said. But somehow she thought Tres had got the point.

So they explored the boat, battling trainers in their cabins. The whole time Elaine kept an ojo out for Rojo or any other famous trainers that might have been at the party - unfortunately, she found no one. She looked over her team. Felícia the Eevee. Variocolor the Butterfree. A Clefairy and a Fire-Type Vulpix.

She guessed it was about time she got to using more of them.

And she was pleasantly surprised when she did. She guessed correctly the pronunciation of the move Metrónomo, so that was Clefairy's main attack - and Elaine may have been a rookie trainer, but she knew the gist of the movimiento. It seemed this particular Pokémon was adept at choosing an appropriate move from the available movepool, and almost always picked something supereficaz.

Vulpix, however, was kind of a letdown. As Elaine kind of expected. The real reason was because her level was too low, but Elaine was content just thinking it was the result of her being an inferior Vulpix. She rarely survived more than one hit from anything without fainting. How Elaine missed the adorable white Vulpix they had at home.

Before making it to the captain's room, Elaine met up with Tres again. They battled, and the girl could tell that if there had been any hard feelings about earlier, they were gone now. Now, they were battling as amigos.

The captain was already seasick by the time Elaine made it into his room. One backrub later and she was ready to be taught the Técnica Secreta Tala, which let Felícia chop down small trees.

Stepping off the boat, Elaine walked past a young lady grumbling to herself. "Ah... Missed my boat," she was saying, "What a shame."

This caught Elaine's attention for sure. It was the first time she had heard Alolan in the past week. "E-Excuse me?" she asked softly. "Do you need help?"

The young lady perked up, and Elaine almost recognized her face. Definitely an Alolan.

"Oh, goodness, you speak Alolan," the lady realized. "Well, I think I'm stuck here in Kanto for now, but I think I'm fine with that, actually. It isn't a bad place to be at all. Say, do you like Fairy-Types? I've been itching for a good battle."

Elaine did like Fairy-Types. She had fun battling her Cutiefly and Morelull. She missed Alola.

"Hey, wait a minute - I know who you are. Rika, right? The Trial Captain? Are you sure you don't need help getting back home?"

Rika shook her head. "I'm fine here for now. Thanks for offering, and for the battle. I had fun."

So Elaine left the one person in this country that spoke the language she loved most.

Onto the next Gym!

Teniente Surge's Gym was actually rather fácil, as anyone with a Magnemite could be easily taken down by Felícia's Flarembestida. The Líder himself had only one of the uncommon Steel-types on his team, and after fighting both his Voltorb and that the Eevee needed some medicinal help for the first time. So far all healing Elaine had given her team were from Pokémon Center nurses and that nice lady on the S.S. Anne, but now the situation called for a Superpoción, or else Felícia would faint - and Elaine was unprepared to use a Kantonian Pokémon in a Gym fight yet. Besides, none of them were really high leveled enough to win, she was sure.

Elaine sighed as one of her few Superpociónes disappeared. So far she had not had the courage to actually make an interaction with any of the Poké Mart folks, and she knew not when she would. For this trip she would only be using items she found on the ground.

It took three golpes to knock out his Kantonian Raichu (so small and jagged, not at all fluffy), and it would have only taken two to knock out Felícia - but the little Eevee must have known how much Elaine was counting on her, and hung on for just long enough to get off the finishing hit.

Elaine got the Medalla (and Tte. Surge's autógrafo, and the MT for the move Rayo, which she taught to Clefairy), but felt so moved by Felícia's determination. She would be sure never to let such a thing happen again.

Next stop was Pueblo Lavanda just through Túnel Roca. Elaine and her team got through the tunnel just fine, but in her time researching Kanto before coming Elaine learned that the rare species Charmander could be found here. And she wanted one.

She cleared the cave before even seeing one, which made her slightly annoyed - but not surprised. She would have to get creativa.

In Alola one would commonly defeat Pokémon after Pokémon in what was called an S.O.S. battle to find a rare spawn, but in Kanto one would capture them one after another. So she decided to go after those boring-looking Ground-Type Geodude until she found a Charmander.

And she did find a Charmander! It was exciting! She threw a Poké Ball at her, and she popped out. And then she sprinted away.

Elaine was furious - she caught so many Geodude for this! So she gave chase - throwing a Baya Frambu towards her, which occupied her long enough to chuck an Ultra Ball her way.

Which she popped out of too, and continued running away. Soon the trainer lost her behind a corner, cursing her luck. Now Elaine was still in this cave, with no Charmander to show for it.

So what would she do? Find her again, of course!

As she was catching Geodude earlier, she noticed that Zubat seemed to be a little more common. So she started a chain of those. It ended up taking her much longer this time, as it had turned out that Zubat here, like those in Alola, were crafty buggers and did not like to stay inside Poké Balls. But eventually it all paid off, and she found the Fire-Type lizard again.

And Elaine caught her this time. All in all, she had used up about cien Poké Balls to do it, between the Geodude, the Zubat, the Kangaskhan she found while searching, and Charmander herself. She was a stubborn lizard, but it seemed like she was happy to be on the team - she just wanted Elaine to earn the capture.

Then the trainer noticed, incredulously, that the Charmander was a female - despite the odds. Actually, every Pokémon on her party was female - even her Eevee and Charmander, whose gender ratios both strongly preferred males, and the shiny she caught early on, who had a coin flip of a chance to have been male. She just found it interesting. If it was to be that her entire team would be female, she was fine with that.

She got to Pueblo Lavanda and battled Tres in the Torre Pokémon. Actual ghosts seemed to be residing in the tower, so she stayed only long enough to train her team against the resident Exorcistas and their Ghost-Types. She decided to try to make Vulpix a bit more useful by teaching her the Máquina Técnica for Excavar, which was supereffective on the Gastly and Haunter the trainers here used.

Vulpix and Charmander, both being Fire-Type, did not get along. They seemed to be competing for who Elaine liked and used more, as they both rendered the other somewhat redundant. Elaine flushed with the attention both of them gave her, but it was no secret between the three of them that Charmander was preferred.

Toward the top of the torre a larger-than-average ghost stopped the girls in their tracks. So they turned around and took the Vía Subterránea to Ciudad Azulona.

