Chương 131: Interlude - Coordinators

Fifteen days earlier. Emilia picked up her suitcase from the baggage carousel and made her way toward the Pokeball counter. She was carrying a bunch of her friends' things that they didn't have enough space for in their backpacks, like party clothes… okay, it was mostly clothes for the girls, but there were some books and cosmetics too. Air travel was the crutch that kept Sinnoh's cities connected together.

Most supplies to non-coastal cities were sent by air, and travel between cities for non-trainers was also done via plane. Before the invention of the airplane, a person would be expected to live and die in the same place they were born, unless they were a trainer that could brave the wilderness. It was why the League had managed to hold an iron grip over the region back in the day.

Communications between cities had been scarce for anyone who couldn't fly or teleport, a region-wide, organized resistance had been impossible. Emilia's eyes scanned a counter filled with dozens of Pokeballs, and she smiled when she found two labeled with Beldum and Aipom. Rockruff's was an entire dilemma, though. There were three Rockruff Pokeballs on the counter, so Emilia had to call an employee over to scan them with a small, portable device, get their ID, and finally verify which one was hers.

Traveling with Pokemon was always a hassle. People weren't allowed to keep them, or their Pokeballs on themselves in the plane because of the damage they could possibly cause during a flight if there was someone with nefarious intentions or even just an accident, so every Pokeball was placed in a different compartment of the plane, just like luggage. The problem was after the flight, when it could sometimes take ages to get your Pokemon back because people owned the same species of Pokemon sometimes.

When that happened, airport employees would have to verify who owned what using the Pokeball ID database like what they had just done for Emilia. Even if trainers never traveled by plane, they weren't the only ones that owned Pokemon. Retired trainers, coordinators, civilians that wanted a companion… they weren't the majority, but they certainly were in high numbers, which was why the rules existed in the first place.

After getting an employee to verify that the Pokeball she had picked up were hers using the same scanner, Emilia walked out of arrivals and grabbed some lunch before leaving. Hearthome was a breathtaking city. At first glance, it looked similar to Eterna due to their shared color scheme, but the two cities were actually fundamentally different. Hearthome was a bustling metropolis that was the third largest city in all of Sinnoh, behind Jubilife and Sunyshore.

Whereas Eterna city was stuck in its old ways and architecture, Hearthome was a mix of young and old, with massive skyscrapers mixing with older stone buildings. Furthermore, unlike Eterna, where you could go from one end to another using their well-developed trams, Hearthome had chosen a different path and had opted to develop around car travel. Of course, there were buses and subways, but the public transport industry was nowhere as well developed as Jubilife's.

Emilia hailed a taxi and hurriedly got on while he placed her luggage in his trunk. The driver stepped into his car.

"Good afternoon. Where to?"

"The nearest Pokemon Center will do for now, thank you," she quickly answered. Even though her family lived in Jubilife, Emilia had stayed in Hearthome multiple times during holidays. Her family dealt in real estate all over the region, which meant that they often traveled all over the place. That also meant that they were often involved in politics to lobby Directorate members or mayors to approve of city expansions so that they could just buy up all the land.

Stellar Properties— the name of her parents' company— was well known throughout Sinnoh, but they were nowhere as rich and powerful as the Bianchi were. Of course, that didn't mean much. Emilia would never have to work a day of her life if she so wished. She had been born in privilege, and it had taken a long time for her to realize it. The taxi driver passed by the Hearthome Contest Hall— the most prestigious contest hall in all of Sinnoh, and where the Grand Festival was held every time.

Emilia turned and practically stuck her forehead against the glass to get a better look. Despite all of her times in Hearthome, she had never been inside of there. Only stared at it from a distance. It was one of the biggest buildings in the city, after all— bigger than Fantina's gym, even, and it could fit more than one hundred thousand spectators. Just imagining standing there, being seen by all those people while giving a performance made Emilia shiver in excitement. But right now, those were all dreams.

She still had a long way to go before even hoping to get there. She paid the taxi, giving him an enormous tip in the process, and quickly checked into the Pokemon Center. She got to her room, showered, and sent a message to the group chat to let them know that she had made it to Hearthome safely. She raised an eyebrow when she caught Chase Karlson sending a message at the same time as she was.

