Part I~

St.Owl sat on the seat in her train, hurriedly finishing up the last question on her math worksheet before they hit her stop. By the other end of the car, some people were playing music– a performance with a Hitmonlee. She shoved her red folder back into her backpack just as the cool female voice announced her stop.

It was a rather cool Spring morning, and St.Owl had been careless in choosing to only wear a sweater to school that day. At least she'd be getting home soon, where it would be warm.

Espurr clutched her blond hair, riding on St.'s head. It could quite as easily have floated alongside her with its psychic ability, but it much prefered being close and safe to her. She supposed it was slightly her fault; St.Owl had first met Espurr when it was about to get attacked by wild Raticate and had been overly protective of it since.

As she was stepping out of the station, her backpack suddenly gave a wild jerk, making St.Owl topple towards the wall. However, she was used to this behavior and quickly shrugged the bulk off of her back, bending over, unzipping it, and snatching what attempted to zoom out.

"Ha!" she couldn't help shouting, clutching the struggling Pokemon in her hands. Klefki shook and fought, but couldn't escape her tight grip. "I know what you're up to, and you're going back into that Pokeball right now!"
St.Owl bent down, grabbing the Pokeball and repeatedly trying to make Klefki return. But it fought hard, and with a particular wild jerk, it shot into the air and towards the nearest person, who stumbled over backwards, trying to fend off the Pokemon.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" St. cried, running towards the victim. She saw quickly what Klefki was after: the girl wore large glasses, sparking in the sun. She pried her Pokemon off the stranger and left the rest to Espurr, who quickly restrained Klefki with its psychic ability.

"I'm so sorry," said St.Owl. "That's my Klefki– it really loves shiny things, it's always going out of control. I'm really sorry– is there anything I can do–?"
"It's okay," replied the other person, adjusting her glasses.

St.Owl hesitated, unsure of what else to say. But at that moment, Espurr gave a cry, and another person marched up to them. Her hair was dirty blond, cut in a bob shorter than St.'s (which was shoulder-length), pretty tall for her age– middle school, St.Owl estimated. 

"Excuse me!" she demanded, not really sounding very polite at all. "Is this your Pokemon?"

Klefki at least had the decency to look a little guilty. It was holding an abundance of coins in its hands, which was pooling out onto the ground. St.Owl swore. "Yeah, that's mine . . . I'm sorry, it's not what it looks like."
Both she and Espurr cave Klefki withering looks, and she took the Pokemon back, looked it straight in the face, and said, "If you run off one more time, I'm not letting you out of your Pokeball for a week."

It made a face at her. Espurr grabbed its keyring and kept it there.

"I'm really sorry for the trouble," St.Owl continued. "Klefki's not very well trained yet. I caught it only a little while ago . . . it was responsible for all those mysterious jewelry robberies, remember those?"
The second girl, who wore a green beanie, nodded, but the first shook her head. "I just moved here, I don't know anything."
"Oh. Well, Klefki did a lot of stealing as a wild Pokemon. And it's not good at breaking habits, apparently."
"I get you," said the second girl. "I'm Danie, by the way. My Zorua always imitates other people. I had to make up a character named Squeak to subsitute for all the times it wandered around as a human!"

"Well, now that this is all over with, I should really be getting home," said St.Owl, cheeks heating up from the conversation. "Sorry to be rude, but there's a nice cup of tea waiting for me. So . . . oh dangit, where's Klefki?"

She had to reflect that, really, the Pokemon's antics got old after a while. She looked around, thankful that it wasn't really a very crowded street, and quickly found where the Pokemon had gone; it was prying on the blue butterfly clip of a black-haired girl. Impatient and annoyed, St.Owl merely put Klefki back in its Pokeball, not bothering with any formalities. Then she went back to her backpack and replaced it, zippering the container up tight and walking up to the newest victim, ready for yet another apology. 

One girl turned out to be two, and St.Owl realized that the first hadn't even noticed her Klefki. She was busy battling: it looked like a Psyduck versus a Growlithe. St.'s heart swelled with envy: she loved Growlithe, and wished for one of her own.

Danie walked over behind her. "Hey, cool! I want to watch this."
St.Owl didn't, though. She'd never been one for battling. Once in a while she did it, especially to prove a point, but she hated the concept. Pitting Pokemon in a battle and making them knock each other unconscious seemed like a even more violent form of boxing or wrestling, neither of which she enjoyed. The first girl seemed to agree with her, and hung behind.

"Not a fan of battling?" she asked.

"Nope."