They even named a city after him... Elaine thought, incorrectly.

There, a man in the Pokémon Center taught Felícia the move Espeaura, and a little boy spotted the Vulpix following Elaine and asked in Alolan if he could get a closer look.

Elaine said sure - in fact, keep her, if he wanted her that bad.

"Really?" the boy asked, eyes wide. Elaine nodded. "Thank you! Thank you so much! I've always wanted to see a Fire-Type Vulpix. Uh, how can I pay you back?"

"You really don't have to-"

"I know!" The boy withdrew his own Poké Ball. "I'll trade you my Alolan Vulpix for her!"

Elaine actually could not say no to that. Alolan Vulpix was one of her favorite Pokémon of all time, and she was starting to miss the little zorros. So she replaced the Tipo Fuego with the correct Tipo Hielo Vulpix on the team.

"Thank you, kid," was the last Alolan thing Elaine said that day.

In the Centro Comercial de Ciudad Azulona, Elaine bought the MT for Bola Sombra and taught it to Clefairy. She also, with a little trouble, bought a flor blanca for Felícia to wear. The little Eevee was so bonita now, with her spiky little hairstyle and flower just below her ear! It was worth the awkward interaction that any purchase made in this country would bring. She still did not consider restores or Balls that she could find on the ground to be worth that trouble, though.

In the Sala de Juegos Cohete Elaine encountered more members of that Equipo Cohete and, after battling one, pushed a button under a poster that opened a puerta secreta on the other side of the room. She decided to investigate.

Inside there were plenty more members of this supposed gang, and she fought as many as she could. She even got a cute little shirt for Felícia to wear! As she only had limited restores, Elaine made trips back to the Pokémon Center often, but she made it through and eventually found the office of the jefe that the grunts kept talking about.

There, she battled his assistant Atlas with her Butterfree and Vulpix and then the boss himself, Giovanni, using only Eevee. It was embarrassingly easy.

Givanni, astounded, gave her the Visor Silph that would apparently let her see the true identities of the fantasmas in Torre Pokémon. She took it with confusion and gratitude.

Outside was a man with what seemed to be a lawn chair with globos attached to it. He said this machine could take you anywhere in the region aerially, and taught Felícia how to use it. He called it a Técnica Secreta, que se llama Surcacielos.

While she was in Azulona Elaine decided to stop by the Gym - Grass-Type this time. On her team she had an Ice-Type, a Fire-Type, and a Bug- and Flying-Type, all of which she was quite getting the hang of training, so she felt she had no choice but to let Eevee hang back just this once. She needed a cute Pokémon to get in, but that was an easy problem to solve - she had an Ice-Type Vulpix, the cutest Pokémon in the world. That was only the second easiest thing about clearing this Gym, behind actually beating the Líder, Erika.

So Elaine travelled back to Torre Pokémon, numerically halfway done with her Pokémon journey. There, she saw the ghost of a Marowak that apparently - was not a ghost already? Tres had to remind her that Kantonian Marowak were Ground-Type, like their pre-evolution Cubone. She rolled her eyes. Clearly not this one, she thought.

At the top of the tower she met a couple more Equipo Cohete grunts and met Señor Fuji, who thanked her for calming down Marowak's spirit and gave her a Poké Flauta. She took a music class in middle school wherein she learned how to play a flute, but this one looked - different. For one, it was vertical, more like a Poké Clarinete or Poké Oboe. At least the fingerings seemed to be the same, of the ones she remembered from those years ago.

Tres let her know on the way down that he had finally been allowed into Ciudad Azafrán, and invited her to come with him there. Since she had no other plans, and needed the Gym Badge from there anyway, she humored the boy.

They took on the Dojo Karate and attempted to get into the Gym next door, but an Equipo Cohete grunt was guarding it. They visited the homes of the Copiona girl (who gave Elaine the MT for Sustituto when she saw her Clefairy) and Sr. Psíquico (who gave them each the MT for Psíquico, which Elaine taught to Variocolor). They entered the Silph S. A. building and were immediately stopped by the receptionist.

"Ustedes niños no deben venir dentro aquí," she warned. "¡Estamos bajo ataque ahora!"

Tres's eyes widened. "No te preocupes," he said. "Somos entrenadores. ¿Quién están se atacando?"

"Es el Equipo Cohete," a voice that was not the receptionist's said from behind them. It was Azul again, here to save the día!

"¡Azul!" Tres confirmed. "¡Eres tú! Necesitamos tu ayuda si puedes ayudar. ¿Qué piensas?"

Azul chuckled. "No, no; yo necesito su ayuda. Si vosotros podéis, debéis despejar este torre de los intrusos. Voy a volar a través de Kanto y buscar su jefe. Voy a informar el Alto Mando de la situación, también. Pero... Tengo que juzgar si sois fuerte suficiente para hacer este. A Elaina... ¿quieres ir primero?"

The urgency in Azul's voice and the resulting speed at which he said everything made it hard for Elaine to quite hear it correctly. Plus, he was using vosotros. They hardly used vosotros in regions outside of Kanto, so they did not teach it very in-depth in school. Tres brought her attention back. "Elaina, ¿tú primera? ¡Tienes suerte! ¡Yo quiero combatir Azul!"

¿Combatir Azul? ¿¡Combatir Azul!? Who said anything about combatiendo Azul? In the legend's hand was a Poké Ball, ready to go. "¿Estás preparada?" he asked her.

Oh, man, this was happening. She was about to battle the Azul.

"S-Sí," she stammered.

His Exeggutor was remarkably, hilariously short, which distracted Elaine enough that her Charmander and Vulpix were knocked out quickly - despite having the type advantage. Yeesh. She had to make a better impression than this.

She sent out Butterfree, which used the cuatro tiempo supereficaz move Zumbido which handily took out Exeggutor. For Charizard, a few Vapodrenajes from Felícia ended the battle.

Elaine would be lying if she said she expected to win. His Charizard was higher in level than even Felícia, who had taken all of the good experience from their adventure up until their encounter with Azul on the S.S. Anne. But still she won, somehow. And about that, she was ecstatic.