"Well, he saw me type," Emilia told herself.

"I might as well introduce myself properly." Well, they had technically met a few times already, but they never actually spoke. She sent him a short message, saying that she looked forward to befriending him and that Grace, Denzel, and Cecilia had told her a lot of good things about him. He just told her that he didn't have time and then never responded to her subsequent messages. Emilia clenched at her phone tightly and groaned. If Chase was going to be rude, then she wouldn't try to extend an olive branch either.

"What to do now…" Emilia trailed off. It was her first time being alone. Truly alone. Even when she had traveled with the group, Emilia had almost never taken any decisions, so now that she was being given this much freedom, everything felt overwhelming. She could stay in the Center and just lounge for the rest of the day with her Pokemon, or she could go train to actually figure out how to be a coordinator.

She had been making steady progress in Eterna, but her lack of moves was killing her creativity, so Emilia figured that the best move right now was to buy some TMs. Or she could take the plunge, go to the Hearthome Contest Hall, and get a coordinator card. No, no, she could always do that another day. She had time. First, she would buy the TMs, and then, she'd try to practice with them on route 208. Yes, that sounded like a good plan. ——"Try a Double Team, Rockruff," Emilia asked.

"Then get in a circle." The rock type nodded, and he split into two, then four, then eight. They got into a circle and turned to face each other.

"Good enough. Now Trailblaze!" The eight Rockruff barked in unison and blurred forward, leaving a trail of shining, burning grass at their feet and surrounding Rockruff's true body in the center. Emilia squealed and clapped, taking the rock type into her arms and hugging him, ignoring the painful hard stones on his neck. He was already working with the move so well, and it had only been two hours since she had taught it to him. Aipom laughed and jumped on Emilia's head, while Beldum observed with a curious eye.

"What do you think?" She asked, turning toward the steel type. He let out a short metallic clang. Good… The girl winced slightly, but she was getting used to the pain— or at least she would be until he evolved into a Metang and managed to fully communicate with her without struggling. Right now, it was like trying to discern words through static.

Beldum had also easily mastered Shadow Ball, although Aipom was still struggling with the move, and he could only use it twice before getting tired out, but she was still making good progress. This was like a small performance for herself, and when compared to the ones actual coordinators got up to, it was pathetic, but it was still hers.

"I'd say we deserve a break," Emilia smiled.

"Let's head back to the Center." Emilia was back in her room in twenty minutes, thank Arceus for taxis. She spent the rest of the day resting with her team, with Rockruff and Aipom sleeping on her bed and barely giving her any space for herself. Go… night.

"Good night, Beldum," Emilia softly said. ——"Here are the top ten things you must know before becoming a Pokemon coordinator! But before that, a word from my sponsor, Radiant Cosmetics! Radiant Co. is the number one cosmetic company when it comes to both Pokemon and humans, so if you want to look your best during a performance…" Emilia rolled around in her bed as she watched her twentieth coordinator guide video today. She considered skipping the sponsor, but what if she needed it one day?

No, she would sit through and watch it all.

"... use my code, YAPI, and get twenty percent off all of your purchases! Now, without further ado, let's get to the video!" Her brain felt fried. Every single video said the same, rehashed tips.

'Fake it until you make it', 'only perform when x and y judges are going to be there because they're more lenient', 'take inspiration from the top coordinators'... blergh. Emilia had expected this from smaller channels, but YapiX had six hundred thousand subscribers. She had never been a fan, but she occasionally watched a video or two of hers. YapiX was supposed to know what she was doing.

"Maybe people were copying her," Emilia sighed as she clicked onto the next video, this time from a channel she had never heard about called Ms. Dreamer.

"My morning routine… every coordinator should do this? What's with the red arrows? What are you even pointing to, a vase? Ugh." No, videos wouldn't do it. No guide would help as much as the real thing. What Emilia should have done from the start was just get a coordinator card. Coordinator cards functioned exactly the same as trainer IDs, although they didn't display your amount of ribbons, since there were simply too many in Sinnoh for them to ever fit in a small card. Emilia stood up and…

Maybe just one more video? It couldn't hurt. Temperance should have uploaded her weekly vlog by now, and she actually had useful information and helped with training routines…

"Hi. It's Temperance. This week, I traveled to Sunyshore for a series of photoshoots, and I opted to use the opportunity to stay and work on this new combination I've been working on for my next grand contest. Unfortunately, since it'll be a grand one, that means a ribbon is on the table, so it'll stay a secret for a while longer. Let's get started on the training routine, and then I'll go in-depth on what I did during my stay in the city.

