The Water Star

  Rain was pouring down on Clearcloud Island like a Wailord’s after-splash.

  Luvia sat sullenly inside her room, watching the sky through the fogged-up windows.

  Rain. That’s what her name meant in an ancient Hoennian dialect, back when people still spoke a hundred different languages.

  She had never much liked the rain. It often came too strong and too violent. Forced everyone indoors, too dangerous for any sort of outdoor fun. It bored Luvia to tears, bored her to sleep. The constant noise it made as it pelted and barraged against the roof of their home drowned everything else out.

  It was bearable when she had Ziggy to keep her company, but lately, something had changed with him. It was so obvious.

  Ziggy had stopped playing with her. He had stopped eating from her hand. But worst of all, he had stopped following her around.

  It had been three days since something happened.

  She had woken up last Monday morning feeling strange but happy. In fact, much happier than usual. She’d dreamt she was paddle boarding atop a crystal blue ocean with her sister, and feeling inexplicably at home even though there was no land visible whatsoever. She could see through the water all the way to the bottom as if the depths were lit from within. All kinds of swimmers were down there, schools of magikarp and goldeen, wailmer and staryu, basculin and tentacruel, all part of the same water. All like one big family.

  That’s the best she had ever felt in the water. Inside a dream.

  The real ocean was beautiful from a distance and scary when you were in it. If you didn’t have your own water-type pokémon to look out for you, it was outright dangerous. It was dark below the surface, and the swells of water that looked cute from afar were like giant beasts up close, threatening to push you in whichever way they pleased.

  Luvia was fourteen, and a Zigzagoon named Ziggy and a Linoone called Bincy were all the pokémon she had lived with. Ziggy belonged to her mother, and Bincy to her father, who spent his time away in the mainland, working for many months at a time.

  Her sister, Neela, was twenty-two, and by the time summer officially rolled in, she too would be travelling to the mainland for work. It was only a few days away now.

  That upset Luvia. Upset her enough to feel a knot in her throat any time she saw her sister anywhere near a suitcase. But they had known it would happen eventually, so she had come to accept it.

  What upset her beyond acceptance was Ziggy’s behavior.

  Why had he stopped liking her? Why had he stopped sleeping on her bed? Why had he stopped following her to the beach or helping her look for nut-berries and mushrooms in the woods?

  “Don’t worry, dear, I’m sure it won’t last long,” her mother had said, but Luvia didn’t believe her. She knew something had changed. The way Ziggy communicated with her was proof of it. Before, she could tell what Ziggy was thinking, how he was feeling – all of it. Now, the young Zigzagoon had become almost unreadable. Like a stranger.

  Neela thought it had to do with age – Ziggy was maturing from puppyhood into his teenager phase or something or rather. Hanging out with children was becoming less cool.

  “But I’m a teenager too!” Luvia had complained.

  “But he still sees you how he did when you were six. People mature slower than pokémon, silly.”

  It sucked. It really sucked.

  She’d be left behind with her mother and grandmother whilst Neela joined Dad in the mainland, in a city with huge shops, and tall buildings, and full of cars and all sorts of different people… all whilst having to bear being shunned by a pokémon she had known for more than half her life.

  She let herself fall back on her bed and watched the ceiling as the rain continued to pelt against the roof.

  I need to get out of here too. I’ll just die if I stay here like this…

  Mom and Nana were good. The best. They taught her to sew, to wash, to cook, and everything she knew about running a household.

  They were a small family. The seven of them were it.

  Five of them if she took into account that her father and Bincy were only home twice a year for a couple of weeks each time.

  Four of them if she considered that Neela would be leaving them by the end of the week.

  Three of them if she supposed that Ziggy would continue to treat her like a stranger.

  Something had happened.

  She rolled on her tummy, burrowed her face into the pillow, and yelled in frustration. She didn’t think she could bear it much longer.

  Then in barged her older sister, wearing nothing but a towel, damp hair over one shoulder.

  Anyone could tell they were sisters at a glance. They both had the same deep brown, sun-streaked hair, and the same ocean-blue eyes. The same tan skin, fit for an islander, and the same strong, athletic physique, though Neela stood a whole head taller than Luvia. They also had the same fiery tempers when you got on the wrong side of them.