"¡Yo-Yo gané!" she realized as Azul handed her the appropriate dinero. "Azul... verdad, es un honor."

"Es nada," Azul said with a smirk. "Te lo mereces." He turned to Tres. "Tres, es tu turno."

Elaine got out of his way and watched as they started their combate. I won against Azul, she could not help but remind herself. And - and he used tú to refer to me! He - considers me a friend?

Okay, Elaine would admit, she may have been getting a little excited there. But who could blame her?

They finished battling. Azul said he was proud of both of them, as he should expect from any trainer that grew up in Pueblo Paleta like him.

That's right - I'm living in Azul's hometown! Elaine reminded herself. Of course that was why she chose to start off there: Rojo and Azul were the greatest trainers in Kanto, and she wanted to be close to their starting point when she began her journey.

"¡Actualmente, a Elaina no es de Kanto en absoluto!"

What?

Darnit, Tres! Why could she not have that in common with Azul, but he could? Azul would care nothing for her now.

"¿Verdad? ¿De dónde eres, Elaina?"

"Ah, Ciudad Hau'oli en Alola. Soy estudiante extranjera de intercambio," she admitted defeatedly. To her surprise, Azul's eyes lit up.

"Guau. Tu kantonial es genial - ¡yo pensaba que vivías aquí todo tu vida! Sabes, yo siempre quería ir a Alola. Hace caliente allí, ¿no?"

"¡Sí, sí, muy!" She laughed. Suddenly Tres's attempt to embarrass her had the opposite effect, and a glance at his face showed it. She gave another hearty risa.

She felt like she could do anything. She was ready - she could take on this whole tower by herself now.

And so she did. Halfway up she encountered Atlas again, and she and Tres teamed up to take him down. Soon after, she stumbled into the office of Silph's boss - and who but Giovanni was there to greet her.

The battle was quick. A few of Elaine's Pokémon fainted along the way, but she came out victorious, and Silph S. A. was saved. Even more exciting, she decided to let her Charmander evolve!

After going to heal up her team, she headed back to the Gimnasio - it was open now! But there was a requirement to get in that trainers had to have a Pokémon de nivel cuarenta y cinco, and Elaine's highest was cuarenta y uno.

So she left and made her way back to Ciudad Azulona, to teach Felícia the move Umbreozona, before volando back to Pueblo Lavanda and heading sur.

There, she found a sleeping Snorlax blocking her path. As Sr. Fuji instructed, she played the Poké Flauta (and remembered the fingerings better than she thought she would) to wake him up. To her sorpresa, instead of fleeing immediately, he attacked! In fact, he was so relentless that she had to defend herself with her Pokémon in a battle, unlike with every other wild monster she encountered in this region.

She fought him like any trainer's Pokémon. Maybe, if she knocked him out, she could catch him and add Snorlax to her Pokédex - ¡que raro! After getting his health down about halfway, annoyingly, he went back to sleep and recovered all his Puntos de Salud. And every time she got his health back down he would simply wake up and go back to sleep again. By the time the battle was about five minutes old, this behavior seemed to stop, and she was close to knocking him out, when... él huyó.

Disappointed, Elaine walked back to Pueblo Lavanda to heal her team, and continued south, not knowing when she would have another chance like that.

The next routes were painstaking to battle through. Trainers appeared izquierda y derecho and her team of mostly unevolved Pokémon was unequipped to handle all of them. Elaine herself was growing exhausted from all the running back and forth to Pokémon Centers, wanting to conserve her restores. She discovered that Clefairy and Vulpix, as much as she loved them, were growing weaker and weaker in comparison to everyone else's teams. The latter was knocked out in one hit by most moves she did not resist; Elaine considered that a result of her level being too low.

One good thing resulted from all the training: Charmeleon evolved again, this time into Charizard. Elaine's team looked very unbalanced now, but she did not care. She had a Charizard!

Just like Azul, she thought with a giggle.

At long last, and tired legs, the team made it to... Elaine did a double take. This city was called what? She blushed. There was no way she was calling it that. She would call it - Fuchsia City, in good old Alolan. Yeah.

There, Felícia played with some of the native Pokémon and learned the TS Surcaaguas, and the team took a rest in the Pokémon Center. They would need it, for there were more battles to come tomorrow.

The next day consisted of clearing the Camino de Pokémon of all its trainers, then heading to Fuchsia City Gym.

The requisite to enter this one was to have caught at least cincuenta species of Pokémon, and Elaine had caught cincuenta y uno. After all that training, the team was ready to face Koga.

Variocolor, who Elaine honestly expected to have exceeded her usefulness as a battler by this point, did not. She knocked out Koga's Weezing in two Psíquicos, and after a few successful predictions of the move Protección - which let her set up with Danza Aleteo - she knocked out the rest of Koga's party with one hit each. "This butterfly is a beast," Elaine admitted under her breath, calling her back and accepting the Medalla with gusto.

The day was still joven, so Elaine decided she could try to fit in another Gym fight before tonight - it was the next thing to do, after all. She flew back to Ciudad Azafrán and was about to enter the Gym when she realized... there was something she had to do.

Sabrina was one of the strongest Líderes in Kanto, one she learned about alongside Azul and Rojo. Elaine could not face her with the puny team she had now. But where to do the deed...

Got it. She took Clefairy out of her Ball and headed back to the casa de la Copiona.

The girl was ecstatic to see the pink Pokémon again. Felícia spotted something by her bed, so she picked it up - a Piedra Lunar! Perfecto.

"¡Oye, Copiona!" Elaine started. "Te gusta Clefairy, ¿verdad?"

Her own voice answered. "¡Sí! ¡Es mi Pokémon favorito!"

She snickered, and shoved the evolutionary stone in the Fairy-Type's face.

Next stop, Ciudad Azulona, where she met up with the boy who had traded her her Vulpix.

"Oh, it's you again," the boy said with a smile. On his lap he stroked the Fire-Type Vulpix she gave him last week. "How's Vulpix?"

The Ice-Type was out of her Ball. "See for yourself," Elaine said, gesturing toward the fox.

Vulpix and her former trainer locked eyes, while Elaine avoided eye contact with the one she had given away. "I was actually wondering if you wanted to get one last look at her before I... evolved her?"