Make sure to check in the description and go to my website for early uploads and donate…" Emilia settled into her bed once more and smiled. Yes, one more video would do. Just one. She had time. —— Emilia was over the moon when she got the news that her friends had made it to the outpost on route 207, although Louis still not saying anything worried her. She had spent today working on her training routine and trying to emulate Temperance, but it was hard when she had access to every move under the sun.

Temperance being so rich meant that she had access to almost every TM out there, but Emi could have theoretically done that as well. The problem was that her Pokemon had a surprising mastery over every single one, which she could never dream of doing. There still wasn't much progress on getting a coordinator card. Emilia had tried to get out this morning to get one, but her legs just turned to lead the closer she got to the building. The girl didn't understand. This was her dream.

She wanted to do this, but she just… couldn't. A word rang out in her mind. Worried… Emilia sighed.

"Don't worry, I'll be alright," she told Beldum.

"I'm just not ready yet. I'm a complete newbie. I just need to get a few techniques and combinations down and watch a few more videos—" Emilia jumped as she heard her phone ring. Pauline was calling.

"Evening babe," Pauline cheerfully said.

"Pauline! Are you alone?" Emilia hissed.

"Obviously." Emilia finally relaxed. If she was on her own, then she could call her whatever she wanted.

"Don't roll your eyes at me."

"You could tell?"

"I can always tell. You have that tone you use when you do it," she said with a slight laugh.

"Anything new on your end?"

"Nothing much. Just travels, you know how that is, I'm not the biggest fan," Pauline said.

"But Cece's been teaching me a bunch! I feel like I'm starting to catch up. I even caught a Rufflet! I'll send you a picture of her later."

"Oh, that's great! So you're a student now, huh?" She teased. Pauline scoffed.

"No, Cece's just helping me. Grace is teaching Justin. He's been really annoying, and he's obsessing over this Audino thing. He says he wants to become a staller." Emilia's head was spinning. Her friends were making so much progress already, and what was she doing? Nothing!

"Emi?"

"Um, sorry, I was just upping the volume. I always want to hear your beautiful voice."

"I call bullshit, but I'll let you off for now," Pauline said. Emilia could tell she was smiling.

"How's Denzel?"

"He seems to be having fun flirting with girls," she said. There was some bitterness in her tone that Emilia caught.

"But he's fine, I guess. But enough about him, tell me about your contest stuff! I've been dying to hear about it!" Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Emilia smiled and recalled the progress she had made with her Pokemon, and how she had come up with a combination with Double Team and Trailblaze. She was even starting to figure out how to work with Shadow Ball, although that was more in the experimental stage.

"I'll send you a video of the Trailblaze trick so that you can watch it when you get to the other side of Mount Coronet. Stay safe, by the way. All of you."

"We'll be fine. Grace's been fixating on catching some Turtonator, so it's her I'm worried about."

"Arceus…"

"You said it. She's going to get herself killed one day, but our psychics will be with her, so I think she'll manage," Pauline said before sighing.

"At least, I hope. By the way, you met any coordinators yet? I hope you're standing up for yourself while I'm not there." Emilia almost considered lying for a split second, but she knew Pauline would be able to tell. They'd known each other since they were toddlers.

"Erm, I've been taking it slowly for now," she said.

"So nothing yet."

"Emi…"

"I know, I know! I'll get to it."

"Promise me."

"I'll do it—""Promise me."

"I… I promise."

"I know exactly what you're thinking. Now that you're finally about to start realizing your dream, you're scared of taking that first step, because you're scared of failing. But you've got to take the first step. If you haven't made at least one coordinator acquaintance by the time I'm in Hearthome, and you don't have your card, I'm going to scold you."

"I'll do it! Arceus, don't threaten me with a verbal lashing."

"I've got to go, okay? It's an early night for me since we have to wake up early, but I'll call you as soon as we get through Mount Coronet."

