Firsts

Summer.

Touko had always loved Pecha berries.

If she thought long and hard enough about it; her first memory was of Pecha berries. When Touko was no bigger than a Joltik, her first bite of something other than pureed carrots was the soft flesh of the bright pink berry. Her mother loved to tell anyone that would listen how little baby Touko kicked her legs in her highchair and clapped her pudgy little hands together when she tasted her first berry.

Now, eighteen years later, everything from the lip balm that was constantly in her pocket to her shampoo was Pecha flavored. The only other berry that could compete for her love was the spicy sweetness of the Razz berry. She twirled some of her sweet scented hair around her finger, as she watched her Samurott play in the water just outside her door with a group of wild Tympole.

Her other Pokémon were all playing on Nuvema beach, too. Well with the exception of Lampent; who preferred to be inside its Pokeball on bright summer afternoons. She really couldn’t blame the Ghost type. She watched from her perch on a rather large piece of driftwood as Gurdurr and Zebstrika stood by the edge of the ebbing and flowing water, carefully dipping their feet in and quickly pulling them back out of the water. And her Foongus hopped in circles on the soft sand as Swoobat playfully chased him from the air.

They all looked so happy. She wish she would have taken her mother’s advice and brought her old swim suit, and wished she could join Swoobat in chasing Foongus, or playfully push Gurdurr into the shallow water, or splash around with her Samurott. She looked up into the sky, shielding her eyes from the white hot sun, and then let loose a frustrated sigh.

But above all, she wished he’d show up. Touko wanted to see him atop his great midnight colored Zekrom and descend onto the sandy beach next to her. She pouted as she looked upon her frolicking Pokémon. For a few weeks after she won the Unova League, he’d always come and see her. Sure, the conversations weren’t all that riveting; mostly N would fidget and look embarrassed as he would tell her how well her Pokémon were raised and how well they liked her.

But then he’d stop coming over. Now that she thought about it, shortly after she became champion she also pretty much imprisoned the only thing he’d ever known as a father. Her heart curled upon itself as she thought of how lonely he must be, all alone in that huge castle. She couldn’t leave him like that. She stood up and brushed the sand off her shorts.

“Okay, guys. Come back!” She called to her Pokémon and one by one they each vanished into their respective ball with a flash of red light. She walked up the sandy sloping bank, and then broke into a run. She ran past her house and past Bianca’s. Slightly out of breath she knocked on the Cheren’s door.

“Oh, Touko! Haven’t seen you in a while!” A women in her early fifties with brown almond shaped eyes and a neat, short crop of black hair accented with a yellow barrette smiled cheerfully. Touko sucked in a deep breath, and smiled. She needed his Unfezent.

“Hello ma’am,” Touko said with a quick jerking bow, “Is Cheren home?”

The woman shook her head.

“I’m sorry, dear. He’s in Aspertia City, right now. You could try calling him, if it’s urgent…” She trailed off, the look of disappointment evident on Touko’s face.

“Thank you, ma’am, sorry to have bothered you.” Touko said with a less than convincing smile, she turned to walk back to her house.

“Touko, dear,” Cheren’s mother said lightly, “He’ll be home tomorrow, if you’d like to stop by. I think he’d like that.” She said with a warm smile. Touko nodded and bowed. She wanted to see N now, not tomorrow. She walked more slowly to her own house, the weight of disappointment heavy on her back. Her home was only a few feet away, but it wasn’t the home that she had left on her journey three years ago.

With the winnings from all the battles, she helped her single mother expand their very small home. Now, the rooms where slightly bigger (in order to accommodate her mostly fully evolved and rather large Pokémon) and she had made sure to include a new fully furnished bathroom, complete with a deep bathtub in her plans. Speaking of which, she could use a shower.

“I’m home!” Touko called as she stepped into the doorway. Her house was nice and cool; she welcomed the feel of it after the dry heat of the waterfront.

“Hi, baby.” Her mother greeted her. Her mother was like a mirror into what Touko would look like in thirty years. She had the same petite frame, the same round blue eyes that shined when she laughed, and same pale pink smiling lips. The only thing slightly different about the two women, was their hairstyle. Akiko’s brown hair was threaded with gray, tied into a low ponytail and accented with a thick blue headband; the ends of which disappeared into her wild mass of wavy hair.

“How was the beach?” Akiko asked her daughter, as she wiped her hands with the dish towel thrown over her shoulder.

“It was fine,” Touko said, as she struggled with the laces of her boots. But Akiko heard that note of displeasure in her daughter’s voice.

“Is something wrong—“

“I’m going to take a shower.” Touko interrupted, as she yanked her other boot off. She left her shoes, one tipped over, the other leaning on the wall, on the mat by the door. She gave her mother a smile that looked more like a grimace, and hustled through the den and kitchen to the bathroom. She slid the door closed with more force then she meant to.

She felt horrible for being so rude to her mother. She sighed as she padded in socked feet towards the large window next to the tub. Bright sunlight streamed through the glass, falling on the wooden planks next to her bath and the dark floor beyond the tub. She cracked the window, smiling as a light breeze blew across her face. And although the window faced a forest that neighbored her house, Touko pulled the blinds mostly shut. She would die if someone saw her.

The paper pulled down, she shed her vest, and then her shorts, her tank top and finally her pink poka dotted undergarments and plain white socks. Finally, undoing her hair; she slipped into the clear and steaming water. She sat there in the deep and sultry water, thinking about her rival. Long after the water had gone lukewarm, she made the decision. She’d wait a couple more days for N to come, and then she’d take matters into her own hands.

Feeling resolute, she poured Pecha scented body wash into her poof and began to scrub.