#yet again! this post is not about comparing to people w/ more visible devices! do not invalidate anyone in the comments please

[rachedurst]

Shout-out to those of us who use disability aids that ARENT easily visible, that are hidden underneath hair or clothes and have people demand you need to show them your devices else they claim you're lying! That want you to take off your devices because Theyre Not Necessary Right and electronic devices Aren't Allowed In Here or whatever else. Those of us with physical disabilities who just get told we're lying because our devices Aren't clearly visible or smth they know. (Don't worry I know bigots do fakeclaiming with visible disability devices too. Please do not derail or act like visibly disabled people have it easier bcs they don't)

There's a lot of focus on visible disability aids getting negative attention and thats important as well, but heres this post for the not noticeable ones that don't get talked about a lot :) we are out here....

[androidskit-blog]

Sony Xperia 1 with camera review

Sony Xperia 1 with camera review, People buy flagship phones as much for the cameras as for any other feature. Nearly every premium device from the likes of Huawei, LG, and Samsung has stepped up the game to include not one or two, but three cameras. The standard configuration for a modern flagship is now a high-quality primary lens, an optical telephoto lens, and a wide-angle lens. This applies to the Sony Xperia 1, which the electronics company is just now getting to market.  If you’re interested in learning everything there is to know about the Sony Xperia 1, check out our full review here. The purpose of this article is to dive deep into the camera situation and assess whether or not Sony can keep up. 

Camera app

Sony’s camera app is powerful but perplexing. It contains the vast majority of advanced features flagship phone buyers expect, yet there are some glaring omissions.  Let’s start with the dedicated camera button. Yes, the Xperia 1 has a physical shutter key, located where you expect to find it on the top right corner (when holding the phone sideways.) The button is a subtle two-stage key. Press it very lightly and the camera will focus on the subject. Press it all the way to fire off a shot. The difference between pressing the button gently and all the way is minimal. You can easily just smash the key down all the way when you intend to focus first.  Alternately, you can do what we’re all using to do at this point: touch the screen where you want the camera to focus and then tap the software shutter button.  Sony’s AI Cam is enabled by default. You can only ditch it by shifting to manual mode. What I find most frustrating is the lack of control over HDR. HDR functions automatically in AI Cam mode, which is to say you never know whether it is being used or not. The only way to take direct control over HDR is in manual mode. From my perspective, HDR should always be an easy-to-find feature.  A basic on-screen toggle lets you switch between photo and video modes, while a series of controls line the opposite edge for functions such as aspect ratio, bokeh, flash, timer, and settings. Some of these could be easier to grasp. The bokeh tool, for example, is represented by one circle placed behind another. What the what? How does that equate “bokeh”? 

On the whole, the camera app could be simplified quite a lot.  

Jumping from one lens to another should be easier. The camera always launches with the standard/primary camera lens active. A small circle with a “1x” appears on the far right side. Tap it once to switch to the telephoto lens. The small circle then displays a “2x” inside. Tap once more to get to the wide-angle “w” lens. If you press the “1x” for a second, a slider bar appears for zooming between 1x and 2x, and on through to 10x (digitally). No matter what,  you have to press the “w” to get to the wide-angle camera, and it pauses for a second before switching. It’s a confusing and inconsistent system. LG’s camera app is much simpler to decipher in this respect.  A small button under the shutter button lets you access the advanced modes. These include portrait selfie, Google Lens, slow motion, AR effect, manual, creative effect, and panorama. Pick one, and then a little symbol pops up in the corner to tell you which you’re using. There’s no time-lapse mode, nor is there a dedicated portrait mode or even a night mode, which is both frustrating and puzzling.  On the whole, the camera could be simplified and improved quite a lot. 

Daylight

Any and every camera should excel at daylight shooting when the most light is available. It’s therefore amazing how poorly some perform.  The Xperia 1 is all over the place in daylight situations. All four of these samples have bright and dark regions that aren’t particularly well balanced. What we notice most is the loss of detail in the darker spots, such as the trees in the first image, the sides of the buildings in the second and third images, and the pillars in the fourth. I’m glad the sky isn’t blown out in any of the images.  These are passable shots, but not fantastic ones.  Focus is mostly sharp, and colors are mostly accurate if a bit muted. For example, the yellow and red shades in the second image were brighter in real life.  There isn’t too much noise, nor are compression artifacts obviously visible. These are passable shots, but not fantastic ones. 