"Okay," Emilia sighed.

"Good night."

"Good night." Emilia hung up. There were no sweet farewells such as 'I love you.' That'd make the entire thing feel cemented, and that was an entire another can of worms she wasn't ready to deal with at all, especially if she had to deal with starting her coordinator career. She took a deep breath and resolved herself. Tomorrow, she would go get her card and speak to people. Tomorrow for sure. —— Six days later, Emilia had still gotten nothing done, and she thought today would be no different.

She had resigned herself to waiting until Pauline came back to go to the contest hall with her. She would never be courageous enough to do so alone. Plus, Grace was in the hospital, and her burns were apparently really bad, and Emilia was worried sick. And yet a single text from Denzel had made her change her mind. Pauline is worried about you. Of course, she was. It had been obvious from the start, and yet Emilia had been too blind to see it. No, it would be more accurate to say that she hadn't wanted to see it.

Pauline was worried about her being left behind, and she wasn't the kind of person to say that out loud unless it was forced out of her. Denzel had managed to bridge the gap between them through a single text message that he probably had no idea had been so important to her.

"Okay! Today's the day," Emilia exclaimed. She cracked her fingers and grabbed her phone.

"First thing's first, making my channel." Being a coordinator was a much more public affair than being a trainer. Connections, both with other coordinators, the business world, and even judges or the Contest Committee were worth gold. Being a content creator was just one of the many ways coordinators kept their name in the public eye, especially with the younger generation, and Emilia knew she couldn't skirt around that fact.

In fact, she had wanted to be one, and seeing Denzel's budding success had only inspired her more… until she actually got to the foot of the metaphorical mountain she'd have to climb to get to the top. The view from down there was so daunting. But it was time to take the first step. She quickly created her channel, naming it Emilia Lussier. It was simple for now, and she'd be able to rename it later if she so wished, but it was done. Emilia chuckled to herself like a madwoman.

It was scary, how the simplest of steps could feel like such large progress. Next, it was time to finally get her coordinator card. The girl took a taxi to the Hearthome Contest Hall, and stepped into the humongous building. The floor was covered in a clean, pink carpet, with coordinators and their managers selling their merchandise all throughout the lobby. Hell, some of them even had dedicated stores. There was also a restaurant, two cafes, and rooms people could rent, although they were extremely expensive.

Of course, Emilia could have afforded one if she really wanted to, but it was unneeded, at least for now. The girl wondered if she'd be good enough to have managers one day. Having someone run things for you sure seemed convenient, especially with how bad she was at taking the initiative without her friends there to push her. Sure, she was rich enough to skip ahead and hire one right now, but that'd feel dirty. Unearned. TMs were one thing, but managers would make it feel like she was cheating.

After a short wait in a queue, she walked up to the receptionist, who greeted her with a radiant smile.

"Hello! Welcome to the Hearthome Contest Hall, what can I do for you today?" Here it goes, Emilia thought as she braced herself.

"Hi, I'd like to register as a coordinator?"

"Nervous, aren't you?" The man chuckled. She held back an embarrassed squeal and just nodded.

"Don't worry about it, everyone usually is, despite how hard they try to hide it. Please hold for a second while I get this form ready for you." He grabbed a document from a drawer behind his desk and gave it to her. This was different from when she'd signed up as a trainer. Emilia needed to read through a bunch of rules that the Contest Committee had set up, such as having to respect the judge's decisions without complaint or having to pay the committee a monthly fee.

Money ran the world of Pokemon contests, and that could easily be seen in the terms and services. The amount wasn't too high, but it'd certainly put a dent in a new coordinator's finances if they were starting from nothing. Emilia signed the document, had a picture of herself taken— which she had dressed up and put on make-up for, and finally, she was given a transparent, thin card. So much progress had been made today already, but it was time for the real challenge. Meeting one fellow coordinator.

—— The huge road leading up to the Hearthome Contest Hall was somewhat of a famous area for both civilians, coordinators, and trainers alike, and it was also an area that attracted an incredible amount of tourists. There was a place there called 'The Coordinator's Walk,' which was a dark sidewalk with the name of famous coordinators that had won the Grand Festival written on stars embedded in the dark slabs.