  Luvia saw Ziggy paw his way across the open door, behind Neela, and her frustration flared.

  Now the Zigzagoon had started following Neela around instead. Neela who had never paid him much mind.

  “Close the door,” Luvia said, glaring past her sister at the open door.

  She wouldn’t let Ziggy in like this. Not when he was behaving this way. Not following someone else around.

  Neela looked surprised for a moment, turned to the door, and looked down at Ziggy, who had sat on his haunches and was looking into the room impassively with those wide brown eyes. She shut the door on the ZIgzagoon with a smile growing on her lips.

  “Don’t be angry with him, Luvy. He’s not doing it to be mean,” Neela said.

  Luvia looked away and said nothing. Ziggy’s intentions didn’t matter to her. The only thing that mattered was that she was being abandoned. Already by her father, now by Ziggy, and within a few days, by Neela too.

  Neela sat on the bed next to Luvia and the two of them sat in silence for a few long seconds before Luvia’s patience ran out and she shifted, turning to her sister with an irritated frown that made her eyebrows sore.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” she complained.

  Neela kept staring, thin smile never leaving her lips.

  “Do you want to come with me?”

  A sudden nervous flush rushed through Luvia. Her heart hammered in her chest. Cautiously, she replied, “Where?”

  She felt a glimmer of hope. Like a light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel.

  “To pick Dad up.”

  …

  The light at the end of the tunnel disappeared, but Luvia was still too confused to do anything but sit up on her bed and watch her sister’s face for any sign that a prank of some kind was being pulled.

  “Dad’s coming? Why?”

  Their father normally spent only a few weeks in Sowing Spring and Harvest Summer with them at the island. Both times were at different ends of the year. He never came during the mid-year summer.

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  Neela leaned in close, and lowered her voice to a whisper.

  “Don’t tell anyone – it’s meant to be a surprise,” Neela said, peering into Luvia’s eyes, waiting for her to swear it.

  Luvia nodded. “I won’t. Just tell me.”

  …

  Neela leaned closer, right by Luvia’s ear.

  “He’s bringing a present for you.”

  The violent downpours that pelted Clearcloud Island didn’t last too long – thirty or forty minutes usually. It was when the rain came light and spitting that it could go on for hours and hours on end.

  The two sisters got ready, wearing their rain jackets and crocs incase another deluge decided to fall on the island, and left home after a hot seaweed soup breakfast. Neela had told Nana and their mother that they were going into town to pick out a few more clothes for her to take with her to the mainland.

  Luvia couldn’t stop thinking about what her present would be. Had Dad really come just for that?

  As they walked through the drenched, sandy paths towards the island’s only port, Neela explained.

  “I told him how miserable you’ve looked the past month, and now that Ziggy’s being all weird with you, I just couldn’t leave my silly, little sister like that…”

  Luvia was walking with her jacket's hood up, watching the ground thoughtfully as she listened.

  “He wants to see you before we leave you all alone with Mom and Nana.”

  Those words stung.

  Dad wasn’t coming to take her with them. Neela would leave for the mainland, and Luvia would stay behind. And that would be that.

  She doubted her father’s gift or presence would give her much peace. In fact, she was sure it’d make her feel even worse after they left.

  She kept her head facing down as the walked, hiding the tears welling up in her eyes.

  Neela embraced her, annoyingly worming a hand around Luvia’s ribs and tickling. Luvia let out a short, angry, involuntary laugh and pulled away. It made her feel only slightly better.

  “Don’t do that, Neela! I hate it when you do that! I’m fine!”

  Neela blew a razzberry. “You’ll get to come when you’re a little older, you know that right? You and Mom and Nana. Dad’s been saving to buy a nice house in Slateport City, and now that I’ll be working, we’ll have the money up sooner.”

  “Whatever…”

  Neela shook her head, still smiling. “I wonder what your silly face will look like when you see what Dad’s brought for you.”

  Luvia sniffed, ran the back of her hand across her eyes, and muttered without looking up, “What is it?”

  “You’ll see.”