The boy's eyes widened. "Oh! Yeah, thanks for thinking of me. I can tell she's grown a lot with you."

Elaine took that as a compliment. Vulpix was chipper, even doing a little dance for the two trainers. They both cooed at her adorableness, and the Fire-Type Vulpix in the boy's lap sneezed.

The girl withdrew a Piedra Hielo. "Well, here goes nothing, huh?"

They looked on as Vulpix took on a bright white sheen.

Her team now as evolved as it was going to get, Elaine headed back to Ciudad Azafrán and entered the Gym. The battles there were the easiest part of the experience. Actually navigating the Gym itself was a whole other problemo.

Elaine first experienced teleportation in the Silph building, but never in this capacity before. Every few seconds she stepped into another teleporter, just hoping it would be the one that led to Sabrina.

This lasted a whole hour. By the time she made it to the Leader, tears were rolling down her cheeks and the resident trainers were whispering among themselves - as if considering whether they really were not allowed to just tell her where to go.

Elaine was lost in a country where she only kind of spoke the language, training a team of Pokémon at her parents' insistence, her molecules being scrambled and thrown across the room treinta times a minute. By now it was becoming physically painful.

She looked up when she realized this platform looked different from the rest, and rubbed away her tears. She had made it. Suddenly she realized the theme of this Psychic-Type Gym was specifically to play games with your mind before you even started your battle.

Sabrina did not seem to care that Elaine was crying, and trying unsuccessfully not to show it. The challenger took a deep breath and walked up to face the Líder.

Felícia was excited to take part in the battle, but it never came to that. Variocolor with Zumbido, Clefable with Bola Sombra, Ninetales with Pulso Umbrío, and Charizard with Lanzallamas (for Jynx) carried the battle.

Two more Badges to go.

Ruta 20 was fácil to navigate. The trainers were fácil to beat, mainly using Water-Types that fell to Clefable's souped-up Rayo move. She caught a few more Pokémon and life was bueno.

Then she entered the Islas Espuma.

A shiver ran down her spine. As was stereotypical for Alolans, she was not used to temperatures this frío. She found some trainers and was eager to fight them when something in the air caught her ojo. She noticed the pink coloration first, then the glimmer.

"Clefable! I found a shiny!"

She thought she was imagining it at first. How common were Pokémon Variocolores in this region? She thought she would not make it to the Golbat before it fled, but she got to start the encounter.

Looking in her bag she found just one Baya Frambu Dorada in her bolsa. She used it and chucked an Ultra Ball.

The Golbat popped out.

Elaine threw another.

She popped out again.

Elaine eyed the Master Ball she was given by the president of Silph. No, it probably would not come to that. She would need to think about it.

She threw another. She thought back to the time in Alola as a young girl hiking with her family, no more than ten or eleven, where she thought she saw a Golbat verde. And, knowing not what nor how valuable it was, she fled the scene and decided to tell nadie. Years later she discovered that was a shiny, and she had failed it.

She was determined not to let it happen again.

Besides... she still needed a sixth party member, and this was a girl bat!

The Ball rocked a third time. She could almost hear the click.

Golbat popped out. Golbat here, like those in Alola, were crafty buggers and did not like to stay inside Poké Balls.

Elaine used another Berry and threw another Ball.

Uno... Dos... Tres...

Golbat popped out.

Master Ball? Nah...

Uno... Dos... Tres...

Golbat popped out, and gave a cry of annoyance with a few rapid beats of her wings - her shiny alas rosadas.

She was about to flee. Elaine recognized that.

"No..." She did not even have time to look in her bag for the Master Ball. The Ultra Ball in her hand would have to do.

Uno...

"Come on..."

Dos...

"Just... come on, please..."

Tres...

Golbat popped out.

"Nooo-"

She clutched another Ultra Ball and thought about throwing it. But then the círculo gauging her chances of catching the thing disappeared.

"No no no-"

¡Golbat ha huido!

"¡Nooooo!"

Her cries echoed throughout the cave. Nearby trainers perked their heads up in confusion.

There were tears. Of course there were. Behind her, Clefable placed a knowing mano on her shoulder.

It was the second time in her life she had failed a shiny Golbat.

Defeated, Elaine left the cave. This is what she got for specifically not wanting to find any shinies on this trip.

Eventually she went back in, embarrassed to show her face. She traversed the cave with extra caution so as to not miss any more, if they had the nerve to show up.

The loss fresh on her mind, Elaine was not thinking straight. She attempted the puzzles the cave provided, but it took a few freezing hours to actually make it through. And she was not happy when she did.

She made it to Isla Canela and battled through the Mansión Pokémon. There, she found and caught a Ditto, which she felt compelled to let out of its Poké Ball for a while. It was so cute, hopping along behind her like that. She considered adding it to the team for funsies, but it was not a female and she did not feel like breaking the pattern now. So into the box it went.

She needed a sixth team member. Well, she wanted one. If she did not find something before her eighth Gym Badge, she would ask around where one could find an Exeggcute. To use a Kantonian Exeggutor would be hilarious.

She took on the Gym there, belonging to Blaine, a Fire-Type user. It took the form of a quiz show where she had to answer questions - in Kantonian, of course. All things considered, she thought she did pretty well. For the Gym battle, she used Charizard's move Avalancha (an MT she found in the mansion) and good old Felícia's Vapodrenaje. The battle was over before she knew it.

When she was handed the Medalla, the only thing going through Elaine's mind was, I could have used the Master Ball.

Tres appeared outside the Gym as Elaine left it. He was excited, as both of them now had siete Badges and were ready to take on the final Gym - that of Ciudad Verde (Green City, as Elaine called it). He left, Elaine healed, and she surfed her way norte to Pueblo Paleta.

There, she and Tres spent the night at his home and the two caught up on their journeys. They related stories about their teams, taking down Gym Leaders, and escaping Equipo Cohete. They munched on chips and showed each other their favorite Pokédex entries. Elaine even taught Tres a few Alolan words; he was a quick learner. She told him in Alolan people had a word for toes, rather than just calling them "foot fingers" as in Kantonian. It was a good respite from the adventure, one Elaine needed after a stressful day. She did not tell him about the Golbat - she did not know the words in Kantonian to express her feelings about what happened. He probably would not believe her, either.