Emilia mulled over her options until she found a girl that seemed to be just as confused and nervous as she was. She took a deep breath and strode up to her with a smile.

"H—hello. Are you a coordinator?"

"Yes! Are you?"

"I am, although I'm a new one. I was wondering if we could maybe connect in some way? Help each other?" Emilia asked.

"Oh… erm, do you have a channel?"

"Y—yes. It's rather new, and I have no videos on there yet, but—""Oh," she deflated.

"I have to go." Emilia almost fell over.

"What?" The girl just left her there in the middle of the conversation. Had she said something wrong? Emilia tried again a few times, but every time she talked to a coordinator, they either asked her how much subscribers or ribbons she had, or if she knew important people. Emilia gripped the sides of her skirt. She was standing there, way too underdressed for this cold because of some stupid picture, and she was just getting blown off by people. Should she have tried somewhere else?

Maybe Amity Square—"Legendaries, are you Emilia Lussier?" A girl called out to her.

"What? Y—yes, that's me," Emilia stammered.

"Can I help you?"

"I saw you poking around, and I was wondering what the problem was? You seem to be, like, depressed over there."

"I've been trying to make connections. What's your name?"

"I'm Jasmine! Nice to meet you!" Emilia felt a surge of hope.

"Are you a new coordinator?"

"Well, you could say that. I signed up for it this summer, and we're all new until we get at least a ribbon under our belts," she shrugged.

"I have a few friends that are staying at an apartment we're all renting. Do you want to come and meet them? Get you started on all this coordinator stuff? I know it seems daunting at first." Emilia smiled. Finally, things were turning around for her!

"Of course! Lead the way." They started walking.

"So, are you staying at, like, a hotel or something? Could we maybe go there and film a video, maybe?"

"A video?"

"Yeah, one where my friends and I pretend that we rented the place," Jasmine said with a smile.

"I bet that'd blow up. It'd be a one out of ten!"

"What's a one out of ten?" Emilia asked with a slight frown.

"Arceus, you're really a newbie, aren't you?" She laughed.

"On the creator dashboard, it ranks views on your latest video against your last ten videos, so one out of ten is amazing, and ten out of ten is terrible."

"Oh… well, I was just staying at a Center for now." Emilia hated hotels these days. It reminded her too much of being put on lockdown by Harvey and Clarence. It was impossible for her to relax there. Jasmine stopped in her tracks and turned.

"Really? Like, really? You're a billionaire, and you're staying at a crummy Center? That's where all the trainers are!" Emilia froze.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot you were a trainer too. Yuck," Jasmine said.

"Well, that was a waste of time. Keep trying to make friends, and see where that gets you. Look at you! Are you tearing up? You're a naive little girl that'll go nowhere." she continued.

"Well, bye. That was a waste of my time." She tried finding a good retort, but by the time she came up with something, Jasmine was already gone. If Pauline had been there… No. Pauline wasn't there. She had to stand up for herself, and she had failed. Emilia wiped a few tears and took deep breaths. She had always been bad at getting bad-mouthed or yelled at. It made her spontaneously tear up, even if she didn't feel that bad about it. That certainly didn't help her as a child when she had gotten bullied.

Until Pauline saved her.

"I see you've gotten a good introduction to coordinator culture," a boy laughed behind her. Emilia frowned and turned toward him. He was a short teen with long, brown wavy hair.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know," he smiled.

"We're all clout-chasing, money-hungry assholes. That was Jasmine. She and her posse are well known around here. She'd do anything to get a leg up on the competition."

"And you? Are you a clout-chasing, money-hungry asshole too?" The boy smirked at her.

"Sure, but I'm not that bad. The name's Vincent. Vincent Campbell. You?"

"You don't know who I am?"

"Genuinely, no," he shrugged.

"I did hear Jasmine call you Emilia, and say that you were a billionaire though, so you must be someone famous."

"I wouldn't call myself famous, my friends are all more popular than I am," she clarified.

"They're all trainers."

"Oh, is that why Jasmine called you a trainer earlier?"

"I was one, but then I gave up after one badge because it wasn't for me," she said.

"And how long were you even following us for?"

"The entire time. I was waiting for a good time to jump in and save you from her clutches, but she just left on her own."

"Well, Vincent," Emilia exhaled.