  They reached the docks some quarter-hour later when the tide was starting to recede. Port Clearcloud had no deepwater harbor which meant that commercial-class cruisers needed to stop a mile offshore and any passengers stopping at Clearcloud would need to board smaller boats to reach the island.

  Some people, especially touring trainers, came in riding or surfing on their pokémon instead, and that was always a sight to see. Some of them had even been Luvia’s age.

  She heard that going on a journey was common for mainlanders. The mainland had gyms and highways, and actual Pokémon Centers – not the old-fashioned infirmaries that were littered across Clearcloud Island. There really wasn’t a single pokéball healing incubator on the entire island. Even pokéballs themselves cost almost twice as much as they did on the mainland. Luvia would need to save her pocket money every week for three months before she could afford to buy a single one of those things.

  They had never been in much demand anyway. Islanders befriended pokémon the old-fashioned way. By feeding them. The shops around the island sold plenty of snacks for that.

  There were a few Wingull that knew her, a few Lotad and Goldeen around the big ponds that knew whenever she showed up, it was snacking time. They’d squawk and grunt and whistle at her happily, but she had never felt the need to keep them with her. To catch them. Ziggy used to go with her everywhere, and though he technically belonged to her mother, it was more apt to say he was hers.

  Not anymore though. Now he was anyone’s but hers. Any notion of going on a real journey with him had been pulled right from under her before she could even understand why. The paradox was that the lack of options made her daydream about it even more.

  When they reached the docks, the sisters immediately spotted their father and Bincy. Neela ran out to greet them. Luvia found herself smiling now, unable to feel miserable when she saw her father’s homely face.

  He was a slender man with jet black hair that had started graying and laugh lines around the corners of his mouth. Like most islanders, he had that ruddy tan to his skin and like both his daughters, deep blue eyes like sea opals. He was beaming with delight as he embraced Neela, showering her with big fat kisses on the forehead.

  Bincy had grown bigger. The Linoone reached Neela’s waist with ease as she stood up on her hind legs, and began to frantically nip at Neela playfully.

  She was Ziggy’s mother. Laid the egg in secret before her and dad left the island all those years ago. Zigzagoon and Linoone were once touted as Hoenn’s best homestay pokémon. They were very adaptable, great for guarding against pests, and good with kids.

  Luvia was happy to see Bincy. The smile had reached her eyes now.

  “Luvy, my sweet!” her father called, squeezing an arm around Neela and holding the other toward her.

  “Hi, Dad,” Luvia said, joining her father's embrace and beginning to blush from the surprise of seeing him so unexpectedly.

  She held out her hand toward Bincy, who was a pure bundle of excitement. Bincy sniffed her hand, gave it one lick, and… that was it.

  The Linoone continued to jump on Neela like the latter had just come back from war.

  As her father beamed and chuckled, and as Neela squealed happily at Bincy’s loving assault, Luvia’s brows crinkled, and something in her gut twisted uncomfortably.

  She reached out again toward Bincy, still busy nipping at Neela’s waist, and petted the frantic Linoone on the head.

  Bincy snapped at her hand, giving it a playful nip, then… that was it. Back to Neela.

  Luvia felt like screaming. She latched onto her father. Hard. Buried her face in his chest and fought to urge to cry. She lost that fight. It was all coming down on her.

  She sobbed into her father’s chest, and her father chuckled, probably under the illusion that she was laughing along with them.

  After a minute, when she was still clinging tightly onto her father, the playing stopped, the laughing stopped, and all she could hear was the mumbling chatter of other people at the port, and the constant cries of wingull sounding from the clearing sky.

  “Luvy, what’s wrong?” her father said firmly, both hands on her shoulders. Neela was quiet.

  Luvia didn’t answer for the longest moment, then, “They hate me!” she sobbed.

  “No, they don’t!” Neela immediately cried out, but Luvia was sure that her elder sister just didn’t understand. She didn’t understand that something had changed. Something had definitely changed ever since she woke up that Monday morning. Ever since she had awoken from that vivid and perfect ocean dream.

  “Who hates her?” their father asked, voice grave now.

  Neela did Luvia the favor of explaining.

  “I told you about how Ziggy’s acting weird with her. It’s just that, Dad.”

  Their father let out a huff. “Oh…” He chuckled, patting Luvia on the back, then he grabbed a handful of her hair and began sniffing her head.