Elaine dreamed that night of finding tens of shinies - and failing all of them due to making stupid mistakes. To be fair, a dreaming mind is hardly able to control what it does, and thus is prone to making mistakes.

The next morning after another panqueque desayuno Tres took Elaine to Oak's lab. The two went in to find who but Azul next to the Profesor. The legend himself thanked the two for their help clearing out Equipo Cohete, and Elaine made sure he knew she was the one who single-handedly took out Giovanni. Azul continued.

He gave them each a Piedra Activadora and four Megapiedras, which were to enable them to use Megaevolución. Now she could evolve her Charizard further - into two different forms! She thanked Azul graciously, and Tres did the same.

Then Azul told them he caught wind that the Gym Leader of Ciudad Verde had returned, and advised that they go attempt it while they could.

She and Tres turned to leave when Elaine remembered something. "Espera, Azul," she started, "Estoy curiosa. ¿Dónde encuentres un Exeggcute en Kanto?"

Azul smirked. "Ruta Veintitres. Tienes que ganar contra todo ocho Líderes de Gimnasio para ir allí. Buena suerte."

Elaine blushed. "Muchas gracias." And she went to leave.

"Y, ¿Elaina?"

"¿Sí?"

"Buena elección."

She looked down and smiled shyly. Of course he thought it was a good choice.

Elaine rode Charizard back to Green City, humming to herself: "¡Estoy en camino de Ciudad Verde!" Just one more Medalla, and she would be free to leave this region, free to go home and see her family again. Oh, the stories she would tell them! Would they be proud of her? She hoped so.

She made it to the Gym before Tres, so she wasted no more time and entered it. It was a Ground-Type Gym, apparently; this would be Ninetales's show.

She battled her way through the trainers easily. The Gym Leader gave her a bit of surprise - she could see why Giovanni would want to keep his identity a secret.

This would be an easy battle.

And it was - Ninetales, Butterfree, and Eevee did all the work, and the Medalla Tierra was in Elaine's hands in no time.

Oh, Kanto. You employ evil team leaders as Gym Leaders, and they aren't even that strong.

The jefe even decided to disband Equipo Cohete on his way out. That loss was too much for him, Elaine guessed.

Now she could go home.

Who but Azul met Elaine on her way out of the Gym. He congratulated her for winning against all eight Líderes and decided, right there and then, that he was ready to take Giovanni's place and lead the Ciudad Verde Gimnasio.

Elaine told him she was proud of him. And excitedly offered to battle. Actually, she was relieved she was getting to see him once more before she left Kanto, but truly saddened that this time was the last. So she wanted a battle to remember him by - that was reasonable, right? A chance to go all-out against him, and him against her, unlike the battle in Azafrán. But Azul shook his head.

He said she had more important things to do. She was going to battle the Alto Mando.

She told him wait, no, that was not true: she only came here to beat the eight Gyms and leave. She had no reason to challenge the Liga Pokémon.

"¿Por qué no? Ganarías."

She would win, yeah right. That was what she believed, but hearing it from Azul made it seem almost possible that she could.

"Pen... Pensaré sobre hacerlo."

That was all she could say. She did not want to let him down by telling him outright there was no chance she would try it.

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Prométeme."

Elaine gulped and looked up to meet his eyes.

"Ah... sí. Yo prometo."

Was it lying? She certainly had no plans to do any more battling, but... if Azul wanted her to...

Quizás.

Now, go heal, he told her. She had some big battles coming up.

He held an arm out and stepped aside so she could leave. She started to, but she had to say something else.

"Azul... si yo combato la Liga... ¿entonces podemos combatir?"

He smiled. "Si derrotas la Liga, podemos combatir cada día."

This made Elaine genuinely happy.

Quizás.

Well, regardless of whether she had plans to take on the League, she was still in the market for an Exeggcute and Ruta Veintitres was just oeste of here. After healing her team at the Center she made her way allí.

Tres was waiting for her on Ruta Veintidos with a flat look and crossed arms. "Tú no le gustas como piensas que haces," he dared to start, "Necesitas detener pensando de esa manera. Yo te lo digo... como amigo."

Elaine narrowed her eyes. She did not know where this suddenly came from, but she saw what he was doing. She scoffed.

"No... No, estás equivocado. Azul piensa que soy impresionante para sabiendo esta idioma tan bien. Estás diciendo eso porque... ¡a ti te gusta él!"

It was something they both knew, but no one had said it until now. The duo's constant bickering and trying to show off to impress Azul whenever he was around... they both knew what it was all for.

Tres's eyes narrowed.

"Eso es que tú piensas. Además, aunque eso fue verdad, ¡tendría una mejor oportunidad que tienes!"

Elaine gasped. Oh, ¿realmente? Was that what Tres really thought - that Azul liked him more than Elaina, the exotic foreign exchange student that also had a Charizard? ¡Ja! ¡En sus sueños!

"Oh, yeah?" Elaine taunted, not even caring to do it in Tres's language. "Fight me!"

Tres looked at her in confusion. "Qué?"

"Yo dije, ¡pelea conmigo!"

Tres pulled out a Poké Ball. "Muy bien."

Elaine led with Ninetales and used Ventisca. It landed this time, knocking out his Pidgeot in one hit. Elaine felt good.

The battle was not one of her proudest, but it was her first time using Mega Evolution. In the end, she came out victorious, but in her emotional state she made a few mistakes along the way. Nothing a quick run to the Center could not fix; but nothing could fix Tres's pride after losing again.

"Muy bien," Tres repeated. "Pero yo todavía derrotaré la Liga Pokémon antes de tú haces. Y entonces le gustaré - mejor que tú."

"¡No-!" Elaine said desperately, sin pensando. "Azul me dijo que yo derrotaré la Liga, y que cuando lo hago, va a combatirme cada día. Sin tú."

Tres rolled his eyes. She knew her grammar was terrible; she was not thinking straight.

"No me importa. Voy a hacerme Campeón, y entonces Azul y yo seremos leyendas." He ran ahead of her. "¡Y voy a empezar ahora!"