"That's a little weird, but I'll overlook it. Can you help me find my footing? Right now, I'm a nobody. I have no videos, no ribbons, no subscribers, I don't know anyone important in the industry, and I'm probably terrible at performances. And even though I have a lot, I will not give you any money." The young coordinator held her breath. She was laying it all on the line.

"Well, Emilia, I've got some time to kill, so I don't see why not." —— The two teenagers sat in a cafe far away from the Hearthome Contest Hall, and Emilia sipped on her iced coffee. She was still trying to pretend to like the Arceus damned drink, but nothing was working. People said that it was an acquired taste, but the only thing she was acquiring was a deeper hatred of coffee.

"The first mistake you made was trying to meet people at the Coordinator's Walk," Vincent explained as he munched on a croissant. He pointed a finger at her.

"That's a real asshole magnet. You would have been better off just asking people around the city."

"But it would have taken ages to find coordinators."

"Yes, but they wouldn't have been an asshole." Emilia was starting to wonder why Vincent was attached to the term asshole so much.

"Okay, what else?" He frowned, suddenly taking on a serious tone.

"The world of coordinators is ruthless. I don't know how it was when you were a trainer, but I know y'all have this helpful, power of friendship shit going on, so this is going to be a complete culture shock for you. Helping other people? Forget it. Out here, it's the law of the jungle. Everyone's for themselves unless there's a benefit to cooperation. Jasmine and her pals, for example, they're only living together because they can't afford rent otherwise.

Coordinators can't stay at Centers for free like trainers, and you'll have to stop doing it if you've given up on being one unless you want to be busted— actually, never mind, you can probably just pay the fine. Just try not to get caught abusing all the free stuff trainers get." Emilia nodded. Worst-case scenario, she'd just be able to sleep in Pauline's Pokemon Center room. The bed was large enough for them both, and she technically wouldn't be breaking the rules.

"Anyway, I'd bet good money that Jasmine and her friends all secretly hate each other and wouldn't hesitate to backstab one another at the first opportunity to get an advantage."

"But you're helping me," Emilia said.

"What are you getting out of this?" Vincent leaned back against his chair.

"Can I be frank?"

"I'd hope so."

"You're supposedly famous, and you were apparently in the news. You're rich. If I help you and you're successful down the line, you might help me," he simply said. Emilia clicked her tongue.

"I told you I wasn't giving you any money."

"I know. This isn't about money, it's about favors. Favors go a long way here. That's another thing you'll figure out. Nothing you do should be left unpaid. Doing things out of the goodness of your heart? Forget that. People will abuse you and leave you out to dry when you've outlived your usefulness."

"Arceus, this sounds miserable."

"It is miserable. There are obviously good people too in the industry too, it's just that…" he trailed off and sighed, pausing for a few seconds before continuing.

"It's a path made for sociopaths. The bigger the asshole you are, the better your odds will be. Everyone wants to get to the top. Fame, money, success, being a good coordinator… we all want that. We want it so much that we forget to be nice to each other," Vincent said with a twinge of sadness.

"It gets exhausting sometimes. But when you're on stage, performing? When the audience is captivated by a move combination you've been working on for weeks, and you fucking nail it? That's the best feeling in the Arceus damned world, and we all keep coming back to chase that high," he smiled, his eyes shining.

"Well, I'm not sure I want to be mean to everyone to get ahead," Emilia started.

"But I sure as hell won't give up. I'm going to become a coordinator. I'm going to surpass Temperance."" The Temperance? That's a high goal, but I respect that," he said.

"This is my first year as a coordinator, but it's also yours. What do you say we help each other?"

"No funny business?" She asked.

"No funny business. In fact, I'll help you stay out of funny business. I benefit from you succeeding, remember?"

"Okay," she smiled. Emilia held out her hand, and Vincent shook it firmly.

"Let's start immediately. Can you give me ideas for my channel? I still need to buy a laptop to edit any videos, but do I need a better camera? Can you just show me your channel so I can get ideas, or is that taboo? What Pokemon do you have? Can we train together? How long should I wait to sign up for my first contest?"

"That's the passion I like to see in a fellow coordinator," he grinned.

"Let's take it one question at a time, or I'll choke on my food."