(Here’s Poppy!)

  There was a house, one freshly rented. Inside that house was a man and his dog. They were playing a game, they were drawing eyes. Casket, the Greavard, would run around the room with the stack of paper in her mouth, sometimes deigning to give a fresh one out. Linh, the human, would draw a single massive eye on each one, and occasionally running down Casket to wrestle out a fresh one.

  The eyes were made of swooping circular lines, swirling over and over. A pupil made of rings. Around those rings were the eyelids. Shifted such that the eyes would look in certain directions.

  Each one Linh finished, he would pin them on the wall, behind the sofa. Where anyone sitting on that couch could be stared at.

  Suddenly, a buzz from the door—a curious case, he expected no deliveries this weekend, no guests either. Linh walked to the door. "Now, I wonder who that is?" he asked Casket, performatively. "Also, remember the candle."

  The blue flame atop Casket's candle snuffed out, an exercise to give Casket more control over her life-force feeding ability.

  Linh passed through his front door into the patio, then down the wooden porch and onto the gravel.

  At the gates he opened them to find Rika, with a little wave. By her side was a little girl, who waved more enthusiastically. "Heya!" Said Rika, she was holding up a little gift-wrapped present. "So I've heard you just moved in, and I thought to get you a house-warming gift!"

  "Oh," Linh said, touched. "Thank you." Then thinking further. "About several weeks late, but it's appreciated." He held out his hand.

  Instead of handing off the box, Rika swept to the side and waved her arms towards the girl. "Meet your house-warming gift! Poppy!"

  Linh blinked, his hand fell. He tilted his head and spoke slowly. "... Okaayyy." Squatting down, he met the girls height. "Hello Poppy, it's nice to meet you. Would you like to meet my dog?"

  Poppy grinned. "Yeah!"

  "Great." Without further words, Linh picked up Casket and plopped her right in front of Poppy. With her sufficiently distracted, he stood back to Rika, and pulled her close.

  "I know our relation is composed of fucking with each other, but there are limits, y'know? Like, what the fuck? Where did this preschooler come from?" He spoke quietly.

  "Eh, first cycle in Primary. But I was heading out to visit you and Poppy wanted to tag along. To 'see Larry's new friend!' And I can't say no to her face, look at her."

  Both of them looked down to Poppy, she had Casket's face in her grubby hands, and were smooshing them together.

  "Okay." Linh shook his head and looked away. "Okay. Wanna head inside? C'mon, lemme give you some hospitality."

  Rika prodded Poppy, and she followed them inside, Casket dangling in her arms.

  Linh gestured around his current abode. "So! There's the garden, which I admit I know nothing about—these poor bushes will not enjoy my stay–"

  "Hardly an uncommon thing." Rika interjected.

  "–And here's the door. Standard stuff, but one thing I want to show is, is that." Linh pointed up at a corner, at the edge of the door frame.

  Rika paused. "Um."

  "We were experimenting with ghosty illusions, and that's one of our results. That one's to test how long one can last without maintenance. One week long currently."

  "Yeah, cool, does it need to be a doll head in a cobweb? It looks like you dug it out of a cursed lot. And is it... dripping something?"

  "Oh no, that's not the illusion." Linh cheerfully ignored the face Rika pulled. "Right this way—to the kitchen!"

  Rika hung back, which was fortunate, Poppy had came close, with a question he didn’t want Rika to overhear. She tugged on his sleeve. "What’s the illusion, then?"

  Linh leaned down and beckoned Poppy closer. "Can you keep a secret?" Poppy nodded. "That is the illusion, I just lie to Rika for fun. But shhh, no telling!"

  Poppy grinned and pressed her finger to her lips, nodding.

  "Now!" Linh turned back to Poppy, "Do you want anything? Juice, water?" He looked up as Rika walked into the kitchen, "Coffee?"

  "Do you have apple juice?" The child asked. Rika shook her head.

  "So. The kitchen, just a standard kitchen—really only here to get Poppy her appy juice." Linh casually remarked, he poured a cup and gave it to Poppy. "But look, walnut counter tops. Look at them, so adult."