Doesn't he have to..?

"Justo después de le descanso mi equipo," he added, running the other way back to Ciudad Verde.

Eso es que yo pensé.

And she continued onto Ruta Veintitres.

Where she came to catch an Exeggcute but immediately found an Exeggutor (which looked hilarious in real life, as she expected) that ran away. Only then did she find her Exeggcute (female) and add her to the team. Then, she found two Nidoqueen and another Exeggutor, which she thought was impressive considering they were fully-evolved Pokémon and most likely uncommon in the wild. All her rare findings made her extremely anxious that another high-level Pokémon would shine and that she would miss it.

But as far as she was aware, that did not happen. So she continued onto Calle Victoria.

The trek throughout was - uneventful. There were trainers, and she defeated them, and her Pokémon leveled up. The only notable things about the experience were that Elaine's newfound paranoia about failing a shiny was at an extreme high throughout, and that she was terrible at navigating rock puzzles.

When she emerged on the other side of the cave, Elaine realized just how impressive the Meseta Añil was in real life.

She had seen pictures before, but actually being here created a stark sense that Elaine was up against something the power of which she did not understand.

Felícia leapt off her head and gazed at the sight alongside her trainer. A few silent seconds passed.

"Adelante, Felícia."

Felícia the Eevee was an Alolan Pokémon and understood commands in Alolan. Elaine must have been speaking more to herself in that moment.

The adorable Normal-Type climbed back up her trainer's body and took her normal spot on her head. Elaine steeled herself. "Para Azul," she reminded herself, and walked up the grand steps.

The building was smaller than it looked on the inside. There was a Poké Mart, and a nurse's station, and people scattered about talking quietly amongst themselves. Elaine reviewed her MTs. A few moveset changes and a Piedra Hoja later, Elaine considered that she might be ready.

Which, driven by blind amor, was enough for her.

Elaine would have only the potions she picked up along her journey. Surprisingly, it was not that many. She had less than ten of each category; she only had two Restaurar Todos to work with for the four battles that lie ahead of her.

Lorelei's battle was noticeably harder than the Gym battles Elaine endured so far. It had an amusing start when Elaine sent in Charizard against her Jynx, who put the Fire-Type to sleep with a Beso Amoroso. Then, for kicks, Elaine decided to Mega-Evolve the dragon.

In her sleep.

Yes, it was possible. And yes, Charizard was visibly surprised when she woke up.

The team was bruised after the battle, and with some crafty distribution of medicines, everyone was generally ready to face Bruno.

Exeggutor's only sizable contribution against the Alto Mando was her taking down his Onix in one hit thanks to Megaagotar. Clefairy helped with Fuerza Lunar against some of the Fighting-Types, and Mega Charizard picked off the last few members with Enfado.

Elaine's plan for Agatha included Butterfree putting in a lot of work with Danza Aleteo-boosted Psíquicos, but due to her fainting pretty early on the trainer switched gears and went with the strategy she seemed to be using more and more: "¡Enfado hasta nosotras ganamos!"

En verdad, it was not that simple. Mega Charizard was not high-level enough to knock out everything in one hit, and eventually had to let other Pokémon join the fray.

But the team made it out in one piece. Onto the fourth and final member, Lance the Domadragones. It was all down to this.

Luckily, Elaine had fairies, and a dragon of her own. This should not be - impossible.

And it was not. The aforementioned team members made it actually rather easy to win - although the only real Dragon-Type Lance used was a solitary Dragonite. Eliane imagined him with a jutting, majestic Exeggutor, towering over even his Gyarados, Dragon Hammering all in his way. She could see it.

Elaine had a single drop of sudor running down her forehead by the end of the battle. Mega Charizard finished off Dragonite, going first even though her level was lower, and Elaine the new Campeona withdrew her last Pokémon, victorious.

Lance applauded and congratulated her. She took in the moment in all its glory, choosing not to speak nor listen too hard to his words. She was done. Now Azul would see what a great trainer she was! He would be so orgulloso of her.

"¿Elaina? ¿Estás escuchando?"

This got her attention.

"Necesitas combatir el Campeón ahora."

Wait, ¿qué? She was the Champion - right? That was what he had said before she zoned out. Unless she made a silly mistake in translation... No, that could not be right. She never learned about having to battle a Champion in order to gain the title for yourself; just the Alto Mando - the High Command. That was how they did it in Kanto, anyway. She was actually relieved going into this that she would only have to win four battles, rather than the five that Alolan League challengers have to face.

"Él está en la sala detrás de esta puerta. Está esperando para ti."

Elaine took a moment to breathe this in. Another battle?

Muy bien...

"Quién... ¿Quién es?" she prodded, hopeful for at least a hint of what Type he used by his name.

"Tres, ¡claro!" Lance said, to Elaine's horror. "Lo conoces. Ha derrotado el Alto Mando antes de ti."

"Why, that little-!"

Elaine collected herself.

"Lo siento. ¡Eso pequeño-!"

On top of her head, Felícia gave a little cry. Ugh - she was right. Tres was not worth getting worked up about. Azul would see in the end that she was the stronger trainer when she defeated her rival here and now, once and for all.

Elaine walked into the Champion's room, team healed up as much as was appropriate. Because it was Tres, she was on a mission to get this over with as soon as possible - she had beat him so far in every match they fought to date, so it should be easy.

She led with Charizard, who promptly Mega-Evolved. And, to Elaine's surprise, so did the Pidgeot with which Tres led! The large bird was faster than her dragon, and between her flinching by Tajo Aéreo and healing up from the move, Charizard's attempts to land an Avalancha were futile for an annoying amount of time. When it did hit, it did not even knock the thing out, despite it being supereffective. Elaine decided to let Clefairy and Rayo handle it.

Then Tres healed back up to full, nullifying again all if Charizard's attempts to hurt the Pidgeot.

Que molesto...

Clefairy eventually did her job and took out Pidgeot, without taking too much damage. Tres's and Elaine's Pokémon traded blows for what felt like a half hour, at least. The Champion's seat was on the line, but she cared not about that, really - she was personally invested in defeating this young man.