Color

Obtaining good color relies on a mix of things, including proper exposure and white balance. If one or the other is off, colors suffer. Some phone makers, such as Samsung, make up for this by boosting colors in the end results. Sony does not.   Here we see the Xperia 1 at its best. The top two images turned out spectacularly well with rich, bright, accurate colors. There is no banding, and the transitions between shades are smooth. These images look exactly like what I remember seeing on the streets of New York City. Color me impressed (pun intended).  You can see all the color, it’s just not as impressive as the real thing.  The bottom two images are the Sony Xperia 1 camera at its most average. Both appear muted in terms of color tones and exposure. The fourth image is particularly frustrating because the tile mural was well lit and I was standing only a few feet away. You can see all the color, it’s just not as impressive as the real thing.  It’s the inconsistency here that I don’t care for. 

Detail

Preserving details relies on focus, resolution, and maintaining control over compression and noise.  Once again we’re faced with inconsistency from the Sony Xperia 1 camera. In the top two images, the detail is clear enough that you can read the text in the images, there’s no doubt of that. Too bad neither is properly exposed.  The images with the brushes in the foreground is terrible. Much of the detail in the leaves is lost on close inspection, with the green foliage blending together. It was much easier to tell the individual plants apart in person. The third image also has lots of noise in the sky.  In the last picture, all the parts of the electric meters stand out and you can even tell where the gauges are pointed on the closer units. Here everything comes together, the exposure is on point, and there’s no noise at all. 

Landscape

When shooting land- or cityscapes, focus and balance are generally what you seek. Three of these images provide those, one does not.  What I like about image 1 is that the green looks rich, the sky is still blue, you can read the text on the sign, and even the darker areas have some detail. Image 2 shows sharp lines, accurate colors, and relatively good detail. Both these images are a bit on the noisy side, with compression artifacts here and there.  Image 3 is a disaster. The phone’s HDR tool completely failed here. The sky is overblown and yet nearly all the detail on the statue is lost because it is underexposed. At least the foliage is green.  The last image turned out fairly well. Despite the strong shadow, there’s lots of texture visible on the right wall compared to the fully sunlit left wall. You can see all the bricks and the sky is blue. There is still far too much noise.

Portrait

Fancy, effects-laden portrait shooting is all the rage these days. Many of today’s flagships include modes specifically for taking artful shots of our friends and family.   In order to take portrait images such as these, you need to use the Xperia 1’s bokeh shooting tool. It’s not called “Portrait Mode” and there aren’t advanced tools such as studio lighting — another shortcoming of the camera app when compared to Samsung, Huawei, and others.  The phone did do a decent job of outlining my profile cleanly and blurring out the background. I like that you can select the amount of background blur. In images 1 and 3, however, I look like I was artificially added to the pictures via PhotoShop. The second and fourth images look more natural. Exposure in all these shots is good, and I don’t see too much noise.  I’m flummoxed that there’s no actual portrait mode, which might make capturing these a touch easier. 

 HDR

HDR shots generally blend several exposures to create a balanced whole, with detail visible in both bright and dark regions. The Xperia 1 struggles with HDR across the board.  Images 1 and 4 are total failures of HDR. In the first, all the detail in the trees behind the fountain is lost due to underexposure. In the fourth, the top half of the image should have been bright with daylight and is instead dark and dreary. What is going on here, Sony? 

It's evident that Sony's HDR algorithms need more tuning. 

The second and third images are more balanced. They are each noisy, but at least the light and dark regions are better preserved. The second shot is particularly challenging because it has natural and artificial light mixed in a dark indoor environment. Some detail is lost on the second level, but this exposure is still fairly accurate. In the third pic, I appreciate that the blue sky is visible in the windows at all and that there’s some shading to the wooden roof far above the staircase.  In all, however, it’s evident that Sony’s HDR algorithms need more tuning. 