"Me neither. I do Pokemon Performing, though."
"Hey, cool!" St. grinned. "So do I! Do you have any Princess Keys?"

"One. What about you?"

"None right now. But I've only been in two so far. And I came in second place during the second one."
"That's not bad. It's pretty hard to win. I had to go through three different performances before even making the top three."

"I totally failed on the first one I did. It was Poke Puff baking– I can't bake to save my life. The second one I did well on, though, it was trivia, so I passed easily."

"Do you have any other Pokemon besides Klefki and Espurr?"

"Of course! I couldn't possibly perform with Klefki. I have a Glaceon too. It's just more well-behaved than some Pokemon I know."
The girl laughed. "You know, I don't think I caught your name."
"Oh! It's St.Owl."

"I'm Abigail. Abi. Whichever you prefer."

"Nice to meet you, Abi."
They turned back to the battle, making small talk while Danie watched intensely. The two trainers were at roughly the same level, and very evenly matched. If she was at all interested, St.Owl would have called it exciting.

In the middle of an impressive move by Psyduck– Water Gun after being knocked into the air– the door right in front of where the two were battling opened. The girl who looked out was tall, with long dark brown hair. 

"Excuse me," she said. "Would you mind quieting down a bit? I don't mean to be a bother, it's just that you're shouting so loudly I can hear it from my apartment. On the top floor."

"Oh, okay!" said the first girl, with the Psyduck and hair clip.

"Thanks," replied the girl, retreating back into her home.

"Say," said St.Owl, "the street's pretty deserted. Pardon me if I'm being too forward, but, Abi, would you want to share our performances? It would be great if I got some feedback. I really want to win this next one."
"I don't mind," said Abigail, "but I'll probably mess up. I'm bad with audiences."
"It's okay! Just remember you're better than me."
Abigail let her Pokemon out: an Eevee and a Rowlet. For emotional support, St.Owl released Glaceon, hopefully a friendly face for the former Pokemon; Eevees were naturally shy and awkward in front of people.

"Well," said Abi, taking a deep breath, "here goes. Three, two, one . . . "

_________

Aaaand cut! Haha.

Believe it or not, everyone but IJ has been mentioned so far, and I can promise everyone will be named in the next two or three parts. 

(on an unrelated note, I've suddenly realized how popular Rowlet is. My friends who know nothing about Pokemon were shown all the starters and everyone picked it.)

I hope I didn't overuse Klefki. I realized while I was writing it that the same excuse to meet someone three times just got a little boring.

Thirdly (I have a lot to say), at any time during the solo write, if you feel that I haven't captured your personality properly, please let me know! Nitpick; I love nitpicking (unless it's rude). I want to make sure that everyone is represented properly.

Aaand lastly, TIME FOR YOUR FIRST TEST, MOONFROST AND MICEARENICE! HAHA! I'm thinking of a number between one and ten. Comment within three days with your guess!

This is amazing so far St! I won't be here for the next week or two, though, so if I have to make any choices then I will probably not be here 🙁

But anyways, Happy Holidays!!! Goodbye!!! 

Last day to guess your number, or I'll have to randomize a winner!

The number was seven!

Part II~

"Oh bravo!"
St.Owl applauded come the conclusion of Abigail's performance. She bowed, looking awkward.

"That was brilliant!" St. continued. "I can't believe you only have one princess key! Your Eevee's so graceful, and you can really feel the connection beteeen the three of you!"
"Thanks," Abi replied, blushing. "But so many people can do better."
"Are you kidding me? All the girls I competed against in the last Pokemon Performance couldn't hold a candle to you!"
Glaceon chimed in with agreement.

"Ah!"

Abigail wasn't looking at St.Owl, though, and she turned to see what the former's gaze was focused on. Her eyes met a scene of close defeat: Growlithe was on top of Psyduck, and finished the battle with Scratch. Danie ran in enthusiastically to congradulate the winner, who was introduced as Hazel (better known as Mouse). She was from Virginia and was visiting family in New York, including the cousin she'd been battling against, Jenny. 