His last was Slowbro. Elaine decided, just to rub it in his face, to beat him with the least experienced member of the team - the one who was really just there as a joke, not important for battles: Kantonian Exeggutor.

He kept healing Slowbro so that every time he almost fainted he would not, which was annoying, but Elaine could not be stopped by that. It took a Drenadoras and all of the rest of Exeggutor's Megaagotares, but eventually Slowbro went down.

To put it simplemente, Tres was disappointed.

He did not give Elaine the satisfaction of being angry or sad. He took the loss fairly maturely, like the gentleman Elaine forgot he was. She almost felt... mal for the guy.

But, she won! Well, she had already let it sink in when she beat Lance, but now she was really the Champion. Unless there was a surprise sixth battle she had to worry about.

El Profesor Oak entered the chamber wearing una sonrisa. He, like Lance, congratulated Elaine on her conquest of la Liga. He took her inside the back room to register her and her team as Champions.

Even Kantonian Exeggutor, she thought with a giggle.

The whole process was a blur. She thanked the Profesor and even Tres, and ran back to Peublo Paleta.

She had to tell Azul the good news.

But Azul was not in Pueblo Paleta. In her excitement Elaine forgot that the teen was leading the Ciudad Verde Gimnasio now, and when she remembered this, she rode Charizard north at a higher altitude than she had ever attempted before.

"¡Azul!" she cried as she entered the Gym. "¡Yo lo hizo! ¡Yo derrote el Campeón como tú hiciste!"

The trainers surrounding her all looked on in confusion. She navigated the spin panels up to the Líder.

"¿Me oíste?" She asked. "¡Ahora podemos combatir como dijiste!"

Azul's eyes widened. "¿Dónde está su Medalla?"

"¿Medalla? ¿De este Gimnasio, o qué-?"

"De la Liga. Te dieron una Medalla para ganando, ¿no?"

Elaine panicked. She did not get any Badge or physical award from the League. "Ah, ellos no me dieron una Medalla, pero - ¡es verdad! ¡Yo he derrotado el Campeón!"

Azul laughed. "Estoy bromeando contigo. Te creo."

Elaine blushed and stepped closer.

"¿Quieres un combate ahora?" he offered, and she responded with excitement.

"¡Sí! Siempre quería combatirte de verdad."

Azul laughed. "Muy bien - prepárate."

So they battled, and Elaine breathed in every moment of it. She lost in the end, claro - just as she expected to, but she promised one day she would beat him.

Maybe she was being a little enthusiastic, but she did not care. She came back the next day and lost again. And the next. But she was determined, and would not give up.

She never won. She came close a few times, but Azul always made a comeback. One day she walked into the Gym early in the morning, feeling extremely downtrodden.

Azul had already pulled out a Poké Ball, and did not bother to ask until the battle was over. Elaine lost rather quickly that day, despite how genuinely hard she tried - harder than every other time.

"Bien," he started, "¿Que pasa?"

Elaine sighed. "Eso fue nuestra combate final," she said quietly, not able to look him in the eyes.

Battling him had been the highlight of her day for the past week. She considered herself lucky to have even just that experience, but she could not help wanting something - more.

Azul straightened up. "Estás yendo a tu hogar." It was not a question.

She nodded. "Voy a extrañarte. Mucho."

Azul shook his head. "Que lastima. Eres una entrenadora genial. Kanto te extrañará."

She looked him in the eyes.

"Muy bien... A yo te extrañaré."

Tears threatened to spill out over Elaine's eyes. That was the first time Azul had shown her any personal sentiment, and it was the day she was leaving.

"Quizás..." He sighed, like he was going to regret what he was about to say. "¿Cuando estás saliendo?"

"Esta noche."

"Quizás puedo... yo no sé. Comprarte almuerzo o algo."

Elaine did not believe her oídos. "¿Verdad? Me encantaría eso." She could hardly contain her excitement.

"Encuentrame en Ciudad Azafrán a mediodía. Estaré esperando para ti."

Elaine left the Gym giddy. She returned to Pueblo Paleta to get ready, and saw Tres still in his pijamas and stuffing his face with panqueques. Her host hermano (hostmano, Elaine thought amusedly) took immediate notice of the huge grin spread across her face.

"¿Que tal?" he asked. Oh, she should probably not tell him if she wanted to avoid a fight.

"Nada," she replied, sitting down with a plate to get a couple bites herself, but her face gave her away.

"¿Verdad?"

She gave in. "¡Yo tengo una cita con Azul!" she sang, despite him.

"¿Que? ¿Verdad? No lo creo."

"Lo cree. Está en Ciudad Azafrán."

He shook his head. "No es justo," he said with a sigh, but that was it. He returned to his desayuno.

"¿Eso es todo? ¿No estás celoso o nada?"

"¿Quieres que estoy celoso?"

"Yo no sé, solamente pensé..."

He shook his head. "Estás saliendo hoy. Después, yo tengo Azul todo para mi."

Elaine's grip around her fork tightened. "Veremos."

Breakfast was quiet after that. Elaine retreated to the guest room and changed into the spiffy wear she received at the Torre Pokémon. She was not going to go overboard with her appearance, but she did have to make a lasting impression.

This was Azul, after all.

Elaine waited con ansiedad for noon to roll around. By the time it did, she had already been in Azafrán for close to a half hour.

And there he was - he had not bothered to change. They strolled into the diner he had suggested, Elaine feeling very worried about generally everything - her appearance, her Kantonian, her team, for some reason - everything had to be perfecto.

The camareros recognized Azul immediately, as they should have. To Elaine's horror, he introduced her as his hermana.

They took their seats, and Elaine, flushing red, timidly asked what the heck. Azul explained smoothly that if he were to be seen in public as if on a date, rumors would spread like wildfire all over the region and he did not need that. Besides, he specified, "Este no es una cita." Elaine's heart fell at that, and her breathing stopped a second. But she quickly reminded herself that romantic or not, she was still eating lunch with the Azul, and being friends with him was itself an accomplishment in her book.

They talked. In Kantonian, but they talked. They ate. Azul, despite his legendary status as a trainer, was terribly sloppy. Elaine used every bit of energy she could muster not to laugh when he got his condiments all over the table. And he put way too much sal on his fries.