Low light

One of the biggest omissions of the Sony Xperia 1 camera is any sort of night mode. Sure, the AI Cam senses low light situations and takes steps to mitigate the exposure, but there isn’t a dedicated mode for shooting in the near dark. That’s a serious boo-boo considering phones such as the Huawei P30 Pro can practically see in pitch black night.  All four of these images were taken post-sunset. The first, just after sunset, has a reasonable amount of detail in the trees, but the sky is overblown. The colors are about right. The second image actually turned out pretty well, and was true to the scene. Shame about the noise. The third image may be accurate, but is soft.  The last image is clearly a stinker. For this, the camera took several seconds to capture the shot and we can still barely see what’s going on. The subject stands out, but the darker portions of the background are completely gone.  Without an explicit low-light or night mode, the Xperia 1 trails the competition. The Google Pixel 3a XL, which costs half as much, delivers far superior results. 

Selfie

All the Xperia 1’s portrait powers are found under the purview of the selfie camera. You can add effects, dial-in skin correction, make your eyes larger or your face thinner, and adjust the lighting. I captured these samples under a variety of conditions, including bright sunlight, indoors, and at nighttime. The results speak for themselves.  The first two images, which were aided by sunlight, turned out well. The focus is good, colors are accurate, and things look pretty much as they did when the photos were taken.  Things are a bit different in the third and fourth images. You can see that my face is a bit softer in the third image and the brick wall behind me looks a bit washed out. The last picture is a mess. Though it wasn’t that dark out, the Xperia 1 used the screen flash to light me up. While my face is properly exposed, the background is almost lost completely. Moreover, my face looks incredibly soft.  On a whole, I’d call these average selfie shots at best. 

Video

Flagship phones need to be able to capture 4K video, full stop. While we’d prefer to see 60fps, we can deal with 30fps which is where the Xperia 1 camera tops out.   I captured a variety of video with the Xperia 1 in 4K and Full HD (the latter in 60fps). It may be hard for your eyes to really see the difference between the two, but the 4K footage from Sony impressed. I was pleased with the way the phone captured motion smoothly, despite the fact that I was moving around. Moreover, the phone’s sensors are better able to adapt to changes in lighting when recording video.   Here, the Xperia 1 matches the competition. 

Conclusion

As I said in my full Sony Xperia 1 review, I’m stunned at how poorly the Xperia 1’s camera performs. Not only is it not up to snuff when compared to other flagships, such as the Samsung Galaxy S10, Huawei P30 Pro, and Google Pixel 3 XL, it doesn’t even compare to the budget Google Pixel 3a XL. It’s hard to recommend a $949 phone when a $479 phone beats the snot out of it in the core category of photography.   The bottom line, if you thought Sony’s adoption of the triple-camera setup would lead to a dramatic improvement in imaging quality, I’m here to tell you that’s not the case.    Read the full article

[cbmagique]

Pokemon Adventurers chapter 45 outtakes

Some more outtakes from Pokémon Adventurers that were supposed to go with chapter 45 but I couldn’t find a good way to fit them in/couldn’t decide which version was best and so now they’re just outtakes. Now here for your reading pleasure if you are by any chance suffering the ridiculously long wait for chapter 46.

The training yard was usually quiet at night since after dinner training was a rare occurrence. So when Ray stepped out of the Pokémon Centre he was surprised to find Violet outside sitting with her legs crossed on a concrete post. At her feet a purple star-shaped Pokémon lay on the grass, twisting and turning its upper body. The red gem blinked up towards the sky.

  “Hey,” he greeted casually, prompting her to look up.

  “Curious about Starmie,” she said.

  He stared at her in surprise for a good ten seconds. “Um… I guess, yeah, that’s true. What I was actually going to ask was what was keeping you up tonight but I am curious about your star.”

  Violet tensed. “Sorry,” she muttered, lowering her head so that her hair shielded her face like a curtain. “Forget myself sometimes.”

  “It’s honestly no big deal,” Ray said confusedly. “I mean, you were right and I could have come out here to see your Starmie - is that right? - but that’s not really the reason I came.”

  “Your Pokémon already worked hard today, let them rest all night.”

  An awkward paused occurred, which saw Ray staring at her again. She blushed.

  “This is a training yard…”

  Ray blinked. “Oh, right!” he said, realising the obvious. “Really, you think so?”

  Violet nodded.

