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Julie had managed to get good enough sleep on a full stomach with minimal tossing and turning and woke up early the next morning, yawning and stretching her arms while hearing a couple of subtle cracks.

Today was the day.

Her blanket was below her chest, which she tugged on and tried pulling up to her neck to no avail. Julie lifted her head and looked down at Lilly kneading the blanket by her legs, purring while staring at her with a typically lazy, unconcerned gaze. Julie lay back and sighed. Lilly was rarely in her bed during the mornings. Maybe the liepard needed a break and some rest from the outdoors. Julie had to get up anyway, which she eventually convinced herself to do.

She was dressed in fifteen; to get a break from her hair, Julie had bundled it into a low ponytatail.

She had taken the ride to school to gather her composure and was approaching the doors. Hopefully, today would play out like any other. Afterschool was the only thing Julie wanted to focus on besides her daily lectures, but just her luck, someone stood by the school's entrance. “Ricky…”

As she entered, he caught sight of her.

“W-Wait, Julie!” he blurted as she was about to pass him.

Julie stopped and looked at him.

“Julie, look, I'm... I'm really sorry for what I did to you at your locker. I was kind of hurt and upset that you rejected me so quickly. I wanted to thank you for not telling Willam the things I said to you. You had every right to."

She shrugged and twirled one of the drawstrings on her jacket. “It's whatever. I'm over it."

“Well, c-could, you ever forgive me for that, Julie?”

“I can. I accept your apology."

“Thank y–”

“But..." She kept her tone flat. "We're not friends, and you're never getting another chance at asking me out, but still, I appreciate it." With that, Julie kept walking.

Okay, maybe that last comment was unnecessary. Ricky had opened up to her and admitted his wrongdoing, and she'd punched him in the gut for it. It annoyed her that she felt bad for a mild jab she'd taken at someone who'd called her a slut and shoved her to the floor in front of the entire school.

Julie got her items and sat in her first class, chatting with Max and Jane. She had her open notebook and pencil ready before her on her desk.

Miss Vasella was going to cover Almia and Johto today, which made Julie think more about where she’d go once through with school.

There were plenty of regions, but Julie had to choose one to experience. It would be reasonably expensive, after all. She could visit Kanto again, but that was right next door. Julie wanted to travel far away on a ferry to a region vastly different from Johto. She fought between Unova and Sinnoh and would have to research more.

Julie looked ahead as the teacher entered with her regional history text and laptop as usual, dressed in a navy button-up and black pants.

"Morning, class." Miss Vasella went and set the book down at her desk, then stood at the whiteboard and grabbed the eraser to wipe it clean from yesterday's lecture. "If you all recall, we will be touching more on the marvelous Almia and delving deeper into what we've learned about our region over the last week. Remember, starting Monday, we'll begin covering Paldea, which will be a major portion of our final.

I brought a question about Johto that we learned a couple of classes ago for anyone willing to answer." She looked around at tired eyes before continuing. "Who can tell me— succinctly, why the Whirl Islands are split into four parts, creating a spiral?"

Julie shot her hand up. She'd researched the frick out of that and every island there after reading the passage in her book. She recalled almost every detail like it was yesterday. It had been one of the most interesting and astounding historical events she'd read.

"Come on. Give them a chance, Jules." Jane giggled.

"Trust me. They'll have one," Julie replied with a slight grin and glanced at her, sitting up in her chair slightly to raise her hand higher.

Miss Vasella glossed over Julie and looked around for more hands that had yet to show. "They're located between Olivine and Cianwood City. I want to see hands," she said, mimicking the action with hers before letting her arm fall. She saw one shoot up in the second row to the left. "Gale!" She smiled. "Go ahead."

He scratched his head and sat up in his seat. "It... Lugia. Lugia did it to stop the war happening on the island between two regions." He sat back, clearing his throat.

The teacher's smile faltered slightly. "That's correct, but I'm seeking a more descriptive response." She looked to Julie, whose hand was back up, and sighed under her breath. "Go ahead, Julie."

Julie lowered it and glanced at the eyes around her. "Lugia shattered the island into four sections with strikes of, uh, lightning after Ransei and Johto fought over it for weeks, resulting in much death the legendary couldn't handle... Afterward, Lugia, uh, vanished permanently behind the waterfall basin."

"The legendary is said to reside deep under the sea from that day onward in fear of its own destructive capabilities." Miss Vasella smiled again. "Good work, Julie. I didn't set up slides, so we'll be using the traditional method today." She turned to the whiteboard and grabbed a black marker from the shelf underneath, where she drew four vague outlines of each major island and dotted a few smaller ones around them.

"Now, the four major islands are Red Rock, Silver Rock, Yellow Rock, and Blue Point Isle. Minor ones include Ogi and Pudgey Pidgey Isle." She wrote the names above their corresponding outlines. "Civilization is present in the forms of towns, cities, and villages, all with their own traditions and aspects which make them unique. However, all are taught to appreciate and praise Lugia for what they have and celebrate a holiday called Sea Day. It's dedicated to the legendary and all water types that many of us around Johto honor, as does the entire region when it comes to the Day of Rebirth."