Danie and the two were set up for a long conversation, but the weight of St.Owl's backpack was uncomfortably conspicuous, and the twenty-five questions her science teacher had assigned for homework loomed in her mind. So she eventually made her awkward escape from the group and made her way home.

~~~~~

The World Trade Center was a famous tourist spot, and was conveniently located in St.Owl's least favorite borough: Manhattan. With the combination of foriegners pausing to take photographs every five seconds and busy New Yorkers shoving their way through the crowds, it was a truly terrifying place on any day, especially a weekend.

Luckily, St.Owl's family wasn't going to the World Trade Center. They were going to a waterside park nearby for a spontaneous picnic and day off. It was Saturday, after all. What better was there to do?

Her little brother, Ultron, had brought his own entertainment: a soccer ball. And although St.Owl had nothing against the sport– in fact, she played it and enjoyed it– her sibling was so hard-core and unfair about his athletics that she refused to even consider joining him. Instaid, she opened a book and began reading.

Her eyes began to glaze over.

Well, she should have known better than to bring Charles Dickens to a casual trip. Castle Waiting would have been better. Or Harry Potter.

St.Owl set her book aside and decided to go look at the water. She loved rivers and oceans, the wild peacefulness of them, and watching what the boats sailing down them did to them. She stood there for a good five minutes, just enjoying the quiet, as Espurr hovered itself over the waves and played some game that only it could understand.

"St.Owl!"
The girl turned and looked around. It was a few minutes before she located two familiar faces: the brown-haired Abigail and green-beanie Danie.

"Hey!" she replied, as casually as she could. A minor explosion seemed to be happening inside her stomach somewhere. "Um, fancy meeting you here!"

"Yeah, isn't it weird?" Abi replied. "And Danie says she just came back from watching Mouse and Jenny battle again!"
" . . . Mouse . . . ?"

"The one with the Growlithe?"
"Ooooh. Winner brunette girl. Right. That is strange."

They stood in awkward silence for a minute, until–

"Oof!"
Somebody ran right into St.Owl, causing her to topple into Abi, who automatically grabbed Danie for support.

"Oh no!" cried the person who started the domino effect. "I'm so sorry!"
"It's okay!" said St.Owl quickly, though Danie looked miffed.

"Um, you didn't happen to see an Omanyte, did you?"
St.Owl looked at the others, who shook their heads. "Me neither. But I bet my Espurr could find it. HEY, ESPURR!"

The Pokemon looked up from a conversation with a Vapereon (St.Owl's heart ached with longing).

"Will you help this girl look for her Omanyte?"
Espurr agreed, and flew over.

"Thank you!" said the girl.

"Um, you're welcome! Good luck!"
She didn't reply, but hurried off after Espurr, who had a longer range of vision while suspended in the air with its psychic.

"So," said St.Owl, turning back to the other two. "Coincidence?"

~~~~~

"Hey, I know you!"
Mouse and Jenny turned away from their battle and to the newcomer. She did seem familiar– dark brown hair, blue eyes.

"Right!" she continued. "You're the trainers that were battling outside my house the other day!"

"You're the one who told us to be quiet!" said Jenny at the same time.

"That's so weird! Small world, huh?"

"Totally!"
"Who's winning?"

"Mouse is."
Hazel blushed as the attention turned to her. "I don't think so– Bulbasaur's beating Ekans for sure."

She exhaled as the attention turned back to Jenny. 

"Well, it's bound to be a great battle, anyway!" said the brunette. "Mind if I watch?"
"Not at all!"
Mouse turned a darker shade of red, but said nothing. Her focus was lost, however, and she couldn't remember what she'd planned for Ekans to do. She ended up acting on impulse– never a good idea– and with every mistake felt the stranger's eyes boring into her. 

I'm being a total idiot! Hazel thought with a sigh. "Okay– Ekans, use–"
But as Mouse tried to think of an appropriate move, the battle was suddenly interrupted by– was that an Omanyte? Right after it came an Espurr and a new trainer, who made the Pokemon return to a Pokeball before realizing where she was.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she cried. "I didn't mean to interrupt your battle– I'll get out of the way."
She stepped aside, looking as embarrassed as Mouse felt. However, the latter girl had thought of a move to use, and was about to order it when–

"Mouse! Jenny! It's time to go!"

The cousins groaned and made their Pokemon return. "Guess the battle's over."

They bade farewell to the two newcomers (well, Jenny did anyway), and made their way back to their parents.

____

Ta-da!
Yeah, no ending of the battle this time. I didn't think it would be fair to have the same two people have another battle in two consecutive posts.

Everyone has made an appearance by now! Did you find yourself?
By the way, let me know if you don't like the nicknames I assign to you. Micearenice is obviously "Mouse," (by the way, Virginia was the first state that popped into my head, nothing creepy going on here), and Elena and Claire will probably be getting nicknames as well. (most likely not self-assigned, by the way.)

Again, nitpick nitpick nitpick!

And happy holidays everybody! <3 

Out of curiosity what was your finished solo write? Do you have a link?