  Rika snorted.

  

  "Oh what fresh nonsense is this." Rika took in the living room, specifically, the wall of paper eyes. Unfortunately for her, she took too long boggling at it—Linh took the seat opposite the couch and Poppy sat on the couch's far end, leaving the only seat available as the one directly under them all.

  (She could have dragged a chair from the nearby table, or even from another room, but under the expectant stares she capitulated. She did sit with great suspicion, and kept a close eye on where Casket was.)

  (Casket being, of course, the source of any mischief Linh may make.)

  "It's a perfectly average living room. Coffee table, seats, cabinets..."

  "Wall of creepy eyes." Rika interjected.

  "Wall of creepy eyes." Linh agreed. "Just decoration. I'll be living here for a bit, so—"

  "A bit? How long's the lease?"

  Linh held up a finger. "— I deserve a little house gussying up, yeah? And it's month to month, so I'll be staying around until I save up a decent nest egg. I want to explore Paldea, and not worry about the costs for a bit."

  "A trip around Paldea? What, are you planning a Journey?" Rika asked.

  Poppy set her cup on the table. Both hands around it and standing up to reach the glass. "A Journey Mister? You want to do the badge challenge? I'm planning to do it too. Maybe we'll meet during it!"

  Linh shifted in his seat, given Poppy's age, she'd probably start her journey much later. From what Rupert told him it occurs around the second to third cycle of secondary education, teenagers. "Perhaps. Although I hope it won't take that long."

  Poppy smiled, but in a confused way. Rika smiled in the way that showed she knew something Linh didn't.

  "But enough about me. Poppy! How are you?" Linh jabbed a thumb at Rika. "And how do you know her?"

  "Quite well, thank you," Poppy recited, something she was taught to say and pleased to remember, "I had some very fun battles recently—there was a guy with a Quaquaval rain team. He had Pelipper and Kingdra and Barroskewda but I beat him good! And—Oh! Oh! There was this women, from Sinnoh! She had this Drifblim who was very strong!"

  "And how do you know Rika?" Linh mildly repeated. Who's running around and having Pokémon battles with this kid?

  "I'm her co-work-er!"

  "... Elite Four? The job where you serve the Champion and gate keep challengers, and you handle problems for her, and you get merchandise and interviews and publicity?

  "Yep! Miss Geeta says I'm her favourite!" But then Poppys face scrunched up. "I don't remember interviews."

  ... Maybe Poppy is humoured by Rika, and allowed to call herself an Elite Four?

  Linh looked to Rika.

  "As the second member of the Elite Four, Poppy is a stronger battler then me. She is the one fought directly after me by the challenger." Rika nodded, calmly.

  "Ah yes. Silly me, forgetting." Linh said. Linh hoped his meta knowledge was wrong, because he didn't want to think about the consequences of Poppy being a kid with a full on, celebrity/government level, job. "A Journey, while still in the Elite Four. You have strong Pokémon, yeah?"

  "Yeh." Poppy proudly claimed.

  "But then, why go on a Journey?" It was a cultural pilgrimage, first, to come of age. And second, to train up Pokémon. "Why would you take your team through it?"

  "You don't?" Poppy said, and seemed to think it was an adequate answer.

  Rika coughed to hide her wry grin, "She'll be taking and training up a new team, a fresh start for eight badges. Then no further. And she is a kid, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?"

  Linh said no more, he looked to the side, visibly lost in thoughts. A silence then. Rika happy to recline back, but Poppy kicking her feet in the air. She occasionally glanced at Casket, naked want.

  Linh thought about child celebrities, how they handled the position. One had a meltdown and shaved her head. Another had every penny he earned wasted by his parents. His grip tightened into a fist. "Hey Poppy," tone a bit off. "Would you like to play with Casket? And Rika, do you think the triplets want to see Casket again?"