The holidays held parades and festivals around the region in celebration of the skies and Ho-oh's mythical ability to raise the dead. Rebirth Day was held toward the end of the year on the final day Ho-oh was seen by humanity hundreds of years before the Ecruteak tower ordeal. The day spread collective joy across the region, as the legendary was believed to appear only before those with pure hearts, blessing the soul of whoever witnessed it with eternal happiness.

Julie rested her chin on her palm and leaned in.

Miss Vasella turned to face the class. "For instance, many of the southwest island, Yellow Rock Isle's traditions, are rooted in the pokémon known as corsola. Its residents construct homes atop their massive nests and coexist with the pokémon, even considering the corsola a member of their family. There is a deep respect held for the species there.

Conservation groups preserve their habitats and ensure that people treat their nests with care. It is also known that many aspiring pokémedics move to this island for work, as positions are prolific and tasked mainly with caring for the nearly one thousand corsola occupying the island and its surrounding waters."

"One thousand corsola?" she whispered. How many medics would that require to upkeep? Now she wondered how many currently worked on the island.

"And we mustn't forget about the single tradition that popularized the islands and brings them all together every three years. This event is televised globally for the world to witness and complete with parties and celebrations spread across every town and city within the Whirl archipelago."

Miss Vasella turned briefly to write: 'The Whirl Cup' beside the outline of Red Rock Isle to the northwest. "Trainers passionate about the water and who have well-trained water type pokémon travel from regions all over the globe to participate in the competition or get front-row seats. The competition is hosted at Red Rock at the Whirl Cup Colosseum. Sea Priestess of the islands, Maya, hosts the event by summoning what is called the Sea Spirit Union. It combines the energy of every existing water-type pokémon to bring honor and breathe life into it. Maya's crucial responsibility is keeping the tradition and its teachings alive."

She paused to take a breath. "The competition lasts for approximately six days. It boils down to the trainer that has the strongest pokémon and is the most connected with it through tireless battling. Maya herself awards the winner the Mystic Water pendant, a prestigious item, and grants them the title of a 'New Sea Hero.' Her closing quote— I have it memorized word for word, is as follows. I'll write it out. Ensure you jot this in your notes."

Julie knew of the pendant and was enamored with it. Unfortunately, she'd never own one. Many wouldn't since they had to be the toughest trainer among the toughest of trainers, which brought the pendant so much value. It was a gorgeous piece that would make her current collection pop.

Julie watched the teacher turn and write quotation marks, mumbling the passage as the teacher wrote it out and bringing up her pencil to write it out afterward, "O, Great... Sea Spirit and... past Heroes... of the Sea, continue to watch... over the Whirl Cup competition... and safeguard the harmony... of all humans and pokémon alike." Very heartwarming; it made her grin.

Julie added the Whirl Islands to her mental bucket list. It was already there from when she'd last researched it, but now it was twice over.

---

“You seem like the type of trainer that would hate keeping their pokémon in poké balls.”

“Maybe I am. I don’t see a reason if I only own one or two, and it's unnecessary captivity," Julie replied to Alyssa, speaking over the buzzing around them.

They sat at one of the empty cafeteria tables after having finished lunch while students sat around them, dumped trays, and left the room to prepare for classes.

A few sat alone, and others sat in groups ranging from small to large.

One could guess which Leia was in: a fairly large group mostly comprising girls who kissed up to her and boys who fawned over her, although she had a boyfriend, which was one of the jocks sitting beside her.

“Anti-pokéball... I mean, I get the stance." Alyssa sat back. "Anyway. I've decided I'm gonna have a full party and may challenge the gyms with 'em, and I've added one to my roster. I also need a haunter."

“That’ll be a lot of traveling and catching and… training. Just don’t ask me to babysit all six of your scary pokémon.”

“You won’t need to. They’ll be in poké balls.”

That brought a brief giggle out of Julie.

"And speaking of... you know the, uh, Pokémon Academy over in Violet City?"

"Yeah-huh? Where the aspiring trainers and curious kids all go to understand pokémon." Julie wasn't invested enough in pokémon to attend, but it did hold a portion of her interest.

Alyssa shrugged. "I was looking into it and thought it could be a good place to go. A lot of famous trainers graduated from there. I also don't think my stupid SAT score will affect me getting accepted there too much, either."

"Hm." Julie giggled. "Alyssa researching something?"

"Whatever..." she muttered and shifted her eyes away.

"Hey." She stopped and eyed her, reaching her hand across the table and placing it atop hers. "No, but that sounds great, seriously. Did you tell your parents yet? They'll be happy that you're setting up a future."

"Not exactly; I don't think they'll be too happy, actually, but we'll see. I'm not ready to break it to them."

"You could also try for Uva Academy in Paldea. They have the highest-rated battle studies and battle communications program out there."

"Julie, I'm barely asking them about the one in Violet, and Uva would reject me in a heartbeat. You know that. I'm actually surprised it isn't on your radar."

"It would be if it had a better regional history program than Castelia. Uva surpasses it in every other metric, but I want the best history degree I can get."

"Makes sense. Anyway, you ready to revisit the office?”

