Back to Couriway
Story by UmiTheUmbreon on SoFurry
#4 of Cassidy's Journey
Nightfall had come hours ago; Fenny was the only one awake. He was in the same bed as Cassidy.
Her riolu, was in a deep slumber, curled up on the floor since he tended to get hot at night. Cassidy's liepard was at the foot of the bed while grooming its tail that split into two distinct tips, resembling an espeon's, and her gardevoir had been returned and kept inside their pokéball for the night due to a lack of space.
He gazed up at Cassidy from where he was lying near the liepard of the bed, hugging his bushy tail. She was beautiful— so pretty, especially when asleep. Fenny wanted to hold her tighter than he could imagine.
He recalled vividly when he and Cassidy used to snuggle, which was back when he was a fennekin. After he'd evolved, their physical relationship grew distant, splitting more substantially with every month.
Cassidy was still kind to him, but that was all.
Fenny tossed and turned— stuck on it like the thickest muk. He longed to experience her hold again but would never outright ask of it, as that could make things awkward.
Imagining it did nothing but kill his emotions. He tried to tuck it away as deeply as possible and closed his eyes.
"Fen."
His ears twitched at her soft, accented voice. When he looked up from his slumber with half-open eyes, Cassidy was sitting over him. Early morning sunlight shone through the window, pressing against the bed and his fur.
"We're going home soon." She looked at Fenny and ran her hand down his tail. "Did you sleep well?"
'Mhm...'
"Good. I have poké puffs for everyone to hold out until we're home." She yawned. "I'll hand them out before we go."
Cassidy fed and put everyone back in their balls around fifteen minutes later. After gathering her items, she checked out of the hotel and went outside under a morning sky dotted with fluffy white clouds.
She glanced at her Pokétch. "8 a.m." Wooden boats and people on lapras occupied the water while transporting goods, stores opening for business, and people walking, cycling, or riding gogoat.
She had to head back to Shalour for her moped. It would be a tiresome ride home, but it was therapeutic. The sun eased her emotions, and she was accustomed to travel. She would especially enjoy riding through the vibrant metropolis that was Lumiose on the way, abundant in restaurants, marts, and designed flawlessly.
She began her walk to Coumarine City's western exit, which would lead to Route 11 after Shalour. She passed by people heading to work and outfitted employees entering stores.
Some groups of teens exited a mart with junk food and sodas who had to be cutting classes and looked smugly happy about it, although that turned to sheepish, shameful glances at the ground whenever an adult glared at them or shook their heads.
Already, Cassidy thought of her next gym battle. It was tempting enough that the next gym she had to face was in Lumiose City— the one she had to cross through, but she had to give her pokémon a break, and they required additional training beforehand.
By evening, with a few stops to refuel and eat, Cassidy made it to Snowbelle City; Couriway was a route away. She couldn't wait to lie in bed. Her rear was sore from riding, as were her palms. At least she wouldn't have to head as far as she had again for a gym badge.
Cassidy rode through Snowbelle's snowy trails and soon crossed Route 19's bridge, taking its dirt paths encompassed by greenery and watching for pokémon so no horrific incidents occurred. Her bike was equipped with tires built to withstand rough terrain. Its engine whirred and buzzed at a high pitch.
It took close to ten minutes, and Cassidy felt much relief upon entering her hometown.
Like Coumarine, Couriway was a town built on the water, though located in the mountains. It was home to tall rocky hills sitting in deep water with grassy terrain and trees residing atop them surrounding its outskirts. Every mountain had multiple massive waterfalls cascading down them.
The town was also home to an elevated railway up north that connected to Paldea, who held decent relations with Kalos. Many Paldean citizens and descendants occupied Couriway and Kalos as a whole and vice versa.
Cassidy had chosen to live here as it was peaceful and had a small population compared to most other cities. The weather was always cool, being mountainous, but never freezing until winter came.