  The triplets being the children of Clodsire, Rika's ace. Three very mischievous Woopers very good at pulling others into their trouble. Rika raised a single eyebrow as she watched Linh nudge Casket towards Poppy.

  Poppy was vibrating in her seat, and when Casket flung towards her she flung back, a tackle that left both rolling along the floor. Three flashes of light and three Paldean Woopers appeared. They took in the scene and beelined directly towards the child.

  Linh took a moment to watch them play. Poppy sitting down, legs straight out in a 'V', and shoes waving side to side. A dog and three axolotl's crowded around her, trying to get her attention with undead or aquatic barks. He turned away. "So, Rika."

  "Linh." Rika smiled, but her gaze was sharp on Linh—she could detect a distraction just as well as Linh could make one.

  "Tell me about Poppy, please." Linh asked. "And, perhaps, what these little things called child labour laws are."

  "Oh, is that all?" Rika leaned back, she tossed her head and laughed under her breath, "Thought this would be serious, everything's up to code. She gets compensated fairly for her work, she gets less then twenty five hours a week, and never more then five on a week day. AND everything gets logged and okayed by both her school and her parents."

  Somewhat mollifying, and if it was just something small then Linh wouldn't complain. But this was a very public position. An important one, Gym Leaders were the centres of their cities, community figureheads that people could bring their woes to. And Elite Four were a step above that, trainers the Champion picked to stop rampaging Pokémon, to respond to big disasters and speak with her authority.

  "This isn't running a till or moving boxes. Elite Four's a full time job." Linh paused, then glanced at the kids to see if they noticed his outburst. They did not—they were playing a sort of, call and response game. One would do an action, and the others would copy it. A tiny hop and spin, and the next moment, four tiny hops and spins.

  "Is it? Is it as big a deal as you're saying?" Rika tilted her head, blithe. "Larry's working as both an Elite Four and as a Gym Leader, and—although he shouldn't, we suspect a third."

  "He is—some sort of night shift." Linh gave a sour look.

  Rika grimaced, a shadow fell over her face. "—I knew it. Anyway; Hassel's both Elite Four and an Art Teacher, and I'm Geeta's secretary. Poppy's only real tasks are responding to challenges and handling errands the Champion want's done, every other moment is spending time being a kid."

  Linh turned back to the children as they played. Casket's found herself the rope with a knot at each end, and was playing Tug of War. Poppy was winning handily, Casket's paws scrabbling on the floor. Even with every one of the Woopers, Silt, Clay, and Loam, biting onto her tail and pulling mightily.

  "That's not the point—here, look." Linh pulled out his phone, made a search, and flipped it around. "This article states that after Cascarrafa suffered partial flooding you worked with the Gym Leader, Kofu, to assist and drain the water quickly. So do or do not the E-four duties include this sort of disaster assistance?"

  "When you put it that way..."

  "So, you've given a disaster response job to a—a preschooler."

  "Okay, but I volunteered for that, yeah?"

  "That's not—that doesn't—that doesn't matter you–you." Linh pulled in a sharp breath, his hands curling in claws around his armrests. "As long as she's in the position, she can be asked to do it. And when that happens, of course she'll do it—because she clearly admires Geeta. Why wouldn't she? And she's just a little girl; does she even know the potential dangers helping in a disaster risks?"

  Rika shook her head, looking away. "Look, Linh, that's—oh shit." She stood up sharply, her head turned towards Poppy's direction.

  Linh looked as well, and watched as Poppy backed up into a cabinet at full force. Pulling Casket by the rope as hard as she can. As she fell to her butt, Casket and the triplets came with her. Colliding with her stomach in two consecutive impacts.

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  It was a tall cabinet, tall and thin. One that rocked with the crash, and the plates and glasses atop the shelves slid in their places, shifting slightly before settling into new places. All but one safely far enough from the ledge to stay seated.

  All but one. The world moved in slow motion as a jug, tall and heavy, with a thickened base, rocked and rocked, slowly tipping forwards and over the ledge. It fell down and down, directly above Poppy's head—and—

  —And Rika made the dash to reach the wall. Grabbing the jug in both hands and crashing her shoulder into the cabinet itself. She held the jug against her chest tightly, with eyes of panic.