  “Well, I suppose you are the more experienced trainer so I’ll take that as advice but I really need my Pokémon to be stronger. I don’t want to waste a minute.”

  Violet tucked her hair behind her ear so she could give him a questioning look that urged him to go on.

  “Our limits are too low right now. At the Battle Tent my Pokémon didn’t really compare to some of the other trainers’ and that was really eye-opening for me. Right now we’re not prepared for anything and that’s not acceptable, given that…” he hesitated, “given that we have a lot to lose if we can’t defeat some of the opponents we have to face.”

  “Sounds tough,” she said empathetically.

  Suddenly there was a squeak from the swing set. It startled Ray a bit so he turned around, anticipating that he would see someone there to put his mind at ease but the swing that was currently swinging was empty. The hairs all over his body stood on end at the spooky sight. Just as he was rationalising that it was just the wind, the swing went faster. Faster and faster and faster it went until it was going so high and so fast that it flipped over itself. The chain coiled around the top bar until it was too short to swing anymore, at which point a dark, mysterious object flung out of the swing seat and collided with a tree. It spun around the trunk like a sash whirling around the bark. Then it popped out. The ghostly creature, with free floating hands and a great big grin, laughed uproariously.

  “W-w-what is that?!” Ray squeaked.

  Violet giggled. “Just Haunter, that’s all.”

  “Haunter… huh…” Ray muttered stiffly. “Is it… is it okay if I look them up in the Pokédex?”

  Violet cocked her head to the side, reining herself in. “Yes but why do you feel you have to ask?”

  Ray shrugged as he took out his Pokédex. “Well, I’m just not sure whether or not it’s rude to go to the machine instead of actually asking the trainer.”

  She smiled at the innocence of his answer. “It’s fine. Nobody minds the Pokédex. Everyone knows that it’s one of the best resources a trainer has.”

  “If you say so,” Ray conceded, capturing Haunter on his device.

  “Haunter, the gas Pokémon. It lurks in darkness where nothing is visible while stalking its prey. If it beckons, do not approach. Its touch causes endless shuddering and anyone licked by its gaseous tongue will grow steadily weaker until they die.”

  “Oh my god,” Ray gasped, staring at Haunter with a wide-eyed, terrified look like he was afraid to even blink in its presence. The Haunter chuckled and stretched its tongue out to an impossible length, wiggling it in Ray’s face as he tried to back away from it. He tripped on his heel and ended up flat on his back.

  “Stop that!” Violet chastised. Haunter pulled its tongue back a bit and glared at her like she was spoiling everything. “Don’t worry, Ray. He won’t hurt you seriously, nothing to fear here. On the other hand, perhaps don’t discount that information since a wild Haunter might certainly try something like that on you.”

  “G-g-good to kn-know,” Ray stammered, still terrified. “But still, don’t you worry about yourself with a Pokémon like that?”

  She shook her head. “With a trained Haunter, not really like that. Shuddering and paralysis are the result of moves a Haunter might use. Quite safe to touch, actually.”

  Violet held out her hand and Haunter shook it amiably. Then he began to swing around her as if there was an invisible, intangible rope between his hand and his body. Ray stood up, a bit relieved that the Pokémon wasn’t as dangerous as the ‘dex made it out to be but still took a few steps back to be well out of its range. At least now he felt he could take his eyes off it for a second and glanced at Starmie, still lying on the ground and blinking up at the sky. If the Pokédex was okay for Haunter, Violet probably wouldn’t mind if he checked it.

  “Starmie, the mysterious Pokémon. The red core has been known to glow in all colours of the rainbow and can receive and transmit enigmatic radio signals. The signals can cause headaches in people who approach it. Due to its luminous nature, it is known as ‘the gem of the sea’.”

  “That sounds like an amazing Pokémon,” Ray breathed. “I can see why you didn’t bring them to lunch. I wouldn’t keep these two out in front of people.”

  “The recall information has nothing to do with why I didn’t bring them to lunch. Just eat differently, that’s all.”

  “Eat differently?”

  Violet nodded. “Haunter is one of a few Pokémon that feed on intangible things, like dreams and feelings. And Starmie is a filter feeder, so it can’t eat out of water.”

  Ray looked down, brow furrowed. “Man, it’s hard.”