The biggest attraction that this town had was a Pokémon Showcase Theater. It was a girls-only competition held in multiple places around the region, so Cassidy could participate. Then again, she could never see herself being a performer.
Stages within the tournament ranged from pokémon styling, where a trainer had to dress their pokémon uniquely with items given to them within a time limit, poké puff baking, where trainers had to bake with their pokémon and serve them to judges for evaluation, and pokémon quiz, which was trivia.
Don't even get her started on poké puff performance, which was baking while dancing with one's pokémon. Cassidy would stick with battling.
There were two classes: rookie and master. Any girl could enter the competition and try their skills at winning rookie performances for a chance to earn Princess Keys. After a performer earned and owned three sets of Keys, they were eligible to enter masters classes, which were far more serious.
Instead of glow-casted votes restricted to the local audience, masters classes were broadcasted worldwide and let all citizens of Kalos vote using a temporary function on their Pokétches.
One had to be watching the program and enter the displayed code on-screen into their number pad. After doing so and registering as an official voter as a result, the hosts applied each performer to a number, which a voter would then choose. If their favorite performer was number nine, they'd enter that number and confirm it.
It sounded fun to participate in and was entertaining whenever Cassidy came across it on TV. She'd never attended the stadium here in person and sat through an event, though. She likely never would.
She watched the still water under and beside the bridges that ducklett occupied, some splashing about, crying in unison, or preening their feathers. They along with swanna were common around Couriway.
People usually used the water to fish or enjoy the environment and never bothered or hunted them.
Cassidy pressed the brakes to slow down whenever someone had to pass the narrow space. Walking was twice as therapeutic; she could watch her surroundings more and exercise her legs, but she barely had after challenging her first gym.
She took a sharp right a few blocks down before the small, busy business district where people shopped and dined and walked up a ramp leading to her home on elevated ground. It had two thick tall trees full of green leaves and no immediate neighbors.
She parked her moped by the door and had to go through a few steps to leave it be, consisting of flipping off the engine switch by the right handlebar and doing the same with the fuel valve switch on the bike's frame. She kickstanded the bike afterward and slipped its key in her bag, then entered her residence.
Cassidy was finally closed off from civilization and in solitude, where she could lower her wall.
She washed in the restroom by her room, shook off her boots, took off her pack and Pokétch and set both on the bed, and threw herself onto it without getting undressed. She'd wash her bedding and outfit in the laundry room tomorrow and let her pokémon out in a while, but Cassidy would unwind for now.
A medium-sized TV sat on a dresser ahead of her, a wooden wardrobe sat against the wall, and a nightstand with a lamp was by her bed, all of which had come with the place. She had no motivation to decorate, so her room was bland.
Some bottles were lying around, along with a few used clothing items and a stack of books in a corner; she kept her window curtained most of the time, especially because her sleep schedule was non-existent. Cassidy either slept through the night after a long day or stayed up and slept off and on throughout the day.
Cassidy grabbed the TV remote from under her pillow and pointed it at the receiver beside the box, turning it on. What appeared was the same channel she'd watched a few days prior. A commercial advertising four-door sedans and pick-up trucks priced at fifty percent off at a dealer that had recently opened around Kalos played.
Many vehicle dealers were forced to shut down in the past couple of years due to there being no true market or need for them, but sales and demand across the region for cars and trucks were beginning to see gradual rises and falls.
It was a volatile business to put money and faith into; however, new manufacturers came onto the scene constantly with their own vehicles and ideas for beneficial features a mount couldn't supply in hopes that something would stick. Cassidy foresaw the shift and change coming after these companies found a way to budge the stubborn and skeptical.
After the next commercial, which was an upcoming concert by a famous pop artist that would take place at a theater in Lumiose, the screen faded to a movie halfway over starring Diantha. She was an eminent actress who frequented Unova and its Pokéstar Studios to star in major high-budget films.
That wasn't particularly what Cassidy admired about her, however. Diantha was also the champion of the Kalos League talented in many ways and a respectable woman who'd achieved grand success, from how she carried herself to being an inspiration to aspiring young trainers— girls especially.