  A moment of silence, or rather, the very harried breathes of a women's unexpected sprint. Before Poppy realised what just happened, and started wailing. Fit to wake the dead. Four Pokémon raised their voices as well, distraught.

  "I—" Linh froze, half out of his seat, hand reaching out uselessly, no idea what to do now.

  Rika slammed the jug into its place with force, and held the cabinet, watching the plates settle with the wood creaking under her hands. She pivoted to Linh, and pointed her finger at him, her other hand reaching down to her waist, and with ease brushing over the Pokéballs there—each one she touched lanced out a flash of red. "Linh." Voice stern, authoritative. "Recall your Pokémon, then fetch me ice, a towel, and band aids—any you've got."

  Linh moved before he realised it, such was Rika's commanding tone. Casket disappeared into her Pokéball, and the kitchens door swung on it's hinges. From the freezer he grabbed ice. Around the oven's handle we fetched the towel, and he wrapped the ice with it. Linh whirled, remembered the medkit was upstairs, and instead grabbed a cup and ran it under the sink.

  When Linh came back to the room he found Rika on the sofa, with Poppy on her lap. She was bouncing the girl on her knee, whispering shushes louder then Poppy's hiccuping sobs. Rika took the towel and gently pressed it to Poppy's head. "No blood, no dizziness," she murmured to Linh, "But placebo band-aids would be good. You got them?"

  Linh held up one finger, and knelt down to Poppy's height. "Hey Poppy." Soft and low. "Here, let's drink some water, okay? We have to replace the tears, yeah?"

  Poppy eyed the cup dubiously. But she took it and drank from it, eyes wet, but not crying.

  "Couldn't find them," Linh whispered. "Had to improvise."

  "Smart thinking." Rika whispered back. She brushed Poppy's hair. "Okay, Poppy? Is the pain just here?" She lightly ghosted the patch of head where the ice was. "Or is it anywhere else?"

  Poppy shook her head, she wasn't leaking tear trails down her face anymore, but her eyes shimmered. The cup was a little too big for her hands, fingers not wrapping all the way around.

  "Do you feel like you're ready to move? We need to see your limbs move to see if your back was hurt." Rika asked, gently.

  Poppy sniffed, and she shook her head again, mulishly. Her eyes were staring forwards, not vacantly, but at Linh where he helplessly knelt.

  "Okay Poppy. We can wait." Rika hugged Poppy and pulled her closer, so her back was against her torso. She sighed, and seemed to slump into her seat more, worries let go with the peace.

  Linh huffed and looked down, when he looked back up, a gimlet eye was directed to only Rika. "Rika, does she seem responsible?"

  Rika scratched her cheek, and could not meet Linh's eyes. "... It was never a problem before."

  He just wordlessly gestured to Poppy, her face all screwed up as she sadly drank her water.

  "Fair... But it's not up to me. You have to talk to—"

  "Mister—I challenge you!" Poppy interjected.

  "Oh, that's a good sign." Rika muttered.

  It took a moment for Linh to look away from Rika, trying very hard not to call his friend out for dodging responsibility. But talking to the recently injured child took priority.

  He asked Poppy. "What's that Poppy?"

  Poppy repeated herself, cup waving in her grip. "I challenge you Mister! I demand resititution." Tone outraged and lively.

  Linh asked again, "What’s that?" He didn’t have anything else to say, really.

  Poppy scowled as well as a child can, and jabbed a finger at the cabinet, "Your cab’nent has o-fend-ded me! My Face is slight-ed, and I demand recompense!"

  Linh stared blankly at the girl. Then worriedly at Rika.

  Rika's shoulders, still tensed, loosened. She rubbed her face, exhausted. "No concussion," she then snorted, "She's just quoting a cartoon. 'Cultivation Friends'. Aired every Saturday at three PM."