  Violet gave him a questioning look but he didn’t look up to see it, even as he continued: “Every time I meet a new Pokémon there turns out to be a completely different way to care for it. I’m already beginning to wonder how I’m going to take care of six. Maybe I ought to stick with the four I have.”

  “Things like that can be off-putting,” Violet nodded, “but in my experience, the bonds you make are worth all of the work it takes. And maybe eventually you’ll start to consider caring for them as part of all the fun you’re having, ne?”

  She looked straight at Ray with a smile. Meanwhile, Haunter spun too wide and flung himself into a climbing wall, leaving one hand behind with Violet. Ray tried to stifle a huge laugh behind his knuckles but he couldn’t hold it in. The climbing wall cackled along with him and Violet joined in.

  “See? Great, right?”

  Ray nodded, unable to speak past his sniggers.

  “Whatever is it you’re worried about, simply training isn’t the straight answer you’re looking for. Think of your Pokémon as your family. Keep their backs and they’ll keep yours.”

  Ray’s laughter died down gasp by gasp as the profundity of that dawned on him. It took him back to the previous tournament (was it the previous year already? He had no idea) and how Violet’s statement had already been illustrated by his team and by his failure to do right by them. The team and the family could be one and the same; how could he have almost forgotten that again?

  “Something wrong?”

  Ray looked up. Violet was watching him with a concerned expression. “It’s nothing, just… you made me think about something that I hadn’t thought about in regards to this.”

  “A failure?”

  He hesitated, wondering how Violet could be so perceptive. “Yeah. I failed some people close to me and it cost us a competition. We couldn’t even salvage the championship in the long run but after all was said and done it didn’t even feel like the most important thing.”

  “Yet you still regret it.”

  “Of course I do. If I had been more reasonable, more observant, more responsible, then maybe we could have gone further. It still feels like my fault.”

  “The past is unchangeable now,” Violet said wisely. “Best you can do is turn those regrets into something you’re proud of. Let your Pokémon help you become the person you wish you had been so that when you do meet your friends again you can proudly say ‘I’ve definitely learned from my mistakes’ and you won’t even feel bad about it anymore.”

  Ray grinned. “Thanks, Violet. I wish I’d had someone like you around. Although, if you’re not training, what are doing out here at this time?”

  “Doing it for my Pokémon. They like the darkness, so I’m letting them enjoy the night.”

  That got Ray to think. He let Zubat loose in the air. It shrieked, irritated by the artificial lights from the Pokémon Centre and the training yard but it flapped hard until it was flying about very high in the sky, almost invisible against the dark sky. Yet it wasn’t going anywhere. It seemed content to just fly around the boundary of the Pokémon Centre, occasionally dipping over the empty plot behind it. Ray sighed with good feeling and followed Violet’s example; he found somewhere to sit and observe his Pokémon doing what made it happy.

 The training yard was usually quiet at night since after dinner training was a rare occurrence. So when Hilary stepped out of the Pokémon Centre she was surprised to find Violet outside sitting with her legs crossed on a concrete post. At her feet a purple star-shaped Pokémon lay on the grass, twisting and turning its upper body. The red gem blinked up towards the sky.

  “Oh, Violet, you’re still out,” Hilary remarked, prompting a Violet to look up. “Are you doing training as well?”

  Violet stared at her, puzzled. “Not put off by what happened this morning?”

  “What? No, not at all. You seem to have powers, that’s all.”

  “That’s okay with you?”

  Hilary looked at Violet sympathetically. “Do you think it shouldn’t be?” she asked, coming to sit on the post next to her. Violet didn’t answer. “We don’t really know each other that well, so I don’t know why you’d think that, but Mari already told us all about psychics and it’s not a big deal to me at all. In fact, I was even wondering if I would get to meet one.”

  Violet’s confused look deepened and she uncrossed her legs to face Hilary.

  “It’s kinda cool and I was hoping we could become friends and then maybe you could tell me what it’s like to have real psychic powers and have big adventures and I could tell you about… oh, I don’t know actually. All I do at home is go to school and do homework and hang around with my friends while they play beyblades.” She paused to take in Violet’s expression. “Sorry, I got a bit rambly there, didn’t I?”