Julie pulled her hand away. “About as ready as I was last time and then some.”

“Remember our talk. No desperate stuff, and just have confidence. You want that umbreon. You’ll take care of him better than the next guy, but— don’t let that fill your head and start begging or anything. Seriously.” Alyssa got up from the table and took one last swig from her milk carton to finish it. She dropped it on her tray consisting of a now empty carton and bread from today's sandwiches. “Basically... be less like you and more like me."

Julie only stared at her.

"Joke." She slightly stuck her tongue out and bit it. "I’ll be in front of the office when you’re out of your last class. See 'ya then."

"Funny..." Julie mumbled. She watched her jog away. Alyssa was always taking off somewhere.

Julie stayed at the table for a while after, taking in what advice Alyssa had given her. "Right again."

---

Julie and Alyssa stood by the door to the office after school had ended for the day.

“I can't do this, Alyssa." Julie grimaced. "Oh— what am I supposed to say in there?”

“What you feel is right. I can’t help you much there." Alyssa gripped Julie’s shoulders and stared into her eyes. "But keep my astounding advice in mind.”

“Okay… Okay, I guess I’ll go in now." Julie hugged Alyssa’s waist. “Thanks bunches."

“Go get 'im.” Alyssa patted her back.

“Can’t believe this.” Julie pushed the door open.

“Ah, Julie. He’s expecting you. You may pass," Mrs. Emery said with a smile.

“Thank you, ma'am." She grinned and walked to the principal’s door, grabbing its handle with a quivering hand and turning it. After a second, Julie pushed it open.

As expected, Mr. Willam sat at his desk, but what stole her breath and made her eyes go wide was Midnight sitting to the left of it; Midnight's expression mirrored hers.

“I'm glad you could make it, Julie. You may stand there. Just… shut the door, if you may," the principal said, and Julie did. “We discussed the other day that you were interested in taking Midnight. Now, I believe strongly in destiny and wouldn’t give him to anyone he couldn’t connect with.” Mr. Willam nodded once.

Julie eyed him, then shifted to Midnight.

She crouched and held out her hand.

He fixed his gaze on Julie, standing while his rings started revving up. He walked to her without hesitation and tilted his head up, nuzzling her palm.

Julie's lips parted to a slow, full smile. She couldn’t hide it. Forget a simple addiction. Midnight turned her blood itself into sugar.

Mr. Willam wore bewilderment. Shock. “I— well... you two must already be well acquainted with each other?”

“A bit. I, uh, see him in the halls a lot, and we meet at my locker between classes. He's helped me get through my year," Julie replied. "He's like... a best friend to me."

“He... hm. Well, he seems to be fond of you and vice versa. Have you any prior experience with owning pokémon?”

Julie stood. “I own a liepard that my mother and I have taken good care of for years now.”

“Hmm." He cleared his throat. "Four families, two dedicated trainers, and even hospitals have contacted me for Midnight, but Arceus, I can’t possibly get in the way of this." He pushed up his glasses. "It's clear he knows who he wants. Look at his rings..." He leaned forward in his chair. "You graduate in two months, correct?”

“Correct, sir." She suppressed the burst of happiness building within.

“How about this… So you can focus on your final days at this school, why don’t I give Midnight to you on the day of graduation?"

“That s-sounds great. Thank you, sir.”

“And thank you for making the rehoming process easier for me. No paperwork and traveling involved." He chuckled heartily. "Good luck with your studies."

"Thank you again... I appreciate you allowing me to have him. You didn't have to give him to me, sir."

He shook his head and threw his hands up, smiling back. "Oh, but I did. We both saw a miracle take place between human and pokémon. These creatures are very much capable of choosing their trainers but rarely get that option. I don't believe enough people consider it. Their feelings matter too."

"I agree, sir. I really do."

After leaving the office and entering the hall, Julie leaned against the wall, an ear-to-ear grin playing across her lips.

“So, what happened?” Alyssa asked while eyeing Julie's expression.

“I got himm!” Julie pulled her into the tightest hug with a little squeal, tears welling in her eyes.

“F-For real?" She spoke with a slight wheeze.

“Yes! Right after graduation.”

“Damn, congrats. That's so close." Alyssa took a breath after Julie released her. "I knew it was in you."

They received a few glances from a couple of students who had come down the hall and entered the office.

“I have him— guaranteed." Julie wiped her eyes with her sleeve and sniffled. Every night now, she would anticipate holding him in her arms permanently; she had no problem waiting for that day. She would work hard on every assignment and ace every test.

---

"What are the odds that this ended in my favor, like honestly?" Julie asked as they exited the Pokémon Center later that afternoon with two waters and mounted their bikes.

"Feels like a dream, huh?" Alyssa shrugged. "I wouldn't question it. Some things are just fate... or extreme luck, but either way, you did take the biggest risk in risk history."

"I couldn't imagine the result if I hadn't stepped into that office..."

"Needed a push. That was all."

"It wouldn't be the first time you've pushed me. I owe you for it."

Alyssa opened and sipped her water. "Only thing you owe me is your friendship; I don't think that's going anywhere."

Julie grinned. "Never."