  She waved at the air. "I'd recommend accepting her challenge, Linh. Some normality would be good for her."

  "I can still hear you, you know." Poppy grumbled petulantly. "I'm here too!"

  "Sorry Poppy."

  Linh nodded, "I'm very sorry, Poppy." He sighed, "And I accept your challenge." He tilted his head, "But not outside, let’s not get in anyones way."

  

  On the way to the battling courts, Linh released Casket. She barked, before rushing towards Poppy.

  Poppy paused, confused, as she watched Casket carefully inspect her. "Um?"

  "Oh, nothing." Linh remarked casually, a bit to casually. "Just thought you'd like to be with Casket again, for a bit. Before you fought her." And Poppy lit up.

  She and Casket ran ahead, leaving the two more sedate adults behind.

  "Okay, so I think you're planning something but I'm not sure." Rika leaned over.

  Linh leaned just as much right back, "You think I can’t win against her?"

  Rika smirked, "Poppy’s a veteran trainer. You’ve fought… once?"

  "Harsh, but how much do you think Poppy will like hurting my dog?" Linh puffed a small breath.

  Rika squinted at the girl, who was giggling as Casket ran into the bushes by the side of the road, and leapt out of them at her. "You play dirty pool. But she won't be swayed that easily."

  "Thank you—and I'll suppose we'll see." Linh quickened his pace as the court came into view.

  At the battlegrounds, Rika took the position of referee, in a plastic lawn chair someone left there. "Okay, we have Poppy vs Linh. Ah—you need to recall Greavard first."

  "Right."

  "Very good—this will be a one v one, no switches, no ante. Simultaneous release. Poppy? You ready?"

  Poppy bounced on her feet, she waved her hand in the air like a student, all grins. "Ready!"

  "And Linh, you ready?"

  "Yes." Linh stood at the other end, his foot tracing the concrete divot marking out the bounds. "I suppose I am."

  "Then three, two, one, go!" Rika called out. Her voice suddenly booming on the last word.

  Both threw. From one came a small dog. From the other, a pink gremlin—slightly taller then Poppy, wide set feet and hands, a mop of pink candy-cotton looking hair— with a hammer many times her size.

  "Casket—up!" Casket padded on the ground.

  "Go, Tinkie!" Tinkie the Tinkaton landed with a booming crack of the ground, her scrap-metal hammer clanking ominously on her shoulder. Traditionally, Tinkaton's fashioned their hammers from steel harvested from their foes. This hammer bore ferrite plates and sharp tusks and steel feathers, and a small blue slip. Almost paper like.

  Rika winced.

  "Shadow Sneak, Casket!" Linh called out, and Casket pulled up her shadows into a set of stabbing points, arcing towards Tinkie. Tinkie, in response, moved. Not a great big leap to clear the space between them, nor a sprint blowing past Casket's attack. But a casual walk, a jog. Unharried movements that none the less cleared the space swiftly.

  She made a show of it. How her steps twirled around inky paws—a circular dance that followed the straightforward path. How the two hundred ton hammer displaced the air as she moved, and how it waved side to side precariously. A tension wrought by its unbalanced nature. And how she ended up standing right before Casket, a dog very out-massed. Linh took one look at Poppy and knew she had no mercy here.

  Tinkie gave a slasher wide grin. "Gigaton Hammer!" Poppy called out behind her. Back the hammerhead went. Falling further and further back, exaggerating it,

  "Casket!" Linh cried out, grabbing her attention. "Get ready to dodge, okay? Pick one direction, left or right—don't look! Don't show it! Then sprint when I call it."

  Poppy cried out too, "Track her, Tinkie!"

  Forwards the hammerhead swung.

  "GO!" Linh yelled, and Casket dodged. She went right, Tinkie swung right. But she underestimated the speed of the dog—no direct hit.

  It was still a brutally painful attack. The shock waves of the hammer hitting the ground carved a great divot, and sent shards and sherds in every direction. The vibrations sent Casket stumbling, and then flying, as the displaced air smacked into her.

