Communicator

With that, Roxanne walked into Roy's room, her face flushed. The dormitory, converted from an abandoned warehouse, was old, but Roy kept it clean, and there was no strange smell.

"Roy, how come you don't even have a light in here?"

GOOGLE Search TWKAN

Roxanne turned on the flashlight on her Communicator. Roy's room was nearly empty. The only furniture was a rickety stool with just three legs left and a bedside table. She made do with the stool.

"Who says I don't? Litwick, lights on. Soft lighting!"

"Lit!"

Litwick hopped onto Roy's bedside table. The eerie blue flame on its head brightened at once, lighting up the whole room. Roy considered it a smart appliance.

Roxanne: Who taught you to use Pokémon like that?

Roy: Is the room bright or not?

Roxanne had never seen anyone treat a Pokémon like furniture before.

That's because you haven't seen Rotom yet. Mow Rotom, Frost Rotom...

Of course, Roy kept that to himself. The havoc Rotom's various forms could wreak went without saying.

Roxanne nibbled on the grilled skewers Roy had brought back from the night market outside the contest venue. They had cooled a little, but they still tasted good.

Roy couldn't be bothered to argue with her. He still had to prepare for tomorrow's Pokémon Contest. What should I pull off tomorrow?

"All right, hurry back once you're done eating. We can talk about your challenge in a couple of days. I'm busy lately."

His voice came from the hammock behind Roxanne. She was about to turn around and demand to know what could matter more than her challenge.

Instead, she saw Roy pulling off his hoodie to change into black pajamas.

Roxanne had never been faced with anything like this. She quickly covered her eyes and shouted:

"You... you, you... Ah! Pervert! Changing in front of a girl! Have you no decency?"

That was what Roxanne said, but she couldn't stop replaying the sight in her mind. Did I just see Roy's abs? They looked... pretty firm... I wonder what they'd feel like.

No! Roxanne, what are you thinking? You came here to beat Roy and defend your dignity as the boss.

But they really did look firm...

Roy paid no attention to any of that. He changed into black pajamas printed with Litwick, rolled into the hammock, and pondered what to do tomorrow.

Roxanne could no longer look Roy in the eye. Every time she saw him, she pictured what had just happened. She snatched the skewers off the table, blurted, "Then I'll come challenge you next week," and fled his room.

On her way out, she accidentally knocked over the door Roy had only just propped back up.

Roy stared blankly at his fallen door. He couldn't understand why she had it in for the thing.

Roxanne jogged all the way back to her dormitory. She didn't even hear the dorm supervisor calling after her, "Which dorm are you from?"

Her roommate was about to demand why someone had barged into their room, but then she saw it was Roxanne.

By then, Roxanne's face was as red as a ripe apple.

"Roxanne, where were you all afternoon? I messaged you, but you didn't reply. Weren't we going shopping together this evening?"

Her roommate complained from the bed across from hers.

"I... I didn't go anywhere."

Roxanne's explanation came out in a stammer.

Guimi was lying on her bed with her Communicator in hand. Beside her lay a Buneary with one arm bandaged.

When Guimi looked ready to ask more, Roxanne hurriedly changed the subject:

"Is your Buneary still not better?"

"Don't remind me. Nurse Joy said Buneary needs to rest and can't take part in any battles for a while. Otherwise, I'd have entered the city's Rookie Cup with it.

"With our Buneary's strength and cuteness, we'd have been a shoo-in for the championship."

"Buneary!"

Buneary stood up on the bed and raised its uninjured arm in support of its Pokémon Trainer.

"Oh, right. I just found an interesting video. Want to see it?"

"No, thanks. I'm going to wash up."

Glad the subject had changed, Roxanne grabbed her toothbrush and cup and headed for the bathroom.

"All right. It's about that new transfer student in our class, though. If you don't want to watch it, never mind."

The transfer student? That's Roy, isn't it?

At the mention of Roy, Roxanne set down her cup, crossed to Guimi's bed in two steps, and took her latest-generation Communicator.

The Communicators the Pokémon League had developed were much like smartphones, which had appeared only about a year ago in Roy's previous life. They hadn't been in development long, though, so few people used them.

Roxanne's roommate Guimi was one of those few. She loved chatting and watching videos on her Communicator.

Guimi didn't dream of becoming a Pokémon Trainer. She wanted to be a Coordinator, so she kept up with Coordinator events, including this Rookie Cup.

But her Buneary had been injured in an accident two days earlier, and Nurse Joy had told her it needed to recuperate. Guimi hadn't been able to enter the Rookie Cup's exhibition event.

The Communicator displayed a video circulating online.

Its thumbnail showed the Pokémon Contest venue in Rustboro City. The clip began with Roy teaching a little girl not to let other people's words sway her and ended with him bowing back when she bowed to him.

Roy looked every bit the gentleman on the contest stage. There was no trace of the campus bully he'd been two days ago.

The Pokémon Coordinator Association had circulated the clip, and countless people online had rushed to comment.

The first topic of debate was whether the Pokémon in the contest was really a Ghost type.

After all, many people had never seen a Ghost-type Pokémon in their lives.

In a later reply, a Pokémon researcher found Litwick's entry number in the Pokédex, proving that Litwick really was a Ghost-type Pokémon.

Some even claimed Roy had brought a Ghost-type Pokémon there with sinister intentions: to drain the life force from the tens of thousands of people at the Pokémon Contest.

Most people ignored that idiotic claim. The judges watching the contest weren't fools, after all.

So Roy entered the Pokémon Contest. Is that why he came back so late today?

At the thought of Roy, the glimpse Roxanne had caught in his room sprang unbidden to mind.

The feelings she had only just calmed surged up again, turning her face bright red.

"Exactly! They just can't stand seeing Roy do well!"

Guimi looked curiously at Roxanne, who was suddenly defending Roy.

"Roxanne, didn't you say yesterday that he was obnoxious and that you were going to beat him up this morning to get even?"

"Did... did I? I'm just being fair."

Roxanne said one thing while thinking another.

"Wait, you still haven't told me why you came back so late."

"I... I went to study at the library, of course!"

"Then since when has the Academy library sold grilled skewers?"

"These are... I... Oh, forget it! I'm done talking. I'm tired and going to sleep. Turn off the light!"

Roxanne pulled the blanket over her head without even washing up. No matter how Guimi called to her, she made no sound.

Something's wrong. Ten thousand percent wrong! There's definitely something going on!

Guimi and Buneary watched Roxanne wriggle around on the bed under her blanket. Was this really the Roxanne she knew, the one who always acted like the boss?

Girl and Pokémon switched into detective mode.

But no matter how Guimi and Buneary tried to reason it out, they couldn't work out what had happened to Roxanne.