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Florian’s head is still pounding after his battle with Nemona and his ears are ringing with the cheers of the crowd. Like always, it had come down to his Meowscarada (Cheshire) and her Quaquaval. Florian had nearly lost, even with the upper hand. But Nemona is grinning at him anyway. He’s done it. They’re really equal now. She doesn’t have to worry about holding back or putting together new teams on the fly just to battle him. He’s happy for her, and he’s happy for himself. He didn’t care much about battling before he and his family had moved to Paldea.
He’s shaken out of his thoughts when Nemona hands him a water bottle. He gives her an appreciative thumbs up as he downs about half of it. Then he lets Cheshire have the rest of the water. It’s not like he was actually the one fighting out there, after all.
“Hey, Nemona? It’s been a pretty crazy day, and there’s something that’s kind of been weighing on my mind.” Florian says to his peer, shoving his hands in the pockets of his school uniform. He shifts his weight a little. He hopes she can’t tell he’s nervous.
“Oh no! What’s up?” Nemona looks worried, and he can’t blame her. He’s not usually quite so cryptic. But this was a delicate question.
“It's just that. Well.” Florian coughs. He’s having trouble finding the right words.
“Hey. We’ve been through this whole treasure hunt thing together, right? Say what’s on your mind.” She tries her best at a reassuring expression.
He smiles back at her. “The thing is. I know you really look up to La Primera. And I get that, you know, she’s top champion and everything. And she’s certainly more powerful than your average trainer, don’t get me wrong. But when we battled she seemed kind of…” Florian bit his lip. It was now or never. “She really wasn’t that good at it.”
Nemona looks at him strangely for a few seconds. She scarcely blinks. He’s about to tell her to forget it, that it was silly, when she nearly erupts.
“How could you say that about LA PRIMERA? There’s a reason she’s number one, you know. They call her La Primera!! What do you mean not very good at it? The top champion is the pinnacle of battling in the region! I can’t believe you would ever disrespect her in this way. She’s chairwoman of the Pokemon league too, you know! She does so much for this region.” Nemona nearly screeches, showing no signs of stopping.
Florian tries to just agree he made a mistake. He doesn’t bring up her inane team composition or how she terastalized her Glimmora to be weaker to his ace. He doesn’t bring up how she blatantly overworks Larry, or how none of the gym leaders seem to like her much at all. He doesn’t even bring up how she let a six year old into the Elite Four. (He kind of gets that one. Poppy scares him. He wouldn’t want to have to be the one to say no to her.) But Nemona keeps going, like a tidal wave. Or a tsunami.
Florian’s saving grace comes in the form of his sister, Juliana. He’s still getting an earful in the middle of the square, (where some of the crowd have stuck around to see him suffer, he guesses,) when she barrels in atop Koraidon, narrowly avoiding damaging his face, and very narrowly not avoiding damaging the pavement. He’s never been happier to see her in his life.
She says she’s going to Area Zero. The Great Crater of Paldea. The one place they were explicitly told was off limits during their treasure hunt. He thinks he remembers Director Clavell mentioning the words “painful death” a lot more than he usually does. He looks back at Nemona, who shows no signs of stopping any time soon. He looks back towards his sister.
“I will absolutely go with you to Area Zero. Because I am such a good brother, I am even willing to leave right this second.” Florian says through gritted teeth, looking back at Nemona nervously.
“Awesome, knew I could count on you.” Juliana grins, punching him in the shoulder. Then she turns to Nemona. Florian grimaces. He may have made a minor miscalculation in his plan. “Nemona, you’re coming too, right? We’re probably gonna need all the help we can get!” Luckily, the offer seems to distract Nemona from her rant for a moment.
“Area Zero? Of course! I know the director says we’re not supposed to go in there but I hear there’s tons of strong Pokemon there.” Nemona whisper-shouts. It’s a good thing that the square has mostly cleared out by now.
They’ve all been gliding on Koraidon for a little while when Florian thinks to ask the obvious. “So, why are we breaking into Area Zero?”
“Arven’s parents wanted us to come down there for something. I’m not really sure what, but it seemed important. They told us to bring powerful friends, though, so I grabbed you guys. Penny is gonna meet us there too.”
Florian nods. Penny. Cassiopeia. Him and Juliana helped her take down Team Star together. She’d call whoever was closest to a base when either of them were near one. She requested both of them meet here at the big confrontation. Florian knows Penny. Florian knows Penny.
“Who’s Arven?” He asks. Nemona is busy getting a team together. Koraidon makes a strange noise. Juliana looks at him like he’s stupid or something. He stares back. He cannot lose a staring contest to his sister. Never again.
“I’ve definitely told you about Arven before.”
“I think I would remember that?”
“He’s the guy I worked with during the treasure hunt? Seriously? We were finding special herbs for his sick dog?” She says incredulously.
Florian blinks. “I thought you were pranking me when you told me you were deciding to spend your treasure hunt searching for magical fairy plants in caves guarded by giant Pokemon.” Juliana looks like she wants to hit him, but he’s grateful she doesn’t, especially when they’re rather high up at the moment.
“Well, I wasn’t, dumbass. Besides, you met Arven. He’s the one who gave us Koraidon and Miraidon, remember?”
Now Florian knows she’s messing with him. “We found Koraidon and Miraidon passed out on a beach.”