  “Are you still using repel spray on your hair, Luvy?”

  Neela rang with laughter and Luvia squeezed harder, whining like a baby into her father’s chest.

  That had been once. Once when she went to the woods with a few neighborhood friends, and when Ziggy was still a hatchling that could barely leave their home’s compound. Luvia and some friends had sprayed their hair with repel spray to keep a nasty Lombre at bay. It used to bait people that passed by its woodland pond, blowing harmless bubbles for their amusement before sneaking up on them and using Astonish to freak them out, hoping they’d drop valuable items. You could never see it sneaking up on you which is why Luvia and her friends resorted to repel spray.

  They found Lombre’s hoard that day, a mound-sized pile of junk full of snack wrappers, a few spoilt cameras, soiled clothes, lots of coins and paper notes, a few plates and picnic baskets, and even a few broken pokéballs.

  It was said that some pokémon trainer dealt with it after some islanders put up reward for getting rid of it.

  Luvia remembered it fondly, though at the time, she disliked it just as much as the next guy.

  “Just tell her what the gift is, Dad,” Neela said with an excited edge to her voice.

  He gave Luvia a squeeze on the shoulder as he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

  “I’ve brought your very own, Luvy. Let me see your smile.”

  Luvia’s heart was hammering in her chest, her head was pounding. She didn’t want to look him in the face.

  “My own what…” she mumbled, face still buried.

  “Look at me first, Luvy.”

  Luvy slowly, sourly, reluctantly looked up at her father’s face, feeling like she wanted to sink into the ground and never come up.

  Both her sister and father laughed at the sorry state of her face, red, puffed up, and teary eyed. Her dad gave her a big fat kiss on the forehead and began to remove his backpack. Bincy began to whine, looking up at them curiously.

  Luvia blinked and rubbed her eyes dry all while her heart raced a mile a minute.

  She caught a glimpse of it.

  A pokéball.

  Her father set his backpack down and brought up a miniaturized pokéball up to Luvia’s eye level.

  Her mind was blank. All she could do was frown.

  Her father pressed a button, and the ball grew to normal size.

  It was a white-on-white pokéball with a bright red central rim. She had never seen a pokéball like that.

  “I was meant to give this to you before we left in two days’ time, but I fear what’ll happen if we wait that long.” He held it out to his youngest daughter. “Here, Luvy. Your very own.”

  Luvia forgot about everything that had happened before that point. As if jolted by an electric current, her body moved on its own. She watched as her arm extended, and as her fingers curled around the ball on her father’s palm.

  “There’s snot coming out of your nose, Luvy,” Neela laughed. “Gosh! I should have brought my camera!”

  Luvia sniffed and rubbed her nose with the sleeve of her jacket, not taking her eyes off the white-on-white pokéball snared within her hand.

  After staring at it for the longest time, she looked up at her father. His eyebrows were drawn up expectantly and with a tinge of uncertainty.

  Luvia rushed back at him and hugged him feeling a cocktail of emotions that were just too much to process.

  “Awww,” Neela cooed, joining the hug. “You can’t complain anymore, Luvy – you got your own pokémon before your big sister.”

  Luvia gave a soppy laugh then. They hadn’t even left yet and she already missed them. Painfully.

  She did her best to not spoil the mood again.

  “What pokémon is it?” she mumbled, unable to keep the shakiness from her voice.

  “Let it out – find out!” her father said encouragingly.

  “She better love it!” Neela squeaked.

  Luvia fumbled with the ball, her fingers feeling like weak noodles. She let out another snot-filled, soppy laugh, fresh tears blurring her eyes.

  “Ewww!” said Neela. “Get a grip, Luvy!”

  Luvia snorted like a grumpig, the laughter caught high up in her throat. She was so happy. She was so sad.

  Bincy whined impatiently right as Luvia found the button to release the pokémon inside.

  She tossed the ball a few feet in front of them and watched with wonder as the form of her very own pokémon shone. Bright cyan sparkles glinted around it in a way she had never seen in a pokémon emerging from its pokéball.

  The moment the lights faded and the pokémon became visible, it locked eyes with Luvia and the girl felt … strong.