  Casket went tumbling across the grounds. Hitting the floor once, twice. She fell in a flump and a pose that looked painful. But she stood back up, with a nasty scratch across her face from where it dragged across the rough ground, and a mass accumulation of dirt and gravel in her fur. She was weak on her feet, but she was still standing. Poppy narrowed her eyes at her.

  Linh held his fist against his face and held his elbow with his other hand. All across his face worry and fear etched itself in. "Casket?" He spoke, voice faint. "You good?"

  Casket growled at Tinkie, then barked. If she could speak, it would have sounded like 'I can take 'em!' Tinkie seemed amused.

  Poppy snapped her fingers and pointed forwards. "I like Casket Mister—so we're going easy on her! Tinkie! Skitter Smack!"

  Rika, on the sidelines, mumbled into her hand, "That's just bullying Poppy—even if it's not effective."

  Ghost resists Bug. But this was little consolation as Casket watched Tinkie drop her hammer. It thrummed against the ground, sounding like an old church bell. Metal resonating. Tinkie's grin didn't help either. She glowed briefly green, and vanished.

  "Beh—Shadow Sneak now! Hide in it!" Linh shouted, and Casket trusted him. So she ducked into the shadows. Except, as she sunk, a flash of green to her side—not teleportation, but rather a green light skittering around her.

  Suddenly, Tinkie was there, in place of the green light. Her hand lashed out, fingers stretched like talons, and their pierced the air just above Casket's sinking form. Her thumb barely brushed Casket's back, yet it still felt like the world slamming into her spine.

  Linh winced, even with his warning, Casket was still hit. A glancing hit, but her expression...

  Casket reappeared out of the shadows, to tackle Tinkie in the back. Or rather, to get smacked in the side by Tinkie's hair. One sharp turn of the head at the wrong moment, and the taffy-like hair slammed into her like steel wires. Again was she knocked across the court.

  Poppy pointed at Casket, realisation. "That should have fainted—she must be fluffy."

  Linh forced down his fretting to respond. "—I should hope so, she's a dog."

  "No," Rika called out. "Fluffy, the ability. Halves damage from Moves that make contact."

  "Then I just have to use a move that doesn't make contact—and not something the dog can dodge!" Poppy pointed dramatically at Linh, "Your luck ends here! Tinkie, use—"

  "Casket, get ready to fall away again—on my mark—"

  "—BULLDOZE!"

  "—NOW!"

  It was too late, in fact, nothing Linh could have done could have prevented this. It only took Tinkie punching the ground once; the floor, the dirt, the stone, the gravel, it all glowed deep brown, before violently shaking.

  This shaking, this lesser cousin of Earthquake, spread across every inch of the court in heartbeats. Casket fainted before she could get more then a single foot into her shadow.

  A moment of silence, as they watched Casket pop out, like a spring loaded toy. She fell down in a ragdoll, tongue sticking out.

  Rika stood up from her chair. "Greavard has fainted! I announce Poppy as the winner!"

  "I won!" Poppy cried out. "I won I won I won I won I—" she tackled Tinkie in the midriff, and Tinkie spun her around. It wasn't a hard victory, but Tinkie always indulged Poppy's foibles.

  Meanwhile, Linh looked down at Casket's Pokéball, and retrieved the puppy. "Sorry girl." He winced. "Didn't mean to drag you into all this."

  The Pokéball rocked once. Comforting. He strode over to Rika—who had retaken her seat.

  "So. I fucked up." He began. "Shoulda kept a better eye on Poppy. Shouldn't have let them play in the room; to many things there."

  Rika responded, "Not my finest moment either. But I share responsibility, yeah? It may have been your house, but I was the one meant to watch Poppy."

  "Yeah... Yeah..." Linh agreed, slowly. "I'm just happy she's still as happy as she started, really."

  Rika smiled, and lightly punched his side. "I am too." And then perked up, remembering something. "Oh, and, since you asked earlier, about who let Poppy become an Elite Four member. Well, isn't the answer obvious? Only—"