“Estúpido,” His sister mutters. “Remember after that, when he challenged us to a battle for the right to keep them? At the lighthouse?”
The gears turn in Florian’s head very slowly. “You went on your treasure hunt with the cute lighthouse boy?!” Nemona giggles behind him. Apparently she had been listening. “Are you two like, together? If you are, you have to tell me.”
“Nah, Arven’s my best bud. At first I went along with him because catching those giant Titan Pokemon sounded really cool, you know? But then I met Mabosstiff, and Arven and I started getting along more. We’re just friends though.” Juliana pauses for a moment. “Are you and Nemona together?” Juliana takes the uncontrollable laughter that comes from both her brother and Nemona as a very definitive no.
“Alright, Alright.” Florian says when they’ve calmed down. “Take us to meet the sandwich boy.”
Juliana rolls her eyes because her brother is so dramatic and what does he think she’s been doing? But they’re going to land in a few minutes so whatever.
Penny is nowhere to be seen, but when they land Florian immediately notices the tall boy with unkempt hair and a giant backpack. “Lighthouse boy,” He whispers out into the universe. Maybe a little too loudly. He thinks the boy heard him.
Thankfully, if sandwich boy did hear anything, he keeps it to himself. “You’re Florian, right? Juliana’s told me a lot about you. I’m Arven. It’s really nice to finally meet you. Well, to finally properly meet you.” The boy, Arven, huffs, likely out of embarrassment from their last real encounter so long ago. He holds his hand out tentatively.
Florian takes it without hesitation. He’s surprised by how soft Arven’s hand is. He thinks maybe that isn’t a normal thing to notice, so he lets go quickly. “Nice to meet you too. I hope my sister has only been saying good things.” He says cheerfully, before glaring daggers at his sister. She sticks her tongue out at him, and he is not reassured.
“Only good things,” Arven promises with a warm smile. “I really appreciate you coming here to help. Area Zero is really dangerous, so it’ll be better to have some backup. Especially two champion rank trainers.” Arven winks, and Florian thinks it kills him a little bit. “I don’t know what my parents want, but seeing as I haven’t heard much from them at all lately, it can’t be anything good.”
“Who are your parents anyway? How’d they manage to get themselves into Area Zero in the first place?” Florian hasn’t heard much about them, and he already doesn’t like them. Juliana winces from behind him, like this was something she’d meant to tell him about. Arven gives her an understanding look, and Florian is not jealous of his sister.
“You’ve heard of the ‘great’ Pokemon professors Sada and Turo, right?” Arven asks. Florian can tell where this is going from the contempt in Arven’s voice. Still, he just nods. “They’ve been doing research on the Great Crater for awhile. They developed that Tera Orb you’ve got hanging on your bag. They’re brilliant scientists.”
“But shitty parents?” Florian offers, his lips quirking up in a small smile. He understands. Him and Juliana haven’t had a dad in the picture for awhile. Not that he wants that man back in his life, but, still. He sort of gets it.
“Shitty parents.” Arven agrees. He’s smiling, but it’s not quite a happy smile. “All that is to say, they’re probably the most qualified people in the world when it comes to Area Zero. If they need our help with something, then, well. That’s pretty scary.”
Florian hadn’t really thought about it, but now that he does, yeah. That is pretty scary. He elects not to keep thinking about it. “I’m willing to bet you Julie’s Tinkaton is scarier.” He jokes.
Arven laughs a little. “That’s probably true. Bowtie is a force of nature.” His eyes gleam, almost the way they did when Florian first saw him at the lighthouse, but a little less harsh. Kinder.
“If you two are done flirting, we’ve just about forced the doors open!” Juliana shouts, and Florian snaps back to reality. He and Arven both mumble and make excuses, but they join the other two at the entrance of the Zero Gate. Juliana and Nemona go in ahead, but Arven is visibly nervous. Florian doesn’t want to overstep, but he gently places his hand on Arven’s shoulder anyway.
“Hey,” He hesitates. “Nothing’s gonna happen to us in there. I promise. We’ve all got your back.”
Arven looks grateful. “Thanks, Florian. That means a lot. Last time Mabosstiff and I were down there, well…I had to start searching for those herbs, you know?”
Florian nods. “I get it. I’m really sorry you had to go through that, by the way. I can’t really relate, but, um, it couldn’t have been easy.”
“It wasn’t, but it’s over now, and that’s what’s important, you know? Mabosstiff and I are okay. We’re looking towards the future now. At least, we will after we handle whatever’s happening in that damn crater.” Arven grumbles.
“That’s really admirable, Arven.” Florian says, because it’s true. Arven has faced loss and he has not let it ruin him.
They’ve made their way into the Zero Gate, now, but the power seems to be off. It’s quiet for awhile. Then Arven speaks up.
“Right, so, while we’re talking about the future, do you think maybe after this you’d wanna grab some sandwiches or something? Maybe just-” Suddenly the room shakes, and the lights flicker on with a very loud buzz. Penny reveals herself, and Florian decides that he is never ever going to forgive her. (He knows he will, probably already has, but seriously. She has worse timing then he does.) If, despite Penny’s interruption, him and Arven continue to talk the whole way down the Crater, well, Florian is a very extroverted person, and he’s just met Arven. It’s only natural for him to be curious. This is what Florian would say. Juliana would disagree.