Diantha trained her pokémon without flaw, and her battles were impressive and interesting to watch and learn from.
Close to an hour had passed; Cassidy got up to let all her pokémon out to experience well-deserved freedom.
She ditched her jacket and gloves and ate two toasted bagels since she hadn't eaten adequately since battling Korrina other than snacks that she'd bought when stopping to refuel.
She was currently outside under a fading sun. It spread a warm, gentle layer across the sky and rested on passing clouds, the town's surrounding ocean, rivers, and active waterfalls. It brought a magical shimmer to the liquid hitting the water that filled the air with dissipating mist.
The sun also set its dying rays on the town's structures and pavement.
The town prepared to sleep as warned. Small, family-run shops and restaurants served evening shoppers, dine-in and take-out customers. They also fed the wild pokémon of Couriway scraps and end-of-the-day food.
Cassidy was busy rinsing her bike using a hose hooked up to the house from the long drive she'd taken, meanwhile, a cloth in her other hand. Riding through various terrain for hours had dirtied it.
The bike was a gift from her parents on her thirteenth birthday so she could get around and explore with ease, although she couldn't ride until having turned fifteen by law. Motorbikes and automobiles were cheap buys back then as there had been no demand, so her parents invested for her.
Cassidy thanked them eternally for it. She'd channeled enough strength when she was of age to earn her license in Lumiose, which she kept in her pack.
She dropped the hose after rinsing its body and crouched beside the moped, scrubbing hardened mud and blades of grass off its rear mudguard. Cassidy soon got to its front half and ran the cloth over a deep scratch on the front wheel's guard multiple times that wouldn't budge. "Non... (No...)" She put more pressure into scrubbing as if the repeated action would remove it but stopped after a few moments, dropping the cloth and running her finger over the scratch.
"Where did it come from?" She drove cautiously everywhere she went and avoided damaging it to the best of her ability. Cassidy knew she couldn't keep it spotless, but Arceus, it hurt to see it damaged at all. She took a deep breath and sat beside it. It wasn't the end of the world. As long as she still had it and it worked, it was fine.
While Cassidy was outside, Fenny sat on the couch in the living room, his upper body leaning against its arm.
Cassidy's gardevoir sat on the opposing side and had been glancing at him. She finally turned slightly to face him. 'What's bothering you, Fenny?'
He turned his head and glimpsed at her. They could also communicate using psychic.
'It's... It's nothing, Garna.'
'Are you sure?'
'It's just, I used to be so close to Cassidy before I evolved. Our bond isn't there anymore... It's distant.' Fenny started to sink until he sat up to correct it. 'I don't know why she did it. I don't know why it's been bothering me so much...'
'You can still communicate with her, can you not?' she questioned, and Fenny nodded. 'So, have you told her about this?'
'I… I can't. It'd get awkward and make everything worse. What if she shuns me even more or something?'
'You won't know until you try, dear. Give it some thought. There's no point in holding onto pain.'
Right after Garna's encouragement, Cassidy entered and sat between them on the couch with a light huff. "We'll train some more in a day or two. I know everyone needs to recover, so we won't rush." She leaned back, then glanced at Fenny, whose eyes were on here. "Hm?" She turned to acknowledge him, but he turned away after she did.
Fenny had frozen mentally at the mere consideration of bringing his feelings up to Cassidy. he did every single time.
It ate at his mind even after nightfall came some hours later. He had no idea why it was plaguing him so much recently.
He was on the couch and couldn't stretch since Garna was against the arm. Fenny usually slept in Cassidy's bed but couldn't tonight. Violet, her liepard, was likely sprawled across the bottom of it, anyway.
He pulled his tail from between his legs and hugged it. Fenny would have to address it sooner or later, but the horror of losing Cassidy for good struck him with a sense of dread.
He closed his eyes, attempting to fall into what would become a subpar sleep.