  Violet responded with a small smile and a giggle. She opened her mouth but suddenly there was a squeak from the swing set. Hilary jumped with a squeal and turned around. She hoped she would see someone there to put her mind at ease but the swing that was currently swinging was empty. The hairs all over her body stood on end at the spooky sight. Just as she started rationalising that it was just the wind, the swing went faster. Faster and faster and faster it went until it was going so high and so fast that it flipped over itself. The chain coiled around the top bar until it was too short to swing anymore, at which point a dark, mysterious object flung out of the swing seat and collided with a tree. It spun around the trunk like a sash whirling around the bark. Then it popped out. The ghostly creature, with free floating hands and a great big grin, laughed uproariously.

  “W-w-what is that?!” Hilary squeaked.

  Violet chuckled. “Just Haunter, that’s all.”

  “Haunter… huh��” Hilary muttered stiffly. “Is it… is it okay if I look it up in the Pokédex?”

  Violet cocked her head to the side. “Yes but why do you feel you have to ask?”

  “Well, I’m just not sure whether or not it’s rude to go to the machine instead of actually asking the trainer,” Hilary explained as she took out her Pokédex.

  “It’s fine. Nobody minds the Pokédex. Everyone knows that it’s one of the best resources a trainer has.”

  “Alright then,” Hilary conceded, capturing Haunter on her device.

  “Haunter, the gas Pokémon. It lurks in darkness where nothing is visible while stalking its prey. If it beckons, do not approach. Its touch causes endless shuddering and anyone licked by its gaseous tongue will grow steadily weaker until they die.”

  “Oh my god,” she gasped, staring at Haunter with a wide-eyed, terrified look like she was afraid to even blink in its presence. The Haunter chuckled and stretched its tongue out to an impossible length, wiggling it in Hilary’s face. She shrieked and jumped off her seat to crouch behind Violet.

  “Stop that!” Violet chastised. Haunter pulled its tongue back a bit and glared at her like she was spoiling everything. “Don’t worry. He won’t hurt you seriously, nothing to fear here. On the other hand, perhaps don’t discount that information since a wild Haunter might certainly try something like that on you.”

  “G-g-good to kn-know,” Hilary stammered, still terrified. “But still, doesn’t travelling with a Pokémon like that worry you at all? You’re not afraid that it might turn on you or even hurt you by accident?”

  She shook her head. “With a trained Haunter, not really like that. Shuddering and paralysis are the result of moves a Haunter might use. Quite safe to touch, actually.”

  Violet held out her hand and Haunter shook it amiably. Then he began to swing around her as if there was an invisible, intangible rope between his hand and his body. Hilary stood up, a bit relieved that the Pokémon wasn’t as dangerous as the ‘dex made it out to be but still took a few steps back to be well out of its range. At least now she felt she could take her eyes off it for a second and glanced at Starmie, still lying on the ground and blinking up at the sky. If the Pokédex was okay for Haunter, Violet probably wouldn’t mind if she checked it.

  “Starmie, the mysterious Pokémon. The red core has been known to glow in all colours of the rainbow and can receive and transmit enigmatic radio signals. The signals can cause headaches in people who approach it. Due to its luminous nature, it is known as ‘the gem of the sea’.”

  “That sounds like an amazing Pokémon,” Hilary breathed in awe. “I can see why you didn’t bring them to lunch. I wouldn’t keep them out in front of people.”

  “The recall information has nothing to do with why I didn’t bring them to lunch. Just eat differently, that’s all.”

  “Eat differently?”

  Violet nodded. “Haunter is one of a few Pokémon that feed on intangible things, like dreams and feelings. And Starmie is a filter feeder, so it can’t eat out of water.”

  “Wow. It’s amazing just how different Pokémon can be. How do you keep up with all of your Pokémon? I only have three and I still struggle to remember how to take care of them properly.”

  “It’s hard,” Violet agreed, “but in my experience, the bonds you make are worth all of the work it takes. And maybe eventually you’ll start to consider caring for them as part of all the fun you’re having, ne?”

  She looked straight at Hilary with a smile. Meanwhile, Haunter spun too wide and flung himself into a climbing wall, leaving one hand behind with Violet. Hilary laughed, trying to muffle the sound with her hand. The climbing wall cackled along with her and Violet joined in.