Elaine was unsure how she got through the meal with her dignity intact - between being one-on-one with one of the strongest trainers in the mundo and having to keep up in conversation with him in a language in which she was not fluent, she was sure she would make an embarrassment of herself somehow before the meal was over.

And she did. She accidentally mixed up ser and estar just once, and took the mockery from Azul for it. But somehow it seemed... when Azul mocked, he did it just for fun. He meant no actual harm.

This was not a date, apparently, so Elaine was thankful she brought her wallet - but Azul insisted he was doing this for her. Money was no object for him in most capacities, and she was a college student - it was only fair he paid, just this once.

Eso hace este una cita, Elaine could not help but think, utterly confused.

Bellies full, the two made their way out of the diner, into the bright Azafrán sol.

Elaine looked off. "I'm - leaving," she said aloud, as if it was just sinking in.

Azul must have known what she meant, for now he had his hand on her shoulder. His grip was strong. "Yo sé que es difícil," he started. "Pero hay nada que puedo hacer. Tu tiempo en Kanto fue importante, pero no puede durar para siempre. Alola está esperando para ti. Tu familia te extraña." He removed his hand. "Ahora, yo tengo algo importante para hacer."

Elaine's face fell. This really was it, huh. "Azul... ¿es esto el tiempo final que voy a verte?"

Azul just grinned. "Nunca sabes, chica."

With that, he turned. "Buena suerte," he said, and manos in his bolsillos, strolled away.

Elaine just stood and watched him for as long as she could before he disappeared into the gate. The way he walked, she could tell he knew she was looking.

Back to Pueblo Paleta, then.

Tres was only a little curious about how the whole thing went. He kept to himself as she finished packing. That noche, the whole family went to the Ciudad Carmín aeropuerto to see her off.

"Espera, ¡espera!"

A voice Elaine recognized could be heard coming from behind the family moments before they headed into the building.

Elaine turned. There he was - the very subject of her thoughts in the moment, the trainer Azul.

"Quise darte algo," he was explaining. "Algo para que me recuerdas."

He offered her a Super Ball. "Atrapé este para ti."

Elaine gasped. A Pokémon of Azul's - to take home?

"¿Verdad?" She gushed at his kindness. "¡Muchas gracias! Ah, toma mi..." She considered what Pokémon of hers would be worthy of being traded to Azul. She scrolled through her Caja Pokémon. It would have to be something strong. Or something cute? Definitely something female. Something that would remind him of her.

"¿Quieres una... Pikachu?" she offered nervously, as if unsure if he would think less of her for offering such a low-tier Pokémon. She had caught this one in Bosque Verde before encountering Variocolor, and she had basically been with Elaine (albeit in a Ball) her whole journey.

Azul shook his head. "No me importa. Cualquier cosa es bueno."

They each handed over their Pokémon. When Azul sent out his new Pikachu, the onlookers could notice her former trainer had styled the hair on her forehead in the same manner Felícia's was - spiky.

Elaine sent out her new - whatever could it be? It materialized on the ground - something small. Ah!

It was a Magikarp!

Elaine could hardly contain her excitement. "¡Me encanta!" She knew that Azul had a Gyarados on his team, and was ecstatic to raise her own. She would only realize later, on the ten hour plane ride, that he sent over a weak, nivel tres Magikarp as a joke.

Before Eliane knew what she was doing, she had her arms around Azul - who was stunned, as was Tres, she could see when she nervously pulled away after realizing how impulsive that was.

"Lo-Lo siento-" she whispered. She was bright rojo. What would she do now? ¿¡Qué haría!?

After a few seconds she dared look back up. Azul's face was still frozen in surprize, and Tres's was in scorn. Oh boy, she had messed up now.

Gradually Azul recovered. "Estoy feliz que te guste," he said slowly, deliberately. "Yo tengo que salir. Tenga un buen vuelo."

With that, he returned his Pikachu, gave Elaine his signature two-finger salute, and turned to walk away.

"Ya te extraño," she said meekly, and he stopped and sighed.

He did not make eye contact with her, instead looking down. "Te veré otra vez." Now he met her gaze out of the corner of his eyes. "Alola, Elaine."

And he turned fully and walked away.

Elaine's mano covered her boca. "Alola, Azul," she choked out. She faced Magikarp first, who was flopping around on the sidewalk without water. In a hurry she called him back, taking note to do some research on Magikarp care when she got home. Then she faced Tres's family.

"Bien, pienso que este es adiós," she said. "Gracias para me permitiendo vivir con vosotros. Y para todos los panqueques."

She hugged each of her host family members goodbye - even Tres, who actually looked sad to see her leave. "Alola," she called, and, rolling her maleta behind her, walked into the airport.

The next week, a letter arrived in Elaine's mailbox. She had to adjust to seeing writing in Kantonian again. It told of a country that was filled with Gyms and routes and cities that were all a little emptier now that she was no longer occupying them and it was signed Azul.

Elaine breathed in the Poni Island air, taking in her forty-ninth consecutive victory in the Battle Tree, the facility recently constructed on Alola's least civilized island. She had started her journey in a faraway region as a reluctant trainer, a poor college student at the mercy of her parents. Over the years she had become quite formidable - she came home a Champion, and only got better from there.

The receptionist awarded her the appropriate amount of Battle Points and warned her that the next battle would be with one of the Battle Legends that had came here on vacation from Kanto. Elaine nodded. She was ready.

She climbed up to the fiftieth floor, legs aching. There he was.

Azul's eyes widened when he noticed just who his next challenger was to be. He seemed to recognize her immediately.

No words needed to be exchanged. They battled and battled and reminisced. When it was over, Azul sighed, and with a flippant wave of his hand, he said - slowly, carefully - "Congratulations, Elaina. It's good to see you again."

...Get it? Trace? Tres? I've got the jokes.

Kind of got off-track near the end, but eh. I don't even ship Elaine (or Trace) (or anyone) with Blue!

I don't know why I wrote this but it was fun. Definitely more fun than losing that shiny Golbat. Oh, and I don't own Pokémon, if anyone thought I did!

¡Gracias para leyendo!