  “See? Great, right?”

  Hilary nodded, unable to speak past her sniggers.

  “Whatever is it you’re worried about, simply training isn’t the straight answer you’re looking for. Think of your Pokémon as your family. Keep their backs and they’ll keep yours.”

  “Huh?” Hilary gasped, patting her chest to help get her breath back. “Training?”

  “Mentioned it at the beginning,” Violet reminded her. “What are you training for?”

  “Oh… ah… it’s a variety of things,” Hilary replied evasively.

  “Such as?”

  She sighed. “It’s hard to explain.”

  “Then…” Violet hesitated. “May I See?”

  Hilary blinked at her. “You mean like… with your psychic powers?”

  Hilary’s reaction really baffled her. She looked at Violet with bright eyes, like she was expecting something good to happen. Most people baulked at the idea of having their mind probed. “You trust me?”

  “Well, we’re not close friends yet but you seem so nice and I saw you being so kind to Frieda and that other little girl at the Battle Tent so, yes, I guess I can say that I do trust you.”

  Hilary took her previous seat on the post beside Violet and faced her completely. “Do your thing.”

  “Okay, start off by relaxing,” Violet instructed, turning herself to mirror Hilary. Hilary took a deep slow breath while Violet closed her eyes. She didn’t particularly need to, it just felt right. “You can help me and prevent me accidentally seeing things you don’t want to me to know by thinking of what you want me to See.”

  Hilary took that to heart so easily and all of a sudden Violet felt like she was wearing another skin. She was running, in a park, above the trees high buildings formed a dense city and right in front of her there was someone, someone they’d been looking for—she and the people running beside her. Oddly, there was nothing in her mind about Pokémon. Absolutely nothing. Not even an inkling of a notion that Pokémon might even exist while the group spoke about teams and championships. Then a Porygon Z appeared.

  Things happened in short detailed scenes like that, following one after the other chronologically. Despite being choppy a familiar story unfolded magnificently before her. Violet would have thought it fictional if she wasn’t reading it out of Hilary’s memories and when the story abruptly ended at the Battle Tent she came back to the outside world feeling unsatisfied. The journey had barely begun.

  “Wow… already some adventure,” Violet said, and then nodded. “You’re afraid—scared that you cannot succeed, no faith in yourself while in this unfamiliar territory. You’re from another world.”

  She and Hilary locked gazes. It was remarkable that someone with a form so unalien could be extraterrestrial. Hilary’s eyes sparkled.

  “Yes, you’re right! It’s so weird hearing it from someone else. But…” Hilary’s voice softened anxiously, “what can I do about it?”

  Violet hummed thoughtfully. “All I can really advise is that you should keep trusting your friends and believe them. You’re capable. Trust your Pokémon too. Even though they can’t speak to you their strength will help you grow into the person you want to be.”

  Hilary looked down at her hands on her knees.

  “Unconvinced?”

  “I don’t know. Can you… sorry to ask this of you straight away, but can you tell the future as well?”

  “You want me to read your future?” Violet asked, surprised.

  “I just thought that maybe I’d have a better idea of what I’m going to do if I know what I’m going to do, aside from searching for that stupid Porygon Z.”

  Reading the future was a much more common request than reading the past. Violet shrugged and agreed. Hilary had a blissful start to a great journey with her Pokémon so far and, despite some mishaps that had frightened her, a good trainer didn’t really have much to fear from such things. Violet placed her hands over Hilary’s and this time she was the one to take a deep breath. The future was so much more difficult than the past. She squeezed her eyes shut and reached for the Wheel of Time…

  A shockingly lurid and chaotic vision struck her, leaving her with an instant headache. She felt like she was falling headfirst through a storm. Pain assaulted her in every form: stinging, aching, anguish, burning and more. The storm roared and screamed and cried in her ears. Visions of monsters whirled before her, their teeth, their eyes, their claws and their tails, so fast that she wasn’t sure what she was looking at. At the same time, several less ferocious monsters whirled with them. Those ones were unnervingly human-like. A suffocating force pressed against her chest. The storm cut her skin with icy wind. How could someone like Hilary have a future like this? Was there nothing more? She looked up, searching.

  The storm suddenly broke and golden light shone down, warming the air. The most brilliant rainbow Violet had ever seen glowed around the light and the pressure lifted, giving her the chance to breathe in a sweet-tasting lungful of air. The screams faded, replaced by bubbling sounds like voices laughing and cheering. The storm continued to recede, letting the light tease out the grass and the flowers. Slowly, warmly, two others grasped each of her hands.

  “Violet?”

  She was momentarily blinded by the return to the present. She blinked furiously for several seconds. She was staring at her own hands. Hilary held them tightly. She looked up. Hilary’s eyebrows were slanted in worry and fear.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, voiced hitching like she was holding back a sob. Violet nodded. “It’s a bad future, isn’t it?”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “It seemed like you were having a nightmare.”

  Violet broke eye contact and pulled her hands away gently. “Hilary… your future is actually really good.” She smiled broadly, hoping Hilary would believe it. Hilary eyed her doubtfully. “Might be hard – harder than anything ever, even harder than things I’ve already seen in my own life – but in the end, your future is bright. Really, really bright. Going to be something great, Hilary, I Saw it.”

  Hilary’s shoulders finally relaxed and she gave a small smile of relief. “Okay, if you say so. Sorry I put you through that, I shouldn’t have asked.”

  “Don’t be. I agreed. Reading the future is hard, that’s all.”

  Hilary’s face turned sceptical for a second. “Still, I made you push yourself.”

  “Don’t worry about it. After a good night’s sleep I’ll be in fighting form again. My Pokémon aren’t even worried, see?”

  Indeed, Starmie was still twisting and blinking at the sky while Haunter had possessed the jungle gym and was quite taken with anything than spun.

  “Alright… I can’t really do anything to return the favour, though. I learned how to read palm lines in a book once, maybe I could do that,” Hilary offered.

  Violet chuckled. “In case you haven’t noticed, I can read the future for real.”

  Hilary turned away guiltily but she was smiling. “Haha, that’s true. But in that case I can’t…” she trailed off, taking a long time to think. “This might not be good enough, but would you be around in a couple of days. I’m going to compete in a Contest and I’d like you to be there.”

  “Aren’t Contest’s public events?” Violet smirked, raising an eyebrow.

  Hilary blushed. “I know that!” she huffed defensively. “But I just want to know if you’ll be there, you know, as my friend. And I want to show you… I want to see if I can show you how great I can be.”

  Violet stared at Hilary’s determined expression in surprise. Then she smiled. “Sure.”

 The day of the Contest rolled around quietly and calmly like every other morning in Verdanturf Town. Just as the sun broke over the trees Hilary sat up in bed. All the nerves under her skin tingled so that there was no way that she could even think of lying down again. She had to get up and start moving around, even if she had nowhere to go to as of yet.

  Over the past three days the quiet, deserted Pokémon Centre had suddenly become crowded and lively. In fact, the whole town had gained a sudden influx. When asked almost all of them mentioned a “special showcase” at the Contest Hall. It had piqued Hilary’s interest but after finding out how much it would cost for a ticket, she quickly dashed the possibility of seeing it, to her disappointment.

   Still, she realised she had a whole day ahead of her before her own performance began. The thought sent all of her innards jumping in her belly. She couldn’t stay like this until the evening; the nerves would definitely ruin her. Just as she swung her legs over the side of her bed muttering frantically over what to do, Mari piped up behind her: “Well, what do you want to do?”

  Hilary squeaked and leaped to her feet as she turned. Mari lay across her bed, swinging her legs and beaming brightly at Hilary. “Mornin’.”

  “Don’t scare me like that!” Hilary whined. She sighed. “I forgot you were a morning person.”

  “If you’re bored before the Contest, try the Battle Tent again?” Mari suggested. “Good battles are a good way of unwinding stress.”

  “I don’t know… if they get hurt my Pokémon might not be able to perform their best this evening. And I know they will be hurt because I’m not very good. That place is brutal!”

  “Fine, have it that way,” Mari pouted, dropping her chin on the mattress. “Just go by myself then.”

  “You’re being melodramatic! I’m pretty sure wherever you go the boys are going to end up following. I’m going to take a walk.”

  With that, she turned on her heel to gather up her clothes and left the room without looking back to see Mari’s expression.